Module 1: The Science of Mind Contemporary psychologists believe

that experience interacts with inborn

Definition characteristics to shape the mind.
● Psyche (psuche) –mind, spirit, Intelligence, for example. is influenced
soul by both genetics and experience.
● Logos – the objective study of
Natural Sciences Roots
Psychology Ancient people might have attempted to
● is the objective study of the mind; cure headaches, seizures, or
scientific study of behavior, psychological disorders by drilling holes
mental processes and brain in the skull. Bone growth around the
functions hole indicates that some patients
● the scientific study of the mind survived the procedure. When a thigh
leading to better understanding was touched, participants reacted faster
and appreciation of self & others than when a toe was touched, Because
the toe is farther from the brain than the
● Behavior - any action that we thigh, signals from the toe required more
can observe. time to reach the brain.
● Mind – the brain and its activities,
including thought, emotion and 17th and 18th centuries – new
behavior. technologies, including light microscopy
(used by Anton von Leeuwenhoek to
Historical Beginnings discover red blood cells in 1676.
- Rooted from Philosophy
- Questions regarding the nature of Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894)
the self, the effects of early asked his participants to push a button
experiences, the existence of free when they felt a touch. These
will, and the origin of knowledge experiments resulted in discoveries
- Nature (biological factors) and about the physical aspects of the mind
Nurture (environmental factors) that convinced scientists that the mind
was not supernatural and could be
Philosophical Roots studied scientifically.
Relationships between self-interest and
community welfare, between body and Highlights
mind, and between humans and other - Ancient Greek philosophers –
species Observations can be accounted
for by natural, not supernatural,
Psychologists consider questions of the explanations.
unconscious mind and abnormal - British empiricists – knowledge
behavior but philosophers investigated is the result of experience.
these issues thousands of years before - Ancient physicians – The brain
the first psychologist was born. is the source of mind.
- 17th-18th – Discoveries about
Philosophers sensation and movement showed
Aristotle (384 – 322 BCE) – believed that the mind was physical.
that all knowledge is gained through - Hermann von Helmhotz –
sensory experience Studies of reaction time
reinforced the idea that the mind
British school of empiricism (17thr was physical.
century); John Locke viewed the mind
as a “blank slate” at birth, which then Scientific Psychology
was filled with ideas gained by - Wilhelm Wundt, German
observing the world psychologist, founded the first
psychological laboratory & used
 the experimental approach about experience and its observation to
man’s interaction with his understand people
environment 2. Functionalism – saw behavior as
- Labeled “Father of Modern purposeful and contributing to
Psychology” survival. (William James -
- James McKeen Cattell – Conscious) processes function in
colleague of Wundt opened his the adjustment of man to his
laboratory in Pennsylvania environment
3. Gestalt – (Wolfgang Kohler, Max
Historical Beginnings Wertheimer and Kurt Kofka) “The
- Pre-modern period whole is different from the sum of
- Charles Darwin – Natural the parts”
Selection, Survival of the fittest, 4. Behaviorism – (John B. Watson)
Theory of Evolution Believed in observable behavior,
- Sir Francis Galton – use of understanding others is via
measurement to differentiate stimulus-response formula
people 5. Psychoanalytic Psychology –
(Sigmund Freud) Proposed the
History of Psychology in the theory of unconscious motivation,
Philippines behavior is governed by hidden
- Through scholarship grants, motives and unconscious
Filipino academicians brought desires.
Psychology to the Philippines
- University of Sto. Tomas & Modern Perspectives in Psychology
University of San Carlos, Cebu – An approach or perspective in
first schools to teach Psychology psychology is a particular view as to
- University of the Philippines – why, and how, it is we think, feel, and
first Department of Psychology behave as we do.
headed by Agustin Alonzo in
1926 Behavioral
Behavioral Psychology is basically
Filipinos who received Ph.D. in interested in how our behavior results
Psychology in the United States from the stimuli both in the environment
1. Sinforoso Padilla – established and within ourselves.
the first psychological clinic at
U.P. Biological
2. Jesus Perpinan – opened the The biological approach believes us to
psychological clinic in F.E.U. be as a consequence of our genetics
3. Elias Bumatay – became Dean of and physiology. It is the only approach in
the College of Education at psychology that examines thoughts,
National University feelings, and behaviors from a physical
4. Estefania Aldaba-Lim – started point of view.
the psychology program in PWU
in 1948 & the Philippine Evolutionary
Psychological Corporation in Evolutionary psychology focuses on
1962 how evolution has shaped the mind and
behavior.
Pioneering Approaches
in Psychology Developmental
1. Structuralism – the mind is Developmental psychology, also known
broken into the smallest elements as Human Development, is the scientific
of mental experience; (Edward study of progressive psychological
Titchener) emphasized changes that occur in human beings as
they age.
 Psychodynamic 5. Social Psychology
Sigmund Freud was the founder of the 6. Experimental Psychology
psychodynamic approach to psychology. 7. School and Educational
This school of thought emphasized the Psychology
influence of the unconscious mind on
behavior. Additional branches
1. Cognitive Psychology
Cognitive 2. Consumer Psychology
Focus on our information processes of 3. Cross-cultural Psychology
perception, attention, language, 4. Engineering Psychology
memory, and thinking, and how they 5. Environmental Psychology
influence our thoughts, feelings and 6. Forensic Psychology
behaviors. 7. Health Psychology
8. Neuropsychology
Goals of Psychology 9. Peace Psychology
1. Describe – make classifications 10. Personality Psychology
into meaningful categories or 11. Physiological/Biological
qualitative form Psychology
2. Understand – explain and 12. Political Psychology
interpret facts about behavior 13. Psychology of Women
3. Predict – draw out future events 14. Sports Psychology
based on understanding of
relationships between conditions Specialty Divisions
and situations
4. Control – monitor behavior for 1. Assessment Psychology
purposeful use is a specialty division for
assessment psychologists who are
Research in Psychology trained in the process of evaluating
1. Experimental method – behavior and/or characteristics of
comparison of two groups where individuals or groups by integrating
one is experimental group and information from multiple data sources
the other is the control group (i.e., tests, interviews, behavioral
2. Naturalistic observation – observations, surveys, and other
scientific observation techniques) to derive an in-depth
3. Case Histories – asking the understanding of an individual.
person involved data needed
and/or gathering data from 2. Clinical Psychology
people significant to the subject is the scientific study of mental
4. Survey method – preparing health, personality and everyday
questionnaire or interview forms adjustment. It is the branch of
in gathering data psychology engaged in the diagnosis,
5. Clinical method – finding the treatment and prevention of
causes of some emotional or psychological problems, i.e., mental,
social maladjustment using emotional and or behavioral problems. It
diagnostic observations is a specialty that involves the
application of psychology for the
Branches in Psychology purpose of understanding, preventing,
and addressing psychologically-based
Major Specialties: distress or dysfunction.
1. Clinical Psychology
2. Counseling Psychology 3. Counseling Psychology
3. Industrial/Organizational is a psychological specialty that
Psychology facilitates personal and interpersonal
4. Developmental Psychology functioning across the life span with a
focus on emotional, social, vocational, 4. Industrial Psychologist
educational, health-related, 5. Entrepreneurs
developmental, and organizational 6. Human Resources Managers
concerns. Through the integration of 7. Marketers
theory, research, and practice, and with 8. Brand managers
a sensitivity to multicultural issues, this 9. Consultants
specialty encompasses a broad range of 10. Subject matter expert
practices that help people improve their 11. Forensic Psychologist
well-being, alleviate distress and 12. Psychologist in the legal setting
maladjustment, resolve crises, and 13. Psychologist working in the
increase their ability to live more highly government setting (e.g. PNP,
functioning lives. PMA, Navy)
14. Psychometrician
4. Developmental Psychology 15. Educational Psychologist
is the subdiscipline in Psychology 16. Psychology Instructors
that is concerned with the nature of 17. Professors
human development or change (in the
cognitive, social, emotional, behavioral, You may pursue being a:
physical aspects) throughout the - Lawyer
lifespan. Developmental psychologists - Doctor
possess specialized knowledge of the
developmental characteristics, issues, Module 2a: The Biological Mind
and processes governing specific
periods of life such as infancy, What is Biological Psychology?
childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Biological psychology, also known
Moreover, they understand how broader as behavioral neuroscience, is the
contextual factors-such as family, peers, scientific study of the reciprocal
culture, and society-influence and are connections between the structure
influenced by individual development. and activity of the nervous system
and behavior and mental processes.
5. Educational Psychology
is a specialty division for Leptin
educational psychologists who are ● The Satiety Hormone
trained psychologists with interest in ● Signals brain to stop eating
research, teaching, or practice in ● Fat cells produce leptin
educational settings at all levels. The
work of educational psychologists is Ghrelin
concerned with theory, methodology, ● The hunger hormone
and applications to a broad spectrum of ● Signals the brain to eat
teaching, training, and learning issues. ● Empty stomach causes ghrelin
levels to rise
6. Industrial-Organizational
Psychology Early attempts and Contemporary
is a specialty division that applies Approaches to Biopsychology
psychological principles and concepts in - Clinical observations of injured or
the workspace to improve the mentally ill individuals
productivity and well-being of - Autopsy
employees. It also studies how - Aristotle mistakenly believed that
organizations work the heart, not the brain, was the
source of mental activity.
Work aligned with Psychology - Phrenology
1. Researcher
2. Therapist / Counselor
3. Clinical Psychologist
 ● Neurosciences – innovations in - They are 1/10th the size of
both technology and knowledge the neurons, but about 10
about the biological basis of mind times as numerous.

The functional magnetic resonance - Neurons have a variety of

(FMRI) began to answer questions that shapes, but they all have 3 basic
were impossible to study previously. parts.
- A cell body that contains
Phrenologists believed that “reading” the the nucleus and most of
bumps on a person’s head could tell the organelles.
about a person’s character. - The dendrites - branching
structures that receive
Nervous System Cells transmissions from other
- You experience yourself as a neurons.
single entity. - The axon - a single, long,
- Neuroscientists have thin fiber with branching
demonstrated that that tips.
experience is the product of a
nervous system made up of an - The axon sends electrochemical
enormous number of discrete messages to neighboring cells.
cells. - Most axons transmit
- The cells that make up your information to the
nervous system are called dendrites or cell bodies
neurons. of neighboring neurons.
- Neurons are cells that receive - Many axons have a
and transmit information coating of myelin, which
electrochemically. speeds up transmission.
- Sensory neurons carry - Neurons do not have a fixed
information from sense anatomy.
organs to the central - Researchers have found
nervous system. that neurons constantly
- Neurons in the Central grow and lose branches to
Nervous System process dendrites and axons.
information, interpret it, - This growth is related to
and send commands to new experiences and
muscles, glands, and learning.
organs.
The Action Potential
- Cerebral cortex and associated - Axons convey information by a
areas: 12-15 billion neurons combination of electrical and
- Cerebellum: 70 billion neurons chemical processes.
- Spinal Cord: 1 billion neurons - This combination is called
an action potential.
- The best estimate is that the - An action potential is a
human nervous system has signal that travels along
nearly 100 billion neurons. the axon at a constant
- They aren’t the only type of cell in strength no matter how far
the system. it travels.
- Glia supports the neurons in - The all-or-none law
many ways. - An action potential is an
- They provide insulation all-or-nothing process – it’s
and remove waste either happening or not;
products and foreign there’s no “sort of” action
bodies. potential.
 - This message reaches the 2. When the neuron is stimulated,
brain at full strength, but positively charged particles enter.
more slowly than regular The action potential is initiated-
electrical conduction. the neuron is depolarized
3. After a brief period, some
How an action potential works: positively charged particles are
- An un-stimulated axon has pushed outside the neuron, and
resting potential. the neuron moves back toward its
- Resting potential is an electrical polarized state
polarization across the 4. The neuron has finally returned to
membrane covering the axon. its initial polarized resting state
- A polarized axon is charged
negatively (-70 millivolts) relative Synapses
to the outside. - Communication between neurons
- Resting potential is maintained by occurs at the synapses.
the sodium-potassium pump. - Synapses are specialized
- Sodium is mostly concentrated junctions between
outside the neuron, and neurons.
potassium mostly inside, and - Chemicals released at the
they are held in place by the synapse excite or inhibit
pump’s special “gates.” neighboring cells, making
- The sodium-potassium pump action potentials more or
sends positively charged (+1) less likely.
sodium ions out of the cell and - Synaptic activity is crucial
brings in a smaller number of to brain function.
positively charged (+1) - Synaptic transmission
potassium ions. - Excitatory messages
- So the outside of the cell has cause the next cell to “fire”
more positive charges than the - continue to carry the
inside. action potential.
- A message from a neighboring - Inhibitory messages
cell excites part of the axon’s decrease the likelihood the
membrane; the sodium gates action potential will
open and sodium enters the continue to travel.
axon.
- This depolarization makes the Synaptic communication:
charge inside the cell positive. - Each axon bulges into a terminal
- The neuron’s charge is briefly bouton (alternately spelled
the same inside and outside. “button.”)
- The sodium gates shut quickly - When the action potential
and potassium ions leave the reaches the terminal bouton,
cell. neurotransmitters are released.
- The positive charge exits with - A neurotransmitter is a
them, bringing the axon back to chemical stored in the neuron.
a polarized state. It activates special receptors of
- The sodium-potassium pump other neurons.
removes excess sodium ions - There are many
and recaptures the exiled neurotransmitters. Neurons use a
potassium ions particular neurotransmitter or
combination of them.
Action Potential: How Neurons Fire - Released neurotransmitters
1. When the neuron is at rest, the diffuse to the surface of the
inside is negatively charged postsynaptic neuron.
relative to the outside
- They attach to receptors on the - The symptoms of
dendrite/cell body of the neuron attention-deficit disorder
exciting or inhibiting it. or ADHD include
- After the message is sent the impulsive, agitated
neurotransmitter detaches from behavior and a short
the receptors. attention span.
- The neurotransmitter may be - These symptoms suggest
reabsorbed by the axon that an oversupply of
released it (reuptake), diffuse dopamine.
away, be removed from the - But there appears to be no
body as a waste product relationship between
(metabolized), or remain in the dopamine and ADHD.
synapse. - The neurotransmitter, whether in
over-, under-, or normal supply, is
Neurotransmitters and Behavior part of a complex system.
- New understanding of the role - What alleviates the problem
of neurotransmitters has may not reveal what originally
revolutionized the health caused the problem.
sciences.
- Drugs designed to act Some of the Most Important
on a particular kind of Neurotransmitters
receptor in the nervous Neurotransmitter: Glutamate
system can also have Function: The brain’s main excitatory
specific effects on an transmitter, present at most synapses.
organism’s functioning Essential for all most all brain activities,
and behavior. Including learning
- It is hypothesized that Comment: Strokes kill neurons by
unusual behaviors or overstimulation, due to excess release
dysfunctions may be due of glutamate
to lack or excess of
particular Neurotransmitter: GABA
neurotransmitters. (Gamma-amino-butyric acid)
Function: The brain’s main inhibitory
Parkinson’s disease transmitter
- Parkinson’s disease is a condition Comment: Anti Anxiety drugs and
in which the individual has trouble antiepileptic drugs increase activity at
with voluntary movements GABA synapses
including tremors, rigidity, and
depressed mood. Neurotransmitter: Acetylcholine
- This condition is related to Function: Increases brain arousal
gradual decay in a system of Comment: Acetylcholine is also
axons that release the released by motor neurons to stimulate
neurotransmitter dopamine. skeletal muscles
- Dopamine is a neurotransmitter
that promotes activity levels and Neurotransmitter: Dopamine
facilitates movement. Function: One path is important for
- Symptoms of Parkinson’s disease movement (damaged in Parkinson’s
can be managed in mild cases Disease). Another path is important for
with a drug called L-dopa, which memory and cognition
is synthesized into dopamine by Comment: Most antipsychotic drugs
the neurons decrease activity at dopamine
- The link is not always so clear synapses. L-dopa, used for Parkinson’s
though. diseases, increases availability of
dopamine
Neurotransmitter: Serotonin - The peripheral nervous system is
Function: Modifies many types of composed of bundles of axons
motivated and emotional behavior between the spinal cord and the
Comment: Most antidepressant drugs rest of the body.
prolong activity at serotonin synapses
Central Nervous System
Neurotransmitter: Norepinephrine - Brain
Function: Enhances storage of memory - Corpus Callosum
of emotional or otherwise meaning - Cerebral Cortex
events - Thalamus
Comment: All or nearly all axons - Hypothalamus
release norepinephrine originate from - Pituitary Gland
one small brain area called the locus - Pons
coeruleus - Medulla
- Cerebellum
Neurotransmitter: Histamine - Spinal Cord
Function: Increases arousal and
alertness Peripheral Nervous System
Comment: Anti histamines (for Nerves in blue control voluntary muscles
allergies) block histamine and therefore and convey sensory information to the
lead to drowsiness central nervous system

