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| The scientific study of behavior and mental processes |
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| systematic methods used to observe, describe, predict, and explain behavior and mental processes |
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| Anything an organism does |
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Description
Explanation
Prediction
Control |
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| exploring and understanding the general nature of many aspects of the world INTROSPECTION |
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| scientific study of living organisms and their functions and processes OBSERVATION |
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| biological malfunctions cause mental illness |
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| Behavior controlled by 2 distinct systems: body and mind/soul (dualism) |
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| mind and body are the same (monism) |
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dualistic nature of humans is what separates us from nonhuman animals
Nativism: ideas are innate to the human mind
Men are born, not made |
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humans are born without knowledge; mind is a blank slate that environment writes upon (“tabula rasa”)
Empiricism: anything we know, we have learned through experience
Men are made, not born |
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Goal: understand mind by analyzing its elements/basic units of thought
Wilhelm Wundt
Edward Titchener |
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Goal: understand how the mind works to enable organisms to adapt to and function in their environments
William James |
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Goal: to examine how events or ideas can become associated in the mind, resulting in learning
Hermann Ebbinghaus |
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Goal: to understand the mind as a whole; not elementary parts
Max Wertheimer |
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Contemporary Approach:
Biological |
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| brain, nervous system, hormones and genetics are all central to understanding human mental processes and behavior |
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Contemporary Approach:
Evolutionary |
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| emphasizes the importance of adaptations and functions that promote the species |
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Contemporary Approach:
Learning/Behavioral |
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| study of behavioral responses and their environmental determinants |
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Contemporary Approach:
Cognitive |
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| study of mental processes and determining the role that mental processes play in determining behavior |
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Contemporary Approach:
Psychodynamic |
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| unconscious thoughts and early family experiences influence behavior |
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Contemporary Approaches:
Sociocultural |
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| examines the ways social and cultural environments influence behavior and mental processes |
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| Psychologist vs. Psychiatrist |
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Psychiatrists are physicians
Psychiatrists have MDs and Psychologists have either a Ph.D., Psy.D., or Ed.D.
Psychiatrists can prescribe medication to treat psychological disorders |
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| 3 Functions of Nervous System |
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Definition
1. Sensory
2. Motor
3. Integrative
3. |
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| Central Nervous System (CNS) |
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Definition
Composed of the brain and spinal cord
Receives, processes, interprets, and stores incoming sensory information
Spinal cord = information superhighway |
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| Peripheral Nervous System (PNS) |
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All neural structures that lie outside the CNS that connect brain and spinal cord to other parts of the body
Handles CNS input/output
Further divided into somatic/skeletal nervous system & autonomic nervous system
Somatic/skeletal - enables you to sense the world and control sensory musculature |
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Regulates glands and muscles of internal organs and involuntary functions (respiration, circulation, digestion)
Also plays role in many aspects of motivation, emotional behaviors and stress responses
Sympathetic – mobilize body for action
Parasympathetic – operates during relaxed states |
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| “Communication specialists” |
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| Neurons receive neural impulses |
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| Neurons transmits messages to other neurons, glands, or muscles |
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| insulates axon; allows for more efficient message transmittal |
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| junction between terminal button and dendrite of receiving neuron |
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A chemical that diffuses across the synaptic gap and stimulates the next neuron
Acetylcholine, Endorphins, Serotonin |
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| specialization of the two cerebral hemispheres for particular operations |
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| language (Broca’s & Wernicke’s Areas); positive emotions |
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| nonverbal processing; negative emotions |
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Occipital – back of head; visual cortex
Parietal – top of brain; somatosensory cortex
Temporal – sides of the brain; auditory cortex
Frontal – front of brain; voluntary movement |
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The ability of the brain to reorganize neural pathways based on experiences
Environment plays a key role in influencing plasticity
Occurs
During normal brain development
As an adaptive mechanism to compensate for injury |
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Direct observation
Questionnaire/survey
Interview
Psychological/standardized test
Physiological recording
Case study |
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| Permits investigators to explore relationships between variables |
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| Manipulation of a variable under carefully controlled conditions and observing whether any changes in a second variable will result |
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| Cross-Sectional vs. Longitudinal |
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Cross-sectional: studying people all at one time
Longitudinal: studying the same individuals over a period of time |
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| distortions in self-report data |
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| The study of changes in the individual that occur between conception and death |
