Psych 1200, A01Define: Psychology, Scientific method and behaviourDescribe: goals of psychologyExplain: emergence of structuralism and functionalismList: The seven contemporary theoretical approaches to psychology and their basic premiseIdentify: what do psychologists do

Chapter 1

What is psychology?- The real goal of psychology is to understand human behaviour.- Why bother?

o It is the root of the most good and the most problems in the worldo Curiosity

Is Psychology unique?- Psychology: The scientific study of the behaviour of individuals and their mental processes

Scientific Method:Set of procedures for gathering and interpreting objective information in a way that minimizes error and yields dependable generalizations

BehaviourWhat is behaviour?

- The observable actions by which an organism adjusts to its environment

The Goals of Psychology- Describing what happens- Explaining what happens - Predicting what will happen- Controlling what will happen

Describing what happens:Behavioural data – reports of observations about behaviour and conditions under which they occur

- Researchers choose an appropriate level of analysis- Measures of behavioural data must be objective

Explaining what will happen:- Descriptions describe what happened- Explanations look to explain “how” behaviour works

o Internal factor Genetic makeup, motivation, intelligence

o External factors Situational factors

Predicting what will happen: - A closer look at scientific prediction

o Understand how events relate to one anothero What mechanisms link those events to certain predictors

- A closer look at causal predictiono Specifies conditions under which behaviours will change

Controlling what happens:- Control means making behaviour happen or not happen- Ways of helping improve the quality of life

o Preventiono Intervention

Evolution of Modern Psychology

- Historical foundations- “Psychology has a long history but a short past” (H. Ebbinghaus, 1908)- School of Structuralism- School of Functionalism

School of Structuralism- Contents of the mind and concept of “reductionism”

Wundt is considered the father of scientific psychology- His Q: how can the mind be studied?- The use of scientific method- Opened the 1st university based psychology lab- Studied reaction times- Discovery: mental processes take time- Field today: cognitive psychology

Titchener’s goal of structuralism and the problem of introspection- Introspection – to look inward- All the elements of the mind can be tied to sensory experience

o Qualityo Intensityo Durationo Clarity

- Discovery – nearly all believe the method failedo Private technique, unique to individuals

September 13, 2013

The phi phenomenon promoted Gestalt psychology- Gestalt – the whole- In conscious experience whole objects and scenes precedence over component parts

Main players…- Wilhelm Wundt

o First psychological experimental laboratory- Edward Titchener

o Brought structuralism to America introspection- Max Wetheimer

o Concept of Gestalt psychology as an alternative to structuralism

School of Functionalism- Minds with a PURPOSE

o William James- The function of mind and behaviour in an organism’s interactions with the environment- John Dewey

o American functionalism and progressive education “We should learn by doing” –Dewey

William James’ functionalism founded modern psychology- The main objective of psychology should be to understand the mind’s functions, not its

structures- Influenced by Darwin- True pioneer in psychology- His students included Edward Thorndike and Mary Calkins

o Edward Thorndike – learning theoryo Mary Calkins –

Legacy of structuralism and functionalism - Psychologists examine both the structure and function of behaviour- How you do something may be as important as why you do it- Set up context for modern psychology to flourish

September 18 2013

Psychodynamic perspective- Key figure: Sigmund Freud- Behaviour is explained in terms of inherited instincts, biological drive, and attempts to resolve

internal conflicts- Focus is on the unconscious

Behavioral perspective

- Key figures: John Watson, B.F. Skinner- Environment controls behavior - Primarily concerned with observable behavior that can objectively recorded- Principles from animals generalizable to humans- Legacy – rigour and defined variables

Human perspective- Key figure: Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow- Emphasizes an individual’s inherent capacity for making rational choices and developing to their

maximum potential- Self-actualization- Unconditional Positive Regard

Cognitive perspective- Human thought and the process of knowing and thinking- Behavior occurs because people think

Piaget and Chomsky’s ideas influenced the emergence of cognitive psychology - The study of people’s ability to acquire, organize, remember and use information they acquire- Piaget: reasoning in children- Chomsky: language is a set of mental rules

Biological perspective- Behavior is explained in terms of underlying physical structures and biochemical processes- At the micro level

Much of psychology has moved into the realm of neuroscience in the past decade- Behavioural neuroscience- Cognitive neuroscience- Social neuroscience - Greatest influence: Donald Hebb (Canadian)

The evolutionary perspective- Biology and experience

o The biggest and most persistent issue in psychology revolves around the relative contributions of biology and experience

o The nature vs. nurture debate- Natural selection

Sociocultural perspective- Cross-cultural differences in the causes and consequences of behavior

Table 1.1 for all perspectives

What psychologists do (fig. 1.2)- Engage in psychological inquiry- Formulate questions to be researched- Conduct various forms of research

- Apply psychological principles

Other info:- G. Stanley Hall

o Founded the APA in 189- Women in psychology:

o Margaret Washburn First female to earn a doctorate degree (Ph. D) in psychology in 1894

- Mary Calkinso First female to be president of APA

Chapter 2 – Research Methods in Psychology September 20, 2013

- The research process- Psychological measurement- Ethical issues in human and animal research- Becoming a wiser research consumer

Objectives - Explain the principal steps of the scientific method- Explain hypotheses and theories- Identify the major types of scientific research methods in psychology- Discuss the principles of good experimental design- Discuss the importance of operational definitions, explain the meaning of validity - Discuss the control of independent variables- Explain the meaning of reliability, describe the selection of subjects for an experiment- Discuss the problem of subject/experimenter expectations and control for this- Discuss correlation research studies, and how this relates to the issue of generality - Discuss ethical issues involved in psychological research and the guidelines to promote the

humane and ethical treatment of living subjects- Discuss the value of cross-cultural research - Explain the use of descriptive statistics, measures of central tendency, measures of variability,

and the measurement of relations/associations- Explain the concept of statistical significance and its use in determining the difference between

two group means

The Process of Research

- Step 1o Initial phase of research, in which observations, beliefs, information, and general

knowledge to a new idea or a different way of thinking about some phenomenon o Theory

An organized set of concepts that explains a phenomenon or set of phenomena o Psychologists use theories to formulate research questions

- Concept of determination o The doctrine that all events – physical behavioural, and mental – are “determined by

specific causal factors that are potentially knowable

- Step 2o Develop a hypothesis

Hypothesis o hypotheses A tentative and testable explanation(s) of the relationship between two

(or more) events or variables- Step 3

o Use the scientific method to design the study

- Scientific Methodo Set of procedures used for gathering and interpreting objective information in a way

that minimizes error and yields dependable generalizationso Its goal is objectivityo Want objective data, error free data

- A challenge to objectivityo Observer bias

Distortion of evidence because of the personal motives and expectations of the viewer

- Observer bias: the remedyo Standardization

A set of uniform procedures for treating each participanto Operational definition

Defined in terms of the specific operation or procedure used to determine its presence

All variables in a research study must be given operational definitions

- Research variableso Variables are factors in an experimental setting that change in amount and kind

Independent variable Dependent variable

- Independent variable o A factor that is manipulated by the researchero The causal part of the relationship

- Dependent variableo A variable that the experimenter measures to assess the impact of a variation in an

independent variableo The dependent outcome that is observed from the manipulation of the independent

variable

- Experimental method o Researcher manipulates an independent variable to look at its effect on a dependent

variable o Observes changes that occur in second variable

- The challenge to objectivity o Alternative explanations to research

These can result from Confounding variables Expectancy effects Placebo effect

o The more alternative explanations for a given result, the less confidence there is for an initial hypothesis

- Confounding variableo A variable other than what the experimenter purposely introduced that affects a

participants behaviouro Confounding variables add confusion and place the interpretation of the data at risk

- Expectancy effectso Results that occur when a researcher or observer subtly communicates to the

participants the kind of behaviour he or she expects, therefore, creating the expected reaction and/or outcome

- Placebo effecto Occurs when the experimental participants change their behaviour in the absence of any

kind of experimental/manipulation

September 23, 2013Levels of Analysis:

1) Micro (in your brain, look at your neurons)2) Molecular (external individual) 3) Molar (big group; class)

Placebo Effect: The feeling that something different is going to happen to you. Like a study where they gave out pills but some of them were real and some of them were just sugar, fake. The people that took the sugar pill, act out and have symptoms when nothing has happened, they act differently.

