This Document Contains Chapters 1 to 2 Chapter 1: Introduction to Psychology BRIEF CHAPTER OUTLINE What Is Psychology? Psychology Defined Why Should You Study Psychology? Psychology in the Real World: Why Psychology Is Important to My Life by Yvette Szabo, University of Louisville Subdisciplines of Psychology The Origins of Psychology A Brief History of the Practice of Clinical Psychology Prehistoric Views Ancient Views Medieval to Early Modern Views Modern Views A Brief History of Scientific Psychology The Philosophy of Empiricism The Psychophysics of Human Perception Structuralism-Functionalism Behaviorism Humanistic and Positive Psychology Cognitivism Behavioral Genetics, Behavioral Neuroscience, and Evolution Ways of Thinking About Mind, Body, and Experience The Nature-Nurture Debate Mind-Body Dualism The Evolution of Behavior No One Perspective Tells the Whole Story in Psychology Challenge Assumptions: Don't Believe Everything You Think Connections Within and Between Chapters Bringing It All Together: Making Connections in Psychology: Studying Electronic Social Interactions Chapter Review EXTENDED CHAPTER OUTLINE WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? Psychology Defined •Psychology is the science of understanding people. Formally, it is the scientific study of thought and behavior. •How does psychology differ from other fields that attempt to understand human behavior? o Literature tries to understand people through story, character exploration, place, and word artistry. o History tries to understand people by describing and analyzing past events. o Sociology studies people by looking at large-scale social forces and focuses on groups rather than individuals. •Is psychology a science? o Yes! Psychology is often a social science, but increasingly it is also a biological science. o It is one of the core sciences. The other core sciences are medicine, earth science, chemistry, physics, and math. Why Should You Study Psychology? •Psychology is considered a part of a good general education, because its content is useful to many fields. Understanding the thoughts, feelings, and motives of others and the self is helpful for any academic discipline. •From our first days, humans have been inherently interested in other humans for survival purposes. Subdisciplines of Psychology •Cognitive psychology is the study of how we perceive, how we learn and remember, how we learn and use language, and how we solve problems. o Those who do research on cognition and learning are often referred to as experimental psychologists, because they conduct laboratory experiments to address their research questions. •Developmental psychology explores how thought and behavior change and show stability across the life span. •Behavioral neuroscience studies the links among brain, mind, and behavior. Neuroscience is an area that cuts across various disciplines and subdisciplines of psychology. That is, one can study brain functions involved in learning, emotion, social behavior, and mental illness, to name just a few areas. o A related subdiscipline, biological psychology, examines the relationship between body systems and chemicals and their influence on behavior and thought. •Personality psychology considers what makes people unique as well as the consistencies in people’s behavior across time and situations. •Social psychology considers how the real or imagined presence of others influences thought, feeling, and behavior. •Clinical psychology focuses on the treatment of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders and ways to promote psychological health. This is the single largest subdiscipline in psychology. o A related field is counseling psychology. Counseling psychologists are more likely than clinical psychologists to work with less severe psychological disorders. o Psychiatrists have training in medicine and an MD degree. In addition to offering psychotherapy, they can also prescribe drugs. •Health psychology examines the role of psychological factors in physical health and illness. •Educational psychology examines how students learn, the effectiveness of particular teaching techniques, the dynamics of school populations, and the psychology of teaching. It also attempts to understand special populations of students, such as the academically gifted and the learning disabled. o School psychology is a related field that is generally practiced by counselors in school settings. •Industrial/organizational (I/O) psychology applies to a broad array of psychological concepts and questions to work settings and problems. I/O is one of the fastest-growing subdisciplines in psychology. •Sports psychology examines the psychological factors in sports and exercise. •Forensic psychology is a blend of psychology, law, and criminal justice. THE ORIGINS OF PSYCHOLOGY •This section looks at the two main forms of psychology: clinical practice and science. A Brief History of the Practice of Clinical Psychology Prehistoric Views o Most prehistoric cultures had medicine men or women known as shamans, who treated “possession” by driving out the demons with rituals such as exorcisms, incantations, and prayers. o Some shamans used trephination, the drilling of a small hole in the person’s skull to release the spirits and demons that possessed the afflicted person. Ancient Views o Egypt and Greece were the first cultures to focus on natural and physical explanations for disorders. •Hippocrates was the first to write about acrophobia, the fear of heights. o At this same time, the Chinese were focusing on natural and bodily explanations of psychological disorders (e.g., they made connections between a person’s bodily organs and his emotions). Medieval to Early Modern Views o During the Middle Ages, people were again diagnosed as being possessed, as opposed to having a physical disorder. Remember, this is the era of witches! •How did they test to see if a person was a witch? One popular method was the float test, in which a person’s hands and feet were tied and she was thrown into a lake or river. If she floated, she had to be guilty because only the Devil could make someone float; if she sank, she was innocent. o It was during the 16th-century witch hunts that the first facilities for the mentally ill were created. Called asylums, these facilities were really nothing more than warehouses for the socially undesirable. o In response to the horrible conditions of the asylums, moral treatment movements began. The main idea was to provide a relaxing place where these patients would be treated with dignity and care. Modern Views o The first modern views of psychological disorders viewed them as any other form of illness—things to be diagnosed and treated with the proper therapy. o Emil Kraepelin began a systematic method of classifying and diagnosing psychological disorders. He identified “dementia praecox” (premature dementia), later changed to “schizophrenia,” and was the first to distinguish thought disorders from mood disorders. o Sigmund Freud developed psychoanalysis, a clinically based approach to understanding and treating psychological disorders. This perspective focused on the unconscious and early childhood experiences in adult psychological disorders. o By the middle of the 20th century, three of the major modern developments in clinical psychology had emerged: modern diagnostic criteria for mental disorders, psychotherapy, and drug therapy. Chapters 15 and 16 will cover these issues in depth. o Today, psychologists use the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-5 (DMS-5) to diagnose psychological disorders. In fact, this standardized manual diagnoses more than 250 psychological disorders. •CONNECTION: Disturbance, dysfunction, distress, and deviance must be present for the diagnosis of psychological disorders. The DSM describes specific symptoms of more than 250 different disorders (Chapter 15). A Brief History of Scientific Psychology •There are two parent disciplines of scientific psychology: philosophy and physiology. The Philosophy of Empiricism o John Locke established empiricism. Empiricism is the view that knowledge and thoughts come from experience. Locke believed that the mind begins as a blank slate (tabula rasa), and that experience (what one sees, hears, tastes, touches, and smells) establishes its contents. o Philosophy is not held to the scientific requirements of psychology. That is, it doesn’t need to collect data. It was not until the 1870s that the first psychological laboratory was opened in Germany. The Psychophysics of Human Perception o The first researchers in psychological science studied psychophysics, the subjective experience of physical sensations. They presumed that if the mind consists only of what we sense, then understanding the senses would lead to a direct understanding of the mind. o One important principle of psychophysics is that perception of physical properties is not the same as the physical properties themselves. o Ernst Weber, Gustav Fechner, and Hermann von Helmholtz were among the first experimental psychologists. Their research will be examined in Chapter 4. o In 1879 Wilhelm Wundt set up his psychology laboratory in Leipzig, Germany. This is considered the birthplace of experimental psychology. o William James, who worked at Harvard University, is considered the founder of psychology in the United States. o G. Stanley Hall studied with both Wundt and James. He earned the first PhD in psychology as James’ student. Hall also opened the first U.S. laboratory of psychology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, thereby establishing psychology as a science in the United States. He founded the American Psychological Association (APA) and become its first president in 1892. o Francis Cecil Sumner, a student of Hall’s, was the first African American to earn a PhD in psychology (1920). o Mary Whiton Calkins (1863–1930), another of James’ students, became the first female president of the APA in 1905. Structuralism-Functionalism o The primary question here is whether it is more important to study the elements of experience in order to understand human thought and behavior, or to study the functions behind human thought and behavior. o Structuralists believe that breaking down experience into its elemental parts provides the best way to understand thought and behavior. To do this, they used introspection, looking into one’s own mind for information about the nature of conscious experience. o Functionalists, who also used introspection, felt it was better to look at why the mind worked the way it did, rather than to describe its parts. Behaviorism o Founded by John Watson, behaviorism proposes that psychology can be a true science only if it examines observable behavior, not ideas, thoughts, feelings, or motives. o Skinner modified Watson’s ideas and argued that rewards and reinforcement shape behavior. o Behaviorism is an extreme form of environmentalism in which Locke’s idea of tabula rasa is most clearly expressed. Humanistic and Positive Psychology o Humanistic psychology focuses on personal growth and meaning as a way of reaching one’s highest potential. o Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers founded this movement, but its popularity waned in the 1970s. o Martin Seligman and Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi started the movement called positive psychology in the 1990s. It shares with humanism a belief that psychology should focus on studying, understanding, and promoting healthy and positive psychological functioning. Positive psychology, however, has more of a scientific focus. Cognitivism Although behaviorism moved away from internal motives and thoughts as being important scientific concepts, two events kept them in the minds of psychologists. First, Gestalt psychology, developed by Max Wertheimer, proposed that we perceive things as wholes rather than a compilation of parts. Moreover, our brains actively shape sensory information into perceptions. Second, mental processes returned to psychology at full force in the 1950s and 1960s—right at the peak influence of behaviorism. The term cognition appeared to discuss thoughts and mental processes. o Cognitive science used the computer as a metaphor for the mind. Computers store, retrieve, and process information, just as the brain stores, retrieves, and processes sensations, memories, and ideas. Sensation was the input; perception was the interpretation and processing of the input; and behavior and thoughts were the output. o By the 1980s, cognitive science combined many disciplines, including psychology, linguistics, philosophy, anthropology, artificial intelligence, and neuroscience. Behavioral Genetics, Behavioral Neuroscience, and Evolutionary Psychology o By the 1980s, psychologists were becoming receptive to the ideas that who we are, how we got here, and what we do and think are very much a result of brain activity, are influenced by genetic factors, and have a long evolutionary past. This movement was encouraged by developments in the fields of behavioral neuroscience, behavioral genetics, and the emergence of evolutionary psychology. •CONNECTION: Our genetic code is not set at birth. Genes are turned on or off by experiences we have, foods we eat, and even foods our mothers ate while pregnant (Chapter 3). WAYS OF THINKING ABOUT MIND, BODY, AND EXPERIENCE The Nature-Nurture Debate •This debate is over whether innate biology or life experience determines our personality and behaviors. •The nature-only view is that who we are comes from inborn tendency and genetically based traits. •The nurture-only side states that we are all born essentially the same, and we are a product of our experiences. Again, Locke would support this idea. o This notion is very North American in nature. •This book supports the concept of nature through nurture: The environment—the womb or the home—constantly interacts with biology to shape who we are and what we do. •One way of thinking about this debate is that, instead of being hardwired biologically, we are softwired. That is, our biological systems involved in thought and behavior are inherited but open to modification from the environment. Mind-Body Dualism •This debate is over how much separation there is between our mind and our body. From this perspective, the mind controls the body. The body can occasionally control the mind too, but mainly when we lose our better judgment, such as in the throes of passion. Mostly the mind and body are separate. •This dualism, or separation of mind and body, allows for the idea of a soul that survives bodily death. This allows for ideas of reincarnation and resurrection. The Evolution of Behavior •Evolution is the change over time in the frequency with which specific genes occur within a breeding species. •Charles Darwin was the first to discuss a major principle at play in evolution. He discussed the principle of natural selection. This is formally defined as a feedback process whereby nature favors one design over another, depending on whether it has an impact on reproduction. o Every once in a while, genes change for no apparent reason. These are called chance mutations. Mutations can cause variation in the design of a structure or a set of behaviors. o The key for natural selection to work is that the behaviors have to increase reproductive success, because reproduction and the passing of genes drive the whole process. o The accumulation of chance mutations underlies evolutionary change. o Natural selection creates structures and behaviors that solve adaptive problems. Adaptations are inherited solutions to ancestral problems that have been naturally selected because they directly contribute in some way to reproductive success, and they continue to perform that function. •Evolutionary psychology is the branch of psychology that studies human behavior by asking what adaptation problem it may have solved for our early ancestors. o Students can imagine they are driving on the highway and the car in the lane next to them has just cut them off. They slam on the brakes to avoid the accident. They experience fear and they do so because fear has been naturally selected because it helps us deal with problems. It moves us into action so we can protect ourselves. o Structure/features that perform a function that did not arise through natural selection are called by-products or exaptations. For example, humans didn’t evolve to speak in fully grammatical sentences but once they started doing so, there were legitimate adaptive reasons to continue. NO ONE PERSPECTIVE TELLS THE WHOLE STORY IN PSYCHOLOGY •A wide variety of perspectives must be considered when we study thought and behavior. This variety of perspective raises the question, "How does one resolve the various views?" There are two strategies for answering this question. First, by using science and critical thinking. Second, by making connections. Challenging Assumptions: Don't Believe Everything You Think •The methods of science and critical thinking help us choose among various explanations for thought and behavior. •Science tests our assumptions against observation in the real world. •More than one perspective can be correct. •Modern psychological science tells us that we must combine multiple perspectives to come to a complete understanding of thought and behavior. •One of the overarching themes of multiple perspectives is nature and nurture. •Research can lead to surprising findings that may challenge our assumptions. Connections Within and Between Chapters •Theories and findings are connected throughout the text. •Connections may be obvious or they may be surprising. •Learning to bring together ideas is an important part of critical thinking. •Each chapter in the text ends with "Bringing It All Together" to help connect main ideas and concepts. BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER: MAKING CONNECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGY: STUDYING ELECTRONIC SOCIAL INTERACTIONS •How do psychologists from different subfields study electronic social communication (such as e-mail, blogs, cell phones, texting, instant messaging, etc.) and human behavior and thought? Cognitive Psychology •Cell phone use has sparked a number of research questions, especially with regard to driving. Thus far, researchers have reported that the person’s driving ability is similar to a person’s driving ability while drunk. Developmental Psychology •Developmental psychologists are interested in questions such as: At what age is a person too young to form electronic social networks? At what age does usage of Internet social networks peak? Will they always be for the younger generation? Will people 60 and older use them? Does gender affect interest and participation in SNSs? How have cell phones and other electronic methods of communicating changed how teenagers interact with each other? Social Psychology •One of the first applications of the Internet for social purposes was online dating services. •Electronic interactions cannot easily be used to hide one’s “real personality” and to avoid ever having real face-to-face contact with others. •Another electronic behavior is the concept of “friending.” If someone allows you access to their site, they have “friended” you. This in turn leads to ancient issues of being “popular,” socially excluded, rejected, and accepted. Personality Psychology •These psychologists may ask: Are people who interact extensively with other people via Facebook more or less extraverted than those who do not? Moreover, how much of one’s personality is reflected in the style of their websites and Facebook pages? Health Psychology •A very innovative and at least partially successful application of electronic media is using the cell phone to post health information and symptoms of various diseases. This type of communication erases the embarrassment of having to obtain a health diagnosis face-to-face. Clinical Psychology •One of the main criteria for a mental illness is when it interferes with everyday life and functioning. If one is online for 10–12 hours a day, is that healthy? What about the danger involved in meeting someone in person whom you only know from online interaction? KEY TERMS adaptations: inherited solutions to ancestral problems that have been selected for because they directly contribute in some way to reproductive success; they continue to perform that function though the problem that required the adaptation no longer exists. asylums: facilities for treating the mentally ill that existed in Europe during the Middle Ages and into the 19th century. behavioral neuroscience: the study of the links among brain, mind, and behavior. behaviorism: a school of psychology that proposed that psychology can be a true science only if it examines observable behavior, not ideas, thoughts, feelings, or motives. biological psychology: the study of the relationship between bodily systems and chemicals, and how they influence behavior and thought. clinical psychology: the field that deals with the treatment of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders and the promotion of psychological health. cognitive psychology: the study of how people perceive, remember, think, speak, and solve problems. developmental psychology: the study of how thought and behavior change and remain stable across the life span. educational psychology: the study of how students learn, the effectiveness of particular teaching techniques, the social psychology of schools, and the psychology of teaching. empiricism: the view that all knowledge and thoughts come from experience. evolution: the change over time in the frequency with which specific genes occur within a breeding species. evolutionary psychology: the branch of psychology that aims to understand the functions of the human mind by looking at and understanding what adaptive problems it may have solved earlier in its ancestral past. forensic psychology: the study that combines psychology and the legal and criminal justice systems. functionalism: a school of psychology that argued that it was better to look at why the mind worked the way it did than to describe its parts. Gestalt psychology: a theory of psychology that proposes that we perceive things as wholes rather than a compilation of parts. health psychologists: scientists who examine the role that psychological factors play in regard to physical health and illness. humanistic psychology: a theory of psychology that focuses on personal growth and meaning as a way of reaching one’s highest potential. industrial/organizational (I/O) psychology: the application of psychological concepts and questions to work settings and problems. introspection: the main method of investigation for structuralists; it involves looking into one’s own mind for information about the nature of conscious experience. moral treatment: approach to treatment of the mentally ill that began in Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries; its goal was to offer dignity and care in a relaxing environment. natural selection: a feedback process whereby nature favors one design over another, depending on whether it has an impact on reproduction. nature through nurture: the position that the environment—be it the womb or the home or the entire world—constantly interacts with biology to shape who we are and what we do. personality psychology: the study of what makes people unique and the consistencies in people’s behavior across time and situations. positive psychology: a theory of psychology that shares with humanism a belief that psychology should focus on studying, understanding, and promoting healthy and positive psychological functioning, but does so from a scientific rather than theoretical perspective. psychoanalysis: a clinically based approach to understanding and treating psychological disorders; assumes that the unconscious mind is the most powerful force behind thought and behavior. psychology: the scientific study of thought and behavior. psychophysics: the first scientific form of psychology; laboratory studies of the subjective experience of physical sensations. shamans: medicine men or women who treat the possessed by coaxing and driving out the demons with elaborate rituals, such as exorcisms, incantations, and prayers. social psychology: the study of how living among others influences thought, feeling, and behavior. softwiring: in contrast to hardwired, means that biological systems involved in thought and behavior—genes, brain structures, brain cells, etc.—are inherited and still open to modification from the environment. sports psychology: the study of psychological factors in sports and exercise. structuralism: 19th-century school of psychology that argued that breaking down experience into its elemental parts offers the best way to understand thought and behavior. MAKING THE CONNECTIONS (Some of the connections are found in the text. Other connections may be useful for lecture or discussion.) Subdisciplines of Psychology CONNECTION: Why are people in crowds less likely to help a person in distress than people who witness such an event while alone? Research on the bystander effect answers this question (Chapter 14). •Discussion: Have students recall experiences in First Aid or Health classes they have taken in which they learn CPR. They walk up to Rescue Annie (the doll they resuscitate) and the first thing they ask her is “Are you all right? Are you OK? YOU call 911.” As they say that last sentence they have to point to one person in the crowd. Why? Because you must allocate responsibility; otherwise people just stand around as if silently asking, “Who, me?” A Brief History of Scientific Psychology CONNECTION: Disturbance, dysfunction, distress, and deviance must be present for the diagnosis of psychological disorders. The DSM describes specific symptoms of more than 250 disorders (Chapter 15). •Discussion: Ask students to discuss when behaviors move from normal to abnormal. A good example is hand cleaning. Ask students how many of them use hand sanitizers throughout the day. Ask how many students worry about catching a cold from someone by touching something a sick person has. Then discuss when “concern over illness” moves into OCD. CONNECTION: People learn by making associations, by being rewarded and reinforced, and by watching others succeed or fail (Chapter 8). •Discussion: Ask students to think about when they have used these concepts in training their pets, friends, and significant others. Ask students about their own experiences with reinforcements, punishments, and associations. CONNECTION: Humanistic and positive psychologists strive to understand people who are psychologically healthy, happy, and compassionate (Chapter 13). •Discussion: Ask students what behaviors and traits they think lead to happy and healthy lives. CONNECTION: Our genetic code is not set in stone at birth. Genes are turned on or off by experiences we have, foods we eat, and even foods our mothers ate while pregnant with us (Chapter 3). •Discussion: This combination of nature and nurture influencing development has been of huge importance in psychology. Ask students for their thoughts of which influences us more. INNOVATIVE INSTRUCTION 1. Ask students what college they think psychology should be in: arts and humanities or science, and why. They often do not realize that psychology is a science, like chemistry or physics, and why it is a science. You can also ask them about whether they think a psychology major should earn a BA or a BS. 2. Ask students why they are enrolled in this course. Are they psychology majors? If so, what do they want to be when they graduate? Are they enrolled to meet a general education requirement? If so, why do they think that psychology is a general education requirement? 3. The Origins of Psychology: You can start off your discussion of the origins of psychological disorders by showing a clip from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTdDN_MRe64 and show the witch trial scene. You can talk about the arguments they used and the seemingly scientific method they used to test their arguments. Students find the discussion humorous, but when you talk about medieval views, it becomes clear why you showed this clip. 4. Ask students which subdiscipline of psychology they think most fits with their current beliefs. You can use a CPS question to poll the class to get the conversation started. 5. Ask students to think about which evolutionarily adapted behaviors might have been advantageous for their ancestors but are not necessarily useful today. A good example is fatty foods; it makes sense that in hunter-gatherer societies fatty, high-calorie foods would be in demand. You might not know when your next meal is coming. This is certainly not the case today when you can get cheap, fatty foods on any street corner. 6. Ask students to think about the connection babies have with their parents. Evolutionarily speaking, why might these connections be important? 7. Ask students to take out a sheet of paper and draw a picture of a psychologist. Use a document camera to show some of the pictures and ask students to note any generalities they see. Most often, students draw a picture of a therapist (namely Freud): a man with a beard and glasses, sitting next to a couch. Explain that most psychologists are not clinicians, but most are academics! 8. Ask students to write down two or three things that come to their mind when they think of "psychology." Ask students to provide one of their terms out loud. 9. Have students engage in introspection. Start by asking them what it means to be introspective. They often believe that it is being thoughtful and self-analyzing. To demonstrate true introspection, ask them to think about an everyday object like an apple. Have them talk about what it smells like, tastes like, how it feels in their mouth, and when they swallow it, any connections they make with it (e.g., apple pie, grandma, etc.). 10. Have students create a timeline of psychological trends and historical events. This is a good study tool in addition to helping them understand why different schools of thought might have evolved. For example, it makes sense that psychoanalysis came into vogue during the Victorian era, which was a time of repression. 11. Ask students to pretend that they are going into psychology (some may actually be psychology majors) and will be earning their PhD. What type of psychologist do they want to become, and why? 12. Ask students if they agree that driving while on the cell phone is similar to driving drunk. Have them defend their answer. You may want to share with them the Strayer, Drews, and Couch (2006) article listed in the suggested readings. 13. Ask students why they think online dating might be related to issues of social anxiety? What do they think of the concept of “friending” people that they don't even know? 14. Ask students how many times they check their social media (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, etc.) in any given day. How do they feel when they cannot check their media? Do they think they are addicted? Why or why not? 15. Ask students to find three instances from real life that demonstrate psychological concepts in their lives. This can be done individually or in groups. Have students share their ideas and discuss which major subdisciplines best explain the experience. Suggested Media 1. Monty Python International Philosophy Germany vs. Greece: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2kAnTZBnTg 2. Amadeus (1984) is a good example of how asylums were set up to treat the mentally ill. 3. Quills (2000) also offers a good example of asylums. 4. A clip from CBS news with Katie Couric (2007), discussing a research finding on empathy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gq-EtH7ub34 5. Discovering Psychology: Past, Present, and Promise (Annenberg) 6. Penis envy discussed in The Big Bang Theory: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0Xm6RdLakA Concept Clips (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.) 1. Structuralism and Functionalism Suggested Websites 1. Article in Time magazine on Freud: http://www.time.com/time/time100/scientist/profile/freud.html 2. Evolutionary psychology: http://www.anth.ucsb.edu/projects/human/evpsychfaq.html 3. American Psychological Association: http://www.apa.org 4. American Psychological Society: http://www.psychologicalscience.org 5. Psychology and the Movies: http://www.smccd.edu/accounts/merrill/PSYCHOLOGY%20AND%20MOVIES.htm Suggested Readings Baker, D. B. (2012). The Oxford handbook of the history of psychology: Global perspectives. Oxford University Press. Bell, A. (2002). Debates in psychology. London: Taylor and Francis. Buss, D.M. (2011). Evolutionary psychology: The new science of the mind (4th ed.). Pearson. Clayton, M., Helms, B., & Simpson, C. (2006). Active prompting to decrease cell phone use and increase seat belt use while driving. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 39(3), 341–349. Fancher, R. E. (1996). Pioneers of psychology (3rd ed.). New York: Norton. Goodwin, J. G. (Ed.) (2009). Annotated readings in the history of modern psychology. Wiley. Hock, R. (2008). Forty studies that changed psychology: Explorations into the history of psychological research. Prentice-Hall. Lewis, K., Kaufman, J., & Christakis, N. A. (2008). The taste for privacy: An analysis of college student privacy settings in the Facebook.com social network. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. 14, 79–100. Lillenfeld, S. O., Lynn, S. J., Ruscio, J., & Beyerstein, B. L. (2010). 50 great myths of popular psychology: Shattering widespread misconceptions about human behavior. Wiley-Blackwell. O’Boyle, C. G. (2006). History of psychology: A cultural perspective. Philadelphia, PA: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Robins, R. W., Gosling, S. D., & Craik, K. H. (1999). An empirical analysis of trends in psychology. American Psychologist, 54, 117–128. Schure, M. B., Christopher, J., & Christopher, S. (2008). Mind-body medicine and the art of self-care: Teaching mindfulness to counseling students through yoga, meditation, and Qigong. Journal of Counseling & Development, 86(1), 47–56. Strayer, D. L., Drews, F.A., & Couch, D. J. (2006). A comparison of the cell phone driver and the drunk driver. Human Factors, 48, 381–391. Chapter 2: Conducting Research in Psychology BRIEF CHAPTER OUTLINE The Nature of Science Common Sense and Logic The Limits of Observation What Is Science? The Scientific Method What Science Is Not: Pseudoscience Research Methods in Psychology Principles of Research Design Descriptive Studies Case Study Naturalistic Observation Interview and Survey Meta-Analysis Correlational Studies Experimental Studies Challenging Assumptions in the Objectivity of Experimental Research Commonly Used Measures of Psychological Research Self-Report Measures Behavioral Measures Physiological Measures Making Sense of Data with Statistics Descriptive Statistics Inferential Statistics Psychology in the Real World: Challenge the Assumptions of Advertiser's Statistics Research Ethics Ethical Research with Humans Ethical Research with Animals Bringing It All Together: Making Connections in Psychological Research: Can Experience Change the Brain? Chapter Review EXTENDED CHAPTER OUTLINE •Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment is outlined in detail (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpDVFp3FM_4). o Zimbardo set out to examine whether normal people might behave in extreme ways when thrust into situations that place certain demands of them. o Zimbardo screened 21 male student volunteers and assigned them to be either “guards” or “prisoners” in a simulated prison environment for two weeks. All were briefed beforehand about what conditions would be like in the mock prison. All the students signed a form consenting to participate. o Six days into the simulation, however, Zimbardo ended the study, because the students were playing their roles too well. Prisoners went back and forth between plotting riots and having emotional breakdowns, such as getting sick and crying. Guards became extremely authoritarian, restricting almost all personal freedom of the prisoners. •One of the goals of modern psychological research is to understand human behavior in a sound, objective, and scientific manner while observing guidelines for the physical and emotional well-being of the people or animals being studied. o Formal ethical guidelines, however, were first proposed in the United States in 1966 and only became law in 1974. This is after Zimbardo conducted his study. You may want to ask students if they think that his study would have been approved by IRBs today. THE NATURE OF SCIENCE Common Sense and Logic •Common sense is the intuitive ability to understand the world. •Logic tells us how the world should work. •CONNECTION: How do psychologists tease apart how much of a trait is due to genetics and how much is due to environment? A common approach is to study twins (both identical and fraternal) who are reared apart or reared together (Chapter 3). The Limits of Observation •Our knowledge of the world comes through our five senses, but the way in which the brain organizes and interprets sensory experiences may vary from person to person, making observation potentially faulty. •Another problem with observation is that people tend to generalize from their observations and assume that what they witnessed in one situation applies to all similar situations. What Is Science? •Science can be thought of in three distinct areas: physical, biological, and social. o As mentioned in Chapter 1, psychology is a social science. •There are three attitudes of science: 1. Question authority. Be skeptical and don’t just accept the words of experts. You must scrutinize and test ideas yourself. 2. Show open skepticism. While you should be skeptical, you should also, ultimately, be open to accepting whatever the evidence reveals. 3. Intellectual honesty. Accept the data, whatever it suggests. The Scientific Method •The scientific method is made up of five basic processes that you can remember by the word OPTIC: Observe, Predict, Test, Interpret, and Communicate. •In the observation and prediction stages of a study, researchers develop expectations about an observed phenomenon. o A theory is a set of related assumptions from which testable predictions can be made. They organize and explain what we have observed and guide what we will observe. o A hypothesis is a specific, informed, and testable prediction of what kind of outcome should occur under a particular condition. •The third stage is the testing of these hypotheses. To do this, researchers select both an appropriate method of testing and the appropriate measurement techniques. •In the fourth stage, researchers use statistical techniques to interpret the results and determine whether they are beyond chance and a close fit to their prediction or not. You may want to use this as an opportunity to explain why psychology majors need to take statistics! •The fifth stage of the scientific method is to communicate the results. Generally, scientists publish their findings in an established, peer-reviewed, professional journal but they can also give talks and poster presentations. Written communications follow a standardized format (called APA [vs. MLA] style) whereby the researchers report their hypothesis, describe their research design and the conditions of the study, summarize the results, and share their conclusions. •Replication is the repetition of a study to confirm the results. The advancement of science hinges on results being replicated. This is how the process of scientific discovery is cumulative. Previous knowledge builds on older knowledge. What Science Is Not: Pseudoscience •Pseudoscience refers to practices that appear to be and claim to be science, but in fact do not use the scientific method to come to their conclusions. •Pseudoscience practitioners: 1. make no real advances in knowledge, 2. disregard well-known and established facts that contradict their claims, 3. do not challenge or question their own assumptions, 4. tend to offer vague or incomplete explanations of how they came to their conclusions, and 5. tend to use unsound logic in making their arguments. •Examples of pseudoscience include alchemy, creation science, intelligent design, perpetual motion machines, astrology, psychokinesis, and some forms of mental telepathy. RESEARCH METHODS IN PSYCHOLOGY Principles of Research Design •Research designs are plans for how to conduct a study. •A general goal of psychological research is to measure change in behavior, thought, or brain activity. A variable is anything that changes or “varies” within or between people. Psychologists do research by predicting how and when variables influence each other. o Examples of variables are age, personality traits, gender, and mental disorders. •Researchers must pay attention to how they obtain participants for their studies. o The first step in obtaining a sample is for the researchers to decide the makeup of the entire group or population in which they are interested (e.g., all college students, all men, all adolescents, all African Americans, etc.). o Populations are too large to survey or interview directly so researchers draw on small subsets from each population to study, called samples. If researchers want to draw valid conclusions or make accurate predictions about the population, it is important that they have samples that accurately represent the population in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, or any other variables that might be of interest. Descriptive Studies •Single events and single cases often lead to new ideas and new lines of research (e.g., the Kitty Genovese murder). •In descriptive designs, the researcher makes no prediction and does not control or manipulate any variables. The researcher defines a problem and describes the variable of interest. •These types of studies generally occur during the exploratory phase of research. o Case Studies o Involves a psychologist observing one person often over a long period of time. o Offer deep insights that surveys and questionnaires often miss because they are based on a one-on-one relationship lasting over years. o Psychobiographies examine in detail the lives of historically important people. o They do not test hypotheses but can be a rich source for hypotheses. o Caution! Not all cases are generalizable to other people. That is why we don’t stop with case studies, but use them to develop testable and more general predictions. Naturalistic Observation o The researcher tries to be as unobtrusive as possible and observes and records behavior in the real world. o Naturalistic observation is more often the design of choice in comparative psychology by researchers who study non-human behavior (usually primates) to determine what is and is not unique about our species. A good example is Jane Goodall. o Developmental psychologists occasionally also conduct naturalistic observations (e.g., the Efe tribe and communal childrearing practices). o The advantage of naturalistic observation is that it gives researchers a look at real behavior in the real world, rather than in a controlled setting where people might not behave naturally. o Caution! Because conditions cannot be controlled and cause and effect relationships between variables cannot be examined, these studies are rarely done. Interview and Survey o Both the interview and the survey involve asking people directly or indirectly what they think, feel, or have done. o They also both involve specific questions, usually asked precisely the same way, but answers can be open-ended or restricted to a rating (Likert) scale. o Interviews can be conducted face-to-face, over the phone, or online. o Pitfalls include sampling problems such as not being representative and biased responses. Ideally, researchers want to have a representative sample in which the sample truly represents the population of interest. o Kinsey’s surveys of male and female sexual behavior provide good examples of the power and weakness of survey research. He didn’t use representative sampling and oversampled people in Indiana (his home state) and prisons. He interviewed people face-to-face about their most personal and private details of their sexual behavior, making it more likely they would not be perfectly honest in their responses. Meta-Analysis •Meta-analysis is a quantitative method for combining the results of all the published and even unpublished results on one question and drawing a conclusion based on the entire set of studies on the topic. •A researcher converts the findings of each study into a standardized statistic known as effect size. Effect size is a measure of the strength of the relationship between two variables or the magnitude of an experimental effect. The average effect size across all studies reflects what the literature overall says on a topic or question. Correlational Studies •Correlational designs measure two or more variables and their relationship to one another (e.g., how is variable X related to variable Y). •Correlational studies are useful when the variables cannot be manipulated. For example, you can’t randomly assign a child to live with his or her mother or his or her father. You also can't manipulate whether someone has schizophrenia or not. •The major limitation of the correlational approach is that it does not establish whether one variable actually causes the other or vice versa. Correlation is not causation! •A correlation coefficient is a statistic that tells us whether two variables relate to each other and the direction of the relationship. o Correlations range between–1.0 and +1.0, with coefficients near 0.00 telling us there is no relationship between the two variables. As a correlation approaches ±1.00, the strength of the relationship increases. o Correlation coefficients can be positive or negative. If the relationship is positive, then as a group’s score on X goes up, their score on Y also goes up. With a negative correlation, as a group’s score on X goes up, their score on Y goes down. Experimental Studies •A true experiment has two crucial characteristics. 1. First, experimental manipulation of a predicted cause, the independent variable, and measurement of the response, or dependent variable. 2. Second, random assignment of participants to control and experimental groups or conditions. •The independent variable in an experiment is an attribute that is manipulated by the experimenter while other aspects of the study are held constant. •The dependent variable is the outcome, or response to the experimental manipulation. •Random assignment is the method used to assign participants to different research conditions so that each person has the same chance of being in one group as another. Random assignment is critical because it assures that on average the groups will be similar with respect to certain variables. o Why is this important? Because if the groups are the same on these qualities at the beginning of the study, then any differences between the groups at the end of the experiment are likely to be the result of the experiment. o The experimental group consists of those participants who will receive the treatment or the independent variable. o The control group consists of participants who are treated exactly in the same manner as the experimental group but who do not receive the independent variable or treatment. They may instead be given a placebo, a substance or treatment that appears identical to the actual treatment but lacks the active substance. •Confounding variables are additional variables whose influence cannot be separated from the independent variable being examined. •Experimental design allows us to determine causality if the independent variable caused changes in the dependent variable and everything else is held constant. o Researchers must also be careful to treat the two groups alike and make sure that all environmental conditions (e.g., noise level and room size) are equivalent. •How much participants and experimenters know about the experimental conditions to which participants have been assigned can also affect outcome. o Single-blind studies are designs in which participants do not know the experimental condition to which they have been assigned. This must be the case in all studies to avoid the possibility that participants will behave in a biased way. For example, if participants know they have been assigned to a group that receives a new training technique on memory, then they might try harder to perform well. This would confound the results. o In double-blind studies neither the participants nor the researchers know who has been assigned to which condition. These designs prevent experimenter expectancy effects, which occur when the behavior of the participants is influenced by the experimenter’s knowledge. CHALLENGING ASSUMPTIONS IN THE OBJECTIVITY OF EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH •Robert Rosenthal hypothesized that people who believed they were successful would be more likely to see success in others. •To test this idea, he conducted an experiment in which he told one group of participants that they had done well on an intelligence test and another group that they had done poorly on an intelligence test. Rosenthal randomly assigned participants to be in one of these conditions (there was also a neutral control condition where participants were not given any feedback after the intelligence test). Then he asked both groups to examine photographs of people doing various tasks and rate how successful they thought the people in the photos were. •He compared the average scores of the participants assigned to different conditions before doing anything to them. Unfortunately, the groups were not only different at the outset, but they were different in exactly the way that favored his hypothesis. •Because he used random assignment, the only difference in the groups at the outset was Rosenthal’s knowledge of who was in which group. Somehow, by knowing who was in which group, he unintentionally created behaviors that favored his hypothesis. •Rosenthal had discovered experimenter expectancy effects. He also found that if the study involves direct interaction between an experimenter and participants, the experimenter’s age, ethnicity, personality, and gender can have an effect on the participants’ behavior. •Rosenthal stumbled upon a more general phenomenon known as self-fulfilling prophecy, a statement that changes events to cause a belief or prediction to become true. •Within 10 years, more than 300 other studies confirmed Rosenthal’s results in both human and animal experiments. •Their research led to the development of double-blind procedures. •Expectancy effects have also been found in classrooms. Lenore Jacobson collaborated with Rosenthal in a study to determine whether teachers create “smart” behavior in classrooms. They found that when a teacher thinks that a certain student is “smart” and “special,” he/she may unwittingly treat the student differently, give more detailed feedback, and give the student more challenging material. These actions, in turn, could create a higher-performing, “smarter” student. COMMONLY USED MEASURES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH •The tools and techniques used to assess thought or behavior are called measures. Self-Report Measures •Self-reports are people’s written or oral accounts of their thoughts, feelings, or actions. •Two kinds of self-report measures are commonly used in psychology: interviews and questionnaires. o In an interview, a researcher asks a set of questions and the respondent usually answers in any way he or she feels is appropriate. Answers are either coded into broad categories or simply summarized. The answers are often open-ended and not constrained by the researcher. o In a questionnaire, responses are limited to the choices given in the questionnaire. •Pros of Self-Report Questionnaires o Self-report questionnaires are easy to use, especially in the context of collecting data from a large number of people at once or in a short period of time. o They are also relatively inexpensive. o If designed carefully, they can also provide important information on key psychological variables. •Cons of Self-Report Questionnaires o People are not always the best sources of information about themselves because of social desirability bias. This is the tendency toward favorable self-presentation. o We have to assume that people are accurate witnesses to their own experiences. Behavioral Measures •Behavioral measures are based on systematic observation of people’s actions, either in their normal environment (that is, naturalistic observation) or in a laboratory setting. Afterward, trained coders observe the videotapes and, using a prescribed method, code the level of aggressive behavior exhibited by each person. •Pros o They are less susceptible to social desirability bias than are self-report measures. o They provide more objective, direct measurements, because they come from a trained outside observer, rather than from the participants themselves. •Cons o If people know they are being observed, watched, and/or measured, they may modify their behavior. o These studies are time-intensive. Physiological Measures •Physiological measures are used to collect data on bodily responses such as heart rate, sweating, respiration, and brain activity. Chapter 3 will discuss brain imaging techniques. •Clearly, the big con here is that these technologies require specialized training in the use of equipment, collection of measurements, and data interpretation. They can therefore be quite costly. MAKING SENSE OF DATA WITH STATISTICS •Once researchers collect data, they must make sense of them using statistics, the mathematical procedures for collecting, analyzing, interpreting, and presenting numerical data. •Statistics are used to describe and simplify data and to understand how variables are related. Descriptive Statistics •The first statistics researchers calculate are called descriptive statistics. These tests provide a way of summarizing and organizing data. o These statistics can be represented in graphs. o Another way to describe data is to compute the mean of the data or the arithmetic average. o The median is the middle score, which separates the lower half of scores from the upper half. o The mode is the most frequently occurring score. o The mean, however, does not reveal anything about how spread out, or how varied, scores are. The most common way to represent that information is to calculate the standard deviation, which tells you how much the scores in a sample vary around the mean. o Frequency is the number of times a particular score occurs in a set of data. A graph of frequency scores is known as a distribution. To graph a distribution we place the scores on the horizontal or X-axis and their frequencies on the vertical or Y-axis. For example, the standard bell curve, or normal distribution, if we gave 1,000 children an IQ test and plot all 1,000 scores, we would end up with something very close to a symmetrical bell-shaped distribution. That is, very few children would score 70 or below and very few children would score 130 and above. The majority of children would be right around the average or mean of 100. In fact, right at two-thirds (68% to be exact) would be within 1 standard deviation (15 points) of the mean. Moreover, about 95% would be within 2 standard deviations, or between 70 and 130. Inferential Statistics •Inferential statistics allow us to test hypotheses and make an inference as to how likely a sample score is to occur in a population. •Probability and the normal distribution are used to rule out chance as an explanation for why the group scores are different. •Five in one hundred (5%) is the most frequent choice made by psychological researchers and is referred to as the probability-level. If we obtain two means and our statistical analysis tells us there is only a 5% or less chance that these means come from the same population, we conclude that the numbers are not just different but statistically different and not likely by chance. •To compare just two means, we use a statistic known as the t-test. The basic logic of the t-tests is to determine whether the means for your two groups are so different they are not likely to come from the same population. •In short, t-tests allow us to test our hypotheses and rule out chance as an explanation. •As useful and helpful as statistics are to help us understand our results, be aware however that they also can be and are used to mislead people. PSYCHOLOGY IN THE REAL WORLD: CHALLENGE THE ASSUMPTIONS OF ADVERTISER'S STATISTICS •Scenario #1: A billboard advertising a popular hybrid vehicle: “The car more people would buy again.” o What did the ad actually say? The car more people would buy again. Ask yourself, “More than what?” The meaning of this claim depends entirely on what this vehicle is being compared to (other hybrids, all cars, a moped?). o Advertisers regularly leave information out and hope you will fill in the blank with what helps them most. In this case, they hope and assume you fill in the blank with “all other cars.” •Scenario #2: In an ad in the morning paper, Company B reports on research that should really make you want to buy their product. A recent lab study shows that just a ½ ounce of their new drug—let’s call it “No-Cold”—killed 37,202 germs in a test tube in less than 15 seconds! o The implication is that it is a great cold medicine—perhaps better than others—on the basis of these hard scientific data. Here are a few things to consider: The fact that a substance works well in a test tube (a controlled environment) does not mean it will work in the human throat or respiratory tract. The ad doesn’t say what kinds of germs “No-Cold” killed. •Scenario #3: Graphic displays of data can be misleading. Consider Figures 2.14A and 2.14B, both of which depict the billions of dollars spent on education over a one-year period. o One seems to show a much bigger increase in spending on education than the other but if you look closely, both depict the same dollar increase in spending. o This visual difference stems from how the illustrations’ vertical axis is segmented. Companies, journalists, and politicians mislead people all the time by tweaking the graphic depiction of data. RESEARCH ETHICS •Some of the most important studies in psychology could not be performed today, including the Stanford Prison Experiment. •Ethics are the rules governing the conduct of a person or group in general or in a specific situation, or more simply, standards of right and wrong. •Every single psychological study conducted with humans and animals must pass through a rigorous review of its methods by a panel of experts. If the proposed study does not meet the standards, it cannot be approved. •Another notable example of research that would violate current ethics guidelines is Milgram’s research on obedience, which will be discussed in more detail in Chapter 14. o Milgram designed an experiment to test systematically the question of whether decent people could be made to inflict harm on other people. o His studies involved a simulation in which participants were misled to think they were participating in a study on punishment and learning. They administered what they thought were electrical shocks to punish the “learner,” who was in another room, for making errors. o In spite of protest from the “learner” when increasingly intense shocks occurred, the experimenter pressured the “teachers” to continue administering shocks. Despite his screams, most of the participants continued to shock the learner. o After the study, Milgram fully explained to his participants that, in fact, the “learner” was never shocked or in pain at all. Ethical Research with Humans •Today, all psychological and medical researchers must adhere to the following guidelines listed below. 1. Informed consent: Participants must be told, in general terms, what the study is about, what they will do and how long it will take, what the known risks and benefits are, that they have the right to withdraw at any time without penalty, and whom to contact with questions. 2. Respect for persons: The dignity and autonomy of the individual must be protected. 3. Beneficence: Participants should be told the costs and benefits of participation. The costs should be minimized and the benefits maximized. 4. Privacy and confidentiality: Protect the privacy of the participant, generally by keeping all responses confidential. 5. Justice: The benefits and costs of participation must be distributed equally among participants. •The APA believes that participant deception should be avoided whenever possible but recognizes that sometimes it is justified. If deception is used then, when the study is over, participants must be debriefed or informed of the exact purposes of the study (including the hypotheses) and all deceptive practices must be revealed and explained. •Today, to ensure adherence to ethical guidelines, institutional review boards (IRBs) evaluate proposed research before it is conducted to make sure research involving humans does not cause undue harm or distress. Ethical Research with Animals •Biological psychology and learning are the areas of psychology that most often use animals for research. •Animals cannot consent to research but since animal research has led to many treatments for disease, as well as advances in understanding basic neuroscientific processes, the medical and scientific communities, along with the general public, have deemed such research acceptable as long as the general conditions and treatment of the animals is humane. •Laws generally require housing the animals in clean, sanitary, and adequately sized structures. •Specific IRBs evaluate proposals for animal research and require researchers to ensure the animals’ comfort, health, and humane treatment, which also means keeping discomfort, infection, illness, and pain to an absolute minimum at all times. •If a study requires euthanizing the animal, it must be done as painlessly as possible. BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER: MAKING CONNECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL REACH: CAN EXPERIENCE CHANGE THE BRAIN? •The research question is can enriching experiences actually improve brain function and/or make the brain grow faster? •Some methods of research are chosen over others in an attempt to answer this question. •In the early 1960s research was conducted to study the effects of different environments on the brain of rats. In many experimental studies genetically similar rats were assigned to enriched or impoverished environments. The researchers found rats raised in enriched environments showed evidence of growth in brain tissue. •One of the major reasons we study these phenomena in animals is that ethical limitations prevent human research. Animals serve as a model. •Rat and human brains, however, are not identical. Rat brains are not a perfect model for human brains. •It would be, however, unethical to assign children to enriched or impoverished environments. •The most rigorous design that e could be applied in this research is a quasi-experimental design. This type of design makes use of naturally occurring groups rather than randomly assigned ones. •Several quasi-experimental designs have focused on people who had received intensive musical training. •People who have received this musical training, especially before age 7 have a thicker corpus callosum or a band of nerve fibers connecting the two hemispheres of brain. •This means musicians have more communication between the two sides of the brain compared to people who have not had musical training. •The results, however, are correlational and not causal because researchers relied on naturally occurring groups. KEY TERMS behavioral measures: measures based on systematic observation of people’s actions, either in their normal environment or in a laboratory setting. case study: a study design in which a psychologist, often a therapist, observes one person over a long period of time. confounding variable: variable whose influence on the dependent variable cannot be separated from the independent variable being examined. control group: a group of research participants who are treated in exactly the same manner as the experimental group, except that they do not receive the independent variable or treatment. correlation coefficient: a statistic that ranges from –1.0 to +1.0 and assesses the strength and direction of association between two variables. correlational designs: studies that measure two or more variables and their relationship to one another; not designed to show causation. debriefing: the explanation of the purposes of a study following data collection. dependent variable: in an experiment, the outcome or response to the experimental manipulation. descriptive designs: study designs in which the researcher defines a problem and variable of interest but makes no prediction and does not control or manipulate anything. descriptive statistics: techniques that show what observations collected in research actually look like, by summarizing and describing data. double-blind studies: studies in which neither the participants nor the researchers administering the treatment know who has been assigned to the experimental or control group. effect size: a measure of the strength of the relationship between two variables or the extent of an experimental effect. ethics: the rules governing the conduct of a person or group in general or in a specific situation; or, more simply, standards of right and wrong. experiment: a research design that includes independent and dependent variables and random assignments of participants to control and experimental groups or conditions. experimental group: a group consisting of those participants who will receive the treatment or whatever is predicated to change behavior. experimenter expectancy effects: result that occurs when the behavior of the participants is influenced by the experimenter’s knowledge of who is in the control group and who is in the experimental group. frequency: is the number of times a particular score occurs in a set of data. hypothesis: a specific, informed, and testable prediction of the outcome of a particular set of conditions in a research design. independent variable: a property that is manipulated by the experimenter under controlled conditions to determine whether it causes the predicted outcome of an experiment. inferential statistics: allow us to test hypotheses and make an inference as to how likely a sample score is to occur in a population. institutional review boards (IRBs): organizations that evaluate proposed research before it is conducted to make sure research involving humans does not cause undue harm or distress. mean: the arithmetic average of a series of numbers. measures: tools and techniques used to assess thought or behavior are called measures. median: the score that separates the lower half of scores from the upper half. meta-analysis: research technique for combining all research results on one question and drawing a conclusion. mode: a statistic that represents the most commonly occurring score or value. naturalistic observation: a study in which the researcher unobtrusively observes and records behavior in the real world. normal distribution: a normal distribution has a precise shape; we know exactly what percentage of scores is within one standard deviation from the mean (68%) and how many are within two standard deviations of the mean (95%). physiological measures: measures of bodily responses, such as blood pressure or heart rate, used to determine changes in psychological state. placebo: a substance or treatment that appears identical to the actual treatment but lacks the active substance. population: the entire group a researcher is interested in; for example, all humans, all adolescents, all boys, all girls, all college students. pseudoscience: claims presented as scientific that are not supported by evidence obtained by the scientific method. quasi-experimental design: research method similar to an experimental design except that it makes use of naturally occurring groups rather than randomly assigning subjects to groups. random assignment: the method used to assign participants to different research conditions so that all participants have the same chance of being in any specific group. replication: the repetition of a study to confirm the results; essential to the scientific process. representative sample: a research sample that accurately reflects the population of people one is studying. research design: plans of action for how to conduct a scientific study. samples: subsets of the population studied in a research project. scientific method: the procedures by which scientists conduct research, consisting of five basic processes: observation, prediction, testing, interpretation, and communication. scientific thinking: scientific thinking involves the cognitive skills required to generate, test, and revise theories. self-fulfilling prophecy: a statement that affects events to cause the prediction to become true. self-reports: written or oral accounts of a person’s thoughts, feelings, or actions. single-blind studies: studies in which participants do not know the experimental condition (group) to which they have been assigned. social desirability bias: the tendency toward favorable self-presentation that could lead to inaccurate self-reports. standard deviation: a statistical measure of how much the scores in a sample vary around the mean. statistics: collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of numerical data. theory: a set of related assumptions from which scientists can make testable predictions. t-test: a statistical test that compares two means. variable: a characteristic that changes or “varies,” such as age, gender, weight, intelligence, anxiety, and extraversion. MAKING THE CONNECTIONS (Some of the connections are found in the text. Other connections may be useful for lecture or discussion.) Common Sense and Logic CONNECTION: How do psychologists tease apart how much of a trait is due to genetics and how much is due to environment? A common approach is to study twins (both identical and fraternal) who are reared apart or reared together (Chapter 3). •Discussion: A brief overview of behavioral genetics and personality can be found at: http://www.personalityresearch.org/bg.html. It reviews twin and adoptee research on personality and how behavioral genetics has influenced methodology. What Is Science? CONNECTION: Think about one assumption or idea or belief you once had that you no longer believe. What made you change your mind? Did you observe certain things that contradicted your belief, or did someone convince you with the logic of an argument? •Discussion: Ask students to stand up, if they believe research on animals is unethical have them move to stand on the L side of the room. If they believe that it is ethical, have them stand to the R. If they are unsure they can stay in the middle. Have the L and R sides discuss their perspective and then ask people to move to the part of the room that now represents their stance. Generally, many students will shift views after discussion and this will illustrate attitude change (Chapter 14). CONNECTION: As a neuroscientist working on Parkinson’s disease, Helen Mayberg found something unexpected about brain circuitry. Initially she was skeptical. Because she was also curious and open to the evidence, she decided to pursue it further. Her curiosity and openness led to her discovery how placing an electrical stimulator deep inside the brain could turn off depression like a switch (Chapter 16). •Suggested Website: The Mayo Clinic’s website has a thorough discussion of ECT: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/electroconvulsive-therapy/MY00129. •Suggested Video: The following link is a case study of a woman who underwent ECT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JG9eQsjaZY. Descriptive Studies CONNECTION: The “bystander effect” explains why, when so many people are around, individuals do not get involved and help others in need. When in a group, individual responsibility is diffused among people and everyone thinks that helping is someone else’s responsibility (Chapter 14). •Suggested Video: Reenactment of Darley and Latane’s research: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KE5YwN4NW5o. •Suggested Video (warning, this is violent): A June 5, 2008, hit-and-run in Hartford, CT http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEayX8qti1s. Research Ethics CONNECTIONS: Social psychologists have demonstrated both in the lab and in the real world that otherwise normal folks can be pressured to do cruel things, such as give people shocks to the point of knocking them unconscious (or so they believe; Chapter 14). •Discussion: Have students discuss how Zimbardo and Milgram’s studies might be related to current events (e.g., World War II, Abu Ghraib, cults, hazing, etc.). •Discussion: A recent 2009 replication of Milgram's study can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcvSNg0HZwk (part 1), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzTuz0mNlwU&feature=related (part 2), and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmFCoo-cU3Y&feature=related (part 3). INNOVATIVE INSTRUCTION 1. Ask the psychology majors in the room what courses they are most and least looking forward to. Generally, they will say they are looking the least forward to Research Methods and Statistics. Then ask them why those classes are required for their major. Use this as a jumping-off point for a discussion about the importance of research in psychology. 2. Ask students what the most famous examples of psychological research they know are. Have them identify the methodology of the studies. 3. Ask students if they believe in UFOs. ESP? 4. Ask students if they think it is ethical to use deception in psychological research. Why or why not? If not, how can you test issues about cruelty, obedience, stealing, lying, etc.? 5. Ask students if they believe that animal research is ethical. Encourage them to discuss their opinions and challenge each other. 6. Students may have difficulty differentiating theories from hypotheses. Tell them of some different theories you have and ask them to pull out testable hypotheses. For example, you can tell them that a researcher believed that frozen foods do not have calories. Calories are measures of heat. Frozen food, by definition, can’t have calories. Therefore, frozen foods are calorie-free. Explain what events this theory might lead to: diets of frozen candy bars, ice cream, Starbucks Frappacinos, frozen cookie dough, etc., that lead to weight loss. What is the theory? Hypotheses? How can they be tested? 7. Have students get into groups and give them the following theory: media violence and adolescent aggression are related. Assign each group to a different research design (correlation, experiment, survey, case study, and naturalistic observation) and ask them to come up with a testable hypothesis and method of testing. 8. Ask students what are the most famous examples of psychological research they are aware of. Have them identify the methodology of the studies. 9. Have students visit the IRB website for your college or university and read over its mission statement. If there is a training certificate researchers must obtain to conduct research on your campus, you may want to have students do so, and report on their experiences. 10. Have students read a great article that expands Rosenthal’s research into teacher bias. This can be found in: Rosenthal, R., S. L., and Jacobson, L. (1966). Teachers’ expectancies: Determinates of pupils’ IQ gains. Psychological Reports, 19, 115–118. Have them write two paragraphs that summarize the article and then one paragraph that illustrates a personal experience where they have experienced the bias themselves. 11. Ask students when they may have experienced the self-fulfilling prophecy. Examples include telling themselves they are going to fail a test and then not studying, or telling themselves that their significant other’s parents won’t like them and then acting cold and aloof when they meet. 12. Ask students about their experiences in middle school or high school when they were assigned to “Basic,” “Regular,” “Advanced,” or “AP” classes. How did those assignments change their behaviors? Did the teachers act differently toward them? Why? Suggested Media 7. Zimbardo prison study part 1 (careful, there is swearing): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpDVFp3FM_4 8. Sybil (1976) is a great example of a case study. 9. Kinsey (2004) is a racy, but good, example of surveys and interviewing techniques. The opening sequence can be shown by going to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e19GnyNdC48 10. A great video from Annenberg with Phil Zimbardo, former president of the APA discussing research methods in psychology can be found at: Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrlI9oErJJg, Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KoRfdC1l-o&feature=related, and Part 3 at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIpDPrbRiBo&feature=related 11. Discovering Psychology: Understanding Research (Annenberg) Concept Clips (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.) 1. Scientific Method 2. Correlation Suggested Websites 6. The Jane Goodall Institute’s homepage: http://www.janegoodall.org/ 7. Independent variable practice worksheet: http://dvusd.org/cms/lib07/AZ01901092/Centricity/Domain/4763/variables_worksheet.pdf Suggested Readings American Psychological Association (1992). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct. American Psychologist, 47, 1597–1611. Baumrind, D. (1964). Some thoughts on ethics of research: After reading Milgram’s ‘Behavioral study of obedience.’ American Psychologist, 19, 421–423. Burkley, E., & Burkley, M. (2009). Mythbusters: A tool for teaching research methods in psychology. Teaching of Psychology, 36, 179–184. Guthrie, R. V. (2003). Even the rat was white (2nd ed.). Allyn-Bacon. Nisbett, R. E., & Wilson, T. D. (1977). Telling more than we can know: Verbal reports on mental processes. Psychological Review, 84, 231–259. Rosenthal, R. (1976). Experimenter effects in behavioral research. New York: Irvington Publishers. Rosnow, R. L., & Rosenthal, R. (1989). Statistical procedures and the justification of knowledge in psychological science. American Psychologist, 44, 1276–1284. Rosenzweig, S. (1933). The experimental situation as a psychological problem. Psychological Review, 40, 337–354. Shermer, M. (1997). Why people believe weird things: Pseudoscience, superstition, and other confusions of our time. New York: W.H. Freeman. Zimbardo, P. G. (2007). The Lucifer effect: Understanding how good people turn evil. New York: Random House. Chapter 3: The Biology of Behavior BRIEF CHAPTER OUTLINE Genes and Behavior The Complex Connection Between Genes and Behavior Polygenic Influence on Behavior Genes and the Environment Twin-Adoption Studies Gene-by-Environment Studies Epigenetics: How the Environment Changes Gene Expression The Nervous System Organization of the Nervous System The Cells of the Nervous System: Glial Cells and Neurons The Structure and Types of Neurons Neural Communication: The Action Potential Neural Communication: Neurotransmission Common Neurotransmitters Summary of the Steps in Neural Transmission The Brain Evolution of the Human Brain Overview of Brain Regions Hindbrain Midbrain Forebrain The Limbic System The Cerebrum and the Cerebral Cortex Cerebral Hemispheres Communication Between the Hemispheres Brain Plasticity and Neurogenesis Psychology in the Real World: Brain-computer and Brain-Machine Interfaces Challenging Assumptions About Neural Growth in the Adult Brain Early Evidence of Neurogenesis in Adults Key Figures in the Discovery of Neural Growth in Adults Measuring the Brain Electroencephalography Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Functional MRI (fMRI) Positron Emission Tomography (PET) The Endocrine System Bringing It All Together: Making Connections in the Biology of Behavior: What Esref Armagen’s Story Reveals About the Brain Chapter Review EXTENDED CHAPTER OUTLINE THE BIOLOGY OF BEHAVIOR GENES AND BEHAVIOR •Heredity influences much of behavior and experience. •DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is a large, coiled molecule that resides in the every cell in the body, except red blood cells, and contains all the information needed for human development and function. •Chromosomes: DNA is packaged with proteins to form structures called chromosomes. Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes in the nucleus of each cell body. •Genes: small segments of DNA that contain the blueprints or plans for the production of proteins. Genes influence specific characteristics, such as height or hair color, by directing the synthesis of proteins. •Genome: all of the genetic information contained in most of our cells. •Genes occur in pairs of alleles, which are different forms of each other. We inherit one allele from each one of our parents. Each gene in an allele pair can produce different characteristics. •Dominant genes: show their effect even if there is only one copy of that gene in the pair. If you have one brown and one blue eye allele, chances are you will have brown eyes. •Recessive gene shows its effects only when both alleles are the same. For example, a person will have blue eyes only if he or she inherits an allele for blue eyes from each parent. •Behavioral genetics: an area that looks at nature versus nurture in given traits. •Four principles of behavioral genetics are especially relevant in psychology. These four principles are listed below. 1. The relationship between specific genes and behavior is complex. 2. Most specific behaviors derive from dozens or hundreds of genes—not one or two. 3. By studying twins and adoptees, behavioral geneticists may disentangle the contributions of heredity and environment to behavior. 4. The environment influences how and when genes affect behavior. The Complex Connection Between Genes and Behavior •Genes seldom make behaviors a certainty. Typically, a specific gene plays only a small part in creating a given behavior, and genetic influence itself is only part of the story. Polygenic Influence on Behavior •The second principle of behavioral genetics is that traits tend to be influenced by many genes. •Monogenic transmission: passing on of traits determined by a single gene (e.g., Huntington’s disease). •Polygenic transmission: many genes interact to create a single characteristic (e.g., skin color, personality traits, height, and weight). •CONNECTION: Genetics influence about 50% of the differences in performance on intelligence tests, leaving about the same amount to be explained by non-genetic influences (Chapter 10). Genes and the Environment •Heritability: the extent to which a characteristic is influenced by genes. •Researchers use twin-adoption studies and gene-by-environment studies to study heritability. Twin-Adoption Studies •Twin-adoption studies are the study of twins, both identical and fraternal, who were raised apart (adopted) and those who were raised together. •Fraternal twins occur when two different eggs are fertilized by two different sperm. This is just like any two siblings. •Identical twins occur when a single fertilized egg that splits into two independent cells. •Twin studies compare pairs of fraternal and identical twins. Fraternal twins share half as many genes on average as identical twins (50% compared to 100%). If a trait is genetically influenced, identical twins should be more similar in that trait than fraternal twins will be. If genetics plays no role, identical twins will be no more alike than fraternal twins in that specific trait. Gene-by-Environment Studies •Gene-by-environment interaction research: directly measures genetic similarity in parts of the genome itself. •Researchers locate a genetic marker or a variant sequence of DNA that is present in some people and not in others. They then assess crucial environmental experiences in people with and without the genetic marker, such as trauma and stress. Finally, they determine whether individuals with the genetic marker who were raised in a particular environment are more or less likely to develop some trait, such as extraversion, violence, intelligence, or schizophrenia. •Individuals differ not so much in whether or not they have a gene, but rather in the form the gene takes. Epigenetics: How the Environment Changes Gene Expression •Environmental events influence how and when genes are activated or deactivated. •Epigenesis: occurs when there is a change in the way genes get expressed—that is, are activated or deactivated—without changing the sequence of DNA. •Soft inheritance: you can inherit an activated gene in your grandparent that gets turned off environmentally in one of your parents. It can be inherited by you as a deactivated gene. This secondary form of inheritance is very similar to softwiring. THE NERVOUS SYSTEM Organization of the Nervous System •The central nervous system (CNS) includes the brain and spinal cord. •The peripheral nervous system consists of all the other nerve cells in the body, including the somatic nervous system and the autonomic nervous system. •The somatic nervous system transmits sensory information to the brain and spinal cord and from the brain and spinal cord to the skeletal muscles. •The autonomic nervous system (ANS) serves the involuntary systems of the body, such as the internal organs and glands. •The ANS has two main branches: o The sympathetic nervous system is responsible for fight or flight response. This is the response that activates bodily systems in times of emergency. The main function of the sympathetic nervous system is activating the body. Examples include: increasing heart rate, pupil dilation, and inhibiting digestion. o The parasympathetic nervous system is the branch of the ANS and it is largely one of relaxation or returning the body to a less active, restful state. The Cells of the Nervous System: Glial Cells and Neurons •The central nervous system is made up of two types of cells: glial cells and neurons. •Glial cells provide structural support, promote efficient communication between neurons, and remove cellular debris. •Neurons are cells that process and transmit information throughout the nervous system. Within the brain, neurons receive, integrate, and generate messages. By most estimates, there are more than 10 billion neurons in the human brain. Each neuron has approximately 10,000 connections to other neurons, making for literally trillions and trillions of neural connections in the human brain! •Three major principles how neurons communicate with other neurons. These three principles are listed below. 1. Neurons are the building blocks of the nervous system. All the major structures of the brain are composed of neurons. 2. Information travels within a neuron in the form of an electrical signal by action potentials. 3. Information is transmitted between neurons by means of chemicals called neurotransmitters. The Structure and Types of Neurons •Neurons are the building blocks of the nervous system. All the major structures of the brain are composed of neurons. •The three major parts of the neuron are the cell body, dendrites, and axon. 1. The soma is the cell body. It contains a nucleus and other components needed for cell maintenance and function. Within the nucleus itself are the genes that direct neural change and growth. 2. The axon is a long projection from the soma, which transmits electrical impulses toward the adjacent neuron. 3. Dendrites are fingerlike projections that receive incoming messages from other neurons. •The axons of some neurons become wrapped in a fatty myelin sheath. This is called myelination. The myelin sheath insulates the axon so that the impulse travels more efficiently. The glial cells myelinate axons throughout the nervous system. •The synapse is the junction between the axon and the adjacent neuron. •The terminal button is located at the end of the axon. It contains tiny sacs of neurotransmitters. •When an electrical impulse reaches the terminal button, it triggers the release of neurotransmitter molecules into the gap between neurons, known as the synaptic cleft. •There are three kinds of neurons: sensory, motor, and interneurons. 1. The sensory neurons receive incoming sensory information from the sense organs (eye, ear, skin tongue, and nose). 2. The motor neurons take commands from the brain and carry them to the muscles of the body. • Mirror neurons are a type of motor neuron that is active when we observe others making an action as well as when performing the same action. They appear to play an important role in learning. 3. Interneurons are neurons that communicate only with other neurons. Most interneurons connect neurons in one part of the brain with neurons in another part. Interneurons are the most common kind of neuron in the brain, outnumbering sensory and motor neurons by at least 10 to 1. CONNECTION: Mirror neurons support learning by imitation as well as empathy (Chapters 5, 8, and 14). Neural Communication: The Action Potential •Neural communication is a two-step process. 1. An impulse travels one way from the dendrites along the axon and away from the soma, a process that is both electrical and chemical; this is known as an action potential. 2. The impulse releases chemicals at the tips of the neurons, which are released into the synaptic cleft to transmit the message to another neuron. This is known as neurotransmission. • An action potential is the positively charged impulse that moves down an axon. •This happens by virtue of changes in the neuron itself. The neuron, like all cells in the body, is surrounded by a membrane separating the fluid inside the cell from the fluid outside the cell. •This membrane is somewhat permeable, which means that it lets only certain particles move through it. The fluid inside and outside the cell contains chemically charged particles called ions. •When a neuron is in the resting state, the electrical charge inside the axon is –70 millivolts (mV), where the minus sign indicates that the charge is negative. This value is the resting potential of the neuronal membrane. •Neurons, however, do not stay at rest. An incoming impulse can temporarily change the potential. •While the neuron is returning to its resting state, it temporarily becomes super negatively charged. During this brief period, known as the refractory period, the neuron cannot generate another action potential. •We can summarize the electrical changes in the neuron from resting to action potential to refractory period and back to the resting state as follows: 1. Resting potential is –70mV. 2. If an incoming impulse causes sufficient depolarization, voltage-dependent sodium channels open and sodium ions flood into the neuron. 3. The influx of positively charged sodium ions quickly raises the membrane potential to +40 mV. This surge in positive charge inside the cell is the action potential. 4. When the membrane potential reaches +40 mV, the sodium channels close and potassium channels open. The outward flow of positively charged potassium ions restores the negative charge inside the cell. •How fast are action potentials anyway? About 100 feet per second! •Thresholds are a point of no return. Once the charge inside the neuron exceeds this threshold, the action potential fires and it always fires with the same intensity. This is known as the all-or-none principle. In other words, an action potential either fires or it does not; there is no halfway. If the depolarization threshold is not reached, there is no action potential. Neural Communication: Neurotransmission •The arrival of an action potential at the terminal buttons of a neuron triggers the second phase in neural transmission, the release of neurotransmitters into the synaptic cleft to pass on the impulse to other neurons. •Neurotransmitters are packaged in sacs called synaptic vesicles in the terminal button. •Not all of the neurotransmitter molecules that are released into the synaptic cleft bind with receptors. Usually, excess neurotransmitter remains in the synaptic cleft and needs to be removed. •There are two ways to remove excess neurotransmitter from the synaptic cleft: o In enzymatic degradation enzymes specific to that neurotransmitter bind with the neurotransmitter and destroy it. o In reuptake excess neurotransmitters are returned to the sending, or pre-synaptic, neuron for storage in vesicles and future use. •After a neurotransmitter has bound to a receptor on the post-synaptic neuron, a series of changes occur in that neuron’s cell membrane. These small changes in membrane potential are called graded potentials. These are not all-or-none like action potentials. Rather, they affect the likelihood that an action potential will occur in the receiving neuron. •Some neurotransmitters excite and others inhibit. Common Neurotransmitters •Within the past century, researchers have discovered at least 60 distinct neurotransmitters and learned what most of them do. Of the known neurotransmitters, the ones that have the most relevance for the study of human thought and behavior are acetylcholine, epinephrine, norepinephrine, dopamine, serotonin, GABA, and glutamate. •Neurotransmitters are found only in the brain. They are synthesized inside the neuron for the purpose of neurotransmission. •Acetylcholine (ACh) controls muscle movement and plays a role in mental processes such as learning, memory, attention, sleeping, and dreaming. •Dopamine is released in response to behaviors that feel good or are rewarding to the person or animal. Because dopamine activity makes us feel good, many drug addictions involve increased dopamine activity. •Epinephrine and norepinephrine primarily have energizing and arousing properties. Epinephrine was formerly called “adrenaline.” Both epinephrine and norepinephrine are produced in the brain and by the adrenal glands that rest on the kidneys. •Serotonin is involved in dreaming and in controlling emotional states, especially anger, anxiety, and depression. People who are generally anxious and/or depressed often have low levels of serotonin. •Gamma-aminobutyric acid, or GABA, is a major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain. Remember that inhibitory neurotransmitters tell the post-synaptic neurons NOT to fire. It slows CNS activity and is necessary for the regulation and control of neural activity. Without GABA the central nervous system would have no “brakes” and could run out of control. •Glutamate is the brains major excitatory neurotransmitter. Glutamate is important in learning, memory, neural processing, and brain development. More specifically, glutamate facilitates growth and change in neurons, and the migration of neurons to different sites in the brain, all of which are basic processes of early brain development. Summary of the Steps in Neural Transmission •The information in neural transmission always travels in one direction in the neuron—from the dendrites to the soma to the axon to the synapses. This process begins with information received from the sense organs, which generates a nerve impulse. •The dendrites are the first to receive a message from other neurons. That message, in the form of an electrical and chemical impulse, is then integrated in the soma. While being integrated in the soma, they do not yet create an action potential. They need to be tallied or summed. •If the excitatory messages pass the threshold intensity, an action potential will occur, sending the nerve impulse down the axon. If the inhibitory messages win out, the likelihood of the post-synaptic neuron firing goes down. •When the nerve impulse, known as the action potential, travels down the axon in a wavelike fashion, it jumps from one space in the axon’s myelin sheath to the next. The nerve impulse travels down the axon because channels are opening and closing in the axon’s membrane. Passing in and out of the membrane are ions, mostly sodium and potassium. •This impulse of opening and closing channels travels wavelike down the length of the axon, where the electrical charge stimulates the release of neurotransmitter molecules in the cell’s synapses and terminal buttons. •The neurotransmitters are released into the space between neurons known as the synaptic cleft. Neurotransmitters released by the pre-synaptic neuron then connect with receptors in the membrane of the post-synaptic neuron. •This connection or binding of neurotransmitter to receptor creates electrical changes in the post-synaptic neuron’s cell membrane, at its dendrites. Some neurotransmitters tend to be excitatory (e.g., glutamate) and increase the likelihood of an action potential. Others tend to be inhibitory (e.g., GABA) and decrease the likelihood of an action potential. •The transmission process is repeated in post-synaptic neurons, which now become pre-synaptic neurons. THE BRAIN •The brain is a collection of neurons and glial cells that controls all the major functions of the body. It produces thoughts, emotions, and behavior; and makes us human. Evolution of the Human Brain •The human brain has been shaped, via natural selection, by the world in which humans have lived. •It is worth noting here that brains do not fossilize to allow a present-day analysis, but the skulls that hold them do. By looking at the size and shape of skulls from all animals and over very long time periods, scientists can glean something about how and when human brains evolved. •The earliest ancestors of humans appeared in Africa about 6 million years ago. One of our closest evolutionary relatives, the Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) lived from about 350,000 to 28,000 years ago, when they were replaced by our species (Homo sapiens). •Neanderthals had brains slightly larger on average than modern humans. Nevertheless, these folks did not produce highly complex tools, may have had very rudimentary language, and never made symbolic pieces are art. In other words, their brains were modern in size but not modern in function. •It is possible, therefore, that the human brain took up to 100,000 years to become fully wired and complex all the while staying the same overall size. Overview of Brain Regions •The three major regions of the brain, in order from earliest to develop to newest, are the hindbrain, the midbrain, and the forebrain. Hindbrain •The oldest brain region is the hindbrain, the region directly connected to the spinal cord. Hindbrain structures regulate breathing, heart rate, arousal, and other basic functions of survival. There are three main parts of the hindbrain: the medulla, the pons, and the cerebellum. 1. The medulla regulates breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure. It also is involved in various kinds of reflexes, such as coughing, swallowing, sneezing, and vomiting. Reflexes are inborn and involuntary behaviors¬ that are elicited by very specific stimuli. 2. Pons means “bridge,” and the pons indeed serves as a bridge between lower brain regions and higher midbrain and forebrain activity. 3. The cerebellum, or “little brain,” contains more neurons than any other single part of the brain. It is responsible for body movement, balance, coordination, and fine motor skills like typing and piano playing. The cerebellum is important in cognitive activities such as learning and language. Midbrain •The next brain region to evolve after the hindbrain is the smallest of the three major areas. Different parts of the midbrain control the eye muscles, process auditory and visual information, and initiate voluntary movement of the body. The midbrain, the medulla, and the pons together are sometimes referred to as the brainstem. •Running through both the hindbrain and the midbrain is a network of nerves called the reticular formation. This is crucial in arousal: both waking up and falling asleep. Forebrain •The last major brain region to evolve is the largest part of the human brain, the forebrain. It consists of the cerebrum and numerous other structures including the thalamus and the limbic system. Areas in the forebrain control cognitive, sensory, and motor function, and regulate temperature, reproductive functions, eating, sleeping and the display of emotions. •Most forebrain structures are bilateral; that is, there are two of them, one on each side of the brain. •The thalamus receives input from the ears, eyes, skin, or taste buds and relays sensory information to the part of the cerebral cortex most responsible for processing that specific kind of sensory information. The Limbic System •In the middle of the brain directly around the thalamus lies a set of structures important in emotion and motivation that are referred to as the limbic system. This system includes the hypothalamus, the hippocampus, the amygdala, and the cingulate gyrus. •The hypothalamus is the master regulator of almost all major drives and motives we have, including hunger, thirst, temperature, and sexual behavior. It controls the pituitary gland, and thus, the production of hormones. •The hippocampus is key in memory systems. Sensory information from the eyes, ears, skin, nose, and taste buds goes to the hippocampus. If these events are important enough, they are established as lasting memories. •The amygdala is a small, almond-shaped structure located directly in front of the hippocampus. Anatomically, the amygdala has connections with many other areas of the brain, including the following structures that appear to be involved in emotion and memory: the hypothalamus, which controls the autonomic nervous system; the hippocampus, which plays a crucial role in memory; the thalamus, which contains neurons that receive information from the sense organs; and the cerebral cortex. •By virtue of its prime location, the amygdala plays a key role in determining the emotional significance of stimuli, especially when they evoke fear. •The basal ganglia is a collection of structures surrounding the thalamus involved in voluntary motor control. •The cingulate gyrus is a beltlike structure in the middle of the brain. Portions of the cingulate gyrus, in particular the front part, play an important role in attention and cognitive control. The Cerebrum and Cerebral Cortex •The uppermost portion of the brain, the cerebrum is folded into convolutions and divided into two large hemispheres. •The outer layer is called the cerebral cortex. The cortex is only about one-tenth to one-fifth of an inch thick, yet it is in this very thin layer of brain that much of human thought, planning, perception, and consciousness take place. •The cerebrum is composed of four large areas called lobes, each of which carries out distinct functions. 1. The frontal lobes are in the front of the brain and make up one-third of the area of the cerebral cortex. The frontal lobe carries out many important functions, including attention, holding things in mind while we solve problems, planning, abstract thinking, control of impulses, creativity, and social awareness. The frontal lobes are more interconnected with other brain regions than any other part of the brain and therefore are able to integrate much brain activity. •Primary motor cortex: is one important region of the frontal lobe, descending from the top of the head toward the center of the brain, in which mild electrical stimulation causes different parts of the body to move. •The frontal lobes are also the “youngest” part of the brain, evolving to a greater extent in modern humans than in any other species. Similarly, the frontal lobes are the last part of the brain to finish developing in individuals; they do not become mature until we reach our early 20s. 2. The parietal lobes make up the top and rear sections of the brain and play an important role in the sensation and perception of touch. The front-most portion of the parietal lobes is the somatosensory cortex. When different parts of the body are touched, different parts of this strip of cortex are activated. 3. The temporal lobes lie directly below the frontal lobe and parietal lobe and right behind the ears. The temporal lobes have many different functions, but the main one is hearing. Home of the auditory cortex, it is in this region where sound information arrives from the thalamus for processing. The temporal lobes also house and connect with the hippocampus and amygdala so it is also involved in memory and emotion. 4. The occipital lobes are located in the back of the brain. The optic nerve travels from the eye to the thalamus and then to the occipital lobes—specifically, to the primary visual cortex. Visual information is processed in the visual cortex. •The insula is a small structure that resides deep inside the cerebrum, in the area that separates the temporal lobe from the parietal lobe. The insula is active in the perception of bodily sensations, emotional states, empathy, and addictive behavior. Cerebral Hemispheres •The human cerebrum is split down the middle into two hemispheres that differ in shape, size, and function. •The left hemisphere processes information in a more focused and analytic manner, responsible for language. •The right hemisphere integrates information in a more holistic, or broad, manner. •The corpus callosum is a thick band of nerve fibers connecting the two hemispheres of the brain, allowing communication between them. •Aphasia is a deficit in the ability to speak or comprehend language. •Broca’s area is responsible for the ability to produce speech. •Wernicke’s area is responsible for speech comprehension. Damage results in fluent, grammatical streams of speech that lack meaning. Communication Between the Hemispheres •All communication between the two hemispheres occurs when information travels via the corpus callosum. •Previous medical evidence had suggested that cutting the bundle of nerves between the two hemispheres could stop epileptic seizures. Roger Sperry performed this surgery on a former POW with seizures. •In performing this surgery they found that not only did his seizures stop, but there was no noticeable change in his personality or intelligence. However, they found he had difficulty naming things that were presented to his left visual field, but he could do so with things presented to his right visual field. •Language, both speech and comprehension, resides in the left hemisphere of the human brain. •Information from our right visual field (the right portion of the visual scope of each eye) goes to the left occipital cortex, while information from the left visual field (the left portion of the visual scope of each eye) goes to the right occipital cortex. •This case shows that we can know something even if we cannot name it. Brain Plasticity and Neurogenesis •Since the 1990s, numerous principles of brain plasticity have emerged. •Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to adopt new functions, reorganize itself, or make new neural connections throughout life, as a function of experience. •Almost every major structure of the neuron is capable of experience-based change. •Not all regions of the brain are equally plastic. For example, the part of the brain most involved in learning, the hippocampus, is more plastic than just about any other part of the brain. •Brain plasticity varies with age. It is the strongest in infancy and early childhood and gradually decreases with age. •Neurogenesis is the process of developing new neurons. •Aborization is the growth and formation of new dendrites. •Synaptogenesis is the formation of entirely new synapses or connections with other neurons that is the basis of learning. PSYCHOLOGY IN THE REAL WORLD: BRAIN COMPUTER-BRAIN MACHINE INTERFACES In recent years, research and industry that combine technology and neuroscience have flourished. One interesting and beneficial application of this joint venture is in the development of brain-computer interfaces and brain-machine interfaces. These devices allow people to control computers or machinery with only their thoughts, by converting neural activity (action potentials) into signals that can control or speak to computers and machines. More recent research employs less invasive techniques, such as brain imaging with fMRI, to control machines. These new systems allow for a bidirectional line of communication between the brain and the computer. That is, feedback from a computer can be used to modulate brain activity. CHALLENGING ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT NEURAL GROWTH IN THE ADULT BRAIN The old view that is no longer held in neuropsychological research was called the neuron doctrine. This was stated by Ramon y Cajal over 100 years ago. The neuron doctrine stated neurons do not regenerate. This is now known to not be true. Early Evidence of Neurogenesis in Adults •In the 1960s it was recognized that adult brains do change. •The first studies were done with rats and cats. Key Figures in the Discovery of Neural Growth in Adults •Fred “Rusty” Gage was responsible for demonstrating neurogenesis in humans. •Injections of BrdU in cancer patients were used to track new cell growth. •Elizabeth Gould is another key figure demonstrating new neural growth in adult primates. •Gould compared rates of neurogenesis and synaptic growth in the brains of primates living in natural settings with primates in lab cages. •Gould found that stress and impoverished environments resulted in less neurogenesis in the primates. CONNECTION: Learning results in new synapses, dendrites, and even new neurons in certain regions of the brain. Regular exercise also stimulates neural growth (Chapter 8). MEASURING THE BRAIN •To be able to look into the brain as it is working was a long-time fantasy of philosophers and scientists. In the last few decades, this has become possible. At least three distinct techniques are now commonly used to measure brain activity in psychological research. Electroencephalography •Electroencephalography (EEG) is used to record the electrical activity of the brain by placing electrodes on a person’s scalp. EEG is superior to other brain imaging technique in showing when brain activity occurs. It is not very accurate at indicating precisely where activity occurs. •Event-related potential (ERP) is a special technique that takes electrical activity from raw EEG data to measure cognitive processes. As it is based on EEG, ERPs provide excellent temporal resolution (they show brain activity linked with psychological tasks almost immediately in time) but poor spatial resolution. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Functional MRI (fMRI). •MRI stands for magnetic resonance imaging. It uses magnetic fields to produce very finely detailed images of the structure of the brain and other soft tissues. MRI does not tell us anything about activity, just structures. •Functional MRI (fMRI) tells us where activity in the brain is occurring during particular tasks by tracking blood oxygen use in brain tissue. It is not entirely clear exactly how directly fMRI images reflect underlying neural activity, although some studies suggest a fairly direct correlation with processing in certain cortical areas. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) •Positron Emission Tomography (PET) measures blood flow to brain areas in the active brain. From these measurements researchers and doctors can determine which brain areas are active during certain situations. •What is known as the gray matter is the brain tissue composed of neuron cell bodies, because the soma or cell body is where cell metabolism takes place. •Myelinated axons are not typically well imaged by MRI or PET. Because these fibers are covered with myelin, they are called white matter. Several methods have been developed for better imaging white matter or neural fibers. These include diffusion tensor imaging, which is a special kind of MRI that is adapted for better imaging myelinated fibers and tracts (collections of myelinated fibers). Promise is shown in studying connections among brain areas. THE ENDOCRINE SYSTEM • The endocrine system is a system of glands that secretes chemicals called hormones. Hormones travel through the bloodstream to tissues and organs all over the body and regulate body functions like metabolism, growth, reproduction, mood, and other processes. •The hypothalamus is not a gland but is depicted as part of the endocrine system because it controls the pituitary gland. •The pituitary gland is the master gland of the body, because it controls the release of hormones from glands elsewhere in the body. •The thyroid is a gland that sits in the neck region and releases hormones that control the rate of metabolism. •Metabolism is a process by which the body converts nutritional substances into energy. •The pancreas releases hormones, including insulin, that play a vital role in regulating the blood sugar levels. •The sex glands (ovaries and testes) release sex hormones that lead to development of sex characteristics (such as body hair and breast development), sex drive, and other aspects of sexual maturation. •The adrenal glands release hormones in response to stress and emotions. o Catecholamines are a class of chemicals that includes the neurotransmitters dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine. o Cortisol is responsible for maintaining the activation of bodily systems during prolonged stress. BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER: MAKING CONNECTIONS IN THE BIOLOGY OF BEHAVIOR: WHAT ESREF ARMAGEN'S STORY REVEALS ABOUT THE BRAIN o Esref was a blind artist who paints using a Braille stylus (writing utensil) to sketch out his drawing by laying down bumps on paper. With his other hand, he follows the raised bumps to “see” what he has put down. No one helps him when he paints, and his paintings are entirely his own creations. o He portrays perspective with uncanny realism, far beyond what any other blind painter has ever achieved. He says he learned this from talking with others as well as from feeling his way in the world. Armagan’s skill appears to have at least some inborn basis, given how early he started without receiving any instruction. o Like many blind people, Armagan relies mostly on his sense of touch. Interestingly, he needs total silence while working. In many blind people, the visual centers of the brain are used to processing hearing. Maybe Armagan needs silence because he cannot afford to devote the precious resources of his mind’s eye to hearing. o Armagan is one of the few blind people with the ability to accurately portray depth and perspective in his drawings and paintings. When asked to draw a cube and then rotate it once and then once again, he draws it in perfect perspective, with horizontal and vertical lines converging at imaginary points in the distance. o Because he has been blind since birth, Armagan’s visual cortex has never received any visual input. That part of his brain, however, didn’t merely die or stop functioning. In many blind people, the visual cortex takes on hearing functions, enabling them to hear certain types of sounds better than sighted people can. Armagan’s occipital cortex indeed is very active when he paints, but he is receiving tactile (touch) and not visual input. o There is evidence from neuroscientists who study blind people in general that this plasticity of the occipital lobes is the norm. It usually processes tactile information, verbal information, or both for blind people. The life, abilities, and brain of Armagan illustrate that the brain is both highly plastic and specialized. KEY TERMS acetylcholine (ACh): a neurotransmitter that controls muscle movement and plays a role in mental processes such as learning, memory, attention, sleeping, and dreaming. action potential: the impulse of positive charge that runs down an axon. adrenal glands: structures that sit atop each kidney; they release hormones important in stress, emotions, regulation of heart rate, blood pressure, and blood sugar regulation. alleles: pairs or alternate forms of a gene. all-or-none principle: the idea that once the threshold has been crossed, an action potential either fires or it does not; there is no half-way. amygdala: a small, almond-shaped structure located directly in front of the hippocampus; has connections with many important brain regions. Important for processing emotional information, especially that related to fear. aphasia: deficit in the ability to speak or comprehend language. arborization: the growth and formation of new dendrites. autonomic nervous system (ANS): all the nerves that serve involuntary systems of the body, such as the internal organs and glands. axon: a long projection that extends from the soma, which transmits electrical impulses toward the adjacent neuron and stimulates the release of neurotransmitters. basal ganglia: a collection of structures surrounding the thalamus involved in voluntary motor control. behavioral genetics: the scientific study of the role of heredity in behavior. Broca’s area: an area in the left frontal lobe responsible for the ability to produce speech. catecholamines: a class of chemicals released from the adrenal glands that function as hormones and as neurotransmitters; they control ANS activation and include the neurotransmitters dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine. central nervous system (CNS): the brain and spinal cord. cerebellum: a hindbrain structure involved in body movement, balance, coordination, fine-tuning motor skills, and cognitive activities such as learning and language. cerebral cortex: the thin outer layer of the cerebrum, in which much of human thought, planning, perception, and consciousness takes place. cerebrum: each of the large halves of the brain that are covered with convolutions, or folds. chromosomes: strands of DNA that carry our genes. cingulate gyrus: meaning “belt ridge” in Latin, is a beltlike structure around the corpus callosum; plays an important role in attention and cognitive control. corpus callosum: the nerve fibers that connect the two hemispheres of the brain. cortisol: a hormone released by the adrenal glands; responsible for maintaining the activation of bodily systems during prolonged stress. dendrites: fingerlike projections from the soma receive incoming messages from other neurons. DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid): a coiled molecule that resides in the nucleus of every cell in the body. It contains genetic information. dominant alleles: alleles that show their effect even if there is only one allele for that trait in the pair. dopamine: a neurotransmitter released in response to behaviors that feel good or are rewarding to the person or animal. It is also involved in voluntary motor control. electroencephaolography (EEG): a method for measuring brain activity in which the electrical activity of the brain is recorded from electrodes placed on a person’s scalp. endocrine system: bodily system of glands that secrete chemicals called hormones, which travel in the bloodstream to tissues and organs all over the body. enzymatic degradation: a way of removing excess neurotransmitter from the synapse, whereby enzymes specific for that neurotransmitter bind with the neurotransmitter and destroy it. epigenetics: change in the way genes are turned on or off without a change in the sequence of DNA. epinephrine: also known as adrenaline, this neurotransmitter arouses bodily systems (such as increasing heart rate). event-related potential (ERP): a special technique that takes electrical activity from raw EEG data to measure cognitive processes. fraternal twins: twins that develop from two different eggs fertilized by two different sperm. functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI): a brain imaging technique that uses magnetic fields to produce very finely detailed images of the activity of areas of the brain and other soft tissues. GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid): a major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain that tells post-synaptic neurons NOT to fire. It slows CNS activity and is necessary to regulate and control neural activity. gene-by-environment interaction research: a method studying heritability that allows researchers to assess how genetic differences interact with environment to produce certain behaviors in some people but not in others. genes: small segments of DNA, which contain the blueprints or plans for the production of proteins. genome: all of the genetic information contained in our DNA makes up our genome. genotype: the entire genetic makeup of an organism. glial cells: cells of the CNS that provide structural support, promote efficient communication between neurons, and serve as scavengers, removing cellular debris. glutamate: a major excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain, it increases the likelihood that a post-synaptic neuron will fire. It is important in learning, memory, neural processing, and brain development. graded potentials: small changes in membrane potential that by themselves is insufficient to trigger an action potential. heritability: the extent to which a characteristic is influenced by genetics. hippocampus: a limbic structure that wraps itself around the thalamus; plays a vital role in learning and memory. hormones: chemicals secreted by glands, which travel in the bloodstream and carry messages to tissues and organs all over the body. hypothalamus: a limbic structure; the master regulator of almost all major drives and motives we have, such as hunger, thirst, temperature, and sexual behavior. It also controls the pituitary gland. identical twins: twins that develop from a single fertilized egg that splits into two independent cells. insula: a small structure inside the cerebrum that plays an important role the perception of bodily sensations, emotional states, empathy, and addictive behavior. interneurons: neurons that communicate only with other neurons. ions: chemically charged particles that predominate in bodily fluids; both inside and outside cells. ions: chemically charged particles that predominate in body fluids; they are found both inside and outside cells. magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): a brain imaging technique that uses magnetic fields to produce very finely detailed images of the structure of the brain and other soft tissues. medulla: a hindbrain structure that extends directly from the spinal cord; it regulates breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure. mirror neurons: nerve cells that are active when we observe others making an action as well as when we are performing the same action. monogenic: the hereditary passing on of traits determined by a single gene. motor neurons: carry commands for movement from the brain to the muscles of the body. myelin sheath: the fatty substance wrapped around some axons, which insulates the axon, making the nerve impulse travel more efficiently. neurogenesis: the development of new neurons. neurons: the cells that process and transmit information in the nervous system. neuroplasticity: the brain’s ability to adopt new functions, reorganizes itself, or make new neural connections throughout life, as a function of experience. neurotransmitters: chemicals that transmit information between neurons, across the synapses. norepinephrine: a neurotransmitter that plays an important role in the sympathetic nervous system, energizing bodily systems and increasing mental arousal and alertness. parasympathetic nervous system: the branch of the ANS that usually relaxes or returns the body to a less active, restful state. peripheral nervous system: all the other nerve cells in the body outside the CNS. phenotype: an organism’s observed characteristics. pituitary gland: the master endocrine gland of the body; controls the release of hormones from glands throughout the body. polygenic transmission: the process by which many genes interact to create a single characteristic. pons: a hindbrain structure that serves as a bridge between lower brain regions and higher midbrain and forebrain activity. positron emission tomography (PET): measures blood flow to brain areas in the active brain; indicates which brain areas are active during certain situations. recessive alleles: alleles that show their effects only when both alleles are the same. reflexes: inborn and involuntary behaviors, such as coughing, swallowing, sneezing, or vomiting, that are elicited by very specific stimuli. refractory period: the span of time, after an action potential has been generated, when the neuron is returning to its resting state and the neuron cannot generate an action potential. resting potential: the difference in electrical charge between the inside and outside of the axon when the neuron is at rest. reticular formation: a network of nerve fibers that runs up through both the hindbrain and the midbrain; it is crucial to waking up and to falling asleep. reuptake: a way of removing excess neurotransmitter from the synapse, whereby excess neurotransmitter is returned to the sending, or pre-synaptic, neuron for storage in vesicles and future use. sensory neurons: neurons that receive incoming sensory information from the sense organs (eye, ear, skin, tongue, nose). serotonin: a neurotransmitter with wide ranging effects. It is involved in dreaming and in controlling emotional states, especially anger, anxiety, and depression. soma: the cell body of the neuron. somatic nervous system: nerve cells that transmit sensory information to the CNS and those that transmit information from the CNS to the skeletal muscles. sympathetic nervous system: the branch of the ANS that activates bodily systems in times of emergency. synapse: the junction between an axon and the adjacent neuron, where information is transmitted from one neuron to another. synaptic vesicles: tiny sacs in the terminal buttons that contain neurotransmitters. synaptogenesis: the formation of entirely new synapses or connections with other neurons. terminal button: little knobs at the end of the axon that contain tiny sacs of neurotransmitters. thalamus: a forebrain structure that receives inputs from the ears, eyes, skin, or taste buds and relays sensory information to the part of cerebral cortex most involved in processing that specific kind of sensory information. twin-adoption studies: studies of hereditary influence on twins, both identical and fraternal, who were raised apart (adopted) and who were raised together. Wernicke’s area: an area deep in the left temporal lobe responsible for the ability to speak in meaningful sentences and to comprehend the meaning of speech. MAKING THE CONNECTIONS (Some of the connections are found in the text. Other connections may be useful for lecture or discussion.) Polygenic Influence on Behavior CONNECTION: Genetics influence about 50% of the differences in performance on intelligence tests, leaving about the same amount to be explained by non-genetic influences (Chapter 10). •Discussion: The following link is to the Bouchard et al. (1990) study on heritability of IQ. http://www.sciencemag.org/content/250/4978/223.short. See the suggested reading for the full citation. Gene-by-Environment Studies CONNECTION: How do stress and abuse interact with genes to increase vulnerability to depression? (Chapter 15) •Discussion: Here is a link to a great article in the Harvard Gazette on effects of long-term abuse on the development of the brain by William Cromie: http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/2002/11.07/01-memory.html The Structure and Types of Neurons CONNECTION: Mirror neurons support learning by imitation as well as empathy (Chapters 5, 8, and 14). •Discussion: Here’s a great 14-minute video clip on mirror neurons from NOVA: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/mirror-neurons.html Communication Neural Communication CONNECTION: Many drugs used to treat depression directly affect reuptake to allow some neurotransmitters that affect mood to stay in the synapse longer (Chapter 16). •Discussion: Here is a great link to the Zoloft commercial. It involves a simplified description of reuptake that students will respond to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vfSFXKlnO0 Common Neurotransmitters CONNECTION: Depression is thought to result in part from a deficiency of the neurotransmitter serotonin. Common treatments for depression block the reuptake of serotonin at the synapse, making more of it available for binding with post-synaptic neurons (Chapter 16). •Discussion: Here is a great link to the Zoloft commercial. It involves a simplified description of reuptake that students will respond to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vfSFXKlnO0 CONNECTION: Glutamate doesn’t function properly in people with schizophrenia, and so they become confused. Restoring glutamate function is the focus of new treatments for schizophrenia (Chapters 15 and 16). •Discussion: Watson, of DNA discovery fame, discusses brain disorders such as schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s, and depression. DNA and the Brain is an interview with James Watson: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6ZfrXHgiVY (1:15). The Limbic System CONNECTION: Psychologists learned how essential the hippocampus is in memory and learning through a case study of Henry Molaison (H. M.) who had this structure surgically removed on both sides of the brain (Chapter 7). •Discussion: An NPR broadcast of the story of HM and the history of memory: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7584970 CONNECTION: Test your ability to recognize emotion in the facial expressions of others and learn more about the role of the amygdala in emotion (Chapter 11). •Discussion: A brief clip on how the limbic system and the amygdala work, including diagrams: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ4mdXAtnEs&feature=related Brain Plasticity and Neurogenesis CONNECTION: If a person is not exposed to language much before mid to late childhood, the ability to speak is limited because the brain loses some of its plasticity as we age (Chapter 9). •Discussion: You may want to take this opportunity to preview what’s to come and talk about feral children. For example, the case of Genie, a 13-year-old California girl that was severely neglected and raised with minimal human contact, often holds students’ attention. Despite the efforts of the best linguists in the field at that time, she was never able to learn to seek and had moderately developed cognitive abilities. INNOVATIVE INSTRUCTION 1. The problem with twin and adoption studies: You may want to point out to students that there are few twins separated at birth. Remind students of the discussion of twin studies. 2. Regarding sampling and anecdotal evidence: You may want to tie in the sampling error inherent in twin research as well as the limited number of subjects available in the general population. Ask students what they think would be a better alternative. In terms of adoption data, remind students that few adoptees have been reunited with their birth parent, which does limit the generalizability of any results in these studies. Point out those adoptive parents as a group differs widely from the general population. That is, they tend to: (1) desperately want children, and (2) have at least some funds to afford adoption. Thus, as a group they tend to be different from any other random sample of parents. 3. Epigentics: Explain to students that many of the theories they will hear about throughout the term are epigenetic in nature (e.g., Piaget, Freud, the diathesis-stress model of abnormal behavior, and the neurodevelopmental hypothesis). It is important that students understand the dynamic relationship between all levels of experiential (i.e., nurture) and biological (i.e., nature) interaction. 4. Evolution: You may want to avoid asking students if they believe in evolution but rather focus on the theory and their understanding of how natural selection works. For example, recent media reports indicated that blondes are going extinct (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab1EixVFKZE). This seems odd but remember blonde is a recessive trait. However, red hair is an even more recessive trait and has yet to go extinct. You may also want to point out that other traits are passed on via natural selection as well (e.g., preference for novelty). The point here is that there is an ebb and flow to all traits as environment (and culture) selects what traits are “in” and what traits are “out.” 5. Stem Cell Research: This is a good place to discuss the controversial issue of stem cell research and human cloning. You may want to outline the issues for those who are unfamiliar with current controversies (see the following site for suggested activities and videos: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3209/04.html). 6. The Limbic System: The limbic system is instrumental in emotional functioning. What happens when it is damaged? The text outlines the famous case of Phineas Gage but there are more recent, and scientific, outlines of this issue. For example, Bauman, Lavenex, Mason, Capitanio, and Amaral (2004) lesioned different portions of the limbic system in rhesus monkeys and found that specific parts of the limbic system are involved in specific emotional and social behaviors (e.g., the amygdala is linked with avoiding potential danger). See http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=16223384 for more information. 7. Can Experience Change the Brain?: Researchers interested in studying the effects of different environments on the brains of rats tend to use a similar design. They randomly assign genetically identical rats to either enriched or impoverished environments for about a month. The type of environment was the independent variable. The dependent variables were change in brain size and/or changes in the growth of brain cells. The enriched environments included many opportunities and apparatus for play and activity, such as running wheels and tubes to climb, as well as food and water. The impoverished environments provided only food and water. Researchers found that rats raised in enriched environments showed evidence of growth in brain tissue compared to the animals reared in the impoverished environments. The fact that these findings have been replicated so many times established that rats raised in the enriched conditions did indeed develop more brain tissue and thicker cortexes. Because this finding was based on an experimental design with random assignment we can conclude that enriching experience actually caused their brains to grow. One of the main reasons we study these phenomena in animals is to learn how these processes work in humans, but ethical limitations prevent human research. Thus, the animals serve as models for how human brain organization and function might be modified by experience in humans. Do rats, however, serve as good models for how things happen in humans? Although there are many similarities between rat and human brains, there are a multitude of differences in anatomy. Another criticism of the animal research on enrichment and neurogenesis is that what has been labeled as “enrichment” in animal models may indeed represent a more normal mode of activity and that the so-called standard or more aptly named “impoverished” conditions are seriously sub-par and not at all like what an animal would experience in the wild. Ethical guidelines for the treatment of animals have been modified on the basis of the enrichment findings such that non-stimulating conditions are not considered acceptable housing for primates. Animal rights activists are pushing for the ethical guidelines to be modified for rodents as well. Several quasi-experimental studies in recent years have focused on people who have received intensive musical training, something beyond the normal level of experience or enrichment. According to studies, musicians have more communication between the two sides of the brain than people who have not had such training. Further, brain imaging studies comparing the brains of experienced musicians with those of non-musicians reveal increased brain growth relative to control subjects in regions associated with music-related skills (Schlaug, Jäncke, Huang, & Steinmetz, 1995). Another recent study reported that musicians have a larger cerebellum (an area involved in motor coordination) than non-musicians (Hutchinson, Lee, Gaab, & Schlaug, 2003). Because the researchers relied on naturally occurring groups and the groups were not matched, these findings are correlational, not causal. 8. Epigenetics: What a pregnant mother does and is exposed to can change which genes get turned off in the body of her baby. This is the link to the CDC’s site on FAS: http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/fas/. You may also want to discuss with students how things like smoking, drinking, and doing drugs are ill advised. You may want to have the student health center at your university come by at some point in the semester to talk to students about safe sex and things they or their partner can do if they are pregnant to minimize negative effects on fetal development, like quitting smoking. You may also want to stress to students that today the general advice in the field is to avoid anything that may be teratogenic as there is no data supporting what a safe level is for many of these stimuli. 9. Brain Plasticity and Neurogenesis: In blind people, the brain compensates for deficits in vision by reorganizing and rewiring the visual cortex to process sound. Discussion: See the following full-text article by Gougoux et al. (2005) on this matter: http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0030027&ct=1 10. Have students look in the mirror and describe what they see (hair color, eye color, hair texture (straight, curly, etc.), and so on. Have them report the same information for their mother and father. Have them discuss genotypes and phenotypes and outline which of their phenotypic features are dominant and which are recessive. If they want their child to look like them, what phenotype will their partner need to display? 11. Students will have a hard time with understanding neural communication and the action potential. One way to demonstrate how this works is to have all the students stand up and hold hands. Then tell the first student on your left to squeeze the hand of the person next to them. As soon as they feel that squeeze, that next student should squeeze the hand of the person next to them and so on down the line. The last person in the row should raise their hand to indicate they received the signal. Have them practice first and then race! Explain that they are the axon for the neuron and each squeeze is propagating the signal to the terminal buttons. Whatever row was fastest was the row that was myelinated. 12. Ask students who they think they would mourn most: the loss of a pet, their mother, their father, a grandparent, a child, or a stepchild. Ask them to explain their answer and link that response to evolutionary theory. 13. Try to help students remember the different parts of the brain and their functions with mnemonic devices (see Chapter 7). For example, if they cannot recall that the hippocampus is instrumental in memory formation, have them think about a hippo roaming aimlessly (i.e., lost) on campus. Too bad his memory system didn’t help him remember his way. Another example is what the limbic system itself is for: it is involved in the four “Fs” of behavior: fight, flight, flee, and “reproduction” (students groan and giggle but will remember this for the test!). Ask them to come up with two of their own and share them with the class. 14. Think about your own extended family and the physical traits they share in common and on which they differ. Start with those most genetically related, your parents and your siblings. Then move to grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins. What traits do you share and on what traits to you differ? Can you see how genes and environment have shaped these traits in your family? 15. Ask students to think about sport and brain injury. In particular ask them to think about football and brain injury. You may want them to read the following article: NFL needs to aid brain, concussion research. San Francisco Chronicle. September 6, 2009. Ask them if sports should be made safer. Ask them who should be held accountable for players who develop dementia early in life. Suggested Media 1. Parent Trap (1998 or the original in 1961) discusses twins. 2. Adaptation (2002) is another film on twins. 3. A NOVA clip on epigenetics and identical twins: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3411/02.html 4. Louise Leakey discussing human origins: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/louise_leakey_digs_for_humanity_s_origins.html 5. NOVA clips on DNA, Cracking the Code of Life: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/genome/program.html 6. NOVA clips on the effects of learning on the brain, Of Mice and Memory: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/0301/02.html 7. NOVA clips on evolution, First Primates: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/0303/02.html 8. Living with Traumatic Brain Injury: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyyTX3UqmXQ 9. Neurons and How They Work (Discovery Channel): http://www.dnatube.com/video/1298/Neurons-and-How-They-Work 10. Pinky & the brain singing about the parts of the brain; much more light hearted than the other clips: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyvoaM_9HME 11. Discovering Psychology: The Behaving Brain (Annenberg) 12. Discovering Psychology: The Responsive Brain (Annenberg) 13. Discovering Psychology: Cognitive Neuroscience (Annenberg) 14. Prosopagnosia http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwCrxomPbtY 15. Primetime Medical Mysteries—Part 6 (Prosopagnosia) 16. Brainman, film on Daniel Tammet 17. Faceblindness: Seeing Faces 18. Growing Up With Tourette’s 19. Neural Communication (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.) 20. Secret Life of the Brain (5-Part Series) PBS Distribution. 5-part series, 56 minutes each.
The Babies Brain: Wider Than the Sky The Child’s Brain: From Syllable to Sound The Teenage Brain: A World of Their Own The Adult Brain: To Think by Feeling The Aging Brain: Through Many Lives Concept Clips (McGraw Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.) 1. Mirror Neurons 2. Nervous System 3. How Neurons Work 4. Brain Structures and Functions Suggested Websites 1. A great site on different accounts of feral kids throughout history: http://listverse.com/2008/03/07/10-modern-cases-of-feral-children/ 2. Natural selection of blondes: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2284783.stm 3. A transcript of Steven Pinker discussing the evolution of human mind: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/07/2/l_072_03.html 4. A great site out of Bryn Mawr on structures in the brain: http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/kinser/Structure1.html 5. A great site from Harvard Medical; includes a Brain Atlas: http://www.med.harvard.edu/AANLIB/home.html 6. A very basic website for kids on the brain parts: http://kidshealth.org/kid/htbw/brain.html 7. The Center for Neuro Skills site on parts of the brain: http://www.neuroskills.com/brain.shtml 8. Here is an article on marijuana use and effects on the brain: http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN02271474 9. An atlas of the brain from the Lundback Institute: http://www.brainexplorer.org/brain_atlas/Brainatlas_index.shtml 10. This has a lateral diagram of the brain and students can plug in the correct parts. It also has the answers posted: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/anatomy/brain/label/lateralbrain/label.shtml 11. Information on many types of brain disorders: http://mcgovern.mit.edu/brain-disorders 12. 3-D Brain http://www.pbs.org/wnet/brain/3d/index.html 13. Brain Web provides links about brain diseases and disorders: http://dana.org/brainweb/ Suggested Readings Aggleton J. P., & Passingham R. E. (1981). Syndrome produced by lesions of the amygdala in monkeys. Journal of Comparative Physiological Psychology, 95, 961–977. Asimov, I. (1987). How did we find out about the brain? New York: Walter and Company. Baird A. A., Gruber S. A., & Fein D. A. (1999). Functional magnetic resonance imaging of facial affect recognition in children and adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 38(2), 195–199. Blodgett, B. (2010). Remembering smell: A memoir of losing—and discovering—the primal sense. Houton-Mifflin-Harcourt. Bouchard, T. J., Lykken, D. T., McGue, M., Segal, N. L., & Tellegen, A. (1990). Sources of human psychological differences: the Minnesota study of twins reared apart. Science, 250, 223–226. Burton, R. (2014). A skeptics guide to the mind: What neuroscience can and cannot tell us about ourselves. St. Martin’s Press. Deacon, T. (1997). What makes the human brain different? Annual Review of Anthropology, 26, 337–357. Giedd J. N., Blumenthal J., & Jeffries N. O. (1999). Brain development during childhood and adolescence: A longitudinal MRI study. Nature Neuroscience, 2(10), 861–863. Heinz, S., Baron, G., & Frahm, H. (1998). Comparative size of brains and brain components. Neurosciences: Comparative Primate Biology, 4, 223–228. Miller, J. A. (1995). The layered look in cortex. BioScience, 246, 7–16. Ramachandran, V. S. (2012). The tell-tale brain: A neuroscientist's quest for what make us human. W.W. Norton. Sacks, O. (1998). The man who mistook his wife for a hat and other clinical tales. Touchstone. Sacks, O. (2008). Musicophilia: Tales of music and the brain. Vintage. Satel, S., & Lillenfeld, S. O. (2013). Brainwashed: The seductive appeal of mindless neuroscience. New York: Basic. Savoy, R. L. (2012). Evolution and current challenges in the teaching of functional MRI and functional brain imaging. NeuroImage, 62, 1201–1207. Sowell E. R., Thompson P. M., Holmes C. J. (1999). In vivo evidence for post-adolescent brain maturation in frontal and striatal regions. Nature Neuroscience, 2(10), 859–861. Thompson, P. M., Giedd, J. N., & Woods R. P. (2000). Growth patterns in the developing brain detected by using continuum mechanical tensor maps. Nature, 404(6774), 190–193. Chapter 4: Sensing and Perceiving Our World BRIEF CHAPTER OUTLINE The Long, Strange Trip from Sensation to Perception Basic Sensory Processes Principles of Perception Absolute Thresholds Difference Threshold Perceptual Set Vision Sensing Visual Stimuli Vision and the Eye Vision and the Brain Vision and Specific Neurons Challenging Assumptions in How Neurons “Recognize” Human Faces Perceiving Visual Stimuli Perceiving Motion Depth Perception Binocular Depth Cues Monocular Depth Cues Perceptual Constancy Size Constancy Shape Constancy Organizing Visual Information: Gestalt Laws of Grouping Visual Perception: Bottom-Up or Top-Down? Perceiving Color Two Theories of Color Perception Deficiencies in Color Vision Hearing The Physics of Sound and the Psychology of Hearing The Ear Hearing in the Brain Psychology in the Real World: Hearing Loss Can Happen in Young People Too The Bodily Senses Touch Pain Pain Perception Explaining Pain Controlling Pain The Chemical Senses: Smell and Taste Smell (Olfaction) Taste Synesthesia Bringing It All together: Making Connections in Sensation and Perception: Differences Across Cultures Cultural Variation in Visual Perception Cultural Variation in Olfactory Experience Cultural Variation in Pain Chapter Review EXTENDED CHAPTER OUTLINE THE LONG, STRANGE TRIP FROM SENSATION TO PERCEPTION •The sense organs transform information from its physical form into a nerve impulse and transmit it to the brain, which organizes that information, interprets it, and then initiates a response. •Sensation is the stimulation of our sense organs by the outer world. o Our sense organs detect different features of our surroundings: eyes are sensitive to light waves, ears to sounds, skin to touch and pressure, tongues to tastes, and noses to odors. •Perception is the act of organizing and interpreting sensory experience. o It is how our psychological world represents our physical world. •Before our brains can create meaning from sensory information, our sense organs transform physical stimuli from the outer world to a form that the brain can use: action potentials. Basic Sensory Processes •Sensory adaptation refers to our diminished sensitivity to a constant stimulation. It ensures that we notice changes in stimulation more than stimulation itself. •Once we know that a physical stimulus is something to attend to, the sense organs convert it into action potentials. This conversion of physical into neural information is called transduction. o This occurs when cells in the retina change light waves to neural energy, when hair cells in the inner ear change sound waves to neural energy, when chemicals in the air bind to receptors in the nose, when food chemicals stimulate taste buds on the tongue, and when pressure and temperature stimulate nerve cells in the skin. Principles of Perception •Psychophysics is the study of how people psychologically perceive physical stimuli such as light and sound waves and touch. Absolute Thresholds o An absolute threshold is the lowest intensity level of a stimulus we can detect half of the time. o Under ideal laboratory conditions, an average person on a very clear night could detect a single candle from 30 miles away or could detect 1 teaspoon of sugar in two gallons of water as compared to two gallons of pure water. o One problem with using absolute thresholds is that detecting sensations is not only a matter of intensity of the stimulus, but also the decision-making process of the person in a particular context. o Signal detection theory takes into account both stimulus intensity and the decision-making processes people use when saying whether they detect a stimulus. o In signal detection research a low-intensity stimulus is presented on some occasions and not presented on other occasions. Instead of having a 50% detection line, signal detection presents only a single low-intensity stimulus. There are four possible outcomes: •A hit is correctly detecting a stimulus that is there. •A miss is failing to detect a stimulus that is there. •A false alarm is saying that a stimulus exists when it does not. •A correct rejection is not reporting a stimulus that is not there. The participant’s responses create a profile of hits, misses, false alarms, and correct rejections. Difference Threshold o Difference threshold (also known as the just noticeable difference [JND]) is the smallest amount of change between two stimuli that a person can detect half of the time. o Weber’s law says that the size of the JND is a constant fraction of the intensity of the stimulus (e.g., 3% for weight perception). Perceptual Set o Perceptual set is the effect of frame of mind on perception Examples of perceptual sets include: mood, health, knowledge of how the world works, and cultural upbringing. VISION •Humans rely more on our sense of sight than other sense information. Sensing Visual Stimuli •The eye bends light, converts light energy to neural energy, and sends that information to the brain for further processing. •The eye is the gateway to vision, but very little of what we experience as vision actually happens in the eye; it happens in the brain. Vision and the Eye o Light enters the eye at the cornea, a hard covering that protects the lens. o It then passes through liquid until it reaches a hole called the pupil. o The colored part of the eye, the iris, adjusts the pupil to control the amount of light entering the eye (e.g., when light is very bright, the iris shrinks the pupil until you can adjust). o The light then passes through the lens, which bends the light rays. o Muscles around the lens alter its shape, depending on the distance of an object, to allow it to focus light on the retina. The retina is a thin layer of nerve tissue that lines the back of the eye. The process by which the muscles control the shape of the lens to adjust to viewing objects at different distances is known as accommodation. o The retina consists of several layers of cells. The light that hits the retina travels through several cell layers before processing begins. The deepest layer of cells, where processing of light energy begins, is the layer of photoreceptors, which convert light energy into nerve energy. In other words, they are transducers. •Rods are most responsive to dark and light contrast. These very sensitive cells work well at low illumination and the dark. o The process of adjustment to seeing in the dark is known as dark adaptation. •Cones are responsible for color vision and are most functional in conditions of bright light. They act much more quickly than rods. o The fovea, located on the back of the retina, contains the highest concentration of cones in the retina. As such, when images are projected onto the fovea we have the greatest visual acuity (i.e., clearest vision). In other words, our ability to see clearly depends on our cones. Vision and the Brain o After transduction at the photoreceptor layer, the visual information is processed by different layers of cells in the retina. o Axons of the ganglion cells make up the optic nerve, which transmits the signals from the eye to the brain. o The point at which the optic nerve exits the eye is the blind spot of the retina because at this point there are no receptor cells (so nothing is seen). o When light enters the eye, the lens bends the light in such a way that the image is upside down compared to the orientation of the object in the outside world. The brain reorients the inverted image so that our world is right-side up. o In people with normal vision the lens projects the image to hit just on the retina. o In people who are nearsighted (people who can see things close to them but have problems with distance) the image focuses slightly in front of the retina. o In people who are farsighted (they can see things far away but not up close) the image actually focuses behind the retina. Age-related farsightedness occurs because, as we age, the lens becomes less flexible, making it more likely for images to be focused behind the retina. o The optic nerve carries impulses to the thalamus (the brain’s sensory relay station), which then sends the message to the visual cortex of the occipital lobes. o The information from the left visual field is processed in the brain’s right hemisphere, and the information from the right visual field is processed in the brain’s left hemisphere. In each eye, each half of the retina sends out its own axons. Each optic nerve has two strands. One strand from each eye contains axons that travel from the retina to the thalamus and on to the visual cortex of the same side of the brain as the eye from which the axons come. The other strands cross to the opposite side of the brain in an area called the optic chiasm. o A cluster of the neuron cell bodies in the thalamus form the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN). Visual information creates a point-by-point representation on the tissue of the LGN, meaning that patterns of neural firing that correspond to the shape projected on a specific region of retina affect a similar layout of cells in here. In other words, the retina and the LGN represent visual information in similar ways. o Fibers from the LGN in the thalamus then travel to the visual cortex in the occipital lobes. Neurons in the visual cortex analyze the retinal image in terms of its various patterns, contrasts, lines, and edges. Different cortical cells handle different aspects of this analysis. Vision and Specific Neurons o For centuries, it was believed that nerves and the brain worked as a general structure, with little to no specific brain region performing specific tasks. o Toward the end of the 1800s it was demonstrated that injury to different parts of the brain resulted in different speech and behavior disabilities. o Until the mid-20th century, however, scholars studying vision focused mostly on the eye. While they knew about photoreceptors, researchers did not fully understand or appreciate the importance of the brain in vision. o Researchers knew that after leaving the retina, optic fibers went to the LGN and then on to the visual cortex. o Hubel and Weisel’s (1962, 1979) Nobel Prize–winning work showed that individual neurons fire only because of very specific visual information. They were able to record specialized activity of individual cells in the brain’s vision area by implanting electrodes into the visual cortex of cats. As a result, they discovered neurons called feature detectors in the visual cortex, which analyze the retinal image and respond to aspects of shapes, such as angles and movements. o Hubel and Weisel described three types of neurons in the visual cortex that acted as feature detectors. Simple cells respond to very specific information (e.g., a bar of light oriented at a particular angle). Some simple cells respond to only one angle or orientation, others respond to other angles of orientation, and still others to edges. All simple cells, though, will only respond to stimuli that stay still or are in the middle of their receptive fields. Complex cells receive input from many different simple cells and are receptive to particular stimuli but in different parts of the receptive field. They are also sensitive to an image as it moves and if it appears anywhere in the visual field. Hypercomplex cells receive inputs from many complex cells and fire in response to patterns of lines. o Reassembling the pieces occurs partly in hypercomplex cells in the visual cortex when the visual cortex sends the images to other parts of the brain, such as the frontal or parietal lobes. o Hubel and Weisel made an even more monumental discovery when they closed one eye of a newborn cat. In the first weeks in a cat’s life, when its brain is growing the most, visual experience is critical for brain structures to develop all the necessary neural connections needed to see well. If a cat is blinded or has its eyes closed for a week or more during this important stage of development, its visual cortex does not develop properly and the animal’s vision is forever stunted. If one eye is closed early in life for an extended period of time, the part of the brain receiving messages from the closed eye soon begins to receive and process visual messages from the one good eye. Challenging Assumptions in How Neurons “Recognize” Human Faces After Hubel and Wiesel’s work, other researchers continued to find other cortical cells that fire in response to certain visual stimuli. Some, for example, respond to faces. Researchers took advantage of surgical procedures already being conducted on people for epileptic seizures testing the activity of individual neurons. These patients would already have their brains being probed with electrodes measuring activity of single neurons and so Quiroga and colleagues piggy-backed onto that procedure to examine whether single neurons fired to specific images of famous and non-famous people, animals, and buildings. Famous people included Bill Clinton, Jennifer Aniston, and Halle Berry. Results of the study were stunning and surprising. As Quiroga put it: “The first time we saw a neuron firing to seven different pictures of Jennifer Aniston–and nothing else–we literally jumped out of our chairs.” The same thing happened with photos of Clinton and Berry and famous buildings such as the Sydney Opera House and the Tower of Pisa. This finding has been dubbed the “Halle Berry neuron” finding even though it is more general than just Halle Berry. Recent research has extended this finding and has demonstrated that just thinking about Halle Berry (not actually seeing a picture of her) is enough to stimulate the “Halle Berry neuron.” Perceiving Visual Stimuli •Many processes involving motion, depth, size, grouping, and color perception work together to help recognize objects. Perceiving Motion o Feature detectors play a role in how we perceive movement and form. We perceive movement when an image moves across the retina. Simple and complex cells respond to either the orientation or direction of moving images. o Several factors contribute to how we perceive movement. One factor is the background against which an object moves and another factor is the size of the object. When an object moves across a complex background, it appears to move faster than when it moves across a simple background. The size of the object affects perception of movement. All things being equal, smaller objects appear to move faster than larger objects. We can also be fooled into thinking something is moving when it is not. We refer to this illusion as apparent motion because our brains interpret images that move across our retinas as movement. •Movement neurons respond only when the image itself moves and not when the eye itself moves. This is one way the brain can determine the difference between real and false movement. Depth Perception o Depth perception allows for the discrimination between what is near and far from us. Binocular depth cues rely on input from both eyes. •Binocular disparity comes from the fact that the eyes are separated by a few inches, so the image from each eye will provide slightly different viewpoints. •Convergence occurs when the eyes move inward as an object moves closer to you. The muscles that move the eyeball contract and the brain make use of the feedback from these muscles to perceive distance. This is the most effective as a depth cue for stimuli that are within 10 feet of us. Monocular depth cues rely on input from one eye. •Linear perspective involves parallel lines that converge or come together the farther away they are from the viewer. The more they converge, the greater distance we perceive. A good example of this is the Müller-Lyer illusion. •Texture gradient happens when the texture of a surface becomes more tightly packed together and denser as the surface moves to the background. These changes in textural information help us judge depth. •Atmospheric perspective comes from looking across a vast space into the distance in the outdoors. Objects farther away appear more blurred and bluish as a result. •Interposition happens when objects closer to the viewer often overlap with those farther away. Perceptual Constancy o The image on our retinas changes shape and size as objects move through space. The ability of the brain to preserve perception of such objects in spite of the changes in retinal image is known as perceptual constancy. Size constancy is when we see things as the same size regardless of the changing size of the image on the retina, because we know what the size of the object is. A good example here is Ames room. Shape constancy is when the brain uses its knowledge of shapes to override changing retinal images that might make the world very confusing. Organizing Visual Information: Gestalt Laws of Grouping o Gestalt psychologists recognized that often we perceive wholes as more than merely the sum of their parts. o Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka, and Wolfgang Köhler studied visual perception in the early 20th century and described a set of principles or laws by which people organize elements of figures or scenes into whole objects. o The law of similarity is the tendency to group like objects together. o The law of continuity is the tendency to see points or lines in such a way that they follow a continuous path. o The law of proximity says that we tend to group together objects that are near one another. o The law of closure occurs when we perceive a whole object in the absence of complete information. o There is also the principle of figure and ground: The figure is the thing that stands in front of a somewhat unformed background (i.e., the ground). Perhaps the most famous example of figure-ground effects is Rubin’s (1915) face-vase figure. o The Müller-Lyer illusion results from our tendency to see the right line as the inside corner of a room and the left one as the outside corner of a room or building, making use of the monocular depth cue of linear perspective. Visual Perception: Bottom-Up or Top-Down? o Bottom-up processing is the process of building a visual experience from smaller pieces. We put the pieces together, and then we “see” the whole (e.g., reading). o Top-down processing occurs when the perception of the whole guides perception of smaller elemental features (e.g., facial recognition). o Which process we use depends on the nature of the information being processed. Perceiving Color o The perception of color varies depending on our photoreceptors, our brains, and the physical characteristics of the stimulus at which we look. Color perception is partly determined by wavelength, measured in billionths of a meter or nanometers (abbreviated nm). The spectrum of color visible to humans ranges from 400 nm, which most of us perceive to be the color blue, to 700 nm, which most of us perceive as red. Light that we perceive as green is at 550 nm. •Two Theories of Color Vision o Young and Helmholtz’s trichromatic color theory says that there are three kinds of cones: red, green, and blue, and all color we experience must result from a mixing of these three colors of light. This mixing occurs inside the eye in terms of how different kinds of cones respond to different wavelengths of light. The human retina does contain three kinds of receptor cones, each sensitive to different wavelengths of light. The red cones fire in response to longer wavelength light. Green cones respond to medium wavelength light, and blue cones respond to shorter wavelength light. Different patterns of firing of these various kinds of photoreceptors combine to help create our experience of a wide array of colors. How much each cone is stimulated determines the color we will see. o Hering (1878) proposed opponent process theory, which says that cones are linked together in three opposing color pairs: blue/yellow, red/green, and black/white. The members of the color pairs oppose one another, whereby activation of one member of the pair inhibits activity in the other. This theory does can account for afterimages, visual images that remain after removal of the stimulus. This theory helps to explain some types of color blindness, and why we never experience some colors, such as reddish-green or yellowish-blue. o Current research indicates that both theories account for how human color vision works. The trichromatic theory explains processing at the retina or cone, of which there are three types. Opponent process theory explains more about how cells in the LGN of the thalamus and visual cortex process color information. •Deficiencies in Color Vision o There are many types of color blindness. It generally refers to a weakness or deficiency in perception of certain colors. o Usually results from an inherited pigment deficiency in the photoreceptors and generally occurs in men and boys. o The most common form of color blindness results from a deficiency in red (long wavelength light) and green (medium wavelength light) sensitive cones. People with this disorder have trouble distinguishing some shades of green from red, may see green and brown as similar, or might have difficulty distinguishing blue and purple. HEARING •Hearing begins when we sense sound waves. Sound waves must travel through some medium (fluid or, more commonly, the air) for us to hear them. •Sound waves travel much slower than light waves, which is why you hear thunder after you have seen lightning. The Physics of Sound and the Psychology of Hearing •Hearing is affected by three physical properties of the sound wave: its amplitude, frequency, and purity. o The height, or amplitude, of the sound wave determines what we perceive as loudness. The taller the wave is, the louder the sound. The scale for a sound’s loudness is decibels (dB). o The frequency of the sound wave, or how many waves occur in a given period of time, we perceive as the sound’s pitch. Frequency is measured in units called hertz (Hz), which is how many times the wave cycles per second. The higher the frequency, the higher the pitch. •Most sounds we hear are in the 400 to 4,000 Hz range. •Sounds below 20 Hz are called subsonic. •Sounds above 20,000 Hz are called ultrasonic. o Purity refers to the complexity of the wave. Most sound waves are pretty simple, made of only one frequency. They are almost always a mixture of frequencies and how much of a mixture defines its purity. We perceive purity as timbre. The Ear •The Outer Ear o The structures on the sides of our head (pinnae) collect and funnel sounds into the passage called the auditory canal. o Once inside this canal, sound vibrations travel to the eardrum, or tympanic membrane. •The Middle Ear o The sound waves on the tympanic membrane set into motion the bones of the middle ear: the hammer, anvil, and stirrup. These bones do more than just vibrate: they amplify the waves more than 20 times the energy they had entering the ear. The hammer hits the anvil and the anvil moves the stirrup. The vibration of the stirrup, in turn, sets into motion a series of important changes in the inner ear. •The Inner Ear o The semi-circular canals play a key role in maintaining a sense of balance. As the stirrup vibrates, it moves a membrane that covers the inner ear, called the oval window. The vibrations on the oval window send movement through the fluid-filled cavity of the cochlea. o The cochlea is a bony tube, curled like a snail’s shell, and filled with fluid. o The basilar membrane runs through the cochlea. Within the basilar membrane of the cochlea are hair cells, which are the sensory receptors for sound. o As the vibrations move through the cochlear fluid, the basilar membrane vibrates, and this makes the hair cells bend. As they bend, the hair cells transduce the sound vibrations into electrical impulses, which may generate an action potential in the auditory nerve. o Hair cells vary in size depending on where in the cochlea they are. The smallest hair cells are nearest the oval window and the largest hair cells are in the coiled-up center part of the cochlea. There is a one-to-one connection between size of hair cell and its sensitivity to different frequency of sounds. The smallest cells are sensitive to the highest frequencies and the largest hair cells are sensitive to the lowest frequencies. The louder the sound, the bigger the vibration in the cochlear fluid, the more stimulation of the hair cells, the faster the rate of action potentials in the auditory nerve, and the louder the sound we perceive. o If the hair cells in the inner ear become damaged, as can happen when a person is exposed to very loud noises once or moderately loud noises (such as machines) over long periods of time, the person can suffer irreparable hearing loss. Hearing in the Brain •After the sound energy is changed to neural energy in the cochlea, the hair cells synapse with auditory neurons that transmit the sound impulses to the thalamus in the brain. •From there, the neural impulses get relayed to various parts of the brain, including the brain stem, the thalamus, and the temporal lobes, home of the auditory cortex. •The auditory pathways go from the cochlea to the inferior colliculus in the brain stem and from there to the medial (middle) geniculate nucleus (MGN). This is where we organize and interpret sounds from the outside world (i.e., hear). •The auditory cortex receives inputs from several other cortical regions, including the visual cortex and regions involved in perceiving speech. •There are also hemispheric differences in auditory perception: o the right auditory cortex is more active in processing non-verbal stimuli the left auditory cortex is more active in processing speech and language PSYCHOLOGY IN THE REAL WORLD: HEARING LOSS CAN HAPPEN IN YOUNG PEOPLE TOO •Studies often divide the causes of hearing loss into age-related and noise-exposure, but in fact, these two are related. o Being exposed to loud noise levels over long periods of time leads to a loss of hearing after 10 to 15 years. •Noise often leads to age-related hearing loss, especially in the high-frequency range of 5,000–15,000 Hz. o Factory or machine workers exposed to 90 dB level noise for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, suffer permanent hearing loss after 10 years on the job. o Rock musicians tested before and after concerts, who were exposed to noise levels from 95 dB to 107 dB, showed both temporary and permanent hearing loss. •MP3 players, including the iPod, have maximum decibel levels of around 115–120 dB, about the loudness of a rock concert. Hearing loss has increased in teens since the release of the iPod in 2001. Earbud styles headphones are the biggest problem. •Most young people claim to understand the risk of hearing loss. It is unclear, however, whether they act in accordance with that information. THE BODILY SENSES •The senses based in the skin, body, or any membrane surfaces are known as the bodily senses. There are at least six distinct bodily or somatic senses: touch, temperature, pain, position/motion, balance, and interoception (perception of bodily sensations). Of these six senses, we will discuss touch and pain. •The largest contact surface area any sensory input has with our bodies is the skin, and it is carefully mapped in the somatosensory cortex in the parietal lobe of the brain. •Bodily senses also include knowing where our body parts are. •We also sense things inside our bodies (e.g., organ pain, levels of heart rate, depth of breathing, etc.). Touch •The top layers of skin have receptor cells (mechanoreceptors) that are sensitive to different tactile qualities: some to shape, some to grooves, some to vibrations and movements. o There are different kinds of mechanoreceptors each of which has a unique profile of sensitivity. Some of the mechanoreceptors are slow to change. Some are fast to change with variations in tactile stimulation. Some are sensitive to fine details, whereas others are not sensitive to fine details. Some sense movement and vibration. o Different areas of skin have different numbers of mechanoreceptors (e.g., there are fewer mechanoreceptors on the soles of your feet than on your fingertips). •The sensory qualities of shape, size, hardness, and temperature stimulate different kinds of mechanoreceptors in the skin but those sensory impulses must travel to the brain to be processed and interpreted. o When our fingertips, forearm, or shoulder gets touched, a dedicated region of cortex becomes active and we perceive the sensation of being touched. o Tactile sensations from our skin travel via sensory neurons to the spinal cord and up to the brain. o The first major structure involved in processing bodily sensations is the thalamus, which relays the impulses to the somatosensory cortex in the parietal lobes. o Repeated sensory and motor tactile experience changes the amount of cortex involved in processing that particular sensation or movement. The general location in the somatosensory cortex stays the same, but areas of the cortex devoted to that experience or function grow. o The more one body region is touched or stimulated, the more sensory or motor cortex gets called into duty in processing that information. Researchers have found that experienced violinists have larger representations, or brain maps, of the hand and finger regions of the somatosensory cortex than non-musicians. CONNECTION: The part of the brain involved in the sense of touch is the somatosensory cortex shown in Figure 3.16 (Chapter 3). Pain •We need pain to survive. People born with no pain receptors can get severely injured or killed, because they don’t know they have been harmed. •Pain is a complex emotional and sensory experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage. •People vary in their experience of pain but it is needed to survive. If you can’t detect pain then you may not know if you have been injured). •The experience of pain in limb or tissue that is missing is called phantom limb pain. •Pain also is enhanced by one’s reaction to the injury. The emotional reaction to pain can create as much suffering as the actual tissue damage. Pain Perception o Damage to the skin is only one kind of pain. Other forms include organ tissue and nerve damage as well as joint inflammation. o Pain from skin damage is called nociceptive pain. The skin has pain receptors that are sensitive to heat, cold, chemical irritation, and pressure, all of which are kinds of nociceptors. The nociceptors send signals to the spinal cord and then to the brain, signaling that damage has happened. The brain can then initiate an appropriate response. o The spinal cord may actually play an active rather than passive role in pain perception. The spinal cord relays and, in some cases, enhances the pain messages from the sensory neurons to the brain. This seems to be a function of the glial cells wrapped around the axons. o Once the pain messages get sent and even enhanced by the spinal cord, they move on to the brain. Some of the same brain regions activated when we experience physical pain also are activated during emotional pain (especially rejection and seeing others receive shocks). The brain regions active in both physical and emotional pain are the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the insula. Explaining Pain o The gate control theory of pain proposes that the spinal cord regulates the experience of pain by either opening or closing neural channels, called gates, involved in pain sensations that get sent to the brain. o Smaller neural channels are dedicated to pain sensations and when they are activated, pain messages get sent to the brain. o Larger neural channels are involved in non-pain sensations and when they are activated, they can inhibit or close the pain impulses sent to the brain. That is, they override pain messages. o This theory explains why certain kinds of stimulation (e.g., acupuncture or rubbing a hurt area) can relieve sensations of pain. o Inhibitory channels can actually come from the brain as well as the body. Messages sent by the brain itself (i.e., thoughts, feelings, and beliefs) can close channels in the spinal cord involved in pain sensations. This is one reason why people vary so much in their perception of pain. Controlling Pain o Our bodies have natural painkillers called endorphins. When we are injured they are released and interfere with pain messages in the spinal cord and brain. Endorphin release may explain such odd phenomena as why people initially experience no pain after a horrible injury from an accident. o Drugs such as aspirin, acetaminophen, and ibuprofen, can help with everyday aches and pains by controlling inflammation. o For more severe pain, doctors may prescribe opioids. Opioids are a class of drug known as analgesics. Morphine, heroin, oxycodone, and hydrocodone are all opioids, and all but heroin are commonly prescribed for pain relief. They work to deaden or lessen pain by blocking neural activity involved in pain perception. There is a high risk of dependency on opioids, so their use must be carefully monitored. THE CHEMICAL SENSES: SMELL AND TASTE •Smell and taste are chemical senses because they respond to contact with molecules from objects we encounter in the world. •Smell and taste are very important survival-related senses, as they govern our choices about what we take into our bodies. o This is why these senses are very sensitive, are heightened during pregnancy, and can trigger emotional reactions. •Unlike other senses, receptors for chemical molecules are regularly replaced every few weeks because of their constant exposure to dirt and bacteria that can impair function. Smell (Olfaction) •Our receptors for smell reside high up in the nose. •A small area high in the lining of the nasal cavity contains the olfactory sensory neurons, the receptors for smell. o These neurons contain hairlike projections called cilia, which are similar to the hair cells in the inner ear. The cilia convert chemical information in odor molecules to neural impulses. •When chemicals come in contact with the cilia, transduction occurs, and the olfactory message travels to the olfactory bulb in the forebrain. •The olfactory bulb sends information either directly to the smell processing areas in the cortex or indirectly to the cortex by way of the thalamus. o The primary olfactory cortex resides in the temporal lobe. o The secondary olfactory cortex is in the frontal lobe near the eyes. •Some fibers from the olfactory bulb go directly to the amygdala, which sends smell information to the hypothalamus, thalamus, and frontal cortex. o These connections may explain why smells can instantly evoke an emotional memory. •There may be as many as 1,000 different olfactory sensory receptors. Greater concentrations of odors will stimulate a greater number of sensory neurons. This can lead us to perceive the same odor presented at different concentrations as being an entirely different smell. •People differ considerably in their ability to sense odors. Some people lose the ability to sense smell with infection or injury, but usually this is short term. Taste •Textured structures on the tongue are called papillae. They contain about 10,000 taste buds. The cells on the buds that process taste information are called taste cells. •There are dozens of taste cells in each taste bud. •Human experience of taste results from stimulation of taste buds on the front, sides, and rear of tongue. When chemicals from food or liquid come into contact with the tips of these taste buds, a chain of events unfolds that leads to the experience of taste. o Different tastes use different mechanisms to stimulate an impulse in a taste cell. In general, chemicals alter the membranes of taste cells in ways that make them more likely to generate action potentials. o Such signals from taste cells in various regions of the tongue then travel down fibers to the brainstem. o From the brain stem, taste information travels to the thalamus and frontal lobe. Neurons from the thalamus project taste information to the taste cortex in the insula and other regions of the frontal-parietal cortex. •Humans distinguish five basic taste qualities: bitter, sweet, salty, sour, and savory. Specific receptors exist for each type of taste. •The experience of flavor results from the combination of taste plus smell. •The region of the brain most involved in flavor perception is the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). It receives inputs from brain areas involved in olfaction and taste, as well as touch and vision perception areas. SYNESTHESIA •Synesthesia occurs when a person experiences sensations in one sense when a different sense is stimulated. In short, synesthesia occurs when the senses get mixed up rather than stay separate. •The most common form of synesthesia is one in which people experience numbers or sometimes letters as colors. •There are a few potential explanations of synesthesia listed below. o Synesthesia may result from a cross-wiring or cross-activation of sensory neurons in various parts of the brain. Cross-activation occurs when two areas of the brain, normally kept separate, get activated at the same time by the same stimulus. o The neurons connecting sensory systems may not be pruned in people with synesthesia. o Certain hallucinogenic drugs can temporarily create synesthetic experiences. BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER: MAKING CONNECTIONS IN SENSATION AND PERCEPTION: DIFFERENCES ACROSS CULTURES •Culture and place can serve as perceptual sets. •Most research on cultural influence on perception has focused on three sense systems: vision, olfaction, and pain. Cultural Variation in Visual Perception •Differences exist across cultures in response to certain visual images that use monocular cues to depth. •People who grow up in cultures without angular buildings do not experience visual illusions in the same way as those who grew up with angular buildings. o Recall the Müller-Lyer line illusion in Figure 4.21. The explanation we offered for why people see the line on the right as longer than the one on the left, when the lines are in fact equal, is due to linear perspective. The left drawing looks like the inner corner of a room, while the one on the right looks like the outer corner of a building. Those living in a carpentered world—an environment with constructed buildings with many right angles—are much less likely to see the lines of Figure 4.21 as differing in length, as they are not accustomed to rooms with edges. •Hudson (1960) studied the perception of depth cues in the Bantu people of the Niger-Congo region of Africa. He showed people the picture depicted in Figure 4.34 and others similar to it. He then asked the people to explain what was going on in the scene. o When people from the United States, Europe, and India viewed such a picture, they said the hunter was going after the gazelle, as the elephant is clearly in the distance. o Bantu people, however, said the hunter was attacking the elephant. This response may result from not having much experience with two-dimensional drawings like the figure. Bantu who had been educated in European schools said the hunter was going for the gazelle. •People from Eastern cultures tend to perceive the world more as a whole, with people and objects and the context being connected and belonging together. Westerners, however, tend to focus most on foreground objects and less on background and the periphery. Cultural Variation in Olfactory Experience •Cultures differ widely on the acceptability of odors based on experience, climate, and cuisine. Different places vary in their standards for cleanliness and for what is acceptable body odor. •Cross-culturally, women tend to be more sensitive to smells than men. o Since olfaction and taste keep harmful things out of the body and these senses are heightened during pregnancy, women may have more highly developed olfactory perception due to the fact that women can carry young. Cultural Variation in Pain •In one of the most painful of human experiences, childbirth, we see widely differing perceptions of how painful it is. o The Yap in the South Pacific consider childbirth to be simply a part of everyday life where the women routinely work in the fields right up until childbirth and are back at work often by the next day. Moreover, the husband experiences the pain of childbirth and it is he who stays in bed to recover after the birth of the child. KEY TERMS absolute threshold: the lowest intensity level of a stimulus a person can detect half of the time. accommodation: the process by which the muscles control the shape of the lens to adjust to viewing objects at different distances. afterimages: visual images that remain after removal of or looking away from the stimulus. auditory nerve: the nerve that receives action potentials from the hair cells and transmits auditory information to the brain. basilar membrane: a membrane that runs through the cochlea; contains the hair cells. binocular depth cues: aids to depth perception that rely on input from both eyes. bodily senses: the senses based in the skin, body, or any membrane surfaces. bottom-up processing: idea that perception is a process of building a perceptual experience from smaller pieces; putting the pieces together to see the whole. cochlea: a bony tube of the inner ear, which is curled like a snail’s shell and filled with fluid. cones: photoreceptors that are responsible for color vision and are most functional in conditions of bright light. continuity: According to the Gestalt law of continuity. We see points or lines in such a way that they follow a continuous path. cornea: the clear hard covering that protects the lens of the eye. dark adaptation: process of adjustment to seeing in the dark. depth perception: the ability to see things in three dimensions and to discriminate what is near from what is far. difference threshold: the smallest amount of change between two stimuli that a person can detect half of the time. feature detectors: neurons in the visual cortex that analyze the retinal image and respond to specific aspects of shapes, such as angles and movements. fovea: spot on the back of the retina that contains the highest concentration of cones in the retina; place of clearest vision. gate control theory of pain: theory that proposes that the spinal cord regulates the experience of pain by either opening or closing neural channels, called gates, involved in pain sensations that get sent to the brain. hair cells: inner ear sensory receptors for sound; they transduce sound vibrations into neural impulses. iris: the muscle that comprises the colored part of the eye; it adjusts the pupil to regulate the amount of light that enters the eye. law of closure: the tendency to perceive a whole object in the absence of complete information. lens: the structure that sits behind the pupil; it bends the light rays that enter the eye to focus images on the retina. mechanoreceptors: receptor cells in the skin that are sensitive to different tactile qualities: some to shapes, some to grooves, some to vibrations and movements. monocular depth cues: aids to depth perception that do not require two eyes, such as linear perspective. olfactory bulb: a forebrain structure that sends information either directly to the smell-processing areas in the cortex or indirectly to the cortex by way of the thalamus. olfactory sensory neurons: the sensory receptors for smell that reside high up inside the nose. opponent process theory: the theory that color vision results from the fact that cones are linked together in three color pairs: blue/yellow, red/green, and black/white. The members of the color pairs oppose one another, so that activation of one member of the pair inhibits activity in the other. optic chiasm: the point at which strands of the optic nerve from half of each eye cross over to the opposite side of the brain. optic nerve: structure composed of the axons of ganglion cells from the retina that carry visual information from the eye to the brain. pain: a complex emotional and sensory experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage. papillae: textured structures on the surface of the tongue; contain thousands of taste buds. perception: a psychological process: the act of organizing and interpreting sensory experience. perceptual constancy: the ability of the brain to preserve perception of objects in spite of changes in retinal image when an object changes in position or distance from the viewer. perceptual set: the effect of frame of mind on perception; a tendency to perceive stimuli in a certain manner. photoreceptors: cells in the retina (called rods and cones) that convert light energy into nerve energy; they are transducers. proximity: a Gestalt law that says we tend to group objects together that are near one another. psychophysics: the study of how people psychologically perceive physical stimuli such as light and sound waves and touch. pupil: the opening in the iris through which light enters the eye. retina: the thin layer of nerve tissue that lines the back of the eye. rods: photoreceptors that function in low illumination and play a key role in night vision; response to dark and light contrast. semi-circular canals: structure of the inner ear involved in maintaining balance. sensation: a physical process: the stimulation of our sense organs by the outer world. sensory adaptation: the process by which our sensitivity diminishes when an object constantly stimulates our senses. signal detection theory: the viewpoint that takes into account both stimulus intensity and the decision-making processes people use when saying whether they detect a stimulus. similarity: a Gestalt law that says we tend to group like objects together in visual perception. synesthesia: an unusual sensory experience in which a person experiences sensations in one sense when a different sense is stimulated, such as experiencing sound as colors. taste buds: structures inside the papillae of the tongue that contain the taste cells. taste receptor cells: sensory receptors for taste that reside in the taste buds; site of transduction of chemical information to neural impulse in the processing of taste sensations. top-down processing: idea that perception of the whole guides perception of smaller elemental features. transduction: the conversion of physical into neural information. trichromatic color theory: the theory that all color that we experience must result from a mixing of three colors of light (red, green, and blue). tympanic membrane: the ear drum. visual acuity: our ability to see clearly. Weber’s law: the theory stating that size of a just noticeable difference is a constant fraction of the intensity of the stimulus. MAKING THE CONNECTIONS (Some of the connections are found in the text. Other connections may be useful for lecture or discussion.) Signal Detection CONNECTION: Attention helps prevent sensory overload by filtering out sensory stimuli that aren’t important (Chapter 6). •Suggested Activity: Ask students to write down their trip from home to their first class that day. Ask them to share their notes with the class. The discussion will be of general, main events (got up, took a shower, ate, got in car, etc.). Then ask them to dig deeper: What did they see, hear, smell, touch, taste? Did they see any Chevys on the drive in? Did they see any ants on the sidewalk? The brain filters out much of this information because it is extraneous to our purpose (to get to class on time). Perceptual Set CONNECTION: Memories of events, especially emotional events like crimes, are very selective and our frame of mind (perceptual set) influences what part of an event we are likely to recall (Chapter 7). •Suggested Activity: For a discussion on the fragility of episodic memories see: http://faculty.washington.edu/eloftus/Articles/sciam.htm Elizabeth Loftus’s page. She has a great discussion of research looking at this topic. You can either discuss in class or have students read the article and write a brief paragraph summarizing the research and then an episodic memory from childhood they have that is either confirmed or disconfirmed by a close family member. CONNECTING Challenging Assumptions in How Neurons “Recognize” Human Faces CONNECTION: In many areas of development, such as language and learning, there are sensitivity periods when the brain is optimally receptive to environmental stimulation. One researcher found this out when newly hatched goslings (geese) mistook him for their mother (Chapter 8). •Suggested Clip: In this 30-second clip you see a gosling following a little boy, which demonstrates imprinting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrXPb2G-3P0. Organizing Visual Information: Gestalt Laws of Grouping CONNECTION: The Gestalt law of proximity makes use of the short-term memory technique called “chunking” (see Chapter 7). •Suggested Site: Go to the following site for visual examples of the law of proximity. Have students discuss how this is like chunking (grouping information together to make it easier to recall): http://homepages.ius.edu/rallman/gestprx.html. Touch CONNECTION: What are the benefits of touch for premature and low-birth-weight newborns? (Chapter 5) •Discussion: Ask students to pretend that they are counselors or doctors dealing with the new parents of a premature or low-birth-weight child. Based on what they have learned about the issues surrounding these children and the research on sensation from this chapter, what advice would they give the parents so that the parents could provide an optimal environment for the newborn to thrive? Controlling Pain CONNECTION: Why do opioids have a high potential for abuse? (Chapter 6) •Discussion: Explain to students that endorphins are your body’s natural opioids, so if the body is getting something similar from an external source, it will stop producing its own. When the person stops taking the opioid, then, they do not have a backup supply for endorphins so their withdrawal pain is very intense. Instead of taking the time to wait for their bodies to begin endorphin production again, they may decide to continue ingesting the opioid. This pattern leads to abuse and addiction. INNOVATIVE INSTRUCTION 1. Ask students, if they had to choose, which sense they would be most willing to go without for the rest of their lives (you can use the CPS clickers to pole the class). Then ask them why. 2. Ask students if they are wearing a watch, ring, or necklace (you may use CPS to pole the class on this). Now ask them how many of them can feel that piece of jewelry. Most people don’t. They might when they first put it on that day, but after a little (very little) time has passed they may no longer feel it. The same thing happens at pool parties. Some people are in the pool saying the water’s “not that bad.” Then you jump in and think its freezing! Were they lying? No, they had just already undergone sensory adaptation to the temperature. In a few minutes you do the same thing to the next person thinking of coming in the pool. 3. A good way to explain absolute thresholds is to remind students of the hearing tests they took when they were kids. They had earphones put over their ears and were told to raise the hand of the side they hear the noise coming from. The sounds would go from loud to a whisper in order to determine their absolute thresholds. 4. Ask students to imagine that they are fumbling around one morning to get ready for an 8:00 a.m. class. In their confusion they misstep and kick their desk chair, causing their toe to go off at a 90-degree angle. What is their reaction? What do they try to do to alleviate the pain? Use this to introduce ways to cope with pain and gate-control theory. 5. Ask students what smells trigger strong childhood memories. Explain why smells make for such strong memory cues. 6. To demonstrate difference thresholds and the JND, bring a pile of books, a blindfold, and some CDs to class and ask for a strong volunteer. Place the blindfold on them and the stack of books in their arms. Tell them to report when they think you have added another book. Then slowly add CDs to the pile until they say something. Even though weight is constantly being added, they won’t notice it until there is a 3% change. You can tell them that when they ask friends to help them move, they maximize this. Their buddy picks up a box and you add a few more things on top saying “you won’t even notice the extra weight” and, in some cases, they’re right! 7. Ask students to go cross-eyed. Tell them to put their right finger out in front of you at arm’s length and, with their eyes glued to that finger, move it closer to their nose. Then have them slowly pull their finger outward again. This demonstrates convergence. 8. Have students re-create the Müller-Lyer illusion shown in Figure 4.21. Have them show that image to five people and ask them which line looks longer. Using the information in their book on visual perception, have them explain their findings. 9. Go to http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/after.html for an interactive afterimage activity. 10. Go to http://www.eyetricks.com/colorblindtest.htm for a color blindness test you can give in class. You can use the CPS clickers to have students send in their answers if you’d like. 11. Ask for a class volunteer who has no food allergies. Blindfold the student and plug their noise with a swimming nose plug or something similar. Offer them an apple and ask them what they taste. You can also offer them something less exciting like an onion. Use their perceptions to discuss the interaction that smell and taste play in our sense of flavor. 12. This is a good link that lets students actively participate in facial recognition with a focus on faces that appear upside down: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/java/faces.html. 13. Neurons are shaped by experience and “learn” to respond only to very specific faces, buildings, or animals. •Suggested Activity: Have students go to Scientific American’s article on the “Halle Berry Neuron,” “One Face, One Neuron” and have them read the article (this is at a very readable level) and write a two-paragraph summary of what the research suggests. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=one-face-one-neuron 14. Different cultural backgrounds can impact how people perceive and understand their world. •Suggested Link: A great site on the olfactory system as well as things like body odor and small in space can be found at: http://www.cf.ac.uk/biosi/staffinfo/jacob/teaching/sensory/olfact1.html. It includes new research as well as past research. 15. Ask students to think about their senses. If they had to give up one sense, which would it be? Ask for a show of hands as you go through the senses. Ask them why they chose this sense. 16. Write the word FOLK on the board and ask students “what does it spell?” Write SOAK and ask “what does it spell?” Write CROAK and ask students “what does it spell?” Then yell out “What do you call the white of an egg?” Students will yell out “yolk” and then be surprised that they did that. You can them ask them “really? The white of the egg is the yolk? I always thought it was the egg white?” Source: Bolt, M. (1992). Instructor's resources for use with D. G. Myer's, Psychology (3rd ed.). New York: Worth. Suggested Media 12. There is a Wayne’s World (1992) scene where Wayne (Mike Myers) is with his girlfriend and is alternating covering his right and left eyes. As he does so the camera angle adjusts to show his perspective. This is a good example of binocular disparity. 13. Ames Room (Errol and Ricky): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ic7QGjGEX8 14. Synesthesia: http://web.mit.edu/synesthesia/www/ 15. Primetime Medical Mysteries—Part 4 (Synesthesia) 16. Dr. Katz discussing the ear: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQXK4BN-ORE 17. NIH video clip on the ear: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md99QDTOqGM 18. NASA clip on the ear: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ovMh2A3P5k&NR=1 19. Some nice optical illusions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_in33BsKOE&feature=related 20. Discovering Psychology--Sensation and Perception (Annenberg) 21. Secret World of Pain (BBC) 22. Sensation: The Mind-Body Connection (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.) 23. Inattentional Blindness (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.) 24. Inability to Feel Pain (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.) Concept Clips (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.) 1. Thresholds 2. Sensory Adaptation Suggested Websites 8. Illusion Games: http://www.brainconnection.com/library/?main=playhome/illusions 9. Some information and images for depth perception cues: http://webvision.med.utah.edu/KallDepth.html 10. Explanation of Ames room (with video): http://www.moillusions.com/2007/03/ames-room-video-illusion.html 11. Ames room: http://www.psychologie.tu-dresden.de/i1/kaw/diverses%20Material/www.illusionworks.com/html/ames_room.html 12. Optical illusions: http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/, http://www.optillusions.com/ 13. Gestalt laws of perceptual psychology: http://psychology.about.com/od/sensationandperception/ss/gestaltlaws.htm 14. Rubin’s face-vase: http://www.psychologie.tu-dresden.de/i1/kaw/diverses%20Material/www.illusionworks.com/html/figure_ground.html 15. The Müller-Lyer illusion: http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/sze_muelue/index.html 16. Depth Cues http://psych.hanover.edu/Krantz/art/cues.html 17. Afterimages http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/after.html 18. Synesthesia and the synesthetic experience: http://web.mit.edu/synesthesia/www/ 19. Sensation and Perception Tutorials and Demonstrations http://psych.hanover.edu/Krantz/sen_tut.html Suggested Readings Bartram, D. J. (1974). The role of visual and semantic codes in object naming. Cognitive Psychology, 6, 325–356. Biederman, I. (1972). Perceiving real-world scenes. Science, 177, 77–80. Brannan, J. R. (Ed.). (1992). Applications of parallel processing in vision. Amsterdam: Elsevier. Duffy, P. L. (2001). Blue cats and chartreuse kittens: How synesthetes color their worlds. W.H. Freeman Book. Ekman, P., Friesen, W. V., & O’Sullivan, M. (1997). Smiles when lying. Ekman, P. & Rosenberg, E. L. (Eds.) What the face reveals: Basic and applied studies of spontaneous expression using the Facial Action Coding System (FACS). New York: Oxford University Press. Fiser, J., & Biederman, I. (1995). Size invariance in visual object priming of gray-scale images. Perception, 24, 741–748. Gallagher, S. P., & Hoefling, C. L. (2013). A laboratory exercise demonstrating the relationship of projected size to distance. Teaching of Psychology, 40, 212–216. Gilbert, C. D., & Li, W. (2013). Top-down influences on visual processing. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 14, 350–363. Jolicoeur, P. (1987). A size-congruency effect in memory for visual shape. Memory and Cognition, 15, 531–543. Kosslyn, S. M. (1988). Aspects of a cognitive neuroscience of mental imagery. Science, 240, 1621–1626. Riley, D. A., & Roitblat, H. L. (1978). Selective attention and related cognitive processes in pigeons. In S. H. Hulse, H. Fowler, & W. K. Honig (Eds.), Cognitive Processes in Animal Behavior (pp. 249–276). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Shepard, R. N., & Metzler, J. (1972). Mental rotation of three-dimensional objects. Science, 171, 701–703. Ungerleider, L. G., & Mishkin, M. (1982). Two cortical visual systems: Separation of appearance and location of objects. In D. L. Ingle, M. A. Goodale, & R. J. W. Mansfield (Eds.), Analysis of visual behavior (pp. 549–586). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Chapter 5: Human Development BRIEF CHAPTER OUTLINE The Developing Fetus Stages of Prenatal Development Brain and Sensory Development Before Birth Nature and Nurture Influences on Fetal Development Maternal Nutrition and Teratogens Teratogens Prenatal Personality Development The Developing Infant and Child Physical Development in Infancy and Childhood Early Motor Development Early Sensory Development Early Brain Development Psychology in the Real World: Musical Training Changes the Brain Early Cognitive Development Theory of Mind Development of Moral Reasoning Personality Development During Infancy Early Socioemotional Development Attachment Challenging Assumptions in the Importance of Physical Contact for Well-Being Developing Relationships and Emotions Development of Emotions Peer Interaction Childhood Temperament and Personality Development The Developing Adolescent Physical Development in Adolescence Cognitive and Brain Development Social Development in Adolescence Personality Development in Adolescence The Developing Adult Early Adulthood Emerging Adulthood Young Adulthood Marriage Parenthood Early Adult Personality Development Middle Adulthood Sensory and Brain Development Personality development During Middle Adulthood Late Adulthood Personality Development in Late Adulthood Death and Dying Bringing It All Together: Making Connections in Development: Technology Across the Life Span Chapter Review EXTENDED CHAPTER OUTLINE •Human development is the study of both change and continuity in the individual across the life span. This process begins before birth, in the prenatal environment of the mother’s womb. THE DEVELOPING FETUS •We pass more biological milestones before birth than we will in the rest of our lives. Stages of Prenatal Development There are three stages involved in prenatal development. 1. The germinal stage begins at conception and lasts for two weeks. •At conception, the fertilized egg forms a single-celled zygote. •By day 7 the multicelled organism is now called a blastocyst, which travels down the fallopian tube and attaches to the uterine wall. •Between 30% and 50% of the blastocysts do not attach properly and the pregnancy ends without the woman having known she was pregnant. •If implantation was successful, the second stage of prenatal development begins two weeks later. 2. The embryonic stage is marked by the formation of the major organs: the nervous system, heart, eyes, ears, arms, legs, teeth, palate, and external genitalia. Embryonic development continues until about 8 weeks after conception. •An embryo is the bundle of rapidly multiplying cells (the blastocyst) that has implanted in the uterus. 3. The fetal stage is the formation of bone cells at 8 weeks after conception. By this time, all of the major organs have already begun to form. Between 8 and 12 weeks into development, the heartbeat can be detected with a stethoscope. During the fetal stage the organs continue to grow and mature while the fetus rapidly increases in size. Brain and Sensory Development Before Birth •The first major organ to develop, the brain is still growing rapidly at birth. •By the time an infant is born, its head has grown to 25% of its adult weight, whereas its body is only 5% of its adult weight. •During the fetal stage, the rate of new neural growth can be approximately 3 million neurons per minute at its peak! From months 3 through 5 of pregnancy, neurons move from one part of the brain to their more permanent home in a process known as neural migration. •Factors that interfere with migration include teratogens, such as prenatal exposure to certain toxins or viruses, which can increase the risk of psychological disorders. •Generally, male fetuses are more active than females, suggesting their greater activity levels after birth may be inborn. Nature and Nurture Influences on Fetal Development •What a pregnant mother eats, drinks, smokes, feels, and experiences plays an important role in fetal development. •Prenatal programming: the process by which events in the womb alter the development of physical and psychological health. •For example, doctors prescribe folic acid and other vitamins to women who are pregnant or trying to become pregnant because they reduce the rates of abnormalities in the developing nervous system. Maternal Nutrition and Teratogens •What a pregnant woman eats and drinks is important for the health of the fetus and even for the infant and child for years after birth. For example, both schizophrenia and antisocial personality disorder are more likely to occur if the mother is malnourished during pregnancy. •Maternal nutrition is a key part of the developing baby's environment. •Maternal nutrition is an important example of epigenetics. Teratogens •Teratogens are substances that can disrupt normal development and cause long-term effects. Examples of teratogens include smoking, drinking alcohol, viruses, illness, and chemicals. •Because all major body parts are forming and growing during the embryonic and fetal stages, the fetus is quite susceptible to birth defects during these stages. Known teratogens include: (1) viruses, such as those that cause rubella (measles) and the flu; (2) alcohol; (3) nicotine; (4) prescription drugs, such as the antidepressants Prozac and Zoloft; (5) and radiation. •Timing determines how detrimental the effects of any given teratogen will be. In general, the earlier in pregnancy the woman is exposed, the more serious the effects. •Maternal substance use can also cause serious prenatal and postnatal problems. Pregnant women who drink alcohol take chances with their developing baby, as there is no known safe level of alcohol consumption during pregnancy. Don’t drink! •Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) causes damage to the central nervous system, low birth weight, physical abnormalities in the face, head, heart, and joint, intellectual disabilities, and behavioral problems. •The effect of fetal alcohol exposure is described as a spectrum of disorders because the types and degrees of deficits can vary tremendously among individuals. FASD affects about 1% of live births in the United States and is a leading cause of mental retardation in this country. •FASD has been reported in babies of women who drink excessively as well as in infants whose mothers have only occasionally had drinks during pregnancy, although binge drinking and heavy drinking appear to increase the severity of FASD. •Nicotine exposure from maternal smoking interferes with the oxygen supply to the fetus. It can lead to premature and low-birth-weight babies as well as increased risk for stillbirth. •Some studies on animals and humans indicate that the antidepressants Zoloft and Prozac can cause respiratory problems, increased risk of premature birth, and short-lasting effects on motor development. Others, however, suggest there are few risks to the developing fetus. •CONNECTION: How does having the flu virus while pregnant influence the way neurons grow in the developing fetus and increase the vulnerability to schizophrenia later in life (Chapter 15). Prenatal Personality Development •Janet DiPietro and her colleagues (1996) showed that fetal activity and fetal heart rate predict temperament differences over the first year of life. In particular, a high heart rate in a 36-week-old fetus foreshadowed less predictable eating and sleeping habits at 3 and 6 months after birth. The infant with a high heart rate also would be less emotional at 6 months after birth. •What happens to the mother during pregnancy may also affect personality. THE DEVELOPING INFANT AND CHILD •Because the brain is still developing immediately after a child is born, the environment the child is brought up in can shape it. •The newborn human brain is more responsive than that of other animals to the specific world it is in, allowing nurture to shape human nature more than is the case for most animals. Physical Development in Infancy and Childhood Early Motor Development •When we speak of motor development, we are referring to changes in physical movement and body control. •Early in infancy, babies start to show intentional movements. •There is a fairly regular sequence of development. At 4 months they can hold objects. At 6 months many babies can sit by themselves. At 7 months they move themselves around. At 8 to 9 months, babies start walking with assistance. Late in the first year many babies will take their first step. By 17 months most babies walk with ease. Early Sensory Development •Hearing is almost fully developed at birth, but a newborn’s vision is only about 20-600. Visual sharpness, or acuity, continues to improve during infancy, and by 6 months of age, vision is 20-100. By age 3 or 4, a child’s vision is similar to an adult’s. •Newborns are best able to see black-and-white edges and patterns. Color vision develops by around 6 months of age. •Experience is crucial in the development of vision, in regard to vision; the occipital cortex of the brain has to be stimulated by visual input in order to develop the proper synaptic connections needed to process visual information. •The critical period is a specific period in biological development when individuals are most receptive to a particular kind of input from the environment (e.g., visual stimulation and language learning). •All babies who have normal vision in both eyes see the world in three dimensions. Soon after birth, they demonstrate the ability to detect depth in the real world. •The visual cliff is a test of depth perception in babies who have learned to crawl. Researchers placed clear Plexiglas over one end of a crawl area to make it look as though there was a steep drop in the middle of the crawl area. They put a baby on the other end of the crawl area and asked the mother to stand at the end with the drop. The mother’s role was to encourage the baby to crawl across the Plexiglas to her. The baby would stop crawling when he or she reached the visual cliff, indicating that at least by the time babies learn to crawl, they can perceive depth. Early Brain Development •After birth, the brain continues to grow new neurons. By the second year of life, the human brain has more neurons than it will ever again have. Brain growth continues throughout the life span, but the rate of change slows down considerably after the age of 6 and then settles again after adolescence. •After age 2, some neurons and synapses die off. The reason for this is simple: during the first year of life, neural growth occurs, but it is somewhat random and disorganized. New neurons and synapses develop because that is what the newborn brain does. •With learning and experience certain synaptic connections become stronger, whereas those that do not receive stimulation from the environment die off. This process, known as pruning, is nature’s way of making the brain more efficient. •By adolescence, up to half of the synapses that existed in early childhood have been pruned. •CONNECTION: Experience is crucial in the formation of synaptic connections and the growth of neurons (neurogenesis) in the brain throughout the life span. Pruning is nature’s way of making the brain more efficient (Chapter 3). PSYCHOLOGY IN THE REAL WORLD: MUSICAL TRAINING CHANGES THE BRAIN •The brain is most responsive to stimulation during infancy and childhood. •Early in life there is more opportunity for experience to leave its mark on the brain; for example, learning to play an instrument. •Researchers have found that for musicians, the somatosensory cortex shows lateralization that is not found in nonmusicians. •Musicians who started playing before the age of 12 show the most pronounced effects; so musical training may change brain organization, especially for people who start training as children. •Brain imaging studies also suggest that musical training molds the structure of the brain. People who have had intensive musical training have a thicker corpus callosum and increased brain growth in regions associated with music-related skills than do nonmusicians, even more so if they started their training before age 7. •This would mean that there is greater communication between the two sides of the brain in musicians than in people who have not had such training. •Musicians also have larger cerebellums (an area involved in motor coordination) than do nonmusicians. •Musical training enhances neural activity in the hippocampus. •Neuroplasticitic effects of musical training last into adulthood. •The findings discussed so far are correlational. They suggest that musical training can shape the brain, but do not lead to the conclusion that musical training causes brain growth. •To test the causal nature of this relationship, researchers taught a musical skill to one group and found that as skill improved, cortical representation for the finger muscles involved in the task increased. •They also found in subsequent research that practice has an effect. The brains of those who ceased practicing returned to the way they were previously. For those who continued practicing, brain map changes continued. If you don’t use it, you lose it! •Learning to play an instrument fosters the development of other skills, too. Music training is positively correlated with intelligence test scores in children and college students, and this relationship is strongest for people who have trained longer. •It also improves performance on verbal memory tasks. Moreover, the ability to detect pitch changes in music aids processing of pitch changes in language processing. Early Cognitive Development •With growth, especially brain growth, comes cognitive development. Cognitive development is advances in the ability to think, reason, remember, learn, and solve problems. •An important factor that developmental psychologists have learned about infants in the last 20 years comes from Gopnik’s findings. These findings indicate that infant perception is more sophisticated than previously thought. Piaget’s Four Stages 1. The sensorimotor stage is Piaget’s first stage of cognitive development (ages 0–2). It is called this because infants learn about the world by using their senses and by moving their bodies in it. •One of the hallmarks of thinking at this age is object permanence. • Object permanence is the ability to realize that objects still exist when they are not being sensed. Piaget argued this appears around 9 months of age. However, Baillargeon has found it in infants as young as 4 months. 2. The preoperational stage is the second major stage of cognitive development (ages 2–5). This stage begins with the emergence of symbolic thought, or the use of symbols such as words or letters to represent ideas or objects. •Symbolic thinking involves using symbols such as words or letters to represent ideas or objects. Other qualities of preoperational thinking include animistic thinking, egocentrism, and lack of conservation. •Animistic thinking is the idea that inanimate objects are alive. •Egocentrism is the tendency to view the world from one’s own perspective and not see things from another person’s perspective. •Conservation is the ability to recognize that when objects change shape or size, the overall amount stays the same. 3. In the concrete operational stage (ages 6–11) children can perform mental operations, on real, or concrete, objects and events, but they still have trouble with abstract ideas and reasoning. •Reversing events is one type of operation a child masters in this stage. 4. In the formal operational stage (ages 12 and up) formal logic becomes possible. In addition, adolescents develop scientific reasoning and hypothesis-testing skills. Vygotsky’s View •Development is a more social cognitive view than Piaget. •Cognitive development must be understood in social context. •Children learn with the help of others (zone of proximal development). Theory of Mind •Theory of mind refers to our knowledge and ideas of how other people’s minds work. It involves knowing and understanding what other people are thinking, wanting, or feeling. •Children under the age of 4 do not realize that people may believe things that are not true. Adults know that people believe things, such as superstitions, that are untrue. Psychologists created the false-belief task to determine when children develop theory of mind and come to know that others can believe something that is false. Development of Moral Reasoning •Kohlberg (1981) studied the development of moral reasoning in children and adults by giving them a moral dilemma and recording the reasons they provided for their responses. Their responses were less important to him than the reasoning behind them. •An example is the dilemma of Heinz: “A woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to produce. He paid $200 for the radium and charged $2,000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman’s husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together about $1,000, which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said: ‘No, I discovered the drug and I’m going to make money from it.’ Heinz got desperate and broke into the man’s store to steal the drug for his wife. Should Heinz have broken into the laboratory to steal the drug for his wife? Why or why not?” •Based on how people answered, he proposed a three-stage theory of moral reasoning. He found that moral reasoning moves from being focused on the self to being increasingly focused on others, with a basis in clear personal principles of morality and ethics. •Kohlberg describes three levels of moral reasoning. 1. The preconventional level is the first level in Kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning, in which moral reasoning involves avoiding punishment or maximizing rewards. 2. The conventional level is the second level in Kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning, during which the person values caring, trust, and relationships, as well as the social order and lawfulness. 3. The postconventional level is the third level in Kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning, in which the person acknowledges both the norm and the law, but argues that there are universal moral rules that may trump unjust or immoral local rules. •Research supports Kohlberg’s argument that children tend to reason preconventionally and adults conventionally. This is found cross-culturally, particularly for the first two stages. •The postconventional level appears to be limited to Western cultures. When one realizes that Western cultures place a strong emphasis on individualism and individual values, this finding makes sense. Postconventional moral reasoning is heavily based in a personal moral code. In contrast, many non-Western cultures emphasize the group and community, and so the highest level of moral reasoning would be likely to involve compassion and caring for others, altruism, and family honor. Personality Development During Infancy •One thing that stays with us our entire lives is our personality. It may change a bit, but for the most part personality tends to be a fairly stable part of who we are. •Temperament is the biologically based tendency to behave in specific ways. It makes up the building blocks of personality. •Personality is the consistently unique way in which an individual behaves over time and situations. •After birth, some infants soon settle into a predictable routine. Others do not. Some are generally happy, and others aren’t. Some infants have lower thresholds for stimulation than others. •Thomas and Chess developed a classification of three types of personality based on differences in temperament. 1. An easy child is predictable in daily functions, is happy most of the time, and is adaptable. About 40% of children fall into this category. 2. A difficult child is unpredictable in daily functions, is unhappy most of the time, and is slow to adapt to new situations. About 10% fall into this category. 3. A slow-to-warm-up child is mildly intense in his or her reactions to new situations and mildly irregular in the daily patterns of eating, sleeping, and eliminating. Although his or her first response to new situations might be negative, after repeated exposures, he or she develops an approaching style. About 15% of the children fall into this category. •These three dimensions do not classify about 35% of children. Early Socioemotional Development Attachment •Some animals, especially birds, follow and imitate the first large creature they see immediately after birth. This behavior is called imprinting. The newborn sees this creature as a protector. Usually this creature also happens to be the protector (mom or dad), so it is a good strategy. Newborn humans cannot follow around the first large creature they see, so they do not imprint. Humans attach. •Imprinting is the rapid and innate learning of the characteristics of a caregiver very soon after birth. •In everyday usage, attachment means “connectedness.” In human development, attachment refers to the strong emotional connection that develops early in life to keep infants close to their caregivers. •John Bowlby (1969) described how infants become emotionally attached to their caregivers and emotionally distressed when separated from them. He proposed that the major function of this affection-based bonding system is to protect infants from predation and other threats to survival. •In his observations of human infants and primates, Bowlby noted that they went through a clear sequence of reactions, from protest, to despair, to detachment, when separated from their caregiver. •Bowlby defined separation anxiety as the distress reaction shown by babies when they are separated from their primary caregiver (typically shown around 9 months of age). •On the basis of such observations, Bowlby developed his attachment theory, which rests on two fundamental assumptions. 