Leah Odom

Introduction:
1. Psychology: the science of behavior and mental processes
2. Psychologys Current Perspectives: Neuroscience: How the body and brain enable
emotions, memories, and sensory experiences. Evolutionary: How the natural selection of
traits promoted the survival of genes. Behavior Genetics: How much our genes and our
environment influence our individual differences. Psychodynamic: How behavior springs
from unconscious drives and conflicts. Behavioral: How we learn from observable
responses. Cognitive: How we encode, process, store, and retrieve information. Social-
Cultural: How behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures.
3. Subfields of Psychology: Basic research: pure science that aims to increase the
scientific knowledge base -biological psychologists: explores link between brain and
mind -developmental psychologists: studying our changing abilities from womb to tomb
-cognitive psychologists: experiments on how we view and affect one another. -Social
psychologists: exploring how we view and affect one another. Applied Research: aims to
solve practical problems -industrial/organizational psychologists: use psychological
concepts and methods in the workplace to help organizations and companies select and
train employees, boost morale and productivity, design products, and implement systems.
4. Clinical Psychology: a branch of psychology that studies, assesses, and treats people
with psychological disorders. Psychiatry: a branch of medicine dealing with
psychological disorders; practiced by physicians who sometimes provide medical
treatments as well as therapy.
Chapter 1: Thinking Critically with Psychological Science
1. Hindsight Bias: the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would
have foreseen it. Such errors in our recollections and explanations show why we need
psychological research.
2. Hindsight Bias and overconfidence often lead us to overestimate our intuition. But
scientific inquiry can help us sift reality from illusion
3. A case study examines one individual in depth in hopes of revealing things true of us
all. A survey method looks at many cases in less depth. The technique is used for
ascertaining self-reporting attitudes or behaviors of a particular group, usually by
questioning a representative, random sample of the group. A third method is known as
the naturalistic observation. It is used to observe and record behavior in naturally
occurring situations without trying to manipulate or control the situation.
4. It is important to sample properly because you cannot compensate for an
unrepresentative sample by simply adding more people.
5. A correlation is positive if two sets of scores, such as height and weight, tend to rise or
fall together. A correlation is negative if two sets of scores relate inversely.
6. Illusory Correlation is the perception of a relationship where none exists. When we
believe there is a relationship between two things, we are likely to notice and recall
instances that confirm our belief.
7. The two basic elements of an experiment include: manipulating the factors of interest
and holding constant (controlling) other factors.
8. Three Measures of Central Tendency: Mode: the most frequently occurring score(s) is
a distribution Mean: the arithmetic average of distribution, obtained by adding the
scores and then dividing the number of scores. Median: the middle score in a
distribution; half the scores are above it and half are below it. Two Measures of
Variation: Range: the difference between the highest and lowest scores in a
distribution. Standard Deviation: A computed measure of how many scores vary around
the mean score
9. Three Important Principles in Making Generalizations From Samples: Representative
samples are better than biased samples. -Less-variable observations are more reliable
than those that are more variable. -More cases are better than fewer
10. Many psychologists study animals because they find them fascinating. They want to
understand how different species learn, think, and behave. Human physiology resembles
that of many other animals. We humans are not like animals; we are animals. Animal
experiments have therefore led to treatments for human diseases.
Chapter 2: Neuroscience and Behavior
1) The Neuron is made up of five parts: Cell Body: the cells life-support center -
Dendrites: receive messages and conduct impulses toward the cell body -Axon: the
extension of a neuron through which messages pass to other neurons to muscles or
glands. -Myelin Sheath: Covers the axon of some neurons and helps speed neural
impulses. -Terminal Branches of Axons: form junctions with other cells. Two types of
neurons: Sensory Neurons: neurons that carry information from the sensory receptors to
the brain and spinal cord. Motor Neurons: carry outgoing information from the brain and
spinal cord to the muscles and glands. Neural Impulses are generated my chemical
signals from neighboring neurons. A neuron fires an impulse, called the action potential:
a brief electrical charge that travels down its axon.
2. Nerve Cells communicate at a meeting point called a synapse. When an action
potential reaches the knoblike terminals at an axons end, it triggers the release of
chemical messengers called neurotransmitters.
3.Drugs and other chemicals affect brain chemistry at synapses, often by either
amplifying or blocking a neurotransmitters activity.
4. There are two major divisions of the Nervous System: Central Nervous System: brain
and spinal cord Peripheral Nervous System: the sensory and motor neurons that connect
the Central Nervous System to the rest of the body. Two peripheral nervous systems:
Somatic nervous system: enables voluntary control of our skeletal muscles. Autonomic
nervous system: Controls our glands and the muscles of our internal organs; influences
glandular activity, heartbeat, and digestion. two functions of the autonomic nervous
system: Sympathetic nervous system: arouses and expends energy; something alarms or
challenges you. Parasympathetic nervous system: system calms the body, conserving its
energy.
5. Brainstem: the oldest part and central core of the brain, beginning where the spinal
cord swells as it enters the skull; responsible for automatic survival functions. Thalamus:
located at the top of the brainstem; it directs messages to the sensory receiving areas in
the cortex and transmits replies to the cerebellum and medulla. Cerebellum: the little
