Altangerel Gandush

Psychology
2014.09.03
Chapter 2: Psychology as a Science
Hypothetico-deductive approach: finding some sort of observation that can be proven false
1. Develop hypotheses
Prediction; educated guess to explain something that can be proven false
2. Observe behaviors and/or conduct an experiment
3. Build a theory
The Scientific Method
1. Used to help us describe, explain, predict, control or influence thoughts, feelings,
behaviors
2. Steps to follow to establish empirical evidence
3. Systematic, conscientious
4. Assumes
Natural laws govern everything (cause/effect); not everything is simple
We can find and test these laws; some things cannot be figured out
Steps of the scientific method
1. Formulate testable questions to investigate
Develop hypotheses (specific prediction)
o Variables
o Independent variable; things that we would manipulate and change
o Dependent variable
o Operationalize the variables; define the variables
2. Get participants
Sample
o Group of people studied to represent for a larger population
o Random selection
o Be careful of sampling bias
3. Design study
Research methods
o Descriptive (case study; go real in-depth in an individual case, but its
just one case, also susceptible to bias, naturalistic observation; not
interfering in anyway, just observing and not studying in-depth,
survey; dishonesty, wording bias)
o Experimental (shows actual change)
Manipulative independent variable to see change in dependent
variable
Control group, experimental group
Double-blind procedure: where experimental and control
groups dont know what group theyre in and neither does the
researcher know which group the participants are in
4. Analyze data & arrive at conclusions
Statistical significance
Practical significance; can it be applied in real life and humans?
5. Correlational study
Relationship between two variables
o Positive (+1.00, +0.88)
o Negative (-0.62, -1.00) inverse relationship
o Can we infer cause? Correlation does not mean causation
Extraneous variable or confounding variable
6. Report Results
Publish, share findings
Reporting allows others to replicate study
o Replication-repeat testing of a hypothesis
o Replication increases / decreases confidence

Chapter 3
Nature vs. Nurture
Nature- inherited, biological, genetic
Nurture- environmental influences
Interaction of the two on development is recognized
Never ending debate; which is more important?
Is it just biological maturation (endogenous) or environmental influence (exogenous)?
Critical period vs. Sensitive period
1. Critical period
Time of high sensitivity to environmental input
Important for certain brain functions
Possible serious impact if deprived
Example using tobacco and alcohol during their pregnancy. It permanently
damages the baby.
You cannot make up for the damage during this time
2. Sensitive period
Sensitive to environmental input, but to a lower degree
Easier to recover from deprivation
Experience driven
Example- attachment; the relationship and bonding between the baby and
caretaker.
You might be able to make up for this during their lifetime
Temperament- Thomas & Chess
1. Easy (Flexible)
Positive moods, playful, adapts easily, regular eating/ sleeping habits, open to
new things
2. Difficult (active/feisty)
Irregular sleeping/ eating habits, irritable, fussy, cry easily/ often, negative
reaction to new
3. Slow to warm up (cautious)
Withdraw from new, adapts slowly, low activity
Temperament is
Inborn
o Appears shortly after birth
Follows us into adulthood
o Still some variability, but relatively stable over time

Abnormal Prenatal Development
Prenatal development- 9 months in the womb
Placenta- protects the baby
Teratogens (harmful substance and agent) that the placenta cannot block
o Radiation
o Chemicals (mercury)
o Diseases (AIDS)
o Drugs
o Stress
o Soft cheeses, deli meat
o Alcohol
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)
How do you make a pickle?
o You expose the brain of your brain to alcohol, pickled it and you can
never turn it back to the original, healthy state
How much alcohol is safe during pregnancy?
No conclusion from research- no amount is safe
FAS or FASD (Fetal Alcohol Specific Disorders)
o Describes broad range of effects associated with alcohol use during
pregnancy

Psychological/ Cognitive Symptoms
1. Impulse control it sometimes gets mistaken for ADHD
2. May not understand consequences of behavior
3. Hyperactivity
4. Poor judgment
5. Memory problems Ex. Problems at school because they cant remember or
memorize anything
6. Difficulty perceiving danger
7. Difficulty interpreting social cues
8. Anxiety/ Depression more of an after effect
9. Attention
10. Social problems

Attachment
1. Secure attachment
Caregiver is warm, sensitive, consistent, meet needs of child, safe base
If (mother) caregiver is safe, perhaps rest of the world is
Mary D. Salter Ainsworth & Strange Situation
2. Insecure Attachment
Caregiver is inconsistent, insensitive, does not meet childs needs (neglectful)
o Anxious ambivalent- extreme separation anxiety, fear of abandonment
(the presence of the mother does not comfort the baby)
o Anxious avoidant- reluctant to seek closeness, sense of indifference,
not sure what to expect
o Disorganized/disoriented- ignore, rigid postures, flat affect, crying out

