Summary with the 6th edition of Psychological Science by Gazzaniga

What is the science of psychology? - Chapter 1

What is psychological science?

Psychological science is the study of mind, brain and behaviour. Mind stands for mental activity, such as thoughts, feelings and perceptions. Mental activity is the result of biological (chemical) processes within the brain. Behaviour describes the totality of observable human (or animal) actions.

One of the aims of this textbook is to learn to think more critically. A critical attitude is required towards all kinds of information, especially information that seems logical. Scientists have to learn to be sceptical. Critical thinking involves systematic questioning and evaluation of the information at hand. It is important to ask critical questions and not to take information for granted. Critical thinkers have to look for alternative explanations of behaviour. Critical thinking involves looking for alternative explanations, detecting weak use of evidence and the use of logic. In addition, it is important to be open to new information and to examine whether a study might be influenced by personal or political interests. Also, think whether the used research designs are appropriate.

What are different types of inaccurate thinking?

• Confirmation bias: people evaluate information that is similar to the beliefs they already had as more positive. At the same time, they underestimate the value of information that is different from their own ideas.
• Seeing relationships that do not exist: it is often assumed that if two things happen at the same time, they should be related to each other; which is not the case. Often it is just a coincidence.
• After-the-fact explanations (hindsight bias): people often come up with explanations for why events happen, also when they have incomplete information. Evidence is reinterpreted in a way that fits better to the outcomes. As a result, existing evidence becomes biased.
• Mental heuristics: heuristics are decision rules that are followed to decrease the effort that it takes to make good decisions. However, using heuristics can also lead to more inaccurate decision making.
• Self-serving bias: People want to feel good about themselves, therefore, they think that they are better than average on a variety of aspects. To support this positive view, people credit personal strengths for successes whereas they blame outside forces for their failures. People also have difficulty recognizing their own weaknesses.

What are the scientific foundations of psychology?

Psychology originated in philosophy, in which the great thinkers tried to understand human nature. In the 19th century, psychology became an independent discipline with different schools of thought that dominated the field for a period of time.

The nature-nurture debate already started with Greek philosophers, such as Aristotle and Plato. The question is whether psychological characteristics are biologically determined or caused by the environment, for example by culture. Culture refers to the attitudes, norms and beliefs that are important within a group of people who share their language. The result of the debate is that there is always an interaction between genes and environment.

The mind-body problem involves the question whether the mind and the body exist separately from each other or whether the mind is a subjective experience of the brain. Early philosophers thought that the mind and body functioned separately from each other. Leonardo da Vinci was one of the first who attempted to connect mental functions to different brain areas. Around 1600, Descartes introduced another interpretation, which is called dualism. Dualism refers to the idea that the mind functions separately from the body, however, the mind and body are connected. The body was viewed as an organic machine that was led by reflexes. The other way round, many psychological functions, such as memory and imagination would be products of the body.

What was the start of experimental psychology?

In 1879, Wundt established the first psychological laboratory. He is seen as the founding father of experimental psychology. He introduced the principle of mental reaction times that an individual would need for a simple and a complex task. He thought that the difference between the time needed to accomplish a simple and a complex task, would be the time that the mental effort would cost. He wanted to measure conscious experiences as well. This was done by introspection: the study of subjective mental experiences in which (trained) individuals had to describe their thoughts. After some time, introspection was being rejected because it was subjective and not representative.

Titchener, one of Wundt’s students, used introspection as a foundation for his own new idea, namely, structuralism. This school of thought is based on the idea that conscious experiences can be divided in underlying basic elements.

James believed that it was not possible to divide the mind into different elements because the mind is way too complex. According to James, the mind existed of a never ending stream of thoughts that continually changed, called a stream of consciousness. According to James it was more important to examine the functions of the mind. This approach is called functionalism.

Darwin presented the evolutionary theory in his book 'On the origin of species'. Darwin reasoned that species change over time. Because some of these changes increase individuals' chances of survival and reproduction, these changes were passed along to future generations. These changes are called adaptations. He called this mechanism natural selection: the process by which changes that are adaptive are passed along and those that are not adaptive are not passed along.

What are the schools of thought?

In the twentieth century, the ideas of Sigmund Freud became popular. Freud started his career as a neurologist and he worked with people suffering from neurological diseases. He believed that their conditions were caused by psychological factors. He also believed that behaviour was elicited by unconscious mental processes. Freud thought that disorders were caused by unconscious (mostly sexual) conflicting mental forces. In psychoanalysis, the unconscious is made conscious in order for psychological conflicts to be solved. Solving these conflicts was done with the use of dream interpretation and free association. Free association means that the patient is encouraged to speak freely about everything that pops up in his mind.

Watson was the most important founding father of behaviourism and he thought that mental processes should not be studied because they are not directly observable. According to behaviourism, all kinds of behaviour are evoked by the environment (nurture). Every action is a response to a certain stimulus and it can be predicted by the stimulus. Skinner wanted to understand how behavior is shaped or influenced by the events or consequences that follow them. Until 1960, behaviourism was dominant but afterwards the focus shifted again towards mental processes.

According to the Gestalt theory, the whole is more than the sum of its parts, which also applies to personal experiences. The subjective experience is not just the sum of its different elements, which was thought by structuralists. According to Gestalt, the perception of objects is subjective and dependent on context.

Humanists such as Rogers and Maslow emphasize that an individual has to get to know and accept himself in order to reach self-actualisation and to treat psychological disorders. This approach emphasized the basic goodness of people. It focused on how people should work on personal goals and try to live up to their full potential as human beings.

Cognitive psychology refers to the study of higher mental functioning, such as intelligence, thinking, language, memory and decision making. From cognitive research, it became clear that thinking influences behaviour. At the same time the computer was introduced. The cognitive psychologists were initially interested in software (the mind) but around 1980 their interest in hardware grew. In this time cognitive neuroscience arose, which is focused on the brain and the nervous system as underlying mechanisms of thinking, learning, perception, language and memory.

What are the latest developments in psychology?

A lot of progress has been made in understanding brain chemistry. Since the late 1980s, researchers have been able to study the working brain as it performs its vital psychological functions, because of brain imaging methods. Research has made it clear that there is some localization of function. To discover which brain areas are connected and work together in performing tasks, the Human Connectome Project was launched in 2010.

Scientists also have made enormous progress in understanding the human genome: the basic genetic code for the human body. Almost all biological and psychological activity is affected by the actions of multiple genes.

The evolutionary approach

According to evolutionary psychology, mental traits are seen as products of natural selection. Functions such as memory, perception and language can be seen as adaptations. Adaptations are facial characteristics, skills or other actions that increase the likelihood of reproduction and survival, therefore, they are inherited to the next generations. There is growing evidence that the brain adapts biologically and that the mind adapts under influence of culture.Through natural selection we received built-in mechanisms that solve adaptive problems from the past. In the past, sweet foods with a lot of calories were scarce. This kind of food had a great survival value and a preference for fatty and sweet foods was adaptive. Nowadays, people still have this preference but it leads to maladaptive behaviour, as it can make people obese.

What is the role of culture in providing adaptive solutions?

Cultural evolution goes much faster than biological evolution. In the last century, great changes have occurred in the way people interact. The flow of people, commodities, and financial instruments among all regions of the world are referred to as globalization. Also the internet has created a new form of culture. According to Nisbett, members of Asian cultures think more holistically than members of Western cultures (that are more individualistic). People from Asia think less analytically compared to people from Europe and North America. This difference might be caused by a different history. The culture in which one is living determines the norms and beliefs someone has. Norms specify which behaviour is expected from the people living in a certain culture. Culture plays an important role in shaping how people view and reason about the world around them.

Which different levels of analyses are present in psychological science?

The social approach looks at how group contexts affect the ways in which people interact and influence each other. The biological level of analysis deals with how the physical body contributes to mind and behavior. The cultural level explores how people's thoughts, feelings and actions are similar or different across cultures. Psychological science emphasizes the importance of examining behavior across multiple levels in an integrated fashion. Often psychologists collaborate with researchers from other scientific fields, such as biology. Collaborations are called interdisciplinary.

Psychologists are working in different fields which are described here:

• Neuroscientists and biologists study the influence of biological systems on mental activity and behaviour.

• Cognitive psychologists look at how people think, perceive, solve problems, make decisions, use language and learn new skills.

• Developmental psychologists study the development of individuals during the life-span.

• Personality psychologists are interested in traits of people and how these traits differ per context. They also look at differences between individuals.

• Social psychologists try to understand how people are influenced by the presence of others and how people perceive others.

• Cultural psychologists study how people are influenced by societal norms that belong to a certain culture.

• Clinical psychologists study factors that might cause psychological difficulties and they search for treatments.

• Counselling psychologists try to improve daily well-being of people. The difference with the clinical psychologist is that a counselling psychologist is more focused on a difficult situation in which one is currently rather than treating psychological disorders.

• School psychologists are working in education where they help students with learning difficulties.

Psychologists are working in other fields too, such as forensic settings or sports. For example, health psychologists are working interdisciplinary and study factors that influence physical health.

The most important things you need to know

Psychological Science is the study of mind, brain and behaviour. Mind refers to mental activity, which is a consequence of biological processes in the brain. Amiable skepticism means being open to new findings, but also aware of whether there is scientific supporting evidence. Critical thinking is the ability to question and evaluate information, using evidence. Biases in thinking include ignoring evidence (selective memory) ,accepting after-the-fact explanations, taking mental shortcuts (following heuristics). Movements in psychology include experimental psychology (focused on structure) ,introspection (subjective mental experiences), structuralism (conscious experience in elements) ,functionalism, behaviorism (how environment impacts behaviour) ,humanistic psychology (self-actualization) ,cognitivism (how internal states influence behaviour).

Which research methods are used in psychology? - Chapter 2

How is the scientific method used in psychological research?

Psychology is a science. Because they are scientists, psychologists gain accurate knowledge about behaviour and mental processes only by observing the world and measuring aspects of it. This approach is called empiricism. Research always starts with an empirical question, a question which can be answered with data. In general, the what, when and why of a certain phenomenon is being asked.

The purpose of science is to describe, predict, and explore a situation. The systematic procedure of observing and measuring phenomena that should provide answers on these questions is called the scientific method.

The scientific method makes use of three elements: theory, hypothesis and the study itself. A theory is a model of related concepts and ideas that tries to explain observable phenomena and that predicts something. A good theory results in a hypothesis which is a specific, falsifiable prediction of what should be observed given that both the hypothesis and theory are right. For example, someone who has a social phobia should also have an anxiety disorder. A good theory exists of a variety of falsifiable hypotheses. A good theory is also parsimonious, which is called Occam’s Razor. According to this principle, a simple theory is preferred above a complex theory.

• Step 1 in doing research consists of formulating a research question.
• Step 2 is conducting a literature study in which existing literature is being examined.
• Step 3 is forming a hypothesis.
• Step 4 is designing a study.
• Step 5 is conducting the study in which all data has to be collected systematically and carefully.
• Step 6 is the analysis of the data. First the data is being described, afterwards a conclusion is drawn.
• Step 7 involves the report of the results so that other researchers and society can benefit from it.

If the hypothesis is not supported by data, predictions are wrong and one can doubt the correctness of a theory. After formulating a conclusion, the entire process starts again; the scientific method is a cyclic method. If the hypotheses are supported, you can formulate new hypotheses based on the previous ones.

Studies can also be replicated which means that an experiment is being conducted in exactly the same way in order to examine whether the results are the same. If this is the case, it is more likely that the found results are correct. There is growing emphasis on replication, but researchers need to be critical in replication studies because contextual factors are likely to affect research findings.

Often, more than one theory may apply to a particular aspect of human behavior. If you have multiple theories, you can design a critical study that directly contrasts the theories to see which theory best explains the data.

Critical thinking is a skill you need to practice. The first step is to question information. You should also ask for the definition of each part of the claim. The evaluation of information is the second step in critical thinking. You need to think about the source of a claim and about the evidence offered by the source to support the claim. Well-supported evidence is, for instance, a research report based on empirical data that are published in peer-reviewed journals. 'Peer-review' is a process in which other scientists with similar expertise evaluate and criticise research reports before publication.

What types of studies are used in psychological research?

Variables are constructs that are measurable and that can vary. A variable can be something that is measured or something that is manipulated.

What are descriptive designs?

In a descriptive design, behaviour is being observed in order to describe it systematically and objectively. In this way, researchers can describe what phenomena are and (sometimes) predict when or with what other phenomena they may occur. However, descriptive research cannot achieve the goals of control and explanation. There are three methods within descriptive designs: case studies, observation studies and self-report measures.

A case study is used to study one unusual person or situation intensively. A case study is often seen as an observational study with only one participant. Participants in case studies often suffer from brain damage or a psychological disorder. In a case study, it is easier to interpret findings incorrectly or subjectively. Another problem in case studies is the lack of generalization to other people.

There are two types of observation studies. There is natural observation in which the researcher is not part of the situation and where the researcher does not want to interfere (taking photos of a monkey that acts in a certain way). In participation observation studies, the researcher is part of the situation. The researcher joins, for instance, a sect in order to observe without being noticed. Observation techniques attempt to measure observable behaviour in a careful and systematic manner.

In an observational study, interviews, questionnaires and surveys can be used. These are different forms of self-reports, methods in which people can provide information about themselves. Survey studies are cheap, fast and easy to conduct. Interviews are useful in a population that is not able to fill in a questionnaire, such as very young children. With an interview, the researcher can get detailed information and he can ask more extensively about a certain topic.

Can a bias be a problem in descriptive studies?

A problem common to all descriptive studies is that behavior may be affected by being studied. The presence of an observer might alter the behavior being observed. Such an alteration is called reactivity. People may feel compelled to make a positive impression on an observer, so they may act differently when they believe they are being observed. The Hawthorne effect refers to changes in behavior that occur when people know that others are observing them.

An observer bias refers to systematic mistakes in observations caused by expectations of the observer. An example is the experimenter expectancy effect, in which the behaviour of participants changes through expectancies of the researcher. In order to prevent experimenter expectancy effects it is best if the researcher is not aware of any of the research hypotheses, which means he is 'blind'

What is a correlational design?

A correlational study is used to measure and evaluate the relation between variables that naturally exist, without manipulating them. A positive correlation describes a situation where both variables either increase or decrease together; they move in the same direction. In a negative correlation, the variables move in opposite directions. An increase in one variable predicts a decrease in the other variable.

The main disadvantage of correlational research is that you cannot say anything about causality. If two variables are present together it does not mean that one causes the other. The first problem is that you do not have control over the situation; it is not clear which factors were of influence. The second problem is the problem of direction, you do not know whether variable A causes variable B or vice versa. An additional problem is the third variable problem, there could be a third variable that is not measured but that is of influence on the studied variables. A third, not measured variable, can cause both the independent and the dependent variable. In a study on driving under influence of alcohol, driving and being distracted are correlated. Stress can be a reason why people start drinking just before they start driving or stress causes distraction during driving.

What is an experimental design?

In an experimental design, the researcher can control the situation. An experiment is a study that tests (causal) hypotheses by manipulating variables. One variable is manipulated in order to see the effect on the other variable. The variable that is being manipulated is the independent variable. The dependent variable is the variable that you want to measure, this variable varies because the independent variable is manipulated. Operational definitions are used, which qualify (describe) and quantify (measure) variables so the variables can be understood objectively.

Often, two groups are used in an experimental design. The first group is the experimental group (who receives a certain treatment or intervention), in this group the independent variable is manipulated. The second group is the control group, this group is receiving no treatment at all or a different treatment. This group is used to compare the experimental group with.

The advantage of an experiment is that you can be relatively sure that found relations are causal. However, a strong level of control in the experiment is necessary. This means that the likelihood that other variables than the independent variable influenced the dependent variable has to be reduced as much as possible. A confound variable is a variable that is not the independent variable and that influences the dependent variable. This factor leads to a biased effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable. The more confounds are eliminated, the more alternative explanations are excluded and the stronger is the causal relation between the independent and dependent variable.

How are participants selected and assigned to research groups?

In research, it is important whether results are generalizable to a large group of people or only the participants in the study. The small group of people that participates in the study is called sample. This group is taken from a large group of people called population. The aim of the researcher is to become able to say something about the population. Therefore, the question is whether the results based on the sample are generalizable to the population. To answer this, the sample has to be representative of the population, through having the same characteristics as the population. To get such a sample, random sampling can be used in which everyone has the same probability of taking part in the study.

Often, convenience sampling is used in which participants that were easy to recruit are used, such as psychology students. This is only done when the chance that the sample differs from the population on important aspects is small. It is also important that the groups within the experiment are equal. If they differ on certain aspects, these factors might be causing a difference between the groups.

Selection bias refers to groups that are systematically biased because of how the participants are selected. Groups can be made more equal by random assignment so that everyone has the same chance to be in a certain group. This reduces the chance that a certain type of people ends up in only one group and not in the other one. Factors that could be of influence on the dependent variable are divided equally between groups.

Culturally sensitive research takes into account the significant role that culture plays in how people think, feel and act. It is important for researchers to assess how well their results generalize to other samples, particularly in cross-cultural research.

What are the ethics governing psychological research?

An Institutional Review Board (IRB) examines whether a study is designed according to ethical guidelines. Privacy is an important aspect. One part of privacy is confidentiality, which means that data from a participant has to be kept a secret. In studies about very confidential topics, anonymity can be guaranteed which means that the data is not linked to a certain participant.

Informed consent refers to the fact that people have to be provided with enough information about the study so that they are able to decide if they want to participate.

It is not always possible to tell the participants every detail of the study because this may influence their behaviour. Therefore, deception is used and the real purpose of the study is not explained to the participants. Deception is only used if other methods are not possible and if the aim of the study is important.

The risk/benefit ratio of a study is an analysis of whether the research is important enough to warrant placing participants at risk.

Research with animals must always be conducted taking into account the health and well-being of the animals. Animals share similarities with humans that make them good "models" for particular human behaviors or conditions. Transgeic mice have been produced by manipulating genes in developing mouse embryos. Studying the behavior of mice with specific genetic changes enables scientists to discover the role that genes play in behavior and disease.

How are data analyzed and evaluated?

A study can be evaluated according to three principles: validity, reliability and accuracy.

Validity: refers to the extent to which it is possible to answer the research hypotheses with the data. A study is valid if the measurement instruments are measuring what they should be measuring. Construct validity is the extent to which variables measure what they are supposed to measure. External validity is the degree to which the findings of a study can be generalized to other people, settings or situations. Internal validity is the degree to which the effects observed in an experiment are due to the independent variable and not to confounds. The experiment must be well designed and well controlled to be internally valid.

Reliability: this refers to the question about to what extent a measurement is stable over time and in similar situations. If the mean score of many measurements is taken, this mean score is more reliable. Studies are reliable if they can be replicated.

Accuracy: the extent to which an experimental measurement is free from errors. A measurement has to be accurate. It is possible that a measurement is valid (it measures what it has to measure) and reliable (the results can be replicated), but not accurate. There are systematic errors and random errors. Systematic errors are errors that are the same at each measurement. For instance, a scale that is always indicating 10 kilogram too much. Random errors are errors that are different per measurement, for instance, a stopwatch that sometimes counts too fast whereas at other moments it is too slow. A systematic error is worse than a random error.

What are descriptive statistics used for?

In descriptive statistics, a summary of the raw data is made. By taking the means of the scores, it becomes easier to compare and evaluate the data. The most simple descriptive statistic is the central tendency which is a number that reflects the most typical score in an entire group. There are three measurements:

1. Mean: add all scores and divide by the number of scores.

2. Median: the different scores are ordered from small to large and the number that is in in the middle is called the median. The median is useful if there are some extreme scores that lead to a biased mean score.

3. Mode: a score that is present most often in a dataset. The mode is less sensitive to deviating scores because it indicates what most of the participants scored.

In addition, you have to look at the variability within a set of scores. Variability is the distance between different scores or between scores and the mean score. The most used variability measure is the standard deviation which indicates the distance between the score and the mean score. The interval indicates the distance between the smallest and largest value.

-1 or 1 means a perfect (negative or positive) relation, 0 means there is no relation at all. A negative correlation (between -1 and 0) shows that high scores on the one variable go together with low scores on the other variable. The more alcohol is consumed, the less balanced one can walk around. A positive correlation (between 0 and 1) shows that variables decrease or increase together. One who does a lot of sports has a better condition whereas one who does not do any sports probably has a worse condition.

In what way do inferential statistics permit generalizations?

Whereas descriptive statistics are used to summarize data, inferential statistics are used to determine whether effects are probably due to chance or whether they reflect true differences in the groups being compared. If the results (probably) are not a result of coincidence, research says that the result is statistically significant. This can be said when the chance that it is a coincidence is less than 5%.

A meta-analysis is a study in which the results of many studies are combined and an overall conclusion is drawn based on all these studies. A meta-analysis summarizes previous results. Because the conclusions of meta-analysis are based on several studies, it can be argued that these results are more reliable.

The most important things you need to know

The purpose of science is to describe, predict, and explore a situation. In a descriptive design, behaviour is being observed in order to describe it systematically and objectively. There are two types of observational studies - natural observation in which the researcher is not part of the situation and participation studies (the researcher is part of the situation). An observer bias is a mistake in observations caused by expectations of the observer (experimenter expectancy effect). A disadvantage of correlational research is that you cannot say anything about causality. If two variables are present together it does not mean that one causes the other (third variable problem). A positive side of an experiment is that you can be sure that relations are causal. A confound variable is a variable that is not the independent variable and that influences the dependent variable. Random sampling can be used in which everyone has the same probability of taking part in the study. Convenience sampling is used in which participants that were easy to recruit are used. Construct validity is the extent to which variables measure what they are supposed to measure. External validity refers to when findings of a study can be generalized to other settings. Internal validity is high when the effects observed in an experiment are due to the independent variable. Reliability answers the question to what extent a measurement is stable over time. Accuracy is high when measurement is free from errors. A variability measure is the standard deviation which shows the distance between score and mean score. The interval is the distance between the smallest and largest value. Inferential statistics are used to predict results while descriptive statistics - to summarize findings.

How does biology influence behavior? - Chapter 3

How does the nervous system operate?

The nervous system is responsible for all kinds of psychological activities. It is a communication network that is the basis of what people feel and think. The nervous system contains billions of nerve cells. These nervous cells are called neurons which function via electrical impulses that communicate with other neurons via chemical signals. Neurons receive information, integrate and transmit it into the nervous system. Neurons communicate selectively with other neurons to form circuits, or neural networks. The nervous system is divided in two parts: the central nervous system (CNS) which contains the brain and spinal cord, and the peripheral nervous system (PNS) which contains the other nerve cells in the rest of the body.

Sensory neurons receive information from the physical world and carry this to the brain. Somatosensory neurons are sensory neurons that receive information from the body, for example the muscles. Motor neurons are neurons that make it possible for muscles to contract or relax, resulting in the ability to move. Sensory and motor neurons together are responsible for movement. We make many movements without thinking about it. If you touch a cup of tea that is too hot, you automatically pull back. These are reflexes: automatic motor nerve responses. Sensory neurons send a message that you have pain to the spinal cord. A motor neuron sends a message from the spinal cord that you should move your hands away from the painful stimuli.

Nerve cells have different forms and sizes but they share four characteristics. They consist of dendrites, a cell body, an axon and terminal buttons:

• The core of a neuron, the cell body, contains information from thousands of other neurons. In the cell body, information is collected, integrated and transmitted.
• The dendrites are the receivers. These are branchlike appendages of a neuron (nerve cell) which detect information from surrounding neurons.
• The axon is a thin branch of the neuron through which information is being transported to the terminal.
• Terminal buttons are located at the end of the axons. They carry chemical signals from the sending neuron to the receiving neuron.
• A synapse is the place where the chemical communication between neurons takes place.

The membrane is the cell wall. The membrane is important for the communication between neurons. Located on the membrane are ion channels. These specialized pores allow ions to pass in and out of the cell when the neuron transmits signals down the axon. The membrane regulates the concentration of electrically charged molecules that are the basis of the neuron's electrical activity.

What is an action potential?

When a neuron is not active, the inner and outer side of the neuron differ from each other in electricity. The resting membrane potential refers to the electric charge of a neuron, if it is not active. The electric charge within the neuron is then negative (-70mV) compared to the outside of the neuron because of the negative ions that are concentrated within the neuron. An action potential is the electrical signal that passes along the axon. This signal causes the terminal buttons to release chemicals that transmit signals to other neurons.

The cell membrane has gates through which positively charged sodium ions or positively charged potassium ions can pass. These ion canals are selectively permeable, which means only one type of ions can pass the canal. In the resting potential, the canals are set in such a way that they maintain the negative charge within the neuron. Therefore, inside the cell there is more potassium than outside the cell. Another mechanism in the membrane that contributes to polarization is the sodium-potassium pump. This pump increases potassium and decreases sodium inside the neuron, in this way helping to maintain the resting membrane potential.

There are two kinds of signals: (1) excitatory and (2) inhibitory. The first stimulates the neuron to fire, whereas the inhibitory signals decrease the chance of firing. Excitatory signals lead to depolarization, whereas inhibitory signals lead to hyperpolarization. Depolarization means that the ion channels open and potassium goes outside, whereas sodium ions come in. This results in a positive charge inside and a negative charge outside of a neuron. This is the basis of the action potential. Afterwards the sodium channels close, through which the cell is no longer positively charged. Slowly the cell comes back to the resting potential: the inside of the cell is again negatively charged.

If a neuron fires, the depolarization spreads out over the axon. Electical signals travel quickly down most axons because of the fatty myelin sheath that encases and insulates many axons. The myelin sheath is made up of glial cells. Between these segments are small gaps of exposed axons called the nodes of Ranvier. Because of the insulation provided by the myelin sheath, the action potential skips quickly along the axon. The action potential jumps from node to node and reaches a very high speed. In multiple sclerosis (MS), the myelin sheath is damaged. Therefore, the action potential cannot go via the myelin sheath to the nodes of Ranvier. This leads to restricted neural impulses that make movement and perception impossible over time.

The all-or-nothing principle means that each neuron fires as strongly as the others. If the critical threshold is reached, the neuron fires. The strength of firing cannot vary per neuron, however, the frequency of the firing can vary. This frequency depends on the strength of the stimulation.

How do neurotransmitters influence mental activity and behavior?

The neuron that sends the signal (via the axon) is called presynaptic. The receiving neuron (via one of the dendrites) is postsynaptic. The communication in the synapse works with chemicals that are called neurotransmitters. If the action potential reaches a terminal button, the vesicles release neurotransmitters into the synapse. These neurotransmitters bind to receptors of the postsynaptic neuron. Receptors are specialized protein molecules in the postsynaptic membrane. If the neurotransmitter binds to a receptor, the ion canals become opened which leads to an inhibitory or excitatory signal. Each receptor can be influenced by only one type of neurotransmitter.

When the neurotransmitters finish their work, they disappear. There are three different processes that are able to stop the influence of a neurotransmitter.

1. Reuptake: the neurotransmitters go back to the presynaptic neuron where they are being ‘recycled’.
2. Enzyme deactivation: the neurotransmitters are broken down by enzymes (certain proteins).
3. Auto reception: the neurotransmitters bind to the receptors of the presynaptic neuron through which the neuron knows how many neurotransmitters are present in the synapse.

