Lecture Notes, Gabriel Psych101

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LECTURE NOTES FOR SECTION 1 OF CLASS

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Introduction
What Isnt Psychology?

late night chats

What do dreams mean?

Why are people the way they are?
If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it really make a sound?
Why doesnt he/she call?

A Research Finding About Love

The Hindsight Bias

Predict Winner of Election
Powell (1988)

The Hindsight Bias

Predict Rape
Janoff-Bulman et al. (1985)

What Is Psychology?
The Scientific Study of Behavior and the mind.
What Is Psychology?
Scientific: Systematic, objective methods of observation (book calls empirical)

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What Is Psychology?
Behavior
Any activity that can be observed, recorded, and measured.
What Is Psychology?
Mind:
All conscious and unconscious mental states
Must be inferred
Goals of Psychology

Not just to describe and explain behavior but also to predict and control behavior.

The History of Psychology

Wundt
The father of psychology
First laboratory
Structuralism identify the common elements of experience
Introspection

Functionalism
How and why does the mind help us function in the world?
Influences by Charles Darwin
William James
Amazing Ideas and Prose
First Lab in USA

Gestalt Psychology
The whole is more than the sum of its parts
Visual (e.g. Neon)

Psychodynamic Theory
Freud
Theory of how thoughts and feelings affect behavior
Push and pull of unconscious and conscious forces

Behaviorism
Skinner

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Reaction to Psychodynamic Theory
Reinforcement
Study behavior for behaviors sake

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Humanistic Psychology
Rogers
Reaction to Behaviorism and Psychodynamic
People have positive values, free will, and creativity
Goal: Personal Growth

Cognitive Approach
How information is stored and operated on
Reaction to Behaviorism

Neuropsychology
Understanding how the brain works helps us to understand psychology

Evolutionary Psychology
Natural Selection: changes in the frequency of genes in a population that occur because
those genes give an organism more chance of survival

What do psychologists do?

Research Methods
Steps
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

to Research:
Observe phenomena
Come up with hypothesis
Operationalize variables
Choose research method
Analyze data
Theory

The Story of Kitty Genovese

Why Dont People Help?

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Come up with Hypothesis

Hypothesis: a tentative and testable explanation of the relationship between causes and
consequences
Exp: the larger the number of people who are witness to an emergency, the less likely
anyone is to intervene.

Operationalize your variables

Variables: measurable conditions that vary
Exp: number of people, helping

Independent Variable: the variables thought to predict the other variable

Variable thought to predict other variable
Exp: number of people

Dependent Variable: Any variable whose values are the result of changes in the
independent variable. The predicted
Exp: helping

Operationalization: the concrete representation of the variable of interest

Exp: what is helping?

Choose a Research Method

1. Case Study
2. Survey
3. Correlational Research
4. Experiment
Choose a Research Method
Case Study: real life description
Pro: rich data source
Con: vulnerable to biases, limited generalizability
Generalizability: what inferences can you make about the phenomenas breadth.
Survey
Interviews or questionnaires of many participants concerning a particular phenomena of
interest
Pros: more generalizability, wide array of topics, real life description
Cons: vulnerable to biases, tests are correlational in nature
Bias: self-presentation bias, wording

Wording Biases

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Correlational Studies
Measure the independent and dependent variables in a number of cases in order to
generalize to an entire population
Correlation: A statistical measure of how closely two variables are associated

Correlations can range from -1.0 to +1.0

Correlations vary in sign (+ or -) and in magnitude (0 1)

Explaining Correlations
Start with 3 variables, (X, Y, & Z) where X and Y are correlated:
X might cause Y
Y might cause X
X might be correlated with Y, which causes Z
Correlations show patterns, not causes

Correlational Studies
Pros: tell us about relationships between variables
Cons: say nothing about causation
Examples: trees and crime, self-esteem

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Experiment
Manipulate variables in a controlled environment in order to assess the effects of such a
manipulation on other variables
Pros: can draw casual influence
Cons: vulnerable to biases, can be artificial

How do you assign people to levels of independent variable (conditions)?

Let them pick?
Time of day?
Alphabetical order?

Hallmark of experiment is random assignment

Random assignment: assign subjects to the experiment in a way that gives each person
an equal chance of being in the experiment

Why? Want to make sure that nothing but IV is affecting experiment

Confounding variables: extraneous variables that could affect experiment

Conclusions from experiment. Do groups differ?

Statistical significance: less than 5% chance that difference could occur due to chance.

