People of Psychology Study Guide Part 2

Latent Learning - Refers to knowledge that only becomes clear when a person has an incentive to display it - only when the child is offered some sort of reinforcement for completing the problem does this learning reveal itself Observational Learning - Many people look to psychology to try to explain the unexplainable - Learning by observing others - Learning by imitating models - Learning without direct experience Applications of Observational Learning - Prosocial influence - organizations use behavior modeling to teach skills; positive behaviors and messages can be modeled - Anti Social influence - modeling can be antisocial; abusive parents model aggression to their children; media can model violence as acceptable or cool Mirror Neurons - Neurons in the frontal lobe that fire when performing certain actions or observing others perform those actions - Enable imitation and empathy - Underlie humans’ social nature - (experiencing pain versus observing a loved one experiencing pain) - Mirror Neurons provides the biological basis for vicarious classical condition - Vicarious classical conditioning: classically conditioned responses acquired by simply by watching/observing the ucs-cs pairings experienced by another person (pigeon passage/germ phobias) Bandura’s Bobo Doll Experiment - In his classic Bobo Doll experiment, Bandura explored observational learning in children Prejudice Prejudice - unjustifiable action towards a member of a group - an unjustified often negative attitude. Prejudice tends to be negative Racial Prejudice - Up until about 40 years ago, Americans expressed much more racial and gender prejudice Gender Prejudice - Although prejudice prevails women, more people feel more positively towards women than men - Most women still live in more poverty than men. More than 100,000,000 women are missing in the world - For example, there is a preference for male children in overpopulated countries such as china and India, even with sex-selective abortion outlawed Gender - there are more than 400,000 untested rape kits in the United states alone Many more are being found in the backlogs of police departments across the country. Social Prejudice - Social inequalities, social divisions - And emotional scapegoating Just World Phenomenon - A term referring to people’s tendency to believe that the world is just and that people get what they deserve. Because people want to believe that the world is fair, they will often look for ways to explain or rationalize injustice - often by blaming the victim In Group/ Out Group - The perception that whatever group you’re in is the “ingroup” and all other groups are “out” MEMORY Eyewitness Testimony - Is notoriously unreliable when identifying an unknown person (e.g. picking a stranger out of a lineup) - As noted in the video clip and in your text, the reliability of an eyewitness testimony can be improved if various safeguards are ensured Memory Retrieval - Recall - bringing previously learned info into conscious awareness, as in fill in the blank question of a test - Recognition - correctly identifying previously learned information when exposed to it again, as the multiple choice test Context-Effects - Ability to recall is improved when in the same context as the initial experience - Divers recalling words experiment - Walking back into a room to remember what you left the room to get State Dependent Memory - Recall is improved when encoding and retrieval of a memory happen in the same emotional or biological state Forgetting Encoding Failure - Information is never encoded into long-term. - What letters accompany the number 5 on a telephone - Where is the number 0 on your calculator - Some memories cannot be encoded without effort External events → sensory memory → attention → working short-term memory → encoding → encoding memory leads to failure Storage decay - Memories decay gradually if they are not used - Info is at first rapidly forgotten - After a certain period of time, the forgetting levels off False Memories - False memories can be “planted” - Imagining nonexistent events can create a memory - Imagination inflation - imagining something and really perceiving it activate similar brain areas - People with vivid imaginations are more likely to have false memories - Children are susceptible to false memory How to improve your memories - Use distributed practice - Make the material meaningful - Activate retrieval cues - Unse mnemonic devices - Minimize interference - Sleep more - Test yourself - Rehearse and then determine what you do not yet know EMOTION, STRESS AND HEALTH Emotion Theories of Emotion - Emotions are a mix of physiological activation, expressive behaviors and conscious experience James-Lange Theory - The James-Lange theory of emotion was proposed by psychologist William James and physiologist Carl Lange in the mid 1880s. This theory states that our emotions are caused by our interpretation of bodily reactions. Cannon-Bard Theory - Cannon-Bard theory states that we feel emotions and experience physiological reactions such as sweating, trembling and muscle tension simultaneously. Two-Factor Theory - states that there are certain factors in the workplace that cause job satisfaction, while a separate set of factors cause dissatisfaction. Embodied emotion - We know that emotions involve bodily responses. Some of these responses are very noticeable. - Butterflies in stomach - But others are more difficult to discern (neurons activated in the brain) Arousal and Performance - Arousal in short spurts is adaptive - We perform better under moderate arousal, but optimal performance