brain at the rear of the brainstem. It helps judge time, control our emotions, and
discriminate sounds and textures. Limbic System: between the brains older parts and
the cerebral hemispheres. Includes the hippocampus, amygdala, and hypothalamus;
associated with emotions and drives.
6) Four Lobes of the Cerebral Cortex:
Frontal Lobes (behind your forehead): involved in speaking and muscle movements and
in making plans and judgments. Parietal Lobes (at the top and to the rear): receives
sensory input for touch and body position. Occipital Lobes (at the back of your head):
receive information from the visual fields. Temporal Lobes (roughly above the ears):
receives information primarily from the opposite ear. The Motor Cortex: an area at the
rear of the frontal lobes that controls voluntary movements. The Sensory Cortex: Area
in front of the parietal lobes that register and process body touch and movement
sensations.
7. Split Brain is a condition resulting from surgery that isolates the brains two
hemispheres by cutting the fibers connecting them. Patients were surprisingly normal,
their personality and intellect hardly affected.
8. The Endocrine System is the bodys slow chemical communication system; a set of
glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream. The systems glands secrete another
form chemical messengers, hormones, which travel through the bloodstream and affect
other tissues.
Chapter 3: State of Consciousness
1. The Circadian Rhythm is the bodys biological clock; regular bodily rhythms that
occur on a 24 hour cycle. Functions of Sleep: REM Sleep: rapid eye movement sleep,
a recurring sleep stage during which vivid dreams commonly occur. Alpha Waves:
relatively slow brain waves of a relaxed, awake stage. Delta Waves: the large, slow brain
waves associated with deep sleep.
2. The two types of dependence are physical and psychological. Physical dependence is
when the body feels physical pain and intense cravings. Psychological dependence is a
need to use a drug, such as to relieve negative emotions.
3. Depressants reduce neural activity and slow body functions. Stimulants excite neural
activity and speed up body functions. Hallucinogens distort perception and evoke sensory
images in the absence of sensory input.
4. Factors that contribute to drug abuse include: peer influences, significant stress,
genetic predispositions, and cultural attitude toward drug use.
Chapter 4: The Nature and Nurture of Behavior
1. Genes are small segments of the giant DNA molecules. DNA is a complex molecule
made up of genetic information; DNA makes up chromosomes which are the threadlike
structures made of DNA.
2. Heritability is the proportion of variation among individuals that we can attribute to
genes. The heritability of a trait may vary, depending of the range of populations and
environments studies.
3. Molecular Genetics is the subfield of biology that studies the molecular structure and
function of genes. This subfield has helped pinpoint certain disorders like depression and
helped trace the origin. There are some consequences though. Labeling has led to
discrimination. Prenatal screenings have also enabled selective abortions.
4. There are fraternal twins; those that develop from seperate fertilized eggs and identical
twins who develop from a single fertilized egg. In regard to twins, many shared genes can
translate into shared experiences.
Chapter 5: Human Development
1. Prenatal development begins with the zygote: the fertilized egg; it enters a two week
period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo: a zygotes inner cell. By 9
weeks after conception, the embryo looks unmistakably human, a fetus. Teratogens: are
chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development
and cause harm.
2. Habituation is the decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation. As infants gain
familiarity with repeated exposure to a visual stimulus, their interest wanes and they look
away sooner.
3. Maturation is the biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior,
relatively uninfluenced by experience. Maturation creates are readiness to learn walking
at age 1. Experience, on the other hand, has a limited effect. Toilet training is not based
on experience.
4. Piagets core idea is that the driving force behind our intellectual progression is an
unceasing struggle to make sense of our experiences. To this end, the maturing brain
builds schemas: a concept or framework that organizes or interprets information.
5. By the end of childhood, at about age 12, most children have developed a self-concept:
an understanding and assessment of who they are. It begins when we recognize ourselves
in a mirror. There are three parenting styles, Authoritarian: very strict; Permissive: laid-
back ;Authoritative: little bit of both
6. Adolescence is the transition period from childhood into adulthood, extending from
puberty to independence. Physical changes happen during puberty, known as the
primary sex characteristics: the body structures that make sexual reproduction possible,
and the secondary sex characteristics: the non-reproductive sexual characteristics, such as
female breasts, and hips.
7. Kohlberg believed that as we develop intellectually, we pass through three basic levels
of moral thinking: Preconventional morality: before age 9, morality is focused on self
interest. Obey rules to avoid punishment or gain rewards. Conventional morality: By
early adolescence, morality is focused on caring for others and upholding laws and social
rules. Postconventional Morality: Actions are judged right based on peoples rights or
from self-defined, basic ethical principles.
8. How well older people remember depends: If they are being asked simply to recognize
what they tried to memories, there is minimal decline. If they are being asked to recall a
memory without clues, there is a huge decline.
9. Work and family relationships can provide us with a sense of identity and competence
and opportunities for accomplishment. Thats why challenging and interesting
occupations enhance peoples happiness.
10.Researchers who emphasize experience and learning see development as a slow,
continuous shaping process. Those who emphasize biological maturation tend to see
development as a sequence of genetically predisposed stages or steps: everyone passed
through the stages in the same order. Researchers who have followed lives through time
have found evidence for both stability and change.
Chapter 6:Sensation and Perception