Theory
An organized set of principles that describe, predict, and explain some phenomena

Ethical Issues
Informed Consent: subjects sign a form that explains what the experiment is about, their
rights, and the right to stop at any time without penalty
Internal Review Board

What

makes Psychological Research Scientific?

Precision (operational definitions)
Skepticism (doubt what is accepted)
Reliance on empirical evidence
Willingness to make risky predictions (must be falsifiable)
Openness (share data)

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Psychophysiology
Methods of Psychophysiological Research
Twin studies
Brain damage case studies
Phineus gage
Used to be only way
Lesion studies in animals
Imaging
Electroencephalogram (EEG)

Positron Emission Tomography

Active areas have increased blood flow
Radioactive isotopes (small amounts) are placed in the blood
Sensors detect radioactivity
Different tasks show distinct activity patterns

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Magnetic fields align certain ions and compounds
When field is removed, these molecules release energy as radio waves
Kind of like an x-ray
Provides clear, 3D images

The Nervous System

Central Nervous System
Peripheral Nervous System

Divisions of the Nervous System

Central Nervous System
Brain
Spinal cord
Peripheral Nervous System
Somatic
Autonomic

Neurons
The cells of the nervous system
Communicative cells
Sensory: receive signals from outside nervous system

Lecture Notes, Gabriel Psych101

Motor: transmit signals to muscles
Interneurons: communicate with each other

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Structure of a Neuron

The Neuron in Action

Information Transfer (2 phases)
1. Presynaptic (happens within neuron)
At rest - negatively charged
When signals are sent channels are opened and inside becomes more positive
When threshold is reached the neuron fires: action potential
All or none: the firing of a neuron is like a gun
Slow: 120 meters per second
Myelin sheath speeds it up.
Multiple Scerosis

2. Postsynaptic is graded
voltage change at receptor cite is caused chemically (neurotransmitters)
Each neuron connected to up to 100,000 others

How Neurons Communicate

Axon terminals release neurotransmitter
Neurotransmitter enters synaptic gap
Neurotransmitter binds to receptors that it fits
Reuptake: surplus reabsorbed

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Neurotransmitters
After crossing the synapse, the neurotransmitter is reuptaken or degraded
There are more than 40 known types
Different neurotransmitters have different effects
Drugs, neural diseases often affect neurotransmitters

Neurotransmitters
Acetylcholine: important for learning, memory, muscle movement
Serotonin: influences mood and regulates food intake
Dopamine: important to movement and to pleasure and reward
Norepinephrine: maintains alertness & wakefulness

Drugs
Many drugs influence synaptic transmission
Drugs can be agonistic or antagonistic

Agonistic Drugs
Increase release of neurotransmitter, or
Activate receptors, imitate neurotransmitter, or
Inhibit reuptake of neurotransmitter

Antagonistic Drugs
Interfere with release of neurotransmitter, or
Occupy and block neurotransmitter sites

Peripheral Nervous System

Somatic: voluntary muscle activity
Autonomic
Sympathetic: generally activates
Parasympathetic: generally inhibits

The Brain
Brainstem
The primitive inner core

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Medulla
Vital involuntary functions such as sneezes, breathing (hanging)
Pons
Sleep and arousal
Reticular formation
Screens incoming information and arouses higher brain centers when needed
Cerebellum
Learning acquired reflexes
Motor coordination (alcohol)

Limbic System
emotions, memory, and learning
Thalamus
Sensory relay station. All but smell
Amygdala
Fear, anger, aggression
Story of Elliot
Hippocampus
Memory formation
Story of H.M.
Limbic System
emotions, memory, and learning
Hypothalamus
Regulates glands, autonomic NS, release of hormones
Limbic System
emotions, memory, and learning

Lecture Notes, Gabriel Psych101

Lobes

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Hypothalamus
Regulates glands, autonomic NS, release of hormones
Basic Needs: Four Fs

of the Brain
Temporal Lobes: Auditory Perception. Categorization. Essential for social interaction
Occipital Lobes: Contain the visual cortex, associations related to visual stimuli
Parietal Lobes: Sensory integration and then project to frontal lobes. Mental
manipulation. Cross-modal matching
Frontal Lobes: star of brain. Contain controls for speech production, thinking, planning,
reasoning, impulse control, motivation. Phineas Gage

The Case of Phineas Gage

Gage was a railroad construction foreman
An 1848 explosion forced a steel tamping rod through his head
Others said he was no longer Gage
Lost his job, worked as a sideshow exhibit

