Ethics of psychological research -American Psychological Association (APA)/counterparts in Britain/Canada sets guidelines as to how to do psych research ethically 1)Minimal Risk – risks during research should not exceed those experienced in daily lives -->even though a person should not be exposed to physical harm/injury, it is hard to measure h.m. Psychological stress is o.k. -when is it ok to be impolite/make person anxious/lie for the purpose of research? ->usually, boards decided on a case by case basis 2)Informed Consent: A person should partake in the study on a voluntary basis and be free to withdraw at any point -the problem comes in here since there are times where you can’t tell the person what you are experimenting on him. -->i.e. when you set up a situation to intentionally get one experiment group angry\embarrassed -->you might need to debrief them as soon as the experiment is over that the whole situation was an artificially created situation -->so they won’t leave sour. --->’review committee’ must be convinced that your debriefing is adequate 3)Privacy Right - info about the people tested can’t be given out without their consent -->one way to deal with the privacy right is to release the data without giving any identifying information 4)Animals 7-8% of psychological experiments done on animals, of which a very small amount is done in a hurting/harming way -->The review committee needs to ensure that the pain caused is fully justified

Prosopagnosia: -Behavior influenced by brain damage. -There are cases where damage to a certain area only influences the behavior controlled by that area and nothing else: -Example: person who has damage to a certain area of right area of brain will have problems recognizing faces bit nothing else

Trait attribution we seem to be bias into believing someone is doing something out of a good personality trait even though they might be doing so out of some sort of social pressure. ài.e. if a someone is asked for charity in public, do they give it out of generosity or out of social pressure

Childhood amnesia Even though the first years if life is very rich in experience, we have a very limited recollection of it. àmemory changes after age 3 (see hippocampus)

History of Psychology

Hippocrates: studies physiology

Nativism Vs. Empiricism

Are human capabilities inborn or learnt?

Beginning of Scientific psychology

-first established by Wilhelm Wunt (in 1879)

-first studied scientifically things that refer to the brain

àfocused mostly on senses, especially vision

àhis co-workes works on attention/emotion/memory

Introspection

-Wunt used Introspection

Introspection -observation and recording of one’s own perceptions/thoughts/feelings

àin Wunt’s studies introspection referred more to reflexes

-i.e. immediate sensory reflex to a flash of colored light.

-he backed up the Introspection w/ experiments

àvaried the stimuli, such as the light intensively.

àall experiments were to see how person’s physical changes modify person’s conscious experience of the stimuli

-Introspection not a common way to study psychology since reflexes are often too fast to measure

Structuralism/Functionalism

Areas of early psychology

àcompeting schools

àthe each provided a systematic study of psychology

àfollowed by behaviorism/Gestalt psychology/psychoanalysis

Behaviorism/Gestalt psychology/Psychoanalysis

-replaced structuralism/functionalism by 1920

Modern Developments:

-until WWII – behaviorism was dominant

àafter WWI, interest in psych. Increased

-more instruments to measure

àthose old theories are too restrictive

Conclusion: in this century, attitudes started off being that studying consciousness can’t be scientific – not observable àthen changed as we got tools to observe it.

Contemporary psychological perspectives:

-various ways to explain an act: biological/psychological etc….

-biological

Schemes- we divide memory into cognitive categories

Relationship Between psychological And Biological perspectives

-behavioral, phenomenological, cognitive, psychoanalytical à all based on purely psych.

ài.e. unconscious/perception/etc.

Biological explains using other sciences such as physiology/neuroloty/horomones

Reductionism – the attempt to reduce psychological notions in biological terms

àpsychologists help direct biologists

Examples: 1)center in on which brain area to study.

2)if obesity is a result of both genetics and psychological

3)short/long term memory (psych term) coded differently in brain (neurological term)

How psychological research is done

1)hypothesis

2)experimentation

Air force experiment

How do pilots deals w/ different radar scenarios

àAverage of identified airplanes increased w/ # of tests

àwe test a sample and try to extrapolate on all the population

WW2 experiment – 100,000 American soldiers interviewed

1) People wanted to go home more after than during war

2) Blacks wanted promotion more than white

3) Lower education – harder in army

4) City dweller – easier than villager

àthose results could be rationalized the other way (could go either way, both of which are logical conclusions)

àtherefore, we can not take anything for granted

àno such thing as trivial àneed to make an empirical experiment

Social psychology

• Thoughts/emotions of individuals regarding their social reality

-->i.e. common beliefs

• How people interact

-->convince people of positions

Examples of studies in social psychology

Study #1

-wanted to see people’s perception of status in relation the height

-->how people rank a random person, based on this person’s height

Examples of Social psychology’s questions

-what makes us choose our life-partner

-what makes us believe what we believe/ how do we convince people

Study #2

Ads:

2 groups of men – shown a picture of same car: one w/ a model, one w/o.

-->the picture of the car w/ the model sold more/ higher price

Study #3

-when used-car salespeople told better things about car:

-->More # of positive comments about car, the more likely it is going to sell.

Branches of social psychology

Research

Industrial psychology/advertising

Convincing

Social cognition

Attribution

The problem with actualizing a theory:

Theory: the abstract concept I want to research, i.e. intelligence

Operational: giving definition and value to my variable/theory

-i.e. operational value of height – in inches/cm

-rank of teacher: lecturer, senior lecturer, tenure, etc

Class exercise

Theory: Education of values.

The conservative girls exposed to an education that was given by liberal lecturers will correlate positively the liberalization of the conservative students’ views

Operational: seeing the % of students voting for republicans vs. democrats

Textbook, chapter 17-18

Social Psychology

-The study of how people think/feel about their social world how they interact and influence one another

-People act a certain way out of the social situational circumstances

whether the circumstances are real or just perceived

Intuitive theories of social behavior

Schemas

-difficulty in collecting data un a systematic and unbias way

-need a representative sample

i.e. if studying support for women's right to abortion w/I general American population, one must have both men/women/Protestants/Catholics in the sample

-mass-media might give nonrandom/nonrepresentative sample

i.e. media might give attention to small but vocal group who is against abortion but it

does not represent their proportion in the population

-in everyday life, we constantly accumulate info and are forced to recall it in order to make some judgment in daily life, we collect info in a bias way then we recall it biasly 'selective recall'

Vividness - one of the factors of info we notice and remember is its vividness. When we are shown vivid and nonvivid info, we are more likely to make decisions based on the vivid info than the nonvivid info

Example

First year psych students -some overheard people talking about courses; some where shown an overview of the courses

-they were more likely to make a choice regarding future courses based on what they heard over what they read, even in the info was identical.

Conclusion:

-Even if the newscaster might show a statistic of most people supporting abortion rights, a vivid picture

of an anti-abortion protest might make the person perceive that they have more support

-even if the info is collected/perceived in an unbias way, it will most likely be processed in a bias way based on previous experiences/stimuli with that object

-we do not remember photographs on scenarios but rather simple reconstruction of our perceptions .

Schemas -organized beliefs and knowledge about people/objects/events/situations

Schematic process the way that the brain recollects the memory in the way most consistent with the memory coming in.

The way that the brain remembers things are through schemas: instead of remembering a whole event/picture, it only remembers some details and how they relate to preexisting memories

-We have many schemas remembered. We have a schema for each kind of personality. So, If you are told that you are just about to meat a crazy person, your brain immediately pulls forth a preexisting schema it has about crazy people. Sometimes also called Stereotypes

Example:

-if you see an ad for a job-opening for a camp-counsellor, you compare your 'camp-counsellor' scheme with your 'self-schema' in order to decide if the job is for you.

Using schemes in memorizing:

1) People remember more abut person when asked to generally remember person than when told to remember as much as possible about the person. This is because in the first case, schemes are used. In the second case, schemes are not used.

2) people remember words better when they are asked whether the words relate to them or not.

Schemas and perceptions:

-schemas and scheme processing help us remember the overwhelming amount of info that we come across, every day.

it makes brain's memory function much more efficient; but at the cost of being bias

Study

-a story was told of a guy half the story portrayed him as friendly/half the story portrayed him an non-friendly.

How people perceived him positively when told the following parts of the story:

-friendly part only -95%

-friendly part, then unfriendly -78%

-unfriendly part, then friendly -18%

-only unfriendly part -3%

Primacy effect - the first information we perceive has the greatest impact on our overall impressions

Study: 2 group were shown 2 people taking a test -1 person did well on the first part of the test, he other person did well the second part of the test. They did equally well on the test. The groups perceived the person who did well on the first part as doing better than the person doing well on the second half.

-this phenomenon takes place b/c at first sight, our schematic processing compares this person to a schema we have. Any further information which is contradictory to our perception (which is based on a schema) is seen as exceptional to our assigned schema of this person.

Schemas and memory:

-the way schematic processing effects our memory is shown in the following study:

A video was shown to a group of people. The video showed a woman having her birthday dinner with her husband. She showed behavioral features of bith a librarian and a waitress. Some of the people were told that this lady is a waitress, whereas the others were told that she was a waitress.

People remembered:

Schema-consistent behavior: 88% of the time

Schema inconsistent behavior: 78% of the time

Exceptions: we might remember the extremely inconsistent better that the consistent or the mildly-inconsistent element. For Example, we might remember better that the librarian burned a book than that she spent the day reading (consistent) or drank beer (mildly inconsistent)

Persistence of schemas

1)-schemas tend to persist even with schematically inconsistent ways

-if we remember the librarian reading a book, but not drinking beer, we will be less prompted to modify our librarian stereotype

2) Elaborate Belief-schemas are also resistant to data

Example: people shown 2 articles, 1 supporting and one dismissing capital punishment. People chose the article that supports their view to be better written and better thought out. They said that the article fortified their belief.

Conclusion: people pick and choose from info in order to support their pre-held view

Potentially, if a mediator is brought to solve a conflict, it might cause greater conflict. The moderator will say something that will support both sides of the argument, but the people will choose from what he said in order to support their view over the what he said that doesn't go their way.

Persistence of self-schemes

-similar effect on self-schemes

Study

-People were told that they were to decipher whether a note is a real or a fake suicide note. Some were told they did well; others were told they did poorly

When the people were told that the experimenter had no idea how well the really people did, the people who were told that they did well, insisted that they really did well; the people who were told that they did poorly kept believing that they did poorly regardless of the fact that they do not know their real rate of success.

Conclusion: people will believe more what has been fortified in their self-scheme than an inconclusive piece of information

Perseverance Effect: schemas are believed even after their basic assumption was shown to be unsupported

Stereotypes

Covariation/correlation - trying to relate 2 variables with eachother.

that is what the schemas do as well

they relate a certain person with certain remembered traits

-research shows that we are not very good in detecting covariations:

-sometimes we overestimate a covariation because we have a schema that we wrongly applied

-Sometimes we underestimate a covariation because we do not apply a schema that is obvious (b/c we do not have that schema)

Persistence of stereotypes

Very often, even psychologists who see accurate data on a daily base are misled into stereotypes b/c the information is not neatly laid out in front of them

The proportion of people w/ effeminate vs. noneffeminate is identical to homosexual/heterosexual. .people

-people might assume otherwise b/c:

1)when homosexuality and effeminate gesture coincide, it stands out more than in other cases; therefore, we are more likely t remember it

2) we overestimate the # of which it occurs.

3) we do not have accurate info - we are not able to assess # of homosexuals w/o the effeminate gestures we assume that they are Homosexuals even though they could be heterosexual w/ effeminate gestures our information processing is schema-based

4)people might observe people of cell B - and think that those people are also gay

5) it is hard for us to take into account non-gay, noneffeminate people nonvivid

we see the effeminate gay men as more vivid that non-gay, non effeminate.

-the non-effeminate/non gay is a nonevent for us it does not constitute psychological events that are meaningful for us. That is why we underestimate their meaning while overestimate the psychological event's importance (gay/effeminate)

-When a homosexual man commits a crime, especially with sexual overtones, the media reports his- sexual orientation very vividly. When a heterosexual commits a crime, especially with sexual overtones, sexual orientation is not mentioned, as it is against stereotype

Self-Fulfilling Stereotypes

-our schemas also influence our behavior/social interactions

-->not just out perceptions

Study #1

-interviewer was more friendly to white candidates than black s for a job

-->judges who viewed job interview rated people interview in the unfriendly way lower

-->self-fulfilling stereotype: blacks were given less jobs b/c attitudes towards them in interview

Study #2

-Stereotype could be self-fulfilling even in personal performance

ài.e. men/women in 2n year university (w/ good math skills) were given a math test

-when told men usually do better, women did worse than men

-when told they do equally well, women did as well as men

Attribution

-the cause we assign to a person's actions

Fundamental attribution Error

-our intuition tends to try to infer people's behaviors and its causes -whether the behavior is based on situational pressures or on his personality characteristics

-->we also judge ourselves that way

Internal/dispositional attribution

-attributing a behavior to a one own's characteristics

External/situational attribution

-attributing a behavior to external circumstances of other people’s personality traits

Fundamental attribution error

-when we have a schema that gives to much weight to internal/dispositional and not enough to external/situational attributes

Study:

Audience was told that each debater was told what side to argue (for/against Castro)

-->despite knowing their positions were situational, people assumed that it was their actual attitudes towards Castro

-people made a dispositional attribution even though situational forces were sufficient to account for their behavior

-this was true even when the actual observers assigned the side that the debaters were to take!

-also true when speaker used monotone/no gestures/reads out of paper

-->shows attribution error's strength

Study

-a questioner/contestant chosen randomly from group (the rest b/c audience)

-the questioner asked contestant general knowledge questions -->if he didn't know answer, questioner gave answer

->then each group was to rate level of general knowledge

Results:

Contestant/observers: wrote that questioner had more general knowledge that contestant

Questioner: wrote that questioner/contestant had roughly the same level of general knowledge

-->contestant/observer attributed too much to disposition

-->did not give enough credit to the situational advantage that questionair had-->he had the answers in front of him!

Implication of study:

-people who raise topics actively speak are viewed as more knowledgeable than people who are in conversation passively

-i.e. women -more passive in a mixed-sex situation, and therefore look at themselves lower than men

Self-Attribution

-we judge ourselves in same way we judge others:

-->same kind of attribution error

Example:

'I have been biting my nails all day - something must be bothering me'

-->similar to: You have been biting your nails all day, something must be bothering you'

-Self perception could also be understood though a 'induced-compliance' experiment

Experiment- Festlinger

-people were given a dull/repetitive task to do

-1 group given $1 to tell everyone that they enjoyed the task

-1 group given $20 to tell that they enjoyed the task

-1 group given nothing

Results: the smaller the incentive was, the more they said that they enjoyed task

Observer is likely to say:

1)he wouldn't have done it for $1 if he didn't like it

2)anyone would have done it for $20 -we do not know i he really liked the task

-people w/ the $20 were less energetic about telling people about task that $1 group

-in reality, they said they enjoyed it [b/c of the $1 incentive], and not b/c they really enjoyed the task

Theorizing about one self

-hard to correlate b/w moods and causes

Study:

people were asked to write down moods and perceived factors to this mood, on a daily basis

-there was a very weak correlation b/w a perceived factor and how it really affected the mood

Right Hemisphere: Emotions

Left Hemisphere: analytical-->also has emotion-interpretation

Study:

person who’s brain hemisphere were split (unconnected)

R. Hemisphere was shown snow

L. Hemisphere was shown chicken claw

-->then shown many pictures and choose pictures asociated w/ earlier pictures

-He chose shovel w/ L. Hand (related to R. Hemisphere) and chose chicken picture w/ R hand. [he saw this w/ both eyes]

-when asked why he chose those 2 pictures, he said it was simple: the chicken went w/ chicken claw, and the shovel was to clean up after the chicken.

-->his left (analytical) side only dealt w/ what he saw -->didn't deal w/ snow picture (which only the R. Hemisphere saw)

Conclusion:

We interpret things in plausible ways

-->not in ways relating o reality

-->we are not always aware of reality -->we come up merely plausible notions

Cross-cultural differences in attribution theory

Western Culture: individual centered

Eastern culture: group centered

-->perhaps it is out individualistic culture that makes us attribute things to personality and not situation?

study

Americans are much more likely to describe themselves / individual traits than Japanese, who focus more on their situation

-->attribution error:

-In west: overestimate disposition

-In East: overestimate situational pressures

Attitude

Affects: emotions/feelings

Attitudes: favorable/unfavorable evaluations/reactions to objects/people/aspects of the world

-->includes abstract ideas/social policies

Social psychology:

Split attitudes into 3 categories

Cognitive component: perceptions

Affective component: i.e. negative perceptions/prejudice

Behavioral component: acting out of cognitive/affective. i.e. discrimination

Consistency of attitudes

-certain attitudes go together

i.e. pro-choice/capital punishment/stronger gun control

-->despite the fact that those opinions have nothing to do w/ each other

-we call that type of attitude: liberal

-some people support 'personal freedom' but also support tougher penalty on Marijuana/women at home

-->yet those opinions seem predictable!

-this internal logic is called 'psycho-logic'

-Social psychologists study it under the label 'cognitive consistency’

-->their assumption is that we all try to have consistent beliefs

-->the inconsistent motives stimulates us to change

-->we see ourselves as a coherent/logical package

Ex

*Opposition to capital punishment - liberal

*Opposition to Abortion rights - conservative

-->that is inconsistent

-->it is better to say non-consistent

-->people don't organize their beliefs

'Opinion molecule'

-made of:

1) belief

2)attitude

3)perception of social following

Example:

-my uncle was cured by chiropractor [fact=belief]

-I feel that chiropractors have been sneered too much [attitude]

-I know a lot of people feel the same way [social following]

Attitudes

Beliefs

-Give us something coherent to say w/ topic comes up

-gives us rationalization to agree w/ neighbor/friend

-reinforces our sense of belonging

-->fact/attitude is less important that following

Functions of attitudes

-attitudes have various psychological functions

Instrumental functions

-Attitudes held for practical reasons

-->obtain benefits/avoid punishment

i.e. American oppose lower taxes/support more gov't services

-->despite its inconsistency, they will only change it if they are convinced of a moe beneficial alternative

Knowledge function

-attitudes that help us make sense of the world

-->schemas

-->usually, they oversimplify reality/bias our perception

i.e. Americans interpret all word evens as branches ofthe cold war

Value -experience function

-reflect out value/self concepts

-person might have negative perceptions of homosexuality based on deeply held values

Ego-defense function

-attitudes that protect us from anxiety/threats to self-esteem

Example #1

Projection

-the individual represses his 'unacceptable impulses' and expresses hosile attitudes towards others who are perceived to have such impulses

Example #2

Edo defensive function against minority

--'scapegoat theory' of prejudice

-->blames that group for his persona/societal problems

Social adjustment function

-attitudes that make us feel part of a society

i.e.

1)opinion molecules

2)opinions held b/c family/neighbor holds it

-the attitudes are not as important as the social bonding that they create.

-->the more they are a function of social adjustment, the more they are susceptible to change w/ social norms

Attitudes/behaviors

-Attitudes-->help predict future behavior

-->the relationship b/w attitudes/behavior

Study:

-in 1930's a professor travels across u.. w/ chinese couple [in 30's prejudice high/no law against it]

-->out of over 200 restaurants/motels/hotels, 1 turned them away

-->later, we wrote letter to them, asking if they'd accept a chinese couple

-of 128 replied, 92% said that they'd reject a chinese couple

Conclusion:

-people's perception [attitude] has much more prejudice than their behavior

Some factors in attitude/behavior consistency

1)constraint

-children eat vegetables that they hate

-adults go to lectures/parties that they find boring

Attitudes best predict behavior when the attitudes are:

1)strong/consistent

2)specifically related to the behavior that is being predicted

3)based on person's direct experience

4)person is aware of his attitudes

Strong/consistent

-strong/consistent attitudes predict behavior more than weak/ambivalent attitudes

-->many voters experience ambivalence b/c of pressures from disagreeing friends/neighbors

Example:

Jewish businessman:

*pressure from Jews to vote liberal

*pressure from business to vote conservative

-Ambivalence could also come from within a person

-->if affect/cognitive are not consistent

-i.e. if we like something that is hard for us

-->hard to predict behavior

In General:

When components are inconsistent, the one which is closest ot behavior is the best predictor

Attitudes specifically related to behavior

Attitudes that are specifically related to behaviors are closer predicters than attitudes that are just generally related to it

Study:

-students asked:

1)general opinion of nuclear war

2)specific opinion of nuclear war/plants/weapons

#2-->better predictor of activist behavior

Attitudes based on direct experience

-predicts behavior better than reading about something [indirect]

Example:

University dorm shortage: some freshmen had to live in tempuary housing -->they were ore willing to write petitions than the ones who did not have to stay in the tempuary housing

Awareness

-people who are more aware of their attitudes leads to more consistent behavior

-->also true for people who are more focused on thoughts/feelings

-->in front of T.V. cameras, people were asked about attitudes -->they became less reflective of behavior

-->we derive attitudes of practical usage once we get into theorizing about it -->it doesn't reflect out true feeling

Cognitive dissonance

-we have a drive towards cognitive consistency

-if not, we feel discomfort -->person will try to change attitude [usually, the behavior is not changed in order to b/c cognitively consistent]

'Cognitive dissonance' -the uncomfort of conflicting cognitions

àafter I did act, I realize it did not fint by cognitive attitude

-->recall experiment w/ dull task ($1/$20)

-they people w/ $1 changed their attitude to convince themselves that they like the job -->so that they won't feel cognitive dissonance (saying something and feeling another)

Social Interaction and influence

'social influence' -direct/deliberate attempts to change out .beliefs/attitudes/behaviors

i.e. parents try to convince kids to eat vegetables

-commercials try to convince us to buy something

Compliance

We comply w/ influences w/o necessarily changing beliefs/attitudes [change of behavior]

-i.e. kids eating vegetables w/o liking it

Internalization

we are convinced that influencer is correct

-->change of attitudes/beliefs

Rebellion

-sometimes we reject and rebel to those trying to influence us

Indirect social influences

-There are also indirect/unintentional social influences

Social norms

-implicit rules and expectations that dictate what we ought to think/how we ought to behave

-->also applicable when we are alone -->could be trivial or important

Example:

Trivial: to stand forward in an elevator

Important: how long to look @ person b/f being considered rude

Social norms could create/maintain racism

-compliance w/ social norms depends on individuals

-social interactions/influences are important to communal life,

i.e.

-cooperation

-altruism

-love

-->all involve social interaction/social influence

-Most social psychologists focus on Negative effects of social influence

-->(as well as finding ways to deal w/ problem)

-The presence of others

--

Social facilitation

-In 1898, the psychologist Triplett noticed that people achieve better in bike races w/ racing against other bikers than against clock

-in his lab, he had children reeling fishing rods

-->reeled faster w/ other children present than when alone

-called 'Coaction'

-a passive audience also has a facilitating factor

Social facilitation

-effects of coaction/presence of audience

Note:

-w/ some, social facilitation leads to more mistakes

-w/ others, social facilitation leads to less mistakes

Zajanc (psychologist) notes:

-highly practical response/instinctive =facilitated in presence of coaction/audience

-newly learnt responds/actions =impaired by presence of coaction

Principles of motivation

-high level of arousal energizes the dominant response of an organism

-->w/ a mere presence of another member of species raises arousal level, dominant response will be facilitated

-for simple/well learnt behaviors, the dominant response is most likely to be the correct response

-->performance is facilitated

-Complex behaviors -dominant response is likely to be incorrect

Example: people learn complex word lists slower in front of an audience

-facilitation takes place in lower animals as well

-->it is purely an element of rivalry/competition

Other factors

*how a person feels he is being evaluated

study:

-when experts watch a psychological experiment, results improve; when undergraduate watches, results=lower

Theories to explain social facilitation effects

Distraction-conflict theory

-presence of others distracts person's attention.

