Psych 1X03 C01 Professor Kim & Professor Cheal 04/30/12

Unit 1: Introduction to Psychology

Psychology is a Diverse Field Psychology teaches us about who we are how we think, feel, develop, learn, love, interact & grow Psychology in our Daily Lives Complicated questions by psychologists how does consciousness emerge from the coordinated actions of neurons in the brain? Or why do some people fall into a pattern of addictive behaviours? o Think critically about info o Simply trusting gut feelings/ accepting what you are told = sloppy thinking o Urban myths passed by blindly accepting hypothesis that seems acceptable by has little/no scientific basis Educated people may believe water flows down drain in opposite direction in Northern & Southern hemispheres and that we only use 1-% of our brains Psychology as a Science Experimental Psychology uses the scientific method to collect, evaluate and interpret information to draw sound conclusions This process of critical thinking is an important basic tool to guide you through a wolrd of information overload Finger nails and hair grow 72 hours after death, true or false?

Unit 2: A Brief History of Psychology

Psychologys Parents Psychology has a long past, but a short history Ebbinghaus 1908 The term psychology comes from the Greek words Psyche which means soul o Before that, the study of the mind was told from the perspective of philosophy and physiology Philosophers such as Aristotle and Plato how do we learn and remember? Where does knowledge come from? Rene Descartes the mind and body were distinct entities that were casually linked in a dualistic relationship o Mind controlled body movements o Mind in turn received info about outside world through sense organs 1800: Muller like electrical current flowing along a metal conductor, the messages transmitted by nerves were coded as electrical impulses that travelled along different channels o Helmholtz measured speed of nerve impulses 90 ft/sec (not as fast as speed of electrical current)

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Psych 1X03 C01 Professor Kim & Professor Cheal 04/30/12

Muller particular parts of the body are connected to specific areas of the brain to serve different functions o Idea experimentally supported by Flourens used technique to systematically destroy different regions of animals brain Determined which brain regions control heart rate, breathing, process of visual/auditory reflexes

Psychology as an Independent Field Wilhelm Wundt first psych lab 1879 o Believed conscious experience could be studied using the same rigorous experimental tools that chemists and physicists use to study their research questions o 1881: 1st scientific journal publishing psychological research G. Stanley Hall (one of Wundts students) opened first psych lab in NA 1883 @ John Hopkins University o Hall founded the American Psychological Association (APA) in 1892 now worlds largest psych organization APA led to development of Association for Psych Science, the Canadian Psych Association, & the Canadian society for Brain, Behviour & Cognitive Science Looking Ahead Early psych focused on mint, not brain New technologies now allow researchers to draw more direct links b/w brain & behaviour Modern psych draws on converging fields; physical, biological, chemical, social, mathematical & computer sciences.

Unit 3: Introduction to Levels of Analysis

Case Study - Depression - Michael difficult time adjusting to new school - Hard time making new friends, bad mood, behind in school, problems with appetite/sleep Multiple Levels of Analysis 3 Levels: Psychological, Biological, & Environmental Introduction to Psychological Analysis Most intuitive level to approach an understanding of human thought and behaviour What lies within a subjects mind: how do thoughts, memories and emotions motivate actions? Understanding depression at a psychological level of analysis interested in how emotions, memories and patterns of thinking lie at the core of the feeling of isolation and depressive episodes Introduction to Biological Analysis

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Psych 1X03 C01 Professor Kim & Professor Cheal 04/30/12

Focus on Physiological mechanism that underlie thoughts and behaviour o Structure/function of brain o Molecular effects of neurotransmitters and hormones o How genetic factors contribute to behaviour Understanding depression at a biological level of analysis interested in role of key neurotransmitter such as serotonin in mood disorders and genetic factors that make some individuals more prone to depressive episodes

Introduction to Environmental Analysis Focus on understanding how social, cultural and learning interactions can influence thought and behaviour Understanding depression from an environmental level of analysis study conditions that triggered and maintain his feelings of depression o Work to change these external influences may bring about positive changes

Unit 4: Introduction to Perspectives in Psychology

Multiple Perspectives Behavioural, Cognitive, Neuroscience, Developmental, Evolutionary & Socio-culture Behavioural Perspective Watson Father of Behaviourism o Credited with formalizing methodology of research methods in the field o Overt behaviour is the only valid means of measure in psych o Argued that scientists should consider the mind to be an off limits black box taking input and making output o What happens inside black box should be outside domain of science o Behavioural perspective design carefully controlled experiments to understand the influence of the environmental level of analysis on behaviour Watson believed nurture over nature, 1924: Give me a dozen healthy infants, we;;formed, and my own special world to bring them up in and Ill guarantee to take anyone at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select doctor, lawyer, artists, merchant-chief, and yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations and race of his ancestors. Not as radical as it seems statement was said to show important role of environmental influences on behaviour BF Skinner same view as Watson o Although internal mental events must exist, they remained impossible to measure in a scientific way. o Argued that everything we want to know about an organism could be gained by simply studying its behaviour Present animal with food, no need to think about internal mental processes of hunger/cravings to know whats happening Laws of stimulus-response that an organism will repeat a behaviour if it leads to something pleasant, and not repeat a behaviour if it leads to something unpleasant These ideas formed behaviour modification

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Psych 1X03 C01 Professor Kim & Professor Cheal 04/30/12

Today, psychologists have moved away from a pure behavioural perspective focusing only on environmental analysis Technological innovations allow researchers to begin to open black box Watson said was outside scope of psych.

