PSYCH 101 FINAL EXAM

I. The Science of Psychology

Definition
• Psychology – scientific study of behavior and mental processes
o Behavior – outward or overt actions and reactions – talking, facial expressions,
movement
o Mental processes – internal, covert activity of our minds – thinking, feeling,
remembering
o “Scientific” – must be observed in order to avoid biases, precise and accurate
measurement à use of the scientific method

Goals of Psychology
• Description
o What is happening?
o Observing behavior and noting everything about it
o Provide the observations
• Explanation
o Why is it happening?
o Come up with a tentative explanation
o Theory – general explanation of a set of observations or facts
o Build the theory
• Prediction
o When will it happen again?
o Determining what will happen in the future
• Control
o How can it be changed?
o Modification of some behavior: undesirable à desirable
• NOTE: Scientists do not aim to attain all four goals

History of Psychology
• Psychology is a new field, but people have thought about the “Self” and “people” long
before it was established
• Aristotle (384 – 322 BC)
o De Anima – Aristotle’s book about the relationship of the soul and the body
o Dualism - Plato felt that the soul could exist separate from the body
• Rene Descartes and Plato believed that the pineal gland (organ associated with sleep) was
the seat of the soul
• Philosophers – explained the human mind and its connection to the physical body
• Physiologists – explained the physical connection between the body and brain
• Structuralism
o Wilhelm Wundt – Father of Psychology
§ German physiologist who attempted to apply scientific principles to the
study of the human mind
§ His students were taught to study the structure of the human mind
§ The mind was made up of thoughts, experiences, emotions and other basic
elements – Nonphysical elements
 § To study these elements would mean to think objectively about their own
thoughts – objective introspection – Objectively examining and measuring
one’s own thoughts and mental activities
§ Observations needed to be clear and precise, but unaffected by the individual
observer’s beliefs and values
o Edward Titchener (1867 – 1927)
§ Expanded on Wundt’s ideas – called the viewpoint structuralism because of
its focus on the structure of the mind
§ Believed that every experience could be broken down into its individual
emotions and sensations
§ Extended the idea of objective introspection – could also be used on thoughts
as well as on physical sensations
§ Example: introspect about things that are blue instead of asking for reactions
about a blue object
o Margaret Washburn
§ First woman to receive a PhD in psychology
§ The Animal Mind
• Functionalism
o William James
§ Principles of Psychology
§ More interested in the importance of consciousness in everyday life rather
than just its analysis
§ Scientific study of consciousness was not yet possible
§ Conscious ideas – ever-changing stream
§ Main focus: How minds allow people to function in the real world
§ If a certain behavior helped you survive, it can be passed on to offspring by
some mechanism of heredity – Natural selection
o Mary Whiton Calkins
§ Completed every course requirement for earning a PhD but was denied
because she was a woman
§ Earliest research in the area of human memory and psychology of the self
§ First female president of the American Psychological Association
• Gestalt Psychology
o Max Wertheimer
§ Believed that psychological events such as perceiving and sensing could not
be broken down into any smaller elements and still be properly understood
§ “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts” – people seek our patterns
§ Gestalt – “organized whole” “configuration”
§ Ideas are now part of coginitive psychology
§ Influential for psychological therapy – therapeutic technique called Gestalt
therapy
• Psychoanalysis
o Sigmund Freud
§ Physician in Austria who specialized in disorders of the nervous system
§ Believed in the unconscious mind – where we push or repress all threatening
urges and desires
 § Stressed the importance of early childhood experiences – personality was
formed in the first 6 years of life
o Anna Freud
§ Ego movement in psychology
o Freud’s ideas are influential, but modified
o Psychoanalysis – theory and therapy based on Freud’s ideas – basis of modern
psychotherapy – a trained professional helps a person gain insight into and change
his/her behavior
• Behaviorism
o Ivan Pavlov
§ Reflex – involuntary action that could be caused to occur in response to a
formerly unrelated stimulus
§ Experiment with dogs and salivation reflex
o John Watson
§ Behaviorism
§ Bring back scientific inquiry – focus on observable behavior
§ Believed that all behavior is learned
§ Phobias are learned through the process of conditioning
§ “Little Albert” experiment

Modern Perspectives of Psychology

• Psychodynamic Perspective
o Modification of psychoanalysis
o Focus is still on the unconscious mind and its influence on conscious behavior and
early childhood development
o Less grounded on sex and sexual motivations
o More influence on development of sense of self, social and interpersonal
relationships, discovery of motivations behind a person’s behavior
• Behavioral Perspective
o B.F. Skinner – classical and operant conditioning
• Humanistic Perspective
o Focus on ability to direct their own lives
o Free will – freedom to choose their own destiny, strive for self-actualization –
achievement of one’s full potential
o Pioneers: Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers
o Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
• Cognitive Perspective
o How people think, remember, store, and use information
o Focus on memory, intelligence, perception, thought processes, problem solving,
language and learning
o Workings of the brain and nervous system when engaged in cognitive processes
o Structure and activity of living brain
• Sociocultural Perspective
o Combines social psychology and cultural psychology
o About the effect that people have on one another
 o The way they and others behave is influenced by friends or crowds, but also social
norms, fads, class differences and ethnic identity in the culture they live
o Cross-cultural research – contrasts and compares behaviors in two or more
different cultures
• Biopsychological Perspective
o Biological bases of behavior and mental processes
o Larger field of neuroscience
o Human and animal behavior is seen as a direct result of events in the body
o Hormones, heredity, brain chemicals, tumors, diseases
o Sleep, emotions, aggression, sexual behavior
• Evolutionary Perspective
o Biological bases for universal mental characteristics
o General mental strategies, why we lie, attractiveness in mate selection, etc
o Natural selection of Charles Darwin

Psychological Professionals
• Psychologist – no medical training, but has a doctorate degree – different vocational
settings
o Where Psychologists work
§ Federal government
§ State and local government
§ Private for profit
§ Private not for profit
§ Self-employed
§ School or other educational settings
§ University and four-year colleges
o Subfields of Psychology
§ General
§ Clinical
§ Counseling
§ Cognitive
§ Experimental / research areas
§ School
§ Industrial/organizational
§ Social and personality
§ Developmental
§ Educational
§ Others
• Psychiatrist – has a medical degree and is a medical doctor who specializes in the
diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders
• Psychiatric Social Worker – trained in the area of social work and possesses a master’s
degree – environmental conditions that can have an impact on mental disorders

The Scientific Method

1. Perceiving the Question
2. Forming a Hypothesis
 3. Testing the Hypothesis – getting an explanation for a certain behavior
4. Drawing conclusions – either the hypothesis was supported or not, if hypothesis was not
supported, might want to go back and think of another possible explanation and test that
5. Report Your Results - let other researchers know what you found – Even if it failed

Descriptive Methods
• Naturalistic Observation
o Watching animals or people behave in their normal environment
o Advantage – realistic picture because of the natural setting
o Animals and people who know they are being watched act differently – observer
effect
o Researcher can become participants in a group – participant observation
o Disadvantage – observer bias – sees only what he expects to see
§ Blind observers – people who do not know the research question have no
preconceived notions
• Laboratory Observation
o Controlled setting
o Disadvantage – animals and people react differently in a laboratory than they would
in the real world: observer effect
o Advantage – degree of control given to the observer
• Case Studies
o One individual is studied in great detail
o Advantage – tremendous amount of detail, good for rare situations
o Disadvantage – cant apply the results to other similar people, vulnerable to bias
• Surveys
o Asking a series of questions about a topic
o Interview or questionnaire
o Advantage – for personal information, large group of people
o Disadvantage – not everyone will be honest – courtesy bias – people give the
answer they think is more socially correct
o Phrasing of question is very important
o Representative sample – random selection of who to survey

Finding Relationships
• Correlation
o Measure of the relationship between two or more variables
o Variable – anything that changes or varies
o Correlation coefficient – represents the direction of a relationship and its strength
o Some psychological questions cannot be answered through ethical experimentation
o Correlation does not prove causation
§ Just because two variables are related does not mean that one causes the
other to occur
§ They could be related to some other variable that is the cause of both
o Can be used for prediction
• Experiment
 o Allows researchers to determine the cause of behavior through deliberate
manipulation
o Independent variable – dependent of anything the participants do, manipulated by
the experimenter
o Dependent variable – response of the participants that is measured, represents the
measurable response or behavior of the subjects in the experiment
o Operational definition – specifically names the operations that the experimental
may use to control or measure the variables in the experiment
§ Ex. Aggressive behavior – kicking, hitting, pushing, etc.
o Experimental group – group that is given the experimental manipulation
o Control group – subjects who are not subjected to the independent variable – may
receive a placebo treatment
o Random assignment – process of assigning subjects to the experimental or control
groups randomly – in order to get control of extraneous variables
o Problems in Experimentation
§ Placebo Effect
Ø Phenomenon in which the expectations of the participants in a study
can influence their behavior
Ø Example: People in the control group will still show changes in the
dependent variable even if they only received the placebo
§ Experimenter Effect
Ø Experimenter’s expectations can unintentionally influence the results
of the study
Ø Experimenter could give clues about how they are supposed to
respond – may be unintentional
Ø Participant may try harder to show improvement because it is what
the experimenter expects – the behavior of the experimenter caused
the participant to change his or her response
o Solutions to the problems
§ Single-Blind Studies
Ø Subjects do not know if they are part of the experimental or control
group
Ø Participants are “blind” to the treatment they receive
§ Double-Blind Studies
Ø Neither the experimenter nor the subjects know if the subjects are in
the experimental or control group
Ø Every element in the double-blind experiment gets coded in some
way so identification is only possible after all the measurements have
been taken
§ Quasi-experimental designs
Ø Inability to randomly assign participants to the experimental or
control group

Ethics of Psychological Research

• Rights and well-being of participants must be weighed against the study’s value to science.
o People come first, research comes second
 • Participants must be allowed to make an informed decision about participation
• Deception must be justified – debriefing must occur after the experiment
• Participants may withdraw from the study at any time
• Participants must be protected from risks or told explicitly of risks
• Investigators must debrief participants, telling the true nature of the study and expectations
of results.
• Data must remain confidential.
• Experimenter is responsible for detecting, removing, and correcting any wrong
consequences.
• Why do researchers use animals?
o Animals live shorter lives – easier to study long-term effects
o Animals are easier to control
o Some research questions are important but can be difficult or dangerous to answer
with human participants
o Ethical implications: no unnecessary pain or suffering should be done to animals

Critical thinking
• Making reasoned judgments
• There are very few truths that do not need to be subjected to testing
o Questions that can be investigated should be examined using scientific methods
o Ex. Astrology – without any basis in truth or scientific fact
• All evidence is not equal in quality
o Look at how evidence is gathered before deciding that it is good support for idea
o Poorly done experiments with incorrect assumptions
o Experimenter and placebo effect
• Having authority does not mean everything the person claims is true
o Better to seek evidence than take some expert’s word for anything
o Simplest explanation is most often the best one
• Critical thinking requires an open mind
o Delicate balance between skepticism and willingness to consider possibilities

