Unit V and VI: States of Consciousness:

States of Consciousness:

Sleep: sleep is the state of consciousness. We are less aware of our surroundings

Biological Rhythms:

Annual Cycles: seasonal variations (bears hibernation, seasonal affective disorder)

28 day cycles: menstrual cycle

24 hour cycle: our circadian rhythm

90: minute cycle: sleep cycles

Circadian rhythm

- our 24 hour biological clock

- our body temperature and awareness changes throughout the day

- it is best to take a test or study during your circadian peaks

Sleep Stages:

- there are 5 identified stages of sleep

- it takes about 90-100 minutes to pass through 5 stages

- the brains waves will change according to the sleep stage you are in

- the first four stages are known as NERM sleep

- the fifth stage is called REM sleep

Unit V and VI: Intelligence

Intelligence:

Intelligence- the ability to learn from experience solve problems and use knowledge to adapt to new situations. Is socially constructed thus can be culturally specific.

Is intelligence one thing it several different abilities? To find out scientist use factor analysis: a statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items on a test.

Charles Spearman used FA to discovery his g or (general intelligence)

Multiple Intelligence: Howard Gardner disagreed with Spearmans g and instead came up with the concept of multiple intelligence. He came up with the idea by studying savants ( a condition where a person has limited mental ability but I'd exceptional in one area.

Gardeners Multiple Intelligence: visual/ spatial, verbal and linguistic, logical/mathematical, bodily/ kinesthetically, musical/rhythmic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, natural.

Sternbergs three aspects of Intelligence: Gardner simplified:

Analytical: academic problem solving

Creative: generating novel ideas

Practical: required for everyday tasks where multiple solutions exist.

Emotional Intelligence: first called social intelligence. The ability to perceive, express, understand, and regulate emotions. Some studies show EQ to be a greater predictor for future success than IQ.

Brain Size and Intelligence: is there a link?: small +.15 correlation between head size and intelligence scores(relative to body size) using an MRI we found +.44 correlation with brain size and IQ score.

Brian Function And Intelligence: higher performing brains use less active than lower performing brains( use less glucose). Neurological speed is also a bit quicker.

How do we asses intelligence?: Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon set out to figure out a concept called a mental age (what a person of a particular age should know) they discovered that by discovering someone's mental age they can predict future performance. Hoped they could use test to help children not label them.

Terman and his IQ test: IQ=mental age/chronological age x 100.

Modern Tests of mental abilities: Wechasler adult intelligence scale(WAIS): consists of 11 subtests and cues us on UK strengths by using factor analysis.

Aptitude vs achievement tests: aptitude a test designed to predict a persons future performance. The ability for that person to learn

Achievement: a test designed to asses what a person has learned.

How do we construct intelligence tests? Tests must be - standardized -reliable - valid

Standardization; the test must be protested to a representative sample of people and form a normal distribution or bell curve. Flynn Effect: intelligence test performance has Been rising.

Reliability: the extent which a test yields consistent results over time . Spilt halves it test retest method.

Validity: the extent to which a test measures what it is supposed to measure

Content validity: does the tests sample a behavior of interest. Predictive Validity: does the test predict future behavior.

Group Differences in intelligence test scores: the bell curve is different for whites and blacks. Why? Nature vs Nurture

Test Bias: tests do discriminate but some argue that there sole purpose is to discriminate. We have to look at the type of discrimination.

Unit V and VI: Thinking:

Thinking:

Cognition: another term for thinking, knowing, and remembering.

In order to think about the world, we form CONCEPTS- A mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people.

-Concepts similar to Piagets idea of Schemas.

We base our concepts on Prototypes- A mental image or best example of a category.

-If a new object is similar to our prototype we are better able to recognize it.

We solve problems on TRIAL AND ERROR.

Algorithms: a methodical, logical rule, or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem.

Heuristics: a rule of thumb strategy that often allows us to make judgements and solve problems efficiently. A short cut.

Insight: a sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem. No real strategy involved.

Obstacles to problem solving:

Confirmation Bias: a tendency to search for information that confirms ones preconceptions. Match Problem: fixation: the inability to see a problem from a new prospective.

The jug problem: B-A-2C = desires amount of water.