Two Hemispheres
Language mostly in left hemisphere
Detecting emotion, spatial abilities, music are in right
Right controls and received input from left side of body and vice-versa
The Corpus Callosum Provides a pathway for communication between the hemispheres

Sperrys Split-Brain Experiment

Split-brain subjects could not name objects shown only to the right hemisphere
If asked to select these objects with their left hand, they succeeded
The right side of the brain doesnt control speech

Plasticity in Brain & Behavior

Some rats are housed alone in empty cages
Their littermate twins are group-housed in cages with toys, which are changed frequently
Richer environments led to heavier, thicker brains, more synapses, and better learning
Sensation and Perception

Not the same thing

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Sensation: the conversion of a stimulus (e.g. light) to neural impulses at a receptor site
(e.g. eyes)
Perception: interpreting those stimuli, applying meaning to them

Sensation & Perception Processes

An age old question: If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make
a sound?
Transduction
The process of translating physical information into neural impulses
Five Senses
At least (e.g. equilibrium, pain)
Each sense perceives certain types of info (e.g. light)
Has different structures (e.g. rods and cones in eyes)
Thresholds
Absolute Threshold
The smallest amount of stimulation that can be detected

Absolute Sensory Thresholds

Vision: A single candle flame from 30 miles on a dark, clear night
Hearing: The tick of a watch from 20 feet in total quiet
Smell: 1 drop of perfume in a 6-room apartment
Touch: The wing of a bee on your cheek, dropped from 1 cm
Taste: 1 tsp. Sugar in 2 gal. water

Structures of the Human Eye

Parts of the Eye

Pupil: small opening through which light enters the eye
Lens: transparent part of eye inside pupil that focuses light
Retina: lining of the eye containing receptor cells that are sensitive to light
The Retina

Rods
Mostly in the periphery
More light sensitive; detect light and dark
Take 20-30 minutes to fully adapt to darkness

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Cones
Mostly in the fovea
Less light sensitive; detect colors
Have best detail vision
Adapt fully to darkness in 2-3 minutes

Visual Pathways

Color vision
The Young-Helmholtz trichromatic theory:

After-Image Effect

The Opponent Process Theory

Cells are connected so as to place sensations of:

After-Image Effect
Our receptor cells become over-stimulated and then send less information into our brain
for a short while afterwards.
Opponent color is thus seen more

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Color Vision
The trichromatic theory explains perception at the receptor level
The opponent process theory explains it at higher brain levels

Perception
Bottom up versus top down
Bottom up processing: use bits of information (e.g. color, brightness)
Top down processing: use prior information

Perception is affected by context and expectations

True for auditory perception as well

Chicago Police

Critical Role of Attention

We are surrounded by stimuli all the time
Perception depends on attention
Preconscious Processing
Preconscious Processing
The processing that occurs prior to the filtering process
Exp: dichotic listening task
Cocktail party effect
Exp: sensitivity to sound while sleeping. Klinger

Change Blindness
We tend not to notice unexpected changes in our environments
Illusion of Memory
We think we perceive and remember more of our world than we actually do

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Perceiving visual forms

Gestalt Psychology: whole is more than the sum of its parts.

Figure-Ground
We organize the world so some parts of a stimulus appear to stand out (figure) in front of
other parts (ground)
Similarity
We group things that are similar in color, shape, etc. into single units and see them as
belonging together
Proximity
We perceive as a unit things that are closer together relative to other things
Good Continuation
We group things together if they appear to form a continuous pattern
Example: lines are continued through if they cross other lines
Closure
We tend to complete figures with gaps in them, by ignoring the gaps and mentally filling in
what we believe should be there

Depth Perception
Binocular Cues
Retinal disparity: eyes dont see the same thing
Convergence: eyes move inward to see things
Depth Perception
Monocular Cues
Linear Perspective: as they get further away, objects begin to converge (get closer
together)
The Ponzo Illusion

Top line seems farther away

But the retinal images of the red lines are equal!

Depth Perception
Monocular Cues
Interposition: when something blocks another object
Relative size: knowing the size of something and using it for perspective
Texture Gradient: Things in foreground are more distinct and pronounced

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How do we know these rules?

