Chapter 1: Introduction to Psychological Science

Amadou Diallo: Innocent man shot by police looking for rape suspect, did not freeze when police told him to Involved: Emotion, memory, visual perception, decision making, social interaction, cultural differences, prejudice, group behaviour and mental trauma Racism

Elizabeth Phelps and Mahzarin Banji: Used brain imaging, fMRI Unfamiliar black faces amygdaladetecting threat, fear response o Only in those holding negative attitudes about blacks-IAT (implicit attitudes test) Increasing familiarity reduces fear response

Fundamental factors: biological, individual, social

Brain mechanisms<=> environment Understanding cultures

Psychological science: study of mind, brain and behaviour Mind: mental activity Perceptual experiences (sight , smell, etc) Memory Brain: biological processes that enable the mind Behaviour: subtle to complex actions Objective techniques for assessing the mind Technology enables study of consciousness

Themes Principles are cumulative Science progresses in small incremental steps Easier to recognize than recall

Biological Revolution Questions were answered through philosophical speculation Brain chemistry neurotransmitters, communicate messanger between nerve cells People have better memories for events that happen when they are aroused than when they are calm, because chemicals involved in responding to stimuli influence the neural mechanisms involved in memory Human Genome link between genes and behaviour Mice and memory example Activity affected by multiple genes How specific genes affect thoughts, actions, feelings, various disorders Watching the working brain: how ccells operate in brain to influence behaviour How different brain regions interact to produce perceptual experience Different types of memory-similar and different How conscious experience involves changes Localization of function

The mind is adaptive Evolutionary theory: Mind shaped by evolution to solve problems related to survival and reproduction, Biological and cultural In psychological science, a theory that emphasizes the inherited adaptive value of behaviour and mental activity throughout the entire history of a species

Natural selection: Darwins theory that those who inherit characteristics that help them adapt to their particular environment have a selective advantage over those who do not Adaptations: in evolutionary theory the physical characteristics, skills, or abilities that increase the chances of reproduction or survival and are therefore likely to be passed along to future generations.

Solving adaptive problems: brain has evolved specialized circuits or structures that solve adaptive problems Situational and cultural contexts Behaviours as adaptations to recurring human problems Belonging to a group, beviours leading to social exclusion discouraged People who lie, or steal drain group resources and thereby possibly decrease survival and reproduction for otherscheater dectors Capacity to see well, remember where food was abundant, recognize dangerous objects, understand basic laws of physics (babies gain fear of height around same time as when they start crawling)

Modern minds in stone age skulls: how the brain works within the context of the environmental pressures that the brains of the Pleistocene-era humans faced Ex. People liking sweet food, substantial survival value in prehistoric times Not all behaviours are adaptive

Culture provides adaptive solutions: dealing with other humans, demanding adaptive challenge Selecting mates, cooperating, forming alliances, competing for resources, warring, supernatural forces, capacity to communicate Caregivers Dependency on group living, complex relationships Culture: the beliefs, values, rules, and customs that exist within a group of people who share a common language and environment and that are transmitted through learning from one generation to the next

Musical, food preferences, expressing emotion, tolerance of body odours affected by culture Globalization: changed how we live together, flow of peoples, commodities, financial instruments, internet Richard Nisbett: different cultures posses very different views Westerners: miss the forest for the trees, single elements in the forefront, analytic, complex ideas into simpler components, categorizing info, logic and rules explain everything, Greeks: personal freedom, logic, debate. Independent, autonomous, individuality. Steven Heine: emphasize personal strenghts Easterners: overlook single trees, focus on entire forest, holistic, everything is inherently complication, all elements affecting all other elements, Chinese: harmonious relationships with family and villagers. Interdependent, part of a collective. Steven Heine: emphasize need for self improvement Women in work force: fundamental change in the way women are viewed and practical changes Culture affects extent to which people should emphasize their own interests vs interest of family/group Human mind is adaptive in both biological and cultural terms