Neurotransmitter: Endorphins Never in red control heart, stomach,

Function: Decrease pain and increase intestines and other organs
pleasure ● Sympathetic: Expands energy
Comment: Morphine and heroin ● Parasympathetic: Conserves
stimulate the same receptors as energy
endorphins
Brain and Behavior
Neurotransmitter: Nitric Oxide - There are two sets of
Function: Dilates blood vessels in the subdivisions of the peripheral
most active brain areas nervous system.
Comment: The only known transmitter - The somatic nervous
that is a gas system is made up of
the peripheral nerves
Neurotransmitter: Anandanide, 2AC, that communicate with the
and others skin and muscles.
Function: Sent by the postsynaptic - The autonomic nervous
neuron back to the presynaptic neuron system controls the
to decrease further release of involuntary actions of the
transmitters heart, stomach, and other
Comment: THC, the active chemical in organs.
marijuana, stimulates these same
presynaptic receptors Cerebral Cortex
- The outer covering of the
Brain and Behavior forebrain
- The central nervous system - It’s composed of gray matter, the
consists of the brain and the cell bodies of the cortical
spinal cord. neurons.
- The central nervous - The interior of the forebrain is
system communicates with composed of white matter or
the rest of the body via the axons of cortical neurons. It is
peripheral nervous white because of its myelin
system. coating
- The areas of the cerebral cortex ● Primary motor cortex - fine
are shown as four lobes: movement control
occipital, parietal, temporal, and ● Primary somatosensory cortex
frontal. ● Parietal lobe - body sensations
- The occipital lobe is in the rear. ● Occipital lobe - vision
It contains many specialized ● Temporal lobe - hearing,
areas for interpreting visual advanced visual processing
sensory information.
- It has special areas for shape, Cerebral Cortex
color, and motion vision The Hindbrain & Midbrain
- The parietal lobe is directly in - The medulla, pons, and midbrain
front of the occipital lobe. contain the reticular activating
- It contains the primary system (or reticular formation).
somatosensory cortex which is - The RAS regulates levels of
specialized for body senses and arousal in the brain.
awareness of the location of body - The cerebellum is important for
parts. coordination and timing.
- The temporal lobes are located - It is also in charge of tasks that
on the sides of the head, near the require shifting of attention and
ears. discrimination between stimuli.
- They are the main processing - The medulla oblongata and
areas for hearing and complex pons are two important
aspects of vision. structures in the hindbrain.
- The left temporal lobe contains - They contain the axons that
important areas for language control breathing and heart rate.
processing and comprehension. - They also relay sensory
- Other structures that lie under or information from the head and
near the temporal lobe include send motor messages back to it.
the hypothalamus, amygdala and
hippocampus. The Two Hemispheres and Their
- The hypothalamus Connections
regulates emotional and - Work with individuals who have
motivated behavior. had the “split-brain” operation
- The amygdala, an (severing the corpus callosum)
almond-shaped structure to control seizures provides
crucial for emotional evidence that the two
processing, is deep inside hemispheres are highly
the temporal lobes. specialized.
- The hippocampus is vital - The right hemisphere
for memory processing. communicates with the left in
- The frontal lobes are in the front order to name the objects in its
of the brain. visual field.
- They contain the primary motor - The left hemisphere works with
cortex, important for control of the right to synthesize details into
fine movements. a whole picture (e.g., combining
- The foremost part, the prefrontal the parts of a face into a whole
cortex, is where organization, recognizable image).
planning of action, and aspects of
memory are controlled. Measuring Brain Activity
- Electroencephalography and
● Frontal lobe - planning of Magnetoencephalography
movements, working memory- (EEGs and MEGs) record
events that happened very electrical and magnetic activity in
recently the brain.
 - These do not visualize The Autonomic Nervous System and
brain activity. Endocrine System
- The autonomic nervous system
● Positron emission tomography is a division of the peripheral
(PET) - a high-resolution nervous system closely linked
picture of brain activity using with the spinal cord.
radioactive chemicals injected - The individual has little control
into the bloodstream. over this division’s responses,
○ The color of the image hence “autonomic.”
indicates the level of - It has two subdivisions
activity: red areas are - The sympathetic nervous system
most active, followed by is the crisis management center.
yellow, green, and blue for - It increases heart and
the least active areas. respiration rate and
- Functional magnetic resonance prepares the body for fight
imaging (fMRI) uses magnetic or flight.
detectors to measure the - It’s controlled by a chain of
amounts of hemoglobin and neurons lying just outside
oxygen in different areas of the spinal cord.
the brain. - The parasympathetic nervous
- Highly active areas of the brain system runs long-term
appear to use more oxygen in survival-related functions,
fMRI images. nutrition, and energy
conservation.
Subcortical Areas - It decreases heart rate,
- Reflex and voluntary responses increases digestive
are conducted through the spinal activities, and promotes
cord. restorative processes.
- A reflex is a rapid, automatic - It is controlled by neurons
response to a stimulus. They at the upper and lower
usually originate in the spinal levels of the spinal cord.
cord. - The endocrine system is under
- Voluntary responses originate in the control of the nervous
the brain and travel via the spinal system.
cord to the muscles to carry out - It’s a system of glands that
movements. release hormones into the
- The spinal cord communicates bloodstream.
with the body by means of
sensory and motor neurons. Sympathetic Parasympathetic
- The sensory neurons carry
information from the extremities Uses much energy Conserves energy
of the body to the spinal cord and
Pupils open Pupils constrict
brain.
- Motor neurons transmit Saliva decreases Saliva flows
messages from the central
nervous system to the muscles Pulse quickens Pulse slows
and glands. Sweat increases Stomach churns

- Gray matter Stomach less

- White matter active
- Central canal Epinephrine
- Sensory nerve adrenaline)
- Motor nerve secreted
 Sympathetic Outflow ● Antidiuretic Hormone (ADH) -
- Most ganglia near spinal cord Kidney tubules
- Celiac ganglion ● Oxytocin - Smooth muscle in
- Post ganglionic axons uterus
- Preganglionic axons ● Oxytocin - Mammary glands
● Thyroid-stimulating hormone
Parasympathetic Outflow (TSH) - Thyroid
- Vagus nerve ● Adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) -
- Cranial nerves (12 pairs) Adrenal Cortex
- Cervical nerves (8 pairs) ● Prolactin (PRL) - Mammary
- Thoracic nerves (12 pairs) glands
- Lumbar nerves (5 pairs) ● Growth Hormone (GH) - Bones,
- Sacral nerves (5 pairs) tissues
- Pelvic nerve ● Gonadotropins (FSH and LH) -
Ovaries, testes
- Hormones are chemicals that
affect mood, behavior, and The Binding Problem
anatomy. - We still don’t understand how the
- Some neurotransmitters act as different parts of the brain
hormones. For example, produce a unified experience of
epinephrine is called adrenaline objects or events, since the
when it is acting as a hormone in areas of the brain that help us
the bloodstream analyze our experience are not
directly interconnected.
● Pineal gland - Melatonin controls - It is amazing that people can lose
sleepiness and onset of puberty just one aspect of vision; for
● Posterior pituitary - Oxytocin example, color, motion, or the
controls milk release, etc. ability to recognize faces.
Vasopressin controls blood
pressure and urine volume Module 2b: The Perceiving Mind
● Thyroid - Thyroid hormone
controls metabolic rate Sensation and Perception
● Hypothalamus - Hormones that ● Sensation - the conversion of
control pituitary gland physical stimuli into a pattern
● Anterior pituitary - Hormones that of nervous system responses.
control other glands ● Perception - the interpretation of
● Parathyroids (behind thyroid) - that information.
Parathyroid hormone controls
calcium and potassium Detecting Light
● Adrenal gland - Hormones that - Stimuli are physical stimuli that
control metabolism and salt affect what we do.
retention - Receptors are the specialized
● Pancreas - Insulin and glucagon cells in our bodies that convert
control glucose storage and use physical stimuli into signals for
● Ovary (female) and testis (male) - the nervous system.
Hormones that control sexual - Light is the stimulus that the
behaviors visual system detects.
- Visible light is one very small
Hypothalamus and the Pituitary portion of the electromagnetic
● Hypothalamus spectrum - the continuum of
● Posterior Pituitary frequencies of radiated energy.
● Portal System - The human eye detects energy
● Anterior Pituitary wavelengths from 400 to 700 nm.
 Parts of the Eye - The rods are adapted for night
● Iris - Colored area vision.
● Rods and Cones - Nocturnal species have few
● Pupil cones and many rods, giving
● Vitreous humor them particularly good night
● Fovea vision
● Blind spot - The fovea is the center of the
● Optic nerve human retina, and location of
● Retina most of the cones.
● Ciliary muscle - Controls the lens - It has the greatest visual acuity.
● Lens - There are many more rods in the
● Cornea periphery of the retina.

The Structure of the Eye The Visual Pathway

- The outer surface of the eyeball - The visual receptors send their
is the rigid, transparent cornea. It impulses toward the center of the
directs light through the pupil. eye.
- The pupil is an adjustable - First bipolar cells gather impulses
opening through which light from rods and cones.
enters the eye. - Then they make synaptic
- The iris is the structure contacts with ganglion cells.
surrounding the pupil. It contains - The axons of the ganglion cells
the muscles that dilate or combine to form the optic nerve,
constrict the pupil. making a “U-turn” and exiting the
- It gives your eye its characteristic eye.
color, too. - There are no photoreceptors
- Light is then directed on to the where the nerve leaves the eye –
lens. the blind spot.
- The lens is a flexible structure - The blind spot is not a problem
that varies in thickness, enabling because information from the
the eye to accommodate, and retina of each eye “fills in” the
adjust its focus for different blind spot in the other eye
distances. integrating the view in the visual
- The lens directs the light through cortex.
a clear, jellylike substance - the - At the optic chiasm, half of each
vitreous humor - to the back of optic nerve crosses to the
the eyeball. opposite side of the brain.
- This is the retina, the structure - The axons separate, sending
containing the visual receptors. information to many locations in
the brain.
Cornea and Lens - Most axons go to the occipital
● Focus on distant object - lens thin lobe via the thalamus.
● Focus on close object - lens thick
● Midbrain
The Visual Receptors ● Optic Chiasm
- The retina contains two types of ● Retina
specialized neurons - rods and ● Lateral geniculate nucleus of
cones. thalamus
- Rods far outnumber cones. ● Optic nerve
- About 5-10% of visual receptors
in the human retina are cones. - The information from the retinas
- The cones are utilized in color, is integrated in the visual cortex.
daytime and detail vision. - Each cell in the cortex receives
input from both retinas.
- When the retinas are focused on - People see opposite colored
the same point, the input from after-images when staring at
each side is easily integrated an object of one color. Stare at a
because the message from each red object, and you see a green
is almost the same. after-image when you stop
- If the images conflict, cortical staring.
cells will be alternately stimulated - Ewald Hering proposed that color
and inhibited as they try to is perceived not in terms of
integrate the information. separate categories but as a
- The alternation is called binocular system of paired opposites.
rivalry. - Red vs. green
- The brain activity of the visual - Yellow vs. blue
cortex is crucial for the sense of - White vs. black
vision. - The negative after-images result
- People with intact eyes but a from the alternating stimulation
damaged visual cortex lose the and inhibition of neurons in the
ability to imagine visual imagery. visual system.
- A bipolar neuron that responds to
Color Vision yellow is inhibited by blue.
The Young-Helmholtz Theory - After you’ve stared at a yellow
- Also called the Trichromatic object, your fatigued bipolar cell
theory, it proposes that our behaves as if it’s been inhibited,
receptors respond to three yielding blue.
primary colors.
- “Color vision depends on the The Retinex Theory
relative rate of response by the - The Trichromatic and
three types of cones.” Opponent-Process theories
- Each type of cone is most don’t account for our
sensitive to a specific range of experience of color constancy.
electromagnetic wavelengths. - This is the tendency of objects to
- Short wavelengths appear nearly the same color
become blue. even though we see them in
- Medium wavelengths are different lighting conditions.
seen as green. - Edwin Land proposed that we
- Long wavelengths become perceive color because the
red. cerebral cortex compares
- Wavelengths induce different various retinal patterns (retina +
levels of activity in each type of cortex = “Retinex”).
cone. - Comparing different patterns of
- For example, light that light from areas across the
stimulates the medium and retina, cortical cells synthesize a
long wavelength cones color perception for each area.
about equally is perceived - Certain types of brain damage
as yellow. disrupt color constancy.
- Light that excites all three - That an object looks orange in
types equally is perceived one level of light, and red, green,
as white. yellow, or even white under other
conditions due to brain damage,
The Opponent-Process Theory is strong evidence for the Retinex
- Trichromatic theory does not theory.
account for more complicated
aspects of color perception. Color Vision Deficiency (also known
- Four colors are seen as primary – as color blindness but said to be an
red, green, blue and yellow. inaccurate term)
 - Total inability to distinguish - Frequency is the number
colors is very rare except as a of vibrations or cycles of
result of brain damage the sound wave per
- About 4% of all people are partly second - hertz (Hz.)
colorblind. - The perception of frequency is
- Color deficiency results from the pitch.
absence of one of the types of - A high-frequency sound wave
cones. is perceived as high-pitched,
- Color deficiency can also result and a low-frequency wave as
when one type of cones is less low-pitched.
responsive than the other two. - Amplitude is intensity of sound
The color that stimulates the waves and is perceived as
affected type is seen as gray. loudness.
- Red-green color deficiency is the - Pitch and loudness are
most common type. psychological experiences -
- There are two forms – perception of these qualities
protanopia, due to a lack of doesn’t depend on frequency and
long-wavelength cones, and amplitude alone.
deuteranopia, due to a lack of - The ear converts weak sound
medium-wavelength cones. waves into pressure waves
- Yellow-blue deficiency (known as transported by sensory neurons
tritanopia) is very rare and interpreted by the brain.
- The cochlea is the location
Watch and Think! of the hearing receptors.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDsrz - It is a spiral-shaped organ
KDB_tA with canals containing
fluid.
Assignment - Sound waves strike the tympanic
CRITICAL THINKING QUESTIONS membrane, or eardrum.
1. Think of an eye as analogous to - The vibrations cause three
a camera. What features of the very tiny bones, the malleus,
eye correspond to which features the incus, and the stapes, (or
of a camera? hammer, anvil and stirrup) to
2. Pilots preparing for flying at night make the sound waves become
often wear red goggles for an strong signals.
hour or so prior to their flight. - The stirrup causes the cochlea to
Why do you suppose that they vibrate.
would do this? - This vibration displaces hair cells
3. Research how culture shapes along the basilar membrane there
eye movements. Give specific
examples. - External auditory
- Eardrum
Nonvisual Senses - Hammer
- Anvil
Hearing - Stirrup
- The ear detects and transmits - Auditory nerve
sound waves to the brain. - Cochlea
- Sound waves are - Basilar membrane
vibrations in air or another - Hair cells
medium. - Fluid pressure vibrations
- Sound waves vary
according to frequency - The hair cells are connected to
and amplitude. neurons of the auditory nerve.
- The auditory nerve transmits the Localizing Sounds
impulses from the cochlea to the - How does the auditory system
cerebral cortex. determine the source of a sound?
- There are two common forms of - To estimate the
deafness. approximate location of
origin of a sound, the
● Conduction deafness: The three auditory system compares
special bones in the ear fail to the messages received by
transmit sound waves properly to the ears.
the cochlea. - The sound waves arrive at
● Nerve deafness: Damage to the the closer ear slightly
structures that receive and sooner (from the right, it
transmit the impulses - the arrives at the right ear a
cochlea, hair cells, or auditory little before it arrives at the
nerve. left).
- The distance of a sound is
Pitch Perception estimated from loudness and
- Adult humans hear sound waves pitch.
approximately between 15 and - A sound growing louder is
20,000 Hz. interpreted as approaching.
- How we hear pitch depends - A higher frequency sound is
partly on the frequency we detect interpreted as nearer than a
- At low frequency (up to about 100 low frequency sound; a sound
Hz), we hear by the frequency increasing in pitch is interpreted
principle. as approaching.
- Sound waves pass through the - The only cue for absolute
fluid in the cochlea and cause the distance is the amount of
hair cells to vibrate, producing reverberation experienced.
action potentials synchronized
with the sound waves. The Vestibular Sense
- At about 100-4000 Hz, we hear - The structure of the vestibular
by the volley principle. system
- Fewer hair cells fire at this - Three semicircular canals
pace. Those that do respond are oriented in three
in groups, called volleys, directions.
producing action potentials. - These canals contain a
- Volleys are the chief mechanism jellylike substance and
of transmission of speech and are lined with hair cells.
music. - Acceleration moves the
- Beyond 4000 Hz, we hear by the jellylike substance and
place principle. the hair cells, stimulating
- The location of the hair cells them.
stimulated by the sound waves - The structure of the vestibular
depends on their frequency. system
- The highest frequency sounds - Hair cells are also
vibrate hair cells near the stirrup contained in two otolith
or the base. Low frequency organs.
sounds vibrate at its maximum - These are calcium
near the apex. carbonate particles.
- Between 100 and 4000 Hz, we - They stimulate different
hear due to the combined effects sets of hair cells,
of the volley and place principles. depending on which way
the head tilts.
 - They tell your brain “which - Pain messages must pass
way is up.” through a “gate,” thought to be in
the spinal cord.
The Cutaneous Senses - This gate can block the
- Touch is several independent messages.
senses: - Neurotransmitters and pain
- Pressure - Substance P is a
- warmth and cold neurotransmitter released
- Pain for intense pains.
- Vibration - Reactions to painful
- movement and stretch of stimuli are reduced in
skin animals that lack
- These sensations depend on substance P.
different kinds of receptors. - Endorphins, chemically
- These are noticeable in skin. identical to opiates, are
- The same receptors are present released in response to
in our internal organs, allowing us the presence of substance
to feel internal pain, pressure, P.
and temperature changes. - They weaken pain
- These senses comprise the sensations.
somatosensory system. - Endorphin release can
- Information about touch travels be induced by sensory
from the skin to the spinal cord. experiences like listening
Once inside the spinal cord, to music or engaging in
touch pathways proceed to the sexual activity.
thalamus. The thalamus
transmits touch information to the Ways to Decrease Pain
primary somatosensory cortex, - Neurotransmitters and pain
located in the parietal lobe. - Capsaicin is the chemical
that is present in hot
Pain peppers.
- Pain receptors are simple nerve - It stimulates receptors that
endings that travel to the spinal respond to painful heat.
cord. - It causes the release of
- Pain perception is a complex substance P thus
mixture of sensation and depleting the nervous
perception mediated by emotion. system’s supply.
- Two different areas of the brain - Creams containing
govern sensory and emotional capsaicin are used to
interpretations. relieve muscle pain.

