BIOLOGY AND HUMAN BEHAVIOR

ONE BRAIN OR TWO?

In 1967, M.S. Gazzaniga studied the split brain in man. Gazzaniga wanted to study

how the two halves of the brain functioned independently. Since it a little unethical to

snip the peoples corpus callosums just for fun, it wasn‘t until doctors discovered that

cutting the corpus callosum could actually cure severe epileptic seizures that it was

possible for Gazzaniga and Sperry to study them. They found that the test subjects’

intelligence, personality, and emotions had not changed. We use each half of our

brains for specific skills. Three different tests were designed to check mental

capabilities. It was found that the left-brain is better at speaking, writing, reading, and

math, and the right brain is better at recognizing faces, understanding spatial

relationships, symbolic reasoning, and art. The importance of this study was that it

discovered what the different hemispheres of the brain do

MORE EXPERIENCE=BIGGER BRAIN

In 1972, M. R. Rosenzweig, E. L. Bennett, and M. C. Diamond studied how brains

change in response to the experience they’ve had. To study this they used lab rats,

each were put in to one of three different environments. The rats were either sent to

a normal cage with friends, a luxury cage with friends, or the slums cage all alone.

The rats lived there for a couple weeks then they were kelled so their brains could be

examined. The rats in the luxury cage had thicker cortexes, larger neurons and more

brain activity than the lonely slummy rats. The importance of this study was that it

showed that experience does affect the size of parts of the brain

WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU’VE LEARNED

In 1962, C. M. Turnbull the experiences and behavior of BaMbuti Pygmies.

Turnbull watched the BaMbuti Pygmies who lived in an extremely thick jungle and

didn‘t know of anything other that their environment. He took one of them out to a

clearing unlike any place he‘d ever been before and then mountains. The man was

unable to describe any of it because there were no words in his language to since

they had not know such things existed. He thought that distant buffalo were insects.

Because they looked small from so far away, He thought they were small.

Turnbull drove him over bison. He thought some magic had grown them from tiny to

huge. The importance of this study is that it shows some concepts, like size

constancy, are not inborn.

WATCH OUT FOR THE VISUAL CLIFF!

In 1960, E. J. Gibson and R. D. Walk studied to find at what point people can

perceive depth, using the visual cliff.

They made a visual cliff, it looks like a drop off but really theres a clear countertop

there so no one would actually get hurt, to tested infants at different ages to see

when the babies would stop “walking off the cliff” and perceive that this part was

further away. The importance of this study is that it dicover that depth perceotion is

an inborn trait but when it is apparent is different for different species, some animals

can perceive it right away but human infants can‘t until at least six months.. it at all.

CONSCIOUSNESS

TO SLEEP, NO DOUBT TO DREAM

In 1953, E. Aserinsky and N. Kleitman studied basic phenomenon about sleeping and

dreaming. By observing sleepers, then waking them up to interrogate them in

different stages of sleep(but they didn‘t know that is what they were yet). Aserinsky

and Kleitman discovered REM sleep.

Dement studied the effect of dream deprivation. His tst subjects were hooked up to a

sleep measuring maching and whenever they indicated the person had started

dreaming they were woken up and made to sit up and prove they were full awake. By

then last night of dream deprivation they had to be waken up nearly twice as much to

keep them from dreaming. If people are prevented from dreaming one night they will

try and get extra dreams in the next night to make up for it. This studies are important

because they show when we dream and that we need to dream.

WHEN YOU WISH UPON A DREAM…

In 1974, R.D. Catwright studied the influence of conscious wishes on dreams.

Cartwright thought that if efore sleep you wished about something that pertains to

you it would be more likely to occur in your dreams.. Before going to sleep test

subjects were asked to repeat “”I wish I were not so____” each time they entered rem

sleep they would be woken up and had to describe their dream.most of them

dreamed about their target word. This study is important because it shows us we can

think (or wish) something into our dreams.

UNROMANCING THE DREAM

In 1977, J. A. Hobson and R. W. McCarley studied an activation synthesis hypothesis

of the dream process. Hobson and McCarley studied the sleep patterns of mammals.