Medicines and drugs can influence the working of the neurotransmitters. Agonists are drugs that imitate or reinforce the working of neurotransmitters. They increase the release and the effect on the postsynaptic neuron or block the reuptake. Drugs that block or inhibit the effects of neurotransmitters are called antagonists. These medicines can block the release and can facilitate the destruction of the neurotransmitters.

There are nine neurotransmitters important in psychology. These neurotransmitters are relevant for how we think, feel and behave.

1. Acetylcholine (Ach) is responsible for the control of motor activity and is involved in the contraction and relaxation of muscles. It can be both excitatory and inhibitory depending on the receptors.
2. Botulism (botox) is a substance that blocks the working of Ach (antagonist) and it can lead to paralysis, therefore, it is used in small amounts in plastic surgery. Moreover, this substance is involved in learning, memory, sleeping and dreaming, therefore, ACh-antagonists can lead to memory loss. In Alzheimer, the working of ACh is impeded. Therefore, ACh-antagonists may become a solution in memory problems.
3. Monoamines (MAO’s) are substances that are important for the regulation of arousal, emotions and motivation:
4. Norepinephrine is involved in alertness, consciousness and attention.
5. Serotonin is a substance that is important for emotion, impulse control and dreaming. Too little serotonin is associated with sadness, anxiety, increased appetite and aggression. Medicines that block serotonin reuptake (agonists) are used for mental disorders, such as depression or compulsive disorders.
6. Dopamine is involved in motivation and motor control. It is a reinforcing substance: eating, drinking and sexual arousal all lead to the activation of dopamine receptors. Dopamine leads to a pleasant feeling and plays a role in smoking and drug use. Dopamine is also responsible for the control of voluntary muscle movements. People with Parkinson’s disease have too little dopamine. L-DOPA is the precursor of dopamine. Injecting L-DOPA increases the production of dopamine. In patients with Parkinson’s disease, L-DOPA causes temporary relief.
7. GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) is the most important inhibiting neurotransmitter in the nervous system and it inhibits the action potential. GABA-agonists (benzodiazepines) are used to treat anxiety disorders because they relax the nervous system. Alcohol has similar effects on GABA-receptors.
8. Glutamate is the most important excitatory neurotransmitter in the nervous system. Glutamate facilitates learning and improves memory by reinforcing the synaptic connections.
9. Endorphin is a substance that is important in reducing pain perception and rewarding. Because of this substance, you can survive despite severe pain.

What are the basic brain structures and their functions?

The nervous system can be divided into the central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral nervous system (PNS). The CNS consists of the brain and the spinal cord. The PNS consists of all other nerve cells in the body. The PNS collects information and sends it to the CNS which organizes and evaluates the information and sends signals back to the PNS. The PNS controls specific behaviour or leads the body to adjust to the situation.

In phrenology, characteristics are distracted from the form of the skull: if a certain brain area was big, one possessed the belonging characteristic to a high extent. According to phrenology, the entire skull was divided into different areas characterized by a certain characteristic. However, there was no evidence for this idea. Nowadays, we know that this is wrong and that the brain consists of specialized areas with multiple functions.

Broca studied someone who could say very little but who did understand what other people were saying. He said that the left frontal part of the brain was damaged and concluded that this specific frontal area (Broca’s area) was important for the production of language.

Psychophysiological measurements are measurements in which it is examined how changes in bodily functions are connected to behaviour or mental states. These bodily changes are muscle tone, heart rate, temperature, dilation of the pupils etc.

Brain activity can be measured by looking at electrical activity in the brain. An electroencephalogram (EEG) is a device that measures the electrical activity in the brain. The device gives an image of the brain activity. Certain mental states have their own predictable EEG pattern. However, EEG registers all brain activity, therefore, activity in specific areas cannot be studied separately. Event-related potentials (ERPs) provide information about the speed at which the brain processes events but not about where in the brain those processes take place.

Brain activity is indicated by changes in blood circulation. By measuring the blood supply, you can see which parts become active during certain tasks.

An important technique is PET (Positron emission tomography). If body cells are active, they use glucose. If you look at metabolism in which glucose is converted, you know where cells are active and which brain area is active. A second technique is MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), this is the most strong technique which produces high quality images of the brain. This technique is used to detect brain damage, for instance. In fMRI (functional MRI), an image is made based on measurements of the blood supply.

A disadvantage of brain-imaging techniques is that the results are correlational: only relations between tasks and brain activity can be found. To solve this problem, in Transcranial magnetic stimulation the difference between performance of a functioning brain area and a not functioning brain area is measured. In TMS, a magnetic field stops the functioning of a brain area. A disadvantage of this method is that only areas directly beneath the skull can be studied and it can only be used for a short period of time.

What is the function of the brain stem?

The spinal cord consists of grey and white matter. The grey matter consists of cell bodies of neurons and the white matter has a myelin of axons. The brainstem is located below the brain. This part is responsible for the most important survival skills such as breathing, swallowing, vomiting and urinating. The brainstem contains the reticular formation, this neural network causes alertness and sleep-and wake patterns.

The cerebellum is located behind the brainstem. This brain area is essential for making coordinated movements and balance. In addition, the cerebellum is important for learning and for doing tasks automatically (for example biking). Finally, the cerebellum plays a role in cognitive processes.

What is the role of subcortical structures?

The hypothalamus is important for bodily processes that are essential for survival. It also regulates the body temperature, blood pressure, motivational behaviour such as thirst, hunger, aggression and sexual behaviour.

The thalamus is the place where sensory information arrives, is organized and goes to the cortex (except for olfaction which has a direct route to the cortex). The thalamus closes its gates when you are sleeping.

The hippocampus is important for the creation of new memories of a certain type. It is surprising that the size of the hippocampus changes if it is used more often. The longer someone is a taxi driver, the larger the hippocampus is, because taxi drivers have to remember a lot of spatial information.

The amygdala makes it possible to associate concrete objects with emotions, such as bad food with disgust, and to process emotional information. If we experience a strong emotional or threatening situation, we will not forget these stimuli anymore because of the amygdala. It also leads to feelings of anxiety if we detect those stimuli again. The amygdala is also involved in positive emotions such as sexual arousal.

The basal ganglia is a system of subcortical structures that are important for the initiation of planned movements. Probably, it is also involved in acquiring habits. The nucleus accumbens, a part of the basal ganglia, is important for feelings of reward.

What is the function of the cerebral cortex?

The cerebral cortex is the outer layer of the hemispheres. The cerebral cortex regulates thinking, detailed perception and consciousness, it makes people think before they engage in action. In the cortex, complex communication is possible via the corpus callosum, a bridge consisting of millions of axons that connects the two hemispheres and transmits information through the cortex. Our brain has several lobes:

• The occipital lobe is located at the posterior part of the brain and is responsible for vision. The primary visual cortex in this lobe is the place where visual information is collected.
• The parietal lobe is important for touch and orientation around objects in the same room. This lobe contains the primary somatosensory cortex. It is organized in the same way as the visual cortex. Body parts that are close to each other are also close to each other in the somatosensory homunculus which is a representation of where the processing of touch information takes place. Some body parts are more sensitive than others, these parts have a bigger area in the homunculus than body parts that are less sensitive.
• The temporal lobe is located next to the ears and it contains the primary auditory cortex. This lobe is important for hearing, detailed visual perception (such as faces) and memory. At the border between the temporal and occipital lobe, the fusiform gyrus are located which become active if people look at faces but not if they look at other things.
• The frontal lobe is located at the front of the brain and it is essential for planning and movement. The primary motor cortex is part of this lobe. The part of the frontal lobe that is not responsible for motor movements, is the prefrontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex is 30% of the brain. This part is involved in attention, working memory, decision making, social behaviour and personality. All characteristics that differentiate humans from animals are located in the prefrontal cortex.

What is a "split brain"?

To treat certain problems, such as severe epilepsy, the two hemispheres are sometimes disconnected at the corpus callosum. The left hemisphere controls the right side of the body and vice versa via the corpus callosum. In individuals with a split brain, the communication between the left and right side cannot take place anymore through which the hemispheres function independently from each other. If, simultaneously, two pictures are presented, a patient with a split brain is only able to say something about the picture on the right because the left hemisphere controls speech. The picture on the left side is being seen by the right hemisphere and the left hand can be controlled to point at the object on the picture. The left hemisphere's propensity to construct a world that makes sense is called the interpreter. This means that the left hemisphere is interpreting what the right hemisphere has done with only the information that is available to it.

How does the brain communicate with the body?

The PNS can be divided into the somatic nervous system (SNS) and the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The SNS carries sensory signals to the CNS via the nerves. The ANS regulates the internal environment of the body, such as the functioning of the bladder, stomach and heart. The ANS can be divided in a sympathetic and parasympathetic part. The sympathetic part of the ANS prepares the body for engaging in action. It makes you ready to fight or flight if there are threats. This part of the nervous system is also activated in situations provoking anxiety or sadness. The parasympathetic system brings the body back to rest.

What is the endocrine system?

The endocrine system uses hormones to influence behaviour, thoughts and actions. These chemical substances are released by the endocrine glands and transported via the blood. The endocrine system is primarily controlled by the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus controls the endocrine system via signals to the pituitary gland, which is located at the base of the hypothalamus.

Growth hormone (GH), gives signals through which bones and muscles start to grow. People try to influence their GH to improve their performances. The release of GH is dependent on proteins, therefore, an increase in food consumption can stimulate growth. The body facilitates protein intake by releasing more GH releasing factors because then people start to eat more proteins and the release of GH increases.

In sexual behaviour, the most important glands are the gonads. In men these are the testes and in women - the ovaries. Androgens such as testosterone are more prevalent in males, whereas estrogens such as estradiol and progesterone are more prevalent in females. Removal of the testes in males leads to difficulties in developing an erection. Testosterone is important in the sexual behaviour of males. The influence of gonadal hormones is more complex in females.

How does the brain change?

The brain is extremely adaptable, especially during childhood. This ability to change in response to experience or injury is known as plasticity. In general, such plasticity has critical periods. During these times, particular experiences must occur for development to proceed normally.

The connections in the brain are determined by axons that respond to substances that tell them where and when they have to migrate. The large connections are caused by these substances but the more detailed connections are caused by experience. If the eyes of a cat are closed at birth, the cat cannot get visual input. The visual cortex does not develop well and if the eyes open later on, the cat remains blind.

Brain plasticity decreases with age. The production of new neurons is called neurogenesis. A fair amount of neurogenesis apparently occurs in the hippocampus. Neurogenesis may underlie neural plasticity.

Differences and similarities between the brains of males and females are the result of biological influences and influences of the environment. In general, the male brain is bigger compared to a female brain but the size of the brain structures differs per person. Men have a stronger dominance for language in the left hemisphere than women. If women have had a stroke and one hemisphere is not functioning well anymore, the language skills are often still intact because this skill is spread over the two hemispheres, contrary to men. Research has shown that men and women perform similarly in tasks but they use different brain areas.

Can the brain recover from injury?

Cortical reorganization takes place if the representation of body parts in the homunculi has changed. If a body part is used very often, the representation of that part increases in the homunculus. After amputation, the representation of the amputated body part has to be adjusted. This cortical reorganization can go wrong. If so, people report that they still feel the body part hurting, this is called phantom pain. This can occur if the pain nerves do not grow properly at the end of the amputated body part. The pain is interpreted by the cortex as coming from the amputated limb, the cortical representation remains intact.

In children who suffer from severe epilepsy, sometimes, an entire cerebral hemisphere is removed which is called radical hemispherectomy. The functions of the removed hemisphere are taken over by the other hemisphere.

What is the genetic basis of psychological science?

Genetics refer to the characteristics that are passed along to offspring through inheritance and to the processes involved in turning genes ‘on’ and ‘of’. Whether genes are turned on or off depends also on the environment, but genetic predispositions determine also what kind of environment we select for ourselves.

Each body-cell contains chromosomes, structures consisting of genes. A human has 23 pairs of chromosomes. Each parent contributes half of a person’s DNA, half of his or her genes. The structures of a chromosome are made of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA).

The Human Genome Project is a large research project to map the structure of the human genetic material. An interesting discovery of the Human Genome Project is that humans do not have a larger amount of genes than certain plants or animals. The complexity of human functioning cannot be found in the amount of genes but in the complex way in which these genes are expressed and how their activity is regulated.

How are genes passed along through reproduction?

Mendel was the first who discovered something about the principles of heredity. He concluded that there are two types of genes - white and purple. These gene versions are called alleles. Dominant genes are always expressed even when there is only one present. Recessive genes are only expressed if there are two similar recessive genes. The genotype is the genetic basis of an organism. The phenotype consists of all observable characteristics of an organism. These are caused by genetic influences and environmental influences.

Characteristics, like length or intelligence, are caused by an interaction between genes. These characteristics are called polygenetic.

Everyone has his own unique combination of genes which are determined by random cell division at the time of reproduction. The zygote consists of 23 pairs of chromosomes, one half from the mother and one half from the father. The zygote grows through cell division: each cell copies its chromosomes which forms a new cell.

Sometimes there are mistakes in the cell division which lead to mutations. Most of these mutations have little influence on reproduction and survival. These mutations form the basis of the evolution process: if a mutation has an advantage for survival it will be passed along to the next generation. This is also how variation within a species is created.

How do genes affect behavior?

Behavioural genetics studies the interaction between genes and environment. This interaction leads to the development of the mind of an individual. Behavioural genetics gives information about the extent to which biology influences the mind, brain and behaviour.

In twin studies, two types of twins are compared. This is done in order to determine the genetic basis of trait characteristics. Monozygotic twins have an identical genetic make-up because the zygote divides itself in two. Each zygote therefore has the same chromosomes, DNA and genes. Dizygotic twins are genetically not identical to each other. The idea is that if identical twins are more similar with regard to a certain characteristic than non-identical twins, then the characteristic is probably heritable.

Adoption studies compare individuals with the same genes (twins) with individuals with the same environment but not the same genes (adopted children). Adopted brothers and sisters have similar environments but different genes. Similarities in characteristics cannot be caused genetically and are therefore probably caused by the environment. Research suggests that being raised in the same family has little influence on personality.

Sometimes, identical twins who are raised separately are compared to twins who are raised together. This is an ideal situation for a researcher. If twins who are raised in different environments share certain trait characteristics, it probably means that the characteristic is heritable. If the similarities are stronger in twins who are raised together than in twins who are raised separately, the characteristic is at least partly determined by the environment.

Heredity refers to the situation in which parents pass along certain characteristics to their children via genes. Heritability is only a statistical estimation of variation in characteristics in a population caused by heredity. The heritability is the percentage of differences between people in a population that is caused by differences in their genes.

How can genetic expression be modified?

As explained earlier, the environment determines which genes are expressed (activated). An example is a longitudinal study about criminality, conducted by Caspi. The researchers investigated why some people who are abused in their childhood become criminals whereas others with the same background do not. The study showed that people who had a certain gene that is leading to higher levels of MAO, were more likely to be criminals, given that they were abused in their childhood.

A new field of genetic studies is epigenetics. Epigenetic researchers are looking at the processes through which the environment affects genetic expression. These changes in how DNA is expressed can be passed along to future generations.

Gene expression can be studied in genetic modification in animals. By comparing genetically modified animals to normal animals, you can examine the effects of adding or removing certain genes. The 'knock-out' method refers to the elimination of certain genes in order to study the effect of genes.

Research on the function of brain structures is mostly correlational, therefore, causality cannot be found. To solve this problem, optogenetics is developed which involves a technique that controls when a neuron starts to fire through a combination of light and gene modification. Genes are modified in a way that will respond to certain lights. Subsequently, fiberoptics are injected in the brain. If light is presented, this will cause the neurons to fire. With this technique, the researchers determine which neurons are active or inactive.

The most important things you need to know

The nervous system consists of Central NS (brain, spinal cord) and Peripheral NS (other nerve cells). Peripheral nervous system is divided into Somatic and Autonomic systems. Neuron structure consists of dendrites, cell body, axons and terminal buttons. The all-or-none principle states that neurons either fire or not. Types of neurotransmitters are norepinephrine (arousal) ,serotonin (emotions) ,dopamine (reward) ,GABA (anxiety reduction) ,glutamate (learning). Basic brain structures include Broca's area (language) ,cerebellum (motor function) ,thalamus (sensory information), hypothalamus (regulatory) ,hippocampus (memory), amygdala (fear), basal ganglia (planning). Split brain is a condition in which the corpus callosum between the hemispheres is cut. Plasticity is the brain ability to change after experience or injury. Heredity is transmission of characteristics from parents to offspring through genes whereas heritability is a statistical estimate. Behavioral genetics is the study of how genes and environment influence mental activity, while epigenetics studies how environment impacts genetic expression.

What is the difference between conscious and unconscious processes? - Chapter 4

What is consciousness?

Consciousness is defined as the individual, subjective experience at a certain moment. This experience can be the awareness of one's own environment or thoughts. The basis of consciousness has been studied for more than a thousand years. Descartes (17th century) stated that consciousness would exist separately from the body (dualism). Nowadays, these two are not thought to be separated anymore.

Many different models for consciousness have been proposed. The global workspace model posits that consciousness arises as a function of which brain circuits are active. That is, you experience your brain regions' output as conscious awareness.

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is impairment in mental functioning caused by a blow to or very sharp movement of the head, commonly caused by an accident or a sports injury. TBIs can impair thinking, memory, emotions and personality. TBIs can range from mild to severe.

Most people who go into a coma after an injury or surgery, come out within a few days. Between the vegetative state and the full consciousness state is the minimal consciousness state. In this state people can respond to a limited extent to their environment, for example, they can follow an object with their eyes. The prognosis in this state is much better.

Brain death is the irreversible loss of brain function. No activity is found in any region of the brain. When the brain no longer functions, the rest of the body quickly stops functioning.

In the locked-in syndrome, you can see all the sights around you and hear every noise, but you cannot respond physically to these sights and noises.

In what way is attention involved in conscious awareness?

Attention and consciousness often go hand in hand. As explained in the book Thinking Fast and Slow, there are tasks that can be accomplished without paying attention and tasks that really need attention, these are controlled tasks. Tasks that do not require attention, such as walking or cycling, are called automatic tasks. Often, if you pay more attention to a task that can be done automatically, it becomes more difficult to perform.

Cherry described the 'cocktail party effect' which refers to the fact that you have to focus if you want to follow a conversation in a party, but if your name is called, you will automatically pay attention. Cherry developed the selective listening task in which a technique, called 'shadowing' is used. In this task, two different stories are presented, one to the left and one to the right ear. The participant has to paraphrase one story which leads to less attention for the other ear. Therefore, he hears the story on the other side but cannot give detailed information and will probably mix up both stories.

Broadbent thought that people have a restricted capacity for sensory information and that this information is being scanned for important aspects. Only relevant information is accepted for further processing.

Change blindness refers to the fact that we often do not notice big changes because we cannot pay attention to everything simultaneously. In a study, students were asked something and then the person who asked was made invisible by a large object. Behind the object, the person was replaced by someone else and many people did not notice afterwards. This phenomenon shows that we can only process a limited amount of information.

A 'Freudian slip of the tongue' is an unconscious thought that is expressed at an inappropriate moment. If smokers watch a movie in which actors smoke, they report more craving for cigarettes afterwards. Unconscious (or subliminal) perception can influence our cognitions. Subliminal perception occurs when our brain processes information without us being aware of it. This phenomenon happens when stimuli are processed but because they are presented shortly, people do not notice them.

What is sleep?

Brain activity and other physiological processes follow patterns that are called circadian rhythms. For instance, body temperature and sleep/wake cycles are regulated by the circadian rhythms. These rhythms are regulated by the biological clock and are influenced by light and dark. Multiple brain areas are responsible for maintaining these circadian rhythms. Information about light is caught by the eyes and is sent to the suprachiasmatic nucleus. This area sends signals to the pituitary gland which produces melatonin. The melatonin production is stimulated when it is dark and inhibited when it is light. Brains do not turn off during sleep, they process information and complex thinking still takes place. This is shown by the fact that people solve a task easier if they slept before.

Neurons in the brain are extremely active when people are awake. This produces beta waves on the EEG. When people close their eyes and relax, the brain activity decreases and this leads to alpha waves on the EEG. If you fall asleep, the EEG shows theta waves, you are in the first stage of the non-REM sleep from which you can easily awake. In stage 2, breathing becomes more stable and one becomes less sensitive to external stimulation. The EEG still shows theta waves but sometimes there are periods of activity which are expressed in sleep spindles and k-complexes (large waves) on the EEG. A sudden sound can lead to k-complexes. Subsequently, people progress to stages 3 and 4 which are both called slow-wave sleep. On the EEG, delta waves are visible. In these stages it is very difficult to wake someone up. After 90 minutes one goes back from stage 4 to stage 3 and 2 and to non-REM sleep.

During REM sleep, people have rapid eye movements and dream more emotionally than in non-REM sleep. In addition, the motor system is temporarily paralyzed. REM sleep is called paradoxical sleep because the body is very relaxed whereas the brain is highly active because it processes sensory input from itself.

What are different sleep disorders?

Insomnia: the inability to fall asleep and/or staying asleep. People experiencing insomnia often have emotional problems. 12-20% of the adults are suffering from insomnia, most of them are females. In pseudo- insomnia, people underestimate the amount of hours they are sleeping because they dream that they are not sleeping. A major cause of insomnia is worrying about sleep. CBT helps people overcome their worries about sleep and relieves the need for drugs.

Obstructive sleep apnea: a disorder in which people stop breathing during their sleep and wake up because of this. The disorder is associated with obesity but it is not clear what is caused by what. Often the person is not aware of how worse his sleep is and how often he was awake during the night.

• Narcolepsy: a disorder in which people fall asleep suddenly during the day, sometimes experiencing paralysis as in REM sleep. Stimulants are prescribed to treat this condition.
• REM-behavioural disorder: people do not get paralyzed during REM sleep and are acting out their dreams (moving around) while they are sleeping. There is no treatment as it is a neurological problem.
• Sleep walking (somnambulism): a harmless phenomenon that is mostly present in young children. It happens usually within the first hour after one has fallen asleep.

What are the functions of sleep?

The restorative theory: emphasizes that the brain and body have to rest in order to recover. Growth hormone is released during sleeping. Sleep also boosts the immune system. If you are doing a lot of sports, you need more sleep. People who sleep too little on a regular basis often have problems with attention and working memory. They can also become sensitive to micro sleep which means that they can fall asleep for a few seconds to one minute.

According to the circadian rhythm theory, sleeping makes animals calm and inactive during highly dangerous periods. Dangerous situations are mostly present at night (because it is dark). The regulation of the sleep and wake cycle are examples of circadian rhythms. According to this theory, animals only need a few active hours to be able to survive (to find food). The rest of the time can be used to be inactive.

Facilitating learning processes: sleeping leads to strengthening of connections between neurons which is the basis of being able to learn new information. Research has shown that people who sleep in between some tasks, become better at those tasks. Both REM sleep and slow-wave sleep stimulate the neural connections in the brain.

What are dreams?

Dreams are the product of an altered stage of consciousness; images and fantasies are confused with reality. Dreams are present in both REM sleep and non-REM sleep. Dreams are not produced by REM sleep but it influences the content of dreams.

Dreams in non-REM sleep are often boring compared to those during REM sleep. During non-REM sleep, there is a general deactivation of much of our brain areas.

During REM sleep, some brain areas show increased activity, whereas others show decreased activity. Dreams during REM sleep are characterized by strong emotions, hallucinations and illogical content except for taste, smell or pain. The brain area that is mostly active is the one involved in motivation, emotion and rewards, namely, the amygdala. Also areas involved in visual experiences are active. The prefrontal cortex is deactivated, in which self-reflection takes place.

Freud believed that dreams had a hidden meaning. The manifest content is the literal content of a dream, however, Freud was more interested in the latent content.

Hobson came with the activation-synthesis-hypothesis which states that during sleep random brain activity takes place. Because of the neural firing, mechanisms are activated that normally interpret sensory input. The sleeping brain tries to understand the random firing of neurons by making a story out of it. According to Hobson, dreams are epiphenomenal, side-effects of mental processes.

What is altered consciousness?

Hypnosis is a social interaction in which a person, following the directions of someone else, experiences changes in his memory, perception and voluntary actions. According to the social-cognitive theory of hypnosis, people just behave as they expect one should behave under hypnosis in order to please the hypnotist. According to the neodissociative theory of hypnosis, social context is important to hypnosis. According to this theory, hypnosis is a trancelike state in which conscious awareness is separated, or dissociated from other aspects of consciousness. Neodissociative theory is supported by brain imaging-research: people show different patterns of brain activity if they are under hypnosis. If people are told, under hypnosis, that they will not be influenced by the Stroop-effect, they are indeed not influenced. This is very interesting because the Stroop-effect cannot be influenced usually. Hypnotic analgesia showed that hypnosis can be used to reduce pain perception. Empirical research showed that hypnosis helps with dealing with immediate or chronic pain.

What is meditation?

Meditation is a mental procedure in which the attention is focused on an external object or a feeling of awareness. During meditation you do not pay attention to the thoughts that pop up and you have to relax. In concentration-meditation you have to focus your attention on one thing (such as breath or a sentence) whereas in mindfulness-meditation, you let go of your thoughts without paying attention to them. The most well-known meditation method is transcendental meditation. TM means that you have to meditate two times a day for 20 minutes with high concentration. People who do TM for some time experience improvements in their physical health, cognitive processes and also brain functioning. People who meditate a lot maintain their cognitive functions better as they become older.

What happens when people ‘lose themselves’?

People can lose themselves in different ways than hypnosis and meditation. A runner’s high is the phenomenon in which people forget their exhaustion and pain and feel euphoric during action. This is experienced by a lot of people who do sport (because endorphin is released during sports). A religious ecstasy is a spiritual state which is a bit similar to meditation. In a flow state, people lose themselves in an activity that they are doing just for the sake of doing, not because of external reinforcement. Some ways of escaping the self can be associated with self-destructive behaviors, such as unsafe sex.

How do drugs affect consciousness?

Psychoactive drugs are substances that can change the state of consciousness. These drugs can change the brain's neurochemistry by activating neurotransmitter systems: either by imitating the brain's natural neurotransmitters or by changing the activity of particular neurotransmitter receptors. Stimulants are drugs that increase behaviour and mental activities, they work by blocking the reuptake of dopamine. Addiction is drug use that remains compulsive despite its negative consequences.