varies with task difficulty Physiological Response - Physiological responses related to the emotions of fear, anger, love and boredom are very similar Cognition Relation to Emotion - Physical responses, like finger temp and movement of facial muscles, change during fear, rage and joy - The amygdala shows differences in activation during the emotions of anger and rage. Activity in the left hemisphere (happy) is different from the right (depressed) for emotions Expressing Emotion Facial Emotions - Expressing Anger is Beneficial: Venting anger through action or fantasy achieves an emotional release or “catharsis” - Expressing Anger is Problematic: Expressing anger breeds more anger, and through reinforcement it is habit forming. Experienced Emotion - Fear - Anger - Happiness Subjective Well-Being - Subjective well being is the self perceived feeling of happiness or satisfaction with life. Research on new positive psychology is on the rise Satisfaction - Subjective well-being (happiness + satisfaction) measured in 82 countries shows puerto rico and mexico have higher levels of happiness - Students who value love more than money tend to report being happy Stress and Stressors - Stress is not merely a stimulus or a response. It is a process by which we appraise and cope with environmental threats and challenges - When short-lived or taken as a challenge, stressors may have positive effects (remember Yerkes-Dodson Law?) However, if stress is threatening or prolonged , it can be harmful Stress - the process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, or stressors, that we view as challenging or threatening. Unforgiveness - “The slow burn” - Unforgiving emotions are not ‘hot’ reactions to a transgression - Unforgiveness is an emotion that has become ‘cold’ or allowed to slowly burn over time through rumination Transgression → perception offense hurt → hot emotions anger fear → rumination → unforgiveness The REACH Model - Model created by Everett Worthington - Professor of Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University Hypothalamus - Initiates two stress reactivity pathways coordinates both the autonomic nervous system and the activity of the pituitary, controlling body temperature, thirst, hunger, and other homeostatic systems, and involved in sleep and emotional activity. Endocrine System - Complex system of glands - The endocrine system is made up of the pituitary gland, thyroid gland, parathyroid glands, adrenal glands, pancreas, ovaries (in females) and testicles (in males) Stress Reactivity Pathway - Hypothalamic-Pituitary-adrenal (HPA axis) - the slow acting pathway - Autonomic Nervous system - Fast acting pathway Fight or Flight Response - Walter Cannon - first coined the term - Fight or flight response to physical stressors is adaptive - Fight or flight response to symbolic stressors is not adaptive Hans Selye - General Adaptation Syndrome - according to Selye, a stress response to any kind of stimulation is similar. The stressed individual goes through three phases Catastrophic Events - (community events) - earthquakes, combat stress, and flood lead individuals to become depressed, sleepless and anxious Significant Life Changes the death of a loved one, divorce, loss of a job, or a promotion may leave individuals vulnerable to disease Daily Hassles - rush hour traffic, long lines, job stress, and becoming burnt out are the most significant sources of stress - Richard Lazarus and his associates designed this scale. It concentrates on recent stressors, the annoying things that happened to everybody everyday. The hassles are rates as somewhat, moderately or extremely severe. Personality Types TYPE A - Associated with coronary Heart disease (Roseman and Friedman) - Time urgency and impatience - Free floating hostility - competitive : oriented towards achievement - Toxic hostility - cynical hostility TYPE B - Relaxed - Patient - Positive expectancies - Basically: The opposite of Type A - Two can be seen as - separate categories, poles on a continuum TYPE C - Characterized (i) by a tendency to suppress emotions like anxiety and anger - (2) a difficulty in coping with stress Pessimism - Pessimistic adult men are twice as likely to develop heart disease over a ten year period Life Satisfaction and Hypertension - there is a significant negative correlation between high blood pressure problems and life satisfaction. Psychopathological Illness - Psychopathology is a term which refers to either the study of mental illness or mental distress or the manifestation of behaviours and experiences which may be indicative of mental illness or psychological impairment Psychoneuroimmunology - B-lymphocytes: Fight bacterial infections - T-lymphocytes: Attack cancer cells and viruses, and macrophages ingest foreign substances, during stress, energy is mobilized away from the immune system, making it vulnerable - Microphages: a small phagocytic blood cell, in particular a polymorphonuclear leukocyte. Behavioral Medicine - Behavioral medicine is concerned with the integration of knowledge in the biological, behavioral, psychological, and social sciences relevant to health and illness. Promoting Health - Psychologists helping americans build their resilience in times of adversity Problem-Focused Coping - Problem-focused coping targets the causes of stress in practical ways which tackles the problem or stressful situation that is causing stress, consequently directly reducing the stress. Problem focused strategies aim to remove or reduce the cause of the stressor, including: Problem-solving. Time-management. Emotion-Focused Coping - Emotion-focused coping is a type of stress