II. The Biological Perspective

Overview of the Nervous System

• Nervous system – network of cells that carries information to and from all parts of the body
o Central nervous system – brain and spinal cord
§ Brain – interprets and stores information and sends orders to muscles,
glands, and organs 111
§ Spinal cord – pathway connecting the brain and the peripheral nervous
system
o Peripheral nervous system – transmits information to and from the central nervous
system
§ Autonomic nervous system – automatically regulates glands, internal
organs and blood vessels, pupil dilation, digestion and blood pressure
Ø Parasympathetic division- maintains body functions under ordinary
conditions – saves energy
 Ø Sympathetic division – prepares the body to react and expend
energy in times of stress
§ Somatic nervous system – carries sensory information and controls
movement of the skeletal muscles

Neurons and Nerves

• Neuroscience – branch of the life sciences that deal with the structure and functioning of
the brain and the neurons, nerves, and nervous system
o Focus is on neural function in the central and peripheral nervous system at the
molecular, cellular, circuit and behavioral levels
o Biological Psychology and behavioral neuroscience – branch of neuroscience that
focuses on the biological bases of psychological processes, behavior, and learning
• Structure of the neuron
o Neuron – specialized cell in the nervous system that receives and sends messages
within the system; messengers of the body
§ Dendrite – receive messages from other cells, looks like a branch
§ Soma – contains the nucleus and keeps the cell alive and functioning
§ Axon - fiber attached to soma to carry messages out to other cells
o Glial cells – cells that provide support for the neurons to grow on and around,
deliver nutrients to the neurons, produce myelin to coat axons, clean up waste
products and dead neurons, influence information processing, and influence the
generation of neurons
§ Oligodendrocytes – produce myelin for the neurons in the brain and spinal
cord (Central Nervous System)
§ Schwann Cells – produce myelin for the peripheral nervous system
o *Myelin – fatty substance produced by glial cells that coat the axons of neurons to
insulate, protect, and speed up neural impulse – protective sheath
§ Sections of myelin bump up next to each other on the axon – the places
where the myelin bump are small spaces called nodes à not covered in
myelin
§ When the electrical impulse (neural message) travels down the axon coated
with myelin, it “jumps” between the sheath sections to the place where the
axon is accessible at the nodes à message goes much faster when axon is
coated
§ Multiple sclerosis – myelin sheath is destroyed – diminished or complete
loss of neural functioning
o Neurilemma – Schwann’s membrane; surrounds the axon and myelin sheath and
serves as a tunnel through which damaged nerve fibers can repair themselves
§ Spinal cord and brain do not have this coating – more risk of getting
permanently damaged
o Nerves - bundles of myelin-coated axons that travel together in “cables”
• Neural Impulse
o Neurons at rest are electrically-charged – charged particles: ions
o Semiliquid solution inside the cell contains ions, too
o Relative charge of ions inside the cell is negative, outside the cell is positive
o Cell membrane is semipermeable
 o Resting potential
§ Sodium ions outside cannot enter the membrane – channels for sodium ions
are not open
o Action potential
§ When there is a strong enough stimulation from another cell, the cell
membrane opens up the channel for the sodium ions and they can enter,
making the inside of the cell more positively-charged
§ Action potential then travels down the axon then the message is passed on to
another cell
§ After the action potential has passed, sodium ion channels close not allowing
any more sodium ions to enter the cell
§ Cell membrane pumps sodium ions back outside the cell, potassium ions also
move quickly through the membrane to help the cell go back to resting
potential
o Neurons have a threshold for firing, go off in an “all-or-none” fashion
• Synapse
o Synaptic knobs – rounded areas on the end of axon terminals
o Synaptic vesicles - saclike structures found inside the synaptic knob that contain
chemicals à neurotransmitters
o Neurotransmitters – molecules of substances, inside a neuron to transmit a
message
o Next to the synaptic knob is the dendrite of another neuron, between them is a fluid-
filled space – synapse or synaptic gap
o Receptor sites – proteins that allow only particular molecules of a certain shape to
fit into it
o When the action potential makes its way to the axon and reaches the synaptic
vesicles, the synaptic vesicles release the neurotransmitters into the synapse
o Molecules float in the synapse until they fit themselves into the receptors – activates
the next cell
o Excitatory synapse – turn cells on, synapse at which a neurotransmitter causes the
receiving cell to fire
o Inhibitory synapse – turn cells off, synapse at which a neurotransmitter causes the
receiving cell to stop firing
• Neurotransmitters
o Antagonist - chemical substance that blocks or reduces the effect of the
neurotransmitter
o Agonist – chemical substance that enhances the effect of the neurotransmitter
o Types of neurotransmitters
§ Acetylcholine – excitatory or inhibitory; arousal, attention, memory and
controls muscle contractions
Ø low levels = Alzheimer’s disease
§ Serotonin – excitatory or inhibitory; involved in mood, sleep and appetite
Ø low levels = depression
§ GABA (gamma aminobutyric acid) – inhibitory neurotransmitter involved
in sleep, inhibits movement
Ø Helps to calm anxiety
 Ø By binding to the same receptor sites that are affected by
tranquilizers and alcohol
§ Glutamate – major excitatory, involved in learning, memory formation,
nervous system development and synaptic plasticity
Ø Synaptic plasticity – ability of the brain to change connections
among its neurons
Ø Excess may result in overactivation and neuronal damage
§ Norepinephrine – mainly excitatory; arousal and mood
§ Dopamine – excitatory or inhibitory; control of movement and sensations of
pleasure
Ø Low level = Parkinson’s disease
Ø High level = Schizophrenia
§ Endorphins – inhibitory, pain relief; neural regulator
• Reuptake and Enzymes
o Reuptake – process by which neurotransmitters are taken back into the synaptic
vesicles
§ Cocaine blocks the reuptake of dopamine – long lasting pleasurable
sensations
o Enzymatic degradation – process by which structure of the neurotransmitter is
altered so it can no longer act as a receptor – specifically for acetylcholine
o Drugs can be antagonists or agonists
o Drugs can also interfere with the regular reuptake or enzymatic degradation process

The Central Nervous System

• Brain – core of the nervous system
• Spinal cord
o Long bundle of neurons
o Outer section – composed of myelinated axons and nerves, carry messages from the
body up to the brain and from the brain down to the body
o Inner section – cell bodies of neurons
§ Responsible for reflexes
§ Afferent (sensory) neurons – from the senses to the spinal cord
§ Efferent (motor) neurons – from the spinal cord to the muscles and glands
§ Interneurons - connects afferent and efferent neurons; sends commands to
the muscles through the efferent neurons; make up the bulk of the neurons in
the brain
§ Reflex arc – connection of the three neurons resulting in a reflex action
o Some forms of central nervous system damage can be repaired by the body’s
systems – neuroplasticity – ability to constantly change both the structure and
function of many cells in the brain in response to experience and trauma
o The brain can also adapt – neurons serve new functions when old ones die, dendrites
grow and new synapses are formed as people learn new things
o Stem cells – repair damaged or diseased brain tissue
§ Can become blood cells, nerve cells, brain cells etc.

The Peripheral Nervous System

 • Made up of all the neurons that are not contained in the brain and spinal cord
• System that allows the brain and spinal cord to communicate with sensory systems of the
eyes, ears, skin and mouth
• Allows the brain and spinal cord to control the muscles and glands of the body
• Somatic Nervous system
o In charge of voluntary movements
o Carries sensory information and controls the movement of the skeletal muscles
o Sensory pathway – comprises all the nerves carrying messages from the senses to
the central nervous system
o Motor pathway – all of the nerves carrying messages from the central nervous
system to the voluntary or skeletal muscles of the body
o “Voluntary muscles” can still move involuntarily when a reflex response occurs
• Autonomic Nervous system
o Functions of this system are more or less automatic
o Controls organs, glands, and involuntary muscles
o Divided into 2 systems
o Note: Neurons ON or NEAR the spinal cord are for the peripheral nervous system,
neurons INSIDE the spinal column are part of the central nervous system
§ Sympathetic division
Ø Prepares the body to react and expend energy in times of stress
Ø Located on the middle of the spinal column
Ø “Fight-or-flight” system – allows people and animals to deal with
stressful events
Ø Pupil dilation
Ø Heart pumps harder and faster
Ø Adrenal gland is stimulated
Ø Digestion and excretion systems are inhibited
Ø Burns a lot of fuel or blood sugar
§ Parasympathetic division
Ø Maintains body functions under ordinary conditions; saves energy
Ø “Eat-drink-and rest-system”
Ø Top and bottom of the spinal cord
Ø Restores the body to normal functioning after a stressful situation
Ø Slows the heart and breathing
Ø Constricts the pupils
Ø Reactivates digestion and excretion
Ø Signals adrenal glands to stop
Ø People are hungry after stress
Ø Responsible for day-to-day bodily functioning

Endocrine Glands
• Glands that secrete chemicals called hormones directly into the bloodstream
• Hormones – chemicals released into the bloodstream
o Hormones affect behavior by stimulating muscles, organs, or other glands of the
body
• Glands of the body
 o Pineal Gland
§ Plays a role in biological rhythms
§ Secretes melatonin – tracks day length, regulates the sleep-wake cycle
o Pituitary Gland
§ “Master gland”
§ Controls growth
o Thyroid gland
§ Secretes hormones that regulate growth and metabolism
§ Secretes thyroxin – regulates metabolism
o Pancreas
§ Controls the levels of blood sugar in the body
§ Secretes glucagons and insulin
§ Too little insulin = diabetes
§ Too much insulin = hypoglycemia or low blood sugar
o Gonads
§ Sex glands – ovaries and testes
§ Secretes hormones that regulate sexual behavior, development and
reproduction
§ Testosterone and Estrogen
o Adrenal glands
§ Located at the top of each kidney
§ Secrete over 30 different hormones to deal with stress, regulate salt intake,
secondary source of sex hormones
§ Adrenal medulla – epinephrine and norepinephrine
§ Adrenal cortex – over 30 hormones called corticoids
Ø Cortisol – important release of glucose in the bloodstream during
stress

Inside the Living Brain

• Lesioning studies
o Deep lesioning – insertion of a thin, insulated wire into the brain through which an
electrical current is sent that destroys the brain cells at the tip of the wire
§ Not an ideal way to study the brain
§ No two case studies of humans are likely to present damage in exactly the
same area
o Brain stimulation – less harmful than deep lesioning; temporarily disrupt or
enhance the normal functioning of specific brain areas through electrical stimulation
– changed in behavior and cognition
§ Invasive techniques
Ø Deep Brain Stimulation – electrodes are placed in specific deep-
brain areas and then route to electrode wires to a pace-maker like
device; Can help with Parkinson’s, chronic pain, seizure, etc.
§ Noninvasive techniques
Ø Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation - magnetic pulses
are applied to the cortex using special copper wire coils – magnetic
fields stimulate neurons in the targeted area
 Ø Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation - use of scalp electrodes
to pass very low amplitude direct currents to the brain
• Mapping Structure
o Computed Tomography (CT) - X-rays
o Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) – provides much more detail than X-rays,
powerful magnetic field to align hydrogen atoms in the brain tissues
o Of love and MRIs: Increased when in love, decrease if not; In lust: hunger,
thirst and arousal are activated
o Men: visual stimulus, Women: Memory
§ Reward
§ Motivation
§ Emotion
§ Social Functioning
• Mapping Function
o Electroencephalogram (EEG) – record electrical activity of the cortex just below
the skull using an electroencephalograph
o EEG Activity: can be classified according to appearance and frequency
§ Beta waves – indicate waking activity
§ Alpha waves – sign of relaxation
§ Theta waves – associated with drowsiness and sleep
§ Delta waves – indicate deep sleep
o Positron Emission Tomography (PET) – brain imaging method in which a
radioactive sugar is injected into the subject and a computer compiles a color-coded
image of the activity of the brain
o Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) – uses a different
radioactive tracer and can be used to examine brain blood flow
o Functional MRI (fMRI) – shows oxygen levels of the blood as well as structure of
the brain