The Gate Theory of Pain Assignment

- Seeking treatment/believing one 1. What is the connection between
has been treated can cause a culture and experience of pain?
reduction of symptoms. Cite specific examples of the
- The effectiveness of placebos in different thresholds of pain in
reducing the pain has been certain cultures.
supported by experiments. 2. Can relationships buffer the
- A variety of processes can experience of pain? Explain by
increase or decrease pain due to giving concrete examples.
injury.
- From these observations Melzack The Chemical Senses (Taste)
and Wall (1965) proposed the - Taste and smell are jointly
gate theory of pain. referred to as the “chemical
 senses.” Many invertebrates rely - Smell is vital for food selection.
almost entirely on these senses; - Neurons in the prefrontal cortex
other mammals use them much receive both taste and olfactory
more heavily than do humans. input, and combine them to
- Taste produce flavor.
- The sense of taste detects - The olfactory tract bypasses the
chemicals on the tongue. relay system in the thalamus
- It controls and motivates going to the olfactory bulb, at the
eating and drinking. base of the brain.
- The taste buds are located - The bulb is directly in contact with
in the folds on the surface the limbic system.
of the tongue. They - In nonhuman mammals, olfaction
contain most of the human plays a vital social role.
taste receptors. - Animals rely on pheromones,
chemicals that they release
Types of Taste Receptors into the environment.
- Traditionally Western science - These are important for sexual
has held that there are four communication, acting on the
tastes – sweet, sour, salty, and vomeronasal organ to broadcast
bitter. messages about fertility and
- Monosodium glutamate (MSG), a sexual receptivity.
common ingredient in Asian - Humans don’t rely on the social
cooking, may represent a fifth. influences of pheromones.
- Researchers call this fifth type of - There is some evidence that they
taste receptor “umami.” (a play a role anyway.
Japanese term for “savory” or - Research reveals that female
“meaty.”) college students who room
together tend to
Odorant Molecules - have synchronized menstrual
1. Stimulus molecules attach to cycles.
receptors
2. Receptors convert the energy of Assignment
a chemical reaction into action 1. Are you a supertaster?
potentials - Supertasters are extra sensitive
3. The spatial and temporal pattern to taste. You can use the
of nerve impulses represents the following exercises to determine
stimulus in some meaningful way your taste category.
- How does mint taste to you?
Smell - Place a mint on your tongue and
- Olfaction is the sense of smell. allow it to dissolve (no chewing).
- The receptors for smell are Rate the following qualities on a
located in the mucous scale of 1 to 5, 1 being very
membranes in the rear air intense and 5 being “not intense”.
passages of the nose.
- They detect airborne molecules Sweetness 1 2 3 4 5
of chemicals.
- There are hundreds of types of Smell 1 2 3 4 5
human olfactory receptors.
Coolness 1 2 3 4 5
- Other mammals have many more
receptors than do humans. Rush 1 2 3 4 5
- Each type of olfactory receptor is Interpret results:
specialized for detection of one ● Group 1 – Mint is mild, no rush
small group of closely related (Mildly sensitive tasters)
chemicals.
 ● Group 2 - Mint is moderate, no would be relatively simple to
rush (Moderately sensitive determine the weakest possible
tasters) stimuli that humans could detect.
● Group 3 - Mint is moderate, - It was found that there is
rush(Moderately sensitive no sharp distinction
tasters) between detectable and
● Group 4 - Mint is intense, rush non-detectable stimuli.
(supertasters) - A sensory threshold is
defined as “the intensity
2. Other eating habits at which a given
Rate the tastes of the following foods individual can detect a
and drinks using a 1-to-5 scale, with 1 stimulus 50% of the time.”
being “dislike strongly” and 5 being “like - There are no guarantees
a great deal.” that an individual will
report all stimuli above the
Broccoli 1 2 3 4 5 threshold, or fail to report
all below it.
Grapefruit 1 2 3 4 5 - The environment (i.e. lighting
conditions) will influence
Coffee
1 2 3 4 5 thresholds.
(black)
- The absolute threshold is the
Dark sensory threshold at the time
1 2 3 4 5
chocolate of maximum sensitivity - when
conditions allow for the best
- As a child, were you ever possible receptivity to the
described by a parent, teacher, or stimulus.
other adult as a “picky eater”? - Signal detection theory
- Yes - When detecting relatively
- No weak stimuli, people can
- Can you easily tell the difference be correct and incorrect in
between the fat content of milk, two different ways,
for example, between whole and respectively.
2% milk or between 1% and 2% - A hit: correct detection of
milk? an actual stimulus.
- Yes - A correct rejection: no
- No stimulus is present and no
- Supertasters tend to dislike bitter detection is claimed.
foods. They also tend to be picky - A miss: An incorrect
eaters as children and are better rejection when a stimulus
at detecting differences in fats in is present.
foods. - A false alarm: An incorrect
detection when no
Assignment stimulus is present.
What are the sociocultural influences on - Signal detection theory
chemical senses – olfaction (sense of - The study of people’s
smell) and gustation (sense of taste)? tendencies in making hits,
correct rejections, false
Interpreting Sensory Information alarms, and misses.
- Several factors work
Perceiving Minimal Stimuli together to influence the
Sensory Thresholds and Signal rates of these outcomes.
Detection - The response in each trial
- Early psychological researchers depends on what is
incorrectly assumed that it conveyed by the senses.
 - An individual’s responses - No one listening to the
also depend on willingness messages can discern
to risk an incorrect them.
response, and on - No behavioral change
emotions that a stimulus occurs after listening to
evokes. music containing
messages.
Perceiving Minimal Stimuli - Subliminal audiotapes just don’t
Subliminal Perception work
- Subliminal perception is well - Addictions can’t be
known to the general public. overcome, self-esteem
- The idea that a stimulus can’t be improved, and
influences behavior even general self-improvement
when it is so weak or brief can’t be achieved merely
that it is not consciously through listening to
perceived. subliminal audiotapes.
- Concern exists that - Any results achieved
subliminal perception can through the use of these
manipulate human tapes result from placebo
behavior. effect or the individual
- What does “subliminal” mean? user’s motivation to
- It refers to the quality of improve.
being “below the (sensory)
threshold.” What Subliminal Perception Can Do
- Scientists use it to indicate - Subtle effects on perception and
that the stimulus was not emotion have been confirmed.
consciously detected in a - “Priming” individuals to see an
given presentation. object in subsequent
- The only way to know if a presentations has been
stimulus has been achieved through repeated
detected is to ask, so it is subliminal presentations (Bar &
difficult to interpret Biederman, 1998).
research on subliminal - Emotional states can be
stimuli. influenced by subliminal
presentation of messages that
What Subliminal Perception Doesn’t are perceived as emotionally
Do loaded (Masling et al., 1991).
- Claims that subliminal stimuli in
advertisements make people buy - The fact that subliminal
things are unsupportable. perception can influence behavior
- It has been tested repeatedly and at all is interesting.
no evidence has been found. - But the effects overall are much
- Advertisements in American smaller than people hope or fear.
culture don’t require subliminal
stimuli. They are overtly and Perceiving and Recognizing Patterns
effectively manipulative. - Brightness contrast
- Messages in music (recorded - How does your brain
backwards or superimposed) decide how bright an
cannot make people do anything object is?
evil or benign. - The apparent brightness
- This has also been of an object that you see
repeatedly tested under can be increased or
controlled conditions. decreased by the objects
around it.
 - This phenomenon is called - We may perceive continuation,
brightness contrast. and fill in gaps, or close familiar
- Face recognition figures.
- This involves several - We perceive a good figure, one
interesting processes that is simple and symmetrical.
- We use unusual - Gestalt visual principles have
characteristics to analogs in the perception of
recognize faces. sound.
- Most people recognize
faces as a synthesized Perceiving of Movement and Depth
whole configuration of - Visual constancy
features. - Objects are perceived as
- Damage to an area of the maintaining size, shape,
right temporal lobe causes and color though the
loss of this ability. image striking our retina
- Children diagnosed with changes from moment to
autism have difficulty with moment.
face recognition. - An automobile that is
driving away appears to be
Gestalt Psychology moving away, not merely
- Gestalt psychology examines the shrinking, though the
human ability to perceive image on our retinas
patterns. grows smaller.
- Gestalt has no true English
equivalent, but most closely Perception of Movement
means “pattern” or - Motion-blindness can result
“configuration.” from damage to a small area
- According to Gestalt of the temporal lobe.
psychologists, visual perception - This is evidence that the visual
is an active creation, not merely system analyzes different aspects
adding together lines and of an image via separate brain
movement. pathways.
- How do we distinguish between
Principles of Gestalt Psychology our movement and the movement
- When looking at an image, we of objects?
make a distinction between figure - The vestibular system
and ground. keeps the visual system
- This is a picture of a reversible informed of head
figure – a stimulus that can be movements.
perceived in - We see motion when
- more than one way. We decide objects move relative to
which side is the front of the the background.
object and see it - Induced movement
- as a stable image. We are occurs when an object
imposing order, not just adding is stationary and the
up small features. background moves, so the
- The principle of proximity states object is incorrectly
that humans tend to perceive perceived as moving.
objects close together as - Stroboscopic movement is an
belonging to a group. illusion created through a rapid
- The principle of similarity states succession of stationary images.
that we perceive objects that Animation and motion pictures
resemble each other rather than work this way.
forming a group.
- The phi effect creates motion - Motion parallax - the principle
from rows of adjacent lights that close objects pass by faster
blinking on and off sequentially. than distant objects.
This is exploited by nightclub and
motel owners. Optical Illusions
- Our retinas are - An optical illusion is a
two-dimensional surfaces that misinterpretation of a visual
create good depth perception – stimulus.
our ability to perceive distance. - Psychologists try to find
- Several factors create parsimonious explanations for
depth perception. these mistakes.
- There are binocular cues - Many are explained by
(depending on both eyes) examining the relationship
and monocular ones between size and depth
(needing only one eye). perception.
- When we misjudge distance, we
Binocular Cues misjudge size as well.
- Retinal disparity is the difference - The Ames room illusion causes
in apparent position of objects us to misjudge the heights of
seen by each retina. people standing in it using a
- This discrepancy allows us to misleading set of background
gauge distance. cues.
- Convergence is the degree our - We see an immensely tall and
eyes must turn in to allow us to very short person. Once we
focus on close objects. remove all the misleading cues,
we see people of similar
Monocular Cues height standing at different
- Monocular cues permit depth and distances from us.
distance judgment using only one - Even a two-dimensional
eye. drawing can contain cues that
- Object size can be used if you cause erroneous perception of
have an idea of the object’s depth.
approximate size. - Vision plays a role in some
- Linear perspective is used when auditory illusions.
parallel lines converge as they - Visual capture effect occurs
approach the horizon. when a sound is identified as
- Detail – generally objects that are coming from a visually
closer are seen in greater detail prominent source rather than
than those farther away. its actual source. This causes
- Interposition – nearby objects misjudgment of the sound’s
obstruct objects that are farther distance and intensity.
away. - Ventriloquism uses this auditory
- Texture gradient - clusters of illusion.
objects seem more densely
packed the farther away they are. Cross-cultural Influences
- Shadows give clues to distance - How an individual sees the
depending on size and position. Muller-Lyer illusion is partly
- Accommodation is how the lens influenced by cultural and other
changes shape to focus on factors.
objects, growing thinner for - The illusion is stronger for city
nearby objects and thicker for dwellers and children.
close objects. - Experience with buildings and
with drawings of objects may
 impact interpretations made of ● Paying attention to what is
two-dimensional images. happening around us as well as
our sensations, feelings and
The Moon Illusion thoughts
- The moon appears to be ● Its opposite is the unconscious
about 30% larger when it is which Freud theorized to include
close to the horizon. our repressed thoughts, wishes
- Measuring it with navigational and feelings.
equipment proves that it is the
same size. Consciousness in the Brain
- This illusion is hard to explain but - Consciousness requires complex
probably is related to our interactions between areas of the
tendency to use background cues cerebral cortex and the thalamus
in judging size. (lesions of the thalamus result in
- At the horizon the moon is the type of profound
compared to the other close unconsciousness typically
familiar objects and terrain, so it’s associated with brain death.
judge as very large. - Reticular formation of the brain
- When it is high in the sky stem play an active role in raising
there’s no basis on which to or lowering the thresholds of our
gauge its distance. We consciousness
unconsciously judge the horizon
moon to be more distant, thus Altered States of Consciousness
larger. In between the continuum of conscious
- This latter explanation fits the and unconscious states is the radical
general notion that optical deviation from the overall pattern of
illusions are produced by functioning of the mind during the
misjudgments of size and ordinary waking state of consciousness.
distance Kinds:

Visual Illusions and Perception 1. When asleep and dreaming

- The moon illusion and all that we 2. When under hypnosis or
have learned about visual meditation
perception and misperception 3. When under the influence of
reinforce an important point. drugs or alcohol
- What you are seeing is not “out 4. When possessed by ghost or evil
there” – it’s in your brain.
- Vision is usually an accurate if Hypnosis
complex reconstruction of the ● The person is placed in
world around us. trance-like state after looking very
- We can be very mistaken about intently at magnetic fluids – Anton
what we think we see Mesmer, Viennese physician, to
cure the sickness of patients. It
Module 2c: The Aware Mind was then labeled as mesmerism.
● Hypnosis was the term given in
Conscious and Unconscious 1842 taken from the Greek word
Processes hypnos meaning sleep. He was
● From the Latin conscientia which also the Greek god of sleep
means “to know” ● During hypnotic state, the person
● William James defines is relaxed and become highly
consciousness as the responsive to suggestions that
ever-changing flow of awareness would lead to the cure of some
or the awareness of internal and disorders like anxiety, depression,
external stimuli. etc
 Meditation Categories:
● Certain rituals and exercises are 1. Depressants – alcohol,
performed such as focusing on barbiturates, mild tranquilizers
one’s breathing, assuming yoga 2. Stimulants – caffeine, nicotine,
position, concentrating on an amphetamines, shabu, ecstasy
object or reciting a prayer or a 3. Hallucinogens – LSD
mantra. A mantra is a special 4. Cannabis – marijuana
word or sound chanted 5. Opiates – morphine, heroine
repeatedly over and over to shift
to the altered state Sleep and Dreams
● Physiological and psychological
gains are achieved from Circadian Rhythms
meditation such as awareness - Cycles of activity generally lasting
and control of breathing, sense of about one day (Latin circa =
well-being, being at peace with “about” and dies = “day”.)
and sensitive to the environment - Circadian rhythms allowed to
occur in an environment free of
Brain Damage and Consciousness time cues (like living in a cave for
- Brain death is the absence of several months) stabilize at a
activity or response to stimuli. little over 24 hours.
- Coma produces a slow steady - Your degree of alertness depends
rate of activity and no response where you are in your circadian
to stimuli. rhythm.
- Vegetative states include limited - Morning people versus evening
response to stimuli but no people
purposeful activity. - Human beings seem to fall on a
- Neuroscientists investigate continuum: morning people,
these states and the likelihood evening people, or no distinct
of regaining full consciousness preference.
associated with each. - Location on the continuum seems
to be related to age.
Other Phenomena of Consciousness - Are you a morning person, or an
- Deja vu is feeling of uncanny evening person?
familiarity with a strange person, - Most young adults are evening
new place or event. people, or neutral.
- Capgras syndrome is a - Most people over the age of 65
condition in which person are morning people.
insists that familiar individuals - This distinction is even found in
are actually impostors who performance differences in
resemble those people. laboratory rats (Winocur &
- These continue to pose Hasher, 1999.)
challenges as we investigate - Shifting sleep schedules
their neurological origins. - Brain structures use light
to reset the body clock and
Psychoactive Drugs keep it in step with the
- These are chemical substances environment.
capable of altering or changing - Travelling between time
behaviors, moods and zones puts us out of step
perceptions. The resulting with it for a while.
alteration in consciousness - Jet lag – a period of
depends on the specific action of weariness and discomfort
the drug on the nervous system. that occurs while the body
clock adjusts to a new time
zone. It’s easier to adjust
 going east to west than - Restorative functions in
west to east. the brain
- Staying up late on the - Sleep deprivation
weekends produces a jet leads to irritability,
lag-like feeling – “Monday impaired attention,
morning brain fog.” and weakened
- Shift work is also immune system
problematic. “Graveyard” - Some people need
and “rotating” shifts are less sleep than
very difficult. others
- Wakefulness at night when - Randy Gardner
the body is primed for stayed awake for
sleep is hazardous to 264 hours
health/safety (lapses in - Evolutionary theory: Animals
judgment and slow have evolved to sleep as much
reflexes). as is safe and doesn’t interfere
- Transferring rotating shift with their needs (for example,
workers to later shifts is migrating birds don’t sleep)
less stressful and harmful - Lions sleep about 20
than transferring them to hours a day; gazelles
earlier shifts. sleep much less.
- Bright lights can also - Gazelles are a food source
ameliorate some of the for lions. They need more
harmful effects of being time to eat, and must run
awake when the body away quickly.
clock is set for sleep.
- Brain mechanisms “The lion and the calf shall lie down
- The circadian cycle is together, but the calf won’t get much
governed by the sleep.” — Woody Allen
suprachiasmatic nucleus
(“SCN”.) - Learning and memory are
- This tiny structure at the strengthened
base of the brain is - Especially for motor skills
essentially the body’s and language-related
“clock.” tasks
- It controls the sleep-wake - Areas in brain specialized
cycle in part by regulating for motor tasks are active
the secretion of melatonin during sleep after learning
by the pineal gland. - Memories are reanalyzed
during sleep
Why Do We Sleep?
- Several benefits Types of Sleep
- Sleep saves energy N-REM (non-rapid eye movement)
- Mammals and birds ● Stage 1 - Slowing of heart rate
lower their body and muscle relaxation; theta
temperature. waves (4-7 cycles per second)
- Animals decrease are observed
muscle activity. ● Stage 2 – There is the
- Energy is appearance of bursts of brain
conserved in times waves called sleep spindles. The
of famine by longer person sleeping is unresponsive
sleep and lowered to external stimuli thus hard to
body temperature. awaken
 ● Stage 3 – Delta began to appear - Research suggests that
which are large amplitude, slow REM sleep helps to
brain waves. There is greater improve memory for
muscle relaxation, heart rate, difficult new tasks.
respiration rate, blood pressure - It also helps improve
and body temperature continue to memory for motor skills.
drop
● Stage 4 – There are more delta Abnormalities of Sleep
waves measured by the EEG. - Insomnia: Lack of sleep
This means that the sleeper is in - It is hard to define it by the
the deepest sleep number of hours - there’s a
range of normal sleep
After an hour, the sleeper returns from lengths.
stage 4 to 3 to 2 then to stage 1. The - It’s better defined by
heart rate and breathing become fast complaints of feeling
but muscles are relaxed and poorly rested.
unresponsive - Many adults have
occasional insomnia.
REM or rapid eye movement happens - Serious or chronic
and at this time that dreaming occurs. insomnia is often
associated with disorders
- It is also called paradoxical sleep such as depression.
because the sleeper is incapable - Insomnia and sleep apnea
of movement. Therefore when - Sleep apnea impairs the
dreaming, the person is not able quality and length of sleep.
to act it out - Failure to breathe for a
minute or more occurs.
- Functions of REM sleep The sleeper wakes
- The brains of people gasping for air or dies.
deprived of only REM - Snoring is associated with
sleep will attempt to this disorder.
produce more of it. - Many sufferers are obese
- They become very middle-aged or elderly
irritable, anxious and men.
distracted. - Other cases are
- People deprived of REM associated brainstem
sleep will experience a abnormalities (in the
“rebound” when finally medulla.)
allowed to indulge. - Narcolepsy
- As we age, patterns of - Sudden attacks of extreme
REM sleep change. and irresistible sleepiness.
- Infants get more REM - Associated with these are
sleep than children, and muscle weakness or
children get more than paralysis and vivid
adults. dreams.
- It’s inferred that REM has - It’s like a burst of REM
some role in CNS sleep in the midst of a
development. waking period.
- Species that sleep more - Parasomnias
get more REM. - Other strange
- People who sleep over 9 sleep-related phenomena:
hours get more REM sleep - Sleep talking, a normal,
than those who sleep 6 non-pathological
hours or less. occurrence.
 - Sleepwalking, usually - Fritz Perls of Gestalt consider
found in children during dreams are royal road to
stage 4 sleep. (It is integration, what we miss, want,
perfectly safe to wake a avoid doing come out in the
sleepwalker.) dreams
- Nightmares: unpleasant - Scenes in the dream are symbols
dreams that are reported that have meaning in the life of
by almost everyone at the dreamer
some time.
- Night terrors – awakening Freud’s Theory of Dreams
during slow-wave sleep in - Freud maintained that dreams
extreme panic more reveal unconscious thoughts and
commonly found in motives.
children than in adults. - He referred to the surface
- Leg movements disrupting sleep content of the dream as
- Periodic limb movement “manifest” content.
disorder (restless leg - He called the hidden
syndrome) - prolonged content, represented only
“crawly” sensations, in symbols, “latent”
accompanied by strong content.
repetitive leg movements - An analyst discovers the meaning
that wake the sleeper. of latent content by relating the
- These usually occur during dreamer’s personal associations
the first half of the night. to details of the manifest content.
Caffeine, stress and - This approach to dream analysis
fatigue may aggravate the was popular for years.
condition. - But it’s not scientific – there is no
- A common cause of poor way to test this approach
sleep in older adults empirically.
- Hypersomnia
- Excessive sleep that is not Modern Theories of Dreaming
refreshing. - The Activation-Synthesis theory
- A person gets over 8 - Input from the brainstem
hours a day during the (the pons) activates the
week, and then needs to brain during REM sleep.
“catch up” by getting over - The cerebral cortex make
15 hours per day on the “sense” of the random
weekend and still reports activity by imposing a story
feeling groggy, confused, on the stimuli that activate
and poorly rested. the sense organs during
- Outside of this one can’t this process.
get “too much sleep.” - The meaning is not a
cause, as in Freud’s
Dreams approach, but a
- It is a manifestation of brain by-product.
activity when asleep. - This theory does not make
- It is found to be extension of clear, testable predictions
everyday experiences either.
- Experts on dreams believe that - The Neurocognitive theory
dreams carry personal meanings - Dreaming is thinking that
- Freud referred to dreams as the occurs during sleep.
royal road to the unconscious, - Persistent activity of the
wishful thinking cortex, reduction of
sensory stimulation, and
 loss of self-control of - Genes control protein production
thinking may contribute to in order to produce specific
this. characteristics – a distinct group
- REM is not necessary but of genes exerts influence over
the emotional arousal height, weight, or eye color.
created by REM tends to - Genes are composed of DNA,
intensify dreams. special chemicals that control the
- The Neurocognitive theory: production of RNA.
Evidence - RNA in turn controls the
- Dreaming requires production of proteins.
cognitive maturity (dreams - The proteins become part of the
are rarely reported by organism, or control the rate of
children under 5.) chemical reactions within it.
- The more imaginative the - Cells that contain paired
person, the more likely chromosomes also contain paired
that he/she reports genes.
dreams. - If the individual has received the
- Common “dream themes” same gene it’s a homozygous
in the United States; pair.
anxiety-provoking - If the genes are different, the
situations and things going individual is heterozygous for the
wrong. trait.
- If an individual receives one gene
Module 2d: The Developing Mind for wavy hair and one for straight
wavy hair is the result.
Genetics - The gene for wavy hair is a
dominant gene because it exerts
Genetic Principles its effects even if individual is
Chromosomes heterozygous
- The nuclei of most animal and - Recessive gene show effects in
plant cells contains hereditary the homozygous condition only.
material – instructions in the form You must receive a gene for blue
of strands called chromosomes. eyes from both parents in order
- Humans have 46 chromosomes – to develop them.
23 pairs – in every body cell - The gene for blue eye color is
except for the sex cells. Sperm recessive
and ova contain 23 unpaired - A homozygous individual will
chromosomes that unite at always pass the dominant gene
conception. on to offspring.
- A heterozygous individual may
Genes pass either the dominant or
- Genes form sections of the recessive gene on to the next
chromosomes and control the generation.
chemical reactions that direct - Parents who are heterozygous
development. for a dominant trait to each pass
- Genes control protein production a recessive gene, who becomes
in order to produce specific homozygous for the recessive
characteristics – a distinct group trait.
of genes exerts influence over
height, weight, or eye color. Sex-linked Genes and Sex-Limited
- Genes form sections of the Genes
chromosomes and control the - The sex chromosomes determine
chemical reactions that direct whether an individual will be male
development. or female.
 - There are two sex chromosomes - Piaget believed that a child
- X and Y. constructs new mental processes
- Females receive an X from each while interacting with the
parent; males receive an X from environment.
mother and a Y from father - Behavior is based on schemata
- Genes on the X-chromosome are (singular - schema.)
sex-linked genes. - A schema is an organized way of
- These genes have more impact interacting with objects.
on men than women. - As a child matures new schemata
- Sex-limited genes are present in are added, and old schemata are
both sexes and are activated by changed
sex hormones. - Adaptation of old schemata takes
place through two processes.
Estimating Heritability in Humans - Assimilation: application
- Heritability is an estimate of the of an old schema to a new
variance in a population due experience.
solely to heredity. If the - Accommodation:
environment could be made modification of an old
uniform for all individuals, the schema to fit a new
variations would result from experience.
genes. - At all ages we switch back
- Heritability is measured on a and forth between these
scale from 0 to 1. two, but ultimately
- The closer to zero the less the cognitive maturation is
variance in the trait is due to achieved through
heredity. accommodation.
- The closer to 1 the more the - Equilibration is the
variance in the trait is due to establishment of harmony
heredity. or balance between the
two.
Cognitive Development
The four stages of intellectual
Jean Piaget’s Views of Cognitive development
Development 1. Sensorimotor - Birth to 1 years of
- Piaget believed that the effect of age
any experience on thinking 2. Preoperational- 1 to 7 years of
depended on the person’s age
maturity combined with previous 3. Concrete Operations - 7 to 11
experiences. years of age
- He began his psychological 4. Formal Operations - 11 years of
career administering IQ tests, but age and older
became bored with it. But he was
fascinated by the incorrect Piaget’s Sensorimotor Stage
answers that children would give. - During the first stage -
- Piaget believed children think sensorimotor - behavior consists
differently from adults, both primarily of simple motor
quantitatively and qualitatively. responses to sensory stimuli.
- He believed that children of - The grasping and sucking
different cognitive maturity levels reflexes, for example.
react to the same experience - Piaget thought that infants
very differently. respond only to what they see
- Piaget used his own extensive and hear, not what they
observational studies of children remember or imagine.
to support his conclusions. - Object Permanence
 - Jean Piaget believed that Piaget’s Stages of Concrete
infants lacked a concept of Operations and Formal Operations
object permanence during - From about age 7 children begin
the early months of life. to exhibit reversible operations
- This is the idea that and seem to understand the
objects continue to exist conservation of physical
even when one cannot see properties.
them or otherwise sense - During the stage of concrete
them. operations children can perform
- An infant does not know mental operations on concrete
that a hidden object is still objects.
there until about 8-9 - They may have trouble with
months of age. abstract or hypothetical ideas.
- Recent research by Baillergeon - Formal Operations is Piaget’s
suggests that infants 6-8 months term for the mental processes
old may have a limited ability to used to deal with abstract,
understand object permanence. hypothetical situations.
- Her results suggest that young - These processes demand logical,
infants can differentiate between deductive reasoning and
possible and physically systematic planning.
impossible events. - Children reach this stage just
- The responses demonstrated in before adolescence (at about age
her original research have not 11.)
been reproduced consistently - Some people take longer to
across contexts. reach formal operations, and
- As infants progress through the some people never do according
sensorimotor stage, they seem to to research.
develop a sense of self.
- At about 1 year of age, they Are Piaget’s Stages Distinct?
begin to show signs of - Piaget believed that the four
self-recognition. stages of intellectual
- They show self-conscious development were discrete.
emotions such as - Each one represents a major
embarrassment also. reorganization in cognitive
processes.
Piaget’s Preoperational Stage - More recently researchers have
- In the preoperational stage the shown that these conclusions are
child does not yet think in terms not entirely accurate.
of logical operations. - Preoperational children can
- The term “operations” refers to answer different versions of the
reversible mental processes. conservation tasks correctly.
- This leads to errors in cognition - The progression between the
such as egocentric thinking – the stages is gradual, so that the
child knows that he has a brother, difference between stages may
but doesn’t understand that he is not be one of either having the
his brother’s brother. ability or not; the younger child
- Another concept that has the same ability but only
preoperational children lack is uses it for simple tasks.
conservation. - Implications for education: Piaget
- This is a failure to grasp that - Children discover certain
changes in shape and concepts on their own.
arrangement do not always - Children’s attention must
signify changes in amount or be directed to key aspects
number
 of concepts when they are (erogenous zones), pleasure or
ready to learn them. both.
- The teacher determines - Freud believed that life was built
the child’s level of round tension and pleasure.
functioning and then Freud also believed that all
teaches appropriate tension was due to the build-up of
material. libido (sexual energy) and that all
pleasure came from its
Differing Views: Piaget and Vygotsky discharge.
- Lev Vygotsky thought that - In describing human personality
education should meet children at development as psychosexual
their cognitive levels. Freud meant to convey that what
- Language allows humans to develops is the way in which
influence others and control our sexual energy accumulates and
own behavior. is discharged as we mature
- Education should utilize this biologically. (NB Freud used the
feature of language. term 'sexual' in a very general
- He proposed the existence of a way to mean all pleasurable
zone of proximal development - actions and thoughts).
the distance between what a - Freud stressed that the first five
child can do alone and what a years of life are crucial to the
child can do with assistance . formation of adult personality.
- Instruction should occur within The id must be controlled in order
the zone, but appropriate to satisfy social demands; this
guidance should be given if it’s sets up a conflict between
possible to improve frustrated wishes and social
understanding of more norms.
challenging concepts. - The ego and superego develop in
- He called this scaffolding, like order to exercise this control and
temporary supports used to direct the need for gratification
construct a new building. These into socially acceptable channels.
support the development of the Gratification centers in different
child’s cognitive processes. areas of the body at different
stages of growth, making the
Psychosexual, Social, Emotional and conflict at each stage
Moral Development psychosexual.