Dopamine (KNOW FOR TEST) – neurotransmitterControl Procedures

- Consistent procedures for giving instructions, responses, and holding all other variables constant except those being systematically varied

- Double blind control- Placebo control- Between subjects designs- Within subjects designs

Double blind control- Experimental procedure in what both the experimenter and the subject are unaware as to who

received the treatment

Placebo Control- The inclusion of an experimental condition in which the treatment is not administered

Design

- Between subjects designo Different groups of participants are randomly assigned to experimental conditions or to

control conditions- Within subjects design

o Each participant is his or her own control

Good Sampling- Sample:

o Subject of a population selected as participants in an experiment- Representative sample:

o A subject of the population being studied- Population:

o Entire set of individuals to which generalizations will be made based on an experimental sample

Correlational methods- Correlational methods

o Determine to what extent two variables, traits, or attributes are relatedo Do not imply causation

- Correlational coefficient (r) o Indicates the degree of relationship between two variables

R = -1 0 +1 (strong relationships)- Tight relationship: one increasing, one decreasing

Psychological measurement- Reliability

o Degree to which a test produces similar scores each time it is used- Validity

o Extent to which a test measure what it was intended

Self-report measures- Behaviour identified through a participant’s own observations and reports- Why might this be a problem? (social desirability)

Behavioural measures- Overt actions and reactions that are observed and recorded- Direct observations

o The behaviour is clearly visible and is easily recordedo Can be aided by technology

- Naturalistic observationso Naturally occurring behaviour is viewed without attempting to change or interfere

September 25, 2013

Archival Data- Information taken from existing records

o Examples include birth and death records, weather reports, voting patterns, and attendance figures

Case Study- Intensive observation of a particular individual- A case study can also involve an intensive observation of a small group of individuals

(research methods – pg. 35 table 2.1)

Ethical issues in Research- Respect for the basic rights of humans and animals is a fundamental obligation of all researchers- All research proposals are reviewed by special committees- Factors the review board consider include:

o Informed consento Risk/in assessmento Intentional deceptiono Debriefing

- Informed consent o Research participants are asked to sign statements indicating they have been informed

as to the potential risks and benefits of the study and consent to participate - Risk/Gain assessment

o Risks to the participants must be minimized- Intentional deception

o For some research it is not possible to tell participants the intention of the study without biasing the results

o American/Canadian psychological association has strict rules on the use of deception- Debriefing

o At the end of all studies each participant must be provided with as much information about the study as possible

- Issues in animal researcho Should animals be used in psychological and medical research?

Milgram’s experiments – obedience Zimbardo’s prison experiments – situationAsch’s experiments – conformity ***

A Wiser Research Consumer- Becoming a wiser research consumer

o Becoming a wiser consumer of research involves critical thinkingo Knowing how to evaluate claims

Outline- Why statistics- Data analyses - Descriptive statistics- Inferential statistics - Consuming statistics

Why statistics?- Statistics are used to make sense of data collected- Provide a quantitative basis for conclusions drawn- Help us make decisions when people use data to sway our opinions and actions

Data analyses- Two types of statistics to interpret raw data

Descriptive statisticso Used to describe different aspects of numerical datao Mathematical procedures used in objective way

Inferential statisticso Use probability to make decisions about which results might have occurred through

chance variation

Descriptive Statistics- Frequency distributions

o A summary of how frequently each of the various scores occurso How?

Rank order scores Create intervals Note frequencies

- Graphs can help us visually understand data ad see patternso Bar graphso Histograms

- Measures of central tendencyo Mode o Median o Mean

- Measures of central tendencyMode

o The score that occurs more often than any other

Median o The middle score that separates the upper and lower half of the distribution

Mean o Average score (sum of scores divided by the total number of scores)

September 27, 2013- Measures of variability

Rangeo Difference between highest and lowest scores in the distribution

Standard Deviation (SD)o Measure of variability that indicate the average difference between the scores and their

mean

- Correlation coefficient (r)o A measure of the nature and strength of the relationship between two variableso Range from -1 to +1

Inferential Statistics- Which inferences can be made from our samples and what conclusions we can draw from our

datao Are group differences large enough to be meaningfulo Based on the idea that data represents a normal curve or distribution

- Statistical significanceo Whether a difference is real or due to chance

- Significant differenceo Differences having a probability of occurring by chance less than 5 out of 100 times (p

< .05)o Stricter probability levels may be used

Consuming Statistics- Be wise to the use and misuse of statistics- Misleading impressions can occur

o Generalizations from sample populations may not be representative of populationo Check use of appropriate statistics based on normal assumptions and sample size

Cross-cultural Psychology- Important to consider, otherwise our theories are not generalizable- All cultures have implicit or explicit psychology theories, theories of how the mind works, that

have been developing for thousands of years- Overlap with western psychological traditions have been found- Some cultures, completely lost, other were written down

September 30, 2013Chapter 3 – Evolutionary Psychology

Main points of video: - Foundations of evolutionary psychology- Evolution and behaviour- Sociobiology - Decline of behaviourism- The unshakeable foundations of Darwinian theory- Variation in the human genotype- Evolution of language and emotion- Applied evolutionary psychology

Evolutionary Psychology- What is evolutionary psychology?

o The study of behaviour and the mind using the principle of evolutionary theory - Causal explanations in psychology

o Nature vs. nurture

Foundations of evolutionary psychology- Lamarck (1809) believed there were 2 causes of change:

o Natural tendency for organisms to become more complexo And inheritance of acquired characteristics

The influence of Charles Darwin- Early ideas from observation of changes in species occurring as a result of selective pressures

from environment - Wrote the book “The Origin of Species” (1859)- One of the most influential scholars to bring evolutionary theories to the attention of scientists

- Continuity between animals and humans - Individual differences – even though species share common characteristics, there are also

differences – can determine our fitness to survive - Importance of adaptability - Importance of the environment – surrounding environment changes overtime and because it is

changing our ability to fit in that environment requires us to change in appropriate ways in order to survive

- Emphasis on change

Natural selection- Favourable adaptations to features of the environment allow some members of a species to

reproduce more successfully than others (C. Darwin, Origins of Species, 1859)

Sexual selection- Darwin also proposed the theory of sexual selection… (eg. Peacock tail)

October 2, 2013

Young, Critelli, & Keith- University students were asked about ages of the mate they would choose- Males aged 18-19 preferred females age 16.87 for marriage, but 17.76 for a sexual encounter

Darwin and the bumblebee- What is interesting about the shape of combs in hives?- The hexagonal cells of the honeybee’s hives are the optimal shape for storing large amounts of

honey and lavae using the least amount of wax

Evolution & Behaviour

- Darwin and the smileo Two kinds of smile

Happy smile False smile

o Homologies with other animals Chimpanzees & other primates Innate…

- Herbert Spencer – survival of the fittest o The physical world, organisms, the mind, culture, and human society changed according

to evolutiono That evolution could shape human society came to be known as Social Darwinism

- Sir Francis Galton applied evolutionary theory to the study of human abilitieso Eg. Interlligence

- Eugenics

- Genetic Determinism = all human qualities are hardwired in genetic material

- Environmental determinism = humans are shaped by the environment (the extreme form is the idea of…..tabula rasa/blank slate)

Ethology- Ethology incorporates evolutionary theory in the study of animal behaviour- concepts of proximate and ultimate behavioural causes

Key player in the ethology movement- Konrad Lorenz and imprinting…

o Form of learning where animals form associations with the first object they seeo Evidence for critical periods in development

Altruism- Altruism involves the study of unselfish and potentially risky behaviour that animals perform for

the benefit of another animal

Reciprocal Altruism- Altruism occurs even without genetic relatedness- Reciprocal altruism – I do something nice, you do something nice back- Inclusive fitness

Conflict in the womb- Scott Forbes U of Winnipeg- Theory that there is conflict in the womb between a mother and a child

Sociobiology- Edward Wilson (1975)

o Sociobiology: The new Synthesiso Complex behaviours could be explained by synthesizing many fields (broader than solely

biology)- David Buss

o Advocates understanding the human mind from an evolutionary perspective

The Cinderella Effect- Daly & Wilson (2001) - Initial questions involved whether step children are disproportionately mistreated compared to

biological children- The answer was “yes”

Decline of behaviourism- Research suggested that human behaviour could not be fully explained by only observing

behaviour- Harlow’s monkeys - Cognitive revolution- Donald Hebb

Foundations of Darwinian Theory - Darwin’s theories were not really embraced until scientific basis for inheritance was proposed- Gregor Mendel’s studies on heritability

o Genotype = the genetic structure Genotypes interact with environment to produce variations in expression

o Phenotype = observable characteristics

October 4, 2013Human Evolution

- Humans have common physical behavioural features- Two adaptations in humans favoured by natural selection:

o Bipedalism – ability to walk uprighto Encephalization – increase in brain sizeo Responsible for most advances in human evolution

Variation in the Human Genotype- Genetics is the study of heritability

o Heritability – the inheritance of physical psychological traits from ancestors- We all have unique biological blueprints and timelines for development based on our

generational histories

Basic Genetics- DNA – deoxyribonucleic acid (contained in nucleus of cells)- Genes are contained within DNA

The Genes- Gene’s provide instructions for production of body’s proteins, which are the molecular basis for

behaviour- Genes are contained in chromosomes..

o Sex chromosomes = contain genes coding for development of male (XY) or female (XX) characteristics

- Much government and research attention about the genome

Genes & Behaviour- Human behaviour genetics

o Explores causal relationships between inheritance and behaviour by combining psychology and genetics

- Estimation of the heritability of human behaviourso Ranges from 0 (environment) to 1 (genetic)o Use of adoption and twin studies

Evolution of Language- Advent of language an evolutionary milestone- Language is the basis for cultural evolution

o Tendency of cultures to respond adaptively, through learning, to environmental changeo Allows for rapid adjustments to changes

- Is language an adaptation or a by-product of evolution?Adaptation

Proponents: Stephen pinkerLanguage developed as direct consequence of natural selectionToo complex to be side effect

By-productProponents: Noam Chomsky, Stephen Jay GouldDevelopment of language accidental side effect of brain growth

- Regardless of how language evolved, what about WHY?o Social gossip hypothesis (dunbar, 1996)

Language functions as a form of social grooming (maintenance of social bonds)o Social contract hypothesis (deacon, 1997)

Language developed to facilitate marriage contracts between mates (communicate relationships to others)

o Also ideas on how language relates to attracting mates?

