Learning

Any relative permanent change in behavior that occurs because of experience

Conditioning

A kind of learning that involves associations between environmental stimuli and responses

Classical Conditioning

Pavlov

An organism learns to associate two stimuli

One produces a response that originally was only produced by another

Classical Conditioning

Unconditioned Stimulus

The US elicits the unconditioned response

(food)

Classical Conditioning

Unconditioned Response

The UR is the response which is automatically produced

(salvation)

Classical Conditioning

Conditioned Response

Originally neutral stimulus that elicits a behavior after being paired with the US (unconditioned stimulus)

(bell)

Classical Conditioning

Conditioned Response

The CR is the response elicited by the CS (conditioned stimulus)

(salivation due to bell)

Classical Conditioning

Extinction

If one repeats the conditioned stimulus without the unconditioned stimulus over time, the conditioned response will disappear

(Over time, dog will lose the defense reflex of the metronome when it no longer receives a shock)

Classical Conditioning

Spontaneous Recovery

After a response has been extinguishes it may spontaneously reappear after the passage of time with exposure to the conditioned stimulus.

Classical Conditioning

Higher Order Conditioning

Pairing a neutral stimulus with the conditioned stimulus will create another conditioned stimulus, although a weaker conditioned response. More likely to show extinction.

Food with bell, bell with light.

Classical Conditioning

Stimulus Generalization

After a stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus for some response, other similar stimuli may produce the same reaction

(sudden noise in the middle of the night associated with the alarm clock)

Classical Conditioning

Stimulus Discrimination

One learns to realize the difference between similar stimuli

(Respond differently when the fire alarm wakes you up than when an alarm clock wales you up: 

fire alarm -> jump up; alarm -> snooze)

Classical Conditioning

Anticipatory Nausea and Vomiting

Chemotherapy -> Nausea

Treatment room, needles

Nausea in response to the room/sight of needles

Actual medicine is what makes them sick...

ANV patients don't respond well to anti-nausea drugs because it is a psychological response, not a physiological response

Some patients are responsive to behavioral treatments

Operant Conditioning/Instrumental Learning

Behavior is dependent on its consequences

Operant Conditioning/Instrumental Learning

Thorndike

Studied cats

Operant Conditioning/Instrumental Learning

Law of Effect

A satisfying result strengthens/increases behavior.

Operant Conditioning/Instrumental Learning

Three types of Consequences:

Neutral Consequence

Reinforcement

Punishment

Neutral Consequence: Not more or less likely to see behavioral patterns change

Reinforcement: Anything which will make a response more likely to occur

Punishment: Anything that will make a response less likely to occur

Operant Conditioning/Instrumental Learning

Primary Reinforcers

Satisfy biological needs, food, water, and sex

Operant Conditioning/Instrumental Learning

Secondary Reinforcers

Satisfy through association with primary reinforcers; money, praise, grades

Operant Conditioning/Instrumental Learning

Punishments

Inherently unpleasant and decrease likelihood of a response

Operant Conditioning/Instrumental Learning

Positive Punishments

Something unpleasant occurs

(spanked, soap in mouth, etc.)

Decreases the likelihood of something happening again.

Operant Conditioning/Instrumental Learning

Negative Punishments

Something pleasant is removed

(no TV, no dessert, etc.)

Decreases likelihood of the action happening again.

Operant Conditioning/Instrumental Learning

Most Effective when...

Reinforcement or punishment which occurs immediately after a behavior has the strongest effect

Operant Conditioning/Instrumental Learning

Continuous: reward/punishment occurs each time the behavior occurs

Intermittent/Partial: reward/punishment occurs when a response occurs only some of the time

Ratio Schedules: deliver reinforcement after a certain fixed number of responses -> Fixed Ratio V. Variable (average)

Interval Schedules: reinforcement after a certain amt. of passed time -> Fixed V> Variable

Operant Conditioning/Instrumental Learning

For a response to persist, it should be reinforced intermittently, making the response more difficult to extinguish

Operant Conditioning/Instrumental Learning

Shaping is reinforcing behavioral tendencies in a desired direction. Uses successive approximation -- reinforces responses that are increasingly to the desired response.

Ex. Teaching a pigeon to turn in a circle, or to play ping-pong

Operant Conditioning/Instrumental Learning

1973

Social Cognitive Theories of Learning

Latent Learning

Learning without realizing that you are learning.

Social Cognitive Theories of Learning

Observational Learning

This theory believes that there is a higher level cognitive process to how we learn, impacts attitudes, beliefs, and expectations

Children learn and then imitate behaviors.

-> BOBO EXPERIMENT

Social Cognitive Theories of Learning

Observational Learning, Con't, Lassie

Prosocial behavior can also be learned through modeling

Lassie Study

Children could either press a red button whenever a light turned on and receive a prize or press HELP whenever a puppy barked and could no longer press button if they did... those who had seen Lassie be saved pressed HELP more times than the other children. DEP VARIABLE: # times pressed HELP and speed

Memory

The capacity to retain and retrieve information

Flashbulb Memories

Dramatic positive or negative memories

• Memories for traumatic events are more vivid than ordinary events
• Main aspect of trauma remembered, can distort details
• Accuracy fades over time, personal recollections from 9/11 and Columbine, cohort differences

How to Measure Memory

Recall

The ability to retrieve information which has been learned earlier (like a short answer)

Ex. Recall Task: List names of 8 reindeer who were Rudolph's friends

How to Measure Memory

The ability to identify previously encountered information (multiple choices)

Ex. Which of the following lists were Rudolph's friends?