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Physical: brain, nervous system, sensory capabilities, motor functions, needs for food, drink & sleep
Cognitive: mental abilities including learning, memory, language, problem solving, intelligence
Social: interactions with others, social relationships, enduring characteristics that differentiate one person from another |
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| Issues that Guide Developmental Research |
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Nature vs. Nurture
Critical/Sensitive Periods
Critical: age range during which certain experiences must occur for development to proceed normally or along a certain path
Sensitive: optimal age range for certain experiences, but if these experiences occur at another time, normal development is still possible
Continuity vs. Discontinuity
Stability vs. Change |
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External agents that can cause abnormal prenatal development
Common teratogens:
German measles (rubella)
X-rays/radiation/toxic chemicals
STDs
Cigarette smoking
Alcohol
Drugs |
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| a disorder of permanent birth defects that occurs in the offspring of women who drink alcohol during pregnancy |
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| Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome |
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| a withdrawal syndrome of infants, caused by administration of drugs |
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| Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome |
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| a withdrawal syndrome of infants, caused by administration of drugs |
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Influenced by Jean Piaget (1896-1980)
2 schools of thought:
Cognitive development was result of innately determined sequence of growth and change independent of external events
Cognitive development was the result of learning processes |
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Schema: Framework that organizes and interprets information
Assimilation: understanding new experiences in terms of our current schemas
Accommodation: modifying existing schemas to incorporate new information |
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Piaget Stage:
Sensorimotor |
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(0-2 years): experiencing the world through their actions and consequences of those actions
Object permanence: awareness that an object continues to exist even when it is not present |
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Piaget Stage:
Preoperational |
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2-7 years): represent the world symbolically through words and mental images
Egocentrism: unaware of other’s perspectives
Conservation: quantity remains the same despite changes in shape |
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Piaget Stage:
Concrete Operational |
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(7- 11/12 years): achievement of conservation, beginning capacity for adult logic
Decentration: focus on more than one aspect of a situation |
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Piaget Stage:
Formal Operations |
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(11/12 and beyond): thinking is abstract, systematic, form and test hypotheses
Egocentrism: difficulty separating things that are of concern to others and those that are of concern only to themselves
Imaginary audience
Personal fable |
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Underestimation of preschoolers’ and infants’ abilities
Development proceeds more inconsistently
Development is more complex
Did not consider environment |
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Highlights how sociocultural context interacts with brain’s biological maturation
Apprenticeship: guidance by more knowledgeable individuals
Zone of proximal development (ZPD): range of tasks that a child can carry out with the help of someone who is more knowledgeable
Lower level: problem-solving alone
Upper level: problem-solving with help |
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| Cognitive Development in Old Age |
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Definition
Fluid intelligence: efficiency and speed of intellectual functioning (decline)
Crystallized intelligence: accumulated knowledge (stable)
Implicit memory – little or no decline
Intellectual decline occurs in 60s and70s
Extent of decline varies enormously from one person to the next |
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Mood-related personality characteristics
3 Temperament Categories
Easy
Difficult
Slow to Warm Up |
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Bond between infant and primary caregiver (usually the mother)
Believed to lay the foundations for all later relationships |
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| Why do children become attached to their primary caregivers? |
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Sigmund Freud: “I love you because you feed me.”
John Bowlby: “I was born to love you.”
Stranger anxiety (6-7 months)
Separation anxiety (peaks 12-16 months)
Harry Harlow: “I love you because it’s comfortable.” |
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| Parenting Styles (Baumrind) |
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Two key dimensions of parental behavior:
Warmth vs. hostility: Extent of sensitivity to child and communication of love and caring
Restrictiveness vs. permissiveness: the extent to which parents make and enforce rules, place demands on children and discipline children |
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| any loss of language ability resulting from brain damage |
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| speech becomes labored and telegraphic - that is, the minimum number of words are used to convey the message |
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| has difficulty understanding the meanings of words that they hear and also has difficulty finding the appropriate words to express the meanings they want to convey |
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| infants look at their caregiver's emotional expressions for clues about the possible danger of their own actions |
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| language acquisition device (LAD) |
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| includes the inborn foundation for universal grammar plus the entire set of inborn mechanisms that guide children's learning of the unique rules of their culture's language |
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| language-acquisition supporst system (LASS) |
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| provided by the social world into which the baby is born |
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| Socioemotional Selectivity Theory |
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| that people's awareness of how much time they have left in life affects their motivation |
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| the disengagement of an individual from society |
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| The common-sense idea behind many programs and services for older adults rests on the proposition that activities in and of themselves have important benefits and that they contribute to increased life satisfaction for everyone |
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