PSYC1020 Notes

PSYC1020 Notes Contents [1A,2A, 3A] Psychology & its Paradigms ........................................................................................................................... 3 Behavioural Paradigm ................................................................................................................................................... 5 Cognitive Paradigm ....................................................................................................................................................... 5 Biological Paradigm ....................................................................................................................................................... 5 Psychodynamic Paradigm ............................................................................................................................................. 6 Humanistic Paradigm .................................................................................................................................................... 6 Misc ............................................................................................................................................................................... 6 [3A, 4A] Data Collection .................................................................................................................................................... 7 Methods of Data Collection .......................................................................................................................................... 7 Sources of Bias (Distortion) In Research [4A] ............................................................................................................... 8 [5A] Consciousness ........................................................................................................................................................... 9 History of Study of Consciousness ................................................................................................................................ 9 Means of Studying Consciousness .............................................................................................................................. 10 States of Consciousness .............................................................................................................................................. 10 [6A, 7A] Learning............................................................................................................................................................. 13 Habituation ................................................................................................................................................................. 13 Pavlov’s Dogs .............................................................................................................................................................. 13 Classical Conditioning ................................................................................................................................................. 14 Operant Conditioning ................................................................................................................................................. 15 Classical conditioning + Operating Conditioning ........................................................................................................ 18 [8A/9A, 10A] Attention ................................................................................................................................................... 19 [11A] Memory ................................................................................................................................................................. 21 [12A] Thinking: Problem Solving ..................................................................................................................................... 23 [13A] Thinking – Judgement and Decision Making ......................................................................................................... 25 Kahneman and Tversky’s Heuristics & Biases ............................................................................................................. 25 Other Biases ................................................................................................................................................................ 26 Assorted Terms ............................................................................................................................................................... 27 [1B] Introduction to Cognitive Neuroscience ................................................................................................................. 28 [2B, 3B] Neuroanatomy .................................................................................................................................................. 29 [4B] Neurons & Action Potentials ................................................................................................................................... 34 Electrical Signals .......................................................................................................................................................... 35 [5B] Neurons Continued ................................................................................................................................................. 37 [6B] Cognitive Neuroscience Methods ........................................................................................................................... 39 [7B] Sensation and Perception 1..................................................................................................................................... 41 [8B] Hearing, Vestibular, Taste, Smell, Touch ................................................................................................................. 43 1

[10B] Learning & Memory: Hippocampus and Amygdala .............................................................................................. 45 [11B] Brain Laterality ...................................................................................................................................................... 48 [12B] Attention and Cognitive Control: Parietal and Prefrontal Lobe ............................................................................ 50 [13B] Mirror Neurons and Empathy ............................................................................................................................... 52

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Start Part A [1A,2A, 3A] Psychology & its Paradigms 

Psychology is: o the science that studies behaviour and the cognitive processes that underlie it o the profession that applies the accumulated knowledge of this science to practical problems

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Two levels of analysis can explain human actions and feelings o Mentally what’s happening o Biologically what’s happening

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Psychological Paradigm o Set of research interests, methods, language, concepts, etc o Many different psychological paradigms

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Determining if a paradigm is scientific o Must rely upon scientific method  Cyclic process:

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Observations should be:  Unbiased  Repeatable  Controlled  Quantitative Theories should be:  Testable/falsifiable –be able to conceive of an observation which would disprove it  General – e.g. theory of learning, not theory of how dogs learn  Parsimonious - as simple as possible

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Mental Set // Top-Down Processing o Prior knowledge & present thoughts have a large effect on how:  You take in new information  Think about it  Retain it  Act upon it o Helps to quickly organise perceptual experience, but limits creative thought o Can lead to faster, clearer and more accurate perception  But also distorts perception o Some degree of voluntary control over these processes  Shift attention from one perception to the other o People with similar experiences will have a similar mental set, so will perceive things similarly o People who practice a specific psychological paradigm will see all info through that lens 3