• Opiates: drugs (heroin, morphine and codeine) that lead to a pleasant and relaxed feeling. Opiates were originally used to reduce pain. Activation of opioid receptors is involved in the experience of reward.
• Depressants: drugs that have the opposite effect of stimulants. They reduce behavioral and mental activity by depressing the central nervous system. Alcohol is the most widely used depressant. Anti-anxiety drugs, such as benzodiazepines, are also depressants.
• Hallucinogens: Drugs that produce alterations in cognition, mood and perception. These drugs change the way you see the world around you. The most common hallucinogen is LSD. Certain plants and fungi also have psychedelic properties.
• Cocaine: Cocaine is a stimulant that produces stimulating effects by increasing the concentration of dopamine in the synapses. Habitual use can lead to paranoia, psychotic behavior, and violence.
• MDMA (ecstasy): is a drug that has both stimulating and hallucinating effects. The drug is a popular party drug. It works via dopamine and serotonin. Because it exhausts serotonin, long-term use can lead to depression. In addition, it can lead to memory problems and difficulties in engaging in complex tasks.
• Amphetamines (speed): Amphetamines are stimulants that increase dopamine in the synapses.They cause weight loss and alertness but also insomnia, anxiety, heart problems and addiction. They are legitimately used for the treatment of narcolepsy and ADHD. Meth-amphetamine is the most popular drug after marihuana. It increases the release of dopamine and blocks reuptake. Finally it damages the brain and exhausts dopamine levels.
• Alcohol: Alcohol has an effect on GABA. GABA is an inhibiting neurotransmitter and that explains why people feel relaxed after alcohol consumption. Alcohol is popular, it is seen as a standard part of social interactions. At the same time, alcohol is the cause of many societal problems.

In all cultures, there is a difference between females and males in alcohol consumption: men drink more than women. This occurs maybe because the female body processes alcohol less easily and as a result females need less alcohol for the same effects. Another explanation is that it is less socially accepted for women to drink than men. Alcohol functions as a symbol of power for men. In addition, people often think (wrongly) that alcohol improves sexual performance. Another theory is that men feel attracted to the risk that comes along with drinking. A last explanation is that men would drink because they want to escape from their social responsibilities.

People often have positive expectations with regard to alcohol. People think they will feel better if they drink a lot and they will forget about their problems but drinking leads to a more negative mood. Another expectation is that people become more social and easy-going if they drink alcohol but these social effects were also present if a placebo was given which means that certain behaviours after alcohol consumption are caused by the expectation.

Marijuana: it is used both as a stimulant and depressant and can lead to hallucinations. Marijuana decreases reaction times, impairs motor coordination, memory formation and the recall of recently learned information. Researchers have discovered a class of receptors that are activated by marijuana: cannabinoid receptors. Activation of these receptors adjusts mental activity and alters pain perception. Large concentration of these receptors in the hippocampus may partly explain why marijuana impairs memory. Heavy long-term use is associated with a smaller hippocampus and amygdala. Marijuana is also used for its medical properties so it is legal in many countries.

What are the physical and psychological aspects of addiction?

Physical dependence on a drug is a physiological state associated with tolerance, in which a person needs to consume more of a particular substance to achieve the same subjective effect. Failing to ingest the substance leads to symptoms of a withdrawal, a physiological and psychological state characterized by feelings of anxiety, tension and cravings for the addictive substance.

Dopamine activity in the limbic system underlies the desire for taking drugs. Other brain regions important for addiction are the prefrontal cortex, amygdala, thalamus and hippocampus. The insula is important for the "craving" aspect of addiction. Craving is a very strong desire to take drugs, usually when one is trying to stop using the drugs. Tolerance leads to the need for using even more of the drug to achieve similar levels of pleasure. Eventually a lot of people use the drug to escape the negative feelings of withdrawal.

There are different reasons for drug addiction. People are presented with a positive image of drugs. People who score high on the trait sensation seeking, have an increased possibility to become addicted. In addition, there seems to be a genetic basis through which some people might have a predisposition. However, the environment is also very important. The role of parents, mass media and peers, including self-identification with high-risk groups, are important risk factors.

The most important things you need to know

Consciousness is the subjective experience of the world, resulting from brain activity. Unresponsive wakefulness syndrome occurs when a person wakes up from a coma, but does not respond to external stimuli whereas in locked-in syndrome, the voluntary muscles are paralyzed. Filter theory states that attention has selective nature, change blindness occurs when you fail to notice changes in the environment around you. Circadian rhythms are biological patterns that regulate sleep-wake cycle, suprachiasmatic nucleus is a key area in terms of sleep regulation. REM dreams result from activation of brain areas linked to motivation. Activation-synthesis theory states that the brain tries to make sense of random mental activity. Sociocognitive theory of hypnosis proposes that people under hypnosis behave as they expect they should while neodissociation theory states conscious awareness is separated from other aspects of consciousness. Types of drugs include psychoactive drugs (imitate/activate neurotransmitters) ,stimulants (increase activity), opioids (reduce pain), psychedelics (alter perception). Dopamine activity in the limbic system and insula, is involved in craving and tolerance effects of drug addiction.

How do the processes of perception and sensation work? - Chapter 5

What is sensation?

Sensation is the process in which senses react to external stimuli or signals in order to carry these to the brain. Perception is the processing, organization and interpretation of sensory signals. This results in an internal representation of the perceived stimulus. How do we integrate parts of an object into a complete picture in our brain? To explain this, two terms are of importance: bottom-up processing and top-down processing. Bottom-up processing is determined by the physical features of the stimulus, by perceiving an object. As each sensory aspect is processed, the aspects build up into perception of that stimulus. In top-down processing, higher levels influence the processing of the lower levels, you are looking at something and expectations, context and frame of reference determine how you see an object.

Sensory coding is the process in which our senses translate characteristics of a stimulus into patterns of neural impulses. Transduction refers to receptors in the senses that pass along neural impulses in response to physical or chemical stimulation. Physical or chemical stimulation is received by the sensory receptors and carried to the neurons. These neurons send information to the brain in the form of neural impulses. Most of the sensory information goes to the thalamus first (except from olfaction). Here, the information will be sent to the cortex where it will be interpreted. The code in which the information is carried can be quantitative or qualitative. A quantitative code reflects the intensity, brightness or loudness of a stimulus. A qualitative code includes the most basic qualities of a stimulus. Different sensory receptors respond to qualitatively different stimuli. A quantitative code consists of a frequency on which the neuron fires.

How does detection of a stimulus occur?

Psychophysics studies psychological experiences caused by perceived stimuli. For instance, the amount of physical energy that the senses need to perceive something. This is called the absolute threshold, the minimal intensity that a stimulus should have so you can perceive it. In case of hearing, this would be the most quiet sound that you are still able to hear. The difference threshold is the minimal amount of change that is needed to notice a difference in intensity between different stimuli. For example, the difference between whispering and normal talking.

According to the signal detection theory, detection of a stimulus is not an objective process. Detecting a stimulus is a subjective decision with two components: 1) sensitivity to the stimulus in the presence of distractions from other stimuli and 2) the criteria used to make the judgement from ambiguous information. . It is called a response bias, if the participants think that they saw a stimulus when there was no stimulus presented. This bias differs per situation and is influenced by the environment. There are four options:

1. The signal is presented and the participant detected the signal (hit).

2. The signal is presented but the participant missed the signal (miss).

3. The signal is not presented but the participant thinks it was presented (false alarm).

4. The stimulus is not presented and the participant thinks it was not presented as well (correct rejection).

Sensory adaptation means that one’s sensitivity decreases when one is exposed to a stimulus at a constant level. If the stimulus is presented repeatedly, the reactions of the senses decrease.

Although the brain creates stable representations, sometimes the resulting experience is quite unusual. Experiences in which a visual image has a taste, are called synesthesia. This shows that our brains often interpret information imperfectly.

Many people believe in a sixth sense, so called extrasensory perception (ES). There is only anecdotal evidence but no scientific evidence.

How are we able to see?

Light firstly passes the cornea, a thick, transparent protection layer at the surface of the eyes. The cornea makes incoming light sharp by using refraction. Then it arrives at the lens which projects an image on the retina. The retina is the thin inner surface in the back of the eyeball. The lens can adjust but the retina cannot. The pupil (at the front of the lens) can become wider or smaller based on incoming light. The iris controls the size of the pupil. The iris is the coloured part of the eye. Behind it, muscles are located that adjust the form of the lens. The lens becomes flattened when you are focusing on far away objects and thicker when you are focusing on objects that are close by. This phenomenon is called accommodation.

The retina contains two kinds of receptor cells: cones and rods. Rods are responsible for looking in the dark. They are not specialized in seeing colour or details. The cones are very sensitive to light and are responsible for colour and perceiving details. Within the rods and cones substances are present that are sensitive for light. These substances are called photopigments. Cones are mostly concentrated in the fovea, the centre of the retina. They are also elsewhere in the eye but not in the blind spot. The rods are only in the edges of the retina and not in the fovea.

Being able to see starts with the generation of electrical signals of the photoreceptors in the retina. Ganglion cells are the first cells in the visual process that can produce action potentials. Axons of these cells are gathered into a bundle in the optic nerve of each eye. Where the optic nerve is attached, is a blind spot, at this place we cannot see anything because there are rods and cones at this point. The optic nerve of each eye sends information to the central nervous system. At the optic chiasm, half of the axons in the optic nerves cross. This arrangement causes all information from the left side of the visual space to be projected in the right hemisphere of the brain and vice versa. The signals finally arrive in the primary visual cortex in the occipital lobe.

The ventral route goes from the occipital lobe to the temporal lobe whereas the dorsal route goes from the occipital to the parietal lobe. The ventral route (the what-route) is specialized in object perception and recognition (colours, shapes). The dorsal route (the where-route) is involved in answering where objects in the room are located. Object agnosia is a disorder in which people cannot recognize objects anymore. They still have a good idea of spatial organization but their ventral route is damaged.

How can we see colours?

Colour is a characteristic determined by the brain. The cones in the eyes are sensitive to red (long), green (middle) or blue (short) wavelengths. The colour we see is determined by different wavelengths of light stimulating the corresponding cones. According to the trichromatic theory, seeing colour depends on three types of cones, each receiving light from different wavelengths.

The opponent-process theory is an alternative theory because the trichromatic theory cannot explain everything. For instance, why do people who have red-green blindness still see yellow? According to the opponent-process theory, red and green are opponent colours, like blue and yellow. If you look at a red picture and then look away from it, you see a green afterimage. A certain type of ganglion cells receives excitatory input from the L-cones (red) but these are inhibited by M-cones (green). These cells create the after image in the opponent colour.

Each colour can be categorized based on three characteristics: hue, brightness and saturation. Hue is about the distinctive characteristics of a colour, the greenness or redness for example. The hue of a colour is dependent on the wavelength of light when it reaches the eye. Brightness is about the perceived intensity of a colour. This is determined by the amount of light that reaches the eye. Brightness is different from lightness. The lightness is determined by the relative brightness, compared to the environment. Saturation is the purity of the colour which varies based on a mix of wavelengths of the stimulus.

How do we perceive objects?

According to Gestalt theory, perception is more than a result of accumulating sensory data. It postulated that the brain uses innate principles to organize sensory information into organized wholes. The rule of similarity means that we group objects based on how much similarities they share in shape or colour. The rule of proximity means that we group objects based on how close they are. The rule of continuation means that we view lines as continuing even though they are disrupted. We also have the tendency to complete a figure which has gaps - this is called closure. Illusory contours refer to seeing contours and cues to depth even when they do not exist. Reversible figure illusion occurs when you look at picture in which you can see two different objects. These kind of illustrations show that we use fore and background effects.

The face gives us more information than anything else about an individual (mood, age, alertness etc.). Some people do not recognize faces anymore, however, they do recognize objects. This condition is called prosopagnosia. A part of the fusiform gyrus is important for the identification of faces. It has been found that people can recognize an angry face more easily than a happy face and that this is easier in men than in women. It is adaptive to recognize angry faces.

How is perception guided by cues in the environment?

Binocular depth cues are available from both eyes and contribute to bottom-up processing. Monocular depth cues are available from each eye alone and provide organizational information for top-down processing. One of the most important cues to depth perception is binocular disparity. This cue is caused by the distance between humans' two eyes. Because each eye has a slightly different view of the world, the brain has access to two different but overlapping retinal images. The brain can compute distances to nearby objects because of this. The ability to determine an object's depth based on that object's projections to each eye is called stereoscopic vision. A related binocular depth cue is convergence. This term refers to the way that the eye muscles turn the eyes inward when we view nearby objects.

If we close one eye, we can still see depth. This is because of monocular depth perception. Pictorial depth cues are tricks to create depth on a two-dimensional picture. In occlusion, an object close by hides an object that is farther away. In relative size, far-off objects project a smaller retinal image than close objects do, if they have the same physical size. In familiar size, we can estimate the size of an object because we know how big objects actually are. In linear perspective, seemingly parallel lines appear to converge in the distance. Texture gradient means that when a uniformly textured surface recedes, its texture becomes denser. Position relative to horizon means that objects below the horizon that appear higher in the visual field are perceived as being farther away.

In Ames boxes, the two edges of a room look farther away because of pictorial cues. If you put two objects of the same length in both edges, one object looks much smaller because it is farther away but you do not notice this. In the Ponzo-illusion, it looks as if the two seemingly parallel lines appear to converge in the distance. Because of these railroad lines, your brain thinks they are parallel and you perceive the horizontal lines as if they are different in size.

From the motion-after effects we know that motion-sensitive neurons exist in the brain. If you look for a long time at a constantly moving stimulus and look at something else subsequently, that object seems to move in the opposite direction. This is because as direction-specific neurons begin to adapt to the motion, they become less sensitive. In stroboscopic motion, a very fast changing object seems to move.

The opponent of size and depth illusions is object constancy. The brain perceives the same objects but if someone is sitting farther away, he looks smaller even though we are not interpreting him to be smaller. For object constancy we have to know the distance towards an object, for colour and lightness constancy we have to compare the background and for shape constancy we have to know from which angle we are seeing an object.

How are we able to hear?

Audition starts when movements of objects cause the displacement of air molecules. This pattern of changes in air pressure is called a sound wave. The amplitude of a wave determines its loudness. The frequency of a sound determines its pitch. A higher frequency leads to a higher pitch. Frequency is measured in hertz (Hz). Most people are able to hear soundwaves between 20 and 20000 Hz.

Changes in air pressure produce soundwaves which arrive at the outer ear. The soundwave goes to the middle ear. Because of changes in air pressure, the eardrum starts to vibrate. These vibrations carry on to the ossicles called hammer, anvil and stirrup. The ossicles increase the strength of the vibrations in the eardrum and carry them to the oval window - a membrane in the cochlea. Vibrations in the oval window lead to pressure waves in the cochlea which is filled with fluid. In the middle of the cochlea is the basilar membrane. The waves stimulate hair cells here - the primary auditory receptors. The sound waves are converted into neural signals that travel to the brain (auditory cortex in the temporal lobe) via the auditory nerve. The process of conversion of soundwaves in brain activity is what makes you hear sounds. The brain integrates sensory information from both ears to be able to locate a sound.

The vestibular sense uses information from receptors in the semicircular canals of the inner ear. These canals contain a liquid that moves when the head moves, bending hair cells at the ends of the canal. The bending generates nerve impulses that inform us of the head's rotation. The vestibular sense is responsible for our sense of balance.

To code pitch, two mechanisms are working simultaneously in the basilar membrane: temporal coding and place coding. Temporal coding is used to code low frequencies. A pitch of 1000 Hz causes the hair cells to fire exactly 1000 times per second. This is only exact for pitches up to 4000 Hz. In higher pitches, the cells fire together in groups.

How are we able to taste?

Gustation prevents us from eating toxic substances. The taste receptors are part of the taste buds on the tongue, in the mouth and throat. Each taste bud has 50 receptor cells which give neural signals to the thalamus. Different parts of the tongue are not sensitive to different tastes, which was thought in the past.

Each taste is a unique combination of sweet, sour, salty and bitter and umami tastes. Umami was found recently and is caused by glutamate. Not only does taste influence our taste experience. If you close your nose, you will taste less. Also the structure of the stimulus is important for the sensory experience. A stimulus is hard, creamy or crispy. The complete taste experience takes place in the brain and not in the mouth. Taste preference starts already in the womb. A baby has a preference for what the mother drinks during pregnancy. Supertasters are people who are extremely aware of tastes and textures.

How are we able to smell?

Olfaction is the only sense with a direct path to the brain. If we smell something chemical, odorants pass into the nose and are detected by the olfactory epithelium. The quality of an odorant is determined by a unique combination of stimulated receptors. These give nerve impulses to the olfactory bulb. Olfactory bulb is the brain area for olfaction and is located directly below the frontal lobe. From here, olfactory signals go to other brain areas. Regions in the prefrontal cortex process information about smells. The intensity of a smell is determined by the amygdala. The amygdala and prefrontal cortex are important for emotion, therefore a smell can induce strong emotions.

Pheromones have an effect on the behaviour of other people. Pheromones are perceived unconsciously and play an important role in sexual behaviour.

How are we able to feel touch and pain?

Touch is about feeling pain, temperature and pressure. Receptors for pressure and temperature are located in the outer layer of our skin. There are special receptors for high and low temperatures. There are also special receptors for vibration, movement or constant pressure.

Pain is part of the warning system that stops you from continuing activities that might harm you. Nerves that can detect pain are situated in the skin, muscles, membrane around bones and organs. Fast fibres indicate sharp immediate pain. The speed is caused by a thick layer of myelin around the axons of these fibres. They are useful in very quick reflexes in reaction to a painful stimulus. Slow fibres are involved in long-term, chronic or dull pain. Dull pain prevents using a body part any longer in order to recover.

According to 'gate control theory of pain', we experience pain when pain receptors are activated and a neural "gate" in the spinal cord allows the signals to go to the brain. These receptors can only send signals if the gate at the spinal cord is opened. A way to close the gate is to stimulate other touch receptors. Also cognitive processes can close the gate. Morphine closes and blocks the gates to pain.

Pain killers can be used to reduce pain perception. Distraction is an easy way to reduce pain. You will also feel less pain if you are rested, not fearful. Finally, try to visualize your pain as something more pleasant.

The most important things you need to know

Bottom-up processing is perception based on physical features of a stimulus. Top-down processing is about how expectation shapes interpretation of sensory information. Sensory coding relates to sensory systems translating stimuli through neural impulses. Signal detection theory states that detection of stimuli requires judgement. Rods are retinal cells, responding to low levels of light whereas cones respond to high levels of light. Binocular cues of depth perception are available to both eyes together while monocular cues - to each eye alone. Vestibular sense is a perception of balance, determined by receptors in the inner ear. Olfactory epithelium contains the receptors for smell while the bulb is the brain's main area for smell. Touch is a haptic sense and kinesthetic sense is perception of movement of our bodies.

How do we learn? - Chapter 6

What does learning encompass?

Learning is a lasting change in behaviour caused by experience. There are three types of learning. Non-associative learning is a reaction to something in the environment. Changing one's behaviour as a result of a stimulus is a form of learning. Associative learning happens when two events that happen close in time become associated by the learner. Observational learning is the change in behaviour that occurs due to observing the behaviour of someone and adapting one's own accordingly.

How are habituation and sensitization models of nonassociative learning?

Habituation is the gradual decrease in the intensity of a reaction that occurs when a harmless or not rewarding stimulus is presented repeatedly. If a background noise suddenly stops, you are likely to notice the change. The increase in response because of a change in something familiar is dishabituation. We speak of sensitization when a response increases after presentation of a threatening stimulus. As a rule of thumb, less neurotransmitters are associated with habituation and increased release of neurotransmitters is associated with sensitization.

How do we learn predictive associations?

Conditioning means that a stimulus from the environment becomes associated with a behavioural reaction. In classical conditioning, a neutral stimulus elicits a response because it has become associated with a stimulus that already produces that response. You learn that one event predicts another.

Pavlov was interested in the salivary reflex, which is the automatic increase in saliva release when food is presented to hungry animals. He designed a construction which measures the amount of saliva produced by dogs. After some time, Pavlov noticed that the sound of the bell alone was sufficient for the dogs to begin salivating. The unconditioned response is the salivation that occurs when food itself is presented. He called food the unconditioned stimulus. For most reflexes, the unconditioned stimulus triggers the unconditioned response. Similarly, the bell is called the conditioned stimulus because the dogs have to learn that the bell is associated with presentation of food. In this example, the conditioned response occurs after learning that hearing the bell is paired with food, which leads to salivation.

Learning about the connection between unconditioned and conditioned stimulus is called acquisition. An essential condition in order for acquisition to occur is that the two stimuli must be presented simultaneously. Later it was discovered that learning was most optimal when the conditioned stimulus was presented firstly and afterwards - the unconditioned stimulus.

Stimulus generalization occurs when stimuli resembling the unconditioned stimulus also trigger the conditioned response. Stimulus discrimination happens when it is learned that the unconditioned stimulus is associated with conditioned stimulus, but not with a stimulus that is very similar to the conditioned stimulus.

Extinction means that the conditioned response decreases in intensity when conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus cease to be presented concurrently. If, after extinction occurred, the two stimuli are presented together again, the conditioned response increases again (spontaneous recovery).

Certain pairings of stimuli are more likely to become associated than others. Conditioned food aversion is significantly easier to be learnt than is the case for many other events and stimuli. Animals learn very quickly to avoid food that made them feel sick at an earlier point in time. This is due to the fact that it is evolutionarily adaptive.

Martin Seligman suggested that animals are genetically programmed to be afraid of specific objects, this tendency was called biological preparedness. Different species of animals differ with regard to the stimulus associations they are prepared for.

In what way do expectancies and predictions play a role in learning?

Rescorla demonstrated the importance of cognition by conducting a number of experiments. He proposed that the conditioned stimulus must be an accurate predictor of the unconditioned stimulus, or no conditioning will take place. He discovered that a conditioned stimulus that is predicted shortly before the unconditioned stimulus instead of afterwards facilitates the learning process. The Rescorla-Wagner Model suggests that the strength of association between two stimuli depends on how unpredictably the unconditioned stimulus is presented.

Learning theorists refer to the difference between expected and actual outcomes as prediction error. Positive prediction error strengthens the association between the CS and the US. A negative prediction error weakens the CS-US association. Positive means the presence of something unexpected, whereas negative refers to the absence of something expected.

Reward regions in the brain show a burst of dopamine activity in response to the CS but not to the US. The less prediction error, the less dopamine activity. Thus it appears that error prediction and its related dopamine activation play an important role in conditioning.

What are learning components in phobias and addiction?

A phobia is a learned disproportionate fear of objects or situations. According to the classical conditioning theory, phobias originate from the generalization of anxiety-provoking events. Animals can be conditioned to develop phobias of neutral objects. This is called fear conditioning. The amygdala plays a crucial role in this process. In the famous (unethical) little Albert experiment conducted by Watson, fear conditioning was demonstrated in a toddler. Watson associated a neutral stimulus (a white rat, the conditioned stimulus) with an anxiety-provoking stimulus (a loud noise, the unconditioned stimulus). After a few conditioning trials, little Albert began to be afraid of the neutral stimulus due to its association with the noise.

Classical conditioning also plays an important role with regard to drugs and addiction. The needle of a syringe or tobacco can become conditioned stimuli over time. Seeing a needle can make (previous) addicts alert and trigger craving because they associate it with the feeling of drugs. According to Siegel, tolerance effects are strongest when the drug is always taken in the same place because the addict associates the place with the drug. The effect of tolerance can be large enough for addicts to take doses that would be lethal for other people. Addicts are more likely to overdose after moving to a new place since the place does not yet have conditioned association with the drug, which renders the body less prepared for a high dose.

How do consequences of action shape behaviour?

From the perspective of operant conditioning, the repetition of behaviour depends on its consequences. Thorndike developed the law of effect: behaviour that leads to positive consequences will be repeated faster than behaviour which results in unsatisfying outcomes. Thirty years after Thorndike, Skinner began studying the law of effect. Skinner was influenced by Watson to a substantial degree. Skinner used the term reinforcement. A reinforcer is a stimulus that follows a response and increases the likelihood that the response will be repeated. Skinner believed that virtually all behaviour is the result of such reinforcers. Skinner developed a box in which animals could administer food or water to themselves by pushing a lever. He placed rats into these boxes and over time they learned that pushing the lever had positive consequences.

Shaping takes place when behaviour similar to the desired one is rewarded. If done properly, this can shape the behaviour of the animal and finally approximate the desired behaviour.

What kinds of different reinforcers are there?

A primary reinforcer is a reinforcer for which we have a natural, biological craving, like food. Secondary reinforcers are objects or events that are strongly associated with primary reinforcers. Money is an example of a secondary reinforcer because we can buy food and other pleasant things with it. Some reinforcers are more powerful than others. The Premack principle states that a valued activity (e.g. eating ice cream) can be used in order to reward performance of an activity that is valued less (e.g. cleaning one's room).

A positive reinforcer increases the chance that behaviour is repeated when it is rewarded with the reinforcer. This is called a reward. Negative reinforcement takes place when the chance that behaviour is repeated increases because a negative stimulus is removed.

What are schedules of reinforcement?

Continuous reinforcement refers to a reinforcement schedule where desired behaviour is rewarded each time it occurs. In our daily lives, this scenario does not occur very frequently. Partial reinforcement occurs when the desired behaviour is sometimes rewarded. The effectiveness of partial reinforcement depends largely on the reinforcement schedule, most notably the ratio and the interval schedule. In the ratio reinforcement schedule, the number of times the behaviour reinforced depends on the number of times the behaviour occurs. In the interval schedule, the reinforcement is based on periods of time. Hourly wages are an example of this. A fixed reinforcement schedule means that there is consistent and reliable reinforcement, like paying per hour. Variable reinforcement schedules are different in that the amount of reinforcement or the time of reinforcement vary, e.g. rewarding a sales clerk for each successful sale.

When partial reinforcement is used instead of continuous reinforcement, the desired behaviour persists longer even if the reinforcement ceases. This is called the partial-reinforcement extinction effect.

Does punishment decrease behaviour?

We speak of punishment if a stimulus decreases the probability that a certain behaviour is repeated in the future. Positive punishment occurs when behaviour is followed by a negative event or stimulus, decreasing the likelihood of the behaviour in the future. We speak of negative punishment when the removal of a pleasant stimulus decreases the probability that the behaviour occurs again in the future.

Skinner suggested that rewarding desirable behaviour is more effective than punishing undesirable behaviour. Physical punishment can have many aversive consequences, such as a bad parent-child relationship, worse mental health and an increased risk to engage in criminal activities. The child also learns that violent behaviour is normal and acceptable.

Behaviour modification is the application of conditioning to replace an undesirable behaviour by desirable behaviour based on the rationale that undesirable behaviour has been learned and can therefore also be unlearned. One possibility is to make use of secondary reinforcers. This is done in token economies, in which symbols of value (badges, tokens etc.) can be earned by behaving correctly. These symbols can be exchanged for real assets.

In what way do biology and cognition influence operant conditioning?

Tolman suggested that reinforcers have more to do with performance than learning. He thought that animals can learn behaviour without reinforcement, but that their behavioural performance will improve if they are reinforced. He discovered that rats create a cognitive map if they have to traverse a maze in search of food. Tolman's term 'latent learning' refers to learning that takes place without reinforcement. Another form of learning is 'insight learning', which can occur if while trying to solve a difficult mathematical problem, one suddenly becomes aware of the solution.

What is the role of dopamine in reinforcement?

The neurotransmitter dopamine plays an important role in reinforcement. In operant conditioning, the release of dopamine determines the success of a reward. Drugs that block dopamine's effects disrupt operant conditioning. When hungry rats are given food, they experience an increased dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens, a structure that is part of the limbic system. Dopamine is especially important for the craving aspect of reward. Other neurotransmitters, such as endogenous opiates, may be more important for the liking aspect of reward. Important idea is that firing of dopamine neurons signals prediction error. Things become reinforcing because they are associated with positive value. Through dopamine activity, these cues themselves become rewarding.