Evolution of Emotion- Can emotions be related to evolutionary history?- Phobias

o Strong fear of a stimulus that disrupts their lifeo Rooted in predispositions to develop certain fears that were once adaptive in dangerous

ancestral environments (accounts for most phobias)o Some phobias related to features of modern world resulting from conditioning

- Not all emotions can be explained by evolution…- Depression

o Reduced serotonin in brain linked to subordination (and behaviour change)o Evolutionary theory would suggest that actions would reflect attempts to re-establish

dominance

Applied Evolutionary Psychology- Disciplines have turned attention to evolutionary psychology to explain certain medical and

mental health issueso Eg. Fever = body’s response to fighting infectiono Eg. Substance abuse = body has brain receptors that correspond to certain drugs

Note: some drugs may have adaptive function of reducing physical or mental discomfort

October 7, 2013Chapter 4

Notes from Emily

October 9, 2013Neurotransmitters

- Acetylcholine - cholinergic- GABA (gamma-amino butyric acid)- Dopamine – dopaminergic - Norepinephrine – Nora generic - Serotonin- Endorphins

Dopamine and addiction- Plays a role in the placebo

o Involved in expectation of a reward (altruism)

Dopamine related to pleasure and reward- Dopamine – reward and pleasure- Thinking about performing an altruistic act is pleasurable- Bees dance to tell others where food is

- Cocaine influences on the dopamine in the brain- Cocaine causes bees to dance more – giving more information on where food is- Bees experience withdrawal symptoms

Action potentials- Neurons are said to “fire” or produce a response

o They make this decision by combining the inputs arriving at each dendriteo Excitatory input

Information entering a neuron that signals it to respond and fireo Inhibitory input

Information entering a neuron that signals it not to respond and fire - Action potential:

o The nerve impulse – brief shift in a neuron’s electrical charge that travels along an axon- Resting potential

o Polarization of cellular fluid within a neuron, which provides the capacity to produce an action potential (stable, negative charge when the cell is inactive)

October 11, 2013 (Dopamine)Absolute refractory period – is a period when another action potential would not be activated. Prevents the action potential to move backwards All or none law – like a gun firing a bullet; it will not stop halfway, once it’s fired it’s fired

October 11, 2013Chapter 4b

Objectives- How we study the brain- The major parts of the nervous system and brain and some of their major functions- Why it is a good thing that the outer covering of the human is so wrinkled

Francis Crick – the astonishing hypothesis- “You”, your joys and your sorrows, your memories and your ambitions, your sense of personal

identity and free will, are in fact no more than the behaviour of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules.

Biology and Behaviour - Eavesdropping on the Brain

o Interventions in the brain

Lesions: injuries to or the destruction of brain tissueo Repetitive trans cranial magnet stimulation (rTMS)o Recording and imaging brain activity

Localization of function theories – assumes different parts of the brain have different functions

Study of brain- Research methods of physiological psychology

o Lesiono Stimulation

- Assessment of damage to the human (and animal) brain - Broca’s Area of the Brain

o Named after brain researcher Paul Broca o Language research and brain damageo Area of the brain that translates thoughts into speech or sign o Located in the left hemisphere – left frontal lobe in 95% of humans

- Repetitive trans cranial magnet stimulation (rTMS)o Pulses of magnetic stimulation create temporary reversible lesions without damage to

briefly inactivate the brain for study

Recording and Imaging Brain Activity- Electroencephalogram (EEG)

o Electrical activity of the brain- PET scans

o Records radioactivity emitted by cells during cognitive and behavioural activities- Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

o Scans the brain using magnetic fields and radio waves- Functional MRI (fMRI)

o Detects magnetic changes in blood flow to cells in the brain

Electroencephalogram (EEG)Brain activity – purely electrical in nature

1. Electrodes are attached to the skull, corresponding to specific areas of the brain2. Polygraph electrodes are connected to magnets which are connected to pens…3. …That produces a paper record of electrical activity in the brain. This record indicates a relaxed

person

Positron Emission Tomography (PET)- A method for analyzing biochemical activity in the brain, using injections of a glucose-like

substance containing a radioactive element- Active areas have increased blood flow

- Sensors detect radioactivity- Different tasks show distinct activity patterns

MRI- Based on the idea that atoms behave like spinning bar magnets in the presence of a magnetic

field- Requires 3 magnets – 2 coils + radio frequency coil

Functional MRI- See how the brain image below changes from light to dark in some areas. This shows an fmri

signal over time

Nervous System- Central nervous system (CNS)

o Brain and spinal cordo Integrates and coordinates all body functions processes all incoming neural messages,

and sends out commands to different parts of the body - Peripheral nervous system (PNS)

o Spinal and cranial nerveso Connects the body’s sensory receptors to the CNS and the CNS to muscles and glandso Contains sets of nerve fibers

Somatic nervous system Autonomic nervous system

October 18, 2013- Somatic nervous system (SNS)

o A subdivision of the peripheral nervous system that connects the CNS to the skeletal muscles and skin

o Controls the body’s involuntary motor responses by connecting the sensory receptors to smooth muscles, cardiac muscle and glands

Sympathetic nervous system Parasympathetic nervous system

- Divisions of the Autonomic Nervous Systemo Sympathetic nervous system

Governs responses to emergency situationso Parasympathetic nervous system

Monitors the routine operation of the body’s internal functions

A Tour through the Brain- Brain stem- Cerebellum

- Thalamus- Hypothalamus and the pituitary gland- Amygdala- Hippocampus- Cerebrum and lobes of the cerebral cortex

The Brain- 4 major parts

o Brain stem (older part of the brain)o Cerebellum – regulates coordinate movements; posture, rapid movements o Limbic system – (middle of brain) regulates motivation, emotion and memory processes o Cerebral hemisphere – responsible for higher order processing

Brain Structures and Their Functions- Brain stem

o Medulla Center for breathing, blood pressure, and heartbeat

o Pons Provides input to other brain stem structures and cerebellum, sleeping and

dreamingo Reticular formation

Dense network of nerve cells that arouses the brain’s cortex and screens all new stimulation

- Thalamus o Relays incoming sensory information to the cerebral cortex

- Cerebellum o Coordinates bodily movements, controls posture and maintains equilibrium

- Limbic System o Hippocampus

Acquisition of implicit memoryo Amygdala

Controls emotion, aggression, and formation of emotional memoryo Hypothalamus

Regulates motivated behaviour 4 f’s – flight, food, fear and reproduction

- The cerebrum o Occupies two-thirds of the total mass of the brain

- Cerebral cortex o Outer layer of cerebrumo Made up of billions of cellso Is about 2 mm thick

- Cerebral Hemispheres o the two halves of the brain are connected by the corpus callosumo lateralization

- Corpus callosum o The pathway that sends messages back and forth between the hemispheres

Two key landmarks, the central sulcus and lateral fissure, divide each hemisphere into four areas- Parietal lobe – touch, pain, attention- Occipital lobe – final spot for visual info- Temporal lobe – hearing and sounds, memory, perception, emotions- Frontal lobe – motor control, cognitive activity, planning, creative thinking, goal making

Motor Cortex- Controls the action of the body’s voluntary muscles

Somatosensory cortex- Processes sensory input from various body areas

Auditory cortex- Receives and processes auditory information

Visual cortex- Processes visual information

Association cortex- High level brain processes

Hemispheric Lateralization- Some functions are localized to one hemisphere of the brain

o Speech is localized in the left- The two hemispheres embody different types of processing

o Left hemisphere tends to be more analytico Right hemisphere tends to be more holistic

- Sex differences in the brain

Plasticity and neurogenesis- Plasticity

o Changes in the performance of the braino Occurs in childhood, adolescents – lots of change going on

- Physical explanations for plasticityo The formation of new synapses o Changes in communication across synapses

- Plasticity also depends on life experienceso Environmental enrichment has an impact

October 21, 2013Notes from Emily

October 23, 2013

Controversies in perception- Subliminal perception should be allowed in advertising- Colour blindness should be categorized as a disability- ESP exists: perception without sensation- Some people have a sixth sense- Children with auditory or visual impairment should be mainstreamed in our educational system

The Lens- Accommodation

o Process by which ciliary muscles change the thickness of the lens of the eye - Thin lens bring far objects into focus - Thick = close objects into focus

Retina and Photoreceptors- Retina

o Photoreceptors Rods

Dim illumination Cones

Colour vision- Fovea

o A small region of densely packed cones at the centre of the retina

Near and Far sightedness:- Near and far sighted people both have issues with the curvature of their cornea and/or lens and

how the image is focused on the retina- Near sighted – too much curvature of the cornea and/or lens so nearby objects are seen more

clearly than distant objects

- Far sighted – too little curvature of the cornea and/or lens so distant objects are seen more clearly than nearby ones

- Astigmatism – an irregularity in the shape of the cornea and/or lens which distorts and blurs the image at the retina

Dark Adaptation:- Try and recall the last time you went from a very bright area to a dim one- Remember how difficult it was to see for several minutes just after you went indoors- This is an example of dark adaptation - As we enter a dark room, our photo pigments are basically regenerating- This effect is most sensitive after 30 minutes of dark exposure- Also, all the rod pigments have been bleached out due to the bright light and the rods are

initially non-functional

How does the retina send signals to the brain – figure 6.13

More about the eye:- Many types of neurons help to transmit the images that you “see”- Ganglion cells converge to form the optic nerve of each eye- Where the optic nerve exits the retina, there are no rods or cones – this is your blind spot - You also have special neurons called feature detectors that help you to distinguish contours,

orientation, and basic shape- Feature detectors are what are fooled by optical illusions

Seeing colour- Electromagnetic spectrum

o Your visual system can only sense a small range of wavelengths o Wavelength of the light determines what colour we see o Longer wavelengths – reds orangeso Shorter – violets and blues

- Wavelength - Experience of colour depends on 3 dimensions

o Hueo Saturationo Brightness

Defects in colour vision- Hereditary anomalous colour vision

o Protanopia – defective red coneso Deuteranopia – defective green coneso Tritanopia – defective blue cones

Theories of colour vision- Young-helmholtz trichromatic theory

o Suggests there are three types of colour receptors: red, green, and blueo All other colours are additive or subtractive combinations of these three

- Opponent-process theoryo Proposes all colour experiences arise from 3 systems, each of which includes 2

opponent elements Red vs green Blue vs yellow Black (no colour) vs white (all colours)

o Perception is controlled by the activity of 2 opponent systems (Edwards hering)o Certain neurons can either be excited or inhibited depending on the wavelength of lighto Complimentary wavelengths have opposite effectso So – we can see a negative after image

Your other senses- Cutaneous senses: touch and skin- Vestibular sense- Kinesthetic sense - Touch – the sensitivity to pressure on the skin- Somotosensation – general term used for the four classifications of tactile sensations:

o Touch/pressureo Warmtho Coldo Pain

How does your sense of touch work?- Transduction

o Transduction of mechanical energy of pressure/touch and heat energy of warmth/cold occurs at sensory receptors located all over the body just below the skin’s surface

October 28, 2013Pain:Why is pain important?