Cognitive Development
1. Jean Piaget- viewed child as mini-scientist exploring and making sense of their world
2. Stages show a shift in how child understand and thinks
3. Build on previous stages
4. Many challenge Piagets theories, its not necessarily universal
Sensorimotor stage 0-2
Learn through action and manipulation
Lean effects of own actions
Key task: object permanence
o Object is still present even if not seen (out of sight out of mind)
Preoperational stage 2-7
Intuitive rather than logical reasoning (pre-logic) cannot logically reason
with young children
Egocentrism- cant see someone elses point of view
Symbolic thought- key task (broom is horse)
Imaginative play important! Helps with self-regulation
Private speech- helps self-regulation, planning, problem solving
Key task: Conservation- understand that something can stay the same even if
the appearance is changed (as long as nothing is added or subtracted)
o Irreversibility- cannot mentally reverse a sequence of events back to
starting point
o Centration- focus on one part of situation while missing the other
important parts
Concrete Operational stage 7-11
Understand conservation (can reverse operations, can focus on more than one
aspect of a problem)
Can use logical thought
Difficult thinking logically about hypothetical situations and abstract ideas
Need explanations in tangible terms, cant come up with alternate possibilities
to a situation
Formal Operational stage- adolescence
Problem solving more systematic and logical
Can think logically about abstract or hypothetical
Emerges and develops gradually
Often found in an area of expertise
Adolescence
Begins at 11 or 12 years, ends?
Puberty, females 2 years ahead of boys
Pre-frontal cortex last to develop: planning ahead, organization, judgment, decisions
Impulsivity, risky, dangerous behaviors may be due to underdeveloped area
Parent-adolescent relationship
Generally positive IF positive before entering adolescence
Arguments increase
o Issues of control and authority
o Desire and attempt to develop autonomy and independence
Individualistic vs. collectivistic culture
Conduct Disorder
Frequent rule breaking
Disobeying authority
Bullying
Fighting
Delinquent behavior
Adults may fear child
Risk factors for Conduct Disorder
Family violence
High family dysfunction
Exposure to violence in childhood
Abuse, maltreatment and neglect in childhood
Substance abuse
Poor academic and social behavior (more of a symptom than a cause)
Gang membership
Access to guns

Parenting Styles
1. Permissive indifferent or uninvolved- low control & demand, low responsiveness &
warmth
Anxious, poor communication skills, poor self-control, demanding, non-
compliant, possible aggression/antisocial behaviors
2. Permissive or permissive indulgent- low control & demand, high responsiveness &
warmth
The children may be cheerful, impulsive, disobedient, overly dependent on
adults, low initiative, immature and selfish
3. Authoritarian- high control & high demand, low responsiveness & warmth
Moody, anxious, low self-esteem, unhappy, angry, fearful, withdrawn,
irritable, distrustful, aggressive, more behavioral disorders
Rebellion, resentment, delinquent behavior
4. Authoritative- high control & high demand, high responsiveness & warmth
Cheerful, high self-esteem, independent, cooperative, friendly, high self-
control, self-reliance, less delinquency, confidence in abilities, social maturity
The Spanking Debate
Kids who receive moderate spanking think its fairer punishment compared to
kids who had frequent or rare spankings
Violence begets violence- many studies show children who are spanked later
become aggressive
Fathers
Stereotype; only mothers have maternal instinct
Time with child dictates sensitivity to child
More involved in play
Two parent households better for children
Tiger Parenting in Chinese/ Chinese American Homes
Amy Chua, Yale Law School professor wrote The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

Chapter 4: Neuroscience & Behavior
Neuroscience
Scientific study of the nervous system
Neuroscience combines understanding of biological psychology to application of
behavior
fMRI & PET scans- brain activity
Almost all topics of psychology studied through neuroimaging
Nervous system basics
Neuron
o Nerve cell, most basic unit, base cell
Network- neurons working in groups
Neuron
1. Soma
Cell body
2. Dendrites
Receive information through chemical signal
3. Axon
Tube extending from soma
4. Myelin sheath
White fatty covering made of glial cells, insulation & acceleration
5. Glia
Support & many other functions
6. Axon terminal
Information leaves the axon terminal
Communication within a neuron
Action potential
o Brief electrical impulse sends a message down axon
o How? Through movement of electrically charged particles (ions)
o Axon opens and closes ion channels
Resting potential
Stimulus threshold/ threshold of excitation
Action potential (spike)
All or none law
Absolute refractory period- action potential has to finish before another one starts
Relative refractory period- if you wait a little bit and give the axon a lot of stimulus
then there could be a little bit of action potential
The thicker the axon the faster the message
Communication between neurons
Neuron to neuron: chemical signal
Synapse
o Presynaptic neuron (axon terminal)
o Post-synaptic neuron (dendrite)
Synaptic gap
Axon terminals contain synaptic vesicles
Synaptic vesicles contain neurotransmitters
Neurotransmitters- chemical messengers, carry a signal
Neurotransmitter receptors (on post-synaptic neuron)
(Neural) plasticity- a change in the nervous system from repeated release of
neurotransmitters
Reuptake- when the neurotransmitters float over and attach to the receptors some do
not attach and the presynaptic neuron takes the unused neurotransmitters back to
recycle. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor- Prozac.