1. A responsive and accessible caregiver (usually the mother) must create a secure base for the child. The infant needs to know that the caregiver is accessible and dependable. With a dependable caregiver, the child can develop confidence and security in exploring the world. 2. Infants internalize the bonding relationship, which provides a mental model on which they build future friendships and love relationships. Therefore, attachment to a caregiver is the most critical of all relationships. •Influenced by Bowlby’s work, Mary Ainsworth developed a technique for measuring the attachment of infant and caregiver. The strange situation task is a 20-minute laboratory session in which a mother and her 12-month-old infant are initially alone in a playroom. Then a stranger comes into the room, and after a few minutes the stranger begins a brief interaction with the infant. The mother then leaves for two separate 2-minute periods. During the first period, the infant is left alone with the stranger. During the second period, the infant is left completely alone. •The critical behavior that Ainsworth and colleagues rated was how the infant reacted when the caregiver returned. They presumed that the infant’s reaction reflects the way the baby has learned to respond to his or her caregiver and that these reactions are based on the history of comfort and reassurance the caregiver has provided. •Based on this reunion behavior, Ainsworth developed a classification system of three types. 1. In secure attachment the infants are happy and initiate contact when the mother returns. They will go over to her and want to be held. After they’ve been reunited with their mothers, they may return to their play. •The other three types of attachment represent insecure attachment. 2. In insecure-resistant attachment infants can't be comforted by mom on reunion and have difficulty returning to play. 3. In insecure-avoidant attachment infants stay calm when their mother leaves, they accept the stranger, and when their mother returns, they ignore and avoid her. 4. In insecure-disorganized/disoriented attachment infants show odd, conflicted behavior in the Strange Situation. The children appear to be frightened. This is considered to be the most insecure. Challenging Assumptions in the Physical Contact for Well-Being •In the early part of the 20th century, psychologists assumed that all babies needed to survive was to have their internal biological needs met—hunger, thirst, and temperature regulation. •Harry Harlow thought there might be more to infants’ desire for contact than a need for nourishment. In his early work, Harlow (1958) noticed that baby monkeys whom he had separated from their mothers became very attached to cloth diapers that lined their cages. This strong attachment to cloth made Harlow think that a baby primate needs something soft to cling to. It reminded him of the attachment babies have for their blankets. •To test his hunch, Harlow and his colleagues carried out a series of studies with newborn monkeys whom they separated from their mothers. They housed them with surrogate mothers constructed of wire and wood. One was just a wire frame with a crude head. The other was a wire frame covered with soft terry cloth. Both mothers were heated and either could be hooked up to a bottle of milk. •In the first study, Harlow removed eight monkeys from their mothers shortly after birth. Cloth and wire mothers were housed in cubicles attached to the infants’ cages. Half the monkeys were randomly assigned to get milk from the wire monkey; the other half got their milk from the cloth monkey. •Harlow used the amount of time spent with a surrogate mother as a measure of the affection bond. He found that contact comfort was much more important than the source of food in determining which surrogate mother the monkeys preferred. Regardless of whether a baby monkey nursed from the cloth mother or the wire mother, it spent most of its time with the cloth mom. •Harlow’s findings suggested that those babies preferred being with their moms because the mothers provided food was at least partially incorrect. Harlow went so far as to say that a primary function of nursing in humans was contact as much as nutrition. •Field and her colleagues (1986) decided to test whether regular touch might help tiny premature infants. She randomly assigned 40 preterm infants from a hospital’s newborn intensive care unit to either receive touch therapy (experimental group) or not (control group). All of the premature infants lived in isolettes, plastic-covered bassinets designed to prevent infection. This touch therapy involved gently stroking the baby with warmed hands (no gloves) through portholes in the isolette for 15 minutes, three times a day for 10 days. •Over the treatment period, babies who received touch therapy gained significantly more weight than those who did not, even though they did not eat more. •Later research showed the same effect in weight gain when mothers touched their preterm infants. Touch also leads to reduced stress levels in premature babies and to fewer diarrheas. Touch, in this case, makes for better health! Developing Relationships and Emotions •Developmental psychologist James Sorce studied 1-year-old babies and their mothers’ reactions to the visual cliff. In his study, the mom would place her baby on the visual cliff. She would stand at the other end, put a toy down, and pose one of five facial expressions of emotion: fear, anger, sadness, interest, or happiness. She said nothing and did nothing else. When mom’s facial expression showed fear or anger, the baby did not move to the deep side. Most babies went willingly over the cliff when the mom smiled. •What this means is that by the age of one, children can make sense of their mothers’ emotional facial expressions and use them to know what to do. This ability to make use of social information from another person is known as social referencing. •CONNECTION: One way we learn is by imitating someone else’s behavior. This type of learning, seen also in infant mimicry, may be based on mirror neurons systems in the brain (Chapters 3 and 8). Development of Emotions •Emotional competence is the ability to control emotions and to know when it is appropriate to express certain emotions. •Babies show emotions early in life. •The development of emotional competence starts as early as preschool and continues throughout childhood. The better children do in school and the fewer stressful and dysfunctional situations they have at home, the more emotionally skilled and competent they are. Peer Interaction •As children get older, their social world expands from the intimate environment of the home to include play with other children. Although attachment to the primary caregiver is important for the baby and young child, relations with other children have a big impact after early childhood. •Nothing influences the behavior of children like other children, their peers. •Peers are people who share equal standing or status. Peers often serve as important role models. Childhood Temperament and Personality Development •One longitudinal study evaluated 1,000 New Zealand children on many temperamental, cognitive, medical, and motor dimensions at age 3 and then again about every 2 to 2.5 years until they were 21 years old. •Ratings by parents at age 3 revealed three basic types of temperament: well adjusted, undercontrolled, and inhibited. •Eighteen years after the initial assessment, the individuals whose parents had classified them as “undercontrolled” (impulsive and prone to temper tantrums) at age 3, were impulsive and likely to engage in thrill-seeking behaviors, more likely to be aggressive and hostile, to have more relationship conflict, and to abuse alcohol. •At age 21, “inhibited” children were less likely to have social support and were more likely to avoid risk and harm, to be nonassertive and overcontrolled, and to suffer from prolonged depression. THE DEVELOPING ADOLESCENT •Adolescence is the transition period between childhood and adulthood, beginning at about age 11 or 12 and lasting until around age 18. Physical Development in Adolescence •Puberty is the period when sexual maturation begins, marking the beginning of adolescence. •During puberty, major hormonal changes prepare the body for reproduction. On average, girls reach puberty at about age 11 and boys at about age 13. •The beginning of puberty stems from the release of sex hormones. •First, the pituitary gland sends hormonal signals to the sex glands, telling them to mature. The sex glands, or gonads, then release sex hormones. •The male gonads are called testes. They release the male sex hormone testosterone, •The female gonads are the ovaries. They release estradiol. •In girls, breast development can start as early as age 10. The next major change is the onset of menstruation, known as menarche. The age of menarche is highly variable, but it often occurs by age 12. In most Western cultures, the age of menarche has dropped from about age 16 during the 1800s to 12 or 13 today. •In boys, the event that signals readiness to reproduce is spermarche, or the first ejaculation. Cognitive and Brain Development •During adolescence, children gain the ability to reason about abstract concepts and problems. This is the stage of cognitive development that Piaget termed the formal operational stage. •In this stage, teens may show the ability to engage in scientific reasoning and hypothesis testing. Adolescents and even adults do not all develop this reasoning ability to the same degree. •The extent to which people develop scientific reasoning skills is related to their ability to think and solve problems systematically, rather than relying on the trial-and-error method that children use. It is also related to the ability to distinguish one’s thoughts about how the world works from the evidence for how it really works. •Neuroscientists have only recently uncovered how changes in thinking correspond with changes in the adolescent brain. Indeed, many of the cognitive developments of adolescence, such as abstract reasoning and logical thinking, may be a consequence of brain development. •In particular, the last part of the brain to fully develop, the frontal lobes, continues to mature until late adolescence or early adulthood. •The frontal lobes are involved in planning, attention, working memory, abstract thought, and impulse control. It is not so much that the frontal lobes are growing in size as that they are growing in complexity. •Specifically, the adolescent brain develops more myelin around the axons as well as more neural connections. •Myelination proceeds from the back of the brain to the front, where the frontal lobes are, during the period from childhood to adolescence. •The onset of formal operational and scientific thinking occurs after the frontal lobes have developed more fully. •What effect does brain development have on intelligence? Researchers have known for decades that overall brain size is not correlated with overall intelligence. As it turns out, however, intelligence does seem to be associated with how the brain develops and, in particular, how the cortex develops. •At age 7 the highly intelligent children had thinner frontal cortexes, but by mid-adolescence their cortexes had become thicker than those of the children of average intelligence. Moreover, by age 19 the thickness of the cortex in the two groups was the same. These results suggest that the brains of highly intelligent people are more elastic and plastic and trace a different developmental path. Social Development in Adolescence •An important part of social development in adolescence is the search for identity. •Puberty brings profound changes not only in the body but also in relationships. Family becomes less central, and peer and sexual relationships become paramount. Having close, intimate friends during adolescence is associated with many positive social and emotional outcomes, such as self-confidence, better relationships with parents and authority figures, and better performance in school. •Compared to childhood, the most obvious change in adolescent social development is the emergence of sexual interest and sexual relationships. Teens not only become interested in sexual relationships, but sexual thoughts and feelings also occupy much of their attention and time. •The average age for first sexual intercourse for men and women is around 17 years old, although there is quite a bit of variability in when people start having sex. Personality Development in Adolescence •Erikson proposed a model of personality development with eight stages, each defined by an identity crisis or conflict. •An identity crisis is an opportunity for adaptive or maladaptive adjustment. Each stage consists of a conflict from which a person may develop a strength. •Identity versus identity confusion is the conflict during adolescence. Testing, experimenting, and trying on identities is the norm during adolescence. •For early adulthood, the period during one’s 20s, the conflict is between intimacy and isolation. Erikson defined intimacy as the ability to fuse one’s identity with another’s without the fear of losing it. THE DEVELOPING ADULT Early Adulthood Emerging Adulthood o The phase between adolescence and young adulthood emerging adulthood, which spans the ages 18–25 years. Emerging adulthood is a phase of transition between teenhood and adulthood. o The key changes during emerging adulthood center around coping, with increased responsibility and recognizing the need to make decisions about some of the things they have been exploring. o Numerous issues figure into identity formation. The primary three are: career identity, sexual identity, and ethnic identity. Young Adulthood o People enter young adulthood more by having made it through certain life transitions than by reaching a certain age, but usually this transition occurs in the 20s. Marriage: Over the past 50 years, the average age at which people marry has increased from the early 20s to mid to late 20s for both men and women, though women tend to marry a bit earlier overall. Parenthood: One clear marker of reaching adulthood is having a child, although about 15% of adults never have children and many people consider themselves to be adults before they become parents. The time at which people have their first child has increased steadily over the years, primarily due to the longer periods of settling down incurred by people during college years in industrialized nations. Personality may also play a role on whether and when people become parents. Early Adult Personality Development: Having a solid sense of self and identity is important for early adulthood— the period during one’s 20s. In this stage, Erikson believed the primary conflict is between intimacy and isolation. Erikson defined intimacy as the ability to fuse one’s identity with another’s without the fear of losing it. Middle Adulthood o After establishing one’s career and settling down in long-term relationships and, often, having children, one moves into middle adulthood—generally acknowledged to be the ages between 40 and 60 or 65. Sensory and Brain Development Many people experience some loss of vision or hearing or both by middle adulthood. The brain remains plastic. The rate of neurogenesis slows, but new neurons still form. Some people also experience a loss of sensitivity to taste and smell, though these changes vary considerably among individuals. As many as half the people over 65 demonstrate significant loss of smell. Personality Development During Middle Adulthood •The process of a person’s personality becoming whole and full is what Jung called individuation. •In adulthood, the stage that lasts from about 30 to 60 or 65 years of age, is what Erikson called generativity versus stagnation. •Generativity is the creation of new ideas, products, or people. •Stagnation is when the adult becomes more self-focused than oriented toward others and does not contribute in a productive way to society or family. •The scientific evidence for a midlife crisis is lacking. Late Adulthood o The older brain does not change as rapidly as the younger brain. Yet new experiences and mastery of new skills continue to give rise to neural branching and growth throughout life. o Fluid intelligence involves raw mental ability, pattern recognition, and abstract reasoning and is applied to a problem that a person has never confronted before. Problems that require finding relationships, understanding implications, and drawing conclusions all require fluid intelligence. o Knowledge that we have gained from experience and learning, education, and practice, however, is called crystallized intelligence. o One of the clearest developmental changes in adult intelligence is the gradual decline in fluid intelligence beginning in middle adulthood, but the strengthening of crystallized intelligence. o Normal changes in the brain occur with age. We used to think that the brain lost cells as part of normal aging. This appears to be an overstatement. Just as body mass gradually decreases with age, so too does brain mass. o One cognitive benefit of aging is wisdom. Wisdom is the ability to know what matters, live well, and show good judgment. o Dementia is a loss of cognitive functions, including memory problems and difficulty reasoning, solving problems, making decisions, and using language. Several neurological conditions, including stroke and Alzheimer’s disease, can lead to dementia in the elderly. o Alzheimer’s disease is a degenerative disease marked by progressive cognitive decline and characterized by a collection of symptoms, including confusion, memory loss, mood swings, and eventual loss of physical function. o Alzheimer’s accounts for 60–70% of the cases of dementia among the elderly. o Some evidence suggests that neurogenesis in the adult brain might offset or even prevent the kind of neural degeneration seen in Alzheimer’s and other age-related brain disorders. Personality Development in Late Adulthood • The final stage of Erikson's theory starts at age 60 or 65. • The conflict of this stage is between integrity and despair. Integrity is the feeling of being whole and integrated. It is the sense that all of one’s life decisions are coming together and make sense. Death and Dying •Death can be defined in medical terms, though the criteria have changed. Physicians used to pronounce people dead when vital signs, such as heart rate and breathing, ceased. Today, medical technology can keep a body alive when the brain is no longer functioning. Brain death occurs when no measurable electrical activity in the brain is evident, but life support equipment may maintain vital signs long after the brain has stopped functioning •In psychological terms, death is a complex event that marks the end of life. •Elizabeth Kübler-Ross (1969) detailed the stages people may move through after learning they are going to die. Initially they experience denial, a sense of utter disbelief that they are going to die. Next comes anger, in which the dying person feels the injustice of it all. At this stage, the dying person asks, “Why me?” In the bargaining stage, people start negotiating with God or whatever forces of nature they feel may control their fate to try to buy more time. Once the certainty of death sets in, depression may ensue. Finally, there is acceptance of death and the end of life. During this final stage people often come to terms with their own passing. BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER: MAKING CONNECTIONS IN DEVELOPMENT: TECHNOLOGY ACROSS THE LIFESPAN •Technology is a fact of life in the modern world. From the moment we’re born to the moment of our death, technology shapes who we are, how we behave, and with whom we interact. Computers, the Internet, video games, cell phones, iPods, social networking sites, and tablets like the iPad pervade daily life. Infancy and Toddlerhood Cognitive and Brain Development and Technology Television, because it is passive (the only action required to use it is viewing) is by far the most popular form of technology used in infancy. Although the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends children ages 0–2 watch no TV or videos at all, according to a recent survey, up to 20% of children ages 0 to 2 had TVs in their bedrooms and 63% had watched television on the day before the survey was completed by a parent (see Figure 5.31) (Vandewater et al., 2007). Only 4% of infants/toddlers had used a computer. Data show that early computer use can help and hinder cognitive development. There is some evidence that infants who learn to use the computer and do tasks other than play games are more likely to be able to read later on than children who use the computer just to play games. Childhood Cognitive and Brain Development and Technology It is true that children who watch the most TV tend to do slightly worse at school than children who watch little TV. One of the central findings on early TV viewing and learning is that what children watch matters more than how much they watch. If they watch educational programs, they tend to do better in school, and if they watch non-educational programs they tend to do worse. Certain kinds of video training may have positive effects on the brains of young children (e.g., mental rotation, video tracking). Not all effects, however, are positive. Heavy technology users tend to have problems paying attention and keeping focused. More than 10 hours a week of electronic media correlates with a lack of physical exercise and poor school performance. Social-Emotional Development and Technology Social networking is not very common in children, mostly because parents and most sites do not allow elementary school-age children to have accounts and are concerned about safety issues. Adolescence Cognitive and Brain Development and Technology Heavy multitaskers are less able to filter out irrelevant information and are more likely to get distracted while working on problem-solving tasks than light multitaskers. Social-Emotional Development and Technology Teens, more than most any other age group, use social networking sites to nourish and maintain existing friendships, but also to obtain new friends (see Figure 5.32). Teens are more likely to instant message, Twitter, and text message than any other age group. Emerging adults use almost as many networking sites as teens. Positive outcomes for social network use include: gaining self-esteem, increasing social circles, and lowering social anxiety. Negative outcomes for social network use include: potential sexual predators, bullying, and harassment. Cyberbulling has emerged as a serious pitfall of teen Internet use. Cyberbullying is the ‘‘willful and repeated harm inflicted through the medium of electronic text.’’ Cyberbullying can be more vicious and aggressive than offline bulling in many cases because of the anonymity of the hurtful language and insults. This enables more uninhibited insults, things someone would rarely say directly to a person’s face. Emerging and Early Adulthood Social-Emotional Development and Technology Young adults are in the midst of two major life transitions: forming long-term romantic relationships and deciding on and entering a career. Technology is becoming more crucial for both of these tasks. Traditional ways of meeting potential life partners have begun to change over the last generation or two. Middle Adulthood The literature on social networks in middle-aged adults clearly points to the positive effects of having both face-to-face and electronic networks. Late Adulthood Cognitive and Brain Development and Technology By age 65, many people notice some degree of cognitive decline, especially in memory and selective attention, planning, and cognitive control. Most of these processes are working memory and executive functioning processes and involve frontal lobe activity. Video gaming is not the only electronic activity that improves cognitive function in older adults. Internet searching can keep the brain nimble as well. Small and colleagues, for example, measured brain activation (using fMRI) during Internet searching and a text reading task. For experienced “searchers,” Internet searching activated more brain areas than simple reading, especially those involved in decision making and reasoning. KEY TERMS adolescence: the transition period between childhood and adulthood. Alzheimer’s disease: a degenerative disease marked by progressive cognitive decline and characterized by a collection of symptoms, including confusion, memory loss, mood swings, and eventual loss of physical function. animistic thinking: belief that inanimate objects are alive. attachment: the strong emotional connection that develops early in life between infants and their caregivers. concrete operational stage: Piaget’s third stage of cognitive development, which spans ages 6–11, during which the child can perform mental operations—such as reversing—on real objects or events. conservation: recognition that when some properties (such as shape) of an object change, other properties (such as volume) remain constant. conventional level: the second level in Kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning, during which the person values caring, trust, and relationships as well as the social order and lawfulness. crystallized intelligence: this form of intelligence is influenced by how large your vocabulary is as well as your knowledge of your culture. cyberbullying: the willful and repeated harm inflicted through the medium of electronic text. dementia: a loss of mental function, in which many cognitive processes are impaired, such as the ability to remember, reason, solve problems, make decisions, and use language. egocentrism: viewing the world from one’s own perspective and not being capable of seeing things from another person’s perspective. embryo: the term for the developing organism from 2 weeks until about 8 weeks after conception. embryonic stage: the second prenatal stage, from 2 weeks to 8 weeks after conception, when all of the major organs form. emerging adulthood: the transitional phase between adolescence and young adulthood; it includes ages 18–25 years. emotional competence: the ability to control emotions and know when it is appropriate to express certain emotions. fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD): a consequence of prenatal alcohol exposure that causes multiple problems, notably brain damage and mental retardation. fetal stage: the third prenatal stage, which begins with the formation of bone cells 8 weeks after conception and ends at birth. fluid intelligence: raw mental ability, pattern recognition, and abstract reasoning and is applied to a problem that a person has never confronted before. formal operational stage: Piaget’s final stage of cognitive development, from ages 11 or 12 on through adulthood, when formal logic is possible. generativity: a term Erik Erikson used to describe the process in adulthood of creating new ideas, products, or people. germinal stage: the first pre natal stage of development, which begins at conception and lasts two weeks. human development: the study of change and continuity in the individual across the life span. imprinting: the rapid and innate learning of the characteristics of a caregiver very soon after birth. individuation: the process of a person’s personality becoming whole and full. intimacy: the ability to fuse one’s identity with another’s without the fear of losing it. menarche: the first menstrual period. neural migration: the movement of neurons from one part of the fetal brain to their more permanent destination; occurs during months 3–5 of the fetal stage. object permanence: the ability to realize that objects still exist when they are not being sensed. preconventional level: the first level in Kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning, focusing on avoiding punishment or maximizing rewards. prenatal programming: the process by which events in the womb alter the development of physical and psychological health. preoperational stage: the second major stage of cognitive development (ages 2–5), which begins with the emergence of symbolic thought. postconventional level: the third level in Kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning, in which the person recognizes universal moral rules that may trump unjust or immoral local rules. pruning: the degradation of synapses and dying off of neurons that are not strengthened by experience. puberty: the period when sexual maturation begins; it marks the beginning of adolescence. securely attached: an attachment style characterized by infants who will gradually explore new situations when the caregiver leaves, and they initiate contact when the caregiver returns after separation. sensorimotor stage: Piaget’s first stage of cognitive development (ages 0–2), when infants learn about the world by using their senses and by moving their bodies. separation anxiety: the distress reaction shown by babies when they are separated from their primary caregiver (typically shown at around 9 months of age). social referencing: the ability to make use of social and emotional information from another person—especially a caregiver—in an uncertain situation. spermarche: the first ejaculation. stagnation: occurs when the adult becomes more self-focused than oriented toward others and does not contribute in a productive way to society or family. temperament: the biologically based tendency to behave in particular ways from very early in life. teratogens: substances that can disrupt normal prenatal development and cause lifelong deficits. theory of mind: ideas and knowledge about how other people’s minds work. young adulthood: usually happens by mid-20s, when people complete the key developmental tasks of emerging adulthood. zone of proximal development: the distance between what a child can learn alone and what the child can learn assisted by someone else, usually an adult. zygote: the single cell that results when a sperm fertilizes an egg. MAKING THE CONNECTIONS (Some of the connections are found in the text. Other connections may be useful for lecture or discussion.) Teratogens CONNECTION: Catching the flu virus while pregnant changes the way neurons grow in the developing fetus and increases vulnerability to schizophrenia later in life (Chapter 15). •Suggested Links: A straightforward, easy-to-read list of teratogens can be found at: http://www.neighborhoodlink.com/article/Homeowner/Teratogens. Remind students that the government’s list is far more comprehensive, as it includes chemicals one may come in contract with at a job. For example, if you are a dental assistant, nitrous oxide should not be used around you if you are pregnant. An overview of birth defects and teratogens can be found at the Merck Manual homepage: http://www.merckmanuals.com/home/sec23/ch265/ch265a.html •Discussion: You might want to ask how many people have a cat. Remind them that toxoplasmosis is from cat feces and thus pregnant women should not change the litter box. CONNECTION: Chronic stress creates a number of serious health problems, including a suppressed immune system, increased vulnerability to infection, and memory impairment (Chapter 12). •Suggested Link: The March of Dimes site is an excellent source of information on stress in pregnancy as well as the relationship between stress and PPD (postpartum depression) http://www.marchofdimes.com/pregnancy/lifechanges_indepth.html. Early Brain Development CONNECTION: Experience is crucial in the formation of synaptic connections and the growth of neurons (neurogenesis) in the brain throughout the life span. Pruning is nature’s way of making the brain more efficient (Chapter 3). •Discussion: This is a good time to discuss the concept of epigenetics. A great site on pruning is: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/plast.html. I typically show clips from the PBS series “The Secret Life of the Brain.” An overview of the series: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/teenbrain/work/adolescent.html and the video links: the link for the infant: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/brain/episode1/video.html, the child: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/brain/episode2/video.html, and the teenager: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/brain/episode3/video.html. Theory of Mind CONNECTION: Autism is marked by a lack of social interest as well as by heightened interest in some things and a tendency for counting things. How might autism be related to deficits in theory of mind? •Discussion: Have students watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDtjLSa50uk before coming to class. Ask them to write down 3 or 4 examples they have seen in their lives of theory of mind (or lack thereof) in children. Begin the discussion by asking them to provide examples and then discuss what it would be like without that knowledge in adulthood. Early Socioemotional Development CONNECTION: Attachment styles are stable throughout life and may set the blueprint for love relationships in adulthood (Chapter 14). •Discussion: Have students read: Hazan, C., and Shaver, P. (1987). Romantic love conceptualized as an attachment process. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52 (3), 511–524. This article is about the relationship between adult attachment and child attachment. Have students discuss in class if they think this adequately represents their attachment style. There is a clip with Mary Main discussing therapy and adult attachment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJTGbVc7EJY. Developing Social Relationships and Emotions CONNECTION: One way we learn is by imitating someone else’s behavior. This type of learning, seen also in infant mimicry, may be based on mirror neurons systems in the brain (Chapters 3 and 8). •Discussion: This is a great time to discuss social learning theory (Chapter 8). If you are not prepared to go into discussing Bandura’s work on media effects on aggressive behavior in depth, it still can be a useful example of modeling and imitation. Social Development in Adolescence CONNECTION: Can Internet gaming and alternative realities and personalities (avatars) be an addiction for some people? (Chapter 15) •Discussion: Have students take the Internet Addiction Test (IAT): http://www.netaddiction.com/resources/internet_addiction_test.htm. Ask them if they feel that people can really be addicted to the Internet. What about their phones? Although they may be in a younger cohort, point out that the underlying issue here may not be checking Facebook over email but checking over conversations in real life. Ask students about other people’s behaviors. How often are they on the phone or Internet while sitting with someone else? Emerging Adulthood CONNECTION: Make Your Own Connection: Observe ways that you experiment with different identities. Pay attention to situations in which you are presenting yourself to others, such as choosing what clothes to wear, or when you post on a social network site. Do you notice whether you present a consistent image or play with more than one image? •Discussion: A great time to discuss what a person’s page says about them. As many of your students will soon be going off to get jobs and apply for graduate programs, ask them how many of them have things on their page that their mother or boss would be less than thrilled to see. Should they remove that information? An interesting site that has a smattering of research on Facebook usage is: http://www.thefacebookproject.com/. Bringing It All Together: Making Connections in Development CONNECTION: Can we really multitask? How does talking on the cell phone or texting affect your attention to driving? As we explain in the chapter on consciousness, how you allocate your attention affects your ability to remember (Chapter 6). •Discussion: If you are interested in evolutionary psychology, this is a great time to bring up that bipedalisim and talking were most likely the two interrelated skills that allowed for multitasking. Walking upright allows us to do things with our hands and talking allows us to be walking, communicating, and doing one or two more things. That does not necessarily mean that you can drink coffee, text, eat, and drive all at the same time. INNOVATIVE INSTRUCTION 1. Gender and Moral Development: Gilligan argues that psychology has underestimated sex differences in development and thinking. Specifically, she argued that the traditional view of moral development (Kohlberg’s) was unfair to women. She argued for a “caring” vs. “justice” orientation as opposed to the Kohlberg's view. For more information, see http://www.stolaf.edu/people/huff/classes/handbook/Gilligan.html. 2. Piaget: This is a great time to discuss the educational implications of Piaget’s work. Remind students that Piaget felt that peers only offered a state of disequilibrium and that was the only benefit. You may want to tie in Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development as a counter-perspective to this. You can also point out to students that Piaget believed children cause their own development. Montessori based her educational work on this perspective. You can show a clip of Montessori and her work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7a3Br6kPbU 3. Harlow: Start by showing a clip of Harlow’s work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_O60TYAIgC4 4. Teratogens: Have students do a web search for different teratogens and bring a list to class. Then have students volunteer information they found. Some of this is obvious (FAS, smoking, crack, etc.); however, some of the things like lunch meat may lead to a lively discussion. 5. The Developing Infant and Child: The newborn human brain is especially responsive to the specific world around it, allowing nurture to shape human nature. You may want to stress the idea of epigenetics. This is also a good time to point out that Piaget’s theory is epigenetic in nature. That is, he believes that children are active and cause their own development as they interact with the world. Thus an impoverished environment (one with little chance for exploration with the baby stuck in a playpen or bounce seat all day) should lead to limited cognitive development. On the other hand, an environment that has many opportunities for exploration should lead to a more complex level of thought. You may want to have students discuss the ways to have a rich environment. 6. Human attachment is based on an affection-based bonding system that protects an infant from threats to survival. This is a great time to discuss the evolutionary adaptive value of imprinting and attachment. Here is a cute clip of ducks following a canoe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvtCpel96i4&feature=related. You may want to tie this in to how infant attachment most likely operates on a similar level. You could also relate this to Harlow and his monkeys showing autistic behaviors when left in isolation. 7. Extend your lecture on parenting to include helicopter parents and tiger moms. Ask students what these labels mean to them. Have they had any experiences surrounding helicopter parents and tiger moms? Ask them to describe those experiences. 8. Download the Kohlberg dilemmas from: http://www.haverford.edu/psych/ddavis/p109g/kohlberg.dilemmas.html. Place students in small 4- or 5-person groups and pass out different dilemmas to each group. Give students 20 minutes to read the scenario and fill out the questions according to each of the three levels of thinking. Then have each group provide a brief 5-minute synopsis to the class of their dilemma and how each level would respond. 9. Have students ask their parents what they were like as an infant and child and write two paragraphs: one reporting what their parents said and the second on how it maps onto the way they are today. That is, in their case was personality stable over time? 10. Have students look at http://www.psych.uiuc.edu/~rcfraley/attachment.htm, which has a great overview of how infant attachment correlates with adult attachment styles. Then have them go to http://www.web-research-design.net/cgi-bin/crq/crq.pl to take a quick survey on adult attachment style (it even plots where they are on the graph). Then have them write a paragraph summarizing infant attachment styles, a paragraph on adult attachment styles, and finally a paragraph on if they feel this assumption of adult effects is correct, based on their score. 11. This is a nice tie-in with the “Psychology in the Real World” section of the text. Have students read “Music Lessons Enhance IQ”: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/09/060920093024.htm and write a brief 2-paragraph summary of the research described on the relationship between music and intelligence. 12. Have students complete the worksheet on Piaget’s stages at: http://psychology.about.com/library/quiz/bl_piaget_quiz.htm. Review with students that these stages are integral to Piaget’s work. You may also want to point out that Piaget’s stages revolve around being able to think a certain way, not necessarily the age itself. That said, Piaget firmly believed that chronological years were important, because that should dictate the amount of experience. 13. Observe ways that you experiment with different identities. Pay attention to situations in which you are presenting yourself to others, such as choosing what clothes to wear, or when you post on a social network site. Do you notice whether you present a consistent image or play with more than one image? 14. Musicians have better communication between the two sides of the brain than do people who have not had musical training. This finding suggests that the skills of music training enhance connectivity—in white matter—between the hemispheres. You may want to have students read: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/26388.php and then a BBC article on a disorder that strikes musicians to a greater extent than nonmusicians at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3490158.stm. Ask students what they think about these lines of research that show both advantages and disadvantages of musical training. Discuss what they think the reasons for these results are. Ask students how many of them took music lessons and for how long. Do they think they have advantages because of it? 15. Ask students to reflect on parenting. Ask them to describe three advantages of being a parent and three disadvantages of being a parent. Furthermore, ask them to describe three mistakes parents make when disciplining their children. 16. Ask students to describe themselves at age 75. What will they be like physically, cognitively, socially, and emotionally? How do they feel about aging? Have students share their answers. Look for similarities, differences, and myths about aging in students' answers. Suggested Media 1. An interview with David Elkind discussing Piaget: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_EkfWS2Wks 2. A brief clip on Vygotsky’s theory: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p_-0n2f35o 3. A brief overview of Mary Ainsworth and attachment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HHTohtXEq8 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZdlLS2eTPU and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HG05AIlH6Y 4. The strange situation task: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTsewNrHUHU 5. Erik Erikson’s work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpOtpuBnjbo 6. Montessori's work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZLq5Uttq8M 7. Bandura’s Bobo Doll Study: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqNaLerMNOE 8. Cute clip of a conservation task: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtLEWVu815o 9. NOVA clips on life’s greatest miracle: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/miracle/program.html 10. Martin Seligman on positive psychology: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/martin_seligman_on_the_state_of_psychology.html 11. The Forgetting: A Portrait of Alzheimer’s (Warner Home Video—PBS special) 12. The Baby Human: Geniuses in Diapers (Discovery Health) 13. Discovering Psychology—The Developing Child (Annenberg) 14. Gender Identity and Gender Roles http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VqsbvG40Ww (Children describe their identity and roles) 15. Law of Conservation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B65EJ6gMmA4 16. Egocentrism: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OinqFgsIbh0 17. Thirteen can be used for adolescent development. 18. About Schmidt can be used for issues facing older adults. 19. Teenage Brains and Risk Taking (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.) 20 Alzheimer's Disease (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.) 21. Widows Enjoy Life (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.) 20. Giraffe in Quicksand (humorous look at the stages of grief) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_Z3lmidmrY Suggested Websites 1. The student page is great as a resource of Piaget’s work: http://www.piaget.org/ 2. Educational implications of Piaget’s theory: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VD4-40V4CM7-8&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=9b8ba4e000130888c49d5efa3c628b7f 3. A great site on cognitive development: http://cogweb.ucla.edu/ 4. Piaget’s website: http://www.piaget.org/ 5. An overview of Piaget’s theory: http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/cognition/piaget.html 6. An overview of Erikson’s theory: http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/affsys/erikson.html 7. An overview of Kohlberg’s stages: http://psychology.about.com/od/developmentalpsychology/a/kohlberg.htm 8. An overview of Harlow’s work: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/bhharl.html 9. Are you a super ager? https://www.livingto100.com/ 10. A quiz on Piaget’s stages: http://psychology.about.com/library/quiz/bl_piaget_quiz.htm 11. Some great psychology tests and quizzes, including excerpts from the Hazan and Shaver adult attachment inventory: http://psychology.about.com/lr/psychology_quizzes/2370/3/ 12. Another Kohlberg page: http://www.vtaide.com/blessing/Kohlberg.htm 13. A great Piaget page: http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/piaget.htm 14. A great overview of developmental theories: http://tigger.uic.edu/~lnucci/MoralEd/overview.html 15. Fetal Development http://www.w-cpc.org/fetal.html 16. The Child Development Institute http://childdevelopmentinfo.com/ Suggested Readings Ainsworth, M., Blehar, M. C., Waters, M., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of attachment: A psychological study of the strange situation. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Beilen, H. (1992). Piaget’s enduring contribution to developmental psychology. Developmental Psychology, 28, 191–204. Bruner, J. (1966). Studies in cognitive growth: A collaboration at the Center for Cognitive Studies. New York: Wiley & Sons. Buss, D. (2011). Evolutionary psychology: The new science of the mind. Pearson. Elkind, D. (1988). The hurried child: Growing up too fast too soon. New York: Addison-Wesley. Erikson, E. (1950). Childhood and society. New York: Norton. Galvan, A. (2013). The teenage brain: Sensitivity to rewards. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 22, 88–93. Gilligan, C. (1982). In a different voice: Psychological theory and women's development. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Gopnik, A. (2010). The philosophical baby: What children's minds tell us about truth, love, and the meaning of life. Picador. Legerstee, M., Haley, D. W., & Bornstein, M. H. (2013). The infant mind: Origins of the social brain. Guilford Press. Pearce, N. (2011). Inside Alzheimer’s. New York: APG Sales. Piaget, J. (1990). The child’s conception of the world. New York: Littlefield Adams. Piaget, J. (1965). The moral judgment of the child. The Free Press: New York. Power, F. C., Higgins, A., & Kohlberg, L. (1989). Lawrence Kohlberg's approach to moral education. New York: Columbia University Press. Shwalb, D. W., Shwalb, B. J., & Lamb, M. E. (2013). Fathers in cultural context. New York: Routledge. Vygotsky, L. (1986). Thought and language. Boston: MIT Press. Chapter 6: Consciousness BRIEF CHAPTER OUTLINE What Is Consciousness? Two Dimensions of Consciousness: Wakefulness and Awareness Minimal Consciousness Moderate Consciousness Full Consciousness Attention: Focusing Consciousness Selective Attention Sustained Attention Multi-Tasking: The Implications of Shifting Attention Psychology in the Real World: Hazards of Using a Mobile Device or Texting While Driving Training Consciousness: Meditation Meditation and Conscious Experience Mediation Training and the Brain Sleeping and Dreaming Sleeping Sleep and Circadian Rhythms The Sleeping Brain The Development of Sleep Over the Life Span The Function of Sleep Sleep Deprivation and Sleep Debt Disorders of Sleep Dreaming Psychoanalytic Theory Biological Theory Cognitive Theory Combined Theories Hypnosis Altering Consciousness with Drugs Depressants Alcohol Sedatives Opioids Stimulants Caffeine Nicotine Cocaine Amphetamines Ecstasy Hallucinogens Marijuana LSD Psilocybin Bringing It All Together: Making Connections in Consciousness: Brain Injury Revisited Chapter Review EXTENDED CHAPTER OUTLINE WHAT IS CONSCIOUSNESS? •Consciousness is an awareness of one’s surroundings and thoughts. •It is our experience of a moment as we move through it but it also involves the capacity to take in and process information briefly before sending it to specialized areas for further use or storage. •Baumeister and his colleagues (2010, 2011) argue that consciousness is required for any mental processes that involve imagining situations, working with sequences of information, such as counting, speaking and understanding languages, logical reasoning, and helping people share experiences. TWO DIMENSIONS OF CONSCIOUSNESS: WAKEFULNESS AND AWARENESS o Wakefulness refers the degree of alertness, resulting from whether a person is awake or asleep. o Awareness refers to the monitoring of information from the environment and from one’s own thoughts. •Variations in consciousness can be explained in terms of degrees of wakefulness and awareness. Minimal Consciousness •Minimal consciousness refers to states when people are barely awake or aware. •A person in a coma has his/her eyes closed and is unresponsive. o Degrees of coma are measured with the Glasgow Coma Scale. •A person in a vegetative state might have his/her eyes open but he/she is otherwise unresponsive. It can be thought of as “wakefulness without awareness.” o In one study, researchers asked a young woman in a vegetative state to imagine a few things. Her brain showed activation in the same areas as did the brains of people who were conscious and asked to imagine the same things. •Those in a minimally conscious state are largely unresponsive but have begun to show some deliberate movements. Moderate Consciousness •Freud used the term preconscious to refer to information that is potentially accessible but is not currently in awareness. o The tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon is the feeling that you know something (like the movie you saw a particular actress in) but you can’t quite put your finger on it. It is a good example of precociousness. o Another term for this stage is moderate consciousness. •Sleep and dreaming are moderately conscious states in which one can be roused by important sounds but can ignore others. Most sensations of the outer world are still not perceived. Full Consciousness •We experience fluctuations in consciousness even when we are fully awake. •A flow state occurs when we get so involved in what we are doing that we lose a sense of time and where we are. •Mindfulness is a heightened awareness of the present moment, which can be applied to events in one’s environment and events in one’s own mind. o People vary considerably in how mindful they are naturally but there are also skills one can acquire to increase their mindfulness. ATTENTION: FOCUSING CONSCIOUSNESS •Attention is the limited capacity to process information that is under conscious control. Selective Attention o Selective attention is the ability to focus awareness on specific features in the environment while ignoring others. o In a dichotic listening task a participant received one message in one ear and another message in the other ear. The participant was told to pay attention to just one ear (the attended ear). Recall is generally better for the attended ear. o If the material presented to the unattended ear is meaningful in some way, it can make its way into consciousness. •For example, the cocktail party effect is the ability to filter out auditory stimuli and then to refocus attention when you hear your name. o Selective attention creates gaps in attention and perception because we focus so much on certain things that we are blind to other things. •For example, researchers showed people a video of two basketball teams with one team dressed in white T-shirts and the other in black shirts. They asked participants simply to count the number of times the players on the team wearing white T-shirts passed the ball. About half the participants were dumbfounded to learn afterward that they completely missed seeing a person dressed in a gorilla suit walk into the game, pause for a second to beat his chest, and then walk off screen. •This phenomenon by which we fail to notice unexpected objects in our surroundings is referred to as inattentional blindness. o The perceptual load model states that we do not notice potential distracters when a primary task consumes all of our attentional capacity. When a primary task is minimally demanding, however, distracters can capture our awareness. o Conscious attention occurs when neurons from many distinct brain regions work together. This process is called synchronization. Sustained Attention o Sustained attention is the ability to maintain focused awareness on a target. o Sustained attention has been studied using the Continuous Performance Test (CPT). Participants are asked to detect one letter among other letters shown very rapidly, one by one on a computer screen. Most people cannot perform well on CPT tasks for more than about 15 minutes, and their accuracy in detecting targets declines considerably after 5 to 7 minutes. MultiTasking: The Implications of Shifting Attention o Multitasking involves fast switching between activities, wherein one’s attention gets broken up. o You do not stay with one task for a long period of time so there is less sustained attention. o You lose the most time when you switch to more complex tasks. o Multitasking compromises learning. o Threaded cognitive theory explains limitations on concurrent multitasking. According to this theory we can be involved in more than one task at a time, but a particular resource can only be used by one task at a time. Psychology in the Real World: Hazards of Using a Mobile Device or Texting While Driving •People generally acknowledge the potential hazards of cell phone use while driving, yet the practice is widespread. •In the view of psychologists, phone conversations while driving are distracting, even when the hands are free. With such distraction, performance declines and safety is compromised. •Strayer and Drews (2007) did several experiments with people in a driving simulator. Some of the participants wore a hands-free headset and engaged in a conversation while doing a driving task; the others had no cell phone and simply drove. o In the first study, several objects were inserted into the driving scene that drivers were not told they’d need to attend to. Later, they tested them on recognition of these objects. People talking on cell a phone saw half as many objects as those not on the phone. •An fMRI study of people driving in a simulator showed that activity in the parietal lobe decreased when people listened to sentences while driving, whereas activity in areas associated with language processing increased. Their driving was also worse. •Texting leads to slower reaction times than eating or using the phone. •The bottom line is that research shows texting or using the phone is dangerous and, at times, fatal. TRAINING CONSCIOUSNESS: MEDITATION •Meditation refers to a wide variety of practices that people use to calm the mind, stabilize concentration, focus attention, and enhance awareness of the present moment. •Concentration meditation involves sitting still for long periods of time, staying relaxed yet alert, and focusing their attention on the breath moving in and out of one’s mouth and nose. •CONNECTIONS: Every time you make a memory or learn something new, you change your brain by strengthening synaptic connections or growing new neurons (Chapter 8). Meditation and Conscious Experience •Mindfulness is a fully conscious state of heightened awareness of the present moment. •Mindfulness meditation training encourages attention to the details of momentary experience (e.g., thoughts, feelings, and sensations available at present). •Mindfulness appears to enhance well-being, decrease depression, and improve physical health. •Because meditation enhances awareness of the present moment, it also improves attention. •MacLean et al. (2010) found that concentration meditation makes people perceive visual objects—lines at least—with greater sensitivity, and helps them attend to such objects longer (which is an increase in sustained attention). These effects are akin to having sharper vision for a longer period of time. Meditation Training and the Brain •Meditation training has been shown to significantly increase activity in the left frontal cortex; an area associated with positive emotions. •Meditation practice may alter the physical structure of the brain. •Researchers used an MRI to measure the thickness of various regions of the cortex in experienced practitioners of insight meditation. They found that meditators’ brains were thicker than the comparison group’s in cortical areas associated with attention, sensitivity to bodily sensations, and the processing of external sensory information. The amount of meditation experience was positively correlated with cortical thickness in some of these areas. •CONNECTION: What aspects of experimental designs allow for conclusions about cause and effect (Chapter 3)? SLEEPING AND DREAMING Sleeping •The sleeping brain is very active, but it is only partially processing information from the outside world. •The two essential features of sleep are 1) that there is a perceptual “wall” between the outside world and the conscious mind; and 2) the “wall” can immediately come down. That is, the mind filters out important information (e.g., an alarm clock) from relatively less important information (e.g., a roommate’s phone conversation). Sleep and Circadian Rhythms •Circadian rhythms are the variations in physiological processes that cycle within an approximately 24-hour period. •Three different bodily activities each fluctuate on a circadian cycle: body temperature, the hormone melatonin, and alertness. •The suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) is a part of the hypothalamus that acts as the brain’s clock. When the retina in the eye senses light in the morning, it stimulates the SCN, which in turn signals the nearby pineal gland to decrease the amount of melatonin (a hormone important in relaxation and drowsiness) it releases. In the evening, the SCN neurons become less active, allowing the secretion of melatonin, which increases relaxation. Sleep and the Brain •The brain is very active during sleep and each state of wakefulness, and sleep has its own pattern of brain activity. When awake, brain activity shows beta waves, rapid but low-energy waves. When we are relaxed and drowsy our brain activity switches to alpha waves, which are slower and slightly higher energy waves. •The second major form of sleep is called non-REM, which has relatively few eye movements, and those that occur are slow rather than fast. Rapid eye movements (REMs) are the quick movements of the eye that occur during sleep, thought to mark phases of dreaming. •There are four stages of non-REM sleep: Stage 1: Brain waves change to theta waves, slower and lower energy than alpha waves. This is when we first fall asleep. It is a light sleep and not much stimulation is needed to awaken us. Stage 2: Starts about 5 to 7 minutes after entering Stage 1. There are two unique markers of Stage 2: 1) theta waves now show short periods of extremely fast and somewhat higher energy wave activity called sleep spindles; and 2) there are sudden high energy waves called K-complexes. Stage 3: This stage starts with theta waves with some higher-energy delta waves. As this stage progresses, there are more delta waves and fewer sleep spindles and K-complexes. Stage 4: Occurs when sleep spindles and K-complexes disappear completely. This is the deepest stage of sleep. •Shortly after entering Stage 4 sleep, sleep spindles and K-complexes of Stage 3 return, followed by the theta waves of Stages 2 and 1. •After returning to Stage 1, the eyes begin to move rapidly underneath the eyelids, indicating the entry into REM. The night’s first episode of REM sleep lasts for 8–10 minutes before the process begins again. With each progressive cycle, the non-REM periods are shorter and the REM periods are longer. In sum, each night adults move through about 4 to 6 different cycles of non-REM and REM sleep. Each cycle lasts roughly 90 minutes. •Full-blown dreams are less common during non-REM than REM sleep, but they do occur regularly during non-REM stages. The dreams are different, though, in that they are less detailed, less active, and are more like regular thinking. The Development of Sleep Over the Life Span •Newborns spend more time in REM sleep than in non-REM sleep. In humans, REM sleep declines rapidly over the life span. The percentage of total sleep that is REM stays close to 50% for the first three months of life. By 8 months it falls to 33%. By age 1 it drops to about 28%. The Function of Sleep •Sleep supports several restorative processes in the CNS: neural growth, metabolic cleanup in the brain, memory consolidation, and protection against cellular damage. Sleep deprivation inhibits the growth of new neurons. Sleep helps us learn and remember things. Task learning is replayed in the brain during sleep, and then this brain practice helps performance the next day. Sleep appears to fight cell damage. Sleep aids cell function by triggering the production of enzymes that fight cell damage and slows the metabolism itself thereby slowing the rate of cellular damage. Sleep Deprivation and Sleep Debt •Forty percent of U.S. adults are sleep-deprived. •According to the National Sleep Foundation the typical adult gets about 6 hours and 40 minutes of sleep on week days and 7 hours and 25 minutes on weekends. •Sleep debt refers to how much sleep our brains owe our bodies. If you get 2 hours less sleep one night, then you owe your body 2 hours of additional sleep the next night (or within a few days). If it is not paid back in sleep then it is paid back in daytime drowsiness, use of stimulants such as caffeine and nicotine, lack of focused attention, and impaired learning and memory. •Sleep debt also affects mental health. Disorders of Sleep •About 20% of people in the United States suffer from sleep disorders. •Insomnia is taking more than 20 minutes to fall asleep, having trouble staying asleep, and/or not feeling rested after a night’s sleep for two or more consecutive weeks. About 15 to 20% of U.S. adults suffer from insomnia. Possible causes of insomnia include restless leg syndrome, erratic hours, medical conditions, iron deficiency, psychiatric disorders such as depression, and excessive use of alcohol. Drug treatments for insomnia, such as Ambien, work by increasing the effects of GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid), the neurotransmitter that decreases central nervous system activity. Several non-drug methods also exist for insomnia including: meditation and CBT. •Sleepwalking occurs when a person gets out of bed during sleep, usually during the first third of the sleep cycle, and engages in activities that normally occur during wakefulness. People who sleepwalk are difficult to rouse and do not remember having been up after waking in the morning. Because sleepwalking occurs during non-REM sleep, the sleepwalker is not likely to be acting out a dream. •Narcolepsy is excessive daytime sleepiness. People with this disorder fall asleep at inopportune times throughout the day with little or no warning. They may experience a weakness of facial muscles and muscles in limbs called capaplexy. It can be function of insomnia and has a genetic bias. It is often treated with amphetamines and antidepressants. •Hypersomnia exists when a person sleeps more than 10 hours a day for two weeks or more. It involves strong urges to nap throughout the day, often in inappropriate times like during meals or in the middle of conversations. It can be caused by other sleep disorders, brain injury, or depression. •Night terrors occurs when a person walks around, speaks incoherently, and ultimately awakens, terrified from sleep. Night terrors often occur in children. Episodes typically last 10–20 minutes. These do not occur during REM. These are not nightmares (frightening or distressing dreams). Dreaming •Dreams are the succession of images, thoughts, and feelings we experience while asleep. The succession of images is loosely connected by unusual associations and not well recalled afterward. •Most people dream numerous times each night. Psychoanalytic Theory •Freud argued that impulses, thoughts, feelings, and drives that threaten the waking mind are released in distorted and disguised form by the sleeping mind. •Dreams operate on two distinct levels of consciousness: The first is the manifest level. This is the dream that is consciously recalled after waking up. The second is the latent level. This is the deeper, unconscious level, where the true meaning of a dream lies. Biological Theory •AIM theory (Activation, Input, and Mode) is one of the most popular biological theories for dreaming. Activation is the dimension that involves the amount of neural activation and ranges from low to high activation. Input is the extent to which stimulation is internal or external. It ranges from the inside to the outside world. Mode consists of a dimension that ranges from logical (wakeful) to loose-illogical (dreaming) states. Cognitive Theory •Dreams are not that different from everyday thinking. •Some can reflect on and evaluate their experiences while dreaming. •Non-REM dreaming is closer to waking thought than REM sleep dreaming. Combined Theories o Recent theories promote an integration of cognitive and biological aspects of dreams. o Dreams may consolidate long-term memories. o Cortisol levels change throughout sleep and are involved in strengthening neural connects to consolidate memory. HYPNOSIS •Hypnosis is a state of mind that occurs in compliance with instructions and is characterized by focused attention, suggestibility, absorption, lack of voluntary control over behavior, and suspension of critical faculties of mind. •People vary considerably in the degree to which they can be hypnotized, largely because we are not equally suggestible. •Clinical hypnosis should not be confused with stage techniques. •Numerous studies support the effectiveness of hypnosis for pain relief during childbirth, dental procedures, wart removal, and surgery. •Hypnosis may help treat smoking, nausea, and vomiting related to chemotherapy, and anxiety associated with certain medical procedures. •How hypnosis works: •Some consider hypnosis to be a state in which one part of the brain operates independently. •Some think hypnotized people behave the way they think a hypnotized person would behave. Basically people are role-playing. •Neuroscientific research suggests hypnosis is a real brain activity and not imitation. ALTERNG CONSCIOUSNESS WITH DRUGS •Psychoactive drugs are naturally occurring or synthesized substances that reliably produce qualitative changes in conscious experience. •Psychoactive drug use is universal among humans. Drugs are used to aid in spiritual practice, to improve health, to explore the self, to regulate mood, to escape boredom and despair, to enhance sensory experience, to stimulate artistic creativity and performance, and to promote social interaction. •Problems arise when people develop a physical dependence on the drug to maintain normal function and to cope with the challenges of daily life. •Withdrawal symptoms are the adverse effects people experience if they stop using it. •Psychological dependence occurs when people compulsively use a substance for various reasons, such as to alleviate boredom, to regulate mood, or to cope with the challenges of everyday life. •Addiction results from sustained use and physical or psychological dependence on a substance. Depressants •Depressants decrease or slow down central nervous system activity. •In low doses, these drugs generally calm the body and mind. •In high doses, they can slow down heart rate and brain activity to dangerously low levels. Alcohol •Alcohol is the most widely used depressant. •The amount of alcohol in the bloodstream is the common measure of inebriation known as Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC). BAC is measured in milligrams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood (milligrams %), so a BAC of .10 means that one-tenth of 1%, or 1/1000th of one’s blood content, is alcohol (0.08 BAC is currently the legal limit for driving in all states in the United States). •The more alcohol a person consumes, the more obvious the depressant effects become, sometimes leading to blackouts. Alcohol has “stimulating” effects at first (you feel loose and relaxed) because alcohol suppresses the higher social regulatory functions of the cerebral cortex, thereby lowering inhibitions. Over time, heavy drinking (more than 5 drinks per day) leads to fat accumulation and blocked blood flow in the liver. Chronic alcoholism is one of the most common causes of cirrhosis, the accumulation of nonfunctional scar tissue in the liver. •Binge drinking is usually defined as at least 5 drinks in a row for men and 4 for women. About 40% of college students binge drink. CONNECTIONS: The brain continues to develop throughout adolescence, which makes it quite vulnerable to the effects of drugs and alcohol (Chapter 5). •Mild to moderate alcohol intake (no more than 2 drinks a day) provides protective effects for cardiovascular health. Sedatives •Sedatives (such as barbituates and benzodiazepines) create a feeling of stupor similar to that of alcohol intoxication. They slow the heart rate, relax skeletal muscles, and tranquilize the mind. •Examples of sedatives include: barbiturates (secobarbital [Seconal], pentobarbital [Nembutal], diazepam [Valium], and chlordiazepoxide [Librium]). Opioids •Opioids, also called narcotics, are all drugs derived from opium or chemicals similar to opium. •Such drugs may be derived from natural sources (e.g., morphine), partially synthetic (e.g., heroin), or entirely synthetic (e.g., codeine). Modern synthetic opioids include oxycodone (Percoset or Percodan), which is prescribed for moderate to severe pain, and hydrocodone (Vicodin), which is prescribed for milder pain. •Opioids depress central nervous system activity, slowing heart rate, respiration, digestion, and suppressing the cough center. •Opioids have been used for centuries as pain relievers because they make use of the body’s own naturally occurring opioid systems. Endorphins are opioid-like proteins that bind to opioid receptors in the brain and act as natural painkillers. •Stronger opioids (e.g., opium, morphine, and heroin) produce feelings of overwhelming bliss, euphoria, and bodily relaxation. This is why opioids have a high potential for abuse. Stimulants •Stimulants activate the nervous system. Caffeine •Coffee, tea, cocoa, energy drinks, and certain other soft drinks have caffeine. In fact, it is the world’s most commonly consumed psychoactive drug. •The effects of mild to moderate caffeine intake are increased alertness, increased heart rate, loss of motor coordination, insomnia, and nervousness. •Too much caffeine can make people jittery and anxious. •If regular caffeine users stop consuming caffeine, they can experience significant withdrawal symptoms, the most common of which is a headache. Other withdrawal symptoms are fatigue and decreased energy, depressed mood, and difficulty concentrating. Nicotine •Nicotine is the active drug in tobacco. •Smoking tobacco puts nicotine in the bloodstream immediately, and within 8 seconds of inhalation it reaches the brain. •Nicotine increases heart rate and rate of respiration and it creates a feeling of arousal, although many users report that cigarettes calm them down. •Over time, the cardiovascular arousal associated with nicotine use increases the risk of high blood pressure and heart disease. •Nicotine is extremely addictive. It creates high tolerance, physical dependence, and unpleasant withdrawal symptoms. In fact, it is harder to kick a nicotine addiction than a heroin addiction. •There are many known health risks of smoking: it reduces life expectancy on average by 10 years, increases the risk for lung cancer more than tenfold, and triples the risk of death from heart disease in both men and women. It is also linked to leukemia, cataracts, pneumonia, and cancers of the cervix, kidney, pancreas, and stomach. •Tobacco smoke contains many cancer-causing agents that trigger severe damage to DNA and can inhibit DNA repair in lung cells. •Tobacco smoke also contains carbon monoxide, a toxic substance that displaces oxygen in the bloodstream, so tissues get less oxygen than they need. Carbon monoxide from smoking also makes people look older than they are. Cocaine •South American Indians chew coca leaves for their stimulant and digestion-aiding properties, and the most notable component in the coca plant is cocaine. •When snorted, cocaine increases heart rate and produces a short-lived, but intense, rush of euphoria. It also can lead to a sense of invulnerability and power. •Physiologically, cocaine induces a sense of exhilaration by increasing the availability of the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin. •The high cocaine brings on is very short, which explains why people abuse it. •If someone is free-basing, he or she is injecting cocaine. •Crack is a form of cocaine that is sold on the streets in pellets. •Cocaine increases heart rate and causes irregular heartbeat, increases risk of heart attack, and, occasionally, leads to death. Amphetamines •Amphetamines are synthetically produced compounds that produce long-lasting excitation of the sympathetic nervous system. •Three main forms (all of which are pills) include: methamphetamine (Meth), dextroamphetamine (Dexedrine), and amphetamine sulphate (Benzedrine or “speed”). •Most people who abuse amphetamines get them from health care providers. They are prescribed as appetite suppressants and treat symptoms of ADHD. •Amphetamines cause increased heart rate, increased motivation, and excited mood. Short-term effects may include insomnia, stomach distress, headaches, decreased libido, and difficulty concentrating. Long-term use can lead to severe depression, paranoia, loss of control over one’s behavior, and, in some cases, amphetamine psychosis, a condition marked by hallucinations. •Symptoms of withdrawal from chronic amphetamine use include fatigue, anxiety and depression, hunger, overeating, and disordered thought and behavior. Ecstasy •The psychoactive drug MDMA, also known as ecstasy, is both a stimulant and mild hallucinogen. It is chemically similar to methamphetamines and the active ingredient in hallucinogenic mushrooms. •It is sometimes called “the love drug” because it produces feelings of euphoria, warmth, and connectedness with others. •The dangers of MDMA include increased risk of depression with repeated use, slower processing times on cognitive tasks, and greater impulsivity. •Long-term effects include persistent mental deficits, low mood, and serotonin deficiencies in certain areas of the brain. •CONNECTIONS: Our moods are tightly linked to transmitter systems in the brain. Dopamine is released when we feel good, and serotonin affects how sociable and affectionate we feel (Chapter 3). Hallucinogens •Hallucinogens create distorted perceptions of reality, ranging from mild to extreme. They can also alter thought and mood. Marijuana •Marijuana comes from the blossoms and leaves of the Cannabis sativa plant. The active ingredient in cannabis is tetrahydrocannibinol (THC). •Marijuana alters mood to create euphoria and changes perception, especially one’s perception of time and food. Hallucinations are rare but are more common when it is eaten. •Marijuana is not addictive but, with habitual use, people do develop cravings. People can become psychologically dependent on marijuana, too. •Regular marijuana smoking increases the likelihood of a variety of respiratory illnesses, can cause immune system impairment, and appears to lead to memory problems. •Regular marijuana use is common in adolescents who later develop schizophrenia. •Marijuana and endocannabinoids (marijuana-like chemicals produced in our bodies) offer promises for medical treatments for physical and psychological problems. For example, marijuana is has been used to treat nausea for those suffering from chemotherapy-related nausea or the involuntary weight loss accompanying AIDS. •Marijuana and its derivatives can also be helpful in treating pain. •Some states have legalized the use of medical marijuana. LSD: Lysergic Acid Diethylamide-25 •LSD (or “acid”) is a synthesized form of lysergic acid which is derived from ergot (grain fungus). •Ingesting LSD causes dramatic changes in conscious experience, including altered visual perceptions, enhanced color perception, hallucinations, and synesthesia (“seeing” sounds or “hearing” visual images). •LSD increases the levels of dopamine and serotonin. Serotonin activity, in turn, increases the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate. •Side effects include increased body temperature, increased blood pressure, insomnia, and psychosis-like symptoms in some people. For some people LSD use leads to bad trips (panic and negative experiences). For other people, however, it can have an opposite effect and lead to very profound, life-altering experiences. Psilocybin o Psilocybin is the active ingredient in hallucinogenic mushrooms. o Trips from psilocybin can lead to profound spiritual experiences, even in studies where people were “blind” to what they were taking. o These insights seem to be stable (enduring 14 months after exposure). BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER: MAKING CONNECTIONS IN CONSCIOUSNESS: BRAIN INJURY REVISITED •People with damage to lower brain regions that control the basic bodily functions, such as sleep-wake cycles, are less likely to regain consciousness than are people who sustain damage to the cerebral cortex. •Distractibility is a common problem for people with brain injury. o Research shows that people with brain damage, especially to the frontal lobes, have trouble blocking out extraneous information and use selective attention to stay on task. o Some studies show that such individuals perform poorly on the Stroop test but this may be due to the increased time it takes people with traumatic brain injury to process information overall. o Research confirms that people with traumatic brain injury have deficits in sustained attention. •Sleeping and dreaming change with brain injury as well. o How people sleep while comatose or vegetative may be an important predictor of their recovery. Those in a coma whose EEG patterns during sleep are organized have less disability later and a greater likelihood of survival than those whose brain patterns are less organized while sleeping. People with damage to the association cortex and the limbic system and areas around it or the links between these areas show the greatest dreaming deficits and, in some cases, a total absence of dreaming. Last, drug use and abuse can occur in people who are coping with the challenges of a brain injury due to resulting feelings of depression and anxiety. KEY TERMS addiction: a condition that results from habitual use or physical and psychological dependence on a substance. AIM: three biologically based dimensions of consciousness: Activation, Input, and Mode. alpha waves: pattern of brain activity when one is relaxed and drowsy; slower, higher-energy waves than beta waves. attention: the limited capacity to process information that is under conscious control. awareness: aspect of consciousness that is the monitoring of information from the environment and from one’s own thoughts. beta waves: pattern of brain activity when one is awake; a rapid, low-energy wave. circadian rhythms: the variations in physiological processes that cycle within an approximately 24-hour period, including the sleep-wake cycle. coma: a state of consciousness in which the eyes are closed and the person is unresponsive and unarousable; a much more severe and longer-lasting loss of consciousness than fainting. consciousness: an awareness of one’s surroundings and of what’s in one’s mind at a given moment; includes aspects of being awake and aware. delta waves: type of brain activity that dominates Stage 2 sleep; higher energy than theta waves. depressants: substances that decrease or slow down central nervous system activity. dreams: images, thoughts, and feelings experienced during sleep. endocannabinoids: natural, marijuana-like substances produced by the body. hallucination: convincing sensory experiences that occur in the absence of external stiumulus. hallucinogens: substances that create distorted perceptions of reality, ranging from mild to extreme. hypersomnia: sleep difficulty characterized by sleeping more than 10 hours a day for 2 weeks or more; includes urge to nap during inappropriate times. hypnosis: a state characterized by focused attention, suggestibility, absorption, lack of voluntary control over behavior, and suspension of critical faculties; occurs when instructed by someone trained in hypnosis; may be therapeutic. insomnia: a sleep difficulty characterized by difficulty falling and staying asleep, as well as not feeling rested. latent level: Freud’s unconscious level of dreams; their meaning is found at this level. manifest level: Freud’s surface level of dreams, recalled upon waking. meditation: practices that people use to calm the mind, stabilize concentration, focus attention, and enhance awareness of the present moment. mindfulness: a heightened awareness of the present moment, whether of events in one’s environment or in one’s own mind. narcolepsy: sleep disorder characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness and weakness in facial and limb muscles. night terrors: the state that occurs when a person walks around, speaks incoherently, and ultimately awakens, terrified from sleep. non-REM: form of sleep with few eye movements, which are slow rather than fast. psychoactive drugs: naturally occurring or synthesized substances that, when ingested or otherwise taken into the body, reliably produce qualitative changes in conscious experience. rapid eye movements (REM): quick movements of the eye that occur during sleep, thought to mark phases of dreaming. selective attention: the ability to focus awareness on specific features in the environment while ignoring others. sleepwalking: a sleep difficulty characterized by activities occurring during non-REM sleep that usually occur when one is awake, such as walking and eating. stimulants: substances that activate the nervous system. Stroop effect: delay in reaction time when color of words on a test and their meaning differ. sustained attention: the ability to maintain focused awareness on a target or idea. theta waves: pattern of brain activity during Stage 1 sleep; slower, lower-energy waves than alpha waves. vegetative state: a state of minimal consciousness in which the eyes might be open, but the person is otherwise unresponsive. wakefulness: aspect of consciousness that is the degree of alertness, resulting from whether a person is awake or asleep. MAKING THE CONNECTIONS (Some of the connections are found in the text. Other connections may be useful for lecture or discussion.) What Is Consciousness? CONNECTION: How much information can we hold in consciousness briefly before it is processed further, stored, or forgotten? Not as much as you might think, as we explain in our discussion of working memory (Chapter 7). •Activity: Have students engage in a digit span task. Have students take out a piece of paper and read off the following series of numbers: 4432, 98325, 793627, 9963012, 10521904, and 563829610. Ask students to indicate (via CPS or hand raising) how many they got correct. Ask them at what point the task became more difficult. Training Consciousness: Meditation CONNECTIONS: Every time you make a memory or learn something new, you change your brain by strengthening synaptic connections or growing new neurons (Chapter 8). •Discussion: Have students recall how neural connections are developed and discuss automatic processing. CONNECTION: What aspects of experimental designs allow for conclusions about cause and effect (Chapter 3)? •Discussion: Review random assignment and experimental design and ask students to design an experiment to test the effects of meditation on memory or mood. Sleeping CONNECTION: According to Freud, dream analysis is but one way to access the unconscious mind. Free association is another therapeutic technique used in Freudian psychoanalysis (Chapter 16). •Suggested Activity: Have students write down the most recent dream they had that they recall and then free associate. There are no right and wrong answers here but the activity offers insight into Freud’s theory on the psyche and dreaming. Altering Consciousness with Drugs CONNECTION: The brain continues to develop throughout adolescence, which makes it quite vulnerable to the effects of drugs and alcohol (Chapter 5). o Suggested Website: Adolescent Brains are a Work in Progress: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/teenbrain/work/adolescent.html CONNECTION: Our moods are tightly linked to transmitter systems in the brain. Dopamine is released when we feel good, and serotonin affects how sociable and affectionate we feel Chapter 3). •Suggested Website: Dopamine: Natural Ways to Increase Dopamine Levels: http://www.integrativepsychiatry.net/dopamine.html INNOVATIVE INSTRUCTION 1. Ask students how long they are able to sustain full attention (you can use the CPS clickers to poll the class if you’d like). Ask them if they think the amount of time people can sustain their attention has changed over time and why. A good way to start is to talk about multitasking, TV, etc. Ask them how long they think classes should be. 2. Ask students what time they started high school and how tired they felt throughout the day. Now ask them how they designed their college schedules (what time does their earliest class start; what time are they finished). Their answers will reflect their circadian rhythm. Some are morning people; others are night people. Students are often interested in how their patterns compare to those of their classmates. You may want to show a section of Inside the Teen Brain (PBS), dealing with sleep: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/video/flv/generic.html?s=frol02p392&continuous=1 3. Poll the class and see how many students meditate. Ask those who do to discuss exactly what they do and what they experience in that stage. 4. Ask students to discuss their impression of hypnosis. Is it really an altered state of consciousness? Is it a question of role-playing? 5. Ask students to discuss their experiences with different sleep disorders. Most have some experience with insomnia. You can go to http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/guide/sleep-disorders-treatment-care and discuss some common ways to treat them. Many may have parents or grandparents with sleep apnea. 6. Brain injury can affect many different aspects of consciousness. Talk to students about the case of Terri Schiavo (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8225637/) and ask them if they felt that it was right for her to be removed from life support. 7. Have students go to http://www.learningmeditation.com and read about how to meditate. Have them practice meditating for the week you cover this unit and write about what, if any, differences they’ve noticed as the result of the practice. 8. Have students keep a sleep journal the week you cover this section. Have them write down what time they go to sleep, if they wake up in the night, and what they remember dreaming about. Have them report how many times they hit snooze each morning and how tired they felt throughout the day. You can use this to talk about circadian rhythms, dreaming, and sleep debt. 9. Ask students to think about the last dream they remember in detail and analyze it from a psychoanalytic, biological, and cognitive perspective. 10. Go to https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/java/ready.html and have students take the Stroop task. 11. Give students a list of psychoactive drugs (marijuana, ecstasy, cocaine, caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, LSD, crystal meth, Valium, and morphine) and ask them to write down if they think the drug is a stimulant, depressant, or hallucinogen. They generally think they know much more than they do. You can link this back to Chapter 2’s discussion of intuition. 12. The mental illness schizophrenia is a marked by an inability to selectively filter out and attend to only the most relevant information from the world. You can lead this discussion by showing the following clip about schizophrenia: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4R6jln_eZg. 13. For one week, try keeping a sleep log. Each day, record how many hours of sleep you had the night before, and make some sort of ratings on your general mood (irritable or not? Joyful or not?). You can make yourself a list of words and provide ratings on a 1-10 scale, if you like). Make note of how well you did at school, paying attention in lecture, performance on any tests or assignments, etc. After one week, see if you notice any patterns. First, calculate the average amount of sleep you had each night by adding up your total for each night and then divide by the number of days you for which you collected data (7 if you did a whole week). 14. Sleep increases neural growth in key memory areas of the brain. This is one reason why optimal sleep improves learning and memory. Ask students by CPS or hand poll how many of them pull all-nighters. Ask them how successful the method is on the test itself, the final, and long-term memory. 15. Excessive drinking can shrink the brain, and, in the still developing teen brain, these effects are even more dramatic. Ask students to have an honest discussion about their experiences with alcohol in high school or college. You may prefer to have them write about their experiences. Suggested Media 25. Dead Again (1991) gives a good example of clinical hypnosis. 26. Trainspotting (1996) is a movie with a good deal of information on heroin usage. Be warned, though, there is some language and nudity. 27. Requiem for a Dream (2000); warning, rated R 28. The Basketball Diaries (1995); warning, rated R 29. Caffeine and skin health: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wac7EAem6TA 30. Quitting cigarettes and laser therapy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prYUrhqmqtI 31. NOVA Sleep: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3410/01.html 32. Insomnia and its treatment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFUrw7g6Dw4. 33. Brain scans and meditation: http://www.livescience.com/health/070629_naming_emotions.html 34. Inside the Teenage Brain—PBS (sleep section): http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/video/flv/generic.html?s=frol02p392&continuous=1 35. Discovering Psychology The Mind Awake and Asleep (Annenberg) 36. Discovering Psychology: The Mind Hidden and Divided (Annenberg) 37. Awareness Test: Count the number of passes the team in white makes! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahg6qcgoay4 (nice example of selective attention and inattentional blindness 38. Another example of inattentional blindness: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKry81bf2qw 39. The Need for Sleep (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.) 40. Binge Drinking and the Adolescent Brain (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.) 41. Alcoholism (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.) Suggested Websites 20. Cell phone laws: http://www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/laws/cellphone_laws.html 21. Hypnosis.com: http://www.hypnosis.com/ 22. Hypnosis: Another Way to Manage Pain and Kick Bad Habits: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hypnosis/SA00084 23. Self-hypnosis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v-sBPki0Ys 24. Dream interpretation: http://www.dreammoods.com/dreambank/ 25. National Institute of Drug Use: http://www.nida.nih.gov/ 26. College and Drug Use: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-03-15-college-drug-use_N.htm 27. Web of Addictions http://www.well.com/user/woa/ 28. Sleep Foundation http://www.sleepfoundation.org/ Suggested Readings Agrawal, A., & Lynskey, M. T. (2008). Are there genetic influences on addiction: Evidence from family, adoption and twin studies. British Journal of Addiction, 103(7), 1069–1081. Blackmore, S. (2011). Consciousness: An introduction. Oxford University Press. Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2008). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. Harper. Erlacher, D., & Schredl, M. (2008). Cardiovascular responses to dreamed physical exercise during REM lucid dreaming. Dreaming, 18(2), 112–121. Freud, S. (1900/1953). The interpretation of dreams. In J. Strachey (Ed. & Trans.), The Standard Edition of the Complete Works of Sigmund Freud (Vols. 4 & 5). London: Hogarth Press. Golden, C., Golden, C. J., & Schneider, B. (2003). Cell phone use and visual attention. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 97(2), 385–389. Hilgard, E. (1977). Divided consciousness: Multiple controls in human thought and action. New York: Wiley. Juliano, L. M., & Griffiths, R. R. (2004). A critical review of caffeine withdrawal: Empirical validation of symptoms and signs, incidence, severity, and associated features. Psychopharmacology, 176, 1–29. Lucidi, F., Devoto, A., Bertini, M., Braibanti, P., & Violani, C. (2002). The effects of sleep debt on vigilance in young drivers: An education/research project in high schools. Journal of Adolescence, 25(4), 405–414. Most, S. B., & Astur, R. S. (2007). Feature-based attentional set as a cause of traffic accidents. Visual Cognition, 15(2), 125–132. Ramachandran, V. S. (2004). A brief tour of human consciousness: From imposter poodles to purple numbers. Pi Press. Taber, K. H., & Hurley, R. A. (2006). Functional neuroanatomy of sleep and sleep deprivation. Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 18(1), 1–5. Yapko, M. (2011). Mindfulness and hypnosis. The power of suggestion to transform experience. Norton. Chapter 7: Memory BRIEF CHAPTER OUTLINE Three Types of Memory Sensory Memory Short-Term or Working Memory Short-Term Memory Capacity How Short-Term Memory Works The Serial Position Effect Long-Term Memory Types of Long-Term Memory Implicit Memory Explicit Memory Stages in Long-Term Memory Encoding Consolidation Storage Retrieval The Biological Basis of Memory The Neural Basis of Memory Challenging Assumptions in Brain Stimulation and Memory The Sensory Cortexes Pathways of Short-Term Memory in the Hippocampus and Prefrontal Cortex Long-Term Memory Storage in the Cortex Emotion, Memory, and the Brain Psychology in the Real World: Manipulating Memory with Drugs and Drinks Forgetting and Memory Loss Forms of Forgetting Memory Loss Caused by Brain Injury and Disease Bringing It All Together: Making Connections in Memory: How to Study Chapter Review EXTENDED CHAPTER OUTLINE •Some people with remarkable memories are autistic or individuals who have brain anomalies. For example, some people see numbers as shapes and colors, meaning they have synesthesia, that is, they experiences sensations in one sense when a different sense is stimulated. •Connection: Daniel’s form of synesthesia is perhaps the most common form—seeing numbers as colors. Other forms include hearing smells, smelling touch, or tasting shapes. Synesthesia probably occurs because of a cross wiring of neural connections in the brain (Chapter 4). THREE TYPES OF MEMORY 1. Three types of memory exist: sensory, short term, and long term. Each type has a different length of memory retention. 2. Different areas of the brain are involved in different types of memory. 3. Memory is reconstructive in nature (i.e., we reconstruct memories from trace and gist information rather watching a video or movie of past events). •Sensory, short-term, and long-term memory are connected, but each is an independent area of memory. •In the case of H.M. a 9-year-old boy was injured and the result was a brain injury that resulted in severe epileptic seizures. In an effort to stop the seizures, doctors removed the hippocampus bilaterally and effectively stopped the seizures. Unfortunately, it resulted in an inability to form new memories. Most memories formed prior to the surgery, however, remained intact. Memory is the ability to store and use information. This is not necessarily conscious retrieval. Atkinson and Shiffrin (1971) proposed a three-stage model of memory: •Sensory memory is information that is held for a brief period of time, about a half a second or less. •Short-term memory is a very short and temporary storage system. It can hold a limited amount of information before it is either transferred to long-term storage or forgotten. Storage is for 2 to 30 seconds. For example, someone says a phone number and you dial it immediately and then don’t remember it. •In long-term memory the capacity is immeasurable. Information can be stored for as little as 30 seconds and as long as a lifetime. Sensory Memory Sensory memory comes in two forms: •Iconic memory is a brief visual record left on the retina of the eye. •Echoic memory is short-term retention of sounds. Short-Term or Working Memory In current models, short-term has become synonymous with working memory because conceptually it is a form of memory where one can temporarily store information we need while working on a problem. Presumably, when we no longer need the information, we forget it. Examples include reading, talking, and using information for this class to get an A. A good example for students is that they can store, manipulate, and recall information for this class. Immediately after the final, however, someone asks them what the class was about and they have no idea. They have already “dumped” the information. Short-Term Memory Capacity Capacity is limited to about seven items. This can be increased via chunking. How Short-Term Memory Works Baddeley argues that working memory consists of three distinct processes: attending to a stimulus; storing information about the stimulus; and rehearsing the stored process to help solve a problem. •There are four components of working memory. o The central executive: where to focus attention and selectively focuses on specific aspects of a stimulus. Once information is taken in and we attend to it, it is sent to a temporary store: o The phonological loop deals with sound and linguistic information. o The visuospatial sketch pad deals with visual or spatial information. o The episodic buffer deals with a specific event or experience. •Rehearsal is the process of reciting or practicing material repeatedly. The Serial Position Effect When trying to remember a list of items, people better recall items at the beginning and end of the list; they tend to forget the items in the middle. Why? o Primacy effect is the tendency to preferentially recall items in the beginning of a list. Items are quickly rehearsed and transferred to LTM. o Recency effect is recall for items at the end of a list. These items may still be in STM. Long-Term Memory Long-term memory (LTM) is what most people think of when they think of memory. There are two distinct kinds of LTM and four distinct stages of processing. Types of Long-Term Memory: 1. Implicit Memory is also known as nondeclarative. This is when we know or remember something but don’t consciously know we remember it. There are two forms: a) Procedural memory is a form of implicit memory; includes knowledge for almost any behavior or physical skill we learn. b) Priming is a form of implicit memory that occurs when recall is improved by prior exposure to the same or similar stimuli. 2. Explicit memory is also known as declarative. It is the conscious recall of facts and events. There are two forms of explicit memory. a) Semantic memory is memory for facts and knowledge. b) Episodic memory is memory for the experiences we have had. CONNECTION: Besides the ability to consciously recall a memory, what other forms of consciousness effect our behavior without our knowing it? (Chapter 6) Stages in Long-Term Memory: There are four processing stages of LTM. These are encoding, consolidation, storage, and retrieval. 1) Encoding is attending to, taking in, and processing new information by the brain. •Automatic processing happens with little effort or conscious attention to the task. •Effortful processing occurs when we carefully attend to and put conscious effort into remembering information. o Processing can be aided by use of devices and deep processing. o In levels of processing the more deeply people encode information, the better they will recall it. o A mnemonic device is a scheme that helps people remember information. For example, an acronym such as “ROY G. BIV” for the colors of the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet). 2) Consolidation is the process of establishing, stabilizing, or solidifying a memory. Sleep plays a role in consolidation. 