Introduction To Psychology: Topic Outline

Introduction to Psychology
TOPIC OUTLINE FIELDS OF PSYCHOLOGY

Chapter 1 Introduction to Psychology help people with psychological disorders adjust
→ What is Psychology to the demands of life; they evaluate problems
→ Psychology as a Science such as anxiety and depression through
→ Fields of Psychology interviews and psychological tests
→ History of Psychology
→ Different Contemporary Perspectives like clinical psychologists, use interviews and
→ Critical Thinking tests to define their clients’ problems; their
→ Methods of Research clients have adjustment problems but not
→ Ethics on Psychological Research serious psychological disorders
Chapter 2 Biology and Psychology
→ The Nervous System employed by school systems to identify and
→ The Divisions of the Nervous System assist students who have problems that
→ Other Important Concepts interfere with learning
→ The Chemical Keys to Communication
→ The parts of the Brain
→ Brain Imaging Techniques
like school psychologists, attempt to facilitate
→ The Cerebral Cortex learning but usually focus on course planning
→ The Endocrine System and instructional methods for a school system
Chapter 3 Sensation and Perception rather than on individual children; they research
→ The Nature of Sensation and Perception issues such as how learning is affected by
→ Understanding Absolute Threshold psychological factors such as motivation and
→ Difference Thresholds intelligence, sociocultural factors such as
→ The Vision poverty and acculturation, and teachers.
→ Parts of the Human Eye
study the changes, physical, cognitive, social
→ Illuminating the Structure of the Eye
and emotional that occur throughout the life
→ Reaching the Retina
span
→ Sending the Message from the Eye to the Brain
→ Processing the Visual Message identify and measure human traits and
→ Color Blindness determine influences on human thoughts,
processes, feelings and behavior; particularly
→ Hearing and other Senses
concerned with issues such as anxiety and
→ The Physical Aspects of Sound
aggression, and gender roles
→ Sorting Out Theories of Sound
→ Sense of Smell concerned with the nature and causes of
→ Sense of Taste individuals’ thoughts, feelings, and behavior in
→ The Skin Senses: Touch, Pressure, Temperature, and Pain social situations; whereas personality
→ How our Senses Interact psychologists tend to look within the person to
explain behavior, social psychologists tend to
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY focus on social influence
Psychology refers to the scientific study of behavior and mental study the ways that people and the
processes, and the relationship between them environment- the natural environment and the
▪ Mental processes include skills like learning, reasoning, emotions human-made environment influence one
and motivation another
To study psychology is to learn how humans and other organisms specialize in basis processes such as the
think, understand, learn, perceive, feel, act, and interact with others nervous system, sensation and perception,
→ Derived from the Greek words psyche and logos (study of the learning and memory, thought, motivation and
soul) emotion
→ The science of mental life, the science of feelings, desires, focus on relationships between people and work
cognition, reasoning, decisions and the like (William James)
→ Seeks to describe, explain, predict, and control behavior and study of the behavior of people in organization
mental processes such as business
Psychology as a Science make technical systems such as automobile
→ Psychology is a science because it employs scientific dashboards and computer keyboards more
methodologies user-friendly
→ The characteristics of a scientific method are objectivity, study the behavior of shoppers in and effort to
explicit procedure, and recording predict and influence their behavior; they advise
▪ Objectivity- this means freedom from bias and prejudices. The store managers on how to lay out the aisles of a
findings or results gathered by the researcher are not influenced by supermarket in ways that boost impulse buying,
his subjective ideas; how to arrange window displays to attract
▪ Explicit Procedures- procedures of the researcher are clear and customers, and how to make newspaper ads
thus can be verified, tested, and duplicated by future researchers; and TV commercials more persuasive
and study the effects of stress on health problems
▪ Recording- worthy research-works are often published in scientific such as headaches, cardiovascular disease, and
literature for future researches to evaluate, verify, disseminate, and cancer; guide clients toward healthier behavior
even to refute findings patterns, such as exercising and quitting
→ The science of psychology deals with actual behavior; thus, smoking
psychology may be defined as the science of individual apply psychology to the criminal justice system;
behavior deal with legal matters such as whether a
→ It differs from a common-sense hunch because it is systematic defendant was sane when he or she committed
in its observations. It makes guesses, or hypotheses about a crime
behavior, then experimentally checks out the hypothesis. help athletes concentrate on their performance
→ Two general qualifications of behavior (Chaplin, 1983): and not on the crowd; use cognitive strategies
a. Overt or extrinsic behavior. A behavior consists of responses such as positive visualization (imagining
which are publicly observed; and themselves making the right moves) to enhance
b. Covert or intrinsic behavior. Refers to responses which performance, and avoid choking under pressure
cannot be directly observed.
CORTEZ GD 1
HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY DIFFERENT CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES
the approach to psychology
“Know thyself”; suggested that that seeks to understand the
we should rely on rational nature of the links between
thought and introspection- biological processes and
careful examination of one’s structures such as functioning
thoughts and emotions- to gain of the brain, the endocrine
self-knowledge; also pointed system, and the heredity, on
out that people are social Biological
Perspective the other hand, and behavior
creatures who influence one and mental processes on the
another other
- argues that human behavior, ▪ seek the relationships
like the movements of the stars between the brain, hormones,
and the seas, is subject to rules heredity, and evolution, on the
and laws other hand, and behavior and
suggested that we could think mental processes on the other
of behavior in terms of a body having to do with mental
and a mind; pointed out that processes such as sensation
our behavior is influenced by Cognitive Perspective and perception, memory,
external stimulation; one of the intelligence, language, thought
first to raise the question of and problem solving
whether there is a will or choice emphasizes the tole of
together with his students, subjective experience
founded Structuralism; the ▪ Humanists believe that self-
school of Psychology that Humanistic-
Existential awareness, experience, and
argues that the mind consists choice permit us to “invent
Perspective
of three basic elements- ourselves” and our ways of
sensations, feelings, and relating to the world as we
images that combine to form progress through life.
experience assumes that all behavior and
focused on behavior as well as mental processes reflect
the mind or consciousness; Psychodynamic
Perspective constant and often
school of psychology that unconscious struggles within a
emphasizes the uses of person
functions of the mind rather focuses mainly on the role of
than the elements of the unconscious and innate
experience biological forces within us;
▪ Functionalists looked at how stresses the role of the external
Behavioral
our experience helps us environment, particularly the
Perspective
function more adaptively in our pattern for rewards and
environments- for example, punishment in sharing and
how habits help us cope with governing our actions
common situations.
- founder of American
Behaviorism Critical Thinking
▪ Behaviorism is the school of → Refers to a process of thoughtfully analyzing and probing
psychology that focuses on questions, statements, and arguments of others
learning observable behavior PRINCICPLES OF CRITICAL THINKING
and studies relationships keep an open mind. Accept
between stimuli and responses Be skeptical nothing as the truth until you
▪ Behaviorists define have examined the evidence
psychology as the scientific it is not sufficient that an
study of behavior, not of Insist on evidence opinion is traditional; ask for
behavior and mental processes evidence
school of psychology that Examine definition of terms
emphasizes the tendency to Examine the assumptions or
organize perceptions into premises of arguments
wholes and to integrate be especially skeptical about
separate stimuli into anecdotes; when you hear “I
meaningful patters Be cautious in drawing know someone who…,” ask
Gestalt psychologists focused conclusions from evidence yourself whether this person’s
on perception and how reported experience is
perception influences thinking satisfactory as evidence
and problem-solving; they Consider alternative
argued that we cannot hope to interpretations of research
understand human nature by evidence
focusing only on overt behavior
Do not oversimplify
the school of psychology that
emphasizes the importance of Do not overgeneralize
unconscious motives and
Apply critical thinking to all
conflicts as determinants of
areas of life
human behavior
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METHODS OF RESEARCH
describes behavior without
interfering with the behavior
itself
Descriptive Methods
of Research • The data gathered though
descriptive research provide
useful information on events
and behavior as they relate to
another
used to determine whether or
not there is a relationship
Correlational Methods between two sets of variables
of Research-
• Examine the extent to which
the two sets of variables
correlate or occur together
produces a change in certain
THE NERVOUS SYSTEM
variables to determine if it will
→ The nervous system is a system of nerves involved in thought
have an effect on the other
processes, heartbeat, visualmotor coordination, and so on.
variables
→ Contains the brain, the spinal cord, and other parts that can
Experimental Research • Experimental researches
make it possible for us to receive information from the world
Methods enable
outside and to act on that world
• the researches to rule out the → Composed of cells, most of which are neurons
possibility that other factors or → Neurons: specialized cells of the nervous system that conduct
variables cause the observed impulses; can be visualized as having branches, trunks, and
changes in the study roots- something like trees
→ Neurons receive “messages” from a number of sources such as
light, other neurons, and other pressure on the skin, and they
ETHICS ON PSYCHOLOGICAL RESARCH
can pass these messages along in a complex biological dance
→ Psychologists adhere to a number of ethical standards that are
THE DIVISIONS OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM
intended to promote individual dignity, human welfare, and
→ Consists of the brain, the spinal cord and the nerves linking
scientific integrity.
them to the sensory organs, muscles and glands
→ The standards are also intended to ensure that psychologists do
THE PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM: THE BODY’S PERIPHERAL
not undertake research methods or treatments that are
DEVICES
harmful.
→ Consists of sensory and motor neurons that transmit messages
→ Individuals must provide informed consent before they
to and from the CNS
participate in research (Knaus, et.al. 2012). Having a general
→ The two main divisions of the PNS are: somatic nervous system
overview of the research and the opportunity to choose not
and the autonomic nervous system
to participate apparently give them a sense of control and
→ The somatic nervous system contains sensory (afferent) and
decrease the stress of participating (Fisher, 2009)
motor (efferent) neurons; connects the CNS with sensory
→ Psychologists keep the records of research participants and
receptors, skeletal muscles and the surface of the body; it
clients confidential because they respect people’s privacy and
transmits messages about sights, sounds, smells, temperature,
because people are more likely to express their true thoughts
body positions, and so on, to the central nervous system.
and feelings when researchers or therapists keep their
→ The autonomic nervous system (ANS) also has afferent and
disclosures confidential (Fisher, 2009)
efferent neurons and regulates the glands and the muscles of
internal organs; the ANS controls activities such as heartbeat,
CHAPTER 2 BIOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY
respiration, digestion, and dilation of pupils
→ Two branches of ANS:
a) Sympathetic Division- the branch of ANS that is most
active during emotional responses, such as fear and
anxiety, that spend the body’s reserves of energy
b) Parasympathetic Division- the brand of ANS that is
most active during processes (such as digestion) that
restore the body’s reserves of energy
THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM: THE BODY’S CENTRAL

PROCESSING UNIT
→ Consists of the spinal cord and the brain
→ Spinal cord is a true “information highway”- a column of nerves
within the spine that transmits messages from sensory
receptors to the brain and from brain to muscles and glands
throughout the body
→ Spinal reflex is a simple, unlearned response to a stimulus that
may involve only two neurons- a sensory neuron and a motor
neuron
→ The spinal cord and brain contain gray matter and white matter
→ Gray matter consists of nonmyelinated neurons and segments
that are involved in the spinal reflexes
→ White matter- axon bundles that carry messages to and from
the brain
→ The spinal cord is also involved in reflexes
CORTEZ GD 3
IMPORTANT CONCEPTS is a neurotransmitter involved
cells that remove dead in emotional arousal and sleep;
neurons and waste products deficiencies of serotonin have
from the nervous system; Serotonin been linked to hearing
nourish and insulate neurons, disorders, alcoholism,
Glial cells
form a fatty, insulating depression, aggression and
substance called myelin; and insomnia
play a role in a neural an inhibitory neurotransmitter
Gamma-aminobutyric
transmission of messages that apparently helps calm
acid (GABA)
rootlike structure, attached to anxiety
the cell body of neuron, that inhibitory transmitters that
Dendrites
received impulses, or incoming occur naturally in the brain and
messages from other neurons in the stream and are similar to
A long thin part of the neuron the narcotic morphine in their
that transmits impulses to functions and effects; may also
other neurons from Endorphins increase our sense of
Axon
bulbshaped structures called competence, enhance the
axon terminals or terminal functioning of the immune
buttons system, and be connected with
a fatty substance that encases the pleasurable “runner’s
and insulated axons, high” reported by many long-
Myelin distance runners
facilitating transmission of
neural impulses Nerve a bundle of axons from many
neurons that transmit neurons
messages from sensory
Afferent Neurons receptors from the spinal cord
and brain, also called sensory THE PARTS OF THE BRAIN
neurons MAJOR PARTS OF THE BRAIN
neurons that transmit
messages from the brain or
Efferent Neurons spinal cord to muscles and
glands; also called motor
neurons
a junction between the axon
terminals of one neuron and
Synapse
the dendrites or cell body of a
receiving neuron
THE CHEMICAL KEYS TO COMMUNICATION

chemical substance involved in
Neurotransmitters the transmission of neural
impulses from one neuron to
another
a location on a dendrite of a
Receptor Site receiving neuron tailored to
receive a neurotransmitter
secretes hormones that regulate many body
Acetylcholine (ACh) a neurotransmitter that Pituitary functions, including secretion of hormones from
controls muscle contractions Gland- other glands; sometimes refer to the “master
Hippocampus a structure of the brain that is gland”
involved in memory formation secretes hormones that stimulate secretion of
a neurotransmitter that affects Hypothalamus hormones by the pituitary gland, involved in
the ability to perceive pleasure, basic drives such as hunger, sex and aggression
voluntary movement, and
Corpus thick bundle of axons that serves as a bridge
learning and memory; it
Collosum between the two cerebral hemispheres
involved in Parkinson’s disease
(deficiencies of dopamine) and center of thinking and language; prefrontal area
appears to a play a role in Cerebrum
contains “executive center” of brain
Dopamine schizophrenia (schizophrenia
is characterized by confusion Thalamus relay station for sensory information
and false perceptions; people Cerebellum essential to balance and coordination
with schizophrenia have more involved in regulation of sleep and working
receptor sites for dopamine in Reticular
stimulation of reticular formation increases
an area of the brain that is Formation
arousal
involved in emotional
involved in regulation of movement, sleep and
responding) Pons
arousal, respiration
is connected with
hallucinations and involved in the regulation of heart rate, blood
Overutilization Medulla
disturbances of thought and pressure, respiration, circulation
emotion.
is a neurotransmitter whose
Norepinephrine action is similar to that of the
hormone epinephrine and that
may play a role in depression
CORTEZ GD 4
BRAIN IMAGING TECHNIQUES
→ Computerized Axial Tomography (CT scan)- a method of brain
imaging that passes a narrow X-ray beam through the head
and measures the structures that reflect the beams from
various angles, enabling a computer to generate a three-
dimensional image
CT Scan Procedure
CT Scan Images
→ Position Emission Tomography (PET scan)- a method of brain

imaging that injects a radioactive tracer into the bloodstream
and assesses activity of parts of the brain according to the
amount of glucose they metabolize
THE CEREBRAL CORTEX