Chapter 6: Consciousness- Sleep & psychoactive drugs
What is consciousness?
Our immediate awareness of our internal & external states
Attention and awareness
stream of consciousness William James
Freud & Consciousness
Consciousness- thoughts, perception
Preconscious- not directly connected to. Memories, stored knowledge
Unconscious- fears, selfish needs, immoral urges, irrational wishes, violent motives,
shameful experience
o Repression- pushing away any unwanted thoughts
Hypnosis
Some skepticism in clinical work
Medical field use more reliable
Cooperative interaction where person responds to hypnotists suggestions
Can produce changes in perception (of pain, reduction), memory, thoughts, behavior
Person is aware of whats going on
Voluntary
Increased focus and responsiveness
Kids easier to hypnotize than adults
Possible results: blindness, numbness, numbness to pain
o Positive hallucination- seeing things that are not there
o Negative hallucination- not seeing/sensing things that are there
Post-hypnotic suggestion (when a person is awake they are still doing what they are
told), posthypnotic amnesia (after theyre awake they have still forgotten)
Memory- debated, safe to say cannot enhance memory
o Pseudo memories (false memories)- no evidence
MYTHS
o Cant be hypnotized against your will
o Cant be hypnotized to go against own morals
o Cant make you physically stronger or talented

Purpose of sleep
Restorative Theory of Sleep
o Helps body and mind restore and rejuvenate
Adaptive Theory of Sleep
o Sleep is result of evolutionary adaptation, self-preservation
Pituitary Gland
o Growth hormones, less sleep as we age
Sleep and wake cycles
Circadian rhythms
o Body temp, physical strength, hearing, pain sensations
o Mental alertness- 2 peaks (morning & evening)
o Biological clock
Suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN)
o Tiny bunch of neurons in the hypothalamus
o Sunlight and SCN
o Melatonin- hormone in blood that causes sleepiness. Sunlight reduces
melatonin
o Low melatonin = awake
o High melatonin = sleepy
If sunlight sets SCN
o What happens when there is no sunlight? Circadian rhythm falls out of whack.
Blind people sometimes have insomnia
o Cave experiment and circadian rhythms
o Jet lag and circadian rhythms
o Night shift, rotating shift
o Circadian rhythm sleep disorder- excessive sleepiness/insomnia
Sleep cycle
EEG (electroencephalogram)- monitors brain waves, eye movement, breathing, pulse,
blood pressure
Eugene Askerinsky- REM (rapid eye movement) sleep
REM vs. NREM sleep
o Active sleep or paradoxical sleep/quiet sleep
Feeling drowsy
o Hypnagogic hallucinations
Vivid sensory phenomena during change from wakefulness to light
sleep
o Hypnopompic
Hallucinations. Accompanied with sleep paralysis
o Myoclonic jerk (or sleep start)
Insomnia
Complaints of quality or duration of sleep
Approx. 60% of adults
Worry/anxiety/stress/ and insomnia
Bedtime routine important
o Behavior problems: irregular bedtimes for kids
Sleep deprivation and reality shows (also form of torture in war)
Nocturnal Enuresis
Stage 3 or 4
Dreams may coincide and feel real
More common in boys, considered normal until age 11+ sometimes
Nocturnal Encopresis- serious indicator of pathology or psychosis\
Sleep related eating disorder
Sleepwalking
Eat compulsively
Eat normal and abnormal: candy, food, soap, raw meat, butter
More women
REM Sleep behavior disorder
Body does not suppress voluntary muscle movements
Essentially acting out dreams
More men and older men
Sexsomnia
Occurs during NREM (stage 3 or 4)
Compulsive sexual behavior during sleep
No memory
Can lead to rape or assault accusations
Ontario, Canada 2008, England 2005
Narcolepsy
Random bouts of daytime sleepiness
Excessive, overwhelming
sleep attack
bouts usually last less than 1 hour
can sometimes include cataplexy- sudden loss of voluntary muscle control

