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Legend legend legend legend - Part of the study of cognitive
Chapter 1: The Science of Psychology psych
What is psychology? - CP: field focusing not only
● The scientific study of behavior on perception but also on
and mental processes learning, memory, thought
● Behavior: outward or overt process and problem
actions and reactions solving
● Mental processes: internal, covert Psychoanalysis
activity of our minds - Theory and therapy based o the
● Psychology is a science work of SIgmund Freud
● Prevent possible biases from - Freud’s patients suffered from
leading to faulty observations nervous disorders with no
● Precise and careful measurement apparent phy
Psychology’s four goals - sical cause
- Description (What) - Proposed the existence of an
- Explanation (Why) unconscious (unaware) mind into
- Theory: general which we push or repress our
explanation of a set of threatening urges and desires
observation/facts - Believed that these repressed
- Prediction (Will it happen again?/ urges, in trying to surface,
When) created nervous disorders
- Control (How can it be changed?) - Stressed the importance of early
- childhood experiences
Psychology (early studies) - Focused on sex
Structuralism Behaviorism
- Focused on the structure or basic - Science of behavior that focuses
elements of the mind on observable behavior only
- Wilhelm Wundt (ger, 1879) - Must be directly seen and
- Developed the technique of measured
objective introspection: the - John B. Watson
process of objectively examining - Based on work of Ivan
and measuring one’s thoughts Pavlov who demonstrated
and mental activities that a reflex could be
Functionalism conditioned (learned)
- How the mind allows people to - Watson believed that phobias
adapt, live, work and play were learned
- William James - Little albert: baby taught
- (educational, evolutionary, to fear a white rat
industrial psych) Modern perspectives
- African Americans and early Psychodynamic perspective
psych - Modern version of
Gestalt psychoanalysis (less on sex, more
- “Good figure” psych on early development)
- Wertheimer: studied sensation - More focused on the
and perception development of a sense of self
and the discovery of motivations
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5. Report your results so that others can - Study of one individual in great
try to replicate, or repeat, the study or detail
experiment to see whether the same - Advantage:
results will be obtained in an effort to - Tremendous amount of detail
demonstrate reliability of results - Disadvantage:
Descriptive Methods - Cannot apply to others
Naturalistic observation - Famous case study: Phineas
- Watching animals or humans Gage
behave in their normal
environment
- Major advantage: realistic Surveys
picture of behavior - Researchers ask a series of
- Disadvantages: questions about the topic under
- Observer effect: tendency of study
people/animals to behave Given to representative sample
differently when they know they - Representative sample: randomly
are being observed selected sample of subjects from
- Participant observation: a a larger population of subjects
naturalistic observation in which - Population: the entire group of
the observer becomes a people or animal in which the
participant in the group being researcher is interested
observed (to reduce observer - Advantages
effect) - Data from large numbers of
- Observer bias: tendency of people
observers to see what they - Study covert behaviors
expect to see - Disadvantages
- Blind observers: people who do - Researchers have to ensure
not know what the research representative sample or the
question is (to reduce observer results are not meaningful
bias) - People are not always accurate
- Each naturalistic setting is unique (courtesy bias)
and observations may not hold Finding Relationships
Laboratory observation Correlation
- Watching animals or humans - Measure of the relationship
behave in a laboratory setting between two variables
- Advantages: - Variable: anything that can
- Control over environment change or vary
- Allows use of specialized - Measures of two variables go into
equipment a mathematical formula and
- Disadvantage: produce a correlation coefficient
- Artificial situation may result in ®, which represents two things:
artificial behavior - Direction of the
- Descriptive methods lead to the relationship
formation of testable hypotheses - Strength of the
Case Study relationship
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- Knowing the value of one - Subjects in an experiment who
variable allows researchers to are subjected to the independent
predict the value of the other variable
variable Control group
- Correlation coefficient ranges - Subjects in an experiment who
from -1.00 to +1.00 are not subjected to the
- The closer to +1.00 or -1.00, the independent variable and who
stronger the relationship between may receive a placebo treatment
the variables (controls for confounding
- No correlation = 0.0 variables)
- Perfect correlation = -1.00 or + Random assignment
1.00 - The process of assigning subjects
- Positive correlation: variables are to the experimental or control
related in the same direction (one groups randomly, so that each
increases, other increases) subject has an equal chance of
- Negative correlation: variables being in either group