Conflict of attention: conflict whether to give attention to person or to task

-->rise in drive level

-->result: higher social facilitation

Self presentation Theory

-Presence of others: desire to present favorable image

-->more concentration =improved task

-when task is hard, it magnifies the frustration of the hard task

-->hard anxiety = poor performance

Deindividuation

Lebon

-also studied the effects of coaction

-Noted that crowd acts less intelligently than individuals

Stages of Deindividuation

Deindividuation - a feeling that they have lost personal identities and have merged anonymously into a group

Experiment #1

2 groups of women

1)dressed anonymously (hid their identity -through masks)

2)made them very identifiable

-In the Milgram experiment (the one where the person had to shock the 'learner'), group #1 shocked the person twice as much

Experiment #2

-in trick or treating, kids in groups stole more candies from an 'unsuspecting' experimenter than when the group was asked for names/kid was by himself

àExample #1 is not necessarily accurate: They had an experiment similar to experiment #1; there were 3 groups: 1 dressed as kkk, one as nurses and one as themselves

-->people shocked the ‘learner’ according to their roles

Conclusion: anonymity does not necessarily lead to aggressions

Bystander intervention

-'Bystander Apathy'- women attacked in street. 38 neighbors heard her scream for over 1/2 hour, but noone called the police

-->people are not only influenced by features if a situation but also by deeds/interpretation of others

-->social facilitation

Problems w/ Getting involved

1)physical danger

2)lengthy court/legal entanglement

3)emergencies =unplanned/require unplanned action

-->few are prepared for such action

4)risk of making a food of oneself [by misinterpreting the situation]

Study:

more bystander/less motivation to help

Possible reasons:

1)individual defines the situation as non-emergency

2)diffuses responsibility to act

1) Defining the situation

-When it is unclear whether there really is an emergency, people postpone action

-->they wait to see what others are doing [who are also not reacting for the same reason]

'pluralistic ignorance' -every one deceives everyone else into thinking that nothing is wrong

-->opposite of phenomenon of several people making the whole group panic

Example:

People came into a room waiting for interview. Smoke starts to come out of vents

-75% of people alone reported the smoke

-13% of people in a group

-->group defined situation for each other as a non-emergency

2)Diffusion of responsibility

People can't always define situation as a non-emergency -->sometimes the emergency is obvious

Experiment:

-people in separate booths -->can only communicate through intercom

-one is having a seizure attack

1)several thought that there are only 2 booths. (2 people)

-->81% reported

2)some thought it was 3 way (3 people)

-->62% reported

3)some thought it was 6 way

-->31% reported

Result:

They all knew it was an emergency

-the ones who did not report seemed more upset!!!

-->can't report non-intervention as apathy!

-->it just shows that the presence of others diffuses the responsibility to act

Experiment:

Experimenters white or blacks appeared to fall on the subway

-->either smelled like alcohol or had a cane

-ambiguity: the person appeared to need help

Results

-person w/ cane: 95% of time people came to help w/i 5 seconds

-person w/ alcohol: 50% of time w/i 2 minutes

-regardless of white or black

-regardless of # of bystanders

-->diffusion of bystanders could be minimized

The role of helping models

-people more likely to give charity if others see.

-->others help us decide whether to act or not

-Studies show that educational T.V. Shows positively influence kids.

Role of information

-one person know about aforementioned -->through lectures/films on topic of deindividuation, is more likely to help

Altruism

-an act w/ intent to hel pothers w/o expecting anyhting in return

Why do people do it?

1)Positive benefits: social approval/good feeling

-->Social Exchange theory: when someone helps another, he is really gettign something in return

2)Empathy - feeling distress when seeing others in distress

Question

What psychological circumstances lead people to alturism

Answer:

1)non-emergency altruism sometimes stem from guilt

2)Genetic basis for altruism -->protect social group

Compliance vs. resistance

Experiment

-group 1 participant. shown 2 unequal lines; all of the group incorrectly said the lines equal. The participant was tested to see if he would comply w/ wrong answer

-->complied 1/3 of time -->even w/ mall groups as small as 3-4

-when even 1 broke the agreement b/w the people who said the wrong answer, it b/c much easier to break the conformity

-->even if the first person to break the conformity said he did it for totally illogical reasons!

-a person conforms b/c he is scared to be outcast/seem uncomprehendable to the group

Minority influence

-Europeans social psychologists are not happy w/U.S. social psychologists

-->obsessed w/ conformity/influence of majority on minority

European study

Variation on above experiment: 6 people; 2 people saying the wrong answers. 4 participants were tested to see their reactions

-the 2 influenced the 4 32% of the time (given that their answers were consistent/wrong)

Conclusion:

-The minority could influence the majority [if they don't look dogmantic/rigid/arrogent]

-people moved more by things that fit their schema than not.

-->people will agree w/ feminism (and only the kind that fits their scheme)

-sometimes, minority influence several but not all -->only those few who internalize the minority position

-->internalization among individuals -not only conformity

Obedience to authority

-people involved in Nazi death machines appear to be psychological sane

-->they said that they were just following orders

-->'obedience to authority'

Experiment:

-Milgram experiment: People shocked a person, (mistakenly thinking it to be 'a way to teach him') They kept increasing the voltage. ; when they did not want to go on, the experimenter encouraged them to continue 'for the sake of science'

-65% of participants continued to the end

-non stopped b/f 300 volts (out of 450), at which point the 'learner' was kicking the wall

Conclusion

Shows the strength of obedience to authority (even if authority is an experimenter

-->it is human nature to sometimes subordinate oneself for the authority's needs.

Factors for legitimatization of conformity to authority:

Social norms/surveillance/buffers/ideological justification

Social norms

It is hard to break a social norm

i.e. is Milgram’s experiment, (the electric shock), it was hard to break the social norm related to keeping an agreement

-by volunteering, there was an implicit agreement to cooperate e/ experiment

-The longer you are involved, the harder it is to breach an agreement

-->i.e., in Milgram's experiment, if the strongest shocks were to be given first, more people would leave

-->less commitment to the implied agreement to cooperate

Surveillance

if experimenter was present/absent, it made a difference in the experiment

-->in Milgram's experiment, when the commands to shock came by phone [experimenter is not there], obedience level reduced from 65% to 21%

-->some cheated in the amount of sock that they gave -->they gave less

Buffers:

'buffers' the remoteness you are from the issue

The further you are from the experience, the harder for you to feel attached to it

i.e. -n milgram's electric experiment

-if learner is in the same room, 40% obedience

-if learner in different room: 65% obedience

-if participant had to make sure that learner had hand on electricity ball -30% obedience

-->the difference is in how many buffers there are present

Example: the more buffers, the easier it is to kill, i.e. in a war -->the usage of long range missiles.

Ideological justification

-the acceptance of a belief/attitude legitimizes for you the authority of the person who tells you what to do

-->in Milgard, the ideology of science. Milgard tried to convince people who didn't want to continue by saying things like: 'for the same of science'; 'for the sake of the experiment

Obedience in Every day life:

There is skepticism that milgram's experiment is reflective of very day life

Experiment:

-Nurse who know that a certain Dr. is on staff, but did not know him personally.

-nurse gets phone call from him to give 20mg of a certain drug (which in reality was a placebo.)

-->Dr. Said it has to be done w/i 10 minutes - b/f he comes

-when the Nurse found the bottle, she saw it said that the daily maximum is 10mg

-95% complied -->w/ very little resistance/hesitation

Despite the rules that this order broke:

1)dose: excessive

2)medical orders are not given by phone

3)medication was unauthorized in that hospital -->wasn't on hospital list

4)order given by an unfamiliar person

Class, Dec. 20, 2000

Stable – regular/recurring

Unstable – something not regular/recurring

àI am not good at it

àI need a lot of effort

Class Dec. 27, 2000

Theory (Petty/Caciopio)

-the psychological convincing technique has 2 channels

àWhen attempting to change someone’s attitude, use one, or both of these plains

-Person will only process info on both plains if:

• He has ability to
• Motivated to do so

The 2 Plains:

Central- info directly relevant to the product

Peripheral – Heuristic –. Indirect or /irrelevant hints about product. (hints that might imply a message, i.e. atmosphere/emotion

àexample: certain background music/attractive person/quantity of details/charts

Class, January 3, 2001

Fundamental Attribution error – see above definition

Primacy effect: see above definition

Self-serving bias – the tendency to assign failures to external attributions and successes to internal attributions

-depressed people: usually assign failure to internal/successes to internal

Actor/Observer Bias: I look @ my actions and compare them to myself as an observer of other people’s behavior

False consensus

-people tend to overestimate % of people who agree with their views

Framing effect: how we present something effects how people are probably going to make a choice

Example of framing effect

A video was shown of a car crash

-audience then split into 2

1. group #1 was asked to guess speed of cars using harsh words
2. group #2 was asked to guess speed of cars using non-harsh words

-Group 1 gave significantly higher estimates

Study

-in framing of certainty/loss, we take more risks when choosing, than framing of certainty/success

Chapter 4 P 111-130

Sensations

-Experiences associated w/ simple stimulus.

-->i.e. seeing red flashing light

Perception

-integrating meaningful interpretation of sensations, i.e. 'it's a firetruck!'

-generally, takes place in cortex area of brain

Sensory modulation

-individual senses, i.e. smell/hearing/taste

Characteristics of sensory modalities

Sensitivity -psychological level of sensory modality

Sensory coding -biological level

Sensitivity

-we are very sensitive to change

Study

Hecht/shlaer/pirenne

-eye can detect 100 quantum (smallest unit of light)

-->whereas only 7 quanta reach eye

-->each of which affect a different molecule w/i eye

-->therefore, eye can detect on molecular/quantom level

Vision: candle flame seen at 20 miles @ clear dark night

Hearing: ticking of clock at 20 feet w/ quiet conditions

Taste: 1 teaspoon in 2 gallons of water

Smell: 1 drop of perfume in volume of 6 rooms

Touch: bird fall on cheek from distance of 1 centimeter

Absolute threshold

-The minimum magnitute of a stimulus that could be reliably discriminated from no stimulus at all

-i.e. weakest light that could be discriminated from darkness

-a common way of measuring absolute threshold =psychophisical methods

Example

several dim lights of various intensities shown randomly, each shown several times

-measure the % of times a participant answered that he detected the stimulus -->% increases w/ intensity of stimulus

Absolute threshold = if stimulus is detected over 50% of the time

-Absolute threshold changes b/w people and w/i same person in different cases

Detecting changes in intensity

Question

How much difference in intensity needs to occur for person to detect it

Standard stimuli - the stimuli that others are going to be compared to

Comparison stimuli - the stimuli compared to the standard stimuli

-When both stimuli are presented, participant is supposed to answer 'more' or 'less'

'difference threshold' or 'just noticable difference (jnd)

=the measurement of difference in stimuli

-->the minimum difference in stimulus magnitude necessary to tell 2 stimulus apart

-if sensitivity is high -->low jnd [amounts needed to be recognized as different]

Weber/fechner law

1)Proportional relationship b/w jnd and sensitivity

Example: if 10 candles lit in a room, and eye can detect light difference w/ 1 light, then w/ 100 lights, I can detect 10

2)Senses take geometrical and change them to arithmetical

Example:-if stimuli multiplied w/ itself (2,4,8) it will be perceived (1,2,3)

-loudness: amplitude increased by 10 will be perceived as 2x as loud

We are less sensitive to smell/taste diff than to sound/light

Quality/jnd

light intensity -8%

Sound intensity -5%

Sound frequency -1%

odor concentration -15%

salt concentration -20%

lifted weights -2%

Electric shock -1%

Note the difference:

Absolute threshold -diff b/w stimulus and no stimulus

JND =difference b/w a level of stimulus and another

Reaction time

Time b/w onset of stimuli and response

Simple reaction time

-simple response to a stimulus

-i.e. pressing a button as a response to a stimulus

-->reaction time is higher for more intense stimulus

Choice reaction time

-choosing one out of several different responses, depending on the stimulus presented

i.e. pressing l. button if green/R. button is red.

-the smaller the diff. b/w stimuli, the longer the choice reaction time is.

Sensory coding

transduction: translating energy into electric signals that make their way to the brain

[sensory organs translate the stimulus to electric waves -->process takes place in receptors]

-when receptors get stimulus, chemical reaction takes place that unds up in neural impulse

Receptor

-kind of neuron that sends electric impulse to connecting nerves/neurons until the impulse reaches appropriate area of cortex

• The 'feeling' takes place in the brain through it is provokes by stimulus in receptors

Coding of intensity/Quality

i.e.

Quality: red

Intensity: bright

Duration: Brief

àfiretruck flash.

Question: how do we sense those differentiations in the stimulus?

Answer:

-Study how each neuron is responsible for intaking different info

Experiment

-A machine measuring a selected visual area of cortex of a monkey [see p. 116]

-Oscilloscope amplifies and shows the brain wavelengths of monkey

-->brain-cell activities (changes in voltage)

-->even w/ lack of stimulus, there is a slow rate of brain-waves

-called 'spontaneous activity'

-during stimulus, fast train of spikes are shown on oscilloscope

Conclusion:

The more intense the stimulus, the more spikes per unit of time

Alternative #1

Muller (1825)

-suggests that brain distinguishes b/w different sensory modalities b/c og different nerves for different modalities

Alternative #2

-pattern of nerval impulses could also be a factor.

i.e. taste buds: react beast to sweet tastes: more receptors will fire more neural impulses (codes)

-->salty: less felt by receptors-->weaker code

-->pattern created is understood by brain to represent the specific stimulus

Vision

Senses:

-vision

-Audition

-smell

-taste

-touch

-body senses [i.e. sensing where 1 organ is in relationship to another, i.e. where head is compared to the trunk]

-each sense reacts to different kind of energy

-vision/audition/smell -only ones which can sense things which are far

Vision: most refines

sight and vision

-each sense reacts to diff. kind of energy

Eyes: electromagnetic energy

-Electromagnetic waves from radiation waves/x-rays/infrared/ultraviolet

-->eyes only sensitive to a small range -b/w 400-700 nanometer waves

-this range is the colors of light as perceived by the human eye

Visual system has 2 components

1) Image-forming image

2 ) Transduction

Image-forming system

-objective =to form image on retina

Cornea -transparent front layer area of eye

-bends the light

Lends -completes the focusing of the light onto the retina

-changes shape to focus on things at diff. distances

-flat -further objects

-spherical -closer objects

Myopic (nearsighted) -when eye doesn't flatten enough for far objects.

Hyperopic (farsighted) -eye doesn't b/c spherical enough for close objects

Pupil -circular opening. It varies in diameter in response to light intensities

-larger in dim light

-smaller in bright light

Transduction

-receptor cells

2 kinds of receptor cells in the eye

Cones -for seeing in day

Rods -for seeing in dark -->unable to see colors

-Those receptors are located in area of the retina furthest from cornea

Fovea

-center of retina

-where most of the receptors are concentrated

-->that is why we move eyes -to make sure that what we are focusing our sight on is projected at fovea

-at peripheries (outside fovea) -less concentration of receptors -->less clear sight

[see picture, p 118]

-cones/rod have photopigments that absorb lights, which in turn starts a neural impulse

-from cone/rod, neural impulses sent to bi-polar cells and then to Ganglion cells, which extent out of eye to make the optic nerve.

-where gangilons leave the eye, we have a blind spot. we don't notice it since the brain fills it in automatically

Seeing light

-our sensitivity to light determined by rods/cones

Difference b/w rod/cone

1)they are activated under different levels of light

• Cones: well lit scenario
• Rods: dim scenarios

2)cones/rods are specialized for different tasks

Cones: connected to 1 ganglion, which turns off nearby ganglions

-->very clear where light is from

Rods: when sense light, sends info to up to 3 ganglions [in order to make sure that the light is perceived and reaches to brain]

-->this is done at the expense of certainly where the light is coming from (see p. 121)

3)Cones/rods are located at diff. areas of retina

Fovea- many cones/no rods

Periphery: many rods/relatively few cones

i.e. to see dim star as best as possible: need to look slightly sideways.

Light adaptations

-when entering dark area, it takes time to get used to darkness, in order to see.

-->afterwards, when entering bright area, it takes time to get used to it

• Rod system takes longer to adopt, but is sensitive to dimmer lights (see top of p122)

Seeing patterns

Visual acuity -eyes' ability to resolve details

Snellen Acuity

Measures every one against the person who doesn't need glasses

i.e. 20/20 vision means that the person reads at 20 feel wha a regular person reads at 20 feet.

à20/100 is a person who reads at 20 feet what a regular person can read at 100 feet

Problems w/ snellen

1)No good for young children/people who can't read

2)Doesn't deal w/ near distances

3)Doesn't distinguish b/w 'spatial acuity' [the ability to see details of form] and 'contrast acuity' (the ability to see differences in brightness)

(bottom of page 122 shoes different tests. arrows show where the critical are of the specific test is. -->all of them center around contrasts ['edge' or 'contour'])

Influence by how Ganglions interact

-(as mentioned above, how neighboring ganglions turn off each other in case of bright light)

Herman Grid

-Black boxes. white lines b/w them

-Smudges are sensed at intersections:

-->b/c ganglions from all 4 sides turn off ganglions that see intersection (top/bottom/left/right)

-the lines b/w don't appear as dark as intersections b/c they are only turned off from 2 sides (top/bottom) and not 4 sides

Colors

-Visual system translates various wavelengths into various colors

Short wavelengths -450-500 =blue

Medium wavelengths -500-570 =green

Long wavelengths -650-780 =red

[see bottom of p. 124]

-->wavelength is the only factor w/ looking at lights of various colors

With objects reflecting light, more factors, i.e. surrounding contexts of colots

Color consistency: seeing a familiar object as same color dispite diff. lighting

Appearance of color

3 dimensions of color:

Hue/brightness/saturation

Hue: best described as color's name: blue/greenish-yellow

Brightness: how much light appears to be reflected from the colored surface

Saturation: purity of color [amount of gray in color]

Albert Munsell: artist. assigned a code to each color:

• 1 of 10 hue names
• 1 # describing saturation level
• 1 # describing brightness level

[see picture, top of p. 125]

--

We see range 400-700 nanometer wavelengths

-->range=300

-we can discriminate 150 hues (we can discriminate b/w 150 wavelenths)

-->We can discriminate 2 nanometer wavelengths (300/150=2)

-150 hues w/ diff. brightness/saturation: estimated 7 mil. colors

-estimate of National Bureau of Statistics = we have 7500 color names

Color mixture

all hues stem from various mixtures of 3 basic colors

Additive mixture: mixing lights (as opposed to paints)

-->mixing takes place in eye

Subtractive mixing: mixing paints/pigments

-->mixing w/i the stimulus -external to eye

-there is a difference in resulting color when 3 primary colors mixed additively of subtractively

* 3 wavelengths can be combines to match any color of light as long as 1 light from each range of wavelengths is present

-->long (red)/middle (greenish/yellow)/short (blue)

-->sometimes called '3 primaries law'

-we are blind to some diff. in light

-diff. lights might look the same o us

-i.e. T.V. is a combination of small lights of green/yellow/red

Color deficiencies

Trichromats: use all 3 primary colors to combine colors

Dichromats: people who can combine only colors using 2 colors

-->they confuse some colors that trichromats can distinguish

Monochromats. unable to combine b/w wavelengths at all -->true color blind

• Most color deficiencies are genetic. Males are more vulnerable than females.

Theories of color vision

Theory #1 'trichromatic theory’

Thomas young -b/f scientists knew about cones

We have cones specialized for diff. wavelengths.

• Some for short range
• some for mid range
• some for long range

-->combines action =sensation of a specific color

-->quality of color is coded by pattern of activity in the 3 kinds of receptions

This theory explains:

1)how we discriminate b/w colors

(diff. response in receptors based on diff. wavelengths)

2)how we process the 3 primaries

3)the various kinds of color deficiencies:

Dichromats: lack 1 of 3 kinds of color receptor cones

Monocromats: lack 2 of 3 kinds of color receptor cones

-->this theory actually led us to seek, and discover the cones

Problems w/ trichromatic theory

-in can't explain several things ,mentioned in the next theory

Theory #2 Opponent-color theory

Hering (1878) noted colors: made up of combinations of blue/yellow/green/red

In lights:

* no reddish green

* no yellowish blue

Conclusion: red/green are opponent colours [colors that can't be perceived simultaneously]

• red/green -->looks yellow
• yellow/blue -->looks white

Opponent-color theory:

-1 visual unit responds to either red or green

-another visual unit responds to blue or yellow

-each unit responds diff to the 2 'opposing' colors.

i.e. increased response w/ red, decreased response w/ green

-->when stimulus =conflicting, we might see white.

Combination of trichromatic/color-opponent theories

Trichromatic: cells in eyes

Color-opponant cells in thalamus

-->increases response to some stimuli (colors) and decreases stimuli to other colors

i.e. cells fire more @ blue stimulus and less @ yellow stimulus

--

Chapter 5 – Perception

Localization

-to know where objects are in our environment, we must separate them from other objects as well as background

Separation of objects

-image that is projected onto Retina =various brightnesses/colors

-->gestalt studied how we organize objects, based on this

Figure and ground

-when stimulus has 2 distinct regions, we can see one part as the figure and the rest as the ground (background)

-figure =is seen as the object of interest

-->appears more solid than the ground

-->also appears in front of the ground

-->this is the most basic of perceptual organization

Example: (see p.157, top)

-you might see 2 faces in a vase, by looking at the same picture:

• Vase =looks like vase over black background
• Face =looks like black faces over white background

Note: In images where there are multiple images -->easier to see the smaller area

i.e.

• When black area = smaller -->easier to see the black faces
• When white area = smaller -->easier to see the white vase

à[i.e. compare A,B,C, on top of p.157]

-We also have 'figure-ground' relations in other senses,

-->i.e. we can tell the violin solo frin harmonizing orchestra

Grouping of objects

Gestalt psychologists propose: (see patterns on p.158)

-we group things by:

• Proximity (closer=more alike) [B. on p.158]
• Similarity (i.e. same color/pattern) [C,D, of p. 158]
• Good Continuum: same continuum (same line) [E]
• Closure: anything perceived to be enclosed together [F]

Note: in closure, we see the whole object that is enclosed

-not several figures

-->i.e. in F (of patterns in p.158) we see a diamond enclosed w/i 2 lines -->not 2 k's/mirrored or an M or W.

-This shows the power of gestalt grouping determinants

-->they make us see the most consistent/simplest/stable forms w/i a pattern.

Study:

1) Dissimilar objects: easier to detect

2) The more similar the non-targets are, the easier it is to detect the target

3) People judge distances to be smaller when objects among same objects than when they are w/ different objects

Conclusion:

Visual grouping plays a large role in the way we organize/group our visual experiance.

-even though perceptual grouping was studied mostly in visual perception, other senses, such as audition (hearing) also has an element of grouping (in time, -not in space.)

-i.e. if 4 drumbeats are heard, w/ a pause b/w 2nd and 3rd -->they are going to be perceived as 2 groups

• similarity/closure also play an important part in hearing tunes/complex stimuli

Depth cues

Retina = 2D-surface

-->has no depth!

-->therefore, we must infer the depth dimension from depth-cue

Ways to do it:

Monocular: using 1 eye

Binocular: using both eyes

Monocular cues: (see p. 159)

1. Relative size: if there are similar objects, but different in size, the viewer interprets the smaller one to be further

2. Interposition: if 1 object obstructs the view of the other object, the view perceives the overlapping object to be closer
3. Relative height: with similar objects, those appearing closer to the horizon are perceived to be further away
4. Linear perspective: When parallel lines seem to converge, they are perceived to be vanishing into the distance
5. Shading/Shadows: Whenever a surface is blocked from light-source.
• Attached Shadow: When part of the shadow hits the object that is blocking the light
• Cast Shadow: when shadow hits another object or surface

• Those kinds of shadows help perceive:
• Shape
• Distance
• Light source

Light parallax

-When we move fast (i.e. in a car): closer objects seem to be moving (backwards) faster than farther objects

Binocular perception

Binocular disparity: The difference in view of each eye

àthis disparity is bigger for closer objects

-->binocular disparity looses it effectiveness beyond 3-4 meters

-the brain sees the difference b/w the 2 eyes' perception of an object: the bigger the difference is, the closer the object is assumed to be.

• we can also be fooled by perceiving distance (binocularly) when non is present! [see L. side op p. 161]

i.e.

• making light bend w/ prism
• making eyes look at slightly different angles

Perceiving motion

Stroboscopic motion

-seeing frames (pictures) when each one is slightly different from the precious one. (i.e. in a movie).

-->the difference is translated into motion

Example:

-In early movies: 16 frames per second

-it was too slow for eye to perceive a continuous motion

-->it appeared jerky

-Today: 24-30 frames

-some frames are repeated in order to further reduce jerkiness

Induced motion

-when a small object is static w/i a larger object that does move.

-->the smaller object is perceived to be moving.

i.e.: a static circle in a rectangle moving to the right. the circle is perceived tp be moving to the left, rather than the rectangle moving to the right.