Freud’s Psychosexual Stages Social and Emotional Development

- Freud proposed that - Erikson divides the human life
psychological development in span into eight ages.
childhood takes place in a series - Each has a distinguishing
of fixed psychosexual stages: social/emotional conflict.
oral, anal, phallic, latency, and - He provides a model of human
genital. behavior and personality, given
- These are called psychosexual the decisions faced in each stage
stages because each stage - When the conflict is resolved in a
represents the fixation of libido positive and constructive manner,
(roughly translated as sexual the person moves into the next
drives or instincts) on a different stage in a psychologically healthy
area of the body. As a person state.
grows physically certain areas of - If the conflict is not resolved, the
their body become important as negative effects carry over into
sources of potential frustration future stages, and are detrimental
 to the process of facing the - “Shall I share my life with
challenges ahead. another person or live
alone?”
Erikson’s Description of Human - The conflict is that of
Development intimacy versus isolation.
- Ages 0 - 1 - Middle age
- The infant faces the issue - In the mid-adulthood one
– seeks to have contributed
- “Is my social world meaningfully to society -
predictable and - “Will I add anything of
supportive?” value to the world?”
- The conflict is basic trust - The conflict is the
versus basic mistrust. achievement of
- Ages 1 – 3 generativity versus
- The toddler asks the stagnation.
question – - Late Adulthood
- “Can I do things for myself - Toward the end people
or must I always rely on face a deep question -
others to help me?” - “Have I lived a meaningful
- The conflict is autonomy life, or wasted my time?”
versus shame and doubt. - We struggle to determine
- Ages 3 – 6 whether we are in a
- The preschooler needs to state/stage of ego integrity
figure out – versus despair.
- “Am I a good person or a
bad person?” Kohlberg’s Moral Ladder
- The conflict is initiative ● Postconventional - Morality of
versus guilt. abstract principles: to affirm
- Ages 6 – 12 agreed-upon rights and personal
- In an expanding social ethical principles
world, the school-aged ● Conventional - Morality of law
child wants to know – and social rules: to gain approval
- “Am I successful or am I or avoid disapproval
worthless?” ● Preconventional - Morality of
- The preadolescent faces self-interest: to avoid punishment
the struggle with a sense or gain concrete rewards
of industry versus
inferiority. As moral development progresses, the
- Adolescence focus of concern moves from the self to
- Teenagers seek the wider social world
independence and the
answer to a fundamental Module 3a: The Adaptive Mind
question – ● Behavior - Observable actions or
- “Who am I?” internal processes (emotions,
- The adolescent must thoughts, physiological
resolve the conflict responses)
between a settled identity ● Reflexes – inevitable, involuntary
versus role confusion. responses to stimuli; most
- Young Adulthood reflexes are controlled by
- Young adults deal with the nervous system circuits located in
importance of the spinal cord and brainstem
companionship and ● Instincts – fixed action patterns,
connection – inborn patterns of behavior,
directed by environmental stimuli
 ● Learned behavior – become - Pavlov noticed that the dogs he
fast, automatic as a result of lots used in research salivated upon
of experiences the sight of the lab workers who
● Learning - is any relatively fed them.
permanent change in behavior - He concluded that this reflex was
and knowledge that is based “psychological” - based on the
upon experience. dog’s previous experiences.
● It is an area of psychology that - Further testing demonstrated that
seems simple to evaluate but is the sight of food produced the
quite complex. same effect as giving the same
● Both internal and external factors amount of food to the dog.
can influence and interfere with
an organism’s learning. Terminologies
● Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)
Types of Learning An event that consistently and
● Associative learning – when we automatically elicits an
form associations, or unconditioned response.
connections, among stimuli, ● Unconditioned Response
behaviors or both i. e. classical (UCR) - An action that the
conditioning – form associations unconditioned stimulus
between pairs of stimuli that automatically elicits.
occur simultaneously in time and ● Conditioned Stimulus (CS) -
operant conditioning - form Formerly the neutral stimulus,
associations between behaviors now paired with the
and consequences unconditioned stimulus, elicits the
● Non-associative learning – same response. That response
changes in the magnitude of depends on consistent pairing
responses to a single stimulus with the UCR.
rather than formation of ● Conditioned Response (CR) -
connections between stimuli, i. e. The response elicited by the
habituation - reduces reactions conditioned stimulus due to
to repeated experiences that training. Usually it resembles the
have already been evaluated or UCR.
found to be unchanging and
harmless and sensitization – - A buzzer is a neutral stimulus. It
increases reactions to a range of elicits attention to the sound, but
stimuli following exposure to one no automatic connection.
strong stimulus - The dogs lifted their ears and
● Observational Learning – also looked around when the buzzer
called social learning or modeling sounded, but did not salivate.
– organism learns by watching - Pavlov hypothesized that animals
the action of another organism transfer a response from one
stimulus to another – a new
Classical Conditioning learned connection.
- If a buzzer always preceded the
Pavlov and Classical Conditioning food, the buzzer would begin to
- Ivan Pavlov was a physiologist elicit the reflex of salivation.
who won a Nobel Prize for his - After a few pairings of the buzzer
research on digestion. with the food, the dogs salivate
- His original description of as soon as the buzzer sounds.
classical conditioning was a
by-product of this research. He Factors That Enhance Conditioning
did not set out to discover - Conditioning is quicker when the
classical conditioning. conditioned (neutral) stimulus is
 unfamiliar. If you are habituated Explanations of Classical
to (used to) the neutral stimulus, Conditioning
it will take longer to form a - The process of classical
connection. conditioning is more complex
- Conditioning is facilitated when than it might seem.
people are made aware of the - The association is not merely a
connection between the CS and transfer of response from one
the UCS. Having been informed stimulus to the other. The
of the conditioning procedure conditioned stimulus is a signal to
they are conditioned faster. the organism.
- Temporal contiguity aids the
Phenomenon in Classical process of conditioning. The
Conditioning sooner the UCS occurs after the
- The process that establishes a presentation of the CS, the faster
conditioned response is the CR is acquired.
acquisition. - The CR is acquired more quickly
- To extinguish a classically when the CS precedes the UCS.
conditioned response, the This is forward conditioning.
conditioned stimulus is
repeatedly presented without the Conditioning, Contiguity and
unconditioned stimulus. This is Contingency
referred to as extinction. - A conditioned response develops
- Extinction does not erase the only if there is predictability or
association between the CS and contingency (correlation) and
the UCS. contiguity (proximity)
- The temporary return of an - The UCS is more likely to occur
extinguished response is after the CS.
spontaneous recovery. - The learner discovers the event
that predicts the outcome. It is
● Inhibition – in which conditioned unclear whether any actual
stimulus predicts the complex thinking results from this
non-occurrence of an process.
unconditioned stimulus (begins
with excitatory conditioning by Operant Conditioning
pairing stimuli)
● Stimulus generalization is the Thorndike and Operant Conditioning
extension of a conditioned - In 1911 Edward Thorndike
response from the training developed a simple, behaviorist
stimulus to similar stimuli. explanation of learning.
● Discrimination is the - He used a learning curve, a
development of different graph of the changes in behavior
responses to two stimuli because that occur over successive trials
they produce two different of an experiment, to record how
outcomes. quickly cats learned to escape
● Higher-order conditioning – from a maze.
CRs can occur in response to
stimuli that predict the CS Watch and Think!
● Latent inhibition – effects are https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=t
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- The cats’ learning curve indicated skeletal, somatic, and voluntary
a slow and consistent progress responses.
towards the solution.
- But cats would learn more quickly Processes of Operant Conditioning
if the response selected - In operant conditioning, extinction
produced an immediate escape. occurs if responses stop
- The cats would try many different producing reinforcements.
behaviors and learn to select the - Stimulus generalization occurs
one that produced escape. when a new stimulus is similar to
- Overall it appeared to Thorndike the original reinforced stimulus.
that the cats were not The more similar the new
“understanding” the connections stimulus is to the old, the more
between the solution and the strongly the subject will respond.
escape. There was no sudden - Discrimination occurs when
increase in the learning curve to someone is reinforced for
support that assumption. responding to one stimulus but
- Thorndike observed that the not another. The individual will
escape from the box acted as a respond more vigorously to one
reinforcement for the behavior than to the other.
that led to it. - A stimulus that indicates which
- A reinforcement is an response is appropriate or
event that increases the inappropriate is called a
future probability of the discriminative stimulus.
most recent response. - A stimulus’ power to encourage
some responses and discourage
Thorndike’s Law of Effect others is known as stimulus
- “Of several responses made to control.
the same situation, those which - Thorndike noted that some
are accompanied or closely responses are more easily
followed by satisfaction to the learned than others.
animal will, other things being
equal, be more firmly connected B.F. Skinner and the Shaping of
to the situation, so that, when it Responses
(the situation) recurs, they will be - B.F. Skinner is the most
more likely to recur.” influential of all radical
- The type of learning that behaviorists.
Thorndike studies has come to - He demonstrated many potential
be known as operant or applications of operant
instrumental conditioning. conditioning.
- The process of changing - He was a firm believer in
behavior by following a parsimony, seeking simple
response with explanations in terms of
reinforcement. reinforcement histories, and
- The subject’s behavior avoiding the inference of complex
determines and is affected mental processes.
by a specific outcome.
- Operant conditioning differs from Shaping Behavior
classical in that the former, the - Shaping establishes new
subject’s behavior affects the responses by reinforcing
outcome. successive approximations to it.
- Classical conditioning influences - Skinner used an “operant
visceral, reflexive, and chamber” (referred to as a
involuntary responses, while “Skinner box” by others) into
operant conditioning applies to
 which he put the animal he punishment an individual learns
wished to train by shaping. to avoid the outcome by being
- Gradually the animal was passive.
reinforced for behaviors that - Omission training occurs when
approached the target activity the lack of a response produces
until it fully performed the reinforcement. Producing the
behavior. response also leads to a lack of
reinforcement.
Chaining Behavior - This is sometimes referred
- This an operant conditioning to as negative punishment.
method in which behaviors are - Escape learning or active
reinforced by opportunities to avoidance learning occurs if the
engage in the next behavior responses lead to an escape
- The animal learns the final from or an avoidance of
behavior, and then the next to something painful.
last, and so on, until the - This is sometimes referred
beginning of the sequence is to as negative
reached. reinforcement.

Increasing and Decreasing the What Constitutes Reinforcement?

Frequency of Responses - A reinforcer increases the
- A reinforcement is an event that likelihood of the preceding
increases the probability that a response.
response will be repeated. - Many reinforcers satisfy
- A punishment is an event that biological needs, such as hunger.
decreases the probability of a - Some reinforcers don’t satisfy
response. any immediate need, but
represent a future opportunity to
Reinforcement and Punishment have greater access to resources
- A reinforcement is either the
presentation of a desirable item The Premack Principle
such as money or food, or the - The Premack Principle states that
removal of an unpleasant the opportunity to engage in a
stimulus, such as verbal nagging preferred behavior will be a
or physical pain. reinforcer for any less preferred
- A punishment is the removal of a behavior.
desirable condition such as
driving privileges or the The disequilibrium principle
presentation of an unpleasant - The disequilibrium principle
condition such as physical pain. states that each person has a
- Punishment tends to be preferred pattern of dividing time
ineffective except for temporarily between various activities. If one
suppressing undesirable is unable to engage in that
behavior. pattern a return to it will be
- Mild, logical, and consistent reinforcing.
punishment can be informative
and helpful. - Unconditioned reinforcers meet
- The presentation of an event that primary, biological needs and are
strengthens or increases the found to be reinforcing for almost
likelihood of an event is called everyone. Food and drink are
positive reinforcement. unconditioned reinforcers.
- Punishment is referred to as - Conditioned reinforcers are
passive avoidance learning effective because they have
because in response to become associated with
 unconditioned reinforcers. Money of reinforcement depends on the
and grades are conditioned amount of time since the last
reinforcers. reinforcement.

Learning What Leads to What ● A fixed-ratio schedule provides

- Thorndike had a strictly reinforcement only after a certain
mechanical view of (“fixed”) number of correct
reinforcement. An animal that responses have been made. A
receives reinforcement for a laboratory rat being reinforced for
behavior will perform it more hitting a lever after every 5 hits is
frequently. No learning takes being reinforced on an FR-5
place without reinforcement, and schedule.
understanding of the reason for ● A variable-ratio schedule
the behaviors is not necessary. provides reinforcement after a
- In contrast, the idea of latent variable number of correct
learning suggests that learning responses, usually working out to
may occur in animals without an average in the long run. A
being demonstrated until the baseball player who has a .333
reward is presented. batting average is reinforcing
fans with hits on a VR-3
Conditions for Punishment schedule.
● Significance – consequences ● A fixed-interval schedule
have to matter to the person provides reinforcement for the
receiving them first response made after a
● Immediacy – immediate vs. specific time interval. A person
delayed punishment who is paid every two weeks is
● Consistency – uniform reinforced for work on a fixed
application interval schedule.
● A variable-interval schedule
Schedules of Reinforcement provides reinforcement after a
- Schedules of reinforcement are variable amount of time has
rules of for delivery of elapsed.
reinforcement ● extinction of responses tends to
- Used to maintain learned take longer when an individual
behaviors that might be has been on an intermittent
extinguished if reinforcement schedule rather than a
ceased. continuous schedule.
- Continuous reinforcement ● One explanation for this
schedules provide reinforcement difference is that the lack of
every time a response occurs. reinforcement does not signify
- However, outside of the the complete cessation of
laboratory, reinforcement rarely reinforcements to the individual
follows every occurrence of a who’s been on an intermittent
desired behavior. schedule.
- Most schedules of reinforcement
are intermittent. Some responses Observational Learning
are reinforced and others are not.
- One of the two categories of Social Learning
intermittent reinforcement is ratio - The social-learning approach,
- delivery of reinforcement defined by Albert Bandura, states
depends on the number of that we learn many behaviors
responses given. before we attempt them for the
- The other category of intermittent first time.
reinforcement is interval - delivery
 - Much learning, especially - Vicarious reinforcement appears
in humans, results from to be more effective than
observing the behaviors of vicarious punishment in creating
others and from imagining behavioral change.
the consequences of our - Some people may be more able
own. to avoid identifying with others
- Two of the chief whose behaviors brought about
components of social painful or unpleasant
learning are modeling and consequences.
imitation.
- Bandura and his assistants did Self-Efficacy in Social Learning
experiments in which children - We imitate people we admire.
watched films in which adults - Advertisers routinely use
either did or did not attack an endorsements from celebrities
inflated “Bobo” doll. and sports figures, and images of
- Children who saw the the happy, healthy, affluent
aggressive versions of the people that most of us would like
films were more likely to to be.
repeat those actions when - We do not model ourselves after
left alone with a similar toy. every admirable figure. We
- The implication was that imitate others only when we have
the children were imitating a sense of self-efficacy, and
the aggressive behavior perceive ourselves as also being
they had just seen. able to perform the task
- There has been great interest in successfully.
the work of Bandura because of
the controversy over effects of Module 3b: The Knowing Mind
violence in TV programs and
movies. Definition of Memory
- It is unclear if direct relationship ● Ability to retain knowledge
exists between ● Cognitive psychologists see
televised/cinematic violence and memory as part of a continuum of
violent behavior. People vary information processing that
widely in susceptibility to the begins with attention, sensation,
influence of violent imagery. perception and learning.