They discovered you are paralyzed(except muscles and nerves controlling eyes)

while dreaming, they believe it is to protect sleep. REM happens regularly, and all

mammals cycle between REM and non-REM sleep. They found that the bigger the

animal the slower the cycle. The importance of this study is that it shows dreaming is

not purely psychological, our bodies start the dreaming process, dreaming may just

be used as a way to organize our mind and synthesize our thoughts.

ACTING AS IF YOU ARE HYPNOTIZED

In 1982, N. P. Spanos Studied hypnotic behavior from a social, psychological and

cognitive perspective. Spanos concluded that hypnosis is not an altered state of mind

but it is actually just the result of motivated and goal oriented social behavior. If we

hadn’t learned what is ‘supposed’ to happen with hypnotizing then we wouldn’t be

hypnotizable, but since we know and in trying to believfe we make ourselves follow it

we make it seem like a true altered state. The importance of this study is that it

cleared up confusion of how hypnosis works and makes it understandable, also it

proved that it is not an altered state.

LEARNING AND CONDITIONING

IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT SALIVATING DOGS!

In 1927, I. P. Pavlov studied classically conditioned behaviors.

Pavlov’s study with salivating dogs introduced classical conditioning. Classical

conditioning takes an unconditioned stimuli that yeilds and unconditioned response

and adds a conditioned stimuli that is learned to trigger the conditioned response

even when the unconditioned stimuli is no present. Pavlov’s study was to: feed your

dog, dog salivates, ring a bell before feeding dog, dog will soon start salivating at

bthe sound of the bell ringing , even if food isn‘t accompanying it. The importance of

this study is that it taught classical conditioning, one of the fundamental theories of

modern psychology.

LITTLE EMOTIONAL ALBERT

In 1920 J. B. Watson and R. Rayner studied the classical conditioning of emotional

responses. Little albert was allowed to play with a white rat and had lots of fun. Later

on whenever Little Albert touched the rat the scientist made a big scary noise. Little

Albert learned to associate the big scary noise with his former friend the white

rat.now little Albert is afraid of the rat and becomes upset whenever the rat is near.

The importance of this study is that it showed us that classical conditioning not only

controls behaviors but emotions, as well.

KNOCK WOOD!

In 1948, B. F. Skinner studied operantly conditioned behaviors. Skinner’s Idea siad

that for every situation we have a behavior and there is a consequence for that

behavior , either good or bad. Positive reinforcement adds something good, negative

punishmane takes away something bad, both strengthening the behavior. Positive

punishement adds something bad, and negative reinforcement takes away

something good both diminishing the behavior.the Skinner box was used to operantly

condition test subjects. The animals thought that maybe because they had turned

around 5 times that’s why the food came out even if it would have come out that peck

regardless so he ended up with superstitious pigeons just like we have superstitious

people who always wear green underwear on game days just because one time they

played in green underwear they won the game. The importance of this study is that it

showed how we may have come up with ridiculously stupid superstitions through

operant conditioning.

SEE AGGRESSION…DO AGGRESSION

In 1961, A. Bandurra, D. Ross, and S. A. Ross studied the acting out of

aggressiveness being the imitation of aggressive models. Bandura thought that

behavior is taught by example, monkey see, monkey do so that’s what he was

testing. He was looking to see if children who observe angry parents are more likely

to be angry. They found in testing that the children would imitate the violence they

had observed. The importance of this study is it showed how dramtically children

could obtain a behavior and led to research on the effect of violent games/movies on

children.

Intelligence, thoughts, and memory

WHAT YOU EXPECT IS WHAT YOU GET

In 1966, R. Rosenthal and L. Jacobson studied how expectations affected the results.