3) Storage is the retention of memory over time. This involves three distinct ways of organizing and storing memories: in hierarchies, schemas, and networks. •Hierarchies organize related information from specific to general. We use hierarchies to organize related information from the most specific feature they have in common to the most general. An example is the hierarchy human (specific), hominid (less specific), primate, mammal, and animal (general). Each step moves to a more general category in a hierarchy. •Schemas are organized patterns of thoughts, behavior, or some aspect of the world. •Networks are based on associations of relatedness. Related are neural networks or computer models that imitate the way neurons talk to each other. An associative network is a chain of associations between related concepts. Each concept or association in a network is referred to as a node. The links between the nodes are associations. When people think of a concept, and its node is activated, they are primed and more likely to make an association to a nearby concept or node. 4) Retrieval is the recovery of information stored in memory. THE BIOLOGICAL BASIS OF MEMORY •Long-term memories begin with sensations being processed into output from cortical sensory association areas such as the auditory or visual association areas. Depending on the kind of memory system involved, the output goes to different brain regions. For instance, when we are learning to do things (implicit procedures) output goes mostly to the cerebellum and striatum. When we experience an emotional event, output goes to the amygdala. When we consciously and explicitly remember personal events (episodes), facts and information, output goes mostly to the hippocampus. After being processed by the hippocampus, however, the memory is stored back in the cortical association area from where it came. •H.M. had a very difficult time making new long-term explicit memories, due to the damage of his hippocampus and surrounding areas. He could learn tasks like the star-tracing task, however, because his cerebellum and striatum, which are involved in implicitly learning to carry out procedures, were intact. •Sensory memories are processed (encoded) in the various sensory cortexes; short-term memory is processed in the hippocampus and frontal lobes; and long-term memories are stored in different parts of the cortex and subcortex and retrieved with the help of areas associated with the prefrontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex is the front-most region of the frontal lobes. It plays an important part in attention, appropriate social behavior, impulse control, and working memory. The Neural Basis of Memory •Hebb’s Law states that “Neurons That Wire Together Fire Together”! •Hebb developed a theory of how neural connections form and how synaptic connections change with learning. •Long-term potentiation (LTP) occurs. LTP is the strengthening of a synaptic connection that results when a synapse of one neuron repeatedly fires and excites another neuron. •Repeated stimulation of a group of neurons leads to the formation of cell assemblies. •Neurons that “wire together, fire together.” •If repeatedly stimulated they will form long term bond. If not they will not form a long term bond. It will be "use it or lose it". •Milner's work with H.M. supported Hebbs work. •Kandel and his colleagues discovered that both the timing and frequency of neural firing are crucial in making a memory permanent. By repeatedly pulling away from a shock, the sea slug rehearsed and remembered a defensive behavior. •Repeated experience or stimulation changes genes and the way they are expressed. The longer a memory is held and the more emotional arousal that is tied to the memory, the more synaptic connections are formed. Thus, your brain changes and the memories are less likely to be lost. Experiences change our brain, which in turn changes how we respond to our environment. CONNECTION: Kandel's findings explain how and why the brains of mice reared in enriched environments are heavier and have more dendrites that the brains of mice reared in impoverished environments (Chapter 3). Challenging Assumptions in Brain Stimulation and Memory •There is a growing body of research that stimulating the brain with weak electrical charges can enhance memory and learning. •Electrical stimulation of the brain is called transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). •A weak voltage is given by at least two electrodes on the scalp (at least one positive and one negative). •Positively charged stimulation increases memory in general. •Negatively charged stimulation interferes with memory. The Sensory Cortexes •Three of the five sensory systems have a dedicated sensory cortex for processing sensory stimuli. Visual information is processed in the visual cortex located in the occipital lobes, the auditory cortex is in the temporal lobes, and the somatosensory cortex (touch) is in the parietal lobes. Taste and smell do not have their own processing regions. •CONNECTION: Why do smells evoke particularly strong and specific memories? (Chapter 4). Pathways of Short-Term Memory in the Hippocampus and Prefrontal Cortex •The prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for attention focusing and thus is involved in the perception of information, determines what we attend to. Next, the sensory memory goes to the hippocampus. The repeated firing of neural impulses necessary to convert a short-term memory to a long-term one occurs mostly in the hippocampus. •The hippocampus does not do all of the work in working memory. Attention and focus require the prefrontal cortex. Remember that a key function of working memory is to focus attention and to plan action. When we speak, read, solve problems, or make some other use of working memory, we rely on the prefrontal cortex to keep the crucial information accessible. Long-Term Memory Storage in the Cortex •Explicit long-term memories are stored in the cortex, specifically in the area where the original sensation was processed. Implicit memories are stored in structures in the subcortex, specifically in the striatum, amygdala, and cerebellum. •Implicit memories are also processed and stored in different parts of the brain. Priming, for example, occurs mostly in the cortex. Procedural memories for skills and habits involve the striatum. The amygdala is crucial for associating particular events with emotional responses such as happiness or fear. When we learn to associate a neighbor’s house with a mean dog and we become afraid of going there, the amygdala is the part of our brain that is most involved. •Much of what psychologists have learned about memory and the brain has come from studying people who have suffered brain injury. The different functions of the cortex and hippocampus in memory explain why some brain-injured people can remember skills and behaviors, but not knowledge, events, and facts. As we have mentioned, memories for behaviors and skills are implicit, and we process them mostly in the subcortex. Explicit memories for events and facts we process and store mostly in the cortex. This can occur only if the hippocampus is intact and can pass them on for long-term cortical storage. Even if part of the hippocampus is removed, we cannot easily form new long-term memories. Emotion, Memory, and the Brain •Emotional arousal increases the ability to remember information. Emotional events stimulate the formation of new synapses, and this leads to a robust memory. •Emotional events switch on genes that build proteins that strengthen the synaptic connections between neurons. These proteins also stimulate the formation of new synapses and even new neurons. All of these structures make the memory “stick” for a long period of time. •Important structures for memory, namely, the amygdala and hippocampus, are linked to key structures for emotion. These two structures lie next to each other in the brain and are connected by many nerve fibers. Indeed, these two structures become activated simultaneously during emotional experiences. The amygdala is involved in assigning emotional significance to events and is crucial in encoding information relevant to emotional experiences, especially fear. •Flashbulb memories are very vivid memories of specific, highly charged events. •In a study on memory, emotion, and sleep, evidence suggests that sleeps helps consolidate memories, especially of emotional experiences. •Emotion enhances memory in many different ways, but it is important to keep in mind that the accuracy of these memories is a different story. Indeed, emotional memories tend to be less accurate in their details than non-emotional memories. CONNECTION: One of the primary functions of sleep is to consolidate memories and facilitate new neural growth (Chapter 6). PSYCHOLOGY IN THE REAL WORLD: MANIPULATING MEMORY WITH DRUGS AND DRINKS •There is research that is both basic and applied to show how and why particular drugs do or do not enhance memory. •Memory researchers, including Kandel, have been doing research to find new drugs dealing with memory. •Research has found drugs that block or slow the process of memory formation. •A potential application for this type of drug is use in preventing PTSD. •Pseudoscience often tells us about many unscientific claims about pills and herbs with regard to memory. •Scientific research on herbs is mixed. More research is still underway to support or refute pseudoscientific claims. Forgetting and Memory Loss •Forgetting is the weakening or loss of memories over time. •One reason that people forget is interference. Interference is when other information competes with the information we are trying to recall. There are two forms of interference. o Retroactive interference is when new experiences or information increase the forgetting of old information. o Proactive interference is when old experiences or information increase the forgetting of new information. •Perhaps the serial position effect occurs because the process of remembering the first words interferes proactively with recall of the middle words. •Absentmindedness may be the result of multitasking. When attention is divided, forgetting occurs. Absentmindedness increases with age, but it typically is not a problem until people reach their 70s. Due to slowing of processing speed and less ability to filter out irrelevant information with age, some degree of dementia or age-related memory decline is common in people in their 60s and 70s. Yet as is true with all cognitive capacities, there are vast differences among individuals in memory decline with age. •Blocking is a retrieval error where one can’t quite get the information out of memory for use. An example is the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon where the information seems to be at the tip of our tongue but full retrieval eludes us. •Related to blocking is the idea of repression, where arguably memories that have been encoded and stored are actively inhibited. •Suggestibility occurs when memories are implanted in our minds based on leading questions, comments, or suggestions by someone else or some other source. •Elizabeth Loftus has conducted the most systematic research on two major types of memory distortion: eyewitness testimony and false and recovered memories. Loftus and her colleagues, however, were among the first memory researchers to demonstrate that people’s memories of events, even under the best of circumstances, are not very accurate and are susceptible to suggestion. •Loftus and her colleagues have found that the type of question that is asked has an effect, that is, does the question involve a misleading suggestion. The specific words used in questioning have an effect on an individual’s memories. The most disturbing example of suggestibility comes from research on false memories and recovered memories. •A false memory is an example of suggestibility. False memories are memories for events that never happened but were suggested by someone or something. Loftus pioneered the technique of suggesting falsely that someone experienced some event and then later asking them about their memories of that event. To be sure, majorities of subjects never recall anything. Collectively, studies indicate that close to a third of adult subjects will create a false memory. •Recovered memory is a memory that has supposedly been blocked or repressed for years. The reason recovered memories are so controversial is that often memory is recovered while under the care of a psychotherapist and it is not clear whether the therapist has helped a patient to recover a memory of an actual event or if the therapist unwittingly suggested an event that the patient “remembers.” CONNECTION: Most people think they can multitask well. Research shows otherwise. This is especially true when it comes to talking on the phone while driving (Chapter 6). Memory Loss Caused by Brain Injury and Disease •Amnesia: when people forget due to injury or disease to the brain. •Anterograde amnesia: the failure to form new memories after injury or the onset of a disease. •Retrograde amnesia: the failure to remember information from shortly before the onset of the disease or injury. •Alzheimer’s disease: a severe form of age-related memory loss due to organic brain disease. BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER: MAKING CONNECTIONS: MEMORY AND HOW TO STUDY •Students often use this section as the opportunity to ask, “How can I use this material to study more efficiently?” Like all memories, how well you remember this material begins with encoding. •Go to class and pay attention! Attending and paying attention in lecture is a first, very important step. If there is something you don’t understand when the instructor first mentions it, ask a question about it right away. •Read the book before class! Reading through both lecture material and book material before going to class primes you for taking in lecture material in a deep and meaningful way. •Study deep, not shallow. The levels of processing theory can help you learn how you approach studying. According to depth of processing theory and research, the more deeply you process material, the better it is recalled. Make connections with the material and other things you know, take a few moments after each class to absorb the material and try to process it. •Form a study group. Getting together with a few other students to review and discuss material before an exam can be enormously helpful. •Devise meaningful mnemonics. Using an easy-to-remember mnemonic device during encoding may make it easier to retrieve information later. For example, I use “there’s a hippo lost on campus” to remember that the hippocampus is responsible for memory. KEY TERMS absent-mindedness: a form of forgetfulness that results from inattention. amnesia: memory loss due to injury or disease to the brain. anterograde amnesia: the inability to remember events and experiences that occur after an injury or the onset of a disease. associative network: a chain of associations between related concepts. Each concept or association in a network is referred to as a node. The links between the nodes are associations. automatic processing: encoding that happens with little effort or conscious attention to the task. blocking: the inability to retrieve some information once it is stored. chunking: the process of breaking down a list of to-be-remembered items into a smaller set of meaningful units. consolidation: the process of establishing, stabilizing, or solidifying a memory. effortful processing: when we carefully attend to and put conscious effort into remembering information. encoding: the process of attending to, taking in, and processing new information by the brain. episodic memory: memory for the experiences we have had. explicit memory: the conscious recall of facts and events; also known as declarative memory. false memories: memories for events that never happened, but that were suggested by someone or something. flashbulb memories: detailed, especially vivid memories of very specific, highly charged events. forgetting: the weakening or loss of memories over time. forgetting curve: a graphic depicting of how recall steadily declines over time. hierarchies: a way of organizing related information from the most specific feature they have in common to the most general. implicit memory: knowledge based on previous experience, such as skills that we perform automatically once we have mastered them; resides outside conscious awareness. interference: when other information competes with the information we are trying to recall. levels of processing: the idea that the more deeply people encode information, the better they will recall it. long-term memory: has the capacity to store a vast amount of information for as little as 30 seconds and as long as a lifetime. long-term potentiation: results when synapse of one neuron repeatedly fires and excites another neuron; there is a permanent change in the receiving neuron, the excitatory neuron, or both, which strengthens the synaptic connection. memory: the ability to store and use information. mnemonic: a device that helps people remember information. prefrontal cortex: the prefrontal cortex is the front-most region of the frontal lobes. It plays an important part in attention, appropriate social behavior, impulse control, and working memory. priming: when recall is improved by prior exposure to the same or similar stimuli. proactive interference: when previously learned information interferes with the learning of new information. procedural memory: implicit knowledge for almost any behavior or physical skill we have learned. recovered memory: a memory from a real event that was encoded and stored, but not retrieved for a long period of time; it is retrieved after some later event brings it suddenly to consciousness. rehearsal: the process of practicing material repeatedly. repression: a form of blocking, in which retrieval of memories that have been encoded and stored is actively inhibited. retrieval: the recovery of information stored in memory. retroactive interference: when new experiences or information cause people to forget previously learned experiences or information. retrograde amnesia: an inability to recall events or experiences that happened before the onset of the disease or injury. schemas: ways of knowing that we develop from our experiences with particular objects or events. semantic memory: memory for facts and general knowledge, such as what we learn in school. sensory memory: holds information in its original sensory form for a very brief period of time, usually about a half a second or less. serial-position effect: the tendency to have better recall for items in a list, depending on their position in the list. short-term memory: temporarily stores a limited amount of information before it is either transferred to long-term storage or forgotten. Information stays in short-term memory for 2 to 30 seconds. storage: the retention of memory over time; is the third stage of long-term memory formation. suggestibility: when memories are implanted in our minds based on leading questions, comments, or suggestions by someone else or some other source. three-stage model of memory: classifies memories based on duration as sensory, short-term, and long-term memories. transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS): electrical stimulation of the brain. working memory: the part of memory required to attend to and solve a problem at hand; often used interchangeably with “short-term” memory. MAKING THE CONNECTIONS Memory Connection: Daniel’s form of synesthesia is perhaps the most common form—seeing numbers as colors. Other forms include hearing smells, smelling touch, or tasting shapes. Synesthesia probably occurs because of a cross wiring of neural connections in the brain (Chapter 4). •Suggested Link: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/syne.html is a site that has much information on synesthesia as well as diagnoses and brain information. •Discussion: Thompson and Madigan (2005) looked at iconic memory using four numeric digits flashed on a computer screen for 30 milliseconds (a millisecond is a thousandth of a second) and found that when a blank screen follows the numbers, most people have no trouble recalling them. In an alternate condition, they found that when the digits were followed by # # # #, subjects often reported that they did not see any digits at all. This indicates that sensory memories are preserved for very short periods of time and they are very fragile. •Discussion: Sensory memory was formerly known as the sensory store in past models. Some argue that this is really perception and not memory. An example could be that you meet someone, they tell you their name, and you immediately forget it. Is this memory? Or is this an example of how attentive processes interfere with one’s ability to perceive information? Ask students to provide examples of their own on sensory memory. Ask if they feel this is a memory system or a perception system (Chapter 4). Categories of Long-Term Memory CONNECTION: Besides the ability to consciously recall a memory what other forms of consciousness affect our behavior without our knowing it? (Chapter 6) •Discussion: You can refer back to Chapter 6 and altered states. This could be drugs or suggestibility both effect consciousness and behavior. The Sensory Cortexes CONNECTION: Why do smells evoke particularly strong and specific memories? (Chapter 4) •Discussion: Students often find olfactory cues to be an interesting subject. You may want to ask students if there are any smells that evoke strong memories for them. Then point out that one reason may be the location of the olfactory bulb in the limbic system (which is the same as the hippocampus). Emotion, Memory, and the Brain CONNECTION: One of the primary functions of sleep is to consolidate memories and facilitate new neural growth (Chapter 6). •Discussion: This may be a great time to bring up Ekman’s classic work on the universality of emotional facial expressions. As research has shown that most humans are adept at discerning emotional states, perceiving others affective responses may affect expressions if it follows that attention. There is a strong adaptive value to this, and even Darwin noticed the survival value of this trait. Forgetting and Memory Loss CONNECTION: Can we really multitask? How does talking on the cell phone affect your attention to driving? (Chapter 6) •Suggested Activity: Have students read: http://unews.utah.edu/old/p/062206-1.html Drivers on Cell Phones are as Bad as Drunks from researchers at the University of Utah and write a two-paragraph essay incorporating the text and the article on multitasking and specifically cell phone use and driving. INNOVATIVE INSTRUCTION 1. Real false memories: Ask students to come up with a favorite early childhood memory. Then ask them to call their parents and siblings after class to verify its accuracy. It will be interesting to see if students come in the next class period and say their family reports that it is a false memory. 2. Memory systems in real life: Ask students how much material they remember from last semester. Most will report that right after the final they have an inability to remember anything from that course. This illustrates why the early Atkinson Shiffrin model was reconceived with the reworking of short-term memory into long-term memory. Students generally agree that they can hold information for great lengths of time (e.g., semester) and then are unable to recall that information shortly after. Working memory explains why this is so. 3. Self and memory: Research in social cognition has shown that people focus most on self-relevant information. Point out to students that it is not only emotionally arousing information that gets into memory systems well but also anything relevant to self. Thus, it behooves one to pay attention to self-relevant information and also connect that information more deeply and show greater recall. 4. Computer models of information processing: You may want to point out to students that most models of memory deal with how information comes in and goes out. That is, it is akin to computer models. Point out that although no one believes that memory is perfectly analogous to a computer, there are some similarities. For example, information is perceived (say you notice the cute man/woman sitting next to you). Then, because you might be interested, that information makes its way from the sensory store into working memory; that is, you store that the cute boy/girl is cute and always sits next to you in class. You then use the phonological loop to structure a clever comment about the lecture and thus information is processed and utilized. You can also use the desktop of a computer as an analogy for working memory. That is, some folks leave things all over the desktop and then may have difficulty finding what they need; some folks also do the same thing with memories and thus have recall difficulties. Some students delete also files they used for a class at the end of the semester, much as they forget what they learned in that class at the end of the semester. Finally, the computer model works as well as an analogy to brain injury where the material (code or memory) has difficulty being recalled. Students again are familiar with the computer and thus often see the similarities here. 5. Criticisms of the Multi Store Model: You may want to point out that the multi store model has been criticized as being too linear. The argument here is that unlike a computer, the human brain is not linear and that it is often processing in parallel. Ask students what they think about the analogy of brain and computer being similar. Can memory be processed only in a linear fashion? 6. Drugs and Memory: Kandel purports to have found the link between behavior and long-term memory and is in talks with a pharmaceutical company to develop a drug for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. What questions does this research raise? Might Kandel’s discovery be applied to help you learn better or improve studying? Could scientists engineer genes to create super memory capacity? 7. Recovered Memories: You may want to show one of the Frontline clips on repressed memories and discuss with students the real problem with a “recovered memory.” You may also want to illustrate how Freud heavily influenced the past concept of memories and repression and how the field has moved away from those concepts. 8. You may want to discuss Gottlieb’s model of epigenetics discussed in Chapter 3, and also connect to Chapter 5 and point out that Piaget’s theory of cognitive development is epigenetic in nature as well. 9. You may want to discuss developmental trends in memory systems. Most research shows that memory systems improve over childhood and remain fairly stable until very late adulthood and even there, with the exception of source memory, most people who are healthy and living an active life show no major deficit, save slower times. This also reinforces Hebb’s “use it or lose it” law. 10. Students will find it difficult to differentiate between the different types of memory systems. They will also find it very difficult to differentiate implicit and explicit memory systems. You may wish to utilize CPS clicker questions to ascertain their understanding of these issues before moving forward. 11. Assign students to doing research on the McMartin trial or other high-profile false memory cases. Have them locate a case and write a paragraph on how Loftus argues it would be interpreted today. 12. You may want to enlist the help of your TA or another confederate for a demonstration of how poor eyewitness testimony can be. Have the confederate come in during the lecture and cause some form of disruption (maybe yell and then laugh or throw paper wads and then run out). Next, ask students to describe what they saw: how the person was dressed, hair color, etc. If you are in a large room make sure the confederate comes into the room and is in long enough to draw attention. You may even want to ask your confederate not to wear socks and slightly roll up her or her pant leg. When you are asking the class to describe the person you may want to add “even down to their socks.” You can see if any students “construct” a memory of socks. 13. Based on Loftus’s work, ask students if eyewitness testimony ever be used in criminal trials? Have them defend their answer. 14. If you have Internet access in your classroom, go to and show a video clip of Clive Wearing, an individual who suffers from both anterograde and retrograde amnesia. 15. Ask students to pretend that something traumatic has happened in their lives. If they could take a drug immediately after that trauma to help get rid of that memory, would they take the drug. Ask them why or why not. You may want to collect the papers and tally the results in terms of yes or no and provide feedback to students. 16. Ask students to write down all the presidents of United States. You may want to remind students how many presidents we have had in the United States. Give them a few minutes to do this exercise. Typically students write the first few and the last few presidents. This is a great example of the serial position effect. Source: Roediger, H. L., & Crowder, R. G. (1976). A serial position effect in recall of United States presidents. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 8, 275–278. 17. Read the following words aloud at a rate of about one word per second: BED, QUILT, DARK, SILENCE, FATIGUE, CLOCK, SNORING, NIGHT, TOSS,TIRED, NIGHT, TOSS, TIRED, NIGHT, ARTICHOKE, TURN, NIGHT, REST, DREAM Ask students if they heard you say “aardvark.” They typically look at you like you are nuts. Next, ask them if they heard you say “sleep.” Many will raise their hands even though sleep is not on the list. Point out the constructive nature of memory. This is a variation on Deese (1959). Source: Deese. K. (1959). On the prediction of occurrence of particular verbal intrusions in immediate recall. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 58, 17–22. 18. Ask students to share their personal study habits. You may want to comment on how memorizing “bold letter words” is often not adequate at the college level and that they should try to adapt their study habits to more rigorous course work. 19. Ask students to list the 50 states. When the students are done, tell them you are not interested in how many states they wrote down. Tell them instead that you are interested in how they retrieved the states from their memory. They will begin to tell you they retrieved the names based on states they have lived, states they have visited, a visual map, alphabetical, sports team, or region of the country. This is a great springboard to discussing the value of cues and how we tend to cue ourselves. 20. Ask students what is pictured on the back of a $10 bill. Most students will not know that it is the Treasury Building. You can use this to discuss encoding. Suggested Media 1. One interesting case that parallels the case of H.M. is that of Clive Wearing who, much like H.M., no longer has use of his hippocampus. However, in Clive’s case it was as an adult after a vicious case of encephalitis. Video of Clive Wearing after his diagnosis http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vwigmktix2Y 2. One thing students are often interested in is mnemonic devices. Here is a great clip of individuals maximizing memory systems by using mnemonic devices. “Mnemonic wizards: incredible feats of memory”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vsYCSmBcM0&feature=related 3. Students are fascinated with false memories and the false memory controversy. This is a two-part series involving interviews with Elizabeth Loftus and victims of false memories. Child abuse, false memories part one (of two): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhZjxkaCkzk Child abuse, false memories part two (of two): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsXoVYDL_gs&feature=related 4. Students are also fascinated with the eyewitness testimony data. This clip involves a discussion of children as eyewitnesses via an interview with Stephen Ceci: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvILUeqq6Kk 5. Movie: 50 First Dates with Drew Barrymore is a cute, lighthearted look at anterograde amnesia. A few clips from this show students a lighthearted look at amnesia. 6. Memento involves a man with anterograde amnesia searching for his wife’s killers using notes and messages to himself much as we see in the real case of Clive Wearing. This film involves fairly graphic material. 7. The Woman Who Can’t Forget: Jill Price. 8. Discovering Psychology: Remembering and Forgetting (Annenberg) 9. Pieces of Mind: Scientific American Frontiers 10. Memory, Part 1 (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.) 11. Memory, Part 2 (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.) 12. Science of Memory (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.) 13. When Eyes Deceive (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.) 14. The Ronald Cotton Case: 60 Minutes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-SBTRLoPuo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4V6aoYuDcg Concept Clips (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.) 1. Three Stages of Memory 2. Encoding Suggested Websites 1. The Mayo Clinic’s website on amnesia: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/amnesia/DS01041 2. A legal interpretation of the data on the perils of eyewitness testimony: http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dorf/20010516.html 3. An article from truth in justice regarding the real effects of misled witness testimony: http://www.truthinjustice.org/lawstory.htm 4. An excerpt from PBS’s Witness For the Defense: The Accused, the Eyewitness, and the Expert Who Puts Memory On Trial by Dr. Elizabeth Loftus and Katherine Ketcham: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/dna/photos/eye/text_06.html 5. A nice synopsis of the research and a story of Piaget’s false memory: http://www.skepdic.com/falsememory.html 6. Elizabeth Loftus website: http://socialecology.uci.edu/faculty/eloftus/ Transcript from the Frontline interview with Dr. Loftus: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/dna/interviews/loftus.html 7. The Multi Store Model: http://changingminds.org/explanations/memory/multi-store_model.htm 8. Gary Wells website: http://public.psych.iastate.edu/glwells/ 9. Memory Demos: http://psych.hanover.edu/javaTest/CLE/Cognition/Cognition/SerialPosition.html 10. An overview of Kandel’s work: http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2000/kandel-lecture.html 11. Inattentional Blindness: Awareness Test: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahg6qcgoay4 Can you count the number of white passes? Watch for the dancing bear! Suggested Readings Bjorklund, D. F., Bjorklund, B. R., Brown, R. D., & Cassel, W. S. (1998). Children’s susceptibility to repeated questions: How misinformation changes children's answers and their minds. Applied Developmental Science, 2, 99–111. Bjorklund, D. F., Cassel, W. S., Bjorklund, B. R., Brown, R. D., Park, C. L., Ernst, K., & Owen, F. A. (2000). Social demand characteristics in children's and adults' eyewitness memory and suggestibility: The effect of different interviewers on free recall and recognition. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 14, 421–433. Brainerd, C. J. & Reyna, V. F. (1998). When things that were never experienced are easier to “remember” than things that were. Psychological Science, 9, 484–489. Ceci, S. J., Ross, D. F., & Toglia, M. P. (1987). Suggestibility in children's memory: Psycholegal implications. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 116, 38–49. Corkin, S. (2013). Permanent present tense: The unforgettable life of the amnesic patient, H.M. Basic. Crick, F., & Koch, C. (1998). Consciousness and neuroscience. Cerebral Cortex, 8, 97–107. Ekman, P. & Friesen, W.V. (1971). Constants across cultures in the face and emotion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 17, 124–129. Greene, E., Flynn, M. S., & Loftus, E. F. (1982). Inducing resistance to misleading information. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 21, 207–219. Jacoby, L. L., & Dallas, M. (1981). On the relationship between autobiographical memory and perceptual learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 110, 306–340. Leichtman, M. D., & Ceci, S. J. (1995). The effects of stereotypes and suggestions on preschoolers’ reports. Developmental Psychology, 31, 568–578. Loftus, E. F., & Mazzoni, G. A. L. (1998). Using imagination and personalized suggestion to change people. Behavior Therapy, 29, 691–706. Loftus, E. F., & Pickrell, J. E. (1995). The formation of false memories. Psychiatric Annals, 25, 720–725. Loftus, E. F., & Ketchum, K. (1991). Witness for the defense: The accused, the eyewitness, and the expert who puts memory on trial. New York: Macmillan. Loftus, E. F. (1979). The malleability of human memory: Information introduced after we view an incident can transform memory. American Scientist, 67, 312–320. Payne, B. K. (2001). Prejudice and perception: The role of automatic and controlled processes in misperceiving a weapon. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 181–192. Price, J. (2008). The woman who can’t forget: A memoir. Free Pass. Schacter, D. L. (1990). Perceptual representation systems and implicit memory: Toward a resolution of the multiple memory systems debate. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 608, 543–571. Schacter, D. L. (1995). Implicit memory: A new frontier for cognitive neuroscience. In M. S. Gazzaniga (Ed). The Cognitive Neurosciences. (pp. 815–824). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Schacter, D. L., Norman, K. A., & Koustaal, W. (1998). The cognitive neuroscience of constructive memory. Annual Review of Psychology, 49, 289–318. Thompson-Cannino, J., & Cotton, R. (2009). Picking Cotton: Our memoir of injustice and redemption. New York: St. Martin’s Press. (The story of Ronald Cotton and mistaken eyewitness testimony.) Toglia, M. P., Neuschatz, J. S., & Goodwin, K. A. (1999). Recall accuracy and illusory memory: When more is less. Memory, 7, 233–256. Tulving, E. (1985). Memory and consciousness. Canadian Psychologist, 26, 1–12. Wearing, D. (2006). Forever today. London: Corgi Books. (This is the story of Clive Wearing, a gifted musician, who can only keep information in his short-term memory for a few seconds.) Zeisel, J. (2009). I’m still here: A breakthrough approach to understanding someone living with Alzheimer’s. New York: Avery. Seven sins of memory http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=000064E9-8F6F-1FE3- 8F6F83414B7F0103&pageNumber=1 (A Scientific American article featuring an interview with Dan Schacter.) Chapter 8: Learning BRIEF CHAPTER OUTLINE Basic Processes of Learning Association Conditioning Models of Learning Classical Conditioning Pavlov’s Dogs How Classical Conditioning Works The Conditioning of Little Albert Operant Conditioning Reinforcement and Punishment How Operant Conditioning Works Applications of Operant Conditioning Schedules of Reinforcement Challenging Assumptions About Conditioning Models of Learning Conditioned Taste Aversion Instinctive Drift Latent Learning Social Learning Theory The Interaction of Nature and Nurture in Learning Imprinting Imitation, Mirror Neurons, and Learning Synaptic Change During Learning Experience, Enrichment, and Brain Growth Psychology in the Real World: Sleep Facilitates Learning Bringing It All Together: Making Connections in Learning: Why Do People Smoke? Chapter Review EXTENDED CHAPTER OUTLINE BASIC PROCESSES OF LEARNING •Learning is defined as enduring changes in behavior that occur with experience. o Suggestion: Link learning and its definition to memory (Chapter 7). Association •Association occurs when one piece of information from the environment becomes linked repeatedly with another and the organism begins to connect the two sources of information. •CONNECTION: Right now you are habituated to dozens of stimuli, including the feel of clothing on your skin. Now you are sensitized to it. How so? (Chapter 4) CONDITIONING MODELS OF LEARNING •Conditioning is a form of association learning in which behaviors are triggered by associations with events in the environment. •There are two types of conditioning (both are forms of associative learning). o Classical conditioning is a form of associative learning in which a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a stimulus to which one has an automatic, inborn response. o Operant conditioning is the process of changing behavior by manipulating the consequences of that behavior. Classical Conditioning •Learning occurs when a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a stimulus to which one has an automatic, inborn response. Pavlov’s Dogs •Perhaps the most famous example is Pavlov’s dogs. Initially, Pavlov studied digestion in dogs and he used meat powder to stimulate salivation. After doing this for a while, he noticed that the dogs would begin to salivate even before the meat powder was presented. •Pavlov reasoned that the dogs formed an association between a stimulus that had no inherent deliciousness (the sound of the apparatus) and one that did (the meat powder). To test this, he used new dogs and presented a neutral stimulus (a bell sound) just before showing them the meat powder. After repeated presentation, dogs not only salivated to the meat powder but also to the bell. Thus, the bell (formally neutral) has now become an associated stimuli. How Classical Conditioning Works •Pavlov called the kind of learning he’d observed the conditioning of reflexes. Today this is referred to as classical conditioning. •An unconditioned response (UCR) is the natural automatic, inborn response to a stimulus. In the Pavlov example, salivation is the UCR. It might help to explain to students that unconditioned simply means “unlearned.” •An unconditioned stimulus (UCS) is the environmental input that elicits an unlearned, reflexive response. For Pavlov, this is the meat powder. •A conditioned stimulus (CS) is a previously neutral stimulus that an organism learns to associate with the UCS. In Pavlov’s study, the CS would be the bell ringing. It is important to note that Pavlov presented the neutral stimulus (bell) immediately before the UCS (meat powder). •A conditioned response (CR) is a behavior that an organism learns to perform when presented with the CS alone. In Pavlov’s study this was also salivation but here the salivation was in response to the anticipation of food presentation. •Forward conditioning is the neutral stimulus being presented just before the UCS, or the neutral stimulus and the UCS presented simultaneously. •Backward conditioning is a slightly less successful form of conditioning in which the neutral stimulus follows the UCS. •Pavlov’s criterion for successful conditioning is listed below. 1. Multiple pairings of UCS and neutral stimulus (CS) are necessary for an association to occur, so that the CS will produce the conditioned response. 2. Temporal continuity is also important. The UCS and CS must be paired or presented very close together in time in order for an association to form. •Other issues in the acquisition process are stimulus generalization and stimulus discrimination. o Stimulus generalization is extending the association between UCS and CS to include a broad array of similar stimuli. o Stimulus discrimination is when a CR (such as salivation) occurs only to the exact CS to which it was conditioned. o Extinction is the weakening of a CR when the CS and the UCS are no longer paired together. For example, if Pavlov stopped providing food after bell ringing would they salivate forever? No. •Spontaneous recovery is the sudden reappearance of an extinguished response. The Conditioning of Little Albert •Perhaps one of the best illustrations of stimulus generalization comes from Watson and Rayner (1920), in the conditioning of Little Albert. o A 9-month-old baby known as Little Albert was conditioned to fear a white rat. Initially, Watson and Rayner brought out a white rat and showed it to Albert. He was curious, but not afraid of it. They then presented the rat with a very loud noise (the sound of a hammer striking a steel bar right behind Albert’s head). Naturally, the loud sound (a UCS) startled Albert (the UCR), and he got very upset. Eventually, the rat (CS) elicited the fear response (CR). Amazingly, Albert further generalized the fear response to a slew of stimuli, including a rabbit, dog, a white fur coat, and even a Santa Claus mask! This generalization is very impressive, if not disturbing, as he generalized from animate to inanimate stimuli. o CONNECTION: The ethics of human research today would not allow Watson do his research on Little Albert (Chapter 2). Operant Conditioning •Thorndike believed that spontaneously emitted behavior can become favored and reinforced when it is followed by certain consequences. He tested this using a device called a puzzle box. Cats are placed in a specially designed cage from which they want to escape. Simply based on its random behaviors, the cat would eventually be rewarded by the door opening. This reward increased the probability of the now specific behavior happening again, leading to further rewards. Moreover, this specific behavior would occur more quickly over time. Thorndike labeled this the law of effect. •Skinner coined the term operant to refer to behavior that acts, or operates, on the environment to produce specific consequences. •Operant conditioning: the process of modifying behavior by manipulating the consequences of that behavior. That is, a behavior that is rewarded is more likely to occur again. Reinforcement and Punishment •Reinforcer is anything that increases the frequency of a behavior (e.g., receiving smiles, money, food, oxygen, compliments, alleviation of pain). o There are two dimensions of reinforcement: primary vs. secondary and positive vs. negative. Primary reinforcers are innate and satisfy biological needs (e.g., food, water, sex). Secondary (or conditioned) reinforcers are learned by association (usually via classical conditioning). Examples include money, grades, and peer approval. Positive reinforcement is the presentation of something, someone, or a situation as a reward for behavior (e.g., giving a child stickers for doing homework correctly, good grades, praise) to increase behavior. Negative reinforcement is removal of an unpleasant stimulus that increases the probability of behavior (e.g., smoking to alleviate stress, napping to alleviate fatigue, giving a fussy child a cookie to stop them from crying) to increase behavior. It is important to note that students will often find these concepts difficult. You should explain that the terms “positive” and “negative” are somewhat misleading. They do not refer to polarity of behavior but rather the addition or subtraction of a stimulus. For example, if you give a fussy child a cookie that is a positive reinforcement for the child (they have learned that fussing leads to cookies) but a negative reinforcement for the parent (who has learned that cookies lead to quiet children). •Punishment is any stimulus that decreases the likelihood that a behavior will occur. o Like reinforcement, punishment can be positive or negative. Remind students this refers to the addition or subtraction of the stimulus. That is, all punishment is meant to decrease behavior and all reinforcement is meant to increase behavior. Positive punishment is the addition of a stimulus that may decrease behavior (e.g., spanking in an effort to stop an undesirable behavior, electric shocks, putting bad-tasting chemicals on a child’s thumb to assist them in stopping undesirable thumb sucking, getting a fine for speeding). In any of these examples, an unwanted situation/stimulus is added in the attempt to dissuade negative behaviors. Negative punishment is the removal of a stimulus in order to decrease behavior; in other words, something that is desirable is taken away (e.g., grounding a child by taking away their freedom, taking an adolescent’s cell phone away for breaking curfew, losing your license for a DUI). How Operant Conditioning Works •The basic idea is that any behavior that is reinforced will occur more often in the future. •Skinner box: a simple cage used for operant conditioning in which a small animal (e.g., a rat) can move around, with a food dispenser and a response lever to trigger food delivery. Using this device, Skinner demonstrated how a rat could be coaxed to perform a desired behavior (such as lever pressing) through reinforcement of behaviors that occurred when the rat got closer and closer to pressing the lever using shaping (the reinforcement of successive approximations of a desired behavior). Applications of Operant Conditioning •Operant conditioning is a method used in the treatment of some psychological disorders, nicotine addiction, and learning disabilities. •Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) is used in the treatment of autism. Schedules of Reinforcement •The schedules of reinforcement are the variety of conditions or rules about presenting reinforcement. Reinforcement may be presented every time a behavior occurs, or only occasionally. o Continuous reinforcement is rewarding a behavior every time it occurs. For example, giving dogs treats every time they sit on command is continuous reinforcement. o Intermittent reinforcement is reinforcement that does not occur after every response. This type of reinforcement tends to produce a stronger behavioral response than continuous reinforcement. •Skinner identified four patterns of intermittent reinforcement. These schedules vary along two dimensions: whether you are being reinforced based on the number of behaviors (ratio) or the amount of time that passes (interval) and whether reinforcement occurs after a set number or amount of time has passed (fixed) or whether this amount varies (variable). o A fixed ratio (FR) schedule is reinforcement follows a set number of responses. For example, every third time Fluffy the Shih Tzu sits on command, Fluffy gets a cookie. Interestingly, a continuous schedule is a fixed ratio where the number of response is set at 1. o A variable ratio (VR) schedule is the number of responses needed for reinforcement varies. For example, playing slot machines, which reinforce variably but at a preordained schedule, or checking your email to see if you’ve got mail. o A fixed interval (FI) schedule is when responses are always reinforced after a set period of time has passed; for example, getting paid every two weeks. o A variable interval (VI) schedule is when responses are reinforced after time periods of different duration have passed; for example, your instructor may use CPS questions to track attendance or reward you with points, but it varies at which lecture and at which point in the lecture they are asked. Challenging Assumptions About Conditioning Models of Learning Three domains of research challenged traditional learning theory. These three domains are conditioned taste aversion, instinctive drift, and latent learning. Conditioned Taste Aversion •Conditioned taste aversion is the learned avoidance of a particular taste or food if nausea occurs at the same time as or shortly after exposure to the food. •The Traditional Learning Model explained taste aversion as a special case of classical conditioning. •Garcia and his colleagues (1955) wanted to see if they could condition rats to develop an aversion to water sweetened with saccharine—something they normally like a lot—by pairing it with radiation (a UCS for nausea at certain doses). They began with the following questions: 1. Could taste aversion to a preferred substance (saccharine water) be achieved by pairing the taste with radiation (a UCS for nausea)? 2. How long would the taste aversion last without repeated exposure to radiation (the UCS)? •Researchers varied the conditions of groups of rats. All of the groups had access to either plain water or saccharine water during the radiation period. One control group had access to plain water during irradiation. The other control group got saccharine water and no radiation. In the experimental condition, rats subjected to different levels of radiation were given saccharine water. All of the groups that received radiation were exposed to it for the same amount of time, 6 hours overall. In some cases, the interval of time between when the rats were irradiated (UCS) and when they tasted the drink (CS) lasted several minutes. The independent variable was the radiation, and the dependent variable was measured in terms of how much saccharine water the rats consumed after the pairing of saccharine water with radiation. •The results indicated that regardless of radiation level, both groups of rats that had been drinking saccharine water during irradiation consumed significantly less saccharine water after conditioning. •This study is important because it showed that long-lasting conditioned taste aversion could occur even when the UCS and CS were paired only during a single session. This is now known as the Garcia effect. •Garcia and Koelling (1966) varied the type of aversive stimulus (UCS) to which the rats were exposed. Nausea (the UCR) was induced by exposure to X-rays, whereas pain (UCR) was induced by shocks through the floor. When the rat licked the drinking tube, it received the CS of either saccharine water or “bright-noisy water” (plain water accompanied by a light and a buzzer that went on when the rat touched the drinking tube). The UCS for half the rats was X-rays. The other half received a shock. •The results indicated that the rats that were made nauseous avoided the sweet water but not the bright-noisy water, whereas rats that were given a mildly painful shock avoided the bright-noisy water but not the sweet water. •The key finding here is that, contrary to the predictions of traditional learning theory, an organism cannot be conditioned to respond to just any “neutral” stimulus paired with an unconditioned stimulus. •Garcia’s findings in several studies undermined two major assumptions of classical conditioning: (1) that conditioning (learning) could happen only if an organism was exposed repeatedly within a brief time span to the UCS and CS together and (2) that organisms can learn to associate any two stimuli. Instinctive Drift •Breland and Breland (1961), two of Skinner’s students, successfully conditioned 38 different species and more than 6,000 animals. They coined the term instinctive drift, which they defined as learned behavior that shifts toward instinctive, unlearned behavior tendencies. •In the biological constraint model some behaviors are inherently more likely to be learned than others. In other words, biology constrains, or limits, options to make the adaptive ones more likely to occur. The idea here is that constraints on learning have positive evolutionary implications; that is, it is useful for survival. For example, if you were attacked by a dog and did not learn a fear response, you might wind up dead. •Instinctive drift and biological constraints provide great examples of the limits nature places on nurture. Latent Learning •Latent learning is learning that occurs in the absence of reinforcement and is not demonstrated until the reinforcement is provided at a later time. •Tolman reasoned that these rats had formed internal cognitive maps, like pictures in their minds, of the maze from all the practice they had received. When they finally had rewards waiting for them, the rats could use these maps to run the maze more efficiently. It is difficult to know whether the rats really had maps of the maze in their minds. What is clear from these findings is that some learning can occur in the absence of reinforcement. Running the maze, even without rewards, helped the rats in Group 3 run much better when reinforcement was available •Connection: People who cannot form new memories nevertheless learn. The body can learn things of which the conscious mind is not aware (Chapter 7). SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY •Enactive learning is learning by doing. •Observational learning is learning by watching others. •Bandura is the father of social learning. Social learning theory describes learning that occurs when we model or imitate the behavior of others. Modeling is Bandura's term for the process of observing and imitating behaviors performed by others. •People learn best those things they are rewarded for doing, whether the rewards are external (such as praise, money, candy) or internal (such as joy and satisfaction). Bandura realized that reinforcement matters not only for the person carrying out the behavior, but also for those who watch. •A series of classic studies in the 1960s involved a Bobo doll. This research demonstrated that those who viewed aggression were more aggressive with the doll than those who did not see aggression. The consequences for the model also mattered. Children who saw the aggressive adult rewarded for his aggression were more violent with the toys and Bobo doll than those who saw the aggressive adult get punished. Those who did not see an aggressive model did not show much aggression with the toys, nor did those who saw the adult punished. These studies show how modeling and reinforcement can work together to influence behavior. Kids are more likely to copy behavior that they see others get rewarded for doing. THE INTERACTION OF NATURE AND NURTURE IN LEARNING •Four learning processes that illustrate the dynamic interplay between nature and nurture are: imprinting, imitation, synaptic change, and brain growth with enrichment. Imprinting •Imprinting is the rapid and innate learning of the characteristics of a caregiver within a very short period of time after birth. •Ethology is the scientific study of animal behavior, and especially from the work of Lorenz on ducklings and goslings (baby geese). •Imprinting provides clear evidence of sensitivity periods in learning. These are periods during which, if an animal is exposed to a particular stimulus or situation, it will learn it very readily. Once the animal has moved beyond that period, it becomes much harder, if not impossible, to learn certain skills or make use of certain kinds of information. •Imprinting and sensitivity periods in learning make it clear that the mind is not a blank slate but rather is structured in such a way that certain kinds of experiences are more or less easily learned at different periods in life (e.g., vision, hearing, and language). •Imprinting does not occur in human. Babies, however, do form attachments (Chapter 5) that serve much the same function. Imitation, Mirror Neurons, and Learning •Imitation by infants may be a result of mirror neuron systems (MNS) in the brain. Mirror neuron systems respond in much the same way while watching an action as they do while making an action (Chapter 3). CONNECTION: Mirror neurons help explains why even newborn infants imitate adult behavior so easily (Chapter 5). Synaptic Change During Learning •Synaptic connections between neurons strengthen and even grow during long-term associative learning, indicating that the brain literally grows and changes as we learn. The development and frequent use of new synaptic connections in response to stimulation from the environment strengthens the associated memories and makes learning easier. It does seem as though “practice makes perfect” and you should either “use it” or you will “lose it.” Experience, Enrichment, and Brain Growth •Later experiments showed that animals did not have to be raised from birth in an enriched environment to benefit. However, the best way to stimulate new neural growth is to be in an enriched environment that continues to have new and novel forms of stimulation. •CONNECTION: Can experience and learning generate new neurons in an elderly person? (Chapter 5) PSYCHOLOGY IN THE REAL WORLD: SLEEP FACILITATES LEARNING •To learn material in a class, you have to pay attention, take in new information, form new associations, and then store it in a form that can be recalled or used later. The processes of consciousness, memory, and learning all come together in classroom learning; you need sleep to do all of these things. •A growing scientific literature shows that sleep plays an important role in learning. Beginning in infancy, better sleep is associated with increases in cognitive functioning. Sleep enhances and consolidates what we learn during the day. •College students who have the most and best quality sleep have higher course grades in psychology and higher overall GPAs than those who have disruptive and disturbed sleep Pulling all-nighters is associated with a lower GPA. •Before running a maze, rats had very thin electrodes painlessly implanted in their hippocampus (learning and memory center) to measure activity patterns of specific neurons. When the mice were running the maze, a particular pattern of neural firing was observed. Much to the researchers’ surprise, while these rats slept, a very similar pattern of brain activity was replayed in the hippocampus and the visual cortex. In other words, while they slept their brain spontaneously and without effort was rehearsing and consolidating what it learned during the day. In fact, the phenomenon of “sleeping on” a problem and working it out spontaneously during the night and having a solution suddenly appear in the morning is probably related to rehearsal and replay of learned experience. • Dozens of human studies support a strong role for sleep in memory consolidation and learning. •The following recommendations may help students use sleep to improve school performance. o Get more sleep the night or two before an exam. o Short midday naps enhance learning, alertness, and memory. o Increase physical activity if you are having trouble getting a night's sleep. BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER: MAKING CONNECTIONS: WHY DO PEOPLE SMOKE? •Social learning probably offers the best explanation to how the smoking behavior is acquired. Most smokers start smoking as teenagers, and most teens start smoking because they seek some of the rewards that appear to come with smoking: coolness, peer acceptance, and looking like an adult. Kids see that others who smoke get some of these rewards for smoking. They might model the smoking behavior in order to obtain these rewards themselves. •Once someone has become an established smoker, operant conditioning helps maintain smoking behavior. Smoking is bolstered by a number of positive reinforcers: arousal of the sympathetic nervous system (the “rush” of smoking), mild relaxation of the muscles, and in some cases, increased peer acceptance. Smoking also has a number of negative reinforcers, such as the removal of stress, the removal of social isolation for some smokers, and a reduced appetite. •The power of these reinforcers, combined with the physiologically addictive properties of nicotine, makes it very difficult to quit smoking. Moreover, the potential punishers of smoking, a substantially increased risk of lung cancer and heart disease, are threats that are so far off in the future for teens that they tend to ignore them. •There are several other factors to consider. o The first factor to consider is gender. One large-scale study indicated that gender influences susceptibility to smoking, the way people work with their urges to smoke, and the ability to successfully quit. For example, whether or not one’s friends smoke plays a stronger role in whether adolescent girls attempt and succeed at quitting smoking than it does in boys. o The second factor to consider is personality. People who are more sociable, impulsive, rebellious, hostile, and sensation-seeking are more likely to start smoking and less likely to quit successfully than those who do not have these personal characteristics. For example, not having a long-term perspective, they fail to understand the negative effects of smoking on health. o A final factor to is sociocultural variables. Research suggests that cultural variables (ethnic group), social factors (availability of role models), and basic principles of learning (observational learning) can all interact to influence whether young people start smoking. For example, African-American children were less likely to smoke than European-American children, and they had fewer family members and friends who smoked. •Behavior modification is a technique that applies principles of operant conditioning to changing behavior. This may be particularly effective in helping people quit smoking, especially when combined with nicotine replacement therapies (e.g., gum or the patch), which ease the symptoms of withdrawal. KEY TERMS association: process by which two pieces of information from the environment are repeatedly linked so that we begin to connect them in our minds. behavior modification: the application of operant conditioning principles to change behavior. biological constraint model: view on learning proposing that some behaviors are inherently more likely to be learned than others. classical conditioning: form of associative learning in which a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a stimulus to which one has an automatic, inborn response. conditioned response (CR): a behavior that an organism learns to perform when presented with the CS. conditioned stimulus (CS): a previously neutral input that an organism learns to associate with the UCS. conditioned taste aversion: the learned avoidance of a particular taste or food. conditioning: a form of associative learning in which behaviors are triggered by associations with events in the environment. continuous reinforcement: reinforcement of a behavior every time it occurs. enactive learning: learning by doing. ethology: the scientific study of animal behavior. extinction: the weakening and disappearance of a conditioned response, which occurs when the UCS is no longer paired with the CS. fixed interval (FI) schedule: a pattern of intermittent reinforcement in which responses are always reinforced after a set period of time has passed. fixed ratio (FR) schedule: pattern of intermittent reinforcement in which reinforcement follows a set number of responses. imprinting: the rapid and innate learning of the characteristics of a caregiver very soon after birth. instinctive drift: learned behavior that shifts towards instinctive, unlearned behavior tendencies. intermittent reinforcement: reinforcement of a behavior, but not after every response. latent learning: learning that occurs in the absence of reinforcement and is not demonstrated until later, when reinforcement occurs. law of effect: principle that the consequences of a behavior increase (or decrease) the likelihood that the behavior would be repeated. learning: enduring changes in behavior that occur with experience. modeling: the imitation of behaviors performed by others. negative punishment: the removal of a stimulus to decrease behavior. negative reinforcement: removal of a stimulus after a behavior to increase the frequency of that behavior. An example is buckling your seat belt to stop the buzzer in the car. observational learning: learning by watching the behavior of others. operant conditioning: the process of changing behavior by manipulating the consequences of that behavior. positive punishment: the addition of a stimulus that may decrease behavior. positive reinforcement: the presentation or addition of a stimulus after a behavior occurs that increases how often that behavior will occur. primary reinforcers: innate, unlearned reinforcers that satisfy biological needs (such as food, water, or sex). punishment: stimulus, presented after a behavior, that decreases the frequency of the behavior. reinforcer: environmental stimulus that increases the frequency of a behavior. schedules of reinforcement: patterns of reinforcement distinguished by whether reinforcement occurs after a set number of responses or after a certain amount of time has passed since the last reinforcement. secondary (or conditioned) reinforcers: reinforcers that are learned by association, usually via classical conditioning. shaping: the reinforcement of successive approximations of a desired behavior. Skinner box: simple chamber used for operant conditioning of small animals; includes a food dispenser and a response lever to trigger food delivery. social learning theory: a description of the kind of learning that occurs when we model or imitate the behavior of another. spontaneous recovery: the sudden reappearance of an extinguished response. stimulus discrimination: restriction of a CR (such as salivation) to the exact CS to which it was conditioned. stimulus generalization: extension of the association UCS and CS to include a broad array of similar stimuli. unconditioned response (UCR): the automatic, inborn response to a stimulus. unconditioned stimulus (UCS): the environmental input that always produces the same unlearned response. variable interval (VI) schedule: pattern of intermittent reinforcement in which responses are reinforced after time periods of different duration have passed. variable ratio (VR) schedule: a pattern of intermittent reinforcement in which the number of responses needed for reinforcement changes. MAKING THE CONNECTIONS (Some of the connections are found in the text. Other connections may be useful for lecture or discussion.) Basic Processes of Learning CONNECTION: Right now you are habituated to dozens of stimuli – including the feel of clothing on your skin. Now you are sensitized to it. How so? (Chapter 4) o Discussion: Is habituation learning? Ask students to think about their job. How much of what they do is automatic? That is, are they demonstrating habituation (they are oriented to what they do and are exposed to repeatedly) or learning? The Conditioning of Little Albert CONNECTION: Could Watson do research on Little Albert in today’s world? Review the discussion of ethics in Chapter 2. •Discussion: Watson, perhaps the father of the behavioral movement, is best known for the infamous quote: “Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select—doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant—chief, and yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors” (Watson, 1925, p. 82). Based on this quotation, what would this mean if you had an IQ of 100 and wanted to be a doctor? What if you lacked the ability for athleticism, as you were born small and weaker than most but you wanted to be a professional football player? What would Watson say? •Discussion: Students are generally interested in this story, and you may want to also talk about little Peter, a follow-up study done by Mary Cover Jones (1924) under Watson’s supervision. Operant Conditioning CONNECTION: What is addiction? See the discussion of drugs in Chapter 6. •Discuss alcohol addiction as it relates to reinforcement and punishment. Instinctive Drift CONNECTION: Every human learns a language. Why is that? (Chapter 9) o Discussion: This might be a good time to preview Chomsky and the nativist perspective in comparison to a learning perspective on language acquisition. Ask students what language skills children are rewarded for, versus prewired for. Do parents punish and correct every grammatical mistake toddlers make in speech? Unlikely. o Discussion: What types of language do animals display? See the bee waggle dance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc-mtUs-eis. Latent Learning Connection: People who cannot form new memories nevertheless learn. The body can learn things of which the conscious mind is not aware (Chapter 7). o Activity: If you have Internet access in your classroom, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmkiMlvLK to and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymEn_YxZqZw for clips on Clive Wearing, a man who is unable to form new memory but demonstrates learning none the less. You may also want to use http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vwigmktix2Y Social Learning Theory CONNECTION: Do you think watching violence in movies and TV leads to aggressive behavior? Overwhelmingly, the answer seems to be yes (Chapter 15). o Activity: If you have Internet access in your classroom, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqNaLerMNOE for a video clip of Bandura discussing his famous Bobo Doll study. o Video: Choose any segment from Jackass: The Movie and discuss its implications for young children who idolize these types of behaviors. o Discussion: Ask students to consider how Bandura’s research would map onto the violent videogames on the market today. Imprinting CONNECTION: Mirror neurons help explains why even newborn infants imitate adult behavior so easily (Chapter 5). o Video: Show Fly Away Home (1996) and discuss imprinting. Now ask students how this model is limited in terms of human behavior and attachment. o Activity: Show http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqZmW7uIPW4 for a brief clip (no sound) of Lorenz with his goslings. Experience, Enrichment, and Brain Growth CONNECTION: Can experience and learning generate new neurons in an elderly person? (Chapter 5) o Discussion: See Chapter 7 for a review on how new proteins form and synapses actually grow in long-term but not short-term memory formation. Tell students that just listening to information and reading the bullets on a PowerPoint cause certain synapses to form between neurons that were not there before. INNOVATIVE INSTRUCTION 1. Classical conditioning and your pet: Ask students to think about their pet. Ask them what happens when they go into the kitchen. How do their fish respond when they walk over to the tank? Why do animals get excited by these mundane behaviors? Their pet has learned to associate these behaviors with food. If you want to continue this line of discussion, ask them about “false alarms.” If you go into the kitchen repeatedly and then don’t give them food, what happens? Ask students to provide additional examples of this learning by association (e.g., how have they trained their significant other?). 2. Combining stimulus generalization, stimulus discrimination, extinction, and spontaneous recovery: o Ask students to assume they were bitten (UCS) by a black and white Shih Tzu (a toy breed of dog, the CS) and that the bite elicited a pain response (UCR) such as crying. Ask them what would happen the next time they saw a Shih Tzu (CS). Most likely, they would cry in fear of being bitten again (CR) but the CR could also be running away due to fear. o With this basic outline in place, ask them if they would generalize their fear response to all Shih Tzus. To all dogs? To all small dogs? Or to only black and white dogs? o Now ask students if they would only fear the offending Shih Tzu. For example, you can expand this by asking students to assume that they have generalized their fear to all Shih Tzus and that they have just met a wonderful person and fallen in love with someone who owns a Shih Tzu named Fluffy. What would they do? Can a conditioned response be unlearned? o Now ask students to assume that their new love had them sit down with Fluffy over and over again so that they could make friends with his/her beloved pet (CS) and that they never got bitten or had any unpleasant experience (UCS). How would they feel about Shih Tzus? Chances are that the fear response (CR) would diminish. This is extinction. o Finally, for an example of spontaneous recovery, ask students to imagine that one day they are out walking and a random Shih Tzu attacks and bites them. How will they feel the next time they see Fluffy? We would predict that the fear response (CR) to Fluffy’s next appearance would be heightened, possibly even to original levels. 3. Differences between primary and secondary reinforcers: Students may have difficulty discriminating the differences between these two types of reinforcements. You can use the advertising example in the text (e.g., how reinforcers may acquire pleasant characteristics by virtue of their association with something that is inherently reinforcing, such as food or sex, in ads for sports cars, beer, beauty supplies, etc.). You can also discuss what types of reinforcers are most effective for different situations. For example, ask how to get classmates to show up at different events—the answer . . . FREE FOOD (a primary reinforcer). How might you as a faculty member get students to attend class regularly? OFFER EXTRA CREDIT (a secondary reinforcer). 4. Behavior modification: How should you best modify behaviors? Ask students how their parents reinforced and punished them. Which actions were most effective? Which were most ineffective? Skinner emphasized that reinforcement is a much more effective way of modifying behavior than is punishment. Specifically, using reinforcement to increase desirable behaviors works better than using punishment in an attempt to decrease undesirable behaviors. As another example, ask students to honestly report if they have ever driven drunk. Then ask if they were ever caught in this act. What can government do to curb drunk driving? Should they punish people with jail sentences, major fines, etc., or should they reward people each time they drive sober? 5. Relating classical conditioning concepts to operant conditioning principles: Have students discuss how concepts such as stimulus generalization, stimulus discrimination, extinction, and spontaneous recovery discussed with classical conditioning can be applied to operant conditioning. 6. Classical conditioning: Through classical conditioning, innate responses—like salivation—can become associated with and changed by almost any experience. Vomiting is another example of a reflex, but you can use the association between the reflex of vomiting with something else, say drinking alcohol, to establish a taste aversion. Another example given is the drug disulfiram, which can be used to condition alcoholics to have an aversion to alcohol. If people drink alcohol while taking disulfiram, then they get very sick. That said, alcohol does not become a CS for nausea when the disulfiram is discontinued. It is tough to condition alcohol to become a CS for nausea because the intoxication it produces is a positive reinforcer, especially for alcoholics. 7. Instinctive drift: Animals are primed from birth to readily learn some things and not others. Humans, for example are primed to talk. Turkewitz (1993) is well known for his work on several species of bird and “innate” skills. In humans, he looked at the development of the brain in utero and discovered that the right hemisphere develops early (before the auditory system is working). The left hemisphere develops later and rapidly surpasses the right in both size and complexity. As the auditory system develops in concourse with the left hemisphere, this is also when mom’s speech is most salient. Thus, the left hemisphere becomes specialized for processing language and speech. The right hemisphere remains “unspecialized” and thus is able to deal with visual information, spatial skills, and face/pattern recognition; thus, new meaning to the term innate. Ask students for their definition of innate. How would this research alter that view? 8. Instinctual drift is a wonderful concept that captures students’ attention. Have students provide other examples of instinctual drift (e.g., my dachshund will sometimes begin to scoot on her brisket after she chases her ball. She is doing what she was bred to do and that is hunting badgers by simulating going into the brush and badger holes). Students love to provide examples of their pets. 9. Have students buy a copy of Sniffy (the virtual rat) or, if you do not want to add to their expenses, load the program onto your in-class computer and work through different types of classical conditioning and operant conditioning principles discussed in class. Students very much enjoy the interactive process, and the hands-on experience tends to clarify their mounting confusion over these different concepts. 10. Students will find it difficult to differentiate different types of punishments and reinforcements. They will also find it very difficult to differentiate negative reinforcement and punishment in general. You may wish to utilize CPS clicker questions to ascertain their understanding of these issues before moving forward. 11. Make an additional connection between this chapter and Chapter 2 by asking students how the Skinner box differs from Thorndike’s Puzzle Box. Students may not understand the fundamental difference here. Review concepts of independent and dependent variables. Remind them that Thorndike measured how long it took cats to escape. Skinner is interested in how many times animals perform an action. 12. Give students a homework assignment of watching television. Have them make note of different types of aggression they see in the course of one evening (you may wish to differentiate physical aggression versus relational aggression). Talk to students in the next class meeting about their observations. They will likely be surprised by just how much aggression they saw. Ask them how this might influence children (you can also talk about cartoon violence here). 13. How long does it take for orientation to a dark room to occur? See how long it takes you to move from the orienting response to habituation. You are in a darkened room. Ask a friend to enter the room with a bright light and to start a stopwatch. When your friend sees that you no longer respond to the bright light, your friend should stop the watch. Check how many seconds have elapsed. Repeat this a few times and average the times that it takes you to habituate to the bright light in a dark room. 14. Ask students to describe any taste aversion experiences they have had. 15. If unconditioned responses are biologically built in, does that mean conditioned responses come purely from experience? Another way to approach this would be to ask students to provide examples of instances in which UCR and CR differ. For example, a child is looking at his mom’s pretty scented candle that has been burning for several hours. The child bats at the hot wax pooling by the wick and screams in pain when he is burnt. Several days later his mom has another candle burning. When the child sees the candle he again screams but this time in fear. Discuss the difference in motivation of the UCR and CR and what other possible conditioned responses are viable in this example (e.g., crying, running away, etc.). Suggested Media 1. Bee waggle dance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7ijI-g4jHg 2. Fly Away Home (1996) is a good example of imprinting. It is a story of a family of orphaned goslings who have gotten lost and imprint onto a father and daughter who ultimately help them. 3. Traffic (2000) is a good example of social learning and operant conditioning (especially as it relates to drug addiction. This movie intertwines four separate story lines but we recommend you focus on that of the conservative politician recently appointed as the U.S. drug czar who learns that his daughter is a drug addict. 5. Jackass: The Movie (2002). Choose any segment from this film and discuss its implications for young children who idolize these types of behaviors. You can include a discussion of evolutionary and social learning issues at play here. 6. Natural Born Killers (1994). This is a very violent film. You may not want to show clips to illustrate and discuss social learning. You may, however, want to mention this film to students. They have probably seen it! 7. Discovering Psychology—Learning (Annenberg) 8. The Bobo Doll experiment http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr0OTCVtHbU 9. Pigeons Play Ping-Pong http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGazyH6fQQ4 10. Children See Children Do (Observational Learning) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHi2dxSf9hw 11. Original Footage of Little Albert http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxKfpKQzow8 12. The Office (Jim classical conditions Dwight) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE8pFWP5QDM 13. Big Bang Theory (Sheldon trains Penny) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy_mIEnnlF4 14. Rat basketball (operant conditioning) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAQSEO25fa4 15. Learning and the Brain (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.) Concept Clips (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.) 1. Classical Conditioning 2. Operant Conditioning Suggested Websites 1. Differentiating classical and operant conditioning worksheet: http://www.ar.cc.mn.us/biederman/courses/p1110/conditioning2.htm 2. Using classical and operant conditioning (NOTE: This is a site that provides you with scenarios and solutions. You may not want to assign it to students, though, since the answers are posted.): http://www.utexas.edu/courses/svinicki/ald320/CCOC.html. 3. Operant conditioning worksheet: http://core.ecu.edu/psyc/ironsmithe/Developmental/operant.htm 4. Overview of operant conditioning: http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/behsys/operant.html 5. Operant and classical conditioning scenarios and solutions http://www.utexas.edu/courses/svinicki/ald320/CCOC.html Suggested Readings Alloway, T., Wilson, G., & Graham, J. (2005). Sniffy: The virtual rat. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth. Bandura, A., Ross, D., & Ross, S. A. (1963). Vicarious reinforcement and imitative learning. Journal of Abnormal & Social Psychology, 67, 601–608. Bushman, B. J., & Anderson, C. A. (2001). Media violence and the American public: Scientific facts versus media misinformation. American Psychologist, 56, 477–489. Dinn, W. M., Aycicegi, A., & Harris, C. L. (2004). Cigarette smoking in a student sample: Neurocognitive and clinical correlates. Addictive Behaviors, 29, 107–126. Garcia, J., Kimeldorf, D. J., & Koelling, R. A. (1955). A conditioned aversion towards saccharine resulting from exposure to gamma radiation. Science, 122, 157–159. Jones, M. C. (1924). A laboratory study of fear: The case of Peter. Pedagogical Seminary, 31, 308–315. Jones, M. C. (1974). Albert, Peter, and John B. Watson. American Psychologist, 29, 581–583. Little Albert regains his identity. (January 2010). Monitor on Psychology, 41. Meltzoff, A. N., & Moore, M. K. (1983). Newborn infants imitate adult facial gestures. Child Development, 54, 702–709. Pavlov, I. P. (1906). The scientific investigation of the psychical faculties or processes in the higher animals. Science, 24, 613–619. Seligman, M. E. P. (1970). On the generality of the laws of learning. Psychological Review, 77, 406–418. Skinner, B. F. (1959). A case history in scientific method. In S. Koch (Ed.). Psychology—A study of a science, Vol. 2 (pp. 359–379). New York: McGraw-Hill. Watanabe, H., Kobayashi, Y., Sakura, M., Matsumoto, Y., & Mizunami, M. (2003). Classical olfactory conditioning in the cockroach. Zoological Science, 20, 1447–1454. Watson, J. B., & Rayner, R. (1920). Conditioned emotional reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 3, 1–14. Chapter 9: Language and Thought BRIEF CHAPTER OUTLINE Language The Nature of Language The Evolution of Language in Humans Language Development in Individuals Stages of Language Development The Sensitivity Period Theories of Language Acquisition Sociocultural Theories Conditioning and Learning Theory Nativist Theory Nature, Nurture, and Language Learning Can Other Species Learn Human Language? Language, Culture, and Thought Thinking, Reasoning, and Decision Making How Do We Represent Thoughts in Our Minds? Visual Representation Verbal Representation How Do We Reason About Evidence? Critical Thinking Psychology in the Real World: Applying Critical Thinking Beyond the Classroom How Do We Make Judgments and Decisions? The Representativeness Heuristic The Availability Heuristic Challenging Assumptions in Human Rationality Bringing It All Together: Making Connections in Language and Thought: Learning a Second Language Sensitivity Periods and Second-Language Acquisition Second-Language Learning and the Brain Reasoning in a Second language Second Language Acquisition and Metacognition Chapter Review EXTENDED CHAPTER OUTLINE LANGUAGE •Language and thought develop side by side with few exceptions. One is not possible without the other, at least in adult humans. More so, culture and civilization as we know it could not exist without language. The Nature of Language •Human language is an open and symbolic communication system that has rules of grammar and allows its users to express abstract and distant ideas. •This definition involves several assumptions. First, open means that the system is free to change. Second, symbolic means that there is no real connection between a sound and the meaning or idea associated with it. Finally, it is rule-based. o Syntax refers to the rules on how one arranges words in a particular language. o Grammar comprises the entire set of rules for combining symbols and sounds to speak and write a particular language. •Most researchers argue that human language is special because it allows for the communication of abstract ideas and new ideas. The Evolution of Language in Humans •Evidence indicates that early hominids had at least a form of protolanguage or pre-language. Although no one knows for sure when fully grammatical language first appeared, archaeologists and linguists suggest that probably only our species (Homo sapiens) used grammatical and syntactical language. If so, language is less than 150,000 to 200,000 years old. •Anthropologists and psychologists argue that the complexity of the human brain and the human ability to use language co-evolved; that is, as the frontal lobes grew larger, people became capable of thinking and communicating more and more complex and abstract thoughts. Increases in the size of human social groups may have triggered increased brain size as well. The more complex a group is, the greater the need for its members to communicate. Language Development in Individuals In language development we see that receptive language skills come before productive skills. One reason for this may be that receptive skills occur in the left hemisphere, specifically Wernicke’s area. Language production is associated with the left-hemisphere region called Broca’s area. This suggests that Wernicke’s area developed earlier than Broca’s area. Stages of Language Development •Cooing is the first form of speech in infants, present prior to 6 months of age; this is the sound of vowels being repeated. These sounds are universal and are seen in deaf babies as well. •Babbling: around 5 to 6 months of age, infants begin to babble. Babbling is the repetition of sounds that infants extract from their world. These are known as phonemes, a small unit of sound. Before babies’ brains have been fully shaped by their native language, they can make and hear more sounds than their parents can. As children progress through the babbling stage, and with repeated exposure to the subset of sounds in their native language, they “prune” away sounds that are not used in that language and lose the ability to say or perceive non-native sounds. •One-word utterances occur around 12 months. Most children universally speak their first word. Often, this first word is a familiar person or object. •Two-word utterances appear around 18 months of age. This is basically a very simple sentence. •The sentence phase occurs around 2.5 to 3 years of age. At this time children begin to use simple sentences. This transition happens so quickly that linguists usually have a tough time studying it. These sentences may not always be what adults consider grammatically correct, but they are grammatical sentences. •This order is predictable, universal, and is related to brain development. By 3 years of age, the brain is approximately 80% of the size of an adult brain. The Sensitivity Period •Lennenberg argued that there is a critical, or sensitive, period for language acquisition. He argued that if children are not exposed to human language before a certain age will never fully develop language. Why? Because the brain has pruned connections that would have been used. •An example of Lennenberg’s argument is the case of Genie. Her parents severely abused her and locked her away with minimal contact until she was found at approximately 13.5 years of age. At age 17, after 4 years of language training, Genie’s language skills were still extremely delayed. Brain imaging revealed that when she was speaking or listening, the activity was located mostly in her right hemisphere, as opposed to the norm, which would be the left hemisphere. This case suggests that left hemisphere speech development requires stimulation from the environment during a certain critical period if it is to develop properly. Theories of Language Acquisition •Barring no major deficit or trauma, all humans learn to speak, including those who were born deaf. This suggests that we have innate, genetically based structures in the brain that enable us to learn language. Sign language is a very complex language that is just as communicative as spoken language. Sociocultural Theories •This is based on how social factors such as culture, socioeconomic status (SES), birth order, school, peers, television, and verbally responsive parents shape language development. •This is based on the role of imitation, or doing what you see others do. Newborns as young as 50 minutes old will stick out their tongues or open their mouths when they see an adult do so. •Adults use child-directed speech to communicate messages. Child directed speech is using a higher pitch, simplifying sentence structure, and using emotion to convey meaning. These are universal effects. •We see the involvement of interdependent brain processes, such as mirror neurons. Mirror neurons are clusters of brain cells that fire not only when an individual performs some task, such as sticking out one’s tongue, but also when an individual observes another person do the same task. Mirror neurons facilitate social learning and imitation. •CONNECTION: One reason that newborn infants are capable of imitating behavior immediately after birth is because humans and other animals have “mirror neurons.” These were detected first after a chance observation in laboratory monkeys (Chapters 3 and 8). Conditioning and Learning Theory •As discussed in Chapter 8, learning theorists argue that language is like any other behavior: It exists because it is reinforced and shaped. Skinner argues that parents reinforce language and thus the behavior increases. He argued the universal sequence of language acquisition was in essence due to shaping. Unfortunately, this theory doesn’t account for everything, as parents often don’t reinforce for grammar and syntax. Nativist Theory •The nativist view states that we discover language rather than learn it. Language development is “native,” or inborn. One source of evidence is that the brain appears to be “wired” for language acquisition evidenced by Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas of the brain, which are dedicated to speech production and comprehension, respectively. •Another piece of evidence is that children universally appear to overgeneralize language rule. For example, they learn to add “ed” to a word to show past tense. They will say “bringed” instead of “brought.” These errors and other evidence have led to the idea that there exists a “universal grammar.” •One of the early proponents of this perspective was Noam Chomsky. He argued that humans are born with a language acquisition device (LAD). The LAD is an innate, biologically based capacity to acquire language; that is, because of the universal ease and automatic nature of learning to speak in complete and grammatical sentences, often with no explicit instruction, he argues that language is part of our nature. Moreover, the sequence of acquisition is roughly the same for all children on the planet, in poor or rich countries, industrialized or non-industrialized. Even the difficulty of the language being learned has no effect. All languages will develop about the same way and at the same time, regardless. •Universal grammar follows universal principles, specific rules of a specific language (e.g., syntax), as well as parameters or the different rules of what is allowed and what is not in different languages. Children learn these rules easily because of a built-in language acquisition device. Nature, Nurture, and Language Learning •Social and learning theorists argue for the importance of social input and stimulation, whereas nativist theorists argue for the importance of brain structures and genetic factors. As the case of Genie tells us, both are needed to fully explain language acquisition. That is, innately guided learning is the interaction between nature and nurture. •Genetic factors and innate structures have a stronger influence on some aspects of language development (e.g, grammar). Environmental conditions have a greater influence on other aspects of language (e.g., vocabulary). Can Other Species Learn Human Language? •A number of captive apes have learned ASL to different degrees and have been able to communicate with humans. Perhaps the most linguistically gifted ape to date is Kanzi, a bonobo chimp. Savage-Rumbaugh was attempting to teach an adult chimp, Matata, sign language. Although she never had much success, her son Kanzi had been observing the training and quickly learned a larger vocabulary than his mother. The research team compared 7-year-old Kanzi’s language comprehension to that of a 2½-year-old human child, Alia. They found that they performed commands at similar levels of success, at about 70%. •Other researchers have also found spontaneous teaching of sign language by trained chimps to their offspring. That said, most research indicates that chimps lack universal grammar and take longer to learn language. Language, Culture, and Thought • The Whorf-Sapir hypothesis states that language creates thought as much as thought creates language. •The linguistic determinism hypothesis states that our language determines our way of thinking and our perceptions of the world. •Most research on the topic does not support the strong view that language determines our thinking, but rather that it influences our thinking. This position is known as linguistic relativism. THINKING, REASONING, AND DECISION MAKING •Cognition is the mental processes involved in acquiring, processing, and storing knowledge. •Cognitive psychology is the science of how people think, learn, remember, and perceive. •Three fundamental questions about cognition and reasoning are listed below. o How do we represent thoughts in our minds? o How do we reason about evidence? o How do we make judgments and decision? How Do We Represent Thoughts in Our Minds? •Cognitive psychologists propose that we store and process ideas, knowledge, and memories as mental representations. •Mental representation is a structure in our mind, such as an idea or image, that stands for something else, such as the external object or thing. Mental representations, therefore, allow us to think about and remember things in the past, imagine things in the future, and think about abstract ideas. Visual Representation •We think both in images and in words. •Every animal with eyes perceives visual images, but only those animals with more cortex are better able to keep and store those visual sensations in mind after the sensory stimulation stops. •Visual imagery involves visual representations created by brain after the original stimulus is no longer present. This allows people to imagine things that are not currently being perceived. •Neuroscientists have shown that the brain is activated in much the same way while imagining a task as it is while performing that task. •Visual imagery and imagination are critical in the creative process. •Mental rotation is the process of imagining an object rotating in three-dimensional space. Typically, males show an advantage here and this pattern is cross-culturally supported. Some researchers point to testosterone’s role as studies looking at female rats injected with high doses of testosterone have found increased performance on spatial tasks. •The relationship in humans among testosterone, gender, and mental rotation is not linear. Verbal Representation •A concept is a mental grouping of objects, events, or people. Concepts help us organize our perceptions of the world. •A concept hierarchy organizes information in a particular way, with some being general and others specific. •Parallel distributive processing (PDP) are associations between concepts activate many networks or nodes at the same time. •A category is a concept that organizes other concepts around what they all share in common. Some examples of a category fit that category better than others. •Prototypes are the best-fitting examples of a category. How Do We Reason About Evidence? •Reasoning is the process of drawing inferences or conclusions from principles and evidence. •Deductive reasoning is when we reason from general statements to specific conclusions; if-then thinking. •Inductive reasoning is when we draw general conclusions from specific evidence. Conclusions drawn from inductive reasoning are less certain than those drawn from deductive reasoning. o Causal inferences are a direct result of inductive reasoning. These are statements that explain many specific facts or observations; that is, A causes B. o The confirmation bias is the tendency to selectively attend to information that supports one’s general beliefs while ignoring information or evidence that contradicts one’s beliefs. o Example: Wason looked at the ability of individuals to “falsify” versus “confirm” their own theories. Wason gave subjects the task of determining the hidden rule behind a sequence of three numbers and found that people are so inclined to test only ideas that confirm their beliefs that they forget that one of the best ways to test an idea is to try to tear it down, that is, disconfirm it. Most people are strongly swayed in thinking due to the confirmation bias. Critical Thinking •Critical thinking is the process by which one analyzes, evaluates, and forms idea. •Qualities of Critical Thinking Most Agreed-Upon by Experts are listed below: ▪ Analyze ▪ Interpret ▪ Evaluate ▪ Explain ▪ Make Inferences ▪ Self-Regulate •Metacognitive thinking is thinking about thinking. That is, it requires the ability first to think and then to reflect on one’s own thinking. PSYCHOLOGY IN THE REAL WORLD: APPLYING CRITICAL THINKING BEYOND THE CLASSROOM •To apply critical thinking skills we should ask ourselves, “What is the evidence for this conclusion, and is it valid?” Unfortunately, many people, including adults, sometimes are lacking in critical and scientific reasoning. •Kuhn (1993) studied the connection between scientific and informal or everyday reasoning skills in adults. She asked 160 subjects, ranging in age from teenagers through people in their 60s, their theories on three topics: what causes prisoners to return to a life of crime, what causes children to fail in school, and what causes unemployment. After stating their theories, participants were asked for evidence on which they based their ideas. Only 40% of the participants could give actual evidence (that is, information that is based on actual observations that bear on the theory’s correctness). •Critical thinking requires that we be open to evidence that bears on whether our ideas are correct or not, even if we are not happy with the evidence. How Do We Make Judgments and Decisions? •Heuristics are methods for making complex and uncertain decisions and judgments. The Representativeness Heuristic •The representativeness heuristic is a strategy used to estimate the probability of one event based on how typical or representative it is of another event. The Availability Heuristic • The availability heuristic is a strategy we use when we make decisions based on the ease with which estimates come to mind. One reason may be the event’s vividness. Vividness increases availability and thus may lead us to overestimate how likely certain events are. •Example: People’s fear of a shark attack after one is publicized. Even though you are statistically more likely to get struck by lightning, most folks have a greater fear of getting bitten than struck. This may also be why people stayed out of the ocean after Jaws came out. CHALLENGING ASSUMPTIONS IN HUMAN RATIONALITY •It was thought that when given a choice between two or more options, humans would choose the one that is most likely to help them achieve their particular goals, that is, the rational choice. Economists called this rational choice theory (Scott, 2000). This theory is based on principles of behaviorism; that is, that people base decisions on a cost-benefit analysis. •In the 1970s, Tversky and Kahneman began to challenge rational choice theory with their research on human judgment and decision-making. Tversky explained that people are generally rational in their judgments; that is, they take into account differences in base rates. •In 1974 they published a paper that summarized the results of 13 of their studies on judgments under uncertainty. In it, they presented several principles that would change the fields of psychology, economics, and even philosophy. We have already discussed two of them: the availability and representativeness heuristics. •Additional research by Kahneman and Tversky revealed other areas in which people are less than rational in their decision making and judgments. For example, if people were rational, they would realize that the odds of two events can never be higher than the odds of one of those events alone. This is the conjunction fallacy, which occurs when people say the combination of two events is more likely than either event alone. •These findings and others like them point to the conclusion that people sometimes ignore base rates, sometimes are biased by stereotypes, and sometimes use shortcuts to arrive quickly, but not completely rationally, at their decisions and conclusions. In short, Kahneman and Tversky demonstrated that people bypass fully rational decision making and make use of automatic shortcuts in their reasoning and judgments. •To some psychologists, these conclusions about less than rational reasoning were not surprising; after all, psychologists know as well as anyone about irrational thought and biased behavior. Yet to others, the findings were nothing short of revolutionary. •In 2002 Kahneman won the Nobel Prize in Economics (Tversky had died in 1996). The Nobel committee stated that their work had revolutionized the study of intrinsic motivation and human thinking. BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER: MAKING CONNECTIONS IN LANGUAGE AND THOUGHT: LEARNING A SECOND LANGUAGE Sensitivity Periods and Second-Language Acquisition •There is a critical or sensitive period for second language acquisition: Children learn second languages more quickly than adults do, and speak them more fluently. •By around age 7, learning a second language starts to become more difficult, and proficiency is reduced. The sensitive period for learning to speak a second language without an accent appears to end in early adolescence. •Researchers have found that age of acquisition of a second language was directly related to the strength of accent. The age of exposure to a second language is more important than the number of years speaking the language. Thus, exposure in childhood is better than adolescence, and adolescence is better than adulthood. Second Language Learning and the Brain •Researchers have found that people who are fluent in two languages are capable of more efficient cognitive processing than those who speak only one language. •When matched for age, gender, and other qualities, elderly speakers of two languages develop dementia more than 4 years later than do elderly speakers of only one language. This again reinforces the idea of brain development being affected by stimulation from the environment. •Bilingual speakers have a greater density of neurons in the language centers of the brain and neural density is proportional to the age at which the person learned the second language. The earlier the second language is learned, the greater the neural density. •Bilingual people exhibit differences in brain activation, depending on when they learned their second language; the brains of people who learn a second language early in life are more efficient at language processing than are the brains of people who learn a second language late in life. However, the age at which a person learns a second language is reflected in differences in the brain, but only in areas involved in producing rather than understanding speech. Reasoning in a Second Language •In research that compared students’ deductive reasoning in their native language and their deductive reasoning in a second language, subjects not surprisingly performed better in their native language. Second Language Acquisition and Metacognition •Accurately knowing what you do and do not know and the ability to monitor your thinking as you work on a problem are two hallmarks of metacognition. In meta-analysis of the research it was found that 20 out of 24 published studies found that bilingual students scored higher on creativity tasks than did monolingual students. Flexible and creative thinking are thus closely aligned with metacognitive thinking. KEY TERMS availability heuristic: a device we use to make decisions based on the ease with which estimates come to mind or how available they are to our awareness. babbling: sounds made as a result of an infant’s experimentation with a complex range of phonemes, which includes consonants as well as vowels; starts around 5 to 6 months. category: a concept that organizes other concepts around what they all share in common. causal inferences: judgments about causation of one thing by another. child-directed speech: changes in adult speech patterns—apparently universal—when speaking to young children or infants; characterized by higher pitch, changes in voice volume, use of simpler sentences, emphasis of the here and now, and use of emotion to communicate their messages. cognition: mental processes involved in acquiring, processing, and storing knowledge. concept: a mental grouping of objects, events, or people. concept hierarchy: arrangement of related concepts in a particular way, with some being general and others specific. confirmation bias: the tendency to selectively attend to information that supports one’s general beliefs while ignoring information or evidence that contradicts one’s beliefs. conjunction fallacy: occurs when people say the combination of two events is more likely than either event alone. cooing: the first sounds humans make other than crying, consisting almost exclusively of vowels; occurs during first 6 months of life. critical thinking: process by which one analyzes, evaluates, and forms ideas. deductive reasoning: reasoning from general statements of what is known to specific conclusions. grammar: the entire set of rules for combining symbols and sounds to speak and write a particular language. heuristics: mental shortcuts; methods for making complex and uncertain decisions and judgments. human language: a communication system specific to Homo sapiens; it is open and symbolic, has rules of grammar, and allows its users to express abstract and distant ideas. inductive reasoning: reasoning to general conclusions from specific evidence. language acquisition device (LAD): an innate, biologically based capacity to acquire language, proposed by Noam Chomsky as part of his nativist view of language. linguistic determinism hypothesis: the proposition that our language determines our way of thinking and our perceptions of the world; the view taken by Sapir and Whorf. mental representation: a structure in our mind—such as an idea or image—that stands for something else, such as the external object or thing sensed in the past or future, not the present. mental rotation: process of imagining an object turning in three-dimensional space. metacognitive thinking: process that includes the ability to think and then to reflect on one’s own thinking. nativist view of language: the idea that we discover language rather than learn it; that language development is inborn. one-word utterances: single words, such as “mama,” “dada,” “more,” or “no!”; occurs around 12 months of age. protolanguage: very rudimentary language, also known as pre-language. prototypes: the best-fitting examples of a category. reasoning: the process of drawing inferences or conclusions from principles and evidence. representativeness heuristic: a strategy we use to estimate the probability of one event based on how typical it is of another event. sentence phase: stage when children begin speaking in fully grammatical sentences; usually age 2 ½ to 3. syntax: the rules for arranging words and symbols to form sentences or parts of sentences in a particular language. two-word utterances: phrases children put together, starting around 18 months, such as “my ball,” “mo wawa,” or “go way” ([go away)]. visual imagery: visual representations created by the brain after the original stimulus is no longer present. MAKING THE CONNECTIONS Some of the connections are found in the text. Other connections may be useful for lecture or discussion.) Theories of Language Acquisition: Sociocultural Theories CONNECTION: One reason newborn infants are capable of imitating behavior immediately after birth is humans and other animals have “mirror neurons.” These were first detected after a chance observation in laboratory monkeys (Chapters 3 and 8). o Discussion: This is a good time to discuss material from Chapter 5 and imitations as discussed in Piaget’s work. Remind students about the different types of imitation and how Piaget argues that imitation is the purest form of accommodation; that is, it is a key factor in the development of thought. o Discussion: This is also a good time to discuss the adaptive value of imitation in humans. For example, when an infant imitates an adult gesture or behavior, do parents find it endearing? You can also point out the strong survival value of imitation. If a parent doesn’t eat something or avoids another stimulus, it may be adaptive to just model the behavior. How Do We Represent Thoughts in Our Minds? CONNECTION: The occipital lobes and parietal lobes of the brain develop before the temporal and frontal lobes. This pattern of growth partly explains why we see before we can talk (Chapter 5). o Discussion: You may also want to reiterate the concept of developmental timing here. Also discuss Turkewitz’s work on the lateralization of the two hemispheres. Showing that the timing of the development of the brain is in part due to species-typical genes interacting with species-typical environment. Reiterate that the key to timing is that some capabilities will show deficits so that other skills can come on line. o Discussion: This is a great time to also discuss how evolution would have selected vision to develop before speech. Not only has vision presumably been a trait for phylogenetically longer in humans, it also may have greater adaptive value. Ask students what they think the adaptive mechanism for both skills is and why evolution might select one to develop faster than the other. INNOVATIVE INSTRUCTION 1. Animal language. This is a great time to ask students what they think about animal language. You may want to show a clip of the bee waggle dance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7ijI-g4jHg. Ask students what they feel are potential barriers to studying animal cognition and language. Ask if they think their dog is thinking. Communicating with other dogs? Engaging in reflective thinking? Problem solving and reasoning? Do they think that we are currently underestimating other species’ abilities in thinking and overestimating our own? Another great clip on this can be seen in the work of Susan Savage-Rumbaugh talking about her work with bonobos and language: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/susan_savage_rumbaugh_on_apes_that_write.html. 2. Benefits of heuristics: You may want to spend some time going over the representativeness heuristic and availability heuristics. Remind students that all heuristics are fallible but they allow us to make snap judgments quickly, and what we sacrifice for accuracy is the ability to make quick general appraisals. Point out the adaptive value of these devices. Both have strong survival implications. 3. Language and thinking: This is a good time to also point out that language and memory go hand in hand. You may also want to tie in for students the relationship between thought and language being the representation of things symbolically. Point out that Piaget and Vygotsky both argued that language is required for higher-order thinking. Ask students if they think metacognition, for example, would be possible without language. 4. Evolutionary approaches: Ask students which approach to language acquisition they think best explains universal grammar. They should answer “natavist.” Discuss evolutionary pressures that could pressure language to be selected for. 5. Feral children: Discuss the case of Genie. Show part or all of the BBC’s series on Genie. You may also want to mention the case of Itard’s Victor, the first documented feral child. These cases support the critical period and also illustrate the link between thought and language. 6. Representative heuristic: You may want to ask students if this could be a serious error. Point out that racial profiling is an example of the representativeness heuristic and thus could have very serious errors associated with it. 7. Learning a second language: This is a great time to point out to students the disparity between research and curriculum. As many students will be taking a Spanish class in the next four years, they will no doubt bring it up anyway. You may want to point out to students that most of the research on bilingualism shows that it results in greater cognitive flexibility. This includes ASL. Ask students why they think that is. 8. Learning a second language: Ask if there are any bilingual students in the room. Ask them if they think more in one language than another. You may also want to point out that early plasticity in the brain may also account for these differences. 9. Visual representation: Hormones affect our way of thinking. Moderately high levels of testosterone, in both men and women, are associated with the ability to perform spatial and mental rotation tasks such as finding one’s way around a new building or playing a three-dimensional video game. You may want to discuss the role of evolution in selecting a male bias in spatial thinking. Evolutionary psychology would suggest that the male advantage in spatial thinking comes from hunter-gatherer days when males would need to travel great distances and to hunt, skills that would require good mental rotation and spatial orientation. 10. Assign students to watch The Mockingbird Don’t Sing, released in 2001, a movie based on the case of Genie. Have them write a paragraph on the interaction of species-typical genes in a species-atypical environment. Make sure they grasp that species-typical genes require a species-typical environment to develop in a species-typical manner. 11. Have students write a paragraph on the role of pragmatics, the linguistic rule of who can say what to whom, and an example from their lives when the rule was violated. You can then read some examples in class and discuss the importance of rules in language. 12. Have students do some brief Internet research on Steven Pinker and write a brief paragraph on the natavist perspective and on Pinker’s own perspective. 13. Ask students to engage in a metacognitive exercise. Ask them to think about their study habits from the last test. Did they work? What could they do differently to improve performance? This will not only demonstrate what metacognition is but also prove useful in their studying for the next exam. 14. Talk to students about Irene Pepperberg's work with Alex, the Gray Parrot. Do they think that Alex has language? Why or why not? Suggested Media 1. An interview with Stephen Pinker: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsRUQCN2lak 2. Very funny interview with Steven Pinker (warning: it does involve swearing): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H7utm3eco4&feature=related 3. Bee waggle dance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7ijI-g4jHg 4. Funny clip of Ali G interviewing Noam Chomsky: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOIM1_xOSro 5. John Abbott discussing critical periods in language acquisition: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0yGZnJqMXY’ 6. Pinker discussing human thinking: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/steven_pinker_on_language_and_thought.html 7. Murray Gell-Mann discusses the relationships between human languages: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/murray_gell_mann_on_the_ancestor_of_language.html 9. NOVA clip on mirror neurons: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3204/01.html 10. NOVA special on birdsong learning (45 minutes): http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/0304/01.html 11. The Mockingbird Don’t Sing, released in 2001. This is based on the case of Genie. 12. Why Do We Talk? The Science of Speech 13. The Human Spark, with Alan Alda, Part 3: Brain Matters 14. Discovering Psychology: Judgment and Decision Making (Annenberg) 15. Discovering Psychology: Language Development (Annenberg) 16. Discovering Psychology: Cognitive Processes (Annenberg) 17. Baby Sign Language (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg) 17. Alex the Gray Parrot and Language: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGiARReTwBw&feature=related Concept Clip (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.) 1. Critical Thinking and Metacogniton Suggested Websites 1. BBC article on deaf babies’ babbling: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3894007.stm 2. European Science Foundation article on brain involvement in babbling: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/citation/297/5586/1515 3. A transcript of Steven Pinker discussing the evolution of the human mind: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/07/2/l_072_03.html 4. Thinker is a site on decision making and errors: http://cat.xula.edu/thinker/decisions/heuristics/ranking Suggested Readings Ariely, D. (2010). Predictably irrational, revised and expanded edition: The hidden forces that shape our decisions. Houghton-Mifflin. Chomsky, N. (2000). New horizons in the study of language and the mind. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Curtiss, S. (1977). Genie: A psycholinguistic study of a modern day `wild child'. New York: Academic Press. Dunbar, R. I. M. (2001). Brains on two legs: Group size and the evolution of intelligence. In F. B. M. deWaal (Ed.), Tree of origin: What primate behavior can tell us about human social evolution (pp. 173–191). Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Hoff, E. (2006). How social contexts support and shape language development. Developmental Review, 26, 55–88. Holowka, S., & Petitto, L. A. (2002). Left hemisphere cerebral specialization for babies while babbling. Science, 297 (5586), 1515. Johnson, J. S., & Newport, E. L. (1989). Critical period effects in second language learning: the influence of maturational state on the acquisition of English as a second language. Cognitive Psychology, 21, 60–99. Kim, K. H. S., Relkin, N. R., Lee, K. M., & Hirsch, J. (1997). Distinct cortical areas associated with native and second languages. Nature, 388, 171–174. Krueger, J. (2012). Social judgments and decision making. Psychology Press. Newport, E. L. (2003). Language development, critical periods in. In L. Nadel (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science, Vol. 2, (pp. 733–740). London: Nature Group Press. Pepperberg, I. M. (2007). Gray parrots do not always “parrot”: the roles of imitation and phonological awareness in the creation of new labels from existing vocalizations. Language Sciences, 29, 1–13. Pepperberg, I. M. (2009). Alex and me: How a scientist and a parrot discovered a hidden world of animal intelligence and formed a deep bond. Harper. Petitto, L. A. (2000). On the biological foundations of human language. In H. Lane & K. Emmorey (Eds.), The Signs of Language Revisited (pp. 447–471). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Petitto, L. A., & Holowka, S. (2002). Evaluating attributions of delay and confusion in young bilinguals: Special insights from infants acquiring a signed and a spoken language. Sign Language Studies, 3(1), 4–33. Pinker, S. (2005). The language instinct: How the mind creates language. New York: HarperPerennial Modern Classics. Skinner, B. F. (1957). Verbal behavior. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts. Sternberg, R. J. (Ed.) (2004). Definitions and conceptions of giftedness. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Turkewittz, G., & Devenny, D. A. (1993). Developmental time and timing. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Chapter 10: Intelligence, Problem Solving, and Creativity BRIEF CHAPTER OUTLINE Intelligence Defining Intelligence Theories of Intelligence Traditional Models of Intelligence: Intelligence as a Single, General Ability Challenging Assumptions of Traditional Views of Intelligence: Intelligence as Multiple Abilities Psychology in the Real World: Bringing Multiple Intelligences to School Measuring Intelligence Traditional Measures of Intelligence Modern Measures of Intelligence Reliability and Validity of IQ Tests Are IQ Tests Biased? Extremes of Intelligence Intellectual Disability Giftedness Prodigies Savants The Nature and Nurture of Human Intelligence Group Differences in Intelligence Scores Race-Ethnicity and Intelligence Gender and Intelligence Non-Western Views of Intelligence Problem Solving Types of Problems Solution Strategies Obstacles to Solutions Creativity What Is Creativity? Stages of Creative Problem Solving Creativity and the Brain Creative Insight and Increased Frontal Lobe Activity Creative Insight and the Right Hemisphere Creativity and Balanced Activity Between the Hemispheres Cognitive Processes in Creative Thinking The Creative Personality Bringing It All Together: Making Connections in Intelligence, Problem Solving, and Creativity: Genius, Intelligence, and Creativity What Is Genius? Is Intelligence Necessary and Sufficient for Creativity? Chapter Review EXTENDED CHAPTER OUTLINE INTELLIGENCE •Many people consider intelligence the primary trait that sets humans apart from other animals. •Psychologists agree that there are three capacities that shape how smart people are, and they constitute the central topics of this chapter: intelligence, problem solving, and creativity. Defining Intelligence •Intelligence is a set of cognitive skills that include abstract thinking, reasoning, problem solving, and the ability to acquire knowledge. Other less agreed-upon qualities of intelligence include mathematical ability, general knowledge, and creativity. Theories of Intelligence •There are two views in understanding intelligence: (1) intelligence is a single, general ability, and (2) intelligence consists of multiple abilities. Traditional Models of Intelligence: Intelligence as a Single, General Ability •Charles Spearman was the first theorist in the area of intelligence. He proposed that human intelligence is best thought of as a single general capacity or ability. Spearman came to this conclusion after research consistently showed that specific dimensions or factors of intelligence—namely, spatial, verbal, perceptual, and quantitative factors—correlated strongly with one another. This suggested that they were all measuring much the same thing. •The g-factor theory describes intelligence as a single general factor made up of specific components. This theory strongly influenced intelligence test construction for most of the 20th century. Challenging Assumptions of Traditional Views of Intelligence: Intelligence as Multiple Abilities •The multiple-factor theory of intelligence states that the different aspects of intelligence are distinct enough that multiple abilities must be considered, not just one; that is, “How are you intelligent?” •Critics of the g factor insisted that IQ test scores by themselves ignore important aspects of intelligence that are not measured by traditional IQ tests. •Early on, Cattell believed in fluid and crystallized intelligence. •Fluid intelligence is how one reasons and problem solves. This involves raw mental ability, pattern recognition, abstract reasoning, and is applied to a problem that a person has never confronted before. Fluid intelligence measures are culture-free because they do not depend on culturally acquired experience to solve. •Crystallized intelligence is knowledge that we have gained from experience and learning, education, and practice. This involves book smarts and cultural knowledge. •Carroll extended this model, arguing that intelligence actually consists of three levels, arranged in a hierarchy. At the top of the hierarchy is general intelligence, at the middle is broad intelligence, and at the bottom is narrow intelligence. •General intelligence is very similar to Spearman’s concept of “g.” •Broad intelligence includes abilities such as crystallized and fluid intelligence, as well as memory, learning, and processing speed. •Narrow intelligence includes many distinct abilities, such as speed of reasoning and general sequential reasoning for fluid intelligence and reading, spelling, and language comprehension for crystallized intelligence. •Because this model includes Cattell and Horn’s crystallized and fluid intelligences, it has become known as the Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) model of intelligence. •Sternberg argues for a broader view of intelligence than is found in traditional g-factor theories. •According to Sternberg successful intelligence is an integrated set of abilities needed to attain success in life. •Sternberg argues that three interrelated but distinct abilities make up successful intelligence: analytic, creative, and practical skill. This is called the triarchic theory of intelligence: 1. Analytic intelligence involves judging, evaluating, or comparing and contrasting information, as on an IQ test. 2. Creative intelligence involves solving novel problems and coming up with novel and useful ideas for solving them. 3. Practical intelligence is the ability to solve problems of everyday life efficiently. •Gardner argues that intelligence comprises at least eight distinct capacities: linguistic, mathematical-logical, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, spatial, intrapersonal, interpersonal, and naturalist. This is referred to as multiple intelligence. •Scholars are rather strongly divided, however, over Gardner’s theory. Those who have the most problems with it tend to be psychologists. They see little value in calling skills like music, movement, and social skills “intelligence” and argue that Gardner has not provided tests of these intelligences. Further, there have been few direct empirical tests on Gardner’s theory and therefore some argue his ideas are more theory than science. •Educators and some psychologists, however, like Gardner’s theory because it addresses two real problems: o different students learn in different way, and o some students who have demonstrated ability in some areas fail academic subjects and do poorly on traditional intelligence tests. •CONNECTION: As we go from young adulthood to middle adulthood, our experience-based (crystallized) intelligence continues to improve. Abstract and culture-free (fluid) intelligence, however, peaks during our 20s (Chapter 5). PSYCHOLOGY IN THE REAL WORLD: BRINGING MULITPLE INTELLIGENCES TO SCHOOL •An educational principle based on multiple intelligence (MI) theory is that children should have some freedom to choose activities on their own. If they ignore certain kinds of activities, their teachers provide encouragement and “bridges” to try the neglected activities. •Entire schools have been designed to put into practice the development of all of Gardner’s forms of intelligences. There are more than 40 such schools in the United States. •Students in these schools still must take the local school district’s standardized tests; the students do at least as well as students from other schools. Most of the schools reported direct effects of the MI approach on decreasing disciplinary problems and increasing parent participation, and the performance of students with learning disabilities improved markedly when they attended MI schools. Measuring Intelligence •Test of intelligence, often called, IQ tests, are often controversial. •Questions are often raised including: o How does someone interpret a person's score on an IQ test? o How do we know a test is any good? Traditional Measures of Intelligence •The first test was developed in 1905 by the French scholar Alfred Binet (with some help from Theodore Simon) and was based on a child’s mental age. •Mental age is the equivalent chronological age a child has reached based on his or her performance on an IQ test. Mental age is a norm or average because it is based on what most children at a particular age level can do. •A German psychologist, William Stern, introduced the now-famous intelligence ratio, in which mental age (MA) is divided by chronological age (CA) (times 100) to determine an IQ or intelligence quotient. Today, IQ scores are calculated based on how well a child does on tests relative to norms established by testing children of the same age. •Terman, an American psychologist, translated the Binet-Simon test for American students and coined the term IQ for “intelligence quotient.” Because Terman taught at Stanford University, he named the test the Stanford-Binet test. The most significant changes Terman made were to establish national norms and to apply the ratio score of MA ÷ CA to IQ. •In the 1930s, David Wechsler created new intelligence tests in response to the need for a test that measured adult intelligence. Wechsler’s test became known as the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scales (WAIS). Later he developed a test for children, the Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children (WISC). At present, these two tests are the ones that are most frequently administered in the United States. Modern Measures of Intelligence •For the first 50 years in which IQ tests were used, they were based on the assumption that intelligence is a single quality. IQ test makers ignored most new theories of how the brain worked or developed. They also ignored much of Piaget’s work on cognitive development and how kids don’t think like adults, even smart ones. •The first shift was the “Kaufman shift,” anchored in theories in psychology and neuroscience about how the brain worked and developed. Their test, known as the Kaufman-Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC), has become one of the more widely used IQ tests. •The K-ABC differs from the Stanford-Binet and Wechsler scales in four ways: o It was the first IQ test to be guided by theories of intelligence; o it included fundamentally different kinds of problems for different ages as well as varied levels of difficulty; o it measured several distinct aspects of intelligence; and o it assessed different types of learning styles. •Connection: Working memory is another term for short-term memory. In general people can retain only about seven bits of information in short-term memory (Chapter 7). Reliability and Validity of IQ Tests •Tests are meaningful if they are both reliable and valid. •Reliability is the consistency of a measurement. •Test-retest reliability is the consistency of scores on a test over time. •Internal reliability is characteristic of intelligence tests in which questions on a given subtest tend to correlate very highly with other items on the subtest. •Validity answers the questions “does the test measure what it says it’s measuring and is there predictability associated with the test”? It involves the following: o that the tests really measure intelligence and not something else, and o that IQ scores can predict real-world outcomes. •Two distinct forms of validity are construct validity and predictive validity. o Construct validity is the degree to which a test measures the concept it claims to measure. o Predictive validity is the degree to which intelligence test scores are positively related to real-world outcomes, such as school achievement or job success, and thus have predictive value. •IQ tests do, in fact, predict certain real-world outcomes, first and foremost being academic performance. IQ scores predict students’ grades, school performance, and class rank in high school quite well. Scores on the WAIS predict both one’s academic class rank in high school and one’s college grade point average. •Example: Students often have difficulty here. Try using the example of a scale: If you have a scale that is off by 10 pounds consistently, it would be reliable (that is, test retest would be high). It is not valid. In other words it isn’t accurately measuring your weight. This is also a good time to point out that reliability is thought to be more important. If my scale is off (low validity), does it still have utility (usefulness)? Yes, it can still measure change and I know that it is reliable so that provides utility. Are IQ Tests Biased? •The cultural test bias hypothesis is the notion that group differences in IQ scores are caused by different cultural and educational backgrounds, not by real differences in intelligence. •Scientists, however, distinguish between test bias and test fairness. •Test bias is whether a test predicts outcomes equally well for different groups. A test is biased if it is a more valid measure for one group than for another. Researchers have found, however, very little evidence for the existence of this kind of bias in IQ tests. •Intelligence tests are developed using norms that reflect the makeup of the general population. Just because different groups score differently on a given test does not automatically mean that it is biased. If the test is equally valid for different groups and they still score differently on it, the test is not biased. It may be unfair, but it’s not biased. •Test fairness: reflects values, philosophical differences, and the ways in which test results are applied. IQ test results are designed for application. Remember, their job is to predict school success. Problems arise when people use IQ test results unfairly to deny certain groups access to universities or jobs. Extremes of Intelligence •IQ follows a normal distribution, that is, a bell-shaped distribution with a mean and a standard deviation. Intelligence varies in a very predictable way, which is most easily seen in the frequency of different IQ scores in the population. When one plots the scores on a graph, one sees a very clear bell curve, with most people falling in the middle and a few people at the high and low ends of the curve. This shape is referred to as a bell curve because it is shaped like a bell. •Sixty-eight percent of test-takers will score between 85 and 115; that is, within one standard deviation of the mean. •The percentage of test-takers that will score between 55 and 145 is 99.7%. •It is at the two ends of the curve, or distribution, that we find “extremes of intelligence,” specifically, mental retardation and giftedness. Intellectual Disability •Intellectual disability is the significant limitations in intellectual functioning as well as in everyday adaptive behavior, which start before age 18. •Adaptive behavior is how well a person adjusts to and copes with everyday life. •There are four levels of disability depending on adaptive behavior: mild, moderate, severe, and profound. •There are at least three main causes: (1) chromosomal-genetic abnormalities (e.g., Down syndrome, Fragile X), (2) prenatal abnormalities (e.g., FAS), and (3) environmental deprivation (e.g., neglect, poor nutrition). Giftedness •In most schools, children are admitted to gifted programs if they score 130–140 or above on a standardized IQ test like the WISC or Stanford-Binet. Extreme giftedness takes various forms, two of which are prodigies and savants. •Prodigies are young people who are extremely gifted and precocious in one area, such as math, music, art, or chess, and are at least average in intelligence. •A savant is a person with a very rare condition with a serious mental handicap and also show isolated areas of ability or brilliance. •CONNECTION: Daniel Tammet uses a mnemonic device, a memory tool, to help him remember the value of pi. He traces the shapes, colors, and textures in his head and then just reads the number. How do mnemonic devices aid memory? (Chapter 7) The Nature and Nurture of Human Intelligence •The region most often involved in various IQ tasks is the prefrontal cortex. When a person is working on verbal tasks, only the left prefrontal region of the brain is activated. When an individual is working on spatial tasks, however, the prefrontal cortexes of both the left and right hemispheres, as well as the occipital cortex, are activated. •Moreover, the frontal lobe is more involved when an individual is performing fluid intelligence tasks, such as pattern recognition, than when the person is performing tasks that involve crystallized and learned experiences. •Identical twins reared apart are more similar in their levels of intelligence than fraternal twins reared together. •Similarly, dozens of studies have shown that adopted children’s overall intelligence is more similar to that of their biological parents than to that of their adoptive parents. Yet adoption can also enhance a child’s IQ. Compared to peers who were not adopted, adopted children tend to have higher IQs. •A reaction range is the genetically determined range within which a given trait, such as intelligence, may fall; that trait’s exact value, however, depends on the quality of the individual’s environment. For most people in most environments, the reaction range for IQ is about 25 points. This means that a given person may end up scoring anywhere in a 25-point range on an IQ test, depending on the kind of environment in which he or she is raised. •Environment, however, is a complex thing. Environment is divided into shared (being in the same household and sharing experiences), and nonshared (the individual’s unique environmental experiences). •One example of nonshared is the prenatal environment. For example, teratogenic effects like alcohol, drugs, and viral infections can lower a child’s overall intelligence. •Birth weight is an example of the joint influences of nature and nurture. Group Differences in Intelligence Scores Race-Ethnicity and Intelligence. •In the 1960s and 1970s Arthur Jensen received death threats for publishing research that reported not only differences in IQ between racial groups, but also argued that because IQ is under genetic influence, racial differences in IQ must be at least partly genetic in origin. •In the mid-1990s, a book called The Bell Curve was published. Authors argued that a study of ethnic group differences, social class, and intelligence with 12,000 subjects indicated that racial groups differ on IQ scores; and differences in IQ are a large contributor to differences in education and income. •Some experts argue that racial differences in IQ result from biases in IQ tests that favor people from certain cultural backgrounds over others. Others argue that it is genetic, and others argue they may have misinterpreted the data. •Finally, the conclusion that genetics influence intelligence is often misinterpreted as implying that IQ levels are determined at birth or conception. If this were so, then trying to change IQ levels with intervention programs is not likely to succeed. Gender and Intelligence •Most research on overall intelligence and gender has reported no difference between men and women on average. •The one consistent difference is not in the average, but in the variability: Men are more variable in intelligence than are women. •Males are more likely to score in either end of the range. For example, they more frequently score at the high or low end of the scale on tests of science, math, spatial reasoning, and social studies. Women, however, tend to consistently do better than men in writing, reading comprehension, perceptual speed, and associative memory. Non-Western Views of Intelligence •Sternberg and his colleagues have examined practical intelligence in cultures where academic intelligence is not valued as highly as it is in Western cultures. Children in Kenya and Tanzania, for example, may not do well at solving “bookish” analytic problems but do very well at solving everyday, practical problems. PROBLEM SOLVING Types of Problems •Convergent thinking problems are problems that have known solutions. They can be reached by narrowing down a set of possible answers. •Divergent thinking problems are problems that have no known solutions and require novel solutions. Solution Strategies •An algorithm is a step-by-step procedure or formula for solving a problem. •Eureka insights or insight solutions are sudden solutions. •Thinking outside the box requires that you break free of self-imposed conceptual constraints and think about a problem differently in order to solve it. Obstacles to Solutions •Fixation is the inability to break out of a particular mind-set in order to think about a problem from a fresh perspective. •Mental sets are a type of fixation. A mental set is a tendency to continue to use problem-solving strategies that have worked in the past, even if better solutions are available. •Functional fixedness is the tendency to be blind to unusual uses of common everyday things or procedures. CREATIVITY •Creative thinking is related to, yet distinct from, both intelligence and problem solving. What Is Creativity? •Creativity is thought or behavior that is both novel and meaningful. •The meaningful criterion requires that someone at some time sees the value and usefulness in the accomplishment. Stages of Creative Problem Solving •Creative problem solving is a process that has distinct stages. Long ago, Graham Wallas identified four such stages of creative problem solving: preparation, incubation, insight, and elaboration-verification. 1. Preparation is discovering and defining the problem and then attempting to solve it. 2. Incubation is putting the problem aside for a while and working on something else. 3. Insight is the Eureka insight experience in which the solution comes immediately to mind. 4. Elaboration-verification is the solution, even if it has the feel of certainty, that still needs to be confirmed. Creativity and the Brain •Research has revealed three consistent findings: (1) creative insights increase frontal lobe activity, (2) insights occur in the right hemisphere, and (3) creative problem solving shows more balanced activity between right and left frontal lobes in creative people. Creative Insight Results in Increased Frontal Lobe Activity •Research has revealed the frontal lobes are active in abstract reasoning, planning, focused working memory, and integrating sensory input. Creativity involves integrating ideas in novel and valuable ways. It is not surprising, therefore, that modern neuroscience supports the conclusion that creative problem solving and insights involve frontal lobe activity. Creative Insight and the Right Hemisphere •Remote associates is a word problem test that has been used in creativity/brain research. In this test three words are displayed at one time to the participant. The participant must then come up with a single word that could be used with all three of the words. Research shows that people often solve these kinds of problems with Eureka insights. •Brain imaging studies have found that sudden insights consistently activated the right hemisphere more than the left and that patients with damage to the frontal region of their right hemisphere are less able to solve problems requiring insight than people without damage to their right hemisphere. Creativity and Balanced Activity Between the Hemispheres •When solving problems, creative people have more balanced brain activity between the hemispheres than less creative people. Research indicates that more left than right frontal lobe activity is seen in less creative participants. Highly creative individuals show a balance in right and left frontal lobe activity. Cognitive Processes in Creative Thinking •Psychologists who study the cognitive aspects of creative thought have focused on visual thinking, fluency, flexibility, and originality. •Visual imagery occurs when we see a solution in our “mind’s eye.” •Ideational fluency is the ability to produce many ideas. Highly creative people usually come up with more ideas for a given problem than less creative people do. •Flexibility of thought is the ability to generate many different categories of ideas and think of other responses besides the obvious one. •Originality is thinking of unusual and novel ideas. •Creative thinking occurs when a person combines all of the cognitive processes at once. The Creative Personality •One important trait is openness to experience. That is the tendency to enjoy and seek out new experiences, new foods, new places, and new ideas. Highly creative people have this quality, which is not surprising given that creativity involves novel thoughts and behavior. •CONNECTION: Is there a connection between mental illness and creativity? The incidence of mental illness is higher in artists, writers, painters, and poets than in the normal population. The same is not true for creative scientists (Chapter 15). BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER: MAKING CONNCECTIONS: INTELLIGENCE, PROBLEM SOLIVING, AND CREATIVITY What Is Genius? •Genius is high intelligence combined with creative accomplishments that have a tremendous impact on a given field. Is Intelligence Necessary and Sufficient for Creativity? •Genius, by this definition, and creativity are closely related. As it turns out, however, the relationship between intelligence and creativity is not as simple as it seems. Considerable research has focused on the relationship between intelligence and creativity and found that IQ and creativity are not very strongly related. •Higher intelligence predicts original ideas more than quantity or number of ideas. KEY TERMS adaptive behavior: adjustment to and coping with everyday life. algorithms: formulas that guarantee correct solutions to particular problems. broad intelligence: one of Carroll’s three levels of intelligence; includes abilities such as crystallized and fluid intelligence, as well as memory, learning, and processing speed. construct validity: the degree to which a test measures the concept it claims to measure, such as intelligence. convergent thinking problems: problems that have known solutions and require analytic thinking and the use of learned strategies and knowledge to come up with the correct answer. creativity: characteristic of a person whose thought and/or behavior is both novel-original and useful-adaptive. cultural test bias hypothesis: the notion that group differences in IQ scores are caused by different cultural and educational backgrounds, not by real differences in intelligence. divergent thinking problems: problems that have no known solutions and that require thinking of new approaches (thinking outside of the box) to solve them. Down syndrome: a disorder that results from a condition known as trisomy-21, in which a person has three rather than two number 21 chromosomes. Like retardation in general, it may be characterized by a degree of disability, ranging from mild to profound. eureka insight or insight solutions: sudden solutions that come to mind in a flash. fixation: the inability to break out of a particular mind-set in order to think about a problem from a fresh perspective. flexibility of thought: characteristic of creativity: ability to come up with many different categories of ideas and think of other responses besides the obvious one. functional fixedness: mind-set in which one is blind to unusual uses of common everyday things or procedures. general intelligence: one of Carroll’s three levels of intelligence; very similar to Spearman’s concept of “g.” genius: high intelligence combined with creative accomplishments that have a tremendous impact on a given field. g-factor theory: Charles Spearman’s theory that intelligence is a single general (g) factor made up of specific components. ideational fluency: characteristic of creative thought that involves the ability to produce many ideas. intellectual disability: significant limitations in intellectual functioning as well as in everyday adaptive behavior, which starts before age 18. intelligence: a set of cognitive skills that include abstract thinking, reasoning, problem solving, and the ability to acquire knowledge. internal reliability: a characteristic of intelligence test in which questions on a given subtest tend to correlate very highly with other items on the subtest. mental age: the equivalent chronological age a child has reached based on his or her performance on an IQ test. mental set: a tendency to continue to use problem-solving strategies that have worked in the past, even if better solutions are available. multiple-factor theory of intelligence: idea that intelligence consists of distinct dimensions and is not just a single factor. narrow intelligence: one of Carroll’s three levels of intelligence; includes nearly 70 distinct abilities. originality: characteristic of creative thought; ability to come up with unusual and novel ideas. predictive validity: the degree to which intelligence test scores are positively related to real-world outcomes, such as school achievement or job success, and thus have predictive value. prodigy: a young person who is extremely gifted and precocious in one area and at least average in intelligence. reaction range: the genetically determined range within which a given trait may fall; its exact value depends on the quality of the individual’s environment. reliability: consistency of a measurement, such as an intelligence test. savant syndrome: a very rare condition in which people with serious mental handicaps show isolated areas of ability or brilliance. successful intelligence: according to Robert Sternberg, the “use of an integrated set of abilities needed to attain success in life, however an individual defines it, within his or her sociocultural context.” test bias: characteristic of a test that determines whether it predicts outcomes equally well for different groups. test fairness: characteristic of a test that reflects values, philosophical differences, and the ways in which test results are applied to different groups test-retest reliability: the consistency of scores on a test over time. thinking outside the box: approach to problem solving that requires one to break free of self-imposed conceptual constraints and think about a problem differently in order to solve it. triarchic theory of intelligence: Robert Sternberg’s theory that three interrelated but distinct abilities make up successful intelligence: analytic, creative, and practical skill. validity: the degree to which a test accurately measures what it purports to measure, such as intelligence, and not something else; and the degree to which it predicts real-world outcomes. MAKING THE CONNECTIONS (Some of the connections are found in the text. Other connections may be useful for lecture or discussion.) Challenging Assumptions of Traditional Views of Intelligence: Intelligence as Multiple Abilities CONNECTION: The concept of “emotional intelligence” is related to interpersonal intelligence and has blossomed as a compliment to “intelligence” in the traditional sense. People who are emotionally intelligent do well in situations involving people and conflict. To see what emotional intelligence is and how it can positively affect academic performance, see the section on emotional intelligence in Chapter 11. •Discussion: Students love to talk about emotional intelligence, or “eq.” Ask them if they think this is “cog” enough to be part of intelligence. What about Gardner’s bodily kinesthetic component? Inter- and intrapersonal skills? CONNECTION: As we go from young adulthood to middle adulthood, our experience-based (crystallized) intelligence continues to improve. Abstract and culture-free (fluid) intelligence, however, peaks during our 20s (Chapter 5). •Ask students why they think that crystallized intelligence improves with age and fluid intelligence does not. Modern Measures of Intelligence CONNECTION: Working memory is another term for short-term memory. In general, people can retain only about seven bits of information in short-term memory (Chapter 7). o Discussion: You may want to point out that Sternberg’s theory is an information-processing approach. It incorporates speed of processing and automaticity; automatic thinking is faster than slow, purposeful thought. Giftedness CONNECTION: Daniel Tammet used mnemonic devices, a memory tool, to help him remember pi (the circumference of any circle divided by its diameter). How do mnemonic devices aid memory? (Chapter 7) o Discussion: Students are fascinated with mnemonic devices. Ask students to share what devices they have used in the past and for what class. Creative Insight and the Right Hemisphere CONNECTION: People who have had their corpus callosum severed cannot say what they see if the information is presented to their left visual field but can verbally label it if it is presented to their right visual field. Why? (Chapter 3) o Discussion: This is a great time to discuss Gazzaniga’s work on split brain and the problems folks have solving problems. You may want to show a clip of Gazzaniga with his patient talking about split brain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMLzP1VCANo. Here is a clip of Gazzaniga discussing his early research: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lmfxQ-HK7Y. o Another video on split brain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZnyQewsB_Y. The Creative Personality CONNECTION: Is there a connection between mental illness and creativity? The incidence of mental illness is higher in artists, writers, painters, and poets than in the normal population. The same is not true for creative scientists (Chapter 15). o Activity: Have students read Biological Basis for Creativity Linked to Mental Illness in Science Daily http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/10/031001061055.htm and then find a scholarly article on this topic and write a brief review of the research. INNOVATIVE INSTRUCTION 15. Intelligence: This is a great time to ask students what they implicitly think about intelligence. Ask students what they think makes someone intelligent. Students are usually happy to share their implicit views and it gives you a good start to get the discussion going. 16. Bell Curve: Show part or the entire interview with Charles Murray https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMCjkfp_9JQ. Discuss with students what the authors were suggesting. What other factors could explain the data? Of course the answer here is SES. Remind students that whether or not they agree with the authors, it was a catalyst for Head Start programs, early neonatal interventions, WIC programs, etc. Discuss with students the kinds of specific things that being poor could have on IQ. 17. Culture Fair: This is also a great time to reiterate to students that IQ tests were designed to do one thing: predict school performance. This, of course, makes the SAT an IQ test. This also will lay the ground for when discussing culturally fair versions of tests and nonverbal tests; if you do poorly on a standardized test of intellect, we would expect you to do poorly in most school-type settings. Why? Because the same thing (e.g., not speaking English, a short attention span, etc.) that makes you test low will also most likely make it difficult for you in school. 18. Reliability and Validity: Students often have difficulty here. Try using the example of a scale. If you have a scale that is off by 10 pounds consistently, it would be reliable (that is, test retest would be high) but not valid; it isn’t accurately measuring your weight. This is also a good time to point out that reliability is thought to be more important. If my scale is off (low validity), does it still have utility (usefulness)? Yes, it can still measure change and I know that it is reliable so that provides utility. 19. Distribution in IQ Scores: You may want to show an overhead of the distribution and discuss how 95% fall within two standard deviations of the mean. You have 2.5% of the population in the two tails: the R tail being “gifted” and the L tail being “mentally retarded.” Remind students that any significant developmental delay will result in testing at a lower IQ because you are being compared to others of the same age. You also may want to stress that because of the distribution, schools are only looking for the top 2.5% and bottom 2.5%, as 95% are within “normal” range. Thus, there is no need to give a long, full IQ test to most folks, as they will be within “normal” range. They only need to give full tests to kids who might fall out of the two standard deviations. 20. MI: Ask students how they feel about the concept of MI. You may want to use the bodily kinetic in your discussion, as that is one of the most controversial aspects of the theory. Yes, it involves spatial cognition, but is that intelligence? 21. Piaget’s Role in IQ Tests: You may want to point out to students that Piaget was instrumental in early IQ test development. Many argue that much of Piaget’s theory comes from the early observation that children about the same age were consistently making similar errors. This not only explains Piaget’s work but also ties in with why he is a general theorist. Ask students how they think this work affected Piaget’s theory. 22. Heritability and IQ: When you talk about IQ heritability and the adoptee data, ask students what they think. Is there any third factor or confounding variables? SES! Remind students that adoption takes money. It also takes motivation. Thus, folks who adopt have money and really want kids. 23. Intelligence Testing: You may want to talk with students about how they feel about standardized testing in general, as well as how they feel about taking portions of IQ tests. This is also a good time to remind them that regardless of the theories, IQ tests should really only be used to do what they were designed for, which is to predict school performance. 24. Nature and Nurture and Intelligence: Ask students what things they think can help or harm a fetus. Remind students that most social programs are based on conception services. Good prenatal care decreases the risk of problems after birth. Avoiding alcohol, for example, reduces the risk of fetal alcohol syndrome, which often leads to low IQ. It is also important not to smoke. Smoking correlates with low birth weight, which correlates with lower levels of cognitive functioning. 25. Nature and Nurture and Intelligence: Early intervention with abused, neglected, and disadvantaged children raises IQ scores. Changes in environment can change brain structures that affect intellectual functioning. Point out to students that Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) programs, Head Start programs, etc., are all based on the idea that IQ can be affected by environmental changes. This is the root of most social intervention programs. One example is prenatal care. Even poor women are now encouraged to take prenatal supplements, as some ingredients have been shown to reduce neural tube defects in babies. 26. Assign students to interview 10 people on what they think makes someone intelligent. Have them write a 3- to 4-page APA-format paper on their “study.” 27. Have students watch Rain Man. Have students write a three-paragraph paper on the movie, savants, and if they think Gardner is right using that as evidence for his theory. 28. Ask students what they think about MI. Do they think that schools should be gearing curriculum based to the few rather than the many? Should colleges start on this path? Have them write a two-paragraph essay, with the first paragraph being “pro”-MI curriculums and the second being “con” on the issue. 29. The concept of reaction range describes how biology and environment work together to produce a person’s overall level of intelligence. Does the concept of reaction range really apply to a broad range of ability or behavior? Ask students to think about a wide range of capabilities and ask if it would apply? Ask them to describe their thoughts. 30. Ask students to think about MI. Which two areas do they believe are their strengths and weaknesses? Ask them to defend their answer. Suggested Media 1. A short clip with Gardner talking about MI: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEFpaY3GI-I&feature=related 2. An interview with Stephen Murdoch on why the traditional approach dismisses Gardner’s work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II9Y1mOKDhY 3. An example of a nonverbal IQ test: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sThCoWH03HU&feature=related 4. “DNA and the Brain,” an interview with James Watson: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6ZfrXHgiVY 5. Rain Man, released in 1988. This is a movie that shows Dustin Hoffman as a savant. 6. The Search for Intelligence (Insight Media) 7. Discovering Psychology: Intelligence and Testing (Annenberg) 8. Battle of the Brains: A Case for Multiple Intelligence (Films for Humanities and Social Science) 9. Good Will Hunting (giftedness) 10. Genes and Intelligence (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg) 11. Savant Syndrome (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg) 12. Intelligence in Animals (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg) 13. Problem Solving in Animals (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg) 14. Howard Gardner briefly describes his work on MI: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEFpaY3GI- ISuggested Websites 1. A great overview of all the theories: http://www.personalityresearch.org/intelligence.html 2. A good overview of the historical and current controversies on intelligence: http://www.indiana.edu/~intell/ 3. An article on the controversy of intelligence tests: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-controversy-of-intelligence-theories-397044.html 4. An overview of intelligence theories: http://psychology.about.com/od/cognitivepsychology/p/intelligence.htm 5. An overview of Sternberg’s triarchic theory: http://tip.psychology.org/stern.html 6. Wall Street Journal article on The Bell Curve: http://online.wsj.com/articles/SB117736979316179649 7. A brief discussion on the integrated theory of intelligence: http://www.supraconsciousnessnetwork.org/ 8. An article on savants: http://rarediseases.about.com/cs/neurodisorders/a/052502.htm 9. Human Intelligence: http://www.intelltheory.com/ Suggested Readings Bouchard, T. J. (1998). Genetic and environmental influences on adult intelligence and special mental abilities. Human Biology, 70, 257–279. Duncan, J., Rüdiger, J. S., Kolodny, J., Bor, D., Herzog, H., Ahmed, A., Newell, F. N., & Emslie, H. (2000). A neural basis for general intelligence. Science, 289, 457–460. Fletcher, R. B. (2011). Intelligence and intelligence testing. Routledge. Flynn, J. R. (2012). Are we getting smarter? Rising IQ in the twenty-first century. Cambridge University Press. Galton, F. (1865). Hereditary talent and character. Macmillan’s Magazine, 23, 157–166, 318–327. Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York: Basic Books. Geary, D. C. (1996). Sexual selection and sex differences in mathematical abilities. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 19, 229–284. Jensen, A. R. (1999). The g factor: The science of mental ability. Psychology, 10(23). McClearn, G. E., Johansson, B., Berg, S., Pedersen, N. L., Ahern, F., Petrill, S. A., & Plomin, R. (1997). Substantial genetic influence on cognitive abilities in twins 80 or more years old. Science, 276, 1560–1563. Neisser, U., Boodoo, G., Bouchard, T. J., Jr., Boykin, A. W., Brody, N., Ceci, S. J., Halpern, D. F., Loehlin, J. C., Perloff, R., Sternberg, R. J., & Urbina, S. (1996). Intelligence: Knowns and unknowns. American Psychologist, 51, 77–101. Plomin, R., & Daniels, D. (1987). Why are children in the same family so different from one another? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 10, 1–60. Spearman, C. (1904). “General intelligence,” objectively determined and measured. American Journal of Psychology 15, 201–293. Sternberg, R. J. (Ed.) (1999). Handbook of creativity. New York: Cambridge University Press. Sternberg, R. J., & Wagner, R. K. (1993). The g-ocentric view of intelligence and job performance is wrong. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 2, 1–4. Sternberg, R. J. (1977). Intelligence, information processing, and analogical reasoning. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Chapter 11: Motivation and Emotion BRIEF CHAPTER OUTLINE Motivation Models of Motivation The Drive Reduction Model The Optimal Arousal Model The Evolutionary Model The Hierarchical Model Hunger: Survival of the Individual The Biology of When We Eat The Psychology of What We Eat The Motive to Be Thin and the Tendency Toward Obesity Common Myths About Dieting; Challenging Assumptions About Diet Why Dieting Does Not Work—and What Does Eating Disorders Sex: Survival of the Species Human Sexual Response The Biology of Sexual Behavior Culture and Sexual Behavior Gender and the Drive for Casual Sex Sexual Orientation The Needs to Belong and to Excel The Need to Belong: Affiliation The Need to Excel: Achievement Motivation in the Workplace Emotion What Are Emotions? Types of Affect Basic Emotions Emotions as Evolutionary Adaptations Self-Conscious Emotions Emotion as a Process Appraisal in the Emotion Process Regulation of Emotion The Emotional Response Psychology in the Real World: Botox and Emotion Emotion and the Brain How Culture Impacts Emotion Expression Gender and Emotion Emotional Intelligence Bringing It All Together: Making Connections in Motivation and Emotion: Living a Satisfied and Well-Lived Life Chapter Review EXTENDED CHAPTER OUTLINE MOTIVATION •Motivation is the urge to move toward one’s goals and to accomplish tasks. •Needs, drives, and incentives all contribute to motivation. o Needs are inherently biological states of deficiency (cellular or bodily) that compel drives. Examples of needs include the needs for water, food, and oxygen. o Drives are the perceived states of tension that occur when our bodies are deficient in some need. The deficiency creates a drive to alleviate the state (e.g., drink, eat, or breathe). In this way, needs and drives push us. Motivated behaviors, therefore, result from needs and drives. •An incentive is any external object or event that motivates behavior. o Drives come from the body, whereas incentives come from the environment. Models of Motivation The Drive Reduction Model o When our physiological systems become out of balance or depleted, we are driven to reduce this depleted state. o We are driven to maintain homeostasis, psychological balance, around an optimal set point (the ideal fixed setting of a particular physiological system). o Sensory detectors tell the brain about the body’s current state and any changes that cause it to deviate from the set point. If our bodily states move too far from the set point, these mechanisms motivate us to take action. The Optimal Arousal Model o We seek out stimulation and function best at an “optimal level of arousal.” The Yerkes-Dodson law states that both low arousal and high arousal lead to poor performance, whereas moderate levels of arousal lead to optimal performance. o Humans are motivated to be in situations that are optimally arousing. o Flow describes how people perform best and are optimally challenged relative to their abilities. o Psychologists argue that needs such as curiosity, learning, interest, beauty-aesthetics, competence, challenge, flow states, and optimal experiences are motivated by the desire to be optimally aroused. The Evolutionary Model o Evolutionary theory looks at internal drives to explain why people do what they do. o Biologically speaking, the purpose of any living organism is to reproduce. The major motives, then, all involve basic survival and reproduction needs: hunger, thirst, body-temperature regulation, oxygen, and sex. o Generally, we are unaware of the reasons for behavior related to these drives. We know only that we do something because it feels good and that we stop doing something if it feels bad. The Hierarchical Model o The essence of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is that needs range from the most basic physiological necessities to the highest, most psychological need for growth and fulfillment. At the lowest level are physiological needs (e.g., food, water, oxygen, and adequate body temperature). The next level is safety needs (e.g., physical security, stability, dependency, protection, and freedom from threats such as war, assault, and terrorism). At the third level are the love and belongingness needs (e.g., desire for friendship, sex, a mate and children, and to belong to a family or social group). The fourth level is the need for esteem (e.g., to appreciate oneself and one’s worth and to be appreciated and respected by others). The top level in the hierarchy is the need for self-actualization (e.g., the full realization of one’s potentials and abilities in life). Hunger: Survival of the Individual •The rate at which we consume energy is our metabolism. When our energy has been depleted, hunger drives us to replenish our store of energy by eating. The Biology of When We Eat o Internal signals from the body control when we have the desire to eat or stop eating. o The drive reduction perspective: being hungry depends on how much food we have consumed recently and how much energy is available for organ function. o There are four biological components including the stomach, the blood, the brain, and hormones and neurochemicals. Stomach “growling” results from gastric secretions that are activated by the brain when we think of, see, or smell food. Hunger can also cause the stomach to contract. These contractions correspond with hunger pangs but they do not cause hunger. The most important source of energy for the body is cellular glucose (a simple sugar in the blood that provides energy for cells throughout the body and brain). Our glucose level is monitored by the hypothalamus and, when it drops, the hypothalamus triggers the need to obtain food. In fact, the hypothalamus regulates all basic physiological needs, including hunger. Two of the numerous hormones that stimulate appetite are neuropeptide Y (NPY) and ghrelin. Two of the many hormones that suppress appetite are insulin and leptin. CONNECTION: Endocannabinoids and its relative, marijuana, are used medically to treat cancer patients who are on chemotherapy, because they stimulate appetite (Chapter 6). The Psychology of What We Eat o What we eat is shaped by nature and nurture. o Food preferences are shaped by evolutionary forces. o Different cultures expose children to different flavors but exposure does not dictate preference. It takes about 8 to 10 exposures to a food before children will begin to like a food they initially disliked. o Culture shapes food preferences while people are young. Once a person develops a preference for a kind of food, she/he is motivated and even driven to eat that kind of food. The Motive to Be Thin and the Tendency Toward Obesity o Fat provides a store of energy for future use. Evolutionarily this was very important because, in hunter-gatherer societies, you never knew where the next meal was coming from. In modern industrialized societies this is not so much a problem. o Compared to earlier times we lead a more sedentary lifestyle so we need less food to be health. o Ideas about beauty have also been changed as a result of having more food available than is needed. o Thinness defines attractiveness in most societies. This obsession with thinness can lead to eating disorders. o Definitions of overweight must consider both height and weight. o Body mass index (BMI) is determined by dividing weight by height to yield a weight-to-height ratio. The ideal BMI range is between 19 and 24. Overweight individuals have a BMI between 25 and 29. People who are obese have a BMI above 30. o Weight is another example of nature and nurture interacting. o Genes appear to be responsible for about 70% of adults. In some obese people, the gene that produces leptin is not functioning properly. Genes also control the number of fat cells a person has. This number is set by childhood and adolescence, and does not change much after that Dieting does not change the number of fat cells we have; it reduces how much fat each cell stores. Common Myths About Dieting: Challenging Assumptions About Diet There are several widely held myths about weight loss that do not have data to support them. The biggest myth is that low-fat and low-carb diets are good and high-fat and high-carb diets are bad. o There are different kinds of fats and carbs. o Some of the fats are carbs that are good and others are not. o The best approach is to aim for a low-glycemic diet defined as approximately 40% carbs, 40% fats, and 20% protein. The second myth is that having smaller but more frequent meals is one way to lose weight. o Evidence for this is mixed and contradictory. Why Dieting Does Not Work—and What Does Dieting does not generally work in the long term. Mann et al. (2007)’s meta-analysis found that dieters would have been better off in the long term if they had never dieted at all. Losing and re-gaining weight is associated with heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and altered immune function. People typically lose 5 to 10 pounds within the first 6 months of the diet. Within two years they gain that weight back plus some. Lifestyle change is what is necessary for weight loss. Eat slowly as it takes 20 minutes after eating before your brain knows you’re full. Write down what you eat for one month. Monitor your weight regularly. Choose a low-glycemic diet as snacks. Eat what you want but in moderation. Stop eating when you feel full. Drink lots of water. Get moderate physical activity. Get support from your friends and family. Get good sleep. Eating Disorders Some people develop such concern about body and weight issues that they develop an eating disorder. There are two primary types of eating disorders: anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Anorexia nervosa is an extreme fear about being overweight that leads to a severe restriction of food intake. Bulimia nervosa is when a person is prone to binge eating and feeling a lack of control during the eating session. Purging happens after the person binges. There is a nature and nurture interaction with eating disorders. Sex: Survival of the Species •At a species level, we have sex to propagate the species. At the individual level, we have sex because it feels good. Human Sexual Response o Sexual behaviors are actions that produce arousal and increase the likelihood of orgasm. o Masters and Johnson (1966) were the first scientists to study the human sexual response systematically and directly. Men and women go through four phases of sexual arousal but do so somewhat differently. The four phases are excitement, plateau, orgasm, and resolution. •The major signs of the initial excitement phase are vaginal lubrication in the female and erection in the male. •In the second phase, plateau, excitement level remains high but is pre-orgasmic. In men, the plateau phase might be rather short, but orgasm almost always follows. In women, the plateau phase often lasts longer than in men and is not necessarily followed by orgasm. •An even more striking gender difference is the ability of women to have multiple orgasms. Men always have a refractory period immediately following orgasm, in which erection is lost and orgasm is not possible, but women may go on to have multiple orgasms. o More recent models of female sexual arousal point out that the initial sexual response in women involves more psychological processes than simply arousal and desire. Desire and arousal do not happen spontaneously in many women, who often require the right balance of thoughts and feelings. These thoughts and feelings play off and feed arousal, which in turn lead to deeper feelings of intimacy and closeness. Arousal continues to increase and may or may not lead to orgasm, but arousal and excitement are still important and meaningful even without orgasm. The Biology of Sexual Behavior o Many brain regions involved in emotion are required for the earlier stages of sexual arousal, prior to orgasm. o The hypothalamus plays a crucial role in sexual behavior. The part of the hypothalamus involved in sexual behavior is larger in men than in women. o Brain activity changes during orgasm. In fact, certain brain regions actually shut down. In women, achieving a real orgasm always involves deactivation of brain regions involved with fear and anxiety in the amygdala and hippocampus, as well as parts of the cortex involved in consciousness. Men show brain deactivation during orgasm but to the left amygdale (a smaller emotional region of the brain). o Testosterone, the major male sex hormone produced by the adrenal gland, controls sex drive in both men and women. o In women, there is some regular cyclical activity and interest in the course of the 28-day menstrual cycle. Female-initiated sexual behavior peaks around ovulation and again before and after menstruation. The strongest cyclical effect for women occurs in relation to their fantasies involving men other than their regular sex partner. As women approach ovulation, the frequency and intensity of their fantasies involving sex with men other than their partner increase. Culture and Sexual Behavior o Three kinds of societies have been identified in terms of sexual attitudes. Restrictive societies restrict sex before and outside of marriage. Semi-restrictive societies have formal prohibitions on pre- and extramarital sex that are not strictly enforced. Permissive societies place few restrictions on sex. Gender and the Drive for Casual Sex o Research consistently shows that men are more willing and interested in casual sex than are women. Clark and Hatfield (1989, 2003) had student assistants simply approach attractive members of the opposite sex on campus and ask them one of three questions: “Would you go out with me tonight?”; “Would you come back to my apartment tonight?”; and “Would you go to bed with me tonight?” Three-quarters of the men responded that they were willing to have sex with a stranger of the opposite sex, but not one woman was willing to do so! o Parental investment theory argues that the cost of having sex is different for men and women. For men, the only assured contribution to parenthood is the act of sex itself. If a woman becomes pregnant, however, her contribution includes nine months of carrying the fetus, a good portion of which might involve pregnancy sickness; then there is the painful labor and delivery; and finally, there is approximately 18 years of caring for the child. Sexual Orientation o Sexual orientation is our disposition to be attracted to either the opposite sex (heterosexual), the same sex (homosexual), or both sexes (bisexual). o Kinsey, Pomeroy, and Martin (1948) argued that sexual orientation exists on a continuum, from exclusively heterosexual to exclusively homosexual. o Approximately 90% of U.S. men and women identify as exclusively heterosexual. o Naturalistic observations of animals suggest that same-sex pairings may be much more common than previously thought. Scientists are at a loss to explain this. o To some extent research has revealed that individuals exposed to relatively high levels of testosterone in the womb are more likely to be attracted to women, whereas those exposed to relatively low levels of testosterone are more likely to be attracted to men. o The hypothalamus is substantially smaller in gay men than in straight men. It’s about the size of a woman’s. This is a correlational study. o The corpus callosum is thicker in homosexual than heterosexual men. This is also a correlational study. o Who we are attracted to is influenced by a complex mix of biological and cultural factors. o Studies of twins indicate that genetics plays a bigger role in determining sexual orientation in men than in women. For women, environmental factors seem to have a strong influence on sexual orientation. o Social-environmental theories argue that sexual orientation is a social construction. For example, child play, early peer relations, differences in how parents treat boys and girls, and gender identity are important factors in the development of sexual orientation. o Environmental theories are consistent with biological ones. Biology could start the development of sexual orientation, which in turn would be strengthened or discouraged by environmental factors. The Needs to Belong and to Excel •Need for affiliation is the need for social contact and belonging. •Need for achievement is the need to excel, achieve, and to be competitive with others. •Both of these needs are universal. The Need to Belong: Affiliation o Humans are inherently social creatures who depend on others (most clearly at the beginning and end of life). o This is a very strong need. o Aspects of our brain are activated by affiliation needs. o This need is one of the big draws of social networking sites. o The opposite of acceptance is rejection. o A lack of belongingness leads to both physical and psychological problems. The Need to Excel: Achievement o Some people compete with other people and others compete more with themselves simply to do the best they can. o McClelland and Atkinson (1985) emphasized that achievement motivation is a desire to do things well and overcome difficulties and obstacles. Those obstacles can only be measured in terms of one’s goals. o Atkinson (1964) argued that the tendency to achieve success is a function of three things. Motivation to succeed is the extent to which you really want to be successful. Expectation of success is an individual’s evaluation of the likelihood of succeeding at a task. Incentive value of the success. This stems from two factors: •success at the task has to be important to you; and •the more difficult the task and the lower the odds of succeeding at it, the more it will mean to you if you do succeed. Motivation in the Workplace •Industrial/Organizational (I/O) psychologists study motivation and behavior in work context. Three Models of Employee Motivation •Interesting work, good wages, and job security are the top priorities among employees. •From a behavioral perspective, the bottom line for business is productivity. More recently some companies have emphasized supportive and pleasant work environment, autonomy, enjoyment, and challenge in their workers. •There are at least three competing models of how to motivate workers and make them more productive: extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation, or organizational support for the well-being of its employees. o Extrinsic Motivation: Extrinsic motivation comes from outside the person (extrinsic) and usually involves rewards and praises. They are used to get people to do things they themselves wouldn’t normally do or perhaps even don’t like doing. Reward cannot only increase a particular behavior but it can also increase performance and feelings of competency. Drawbacks include that the reward be constant and consistent. The reward can also narrow focus so that people are no longer as creative. The reward can also reduce a person’s own desire to perform a task for the pure enjoyment of it. o Intrinsic Motivation: Intrinsic motivation happens when you want to do something simply because you enjoy doing it. There are four components of intrinsic motivation: (1) challenge, (2) enjoyment, (3) mastery, and (4) autonomy and self-determination. Intrinsic motivation changes as life circumstances change. The need for challenge increases in ones 20s and 30s and then drops at the end of one’s career. Enjoyment drops only a little over the course of one’s career. o Perceived Support by Supervisors and Organizations: How much employees believe the organization appreciates and supports their contributions and well-being, known as perceived organizational support, plays a big role in keeping them motivated and committed to working at that company. When employees work at companies that support and care about their well-being then they are happier at their jobs, experience less stress, and are more motivated to stay at their jobs. In addition, they are less likely to miss workdays, be late for work, or take long lunch breaks. EMOTION •Basic drives differ from emotions in important ways. o Drives are linked with very specific needs; emotions are not. o Emotions can override biological drives. What Are Emotions? •Emotions are triggered by situations that are relevant to our personal goals, physical safety, or well-being. Types of Affect o Affect refers to a variety of emotional phenomena, including emotions, moods, and affective traits. Emotions are brief, acute changes to experience and physiology that result from a response to a meaningful situation in the person’s environment. Moods are transient changes in affect that fluctuate throughout the day or over several days. They are experienced physiologically and psychologically and they tend to last longer than most emotions. Affective traits are enduring aspects of our personalities, which set the threshold for the occurrence of particular emotional states. CONNECTION: Emotional events are remembered better than non-emotional events, almost like they are seared into our brains (Chapter 7). Basic Emotions o Basic emotions are emotions common to all humans. They are anger, fear, disgust, happiness, sadness, and surprise. o Basic emotions are categories or groups of related emotions (they are an emotion family). Emotions as Evolutionary Adaptations o From an evolutionary perspective, emotions are adaptations. o Emotions bring our physiological systems together to help us deal efficiently with critical situations. o The broaden and build model is Fredrickson's model for positive emotions, which posits that emotions widen our cognitive perspective and help us acquire useful life skills. When people are in positive moods they perform poorly on tasks of selective attention that require a narrow focus compared to people in sad or neutral moods, and they perform better on tasks that require a broader attentional focus. Self-Conscious Emotions o Self-conscious emotions are types of emotion that require a sense of self and the ability to reflect on actions. They occur as a function of meeting expectations, or not, by society's rules. o These emotions include shame, guilt, humiliation, embarrassment, and pride. o Pride The expression of pride involves body movements, a low intensity smile, and head tilted upward with slightly expanded chest. This emotion is associated with superiority over others and a higher social status. o Embarrassment Embarrassment involves an unintentional revelation about our self. There is a distinct self-consciousness to embarrassment, as if people have violated some social rule and been caught in the act. People often get giggly when embarrassed, and act as if they want to make amends for some sort of social transgression. The facial expression of embarrassment serves to appease and placate those who have seen one’s mistake. Emotion as a Process •Emotions create changes in experience, thought, physiology, and behavior. •An emotion begins with an antecedent event, a situation that may lead to an emotional response. •The person evaluates the event to determine whether it is potentially harmful or beneficial. Depending on the results of that appraisal, he or she may experience an emotional response. •The emotional response, in turn, produces changes in physiology, behavior and expressions, and subjective experience of the event. •Once we generate emotions, we sometimes attempt to modify them, regulate them, or make them go away, which in turn involves new appraisals and new responses. Appraisal in the Emotion Process o Appraisal is the evaluation of a situation with respect to how relevant it is to one’s own welfare. It drives the process by which emotions are elicited. Most of the time it occurs outside of awareness. o Emotions occur only in response to events that have relevance to us at that moment. o Examples of appraisal dimensions include: control, agency, pleasantness, and fairness. o The type of appraisal determines the type of emotion generated. Regulation of Emotion o Emotion regulation refers to the cognitive and behavioral efforts people use to modify their emotions. o One example of emotion regulation is reappraisal, in which people reevaluate their views of an event so that a different emotion results. o Expressive-suppression is the deliberate attempt to inhibit the outward manifestation of an emotion. The Emotional Response o Emotional responses include physiological, behavioral/expressive, and subjective changes. Physiological Changes •Emotions create physiological changes (e.g., increases in heart rate and rate of respiration). •Once elicited, emotions engage the ANS almost immediately. o For emotions that are concerned with survival and protection from harm, such as fear, the sympathetic branch of the ANS is activated. o Positive emotions engage the parasympathetic branch of the ANS. They apparently serve to return the body to a more relaxed, responsive state. Behavioral-Expressive Changes in Emotion •Emotions create expressive changes, such as facial expressions and changes in vocal intonation and volume, as well as behavioral tendencies toward particular types of action. •People show emotions both verbally and nonverbally. Facial Expression of Emotion •Humans are predisposed to respond to faces. o Newborn babies mimic the facial expressions of adults. o At 5 months, babies can discriminate between different types of facial expressions of emotion. o By 1 year of age, infants rely on the faces of their caregivers to convey important information about how they might act. •The facial action coding system (FACS) is a widely used method by which coders score all observable muscular movements that are possible in the human face. •The most recognizable facial expression of emotion is the smile of genuine happiness. o A smile that both pulls up the lip corners diagonally and contracts the band of muscles that circle the eye to create crow’s feet and raise the cheeks is known as a Duchenne smile. A Duchenne smile is a genuine smile that expresses true enjoyment. • Vocal Expression of Emotions o The voice is very sensitive to emotional fluctuations because ANS has projections to the vocal cords. o The recognition of emotion from speech appears to be a basic human social skill. o Laughter is a well-known vocal expression of emotion. Voiced-laughs (those that involve vibration of the vocal fold and typically involve expelling air out of the mouth) generate more positive ratings from people on features such as likeability, sexiness, and friendliness. o Vocal and facial response systems can work together in emotion expression. •Subjective Experience of Emotion o Subjective experience of emotion is the quality of our conscious experience during an emotional response. o This is what we refer to when we talk about how an emotion “feels.” It draws from the experience of body changes as well as the numerous effects of emotions on cognitions, as emotions can activate associations with images and memories of significant events. o The James-Lange theory of emotion says that it is our perception of the physiological changes that accompany emotions that creates the subjective emotional experience. o Cannon, on the other hand, argued feedback from body organs is not specific enough to account for the variety of emotion. o The facial feedback hypothesis supports the idea that feedback from body sensations creates emotional experience. PSYCHOLOGY IN THE REAL WORLD: BOTOX AND EMOTION •Botox is the trade name of a neurotoxin called botulism toxin. •Botulism toxin causes muscular paralysis by blocking the release of acetylcholine. •Botox injections are the most popular cosmetic procedure in the general population. It is used to diminish wrinkles. •Botox is commonly injected into the area between the eyebrows where vertical wrinkles called “glabellar frown lines” appear. •Emotional expression of anger, fear, and sadness is reduced. •With these muscles not working facial feedback is reduced which may hurt emotional experience. •Beyond affecting the facial expression and the experience of emotion, Botox injections can also affect the ability to read emotions. •The bottom line is that Botox can play a role in emotional expression, experience, and the ability to read emotion. Emotion and the Brain •Affective neuroscience studies which structures and systems are involved in the emotion process. It is a growing field. •There is no main emotion center in the brain, but there are some key areas for emotion processing, most notably, the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex. •The amygdala has connections with the hypothalamus (controls the ANS), the hippocampus (plays a crucial role in memory), the thalamus (which contains nuclei that receive information from the sense organs), and the cerebral cortex. The amygdala has a specialized function for noticing fear-relevant information. o People with damage to the amygdala do not show normal physiological reactions under fear conditioning. They tend to trust faces that most people find to be untrustworthy, and have trouble recognizing facial expressions of fear, especially in the eyes. o Other regions of the amygdala are more involved in anger and rage. In fact, tumors of the amygdala have been found in violent criminals, such as Charles Whitman, who climbed the tower at the University of Texas in 1966 and, in a 90-minute shooting spree, killed 19 people and wounded 38. o The prefrontal cortex is involved in determining options for response or reappraisal. The prefrontal cortex plays a role in the appraisal and reappraisal of emotion, and damage to the left prefrontal cortex results in depression. o CONNECTION: The prefrontal cortex plays a key role in working memory by evaluating sensory information and designating it for storage or disposal (Chapter 7). o Other Brain Regions in Emotion: o The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is active when people either recall or imagine emotional experiences. o The left prefrontal cortex is more involved in positive emotions than the right. o Nerve fibers that run through the hypothalamus to a nearby brain region appear to be a pleasure or reward center. o Oxytocin makes people better at recognizing facial expressions of happiness. o The insula is the brain structure most involved in interoception, the perception of sensations arising within the body. How Culture Impacts Emotion Expression •Ekman (1972) proposed the neuro-cultural theory of emotion. The neurocultural theory of emotion is Ekman’s explanation that some aspects of emotion, such as facial expressions and physiological changes associated with emotions, are universal and others, such as emotional regulation, are culturally derived. •Display rules are learned norms or rules, often taught very early, about when it is appropriate to show certain expressions of emotion and to whom one should show them. •Ekman (1972) and Friesen’s (1972) empirical support for display rules came from a study comparing disgust expressions in American and Japanese students. •Both groups viewed a film showing a very graphic medical procedure, but in two different conditions: one in the presence of an authority figure and the other alone. When alone, both groups felt perfectly comfortable expressing the obvious response: disgust. When in the presence of an authority figure, however, the Japanese students did not show disgust, and they masked their responses with non-Duchenne (fake) smiles. American students, however, showed about the same level of disgust in both conditions. The expressive differences between groups emerged in a situation in which the cultures had very different norms about expression, but not in the solo viewing condition •People posing with fear faces actually see better in terms of tests of peripheral vision and quickness of eye movements. •There are some universals in vocalization of emotions as well. •Motherese is the sing-songy manner with which mothers speak to their babies is consistent worldwide. •Nonverbal vocalizations of emotions also seem to be recognized cross-culturally. Gender and Emotion •An overwhelming amount of data finds no gender differences in emotion. •Women talk more about emotion than men. •Women do outperform men in accurately recognizing facial expressions of emotion. •Studies of facial behavior during emotional experiences find no consistent differences between men and women, except that women generally smile more often than men. •The similarities between the sexes in terms of emotion and the brain are far more impressive than the differences. Exposure to pictures of animal or human attacks does, however, provoke greater amygdala activation in men than in women. Emotional Intelligence •Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize emotions in oneself and others, the development of empathic understanding, and skills for regulating emotions in oneself and others. •Researchers have taught children strategies for regulating emotion in order to reduce maladaptive behavior and improve academic performance. These strategies are called socioemotional learning (SEL). Training in emotional skills improves emotional behavior and functioning and enhances cognitive performance and school performance. •PATHS (Providing Alternative Thinking Strategies) is a program that gives teachers a detailed curriculum for improving children’s emotional awareness and regulation skills and enhancing their social competence. o PATHS leads to improvements in social and emotional skills in high-risk children, reduction of aggressive behaviors in both normal and special-needs children, fewer depressive symptoms in special-needs kids, and improvements in classroom. •A large-scale meta-analysis of more than 500 studies shows that SEL programs significantly improve children’s academic performance. Specifically, children who participate in these programs have better attendance, less disruptive classroom behavior, like school more, and have higher GPAs. •Emotional intelligence may be an enduring characteristic or skill, like other forms of intelligence. There are two measuring instruments used today. These are the EQ-I and Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT). •Trait measures of emotional intelligence correlate with higher GPA in adolescents, less job burnout in teachers, better coping with stress, and improvements in mental and physical health. BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER: MAKING CONNECTIONS IN MOTIVATION & EMOTION: LIVING A SATISFIED AND WELL-LIVED LIFE •Life satisfaction is the overall evaluation we have of our lives. It is an aspect of subjective well-being. •Subjective well-being includes satisfaction in different domains, such as career and social networks and the balance between positive and negative affect in life. Motivation and Happiness •Referring back to Maslow’s hierarchical model of motivation, both basic needs and the higher-level needs contribute to life satisfaction. o Basic Needs and Happiness Basic needs must be met for a person to be relatively satisfied with life, but more money does not lead to greater happiness. •Industrialized countries have higher levels of well-being than non-industrialized countries. •At a national level, in the early stages of a country’s development out of poverty, increased income makes people a bit happier with their lives. After a relatively modest level of income, however, money makes little difference and may even be a hindrance to happiness. •At the individual level, having more money does make people slightly happier, but this is only true for those driven by money. Diet and weight also relate to overall happiness in various ways. •First, having a healthy diet is associated with high life satisfaction, but being overweight is associated with low life satisfaction. •Long-term weight loss is related to increases in life satisfaction. Having a satisfying sex life can be a source of overall happiness and well-being for people, just as problems in one’s sex life can lead to overall problems in one’s well-being. •Subjective well-being and sexual satisfaction were highest in European and European-based cultures. o Higher Needs and Happiness Once a person or a country crosses the $12,000/per person/year GNP, close relationships and valuing family, friends, and people matter most for overall levels of happiness. •People who value non-competitive goals, such as spending time with a spouse, children, and friends tend to become happier and more satisfied with life over time. •People who most value competitive achievement goals, such as career advancement and material gains, actually decrease in happiness over time. •People who are curious and interested in exploring novel and challenging situations tend to be happier than people who would rather stick with what they know and not challenge themselves with new tasks and experiences. o The Well-Lived Life and Intrinsic Motivation •Living the well-lived life is most often driven by intrinsic goals and motives. •People who live a well-lived life are also characterized by finding meaning in life. o The Well-Lived Life, Affiliation, and Positive Emotions •People who live a well-lived life strongly experience a need for relationships and affiliation. These individual experiences depend on empathy and compassion. •They are also more likely to experience positive emotional states and satisfaction. KEY TERMS achievement motivation: a desire to do things well and overcome difficulties and obstacles. affective traits: stable predispositions toward certain types of emotional responses; they are enduring aspects of our personalities that set the threshold for the occurrence of particular emotional states. anorexia nervosa: an extreme fear about being overweight that leads to a severe restriction of food intake. appraisal: the evaluation of a situation with respect to how relevant it is to one’s own welfare; it drives the process by which emotions are elicited. basic emotions: a set of emotions that are common to all humans; includes anger, fear, disgust, happiness, sadness, and surprise. broaden and build model: Fredrickson’s model for positive emotions, which posits that they widen our cognitive perspective and help us acquire useful life skills. bulimia nervosa: prone to binge eating and feeling a lack of control during the eating session. display rules: learned norms or rules, often taught very early, about when it is appropriate to show certain expressions of emotion and to whom one should show them. drives: the perceived states of tension that occur when our bodies are deficient in some need. Duchenne smile: a smile that expresses true enjoyment. These smiles involve both the muscles that pull up the lip corners diagonally and those that contract the band of muscles encircling the eye to create crow’s feet and raise the cheeks. emotion regulation: the cognitive and behavioral efforts people use to modify their emotions. emotional intelligence: the ability to recognize emotions in oneself and others, the development of empathic understanding, and skills for regulating emotions in oneself and others. emotional response: includes the physiological, behavioral/expressive, and subjective changes that occur when emotions are generated. emotions: brief, multifaceted changes to experience and physiology that result from a response to a meaningful situation in the person’s environment. expressive-suppression: an example of a response-focused strategy for regulating emotion involving the deliberate attempt to inhibit the outward manifestation of an emotion. extrinsic motivation: motivation that comes from outside the person (extrinsic) and usually involves rewards and praises. Facial Action Coding System (FACS): a widely used method for measuring all observable muscular movements that are possible and observable in the human face. facial feedback hypothesis: sensory feedback from the facial musculature during expression affects emotional experience. glucose: a simple sugar in the blood that provides energy for cells throughout the body, including the brain. homeostasis: the process by which all organisms work to maintain physiological equilibrium or balance around an optimal set point. incentive: simply any external object or event that motivates behavior. intrinsic motivation: motivation that happens when you want to do something simply because you enjoy doing it. James-Lange theory of emotion: says that our perception of the physiological changes that accompany emotions create the subjective emotional experience. life satisfaction: the overall evaluation we have of our lives; it is an aspect of subjective well-being. moods: affective states that operate in the background of consciousness, which tend to last longer than most emotions. motivation: the urge to move toward one’s goals; it gives us an energetic push toward accomplishing tasks. needs: states of cellular or bodily deficiency that compel drives. neuro-cultural theory of emotion: Ekman’s theory that accounts for the fact that certain aspects of emotion, such as the facial expressions and physiological changes, are similar in all humans, whereas others, such as how people appraise situations and regulate their emotional expressions in front of others, vary from one culture to another. perceived organizational support: belief in how much employees believe the organization appreciates and supports their contributions and well-being. reappraisal: an antecedent-focused emotion regulation strategy, in which one reevaluates how one has viewed an event so that a different emotion results. self-actualization: the full realization of one’s potentials and abilities in life. According to Maslow, this motive sits atop the hierarchy of needs. self-conscious emotions: occur as a function of how well we live up to our expectations, the expectations of others, or the rules set by society. set point: the ideal fixed setting of a particular physiological system, such as internal body temperature. sexual behavior: actions that produce arousal and increase the likelihood of orgasm. sexual orientation: our disposition to be attracted to either the opposite sex (heterosexual), the same sex (homosexual) or both sexes (bisexual). subjective experience of emotion: the changes in the quality of our conscious experience that occur during emotional responses. subjective well-being: consists of life satisfaction, domain satisfactions, and positive and negative affect. universal: we use this term to refer to a behavior that is common to all human beings and can be seen in cultures all over the world. Yerkes-Dodson law: the idea that both low arousal and high arousal lead to poor performance, whereas moderate levels of arousal lead to optimal performance, depicted visually as a graph between performance (y-axis) and arousal (x-axis) that has an inverted-U shape. MAKING THE CONNECTIONS (Some of the connections are found in the text. Other connections may be useful for lecture or discussion.) MOTIVATION CONNECTION: What motivates people to want the most out of life and to live life to its fullest? Learn about the qualities of self-actualizing people (Chapter 15). •Suggested Site: This site on Maslow’s theory outlines some of Maslow’s concepts of self-actualizers: http://www.abraham-maslow.com/amIndex.asp. Have students come up with their own list and use the information on this site to help guide the discussion. You can then ask them which people throughout history would likely be labeled as “self-actualized.” Common examples are Abraham Lincoln, Mother Teresa, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., etc. CONNECTION: Endocannabinoids and its relative, marijuana, are used medically to treat cancer patients who are on chemotherapy, because they stimulate appetite (Chapter 6). •Discussion: Ask students their opinion on whether marijuana should be legalized. Direct the conversation around the medical pros and cons of the drug (see http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/ for help). CONNECTION: Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are the most common eating disorders in more affluent nations (Chapter 12). •Suggested Site: Culture and Eating Disorders: http://www.healthyplace.com/Communities/Eating_Disorders/minorities_1.asp CONNECTION: Alienation with others is so important that social exclusion physically hurts and activates pain regions in the brain involved with physical pain (Chapter 14). •Suggested Article: BBC news article on these findings: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3178242.stm EMOTION CONNECTION: The prefrontal cortex plays a key role in working memory by evaluating sensory information and designating it for storage or disposal (Chapter 7). •Discussion: Remind students about the case of Phineas Gage and his change in behavior following his accident with a tampering rod. CONNECTION: When you see another person you care about get hurt physically, it creates activity in the insula similar to what you experience with feelings of your own physical pain (Chapter 14). •Suggested Article: Mirror Neurons and Empathy: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn10108-spectrum-of-empathy-found-in-the-brain.html INNOVATIVE INSTRUCTION 1. Ask students what motivates them. Is it food? (It usually is!) Sex? Understanding? Love? Ask them what motivates them most. If they are having a hard time getting started, talk to them about how clubs and organizations draw new membership. They have events that advertise free food! How do apartments draw in new tenants? They offer cuts in rent or a month free. How do commercials get you to buy products? They promise sex and love. In other words, these organizations appeal to our basic needs. 2. One argument against Maslow’s hierarchy is that the same behavior could serve to fulfill different needs for different people. For example you might use sex. Sex is clearly a physiological need but for some it can serve other functions: love, safety, and esteem. Have students think of other behaviors that may fulfill multiple needs on the hierarchy. 3. Ask students to think about how mood affects daily behaviors, like helpfulness. If they are in a good mood and someone is trying to merge into their lane, what do they do? What about if someone yells for them to hold the elevator? Generally, if you’re in a good mood, you are more helpful (you let people into your lane and frantically press the “open door” button or put your foot in the doorway to keep the elevator open). If you’re in a bad mood, though, you are less helpful (speeding up to prevent the merge and actively pushing the “close door” button). 4. Ask students how they would go about applying concepts of emotional regulation to schools of different socioeconomical statuses. 5. Ask students what would make them happy. Winning the lottery? Finding true love? Getting straight As? Talk to them about the predictors of happiness outlined in the “Motivation and Happiness” section of the book. 6. Ask students if they think men and women are different when it comes to emotion. Do women feel more than men or just differently, or is there a difference at all? 7. Ask students why the United States has obesity issues. You can lead them by asking if they think fatty foods are hard to find, how portion sizes have changed in recent times, about the cost of fatty foods in comparison to healthy alternatives (even at local fast-food stops), and about lifestyle changes between “then” and “now.” 8. Humans need to connect. Infant attachment with a caregiver is crucial to healthy development (Chapter 5). Remind students about Harlow’s research on attachment (you can use this video clip as a refresher: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsA5Sec6dAI) and ask students how people with different attachment patterns might vary in their need to belong. 9. Students may have a hard time differentiating the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. Tell them to imagine that they are driving down the road in a rain storm when they suddenly see break lights from the car in front of them. Ask them to explain their reaction. Typically, their hear rate increases, they hold their breath, their mouth gets dry. These are all the result of their sympathetic nervous system. Their body is having “sympathy” for their situation and preparing them to react (slam on the breaks, brace for impact, etc.). Now, have them imagine how they would feel when they are able to avoid the accident. Their heart rate slows, their breathing returns to normal, etc. This is the parasympathetic nervous system. Like a “parachute,” it calms the free fall and returns you to a normal state. 10. Hunger involves internal biological processes interacting with external, environmental ones. Ask students about their experiences with their parents taking them to dinner. Mom and Dad take them out and, chances are, they order vast quantities of food so that they can take home the leftovers. After dinner, when they are very full, they go home and what is the first thing they do? They look in the refrigerator to see if the “food fairy” (or their roommate) has delivered anything new. Why does this happen? It happens because that is their social, environmental cue. They come home. They look in the refrigerator. 11. Ask students about their favorite foods. When did they first try them? How many times did they try them before the food became a favorite? Ask if there are any foods that they hated when they initially tried them but now they love. 12. Ask students to imagine they are walking down a street late at night by themselves. Suddenly, they hear footsteps behind them. The steps grow louder and faster. How do they feel? If they appraise the event as dangerous, this will lead to the emotional experience of fear, which might lead them to run away or scream. If they then realize that it is a jogger out for a run, they may feel relief and slow their pace. 13. When and how we express emotion is a function of both biological and cultural forces. Ask students how these research findings might be related to emotIcons used when IM’ing, blogging, etc. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070404162321.htm for more details. 14. Have students keep a journal for a day on their different needs as they relate to Maslow’s hierarchy. Have them document which needs are most fulfilled at various times of the day (maybe every three hours from when they wake up to when they go to sleep). Which needs are different behaviors aiming to fulfill? Have them make a note of what happens when lower-level needs demand their attention (e.g., if they are studying and working on their esteem needs, what happens when they get hungry or tired?). 15. In addition to talking about the Rorschach Inkblot test, discuss the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). Next, show students the following TAT image: http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/psychology/images/1310980/title/example-thematic-apperception-test-photo . Have them write down a story about the image. Ask them to share their stories with the class. Explain that using TAT images like this one measures achievement motivation. 16. Ask half of the class to suck on their pencil/pen for one minute. Ask the other half to bite on their pen (held horizontally) for one minute. After the minute has passed, ask them to indicate their mood on a scale of 1 (highly depressed) to 10 (ecstatic). Discuss the difference. 17. Show students the following image: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs/morris/posts/27morris_ekman_cd.jpg and ask them which person is showing a Duchenne smile. 18. Show students the following site: http://www.jaschahoffman.com/ekmanLight.jpg. This is from the South Fore of New Guinea. Ask them to identify the emotions in each face. 19. You may want to place students in groups. Have students discuss what is attractive in today’s society vs. in the 1920, 1960s, and 1980s. What is similar? What is different? If students have internet access ask them to provide some images from each era. Suggested Media 42. Floatation tanks and sensory deprivation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5oRl99BEDA 43. Charles Whitman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTU5lPzKvjI 44. Good Will Hunting (1997) is a good example of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. 45. Anger Management (2003) 46. Anorexia help commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94c43AlwLKo 47. NOVA, Dying to be Thin: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/thin/program.html 48. Daniel Goleman talking about emotional and social intelligence: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZskNGdP_zM&feature=related 49. A one-hour interview with Daniel Goleman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hoo_dIOP8k&feature=related 50. Emotional IQ (ABC News) 51. Emotional Intelligence in the Classroom (VEA) 52. The Marshmallow Test (emotional intelligence) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4L-n8Z7G0ic 53. Eating Disorders: The Inner Voice (Cambridge Educational) 54. Battling Eating Disorders (Meridian Education) 14. Hunger and Nutrients (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg) 15. Gay and Lesbian Teens (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg) 16. Expressing Emotions Across Cultures (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg) 17. Anorexia's Living Face http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTIjRxT_Y9g 18. All About Happiness (ABC News) 19. How Happy Are You? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv6xYmh4Y-w 20. Dan Gilbert on Happiness: http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happyConcept Clip (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.) 1. Motivation Suggested Websites 29. National Institute of Mental Health – Eating Disorders: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/eating-disorders/complete-publication.shtml 30. Emotional IQ test: http://www.queendom.com/tests/access_page/index.htm?idRegTest=3037 31. Eating Disorders.com: http://www.eating-disorder.com/ 32. Mayo Clinic—Eating Disorders: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/eating-disorders/DS00294 33. Example of a pro-ana website: http://community.livejournal.com/proanorexia 34. Phineas Gage: http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2014/05/phineas_gage_neuroscience_case_true_story_of_famous_frontal_lobe_patient.html 35. Time Magazine: Masters and Johnson: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,924383,00.html 36. Paul Ekman’s home page: http://www.paulekman.com/ 37. Test Your Emotional Intelligence: http://kgajos.eecs.harvard.edu/mite/ 38. Exercises in Creativity (including the Remote Associates Test): http://99u.com/articles/7160/test-your-creativity-5-classic-creative-challenges Suggested Readings Atkinson, J. W. (1981). Studying personality in the context of an advanced motivational psychology. American Psychologist, 36, 117–128. Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2008). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. Harper Custers, K., & Van den Bulck, J. (2009). Viewership of pro-anorexia websites in seventh, ninth and eleventh graders. European Eating Disorders Review, 17, 214–219. Elliot, A. J., & Church, M. A. (1997). A hierarchical model of approach and avoidance achievement motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 218–232. Ekman, P. (1992). Are there basic emotions? Psychological Review, 99, 550–553. Fridlund, A. J. (1991). Evolution and facial action in reflex, social motive, and paralanguage. Biological Psychology, 32, 3–100. Furnham, A., Kirkaldy, B. D., & Lynn, R. (1996). Attitudinal correlates of national wealth. Personality and Individual Differences, 21, 345–353. Gilbert, D. (2007). Stumbling on happiness. Vintage. Goleman, D. (2006). Social intelligence: The new science of human relationships. Bantam. Harackiewicz, J. M., Barron, K. E., Carter, S. M., Lehto, A. T., & Elliot, A. J. (1997). Predictors and consequences of achievement goals in the college classroom: Maintaining interest and making the grade. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 1284–1295. Izard, C. E. (1992). Basic emotions, relations among emotions, and emotion-cognition relations. Psychological Review, 99, 561–565. Lyubomirsky, S. (2007). The how of happiness: A new approach to getting the life you want. Penguin. Maclim, G. L. (2007). Practitioner’s guide to emotional regulation in school-aged children. New York: Springer. Masters, W. H., Johnson, V. E., & Kolodny, R. C. (1986). Masters and Johnson on sex and human loving. Boston: Little & Brown. McClelland, D. C. (1985). How motives, skills, and values determine what people do. American Psychologist, 40, 812–825. Strack, F., Martin, L. L., & Stepper, S. (1988). Inhibiting and facilitating conditions of the human smile: A nonobtrusive test of the facial feedback hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 545(5), 768–777. Tuerlinckx, F., De Boeck, P., & Lens, W. (2002). Measuring needs with the Thematic Apperception Test: A psychometric study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 448–461. Wansink, B. (2010). Mindless eating: Why we eat more than we think. Bantam. Chapter 12: Stress and Health BRIEF CHAPTER OUTLINE What Is Stress? Stress as Stimulus or Response Stress as a Stimulus Relationship Between Person and Situation The Physiology of Stress The General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) How We Adapt to Stress Stress and the Brain Stress and Genes Coping Coping Strategies Problem-Focused Coping Emotion-Focused Coping Social Support The Positive Psychology of Coping Positive Traits, Positive Emotions Finding Meaning Psychology in the Real World: Does Stress Cause Aging? How Stress and Coping Affect Health Challenging Assumptions in How the Nervous and Immune Systems Are Linked The Birth of Psychoneuroimmunology Overview of the Immune System Research on Stress, Immune Function, and Health Psychological Risk Factors for Heart Disease Type A and Anger Depression Research on Health-Relevant Behavior Smoking Drinking Alcohol Diet and Eating Eating and Stress Exercise Meditation for Stress Reduction and Health Bringing It All Together: Making Connections in Stress and Health: Good Stress, Bad Stress, and the Power of Belief Chapter Review EXTENDED CHAPTER OUTLINE WHAT IS STRESS? •Stress is a response elicited when a situation overwhelms a person’s perceived ability to meet the demands of that situation. •As with emotions, we continually evaluate our experiences of stressful situations and attempt to cope with the challenges they pose. Stress as Stimulus or Response •Stressors are events that trigger a stress response (e.g., divorce, financial troubles, illness, weddings, or the birth of a child). •The stimulus view of stress focuses on situations that cause stress (e.g., situations that push us to the limit or threaten our safety or well-being or a relentless onslaught of difficulties). •The response view of stress focuses on the physiological changes that occur when someone encounters an excessively challenging situation. •The relational view of stress focuses on the relationship between the people and the situations in which they find themselves. Stress as a Stimulus o Psychologists measure stress as a stimulus by quantifying the number of stressors a person experiences during a given period. Two major categories of stressors are major life events and daily hassles. o Holmes and Rahe developed the “Social Readjustment Rating Scale” (SRRS) to quantify stress in terms of major life changes. This scale is easy to administer and score. It does, however, have a few drawbacks. One of the drawbacks of this measure is that it ignores the fact that people view similar events differently. By measuring stress in terms of life events, the SRRS fails to consider differences in people’s emotional responses to stressors. o The “Hassles and Uplifts Scale” measures the frequency and intensity of minor irritations (hassles) and positive events of daily life that may counteract their damaging effects. A number of studies report positive correlations between the frequency of daily hassles and self-reported health symptoms. Some data indicate that hassles are more strongly related to health outcomes than are major life events. o A major limitation to both the major life event approach and the hassles approach is that not all people view situations in the same way. Because people do not view similar situations in the same way, it is misleading to examine stress solely in terms of the situations that may call it forth. Relationship Between Person and Situation o When we first encounter a situation in our environment, we quickly appraise what it means for us. o There are two kinds of appraisals. Primary appraisal is a quick assessment of what a situation means to us. The outcome of this appraisal determines whether an emotional response might occur. •If we view the event as not personally relevant, we feel no emotion. •If we consider it personally relevant, we appraise its significance as either contrary to or consistent with our goals or welfare. •If we appraise it as contrary to our well-being, we feel a negative emotion, which might cause stress. •If we appraise it as consistent with our well-being, we feel a positive emotion. •Stress emerges from negative emotional responses to events that we cannot get under control. We assess the resources available to cope with stress in a process called secondary appraisal. o CONNECTION: Like stress, emotions are generated by our appraisals of events in our lives. How we evaluate the meaning of certain situations, be it a smile from a stranger or an upcoming exam, determines whether we feel threatened or joyful from that situation (Chapter 11). The Physiology of Stress o When stressful situations lead to negative emotions, physiological changes occur in the autonomic nervous system (ANS), the endocrine system, and the brain. o The ANS plays a crucial role in the stress response. These systems include the circulatory system and respiratory system. o The second major system involved in stress is the endocrine system, which consists of the major hormone-releasing glands. o The term neuroendocrine system refers to the hormonal systems involved in emotions and stress. The key structures involved in the neuroendocrine regulation of stress responses include the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland, and the adrenal glands. •The hypothalamus serves as a major link between the nervous system and the endocrine systems relevant to emotions: It releases chemicals that stimulate the release of hormones from the pituitary gland, which sits just beneath it, and it is connected to brain stem structures that control the ANS. •The pituitary releases hormones that play a key role in the stress response. •The adrenal glands sit atop the kidneys, and they release several stress-related hormones: o the catecholamines, which control ANS activation, and o the glucocorticoids, which are responsible for maintaining the activation of physiological systems during emergencies. When activated by an emotional event, the hypothalamus initiates a series of endocrine events that have a profound effect on the body. •First, the adrenal-medullary system is activated. Here, the hypothalamus sends instructions to the brain stem to activate sympathetic neurons. •Then, sympathetic neurons tell the adrenal gland to release the important catecholamine norepinephrine. •Norepinephrine activates the sympathetic response, increasing heart rate, rate of respiration, and blood pressure in order to support rapid action by the body. The sympathetic response evolved because rapid mobilization of the body’s resources in emergency situations had clear survival and reproductive benefits. In cases of stress, however, we cannot regulate this emergency response. If we continually live with stress-inducing situations, our body remains in “emergency mode” for long periods. This can lead to health problems such as increased blood pressure and heart rate. The other major neuroendocrine pathway that is relevant to the stress response is the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. •During emotional arousal and stress, the hypothalamus releases a substance called corticotropin releasing factor (CRF), which stimulates the pituitary to release adreno-corticotropic hormone (ACTH). •ACTH then stimulates the cortex of the adrenal gland to release cortisol, the major glucocorticoid produced in humans, which is commonly known as the “stress hormone.” •When the level of cortisol in the blood adequately meets the body’s metabolic needs, the hypothalamus stops releasing CRF, thereby reducing the release of cortisol. Cortisol plays a role in the breakdown of complex molecules into simpler ones to release energy, and in this way it plays an important role in the process by which more glucose is made available for fuel in the bloodstream. Cortisol also has a regulatory effect on the immune system. Researchers once thought that cortisol always acted to suppress immune function. o CONNECTION: The sympathetic branch of the ANS activates the body; the parasympathetic branch calms the body. Both play a role in how the body responds to and recovers from stress (Chapter 3). The General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) o Selye (1946) proposed a three-stage model to explain the changes in physiology that occur during exposure to severe stressors. He believed that attempts to adapt to overwhelming stressors cause the body to wear down and eventually get sick. He used homeostasis as his starting point, and he viewed the changes that the body goes through when confronted with extreme situational demands as manifestations of adaptation to stress. He exposed animals to a range of stressors, such as extreme temperature change, severe electrical shock, radiation, or extreme exercise. o General adaptation syndrome (GAS): a generalized, nonspecific set of changes in the body that occur during extreme stress. o The GAS consists of three stages: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion. Upon exposure to a stressor, an animal enters into a state of physiological shock occurs, called the alarm stage, which is the body’s emergency response to an environmental threat. •The alarm stage mobilizes the body’s resources to act. •It involves the effects of adrenal-medullary activation of the sympathetic nervous system. •During this stage the HPA axis is active, and the sustained release of cortisol from the adrenal glands may move from being helpful to being harmful in the long run. •With continued exposure to the stressor, animals eventually either die or find other ways of coping with the enduring threat. When they develop other ways to cope, they enter the second stage of adaptation, the resistance stage. Here, the organism maintains its efforts to fight off or manage the threat. •This extended effort takes its toll diverting resources from maintenance of normal body functions. •Resistance cannot be maintained indefinitely. With repeated or continuous exposure to a stressor, organisms enter the exhaustion stage. Here, resources for fighting off threats have been depleted, and illness becomes much more likely. Selye’s model laid the groundwork for research on the physiology of stress. o The GAS model does not apply to all stress responses. Selye studied extreme physical stressors and subjected animals to these stressors for prolonged periods. Questions arose as to whether the body changes that occurred in response to such severe demands provided a good model for enduring the stress of, say, divorce or financial troubles. Some researchers question the idea of a syndrome of body responses to stress occurring regardless of the type of stressor. •Later research showed that an organism’s response to a stressor differed depending on its psychological state. For example, if the animal could anticipate a stressor, it showed a less severe physiological response than an animal that could not anticipate a stressor. o CONNECTION: Do you think an ethics review board would allow Selye to conduct his research on extreme stressors in animals today? Why or why not? (Chapter 2) How We Adapt to Stress o Most accounts of the physiology of stress think of stress as a deviation from balance. Recovery from stress occurs when all systems return to normal. This view is based on the notion of homeostasis, the idea that unless we are being provoked by something, we are operating at a state of balance, humming along at an even-keeled baseline state. o Our normal state is one of actively responding to the world around us. This more dynamic, responsive “resting” state is an alternative explanation of how the body usually is operating, known as allostasis, which means that the body achieves stability through change. The concept of allostasis makes clear that our bodies can adaptively respond to challenge for only a short period of time. If we are pushed too long, and the kinds of active attempts the body makes to adapt are sustained, we are taxed, and the body starts to wear down. This is how stress causes illness. o CONNECTION: The concept of homeostasis is key to drive theories of motivation It is used to explain why and when people get motivated to eat, drink, or have sex. When your body is below an ideal point, you need more. When it is above, you need less (Chapter 11). Stress and the Brain o We tend to think of stress as being caused by processes within the brain, for it is our interpretations of the events in the world around us that trigger emotions. o In another example of the bidirectional relationship between nature and nurture, the physiological activation triggered by stress also affects the brain. Cortisol has a profound effect on the hippocampus, a brain structure that plays a pivotal role in memory. The hippocampus also plays a role in terminating the activation of the HPA axis via a negative feedback mechanism. •Stress-related cortisol release can cause dendrites to whither and shrink, and this can interfere with several types of memory. •Stress reduces neurogenesis in the hippocampus, and it may inhibit the synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus and neocortex, impacting learning and memory formation. •In animal research excessive stress in pregnancy can affect the development of the amygdala, hippocampus, hypothalamus, and corpus callosum. o Coping plays a big role in the duration of stress responses and whether they develop sufficiently to become harmful to the brain and body. In monkeys more effective coping increases neurogenesis in the hippocampus which means that effects of stress on the brain may be reversible. o CONNECTION: The hippocampus, located deep inside the brain, is critical for memory formation (Chapter 3). Stress and Genes o There is no “stress gene” that dictates how the body responds to stress. Several complex processes involving stress, genes, and endocrines regulate the relationship between stress and disease. o Effects of chronic, social isolation on illness are regulated by genetic factors. o Genes associated with the human stress response seem critical to certain chronic diseases. o Genes appear to play a role the relationship between the stress of social isolation and diseases that involve inflammatory processes. COPING •Coping refers to anything people do to deal with or manage stress or emotions. Coping Strategies •Lazarus and Folkman (1984) differentiated between these two types of coping strategies called problem-focused and emotion-focused coping. Problem-Focused Coping o Problem-focused coping involves strategies that aim to change the situation that is creating stress. This involves devising a plan to solve the problem, seeking social support as a way to gather information, and taking assertive action. Problem-focused coping tends to focus attention on the stress-provoking situation. We are most likely to use it when we feel that we can do something to change the situation. Emotion-Focused Coping o Emotion-focused coping involves strategies aimed at regulating the experience of distress. This includes several types, which are listed below. Reappraisal is the emotional regulation strategy of reevaluation of a situation in light of new information or additional thought Distancing is attempting to separate oneself from an emotional experience Escape-avoidance is wishful thinking or doing something to get one’s mind off the situation. Seeking social support is talking with friends for purposes of emotional support. Self-control is trying to regulate one’s feelings or actions regarding the problem. Accepting responsibility is acknowledging one’s role in the stress-eliciting situation. o Certain types of emotion-focused coping, especially reappraisal, can be helpful in regulating the emotional aspects of stress. o Some types of emotion-focused coping are problematic. Willful suppression of upsetting emotions, which is a form of self-control, can lead to chronic physiological arousal and is associated with poor psychological adjustment. Some strategies that we use to reduce the experience of distress, such as drinking, smoking, and other forms of drug use, may be maladaptive. o Emotional disclosure is a way of coping through writing or talking about the situation. o James Pennebaker developed and tested a technique that enables people to unburden. In a typical emotional disclosure task, people are instructed to write for about 15 minutes about a recent emotional experience. Participants in the control condition write for a similar amount of time about non-emotional events. Emotional disclosure consistently improves a number of health outcomes, including health variables related to HIV/AIDS, immune function, and cancer. o People in both Western and non-Western cultures believe that confession is beneficial. o It is also thought that not working through difficult emotions taxes the body, as research on the association between emotional suppression and ANS arousal suggests. When confession or disclosure occurs, then, one should observe a decrease in sympathetic nervous system activation, or a return to a more relaxed state. o CONNECTION: Emotion regulation is another term for the strategies we use to alter our emotional state and is similar to emotion-focused coping. Both terms refer to efforts to change the way we feel (Chapter 11). Social Support o A coping strategy that combines problem- and emotion-focused coping is seeking social support. o Social support is one of the most frequently used ways of coping and can benefit physical health. o The direct effects hypothesis states that social support is beneficial to mental and physical health whether or not the person is under stress. Being part of a social network guarantees the availability of certain resources. Our social network may offer guidelines for health-related behaviors, help us regulate our emotions, and give us a sense of identity. Examples of social connectedness include being married, belonging to social groups such as churches or clubs, and having many friends. o The buffering hypothesis states that social support works as a buffer only under certain conditions, such as a highly stressful life. o One factor that influences whether social resources are beneficial to health is the extent to which the person is integrated into a social network, a cluster of related people. When people are well integrated into a social network, social support can buffer the effects of stress by providing interpersonal resources for emotional support and problem solving. o The health benefits of social connectedness include longer life and reduced susceptibility to colds. o Social networks may be harmful to health as well. The risk of obesity spread among people who were socially connected. Individuals of the same gender in a social network influenced same-sexed individuals’ more than opposite-sexed individuals. The Positive Psychology of Coping Positive Traits, Positive Emotions o Optimists tend to emphasize the positive, see the glass as “half full” rather than “half empty,” They believe that things will turn out well. o Pessimists, by contrast, emphasize the negative. For them, the glass is always half empty and the future uncertain. o Optimists are less likely to feel helpless or depressed, adjust better to negative life events than do pessimists, and show better general mental health than pessimists. o Optimists may appraise events in such a way that negative emotions are less likely and positive emotions more likely. o Believing that you have some control over situations in life, especially traumatic situations, can improve your psychological health. People who believe they have some control over their illness, in spite of medical evidence to the contrary, are happier and less stressed than less optimistic people with the same diseases. o Positive emotions may facilitate recovery from the physiological effects of negative emotions. They seem to help the body return to a state of calmness. o Resilient people, those who are more flexible and able to bounce back from difficult situations, experience quicker recovery from stress-induced cardiovascular arousal. o Grit is related to resilience but it is not an identical concept. The two major components of grit are having a resilient response and interests over a long period of time. In other words, grit is both bouncing back from failure and sticking to tasks. Finding Meaning o Perhaps the key to psychological health is to be open enough to notice the other things going on in life, even in the midst of tragedy. o Positive psychological traits and states play a big role in whether people are able to find meaning in stressful and tragic events. PSYCHOLOGY IN THE REAL WORLD: DOES STRESS CAUSE AGING? •Elissa Epel and her colleagues examined indicators of cellular aging in healthy women who were biological mothers of either normal or chronically ill children. The mothers reported on the amount of stress they perceived in their daily lives, using a standard questionnaire. •The researchers derived indicators of cellular aging from tests on blood samples collected from each woman. o In particular, they examined the telomeres (the parts of the chromosome involved in replication during cell division) in the DNA of certain white blood cells. o With age, telomeres shorten; moreover, the activity of telomerase, an enzyme that protects telomeres, decreases with age. Both of these phenomena are good measures of aging. •Researchers measured stress in terms of the duration of stress and the perceived severity of stress experienced by the women. •They found that the more stress a woman perceived in her life, the shorter the telomeres and the lower the level of telomerase activity in her blood, conditions that imply older cells. •They also found a positive relationship between measures of cellular aging and the stress-relevant hormones norepinephrine and cortisol. •Jacobs et al. (2010) found that positive psychological changes that occur during meditation training are associated with higher activity of telomerase. Specifically, increases in self-reported purpose in life and perceive control predicted greater telomerase activity. HOW STRESS AND COPING AFFECT HEALTH •Psychosomatic theory deals with how emotional factors can increase the likelihood of certain disorders occurring or worsening. •Health psychology is the study of psychological factors related to health and illness. It includes disease onset, prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation, and involves clinical practice as well as research. •There are two major ways of explaining the relationship between stress and illness. They are not mutually exclusive. o The physiological reactivity model examines how sustained physiological activation associated with the stress response can affect body systems in such a way as to increase the likelihood that illness or disease occurs. o The health behavior approach focuses on the behaviors in which people engage, such as diet, exercise, or substance abuse, which may make them more susceptible to illness or may enhance health. •What is sustained physiological arousal? o The sympathetic branch of the ANS activates organ systems to enable an animal to respond to emergency situations. From an evolutionarily perspective, these physiological effects were advantageous because of their ability to enable a quick and efficient response. o The same type of emotional responses occur in daily life, in most cases without an outlet for action so the activation persists for hours or days, or is elicited repeatedly in similar situations over many years. Under such conditions, you can become ill as a result of the recurring arousal produced by stress-related body changes. •One physiological manifestation of sustained arousal concerns the cardiovascular system (the heart and all the blood vessels of the body). o During activation of the sympathetic nervous system, heart rate and blood pressure increase. o In sustained physiological activation, heart rate and blood pressure remain elevated or are activated repeatedly over extended periods. Frequent blood pressure elevations can damage arteries by reducing their elasticity and increasing the likelihood of fatty buildup. These processes set the stage for heart disease. •Another way in which sustained stress might increase susceptibility to disease is via the effects of sustained stress on immune function. This model hinges on the fact that sustained activation of the HPA axis leads to sustained release of cortisol, which inhibits the production of certain immune cells. o In the short term, suppression of immune cell production makes sense, as in an emergency these immune cells might not be immediately necessary. o In the long term, however, immune suppression may make the person more susceptible to certain diseases. Challenging Assumptions in How the Nervous and Immune System Are Linked •With the general adaptation syndrome, Hans Selye provided a framework for thinking about how stress might make the body vulnerable to disease, and he suggested that this vulnerability might be due to the effects of stress on the immune system. •The job of the immune system is to defend the body against foreign substances. •Before the 1970s, the prevailing view was that the immune system operated independently of the central nervous system (i.e., the immune system was invulnerable to thoughts, feelings, and stress). •Even though most physicians believed that stress can make people sick, or at least sicker, they did not consider it physiologically possible for psychological conditions to have any effect on the immune system. •Robert Ader paired a chemical that induces nausea with saccharine water to create taste aversion to the saccharine water. He noticed that the rats exposed to a lot of saccharine water after having learned to associate it with nausea were dying. •Ader remembered that the toxin he was using to induce nausea also happened to be an immunosuppressant (something that suppresses immune system function). He reasoned, in addition to learning to avoid saccharine water, the rats were acquiring conditioned immunosuppression from the repeated pairing of the saccharine solution with the immunosuppressant. •Ader and Cohen went on to classically condition nausea or “illness-induced” taste aversion in an experimental group by pairing saccharine water with injections of the immunosuppressant. o They created two control groups. First, a group was injected with a placebo around the time they drank saccharine water (which served as a control for the stress-inducing effects of injection in the absence of conditioning). The second control group received the immunosuppressant and plain water (a nonconditioning control group). o They reintroduced the conditioned stimulus (saccharine) and then introduced an antigen (substance foreign to the body) into the bloodstreams of all the rats. o They found that the rats that had been conditioned to avoid saccharine via the immunosuppressant showed a much weaker antibody response than did rats that had been injected with the placebo. •CONNECTION: Conditioned taste aversion is a type of learning similar to what happened when Pavlov's dogs learned to salivate to the sound of the bell (Chapter 8). The Birth of Psychoneuroimmunology •In the late 1970s and early 1980s, scientists discovered that the ANS is linked to immune system structures such as the thymus gland, and that immune cells have receptors for and can produce certain stress hormones. •This work provided behavioral and biological evidence for the notion that psychological processes and immune processes interact. •Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) is the science of how psychological factors can relate to changes in the immune system. •PNI examines the relationships among the brain, thought, feeling, endocrine changes, and immune system functioning. As a discipline, it is concerned with any kind of connection between psychological processes and the immune system. •Connections between the CNS and immune system are bi-directional; just as stress can change immune function, certain immune changes (such as the release of chemicals called cytokines which regulate immune response) also can feedback and influence brain areas involved in mood regulation. Overview of the Immune System o The human immune system defends the body against invasion by disease, inspects the body for cells that may take on dangerous mutations, and performs basic housekeeping functions such as cleaning up cellular debris after an injury. o There are two basic lines of defense: Natural immunity consists of a number of inborn processes that help remove foreign substances from the body. •These responses typically are very quick, and they provide the first line of defense upon exposure to antigens, foreign substances that trigger an immune response. •Two forms of natural immunity include phagocytosis and inflammation. o Phagocytosis is a process in which a white blood cell engulfs a substance and digests it or moves it to a place where it will be destroyed. o Inflammation is a process in which tissues are restored following injury. Acquired immunity involves a number of endocrine and cellular processes that recognize specific antigens and then reproduce specialized cells or circulating proteins to fight that antigen. •This involves experience; an effective immune response occurs only after prior exposure to a particular antigen. •Acquired immune responses take longer to initiate than natural immune responses because the former involve recognition processes and duplication of cells. On subsequent exposure to a specific antigen, however, acquired immune responses can be rapid and efficient. o This forms the basis for how vaccination protects against disease. •Acquired immunity involves two classes of lymphocytes (white blood cells which control acquired immunity). o In response to specific antigens, B lymphocytes release antibodies into the bloodstream. Antibodies destroy antigens directly. o The T lymphocytes, or “T cells,” fight antigens by means of a variety of cellular processes, which is why immune processes connected with T cells are collectively known as cellular immunity. Research on Stress, Immune Function, and Health o The physiological reactivity model predicts that the physiological effects of stress, when sustained over time, will eventually weaken the immune system. o Immunosuppression increases susceptibility to disease by reducing the body’s ability to fight invading bacteria or viruses or its ability to fight off potentially cancerous cells, or both. o Many studies have shown linkages between stress and numerous immune system measures, but very few have shown that these reductions actually affect susceptibility to disease. o Results from animal research show that a variety of stressors can weaken responses to antigens, reduce the numbers of certain immune cells, and impair immune cell functions such as responses to vaccines. o A few studies have manipulated stress in humans by randomly assigning people to participate in a stressful task, such as public speaking, or an emotion-evoking task, such as writing about a traumatic event. o The more common approach in human research relies on both acute (short-term) and chronic (long-term) naturally occurring stressors. In these studies, different measures of immunity are dependent variables (e.g., the numbers of certain lymphocytes; the toxicity of tumor-fighting cells called natural killer cells; and the quantities of chemicals that regulate lymphocytes). o The major finding in studies of humans is that stressors are associated with changes in various kinds of immune function but it is often difficult to know whether the observed immune changes have meaningful effects on health. o It appears as if it is not the situation as much as how the individual evaluates that situation that drives the stress and its effects. Psychological Risk Factors for Heart Disease •Heart disease is the number-one killer of both men and women in the United States. Type A and Anger o Type A Behavior Pattern (TABP) is a way of responding to challenge or stress, characterized by hostility, impatience, competitiveness, and time-urgency. o Friedman and Rosenman hypothesized that people who exhibit the TABP under provocation are at greater risk for heart disease than those who do not. They found that Type A behavior predicted the incidence of coronary heart disease, over and above such traditional risk factors as blood pressure, cholesterol, and age. o Twenty-two years later these participants were evaluated again. Surprisingly, Type A did not predict death from heart disease in this group. o Matthews et al. (1977) took a closer look at the follow-up interviews of Friedman and Rosenman’s original sample to see how each component of the Type A pattern (hostility, time urgency, competitiveness, and impatience) related to coronary outcomes. She found that hostility was the only component that predicted death from heart disease at a 22-year follow-up. o Hostility is an affective trait which sets a threshold for the likelihood of particular emotional responses. By this logic, hostile people would have a lower threshold for the elicitation of anger. In the cardiovascular reactivity (CVR) model, hostility can increase the likelihood of heart disease through at least two different causal routes. •Hostility makes the elicitation of anger more likely and more frequent. Frequent episodes of anger lead to frequent cardiovascular reactivity. Over time, repeated cardiovascular reactivity sets the stage for the development of coronary artery disease. •It is also possible that hostility has a direct connection to how much cardiovascular reactivity certain people experience, without the need for anger elicitation. o Anger can lead to heightened and prolonged blood pressure reactivity. Depression o Depression, a mood disorder associated with sadness and lethargy, is associated with an increased severity of symptoms and increased risk of death from coronary heart disease. o A large-scale meta-analysis reported that for people with diagnosed coronary heart disease, being clinically depressed more than doubles the risk of death from the disease. o Chemicals involved in inflammation that present a risk for coronary heart disease are present at higher levels in people who are depressed than in others. Research on Health-Relevant Behavior •People engage in behaviors that increase risk for disease or help to prevent disease. Some health behaviors are conscious lifestyle choices, such as how and what to eat or whether or not to exercise. Others may begin as conscious choices but over time become habits that have serious health implications. •Sometimes, when under stress, people drink, eat, smoke, or take drugs to change their mood. This is emotion-focused coping. Long-term use of some of these substances can create health problems, in some cases increasing the likelihood of major, sometimes fatal, illnesses. Smoking o Many smokers say that, even though nicotine is a stimulant, they have a cigarette when they are stressed because it calms them down. Nicotine activates the sympathetic nervous system, increasing heart rate and blood pressure. Nicotine relaxes the skeletal muscles, however, which is probably why some people find it calming. This calming effect is one reason that smokers tend to have a cigarette when stressed; they use nicotine for emotion regulation. o Cigarette smoking reduces life expectancy by an average of 10 years, increases one’s risk for lung cancer more than tenfold, and triples the risk of death from heart disease in both men and women. Smoking is also a risk factor for many other cancers, stroke, lung disease, emphysema, and male impotence. o Secondhand smoke (smoke one is exposed to by being near someone who is smoking) is also a health threat. Those exposed regularly are at increased risk of all the same health problems as the smoker. Drinking Alcohol o People often drink alcohol (a depressant) to calm down or loosen up. o Alcohol slows down CNS functions. o Drinking can cause liver damage, and severe alcoholism can lead to a serious liver condition known as cirrhosis. Heavy alcohol consumption also increases the likelihood of liver cancer and cancers of the digestive tract, not to mention an increased risk for accidents due to alcohol’s effect on motor and cognitive performance. o Considerable data indicate that regular but moderate alcohol consumption (one to two drinks), especially with food, may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease. Diet and Eating o Eating well promotes health. o Eating saturated fats, such as those found in meats and dairy products, increase the risk for heart disease, while other essential fats, such as those found in certain kinds of fish and nuts, may have protective effects. o Obesity increases a person’s risk for heart disease, high blood pressure, adult-onset diabetes, and certain cancers. o Eating and Stress Stress increases eating and, in turn, eating reduces stress reactivity in the HPA axis. When people eat in response to stress, especially sugary foods, reward pathways in the brain are stimulated. These areas release endorphins that make people feel better. People eat under stress because they get a “good feeling” reward, like a drug high, from the brain. This makes it likely they will continue to do such eating. Stress-induced eating is risky, as it increases fat in the abdominal area (compared to other places), which is a predictor of heart disease in men and women. Exercise o Besides not smoking, one of the best things you can do for your health is exercise regularly. It can reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, and certain types of cancer. o Exercise helps keep diabetes under control and also slows the rate of bone loss in older women. o Moderate exercise, even as little as walking 20–25 minutes a day 3 or 4 times per week, can extend life by 3 to 4 years. o Exercise offers a healthy way to regulate mood (it reduces anxiety and depression). Meditation for Stress Reduction o Mindfulness meditation involves both paying attention to the present moment and being aware that everything that may arise in one’s mind, be it a thought, an emotion, or a sensation, will eventually fade away. o The meditator is trained to note experiences as they occur, without clinging to or ascribing value to them. These skills allow one to keep thoughts and emotions in perspective and help prevent an unhealthy obsession with negative emotions. o Research by Kabat-Zinn and his colleagues has examined the effectiveness of a program called Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) for treating a variety of physical and psychological conditions. MBSR training reduces self-reported pain and pain-related behaviors in people suffering from chronic pain. MBSR training also significantly reduces anxiety, depression, and fear in people who have various types of anxiety disorders. o Mindfulness training appears to help in the treatment of illnesses that worsen with stress (e.g., psoriasis), eating disorders, recovery from substance abuse, and enhancing quality of life in people with multiple sclerosis. o CONNECTION: Mindfulness meditation can improve well-being, cognition, and brain function (Chapter 6). BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER: MAKING CONNECTIONS IN STRESS AND HEALTH: GOOD STRESS, BAD STRESS, AND THE POWER OF BELIEF Two recent areas of research challenge the belief that stress is always bad. •One area suggests that some acute, short-term, stress responses might actually be good for our health. •The second area demonstrates how thinking can modify vulnerability to stress. •Acute versus Chronic Stress o Acute stress may actually promote healing. o An initial immune response may mobilize cells to fight antigens. This is similar to Selye’s alarm stage where heart rate and respiration increase as an initial response to emergency. •Perceptions of Stress o Stress is in basically subjective. o Reframing situations is one way that people use thoughts to offset the harmful effects of stress. o Beliefs may also offset the harmful effects of stress. o Studies have shown that it may not be how much stress a person is under, but if they believe that stress can make them sick. o Beliefs and perceptions can be powerful tools in coping with stress and turning bad stress into good stress. KEY TERMS acquired immunity: endocrine and cellular processes that recognize specific antigens and then reproduce specialized cells or circulating proteins to fight that antigen. adrenal-medullary system: one of the major neuroendocrine pathways stimulated when we experience a stressful event; the hypothalamus sends instructions to the brain stem to activate sympathetic neurons. alarm stage: the part of the general adaptation syndrome that is the body’s emergency response to a threat, when all of the body’s resources respond. allostasis: explanation for the body’s dynamic way of responding to the world in which the body achieves stability through change. antigen: a substance foreign to the body. cardiovascular reactivity (CVR) model: hypothesis that hostility can increase the likelihood of heart disease through at least two different causal routes. cardiovascular system: bodily system that consists of the heart and all the blood vessels of the body. catecholamines: hormones that control ANS activation. cellular immunity: the immune response that occurs when the T-lymphocytes (T cells) fight antigens by means of a variety of cellular processes instead of by releasing antibodies. coping: the act of dealing with stress or emotions. emotional disclosure: way of coping with stress that involves unburdening, through writing or talking about the situation. emotion-focused coping: way of dealing with stress that aims to regulate the experience of distress. exhaustion stage: the part of the general adaptation syndrome when all resources for fighting the threat have been depleted and illness is more likely. general adaptation syndrome (GAS): as defined by Hans Selye, a generalized, nonspecific set of changes in the body, composed of three stages: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion. glucocorticoids: hormones responsible for maintaining the activation of physiological systems during emergencies. health behavior approach: explanation for illness or health that focuses on the behaviors people engage in, such as diet, exercise, or substance abuse. hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis: a major neuroendocrine pathway relevant to the stress response and consisting of the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and the adrenal cortex. natural immunity: form of immunity that is the first response to antigens and includes phagocytosis and inflammation. neuroendocrine system: the hormonal systems involved in emotions and stress. norepinephrine: a neurotransmitter that activates the sympathetic response to stress, increasing heart rate, rate of respiration, and blood pressure in support of rapid action. physiological reactivity model: an explanation for the causal role of stress-related bodily changes in illness. primary appraisal: assessment made upon first encountering a situation in the environment; an appraisal made—often very quickly—in terms of what the situation means for the individual. problem-focused coping: way of dealing with stress that aims to change the situation that is creating stress. psychological reactivity model: explanation for how the stress response leads to an increased likelihood of illness or disease. psychoneuroimmunology (PNI): the science of how psychological factors lead to immune suppression that might make a person more susceptible to certain diseases. psychosomatic theory: the idea that emotional factors can lead to the occurrence or worsening of illness. resistance stage: the part of the general adaptation syndrome that is an extended effort by the body to deal with a threat. secondary appraisal: assessment of the resources available to cope with stress. stress: condition that occurs when a situation that elicits a strong emotional response overwhelms a person’s perceived ability to meet the demands of that situation. stressors: events related to the experience of stress that push people to their limits of control and capability. telomerase: an enzyme that adds DNA sequences to telomeres Type A Behavior Pattern: a way of responding to challenge or stress, characterized by hostility, impatience, competitiveness, and time-urgency; predictive of heart disease and mortality. MAKING THE CONNECTIONS (Some of the connections are found in the text. Other connections may be useful for lecture or discussion.) What Is Stress? CONNECTION: Like stress, emotions are generated by our appraisals of events in our lives. How we evaluate the meaning of certain situations, be it a smile from a stranger or an upcoming exam, determines whether we feel threatened or joyful from that situation (Chapter 11). •Discussion: Ask students how they would feel if their new roommate declared that they were going to throw a party. For some students, this is cause for excitement! They love parties; they always have fun and meet new and interesting people. They can’t wait to co-host. For others, this brings a feeling of dread. They are always awkward at parties and they don’t want to take financial responsibility to help. They don’t want people going through their stuff. The amount of stress they feel as a result of this announcement is also different. Some feel stress at the task at hand. Others would say “your party, your problem.” Some students may feel stress at the social implications, while others are at ease. In all these examples we see the interplay between interpretation of the situation and experience. Ask students for other examples where they may see these differences. CONNECTION: The sympathetic branch of the ANS activates the body; the parasympathetic branch calms the body. Both play a role in how the body responds to and recovers from stress (Chapter 3). •Example: Ask students how they feel when they are driving and someone cuts them off in traffic and they almost crash. Their heart pounds, their palms sweat, and it takes a few minutes for their body to return to a calm state. The sympathetic is responsible for the panicked sensation and the parasympathetic is responsible for the return of the body to a resting state. A mnemonic device you can provide here is the sympathetic nervous system reacts because it has “sympathy” for you being in a bad situation, while the parasympathetic acts like a parachute to slow the body back down. CONNECTION: Do you think an ethics review board would allow Selye to conduct his research on extreme stressors in animals today? Why or why not? (Chapter 2) •Discussion: Remind students that IRBs today have strict policies for animal participants. Ask them if they feel this research meets those criteria. If not, how would they suggest Selye’s theories be tested ethically? Coping CONNECTION: Emotion regulation is another term for the strategies we use to alter our emotional state and is similar to emotion-focused coping. Both terms refer to efforts to change the way we feel (Chapter 11). •Discussion: Ask students which emotion-focused coping strategies they use most often and which are most effective. Ask them how these strategies are altered in emotional regulation (the cognitive and behavioral efforts people use to modify their emotions) discussed in Chapter 11. INNOVATIVE INSTRUCTION 1. Ask students to imagine the most stressful event in their lives over the past 6 months. What was it? How did it feel (i.e., what did the stress feel like)? How did they get through it (i.e., how did they cope)? 2. Ask students to describe the physical sensation of stress. Then ask them to focus on the emotional feelings that accompany stress. Finally, ask them about the interaction between the two. The text discusses final exam week. There is cognitive and emotional stress here that can lead to physical ailments. Some other examples you can use are roommate stress, romantic relationship stress, moving stress, and the stress they felt when applying for college. 3. Is stress adaptive? You may want to discuss with students if they think there is an adaptive values to stress. What does it do that’s good and helpful? For example, on the next exam, should they have some stress? What if they had none? Would they even study? 4. Students sometimes find it difficult to understand how nicotine (which calms people down) is a stimulant, while alcohol (which seems to liven people up) is a depressant. Explain how the drugs work on the body. With alcohol, for example, the CNS is depressed so that their normal social inhibitions are relaxed, leading to more outgoing behaviors. Nicotine activates the sympathetic nervous system, increasing heart rate and blood pressure, but it also relaxes the skeletal muscles. You might also poll the smokers in the room and ask them when they smoke – it is either to calm them down or wake them up. This shows the interaction between the person and their situation (the drug). You can take that opportunity to discuss the risks of that habit with your class. Finally, you can discuss the irony that trying to quit smoking can lead to stress that can lead to the desire to keep smoking (see http://quitsmoking.about.com/od/stressmanagement/a/stresstips.htm for more information). 5. Ask students how their eating habits change with stress (e.g., if there is a natural disaster, a problem with a family member or their relationship partner, or if it’s finals week). Do they hit the fridge or do they go on a diet? If they hit the fridge, what foods do they go after? Vegetables and meats or chips, sweets, and carbs? Explain why some foods are “comfort foods” and the risks involved with these eating patterns. 6. This is a good time to discuss incurable chronic health conditions and their effect on stress levels, not only for the person with the disease but also family, friends, and caregivers. Ask students to think about any long-term incurable condition (e.g., cancer, diabetes, herpes, etc.). Keep in mind that many folks have difficulty adjusting to a diagnosis, as may their loved ones. This may actually even have greater impact on family, friends, and caregivers, as they may feel that “they have to be strong” for their loved one. 7. Stress makes your cells age faster. Ask students what physical changes in their appearance they notice about themselves when they are under stress. Ask how they recognize stress in their friends and loved ones. 8. Stress hormones can change the function of the immune system, which in turn can affect areas of the brain that regulate mood. Research has shown that high cortisol levels for extended periods of time suppress the immune system. Why? Cortisol gets the body ready for “fight or flight” and thus, everything else moves to the back burner. See: http://www.advance-health.com/cortisol.html for a review of some of the literature. 9. Physical exercise causes new neurons to grow in brain areas devoted to learning and memory. This is a good time to bring up the concept of epigenisis we discussed back in Chapter 3. For example, you go to the gym and exercise, and your body releases proteins in response to the activity. These, in turn, change the way your brain operates so the next time you go to work out, your brain is actually different than the time before. Another example is that after your lecture on a given day, students’ brains are actually different. 10. Have students complete Holmes and Rahe’s Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS) at http://www.uccs.umn.edu/oldsite/lasc/handouts/socialreadjustment.html. You can use the CPS clickers and have them enter their score for polling purposes. You can also use this as a paper by having students then evaluate the values assigned to each major life event. Ask them if they think the values accurately represent different stressors. Why or why not? You can also ask them if they think that the value of each stressor should reflect things like gender, age, sexual orientation, etc. 11. Have students keep a journal starting up to a week before you cover this unit or as you cover this unit. Each night they should write down their daily stresses/hassles. They should monitor their stress levels throughout the day and the week. They should discuss how they coped with each stress and link that coping strategy to one of Lazarus and Folkman’s (1984) categories. 12. Have your university’s student health department come in and give a presentation on safe sex and the myriad sexual diseases that are incurable. You may also want to contact your university’s mental health or counseling department and have them come by and talk with students about stress. 13. Have students watch Born on the 4th of July (1989) (an R rating) or Steel Magnolias (1989) (a PG rating) and write a paragraph on the toll stress takes on the individuals portrayed in the movie. 14. Have students go to http://psychologytoday.psychtests.com/cgi-bin/tests/transfer_ap.cgi?partner=pt&part=1&test=lc&AMT=9.95&item=Locus%20of%20Control%20Test%20-%20R and take the Locus of Control & Attribution Style Test - Revised. This gives you the opportunity to discuss the role that LOC has on explanatory styles and thus, resiliency in the face of negative events occurring in your world. 15. Students were just reminded of this issue in Chapter 11 as well so it shouldn’t take much to jog their memory. Show them the following Brinks Home Security Commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmZpY2qVJiA. Ask them to interpret the commercial from both the homeowner’s and burglar’s perspective. When is sympathetic nervous system active? When is the parasympathetic nervous system active? 16. Having plenty of quality social relationships can protect you from the common cold. Ask students if they think this is true for them. Why or why not? 17. Have students think about the last time they got a cold. What was going on in their lives? Was there stress from school, work, their romantic relationships, and their friendships? Was it when the first went away to college? Often these events are tied together. 18. Ask why if people know that smoking is unhealthy, why they continue to smoke. Students may talk about addiction, association with pleasant things (eating, socializing, food, etc.), or a combination thereof. You may want to use this question to reinforce the idea of the biopsychosocial model, and its effect on health. 19. Have students list three things that are currently causing them stress. Ask them to describe how they physically when they are under stress. Ask them to describe their thoughts and feelings when they are under stress. Next, ask them what they do to cope with stress. Finally, ask them what, if anything, they would like to do differently to cope with their stress. Suggested Media 55. NOVA, Keep the Weight Off: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3313/03.html 56. Health Matters—Stress Management (using MBSR): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lT17Jr1EEJQ 57. A Health Matters on PTSD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvFJgNevlzY 58. Adaptive value of stress: The Science of Stress Physiology Emotions Fight Flight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyP8L3qTW9Q&feature=related 59. Diana Schwarzbein, M.D. talking about Adrenal Gland Burnout: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt6OOUEvLxY&feature=related 60. How the Body Works: The Adrenal Cortex and Medulla: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMFK6x-gYe0&feature=related 61. Coping With Stress—Stress Eating and Premature Aging: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yHPjgNacGQ 62. John Gray: How Men and Women Cope with Stress Differently: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlxbKVV5M_g 63. Stress, Health, and Coping (Insight Media) 64. Selye on Stress: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJCeDtNh_Aw 65. Discovering Psychology–Health, Mind, and Behavior (Annenberg) 66. Chronic Stress and the Brain (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.) Concept Clip (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.) 1. Stress and Coping Suggested Websites 39. John Pennebaker’s homepage: http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/Faculty/Pennebaker/Home2000/JWPhome.htm 40. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction: http://www.mindfullivingprograms.com/whatMBSR.php 41. National Mental Health Information Center’s page for eating disorders: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/eating-disorders/complete-index.shtml 42. NEDA (National Eating Disorder Association) hotline information: http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/get-help-today/ 43. Mayo Clinic article on how exercise lowers depression: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/depression-and-exercise/MH00043 44. A stress handout: http://bfec.kenyon.edu/Healthy_Kenyon/stress_psymptoms.pdf 45. NIH site on stress and health: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/stress.html 46. BBC site on stress and health: http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/conditions/mental_health/coping_stress.shtml 47. A coping with stress tip sheet from PsychCentral: http://psychcentral.com/lib/20-tips-to-tame-your-stress/000102 48. American Heart Association’s FAQs on stress and heart disease: http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/StressManagement/HowDoesStressAffectYou/FAQs-About-Stress_UCM_307982_Article.jsp 49. Center for Science in the Public Interest: Binge Drinking on College Campuses: http://www.cspinet.org/booze/collfact1.htm 50. Type A test: http://www.queendom.com/tests/access_page/index.htm?idRegTest=1126 51. Daily Hassles Stress Scale: http://www.scribd.com/doc/7156530/Daily-Hassles-and-Stress-Scale 52. The following site has some student-friendly information on meditation in general, how to meditate, its effects on the body, its effect on stress, and how using meditation as a coping tool compares to other stress-coping strategies: http://stress.about.com/od/tensiontamers/p/profilemeditati.htm 53. Social Readjustment Rating Scale: http://www.uccs.umn.edu/oldsite/lasc/handouts/socialreadjustment.html Suggested Readings Antonovsky A. (1979). Health, stress, and coping. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. Baer, R. (2014). Mindfulness skills to overcome stress, anxiety, and unhappiness. New Harbinger. Carver, C. S., Scheier, M. F., & Weintraub, J. K. (1989). Assessing coping strategies: A theoretically based approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 267–283. Chan, C., Tso, I. F., Ho, R. T. H., Ng, S. M., Chan, C. H. Y., Chan, J. C. N., Lai, J. C. L., & Evans, P. D. (2006). The effect of a one-hour Eastern stress management session on salivary cortisol. Stress and Health, 22, 45–49. Cohen, F., Kearny, K. A., Zegans, L. S., Kemeny, M. E., Neuhaus, J. M., & Rotter, J. B. (1966). Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement. Journal of Educational Research, 74(3), 185–190. DeGood, D. E. (1975). Cognitive control factors in vascular stress responses. Psychophysiology, 12, 399–401. Heina, A., et. al. Relationship between cortisol and serotonin metabolites and transporters in alcoholism (correction of alcolholism). Pharmacopsychiatry, 35, 127–134. Houston, B. K. (1972). Control over stress, locus of control, and response to stress. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 21, 249–255. Langer, E. J. (2009). Counterclockwise: Mindful health and the power of possibility. Ballantine. Lupien, S. J., McEwen, B. S., Gunnar, M. R., & Heim, C. (2009). Effects of stress throughout the lifespan on the brain, behavior and cognition. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 10, 434–445. Manuck, S. B., Harvey, L. H., Lechleiter, S.L., & Neal, K. S. (1978). Effects of coping on blood pressure responses to threat of aversive stimulation. Psychophysiology, 15, 544–549. Pennebaker, J. W. (1997). Opening up: The healing power of expressing emotions, revised edition. New York: Guilford Press. Pennebaker, J. W. (Ed.) (1995). Emotion, disclosure, and health. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Peterson, C., Seligman, M. E. P., & Vaillant, G. E. (1988). Pessimistic explanatory style is a risk factor for physical illness: A thirty-five-year longitudinal study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55, 23–27. Seaward, B. (2011). Managing stress: Principles and strategies for health and well-being. Jones and Bartlett. Slatcher, R. B., & Pennebaker, J. W. (2006). How do I love thee? Let me count the words: The social effects of expressive writing. Psychological Science, 17, 660–664. Schooler, C. (1987). Psychological effects of complex environments during the life span: A review and theory. In C. Schooler & K. W. Schaie (Eds), Cognitive functioning and social structure over the life course (pp. 24–49). Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Co. Scheier, M. F., & Carver, C. S. (1985). Optimism, coping, and health: Assessment and implications of generalized outcome expectancies. Health Psychology, 4, 219–247. Scheier, M. F., & Carver, C. S. (1992). Effects of optimism on psychological and physical well-being: Theoretical overview and empirical update. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 16, 201–228. Schultz, R., Heckhausen, J., & O’Brian, A. T. (1994) Control and the disablement process in the elderly. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 9, 139–152. Taylor, S. E., & Aspinwall, L. G. (1990). Psychological aspects of chronic illness. In G. R. VandenBos & P. T. Costa, Jr. (Eds.), Psychological aspects of serious illness (pp. 3–60). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Wallston, K. A., Wallston, B. S., & DeVellis, R. (1978). Development of the multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scales. Health Education Monographs, 6, 161–170. Chapter 13: Personality and the Uniqueness of the Individual BRIEF CHAPTER OUTLINE Defining Personality The Nature and Nurture of Personality The Evolution of Personality Traits Genetics and Personality Temperament and the Fetal Environment Personality and Culture: Universality and Differences Challenging Assumptions in Animal Personality How Do Theorists Explain Personality? Psychoanaltic Theories Sigmund Freud Alfred Adler Carly Jung Karen Horney Neuropsychoanalysis Humanistic/Positive Psychology Theories Social-Cognitive Learning Theories Trait Theories Biological Theories How Is Personality Measured? Behavioral Observation Interviewing Projective Tests Personality Questionnaires Social Network Measurement of Personality Psychology in the Real World: Personality and Career Interest and Job Performance Bringing It All Together: Making Connections in Personality: Does Personality Change Over Time? Personality Consistency Personality Change Typical Personality Change Across the Lifespan Personality Change After Changes in Life Circumstances Chapter Review EXTENDED CHAPTER OUTLINE DEFINING PERSONALITY •Personality refers to the unique and relatively enduring set of behaviors, feelings, thoughts, and motives that characterize an individual. •There are two key components to this definition. o Personality is what distinguishes us and makes us unique from one another. Personality is about uniqueness or individual differences. Personality psychology is concerned with the fact, that in any given situation, people act differently. o Personality is relatively enduring or consistent. Consistency across situations refers to the notion that people behave the same way in different situations and carry who they are into almost every situation. Consistency over time is the extent to which people behave the same way over time. •Traits are dispositions to behave consistently in a particular way. o Don’t confuse this term with personality. Personality is the broader term because it is made up of traits, motives, thoughts, self-concept, and feelings. o Personality traits are normally distributed in the population. o Traits are directly connected to behavior. They lower behavioral thresholds or the point at which you move from not behaving to behaving. A low threshold means you are very likely to behave in a particular way, whereas a high threshold means you are not. THE NATURE AND NURTURE OF PERSONALITY •The interaction between nature and nurture can be seen in at least four lines of reasoning and research: evolutionary theory, genetics, temperament and fetal development, and cross-cultural universality. The Evolution of Personality Traits •Human personality traits evolved as adaptive behavioral responses to fundamental problems of survival and reproduction. •Heightened anxiety would provide a signal of danger and threat; its absence would quickly lead to extinction of the species. Hypersensitivity, however, would be debilitating and disruptive to everyday functioning. •Naturally selected traits are favored if they increase one’s chances of survival and reproductive success. •Sexually selected traits make one more attractive to the opposite sex. Genetics and Personality •Behavioral genetics researchers use two major methods to study the relationship among genetics, behavior, and personality. o The quantitative trait loci (QTL) method looks for the location on genes that might be associated with particular behaviors. It is quantitative because there are markers for behaviors that are expressed on a broad continuum, from very little to very much. QTL research points to genetic markers for novelty- or thrill-seeking, impulsivity, and neuroticism/anxiety. o The second method is to study identical and fraternal twins who have been raised together or apart. This allows researchers to obtain estimates of how heritable personality traits are. If a trait is genetically influenced, identical twins should be more similar on that trait than fraternal twins. If genetics plays no role, identical twins will be no more similar on that trait than fraternal twins. These studies have found that most basic personality traits have heritability estimates of between 40 and 60%. Roughly 50% of the variance to be explained by three nongenetic sources: shared environment, unshared environment, and error. •Shared environment consists of what siblings share in common, such as parents or household. •Unshared environment consists of things like birth order, different friends, different teachers, and different social groups. •Most of the environmental effects are unshared and almost no variance is explained by shared environment. CONNECTION: Many people think genes affect behavior by means of a single gene, a gene for “aggression.” For example, any given behavior or personality trait is never the result of single genes but rather many genes (Chapter 3). Temperament and the Fetal Environment •Temperament and personality differences are manifest even before birth. •One outcome of prenatal environment is birth weight. Correlational data show low-birth-weight babies are more cautious, shy, and risk aversive. •The amount of stress the mother experiences during pregnancy changes the infant’s permanent stress response. •CONNECTION: Are some babies and toddlers temperamentally fussy and more difficult to care for than others? As we explain in the chapter on human development, with very little influence from the environment, some newborns are fussy, unpredictable, and get upset in new situations, whereas others are generally happy, predictable, and curious in new situations (Chapter 5). Personality and Culture: Universality and Differences •Environment and culture modify temperament and make certain traits more likely in some societies than in others. •Research confirms the existence of traits of extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, openness to experience, conscientiousness, and psychoticism in Western, Asian, African, Middle Eastern, and Pacific Rim cultures. •People in Asian cultures exhibit qualities that fit a dimension of “interpersonal relatedness” (behaviors such as respect, obedience, and a belief in saving face) that is rarely seen in Western cultures. Challenging Assumptions About Animal Personality •Until the 1990s, most psychologists would have argued that the term personality only made sense as a term applied to humans. •From the 1190s, a body of research challenged the assumption that personality was only a human characteristic. •Gosling and Oliver John (1999) reported evidence that personality traits exist in at least 14 major nonhuman species (see Figure 13.3). •Ratings were made using one of two behavioral observation techniques: (1) animal trainers who had extensive knowledge of the individual animals; or, (2) trained observers with no history with the animals, who were trained until they could reliably evaluate the dimensions in question. •Primates and other mammals tend to share the largest number of personality traits with humans. Only chimpanzees have a distinct “conscientiousness” dimension. This suggests that conscientiousness is the most recently evolved personality trait. •With the exception of chimps and horses, no other animals possess the required brain structure to control impulse and organize and plan activities in advance. •Wild birds, fish, and even octopus possess human-like personality traits. HOW DO THEORISTS EXPLAIN PERSONALITY? Psychoanalytic Theories •Sigmund Freud o Psychoanalysis is the idea that the unconscious is the most powerful force in our personality. There are three layers of consciousness: the unconscious, preconscious, and conscious. •The conscious layer is simply what we are aware of at any given moment of time. •The preconscious is just below the surface of awareness. It is not currently conscious but can become so relatively easily. •The unconscious contains all the drives, urges, or instincts that are outside awareness but nonetheless motivate most of our speech, thoughts, feelings, or actions. o Freud believed that much of what we do and the reasons that we do it are hidden from our awareness and revealed to us only in distorted forms, such as slips of the tongue and dreams. o Freud developed an elaborate system for interpreting the meaning of dreams, because they were the best way to understand a person’s unconscious. o Slips of the tongue are defined as saying, writing, or typing one thing when you mean another. o Three distinct “provinces,” or regions, involve control and regulation of impulses. The first province, developed in infancy, is the id. The id is the seat of impulse and desire. The id works on the “pleasure principle” and operates on the “do it” principle. By the end of the first year of life, a sense of self, or ego, begins to emerge. It is the only part of the mind that is in direct contact with the outside world, and it operates on the “reality principle.” In a healthy person, the ego mediates this conflict between impulse and control. The last part of the mind to develop, around ages 2 or 3, is the superego, the part of the self that monitors and controls behavior. It operates on the “moralistic principle” and gives us a sense of what we should and should not do. CONNECTION: Cognitive psychologists refer to mental processes that occur outside awareness as “implicit” or “automatic.” Much of what we learn and remember is implicit (Chapters 7 and 8). o Defense mechanisms are tools the mind uses to protect itself from harmful, threatening, and anxiety-provoking thoughts, feelings, or impulses. All defense mechanisms share two qualities: (1) they operate unconsciously; and (2) they deny and distort reality in some way. Repression underlies all the other defense mechanisms. It is the unconscious act of keeping threatening or disturbing thoughts, feelings, or impulses out of consciousness. Reaction formation occurs when an unpleasant idea, feeling, or impulse is turned into its opposite. This often results in exaggerated or compulsive feelings and behavior. In projection, we deny and repress particular ideas, feelings, or impulses, but project them onto others. Sublimation involves expressing a socially unacceptable impulse in a socially acceptable and even desirable way. o Freud is a very complex figure in the field of psychology o Many research-oriented psychologists have dismissed Freud as a pseudoscientist, but his insights as a clinician still have merit. o Freud's ideas about consciousness, unconsciousness, and the importance of early childhood have had lasting impact. •Alfred Adler o Adler, the first to break away from Freud, disagreed with him on the major motives underlying behavior. o His first major assumption was that humans strive for superiority and this is the major drive behind behavior; that is, they naturally strive to overcome their inherent inferiorities or deficiencies, both physical and psychological. Adler believed that all people begin life as young, immature, and helpless. As they grow, they strive toward growth and completion. In the process, they attempt to compensate for their feelings of weakness or inferiority. •Some develop an inferiority complex, an unhealthy need to dominate or upstage others as a way of compensating for feelings of inferiority. o Adler also examined birth order. First-born children tend to have strong feelings of superiority and power. They can be nurturing of others but they are sometimes highly critical and have a strong need to be right. Second children tend to be motivated and cooperative, but they can become overly competitive. Youngest children can be realistically ambitious but also pampered and dependent on others. Only children can be socially mature, but they sometimes lack social interest and have exaggerated feelings of superiority. •Carl Jung o Jung’s signature idea was that the unconscious has two distinct forms: personal and collective. The personal unconscious consists of all our repressed and hidden thoughts, feelings, and motives. This is similar to Freud’s notion of unconscious. The collective unconscious consists of the shared experiences of our ancestors (e.g., God, mother, life, death, water, earth, aggression, survival) that have been transmitted from generation to generation. •Jung decided that there must be some kind of collective unconsciousness that would explain the many instances in which dreams, religions, legends, and myths share the same content even though the people who created them have never directly or even indirectly communicated with one another. •The collective unconscious is made up of archetypes. Archetypes are ancient or archaic images that result from common ancestral experiences. o The shadow is the dark and morally objectionable part of ourselves. o The anima is the female part of the male personality. The animus is the male part of the female personality. All people possess characteristics and traits of both genders, but men tend to deny and repress their feminine side, or anima. Women likewise tend to deny or repress their masculine side, or animus. Full personality development requires acknowledging and being receptive to these unconscious or less well-developed sides of one’s personality. •Karen Horney o Horney was one of the first major females in the psychoanalytic movement. o Compared to Freud, Horney focused more on the social and cultural forces behind neurosis and the neurotic personality (psychoanalytic social theory). o The essence of Horney’s theory is that neurosis stems from basic hostility and basic anxiety. Basic hostility is anger or rage that originates in childhood and stems from fear of being neglected or rejected by one’s parents. When hostility toward one’s parents is so threatening that it is turned inward, it is converted into basic anxiety. Basic anxiety is a sense of being alone and helpless in a hostile world. o Horney argued that all people defend themselves against basic anxiety by developing particular needs or trends. If these needs become compulsive and the person is unable to switch from one need to another as the situation demands, that person is neurotic. The three neurotic trends or needs are moving: toward others, against others, and away from others. 1. Moving toward others (the compliant personality) •This is neurotically moving toward others involves consistently needing or clinging to other people, belittling oneself, eliciting feelings of pity from others, and repressing feelings of anger and hostility. 2. Moving against others (the aggressive personality) •This is neurotically moving against others involves puffing oneself up in an obvious and public manner, competing against others at almost everything, and being prone to hostility and anger. 3. Moving away from others (the detached personality) •This is neurotically moving away from others involves developing a detached and “cool” demeanor by not responding emotionally, not caring, and being “above it all.” a. Compared to Freud, Horney focused more on the social and cultural forces behind neurosis and the neurotic personality (psychoanalytic social theory). •Neuropsychoanalysis o Neuropsychoanalysis is a new movement (started in the 1990s) that combines Freudian ideas with neuroscientfic methods. o By combining the subjective insights into the mind made by Freud with the objective insights of the mind gained by neuroscience, neuropsychoanalyists are closing the divide that existed between Freud’s ideas and science. o Neuropsychoanalysts argue that there is evidence that at least seven core assumptions made by Freud have received recent scientific support: importance of early childhood experience on later personality development, unconscious motivation, repression and defense mechanisms, pleasure principle, primitive drives, dreams as wish fulfillment, and thinking and perception are guided by unconscious motives and emotions Humanistic/Positive Psychology Theories •The humanistic approach is optimistic about human nature, believing that humans are naturally interested in realizing their full potential. o The term humanism is not commonly used today because these theorists did not conduct empirical research. •The humanistic movement now operates under the name positive psychology. o This view embraces and generates empirical research while theoretically staying in line with Maslow and Rogers. •Abraham Maslow o Self-actualization refers to people’s inherent drive to realize their full potential. Very few people achieve this level of need fulfillment (i.e., are “fully human”). o Maslow described 15 characteristics of self-actualized individuals that were based on self-actualized historical figures. Five of these characteristics are: 1. spontaneity, simplicity, naturalness, 2. problem-centered (have a “calling”), 3. creativity (self-actualizing rather than specialized), 4. deep interpersonal relations, and 5. resistance to enculturation. o CONNECTION: A truly starving person is not concerned with art and beauty. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs describes how the basic needs (e.g., hunger, thirst) must be satisfied before one can pursue the higher needs, such as self-actualization (Chapter 11). •Carl Rogers o Rogers developed a form of psychotherapy based on the assumption that people naturally strive toward growth and fulfillment and need unconditional positive regard for that to happen. o Unconditional positive regard is the ability to respect and appreciate another person regardless of their behavior. o In contrast to Maslow, Rogers had a specific, measurable way of defining the self-actualizing tendency and psychological adjustment: by comparing the real self (ourselves as we really are) and our ideal self (who we would like to be). Rogers then defined psychological adjustment as congruence between the real and ideal selves. o Positive psychology came about in the late 1990s. This theory focuses on positive states and experiences, such as hope, optimism, wisdom, creativity, spirituality, and positive emotions (e.g., happiness). In contrast to the humanistic psychologists, however, positive psychologists are more likely to base their ideas in research than in speculation, clinical practice, and observation. Social-Cognitive Learning Theories •The social-cognitive learning perspective is exemplified Walter Mischel. •Mischel believes that people change their behavior based on their current situational constraints. What qualities a person brings to each situation interacts with the situation to make one person act somewhat differently when the situation changes. Trait Theories •The trait approach assumes that traits or dispositions are the major force behind personality. •Today, it is commonly accepted that there are five universal dimensions of personality called the Big Five or five-factor model. o The five dimensions are openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism (OCEAN). •Robert McCrae and Paul Costa developed a theory around the Big Five made up of two components: basic tendencies and characteristic adaptations. o Basic tendencies are aptitudes, talents, and cognitive abilities that correlate with the Big Five personality traits. o Basic tendencies are due to internal/biological factors. Biological Theories •The biological approach assumes that differences in personality are partly based in differences in structures and systems in the central nervous system, such as genetics, hormones, and neurotransmitters. •Hans Eysenck argued for the fundamental importance of biology in shaping personality. o He proposed three fundamental dimensions of personality (PEN): extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism (a combination of openness, conscientiousness, and agreeableness) (PEN). o Eysenck developed a model in which differences in personality are caused by the combined influences of genes, neurochemistry, and certain characteristics of the central nervous system. o Connections exist between CNS arousal and personality traits such as introversion-extraversion. •Differences in cortical arousal (how active the brain is at a resting state as well as how sensitive it is to stimulation) and sensory thresholds lead to differences in extraversion-introversion. o Introverts have a higher baseline level of cortical arousal and therefore require a lower stimulus level to arouse them and reach their “comfort zone” than do extraverts. HOW IS PERSONALITY MEASURED? Behavioral Observation •The most direct and objective method for gathering personality data is to observe behavior and simply count specific behaviors that are associated with particular traits, such as aggression, hostility, friendliness, anxiety, or conscientiousness. •It is important that raters of behavior are highly trained because they define what behaviors constitute each trait. In other words, there needs to be evidence of inter-rater reliability. This is when two or more raters accurately rate and agree upon their ratings. •The researchers must first establish an exact definition of the trait. •They need to then identify the behaviors that make up that trait. •They then need to practice rating it against experienced, expert, and reliable raters. The new raters are deemed “reliable” if their ratings compare well with established norms or expert ratings, usually a correlation of .80 or higher. •When children, animals, or others who cannot evaluate and/or report on their own personalities are being assessed, behavioral observations are required. •Pros: These measures are desirable because they do not depend on people’s view of themselves, as self-report measurements do. They are direct and objective. •Cons: They are costly and time-consuming; not all personality traits can be observed by other people, and coding issues. •Self-reports can be carried out in three different ways: interviewing, projective tests, and questionnaires. Interviewing •Interviewing is a self-report measure. •Sitting down with another person face-to-face is probably the most natural and comfortable of all personality assessment techniques. •From the participant’s perspective, interviewing is usually more engaging and pleasant than filling out a questionnaire. •Pros: The advantages of this technique include the open-ended nature of the interview. •Cons: In this technique, as with behavioral ratings, coding is an issue. Projective Tests •Projective tests are another type of self-report measure. •Projective tests present an ambiguous stimulus or situation to participants and ask them to give their interpretation of or tell a story about what they see. These techniques are based on the assumption, stemming from psychoanalysis, that unconscious wishes, thoughts, and motives will be “projected” onto the task. •One of the most widely used projective tests is the Rorschach Inkblot Test. •In the Rorschach Inkblot Test, a series of ambiguous inkblots are presented one at a time, and the participant is asked to say what he or she sees in each one. The responses are recorded and then coded by a trained coder as to how much human and nonhuman “movement,” color, form, and shading the participant sees in each card. Personality Questionnaires •Questionnaires are self-report measures. •The most common way of measuring personality is asking participants to summarize their own behavioral tendencies by means of questionnaires. •Personality questionnaires consist of individual statements, or items; respondents indicate the extent to which they agree or disagree with each statement as it applies to their personality. •Responses are usually arranged on a Likert scale, which uses response categories such as “completely disagree,” marked 1; “neither agree nor disagree,” marked 3; and “completely agree,” marked 5. •Questions are based on either the rational or the empirical method. •The rational or face valid method involves using reason or theory to come up with a question. The problem with such questionnaires, however, is that because the questions are transparent, participants might give socially desirable or false answers rather than honest ones. •The empirical method focuses instead on simply whether a question distinguishes groups it is supposed to distinguish. A standard way to empirically validate questions on an anxiety measure would be to develop a series of questions and then administer them to people known to suffer from anxiety disorders (as diagnosed by a therapist) and to people known to not suffer from anxiety disorders. If the questions are answered differently by the two groups, they are valid and should be included in the questionnaire. If they are not answered differently, they do not distinguish anxious from non-anxious people and should be discarded. Two of the most widely used personality questionnaires: The Minnesotoa Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and California Personality Inventory (CPI) were developed using this method. Social Network Measurement of Personality •Psychologists can’t use your SNS footprint to measure personality just yet. They are, however, getting close. •Content of personal websites, musical preferences, online profiles, and number and density of SNS friends predict personality traits. •What you “like” on Facebook predicts personality, intelligence, race, age, sexual orientation, and political affiliation. PSYCHOLOGY IN THE REAL WORLD: PERSONALITY AND CAREER INTEREST AND JOB PERFORMANCE •Personality traits predict what kind of majors and careers we select, what kinds of employers select us, how people perform at jobs, and how likely they are to leave them once they get them. Personality and Career and College Major Interest •The first stage of job selection is picking a major. •Pulver and Kelly (2008) used the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) to look at major selection and personality type. o The MBTI consists of opposing types: Extraversion-Introversion, Thinking-Feeling, Intuition-Sensing, and Judging-Perceiving. o Pulver and Kelly (2008) found that extraverts preferred social and enterprising majors (such as psychology, social work, elementary education), whereas thinking types preferred realistic and investigative majors (such as mechanical engineering or archeology). Feeling types preferred artistic and social majors (such as art, music, and theater). •Larson et al. (2010) used the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ) and found that: o Education majors scored higher than engineering majors on social closeness. o Business majors scored significantly lower on agreeableness than humanities and architecture/design majors. Architecture majors were more absorbed than business majors. o Elementary education majors scored highest on harm avoidance (avoiding situations where one can get hurt) and social closeness than other majors tested. Personality-Environment Fit and Job Performance •Holland (1985) calls the fit between personality and job congruence. I/O psychologists refer to this as “person-organization fit” or how well a person is matched to his/her work environment. •The better the fit, the more satisfied people are with their jobs, the less likely they are to leave their jobs, and the more successful they are. •People who are conscientious, agreeable and emotionally stable are less likely to engage in counterproductive behaviors. Personality and Switching Jobs •People high in openness to experience and low in agreeableness are most likely to switch jobs/companies. BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER: MAKING CONNECTIONS IN PERSONALITY: DOES PERSONALITY CHANGE OVER TIME? •Although it shows considerable stability over our lifetime, personality also changes and develops between our infant and adult years. Personality Consistency •Keep in mind that personality consistency is relative. o Recall Mischel’s work on how qualities and traits of a person’s qualities interact with the specific situation to bring about different behavior across different situations. •Longitudinal studies, those that examine the same people over a period of time, reveal high levels of stability of personality traits. •Block, Block, and Keyes (1988) conducted some of the first long-term studies of human temperament and personality. They used most of the methods for assessing personality discussed in this chapter: interviews, behavioral observations, and personality questionnaires. They found that children who were impulsive, aggressive, and tended to cry at age 3 were most likely to use drugs during adolescence. •Genetics contribute to the personality consistency we see from adolescence to adulthood, whereas environmental factors contribute to both stability and change in personality traits. •CONNECTION: Children who are rated by their parents as not being controlled at age 3 are more likely than other children to have drinking problems, get in trouble with the law, and even attempt suicide by age 21 (Chapter 5). Personality Change •Typical Personality Change Across the Lifespan o Research supports some degree of personality change as we move from adolescence through adulthood as well as from changes in life circumstances. o People become steadily more agreeable and conscientious from adolescence to late adulthood. o People tend to become more assertive or dominant and emotionally stable from adolescence to middle adulthood and then level off on these personality dimensions. o People become more sociable and open from adolescence to early adulthood, level off, and then decline in these traits in older adulthood. •Personality Change After Changes in Life Circumstances o Living Abroad and Personality Change Living abroad does seem to change personality. Personality traits that are most likely to change are showing an increase in agreeableness and a decrease in neurotism. o Parenting and Personality Change Becoming a mother affects personality differently, depending on the woman’s evaluation of motherhood. •If a woman likes being a full-time mother, then having children can lead to an increase in her flexibility, self-esteem, adjustment, resourcefulness, and control, and a decrease in her dependence and fearfulness. •If a woman does not especially enjoy being a full-time mother, the opposite personality changes are observed. Self-concept in general seems to stay the same for both mothers and fathers. Self-esteem goes down and irritability goes up in mothers, but not in fathers. The gender of the parent interacts with the temperament of the child. •Compared to having a child with an “easy temperament,” having one with a “difficult temperament” is more likely to increase the father’s but not the mother’s anxiety. •Neither easy nor difficult temperament type changed the overall rate of depression in mothers or fathers. •The biggest personality change seems to come from increases in a personal sense of control and mastery if parents have an “easy” child, and decreases in these dimensions if they have a “difficult” child. o Brain Injury and Personality Change Based on behavioral observations, Rorschach Inkblots, and semi-structured interviews’ ratings of personality, children and adults who suffer brain injury often lose the ability to control impulses, are socially inappropriate, have a temper, and are more prone to anger. o Alzheimer’s Disease and Personality Change Alzheimer’s disease is a major degenerative brain disease whose hallmarks are severe dementia and memory loss. It eventually affects personality and ultimately leads to death. •Neuroticism increases, and openness and conscientiousness decrease after the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. •Two studies have suggested that extraversion decreases. •There have been mixed results about agreeableness changes (some show no change, others show a decrease). KEY TERMS anima: according to Jung, the female part of the male personality. animus: according to Jung, the male part of the female personality. archetypes: ancient or archaic images that result from common ancestral experiences; often expressed in dreams, hallucinations, and myths. basic tendencies: the essence of personality: the Big Five personality dimensions, plus talents, aptitudes, and cognitive abilities. behavioral thresholds: the point at which a person moves from not behaving to behaving. Big Five or five-factor model: a categorization scheme for personality that includes five dimensions: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism (OCEAN). collective unconscious: according to Jung, the shared experiences of our ancestors that have been passed down from generation to generation. cortical arousal: how active the brain is at a resting state as well as how sensitive it is to stimulation. defense mechanisms: unconscious strategies used by the mind to protect itself from harmful, threatening, and anxiety-provoking thoughts, feelings, or impulses; they deny or distort reality in some way. ego: Freud’s term for the sense of self; the part of the mind that operates on the “reality principle.” empirical method: a method for developing questionnaire items that disregards theory and face validity and focuses instead on simply whether a question distinguishes groups it is supposed to distinguish. id: Freud’s term for the seat of impulse and desire; the pleasure-seeking part of our personality. inferiority complex: an unhealthy need to dominate or upstage others as a way of compensating for feelings of deficiency. inter-rater reliability: measure of how much agreement there is in ratings when using two or more raters or coders to rate personality or other behaviors. mechanisms: adaptive solutions to problems of survival and reproduction. neuropsychoanalysis: theory which combines Freudian ideas with neuroscientific methods. personal unconscious: according to Jung, all of our repressed and hidden thoughts, feelings, and motives. personality questionnaires: self-report instruments that consist of individual statements, or items; respondents indicate the extent to which they agree or disagree with each statement as it applies to their personality. projection: a defense mechanism in which people deny and repress particular ideas, feelings, or impulses but project them onto others. projective tests: method of measuring personality traits by presenting an ambiguous stimulus or situation to participants and asking them to give their interpretation of or tell a story about what they see. quantitative trait loci (QTL) approach: a technique in behavioral genetics that looks for the location on genes that might be associated with particular behaviors. rational (face valid) method: a method for developing questionnaire items that involves using reason or theory to come up with a question. reaction formation: a defense mechanism that turns an unpleasant idea, feeling, or impulse into its opposite. Rorschach Inkblot Test: a projective test involving a series of ambiguous inkblots presented one at a time; the participant is asked to say what he or she sees in each one. shadow: according to Jung, the dark and morally objectionable part of ourselves. striving for superiority: according to Adler, the major drive behind all behavior, whereby humans naturally strive to overcome their physical and psychological deficiencies. sublimation: a defense mechanism in which a socially unacceptable impulse is expressed in a socially acceptable and even desirable way. superego: Freud’s term for the part of the mind that monitors behavior and evaluates it in terms of right and wrong; the conscience. trait: a disposition to behave consistently in a particular way. unconditional positive regard: in Roger’s approach to psychotherapy, the ability to respect and appreciate another person regardless of his or her behavior. unconscious: the level of consciousness containing all drives, urges, and instincts that are outside awareness but nonetheless motivate most behavior. MAKING THE CONNECTIONS (Some of the connections are found in the text. Other connections may be useful for lecture or discussion.) Defining Personality CONNECTION: Would you shock someone to unconsciousness if an authority figure told you that you had no choice? Extreme situations can push people to behave in ways we would not expect from their personalities (Chapter 14). •Discussion: Ask students to consider what situations dominate their behaviors; for example, being in class. There are set scripts outlining how you behave: you sit down, take out paper and a pen, take notes, etc. If you go to a funeral, job interview, etc., you act in a particular fashion. Some situations, though, allow more flexibility (e.g., the beach, a coffee shop, a park, etc.). CONNECTION: Many people think genes affect behavior by means of a single gene; a gene for “aggression,” for example. Any given behavior or personality trait, however, is never the result of single genes but rather many genes. •Discussion: Ask students to think about what aggression is and the behaviors that make it up. Have them then label traits that may lead to such behaviors. This activity can help them see how multifaceted “traits” are. CONNECTION: Are some babies and toddlers temperamentally fussy and more difficult to care for than others? As we explain in the chapter on human development, with very little influence from the environment, some newborns are fussy, unpredictable, and get upset in new situations, whereas others are generally happy, predictable, and curious in new situations (Chapter 5). •Suggested Activity: Have students contact their primary caregiver and ask them about the type of temperament they displayed as a child. Have them provide at least three specific examples. How Do Theorists Explain Personality? CONNECTIONS: Cognitive psychologists refer to mental processes that occur outside awareness as “implicit” or “automatic.” Much of what we learn and remember is implicit (Chapters 7 and 8). •Discussion: Have students compare these two concepts. Ask them to image that Sue broke up with her boyfriend of two years two months ago. A couple of weeks ago she started dating someone new. On her way to pick up her new guy she “goes on automatic pilot” and drives to her ex’s house. How would a cognitive psychologist explain her behavior? What about Freud? CONNECTION: Some people compulsively clean or wash; others check to make sure doors are locked. Present-day clinical psychologists refer to such “anal fixations,” when they disrupt someone’s life, as obsessive-compulsive disorder (Chapter 15). •Discussion: Use the example of Monica from the TV show Friends. You can use this clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJ4YQjSHQiQ to demonstrate some of her quirks. Ask students how Freud would diagnose Monica. You can then preview how a clinical psychologist would discuss Monica’s behaviors. CONNECTION: A truly starving person is not concerned with art and beauty. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs describes how the basic needs (such as hunger, thirst) must be satisfied before one can pursue the higher needs, such as self-actualization (Chapter 11). •Suggested Site: Use information and images of Maslow’s hierarchy from http://www.businessballs.com/maslow.htm to refresh students’ memory on Maslow’s theory. Bringing It All Together: Making Connections in Personality: Does Personality Change Over Time? CONNECTION: Children who are rated by their parents as being undercontrolled at age 3 are more likely than other children to have drinking problems, get in trouble with the law, and even attempt suicide by age 21 (Chapter 5). •Discussion: Ask students about their childhood friends. Knowing what they know now, could they predict who would have problems in adolescence? INNOVATIVE INSTRUCTION 1. Ask students about their opinions on Freud’s theories. Do they think they are scientifically valid? Ask them why they think it is still important to study Freud. Should Freud be given much space in textbooks? Why or why not? 2. Ask students if they think Adler’s theory on birth order fits their own personalities. Ask them if they believe the “spread” affects birth order. For example, if you are 10 years younger than your sibling are you still considered a first born? Ask them to defend their answers. 3. After covering humanistic theories, ask students their perceptions of the overlying theme that humans are inherently good. What are some potential problems here? Is this too naïve of a perspective? 4. Ask students if they feel personality is based more on nature or nurture. Have them use their own experiences and personalities to back up their opinion. You can use the CPS clickers to pole the class on this to get the discussion under way. 5. Ask students what relationship, if any, they think exists between one’s level of introversion/extraversion and how much they drool. Most students will think that extraverts drool more. Then discuss Corcoran’s (1964) research in this area (see Suggested Readings), which say introverts drool more because of their higher baseline of arousal. You can link this to Eysenck’s theories. 6. Ask students which theory of personality they find most “correct.” You can use the CPS clickers to poll the class on this to get the discussion under way. 7. The evolution of personality traits demonstrates how our bodies, brain, and behavior can be shaped by environmental forces over long periods of time. Nurture shapes nature. Your book discussed how anxiety can be evolutionarily advantageous. Ask your students what other personality traits could be (e.g., extraversion, conscientiousness, etc.). 8. Have students write a summary of Adler’s theory of birth order. Then have them write a brief psychobiography of someone they know well, or themselves, applying Adler’s theory to that person. 9. The authors mention that Darth Vader is a good example of Jung’s shadow archetype. Ask students to come up with a list of other examples in literature, movies, and television. 10. Have students take the five-factor personality test at http://similarminds.com/bigfive.html. What did their results say about them? Do they feel their results are valid? 11. Have students take Eysenck’s personality test at http://similarminds.com/eysenck.html. What did their results say about them? Do they feel their results are valid? You can have students do both activities three and four and compare their results. 12. Show students Rorschach Inkblots and TAT images and ask them what they see. Students really get into this (e.g., http://www.deltabravo.net/custody/rorschach.php). 13. Use the CPS clickers to ask students a series of Likert scale items so they get a feel for how personality questionnaires are used. You can also demonstrate this by using the suggested sites for innovative instruction items 10 and 11. 14. Have students get into groups and create a face valid questionnaire for different personality traits. The number of traits you may wish to use will vary depending on your class size. 15. Ask students in what ways is Adler’s individual psychology more optimistic than Freudian psychology. 16. Ask students to pick five or more traits that they think describe themselves. Have them think about where these traits came from. Are they inherited? Are they biological or environmental in origin? What has shaped their personality? Do they think personality is more nature or nurture? Suggested Media 67. Star Wars (1977) 68. Star Wars: Episode V—The Empire Strikes Back (1980) 69. Star Wars: Episode VI—Return of the Jedi (1983) 70. Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace (1999) 71. Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones (2002) 72. Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith (2005) 73. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941) 74. Mary Reilly (1996) 75. Freud (1962) 76. Face to Face with Carl Jung—Part 1 of 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLJsiQ4h3fY 77. Face to Face with Carl Jung—Part 2 of 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6D6N6U6Hjg 78. Face to Face with Carl Jung—Part 3 of 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD-W-1z_qco 79. Face to Face with Carl Jung—Part 4 of 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90VXHjQREDM 80. Carl Rogers discussing his form of psychotherapy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HarEcd4bt-s 81. Rorschach Inkblots: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31Fe2OIpJMI 82. Discovering Psychology—The Self (Annenberg) 83. Extreme Sports and Teens: The Psychology of Risk Addiction (discusses the T-Type personality) Concept Clip (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.) 1. Psychoanalytic Theory Suggested Websites 54. Sigmund Freud and the Freud Archives: http://www.freudarchives.org/ 55. Neuropsychoanalysis: http://www.neuropsa.org.uk/ 56. The New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute: http://www.psychoanalysis.org/ 57. International Karen Horney Society: http://plaza.ufl.edu/bjparis/ikhs/index.html 58. Adler School of Professional Psychology: http://www.adler.edu/ 59. The Jung Page: http://www.cgjungpage.org/ 60. PEN Model: http://www.personalityresearch.org/pen.html 61. Walter Mischel’s homepage: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/psychology/indiv_pages/mischel.html 62. The Rorschach test: http://www.deltabravo.net/custody/rorschach.php 63. Some TAT images: http://web.utk.edu/~wmorgan/tat/tattxt.htm 64. Students often enjoy taking personality tests: http://www.outofservice.com/bigfive/ 65. Locus of Control Scale: http://www.mccc.edu/~jenningh/Courses/documents/Rotter-locusofcontrolhandout.pdf 66. Defense mechanisms and examples: http://www-usr.rider.edu/~suler/defenses.html Suggested Readings Baumeister, R. F., Dale, K., & Sommer, K. L. (1998). Freudian defense mechanisms and empirical findings in modern social psychology: Reaction formation, projection, displacement, undoing, isolation, sublimation, and denial. Journal of Personality, 66, 1081–1124. Blatt, S. J., & Auerbach, J. S. (2000). Psychoanalytic models of the mind and their contributions to personality research. European Journal of Personality, 14, 429–447. Cain, S. (2012). Quiet: The power of introverts in a world that can’t stop talking. Crown. Corcoran, D. W. J. (1964). The relation between introversion and salivation. American Journal of Psychology, 77(2), 298–300. Costa, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (1992). Four ways five factors are basic. Personality and Individual Differences, 13, 653–665. Cramer, P. (2000). Defense mechanisms in psychology today: Further processes for adaptation. American Psychologist, 55, 637–646. Eysenck, H. J. (1990). Genetic and environmental contributions to individual differences: The three major dimensions of personality. Journal of Personality, 58, 245–261. Eysenck, H. J. (1991). Dimensions of personality: 16, 5, or 3?—Criteria for a taxonomic paradigm. Personality and Individual Differences, 12, 773–790. Freud, S. (1910). The origin and development of psychoanalysis. American Journal of Psychology, 21, 181–218. Jaffe, E. (2013). The link between personality and immunity. APS Observer, 26, 27–30. McCrae, R. R., & Costa, P. T., Jr. (1997). Personality trait structure as a human universal. American Psychologist, 52, 509–516. Norman, W. T. (1963). Toward an adequate taxonomy of personality attributes: Replicated factor structure in peer nomination personality ratings. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 66, 574–583. Stelmack, R. M. (1990). Biological bases of extraversion: Psychophysiological evidence. Journal of Personality, 58, 293–312. Chapter 14: Social Behavior BRIEF CHAPTER OUTLINE Group Living and Social Influence Conformity Minority Social Influence Obedience Social Perception Attribution Detecting Deception Schemas Stereotypes Exclusion and Inclusion Prejudice and Discrimination Challenging Assumptions in Social Behavior Psychology in the Real World: The Social Psychology of Social Networks Connecting Psychology to Your Life: Are You Implicitly Prejudiced? Attitudes and Behavior The Nature and Nurture of Attitudes Attitude Change Cognitive Dissonance Persuasion Social Relations The Nature and Nurture of Aggression Social Influences on Aggression Prosocial Behavior The Bystander Effect Altruism Empathy Liking, Attraction, and Love Familiarity, Similarity, and Attraction Physical and Chemical Attractiveness Sexual Attraction and Mate Selection Love Types of Love Love as Attachment Bringing It All Together: Making Connections in Social Behavior: Analysis of the Jonestown Cult Chapter Review EXTENDED CHAPTER OUTLINE •Social psychology is the study of the effects of the real or imagined presence of others on people’s thoughts, feelings, and actions. GROUP LIVING AND SOCIAL INFLUENCE •Group living offered many advantages in the evolution of our species, such as increased safety in the presence of danger, cooperation with others to complete challenging tasks (e.g., hunting), and rearing children. •Today we work hard to maintain our relationships, going so far as to modify our behavior when we are in the presence of others. •The effect of the presence of others can depend on the situation or task at hand, how easy or difficult the task is, and how excited you are. •Social facilitation occurs when the presence of others improves our performance. o Triplett (1898) noticed that people bicycle faster when riding with others. In a laboratory he asked children to wind a fishing reel as fast as they could. He found that children wound faster when other kids were present o This usually occurs for tasks that are easy, we know well, or we can perform well. •Social loafing occurs when the presence of others causes one to relax one’s standards and slack off. •CONNECTION: Our level of arousal also affects our performance according to the Yerkes-Dodson law. People perform better on an exam if they are slightly anxious than they would if they were totally relaxed or very anxious (Chapter 11). Conformity •Societal or culturally imposed rules about acceptable behavior are called social norms. They can vary by culture as well. People often conform to social norms. •Conformity occurs when people adjust their behavior to what others are doing or adhere to the norms of their culture. o Informational social influence occurs when people conform to the behavior of others because they view them as a source of knowledge about what they are supposed to do. This type of conformity is most pronounced in ambiguous or novel situations. o Normative social influence occurs when people go along with the behavior of others in order to be accepted by them. •Asch (1951) conducted a now classic study on conformity. He assembled several groups of six to seven people, all but one of which was a confederate in the study, in the lab. He told them he was interested in visual acuity. Asch then showed the participants two cards: one with a standard line and the other displaying three lines of varying length. The participant’s job was to pick the one line from the card with three lines that matched the standard line. This comparison process was repeated 18 times and on each occasion, participants said their answers out loud. o The one real participant was always seated in the last chair, so he heard the judgments of all of the other group members before he made his own choice. o On the first six trials everyone gave the obvious and correct answer. Starting on trial seven, however, all the confederates started giving wrong answers. o Not every participant agreed with the group all of the time, but more than three-fourths of the participants went along with the group even when the group answer was clearly wrong. o When participants worked alone, they rarely made any errors. •Groupthink occurs when the thinking of the group takes over, so much so that group members forgo logic or critical analysis in the service of reaching a decision. •Culture also influences conformity. o In collectivist cultures, groups matter more than the individual, so any group-preserving behavior (such as conformity) would be valued and encouraged. •CONNECTIONS: In an individualistic culture, behavior is determined more by personal goals than by group goals; whereas in a collectivist culture, behavior is determined more by shared goals (Chapter 13). Minority Social Influence •In social psychology, a single person or small group within a larger group is called a minority, while the larger group is referred to as the majority. o Minority can push for independence and uniqueness while the majority pushes for group unity. o Minority opinion generally shifts majority opinion by means of informational social influence. If a group encounters a situation in which the members are unsure about what to do and a minority carefully presents a well-thought-out position to the majority, then the majority might accept it. Obedience •Obedience is a type of conformity in which people yield to the social pressure of an authority figure. •Milgram recruited people from the community to participate in an experiment at Yale University. A participant arrived at the lab and sat down next to another supposed participant, who was a confederate. The experimenter told them that they would be participating in a study of the effects of mild punishment on memory. He then randomly assigned them to be either a teacher or learner by asking them to pull a note that said either “teacher” or “learner” from a bowl. The drawing was rigged so that the real participant always landed the “teacher” role. o Then the experimenter showed both the teacher and learner to the adjoining room where the learner would be seated. The learner’s task involved learning and repeating strings of words. He was told that every time he made an error he would receive a mild electric shock, delivered by the teacher. With each mistake, the shocks would increase in intensity. Both teacher and learner were shown the chair where the learner would sit with restraints to make sure the electrodes had a good contact when he received the shock. The teacher then received a sample shock of very low voltage to get a sense of what the learner would be experiencing. In actuality, this was the only real shock ever administered during the experiment. o Then they went to the teacher’s room. The teacher sat at a table behind a panel of little switches. Under each switch was a label indicating voltage level. The levels started at 15 volts (“mild shock”) and increased in 15-volt increments all the way up to 450, with 315 volts designated as “danger: severe shock” and 435–450 (end of scale) as “XXX.” The teacher was reminded that if the learner made any mistakes he would have to deliver a shock, and with each mistake, he should increase the level. In fact, the experiment was rigged, as the learner played a prerecorded tape of his responses to the shock. o As the teacher moved up the shock scale and the learner supposedly made more errors, one could hear a yelp of pain from the learner with each shock. At this point, many teachers would ask the experimenter if they should go on, and he would say, “The experiment requires that you go on.” o The results indicated that at 150 volts there was a drop in obedience, from 100% to about 83%. Some participants stopped, but many went on with the experiment, albeit uncomfortably. Sixty-five percent of participants went all the way to 450 volts. Men and women were equally likely to reach the 450-volt level. •Milgram’s participants clearly experienced mental anguish while taking part in the study. The study sparked a fierce debate about ethics in research. Milgram contacted his participants later and less than 2% reported regretting having participated. •CONNECTIONS: Do you think participants were treated ethically in the Milgram study? What are the obligations of researchers to ensure the ethical treatment of participants in research? (Chapter 2) •Burger (2006) conducted a modified version of Milgram’s original study with college students. An important change from the original study was that when the participants began to protest, they were told to continue rather than told that they had to continue. Also, once participants passed the 150-volt range, the experiment stopped. By making these changes, the researchers were able to obtain permission from the American Psychological Association to conduct the experiment, which otherwise would not meet standards for ethical treatment of human participants. o Burger ALSO reported two-thirds of participants obeyed the authority figure and continued. SOCIAL PERCEPTION •Our social perception is how we make sense of our social world. Attribution •Attributions are the inferences we make about the causes of other people’s behavior. •Heider (1958) made an important distinction between two types of attributions. These are dispositional and situational attributions. o Internal, or dispositional, attributions occur when one thinks that someone’s behavior is caused by something within them, such as their personality, motive, or attitude. o External, or situational, attributions occur when one thinks that something outside the person, such as the nature of the situation, is the cause of his or her behavior. •The tendency to make situational attributions for our own failures but dispositional attributions for our successes is known as a self-serving bias. •The fundamental attribution error is the tendency to explain other people’s behavior in terms of dispositional attributions rather than situational ones. o There is a cultural difference in just how fundamental this error is. People living in Asian cultures, such as India and Japan, are much less likely to make the fundamental attribution error than are European Americans. o CONNECTION: Cultural differences in big-picture processing versus detailed processing are seen in performance on visual perception tasks, too (Chapter 4). Detecting Deception •According to the research, most of us are pretty poor lie detectors (performing no better than chance). •We are bad at detecting liars because we rely too much on misleading cues. We often rely too much on what people are saying and over-interpreting ambiguous nonverbal cues. We should instead focus on inconsistent behaviors such as shaking the head while saying yes and signs of emotion that don’t match what people are saying. •The best lie detectors attend to nonverbal information more than verbal information. In fact, Secret Service agents and psychologists with a special interest in deception can pick liars at a rate significantly above chance. Schemas •Schemas are like lenses through which one filters perceptions. They are ways of knowing that affect how we view our social world. •We rely on schemas when forming impressions of other people. These are especially likely to color our interpretations when we encounter ambiguous information. Stereotypes •Schemas of how people are likely to behave based simply on the groups to which they belong are known as stereotypes. With stereotypes, we have formed conclusions about people before we even interact with them based on the fact that they are of a certain ethnicity or live in a certain place. As such, we end up not judging people by their actions, but by our notions of how they are likely to act. •We rely on stereotypes because they allow us to make easy, fast, and often inaccurate judgments. This is especially true when we don’t know someone well. o The human mind has a tendency to categorize and understand all members of a group by typical characteristics of the category, so if we meet someone new and learn that they belong to a particular group (e.g., ethnic, social), we use what we know about members of that group for how this new person might behave. o When people avoid thinking in this stereotyped way, their prefrontal cortex, an area involved in inhibiting inappropriate responses, is activated. •Stereotypes are often linked to something factual, which does not represent the group as a whole. •CONNECTION: Another name for mental shortcuts we use in decision making is heuristics. Heuristics can be adaptive but also can lead to flawed thinking (Chapter 9). Exclusion and Inclusion •Judgments of “us” versus “them” stem from defending against other groups and competing with them for limited resources. •Perceiving others as different from us has several consequences: 1. we may evaluate and treat people differently because of the group they belong to, 2. these actions are based on in-group/out-group distinctions, and 3. it hurts to be excluded from our group. •When we show positive feelings toward people who belong to the same group as us, and negative feelings toward those in other groups, we are displaying in-group/out-group bias. •The out-group homogeneity effect is our tendency to see all members of an out-group as the same. •One result of the human tendency to include and exclude others is that sometimes we get left out. Prejudice and Discrimination •A prejudice is a biased attitude toward a group of people or an individual member of a group. o Prejudicial thinking often stems from stereotypes and a lack of information. o Prejudices about race are called racism; those about sex are called sexism. •Discrimination is preferential treatment of certain people that is usually driven by prejudicial attitudes. o Discrimination can also result from institutionalized rules. •Prejudicial attitudes are learned early in life and even if they are formally abandoned later in life, these reactions can become quite automatic. o Prejudiced attitudes operate outside conscious awareness and they sometimes stand in stark contrast to one’s conscious beliefs. o There may also be evolutionary reasons underlying some of this automatic responding, the mechanism of recognizing group members that may have evolved to preserve group harmony, cohesion, and close alliances as means to enhance the survivability of individuals. Challenging Assumptions in Social Behavior •Prejudice operates both inside and outside of a person’s awareness. o Explicit prejudices are plainly stated. o Implicit prejudices are indirect or unconscious. •Banaji and Greenwald were interested in in implicit social thoughts and attitudes. •Greenwald and his colleagues developed the Implicit Associations Test (IAT). The IAT is a technique for measuring implicit biases, and decided to apply it to racial words. He took European-American and African-American names and paired them with both pleasant and unpleasant words. •There are four steps involved: o First, participants had to press a computer keyboard letter with their left hand for one category and a different key with their right hand for a second category. o Second, they had to do the same for pleasant words (left hand) and unpleasant words (right hand). o Third, the first category and pleasant words were combined (left hand) and second category and unpleasant words were combined (right hand). o Finally, the combinations were reversed (first category and unpleasant words, second category and pleasant words). •Greenwald and Banaji applied this technique to the study of race and ethnicity. Faster response times would indicate that people more readily associate two concepts; slower response times would indicate a less automatic association. O European Americans tend to respond more slowly to pairings of “black” (words or faces) with positive words than they do to pairings of “black” with negative words. This is true even for people whose questionnaire responses seem to indicate that they do not hold racist attitudes. O The reverse is true for African Americans. They respond slower to pairings of “White American” with positive words than they do to pairings of “White American” with negative words. •In just over 20 years, more than 600 published papers, in areas ranging from marketing to neuroscience, have used the IAT technique. •The IAT scores can predict suicidal tendencies, consumer and political preferences, sexual orientation, and drug and alcohol use. •The IAT is an excellent teaching tool for anyone confronting his or her own implicit prejudice. •Results from the test can be used to reduce prejudice and sensitize individuals and groups to the fact that these prejudices operate in subtle yet powerful ways PSYCHOLOGY IN THE REAL WORLD: THE SOCIAL PSYCHOOGY OF SOCIAL NETWORKS •Networks are defined by associations among people that branch and spread, beyond those people one knows directly. Social networks form among people who share interests and eating and drinking habits, smoking, happiness, and loneliness can be spread in them. o Spreading means that behaviors are more common among members of a network than among people who are not in the same network. •Christakis and Fowler (2009) argue that attitudes, behaviors, or habits move through social networks via the three degrees rule; that is, we are influenced by and influence our friends within three degrees of separation. o Your behavior affects a friend’s behavior (one degree) and their friends’ behaviors (two degrees), and their friends’ friends’ (three degrees), etc. •Mimicry, the process by which we mirror the actions of others, may be one means by which our emotional behavior can impact another. Here, however, the behavior gets distorted as it moves out ward toward others. •Social networking sites (SNSs) use contributes to perceptions of quality of social interaction and supports socialization. o In these sites, ideas and preferences (“likes”) are spread faster than in a real-world social network. o The degrees rule may not apply to SNSs. o Personality plays a factor in usage. People who score higher on measures of conscientious have more friends. Those who score higher on openness to experience are more expressive in their personal profiles. Introverts have smaller social networks than extraverts. People who score either low or high on neuroticism share more information than people with moderate levels of neuroticism. •There are cultural differences in use of SNSs. o Differences in social capital. Social capital is the value or payoff one gains by connecting with others. This may be socially or professionally. o Korean and Chinese users rely more on searching and friending functions to build bridges with others. o American users use direct communication (such as wall postings) to foster more intimate relationships with online friends in their networks. o A payoff for SNS is reinforcement for one's own views (e.g., the number of likes on Facebook). ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOR •An attitude is a person’s favorable or unfavorable beliefs, feelings, or actions toward an object, idea, or person. •Attitudes have affective, cognitive, and behavioral components. Attitudes differ by how heavily each component is weighted. •The affective component includes the feelings or emotions associated with the belief. •The cognitive component consists of the rational thoughts and beliefs that make up the attitude. •The behavioral component includes the motive to act in a particular way toward the person or object of the attitude. The Nature and Nurture of Attitudes •Certain negative attitudes and emotional responses (e.g., fear of snakes or revulsion for bodily waste and decaying) may be so important for human survival that they are part of our genetic heritage. o Evolutionary pressures to preserve group membership favor in-group bias (fear of those who are different). o The tendency to automatically make quick good–bad and like–dislike assessments is a fundamental cognitive process which may have helped people make quick decisions in life-threatening situations. •Many of our attitudes come from experience. O People around us teach us their attitudes through both direct and indirect instruction. O The direct experience with an object, idea, or person increases one’s overall preference for it. This is called mere exposure. •Conditioning can also play a role in the formation of our attitudes. An attitude can become paired with a pleasant or unpleasant feeling in classical conditioning, leading to attitude change. Attitude Change •There are many reasons for attitude change. Cognitive dissonance and persuasion are discussed. Cognitive Dissonance •Cognitive dissonance is the feeling of discomfort caused by information that is different from your conception of yourself as a reasonable and sensible person. When two cognitions or beliefs conflict, especially those that threaten our images of ourselves, it creates discomfort. Because we don't like feeling uncomfortable, we are motivated to try to reduce the discomfort. There are three options to decrease discomfort. 1. We can change our behavior to make it consistent with dissonant cognition. 2. We can attempt to justify our behavior by changing one of the cognitions to make it more consistent with our behavior. 3. We can add new cognitions that are consistent with the behavior and thus support it. •People experiencing cognitive dissonance may go extreme lengths to reduce it and maintain our self-esteem. We often end up behaving very irrationally and rationalizing our behavior to reduce cognitive dissonance. Persuasion •Persuasion occurs when a person or group attempts to change our opinions, beliefs, or choices by explaining or arguing their position. •How successful persuasive attempts will be depends on three things: who they are (source), the method they use to convey the message, and who we are (audience). •The more prestigious and trustworthy the persuader, the more likely he or she is to succeed in persuading us. If the persuader is also attractive and familiar, so much the better. •The use of fear can be very persuasive (e.g., dentists showing you pictures of what will happen to your gums if you don’t floss). Fear works only if the ads actually create fear. •Not all people are equally malleable in their opinions or behavior. The more people know about a topic and the firmer their prior opinions are, the less likely they are to change them. SOCIAL RELATIONS The Nature and Nurture of Aggression •Aggression refers to the violent behaviors that are intended to cause psychological or physical harm, or both, to another being. •Aggression is deliberate and often, but not always, provoked by anger. •Hostile aggression stems from feelings of anger. •When aggression is a means to achieve some goal, it is called instrumental aggression. •When genetic factors combine with an abusive and neglectful environment, the likelihood of violence increases dramatically. •Research on murderers points to a cluster of traits that interact with certain environmental influences to make aggressive behavior more likely. This cluster is being male, growing up in an abusive and neglectful household, having at least one psychological disorder, and having experienced a head or brain injury can lead one to become antisocial and prone to violence. •Several brain areas are involved in aggression, including the hypothalamus, the amygdala, and the frontal cortex. •The part of the frontal lobe cortex responsible for impulse control is often malfunctioning in aggressive and violent people. •Being in a constant state of fear can lead to neural systems that are primed for unusually high levels of anxiety, impulsive behavior, and vigilance, or a constant state of alertness. •Two hormones are consistently related to high levels of aggression: testosterone and serotonin. •The importance of testosterone in aggression may be related to one of the more consistent gender differences: boys are consistently more aggressive than girls at most ages. •In adults, the great majority of people arrested for criminal offenses are men. •Relatively high levels of testosterone, whether in men or women, positively correlate with a propensity toward violence. •Low levels of serotonin were found in criminals who had committed violent acts but not in criminals who had committed nonviolent crimes. •CONNECTION: How does hostility differ from anger? Hostility is a personality characteristic that sets the threshold for the emotion of anger (Chapter 11). Social Influences on Aggression •Situations that frustrate us and prevent us from obtaining our goals are likely to make us aggressive. Moreover, the closer we are to our goal when we become frustrated, the more aggressive we are likely to be. Harris (1974) had confederates cut in front of people in lines for movies or crowded restaurants. Sometimes they cut in front of the second person in line and at other times they cut in front of someone further back in line. The response of the person standing behind the intruder was much more aggressive when the confederate cut in front of the person second in line or closest to the goal. •Situations that lead to anger stimulate aggression, especially hostile aggression (e.g., threats to personal safety and the safety of our families). •Observing aggressive people and the consequences of their action can make us more aggressive. The more violence people watch on TV when they are children, the more violent behavior they exhibit as adults. Experimental findings also suggest that watching TV violence leads to aggressive behavior in children. Results from a recent meta-analysis suggest, however, that the effects of watching violence on aggressive behavior have been exaggerated. It seems many of the studies fail to consider how other factors (e.g., sex, personality, family violence) may also play a role in aggressive behavior. In a study of desensitization to violence in kids who play violent video games, the researchers randomly assigned over 250 male and female college students to play either a violent or a nonviolent video game for 20 minutes. Then they measured their physiological responses to films of real-life violence, such as courtroom outbursts, police confrontations, shootings, and prison fights. The students who had played the violent video games showed less evidence of physiological arousal while watching the films of real people being stabbed and shot than the students who had played the nonviolent games. •CONNECTION: Social learning theory offers and explanation of modeling, the kind of learning in which we imitate the behavior of others (Chapter 8). Prosocial Behavior •Prosocial behavior refers to behavior that is beneficial to others. The Bystander Effect •The bystander effect states that the greater the number of bystanders who witness an emergency, the less likely any one of them is to help. •Darley and Latané (1968) applied the scientific method to try to understand why no one came to help Kitty Genovese. Research participants heard over an intercom a neighboring subject choking (or so they thought). The researchers led some of the participants to believe that they were the only ones hearing the choking subject, while others thought many people heard the choking incident. Of the participants who thought they alone heard the choking man, 85% tried to help. Of those who thought many people (including them) heard the choking, only 62% tried to offer help. •Diffusion of responsibility occurs when there are many people around and the responsibility of any one person to act seems lessened. •A number of factors influence whether or not someone will intervene in an emergency. One is whether people actually notice the event. When many people are present and doing nothing, people are less likely to interpret an event as an emergency. The individual must decide that it is their responsibility to do something about the emergency. Altruism •Altruism is selfless concern for and helping of others. •Because altruists often expose themselves to greater danger than those who selfishly protect themselves, helping is a disadvantage to personal survival so it doesn’t make a lot of evolutionary sense. •Two evolutionary explanations for altruistic behavior exist: Kin selection is the evolutionary favoring of genes that prompt individuals to help their relatives or kin. Reciprocal altruism occurs when you help others in the hope that they will help you in the future. This clearly promotes cooperation. •Social exchange theory argues that in our relations with others we try to maximize our gains and minimize our losses. We help others because such behavior can be rewarding, but we will help only if the rewards will outweigh the costs. According to this perspective, then, truly selfless altruism does not exist. Psychological science is discovering more evidence of the benefits of helping: (1) helping feels good, (2) it may help buffer stress, and (3) it may be more likely that people will change their own behavior if change is for the general good. Empathy •Empathy is the ability to share the feelings of others and understand their situations. •Batson’s empathy-altruism hypothesis states that people will offer selfless help only when they truly empathize with the victim. •Two different motivations exist. Egoistic motivation is helping in order to relieve one’s own distress. Empathic motivation may spring from an altruistic desire to reduce the distress of the person in need. Singer and colleagues (2004) examined brain activation during one’s real pain experience and when witnessing the pain of a loved. They created an experiment to study one’s response to a loved one’s pain in the confines of an MRI scanner. Singer obtained measures of functional brain activity in the female partner of couples while a woman received a painful stimulus to her hand and then while she witnessed her partner receiving the same painful stimulus. •The actual pain stimulus activated a well-known pain circuit in the brain. •When her partner was experiencing pain, only those structures in the pain circuit that are the emotional aspect of the pain circuit showed activation. o Compassion is a state of relationship in which one feels kindness toward another who is suffering and one feels motivated to help relieve that suffering. Liking, Attraction, and Love Familiarity, Similarity, and Attraction •People with similar ideas, values, and interests are more likely to like one another and share satisfying, long-lasting relationships. Randomly assigned roommates become real friends if they have common backgrounds, similar majors, and share similar political viewpoints. People report they like and want to help out others who have similar personalities, attitudes, or beliefs. People tend to be attracted to and partner with people of a similar level of attractiveness to themselves. This is a phenomenon known as assortative mating. Physical and Chemical Attractiveness •Humans all over the world value physical attractiveness in partners. •People rate average and symmetrical faces as more attractive than less average and symmetrical faces. Note the average means that that the size, location, and shape of each feature of the face is mathematically average in the population. •Average faces tend to be more symmetrical, and people seem to prefer symmetry when they provide ratings of attractiveness of faces. Symmetry is a rough indicator of genetic fitness. •Pheromones are scents produced by animals that have an effect on other members of the same species. They can communicate sexual and organizational measures. Whether they work in humans is still up for debate, but scent does play a role in sexual attraction for us. In a study by Miller and Maner (2010) men smelled women’s t-shirts while their testosterone levels were measured. Men released more testosterone when exposed to the scent of ovulating women than non-ovulating women. CONNECTION: Men are more likely than women to be interested in casual sex (Chapter 11). Sexual Attraction and Mate Selection •Sexual strategies theory suggests that men and women face different problems when they seek out mates, and so they often approach relationships in very different ways. •In virtually all societies, men and women engage in both short-term matings (affairs, one-night stands) and long-term matings (marriages, extended companionships) under certain conditions. Both are effective ways to increase one’s reproductive fitness, but each strategy has strengths and weaknesses. •Sex differences in attraction arise because parental investment is greater for women than for men. As such, men devote a larger portion of their total mating effort to short-term mating than do women. •Men value qualities that may signal fertility and accessibility (e.g., large breasts, wide hips compared to waist, youth), especially in short-term partners. This is less true in evaluating long-term partners. •Women value men who can provide resources to support their offspring. Mate selection factors might drive sexual partnerships, but it is love that keeps us together. Love •Types of Love Sternberg’s (1986) triangular theory of love proposes that three components, in various combinations, explain all the forms of human love. •Intimacy refers to close, connected, and bonded feelings in loving relationships. •Passion refers to the drives that lead to romance, physical attraction, sexual consummation, and is accompanied by physiological changes and arousal. •Commitment refers to both the decision to love someone or not as well as to the decision to commit to it long-term. These three components exist in different amounts for different kinds of love. •Companionate love exists when intimacy and commitment are high and passion is low. •Passionate love exists when intimacy and passion are high and commitment is low. •Lust exists when there is a lot of passion but no intimacy or commitment. Love as Attachment •Attachment is an affection-based bond between infants and their primary caregivers that serves to protect infants from threats to their survival. •Hazan and Shaver (1987) argued that the infant-caregiver attachment system underlies many of the important dynamics and individual differences observed in adult romantic relationships. The attachment system is first established when we are infants, in which our relationships with our main caregiver form a template in how we attach with others as adults, including our intimate partners. They found that: O Securely attached adults report that they easily get close to others, readily trust others, and have more satisfying romantic relationships. O Anxious/ambivalent adults tend to have less satisfying relationships, are more preoccupied with them, and fear that their partners do not want to be as intimate as they desire to be. O Avoidant adults are uncomfortable being close with others, and have less satisfying relationships. •CONNECTION: Attachment is a bidirectional relationship requiring the active participation of infants and caregivers (Chapter 5). BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER: MAKING CONNECTIONS IN SOCIAL BEHAVIOR: ANALYSIS OF THE JONESTOWN CULT •The tragic mass suicide of hundreds of members of the People’s Temple in Jonestown, Guyana, occurred in late November of 1978. Under the direction of the Reverend Jim Jones, members of this cult fed a poison-laced drink to their children and then drank it themselves. More than 900 adults and children died; most were found lying together, arm in arm. •A cult is an extremist group led by a charismatic, totalitarian leader in which coercive methods are used to prevent members from leaving the group. Jim Jones and the People’s Temple •Jim Jones founded the People’s Temple in 1958, preaching a message of brotherhood, racial integration, and freedom from poverty. •His group helped feed and employ the poor. Temple members included whites and blacks and many were poor. •Throughout the 1960s, the group grew in size and popularity. As its popularity grew, rumors surfaced about coercive methods Jones used to keep people in the cult. •In the mid-1970s Jones and a large percentage of the cult’s members moved to a jungle outpost in Guyana, in South America. He named this community Jonestown. •In 1978, U.S. Congressman Leo Ryan heard reports that the People’s Temple was holding members against their will. He and a delegation of government officials, reporters, and concerned relatives went to Jonestown to talk with cult members about how they liked living there. Most of the community’s residents praised the settlement, expressed joy at being there, and indicated that they wished to stay. •Two families secretly informed Ryan that they wanted out. As Ryan’s party and these two “defector” families tried to board their plane, Temple gunmen ambushed and killed five people, including Congressman Ryan. This ambush led to the mass suicide. The Role of Persuasion •Jones was a charismatic figure. He sought out people who needed to hear his message, such as the urban poor, the elderly, ex-addicts and convicts, and minorities. •Potential members first encountered an almost idyllic scene in which blacks and whites lived, worked, and worshiped together in total harmony. Guests were greeted warmly and invited to share a meal. •Jones also gave them “miracles.” •Members were motivated to believe in Jones. They appreciated the racial harmony, sense of purpose, and relief from feelings of worthlessness that the People’s Temple provided. •Jones carefully managed his public image. He used letter writing and the political clout of hundreds of cult members to praise and impress the politicians and reporters who supported the People’s Temple as well as to criticize and intimidate its opponents. Most important, Jones limited the information available to members. The Role of Conformity and Obedience •Getting into the group was not easy. People underwent a severe initiation process that actually drew members more firmly into the group. As they became increasingly involved in the People’s Temple, they committed themselves more strongly to the group because they were required to donate their property and 25% of their income to the church. •Before they entered the meeting room for each service, they wrote self-incriminating letters that were turned over to the church. If anyone objected, the refusal was interpreted as “lack of faith” in Jones. •As he gradually increased his demands, Jones also exposed cult members to the concept of a “final ritual,” mass suicide. Rehearsals of this ritual served to test followers and their faith in Jones. •Jones was making use of the foot-in-the-door technique by getting people to agree to a moderate request (i.e., rehearsal). Once cult members had agreed to engage in frequent rehearsals of mass suicide, it became less difficult for them to go through with the real thing. •The suicides at Jonestown can be viewed as the product of obedience. Whatever Jim Jones commanded, the members did. •Jones used threats to induce the discipline and devotion he demanded, and he took steps to eliminate any behavior that might encourage resistance among his followers. •Jones worked to dissolve marital bonds by forcing couples into extramarital relations, thereby working against kin selection. The Role of Cognitive Dissonance •Cognitive dissonance helps explain why cult members believed Jones to the end and why so few defected. •People did not become cult members all at once. Rather, the process of justifying their choice and becoming committed to Jones unfolded slowly over the course of weeks and months, sometimes years. •These acts were the product of a situation that made dissent impossible and faith in Jones and the Temple absolute. Once they were isolated from the rest of the world at Jonestown, escape was impossible. When escape is impossible, people rationalize their predicament (using dissonance). KEY TERMS aggression: refers to the violent behaviors that are intended to cause psychological or physical harm, or both, to another being. altruism: a selfless concern for and giving of aid to others. attitudes: an individual’s favorable or unfavorable beliefs, feelings, or actions toward an object, idea, or person. attributions: the inferences we make about the causes of other people’s behavior. bystander effect: the greater the number of bystanders who witness an emergency, the less likely any one of them is to help. cognitive dissonance: the feeling of discomfort caused by information that is different from your conception of yourself as a reasonable and sensible person. compassion: a state of relationship in which one feels kindness towards another who is suffering and one feels motivated to help relieve that suffering. conformity: occurs when people adjust their behavior to what others are doing or adhere to the norms of their culture. cult: an extremist group led by a charismatic, totalitarian leader in which coercive methods are used to prevent members from leaving the group. discrimination: preferential treatment of certain people that is usually driven by prejudicial attitudes. empathy: sharing feeling and understanding about another person’s situation. empathy-altruism hypothesis: hypothesis that people will offer selfless help only when they truly empathize with the victim. fundamental attribution error: occurs when people tend to explain others’ behavior in terms of dispositional attributions rather than situational ones. groupthink: occurs when the thinking of the group takes over, so much so that group members forgo logic or critical analysis in the service of reaching a decision. informational social influence: occurs when people conform to the behavior of others because they view them as a source of knowledge about what they are supposed to do. in-group/out-group bias: when we show positive feelings toward people who belong to the same group as us and negative feelings toward those in other groups. kin selection: the evolutionary favoring of genes that prompt individuals to help their relatives or kin. normative social influence: occurs when people go along with the behavior of others in order to be accepted by them. obedience: occurs when one or more people follow the direct commands of another person. out-group homogeneity: the tendency to see all members of an out-group as the same. persuasion: when a person or group attempts to change our opinions, beliefs, or choices by explaining or arguing their position. prejudice: a biased attitude toward a group of people or an individual member of a group based on unfair generalizations about what members of that group are like. prosocial behavior: behavior that is beneficial to others. reciprocal altruism: when you help others in the hope that they will help you in the future. self-serving bias: the tendency to make situational attributions for our failures but dispositional attributions for our successes. sexual strategies theory: suggests that men and women face different problems when they seek out mates, and so they often approach relationships in very different ways. social exchange theory: a nonevolutionary explanation of altruistic behavior that says we help others because such behavior can be rewarding, but we will help only if the rewards will outweigh the costs. social facilitation: occurs when the presence of others improves our performance. social loafing: occurs when the presence of others causes one to relax one’s standards and slack off. social norms: the cultural context in which we live imposes rules about acceptable behavior. stereotypes: schemas about people based on what they are likely to do or be like based simply on groups to which they belong. triangular theory of love: three components (intimacy, passion, and commitment), in various combinations, can explain all the forms of human love. MAKING THE CONNECTIONS (Some of the connections are found in the text. Other connections may be useful for lecture or discussion.) Group Influence and Social Living CONNECTION: Our level of arousal also affects our performance, according to the Yerkes-Dodson law. People perform better on an exam if they are slightly anxious than they would if they were either totally relaxed or very anxious (Chapter 11). o Discussion: Ask students to relate this to test performance. If they are bored with a task, they tend to lose focus and make silly mistakes. If they are too nervous/aroused when taking the test, they will experience test anxiety. They perform best when there is enough arousal to keep them focused but they are not too aroused to perform. CONNECTION: In an individualistic culture, behavior is determined more by personal goals than by group goals; whereas in a collectivist culture, behavior is determined more by shared goals (Chapter 13). •Discussion: Ask students what they recall from the 2014 Winter Olympics held in Sochi, Russia. What cultural differences did they notice about how athletes competed? Did they compete for themselves and their own goals? For their country? For their family? CONNECTION: Do you think participants were treated ethically in the Milgram study? What are the obligations of researchers to ensure the ethical treatment of participants in research? (Chapter 2) •Discussion: Remind students about APA’s ethical rules for experimentation. Ask students if they think that this study, exactly as it was conducted, would be allowed today. Why or why not? If they feel this was unethical, how would they suggest studying obedience? Attitudes and Behavior CONNECTION: Cultural differences in big-picture processing versus detailed processing are seen in performance on visual perception tasks, too (Chapter 4). o Discussion: One reason we may make the fundamental attribution error is due to where our visual attention is drawn. When we are acting in a situation, we are visually focused on our current situational demands. Subsequently, when asked why we did what we did, we make situational attributions. When we are watching others, however, we are focused on them and not their situations. For this reason we make dispositional attributions when we describe others. Ask students to consider how this is different in collectivist cultures. CONNECTION: Another name for mental shortcuts we use in decision making is heuristics. Heuristics can be adaptive but also can lead to flawed thinking (Chapter 9). •Discussion: If heuristics are types of schemas and they are error-prone, remind students that algorithms always result in the right answer. Ask students what the relative “algorithm” would be for stereotyping. Social Relations CONNECTION: How does hostility differ from anger? Hostility is a personality characteristic that sets the threshold for the emotion of anger (Chapter 11). •Discussion: Just because you feel anger does not mean that you will act on it (i.e., be aggressive). Ask students how they manage anger and avoid aggression. CONNECTION: Social learning theory offers and explanation of modeling, the kind of learning in which we imitate the behavior of others (Chapter 8). •Discussion: Remind students of Bandura’s Bobo Doll study. Ask students to relate that to video game violence. CONNECTION: Men are more likely than women to be interested in casual sex (Chapter 11). •Discussion: Ask students how many children a woman typically can have in a year (one) versus how many a man can have (sky’s the limit). Explain how this difference in reproductive potential influences the type of sexual strategy each gender utilizes most often. INNOVATIVE INSTRUCTION 1. Students get a kick out of hearing about Zajonc, Heingartner, and Herman’s (1969) social facilitation study with cockroaches. See Suggested Readings for a full citation. 2. Ask students for examples of when they have loafed or have been the victim of someone else’s social loafing. Have them think about group work and group projects in class. Do they like this type of work? Why or why not? 3. Have students brainstorm about different societal norms in their culture. This is a good opportunity to talk about norms and culture. 4. Ask students for examples of when they might have been the victims of prejudice or discrimination. A common example that students may have experienced is poor service at a restaurant because the wait staff did not think they would be good tippers, or trying to rent an apartment with a management company that does not allow cosigners. 5. Ask students how many of them have taken CPR classes. Ask them about the first thing they are taught to say to the “victim” (i.e., the dummy). Usually it’s “Are you alright? Are you OK? YOU call 911” (said while pointing to one person). Why do we specify that one person is responsible for calling 911? Because if you don’t, then people tend to look around for who is supposed to act, leading no one to act. This uncertainty is the result of diffusion of responsibility. 6. Ask students when the last time they helped someone was. Today? Yesterday? A week ago? Who did they help? Why? What did they do? You can also ask when the last time they received help was. 7. Ask students if they think altruism really exists. Ask for examples. 8. Ask students whether they think “opposites attract” or “birds of a feather flock together.” Ask why and then explain that usually it is the latter. 9. Advertising makes use of classical conditioning to pair products with things we like. Ask students which advertisements most clearly make use of classical conditioning to generate attitudes toward their products (examples can be beer commercials, car commercials, soap products, etc.). If you have Internet access, ask students to pull up illustrations. 10. Aggression results from the interaction between genetic and social forces. Ask students what environmental factors have led them to aggressive actions. 11. Evolutionary forces explain certain inborn attitudes, but many of our attitudes come from experience. Ask students what attitudes they may have that they learned from others and which are evolutionarily predisposed. Ask students to share their experiences. 12. Watching someone you love experience pain activates components of physical pain circuitry in the brain. Ask students what they would find more painful: having each one of their toes broken or watching the person they love most in the world having his/her toes broken. 13. Ask students if they think that American society overemphasizes physical appearance and thinness. Ask them to defend their answers. If they answered yes, ask them how these values are conveyed to children, adolescents, and adults. What pressures might young men and women experience if they do not conform to the idealized image? 14. What is conformity? Why do you think some people conform and others do not? Can you think of a time when you conformed? Can you think of a time when you did not conform? 15. Have students violate a standard cultural norm; for example, invading someone’s personal space, standing backwards in a crowded elevator, etc. Ask them to describe the reaction they received from others and how they felt in the process. 16. Have students discuss what a typical member of each of the following categories is like: men, women, teenagers, Republicans, Democrats, and any other category you feel is relevant. Explain to them that all their answers represent stereotypes which can potentially lead to prejudice and discrimination. 17. Come into the classroom to prepare for the day’s lecture. Then tell the students you forgot something and will be back in a few minutes, leaving your purse or briefcase on the desk or lectern. Have an accomplice then come in and take what you left. Return to the room and see how long it takes students to report the theft. 18. Begin your lecture for the day. About 10 minutes into the lecture, arrange for an accomplice to make noises outside the classroom as if they fell off their skateboard/ tripped, etc., and hurt themselves. Continue lecturing as if nothing happened and see how long it takes for students to respond. 19. If you’d like to find out if you hold subtle and implicit prejudices, go to the website developed by Banaji, Greenwald, and Nosek: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/ and go to the “Demonstrations Tests” link and read the general information and follow the “I wish to proceed” link. Choose one or more from many different forms of the IAT: race, religion, gender-science, sexuality, Arab-Muslim, age, and skin tone. Each one takes only about 10 minutes to complete. After you complete one version of the test, you will be provided with general results of how you did. Ask them if they think it is accurate. 20. Ask students if they think smartphones are helping or hindering helping. You may want to have students read the following article: http://online.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304402104579151850028363502 Suggested Media 84. 12 Angry Men (1957) 85. Milgram’s obedience study and Ghostbusters introduction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aB_lljnqkDw 86. A reenactment of the Asch study: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRh5qy09nNw 87. The Simpsons; Moe takes a lie detector test: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-TZ8Z5S9rI 88. Mean Girls (2004) is a good example of social rejection. 89. Disclosure (1994) is a good example of sexual harassment, but there are scenes with graphic sexuality and cursing. There are some great legal scenes that discuss what sexual harassment is, though. 90. The Great Debaters (2007) 91. A Class Divided (a PBS special on Jane Elliot’s blue-eye/brown-eye research): http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/divided/etc/view.html 92. CBS news coverage on Wesley Autry, the New York subway hero: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9JcX2X7XnM 93. Darley and Latané’s smoke-filled room study reenacted: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KE5YwN4NW5o 94. Jonestown—The Life and Death of the People’s Temple: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IY3cx3U0gYE 95. Paul Ekman—Why We Lie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGQf9O61cww 96. Discovering Psychology—The Power of the Situation (Annenberg) 97. Persuasion in Everyday Life (Learning Seed) 98. Jonestown: The Life and Death of the People’s Temple (PBS) 99. The Kindness of Strangers (ABC) 100. Lookism (ABC) 101. Lab Conformity (ABC) 102. Discovering Psychology—Constructing Social Reality (Annenberg) 103. Bystander Effect: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JozmWS6xYEw 104. Crash can be used as an example of attitudes, prejudice, and discrimination. 105. American History X can be used as an example of prejudice, discrimination, and attitudes. 106. Herd Mentality (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.) 107. Rudeness and Group Reactions (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.) 108. Conformity, Asch’s Experiment Revisited (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.) 109. Candid Conformity (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.) 110. Milgram Obedience Experiment Revisited (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.) 111. Stereotype Threat (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.) Concept Clips (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.) 1. Fundamental Attribution Error 2. Cognitive Dissonance Suggested Websites 67. Groupthink example: http://www.psysr.org/about/pubs_resources/groupthink%20overview.htm 68. How to Detect Lies: http://www.blifaloo.com/info/lies.php 69. Antipolygraph.org: http://antipolygraph.org/ 70. Jane Elliot’s homepage: http://www.janeelliott.com/ 71. Wesley Autrey’s story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16469039/ 72. Bibb Latané’s homepage: http://latane.socialpsychology.org/ 73. John Darley’s homepage: http://darley.socialpsychology.org/ 74. APA Monitor—Lessons from Jonestown: http://www.apa.org/monitor/nov03/jonestown.html 75. Kitty Genovese story: http://nypost.com/2014/02/16/book-reveals-real-story-behind-the-kitty-genovese-murder/Suggested Readings Cook, K. (2014). Kitty Genovese: The murder, the bystanders, the crime that changed America. Norton. Darley, J. M., Lewis, L., & Teger, A. (1973). Do groups always inhibit individuals’ responses to potential emergencies? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 26, 395–400. Ekman, P. & Davidson, R. J. (1993). Voluntary smiling changes regional brain activity. Psychological Science, 4, 342–345. Ekman, P., Friesen, W. V., & O’Sullivan, M. (1997). Smiles when lying. Ekman, P. & Rosenberg, E. L. (Eds.) What the face reveals: Basic and applied studies of spontaneous expression using the Facial Action Coding System (FACS) (pp. 201–216). New York: Oxford University Press. Hardy, C., & Latané, B. (1986). Social loafing on a cheering task. Social Science, 71(2–3), 165–172. Latané, B. (1981). The psychology of social impact. American Psychologist, 36, 343–356. Latané, B., & Darley, J. (1969). Bystander “apathy.” American Scientist, 57, 244–268. Latané, B., & Darley, J. M. (1970). The unresponsive bystander: Why doesn’t he help? New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts. Latané, B., Williams, K., & Harkins, S. (2006). Many hands make light the work: The causes and consequences of social loafing. In J. M. Levine & R. L. Moreland (Eds.). Small Groups (pp. 297–308). New York: Psychology Press. Layton, D. (1998). Seductive poison: A Jonestown survivor’s story of life and death in the People’s Temple. New York: Anchor Books. Moore, R. (2009). Understanding Jonestown and Peoples Temple. Westport, CT: Praeger. Morris, K.A., & Ashburn-Nardo, L. (2010). The Implicit Association Test as a class assignment: Student affective and attitudinal reactions. Teaching of Psychology, 37, 63–68. Nisbett, R. E., Caputo, C., Legant, P., & Marecek, J. (1973). Behavior as seen by the actor and as seen by the observer. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 27(2), 154–164. Psychology Today article on social rejection and physical pain - http://psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-20031017-000001.html Riggio, H., & Garcia, A. L. (2009). The power of situations: Jonestown and the fundamental attribution error. Teaching of Psychology, 36, 108–112. Steele, C. (2011). Whistling Vivaldi: How stereotypes affect us and what we can do. Norton. Young, L., & Alexander, B. (2012). The chemistry between us: Love, sex, and the science of attraction. Penguin. Zajonc, R. B., Heingartner, A., & Herman, E. M. (1969). Social enhancement and impairment of performance in the cockroach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 13(2), 83–92. Zajonc, R. B., & Sales, S. M. (1966). Social facilitation of dominant and subordinate responses. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 2(2), 160–168. Chapter 15: Psychological Disorders BRIEF CHAPTER OUTLINE Defining Psychological Disorders Neurodevelopmental Disorders Subtypes of Neurodevelopmental Disorders Causes of Neurodevelopmental Disorders Schizophrenia Major Symptoms of Schizophrenia Nature and Nurture Explanations of Schizophrenia Maternal Infections and Schizophrenia Schizophrenia and the Brain Neurochemistry of Schizophrenia Challenging Assumptions in the Discovery of Dopamine Depressive Disorders Nature and Nurture Explanations of Depression Bipolar Disorder Causes of Bipolar Disorder Anxiety Disorders Generalized Anxiety Disorder Panic Disorder Social Phobia (Social Anxiety Disorder) Agoraphobia Specific Phobias Nature and Nurture Explanations of Anxiety Disorder Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Causes of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Dissociative Disorders Dissociative Identity Disorder Causes of Dissociative Disorders Somatic Symptom Disorders Personality Disorders Odd-Eccentric Personality Disorders Dramatic-Emotional Personality Disorders Anxious-Fearful Personality Disorders Nature and Nurture Explanations of Personality Disorders Psychology in the Real World: Can Internet Use Become an Addiction? Bringing It All Together: Making Connections in Psychological Disorders: Creativity and Mental Health Chapter Review EXTENDED CHAPTER OUTLINE DEFINING PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS •The first official attempt at diagnosing mental disorders in the United States came in 1952 with the publication of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM). •The DSM is currently in its fifth edition (DSM-5) •The DSM-5 defines a mental disorder as a syndrome—a set of related conditions—of clinically significant disturbances of thoughts, feelings, or behaviors. More specifically, they argue for the “4 Ds” of determining whether something is a mental disorder. There has to be: o disturbance of thought, emotion, or behavior, o dysfunction of biological or developmental processes, o distress or disability in everyday life (especially relationships, work, or other activities), and o deviant (different from the norm) thought, emotion, or behavior, but only if also dysfunctional. Deviance alone is not enough. •Psychological disorders are distinguished by their clinically significant disturbance of psychological processes of thought, emotion, and behavior. •Distressing behavior leads to real discomfort or anguish, either in the person directly or in others. •Dysfunctional behavior interferes with everyday functioning and occasionally can be a risk to oneself or others. Dysfunctional also implies that it prevents the person from participating in everyday social relationships, holding a regular job, or being productive in other ways. •Deviant literally means “different from the norm,” or different from what most people do. It is important to point out, as the DSM-5 does, that deviant behavior can be classified as disordered only if it is also dysfunctional. •More than previous editions, the DSM-5 tries to expand beyond the U.S. perspective by aiming to be consistent with international standards for disorder classification and discussing the rates of prevalence of certain disorders in different countries around the world. Some disorders are found only in certain cultures, and others are usually found in certain other cultures. •Mental disorders are common. •People sometimes experience comorbidity. Comorbidity is the occurrence of two or more disorders at the same time. •CONNECTION: Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease are cognitive disorders related to age. Other disorders, such as sleep disorders, can occur at any time in a person’s life (Chapter 5). NEURODEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS •Although most clinical diagnoses are reserved for adults (older than 18), a number of disorders are prominent in childhood. o The DSM-5 refers to these as neurodevelopmental disorders, and includes intellectual disabilities (formerly mental retardation) and learning disabilities. Subtypes of Neurodevelopmental Disorders •Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a childhood disorder characterized by inability to focus attention for more than a few minutes, to remain still and quiet, to do careful work. •Autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) is a childhood disorder characterized by severe language and social impairment along with repetitive habits and inward-focused behaviors; it is formally known as autism. o ADS covers a wide range of disorders from severe disability to high functioning (often called Asperger’s syndrome). o Children with ASD have difficulty with joint attention, the ability to make eye contact with others and to look in the same direction as someone else. Causes of Neurodevelopmental Disorders •The neurodevelopmental disorders often stem from genetic factors that may be triggered by environmental conditions. •For ADHD and conduct disorder, one of the environmental factors is whether the mother smokes while pregnant. Yet, smoking during pregnancy leads to conduct and impulse problems only if the child has one form of a dopamine gene but not another. •Brain activity in general is less pronounced in people with ADHD than in those without it. An understimulated brain explains the “paradoxical” effects of giving children with ADHD a stimulant to calm them down. The stimulant elevates their abnormally low nervous system activity and they require less stimulation and activity from the outside. •Head size is a marker of possible autism spectrum disorder. Often the brain is smaller than normal at birth but grows much faster during the first few years of life than the brains of nonautistic children. The brain of a 5-year-old with ASD is the same size as that of a typical 13-year-old. In addition, the frontal lobes, where much processing of social information occurs, are less well connected in children with ASD than in normal children. •A promising theory about the origins of autism spectrum disorder is based on the mirror neurons. Mirror neurons fire both when a person performs a particular behavior (such as reaching for an object) and when he or she simply watches someone else performing the same behavior. o Mirror neurons are thought to be involved in many, if not most, social behaviors, such as observational learning, imitation, and even language learning. Because children with ASD are deficient in these skills, neuroscientists predicted that mirror neurons malfunction in autistic children. SCHIZOPHRENIA •Psychotic disorders are psychological disorders of thought and perception, characterized by an inability to distinguish real from imagined perceptions. •Schizophrenia involves profound disturbances in thought and emotion and in particular, impairments in perception such as hallucinations. •According to the National Institute of Mental Health approximately 1% of the American population is afflicted with this disorder at any given time, making schizophrenia much less common than depression. Genetically, however, if a first-degree relative (biological parent, sibling, or child) has the disorder, the odds of a person having the disorder rise to 10%. Major Symptoms of Schizophrenia •For a diagnosis of schizophrenia, at least one of the following symptoms must persist for one month. Moreover, at least one of these symptoms must come from the first three (delusions, hallucinations, or disorganized speech): o delusions, o hallucinations, o disorganized speech, o grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior (immobile and unresponsive, though awake), and o negative symptoms (such as not speaking or being unable to experience emotion). •Symptoms of schizophrenia fall into three major categories. These categories are positive, negative, and cognitive. •Positive symptoms mean the presence of some behavior(s). Positive symptoms include: bizarre perceptual experiences associated with schizophrenia, including hallucinations, delusional thinking, and disorganized thought and speech. o Hallucinations are convincing sensory experiences that occur in the absence of an external stimulus. Auditory hallucinations are the most common form of hallucination in schizophrenia, typically taking the form of hearing voices in one’s head. o Delusions are a false belief system, often an exaggerated claim, that a person holds in spite of evidence to the contrary. •Negative symptoms mean the absence of some behavior(s). Negative symptoms include: nonresponsiveness, emotional flatness, immobility or the striking of strange poses (catatonia), reduction of speaking, and inability to complete tasks. •People with schizophrenia show cognitive symptoms, including problems with working memory, attention, verbal and visual learning and memory, reasoning and problem solving, speed of processing, and disordered speech. o Word salad is a term for the speech of people with schizophrenia, which may follow grammatical rules but be nonsensical in terms of content. Nature and Nurture Explanations of Schizophrenia •Schizophrenia offers a perfect illustration of the dynamic interplay between biology and experience in the development of a psychological disorder. Historically, this explanation has been called the diathesis–stress model. Stage one is the biological-genetic foundation or disposition, and stage two is an environmental event that occurs at some point after conception, such as maternal infection, chronic stress, or using certain drugs at certain critical points in development. •The heritability rates are 70% to 85%, suggesting the disorder is due largely to genetic influences. •Scientists have identified as many as 19 genes that contribute. •The more abuse and neglect children experience in their early home life, the more likely they are to suffer from schizophrenia later in life. Maternal Infections and Schizophrenia •Prenatal exposure to infections and diseases such as influenza, rubella, toxoplasmosis, and herpes has been linked to increased risk of schizophrenia and deficits in brain development. Schizophrenia and the Brain •Abnormal brain development before birth may be responsible for many of the brain dysfunctions that are characteristic of schizophrenia. •One mechanism by which maternal infections, for instance, may increase the risk of schizophrenia is by affecting the path neurons take when they migrate during fetal brain growth. •One of the most widely recognized brain abnormalities is a dysfunctional prefrontal cortex and its working memory. In people with schizophrenia, there is evidence of both reduced and excessive activity in that area. •The genes in the prefrontal cortex that regulate how synapses function are dysfunctional in people with schizophrenia compared to those without the disease. •Often the hippocampus is smaller in people with schizophrenia, compared to those without the disorder. •Brain problems may also stem from problems in communication among groups of neurons. •CONNECTION: During fetal development, the brain is extremely vulnerable to toxins (Chapter 5). Neurochemistry of Schizophrenia •For decades, the prevailing view on the neurochemistry of schizophrenia was the dopamine hypothesis, which states that people with schizophrenia have an excess of dopamine activity in certain areas of the brain. •The dopamine hypothesis was based on two findings. o Nobel laureate Arvid Carlsson discovered that amphetamines stimulate dopamine release and therefore may mimic the hallucinations and delusions of schizophrenia. o Early antipsychotic drugs that block dopamine receptors were somewhat effective at treating positive symptoms. Challenging Assumptions in the Discovery of Dopamine •The dopamine hypothesis states that people with schizophrenia have an excess of dopamine activity in certain areas of the brain. •There are some problems with the dopamine hypothesis: (1) dopamine effectively treats only positive symptoms, and it is not entirely effective, and (2) only a minority of the people who receive traditional drug treatment find it effective in managing their symptoms. •Researchers became aware that another set of recreational drugs induced schizophrenia-like symptoms and these drugs did not directly involve dopamine. These drugs included PCP and ketamine. They impaired the functioning of glutamate and one of its receptors, NMDA. •Glutamate is a major excitatory neurotransmitter that regulates the release of dopamine. •Glutamate deficiencies may also explain many of the symptoms of schizophrenia. •Glutamate plays a role in learning, memory, neural processing, and brain development. It also amplifies certain neural signals making some stimuli more important than others, therefore playing a role in selective attention. •Glutamate may explain why people with schizophrenia have trouble with selective attention, cognitive control, and working memory. DEPRESSIVE DISORDERS •According to the DSM-5, there are several forms of depressive disorders. What most people refer to as “depression” is formally called a major depressive disorder. Major depression is a chronic condition characterized by enduring changes in mood, motivation, and sense of self-worth. •To be diagnosed with a major depressive disorder, one must have at least five of nine symptoms associated with major depression according to DSM-5, which must continue for at least two consecutive weeks. These symptoms are: o depressed (sad, listless) mood that stays low all day for several days, o reduced interest or pleasure in doing anything, o significant change in body weight (indicating dieting or overeating), o sleep disturbances, o sluggishness or restlessness, o daily fatigue or loss of energy, o daily feelings of worthlessness, self-reproach, or excessive guilt, o lack of ability to concentrate or think clearly, and o recurrent thoughts of death or suicidal ideation. •Most importantly the symptoms must impact daily functioning and be a source of distress. •One of the milder forms is persistent depressive disorder (PDD). PDD was previously called dysthymia. Most of the symptoms are the same as in a major depressive disorder, but they are less intense in PDD. The depressive mood, however, lasts most of the day and most of the time, for at least two years. Nature and Nurture Explanations of Depression •The reason some people develop depression can be explained with the diathesis-stress model. •Abusive and extremely stressful environments increase one’s risk for depression later in life. •In humans, stressful events, especially social rejection, start a host of biological reactions, including activating the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) system, which increases the likelihood of developing depression. •The physiological effects of depression may even be observable at the sub-cellular level. The mitochondria are structures inside cells (in this case inside neurons) that play a key role in cell metabolism. •People who are deficient in the neurotransmitters serotonin and neuropeptide Y (NPY) are most susceptible to depression after experiencing extremely stressful situations. •The personality traits of anxiety, neuroticism, and negative emotionality are most associated with vulnerability to depression. BIPOLAR DISORDER •Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder characterized by substantial mood fluctuations, cycling between very low (depressive) and very high (manic) episodes. At one time, this disorder was called “manic-depression.” •Manic episodes typically involve increased energy, sleeplessness, euphoria, irritability, delusions of grandeur, increased sex drive, and “racing” thoughts that last at least one week. •Hypomanic episodes are nearly the same symptoms but shorter in duration •There is a useful mnemonic for remembering the symptoms of mania is D-I-G-F-A-S-T. D = Distractibility I = Indiscretion G = Grandiosity F = Flight of ideas A = Activity increased S = Sleep (decreased need for) T = Talkativeness •The DSM-5 distinguishes between two kinds of bipolar disorder, depending on the severity of the mania. Bipolar I is more severe because it involves meeting the criteria for mania (at least seven days). Bipolar II is less severe because it involves meeting the criteria for hypomania (at least four days). Hypo means “below,” so hypomania is not as severe as mania. The degree of depression is the same in bipolar I and II, but the mania is less severe in bipolar II than in I. •People with either form of bipolar disorder often find the initial onset of the manic phase pleasant, especially compared to the dullness and despair of the depressive phase. Unfortunately, the symptoms quickly become quite unpleasant and frightening. The manic upswing spirals out of control, often leading to frenetic activity, excessive energy, and grandiose thinking, in which sufferers think they have relationships with important people or has expertise in areas where he or she has none. •Cyclothymia is a relatively mild but long-lasting form of bipolar disorder. Causes of Bipolar Disorder •Multiple biological and environmental factors interact. •Fetuses exposed to large amounts of alcohol may suffer permanent effects, including increased risks for bipolar disorder as well as depression, schizophrenia, alcoholism, intellectual disabilities, and drug abuse. •There are many variations of genes that play a role in the development of the disorder. •If one identical twin develops bipolar disorder then there is a 40–70% chance that the other twin will also develop the disorder. Even if the chance is 70% that both twins have the disorder, that still suggests that life events, such as stress and trauma, also play a role in the development of bipolar disorder. •Abnormalities in the brains of people who suffer from bipolar disorder may be a cause or result of the biochemical, genetic, and environmental elements that contribute to the disorder. The prefrontal cortex, the amygdala, the hippocampus, and the basal ganglia all may play a role. Overactivity in many of these regions is evident. There may also be problems with connectivity. •Neurochemistry is also important to bipolar disorder. In both the manic and depressed phases, serotonin levels are low. Low serotonin, however, may be coupled with high levels of norepinephrine in the manic phase and with low levels in the depressed phase. •In addition, thyroid hormones, which control metabolism, are sometimes present in either abnormally high or low levels in people with bipolar disorder. ANXIETY DISORDERS •Fear and anxiety are normal reactions to danger or future threat. These emotions create bodily changes—such as increased heart rate—that support useful responses to danger. For some, fear and anxiety can get out of hand, occurring repeatedly in response to imagined threat and sometimes persisting for days. Generalized Anxiety Disorder •Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a common anxiety disorder, characterized by a pervasive and excessive hard-to-control state of anxiety or worry that lasts at least 6 months. Females are twice as likely as males to have GAD. Unlike those suffering from other anxiety disorders, people with GAD often have been anxious throughout their lives and cannot recall when they began to feel that way. Panic Disorder •Panic attacks are brief episodes of anxiety associated with a perception of threat and occurring because of fear of danger, an inability to escape, embarrassment, or specific objects. •Panic disorder consists of frequent panic attacks and pervasive and persistent fear, worry, embarrassment, and concern about having future panic attacks. •Although about 10% of the U.S. population has experienced a panic attack in the past 12 months, only about 2% to 3% of the population has panic disorder. Social Phobia (Social Anxiety Disorder) •A phobia is a persistent and unreasonable fear of a particular object, situation, or activity. •Social phobia (social anxiety disorder) is an anxiety disorder involving fear of humiliation in the presence of others, characterized by intense self-consciousness about appearance or behavior or both. •People with social phobia are most afraid of embarrassing or humiliating themselves, of being evaluated negatively by others, and of having their faults continually observed by everyone. •Unfortunately, the high degree of anxious arousal produced by social phobia may lead the person to act very nervously and thus, in a self-fulfilling way, exhibit behaviors that do indeed attract other people’s attention. Agoraphobia •Agoraphobia is an anxiety disorder involving fear of being in places from which escape might be difficult or in which help might not be available should a panic attack occur. The primary “fear” in agoraphobia is not of being out in public, but of not being able to escape. Panic attacks are associated with agoraphobia in about one-third of the cases. Specific Phobias •In the United States, up to 9% of the population has a specific phobia for a particular object or situation. Examples include: spiders (arachnophobia), heights, flying, enclosed spaces (claustrophobia), doctors and dentists, or snakes. Specific phobias are marked by an intense and immediate fear, even panic, when confronted with very particular situations or objects; even thinking about those situations or objects may set off the fear reaction. Nature and Nurture Explanations of Anxiety Disorders •Anxiety disorders, and most other psychological disorders, result from the interplay between biological and environmental factors. Instead of offering either biological or social theories of disorders, we present integrated nature–nurture (diathesis-stress) explanations. •Three biological factors that make people vulnerable to anxiety disorders are deficiencies in the neurotransmitter GABA, their genetic heritage, and their personality. •Deficiencies in GABA lead to excessive activation in certain brain regions, especially the limbic structures associated with fear. The fact that major medications for treating anxiety disorders work on GABA receptors is further evidence for GABA’s role in anxiety. •Genetic heritability estimates for generalized anxiety, panic disorder, and agoraphobia range from 30% to 40%. •As for personality, people who are high in neuroticism, prone to worry, anxiety, and nervousness are more likely to develop anxiety disorders than are people who are low in neuroticism. The degree of extraversion may play a role in some anxiety disorders as well. OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER •Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder in which obsessive thoughts lead to compulsive behaviors. •An obsession is an unwanted thought, word, phrase, or image that persistently and repeatedly comes into a person’s mind and causes distress. •A compulsion is a repetitive behavior performed in response to uncontrollable urges or according to a ritualistic set of rules. In short, obsessions are thought disturbances, whereas compulsions are repetitive behaviors. •OCD most often involves either cleaning, checking, or counting behaviors that interfere with everyday functioning. People who suffer from OCD often know that their thoughts are irrational, or at least that their compulsive behaviors are excessive, but they cannot stop themselves. In some cases, compulsive behaviors stem from superstitions. Causes of OCD •Some scientists argue that the brain circuit that connects the caudate, the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and limbic structures (e.g., the amygdala and hypothalamus) is working overtime in OCD. •The overactive ACC creates a perpetual feeling that something is wrong, which the limbic system structures translate into anxiety. In turn, anxiety stimulates more intrusive thoughts, which sometimes become compulsive actions. •The cycle goes on endlessly, due to the hyperactivity of the brain circuit—which is stuck in the “on” position. This circuit involving the ACC, caudate nucleus, and limbic structures supports the obsessive thinking and compulsive responding. POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER •Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a type of trauma and stressor-related disorder that involves intrusive and persistent cognitive, emotional, and physiological symptoms triggered by catastrophic or horrifying events. •People suffering from PTSD experience a number of intrusive symptoms that last for at least 1 month. These may include recurring intrusive thoughts, feelings, or memories of the traumatic event, either while awake or dreaming, and flashbacks. Flashbacks are vivid reactions in which the person feels as if he or she is experiencing the traumatic event all over again. •War veterans are at increased risk, not only for PTSD but also for depression, drug abuse, and suicide after returning home. •People of all ages can experience post-traumatic stress symptoms. o Compared to healthy controls, children with post-traumatic stress symptoms show reduced brain activity in the hippocampus while performing a verbal memory task. DISSOCIATIVE DISORDERS •Dissociative disorders are psychological disorders characterized by extreme splits or gaps in memory, identity, or consciousness. •These disorders lack a clear physical cause, such as brain injury, and often stem from extreme stress or abusive experiences, especially during childhood. Dissociative Identity Disorder •Dissociative identity disorder (DID) is a dissociative disorder in which a person develops at least two distinct personalities, each with its own memories, thoughts, behaviors, and emotions. •The diagnosis of DID is somewhat controversial, with some psychiatrists even claiming the diagnosis is not real but rather is produced unintentionally by therapists themselves. Causes of Dissociative Disorders •People who suffer from dissociative disorders have one characteristic in common. That characteristic is that they lived through a highly traumatic experience. Most explanations of dissociative disorder view it as a coping strategy that has gone awry. SOMATIC SYMPTOM DISORDERS •A somatic symptom disorder is a psychological disorder in which a person complains of multiple physical disorders that cause disruption and that persist for at least 6 months. •This disorder has two main criteria: o one or more distressing somatic symptoms that disrupt daily life; and o excessive thoughts, feelings, or behaviors related to bodily symptoms. •Illness anxiety disorder is the fear of somatic symptom but without any somatic symptoms. o The person with this disorder will also frequently and excessively check for the symptoms. •With the Internet and easy access to medical information, more and more people are self-diagnosing without evidence of real symptoms and without professional evaluations. People who self-diagnose primarily from information found on the Internet are referred to informally as cyberchondriacs. PERSONALITY DISORDERS •Personality disorders are patterns of cognition, emotion, and behavior that develop in late childhood or adolescence and are maladaptive and inflexible. •There are three distinct clusters of personality disorders—odd-eccentric, dramatic-emotional, and anxious-fearful. Odd-Eccentric Personality Disorders •There are three odd-eccentric personality disorders. •Schizoid personality disorder is when people do not want close relationships; are emotionally aloof, reclusive, and humorless; and want to live a solitary life. •Schizotypal personality disorder is when people are isolated and asocial. In addition they have very odd thoughts, perceptual distortions, and beliefs. •Paranoid personality disorder is when people are extremely suspicious and mistrustful of other people, in ways that are both unwarranted and not adaptive. Dramatic-Emotional Personality Disorders •There are four dramatic-emotional personality disorders. •Histrionic personality disorder is when people want very much to be the center of attention and often behave in very dramatic, seductive, flamboyant, and exaggerated ways. •Borderline personality disorder is when people have out-of-control emotions, are very afraid of being abandoned by others, and vacillate between idealizing and despising those who are close to them. •Narcissistic personality disorder is when people have an extremely positive and arrogant self-image, and most of their time and attention are self-focused. •Antisocial personality disorder is marked by extremely impulsive, deceptive, violent, ruthless, and callous behaviors. People with antisocial personality disorder are most likely to engage in criminal, deceptive, and violent behaviors. Indeed, although only about 3% of the population has this disorder, between 45% and 75% of male prison inmates are diagnosed with the disorder. Only about 20% of female prisoners are diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder. Anxious-Fearful Personality Disorders •There are three anxious-fearful personality disorders. •Avoidant personality disorder is when people are so afraid of being criticized that they avoid interacting with others and become socially isolated. •Dependent personality disorder is when people fear being rejected. They have such a strong need to be cared for that they form clingy and dependent relationships with others. •Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder is when people are very rigid in their habits, extremely perfectionistic in how things have to be done, and frequently very rigid list makers and rule followers. This personality disorder is similar to the clinical disorder with the same name but is more general and it does not have true obsessions and compulsions. Nature and Nurture Explanations of Personality Disorders •Research on murderers has identified a cluster of traits possessed by most of these violent criminals. These are being male, coming from abusive and neglectful households, having at least one psychological disorder, and having suffered some kind of injury to the head or brain. •Research on brain development suggests that living under a constant threat of abuse and stress changes the neural connectivity in the brain, making it less likely to develop many complex synaptic connections, especially in the frontal lobes. Being in a constant state of fear often leads to neural systems that are primed for unusually high levels of anxiety, impulsive behavior, and a state of constant alertness. These are all conditions that might lead to violent or criminal behaviors. •CONNECTION: Neuroplasticity occurs when neurons and hence brain structure and function change as a result of input from the environment (Chapter 3). •CONNECTION: How does our first environment—the womb—shape the expression of our genes (Chapter 3)? PSYCHOLOGY IN THE REAL WORLD: CAN INTERNET USE BECOME AN ADDICTION? •Some people just can’t stay off-line. For many people, this, in itself, may not be a serious problem. In some cases, however, people are online all day; they check their Facebook or Twitter feeds dozens or even hundreds of times a day; and they cannot continue their work or activities around the home without logging on. For them, Internet use has become so intrusive that it adversely affects their professional and personal lives in the real world. •As with all disorders, something becomes a problem once it causes clinically significant disruptions of everyday life. For the first time, the DSM-5 includes the category “Internet Gaming Disorder.” Due to insufficient and inconclusive evidence it is classified as a “Condition for Further Study.” Any five of nine criteria must be present during a 12-month period for a diagnosis to be made: o preoccupation with Internet games (not Internet gambling), o withdrawal symptoms when games are taken away (e.g., irritability, sadness, anxiety), o tolerance, that is, more and more time is needed to be satisfied, o unsuccessful attempts to stop or control one’s habit, o loss of interest in previous hobbies and entertainment, o continued excessive use despite knowing of their psychological problems, o deceives family, friends, and therapists about how much one plays games, o use of Internet games to cope with or escape from a negative mood, and o has jeopardized or lost a significant relationship, job, or educational/career opportunity due to Internet gaming activity. •Some of these criteria are, in fact, signs of addiction, namely tolerance, mood regulation, and disruption of relationships, job, or school. Moreover, researchers have suggested that some people do experience behavioral withdrawal symptoms, such as emotions of irritation and anger, when the computer or smartphone is not available. •Whether computer and online gaming meet the criteria for mental disorder remains to be seen. We do know, however, that overuse has negative effects (e.g., impaired cognition and impaired task performance while multitasking). •If serious disruptions in people’s lives (and occasional deaths) continue to result from excessive and compulsive Internet gaming use, then the next edition of the DSM may list it as an official mental disorder. MAKING CONNECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS: CREATIVITY AND MENTAL HEALTH •Creative figures throughout history have experienced some psychological condition so often that many people think the two are connected. The term mad genius reflects this belief. Evidence for a Relationship Between Creativity and Psychological Disorders •Arnold Ludwig examined the lifetime rates of psychological disorders across the professions and over lifetimes. •Lifetime rates for any psychiatric illness are remarkably high for people in the arts—87% of poets, 77% of fiction writers, 74% of actors, 73% of visual artists, 72% of nonfiction writers, 68% of musical performers, and 60% of musical composers are affected by some type of psychiatric disorder. Keep in mind that the rate in the general population for any disorder is 46%. This study clearly indicates a higher prevalence of disorder in creative artists than in people in the general population. Which Disorders Affect Creative Artists? Autism Spectrum Disorder and Creativity •Most savants do not produce great works of original genius because their amazing feats of calculation and recall are not original, nor do they create something significant. Some savant prodigies do produce truly creative works of art, usually math analyses, musical compositions, drawings, or painting. •Asperger’s syndrome, or high-functioning autism, has been associated with creative ability in science, math, and engineering. •Children with Asperger’s are more than twice as likely as normal children to have a father or grandfather who was an engineer. Psychotic Symptoms and Creativity •Having unusual thoughts is common to both creative people and those with schizophrenia. •It is the milder psychotic symptoms, however, that are most strongly associated with creativity. •Each of the following groups manifest unusual thought processes that are milder than those of schizophrenia—first-degree relatives of individuals with schizophrenia, people with Schizotypal personality disorder, and those who score high on the normal personality dimension of psychoticism. •Having a lot of ideas come to mind quickly can lead to many unusual associations that may be creative, but they may also be so unusual as to be similar to the bizarre associations seen in people with schizophrenia. •People in these groups are more likely to have unusual thought processes that develop into creative achievements that other people recognize to be important and significant. Depression and Creativity •Across 16 professions, the lifetime rate of depression was 30%, with poets (77%), fiction writers (59%), and visual artists (50%) having the highest rates. •Poets are 20 times more likely to commit suicide, a key indicator for depression, than most people. •Although highly creative artists and writers may suffer from depression more than most people, depressive episodes themselves do not generate much creative output. Recall that a complete lack of motivation is a common symptom of depression, so lower productivity would follow. However, the experiences one has while depressed might inspire and motivate the creation of works of art. Bipolar Disorder and Creativity •Actors (17%), poets (13%), architects (13%), and nonfiction writers (11%) all exceed a 10% lifetime rate of bipolar disorder—10 times the rate in the general population. •There is a positive relationship between bipolar disorder and creative thought. Some studies have shown that highly creative people are more likely than noncreative people to have bipolar disorder but others show the opposite. The manic phase is more likely to generate creative behavior than the depressive phase. •CONNECTION: Creative thinking requires novelty and connections among ideas (Chapter 10). KEY TERMS agoraphobia: an anxiety disorder involving fear of being in places from which escape might be difficult or in which help might not be available should a panic attack occur. antisocial personality disorder: personality disorder marked by extremely impulsive, deceptive, violent, ruthless, and callous behaviors. attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): childhood disorder characterized by inability to focus attention for more than a few minutes, to remain still and quiet, to do careful work. autistic spectrum disorder: characterized by severe language and social impairment combined with repetitive habits and inward-focused behaviors. avoidant personality disorder: the person is so afraid of being criticized that they avoid interacting with others and become socially isolated. bipolar disorder: mood disorder characterized by substantial mood fluctuations, cycling between very low (depressive) and very high (manic) moods. borderline personality disorder: personality disorder characterized by out-of-control emotions, are very afraid of being abandoned by others, and vacillate between idealizing those close to them and despising them. cognitive symptoms (of schizophrenia): problems with working memory, attention, verbal and visual learning and memory, reasoning and problem solving, processing, and speech. comorbidity: occurrence of two or more disorders at the same time. compulsion: a repetitive behavior performed in response to uncontrollable urges or according to a ritualistic set of rules. cyclothymia: a relatively mild but long lasting form of bipolar disorder. delusion: false beliefs, often exaggerated claims, that a person holds in spite of evidence to the contrary. dependent personality disorder: personality disorder characterized by fear rejection and a strong need to be cared for that they form very clingy relationships with others. depressive disorder: the highest-order category of the depressive disorders; it subsumes all forms of depression, including major depressive disorder and persistent depressive disorder. diathesis-stress model: explanation for the origin of psychological disorders as a combination of biological predispositions (diathesis) plus stress or an abusive environment. dissociative disorders: extreme splits or gaps in memory, identity, or consciousness. dissociative identity disorder (DID): disorder in which the sufferer develops at least two distinct personalities, each with a unique set of memories, behaviors, thoughts, and emotions. generalized anxiety disorder (GAD): pervasive and excessive state of anxiety lasting at least 6 months. hallucinations: convincing sensory experiences that occur in the absence of an external stimulus. histrionic personality disorders: personality disorder in which the sufferer wants to be the center of attention and often behave in very dramatic, seductive, flamboyant, and exaggerated ways. hypomanic episodes: consists of the same symptoms as manic episodes (e.g., increased energy, sleeplessness, euphoria, irritability, delusions of grandeur, increased sex drive, and "racing" thoughts) but shorter in duration. illness anxiety disorder: fear of somatic symptom but without any somatic symptoms. joint attention: ability to make eye contact with others and to look in the same direction that someone else is looking. major depressive disorder: a disorder characterized by pervasive low mood, lack of motivation, low energy, and feelings of worthlessness and guilt that last for at least two consecutive weeks. manic episodes: typically involve increased energy, sleeplessness, euphoria, irritability, delusions of grandeur, increased sex drive, and “racing” thoughts. narcissistic personality disorders: personality disorder characterized by extremely positive and arrogant self-images; most of the sufferer’s time and attention is self-focused. negative symptoms (of schizophrenia): symptoms of schizophrenia which include nonresponsiveness, emotional flatness, immobility catatonia, problems with speech, and inability to complete tasks. obsession: an unwanted thought, word, phrase, or image that persistently and repeatedly comes into a person’s mind and causes distress. obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD): an anxiety disorder that is manifested in both thought and behavior. panic attacks: associated with perceptions of threat and can occur for a number of reasons: fear of danger, inability to escape, embarrassment, or specific objects. panic disorder: involves panic attacks and the persistent worry, embarrassment, and concern about having more attacks. paranoid personality disorder: personality disorder in which the sufferer is extremely suspicious and mistrustful of other people, in ways that are both unwarranted and maladaptive. persistent depressive disorder: form of depression that is milder in intensity, but longer in duration, than major depressive disorder. personality disorders: maladaptive and inflexible patterns of cognition, emotion, and behavior that generally develop in late childhood or adolescence and continue into adulthood. phobia: an ongoing and irrational fear of a particular object, situation, or activity. positive symptoms (of schizophrenia): the perceptual experiences associated with schizophrenia, including hallucinations, delusional thinking, and disorganized thought and speech. post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): a type of trauma and stressor related disorder that involves intrusive and persistent cognitive, emotional, and physiological symptoms triggered by catastrophic or horrifying events. psychotic disorders: primarily disorders of thought and perception, and are characterized by an inability to distinguish real from imagined perceptions. schizoid personality disorder: personality disorder in which the sufferer does not want close relationships; is emotionally aloof, reclusive, and humorless; and wants to live a solitary life. schizophrenia: disorder involves profound disturbances in thought and emotion. schizotypal personality disorder: personality disorder in which the sufferer is isolated and asocial and has very odd thoughts, perceptual distortions, and beliefs. social phobia or social anxiety disorder: a pronounced fear of humiliation in the presence of others; marked by severe self-consciousness about appearance or behavior or both. somatic symptom disorder: occurs when a person complains of multiple physical disorders that have no known medical or physical basis. syndrome: a set of related conditions. word salad: term for the speech of people with schizophrenia, which may follow grammatical rules but be nonsensical in terms of content. MAKING THE CONNECTIONS (Some of the connections are found in the text. Other connections may be useful for lecture or discussion.) Defining Psychological Disorders CONNECTION: Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease are neurocognitive disorders related to age. Other disorders, such as sleep disorders, can occur at any time in a person’s life (Chapters 5 and Chapter 6). o Activity: Check out the livestrong.com website (http://www.livestrong.com/article/5951-psychological-disorders-elderly/) on psychological disorders in the elderly. CONNECTION: How does our first environment, the womb, shape the expression of our genes? (Chapter 3) o Discussion: Ask students what they think about the diathesis stress model. It indeed explains why some veterans seemingly have no difficulty and others have significant difficulty, or why some victims of trauma seem to bounce back more quickly. CONNECTION: Development, language development in particular, occurs rapidly during critical periods, when we are biologically most receptive to a specific kind of input from the environment (Chapter 9). o Discussion: This is also evidence for the diathesis stress model. You may also want to point out to students that this is one of the limitations of co-relational designs. That is, there could also be a third factor variable here in terms of the kinds of parents who abuse. Ask students what kinds of factors or stressors may lead to abuse. Depressive Disorders CONNECTION: A person can inherit one form of a gene, or allele—say, for red hair—from one parent and a different form—maybe for brown hair—from the other parent (Chapter 3). o Discussion: Ask students how concepts of dominant and recessive genes might influence the impact of genetic contributions to depression. Schizophrenia CONNECTION: During fetal development the brain is extremely vulnerable to all kinds of toxins (Chapter 5). o Discussion: You may want to introduce students to the neurodevelopmental hypothesis, which argues that early brain development gone awry may be causal in the development of schizophrenia. See biology online for a brief overview: http://www.biology-online.org/articles/advances_neurobiology_schizophrenia/neurodevelopmental_hypothesis_schizophrenia.html. Psychotic Symptoms and Creativity CONNECTION: Psychoticism can be measured in degrees. Normal people vary considerably in their scores on psychoticism measures (Chapter 13). Creative thinking requires novelty and connections among ideas (Chapter 10). o Discussion: See http://www.trans4mind.com/personality/EPQ.html for an overview of traits Eysenk argued were parts of psychoticism. Eysenk has done considerable research on creativity and psychoticism and may be one of the leaders in this area. Personality Disorders CONNECTION: Neuroplasticity occurs when neurons and hence brain structure and function change as a result of input from the environment (Chapter 3). o Activity: Have students check out the article in Psychology Today (2008) on the revolution of neuroscience and psychology (http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/enlightened-living/200806/neuroplasticity-the-revolution-in-neuroscience-and-psychology-part-i) Making Connections CONNECTION: Creative thinking requires novelty and connections among ideas (Chapter 10). o Activity: Have students read more about illness anxiety disorder, at the Encyclopedia of Mental Disorders (http://www.minddisorders.com/Flu-Inv/Hypochondriasis.html) and discuss how creativity factors into this disorder. INNOVATIVE INSTRUCTION 1. Defining Psychopathology: You may want to point out to students that defining a disorder is no easy feat. For example, do you go with statistically unusual? If so, then how do you deal with intelligence? The bottom 2.5% are in the DSM as intellectually challenged but the top 2.5% (the gifted portion) are not. Should they be? Then what do you do about disorders that are high in the general population, like substance abuse? Students generally have no problem brainstorming ideas about what abnormal is, but it is easy to challenge most of them. For example, let’s use unusual behaviors. Are behaviors you don’t see frequently necessarily abnormal? What if a student took of his or her shirt and started dancing on a table in a bar? It’s not something you see every day, but as the tabloids show us, it’s not something that people think is necessarily “abnormal.” However, if it happened in class… Another factor is cultural influences. It is important to remind students that speaking in tongues in a Pentecostal church is fine but in another setting, it’s probably not. 2. PTSD: Ask students about what kinds of events other than war can lead to PTSD. Point out that being a victim of a violent crime, for example, could lead to similar effects. What kinds of effects could this have on everyday life? 3. Phobias: Ask students what they have a phobic response to. You may want to point out that having one phobia in a subtype—say animal types—increases the probability of having another phobia in the same subtype (e.g., fear of spiders and snakes). You may want to show this clip of unusual phobias http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rl7Lr6eDLc 4. Abuse and brain damage: Remind students that perhaps being abused as a child may affect the development of the brain increasing activity level. That is, neglect and abuse no doubt affect the way the brain becomes wired. For example, let’s take poor feeding habits. Would poor food choices affect the development of the brain? Further, witnessing extreme abuse of others or being in an aggression-charged environment would have effects on behavior as well. 5. Autism Spectrum Disorders: You may want to point out that the increase is most likely due to several factors—increased awareness, a broadening of the definition into “spectrum,” a need to “label” a child to procure government-provided services for children with delays, and many others. Ask students to brainstorm other possible reasons for why the numbers have jumped. 6. Psychoticism can be measured in degrees. Normal people vary considerably in their scores on psychoticism measures (Chapter 13). Creative thinking requires novelty and connections among ideas (Chapter 10). 7. See http://www.trans4mind.com/personality/EPQ.html for an overview of traits Eysenck argued were parts of psychoticism. Eysenck has done considerable research on creativity and psychoticism. 8. Ask students what they think about the DID diagnosis. Do they think it’s possible? This is a good time to remind students about Loftus’s work on repressed memories. 9. As discussed in Chapter 10, some people who have autism or Asperger’s syndrome are called savants for their extreme giftedness in one domain, such as music or math. At this point, most students are thinking that this sounds great. Students tend to idolize actors, writers, musicians, and artists. Remind students that although they show great creativity, the data overall supports that these increases in ability in one area are tied to severe deficits in other areas. For example, although it may sound to them that savants have these great spikes, they often cannot complete many aspects of independent living without help. That is, depressive stages and autism are severely debilitating. You may also want to remind them that most schizophrenics are not like John Nash; they are homeless and in a vicious cycle of non-treatment and severe symptoms. 10. Assign students to take a quick quiz to test their knowledge: http://www.psywww.com/selfquiz/ch12mcq.htm 11. Have students do a literature review of the recent supposed “causes” of autism and then write a paragraph. You may want to pick a few and show that research has yet to show any definitive causal factor. 12. Have students watch Girl Interrupted and write a two-paragraph synopsis of the disorders seen in the film. 13. Have a speaker from the counseling department at your university come and speak to your class. As college students are at the peak age for the development of many disorders, counselors can answer student questions and review the support available at your university. This may also increase students’ awareness of diversity and disability. 14. Students love to talk about dissociative states! Remind them that there is little evidence here but it is also hard to falsify claims. Have them do a little Internet research and bring to class one example they found for either a “pro” or a “con.” This should lead to a lively discussion. 15. Those most likely to develop anxiety disorders are people with a genetic predisposition to anxiety, low levels of GABA, or the personality trait of neuroticism and who also experience chronic stress environments or abuse. Ask students to discuss the issue of biology being destiny. If they know that their partner has a history of a psychological disorder somewhere in his/her bloodline, should they panic about reproducing? 16. Do you think a person can be addicted to technology? If a person is spending 10 or more hours on line and it is interfering with their daily life, is that a problem? Is it a problem if a person constantly checks their phone? Be sure and have students defend their answer. This question often provides some lively debate, especially if a class has generational differences. Suggested Media 1. The Aviator, a biography of Howard Hughes. 2. Any episode of Monk will demonstrate OCD. 3. Girl Interrupted is based on Susanna Kaysen’s book and real-life experience as a patient in the mid-1960s. 4. Show Sybil as an example of DID. 5. A clip from NOVA on epigenetics in identical twins: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3411/02.html 6. A brief clip with interviews of people with schizophrenia: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4R6jln_eZg&feature=related’ 7. The brain and schizophrenia: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DL8mOHCIb_w 8. Medications and schizophrenia: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80skOLGG2dI 9. A clip of a doctor living with manic depression at Johns Hopkins: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxRLap9xLag 10. The Learning Resources Organization has free copies of an Abnormal Psychology Video set. You have to register first, but then you can play it in the classroom: http://www.learner.org/resources/series60.html 11. Show Temple Grandin, a biography on a woman with autism. 12. Copycat is an example of panic attacks and agoraphobia. 13. As Good As It Gets is an example of OCD. 14. A Beautiful Mind is an example of schizophrenia. 15. Three Faces of Eve is an example of DID and a forerunner to Sybil. 16. Understanding Mental Illness and Schizophrenia (Information Television Network) 17. Discovering Psychology—Psychopathology (Annenberg). 18. Bipolar: The Right Diagnosis (ABC). 19. ADHD (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.). 20. Symptoms of Schizophrenia (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.). 21. John Nash, A Beautiful Mind (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.). 22. Depression Theories and Treatment (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.). 23. Bipolar Disorder (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.). 24. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.). 25. Borderline Personality Disorder (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.). 26. Ellen Saks talks about her life with schizophrenia: http://www.ted.com/talks/elyn_saks_seeing_mental_illness 27. The Soloist (2009) (schizophrenia). Concept Clips (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.) 1. Abnormality 2. Major Depressive Disorder Suggested Websites 1. An Internet dictionary of abnormal terms: http://www.mentalhealth.com/p20-grp.html 2. Links to pages for most of the disorders: http://www.healthyplace.com/site/disorders_list.asp 3. DSM-5 information http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3683251/ 4. Journal of Abnormal Psychology—some free articles: http://www.apa.org/journals/abn/ 5. A great overview of psychology (and the abnormal page is great): http://www.psywww.com/index.html 6. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH): http://www.nimh.nih.gov/ 7. ICD-10 website—free access: http://www.who.int/classifications/icd/en/ 8. Temple Grandin, PhD’s website: http://www.templegrandin.com/ 9. National Alliance for the Mentally Ill http://www.nami.org/ 10. Anxiety Disorders Association website: http://www.adaa.org/ 11. A great biological site on anxiety disorder: http://www.brainexplorer.org/brain_disorders/Focus_Panic_disorder.shtml 12. Schizophrenia Home Page: http://schizophrenia.com/Suggested Readings American Psychiatric Association APA. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. Angst, J. (2013). Bipolar disorders in DSM-5: Strengths, problems and perspectives. International Journal of Bipolar Disorders http://www.journalbipolardisorders.com/content/pdf/2194-7511-1-12.pdf Eysenck, H. J. (1983). The roots of creativity: Cognitive ability or personality trait? Roeper Review, 5, 10–12. Eysenck, H. J. (1993). Creativity and personality: Suggestions for a theory. Psychological Inquiry, 4, 147–178. Freedman, R. (2010). The madness within us: Schizophrenia as a neuronal process. Oxford University Press. Glenn, A. L., et al. (2007). Early temperamental and psychophysiological precursors of adult psychopathic personality. Journal of Abnormal Psychology. 116, 508–515. Heath, A. C., & Martin, N. G. (1990). Psychoticism as a dimension of personality: A multivariate genetic test of Eysenck and Eysenck's psychoticism construct. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 111–121. Kendell, R., & Jablensky, A. (2003). Distinguishing between the validity and utility of psychiatric diagnoses. American Journal of Psychiatry, 160(1), 4–12. Krueger, R. F., Watson, D., Barlow, D. H., et al. (2005). Toward a dimensionally based taxonomy of psychopathology. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 114, 491–493. Nathan, D. (2011). Sybil exposed: The extraordinary story behind the famous multiple personality case. Free Press Redfield-Jamison, K. (1997). An unquiet mind: A memoir of moods and madness. Vintage. Redfield-Jamison, K. (2000). Night falls fast: Understanding suicide. Vintage. Regier, D. S., Narrow, W. E., First, M. B., & Marshall, T. (2002). The APA classification of mental disorders: future perspectives. Psychopathology, 35(2–3), 166–170. Saks, E. R. (2007). The center cannot hold: My journey through madness. Hyperion. Smith, D. (2013). Monkey mind: A memoir of anxiety. Simon & Schuster. Chapter 16: Treatment of Psychological Disorders BRIEF CHAPTER OUTLINE Biomedical Treatments for Psychological Disorders Drug therapies Drug Treatments for Schizophrenia Drug Treatments for Depressive and Anxiety Disorders Psychosurgery Electric and Magnetic Therapies Electroconvulsive Therapy Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Deep Brain Stimulation Challenging Assumptions in the Treatment of Severe Depression Effectiveness of Biomedical Treatments Psychological Treatments for Psychological Disorders Psychoanalytic Therapy Humanistic/Positive Therapy Behavior Therapies Cognitive and Cognitive-Behavioral Treatments Group Therapy Effectiveness of Psychological Treatments Technology-Based Treatments of Psychological Disorders Effectiveness of Technology-Based Therapy Combined Approaches Drugs and Psychotherapy Integrative Therapy Mindfulness Training and Psychotherapy Effectiveness of Combined Approaches Psychology in the Real World: How to Choose a Therapist Emerging Therapies Preventing Disorders Bringing It All Together: Making Connections in the Treatment of Psychological Disorders: Approaches to the Treatment of OCD and Anxiety Disorders Chapter Review EXTENDED CHAPTER OUTLINE •Mental health professionals rely on four major forms of treatment to help people with mental disorders. These treatments are: (1) biomedical, (2) psychological, (3) technology based, and (4) combined therapies. BIOMEDICAL TREATMENTS FOR PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS •Four major forms of treatment exist: biologically based, psychologically based, and integrative. o Biomedical treatments include drugs, surgery, electric and magnetic treatments. o Psychological treatments include psychoanalytic/psychodynamic, humanistic, cognitive, and behavioral therapies. o Technology-based treatments are therapies making use of technology or the internet (e.g., virtual reality therapies). o Combined approaches combine either drugs and psychotherapies or different variations of psychotherapy, or combine less traditional approaches, such as meditation, with other more traditional techniques. •Most mental health practitioners rely on all four forms of treatment. Each treatment provider works from a perspective based on training, personal interests, and experience. Drug Therapies Drug Treatments for Schizophrenia •Drug treatments are typically the first choice of treatment for schizophrenia. •Phenothiazines help diminish hallucinations, confusion, agitation, and paranoia in people with schizophrenia, but also have adverse side effects. These drugs block dopamine receptors in the brain. •Traditional antipsychotics such as phenothiazines and haloperidol were the first medications used to manage psychotic symptoms. Unfortunately, they have many unpleasant side effects, including fatigue, visual impairments, and a condition called tardive dyskinesia. Tardive dyskinesia is repetitive, involuntary movements of jaw, tongue, face, and mouth (such as grimacing and lip smacking) and body tremors. •Atypical antipsychotics are newer antipsychotics that do not have these side effects. Many physicians now consider the atypical antipsychotics the first line of treatment for schizophrenia. These drugs preferentially block a different type of dopamine receptor than the traditional antipsychotics do, which makes them less likely to create tardive dyskinesia. •CONNECTION: Schizophrenia and other disorders can be caused in part by genes that are expressed only under specific environmental circumstances (Chapter 15). •CONNECTION: Do you need a caffeinated beverage to get you going in the morning and more throughout the day to stay alert? People who require more and more caffeine or other drugs, including prescription drugs, have developed a drug tolerance (Chapter 6). Drug Treatments for Depressive and Anxiety Disorders •There are six major categories of drugs used to treat mood and anxiety disorders: monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors, tricyclic antidepressants, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), benzodiazepines, barbiturates, and lithium. •Monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors were the first pharmaceuticals used to treat depression. These drugs reduce the action of the enzyme monoamine oxidase, which breaks down monoamine neurotransmitters (including norepinephrine, epinephrine, dopamine, and serotonin) in the brain. By inhibiting the action of this enzyme, MAO inhibitors allow more of these neurotransmitters to stay active in the synapse for a longer time, which presumably improves mood. o Unfortunately, MAO inhibitors have many serious side effects and interactions. A new transdermal patch may help overcome some of these side effects. •Tricyclic antidepressants work by blocking the reuptake of both serotonin and norepinephrine almost equally; hence, they work by making more of these neurotransmitters available in the brain. The tricyclics produce unpleasant side effects, however, such as dry mouth, weight gain, irritability, confusion, and constipation. They are still popular for treating depression and are also used for chronic pain management, ADHD, and bedwetting. •Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) make more serotonin available in the synapse, as depressed people have typically low levels of serotonin. SSRIs are among the most widely prescribed psychotherapeutic drugs in the United States today. o Serotonin, like all neurotransmitters, is released from the presynaptic neuron into the synapse. It then binds with serotonin-specific receptor sites on the postsynaptic neuron to stimulate the firing of that neuron. Normally, neurotransmitters that do not bind with the postsynaptic neuron will be either taken back up into the presynaptic neuron (a process called reuptake) or destroyed by enzymes in the synapse. The SSRIs inhibit the reuptake process, thereby allowing more serotonin to be received and used by the postsynaptic neuron. o By allowing more serotonin to be used, the SSRIs alleviate some of the symptoms of depression. o Although prescribed primarily for depression, they are also prescribed for the treatment of certain anxiety disorders, especially OCD, as well as disorders of impulse control, such as compulsive gambling. There are fewer side effects with SSRIs. Some side effects can occur and include agitation, insomnia, nausea, and difficulty in achieving orgasm. o CONNECTION: Deficiencies in either the amount or the utilization of serotonin in certain parts of the brain are often found in people with depression (Chapter 15). •Benzodiazepines and barbiturates are prescribed for anxiety because they have calming effects. Unfortunately, they can be addictive. •Lithium is a salt that is prescribed for its ability to stabilize the mania associated with bipolar disorder. It is not known how lithium works. It appears, however, to influence many neurotransmitter systems in the brain, including glutamate. Glutamate is the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain, which appears to play a substantial role in schizophrenia. Taking lithium can be unpleasant and dangerous, as it can cause diarrhea, nausea, tremors, cognitive problems, kidney failure, brain damage, and even adverse cardiac effects. Due to its toxicity physicians often prefer to prescribe other drugs. Currently the atypical antipsychotics are often prescribed. Psychosurgery •Prefrontal lobotomy is a form of psychosurgery that is no longer preformed. In a lobotomy the connections between the prefrontal lobes and the lower portion of the brain are severed. •The belief was that this would disconnect the thinking and emotional areas of the brain. However, prefrontal lobotomies produced profound personality changes, often leaving the patient listless or subject to seizures. Some patients were even reduced to a vegetative state. •After the introduction of the traditional antipsychotic medications, the lobotomy fell out of favor. Today a few, highly constrained forms of brain surgery are occasionally performed, but only as a last resort after other forms of treatment have been unsuccessful. Electric and Magnetic Therapies Electroconvulsive Therapy •Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) involves passing an electrical current through a person’s brain in order to induce a seizure. This is a treatment of last resort. •Research eventually demonstrated, however, that ECT did not treat the symptoms of schizophrenia effectively at all, and it disappeared as a viable therapy for years. It resurfaced later as a treatment for people with severe cases of depression. •Standard ECT treatment involves up to 12 sessions over the course of several weeks. During these sessions, electric currents (60 to 140 volts) are passed through the brain for 1/3 to 1/2 second. Although some people report immediate relief of their depressive symptoms, it creates some permanent memory loss and other types of cognitive damage because it actually destroys some brain tissue. Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation •Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a treatment for severe depression. Physicians expose particular brain structures to bursts of high-intensity magnetic fields instead of electricity. Like ECT, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation is usually reserved for people with severe depression who have not responded well to other forms of therapy. Deep Brain Stimulation •Deep brain stimulation is a promising new treatment for various psychological disorders including depression. •Electrodes are implanted into the brain to allow electrical stimulation of specific brain regions and clusters of neurons. •Deep brain stimulation has shown promise in the treatment of anorexia and Alzheimer's disease. Challenging Assumptions in the Treatment of Severe Depression •Neurologist Helen Mayberg discovered what appears to be a neural switch that activates depression. The path led Mayberg to discover how a brain region called Brodmann’s Area 25 may control depression. •Mayberg applied deep brain stimulation to 12 people with severe depression that did not respond to traditional treatments. The patients responded positively. •Area 25 was hyperactive in the depressed patients. •Finding over-activity challenged previous assumptions that the brain areas of depressed people were underactive. •Figures 16.4 and 16.5 illustrate the brain areas and the pacemaker implanted in the chest to send electrical signals to the brain. •Most people who have had the procedure experience dramatic improvements or complete elimination of their depression. A few, however, do not. •Research is currently ongoing. Effectiveness of Biomedical Treatments •The SSRIs and tricyclics show comparable effectiveness in the treatment of depression and are preferable to MAO inhibitors. They have the fewest adverse side effects and are better tolerated for long-term use. •According to a large-scale meta-analysis, most widely used prescription antidepressants may be beneficial to those with severe depression but no better than placebos for people with mild to moderate depression. •Lithium is still widely used for treatment of mania. Lithium does appear to have long-term effectiveness in treating bipolar disorder. •The evidence for lithium's effectiveness for acute mania is weak. •Lithium does not appear to be superior to antipsychotic medications. •Both traditional and atypical antipsychotic drugs work best on the positive symptoms of schizophrenia, such as hallucinations and delusions, but are generally less effective on the negative symptoms, such as flattened affect, and the cognitive confusion that is characteristic of the disorder. o Clozapine (Clorazil) does appear to be somewhat effective in treating the negative symptoms, but diabetes is a potentially serious side effect. o Keeping patients on the drugs seems to be an issue; up to 74% who use traditional and atypical antipsychotics discontinue treatment. •ECT is regarded as a treatment of last resort for severely depressed people who have not responded to any other therapy. PSYCHOLOGICAL TREATMENTS FOR PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS •Psychotherapy is the use of psychological techniques to modify maladaptive behaviors or thought patterns, or both, and to help patients develop insight into their own behavior. Psychoanalytic Therapy •Psychoanalytic therapy is the original form of “talk therapy.” It is oriented toward major personality change with a focus on uncovering unconscious motives, especially through dream interpretation. Sessions tend to meet 3 to 5 times a week. Currently classical, or Freudian, psychoanalysis is relatively rare. •Free association is a Freudian technique that involves the client recounting a dream and then takes one image or idea and saying whatever comes to mind, regardless of how threatening, disgusting, or troubling it may be. After this has been done with the first image, the process is repeated until the client has made associations with all the recalled dream images. Ideally, somewhere in the chain of free associations is a connection that unlocks the key to the dream. •Symbols are dream images that are thought of as representing or being symbolic of something else. •Transference is another Freudian concept where the client reacts to a person in a present relationship as though that person were someone from the client’s past. •Some psychoanalytic techniques may lead to catharsis. Catharsis is the process of releasing intense, often unconscious, emotions in a therapeutic setting. Humanistic/Positive Therapy •Humanistic/positive therapies try to help the client reach his or her greatest potential. •Client-centered therapy was developed by Carl Rogers. The main idea of client-centered therapy is that people are not well because there is a gap between who they are and who they would ideally like to be. •Unconditional positive regard states that the therapist must show genuine liking and empathy for the client, regardless of what he or she has said or done. •Positive psychotherapy focuses explicitly on increasing a person’s happiness, well-being, and positive emotions. o Gratitude training involves daily exercises in noticing and finding things in life for which one is grateful and thankful. Behavior Therapies •In behavior therapies the application of classical and operant conditioning principles are used to treat psychological disorders. They focus on changing behavior. •The token economy is a technique where desirable behaviors are reinforced with a token, such as a small chip or fake coin, which can then be exchanged for privileges. o Recent uses include treatment of substance abuse by people with schizophrenia. Each time the patients did not use drugs, they were rewarded with small amounts of money. Coupled with problem-solving and social-skills training, this token system helped control substance abuse in hospitalized patients with schizophrenia, who are generally very hard to treat. •Systematic desensitization is used to treat simple phobias. Systematic desensitization pairs relaxation with gradual exposure to a phobic object. The therapist helps the client learn relaxation techniques that he or she can use when experiencing anxiety. o Systematic desensitization involves three levels of exposure to a phobic object. In imagined exposure people simply imagine contact with the phobic object. In virtual reality exposure virtual reality software allows clients to simulate flying or other objects of fear. In vivo exposure exposes the client makes real-life contact with a phobic object. •Flooding (implosion therapy) is a form of in vivo exposure in which the client experiences extreme exposure to the phobic object. •CONNECTION: Principles of classical and operant conditioning, including the powerful effect of reinforcement on learning, are the foundation of many behavioral therapies (Chapter 8). Cognitive and Cognitive-Behavioral Treatments •Cognitive therapy is any type of psychotherapy that works to restructure irrational thought patterns. o The therapist helps the client identify irrational thought patterns and then challenges these thoughts. o This therapy is structured and problem-oriented. The goal is to fix problematic thought patterns. o Cognitive therapy involves a collaborative effort by the therapist and client. •Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is an approach that combines techniques for restructuring irrational thoughts with operant and classical conditioning techniques to shape desirable behaviors. o This is a short-term psychological treatment that has been successfully applied to disorders as varied as depression, phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), obsessive-compulsive disorder, eating disorders, and substance abuse. o CBT teaches skills to diminish depressogenic thinking that tends to help generate or support depressed moods. CBT has revolutionized the treatment of many psychological disorders. Group Therapies •In group therapy several people who share a common problem all meet regularly with a therapist to help themselves and one another. The therapist acts as a facilitator. Group therapies often follow a structured process with clear treatment goals. •Support groups are meetings of people who share a common situation (e.g., a disorder, a disease, or coping with an ill family member). They meet regularly to share experiences, usually without programmatic treatment goals. They usually have a facilitator, a regular meeting time, and an open format. •Groups can be categorized in terms of their focus, such as eating disorders, substance abuse, treatment of OCD, or coping with bereavement, and may be time limited or ongoing. Effectiveness of Psychological Treatments •It is increasingly believed that therapists need to make treatment choices based on empirical evidence of the treatments efficacy. •Evidence-based therapies are treatments based on empirical evidence of their efficacy •Current meta-analyses of the effectiveness of psychotherapy continue to show most forms of therapy are effective. Few significant differences exist in effectiveness between general psychotherapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and psychodynamic therapy. This is known as the dodo bird verdict. •In some cases, the usefulness of psychotherapy depends on the nature of the disorder being treated and the state of the patient’s mental health. •Some conditions are more responsive to psychological interventions than others (e.g., personality disorders are best helped with psychodynamic psychotherapy and long-term group therapy improves basic life skills of schizophrenics). •People experiencing depressive disorders are much more responsive to psychological approaches than are people suffering from schizophrenic disorders. •Systematic desensitization is effective for treating a simple phobia but is inappropriate for treating depression. •Cognitive therapy (CT) and cognitive-behavioral therapy have shown perhaps the greatest effectiveness of any form of psychotherapy for treating various psychological disorders (especially for certain cases of depression and anxiety disorders). o Some research suggests that CT is as effective as antidepressants in treating severe depression. •Behavioral treatments, such as systematic desensitization, are very effective for treatment of certain anxiety disorders, especially simple phobias, including performance anxiety and public speaking. TECHNOLOGY-BASED TREATMENTS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS •Technology-based therapies make use of technology or the Internet to complement current therapies or make psychotherapeutic techniques available to people who might otherwise not have access to it or seek it out. •Virtual reality therapies use virtual (digital simulation) environments that create therapeutic situations that might be hard to create otherwise; used for treatment of phobia and PTSD. •The Internet is used in treatments including Second Life (an online, virtual environment where people interact in real time with others). The character you use is called an avatar (hence the name “avatar therapy”). Effectiveness of Technology-Based Therapy •Second Life offers people with social anxiety, those who avoid therapy because it requires them to get out of house and go in new environment, a “safe” form of psychotherapy, because they are not directly observed or exposed to ridicule and embarrassing situations. •There is evidence that electronic distribution can work effectively for certain anxiety symptoms, including measures of panic disorder. COMBINED APPROACHES Drugs and Psychotherapy •Drugs can modify some of the debilitating effects of a disorder enough so that the patient can function well enough to learn techniques that might help in changing his or her problematic thinking and behavior. •This approach works best for depressive and anxiety disorders, in which thinking is not severely impaired. Integrative Therapies •The majority of clinical psychologists report that they use an integrative approach to treatment. •In integrative therapy clinicians are trained in many methods. They use those that seem most appropriate given the situation. They are not loyal to any particular orientation or treatment. This is an eclectic approach to psychotherapy. •Prolonged exposure therapy is an integrative treatment program for people who have post-traumatic stress disorder. It combines CBT with methods of the imagined exposure form of systematic desensitization and relaxation. Mindfulness Training and Psychotherapy •Some recently developed therapies integrate the nontraditional practice of mindfulness meditation with psychotherapeutic techniques to treat psychological disorders. In mindfulness meditation, the mediator is trained to note thoughts as they occur, without clinging to them. •Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is an approach that combines elements of CBT with mindfulness meditation to help people with depression learn to recognize and restructure negative thought patterns. •Meditation-based therapies have been used with some success in the treatment of positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia. •A new approach in the treatment of schizophrenic symptoms focuses on changing relationship with voices rather than trying to make them go away. •CONNECTION: Mindfulness meditation practices help people become aware of everything that occurs in the mind and recognize it for what it is: a thought, an emotion, or a sensation that will arise and dissipate (Chapter 6). •Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is a treatment that integrates elements of CBT with exercises aimed at developing mindfulness without meditation. Effectiveness of Integrative Approaches •Few systematic studies have examined the effectiveness of integrative therapy. •A 14-month study of mental health in more than 500 children examined the relative effectiveness of medication, behavioral treatment, and the combination of the two approaches in treating a variety of disorders. For AD/HD, for example, the combination of drugs and behavioral therapy was superior to behavioral intervention and better than medication alone for most outcome measures. •Clinical research shows that prolonged exposure therapy (an integrative CBT approach) is effective at substantially reducing symptoms of PTSD. •The advantage of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy compared with standard cognitive therapy is that it works when the person is in a nondepressive state, and so it might help prevent relapse. •Borderline personality disorder has long been considered nearly untreatable. DBT is quite effective in reducing self-inflicted harmful behaviors, lowering scores on depression questionnaires, decreasing dysfunctional patterns associated with substance abuse, and increasing the likelihood of staying in treatment. PSYCHOLOGY IN THE REAL WORLD: HOW TO CHOOSE A THERAPIST •About 50% of the adult population at some point in their life will suffer from some form of psychological disorder but only a subset of that will seek therapy. Reasons for this include the stigma of going to see a therapist and the belief that friends and family are enough to help them. •The first step in selecting a therapist is to know the different types of therapists and what they can and cannot do. Psychiatrists are medical doctors so they can prescribe medication. They usually treat the most severe disorders. Clinical psychologists are trained to help people with moderate to severe psychological disorders. They are often trained in PhD (doctorate of philosophy) programs, but also in PsyD programs (doctorate of psychology). They often focus on past experiences as causes for current problems. Counselors (usually those with Ed.D. or master’s degree) work in social settings and help people adjust to normal work- and family-related difficulties. They focus on the present rather than the past. Social workers have a master’s degree in social work (MSW) and are trained in clinical practice. Marriage and Family Therapists (MFT) have a master’s degree in clinical psychology and help couples and families deal with conflict. •Individuals should look for someone who has experience in the area in which you are having difficulty. •Individuals should also make sure the therapist is licensed and in good standing. •The relationship with the therapist is very important so individuals should trust their gut feelings on people. •Individuals need to know the therapist’s approach. •Finally, it is always helpful to ask for a referral. EMERGING THERAPIES •There are some new therapies on the horizon that are showing promise in the treatment of psychological disorders. •Optogenetics is a treatment that uses a combination of light stimulation and genetics to manipulate the activity of individual neurons. This has been used in treating OCD and chemical dependency. It may offer precise access to specific brain areas. •Another potential new therapy is the regulation of specific genes involved in various mental disorders. This is still in the early stage of research in animals. •A few studies have shown that after Botox injections to the glabellar region people feel less depressed. This is because of feedback to the brain from the facial muscles involving some negative emotions is reduced. PREVENTING DISORDERS •Prevention focuses on identifying risk factors for disorders, targeting at-risk populations, and offering training programs that decrease the likelihood of disorders occurring. •Most preventative programs focus on depression. •Many prevention programs focus on children because interventions earlier in life increase the likelihood of making a difference. •According to Van Voorhees and colleagues (2008), several characteristics put teens at risk for a depressive episode: being female, being of a nonwhite race, ethnicity, having low-income status, being in poor health, and experiencing parental conflict. •Poverty, unemployment, life stress, and a pessimistic outlook put one at risk of depression so prevention programs often focus on ways to deal with stress. •The Penn Resiliency Program (PRP) is designed to prevent depression and other psychological disorders by developing resilience and skills for coping with stress, problem solving (flexibility in the face of adverse or challenging circumstances), and cognitive restructuring (learning to change one’s perspective on events). BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER: MAKING CONNECTIONS IN THE TREATMENT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS: APPROACHES TO THE TREATMENT OF OCD AND ANXIETY DISORDERS •OCD and the anxiety disorders are a diverse group of conditions. Mental health practitioners employ a wide variety of treatment strategies to help people with these disorders. Drug Therapies •There are two main categories of drug therapies for OCD and the anxiety disorders: antidepressants and antianxiety medications. Antidepressants •Many doctors prescribe SSRIs for the treatment of OCD, anxiety disorders, social phobia, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and panic disorder. People who take SSRIs for these disorders report that these medications help them avoid getting caught up in certain thoughts that otherwise would snowball into anxiety. Anti-Anxiety Medications •Beta-blockers are drugs that block the action of neurotransmitters, such as norepinephrine, to quickly calm the aroused sympathetic nervous system. These medications calm the physiological symptoms of anxiety, by bringing down heart rate, blood pressure, and rate of breathing. •The benzodiazepines (e.g., Valium) also calm the physiological arousal caused by anxiety and are widely prescribed for social phobias, panic disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder. •Newer antianxiety medications such as buspirone are less likely to create withdrawal symptoms, but require longer and constant usage. Psychotherapeutic Treatments •Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) helps people with anxiety disorder identify irrational thoughts and undo thinking patterns that support fear; it also helps them modify their responses to anxiety-provoking situations. •Group CBT has been effective for treating social phobia. •Traditional psychodynamic therapies for anxiety disorders viewed anxiety as the main symptom of what was then commonly called neurosis. According to Freud, neurosis most often stemmed from repressed thoughts, feelings, and impulses that usually originated in childhood experiences. o Free association, dream interpretation, defense mechanisms, and catharsis are typically used to alleviate these symptoms. •Systematic desensitization is used for the treatment of specific phobias. Combined and Integrative Therapies and Anxiety •Medication can help people get “over the hump” of crippling symptoms so that a nondrug therapy has a chance to work. •There is evidence that integrative psychotherapeutic approaches offer potential relief from a range of anxiety disorders. As already noted, OCD may be treated with mindfulness meditation practices and cognitive therapy. Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), which was developed to treat borderline personality disorder, has been used effectively to treat post-traumatic stress disorder.