How to Measure Memory

Effort is saved in learning things that were previously learned

Models of Memory

Information Processing Model

Memory and minds are like a computer

ENCODING: How to put information in, retain, store, and retrieve

LEVELS OF PROCESSING: Different levels of processing impact coding

Depth of Processing

Shallow Processing

Structural Encoding: Emphasizes the physical structure of the stimulus

Ex. Is the word written in all capital letters?

Depth of Processing

Phonemic Encoding: Emphasizes what a word sounds like

Ex. Does the word rhyme with weight?

Depth of Processing

Semantic Encoding: Emphasizes the meaning of verbal input

Ex. Would the word fit in the sentence: "He met a _______ on the street." ?

Three Box Model of Memory

Sensory Memory

• Sensory memory retains for 1-2 seconds.
  
• Acts as a holding bin
• ~1/2 second in visual subsystem
• ~longer in auditory system
• Decides if it is worth processing - important to pay attention to?
• Memory can then move to to "next box" (short-term)

Three Box Model of Memory

• Holds limited amt. of info for up to 20/30 seconds
• Houses our working memory
• pattern recognition compares to information already in our LTM, goes to LTM or decays or is lost
• magic number: number of items we can hold in our STM... 7 +/- 2... may actually be lower, new research

Three Box Model of Memory

CHUNKING is a strategy which helps us hold information, cultural variations, grouping things together

reading off numbers as "one-hundred and thirteen" rather than 1,1,3, or IBmCIAFBI

Three Box Model of Memory

• Longer storage, from minutes to decades
• Organized by semantic categories
• Procedural Memory: knowing "HOW"... to brush teeth, do a puzzle, routine things that "just happen"
• Declarative Memory: knowing "WHAT"... semantic: facts, rules, concepts... episodic: experienced events, personal recollections

Three Box Model of Memory

Sensory memory, short term, and long term

all work with each other

Prospective Memory

Remembering to perform actions in the future

Ex. "I have to buy stamps."

Use strategies such as mnemonics or lists

Retrospective Memory

 Remembering events from the past or previously learned information

Ex. How to drive a car, where you live, etc.

Memory and Recall Tasks Illustrated

Primacy Effect

Memory of beginning pieces of a list

Usually people remember the first thing on a list

Memory and Recall Tasks Illustrated

Memory of the end pieces of the list

Usually people remember the last thing on a list

Memory and Recall Tasks Illustrated

Numerous mentions increases memory

Remembered "Night" because it was on the list 3 times

Memory and Recall Tasks Illustrated

Increases likelihood

Something out of the ordinary will be remembered (artichoke)

Memory and Recall Tasks Illustrated

Increases memory

Grouping words like "toss" and "turn" together

Memory and Recall Tasks Illustrated

Retain in short term memory, repeating a phone number

Memory and Recall Tasks Illustrated

Elaborate Rehearsal

Know it, review it, practice it, give meanings

Memory and Recall Tasks Illustrated

Visual Imagery

Create visual images to represent words/concepts to remember

Memory and Recall Tasks Illustrated

Method of Loci

Match up existing visual images with concepts

Ex. Picture your bedroom, and put an item in each area of the room, associate things with the lamp, bed, computer, best, chair... useful when having to remember lists

Memory and Recall Tasks Illustrated

Mnemonics

Systematic strategies for remembering information, memory tricks or useful tools to aid memory

ex. ROY G BIV

Memory and Recall Tasks Illustrated

Dual-Coding Theory

Memory is enhances by using both semantic and visual codes since either can lead to recall

Memory and Recall Tasks Illustrated

Chase and Simon - Chess Players Research

• Players were able to remember pieces when places meaningfully, whereas none were able to more than others when placed randomly

• Expert knowledge helps memory of relevant but not irrelevant information.

Eyewitness Testimony Problems

1. People's tendency to fill in missing information
2. Errors are greater when the ethnicity of the subjects is different from the witness
3. Power of words can impact memories
4. Children and adults can report accurately as well as be influenced by their recall

Forgetting

Ineffective Encoding

We don't 'remember' something in the first place because we didn't learn it properly

Forgetting

Decay Theories

Memories fade with time.

Forgetting

New Memories for Old

Most recent versions are saved, saving over a document as you edit the paper.

Forgetting

Retroactive Interferenve

New informations interferes with old

Ex. Trying to remember everything for three exams in one week

Forgetting

Proactive Interference

Old information interferes with new

Forgetting

Motivated Forgetting

Painful memories blocked from consciousness (Freud)

Forgetting

Cue Dependent Forgetting

Forget because you haven't figured out what you need to help you remember (retrieval cues)

Context, mental, and physical states can all be retrieval cues

Forgetting

Retrograde Amnesia

Deficit in recalling events that happened before onset of amnesia

Can't remember old information

Forgetting

Anterograde Amnesia

Deficit in learning subsequent to the onset of the disorder.

Can't remember new information (Memento)

Forgetting

Post-Traumatic Amnesia

Range of cognitive impairments including memory loss following an accident. Can be substantial, but often decrease to the level of events surrounding the accident.

Often remember traumatic events but not events directly surrounding the traumatic event.

Forgetting

Childhood Amnesia

The inability to remember things from the first years of life... very common.

Forgetting

Dementia

A clinical condition in which the individual loses cognitive abilities and functioning to the degree it impedes normal activity and social relationship

Forgetting

Alzheimer's Disease

• Most common form of dementia
• Loss of memory for recent events and familiar tasks
• Changes in cognitive functioning ultimately leading to a change in personality
• Loss of ability to perform most simple functions

The 3 A's of Alzheimer's

1. Aphasia: The loss of the ability to use language
2. