Psychology 201
Lecture Guide: These notes are NOT a replacement for class notes, but are intended to provide you with key terms and concepts we will cover in class.
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Introduction to Psychology, Research Methods
I. Defining Psychology
A. Aristotle: psyche (mind) and logos (the study of)
B. Modern definition: the science of behavior and mental processes
II. Goals of Psychology
A. To describe
B. To predict
C. To understand
D. To influence
III. History of Psychology
A. Wilhelm Wundt establishes the Laboratory of Psychology in Leipzig, Germany in 1879: structuralism
B. William James establishes a laboratory at Harvard, 1875: functionalism
C. Pavlov, Watson, B.F. Skinner: Behaviorism
D. Max Wertheimer: Gestalt Psychology
E. Alfred Binet: Measuring Intelligence
F. Sigmund Freud: Psychoanalysis
IV. Contemporary Perspectives in Psychology
A. Behaviorism
B. Psychoanalysis
C. Cognition
D. Biology
E. Humanism
V. What do psychologists do?
A. Experimental Psychologists 25%
B. Applied Psychologists 75%
VI. Methods in Psychology
A. Descriptive Methods
1. Survey
2. Naturalistic Observation
3. Clinical/Case Study
B. Correlational Methods
C. Formal Experiments
1. Independent Variables
2. Dependent Variables
3. Control Groups
4. Experimental Groups
D. Ethics with Human Subjects
1. Freedom from coercion
2. Informed consent
3. Deception and Debriefing
E. Ethics with Animal Subjects
1. Necessity
2. Health
3. Humane treatment
Biological Foundations of Behavior
I. Methods for Studying the Brain
A. Study of the Living Brain
1. CAT Scans
2. PET Scans
3. MRI
4. EEG
B. Electrical Stimulation and Recording
C. Altering the chemistry of the brain
II. The Structure of the Neuron
A. Cell Body
B. Dendrites
C. Axons
D. The Myelin Sheath
E. Nodes of Ranvier
III. Neural Transmission: Information Processing
A. The Synapse
B. Neurotransmitters
C. Synaptic Vesicles
D. Action Potentials
E. Excitation and inhibition
IV. Divisions of the Nervous System
A. Central vs. Peripheral N.S.
B. Divisions of Peripheral N.S.
1. Somatic (voluntary)
2. Autonomic (self-regulating, automatic)
a. sympathetic (arousing)
b. parasympathetic (calming)
V. Structure of the Nervous System
A. Brainstem
1. Reticular Activating System: attention, arousal
2. Medulla: heartbeat, breathing
3. Cerebellum: movement, balance, coordination
4. Spinal Cord: pathway, simple reflexes
B. Limbic System
1. Hippocampus: memory
2. Amygdala: emotion, aggression
3. Hypothalamus: maintenance functions, homeostasis
C. Cerebral Cortex: control center, information processing
VI. Lobes of the Brain
A. Occipital: vision
B. Temporal: audition, pattern recognition
C. Frontal: motor functions, planning, association, attention
D. Parietal: body senses (touch, pain, temperature)
E. Association cortex: cortex that does not have a specific function and can be used for learning and memory
VII. Hemisphere Specialization
A. Left brain: language, logic
B. Right brain: spatial relations, emotions, art, music
I. Negative Influences on Prenatal Development
A. Drugs
B. Low Birth Weight
II. Motor Development in Infancy
A. Development proceeds from head to foot
B. Development proceeds from the midline to the periphery
C. Milestones have wide ranges (e.g. 10-18 months for walking)
III. Emotional Development in Infancy
A. Temperament: easy, difficult, slow-to-warm-up
B. Secure Attachment
C.Parenting Styles: Authoritarian, Authoritative, Permissive, Neglecting
IV. Cognitive Development: Piaget
A. Sensorimotor Stage
B. Preoperational Stage
C. Concrete Operational Stage
D. Formal Operational Stage
VI. Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial Development
A. Adolescence: Identity vs. Role Confusion
B. Young Adulthood: Intimacy vs. Isolation
C. Middle Adulthood: Generativity vs. Stagnation
D. Old Age: Integrity vs. Despair
VII. Physical Development during adolescence: Early vs. late maturation
VIII. Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development
A. Preconventional
B. Conventional
C. Postconventional
IX. Physical Changes in Adulthood
X. Cognitive Changes in Later Adulthood
A. Only 5% of seniors are in nursing homes
B. Alzheimer’s Disease
I. Defining Learning: a relatively permanent change in behavior due to experience
II. Classical Conditioning: Learning about signals for important upcoming events
A. Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)
B. Terms
1. Conditioned Stimulus
2. Unconditioned Stimulus
3. Conditioned Response
4. Unconditioned Response
5. Extinction
C. Everyday examples of Classical Conditioning
1. Conditioned fear
2. Taste Aversion
D. Applications of Classical Conditioning
1. Systematic Desensitization
2. Flooding
III. Operant Conditioning: Connecting behavior with consequences
A. Edward Thorndike and the puzzle box
B. B.F. Skinner and his Skinner Box
C. Types of Consequences
1. Positive reinforcement
2. Negative reinforcement
3. Punishment
D. Schedules of Reinforcement
1. Fixed Ratio
2. Variable Ratio
3. Fixed Interval
4. Variable Interval
5. The Partial Reinforcement Effect in Extinction
E. Shaping
IV. Observational Learning (Modeling)
A. Albert Bandura and the Bobo Doll
B. Learning fears, aggression, and other behaviors
A. Encoding
B. Storage
C. Retrieval
VI. The Atkinson-Shiffrin Model
A. Sensory Register
B. Short-term Memory
1. Limited Capacity: 5-9 items
2. Limited Duration: 30 seconds
3. Rehearsal and Chunking
C. Long-term Memory
1. Unlimited Capacity
2. Unlimited Duration
3. Procedural Memory
4. Declarative Memory
a. Episodic Memory
b. Semantic Memory
VII. Measuring Memory
A. Recall
B. Recognition
C. Relearning
VIII. Forgetting
A. Decay
B. Interference
1. Proactive
2. Retroactive
C. Repression: Motivated Forgetting
D. Reconstruction
IX. Unusual Memory Phenomena
A. Flashbulb Memories
B. Photographic Memory?
X. Improving Memory
A. Organization
B. Mnemonics
C. Overlearning
D. Spaced vs. Massed Practice
E. Recitation vs. Rereading
I. Purposes of Emotion
A. Communication
B. Arousal
C. Aesthetics: colors human experience, allows us to appreciate art, music
II. Emotional Expression is Innate
A. Expressions are interpreted the same way regardless of culture
B. Blind babies express emotions normally
C. Culture trains us to control the expression of emotion
III. Theories of Emotion
A. James-Lange: autonomic system reacts first, cortex interprets this reaction and labels emotion
1. Supporting evidence comes from patients with spinal cord damage.
2. Contradictory evidence comes from the "swinging bridge" experiment.
B. Cannon-Bard: autonomic and cortical responses occur simultaneously
IV. Emotions are expressed consistently and spontaneously.
A.. Liars: use fewer hand gestures, laugh and smile more, move legs and feet more, make fewer head nods, do not make eye contact as much
V. Catharsis vs. Enhancement
VI. Biology of Emotion: limbic system, right hemisphere
A. Sources of Motivation
1. Heredity: Instincts and sociobiology
2. Drives
3. Incentives
4. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
B. The Hunger Motive: Physiological mechanisms, environment, obesity, and eating disorders
C. Sexual Motivation: Physiological mechanisms, sociocultural factors, dysfunctions, orientation and identity
D. Achievement Motivation
E. Arousal Motivation
I. Defining Personality: an individual's unique and stable pattern of characteristics and behaviors.
II. Sigmund Freud
A. The Conscious and Unconscious Mind
B. Components of the Personality
1. Id
2. Ego
3. Superego
C. Defense Mechanisms: self-deception and the distortion of reality
1. repression
2. projection
3. denial
4. rationalization
5. regression
6. reaction formation
7. displacement
8. sublimation
D. Psychosexual Stages of Development
1. Oral Stage (0-1 yrs.)
2. Anal Stage (1-3 yrs)
3. Phallic Stage (3-6 yrs.)
4. Latency (6-12)
5. Genital (puberty on)
E. Freud's Interpretation of personality development
1. traits develop due to fixations at developmental stages
2. developing balance between id, superego, and ego
III. NeoFreudians
A. Jung
1. personal unconscious
2. collective unconscious
B. Adler: inferiority and superiority
C. Horney
1. moving toward people
2. moving against people
3. moving away from people
IV. Trait Theories
A. The "Big 5": extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotionality, and intellect
V. Learning Theory
A. Bandura: personality interacts with the environment
B. Rotter: locus of control
VI. Humanists believe that the personality will grow in an environment of unconditional positive regard.
VIII. Assessment
A. Interviews
B. Personality Inventories, e.g. MMPI
C. Projective Tests, e.g. Rorschach and TAT
I. Defining Abnormality
A. Unusual/strange
B. Harmful to self or others
II. Perspectives on Abnormality
A. Biological: symptoms of underlying physical disorders
B. Psychodynamic: early childhood experience/unresolved conflicts
C. Learning: symptoms are themselves the disorder
D. Cognitive: faulty thinking/distorted perceptions
E. Humanistic: natural tendency toward self-actualization is blocked
III. Classification: DSM IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual)
IV. Anxiety Disorders
A. Generalized Anxiety
B. Panic disorder
C. Obsessive-compulsive disorder
C. Post-traumatic stress disorder
D. Phobia
E. Somatoform Disorders
F. Dissociative Disorders
1. amnesia
2. multiple personality
V. Schizophrenia
A. Symptoms
1. Hallucinations
2. Delusions
3. Inappropriate Affect
4. Disturbances in the Form of Thought
B. Causes
1. genetics
2. Dopamine Hypothesis
VI. Mood Disorders
A. Major (clinical, unipolar) Depression
B. Bipolar Disorder
C. Causes
1. Genetic
2. Serotonin and Norepinephrine
3. Stress
VII. Personality Disorders: Antisocial Personality Disorder
VIII. Sexual Disorders: Pedophilia
I. Who does psychotherapy?
A. For serious psychological disorders:
1. Clinical Psychologists, with Ph.D. in clinical psychology
2. Psychiatrist, with M.D.
3. Psy.D.
B. For adjustment disorders, substance abuse, marital or family problems:
1. Counseling Psychologists with Ph.D. in clinical or counseling psychology or Ed.D. with major in counseling
2. Counselors, with Masters in Psychology or Counseling
3. Psychiatric Social Workers with MSW (LCSW)
II. What to ask when interviewing a therapist:
A. Therapist’s educational background
B. Nature of supervised experience
C. Type of therapy they practice
D. Typical length of treatment (greatest gains occur in first 6 mos.)
E. Professional fees
F. You should feel comfortable with the therapist as a person
G. Be wary of therapists who promise overwhelming changes in personality--even Freud didn’t believe this was possible.
III. Multicultural Influences on Therapy
A. Significant gender racial differences occur in optimal doses of drugs
B. Four Cultural barriers to accurate assessment
1. language
2. cultural values
3. socioeconomic class
4. nonverbal communication, e.g. eye contact
IV. Insight Therapies: Psychotherapies based on the notion that psychological well-being depends on self- understanding
A. Psychoanalysis
1. The first formal psychotherapy, dominant in 1940s and 1950s
2. Basis: the causes of abnormal behavior lie in early childhood experiences and in unresolved, unconscious conflicts
3. Goals: uncover repressed memories and bring unresolved conflicts to consciousness, where they may be resolved
4. Techniques:
a. Free Association: reveal whatever thoughts or images come to mind
b. Analysis of Resistance: any form of patient opposition to the process of psychoanalysis
c. Dream Interpretation: areas of emotional concern are repressed in waking life but expressed in symbolic form in dreams
d. Analysis of Transference: patient behaves toward the analyst as he/she had behaved toward a significant figure in the past.
5. Modern Psychoanalysis
a. Traditional is long and costly: 4-5 sessions per week for 2-4 yrs.
b. Brief psychodynamic therapy
1. Therapist takes more active role
2. Places more emphasis on present
3. 1-2 visits/wk for 12-20 weeks
4. As effective as other psychotherapies
6. Criticisms
a. neglect of the conscious and the present
b. minimalizes patient’s responsibility and capability to make choices with emphasis on unconscious mind
B. Humanistic and Existential Therapies
1. Contrast with Psychoanalysis
a. more optimistic and positive view of human nature
b. personal growth is encouraged
c. focus on the present
2. Person-Centered Therapy: Carl Rogers
a. People are innately good and will grow toward self-actualization
b. Abnormal behavior occurs when natural growth is blocked
c. Techniques
1. Warm, accepting climate is established
2. Client directs the sessions
3. Therapists provide:
a. Unconditional Positive Regard
b. Genuine feelings: no professional "front"
c. Empathy with clients
d. Reflection: helps clients clarify feelings by reflecting them
e. Strictly avoid giving advice to clients
3. Gestalt Therapy (Fritz Perls): "getting in touch with your feelings"
a. fully experience feelings, thoughts, and actions and take responsibility for them
b. Directive therapy, unlike person-centered
c. Clients carry load of unfinished business
d. Empty chair technique. Imagine person sitting in chair and tell them what you think; then sit in chair and role-play their response
e. Ultimate goal is to achieve more integrated self, become more authentic and self-accepting
f. Assume personal responsibility rather than blame past experience, parents, society, or others
4 Existential Therapy: Finding meaning in life
a. Deal with alienation: feeling that we are disconnected from the rest of the world, lonely, standing apart
b. Freedom and responsibility to choose the kind of person we want to become
c. Must find our own personal meaning
V. Therapies Emphasizing Interaction with Others
A. Family and Marital Therapy
1. Dynamics of the family unit: power struggles? Unreasonable demands?
2. Goals:
a. Heal the wounds of the unit
b. Improve communication patterns
c. Create more understanding and harmony within the group
B. Group Therapy
1. Originated in the armed forces during WW II due to shortage of therapists
2. Give and receive emotional support
3. Works best when a common problem is shared by the group (AA)
4. Any of the other psychotherapies can be used in this context
C. Other Group Therapies
1. Encounter Groups claim to promote personal growth and self-knowledge
a. intense, emotional encounters often lasting long periods of time
b. can sometimes have very negative results on participants
c. participants are generally not screened for serious disturbances
2. Self-Help: not led by professional therapists
a. Groups sharing a common problem
b. 12 million Americans participate in 500,000 groups
c. Results for some problems, e.g. alcoholism and obesity, are as good as psychotherapy
VI. Medical Therapies
A. Medication
B. Psychosurgery
C. ECS
I. Social Perception
A. First Impressions
B. Attributions: situational and dispositional
II. Attraction
A. Proximity
B. Physical Attraction
C. Similarities and Opposites
III. Conformity
A. Asch
B. Milgrim
IV. Group Influence
A. Social Facilitation
B. Social Loafing
C. Group Polarization
V. Attitudes and Attitude Change
A. Components of attitudes: cognitive, emotional, and behavioral
B. Cognitive dissonance
C. Persuasion: source, audience, message, medium
VI. Bystander Intervention
VII. Prejudice and Discrimination
A. In-group/out-group
B. Social Learning
C. Strategies for reducing prejudice and discrimination
1. cooperative education
2. interaction
3. extending the boundaries of social groups