• the scientific study of thought and behavior
• clinical practice and science
• NOT popular psychology

• very broad-how we think
• learning and motivation, language, problem-solving, memory, sensation, perception
• EX: someone who studies how people visualize objects in their minds is studying cognitive psychology

• study of psychology across a life span
• development of moral reasoning, social development, issues around death and dying
• EX: How do our reasoning skills or emotional skills change as we age? How does parent-infant bonding afect adult relationships? Does old age bring wisdom?

• how the brain, mind, and behavior are interconnected
• EX: a person studies by what mechanism does meditation alter the brain?

• relationship between bodily systems, chemicals, thought, and behavior (broader than behavioral neuroscience
• EX: How might our physiological stress response impact performance? What are the effects of stress on hormones and behavior?

• study of personality
• EX: Can a person's personality change? What can cause those changes?

• how others affect us - can be a real or imagined person
• EX: Why do some people stop to help others in need while others do not? Why do people conform? Research on prejudice and racism. Why are we attracted to certain kinds of people?

• study of psychology disorders and their treatment; promotion of psychological health
• largest subdiscipine
• EX: What is the most effective treatment for depression?

Health Psychology

(Medical Psychology)

• how do psychological factors affect physical health/illness
• EX: What is the most effective behavior modification for treatment of obesity? How stress affects people's lives and is linked to illness and immune function.

• psychological factors of school
• combines many different disciplines: social, cognitive & developmental
• EX: How does teacher anxiety affect student performance?

• psychological factors in the work place
• EX: How does communication impact employee morale?
• one of the fastest growing sub disciplines

• psychological factors in sports/exercise
• EX: How can players maintain focus at an away game? Relaxation and Visualization techniques to increase athletic performance.

• combines psychology, law, and criminal justice
• most commonly do psych evaluations
• much fewer work as profilers
• EX: What is the best way to assess whether a parent is fit to have custody of his/her child?

• first scientific from of psychology
• connection between a sensory stimulus and subjective experience

• initial research in the field of psychophysics
• investigated smallest discernable differences between stimuli

• memory, physiology, color-vision
• also accomplished in several other scientific fields: physics and more

• created first psychology lab in Germany
• experimenetal psychology

• earned first PHD in psychology
• mentored Francis Cecil Sumner, the first African American to earn a PHD in psychology

• founder of psychology in the US
• established American Psychological Association (APA)
• Mentored Mary Whiton Calkins--> PHD not awarded

• psychologists should seek to understand though and behavior by breaking it down into elemental parts (what is the structure?)
• Wilhelm Wundt: Europe
• Used introspection

• psychologists should seek to understand why the mind works the way that it does (What function does it serve?)
• Willam James: United States
• used introspection

• Sigmund Freud
• a clinical approach to understanding psychology disorders
• the unconcious mind is the most powerful force behind thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
• childhood experiences are very important in development of personality
• mind must defend against unwanted unconcious thoughts and impulses

• Based on John Locke's ideas
• John Watson: challenged the use of introspection, psychology should only examine observable behavior

• consequences shape behavior
• worked to make behaviorism the major perspective in psychology for nearly 50 years

• in reaction to psychoanalysis and behaviorism
• argued that neither focused on healthy human behavior
• Abraham Maslow
• Carl Rogers

• self-actualization

• humanistic therapy

• Gestalt Psychology
• reaction against behaviorism: behaviorism missing an essential part of human experience
• cognitive science: based on the idea that a computer model is similar to the human mind

• a mind perceives things as wholes, rather than a compilation of parts

• began to investigate biological factors in thoughts and behavior
• behavior genetics: to what extent do genetics  play a role in specific behavior?
• evolutionary psychology: are we evolutionarily predisposed to certain behaviors

• no longer seen as a debate
• origin: Sir Francis Galton
• Nature=genetics: twin studies, behavior genetics, eugenics
• Nurture=anything that is not genetics!: John Locke-Tabula Rasa, impact of parenting

• is the mind seperate from the body?
• religious and philosophical questions
• Pro-Dualism: subjective experience, where is the mind?, zombies
• Against Dualism: casual interaction, brain damage, Occam's Razor

• cumulative: scientists working together
• a process more than a product
• an attitude: way of thinking

1. Observe: noticing a phenomenon
2. Predict: must be testable, specific
3. Test: experiments, collecting data
4. Interpret: interpret results, statistics
5. Communicate: scholarly journal
6. Replicate: several repititions

Does it:

• advance knowledge?
• accept contradictory evidence?
• challenge their own assumptions?
• explain how they came to their conclusions?
• arguments use sound logic?

entire group of people im interested in making an inference about (can be bigger or smaller)

EX: all adolescents, all boys, all girls, all college students

• just trying to understand, often the first step in scientific inquiries
• NO predictions
• case study-often used where population is small/rare
• naturalistic observations
• interviews/surveys

• relationship between 2+ variables
• predict nature of relationship: NOT CAUSATION
• correlation coefficient (r): strength and direction of relationship

Correlation Coefficient

(r)

r=0 --------> NO RELATIONSHIP

r=negative  -----------> INVERSE RELATIONSHIP: one goes up and the other goes down

r= close to l1l -----------> RELATIONSHIP IS STRONG

• mainpulation of the independent variable
• measurement of the dependent variable
• random assignment
• control groups and placebos

• confounding variables
• social desirability bisas
• experimenter effects
• experimenter expectancy effects
• single blind vs double blind studies: how we often get around experimenter effects/expectancy

differences caused by characteristics of the experimenters

EX: mean vs. nice, "warm and fuzzy" vs. "cold"