Triune Brain Theory

• Lizard Brain
o Brain, stem & cerebellum
o Fight or Flight
o Autopilot
• Mammal Brain
o Limbic System
o Emotions, memories, habits
o Decisions
• Human Brain
o Neocortex
o Language, abstract, thought, imagination, consciousness
o Reasons, rationalizes

Structures of the Brain

• The Hindbrain
o Medulla
 § top of the spinal column “swelling”
§ where nerves cross from one side of the body to the opposite side of the
brain
§ Controls life-sustaining functions such as heartbeat, breathing, and
swallowing
o Pons
§ Larger swelling above the medulla
§ “Bridge” between the lower parts of the brain and the upper section
§ Coordinate the movements of the left and right sides of the brain
§ Influences sleep, dreaming, arousal
o Reticular Formation
§ Neurons running through the middle of the medulla and the pons that are
responsible for people’s ability to generally attend to certain kinds of
information in their surroundings
§ Allows people to ignore constant, unchanging information and become alert
to changes in information
o Cerebellum
§ Small brain
§ Controls all involuntary, rapid, fine motor movement
§ Coordinates voluntary movements that have to happen in rapid succession
ex. Walking, skating, dancing, etc.
§ Learned reflexes and skills are stored here
§ Spinocerebellar degeneration – deterioration of cerebellum
• Structures Under the Cortex
o Limbic System – found in the inner margin of the upper brain; involved in
emotions, motivation, memory, and learning
§ Thalamus
Ø relay station for incoming sensory information
Ø processes sensory information before sending it on to the part of the
cortex that deals with that kind of sensation
Ø Damage = loss or partial loss of sensations
Ø Sense of smell – olfactory bulbs, not thalamus
§ Hypothalamus
Ø Regulates body temperature, thirst, hunger, sleeping, waking, sexual
activity, emotions
Ø Controls the pituitary gland
§ Hippocampus
Ø for forming long-term, declarative memories
Ø Acetylcholine and muscle control is associated with the
hippocampus, but also with memory function – low levels of
Acetylcholine = Alzheimer’s
§ Amygdala
Ø fear responses and memory of fear
Ø people can respond to danger very quickly
§ Cingulate Cortex
Ø limbic structure found in the cortex
 Ø emotional and cognitive processing
Ø selective attention, written word recognition, and working memory
Ø ADHD, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder
• The Cortex
o Outermost part of the brain (wrinkled)
o Made up of tightly-packed neurons
o Wrinkling of the cortex allows for a much larger area of cortical cells to exist
o Cortex gets more wrinkled as the brain increases in size and complexity –
“corticalization”
• The lobes and their Specialties
o Divided into two hemispheres called the cerebal hemispheres
o Corpus callosum allows the left and right hemispheres to communicate with each
other
o Occipital lobe
§ Base of the cortex, towards the back of the brain
§ Area that processes visual information from the eyes in the primary visual
cortex
§ Visual association cortex is the part of the brain that helps identify and
make sense of visual information from the eyes
o Parietal Lobe
§ At the top and back of the brain
§ Somatosensory cortex is the area of neurons that processes information from
the skin and internal body receptors for touch, temperature, and body
position
o Temporal Lobes
§ Found behind the temples of the head
§ Primary auditory cortex and auditory association area
§ Particularly involved with language
§ Sense of taste is also processed here
o Frontal Lobes
§ Lobes at the front of the brain
§ Higher mental functions – planning, personality, memory storage, complex
decision making
§ Helps controlling emotions
§ Damage to the prefrontal cortex = disability to perform certain mental tasks
§ Motor cortex – control the movements of the body’s voluntary muscles by
sending commands
§ Mirror neurons – neurons that fire when an animal or person performs an
action and also when an animal or person observes that same action being
performed by another
• The Association Areas of the Cortex
o Made up of neurons in the cortex that are devoted to making connections between
sensory information coming into the brain and stored memories, images, and
knowledge
o Broca’s Area
§ Left frontal lobe, devoted to the production of speech
 § Allows a person to speak smoothly and fluently
§ Damage to Broca’s area = unable to get words out in a smooth, connected
fashion
§ Broca’s aphasia – inability to use or understand either written or spoken
language
o Wernicke’s Area
§ Left temporal lobe
§ Damage to Wernicke’s area = understanding the meaning of words
§ Wernicke’s aphasia – able to speak fluently and pronounce words correctly,
but use wrong words entirely
o Spatial neglect
§ Condition produced by damage to the association areas of the right
hemisphere resulting in an inability to recognize objects or body parts in the
left visual field
• The Cerebral Hemispheres
o Split-brain research
§ Roger Sperry cut the corpus callosum – split brain patients
§ Left hemisphere – good for analysis, breaking down of information
Ø Controls the right hand
Ø Spoken language
Ø Written language
Ø Math calculations
Ø Logical thought processes
Ø Analysis of detail
Ø Reading
§ Right hemisphere – global or holistic processing
Ø Controls the left hand
Ø Nonverbal
Ø Visual-spatial perception
Ø Music and artistic processing
Ø Emotional thought and recognition
Ø Processes the whole
Ø Pattern recognition
Ø Facial recognition

III. Learning
Definition
• Any relatively permanent change in behavior brought about by experience or practice
• Part of the brain is physically changed to record what has been learned
• Maturation is not learning, it is due to biology and not experience

Classical Conditioning
• Pavlov and Dogs Experiment
o Learning to elicit an involuntary reflex response to a stimulus other than the
original, natural stimulus that normally produces the reflex
• Unconditioned Stimulus – original, natural occurring stimulus; stimulus that ordinarily
leads to a reflex response
• Unconditioned Response – involuntary reflex response to a naturally occurring or
unconditioned stimulus; unlearned and occurs because of “genetic wiring”
• Conditioned Stimulus – any stimulus associated with the unconditioned stimulus to elicit
the same response; must be paired to the UCS enough – starts off as a neutral stimulus –
stimulus that has no effect on the desired response
• Conditioned Response – response given to the CS; not as strong as the original
unconditioned response, but same response
• Basic Principles of Classical Conditioning
1. The CS must come before the UCS.
2. The CS and UCS must be close together in time – no more than 5 seconds apart
3. The neutral stimulus must be paired with the UCS several times before classical
conditioning can take place.
4. The CS is a distinctive stimulus. It should stand out from other competing stimuli.
• Stimulus generalization – tendency to respond to a stimulus that is only similar to the
original conditioned stimulus with the conditioned response (Ex. Dogs responding to fake
ticking sounds not produced by the metronome)
• Stimulus discrimination – tendency to stop making a generalized response to a stimulus
that is similar to the original conditioned stimulus because the similar stimulus is not paired
with the unconditioned stimulus
• Extinction – disappearance or weakening of a learned response following the removal or
absence of the unconditioned stimulus or the removal of a reinforce
• Spontaneous recovery – the reappearance of a learned response after extinction has
occurred; fairly weak response but present
• Higher-order conditioning – strong conditioned stimulus is paired with a neutral stimulus;
CS plays the part of a UCS so that the neutral stimulus becomes the second conditioned
stimulus; UCS still plays an important role
• Conditioned emotional response – emotional response that has become classically
conditioned to occur to learned stimuli (ex. Fear of dogs)
o Little Albert
• Vicarious conditioning – classical conditioning of a reflex response or emotion by
watching the reaction of another person (Ex. Vaccines)
• Conditioned taste aversion – development of nausea or aversive response to a particular
taste because the taste was followed by something unpleasant – occurs after only one
association
o Part of biological preparedness – survival mechanism – mammalian body can
associate smell and taste with getting sick
• Why does classical conditioning work?
o The conditioned stimulus can activate the same place in an animal’s brain as the
unconditioned stimulus through stimulus substitution
o CS won’t work if paired after the UCS because of expectancy – CS has to provide
some information about the coming of the UCS in order to achieve conditioning
 o Cognitive perspective – modern theory in which classical conditioning is seen to
occur because the unconditioned stimulus provides information or expectancy about
the coming of the unconditioned stimulus (Ex. Rats and tone experiment)

Biological preparedness
• Tendency to learn certain associations with only one or few pairings due to to survival
value of the learning

Operant Conditioning
• Learning voluntary behavior through the effects of a pleasant/ unpleasant consequence to a
response
• Operant – any behavior that is voluntary
• Thorndike’s law of effect
o Responses followed by pleasurable consequences are repeated
• Thorndike’s puzzle box
o Cat did not necessarily “figure out” the connection, but was able to get out more
quickly every time
o Law of effect – if an action is followed by a pleasurable consequence, it will tend to
be repeated, and if followed by an unpleasant consequence, it will tend not to be
repeated
• B.F. Skinner gave the name operant conditioning
o 1904-1990
o Studied observable, measurable behavior
§ Operant: Voluntary behavior
§ Learning depends on consequences
• Consequences of behavior – learning depends on what happens after the response –
“What’s in it for me?”
• Reinforcement – any event or stimulus, that when following a response, increases the
probability that the response will occur again
o Primary reinforcer- any reinforce that is naturally reinforcing by meeting a basic,
biological need, such as hunger, thirst, or touch (Ex. Candy)
o Secondary reinforcer- becomes reinforcing after paired with a primary reinforcer
(ex. Praise, tokens, gold stars, money)
§ Note: Secondary reinforcers get their power from classical conditioning
o Positive reinforcement – pleasurable consequence, like a reward, addition of a
pleasurable stimulus
o Negative reinforcement – removal or escape from an unpleasant stimulus (Ex.
Avoiding a chore)
o Schedules of Reinforcement
§ Partial reinforcement effect
Ø Tendency for a response that is reinforced after some, but not all,
correct responses to be very resistant to extinction
Ø Sometimes more effective than continuous reinforcement
§ Fixed interval – interval of time that passes before being granted the
reinforcement is always the same
 § Variable interval – interval of time that must pass before reinforcement
becomes possible is different for each trial (Ex. Pop quizzes, fishing)
§ Fixed ratio – fixed number of responses before reinforcement is granted
(Ex. Promo/punch cards)
§ Variable ratio – number of responses before reinforcement is granted is
different every trial (Ex. Slot machine) - unpredictability makes behavior
more continuous
o Two important factors in reinforcement
§ Timing – reinforcement should be given immediately after desired behavior
§ Only reinforce the desired behavior
• Punishment – any event or object that, when following a response, makes that response
less likely to happen again
o Punishment by application – addition or experiencing an unpleasant stimulus (ex.
Spanking, hurting, etc.)
o Punishment by removal – removal of a pleasurable stimulus (Ex. Time-outs or
grounding)
o Problems with punishment
§ Severe punishment may cause the child to avoid punisher instead of avoid
being punished
§ Severe punishment may encourage lying to avoid the punishment
§ Severe punishment creates fear and anxiety.
§ Model for aggression
o How to make punishment effective
§ Punishment should immediately follow the behavior that is meant to be
punished.
§ Punishment should be consistent.
§ Punishment of wrong behavior should be paired with reinforcement of right
behavior. (If possible.)