Mental Set: a tendency to approach a problem in a particular way especially if it has worked in the past. May or may not be a good thing.

Functional fixedness: the tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions.

Types of Heuristics:

Representativesness Heuristics: a rule of thumb for judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they match our prototype. Can cause us to ignore important information.

Availability Heuristic: estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in our memory. If it comes to mind easily we presume it is common.

Overconfidence: the tendency to be more confident than correct. To overestimate the accuracy of your beliefs and judgements.

Framing: the way an issued is posed. It can have drastic effects on your decisions and judgments.

Belief Bias: 1. democrats support free speech. The tendency for ones preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning.

2. Dictators are not democrats. Sometimes making invalid conclusions valid or vise versa.

Belief Perservance: clinging to your initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited.

Unit V & VI: Memory

Memory:

Memory: The persistence of learning over time through the process of storage and retrieval of information

Three Memory Concepts:

1. Encoding: The processing of information into the memory system

2. Storage: The retention of material over time.

3. Retrieval: the process of getting the information our of memory storage.

Recall: retrieve information from your memory (a fill in the blank test)

Recognition: must identify the target from possible targets (multiple choice)

Flash bowl memory: a clear moment of an emotionally significant moment or event

Three Memory Types:

·         Sensory memory: the immediate initial recording of sensory information. It is stored for just an instant and most of the information goes unprocessed.

·         Short term memory: holds a few items briefly. If it doesn't stay in shirt term it goes to long term or it is forgotten. Also known as the working memory

1. Audio

2. Visual

3. Integration of audio and visual

·         Long term memory: permanent and limitless store house of memory.

Encoding

Two ways to encode

1. Automatic processing:    unconscious encoding of incidental information.

-You encode space, time and word meaning without effort

-Things can become automatics with practice

- for example if I tell you that you are jerk

2: Effortful Processing: encoding that re quotes attention and conscious effort

- rehearsal is the most common Effortful processing technique

v  The next-in-line effect: we seldom remember what the person has just said or done if we are next

v  Information minutes before sleep is seldom remembered; in the hour before sleep, well remembered

v  Tales info played while asleep is registered by ears, but we do not remember it.

Spacing effect:  we encode better when we study or practice over time

Serial positioning effect: our tendency to recall best the last and first items in a list

Types of encoding:

- Semantic encoding: the encoding of meaning, like the meaning of the word

- Acoustic Encoding: the encoding of sound, especially the sounds of words

-Visual encoding: the encoding of picture images

Self- reference effect: the idea that we remember things (like adjectives) when they are used to describe ourselves

Tricks to encoding

-          use imagery:

Devices use imagery. Like my "peg word" system

Chunking: Organizing items into familiar manageable units

Storage- How we retain the information we encode

Iconic memory: a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli a photograph like way kitty lashing only about a second

Echoic memory for auditory stimuli. If you are not paying attention to someone you can still recall theasg few words said in the past three or four seconds

Long term Potentiation: Long lasting: enhancement in signal transmission between two neurons that results from stimulating them synchronously

Stress and Memory

Deals with The hippocampus

- dangerous to your hippocampus disrupts our memory

- Left= verbal

- Right= Visual and Locations

Types of Retrieval Failure: the disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information

Retroactive interference: the disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information

Unit V: Sensation and Perception:

Unit V & VI Notes:
Unit V: Sensation and Perception: 

Sensation: your window to the world.
Bottom up Processing: analysis that begins with the sense receptors and works up to the brains integration of sensory information.
Top down Processing: information processing guided by higher level mental processes. As when we construct perceptions drawing on our experiences and expectations.

Perception: interpreting what comes in your window. the process of organizing and interpreting information. Enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events.
Visual Capture: the tendency for vision to dominate the other senses.
Gestalt Psychology: (gestalt means an organized whole) these psychologists emphasize our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes.
Gestalt Philosophy: the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Figure Ground Relationships: the organization of the visual field into objects (figures) that stand out from their surroundings(ground).
Groupings: the perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into groups that we understand.
1. Proximity- group nearby figures together.
2. Similarity- group items that are similar together.
3. Continuity- continuos patterns
4. Connectedness- uniform and linked together.
Depth Perception: the ability to see objects in three dimensions litho ugh the images that strike the retina are two dimensional. Allows us to judge distance.
How do we transfer two dimensional objects to three dimensional objects:
Binocular Cues: depth cues that depend on two eyes.
Monocular Cues; depth cues that depend on one eye.