The cerebral cortex is the part of the brain that you usually think as
your brain
→ Cortex is a Latin word meaning “bark”, as in bark of a tree
→ Involved in almost every bodily activity, including most
→ Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)- an imaging method that sensations and responses
places a person in a magnetic field and uses radio waves to → The cerebral cortex is the wrinkled surface area (gray matter)
cause the brain to emit signals that reveal shifts in the flow of of the cerebrum
blood which when the brain is being scanned, indicate the → Corpus callosum – a thick fiber bundle that connects the
activity of the brain hemisphere of the cortex
→ Two hemispheres of the cerebral cortex: left and right and each
of the hemispheres is divided into four lobes
→ The frontal lobe lies in front of the central fissure and the parietal
lobe behind it
→ The temporal lobe lies below the side, or lateral fissure- across
from the frontal and parietal lobe;
→ The occipital lobe lies behind the temporal lobe and behind and
below the parietal lobe
→ Aphasia- a disruption in the ability to understand or produce
language
→ Wernicke’s Aphasia- a language disorder characterized by
difficulty comprehending the meaning of spoken language
→ Broca’s Aphasia- a language disorder characterized by slow,
laborious speech
CORTEZ GD 5
→ Testosterone, known to be the male sex hormone causes the
male’s sex organs to develop
→ The ovaries produce estrogen and progesterone which fosters
female reproductive capacity, stimulates growth of the female
reproductive organs and prepared the uterus to maintain
pregnancy
→ Evolutionary Psychology refers to the branch of psychology that

studies the ways in which adaptation and natural selection are
connected with mental processes and behavior.
→ Natural selection refers to the concept that holds that adaptive

genetic variations among members of a specie which enable
individuals with those variations to survive and reproduce;
species are better adapted to their environment are more likely
to survive and reproduce
→ Instinct is a stereotyped pattern of behavior that is triggered in

THE ENDOCRINE SYSTEM a specific situation
→ The body has two types of glands: glands with ducts and glands
without ducts. A gland is an organ that secretes one or more → Heredity defines one’s nature, which is based on biological
chemical substances such as hormones, saliva, or milk structures and processes; refers to the biological transmission
of traits from parents to offspring by means of genes
→ A duct is a passageway that carries substances to specific
locations; saliva, sweat, tears and breast milk all reach their → Genetics- area of biology that focuses on heredity
destinations through ducts. A number of substances secreted
by ductless glands have effects on behavior and mental → Gene- a basic unit of heredity which is found at a specific point
processes on a chromosome
→ The ductless glands make up the endocrine system and they → Chromosome- a microscopic red-shaped body in the cell
release hormones nucleus carrying genes that transmit heredity traits from
generation to generation; humans normally have 46
→ Endocrine system is the body’s system of ductless glands that chromosomes
secrete hormones and release them directly to the bloodstream
→ DNA or Deoxyribonucleic acid is the substance that forms the
→ Hormone is a substance secreted by an endocrine gland that basic material of chromosomes; it takes the form of a double
regulates various body functions helix and contains the genetic cod
→ The pituitary gland and the hypothalamus work in close

cooperation; the pituitary gland lies below the hypothalamus
and is only about the size of a pea. It is also central to the body’s
functioning that it has been dubbed the “master gland”
→ The pituitary gland is the gland that secretes growth hormone,

prolactin, antidiuretic hormone, and other hormones
→ If the pituitary gland is considered as the “master gland”, the

hypothalamus is known to be the “commander”
→ The hypothalamus regulates much pituitary activity and secrets

a number of releasing hormones, or “factors” that stimulate the
pituitary gland to secrete related hormones
→ The pineal gland secretes the hormone melatonin which helps

regulate the sleep- wake cycle and may affect the onset of
puberty. Melatonin may also be connected with aging; also
appears to be a mild sedative
→ The thyroid gland can be considered as the body’s accelerator;

produces thyroxin which affects the body’s metabolism or the
rate at which the body uses oxygen and produces energy
→ The adrenal glands, located above the kidneys, have an outer

layer, or cortex, and an inner core, or medulla. The adrenal
cortex is regulated by the pituitary hormone ACTH
(adrenocorticotrophic hormone) and secretes hormones know
as cortical steroids or corticosteroids. These hormones regulate
the heartbeat, increase resistance to stress, promote muscle
development, and cause the liver to release stored sugar
making more energy available in emergencies, such as when
you see another car veering toward your own.
→ The testes and ovaries also produce steroids, among them

testosterone and estrogen.
CORTEZ GD 6
CHAPTER 3: SENSATION AND PERCEPTION Weber’s law helps explain why a person in a quiet room is more
The Nature of Sensation and Perception startled by the ringing of a cellphone than a person in an already
→ Sensation- refers to the stimulation of sensory receptors and noisy room. To produce the same amount of reaction in a noisy
the transmission of sensory information to the central nervous room, a cellphone ring would have to be set to a much higher level.
system (the spinal cord or brain) Similarly, when the moon is visible during the late afternoon, it
⎯ Also refers to activation of the sense organs by a appears relatively dim. On the other hand, the moon appears much
source of physical energy brighter when it is in the dark night sky.
→ Perception- refers to the process by which sensations are
organized into an inner representation of the world THE VISION
⎯ not mechanical; may begin with sensation, but it Vision starts with light, the physical energy that stimulates
also reflects our experiences and expectations as the eye. Light is a form of electromagnetic radiation waves that are
it makes sense of sensory stimuli measured in wavelengths. The sizes of wavelengths correspond to
⎯ refers to the sorting out, interpretation, analysis, different types of energy.
and integration of stimuli carried out by the sense
organs and brain The visual spectrum is the range of wavelengths that the
Remember: human eye can detect. As shown, the visible spectrum that humans
Basic function of sensation- detection of stimuli can see includes the wavelengths that make up the colors of a
Basic function of perception- interpretation of stimuli rainbow, from the shortest wavelength of violet blue to the longest
wavelength of red. Compared to nonhumans, the visual spectrum in
Stimulus is any passing source of physical energy that humans is relatively restricted. For instance, some reptiles and fish
produces a response in a sense organ. Stimuli vary in both type and sense energies of longer wavelengths than humans do, and certain
intensity. Different types of stimuli activate different sense organs. insects sense energies of shorter wavelengths than humans do.
For instance, we can differentiate light stimuli (which activate the
sense of sight and allow us to see the colors of a tree in autumn) from
sound stimuli (which, through the sense of hearing, permit us to hear
the sounds of an orchestra). In addition, stimuli differ in intensity,
relating to how strong a stimulus needs to be before it can be
detected.
Understanding Absolute Threshold

→ Absolute Threshold- refer to the weakest level of a stimulus
that is necessary to produce a sensation; the minimal amount The visual spectrum is the range of wavelengths to which
of energy that can produce a sensation people are sensitive; only a small part of the kinds of wavelengths
⎯ Also refers to the smallest intensity of a stimulus that presents in our environment.
must be present for it to be detected (Aazh & Light waves coming from some object outside the body are
Moore, 2007). sensed by the only organ that is capable of responding to the visible
⎯ It is good to note that absolute thresholds are not all spectrum: the EYE. Our eyes convert light to a form that can be used
that absolute; some people are more sensitive than by the neurons that serve as messengers to the brain. The neurons
others, and even the same person might have a themselves take up a relatively small percentage of the total eye.
slightly different response at different times Most of the eye is a mechanical device that is similar in many
respects to a nonelectronic camera that uses film.
Absolute Thresholds of the Senses:
The following are measures of the absolute thresholds for the
human sense of vision, hearing, taste, smell, and touch:
a. Vision- a candle flame viewed from about 30 miles on a
clear, dark night
b. Hearing- a watch ticking from about 20 feet away in a quiet
room
c. Taste- 1 teaspoon of sugar dissolved in 2 gallons of water
d. Smell- about one drop of perfume diffused throughout a
small house (1 part in 500 million)
e. Touch- the pressure of the wing of a fly falling on a cheek
from a distance of about 0.4 inch
Difference Thresholds
→ Difference Thresholds- refers to the minimum difference in Although human vision is far more complicated than the
intensity required between two sources of energy so that they most sophisticated camera, in some ways, basic visual processes are
will be perceived as being different analogous to those used in photography. Like the automatic lightning
system on a traditional, non-digital camera, the human eye dilates
Psychologists have discussed this comparison problem in to let in more light and contracts to block out light.
terms of the difference threshold, the smallest level of added or
reduced stimulation required to sense that a change in stimulation Despite the similarities between the eye and a camera,
has occurred. Thus, the difference threshold is the minimum change vision involves processes that are far more complex and
in stimulation required to detect the difference between two stimuli, sophisticated than those of any camera. Furthermore, once an
and so it also is called a just noticeable difference (Nittrouer & image reaches the neuronal receptors of the eye, the eye/camera
Lowenstein, 2007). analogy ends, for the processing of the visual image in the brain is
more reflective of a computer than it is of a camera.
The size of a stimulus that constitutes a just noticeable
difference depends on the initial intensity of the stimulus. The
relationship between changes in the original size of a stimulus and
the degree to which a change will be noticed forms one of the basic
laws of psychophysics: Weber’s law. Weber’s law (Weber is
pronounced “VAY-ber”) states that a just noticeable difference is a
constant proportion of the intensity of an initial stimulus (rather than
a constant amount).
CORTEZ GD 7
PARTS OF THE HUMAN EYE Illuminating the Structure of The Eye
The ray of light being reflected off the tree in (previous
image; the human eye with the camera on the side) first travels
through the cornea, a transparent, protective window. The cornea,
because of its curvature, bends (or refracts) light as it passes
through, playing a primary role in focusing the light more sharply.
After moving through the cornea, the light traverses the pupil. The
pupil is a dark hole in the center of the iris, the colored part of the
eye, which in humans ranges from a light blue to a dark brown. The
size of the pupil opening depends on the amount of light in the
environment. The dimmer the surroundings are, the more the pupil
opens to allow more light to enter.
Once light passes through the pupil, it enters the lens, which
is directly behind the pupil. The lens acts to bend the rays of light so
that they are properly focused on the rear of the eye. The lens
focuses light by changing its own thickness, a process called
Structure Functions accommodation: It becomes flatter when viewing distant objects
A thin fold of skin that covers and rounder when looking at closer objects.
the eyes. It protects eye from
Eyelid
foreign matter (dust, dirt, Reaching the Retina
debris) Having traveled through the pupil and lens, the image of
the tree finally reaches its ultimate destination in the eye: the retina.
Pupil Allows light to enter the eye
The retina is the part of the eye that converts the electromagnetic
Sclera Protects the eye energy of light to electrical impulses for transmission to the brain.
-Controls the size of the pupil Interestingly, as the image travels through the lens, it has
Iris -Controls the amount of light reversed itself. Consequently, the image reaches the retina upside
entering the eye down (relative to its original position). Although it might seem that
this reversal would cause difficulties in understanding and moving
about the world, this is not the case. The brain automatically
interprets the image in terms of its original position.
The retina consists of a thin layer of nerve cells at the back
of the eyeball. There are two kinds of light sensitive receptor cells in
the retina. The names they have been given describe their
shapes: rods and cones. Rods are thin, cylindrical receptor cells that
are highly sensitive to light. Cones are typically cone-shaped, light-
sensitive receptor cells that are responsible for sharp focus
and color perception, particularly in bright light. The rods and cones
are distributed unevenly throughout the retina. Cones are
concentrated on the part of the retina called the fovea. The fovea
is a particularly sensitive region of the retina. If you want to focus on
something of particular interest, you will automatically try to center
the image on the fovea to see it more sharply.
Structure Functions
Helps to focus light on the
Cornea
retina
It is the fluid produced by the
eye. It provides nutrition to the
Aqueous Humor
eye, as well as maintains the
eye in a pressurized state.
Lens Focuses light on the retina
Suspensory ligaments Hold the lens in place The rods and cones not only are structurally dissimilar but
Changes the thickness of the they also play distinctly different roles in vision. Cones are primarily
Ciliary Body
lens responsible for the sharply focused perception of color, particularly
-Helps to keep the eye ball firm in brightly lit situations; rods are related to vision in dimly lit situations
Vitreous Humor -Helps to focus light on the and are largely insensitive to color and to details as sharp as those
retina the cones are capable of recognizing. The rods play a key role in
-Detects light peripheral vision—seeing objects that are outside the main center of
Retina
-Produces nerve impulses focus—and in night vision. Rods and cones are also involved in dark
-Supplies food and oxygen to adaptation, the phenomenon of adjusting to dim light after being in
the eye brighter light. (Think of the experience of walking into a dark movie
Choroid
-Absorbs light and prevents theater and groping your way to a seat but a few minutes later
internal reflection of light seeing the seats quite clearly.) The speed at which dark adaptation
Send nerve impulses from the occurs is a result of the rate of change in the chemical composition
Optic Nerve
retina to the brain. of the rods and cones. Although the cones reach their greatest level
Detect images of objects of adaptation in just a few minutes, the rods take 20 to 30 minutes
Yellow Spot
formed on it to reach the maximum level. The opposite phenomenon—light
adaptation, or the process of adjusting to bright light after exposure
to dim light—occurs much faster, taking only a minute or so.
CORTEZ GD 8
Sending the Message from the Eye to the Brain area). Other ganglion cells are activated when there is darkness in
the center and light in the surrounding areas. The outcome of this
process is to maximize the detection of variations in light and
darkness. The image that is passed on to the brain, then, is an
enhanced version of the actual visual stimulus outside the body
(Lascaratos, Ji, & Wood, 2007; Grünert et al., 2011; Sanes & Masland,
2015).
The ultimate processing of visual images takes place in the
visual cortex of the brain, and it is here that the most complex kinds
of processing occur. Psychologists David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel
won the Nobel Prize in 1981 for their discovery of feature detectors.
Feature detectors are extraordinarily specialized neurons that are
activated only by visual stimuli having particular features, such as a
particular shape or pattern. For instance, som feature detectors are
When light energy strikes the rods and cones, it starts a activated only by lines of a particular width, shape, or orientation.
chain of events that transforms light into neural impulses that can be Other feature detectors are activated only by moving, as opposed
communicated to the brain. Even before the neural message to stationary, stimuli (Hubel & Wiesel, 2004; Pelli, Burns, & Farell,
reaches the brain, however, some initial coding of the visual 2006; Sebastiani, Castellani, & D’Alessandro, 2011). More recent work
information takes place. has added to our knowledge of the complex ways in which visual
information coming from individual neurons is combined and
What happens when light energy strikes the retina processed. Different parts of the brain process nerve impulses
depends in part on whether it encounters a rod or a cone. Rods simultaneously according to the attributes of the image. For instance,
contain rhodopsin, a complex reddish-purple protein whose one brain system processes shapes, one processes colors, and others
composition changes chemically when energized by light. The process movement, location, and depth. Furthermore, different parts
substance in cone receptors is different, but the principles are similar. of the brain are involved in the perception of specific kinds of stimuli,
Stimulation of the nerve cells in the eye triggers a neural response showing distinctions, for example, between the perception of human
that is transmitted to other nerve cells in the retina called bipolar faces, animals, and inanimate stimuli (Platek & Kemp, 2009;
cells and ganglion cells. Zvyagintsev et al., 2013; Stevens, 2015). If separate neural systems
Bipolar cells receive information directly from the rods and cones exist for processing information about specific aspects of the visual
and communicate that information to the ganglion cells. The world, how are all these data integrated by the brain? The brain
ganglion cells collect and summarize visual information, which is then makes use of information regarding the frequency, rhythm, and
moved out the back of the eyeball and sent to the brain through a timing of the firing of particular sets of neural cells. Furthermore, the
bundle of ganglion axons called the optic nerve. brain’s integration of visual information does not occur in any single
Because the opening for the optic nerve passes through the retina, step or location in the brain but rather is a process that occurs on
there are no rods or cones in the area, and that creates a blind spot. several levels simultaneously. The ultimate outcome, though, is
Normally, however, this absence of nerve cells does not interfere with indisputable: a vision of the world around us (Macaluso, Frith, &
vision because you automatically compensate for the missing part Driver, 2000; Werner, Pinna, & Spillmann, 2007).
of your field of vision
Once beyond the eye itself, the neural impulses relating to Color Blindness
the image move through the optic nerve. As the optic nerve leaves → Trichromats- people who are able to discriminate among
the eyeball, its path does not take the most direct route to the part the colors of the visible spectrum; known as normal color
of the brain right behind the eye. Instead, the optic nerves from each vision - A trichromat is sensitive to green, blue, yellow and
eye meet at a point roughly between the two eyes—called the optic light – dark
chiasm (pronounced KI-asm)—where each optic nerve then splits.
→ Monochromats- people who are totally color-blind; sensitive
Processing the Visual Message only to lightness and darkness - Total color blindness is rare
- Fully color-blind individuals see the world as trichromats
would in a blackand-white movie
→ Dichromats- partially color-blind people; sex-linked traits

