Unit 2 Test Flashcards
Consciousness
The subjective awareness of internal and external events
-Very subjective: feel one’s self typing, thinking about a text hoping to get later
-How we interpret fire alarm: each bring out our experiences to interpretation
Attention
Internal processes used to set priorities for mental functioning
Prioritizing is adaptive
-Selective reflects limitations on how much the brain can process at one time
-priorities
Automaticity
Processing without attention
Fast and effortless processing that requires little or no focused attention
-When you do something enough/practice, can do without focus
-A skilled athletic or artistic performance
-When a process is more automatic, the less likely you are to be consciously aware of it.
-extremely adaptive
Biological rhythms
Biological rhythms: cyclical patterns in many body functions.
-ex: Sleeping/waking, Body temperature, Hormone secretions , Blood pressure, Menstrual cycle, Appetite, and Metabolism rate.
-Many of these are circadian rhythms (activities that rise and fall along a 24-hour cycle)
Biological clocks
-Biological clocks: Brain structures (esp. in the hypothalamus) that control biological rhythms
-Hypothalamus regulates biological clock
-Our environment synchronizes these (esp. daylight and darkness, which also follow a regular cycle).
-Sleep cycle coordinated with light and darkness
Melatonin
Melatonin: hormone that initiates sleep
Naturally excreted, especially before bedtime, tells body it’s time to sleep
Sleep
Sleep involves a change in one’s state or level of consciousness
Level of consciousness changes when we sleep
Sleep by the 1950’s
By the 1950’s, sleep researchers using EEGs revealed regular, cyclic changes in brain activity (brain waves) during sleep
Stages of Sleep
4 Overall Cycles
-3 Non-REM cycles (Stages 1, 2, 3)
1 REM cycle
3 Non-REM Cycles
-Stages 1, 2, and 3
Stage N1, N2, N3
-preceded by Alpha waves: the brain is in a relaxed, possibly drowsy state
-Stage N1: Theta waves appear
Light sleep; person may claim to still be awake
-Stage N2: Sleep spindles, K complexes
Asleep but may respond to some events, such as noises, patterns of waves spike
-Stage N3: Delta (slow wave) activity
Very deep sleep; nonresponsive to most stimuli and slow to awaken
Slow waves
REM sleep Stage/Cycle
REM sleep: Begins approx. 70-90 minutes into the first sleep cycle, earlier in later cycles (people’s eyes closed, but under people’s eyes are moving as they would be awake)
-Changes in physiological patterns
-REM sleep sometimes called “paradoxical” sleep
Paradox: person is asleep but EEG results show someone who is awake
Physiological Pattern Changes during REM Sleep
Changes in physiological patterns including:
-Increased heart rate
-Darting eyes
-Twitching, but muscle tone is extremely relaxed (“paralyzed”)
-EEG results show electrical activity resembles waking state
Duration of Sleep Cycle
One Cycle (~90 minutes)
-Progresses from N1 to N3 (light to deep sleep). Measures of arousal decline (e.g., heart and respiration rates, blood pressure)
Then reverses, from N3 to N1
Lastly, followed by REM sleep
-Cycle repeats 4-5 times a night
-Duration of REM lengthens in successive a cycles
Functions of Sleep
-Repairing/restoring helps repair normal wear and tear on body and brain
-Muscles to relax, recover, and repair
-Survival value, from our evolutionary heritage: Limits our activity when low light puts us at risk for predators and other dangers
-Consolidation of memories
-Retention of learned information
What is the function of REM Sleep
-Most dreams occur during REM sleep
-The loss of significant amounts of REM results in little drastic impairment
Frued’s View on Dreams
Freud – “the royal road to the unconscious,” a mechanism for wish fulfillment, to symbolically act out wishes, desires.
Freud believed dreams were a vital part of understanding someone: vital way of accesses one’s unconscious experiences
-Manifest content: the actual symbols of the dream
-Latent content: the hidden desires/ fears they represent.
-Little scientific evidence, and symbolism can be very subjective.
-Activation-synthesis hypothesis
Manifest Content
Manifest content: the actual symbols of the dream
-What is actually in one’s dream
Ex: Bulldozer
Latent Content
Latent content: the hidden desires/ fears they represent.
-What the dream represents
Ex: Bulldozer represents dad who didn’t listen
Activation-synthesis hypothesis
Freud
Activation-synthesis hypothesis: dreams are the result of random activity in the hindbrain as interpreted by higher brain centers.
-Hindbrain generates impulses and produces random firing, higher functioning parts of the brain like forebrain and cerebral cortex interpret these actions
Function of Dreams
-Dreams process events of day preceding sleep
-Everyone dreams, but people only occasionally remember their dreams
Dyssomnias
Dyssomnias: problems with the amount, timing and quality of sleep
Insomnia
Type of Dyssomnia
Insomnia: difficulty starting or maintaining sleep
-Can be related to stress, emotional problems, substance use (including caffeine), medical conditions.
Can be affected by caffeine, substance use, alcohol
-May be learned.
-Can be developed
-People with PTSD
Hypersomnia
Type of Dyssomnia
Hypersomnia: excessive sleepiness during waking hours
-Possible genetic factors, infectious diseases, emotional problems, substance use, sleep apnea
-People take antidepressants that make them more sleepy
-Sleep apnea: constantly waking up during sleep
Sleep apnea
Sleep apnea: constantly waking up during sleep
Narcolepsy
Type of Dyssomnia
Narcolepsy: sudden extreme sleepiness, into a REM-like sleep state.
Linked to a specific neurotransmitter deficiency.
Out of the blue will go to sleep: go straight into a REM state
Parasomnias
Type of Dyssomnia
Parasomnias: abnormal disturbances occurring during sleep
Nightmares
Type of Dyssomnia
Nightmares: Frightening dreams occurring primarily during REM sleep; if ongoing, may lead to insomnia
Night Terrors
Type of Dyssomnia
Night terrors: Sleeper awakens suddenly in an extreme state of panic.
Mainly affect children
-Night terrors and sleepwalking happen during non-REM sleep (may not be related to dreaming), mainly affect children and usually decrease with age
Sleepwalking
Type of Dyssomnia
Sleepwalking: Sleeper rises during sleep and wanders about.
-Night terrors and sleepwalking happen during non-REM sleep (may not be related to dreaming), mainly affect children and usually decrease with age
Psychoactive Drugs
Psychoactive drugs: Drugs that affect behavior and mental processes through alterations of conscious awareness
-Work mainly by changing communication channels of neurons
-Alter our consciousness: Impact of chemicals on neurons, change way neurons function
-May mimic neurotransmitters (e.g., nicotine/acetylcholine)
-May depress or block the action of neurotransmitters (e.g., some sleeping pills decrease norepinephrine or dopamine stimulation) (Antagonists or agonists)
Tolerance
Tolerance: Brain chemistry adapts to compensate for continued use – increased amounts are needed to produce the effects earlier produced by a lower dose. May lead to…
Drug dependence
Condition in which an individual experiences physical or psychological need for the drug
-Withdrawal symptoms (physical reactions) may result when a person stops taking the drug, particularly if stopping abruptly.
-A distinction between physical and psychological dependence is not universally accepted.
Categories of Psychoactive Drugs
Depressants (incl. opiates) → Stimulants → Hallucinogens (Psychedelics)
Depressants
Category of Psychoactive Drugs
Depressants (incl. opiates): Slow the activity of the central nervous system (CNS) e.g., ethyl alcohol, barbiturates, tranquilizers
-Opiates (e.g., heroin, morphine, codeine, OxyContin, Fentanyl)
-Opiates slow down central nervous system: if slow down CNS enough, it stops and people can do of overdoses of depressants or opiates
Stimulants
Category of Psychoactive Drugs
Stimulants: Increase Central Nervous System activity
-Examples: Caffeine, nicotine, amphetamines, cocaine, MDMA (Ecstasy), meth
-Speed up breathing, heart rate, respiration, talking, become agitated
Hallucinogens (Psychedelics)
Category of Psychoactive Drugs
Hallucinogens (Psychedelics): Affect perception, distort reality
-Examples: LSD, mescaline, psilocybin, marijuana
-Visual and sense perception differences
-Drugs make a lot of people money
Psychological factors affecting drug outcomes
-Same amount of same drug may produce different effects on different people (euphoria – fear – little or no effect)
Factors that can influence the effect:
-Setting: the environment -(safe/unknown/hostile); others present?
-Relationships: positive/negative?
-Past experience with the drug, if any
-Purity/strength of the drug
-User’s physical, psychological state (“mental set”) at time of use ( “set and setting”)
Factors that Influence the effect of drugs
-Setting: the environment -(safe/unknown/hostile); others present?
-Relationships: positive/negative?
-Past experience with the drug, if any
-Purity/strength of the drug
-User’s physical, psychological state (“mental set”) at time of use ( “set and setting”)
“Set and setting”
User’s physical, psychological state (“mental set”) at time of use
Cognition
Cognition: The activities that underlie all forms of thought.
What the brain does with information: understanding it, organizing it, analyzing it, and communicating it.
Thinking
Thinking: The internal manipulation of knowledge and ideas
To solve problems
To reason and make decisions
To understand and communicate with others
Hugely Adaptive: to be able to problem solve, making good choices, communicate with others
Problem Solving
Problem Solving: distinguish between well- and ill-defined problems.
Describe the pitfalls of problem representation.
Compare algorithms and heuristics.
Describe the Aha! moment in problem solving
Problem Types
Well-Defined and Ill-Defined Problem Types
Well-Defined Problem Type
Well-Defined: Goal and starting point are clear; you know when it’s been solved
Examples:
Algebra problems
-Know where we are at the beginning and know when we solved the problem
Ill-Defined Problem Type
Ill-Defined: Goal and starting point are unclear; hard to tell when solution is reached
Example:
What is the secret to having a happy life?
Many real-life problems are ill-defined
No certain answer
Values conflicts
-Disagreements among participants
-Beginning point is unclear and don’t know when we solved the problem: real life problems
Problem Representation
Problem Representation: with both well- and ill-defined problems, we need to understand what information is given and how that information can potentially be used.
What is relevant? This is known as problem representation.
-Often, however, we view problem information incorrectly.
-We tend to see objects and their functions in fixed and typical ways
-We fail to restructure the way we think about elements in the problem = functional fixedness.
Functional fixedness
Functional fixedness: see objects in a fixed way and don’t consider other uses for them
-We tend to see objects and their functions in fixed and typical ways
-We fail to restructure the way we think about elements in the problem.
Problem Solving Strategies
Trial and Error, Algorithms, and Heuristics
Problem Solving Strategy: Trial and Error
Trial and Error: Random guesses
Try random answers, but eventually form more thoughtful answers
Problem Solving Strategy: Algorithms
Algorithms: Step-by step rules or procedures that guarantee a solution, but may be a lengthy process or only work for certain types of well-defined problems
Ex: Need to find something in a book
Algorithm: go page by page until you find it
Problem Solving Strategy: Heuristics
Heuristics: “Shortcuts,” “rules of thumb” that are efficient (quick and usually accurate) but don’t guarantee a solution
Very adaptive
Ex: Need to find something in a book
Heuristic: go to table of context or index to find where thing is in the book
Types of Heuristic Examples
Means-end Analysis, Working Backwards, and Searching for Analogies
Means-end Analysis
Types of Heuristic Examples
Means-end Analysis: Find actions (means) that reduce the gap between the current starting point and goal (end)
-Usually requires breaking down problem into sub goals (e.g., writing a term paper)
-an end goal is identified and then fulfilled via the generation of subgoals and action plans that help overcome obstacles encountered along the way
Working Backwards
Types of Heuristic Examples
Working Backwards: planning an annual budget
-start at end and work towards beginning
-The first step is to start with the final solution and work backwards to the beginning.
-Sometimes an end result is very clear, but the beginning may be unclear due to events that happened in between.
Searching for Analogies
Types of Heuristic Examples
Searching for Analogies: Using solutions that have worked for similar problems in the past
But need to avoid “mental set”: Tendency to over-rely on problem-solving strategies that were successful in the past when different, novel ways are called for.
Mental Set
Tendency to over-rely on problem-solving strategies that were successful in the past when different, novel ways are called for.
Use process you learned in one thing that has similar characteristics and draw the anagogy to help you solve the problem
Can be locked in mental set: overlay on previous methods and don’t try new things
Insight
Insight: the moment when a problem solution seems to pop suddenly into mind.
May follow a period of incubation: possibly our unconscious mind works out a solution.
-Unconscious mind thinking about a solution over time and then find solution
-More likely during incubation we stop using ineffective strategies and use a fresh approach to the problem.
-Take a break from problem and come back with fresh eyes
-Mostly based on anecdotal evidence.
Framing
Framing: How information is presented affects our decisions
Frozen Yogurt that contains 20% fat vs. Frozen Yogurt that is 80% fat free
Confirmation Bias
Confirmation Bias: Tendency to seek out and use information that supports and confirms a prior decision or belief
People avoid seeking out information that might contradict a prior belief
-Politics
Belief Persistence
Belief persistence: Tendency to cling to initial beliefs even when confronted with disconfirming evidence
People tend to try to find reasons why beliefs could still be true, even with contradictory evidence
Representativeness
Representativeness: Tendency to make judgments according to how well the event matches our expectations.
-Make decisions based on how well something matches our expectations of it
Mistakes from Representativeness
Ignoring the base rate, Conjunction error, and availability
Ignoring the base rate
Mistakes from Representativeness
A person is short, slim, likes to read poetry.
Is this person more likely to be an Ivy League university English professor or a truck driver?
-Drawn to Ivy League Professor, but answer is actually a truck driver
-Many more truck drivers than ivy league professor, so higher likelihood truck driver
-When we picked professor, ignored the base rate
-where people tend to disregard statistically relevant information about the overall frequency of an event (the base rate) when making judgments, instead focusing on specific details that may be less relevant, leading to inaccurate conclusions
Conjunction error
Mistakes that can result from representativeness:
Conjunction Error: reasoning error in which we believe that two events happening in conjunction is more probable than one of those events happening alone.
A woman is 31, single, outspoken, very bright, majored in philosophy, deeply concerned with issues of discrimination and social justice.
Is it more likely that:
-She is a bank teller
-She is a bank teller and active in the feminist movement
-She Is just a bank teller: smaller subset of group are active in feminist movement, smaller likelihood of being in feminist group
Availability
Mistakes that can result from representativeness:
Availability: basing estimates of an event’s likelihood on ease with which examples of the event come to mind
-Someone focuses on information that is readily available to them, rather than considering all evidence
-Diseases that get a lot of publicity are estimated as more common than other diseases when they are not
-More afraid of riding in a car or of flying? Actual risk of fatality: 1 in 113 car crash; 1 in 9737 airplane crash (National Safety Council, 2016)
-Play the lottery? Vivid images and descriptions of winners leads us to overestimate the likelihood we will win.
Are Heuristics Adaptive?
In many of our examples, heuristics have been shown to lead to inaccurate conclusions, poor judgments.
Overall, however, heuristics are valuable tools in our problem solving and decision-making processes.
-Overall heuristics are adaptive, but there are risks (just need to be aware of what the risks are)
-They often lead to accurate decisions and can be more efficient and less complex than more rational methods.
-Given our limits (time, energy, resources, etc.), heuristics are adaptive systems in most situations.
Freudian Theory
-manifest level of a dream is content of dream not hidden desires
-Latent level is unconscious desires dream represents
Learning
Learning: A change in behavior or potential behavior that results from experience
Empirical/Empiricist perspective: everything we know and are able to do come from our experiences
Orienting Response
Orienting response: inborn tendency to notice and respond to new, different or surprising events.
Inborn tendency: nativism
-Orienting, habituating and sensitizing help us conserve our limited resources. (Adaptive.)
Habituation
Habituation: when stimulus is mild to moderate (and without serious consequence)
Loose interest in stimulus because see it a lot
Desensitization
-Habituation is the decrease in response strength with repeated exposure to a particular eliciting stimulus
Sensitization
Sensitization: when stimulus is punishing.
-Sensitization is the increase in response strength with repeated exposure to a particular stimulus.
-child who is verbally bullied on a regular basis might, through constant fear of attack, develop a sensitization toward other children and become more withdrawn.
Classical Conditioning
Classical Conditioning: Learning about the signaling properties of events
-Associations / relationships between events, leading to predictions of one event based on a preceding event.
-Something signals something else: something happens and it is followed by something else
-Adaptive
-learning that occurs when a neutral stimulus (e.g., a tone) becomes associated with a stimulus (e.g., food) that naturally produces a behaviour
-Unconditioned Response, Unconditioned Stimulus
Pavlov’s study of digestion in dogs.
Salivation occurs when food is placed in the mouth, an unconditioned response (UR).
UR occurs naturally, without any training when food, an unconditioned stimulus (US), is placed in the mouth.
Conditioned Response: person rings bell and dog starts to salivate because this means food is coming
Unconditioned Response
Unconditioned Response: occurs naturally without an learning or conditioning
-a natural, automatic, and involuntary reaction to a stimulus that does not need to be learned
-salivating in response to food
Unconditioned Stimulus
a stimulus that automatically triggers a response without prior learning or conditioning
-smell of dog food, loud noise
Conditioned Response
A learned behavior that occurs when a neutral stimulus is repeatedly paired with an unconditioned stimulus
-A conditioned response is a learned response to a stimulus that was previously neutral.
-Ex: dog salivates upon the opening of a refrigerator door. This response has become conditioned as the dog associates the opening of the refrigerator with being fed
Extinction
Extinction: Presenting CS repeatedly (ringing the bell), after conditioning, without the US (the food), resulting in a loss in responding to the bell
If keep ringing bell and don’t bring food, dog will stop salivating
Conditioned Stimulus
A neutral stimulus that, through repeated association with another stimulus (called an unconditioned stimulus), eventually elicits a learned response (conditioned response), meaning it becomes capable of triggering a specific reaction even though it initially did not have that power
-Ringing bell when it’s dinner time for a dog
Stimulus generalization
Stimulus generalization: Responding to a new stimulus in a way like the response produced by an established CS
-Occurs when a response that has been associated with one stimulus occurs for another stimulus that is similar is some way.
For example, someone can have a negative or traumatic experience with a dog and then generalize that fear to other dogs.
Advertising
-Unconditioned stimulus (US) in a commercial is some stimulus that elicits positive emotions automatically, like an attractive face, images of family, or humor.
-The conditioned stimulus (CS) is the product.
-The unconditioned response (UR) and conditioned response (CR) would be the positive effect elicited by the “image” and the product, respectively.
-Unconditioned response: naturally occurring response to commercial
Operant (Instrumental) Conditioning
Operant (Instrumental) Conditioning: Procedure for studying how organisms learn about the consequences of their own voluntary actions (how this makes the action more likely to do again or not)
-learning process that uses rewards and punishments to modify behaviors
-Law of effect (Thorndike), reinforcement
Law of effect (Thorndike)
Operant (Instrumental) Conditioning
-If a response in a particular situation is followed by a satisfying consequence, then the connection between the response and that situation will be strengthened
-If followed by an unsatisfying consequence, this association will be weakened
Reinforcement
Operant (Instrumental) Conditioning
Reinforcement: Response consequences that increase the likelihood of responding in a similar way again.
-Money, status, grades
-Increase likelihood of event
Any kind of reinforcement, positive or negative, increases the likelihood of responding in a similar way
Positive Reinforcement
Positive Reinforcement: An event’s presentation following a response increases the future probability of that response.
-Usually the presentation of something “positive” -> increases likelihood of response
Good grade acts as incentive to work hard and study
Punishment
Operant Conditioning
Punishment: Response consequences that decrease the likelihood of responding in a similar way again.
-Punishment of either type weakens responses; decreases the likelihood they will happen again.
Negative Reinforcement
Negative Reinforcement: An event’s removal following a response increases the future probability of that response.
-Usually the removal of something “negative”
-Middle school students being put in a suspension: after several days of good behavior they are no longer required to go to in school suspension
-Skinner box: the electric signal rats get is stopped
-Meant to still increase behavior: takes away something negative
-Ex: a teacher taking away homework because the class was so well behaved.
Positive Punishment
Positive Punishment: Presentation of an event after responding lowers likelihood of that response in the future.
-Usually, the presented event is something aversive / negative
-Child misbehaved and it hit
-Something is added that decreases the likelihood of doing something in the future
-adding an aversive stimulus after an unwanted behavior to discourage a person from repeating the behavior.
Negative Punishment
Negative Punishment: Removal of an event after responding lowers likelihood of that response in the future.
-Usually, the removed event is something positive
-Remove something positive
-remove a pleasant stimulus to decrease a behavior.
-Ex: when a child misbehaves, a parent can take away a favorite toy. In this case, a stimulus (the toy) is removed in order to decrease the behavior.
Pros and Cons of Punishment
Pros: Does effectively suppress undesirable behavior
Cons: Does not promote better, alternative behavior and may also increase aggression
-Unless coupled with alternative or way to improve, people often respond with aggression
Shaping
Shaping: teaching a behavior not likely to occur naturally.
Reinforcement is delivered for successive approximations to the desired response
Uses:
-To modify behaviors such as language and living skills
-Athletic, artistic skills
-Training animals
Styles of Reinforcement
Continuous and Partial Reinforcement
Continuous Reinforcement
Continuous: Each response is followed rapidly by reinforcement
Example: Salesperson paid for each sale
After every good behavior, someone gets a reward
Partial Reinforcement
Partial: Reinforcement delivered only some of the time after a response has occurred. 4 types, including:
Variable ratio (VR): number of responses required to receive a reward varies over time (e.g., after the 2nd response then after the following 8th response).
-When the response will occur is unpredictable.
-Produces a high rate of responding (e.g., gambling, superstitions)
-Tempting to people because know if they keep doing it, they will eventually get a reward
Variable Ration (VR)
Variable ratio (VR): number of responses required to receive a reward varies over time (e.g., after the 2nd response then after the following 8th response).
Reinforcement offered on variable basis: reward is unpredictable
Tempting to people because know if they keep doing it, they will eventually get a reward
Classical Conditioning vs. Operant Conditioning
Classical Conditioning: We learn that events signal outcomes
Operant Conditioning: We learn that behavior produces outcomes (consequence based)
Observational Learning
Observational Learning: Learning by observing the experiences of others, not through our own trial and error.
Observe the experience of others and learn from it: don’t need to go through trial and error period ourselves
-Nativist perspective
-Adaptive
Modeling
Modeling: natural tendency to imitate behavior of significant others
Strongest when role model is viewed positively, is rewarded for the behavior.
However, modeling may produce or reinforce negative behaviors: aggression, stereotyping, unrealistic beliefs
Do our beliefs about our ability to perform a model’s behavior impact our learning?
Yes: Our beliefs about our ability to perform a model’s behavior impact our learning.
Belief that you think you will never be able to dunk a basketball
People need a sense of belief that they are capable of doing something: beliefs have something to do with what we learn through modeling
Memory
Memory: The capacity to preserve and recover information.
Encoding: How memories are formed
Storage: How memories are kept over time
Retrieval: How memories are recovered and translated into performance
Nativism vs. Empiricism
Nativists hold that important elements of our understanding of the world are innate, that they are part of our initial condition, and thus do not have to be learned from experience.
Empiricists deny this, claiming that all knowledge is based in experience
Sensory Memory
Sensory Memory: An exact replica of an environmental message which usually lasts for a second or less
Brief fleeting memory of something
An aid to perception
-Iconic memory (vision)
-Echoic memory (hearing)
Working (Short-Term) Memory
Working (Short-Term) Memory: To temporarily store, think about, and reason with information
-Lasts less than a minute or two
-Usually acoustically based, an “inner voice.”
-What mind tells you to do: inner voice
-Temporarily store and process information: based on inner voice
Rehearsal
Rehearsal: (Internal repetition) can reduce forgetting of Working Memory
Working memory span: about seven items (plus or minus two) remembered in their presentation order without rehearsal.
Only remember 7 things are once: memory span is 7 things
Rehearse something to remember it
E.g., phone number
Working Memory Span
Working memory span: about seven items (plus or minus two) remembered in their presentation order without rehearsal.
Only remember 7 things are once: memory span is 7 things
Chunking
Chunking: Rearranging incoming information into familiar patterns
Can improve short term memory
Cluster information together
Elaboration
Elaboration: An encoding process that involves forming connections between to-be-remembered input and other information in memory (existing knowledge)
Tends to produce distinctive memories, which are easier to retrieve
Way we encode information by making connections to what we already know: relating new things to stuff we already know
Ex- Learning names: remembering and linking names to something you already know
Ways to Promote Elaboration
-Think about meaning
-Notice relationships, similarities, differences, distinctiveness
-Space repetitions (distributed practice)
-Note sequence (or serial) position of items in lists: Serial/Sequence Position Effect (Primacy effect and Recency effect)
-Test yourself: retrieved info is more memorable
Serial/Sequence Position Effect
Primacy effect: improved memory for items at the beginning of the list
Recency effect: improved memory for items at the end of the list
Primacy Effect
Serial/Sequence Position Effect
Primacy effect: improved memory for items at the beginning of the list
If interviewing for jobs with 10 candidates, more likely to be remember if one of the first people interviewed
Recency Effect
Serial/Sequence Position Effect
Recency effect: improved memory for items at the end of the list
Long-Term Memory
Long-Term Memory: To maintain information for extended periods of time
3 Types: Episodic memory, Semantic memory, and Procedural memory
Episodic Memory
Long term Memory
Episodic memory: memory of a particular event or episode that happened to you personally
-When someone asks you what you’re hometown is: personal information
-Memories of things part of your own personal experience
Semantic Memory
Long term Memory
Semantic memory: Knowledge about the world, facts
Makes little / no reference to one’s personal experiences
-What is the capital of France?
-Color of trees
Factual information about world
Procedural Memory
Long term Memory
Procedural memory: Knowledge about how to do things
Includes athletic skills, everyday skills such as bike riding, shoe tying
Retrieval
Retrieval: Recovering previously stored memories (how we recover previously stored memories)
Can be guided by retrieval cues (prompts) that:
-Are generated internally or present in the environment (cued recall)
Given a prompt on a test
-Can occur without cues (free recall).
Types: Free Recall, Cued Recall, and Recognition
Free Recall
Retrieval of information without cues
Free Recall: What is the capital of Nebraska?
No cue given: being asked to retrieve information
Cued Recall
Retrieval of information with clues
Cued Recall: The capital of Nebraska starts with the letter L.
What is it?
Given a cue: hint given
If can’t remember with free recall, chances of remember with cued recall because are given a nudge
Recognition
Retrieval of information with given choices
Recognition: given choices, recognize, easiest
Multiple choice questions: answer is given to you, just need to pick it out
Transfer-appropriate processing
Transfer-appropriate processing: Using the same kinds of mental processes during study and testing improves memory
Studying by asking yourself test questions: practice tests
-Studying for the SAT, LSAT, MCAT
Using same processes ensures that during study, you will attend to the cues that will be present when you try to recall
Flashbulb Memories
Flashbulb Memories: Rich records of the circumstances surrounding emotionally significant and surprising events.
-For example: remember something in extreme detail, usually emotionally charged
Characterized by their distinctiveness, stress hormone activity levels, increased rehearsal.
-Much elaboration has taken place
Flashbulb memories are not more or less accurate than other memories, possibly because later experiences may be incorporated into the memory
Reconstructive Remembering
We tend to “fill in” parts of our memories based on prior knowledge, experience, expectations, beliefs, biases
Schemas: organized knowledge structures in long-term memory, as clusters of related facts (e.g., about people, places, activities, habits)
-We sometimes distort memories to fit schemas
Eyewitness testimony – often inaccurate because of tendency to fill in our memories based on prior knowledge, experience, and expectations
Fill in parts of our memory that has gaps
schemata-mental models of the world-Piaget
Assimilation and accommodation
Schemas
Schemas: organized knowledge structures in long-term memory, as clusters of related facts (e.g., about people, places, activities, habits)
We sometimes distort memories to fit schemas
Implicit Memory
Implicit Memory: Remembering without conscious awareness or willful intent
-Procedural and associations formed through classical conditioning
-Ex: Riding a bike
-Don’t think about jingle add and emotions it creates: it is conditioned
Things we remember without our conscious awareness
Things we remember without trying to remember
Explicit Memory
Explicit Memory: deliberately trying to remember something
Conscious
Willful remembering
Semantic
Episodic
Forgetting
Forgetting: The loss of accessibility of previously stored material.
Adaptive: need to forgot information to make room for new informative
Forgetting may occur because the right retrieval cues are absent or due to decay (fading away) over time.
Why do people forget?
Forgetting may occur because the right retrieval cues are absent or due to decay (fading away) over time.
Interference: information interferes with what your trying to remember
-Retroactive (new memories interfere with recovery of old memories) and Proactive interference (old memories interfere with recovery of new memories)
Retroactive interference
Retroactive interference: new memories interfere with the recovery of old memories
New memories/information interferes with ability to recover old memories
Proactive Interference
Proactive interference: old (prior) memories interfere with the recovery of new memories
New information is interfered by old memories
Motivated Forgetting
Motivated forgetting: Embarrassing/troubling if remembered?
Repression (Freudian defense mechanism)?
Ego tries to protect us from unpleasant or troubling memory: damp down memory
Don’t want to remember something
Amnesia
Amnesia: forgetting resulting from injury to or disease in the brain
Retrograde amnesia: memory loss for events that happened prior to the injury/disease.
Anterograde amnesia: memory loss for events that happened after the injury/disease.
Retrograde amnesia
Retrograde amnesia: memory loss for events that happened prior to the injury/disease.
May be limited to immediately prior or much longer before.
-Often these memory losses are not permanent.
-Memory loss for events before disease or injury, particularly immediately prior
Anterograde amnesia
Anterograde amnesia: memory loss for events that happened after the injury/disease.
Learning certain types of new material can occur but requires special testing methods to be uncovered.
Implicit memory may be unaffected.
Brain Structures Involving Memory
Hippocampus and frontal lobes (explicit memories= trying to remember)
-Hippocampus: formation of memories
Cerebellum and basal ganglia (implicit memories= produral, classical conditioning, don’t try to remember)
-Cerebellum is fine movement, fine motor procedures = automatic
Stress and emotional arousal activate the amygdala which results in more focused memory
-Arousal of amygdala allows us to focus
Brain Structures Involving Memory: Hippocampus and Frontal Lobes
Hippocampus and frontal lobes (explicit memories= trying to remember)
Hippocampus: formation of memories
Brain Structures Involving Memory: Cerebellum
Cerebellum and basal ganglia (implicit memories= produral, classical conditioning, don’t try to remember)
Cerebellum is fine movement, fine motor procedures = automatic
Brain Structures Involving Memory: Amygdala
Stress and emotional arousal activate the amygdala which results in more focused memory
Arousal of amygdala allows us to focus
Sleep and Memory
Memories are typically stronger if the interval between encoding and retrieval includes sleep.
Sleep allows for consolidation of memories, strengthening memory formation
-Sleep prevents interference from taking place
Lack of sleep hurts memory: information learned right before a sleepless night is frequently forgotten.
What type of reinforcement?
Left homework at school and lost computer privileges. Now forgets homework less
Negative punishment
Classical Conditioning
The conditioned response is learned
Conditioned = learned
Purpose of habituation
Habituation to ignore things that are repeated
Cannot remember things before a car accident
retrograde amnesia
Multiple Intelligences (Gardner): Gardner’s 8 Intelligences
Musical, Bodily-kinesthetic, Logical-mathematical, Linguistic, Spatial, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, and Naturalistic
Musical Intelligence
Musical: the type of ability displayed by gifted musicians or child prodigies
Bodily-kinesthetic Intelligence
Bodily-kinesthetic: the type of ability shown by gifted athletes, dancers, or surgeons—those having great control over body movements
Surgeons, athletes, dancers
Logical-mathematical intelligence
Logical-mathematical: the type of ability displayed by superior scientists and logical problem solvers
Linguistic Intelligence
Linguistic: the type of ability shown by great writers or poets who can express themselves verbally
Writers, poets, attorneys
Spatial Intelligence
Spatial: the type of ability shown by those with superior navigation skills or an ability to visualize spatial scenes
Orientation in world
Interpersonal Intelligence
Interpersonal: the type of ability shown by those who can easily infer other people’s moods, temperaments, or intentions and motivations
Mental health, leadership, healthcare profession
Ability to be in touch with other people’s emotions
Intrapersonal Intelligence
Intrapersonal: the ability shown by those who have great insight into their own feelings and emotions
Naturalistic Intelligence
Naturalistic: the ability to observe and interact with diverse species in nature, e.g., biologists or environmentalists
Environmentally focussed
Existential Intelligence
Existential Intelligence: ability to deal with abstract problems about the meaning of life
Intelligence
Intelligence- An internal capacity that:
Accounts for individual differences in mental test performance
-Mental test aspect more emphasized in western world
Enables us to adapt to ever-changing environments/world
-Someone who is adaptive: knows how to do things, doesn’t need higher education
Psychometric View of Intelligence
Psychometric View: ability to do well in mental performance tests, western view on intelligence
Psychometric View: Intelligence is a mental capacity that can be understood by analyzing performance on mental tests
Psychometrics (“measurements of the mind”) carried out by Galton (1822-1911)
-mental tests
Psychometrics
Psychometrics (“measurements of the mind”) carried out by Galton (1822-1911)
-Conducted sensory, physical, intellectual tests; observed relationships among scores which could be tapping some underlying general ability
-Measures were crude and scores were poor predictors of real-world performance, such as academic success.
-Galton believed some people are smarter than others: results from speed at which people’s neural transmission occurs and perceptiveness (sensory abilities, particularly vision and hearing)
Adaptive Mind Perspective
Adaptive Mind Perspective: Ability to solve the problems that are unique to your environment (thus, cultural differences are relevant)
Cultural differences play a huge impact on how one functions and adapts to environment
Spearman
Spearman: building on Galton’s Work
Developed factor analysis: a statistical procedure that groups together related items on tests by analyzing correlations – (Scores that reflect a single underlying ability should correlate)
-Argued that a single factor, g (for general intelligence), underlies performance on a variety of mental tests
-But: a separate factor, s (for specific intelligence), is unique to each particular test
-Thus, two-factor theory: g and s
Factor Analysis
Developed by Spearman
Factor analysis: a statistical procedure that groups together related items on tests by analyzing correlations – (Scores that reflect a single underlying ability should correlate)
-Look at correlation coefficients: items that correlate closely are presumed to have commonality
Argued that a single factor, g (for general intelligence), underlies performance on a variety of mental tests
-g (for general intelligence): we have a general level of intelligence
-People who have higher levels of g tend to have higher levels of s
But: a separate factor, s (for specific intelligence), is unique to each particular test
-s (for specific intelligence): specific type of intelligence
-Math, science, or writing skills
Thus, two-factor theory: g and s
Thurstone
Thurstone: building on Spearman’s Work
Argued for several kinds of primary mental abilities not just one, g. Examples include:
Verbal comprehension
Verbal fluency
Numerical ability
Spatial ability
Memory
Perceptual speed
Reasoning
Each have different levels of intelligence in different subfactors
Current Thinking on mind’s ability to classify information
Current thinking:
Hierarchical idea: g exists but is made up of subfactors (abilities) that may operate independently from one another
Everyone has different abilities in subfactor categories
How Researches Divided General Intelligence (g)
Many researchers divide g into two components…
Fluid intelligence and Crystallized intelligence
Fluid intelligence: Ability to solve problems, reason, and remember
Crystallized intelligence: Knowledge and abilities acquired because of experience.
Fluid intelligence
How Researches Divided General Intelligence (g)
Fluid intelligence: Ability to solve problems, reason, and remember
-Relatively uninfluenced by experience: how rapidly one’s neuro processing works
-Probably influenced by biological / genetic factors (e.g., speed of neural transmission in the brain)
-Capacity to reason and quickly calculate to come up with answers: declines over lifespan
Crystallized intelligence
How Researches Divided General Intelligence (g)
Crystallized intelligence: Knowledge and abilities acquired because of experience.
For example:
-Schooling
-Cultural influences
Knowledge acquired:
-Learn capitals of states: acquired, crystallized intelligence
Multiple Intelligences 1980s
In the 1980’s, Howard Gardner proposed multiple intelligences: 8 Intelligences
Rejects notion of a single underlying intelligence
-Everyone has multiple intelligences
People possess a set of separate and independent “intelligences”
An intelligence is the ability to solve problems or create products that are of value in a culture.
Used a case study approach by looking at individuals with special abilities or talents (Low external validity)
Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory
Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory: Combines Gardner’s broad conception of intelligence with a concern for the mental operations that underlie each part of intelligence
Analytic intelligence: process information analytically, problem solve, high in reasoning and logical-mathematical abilities
Creative intelligence: create, invent, discover, cope with novel tasks
Practical intelligence: put ideas into everyday practice, solve problems unique to their cultural surroundings; “street smarts” size up situations well and act accordingly
Analytic intelligence
Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory
Analytic intelligence: process information analytically, problem solve, high in reasoning and logical-mathematical abilities
Creative intelligence
Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory
Creative intelligence: create, invent, discover, cope with novel tasks
Practical intelligence
Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory
Practical intelligence: put ideas into everyday practice, solve problems unique to their cultural surroundings; “street smarts” size up situations well and act accordingly
Street smart
Measures of Individual Differences
Validity, Reliability, Standardization
Validity
Validity: the extent to which a test accurately measures what it’s supposed to measure
Validity is the single most important characteristic of a test.
-does the test measure what it’s supposed to measure?
Ex: having someone sit on a ruler is not a valid measure of one’s weight
-Ruler accurately measures the length of a table
Validity is the most important: if you don’t have validity nothing else matters
-Content Validity, Predictive Validity, and Constructive Validity
Reliability
Reliability: a measure of the consistency of test results.
-Test-retest reliability
-Interrater reliability: How well do two or more raters, or judges, agree in their ratings of a behavior?
Content Validity
Content Validity: Does the test sample broadly from the domain of interest?
Draw from all 4 modules on a test evenly
Constructive Validity
Constructive Validity: How well a test applies to a particular theoretical construct
Depression tests
Predictive Validity
Predictive Validity: Does the test predict a future outcome, such as job or school success?
SAT, ACT tests : indicate/predict how well someone will do in college
Look at students later while in college and look at GPA to see if test was a good predictor of successes
Test-retest Reliability
Test-retest Reliability: Reliable tests produce similar results with repeated administrations to the same person.
Give people same tests a few weeks apart: if get same score has high test-retest reliability
Interrater reliability
Interrater reliability: How well do two or more raters, or judges, agree in their ratings of a behavior?
Timing someone at a track meet
IQ
IQ – Intelligence Quotient (Measurement of Intelligence)
In 1904, French psychologists Binet and Simon measured skills needed in school (e.g., memory, reasoning, verbal comprehension). Used these tests to determine each child’s…
Mental age: The chronological age that best fits a child’s level of performance, calculated by comparing with average test scores from different age groups
IQ tends to be fairly stable form age 4-5 to age 60 where it starts to decline
-Intelligence quotient
Mental Age
Mental age: The chronological age that best fits a child’s level of performance, calculated by comparing with average test scores from different age groups
Compare the intelligence of people of the same age
Intelligence Quotient
Psychologist Terman (at Stanford University) revised the test and introduced the concept of intelligence quotient:
Intelligence Quotient: (Mental Age / Chronological Age [real age]) x 100
Ex: For a 8-year-old who can solve the problems that the average 12-year-old can solve, his IQ would be 12/8 = 1.5 X 100 = 150 IQ
An average IQ would be 100 (8/8 = 1 x 100 = 100)
Deviation IQ
Deviation IQ: An intelligence score derived from determining where your performance sits in an age-based distribution of test scores
-Average score for a particular age group set at 100; an individual’s score determined by how much more or less she scored relative to others in your age group
Helps overcome problem of comparing scores across age groups
How many standard deviations away from the mean
Distribution of IQ scores
Intellectual disability and Giftedness
Intellectual disability
Intellectual disability: Diagnostic criteria include an IQ score below 70 (2 or more standard deviations below the mean) on a standard IQ test, being under age 18, and having limitations in adaptive behavior
Many causes, including:
-Genetic abnormalities (e.g., Down syndrome)
-Environmental factors: inadequate nutrition, illnesses
-Teratogens (e.g., excessive use of alcohol/other drugs during mother’s pregnancy)
Giftedness
Giftedness: Scoring above 130 on a standard IQ test (2 or more standard deviations above the mean)
Some research suggests gifted children grow up to be successful, socially well adjusted, and happy, but these are correlational studies.
-Profoundly gifted children do seem to show some emotional, social problems as adults
A special case: savants, who have limited intellectual and social functioning overall but are gifted in a particular domain (e.g., music, art, math)
-Associated with disorders such as childhood autism
Validity of Intelligence Tests
IQ tests have been found to be reasonably valid predictors of academic performance.
Cultural factors may influence results
Labeling effects: based on an IQ score at a young age, expectations of self and others (teachers, parents, etc.) can be positive or negative
Don’t measure multiple intelligences or creativity (the ability to generate ideas that are original, novel, and useful): don’t measure practical knowledge (how to do a job, street smart)
Labelling Effects
Labeling effects: based on an IQ score at a young age, expectations of self and others (teachers, parents, etc.) can be positive or negative
Stability of IQ
Longitudinal studies suggest IQ is fairly stable from about age 4 or 5 until about age 60, after which some decline occurs:
-More of a decline in fluid (basic reasoning and processing skills) than crystallized (acquired knowledge, facts) intelligence.
The Flynn effect: worldwide performance on IQ tests seems to be steadily and consistently rising, primarily in abstract problem-solving ability.
The Flynn Effect
The Flynn effect: worldwide performance on IQ tests seems to be steadily and consistently rising, primarily in abstract problem-solving ability.
Environmental factors responsible? Better nutrition, health care, early preschool and day care programs, technology? No clear cause is known.
To compensate, IQ tests are re-normed periodically: the average score is reset to 100.
Sources of Intelligence (Nature / Nurture?
Nature: Studies show a positive correlation between IQ scores of identical twins whether reared together or apart.
Genetics play an important role in intelligence measured by conventional IQ testing.
Nurture: Most research indicates environmental factors are more influential than genetics.
Expression of genes hugely influenced by environment
Intelligence: Nature
Studies show a positive correlation between IQ scores of identical twins whether reared together or apart.
Fraternal twins have higher correlations than unrelated people.
Genetics play an important role in intelligence measured by conventional IQ testing.
Intelligence: Nurture
Group differences, measured by standard IQ tests, exist.
Differences within groups, however, are much larger than differences between groups.
-Gender and racial differences
-More differences within groups than between groups
-More differences between Asians and between asians and whites
Most research indicates environmental factors are more influential than genetics.
Expression of genes hugely influenced by environment
Nurture: Environment is what improves progress of intellectual ability and the opportunity someone has to develop
Intelligence: Nature-nurture interaction
Genes may place upper and lower limits on intellectual ability, but the expression of that genetic material is strongly influenced by the environment.
Nurture: Environment is what improves progress of intellectual ability and the opportunity someone has to develop
Intelligence and Gender
Women outscore men on many tests of verbal ability and fine motor skills.
-Women: verbal ability, fine motor skills
Men outscore women on tests of visual or spatial memory, certain motor skills, and fluid reasoning in abstract mathematical and scientific domains.
-Men: visual or spatial memory, some motor skills, fluid reasoning in math and science
Process to help understand classical conditioning
1: First, identify the unconditioned response (UR) (a physiological response that occurs naturally; without any training, learning or conditioning).
UR: could be fear, hunger, naturally happens, no learning takes p[lace for it to happen
2: Second, identify the unconditioned stimulus (US) (whatever produced the UR).
What produced the unconditioned response
3: Then, identify the conditioned response (CR), usually some physical and/or emotional reaction that is aroused by…the conditioned stimulus (CS), some event or occurrence or sensation that has become paired with the unconditioned stimulus.
Process to help understand operant conditioning
1: Ask “Is a particular response to a behavior intended to increase or reduce the likelihood that the behavior will be repeated?” (or “Has it resulted in an increase or a decrease?”)
If an increase, then the response is a form of reinforcement; if a decrease, then it’s a form of punishment.
2: If the reinforcement was the presentation of something (usually something positive, like a pay bonus), then it’s positive reinforcement.
3: If the reinforcement was the removal of something (usually something negative, like no longer being in in-school suspension), then it’s negative reinforcement.
4: Punishment is “positive” if it is the presentation of something unpleasant (being placed in solitary confinement) or “negative” it is the removal of something pleasant like not being allowed to have visitors in prison.
Motivation
Motivation: the set of factors that initiate and direct behavior, usually towards some goal
-Internal motivation, Achievement motivation, External motivation, Intrinsic Motivation
Internal Motivation
Instinct: an unlearned characteristic pattern of responding, triggered by specific external stimuli
-For example: nest building in birds, humans caring for their young
-Not learned response, occurs naturally, learned through experience
Drive: a psychological state that arises in response to an internal physiological need.
-Drives include hunger, thirst, breathing, seeking warmth/coolness
-To maintain homeostasis: a steady, balanced state within the body
Difference between a Drive and a Need
Both internal motivation
Drive: psychological state as a response to internal need
-Trying to reach balance point: drive is what pushes us to satisfy our needs
-Hunger (drive) drives us to satisfy need by eating
Achievement Motivation
An internal need for achievement, possessed by all individuals in varying degrees
-Your work depends on your expectations of success and how much you value the task
-Influenced by parents, teachers, gender roles, cultural values.
-People who focus on performance (competing against others) are less likely to seek out challenges than those focused on mastery
Children who are praised for their effort tend to work harder, enjoy the task more, show more interest than those who are told their performance is due to natural ability or intelligence.
External Motivation
Incentive motivation: external factors in the environment that exert “pulling” effects on our actions, by offering reinforcement or the avoidance of punishment
For example: the prospect of receiving good grades (or the avoidance of bad grades) motivates you to study.
Good or bad grade
Intrinsic Motivation
Intrinsic Motivation: Goal-directed behavior that seems to be entirely self-motivated, not based on any reward or resumption of homeostasis.
-An activity is rewarding for its own sake.
-No reward or praise: just enjoy it and intrinsically valuable to someone
The addition of an external reward can actually lower one’s interest in the behavior and the value of the behavior.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Some needs have special priority and must be satisfied before others.
Needs are not all the same: some must be satisfied before others
-Need to meet physiological needs before you can move up to others
Self-actualization: our desire to reach our true potential as human beings; to attain our personal dreams and aspirations
Needs ranking:
1: physiological needs
2: safety needs
3: belongingness and love needs (belonging and acceptance)
4: esteem needs (self esteem, how capable and confident am I)
5: self-actualization needs: reach true potential
Self-actualization
Self-actualization: our desire to reach our true potential as human beings; to attain our personal dreams and aspirations.
For example:
The expression of creativity
Quest for spiritual enlightenment
The desire to give to society
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Ranking
1: physiological needs
2: safety needs
3: belongingness and love needs (belonging and acceptance)
4: esteem needs (self esteem, how capable and confident am I)
5: self-actualization needs: reach true potential
Not everyone gets here, can only attend to and try to achieve when other 4 needs are in place
Hunger- Why do we Eat
1: Biological need for energy, to restore homeostasis, to survive. Hunger drives us to get nourishment.
2: Psychological Factors
Biological Need for Eating/Hunger
Biological need for energy, to restore homeostasis, to survive. Hunger drives us to get nourishment.
Internal signals (primarily hormones) relay information about glucose levels, necessary for energy production, and other hormones to the brain.
-Hypothalamus: regulates pituitary gland, which regulated endocrine system which has hormones send signals internally about glucose levels and send signals to eat to get back to homeostasis
-Satiation signals: hormone that tells you your full and to stop eating
Evolutionary point of view: pushed to eat whenever food is available, or it is safe to eat.
-In current times, we are frequently prompted to eat by numerous external cues.
Satiation signals: act to suppress our desire to eat, by the actions of various hormones.
-Brain regions, including the hypothalamus, hippocampus, portions of the hindbrain, and are active in hunger/satiety.
-Physiological factors
Hypothalamus impact on Hunger
Internal signals (primarily hormones) relay information about glucose levels, necessary for energy production, and other hormones to the brain.
Hypothalamus: regulates pituitary gland, which regulated endocrine system which has hormones send signals internally about glucose levels and send signals to eat to get back to homeostasis
-Satiation signals
Brain regions, including the hypothalamus, hippocampus, portions of the hindbrain, and are active in hunger/satiety.
Satiation signals
Satiation signals: hormone that tells you your full and to stop eating
-act to suppress our desire to eat, by the actions of various hormones.
Psychological Factors Impacting Need for Eating/Hunger
External signals: learned eating habits play large role: more to eating than ingestion of nutrients, opportunity to sit down and connect with others often in the setting of a meal
Food cues: the sight or smell of certain foods and associations with past pleasures (or displeasures).
External Signals
External signals: learned eating habits play large role: more to eating than ingestion of nutrients, opportunity to sit down and connect with others often in the setting of a meal
-Engage socially
-Reduce stress
-Provide structure to our routines: structure day around meals, creates a routine
-Follow faith and cultural traditions/rituals
-Maintain group belonging or separations.
Body Weight
Body Weight is influenced by genetics (e.g., number of fat cells we are born with, our metabolic rate) and external factors
Previously, it was thought each individual has a set point (a natural body weight, possibly genetically determined).
-A person’s weight would tend to return to that set point despite gains or losses (e.g., dieting).
Today, a set range with upper and lower limits is considered more likely than a single set point.
-Set ranger that people usually return back to
Obesity
Obesity: a world-wide problem, characterized by excessive body fat, often with associated health problems*. Causes include:
Biological: metabolic rate, set range, number of fat cells
Psychological: learned eating habits, cultural role models, levels of stress, nutrition options available
Some people can’t afford to buy higher nutritional foods
*Some recent findings challenge this, stating that optimal health is more related to healthy exercise than body size or shape.
Sexual response cycle (4 phases; Masters and Johnson, 1966)
1: Excitement
2: Plateau
3: Orgasmic
4: Resolution (includes a refractory period, usually longer for males than females)
refractory period: period where orgasm cannot occur
Biological Needs- Sexual Behavior
Internal factors:
Sex hormones: estrogens in females, androgens (one of which is testosterone) in males.
Sexual desire may persist after sex hormones decline (e.g., after menopause)
External factors: visual attractiveness, touch, smell, sound
Mate selection influenced by:
Sexual scripts: learned ways of interacting with sexual partners
Evolutionary factors:
Males valuing attractiveness: psychical attractiveness and youthfulness
Women valuing the potential for providing well for their offspring in prospective mates
Sexual Orientation
Sexual Orientation: A person’s sexual and emotional attraction to members of the same or opposite sex or both sexes (homosexuality, heterosexuality, or bisexuality, respectively).
Viewed now by many as a continuum rather than fixed, discreet categories.
Some research has shown possible genetic factors and brain structural differences between hetero- and homosexual males (differences in hypothalamus)
Emotions
Emotions: complex psychological events with several distinct components
Physiological (body) response, usually autonomic nervous system arousal
-Way of alerting us to something
Expressive reaction; for example, a facial expression
Subjective experience, such as a feeling
-Feelings
Purpose:
Act as way to express what’s going on and ready emotions of others
Protective: alert us to other people and their intentions
7 emotions
Across cultures, typically seven emotions are identified: all people experience and display these 7 emotions
Happiness
Surprise
Fear
Sadness
Anger
Disgust
Contempt
Each with its characteristic facial expression, which likely have genetic/biological origins.
Function of Facial Expressions
Adaptive
1: Communicate our inner state to others
2: Recognize the inner states of others
3: Prioritize/motivate thoughts and behaviors
Emotional Arousal
In almost all emotions, physiological reactions of muscle tension, sweaty palms, increased heart rate, blood pressure and respiration occur, prompted by the autonomic nervous system preparing for fight or flight.
-Adaptive
But too much arousal interferes with mental and/or physical performance.
“common sense” View of Emotions
Our internal experience drives the physiological reaction:
Some event causes us to feel afraid and our body reacts with arousal (e.g., tremble, gasp, heart rate increases)
-Theory is no longer accurate
Schacter and Singer (1960’s) two-factor theory
Autonomic arousal (factor 1) and our cognitive appraisal or interpretation of that arousal (factor 2) are of equal importance.
-Something causes us to experience arousal and than appraisal (how we interpret the behavior)
-Interpretation drives overall response
-Appraise something as in a cage as a tiger- label it as dangerous and then feeling of fear
Ex: We see a snake, the arousal occurs, we label the situation as dangerous, and experience the emotion of fear.
Nairne’s conclusion
Emotions arise from the interaction among a stimulus event, our autonomic arousal, and cognitive appraisal we make of the situation.
-2 people can have the same experience but interpret it (appraisal) differently
-Emotional response is different to the same event
Personality
Personality: The distinguishing pattern of psychological characteristics – thinking, feeling, and behaving – that:
1: Differentiates us from others
2: Leads us to act consistently across situations
3 Main Points of Focus for Personality
1: Conceptualizing and Measuring Personality
2: Determining How Personality Develops
3: Resolving the Person-Situation Debate
Trait
Trait: A stable predisposition (tendency) to act or behave in a certain way
Make us unique, identifiable, and generally predictable across time.
-Consistent over time
-Traits make us unique
Ex: Stubborn, talkative, disciplined
Trait Theories
Trait Theories: Formal systems for assessing how people differ, particularly in their predispositions to respond in certain ways across situations
Typically rely on a psychometric approach – analyzing the performance of large groups of people on rating tests or questionnaires.
Psychometric approach
Trait theories rely on a psychometric approach
Psychometric approach – analyzing the performance of large groups of people on rating tests or questionnaires.
-Large groups of people
-Measurements of the mind: look at large groups of people and see if we can come up with lists of characteristics, form clusterings of groups through factor analysis
Psychometric approach: Thousands of descriptive terms (adjectives) have been identified; are there basic traits into which they tend to cluster?
-basic traits that apply to large group of people
-scientific field that focuses on measuring and assessing psychological attributes through tests and other instruments
Factor Analysis
Factor Analysis: A statistical procedure that groups together related items on tests by analyzing the correlations among test scores to identify a set of factors that predict test performance.
Example: Asking people how well particular terms (“brooding,” “friendly,” etc.) describe them.
How to cluster things together
Main question: Which terms cluster together statistically?
-Terms that go together (that show strong correlations) probably reflect a general personality characteristic
Catell (1970s)
Cattell used factor analysis to identify 16 personality factors, which he called source traits, from thousands of traits, based on an individual’s responses to a questionnaire.
Not in current usage anymore
Look at source traits and are able to summarize personality
Eysenck (1970s)
Eysenck then proposed 3 personality factors, which he called super-factors:
Extraversion: how outgoing and sociable
Neuroticism: degree of anxiety, worry, or moodiness
Psychoticism: tendency to be insensitive, uncaring, or cruel
The Big 5 Personality Dimensions: Current Thinking
OCEAN or CANOE
Openness (to experience): daring, non-conforming, imaginative, creative
Conscientiousness: ethical, dependable, productive, purposeful, disciplined, orderly
Extroversion: talkative, sociable, fun-loving, affectionate
Agreeableness: sympathetic, warm, trusting, cooperative, emphatic, kind
Neuroticism: anxious, insecure, guilt-prone, self-conscious
Each has subscales
Alport’s Trait Theory
Allport believed personality is the measure of one’s uniqueness, not comparing to others
His focus is idiographic (“relating to the individual”), not group averages.
Used case studies: particular individuals in detail over extended periods of time.
Allport: Some rare individuals have cardinal traits, “ruling passions,” dominate their lives; highly driven/focused on a particular goal
-Focusses on individuals
Central Traits
Alport
Central traits: 5-10 traits that describe a person
Secondary Traits
Alport
Secondary traits: Less obvious characteristics that appear only under certain circumstances, often privately held
Accurate Personality Tests
Validity: accurately measuring what your supposed to measure
Ruler is good at measuring length of pencil
Reliability: to get the same results over and over again
Same result every time, consistency
Measurements of Personality
1: Self-report inventories
2: Projective tests
Self-report inventories
Questionnaires about how someone typically thinks, acts, feels
Psychometric approach: Responses compared to those of thousands of previous test takers
Pros and Cons of Self-report inventories
Pros:
-Objective
-Standardized
-Relatively quick and easy to administer and score
-Reasonably priced
Cons:
-Affected by reading level
-Depend on accurate, honest responding
-Although fake good/fake bad, inconsistent responses can be detected in most cases
-Need someone who is competent to interpret responses
Projective Tests
Individuals are asked to interpret unstructured or ambiguous stimuli and are assumed to “project” their true thoughts and feelings into their responses, revealing aspects of personality that they might hide or be unaware of.
Less used today than in the past: expensive to administer
Ex: Rorschach: “Ink blots” test
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT): Ambiguous pictures of people, situations
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT): Ambiguous pictures of people, situations
Reveals the subconscious dynamics of a person’s personality through the stories they tell
-A person will interpret stories based on their own experiences or feelings.
-Psychologists can then reveal parts of a person’s personality based on the story they have told.
Pros and Cons of Projective Tests
Pros:
-Allow less restrictive responding
-Can help therapy clients open up more readily
Cons:
-Interpretation can be inconsistent
-Time consuming
-More expensive
Freud’s Psychodynamic Theory
The mind is divided into three parts:
1: Conscious: current awareness, what we are aware of
2: Preconscious: inactive, but accessible, thoughts and memories
3: Unconscious: memories, urges, forbidden or dangerous; conflicts beyond awareness; powerful and long-lasting influences on behavior
-Dreams: “the royal road to the unconscious” (get to people’s dreams to see what they are truly thinking)
-Manifest content: remembered, symbolic
-Latent content: the true unconscious meaning
-Sexual urges, power of dreams
Freud’s Psychodynamic Theory: Structure of personality (3 parts)
Freud’s Psychodynamic Theory: Structure of personality – 3 parts, all of which influence behavior:
Id: pleasure principle
Superego: idealistic principle
Ego: reality principle
Id Personality
Id: pleasure principle
Governed by inborn instinctual drives, especially those related to sex, aggression
-Nativist: inborn, norn with Id
-Instinctual drives
Obeys the pleasure principle (the pursuit of pleasure through the satisfaction of animalistic urges).