Retinal Disparity: a binocular cue for seeing depth. The closer an object comes to you the greater the disparity is between the two images.  

Interposition: if something is blocking our view, we perceived it as closer.
Relative Size: I we know that two objects are similar in size the one that looks smaller is farther away.
Relative Clarity: we assume hazy objects are farther away.
Texture Gradient: the coarser it looks the closer it is.
Relative Height: things higher in our field of vision, they look farther away.
Relative Motion; things that are closer appear to move more quickly.
Liner Perspective: parallel lines seem to converge with distance.
Light and Shadow: dimmer objects appear farther away because they reflect less light.

Phi Phenomenon: an illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in succession.
Perceptual Consistency: perceiving objects as unchanging even as illumination and retinal images changes.

Transduction: transforming signals into neural impulses. Information goes from the retna to the thalamus then to various areas in the brain.

Sensory Adaptation: decreased responsiveness to stimuli due to constant stimulation.
Sensory interaction: the principle that one sense may influence another.

Taste and smell are chemical senses:
Papillae: those bumps on your tongue. Helps you grip food while your teeth are chewing. They contain your taste buds.

Sweet: it is sensed when our sensitive taste buds come into contact with sugar. Found on the tip of your tongue.
Salty: sensed when our salty taste buds come in contact with salt.
Sour: sensed when our sour taste buds come in contact with an acid
Bitter: sensed when our bitter taste buds come in contact with alkaline chemical. Base of the tongue.
Spicy: Sensed when the nerve receptors in our mouth come into contact sigh a chemical that irritates them.

Cocktail Party Phenomenon: the cocktail party effect describes the ability to focus ones listening attention on a single talker among a mixture of conservations and background noises, ignoring other conservations. Form of selective attempt.

Energy vs. Chemical Senses:

Vision: our most dominating sense. Visual capture.

Phase One: gathering light
The height of a wave (brightness) gives us its intensity.
The length of the wave (color) gives us its hue.
The longer the wave the more red
The shorter the wavelength the more violent.

Phase Two: getting the light in the eye:

Phase Four: in the brain:
Goes to visual cortex located in the occipital love of the cerebral cortex. Features detectors. Parallel Processing

Color Vision:
1. Trichromatic Theory: three types of cones. Red. Blue. Green.
These three types of cones can make millions of combinations of colors. Does not explain afterimage a or colorblindness well.
2. Opponent Processing Theory: the sensory receptors come in pairs. Red and green. Yellow and blue. Black and white. If one color is stimulated, the other is inhibited.

Hearings:
our auditory sense.
We hear sound waves. The height of the wave gives us the amplitude of the sound.
The frequency of the waves gives us the pitch of the sound

Transduction in the ear: sound waves hit the eardrum then anvil and then hammer then stirrup then oval window.
Then the cochlea vibrates.
The cochlea is lined with the mucus called the basilar membrane.
In basilar membrane there are hair cells.
When hair cells vibrate they turn vibrations into neural impulses which are called organ of Corti.
Sent then to thalamus up auditory nerve.

Pitch theories:
Place Theory: different hairs vibrate in the cochlea when they feel different pitches. So some hairs vibrate when they hear high and other vibrate when they hear low pitches.
Frequency Theory: all the hairs vibrate but at different speeds.

Deafness:
Conduction deafness: something goes wrong with the souf and the vibration on the way to the cochlea. You can replace the bones or get a hearing aid to help.
Nerve (sensorineural) Deafness: the hair cells in he cochlea gets damaged. Loud noises can cause this type of deafness. No way to replace the hair. Cochlea implant is possible.

Frequency: # of complete wavelengths that pass through point at a given time. This determines the pitch of a sound.
Short wavelength= high frequency
Long wavelength= low frequency

Amplitude: how loud a sound is. The higher the crest of the wave is the louder the sound is. Measured in decibels.