management that attempts to reduce negative emotional responses that occur due to exposure to stressors. Jay Weiss (Rat Experiment Controllability) - Jay Weiss and Perceived control - Addressed the physical effects of psychological stressors - escape/avoidance task: pressing the lever to prevent the shock - The executive rat and the avoidance rat have the same physical stress level - However, the YCR ends up getting the most ulcers - Predictability makes stress easier to handle Seligman’s Experiments - mean to doggies :\ - Learned Helplessness - Examined the effects of psychological stress on overt behavior - Procedure - dogs exposed to 2 conditions 1) unavoidable and unpredictable shock - Then 2) avoidable and predictable shock - Results - the dog gives up and doesn’t attempt to explain - Implications - dogs: learned to be helpless; people: learned helplessness Explanatory Style - Explanatory style is a psychological attribute that indicates how people explain to themselves why they experience a particular event, either positive or negative. Social Support - Social support refers to the various types of support (i.e., assistance/help) that people receive from others and is generally classified into two (sometimes three) major categories: emotional, instrumental (and sometimes informational) support. Managing Stress Effects - Musculoskeletal System - Respiratory system - Cardiovascular - Endocrine - Gastrointestinal - Nervous system - Reproductive system - Sexual desire Biofeedback - Altered, enhanced and special states of consciousness - Dreams, hypnosis, meditation - Electronic or electromechanical instruments that accurately measures, processes, and provides feedback via auditory or visual signals - Used to help patients develop a greater voluntary control of either neuromuscular relaxation or muscle re-education following injury Role of Biofeedback = movement - Kinesthetic, visual, cutaneous, vestibular, and auditory signals - Extrinsic feedback = knowledge - results presented verbally, mechanically or electronically to indicate the outcome of some movement performance - Feedback is ongoing - occurs before, during and after any motor or movement task - Feedback from some measuring instrument which provides moment to moment information about a biologic function is referred to as biofeedback - Patient able to make appropriate, small changes in performance which are immediately - noted and rewarded Eventually, larger changes or improvements in performance can be accomplished Goal = train patient to perceive changes without the use of the biofeedback unit Biofeedback instruments - Measure electromyographic activity indicating amount of electrical activity during muscle contraction. - Most common type of biofeedback used in athletic training PERSONALITY Trait Theories - More in line with the average layperson’s style of personality assessment - Personality is a set of stable, possibly inborn tendencies - Not easily modified by situations - Most often measured through objective tests - Look to define personality through stable and lasting behavior patterns and conscious motivations Personality - Your distinctive and enduring characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving Allport’s Trait Theory - Psychologist Gordon Allport was among the firsts to come up with a personality trait theory. He came about with an astounding discovery in 1936, which showed that more than 4000 words in an English language dictionary described personality traits. - Cardinal Traits - traits around which a person would organize his whole life Central Traits - traits representing major characteristics of a person Secondary Traits - general behavior patterns that only occur under certain circumstances Cattell - Competing trait theories with Eysenck - Using a statistical process known as factor analysis, Raymond Cattell generated sixteen dimensions of human personality traits, known as the 16PF. Eysenck - Eysenck's theory of personality is based on three dimensions: introversion vs. extroversion, neuroticism vs. stability, and psychoticism vs. socialization. Factor Analysis - Factor analysis is a generic term given to a class of multivariate statistical methods whose primary purpose is data reduction and summarization. The Big Five Personality Traits - OCEAN - Openness - Conscientiousness - Extraversion - Agreeableness - Neuroticism Each of these exists on a spectrum (think of it as a series of volume scales that are adjusted differently in different combinations for every person) Type A Type B Eysenck and Type C Rationality and Anti-Emotionality scale: - Reliability predicted who was likely to die of cancer 10 years in the future - Toxic trait - suppressing emotions Objective Tests - Trait theories often measured through objective tests - Objective tests are standard - Most often used psychological test: -MMPI - Myers-Briggs type indicator Projective tests - Rorschach - Inkblot test - Favored by freud and other psychodynamic types - Provides an ambiguous stimulus - Infers personality from the individual’s response to the stimulus - Examples: Rorschach & TAT Behavioral Assessment - Behavioral Assessment is a method used in the field of psychology to observe, describe, explain, predict and sometimes correct behavior. Behavioral assessment can be useful in clinical, educational and corporate settings. Internal Locus of Control - I have control over my own fate External Locus of Control - My fate is out of my hands “I’ll be a fool for you” Values - Where do they come from? - How do they motivate behavior Direction: values - goals - behavior - Self-Value - Values give direction and consistency