Stimulus control
• Discriminative stimulus – stimulus that provides an organism with a cue to make a certain
response in order to obtain reinforcement (Ex. Police car is a discriminative stimulus for
slowing down)

Other concepts in Operant Conditioning

• Shaping
o Reinforcement of simple steps in order to lead to a more complex behavior (ex.
Training animals to do tricks)
o Begin with easy step
o Reinforce after every successful mastery of easy behavior
o Increase difficulty
o Lessen reinforcement
o Successive approximation – small steps one after the other that get closer and
closer to the goal
• Extinction – removal of the reinforcement
 • Spontaneous recovery – Ex. When dogs are learning new trick, dogs will try to get
reinforcement by performing old tricks
• Instinctive drift – tendency for an animal’s behavior to revert to genetically controlled
patterns

Operant Conditioning in Behavior Modification

• Using operant conditioning to bring about a desired behavior
• Select a target behavior.
• Choose a reinforcer. (Ex. Gold star)
• Put plan into action
• Give a reward for collecting a certain number of gold stars – token economy
• Applied Behavior Analysis – modern term for a form of functional analysis and behavior
modification that uses a variety of behavioral techniques to mold a desired behavior or
response
• Biofeedback – using feedback about biological conditions to bring involuntary responses,
such as blood pressure and relaxation, under voluntaty control (Similar to neurofeedback)
• Tips in Behavior Modification
o Establish Goals and Alternative Behavior
§ Operationalize your target
o Find out activating conditions
o Have a timeline (breakdown per week)
o Have specific consequences

Classical Operant
End result is the creation of a new response to a End result is an increase in the rate of an already
stimulus that did not normally produce a occuring response
response

Cognitive Learning Theory

• Latent Learning
o Learning that remains hidden until its application becomes useful
o Tolman’s experiment – rats who were not reinforced knew how to get out more
quickly, but did not exhibit this knowledge until promised reinforcement
• Insight Learning
o Sudden perception of relationships among various parts of a problem, allowing the
solution to the problem to come quickly
o Flash of inspiration
o “Coming together” of all the elements of a problem
• Learned helplessness
o Tendency to fail to act to escape from a situation because of a history of repeated
failures
o Seligman’s dogs that were conditioned and previously harnessed did not jump over
the fence even though they could have – nothing they could do to escape the shock
o Depressive behavior is a form of learned helplessness
Observational Learning
 • Learning of a new behavior through watching the actions of a model
• Bandura’s Bobo Doll experiment
o Children who watched an adult use the doll aggressively did the same even if there
was no reinforcement
o The fact that learning can take place without actual performance is called
learning/performance distinction
o If the model was punished after acting aggressively, the children would not follow
the example of the adult, but after Bandura told the children that they would receive
a reward if they replicated what the model did, they did it.
o CONSEQUENCES MATTER IN MOTIVATING A CHILD.
• Four elements of observational learning
o Attention
o Memory
o Imitation – learner must be capable of doing the act
o Motivation – there must be incentive to actually imitate what was learned

IV. Memory
• Memory is an active system that receives information from the senses, puts that into usable
form, organizes it as it stores it away, and then retrieves the information from storage
• Encoding – set of mental operations that people perform on sensory information to convert
the information to usable form
• Storage – holding on to information for some period of time; period of time is of different
lengths depending on the system of memory being used
• Retrieval – getting the information out of storage
• Integral to
o Intelligent life
o Identity

Models of Memory
• Information-Processing model
o Assumes the processing of information for memory storage is similar to the way a
computer processes memory in a series of three stages
o Most comprehensive model of memory
• Parallel Distributed Processing (PDP) model
o Memory processes are proposed to take place at the same time over a large network
of neural connections
o Allows people to retrieve different aspects of memory at once
o Artificial intelligence
• Levels-of-Processing model
o Assumes information that is more “deeply processed” or processed according
to its meaning rather than just the sound or physical characteristics of the word
or words, will be remembered more efficiently or for a longer period of time
o Thinking about the meaning on a deeper level of processing results in a longer
retention of the word
• All of the models can nobe used to explain one, if not all, research findings
The Information-Processing Model
• Sensory Memory
o First stage of memory, the point at which information enters the nervous system
through sensory systems
o Everything that is seen, heard, etc at any given point in time
o As long as neural messages are traveling through the system, it can be said that
people have a memory for that information that can be accessed if needed
o “Double take”
o Iconic sensory memory
§ Visual sensory memory that lasts only a quarter of a second
§ Capacity of iconic memory: anything that can be seen at one time
§ Masking – information that had just entered iconic memory will be pushed
out very quickly by new information
§ Eidetic imagery – ability to access visual sensory memory over a long
period of time – “reading” a piece of paper on a blank wall because the
image of what they read is still in their sensory memory
§ Function: allows enough time for the brain stem to decide if the information
is important enough to be brought into consciousness
o Echoic sensory memory
§ Limited to what can be heard at any one moment and is smaller in capacity
§ Lasts longer – about 2 to 4 seconds
§ Allows people to remember what someone said just long enough to
recognize the meaning of a phrase
• Short-term and Working memory
o Memory system in which information is held for brief periods of time while being
used
o Selective attention – ability to focus on only one stimulus from among all sensory
input
§ First stage: sensory memory is filtered on the basis of simple physical
characteristics
§ Second stage: processing only the stimuli that meet a certain threshold of
importance
§ Ex. A mother can hear a baby’s cry, but sleep through train sounds –
threshold of the baby’s cry is lowered
o When a person is thinking actively about information, it is brought to consciousness
and is also in STM
o Short-term memory is encoded primarily in auditory form
o Working memory – active system that processes the information in short-term
memory
§ Central executive – controls and coordinates the other two systems
§ Visual “sketchpad”
§ Auditory “recorder”
o Capacity: Magical number 7 plus/minus 2; Recent research suggests 3-5, but if the
word is long or unfamiliar it reduces to four items
 o Chunking – technique in holding more information if bits of information are
combined into meaningful units
o Duration: Lasts for about 12-30 seconds without rehearsal
o Maintenance rehearsal – practice of saying some information over and over again
in order to maintain it in STM
§ When rehearsal stops, the memory rapidly decays and is forgotten
o Information in STM may be “pushed out” to make room for newer information
• Long-term memory
o System into which all information is placed to be kept more or less permanently
o Seems to be unlimited for all practical purposes
o Memories in LTM may be available, but not accessible
o Information that is rehearsed long enough may find its way to long term memory
(ex. Poems, multiplication table, alphabet) – Rote learning
o Long-term memory is encoded in images
o Elaborative rehearsal – way of transferring information from STM to LTM by
making the information useful in some way à connect new information with old
information that is already well-known à LEVELS OF PROCESSING MODEL
o Types of Long-term Information
§ Procedural (Nondeclarative) LTM
Ø Memories for skills
Ø Emotional associations, habits, simple conditioned reflexes (may not
be in conscious awareness)
Ø Implicit memory – memories of these skills, reflexes, etc are not
easily retrieved into conscious awareness
§ Declarative LTM
Ø Type of long-term memory containing information that is conscious
and known
Ø Semantic memory – general knowledge, knowledge of language,
information learned in formal education
Ø Episodic memory – containing personal information not readily
available to others, such as daily activities and events
Ø Explicit memory – easily made conscious and brought from long-
term storage into short-term memory
§ NOTE: Anterograde amnesia
Ø Long-term declarative memories cannot be formed from the point of
injury forward
Ø Ex. Patients can solve the tower of Hanoi, but cannot remember the
examiner nor ever solving the puzzle in the first place – formation of
procedural LTM, but not declarative LTM
o LTM organization
§ Semantic network model – model of memory that assumes information is
stored in the brain in a connected fashion, with concepts that are closely
related are stored physically closer to each other than concepts that are not
related – Parallel Distributed Processing
o Retrieval of LTM
 §Retrieval Cue - The more cues stored with a piece of information, the easier
the retrieval of that information will be
§ Encoding Specificity – tendency of memory of information to be improved
if related information (such as surroundings or physiological state) that is
available when the memory is first formed is also available when the
memory is being retrieved (Ex. Best place to take chem test is in chem
classroom where it was taught)
§ State-dependent learning – memories formed during a particular
physiological or psychological state will be easier to remember while in a
similar state
§ Recall vs. Recognition
Ø Recall - Information must be pulled with few or no external clues
v Essay, fill-in-the blank
v Tip of the tongue phenomenon
v Serial Position Effect – tendency of information at the
beginning and end of a body of information to be remembered
more accurately than information in the middle
è Primacy effect – first few words receive far more
rehearsal than the middle words; can make it to LTM
through rote memorization
è Recency effect – tendency to remember information
at then end because there are no new words that push
the most recent words out of memory
Ø Recognition – involves hearing or looking at information and
matching it to what is already in memory
v Word search puzzles, multiple choice, matching type, true or
false
v The answer is there and simply has to be matched to
information
v False positives – occurs when a person thinks he/she
recognized something or someone but in fact does not have
that something or someone in memory
è Eye witness recognition can be prone to false
positives
è Elizabeth Loftus’ research – what people see and hear
about an even after the fact, can easily affect the
accuracy of the memories of their event
§ Automatic encoding – tendency of certain kinds of information to enter
long-term memory with little or no effortful encoding
Ø Ex. Remembering a lot of cars passing the street even if you did not
pay much attention to it
§ Flashbulb memories – type of automatic encoding that occurs because an
unexpected event has strong emotional associations for the person
remembering it
Ø Just as subject to decay and alterations over time as any kind of
o Constructive Processing of Memories
 §
Memories are altered with the passage of time, the more time passes, the
more memories are subjected to changes and alterations
§ Constructive processing – retrieval of memories in which those memories
are altered, revised, or influenced by newer information
§ Hindsight bias - tendency to falsely believe, through revision of older
memories to include newer information, that one could have correctly
predicted the outcome of an event; “Monday morning quarterbacking”
o Memory Retrieval Problems
§ Misinformation effect – Misleading information can become part of actual
memory, affecting its accuracy
§ False-memory syndrome – refers to the inaccurate or false memories
through the suggestion of others – often under a state of altered
consciousness/hypnosis
Ø Hypnosis increases the confidence people have in their memories,
regardless of whether they are real or false
Ø Individuals were unable to distinguish between the images they had
really seen and the imagined images
Ø Event must be made to seem as plausible as possible.
Ø Individuals are given information that helps them believe that the
event could have happened to them personally