Example 1

-moon seems to be moving when it is really the clouds

Example 2

-your car seems to be moving backwards when it is really the car next to us moving forwards

Real motion:

-very complex

Brain understand:

1. Some movements is not b/c of objects movements, but b/c of eye's movement. (i.e. when we read, the object is stationary, and our eyes move across object)
2. Other movements are indeed b/c of object's movement
3. Some Objects which look stationary are actually moving

-->i.e. when eyes are fixated on a moving object, it appears stationary on the retina, but our brain understands that it is moving (due to motoric evaluation)

4. Some movements are understood as stationary

-->i.e. when eyes move, the background appears to be moving, but is understood to be stationary

-our perception/analysis of motion =relative

-we are better at detecting motion against a structured background (relative motion) than when background is uniform color, and only the moving object could be seen (absolute motion)

Example:

Studies show:

1. Motion could be identified even w/ 12 or fewer points of light (see p.163)
2. People could identify friends or tell if male or female, based only on lights attached to ankles.

Selective adaptation

-loss of sensitivity to motion, when we view motion

-->it is selective: we adapt to similar motions, but not to motion that differs greatly in direction/speed

i.e. if we view upward moving stripes, we loose sensitivity to them, but not to downwards moving stripes

-->we don't usually notice the loss of sensitivity (adaptation) but rather the after-effect

i.e. when looking at waterfall we won't be as sensitive to the water’s movements after a while; but when looking at nearby cliff, it will appear to be moving upwards

-->opposite direction from waterfall

Technicality

• some cells in visual cortex respond to some movements and not to others

-->each cell responds to 1 direction/speed of motion

-These specialized motion cells provide an explanation fpr the selective adaptation of the motion:

Example:

-after looking at waterfall's down motion, the specific cells get fatigued

-->upwards motion cells get temporary dominance.

-->created an aftereffect -->things seem to be moving upwards.

When we track an airplane in the dark:

-our eyes follow the object

-->image almost motionless in out retina

Question:

So, how do we perceive its motion?

Answer:

-The motoric area of brain reports to the visual area of the brain that the eyes are moving.

-->the visual system understands the element of motion despite the lack of actual motion in the retina, due to the detection of movement in the motoric system

Visual system must combine 2 sources of movement

1. Retinal movement
2. Motoric movement

Recognition

Factors: Shape/size/color/texture/orientation

-most important: Shape

-->i.e. we can recognize an object by its mere outline (shape)

-->shape=most important

Early stages of recognition

In early stages of perceptual system, it uses primitive components on the retina

-lines/curves/angles

-the perception also uses memory:

-i.e. compares the B shape to the shape it had in memory

Feature detectors in the memory

Much of the primitive features comes from primitive animals such as cats/monkeys

Receptive field: area in the brain associated w/ retina

The neurons in the brain that are responsible

Studies

-Studies neurons in the brain that are responsible for various receptive field

Hubel/Wiesel

-identified 3 types of cells in the visual cortex. (they get stimulated by the orientation of a line stimulus (see p. 165)

Brainwaves based on stimuli:

Largest –vertical

Medium -diagonal

Small –vertical lines

1) Complex cells

-respond to cells in particular orientation

àbut does not require it it to be w/I its perceptive field

àit will respond as cells move continuously across the field

2) Hypercomplex cells

-Stimulus =particular orientation and particular length

àis stimulus goes beyond optimal lengths àdecrease or cease of response

Studies:

-some hypercomplex cells react to specific curves/length of specific images

Feature detection of those cells:

-curves/edges/angles

àused to approximate shape

àbuilding clock of shape perception

àmostly simple shapes such as letters

Relationship b/w features

Important: relationship b/w features

i.e. right angle and diagonal line must have the right relationship in order to be seen as a triangle

i.e. specific Y-shape must be put into a square a specific way in order to make the image appear as 3-D (cube)

• Those differences make the Gestalt psychologists say that ‘the whole is different than the parts’

Example:

An image that its parts can’t by analyzed independently, such as ‘emergence images’

‘Emergence images’: images that have a certain combination of angles that make the 2D image look like 3-D

*many complex analysis of shape b/f image b/c available to consciousness

Later stage of recognition

Simple networks

i.e. printed/handwritten letters

Connectionist models

-we remember letters through some features of them (see bottom of 153)

-each feature of a shape and each shape is called ‘node’

Network

Top level: letters

Bottom level =elements oh that letter (see bottom of p. 166)

-the brains tries to connect b/w feature nodes and the letter shapes

Example #1:

Letter node: k

Feature nodes: │, \, /

Example #2

Letter node: R

Feature nodes: │, ⊃, \

Augmented node

-also inhibits the nodes not present in the letter/symbol

Example

Question:

-When ‘R’ appears, it has all the p and all the r nodes!!! How does the brain distinguish b/w them?

Answer

-when all the P feature nodes are present, with the addition of the \ node for the R, the brain inhibits the P node.

Network w/ feedback

Letter = easier to perceive when in a word, than by itself

Experiment

-people flashed either a card w/ word ‘WORK’ or letter ‘K’ for a few milliseconds.

àwhen asked which was the last letter – more people who were shown the work said ‘K’ than those who were shown the letter.

-we also have a level in our network for words

Levels thus far:

• Features of letters
• Letters
• Words

Level of words

With the network level of words, not only are letters activated to make words (upwards), but also the words (downwards) activate the letters

àletters are also recognized from within words (see top of p.168)

Example:

-the word red is quickly flashed.

The brain activates:

1. Features of the letters (but maybe not all of them b/c speed of flashing)à
2. Each letter (partially)à
3. Word à(Partially activated by letters)
4. Feeds back activation to the letters

àcalled ‘up-down connection’

Recognizing natural objects

Processing

-recognizing natural objects

Features of natural objects

-more complex than just lines/curves

àmore like combining simple geometric forms

àmust be combined to form the shape of recognizable object

àjust like lines/curves combine to make letters

Geons

–short for ‘geometrical ions’

àthe various geometrical shape ‘features’ within an object (see top of p.169)

Biederman

-Claims that there are 36 distinguishable geons, which we recognize (though they might be spatially altered to fit object.

-once an object is described by its various features, it is compared (mentally) to the nearest object

[-just like how letters are contructed through linear features]

Study

Question:

Is Recognition of partial objects is as efficient?

Answer:

-It is harder to see objects in images that are partially distorted/partially blocked (see r. side of page 169)

Importance of context

Bottom-up processing: driven solely by input

Top-bottom processing: based on previous knowledge/experience

Examples of bottom-up

Steps

1. Recognizing objects based on primitive features
2. Determine the Gaon configuration of the input
3. Makes this descriptions available to shape descriptions that are stores in memory

But: recognizing a lamp as alamp b/c it is on a night-table next to a bed

ètop-down processes

Top-down processes are in essence the effect of context on perception

i.e. when your lab partner show up at the lab at the expected time/place), you need very little to perceive (recognize) that it is her.

àprior knowledge ked to a powerful

àlittle input is needed to recognition

-it is harder to recognize out of context

ài.e. if lab-partner shows up in your house

àout of context

àOut of context, one must use bottom up processing

Rule:

• When context =appropriate

àfacilitation of perception

• when context =inappropriate

àimpairs perception

When the object is ambiguous

àsuch that it can be perceived in more than 1 way.

(example, p.170-171)

-temporal context affects how we perceive this object

i.e. in the picture on p. 170 =the picture will be perceived as either a young/old lady

Temporal context

-within a context of time, you will see in an ambiguous image what is closest to what you recently thought of.

Example #1

- if thought of grandmother àthe old lady is most likely to be perceived

example #2 of temporal context

is a series of images shown. where they b/c more ambiguous until the image turns into the second one. (see p.171)

-if looked at serious from 1 end, the ambiguous images are going to look more like the clear, first image. If viewed from the other side, the ambiguous images will look more like the last ones

Note: an image doesn’t need to be ambiguous

Example

-if a person shown a flashing image of a screen, and then a flashing image of either bread (appropriate context) or mailbox (inappropriate context) àpeople will identify the flashing image of the appropriate context more often.

Motives as a context

-motives and desires can function as a context.

• If we perceive a man to be a child molester, we will assume (at least some ambiguous) his acts to sexual acts.
• If we are hungry, we will perceive more things as food.

Contextual effects and top-down processing, in reading

-when we read do not read as a continuous movement of the eyes, but rather, the eye looks at a specific area of line, and then moves to the next are of the line and looks at it for a bit and so on.

àcalled fixation

• number/length of fixation vary according to how much we know about the text (and how much top-down processing we invoke)

àif we are not familiar w/ the material, we will fixate on every words (except small ones, like: ‘and’, ‘or’

Note: top-down processing can occur even w/o a context (if the info is sparse/degraded)

Example:

You enter your friend’s dark kitchen and see a vague black thing. You think it is your friend’s cat and arbitrarily start looking for a feature of the cat (say: the tail)

àYou are using top-down processing (prior knowledge). I.e. you know that cats have tails

-sometimes, you’re surprised that you’re wrong: i.e. it turns out to be a purse

Breakdown of recognition

-recognizing an object is usually automatic/effortless

-sometimes, people are not able to recognize things, due to things like brain damage

Agnosia: the general term for breakdowns/disorders of recognition

Kinds of Agnosia

• Associative agnosia: damage in temporal lobe regions of the cortex:

-people can recognize objects, only when presented visually

• Category-specific deficit

-where only a category of things can not be recognized

• Protopagnosia

-a king of category of category-specific agnosia where faces are not recognized

• Pure alexia

-problems recognizing words from the letters

Chapter 7 (p. 235-253)

Learning: nearly permanent change in behavior as a result of practice

-->not due to maturation or temporary conditions (such as drugs)

Learning includes Habituation/classical conditioning/operant conditions

Habituation

-Simplest form of learning: ignoring a familiar stimulus. I.e. ignoring a ticking clock

-->(except those that have serious consequences)

Classical/operant conditioning

-both involve associations

-->learning that some events go together

Complex learning: beyond association: i.e. applying a strategy to solve a problem/making a mental map

Perspective on learning

Behaviorism: concerned w/o outside influences on behavior

Assumption of behaviorism:

1) All learning = associations

2) Basic laws of behavior is the same for all thing. ALL living things learn EVERYTHING the same way

-i.e. rat leans to run a maze is the same process that a kid learns math

*This assumption has to be modified in light of new research

i.e. conditioning/complex learning requires us to know relationship b/w stimuli and response

-The above assumption is not everything! also strategy rules complex learning

-we must adopt a cognitive approach.

-Studies show that there are biological influences in learning

-we must look @ integrated study to understand learning

Classical conditioning

-A learning process where a neutral stimulus get associated w/ another stimuli b/c of repeated pairing of stimuli

-->i.e. Pavlov study

-attached a fistula (tube) to dog, to saliva gland (to measure saliva flow)

->light comes on, then food comes. (UCS) Eventually, dog salivates to only light (CR)

Unconditioned stimulus: (UCS) a stimulus that automatically gets a response, usually w/ no prior conditioning

Unconditioned Response (UCR): the response originally given to a previously unconditioned stimulus

-->used as a basis for a previously unconditioned stimulus

Conditioned stimulus (CS) a previous neutral stimulus that comes to evoke a conditioned response through association w/ the unconditioned response

Conditioned responses (CR): a learned/acquired response to a stimulus that did not evoke that response, originally.

Dog experiment

Food =UC

Salivation =UCR

Light =CS

Salivation to the light =CR

Dog has been 'conditioned' to associate food w/ light (see diagram on p. 237)

Experimental variation

Some variation made in Pavlov experiment

-'Trial' the repeated action that make person learn (associate) b/w the UCS and the CS (i.e. b/w food and light) is called 'acquisition stage'

-if UCS omitted (after learning) the CR will diminish eventually (see bottom of p. 237)

-->called 'extinction'

Summary: classical conditioning

-classical conditioning will predict what will happen. àif prediction is correct (reinforces, the animal will keep on making that prediction (acquisition)

-When things change àprediction no longer predicts result, the animal learns to inhibit the prediction

Conditioning w/ diff. species

-classical conditioning can occur in animals as primitive as flatworms

-if exposed to mild electricity (UCS) w/ light (CS), they will learn to contract to only light

Human example:

-people undergoing chemotherapy noted upset stomach b/f treatment (b/c they associate room w/ the chemotherapy which upsets the stomach)

Problems: if a child is given ice-cream b/f treatment, (Ice cream CS to the chemotherapy -UCS)

-->then child less likely to eat Ice-cream until extinction of CS

Phenomenon and application

Second order conditioning

-pairing 2 stimuli where one of them was previously paired w/ a biological stimulus

UCS =usually biological stimulus, but other stimuli can also acquire same power, by constantly paired w/ biological ones (UCS)

i.e. in Pavlov, light (CS) had power of food (UCS). it elicited same response as the food

[given food/light pairing show a few times again to avoid extinction of association]

Generalization/discrimination

-Emotional reaction: measured by 'Galvanic skin response' (GSR)

GSR = change is electric acuity in skin, based on emotional stress

àgood indicator of autonomic system activity

Generalization: the more similar a new stimulus is to a familiar stimulus, the more likely it is going to do the conditioned response

Discrimination: a reaction to differences:

i.e. 2 different sounds (CS1/CS2)

CS1 was followed by a shock; CS2 was not.

-->at first, participant showed SR to both pitches

-then eventually showed more GSR to CS1 that CS2

-through this process of 'differential reinforcement', CS2 was signal to inhibit that learned response and limit it to CS1

(see p. 239)

• Generalization and discrimination occur daily

-i.e. a kid associates family pet dog w/ all dogs -->friendly.

-->after finding out that some dogs = threatening , the kid inhibits (discriminates) that generalization to similar looking dogs

Conditioned fear

-classical conditioning = also plays role in emotions, like fear

i.e. once conditioned to associate sound w/ electric shock, rat will have the same response to mere sound, w/o the electricity

-->i.e. it will stand protectively/high blood pressure

• humans, too, have phobias, usually based on conditioning

-->therapeutic techniques for them also use classical conditioning principles

-i.e. of person is scared of cats it will slowly be exposed to cats

-->cat used to be CS b/w associated w/ a UCS (i.e being scratched)

-being exposed to CS (cat w/o UCS (scratching) extinct that CR (fear)

-if not treated, person will avoid cats, and therefore, extinction won't occur

-->extinction will only occur w/ CS experiences W/O UCS

Predictability and cognitive factors

-some researchers argue: behind the stimulus-Response learning (conditioning), there is the animal's knowledge

-i.e. the animal acquires knowledge, such as the relationship b/w 2 stimuli

Contiguity Vs. Predictability

-researchers want to find out the critical factor for conditioning to occur

Alternative #1

Pavlov: temporal contiguity of UCS and CS

-->closeness in time

Alternative #2

must have high probability that UCS will occur when CS occurs

-->UCS must be predictable

Experiment: Rescorla

-2 groups of dogs:

-Group A was given tones (CS) to some, a shock was added (UCS). Shock was only given after a tone

-Group B -tones and shocks. there was an equal chance of tone/shock respectively alone or tone/shock together.

[see top of p. 241]

Group A - b/c conditioned (to anticipate shock to sound of tone)

Group B -didn't get conditioned

-Other experiments show that the strength of the conditioning is dependant on the predictability value of CS

-Other experiments show predictability =stronger than both temporal contiguity/frequency of the pairing of CS/UCS

Scientists do the same thing as dogs: i.e. meteorologists look for predictive indications of the weather

Predictability and emotion

Predictability is also important for emotional reaction

i.e. CS predicts pain

-lack of CS predicts no pain -organism can relax -->'safety signal'

-if this system is unreliable, it could cause devastating results

-->i.e. could make person constantly anxious

-when 'dangerous' scenarios are unpredictable, it will cause anxiety

àif kid told that an act of the dentist will hurt, he will have danger signals until it's over.

àif kid told it won't hurt, (no safety/danger signal is present) and it does, the pain will be intolerable

àdifference b/w unpleasant and unpredictable.

-->unpredictability is mentally worse

Biological constraints

-various animals learn something w/ different mechanisms

Ethological approach

Ethologists - study behavior w/ emphasis on evolution/genetics

Their assumption: all animals learn differently b/c of biological differences

[vs. Behaviorists who think that all animals learn the same way]

-->Ethologists think that learning must conform to a genetic blueprint

-->'behavioral blueprint' -constrains what functions an organism may learn

-->we are all to some extent preprogrammed

Constraints of classical conditioning

Example

Taste aversion

If rat was given good-tasting food but it’ll get ill right after it, he’ll avoid it next time, despite pleasing taste.

Early behaviorists: no diff. in taste aversion to any other stimulus

àtaste aversion could be done using any other stimuli

Experiment (see top of page 293)

2 groups of rats exposed to licking @ taste that a click and a light come on.

[3 stimuli: taste/sound/smell]

Control group: exposed to shock

Experiment group: exposed to sickness

Results

Control group: avoided light/click

Experiment group: avoided that specific taste

Conclusion

Taste: better signal for sickness

Light/click: better signal for shock

Selectivity of association

-doesn’t fit early behaviorists who saw all stimulus as equal potential CS

Ethologists: there is a genetic selectivity of association

-i.e. b/w taste and intestinal reaction

Explanation

In rats = built in mechanism that associates external stimulus w/ external pain

àlight/click w/ shock

In birds = different genes =associate sight [i.e. light] w/ sickness

àb/c they select food w/ eyes and not taste

à2 species learning same thing (what causes sickness) using diff. mechanisms (due to genetics)

àClassical conditioning is not in isolation

àwe must also study the CS/UCS internal built-in relationship

Operant conditioning

-classical conditioning = CR resembles UCS

àdoesn’t work if you want to teach an animal new things

-i.e. dog has no stimulus to associate ‘rolling over’ w/!

àtherefore, you must get the animal to do things and then reward them

àeventually dog will learn trick

àthis technique is called operant conditioning

Operant conditioning: responses learnt b/c they effect/operate on environment

-the animal doesn’t react to stimuli, but behaves in a way designed to produce certain changes in the environment

-Animals will repeat behavior based on their consequence

àbaby will cry more often if he realized it will get him attention (Operant conditioning)

The law of effect

Thorndike experiment

Cat put in a cage w/ fish outside of it

-cat goes through random acts to try to free itself to get the fish (Trial and error)

àeventually, the cat got the cage open

-each time cat put in the cage, it went through same trial and error, but it eliminated more and more acts until it learns how to open the cage’s latch.
(it associates opening latch w/ opening cage

Skinner’s experiment:

-rat puts in a box w/ a bar. Food-dish is under bar

-a light could be turned on @ experimenter’s discretion.

-rat is allowed to inspect box. Occasionally, it presses the bar when inspecting it.

-the level it presses it regularly is called ‘baseline level’

-then, every time that the rat presses bar =food pellet comes out

àfood reinforces rate of pressing (which increases dramatically)

àonce food no longer comes out, rate diminishes

Operant (a.k.a. ‘operant conditioning response’)

• operant conditioning an reinforce/extinct a behavior

Implication for child-rearing

Those learning techniques also applicable to humans

i.e. kid gets tantrum b/c he wants attention

-when he gets it, it reinforces his usage of tantrum to get attention

-when parents ignored his cries -->tantrum, decreased from 45 minutes to non, in 7 days.

* Temporal reinforcements: immediate reinforcements are more effective than delayed reinforcements

-->it is better to praise/punish kid immediately

Shaping

-Shaping reinforces only variations in response that deviate from the response wanted

Example:

-Hard to get dog to press a button, so you shape his behavior by giving a reward each time he gets closer and closer to the button, until the dog gets it.

Examples of application:

-Pigeons trained to find lost people at sea

-Porpoises trained to get underwater equipment

Phenomenon and applications

Conditioned reinforcers

Primary reinforcers: the reinforcers that satisfy basic drives

-->few in number.

-it is very easy make secondary/conditioned reinforcers if they are parallel w/ primary reinforcers

Example:

-rat conditioned to press lever-->sound-->food

Sound: secondary condition

Food: primary condition

-after extinction of conditioning, when rat rediscovers pressing lever makes a sound, but no food, he will markedly increase pressing lever even if there is no food given in response to the pressing.

-Sound acquired it's own reinforcing qualities through classical conditioning, since it was reliably paired w/ food

Human examples:

1)$ - b/c it has been paralleled w/ primary reinforcers, such as food/drink/comfort

2)Praise

Generalization/Discrimination

Also humans generalize what they learn, and then curb it by discrimination

i.e. kid will see parents pet family dog. It will also want to pet neighbor's watchdog

-parents will give some discrimination training so kid'll pet family dog but not neighbor's dog

-Discrimination training is effective to the extent that there is a clear distinguishable difference in stimulus (seeing a wagging tail vs. non-wagging tail)

à(how well the kid can distinguish b/w things -->difference of stimulus)

In General:

* Just like classical conditioning, where the presence of discrimination stimulus will reinforce a response, so too, the lack of discrimination stimulus will predict the opposite response.

Schedules of reinforcement

Partial reinforcement

-learning that takes place when the act id reinforces w/ reward only some of the time

Partial phenomenon effect: extinction of a CR is slower to extinct of learnt by partial reinforcement

Ratio schedules: reinforcement used on # of responses organism does, could either be fixed of variable

Fixed Ration schedule (also called FR schedule)

-when a # of responses that have to be made in order to get reward fixed (FR50 =50 responses has to be made)

-Note: (see top R. of p 249) -there is a short break in response after reward is acquired.)

-Example: factory worker got $5 for 5 units (FR 5) then he had to make 100 units to get $5 (FR 100)

-as chart shows -->harder for him to restart job after he just got the reward

Variable ratio schedule (VR schedule)

-when the reward (CS) comes after random # of responses (CR)

-animal will respond often (CR), with the hope of getting reward (CS).

-example: slot machine

-->casino owners profiticize on it

Interval schedule:

-reinforcement (reward/CS) is only given after a certain interval of time has passed since last reinforcement (CS)

-->could be either fixed or variate

Fixed interval schedule: animal rewarded for its first response after a certain amount of time.

-->there is a pause b/w responses, after the reinforcer (CS) that is longer than the FR (see top of 249)

-->Example: after you receive your mail, you would not check again for mail right after it is delivered, but you would check it near the time it is supposed to be delivered.

Variable interval schedule (VI schedule)

-reinforcement depends on certain interval of time but the interval's duration changes unpredictably

-->relative high tendency to respond

[FI –stronger that FR]

Summery:

Fixed Ratio schedule: reinforcement is provided after a certain, fixed amount of time has elapsed since last reinforcement

Variable Ratio schedule: reinforcement is provided after a certain amount of time has elapsed since last reinforcement, but it changes unpredictably

Fixed interval schedule: reinforcement is provided after a fixed # of responses

Variable interval schedule: reinforcement is provided after a varying # of responses

Aversive conditioning

Punishment:

-a response is followed by aversive stimuli or event which weaken/suppress subsequent acts -->opposite of reinforcement

Disadvantage of punishment

• Reinforcements tell the organism to repeat the act. Punishment tells organism to stop the act, but does not give an alternative. the organism might report to a worse act
• Punishment might have bad by-products, through classical conditioning, such as fear of parents/teacher/employer/home/school
• Might elicit aggressive behavior worse than the original

Aversion

Escape and avoidance

Aversion is also a way to learn:

Escape learning: in order to avoid aversive event

-->as soon as stimuli start, the organism takes measures to avoid it,

-->way to 'escape' the stimuli

Avoidance learning: learning to totally avoid stimuli, b/f it evens happens

-->a way to 'avoid' stimuli

Example:

-a rat hears a sound. 5 sec. later, shocked. It could avoid shock by jumping over a barrier. at first, it jumped at the shock (escape learning). then it learnt to jump @ sound (avoidance learning)

Question

What is reinforcing the organism to take avoidance measures?

Answer:

2 stages of learning

Stage #1:classical conditioning (the rat learns to relate the sound to the shock, thus creating fear)

Stage #2: operant conditioning (the rat learns how to avoid fear by jumping)

Control and cognitive factors

-Cognitive factors also play part in learning – not just mere environmental stimulants

Contingency vs. control

-One factor of classical as well as operant condition is temporal contiguity.

-A cognitive approach: an operant act is conditioned when immediately followed by reinforcement

Control: operant is conditioned w/ organism interprets the reinforcement as being controlled by its response.