are related in opposite direction - Controls for counding
(as one increases, the other (extraneous, interfering) variables
decreases) Placebo effect
- Correlation does not prove - The phenomenon in which the
causation! (MA 12?? lol) expectation of the participants in
- Ex. Scatterplots a study can influence their
The experiment behavior
Experiment Single-blind study
- A deliberate manipulation of a - Subjects do not know whether
variable to see whether they are in the experimental or
corresponding changes in the control group (reduces
behavior result, allowing the placebo effect)
determination of Experimenter effect
cause-and-effect relationships - Tendency of the experimenter’s
Operational Definition expectations for a study to
- Definition of a variable of interest unintentionally influence the
that allows it to be directly results of the study
measure Double-blind study
- Definition: aggressive play - Neither the experimenter nor the
Independent variable subjects know which subjects are
- The variable in an experiment experimental or control group
that is manipulated by the (reduces placebo effect and
experimenter experimenter effect)
Dependent variable Single-blind study
- The variable in an experiment - The participants are “blind” to the
that represents the measurable treatment they receive
response or behavior of the Example of a Real Experiment
subjects in the experiment Hypothesis
Experimental group - Knowing that other people might
think one’s success in school is
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due to the athletic ability rather - Data must remain confidential
than intelligence can make an - If for any reason a study results
athlete perform poorly on an in undesirable consequence for
academic test the participant, the researcher is
Independent variable responsible for detecting and
- Timing of “high threat” questions removing or correcting these
Dependent variable consequences
- Test scores - Animal research answers
Experimental group questions we could never
- Answered “high threat” question investigate with human research
before taking the test - The focus is on avoiding exposing
Control group animal subjects to unnecessary
- Answered “high threat” question pain or suffering
after taking the test - Animals are used in
Result-supported hypothesis approximately 7% of
- Those asked the “high threat” psychological studies
question before the intellectual Critical Thinking
test scored significantly lower on - Making reasoned judgments
that test about claims
Ethics in Psychological Researh Four basic criteria
Institutional review boards - There are very few “truths” that
- Groups of psychologists or other do not need to be subjected to
professionals who look over each testing
proposed research study and - All evidence is not equal in quality
judge it according to its safety - Just because someone is
and consideration for the considered to be an authority or
participants in the study to have a lot of expertise does
Common ethical guidelines: not make everything that person
- The rights and well-being of claims automatically true
participants must be weighed - Critical thinking requires an open
against the study’s value to mind
science Chapter 2: The biological perspective
- Participants us be allowed to Overview of Nervous System
make an informed decision about Nervous system
participation - An extensive network of
- Deception must be justified specialized cells that carry
- Participants may withdraw from information to and from all parts
the study at any time of the body
- Participants must be protected Neuroscience
from risks or told explicitly of - Deals with the structure and
risks. function of neurons, nerves and
- Investigators must debrief nervous tissue
participants, telling them the true - Relationship to behavior and
nature of the study and their learning
expectations regarding the Structure of the Neuron
results Neuron
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- The basic cell that makes up the - The state of the neuron when not
nervous system and receives and firing a neural impulse
sends messages within that
system
Parts of a neuron Action potential
- Dendrites: branch-like structures - The release of the neural impulse
that receive messages from other consisting of a reversal of the
neurons electrical charge within the axon
- Soma: the cell body of the - Allows positive sodium
neuron, responsible for ions to enter the cell
maintaining the life of the cell All-or-none
- Axon: long, tube-like structure - A neuron either fires completely
that carries the neural message or does not fire at all
to other cells Return to resting potential
Other Types of Brain Cells
Glial cells are grey fatty cells that:
- Provide support for the neurons
to grow on and around
- Deliver nutrients to neurons
- Produce myelin to coat axons
Myelin
- Fatty substances produced by
certain glial cells that coat the
axons of neurons to insulate,
protect, and speed up the neural
impulse
- Clean up waste products
and dead neurons Communication Between Neurons
Generating the Message: Neural Impulse - Sending the message to other
Ions cells
- Charged particles Axon Terminals
- Inside neuron: negatively charged - rounded areas at the end of the
- Outside neuron: positively branches at the end of the acon
charged - Responsible for communicating
Resting potential with other nerve cells
