Test #3 Flashcards
what is intelligence?
Intelligence is the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use our knowledge to adapt to new situations
intelligence consists of what 4 abilities
Reason abstractly
Adapt to novel environmental circumstances
Acquire knowledge
Benefit from experience
what were the first intelligence tests
- Galton’s tests
- Sensory-motor tests including two-point thresholds, just noticeable differences, reaction time for sounds, and time for naming colours
- low correlations with academic performance
where did intelligence tests originate
- The French government wanted to identify slow and fast learners.
- Alfred Binet & Theodore Simon (1904) - first intelligence test
- They developed questions to predict children’s progress based on their mental age
- Diverse content:
Object naming
Drawing pictures from memory
3 word sentence completion
Word meanings
Incomplete sentences - Virtually all items on modern intelligence tests have followed in Binet and Simon’s footsteps
general intelligence
explains the overall difference in intellect among people
specific abilities
particular ability level in a narrow domain
fluid intelligence
The ability to learn new ways of solving problems
Like the first time we try to solve a puzzle or task or skill we’ve never encountered before (e.g., driving a motorcycle for the first time)
more likely to decline with age
fluid intelligence may better capture the power of the “mental engine”
crystallized intelligence
Accumulated knowledge of the world we acquire over time.
We rely on our crystallized intelligence to answer questions such as “What’s the capital of Italy?”
crystallized abilities may increase with age, including old age
Intelligence Quotient (IQ) Test
Lewis Terman adapted Binet’s test for school children and named the test the Stanford-Binet test
The formula for Intelligence Quotient (IQ), introduced by William Stern that Terman adopted early on in the Stanford-Binet test.
Terman’s great achievement was to eventually establish a set of norms for the Stanford-Binet
norms
baseline scores in the general population from which we can compare each individual’s score
Sternberg’s 3 types of intelligences (Triarchic theory)
- Analytical intelligence: assessed by intelligence tests, which present well defined problems having a single right answer (“book smarts”)
- Creative intelligence: reacting adaptive to novel situations. Creating novel ideas (“creating music”)
- Practical intelligence: required for everyday tasks, which are frequently ill-defined, with multiple solutions (“street smarts”)
Brain size and intelligence
Recent studies indicate some correlation (about +.40) between brain size and intelligence.
As brain size decreases with age, scores on non-verbal intelligence tests also decrease
Studies of brain functions show that people who score high on intelligence tests perceive stimuli faster, retrieve information from memory quicker, and show faster brain response times.
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)
- David Wechsler, a psychologist who developed this test, was a Romanian immigrant who was among those classified as feebleminded by early, flawed IQ tests used with immigrants arriving to the U.S. in the early 1900s.
- The Wechsler scales are designed to measure mental abilities such as vocabulary, arithmetic, spatial ability, verbal reasoning, and general knowledge about the world.
- yields 5 major scores: (VPPW)
overall IQ
verbal comprehension
perceptual reasoning
processing speed
working memory
Is IQ Useful
- IQ scores predict academic success. They correlate about .50 with high school and college grades
- The correlation between IQ and job performance is higher in more mentally demanding occupations, such as physician or lawyer, than in clerk or newspaper delivery positions.
- Restricted range - explains why SAT and GRE are not strong predictors of grades in college. Like height is not a good predictor of NBA performance, because everyone is tall!
restricted range
correlations tend to decrease when we limit the range of scores
test bias
tendency of a test to predict outcomes better in one group than in another
are IQ tests racially biased
no
culture fair test
a test that involves abstract reasoning items and don’t depend on language and are often believed to be less influenced by cultural factors than other IQ tests
racial differences in IQ
- On average, African and Hispanic Americans score lower than Caucasians on standard IQ tests, and Asian Americans score higher than Caucasians
- Yet - the variability within any given race tends to be considerably larger than the variability between races. So IQ scores for different races overlap substantially
- As a result, many African Americans and Hispanic Americans have higher IQs than many Caucasians and Asian Americans. So we can’t use race as a basis for inferring any given person’s IQ.