1. Sensation is the process by which we detect physical energy from our environment and
encode it as neural signals; it involves what psychologists call bottom-up processing.
Perception is the process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting sensory information,
enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events; it involves top-down processing.

2. In studying the relationship between physical energy and psychological experience,
researchers in psychophysics identified an absolute threshold as the minimum stimulation
needed to detect a particular stimulus. Signal detection theory predicts when and how we
detect the presence of a faint stimulus, assuming that our absolute threshold varies with
our psychological state. Recent research reveals that we can process some information
from stimuli too weak to recognize. But the restricted conditions under which this occurs
would not enable advertisers to exploit us with subliminal messages. A difference
threshold is the minimum difference between any two stimuli that a person can detect 50
percent of the time. In humans, difference thresholds (experienced as a just noticeable
difference [increase in proportion to the size of the stimulus-a principle known as
Weber's law.
3. Sensory adaptation refers to the diminished sensitivity that is a consequence of
continued stimulation. The phenomenon of sensory adaptation enables us to focus our
attention on informative changes in our environment without being distracted by the
uninformative, constant stimulation of garments, odors, and street noise, for example.

4. The energies we experience as visible light are a thin slice from the broad spectrum of
electromagnetic radiation. Our sensory experience of light is determined largely by the
light energy's wavelength, which determines the hue of a color, and its intensity, which
influences brightness. After light enters the eye through the pupil, whose size is regulated
by the iris, a camera-like lens focuses the rays by changing its curvature, a process called
accommodation, on the retina. Acuity, or sharpness of vision, can be affected by small
distortions in the shape of the eye. In nearsightedness, nearby objects are seen more
clearly than distant objects because the lens focuses the image of distant objects in front
of the retina. In farsightedness, faraway objects are seen more clearly than near objects
because the image of near objects is focused behind the retina. The retina's rods and
cones (most of which are clustered around the fovea) transduce the light energy into
neural signals. These signals activate the neighboring bipolar cells, which in turn activate
the neighboring ganglion cells, whose axons converge to form the optic nerve that carries
information to the brain. Where the optic nerve leaves the eye there are no receptor cells-
creating a blind spot. The cones enable vision of color and fine detail; the rods remain
sensitive in dim light.

5. We process information at progressively more abstract levels. The information from
the retina's 130 million rods and cones is received and transmitted by the million or so
ganglion cells whose fibers make up the optic nerve. When individual ganglion cells
register information in their region of the visual field, they send signals to the visual
cortex. In the cortex, individual neurons (feature detectors) respond to specific features of
a visual stimulus. The visual cortex passes this information along to the temporal and
parietal cortex, which includes higher-level brain cells that respond to specific visual
scenes. Other super cell clusters integrate this information and combine it with our
assumptions, interests, and expectations. Sub dimensions of vision (color, depth,
movement, and form) are processed separately and simultaneously, illustrating our brain's
capacity for parallel processing. This contrasts sharply with the step-by-step processing
of most computers and of conscious problem solving.

6. The Young-Helmholtz trichromatic (three-color) theory states that the retina has three
types of color receptors, each especially sensitive to red, green, or blue. When we
stimulate combinations of these cones, we see other colors. For example, when both red-
and green-sensitive cones are stimulated, we see yellow. Hering's opponent-process
theory states that there are three additional color processes, one responsible for red versus
green perception, one for yellow versus blue, and one for black versus white. Subsequent
research has confirmed that after leaving the receptor cells, visual information is analyzed
in terms of the opponent colors red and green, blue and yellow, and black and white.
Thus, in the thalamus some neurons are turned "on" by red but turned "off" by green.
Others are turned on by green but off by red. These opponent processes help explain
afterimages.
7. Audition, or hearing, is highly adaptive. The pressure waves we experience as sound
vary in amplitude and frequency, and correspondingly in perceived loudness and pitch.
Decibels are the measuring unit for sound energy. Through a mechanical chain of events,
sound waves traveling through the auditory canal cause minuscule vibrations in the
eardrum. Transmitted via the bones of the middle ear (the hammer, anvil, and stirrup) to
the fluid-filled cochlea in the inner ear, these vibrations create movement in tiny hair
cells on the basilar membrane, triggering neural messages to the brain.

8. Place theory presumes that we hear different pitches because different sound waves
trigger activity at different places along the cochlea's basilar membrane. Thus, the brain
can determine a sound's pitch by recognizing the place on the membrane from which it
receives neural signals. Frequency theory states that the rate of nerve impulses traveling
up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, thus enabling us to sense its pitch.
Place theory best explains how we sense high-pitched sounds, and frequency theory best
explains how we sense low-pitched sounds. We localize sounds by detecting minute
differences in the loudness and timing of the sounds received by each ear.
9. Our sense of touch is actually four senses; pressure, warmth, cold, and pain-that
combine to produce other sensations, such as "hot." There is no one type of stimulus that
triggers pain, and there are no special receptors for pain. At low intensities, the stimuli
that produce pain cause other sensations, including warmth or coolness, smoothness or
roughness. The gate-control theory of pain is that a "gate" in the spinal cord either opens
to permit pain signals traveling up small nerve fibers to reach the brain or closes to
prevent their passage. Because pain is both a physiological and a psychological
phenomenon, it often can be controlled through a combination of medical and
psychological treatments.
10. Taste, a chemical sense, is a composite of sweet, sour, salty, and bitter sensations and
of the aromas that interact with information from the taste buds. Smell is also a chemical
sense, but without any basic sensations. The 5 million olfactory receptor cells recognize
individual odor molecules, with some odors triggering a combination of receptors.
Sensory interaction refers to the principle that one sense may influence another, as when
the smell of food influences its taste.

11. Kinesthesis is the system for sensing the position and movement of individual body
parts. Sensors in the muscles, tendons, and joints are continually providing our brain with
information. A companion vestibular sense monitors the head's (and thus the body's)
position and movement. The biological gyroscopes for this sense of equilibrium are in the
inner ear.

12. People temporarily or permanently deprived of one of their senses typically
compensate by becoming more acutely aware of information from other senses.
Experiences of temporary sensory restriction often evoke a heightened awareness of all
forms of sensation. Under supervision, sensory restriction may provide a therapeutic
boost for those seeking control over problems such as smoking.

13. Selective attention means that at any moment, awareness focuses on only a limited
aspect of all that we are capable of experiencing. For example, even if a stimulus figure
can evoke more than one perception, we consciously experience only one at a time. The
cocktail party effect provides another example of selective attention. The ability to attend
to one voice among many enables us to converse coherently in the midst of auditory
chaos. Selective attention also limits our perception, as many stimuli will pass by
unnoticed. This lack of awareness is evident in studies of change blindness.

14. Gestalt psychologists searched for rules by which the brain organizes fragments of
sensory data into gestalts (from the German word for whole), or meaningful forms. In
pointing out that the whole is more than the sum of its parts, these researchers showed
that we constantly filter sensory information and infer perceptions in ways that make
sense to us. This truth remains valid, even though contemporary research demonstrates
that sensation and perception are parts of continuous information processing system,
involving both bottom-up and top-down processing.