that affects mostly males; can only discriminate between
two colors- red and green or blue and yellow- and the colors
that are derived from mixing these colors
Because the optic nerve coming from the eye splits at the
optic chiasm, the image to a person’s right eye is sent to the left side
of the brain and the image to the person’s left is transmitted to the
right side of the brain.
By the time a visual message reaches the brain, it has

passed through several stages of processing. One of the initial sites
is the ganglion cells. Each ganglion cell gathers information from a
group of rods and cones in a particular area of the eye and
compares the amount of light entering the center of that area with
the amount of light in the area around it. Some ganglion cells are
activated by light in the center (and darkness in the surrounding
CORTEZ GD 9
HEARING AND OTHER SENSES
These cycles are visible to the naked eye as vibrations in

the speaker. Low frequencies are translated into a sound that is very
low in pitch. (Pitch is the characteristic that makes sound seem
“high” or “low.”) For example, the lowest frequency that humans
are capable of hearing is 20 cycles per second. Higher frequencies
are heard as sounds of higher pitch. At the upper end of the sound
spectrum, people can detect sounds with frequencies as high as
20,000 cycles per second.
Amplitude is a feature of wave patterns that allows us to
distinguish between loud and soft sounds. Amplitude is the spread
Sensing Sound - Although many of us think primarily of the
between the up-and-down peaks and valleys of air pressure in a
outer ear when we speak of the ear, that structure is only one simple
sound wave as it travels through the air. Waves with small peaks and
part of the whole. The outer ear acts as a reverse megaphone,
valleys produce soft sounds; those with relatively large peaks and
designed to collect and bring sounds into the internal portions of the
valleys produce loud sounds. We are sensitive to broad variations in
ear. The location of the outer ears on different sides of the head helps
sound amplitudes. The strongest sounds we are capable of hearing
with sound localization, the process by which we identify the direction
are over a trillion times as intense as the very weakest sound we can
from which a sound is coming.
hear. This range is measured in decibels. When sounds get higher
Wave patterns in the air enter each ear at a slightly
than 120 decibels, they become painful to the human ear. Our
different time, and the brain uses the discrepancy as a clue to the
sensitivity to different frequencies changes as we age. For instance,
sound’s point of origin. In addition, the two outer ears delay or
as we get older, the range of frequencies we can detect declines,
amplify sounds of particular frequencies to different degrees
particularly for high-pitched sounds
(Schnupp, Nelken, & King, 2011).
Sound is the movement of air molecules brought about by
Sorting Out Theories of Sound
a source of vibration. Sounds travel through the air in wave patterns
How are our brains able to sort out wavelengths of different
similar in shape to those made in water when a stone is thrown into
frequencies and intensities? One clue comes from studies of the
a still pond. Sounds, arriving at the outer ear in the form of wavelike
basilar membrane, the area in the cochlea that translates physical
vibrations, are funneled into the auditory canal, a tube-like passage
vibrations into neural impulses. It turns out that sounds affect
that leads to the eardrum. The eardrum is the part of the ear that
different areas of the basilar membrane, depending on the
vibrates when sound waves hit it. The more intense the sound, the
frequency of the sound wave. The part of the basilar membrane
more the eardrum vibrates. These vibrations are then transferred
nearest to the oval window is most sensitive to high-frequency
into the middle ear, a tiny chamber containing three bones (the
sounds, and the part nearest to the cochlea’s inner end is most
hammer, the anvil, and the stirrup) that transmit vibrations to the
sensitive to low-frequency sounds. This finding has led to the place
oval window, a thin membrane leading to the inner ear.
theory of hearing, which states that different areas of the basilar
The inner ear is the portion of the ear that changes the
membrane respond to different frequencies.
sound vibrations into a form in which they can be transmitted to the
However, place theory does not tell the full story of hearing,
brain. Inside the cochlea is the basilar membrane, a structure that
because very low frequency sounds trigger neurons across such a
runs through the center of the cochlea, dividing it into an upper
wide area of the basilar membrane that no single site is involved.
chamber and a lower chamber. The basilar membrane is covered
Consequently, an additional explanation for hearing has been
with hair cells. When the hair cells are bent by the vibrations entering
proposed: frequency theory. The frequency theory of hearing
the cochlea, the cells send a neural message to the brain (Cho, 2000;
suggests that the entire basilar membrane acts as a microphone,
Zhou, Liu, & Davis, 2005; Møller, 2011).
vibrating as a whole in response to a sound. According to this
explanation, the nerve receptors send out signals that are tied
The Physical Aspects of Sound
directly to the frequency (the number of wave crests per second) of
What we refer to as sound is actually the physical
the sounds to which we are exposed, with the number of nerve
movement of air molecules in regular, wavelike patterns caused by
impulses being a direct function of a sound’s frequency. Thus, the
a vibrating source. Sometimes it is even possible to see these
higher the pitch of a sound (and therefore the greater the frequency
vibrations. If you have ever seen an audio speaker that has no
of its wave crests), the greater the number of nerve impulses that
enclosure, you know that, at least when the lowest notes are playing,
are transmitted up the auditory nerve to the brain. Neither place
you can see the speaker moving in and out. Less obvious is what
theory nor frequency theory provides the full explanation for hearing.
happens next: The speaker pushes air molecules into waves with the
Place theory provides a better explanation for the sensing of high-
same pattern as its movement. Those wave patterns soon reach
frequency sounds, whereas frequency theory explains what happens
your ear, although their strength has been weakened considerably
when low-frequency sounds are encountered. Mediumfrequency
during their travels. All other sources that produce sound work in
sounds incorporate both processes (Hirsh & Watson, 1996; Hudspeth,
essentially the same fashion, setting off wave patterns that move
2000).
through the air to the ear. Air—or some other medium, such as
After an auditory message leaves the ear, it is transmitted
water—is necessary to make the vibrations of objects reach us. This
to the auditory cortex of the brain through a complex series of neural
explains why there can be no sound in a vacuum.
interconnections. As the message is transmitted, it is communicated
We are able to see the audio speaker moving when low
through neurons that respond to specific types of sounds. Within the
notes are played because of a primary characteristic of sound called
auditory cortex itself, there are neurons that respond selectively to
frequency. Frequency is the number of wave cycles that occur in a
very specific sorts of sound features, such as clicks and whistles.
second. At very low frequencies there are relatively few wave cycles
Some neurons respond only to a specific pattern of sounds, such as
per second.
a steady tone but not an intermittent one. Furthermore, specific
neurons transfer information about a sound’s location through their
particular pattern of firing (Wang et al., 2005; Alho et al., 2006;
Romero Guevara et al., 2015).
CORTEZ GD 10
THE SENSE OF SMELL taste. Supertasters (who, for unknown reasons, are more likely to be
female than male) find sweets sweeter, cream creamier, and spicy
dishes spicier, and weaker concentrations of flavor are enough to
satisfy any cravings they may have (Bartoshuk, 2000; Snyder, Fast,
& Bartoshuk, 2004; Pickering & Gordon, 2006).
THE SKIN SENSES: TOUCH, PRESSURE, TEMPERATURE AND PAIN

Pain can be devastating, yet a lack of pain can be equally
bad. If you never experience pain, for instance, you might not notice
that your arm had brushed against a hot pan, and you would suffer
a severe burn. Similarly, without the warning sign of abdominal pain
that typically accompanies an inflamed appendix, your appendix
might eventually rupture, spreading a fatal infection throughout your
body. Pain has other benefits, as well. Pain helps us better appreciate
pleasurable experiences. It also may lead us to affiliate more closely
with others, by arousing their empathy. And pain may lead us to be
more vigilant about our surroundings as we seek to avoid or
moderate pain we are experiencing (Bastian et al., 2014).
In fact, all our skin senses—touch, pressure, temperature,
and pain—play a critical role in survival, making us aware of
Although many animals have keener abilities to detect potential danger to our bodies. Most of these senses operate through
odors than we do, the human sense of smell (olfaction) permits us to nerve receptor cells located at various depths throughout the skin,
detect more than 10,000 separate smells. We also have a good distributed unevenly throughout the body. For example, some areas,
memory for smells, and long-forgotten events and memories—good such as the fingertips, have many more receptor cells sensitive to
and bad—can be brought back with the mere whiff of an odor touch and as a consequence are notably more sensitive than other
associated with a memory (Willander & Larsson, 2006; Schroers, areas of the body (Gardner & Kandel, 2000).
Prigot, & Fagen, 2007; Arshamian et al., 2013). Skin sensitivity in various areas of the body. The lower the
The sense of smell is sparked when the molecules of a average threshold is, the more sensitive a body part is. The fingers
substance enter the nasal passages and meet olfactory cells, the and thumb, lips, nose, cheeks, and big toe are the most sensitive.
receptor neurons of the nose, which are spread across the nasal Probably the most extensively researched skin sense is pain. Pain is
cavity. Smell may also act as a hidden means of communication for a response to a great variety of different kinds of stimuli. A light that
humans. It has long been known that nonhumans release is too bright can produce pain, and sound that is too loud can be
pheromones, chemicals they secrete into the environment that painful. There are also multiple forms of pain; even itching can be
produce a social response in other members of the same species. considered a form of pain.
Pheromones transmit messages such as alarm (“danger— One explanation for pain is that it is an outcome of cell
predators are close by!”). The degree to which pheromones are part injury; when a cell is damaged, regardless of the source of damage,
of the human experience remains an open question. Some it releases a chemical called substance P that transmits pain
psychologists believe that human pheromones affect emotional messages to the brain.
responses, although the evidence is inconclusive. For one thing, it is According to the gate-control theory of pain, particular
not clear what specific sense organ is receptive to pheromones. In nerve receptors in the spinal cord lead to specific areas of the brain
nonhumans, it is the vomeronasal organ in the nose, but in humans related to pain. When these receptors are activated because of an
the organ appears to recede during fetal development (Haviland injury or problem with a part of the body, a “gate” to the brain is
Jones & Wilson, 2008; Hummer & McClintock, 2009; Gelstein et al., opened, allowing us to experience the sensation of pain (Melzack &
2011). Katz, 2004; Vasudeva et al., 2015).
However, another set of neural receptors can, when
SENSE OF TASTE stimulated, close the “gate” to the brain, thereby reducing the
The sense of taste (gustation) involves receptor cells that experience of pain. The gate can be shut in two different ways. First,
respond to four basic stimulus qualities: sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. other impulses can overwhelm the nerve pathways relating to pain,
A fifth category also exists, a flavor called umami, although there is which are spread throughout the brain. In this case, nonpainful
controversy about whether it qualifies as a fundamental taste. stimuli compete with and sometimes displace the neural message of
Umami is a hardto-translate Japanese word, although the English pain, thereby shutting off the painful stimulus. This explains why
“meaty” or “savory” comes close. Chemically, umami involves food rubbing the skin around an injury (or even listening to distracting
stimuli that contain amino acids (the substances that make up music) helps reduce pain. The competing stimuli can overpower the
painful ones (Villemure, Slotnick, & Bushnell, 2003; Somers et al.,
2011).
Psychological factors account for the second way a gate
can be shut. Depending on an individual’s current emotions,
interpretation of events, and previous experience, the brain can close
a gate by sending a message down the spinal cord to an injured
area, producing a reduction in or relief from pain. Thus, soldiers who
are injured in battle may experience no pain—the surprising
situation in more than half of all combat injuries. The lack of pain
probably occurs because a soldier experiences such relief at still
being alive that the brain sends a signal to the injury site to shut down
the pain gate (Gatchel & Weisberg, 2000; Pincus & Morley, 2001).
proteins) (McCabe & Rolls, 2007; Erickson, 2008; Nakamura et al., Gate-control theory suggests that the lack of pain is due to a
2011). The receptor cells for taste are located in roughly 10,000 taste message from the participant’s brain, which shuts down the pain
buds, which are distributed across the tongue and other parts of the pathways. Gate-control theory also may explain the effectiveness of
mouth and throat. The taste buds wear out and are replaced every acupuncture, an ancient Chinese technique in which sharp needles
10 days or so. That’s a good thing, because if our taste buds weren’t are inserted into various parts of the body. The sensation from the
constantly reproducing, we’d lose the ability to taste after we’d needles may close the gateway to the brain, reducing the experience
accidentally burned our tongues. of pain. It is also possible that the body’s own painkillers— called
The sense of taste differs significantly from one person to endorphins—as well as positive and negative emotions, play a role
another, largely as a result of genetic factors. Some people, dubbed
“supertasters,” are highly sensitive to taste; they have twice as many
taste receptors as “nontasters,” who are relatively insensitive to
CORTEZ GD 11
in opening and closing the gate (Fee et al., 2002; Witt, Jena, &
Brinkhaus, 2006; Cabioglu, Ergene, & Tan, 2007).
Although the basic ideas behind gatecontrol theory have
been supported by research, other processes are involved in the
perception of pain. For instance, it appears that there are multiple
neural pathways involved in the experience of pain. Furthermore, it
is clear that the suppression of pain can occur through the natural
release of endorphins and other compounds that produce a
reduction of discomfort and a sense of well-being (Grahek, 2007).
How Our Senses Interact