is IQ biologically determined
Twin studies reveal that scores of identical twins raised in different environments were significantly more alike than those of fraternal twins raised together
is IQ due to environment
- The average IQ scores of poor Whites in the U.S. is 10 to 20 points lower than the average score of middle class Whites
- That poor Southern Whites test lower than middle class Blacks living in Northern states also suggests environmental factors
- U.S. Black children adopted by White families show higher IQ and school achievement than Whites
the Flynn effect
IQ scores have been increasing in many countries at about 3 points per decade influences: - increased test sophistication - increased complexity of modern world - better nutrition - changes at home and school
intelligence test
diagnostic tool designed to measure overall thinking capacity/ability
abstract thinking
capacity to understand hypothetical concepts
multiple intelligences
entirely different domains of intellectual skill
frames of mind
numerous different ways of thinking about the world
existential intelligence
the ability to grasp deep philosophical ideas, like the meaning of life
metacognition
our knowledge of our own knowledge
Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
systematic means of quantifying differences among people in their intelligences
mental age
age corresponding to the average individuals performance on an intelligence test
deviation IQ
expression of a persons IQ relative to their age group
eugenics
movement in the early 20th century to improve a populations genetic stock by encouraging those with good genes to reproduce, preventing those with bad genes from reproducing
test - retest reliability
the extent to which scores on a measure remain stable overtime
concurrent validity
an important indicator of a tests validity, its ability to relate to outcomes measured at about the same time the test is administered
threshold effect
above a certain level of IQ, intelligence is no longer predictive of important real world accomplishments
assertive mating
the tendency of individuals with similar genes to bear children together
selective placement
adoption agencies frequently place children in homes similar to those of the biological parents
sex differences in IQ
- womens IQ tend to cluster together in the middle
- mens IQ tend to be more variable (widespread)
within group heritability
extent to which a trait, like IQ is heritable within groups
between group heritability
extent to which differences in a trait between groups is genetically influenced
stereotype threat
fear that we may confirm a negative group stereotype
divergent thinking
capacity to generate many different solutions to a problem
covergent thinking
capacity to generate the single best solution to a problem
emotional intelligence
ability to understand our own emotions and those of others and apply this information to our daily lives
ideological immune system
our physiological defense against evidence that contradicts our views
wisdom
application of intelligence toward a common good
developmental psychology
- the scientific study of behavioural changes across the lifespan
- uses scientific methods to describe, explain, and predict changes in infants and children psychological development
- includes a wide range of psychological process including motor, perceptual, conceptual, cognitive, social, emotional, and language development
visual acuity
the sharpness of vision based on the ability to see the contrasts in the world that represent lines, shapes, and shadows
preferential looking method
research finds that infants prefer to orient to larger things they can see over smaller things they cannot see
habituation method
most of us become bored if we see the same thing again and again, the habituation method purposely creates this kind of boredom as a way to create a preference for a new stimulus
dishabituates
renewed interest
visually evoked potential (VEP) method
involves attaching electrodes to the baby’s scalp to measure brain activity to determine at what point the changing stripped patterns that the infant is watching on the screen no longer causes corresponding changes in the brains electrical activity
early competencies and interest
- we are born preferring faces
- newborns pay attention to the direction of others’ eyes
- young infants can tell apart individual human faces and monkey faces, but as they get older they decline in their ability to tell apart monkey faces but improve at distinguishing between human faces
hearing: development
- ambient sounds, including the mothers voice, pass into the uterus clearly
- newborns prefer their mothers voice to another woman’s or to their fathers voice
- brain waves show that newborns can distinguish their mothers voice from another woman’s
- fetal heart rates increase in response to the mothers voice
the Mozart effect
- the supposed enhancement in intelligence after listening to classical music
- college students who listened to about 10 min of mozart showed significant improvement on a spatial reasoning task
- it’s more about short term arousal that you get from the music not about the classical music making you smarter
- telling someone a scary story before doing the task elicits the same effect
- anything that boosts alertness is likely to increase performance
- no long term effects
Piagets stages of cognitive development
sensorimotor (0-2)
pre-operational (2-7)
concrete operational (7-12)
formal operational (12+)
sensorimotor stage
- infants gain an understanding of the world through their senses and motor activities
- object permanence - a child recognizes that objects continue to exist even when they are no longer visible (occurs by about 8 months)