Absolute Threshold: the minimum stimulation needed to detect a stimulus 50% of the time.
Difference Threshold: the minimum difference that a person can detect between two stimulus. Also known as Just Noticeable Difference.
Webers Law: the idea that to perceive a difference between two stimuli they must differ by a constant percentage not a constant amount.
Signal Detection Theory: predicts how we detect a stimulus amid other stimuli. Assumes that we do not have an absolute threshold. We detect stuff based on our experiences motivations and fatigue level.
Subliminal Stimulation: below ones absolute threshold for conscious awareness.

Intensity: The amount of energy in a light wave determined but the height of the wave the higher the wave the more intensity.

Parallel Processing: the processing of several aspects of a problem simultaneously (color motion form)

Color Blindness:
caused by: 1. Genetics 2. Exposure to chemicals.

Rods facilitate black and white vision
Cones facilitate color vision.

Unit IV: Developmental psychology/Types of Intelligence:

Developmental psychology: study from birth to death
Nature vs Nurture
- are you the way you are because of the way you were born? (Nature)
- are you the way you are because of the way you were raised (Nurture)

Cross- sectional
- participants is different ages studied at the same time
Longitudinal Studies
- One group if people studied over a period of time

Physical Development
- focus on our physical changes over time


{Parental development}
- sperm tries to enter the egg

Once the sperm penetrated the egg- we have a fertilized egg called a...

Zygote: the first stage of parental development lasts about two weeks and consists of rapid cell division.
- less than half of all zygotes survive first two weeks
- about 10 days after conception, the zygote will attach itself to the uterine wall
- the outer part of the zygote becomes the placenta

After two weeks the zygote develops into an...

Embryo
- Last about 6 weeks
- Heart begins to best and the organs begin to develop

By nine weeks we have a..

Fetus
- by nine weeks we have a...
- the fetus by about the 6th month, the stomach and other organs have formed enough to survive outside of mother
- At this time the baby can hear and recognize sound and respond to light

Teratogens
- chemical agents that can harm the prenatal environment
- alcohol
- STDs can also harm the baby
- HIV
- herpes

Parental Development
- 40 days
- 45 days
- 2 months


Healthy newborns
- turn head toward voice
- see 8 to 12 inches from their face
- gaze no longer at human like objects right from birth

Types of Reflexes: inborn automatic response
-Rooting(cheek): when a newborn is touched on the cheek the newborn will turn its head toward the source of stimulation.
-Sucking
-Grasping Reflex: if an object is placed into a baby's Palm the baby will try to grasp the object with his or her fingers
-Moro (startle): when startled a baby will fling his or her limbs out and quickly retract them.
-Babinski (foot): when a baby's foot is stroked he or she will spread their toes.

Maturation: physical growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior regardless of the environment. Although the timing of our growth may be different the sequence is almost the same.

Motor Development: sequence is the same but once again timing varies. First learn to roll over sit up unsupported

Cognition: all mental activities associated with thinking knowing and remembering.

Schemas: schemes are ways we interpret the world around us(concepts)

Assimilation: incorporating new experiences into existing schemes.

Accommodation: changing on existing schema to adapt to new information.

4 Stages of Cognitive Development:
1. Sensorimeter Stage: (0-2) experience the world through our senses
Object Permanence develops around 6-8 months of age.
2. Pre-operational Stage:(2-6 or 7): begin to use language to represent objects and ideas(thinks in symbols) no logical, magical thinking, egocentric: early in this stage they cannot look at the world through anyone's eyes but their own. Conservation: refers to the idea that a quantity remains the same despite changes in appearance and is part of logical thinking.
3. Concrete Operational Stage: (7-11) can demonstrate concept of conservation. Learn to think logically. Understanding of reversibility or awareness that actions can be reversed.
4. Formal Operational Stage:(12 yrs and older) abstract reasoning. Hypothesis thinking. Reasoning with metaphors and analogies.

Attachment: bond with caregiver
Konrad Lorenz discovered that some animals form attachment through imprinting
Harry Harlow: showed that monkeys needed touch or body contact to form attachment.
Critical period: shortly after birth when an organisms exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produce proper development.
Responsive Parenting: Mary Ainsworth "Strange Situation" study.
Three types of attachment: 1. Secure- children show some distress when parent leaves, seek contact at the reunion, explore when parent gone, play and greet when parent present. Insecure attachments lack 1 or more of these traits.  2. Avoidant -
3. Anxious/ambivalent
Stranger Anxiety: fear of strangers that infants commonly display , 8 months of age.
Separation Anxiety.