Forgetting
• Forgetting Curve – a graph showing a distinct pattern in which forgetting is very fast
within the first hour after learning a list and then tapers off gradually
• Distributed practice – spacing the study of material to be remembered by including breaks
between study periods
• Encoding Failure – failure to process information into memory
• Memory trace decay theory
o Memory trace – physical change in the brain
o If memory is not used, it may decay
o Information that is not brought to attention in sensory memory or continuously
rehearsed in STM will fade away
o For LTM, the decay theory is called disuse
• Interference theory
o Proactive interference – tendency for older, previously learned material to interfere
with learning; reaching for something in its “old” place
o Retroactive interference – when newer information interferes with the retrieval of
old information

Neuroscience of Memory
• Procedural memories are stored in the cerebellum
• Short-term memories are stored in the pre-frontal cortex
• Memories of fear are stores in the amygdala
• Semantic and episodic long-term memories are stored in the frontal and temporal lobes
• Consolidation – change that takes place in the structuring and functioning of neurons when
a memory is formed
 • Hippocampus is the source of the ability to consolidate and store any new factual
information à procedural memory is intact, but no declarative memories can be formed
• Retrograde amnesia – loss of memory from the point of some injury or trauma backwards
– loss of memory from the past; consolidation was disrupted, which is why some people in
car accidents cannot remember the crash itself
• Anterograde amnesia – loss of memory from the point of some injury or trauma forward
• Infantile amnesia – inability to retrieve memories much before age 3, early memories tend
to be mostly implicit
• Autobiographical memory – the memory for events or facts related to ones’ personal life
story

Alzheimer’s Disease
• Most common type of dementia
• Primary problem is anterograde amnesia – slowly become more forgetful about everyday
tasks
• Retrograde amnesia eventually takes hold
• Treatments can slow, but not halt or reverse the course of disease

V. Development Across A Lifespan

Research Designs
• Longitudinal design – one group is followed and assessed at different times as the group
ages
o Advantages – can look at age-related differences in the same individuals
o Disadvantages – time, money, participants may lose interest
• Cross-sectional design – several different age groups are studied at one time
o Advantages – cost-efficient, quick
o Disadvantages – no longer compares an individual to the same individual as he/she
ages; difference between age-groups is a problem in developmental research
• Cross-sequential design – combination of longitudinal and cross-sectional design’
Nature vs. Nurture
• Nature refers to heredity – influence of inherited characteristics on personality, physical
growth, intellectual growth and social interactions
• Nurture refers to the influence of environment – parenting styles, physical surroundings,
economic factors, etc.
• All that people are and all that they become is a product of nature and nurture

Basic Building Blocks of Development

• Genetics – study of heredity
o Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) – special molecule that contains the genetic
material of the organism
o Gene – each sequence of DNA having the same arrangement of chemical elements
o Chromosome – rod-shaped strucures where genes are located in; tightly wound
strand of genetic material/DNA
 o Humans have 46 chromosomes found in the nucleus; 22 pairs dictate most
characteristics; 23rd pair determines sex – XX = female, XY = male
o Dominant genes – genes that are more active in influencing a certain trait (ex.
Brown hair)
o Recessive genes – less active in influencing a trait and will only be expressed in the
observable trait if they are paired with another less active gene (ex. Blonde hair)
o Polygenic inheritance – two recessive genes can mix instead of one creating
dominance over the other (Ex. Blonde + red = strawberry blonde)
o Genetic chromosome problems
§ Carried by recessive genes
Ø Cystic Fibrosis – disease of respiratory and digestive tracts
Ø Sickle-cell anemia – blood disorder
Ø Tay-Sachs – fatal neurological disorder
Ø Phenylketunoria (PKU)
§ Chromosome is the problem
Ø Down syndrome – extra chromosome in the 21st pair
Ø Klinefelter’s syndrome – XXY; males have reduced masculine
characteristics
Ø Turner’s syndrome – lone X chromosome – females are sexually
underdeveloped

Prenatal Development
• Fertilization – when an egg and sperm unite
• Zygote – cell resulting from fertilization; 46 chromosomes
o Monozygotic twins – “identical” twins, two babies come from one fertilized egg;
infants have the same set of 46 chromosomes
o Dizygotic twins – “fraternal” twins, two eggs are fertilized
o Conjoined twins occur when the mass of cells do not completely split
• Germinal period
o First two weeks after fertilization when the zygote moves down to the uterus and
begins to implant in the lining
o Placenta and umbilical cord begins to form
o Cells begin to differentiate or 1 develop into specialized cells
• Embryonic period
o 2 – 8 weeks after fertilization
o embryo – name for developing organism
o major organs and structures of the organism develop – none are fully developed
o Critical period
§ Times during which certain environmental influences can have an impact on
the developing infant
§ As soon as the embryo begins to receive nourishment from the mother, it
becomes vulnerable to hazards
§ Teratogens – any substance such as a drug, chemical, virus, or other factor
that can cause a birth defect
Ø Rubella – blindness, deafness, heart defects, brain damage
Ø Marijuana – irritability, nervousness, tremors
 Ø Cocaine – decreased height, low birth weight, respiratory problems,
seizures
Ø Alcohol – fetal alcohol syndrome, smaller than normal head
Ø Nicotine – miscarriage, stillbirth, short stature, intellectual disability,
learning disabilities
Ø Mercury –intellectual disability, blindness
Ø Syphilis – meningitis, deafness, intellectual disability
Ø Caffeine – miscarriage, low birth weight
Ø Radiation – higher incidence of cancer, physical deformities
Ø High water temperatures – increased chance of neural tube defects
• Fetal period
o 8 weeks – birth
o Child is now called a fetus
o Period of tremendous growth
o Babies born before 38 weeks are called preterm
o Miscarriages or spontaneous abortion are more likely to occur within the first 3
months of pregnancy

Infancy and Childhood Development

• Reflexes are used to determine whether a newborn’s nervous system is working properly or
not
o Grasping reflex
o Startle reflex
o Rooting reflex
o Stepping reflex
o Sucking reflex
• Sense of touch is the most well-developed at birth, sense of taste and smell are also nearly
fully-developed
• Hearing is developed but may take a while to reach full potential
• Vision is the least functional at birth – takes 6 months for babies to see color
o Gibson and Walk’s Visual cliff experiment – depth perception of babies
• Motor development
o Raising head to chest – 2 to 4 months
o Rolling over – 2 to 5 months
o Sitting with support – 4 to 6 months
o Sitting without support – 6 to 7 months
o Crawling – 7 to 8 months
o Walking – 8 to 18 months
o Top to bottom pattern – closer to the brain
• Cognitive development – the development of thinking, problem solving, and memory
o Piaget’s Theory
§ Believed that children formed mental concepts or schemes through
experiences
§ Stressed importance of child’s interaction with objects as a primary
fatcor in cognitive development
 Ø Assimilation – child thinks of an orange as an apple because of their
similar shape
Ø Accommodation – child adjusts old schemes to fit new information;
child thinks of apples as round and red because an orange is not red

1. Sensorimotor stage
Ø Birth to 2 years old
Ø Explore the world using their ability to move
Ø Interacting deliberately with objects by grasping, pushing, tasting,
etc.
Ø Object permanence – knowledge that an object exists even when it
is not in sight
Ø Symbolic thought – ability to represent objects in one’s thoughts
with symbols such as words – becomes possible by the end of
sensorimotor stage
2. Preoperational stage
Ø 2 to 7 years old
Ø Mentally present and refer to objects and events with words and
pictures
Ø Pretend and make-believe play
Ø Incapable of logical thought
Ø Animism – belief that everything that moves is alive
Ø Egocentrism – inability to see the world through anyone’s eyes but
their own
Ø Centration – focusing on only one feature of some object rather than
taking all features into consideration (Ex. Child will focus on the
length of the coins rather than the number of coins)
v Failure to understand that changing the way it looks does not
change its substance
Ø Conservation – ability to understand that simply changing the
appearance of an object does not change the object’s nature –
Preoperational children fail at this!
Ø Irreversibility – children are unable to “mentally reverse” actions
3. Concrete Operations stage
Ø 7 to 12 years old
Ø capable of conservation and reversible thinking
Ø begin to think logically
Ø Inability to deal effectively with abstract concepts
Ø Children need to be able to see it, touch it, or at least “see” it in their
heads to be able to understand it
4. Formal Operations stage
Ø 12 to adulthood
Ø Abstract thinking becomes possible
Ø Not everyone reaches this stage – half of all adults
Ø Adults who do not reach this stage are more practical, down-to-earth
intelligence
 Ø College students need formal-operational thinking
Ø Abstractions and analogies
Ø Hypothesis testing
o “What if…”

§ Criticisms on Piaget’s theory

Ø Stages are more continuous and gradual rather than abrupt
Ø Preschoolers are not as egocentric
Ø Object permanence exists much earlier than Piaget had thought
o Vygotsky’s Theory
§ Stressed the importance of social interaction with other peopole, typically
more highly skilled children and adults
§ Scaffolding – process in which a more skilled learner gives help to a less
skilled learner, reducing the amount of help as the less skilled learner
becomes more capable
§ Zone of proximal development (ZPD) – difference between what a child
can do alone and what a child can do with the help of a teacher
§ Importance of cooperative learning – children work together in groups to
achieve a common goal and reciprocal teaching – teachers teach the basic
strategies of reading until the students themselves become capable of
teaching the strategies to others
o Stages of Language Development
§ Receptive-productive lag – infants understand much longer sentences than
the words they are able to produce
§ Cooing – vowel-like sounds
§ Babbling – adding consonants to vowels
§ One-word speech – holophrases à phrases in one whole word
§ Telegraphic speech – words that carry the meaning are used
§ Whole sentences – grammatical words and increase in the number of words
in their sentences; by age 6 they are nearly as fluent as an adult