àjust like predictability

Maier/Seligman experiment

Stage 1

Dog group A =shock dependant on behavior (shock could be turned off by pressing lever)

Dog group B =not dependant on their behavior (shock could not be controlled)

Stage 2

Dogs put in a different box w/ shock. In order to avoid shock, dogs were supposed to jump over a barrier

Dog group A =learnt to jump over the barrier

Dog group B = did not learn to jump over barrier

àB/C they were initially taught to believe that they couldn’t control shock

Conclusion

-belief in the ability to control (change) the situation is what made dogs either learn or not

learn to avoid shock

Contiguity learning

-we can also assume that an organism can only do operant conditioning when it perceives contiguity b/w response (CR) and reinforcement (CS)

i.e. if dogs didn’t perceive any contiguities in the 1^st stage, they won’t know to look for them in the 2^nd stage

-organism learns through (classical/operant conditioning) to associate behavior w/ a specific stimuli or anticipated response

-in humans, contiguities are learnt as young as 3 months old

Study

Control group: babies leant to activate a moving toy by moving their heads.

àthey showed interest in toy

Experiment group: babies who didn’t have control over toy: it moved randomly.

àshowed no interest in toy/its movements

->b/c they didn’t se contiguity b/w their actions and results

Conclusion

-there is a correlation b/w interest and perception of contiguity b/w action and result

Biological constraints

Ethological view: we learn in different situation the same way, using different mechanisms/organs

Example:

*A hen will learn in reward (reinforcer –CR) situations w/ applicable organs such as mouth (for food –reward –UCS)

*The same hen will learn to use wings for defense scenarios (escape learning).

*It will not learn to use unnatural/irrelevant organs such as wings (CR) for food cases (CS)

--

Hertz –frequency of pitch –frequency of sound waves

Classical conditioning – base stimuli on other, biological stimuli; the animal is passive

Operant conditioning: to get act. The animal is active

--

class –Mar 7, 2001

Cognitive psychology

-first things that will be discussed in class –Memory

3 stages of memory:

1. Encoding
2. Storage
3. Retrieval

Encoding:

Entering of info into brain:

Visual/phonologic/semantic/photographic

Storage

Retrieval

2 stages of retrieval

1. recall: reproduce info as is, w/o too much manipulation/processing
2. Recognition: giving associations/manipulations/processing.

-Encoding is more in right hemisphere/retrieval is more in left hemisphere

-when someone doesn’t recall something àproblem could be in any place in the processes àencoding/storage/retrieval

Physiology of memory

sensory memory àeach sense has a memory

àwe have a sensory scheme of a few milliseconds to which we apply each memory to

Short-term memory/ ‘working memory’

7 ±2 units ‘chunks’ of info

i.e. if a phone# is 765-1234; there is 2 chunk: 765 and 1234

-20 secs.

Long-term memory

-gets info from hippocampus (Short Term memory)

-must have semantic processing

Autographic memory

-based in experience

Memory increase

One way: -the remember things is to put them into a story.

Lucy:

àTake a walk in a familiar place and associate each place w/ a new object

àassociate new word w/ old/known concept

class, mar 14, 2001

false memory

-false memory can be activated àseems as true as real events

àif you tell a story that fits a certain scheme, other memories from that scheme might come up as we, even though they didn’t hear it

study:

-2 groups shown a movie of the same crash

when asked about the speed of the car:

-for 1 group-the word ‘hit’ was used

-for the other group, word ‘crash was used

àthe 2^nd group reported higher speed

àreported more glass thrown (even though there wasn’t any!)

àFalse memory

categorization

-helps us see the world

àyet we generalize too much

Chapter 6 notes

Aspects of Consciousness

-consciousness =hard to define

-not clearly observable àwhich bothered some early psychologists/scientists

Consciousness

1. when we monitor (internal/external) environment/ourselves

àpercepts/memories/thought are represented in awareness

2. controlling ourselves/environment so that we’re able to initiate/terminate behavioral/cognitive activities

Monitoring

-processing info from environment

• main functions of the sensory system

àto know what is happenings in our bodies/surroundings

-to avoid information overload, our consciousness focuses on some stimuli and not others

-stimuli selected often has to do w/ change in stimuli

àwe won’t pay attention to light until it b/c dimmer

àonly then do we b/c aware if that stimuli

Our attention is selective

-some events have priority over others

i.e. survival-related events usually have top priority

i.e. hard to concentrate on work if one is hungry/pain

àconsciousness tries to push out all thoughts until the matter is settled

Controlling

To plan/initiate/guide our actions

àWhether: long/short rang simple/complex

• i.e. lunch arrangement vs. planning for careers

-our acts must be guided/arranged

àwe must be abler to picture future acts/events or their alternatives

àinitiate proper activities in response to foresight

-consciousness also plays a certain roke in directing/controlling our behavior

-some events are controlled by unconsciousness

i.e. problem could be solved unconsciously

àwe are not aware og how we came to the conclusion that we did

Preconscious memories

-we can’t focus on everything around us

-we can’t focus on all stored knowledge/memory

àwe can only focus on current stimiuli

àwe ignore/select/reject àso that the contents of our consciousness is continually changing

Note

-Some things not in our attention infl. on consciousness

i.e. we might not be aware of clicking watch àafter a few strokes, you are alert and go back to count the strokes that you were not aware that you were hearing!!!

-called ‘Peripheral attention’ –also called ‘unconscious monitoring’

Another example

Lunch-line effect

-when detecting your name in a distant conversation

àyou are not aware of the extent that we monitor surrounding and perceive them

àthese stimuli infl. us subconsciously/operate at the non-conscious level of awareness

Preconscious memories

Preconscious memories -memories accessible to the consciousness

• Personal events/accumulated info (i.e. meanings of words/location of a specific country)
• Learnt skill (i.e. driving a car)

-those skills are outside our consciousness but could be called to out attention when we describe them

Unconscious

Unconsciousness –contains out memories/impulses/desires which are not accessible to the consciousness

-dev. by Freud

Freud

-Emotionally painful memories/wishes/drives =repressed into the unconsciousness

àthey may still infl. our behavior, though we might not be aware of it

-those repressed thought cause most of our mental illnesses

àFreud develops psychoanalysis

àcuring the individual by bringing the repressed material back to consciousness

-usually, the repressed thoughts can’t enter our consciousness

àbut they can effect us in indirect/disguised ways

Examples

• Dreams
• Mannerisms
• Slips of tongues (Freudian slips)
• Irrational behavior

Some Argue:

Freud: too much emphasis on emotional element of unconscious ànot enough on other elements, such as:

• Large array of mental processes
• Gestalt
• We stereotype into schemes (usually unconsciously)

Automaticity

Automaticity: habituation of responses that initially require conscious attentions

i.e.: driving a car/biking

àb/c of automaticity, we can focus our consciousness on other things

problem:

-some things have negative consequences: driver night not remember a landmark that was passed

-if we want to, we can focus on the automatic act, but it has been dissociated from our consciousness

Example

-Pianist played a piece he knows well àcould also talk to someone

àunless he presses a wrong note: pause in speech for a second

Dissociation

-‘under certain conditions, some thoughts/actions b/c split off, or dissociated from the rest of consciousness and function outside awareness’

àas defined by Pierre Janet (French psychiatrist in 1889)

-dissociation is diff from Freud’s unconsciousness

àdissociations are accessible to the consciousness

àwhich repressed memories aren’t

Normal Dissociations

-temporary take stressful event off our mind

ài.e. daydream

Problematic dissociation

-dissociative identity disorder (multiple personality)

Sleep/dream

Sleep-seemingly opposite of consciousness/awareness

àyet we think during sleep àsuch as dreams

àthough it is a diff. kind of dreaming

• we form memories during sleep

during sleep: some effect from consciousness/environment:

i.e. some can get up at a certain time if they plan to do so

-parents awake to baby’s cries

Stages of sleep

• The stages define the depth of sleep
• Measured by spontaneous brain activity, as measured on the scalp
• Measured on EEG (electroencephalogram)
• Measures the average potential of thousands of neurons on surface of cortex which is under the electrode
• Usually, eye-movements during dreaming

5 Stages of sleep

-as measured by brain waves [incl. The REM stage]

[see p. 197]

-as person closes eyes and relaxes, brainwaves @ 8-12 hertz (cycle per seconds)

-as person drifts to sleep –stage 1 sleep

stage 1

-brainwaves are:

• less regular
• reduced amplitude

stage 2

-appearance of spindles(short rhythmical responses of 12-16 hertz)

-Occasional ‘K-complex’ (sharp rise and fall of the entire EEG)

stage 3-4

-slow waves (1-2 hertz)

àcalled Delta waves

-could be woken up by a personal matter (name/baby crying)

àsomething impersonal might be ignores, such as a loud noise

Succession of Sleep stages

After about an hour of sleep, another change occurs àEEG b/c active

àREM (Rapid Eye Movements)

-other stages are called NREM (non-REM sleep)

[Regular sleep cycle –bottom of p.198]

sleep pattern

-starts at awake àgradually goes down to stage 4

àbrief stage 3 b/f REM

• most deep sleep occurs in the beginning of the night
• Most REM: later in night
• Kate in sleep: occasional awakening
• Usually, 4/5 REM periods

REM decrease

• In newborns ≈50%
• 5 year olds ≈20%-35% =REM
• Later ≈18%

Late in life

-less deep sleep (stage 3-4 sleep)

àsometimes, they disappear

àmore frequent awakenings

REM/NREM compares

-REM/NREM diff from each other as well as awakening

NREM:

• Virtually no eye-movement
• Heart/breathing goes does
• Metabolism goes down 25-30%

REM

• Fast bursts of eye-movements
• each lasts 20-30 seconds
• Metabolism –somewhat comparable to awakeness
• Almost full paralysis
• Only heart/eye/diaphragm/soft tissues (such as intestines/blood-vessels) survive.

NREM: idle brain/relaxed body

REM: active brain/Paralyzed body

• during REM: =no sensory input/motoric output from brain
• spontaneous giant electric discharge into eye from brainstem
• Since those discharges also gets to brain area that control seeing/motoric movements, the brain registers that seeking/walking takes place, even though it really doesn’t

-sleepers who awaken in:

• REM –almost always report a dream.
• NREM –report a dream 50% of the time

REM dream

-seem more visually vivid/emotionally charged

NREM dream

-neither visually vivid not emotionally charged as REM sleep (or as related directly related to person’s daily life.

Homeostatic sleep-drive

-works mostly @ night

-builds up during the day

-->if not enough sleep-tendency to fall asleep during the day is significant.

Clock-dependant alerting process

• controlled by biological clock
• controlled by 2 tiny structures in center of brain
• controls physiological/psychological changes (i.e. rhythms of alertness)

Circadian rhythm

=alert rhythem

• takes place around every 24 hours
• affected by daylight
• light tells it to stop secreting metalonin (a sleep-inducing hormone)

--> our state of awakeness depends on the balance of the two processes

[A chart about things that affect falling asleep, on p. 201]

Sleep disorders

Sleep disorder-when inability to sleep causes impaired daytime functions or increased daytime sleepiness

Sleep deprivation

-People occasionally/excessively deprive themselves of sleep

• people can carry years of accumulated ‘sleep debt’

Common sign: inability to go through day w/o temporary loss of energy/alertness

-->even through people would attribute it to something else

Regular adult –needs 8-9 hours

Insomnia

-dissatisfaction w/ amount of sleep or quality of sleep

-->doesn’t correlate w/ reality

-->very subjective!

Narcolepsy/Apnea

Narcolepsy

–irresistible attacks of drowsiness

-->may fall asleep at any given time

• about 1 out of 1000 has severe narcolepsy

-Narcolepsy –intrusion of REM episodes into daytime hours

-sometimes, the attacks are so sudden that people don’t have time to lay down!

• seems to be genetic

Apnea

-stops breathing during sleep

Reasons

1. Brain stops sending breathing signals
2. Throat is too relaxed
• Airway collapsed on breathing muscles try harder to get in air

-w/ the lack of oxygen= emergency hormones

-->person wakes up and starts breathing

• this happens to most people several times a night

-->the wakeup is so brief that it is unnoticeable

• only in the severe cases does it cause sleeplessness

-->leads to daytime sleepiness

Sleep apnea =more common in older people

-sleeping pills could make apnea fatal since people won’t awaken to restart breathing

Dreams

Dream -altered state of consciousness in which remembered images and fantasies are temporarily confused w/ external reality

-studies show that people whom do not remember dreams dream as much as those who regularly remember their dreams

Possibility for people nor remembering dreams

• some =harder to remember
• some awaken easily after REM
• distractions after REM =harder to remember

àno consolidation of the memory of the dream

Length of Dream

-some seem instantaneous

-i.e. ringing of an alarm clock evokes a full scene of fire-trucks as we wake up

Study: this might possibly reinstate a complete scene from a prior dream

Dreams’ length:

• almost as long as the REM period
• as long as it would take to act out the dream

Do people know if they’re dreaming?

-sometimes yes

-could be taught to recognize that they’re dreaming (i.e. press a button)

-Some people have lucid dreams

àrealistic/logical dreams

àthey report experimenting to see if they’re really dreaming

Example:

-One person, (in a dream), wanted to see if he’s really sleeping, so he called a cab. When he had to pay, he put his hand in his pocket to get $. Then he thought he woke up to dine coins whole over his bead

àthen, he really woke up, in a diff. position than the one he thought he was in, w/ no coins on his bed.

Question:

Can people control their dreams?

Answer

-some control is possible

Some studies focus on pre-sleep suggestions and their effects on dreams

Study #1

-Wearing red goggles for several hours b/f going to bed

àmany participants reported their dream tainted red

Study #2

-overtly suggesting to dream of an intended characteristic that the participant wished they had

àmost participant had at least 1 dream of their wished-for characteristic

Theories of Dreams/sleep

Sigmund Freud: ‘interpretation of dreams’

Dreams: a disguised attempt to fulfill unconscious drives/wants

I.e. those ideas/wishes/needs driven out of the conscious mind to the unconscious b/c they were deemed unacceptable

-dreams are symbolically censored

• Wishes: latent contents
• Narrative: manifest content

Metaphoric censor: allows dreamer to express the repressed impulses symbolically, thus avoiding guilt/anxiety

àsometimes, the transformation doesn’t take place, leading to anxiety/guilt

some studies: refute Freud’s ‘dream-work’ (how the mind transforms repressed things into symbols), even though dream has psychological/emotional meaning.

Evans

REM: sorting/reorganization of memories

Dreams: a tiny glimpse of what is being reorganized

Study-Hobson

Characteristics of a dream

• vivid visual image (≈hallucination)
• inconsistency of time/place/person (≈disorientation)
• inability to recall (≈amnesia)
• therefore, dream resembles delirium

One study

Murder rate in dreams: 2226/100,000

àway above reality!!!!

-studies show consistency of dreams over 40-50 years

àtherefore, dreams must have some sort of meaning!

-age/gender/culture affects the content of the dreams

Memory consolidation during REM sleep

Example participants trained to recognize angle in periphery of their eye àbrief flashes àvery hard task

Group #1

-normal sleep

Group #2

-REM sleep was repeatedly interrupted

-Group #1 got better at the task

àtheir improvements only took effect the next day

-REM probably not a necessity, but a great facilitator in memory

àespecially for complex skills/memories

REM pattern

Chapter 12

Individual differences

-there are huge amounts of variables in ‘nurture’ side of the nature-nurture arguments

Heritability

Heritability –is the % of variance in any trait that is accounted for by genetic diff. among individuals w/I a populations

i.e. the more individual diff. on a trait is dependant on genetic, the closed heritability is closer to 100%

I.e. height –heavily infl. by genetics (85-95%)

-difficulty in studying identical twin’s genetic infl. àthey have been treated similarly during child rearing

‘Minnesota study of Twins reared apart’

-measures combination of:

• personality tests
• ability tests
• interviews. I.e. asked about hobbies/musical tastes/fears/social attitudes/sexual interests/childhood experiences

Example of a pair

-2 British homemakers

àseparated during WWII àby families of diff. socioeconomic background

-each came to interview w/ 7 rings!

Conc. Identical twins =closer to each other that fraternal twins

Separated twins study:

-intelligence/ability –60/70%

-personality –50%

-political./religious/vocational –30-40%

Misunderstanding about Heritability

1. Heritability refers to a population (diff. b/w individuals w/I a population) rather than individuals

i.e. 90% heritability =90% of diff. w/I height diff. of a population is b/c of genetics

ànot 90% of your height

2. Heritability of a trait is not a single, fixed #

i.e. if factors of external factors variance would be reduced [i.e. everyone gets equal education] than heritability goes up, since there is proportionally less external reasons to be diff

3. Heritability doesn’t tell us about the source mean diff. b/w groups

i.e. heritability doesn’t tell us why there is a diff. b/w average of diff. ethnic groups

4. Heritability doesn’t tell us about the effects of the environmental changes on the average level of a trait

i.e. a trait w/ a higher heritability could be changed w. environment

àheight –could be changed w/ nutrition

àIQ could be changed w/ preschool intervention

Interaction b/w personality/environment

Genotype/environment correlation

-genetic/environment both affect individual since birth

-high correlation b/w genes (genotype) and the way the kid is raised

i.e. high IQ family will go more often to museum

àhome environment exacerbates/reduces genetic infl.

Reactive interaction

-everyone builds a subjective psychological environment/reality based on objective reality/environment

àhow we ‘react’ to reality

• parents yell @ kid

àone kids might nothing of it

àanother might start crying

àthis reactive duff. Occurs throughout life

Evocative interaction

-each person’s unique personality evokes distinctive response from others

-I.e. -fussing babies will get nurturance from parents

-aggressive kids will get more controlling childrearing style than docile kids

àvicious cycle: his personality effects childrearing which further shapes his personality

Proactive interaction

-children at a certain age begin to create their own environment

i.e. socialable child: goes to movie w/ friends

àif no-one invited him, he will create scenario: he will invite friends

• shift:
• at first: genotype/environment interaction =most infl.
• Then: evocative interaction =most infl.
• Last: proactive interaction =most infl.

Some unsolved problems:

• Heritability for IQ is higher for separated twins than fraternal twins/non-separated twins
• Unlike fraternal twins/un-separated identical twins, separated identical twins’ similarity doesn’t’ diminish w/ time

-b/c of same genotype, identical twins same:

• genotype/environment interaction
• evocative
• proactive

àregardless of where they dev.

Fraternal twins/siblings

-even when they get the same nurture, the big diff b/w them starts to be increasingly noticeable in proactive stage

àb/c they get same the same nurture @ childhood, the big diff. doesn’t start until later

Shared vs. non-shared environments:

-studies of environmental similarity/diff. (I.e. socioeconomic class)

i.e. compare a family’s shared environment (i.e. socioeconomic class) to non-shared environment (i.e. each family member’s friends)

Result: in siblings, no similarity beyond genetic similarity

Question:

Does that mean that environmental influences are un-influential?

Possible answer

W/I a flexible environment, a child has the potential to manipulate the environmental affects in him (proactive/evocative/proactive)

i.e. an intelligent child’s genotype has the potential to overcome debilitating effects of a bad home àmore than the less brilliant kid

àmore than in a less-flexible environment.

Problem:

No evidence for this theory

Assessment of individual difference.

Binet

-early intelligence test –for the French school system

-compares mental age (MA) w/ chronological age (CA)

-adaptations of it for American schools is called: “Standord-Binet intelligence scale”

àdev. by Terman

-William Stern: took that test and made a standard indexation of intelligence

• Intelligence quotient (IQ)

Intelligence quotient

-ration of mental to chronological age

IQ=MA/CA x 100

àtherefore, if MA/CA =1 [i.e. average of your CA is your MA]

• today, IQ is still used, but not w/ formula but rather w/ tables that concert raw scores directly into IQ

-today, intelligence is seen as a combination of several skills.

-the broad areas measured are:

• verbal reasoning
• abstract visual reasoning
• quantitative reasoning
• short-term memory

àeach area gets a diff. scale

àSee p. 432 (table 12.2) for diff. IQ measuresß

Wechsler intelligence scores

-Developed by David Wechsler

àthought that Stanford-Binet focused too much on vocabulary

àwhich is not good for adults

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)

2 parts

-verbal scale

-performance scale

Wechsler intelligence scale for Children (WISC)

-similar test for kids

-performance scales include manipulation/arrangements of blocks/pictures/other material

à:diff scales for each subset

àExaminer has clearer picture of individual’s intelligence strengths/weaknesses

-both Stanford-Binet test and Wechsler test =good reliability/validity

• test-retest reliability =about 0.90
• Correlation w/ achievement in school =0.50

àpretty good

See p. 433 for test.

Group Ability test

-Stanford-Binet/Wechsler tests –measure individuals

-group ability tests measure a large group of people

-i.e. American College Test (ACT) /Scholastic Assessment Tests (SAT)

SAT/Freshmen Year Correlation

-various studies show diff results

Median results of study

• Verbal =0.38
• Math =0.34

-if you take out the low scores (those who didn’t end up going to university) then the correlation is 0.50

àthat means that 44% of the top fifth of SAT distribution will be at top fifth of university marks, whereas 4% of bottom fifth will be at top fifth of university

-people w/identical SAT scores could vary greatly in university.

Factorial Approach

-splitting of the tests into smaller #

->assuming that there are many tests that highly correlate means that the same underlying ability is being measures

àeach ability is called Factor

Originator = Charles Spearman

Assumption

-varying amounts of General intelligence Factor (Called g)

àperson =generally Bright or Dull

-Then, There’s Special Factors (called s)

Test of primary mental abilities

-Thurstone, objecting to Spearman’s focus on General Intelligence

-->identifies 7 main factors

-general lack of consistency in #/factor type doubts the value of factorial approach

Class, Mar 21, 2001

-in the 70’s – we have much more focus on subjectivity in perception – studied by Rosh

-concept of prototype

-prototype: a general scheme conception of the category (I.e. furniture)

-way to measure –show pictures: see how fast participant reacts to it (when told to press a button if they hear a furniture name)

-‘we categorize things. We break categories into parts. The more ‘parts’ of the new objects that relate to the prototype of the category, the more we associate it w/ the category.’

-i.e. the more elements of our prototype of furniture we have, the more we are going to relate it to ‘furniture’.

-in the 90’s –we have schemes related to connection b/w objects –associations

-entry of neurology/computer science to psychology

-claim: brain works like a computer

àthere are synapses in the brain that are created, based on associations

ài.e. excitatory synapses to associated things

àinhibitory synapses to things that are not associated w/ object

-i.e. I naturally associate b/w bed and closet àbut not bed and fridge

Emotion

-research shows that emotional expression is cross-cultural

àhow we induce it (i.e. love) might be diff.

-if a language doesn’t have the word, it probably doesn’t exist in that culture.

ài.e. car/love/etc.

Emotion theories

There are many theories to explain the order of:

Emotional stimulation/physical reaction/perception/emotion

See top l. of p. 397 for simple theory chart

Chapter 11

Cognitive appraisal- the interpretation that we give the situation, in regards to our personal goals in life:

à ‘I won the match, and therefore, I feel happy.’

Intensity and differentiation of emotion

-appraisal of a situation contributes to intensity of emotional experience.

Examples

• if our car rolls backwards in steep decline, we feel terror. If we know that it is part of a roller coaster, we feel much less intense feeling.
• When someone said that they feel awful each time they see us, there is a diff. feeling if you know the person or not.
• In those cases, our cognitive appraisal of the situation affects the intensity of out emotional experience

-See top l. of p. 397 for simple theory chart

Emotion theories

Note: this is an oversimplification of he steps! They are actually complex processes. Furthermore, there are subcomponents and

Appraisal theory

-will be discussed in a bit more detail later

• Stimulus+ appraisal of the stimulus
• Subjective experience of the emotion

[appraisal -assessment]

Early Theory #1

James/Langa

• Perception of a stimulant [or act that is done to create one]
• Physical reaction to it
• Emotional reaction
• The mind perceives how the body reacted and creates an emotion fitting to that reaction

Early Theory #2

Canon/Bard

• Stimulant
• Message to thalamus [which they thought was responsible for emotion]
• Thalamus concurrently sends message to:
• Cortex where perception takes place
• Autonomic system where sudden reaction takes place

Theory #3 -1968

Schechter/Singer

Note: their experiment was not able to be reproduced, and had some statistical mistakes

Experiment

-invite people for an experiment about ‘vision’

-there is a participant and a helper, which appears to be another participant

-divided into 3 groups, each given a drug (epinephrine):

• 1 was told how this drug behaved: i.e. blood-pressure (correct experience)
• 1 was told: headaches/itches (incorrect experience)
• Control group –not told anything

2 situations:

-the experimenter’s helper (the one who appears to be another participant in the experiment) is:

• the is exhilarated/energized
• nervous/pissed off
• neutral (control group)

Results

• When the drug explanation is true, and I have an arousing experience [drug], I will account for the arousal with the drug, regardless of the other’s behavior.
• When explanation is false/no explanation (i.e. I feel something I was not told about àI feel differently than what I was told) àcertain doubt
• I account for this emotional arousal from the other person’s behavior
• If he’s nervous, I assume that I am angry. If he’s happy, I assume I am feeling happy

Resulting theory

• Stimulant
• I perceive that this stimulant has an arousing effect
• Bodily arousal àincluding awareness of it)
• Finding an external reason for it
• If I don’t have an explanation, I give a plausible one
• emotion, correlating to the explanation I gave

Other studies which tried to reproduce this experiment:

-found a slightly more negative response àprobably b/c of the drug.