How do we learn from watching others?

Observational learning occurs when behaviour is learned or adjusted after at least one observation in which others were engaging in the behaviour. This is called social learning. A primate can learn that certain foods are poisonous by observing other primates. Bandura was interested in this kind of learning.

Imitating behaviour is called modelling. In modelling, people and animals imitate models: people or animals who engage in a certain behaviour. People have a greater tendency to imitate models who are attractive, have a high status and look like themselves. Some people are influenced by models without being aware of it. If your favorite actor is smoking in a movie, there is an increased chance that you’ll smoke yourself. Research suggests that people get a positive attitude towards smoking if they see the actor smoking. In indirect learning (vicarious learning), people learn by looking at the consequences of behaviour of others. If someone is being rewarded for the behavior, we will imitate it. We learn the consequences of an action by observing others getting rewards or punishments.

Does violence in the media encourage aggression?

There are numerous studies showing that violence in the media is associated with more aggressive behavior in people who watch it. People who are watching become desensitized and it predicts criminal and violent behavior. According to Freedman, the violent behaviors in children should be interpreted as playful. Moreover, these conclusions are based on laboratory research in which effects can be different compared to real life. In addition, all results are correlational: there is no causal relationship because third variables, such as personality or parental influence can play a role. An experimental study should be conducted to determine a causal relation but that is ethically not possible.

Despite these remarks, most studies do find a relation between violence in the media and aggression. The relationship might lead children to believe that violence is more common, because they see it in the media. In addition, violence in movies almost never leads to punishment, it is often an effective way to solve a conflict.

How can fear be learned through observation?

People can become anxious if they see others being anxious. People become anxious of a certain neighborhood when they heard on the news that something dangerous happened there. Learning fear by observation is caused by amygdala. In a study, participants had to watch other people being given electrical shocks. At the same time, they were presented with a conditioned stimulus. Even if the participants only looked at the conditioned stimulus, the activity in the amygdala increased.

Mirror neurons become activated when we see others behaving in a certain way. These mirror neurons become active when we imitate the behavior ourselves afterwards. Both primates and humans have these mirror neurons. In primates, these neurons become active if another primate saw both the goal and the goal-directed primate. This system may support observational learning. Some theorists think that mirror neurons may enable us to step into the shoes of people we observe so we can better understand those people's actions. One theory is that mirror neurons are the neural basis of empathy.

The most important things you need to know

Learning can be several types - nonassociative (repeated exposure to stimulus), associative (by linking two events), observational. Classical conditioning is associative learning and operant conditioning is when after behaviour is a consequence. Acquisition means forming associations between unconditioned and conditioned stimuli. Rescorta-Wagner Model states that learning depends on the extent to which US is unexpected. Reinforcer is a stimulus that follows a response while shaping is reinforcing behaviour similar to desired one. Positive reinforcement means that rewarded behaviours increase whereas negative reinforcement means removing unpleasant stimulus to increase behaviour. Positive punishment occurs when stimulus is administered to decrease likelihood of behaviour and negative punishment is removal of stimulus with the same purpose.

How does memory work? - Chapter 7

What is memory?

Memory is the nervous system's capacity to retain and retrieve skills and knowledge. Encoding is the process in which information is converted into neural impulses. Storage is the process in which a change in the nervous system registers what you just experienced. The neural connections become stronger and new synapses are created. This process is called consolidation, the newly recorded information is stored in the memory. Retrieval is when you remember the information that has been saved and bring it to mind.

Reconsolidation is a neural process involved in recalling memories and storing them for retrieval. When memories for past events are retrieved, those memories can be affected by current circumstances, so the newly reconsolidated memories may differ from their original versions of what we have experienced. This may explain why our memories for events can change over time. It can also be a viable method for erasing or modifying memories.

In what way is brain activity involved in memory?

In order to understand how complex learning mechanisms work in the brain, researchers studied long-term potentiation (LTP). In LTP, the synaptic connection is strengthened to activate the postsynaptic neurons easier. Stimulating the presynaptic neuron intensely and repeatedly makes the connection with postsynaptic neurons stronger. LTP serves as a model of how neural plasticity might underlie memory.

The process of LTP supports the idea of Hebb, that neurons that fire together, wire together. As the synapse between two neurons strengthens during consolidation, the two neurons become better connected. A special receptor on the postsynaptic neuron (NMDA receptor) is needed for LTP to take place. This type of glutamate receptor responds only when large amounts of glutamate are available in the synapse and when the postsynaptic neuron is sufficiently depolarized. LTP leads to an increase in the number of glutamate receptors on the postsynaptic neuron. Research conducted by Tsien shows that NMDA receptors can be reinforced by manipulating particular genes through which the memory improves a lot.

Research shows that epigenetic mechanisms are important for memory functioning. A mechanism that blocks gene-expression by the use of HDAC (histone deacetylases) is currently studied. If this system is blocked, it might improve memory because an increase in HDAC leads to an increase in LTP.

Where in the brain is memory located?

Lashley looked for the engram: the location of the memory in the brain. He damaged certain parts of the cortex in rats and concluded that there was no such area specifically responsible for memory. The memory was spread over the brain which he called equipotentiality. Today we know that he was only partly right. Memories are saved in multiple brain areas and they are connected to each other. Not all parts of the brain are equally involved in memory. For instance, the temporal lobe is important for declarative memory.

The middle part of the temporal lobe, together with the hippocampus and amygdala, are responsible for the formation of new memories. The actual storage, however, occurs in particular brain regions engaged during perception, processing and analysis of the learned material. Once the connections between the different storage sites are strengthened sufficiently through consolidation, the medial temporal lobes become less important for memory.

How are memories maintained over time?

The sensory memory functions as a temporary memory system for our senses. It stores sensory information very briefly. The visual sensory memory is called iconic memory and the auditory sensory memory is called echoic memory.

Sperling found support for the existence of a sensory memory. When people looked at a list which they had to reproduce subsequently, they could only repeat a few items. During repetition of a few words, they forgot the other words. The longer the time between presenting the list and the reproduction task, the less items people could remember.

What is working memory?

Short-term memory is an active processing unit that deals with multiple types of information. A more contemporary model of the short-term retention of information is working memory. This storage system actively retains and manipulates multiple pieces of temporary information from different sources. Information remains in working memory for about 20 to 30 seconds. You retain the information by monitoring it - that is, thinking about or rehearsing it.

Working memory can hold a limited amount of information, generally 7 items (plus or minus 2). This figure is referred to as memory span. Recent research shows that maybe it is only about 4 items. Memory span also varies among individuals. The process of breaking down information into meaningful units is known as chunking. The more efficiently you chunk information, the more you can remember.

Wat is long-term memory?

Long-term memory is a system for the permanent storage of information. The long-term memory has an almost unlimited capacity: people can remember almost everything.

The idea that short-term and long term memory are real representations of different storage systems is controversial. There is evidence for a distinction between these systems. The serial position effect means that people can remember items in a list better or worse depending on their position in the list: the primacy effect means that the items presented first are better remembered and the recency effect means that we can remember better the items that were presented recently. Recently presented items are the last ones.

An explanation for the serial position effect is that people try to remember the list of words presented by processing it into long-term memory. They start to learn the words presented first, therefore these items are remembered the best. Remembering the last items is explained by short-term memory.

What is stored in long-term memory?

We are bombarded with information but there is a filter which determines which information is accepted in the long-term memory. Researchers found different explanations of this process. One possibility is that information comes in long-term memory after rehearsal. If you repeat a definition very often, you will learn it someday. Researchers found that rehearsal is a way to get some information into long-term memory, but this is not a good method for making information memorable. Information about an environment that helps us adapt to that environment is likely to be transformed into long-term memory. According to evolutionary theory, memory allows us to use information in ways that assist in reproduction and survival.

How is information organized in long-term memory?

During the processing of information, experiences are converted into codes. The concept ‘dog’ is a mental representation of a category with animals that share certain characteristics.

According to Craik and Lockhart, the deeper an item is processed, the more meaning it gets and the better it will be remembered. Their model is called the 'levels of processing model'. In 'maintenance rehearsal', you repeat items constantly until you remember them. In 'elaborative rehearsal', you process the information in a meaningful way. For instance, by linking the item to existing knowledge in long-term memory (mind map).

Schemas are cognitive structures that help us to perceive, organize, process and use information. Schemas are frames of reference. Because we have these schemas, we can construct new memories by filling in missing information and neglecting information that does not fit into our knowledge. Existing schemas can also lead to a bias in processing information, because culture heavily influences schemas.

How is information stored?

In the 'network model', proposed by Collins and Loftus, an item's distinctive features are linked to identify the item. Each unit of information in the network is a node. Each node is connected to many other nodes. The resulting network is like the linked neurons in your brain, but nodes are simply bits of information. An important feature of 'network model' is that activating one node increases the likelihood that closely associated nodes will also be activated. The spreading activation model states that activation of a node increases the likelihood that connected nodes become activated too. The associative network is hierarchically organized.

A retrieval cue is a sign that helps people to retrieve information from their long-term memory. According to the encoding specificity principle, each stimulus that is processed together with an experience, can work as a retrieval cue to remember that experience again. Therefore, you can remember events better if you are in the same context as where the event took place when you experienced it. This is called context-dependent memory. A comparable effect is state-dependent memory, in which memory is enhanced when a person's internal states match it during encoding and recall.

Prospective memory means remembering to do something at some future time. Retrieval cues can help prospective memory.

Memories can be improved by mnemonics - strategies to improve memory. One of the oldest methods is called the method of Loci in which you connect the information you want to remember to physical places.

What are the different long-term memory systems?

Explicit memory is turned on when we remember certain information consciously. The conscious information is stored in a memory system called declarative memory. This is information in our explicit memory that we can verbalize and consciously remember. It can be stored into words or images. There are two types of explicit/declarative memory.

Personal memories are called episodic memories, for instance memories about your fifth birthday.

Knowledge about the world is stored in semantic memory, for instance knowledge about countries and cities.

Implicit memory refers to our unconscious memories which are automatic and involuntary. Remembering implicit information takes no effort; one is not even aware of it. Procedural memory is a type of implicit memory that involves motor skills, habits and other behaviors. Knowing how to drive a car is an example. Moreover, implicit memories can take the form of an opinion and influence us subjectively. Many advertisements use this psychological process. People can have the implicit memory in which a brand is associated with happiness. This influences the way you perceive a brand. Another example is the false fame effect in which a name sounds familiar to us, therefore we conclude that it is the name of a famous person.

How is memory flawed?

Memory decay involves forgetting over time. Nowadays, people think that forgetting occurs because of interference from other information. Proactive interference means that previous information inhibits the ability to remember new information. Retroactive interference means that new information leads to the inability of remembering old information. Often we experience blocking: a short inability to remember something that we actually know. The tip of the tongue phenomenon means that we have the feeling that we just cannot retrieve the information (often a name) completely. Absentmindedness refers to the shallow encoding of events. The major cause is failing to pay attention.

Amnesia is a deficit in long-term memory, resulting from disease, brain injury or psychological trauma, in which the individual loses the ability to retrieve vast quantities of information. Retrograde amnesia is a condition in which people lose past memories. Anterograde amnesia is a condition in which people lose the ability to form new memories.

What is unwanted remembering?

Sometimes you want to forget something but have difficulty doing so. Persistence occurs when unwanted memories are remembered in spite of the desire not to do so. When people experience severe trauma, they can have nightmares and flashbacks for months. It might be a sign of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In PTSD, one is not able to forget the traumatic experience.

PTSD could be treated with propranolol - a drug that blocks the norepinephrine receptors. If this is given after a traumatic experience, the memories and anxiety become less strong. Propranolol only works if it is given shortly after the event, thus only for recent memories. HDAC inhibiting medicines are only used in animal research but the results were promising. By inhibiting HDAC during reconsolidation of memory, an earlier conditioned anxiety response can be reduced.

In what way do people reconstruct events to be consistent?

Memory bias is change in memories so that they become consistent with current beliefs or attitudes. When people change attitudes and beliefs, they often revise their memories to become consistent. People also tend to remember events as casting them in prominent roles or favorable lights.

Do you remember where you were during the attack on the World Trade Centre? These kind of events lead to so-called flashbulb memories. These are vivid episodic memories for the circumstances in which people first learned of a surprising and consequential or emotionally arousing event. They are at least as accurate as memory for ordinary events. The von Restorff effect refers to the fact that touching events are easier but not more accurately remembered than daily events.

What are source misattributions?

Source misattribution means that people remember place, time, person and context of a memory wrongly. As described earlier, the false fame effect is an example of this phenomenon. Another example is the sleeper effect in which people start to believe information that first sounded unreliable.

Source amnesia is a form of misattribution that occurs when a person has a memory for an event but cannot remember where he or she encountered the information. The absence of early episodic memories from before age 3 is called childhood amnesia. In cryptomnesia, a person thinks he or she has come up with a new idea. Instead, the person has retrieved an old idea from memory and failed to attribute the idea to its proper source.

How does suggestibility bias memory?

Suggestibility is the development of biased memories from misleading information. When a person imagines an event happening, he or she forms a mental image of the event. The person might later confuse that mental image with a real memory. Essentially, the person has a problem monitoring the source of the image. Children are particularly susceptible, and false memories can easily be induced in them.

Some researchers believe that memories can be repressed and remembered years later, however, this is a controversial issue. Some individuals say that they repressed memories of sexual abuse for years and the memories are retrieved now, however, there is little evidence for this phenomenon. According to Schacter, false memories can be induced by suggestive questions of the therapist.

The most important things you need to know

Encoding is processing information so that it can be stored, storage is retention of encoded representations and consolidation occurs when encoded information is stored. Reconsolidation occurs when memories are recalled and stored again for retrieval. Implicit memory means unconscious memory and explicit memory is the opposite. Episodic memory is for personal experiences while procedural memory is for skills. Suggestibility is development of biased memories from misleading information whereas source amnesia is when you have a memory but do not remember where you read the information.

What is the psychological view on thinking, language and intelligence? - Chapter 8

What is thought?

Cognitive psychology is the study of mental functions such as intelligence, thinking, language, memory and decision making. It studies cognition. Cognition is the mental activity that includes thinking and understandings that result from thinking.

Cognitive psychology was originally based on two ideas about thinking:

1. Knowledge about the world is stored in the brain in representations.
2. Thinking is the mental manipulation of these representations.

There are two types of representations: analogous and symbolic.

1. Analogical representations are mental representations that have some of the physical characteristics of objects; they are analogous to the objects.
2. Symbolic representations are words or ideas that are abstract, that we cannot represent with an image. Words are symbolic because they do not have a relationship to physical qualities of objects in the world.

Grouping things based on shared properties is called categorization. This mental activity reduces the amount of knowledge we must hold in memory and is therefore an efficient way of thinking. A concept is a category, or class of related items. A concept consists of mental representations of those items.

The prototype model of concepts suggests that we tend to associate a category with a prototypical 'best example' of that category. This prototype may be the most common member of the category, or maybe a combination of typical attributes. The exemplar model suggests that there is no single best representation of a category, but that a concept is formed by examples of the category. You compare a new object with all of the exemplars it resembles, and categorize it.

Imaging studies have shown that different categories of objects are represented in different regions of the brain based on our perception of those objects.

What are schemas?

Schemas are cognitive structures that help us organize, perceive and process information. Unfortunately, schemas can also reinforce stereotypes. Gender roles are organized as a sort of schema that makes it hard to deviate. A script is a schema that directs behaviour over time within a situation. Scripts determine appropriate behaviours in sequence, like the way a person should behave before, during, and after a trip to the theatre. Scripts and schemas are persistent because they are adaptive.

How do we make decisions and solve problems?

Decision-making involves attempting to select the best alternative from several options. Problem-solving involves overcoming obstacles to move from a present state to a desired end state.

Which role do heuristics play in decision-making?

In the 1970s, Tversky and Kahneman pursued descriptive research that identified several common heuristics. Heuristics are mental shortcuts that we use to make decisions. People often focus attention only on information that supports their views. This is called a confirmation bias. When events turn out contradictory to someone's prediction, people create after-the-fact explanations. This error in reasoning is known as hindsight bias.

An anchor serves as a reference point in decision-making. Anchoring occurs when, while making judgments, people rely on the first piece of information they encounter or on information that comes most easily to mind.

Framing is the tendency to emphasize the potential losses or potential gains from at least one alternative. People are generally much more concerned with costs than benefits, an emphasis known as loss aversion.

The availability heuristic means making a decision based on the answer that most easily comes to mind. The representativeness heuristic is the tendency to place a person or an object in a category if the person or object is similar to our prototype of that category. The representativeness heuristic can lead to faulty thinking if we fail to take other information into account. One very important bit of information is the base rate. This term refers to how frequently an event occurs. People pay insufficient attention to base rates in reasoning.

How do emotions influence decision-making?

People are not always rational in how they use information. When people are in good moods, they tend to be persistent and to find creative, elaborative responses to challenging problems. According to affect-as information theory, people use current moods to make judgments and appraisals. They rely on their moods even if they are unaware of a mood's source. Somatic markers are bodily reactions that arise from the emotional evaluation of an action's consequences.

People are not good at predicting how they will feel in the future (affective forecasting). They tend to overestimate the negative impact that loss or trouble will have on their emotions and people overestimate how happy they will feel for positive events, such as getting married. When a negative event occurs, people have certain strategies to feel better. For instance, they will rationalize, minimizing the event’s importance. People adapt to even the most terrible events, often returning to a positive outlook. People overestimate their pain and underestimate how well they will cope with a negative event.

How do people use problem-solving to achieve goals?

Problem-solving is a way to achieve goals. One approach to problem-solving is to break a task into subgoals, which each need to be met before the end-goal can be achieved. Using subgoals make a problem more approachable.

In problem-solving, as in humour, overcoming an obstacle often involves revising our mental representation of the situation. One common strategy is to restructure the problem. This consists of representing the problem in a novel way. We also tend to persist using previous strategies or mental sets when problem solving. These established ways of thinking may usually be useful, but can also make coming to a solution more difficult if the problem is unconventional. We also have a fixed way of looking at how certain objects can be used. This is called functional fixedness. To overcome functional fixedness, the problem solver needs to reinterpret an object's potential function.

We can find it difficult to consciously employ the strategy of representation-restructuring. There are other strategies that are easier to use consciously. One strategy is using an algorithm. An algorithm is a guideline that if followed correctly, will always yield the correct answer. Working backwards involves looking at the goal state as if it is the beginning state, and trying to find out how you could get from the goal to the start. Another way to solve a problem is to find an appropriate analogy for the problem. When we look at how other people have solved a problem, especially if those people come from similar situations as our own, we can reach new insights about our problem.

Sometimes, a problem may seem unsolvable and the problem solver may appear to be 'stuck'. In these cases, is it not uncommon to get an insight. Insight is the sudden realization of a solution to a problem.

What is language?

At its core, language is a system of communication using sounds and symbols to pass on bigger ideas. This system is hierarchical, meaning that there are several levels of structure. Paragraphs can be broken down into sentences, sentences into words, words into morphemes and morphemes into phonemes. Morphemes are like prefixes and suffixes - small units that can be added to words to change their meanings. Phonemes are units of individual sounds in speech, for example the word "passed" has two phonemes - "pass" and "ed."

Syntax refers to how words are put together to make sentences, and how sentences are put together to make paragraphs. Semantics is the study of meanings behind words, phrases, and sentences.

While humans are capable of making a larger range of sounds than any single language uses, languages use specific sets of phonemes. Sound is made by forcing air through the vocal cords, folds of membranes that are part of the larynx.

Aphasia is a disorder that results in deficits in language comprehension or production. It is caused by injuries in certain brain areas. There are several parts of the brain responsible for language. Broca's area in the left hemisphere was found to be responsible for speech production. When this area is damaged, it was found that patients develop expressive aphasia, or the inability to speak. Wernicke's area is the area in the left hemisphere where the temporal lobe meets the parietal lobe. Damage in this area results in receptive aphasia, or the inability to understand the meaning of verbs. Damage to the overall left hemisphere may result in global aphasia, or the inability to produce and comprehend language. The right hemisphere is responsible for processing of the rhythm of speech and interpreting what is said.

The linguistic relativity theory proposes that language determines thought. However, this does not appear to be true because research shows that animals and prelinguistic infants are capable of complex thought. Another version of the theory is that language influences rather than determines thought.

How does language develop?

Learning a language has been found to begin before birth. In one study, it was found that the language spoken by birth mothers influenced listening preferences in their newborns. It was also found that babies up to six months old could distinguish between all phonemes.

The next step in language development after being able to distinguish between phonemes is learning how to produce speech. This process follows a very distinct path:

As children progress further in their language development, it is common to overuse new grammatical rules that are learned.

Is there an inborn capacity for language?

The linguist, Noam Chomsky hypothesized that all languages have a common grammatical basis, or universal grammar. This means that we are all born with the innate ability to acquire language and that differences in language rules are only part of the surface structure of a language. The deep structure - the meanings under the words and syntax remain the same.

Interaction across cultures can create hybrid languages – creoles. Often, people mix words from different languages into a pidgin, an informal creole that lacks consistent grammatical rules. Nonhuman animals have ways of communicating with each other, but no other animal uses language the way humans do. Nonhuman animals seem unable to develop skills beyond those of human toddlers.

How can reading be learned?

Using phonics, learners are taught that each letter represents a specific phoneme, and by putting these letters together, children can 'sound out' a word. In the whole language approach, words are not broken down into phonemes. Instead, children learn words individually, eventually stringing them together in sentences. It has been found that the use of phonics is more effective in teaching reading than the whole language approach.

People with dyslexia have trouble reading, spelling and writing even though they have normal levels of intelligence. They have more difficulty with the ability to identify and use phonemes. The condition may result from impaired sound and image processing. There may also be a strong genetic component.

How do we understand intelligence?

Intelligence is the ability to use knowledge to reason, make decisions, make sense of events, solve problems, understand complex ideas, learn quickly, and adapt to environmental challenges.

The psychometric approach to testing intelligence involves standardized achievement tests. Alfred Binet and his assistant put together the Binet-Simon Intelligence Scale, upon which many of today’s intelligence tests have their origins. He saw intelligence more as a collection of higher-order mental abilities loosely related to one another. The most common intelligence test today is the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS).

Binet introduced the concept of mental age. This measure is determined by comparing the child's test score with the average score of children from the same chronological age. The intelligence quotient (IQ), developed by Wilhelm Stern, is partly based on mental age. IQ is computed by dividing a child's estimated mental age by chronological age and multiplying the result by 100. The average IQ is 100. The distribution of IQ-scores forms a normal distribution.

Tests are valid when they measure what they are intended to measure. IQ scores correlate with success in school and in some areas of work. IQ scores also correlate with longevity, possibly due to better personal care.

What are different components of general intelligence?

Charles Spearman (1927) observed that people who score high on one type of mental test also score high on other mental tests, leading him to the conclusion that there is a common factor being measured by every mental test. He called this g for general intelligence.

Raymond Cattell believed that general intelligence consists of two factors. Fluid intelligence allows a person to perceive abstract relationships and think logically without prior knowledge. Crystalized intelligence is a mental ability derived from personal experience, allowing people to hold a large knowledge of word meanings, cultural practices, and knowledge about how things work.

Howard Gardner proposed a theory of Multiple intelligences. For instance, bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, the ability to finely control one’s body movements, is unrelated to linguistic intelligence.

Robert Sternberg has suggested three types of intelligence

1. Analytical intelligence: Problem-solving, analysis, puzzle solving, and other academic skills.

2. Creative intelligence: The ability to gain insight and solve novel problems.

3. Practical intelligence: Dealing with daily tasks and problems, like leadership or spatial reasoning.

Emotional intelligence (EI) consists of the ability to manage your own emotions, to use emotions to guide language, to recognize other people’s emotions, and to understand emotional language. EI is correlated with high-quality social relationships.

Is intelligence related to cognitive performance?

Intelligence is related to reaction time. A measurement of reaction time might require a person to press a computer key as quickly as possible whenever a stimulus appears on the screen. Scores on intelligence tests are related even more strongly to choice reaction time, where people need to make a choice between two keys. The relation between general intelligence and mental speed appears to be correlated with greater longevity of people with high IQs.

General intelligence scores are closely related to how people process information in working memory. The link between working memory and g may be attention. Being able to pay attention for a prolonged period of time can be helpful for both working memory and g.

Strangely, there is a connection between high brain volume and intelligence that accounts for 10% of differences in intelligence. Studies that suggest this are correlational. General intelligence is correlated with an increased cortex.

A savant is a person with minimal intelligence in most domains, but with an exceptional ability in one or more cognitive processes.

Do genes and environment influence intelligence?

Are differences in IQ among individuals due to differences in genes or environment? The answer varies among different groups of people. Even when raised apart, twins who have inherited an advantage might receive a social multiplier - environmental factor or environment, that increases what might have started as a small advantage. An additional possibility is that the expression of different genes is altered by environmental factors through epigenetic processes.

Many environmental influences affect human intelligence. These influences consist of prenatal factors and postnatal factors. Examples are: intake of substances during pregnancy, family, social class, education, nutrition, cultural beliefs about the value of education, and the person's intake of substances. An important factor is social economic status (SES). Growing up in a wealthy family significantly increases IQ by 12 to 18 points. Possibly, these families emphasize education and this is associated with the development of more synaptic connections. The intellectual opportunities a child receives affect intelligence. IQ scores have risen dramatically during the last century. This rise has been called the Flynn effect. Because genes cannot have changed much, the increase must be due to environmental factors or epigenetic effects. Maybe it is a consequence of better education and more complex leisure activities.

Are there group differences in intelligence?

No evidence has been found for gender differences in g, nor in IQ. In general, men score higher in some areas, and women score higher in others. Males tend to score higher on standardized tests of Math aptitude and visual-spatial processing, while females are better in language.

Since environment plays a role in IQ scores, people from different environments cannot be compared in the same way. There is an IQ difference favouring white Americans over black Americans. This is not a genetic issue, but a cultural one. It is possible that poor treatment of minority group members can make them pessimistic about their chances of success within their cultures, potentially making them less likely to believe that hard work will pay off for them. This may lower their motivation and their performances.

Another possible explanation is stereotype threat. This is the apprehension someone may feel about confirming negative stereotypes related to their own group. Interventions to reduce stereotype threat is by informing people about the negative consequences of it.

The most important things you need to know

Prototype model is a way of thinking about a certain concept, eliciting the 'best' example of that group. The exemplar model suggests that a concept is formed by examples of the category. Heuristics are used to reduce the amount of thinking when making decisions, anchoring is relying on the first piece of information when judging. Framing is emphasizing potential losses/gains of a situation. Being more concerned with costs is known as loss aversion. The availability heuristic means making a decision based on the answer that most easily comes to mind. Affect-as information theory suggests people use current moods to make judgments. Broca's area in the left hemisphere was found to be responsible for speech production. Damage in Wernicke's area results in receptive aphasia, or the inability to understand meaning. The linguistic relativity theory proposes that language determines thought. Binet introduced the concept of mental age - comparing the child's test score with the average score of children from the same chronological age. The intelligence quotient (IQ), developed by Wilhelm Stern, is partly based on mental age. Gardner proposed a theory of Multiple intelligences. Robert Sternberg has suggested three types of intelligence - Creative, Analytical, Practical. Cattell suggested crystallized and fluid types of intelligence. The dramatic rise in IQ in the last century has been called the Flynn effect.