• Psychosocial Development
o Temperament – behavioral and emotional characteristics that are fairly well-
established at birth
§ Easy – regular schedules of waking, sleeping; easily adaptable to change,
happy and easily soothed
§ Difficult – irregular schedules; unhappy about change of any kind; loud,
active, and tend to be crabby
§ Slow to warm up – less grumpy, quieter, and more regular than difficult
children but slow to adapt to change; babies need to “warm up” to new
people and new situations
§ NOTE: Children can be a mix of some or all temperament classifications
§ NOTE: Temperament lasts well into adulthood
o Attachment – emotional bond that forms between an infant and primary caregiver
§ Forms within the first 6 months of life
 §Exhibits within the second 6 months of life
§Secure
Ø Willing to get down from mother’s lap
Ø Explored happily while “touching base”
Ø Calm as long as mothers were nearby
Ø Easily soothed
Ø Loving, warm, and sensitive mothers
§ Avoidant
Ø Willing to explore but did not touch base
Ø Did not look at stranger or mother
Ø Did not care about absence or return of mother
Ø Unresponsive, insensitive, coldly rejecting mothers
§ Ambivalent
Ø Mixed feelings
Ø Clinging to mother and unwilling to explore
Ø Upset by stranger’s presence
Ø Protested when mother left
Ø Pushed mother when she returned
Ø Mothers tried to be responsive but inconsistent
§ Disorganized-disoriented
Ø Unable to decide how to react
Ø Approach their mother but eyes turned away
Ø Fearful and dazed
Ø Abusive and neglectful
§ NOTE: Temperament may also affect attachment of mother and baby
§ Contact Comfort – regardless of which surrogate was feeding the baby
monkeys, all of them spent significantly more time with the soft, cloth-
covered surrogate
o Erikson’s Theory
§ Believed that development occurred in a series of 8 stages
§ Each stage is an emotional crisis and each crisis must be met in order to
obtain a normal psychological development
1. Infant – Trust versus Mistrust
a. Birth – 1 Year
i. Basic needs consistently or inconsitently met
ii. Predictability -> Trust
iii. Key Figure: Maternal
iv. Existential Question: “Can I trust the world to take care of
me”s
2. Toddler – Autonomy versus Shame and Self-doubt
a. 1-3 Years
i. Toddlers realize that they can direct their own behavior
ii. Direction -> Autonomy
iii. Primary Relationship: Paternal Figure
iv. Existential Question: “Is it okay to be me”
v. “No”
3. Preschool age – Initiative versus Guilt
a. 3-5 Years
i. Pre-schoolers challenged to control behavior
ii. Responsibility -> Initiative
iii. “Why”: Curiosity and openness
iv. Resolution: initiating actions, exploring, having remorse,
having a sense of direction and purpose
v. Primary Relationship: Basic family
vi. Question: “Is it okay for me to do things”
4. Elementary – Industry versus Inferiority
a. 5-12 Years
i. School-age children have more opportunities to learn
ii. New Skills -> Industry
iii. Existential Question: “Can I make it in the world of people of
things?” “Do I have what it takes to survive in the world
iv. “I am what I can achieve: Belief about themselves”
5. Adolescence – Identity versus Role confusion
a. 13 to early 20s
i. Physical
1. Puberty: Bodily Changes and sexual development
2. Primary and secondary sex characteristics
ii. Cognitive
1. Adolescent egocentrism
2. Personal Fable
a. You believe your own experiences are your
own alone
3. Imaginary audience
iii. Choices among many values in life
iv. Self confidence -> Identity
v. Succeed: able to find yourself
vi. Failure: role confusion
vii. Key Figures: Peers and Role Models
viii. Existential Question: “Who am I”
6. Early adulthood – Intimacy versus Isolation
a. Primary task is finding a mate
b. Comitted relationship without losing self
c. Sharing -> Intimacy
d. Existential Question: “Can I love?”
7. Middle adulthood – Generativity versus Stagnation
a. Creativity and Productivity
i. Nurturing the next generation
b. Focus outward -> Generativity
c. Existential Question: “Can I make my life count?”
8. Late adulthood – Ego integrity versus despair
a. Wisdom, spirituality, tranquility
i. Wholeness of self
 ii. Acceptance -> integrity
o Gender development
§ Gender identity – perception of one’s gender and the behavior associated
with that gender (ex. Mothers are more helpful and cooperative during play
while fathers are more assertive)

Adolescence
• 13 to early 20s
• No longer a child but not yet a self-supporting adult
• Concerns how a person deals with life issues
• May come earlier or later for different individuals
• Physical development
o Puberty
§ Onset of primary and secondary sex characteristics
§ Occurs as the result of a complex series of activities stimulated by the
pituitary gland
§ Menstrual cycle for girls
§ Growth spurt: age 10 for girls, age 12 for boys
§ Increase in height
§ Physical characteristics related to being male or female undergo rapid
change
• Cognitive development
o Formal operations – abstract thinking becomes possible
o Teenagers begin to think about hypothetical situations and the ideal world
o Adolescents are not completely free of egocentric thought – preoccupation with
their own thoughts
§ Personal fable – type of thought common to adolescents in which young
people believe themselves to be unique and protected from harm (Ex. “You
don’t understand me, I am different from you.)
§ Imaginary audience – young people believe that other people are just as
concerned about the adolescent’s thoughts and characteristics as they
themselves are (Ex. Everyone is looking at me.)
• Moral development
o Three levels of morality
§ Preconventional morality – consequences determine morality; behavior
that is rewarded is right, that which is punished is wrong
§ Conventional morality – conformity to social norms is right;
nonconformity is wrong
§ Postconventional morality – may disagree with societal norms
§ NOTE: Men – what is fair and just; Women – what would hurt the least
people
§ NOTE: What people say they will do in hypothetical situations is often
different from what they would actually do if they were in the situation
• Psychosocial development
o Erikson’s Identity versus Role confusion
 §Adolescents who successfully met the four previous crises are better
equipped with dealing with this one
§ Teenager must choose among many options for values in life and beliefs
concerning politics, career options, marriage, etc.
§ Peer pressure – for those who want to fit in – may result in confusion in the
end about which role they really want to play
o Parent-teen conflict
§ A certain amount of “rebellion” is important to break away from childhood
dependence
§ Parent-teen conflicts are mostly over trivial issues
§ Agreement when it comes to bigger moral issues

Adulthood
• Physical development
o Early 20s until adulthood and death
o Not everyone reaches adulthood at the same time gaut
o Young adulthood
§ Peak physical health, sharp senses, fewer insecurities, mature cognitive
abilities
§ Beginning of the signs of aging
o Middle adulthood
§ Physical aging continues
§ Vision and hearing decline
§ Hair turns gray or falls out
§ Weight may increase
§ Height begins to decrease
§ Menopause – cessation of ovulation and menstrual cycles – end of the
woman’s reproductive capability
§ Andropause – decline in male hormones, primarily testosterone
§ Health problems begin to occur – result of young adulthood
o Late adulthood
§ Loss of hearing
• Cognitive development
o Intellectual abilities do not decline, but speed of processing may
o In middle adulthood, people have a hard time remembering words or someone’s
name (more likely caused by stress)
o Reaction times slow down, but intelligence and memory remain stable
• Psychosocial development
o Erikson’s Intimacy versus Isolation
§ Intimacy – giving yourself without losing yourself; ability to trust, share, and
care while maintaining ones’ self
§ Isolation might occur – shallow relationships, loneliness, or fear of intimacy
o Erikson’s Generativity versus Stagnation
§ Focus is turned outward, towards others
§ Leaving a legacy – generativity
 §Being unable to focus outward and still dealing with issues of intimacy –
stagnation
o Parenting styles
§ Authoritarian parenting – overly concerned with rules; stern and rigid;
perfection; tendency to use physical punishment à children become
insecure, timid, withdrawn and resentful; rebellion
§ Permissive parenting – parents make few, if any demand on child’s
behavior
Ø Permissive neglectful – parents are uninvolved with child or child’s
behavior, may lead to abusive relationship
Ø Permissive indulgent – parents are so involved that children are
allowed to behave without set limits
Ø Children from both kinds tend to be selfish, immature, dependent,
lacking in social skills, unpopular with peers
§ Authoritative parenting – best type; combines warmth and affection with
firm limits on a child’s behavior; parents are more democratic
o Erikson’s Ego Integrity versus Despair
§ Life review – looking back at the life they lived
§ Deal with mistakes, regrets, and unfinished business
§ Ego integrity – adjustment to aging that assumes older people are happier if
they remain active in some way, volunteering or developing a hobby
§ Full life with no regrets – integrity
§ Fear of dying and deep regret – despair

Theories of Physical and Psychological Aging

• Cellular-clock theory
o Cells are limited in the number of times they can reproduce and repair damage
o Telomeres – structures on the ends of chromosomes that shorten each time a cell
reproduces
• Wear-and-tear theory
o Outside influences damage the body
o Organs and tissues wear out with repeated use and abuse
o Collagen – natural elastic tissue that becomes less stretchy
• Free-radical theory
o Biological explanation for the damage of cells over time
o Free radicals – oxygen molecules that have an unstable elctron – bounce around the
cell increasing damage to the structures inside
o More free radicals do more damage as people get older
o Reason for anti-oxidant products
• Activity theory
o Elderly people adjust more positively to aging when remaining active in some way
o Older people who volunteer are shown to be happier and live longer than those who
withdraw from activities

Stages of death and dying

1. Denial – refuse to believe the diagnosis of death
 2. Anger – anger at death itself
3. Bargaining – tries to make deals with doctors and God
4. Depression – sadness from losses already experienced
5. Acceptance – accepting the inevitable and peacefully awaits death
• NOTE: there is no wrong or right way to face death; each is unique and the rituals vary
from culture-to-culture
• NOTE: These steps are not only associated to dying but happens as reactions to different
kinds of bad news

VI. Theories of Personality

• Personality – the unique way each individual thinks, acts, and feels throughout life
• Character and temperament are aspects of personality – should not be confused with
personality
o Character – Value judgements of morality and ethics
o Temperament – Enduring characteristics each person is born with