15. To recognize an object, we must first perceive it (see it as a figure) as distinct from its
surroundings (the ground). We bring order and form to stimuli by organizing them into
meaningful groups, following the rules of proximity, similarity, continuity,
connectedness, and closure.

16. Perceptual constancy refers to the principle that we perceive objects as
unchanging (having consistent lightness, color, shape, and size) even as
illumination and retinal images change. Given the perceived distance of an
object, we instantly and unconsciously infer the objects size. The perceived
relationship between distance and size is generally valid but under special
circumstances, can lead us astray. For example, one reason for the moon illusion
is that cues to objects distances at the horizon make the moon behind them seem
farther away. Thus the moon on the horizon seems larger. Similarly, the lines in
the Mller-Lyer illusion may be interpreted as varying in distance from us and
thus are perceived to be of different lengths. Finally, in the distorted room
illusion, we perceive both corners as being the same distance away. Thus
anything in the near corner appears disproportionately large compared to
anything in the far corner.


Chapter 7: Learning

1. Learning is a relatively permanent change in an organism's behavior due to experience.
Nature's most important gift to us may be our adaptability--our capacity to learn new
behaviors that enable us to cope with ever-changing experiences. We learn by
association; our mind naturally connects events that occur in sequence. The events linked
in associative learning may be two stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a response and
a rewarding or punishing stimulus (as in operant conditioning).

2. Responses are acquired, initially learned, best when the CS is presented half a second
before the UCS. Conditioned responses weaken if they are not reinforced (extinction), but
they may reappear after a rest pause (spontaneous recovery). Furthermore, responses may
be triggered by stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus (generalization), but not by
dissimilar stimuli (discrimination).

3. Research indicates that, for many animals, cognitive appraisals are important for
learning. For example, animals appear capable of learning when to "expect" an
unconditioned stimulus. Conditioning occurs best when the CS and the UCS have just the
sort of relationship that would lead a scientist to conclude that the CS causes the UCS.
The behaviorists' optimism that learning principles would generalize from one response
to another and from one species to another has been tempered. Conditioning principles
are constrained by the biological predispositions of each species. For example, rats are
biologically prepared to learn associations between the taste of a particular food and the
onset of illness, but not between a loud noise and an illness

4. Both positive punishment (administering an undesirable consequence, such as
spanking) and negative punishment (withdrawing something desirable, such as taking
away a favorite toy) attempt to decrease the frequency of a behavior (a childs
disobedience). Negative reinforcement (such as taking aspirin) removes something
undesirable (such as a headache) to increase the frequency of a behavior. Punishments
undesirable side effects may include suppressing rather than changing unwanted
behaviors, teaching aggression, creating fear, and encouraging discrimination (so that the
undesirable behavior appears when the punisher is not present), and fostering depression
and feelings of helplessness.

5. Many psychologists have criticized Skinner for underestimating the importance of
cognitive and biological constraints. For example, rats exploring a maze seem to develop
a mental representation (a cognitive map) of the maze even in the absence of reward.
Their latent learning becomes evident only when there is some incentive to demonstrate
it. The cognitive perspective has also led to an important qualification concerning the
power of rewards. The over justification effect indicates that people may come to see
rewards, rather than intrinsic interest, as the motivation for performing a task. By
undermining intrinsic interest, rewards can carry hidden costs. As with classical
conditioning, an animal's natural predispositions constrain its capacity for operant
conditioning.

6. Among higher animals, especially humans, learning does not occur through direct
experience alone. Observational learning also plays a part. The process of observing and
imitating a specific behavior is often called modeling. In Bandura's famous experiments,
children who observed an adult's aggressive outburst toward a large inflated Bobo doll
were subsequently much more likely to lash out at the doll themselves. Bandura's studies
suggest that antisocial models may have antisocial effects. The good news is that
prosocial (positive, helpful) models can have prosocial effects.