- it alerts you to injury and often prevents further damage- Relief from pain results in secretion of endorphins- The experience of pain is extremely variable (pain threshold)

Gate-control theory- Suggests that cells in the spinal cord act as neurological gates, interrupting and blocking some

pain signals and allowing others to get through to the brain

Neuromatrix theory- Incorporates the reality that people experience pain without physical cause

Body senses: Kinesthetic - The body senses of kinesthetic and the vestibular system help us to make sense of the

positioning of our bodies in our environments- Kinesthetic – the system that enables you to sense the position and movement of individual

parts of your body- Sensory receptors for kinesthetic are nerve endings in your muscles, tendons, and joints

Vestibular system (sense):- Vestibular system (sense) – your sense of equilibrium or body orientation- How it works:

o Your inner ear has semicircular canals at right angles to each other, also the saccule and utricle

o Hair like receptor cells are stimulated by acceleration caused when you turn your head and the ear structures respond

o The these calculations are sent to the eye and then the brain for processing

Attentional processes- Attention

o Determines which information is available in your perceptual process- Selective attention

o Your decision to focus your awareness on only limited aspects of what you’re capable of Goal-directed selection Stimulus-driven capture

Fate of unattended information- Broadbent’s study of selective attention- Dichotic listening

o Procedure in which a subject hears two different taped messages at the same time- Shadowing

o The subject is instructed to repeat only one of two messages while ignoring the other message

- Cocktail party effect

Principles of perceptual grouping- Gestalt psychology

o A school of psychology that maintains that psychological phenomena can be understood only when viewed as organized, structured wholes, not when taken down into primitive perceptual elements

Figure and ground terms- Proximity- Similarity- Continuity

o Seeing lines that connect 1 to 2 and 3 to 4 in C- Closure

o Seeing a horse in D

Common Fate- Visual elements which appear to be moving in the same direction will be grouped together

Motion perception- The phi phenomenon

o A movement illusion in which one or more stationary lights going on and off in succession are perceived as a single light

October 30, 2013 - Perceptual inference

o Largely optimatic and unconscious o In large parts its due to pass encounters with certain objects – we know what to expect

in the futureo Largely depends on experience o Humans are born with some ability to make some perceptual inference but most is

learned

Depth perception:- Depth perception – the ability to judge the distance of objects (babies are not good at this)- We use cues to tell us how far or near objects are from us

o 2 types: Monocular – cues from single eye Binocular – cues from both eyes

- Binocular cues: o Each eye has a slightly different view of what you are seeing (retinal disparity) – thumbs

up!o Retinal disparity decreases with distance

With both eyes open your brain fuses the images (depth perception)o Convergence – look at the tip of your nose with both eyes

the close the object the more convergence - Monocular cues:

o Motion parallax – closer objects seem to be moving faster than those far away; distant objects seem stationary

o Pictorial cues Interposition Relative size Linear perspective Texture gradients

The ponzo illusion- Linear perspective provides context- Side lines seem to converge- Top line seems farther away

o But the retinal images of the red lines are equal

Shape constancy- Even though these images cast shadows of different shapes, we still see the quarter as round

o Experience plays a roll – when we are familiar with the object

Influence of contexts and expectancies - A set is a temporary readiness to perceive a stimulus in a given way

o Motor set – prepared responseo Mental set – learned ruleso Perceptual set – detect a particular stimulus

Perceptual constancies- Size and shape constancy- Lightness constancy – our tendency to perceive the whiteness, greyness or blackness of objects

as constant across levels of illumination

How does our brain decide what we “see?”- Our expectations- Previous experiences- Interests- Biases - what is wanted give rise to different perception

Physics of sound- Sound is vibrational energy- Frequency (wavelength)

o The number of cycles the wave completes in a given time (pitch)o Hertz – 1 cycle per second

- Amplitudeo The physical property of the strength of the sound wave (loudness)o Higher its peak, the loud it is

- Timber – complexity

What does the ear lobe?- Pinna – modifies sound - Ear canal – helps the sound flow through- Eardrum – vibration sensor – voice/sound is causing eardrum to vibrate – causes occicles to

vibrate - Occicles – hammer, anvil, stirrup – connected to choclea through oval window - Oval window – connects occicles to the choclea - Chochlea – in the chochlea there is a basilar membrane (receptive organ for sound), along

basilar membrane there are cells called cilium GOOGLE

Theories of pitch perception- Place theory

o Herman von Helmholtz o Difference frequency tones produce activation at different locations along the basilar

membrane - Frequency theory

o A tone produces a rate of vibration in the basilar membrane equal to its frequencyo Notes from em

Chapter 6 November 4 2013

Preview:- The contents of consciousness- The function of consciousness- Sleep and dreams- Altered states of consciousness- Mind-altering drugs

- What is ordinary conscious awareness?

- What determines the contents of our consciousness?

- Why do we need consciousness?

- Can unconscious mental events really influence our thoughts, emotions and behaviours?

- How does consciousness change over a day or night period?

- Can we intentionally alter our state of consciousness?

- How can we study this scientifically?

- How can we externalize the internal, make the private public and precisely measure subjective experiences?

History of consciousness- Psychology began as a science of consciousness- The behaviourists argue about alienating consciousness from psychology- However, after the 1960’s with the cognitive revolution, mental concepts (consciousness) re-

entered psychology

What is ordinary consciousness?- Psychologists believe that consciousness is an awareness of internal events (ourselves) and of

the external environment - Self-awareness

o Top level of consciousnesso Helps us focus on what we are doing and why we are doing it

Neuroscience and consciousness- Neuroscientists believe that consciousness emerges from the interaction between individual

brain events much like a chord created from different notes

Tell me about the nature of though- Human thought Is characterized by the ability to use language

o Organizing of time and categorizing informationo Syntax

- Neural unit of thougho A results of the activity of complex neural circuits

- Non-conscious processeso Preconscious memories

Can be called into consciousness when necessary o Unattended information o Unconsciousness

Consciousness- Some are spontaneous:

o Daydreaming, dreaming, drowsiness- Some are physiologically induced

o Orgasms, hallucinations, food or oxygen deprivation- Some are psychologically induced:

o Sensory deprivation, hypnosis, meditation

Consciousness and information processing- The consciousness mind processes information sequentially- The unconsciousness mind processes information simultaneously on different tracks

Studying consciousness- Think-aloud protocols

o Reports of mental processes and strategies- Experience-sampling method

o Participants record thoughts and feelings when signaled to do so

Functions of consciousness- Aiding survival

o Help us make sense of our environment- Personal construction of reality

o Your unique interpretation of a current situation- Cultural construction of reality

o Ways of thinking about the world that are shared by most members of a particular group

Sleep and Dreams- Sleep: “the irresistible tempter to whom we eventually succumb”- Biological rhythms

o Internal biological clock Annual cycles; SAD, menstrual cycles

- Circadian rhythm – 24 hour cycle- Jet lag – internal de-synchronization (suprachiasmatic nucleus – SCN)

Sleep cycle- Studying sleep: about every 90 minutes, we pass through a cycle of 5 distinct sleep stages

o Left and right eye movement, muscle tension, brain waves- Rapid eye movement (REM)

o Dreamlike mental activity- Non-REM sleep

o Less activity, the remainder of the sleep cycle

REM sleep – brain activity is rapid and irregular, features of high body arousal occur (breathing rates, high blood pressure, twitching). Most but not all of our dreams occur in REM sleepNon-REM sleep – basically remaining of the cycle

EEG patterns (non-rem) 1. Active wakefulness – beta waves (awake and alert, engaging in strong activity, brain exhibits

low amplitude and fast irregular beta waves2. Just before sleep (awake/relaxed) – brain activity slows down into alpha waves. Large

amplitude slow regular waves (meditating) 3. Stage 1 sleep – during early/light sleep. Really small and irregular brain waves (theta waves)4. Stage 2 sleep – deeper sleep. Associated with short bursts of activity called sleep spindles

and sharp wave forms called cave complexes (theta waves)5. Stage 3 sleep – deeper deeper sleep. Brain activity starting to slow down (delta waves)6. Stage 4 sleep – deep deep sleep. Delta waves dominating

- Sleep patterns change as we age- Important to get rem sleep – it shows greater improvement on tasks (allows brain to consolidate

information?)

