Key Theories in Psychology

KEY THEORIES IN PSYCHOLOGY determine causal effects but may have limited generalizability. Humanistic Psychology Emphasizes creative self-growth, human potential, subjective meaning, positive human nature, and the individual’s subjective perspective. Focuses on the present rather than past causes of behavior. Therapies like Rogerian client-centered therapy provide a nurturing environment for clients to self-actualize. Maslow proposed a hierarchy of human needs. Research Methods: Diverse methodologies used in psychology research, including controlled experiments, naturalistic observation, surveys, questionnaires, neuroimaging, qualitative approaches (interviews, narratives), case studies of individuals, longitudinal studies of behavior over time, and meta-analyses of aggregated research findings. Biopsychosocial Model: Ethical Guidelines: An integrative model recognizing biological, psychological, and social factors all interact to influence health, wellness, and illness. No single factor is viewed as the sole cause of mental disorders or health problems. This holistic perspective aims to understand all contributing factors to inform comprehensive treatment approaches that address the whole person. Researchers must adhere to ethical standards when interacting with human participants. Key ethical requirements include: informed consent (participants fully understand the procedures); debriefing after the study; confidentiality of data; voluntary participation; avoidance of deception unless absolutely necessary; weighing risks/benefits of research; special protections for vulnerable populations. Psychological Research Experimental Methods: Memory Sensory Memory: Experiments establish cause-andeffect relationships by systematically manipulating independent variables and measuring their impact on dependent variables, while controlling for confounding factors. Require controlled setting, random assignment of participants to conditions, and isolation of variables of interest. Help Ultra-short-term memory lasting less than a second. briefly stores sensory information from sight, hearing, touch, etc. Allows us to integrate sensory inputs over very brief time spans. Includes iconic memory (visual) and echoic memory (auditory). Very high capacity but decays extremely quickly without rehearsal memory. in short-term Short-Term Memory: Psychological Disorders Anxiety Disorders: Also called working memory. Temporarily holds about 7 items for 1530 seconds unless actively rehearsed. Used for immediate information needs like looking up a phone number or doing mental math. Limited capacity makes it prone to disruption and loss of information. Excessive, irrational fear and worry. Includes generalized anxiety disorder, phobias, panic disorder, social anxiety, OCD, and PTSD. Symptoms may include restlessness, fatigue, muscle tension, panic attacks. Cognitive behavioral and exposure therapy helps patients confront fears. Medications like SSRIs may be used as well. Long-Term Memory: Mood Disorders: Storage of information over lengthy time spans, from minutes to decades. Virtually unlimited capacity. Information consolidation occurs through elaborative rehearsal and meaningful encoding. Retrieval may be effortful or automatic depending on depth of processing and time elapsed. Includes episodic (events), semantic (facts), and procedural (skills) memory types. Persistent disturbances in mood and affect. Major types are major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder. Depression includes sadness, low energy, poor concentration, sleep/appetite disturbances. Bipolar involves alternating episodes of depression and mania. Suicide risk a serious concern with severe depression. Treatment typically involves psychotherapy (CBT, IPT) combined with antidepressant medications. Encoding, Storage, Retrieval: Information processing model of memory. Encoding converts sensory inputs to meaningful representations that are stored. Storage maintains information over time. Retrieval locates information and brings it back into awareness through prompts like reminders. Strength of memory trace impacts retrieval success. Forgetting can occur at any stage. Schizophrenia: Severe mental disorder marked by delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thinking and speech, and impaired cognition. Caused by genetic, neurobiological, and environmental factors. Positive symptoms include delusions and hallucinations; negative symptoms like apathy and social withdrawal. Antipsychotic medications and psychosocial treatment are primary interventions. Personality Disorders: Rigid, maladaptive patterns of relating to others and oneself, with roots in childhood development. Includes antisocial, borderline, narcissistic, histrionic, avoidant, dependent, and obsessive-compulsive personality disorders. Leads to relationship problems, impulsivity, emotional instability, etc. Treatment involves longterm psychotherapy to change entrenched behaviors. Medications may sometimes be used as well. Developmental Psychology Piaget’s Cognitive Stages: Sensorimotor (0-2 years): Infants learn through sensory experiences and motor activities. Preoperational (2-7 years): Children acquire language and mental imagery skills, but cannot yet reason logically. Concrete operational (7-11 years): Children become more adept at logical reasoning about concrete situations. Formal operational (12+ years): Adolescents can think abstractly, reason hypothetically, consider multiple perspectives. Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages: Trust vs. Mistrust (infancy): Developing trust in consistent caregivers. Autonomy vs. Shame (toddlerhood): Independence vs. self-doubt. Initiative vs. Guilt (preschool): Taking initiative vs. fear of punishment. Industry vs. Inferiority (childhood): Self-confidence vs. feelings of incompetence. Identity vs. Confusion (adolescence): Developing coherent sense of self. Attachment Theory: Secure Attachment: affectionate relationships. Trusting, Avoidant Attachment: Emotionally distant, withdraw from intimacy. Anxious Attachment: Intense insecure relationships, fear abandonment. but of Social Psychology Conformity: Changing behaviors or attitudes to align with group norms. Informational conformity seeks accuracy; normative conformity aims for group acceptance. Asch line study revealed surprisingly high rates of conformity. Factors impacting conformity include unanimity, group size, culture, and more. Milgram Obedience Study: Showed people’s remarkable willingness to obey authority figures, even when asked to inflict harm on others. Despite ethical controversies, it revealed the power of situational pressures to elicit obedience. Factors like proximity to authority and viewed legitimacy of orders impacted obedience rates. Stanford Prison Experiment: Randomly assigned students to be “prisoners” or “guards” in a mock prison. Guards quickly adopted cruel, dehumanizing tactics revealing negative impacts of power differentials and social dynamics. Ended prematurely due to distress of participants. Highlights how situations can shape human behavior.