Chapter 8: Memory
1.Our capacity for remembering countless faces, sounds, places, and events, including the
formation of flashbulb memories, raises questions about how our memory system works.
One helpful model of human memory is that it is like a computer information-processing
system. That is, to remember any event requires that we get information into our brain
(encoding), retain it (storage), and later get it back out (retrieval). Long-term memory is
the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Short-term
memory, our active working memory, holds a few items briefly, such as the seven digits
of a phone number while dialing, before the information is stored or forgotten.
2. To some extent, encoding occurs automatically. With little or no effort, we encode an
enormous amount of information about space, time, and frequency. For example, we can
recreate a sequence of the day's events in order to guess where we might have left a coat.
Automatic processing occurs without our awareness and without interfering with our
thinking about other things. Other types of information require attention and effort
(effortful processing). For example, our memory of a new telephone number will
disappear unless we work to maintain it in consciousness. Rehearsal, or conscious
repetition, is a valuable aid to retention. The spacing effect indicates that rehearsal yields
better long-term retention if learning is distributed. A further illustration of the benefits of
rehearsal is demonstrated by the serial position effect: In learning a list, people often
remember the last and first items better than the middle items.
3. When processing verbal information for storage, we usually encode its meaning. For
example, we associate it with what we already know or imagine. Research indicates that
semantic encoding (of meaning) yields better memory of verbal information than acoustic
encoding (of sound) or visual encoding (of an image). This research also highlights the
futility of trying to remember words we do not understand and the benefits of rephrasing
what we read and hear into meaningful terms. In a variety of experiments, researchers
have documented the benefits of mental imagery. For example, we remember words that
lend themselves to picture images better than we remember abstract, low-imagery words.
Imagery is at the heart of many memory aids, or mnemonic devices. When we organize
information into meaningful units, we recall it more easily. Chunking occurs so naturally
that we often take it for granted. When people develop expertise in an area, they often
process information in hierarchies composed of a few broad concepts divided into lesser
concepts and facts, which are divided into still more specific categories. In this way,
experts can retrieve information efficiently.
4. Information first enters the memory system through the senses. Iconic memory is a
momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli, a photographic or picture-image memory
lasting a few tenths of a second. Echoic memory is a momentary sensory memory of
auditory stimuli. Even if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled
within 3 or 4 seconds. Our short-term memory span for information just presented is very
limited- -a seconds-long retention of up to about seven items (plus or minus two),
depending on the information and how it is presented.
5. While we know that our capacity for storing information permanently is essentially
unlimited, we are not sure how and where we store it. The search for the physical basis of
memory has recently focused on the synapses and their neurotransmitters and on the
long-term potentiation (LTP) of brain circuits, such as those running through the
hippocampus. In response to increased activity in neural pathways, neural
interconnections form or strengthen. Studies of the sea snail indicate that when learning
occurs, the snail releases more of the neurotransmitter serotonin at certain synapses, and
these synapses become more efficient at transmitting signals. In experiments, rapidly
stimulating certain memory-circuit connections has increased their sensitivity for weeks
to come. This LTP appears to be a neural basis for learning and memory. Drugs that
block neurotransmitters also disrupt information storage. Alcohol disrupts serotonin's
messenger activity, which helps explain why alcohol impairs the formation of memories.
The naturally stimulating hormones that humans and animals produce when excited or
stressed boost learning and retention. Emotionless events mean weaker memories.
6. Studies of brain-damaged patients who suffer amnesia reveal two types of memory.
Implicit memory (nondeclarative memory) is retention without conscious recollection (of
skills and dispositions). Explicit memory (declarative memory) is the memory of facts
and experiences that one can consciously know and "declare."
The hippocampus is a limbic system structure that plays a vital role in the gradual
processing of our explicit memories into long-term memory. When monkeys lose their
hippocampus to surgery, they lose most of their recall for things learned during the
preceding month. Older memories remain intact, suggesting that the hippocampus is not
the permanent storehouse, but a way station that feeds new information to other brain
circuits for permanent storage. Research with rabbits in which different parts of the
neural pathway were temporarily deadened during eye-blink training pinpointed implicit
memory in the cerebellum at the back of the head.
7. Recall is a measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned
earlier, as on a fill-in-the-blank test. Recognition is a measure in which a person need
only identify items previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test. Relearning is a
memory measure that assesses the amount of time saved when relearning previously
learned information. Tests of recognition and relearning reveal that we remember more
than we recall.
8. We can think of a memory as held in storage by a web of associations. To retrieve a
specific memory, we need to identify one of the strands that lead to it, a process called
priming. Activating retrieval cues within our web of associations aids memory. Retrieval
is sometimes aided by returning to the original context. Sometimes, being in a context
similar to one we've been in before may trigger the experience of deja-vu. State-
dependent memory is the tendency to recall information best in the same emotional or
physiological state as when the information was learned. Memories are somewhat mood
congruent. While in a good or bad mood, we often retrieve memories consistent with that
mood.
9. What we encode (whether automatically or through effortful processing) is only a very
limited portion of the sensory stimuli around us. And as we age, our encoding grows
slower and less efficient. Without encoding, information does not enter our long-term
memory store and cannot be retrieved. Encoded memories may fade after storage. From
his research on learning and retention, Ebbinghaus determined that the course of
forgetting is initially rapid, then levels off with time; this principle became known as the
forgetting curve.

10. Retrieval failure can occur if we have too few cues to summon information from
long-term memory. It may also happen when old and new information compete for
retrieval. In proactive interference, something we learned in the past interferes with our
ability to recall something we have recently learned. In retroactive interference,
something we have recently learned interferes with something we learned in the past.
With his concept of repression, Sigmund Freud proposed that our memories are self-
censoring. To protect our self-concepts and to minimize anxiety, we may block from
consciousness painful memories. In Freuds view, this motivated forgetting submerges
memories but leaves them available for later retrieval under the right conditions.
Increasing numbers of memory researchers think repression rarely, if ever, occurs. More
typically, we have trouble forgetting traumatic experiences.

Chapter 9: Language
1. Concepts-mental groupings of similar objects, events, & people. b/c they provide a
great deal of info with minimal cognitive effort, concepts are the basic units of thinking.
Most concepts are formed around a best example, or PROTOTYPE, of a particular
category. Concepts are often organized into hierarchies that further increase cognitive
efficiency.

2. Trial and error is haphazard strategy for solving problems, one solution after another
is tried until success is achieved.
Algorithms are methodical and logical rules for solving problems; they often are
laborious and inefficient.
Heuristics are based on rules of thumb.
Although formally not a problem-solving strategy, a sudden flash on inspiration (insight)
often helps us to solve problems. Insight has been seen in chimpanzees given challenging
problems to solve.

3. Confirmation bias: people search for info that confirms their preconceptions.
Fixation: an inability to approach a familiar problem in a new way. ex: the tendency to
continue applying a particular problem-solving strategy even when it is no longer useful
(mental set). Functional fixedness- a person is unable to perceive unusual functions for
familiar subjects.

4. Belief bias - our beliefs to distort logical reasoning (common error). ex: tendency to
accept as logical those conclusions that agree with our opinions. Belief perseverance-
cling to our beliefs even in the face of contrary evidence. Once beliefs are formed, it
takes stronger evidence to change them than it did to create them.