Vicarious Reinforcement and Encoding, Storage, and Retrieval

Punishment ● Encoding - refers to the process
- Another aspect of the social of acquiring information and
learning approach is the idea that transfer it into memory
we are more likely to imitate ● Storage – the retention of
behaviors of others we’ve seen information
rewarded and less likely to ● To improve memory, one must
imitate behaviors that create improve strategies used to store
unpleasant results for others. the material.
- This substitution of others’ ● Retrieval – recovery of stored
experiences for one’s own is information
vicarious reinforcement or
vicarious punishment. The Information-Processing
- The effectiveness of vicarious View of Memory
reinforcement and punishment - This model of memory uses
resembles that of direct computers to represent the
reinforcement and punishment. workings of memory.
 - According to this view, Short-Term Memory
information enters the - If a friend asks you what was just
system, is processed and said in class, and you were
coded in various ways, paying attention, you could
and is then stored. repeat exactly or almost so.
- The computer has a “buffer” – a - You are being asked to recall
temporary storage place for something in short-term memory.
letters that you type faster than it - If you were not paying attention,
can display them. you would not recall it. Attention
- This is like our sensory memory moves information from the
store sensory store to short-term
- The computer has RAM, or memory.
random-access memory, for
temporary storage of information Long-Term Memory
that has not been stored on the - If your psychology instructor asks
hard drive. This information is still what the function of the thalamus
vulnerable to damage or loss. is, your first reaction might be to
- This is like our short-term, or panic because you have no idea.
working memory. - The instructor says, “It has
- The computer has a hard drive, in something to do with sensory
which information that you are information, right?”
writing or entering can be - Then it begins to come back –
permanently stored. the thalamus is a relay and
- This is like our long-term memory. integration station for sensory
information on its way to the
The Sensory Store cerebral cortex.
- More accurately described as a - The instructor gave a hint that
combination of memory and was an effective retrieval cue.
perception, the sensory store is These cues are generated
the first stage of memory internally or suggested by others.
processing.
- It is a very brief (less than a Capacities of Short and Long-Term
second) stage that registers Memory
perceived in the moment that we - Most normal adults can
call “now.” immediately repeat a list of about
seven bits or pieces of
● Visual codes – used to process information, varying within a
visual images range from five to nine items.
● Haptic codes – touch and other - This range of 7 +/- 2 bits is a
body senses well-replicated finding about the
● Acoustic codes – sounds and capacity of short-term memory.
words - It can be expanded through
techniques like chunking into
Short-Term and Long-Term Memory larger, meaningful units.
- Temporary storage of recently - The capacity of long-term
encountered information is memory cannot easily be
short-term memory. measured.
- Long-term memory is a relatively - Unlike a computer, there’s no
permanent storage of mostly physical limit of size.
meaningful information. - Humans are constantly dumping
- Reminders or hints that help us to or removing part of stored
retrieve information from information through disuse.
long-term memory are called
retrieval cues.
 Decay of Short and Long-Term ● A visuospatial sketchpad that
Memory stores and manipulates visual
- Information that has been stored and spatial information.
in long-term memory may be ● A central executive governing
vulnerable to the effects of shifts of attention. Good working
interference, but generally does memory handles shifts between
not decay due to the passage of multiple aspects of complex
time. tasks.
- Information held in short-term
memory is vulnerable to the Other Memory Distinctions
passage of time. - Source amnesia is an everyday
- Forgetting begins in seconds form of forgetting.
unless rehearsal is permitted. - This involves a combination of
episodic and semantic memory.
Capacities of Short and Long-Term We remember a statement or
Memory knowledge-related (semantic)
- How long information remains in fact but we forget the context in
short-term memory has little which we learned it.
relationship to how well it will be - The context in which one learns
stored in long-term memory. information is episodic.
- If the information in short-term - It can be inferred from this
memory is meaningful, it will phenomenon that episodic
transfer easily to long-term memory is more fragile than
memory and be less subject to semantic knowledge.
decay.
- This was once called Varieties of Memory
consolidation - the formation of a - Memory is a complex
long-term memory. combination of many processes,
- How easily information is and its properties depend on a
consolidated depends on its number of factors
meaningfulness to the individual. - The type of material
The idea of a distinction between memorized
the short and long-term memory - The individual’s
stages may be inaccurate. experience with similar
- If the information is meaningful, materials
the groundwork for storing that - The method of testing
information has been laid. - The length of time since
the material was
Working Memory previously encountered
● Is a new concept of the
intermediate stage between our Factors that Influence Encoding
first encounter with new
information and its eventual Lists and Serial-Order Effects
storage. - We remember the beginnings
● Is a system for processing or and ends of lists better than the
working with current information. middles.
- The primacy effect is the
Working memory has three major tendency to remember the
components beginning of the list.
● A phonological loop that stores - The recency effect is the
and rehearses information, tendency to remember the items
similar to the 7 +/- 2 range at the end of the list.
(short-term memory.)
 The Depth-of-Processing Model of - State-dependent memory is our
Memory tendency to remember something
- This principle states that the ease better if your physical condition is
with which we retrieve memories the same at the time of recall as it
depends on the number and was at the time of learning.
types of associations that we
form with them. Storage
- The more ways you think about - We refer to our memories as
the material, the deeper your “stored” and “retrieved” as if they
processing will be and the more were items kept in a warehouse.
easily you’ll remember it later. But this analogy is only partially
- Ways to think about the material useful.
might include asking questions - The more you know about a
like: topic, the more interested you are
- Can I think of similar in it, the easier it is to retain new
concepts in another information related to it.
subject area?
- How do these apply to Retrieval
me? - When remembering an event,
- What experiences do I you start with details you
have related to this remember clearly, and fill in gaps.
information? - This is reconstruction. During an
- To improve your event, we construct a memory.
level-of-processing: When we try to retrieve
- Think about each memories, we reconstruct based
individual item in a set. partly on surviving memories and
- See if you can determine if partly on expectations.
relationships exist among
the items. Reconstructing Past Events
- Your memory for routine activities
The levels of processing are: – your breakfast, lunch or dinner
● Superficial processing – for example – from the past week
repeating the material you’re can be reconstructed with little
trying to memorize. effort. But they fade rapidly
● Deeper processing – think unless something unusual
about each item or each part of happens.
the material. - If your family all got sick after one
● Still deeper processing – note meal, you will probably remember
the associations between the that meal in better detail for much
items or parts of the material. longer than usual.
- If you met a new love interest
Encoding Specificity while out to dinner with friends,
- Retrieval Cues this event will also be more
- Retrieval cues are bits of memorable and easily
associated information that help reconstructed.
you to regain complex memories - However, you may fill in missing
for later use. Many factors details with typical activities
associated with learning can act associated in your memory with
as retrieval cues. routine meals at home or dining
- The encoding specificity principle out.
states that the associations - We add words to lists that we’ve
formed at the time of learning are heard or read depending on the
the most effective retrieval cues. theme of its content.
 - The less certain of our memories ○ Your memory of a recent
that we are, the more we rely on piano lesson is declarative
our expectations. and episodic; your
memory of how to read
Hindsight Bias music is semantic; your
- The tendency to mold our memory of how to play the
recollection of the past to how piano is procedural.
events later turned out.
- We say “I knew that was Long Term Memory
going to happen!” after the ● Explicit memory - with
event has occurred. conscious recall
- Our memories are tailored ● Implicit memory - without
as we reconstruct the conscious recall
event to fit that outcome.
Module 3c: The Thinking Mind
Methods of Testing Memory
How well material is remembered Thinking
depends in part on how retention is ● Cognition - derived from Latin
tested. cogito which literally means "to
● Recall (free recall) is the think"
simplest testing method but the ● Thoughts as Images - mental
most difficult for the person being images refer to representation of
tested. To recall something is to any sensory experience that is
produce it, as on essay and stored in memory and can be
short-answer tests. retrieved for use later.
● Cued recall gives the test-taker ● Thoughts as concepts - an
significant hints about the correct organizing principle derived from
answer. A fill-in-the-blank test experience.
uses this method. ● Concepts as Theories - as sets
● Recognition requires the person of facts and relationships
being tested to identify the between facts that can be used to
correct item from a list of choices. explain and predict phenomena
Multiple-choice tests use this ● Concepts and Schemas - set of
method. beliefs and expectations about
● The savings (relearning) nature and personal experience.
method compares the speed at
which new material is learned to Concept Formation
the relearning of old material. The - Dictionary definition
amount of time saved between - Common features
the original learning and the - Overlapping features
relearning is a measure of - Prototype - a representation of a
memory. category by averaging all
members of the category
Types of Memory - Exemplar - a specific member of
● Declarative memory is the a category
ability to state a fact.
● Procedural memory is the Concepts and the Brain
memory of how to do something. Can we find brain activity that correlates
● Long-term declarative memory is with thinking about a particular concept?
classified as either semantic
(dealing with principles of Ex. In a research study, when asked to
knowledge) or episodic name animals, the participants showed
(containing events and details of activation in the visual cortex,
life history.) suggesting that they would need to think
about what a zebra looks like to name it ● Linguistic study of language as
correctly. structured system of rules
● Psycholinguistics: is concerned
Naming tools. in contrast was with the ways in which people
accompanied by activation in frontal and use linguistic competency to
parietal lobe areas associated with generate and understand
movement, implying that it is helpful to language
think about what to do with a - How behavior is influenced by
screwdriver when attempting to name it language
correctly.
Language Elements
Cognitive Psychology ● Phones: Speech sounds are
- Cognition is thinking, gaining made by adjusting the vocal
knowledge, and dealing with cords and moving the tongue,
knowledge. lips, and mouth in wonderfully
- Cognitive psychologists study precise ways to produce
how people think and acquire vibrations in the airflow from the
knowledge, know what they lungs.
know, and how they solve
problems and imagine. Not all the speech sounds(Phones) are
- Cognitive psychology uses a important Only a limited number of all
variety of methods to measure the possible PHONES are important to
mental processes and test the understanding of the speech; these
theories about what we know and are known as Phonemes The sounds
how we know it. comprising phonemes are perceived as
belonging together as a category of
Language Communications sounds, a phenomenon called the
Language is said to be communicated categorical perception of phonemes
when others understand the meaning of Example: sound ‘k’ in cool and key-
our sentences, and we, in turn, same category ‘p’ in put and phone-
understand theirs. different category

● Linguistic Competence: our ● Syllable: is the smallest unit of

knowledge of the rules governing speech perception. Evidence for
the use of language syllable s perceptual units has
been found in a number of
This knowledge is used automatically experiments
and almost effortlessly to generate and Example: syllable beginning with the
comprehend meaningful speech. sound ‘b’ and syllable ‘boog’
Linguistic Competence comprises of: Demonstrates that people perceive the
1. The sounds or written elements whole syllable before they perceive its
of language and the rules for separate parts
combining them into units, such
as words, that have meaning ● Morphemes: are the smallest
2. Rules of combining words into unit of meaning in speech
meaningful sentences, perception Consider the word
knowledge of grammar/syntax ‘distasteful’- morphemes are dis,
3. Semantic memory taste, ful.‘Dis’ means negation,
4. How to use speech in order to ‘taste’ is a meaningful word, ‘ful’
have an intended impact on means quality
others.(PRAGMATICS) Each morpheme is composed of
5. Rules for processing and syllables, but what makes them
interpreting the speech of other morphemes is that they convey
people meaning.
Words are combined by rules of other sentences with different surface
grammar into ‘clauses’, and clauses are structures.
formed into sentences.
A clause consists of a verb and its Meanings of words and concepts
associated nouns, adjectives and so on. Study of meaning of words and
● Clauses - are ‘the major units of concepts is called semantics Without
perceived meaning in speech’. meaning communication would be
impossible.
When we hear a sentence with more
than one clause, we tend to isolate the 1st approach: dictionary definition of
clauses, analyzing the meaning of each. words (not always helpful)
● Grammar/syntax Based on past learning- we have our
(meaning-joining together) own dictionaries of word and concept
Theory of transformational meanings in our heads.
grammar: 2nd approach: meanings are
represented in our mental dictionaries-
When a person intends to communicate by in terms of ‘Family resemblance
a simple sentence (the chicken crossed structure’ and ‘prototypes’
the road), the words are organized in Game-a prototypal game has many
what is called the deep phrase structure features Basketball and solitaire
(deep structure), a mental
representation of what the person When another game name is given to
intends to say. By combining the us, we can say something about that
elements according to phrase structure because it belongs to the game family.
grammatical rules, a sentence with
meaning is generated. Pragmatics
Speaking to have an impact on others is
Continuing with the theory: known as the pragmatics of language.
It is a PROPOSITION (a combination of There are rules:
verbs and nouns)- that says that a
subject (chicken) does something 1. Context and Situation: ‘John
(crosses) with respect to an object was on time yesterday.’
(road). Expressed sentences are called This sentence has two meaning
‘surface structure’. depending on the context One: simple
meaning
Propositions can be expressed in a Second: John is usually late everyday,
different way. Passive way: the road shown by word yesterday.
was crossed by the chicken. There are Situation: consider how your use of
sets of rules for changing the language changes as the situation
proposition into sentences with different around you changes.
surface structure but the same
underlying meaning. These rules are 2. Status: The way language is
called “TRANSFORMATION RULES’ by used, often gives the listener
linguist Noam Chomsky. The surface immediate knowledge about the
meaning of the underlying proposition social standing of the speaker
can be changed by the same rules- like: Status has a role to play in the way we
the chicken did not cross the road. address people in English.
Meaning of the sentence is partly
determined by grammatical relationship Human Specializations for Learning
and partly by transformational rules. Language
According to transformational grammar,
we can transform a sentence with a Language and General Intelligence
given deep structure into any several - Psychologists are trying to
determine if our intelligence
 caused our development of - Broca’s area - vital for using and
language. understanding grammatical
- Some highly intelligent devices – prepositions,
species of animals lack conjunctions, prefixes, suffixes,
flexible language. etc..
- People with Williams - Wernicke’s area - important for
syndrome have cognitive naming objects and
abilities in the IQ range comprehending language.
associated with mental - Damage to these areas cause
retardation, but excellent aphasias – a term for various
language skills. inabilities to process or use
- Language ability may not language.
be synonymous with - Language production and
intelligence. processing activates very
widespread areas of the brain.
Language Learning as a Specialized
Capacity Intelligence
- There are two competing ● It is the ability to learn from one’s
explanations of language experiences, acquire knowledge,
learning. and use resources effectively in
- Nativists (Chomsky and adapting to new situations or
Pinker) believe that solving problems.
humans are born with a ● It is the capacity for
built-in, brain-based comprehension and reasoning
mechanism for learning that manifest itself in various
language. ways – Alfred Binet
- They refer to this as a ● It is the individual’s faculty or
language acquisition ability to adapt himself to
device or a “language circumstances through judging
instinct.” well, comprehending well and
- The nativist view is based reasoning well.
on the poverty of stimulus ● It is a combination of general
argument. abilities and practiced skill.
- Children do not encounter ● It is a generalized
enough information in the problem-solving ability that is
environment to learn or present in both familiar and
infer grammar, so they unfamiliar situations.
must be born with the ● This ability develops gradually,
knowledge. reflecting the contributions of
- Research studies with accumulated experience.
infants younger than 1
year of age provide Here are some definitions of
evidence of tendencies to intelligence from psychologists:
detect regularities, - The mental abilities that enable
patterns and meaning in one to adapt to, shape or select
sounds. one’s environment.
- The ability to judge, to
Language and the Human Brain comprehend, and to reason.
- Studies of the brain using - The ability to understand and
persons with brain damage and deal with people, objects and
modern imaging techniques have symbols.
allowed us to identify two areas - The ability to act purposefully,
vital for the processing and think rationally and deal
production of language. effectively with the environment.
 Theory of Intelligence: 6. Memory (M) – the ability to
memorize words, numbers,
Spearman’s Psychometric letters and the like by rote
Approach and the g Factor 7. Inductive Reasoning (I) – the
- Charles Spearman attempted to ability to derive a rule from given
measure individual differences in information, as in determining the
behaviors and abilities. rule for a number series from only
- He measured the a part of the series.
performance of many
people on diverse tasks. Thurstone’s multi-dimensional
- He found that level of conception of cognitive abilities
performance on one task established a framework of reference for
was correlated positively future factor analytic research on
with level of performance intelligence in the US.
on all the others.
- g factor – the ability to reason Hierarchical Models of Intelligence
and solve problems, or general - Raymond Cattell modified
intelligence. Spearman’s psychometric model
- s factor – the ability to excel in in one important way.
certain areas, or specific - He split the “g” factor into
intelligence. two components: fluid and
- Specific abilities (“s”) depend crystallized intelligence.
more on practice than any innate - Fluid intelligence is the
talents. power of reasoning and
- Researchers found evidence for applying information.
genetic influences on “g” but not - Crystallized intelligence is
on “s” abilities. acquired skills and
- Spearman called his theory knowledge and the
“monarchic” because “g” rules application to the specific
dominate the lesser “s” abilities. content of a person’s
experience.
Louis Thurstone’s Theory - Fluid intelligence: Learning the
Primary Mental Abilities are present in skills of a new game or school.
an individual instead on one general - Crystallized intelligence: The
ability knowledge base and skills of a
1. Verbal (V) – understanding ideas person who’s played the game or
and word meanings, as studied the subject for many
measured by vocabulary tests years.
2. Number (N) – speed and - This distinction is useful but not
accuracy of performing absolute. Any task taps some of
arithmetical computations both types of skills.
3. Space (S) – the ability to
visualize form relationships in Gardner’s Theory of Multiple
three dimensions, as in Intelligences
recognizing figures in different - Skills in a variety of intellectual
orientation activities seem to correlate with
4. Perceptual speed (P) – ability to each other. This is taken as
distinguish visual details and the substantive evidence for the
similarities and differences existence of “g”.
between pictures objects quickly - But the statistical evidence for “g”
5. Word fluency (W) – speed in may be nothing more than an
thinking of words, as in to making indication that the skills are
rhymes or in solving anagrams somehow related.
 Howard Gardner’s Theory Sample Occupation: Various people
● Multiple intelligences - ranging oriented careers
from verbal, linguistic, and
mathematical to interpersonal 8. Naturalist
and intrapersonal intelligence Description: Ability to recognize the
patterns found in nature. Understanding
Gardner’s Nine Intelligences nature and organic processes
Sample Occupation: Farmers,
1. Verbal/Linguistic landscapers, biologists, botanists
Description: Ability to use language. A
master of spoken and written language 9. Existentialist
Sample Occupation: Writers, speakers Description: Ability to see the “big
picture” of the human world by asking
2. Musical questions about life, death and the
Description: Ability to compose and/or ultimate reality of human existence
perform music. Capacity to recognize, Sample Occupation: Various careers,
create, reproduce and reflect on music philosophical thinkers
Sample Occupation: Musicians, even
those who do not read musical notes but Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of
can perform and compose Intelligences
- Robert Sternberg proposed the
3. Logical/Mathematical Triarchic Theory of intelligence,
Description: Ability to think logically distinguishing between three
and to solve mathematical problems. aspects of intelligent behavior:
Skilled at deductive reasoning, detecting - The cognitive processes
patterns, and logical thinking occurring within the
Sample Occupation: Scientists, individual
engineers - The situations that require
intelligence
4. Visual/Spatial - The relationship of
Description: Ability to understand how intelligence to the external
objects are oriented in space. Seeing world
and mapping the world in 3D
Sample Occupation: Pilots, astronauts, Theory of Intelligence
artists, navigators
Triarchic theory of intelligence
5. Movement Robert Sternberg’s theory shows that
Description: Ability to control one’s there are three kinds of intelligences:
body motions. Using one’s body in analytical, creative, and practical.
highly differentiated and skilled ways
Sample Occupation: Dancers, athletes ● Analytical intelligence - the
ability to break problems down
6. Interpersonal into component parts, or analysis,
Description: Sensitivity to others and for problem solving. Mental steps
understanding motivation of others. or “components” used to solve
Communication and reading people problems
Sample Occupation: Psychologists, ● Creative intelligence - the ability
managers to deal with new and different
concepts and to come up with
7. Intrapersonal new ways of solving problems.
Description: Understanding of one’s Use of experience in ways that
emotions and how they guide actions. foster insight
Understanding yourself, what you feel ● Practical intelligence – the
and what you want ability to use information to get
 along in life and become First-born children are given more
successful. Ability to read and intellectual stimulation/exposure than
adapt to the contexts of everyday those born later
life
● Emotional intelligence – the b. Urban vs rural
awareness of and ability to educational exposure
manage one’s own emotions as More facilities and first-hand information
well as the ability to be are available in the city than in the
self-motivated, able to feel what province. City people are exposed to
others feel, and socially skilled. wider interests than those in the
Viewed as a powerful influence provinces due to lack of accessibility
on success in life.
c. Peer Group
Nature of Intelligence Influence of friends to expose
- It starts from birth and develops themselves to learning materials is one
as the person grows. way of acquiring higher intelligence
- It becomes stable at 21 years old
or thereabouts and increases d. Personal Maturation and
only a little especially for those Perception of the
who continue to seek knowledge environment
- Some people may show If the individual himself sees that it
intellectual growth in adulthood would do him a lot of good making use
though they did not perform as of the learning materials available, he
much when they were children, would tend to have higher intelligence
as in those that required speed or
performance Assessment of Intelligence
- In the old age, intelligence is - For better understanding of
expected to decline, meaning that intelligence, one can make a
the person’s readiness to acquire tentative measurement of it.
further knowledge decreases as - Tests were constructed to
he grows older measure or gauge the capacity
- Older people are inclined to of the person necessary for
compensate with their effective functioning.
experience. - It has no value as it is, so it is
compared to a wider group of
Sources of Intelligence people, to predict his future
1. Heredity performance in certain situations
* Genes are inherited by children and - It can only be said that one has
the closer the genetic relationship, the higher or lower intelligence that
more similar the tested intelligence another person

