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General Psychology Final Study Guide
General Psychology (PSYC 10213)
Texas Christian University
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General Psychology Final Study Guide
Asch Conformity Experiments Would show different lines and have two lines the same length and ask the participants what lines are the same length, there would be all but one person who was in on the study and would say wrong answers
Milgram Obedience o People often comply with social pressures o Milgram found that 63% of participants complied to the commands to shock person. Taught us that given the choice between morality and obedience... obedience typically won. Milgram concluded that ordinary people who don’t display any outright hostility “can be agents in a terrible destructive process.”
Affects of attribution Attribution theory: tendency to give a casual explanation for someone’s behavior, often by crediting either the situation (external events) or the person’s disposition (internal events) Fundamental Attribution Error: tendency for observers, when analyzing another’s behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of the personal disposition o We cause errors trying to figure out a situation (i. Date Night) Effects of Attribution Every day we try to explain the actions of others o Happily married couples attribute unkind remarks as spouse having a bad day situation o Unhappily married couples attribute unkind remarks as spouse being hostel person disposition
Bystander Effect
Bystander-effect: tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid
o Notice incident o Interprets the incident as an emergency o Assumes responsibility o When more people are around the less likely someone is going to help
Frustration Aggression Principle Principle that frustration the blocking of an attempt to achieve some goal creates anger which can generate aggression
Social facilitation Improved performance of tasks in the presence of others o Occurs with simple or well-learned tasks but not with tasks that are difficult or not yet mastered
Deindividuation Loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity o Losing self and becoming more responsive to the group experience
Social loafing Tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts together toward attaining a common goal when individually accountable o Less accountable- they know someone else with pick up the slack o They believe that their input is inferior to the others in the group
Conformity Conformity: adjusting one’s behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard o Norm: an understood rule for accepted and expected behavior Prescribes “proper” behavior o 2 forms of Conformity Normative social influence: conformity to the expectation of others in pursuit of social approval. Informational social influence: influence resulting from one’s willingness to accept others’ opinions about reality
o Anticipation of interaction: people tend to put their best foot forward for those they know they will see again o The exposure effect: simply encountering a person or object, even under negative circumstances, makes us like the target more Physically attractive people are more popular, receive better grades, earn more money, lower sentences for crimes o Benefit from the halo effect: if you’re so beautiful then you must be beautiful on the inside. Attraction and Physical Appearance o It has immediacy- you see it before any other virtues or faults o The attractiveness of one’s friends and partner affects one’s prestige o Biology play a role – we are wired to appreciate some kinds of physical appearance more than others Attraction and Similarity o Similar others validate our beliefs and values o Similarity facilitates smooth interactions o We expect similar others to like us o Similar others have qualities like us
Companionate and passionate love Passionate love: an aroused state of intense positive absorption in another o Usually present at the beginning of a love relationship Companionate Love: deep affectionate attachment we feel for those with whom our lives are intertwined
Homosexuality Sexual orientation: is one’s sexual preference for members of the same sex, opposite sex, or both sexes o Large scale survey: 3-4% of men are exclusively homosexual 1-2% of women are exclusively homosexual o Incidence of homosexual behavior varies with generations and among cultures, but homosexuality is found in ALL cultures
o Scientific evidence of a biological disposition
Theories about causes of mental disorders 3 theories as to the causes of mental disorders o Supernatural theories: views abnormality as a result of divine intervention, curses, demonic possession and personal sin o Biological/Natural theories: see abnormality as similar to physical diseases; a breakdown of some systems of the body o Psychological theories: see mental illness as a result of some trauma
Birth of mental hospitals Mental Hospitals o Patients were not well-treated in these facilities; they were often chained and were put on display for a fee o Act for Regulating Madhouses passed in 1774 Designed to clean us conditions And prevent people from being wrongly committed Applied to only paying patients in private institutions Moral Management o 18 th century the treatment of mental illness became more humane o Psychological theory of mental illnesses o Williams Tuke establishes THE RETREAT, a mental institution based on “moral treatment” Still running today
History of psychological disorders: Stone Age, Ancient China, Egypt, Greece, Medieval Stone Age o Beliefs thought to be mostly supernatural o Trephination was used to treat mental illness Holes in someone’s skull Ancient China Mostly a natural or biological approach to abnormality o Concept of Yin and Yang
Marked by a minutes-long episode of intense dread in which a person experiences terror and accompanying chest pain, choking, or other frightening sensations PET scan of person with OCD disorder o Brains are lit up more than the average person because they are on high alert