5. All languages have the same basic structural units. Phonemes are the basic units of
sound in a language. Morphemes are the elementary units of meaning; some (such as I)
are words, but most are elements such as prefixes (anti-) or suffixes (-ing). Grammar is
the system of rules (mental rules, not those taught in English classes) that enable us to
communicate and understand others. Semantics, which is part of grammar, is a set of
rules for deriving meaning in a given language. Syntax, also a part of grammar, is a set of
rules for ordering words into sentences.
6. Although the linguistic determinism hypothesis suggested that language determines
thought, it is more accurate to say that language influences thought. Words convey ideas,
and research on people who are bilingual demonstrates that different languages embody
different ways of thinking. Studies of the effects of the generic pronoun he show that
subtle prejudices can be conveyed by the words we choose to express our everyday
thoughts. Some evidence indicates that vocabulary enrichment, particularly immersion in
bilingual education, can enhance thinking.
Chapter 10: Intelligence
1. Aptitude tests are designed to predict what you can learn. Achievement tests are
designed to assess what you have learned. The WAIS (Wechsler Adult Intelligence
Scale), an aptitude test, is the most widely used intelligence test for adults. Two similar
Wechsler scales are designed to test intelligence in preschool and older children. The
SAT is an aptitude test, and in one study, test-takers total SAT scores and their score on
a test of general intelligence correlated at a very high level: +.82.
2. Standardizing a test is the process of administering the test to a representative sample
of future test-takers in order to establish a basis for meaningful comparisons of scores.
The distribution of many physical and psychological attributes forms a normal curve
(also known as a bell-shaped curve)a roughly symmetrical shape in which most scores
cluster around an average, and increasingly fewer are distributed at the extremes.
Intelligence test scores form such a curve, but in the past six decades, the average score
has risen 27 pointsa phenomenon known as the Flynn effect.
3. Reliability refers to the extent to which a test yields consistent scores. Consistency may
be assessed by comparing scores on two halves of the test, on alternative forms, or on
retesting. Validity refers to the extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is
supposed to. Content validity is determined by assessing whether the test truly samples
the behavior that is of interest. Predictive validity is determined by computing the
correlation between test scores and some criterion, that is, some independent measure of
what the test aims to assess.
4. Creativity is the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas. It correlates somewhat
with intelligence, but beyond a score of120, that correlation dwindles. It also correlates
with expertise, imaginative thinking skills, a venturesome personality, intrinsic
motivation, and the support offered by a creative environment. Different brain areas are
active when we engage in convergent thinking (the type required for intelligence test
solutions) and divergent thinking (the type required for multiple imaginative solutions).
Chapter 11: Motivation

1. Motivation: is a need or desire that energizes and directs behavior. 3 major
perspectives of motivation are instincts, drives & incentives, and optimum arousal. The
instinct concept: a complex behavior that is rigidly patterned throughout a species and is
unlearned. The Drives and Incentives. The drive-reduction theory: physiological need
creates an aroused tension state that motivates an organism to satisfy the need. Optimum
Arousal: is having out biological needs satisfied.

2.Maslows Hierarchy of Motives begins at the base with physiological needs that must
first be satisfied before higher-level safety needs and then psychological needs become
active. To reach self-actualization people have to realize their potential.

3. Glucose: a form of sugar that circulates in the in the blood and provides the major
source of energy for body tissues. We also have a set point: indicates an individuals set
weight. When the body falls below an increase of hunger and lowered metabolic rate may
react to restore lost weight. Our bodies regulate weight through the control of food intake,
energy output, and basal metabolic rate, when the body is at rest.

4.When stressed, people over eat. When people are given highly salted foods develop a
liking for excess salt. People eat more when with others. Frances National Center for
Scientific Research explored new possible explanations why French Waistlines are
smaller than Americans; it is because of the food portion.

5.Sex hormones have 2 effects: Direct the physical development of male and female sex
characteristics and activate sexual behavior. Estrogen levels: peak during ovulation,
which promotes sexual receptivity. Testosterone: stimulates the growth of male sex
organs in the fetus. The psychological factors of sex are influenced by external and
imagined stimuli. External stimuli: are the exposure to erotic material: Porn, sexual ads.
Imagined Stimuli are the sexual fantasies people imagine or the dreams people have can
lead to wet dreams or an orgasm.

6.When someone has sexual intercourse they should have intimate feelings with their
partner, which make them have a social attachment.

7.Intrinsic motivation: desire to perform a behavior effectively for its own sake. Extrinsic
motivation: is the desire to behave in a certain way to receive external rewards or avoid
threatened punishment.


Chapter 12: Emotion

1. The James-Lange theory: that our experience of emotion is our awareness of our
physiological responses to emotion arousing stimuli. The Cannon-Bard theory: is that
emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers physiological responses and the
subjective experience of emotion. Schaters two-factor theory: of emotion is that to
experience emotion one must first be physically aroused and then cognitively label the
arousal.

2.The basic components of emotions are physiological arousal (heart pounding),
expressive behaviors (quickened pace), and consciously experienced thoughts and
feelings (a sense of fear and later joy).

3.Through conditioning naturally painful events can multiply into a long-term fear, which
is environmental. The biological factors of fear lie in the amygdala and through evolution
we biologically fear snakes because that probably helped out ancestors to survive.

4.Catharsis hypothesis: the idea that we will feel better if we blow off steam by venting
out emotions. The only positive of catharsis is that it calms you down, only temporarily.
The negative consequence that expressing more anger breeds more anger and makes you
angrier.

5.Health psychology: psychological contribution to behavioral medicine. It integrates
behavioral and medical psychology.

6. In a fight or flight scenario, epinephrine: is the fight that in a situation will act and do
something about it. Glucocorticoid: is a stress hormone that would cause you to panic or
freeze up.

7.Elevated blood pressure is one of the factors that increase coronary heart disease (the
closing of the vessels that nourish the heart muscle). There are many physiological
factors including: smoking, high-fat diet, physical in-activity and elevated cholesterol
level, which is all caused by stress.

8.The most reactive, competitive, hard driving, impatient, time-conscious, super
motivated, and are verbally aggressive are Type A people. Type B people are easygoing
people.