object permanence
- object permanence - a child recognizes that objects continue to exist even when they are no longer visible (occurs by about 8 months)
- research suggests that infants younger than 8 months (as early as 5 months) show object permanence
- infants understand rule violation - infants respond differently to possible events than impossible ones (they look longer at surprising or impossible events)
baby logic
- infants 4.5 months of age look longer at unexpected scene of car seeming to pass through a solid object
- babies seem to have a more intuitive grasp of simple laws of physics
baby math
- when shown a numerically impossible outcomes, infants stare longer
- the doll behind the cover video
- babies get upset when an impossible outcome happens which implies they understand its impossible
pre operational stage
- inability to perform mental operations
- children develop symbolic function
- thinking is animistic, intuitive, and egocentric (inability to see the world from others perspectives)
- lack reversibility (being able to undo an action)
- lack conservation - awareness that physical quantities remain constant despite changes in their appearance
theory of mind
- the ability to infer others mental states
- around ages 4-5 children worldwide come to realize that others may hold false beliefs
concrete operational
- children develop conservation and reversibility
- develop more logical thinking
- trial and error for problem solving
- poor at performing mental operations in abstract or hypothetical situations
formal operational
- apply logical thought to abstract, verbal, and hypothetical situations and to problems in the past present and future
- think logically about abstract non physical concepts
gene environment interaction
situation in which the effects of genes depend on the environment in which they are expressed
nature via nurture
tendency of individuals with certain genetic predispositions to seek out and create environments that permit the expression of those predispositions
gene expression
activation or deactivation of genes by environmental experiences throughout development
epigenetic
whether genes are activated is regulated day by day and moment by moment environmental conditions
cross sectional design
research design that examines people of different ages at a single point in time
cohort effect
effect observed in a sample of participants that result from individuals in the sample growing up at the same (growing up in different era’s)
longitudinal design
research design that examines development in the same group of people on multiple occasions over time
developmental effects
changes overtime within individuals as a result of growing older
post hoc fallacy
false assumption that because one event occurred before another event it must have caused that event
prenatal
prior to birth
zygote
fertilized egg
blastocyst
ball of identical cells early in pregnancy that haven’t yet begun to take on any specific function in a body part
embryo
2nd-8th week of prenatal development, during which limbs, facial features, and major organs take form
fetus
period of prenatal development from 9th week unit birth after all major organs are established and physical maturation is the primary change
viability point
the point in the pregnancy at which infants can typically survive on their own (25 weeks)
teratogen
an environmental factor that can exert a negative impact on prenatal development
obstacles to normal fetal development
1) premature birth
2) low birth weight
3) exposure to hazardous influences
4) biological influences resulting from genetic disorders or errors in cell duplication during cell division
menarche
start of menstruation
spermarche
boys first ejaculation
domain general
changes in children cognitive skills affect most or all areas of cognitive function in tandem
domain specific
childrens cognitive skills develop independently and at different rates across different domains
assimilation
process of absorbing new experiences into current knowledge
accommodation
altering a belief to make it more compatible with experience
scaffolding
learning mechanism in which parents provide initial assistance in childrens learning but gradually remove structure as children become more competent (training wheels on a bike)
zone of proximal development
phase of learning during which children can benefit from instruction
stranger anxiety
a fear of strangers developing at 8-9 months of age
attachment
the strong emotional connection we share with those to whom we feel closest
attachment styles
- secure
- insecure-avoidant
- insecure-anxious
- disorganized
parenting styles
- permissive
- authoritarian
- authoritative
- uninvolved
average expectable environment
environment that provides children with basic needs for affection and discipline
gender segregation
children understand the difference between genders and are aware that they fit better with one gender than the other
emerging adulthood
period of life between the ages of 18-25 when many aspects of emotional development, identity, and personality become solidified
moral dilemma
situations in which there are no clear right or wrong answers
Kohlberg scheme of moral development
- pre conventional - focus on punishment and reward
- conventional morality - focus on societal values
- post conventional morality - focus on internal moral principles
emotion
mental state or feeling associated with our evaluation of our experiences and involves: 1) physiological arousal 2) expressive behaviours, and 3) conscious experience
Do different cultures perceive the same emotional expressions?