It’s important, then, to think of our senses as interacting
with one another. For instance, brain imaging studies show that the
senses work in tandem to build our understanding of the world
around us. We engage in multimodal perception, in which the brain
collects the information from the individual sensory systems and
integrates and coordinates it (Macaluso & Driver, 2005; Paulmann,
Jessen, & Kotz, 2009). In short, in some ways our senses are more
similar to one another than different. Each of them is designed to
pick up information from the environment and translate it into
useable information. Furthermore, individually and collectively, our
senses help us to understand the complexities of the world around
us, allowing us to navigate through the world effectively and
intelligently inside corner must therefore be longer.
CORTEZ GD 12
TOPIC OUTLINE Chapter 6 Memory: Remembrance of Things, Past and Future
Chapter 4 Consciousness → Understanding The Nature of Memory
→ The Nature of Consciousness • Encoding, Storage, and Retrieval
→ Sleeps and Dreams → Sensory Memory
→ REM Sleep: The Paradox of Sleep → Short-term Memory
→ Why do we sleep, and How Much Sleep is Necessary? → Rehearsal
→ The Function and Meaning of Dreaming → Working Memory
→ Psychoanalytic Explanations of Dreams: Do Dreams → Long-term Memory
Represent Unconscious Wish Fulfillment? • Long-term Memory Modules
→ Evolutionary Explanations of Dreams: Dreams-For- ➢ Declarative Memory
Survival Theory ▪ Semantic Memory
→ Neuroscience Explanations of Dreams: Activation- ▪ Episodic Memory
Synthesis Theory ➢ Procedural Memory
→ Hypnosis → Semantic Networks
• A Trance-Forming Experience? → The Neuroscience of Memory
• A Different State of Consciousness? → Recalling Long-Term Memories
• The Value of Hypnosis → Retrieval Cues
→ Meditation: Regulating Our Own State of Consciousness → Levels of Processing
→ Drug Use: The Highs and Lows of Consciousness → Explicit and Implicit Memory
• Addictive Drugs → Flashbulb Memories
→ Stimulants: Drug Highs → Constructive Processes in Memory: Rebuilding the Past
• Caffeine → Autobiographical Memory: Where Past Meets Present
• Nicotine
→ Amphetamines Chapter 7 Thinking Language and Intelligence
• Methamphetamine → Understanding Thinking, Language and Intelligence
→ Cocaine → Thinking
→ Depressants: Drug Lows • Mental Images: Examining the Mind’s Eye
• Alcohol • Concepts: Categorizing the World
• Barbiturates • Algorithm and Heuristics
• Rohypnol • Solving Problems
→ Narcotics: Relieving Pain and Anxiety → Preparation: Understanding and Diagnosing Problems
→ Hallucinogens: Psychedelic Drugs • Kinds of Problems
• Marijuana → Production: Generating Solutions
• MDMA (Ecstasy or Molly) And LSD • Forming Subgoals: Dividing Problems into Their
→ Psychoactive Drugs and Their Effects Parts
• Insight: Sudden Awareness
Chapter 5 Learning → Judgement: Evaluating Solutions
→ Understanding Learning, experience and Change • Creativity and Problem Solving
→ Classical Conditioning → Language
→ The Basics of Classical Conditioning • Grammar: Language’s Language
• Neutral Stimulus • Language Development: Developing a Way
• Unconditioned Stimulus with Words
• Unconditioned Response • Understanding Language Acquisition:
• Conditioned Stimulus Identifying the Roots of Language
• Conditioned Response • Learning-Theory Approaches: language as a
• To Sum Up! Learned Skill
→ Applying Conditioning Principles to Human Behavior • Nativist Approaches: Language as an Innate
→ Extinction Skill
→ Generalization and Discrimination • Interactionist Approaches
• Stimulus generalization • Do Animals Use Language?
• Stimulus discrimination → Intelligence
→ Operant Conditioning • Theories of Intelligence: Are There Different
→ Thorndike’s Law of Effect Kinds of Intelligence?
→ The Basics of Operant Conditioning • Fluid and Crystallized Intelligence
→ Reinforcement: The Central Concept of Operant • Gardener’s Multiple Intelligences: The Many
Conditioning Ways of Showing Intelligence
→ Positive Reinforcers, Negative Reinforcers, and
Punishment
→ Schedules of Reinforcement: Timing Life’s Rewards
A. Fixed-and Variable-Ratio Schedules
B. Fixed-and Variable-Interval Schedules: The
Passage of Time
C. Comparing Classical and Operant Conditioning
→ Cognitive Approaches to Learning
A. Latent Learning
B. Observational Learning: Learning Through
Imitation
CORTEZ GD 13
CHAPTER 4 CONSCIOUSNESS which are collectively labeled non-REM (or NREM) sleep. REM sleep
occupies a little more than 20% of adults’ total sleeping time.
THE NATURE OF CNSCIOUSNESS
Consciousness- a concept with many meanings, including sensory Paradoxically, while all this activity is occurring, the major
awareness of the world outside, direct inner awareness of one’s muscles of the body appear to be paralyzed. In addition, and most
thoughts and feelings, personal unity and the waking state important, REM sleep is usually accompanied by dreams, which—
✓ the awareness of the sensations, thoughts, and feelings we whether or not people remember them—are experienced by
experience at a given everyone during some part of their night’s sleep. Although some
moment dreaming occurs in non-REM stages of sleep, dreams are most likely
✓ Consciousness is our subjective understanding of both the to occur in the REM period, where they are the most vivid and easily
environment around us remembered (Conduit, Crewther, & Coleman, 2004; Lu et al., 2006;
and our private internal world, unobservable to outsiders Leclair-Visonneau et al., 2011; Manni & Terzaghi, 2013).
SLEEPS AND DREAMS WHY DO WE SLEEP, AND HOW MUCH SLEEP IS NECESSARY?
The Stages of Sleep Sleep is a requirement for normal human functioning. It
Most of us consider sleep a time of tranquility when we set certainly is reasonable to expect that our bodies would require a
aside the tensions of the day and spend the night in uneventful tranquil “rest and relaxation” period to revitalize themselves, and
slumber. However, a closer look at sleep shows that a good deal of experiments with rats show that total sleep deprivation results in
activity occurs throughout the night. Measures of electrical activity in death. But why?
the brain show that the brain is quite active during the night. One explanation, based on an evolutionary perspective,
People progress through a series of distinct stages of sleep during a suggests that sleep permitted our ancestors to conserve energy at
night’s rest— known as stage 1 through stage 4 and REM sleep— night, a time when food was relatively hard to come by.
moving through the stages in cycles lasting about 90 minutes. Each Consequently, they were better able to forage for food when the sun
of these sleep stages is associated with a unique pattern of brain was up. A second explanation for why we sleep is that sleep restores
waves. and replenishes our brains and bodies. Finally, sleep may be essential
because it assists physical growth and brain development in
children. For example, the release of growth hormones is associated
with deep sleep (Peterfi et al., 2010).
Still, these explanations remain speculative, and there is no
definitive answer as to why sleep is essential. What is increasingly
clear is that sleep serves multiple functions, and that without sleep,
we will eventually die (Stickgold, 2015).
Furthermore, scientists have been unable to establish just
how much sleep is absolutely required. Most people today sleep
between 7 and 8 hours each night, which is 3 hours a night less than
people slept a hundred years ago. Still, survey data shows that for
most people, the more sleep they get, the greater their sense of well-
being (McCarthy & Brown, 2015).
Men and women sleep differently. Women typically fall
Brain-wave patterns (measured by an EEG apparatus) asleep more quickly, sleep for longer periods and more deeply than
vary significantly during the different stages of sleep (adapted from men do, and they get up fewer times in the night. On the other hand,
Hobson, 1989). As sleep moves from stage 1 through stage 4, brain men have fewer concerns about the amount of sleep they get than
waves become slower. During REM sleep, however, the fast wave women do, even though they get less sleep. Furthermore, sleep
patterns are similar to relaxed wakefulness requirements vary over the course of a lifetime: As they age, people
generally, need less and less sleep (Monk et al., 2011; Petersen, 2011).
When people first go to sleep, they move from a waking People who participate in sleep deprivation experiments,
state in which they are relaxed with their eyes closed into stage 1 in which they are kept awake for stretches as long as 200 hours,
sleep, which is characterized by relatively rapid, low-amplitude brain show no lasting effects. It’s no fun—they feel weary and irritable,
waves. This is actually a stage of transition between wakefulness and can’t concentrate, and show a loss of creativity, even after only minor
sleep and lasts only a few minutes. During stage 1, images sometimes deprivation. They also show a decline in logical reasoning ability.
appear, as if we were viewing still photos, although this is not true However, after being allowed to sleep normally, they bounce back
dreaming, which occurs later in the night. quickly and are able to perform at predeprivation levels after just a
few days (Mograss et al., 2009; Jackson et al., 2013; Maturana et al.,
As sleep becomes deeper, people enter stage 2 sleep, 2015). In short, as far as we know, most people suffer no permanent
which makes up about half of the total sleep of those in their early consequences of such temporary sleep deprivation. But— and this is
20s and is characterized by a slower, more regular wave pattern. an important but—a lack of sleep can make us feel edgy, slow our
However, there are also momentary interruptions of sharply pointed, reaction time, and lower our performance on academic and physical
spiky waves that are called, because of their configuration, sleep tasks.
spindles. It becomes increasingly difficult to awaken a person from
sleep as stage 2 progresses. THE FUNCTION AND MEANING OF DREAMING
“I was being chased, and I couldn’t get away. My attacker,
As people drift into stage 3 sleep, the brain waves become wearing a mask, was carrying a long knife. He was gaining ground on
slower, with higher peaks and lower valleys in the wave pattern. By me. I felt it was hopeless; I knew I was about to be killed.”
the time sleepers arrive at stage 4 sleep, the pattern is even slower If you have had a similar dream, you know how utterly
and more regular, and people are least responsive to outside convincing are the panic and fear that the events in the dream can
stimulation. bring about. Nightmares, unusually frightening dreams, occur fairly
often. Most of the 150,000 dreams the average person experiences
REM SLEEP: THE PARADOX OF SLEEP by the age of 70 are much less dramatic. They typically encompass
Several times a night, when sleepers have cycled back to a everyday events such as going to the supermarket, working at the
shallower state of sleep, something curious happens. Their heart rate office, and preparing a meal. Students dream about going to class;
increases and becomes irregular, their blood pressure rises, and their professors dream about lecturing. Dental patients dream of getting
breathing rate increases. Most characteristic of this period is the their teeth drilled; dentists dream of drilling the wrong tooth. But
back-and-forth movement of their eyes, as if they were watching an what, if anything, do all these dreams mean? Whether dreams have
action-filled movie. This period of sleep is called rapid eye a specific significance and function is a question that scientists have
movement, or REM sleep, and it contrasts with stages 1 through 4, considered for many years, and they have developed the three
alternative theories.
CORTEZ GD 14
PSYCHOANALYTIC EXPLANATIONS OF DREAMS: DOD REAMS NEUROSCIENCE EXPLANATIONS OF DREAMS: ACTIVATION-
REPRESENTS UNCOSNCIOUS WISH FULFILLMENT? SYNTHESIS THEORY
Using psychoanalytic theory, Sigmund Freud viewed Using the neuroscience perspective, psychiatrist J. Allan
dreams as a guide to the unconscious (Freud, 1900). In his Hobson has proposed the activation-synthesis theory of dreams. The
unconscious wish fulfillment theory, he proposed that dreams activation-synthesis theory focuses on the random electrical energy
represent unconscious wishes that dreamers desire to see fulfilled. that the brain produces during REM sleep, possibly as a result of
To Freud, the manifest content of the dream is what we changes in the production of particular neurotransmitters. This
remember and report about the dream— its storyline. The manifest electrical energy randomly stimulates memories stored in the brain.
content, however, disguises the latent content, which includes the Because we have a need to make sense of our world even while
actual, underlying wishes that the dream represents. Because the asleep, the brain takes these chaotic memories and weaves them
underlying wishes (the latent content) are threatening to the into a logical story line, filling in the gaps to produce a rational
dreamer, they are hidden in the dream’s storyline (the manifest scenario (Hobson, 2005; Hangya et al., 2011).
content). To Freud, it was important to pierce the armor of a dream’s Activation-synthesis theory has been refined by the
manifest content to understand its true meaning. To do this, Freud activation information modulation (AIM) theory. According to AIM,
tried to get people to discuss their dreams, associating symbols in dreams are initiated in the brain’s pons, which sends random signals
the dreams with events in the past. He also suggested that certain to the cortex. Areas of the cortex that are involved in particular
common symbols with universal meanings appear in dreams. For waking behaviors are related to the content of dreams. For example,
example, to Freud, dreams in which a person is flying symbolize a areas of the brain related to vision are involved in the visual aspects
wish for sexual intercourse. Many psychologists reject Freud’s view of the dream, while areas of the brain related to movement are
that dreams typically represent unconscious wishes and that involved in aspects of the dream related to motion (Hobson, 2007).
particular objects and events in a dream are symbolic. Rather, they Activation-synthesis and AIM theories do not entirely reject
believe that the direct, overt action of a dream is the focal point of the view that dreams reflect unconscious wishes. They suggest that
its meaning. For example, a dream in which we are walking down a the particular scenario a dreamer produces is not random but
long hallway to take an exam for which we haven’t studied does not instead is a clue to the dreamer’s fears, emotions, and concerns.
relate to unconscious, unacceptable wishes. Instead, it simply may Hence, what starts out as a random process culminates in something
mean that we are concerned about an impending test. Even more meaningful.
complex dreams can often be interpreted in terms of everyday
concerns and stress (Picchioni et al., 2002; Cartwright, Agargum, & Is Meaning of
Meaning Of
Kirkby, 2006). Theory Basic Explanation Dream
Dreams
Moreover, some dreams reflect events occurring in the Disguised?
dreamer’s environment as he or she is sleeping. For example,
Fulfillment Theory (Freud)
sleeping participants in one experiment were sprayed with water