Parenting Styles: Authorization parents- expect obedience. Permissive Parents- child's desire  Authoritative Parents-both the parent and child compromise


Adolescence: the transition period between childhood to adulthood.
Puberty: the period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing.
Primary Sexual Characteristics: body structures that make reproduction possible.
Secondary Sexual Characteristics: non reproductive sexual characteristics.
Landmarks for Puberty: -menarche for girls. First ejaculation for boys.
Adulthood: all physical abilities essentially peak by our mid twenties.
Physical Milestones; menopause: the natural ending of a women's ability to reproduce. There are physical symptoms led by a lack of estrogen.

Types of Intelligence:
 crystallized intelligence: accumulated knowledge. Increases with age.
Fluid Intelligence: ability to solve problems quickly and think abstractly. Peaks in the 20s and then decreases over time.
Alzheimer's Disease: a progressive and irreversible brain disorder characterized by gradual deterioration of memory language and physical functioning. (Acetylcholine)
Life expectancy keeps increasing- now about 75.
Women outlive men by 4 years but more men are conceived 126 to 100. Then 105-100 by birth. Men die easier.
Death: Elizabeth Kubler-Ross's Stages of Grief: 1.Denial 2.Anger 3.Bargaining 4.Depression 5.Acceptance

Unit IV: Stage theorists

Stage Theorists: believe that we travel from stage to stage throughout our lifetimes.

Sigmund Freud: we all have a libido (sexual drive)
Our libido travels to different areas of our body throughout our development (psychological stages of development)
Oral Stage:(0-1) seek pleasure the through mouth
Psychological task- weaning
Anal Stage:(1-3): psychological task- toilet training. Libido is focused on controlling waste and expelling waste.
Phallic:(3-6): children first recognize their gender. Psychological task: identify with the same sex parent. Causes conflict in families with Oedipus and Electra
Latency Stage:(6-11): libido is hidden. Cooties stage.
Genital Stage: libido is focused on their genitals. Experience sexual feelings towards others And conflicts from childhood reappear

Unit IV: Endocrine System/Brain Tests/ Parts of the brain

The endocrine system: a system of glands that secrete hormones. Similar to nervous system except hormones work a lot slower than transmitters.

Brain Tests:
Lesions: removal or destruction of the brain. Frontal Lobotomy.
Electroencephalogram: EEG, Detects brain waves through heir electrical output. (Sleep research)
Co outsized Axial Tomography: CAT Scan, 3D X-ray of the brain.
Good for tumor locating but not for function.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging: MRI- more detailed picture of the brain using magnetic field to knock electrons off axis. Takes many pictures into moving like productions.
PET scan: positron emission tomography; measures of much of a chemical is released

Parts Of The Brain:
Pons- located above the medulla. Connects hindbrain with midbrain and forebrain. Involved in facial expressions.

Forebrain: make us humans, largest part of the brain, made up of thalamus, lambic system.

The Cerebral Cortex: made up of densely packed neurons called "gray matter". Glial Cells support brain cells. Wrinkles are called fissures.

Hemispheres: divided into two hemispheres. Contra lateral control: right controls left and vise versa. In general, left hemisphere is for logic and sequential tasks. Right hemisphere is for spatial and creative tasks.

Association Areas: any area not associated with receiving sensory information or coordinating muscle movements.

Brain Plasticity: the idea that the brain, when damaged,will attempt to find new ways to

The Corpus Callosum: bridge if nerve fibers that connects of divides the two hemispheres.

Cerebrum: largest part of the brain. Divided into left and right hemispheres and divided into lobes. Contains cerebral cortex. Controls voluntary movement, coordinates mental activity and it's the center for all conscious living


Frontal Lobes
- abstract though and emotional control
- contains Motor Cortex: send signals to our body controlling muscle movements
- Contains Brocas Area: responsible for controlling muscles that produce speech
- Damage to Brocas Area is called Brocas Aphasia
- unable to make movements to talk.