Classes were given an I.Q. test and the teachers were given the names of students

who scored in the top 20% the teachers, but really these were just randomly picked

students. The teachers thought these kids would boom and become great minds so

they started treating them that way at the end of the year they were retested. The

kids identified as bloomers generally did much better the second time around, but it

was strongest shown in younger children. Their study gave us the idea of the self-

fulfilling prophecy. Self fulfilling prophecy being the idea that: you hear expectations,

you believe them, you act and fulfill the prophecy your self. When teachers expected

the students to perform better, the students did. . The importance of this study is that

it gave us the idea of the self-fulfilling prophecy, and we realize we can change things

just by believing them so.

MAKING A GOOD IMPRESSION

In 1946 S. E. Asch studied how first impressions are formed and what is taken into

account. Groups A and B were given descriptions of two different people that were

exactly the same except for one word. It was found that the one word would change

someone’s entire perception of that person. It was found that some qualities of

people are used a central qualities and affect the perspective someone is seen from,

while others are just peripheral. The importance of this study is that it showed how

differently traits function in our cognitive process of impression formation.

MAPS IN YOUR MIND

In 1948, E. C. Tolman studied cognitive maps in men and rats. Tolman used 3 groups

of rats and a complex maze. One group received a reward at the end, one received a

delayed reward, and the last received no reward. They ran through the maze once a

day. The rats receiving the rewards got better and better. They were creating a

cognitive map because they wanted the reward. From this it was concluded that

comprehensive maps of our social environments are helpful to humans but narrow

maps occur when mapper is over motivated or over frustrated. Thie importance of

this study is that it showed psychologists used to ignore the role of our thoughts, but

Tolman used a few experiments with rats to show that thoughts AND environmental

consequences will affect behavior.

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES!

In 1975, E. F. Loftus studied guiding questions effecting /creating memories

Loftus conducted several experiments and gather that by asking questions that

wereauiding, and deceiving we could create memories in people, that they will

genuinely start believing. The importance of this study is that it showed memories are

not just recalled, but they can be made and manipulated.

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

DISCOVERING LOVE

In 1958, Harry Harlow studied the nature of love using monkeys.

In his study baby monkeys were given one of two surrogate mothers. One of the

moms had a smooth, soft sponge rubber and terry cloth body, a breast providing milk,

and inside was a light bulb to give off warmth. The second mom was the same

except, instead of a nice comforting body it had a wire mesh body, she was still able

to nurse and warm the baby though. One mother could provide contact comfort; the

other could not. The importance of this study is that it showed biological needs are

not our only priority. Monkeys, even one fed by the wire mother, ended up spending

as much time as they could with the soft mother because she provided comfort.

OUT OF SIGHT, BUT NOT OUT OF MIND

In 1954, Piaget studied the stages of cognitive development. Piaget studied children

of various ages taking a questioning test, what struck him wasn’t the children who got

the wrong answer but that children of the same age seemed to use the same process

to decide on their wrong answer. Piaget realized that we could not just learn all of our

mental abilities, some of them we acquire with age. Piaget get came up with the four

stages of cognitive development: Sensori-motor, ages 0-2, Pre-operational, ages 2-7,

concrete operational, ages 7-11, and formal operations, age 11 and up. The

importance of this study is that it set the stages of cognitive development and we

realized there are some things you just are not capable of for a while, as no matter

how much you want that six year old to think abstractly he is not yet capable of it.

BORN FIRST, BORN SMARTER?

In 1975, R. B. Zajonc and G. B. Markus studied the effect of birth order on intellectual

development. First-born children seem to have some similar characteristics, more

verbally active, less impulsive, more active, better in school. Another consistent

finding was that first-born children tended to do better on aptitude tests. Zujonc

suggested that as family size increases the average intellectual climate of the family

decreases. However, that would mean an only child would have the highest

intelligence and that was not found to be true. The importance of this study is that it

showed that the size of a family does affect the intelligence level but they also noted

that birth order is not the only thing that determines intelligence, there are many other

factors.

IN CONTROL AND GLAD OF IT!

In 1976, E. J. Langer and J. Rodin studied the effects of choice and better self-

responsibility in old people. Langer and Rolin found that patients in a nursing home

who were given increased responsibility were significantly happier and more active

than those in the control group. The importance of this study is we saw how some

sense of control over your situation, and self-responsibility over your own life makes

you happier.