Study: exercise vs. emotional arousal:

More exercise =more emotional experience:

àprobably b/c it stimulates the autonomic system/physiological arousal.

Dimensions of Appraisal

Appraisal theories

-Actually group of theories

-how we appraise the situation (as opposed to appraisal of physiological arousal) leads to how we subjectively experience emotion.

2 types of appraisal theories

1. Theories that that identify primary/fundamental emotions and specify the types of situation and appraisals that elicit those emotions.

à Primary emotions and their causes

2. Theories that identify the primary dimensions of appraisal that specific emotions resulting from them

àPrimary appraisal Dimension and their consequences

Group #1 - Primary emotions and their causes

-small group of ‘primary’ emotions, each of which is elicited by a specific appraisal such as fear that elicited by the appraisal of threat

-those basic emotions are in all cultures/animal kingdom. Some of the appraisals are also universal, i.e. the sight of a hissing snake.

i.e. Americans would be shocked to see someone nude on the beach

àtotally natural in Brazil

Group #2 – Primary emotions and their causes

-focuses on primary dimension of appraisal (rather than a primary set of emotions) and their emotional consequences.

Example: one dimension is desirability of an anticipated event. Another is if the event does or doesn’t occur. If we combine those 2 factors, we get 4 appraisals of events and their emotional consequence. If event occurs (i.e. falling in live), we experience joy. If desired event doesn’t, we experience sorrow. Is an undesired event occurs, we experience distress. If it doesn’t occur, we feel relief

Note: in reality, there are many more dimensions in each appraisal and emotional consequence.

ài.e. a study found that at least 6 dimensions are needed to describe some emotions such as anger/guilt/sadness

Including:

• Desirability of situation
• Amount that the person anticipates spending on the situation
• Certainty of the situation
• Degree of control a person feels he has over the situation
• Amount of time a person wants to devote to the situation
• Amount of control that a person attributes to nonhuman forces in the situation

Some clinical implications

-the fact that cognitive emotions can differentiate emotions =puzzling

àsometimes, patients appear to be experiencing emotion, but are not conscious on it.

àperson has no subjective experience of the emotion, yet reacts in a manner consistent w/ that emotion.

àfor example: person may not feel angry but acts hostile

àlater, he has that emotion and then agrees that he must have had that feeling earlier

Freud: this is the repressed painful ideas that come out

àmodern studies support that

Explanation:

-because a person’s belief about the situation usually gives the emotion its quality, preventing the emotion from coming to consciousness (repression) or events person from experiencing the quality of the emotion

Clinical emotional development

Study: -person’s sensations of pleasure/distress do not change over maturation

àbut rather the ideas associated w/ it

Conclusion: the feeling of joy is the same for 3 or 30 year olds. The diff. is what makes us joyous.

àgoes well w/ the idea that pleasure/distress are from autonomic system

àsame feelings, but the emotional beliefs change over time

Note: -the extent to which a situation elicits a response depends of past experiences.

àpossibly b/c past experiences affects our appraisal process (i.e. our beliefs about the current situation)

Emotion Without Cognition

Studies support 2 kinds of emotions

1. emotions based on emotional cognition
2. emotions that precede cognition

Autonomy of the 2 kinds of emotions

Amygdala = almond-shaped mass that is located in lower brain

àregisters emotional reactions

-Recently discovered: sensory channels that don’t go through cortex, but rather straight to amygdala.

àmight be the physiological path of the precognitive emotions

Precognitive emotions: emotions not based on appraisal

àtherefore, the amygdala responds to an alarming situation b/d the cortex does

àwe feel b/f we can think

Example: if in the corner of your eye, you see something that looks like a snake, you would first jump, before realizing it was only a rope

-our emotion experiences w/o conscious deliberate appraisal –usually restricted to undifferentiated positive or negative emotions

Expression and Emotion

-facial expressions clearly expresses emotion

helps us:

• understand that there is a nearby danger
• that this animal/person is threat b/c he’s angry

Communication of emotions through facial expressions

-certain facial expressions seem to be universal

• Anger
• Happiness
• Sorrow
• Surprise
• Etc.

Darwin: those expressions must be innate.

Nevertheless: some facial expressions are learnt

• in some cultures, you cry when you loose a loved one à In others, you sing/dance are happy.
• In Europe, men kissing/hugging = natural vs. America where it is taboo

Localization in the brain

-the emotional expressions are very specific, whether learnt or innate

àtherefore, it could be assumed that a neurological system might have evolved in humans to interpret emotions

Study

• picture of a face is briefly shown to either L/R eye and asked to identify emotions

àfaster/more accurate when shown to left eye (right hemisphere)

• then the picture of the face shown has a half which is one emotion and the other showing a diff emotion, the side of the picture projected to R. Hemisphere has more impact

• people w/ R. Hemisphere brain-damage have harder time recognizing facial expressions

Note: facial expressions/face recognition: diff. areas of the brain!

Prospagnosia: inability to recognize familiar aces

àbut can recognize emotions of those ‘unfamiliar’ faces

Face recognition: parietal/occipital lobe

Emotional Recognition: temporal lobe

Vocal expression of emotion

-Emotional expressions could also occur through vocal intonation/pitch/timing/stress

àsome are universal –others are not.

ài.e. sharp increase in pitch indicates fear

-the neurological center for audio-emotional recognition in the right hemisphere

àyou can find that out just like how you test for facial expressions

àshow both ears the sounds and see the reactions

Intensity and differentiation of emotion

Facial feedback hypothesis -Tomkins

-the idea that facial expressions contribute to out emotional experience, beyond its communicative purpose

àjust as we receive feedback from our autonomic system, we also get feedback from our facial expressions, which combined w/ other components of emotion to procude a more intense experience

ài.e.: if you make yourself smile and hold it for a while, you will feel happier

àreported: those who exaggerate their emotional response claim to have more emotional experience

Claim: the response, regardless of it’s sincerity, contributes to the emotion!!

-some studies actually find the facial expressions to increase autonomic arousal

• heart rate
• skin temperature
• therefore, it also has a circular indirect affect emotion as well

Some researcher think:

-facial expressions determine the quality of emotions

àcontribute to differentiation of emotions

Tomkins: feedback form facial expression s are inherently good or bad, therefore, one can use them to distinguish positive from negative emotions

àjust like James/Langa = ‘emotion = perception of bodily change.’

Blood flow and brain temperature

-some facial expressions involve certain muscles which in effect control neighboring muscles which control brain-blood flow, which determines brain-temperature, which in turn effects which neurotransmitters are released., which in turn, affects emotion.

Example:

Smiling =causes temperature in brain to lower àeffects the region brain w/ many neurotransmitters releasing serotonin. Less serotonin = happiness.

Study

-Germans divided into 2 groups. 1 has to read a story w/ many ü sounds. The other group read stories w/ few ü sounds

àcaused opposite effect from smiling since those muscles contracting for smiling are now being pulled.

--

Stress, health and coping –chapter 14

-a stressor could lead in one person to illness and in another, it won’t affect at all.

àthe latter might even find this situation interesting/challenging.

Stress: experiencing events that are perceived as endangering to one’s physical or psychological well-being.

Stressor: as stressing event

Stress responses: the way people react to stressors

• The reaction to stress is adaptive: the natural reaction is to either escape or to attack the stressor,
• When it’s maladaptive (chronic/uncontrollable stress), it could have an effect on health

Health psychology/behavioral medicine –the study of stress/other social/psychological/biological factors contribute to physical illness (i.e. heart disease/cardiovascular/immune system)

Characteristics of a stressful event

Stressors could include

• Events that effect a large group (war/earthquake)
• Major changes in individual’s life (marriage/new job/loss of friend)
• Daily routine (traffic jam)
• Within the individual (conflicting motiveds/desires)

-events that are perceived as stressful are usually categorized as either

• Traumatic events outside range of usual human experience
• Uncontrollable events
• Unpredictable events
• Events that challenge the limit of out capacities
• Challenge of self concept/internal conflicts

Traumatic events

Traumatic events –situations of extreme danger that are outside range of usual human experience.

Includes:

• Natural events (earthquakes)
• Caused by human activity (war)
• Catastrophic events (car/plane crash)

Stage 1

-total daze/confusion

àunaware of danger/injuries

ài.e. after an earthquake, person wonders, disoriented, around buildings which are on the verge of collapse àrisk of more injury

Stage 2

-still passive

-unable to initiate simple/basic tasks, but will readily comply

ài.e. won’t make food, but if invited out, will comply

stage 3

-Survivor b/c anxious/apprehensive

-Difficulty concentrating

-May repeat the story of catastrophe over and over again

-might have difficulty working, b/c can’t concentrate

-can’t come near a thing that even reminds them of the catastrophe (i.e. a car, in a case of a car-crash)

sexual abuse

-one kind of traumatic event in our society

-impact of rape on emotional/physical health is great!

Studies show:

-first 6 months after rape/other assault, men/women show depression/anxiety/dismay and other indicators of emotional distress.

àfor some, the emotional distress declines. For others, it is long-lasting

-one study shows: rape/assault victims: twice as likely to be diagnosed w/ depressive disorder/anxiety disorder/substance abuse at some time after the abuse

àmost likely to show these disorders if assaulted as a kid

àif assaulted as child, they remain at risk all their life.

-More common events can also lead to be perceived as stressors:

Controllability/predictability/the extent that it challenges to our capacities/self-concept

àdependent on individual perception/appraisal

Controllability

-the less under control the an event seems, the more it seems stressful

àone of the reasons why they are stressful is b/c we can’t stop them

Examples

Major:

• Death of a loved one
• Being laid from work
• Serious illness

Minor:

• friend refuses your apology
• being bumped from a flight b/c the flight oversold

Note: As important as controllability is our perceived controllability

Study #1:

-2 groups were shown a picture of violent death.

-control group could terminate the picture

-experiment group couldn’t.

àGSR was measured (good reflection of autonomic system)

-the group who could control image showed much less GSR that the ones who couldn’t

àfeeling of controllability appears to reduce impact of events

Study #2

-2 groups were given a loud noise. One was told that if and only if it was absolutely necessary, could they switch off noise. [in actuality, no-one did]

àthe ones who didn’t get the control did much worse on a subsequent problem-solving tasks

àmore disturbed by lack of controllability than the noise

Predictability

-if person can’t control situation, but at least predict it, it does reduce severity of the stress

àas seen in chapter 7, people prefer predictable aversive events to non-predictable

-Humans show less emotional arousal/report less distress while waiting for predictable shocks. They also perceive predictable shock as less aversive than non-predictable shock, even if they’re the same intensity.

Possible reasons

1. Human can make some preparatory process that reduces the effect of noxious stimulus (the shock) 0ài.e. if person knows he’s just about to get a shot from a Dr., he might distract himself.
2. W/ predictability, the organism has a chance to relax. W/ no predictability, the animal won’t relax, as he doesn’t know when it is safe.

-example: a boss who always criticizes but is out of town is less of a stressor than a boss who sometimes (unpredictably) criticizes, but is never out of town. People w/ 2^nd kind of job may feel chronically stressed

Practical examples:

• cancer patients: future is unpredictable since they won’t know for years if the therapy worked
• Fire-fighting/Emergency-room workers: don’t know if they’ll succeed
• victims of torture who had predicted episodes recover better than the ones who don’t have predictability is the episodes of torture

Challenging our Limits

-this category are largely controllable/predictable events, but push our limits, and even challenges our view of ourselves

Example: exam-week

àLonger study hours could mean:

• Intellectual/physical exertion
• Testing the limit of knowledge/intellectual capacity
• Even good students start doubting if they’ll pass àchange their view of themselves

-some stressful situations are entered joyfully/enthusiastically.

ài.e. marriage àyou have to change habits slightly to fit wife.

àarguments over things like economic planning could put people into doubt that they married the right person àchange view(

Holmes/Rahe:

-any change in life that requires numerous readjustments could be viewed as stressful.

àstudied medical history/questionnaires.

àmade a chart of diff. stressor, and their ranking

àcompared everything to marriage, since this is critical life event for most people àarbitrarily made it the middle of the rankings (50 out of 100) àthen asked people to rank various events. [-results on page 491]

Example

• Divorce: 73
• Jail term 65
• Marriage 50
• Change in school 20
• Vacation 13

Note: even positive events could be stressful; but negative events impact psychological/physiological health more

-there is a diff. b/w how people react to these events, based on age/culture

-some people find major changes in life/pressuring situation stressful but rather challenging

àdepends on personal characteristics

Internal conflicts

-until now, we discussed only events external to the person

-conflicts could also be brought by internal processes àunresolved conflicts whether conscious or unconscious.

àperson must choose b/w 2 incompatible/conflicting goals/actions àone prevents you from achieving the other

-i.e. you want to be in a sports team, but also want to achieve school marks

-even w/ 2 equally attractive goals (2 equally good jobs) àdecision could be agonizing, and you might even feel sorry after making the choice

àstress would not have occurred if you only had 1 job.

-Conflict also occur w/ to motives are in conflict:

-in our society those conflicts include:

• Independence vs. dependence
• We want someone to take care of us in hard situations, yet we’re taught to be independent
• We want to be independent but circumstances/other people force us to remain dependant
• Intimacy vs. Isolation
• Desire to be close to another person, to share our innermost thoughts/emotions may conflict w/ fear of being hurt/rejected is we expose too much of ourselves
• Cooperation vs. competition
• Our society emphasizes competition and success. This starts even b/w siblings, then in school and ends up in business. On the other hand, we are urged to cooperate and help others
• Expression of impulses vs. moral standards
• Impulses could be regulated to some degree in all societies. Sex/aggression are impulses, which often come into conflict w/ moral standards. Violations of these standards can generate feeling of guilt.

Psychological reaction to stress

-stressful situations produce emotional reaction ranging from exhilaration (when event is demanding, but manageable) to anxiety/anger/depression

-if the stressor continues, emotions could change, depending on success of coping effort.

Anxiety

-most common response to stressor

Characterized by:

• Worry
• Apprehension
• Tension
• Fear

-after event beyond normal human suffering is a set of anxiety-related syptomks called post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Many symptoms of PTSD include:

1. feeling numbness to the world/estrangement from others/lack of interest in former activities
2. tendency to relive the trauma repeatedly in memories/dreams
3. Sleep disturbances/difficulty concentrating/over-alertness

àfeeling guilty b/c they survived while others didn’t

àPTSD could come directly after event or after weeks/months/years w/ a trigger of a small stressor.

Study #1 –holocaust survivors

• ½ are suffering from PTSD 40 years after holocaust
• People held in camps: x3 more likely to have PTSD that those no in camps.

Study #3 –rape:

• 95% have symptoms severe enough to be diagnosed 2 weeks after the event
• 50% - after 3 months
• 25% after 4-5 months

-PTSD first characterized after Vietnam war

Earlier/simpler versions:

• ‘shell shock’ (WWI)
• ‘War Fatigue’ (WWII)

-PTSD correlates w/ violence/drug abuse

-In one survey of war veterans:

• 16% -heavy drinking/drugs/problems concentrating in school/work or social problems
• 44% -war memories that they are trying unsuccessfully to forget

s-Gulf war also found PTSD in non-combat soldiers

Anger and aggression

-another common reaction to a stressful situation

Lab study:

-animals in stressful situations might attack/fight each other

-children often get frustrated, which leads to anger and then to aggression

Frustration-aggression hypothesis

-when person’s goals are blocked, frustration develops. Then an aggressive drive is induced which induces motivation to harm the object/person who causes the frustration.

• aggression is not an inevitable consequence of frustration, but is definitely a frequent response
• Some aggression is displaced verbally
• Sometimes, when aggression at the source of frustration is not possible, displacement takes place
• One may let out his frustration on his family after his boss yelled at him

Apathy and Depression

-the opposite reaction of aggression is also common.

àpeople b/c apathetic and withdrawn from stressful situation

àif they continue, the apathy deepens into depression

Theory of Learnt helplessness

-Learnt helplessness:

àexplains withdrawal/apathy/depression

Example: study

-a dog sees a light. Several seconds later, it is shocked. It could avoid shock by jumping over a barrier. at first, it jumped at the shock (see escape learning). then it learnt to jump @ light (see avoidance learning)

àbut if the dog has previously been confined to a box w/ shock, but w/ no chance of escape/avoidance learning, he learns that he cant’ do anything about his situation.

àeven actively trying to teach dog how to jump (using shaping, such as taking him over the barrier) won’t teach it àit already learnt that it is helpless against the shock.

àsame thing in humans

-i.e. holocaust victims, who didn’t do anything about their condition out of a sense of helplessness in the camps.

->this theory has been modified to explain how some people did do something instead of getting withdrawn/depressed b/c they were in the concentration camps. Those modifications will be discussed.

Cognitive Impairment

-beyond emotional impairments, people frequently cognitive impairments.

àexamples include difficulty concentrating/organizing thoughts

Two possible sources for cognitive impairment:

1. high level of emotional arousal can interfere w/ processing of info

• more depressed/angry/anxious = more cognitive impairment

2. Distracting thoughts, due to a stressor impairs cognitive processes

• we worry about the stressor/think of the possible actions we need to take/berate ourselves for not handling the situation better

• Example: while writing a test, student is suffering from test anxiety: worries about what will happen if they’ll fail
• They will be so distracted by those negative thoughts that they’ll misread instruction/neglect info/find it difficult to retrieve learnt info

-Cognitive impairment often leads people to rigidly follow behavioral patters b/c they can’t think clearly enough to devise alternative plans

• i.e. people were known to be trapped in fires b/c they (from panic) pushed the exit door that actually turned inwards àtoo impaired, cognitively, to consider alternatives, or think of other ways to escape
• Others resort to childish behavior inappropriate for the situation, i.e. strike out heedlessly in all directions

Physiological reactions to stress

-body reacts to stressor w/ complex sequence of events

àif the perceived threat is quickly resolved. They subside

àextended stressor/perceived stressor, a diff. set of responses kick in.

Fight-or-flight response

-Whether you fall icy river/encounter armed attacker/scared of fist parachute, the body responds in a similar way.

à ‘fight-or-flight’ mechanism

• Liver releases extra sugar (glucose) to fuel muscles
• Hormones convert fat into sugars
• Heart rate increases
• Blood-pressure goes up
• Saliva dried up to increase passage of air to lung
• Endorphins (body’s natural painkillers) are released, for cases of emergency
• Skin blood-vessels constrict to avoid excessive amount of bleeding, in case of injury
• Spleen makes more red blood cells (to carry more oxygen)
• Bone marrow makes more white corpuscles to fight infections
• Unessential activities are curtailed, such as digestion

Physiology of fight-or-flight

-Hypothalamus controls 2 neuro-endorphin systems

1. Sympathetic system
2. Adrenal-cortical system

Sympathetic system

-in the fight-or-flight scenario, the sympathetic system does 2 things:

1. controls/regulates neural/organ impulses
2. appropriate fight-or-flight hormones

1. The hypothalamus activates the nuclei in brainstem that control the sympathetic part of the autonomous nerve system. This does:

• Increase blood rate
• Elevated blood-pressure
• Dilated pupils

-Simulates the inner core of the adrenal gland (adrenal medulla) which releases

• Epinephrine (adrenalin) àsame effect as the sympathetic system
• Norepinephrine àindirectly infl. the release of sugars by its stimulation of the pituitary gland

2. Hypothalamus also activates adrenal-cortical system by telling pituitary gland to secrete adrenocorticotrophic (ACTH)

-ACTH stimulates the outside layer of the adrenal glands (adrenal-cortex) resulting in the release of hormones, which control blood glucose levels (the major one being coristol), among other mineral control

àACTH signals for 30 other emergency hormones to be released

System #1

-Stressoràhypothalamusàsympathetic systemàsends neural impulses to vital organs, concurrently, it stimulates the adrenal-medulla –which releases stress hormones.

àfight-or-flight response

System #2

-Stressoràhypothalamusàpituitary Glandàadrenal cortexàstress hormones released àfight or flight response

General adaptation syndrome

-developed by Selye

General adaptation syndrome: a set of responses that is displayed by all organisms in response to stress.

3 stages:

Alarm

Body is set to confront a threat by triggering sympathetic nervous system activity

Resistance

Organism tried to cope w/ organism, by other fleeing or fighting it

Exhaustion

-organism couldn’t flee or fight and depleted its physiological resources

-Selye argues that psychological/physiological stressors trigger this response.

àmany physiological diseases develop b/c of over-exhaustion of system, b/c of constant psychological/physiological stressors

àSelye called them diseases of adaptation

Stress and toughness

-exposure to occasional stressors also has a benefit: physiological toughness

àintermittent stress, w/ recovery period leads to stress tolerance

Examples (based on a rat study):

• stress hormones return to normal levels faster
• less fearful to stressors as adults

-physiological responses that appear beneficial involves:

• involves arousal of sympathetic system
• active effort to cope w/ situation
• increases in of epinephrine/norepinephrine helps performance of task

-physiological responses that appear harmful involves:

• involves arousal of adrenal-cortical system
• when a person feels distress but does not actively deal w/ it

Note: it is a complex interrelationship b/w sympathetic/adrenal-cortical system.

àtherefore, it is hard to tell at when the system is beneficial/harmful

How stress affects health

-attempts to adapt to continued stressor leads to depletion or resources, making the body vulnerable to illness:

• ulcers
• high blood pressure
• heart disease

Psychophysical disorders: physical disorders where emotion ios believed to play a central role.

àPeople w/ psychophysical illness are not aware that they are really sick.

ài.e. have tissue damage

àsome psychophysical ulcers are undistinguishable from drug-induced ulcers

-Researchers try to relate specific diseases to specific behavioral/emotional pattern. I.e.:

• Type A is linked w/ coronary heart disease
• Behavior of people who find everything threatening and are at guard at all times, is related to hypertension
• Repressed anger is associated w/ Colitis (inflammation of the Colon lining

Direct effects

-body’s physiological response to stressor may have negative effect on body if it is kept up for long time.

àover-arousal of sympathetic system/adrenal-system can cause damage to arteries/organ systems/immune system

Coronary heart disease

-over-arousal caused by chronic stress can leads to coronary heart disease (CHD)

àvessels that supply the heart w/ blood narrow/build up fatty substance (plaque)

àcan cause pain (called angina pectoris)

àtotal blockage of oxygen can cause heart attack

-(called myocardial infraction)

-people who have genetic disposition to CHD are at increased risk

àalso, people w/ high serum cholesterol/smoking/diabetes/obesity

àalso people in high stress jobs, especially if their jo is high demanding, such as high workload/responsibilities/role conflicts

àsuch as control tower/production line (you work at a machine’s pace)

-also family stress could affect cardiovascular system

ài.e. employed mothers are at a higher risk (risk increase w/ # of kids)

àa beneficial stress response in this case is hiring a house-helper

-a chronically stressed group is Afro-Americans:

• low income
• high violence
• frequently exposed to racism
• all of those are stressors

Effects of stress on immune system

-psychoneuroimmunology: the study of how the body’s immune system is affected by stress and other psychological factors

-by specializing cells called lymphocytes the body defends itself from disease-causing microorganisms.