Parietal Lobes
- Contain Sensory Cortex: receives incoming touch sensations from rest of the body
- Most of the parietal lobes are made up of Association Areas

Association Areas
- Any area not associated with receiving sensory information or coordinating muscle movements

Occipital Lobes
- Deals with vision
- contains visual cortex: interpreters messages from our eyes into images we can understand

Temporal Lobe
- process sound sensed by our ears
- interpreted in auditory cortex
- not lateralized
- contains wernikes area: interprets written and spoken speech
- Wernikes Aphasia: unable to understand language: the syntax and grammar jumbled

Unit IV: Biological School: The Nervous System:

Biological School:
The Nervous System:
Neuron-individual nerve cell
How does a Neuron Fire?:
Resting Potential: slightly negative charge
Reach the threshold when enough neurotransmitters reach dendrites
Go into Action Potential (firing)
All or None Response: the idea that either the neuron fires or it does not - no part way firing

Neurotransmitter: chemical messengers released by terminal buttons through the synapse.
Acetylcholine: ACH : deals with motor movement and memory. Lack of ACH has a link to Alzheimer's disease
Dopamine: deals with motor movement and alertness. Lack of dopamine has been linked to Parkinson's disease. Too much has been linked to schizophrenia
Serotonin: involved in mood control. Lack of serotonin has been linked to clinical depression.
Endorphins: involved in pain control. Many of our most addictive drugs deal with endorphins.
Norepinephrine: helps control alertness and arousal. An under supply can lead to depression. An oversupply can lead to manic symptoms.
GABA(gamma-aminobutyric acid): major inhibitory neurotransmitters. An under supply can lead to seizures.
Glutamate: major excitatory neurotransmitter; involved in memory. Oversupply can overstimulate the brain leading to migraines

Drugs can be ...
Agonists: make neuron fire
Antagonists: stop neural firing
Reputable Inhibitors: block transmitters from entering the neuron.
Three Types of Neurons:
1. Sensory Neurons(afferent Neurons): take information from the senses to the brain
2. Inter Neurons: take messages from sensory neurons to other parts of the brain or to motor neurons.
3. Motor Neurons(Efferent Neurons): take information from brain to the rest of the body

Reflexes: normally sensory(afferent) neurons take info up through the spine to the brain.

Unit III: Social Psychology II

Social Influence-----
Conformity
• adjusting ones behavior or thinking to counad with a group standard

Conditions that strengthen conformity
• One is made to feel incompetent
• Group is at least three people
• Group is unanimous
• One admires the groups status
• One had made no prior commitment

Social Facilitation
• improved performance of tasks in the presence of others
• occurs with simple or well learned tasks
• Not with tasks that are difficult or not yet mastered

Yerkes- Dodson Law
• There is an optional leek of arousal for the best performance of any task:
• easy task--relatively high
• difficult tasks-- low arousal
• other tasks-- moderate level

Social Loafing
• The tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling efforts toward a common goal than if they were individually accountable

Deindividuation
• The loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity

Group Polarization
• The concept that a groups attitude is one of extremes and rarely moderate
• as a group, both the Black Panthers and the Klu Klux Klan are more extreme than the average individual in the group

Groupthink
• The mode of thinking that ours when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides common sense

Self-fulfilling Prophecies
• Occurs when one persons belief about others leads one to act in ways that induce the others to appear to confirm the belief

Social Relations-----
- Attraction
-Conflict and Prejudice

Prejudice
~ an unjustifiable attitude towards a groups of people
~ Usually involves stereotyped beliefs
~ ( a generalized belief about a group of people)
~ "all white people are stupid"
~ OVERT or SUBTLE

Social inequalities
• INGROUP: "us"- people with whom one shares a common identity
• OUTGROUP: "them"- those perceived as different than ones in-group

• INGROUP BIAS: the tendency to favor ones own group

Unit III: Social Psychology I

Social Psychology
The study of how we think about influence and relate to one another's

•Social Thinking----
how do we think about one another?
  •Attribution Theory: the idea that we give a casual explanation for someone's behavior
    -we credit that behavior either to the situation or..
    -to the persons disposition

•Fundamental Attribution Error
    - the tendency to underestimate the impact of a situation and overestimate the impact of personal disposition.
    - how do you view your teachers behavior? You probably attribute it to their personality rather than their profession.