KEY TERMS atypical antipsychotics: newer antipsychotic drugs, which do not create tardive dyskinesia. Examples include Clozapine (Clozaril), olanzapine (Zyprexa), and risperidone (Risperdal). barbiturates: another class of drug for anxiety; has sedative, calming effects. These drugs can be addictive and carry risk of overdose. behavior therapies: therapies that apply the principles of classical and operant conditioning to treat psychological disorders. benzodiazepines: (Valium, Librium) a class of drugs prescribed for anxiety; has calming effects and can be addictive, but less dangerous than the barbiturates. catharsis: the process of releasing intense, often unconscious, emotions in a therapeutic setting. client-centered therapy: a form of humanistic therapy developed by Carl Rogers, in which the therapist must show genuine liking and empathy for the client, regardless of what he or she has said or done. cognitive-behavioral therapy: an approach that combines techniques for restructuring irrational thoughts with operant and classical conditioning techniques to shape desirable behaviors. cognitive therapy: any type of psychotherapy that works to restructure irrational thought patterns. defense mechanisms: processes that operate unconsciously and involve defending against anxiety and threats to the ego. dialectical behavior therapy (DBT): a program developed for the treatment of borderline personality disorder, which integrates elements of CBT with exercises aimed at developing mindfulness without meditation. dodo bird verdict: the finding that most forms of therapy are effective and few significant differences exist in effectiveness among standard therapies. electroconvulsive therapy (ECT): involves passing an electrical current through a person’s brain in order to induce a seizure; currently in limited use for treatment of severe depression. evidence-based therapies: treatments based on empirical evidence of their efficacy. flooding: an extreme form of in vivo exposure in which the client experiences extreme exposure to the phobic object. free association: a psychotherapeutic technique in which the client recounts a dream and then takes one image or idea and says whatever comes to mind, regardless of how threatening, disgusting, or troubling it may be. This process is repeated until the client has made associations with all the recalled dream images. group therapy: therapeutic settings in which several people who share a common problem all meet regularly with a therapist to help themselves and one another; the therapist acts as a facilitator. integrative therapy: also called “eclectic,” this is an approach to treatment in which the therapist is not loyal to any particular orientation or treatment, but rather draws on use of those that seem most appropriate given the situation. lithium: a salt that is prescribed for its ability to stabilize the mania associated with bipolar disorder. mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT): an approach that combines elements of CBT with mindfulness meditation to help people with depression learn to not cling to negative thought patterns. monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors: one of the first classes of pharmaceuticals used to treat depression; these reduce the action of the enzyme monoamine oxidase, which breaks down monoamine neurotransmitters (including norepinephrine, epinephrine, dopamine, and serotonin) in the brain. optogenetics: a treatment that uses a combination of light stimulation and genetics to manipulate the activity of individual neurons. phenothiazines: the first class of drugs used to treat schizophrenia; helps diminish hallucinations, confusion, agitation, and paranoia; creates adverse side effects, including tardive dyskinesia. prefrontal lobotomy: a form of psychosurgery, in which the connections between the prefrontal lobes and the lower portion of the brain are severed. psychoanalytic therapy: oriented toward major personality change with a focus on uncovering unconscious motives, especially through dream interpretation. psychodynamic psychotherapy: therapy aimed at uncovering unconscious motives that underlie psychological problems. psychotherapy: the use of psychological techniques to modify maladaptive behaviors or thought patterns, or both, and to help patients develop insight into their own behavior. repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation: physicians expose particular brain structures to bursts of high-intensity magnetic fields instead of electricity; usually reserved for people with severe depression. selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs): drugs that make more serotonin available in the synapse. Prozac (fluoxetine), Zoloft (sertraline), Paxil (paroxetine), and Celexa (citalopram) are a few of the more widely used SSRIs; used primarily for depression and some anxiety disorders. support groups: meetings of people who share a common situation, be it a disorder, a disease, or coping with an ill family member. They meet regularly with each other to share experiences; these groups usually have a facilitator and an open format. systematic desensitization: a behavioral therapy technique, often used for phobias, in which the therapist pairs relaxation with gradual exposure to a phobic object, generating a hierarchy of increasing contact with the feared object, ranging from mild to extreme. tardive dyskinesia: a side effect from the extended use of traditional antipsychotics; consists of repetitive, involuntary movements of jaw, tongue, face, and mouth (such as grimacing and lip-smacking) and body tremors. technology-based therapies: make use of technology or the Internet to complement current therapies or make psychotherapeutic techniques available to people who might otherwise not have access to it or seek it out. token economies: a behavioral technique in which desirable behaviors are reinforced with a token, such as a small chip or fake coin, which can then be exchanged for privileges. traditional antipsychotics: historically, these were the first medications used to manage psychotic symptoms. transference: occurs in psychotherapy when the client reacts to a person in a present relationship as though that person were someone from the client’s past. tricyclic antidepressants: drugs used for treating depression. Examples include imipramine and amitriptyline, marketed under the trade names Elavil and Anafranil. They are also used in chronic pain management, to treat ADHD, and also as a treatment for bedwetting. virtual reality therapies: use virtual (digital simulation) environments that create therapeutic situations that might be hard to create otherwise. MAKING THE CONNECTIONS (Some of the connections are found in the text. Other connections may be useful for lecture or discussion.) Drug Treatments for Mood and Anxiety Disorders CONNECTION: Deficiencies in either the amount or the utilization of serotonin in certain parts of the brain are often found in people with depression (Chapter 15). •Discussion: Remind students that this is why the SSRIs are the post popular class of drugs for treating this disorder. Although researchers know how the drugs work, they are unsure as to why they work. CONNECTION: Do you need a caffeinated beverage to get you going in the morning--and more throughout the day to stay alert? People who require more and more caffeine or other drugs, including prescription drugs, have developed a drug tolerance (Chapter 6). •Discussion: This may contribute to folks with mental health issues not wanting to take their medications. Not only do most people never want to have to take a pill every day, but the side effects and the constant readjustment can wear on patients. Ask students what they think could be effective ways to get patients to take their medications. Drug Treatments for Schizophrenia CONNECTION: Schizophrenia and other disorders can be caused in part by genes that are expressed only under specific environmental circumstances •Discussion: Remind students of the diathesis-stress model discussed in Chapter 15. The diathesis or gene needs to be there and then stressors or experiences in the environment “select” the disorder. Behavioral Treatments CONNECTION: Principles of classical and operant conditioning, including the powerful effect of reinforcement on learning, are the foundation of many behavioral therapies (Chapter 8). •Discussion: You may want to point out to students examples you provided back in Chapter 8 of the Shi Tzu dog bite and how that could lead to a fear. Also remind them of how little Peter was “backward conditioned” by pairing the CS with a new favorable stimulus. This is an effective behavioral strategy. Mindfulness Training Combined with Psychotherapy CONNECTION: Mindfulness meditation practices help people become aware of everything that occurs in the mind and recognize it for what it is: a thought, an emotion, or a sensation that will arise and dissipate (Chapter 6). •Discussion: Have students take a look at the following article from Physorg.com on research done at Harvard, Yale, and MIT on the relationship between brain size and meditation: http://www.physorg.com/news10312.html INNOVATIVE INSTRUCTION 1. ECT: You may want to discuss with students ECT. Perhaps show a brief clip of it from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and ask students what they think about it still being used today. Remind students that this is reserved for the most intensive cases as a last resort. 2. Talk Therapies: Students often get confused on the differences here. Remind students that the difference in most approaches stems from theoretical beliefs (e.g., psychodynamic stems from a belief of internal conflicts that are unconscious, behavioral from learning, etc.). This will directly correspond to the type of therapy and the methods used. What types of therapies have students seen in movies or TV? Is one form represented to a greater extent than others? What would it mean in terms of most insurance policies that only pay for 10 to 15 visits a year? 3. Psychopharmaceuticals: Ask students what they think about the now widespread use of psychopharmaceuticals. Maybe begin the discussion with, “How many of you know someone taking an antidepressant or anti-anxiety medication?” This should allow a segue into a discussion on if this is because it is needed or perhaps trendy. That is, if movie stars are found with benzodiazapans and antidepressives, what message does that send to impressionable youth? 4. Medication: Remind students of the controversy in medicating children for disorders like ADHD. You may want to show Frontline: The Medicated Child (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/medicatedchild/) to get the discussion going. Ask them if they think children should receive medication for a disorder. You may want to remind them that unlike cholesterol, blood sugars, or HIV, the disorders commonly found in children (like ADHD) cannot be tested for in a clear manner. This is where the controversy lies. Further, how does this carry over to adults? 5. Behaviorism: You may want to inform students that the reason behavioral and cognitive behavioral therapies are so popular now is: 1) their efficacy; 2) they are relatively short in duration; and thus, 3) they are less expensive. Ask students to generate examples of how a disorder could be learned and then how the behavioral perspective not only explains the disorder but also how it could be “fixed” therapeutically. 6. Assign students to take a quick quiz to test their knowledge: http://www.psywww.com/selfquiz/ch12mcq.htm 7. Go to http://www.deltabravo.net/custody/rorschach.php and print one or more of the Rorschach inkblots for use in class. Ask students to write down what they think they see. Then ask for a few students to volunteer their answers. What do they think about this methodology? Could it be used diagnostically? You may want to end with a brief discussion on how this measure lacks both reliability and validity. 8. Have students go to http://consensus.nih.gov/1998/1998AttentionDeficitHyperactivityDisorder110html.htm and read the article on Diagnosis and Treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder from NIH. This is a 10-year-old article on ADHD. Have students then find one new source from the last 10 years and write one paragraph summarizing the initial article and a second on the current article. Then have them write a third paragraph on where the field should go from here. 9. Based on all the material we have covered in this text on abuse and epigenisis and disorders, have students try to integrate it all. Have them start at http://www.health.am/ab/more/psychological_therapy_can_help_maltreated_children/ for an article on abused kids and therapy. Have them write a short paper synthesizing material from the text discussing abuse and neglect, and how it affects the brain and leads to a greater risk of mental health issues. 10. There is a growing movement in the United States to allow clinical psychologists to prescribe medication. Three states, Louisiana, Illinois, and New Mexico, allow script-writing privileges after completing an additional requirement. What is your opinion of this change? Do you believe that clinical psychologists should be allowed to write prescriptions? Why or why not? Why do you think that the American Medical Association might not support this change? Suggested Media 1. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. A classic depiction of a mental health center. 2. A brief audio clip of Freud in 1938: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sm5YFnEPBE. 3. History of psychoanalysis and the case of Anna O: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUB85lSj4pM. 4. Frontline: The Medicated Child: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/medicatedchild/. 5. Dr. Sherwin Nuland discussing electroshock therapy: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/sherwin_nuland_on_electroshock_therapy.html. 6. Martin Seligman on positive psychology: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/martin_seligman_on_the_state_of_psychology.html. 7. Harvard psychologist Dan Gilbert on happiness: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy.html 8. Virtual Therapy for Agoraphobia (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.) 9. Using Soccer as Therapy (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.) Concept Clip (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.) 1. Cognitive Therapy Suggested Websites 1. Article on mediation and brain change: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43006-2005Jan2.html 2. fMRI studies on monks: http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma8/monkstudy.html 3. A great site on most of the disorders: http://www.brainphysics.com/ 4. Department of Health’s site on alternative therapies: http://healthpsych.psy.vanderbilt.edu/alternative_therapy.htm 5. NIMH on childhood and adolescent mental health: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/child-and-adolescent-mental-health/index.shtml 6. A great website for therapies: http://www.psychwww.com/resource/bytopic/therapies.html 7. WebMD on different disorders and therapies: http://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/guide/mental-health-psychotherapy 8. MBCT organization: http://www.mbct.com/. 9. Mayo Clinic's Website on ECT: http://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/electroconvulsive-therapy/basics/definition/prc-20014161 10. History of psychosurgery http://www.cerebromente.org.br/n02/historia/psicocirg_i.htm Suggested Readings Acton, G. S. (1998). Classification of psychopathology: The nature of language. Journal of Mind and Behavior, 19, 243–256. Bauer, M. S., & Mitchner, L. (2004). What is a “mood stabilizer”? An evidence-based response. American Journal of Psychiatry, 161, 3–18. Beck, A. T., Rush, A. J., & Shaw, B. F. (1979). Cognitive therapy of depression. New York: Guilford Press. Bond, G., Drake, R. E., Becker, & Mueser, K. (1999). Effectiveness of psychiatric rehabilitation approaches for employment of people with severe mental illness. Journal of Disability Policy Studies, 10, 18–52. Dickerson, F. B. (2000). Cognitive behavioral psychotherapy for schizophrenia: A review of recent empirical studies. Schizophrenia Research 43, 71–90. Frank, E., Kupfer, D. J., Perel, J. M., Cornes, C., Jarrett, D. B., Mallinger, A. G., Thase, M. E., McEachran, A. B., & Grochoconski, V. J. (1990). Three-year outcomes for maintenance therapies in recurrent depression. Archives of General Psychiatry 47, 1093–1099. Freud, S. (1910). The origin and development of psychoanalysis. American Journal of Psychology, 21, 181–218. Hoagwood, K., Jensen, P. S., Petti, T., & Burns, B. J. (1996). Outcomes of mental health care for children and adolescents: A comprehensive conceptual model. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 35, 1055–1063. Lipsey, M. W., & Wilson, D. B. (1993). The efficacy of psychological, educational, and behavioral treatment. American Psychologist, 48, 1181–1209. Shaffer, D., Fisher, P., Dulcan, M. K., Davies, M., Piacentini, J., Schwab-Stone, M. E., Lahey, B. B., Bourdon, K., Jensen, P. S., Bird, H. R., Canino, G., & Regier, D. A. (1996). The NIMH diagnostic interview schedule for children, version 2.3 (DISC 2.3): description, acceptability, prevalence, rates, and performance in the MECA study. Journal of the Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 35(7), 865–877. Von Korff, M., Katon, W., Bush, T., Lin, E. H., Simon, G. E., Saunders, K., Ludman, E., Walker, E., & Unutzer, J. (1998). Treatment costs, cost offset, and cost-effectiveness of collaborative management of depression. Psychosomatic Medicine, 60, 143–149. OUTLINE What Is Psychology? Psychology Defined Why Should You Study Psychology? Psychology in the Real World: Why Psychology Is Important to My Life by Yvette Szabo, University of Louisville Subdisciplines of Psychology The Origins of Psychology A Brief History of the Practice of Clinical Psychology Prehistoric Views Ancient Views Medieval to Early Modern Views Modern Views A Brief History of Scientific Psychology The Philosophy of Empiricism The Psychophysics of Human Perception Structuralism-Functionalism Behaviorism Humanistic and Positive Psychology Cognitivism Behavioral Genetics, Behavioral Neuroscience, and Evolution Ways of Thinking About Mind, Body, and Experience The Nature-Nurture Debate Mind-Body Dualism The Evolution of Behavior No One Perspective Tells the Whole Story in Psychology Challenge Assumptions: Don't Believe Everything You Think Connections Within and Between Chapters Bringing It All Together: Making Connections in Psychology: Studying Electronic Social Interactions Chapter Review EXTENDED CHAPTER OUTLINE WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? Psychology Defined •Psychology is the science of understanding people. Formally, it is the scientific study of thought and behavior. •How does psychology differ from other fields that attempt to understand human behavior? o Literature tries to understand people through story, character exploration, place, and word artistry. o History tries to understand people by describing and analyzing past events. o Sociology studies people by looking at large-scale social forces and focuses on groups rather than individuals. •Is psychology a science? o Yes! Psychology is often a social science, but increasingly it is also a biological science. o It is one of the core sciences. The other core sciences are medicine, earth science, chemistry, physics, and math. Why Should You Study Psychology? •Psychology is considered a part of a good general education, because its content is useful to many fields. Understanding the thoughts, feelings, and motives of others and the self is helpful for any academic discipline. •From our first days, humans have been inherently interested in other humans for survival purposes. Subdisciplines of Psychology •Cognitive psychology is the study of how we perceive, how we learn and remember, how we learn and use language, and how we solve problems. o Those who do research on cognition and learning are often referred to as experimental psychologists, because they conduct laboratory experiments to address their research questions. •Developmental psychology explores how thought and behavior change and show stability across the life span. •Behavioral neuroscience studies the links among brain, mind, and behavior. Neuroscience is an area that cuts across various disciplines and subdisciplines of psychology. That is, one can study brain functions involved in learning, emotion, social behavior, and mental illness, to name just a few areas. o A related subdiscipline, biological psychology, examines the relationship between body systems and chemicals and their influence on behavior and thought. •Personality psychology considers what makes people unique as well as the consistencies in people’s behavior across time and situations. •Social psychology considers how the real or imagined presence of others influences thought, feeling, and behavior. •Clinical psychology focuses on the treatment of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders and ways to promote psychological health. This is the single largest subdiscipline in psychology. o A related field is counseling psychology. Counseling psychologists are more likely than clinical psychologists to work with less severe psychological disorders. o Psychiatrists have training in medicine and an MD degree. In addition to offering psychotherapy, they can also prescribe drugs. •Health psychology examines the role of psychological factors in physical health and illness. •Educational psychology examines how students learn, the effectiveness of particular teaching techniques, the dynamics of school populations, and the psychology of teaching. It also attempts to understand special populations of students, such as the academically gifted and the learning disabled. o School psychology is a related field that is generally practiced by counselors in school settings. •Industrial/organizational (I/O) psychology applies to a broad array of psychological concepts and questions to work settings and problems. I/O is one of the fastest-growing subdisciplines in psychology. •Sports psychology examines the psychological factors in sports and exercise. •Forensic psychology is a blend of psychology, law, and criminal justice. THE ORIGINS OF PSYCHOLOGY •This section looks at the two main forms of psychology: clinical practice and science. A Brief History of the Practice of Clinical Psychology Prehistoric Views o Most prehistoric cultures had medicine men or women known as shamans, who treated “possession” by driving out the demons with rituals such as exorcisms, incantations, and prayers. o Some shamans used trephination, the drilling of a small hole in the person’s skull to release the spirits and demons that possessed the afflicted person. Ancient Views o Egypt and Greece were the first cultures to focus on natural and physical explanations for disorders. •Hippocrates was the first to write about acrophobia, the fear of heights. o At this same time, the Chinese were focusing on natural and bodily explanations of psychological disorders (e.g., they made connections between a person’s bodily organs and his emotions). Medieval to Early Modern Views o During the Middle Ages, people were again diagnosed as being possessed, as opposed to having a physical disorder. Remember, this is the era of witches! •How did they test to see if a person was a witch? One popular method was the float test, in which a person’s hands and feet were tied and she was thrown into a lake or river. If she floated, she had to be guilty because only the Devil could make someone float; if she sank, she was innocent. o It was during the 16th-century witch hunts that the first facilities for the mentally ill were created. Called asylums, these facilities were really nothing more than warehouses for the socially undesirable. o In response to the horrible conditions of the asylums, moral treatment movements began. The main idea was to provide a relaxing place where these patients would be treated with dignity and care. Modern Views o The first modern views of psychological disorders viewed them as any other form of illness—things to be diagnosed and treated with the proper therapy. o Emil Kraepelin began a systematic method of classifying and diagnosing psychological disorders. He identified “dementia praecox” (premature dementia), later changed to “schizophrenia,” and was the first to distinguish thought disorders from mood disorders. o Sigmund Freud developed psychoanalysis, a clinically based approach to understanding and treating psychological disorders. This perspective focused on the unconscious and early childhood experiences in adult psychological disorders. o By the middle of the 20th century, three of the major modern developments in clinical psychology had emerged: modern diagnostic criteria for mental disorders, psychotherapy, and drug therapy. Chapters 15 and 16 will cover these issues in depth. o Today, psychologists use the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-5 (DMS-5) to diagnose psychological disorders. In fact, this standardized manual diagnoses more than 250 psychological disorders. •CONNECTION: Disturbance, dysfunction, distress, and deviance must be present for the diagnosis of psychological disorders. The DSM describes specific symptoms of more than 250 different disorders (Chapter 15). A Brief History of Scientific Psychology •There are two parent disciplines of scientific psychology: philosophy and physiology. The Philosophy of Empiricism o John Locke established empiricism. Empiricism is the view that knowledge and thoughts come from experience. Locke believed that the mind begins as a blank slate (tabula rasa), and that experience (what one sees, hears, tastes, touches, and smells) establishes its contents. o Philosophy is not held to the scientific requirements of psychology. That is, it doesn’t need to collect data. It was not until the 1870s that the first psychological laboratory was opened in Germany. The Psychophysics of Human Perception o The first researchers in psychological science studied psychophysics, the subjective experience of physical sensations. They presumed that if the mind consists only of what we sense, then understanding the senses would lead to a direct understanding of the mind. o One important principle of psychophysics is that perception of physical properties is not the same as the physical properties themselves. o Ernst Weber, Gustav Fechner, and Hermann von Helmholtz were among the first experimental psychologists. Their research will be examined in Chapter 4. o In 1879 Wilhelm Wundt set up his psychology laboratory in Leipzig, Germany. This is considered the birthplace of experimental psychology. o William James, who worked at Harvard University, is considered the founder of psychology in the United States. o G. Stanley Hall studied with both Wundt and James. He earned the first PhD in psychology as James’ student. Hall also opened the first U.S. laboratory of psychology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, thereby establishing psychology as a science in the United States. He founded the American Psychological Association (APA) and become its first president in 1892. o Francis Cecil Sumner, a student of Hall’s, was the first African American to earn a PhD in psychology (1920). o Mary Whiton Calkins (1863–1930), another of James’ students, became the first female president of the APA in 1905. Structuralism-Functionalism o The primary question here is whether it is more important to study the elements of experience in order to understand human thought and behavior, or to study the functions behind human thought and behavior. o Structuralists believe that breaking down experience into its elemental parts provides the best way to understand thought and behavior. To do this, they used introspection, looking into one’s own mind for information about the nature of conscious experience. o Functionalists, who also used introspection, felt it was better to look at why the mind worked the way it did, rather than to describe its parts. Behaviorism o Founded by John Watson, behaviorism proposes that psychology can be a true science only if it examines observable behavior, not ideas, thoughts, feelings, or motives. o Skinner modified Watson’s ideas and argued that rewards and reinforcement shape behavior. o Behaviorism is an extreme form of environmentalism in which Locke’s idea of tabula rasa is most clearly expressed. Humanistic and Positive Psychology o Humanistic psychology focuses on personal growth and meaning as a way of reaching one’s highest potential. o Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers founded this movement, but its popularity waned in the 1970s. o Martin Seligman and Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi started the movement called positive psychology in the 1990s. It shares with humanism a belief that psychology should focus on studying, understanding, and promoting healthy and positive psychological functioning. Positive psychology, however, has more of a scientific focus. Cognitivism Although behaviorism moved away from internal motives and thoughts as being important scientific concepts, two events kept them in the minds of psychologists. First, Gestalt psychology, developed by Max Wertheimer, proposed that we perceive things as wholes rather than a compilation of parts. Moreover, our brains actively shape sensory information into perceptions. Second, mental processes returned to psychology at full force in the 1950s and 1960s—right at the peak influence of behaviorism. The term cognition appeared to discuss thoughts and mental processes. o Cognitive science used the computer as a metaphor for the mind. Computers store, retrieve, and process information, just as the brain stores, retrieves, and processes sensations, memories, and ideas. Sensation was the input; perception was the interpretation and processing of the input; and behavior and thoughts were the output. o By the 1980s, cognitive science combined many disciplines, including psychology, linguistics, philosophy, anthropology, artificial intelligence, and neuroscience. Behavioral Genetics, Behavioral Neuroscience, and Evolutionary Psychology o By the 1980s, psychologists were becoming receptive to the ideas that who we are, how we got here, and what we do and think are very much a result of brain activity, are influenced by genetic factors, and have a long evolutionary past. This movement was encouraged by developments in the fields of behavioral neuroscience, behavioral genetics, and the emergence of evolutionary psychology. •CONNECTION: Our genetic code is not set at birth. Genes are turned on or off by experiences we have, foods we eat, and even foods our mothers ate while pregnant (Chapter 3). WAYS OF THINKING ABOUT MIND, BODY, AND EXPERIENCE The Nature-Nurture Debate •This debate is over whether innate biology or life experience determines our personality and behaviors. •The nature-only view is that who we are comes from inborn tendency and genetically based traits. •The nurture-only side states that we are all born essentially the same, and we are a product of our experiences. Again, Locke would support this idea. o This notion is very North American in nature. •This book supports the concept of nature through nurture: The environment—the womb or the home—constantly interacts with biology to shape who we are and what we do. •One way of thinking about this debate is that, instead of being hardwired biologically, we are softwired. That is, our biological systems involved in thought and behavior are inherited but open to modification from the environment. Mind-Body Dualism •This debate is over how much separation there is between our mind and our body. From this perspective, the mind controls the body. The body can occasionally control the mind too, but mainly when we lose our better judgment, such as in the throes of passion. Mostly the mind and body are separate. •This dualism, or separation of mind and body, allows for the idea of a soul that survives bodily death. This allows for ideas of reincarnation and resurrection. The Evolution of Behavior •Evolution is the change over time in the frequency with which specific genes occur within a breeding species. •Charles Darwin was the first to discuss a major principle at play in evolution. He discussed the principle of natural selection. This is formally defined as a feedback process whereby nature favors one design over another, depending on whether it has an impact on reproduction. o Every once in a while, genes change for no apparent reason. These are called chance mutations. Mutations can cause variation in the design of a structure or a set of behaviors. o The key for natural selection to work is that the behaviors have to increase reproductive success, because reproduction and the passing of genes drive the whole process. o The accumulation of chance mutations underlies evolutionary change. o Natural selection creates structures and behaviors that solve adaptive problems. Adaptations are inherited solutions to ancestral problems that have been naturally selected because they directly contribute in some way to reproductive success, and they continue to perform that function. •Evolutionary psychology is the branch of psychology that studies human behavior by asking what adaptation problem it may have solved for our early ancestors. o Students can imagine they are driving on the highway and the car in the lane next to them has just cut them off. They slam on the brakes to avoid the accident. They experience fear and they do so because fear has been naturally selected because it helps us deal with problems. It moves us into action so we can protect ourselves. o Structure/features that perform a function that did not arise through natural selection are called by-products or exaptations. For example, humans didn’t evolve to speak in fully grammatical sentences but once they started doing so, there were legitimate adaptive reasons to continue. NO ONE PERSPECTIVE TELLS THE WHOLE STORY IN PSYCHOLOGY •A wide variety of perspectives must be considered when we study thought and behavior. This variety of perspective raises the question, "How does one resolve the various views?" There are two strategies for answering this question. First, by using science and critical thinking. Second, by making connections. Challenging Assumptions: Don't Believe Everything You Think •The methods of science and critical thinking help us choose among various explanations for thought and behavior. •Science tests our assumptions against observation in the real world. •More than one perspective can be correct. •Modern psychological science tells us that we must combine multiple perspectives to come to a complete understanding of thought and behavior. •One of the overarching themes of multiple perspectives is nature and nurture. •Research can lead to surprising findings that may challenge our assumptions. Connections Within and Between Chapters •Theories and findings are connected throughout the text. •Connections may be obvious or they may be surprising. •Learning to bring together ideas is an important part of critical thinking. •Each chapter in the text ends with "Bringing It All Together" to help connect main ideas and concepts. BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER: MAKING CONNECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGY: STUDYING ELECTRONIC SOCIAL INTERACTIONS •How do psychologists from different subfields study electronic social communication (such as e-mail, blogs, cell phones, texting, instant messaging, etc.) and human behavior and thought? Cognitive Psychology •Cell phone use has sparked a number of research questions, especially with regard to driving. Thus far, researchers have reported that the person’s driving ability is similar to a person’s driving ability while drunk. Developmental Psychology •Developmental psychologists are interested in questions such as: At what age is a person too young to form electronic social networks? At what age does usage of Internet social networks peak? Will they always be for the younger generation? Will people 60 and older use them? Does gender affect interest and participation in SNSs? How have cell phones and other electronic methods of communicating changed how teenagers interact with each other? Social Psychology •One of the first applications of the Internet for social purposes was online dating services. •Electronic interactions cannot easily be used to hide one’s “real personality” and to avoid ever having real face-to-face contact with others. •Another electronic behavior is the concept of “friending.” If someone allows you access to their site, they have “friended” you. This in turn leads to ancient issues of being “popular,” socially excluded, rejected, and accepted. Personality Psychology •These psychologists may ask: Are people who interact extensively with other people via Facebook more or less extraverted than those who do not? Moreover, how much of one’s personality is reflected in the style of their websites and Facebook pages? Health Psychology •A very innovative and at least partially successful application of electronic media is using the cell phone to post health information and symptoms of various diseases. This type of communication erases the embarrassment of having to obtain a health diagnosis face-to-face. Clinical Psychology •One of the main criteria for a mental illness is when it interferes with everyday life and functioning. If one is online for 10–12 hours a day, is that healthy? What about the danger involved in meeting someone in person whom you only know from online interaction? KEY TERMS adaptations: inherited solutions to ancestral problems that have been selected for because they directly contribute in some way to reproductive success; they continue to perform that function though the problem that required the adaptation no longer exists. asylums: facilities for treating the mentally ill that existed in Europe during the Middle Ages and into the 19th century. behavioral neuroscience: the study of the links among brain, mind, and behavior. behaviorism: a school of psychology that proposed that psychology can be a true science only if it examines observable behavior, not ideas, thoughts, feelings, or motives. biological psychology: the study of the relationship between bodily systems and chemicals, and how they influence behavior and thought. clinical psychology: the field that deals with the treatment of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders and the promotion of psychological health. cognitive psychology: the study of how people perceive, remember, think, speak, and solve problems. developmental psychology: the study of how thought and behavior change and remain stable across the life span. educational psychology: the study of how students learn, the effectiveness of particular teaching techniques, the social psychology of schools, and the psychology of teaching. empiricism: the view that all knowledge and thoughts come from experience. evolution: the change over time in the frequency with which specific genes occur within a breeding species. evolutionary psychology: the branch of psychology that aims to understand the functions of the human mind by looking at and understanding what adaptive problems it may have solved earlier in its ancestral past. forensic psychology: the study that combines psychology and the legal and criminal justice systems. functionalism: a school of psychology that argued that it was better to look at why the mind worked the way it did than to describe its parts. Gestalt psychology: a theory of psychology that proposes that we perceive things as wholes rather than a compilation of parts. health psychologists: scientists who examine the role that psychological factors play in regard to physical health and illness. humanistic psychology: a theory of psychology that focuses on personal growth and meaning as a way of reaching one’s highest potential. industrial/organizational (I/O) psychology: the application of psychological concepts and questions to work settings and problems. introspection: the main method of investigation for structuralists; it involves looking into one’s own mind for information about the nature of conscious experience. moral treatment: approach to treatment of the mentally ill that began in Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries; its goal was to offer dignity and care in a relaxing environment. natural selection: a feedback process whereby nature favors one design over another, depending on whether it has an impact on reproduction. nature through nurture: the position that the environment—be it the womb or the home or the entire world—constantly interacts with biology to shape who we are and what we do. personality psychology: the study of what makes people unique and the consistencies in people’s behavior across time and situations. positive psychology: a theory of psychology that shares with humanism a belief that psychology should focus on studying, understanding, and promoting healthy and positive psychological functioning, but does so from a scientific rather than theoretical perspective. psychoanalysis: a clinically based approach to understanding and treating psychological disorders; assumes that the unconscious mind is the most powerful force behind thought and behavior. psychology: the scientific study of thought and behavior. psychophysics: the first scientific form of psychology; laboratory studies of the subjective experience of physical sensations. shamans: medicine men or women who treat the possessed by coaxing and driving out the demons with elaborate rituals, such as exorcisms, incantations, and prayers. social psychology: the study of how living among others influences thought, feeling, and behavior. softwiring: in contrast to hardwired, means that biological systems involved in thought and behavior—genes, brain structures, brain cells, etc.—are inherited and still open to modification from the environment. sports psychology: the study of psychological factors in sports and exercise. structuralism: 19th-century school of psychology that argued that breaking down experience into its elemental parts offers the best way to understand thought and behavior. MAKING THE CONNECTIONS (Some of the connections are found in the text. Other connections may be useful for lecture or discussion.) Subdisciplines of Psychology CONNECTION: Why are people in crowds less likely to help a person in distress than people who witness such an event while alone? Research on the bystander effect answers this question (Chapter 14). •Discussion: Have students recall experiences in First Aid or Health classes they have taken in which they learn CPR. They walk up to Rescue Annie (the doll they resuscitate) and the first thing they ask her is “Are you all right? Are you OK? YOU call 911.” As they say that last sentence they have to point to one person in the crowd. Why? Because you must allocate responsibility; otherwise people just stand around as if silently asking, “Who, me?” A Brief History of Scientific Psychology CONNECTION: Disturbance, dysfunction, distress, and deviance must be present for the diagnosis of psychological disorders. The DSM describes specific symptoms of more than 250 disorders (Chapter 15). •Discussion: Ask students to discuss when behaviors move from normal to abnormal. A good example is hand cleaning. Ask students how many of them use hand sanitizers throughout the day. Ask how many students worry about catching a cold from someone by touching something a sick person has. Then discuss when “concern over illness” moves into OCD. CONNECTION: People learn by making associations, by being rewarded and reinforced, and by watching others succeed or fail (Chapter 8). •Discussion: Ask students to think about when they have used these concepts in training their pets, friends, and significant others. Ask students about their own experiences with reinforcements, punishments, and associations. CONNECTION: Humanistic and positive psychologists strive to understand people who are psychologically healthy, happy, and compassionate (Chapter 13). •Discussion: Ask students what behaviors and traits they think lead to happy and healthy lives. CONNECTION: Our genetic code is not set in stone at birth. Genes are turned on or off by experiences we have, foods we eat, and even foods our mothers ate while pregnant with us (Chapter 3). •Discussion: This combination of nature and nurture influencing development has been of huge importance in psychology. Ask students for their thoughts of which influences us more. INNOVATIVE INSTRUCTION 2. Ask students what college they think psychology should be in: arts and humanities or science, and why. They often do not realize that psychology is a science, like chemistry or physics, and why it is a science. You can also ask them about whether they think a psychology major should earn a BA or a BS. 2. Ask students why they are enrolled in this course. Are they psychology majors? If so, what do they want to be when they graduate? Are they enrolled to meet a general education requirement? If so, why do they think that psychology is a general education requirement? 3. The Origins of Psychology: You can start off your discussion of the origins of psychological disorders by showing a clip from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTdDN_MRe64 and show the witch trial scene. You can talk about the arguments they used and the seemingly scientific method they used to test their arguments. Students find the discussion humorous, but when you talk about medieval views, it becomes clear why you showed this clip. 4. Ask students which subdiscipline of psychology they think most fits with their current beliefs. You can use a CPS question to poll the class to get the conversation started. 5. Ask students to think about which evolutionarily adapted behaviors might have been advantageous for their ancestors but are not necessarily useful today. A good example is fatty foods; it makes sense that in hunter-gatherer societies fatty, high-calorie foods would be in demand. You might not know when your next meal is coming. This is certainly not the case today when you can get cheap, fatty foods on any street corner. 6. Ask students to think about the connection babies have with their parents. Evolutionarily speaking, why might these connections be important? 7. Ask students to take out a sheet of paper and draw a picture of a psychologist. Use a document camera to show some of the pictures and ask students to note any generalities they see. Most often, students draw a picture of a therapist (namely Freud): a man with a beard and glasses, sitting next to a couch. Explain that most psychologists are not clinicians, but most are academics! 8. Ask students to write down two or three things that come to their mind when they think of "psychology." Ask students to provide one of their terms out loud. 9. Have students engage in introspection. Start by asking them what it means to be introspective. They often believe that it is being thoughtful and self-analyzing. To demonstrate true introspection, ask them to think about an everyday object like an apple. Have them talk about what it smells like, tastes like, how it feels in their mouth, and when they swallow it, any connections they make with it (e.g., apple pie, grandma, etc.). 10. Have students create a timeline of psychological trends and historical events. This is a good study tool in addition to helping them understand why different schools of thought might have evolved. For example, it makes sense that psychoanalysis came into vogue during the Victorian era, which was a time of repression. 11. Ask students to pretend that they are going into psychology (some may actually be psychology majors) and will be earning their PhD. What type of psychologist do they want to become, and why? 12. Ask students if they agree that driving while on the cell phone is similar to driving drunk. Have them defend their answer. You may want to share with them the Strayer, Drews, and Couch (2006) article listed in the suggested readings. 13. Ask students why they think online dating might be related to issues of social anxiety? What do they think of the concept of “friending” people that they don't even know? 14. Ask students how many times they check their social media (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, etc.) in any given day. How do they feel when they cannot check their media? Do they think they are addicted? Why or why not? 15. Ask students to find three instances from real life that demonstrate psychological concepts in their lives. This can be done individually or in groups. Have students share their ideas and discuss which major subdisciplines best explain the experience. Suggested Media 112. Monty Python International Philosophy Germany vs. Greece: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2kAnTZBnTg 113. Amadeus (1984) is a good example of how asylums were set up to treat the mentally ill. 114. Quills (2000) also offers a good example of asylums. 115. A clip from CBS news with Katie Couric (2007), discussing a research finding on empathy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gq-EtH7ub34 116. Discovering Psychology: Past, Present, and Promise (Annenberg) 117. Penis envy discussed in The Big Bang Theory: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0Xm6RdLakA Concept Clips (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.) 1. Structuralism and Functionalism Suggested Websites 76. Article in Time magazine on Freud: http://www.time.com/time/time100/scientist/profile/freud.html 77. Evolutionary psychology: http://www.anth.ucsb.edu/projects/human/evpsychfaq.html 78. American Psychological Association: http://www.apa.org 79. American Psychological Society: http://www.psychologicalscience.org 80. Psychology and the Movies: http://www.smccd.edu/accounts/merrill/PSYCHOLOGY%20AND%20MOVIES.htm Suggested Readings Baker, D. B. (2012). The Oxford handbook of the history of psychology: Global perspectives. Oxford University Press. Bell, A. (2002). Debates in psychology. London: Taylor and Francis. Buss, D.M. (2011). Evolutionary psychology: The new science of the mind (4th ed.). Pearson. Clayton, M., Helms, B., & Simpson, C. (2006). Active prompting to decrease cell phone use and increase seat belt use while driving. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 39(3), 341–349. Fancher, R. E. (1996). Pioneers of psychology (3rd ed.). New York: Norton. Goodwin, J. G. (Ed.) (2009). Annotated readings in the history of modern psychology. Wiley. Hock, R. (2008). Forty studies that changed psychology: Explorations into the history of psychological research. Prentice-Hall. Lewis, K., Kaufman, J., & Christakis, N. A. (2008). The taste for privacy: An analysis of college student privacy settings in the Facebook.com social network. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. 14, 79–100. Lillenfeld, S. O., Lynn, S. J., Ruscio, J., & Beyerstein, B. L. (2010). 50 great myths of popular psychology: Shattering widespread misconceptions about human behavior. Wiley-Blackwell. O’Boyle, C. G. (2006). History of psychology: A cultural perspective. Philadelphia, PA: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Robins, R. W., Gosling, S. D., & Craik, K. H. (1999). An empirical analysis of trends in psychology. American Psychologist, 54, 117–128. Schure, M. B., Christopher, J., & Christopher, S. (2008). Mind-body medicine and the art of self-care: Teaching mindfulness to counseling students through yoga, meditation, and Qigong. Journal of Counseling & Development, 86(1), 47–56. Strayer, D. L., Drews, F.A., & Couch, D. J. (2006). A comparison of the cell phone driver and the drunk driver. Human Factors, 48, 381–391. Chapter 2: Conducting Research in Psychology BRIEF CHAPTER OUTLINE The Nature of Science Common Sense and Logic The Limits of Observation What Is Science? The Scientific Method What Science Is Not: Pseudoscience Research Methods in Psychology Principles of Research Design Descriptive Studies Case Study Naturalistic Observation Interview and Survey Meta-Analysis Correlational Studies Experimental Studies Challenging Assumptions in the Objectivity of Experimental Research Commonly Used Measures of Psychological Research Self-Report Measures Behavioral Measures Physiological Measures Making Sense of Data with Statistics Descriptive Statistics Inferential Statistics Psychology in the Real World: Challenge the Assumptions of Advertiser's Statistics Research Ethics Ethical Research with Humans Ethical Research with Animals Bringing It All Together: Making Connections in Psychological Research: Can Experience Change the Brain? Chapter Review EXTENDED CHAPTER OUTLINE •Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment is outlined in detail (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpDVFp3FM_4). o Zimbardo set out to examine whether normal people might behave in extreme ways when thrust into situations that place certain demands of them. o Zimbardo screened 21 male student volunteers and assigned them to be either “guards” or “prisoners” in a simulated prison environment for two weeks. All were briefed beforehand about what conditions would be like in the mock prison. All the students signed a form consenting to participate. o Six days into the simulation, however, Zimbardo ended the study, because the students were playing their roles too well. Prisoners went back and forth between plotting riots and having emotional breakdowns, such as getting sick and crying. Guards became extremely authoritarian, restricting almost all personal freedom of the prisoners. •One of the goals of modern psychological research is to understand human behavior in a sound, objective, and scientific manner while observing guidelines for the physical and emotional well-being of the people or animals being studied. o Formal ethical guidelines, however, were first proposed in the United States in 1966 and only became law in 1974. This is after Zimbardo conducted his study. You may want to ask students if they think that his study would have been approved by IRBs today. THE NATURE OF SCIENCE Common Sense and Logic •Common sense is the intuitive ability to understand the world. •Logic tells us how the world should work. •CONNECTION: How do psychologists tease apart how much of a trait is due to genetics and how much is due to environment? A common approach is to study twins (both identical and fraternal) who are reared apart or reared together (Chapter 3). The Limits of Observation •Our knowledge of the world comes through our five senses, but the way in which the brain organizes and interprets sensory experiences may vary from person to person, making observation potentially faulty. •Another problem with observation is that people tend to generalize from their observations and assume that what they witnessed in one situation applies to all similar situations. What Is Science? •Science can be thought of in three distinct areas: physical, biological, and social. o As mentioned in Chapter 1, psychology is a social science. •There are three attitudes of science: 4. Question authority. Be skeptical and don’t just accept the words of experts. You must scrutinize and test ideas yourself. 5. Show open skepticism. While you should be skeptical, you should also, ultimately, be open to accepting whatever the evidence reveals. 6. Intellectual honesty. Accept the data, whatever it suggests. The Scientific Method •The scientific method is made up of five basic processes that you can remember by the word OPTIC: Observe, Predict, Test, Interpret, and Communicate. •In the observation and prediction stages of a study, researchers develop expectations about an observed phenomenon. o A theory is a set of related assumptions from which testable predictions can be made. They organize and explain what we have observed and guide what we will observe. o A hypothesis is a specific, informed, and testable prediction of what kind of outcome should occur under a particular condition. •The third stage is the testing of these hypotheses. To do this, researchers select both an appropriate method of testing and the appropriate measurement techniques. •In the fourth stage, researchers use statistical techniques to interpret the results and determine whether they are beyond chance and a close fit to their prediction or not. You may want to use this as an opportunity to explain why psychology majors need to take statistics! •The fifth stage of the scientific method is to communicate the results. Generally, scientists publish their findings in an established, peer-reviewed, professional journal but they can also give talks and poster presentations. Written communications follow a standardized format (called APA [vs. MLA] style) whereby the researchers report their hypothesis, describe their research design and the conditions of the study, summarize the results, and share their conclusions. •Replication is the repetition of a study to confirm the results. The advancement of science hinges on results being replicated. This is how the process of scientific discovery is cumulative. Previous knowledge builds on older knowledge. What Science Is Not: Pseudoscience •Pseudoscience refers to practices that appear to be and claim to be science, but in fact do not use the scientific method to come to their conclusions. •Pseudoscience practitioners: 6. make no real advances in knowledge, 7. disregard well-known and established facts that contradict their claims, 8. do not challenge or question their own assumptions, 9. tend to offer vague or incomplete explanations of how they came to their conclusions, and 10. tend to use unsound logic in making their arguments. •Examples of pseudoscience include alchemy, creation science, intelligent design, perpetual motion machines, astrology, psychokinesis, and some forms of mental telepathy. RESEARCH METHODS IN PSYCHOLOGY Principles of Research Design •Research designs are plans for how to conduct a study. •A general goal of psychological research is to measure change in behavior, thought, or brain activity. A variable is anything that changes or “varies” within or between people. Psychologists do research by predicting how and when variables influence each other. o Examples of variables are age, personality traits, gender, and mental disorders. •Researchers must pay attention to how they obtain participants for their studies. o The first step in obtaining a sample is for the researchers to decide the makeup of the entire group or population in which they are interested (e.g., all college students, all men, all adolescents, all African Americans, etc.). o Populations are too large to survey or interview directly so researchers draw on small subsets from each population to study, called samples. If researchers want to draw valid conclusions or make accurate predictions about the population, it is important that they have samples that accurately represent the population in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, or any other variables that might be of interest. Descriptive Studies •Single events and single cases often lead to new ideas and new lines of research (e.g., the Kitty Genovese murder). •In descriptive designs, the researcher makes no prediction and does not control or manipulate any variables. The researcher defines a problem and describes the variable of interest. •These types of studies generally occur during the exploratory phase of research. o Case Studies o Involves a psychologist observing one person often over a long period of time. o Offer deep insights that surveys and questionnaires often miss because they are based on a one-on-one relationship lasting over years. o Psychobiographies examine in detail the lives of historically important people. o They do not test hypotheses but can be a rich source for hypotheses. o Caution! Not all cases are generalizable to other people. That is why we don’t stop with case studies, but use them to develop testable and more general predictions. Naturalistic Observation o The researcher tries to be as unobtrusive as possible and observes and records behavior in the real world. o Naturalistic observation is more often the design of choice in comparative psychology by researchers who study non-human behavior (usually primates) to determine what is and is not unique about our species. A good example is Jane Goodall. o Developmental psychologists occasionally also conduct naturalistic observations (e.g., the Efe tribe and communal childrearing practices). o The advantage of naturalistic observation is that it gives researchers a look at real behavior in the real world, rather than in a controlled setting where people might not behave naturally. o Caution! Because conditions cannot be controlled and cause and effect relationships between variables cannot be examined, these studies are rarely done. Interview and Survey o Both the interview and the survey involve asking people directly or indirectly what they think, feel, or have done. o They also both involve specific questions, usually asked precisely the same way, but answers can be open-ended or restricted to a rating (Likert) scale. o Interviews can be conducted face-to-face, over the phone, or online. o Pitfalls include sampling problems such as not being representative and biased responses. Ideally, researchers want to have a representative sample in which the sample truly represents the population of interest. o Kinsey’s surveys of male and female sexual behavior provide good examples of the power and weakness of survey research. He didn’t use representative sampling and oversampled people in Indiana (his home state) and prisons. He interviewed people face-to-face about their most personal and private details of their sexual behavior, making it more likely they would not be perfectly honest in their responses. Meta-Analysis •Meta-analysis is a quantitative method for combining the results of all the published and even unpublished results on one question and drawing a conclusion based on the entire set of studies on the topic. •A researcher converts the findings of each study into a standardized statistic known as effect size. Effect size is a measure of the strength of the relationship between two variables or the magnitude of an experimental effect. The average effect size across all studies reflects what the literature overall says on a topic or question. Correlational Studies •Correlational designs measure two or more variables and their relationship to one another (e.g., how is variable X related to variable Y). •Correlational studies are useful when the variables cannot be manipulated. For example, you can’t randomly assign a child to live with his or her mother or his or her father. You also can't manipulate whether someone has schizophrenia or not. •The major limitation of the correlational approach is that it does not establish whether one variable actually causes the other or vice versa. Correlation is not causation! •A correlation coefficient is a statistic that tells us whether two variables relate to each other and the direction of the relationship. o Correlations range between–1.0 and +1.0, with coefficients near 0.00 telling us there is no relationship between the two variables. As a correlation approaches ±1.00, the strength of the relationship increases. o Correlation coefficients can be positive or negative. If the relationship is positive, then as a group’s score on X goes up, their score on Y also goes up. With a negative correlation, as a group’s score on X goes up, their score on Y goes down. Experimental Studies •A true experiment has two crucial characteristics. 3. First, experimental manipulation of a predicted cause, the independent variable, and measurement of the response, or dependent variable. 4. Second, random assignment of participants to control and experimental groups or conditions. •The independent variable in an experiment is an attribute that is manipulated by the experimenter while other aspects of the study are held constant. •The dependent variable is the outcome, or response to the experimental manipulation. •Random assignment is the method used to assign participants to different research conditions so that each person has the same chance of being in one group as another. Random assignment is critical because it assures that on average the groups will be similar with respect to certain variables. o Why is this important? Because if the groups are the same on these qualities at the beginning of the study, then any differences between the groups at the end of the experiment are likely to be the result of the experiment. o The experimental group consists of those participants who will receive the treatment or the independent variable. o The control group consists of participants who are treated exactly in the same manner as the experimental group but who do not receive the independent variable or treatment. They may instead be given a placebo, a substance or treatment that appears identical to the actual treatment but lacks the active substance. •Confounding variables are additional variables whose influence cannot be separated from the independent variable being examined. •Experimental design allows us to determine causality if the independent variable caused changes in the dependent variable and everything else is held constant. o Researchers must also be careful to treat the two groups alike and make sure that all environmental conditions (e.g., noise level and room size) are equivalent. •How much participants and experimenters know about the experimental conditions to which participants have been assigned can also affect outcome. o Single-blind studies are designs in which participants do not know the experimental condition to which they have been assigned. This must be the case in all studies to avoid the possibility that participants will behave in a biased way. For example, if participants know they have been assigned to a group that receives a new training technique on memory, then they might try harder to perform well. This would confound the results. o In double-blind studies neither the participants nor the researchers know who has been assigned to which condition. These designs prevent experimenter expectancy effects, which occur when the behavior of the participants is influenced by the experimenter’s knowledge. CHALLENGING ASSUMPTIONS IN THE OBJECTIVITY OF EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH •Robert Rosenthal hypothesized that people who believed they were successful would be more likely to see success in others. •To test this idea, he conducted an experiment in which he told one group of participants that they had done well on an intelligence test and another group that they had done poorly on an intelligence test. Rosenthal randomly assigned participants to be in one of these conditions (there was also a neutral control condition where participants were not given any feedback after the intelligence test). Then he asked both groups to examine photographs of people doing various tasks and rate how successful they thought the people in the photos were. •He compared the average scores of the participants assigned to different conditions before doing anything to them. Unfortunately, the groups were not only different at the outset, but they were different in exactly the way that favored his hypothesis. •Because he used random assignment, the only difference in the groups at the outset was Rosenthal’s knowledge of who was in which group. Somehow, by knowing who was in which group, he unintentionally created behaviors that favored his hypothesis. •Rosenthal had discovered experimenter expectancy effects. He also found that if the study involves direct interaction between an experimenter and participants, the experimenter’s age, ethnicity, personality, and gender can have an effect on the participants’ behavior. •Rosenthal stumbled upon a more general phenomenon known as self-fulfilling prophecy, a statement that changes events to cause a belief or prediction to become true. •Within 10 years, more than 300 other studies confirmed Rosenthal’s results in both human and animal experiments. •Their research led to the development of double-blind procedures. •Expectancy effects have also been found in classrooms. Lenore Jacobson collaborated with Rosenthal in a study to determine whether teachers create “smart” behavior in classrooms. They found that when a teacher thinks that a certain student is “smart” and “special,” he/she may unwittingly treat the student differently, give more detailed feedback, and give the student more challenging material. These actions, in turn, could create a higher-performing, “smarter” student. COMMONLY USED MEASURES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH •The tools and techniques used to assess thought or behavior are called measures. Self-Report Measures •Self-reports are people’s written or oral accounts of their thoughts, feelings, or actions. •Two kinds of self-report measures are commonly used in psychology: interviews and questionnaires. o In an interview, a researcher asks a set of questions and the respondent usually answers in any way he or she feels is appropriate. Answers are either coded into broad categories or simply summarized. The answers are often open-ended and not constrained by the researcher. o In a questionnaire, responses are limited to the choices given in the questionnaire. •Pros of Self-Report Questionnaires o Self-report questionnaires are easy to use, especially in the context of collecting data from a large number of people at once or in a short period of time. o They are also relatively inexpensive. o If designed carefully, they can also provide important information on key psychological variables. •Cons of Self-Report Questionnaires o People are not always the best sources of information about themselves because of social desirability bias. This is the tendency toward favorable self-presentation. o We have to assume that people are accurate witnesses to their own experiences. Behavioral Measures •Behavioral measures are based on systematic observation of people’s actions, either in their normal environment (that is, naturalistic observation) or in a laboratory setting. Afterward, trained coders observe the videotapes and, using a prescribed method, code the level of aggressive behavior exhibited by each person. •Pros o They are less susceptible to social desirability bias than are self-report measures. o They provide more objective, direct measurements, because they come from a trained outside observer, rather than from the participants themselves. •Cons o If people know they are being observed, watched, and/or measured, they may modify their behavior. o These studies are time-intensive. Physiological Measures •Physiological measures are used to collect data on bodily responses such as heart rate, sweating, respiration, and brain activity. Chapter 3 will discuss brain imaging techniques. •Clearly, the big con here is that these technologies require specialized training in the use of equipment, collection of measurements, and data interpretation. They can therefore be quite costly. MAKING SENSE OF DATA WITH STATISTICS •Once researchers collect data, they must make sense of them using statistics, the mathematical procedures for collecting, analyzing, interpreting, and presenting numerical data. •Statistics are used to describe and simplify data and to understand how variables are related. Descriptive Statistics •The first statistics researchers calculate are called descriptive statistics. These tests provide a way of summarizing and organizing data. o These statistics can be represented in graphs. o Another way to describe data is to compute the mean of the data or the arithmetic average. o The median is the middle score, which separates the lower half of scores from the upper half. o The mode is the most frequently occurring score. o The mean, however, does not reveal anything about how spread out, or how varied, scores are. The most common way to represent that information is to calculate the standard deviation, which tells you how much the scores in a sample vary around the mean. o Frequency is the number of times a particular score occurs in a set of data. A graph of frequency scores is known as a distribution. To graph a distribution we place the scores on the horizontal or X-axis and their frequencies on the vertical or Y-axis. For example, the standard bell curve, or normal distribution, if we gave 1,000 children an IQ test and plot all 1,000 scores, we would end up with something very close to a symmetrical bell-shaped distribution. That is, very few children would score 70 or below and very few children would score 130 and above. The majority of children would be right around the average or mean of 100. In fact, right at two-thirds (68% to be exact) would be within 1 standard deviation (15 points) of the mean. Moreover, about 95% would be within 2 standard deviations, or between 70 and 130. Inferential Statistics •Inferential statistics allow us to test hypotheses and make an inference as to how likely a sample score is to occur in a population. •Probability and the normal distribution are used to rule out chance as an explanation for why the group scores are different. •Five in one hundred (5%) is the most frequent choice made by psychological researchers and is referred to as the probability-level. If we obtain two means and our statistical analysis tells us there is only a 5% or less chance that these means come from the same population, we conclude that the numbers are not just different but statistically different and not likely by chance. •To compare just two means, we use a statistic known as the t-test. The basic logic of the t-tests is to determine whether the means for your two groups are so different they are not likely to come from the same population. •In short, t-tests allow us to test our hypotheses and rule out chance as an explanation. •As useful and helpful as statistics are to help us understand our results, be aware however that they also can be and are used to mislead people. PSYCHOLOGY IN THE REAL WORLD: CHALLENGE THE ASSUMPTIONS OF ADVERTISER'S STATISTICS •Scenario #1: A billboard advertising a popular hybrid vehicle: “The car more people would buy again.” o What did the ad actually say? The car more people would buy again. Ask yourself, “More than what?” The meaning of this claim depends entirely on what this vehicle is being compared to (other hybrids, all cars, a moped?). o Advertisers regularly leave information out and hope you will fill in the blank with what helps them most. In this case, they hope and assume you fill in the blank with “all other cars.” •Scenario #2: In an ad in the morning paper, Company B reports on research that should really make you want to buy their product. A recent lab study shows that just a ½ ounce of their new drug—let’s call it “No-Cold”—killed 37,202 germs in a test tube in less than 15 seconds! o The implication is that it is a great cold medicine—perhaps better than others—on the basis of these hard scientific data. Here are a few things to consider: The fact that a substance works well in a test tube (a controlled environment) does not mean it will work in the human throat or respiratory tract. The ad doesn’t say what kinds of germs “No-Cold” killed. •Scenario #3: Graphic displays of data can be misleading. Consider Figures 2.14A and 2.14B, both of which depict the billions of dollars spent on education over a one-year period. o One seems to show a much bigger increase in spending on education than the other but if you look closely, both depict the same dollar increase in spending. o This visual difference stems from how the illustrations’ vertical axis is segmented. Companies, journalists, and politicians mislead people all the time by tweaking the graphic depiction of data. RESEARCH ETHICS •Some of the most important studies in psychology could not be performed today, including the Stanford Prison Experiment. •Ethics are the rules governing the conduct of a person or group in general or in a specific situation, or more simply, standards of right and wrong. •Every single psychological study conducted with humans and animals must pass through a rigorous review of its methods by a panel of experts. If the proposed study does not meet the standards, it cannot be approved. •Another notable example of research that would violate current ethics guidelines is Milgram’s research on obedience, which will be discussed in more detail in Chapter 14. o Milgram designed an experiment to test systematically the question of whether decent people could be made to inflict harm on other people. o His studies involved a simulation in which participants were misled to think they were participating in a study on punishment and learning. They administered what they thought were electrical shocks to punish the “learner,” who was in another room, for making errors. o In spite of protest from the “learner” when increasingly intense shocks occurred, the experimenter pressured the “teachers” to continue administering shocks. Despite his screams, most of the participants continued to shock the learner. o After the study, Milgram fully explained to his participants that, in fact, the “learner” was never shocked or in pain at all. Ethical Research with Humans •Today, all psychological and medical researchers must adhere to the following guidelines listed below. 6. Informed consent: Participants must be told, in general terms, what the study is about, what they will do and how long it will take, what the known risks and benefits are, that they have the right to withdraw at any time without penalty, and whom to contact with questions. 7. Respect for persons: The dignity and autonomy of the individual must be protected. 8. Beneficence: Participants should be told the costs and benefits of participation. The costs should be minimized and the benefits maximized. 9. Privacy and confidentiality: Protect the privacy of the participant, generally by keeping all responses confidential. 10. Justice: The benefits and costs of participation must be distributed equally among participants. •The APA believes that participant deception should be avoided whenever possible but recognizes that sometimes it is justified. If deception is used then, when the study is over, participants must be debriefed or informed of the exact purposes of the study (including the hypotheses) and all deceptive practices must be revealed and explained. •Today, to ensure adherence to ethical guidelines, institutional review boards (IRBs) evaluate proposed research before it is conducted to make sure research involving humans does not cause undue harm or distress. Ethical Research with Animals •Biological psychology and learning are the areas of psychology that most often use animals for research. •Animals cannot consent to research but since animal research has led to many treatments for disease, as well as advances in understanding basic neuroscientific processes, the medical and scientific communities, along with the general public, have deemed such research acceptable as long as the general conditions and treatment of the animals is humane. •Laws generally require housing the animals in clean, sanitary, and adequately sized structures. •Specific IRBs evaluate proposals for animal research and require researchers to ensure the animals’ comfort, health, and humane treatment, which also means keeping discomfort, infection, illness, and pain to an absolute minimum at all times. •If a study requires euthanizing the animal, it must be done as painlessly as possible. BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER: MAKING CONNECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL REACH: CAN EXPERIENCE CHANGE THE BRAIN? •The research question is can enriching experiences actually improve brain function and/or make the brain grow faster? •Some methods of research are chosen over others in an attempt to answer this question. •In the early 1960s research was conducted to study the effects of different environments on the brain of rats. In many experimental studies genetically similar rats were assigned to enriched or impoverished environments. The researchers found rats raised in enriched environments showed evidence of growth in brain tissue. •One of the major reasons we study these phenomena in animals is that ethical limitations prevent human research. Animals serve as a model. •Rat and human brains, however, are not identical. Rat brains are not a perfect model for human brains. •It would be, however, unethical to assign children to enriched or impoverished environments. •The most rigorous design that e could be applied in this research is a quasi-experimental design. This type of design makes use of naturally occurring groups rather than randomly assigned ones. •Several quasi-experimental designs have focused on people who had received intensive musical training. •People who have received this musical training, especially before age 7 have a thicker corpus callosum or a band of nerve fibers connecting the two hemispheres of brain. •This means musicians have more communication between the two sides of the brain compared to people who have not had musical training. •The results, however, are correlational and not causal because researchers relied on naturally occurring groups. KEY TERMS behavioral measures: measures based on systematic observation of people’s actions, either in their normal environment or in a laboratory setting. case study: a study design in which a psychologist, often a therapist, observes one person over a long period of time. confounding variable: variable whose influence on the dependent variable cannot be separated from the independent variable being examined. control group: a group of research participants who are treated in exactly the same manner as the experimental group, except that they do not receive the independent variable or treatment. correlation coefficient: a statistic that ranges from –1.0 to +1.0 and assesses the strength and direction of association between two variables. correlational designs: studies that measure two or more variables and their relationship to one another; not designed to show causation. debriefing: the explanation of the purposes of a study following data collection. dependent variable: in an experiment, the outcome or response to the experimental manipulation. descriptive designs: study designs in which the researcher defines a problem and variable of interest but makes no prediction and does not control or manipulate anything. descriptive statistics: techniques that show what observations collected in research actually look like, by summarizing and describing data. double-blind studies: studies in which neither the participants nor the researchers administering the treatment know who has been assigned to the experimental or control group. effect size: a measure of the strength of the relationship between two variables or the extent of an experimental effect. ethics: the rules governing the conduct of a person or group in general or in a specific situation; or, more simply, standards of right and wrong. experiment: a research design that includes independent and dependent variables and random assignments of participants to control and experimental groups or conditions. experimental group: a group consisting of those participants who will receive the treatment or whatever is predicated to change behavior. experimenter expectancy effects: result that occurs when the behavior of the participants is influenced by the experimenter’s knowledge of who is in the control group and who is in the experimental group. frequency: is the number of times a particular score occurs in a set of data. hypothesis: a specific, informed, and testable prediction of the outcome of a particular set of conditions in a research design. independent variable: a property that is manipulated by the experimenter under controlled conditions to determine whether it causes the predicted outcome of an experiment. inferential statistics: allow us to test hypotheses and make an inference as to how likely a sample score is to occur in a population. institutional review boards (IRBs): organizations that evaluate proposed research before it is conducted to make sure research involving humans does not cause undue harm or distress. mean: the arithmetic average of a series of numbers. measures: tools and techniques used to assess thought or behavior are called measures. median: the score that separates the lower half of scores from the upper half. meta-analysis: research technique for combining all research results on one question and drawing a conclusion. mode: a statistic that represents the most commonly occurring score or value. naturalistic observation: a study in which the researcher unobtrusively observes and records behavior in the real world. normal distribution: a normal distribution has a precise shape; we know exactly what percentage of scores is within one standard deviation from the mean (68%) and how many are within two standard deviations of the mean (95%). physiological measures: measures of bodily responses, such as blood pressure or heart rate, used to determine changes in psychological state. placebo: a substance or treatment that appears identical to the actual treatment but lacks the active substance. population: the entire group a researcher is interested in; for example, all humans, all adolescents, all boys, all girls, all college students. pseudoscience: claims presented as scientific that are not supported by evidence obtained by the scientific method. quasi-experimental design: research method similar to an experimental design except that it makes use of naturally occurring groups rather than randomly assigning subjects to groups. random assignment: the method used to assign participants to different research conditions so that all participants have the same chance of being in any specific group. replication: the repetition of a study to confirm the results; essential to the scientific process. representative sample: a research sample that accurately reflects the population of people one is studying. research design: plans of action for how to conduct a scientific study. samples: subsets of the population studied in a research project. scientific method: the procedures by which scientists conduct research, consisting of five basic processes: observation, prediction, testing, interpretation, and communication. scientific thinking: scientific thinking involves the cognitive skills required to generate, test, and revise theories. self-fulfilling prophecy: a statement that affects events to cause the prediction to become true. self-reports: written or oral accounts of a person’s thoughts, feelings, or actions. single-blind studies: studies in which participants do not know the experimental condition (group) to which they have been assigned. social desirability bias: the tendency toward favorable self-presentation that could lead to inaccurate self-reports. standard deviation: a statistical measure of how much the scores in a sample vary around the mean. statistics: collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of numerical data. theory: a set of related assumptions from which scientists can make testable predictions. t-test: a statistical test that compares two means. variable: a characteristic that changes or “varies,” such as age, gender, weight, intelligence, anxiety, and extraversion. MAKING THE CONNECTIONS (Some of the connections are found in the text. Other connections may be useful for lecture or discussion.) Common Sense and Logic CONNECTION: How do psychologists tease apart how much of a trait is due to genetics and how much is due to environment? A common approach is to study twins (both identical and fraternal) who are reared apart or reared together (Chapter 3). •Discussion: A brief overview of behavioral genetics and personality can be found at: http://www.personalityresearch.org/bg.html. It reviews twin and adoptee research on personality and how behavioral genetics has influenced methodology. What Is Science? CONNECTION: Think about one assumption or idea or belief you once had that you no longer believe. What made you change your mind? Did you observe certain things that contradicted your belief, or did someone convince you with the logic of an argument? •Discussion: Ask students to stand up, if they believe research on animals is unethical have them move to stand on the L side of the room. If they believe that it is ethical, have them stand to the R. If they are unsure they can stay in the middle. Have the L and R sides discuss their perspective and then ask people to move to the part of the room that now represents their stance. Generally, many students will shift views after discussion and this will illustrate attitude change (Chapter 14). CONNECTION: As a neuroscientist working on Parkinson’s disease, Helen Mayberg found something unexpected about brain circuitry. Initially she was skeptical. Because she was also curious and open to the evidence, she decided to pursue it further. Her curiosity and openness led to her discovery how placing an electrical stimulator deep inside the brain could turn off depression like a switch (Chapter 16). •Suggested Website: The Mayo Clinic’s website has a thorough discussion of ECT: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/electroconvulsive-therapy/MY00129. •Suggested Video: The following link is a case study of a woman who underwent ECT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JG9eQsjaZY. Descriptive Studies CONNECTION: The “bystander effect” explains why, when so many people are around, individuals do not get involved and help others in need. When in a group, individual responsibility is diffused among people and everyone thinks that helping is someone else’s responsibility (Chapter 14). •Suggested Video: Reenactment of Darley and Latane’s research: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KE5YwN4NW5o. •Suggested Video (warning, this is violent): A June 5, 2008, hit-and-run in Hartford, CT http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEayX8qti1s. Research Ethics CONNECTIONS: Social psychologists have demonstrated both in the lab and in the real world that otherwise normal folks can be pressured to do cruel things, such as give people shocks to the point of knocking them unconscious (or so they believe; Chapter 14). •Discussion: Have students discuss how Zimbardo and Milgram’s studies might be related to current events (e.g., World War II, Abu Ghraib, cults, hazing, etc.). •Discussion: A recent 2009 replication of Milgram's study can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcvSNg0HZwk (part 1), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzTuz0mNlwU&feature=related (part 2), and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmFCoo-cU3Y&feature=related (part 3). INNOVATIVE INSTRUCTION 13. Ask the psychology majors in the room what courses they are most and least looking forward to. Generally, they will say they are looking the least forward to Research Methods and Statistics. Then ask them why those classes are required for their major. Use this as a jumping-off point for a discussion about the importance of research in psychology. 14. Ask students what the most famous examples of psychological research they know are. Have them identify the methodology of the studies. 15. Ask students if they believe in UFOs. ESP? 16. Ask students if they think it is ethical to use deception in psychological research. Why or why not? If not, how can you test issues about cruelty, obedience, stealing, lying, etc.? 17. Ask students if they believe that animal research is ethical. Encourage them to discuss their opinions and challenge each other. 18. Students may have difficulty differentiating theories from hypotheses. Tell them of some different theories you have and ask them to pull out testable hypotheses. For example, you can tell them that a researcher believed that frozen foods do not have calories. Calories are measures of heat. Frozen food, by definition, can’t have calories. Therefore, frozen foods are calorie-free. Explain what events this theory might lead to: diets of frozen candy bars, ice cream, Starbucks Frappacinos, frozen cookie dough, etc., that lead to weight loss. What is the theory? Hypotheses? How can they be tested? 19. Have students get into groups and give them the following theory: media violence and adolescent aggression are related. Assign each group to a different research design (correlation, experiment, survey, case study, and naturalistic observation) and ask them to come up with a testable hypothesis and method of testing. 20. Ask students what are the most famous examples of psychological research they are aware of. Have them identify the methodology of the studies. 21. Have students visit the IRB website for your college or university and read over its mission statement. If there is a training certificate researchers must obtain to conduct research on your campus, you may want to have students do so, and report on their experiences. 22. Have students read a great article that expands Rosenthal’s research into teacher bias. This can be found in: Rosenthal, R., S. L., and Jacobson, L. (1966). Teachers’ expectancies: Determinates of pupils’ IQ gains. Psychological Reports, 19, 115–118. Have them write two paragraphs that summarize the article and then one paragraph that illustrates a personal experience where they have experienced the bias themselves. 23. Ask students when they may have experienced the self-fulfilling prophecy. Examples include telling themselves they are going to fail a test and then not studying, or telling themselves that their significant other’s parents won’t like them and then acting cold and aloof when they meet. 24. Ask students about their experiences in middle school or high school when they were assigned to “Basic,” “Regular,” “Advanced,” or “AP” classes. How did those assignments change their behaviors? Did the teachers act differently toward them? Why? Suggested Media 118. Zimbardo prison study part 1 (careful, there is swearing): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpDVFp3FM_4 119. Sybil (1976) is a great example of a case study. 120. Kinsey (2004) is a racy, but good, example of surveys and interviewing techniques. The opening sequence can be shown by going to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e19GnyNdC48 121. A great video from Annenberg with Phil Zimbardo, former president of the APA discussing research methods in psychology can be found at: Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrlI9oErJJg, Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KoRfdC1l-o&feature=related, and Part 3 at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIpDPrbRiBo&feature=related 122. Discovering Psychology: Understanding Research (Annenberg) Concept Clips (McGraw-Hill Connect for Feist and Rosenberg, 3rd ed.) 1. Scientific Method 2. Correlation Suggested Websites 81. The Jane Goodall Institute’s homepage: http://www.janegoodall.org/ 82. Independent variable practice worksheet: http://dvusd.org/cms/lib07/AZ01901092/Centricity/Domain/4763/variables_worksheet.pdf Suggested Readings American Psychological Association (1992). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct. American Psychologist, 47, 1597–1611. Baumrind, D. (1964). Some thoughts on ethics of research: After reading Milgram’s ‘Behavioral study of obedience.’ American Psychologist, 19, 421–423. Burkley, E., & Burkley, M. (2009). Mythbusters: A tool for teaching research methods in psychology. Teaching of Psychology, 36, 179–184. Guthrie, R. V. (2003). Even the rat was white (2nd ed.). Allyn-Bacon. Nisbett, R. E., & Wilson, T. D. (1977). Telling more than we can know: Verbal reports on mental processes. Psychological Review, 84, 231–259. Rosenthal, R. (1976). Experimenter effects in behavioral research. New York: Irvington Publishers. Rosnow, R. L., & Rosenthal, R. (1989). Statistical procedures and the justification of knowledge in psychological science. American Psychologist, 44, 1276–1284. Rosenzweig, S. (1933). The experimental situation as a psychological problem. Psychological Review, 40, 337–354. Shermer, M. (1997). Why people believe weird things: Pseudoscience, superstition, and other confusions of our time. New York: W.H. Freeman. Zimbardo, P. G. (2007). The Lucifer effect: Understanding how good people turn evil. New York: Random House. Instructor Manual for Psychology: Perspectives and Connections Gregory J. Feist, Erika Rosenberg 9780077861872, 9781260397031
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