Adaptive function of sexual intercourse –reproduction
Superego Personality
Superego: idealistic principle
Motivates people to act in an ideal fashion, according to moral customs
Our conscience (sense of right and wrong)
Shaped by experience
Obeys the idealistic principle (act in proper fashion as defined by parents and culture)
Ego Personality
Ego: reality principle
Induces people to act with reason and deliberation, conform to outside world
-Brings us reason
Obeys the reality principle (monitors external world seeking appropriate outlets for the id with guidance from the superego)
Seeks compromise among external world, id and superego
Freud’s Defense Mechanisms
Unconscious processes used by the ego to ward off anxiety coming from confrontations with the id. Examples:
-Repression: anxiety provoking thoughts and feelings are kept in the unconscious
-Denial: refusing to believe info that produces anxiety
-Rationalization: creating explanations for threatening thoughts
-Projection: attributing our own unacceptable thoughts / feelings to others
-Reaction formation: behaving in ways opposite to how one feels
-Sublimation: channeling unacceptable impulses into socially acceptable activity
Freud’s Psychosexual Development
Conflicts, memories, urges in unconscious mind come from experiences in childhood
-Emerging sexuality, pleasure, is the focus of many stages of development
Failure to move through a stage properly leads to fixation – continuing to act in ways appropriate for a much earlier stage
5 Stages:
1: Oral Stage (first year)
2: Anal Stage (second year)
3: Phallic Stage (Ages 3-5)
4: Latency Period (Ages 5 to puberty)
5: Genital stage (Puberty to adulthood)
Oral Stage
Freud’s Psychosexual Development
1: Oral Stage (first year)
Pleasure comes from sucking, putting things in mouth
Fixation at this stage can cause overeating, smoking, nail-biting
Anal Stage
Freud’s Psychosexual Development
2: Anal Stage (second year)
Pleasure comes from retaining or passing feces
Fixation at this stage can cause excessive neatness or excessive messiness
Toilet training
Phallic Stage
Freud’s Psychosexual Development
3: Phallic Stage (Ages 3-5)
Pleasure comes from self-stimulation of genitals
Fixation here can cause relationship, sexual problems
Oedipus complex: a boy’s attraction to his mother and competition with his father.
The Electra complex: proposed later by Carl Jung
Oedipus complex
Oedipus complex: a boy’s attraction to his mother and competition with his father.
Competes with father for attention and affection of mother
The Electra Complex
The Electra complex: proposed later by Carl Jung
Young girls become very attracted to their fathers and compete with their mothers for the affection of their father
Latency Period
Freud’s Psychosexual Development
4: Latency Period (Ages 5 to puberty)
Sexual feelings suppressed
Genital Stage
Freud’s Psychosexual Development
5: Genital stage (Puberty to adulthood)
Mature sexual relationships
Neo-Freudians
Neo-Freudians: Agreed with Freud – childhood experiences matter – but focused on the importance of sociological and cultural influences in addition to the biological.
Focus on social and cultural influences
Neo-Freudians – Carl Jung
“General life force:” includes sources of motivation in addition to sexual, such as the need for creativity
“Collective unconscious:” our collection of shared ancestral memories; certain kinds of universal symbols and ideas are present in the unconscious of all people, often representing “archetypes”–cross-culturally universal symbols
“Collective Unconscious”
Carl Jung
“Collective unconscious:” our collection of shared ancestral memories; certain kinds of universal symbols and ideas are present in the unconscious of all people, often representing “archetypes”–cross-culturally universal symbols
-Shared set of figures we see as mythic
-Display same core beliefs and values
For example: God, mother, earth
Mandala-symbolizes a desire for wholeness or unity
Neo-Freudians – Alfred Adler
Disagreed w/Freud’s focus on early psychosexual experience.
Our attempts to overcome fundamental feelings of inadequacy (“inferiority complex”), instead striving for superiority, are more relevant.
Importance of birth order.
-Personality is influenced by birth order in family: first child in different than second child: grew up in different environments
Neo-Freudians – Karen Horney
Rebelled against Freud’s male-dominated views on sexuality
Proposed views that treated women in a more balanced way
Pros and Cons of Frued’s psychodynamic theory
Pros:
-Extremely influential, especially the ideas of the unconscious, and biological drives
Cons:
-Lacks scientific rigor
-Difficult to test concepts (based on case studies)
-Biased against women whom Freud viewed as unsatisfied with their gender (“penis envy”)
-Regarded women’s accounts of childhood sexual assaults as symbolic expressions of unconscious conflicts: viewed as false memories
Humanistic theories of personality
Reaction against Freud’s darker, pessimistic views.
Focus instead on people’s unique capacity for choice, responsibility, and growth.
-People are good and are able to make choices and grow
-Become best self
Humanists – Carl Rogers
Personality comes from self-concept: an organized set of perceptions about our own abilities and characteristics which comes primarily from interactions w/parents, friends, other significant role models
-Problems arise from incongruence (discrepancy) between self-concept and our actual, day to day experiences
-We have a basic need for positive regard (approval, love from others) but “conditions of worth” are placed on us by others
-We act consistently across situations in ways that mirror our self-concept, in ways that support our beliefs about ourselves
Self-Concept
Carl Rogers- Humanist
Personality comes from self-concept: an organized set of perceptions about our own abilities and characteristics which comes primarily from interactions w/parents, friends, other significant role models
Humanists – Maslow
Personality reflects where you are in a hierarchy of needs
We all have a need for self-actualization: to reach our true potential; to attain our personal dreams and aspirations.
Problems arise from failure to satisfy needs, (e.g., aggressive, defensive, unkind actions are because one’ basic needs have not been met)
-Work from bottom up: need to meet bottom needs (food, water, air, shelter), then once met and move up
Pros and Cons of Humanistic Theories
Pros:
-Highly influential
-Emphasize personal choice and responsibility (people are in control of their lives)
Cons:
-Hard to predict or explain why the drives for growth, self-actualization are sometimes expressed and sometimes not
-Hard to study in systematic, scientific way
-Depends too much on self-report, lacks scientific scrutiny
-Too optimistic?
Social-cognitive personality theories
Social-cognitive personality theories: Our experiences and interpretations of them and our learned response tendencies determine our personality.
-Behaviorists
-Everything we do and know is based on experiences and we get them from our environment
-Interpretations of surroundings and people around us
-Social Learning Theories (Mischel, Bandura)
-Influenced by classical and / or operant conditioning or observational learning and our locus of control (how much control we believe we have over our environment, whether it is internal or external)
-Also influenced by self-efficacy (Bandura)
-Reciprocal determinism (Bandura)
Locus of Control
Social-cognitive personality theories influenced by Influenced by classical and / or operant conditioning or observational learning and our locus of control
Locus of Control: how much control we believe we have over our environment, whether it is internal or external
-How much control we believe we have
Internal Locus of Control: world is responsive to my actions
External Locus of Control: little connection between my actions and any rewards
Internal Locus of Control
Internal locus of control: the world is responsive to my actions
I am confident I can control when rewards and punishments occur
Have power and agency: contribution to world is meaningful
-In control
External Locus of Control
External locus of control: there is little connection between my actions and any rewards
I am powerless; external events, other people have control
Not much connection between what I do and what happen to me
Self-Efficacy
Social-cognitive personality theories influenced by self-efficacy
Self-efficacy (Bandura): the beliefs I have about my own ability, which may vary among situations or tasks
Reciprocal determinism (Bandura)
Social-cognitive personality theories
Reciprocal determinism (Bandura): beliefs, behavior and the environment interact to shape what’s learned from experience
Ex: Someone who believes she is awkward in social situations tends to avoid them or act uncomfortably if she attends them, reinforcing her beliefs and becoming less socially capable
More likely to do things we feel good/confident about
Pros and Cons of Social-cognitive personality theories
Pros:
-The role of learning, along with cognitive factors (locus of control, self efficacy) are accepted as important in personality development.
Cons:
-But they are criticized for ignoring the role of genetics which has been supported by research (esp. identical twin studies).
The person-situation debate
Do people behave consistently across situations, which is part of the definition of personality?
If someone has a trait “dishonesty,” will they be dishonest across a variety of situations?
Research shows situational consistency – a cheater is more likely to cheat again, but not to necessarily steal someone’s wallet.
Self-monitoring: a tendency to mold or change one’s behavior to fit the situation at hand.
Self-monitoring
Self-monitoring: a tendency to mold or change one’s behavior to fit the situation at hand.
High self-monitors: change their behavior to fit current situation
Low self-monitors: show more consistent behavior across situations
High self-monitors
High self-monitors: change their behavior to fit current situation
Low self-monitors
Low self-monitors: show more consistent behavior across situations