while they were dreaming. Those unlucky volunteers reported more
Unconscious wish
Psychoanalytical
dreams involving water than did a comparison group of participants Latent
explanation where Yes, by
who were left to sleep undisturbed (Dement & Wolpert, 1958). content
dreams represent manifest
Similarly, it is not unusual to wake up to find that the doorbell that reveals
unconscious wishes content or
was heard ringing in a dream is actually an alarm clock telling us it is unconscious
the dreamer wants dreams
time to get up. wishes
to fulfill
EVOLUTIONARY EXPLANATIONS OF DREAMS: DREAMS-FOR-

SURVIVAL THEORY
According to the dreamsfor-survival theory, which is based
in the evolutionary perspective, dreams permit us to reconsider and
Dreams-for-survival
Evolutionary
reprocess during sleep information that is critical for our daily Clues to
explanation where
survival. Dreaming is considered an inheritance from our animal everyday
Theory
information relevant Not

ancestors, whose small brains were unable to sift sufficient concerns
to daily survival is necessarily
information during waking hours. Consequently, dreaming provided about survival
reconsidered and
a mechanism that permitted the processing of information 24 hours
reprocessed.
a day.
In the dreams-for-survival theory, dreams represent
concerns about our daily lives, illustrating our uncertainties,
indecisions, ideas, and desires. Dreams are seen, then, as consistent
with everyday living. Rather than being disguised wishes, as Freud Neuroscience
Activation-synthesis
suggested, they represent key concerns growing out of our daily explanation where Dream
experiences (Ross, 2006; Horton, 2011). dreams are the scenario that
Theory
Research supports the dreams-for-survival theory, result of random is constructed Not

suggesting that certain dreams permit people to focus on and to activation of various is related to necessarily
consolidate memories, particularly dreams that pertain to “how-to- memories, which are dreamer’s
do-it” memories related to motor skills. For example, rats seem to tied together in a concerns
dream about mazes that they learned to run through during the day, logical story line.
at least according to the patterns of brain activity that appear while
they are sleeping (Stickgold et al., 2001; Kuriyama, Stickgold, &
Walker, 2004; Smith, 2006). HYPNOSIS AND MEDITATION
A similar phenomenon appears to work in humans. For Hypnosis: A Trance-Forming Experience?
instance, in one experiment, participants learned a visual memory People under hypnosis are in a trancelike state of
task late in the day. They were then sent to bed, but awakened at heightened susceptibility to the suggestions of others. In some
certain times during the night. When they were awakened at times respects, it appears that they are asleep. Yet other aspects of their
that did not interrupt dreaming, their performance on the memory behavior contradict this notion, for people are attentive to the
task typically improved the next day. But when they were awakened hypnotist’s suggestions and may carry out bizarre or silly
during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep—the stage of sleep when suggestions. How is someone hypnotized? Typically, the process
people dream—their performance declined. The implication is that follows a series of four steps. First, a person is made comfortable in
dreaming, at least when it is uninterrupted, can play a role in helping a quiet environment. Second, the hypnotist explains what is going to
us remember material to which we have been previously exposed happen, such as telling the person that he or she will experience a
(Marshall & Born, 2007; Nishida et al., 2009; Blechner, 2013). pleasant, relaxed state. Third, the hypnotist tells the person to
concentrate on a specific object or image, such as the hypnotist’s
moving finger or an image of a calm lake.
CORTEZ GD 15
The hypnotist may have the person concentrate on • Treating psychological disorders. Hypnosis sometimes is used
relaxing different parts of the body, such as the arms, legs, and chest. during treatment for psychological disorders. For example, it
Fourth, once the subject is in a highly relaxed state, the hypnotist may may be employed to heighten relaxation, reduce anxiety,
make suggestions that the person interprets as being produced by increase expectations of success, or modify self-defeating
hypnosis, such as “Your arms are getting heavy” and “Your eyelids thoughts (Iglesias, 2005; Golden, 2006; Etzrodt, 2013).
are more difficult to open.” Because the person begins to experience • Assisting in law enforcement. Witnesses and victims are
these sensations, he or she believes they are caused by the hypnotist sometimes better able to recall the details of a crime when
and becomes susceptible to the suggestions of the hypnotist. hypnotized. On the other hand, hypnotic recollections may also
Despite their compliance when hypnotized, people do not be inaccurate.
lose all will of their own. They will not perform antisocial behaviors, • Improving athletic performance. Athletes sometimes turn to
and they will not carry out self-destructive acts. People will not reveal hypnosis to improve their performance. For example, some
hidden truths about themselves, and they are capable of lying. baseball players have used hypnotism to increase their
Moreover, people cannot be hypnotized against their will—despite concentration when batting, with considerable success
popular misconceptions (Raz, 2007; Lynn, Laurence, & Kirsch, 2015). (Lindsay, Maynard, & Thomas, 2005; Barker & Jones, 2008;
People who are readily hypnotized are also easily Tramontana, 2011).
absorbed while reading books or listening to music, becoming
unaware of what is happening around them, and they often spend Meditation: Regulating Our Own State of Consciousness
an unusual amount of time daydreaming. In sum, then, they show a Meditation is a learned technique for refocusing attention
high ability to concentrate and to become completely absorbed in that brings about an altered state of consciousness. Meditation
what they are doing (Kirsch & Braffman, 2001; Rubichi et al., 2005; typically consists of the repetition of a mantra—a sound, word, or
Benham, Woody, & Wilson, 2006). syllable—over and over. In some forms of meditation, the focus is on
a picture, flame, or specific part of the body. Regardless of the nature
A Different State of Consciousness? of the particular initial stimulus, the key to the procedure is
The question of whether hypnosis is a state of concentrating on it so thoroughly that the meditator becomes
consciousness that is qualitatively different from normal waking unaware of any outside stimulation and reaches a different state of
consciousness is controversial. Some psychologists believe that consciousness.
hypnosis represents a state of consciousness that differs significantly After meditation, people report feeling thoroughly relaxed.
from other states. They sometimes relate that they have gained new insights into
In this view, high suggestibility, increased ability to recall themselves and the problems they are facing. The long-term
and construct images, and acceptance of suggestions that clearly practice of meditation may even improve health because of the
contradict reality suggest it is a different state. In this view, hypnosis biological changes it produces. For example, during meditation,
represents a state of divided consciousness. According to famed oxygen usage decreases, heart rate and blood pressure decline, and
hypnosis researcher Ernest Hilgard, hypnosis brings about a brain-wave patterns change (Lee, Kleinman, & Kleinman, 2007;
dissociation, or division, of consciousness into two simultaneous Travis et al., 2009; Steinhubl et al., 2015).
components. In one stream of consciousness, hypnotized people are Anyone can meditate by following a few simple
following the commands of the hypnotist. Yet on another level of procedures. The fundamentals include sitting in a quiet room with
consciousness, they are acting as “hidden observers,” aware of what the eyes closed, breathing deeply and rhythmically, and repeating a
is happening to them. For instance, hypnotic subjects may appear to word or sound—such as the word one—over and over. Practiced
be following the hypnotist’s suggestion about feeling no pain, yet in twice a day for 20 minutes, the technique is effective in bringing
another stream of consciousness they may be actually aware of the about relaxation.
pain.
On the other side of the controversy are psychologists who DRUG USE: THE HIGHS AND LOWS OF CONSCIOUSNESS
reject the notion that hypnosis is a state significantly different from Drugs of one sort or another are a part of almost
normal waking consciousness. They argue that altered brainwave everyone’s life. From infancy on, most people take vitamins, aspirin,
patterns are not sufficient to demonstrate a qualitative difference, cold-relief medicine. However, these drugs rarely produce an altered
because no other specific physiological changes occur when people state of consciousness. In contrast, some substances, known as
are in trances. Furthermore, little support exists for the contention psychoactive drugs, lead to an altered state of consciousness.
that adults can recall memories of childhood events accurately while Psychoactive drugs influence a person’s emotions, perceptions, and
hypnotized. That lack of evidence suggests that there is nothing behavior. Yet even this category of drugs is common in most of our
qualitatively special about the hypnotic trance (Hongchun & Ming, lives. If you have ever had a cup of coffee or sipped a beer, you have
2006; Wagstaff, 2009; Wagstaff, Wheatcroft, & Jones, 2011). In this taken a psychoactive drug.
view, hypnosis is neither a totally different state of consciousness nor Of course, drugs vary widely in the effects they have on
totally similar to normal waking consciousness (Lynn et al., 2000; users, in part because they affect the nervous system in very
Kihlstrom, 2005b; Jamieson, 2007). different ways. Some drugs alter the limbic system, and others affect
the operation of specific neurotransmitters across the synapses of
The Value of Hypnosis neurons. For example, some drugs block or enhance the release of
As arguments about the true nature of hypnosis continue, though, neurotransmitters, others block the receipt or the removal of a
one thing is clear: Hypnosis has been used successfully to solve neurotransmitter, and still others mimic the effects of a particular
practical human problems. In fact, psychologists working in many neurotransmitter.
different areas have found hypnosis to be a reliable, effective tool. Addictive drugs produce a physiological or psychological
dependence (or both) on a drug in the user. When a drug is addictive,
It has been applied to a number of areas, including the following: withdrawal from the drug leads to a craving for it that may be
overpowering and nearly irresistible. In physiological drug
• Controlling pain. Patients suffering from chronic pain may be dependence, the body becomes so accustomed to functioning in the
given the suggestion, while hypnotized, that their pain is gone or presence of a drug that it cannot function without it. In psychological
reduced. They also may be taught to hypnotize themselves to drug dependence, people believe that they need the drug to respond
relieve pain or gain a sense of control over their symptoms. to the stresses of daily living. Although we generally associate
Hypnosis has proved to be particularly useful during childbirth addiction with drugs such as heroin, everyday sorts of drugs, such as
and dental procedures (Hammond, 2007; Accardi & Milling, caffeine (found in coffee) and nicotine (found in cigarettes), have
2009; Spiegel, 2015). addictive aspects as well (Li, Volkow, & Baler, 2007).
• Reducing smoking. Although it hasn’t been successful in We know surprisingly little about the underlying causes of
stopping drug and alcohol abuse, hypnosis sometimes helps addiction. One of the problems in identifying those causes is that
people stop smoking through hypnotic suggestions that the different drugs (such as alcohol and cocaine) affect the brain in very
taste and smell of cigarettes are unpleasant (Elkins et al., 2006; different ways—yet they may be equally addicting. Furthermore, it
Fuller, 2006; Green, Lynn, & Montgomery, 2008). takes longer to become addicted to some drugs than to others, even
though the ultimate consequences of addiction may be
CORTEZ GD 16
equally grave (Crombag & Robinson, 2004; Nestler & Malenka, 2004; COCAINE
Smart, 2007). Why do people take drugs in the first place? There are Cocaine is inhaled or “snorted” through the nose, smoked,
many reasons, including the perceived pleasure of the experience or injected directly into the bloodstream. It is rapidly absorbed into
itself, the escape that a drug-induced high affords from the everyday the body and takes effect almost immediately. When used in
pressures of life, or an attempt to achieve a religious or spiritual relatively small quantities, cocaine produces feelings of profound
state. (Korcha et al., 2011; Chapman & Wu, 2015). In addition, people psychological well-being, increased confidence, and alertness.
may be influenced to use drugs by the highly publicized drug use of Cocaine produces this “high” through the neurotransmitter
role models such as movie stars and professional athletes, the easy dopamine. Dopamine is one of the chemicals that transmit between
availability of some illegal drugs, or peer pressure. In some cases, the neurons messages that are related to ordinary feelings of pleasure.
motive is simply the thrill of trying something new. Normally when dopamine is released, excess amounts of the
Because of the difficulty in treating drug problems, most experts neurotransmitter are reabsorbed by the releasing neuron. However,
believe that the best hope for dealing with the overall societal when cocaine enters the brain, it blocks reabsorption of leftover
problem of substance abuse is to prevent people from becoming dopamine. As a result, the brain is flooded with dopamineproduced
involved with addictive drugs in the first place. However, there is little pleasurable sensations (Redish, 2004; Jarlais, Arasteh, & Perlis,
accord on how to accomplish this goal. 2007).
However, there is a steep price to be paid for the
STIMULANTS: DRUG HIGHS pleasurable effects of cocaine. The brain may become permanently
It’s 1:00 a.m., and you still haven’t finished reading the last rewired, triggering a psychological and physical addiction in which
chapter of the text on which you will be tested later in the morning. users grow obsessed with obtaining the drug. Over time, users
Feeling exhausted, you turn to the one thing that may help you stay deteriorate mentally and physically. In extreme cases, cocaine can
awake for the next 2 hours: a cup of strong black coffee. If you have cause hallucinations—a common one is of insects crawling over
ever found yourself in such a position, you have resorted to a major one’s body. Ultimately, an overdose of cocaine can lead to death
stimulant, caffeine, to stay awake. (Little et al., 2009; Roncero et al., 2013; Li et al., 2015).
Caffeine is one of a number of stimulants, drugs whose
effect on the central nervous system causes a rise in heart rate, DEPRESSANTS: DRUG LOWS
blood pressure, and muscular tension. Caffeine is present not only in In contrast to the initial effect of stimulants, which is an
coffee; it is an important ingredient in tea, soft drinks, and chocolate increase in arousal of the central nervous system, the effect of
as well. Caffeine produces several reactions. The major behavioral depressants is to impede the nervous system by causing neurons to
effects are an increase in attentiveness and a decrease in reaction fire more slowly. Small doses result in at least temporary feelings of
time. Caffeine can also bring about an improvement in mood, most intoxication—drunkenness—along with a sense of euphoria and joy.
likely by mimicking the effects of a natural brain chemical, adenosine. When large amounts are taken, however, speech becomes slurred
Too much caffeine, however, can result in nervousness and insomnia. and muscle control becomes disjointed, making motion difficult.
People can build up a biological dependence on the drug. Regular Ultimately, heavy users may lose consciousness entirely.
users who suddenly stop drinking coffee may experience headaches
or depression. Many people who drink large amounts of coffee on ALCOHOL
weekdays have headaches on weekends because of the sudden The most common depressant is alcohol, which is used by
drop in the amount of caffeine they are consuming (Kennedy & more people than is any other drug. One of the more disturbing
Haskell, 2011; Kamimori et al., 2015). trends is the high frequency of binge drinking among college
Nicotine, found in cigarettes, is another common stimulant. students. For men, binge drinking is defined as having five or more
The soothing effects of nicotine help explain why cigarette smoking is drinks in one sitting; for women, who generally weigh less than men
addictive. Smokers develop a dependence on nicotine, and those and whose bodies absorb alcohol less efficiently, binge drinking is
who suddenly stop smoking develop a strong craving for the drug. defined as having four or more drinks at one sitting (Mokdad, Brewer,
This is not surprising: Nicotine activates neural mechanisms similar & Naimi, 2007; Rooke & Hine, 2011). Women are typically somewhat
to those activated by cocaine, which, is also highly addictive lighter drinkers than men—although the gap between the sexes is
(Haberstick et al., 2005; Ray et al., 2008). narrowing for older women and has closed completely for teenagers.
Women are more susceptible to the effects of alcohol, and alcohol
AMPHETAMINES abuse may harm the brains of women more than it harms the brains
Amphetamines such as dexedrine and benzedrine, of men (Wuethrich, 2001; Mann et al., 2005; Mancinelli, Binetti, &
popularly known as speed, are strong stimulants. In small quantities, Ceccanti, 2007; Chavez et al., 2011).
amphetamines—which stimulate the central nervous system—bring Although alcohol is a depressant, most people believe that
about a sense of energy and alertness, talkativeness, heightened it increases their sense of sociability and well-being. This belief is
confidence, and a mood “high.” They increase concentration and caused because initially alcohol may lead to a reduction in tension
reduce fatigue. Amphetamines also cause a loss of appetite, and stress, feelings of happiness, and loss of inhibitions. However, as
increased anxiety, and irritability. When taken over long periods of the dose of alcohol increases, the depressive effects become more
time, amphetamines can cause feelings of being persecuted by pronounced. People may feel emotionally and physically unstable.
others, as well as a general sense of suspiciousness. People taking They also show poor judgment and may act aggressively. Moreover,
amphetamines may lose interest in sex. If taken in too large a memory is impaired, brain processing of spatial information is
quantity, amphetamines overstimulate the central nervous system diminished, and speech becomes slurred and incoherent. Eventually
to such an extent that convulsions and death can occur (Carhart- they may fall into a stupor and pass out. If they drink enough alcohol
Harris, 2007). in a short time, they may die of alcohol poisoning (Zeigler et al., 2005;
Methamphetamine is a white, crystalline drug that U.S. Thatcher & Clark, 2006).
police now say is the most dangerous street drug. “Meth” is highly Alcoholics, people with alcohol-abuse problems, come to
addictive and relatively cheap, and it produces a strong, lingering rely on alcohol and continue to drink even though it causes serious
high. After becoming addicted, users take it more and more difficulties. In addition, they become increasingly immune to the
frequently and in increasing doses. Long-term use of the drug can effects of alcohol. Consequently, alcoholics must drink progressively
lead to brain damage (Halkitis, 2009; Kish et al., 2009; Rindone, more to experience the initial positive feelings that alcohol produces.
2015).
Bath salts are an amphetamine-like stimulant containing BARBITURATES
chemicals related to cathinone. They can produce euphoria and a Barbiturates, which include drugs such as Nembutal,
rise in sociability and sex drive, but the side effects can be severe, Seconal, and phenobarbital, are another form of depressant.
including paranoia and agitation (Cottencin, Rolland, & Karila, 2013; Barbiturates produce a sense of relaxation and are frequently
Airuehia, Walker, & Nittler, 2015). prescribed by physicians to induce sleep or reduce stress. At larger
doses, they produce altered thinking, faulty judgment, and
sluggishness. Barbiturates are psychologically and physically
addictive. When combined with alcohol, they can be deadly, because
CORTEZ GD 17
such a combination relaxes the muscles of the diaphragm to such Furthermore, it may be helpful in the treatment of Alzheimer’s
an extent that the user stops breathing. disease (Barcott & Scherer, 2015; Finn, 2015).
ROHYPNOL MDMA (ECSTASY OR MOLLY) AND LSD