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Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
- Causes of ADHD have highlighted
the likelihood more than one
cause and more than one brain
to route to ADHD
- Current research is looking at a
variety of areas including
environmental factors such as
low-level lead exposure, genetic
influences, the role of heredity
and familial factors, and
personality factors
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first seen on a cooking is similar to the way a computer
show processes memory - in a series of
3. Imitation three stages
a. The learner must be
capable of reproducing, or
imitating, the actions of Three - Stage Process of Memory
the model
4. Motivation
a. The learner must have the
desire to perform the
action
Real-World Example
● Training a cat to use the toilet will
involve:
○ Shaping
○ Preparing the “training
arena”
○ Positive reinforcement on Sensory Memory
a variable schedule ● Main process
Chapter 6: Memory ● Patterns recognition
● An active system that receives Iconic memory
information from the sense, ● Visual sensory memory, lasting
organizes and alters that only a fraction of a second
information as it stores it away, ● Capacity: everything that can be
and then retrieves the seen at one time
information from storage ● Duration: information that has
3 Processes of memory just entered iconic memory will
Encoding -> Storage -> Retrieval be pushed out very quickly by
Encoding new information, a process called
● The set of mental operations that masking
people perform on sensory Eidetic imagery
information to convert that ● The (rare) ability to access a
information into a form that is visual memory for thirty seconds
usable in the brain’s storage or more
systems ● Capacity: limited to what can be
Storage heard at any one moment;
● Holding onto information for smaller than the capacity of
some period of time iconic memory
Retrieval ● Duration: lasts longer than iconic;
● Getting information that is in about two to four seconds
storage into a form that can be Short-Term Memory
used ● (STM; working memory) the
Models of Memory memory system in which
Information-processing model information is held for brief
● Assumes that the processing of periods of time while being used
information for memory storage Selective attention:
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● The ability to focus on only one procedures, habits, and
stimulus from among all sensory conditioned responses
input ● These memories are not
Digit-span test conscious, but their existence is
● A series of numbers is read to implied because they affect
subjects who are then asked to conscious behavior
recall the numbers in order ● Also include emotional
● Conclusion: capacity of STM is associations, habits, and simple
about seven items or pieces of conditioned reflexes that may or
information, plus or minus two may not be in conscious
items - or from five to nine bits of awareness
information ● Procedural memory (often
● “Magical number” = 7 called implicit memory): memory
Chunking that is not easily brought into
● Bits of information are combined conscious awareness
into meaningful units, or chunks, ● Motor skills, habits, classically
so that more information can be conditioned reflexes
held in STM ● Anterograde amnesia: loss of
memory from the point of injury
Maintenance rehearsal or trauma forward, or the
● Saying bits of information to be inability to form new long-term
remembered over and over in memories
one’s head in order to maintain it ○ Usually does NOT affect
in short-term memory (STMs procedural LTM
tend to be encoded in auditory Declarative (explicit) memory
form) ● Type of long-term memory
More on STM containing information that is
● Lasts from about twelve to thirty conscious and known
seconds without rehearsal ○ Memory for facts
● STM is susceptible to interference ● All the things that people know
○ If counting is interrupted, ● Semantic memory: declarative
one will have to start over memory containing general
Long-term Memory knowledge
● (LTM) The memory into which all ○ Knowledge of language,
the information is placed to be information learned in
kept more or less permanently formal education
Elaborative rehearsal ● Episodic memory: declarative
● A method of transferring memory containing personal
information from STM into LTM information not readily available
by making that information to others
meaningful in some way ○ Daily activities and events
TYPES OF LTM ● Semantic and episodic memories
Nondeclarative (implicit) memory are form of e xplicit memory -
● Type of long-term memory memory that is consciously
including memory for skills, known
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● Method in which one possible objects only in terms of their
solution after another is tried until typical functions
a successful one is found Mental Set
Algorithms ● The tendency for people to
● Very specific, step-by-step persist in using problem-solving
procedures for solving certain patterns that have worked for
types of problems them in the past
○ Will always result in a Confirmation bias
correct solution if one ● The tendency to search for
exists to be found evidence that fits one’s beliefs
○ Mathematical formulas while ignoring any evidence that
Heuristic does not fit those beliefs
● Educated guess based on prior
experiences that helps narrow
down the possible solutions for a
problem; also known as a “rule of