Law of specific nerve energies states those different sensory modalities are perceived differently because information from each enters different sensory organs

November 6, 2013

Why do we sleep?We spend 1/3 of our lives sleeping

- Conservation/protectso Sleep evolved because it allowed animals to conserve energy/asleep when predators

are looming and keep ancestors safe- Restoration

o Sleep (specifically NREM) occurs to provide an opportunity to repair and restore brain cells

- Memory functions?o There is some evidence that sleep strengthens the learning that takes place during

waking hours- Sleep and growth

o During sleep, the pituitary gland releases growth hormones. Older people produces less and sleep less

Sleep disorders- Insomnia

o Chronic inability to sleep- Narcolepsy

o Irresistible compulsion to sleep- Sleep apnea

o Stop breathing while asleep- Somnambulism

o Sleepwalking in which people leave their beds and wander while still remaining asleep

Dreams- Nightmares: frightening dreams that wake a dreamer during REM sleep

o Children- Night terrors

o Sudden arousal from sleep with intense fear accompanied by physiological reactions, rapid heart rate that occur during NREM sleep

Dream theories- Wish fulfillment (Freud)

Content of dream is symbolic and signifies/represent our unacceptable feelings- Information processing

Dreams help us to sift, sort, and fix our days experience in our memories- Physiological functioning

Dreams provide the brain with periodic stimulation to develop and preserve neuro pathways

- Activation-synthesis theoryBrain engages in a lot of random neuro activity; dream pulls together activity

- Cognitive developmentResearchers argue that we dream as a part of brain maturation and cognitive development

- All dream researchers believe we need REM sleep. When deprived of REM sleep, and then allowed to sleep, we show increased REM sleep called REM rebound

- Freudian dream analysiso Manifest contento Latent content o Dream work

- Lucid dreamingo Conscious awareness of dreaming is a learnable skill

- Non-western approacheso Shamans – spiritual leaders; considered to possess human interpretation o Meaning of dreaming to many non-western cultures is the dreams provide critical

information about community

Altered states of consciousness- Hypnosis

o Altered state of awarenesso A social interaction in which one person (the hypnotist), suggests to another (the

subject), that certain perceptions, feelings, thoughts or behaviours, will spontaneously occur

o Brain EEG recordings are similar to those of a relaxed person

The origins of hypnosis - Franz Mesmer, 1734 – 1815- Credited for the popularity of hypnosis- Some of his patients experienced a trancelike state, and felt better upon waking up

Hypnotic controversies- Who is most likely to be hypnotized?

o People who have vivid imagination- Those who practice hypnosis agree that its power resides in the subject’s openness to

suggestion- Hypnotic analgesia

Altered state of consciousness- Meditation refers to a family of practices that train attention to heighten awareness and bring

mental processes under greater voluntary control- Designed to enhance self-knowledge and well-being through reduced self-aware- Religious ecstasy

o Religious experiences

Mind altering drugs- Psychoactive drugs

o Chemical substances that alter perception and mood (conscious awareness of reality)- Drug dependence and addiction

- Toleranceo Continued use requires greater dosage

- Physiological dependenceo Body becomes adjusted to and dependent on a drug, craving for a drug

- Psychological dependenceo Negative emotions

- Addictiono Outcome of tolerance and dependence

- Withdrawalo Painful withdrawal symptoms

Psychoactive drugs- 3 groups:

o Hallucinogenso Depressantso Stimulants

November 8, 2013- Hallucinogens (psychedelics)

o Mescalineo Ketamineo Psilocybino LSDo PCP

- Cannabiso THCo Hashisho Marijuana

Types of psychoactive drugs- Depressants

o Barbiturates – valiumo Alcoholo Opiates – opium

Heroin Morphine

Stimulants – increase your heart and breathing rate - Cocaine- Caffeine- Nicotine- Amphetamine

Influences on drug use- Biological

o Genetic tendencieso Dopamine reward circuits

- Psychological influenceso Lacking sense of purposeo Significant stresso Psychological disorders, such as depression

- Social-cultural influenceso Features of the urban environmento Belonging to a drug using cultural groupo Peer influences

November 8, 2013Chapter 7 – learning and behaviour analysis

Main topics:- The study of learning- Classical conditioning: learning predictable signals- Operant conditioning: learning about consequences- Biology and learning- Cognitive influences on learning

What is behaviourism?- Recall:

o Understand behaviour in terms of relationship to observable stimuli Classical conditioning Operant conditioning

o Stimulus response learning

What is a reflex?- Reflex

o Simple behaviouro Automatico Stimulus responseo Mediated by the nervous systemo Modified through experience (conditioned reflexes)

What is habituation?- Is the simplest form of learning- Is learning not to respond to an unimportant event that occurs repeatedly

What is learning?- Learning defined

o Experience that results in a relatively permanent change in behaviour or behavioural patterns

o Eg. Habituation

Who was involved?- Ivan P. Pavlov

o Classical conditioning model- John Watson

o Introspectiono Father of American behaviourism

- B.K. Skinnero Operant conditioning model

- The behaviourism movement - Behaviour analysis - Cannot explain ALL behaviour…

Classical conditioning - Classical conditioning

o A basic form of learning in which one stimulus predicts the occurrence of another- Ivan P. Pavlov

o Nobel peace prizeo Conditioning occurs through association

Strengthening or wakening the association between the stimuli in the environment and some response

Pavlov’s experiments:Study of reflexes – new reflexes from old reflexedUnconditioned stimulus (UCS)

- Any stimulus that naturally elicits a behaviourUnconditioned response (UCR)

- The behaviour elicited by the UCS

Conditioned stimulus (CS)- A neutral stimulus that is able to elicit behaviour only after association with the UCS

Conditioned response (CR)- The behaviour elicited to the CS

- Acquisition o The process by which the CR is first elicitedo Timing is critical

CS and UCS must be presented closely enough in time to be perceived as being related

- Extinction - Spontaneous recovery

Processes of conditioning- Stimulus generalization

o Same responses are made to similar stimuli- Stimuli discrimination

o Different responses are made to similar stimuli

Focus on acquisition - Robert Rescorla

o A neutral stimulus will become and effective CS only if it is informative and reliably predicts the UCS

What is biological significance of classical conditioning?- The ability to learn to recognize stimuli that predict the occurrence of an important event- Stimuli that were previously unimportant acquire some of the properties of the important

stimuli

What is learned in classical conditioning?- If the CS reliably predicts the presentation of the UCS, the CR is strong- The ability to classically condition a response is probably due to the organism’s ability to

determine relations among eventsNovember 18, 2013

Observational learning- Observational learning

o Social learningo Attend, retain, reproduce

- Bandura’s research o BoBo doll study (with children)

Imitation Observational learning

- Social cognitive theory o Water Mischel and Albert Bandurao Learning depends on whether the outcomes of the behaviour were interpreted

(punished of rewarded)

November 22, 2013

Working memory - A memory process that provides a foundation fo moment by moment fluidity of thought and

action- A valuable resource for:

1. Reasoning2. Language comprehension

- Provides ability to multi-task

Long-term memory- Long term memory (LTM)

o Storehouse of all experiences, events, information, emotions, skills words, categories, rules, and judgements that have been acquired from sensory and short term memories (sense of self, too)

o Preservation of information for retrieval at any later time - Retrieval cues

o The stimuli available as you search for particular memory- Recall

o Reproduction of the information to which you were previously exposed- Recognition

o The realization that a certain stimulus is one you have seen or heard before

Declarative memoryo Episodic memory

Memories for things you have personally experienced (autobiographical self)o Semantic memory

Generic, categorical memories

Retrieval cues and episodic memoryEndel Tulving (U of Toronto)

- Encoding specificity o Subsequent retrieval of information is enhanced if cues retrieved at the time of recall

are consistent with those present at the time of encoding

Context and encoding- Serial position effect

o Recall of beginning and end items in a list Primacy effect

Improved memory for items at start of list Recency effect

Improved memory for items at end of list

- Contextual distinctivenesso Retrieval can be altered by the context and distinctiveness of the experience being

recalled

Process of encoding and retrieval- Levels of processing

o Information processed at a deeper level is more likely to be retained- Transfer appropriate processing

o Memory is best when the type of processing carried out at encoding matches the processes carried out at retrieval

Why we forget - Interference

o Retrieval cues do not point effectively to one specific memory- Proactive interference

o Information you have acquired in the past makes it more difficult to acquire new information

- Retroactive interferenceo Acquisition of new information makes it difficult to remember old information

Improving memory for unstructured information- Elaborative rehearsal- Mnemonics

o Method of locio Peg-word method

- Metamemory – why do we get feelings of knowingo Cue familiarity hypothesis

Cue is familiaro Accessibility hypothesis

Access partial information

The consolidation hypothesis- Consolidation is the process by which information in short term memory is transferred to long

term memory1. STM and LTM appear to be physiologically different2. The transfer of information from STM to LTM seems to take time

Structures in long term memory- Memory structures

o Categorizationo Conceptso Conceptual hierarchieso Basic levelso Schemas

- Using memory structureso Prototypeo Exemplars

Remembering: reconstructive process- Reconstructive memory

o Levelingo Sharpeningo Assimilating

- Information that cannot be remembered directly may be reconstructed, and this leads to distortions in reconstructive memory

Remembering and recollecting – reconstruction - Much of what we recall from long term memory is not accurate- Loftus – questions used to elicit the information can have a major effect on what people

remembero Expert witness, eyewitness testimony in counts o Misinformation effect

January 8, 2014 Chapter 9

Cognitive psychology draws on a broader disciplinary known as cognitive science

Concept of cognition- Cognition

o Processes of knowing – attending, remembering, and reasoningo Content of the thought processes (eg concepts and memories)