- Ekman & Friesen showed photographs to observers in 5 different countries (USA, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, & Japan) and asked them to label each expression
- The data revealed a very high level of agreement
- But… all cultures studied were literate, industrialized! (exposure to media)
- So Ekman studied preliterate tribes of New Guinea (no exposure to media)
- Villagers listened to a story (eg. his friends have come and he is happy) then selected 1 of 3 facial expressions (photos) matching each story.
- The findings were similar to findings in literate, industrialized societies
- Takeaway: interpretation of expressions of emotion is not affected by media exposure and is cross cultural
James-Lange Theory of Emotion
- William James and Carl Lange proposed that physiological activity precedes the emotional experience
- Emotions result from our interpretations of our bodily reactions to stimuli
- Not: “I run because I am afraid”
- It’s: “I’m afraid because I am running”
Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion
- Walter Cannon & Philip Bard claimed emotion triggering stimulus and bodily arousal are simultaneous
- An emotion provoking event leads simultaneously to an emotion and to bodily reactions
- When we see a bear while hiking in the forest, the sight of that bear triggers being afraid and running at the same time
Two factor theory of emotion
- We need: physical arousal + cognitive label. Arousal of pounding heart, sweaty palms, weak knees. We look for external explanations
- Emotions are produced by an undifferentiated state of arousal along with an attribution (explanation) of that arousal
evidence for two factor theory
In a study by Dutton & Aron, men who crossed a scary bridge (wobbly suspension bridge 450 ft long, 5 feet wide, low handrail, that sways 230 ft above rocky rapids) were later more likely (60%) to call an attractive female researcher they met on the bridge (for more details about the study) than those who crossed a stable bridge (30%) (10ft from the water). Also male researchers on the high bridge were rarely called.
Takeaway: they were aroused by the bridge (scared, sympathetic nervous system) some of the arousal was transferred onto the attractive female researcher
evidence for James-Lange theory of emotion
- James Laird subtly induced students to make a frowning expression by asking them to “contract your muscles” and “pull your brows together” (supposedly to help the researchers attach facial electrodes). The result?
- The students reported feeling a little angry. Students similarly induced to smile felt happier, found cartoons funnier, and recalled happier memories than did the frowners. People instructed to mold their faces in ways that express other basic emotions also experienced those emotions. Rival explanation?
- If you express an emotion with your face you are likely to feel that emotion
display rules
cross cultural guidelines for how and when to express emotions eg. boys shouldn’t cry
polygraph
a machine that measures several of the physiological responses accompanying emotion (such as perspiration, and cardiovascular, and breathing changes)
Do lie detectors work?
- Yes and No. They can work if you have not been trained to fool them, and if you believe they work - you are more likely to tell the truth (bogus pipeline)
- Physiological arousal is similar from one emotion to another. Anxiety, irritability, & guilt show similar physiological activity
- These tests err about 1/3rd of the time, especially when innocent people respond with heightened tension to accusations implied by the relevant questions. (biased against the innocent)
- Many rape victims fail polygraph tests by reacting emotionally while telling the truth about their assailant
- Advice? Never take a lie detector test if you are innocent!