EMOTION AND MOTIVATION

A SEXUAL MOTIVATION…

In 1966, W. H> Masters and V. E. Johnson studied sexual responses.

Masters and Johnson studied thousands of people having sex in their labs. Now

that’s research!

They reported that (a) sexual response happens in four stages: excitement, plateau,

orgasm, and resolution. (b) Average penis size is 3″ flaccid and 6″ erect. (c) Flaccid

size does not predict erect size. (d) Penis size is a minor factor in sexually stimulating

a woman. (e) After orgasm men cannot orgasm again for some time. Women can

orgasm again right away.

I CAN SEE IT ALL OVER YOUR FACE

In 1971, P. Ekman and W. V. Friesen studied facial and emotional intercultural

constants.

Researchers studied a remote tribe that had never seen movies or pictures or worked

with Westerners. Researchers told an emotional story and then asked subjects to

point to a photo that showed the right emotion. They found that certain facial

expressions are associated with certain emotions across all cultures.

LIFE, CHANGE, AND STRESS

In 1967, T. H. Hoplmes and R. H. Rahe studied the rate of social readjustment for

different life changing events, creating, in the end, the Social Readjustment Scale

Researchers found the clear link between stress and illness so well known today.

They also ranked the most stressful events. At the top of the list? Death of spouse,

divorce, marital separation, jail term, and death of close family member.

THOUGHTS OUT OF TUNE

In 1959, L. Festinger and J. M. Carlsmith studied the cognitive consequences of

forced agreements.

Festinger found that if you do or say something contrary to your attitude, you will tend

to change your opinion to make it fit with what you said or did. This is an attempt to

resolve “cognitive dissonance.”24

Personality

ARE YOU THE MASTER OF YOUR FATE?

In 1966, J. B. Rotter studied the internal expectancies for vs. the external control of

fate.

HOW MORAL ARE YOU?

In 1963, L. Kholberg studied development of moral order, and created the six stages

of moral development. Kohlberg says that we acquire morality in the different stages

of developmet. During premorality, punishment works. During role-conformity, we do

what pleases others and keeps order. In self-morality, we take on our culture’s

values and form our own.

LEARNING TO BE DEPRESSED

In 1967, M. E. P. Seligman and S. F. Maier studied learned depression with the failure

to escape traumatic shock.

RACING AGAINST YOUR HEART

In 1959, M. Friedman and R. H. Rosenman studied the correlation of specific overt

behvior patterns with cardiovascular monitoring.

It was found that personality traits affect behavior but can also effect our physical

health. Someone who is constantly rushed, edgy, and competitive person is more

likely to have heart problems. The importance of this is it showed a direct correlation

between personality traits and health.

PSYCHOPATHOLOGY

WHO’S CRAZY HERE, ANYWAY?

In 1973 D. L. Rosenhan conducted studies on being sane in insane place.

8 normal people went to 12 psychological hospitals. They said they heard voices.

Besdies that, they acted normally. All the subjects were admitted to all 12 hospitals.

All but one was labeled schizophrenic.

Rosenhan’s point was that diagnosis has as much to do with the environment of

diagnosed as it does with their symptoms. After Rosenhan, diagnosis couldn’t be

done in psychological hospitals. Now, people don’t label as quickly.29

YOU’RE GETTING DEFENSIVE AGAIN

In 1946, A. Freud identified different defense mechanisms studied by her father.

Many of Freud’s ideas have been abandoned. One exception is his idea of defense

mechanisms. His daughter, Anne, summarized these theories in The Ego and

Mechanisms of Defense.

A defense mechanism is something our mind does to protect against anxiety. Anne

named a few. With regression, one retreats into younger behavior. In projection, one

projects one’s impulses onto other people. In reaction formation, one does the

opposite of one’s “bad” impulses). There are others.30

PROJECTIONS OF WHO YOU ARE

In 1942, H. Rorschach studied and implemented the use of the inkblot test.