What is the psychological perspective on human development? - Chapter 9

What does developmental psychology examine?

Developmental psychology examines how genes interact with early experiences to make each of us different. Growth and maturation occur at the same times in every person’s life span – in the prenatal period, infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Genes seem to set the fixed sequence of the body’s development. Conception is the moment when a sperm penetrates the egg of the female, to create a zygote.This firmly implants at about two weeks later, becoming an embryo. The organs, internal systems, and fundamentals of the body are formed, and at this time, exposure to harmful substances can have lasting effects on the organ systems.

There are two important aspects in early brain growth: 1) specific areas of the brain become functional and 2) regions of the brain begin communicating with each other. Newborns tend to have strong perceptual skills, though not all are fully developed. They have an acute sense of smell for feeding, are able to distinguish tastes and turn towards sounds. Young infants have a grasping reflex. There is also a rooting reflex, in which babies will turn to suck on a nipple if it is brought near their mouth.

In early infancy, areas of the brain mature and become functional as they learn to communicate through synaptic connections. In the first trimester, myelination occurs in spinal cord, and in the second trimester in the neurons. Myelination in the brain occurs in different areas at different times in development. This process allows infants to have a multitude of brain connections in order to adapt to the environment they are born in. When these connections are not used, they decay and disappear in a process called synaptic pruning. Depriving a child of stimulation will lead to underdeveloped mental processes and skills because few connections will be made.

Teratogens are harmful environmental agents that can impair development in the womb. There is a history of certain drugs acting as teratogens and leading to deformations. Alcohol is a teratogen, and can lead to fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), which causes low birth weight, face and head abnormalities, mental retardation, and behavioural/cognitive problems, and is most likely to occur in children whose mothers were heavy drinkers during pregnancy. Alcohol can cause permanent brain damage. Drugs like opiates, cocaine, and cannabis can lead to unexplained sudden infant death, and even withdrawal symptoms at birth. Fathers who smoke and use alcohol may put their future child at risk of heart valve defects. Also, environmental circumstances can be passed along through epigenetic information.

How do biology and the environment influence motor development?

Development is due to the complex interplay of biology and environment. Dynamic systems theory suggests that development is a self-organizing process where new forms of behaviour emerge through consistent interactions between the child, environment and culture. In this view, it is all about the feedback of the environment and the child’s active engagement with their surroundings.

In what way are infants prepared to learn?

Imitation is the baby's first social interaction. They will imitate the actions of other humans but not of objects. Newborns already understand they are in the people category, not the object category.

In order to tell how an infant perceives and knows about the world around them, psychologists have to be clever. One technique is called preferential looking – the researcher can tell what interests a child by how long they look at the stimulus. Babies respond more to high contrast patterns. Visual acuity develops rapidly over the first six months of life.

Newborns will turn their head in the direction from which an interesting sound is coming. By 6 months, they have a nearly adult level of hearing.

Memory develops initially to help children learn about the world around them. Even very young infants possess some types of memory. Older infants are better able to retain memories than younger infants, and by 18 months, infants can remember events even if tested several weeks later.

Infantile amnesia is the natural inability to retain memories from the period of infancy. The ability to retain memories may be related to the development of autobiographical thinking. Other psychologists suggest it may be related to the ability to use words and concepts. Others suggest that the problem lies in memory encoding and the retention of memory.

How do children develop attachments?

Attachments are strong, intimate, emotional connections between people that persist over time and across circumstances. Attachment is adaptive – infants motivate parental attention by being distressed when the caregiver leaves, joyful when they return, and they put their arms up to be lifted. Adults tend to respond to infants by picking them up when they are crying, responding to infants with exaggerated facial expressions and higher-pitched voices. Babies attend to high-pitched voices and respond by maintaining eye contact.

Attachment is important for survival in many species. Infant birds cry for food, and as fledglings, follow the adult who is nearby when they are born. Goslings have been known to follow humans around if they have imprinted them as caregivers. Harry Harlow, in the late 1950’s, sought to disprove Freud’s notion that infants seek their caregiver as a way to reduce the drive of hunger. He placed infant rhesus monkeys in a cage with two surrogate 'mothers' - statues made of wire. One surrogate was bare wire, and could give milk through a bottle. The other was soft terry cloth and could not give milk. When in fear or danger, the monkeys would run to the cloth mother, who apparently provided comfort.

The strange situation test is a technique designed to assess attachment patterns between an infant and its caregiver. In the strange situation test, the child, its caregiver, and a friendly but unfamiliar adult engage in 8 semi-structured episodes, to test the standard way a child reacts to being separated from the caregiver. The experiment brought to light three different types of attachment:

Secure attachment (60-65%): The parent is a secure base. The child leaves the mother to explore but comes back for reassurance. When she leaves the room, they cry. When she returns, they rejoice.

Avoidant attachment: The children do not cry often when the mother leaves, and avoid her when she returns. They dislike being held and put down, and do not seek out the mother in times of need.

Ambivalent (resistant) attachment: The children become anxious even before the mother leaves. When she returns, they seek contact but resist it as well. They do not explore readily.

Attachment involves oxytocin, a hormone related to social behaviours, acceptance, bonding, and maternal tendencies. Nursing triggers oxytocin in the mother, which stimulates lactation.

How do children learn about the world?

In order to understand how the thinking of children develops, Piaget paid attention to the cognitive errors that children make. Through assimilation, we place a new experience into an existing schema. Through accommodation, we create a new schema or drastically alter the existing schema to deal with new information that may not fit in the original schema. Piaget saw this as taking place in four stages:

Sensorimotor stage (birth-2 years):

In this stage, children need to develop classes of schemas specifically for different categories of objects. They eventually develop to a level in which they can be used as mental symbols for objects when they are not present. This is called object permanence.

Preoperational stage (2-7 years):

In this stage, children exercise their imaginative abilities. They still do not understand the principle of conservation of substance, the idea that when you pour liquid from a short glass into a large glass, it is still the same amount of liquid even though it looks like more. Another important element of this stage is egocentrism. Children around this age tend to see the world only from their own perspective.

Concrete-operational stage (7-12):

In this stage, children have developed schemas which allow them to understand the conservation of substance and cause-effect relationships. They begin to learn about operations, actions that can be done and undone, like flipping light switches. They begin to reason logically and understand other people in more depth. Still, they are limited to concrete things.

Formal-operational stage (12+):

In this final stage, children begin to recognize the similarities of schemas, and understand them as basic principles that can be applied to new situations. This is the beginning of abstract reasoning and theoretical thinking.

What do critics say about Piaget's theory?

Piaget was right about many things, but he mistakenly believed that as children progressed through stages, they use the same kind of logic to solve problems, leaving little room for cultural and individual variation. Many children also move back and forth through stages depending on the task’s difficulty. Piaget also underestimated the speed at which some of the skills develop.

Infants have been found to have a primitive understanding of physics. They are born with the ability to perceive movement, and use that information to determine if an object is continuous if it is partially hidden.

While Piaget believed that young children do not understand numbers, more recent research has found that children under 3 years can understand concepts like more than and less than.

In what way do children learn from interaction with others?

The ability to predict another person’s behaviour based on their mental state is what constitutes theory of mind. As infants, we begin to learn that other people's behaviour is due to intentions. One study suggests that the ability to recognize intentional actions is developed by 13 months. Theory of mind development depends on frontal lobes. Prosocial behaviour occurs when someone has the capacity for theory of mind, and voluntary action is performed with the intent of benefiting another person.

When does moral development begin?

Researchers typically divide morality into moral reasoning (cognitive process) and moral emotion (an emotional process). Levels of moral development have been established by Kohlberg. These are:

1. Pre-conventional level: self-interest and/or pleasurable outcomes determine what is moral.
2. Conventional level: strict adherence to societal rules and the approval of others determines what is deemed moral.
3. Post-conventional level: decisions about morality depend on abstract principles and the value of all life.

According to the social intuitionist model, moral judgements reflect people's initial and automatic emotional responses. In other words, emotions come first and thinking follows. There is evidence that the prefrontal cortex supports the capacity for morality. Brain regions associated with emotional responses, including the insula and amygdala, are also active during moral judgement.

What changes occur during adolescence?

How does puberty cause physical changes?

Adolescence is biologically marked by puberty, a process of reaching sexual maturity and gaining the ability to reproduce. This period begins between 8 and 14 years for girls and 10-14 years for boys. Most girls are finished developing physically into women by age 16, while boys finish puberty by 18. Puberty is characterized by the change and increase in hormone levels that stimulate physical changes. A clear dividing line is the adolescent growth spurt that involves a rapid increase in height and weight. Primary sex characteristics develop – menstruation in women, the capacity for ejaculation in men. Secondary sexual characteristics develop, like body hair, pubic hair, muscle growth in males and fat deposits in the hips and breasts of women. Puberty is impacted by both physical imperative and environmental influence. Girls in insecure environments will begin menstruating earlier, puberty will start earlier in a girl if she lives with a non-related male.

As physical changes occur, synaptic connections in the brain are also refining, and gray matter is increasing. Teenagers begin to think and behave more like adults and experiment with different identities. The brain is not fully myelinated until the early 20s. Critical thinking about consequences is difficult because the limbic system is more active than the frontal cortex. Teenagers tend to act irrationally and engage in riskier behaviours than adults.

How does the sense of identity form?

Erikson proposed a theory of psychosocial development that emphasized age-related psychosocial challenges. He came up with eight stages in his theory of psychosocial development; the success of each stage can develop important virtues, the lack of which can cause psychological issues.

1. 0-1: Basic trust versus mistrust.
2. 1-3: Autonomy versus shame and doubt.
3. 3-6: Initiative versus guilt.
4. 6-12: Industry versus inferiority.
5. 12-18: Identity versus identity confusion.
6. 18-29: Intimacy versus isolation.
7. 30-50: Generativity versus stagnation.
8. >60: Integrity versus despair.

According to Erikson’s theory, adolescence is a period of identity crisis. Adolescents face, according to him, perhaps the most fundamental crisis: how to develop an adult identity. His theory lacks empirical support. Three major changes generally cause adolescents to question who they are: their physical appearance transforms, their cognitive abilities grow more sophisticated, and they receive heightened societal pressure to prepare for the future.

Gender identity refers to whether you see yourself as male or female. Gender roles are culturally defined norms that influence what is believed to be appropriate for each gender.

Gender identity begins in prenatal development with the complex work of hormones, brain structure, and intrauterine environmental forces. A transgendered person is someone born with one biological sex but who feels that their gender is the opposite. This is thought to originate in prenatal development.

In countries that include many cultures, ethnic identity becomes an important aspect of identity development. Children in minority groups have been found to go through additional processes aimed at ethnic identity formation. When a child successfully overcomes these pressures and is able to integrate the culture of their country with the culture of their parents, they are said to have formed a bicultural identity. Children with a bicultural identity tend to be happier than those that end up sticking to one culture or the other.

How do peers and parents help shape the adolescent self?

Attention to peers begins after the first year of life – infants will mimic their siblings and friends, and babble together. Peers are essential in identity formation. Teenagers will form friendships with others who have similar values to their own. They seek belonging and acceptance, comparing themselves to their peers. Teenagers who dress or act in a certain way as others in their peer group may be called members of a clique. Bullies do not feel strong emotions of guilt and shame and show increased moral disengagement. Being bullied in childhood is associated with psychological disorders.

Parents contribute to specific behaviours and influence the choices a child makes about what identity to choose. The most important factor in a child’s social development is the fit between their biological temperament and personality with the parent’s behaviours. Forcing a distractible child to concentrate or a shy child to be social may lead to emotional upset and stress. Parents who deal with a difficult child calmly, firmly, patiently, and consistently tend to see more positive outcomes. Children also learn about the world through their parent’s attitudes, values, and religious beliefs.

What brings meaning in adulthood?

Big life transitions have a large impact on adult development. Going to college, getting married, starting a career, having children… These changes all involve a search for meaning.

From 20-40 years, our eyesight, muscle mass, bone density, and hearing steadily decline. Around middle age, it becomes less easy to consume alcohol and unhealthy food without noticing side effects, and weight gain becomes harder to work off.

Overall, married people experience greater happiness and joy and are at less risk for mental illnesses. They also live longer than people who were never married, are divorced or widowed. However, unhappily married people are at greater risk of poor health and stress-related illness.

Will parenthood make you happy?

Being a parent becomes an essential part of many adults’ self-schema. When time and money are tight, however, children can also put a strain on a marriage. Many couples do not discuss roles and responsibilities before they have a child, which can lead to misunderstandings and resentment.

Is the transition to old age satisfying?

The body and mind start deteriorating around age 50. Memory loss and confusion were once thought to be inevitable aspects of aging, but recent research has found that older adults who keep their brain active, do everything a bit faster. A dramatic loss in mental ability at this time is called dementia. It may be caused by excessive drinking or HIV, or other causes. 3-5% of older adults will develop Alzheimer’s disease by age 75. The causes of Alzheimer’s are unknown, but it seems to be partially genetic. One gene involved in cholesterol function is predictive of Alzheimer's. In addition, the memory-related neurotransmitter acetylcholine is very low in people who suffer from Alzheimer's, which will result in abnormal protein accumulation in the brain. By challenging one’s brain, remaining socially and physically active and learning new tasks, older people can prevent dementia to some degree. On the other hand, most older adults are happier and have fewer mental health issues than younger adults.

According to the socio-emotional selectivity theory, people perceive time to be more limited as they age, allowing them to adjust priorities and emphasize emotionally meaningful events instead of ambition-driven behaviour. They surround themselves with those they love.

How does cognition change with age?

Cognitive abilities gradually decline with age, but this may have a number of causes. The frontal lobes do begin to shrink, response time increases, and sensory-perceptual changes occur. Activities like driving may become more dangerous.

Older people begin to experience problems with memory tasks which require more working memory. Long-term memory is less affected.

As mentioned previously, fluid intelligence is the ability to process new information that requires no previous knowledge and crystallized intelligence is based on more specific knowledge. Crystallized intelligence only increases over life. Fluid intelligence peaks in early adulthood and declines steadily with age.

The most important things you need to know

Synaptic pruning means that synaptic connections that are used are also preserved. Dynamic systems theory states that behaviour is a result of biology, culture and environment. Preferential-looking technique tests visual acuity (ability to distinguish between shapes). Attachment styles are secure, avoidant and ambivalent. Piaget's stages of development are sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete-operational and formal operational. Piaget viewed children as qualitatively different from adults. Vygotsky focused on the impact of cultural aspect on cognition. Kohlberg's theory of moral judgment includes preconventional (self-interest), conventional (conforming to rules) and postconventional (reasoning) levels. Prefrontal cortex is vital for judging effects of behaviour and amygdala - for emotional responses. For identity formation, the most important thing is development of a sense of trust, autonomy, initiative, industry, stable identity, intimacy, generativity and integrity.

How do emotions and motivations work? - Chapter 10

What are moods and emotions?

Moods are diffuse, long-lasting emotional states. Emotions are feelings that involve subjective evaluation, psychological processes, and cognitive beliefs.

Basic, primary emotions are evolutionarily adaptive and shared across cultures. These include anger, fear, sadness, disgust, happiness, surprise, and contempt. Secondary emotions are blends of these, like remorse, guilt, submission, shame, and anticipation. The circumplex model of emotion is an emotion wheel in which the emotions are arranged in a circle. Through the circle run two dimensions – valence (how negative or positive the emotion is) and activation (how arousing the emotion is.) Arousal in this case means the degree to which one is physiologically and psychologically active. It has been found that negative and positive affect are actually independent rather than dimensional – we can experience both emotions simultaneously. Positive activation states appear to be associated with an increase in dopamine, whereas negative activation states appear to be associated with an increase in norepinephrine.

What is the physiological component in emotions?

Emotions involve activation of the autonomic nervous system, so that your body can prepare itself for challenges in the environment. It is still unclear if each emotion elicits a specific response, or all emotions share the same core properties of valence and arousal. Many emotions share overlaps in physiological response. The specific patterns across multiple autonomic responses suggest some level of specificity for each emotion.

The limbic system, as described previously, includes the brain structures around the cerebral cortex. The insula is important in experiencing emotions. The most important brain regions for emotion are the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex. The amygdala is responsible for processing of the emotional significance of stimuli. It generates immediate emotional and behavioural reactions. Emotional events are more likely to be stored in memory, in part due to the behaviour of the amygdala. The amygdala modifies how the hippocampus consolidates memory, especially for fearful events. The amygdala is also involved in the perception of social stimuli. It plays a role when we decipher the emotional meanings of other people's facial expressions.

Information reaches the amygdala along two pathways. The first path is a quick and dirty system that processes sensory information nearly instantaneously. The second path is slower, but leads to more deliberate and thorough evaluations.

What are the three major theories of emotion?

According to the James Lange theory of emotion, when we perceive physical changes in our body, we feel emotions. Some results have been found that support James’ theory.

According to the facial feedback hypothesis, facial expressions trigger emotional states. One study was conducted in which people were asked to hold a pencil either clenched between their teeth (resulting in a forced smile), or held between their lips (a forced pout). Those with the forced smile reported more happiness when watching a funny cartoon than those with a forced pout.

According to the Cannon-Bard theory of emotion, the information from an emotion-producing stimulus is processed in subcortical structures that results in both an emotion and physical reaction.

The Schachter-Singer two-factor theory of emotion suggests that a situation evokes a physiological response (arousal), which is then cognitively labeled, and translated into an emotion. If it is an ambiguous situation, the emotion felt will be based on whatever the person attributes the situation to.

When people make mistakes in identifying the source of their emotional arousal, this is called misattribution of arousal. For instance, doing something thrilling can cause an arousal reaction that can easily be misinterpreted as sexual arousal, meaning that it is a good idea to bring a first date to an exciting activity. Excitation transfer is a form of misattribution in which the residual effects of one emotional event transfer on the next event – for instance, after seeing a scary movie, your elevated heart rate and arousal may linger, and you may attribute that to your date.

How are emotions adaptive?

Darwin suggested that emotions are adaptive because they are one of the fundamental ways we communicate our situation to others, and interpret how others are feeling. Knowing that another person is angry is more likely to help you expect their smack. Knowing that another person is embarrassed will help you strengthen your bond with them if you act sensitively. The eyes and mouth are the main emotional communicators. The mouth does this best, especially with positive affect. The eyes are easiest to interpret. Context also changes how people interpret emotion.

It has been found that the primary emotions can be identified in facial expressions cross-culturally. Cross-cultural congruence is strongest for positive affect and weakest for fear and disgust.

Display rules are cultural rules learned through socialization about what situations are acceptable to express emotions. Display rules also tend to be different between the sexes. Boys are often taught not to cry or express sadness, while girls are often taught to express more emotions related to caregiving and relationship-building.

How do emotions strengthen interpersonal relations?

Emotional expressions are powerful communicators and make proper interpersonal relationships possible. Infants learn to communicate first with facial expressions, before they grasp language. Nonverbal expressions of emotions signal inner states and needs. Expressing emotions allows us to survive in social groups- social emotions are important for maintaining bonds.

Guilt, for instance, is a bond-strengthener. Guilt occurs when someone feels responsible for another person’s negative emotions. It can also arise when we do not feel responsible for their situation, but feel it is unfair. Guilt can be good for relationships when it discourages acts of betrayal and disloyalty and encourages good behaviour and loyalty. Guilt can be used to manipulate others who have power over us to do what they want. Feelings of guilt are essential in happy and healthy relationships because they are related to empathy.

When someone violates a cultural norm, is teased, or experiences a threat to their self-image, they tend to feel embarrassed. This embarrassment restores social bonds in an awkward situation – an embarrassed person goes red-faced and acts submissively, clearly recognizing that they have accidentally committed a social error. Blushing is like a nonverbal apology. It elicits sympathy, forgiveness, and amusement in onlookers, rather than anger.

How are people motivated?

Motivation includes factors that energize, direct, and sustain behaviour. A need is a state of biological or social deficiency. In the 1940’s, Abraham Maslow came up with a hierarchy of needs, in which he suggested that the basic needs should be satisfied before a person is able to strive to fulfill higher needs.

1. Basic needs begin at the physiological level (food, water, warmth).
2. Once those are met, safety and protection need to be met.
3. After that - belonging, self-esteem/reputation, and finally self-actualization.

A drive is a psychological state that motivates us to satisfy a need by creating arousal. Basic drives help animals maintain a sense of equilibrium, also known as homeostasis. The human body strives for this state. A drive increases in proportion to the amount of deprivation we experience. A behaviour that we learn is useful for reducing a drive becomes a habit.

The Yerkes-Dodson law is a psychological principle that states that performance increases with arousal to an optimal point, after which it decreases. We need a certain amount of stress to get started on work, to make it less boring, but if we are too anxious, we may be overwhelmed.

How are people motivated by incentives?

People are also generally motivated by incentives, which are external objects or goals. According to this theory, people do not have to wait until they sense a deficiency in their needs; but are driven by their own goals.

What was just described were things that are extrinsically motivated, directed towards fulfilling an external goal like drive reduction or pleasurable reward. Other behaviours are intrinsically motivated – they are not valuable because they reach external goals, but because they are enjoyable in themselves. Some intrinsic motivation comes from curiosity and creativity. Playful exploration allows us to learn about a new object in an environment.

While we know that external rewards tend to motivate behaviour, rewarding intrinsic behaviour can actually undermine motivation. If you paint a picture and someone tells you that they will give you candy if you paint another one, your pleasure in painting will shift. When that reward goes away, so will the intrinsic pleasure. Self-determination theory suggests that this occurs because the task may have been fulfilling a need to feel competent and autonomous. Extrinsic rewards take away this sense of control. Self-perception theory suggests that people do not usually know their specific motives, but draw inferences based on what makes sense. If you can not come up with an external reason for your motivation, you will probably conclude that you just like what you are doing.

Freud explained the term 'drive' according to the pleasure principle, people seek pleasure and avoid pain. That pleasure motivates behaviour is a fundamental concept in motivational psychology. Positive and negative emotions have been, on an evolutionary scale, adaptive. Doing what we like helped us maintain relationships and avoid danger. We tend to like things we need (sweet fruits are healthy) and dislike things that are bad for us (poisons are bitter).

How do people set goals to achieve?

People are motivated towards long-term goals and short-term behaviours. We seek long-term goals through self-regulation of our behaviour. A good goal will motivate us to work hard. A good goal should be challenging and specific, but not too hard. Dividing a goal into subgoals works best.

Self-efficacy is the degree to which you feel you are capable of succeeding in a certain task or behaviour. Low self-efficacy is discouraging and tends to lessen the chance of success. People differ both in self-efficacy and achievement motivation. Achievement motivation is the desire to do well according to standards of excellence that are either internal or external. People high in achievement motivation set challenging but attainable personal goals, while those low in this motivation set either extremely easy or impossibly high goals.

People differ in their abilities to delay gratification. The ability to delay gratification has been correlated with long-term academic and career success. The most successful strategy in delaying gratification is to turn hot emotions into cold cognitions. That is, the desire to eat that yummy cake is a hot emotion, so you might think about that cake as a mud-cake, to activate a cold cognition. Cold cognitions focus on concepts and symbolic meanings.

An additional factor that is related to a person's ability to achieve long-term goals is grit. People with grit have a deep passion for their goals and a willingness to keep working toward them.

Why do people have a need to belong?

According to the need to belong theory, the need for interpersonal attachments is intrinsic to being a human, and has evolved for adaptive reasons. People more capable of forming social bonds were better able to survive through their group affiliations, and more likely to reproduce and have successful offspring by bonding with their mate.

All societies have some form of group membership and friend groups. Belonging decreases our risk of poor health. People feel anxious when facing exclusion. A lack of social contact causes despair.

Studies show that in anxious situations, people tend to seek affiliation with others, especially if those others are also anxious. According to the social comparison theory, we are motivated to have accurate information about ourselves in comparison to others. This allows us to test and validate our own beliefs and behaviours. In an ambiguous or threatening situation, we want to be around others to whom we can relate.

What motivates eating?

The hypothalamus is the brain structure most associated with food. It integrates inhibitory and excitatory messages and behaviours involved with eating. When the middle region of the hypothalamus is damaged, rats eat great quantities of food. This condition is called hyperphagia. In contrast, when the outer region of the hypothalamus is damaged, rats eat far less than normal. This condition is called aphagia and leads to weight loss. The prefrontal cortex processes taste cues, which emphasize the reward value of different foods. Damage to this system can produce gourmand syndrome, in which people become obsessed with the quality and variety of their food.

Eating has long been seen as a homeostatic system. Animals become hungry when they are deficient in glucose. When people's glucose levels drop, they can feel tired or grouchy.

The hormone insulin, released from the pancreas, plays a vital role in hunger through its effects on blood glucose. Insulin regulates glucose levels in the bloodstream. Insulin directs fat cells to take in glucose. A deficiency in this process causes diabetes.The hormone leptin regulates fat. It is released from fat cells as more fat is stored, travels to the hypothalamus, and inhibits further eating. This is most important in long-term weight regulation. The hormone ghrelin originates in the stomach, surging before meals and dropping after eating, suggesting it may be an eating trigger.

How is eating influenced by time and taste?

We get hungry at certain times in the day because we are conditioned to eat at those times. We are motivated to eat good-tasting foods, and to consume variety. If given just one type of food to eat, we will stop eating faster than if we are given a number of different types. We grow tired of singular flavours through sensory-specific satiety. This may be advantageous because animals that eat different types of food have a greater chance of finding food.

We eat what we think is food and what is nutritious – this varies culturally. While we have a preference for sweets as infants, we can learn to eat many types of food. This often involves brief exposure, to accustom a child to a certain taste. We also learn by observation. People tend to regularly eat foods of their own culture. Local norms of cuisine also reinforce food preferences, as do religious and cultural values.

What motivates sexual behavior?

Estrogen plays a small role in female sexuality. Sex hormones are released from the gonads. Males have more androgens than females, who have more estrogens and progesterone. Androgens are more important for reproductive behaviour. The availability of a minimum level of testosterone allows for sexual arousal in both genders. Females with higher than average testosterone are more likely to have sexual intercourse.

Oxytocin is also released during sexual arousal and orgasm, promoting feelings of love and attachment. The hypothalamus is crucial to sexual behaviour.

The neurotransmitters involved in pleasure – dopamine and serotonin, are obviously involved in sexual pleasure, as well. Nitric oxide in the brain is also critical for sexual behaviour, increasing with sexual stimulation and promoting blood flow to the genitals.

Women have hormonal cycles in which certain hormones occur at different times. Women process social information differently at different phases of their menstrual cycle. For instance, while ovulating, women prefer more masculine faces.

In the 1960’s, William Masters and Virginia Johnson began to study sexual behaviour, though biased in that their studies included only people willing to be filmed having intercourse and masturbating. They identified sexual response cycle. This is a four-stage pattern of physiological and psychological responses during sexual activity.