Example: IQ Tests
- Identical twin vs Fraternal Twins - Intelligence quotient (IQ) tests
- Natural parents vs adopted are intended to measure
parents probable performance in school
and similar settings.
2. Environment - Binet and Simon, psychologists
a. Family working for the French
Relations/situations government in the early 20th
Much attention is given to family century, developed the first IQ
members when the size of the family is test to identify schoolchildren with
small rather than when there are more serious intellectual deficiencies.
children in the family
 The Stanford-Binet Test - It is designed to measure the
- The Stanford-Binet test is a subject’s abstract reasoning
modified version of Binet’s test abilities.
created by Lewis Terman and - IQ and related tests have
other psychologists at Stanford strengths and weaknesses, and
University. may have some useful practical
- Psychologists administer it purposes.
individually to students. - Psychologists are still improving
- The mean (average) IQ score is their understanding of what
established as 100. intelligence is, and developing
- Testing is adaptive, starting at a new and better tests to measure
baseline level established where it.
the child answers all items
correctly, and a ceiling at which How to Improve IQ
the child answers all the items 1. Positive disposition/attitude
incorrectly. Items increase in 2. Continued exposure to learning
difficulty. materials
- There is no time limit. 3. Good nutrition & exercise
- It is designed for children aged 2 4. Support from family & friends
through adults, but the scores of
preschool aged children on this Module 4a: The Feeling Mind
or any IQ test must be interpreted
with caution. Emotion
- Psychologists usually define it in
The Wechsler Tests terms of a combination of
- David Wechsler devised two IQ cognitions, physiology, feelings,
tests, one for children (to age 16), and actions (Keltner & Shiota,
and the other for adults. 2003; Plutchick, 1982).
- The Wechsler Intelligence Scale - For the way most people use the
for Children (WISC-III) and the term emotion, the key component
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale is the feeling.
(WAIS-III) are also individually - Emotions are significant and
administered. crucial parts of our experience,
- They also have a designated but emotion is an elusive
average or mean IQ of 100, and concept, hard to define and
use the adaptive method of measure.
testing. - Much about the nature of
- The Wechsler test provides an emotions has been gained
overall score, a score in two through scientific research
major areas (Verbal and psychologists, but some
Non-verbal) with six individual important questions remain
subscale scores each. unanswered.
- The profile of strengths and
weaknesses produced are very What are the basic emotions?
useful in planning educational As ever, theorists disagree. Ortony and
and other interventions with Turner (1990) collated a wide range of
students. research on identification of basic
- The Raven’s Progressive emotions.
Matrices test is one
culture-reduced test.
Theorist Basic Emotions
- The matrices that comprise the
test progress from easy to Acceptance, anger,
difficult. Plutchik anticipation, disgust, joy,
fear, sadness, surprise
 Anger, aversion, courage, - Behavioral observations
dejection, desire, despair, especially of facial
Arnold expressions - are useful.
fear, hate, hope, love,
sadness Facial emotions can be
suppressed but
Ekman,
Anger, disgust, fear, joy, micro-expressions can be
Friesen and
sadness, surprise very revealing.
Ellsworth
- Physiological measures
Desire, happiness, use autonomic nervous
Frijda interest, surprise, activity. These are harder
wonder, sorrow to control but their
Rage and terror, anxiety, meaning is ambiguous.
Gray
joy
Excitement and Physiological
Anger, contempt, disgust, Arousal
distress, fear, guilt,
Izard - The role of the autonomic
interest, joy, shame,
surprise nervous system
- It controls the functioning
James Fear, grief, love, rage of the internal organs.
- It has two subdivisions, the
Anger, disgust, elation,
McDougall fear, subjection, sympathetic and
tender-emotion, wonder parasympathetic nervous
systems.
Mowrer Pain, pleasure

Oatley and Anger, disgust, anxiety, The Autonomic Nervous System

Johnson-Laird happiness, sadness
The sympathetic nervous system
Expectancy, fear, rage, - Made up two chains of neuron
Panksepp
panic clusters to the left and right of the
Anger, interest, contempt, spinal cord.
Tomkins disgust, distress, fear, joy, - It increases the heart rate,
shame, surprise breathing rate, production of
sweat, and flow of adrenaline.
Watson Fear, love, rage
- It prepares the body for intense
activity, “fight or flight” and other
The Crucial Importance of Emotion high energy behaviors. It is the
- It’s not true that better decisions “crisis management” center.
are made without the influence of
emotions, despite vast pop The parasympathetic nervous system
culture lore promoting this idea. - Consists of neurons with axons
- Brain damaged people whose extending out from the medulla
emotions are impaired become and the lower spinal cord.
poor decision-makers. - The axons connect to neuron
- Emotions powerfully inform our clusters near the internal organs.
decisions, and are closely related - It’s the long-term survival center,
to motivation. promoting rest by decreasing
heart rate, digestion, and other
Measuring Emotions functions that keep an organism
- Measuring emotion is healthy and alive.
challenging. Each method has
strengths and weaknesses. The two divisions of the ANS
- Self-reports are fast and - Both systems alternate in activity.
easy but have Shifting between the two systems
questionable accuracy.
 keeps the body in a balanced the individual’s perception
condition - homeostasis. of those changes.
- Emergencies activate the - You decide you are happy
sympathetic nervous system, but because you are smiling, sad
involve some parasympathetic because you are frowning and
activity (i.e., being frightened tears are forming in your eyes.
causes an individual to lose - The reactions are not enough to
bowel or bladder control). produce the emotions, but full
- Autonomic responses aren’t experience of the emotions is
directly controlled, but can be impossible without them.
influenced through thought and - You decide you are happy
behavior – as with athletes who because you are smiling, sad
control breathing and focus their because you are frowning and
concentration for improved aim. tears are forming in your eyes.
- The reactions are not enough to
The Opponent-Process Principle of produce the emotions, but full
Emotions experience of the emotions is
- After sympathetic nervous impossible without them.
system activity slows,
parasympathetic activity Effects of decreased perceived
increases. arousal
- Removal of a stimulus that - Some medical conditions cause
excites one emotion causes a people to feel little physiological
swing to an opposite emotion. arousal.
The initial emotion is the “A” - In pure autonomic failure the
state, and the rebound emotion is ANS stops regulating the internal
the “B” state. organs.
- With repetition of the cycle, the A - People who suffer from it
state becomes weaker, and the B recognize situations that call for
state is prolonged and strong emotions (fear, elation) but
strengthened. they report that their emotions
are much less intense.
Emotion, Arousal, and Action - This is what the James-Lange
Which comes first, the psychological theory predicts.
experience of emotion or the
physiological arousal? Schachter And Singer’s Theory of
- Common sense dictates that one Emotions
feels sad and therefore one cries, - Proposes that the physiological
one feels happy and then laughs. state is not the same as the
emotion.
The James-Lange Theory of - The intensity of the
Emotions physiological reaction
- Two early psychologists, working determines only the
independently, came up with an intensity of the emotion,
alternative explanation of how not the type of emotion.
emotion and physiological - A person’s cognitive appraisal of
reactions are related. the situation that determines the
- The theory proposes that a emotion experienced.
person’s interpretation of a - Research studies based on the
stimulus directly evokes theory leave some unanswered
autonomic changes. questions about the contribution
- The psychological of physiological arousal to the
experience of emotion is intensity of the emotional states.
 The Range of Emotions - Interpretation of these by facial
- Psychologists have yet to agree expression occurs easily and
on a single list of basic emotions accurately across cultures.
but they have agreed on a list of - People also use gestures,
criteria for establishing what a changes in expression, and
basic emotion should be. social situations to make
- Basic emotions should emerge accurate judgments of others’
early in life without requiring a emotions.
great deal of experience. - People of different cultures do not
- They should be found across necessarily agree about which
cultures. internal states are emotions.
- Each should have a unique - A state associated with a
biological basis and distinct facial recognizable facial expression is
expression. not necessarily an emotion.

Producing Facial Expressions An Alternative to Basic Emotions

- The function of facial expressions - Emotions are not basic units of
in all primates is communication, experience but may be broken
especially of emotions. down into elements or
- Facial expression of experiences.
emotion is more likely to - Emotions overlap and often very
occur in the presence of different ones evoke the same
others. physiological responses.
- They are more likely to - The circumplex model accounts
indicate a person’s true for these facts.
internal state than other
indicators (like words.) The Usefulness of Emotions
- A voluntary smile, like the one - Emotions would have not evolved
given for a photograph, utilizes were they not informative.
mouth muscles alone. - They adjust our priorities
- A full, spontaneous smile, or and focus attention on
Duchenne smile, also involves important information.
eye and mouth muscles. - The broaden-and-build
- Most people cannot voluntarily hypothesis of positive
produce a Duchenne smile. emotions states that happy
moods increase readiness
Understanding Facial Expressions to explore new ideas and
- Researchers have found opportunities.
substantial evidence for the - Mildly sad moods increase
existence of basic emotions. the accuracy of judgment
- Expressions including smiling, and decision-making.
frowning, laughing, and crying - Emotions influence moral
occur throughout the world and decisions.
even in those born deaf and - Using the Trolley Dilemma
blind. and Footbridge Dilemma,
- Some develop in the absence of problems involving
opportunities to observe and decisions about letting a
imitate others. small number of people
- There is evidence that the basic die to save a larger
emotions consist of happiness, number, provide evidence
sadness, fear, disgust, anger, that emotions play a
contempt, shame and surprise. powerful role in deciding
the most moral course of
action.
 - Good decision-making is thought Module 4b: The Connected Mind
to require a great degree of
emotional control, hence the Social Psychology
familiar advice to remain calm - Social psychologists study social
and rational when faced with big behavior - the ways people
decisions. influence and are influenced by
- This is not entirely true. Only each other.
extreme emotions interfere with - It’s a diverse field incorporating
decision-making. the study of attitudes and
- Some degree of emotionality is perceptions, persuasion, and
needed for good typical behaviors of people in
decision-making. relationships with others.