Paradigm Behavioural

Cognitive

Biological

Definition

Focal Topics

Scientific study of behaviour

Learning

Scientific study of mental processes

Scientific study of the biological basis of behaviour

Languages

Root Metaphor

Historical Influences

Contemporary influences Other sciences

Experimental (animals)

-Stimulus & Response -Conditioning -Reinforcement -Shaping

-Blank slate -lump of clay

Mentalism

-Perception -Attention -Memory -Thinking

Experimental (humans)

-Input & Output -Codes -Serial Processing -Memory Stores

Programed computer

Mentalism Behaviourism

Computer Science

-Behaviour -Cognition

-Experimental (where possible) -Case Study -Correlation Inc brain damage

-Bio terms -Behavioural terms -Cognitive terms

Biological machine

Behaviourism

Neuroanatomy & physiology

Case history

-Ego -Id -Superego -Defence mechanisms (e.g. repression, projection)

Mental illness

-Personal growth -Self-actualisation -Awareness -Transcendence -Free will -Human potential

Growth

Psychodynamic Study of conscious and unconscious processes seen in “mental illness”

“Mental Illness”

Humanistic

-Individual awareness -conscious choices -well-being

Study of conscious human experience

Method

Case history

Particularly Darwinism

Particularly AI

Cognitive perspectives Philosophy

Victorian culture Medicine Darwinian struggle to survive

Psychodynamic

“1960” culture

Behavioural

Existentialist and “eastern” philosophies

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Behavioural Paradigm  

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Scientific Rejection of introspective psychology o Prior to behavioural paradigm people studied consciousness via introspection and descriptions of consciousness o Introspective data not objective Scope of behaviourism limited to that which is directly observable (e.g. what we can physically see): o Behaviour o Changes in behaviour Animals used in experiments as more controllable People born the same – experience = learning = make us different o Prior learning makes us do things for which we will be rewarded o Biological differences of individuals ignored Cognitive & biological psychology are descendants of behavioural psychology

Cognitive Paradigm     

Scientific Study the mind Look at transformation of information in mind as we look at transformation of information in computer Just because we cannot see something doesn’t mean we cannot observe it o E.g. gravity EX: Stroop Effect

Biological Paradigm     

Scientific logical next step of the behaviourism, once we understand the behaviour, we then start to see what the brain does Holds that everything you do has a biological cause Reductionist: instead of understanding what people do in sociological terms it is simpler to understand in biological/mechanical terms LIMITATIONs: o not everything is biologically driven o often stuck looking at correlations only  e.g. look at people with brain damage rather than setting up experiments (bc ethics)

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Psychodynamic Paradigm        

AKA Depth psychology Not scientific Sigmund Freud highly influential Looks at unconsciousness Unconscious desires drive you to behaviours (including bad behaviours) Focuses on causes of mental illness All ideas largely not falsifiable (e.g. untestable) – AKA its BS o Based on case history May involve looking at ambiguous images and asking what you see o E.g. I see my mother in this ink blot – hence your unconscious is revealing that the basis of your problems is with your mother

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Id: instinctual energy that contains biological urges such as impulses toward survival, sex, and aggression Superego: moral component - contains learned moral standards Ego: manages the conflict between the id superego (constraints of the real world)

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Mental illness the result of a failure to balance Id and Superego o E.g.: Id: I want to eat like a dog Superego: That’s not ok to do in our society Ego: balance – eat faster Underlying metaphor of fluid mechanics: steam pressure vessel that will explode if not released

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Humanistic Paradigm       

Not scientific Growth Psychology Unique human experiences & choices make every people special & unique o Studies each individual People are psychologically changing constantly Client-focused All people are inherently good Focused on maximising peoples well-being, not really making scientific conclusions

Misc  

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Experimental psychology: Behavioural, biological, cognitive CBT – Cognitive Behavioural Therapy o Psychotherapeutic technique o Behavioural + Cognitive paradigms influential o Asks you to observe your behaviour and look at thoughts that cause this behaviour  Change unhelpful thinking Cognitive neuroscience = biological + cognitive paradigms Positive psychology = humanist + cognitive paradigms o (doesn’t pathologies, just tried to optimise for wellbeing)

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