1. Excitement phase: people begin to contemplate sexual activity, kissing and touching sensually. Blood flows to the genitals. In women, the clitoris swells and vagina becomes wet. For men, the penis erects.
2. Plateau phase: pulse, breathing, and blood pressure increase. This stage includes sexual activity with lowered inhibition.
3. Orgasm phase: involuntary muscle contractions throughout the body, dramatic increases in breathing and heart rate, rhythmic vaginal contractions and ejaculation in men. Male orgasm almost always occurs while female orgasm is more variable. However, both report nearly identical sensations.
4. Resolution phase: the male enters a refractory period in which he is unable to maintain an erection or orgasm. Female has no refractory period and can experience multiple orgasms.

How do cultural scripts and rules shape sexual interactions?

Sexual scripts are cognitive beliefs about how a sexual encounter should go. Scripts differ according to culture. For instance, in cultures where marriages are arranged, scripts are different than in Westernized cultures.

Most changes in sexual behaviours are cultural pressures and changes in cultural expectations. One pattern of regulating sexual behaviour is the double standard, the idea that premarital and casual sex are more acceptable for men than women. Cultures may try to control sex for different reasons like paternity, birthrate, and conflict-reduction.

Men, on average, are more sexually motivated than women are. Erotic plasticity is a term that refers to the extent to which sex drive is shaped by social, cultural, and situational factors. Women have been shown to have higher erotic plasticity than men, experiencing different sexual behaviours throughout their lifetime, dependent on their cultural and situation. The sexual strategies theory suggests that, having faced different reproductive challenges in evolution, the two sexes have evolved to have different sexual practices and tendencies.

Women are more likely to be cautious about having sex because of the commitment to offspring, so they are less willing to have sex with a stranger.

Women tend to value men who are honest, considerate, dependable, well-liked, ambitious, career-oriented and tall. Men value good looks, cooking ability, and sexual faithfulness. Women tend to most of all value financial stability. Status is more important for women than good looks, though if the relationship is to be short-term, looks are higher on the list.

How do people differ in sexual orientations?

From an evolutionary standpoint, the fact that some people are homosexual has been hard to explain. Some theories suggest that they act as caring extra parents for the offspring of their siblings, giving them a better chance. Overwhelmingly, however, studies disprove that the environment has much to do with sexual orientation at all.

Interestingly, homosexual men are more likely to have many older brothers, which may suggest gradual hormonal changes influencing sexual orientation. Gene expression may also be linked to sexual orientation. Twin studies show some support for a genetic component to homosexuality. Some research points to an area of the hypothalamus that might be implicated – it is smaller in gay men and straight women than in straight men and gay women. Again, however, the only evidence is correlational, so causation cannot be assumed.

There is little empirical evidence that sexual orientation can be changed through therapy or other treatment. There is also no evidence that someone else’s sexual orientation can influence your own. Sexual orientation is not a choice; it is part of who people are. For those reasons, many countries allow homosexual people the same rights to express their sexuality as heterosexual people.

The most important things you need to know

The Circumplex model states that emotions have two criteria - valence and arousal. Insula is involved in awareness of bodily states whereas the amygdala generates emotional reactions. James-Lange theory states that emotion follows body arousal. Cannon-Bard theory suggests that emotion and physical reaction are independent. Yerkes-Dodson law states that performance on tasks increases with arousal up to moderate level. Self-determination theory says that extrinsic reward decreases intrinsic motivation while according to self-perception theory - people are not fully aware of their motives. Hypothalamus is vital for sexual activity and eating, hunger signals are regulated by insulin, leptin and ghrelin. Sexual response cycle is a four-stage pattern of physical responses during sexual activity.

Which factors can influence health and well-being? - Chapter 11

What does health psychology entail?

Health psychology is a field in psychology dedicated to integrating research on health and psychology. In this field, knowledge of psychological principles is applied to promoting health and well-being. Well-being is a state that includes striving for optimal health and life satisfaction.

The biopsychosocial model of health integrates the effects of biological, behavioural, and social factors on health and illness. Our thoughts and actions affect the environments we choose to interact with, and our environments influence how our biological foundations are expressed.

Obesity, lack of exercise, smoking, high-fat diets, and certain personality traits all contribute to the leading causes of death. Accidents are one of the leading causes of preventable deaths, due to carelessness. Behaviours like eating habits that are learned in childhood can cause detrimental effects like heart disease later in life.

African Americans are still more likely to have a shorter life than Caucasian Americans. One factor that contributes to such disparities is genetic variation. Furthermore, in a country like the United States, where racial biases are still prominent, people of some ethnicities may receive better care than others. In developing countries, the standard of healthcare is naturally different than in developed countries. Poorer countries, and thus, their citizens, often do not have access to the resources for adequate healthcare, leading to further disparities. Furthermore, differences in lifestyle also contribute to differences in health.

What are the health consequences of obesity?

In recent decades, it has become clear that obesity is a major problem when health is concerned. The Body Mass Index (BMI) scale measures the ration between one's weight and height. These scores are used to classify people into categories based on how overweight or underweight they are. Through many studies, it has been discovered that being slightly overweight according to the BMI scale is not as bad as it once was believed; people who are slightly overweight according to their BMI's live longer and are at lower risk for some diseases.

A large element of obesity is genetic. Heritability studies have found that the heritability of body weight is between 60 and 80 percent. Genetics may determine that a person can become obese in the right circumstances, and our environment has begun to present those right circumstances as the variety and portion sizes of food have increased.

The terms 'overweight' and 'obese' may be misleading with regard to health outcomes. Recent research has found that it is not someone's weight, but perhaps specific maladaptive eating habits that have a negative consequence on health. For example, eating large amounts of junk food or sugar increases one's risk of developing metabolic syndrome, a long list of risk factors for more serious diseases, such as high (unhealthy) cholesterol levels and insulin resistance.

One of the main reasons for overeating is an increase in the availability and variety of food. A steady increase in portion size, brought on by the idea that 'more is better' in industrialized countries, is also a large contributing factor in the increase of obesity. Furthermore, one study found that obese individuals showed an increase in reward response when looking at tasty food than those of normal body weight. Additionally, it was found that close friends of the same sex tend to have similar body weights.

While some cultures view obesity as a characteristic of wealth and pride, obesity is a condition that has been stigmatized in many Western cultures. In addition, people who perceive themselves as overweight or obese are more likely to suffer from depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem. In the industrialized world, where food is abundant, it is common for healthy, fresh foods to be much more expensive than cheaper, unhealthy foods. Therefore, it only makes sense that obesity in these cultures is associated with a lower socioeconomic status. Furthermore, the media in certain cultures has depicted the 'ideal woman' as thin, often thinner than what healthcare professionals would consider 'healthy'.

Is dieting effective?

Body weight is regulated around a set point determined, in part, by genetic influence. Thus, when people try to gain weight, they often revert to their original set point. The same occurs when people try to lose weight. The body responds to weight loss by slowing the metabolism and conserving energy. Weight regain occurs much faster than would make sense looking at calories alone.

People who frequently attempt to lose weight and bounce back are called yo-yo dieters. Over time, these people tend to actually gain more weight than when they started, as if their body has learned it needs to fend off starvation by conserving fat. Friends tend to have similar body weight, likely because of an unspoken agreement on what is considered an acceptable or normal weight.

Chronic dieters are sometimes characterized as restrained eaters. Restrained eaters are prone to excessive eating in some situations. If they believe that they have cheated on their diets, they abandon them. This is about perception – if the restricted dieter believes their food is low calorie (even if it isn’t), they will not end up binge eating. Restrained eaters attempt to follow cognitive cues of eating instead of physical ones, which means that their diets will often be ruined if they lose their inhibitions.

Failing to lose weight is often blamed on lack of willpower. Repeated failures can have harmful physical and psychological effects, causing feelings of helplessness and dissatisfaction with body image. This can lead to extreme behaviours like excessive exercise, drugs, fasting, and purging, turning into an eating disorder like anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa.

Anorexia nervosa is characterized by an excessive fear of becoming fat leading to a refusal to eat. People with anorexia will view themselves as fat even if they are grossly underweight. Medical intervention is often needed to prevent these people from starvation. One of the biggest medical problems is a loss of bone density and extreme risk of death by starvation.

People with bulimia nervosa alternate between dieting and binge eating. Binge-eating tends to occur secretly, followed by 'purging', in the form of self-induced vomiting or laxatives. Bulimia is seldom fatal, but is associated with heart and teeth problems. Binge-eating disorder involves regular binge-eating that does not lead to purging. People with this disorder tend to be obese. Eating disorders tend to run in families, either due to genetics or environmental learning.

How does smoking affect health?

Most smokers begin in childhood or early adolescence, often between 11 and 17 years. About half of people who start at this age will continue smoking as adults and 1/3 will die because of it. There has, in the last decades, been a decrease in smoking initiation. Smoking causes health problems from heart disease to respiratory ailments and cancer. It costs money for smokers and public health services. Social influences tend to be leading cause of smoking initiation, as people see their parents or friends smoke and associate it with being 'cool', 'adult', or 'normal'. Smokers tend to overestimate the number of people who smoke. This incorrect estimation may lead adolescents to feel it is how they can fit in. People who see smoking as related to positive qualities like being tough or sociable will be more likely to start. People who begin smoking casually tend to become addicted to nicotine. Once this dependency occurs, smokers will go through unpleasant withdrawal symptoms without cigarettes.

Within the past few years, electronic cigarettes became popular. A positive aspect is that they do not contain tobacco or chemicals that are in regular cigarettes. A widely used method to quit smoking is nicotine replacement therapy, such as smoking e-cigarettes, nicotine gum or wearig a patch that delivers nicotine. Around 90% of people who successfully quit smoking do so on their own, going cold turkey.

What are the benefits of exercise?

People who exercise regularly have been shown to have better health outcomes. Aside from the obvious physical benefits, psychological research has shown that exercise may be related to enhanced memory and cognition. One study found that exercise physically enlarges the brain, with a large amount of growth occurring in the hippocampus, a region of the brain involved with learning and memory. Additionally, studies about memory and cognition tasks, done with seniors, show that regular exercise may slow cognitive decline.

What is stress?

There are different types of stress. Stress involves a stressor (an external environment or force that puts pressure on the individual) and one’s response to that stressor (stress or distress). Distress is stress that is harmful, while eustress is positive and beneficial. Major life stressors are changes that strain central areas of a person’s life. Research has shown that unpredictable and uncontrollable catastrophic events are especially stressful. Daily hassles are small, day-to-day irritations and annoyances, such as driving in heavy traffic. Daily hassles are stressful and their combined effects can be comparable to the effects of major life changes.

What are the physiological components of stress?

Stress causes activation of the sympathetic nervous system, possibly resulting in blood clot formation, increased blood pressure, increased heart rate, irregular heartbeats, fat deposits, the formation of plaque, and immunosuppression. It activates a chain of events known as the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. HPA activation results in the prolonged production of cortisol, decreasing immune function and damaging neurons in the hippocampus. This can increase the likelihood of infection. Stress can influence health and illness physically and behaviourally. Stress behaviours like smoking can have further negative effects on illness. Chronic stress can also impact long-term memory, as cortisol can damage neurons in areas of the brain important for memory storage.

Selye’s general adaptation syndrome (GAS) described three stages of stress upon encountering a stressor:

• Alarm: I must prepare, and resist this stressor!
• Resistance: Coping and resisting the stressor.
• Exhaustion: Coping did not work, I’m exhausted, I give up!

According to this theory, short-term stress produces adaptive responses to the demands of daily living. Prolonged or overwhelming stress, however, impairs health.

What are the sex differences in how people respond to stressors?

The fight or flight response was developed by Cannon. It suggests that external threats elicit a natural reaction that occurs in other animals – we prepare ourselves to either fight or run away. Cannon considered this to be potentially adaptive, though detrimental if chronic. This has been criticized because most stress research on the fight or flight response was done using male participants.

Taylor and colleagues argued that females have a tend and befriend response. This makes evolutionary sense because of the fact that the female often took care of the infant. In times of stress, quieting and hiding their infant would be safer than trying to run away with them. Befriending would allow them to get help against the threat, or turn the threatening situation into a neutral one. Research has found that oxytocin, the bonding hormone, is high in distressed women, but not in distressed men. This is a biological explanation for the gender difference in stress response.

How does stress affect health?

People with stressful jobs tend to have health problems associated with chronic stress. Chronic stress is associated with diseases from cancer to AIDS to cardiac disease. People often cope with stress by smoking, overeating, drinking, using drugs, or other habits that further damage health.

How does stress disrupt the immune system?

Selye emphasizes the impact of stress on the immune system, the body’s mechanism for dealing with invading microorganisms like allergens, bacteria, and viruses. The field of psychoneuroimmunology studies how the body’s immune system responds to psychological variables. Short-term stress boosts the immune system while chronic stress weakens it. The effects of long-term stress are partially due to decreased lymphocyte production which makes it harder to ward off foreign substances. Lymphocytes are specialized white blood cells that make up the immune system; the three types are B cells, T cells and natural killer cells.

Coronary heart disease is one of the leading causes of death in the Western world. Arteries lead to heart blocked with fat deposits as people age, it becomes harder for blood to flow. This is the direct cause of coronary heart disease. Stress and negative emotions increase the risk by encouraging poor health choices like overeating, smoking, and drinking. Over time, stress causes wear and tear of the heart, increasing its chance of failure.

Personality may also impact the heart. Studies have shown that a certain set of personality traits (which make up the type A behaviour pattern) negatively impacts heart health. People with this pattern are competitive, achievement-oriented, aggressive, hostile, impatient, and time-pressed. In the past 50 years, research has suggested that only certain components of Type A are related to heart disease. The most toxic factor is hostility - the tendency to be angry, cynical, and combative. Learning to manage stress and anger can help people cope with heart disease and improve. People with the type B behaviour pattern are more noncompetitive, relaxed, easy-going and accommodating. Optimistic people tend to be at lower risk for heart disease.

How does coping reduce the negative health effects of stress?

Dealing with life’s stressors is called coping. We use cognitive appraisals of these stressors in coping. Lazarus suggested a two-part appraisal process – primary appraisals involve deciding whether something is stressful, benign, or irrelevant. Secondary appraisals involve evaluating our options on how to respond.

Anticipatory coping is when we steel ourselves for an event we know will be stressful, often through rehearsal. One model is problem-focused versus emotion-focused coping. Problem-focused coping involves attempting to take action to reduce the demands of the stressor and increase management ability. Emotion-focused coping involves managing the emotions evoked by the event. These two forms of coping can manifest in both adaptive and maladaptive ways. Factors that influence which form is used include the type of problem (work vs. relationship problems).

Age has an impact – adolescents and older people tend to use emotion-focused coping while middle-aged people tend to use problem-focused coping. There is debate whether gender is a factor. How we choose to cope with stress depends on our own personal resources and on the situation itself. The belief that a problem is controllable tends to lead to problem-focused coping, of course. Finally, resources like money, family, and education have an impact. Emotion-based coping is usually only useful in the short run. In addition to problem-focused coping, people can use positive reappraisal. This involves focusing on the good things in one’s situation. There is also downward comparison, in which the individual looks at others who are worse off so that their own situation does not seem so bad. The creation of positive events is a strategy of giving positive meaning to ordinary events.

People differ in their perceptions. Some people are more stress resistant because they view events more constructively. This trait is called hardiness. Hardiness consists of commitment, challenge, and control. People who are committed to their life tasks tend to see problems as challenges, and feel that they have the power to control their situation. People high in hardiness use more coping strategies, more effectively. In the face of stress, they increase their positive thoughts. People high in emotional resilience will not only be slower to stress, they will also bounce back quicker when presented with a stressful situation. People who are resilient experience positive emotions even when under stress. According to broaden-and-build theory, positive emotion prompts people to consider novel solutions to their problems. Thus, resilient people tend to draw on their positive emotions when dealing with setbacks or negative life experiences.

Can a positive attitude keep people healthy?

The positive psychology movement was launched by clinical psychologist Martin Seligman. Seligman and others have encouraged scientific study of qualities such as faith, values, creativity, courage and hope. According to positive psychologists, happiness has three components:

1. Positive emotion and pleasure.
2. Engagement in life.
3. A meaningful life.

A variety of research studies shows that having a positive affect predicts living longer. Maybe this is because they have a stronger immune system. Positive emotions are thus related to considerable health benefits.

How is social support associated with good health?

Social interaction has a great deal of influence on health. A strong social network is key to well-being, and even to longevity, independently of other factors. Support helps people to cope with life stressors and maintain health, by lowering overall stress, providing actual physical assistance, and increasing positive emotions of acceptance. The buffering hypothesis suggests that emotional support acts as a buffer against troubles.

Trust is essential to most healthy relationships. People who believe others can be trusted tend to score higher on scales of well-being. Oxytocin increases trust, and strengthens social bonds. Oxytocin is also released when people feel empathy toward others, and is involved in feelings of love.

Many religions encourage personal health, trust, and well-being. Faith can provide some people with a sense of meaning and positive emotions.

The most important things you need to know

Biopsychosocial model integrates effects of biological, social and behavioural factors on health. Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis is involved in stress response. General adaptation syndrome includes alarm, resistance and exhaustion stages of stress response. Lymphocytes are white blood cells that make up the immune system (B and T cells). Type A people are hostile and competitive while type B - more relaxed. Methods to cope with problems are emotion-focused coping and problem-focused one. Primary appraisal is checking if stimulus is stressful and secondary appraisal - choosing coping strategy. The trait hardiness includes commitment, challenge and control. Buffering hypothesis means providing emotional support to others.

What is social psychology? - Chapter 12

Why is group identity important?

Belonging to a group is important for us in a social context. According to social identity theory, we tend to be closely connected to our own in-group, fiercely loyal and even willing to die for what we consider to be our group. Groups to which we belong are in-groups. Groups to which we do not belong are called out-groups. Two conditions are critical for group formation: reciprocity and transitivity. Reciprocity means that if Person A helps person B, then person B will help person A. Transitivity means that people generally share their friends' opinions of other people. Once people categorize others as ingroup or outgroup members, they treat others accordingly. For instance, due to the outgroup homogeneity effect, people tend to view outgroup members as less varied than ingroup members. Our group memberships are important to our sense of identity and self. We tend to take part of our self-esteem from our group’s esteem. We are predisposed to be wary of people we consider to be outside our group. This in-group/out-group behaviour begins early in development. We favor in-groups because, evolutionarily speaking, that was an adaptive strategy. This is called ingroup favoritism.

The middle region of the prefrontal cortex, called the medial prefrontal cortex is important for thinking about other people. Activity in this region is also associated with ingroup bias. The medial prefrontal cortex is less active when people consider members of outgroups. One explanation for this reduction in activity is that people dehumanize some outgroups.

How do groups influence individual behaviour?

When the presence of others enhances our performance, this is called social facilitation. This likely occurs because others are associated with the rewards and punishments we receive. Interestingly, social facilitation only occurs when the task is relatively easy to perform. If it is difficult, our performance will actually diminish when others are around.

Deindividuation occurs when people lose their individuality through their group membership. People can become less self-aware and not pay attention to personal morals and standards. When this self-awareness disappears, self-restraint leaves with it. This occurs when a group diffuses responsibility among many others, and so the person is aroused and feels anonymous. This explains riot and mob behaviour. Sometimes it is good – people doing the wave at a football event or dancing silly at a wedding may be experiencing deindividuation

Research has shown that groups often make more risky decisions than individuals do, in a phenomenon known as the risky shift effect. On the opposite end, groups can also be more cautious and conservative than individuals. Initial attitudes determine whether the group is risky or cautious – this is called group polarization. If group members are overly concerned with maintaining group cohesiveness, they may end up succumbing to groupthink, an extreme form of polarization that results in poor decisions. This occurs most easily in groups that are under pressure, especially external threats, and groups that are biased in a particular direction. Not all information is taken into consideration and group members reassure each other. Group thinking can be challenged by encouraging discord and dissonance, assigning a devil’s advocate to challenge decisions, and carefully examining outside opinions.

Social loafing occurs when people work less hard in a group than they would if working alone. This happens because responsibility decreases, and people feel they can expend less effort. However, if they believe they are individually monitored for their effort, they do not engage in loafing.

How do people conform to and comply with others?

Conformity is another powerful social influence. In order to 'fit in', people conform to the standards and opinions of others. Normative influence is when we conform in order not to look foolish, and informational influence is when we assume that the crowd’s behaviour represents the correct way to respond in any situation.

Social norms are the expected standards of behavioural conduct. Social norms are rules that explain how we should act in any given situation. People tend to conform to social norms. Lack of unanimity diminishes conformity. Dissenters, however, tend to be poorly treated in groups, often to the point that they are rejected.

Sherif studied the autokinetic effect. Through this perceptual phenomenon, a stationary point of light appears to move when viewed in a totally dark environment. Sherif asked participants who were alone in a room to estimate how far the light moved. Individual differences were considerable. In the second part, Sherif put two or more participants in the room and had them call out their estimates. Although there were initial differences, participants quickly revised their estimates until they agreed. Solomon Asch did a study in which participants looked at a reference line and three comparison lines. They decided which of the three comparison lines matched the reference line and shared their answers. Asch included a naive participant with a group of five confederates who pretended to be participants but were actually working for the experimenter. The real participant always went sixth. On 12 of the 18 trials, confederates deliberately gave the same wrong answer. About 1/3 of the participants went along with the confederates.

A factor that influences conformity is group size. Research has found that groups as large as 16 people do not lead to greater conformity than groups of 7. Lack of unanimity diminishes conformity.

When we do what someone requires of us, we are being compliant. A good mood can contribute to compliance. We may also comply because, in avoiding conflict, we respond before fully considering our options. The foot-in-the-door effect occurs when, after fulfilling a small request, we comply with a larger, less desirable request. This, in a way, reduces cognitive dissonance, because they follow the course of action they committed to. Another technique is the door-in-the-face technique, in which people are more likely to fulfill a small request after refusing a large one. The low-balling technique is when a salesman and a customer agree on a very low price, then the salesman later ups the price significantly. Having already agreed and made the decision to buy, the customer will feel obligated to stick with that decision.

When are people obedient?

Obedience is continuous compliance to requests of an authority figure. Obedience was studied in the famous Milgram experiment. In the Milgram experiment, the subject is brought in and given what they think is the arbitrary role of 'teacher', while a second person (pretending to be a subject) is given the role of 'learner'. The learner is strapped into a chair and electrodes are tapped to his wrists. The subject is told that the learner will receive a shock at every wrong answer, and the learner mentions he or she has a heart condition. The subject is then moved to an adjacent room in which they can communicate with the learner through an intercom. The subject is instructed to perform quick tests of verbal memory, and administrated shocks after every wrong answer, gradually increasing the degree. As you administer the shocks, the learner shouts into the intercom, more and more frantic. At the highest level of shocks, the learner screams with pain and exclaims that he cannot handle more, but the experimenter prompts the subject to continue onwards. While the subject tends to believe the learner is suffering, most subjects go on when prompted up to the maximum voltage, even while pleading with the experimenter to let them stop.

When do people harm or help others?

Aggression includes any behaviour expressed with the intent to hurt someone else. Among humans, physical aggression is common among young children but relatively rare in adults due to social norms. Adult's aggressive acts involve words, or other symbols, meant to threaten, intimidate or emotionally harm others. Aggression is likely when people feel socially rejected. Another factor that influences aggression is heat. More crime occurs in the summer, and more violence occurs in hotter regions.

The MAOA gene controls the amount of MAO, an enzyme that regulates the activity of a number of neurotransmitters. One study found an unusual MAOA gene mutation in aggressive violence. A particular form of the gene appears to make individuals susceptible to environmental risk factors associated with antisocial behaviours. The MAOA gene regulates serotonin, and evidence suggests that serotonin is important for the control of aggressive behaviour. Low serotonin is associated with higher rates of violence towards self and others. The hormone testosterone also has a modest correlation with aggression. Males have more testosterone than females and carry out the majority of aggressive and violent acts. Probably, testosterone does not play a direct role but may be related to social dominance, the result of having greater power and status.

Violence varies dramatically across cultures and time. Some cultures might be more violent because they have a culture of honour, a belief system in which men are primed to protect their reputations through physical aggression. The Southern states of America have a stronger culture of honour than the North, leading to a marked difference in aggression levels.

Which factors influence helping behaviour?

Prosocial behaviours are actions that tend to benefit others, such as doing favors or helping. Altruism is when an individual helps another without any apparent reward for doing so. While less common, altruism occurs in many species. It has been suggested by some that prosocial behaviours have selfish motives – we are nice to others because that makes others nice to us. However, there is evidence that prosocial behaviour is inborn – we do not just learn to be prosocial because the behaviour is rewarded.

The Kin selection theory of altruism states that altruism helps close relatives that are genetically similar, thus allowing the genes, if not the individual, a greater chance of survival. In cases in which there is a great chance that strangers are in some way related, altruism may happen outside of the family. The reciprocity theory accounts for non-kin altruism. In this theory, altruism is a way of encouraging long-term cooperation and benefits.

The more observers there are to a crime or an accident, the less likely each witness is to help. This is partly due to the diffusion of responsibility – each person feels like someone else might help out and they are less responsible to do so. People are also less likely to help when they are anonymous and can remain so. Furthermore, people fear making social blunders in ambiguous situations.

Research has shown that only certain types of contact between hostile groups reduce prejudice and discrimination. Shared superordinate goals, goals that require people to cooperate, reduce hostility between groups.

How do attitudes guide behaviour?

Attitudes are evaluations people form about objects, events, people, and ideas. The more we are exposed to something, the more we tend to like it. This is the mere exposure effect. Classical conditioning helps build attitudes by associating objects with other things we like or dislike. Operant conditioning builds attitudes by associating objects with reward or punishment. Attitudes are also shaped through social learning – we learn many of our values and preferences from our caregivers, peers, and media figures. Culture plays a large role.

Attitudes are more likely to predict behaviour if they are stronger and more personally relevant. People are more defensive about strong and personal attitudes. Attitudes that are specific and directly informed by personal experience tend to be most predictive. Attitude accessibility is the ease or difficulty with which people retrieve their attitude from memory – those that can be easily retrieved are more stable and predictive of behaviour.

Attitudes are explicit if you are aware of them. Implicit attitudes are more subtle, and can sometimes contradict what our explicit attitudes are. Implicit attitudes influence feelings and behaviour almost as much as explicit attitudes do. The Implicit Association Test (IAT) was designed to measure implicit attitudes by looking at reaction times to opposing stimuli.

How do discrepancies lead to dissonance?

Cognitive dissonance is an uncomfortable state of mind that occurs when a person behaves in a way different from their attitudes, or holds two contradictory attitudes at once. For instance, someone who knows smoking will kill them and dislikes the idea of smoking will experience cognitive dissonance while smoking. Cognitive dissonance theory assumes that dissonance causes anxiety and tension, motivating people to reduce dissonance. People can reduce dissonance by changing their attitudes, changing their behaviour, or rationalizing/trivializing the discrepancy.

Post-decisional dissonance comes after a decision is made. The individual will reduce dissonance by focusing on the positive elements of their choice and negative elements of the alternatives. This is automatic and even occurs when the choice was wrong.

Research has found that one way to change people’s attitudes is to first change their behaviours using minimal incentives.

When people put themselves through embarrassing, painful, or uncomfortable situations in order to join a group, they experience a great deal of dissonance as they attempt to justify their behaviour. With all that effort, it must be worth it, right? The group’s importance is inflated as a result.