Major Depressive Disorder A mood disorder in which a person, for no apparent reason, experiences two or more weeks of depressed moods o Associated with psychomotor retardation (feeling exhausted) Mania: a mood disorder marked by a hyperactive, wildly optimistic state Bipolar Disorder: a mood disorder in which the person alternates between the hopelessness and lethargy of depression and the overexcited state of mania
Schizophrenia “split-mind” A group of sever psychotic disorders characterized by: o Disorganized and delusional thinking o Disturbed perceptions o Inappropriate emotions and actions On set: late adolescence to early adulthood Positive Symptoms (add): Delusions and Hallucinations Negative Symptoms (subtract): Flat affects, social withdrawal, loss of motivation Word-salad: loosely connected statements o Concreteness of thought Dopamine theory: excess levels of dopamine o Theory revised: excess number of dopamine receptors or oversensitive dopamine receptors
OCD Characterized by unwanted repetitive thoughts and/or actions Associated with low serotonin activity
Treatment Approaches Talk Behavior Biomedical
Talk Therapies: Psychoanalysis, Humanistic, Cognitive, Cognitive-Behavioral Psychotherapy: any of a group therapies used to treat psychological disorders and to improve psychological functioning and adjustment to life o Psychoanalysis: a type of psychodynamic therapy developed by Freud; intensive and prolonged technique for bringing unconscious conflicts into conscious awareness A person’s psyche is analyzed Abnormal behavior is caused by unconscious conflicts among the parts of the psych (id, ego, and superego) The ego has strong defense mechanisms that block unconscious thoughts; the ego must be tricked to relaxed by using Free association: reporting whatever comes to mind Dream analysis: interpretation of the underlying true meaning of dream to reveal unconscious processes Analysis of resistance: the inability or unwillingness of a patient to discuss or reveal certain things Analysis of transference: a client attaches to a therapist feelings formerly held toward some significant person Interpretation: explanation of a patient’s free associations, dreams, resistance, and transference Critics on Psychoanalysis Interpretations cannot be proven or dis-proven Take a lot of time and can be expensive o Humanistic Therapies Theory: emphasizes maximizing a client’s inherent capacity for self- actualization
Content of human though must be understood in order for it to be effective
Behavioral Therapy Therapy that applies learning principles to the elimination of unwanted behaviors o Identify maladaptive behaviors that occur and adaptive behaviors that are absent Counterconditioning o Based on Classical Conditioning o Procedure that conditions new responses to stimuli that trigger unwanted behaviors o Systematic Desensitization Client learns to prevent the arousal of anxiety by gradually confronting the feared stimulus while relaxed Effective in treating phobias, PTSD, asthma attacks o Aversive Conditioning Associates an unpleasant state with an unwanted behavior Example: nausea with alcohol Commonly used for sexual deviance, smoking, and self-mutilation o Flooding A faster (less effective and more traumatic) method of ridding fears when compared with systematic desensitization. Observational Learning o Modeling therapy: a type of therapy characterized by watching and imitating models that demonstrate a desired behavior Example: young children with a phobia of dogs Evaluating Behavior Therapies o Recognized as one of the most effective treatments for disorders, including phobias, OCD, eating disorders, etc. o Criticism Generalizability: after treatments patients aren’t reinforced in the “real” world
Ethics: unethical for someone to control another’s behavior
Rational-Emotive Therapy Ellis’ rational-emotive behavioral therapy
Group therapies Group therapy: therapist meets with several clients with similar problems simultaneously o 3 types Couples therapy Family therapy Treats the family as a system Views an individual’s unwanted behaviors as influenced by or directed at other family members Encourages family members toward positive relationships and improved communication Self-help groups Assessing group therapy o Not the same involvement as one on one o Saves therapists’ time o Saves client’s money o Often just as effective o Allows others to discover that others have similar problems
Biomedical therapies Psychopharmacology: the study of the effect of drugs on behavior and mental processes Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) o Therapy for severely depressed patients in which a brief electric current is sent through the brain of an anesthetized patient. Psychosurgery o Surgery that removes or destroys brain tissue in an effort to change behavior o Lobotomy
Example: the more you study, the higher your GPA is o Negative correlation- high score on one variable is associated with a low score on another variable. Example: the more you miss class, the lower your GPA is o Illusionary Correlation- the presence of a correlation does not imply causation o 3 rd hidden variable can impact the degree of the relationship o Positive correlation with ice cream and shark attacks
Experimental design: independent and dependent variables Experimental: is the only way to prove causation o A research method in which the investigator manipulates one or more variables to observe their effect on some behavior or mental process. o Independent variables- are being manipulated Breast milk or formula o Dependent variables- are observed or measured IQ
Evolutionary psychology- defined Is a theoretical approach to psychology that attempts to explain useful mental and psychological traits—such as memory, perception, or language—as adaptations, i., as the functional products of natural selection.