9.It takes energy to fight infections and maintain fevers. When diseased our bodies
reduce muscular energy output by inactivity and increased sleep. Stress triggers an
aroused fight-or-flight response, diverting energy from the disease fighting immune
systems to the muscles and brain, rendering us more vulnerable to sickness.
10. Strategies for coping with stress: Optimism, Social support, Exercise,
Meditation/Relaxation, and Spirituality

Chapter 13: Personality

1.Personality: is an individuals characteristic pattern of cognitive processes/thinking,
feeling, and acting. Another speculation is that unexpected blindness is someone not
wanting to hear what arouses anxiety. He tried hypnosis but failed, and then he ultimately
used free association: To say whatever comes to mind to explore the unconscious.

2. ID: the unconscious psychic energy that yearns to complete drives to survive,
reproduce and to be aggressed. It is like the caveman, they care about pleasure, an
immediate gratification. Ego: is something that an individual develops, often called the
reality principle seeking to complete what the id wants in rational and realistic methods
that will be long term pleasured. It holds us back for the better, without the ego, the id
would burst out. Superego: is our moral compass. Extends to idealistic goals. It focuses
on ethics, and how we should behave to achieve perfection.

3. Freuds psychosexual stages of development: Oral: Ranging from 0-18 months-focuses
on pleasure on the mouth (including sucking, biting, and chewing). Anal: 18-36 months
of duration- focuses on pleasures in the bowel and bladder elimination. Often wanting
demands for control. Phallic: duration of 3-6 years, focuses on genitals, and copes with
incestuous sexual arousal. Latency: 6 to the end of puberty, which includes dormant
sexual feelings. Genital: Puberty and forth, including maturation of sexual interests.

4. Repression: protects victims of anxiety by banishing anxiety arousing wishes from
consciousness. Mainly ceases anxiety arousing thoughts, feelings, emotions, and
memories. Regression urges us to return to a young stage of development. Ex. Soldier
sucking thumb and crying for mom as anxiety is aroused. Reaction formation: It is
reverses anxiety-arousing impulses/
Projection: It gets the reality of your anxiety and attributes it to others. Rationalization:
we offer self-accepting/justifying reasons. Basically excuses, example of drug pushers, I
only push drugs because it is prescribed.

5.Freud, the founder of psychoanalysts and neo-Freudians attracted others whom study
the same subject. They discovered the idea of Id, ego and super ego, the unconscious
mind. Alfred Adler and Karen Horney believed that childhood social is important for the
development of ones personality.

6. Conscientiousness: organized, careful and disciplined (endpoints) disorganized,
careless and impulsive. Agreeableness: soft hearted, trusting, and helpful (endpoints)
Ruthless, suspicious, and uncooperative. Neuroticism: calm, secure and self satisfied
(endpoints) Anxious, insecure, and self-pitying.
Openness: Imaginative, preference for variety, and independent (endpoints) Practical,
preference for routine, and conforming. Extraversion: Sociable, Fun- loving, and
affectionate (end points) Retiring, sober, and reserved.

7. The MMPI: assesses abnormal personality tendencies, rather than regular normal
ones. They used empirically derived tests and they found tendencies with depressed
people. It divides the normal personalities and those who have abnormal ones through
screening from a pool of test items. The MMPI-2: assesses attitudes, family problems and
anger.

8.Abraham said we were all motivated by a priority/hierarchy of needs. Our most
ultimate longing is to have self-actualization, and self-transcendence, a purpose beyond
ourselves. Maslow stated that thus, healthy, creative people rather than unhealthy and
boring people have a more productive life. Rogers believed in order to grow; a person
must be given genuineness, acceptance, and empathy.

Chapter 14: Psychological Disorders

1. A Psychological disorder: is an ongoing pattern of thought, feeling or actions that bring
deviance, distress, or dysfunction.

2.The medical model: is that a mental illness needs to be diagnosed based on its
symptoms and cured by therapy or in a psychiatric hospital. It is the moral treatment,
Biopsychosocial approaches: a sickness that must be cured, no matter what the
environmental case is.

3.The DSM-IV: aims to classify psychological disorders to properly identify and
prescribe to. The number of disorder categories has swelled, and more people meet them.

Generalized Anxiety: is when you are constantly in an aroused state, and is tense and
uneasy. Panic disorder: is when sudden flashes of dread and pain come. Phobias: are
irrational fears that are taken to the extreme. OCD: is a reoccurring thought that is at an
abnormal recall rate. They have repetitive and troubling thoughts.

There is a link between conditioned fear and general anxiety that helps show why
anxious people are paranoid. Through this process of conditioning, people can have set
of fears from traumatic events. Natural selection reveals that fear comes form our
ancestors, which the things they feared carried on to us. Evolution has taken flight
phobias and erased them in some people from world war 2. Genetics passed down from
ancestors also reveal how vulnerable someone is to anxiety. The brain would react by
an over arousal in the areas that control behavior. Abnormal brain chemistry, and
functioning makes an individual more vulnerable.

Major depressive disorder: when a person experiences in the void of drugs, 2+ weeks of
depressed moods, feelings of unworthiness, and apathy. Bipolar disorder: is when a
person has an alternate lethargic, and depression extreme in their mood.

Genetic influences help develop mood disorders. Major depression and bipolar disorder
increases if you have a parent or family member with it. Social cognitive states that
depression is a whole body disorder. Which goes into detail about the purpose behind
acting and thinking. They say that negative thoughts and negative moods co exist and
are working together.

Dissociative identity disorder: is led by an unbalance in biological and social-cognitive
perspective. DID include symptoms of two split personalities.

Schizophrenia: includes delusional thinking, altered perceptions, and impulsive
emotions and actions. Disorganized- disorganized speech or behavior. Catatonic-
immobility, extreme negativism, or repeating of another speech or movement. \
Mothers who held virus during pregnancy also affect their disorder. Even emotional
unpredictability and disruptive events cause this disorder.