• experimental design with no random assignment
• naturally occuring groups
• EX: sex, age, race, health status (cancer)

• studies in which the participants do not know the experimental condition to which they have been assigned

• a study of studies
• magnitude of effect (impact: effect size): correlation coefficient (correlational data), Cohen's d (experimental data)
• how big of an impact does the independent variable have on the dependent variable

• interviews and questionnaires
• PROS: non-observable, phenomenon, quick, inexpensive
• CONS: social desirabilty, can be inaccurate
• interviews can be spontaneous or structured
• some interviews/questionnaires are more reliable than others

• systematic observations of people's actions either in their normal environment or in a laboratory setting
• PROS: less susceptible to social desirability, more objective
• CONS: people may act differently, time intensive, requires training
• EX: people observing children's behavior on play-ground

• descriptive statistics: mean, median, mode, standard deviation
• analytical statistics: significance testing (tells you whether difference is significant)
• EX: test scores most people got 70% while two people got 110%

• informed consent: must tell suspected risks
• respect for persons
• beneficience: benefits outweigh risks
• privacy: how they protect your data
• justice: equalize costs and benefits for all experimental participants
• Institutional Review Board approval
• EX: sharecroppers with syphalis injected into them without consent

• fully justified
• part of research design
• no alternative
• participants are debriefed afterwards

• standard is humane treatment
• adequate housing
• minimize discomfort
• humane euthanasia
• different IRB

1. relationship between genes and behavior is complex
2. behaviors are polygenic
3. twin/adoption studies
4. environment affects genetic expression (epigenetics)

• look at genetic variation in genome
• method of studying heritability by comparing genetic markers that allows researchers to assess how genetic differences interact with environment to produce certain behaviors in some people but not in others

• the extent to which a behavior is determined by genetics
• represented by percentage
• most behaviors 50%

• interaction between environment and genetic expression
• environmental factors can turn genes on and off

• brain
• spinal cord

• Somatic Nervous System: voluntary
• Autonomic Nervous System: involuntary

• Sympathetic Nervous System: arousing
• Parasympathetic Nervous System: calming

CALMING

• constricts pupils
• constricts bronchi
• slows heartbeat
• stimulates digestive activity
• dilates vessels
• contracts bladder
• stimulates ejaculation

AROUSING

• dilates pupils
• relaxes bronchi
• accelerates heartbeat
• inhibits digestive activity: blood sent to muscles instead
• contract vessels: increased blood pressure
• inhibits bladder contraction
• allows blood flow to sex organs

• structure and supports neurons
• promote efficient communication between neurons

• cells that process and transmit information in the nervous system

• chemical 
• electrical
• chemical

Acetycholine

(Ach)

• slows ANS activity
• eating and drinking
• neuromuscular junction
• learning and memory
• sleeping and dreaming

• arousal and mood
• voluntary muscle movement
• involved with somatic nervous system
• excess correlates with psychosis

Epinephrin

• increases ANS activity
• fight or flight response

• acts on the CNS
• increases alertness and attention

• mood, sleep, eating, temperature regulation
• deficit leads to depression and anxiety

GABA

• primary inhibitory neurotransmitter
• slows CNS activity
• deficits---> anxiety

• primary excitatory neurotransmitter
• increases CNS activity
• learning and memory
• may be involved in schizophrenia

• heartrate
• respiration
• keeps you alive
• very basic

• bridge between spinal cord and brain

• coordination of motor movement
• procedural learning and language

1. medulla
2. pons
3. cerebellum

• orientation
• some hearing and sight
• small
• Thalamus: relay station

• largest part
• cerebrum
• corpus callosum

fear response, attached to hippocampus

• impact on endocrine system
• full? hungry? thirsty?

1. frontal
2. parietal
3. temporal
4. occipital

• what makes you human
• personality
• EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING
• working memory
• attention
• planning things

• visual, spacial awareness
• area that allows imaginative visualization (how things are in space)

• processing visual info

• primarily involved in auditory
• processing sounds: language, music

• frontal lobe
• deals with body movement
• right hemisphere controls left side of the body and vice versa

• parietal lobe
• senses
• left hemisphere receives input from the body's right side and vice versa

• the fact that one side of the brain controls movement on the opposite side

• speech production
• allows talking
• damage= cannot speak, but can understands

• involved in comprehending speech
• damage=no comprehension of language, but ability to articulate meaningless sounds/words

• main LANGUAGE
• analytic details
• sequential
• right side of the body
• EX: logic, math, speech, writing

• nonverbal
• emotion
• global- wholistic view, "bigger picture"
• left side of the body
• EX: process music, simple comprehension

1. EEG
2. MRI
3. fMRI
4. PET

• sensors on the scalp
• measure electrical activity on cortex
• measure functions
• one of the first techniques, very basic
• FUNCTION

• uses magnets to sense magnetic changes in the brain
• looks at density of tissues, deep structures
• STRUCTURE
• EX: what is damaged? what does it look like?

• clear picture of structure
• overlays areas of function
• shows activity vs. lack of activity
• STRUCTURE & FUNCTION

• drink radioactive glucose
• measure blood flow to active areas of the brain
• risky- radioactive agents

• hypothalamus
• pituitary
• thyroid
• adrenal 
• pancreas
• ovaries/testies

• controls metabolism

• regulates blood sugar levels
• secretes insulin

• release hormones involved in stress response and emotions