Attitudes
• a belief it feeling that predisposes one to respond in a particular way to something

Do our attitudes guide our actions
Only if...
-External pressure is minimal
-We are aware of our attitudes
-The attitude is relevant to the behavior.

Our actions affect our attitudes

Foot-in-the-door phenomenon
• The tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request

Door-in-face phenomenon
• The tendency for people who say no to a huge request, to comply with a smaller one

Zimbardo Prison Study
• Role playing affects attitudes. What do you think happened when college students were made to take on the roles of prison guards and inmate.

Cognitive Dissonance Theory
• We do not like when we have either conflicting attitudes or when our attitudes do not match our actions
• When they clash we will change our attitude to great balance

Unit II: Research Methods:

Unit II:
Research Methods:
*Psychology is a science

Hindsight Bias: tendency to believe, after learning the outcome,that you knew it along.
Overconfidence: we tend to think we knew more than we do.
The Barnum Effect: the tendency for people to accept very general or vague characterization of themselves and take them be accurate.
Applied vs. Basic Research:
Applied research- clear and practical applications.
Basic Research: explores questions that you may be curious about, but not intended to be immediately used.


Thursday February 05,2015
Hypothesis: expresses a relationship between a variable. *anything that can vary among participants in a study.

Independent variable: whatever is being manipulated in the experiment.
(If there is a drug, the drug is always the independent variables)

Dependent variable: whatever is being measured in the experiment.
(The effect of the drug)

Operational Definitions: explain what you mean in your hypothesis. How will the variables be measured in "real life" terms.

Sampling: identify the population you want to study. The sample must be representative of the population you want to study.

Experimental Method: looking to prove causal relationships.
Cause=effect
Laboratory v. Field Experiment

Confounding variable is anything that could cause a change in B, that is not A.

Hawthorne Effects: even the control group may experience changes, just the fact that you know you are in an experiment can cause change.

Correlational Method: expresses a relationship between two variable. Does NOT show CAUSATION!

Types of Correlation
Positive Correlation: the variables go in the SAME direction
Negative Correlation: the variables go in opposite directions.

Survey method: most common type of psychology measures correlation. Cheap and fast. Need a good random sample. Low response rate

Naturalistic Observation: Watch subjects in their natural environment. Do not manipulate the environment. The good is that there is Hawthorne effect. The bad is that we can never really show cause and effect.

Correlational Coefficient: A number that measures the strength of a relationship. Range is from -1 to +1. The relationship gets weaker the closer you get to zero.

Case Studies: a detailed picture of one or a few subjects. Tell us a great story...but is just descriptive research. Does not even give us correlation data.

Statistics: recording the results from our studies.
1. Mean
2. Mode
3. Range

Descriptive statistics: just describes sets of data.
 Standard Deviation: the variance of scores around the mean. The higher the variance or SD, the more spread out the distribution is.
Z scores: a unit that measures the distance of one score from the mean. A positive z score means above the mean. A negative z score means a number below the mean.

Animal Research: clear purpose. Treated in a humane way. Acquire animals legally. Least amount of suffering possible.

Human Research: No Coercion-must be voluntary. Informed consent. Anonymity. No significant risk. Must debrief.

Social Psychology:
Social psychology- The study of how we think about influence and relate to one another.
Social Thinking- how do we think about one another
Attribution Theory: the idea that we give a casual explanation for someone's behavior. We credit that behavior either to the situation or to the persons disposition.
Fundamental Attribution Error: the tendency to underestimate the impact of a situation and overestimate the impact of personal disposition.
Attitudes: a belief or feeling that predisposes one to respond in a particular way to something
Foot in the door phenomenon: the tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to complete later with a larger request.
Door in the face phenomenon: the tendency for people who say no to a huge request, to comply with a smaller one.
Zimbardo Prison Study: Role playing affects attitudes. What do you think happened when college students were made to take on the roles of prison guards and inmates.

Cognitive Dissonance Theory: we do not like when we have either conflicting attitudes or when our attitudes do not match our actions.


Social Influence:
Conformity: adjusting ones behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standards.
Condition that strengthen conformity: one is made to feel incompetent. The group is at least three people. The group is unanimous. One admires the groups status. One had made no prior comment.