- Researchers use reaction time to test cognition processes – how long it takes to complete the task

Cognitive psychology deals with – theories of mind, language, problem solving and decision making

Discovering the process of mind - F.C. Donders

o Reaction time The amount of time it takes experimental participants to perform particular

tasks

Mental processes- Serial processes

o Carried out in order, one after the other - Parallel processes (take less time)

o Carried out simultaneously

Mental resources - attentional processes

o Are responsible for distributing the limited processing resources over different tasks- Controlled processes

o Require attention- Automatic processes

o Do not require attention

Language use- Language production

o What people say, sign, and write and the processes they go through to produce the message

- Speakers versus listenerso Audience design – falls within cooperative principle o The cooperative principle – guides and design

4 rules to follow Quantity Quality Relation Manner

Producing speech (down)Meaning (thought, idea)Sentences (phrases) Morphemes (words, prefixes, suffixes) – smallest understandable piece of language; has meaningPhonemes (basic sounds) – bits of sounds; perceptual unit of speech

Comprehending speech (up)

Speech execution and speech errors- Spoonerism (reverend William Spooner)

o “You have tasted the whole worm!”

o “Tips of the slung”- Planning processes- Representations of the words taking place

Surface refers to the order of words spoken or in written language Deep structure – underlying meaning of those words,

January 10, 2014Language understanding

- Resolving ambiguity o Lexical ambiguityo Structural ambiguity

- Products of understandingo Meaning representationso Propositionso Inferences

Language and evolution- Cross-species comparisons

o Language structure Washoe and ASL Savage-Rumbaugh

Bonoboso Audience design (what does your audience know)

Cheny and seyfarth Vervet monkeys

Language, thought, and culture- Does language affect thought?

o Linguistic relativity Sapir and Whorf Proposes that the structure of language has an impact on the way in which an

individual thinks about the world

Combining verbal and visual representations- Spatial mental model

Problem solving and reasoning- Problem solving

o Thinking that is directed toward solving specific problemso Moves from initial state to a goal

- Problem space o Initial stateo Goal stateo Set of operations

- Well defined problem- Ill-defined problem

January 15, 2014Problem solving

- Algorithmo Step by step procedureo Always provides the right answer

- Heuristico Cognitive strategies (’rules of thumb’)o Shortcuts to solving complex inferential tasks (convenient way of thinking)

Mental set- A mental set is our concept of a specific idea, object, or category. It is how we think of

something, the stereotypes we have assigned to that something and our prototypical example of that something.

Cognitive biases- The availability heuristic is the tendency to judge the frequency of some event as a function of

how available specific instances of that event are in memory- The confirmation bias is the tendency to look for information that confirms one’s belief- The hindsight bias is the tendency to overestimate one’s ability to have predicted an event once

the outcome is known

Heuristics and judgement- Availability heuristic

o Judgement based on information readily available in memory- Representative heuristic

o Assigns an object to a category based on a few characteristics - Anchoring heuristic

o People show insufficient adjustment up or down from an original starting value when judging the probable value of an outcome

(kahneman + tversky)

Problem solving- Think-aloud protocols

o Verbalizing ongoing thoughts while working on a task - Functional fixedness

o The inability to perceive a new use for an object previously associated with some other purpose

Problem solving and reasoning- Reasoning

o Process of thinking in which conclusions are drawn from a set of factso Directed toward a given goal

Deductive reasoning- Deductive reasoning

o Drawing conclusions by logically following two or more statements

- Belief-bias effecto Prior knowledge, attitudes, or values distort reasoning

Engage in confirmatory testing

Inductive reasoning- Conclusion is made about the probability based on available evidence and past experience- Conclusions are probable but they are not always right

Judging and deciding- Judgement

o Forming opinions, reaching conclusions, and making critical evaluations- Decision making

o Choosing between alternatives

Psychology of decision making- Framing decisions- Consequences of decision making

o Decision aversion Avoid decision Avoid regret

Know costs in advance more regret

January 17, 2014Chapter 10

What is assessment?- Psychological assessment

o Use of specified procedures to evaluate abilities, behaviours, and person qualitieso Measurement of individual difference

History of assessment- Galton’s ideas of intelligence

o Differences are quantifiableo Differences form a bell shaped curveo Objective testso Correlationso Galton’s controversial thoughts

Genius was inherited Eugenics

Features of formal assessment- Reliability

o instrument must provide consistent scoreso repeated instrument should yield consistent results

o consistent scores are essential to accurate measurement- Validity

o the nature of the test must be in line with the purpose of the test - Standardization

o Everyone gets the same instructions, time limits, etc.

Concept of reliability- Reliability

o Stability/consistency of scores produced by an instrument- Test-retest reliability

o Test given two separate occasionso Measured by a correlation

- Parallel formso Different versions of a test

- Internal consistencyo Yields similar scores across its different partso Off versus even numbers on test

- Split-half reliability

Concept of validity- Validity

o Extent to which a test measures what it was intended to measure

January 20, 2014Assessment standards

- Validityo The degree to which test items appear to be directly related to the attribute being

measured- Criterion (predictive) validity

o The degree to which test scores indicate a result on a specific measure that is consistent with some other criterion of the characteristic being assessed

- Construct validityo The degree to which a test adequately measures an underlying construct

Norms and standardization- Norms

o Standards based on measurements of a large group of people - Standardization

o Uniform procedures for treating each participant in research

Intelligence assessment- Intelligence defined

o The global capacity to profit from experience and to go beyond given information about the environment

The origins of intelligence testing- Binet and Simon

o French minister of public instructiono Mental ageo Chronological age

- Termano Stanford-binet intelligence scaleo Provided a basis for the intelligence quotient (IQ)

The IQ tests- Stanford-binet intelligence test

o IQ = MA/CA x 100- Wechsler intelligence scales

o Verbal subtestso Performance subtestso WAIS-III

Extremes of intelligence- The normal curve

o IQ less than 70, other deficits before age 18- Mental retardation

o Age of onset is before 18 years of ageo IQ score of 70-75 or belowo Demonstrated limitations in two or more adaptive life skills

- Learning disorderso A large discrepancy between an individual’s measured IQ and his or her achievement

- Giftedness o IQ score above 130o Three ring conception:

Ability, creativity, task commitmento Concerns about support

They do well, but could they do bettero Savants

Individuals who typically have below average IQ, but have remarkable ability in particular areas

Theories of intelligence- Psychometric thepries

o Statistical relationshipso Factor analysis

Goal of FA is to identify the basic psychological dimensions of the concept being investigated

o Charles spearman

Spearman’s “g”o Raymond Cattel

Crystallized intelligence Fluid intelligence (novel problems solving)

o J.P Guilford Structure of intellect

Content Product Operation

o Sternberg’s Triarchic theory Analytical intelligence

Basic information processing skills Creative intelligence

Ability to deal with novel versus routine problems Practical intelligence

Ability to adapt to new and different context, and to select and shape context

o Gardner’s theory of ultiple intelligences Howard Gardner Logical-mathematical, linguistic, naturalist, musical, spatial, bodily kinesthetic,

interpersonal, intrapersonalo Emotional intelligence

EQ versus IQ Related to interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences Reflected in 4 abilities

Perceive, appraise, and express emotions appropriately To use emotions to facilitate thinking To be able to analyze emotion, and use knowledge effectively Being able to regular emotions to promote emotional and intellectual

growth

Politics of intelligence- History of group comparisons

o Race and intelligenceo Goddardo Rushtono The bell curve

The interaction of heredity and environment- Environment and IQ- Heredity and IQ

o Heritability estimate What runs in families Reaction range model

Heredity does set limits on your intelligence

Environment will determine where you fall within those limits- Evidence of influence of envision

o Adoption studies find that adoptive children show some IQ resemblance to their adoptive parents and siblings

o Studies of environmental deprivation – show that children’s IQ will decrease substantially

o Environmental enrichment – children who are moved to improve environment they will exhibit increases in IQ

o Generational increases in measured IQ - 50% of variability in IQ are from genes- Twins study

o Identical twins are more similar in intelligence than fraternal twins o Identical twins are reared apart are more similar in intelligence than fraternal twins are

reared togethero Adoptive children resemble their biological parents in intelligence

- Culture and the validity of IQ testso Stereotype threat (vulnerability)

Created by anxiety; worsens your performance o Hard work versus innate ability

Effort versus ability

January 22, 2014Creativity

- Creativity definedo Ability to generate ideas or products that are novel and appropriate o Correlation between creativity and IQ are weak

Assessing creativity and the link to intelligence- Divergent thinking defined

o Ability to produce unusual but appropriate responses to problemso Fluid and flexible thinking

- Convergent thinking definedo Ability to gather information to solve problems

Extremes of creativity - Exemplary creator- Creativity

o Risk takingo Preparationo Intrinsic motivation

Assessment and society- Goal of psychological assessment

o To make as accurate assessments as possible- Three ethical concerns

o Fairness of test based decisionso Utility of tests for evaluating education

o Implications of using test scores to categorize people

January 27, 2014Developmental psychology

- Interaction between physical and psychological processes- Stages of growth from conception throughout the entire life span

Studying development- Normative investigations

o Chronological ageo Developmental age

- Longitudinal design- Cross-sectional design

Physical development - Prenatal and childhood development

o Zygote – first 2 weeks – the germinal stageo Embryo – 2-8 weekso Fetus – after 8th week to birth