Decisions by People with Impaired Cooperation and Competition

Emotions - Altruism
- Case studies of brain damaged - Why at times do we
patients suggest that the ability to compete with each other
experience and express emotions for resources while at
plays a key role in important life other times we cooperate,
and moral decisions. engaging in altruistic
- The case of Phineas Gage and behavior, (accepting some
Antonio Damasio’s case study of disadvantage to ourselves
“Elliot” provide evidence that in order to help others?)
feeling distinctly good or bad is - “It depends”
crucial to achieve the best - The prisoner’s dilemma
outcome in important decisions. - A choice is presented
between a cooperative act
Emotional Intelligence or one that is hurtful to
- The ability to perceive, imagine others.
and understand emotions and to - In variants of the dilemma,
use them in decision-making. people have great difficulty
- The concept has gained a great choosing the cooperative
deal of popularity over the past option, even though the
decades, in psychology and selfish strategy might
related fields. backfire.
- The evidence for its existence is - The prisoner’s dilemma: “Tit
still not strong. for tat”
- Measuring this construct poses - Cooperative strategies
significant challenges. require some degree of
- In constructing questions for a individual recognition.
test of emotional intelligence, too - We prefer reciprocal
often the best answer might be “it altruism, to help others
depends.” with the understanding
- It’s an interesting idea, but that they should in turn
requires further and better help us.
research. - We monitor those who
The ability to imagine the feeling that we hold their end of the
would have pursuing options presented bargain so we know with
to us is essential to good whom it is in our best
decision-making. interest to cooperate.
- Cultural Transmission
“Emotions are inseparable from the idea - We learn to cooperate
of good and evil.” instead of compete
— Antonio Damasio because other members of
 our community will punish - We all help others, often with no
us for not exhibiting some expectation of any benefit in
altruistic behavior. return.
- The more cooperative the
culture, the greater the Social Perception and Cognition
punishment for failing to - Mental processes that help us to
be altruistic. collect and remember information
- Accepting or denying about others, and to make
responsibility toward others: inferences and judgments based
Bystander helpfulness or on that information.
apathy - First impressions
- Why do people fail to - The primacy effect - the
intervene during a crime or first information learned
accident? about someone will be a
- The presence of many more powerful influence
people may create a on our perceptions than
diffusion of responsibility. any later information will
- We believe that if there are be.
other people present, - Stereotypes and prejudices
someone else will help, so - A stereotype is a
we do nothing. generalized belief about a
- Responsibility toward others group of people.
- Bystander helpfulness or - We remember unusual
apathy qualities or characteristics
- Pluralistic ignorance is more readily than ordinary
another explanation for ones, forming false
this lack of action. stereotypes easily.
- People assume in the - Some are exaggerations
absence of information of essentially correct
that others have a observations.
different, better-informed - Prejudice is an irrationally
opinion. unfavorable (or favorable)
- And they decide to say or attitude toward a group of
do nothing. people.
- Responsibility toward others - Aversive racism - the
- Social loafing is the behavior of unintentionally
tendency to “loaf” or to do discriminating against
less work in groups. some groups while
- Its extent depends on expressing the belief that
members’ perceptions of all people are equal.
each other’s ability levels. - People acknowledge that
- The effects are greatest prejudice is a serious
when the task is problem in the world, but
considered unimportant. deny being prejudiced.
- It is more rare in - Many people experience
collectivist cultures. ambivalent sexism; an
overt belief in equal
Is Cooperative Behavior Logical? treatment of the sexes with
- People frequently help each a hidden belief that women
other. It is still not clear whether should be treated
this tendency evolved or is differently.
learned – or both. Maybe the - Implicit measures of
explanation has been overlooked, stereotypes and prejudices
or is not important.
 - Subtle, unintentional attributions for a person’s
racism is difficult to behavior despite the
measure. presence of external
- The Implicit Association influences.
Test, used for personality - Americans are prone to
assessment, can also be this especially.
used to detect subtle - We emphasize individual
prejudice. responsibility and
- Overcoming prejudice accomplishment.
- Making groups in conflict talk - The actor-observer effect
does solve this problem. - We make situational
- Getting them to work attributions for our own
towards a common goal is behaviors and
a more effective strategy. dispositional ones for the
- Attribution behavior of others.
- Attribution: the set of - We are more aware of how
thought processes we use our own behavior varies
to explain behavior. across situations though
- Internal or dispositional we don’t consider that this
attributions are based on may be true for others.
an individual’s perceived - We attribute unusual
stable characteristics - behavior in people to
attitudes, personality traits, internal causes.
or abilities. - We do not perceive
- Attribution theory ourselves as stable
- External or situational objects but we see other
attributions are people as such.
explanations based on the - When we watch
current situation and recordings of ourselves,
events. we make more
- Lack of familiarity with dispositional attributions
culturally determined about our own behavior.
responses in other - Using attributions to control
societies causes the perceptions of ourselves
attribution of externally - To optimize our own
influenced behaviors to perception of ourselves we
dispositional qualities. use self-serving biases.
- Kelley proposed three - You attribute your victory
sources of information for in a tennis match to your
attributions: extraordinary skill.
- Consensus information - You attribute your failing
– how one individual’s mathematics to “unfair
behavior compares with tests.”
others. - Self-handicapping
- Consistency information strategies protect our
– how the person’s self-image.
behavior varies over time. - We intentionally create a
- Distinctiveness – how the disadvantage to provide
person’s behavior varies an excuse for an expected
between situations. failure.
- The Fundamental Attribution - Eating a whole pizza
Error shortly before a swim meet
- We commit this error by with the current league
making dispositional champions.
- We are usually not fully aware of - In serious
the reasons for other’s behavior, decision-making, people
or our own. invest time and effort in
- We make good guesses about evaluating the evidence
both. Understanding the theories and logic behind the
of social perception and cognition message.
can help us to improve our - This is the central route to
accuracy. persuasion.
- When contemplating a
Social Psychology decision of relatively little
- Attitudes and Behavior importance, people are
- An attitude is a like or more attentive to
dislike that influences our superficial aspects such as
behavior toward a person the speaker’s appearance
or thing. or the amount of evidence
- Persuasion is any attempt (instead of its quality.)
to change your attitudes - This is the peripheral route
(and your behavior.) to persuasion.
- Attitude Measurement - Highly resistant attitudes
- Measuring attitudes and - People’s attitudes fall on a
the effectiveness of continuum. Some attitudes
persuasive techniques are are strongly held and only
challenging. changed via the central
- People answer route to persuasion.
questionnaires impulsively Others are more easily
or misinterpret the changed by the peripheral
questions. route.
- Some hold conflicting or - Some strongly held
mixed attitudes about opinions are based on
issues. hardly any knowledge or
evidence at all.
Attitudes and Persuasion - “Facts? Don’t try to
- Cognitive Dissonance confuse me with the facts!”
- The classic study was - Delayed influence of messages
done by Festinger and - Messages may have no
Carlsmith in 1959. effect when first
- Research consistently that encountered, but change
cognitive dissonance our attitudes later.
affects our attitudes. - The Sleeper Effect -
- Its effects on attitudes vary delayed persuasion by an
cross-culturally. initially rejected message.
- Cognitive Dissonance - Minority Influence -
- An individual’s behavior unpopular opinions
can change his or her eventually change majority
attitudes. attitudes.
- A state of tension occurs - Ways of presenting persuasive
when an individual holds messages
contradictory attitudes on - Two categories of
an issue, or has exhibited persuasive messages:
behavior that is - Fulfill the request to make
inconsistent with an something good happen.
expressed attitude. - Fulfill the request to
- Routes of attitude change and prevent something bad
persuasion from happening (like chain
 letters and some internet - The offer is improved
hoaxes – they contain an before any reply is given -
implied threat). the that’s-not-all technique.
- Audience variables in
persuasion Interpersonal Attraction
- Person variables: - Established lasting
- Level of cognitive abilities relationships
- Importance of message - Proximity - we become
- Mood friends with people who
- Situation variables: live near us and become
- Perceived similarity familiar to us.
between the audience and - Mere exposure - the more
speaker often we see someone or
- Perception that idea is something the more we
approved or endorsed by a start to like the person or
respected group thing.
- Level of intelligence and - The mere exposure effect
interest won’t matter if we hate the
- Audience variables: person or thing.
Heightened resistance - Similarity – we’re drawn to
- What if people know they those who have the same
are about to hear an background, attitudes, and
opposing argument? interests.
- Telling them will increase - We choose people who
the likelihood that they’ll confirm our self-concept
reject the argument - and self-esteem.
Forewarning Effect. - According to exchange or
- A weak version of an equity theories we seek
argument presented people with whom we can
before a stronger version make equitable
makes it more likely that transactions of goods and
the strong one gets services.
rejected - Inoculation - Special concerns in selecting a
Effect. mate
- Strategies of persuasion - Physical attractiveness
- Common techniques of - Important to both sexes
persuasion to know and (despite reluctance to
resist! admit it).
- A modest request is - Attractive people are
followed by a larger one - generally treated better
the foot-in-the-door than others, creating a
technique. self-fulfilling prophecy
- An outrageous initial confirming their good
request is followed by a self-image.
reasonable one - the - Physical attractiveness.
door-in-the-face technique. - In other species
- A favorable deal is attractiveness may be
followed by additional seen as an indicator of
demands after a good health and good
commitment has been genes.
made - the bait-and-switch - “Attractive” in most
technique. cultures is what is
considered “normal” or
“average-looking.”
 - Evidence for these - The same dynamics of
hypotheses is mixed and persuasion discussed earlier are
should be interpreted with at work – remain aware so you
caution. find someone you like and trust.
- Marriage is valued in our - Humans crave contact with
society as a crucial social others; even mediocre company
institution and source of is better than none.
fulfillment, but a disturbing - In our important relationships, we
number of marriages end need to know more about our
in divorce. companions. Fulfilling
- Why is it difficult to have a relationships require wise
satisfying and lasting choices.
marriage?
- Characteristics of Interpersonal Influence
successful marriages: - Other people influence us in two
- Partners have similar major ways:
attitudes and personalities. - They give us information
- The relationship is about situations.
sexually satisfying. - They set the norms – the
- They earn adequate rules about expected
income for their lifestyle. behavior.
- The husband is proud of - Conformity
his job. - Maintaining or changing
- The wife wasn’t pregnant one’s behavior to match
before the marriage. the behavior and
- The couple’s parents had expectations of others.
successful marriages. - At first it was believed that
- Saving a troubled people would conform in
marriage: ambiguous situations.
- The results of marriage - Asch’s classic experiment
counseling are not demonstrated that
encouraging. conformity is likely even
- Usually one partner has when the correct choice is
given up before the clear.
counseling starts. - Asch’s experiment has
- Marriage counselors give been done in other
well-meaning advice that cultures.
may not work. - Cross-culturally behaviors
- Couples should be are the same.
encouraged to treat each - The motivations expressed
other with respect during are somewhat different.
periods of turmoil. - For example Asian
- Every marriage has subjects said they did not
troubled times, and it is wish to embarrass others
important to repair in the group.
problems quickly when - The need to conform may
they arise. overwhelm our need to be
correct or feel “right.”
Choosing Your Partners Carefully - Size of the group did not
- Many people choose friends and matter – it was as hard for
spouses poorly. a subject to disagree in a
- Your potential partner is trying to group of 3 as in a group of
impress you and you are hoping 13.
to like him or her.
 - Two people disagree more The Power of the Social Situation
easily with the majority - It is difficult to teach people to
than one person did. behave ethically when there’s
- Conformity: Good and bad strong pressure to confirm.
- Conformity to socially - To discourage destructive
beneficial rules is behavior in people, we’d be well
necessary for our survival advised to consider changing the
as a species. situation.
- It may also be vital,
however, to resist that Module 4c: The Individual Mind
urge in situations where
the human need for Personality Theories
conformity overrides our - Personality derives from the Latin
ability to see the truth and word persona, which translates
take action to prevent into English as “mask.”
destructive mistakes. - Personality consists of consistent
- Group decision-making ways in which a person’s
- There are advantages to behavior differs from that of
appointing committees to others, especially in social
review evidence and make contexts.
decisions, but there are
also pitfalls to group Sigmund Freud and the
decision-making Psychodynamic Approach
processes. - Psychodynamic theory relates
- All of us are going to personality to the interplay of
participate in group conflicting forces within the
decision-making individual.
processes so it is useful to - The individual may not be aware
understand these of these forces influencing
problems. thought and behavior.
- Group polarization - Freud’s theory had an enormous
- If members of a group impact on 20th Century
already have a strong psychology, but his influence
opinion on a matter they within psychology is waning.
will lean more strongly that - His ideas are very difficult to test
way after discussion. empirically.
- Discussion makes the - Many psychologists find nothing
group more extreme in its useful in the Freudian paradigm,
views rather than opening its tenets are still utilized by some
a dialogue on differing mental health practitioners.
opinions.
- Groupthink Freud’s Search for the Unconscious
- Emerges in a group - He was influenced by the
regardless of the level of psychiatrist Josef Breuer, who
cohesion. encouraged patients to recall
- Group members suppress details of traumatic early life
doubts about an issue for experiences to relieve the
fear of being ostracized. physical complaints he believed
- Dominant members stemmed from unreleased
silence dissenters; emotions associated with these
sometimes dissenters fail events.
to speak up at all. - The therapeutic release of
pent-up emotional tension was
called catharsis.
- This “talking cure” was expanded The Oedipus complex
into a method of explaining the - Children wish to have sex with
workings of personality, based on their opposite sex parent but
the interplay of conscious and realize that it is forbidden.
unconscious internal forces - - Based (loosely) on an ancient
psychoanalysis. play by Sophocles in which the
- The unconscious mind contains protagonist (unknowingly)
memories, emotions and murders his father and marries
thoughts, including irrational or his mother (also unknowingly).
socially unacceptable ones. - Like many other constructs
- These thoughts and feelings proposed by Freud, there is little
influence our behavior. reliable empirical evidence to
- Psychoanalysis reveals these to support the “Oedipus complex.”
achieve catharsis and help the - He rarely distinguished between
patient overcome dysfunctional results and evidence.
impulses.
- He noticed that some patients Stages of Psychosexual
were less seriously affected by Development in Freud’s Theory of
early childhood traumas than Personality
others were. - He developed a framework for
- He developed hypotheses for the the development of personality
“excessive anxiety” that some during childhood and
patients seem to manifest. adolescence.
- It’s a progression of conflicts
- He proposed that excessive about channeling sexual energy.
anxiety might be due to: - He related personality
- Lack of sexual gratification development to the changing
- Masturbation nature of the individual’s
- Traumatic sexual psychosexual interest and
experiences from early pleasure (all the strong and
childhood pleasurable sensations of
- He stood by the “seduction excitement that arise from body
hypothesis” for a number of stimulation.)
years, constructing evidence for - He believed that managing this
sexual abuse from patients’ aspect of development influences
dream reports, slips of the nearly all aspects of personality.
tongue, and other indirect - He proposed the existence of
evidence. libido, an innate psychosexual
- Some patients did not remember energy (from the Latin word for
these events, but Freud insisted “desire”).
that his interpretations were - The preferred channel for
correct. gratifying this desire changes
- He later abandoned the over the lifespan.
seduction hypothesis, claiming - There are five stages, each with
that his patients had “misled” him its own way of seeking
(not that he might have been gratification.
mistaken). - If normal development is blocked,
- He claimed that his patients had a person may become fixated
sexual fantasies as young and preoccupied with gratification
children and never came to terms of the libido in a manner typical of
with their anxiety and guilt. an earlier period.
The Oral Stage (The first year of life) psychosexual satisfaction is
- The infant derives psychosexual gained from sexual intercourse.
pleasure from stimulation of the - Fixation in an earlier period of
mouth, particularly from development means little libido in
breastfeeding but from other oral this stage
contact as well.
- Oral fixation manifests in Evaluation of the Stages
problematic eating, drinking, - They are difficult to test
substance use, and dependence empirically and research on this
on/independence from others. model has been inconclusive.
- Attributes of those “fixated” at
The Anal Stage (About 1 to 3 years certain stages seem to correlate,
old) there is no evidence that
- Intense psychosexual pleasure originate in difficulties at those
derived from stimulation of the ages (i.e. “penis envy” in the
anal sphincter, (which controls Phallic Stage).
elimination) related to toilet
training, which usually occurs at Structure of Personality
this age. There are three components:
- Anal fixation might involve 1. Id - biological drives that demand
problems with extreme stinginess immediate gratification.
or need to maintain strict order. 2. Ego - the rational, negotiating,
Or the opposite is true, and the and decision-making part of
person is very wasteful and personality.
messy. 3. Superego - internalized values
and rules we receive from our
The Phallic Stage (About 3 to 6 years parents and society.
of age) - He thought these components
- Psychosexual pleasure derives were “warring factions” struggling
from stimulation of the genitals, for control of personality and
and the child is attracted to the behavior.
opposite-sex parent. - These struggles can cause
- Phallic fixation involves fear of psychological distress.
being castrated (in boys) or - Psychologists view this model as
“penis envy” in girls. metaphoric; most don’t see it as
the true structure of mind.
The Latent Period (About 6 years to - Conflicts and anxiety over
adolescence) unpleasant impulses and
- The child suppresses thoughts occur.
psychosexual interest. Play and
interaction is mostly with same Defense Mechanisms against Anxiety
sex peers. - He proposed the existence of
- There’s evidence that the “latent defense mechanisms that keep
period” is a cultural artifact. these thoughts and feelings
Children in some banished in the unconscious.
non-industrialized societies don’t - These mechanisms usually
experience “latency.” function as healthy ways to
suppress anxiety.
The Genital Stage (Adolescence and - They become problematic only if
beyond) they prevent the person from
- The individual has strong sexual effectively dealing with reality.
interest in other people. If the
other stages were completed ● Rationalization - “making
successfully, primary excuses” and reframing
 unpleasant events or actions as - Karen Horney believed that
beneficial or appropriate. Freud exaggerated the role of
● Repression - “motivated sexuality in human behavior and
forgetting” of unacceptable motivation, and misunderstood
thoughts and feelings. the women’s motivations and
● Regression - a return to juvenile dynamics of family relationships.
behavior.
● Denial - refusal to acknowledge a Carl Jung and the Collective
problem. Unconscious
● Displacement - diversion of an - Carl Jung put a greater emphasis
unacceptable thought or impulse on the continuity of human
from its true target to a less experience and need for spiritual
threatening one. meaning in life.
● Reaction formation - showing - He proposed the existence of a
thoughts or feelings extremely “collective unconscious” reflecting
opposite of one’s true ones. the cumulative experiences of all
● Sublimation – channeling sexual of our ancestors.
or aggressive energies into - It contains archetypes - figures
acceptable and pro-social and themes that emerge
behaviors. repeatedly in history and across
● Projection - attributing one’s own cultures.
undesirable characteristics or
motives to other people. Alfred Adler and Individual
Psychology
Freud’s Legacy - Alfred Adler founded the school
- His evidence was weak, and of “individual psychology.”
some of his conclusions likely are - “Individual” refers to
dubious or wrong. understanding the whole person,
- He made enduring and useful in contrast with the partitioned
contributions to psychology model central to the Freudian
nonetheless. framework.
- Scholars argue about the extent - He proposed that humans
to which Freud was responsible naturally seek personal
for formulating theories excellence and fulfillment, and
associated with him. strive for superiority. We create a
- Humans have a mental life that is master plan for achieving this,
at least partly unconscious. called a style of life.
- People have conflicting motives. - People who fail suffer from an
- Childhood experiences contribute inferiority complex, an
to the development of adult exaggerated feeling of
personality and social behavior. inadequacy.
- Relationships with people in our - Healthy striving for superiority
family-of-origin influence also involved concern for the
relationships we have with others welfare of others.
throughout life. - Psychologically healthy people
- Sexual development has an have social interest, a sense of
impact on psychological belonging and identification with
development. other people.
- - Psychopathology involves the
Karen Horney, a Neo-Freudian setting of inadequate goals, a
- Psychologists and others who faulty style of life, and lack of
adopted some parts of Freud’s social interest.
theory and modified others.
 The Learning Approach - They view the person as a whole
- Some psychologists are skeptical entity.
about personality in general. - Humanistic psychologists study
- People adopt a variety of peak experiences, moments in
behavioral styles life when a person feels truly
depending on social fulfilled or content.
context. - Research is usually qualitative in
- We exhibit one set of form, recording narratives and
behaviors when we anecdotes about how people
interact with our parents, behave and think.
another at work, and yet
another with friends. Carl Rogers and Unconditional
- This relates specific Positive Regard
behaviors to specific - Carl Rogers is one of the
experiences. founders of the school.
- The experiences from - He believed that human nature is
which we learn are those essentially good, and that people
of others in our strive toward self-actualization -a
environment. state of achieving one’s full
- A gender role is a psychological potential.
aspect of being male or female. - It’s the driving force in his model.
- Cross-cultural research suggests - Rogers believed that children
that aspects of gender roles are develop a self-concept, an image
learned. of the person they are.
- Reinforcements and punishments - They also develop an ideal self,
are given for correct/incorrect an image of who they’d like to be.
gender role behaviors. - In the model, psychological
- Boys can be observed to imitate distress comes from the
men, and girls to imitate women. mismatch perceived between the
self-concept and the ideal self.
Humanistic Psychology - Rogers believed that human
- Humanistic psychology deals with welfare was best served when
values, beliefs, and people related in an atmosphere
consciousness, including of unconditional positive regard.
spirituality and guiding principles - This is the acceptance of
of living. the person as he or she is.
- Personality depends on what - Most people receive conditional
people believe and how they positive regard in their important
perceive and understand the relationships.
world. - The person is held in
- Humanistic psychologists see esteem only when fulfilling
people as essentially good. certain requirements set
- This contrasts with the more for them by others.
morally neutral behaviorism and
the essentially negative view of Abraham Maslow and the
human nature in psychoanalytic Self-Actualized Personality
theory. - Abraham Maslow proposed that
- Humanistic psychologists people have a hierarchy of needs
rejected the deterministic, and that the highest need of
reductivist natures of behaviorism these is the need to become
and psychoanalysis. self-actualized.
- They denied simple cause and - He listed the characteristics of
effect processes in behavior. self-actualized people based on
 those who in his opinion, had can be measured and studied is
achieved the state. a trait approach to personality.
- Characteristics of the - Many familiar personality traits
self-actualized individual include: have been studied.
- An ability to perceive
reality accurately The Big Five Model of Personality
- Independence, - Through factor analysis, a
spontaneity, and creativity technique to determine the traits
- Treating others with that correlate most strongly with
unconditional positive each other, five groups of related
regard traits were identified.
- An outlook that - Neuroticism, extraversion,
emphasizes agreeableness,
problem-solving conscientiousness, and
- Enjoyment of life openness to new experience.
- A good sense of humor
- This is not a scientific list, and ● Neuroticism is the tendency to
merely represents characteristics experience unpleasant emotions
that Maslow admired. very easily.
● Extraversion is a tendency to
Personality seek stimulation and enjoy the
- Personality theory raises company of other people.
fascinating questions that do not ● Agreeableness is a tendency to
seem easily answerable. be compassionate rather than
- Researchers are working on antagonistic towards others
small aspects of these questions ● Conscientiousness is the
in hopes of eventually tendency to show self-discipline,
synthesizing an accurate “big to be reliable, and to strive for
picture” of who we really are. competence and achievement.
● Openness to Experience refers
Two Approaches Used to Study to a tendency to enjoy new
Personality experiences and new ideas.
- The nomothetic approach
identifies general laws describing Trait Dimension Description
aspects of personality influencing
behavior. - Calm versus
- The idiographic approach uses anxious
intensive studies of individuals. It - Secure versus
Emotional Stability insecure
doesn’t produce conclusions that
- Self-satisfied
are applied generally to people. versus
self-pitying
Personality Traits and States
● Trait: A consistent, long-lasting - Sociable versus
behavioral tendency - like retiring
- Fun loving
sociability, shyness or Extraversion
versus sober
assertiveness. - Affectionate
● State: A temporary activation of versus reserved
particular behavior.
- Imaginative
versus practical
The Search for Broad Personality
- Preference for
Traits Openness variety versus
- The search for consistent preference for
personality characteristics that routine
- Independent
 versus
conforming

- Soft hearted
versus ruthless
- Trusting versus
Agreeableness
suspicious
- Helpful versus
uncooperative

-
Organized
versus
disorganized
Conscientiousness - Careful versus
careless
- Disciplined
versus impulsive

- Criticisms of the Big Five

description include:
- It was based on a study of
the English language, not
on observations of human
behavior.
- There are too few traits
included.
- There are too many traits
included.
- It has limited applicability
cross-culturally.