to behavior - Values help you know what to do and not to make time for - Values establish a relationship between you and the world - Values set a direction for life Where do we get our values - Home - School - Society - Friends - TV - Religion - Music - Books - Families - Culture - Employers - Time period in which you were raised Your age will greatly influence your values - different people and things have more influence at different ages DEPRESSION AND HOW TO TREAT IT Major Depressive Episode - Lowering of moor from normal. “Down in the dumps”, unhappy - anhedonia: loss of pleasure from usual activities - In addition to one of the above (depressed mood or anhedonia) must have 4 out of the following: - Eating or weight change - Sleep problems (to much, too little) - Observable psychomotor activity (retardation or agitation) - fatigue , loss of energy - Low self worth, guilt - Problems concentrating, decision making, thoughts of death, suicide Cognitive-Behavior Therapy - CBT - Form of psychotherapy that treats problems and boosts happiness by modifying dysfunctional emotions, behaviors and thoughts - Encourages patients to challenge distorted cognitions and change destructive patterns of behavior. Schizophrenia - Chronic condition - Surfaces for men in their early 20s and women in their late 20s - Delusions Hallucinations - auditory and visual Word salad Too much dopamine 100 genes increase the risk of schizophrenia Meichenbaum - Stress Inoculation Training Beck - Cognitive Therapy Ellis - Rational Emotive Therapy - ABC Model - Illogical Thinking Albert Ellis RET Illogical Thinking - Musturbatory beliefs - “I must be like” - Awfulization - “If im not liked by everyone i’ll be miserable” - Shoulding on yourself - “they should do it this way, because this is the right way!” Biomedical Therapies - Drugs - Brain Stimulation - Sleep Deprivation Drugs - SSRIs Tricyclic Antidepressants MAO Inhibitors (MAOIs) Mood-Stabilizers Brain Stimulation - Electroconvulsive Therapy/ETC and Alternatives - REM Sleep ANXIETY DISORDERS Psychological disorder: a deviant, distressful and dysfunctional pattern of thoughts, feelings or behaviors that interferes with the ability to function in a healthy way Anxiety disorders and the learning perspective Anxiety disorders are characterized not only by distressing, persistent anxiety but also often by the dysfunctional behaviors that reduce anxiety. Etiology and maintenance of anxiety disorders rely on 3 primary mechanisms - Classical conditioning - Vicarious conditioning - Operant conditioning Phobias - Marked by a persistent and irrational fear of an object or situation that disrupts behavior Obsessive Compulsive disorder - Characterized by unwanted repetitive thoughts and urges to perform certain actions or compulsions - This behavior is considered a disorder when it brings significant distress form resisting these thoughts and actions or when the time spent on obsessions and/or compulsions interferes with daily life. - Persistence of unwanted thoughts and urges to engage in rituals that cause distress Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - Estimated to estimate 7.8% of U.S. populations - Women (10.5%) are about twice as likely as men (5%) to have PTSD at some point in their lives. Posttraumatic Growth - (PTG) or benefit finding is positive psychological change experienced as a result of adversity and other challenges in order to rise to a higher level of functioning. - It is associated with the positive psychology movement. The Stress and Coping Model - The transactional model of stress and coping proposes that stress is experienced as an appraisal (an evaluation) of the situation we find ourselves in. Specifically, the transactional model suggests we go through two stages of appraisal before feeling and responding to stress. In our primary appraisal, we evaluate the situation to decide if it is relevant to ourselves. In particular, we evaluate whether it will bring about the possibility of gain or harm. If it doesn’t, we don’t worry about it (decide it is irrelevant).If it is relevant, we decide if it is positive or dangerous. If we feel it is dangerous, we then move into making a secondary appraisal. In these appraisals, we decide if we have the ability to cope with the situation – usually by examining the balance of situational demands (such as risk, uncertainty, difficulty etc) and our perceived resources (including things such as social support, expertise etc, see more here). If we feel demands outweigh resources we experience negative stress . At this point, we also start to engage in coping strategies. Stress Reactions/Injuries - When someone experiences a stressful event, the amygdala, an area of the brain that contributes to emotional processing, sends a distress signal to the hypothalamus. This area of the brain functions like a command center, communicating with the rest of the body through the nervous system so that the person has the energy to fight or flee. Most Effective Treatments for PTSD - Exposure Therapy - Cognitive Restructuring Resilience - Resilience is the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress — such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems or workplace and financial stressors. It means "bouncing back" from difficult experiences. PSYCHOLOGICAL THERAPIES Classical Conditioning Techniques - Counterconditioning - Exposure Therapy with Response Prevention - Aversive Conditioning Systematic Desensitization - a treatment for phobias in which the patient is exposed to progressively more anxietyprovoking stimuli and taught relaxation techniques. Operant Conditioning and Token Economy - The reinforcers are symbols or "tokens" that can be exchanged for other reinforcers. A token economy is based on the principles of operant conditioning and behavioral economics and can be situated within applied behavior analysis. - Token economies are based on operant learning theory, which states that rewards and punishments shape behavior. A token economy rewards good behavior with tokens that can be exchanged for something desired. A token can be a chip, coin, star, sticker, or something that can be exchanged for what the student wants to buy. Psychoanalysis - a system of psychological theory and therapy that aims to treat mental disorders by investigating the interaction of conscious and unconscious elements in the mind and bringing repressed fears and conflicts into the conscious mind by techniques such as dream interpretation and free association. - Freud PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS Psychological Disorders - Defining - Understanding - Classifying - Labeling Defining - Deviant - Distressful - Dysfunctional Ancient Treatments - Metrazol Therapy. In metrazol therapy, physicians induced seizures using a stimulant medication. ... While this treatment was dangerous and ineffective, seizure therapy was the precursor to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), which is still used in some cases to treat severe depression, mania and catatonia. The Medical Model - Etiology - Diagnosis - Treatment - Prognosis Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) - DSM-5 - defines and classifies mental disorders in order to improve diagnoses, treatment, and research - Used by clinicians, legal system, insurance companies - Designed to be a work in progress forever - How does classification affect diagnosis - Dangers of diagnosis - Some worry that the DSM encourages overdiagnosis and stigmas Classifying Psychological Disorders - The American Psychiatric Association rendered a diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM) to describe psychological disorders - The most recent edition, DSM-5 - Old System - Multiaxial Classification Multiaxial Classification - Old system before DSM Social-Cultural Context of Psychological Disorders - Presence of others - Cultural, societal and family expectations Peer and other group influences Compelling models (such as in the media) Insanity - Am I going to lose control and scream - Am i having a nervous breakdown? Psychotherapy: Effectiveness - Therapy is most effective when the problem is clear-cut and specific Factors that contribute to effective psychotherapy - Quality of therapeutic relationship - Caring, empathetic, responsive therapist - Motivated optimistic client - Supportive family and stable living situation - Culturally sensitive therapist Relative effectiveness of different psychotherapies - Your book reports that “in general, there is little or no difference in the effectiveness of different psychotherapies” However, this is an over-simplification - Evidence indicates that some forms of psychotherapy, particularly CBT has higher rates of success for many disorders Client’s Perspective + Clinician’s Perspective - Both clients and clinicians report high rates of effective treatments but these reports are subjective and prone to bias Outcome Research - Outcome based research however, has consistently found that psychotherapy is significantly more effective than receiving no treatment Evaluating Alternative Therapies - EDMR: Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing - Light Exposure Therapy Specific Disorders - Mood Disorders - Anxiety Disorders - Personality Disorders - Antisocial Personality Disorder OTHER TOPICS Eyewitness Testimony - Is notoriously unreliable when identifying an unknown person (e.g. picking a stranger out - of a lineup) As noted in the video clip and in your text, the reliability of an eyewitness testimony can be improved if various safeguards are ensured False Memories - False memories can be “planted” - Imagining nonexistent events can create a memory - Imagination inflation - imagining something and really perceiving it activate similar brain areas - People with vivid imaginations are more likely to have false memories - Children are susceptible to false memory Temperament vs. Traits - Temperament is more permanent while traits are malleable throughout life Problems with Punishment Sleep and Depression - Depression can often lead to insomnia or inability to fall asleep - Depression can also cause someone to sleep much more than normal Pigeon Passage - Acquisition and Maintenance of a simple phobia - Acquisition - how the fear was acquired through classical conditioning - Maintenance - how the avoidance response is maintained through operant conditioning - Operant Conditioning and classical conditioning are both forms of associative learning The Dreaded Tomato Reading - Discusses illusory correlations ALL 4 OOCA Readings - The alcohol blackout - ? - Gratitude - Forgiveness Daniel Dennett Video Kang Video (Implicit Bias) 120 items 40% on the most recent unit Know social psychologists and their experiments Fundamental attribution error Memorize names Bandura - observational learning Pavlov - classic Skinner - operant Milgram Wilhelm wundt Study unit four slides Everett Worthington - world renowned expert in forgiveness - REACH model of forgiveness Reinforcement increases and punishment decreases ALBERT ELLIS ABCs Which is not a component of prejudice? - Discrimination UNIT FOUR TOPICS TO UNDERSTAND - Anxiety disorders - Depression - Social psychology - Classifying psychological disorders - Evaluating therapy - Schizophrenia personality - Happiness