Unit 5: Cognitive
The Cognitive Perspective Advocates of a pure behavioural perspective believed notions of studying internal events of mind must be abandoned for psych to become a science NOT universally accepted Simplified view of complex processes like memory into stimulus-response relationships 1960s Cognitive Revolution argued that psych could/must return interest in internal events of the mind (under the right circumstances) o Proper scientific methods can be applied to study internal mental processes that are necessary to fully understand behaviour Models in Cognition Pure cognitive perspective not necessarily concerned with describing the mind in terms of the physiology of the brain Cognitive psychologists use models to make abstract representations of how the mind works Models used through psych to create, modify & organize to explain complex processes o **most importantly used to make testable predictions Toy airplane can help us understand structure of real air plane before its built o Models can also help us understand complex processes like memory Ex. Single Memory Model assumes there is only one memory storage This model triggers research into questions like how can it be determined if info has entered the memory storage area Supposed Single Memory Model was tested & doesnt accurately capture knowledge about memory o Sue changes model into new complex model assuming that memory has 2 steps 1) Info first enters temporary short term memory 2) Some info can enter permanent long term memory with some processing This new model must be tested to see if it explains data more accurately o Many experiments may support new model & old model will be abandoned o Contradicting evidence may appear and model must be revised or abandoned This process gives a more refined understanding of complex/abstract processes Models provide framework to describe data and generate testable questions o Answering these questions may account for new data and a change in the model No scientist should assume that their model is the true model of how things work o Simply the most useful model until something better comes along

Unit 6: The Biological Perspective and Reductionism

Reductionism: All human behaviour can be reduced to the biology of the brain

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Psych 1X03 C01 Professor Kim & Professor Cheal 04/30/12

- Our understanding of the brain is incomplete Problems can further be reduced to cellular, molecular, atomic, and sub-atomic mechanisms what has been gained in this reduction? Francis Crick how does human consciousness arise? What is self? Can the brain figure itself out? Can reductionism and advanced tech alone be used to fully explain all of human thought and behaviour? o Overly restricted view fails to capture details and complexity of process o Additional levels of analysis can enrich this (cognitive/behavioural neuroscience) Introduction to Neuroimaging Pioneers drilling through skull to expose brain = not beneficial outcome Modern Tech in neuroimaging Computed Tomography (CT) scan images o Non-invasive method to examine brain while subject is awake Structural neuroimaging see physical make-up or brain o Sex differences in size of region in brain Functional neuroimaging see what the brain is doing o Examine whether men/women use same areas of brain for certain task

Unit 7: Evolutionary & Developmental Perspectives

Often focus on immediate causes of behaviour, some psychologists focus on broader view Why do men tend to be more aggressive than women? o Neuroscientist: elevated testosterone o Evolutionary perspective: does it make adaptive sense for men to be more aggressive than women? Do levels of aggression have important role in competition and survival in an evolutionary context? Developmental Psych: How behaviours develop over lifespan o Genetic/environmental factors o Ex. What factors determine rates of alcoholism in individuals/populations? Evolutionary Psych: How behaviours develop over many generations o Genetic/Environmental factors as well but larger periods of time

Methods in Developmental Research Unique challenges when studying special population of individuals o Many study infants cant perform complex tasks so psychologists made methods to compensate Habituation: presents new picture to baby & baby spends more time looking until he becomes bored, then spends less and less time. Same pattern continues with new picture. o If he does not look at new picture with great interest, he does not recognize it as a new individual.

Unit 8: The Socio-cultural Perspective

Focuses on how individuals are influence by culture and interactions with other people o Interested in one of 3 things:

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Psych 1X03 C01 Professor Kim & Professor Cheal 04/30/12

1) Influence of an individual on a group 2) Influence of a group on an individual 3) Influence of one group on another group Artificial social situation & manipulate variables to help predict social behaviour in reallife situations Must be aware of ethical concerns may have to deceive individuals to create artificial social situation o May cause distress/potential harm Controlled artificial social situation subjects cant know true purpose of experiment Experiments must pass the standards of the University research Ethics Board (@Mac)

Unit 9: Perspectives on our Case Study

Perspectives: Behavioural, Cognitive, Neuroscience, Developmental, Evolutionary & Socio-culture o All of these perspectives draw on one or more level of analysis (Behavioural, Psychological & Biological) Behavioural Perspective: specific behaviours associated with depression o Maladaptive behaviours are the problem o What are the behaviours associated with depression and how can they be altered? therapy can modify cues and behaviours associated with depression o Helplessness: animal research; repeated trials show that they are unable to escape unpleasant stimulus & therefore is helpless. Does not try to escape similar situation in future even if there is a way to avoid the unpleasant stimulus People learned in the past that their actions are ineffective to escape negative circumstances learned helplessness treatment can help overcome depressed behaviour in humans

Depression

Conclusion - Different questions frame lines of research for very different answers - The perspectives were considered separately in lecture but in reality, they are very connected Function of brain dives cognitive process of mind, which influences development of social being which can drive competition between individuals

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