Are rich people happier?
- When people have barely enough to meet their basic needs - being well off does predict greater well being
- Once a comfortable income level is reached (eg. $50,000) more and more money provides diminishing returns
- Even the super rich have reported only slightly greater happiness than average
- Lottery win = no lasting increase in well being
impact bias
We are poor at predicting the intensity and duration of positive and negative emotions (we assume that if something good happens to us it will make us happy for a really long time, but in reality we are not happy nearly as long as we think we will → the same thing occurs for negative events)
the adaption level phenomenon
- Tendency to adapt to a given level of stimulation and thus to notice and react to changes from that level
- People think if they win the lottery they will be happy for the rest of their lives, but after a few months they adapt to their new situation are return to their former happiness level
motivation
Physiological drive that propels us in a specific direction
All of the processes that initiate, direct, and sustain behaviour
instinct theory
the notion that human behaviour is motivated by certain innate tendencies or instincts that are shared by all individuals
drive reduction theory
a need gives rise to an internal state of tension (arousal) called a drive, and the organism is motivated to reduce it
Certain drives, like hunger, thirst, and sexual frustration, motivate us to act in ways that minimize aversive states
intrinsic motivation
activities without external rewards, that are done for the joy of doing them (“even if I didn’t get paid I would still come to work cause I love my job”)
arousal theory
- Were motivated to maintain a certain level of arousal
- But some motivated behaviours actually increase arousal. And well-fed animals will leave their shelter to explore, seemingly in the absence of any need-based drive. From taking such risks, animals gain information and resources
- Simple tasks are performed best with higher arousal
- Difficult tasks are performed best with lower arousal
- Yerkes-Dodson Law
lateral hypothalamus
feeding centre
stim lat, get fat
well fed animals keep eating
destroy lat, get thin
when destroyed, even starving animals had no interest in food
ventromedial hypothalamus
satiety centre
stim ven, get thin
stimulating this area will make an animal stop eating
destroy ven, get fat
stops the feeling of satiety and process food more rapidly so they keep eating
the dopamine hypothesis of reward
- Suggests dopamine mediates the primary reinforcing effects of virtually all stimuli
- Many drugs elevate dopamine in the nucleus accumbens, and virtually all abuse-prone drugs (e.g., alcohol, morphine, cocaine, and marijuana) have been found to enhance brain stimulation reward in this region
- Yet, several human studies have reported that DA blockers do not blunt the subjective euphoria produced by drugs of abuse in humans
- So if DA is not responsible for rewarding subjective feelings of euphoria and drug-related high, what is?!?
- Opioids, endocannabinoids, and GABA
- Dopamine is more involved in seeking out the reward rather than providing the euphoria that comes with getting the reward
proximity or propinquity
geographical nearness
The single best predictor of whether two people become friends or romantically involved is physical proximity
functional distance
how often do people’s paths cross
do looks matter?
- A young women’s physical attractiveness is a moderately good predictor of how frequently she dates, and a young man’s attractiveness is a modestly good predictor of how frequently he dates
- In a worldwide BBC internet survey of nearly 220,000 people, men more than women ranked attractiveness as important in a mate, while women more than man, assigned importance to honesty, humour, kindness, and dependability
- For men, the more attractive a women was the more he liked her and wanted to date her again…the other variables were poor predictors
- For women, the results were the same: the more attractive a man was, the more she liked him and wanted to date him again. However, the women were more likely to deny that attraction had any influence on their decision.
do people tend to associate with others who are similar to themselves
People are more likely to like and marry those whose needs and personalities are similar and the greater the similarity, the happier they are and less likely to divorce
Are certain faces more attractive than others?
- People tend to like faces in which facial features are not to different from average
- Evolutionary psychologists suggest facial symmetry is associated with health, fitness, and fertility
what is hot?