Neuron: Axon, dendrites, action potential Dendrite- branching fibers located on the cell body, that receives information from other neurons Axon- single, slender, fiber, extending from the cell body carrying outgoing messages to other neurons, muscles, or glands in the form of neural impulses Neural impulses- is the method of communication between neurons
o Neural impulse is an electrical charge that travels down the axon causing the neuron to fire. o This electrically charged impulse allows the neuron to communicate with other neurons and is called Action Potential Is an all or nothing, like a light switch
Sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system Automatic nervous system: responsible for involuntary tasks (i. heart rate, digestions and breathing) o Sympathetic nervous system: arouses you, “fight or flight” o Parasympathetic nervous system: is that calms you down
Hypothalamus, reticular formation, thalamus, corpus callosum, amygdala, medulla a. Brainstem i. Oldest part of the brain ii. Regulates basic life functions iii. Medulla: regulates heartbeat, breathing, swallowing, and coughing b. Cerebellum: controls motor coordination i. example: standing on one leg ii. athletes have a strong cerebellum c. Limbic system: the interconnected group of forebrain structures with emotions, drives, and memory, as well as major physiological functions. i. Cerebral cortex: the thin surface layer that regulates the most complex behavior 1. Damage to the cerebral cortex can lead to substance abuse, dementia, or suicide (football CTE) ii. Hippocampus: forming and retrieving memories iii. Thalamus: Brain’s telephone operator- directs messages to the cortex and transmits replies to the cerebellum and medulla. iv. Hypothalamus: The 4 F’s
Unconditioned Stimulus (US) o Naturally, automatically triggers a response: Food Unconditioned Response (UR) o Naturally occurring response to a US o Unlearned, Salivation (US UR) Acquisition: the pairing of a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus comes to elicit a conditioned response. o Bell (NS) + Food (US) Salivation (UR) Best conditioning occurs when US is presented immediately after the NS After conditioning o Bell (CS) Salivation (CR) o Conditional stimulus: an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after associating with an unconditioned stimulus (US) comes to trigger a conditional response o Conditioned Response: The learned response to a previously neutral (but now conditioned) stimulus (CS) Example: Door Bell Look at US, UR, CS, CR Worksheet
Developmental psychology The study of age-related changes in behavior and mental processes and stages of growth, from conception to death Three major issues o Nature v. Nurture: how both genetics (nature) and life experience (nurture) influence development? Nature says development is governed by automatic, genetically predetermined signal
Maturation: the continuing influence of heredity throughout development; age-related physical and behavioral changes characteristics of a species Critical Period: time of special sensitivity to specific types of learning that shapes the capacity for future development o Stages or Continuity? Some developmental theories feature stages that are discrete and relatively different from each other Other theorists believe development follows a continuous pattern with gradual but steady and measurable changes o Stability or Change? Psychologist who emphasize stability say measurements of personality in childhood are important predictors of adult personality
Piaget’s Cognitive Development a. Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development i. Sensorimotor Stage 1. Birth to approx. age 2 2. Schemas are developed through sensory and motor activities 3. Object permanence: Piagetian term for an infant’s recognition that objects (or people) continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, heard, or touched directly a. Gained during sensory/motor stage 4. Stranger anxiety around 8 months- babies don’t want to be held by strangers ii. Preoperational Stage
- Around ages 2 to 7
- Ability to employ significant language and to think symbolically
- Thinking is egocentric: the inability to take the perspective of another person; assumes other see, hear, feel, and think exactly as they do
- Thinking is animistic: belief that all things are livening or animated
Urie Brofenbrenner’s Ecological Theory Urie Bronfenbrenner o Ecological Systems Theory: the varied systems of the environment and the interrelationships among the systems shape a child’s development o Both the environment and biology influences the child’s development o The environment affects the child and the child influences the environment
Memory- encoding (effortful and automatic), storage & retrieval; implicit & explicit Memory: is the basis for knowing your friends/family/neighbors/English/etc. o Memory is any indication that learning has persisted over time. o Memory is a constructive process: actively organizes and shapes information Process Storage Retrieval o Two Primary models of memory Three-Stage Model of Memory o Information enters our... Sensory memory: which holds everything we see (iconic), hear (echoic), taste, touch, and smell for a few seconds or less. o If we pay attention it enters our... Working memory: holds information for 30 seconds o If we encode the information, it enters our... Long-term Memory: stores information forever ERS Model
o Encoding: getting information into memory in the first place. (typing information) o Storage: Retaining memories for further use. (Saving to hard-drive)
o Retrieval: Recapturing memories when we need them (Pulling up the file) o Encoding Automatic Processing Space: while reading textbooks, you automatically encode the place of the picture on a page. Time: We unintentionally note the events that take place in a day Frequency: You effortlessly keep track of things that happen to you o We can learn automatic processing Example: alphabet, fight song Effortful Processing: committing novel information to memory requires effort just like learning a concept from a textbook. Learning something new that is higher level learning o Storage- Retaining Information Short-term Memory: limited duration and capacity (7+/- 2) Example: going to a store without a list you will probably remember between 5-9 items Long-term Memory: the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system Explicit Memory: consciously know and declare o memory of facts and experiences o Hippocampus- neural center in limbic system that helps process explicit memories for storage Implicit Memory: retention without conscious recollection o Motor and cognitive skills o Processed in the cerebellum o Dispositions: classical/operant conditioning o Retrieval: getting information out Recall: the ability to retrieve info learned earlier and not in conscious awareness Example: Fill in the blank test, listing off everyone in your class Recognition: the ability to identify previously learned items Example: Multiple choice test, identifying classmates with a pic. Relearning: amount of time saved when relearning previously learned info Example: Spanish is easier in college if you took it in high school Priming: activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory
General Psychology Final Study Guide
Course: General Psychology (PSYC 10213)
University: Texas Christian University
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