How can attitudes be changed through persuasion?

Persuasion is an active effort to change a person’s attitude. This is usually done by expressing a new message that is listened to, understood, memorable, and convincing. A message is more persuasive when it comes from a trusted source (who is attractive and credible), when the content of the message is strongly argued and rhetorically persuasive. A one-sided argument will work on an already-won audience (preaching to the choir), or a gullible audience. If the crowd is skeptical, a persuasive argument will be one that acknowledges both sides.

According to the elaboration likelihood model, persuasive communication takes two possible routes to shifted attitude. The first is the central route, in which the audience is consciously paying attention to the arguments, considering the information, and following rational cognitive processes. The second route is the peripheral route, in which people only minimally process the message. This can lead to impulsive choices.

How do people think about others?

People make quick judgments of others based on a number of factors. This is adaptive – it allows us to learn about the intentions of others and possible threats or advantages presented by them. The first hint is nonverbal behaviour, facial expressions, gestures, mannerisms, and movements of the other person.

We try to explain the behaviour of other people by making attributions about their intent. There are two distinct types of attributions. The first are personal attributions, which are explanations based on internal elements like disposition (He cut me off because he is mean!). Situational attributions are explanations based on the situation or environmental factors (He cut me off because he had a bad day at work). Attributions can also be stable over time or unstable. They can also be controllable or uncontrollable.

We tend to have a self-serving bias when making attributions about our own behaviour. If we fail a test, we blame the teacher. If we pass a test, we credit our own intelligence. On the other hand, we tend to overemphasize internal traits when making attributions about the behaviour of others. This is called the fundamental attribution error. We tend not to take into account social and environmental factors when explaining other people’s behaviour. Correspondence bias is our tendency to expect other people to have the same values and beliefs as we do. Actor/observer discrepancy refers to the fundamental attribution error.

How do stereotypes lead to prejudice and discrimination?

Stereotypes are mental shortcuts with which we categorize people. Stereotypes guide our attention towards information that confirms them and away from information that would prove them wrong. Our biases towards maintaining stereotypes lead us to believe that they are right. Biases colour our attributions – we may attribute a white man’s success to his hard work and a black man’s success to his luck. When we meet someone who does not fit into a stereotype, we do not change it. We just give that person a subtype.

Prejudice includes negative feelings, opinions, and beliefs associated with a stereotype. Acting upon prejudice is discrimination - inappropriate treatment of people as a result of prejudice. Stereotypes often lead to prejudice and discrimination because people can be used as scapegoats to relieve tension. By blaming others or putting them down, we make ourselves feel better.

Stereotypes can influence basic perceptual processes. For instance, studies have shown that police officers are more likely to misidentify a suspect as holding a gun when that suspect is black. Training can help reduce racial bias in deciding when to shoot. Social psychologists have introduced the idea of modern racism, which refers to subtle forms of prejudice that coexist with rejection of racist beliefs.

How can prejudice be reduced?

Many people do not think they succumb to stereotyping and do not want to, either. However, it often occurs without our intent. It tends to be subtle and pervasive. People can override their stereotypes and act in nondiscriminatory ways. We consciously alter our stereotypes based on new information when we are aware of our tendency to stereotype. Two strategies that combat prejudice are reframing and self-labeling. Reframing involves taking a negative stereotype and transforming it from weakness to strength. Self-labeling involves embracing the very slurs used against you. In everyday life, inhibiting stereotyped thinking is difficult and requires self-control.

Perspective taking involves people actively contemplating the psychological experiences of other people. Such contemplation can reduce racial bias and help to smooth potentially awkward interracial interactions.

What determines the quality of relationships?

How do we develop relationships? Well, there is some research that shows that proximity is very important. This might have to do with our desire for familiarity and fear of what is different. The phenomenon that humans fear anything novel, is called neophobia. We like people who have similar attitudes, backgrounds, interests, personalities, looks, age, sex, and race as our own. The matching principle describes the tendency for people to be attracted to others who look like themselves.

People prefer those who are physically attractive and have admirable personality characteristics. The least likable characteristics include dishonesty, insincerity and coldness. The most likeable are kindness, dependability, and trustworthiness. People like others who are competent yet make humanizing mistakes.

Studies have found that people find faces that are the average of others' facial features as more attractive. People find symmetry more attractive (possibly due to adaptiveness), and people who are bi-racial are more likely to have facial symmetry. Being attractive can be advantageous – you are more easily trusted, rated as happier, more intelligent, more sociable, capable, and successful than people who are unattractive.

Passionate love involves intense longing and sexual desire, often thought of as the 'infatuation' period early in relationships. As relationships endure, love develops into compassionate love, based on intimacy, trust, respect, and friendship. One theory suggests that the attachment style learned in infancy will determine how romantic relationships are developed later in life.

For instance, secure attachment styles lead to healthy relationships. Insecure attachment styles lead to distrust and discomfort in relationships. People with ambivalent attachment styles are described as clingy and worry that their lovers are bound to leave them. Relationships can also change people's attachment styles. People are likely to become secure in attachment style with a patient, understanding and trustworthy partner. They may become insecure if paired with a bad partner.

Passion in relationships tends to rise in the beginning and declines over time. This can lead to eventual dissolution of the relationship if other forms of trust and intimacy are not nurtured. Many marriages fail, and those that do not - continue as unhappy marriages. Some partners take each other for granted and criticize each other openly. Staying in love can be difficult.

Four interpersonal styles that lead to discord and dissolution include:

1. Being overly critical.
2. Holding the partner in contempt.
3. Being defensive.
4. Mentally withdrawing from the relationship.

Better ways to resolve conflict involve:

1. expressing concern when disagreeing.
2. remaining calm.
3. trying to see other's viewpoint.
4. being playful.

Happy couples also tend to either overlook bad behaviour or respond constructively, in a process called accommodation. Happy couples tend to attribute bad behaviour to situational factors and good to the personal attributes of the other. Unhappy couples do the opposite.

How does psychology view personality? - Chapter 13

What does personality encompass?

Personality is a person’s general style of interacting with the world and other people. It is what makes one person unique from another. A personality trait is a stable predisposition to behave in a certain way. Traits are personal and consistent, based on the person and not on the situation.

Genes, brain structure, and neurochemistry all play a role in determining personality. Like all things, the expression of these biological aspects of personality is influenced by the environmental influences a person comes in contact with. There is evidence of a genetic root for nearly all personality traits, shown especially in twin studies. Genetic influence accounts for roughly half of the variance of personality traits in individuals.

Adoption studies have been used to test the genetic basis of personality by looking at which traits two children with different genes express when raised in the same household. Results have shown that home environment may not be as important as genetics in personality. That being said, some differences may be attributed to differing environmental influences outside the home.

While research has found a genetic component to a number of personality traits, It has not located many specific genes. Furthermore, genetic expression is influenced by environmental factors. It may be the chance combination of genes that produce individuals with unique personalities.

How is temperament evident in infancy?

Biological differences in personality are called temperaments – general tendencies to feel or act in certain ways in certain situations. These are all-encompassing, beyond traits. They are the biological basis of personality. Temperament has been split into three personality characteristics:

• Activity level: how much energy a person exhibits.
• Emotionality: how intense a person’s emotional reactions are.
• Sociability: how much people need to affiliate with others. People high in sociability are more likely to move to a big city or move far from home. People high in activity levels are more likely to move to new locations. People high in emotionality are more likely to move closer to their hometowns. There are also strong sex differences in average temperament – girls tend to have stronger control over their impulses, while boys are more physically active.

Research has found that early temperaments have a large effect on behaviour and personality in a person’s long-term development. If a child is found to be inhibited/shy in temperament, they are more likely to be anxious or depressed in early adulthood. About ¼ of inhibited children learn, through environmental and parental influence, to be less inhibited and shy later in childhood, when their parents support them and create calm environments. Shyness varies across cultures. Biological evidence suggests that the amygdala, the brain region involved in emotional responses, especially fear, is involved in social anxiety.

What are the theories of personality?

Freud coined the term psychoanalysis to refer to his method of talking therapy and his theory of personality. Psychodynamic theory suggests that people are often unaware of their motives and defense mechanisms work to keep unacceptable thoughts out of consciousness.

According to this model, the conscious level consists of thoughts that people are aware of. Preconscious level involves content that is not currently in our awareness but could be called up. The unconscious level contains material not in our awareness that cannot easily be retrieved. In order to understand people’s actions, problems and personalities, Freud argued that you must first understand their unconsciousness. This is done through careful analysis of hidden cues in behaviour and speech. The least logical responses would provide the best clues.

Freud’s basic model of the human mind was a structural one, containing three main structures - id, superego and ego. The id drives us to seek pleasure and avoid pain. The force of pleasure is libido. The second structure is superego - keeps id in check. The id develops in childhood and is the internalized version of the parental role. The third structure is the ego, our conscious mind that operates on the reality principle. With the ego, we are able to think rationally and solve problems.

Freud thought that the ego copes with anxiety using various defense mechanisms. Anna Freud developed the concept of defense mechanisms:

• Repression: Anxiety-producing thoughts are pushed out of the conscious mind, “bottled up” until they might spill out and reveal themselves through distortions.
• Displacement: Unconscious drive that cannot be fulfilled is redirected towards a more acceptable alternative. A desire for the intimacy of breastfeeding might manifest in the tendency to take up smoking or overeating.
• Sublimation: A type of displacement in which the drive is redirected to creative or socially accepted purposes. An aggressive person might become a lawyer or a competitive runner.
• Reaction formation: The conversion of a frightening desire into its safer opposite. Someone who is highly homophobic might actually have frightening sexual desires towards the same sex and overcompensate by becoming homophobic.
• Projection: A person blames another on possessing qualities which he actually possess himself.
• Rationalization: The use of reasoning to explain undesired thoughts and feelings.

Freud believed that personality develops through conflict of the id, ego, and superego, through five maturational stages of psychosexual development. The first three stages were considered crucial to development. Failure to receive the correct amount of gratification at any stage would lead to fixation that would influence adult behaviour. These stages are as follows:

1. Oral: Mouth-oriented gratification such as sucking or biting. Lack of gratification can lead to adult issues such as nail-biting, smoking, etc.
2. Anal: Gratification comes from expelling and withholding feces. A fixation at this stage can result in either extreme orderliness or messiness in adult behaviour.
3. Phallic: The child becomes attracted to their parent of the opposite sex and aggressive to their parent of the same sex. For females, this is the Electra complex, and for males - Oedipus complex.
4. Latency: A period of emotional and intellectual calmness in middle childhood.
5. Genital: Repressed sexual urges come to the forefront as the child reaches adulthood, and are realized in ‘healthy’ relationships.

A number of other psychologists have modified Freud’s ideas into their own psychodynamic theories, including Carl Jung, Alfred Alder, and Karen Horney. Each one rejects certain aspects of Freud’s work while focusing on other areas. Contemporary neo-Freudians look more into social interactions and object relations theory.

How does personality reflect learning and cognition?

Julian Rotter suggested that behaviour is a function of our expectancies for reinforcement and the values we ascribe to reinforcers. He also suggested that people differ in how much they believe their actions can impact events. People with an internal locus of control feel that they have significant control, while people with an external locus of control feel that things just happen due to luck.

Cognition and learning theories form cognitive-social theories of personality. Albert Bandura saw our cognitions as interacting with our environment to influence behaviour. Albert Bandura argued that three factors influence how a person acts: environment, multiple person factors, and behaviour. Because personality is explained by the interaction of the three factors, this model is called reciprocal determinism.

What are humanistic approaches to personality?

Humanistic approaches emphasize personal experience, belief systems, and the inherent goodness and uniqueness of the person. They seek to help us reach a state of personal growth and self-understanding, called self-actualization. Carl Rogers, who had person-centered approach, emphasized how people subjectively understand their lives and believes in the importance of parental unconditional positive regard.

What are trait approaches?

Trait approaches seek ways to describe behavioural dispositions. The goal of trait theories is to establish clear personality dimensions which can be used to summarize the fundamental psychological differences between people. Gordon Allport did research using a factor analysis model, looking at the dictionary to find which human traits have the most words describing them. In this way, he could narrow down 16 basic dimensions of personality.

The most well-known and supported taxonomy of personality is the Five-factor Model. It was originally based on a combination of the lexical and statistical approaches. Allport and Odbert organized trait terms into four lists – stable traits, temporary states/moods, social evaluations, and metaphorical/physical terms. Studying stable traits through factor analysis allowed psychologists to finally identify the Big Five:

1. Surgency / Extraversion.
2. Agreeableness.
3. Conscientiousness.
4. Emotional stability.
5. Openness-Intellect.

What is the biological basis of traits?

Hans Eysenck proposed that personalities could be described on two axes - Introversion/Extraversion and Emotional stability. Introversion is the extent to which someone is shy, quiet, or reserved, while extraversion is the extent to which someone is bold, outgoing and sociable. Emotional stability refers to how consistent or stable someone's mood is. Someone who is neurotic experiences frequent mood swings. Later, Eysenck added a third trait to his model, psychoticism. Psychoticism includes traits such as poor impulse control, aggression, lack of empathy, and self-centeredness.

Differences in personalities may reflect differences in neurology, in the relative activation of biological systems.

Cortical arousal is regulated by the reticular activation system (RAS), a network of neurons that projects to the cerebral cortex from the brain stem. Extraverts continuously seek new arousal while introverts seem to avoid it, suggesting the resting levels of arousal in the RAS are higher for introverts, meaning they need less stimulation to feel as aroused, and are typically above their optimal level of arousal. Introverts are also more sensitive to pain and other forms of arousal.

Jeffrey Gray developed an approach/inhibition model of the relation between learning and personality. He proposed that personality is rooted in two motivation systems. The behavioural approach system (BAS) is the brain system responsible for the pursuit of reward, and the behavioural inhibition system (BIS) is responsible for the avoidance of punishment. Extraverts have a stronger BAS, while introverts have a stronger BIS.

How stable is personality?

Situationism is the theory that behaviour is determined by situations rather than personality traits. How much a trait predicts behaviour depends on the centrality of the trait, the aggregation of behaviours over time, and the type of trait. Personality is more predictive of the average behaviour over time than any single situation.

Situations with strong external influence can inspire behaviours counter to a person’s regular personality. For instance, you might know your spouse is more tolerant of your bad moods, so you will feel free to express them around him/her than around strangers. There is a difference between strong situations (elevators, job interviews, etc.) that greatly influence how personalities are expressed, and weak situations (bars, parties, parks) that let personality be expressed normally. Trait theorists tend to be interactionists, seeing personality and situation as working hand in hand to influence behaviour. It is worth noting that whether someone chooses to be in a certain situation (like a party) can depend on their personality (extroversion).

Can development and life events alter personality traits?

Continuity over time is an inherent quality of traits. Personality traits in the Big Five remain remarkably stable throughout the life span, though stability is slightly lower in young children and slightly higher in people over 50. Most people have a very stable personality around age 30.

In general, people tend to become less neurotic, less extraverted, and less open to new experiences with age, but more agreeable and conscientious. Age-related personality changes occur independently of environmental influence, so this may be an aspect of human physiology. In general, personality changes occur as a consequence of the expectations and experiences associated with age-related roles, such as becoming a parent.

McCrae and Costa emphasized a distinction between basic tendencies, dispositional traits determined by biology, and characteristic adaptations - adjustments to situational demands. These are behaviours that may change according to new situations, yet still reflect the same dispositional basic tendencies.

How does culture influence personality?

Sampling and language make cross-cultural research about personality difficult to manage. Some studies have found that the Big Five personality traits seem to be valid across all the countries researched. There were moderate differences found, as people in East Asia tended to rate themselves lower on extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness and higher on neuroticism. Africans tended to rate themselves as more agreeable and conscientious, but less neurotic. This may reflect cultural norms about saying good and bad things about oneself, rather than actual differences.

Men and women are largely similar in personality, except that women report being more empathetic, agreeable, and neurotic than men, while men report being more assertive. Interestingly, in countries with more gender equality, the differences between men and women are stronger. This might be because individualist countries value highlighting the differences between one’s own group and other groups.

How is personality assessed?

Gordon Allport distinguished between two approaches to assessing personality. Idiographic approaches are person-centred, focusing on individual lives and the integration of characteristics. These approaches see all people as unique. Researchers using idiographic approaches tend to look at interviews and biographical information. They look at a person’s life story or personal narrative, seeking out the personal myths that bind a person’s life together. Nomothetic approaches focus on common characteristics and how they vary among people. Nomothetic researchers use questionnaires, seeing individuals as unique only in so far as they have different combinations of standard characteristics.

Projective techniques of measuring personality involve giving an individual a standard, ambiguous stimulus and asking what they see. The Rorschach inkblot test is an example. The content of the person’s responses is thought to reveal aspects of their personality. In Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), a person is shown an ambiguous image and asked to tell a story about what is happening in the image. The story is scored based on motivational themes that emerge, related to achievement, power, and affiliation.

Self-report measures can also be used. The Big Five can be measured using self-ratings of single-word trait adjectives, or using self-rated sentence items. The NEO-PI-R (neuroticism-extraversion-openness personality inventory, revised) is one of the most commonly used measures of the Big Five. Each of the five traits includes facets that allow more nuance and complexity. However, researchers need to be aware that people answer in a socially desirable way.

Researchers have also developed objective measures that assess how personality emerges in daily life. For example, the electronically activated record (EAR) tracks a person's real-world moment-to-moment interactions.

How accurate are observers in their trait judgments?

Under certain circumstances, observers have been found to have a high level of accuracy about assessing personality. Close friends may be able to judge traits and predict behaviour better than the individual themselves. Easy to observe trait with a great deal of meaning, like creativity, is more accurately judged by others than by the individual themselves.

How do we know our own personalities?

Self-concept includes everything we know about ourselves, from biological statistics (age, gender, etc.) to interpersonal style, personal characteristics, and body image. Self-concept is a cognitive structure that determines what we deem relevant to attend to.

The self-schema is the cognitive element of self-concept, a set of interconnected bits of knowledge about one’s personal identity and experiences. It helps us perceive, organize, interpret, and use information about ourselves, and notice more information that is self-relevant. What is most important to our identity is also most important to our self-schema. Thinking about things related to us can help us remember them better.

Working self-concept is the immediate experience of the self, limited to the amount of cognitive information that can be processed at any given time. Self-descriptions vary based on context and people we are currently identifying ourselves against. We tend to distinguish ourselves, so that we can define ourselves by the way we are different.

How does our perceived social regard influence self-esteem?

Self-esteem is how we evaluate our self-concept, our emotional response to thinking about our own worthiness. Some theories assume that self-esteem is based on how people believe others see them, a view known as reflected appraisal. People begin to adopt others’ opinions of them as their own.

Mark Leary et al. proposed that self-esteem is the way that we determine our risk of being socially excluded. This is the sociometer theory. If the probability of rejection is low, our self-esteem is high. Evidence supports this theory.

While people with high self-esteem report being happier, it seems to be unrelated to overall life outcomes. Low self-esteem does not prevent success, though success does promote high self-esteem. Downsides to high self-esteem include a tendency for criminality and a need to prove worthiness that lead to boastfulness and antagonism.

Narcissism is a personality trait associated with a high love for the self, feelings of grandiosity, and self-focus. Narcissists tend to be angry when challenged and abused by people who do not share the same image of themselves.

Which mental strategies do people use to maintain a positive sense of self?

Most people have positive illusions in at least three domains.

1. First, most people continually experience the better-than-average effect.
2. Second, they unrealistically perceive their personal control over events.
3. Third, most people are unrealistically optimistic about their personal lives.

Positive illusions can be adaptive when they promote optimism when meeting life's challenges. Alternatively, they can lead to trouble when people overestimate their skills and underestimate their vulnerabilities.

Social comparison is the tendency to evaluate your own abilities, skills, and traits in comparison to those around you. People with high self-esteem tend to make downward comparisons, comparing themselves to people who are worse off than themselves. People with low self-esteem make upward comparisons, comparing themselves to people who are better than themselves.

The self-serving bias is the tendency for people to take personal credit for success but blame failure on external factors. We are extremely well-equipped to protect our positive beliefs about ourselves.

Are there cultural differences in the self-serving bias?

Harry Triandis made a rough distinction between Western and Eastern cultures: individualists vs. collectivists. In individualist countries (Western Europe, North America, Australia), traditions emphasize personal freedom, self-determination, and individual competition. In collectivist countries (Africa, Latin America, East Asia), interdependence, community responsibility, and social roles are emphasized. In collectivist cultures, people more often describe themselves in terms of group affiliations and roles, with interdependent self-construals; In individualist cultures, people describe themselves according to internal, individual traits, with independent self-construals.

Self-enhancement and self-bias are more common in Western than Eastern cultures. In Asian cultures, self-criticism is more like a social norm than self-promotion.

What are different psychological disorders? - Chapter 14

What is the science behind psychopathology?

Psychopathology is the sickness or disorder of the mind, also called a psychological disorder. Etiology includes factors that contribute to the development of a disorder.

Psychological disorders will occur at some point in the lives of roughly 50% of the American population. They range in severity, with only 70% of the American population being severely affected. When a problem is large enough that it causes significant distress and impacts a person’s quality of life over a long period, it can be described as a psychological disorder.

Behaviour must always be looked at in the context of the situation, in order to determine whether it is disordered or not. What is deviant in some cultures and situations is normal in others. The main criteria to consider are:

• Does the behaviour deviate from cultural and social norms?
• Is the behaviour maladaptive?
• Does the behaviour disrupt work and/or social life?
• Does the behaviour cause discomfort and concern in others?

How are psychological disorders classified into categories?

The American Psychiatric Association developed a manual to distinguish mental disorders, called the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the DSM. The manual is currently in its fifth edition, the DSM-5. In this version of the DSM, disorders are described in terms of observable symptoms.

One main problem with the DSM approach to diagnosis is that it classifies people as either having a disorder or not. This is called the categorical approach, and while it is useful in some respects, it does not allow for a description of the severity of the disorder. By contrast, the dimensional approach uses a sliding scale, allowing clients and patients to be diagnosed according to the severity of their disease. Another problem occurs when people do not fit neatly into the categories printed in the DSM. Oftentimes, psychological disorders are related or show up together, making particular cases difficult to diagnose. This is called comorbidity.

The Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) defines psychological disorders based on domains, such as attention, anxiety, and social communication. Many factors, such as genetics, brain systems, and behaviour are considered within each of these domains. The intention of the RDoC is to guide research, taking the newest scientific findings, such as genetic mutations, into account.

Assessment is the examination of a person's cognitive, behavioural or emotional functioning to diagnose possible psychological disorders. It often includes self-reports, psychological testing, observations and interviews. It may also involve neuropsychological testing. The goal is to make a diagnosis so that appropriate treatment can be provided. The course and probable outcome, or prognosis, will depend on the psychological disorder that is diagnosed.

Evidence-based assessment is an approach in which research guides the evaluation of mental disorders, the use of psychological tests and neuropsychological methods, and the use of critical thinking in making diagnoses.

What are the causes of psychological disorders?

The diathesis-stress model is a diagnostic model that proposes that a disorder may develop when underlying vulnerability is coupled with a precipitating event.

There is evidence that many psychological disorders include a genetic component. Some mental disorders may arise from prenatal environmental exposure to toxins or illness. Toxins, illness, and malnutrition in childhood can also add an additional risk for mental disorders. Neurological dysfunction contributes to the expression of many mental disorders. Structural imaging has shown differences in brain anatomy between people with mental disorders and people without. Genetic factors can affect the production and levels of neurotransmitters and their receptor sites.

Environmental Factors

Family systems model proposes that an individual's behaviour must be considered within a social context, particularly within the family. According to this model, problems that arise within an individual are manifestations of problems within the family. The Sociocultural model views psychopathology as the result of the interaction between individuals and their cultures.

The central principle of the cognitive-behavioural approach is that abnormal behaviour is learned. According to this model, psychopathology is the result of learned, maladaptive thoughts and beliefs. This can be unlearned through treatment.

How do psychological disorders vary by sex and culture?

Internalizing disorders, characterized by inhibition, are categorized into stress and fear (including depression, phobias, and panic). Externalizing disorders are characterized by disinhibition, including alcohol disorder, conduct disorder, and antisocial disorder. Internalizing disorders are more common in women while externalizing disorders are more common in men.

Psychologists are becoming increasingly aware of the effect culture has on psychopathology. While disorders may present similarly around the world, they still very often reflect cultural differences. The DSM-5 provides examples of cultural syndromes, disorders that include a cluster of symptoms that are found in specific cultural groups or regions.

Which disorders emphasize emotional states?

One quarter of Americans will have anxiety disorder during their lifetime. Anxiety disorders are characterized by excessive fear and anxiety in the absence of true danger. Sleep can be impaired, and the autonomic nervous system may cause bodily symptoms like sweating. Nervous behaviours like jumpiness and fidgeting can result from this activation.

Phobias are fears of specific objects or situations that are exaggerated and maladaptive. Specific phobias involve particular objects or situations (snakes, heights). Social anxiety disorder is a deep fear of being judged by others.

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is characterized by worrying about minor matters, a hyper-vigilance that results in restlessness, headaches, fatigue, irritability, and sleep problems.

Panic attacks are short, intense periods of extreme anxiety. They involve physical symptoms like heart palpitations, hyperventilation, dizziness and trembling. They also involve psychological symptoms like fear of dying or becoming crazy. 3-4% of people develop a panic disorder in their lives, usually between late adolescence and their mid-thirties.

Panic disorder is related to agoraphobia. Agoraphobia is an irrational fear of crowded places, enclosed spaces, or wide open spaces in which getting help or escaping in an emergency would be difficult. People often develop agoraphobia along with panic disorder, fearing that they might have an embarrassing panic attack in public and not be able to escape.

What are the causes of anxiety disorders?

In ambiguous situations, people with an anxiety disorder are more likely to see the situation as threatening. They also focus more attention on perceived threats and recall them more easily, thus exaggerating their perceived frequency. People can also learn anxiety and phobias through classical conditioning. An inhibited temperament can increase the risk of anxiety disorders.

What is obsessive-compulsive disorder?

Obsessions are thoughts, images, ideas, and impulses that are persistent, involuntary, and intrusive. Compulsions are repetitive behaviours or mental acts that a person feels like they must perform. A combination of these two creates obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). It often begins in childhood for men or young adulthood for women. It tends to be a chronic disorder. Symptoms of OCD can include obsessions about dirt and contamination, aggressive impulses, sexual impulses, impulses against one’s own morality, and doubts. While they might not carry out their impulses, people with OCD feel anxious because of them, and cope by engaging in compulsions to banish the thoughts or impulses. Doubt causes people with OCD to engage in compulsive checking.

What are the causes of OCD?

A paradoxical aspect is that people are aware that their obsessions and compulsions are irrational yet they are unable to stop them. One explanation is that the disorder results from conditioning. Anxiety is paired to a specific event through classical conditioning. The person then engages in behaviour that reduces anxiety and is reinforced through operant conditioning. This reduction of anxiety is reinforcing and increases the chance of engaging in that behaviour again.

There is also evidence that OCD is in part genetic. OCD-related genes appear to control the neurotransmitter glutamate. There is also growing evidence that OCD can be triggered by environmental factors, in particular by a streptococcal infection.