- Men feel most attracted to women whose waists are 30% narrower than their hips (0.70) - a shape associated with peak sexual fertility (waist to hip ratio)
- Women prefer a male waist to hip ratio reflecting health and vigor. They rate muscular men as sexier and such men feel sexier and report more lifetime sex partners
- Yet women prefer men with high incomes even more
discrete emotions theory
theory that humans experience a small number of distinct emotions that are rooted in their biology
primary emotions
small number (about 7) of emotions believed by some theories to be cross culturally universal (happiness, disgust, sadness, fear, surprise, contempt, anger)
supercilious
feeling contemptuously superior to others
Duchenne smile
authentic smile
Pan Am smile
fake smile
cognitive theories of emotion
theories proposing that emotions are product of thinking
somatic marker theory
theory proposing that we use our “gut reactions” to help us determine how we should act
mere exposure effect
phenomenon in which repeated exposure to a stimulus makes us more likely to feel favourably toward it
non verbal leakage
unconscious spillover of emotions into non verbal behaviour
curse of knowledge
when we know something we assume others know it too
emblems
gestures that convey conventional meanings recognized by members of a culture
Personal Space
- public distance - 12+ ft. (public speaking)
- social distance - 4-12 ft. (casual conversation)
- personal distance - 1.5 - 4 ft. (conversations with close friends)
- intimate distance - 0 -1.5 ft. (kissing, hugging, whispering)
Pinocchio response
supposedly perfect physiological and behavioural indicator of lying (eg. blood pressure, respirations, palm sweat)
guilty knowledge test
alternative to the polygraph test that relies on the premise that criminals harbour concealed knowledge about the crime that innocent people don’t (measures the suspects recognition of concealed knowledge)
integrity test
questionnaire that presumably assess workers tendency to steal or cheat
broaden and build theory
theory proposing that happiness predisposes us to think more openly, allowing us to see the big picture
positivity effect
the tendency for individuals to remember more positive than negative information with age
affective forecasting
ability to predict our own and others happiness
durability bias
belief that both our good and bad moods will last longer than they do
hedonic treadmill
tendency for our moods to adapt to external circumstances (when something good happens we feel better for a short time, but we soon adapt and return to how we felt before)
aka adaption level phenomenon
positive illusions
tendencies to perceive ourselves more favourably than others do
positive psychology
discipline that has sought to emphasize human strengths (helps people to enhance positive emotions)
defensive pessimism
strategy of anticipating failure and compensating for this expectation by mentally over preparing for negative outcomes
Yerkes-Dodson Law
inverted U-shaped relation between arousal on the one hand and mood and performance on the other (we tend to do our best when we experience intermediate arousal)
incentive theories
theories proposing that were often motivated by positive goals
contrast effect
once we receive reinforcement for performing a behaviour, we anticipate that reinforcement again
gluccostatic theory
theory that when our blood glucose levels drop, hunger creates a drive to eat to restore the proper level of glucose
leptin
hormone that signals the hypothalamus and brainstem to reduce appetite and increase the amount of energy used
set point
value that establishes a range of body and muscle mass we tend to maintain
internal external theory
theory that obese people are motivated to eat more by external cues than internal cues (taste, smell, portion size, etc.)
bulimia nervosa
eating disorder associated with a pattern of binging and purging in an effort to lose or maintain weight
anorexia nervosa
eating disorder associated with excessive weight loss and the irrational perception that one is overweight
sexual response cycle
- excitement - people experience sexual pleasure and notice physiological changes associated with it
- plateau - sexual tension builds
- orgasm - involuntary rhythmic contractions in the muscles of genitals in both men and women
- resolution - relaxation and sense of well being
compassionate love
love marked by a sense of deep friendship and fondness for one’s partner
passionate love
love marked by powerful longing for ones partner
triangular theory of love
intimacy, passion, commitment
what is stress
- Stress: The tension, discomfort, or physical symptoms that arise when a situation or stimulus in the environment strains our ability to cope effectively.