thumb”
● Representative heuristic:
assumption that any object (or
person) sharing characteristics
with the members of a particular
category is also a member of
that category
● Availability heuristic: estimating
the frequency or likelihood of an
event based on how easy it is to
recall relevant information from
memory or how easy it is to think
of related examples
● Working backward from the g oal
is a useful heuristic
● Break a goal down into s ubgoals,
so that as each subgoal is
achieved, the final solution is that
much closer
Insight
● Sudden perception of a solution
to a problem
● Aha! Moment
● Problem may be recognized as
similar to another previously
solved, for example
Problem Solving Barriers
Functional fixedness
● A block to problem solving that
comes from thinking about
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Chapter 8: Development across the life span - Special molecule that contains
Developmental; Research Designs the genetic material of the
● Human development: the organism
scientifc study of the changes Gene
that occur in people as they age - The section of DNA having
from conception until death certain pattern of chemical
● Longitudinal design: research elements
design in which one participant or - Dominant: referring to a gene
group of participants is studied that actively controls the
over a long period of time expression of a trait
○ Cohort effect: impact on - Recessive: referring to a gene
development when a that only influences the
group of people share expression of a trait when paired
common time period or with an identical gene
life experience Chromosome
● Cross-sectional design: research - Tightly wound strand of genetic
design in which several different material or DNA
age groups of participants are - Chromosome disorders include
studied at one particular point in Down syndrome, Klinefelter’s
time syndrome, and Turner’s
● Cross-sequential design: syndrome
research design in which - Genetic disorders include PKU,
participants are first studied by cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia,
means of a cross -sectional and Tay-Sachs disease
design but also followed and Conception
assessed for a period of no more - The moment at which a female
than six years becomes pregnant
Nature versus Nurture Ovum
Nature - The female sex cell, or egg
- The influence of our inherited Fertilization
characteristics on our personality, - The union of the ovum and sperm
physical growth, intellectual Zygote
growth, and social interactions - Cell resulting from the uniting of
Nurture the ovum and sperm; divides into
- The influence of the environment many cells, eventually forming
on personality, physical growth, the baby
intellectual growth, and social Conception and Twins
interactions Monozygotic twins: identical twins
Behavioral genetics - Formed when one zygote splits
- Focuses on nature vs. nurture into two separate masses of cells,
Genetics and Development each of which develops into a
Genetics separate embryo
- The science of inherited traits Dizygotic twins: fraternal twins
- Behavioral genetics - Occur when two eggs get
DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid): fertilized by two different sperm,
resulting in the development of
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two zygotes in the uterus at the outside the womb, usually about
same time 22-26 weeks
Periods of Pregnancy Physical Development in Infancy and Childhood
Germinal period Infants are born with reflexes that help them
- First two weeks after fertilization, survive
during which the zygote moves Five infant reflexes
down to the uterus and begins to 1. Grasping
implant in the lining 2. Moro (startle)
- Embryo is the name for 3. Rooting (baby looks for the
the developing organism nipple)
from two weeks to eight 4. Stepping
weeks after fertilization 5. Sucking
Embryonic period - These infant reflexes can be used
- The period from two to eight to check the health of an infant’s
weeks after fertilization, during nervous system. If a reflex is
which the major organs and absent or abnormal, it may
structures of the organism indicate brain damage or some
develop other neurological problem
- Critical periods: times during Motor Milestones
which certain environmental 1. Raising head and chest (2 to 4
influences can have an impact on months)
the development of the infant 2. Rolling over (2 to 5 months)
- Teratogen: any factor that can 3. Sitting up with support (4-6
cause a birth defect months)
4. Sitting up without support (6-7
months)
5. Crawling (7-8 months)
6. Walking (8 to 18 months)
- The motor milestones develop as
the infant gains greater voluntary
control over the muscles in its
body, typically from the top of
the body downward.
- This pattern is seen in the really
control of the neck muscles and
- the much later development of
Fetal period control of the legs and feet
- The time from about 8 weeks - The senses, except for vision, are
after conception until the birth of fairly well developed at birth
the child Brain Development
- Fetus: name for the developing - Synaptic pruning: unused
organism from eight weeks after synaptic connections and never
fertilization to the birth of the cells are cleared away to make
baby way for functioning connections
- Viability: the point at which it is and cells
possible for an infant to survive Cognitive development
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