Rorschach showed subjects abstract shapes and asked them what the shapes were.

Different types of people (depressed, schizophrenics, etc.) gave different types of

responses.35

CROWDING INTO THE BEHAVIORAL SINK

In 1962 J. B. Calhoun studied the effects of crowding on social pathology

Calhoun studied the effects of crowding on lab rats. He found that crowding causes

aggression in some, submissiveness in others, sexual deviance, and reproductive

abnormalities. Later studies examined the relation between humans and crowding.

PSYCHOTHERAPY

CHOOSING YOUR PSYCHOTHERAPIST

In 1977, M. L. Smith and G. V. Glass analyzed the effects of counseling and

psychotherapy, determined the magnitude of the effect and compare them.

They summarized thousands therapy outcomes and found that: getting therapy is

better than not getting therapy and, it seemed the type of therapy give didn‘t really

matter. The study showed the importance of your expectations for therapy and

whether or not your therapist actually cares greatly affect how much therapy helps

you

RELAXING YOUR FEARS AWAY

In 1961, J. Wolpe studied the systematic growing of tolerance in treatment of

neuroses. Wolpes found that he could systematically desensitize you from your

phobia. When presented with your phobia(like in picture) form you would also receive

a positive stimulus and the photo would become less frightening.

The importance of this study is it showed how that we can get rid of phobias through

associating them with positive things.

PICTURE THIS

In 1938, H. A. Murray studied personality tryinjg to “reveal covert and unconscious

complexes”.

A CHEMICAL CALM

In 1978, W. E. Whitehead, B. Blackwell, and A. Robinson studied the effects of

diazepam on phobia’s.

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

NOT PRACTICING WHAT YOU PREACH

In 1934, R. T. LaPierre studied attitudes and actions. LaPiere’s study questioned

whether your attitude really predicted your behavior. LaPIerre traveled, with his

Chiniese Friends , across the United States where there was currently much

prejudice and discrimination towards anyone of Asian decent. When they traveled to

over 251 hotels and restaurants and were only once denied service, but when

LaPierre mailed questionnaires to the establishment they had visited asking if they

would accept Chinese guests? 51% of the places returned the questionnaire. The

importance of this study is it showed our beliefs aren’t always shown in the way we

act.

THE POWER OF CONFORMITY

In 1955 S. E. Asch studied opinions and social pressure, conforming.

The test subjects were shown a standard line and several comparison lines. Then,

researched asked them to choose the comparison line that was the same length as

the standard line. The subjects had been intentionally placed, 9 were confederates

then the last person to go was actually being tested. All the other subjects choose the

same wrong line. The volunteer was left to choose either what they knoew was right

or the obviously wrong one everyone else chose.

75% of volunteers went along with the group atleast . The importance of this study is

it shows that we will go along with an obviously wrong answer just because everyone

else did, we will doubt our own perceptions so that we are the same as the group.

TO HELP OR NOT TO HELP

In 1968 J. M. Darley and B. Latane studied the bystander effect, diffusion of

responsibility. In 1964, Kitty Genovese was stabbed in front of her apartment building.

There 38 people watched the attack, it went on for 35 minutes before someone called

the police. By that point Kitty was dead. This shows the diffusion of responsibility, the

were many people around so they all assumed someone else would help. According

to the bystander effect if just one person had walked down the street and seen Kitty

getting attacked the chances are they would have helped, but when that same one

person is one of 30 they think someone else will. The importance of this study is that

it revealed to us the bystander efect and diffusion of responsibility.

OBEY AT ANY COST

In 1963, S. Milgram studied the extremities of compliance when told by an authority

figure, obedience. Researchers asked volunteers to electrically shock others ,in a

teaching situation, when they answered a question wrongo. The people being

“shocked”: had a script to follow they weren’t actually being hurt.

65% of volunteers obeyed the researchers suggestions to keep going with higher and

higher levels until they had “killed” the student. The importance of this study s it

showed what extreme lengths we will obey someone who is viewed as an authority

figure, 65% of these random volunteers obeyed until to murder.