Social Facilitation; improved performance of tasks in the presence of others. Occurs with simple or well learned tasks. Not with tasks that are difficult or not yet mastered.
Yerkes Dodson law: there is an. Optimal level of arousal fiber he best performance of any task. Easy tasks- relatively high
Difficult task - low arousal
Other task-moderate level
Social Loafing: the tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling efforts toward a common goal than if they were individually accountable.
Deindividuation: the loss of self awareness and self restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity.
Group Polarization: the concept that a groups attitude is one of extremes and rarely moderate. Ex KKK
Groupthink- the mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision making group overrides common sense.
Self fulfilling prophecies: occurs when one persons belief about others leads one to act in ways that induce the others to appear to confirm beliefs.

Social Relations: attraction, conflict and prejudice, peace making, aggression
Prejudice: an unjustifiable attitude towards a group of people.
Social Inequalities: a principle reason behind prejudice. In group- "us" people with whom one shares a common identity
Out group"them" those perceived as different than ones in group
In Group bias: the tendency to favor ones own group.

Scapegoat Theory: the theory that prejudice provides an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame.
Aggression: any physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt or destroy.
The Biology of Aggression:
1. Genetics
2. Neural Influences
3. Biochemical

The Psychology of aggression: frustration aggressive principle: the blocking of an attempt to achieve some goal. Creates anger which generates aggression.

Conflict: a perceived incompatibility of actions goals or ideas.
Situation where people must choose between an act that is beneficial to themselves but harmful to others and an act that is moderately beneficial to all.

Attraction: 5 factors of Attraction; 1. proximity= geographic nearness. Mere exposure effect: repeated exposure to something breeds liking. Taiwanese Letters.
2. Reciprocal Liking= you are more likely to like someone who likes you.
3. Similarity: Breeds content
4. Liking through association
5. Physical Attractiveness

Altruism:
Social Exchange Theory: the idea that our social behavior is an exchange process, which we maximize benefits and minimize the cost.
Peacemaking: give people superordinate that can only be achieved through cooperation.

Unit I: Schizophrenia

AP PSYCOLOGY:

Schizophrenic Disorders: about 1 in every 100 person are diagnosed with schizophrenia

Symptoms: 

1. Disorganized thinking - The thinking of a person with schizophrenia is fragmented and bizarre and distorted with false beliefs 

2. Disturbed perceptions-Delusions(false beliefs): Delusions of Persecution - ex. hallucinations- sensory experiences without sensory stimulations.  Delusions of Grandeur 

3. Inappropriate emotions and actions: laugh at inappropriate times. Flat Effect- a reduction in emotion. Senseless, conclusive acts. Catatonia-motionless Waxy Flexibility 

Positive and Negative Symptoms: 

Pos: Presence of inappropriate symptoms 

Neg: Absence of appropriate ones 

Disorganized Schizophrenia: disorganized speech it behavior, or flat or inappropriate emotion. Clang associations. "Imagine the worst"-systematic, sympathetic. 

Paranoid Schizophrenia: preoccupations with delusions or hallucinations. Somebody is out to get me !!! 

Catatonic Schizophrenia: Flat effect, Waxy flexibility, parrot like repeating 

Undifferentiated Schizophrenia: many and varied symptoms 

Unit I: Mood/Personality Disorders:

AP PSYCHOLOGY:

Chapter 14-16:

Mood Disorders: 

Major Depression: unhappy for at least two weeks with no apparent cause. It is the common cold of psychological disorders. 

Dysthymic Disorder: suffering from mild depression everyday for at least two years. 

Seasonal Affective Disorder:(SAD): experience depression during the winter months. Based not on temperature, but on the amount of sunlight. 

Bipolar: formally manic depression. Involves 

periods of depression and manic episodes. Manic episodes involves feeling of high energy. 

Personality Disorders: 

-Well established, maladaptive ways of behaving that negatively affect people's ability to function. Dominates their personality. 

Antisocial Personality disorder: Lack of empathy, little regard for others feelings, view the world as hostile and look out for themselves. 

Dependent Personality disorder: rely too much on the attention and help of others. 

Histrionic Personality Disorder: Needs to be the center of attention.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder: having an un warranted sense of self importance. Thinking that you are the center of the universe.