Post-traumatic stress disorder occurs after the experience of severe stress or emotional trauma. People with PTSD have frequent and recurring unwanted thoughts like intrusive nightmares and flashbacks. PTSD is associated with attentional bias and hypervigilance to stimuli associated with traumatic events.

What are depressive disorders?

Major depressive disorders are characterized by severe negative moods or a lack of interest in normally pleasurable activities. They are coupled with a lack of interest in anything, also known as anhedonia. Bodily functions are disrupted – people lose sleep (or sleep all the time), experience changes in appetite (eating a lot or barely at all), and activity levels. Depression is the leading risk factor for suicide.

A persistent depressive disorder is less severe than major depression, but more chronic. A person must experience a depressed mood and two other symptoms for at least two years, during which the person must not have been without the symptoms for more than two months at a time.

Women are twice as likely as men to suffer from depressive symptoms, across cultural, ethnic, and age groups. Some researchers think this is because women's multiple roles in most societies cause stress that results in increased risk of depression, but other researchers have pointed out the health benefits of having multiple roles. More likely it is the overwork and lack of support.

Mood disorders have been found to be largely heritable. Bipolar disorder is related to a certain genetic defect that involves a combination of several genes. Major depression is related to a deficiency in one or more monoamines and can be treated by drugs like SSRIs, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.

Life stressors act as situational triggers for depression, like interpersonal loss or unemployment. How someone reacts to stress can be influenced by relationships, which play a strong role in depression, changing both behaviour and interaction.

Cognitive processes are powerful influences in depression, as negative thoughts, self-image, and predictions form a cognitive triad that allows depression to take hold. According to Beck, the cognitive triad means that people suffering from depression perceive themselves, their situation and the future negatively. People who have an external locus of control (who believe they cannot change things in life) and blame themselves for failures and credit situational factors or other people for successes, tend to have a depressive way of thinking.

Learned helplessness is a cognitive model of depression in which people feel like they have no control. This develops when people find themselves in adverse situations from which they feel they cannot escape – so they stop trying.

What is bipolar disorder?

People with bipolar disorder experience episodes of extreme mania that can quickly collapse into episodes of extreme depression. Mania is experienced as elation, which includes a grandiose self-esteem in which the person feels themselves unrealistically positive and wonderful. Thoughts and impulses occur rapidly, and a manic person might speak rapidly and forcefully. They might become agitated or irritable and engage in impulsive behaviours.

To be diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a person must experience an elevated, expansive, or irritable mood for at least a week, including at least three other manic symptoms. If they also fall into periods of depression, and if these symptoms impair one’s ability to function, a diagnosis of bipolar I disorder is given. If depression is more severe and manic episodes are milder (in the form of hypomania), bipolar II disorder is diagnosed.

Above all, genetic causes for bipolar disorder are the most consistent. In twin studies, it has been found that the concordance rate in identical twins is more than 70%, in comparison to a mere 20% in fraternal twins. Researchers have determined that bipolar disorder is related to more than one gene, and tends to appear more severely and with an earlier age of onset in later generations of families who carry these genes.

Which disorders emphasize thought disturbances?

Dissociative disorders involve disruptions of identity, memory, or conscious awareness. They are believed to result from extreme stress or trauma, as a person shuts off their trauma so they do not have to deal with it.

Dissociative amnesia occurs when a person forgets that event or substantial block of time has occurred. For instance, they may forget who they are and other personal facts. A rare and extreme form of dissociative amnesia is called dissociative fugue in which a person experiences a temporary loss of identity.

Dissociative identity disorder (DID) was once called Multiple personality disorder because it involves occurrence of two or more distinct identities within the same individual. DID is most prevalent in women who experienced abuse as children. Theory suggests that to cope with abuse, these children pretend it is happening to someone else. Identities form to deal with different traumas, some of which experience amnesia, while sometimes only one or two are aware of the others.

What is schizophrenia?

In psychosis, a person is unable to tell the difference between what is real and imagined. One of the most common psychotic disorders is schizophrenia, which most often develops in the late teenage and early adult years. Schizophrenia often develops into a lifelong disorder. According to the DSM-5, patients must have shown symptoms for at least six months before being able to be diagnosed as having schizophrenia. Two categories of schizophrenic symptoms are positive symptoms, which are characterized by the presence of unusual perceptions, thoughts and behaviours. Negative symptoms are characterized by the absence of normal behaviours and skills. The patient must show at least two of the following symptoms:

• Delusions: false beliefs based on incorrect inferences about reality. There are cross-cultural variations in how delusions manifest, based on culturally held belief systems. (Delusions of grandeur, persecution, reference, and thought-insertion)
• Hallucinations: false sensory perceptions that are experienced without an external source. (Auditory, visual, tactile, and somatic hallucinations)
• Disorganized speech: speaking in an incoherent fashion that involves frequently changing topics and saying strange or inappropriate things. In extreme cases, speech is so disorganized that it is totally incomprehensible - word salad. This can also involve clang associations: stringing together words that rhyme.
• Disorganized Behaviour: people with schizophrenia have disorganized behaviour patterns that can manifest in sudden, un-triggered agitation, poor hygiene habits, an inappropriate behaviour in social situations. (Catatonia behaviours and Catatonic excitement)
• Negative Symptoms: 15-25% of all schizophrenic patients, often avoid eye contact and seem apathetic. They do not express emotions, their speech is slow, there is a reduction in overt behavior: movements may be slow and reduced and they have no interest in social participation. Negative symptoms are more common in men and are associated with poorer prognosis.

What are the causes of schizophrenia?

People with schizophrenia have rare mutations of their DNA about 3 to 4 times more often than healthy individuals do, especially in genes related to brain development and neurological function. These mutations may result in abnormal brain development.

The most consistently found brain abnormality in schizophrenic people is enlarged ventricles. Ventricles are the fluid-filled spaces in the brain, and when they indicate deterioration in other brain tissue. The reduction of brain tissue occurs especially in the frontal lobes and medial temporal lobes. Schizophrenia is more likely a problem of connection between brain regions.

Dopamine has long been believed to play a role in schizophrenia. Drugs that increase dopamine levels increase schizophrenia’s psychotic symptoms. Now it is clear that multiple neurotransmitters are involved.

Children at risk for schizophrenia display abnormal motor movements and greater impairments in social behaviour. Five factors predict the onset of psychotic disorders: a family history of schizophrenia, greater social impairment, higher levels of suspicion/paranoia, a history of substance abuse and higher levels of unusual thoughts.

Heavy cannabis use during adolescence produces a greater risk of developing psychosis. Some researchers think that the increased stress in urban environments can trigger the onset of the disorder, since being born or raised in an urban area doubles the risk of schizophrenia. Others have speculated that schizovirus exists. Moreover, people with schizophrenia are more likely to be born during late winter and early spring.

What are personality disorders?

A personality disorder is a pattern of maladaptive behaviours, thoughts, and feelings that is long-lasting (at least since adolescence and early adulthood). There are three clusters of personality disorders listed. The first, Cluster A, includes disorders characterized by odd or eccentric behaviours and thinking. People with this diagnosis might be comparable to schizophrenics, but without psychosis. Cluster B is characterized by dramatic, erratic, or emotional behaviour and interpersonal relationships. Cluster C is characterized by anxious and fearful emotions, and chronic self-doubt.

Problems with DSM description of personality disorders abound. Disorders are treated as categories, as if they are entirely separate from normal personality traits, when in fact they represent extreme manifestations. There is also a large amount of overlap in the diagnostic criteria for personality disorders, suggesting that there are fewer than listed. Identifying and diagnosing a personality disorder often requires information that a psychologist is not privy to, such as behaviour across situations. Furthermore, while personality disorders are considered stable over time and situations, people actually vary over time in their symptoms and the severity of those symptoms. For all of these reasons, the diagnostic reliability of personality disorders is only fair.

What is borderline personality disorder?

Some of the main characteristics of borderline personality disorder include uncontrollable emotions, hyper-sensitivity to abandonment, clinginess, and self-abuse. Self-concept is highly changeable, flipping between self-hatred and grandiose self-importance. This flip happens in interpersonal relationships too, where someone with borderline personality disorder will switch between love and hate in an instant. They often feel empty or bored, and are prone to dissociative states.People with borderline are often impulsive. Cutting and burning of the skin are typical, as well as high risk for suicide. There is evidence that they have diminished capacity in the frontal lobes, which normally help control behavior. There is a strong relationship between the disorder and trauma or abuse.

What is antisocial personality disorder?

People with ASPD are unable to form positive relationships and often break social norms and values, acting deceitful and manipulative for their own gain. They commit violent acts more frequently than people without the disorder and seem to be indifferent towards the feelings of others. They have low impulse control, are easily frustrated and bored, and so tend to fall into a life of crime. ASPD differs from psychopathy, because psychopaths are superficially charming, have a grandiose sense of self-worth, and are cold and maliciously sadistic on top of the typical ASPD symptoms.

Since almost all people with ASPD do not believe they need treatment, and blame others for their problems, not much is possible in treating the disorder.

EEG shows that people with ASPD have slower alpha-wave activity, which means that they have a lower level of arousal. This can prompt them to engage in sensation-seeking behaviour. Deficits in frontal lobe functioning have also been found and may acount for the lack of forethought and inability to consider the implications of actions. There is also evidence of amygdala abnormalities, such as having a smaller amygdala and being less responsive to negative stimuli. Factors such as low SES, dysfunctional family and childhood abuse may also be important.

Which psychological disorders are prominent in childhood?

Autistic disorder, also known as autism, is characterized by social deficits including impaired communication and limited interests. Autism varies in severity, leading many psychologists to use the term autism spectrum disorders, which covers a number of symptoms.

Severe autism involves lack of interest and awareness of other people. Children with autism may reject contact with others, and avoid eye contact. Communication deficits are visible by around 14 months of age – even if autistic children vocalize, this tends not to be for communicative purposes. Those who do develop language tend to have odd speech patterns, like repeating what someone else says (echolalia), or reversing pronouns. Children who manage to further develop functional language may be literal with their interpretation of words, inappropriate with their language use, and lack spontaneity. Children with autism have restricted interests, often oblivious to others but hyper-focused on their surroundings. Change in setting or routine can be especially hard for these children. Play tends to be repetitive and obsessive, focused on sensory aspects of objects.

It is well-known that autism is the result of biological factors, though some environmental factors are important. They are heritable. Gene mutations may also play a role, in which cells have an abnormal number of copies of DNA segments. These mutations can impact how neural networks are formed during development. Prenatal/neonatal events might cause brain dysfunction, such as exposure to antibodies. Brains of children with autism grow unusually large during the first months of life and then growth slows until age 5. There is evidence that autistic brains have faulty wiring in areas devoted to social thinking and social environmental attention. There may also be impairments in mirror neurons.

What is ADHD?

Attention deficiency hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is characterized by restlessness, inattentiveness, and impulsivity. Children with ADHD need to have information repeated to them over and over, and can have trouble making and keeping friends because they miss social cues. Traditionally, ADHD has been most common among white boys, but recently girls and minorities have shown increases in the disorder. Children with ADHD are more likely to be obese.

ADHD has a clear genetic component. Adults diagnosed as having ADHD in childhood have reduced metabolism in areas of the brain involved in motor function, self-regulation and attentional systems. Symptoms are actually similar to people with frontal lobe damage. The basal ganglia is also impaired. This structure is involved in regulating motor behaviour and impulse control.

Studies have found that children do not outgrow ADHD, and in adulthood, some still exhibit symptoms and have academic and vocational issues. They generally change jobs more frequently and maintain a lower socioeconomic level.

The most important things you need to know

Availability of psychological disorder depends on three criteria: behaviour deviates from social norms, interferes with personal life, and is self-destructive. Comorbidity means two disorders occuring at the same time. Diathesis-stress model states that vulnerability and event are responsible for development of disorders. Internalizing disorders are characterized by fear (Panic, Depressive disorders), while externalizing disorders are linked to disinhibition (Antisocial, Conduct disorders). Dissociative disorders are associated with disruption of identity, memory. Schizophrenia includes delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech. Schizophrenia is a brain disorder - ventricles are enlarged.

Cluster A includes odd, eccentric behaviours (Schizoid disorder), Cluster B - emotional behaviour (Histrionic, Narcissistic disorders) ,and Cluster C is characterized by fearful behaviour (OCD, Avoidant disorder). Patients with Borderline disorder lack a sense of self, and fear abandonment. Antisocial Personality Disorder might be due to abnormal function of frontal lobes and smaller amygdala. People with Asperger's syndrome have normal IQ but deficit in social interaction. ADHD's symptoms are restlessness and lack of concentration. Also, patients with ADHD have reduced metabolism in brain regions involved in motor functions.

How are psychological disorders treated? - Chapter 15

Psychotherapy is the generic name given to formal psychological treatment. The relationship between the therapist and the client is supremely important, as the client must both want and expect to receive help. Biological therapies reflect medical approaches to disease and illness.

What is psychodynamic therapy?

Psychodynamic therapy is based on the work of Sigmund Freud and Josef Breuer, developed with the goal of reducing the client’s inhibitions and uncovering unconscious thoughts and feelings. Some techniques include dream analysis and free association. The goal is insight – the ability to uncover unconscious mental conflicts that might be underlying the psychological issue. A new approach consists of offering fewer sessions and focusing more on current relationships than on early childhood experiences.

What are the goals of behavioural and cognitive treatments?

Behavioural therapy is based on the idea that all behaviour is learned and can be unlearned with the use of classical and operant conditioning. Desired behaviours are rewarded while unwanted behaviours are ignored or punished. A therapist may use social skills training to elicit the behaviour that is to be punished or rewarded. Many behavioural therapies include an exposure component. Through this technique, the person is exposed repeatedly to the anxiety-producing stimulus or situation.

Cognitive therapy is based on the idea that psychological disorders are caused by distorted thoughts which produce maladaptive behaviours and emotions. Treatments are directed towards eliminating the maladaptive thoughts. Beck’s method is cognitive restructuring, helping the client recognize maladaptive thoughts and replace them with more realistic ways of thinking. Ellis’ approach is rational emotive behavior therapy, in which the therapist explains the errors in thinking and demonstrates better ways to think and behave. Interpersonal therapy focuses on the relationships that the client attempts to avoid. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy is meant to help people recover from depression and not fall back into their negative, ruminative thinking habits.

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) incorporates techniques from cognitive and behavioural therapies to correct faulty thinking and change maladaptive behaviours.

What is the influence of the context of therapy?

The relationship between the therapist and the client affects the outcome of therapy. The goal of humanistic therapy is to treat the person as a whole. In client-centered therapy, people are encouraged to fulfill their individual potential for personal growth through greater self-understanding. A key ingredient is to create a safe and comfortable setting for clients to access their true feelings. In reflective listening, the therapist repeats the client's concerns to help the person clarify their feelings.

Family therapy is run on the premise of Systems approach, which treats the individual as a part of a larger family and social system. Family therapy focuses on changing the maladaptive ways a family interacts in order to provide sufficient support for the distressed individual. Expressed emotion is a pattern of negative actions by a client’s family members that includes critical comments, hostility, and emotional over-involvement. It predicts relapse rates in many cultures.

Culture influences treatment in many ways. Psychological disorders manifest differently in people of different cultures. There are differences in social norms about whether, when, and how to seek help. Some cultures have a stigma against certain mental illnesses that make them both harder to admit to, and harder to live with.

The ideal size of group therapy is believed to be 8 people. Group therapy is often used to augment individual psychotherapy.

Is medication effective for psychological disorders?

Drugs that affect mental processes are called psychotropic medications. These can be split into three categories:

1. Anti-anxiety drugs: Also known as tranquilizers, these are used for the short-term treatment of anxiety and include benzodiazepines that increase the activity of GABA. These are highly addictive.
2. Antidepressants: These drugs are mainly used to treat depression but often help with other disorders. Monoamine oxidase inhibitors stop break-down of serotonin while raising dopamine and norepinephrine. Tricyclic antidepressants inhibit the reuptake of certain neurotransmitters. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) inhibit the reuptake of serotonin but affect other neurotransmitters less.
3. Antipsychotic drugs: Also known as neuroleptics, these are used to treat schizophrenia and psychosis. They reduce delusions and hallucinations by binding to dopamine receptors. They are not always effective and can have irreversible side effects like tardive dyskinesia, an involuntary muscle twitch. They also do not treat negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Clozapine acts on dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, acetylcholine, and histamine receptors. It can help people who do not respond to other drugs, but can also cause serious blood problems.

What are alternative biological treatments?

Trepanning was a prehistoric way to cast out demons, involving cutting a hole in the skull. Brain surgery was a type of treatment in the early 20th century when Antonio de Egas Moniz introduced a procedure now known as the prefrontal lobotomy, to treat patients with severe psychosis. This was cruel and ineffective. By the 1950’s, psychosurgery decreased dramatically and is now used only in extremely rare circumstances.

Another alternative to drug therapies is useful for some disorders – electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). This involves the induction of a seizure in the brain using electrodes that pass an electrical current through the head. The patient is given a muscle relaxant and is anesthesized during the procedure to ensure their safety. While originally used for schizophrenia, it was only found to be successful in treating depression.

A more recent development, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) stimulates targeted areas of the brain using high-intensity magnetic pulses. After a week of daily treatment, depressed patients experience some relief, and some psychotic patients stop hearing auditory hallucinations.

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a new technique that involves surgically implanting electrodes deep within the brain. Mild electricity is used to stimulate the brain at an optimal intensity. DBS might be valuable for treating OCD and depression.

How is the effectiveness of treatment determined?

The effectiveness of treatments is measured by conducting randomized clinical trials, which ensure that the groups under treatment are comparable and confounding variables are controlled for.

A placebo is an inert substance, that does not contain any active ingredients. Any improvement in mental health, attributed to the inert drug or minimal contact, is called the placebo effect.

Barlow argues that psychological disorders should always be treated in ways that scientific research has shown to be effective. He prefers the term psychological treatments to distinguish evidence-based treatment from psychotherapy. Therapies without scientific basis can be counterproductive.

One of the major problems in treating psychological disorders is a shortage of trained staff to provide one-on-one treatment. In order to solve this problem, the use of technology-based treatment, methods that do not rely on intensive contact with a therapist, have become increasingly popular.

What are the most effective treatments?

What are the best treatment options for anxiety disorders?

Biological treatment for anxiety involves the prescription of benzodiazepine drugs like Valium and Xanax. These are useful for short-term relief, but the addictiveness of these drugs prevents long-term use. A recent finding is that administering an antibiotic (d-cycloserine) may enhance the effects of exposure therapy on anxiety disorders.

Behavioural techniques tend to be the treatment of choice for specific phobias. One of the classical methods used to treat phobias is systematic desensitization. A client makes a fear hierarchy, a list of frightening situations from least scary to horrifying. They are then guided through imagining or enacting situations, until they finally confront the real situation. With each confrontation, they are coached against their fear reaction.

For panic disorder, cognitive behavioural therapy has been found to help as much as medication and has lasting effect beyond treatment. Cognitive restructuring addresses ways of reacting to symptoms of panic attack.

What treatment options are used for OCD?

Biological treatments for OCD include a number of drugs. Serotonin-affecting drugs are effective, clomipramine is the drug of choice.

CBT is effective for many patients. It often involves repeatedly exposing the client to the object of the obsession and preventing compulsive responses – for example, making the client’s hands dirty and preventing them from washing their hands while guiding them through relaxation and cognitive exercises. This is called exposure and response prevention. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is also effective treatment.

What are effective treatments for depressive disorders?

MAOIs can be toxic, and patients must avoid red wine, cured meats, and aged cheese, since these can cause severe reactions. Tricyclics like imipramine were also found effective, acting on neurotransmitters and the histamine system. They are effective but can cause unpleasant side effects. In the 1980’s, SSRIs were developed, which manage to target only serotonin reuptake. With fewer side effects, these grew in usage. Buproprion is also used, a drug that effects neurotransmitters but has even fewer side effects and no influence on sexual behaviour.

Antidepressants are prescribed on the belief that depression is caused by neurotransmitter imbalance. However, while they help treat the symptoms, this is not evidence that depression is caused by the imbalance. Treating the symptom and not the underlying cause would then be only partly helpful.

Cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) has three main steps.

1. Help clients discover their automatic negative thoughts and understand how these cause depression. This involves homework that involves self-monitoring
2. Help clients challenge negative thoughts by suggesting alternative ways of interpreting situations.
3. Help clients recognize the role that fundamentally held beliefs and assumptions play in perpetuating depression.

Recent studies showed that a combination of therapy and drug treatment is more effective than therapy alone. Studies found that the effects of the drugs and psychotherapy are largely independent of one another.

Patients with seasonal affective disorder (SAD) experience periods of depression in winter. This can be treated with phototherapy, daily exposure to a high-intensity light source. Regular aerobic exercise can help treat depression because it releases endorphins, regulates body rhythms, and improves self-esteem. ECT (electroconvulsive therapy) is effective for people with depression who do not respond to other treatments.

DBS might also be useful in treating depression when nothing else helps. At least half of severely depressed clients found some relief with DBS.

Women are twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression than men, partially because of higher rates of victimization, lower economic resources, and work inequity. Treating men is difficult because many are reluctant to admit problems and seek therapy. Men often mask depression with alcohol, isolation, and irritability.

What treatments are used for bipolar disorder?

Lithium is a common drug used in treating bipolar disorder. The mechanisms by which lithium works are not yet known; but research has found that the drug appears to modulate neurotransmitter levels, balancing inhibitory and excitatory brain activities. Side effects can be life-threatening, or can significantly decrease quality of life. Many people stop taking it or take it infrequently. Therapy is often helpful in combination with lithium because it encourages compliance and provides coping mechanisms.

Additionally, antipsychotic drugs have been found to stabilize moods and reduce episodes of mania. One common antipsychotic drug is quetiapine, or "Seroquel". Studies have shown that a combination of mood stabilizer and atypical antipsychotic drug, such as quetiapine, is the most effective method for treating bipolar disorder.

Which drugs are used in treating schizophrenia?

In the 1950s, an effective drug for schizophrenia was finally discovered in the form of chlorpromazine, one of the phenothiazine class of drugs. Others in this class were also introduced, working by blocking dopamine receptors. Other classes of drugs were introduced after phenothiazines, including butyrophenones and thioxanthenes. These drugs are called neuroleptics.

New drugs called atypical antipsychotics might show fewer symptoms and be even more effective than neuroleptics. The most common, clozapine, binds to D4 dopamine receptors but influences other neurotransmitters as well. It can help people who have never responded to phenothiazines. It also reduces negative symptoms. Side effects include dizziness, nausea, sedation, seizures, hyper-salivation, weight gain, and irregular heartbeats. In 1-2 percent of people, a disease called agranulotcytosis might develop, which can be fatal.

Social skills training helps address some deficits in patients, like lack of affect, difficulty recognizing social cues, and predicting the effects of behaviour. Behavioural interventions can help with self-care. Cognitive training has been less effective. Intensive CBT for schizophrenia can also be useful.

People diagnosed later in life tend to have a more favorable prognosis than people who experience their first symptoms during childhood or adolescence. In developing countries, schizophrenia often is less severe than in developed countries. Recovery also seems to be better in developing countries.

Can personality disorders be treated?

Personality disorders are notoriously difficult to treat – people with them rarely seek therapy, and tend to see their environment as the cause of their disorder.

How can borderline personality disorder be treated?

Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) is a form of therapy that combines CBT methods with a mindfulness approach. The therapy involves three stages:

1. Therapist targets the most extreme and self-destructive behaviours like cutting and suicide attempts, helping clients replace these with positive coping methods and problem-solving. The patient is taught to focus on the present.
2. Therapist helps patient explore traumatic experiences that might be the root of the problem.
3. Therapist helps patient develop self-respect and independent problem-solving, so that they are not as dependent on others for validation.

Antisocial Personality Disorder - Therapy

Many approaches to treating APD have been attempted, but it has proven to be a difficult disorder to treat. Behavioral approaches reinforce appropriate behaviour and ignore inappropriate behaviour in an attempt to replace maladaptive behavioural patterns with those that are more socially appropriate.

The prognosis for APD is poor – most people will not change their behaviours. This is especially true when there are psychopathic traits involved. Efforts may be better spent at prevention, with treatment beginning when conduct disorder is diagnosed in children, and helping change the environmental and developmental risk factors involved.

How should childhood and adolescent disorders be treated?

SSRIs, when introduced to treat adolescent depression, were found to be effective to some degree, but also tended to increase thoughts of suicide. This prompted the recommendation that therapy should be used alongside SSRI use.

How can ADHD be treated?

ADHD is usually treated using a central nervous system stimulant called methylphenidate (Ritalin). Another drug is Adderall, which combines two other stimulants. Stimulants work because ADHD involves an underactive brain, and hyperactivity acts as a rudimentary way to raise arousal levels. Ritalin and Adderall increase positive behaviours and concentration, reducing impulsivity. Children taking Ritalin tend to be happier and more socially adaptive. Side effects include sleep problems, reduced appetite, and temporary growth suppression. There is also a risk of abuse, because stimulants can also affect other people.

Behavioural treatment of ADHD is time-consuming and intensive, though it is supported by evidence.

How can autism be treated?

Applied behavioural analysis (ABA) is based on principles of operant conditioning and involves the systematic reinforcement of desired behaviours and ignorance of undesired behaviours. This treatment can successfully treat autism, especially if it begins early. When caught early, IQ and behaviour can both improve, allowing children to join normal kindergardens. Children with better language skills tend to do better with treatment than mute children. Instruction in symbolic play (pretend) can increase creativity and language use. ABA has the negative aspects of being intensive and all-encompassing, making other children in the family feel neglected, and the parents feel exhausted.

Since autism is likely caused by brain dysfunction, biological treatments may be helpful. SSRIs are not, and antipsychotics are minimally helpful in reducing repetitive behaviours. Autism may be related to a deficit in oxytocin. Findings on the use of oxytocin have been promising, though research is still in its beginning.

Long-term prognosis is poor, especially if autism is diagnosed late. Higher language ability is associated with better outcome, as well as higher IQ.

How can adolescent depressive disorders be treated?

Treating adolescents with depression can be a tricky task. There is much debate about the use of drugs to treat adolescent depression because a grave side-effect of taking SSRIs is suicide.

The Treatment for Adolescents with Depression Study (TADS) was a program looking at the results of SSRIs on adolescents vs. placebos. The group receiving SSRIs and CBT did best. There were still, however, more suicidal thoughts among SSRI participants. Suicide attempts, however, were uncommon. Psychotherapy is generally successful, making it the best treatment choice, and it can be effective on its own while also enhancing drug treatment.

The most important things you need to know

Electic approach combines various appropriate techniques for a client. Psychodynamic therapy involves discovering unconscious needs, motives and defenses. In rational-emotive therapy, the psychologist explains errors in thinking process of the client whereas in client-centered therapy, the skill of reflective listening is used. Motivational interviewing involves finding discrepancies between the current situation and future goals. Treatment of psychological disorders includes ECT, TMS, deep brain stimulation. Psychotropic medications inhibit action potentials, anti-anxiety drugs increase GABA, and antipsychotics block effects of dopamine. Placebo effect means improvement after inert substance.