-affects how body deals w/ infectious diseases/allergies/cancers

ài.e. rheumatic arthritis: where the body attacks its own cells

-no one way to measure one’s immune functioning (immuno-competence)

àbut we can focus on components of immune system

Experiment: (Cohen/Tyrel/Smith -1991)

-400 healthy people given nasal washes w/ 1 of 5 kinds of cold-virus or a plain salt solution. Then questioned about their stress levels/negative emotions

àthen checked daily for presence of cold virus/virus specific antibodies

Results: most showed signs of infection, but only 1/3 developed colds

àthose w/ higher ranking stress/negative emotions, showed more colds

àeven after other factors taken into account, i.e. smoking/age/allergies/alcohol use/diet/exercise

àthe participants lived near the lab b/f and after expoaure and carefully monitored.

àto avoid other factors, since most people in regular life undergo some stress, such as school, etc.

Study:

-Students have less antibodies b/f an exam

-men’s immune system down for a month to a year after wife’s death

àalso true when compared married vs. recently divorced people w/ similar behavioral styles.

• Psychological factors that reduce stress, such as relaxation techniques reduce adverse immunological changes, and perhaps improves it.

One factor -controllability

• the extent to which a person can control the stress (controllability is one of the variables that infl. the severity of stress –see above.)
• uncontrollable shock has much more effect on immune system than controllable shock (as seen in an experiment of 2 rats, where one can control the shock by pressing a lever)
• could be measures by T-cells (lymphocytes that secrete chemical that kills harmful cells, such as cancer cells). àmore T-cells when undergoing stressors which one can control

Study

-rat given tumor cells

àthe body rejected those tumor cells more if there was fewer stressors

Study

-People w/ cancer: some exposed to social-support. Others not

àcoincidentally, the ones w/ social support program survived longer/died less

àalso, people who were generally more pessimistic after breast-cancer, were more likely to develop new tumors w/I 5 years after initial cancer.

àeven after initial severity was taken into account

Study: the feeling of being in control

-feeling of being in control after a divorce showed less distress and better immune system than the other spouse

Note: all of these studies the interrelationship b/w immune system and the nervouis system

ài.e. lymphocytes have number of diff. neurotransmitters.

àthey can receive messages from nervous system

Another factor: Health-related behaviors

-some behaviors increase our susceptibility to illness

• smoking (leads to cardiovascular disease/emphysema)
• high-fat diets (leads to cancer/cardiovascular disease)
• lack of exercise: (earlier death/heart disease)
• excessive alcohol (liver/cardiovascular disease/cancers)
• failure to use protective measures in sexual relationships

-when we are stressed, we tend to engage less in healthy behavior.

Examples:

-Students, b/f an exam might:

• skipping meals
• snacking on junk-food
• staying up all night for several nights

-while grieving, some people might increase:

• smoking
• drinking alcohol

-stress may also indirectly affect health by reducing healthy behaviors and increasing unhealthy behaviors

• unhealthy behavior might also increase person’s subjective sense of stress

-i.e. drinking too much alcohol might affect person’s cognitive functioning

àcan’t concentrate/think as clearly/quickly/lethargy/fatigue/mild to moderate sense of depression

àmaking it hard to deal w/ every day life.

-likewise, people who don’t sleep enough show impairments in things like memory/learning/logical reasoning/math skills/complex verbal processing/decision making

àsleeping for 5 hours for 2 successive nights significantly affects performance on math/creative thinking

• In contrast, healthy lifestyle (low fat-diet/moderation of alcohol-drinking/regular exercise) report stressors to be more manageable/feel more in control over life

Conclusion: healthy behavior/lifestyle reduces stressfulness in life/reduces a number of serious illnesses

Mediators of Stress Responses

-as mentioned earlier, uncontrollable/unpredictable/challenge our view of ourselves can be defined as stressful

-some differences in appraisal could define the situation as stressful or not

3 approaches: psychoanalytical/behavioral/cognitive

Psychoanalytical approach

-psychoanalysts distinguish b/w objective anxiety (reasonable response to a harmful event) and neurotic anxiety (out of proportion to the real threat

Freud: neurotic anxiety is a result of conflict b/w unacceptable impulses and constraints imposed by reality

àmany impulses pose threat to individual b/x they are contradictory to his/society’s values

i.e. kid repressed sour feeling to mom b/c it is against social norms to love parents

àawareness might destroy his self-concept/risk mom’s support and love

àwhen angry at mom, anxiety might b/c a warning signal

àeven small conflict could explode into a major stressor.

àless conflicted feelings =less severe stressors

-we all have unconscious conflicts. Some have more and more severe, and a result, they experience more events as more stressful

Behavioral approach

-this approach focuses on how people associates some stress responses w/ some situations

i.e. people might feelings fear/anxiety b/w in the past, those situations gave him those feelings, or caused him harm.

Example: a person might feel anxious every time he walks into a classroom which he previously took a test and failed

-sometimes, it is difficult to extinguish fears, since the person constantly tries to avoid the scenario

àa small child who’s punished for being assertive will never express feelings in new situations, since he never tries to.

Cognitive theory

-modification of the learned helplessness theory (see above) [Abramson/Seligman/Teasdale]

-people are more likely going to feel helpless if they think that the stressor is:

• Their fault (‘it’s my fault’)
• Stable in time (‘it will last forever’)
• Global/affecting many areas of life

Example:

-if a person’s wife left him and he things it’s b/c his bad personality (his fault/stable over time/global [affecting many areas of life]

àhe’ll b/c depressed/lose self-esteem; probably fail next relationships

àhe’ll show passivity/sadness/loss of motivation

à a less pessimistic attribution will keep his sell-esteem/motivation for the future

Attributional styles: our styles of making attributions for events in our life

-Attributional styles affect hoe people see the situation as a stressor and have depressed/helpless reactions to those events

• Pessimistic attributional style is linked to physical illness over time
• lowered immune system (direct way)
• less engages in health activities (indirect way)

Hardiness

-Hardiness: people who are resistant to stress: they don’t b/c physically/emotionally impaired

Study:

-compared executives/bosses who were:

1. high stress/low illness
2. High stress/high illness

àthen, they were given personality tests

Results:

-Those who were at high stress/low illness were:

• more socially active
• more involved in their work
• felt more in control of events in their lives
• more oriented towards challenge/change

-Note: those could be the results and not the cause of the illness

àlongitude studies of businessmen from b/f they b/c ill:

-Results: those whose attitudes to life were rated high on involvements/feeling of control/positive responses to change were healthier

-stress-resistant personalities are characterized by commitment/control/challenge

àthey are interrelated w/ factors that infl. perceived severity of stressor

àexample: feeling in control infl. the sense of competence, which infl. the appraisal of the situation.

Type A behavior

Type A behavior -a set of behaviors which 2 cardiologists (Friedmann/Rosenman) defined as characterizing of coronary heart-disease patients

• aggressiveness
• impatience
• hard to relax
• urgency of time
• b/c aggressive/angry when they face delay, or w/ people who they see as incompetent.
• Hurrying the speech of others
• For more characteristics, see table on page 506

Type B pattern: people who don’t have those behavioral characteristics

Study:

-the way to examine relationship w/ Type A Pattern was to get the participants in the experiment to come for an interview which was intentionally irritating.

• Kept them waiting w/o an explanation
• Questions were asked about being competitive/hostile.
• The interviewer asked in hostile/interrupting manner/made irrelevant comments

-in reality, the manner of response , s opposed to the actual answers measured

• Type A: described hostile events w/ emotional intensity/were explosive/talked over the interviewer, so that he won’t be interrupted.
• Type B: sat in relaxed manner/spoke slowly/softly/easily interrupted/smiled often

-after the people were classified as Type A/B, they were studied for 8 ½ years.

àType A people: twice as many heart attacks as Type B

-some studies show that level of hostility is a better predictor of heart disease than level of Type A behavior

àtherefore, personality tests rather than interviews are necessary

• Some evidence that repressed anger is worse for the heart than expressed anger

Question

Why does Type A or hostility lead to coronary heart disease?

Possible answers

1. possibly, a mechanism in the sympathetic nerve system that responds to stress

àwhen faces w/ stressful situation (threat of harassment/failure/competitive task demands), most people report anger/irritated/tense)

• people w/ hostile behavior show increased heart-rate/blood-pressure
• same thing when you compare type A w/ Type B
• Type A/hostile people seem to have hypersensitive sympathetic nerve system, whereas their parasympathetic system is weak

-w/ good therapy program, type A pattern/hostility could be modified

Coping skills

-emotions/physiological arousal created by a stressful situations are uncomfortable and motivate change

Coping: how a person tried to deal w/ a stressful situation

2 kinds of coping:

• Problem-focused coping –person focuses on the specific problem and tried to change/avoid it
• Emotion-focused coping –focus on changing emotions even while situation can’t be changes

Problem-focused coping

-person focuses on the specific problem and tried to change/avoid it

Strategies include:

• Defining problem
• Generating alternatives
• Weighing costs vs. benefits of alternatives
• Choosing the best alternative
• Implementing it

àthose changes don’t always relate to the environment: they could also be internal change.

Examples of internal coping:

• Finding alternative sources of gratification
• Learning new skills

-how person uses those strategies depends on range of experience s/capacity for self-control.

Example: you find out that you are just about to fail a course. Coping: make schedule to see the professor/tutorials, etc… then sign up for summer school if you see that you’re still failing

-people who use problem-focused coping show less depression before/during/after event, even taking into account initial depression

àperhaps it is a good anti-depression technique

Emotional-focused coping

-people use emotional-focused coping to avoid negative feelings from overwhelming them.

-there are several strategies.

àresearchers divided them into behavioral/cognitive strategies

Behavioral strategies

• Physical exercise
• Drugs, such as alcohol
• Emotional support from friends
• Venting anger

Cognitive strategies

-usually involves reappraising the situation

• Temporarily setting the problem aside (‘I decided that it wasn’t worth the worry’)
• Changing the meaning of the situation (‘I decided that he wasn’t my friend anymore’)

-some strategies are adaptive, and others just eventually cause more stress (i.e. heavy drinking).

-one strategy that seems to help people adjust physically/emotionally to stressor is emotional support from others

àstudy show that women after breast-cancer surgery have more natural cell-killer activity w/ emotional support [their body is attacking the cancer more aggressively]

-people who reveal personal trauma, such as being raped/spouse suicide seem to be in better physical health shortly/long term after the trauma

-quality of the social support strongly impacts the effect on person’s health

• some family/friends could be a burden and not a help
• especially if their social network is filled w/ conflict, in which case, they show poorer physical/mental health
• one indicator of poorer health is the immune system
• newlywed who b/c hostile to each other while discussing a marital issue showed poorer immune system functioning than those who were not hostile
• also elevated blood-pressure for longer time than those who weren’t hostile

-some people engage in more maladaptive coping, w/ negative emotions

àthey’ll just deny that they have negative feelings and repress them

àRepressive coping

àthose people show higher autonomic activity, such as higher blood-pressure

• Repressing feelings may lead to over-arousal of autonomic system, and in turn more physical illness

ài.e. gay man who hide it tend to develop more diseases

à (see graph at bottom of p. 510)

àthose diff. are not b/c of factors like smoking/exercise, but rather purely b/c of hiding of their emotions

Study:

-revealing negative/traumatic events in diaries actually has a positive effect on health

àstudy focused on their immune system (see top of p. 511)

Rumination: isolating ourselves to thing of how bad we feel/the situation is, or talk about the situation w/o taking steps to avoid\change them

àsocial support helps people adjust more positively to stress àavoiding ruminating

àa longitudinal study shows that rumination in response to grief were:

• Depressed for longer
• More socially isolated
• More social conflicts

Study - rumination

-researchers coincidentally obtained emotional-coping tendencies/depression level 2 weeks b/f an earthquake in San-Francisco

àthen they were measures 10 days/7 weeks after the earthquake

Results:

• Taking into account initial depression, people w/ ruminative coping techniques were more depressed/anxious 10 days/7 weeks after the disaster

• In contrast, people who used pleasant activities to improve their mood/regain a sense of control, experiences short/mild sense of depression/anxiety

-people who engage in ruminative behavior are less likely to use active problem-solving in response to stressors.

àstudies show that the ruminative people might actually do a poorer job of problem-solving when they try

--

Managing stress

Impact of stressor could be managed by:

• Individual’s influence on their perceptions, i.e. defense mechanisms
• Emotional support of others
• Divorce/death/serious illness is usually more devastating if individual has to deal w/ it individually

Study

Israeli parents had heavier toll on parent who was already divorces/widowed

à10 years later, their mortality rate is higher than those who have someone to grief with

-studies show that more social/emotional support = less stress-related illnesses

-in case of stressors: family can help w/

• bolstering self-esteem, loving us despite problems
• advise/companionship àdistraction
• reduce feeling of helplessness/increase our confidence/ability to cope w/ problem

-when stress is shared, it is easier to tolerate (i.e. earthquake/floods)

• brings the best of people
• People support each other overcome the consequences of the disaster
• Individual anxieties/conflicts tend to be forgotten when people are working towards a common goal/common enemy

But:

-Sometimes, family/friends could add to stress experienced:

• Minimizing the seriousness
• Making hard demands while the person has to deal w/ other stressors
• I.e. person has to deal w/ ill parent while being criticized for care quality by siblings
• Blind assurances
• i.e. study shows that saying ‘I am worried but I know that you’ll do the best you can’ is more helpful than spouses who say ‘I am not worried. I am sure you’ll do well.) àb/c people also start to worry about loosing respect of that person

Behavioral techniques in stress management

Biofeedback

-in biofeedback training, the individual receives info (feed back) about an aspect of their physiological state, and then try to alter that state.

Example: in control of headaches, which are often caused by tension of forehead muscles, electrodes detect any motion of the appropriate muscles.

àMachine raises pitch w/ increase of tension/ lowers w/ decrease of tension

àeventually, person learns to control those muscles’ tension independent of machine

Relaxation training

-lab studies show our ability to control autonomic systems, such as heart/blood pressure.

Example: show person a chart of his blood-pressure/heart-rate, while it was being monitored àthen they were taught relaxing techniques

i.e. first taught to tighten body parts such as abdomen/fist

àthen, starting from bottom of boy, going up, they are taught to modify muscular tension

-this combination of biofeedback and relaxation training has effectively lowered blood pressure for some.

-review of must studies emphasize the variable of knowing how to relax in controlling headaches/blood-pressure/etc.

• Some relax faster when they receive biofeedback
• Others relax w/ training on muscle relaxation w/o a specific biofeedback
• Depends on the individual
• Some people who are not conscientious to take blood-pressure drugs might be more responsive to relaxing training
• Others may drop the relaxation training after they have learnt how, since it is too time-consuming

Meditation

-good for inducing relaxation/reducing physiological arousal

Studies of this phenomenon show:

• decrease in oxygen
• less elimination of carbon dioxide
• lower heart-rate
• blood-flow stabilizes
• lactate of blood is decreased
• reduced cortical activity [=reduced mental activity]

Some benefits of meditation

• better self-esteem
• reduce chronic anxiety

àsome who disagree say that this could be achieved by a simple rest.

àb/c physiological states are similar (heart-rate/respiration/oxygen-consumption)

àthen perhaps, resting simply produces similar effects to those achieved by meditation

Exercise

-exercise has important effect in controlling stress:

-individuals who regularly engage in aerobic exercise, (any sustained activity that increases heart-rate and oxygen consumption i.e. jogging/swimming/cycling)

Brown: found that people who are fit b/c less physically ill after a stressful event than those who were not fit.

àthat is why many stress-management programs include physical fitness

Cognitive techniques

-people who learn how to control their physiological/emotional stress in lab where not necessarily going to be able to do so in reality.

-additional technique in stress management includes cognitive skills

Procedure:

1. find the situations that cause the physiological/emotional stimulants

ài.e. keeping track of frequency and intensity of the arousal say a headache; also kept track of severity and circumstances in which it occurs, say a headache

2. then, he is taught how to monitor his responses to these stressful events

àrecords feelings/thoughts/behavior prior/during/after the event

àafter awhile, a certain relationship occurs among situational variables

i.e. criticism by supervisor; thoughts ‘I can’t do anything right’; and emotional/behavioral/physiological responses (depression/withdrawal/headache)

3. Then, identify the expectation or beliefs that might explain the reaction (i.e. ‘I expect to do everything right. If not, I am hurt’ ‘I judge myself too harshly, and therefore I get depressed’)
4. Hardest step: change something about the stressful situation/individual way of thinking/individual’s behavior

-example: finding less stressful job/recognizing that expecting perfection will lead to needless anguish and being more assertive in interactions, instead of withdrawing

• Biofeedback relaxation training/exersice/cognitive therapy have all proved useful.
• some researchers: improvements most likely to last if it is a combination of cognitive and behavioral therapy

àbeing able to relax is not appropriate always in practical, daily life

• Many programs use a combination of all 3.

Modifying Type A behavior

-a cognitive/behavioral techniques reduce type A behavior

Treatment includes:

ài.e. by practicing to standing in line, which is something that type A can’t stand

• Using opportunity to think of things that they would otherwise not have spent time thinking about
• Chance to strike up a conversation w/ stranger

àpracticing expressing themselves w/o:

• exploding at people
• interruption
• talking/eating hurriedly

àtherapist helped individuals reevaluate beliefs, such as that success is quantity of work

àmaking work/home less stressful

• i.e. less unnecessary social gatherings

àin the 4½ year study, the people in the experimental group has ½ the heart attack occurrences than the control group àthe ones who had not gone on such a program

Conclusion: Modifying type A behavior is good for your health

• Note: how mind and body affect each other!!!

-a person might be genetically predisposition to a heart disease, but has factors like appraisals/environment/behavior to influence the vulnerability to get a heart attack

ànurture affects nature!

April 18, 2001

Study: Optimism vs. exercise

-Positive correlation b/w optimism and exercise.

àwe are not sure which causes which.

Possibilities

Mediator

B mediates b/w a and c

aàbàc

a causes b which causes c

Moderator

-d moderated between a and c

-D causes both a and c

a and c both raise d thus also effecting a or c.

Study #2

Regression: predicting certain unknowns by knowns

2 groups:

-1 was given exercise

-the other was given social activities

• Wanted to see results in mood àwhich was more effecting one’s mood
• Exercise seemed to effect mood more positively

Perception

Question

-what is the smallest perceived stimuli we can sense?

Answer:

-there is a diff b/w people and w/I the same person

àtherefore, we arbitrarily assume that when 50% of the time, a person has stated that he has perceived the stimuli, we assume it is humanly perceivable.

Class: may 2, 2001

Psychophysics

Psychophysics: the relationship b/w body reception and mental perception

Critical threshold: the point where the stimuli is sensed at least 50% of the time

àthere is both a inter-person diff. and an intra-person diff. b/w times

Chapter 14 –defense mechanisms

Defense mechanisms: the strategies which people use to deal w/ anxiety which are largely unconscious

-they are only a problem when they b/c the main way of coping

Coping: conscious

Defense mechanisms: unconscious

-Excessive use of unconscious defense mechanisms lead to faulty coping techniques

Repression

Repression -painful/frightening impulses/memories are repressed from conscious awareness

Includes things like:

• hostility towards a loved one
• memories that are inconsistent w/ self concept

-Freud: thought that some memories repressed during early childhood are universal.

-Repression is diff. from suppression

• Suppression =conscious self-control
• Repression =totally unconscious

Freud: repression is not totally successful

àsometimes, it partially comes to consciousness

àleads to anxiety

àleads to defense mechanisms used to repress memory/impulses

Effects:

1. people who suppress =think of the bad thing more often than the one who confide to friend

Study: suppression leads person to think of the thing more often once it is stopped being repressed

2. suppression/repression =taxes us physically since we have to keep on monitoring ourselves

Talking about a trauma

1. helps us make out feelings more concrete
2. social support/validation of our feelings
3. Habituation of trauma reduces its negativity levels

Rationalization

Rationalization: assuming a logic/socially desirable motives to what we do so that we seem to have acted rationally.

-i.e. if kid can’t bare anger at his dad for hitting him, he will rationalize and say, ‘ well, I must have deserved.’

-the excuses are usually plausible, but not true.

ài.e. ‘my roommate didn’t wake me/I had too many things to do’

àinstead of setting alarm clock/making time

Example:

-hypnotist tells person to open window each time that he takes off glasses. Once woken up, the hypnotist takes off glasses. Then the person walks towards the window, hesitates a little bit, thinks of the reason, and then says: ‘it must be a little study in here’, b/f opening the window.

Reaction formation

Reaction formation: assuming a strong tendency to the opposite in order to conceal a motive from themselves.

Example:

A parent might feel guilty about not wanting a child, so she b/c overindulgent/overprotective.

Practical example:

-mother tried to do everything for child, and was not sure why she was unappreciative:

àsent her to expensive piano-lessons/insisted on practicing, and even helped

But, in reality: she felt hostility, since she hated piano lessons as a child

àchild developed symptoms and required psychological treatment

-sometimes, people crusade against loose morals/alcohol, etc.

àit might just be them defending themselves against those tendencies that they have.

Projection

Projection: protects us from our undesirable traits, by assigning them to others.

-i.e. you think everyone else is unkind. When asked why you are unkind, you say that you’re ‘giving them what you deserve’

-it is in effect a kind of rationalization

Isolation

-repression of emotion

-->as opposed to some of the others, where also the cognition is repressed)

-->i.e. people who have just undergone a trauma have isolated themselves from their emotions

Intellectualization

Intellectualization: detachment from a stressful situation by dealing w/ it in abstract and intellectual terms. (to detract myself from the situation)

àonly a problem when you are totally detached from emotional experiences

-doctors might need this to function competently

Regression

-behaving like a child, in order not to be dealt w/ as a mature adult

Denial

Denial: denying that the unpleasant reality exists when it is too painful

Examples:

• spouse disregards all clues that other spouse is having an affair
• Parents ‘unaware’ that their child is terminally ill, despite being informed of diagnosis and expected outcome
• Failure to perceive others being angry at them
• Ignore criticism

-on a positive note, denial allows person to deal w/ problem is a gradual pace

àbetter than giving up hope altogether

ài.e. soldiers denying the threat of death

-on a negative note, might propone essential things, like checking a lump on the breast

Sublimation

-I take a repressed impulse and turn into a healthy/acceptable /legal way to achieve it

-Freud: the healthiest defense mechanisms

Displacement

Displacement: if a motive can’t be gratified one way, it will be channeled a diff way.

-i.e. if source of anger can’t be dealt w/, then anger will redirected towards a less threatening source.

-The diff. b/w isolation and displacement is that in sublimation, I ‘change’ my personality in order to fit reality, whereas in displacement, I don’t ‘change’ my personality, I just hang it on a diff. thing or object.

Freud: displacement: satisfactory way to deal w/ sexual/aggressive impulses

-i.e. erotic impulses that can’t directly be expressed, will perhaps indirectly be expressed (displaced) in things art/poetry/music. Hostile impulses might be displaced in contact sports

àwon’t eliminate the frustrated impulses but rather lessen the tension

Chapter 15 – abnormal psychology

-nearly 50% of Americans could at one or another point in their lives be diagnosed as having a mental disorder.

Abnormal behavior

Classifying Abnormal Behavior

-many kinds of abnormal behavior

• some are chronic/life-lasting
• others are transitive.

-even though each person is diff., the symptoms/abnormalities haveenough similarities to categorize them.

Advantage of classifying:

• fast/concise communication of it
• makes the choice of treatment easer to decide upon

Disadvantage of classifying:

• disregard a unique case/circumstance
• we might forget that labeling it is not a causation of the behavior, but rather a symptom

Diagnostic and statistical manual of Mental disorders (4^th edition)

-DSM-IV –for short

àmost accepted manual of classification of abnormality

Psychosis: serious mental disorders that put person out of touch w/ reality/can’t cope w/ daily life, i.e. hallucinations

Neurosis: anxiety/maladaptive behavior

ànever serious enough to be hospitalized for

-both not categorized in the DSM-IV b/c they’re too general and broad.

àincludes too many dissimilar disorders and symptoms

-DSM-IV –speaks of specific behaviors, w/o their origins, in order to facilitate clear communication

-some abnormalities are culture-bound, though their underlying causes may be the same as in all cultures

àDSM-IV àprobably most applicable for American culture

Perspectives on mental disorders

-different approaches to abnormalities include:

• Biological
• genetics
• disease
• lesions
• proponents of this view usually favor drugs
• Psychoanalytic
• problems stem from unconscious conflicts, usually orienting in childhood
• Defense mechanisms to handle anxiety generated by repressed impulses/emotions
• Bringing all of this into awareness eliminates need for defense mechanisms, and thus alleviates problem
• Behavioral
• How fears b/c conditioned to specific situations, and how reinforcement maintains that fear
• Assumption: maladaptive behavior is learnt
• Cognitive
• Disordered cognitive processes lead to some mental disorders
• How we appraise stressful situations and cope w/ them

-each of those approaches has something to add to each disorder, but don’t offer the full solution to them.