Psychodynamic Perspective of Personality

• Sigmund Freud
o Founder, psychoanalytic movement
o Cultural Background
o Lived during the Victorian age – time of sexual repression
o To enjoy sexual intercourse was considered a sin
o Men were understood to be unable to control their animal desires – sexual
comfort with mistress
o Women in the upper class were not supposed to have sexual urges – Most of
Freud’s clients
• The unconscious mind
o Mind was divided into three parts: preconscious, conscious, unconscious
o Unconscious mind – level of the mind in which thoughts, feelings, memories, and
other information are kept that are not easily or voluntarily brought into conscious
awareness
• Division of Personality
o Id
§ Completely unconscious
§ Pleasure- seeking, amoral part of personality
§ Exists at birth and containing all basic biological drives: hunger, thirst, self-
preservation, sex
§ Pleasure principle – principle by which the id functions; immediate
satiµsfaction of needs without regard for the consequences
o “If it feels good, do it”
o Ego
§ Part of personality that develops out of a need to deal with reality
§ Conscious, rational, logical
§ Reality principle – need to satisfy the demands of the id only if it will not
lead to negative consequences à Compromise!
o “If it feels good, do it, but only if you can get away with it”
o Superego
§ Moral center of personality
§ Develops with awareness of rules, customs, and expectations of society
§ Conscience – part of the superego that produces guilt
§ Sense of right and wrong
o Working together – id makes demands, superego puts restrictions, ego comes up
with a plan that will satisfy both the id and superego à if not all are satisfied,
anxiety can result
o Psychological defense mechanisms – way of dealing with stress by unconsciously
distorting one’s perception of reality
§ Denial – refusal to recognize or acknowledge a threatening situation
o Ben is an alcoholic who denies being an alcoholic
§ Repression – “pushing” threatening or conflicting events out of conscious
memory
o Elise, who was sexually abused as a child, cannot remember the
abuse at all
§ Rationalization – making up acceptable excuses for unacceptable behavior
o “If I don’t have breakfast, I can have that piece of cake later on
without hurting my diet”
§ Projection – placing thoughts onto others as if it belonged to them and not
oneself
o “Keisha is attracted to her sister’s husband but denies this and
believes the husband is attracted to her”
§ Reaction formation – emotional reaction or attitude that is opposite of one’s
unacceptable actual thought
o “Matt is unconsciously attracted to Ben but outwardly voices an
extreme hatred of homosexuals”
§ Displacement – expressing feelings that would be threatening if directed at
the real target onto a less threatening target
o Sandra gets reprimanded by her boss and goes home to angrily pick a
fight with her husband
§ Regression – falling back on childlike patterns as a way of coping with
stressful situations
o Four-year-old Jeff starts wetting his bed after his parents bring home
a new baby
§ Identification – trying to become like someone else to deal with anxiety
o Marie really admires Suzy, the most popular girl in school, and tries
to copy her beavior and dress
§ Compensation – trying to make up for areas in which a lack is perceived by
becoming superior in some other area
o Reggie is not good athletics, so he puts all of his energies into
becoming a academic scholar
§ Sublimation – turning socially unacceptable urges into socially acceptable
behavior
o Alain, who is very aggressive, becomes a professional hockey player
o Stages of Personality development
§ Since Freud focused on sex drive, he believed that stages were developed
depending on the sexual development of a child
§ Conflicts that are not resolved at any of the stages can lead to fixation –
disorder in which a person does not fully resolve the conflict in a particular
psychosexual stage, resulting in personality traits and behavior associated
with that earlier stage
§ Psychosexual stages
o Five stages of personality
o Tied to sexual development
1. Oral stage: Oral activities
v Erogenous zone – mouth
v Dominated by the id
v Weaning (primary conflict) too little or too late could result
in too little or too much satisfaction of the child’s oral needs
v Overeating, drinking, chain smoking, nail biting, gum
chewing, etc
v Tendency to be too dependent and optimistic (overindulged)
or too aggressive and pessimistic (oral needs are denied)
2. Anal stage: Bowel and bladder control
v Erogenous zone – anus
v Ego develops
v Toitlet training conflict
v Pleasure comes from withholding or releasing feces at will
v Expulsive vs. retentive personalities
o Anal expulsive personality – messy – statement of
personal control, rebellious, defecates wherever and
whenever he/she feels like doing it
o Anal retentive personality – no mess no punishment,
excessively neat, stingy, stubborn
3. Phallic stage: Genitals
v Erogenous zone – genitals
v Superego develops
v Sexual feelings
v Oedipus complex
v Discover the difference between sexes
v Child engages in masturbation
v Castration anxiety – boy’s fear of losing penis
v Penis envy – girls envy because they don’t have a penis
v Awakening of sexual feelings of the child
v Oedipus complex – boy develops sexual attraction to
mother
v Electra complex – girl develops sexual attraction to father
v Identification – repress sexual attraction feelings and begin
to identify with same-sex parent
o In order to appease anxiety
 v Fixation in the phallic stage involves immature sexual
attitudes as an adult
v Failure to identify with same sex parent = mama’s boy or
women looking for older men to marry
v Failure of unresolved conflicts: Promiscuity etc.
4. Latency stage: Social skills
v From age 6 to onset of puberty
v Sexual feelings repressed, same-sex play, social skills
v Children grow and develop intellectually, physically, socially,
but not sexually
v Same-sex play
5. Genital stage: Sexual behavior
v Sexual feelings return – focus is on other adolescents,
celebrities, etc.
v Entry to adult social and sexual behavior
v Separate oneself from parents
v Failure of unresolved conflicts: Inability to work, immature
love…
o Neo-freudians
§ Carl Jung
Ø Disagreed with Freud about the nature of the unconscious mind
Ø Personal unconscious and collective unconscious
Ø Existence of personal and collective unconscious – memories shared
by all members of the human species
Ø Ex. Archetypes – anima/animus; devil looks similar in all cultures
Ø Persona – Mask: one image per role: akin to ego ideal
§ Alfred Adler
Ø Disagreed with Freud over the importance of sexuality
Ø Feelings of inferiority when comparing themselves to the more
powerful, superior adults in this world
Ø Driving Force: seeking for superiority
Ø Compensation – people battle inferiority by trying to be superior in
another area
Ø Birth-order theory
§ Karen Horney
Ø Womb envy – men felt the need to compensate for lack of
childbearing ability
Ø Focused more osn basic anxiety – created when a child is born into a
bigger and more powerful world of older children and adults
v Children with less-secure upbringings develop neurotic
personalities (either moving towards people, away from
people, or withdrawing from personal relationships)
v Toward people: Dependent and clingy
v Against people: Aggressive, demanding and cruel
v Move away: withdrawing from personal relationships
§ Erik Erikson
 Ø Eight psychosocial stages
o Criticisms
§ Freud did not perform experiments
§ Based a lot of his diagnoses on interpretation of dreams
§ Ambiguous and with no scientific support
§ Patients could have been in a very susceptible state of mind
§ Freud’s clients were mostly wealthy Austrian women in the Victorian era

Understading communication or transaction states

• Everyhone has different states
o Parent
§ Verbal: Says should, must, always, never, sometimes judgemental and
critical, sometimes patronizing
§ Non-Verbal: Aloof, has impatient body-language, finger-points, or
patronizing gestures but can also be embracing, giving, and smiles kindly
§ General: Judgemental, scolding, disciplinary, biased or preferential but can
also be supporting and full of concern
o Adult
§ Verbal: Why, what, how, probably, possibly, that’s true, I think, I realize, I
see, in my opinion
§ Non-Verbal: Attentive, interested, straight-forward, tilts the head, is non-
threatening, and non threatened
§ General: Perceiving, reports facts, asks for facts, and classifies objectively
o Child
§ Verbal: Dunno, I wanna, I’m gonna, I wish, I don’t care, Oh no!, Not again!,
superlatives, –the best, the worst, super talagang talaga
§ Non-Verbal: Pouts, has tantrums, whines, rolls eyes, etc.
§ General: Stubborn, raging, complaning, agitating, obedient, and
manipulative but can also be intuitive, creative, artistic, and humorous
• You can tell what state a person is in by the way they talk and behave
• Controlling Parent – Conscience, rules, moral values, voice of authority
• Nurturing Parent – Nourishing, encouraging, affirming and caring
• Adult – Logical, objevtice and rational part
• Free child – Pleasures, desires, creative and natural impulses
• Adapted Child – Our conforming reactions, negative feelings and emotions

Behaviorist and Social Cognitive View of Personality

• Behaviorists believe that personality is nothing more than habits – a set of learned
responses
• Social cognitive learning theorists – theorists who emphasize the importance of both
influences of other people’s behavior and of a person’s own expectancies of learning
• Social cognitive view – cognitive processes such as anticipating, judging, memory and
imitation of models
• Bandura’s Reciprocal Determinism and Self-Efficacy
o Reciprocal determinism - Three factors influence one another in determining
patterns of behavior: environment, behavior itself, personal/cognitive factors
 o Self-efficacy – person’s expectancy of how effective his or her efforts to accomplish
a goal will be in any particular circumstance; can be high or low depending on
success or failure in the past; not the same as self-esteem
o Environment Reinforcers <--> Personal/Cognitive Factors <--> Behavior

• Rotter’s Social Learning and Control

o Personality is a set of potential responses to various situations
o Locus of control – tendency for people to assume that they either have control or do
not have control over events and consequences in their lives
§ Internal locus of control – people who assume that their own actions and
decisions directly affect the consequences they experience; high motivation
to succeed
§ External locus of control – controlled by powerful others, luck, fate; can
fall into learned helplessness and depression
o Expectancy and reinforcement: high expectation for success = high self-efficacy
o Sense of expectancy: belief that if a certain event happens, it will likely result in
• Criticisms
o Does not take mental processes into account
o No weight to social influences on learning
o Tested under scientific conditions

Humanism and Personality

• Focus on things that make people uniquely human – subjective emotions, freedom to
choose one’s identity
• Maslow
o Self-actualization: Lower needs satisfied, full human potential achieved
o Peak Experiences: Times when self-actualization is temporarily achieved
• Carl Rogers and Self Concept
o self-actualizing tendency – the striving to fulfill one’s innate capacities and
capabilities
o Self-concept – image of oneself that develops from interactions with important,
significant people in one’s life; how the sense of self is reflected in the words and
actions of important people in one’s life
§ Real self – one’s actual perception of characteristics, traits, and abilities that
form the basis of the striving for self-actualization
§ Ideal self – perception of what one should be or would like to be; comes
from those important, significant ot hers in a person’s life – parents
§ If real self and ideal self are close or similar: people feel competent and
capable, harmonious
§ Mismatch: it is a cause for anxiety and neurotic behavior
§ People should have a realistic view of an ideal self – one that is attainable
§ Problems can arise if one’s view of an ideal self is distorted or impossible
o Conditional and Unconditional Positive Regard
§ Positive regard – warmth, affection, love, respect that comes from
significant people in a person’s life
 §Unconditional positive regard – love, warmth, affection, respect that comes
with no strings attached
§ Conditional positive regard – love, warmth, affection, respect that depend
on what other people want
§ Fully-functioning person – explores different possibilities and abilities;
experiencing a match between real and ideal self; in touch with their own
feelings and abilities and trust their innermost urges and intuitions – needs
unconditional positive regard à Necessary step to self-actualization
o Criticisms
§ Ignores the negative aspects of personality
§ Cannot explain sociopathic personalities
§ Difficult to test scientifically
§ Great therapy for self-growth

Trait Theories
• Theories that endeavor to describe the characteristics that make up human personality in an
effort to predict future behavior
• Trait – consistent, enduring way of thinking, feeling, and behaving
• Allport
o Listed 200 traits and believed traits were part of nervous system
o Believed that these traits were wired into the nervous system to guide one’s
behavior
o Each person’s set of traits are unique
• Cattell
o Developed two types of traits
o Surface traits: Can be seen by other people in the outward actions of a
person
o Source traits: More basic traits forming core of personality
o Example: Shyness is a surface trait à introversion is the basic trait related to
shyness
o Reduced number of traits to 16 and 23 with computer method called factor analysis
o Identified 16 source traits and developed a questionnaire whose results are a range
of possible degrees of two ends of a continuum spectrum
• The Big Five (OCEAN)
o Openness – willingness to try new things and be open to new experiences
o High Levels: Creative, artistic, curious, imaginative, nonconforming
o Low Levels: Conventional, down-to-earth, uncreative
o Conscientiousness – care a person gives to organization and thoughtfulness of
others
o High Levels: Organized, reliable, neat, ambitious
o Low Levels: Unreliable, lazy, careless, negligent, spontaneous
o Extraversion – dimension of personality referring to one’s need to be with other
people
o High Levels: Talkative, optimistic, sociable, affectionate
o Low Levels: Reserved, comfortable being alone, stays in the background
 o Agreeableness – emotional style of a person that may range from easygoing à
unpleasant
o High Levels: Good-natured, trusting, helpful
o Low Levels: Rude, uncooperative, irritable, aggressive, competitive
o Neuroticism – degree of emotional instability
o High Levels: Worrying, insecure, anxious, temparamental
o Low Levels: Calm, secure, relaxed, stable
• Criticism
o Traits will not always be expressed the same way across different situations
o Trait-situation interaction – assumption that a particular circumstance of any
given situation will influence the way in which a trait is expressed

Biology of Personality: Behavioral Genetics

• Field of study devoted to discovering the genetic bases for personality characteristics
• Identical twins are more similar than fraternal twins or unrelated people in terms of
personality
• Genetic influences also account for a great deal in adoption studies
• Five-factor model has a 50% rate of heritability across cultures; environmental influences
account for the other half