Personality disorders: were seen in control impulses from the frontal lobe. Thus,
personality disorders that are antisocial are affected by the frontal lobe. They see it in
children 3-6, they lack a social responsibility and have and impulsive, uninhibited, and
uninhibited trait.


Chapter 15: Therapy

















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































at aims to treat mental disorders by investigating the interaction of conscious and
unconscious elements in the mind and bringing repressed fears and conflicts into the
conscious mind by techniques such as dream interpretation and free association.

2.Humanistic therapy: emphasizes peoples potential, not negativity. They seek to boost
confidence and help them find their own answers. It is empathetic, and compassionate.
They use insight therapies to see and reveal how they can possibility overcome their
situations.

3.Behavior therapy: doubts the power of self-awareness, it doesnt change anything that
you are aware of something. Systematic desensitization starts with a relaxed state and
gives an unconditioned stimulus that gradually increases their fears and anxiety. Flooding
is for treating phobias where they keep exposing them to fears and anxieties to get over it.
Aversive conditions contain conditioning by having an unconditioned stimulus that gives
off an unconditioned reaction.

4. Cognitive therapies assume that overgeneralization explanations of bad events are
included in depression. They assume and want to aid people in having a cognitive
revolution, a new reformed method to tackle their problems. They say that they can
reverse the negative effects of depression.

5.Group sessions giver social context, allowing people to discover that others share
similar problems. Family therapy works in similar ways, but it views an individuals
unwanted behaviors that must be influenced by other people.

6.Antipsychotic drugs include drugs like chlorpromazine, which is given to
schizophrenics. The molecules of it are similar to dopamine to occupy receptor sites and
block original activities. Antianxiety drugs include drugs like xanax or ativan. They
depress central nervous system activities, they are usually associated the therapies.
Antidepressant drugs lift up moods by blocking the reabsorption and taking away of
serotonin from different synapses.

7.Electroconvulsive therapy: is a biomedical therapy method for only extreme situations.
Usually, for extremely depressed victims, in which a sharp/brief electrical current is
stimulating their brains. Psychosurgery: is removing brain tissue for a change in behavior.
(lobotomy) They usually aim for the frontal lobe, for the organizational/emotion
controlling center.

8.Preventive mental health earnestly seeks for stopping psychological tragedies by
efficiently locating/identifying and finding solutions for the conditions that start it in the
first place.

Chapter 16:Social Psychology

1.Attribution is important due to knowing both sides of the situation, an environmental
and internal situation. Juries, police, and etc use attribution to make critical judgments of
a situation. Thus, they are able to evaluate efficiently with attribution. However, with the
fundamental attribution error, we overestimate the influences on inner personality and
vice versa with environment.

2.Attitudes have a strong impact especially in public opinion, which combines both
personal behaviors and public policies/opinions. It is fully impactful in central route to
persuasion where people respond with favorable thoughts on the topic they are interested
in. Peripheral route to persuasion is when they are influenced by incidental cues like
voice or attraction.

3.The foot in the door phenomenon includes an urge for individuals who agreed with one
small request to pass the 2
nd
and larger request. When you are role-playing, the first
initial days or steps feel uncomfortable/artificial. The first weeks of marriage or
friendship may be awkward. The cognitive dissonance theory leads from relief to tension,
when we are conscious that our attitudes and actions are not coherent, we receive stress.

4. When one person yawns, they do the same. We use the chameleon effect; we
unconsciously mimic others expressions, postures and even voice. We have mood
linkage with others, and we tend to conform to others moods. Those most wiling to fit in
are more prone to the chameleon effect. Columbine shootings led to more mimicked
shootings.

5. Milgram set up a teacher and a learner, the learner is led to an electric shock machine
and as they get words incorrect they are to be shocked. He wanted to see how far a
teacher or learner would go to obey what is socially accepted. All the shocks were not
real however, and it showed that obedience itself is a factor in society, not the whole
thing.

6.When others are watching or competing, the social facilitation happens, it happens on
opposite spectrums. You can either do better or worse because of the pressure. Social
loafing: is strong when people feel less accountable and trustworthy therefore they dont
care about what others may think. A common goal brings this loafing. Deindividuation:
works well under large groups, where someone feels as if the blame is not on them.

7.Group polarization: can happen when a group says something most negative or
positive, thus how like water is polar and sticks together, the group tends to stick
together. It successfully brings out the prevailing inclination/opinion. Groupthink is
common in when in a moment of stress, a group desires harmony in a decision making
situation.

8.Self-fulfilling prophecies illustrate the power in individuals by two ways. Social control
and personal controls are the reasons why we choose to react in certain ways. Our mind
compromises what is accepted in the public, and what our inner self truly wants.

9.Social: Even from ancestral times, ethnic prejudice in terms of village verse village
created in and out group theory. Thus we have most hostility to groups that are most like
us. Socially, our ancestors separated females and males when they settled down on
farms. Discrimination increases when we see people with power, money, and prestige.
We prefer to have connections to those who most benefit us. Emotional prejudice
happened in 9/11, where we were emotionally attached to the deaths, thus leading to
prejudice against Middle Eastern people. We are more open to those who make us feel
loved and wanted, instead of those who beg to differ. We cognitively discriminate people
by categorizing people into groups, thus judging them by groups. Also we grow up with
what we were taught, more exposure to something equals more vulnerability to it.
Hindsight bias affects this, we tend to look at others results and judge them upon it.

10.Some species of animals are bred for violence, thus twins and similar breeds of
species tend to have similar aggression. Falsely stimulated neurons from electric shocks
in monkeys prove to result in aggression. Biochemical hormones control aggression.
Bulls have automatic hormones that lead to aggression from natural selection. Humans
are affected by stimulants like crack to be more alert and aggressive.

11.The Bystanders effect: is the urge for any bystander to be less likely to help if others
are present. It shifts our own responsibility to someone else.