One way to integrate them is the vulnerability-stress model where the interaction b/w a disposition and environmental situation

Disposition:

• genes, on the biological level
• chronic sense of helplessness, on the psychological level

-having a disposition for a certain disorder does not guarantee having it, but may or may not, depending on the stressors encountered

ài.e. poverty/malnutrition/conflicts/frustration

àexplains why when encountered w/ same situation, some b/c mentally ill and others remain healthy

Anxiety disorder

-anxiety is a normal reaction to stress

àwhen anxiety occurs in situation where most people find it easy to handle, it b/c abnormal

Groups of anxiety disorders:

• Anxiety is the main disorder
• anxiety/panic disorder

• person tried to control several mal-adaptive behaviors
• phobias/obsessive-compulsive disorders
• Post-traumatic Stress Disorder?

4 types of symptoms

• Physiological/somatic
• I.e. faster heart-pace/breathing
• Cognitive
• Recognizing that the body is in a fight-or-flight mode, and assuming that something is wrong in the situation, such as assuming you’re having a heart attack
• Behavioral
• i.e. freezing until someone comes for help
• Emotion
• i.e. sense of dread

-Though those reactions have an adaptive element, they can b/c maladaptive, if they are:

• No real threat
• Out of proportion to the situation
• Those feeling persist after the threat is over
• Worry about a ‘threatening’ situation even though it is either really not threatening or unlikely (Phobia)

Generalized Anxiety Disorder: a person who experienced a constant sense of fear/dread

Symptoms:

• Inability to relax/disturbed sleep/headaches/rapid heart rate/dizziness are some symptoms
• Constant worry about potential problems
• Trouble concentrating/making decisions
• When person finally makes a decision, it b/c a source of further worry

-statements of self-descriptions which point to anxiety disorders could be seen, top of p.532

Panic disorders

Panic attack: an episode of acute and overwhelming apprehension or terror

àfeeling something dreadful is just about to happen

-comes from the excitation of autonomic system:

à faster breathing/heart-rate/nausea/faintness etc.

àarbitrary excitation of autonomic system,(i.e. hyperventilation) turns on the system, which leads to fight-or-flight response could bring on an attacks

àwhereas people w/o the disorder might feel uncomfortable doing activities which turn on the system, but do not get the panic attack

-in severe cases, they think that they are just about to die

-40% of young adults have an occasional panic attack

àusually during stress

àwill only b/c a problem if it is common

àonly 1.5-3.5% of population will ever develop it

-usually starts late adolescence-mid 30’s

àif not treated, it will b/c chronic

-in a panic attack, the people believe that they are having a threatening disposition.

à for example, feel that they’re going to have a heart attack, they go from doctor to doctor to try to get that diagnosis. When they don’t get it, they go to the next doctor.

àthen they b/c depressed/demoralized

Agoraphobia: fear of being in places where they might b/c trapped/unable to receive help in an emergency

àthe emergency that they most commonly fear is having a panic attack

Agoraphobia: fear of

• Crowded area (i.e. mall)
• Closed area (i.e. subway)
• Deserted open spaces (i.e. beach)

àthey will get a panic attack b/c in case of an emergency, they will have a hard tiume escaping

àthey feel embarrassed that others will see that they are having a panic attack, though it is not easy to tell

-Greek: agoraphobia: fear of marketplace

-agoraphobics avoid all places that they fear

àhinders the daily activity to a confined ‘safe’ area

àwill only sometimes go into an ‘unsafe’ area, and only w/ a trusted person

àif they go there by themselves, they are bound to have a panic attack

-though agoraphobia doesn’t have to, it usually develops w/ panic attacks

ài.e. people get panic attacks in crowds àdevelops into agoraphobia

Example of development

-Person feels panic attack in some places. In they future, he avoids those places. He might also realize it is b/c of being a crown. He will remain more and more at home. Perhaps quit work/groceries delivered to home, etc.

-Many agoraphobics turn to alcohol/drugs to cope w/ their symptoms

Understanding Panic disorder/Agoraphobia

-panic disorder: probably somewhat, but not entirely genetic

àgenetic vulnerability

Biological view -this disorder stems from a deficiency in the limbic system, which regulates the autonomic nerves

àDeficiency in serotonin àkeeps the body at constant hyper-activation

-Cognitive-behavior theories focus on the fact that people who are prone to panic attacks tend to pay close attention to bodily sensations/misinterpret them in a negative way

àagoraphobia develops out of panic attacks through reinforcement of situations

àyet places w/ little anxiety (i.e. home) is positively reinforces

study:

-2 groups put on a mask

1. told that they can control the amount of carbon monoxide the inhale through the mask that they were wearing
2. the other was told that they couldn’t control the amount

-group #2 àsignificantly less attacks

àalso significantly down if given this experiment w/ a ‘safe’ person

Vulnerability-stress model

àCombination of biological and cognitive-behavioral theories

• people have a genetic/biochemical vulnerability of fight-or-flight
• Autonomic system turns on w/ the tiniest stimulus
• but people also need to be prone to catastrophizing situations/excess worries about those potential situations
• these cognitive reactions further heighten the physiological reaction
• more likely to have an attack

-Agoraphobic beginnings w/ avoidance of places that a person associates w/ panic symptoms

Phobias

Phobias: an intense fear of situations/stimulus that most people don’t perceive as particularly threatening

-->only diagnosed as such if it gets to the point where it interrupts daily life

3 types of phobic behaviors:

• Simple phobias
• Social phobias
• Agoraphobia

Simple phobia

• fear of a certain specific situation/object/situation
• i.e. fear of bacteria

-people could have only 1 phobia and still live normally

-->but the more there are, the harder it is to lead a normal life

-->could lead to obsessive-compulsive behaviors

Social phobia

• insecurity in social situations
• i.e. exaggerated fear of embarrassment
• i.e. speaking out in public
• i.e. fear of stuttering when the person doesn’t

-people go into great lengths to avoid people

-->i.e. find an isolated job

-those social phonics are sure that the others see their nervousness

Agoraphobia

• not a specific thing/object but a general fear of certain places

Understanding Phobias

-Freud: thought phobias are anxieties displaced over unconscious motives onto object that symbolize those unconscious desires

Freud’s example: 5-year old called Hans: fear of horses is really from the Oedipal conflict, where the kid was in love w/ mother/ hated father àkid feared father retaliation of castration

àthe anxiety b/c those feelings were unacceptable to the conscious mind

àHans displaces it onto a horse he saw falling on the street.

Critics: Freud’s research: based on leading questions

-->Phobias is rather result of classical/operant conditioning

-->some learnt through observations/others through actual experience

-observations: is why phobias run in families

-->Behavioral theories tend to successful treatment of phobias -->not psychodynamic

Obsessive-compulsive Disorder

Obsessive-compulsive disorder: an anxiety disorder that combines one or both obsessions/compulsions

Obsessions: persistent intrusion of unwelcome thoughts/images/impulses that elicit anxiety. Attempts are made to suppress them

Compulsions: irresistible urges to carry out certain rituals/acts to reduce anxiety.

-obsessive thoughts are often associated w/ compulsive acts

-->regardless of whether the repetition is a thought or act, the point is the subjective sense of loss of control

-->only b/c a problem when it interferes w/ daily life

-those people: able to see that their acts are irrational, but are unable to resist them

-->feel a release of tension once the act is preformed

-often starts at a young age

-highly maladaptive

Most common obsessive thoughts:

• Fear of harming oneself or other
• Fear of contamination
• Doubt that a task has been completed satisfactorily

-obsessions change w/ time: in past, they were related to religion/sex. I.e.

• fear of exposition of genitals in public
• shouting obscenities in church

-not all w/ obsessive thought have compulsive acts

-most common compulsions: washing/checking

• Washers: feel contaminated
• Checkers recheck completed task a ridiculous amount

-->most common theme: Doubt

-->they don’t trust their senses/judgments

-phobia/obsessive-compulsive: related.

-->they both involve anxiety

-->both may be in the same patient

Diff. b/w Phobia and Compulsive-obsessive

• Phobias usually don’t lead to ritualistic acts/don’t ruminate about their fears
• Elicited by diff. stimuli. obsessive-compulsive: harm/dirt/germs

Understanding Obsessive-Compulsive disorder

-evidence to show that it is biological

-->lack of serotonin in areas of brain that regulates impulses of sex/violence/cleanliness

Brain circuitry:

-Begins @ frontal cortex -->goes to basal ganglia area, called caudate nucleus -->then to thalamus -->strongest impulses acted upon

-->due to thalamus, the primitive impulses might break onto consciousness and be acted upon

-PET scans show that in obsessive-compulsive people, areas of primitive impulse are more active than brain of normal people (see p. 539)

-->drugs that regulate serotonin levels can alleviate the disorder (as well as change the brain activity, as mentioned above)

-behavioral/cognitive: obsessive-compulsive people have more trouble turning off thoughts b/c they tend to use more rigid/moralistic thinking

-->they believe that people should be able to control all their thoughts. They have trouble accepting that people have negative thoughts sometimes

-->they’ll judge their negative impulsive thoughts as unacceptable

-->leads to anxiety -->which makes it harder to dismiss thought

Example: ‘If I think of hurting my child, I am as guilty as actually doing so’

-Compulsions may arise when that behavior temporarily relieves the anxiety.

-->when reinforces, the disorder develops

-as much as in phobias: behavior/cognitive therapies are successful, but not psychodynamic

Psychodynamic argument: the obsession is based on repressed thoughts that take shape through defense mechanisms:

-a mom who wants to kill her kid will check repeatedly to see he’s alright

-->reaction formation

Summery of Obsessive-compulsive behavior

-most people who develop this disorder have a genetic/neurological/biochemical vulnerability to the anxiety disorder

-->but they also need a tendency to catastrophizing/engage in maladaptive behaviors to reduce anxiety

-->thus the anxiety disorder develops

Mood disorders

-could be depressive or manic (or both)

Depressive disorders: period of depression w/o history of manic episodes

Bipolar Disorders: alternates b/w periods of depression and mania

-->usually returns to normal mood b/w the two

Depression

-Mild depression: normal response to daily stresses

-Things that precipitate mild depression might include

• Failure at school/work
• Loss of loved one
• Realization that age is depleting life’s resources

-depression b/c a disorder when it interferes w/ normal functioning and when it lasts for days/weeks

• 9 year study of depressed people: they were symptom-free only 27% of the time!

-depression is relatively common: about 17% have a severe depression at some point in their lives

-though depression is a mood disorder, there are 4 categories of symptoms:

-drug therapy/psychotherapy can reduce/eliminate depression

Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar Disorder: also called manic-depression

-swings b/w periods of depression and mania

-->usually, brief return to normal mood b/w the two

Characteristics of bipolar-disorder

• Manic episodes w/o an depression episode: very rare
• Runs in families
• Usually starts at an early age
• Unlike depression: equally common in men/women

-relatively rare -2% of American population

-->compared to 21% females and 13% males of adult Americans

Manic period: person seems to be the opposite of depresses: self-confidence/enthusiastic/energetic

-->but in reality, it is more of a driven quality than normal elation

• Grandiose plans -->little regard for practicality
• Rushing from one activity to the next w/ little need for sleep
• Any impulse, including sexual ones are immediately expressed or acted upon
• They may pace/sing/shout/pound the walls for hours
• Confused/disoriented -->delusions of wealth/power/accomplishment
• Attempts to interfere w/ their activities makes them b/c angered/abusive

Understanding mood disorders

-mood disorders have a biological and a psychological element

-depression and especially bipolar disorders have a biological factor

-->but some experiences/lifestyles styles/tendencies to think negatively increase the likelihood to develop theses disorders

The biological Perspective

-mood disorders, especially bipolar disorder seems to be inherited

-based on twin/family studies

-less consistent evidence regarding heritability of depressive disorders

àsuggesting bipolar and depressive disorders have a diff. genetic basis

-genetic factor is bipolar disorders is unclear, but it seems to be biochemical

àNorepinephrine/serotonin seem to be involved

àwrong # of receptors àtoo many or too few make body oversensitive or too insensitive to the appropriate neurotransmitters

Studies: people w/ mood disorders usually have wrong amount of norepinephrine/serotonin receptors, especially in brain areas regulating emotion

àSuch as the hypothalamus

-Depressive disorders: too insensitive to the neurotransmitters

-Bipolar disorders: not so clear, but probably poorly timed change in sensitivity (correlated to mood changes)

Cognitive perspective

-cognitive theories focus mostly on depression

àtheories: people b/c depressed b/c they interpret world as pessimistic/hopeless

Cognitive approach #2

-Aaron Beck: categorizes negative thoughts into 3 àcalled Cognitive triads:

Cognitive triad:

1. Negative thoughts about the self

àSense of worthlessness/inadequacy

2. Negative thoughts about present experiences
3. Negative thoughts about the future

àHopelessness

-Depressed people see their inadequacy as inhibiting them from changing the situation

-Beck: those negative views are formed during childhood/adolescence experiences, such as:

• Loss of loved one
• Rejection by peer
• Criticism by parents/teachers
• Series of tragedies

-those feeling are activated when a new situation even remotely resembles old conditions where the old beliefs were learnt.

àmight lead to depression

-Beck: depressed people make systematic errors in perceiving reality, that contributes to their negative self-concept

Cognitive approach #2

-focus on causal explanations/attributions people make when bad things happen

àcritics: those are symptoms/consequences and not causes

-little evidence that the negative cognitive styles precede/cause the depression

àthough recent study showed that 1^st year college students showing cognitive triad are more likely to eventually b/c depressed, regardless of depression history

-there is some evidence that depressed people may actually perceive reality more accurately than non-depressed people

àThey see the fact they don’t have control over a situation that non-depressed people think that they have.

àEspecially over positive events

Psychoanalytical perspective:

-psychoanalysts: depression: reaction to loss:

Examples of loss

• Rejection
• Loss of job
• In childhood: loss of affection/affection needs not met

-depressed person reacts the way he does b/c the current situation brings back the fears/anxieties of earlier loss that occurred in child

àpart of depressed person’s behavior symbolized the cry for affection

àReaction is complicated by anger towards the ‘deserting’ person

Assumptions of psychoanalysis:

1. The depressed person has repressed hostile feelings towards loved one àto avoid alienating those who they depend on for support àwhen things go wrong, they blame themselves

-i.e. person is fired: feels angry at employer, but represses since it brings on anxiety

2. Low self-esteem/sense of worthlessness actually stems from childhood need for parental approval

àin adulthood, it is shown in diff. ways, in the need for approval.

àlack of approval from others might lead to depression in prone people

In depression the focus of psychoanalysis:

• Loss
• Over-dependence on external approval
• Internalization of anger

Problem: psychoanalysis is hard to prove/refute

Path of psychoanalysis assumption:

↓

↓

↓

↓

Dissociative identity disorders

Dissociative identity disorders: also called multiple-personality disorder

-Existence in a single individual two or more distinct identities or personalities that alternate in controlling behavior

• Usually, each personality has its own age/name/specific set of memories and c characteristics of behaviors
• In most cases, there is a primary personality that carried person’s given name àis very passive
• Usually, each alternating personality has characteristics contrasting the primary personality
• I.e. hostile/aggressive/controlling
• Sometimes, diff. includes handwriting/athletic/artistic abilities/knowledge of foreign languages
• Primary personality is usually not aware of the alternative personalities
• Periods of Amnesia (Days of unexplained loss of memory) might be a clue to the presence of dissociative identity disorder

-dissociative disorders reflects a failure to integrate various aspects of identity/memory/consciousness

• the dissociation is so complete that several diff personalities seem to be living in the same body
• observers note the switch b/w personalities is often accompanied by subtle changes of posture/tone of voice

ànew personality speaks/walks/gestures diff.

àsome physiological diff. might include: blood-pressure/brain activity

-people w/ dissociative disorder frequently report being sexually/physically abused during childhood

àaccuracy of that memory is controversial since those people are very vulnerable to suggestion/childhood memories are anyways often subject to be distorted

-nevertheless, defense against childhood trauma is a basis of a hypothesis as to how dissociative disorder develops: the child makes other personalities to deal w/ the pain/trauma

àusually develops when the trauma is b/w ages 4-6

àin Jonah’s case, to deal w/ his mom stabbing his step-dad

àSammy was created to deal w/ it

-child learns to deal w/ pain/abuse by dissociating from consciousness

àif child is severely/repeatedly abused

àover time, it could lead to dissociative disorder where some sub-personalities are aware of abuse and others aren’t

àkeeps personalities separate in order to keep the abuse from his other selves

àthis way, memories of abuse don’t always flood the consciousness, especially when child can’t handle it

ài.e. in the playground

-most people w/ dissociative disorder = females

àpossibly b/c they are more subject to sexual abuse as kids

-another factor: enhanced susceptibility to self-hypnosis

àa condition where one is able to put himself into a trance-state similar to hypnosis at will

àthus, people w/ dissociative disorders make good hypnotic subjects

àthey also often report the trance experience to be identical to childhood experience

-when a person discovers that creating another personality relieves them of emotional pain, they’re likely to make another one each time they are confronted w/ emotional problems

àin Jonah’s case, creation of Usoffa to respond to when he was attacked

àeventually those children b/c so accustomed to handling their emotional problems this way, so they continue the process through adulthood

àeventually, they come up w/ dozen or more personalities

-This disorder is very rare

àBut recently, there has been a sharp increase in cases reported in the US

2 possible reasons:

• Awareness of the mental health professionals àmore cases diagnosed/reported
• Over-diagnosis of people who are highly suggestible

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia: a group of disorders characterized by severe personality disorganization/distortion of reality/inability to function in daily life

-appears in all cultures, regardless of stressors of industrial world

àdocumented at least 200 years

• Affects about 1% of population
• Equal in men/women
• Usually appears in late adolescence/early adulthood
• b/w 15 and 35
• Usually requires hospitalization
• Sometimes for months/years
• Sometimes develops gradually
• Marked by increasing seclusiveness/inappropriate behavior
• Sometimes, its onset is sudden
• Marked by: intense confusion/emotional turmoil
• Usually precipitated period of stress in individuals who lives tended towards isolation/preoccupation w/ self/feeling of insecurity

Characteristics of Schizophrenia

-many/varied characteristics, including disturbances in:

• Disturbances of thought/attention
• Disturbances of perception
• Emotional expression
• Motor symptoms/withdrawal from reality
• Decreased ability to function

Disturbances of thought/Attention

-in schizophrenia, both thought/attention might be disordered

-i.e. sentences might make sense w/I themselves, but do not make sense in relationship to each other àtalk non-coherence

àJuxtaposition of unrelated words/phrases and the peculiar word association are characteristics of schizophrenics

[àword salad]

àsee p.549 for example (left column indent)

-train of though is based loosening of ideas in which the schizophrenic jumps from one to the next, so that they appear unrelated

àinfluenced by sound of word and not by meaning!

ài.e. rhythm

àcalled Clang Association

àsee pg. 549 – conversation on R. Column

-this confusion of thought seems to stem from difficulty in focusing attention and filtering out irrelevant stimuli

àmost people are able to filter out the mass of incoming stimulus

àschizophrenics aren’t able to make sense of all the incoming stimuli

àsee indent on R. column of p. 549

-no only is there a disorganization of thought but also disturbance in the content of thought. ài.e. lack of insight

àthey have no idea that their behavior is unusual and that is why they are in the hospital

Delusions: beliefs that most people would view as misinterpretations of reality

ài.e. most common: that some external force is trying to control one’s thought

àdelusions of influence

Delusions of influence includes:

• the belief that their thoughts are being broadcast to the world so that others can hear them
• Strange thoughts, (not their own) are being inserted into his mind
• Actions/feelings as being imposed by an external force

Delusions of persecution include:

• certain people/groups are plotting against one

Delusions of Grandeur include:

• belief that one is powerful/important

Paranoid: individual who has delusions of persecution

-suspicious of family/friends

àfear of being poisoned/watched

-‘motiveless’ crimes are sometimes murders committed by people who are later diagnosed w/ paranoid schizophrenia.

àbut that is rare: most schizophrenics are not a danger to anyone except themselves

Disturbances of perception

-people w/ acute schizophrenic episodes report more acute stimuli

ànoises sound louder/color –more intense

àtheir bodies seem diff.: hands to small/big eyes are dislocated/etc…

àsome don’t even recognize themselves in the mirror/see triple

Hallucinations: sensory experiences in the absence of relevant/adequate external stimulation

Hallucinations include

• Auditory hallucinations are most common

à Includes hearing voices telling them what to do/commenting on actions

• Visual hallucinations include seeing heavenly beings/strange creatures
• Odor hallucinations –i.e. coming from body
• Taste hallucinations –i.e. tasting poison in food
• Feeling of needles in body

-hallucinations: often frightening/terrifying

-hallucinations might occur alone or as part of a delusional belief.

Example:

-Schizophrenic hears voices that want to kill him. He associated it w/ his belief that there is a plot to kill him.

-visual hallucinations are like dreams

àPossibility: in visual hallucinations of schizophrenics, some neuro-inhibitor of dreams is not activated.

-auditory hallucinations: might origin in normal thought: we all have internal dialogues

àbut the schizophrenic experiencing those auditory hallucinations of internal dialogues does not believe that those voices stems from the self or can be controlled

Note: the inability to distinguish b/w real and imagined is a cornerstone of schizophrenia

Disturbances of emotional expression

-Schizophrenics usually fail to express normal emotional responses

àoften withdrawn/unresponsive (i.e. a guy who was unresponsive to find out his daughter has cancer) àthis dull reaction might really conceal internal turmoil

-Sometimes, schizophrenics express the inappropriate emotional response to the thought expressed/situation

ài.e. smile while speaking of a tragedy

àsince emotions are influenced by cognitive processes, it is no surprise that schizophrenics’ disorganized thoughts/perceptions are accompanied by changes in emotional responses with each sudden change of thought

Motor symptoms and withdrawal from reality

-Schizophrenics often show bizarre motor activity

• Grimace (frown)
• Strange facial expressions
• Gesture repeatedly, using strange sequence of finger/hand/arm movements

-some may b/c agitated and move about in a manic state

-on the other extreme, others might b/c totally unresponsive/immobile, adopting unusual posture and maintaining it for a long time

àcatatonic immobility

àstands there not moving at all for a long time àlike a statue

àsuch person seems withdrawn from reality only responding to internal thoughts/fantasies

Decreased ability to function

-schizophrenics are furthermore impaired from ability to carry out daily routines

ài.e. if schizophrenia breaks out in adolescence, he might show a decreasing ability to cope w/ school/limited social skills

àadult schizophrenicsàtrouble maintaining a job

-Understanding schizophrenics is hard

àSome symptoms are b/c schizophrenia/medication side-effects/hospital side-effects

Understanding schizophrenia

-Biological root, bur some environmental stresses might lead it into more severe forms of the disorder of into new episodes of psychosis

Biological perspective

-there is a hereditary predisposition for schizophrenia

àbut fewer than ½ of the identical twin of one who has schizophrenia will develop it

àshows the significance of non-genetic factors

2 focuses of genetic abnormalities

• Brain structure
• Biochemistry

Brain structure abnormality:

• Prefrontal cortex is smaller/shows less activity than non-schizophrenics

àPrefrontal cortex: 30% of total cortex àconnections to all other systems of brain including limbic system, which is involved in cognitive/emotional processes

àprefrontal cortex: biggest section of human brain

• Schizophrenics have enlarged brain ventricles àhints at brain tissue atrophy/deterioration
• Diff. deteriorated areas lead to diff. manifestations of schizophrenia

Biochemical abnormality

-focus on norepinephrine/serotonin

àculprit is believed to be dopamine

-early theories: too much dopamine in some areas of the brain

-recent theories: imbalance in dopamine in diff. areas of the brain

• too much dopamine activity in the mesolimbic system à a sub-cortical area that deals w/ cognition/emotion
• leads to schizophrenia’s ‘positive’ symptoms, such as the hallucination
• low levels of dopamine activity in the prefrontal area of brain àlack of motivation/inability to care for oneself/inappropriate emotional expressions

-see p. 553 for picture of brain activity in normal/schizophrenic brain

The social psychological perspective

-stressors can’t develop the full schizophrenic symptoms, but psychosocial factors may play an important role in determining the eventual severity of the disorder. (in people w/ biological disposition)

àcould also trigger new episodes of psychosis

àstudies focused on family-related stress:

-Family members who are highly expressed emotion:

• Over-involved w/ one another/overprotective of the disturbed member

-Schizophrenic people in highly emotionally expressive families of that sort are more likely to relapse into a new psychotic attack than those of low express of emotion

àthe high level of emotion expressed might be more that the schizophrenic could cope w/ àmight trigger an attack

àCritics: this might be a result of the symptoms and not a causing factor

Chapter 13 -personality

Personality: distinctive/characteristic patterns of thought/emotion/behavior that define individual’s personal style of interacting w/ person’s physical/social environment

-this chapter will deal w/ the processes of personality

Psychoanalytical approach

-Even today: lots of influence of Freud

Free association: a patient is instructed to say everything that comes to mind regardless of how trivial/embarrassing it is.