Dreams
most common during REM, occur during NREM also
4-5 REM periods in 8 hours of sleep
Freud: royal road to the unconscious & disguised fulfillment of repressed wishes
Manifest (what is actually happening in your dream) vs. latent (the underlying
meaning of your dream) content
Topics and purpose- dream interpretation
Dream questions
Why do we dream?
Nonsense of symbolic meaning?
o Activation synthesis model
o Signals- amygdala, hippocampus, prefrontal cortex less active
o Information-processing theory- the brain is sorting out the events of the day.
Process the memories and emotional experiences.
What is a lucid dream? Interacting with ones own dream
Purpose of dreams
Help us understand new experiences
Cope with trauma or loss
Prepare us for change
Facilitate learning
Indicate physical illness (fever)
Psychoactive drugs
Physical dependence
Drug tolerance
Withdrawal symptoms
o Drug rebound effect- creates the opposite effect of the drugs influence
Drug abuse is present when it starts to negatively affect life
Dopamine- reward learning pathway
Depressants (inhibiting brain processing)
1. Alcohol
Inhibits, slows, stops neurons in brain (depresses part of brain)
1 drink equals
Binge drinking- for males 5 or more, females 4 or more
Alcoholism (alcohol addiction)
Depression and alcohol exist at the same time. Self-medicate with alcohol
Other depressants: Xanax, Valium, Ativan
2. Opioids
Morphine, opium, codeine
Relieve pain
Feelings of euphoria
Heroin- rush of euphoria
o Overdose can cause death
Stimulants
1. Caffeine
Increase mental alertness and wakefulness
Withdrawal: headache, migraine, drowsy, irritable, constipation, anxiety
Overdose- jitters, high anxiety, insomnia, racing heart
Starbucks grande
2. Nicotine
Reduces fatigue, increased alertness enhanced mood, enhanced attention
Leaves brain within 30 minutes, tolerance developed quickly
Withdrawal: irritability, appetite, sleep problems
Chantix- anti-smoking drug
o Suicidal behavior, Chantix dreams, sharp mood shifts
3. Ritalin, Concerta, Adderall, Dexedrine
Controversy regarding diagnosis
Same side effects as other stimulants
4. Cocaine
Withdrawal: depression, fatigue, sleep problems, anxiety
Chapter 7: Learning
What is Learning?
1. Long lasting change in our behavior or knowledge
Results from a personal experience
2. Add or change behaviors to cope with our surroundings
Associative learning- connection, linking. Take one thing and connect it to
another
Non-associative learning- Change based on experience that happens without
connecting two things.
o Habituation- decrease in behavior. Exposed to something and getting
used to the stimuli.
o Sensitization- increase in behavior. Responding more to stimuli.
Conditioning
Basic form of learning
Creating associations between events and behavioral responses
Ivan Pavlov (physiologist, studied saliva, using dogs)
Found dogs began to salivate before food was given
Salivation is a reflex, how could it happen without a stimulus?
Dog learned to anticipate food associate with a signal
Stimulus- anything that is noticed by your senses
Classical conditioning
Behavior automatically brought out by stimulus
Always involves a reflex
Stimulus to response
Pairing of two stimuli = learned association
Classical conditioning terms
Unconditioned stimulus
o UCS- stimulus that naturally produces a physiological response
Unconditioned response
o UCR- unlearned response (automatic response). Everybody will respond the
same way in the same species
Conditioned stimulus
o CS- was neutral, now brings out reflexive response
Conditioned response
o CR- learned response
Influencing conditioning
Stimulus generalization- CR occurs with similar CS. The dog salivates to similar
sounding bells
Stimulus discrimination- CR occurs only with one CS. Giving a particular response
to a particular stimuli
Extinction- CR weakens or stops when CS is given without pairing with UCS
Spontaneous recovery- CR reappears without exposure to CS
Higher order conditioning (second order conditioning)
o CS can be paired with new UCS to then lead to same CR, old CS functions as
new UCS
o Bell + food = salivation
o (CS) bell = (CR) salivation (first order)
o buzz + (UCS) bell = (CR) salivation
o (CS) buzz = salivation (second order)

John Watson & Little Albert
inborn unconditioned reflexive emotions: fear, rage, love
o showed classical conditioning (fear conditioning) can condition certain
emotional response
Albert B., 1920, 9 months old
o Conditioned fear response to things he was not previously afraid of
Phobias & systematic desensitization
Attachment disorder
Inability to form healthy emotional attachments
o Seek out situations that result in pain (physical or emotional) and dont
respond well to nurturing
o Caused by childhood abuse and neglect
Controversial treatment rebirthing technique
Cognitive aspects of learning
Not just behavior, changing what you know
Robert Rescorla - conditioning depends on our processing of signals that go along
with it
Reliable signals, unreliable signals
Conditioned taste aversion
John Garcias famous research
Does not need multiple pairings
Can be temporary or permanent
Biologically associate illness with taste
Animals and humans
Evolutionary perspective: protective