Rohypnol is sometimes called the “date rape drug” because, when MDMA (“Ecstasy” or “Molly”) and lysergic acid
it is mixed with alcohol, it can prevent victims from resisting sexual diethylamide (LSD or “acid”) fall into the category of hallucinogens.
assault. Sometimes people who are unknowingly given the drug are Both drugs affect the operation of the neurotransmitter serotonin in
so incapacitated that they have no memory of the assault. the brain, causing an alteration in brain-cell activity and perception
(Buchert et al., 2004; Aleksander, 2013). MDMA produces feelings of
NARCOTICS: RELIEVING PAIN AND ANXIETY increased energy and euphoria, and users report feeling increased
Narcotics are drugs that increase relaxation and relieve empathy and connection with others. Its use, in a pure form known
pain and anxiety. Two of the most powerful narcotics, morphine and as Molly, is often associated with raves and music festivals, and it has
heroin. Although morphine is used medically to control severe pain, led to a rising number of overdoses and even deaths. Although the
heroin is illegal. This status has not prevented its widespread abuse. data are not conclusive, some researchers have found declines in
Heroin users usually inject the drug directly into their veins memory and performance on intellectual tasks. Such findings
with a hypodermic needle. The immediate effect has been described suggest that there may be long-term changes in serotonin receptors
as a “rush” of positive feeling, similar in some respects to a sexual in the brain due to MDMA use (El-Mallakh & Abraham, 2007; Jones
orgasm—and just as difficult to describe. After the rush, a heroin et al., 2008; McKinley, 2013).
user experiences a sense of well-being and peacefulness that lasts 3 LSD, which is structurally similar to serotonin, produces
to 5 hours. vivid hallucinations. Perceptions of colors, sounds, and shapes are
However, when the effects of heroin wear off, users feel altered so much that even the most mundane experience—such as
extreme anxiety and a desperate desire to repeat the experience. looking at the knots in a wooden table—can seem moving and
Moreover, larger amounts of heroin are needed each time to exciting. Time perception is distorted, and objects and people may
produce the same pleasurable effect. These last two properties are be viewed in a new way, with some users reporting that LSD
all the ingredients necessary for physiological and psychological increases their understanding of the world. For others, however, the
dependence: The user is constantly either shooting up or attempting experience brought on by LSD can be terrifying, particularly if users
to obtain ever-increasing amounts of the drug. Eventually, the life of have had emotional difficulties in the past. Furthermore, people
the addict revolves around heroin. Because of the powerful positive occasionally experience flashbacks, in which they hallucinate long
feelings, the drug produces, heroin addiction is particularly difficult to after they initially used the drug (Baruss, 2003; Wu, Schlenger, &
cure. One treatment that has shown some success is the use of Galvin, 2006).
alternative drugs that reduce heroin (and other addictive opiates)
users’ dependence on drugs. PSYCHOACTIVE DRUGS AND THEIR EFFECTS
For example, methadone is a synthetic chemical that
satisfies a heroin user’s physiological cravings for the drug without
providing the “high” that accompanies heroin. Similarly, Suboxone is
a painkiller that reduces the withdrawal symptoms from heroin.
Suboxone comes in tablet form as well as small film strips, both of
which are put under the tongue to dissolve quickly. Another
treatment is Vivitrol, an injection that lasts about a month. It
prevents withdrawal symptoms, and it also prevents heroin from
producing the positive effects that users crave if heroin is used (Shah,
Young, & Vieira, 2014).
Methadone, Suboxone, and Vivitrol allow heroin users to
function relatively normally and without the drug cravings. However,
although such drugs remove the psychological dependence on
heroin, they replace the physiological dependence on heroin with a
physiological dependence on the alternative drugs.
While, Oxycodone (sold as the prescription drug
OxyContin) is a type of pain reliever that has led to a significant
amount of abuse.
HALLUCINOGENS: PSYCHEDELIC DRUGS