Prenatal development- Threats to normal prenatal development

o Mother’s nutritiono Teratogens – distort development

Cigarettes – increase the rate of miscarriages; low birth weight Alcohol Drugs Chemical Diseases

Physical development- Babies prewired for survival

o Robert Fantzo Eleanor Gibsono Richard Walk

- Growth and maturation in childhoodo Maturation

Age-related physical and behavioral changes characteristic of a species Continuing influence of heredity throughout development

What is the “critical period”?- Critical period – a specific time in development in which certain experiences are necessary for

normal developmento Visiono Brain mechanisms

o Sometime between 1 and 3

Physical development in adolescence- Second time of fast change- Puberty

o Attainment of sexual maturity- Menarche

o The onset of menstruation

Physical changes in adulthood- Vision – loss of flexibility of your lens; discoloured (yellowing) - Hearing- Reproductive and sexual functioning – menopause, reduction in quantity of sperm

January 29, 2014Cognitive development

- Cognitive developmento Development of the process of knowingo Imagining, perceiving, reasoning, and problem solvingo Linked to your age

Will change as you age- Nature versus nurture

o John lock – nurture o Russeau – propose nativist view

Jean Piaget’s Insights- Building blocks of cognitive developmental change – mental schemes

o Concept of assimilation New cognitive elements are fitted in with old elements or modified to fit more

easilyo Concept of accommodation

Restructuring cognitive structures so that new information can fit into them more easily

Stages in cognitive development- Sensorimotor stage

o 0-2 years oldo Object permanence

- Preoperational stageo 2-7 years oldo Egocentrism o Centration

- Concrete operations stageo 7-11 years oldo Conservation

Reversibility

- Formal operations stageo 11 years to adulthoodo Abstract and hypothetical thinking

Why are Piaget’s theories so influential?- Children of similar age, make similar mistakes- Similarities must be a result of developmental stage- Completion of one stage is necessary to enter the next stage

Contemporary perspectives on early cognitive development- Infant cognition

o Renee Baillargeon- Children’s Foundational Theories- Social and cultural influences

Vygotsky’s Theory- Culture in which one lives also plays a significant role in cognitive development- Use of speech effects cognitive development- Interactions with experts influences cognitive development

Cognitive development in adulthood- Intelligence

o “crystallized” intelligenceo “fluid” intelligenceo Wisdomo Warner Schaie

- Selective optimization with compensationo Paul and Margaret Balteso Memory

Research on Alzheimer’s disease Optimizing – Exercising or training oneself in areas of highest priorities

Acquiring Language- Grammar

o Rules of language- Phonology

o Phoneme- Syntax

o Morpheme- Semantics

o Lexical meaning - Pragmatics

- The ability to learn language is biologically based- Expression of language dependent on culture and environment

- Perceiving speech and wordso Phonemes o Child directed speech

- Learning new words

January 31, 2014Acquiring language

- Acquiring grammaro Noam Chomsky

Children are born with mental structures that facilitate comprehension and production of language

o Dan Slobin Children bring innate constraints to the task of learning a particular language Language making capacity

o Over regularization

Social development- Social development

o The ways in which individuals’ social interactions and expectations change across the life span

o Stranger anxiety

Erik Erikson’s psychosocial stages- Trust vs. Mistrust – safety or insecurity

o During Infancyo Growing security attachment to care givers

- Autonomy vs, Self-doubt – capableo toddler

- Initiative vs. Guilt – creator / confidento Pre-school c

- Competence vs. Inferiority o School age kidso Will become a successful adult

- Identity vs. Role confusiono Adolescents o Discovering who you want to be/finding yourself

- Intimacy vs. Isolationo Young adulto

- Generativity vs. stagnation - Ego integrity vs. despair

Social development in childhood

- Socializationo Lifelong process through which an individual’s behaviour patterns, values, standards,

skill, attitudes and motives are shaped to conform to those seen as socially desirable - Temperament

o Jerome Kagan o Biologically based response to environmental interaction o Inhibited – shy and reserved o Uninhibited – socially, responsive

- Attachmento An intense, enduring, social-emotional relationshipo Once infant becomes attached, separation becomes wrenching o 6-8 months, infants are wary to strangers

- Konrad Lorenzo Imprinting

- John Bowlby o Internal working model

- Attachment and Mary Ainswortho Strange situation test

Securely attached – 70% Insecurely attached – avoidant – 20% Insecurely attached – ambivalent/resistant – 10%

o Parenting styles Demandingness Responsiveness Authoritative

o Parenting practices Do with goals

- Contact comfort and social experienceo Ao Bo C

Harry Harlow’s monkeys Contact comfort

Stephen Suomi Cross fostering

Human deprivation

February 3, 2014Social development in adolescence

- Experience of adolescenceo G. Stanley Hall

Storm and stresso Erik Erikson

Independence from parentso Peer relationships

- Intimacy o Capacity to make a full commitmento Selective social interaction theory

Laura Carstensen- Generativity

o Commitment beyond one’s self and one’s parter George Vaillant

Sex and gender differences- Sex differences

o Biologically based characteristics that distinguish males and females- Gender

o Psychological phenomenon referring to learned sex-related behaviours and attitudes Gender identityHow you think about yourself the chemistry that composes you (eg. Hormone levels) and how you interpret what that means

Gender expression How you demonstrate your gender (based on traditional gender roles) through the way you act, dress, behave and interact

Biological sexBiological sex refers to the objectively measurable organs, hormones, and chromosomesFemale – vagina, ovaries, xx chromosomesMale – penis, testes, xy chromosomesIntersex – a combination of the two

Sexual orientation Sexual orientation is who you are physically spiritually and emotionally attracted to base on their sex/gender in relation to your own

- Gender identityo An individual’s sense of maleness or femalenesso Includes awareness and acceptance of one’s sex

- Gender roleso Patterns of behaviour regarded as appropriate for males and females in a particular

society- Acquisition of gender roles

o Eleanor Maccoby

Moral development- Morality

o A system of beliefs, values, and underlying judgements about the rightness or wrongness of human acts

- Lawrence Kohlberg’s Stages of moral development and reasoningo Preconventional

Birth to 11 years Obey rules because fear of punishment

o Conventional 11 to 12 Empathy developed Can judge for themselves Loyalty develop Sense of social obligation

o Post-conventional morality Principled Adulthood Not everyone develop it Social conscience develops

Everyone goes through these stages; same stages occur in every culture and each stage is more complex than the first

Gender and cultural perspectives on moral reasoning- Carol Gilligan

o Women’s morality is based on a standard of caring for otherso Men’s morality is based on a standard of justice

Learning to age successfully- Successful aging

o Selective optimization with compensation Optimization Compensation

February 5, 2014Chapter 12: Motivation

Here are some controversies involving motivation:- Humans are motivated by their instincts- Weight control is all about willpower- Being intrinsically motivated by something is better than extrinsic

Understanding motivation- Motivation

o Starting, directing, and maintaining physical and psychological activities - Have you done something you feel motivated to do at the expense of other things? What type

of behaviour?- Functions of motivational concepts

o Relate biology to behaviouro To account for behavioural variabilityo To infer private states from public actso To assign responsibility for actionso To explain perseverance despite adversity

Sources of motivation- Drives – Clark Hull’s drive theory

o Internal states that arise in response to a disequilibrium- Homeostasis

o Constancy or equilibrium and balance- Incentives

o External stimuli or rewards that motivate behaviour

STUDY NAME: Leisure Time Persuasion StudySTUDY NICKNAME: KINGSTONINVITATION CODE*: 09876

February 24, 2014Chapter 13Functions of Emotion

- Motivation and attention- Social functions of emotion- Emotional effects on cognitive functioning

Stress of living- Stress

o Pattern of specific and non-specific responses that disturb equilibrium- Stressors

o Stimulus event that places a demand on an organism for some kind of adaptive response

Physiological stress reactions- Acute stress

o Clear onset and offset patterns- Chronic stress

o Continuous state of arousalo Demands are greater than are available resources

Emergency reactions to acute threats- Fight or flight response

o Prepares the body for combat and struggle or for running away to safety

Emergency reactions to chronic threats- General adaptation syndrome (GAS)

o Han Selyeo Three stage response

Alarm reaction Resistance

Thymus shrinks immune system compromised Exhaustion

o Used to explain psychosomatic disorders

Psychological stress reactions- Major life events

o Life change units (LCUs)- Catastrophic and traumatic events

o Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)- Chronic stressors- Daily hassles

Coping with stress- Coping

o Process of dealing with internal or external demands that are perceived as straining

- Appraisal of stresso Cognitive appraisalo Primary and secondary appraisalo Stress moderator variables

They filter the usual effects of stressors - Types of coping responses

o Anticipatory coping What can I do?

o Problem directed coping Controllable stressors

o Emotion focused coping Uncontrollable stressors

Modifying cognitive strategieso Reappraisingo Restructuringo Stress inoculation

Meichenbaum o Perceived control

Social support as a coping resourceo Socioemotional supporto Tangible supporto Informational support

Health Psychology- Health

o General condition of the body and mind in terms of soundness and vigor- The field of health psychology

o Ways people stay healthyo Reasons they become illo Ways they respond when they become ill

- Health behaviours

March 7, 2014 Classifying psychological disorders

- Historical perspectives on classificationo Philippe pinelo Emil krapelino Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM)

DSM-IV

A useful classification/diagnostic system provides:- A common shorthand language- An understanding of causality- A treatment plan