Dimensions of Cultural Personality

• Individualism/collectivism
o Individualistic cultures have loose ties with individuals- look after themselves and
immediate families only (US, Great Britain)
o Collectivistic cultures are deeply tied into very strong in-groups à extended family
(Japan, China, Korea, Mexico, Central America)
• Power distance
o Degree to which members of a culture accept and expect power to be in the hands of
a select few rather than distributed
o High power distance: Philippines, Mexico, Arab countries
o Low poer distance: Austria, Sweden, US, Great Britain
• Masculinity/Femininity
o How a culture distributes the roles played by men and women within a culture
o Masculine cultures are assertive, competitive (Japan, Austria, Venezuela, Italy,
Switzerland, Mexico, Ireland, Jamaica, US, Great Britain, Germany)
o Feminine cultures are modest and caring (Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands,
Denmark, Costa Rica, Yugoslavia, Finland, Chile, Portugal, Thailand, Guatemala)
§ Uncertainty avoidance
o Level of tolerance of uncertainty and ambiguity and unstructured situations
o Low tolerance – strict rules and a lot of security (Greece, Portugal, Guatemala,
Uruguay, Belgium, El Salvador, Japan, Yugoslavia, Peru)
o High tolerance – less anxious and emotional (Jamaica, Denmark, Sweden, HK,
Ireland, Great Britain, Malaysia, India, Philippines, US, Canada, Indonesia)

Eclectic Assessment of Personality

• Interviews (Psychoanalysts, humanistic therapists)
 o Method of personality assessment in which the professional asks questions of the
client and allows the client to answer in a structured or unstructured fashion
o Disadvantage – clients can be dishonest, distort the truth, give the more socially
acceptable answer
o Interviewer Bias
§ Interpreting what the client says in light of their own belief system of
prejudices
o Halo Effect
§ Tendency to form a favorable or unfavorable impression of someone
at the first meeting so that all of a person’s comments and behavior
after the first impression will be interpreted to agree with the
impression
• Projective tests (Psychoanalysts)
o Psychoanalysts want to uncover unconscious conflicts, desires and urges that affect
the client’s conscious behavior
o Ambiguous visual stimuli presented to client who responds whatever comes to mind
o Rorschach Inkblots: 10 Inkblots
o Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) – client is asked to tell a story about the
pictures with ambiguous situations
o Disadvantage – very subjective, not a science; problems with reliability
• Behavioral assessments (Behavioral and social cognitive therapists)
o Direct observation – professional observes the client engaged in day-to-day
behavior either in a clinical or natural setting
o Rating scale – numerical value is assigned to a specific behavior that is listed in a
scale
o Frequency count – assessment in which the frequency of a particular behavior is
counted
o Disadvantage – observer effect, observer bias, lack of control
• Personality Inventories (Trait theorists)
o Personal inventory – paper or pencil computerized test that consists of statements
that require specific, standardized responses from the person taking the test; lack of
open-ended answers
o Response format: Yes, no, can’t decide, etc.
o Include validity scales to prevent cheating but such measures are not perfect
o Examples: 16PF, NEO-PI(Based on the five-factor model), MBTI(Baed on Jung’s
theory of personality types, EPQ, Keirsey Temperament Sorter II, CPI, MMPI-
2(Designed to detect abnormal personality)
o Disadvantages
o People can interpret the same questions differently
o Response patterns
o Fatigue
o Norms cannot be generalized to all cultures

VII. Social Psychology

• Influence of real, imagined, or implied presence of others
 • Sociology – study groups as a whole

Michelangelo Phenomenon
• An individual’s close friends, relatives, romantic partners, colleagues, help an individual
“release” the ideal self

Social Influence
• Presence of other people can directly or indirectly influence the behavior, feelings, and
thoughts of each individual
• Process through which the real or implied presence of others can directly or indirectly
influence the thoughts, feelings, and behavior of an individual
• Conformity
o Changing one’s own behavior to closely match that of other people
o Asch’s study on conformity
o Students conformed to group opinion about 1/3 of the time
o Groupthink – occurs when people within a group feel it is more important to
maintain the group’s unanimity and cohesiveness than consider facts realistically
§ Invulnerability – members feel they cannot fail
§ Rationalization – members explain away warning signs and help each other
rationalize their decision
§ Lack of introspection – members do not examine ethical implications
§ Stereotyping – members stereotype their enemies as weak, stupid
§ Pressure – not to question the prevailing opinion
§ Lack of disagreement – members do not express opinions that differ from
the group consensus
§ Self-deception – members share in the illusion that they all agree
§ Insularity – prevent the group from hearing disruptive information

• Compliance
o Change behavior as a result of another person or group asking or directing them to
change
o No authority to power or command a change
o Consumer psychology
§ Foot-in-door-technique – small favor followed by bigger favor
§ Door-in-face-technique – big favor refused followed by small favor
granted; norm of reciprocity: utang-na-loob
§ Lowball technique – once a commitment is made, cost of commitment is
increased
§ That’s-not-all technique – adding extra benefits to make the deal look
better; norm of reciprocity
• Obedience
o Changing one’s behavior as direct order of an authority figure
o Milgram’s research – all about who takes responsibility
o Method: Participants were instructed to give electric shocks to another
person, who only pretended to be shocked
 o Results: 65% obeyed until the end, even though many were upset by being
asked to do so
• Group Behavior
o Group polarization – “risky shift” phenomenon; Tendency for members involved
in a group discussion to take somewhat more extreme positions and suggest riskier
actions when compared to individuals who have not participated in a group
discussion
o Social facilitation – positive influence of others on performance
o Social impairment – negative influence of others on performance
o Social loafing – tendency for people to put less effort into a simple task when
working with others on that same task
Social Cognition
• Attitudes
o Tendency to respond positively or negatively towards a certain idea, person, object,
or situation
o Learned through experiences and contact with others
o Affective component – the way a person feels toward the object, person, or
situation (I like country music.)
o Behavior component – action that a person takes in regard to a person, object or
situation (I will buy country music CDs.)
o Cognitive component – the way a person thinks about himself, an object, or a
situation (I think country music is the best genre of music.)
o Attitude is a poor indicator of behavior
o Attitude formation
§ Direct contact
§ Direct instruction – from parents or other individuals
§ Interaction with others – person is around other people with the specific
attitude
§ Vicarious learning – learned through the observation of other people’s
actions and reactions
o Attitude change: Persuasion
§ Process by which one person tries to change the belief, opinion, position or
course of action of another person
§ Attempt to change another’s argument via argument, explanation, etc.
§ Source, Message, Target Audience
§ Elaboration Likelihood Model - people either elaborate based on what
they hear or they do not elaborate at all, preferring to pay attention to the
surface characteristics of the message
Ø Central – route processing – focus on content of message
Ø Peripheral – route processing – relies on peripheral cues
Ø Direct route – Involves attending the content of the message itself
Ø Peripheral route – Involves attending to factors not involved in the
message such as:
o Appearance of source of message
o Length of message
o Cognitive dissonance
 § Sense of discomfort or distress that occurs when a person’s behavior does
not correspond to that person’s attitude
§ Discomfort arising when one’s thoughts and beaviors do not correspond
§ Ways to resolve cognitive dissonance conflict
Ø Change conflicting behavior to match attitude
Ø Change conflicting attitude to match behavior
Ø Form new cognitions to justify their behavior
• Impression Formation
o Forming of first knowledge about another person
o First impression
o Influenced by “primacy effect” – persists even though they may have other
contradictory information about the person later on
o Part of social cognition – mental processes that people use to make sense out of the
social world
• Social Categorization
o Automatic unconscious assignment of a new acquaintance to some category or
group
o Assignment of a person to some kind of category or group
o Allows people to access a great deal of information that can be useful about others
• Implicit Personality Theories
o sets of assumptions that people have about how different types of people,
personality traits, and actions are all related and formed in childhood (ex. Happy =
friendly and shy = quiet)
o Set of characteristics that people believe is shared by all members of a particular
social category
o Help in organizing schemas or mental patterns
• Attribution
o Process of explaining one’s own behavior and the behavior of others
o Situational cause – external factors
o “He probably got caught in some bad traffic, and then he was later for a
meeting”
o Dispositional cause – internal factors, personality characteristics
o “He’s such a careless driver. He never watches out for other cars”
o Fundamental attribution error – tendency for people to overestimate the
influence of another person’s internal characteristics on behavior and underestimate
the influence of the situation
o Actor-observer bias – in explaining our behavior we use situational attribution
instead of personal (e.g. cheating, being late)
o More collectivist = more situational
o Categorization, Characterization, Correction

Social Interaction
• Prejudice and Discrimination
o Prejudice is the attitude and discrimination is the behavior
o In-groups – people with whom a particular person identifies with
 o Out-groups – everybody else
o Realistic conflict theory – increasing prejudice and discrimination are tied to an
increasing degree of conflict between the in-group and out-group
o Social identity theory – three processes are responsible for the formation of a
person’s identity within a particular social group
§ Social categorization – putting people into groups
§ Social identity – part of the self-concept that includes the view of oneself as
a member of a particular social group within the social category
§ Social comparison – people compare themselves favorably to others to
improve their own self-esteem
o Stereotype vulnerability – self-fulfilling prophecy, effect that expectations can
have on outcomes
o Stereotype threat – anxious of situations which their behavior might confirm a
stereotype
o Equal status contact – same situation where neither group has power over the other
o Jigsaw classroom – students of different backgrounds need to work together to
achieve a specific goal

Interpersonal attraction
• Physical Attractiveness
• Proximity
• Similarity
• Reciprocity of liking
• *Opposites attract – compementary traits
• Love as a triangle
o Intimacy – feeling of closeness that one has for another person
o Passion – physical aspect of love, emotional and sexual arousal
o Commitment – decisions involved in a relationship
o Intimacy = liking
o Passion = infatuation
o Commitment = empty love
o Intimacy + Passion = Romantic love
o Intimacy + Commitment = Companionate love
o Passion + Commitment = Fatuous love
o Intimacy + Passion + Commitment = Consummate love

Aggression
• When one person hurts or tries to destroy another person deliberately, either with words or
physical behavior
• Due to frustration
• Freud: Basic human instinct à if it is not released, could cause illness
• Aggression and Biology
o Amygdala
o High levels of testosterone and low levels of serotonin
o Alcohol – decrease in serotonin
• Aggression and Social Roles
 o Social role – pattern of behavior that is expected of a person in a particular social
position
o Philip Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment
• Violence in the media
o Watching violent TV shows increases aggression in children – younger children =
more influence
o Violent video games – school shootings

Prosocial Behavior
• Socially desirable behavior that benefits others
• Altruism – help without expecting anything in return
• Bystander effect – the likelihood of a bystander to help someone in trouble decreases as
the number of bystanders increases
• Diffusion of responsibility – phenomenon in which a person fails to take responsibility for
either action or inaction because of the presence of other people who are seen to share the
responsibility
• Decision points in helping behavior
o Noticing - realizing that there is a situation that might be an emergency
o Defining an emergency - interpreting the cues as signaling an emergency
o Taking Responsibility - personally assuming the responsibility to act
o Planning a course of action – deciding how to help and what skills might be
needed
o Taking action – actually helping