Hallucinogen, is a drug that is capable of producing
hallucinations, or changes in the perceptual process.
MARIJUANA
The most common hallucinogen in widespread use today
is marijuana, whose active ingredient— tetrahydrocannabinol
(THC)—is found in a common weed, cannabis. Marijuana is typically
smoked in cigarettes or pipes, although it can be cooked and eaten.
The effects of marijuana vary from person to person, but
they typically consist of feelings of euphoria and general well-being.
Sensory experiences seem more vivid and intense, and a person’s
sense of self-importance seems to grow. Memory may be impaired,
causing users to feel pleasantly “spaced out.”
Heavy use also affects the ability of the immune system to
fight off germs and increases stress on the heart, although it is
unclear how strong these effects are. Finally, there is one
unquestionably negative consequence of smoking marijuana: The
smoke damages the lungs much the way cigarette smoke does,
producing an increased likelihood of developing cancer and other
lung diseases (Julien, 2001; Reid, MacLeod, & Robertson, 2010).
Despite the possible dangers of marijuana, its use is
increasingly accepted. It clearly has several medical uses: it can
prevent nausea from chemotherapy, treat some AIDS symptoms,
and relieve muscle spasms for people with spinal cord injuries.
CORTEZ GD 18
CHAPTER 5 LEARNING As you can see in Figure 1, the basic processes of classical
conditioning that underlie Pavlov’s discovery are straightforward.
UNDERSTANDING LEARNING, EXPERIENCE AND CHANGE However, the terminology he chose is not simple.
LEARNING is a relatively permanent change in behavior
that arises from practice or experience.
✓ The behaviorist perspective plays down the roles of cognition and
choice; it suggests that psychologists learn to run after balls because
they have been rewarded or reinforced for doing so
✓ Cognitive psychologists define learning as the process by which
organisms make relatively permanent changes in the way they
represent the environment because of experience. Learning for
cognitive psychologists, may be shown by changes in behavior but
learning itself is a mental process. Cognitive psychologists suggest
that people choose whether or not to imitate the aggressive and
other behaviors they observe, and the people are most likely to
imitate behaviors that are consistent with their values.
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
Classical conditioning is one of a number of different types
of learning that psychologists have identified, but a general definition
encompasses them all: Learning is a relatively permanent change in
behavior that is brought about by experience.
It is clear that we are primed for learning from the
beginning of life. Infants exhibit a simple type of learning called
habituation. Habituation is the decrease in response to a stimulus First, consider the diagram in Figure 1a. Before conditioning,
that occurs after repeated presentations of the same stimulus. For there are two unrelated stimuli: the ringing of a bell and meat. We
example, young infants may initially show interest in a novel stimulus, know that normally the ringing of a bell does not lead to salivation
such as a brightly colored toy, but they will soon lose interest if they but to some irrelevant response, such as pricking up the ears or
see the same toy over and over. (Adults exhibit habituation, too: perhaps a startle reaction. The bell is therefore called the neutral
Newlyweds soon stop noticing that they are wearing a wedding ring.) stimulus, because it is a stimulus that, before conditioning, does not
Habituation permits us to ignore things that have stopped providing naturally bring about the response in which we are interested. We
new information. also have meat, which naturally causes a dog to salivate—the
Most learning is considerably more complex than response we are interested in conditioning. The meat is called an
habituation, and the study of learning has been at the core of the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) because food placed in a dog’s mouth
field of psychology. Although philosophers since the time of Aristotle automatically causes salivation to occur.
have speculated on the foundations of learning, the first systematic The response that the meat elicits (salivation) is called an
research on learning was done at the beginning of the 20th century, unconditioned response. An unconditioned response (UCR) is a
when Ivan Pavlov developed the framework for learning called natural, innate response that occurs automatically and needs no
classical conditioning. training. Unconditioned responses are always brought about by the
presence of unconditioned stimuli.
THE BASICS OF CLASSICAL CONDITIONING Figure 1b illustrates what happens during conditioning. The
Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist, never intended to do bell is rung just before each presentation of the meat. The goal of
psychological research. In 1904 he won the Nobel Prize for his work conditioning is for the dog to associate the bell with the
on digestion, testimony to his contribution to that field. Yet Pavlov is unconditioned stimulus (meat) and therefore to bring about the
remembered not for his physiological research but for his same sort of response as the unconditioned stimulus.
experiments on basic learning processes—work that he began quite After a number of pairings of the bell and meat, the bell
accidentally (Marks, 2004; Samoilov & Zayas, 2007; Grant & alone causes the dog to salivate (as in Figure 1c). When conditioning
Wingate, 2011). is complete, the bell has changed from a neutral stimulus to what is
Pavlov had been studying the secretion of stomach acids called a conditioned stimulus. A conditioned stimulus (CS) is a once-
and salivation in dogs in response to eating varying amounts and neutral stimulus that has been paired with an unconditioned stimulus
kinds of food. While doing his research, he observed a curious to bring about a response formerly caused only by the unconditioned
phenomenon: Sometimes salivation would begin in the dogs when stimulus. This time, salivation that occurs as a response to the
they had not yet eaten any food. Just the sight of the experimenter conditioned stimulus (bell) is called a conditioned response (CR).
who normally brought the food, or even the sound of the After conditioning, then, the conditioned stimulus brings about the
experimenter’s footsteps, was enough to produce salivation in the conditioned response.
dogs.
Pavlov’s genius lay in his ability to recognize the Although the terminology Pavlov used to describe classical
implications of this discovery. He saw that the dogs were responding conditioning may seem confusing, the following summary can help
not only on the basis of a biological need (hunger) but also as a result make the relationships between stimuli and responses easier to
of learning—or, as it came to be called, classical conditioning. understand and remember: ∙ Conditioned = learned.
Classical conditioning is a type of learning in which a neutral stimulus • Unconditioned = not learned
(such as the experimenter’s footsteps) comes to elicit a response • An unconditioned stimulus (UCS) leads to an unconditioned
after being paired with a stimulus (such as food) that naturally brings response (UCR).
about that response. • Unconditioned stimulus–unconditioned response pairings
To demonstrate classical conditioning, Pavlov (1927) are not learned and not trained: They are naturally
attached a tube to the salivary gland of a dog, allowing him to occurring.
measure precisely the dog’s salivation. He then rang a bell and, just • During conditioning, a previously neutral stimulus is
a few seconds later, presented the dog with meat. This pairing transformed into the conditioned stimulus.
occurred repeatedly and was carefully planned so that, each time, • A conditioned stimulus (CS) leads to a conditioned response
exactly the same amount of time elapsed between the presentation (CR), and a conditioned stimulus– conditioned response
of the bell and the meat. At first the dog would salivate only when pairing is a consequence of learning and training.
the meat was presented, but soon it began to salivate at the sound • An unconditioned response and a conditioned response are
of the bell. In fact, even when Pavlov stopped presenting the meat, similar (such as salivation in Pavlov’s experiment), but the
the dog still salivated after hearing the sound. The dog had been unconditioned response occurs naturally, whereas the
classically conditioned to salivate to the bell. conditioned response is learned.
CORTEZ GD 19
To Sum Up! when it heard the bell, but after a few such instances, the amount of
1. UCS = UCR salivation would probably decline, and the dog would eventually stop
2. NS = No Response responding to the bell altogether. At that point, we could say that the
3. UCS + NR = CR response had been extinguished. In sum, extinction occurs when the
4. CS = CR conditioned stimulus is presented repeatedly without the
unconditioned stimulus.
APPLYING CONDITIONING PIRNCIPLES TO HUMAN BEHAVIOR We should keep in mind that extinction can be a helpful
Although the initial conditioning experiments were carried phenomenon. Consider, for instance, what it would be like if the fear
out with animals, classical conditioning principles were soon found to you experienced while watching the shower murder scene in the
explain many aspects of everyday human behavior. Emotional classic movie Psycho never was extinguished. You might well tremble
responses are especially likely to be learned through classical with fright every time you took a shower.
conditioning processes. For instance, how do some of us develop Once a conditioned response has been extinguished, has it
fears of mice, spiders, and other creatures that are typically vanished forever? Not necessarily. Pavlov discovered this
harmless? In a now infamous case study, psychologist John B. phenomenon when he returned to his dog a few days after the
Watson and colleague Rosalie Rayner (1920) showed that classical conditioned behavior had seemingly been extinguished. If he rang a
conditioning was at the root of such fears by conditioning an 11- bell, the dog once again salivated—an effect known as spontaneous
month-old infant named Albert to be afraid of rats. “Little Albert,” recovery, or the reemergence of an extinguished conditioned
like most infants, initially was frightened by loud noises but had no response after a period of time and with no further conditioning.
fear of rats. Spontaneous recovery also helps explain why it is so hard
In the study, the experimenters sounded a loud noise to overcome drug addictions. For example, cocaine addicts who are
whenever Little Albert touched a white, furry rat. The noise (the thought to be “cured” can experience an irresistible impulse to use
unconditioned stimulus) evoked fear (the unconditioned response). the drug again if they are subsequently confronted by a stimulus with
After just a few pairings of noise and rat, Albert began to show fear strong connections to the drug, such as a white powder (Diaz & De
of the rat by itself, bursting into tears when he saw it. The rat, then, la Casa, 2011; Tunstall, Verendeev, & Kearns, 2013).
had become a CS that brought about the CR, fear. Furthermore, the
effects of the conditioning lingered: five days later, Albert reacted GENERALIZATION AND DISCRIMINATION
with some degree of fear not only when shown a rat, but when shown Despite differences in color and shape, to most of us a rose
objects that looked similar to the white, furry rat, including a white is a rose is a rose. The pleasure we experience at the beauty, smell,
rabbit, a white seal-skin coat, and even a white Santa Claus mask. and grace of the flower is similar for different types of roses. Pavlov
(By the way, we don’t know for certain what happened to Little noticed a similar phenomenon. His dogs often salivated not only at
Albert, and his fate remains a source of considerable speculation. In the ringing of the bell that was used during their original conditioning
any case, Watson, the experimenter, has been condemned for using but at the sound of a buzzer as well.
ethically questionable procedures that could never be conducted Such behavior is the result of stimulus generalization.
today; Beck, Levinson, & Irons, 2009; Powell et al., 2014; Griggs, 2015.) Stimulus generalization is a process in which, after a stimulus has
Learning by means of classical conditioning also occurs been conditioned to produce a particular response, stimuli that are
during adulthood. For example, you may not go to a dentist as often similar to the original stimulus produce the same response. The
as you should because of previous associations of dentists with pain. greater the similarity between two stimuli, the greater the likelihood
In more extreme cases, classical conditioning can lead to the of stimulus generalization. Little Albert, who, as we mentioned earlier,
development of phobias, which are intense, irrational fears. For was conditioned to be fearful of white rats, grew afraid of other furry
example, an insect phobia might develop in someone who is stung white things as well. However, according to the principle of stimulus
by a bee. The insect phobia might be so severe that the person generalization, it is unlikely that he would have been afraid of a black
refrains from leaving home. dog, because its color would have differentiated it sufficiently from
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), suffered by some the original fear-evoking stimulus.
war veterans and others who have had traumatic experiences, can Stimulus discrimination, in contrast, occurs if two stimuli are
also be produced by classical conditioning. Even years after their sufficiently distinct from each other that one evokes a conditioned
battlefield experiences, veterans may feel a rush of fear and anxiety response but the other does not. Stimulus discrimination provides
at a stimulus such as a loud noise (Roberts, Moore, & Beckham, 2007; the ability to differentiate between stimuli. For example, a dog comes
Schreurs, SmithBell, & Burhans, 2011; Rosellini et al., 2015). running into the kitchen when she hears the sound of the electric can
On the other hand, classical conditioning also relates to opener, which she has learned is used to open her dog food when
pleasant experiences. For instance, you may have a particular her dinner is about to be served. She does not bound into the kitchen
fondness for the smell of a certain perfume or aftershave lotion at the sound of the food processor, although it sounds similar. In
because thoughts of an early love come rushing back whenever you other words, she discriminates between the stimuli of can opener
encounter it. Or hearing a certain song can bring back happy or and food processor. Similarly, our ability to discriminate between the
bittersweet emotions due to associations that you have developed behavior of a growling dog and that of one whose tail is wagging can
in the past. lead to adaptive behavior— avoiding the growling dog and petting
Classical conditioning also explains why drug addictions the friendly one.
are so difficult to treat. Drug addicts learn to associate certain
stimuli—such as drug paraphernalia like a syringe or a room where OPERANT CONDITIONING
they use drugs—with the pleasant feelings produced by the drugs. Very good . . . What a clever idea . . . Fantastic . . . I agree . . . Thank
So simply seeing a syringe or entering a certain room can produce you . . . Excellent . . . Super . . . Right on . . . This is the best paper
reactions associated with the drug and continued cravings for it you’ve ever written; you get an A . . . You are really getting the hang
(James et al., 2011; Saunders, Yager, & Robinson, 2013). of it . . . I’m impressed . . . You’re getting a raise . . . Have a cookie . .
. You look great . . . I love you . . .
EXTINCTION Few of us mind being the recipient of any of these
What do you think would happen if a dog that had become comments. But what is especially noteworthy about them is that
classically conditioned to salivate at the ringing of a bell never again each of these simple statements can be used, through a process
received food when the bell was rung? The answer lies in one of the known as operant conditioning, to bring about powerful changes in
basic phenomena of learning: extinction. Extinction occurs when a behavior and to teach the most complex tasks. Operant conditioning
previously conditioned response decreases in frequency and is the basis for many of the most important kinds of human and
eventually disappears. animal learning.
`To produce extinction, one needs to end the association Operant conditioning is learning in which a voluntary
between conditioned stimuli and unconditioned stimuli. For instance, response is strengthened or weakened, depending on its favorable
if we had trained a dog to salivate (the conditioned response) at the or unfavorable consequences. When we say that a response has
ringing of a bell (the conditioned stimulus), we could produce been strengthened or weakened, we mean that it has been made
extinction by repeatedly ringing the bell but not providing meat (the more or less likely to recur regularly. Unlike classical conditioning, in
unconditioned stimulus). At first the dog would continue to salivate which the original behaviors are the natural, biological responses to
CORTEZ GD 20
the presence of a stimulus such as food, water, or pain, operant previously occurring behavior increases after the presentation of the
conditioning applies to voluntary responses, which an organism stimulus.
performs deliberately to produce a desirable outcome. The term Of course, we are not born knowing that one dollar can buy
operant emphasizes this point: The organism operates on its us a candy bar. Rather, through experience we learn that money is
environment to produce a desirable result. Operant conditioning is a valuable commodity because of its association with stimuli, such
at work when we learn that studying hard results in good grades. as food and drink, that are naturally reinforcing. This fact suggests a
distinction between primary reinforcers and secondary reinforcers.
THORNDIKE’S LAW OF EFFECT A primary reinforcer satisfies some biological need and works
If you placed a hungry cat in a cage and then put a small naturally, regardless of a person’s previous experience. Food for a
piece of food outside the cage, just beyond the cat’s reach, chances hungry person, warmth for a cold person, and relief for a person in
are that the cat would eagerly search for a way out of the cage. The pain all would be classified as primary reinforcers.
cat might first claw at the sides or push against an opening. Suppose, In contrast, a secondary reinforcer is a stimulus that
though, you had rigged things so that the cat could escape by becomes reinforcing because of its association with a primary
stepping on a small paddle that released the latch to the door of the reinforcer. For instance, we know that money is valuable, because we
cage. Eventually, as it moved around the cage, the cat would happen have learned that it allows us to obtain other desirable objects,
to step on the paddle, the door would open, and the cat would eat including primary reinforcers such as food and shelter. Money thus
the food. becomes a secondary reinforcer (Moher et al., 2008; Qu, Zhang, &
What would happen if you then returned the cat to the Chen, 2013).
box? The next time, it would probably take a little less time for the
cat to step on the paddle and escape. After a few trials, the cat would POSITIVE REINFORCES, NEGATIVE REINFORCES, AND PUNISHMENT
deliberately step on the paddle as soon as it was placed in the cage. In many respects, reinforcers can be thought of in terms of
What would have occurred, according to Edward L. Thorndike (1932), rewards; both a reinforcer and a reward increase the probability that
who studied this situation extensively, was that the cat would have a preceding response will occur again. But the term reward is limited
learned that pressing the paddle was associated with the desirable to positive occurrences, and this is where it differs from a
consequence of getting food. Thorndike summarized that reinforcer—for it turns out that reinforcers can be positive or
relationship by formulating the law of effect: Responses that lead to negative.
satisfying consequences are more likely to be repeated. A positive reinforcer is a stimulus added to the environment
Thorndike believed that the law of effect operates as that brings about an increase in a preceding response. If food, water,
automatically as leaves fall off a tree in autumn. It was not necessary money, or praise is provided after a response, it is more likely that
for an organism to understand that there was a link between a that response will occur again in the future. The paychecks that
response and a reward. Instead, Thorndike believed, over time and workers get at the end of the week, for example, increase the
through experience the organism would make a direct connection likelihood that they will return to their jobs the following week.
between the stimulus and the response without any awareness that In contrast, a negative reinforcer refers to an unpleasant
the connection existed. stimulus whose removal leads to an increase in the probability that
a preceding response will be repeated in the future. For example, if
THE BASICS OF OPERANT CONDITIONING you have an itchy rash (an unpleasant stimulus) that is relieved when
Skinner, whose work went far beyond perfecting you apply a certain brand of ointment, you are more likely to use that
Thorndike’s earlier apparatus, is considered the inspiration for a ointment the next time you have an itchy rash. Using the ointment,
whole generation of psychologists studying operant conditioning. To then, is negatively reinforcing, because it removes the unpleasant
illustrate Skinner’s contribution, let’s consider what happens to a rat itch. Similarly, if your iPod volume is so loud that it hurts your ears
in the typical Skinner box (Soorya, Carpenter, & Romanczyk, 2011; when you first turn it on, you are likely to reduce the volume level.
Huston et al., 2013). Lowering the volume is negatively reinforcing, and you are more apt
Suppose you want to teach a hungry rat to press a lever to repeat the action in the future when you first turn it on. Negative
that is in its box. At first the rat will wander around the box, exploring reinforcement, then, teaches the individual that taking an action
the environment in a relatively random fashion. At some point, removes a negative condition that exists in the environment. Like
however, it will probably press the lever by chance, and when it does, positive reinforcers, negative reinforcers increase the likelihood that
it will receive a food pellet. The first time this happens, the rat will not preceding behaviors will be repeated (Magoon & Critchfield, 2008).
learn the connection between pressing a lever and receiving food Note that negative reinforcement is not the same as
and will continue to explore the box. Sooner or later the rat will press punishment. Punishment refers to a stimulus that decreases the
the lever again and receive a pellet, and in time the frequency of the probability that a prior behavior will occur again. Unlike negative
pressing response will increase. Eventually, the rat will press the lever reinforcement, which produces an increase in behavior, punishment
continually until it satisfies its hunger, thereby demonstrating that it reduces the likelihood of a prior response. If we receive a shock that
has learned that the receipt of food is contingent on pressing the is meant to decrease a certain behavior, then we are receiving
lever. punishment, but if we are already receiving a shock and do
something to stop that shock, the behavior that stops the shock is
REINFORCEMENT: THE CENTRAL CONCEPT OF OPERANT considered to be negatively reinforced. In the first case, the specific
CONDITIONING behavior is apt to decrease because of the punishment; in the
Skinner called the process that leads the rat to continue second, it is likely to increase because of the negative reinforcement.
pressing the key “reinforcement.” Reinforcement is the process by There are two types of punishment: positive punishment
which a stimulus increases the probability that a preceding behavior and negative punishment, just as there are positive reinforcement
will be repeated. In other words, pressing the lever is more likely to and negative reinforcement. In both cases, “positive” means adding
occur again because of the stimulus of food. something, and “negative” means removing something. Positive
In a situation such as this one, the food is called a punishment weakens a response by applying an unpleasant stimulus.
reinforcer. A reinforcer is any stimulus that increases the probability For instance, spanking a child for misbehaving or sending someone
that a preceding behavior will occur again. Hence, food is a to jail for 10 years for committing a crime are examples of positive
reinforcer, because it increases the probability that the behavior of punishment. (In both cases, an unpleasant stimulus has been
pressing (formally referred to as the response of pressing) will take applied.)
place. In contrast, negative punishment consists of the removal of
What kind of stimuli can act as reinforcers? Bonuses, toys, something pleasant. For instance, when a teenager is told she can no
and good grades can serve as reinforcers—if they strengthen the longer use her cell phone because she stayed out past her curfew, or
probability of the response that occurred before their introduction. when an employee is informed that he will have a cut in pay because
What makes something a reinforcer depends on individual of a poor job evaluation, negative punishment is being administered.
preferences. Although a Hershey’s bar can act as a reinforcer for one (In both cases, something pleasant—cell phone use or more pay—is
person, an individual who dislikes chocolate may find one dollar more being removed.)
desirable. The only way we can know if a stimulus is a reinforcer for Both positive and negative punishment result in a decrease
a particular organism is to observe whether the frequency of a in the likelihood that a prior behavior will be repeated. So a jail term
CORTEZ GD 21
is meant to lead to a reduction in criminal behavior, and loss of a regular, weekly paychecks, it typically makes relatively little
teenager’s cell phone is meant to reduce the likelihood of staying out difference exactly how much they produce in a given week.
past curfew. Because a fixed-interval schedule provides reinforcement
The following rules can help you distinguish these concepts from one for a response only if a fixed time period has elapsed, overall rates
another: of response are relatively low. This is especially true in the period just
A. Reinforcement increases the frequency of the behavior after reinforcement, when the time before another reinforcement is
preceding it; punishment decreases the frequency of the relatively great. Students’ study habits often exemplify this reality. If
behavior preceding it. the periods between exams are relatively long (meaning that the
B. The application of a positive stimulus brings about an increase opportunity for reinforcement for good performance is given fairly
in the frequency of behavior and is referred to as positive infrequently), students often study minimally or not at all until the
reinforcement; the application of a negative stimulus day of the exam draws near. Just before the exam, however,
decreases or reduces the frequency of behavior and is called students begin to cram for it, signaling a rapid increase in the rate of
positive punishment. their studying response. As you might expect, immediately after the
C. The removal of a negative stimulus that results in an increase exam there is a rapid decline in the rate of responding, with few
in the frequency of behavior is negative reinforcement; the people opening a book the day after a test.
removal of a positive stimulus that decreases the frequency One way to decrease the delay in responding that occurs
of behavior is negative punishment. just after reinforcement, and to maintain the desired behavior more
consistently throughout an interval, is to use a variable-interval
SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT: TIMING LIFE’S REWARDS schedule. In a variable interval schedule, the time between
The world would be a different place if poker players never reinforcements varies around some average rather than being fixed.
played cards again after the first losing hand, fishermen returned to For example, a professor who gives surprise quizzes that vary from
shore as soon as they missed a catch, or telemarketers never made one every 3 days to one every 3 weeks, averaging one every 2 weeks,
another phone call after their first hangup. The fact that such is using a variableinterval schedule. Compared to the study habits
unreinforced behaviors continue, often with great frequency and we observed with a fixed interval schedule, students’ study habits
persistence, illustrates that reinforcement need not be received under such a variable-interval schedule would most likely be very
continually for behavior to be learned and maintained. In fact, different. Students would be apt to study more regularly because
behavior that is reinforced only occasionally can ultimately be they would never know when the next surprise quiz was coming.
learned better than can behavior that is always reinforced. Variable-interval schedules, in general, are more likely to produce
When we refer to the frequency and timing of relatively steady rates of responding than are fixed-interval
reinforcement that follows desired behavior, we are talking about schedules, with responses that take longer to extinguish after
schedules of reinforcement. Behavior that is reinforced every time it reinforcement ends.
occurs is said to be on a continuous reinforcement schedule; if it is
reinforced some but not all of the time, it is on a partial (or COMPARING CLASSICAL AND OPERANT CONDITIONING
intermittent) reinforcement schedule. Although learning occurs more We’ve considered classical conditioning and operant
rapidly under a continuous reinforcement schedule, behavior lasts conditioning as two completely different processes. And, as
longer after reinforcement stops when it is learned under a partial summarized, there are a number of key distinctions between the two
reinforcement schedule (Casey, Cooper-Brown, & Wacher, 2006; forms of learning. For example, the key concept in classical
Reed, 2007; Holtyn & Lattal, 2013). conditioning is the association between stimuli, whereas in operant
conditioning it is reinforcement.
A. FIXED-AND-VARIABLE-RATIO SCHEDULES
Certain kinds of partial reinforcement schedules produce COGNITIVE APPROACHES TO LEARNING
stronger and lengthier responding before extinction than do others. Some psychologists view learning in terms of the thought
Some schedules are related to the number of responses made processes, or cognitions, that underlie it—an approach known as
before reinforcement is given, and others are related to the amount cognitive learning theory. Although psychologists working from the
of time that elapses before reinforcement is provided (Reed & cognitive learning perspective do not deny the importance of
Morgan, 2008; Miguez, Witnauer, & Miller, 2011; Manzo et al., 2015). classical and operant conditioning, they have developed approaches
In a fixed-ratio schedule, reinforcement is given only after that focus on the unseen mental processes that occur during
a specific number of responses. For instance, a rat might receive a learning, rather than concentrating solely on external stimuli,
food pellet every 10th time it pressed a lever; here, the ratio would responses, and reinforcements.
be 1:10. Similarly, garment workers are generally paid on fixed-ratio In its most basic formulation, cognitive learning theory
schedules: They receive a specific number of dollars for every blouse suggests that it is not enough to say that people make responses
they sew. Because a greater rate of production means more because there is an assumed link between a stimulus and a
reinforcement, people on fixed-ratio schedules are apt to work as response— a link that is the result of a past history of reinforcement
quickly as possible. for a response. Instead, according to this point of view, people, and
In a variable-ratio schedule, reinforcement occurs after a even lower animals, develop an expectation that they will receive a
varying number of responses rather than after a fixed number. reinforcer after making a response. Two types of learning in which no
Although the specific number of responses necessary to receive obvious prior reinforcement is present are latent learning and
reinforcement varies, the number of responses usually hovers observational learning.
around a specific average. A good example of a variable-ratio
schedule is a telephone salesperson’s job. He might make a sale A. LATENT LEARNING
during the 3rd, 8th, 9th, and 20th calls without being successful In latent learning, a new behavior is learned but not
during any call in between. Although the number of responses he demonstrated until some incentive is provided for displaying it
must make before making a sale varies, it averages out to a 20% (Tolman & Honzik, 1930).
success rate. Under these circumstances, you might expect that the In short, latent learning occurs without reinforcement. In
salesperson would try to make as many calls as possible in as short the studies demonstrating latent learning, psychologists examined
a time as possible. This is the case with all variable-ratio schedules, the behavior of rats in a maze such as the one shown in Figure 1a. In
which lead to a high rate of response and resistance to extinction. one experiment, a group of rats was allowed to wander around the
maze once a day for 17 days without ever receiving a reward (called
B. FIXED-AND-VARIABLE-INTERVAL SCHEDULES: THE PASSAGE the unrewarded group). Understandably, those rats made many
OF TIME errors and spent a relatively long time reaching the end of the maze.
In contrast to fixed and variable-ratio schedules, in which A second group, however, was always given food at the end of the
the crucial factor is the number of responses, fixedinterval and maze (the rewarded group). Not surprisingly, those rats learned to
variable-interval schedules focus on the amount of time that has run quickly and directly to the food box, making few errors.
elapsed since a person or animal was rewarded. One example of a A third group of rats (the experimental group) started out
fixed interval schedule is a weekly paycheck. For people who receive in the same situation as the unrewarded rats, but only for the first 10
days. On the 11th day, a critical experimental manipulation was
CORTEZ GD 22
introduced: From that point on, the rats in this group were given food
for completing the maze. The results of this manipulation were
dramatic, as you can see from the graph in Figure 1b. The previously
unrewarded rats, which had earlier seemed to wander about
aimlessly, showed such reductions in running time and declines in
error rates that their performance almost immediately matched
that of the group that had received rewards from the start.
To cognitive theorists, it seemed clear that the unrewarded
rats had learned the layout of the maze early in their explorations;
they just never displayed their latent learning until the reinforcement
was offered. Instead, those rats seemed to develop a cognitive map
of the maze— a mental representation of spatial locations and
directions. People, too, develop cognitive maps of their surroundings.
For example, latent learning may permit you to know the location of
a kitchenware store at a local mall you’ve frequently visited, even
though you’ve never entered the store and don’t even like to cook.
B. OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING: LEARNING THROUGH IMITATION