- The events of our lives flow through a psychological filter. How we appraise (explain) an event influences how much stress we experience and how effectively we respond.
- Mental and physical response of our bodies to life challenges.
- A stressor causes the body to adjust/cope
- Stress can be positive (Eustress) or negative (Distress)
Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)
1) Alarm: activation of the sympathetic nervous system - heart rate, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels increase, giving person energy to cope with stressful situation
2) Resistance: the adrenal cortex continues to release glucocorticoids to help the body resist stressors. You try to calm yourself down. If persistent, the stress may eventually deplete your body’s reserves during stage 3
3) Exhaustion: all of the stores of deep energy are depleted. Vulnerable to illness or in extreme cases, collapse and death
Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome Bodily Response
- Increased blood pressure and heart rate
- Decreased stomach digestion
- Increase pupil dilation
- Increased blood to muscles
- Hypothalamus signals adrenal glands to increase epinephrine release
- Epinephrine causes:
- Increased oxygen intake
- Increased release of glucose by the liver
- Hypothalamus signals the pituitary gland to increase adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) release. ACTH signals the adrenal glands to release cortisol to make nutrients available for energy
responding to stress
- University students report experiencing the most stress. However they also report having the most social support
- Stress seems to be more related to continual hassles and less related to one big event
- Leading killer diseases today seem to be related to lifestyle factors (diseases used to be TB, pneumonia, etc. → now cancer, stroke, heart disease, etc.)
- Atherosclerosis - cholesterol deposits in the large arteries form plaque, restricting blood flow. Can result in stroke, heart attack, etc.
Type A and type B personalities
- What is it about type A personalities that contributes to increased cardiovascular risk?
- Answer: chronic anger and hostility
- People with high levels of hostility have a much greater arousal and fight or flight response to stress, so they are much more likely to develop cardiovascular issues later on from chronic stress response
- Those who were also guided in modifying their Type A lifestyle suffered fewer repeat heart attacks (reduced hostility = reduced heart attacks)
Placebo Effects
- Placebo effect - improvement resulting from the mere expectation of improvement.
- Subjects must be blind - unaware of whether they are in the experimental or control group.
- Double-blind design - neither researchers nor subjects know who is in the experimental or control group.
- Placebos show many of the same characteristics as real drugs.
- “Sham” condition - a fake manipulation or operation that resembles the treatment, without actually delivering the treatment.
- Parkinson’s patients given placebos and told their movements would improve show not only improved movements, but also increases in brain dopamine, probably reflecting the link between dopamine in reward and hope
stress and the immune system
Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI): The scientific study of the relationship between the mind’s response to stress and immune system activity.
- Cortisol levels increase in response to stress, and cortisol interferes with the ability of white blood cells (killer T cells and B cells are types of lymphocytes) to fight off infection.
- Macrophages patrol our bodies in search of invaders such as this Escherichia coli (E. Coli) bacterium and debris such as worn-out red blood cells.
- Our immune system function is severely decreased during times of stress (wounds take longer to heal, we can’t fight off diseases, etc.)
stress, colds, and loss of control
- Sheldon Cohen and colleagues found that people with the highest life stress scores were also most vulnerable when exposed to an experimentally delivered cold virus.
Stress and Locus of Control?
- The executive rat at the left can switch off the tail shock by turning the wheel. Because it has control over the shock, it is no more likely to develop ulcers than is the unshocked control rat on the right.
- The subordinate rat in the center receives the same shocks as the executive rat, but with no control over the shocks, it is more vulnerable to developing infections
exercise, health, and depression
- Mildly depressed college women who participated in an aerobic exercise program showed markedly reduced depression, compared with those who did relaxation exercises or received no treatment
- People who engage in aerobic exercise 3 or more times per week manage stressful events better, exhibit more self-confidence, feel more vigor, and less depression
- Aerobic exercise, like an antidepressant drug, increases norepinephrine, serotonin, and endorphins
- Exercise promotes growth of new brain cells in mice running daily on a running wheel
Alternative Medicine
- Alternative Medicine: Health care practices used in place of conventional medicine.