àthemes reflect unconscious drives

àso do dreams/childhood memories

Consciousness: our current awareness

Preconscious: things not on our mind but could be brought onto consciousness if needed

ài.e. name of US president

Unconscious: impulses/wishes/inaccessible memories that affect our thoughts/behaviors

Psychological determinism: the idea that all thoughts/emotions/actions have causes

ài.e. slips of tongue, forgetting/humor all serve to relieve psychological tension by gratifying forbidden/unfulfilled wishes/impulses

Personality structure:

Id: the most primitive part of the personality, from which the ego/superego develop

àContains drives/impulses

àStrives for pleasure/avoid pain àregardless of external circumstances

Ego: the part of the personality which of the id impulses would be fulfilled, and in what manner

àwhen to go to the washroom, etc…

àmediates b/w the id and the superego

Superego: the internalized representation of the values/morals of the society

àCombination of person’s conscious and his image of the morally ideal person (called ego ideal)

àdevelops in responses to rewards/punishments –no longer needs parents to tell them what to do.

àviolating superego’s standards brings anxiety

àbegins w/ anxiety over parental lose of love

-Freud: the anxiety is unconscious, but might be experiences as guilt

-Criminals –weak super ego

-Strong superego –avoiding of all pleasures

-Superego fights b/w both id and ego, since ego usually falls short of superego’s standards

-ego –restraints id.

Freud: healthy balance is where the ego has firm but flexible control over behavior:

à’where the id is, the ego shall go’

Personality dynamics

Conservation of energy:

-idea that Freud took from physics: energy might be changed into diff. form, but it is not created or destroyed.

-->Same thing w/ humans: we have a constant ‘psychic energy’, called libido:

-->Reflects that Freud thought that the sexual drive was primitive

-->if forbidden impulse is suppressed, it will find another form to be expressed in

-->i.e. aggression might be expressed in sports

Anxiety and defense

-people w/ an urge to do sometime forbidden experience anxiety

-->one way to reduce anxiety: disguise the forbidden impulse

-->other ways include defense mechanisms: (strategies for reducing/avoiding anxiety)

-->most common is Repression (the ego pushes a threatening/forbidden thought/impulse out of awareness, into the unconscious)

Personality Development

-Freud: child goes through developmental stages during first 5 years.

Stage 1 -oral stage

-1^st year of life

-->Child derives pleasure from nursing/sucking and begin to put anything they can into their mouth

Stage 2 –anal stage

-2^nd year of life

-children derive pleasure in both withholding and expelling feces

-->comes into conflict w/ parents who want to toilet train the kid

-->child’s experience w/ imposed control

-->problems here lead to fixation, which results in to control/stringency/over-spend/over-save

Stage 3 –Phallic stage

-B/w age 3-6

-->start to derive pleasure from fondling genitals

-Children begin to see diff. b/w genders

-->begin to direct their awakening sexual impulses to opposite drive

-Around age 5/6, sexual impulses are directed towards mother àrivals father

àOedipal conflict

-kid is scared that father will castrate him

àCastration anxiety

-kid gratifies his feelings towards mom/reduces anxiety simultaneously by identifying w/ father

àNote: there is a somewhat analogous but more complex process for girls

-resolution of Oedipal conflict takes place in phallic stage, which is followed by latency stage-->helps them w/ their sexual identity

-fixation in phallic stage leads to over-morality/lack of morality etc…

Stage 4 -Latency stage

-ages 7-12

-kids b/c less focused w/ body and more w/ coping w/ environment

Stage 5 genital stage

-Adolescence/puberty

àmature/adult functioning/sexuality

Freud: special problems at any stage leads to fixation

-fixation –a lasting effect of that stage on personality

Examples of Fixations

Oral: if person did not get all the ‘oral pleasure’ as an infant, he might develop an oral personality: he might resort to drinking/smoking/eating

Anal: abnormally concerned w/ cleanliness/orderliness/saving àanal personality

Oedipal: a person who didn’t get over oedipal conflict might have problem w/ authorities

Modifications of Freud’s Theories

-Freud revised his theories through his life

-i.e. theory of anxiety. [which was also further dev. by his daughter, Anna]

Freud: very adamant about the sexual motivation of people

àJung/Adler: thought that there were other motivational processes, besides sex

-Recent psychoanalytic theories focus more on the ego

-they think that ego is present at birth and develops independently of id

àalso has other functions beyond finding appropriate ways to satisfy id

Example:

• cope w/ environment
• making sense of experience
• ego satisfactions includes explorations/manipulation/competence in performing tasks
• according to those theories, ego has a more cognitive role

Object relations theory

-deals w/ person’s attachment to other people through life

àdeals w/ degrees of separation from parents

• Degree of attachment to others vs. preoccupation w/ self

Erikson

-studied psychoanalysis under Anna Freud

àyet did not alter/expand Freudian thinking but rather developed his own developmental stages in terms of psychosexual functions

-Erikson’s stages were primarily psychosocial stages involving mostly ego processes.

Projective tests

Projective tests: a test in which an ambiguous stimulus to which the person can react however he wishes.

àsince the stimulus is ambiguous and does not require a certain reaction, it is assumed that the reaction is a projection of something internal to the person

-includes the Rorschach Test and Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

Rorschach test (àsee picture on page 460)

-10 diff cards shown of ambiguous blots of color

àperson is supposed to report everything it resembles

àafterwards, researcher asks for clarification as to which features of the colored card made that impression.

3 main focuses of categorization

• Location which the response focused on
• I.e. whole card or just some of it
• Determinants
• I.e. did the participant focus on color/shading/texture
• Content
• What the image represents

-a response is scored ‘popular’ if many people answer it the same way

àRorschach type tests is not very predictable of person’s mind

àrecently, the attempt to enter data from them into computers are slightly more promising

Thematic Apperception Tests (TAT)

-person shown as many as 20 pictures of ambiguous situations (see p. 461).

àperson is supposed to tell a story that he makes up from those pictures

àthe test reveals basic themes that recur in person’s imagination

[Apperception: people’s readiness to perceive things in terms of past experiences]

-personal problems can pop up in the telling of the story:

• i.e. when there is a deviation from the theme in one or several of the pictures

Problem with projective tests

-their usefulness in assessing personality have not been established.

Rorschach

àresult is too dependant of clinician’s judgment

àsame response could be evaluated diff. by 2 diff. clinicians

TAT

àslightly more promising than Rorschach

-when using specific scoring systems are used to measure motives like aggression

àthough relation to overt behavior is more complex

àpeople don’t necessarily act on their preoccupation: person who repeats aggressive themes might not behave aggressively

-when tests show that the person isn’t as inhibited, there is a higher correlation b/w themes of stories and behavior

Defender of Rorschach/TAT: you can’t expect accurate predictions anyways.

àresults are only meaningful w/ consideration of family history/observation of overt behavior

Conclusion: the tests are good to give possible areas of conflict to consider.

Psychological portrait of Human nature

Freud: probably thought to much of the constancy of human nature

àbehavior is controlled by forces beyond our control àno rationality

àcritics: undermining the stature/dignity of humanity àlike Darwin who thought of humans as just one of the various animal species.

àpsychoanalysis paints humanity as evil: w/o social rules/superego, man would destroy itself

Psychoanalysis: people adre driven by inborn drives/environmental influences b/f age 5

Evaluation of the psychoanalytical approach

-psychoanalytical theory is too broad to be called either true or false

Psychoanalytical approach:

• Contributed to the psychological science
• Explained the apparent contradiction in human behavior
• Explains the conflicts b/w conscious/unconscious motives

Criticism of psychoanalytical approach:

1. Unscientific: unable to measure/observe
2. Assumption: diff. behaviors may reflect the same underlying idea

àI.e. in reaction formation: mom feels hostility to child: she might either abuse child or show over-protectiveness [reaction formation]

àHard to make empirically verified predictions based on conflicting evidence, i.e. conflicting behaviors

3. not clear if the spontaneous ramblings of Freud’s patients were planted or actually reflected their past

ài.e. at first, Freud thought that patients’ report of childhood molestation is true, then he went on to think that they are childhood fantasies more than real reports

àcritics think that those stories reflect more of reality than Freud thought

4. Freud’s questions were leading questions, which cause implantation of false memories

àother critics think that he reported seduction even though patient never said it took place

-Freud’s theories, when tested empirically, came up w/ negative results (i.e. lining of psychosexual development as related to future behavior as adults)

-Freud’s observations are based on narrow sample group: middle/upper class Viennese men/women

-Penis envy: girl’s envy the male’s genitals

àcritics: that’s culturally bias

-despite all the criticism, many of Freud’s ideas are still used, i.e.

• defense mechanisms
• dynamic theory (theory of anxiety)

some of the abandoned theories

• structural theory (id/ego/superego)
• conservation of energy theory
• Psychosexual theory

Behaviorist approach

-behaviorists focus on importance of environmental/situational determinants of behavior

Behavior = environmentàlearning from itàchanging environment àlearning from it

àEtc

Social learning and conditioning:

Operant conditioning: responses learnt b/c they effect/operate on environment

-the animal doesn’t react to stimuli, but behaves in a way designed to produce certain changes in the environment

-people behave in a way w/I a social circle in a way which reinforces a certain behavior

àdiff. behaviors stem from diff. learning experiences in life

-operant conditioning learning could take place through direct observations or through observation (an noting consequences of actions)

Reinforcements:

• Direct: tangible rewards/social approval/disproval/alleviation of pain/etc.
• Vicarious: observation of someone else receiving reward/punishment
• Self-administered: evaluation of one own’s performance: self-approval/reproach

-generalization takes place if a behavior is rewarded in many diff. situations

• i.e. if aggression is rewarded in diff. settings such as school/home/playground, he’s likely going to develop aggressive personality, since it was conditioned in him

àthough, closer to reality is a scenario where aggression is rewarded in some cases and not others, (i.e. rewarded in things like sports), thus there are cross-situational variability of behavior

Classical conditioning

Classical conditioning: A learning process where a neutral stimulus get associated w/ another stimuli b/c of repeated pairing of stimuli

-i.e. when child’s forbidden behavior is responded to by punishment, the act is being paired w/ anxiety/fear àphysiological response

à Classical conditioning produces the internal anxiety that Freud called superego

• just like operant conditioning, unconditioned stimuli can also be operate vicariously
• a conditioned response could be generalized to stimuliu that haven’t been directly conditioned

Cognitive variables

-long development from the original radical behaviorism which ignored any cognitive processes.

modern behaviorist assumption:

-people don’t only learn from trial-and-error:

ài.e. adolescent driving does not learn how to drive from trial-and-error

-environment of behavior/observation/internal cognitive processes are also a factor!!!

Julian Rotter: there are cognitive variables in behavioral approach

• Behavior potential: the chances that a particular behavior ay a given situation
• Influenced by reinforcement and expectancy
• Reinforcement: if this act was reinforces, likelihood that the act will be done is increased
• I.e. if studying all night brought success in a test, it will be reinforced for next test
• If the expectancy of the result is higher àincrease in likelihood of act
• I.e. studying for an exam: if the student expects to do well b/c of an all-nighter, he will pull the all-nighter

-as to the reinforcer: if we prefer one over the other, the likelihood of the less preferred one decreases: i.e. if student prefers sleep to success, chances of all-nighter decreases

Social-cognitive theory: Bandura

-behavior is influenced by interaction of internal determinants (i.e. beliefs/thoughts/expectations) and external determinants (reward/punishment)

àcalled reciprocal determinism

-in this model, not only does environment affect behavior, but also behavior affect environment

àreciprocal relationship

-people use forethought when deciding how to act in new situations

àthey think of possible outcomes/consider each

àbut past experience w/ reward/punishment will influence their decisions about future thoughts

-Bandura: most behavior is based on internal process called self-regulation

ài.e. pacifist/religious person

-those internal sources of behavioral control stem from observation of others/reading/hearing about the behavior

àwe do not need to actually perform behaviors we observe

àwe merely note if they were rewarded/punished

àwe store those situations in memory

-in new situations we make decisions based on expectations based on both experience and observed situations

-Bandura’s social-cognitive theory goes beyond the classical behaviorism: it relates the interactions b/w cognition and behaviorism

Individual diff.

-people go through diff. processes of personality functioning

àExplaining trait diff. does not account for diff. of processes!

-on he other hand, social-cognitive theory does not account for personality traits àjust diff. of cognitive processes

Walter Michael: tries to incorporate personal trait diff. into social learning theory

àmade a list of ‘cognitive variables’:

1. Competencies: what can you do? Includes intellectual/social/physical/other skills
2. Encoding strategies: how do you see it? People differ in the way that they select to attend to info/encode (represent) events/group info into meaningful categories.

àthe same event might seem threatening to one and challenging to the other

3. Expectancies: what will happen? What we expect the consequences of diff. behaviors to be, will guide our behavior diff.

ài.e. if you cheat on the exam, what are the consequences? If you tell someone what you really think of him, what are the consequences?

àthis also includes expectations about our own abilities

àwe might know the consequence of the act, but be unsure if we can execute it.

4. Subjective values: what is it worth? People w/ similar expectations might behave diff. b/c they assign diff. values to the outcomes

ài.e. they know that doing something will please the professor. One will think that that is important while another student won’t

5. Self-Regulation systems and plans: how can you achieve it? people have diff. standards and rules that they use to regulate behavior, including self-imposed rewards/punishments)

-all of those person variables( (a.k.a. social-cognitive personal variables) interact w/ conditions of a particular situation to determine what the individual will do in that particular situation

àthere is evidence that individual neurotransmitter level diff. also plays a role in individual’s difference of behavior.

Behaviorist portrait of human behavior

-operant conditioning –helps person deal w/ environment

-John Watson: founder of behaviorist movement: claimed to be able to turn a kid into anything you wanted

àlittle radical

-yet behaviorist show us a way in which environment influences our behavior

-social-learning theorists: criticized for too much situational influences.

ànow, they also include cognitive processes/influences

The humanistic approach

-developed in beginning of 20^th cent. As an alternative to psychoanalytical/behavioral

They began w/ 4 principles

1. Experiencing person is of primary interest. They must be studied out of their own subjective perceptions of self and their feeling of self-worth

à i.e. ask the question: who am I?

2. Human choice/creativity/self-actualization are preferred topics of investigation.

àpeople are not only motivated by primitive drives but also w/ the potential to grow and self-actualize

3. Meaningfulness precedes objectivity
4. Ultimate value: dignity of person

àassumption: people are basically good

Carl Rogers

-saw people’s tendency to move towards growth/maturity/positive change

Actualizing tendency: a tendency towards fulfillment or actualization of all the capacities of the person.

-a person may not perceive which actions will fulfill this need, but once the course is clear, the person will choose the way which will be the best to fulfill the actualizing tendencies.

Rogers: man has biological needs, but they are subservient to the motivation to enhance itself.

Non-directive or client-centered therapy: this method of psychotherapy assumed that every person has the motivation and ability to change and is best qualifies to decide the direction to take. The therapist just acts as a springboard, as client analyses his problem.

àunlike psychoanalysis where the therapist looks at patient’s history and looks for the problem.

The self/real self: all the ideas/perceptions and values that characterize ‘me’. This includes the awareness of ‘what I am’ and ‘what I can do’

àdoesn’t necessarily reflect reality, but rather the individual’s perception

-the self-concept of the self might dictate behavior: i.e. people might act diff. in the same situation: depending on if person sees himself as strong or weak

-individual evaluates every experience in relation to his self-concept

-people deny thought/feelings entry into consciousness if they are inconsistent or threatening to their self-concept

àsimilar to Freud, except Rogers thought repression is not permanent or necessary (Freud thought that repression is inevitable in some of every individual’s experiences and will remain in the unconsciousness

Rogers: -the more the individual denies, the wider the gap b/w self-concept and reality is

èleads to more maladjustment: the more one must deny is more anxiety

-healthy person – self-concept Id consistent w/ thoughts/experiences/behaviors

àself is not rigid àflexible to change

Ideal self: our conception of what kind of person we would like to be.

• The closer the ideal self is to the real self –happier more fulfilled the person is
• The further they are –the person is more dissatisfies/unhappy the person is

2 kinds of inconsistencies:

• b/w self and reality
• b/w self and ideal

Rogers: people will function better if they are brought up in an environment of unconditional positive regard

Unconditional positive regard: if they feel valued by parents and others when their attitudes/behaviors/feelings are less than ideal

-if child is valued only when doing the right things, he will get a distorted self-concept

Example:

-if there is sibling rivalry and the parents tell the kid he can’t hit his brother àthe kid feels ashamed

àmust integrate that into his self-concept

The kid might assume:

1. Deny his feelings and not hit his brother
2. The parents don’t like him
3. Deny his feelings (repression [note the diff. b/w Freud and Rogers])

-the more people have to deny their feeling and accept others’ dealings, the more uncomfortable it is

àparents have recognize kid’s feeling and explain kid why hitting is not good

Measuring Real-Ideal congruence

Q-sort: sorting cards into diff. piles according to if the person claims that the statement on the card reflects him

-Rogers’ version: have one Q-sort for ideal self and one for real self and then run a correlation test

àQuestions like: ‘I have a warm/emotional relationship w/ others’

low/negative correlation: large discrepancy b/w real and ideal self

àimplication: low self-esteem/lack of self-worth

• By running this several times, over the course of therapy, one can measure the course of the therapy
• Improvement could occur in one of 2 ways: change real-self or change ideal-self

Abraham Maslow

-very much overlaps w/ Rogers

-there is a hierarchy of needs in human hierarchy

Hierarchy of needs: needs ascending from basic biological needs to more complex psychological motivations that only b/c important once the more basic needs have been satisfied.

ài.e. people won’t seek beauty (aesthetic needs) when physiological needs where satisfied.

-Maslow studied self-actualizers, like Eleanor Roosevelt/Einstein

àlater, studied college students he defined as self-actualizers

àfound them to be healthiest 1% of people

-Maslow: some people experience peak experience

Peak experience: transient moments of self-actualization

àcharacterized by happiness/fulfillment

àtemporary/non-striving/non-self-centered state of goal achievement

àoccurred in diff contexts/diff. intensities

-table of characteristics of self-actualizers and behaviors leading to self-actualization on p. 472.

Humanistic portrait of human nature

Humanistic psychologist: Human destiny is defined by the individual

àpeople are good and can strive for self-actualization.

-humanistic psychologists set high standers for psychological health:

ànot enough to control ego or adapt well

Evaluation of humanistic approaches

Criticism:

1. their theory is based observation of healthy people
2. Not clear if the self-actualizing values are universally human or just some that Rogers/Maslow held
3. Their research is not rigorous (their claim: rigid study of a trivial issue isn’t very useful, is it?)
4. Why focus on individual achievements? some societies focus on group achievements!
5. No evidence for hierarchy of needs of Maslow

Cognitive approach

-assumption of cognitive theorists: diff. in personality stems from how he mentally process/represents info

àcalled cognitive structures

cognitive structures: 2 kinds: personal constructs/schemes

Personal constructs

Personal constructs: the dimension that individual themselves use to interpret themselves/world

-developed my George Kelly

à ‘Personal construct theory’

-assumption: each individual uses diff. constructs of either-or

ài.e. a person is either friendly or mean

àKelly wanted to test which characteristic opposites people paired up as opposites, in order to evaluate people

àthey don’t have to be logical opposites (i.e. funny vs. serious)

àthose pairs (personal constructs) makes up personality of the individual

-In Kelly’s test, there is a list of people. In each row, the tester has circles 3 of the people which the person has to compare. The person has to pick 2 of the 3 and say what is common to them and not to the third. This reveals a personal construct!!

ànot limited to people! Could also be situations that a person has to compare

àcalled the Rep-Test

àsee p.475

.

Self-schema

Schema: cognitive structure that helps us perceive/organize/process info

àrelatively stable over time

Self-schema: cognitive generalizations about the self, derived from past experience, that organize and guide the processing of self-related info.

-i.e. If the self-schema thinks that both literature and jogging are important, but jogging is more important, he’s more likely to jog than to read

-core of self-schema is person’s name/physical appearance/relationship w/ significant people

-but from a more particularistic point of view: if person’s self-schema has an emphasis on exercise, he’s more likely to jog than those exercise is not central to their being.

Study: function of schema

-person given 40 words to press yes or no to on a computer (yes or no to easy questions)

àbut 10 of them were questions than needed thought

àperson remembered more words that were part of his self-schema

Bem’s gender schema theory:

-theory focusing on using gender as a way to organize world (scheme)

-in most cultures, not only are kids taught diff. skills/behaviors, according to their gender, but they are also expected to acquire sex-specific attributes/concepts

àusually defined by the specific culture

à sex typing: process of society teaching kids to give attributes to gender

Gender scheme: a mental structure that organizes person’s perceptual/conceptual world into gender categories

Bem’s study:

People who are sex-typed tend to use gender schema more than those who are not sex-typed.

-people tested for traits: à if they scores high on masculine and low on stereotypically feminine traits, they are considered masculine, and vise-versa

àthose who have both are called androgynous

-people shown a list of words/names(male/female)

-some gender-schemed words and some neutral words.

àif there were of any of the gender-schemed words/names, it could be said that that person is a specific gender-schemed

Evaluation of the cognitive approach:

Positive side:

• It is based on empirical research
• Goes beyond individual’s traits: it looks for cognitive structures to explain personality diff.

Negative side:

• Employs vague concepts
• i.e.: it is hard to state specifically what a personal construct of schema is
• Not clear how those structures actually relate to memory and other aspects of memory processing
• Behaviorists: it is really necessary to use these concepts> perhaps personality can be explained w/o referring to cognitions?

Class –May 30, 2001

Note: defense mechanisms serves the ego: they help it deal w/ reality, in light of the id

Freud

-introduced the concept of the unconscious

Topographical model:

• Conscious
• Preconscious
• Unconscious –most of our actions are controlled by this part of the mind

Unconscious

-the things in the unconscious want to come out, but the problem is that they might clash w/ reality/superego

àsolution: repression

-there is a censor b/w unconscious and preconscious.

àit is not totally impermeable. It sometimes puts on a mask and filters through

Ways that unconscious comes out: dream/hypnosis/Freudian slip

Class, June 6^th, 2001

Freud:

-Used hypnosis to get to unconscious

àstopped when he felt that the patients are too dependent and passive to the therapy.

Free association: saying whatever

Freud’s Structural model

Id: works on the principle of pleasure

• Eros (the passionate love)
• Libido –the will to live
• Tenatus: the urge to die ( t the right time)

-Conflict:

• b/w id and superego leads to the development of ego.

àweaker ego might resort to behavior governed by id or superego

àas opposed to integrating them.

• Libido and Tenatus

Dreams:

Freud: -golden path to the unconscious

3 stages of a dream

1. The descriptive content of the dream
2. The hidden content of the dream.

-The defense mechanisms usually don’t work here. I.e.

-->in order to deal w/ it, transformation takes place to encode the hidden content so the descriptive content won’t bring on too much anxiety. Freud called the transformation: ‘Dream work’

Dream work:

Freud: diff. tools

1. To thicken: give many unconsciously motivated meaning to one item in the dream.
2. Symbolization: put the unconscious/repressed fear into a symbol
3. Main idea/peripheral idea where the peripheral idea is really the important issue.
4. Reaction formation