The main tool for diagnosing mental disorder is:- The diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, fourth edition diagnosing types of

mental disorder (or DSM-IV)- 1. List of symptoms of disorder- 2. Typical age of onset of this disorder - 3. Any predisposing factors - Also some information in prognosis/how it progress over time- Information on how common the disorder is - Information on gender differences

5 axes to evaluate each client:1. Clinical diagnosis corresponding to syndrome2. Personality disorder3. General medical conditions4. Presence psychosocial stressors5. Global assessment functioning

Evolution of diagnostic categories- Neurotic disorders- Psychotic disorders- Homosexuality- Culture-bound syndromes

Prevalence- Substance use disorder – 20.6%- Anxiety disorders – 11.2%- Mood disorders – 10.2- Antisocial personality – 3.7%- Schizophrenia & other psychotic disorders – 0.7%

Etiology of psychopathology- Etiology

o The factors that cause of contribute to the development of psychological and medical problems

o Biological approaches Assume any disturbance is due to biological problem (ie. Genetics, tumour in

brain)o Psychological approaches

Causes of mental disorders1. Diathesis-stress model: a person may possess a predisposition for a disorder and is afflicted

when faced with stressors that exceed abilities to cope with them2. Sociocultural model: the cultures in which people live play a role in the development of

disorders3. Humanistic model: disorders develop when people do not obtain positive regard

4. Cognitive - behavioural model: holds that mental disorders are learned maladaptive thought and behaviour patterns

5. Psychodynamic model: mental disorders originate in intrapsychic conflict produced by the id, ego and superego

6. Medical model: mental disorders are caused by specific abnormalities of the brain and nervous system and should be approached like a physical illness is approached

Anxiety disorders- Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)

o Individual feels anxious and worried most of the time without specific threat or dangero Chronic high-level of anxiety

- Panic disordero Unexpected, severe panic attacks

- Agoraphobiao Extreme fear of being in public places from which escape may be difficult o Afraid of going out into large open spaces

- Phobiaso Persistent and irrational fear of an object, activity or situation

- Social phobiao Arises in anticipation of a public situation

- Specific phobiao Occurs in response to specific types of objects or situations

- Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)o The persistent re-experiencing of traumatic events, ie, war, combat, crime, disaster

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)- Obsessions – recurrent thoughts, images, or impulses- Compulsions – repetitive, purposeful acts performed according to certain rules or rituals

Mood disorders - Major depressive disorder

o Intense feeling of depression over an extended time- Bipolar disorder

o Alternating periods of depressive and mania- Manic episode

o Extreme elation, euphoria, grandiose thoughts or feelings

Seasonal affective disorder- Characterized by severe depression in the fall and winter, followed by normal or elevated mood

in the spring and fall - In the DSM- More common in climates where days are short

March 12, 2014 Goals of major therapies

- Reaching a diagnosiso Applying a label to the symptoms

- Proposing a probable etiology (cause)o What do the symptoms tell us about the cause of the disorder

- Making a prognosis o What course will this problem take

- Treatment planning

Major Therapies- Biomedical therapies

o Alter brain functioning with chemical or physical interventions- Psychotherapy

o Focus on changing faculty behaviours, thoughts, perceptions, and emotionso Psychodynamic, behaviour, cognitive, existential humanistic

- Integrative approach o Controlling symptoms with medication

Therapeutic context- Types of therapists

o Clinical psychologist Assessment and research psychological problems PhD

o Clinical social worker Mental health professionals Masters, PhD Social context of person’s problem

o Counselling psychologist PhD or PsyD Provide guidance

o Pastoral counsellor Members of a religious orders Receive training in treatment of psychological disorders

o Psychiatrist Completed medical school MD additional training on mental / emotional disorders Biomedical basis of psychological problems

o Psychoanalyst Psychiatrist, clinical psychologist

Therapeutic context- Patients (typically biomedical approach)- Client (typically bio psychosocial approach)

- Therapeutic allianceo Mutual relationship that a client or patient establishes with a therapist (collaboration to

bring about relief)

Early treatment of mental disorders- Mental disorders have likely been with us since human existence began- The earliest treatments that we have records for includes: trephining, a procedure in which a

hole is made in the skull of a living (un-anesthetized) human- Devils work….witches…- Now there are many approaches Johann Weir

Therapeutic context- Western historical contexts

o Institutionalization of poor, criminals, mentally ill London hospitals – concept of bedlam Philippe Pinel – removed chains from mental patients Dorothea Dix – towards treatment in US and Canada Creation of rural asylums (overcrowding problems)

o Rehabilitationo Deinstitutionalization

Homelessness and the ‘revolving door’

Does therapy work?- Evaluating therapeutic effectiveness

o Spontaneous-remission effecto Self-selectiono Regression towards the meano Placebo effecto Meta-analysis

Can prevention strategies be incorporated into therapy to improve therapeutic effectiveness?- Prevention strategies

o Primary preventiono Secondary preventiono Tertiary prevention

Psychodynamic therapies- Freudian psychoanalysis

o Intensive and prolonged technique for exploring unconscious motivations and conflicts- Insight therapy

o Therapist guides patient toward discovering insights between present symptoms and past origins

- Free associationo Thoughts, wishes, physical sensations, and mental images as they occur

- Catharsiso Expressing strongly felt but usually repressed emotions

- Resistance- Dream analysis and interpretation- Transference- Countertransference

Later psychodynamic therapies- Place more emphasis on:

o Patients current social environmento Continuing influence of life experienceso Role of social motivation and interpersonal relations of loveo Significance of ego functioning and assist in the development of the self-concept

Harry Stack Sullivan

Behaviour therapies- Behaviour therapy (behaviour modification)

o Systematic use of principles of learning to increase or decrease the frequency of behaviours

Counter conditioning, Substitute a new response for a maladaptive one

Exposure therapies Systematic desensitization

o Client is taught to prevent arousal of anxiety by confronting feared stimulus while relaxed

Floodingo Clients are put directly into a phobic situation

Aversion therapy Attractive stimulus is paired with noxious stimulus

Contingency management Changing behaviour by modifying its consequences Positive reinforcement strategies

o Token economies Extinction strategies

Social learning therapy Clients observe models’ desirable behaviours being reinforced

Imitation of models Participant modeling

Social-skills training Behavioural rehearsal

Cognitive therapies- Cognitive therapy

o Attempts to change feelings and behaviours by changing the way a client thinks about or perceives significant life experiences

- Changing false beliefso Cognitive therapy for depressiono Rational-emotive therapy (RET)

Albert Ellis

- Cognitive behaviour therapyo Combines cognitive emphasis on thoughts and attitudes, and behavioural emphasis on

changing performance Aaron Beck

Existential-humanistic therapies- Human-potential movement

o Release the potential of the average human being for greater levels of performance and greater richness of experience

- Client-centered therapyo Carl Rogerso Emphasizes the healthy psychological growth of the individual

- Gestalt therapyo Focuses on the ways to unite mind and body to make a person whole

Group Therapies- Couple and family therapy

o Couples therapyo Family therapy

- Community support groupso Self-help groupso AA, OA, others

Biomedical Therapies- Drug therapy- Psychopharmacology

o Branch of psychology that investigates the effects of drugs on behaviour- Antipsychotic drug medication

o Chlorpromazineo Haloperidol (Haldol)o Clozapine

Drug Therapy- Antidepressant Drug medication

o Tricyclics (TCA)o Bicyclico Monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibiters o Lithium (lithium salts) – bipolar disorder

- Antianxiety drug medicationo Benzodiazepine

- Prescriptions for psychoactive drugs - When is drug therapy necessary?

o Biologically based

Biomedical therapies- Psychosurgery (neurosurgical approach)

- Prefrontal lobotomy (sever connections between frontal lobes and the thalamic and hypothalamic areas)

o Egas Moniz- Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)

o Bilateral and unilateral ECT

March 19, 2014Chapter 17 – social psychology

Objectives- Person/social perception – how do we formulate our ideas about what others are like- Attribution processed – how do people use attributions to explain social behaviour?- Attitudes – how are attitudes formed? What leads to attitude change? How do attitudes affect

people’s behaviour?o Prejudice

- Interpersonal attraction – what factors influence blah blah blah

Social psychologist- Studies the effect of social variables on individual behaviour attitudes, perceptions and motives- Also studies group and intergroup phenomena- May study difference with culture

What is social reality?- Social cognition

o Process by which people select, interpret, and remember social information- Social perception

o Process by which people come to understand and categorize the behaviours of others

Person perception- Judgement based on appearance- Inferences based on movement, gestures, speaking style- Social schemas and stereotypes- Evolutionary psychologists – speak of in-groups and out-groups as adaptive- Spotlight effect – people overestimate the degree to which others pay attention to them

Origins of attribution theory “explaining behaviour”- Attribution theory

o Describes the ways the social perceiver uses information to generate causal explanations about the causes of events, other’s behaviour, and their own behaviour

- Fritz Heidero Dispositional or situational

- Harold Kellyo Covariation principle

People should attribute behaviours to a causal factor if the factor is present whenever the behaviour occurred but was absent when it did not occur

o Distinctiveness – is there uniqueness

o Consistency – what about other past eventso Consensus – is it true in all cases

Fundamental attribution error- Fundamental attribution error (FAE)

o Tendency to underestimate impact of situational factors and overestimate influence of disposition factors

Defensive attribution- Tendency to blame others for their misfortune, so as to feel less likely to be victimized in a

similar manner- Just world hypothesis

o To believe that justive usually prevails that good people are rewarded and bad guys punished

- Blaming the victimo Maybe the person wasn’t so good after all; he or she must have done something to

deserve what happened or to provoke it