According to psychologist Albert Bandura and colleagues, a
major part of human learning consists of observational learning,
which is learning by watching the behavior of another person, or
model. Because of its reliance on observation of others—a social
phenomenon—the perspective taken by Bandura is often referred
to as a social cognitive approach to learning (Bandura, 2004, 2009).
Bandura dramatically demonstrated the ability of models to
stimulate learning in a classic experiment. In the study, young
children saw a film of an adult wildly hitting a 5-foot-tall inflatable
punching toy called a C. 13 Bobo doll (Bandura, Ross, & Ross, 1963a,
1963b). Later the children were given the opportunity to play with the
Bobo doll themselves, and, sure enough, most displayed the same
kind of behavior, in some cases mimicking the aggressive behavior
almost identically.
Not only negative behaviors are acquired through
observational learning. In one experiment, for example, children who
were afraid of dogs were exposed to a model— dubbed the Fearless
Peer—playing with a dog (Bandura, Grusec, & Menlove, 1967). After
exposure, observers were considerably more likely to approach a
strange dog than were children who had not viewed the Fearless
Peer. Not all behavior that we witness is learned or carried out, of
course. One crucial factor that determines whether we later imitate
a model is whether the model is rewarded for his or her behavior. If
we observe a friend being rewarded for putting more time into his
studies by receiving higher grades, we are more likely to imitate his
behavior than we would if his behavior resulted only in being stressed
and tired. Models who are rewarded for behaving in a particular way
are more apt to be mimicked than are models who receive
punishment. Observing the punishment of a model, however, does
not necessarily stop observers from learning the behavior. Observers
can still describe the model’s behavior—they are just less apt to
perform it (Bandura, 1994).
CORTEZ GD 23

Introduction To Psychology: Topic Outline

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How does latent learning occur according to the passage?

How does latent learning occur according to the passage?

What is observational learning and how did Bandura demonstrate it?

What is observational learning and how did Bandura demonstrate it?

Introduction to Psychology

TOPIC OUTLINE FIELDS OF PSYCHOLOGY

THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM: THE BODY’S CENTRAL

THE CHEMICAL KEYS TO COMMUNICATION

→ Position Emission Tomography (PET scan)- a method of brain

THE CEREBRAL CORTEX

→ Evolutionary Psychology refers to the branch of psychology that

→ Natural selection refers to the concept that holds that adaptive

→ Instinct is a stereotyped pattern of behavior that is triggered in

→ The pituitary gland and the hypothalamus work in close

→ The pituitary gland is the gland that secretes growth hormone,

→ If the pituitary gland is considered as the “master gland”, the

→ The hypothalamus regulates much pituitary activity and secrets

→ The pineal gland secretes the hormone melatonin which helps

→ The thyroid gland can be considered as the body’s accelerator;

→ The adrenal glands, located above the kidneys, have an outer

→ The testes and ovaries also produce steroids, among them

Understanding Absolute Threshold

→ Dichromats- partially color-blind people; sex-linked traits

By the time a visual message reaches the brain, it has

These cycles are visible to the naked eye as vibrations in

THE SKIN SENSES: TOUCH, PRESSURE, TEMPERATURE AND PAIN

How Our Senses Interact

sleeping participants in one experiment were sprayed with water

EVOLUTIONARY EXPLANATIONS OF DREAMS: DREAMS-FOR-

information relevant Not

Research supports the dreams-for-survival theory, result of random is constructed Not

ROHYPNOL MDMA (ECSTASY OR MOLLY) AND LSD

HALLUCINOGENS: PSYCHEDELIC DRUGS

B. OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING: LEARNING THROUGH IMITATION

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