Experience: blind people who regain sight have trouble perceiving depth.
The Visual Cliff
Devised by Gibson and Walk to test depth perception
Glass surface, with checkerboard underneath at different heights
Visual illusion of a cliff
Baby cant fall
Mom stands across the gap
Heartbeats of 2 month old babies are faster when over cliff

Visual Illusions
Are they nature or nurture?
Answer: some of both!
Mller-Lyer Illusions

Muller-Lyer only occurs in developed countries with carpentered living areas. Top down
Hermans grid: competition among receptor cites

Taste Buds
Photograph of tongue surface (top), magnified 75 times
10,000 taste buds line the tongue and mouth
Taste receptors are down inside the bud
Children have more taste buds than adults

Taste

Involves only 4 sensations: Sweet, sour, salty, bitter

Most of what we consider taste is actually smell
Texture is very important in enjoyment of food
People love fats for the smooth feeling they give food (most are tasteless)

Sensitivity to Touch

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Extrasensory Perception
Extrasensory Perception (ESP):
The ability to perceive something without ordinary sensory information
This has not been scientifically demonstrated

ESP

Three

types of ESP:
Telepathy Mind-to-mind communication
Clairvoyance Perception of remote events
Precognition Ability to see future events

No scientific evidence
Does science know all?
*****Lecture 5*****
Thought and Language

Outline of Lecture
Mental Representation
Methods of Problem Solving
Heuristics and Biases
Language

Concept
A mental category that groups objects or events
Chairs
Flying
Dogs

How are concepts stored?

Analog sensory correspondence to features of the stimuli
E.g. Pumpkin Pie
Symbolic not sensory but meaningful

Symbolic Representations

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Schema
Integrated collection of concepts concerning a topic or aspect of the world
Can have schemas for anything
Objects
Situations
People
Duncker's Candle Problem
Using only the objects shown in the picture, mount the candle to the wall

Why study representations?

One reason: can affect problem solving
Functional Fixedness: failure to use familiar objects in novel ways
Problem Solving
Algorithms:
Problem-solving strategies that guarantee a solution. May be time-consuming.

Heuristics:
Promising problem-solving strategies that don't guarantee a solution. Often faster.
Why do we use heuristics?
Information processing constraints: we can only process so much info at one time
(working memory)
Motivational Constraints: we dont always want to do the very best (just good enough)
Availability Heuristic
Use ease with which instances come to mind to estimate probability

Exp: which is more common reason for death?

Diabetes or homicide?
Tornado or lightning?
Shark attack or falling airplane parts?

Availability Heuristic
Example: how many words are there in English that could fit in:
__ __ __ __ __ I N G
__ __ __ __ __ __ N __
Consensus heuristic
Assume others think like us

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When asked how others think, we use ourselves as a guide
Example of False Consensus

False Consensus Effect

Anchoring Effect
The tendency to use the initial number as an anchor when making a judgment
Exp:

Exp: How long is Mississippi river?

500 Miles?
5000 Miles?

Anchoring Effect Can also have effect with non-numerical judgments.

Which car do you prefer?
Car A
Car B
Stylish
Expensive
Good Gas Mil
Fair Service
Fair Service
Good Gas Mil
Expensive
Stylish
Laws of Sympathetic Magic
Law of contagion
Law of similarity
Law of contagion
once in contact, always in contact
Ex: apple juice.
Bug in bottom of first cup
Drink second cup?

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Law of Similarity
Image = object

Confirmation Bias
The tendency to search for information that confirms original hypotheses
Exp: Told story of Hannah
poor background
well-to-do
Different academic promise

The essentials: what makes language language?

Phonemes: the smallest units of sound in spoken language
Exp: boy versus toy is one phoneme difference
Humans can produce 100
English uses 45
Babies babble all phonemes at six months
By one year start to limit
Other animals have different phonemes

Syntax
Internal structure of a sentence
All languages have rules for how sentences are arranged a basic part of language
In English we need a noun and a verb I am.
Brocas area
Brocas aphasia

Semantics
The meaning of a word or sentence
Morphemes smallest unit of meaning walk v. walking

Semantics V. Syntax:
cloud eat haughty blue v. I today school go.

Pragmatics
The way that language conveys meaning indirectly
E.g. can I ask you a question?
E.g. Do you know where the restroom is?

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Innate or learned?
Empiricism: we learn syntax (behaviorists)
Nativism: crucial parts of language are innate
All humans learn language: ways our brains are constructed

Learning language is innate

1. Children from different cultures go through similar stages of language development
2. Children over generalize
3. Children dont need correction to learn rules
4. Children in groups will form own language
5. Infants derive linguistic rules automatically

Other Animals and Language

Apes can learn hundreds of signs and can communicate with them effectively
Do not use language innately
Can they be generative?
Dolphins and language
Elephants and language

LECTURE NOTES FOR SECTION 1 OF CLASS

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