- Health care treatments that are not taught widely in medical schools, not usually reimbursed by insurance plans, and not used in hospitals.
- Health care practices and products used in place of conventional medicine.
- Cam treatment: using alternative medicine with conventional medicine
Factors to consider: - Body can heal itself
- Some illnesses wax and wane (sometimes get better/worse naturally)
- Regression to the mean (tendency for extreme scores to fall closer to the mean over time)
- Placebo
- 51% of participants receiving acupuncture treatment found relief, compared to 15% of those in a waiting list control group
- But wait – among a third group that received “sham acupuncture” (needles inserted at non-acupuncture points), 53% enjoyed relief
what is the basic original foundation of chiropractic theory?
Invented by Daniel Palmer
Pressure on spinal nerves causes disease
Pressure interrupts the flow of life power (innate intelligence) from the brain
what does the nervoscope measure
Compares skin temperatures across the spine
Distrubed nerves can show up as imbalances in heat
what is the cracking sound of an adjustment
Dissolved gas being released in the joint fluid
what are the issues related to the “leg measuring procedure”?
It is normal to have different leg lengths
The length of the legs is determined by the bones of the legs not the spine
Depending on how you look at the legs, it can seem that they are uneven (its all perspective and relative)
What is a possible danger associated with chiropractic neck adjustments?
It can cause paralysis
It can lacerate an artery and form a blood clot, the clot can travel up to the brain and cause a stroke
corticosteroid
stress hormone that activates the body and prepares us to respond to stressful circumstances
post traumatic growth
the perception of beneficial change or personal transformation in the struggle to overcome adversity
stress as a transaction
the interaction between potentially stressful life events and how people interpret and cope with them
primary appraisal
initial decision regarding whether an event is harmful
secondary appraisal
perceptions regarding our ability to cope with an event that follows primary appraisal
problem focused coping
coping strategy by which we problem solve and tackle life’s challenges head on
emotion focused coping
coping strategy that features a positive outlook on feelings or situations accompanied by behaviours that reduce painful emotions
hassle
minor annoyance or nuisance that strains our ability to cope
tend and befriend
reaction that mobilizes people to nurture (tend) or seek social support (befriend) under stress
social support
relationships with people groups, and the larger community that can provide us with emotional comfort and personal and financial resources
Gaining Control
- behaviour control (do something about it)
- cognitive control (think positively)
- decisional control (choose a course of action)
- information control (acquire information)
- emotional control (suppress/express emotion)
proactive coping
anticipation of problems and stressful situations that promotes effective coping
catharsis
disclosing painful feelings
hardiness
a set of attitudes marked by a sense of control over events, commitment to life and work, and courage and motivation to confront stressful events
fallacy of uniform efficacy
the assumption that certain ways of coping and regulating emotion are consistently beneficial
ruminating
focusing on how bad we feel and endlessly analyzing the causes and consequences of our problems
nocebo effect
beliefs create reality
psychophysiological
a category of illnesses such as asthma and ulcers in which emotions and stress contribute to, maintain, or aggravate the physical condition
biopsychosocial perspective
the view that an illness or a medical condition is the product of the interplay of biological, psychological, social factors
health psychology
(behavioural medicine) field of psychology that integrates the behavioural sciences with the practice of medicine
aerobic exercise
exercise that promotes the use of oxygen in the body
complementary medicine (integrative health medicine)
health care practices and products used together with conventional medicine
natural commonplace
just because something is natural doesn’t mean that its necessarily safe or healthy
biofeedback
feedback by a device that provides almost an immediate output of biological function, such as heart rate or skin temperature
homeopathic medicine
remedies that feature a small dose of an illness inducing substance to activate the body own natural defences
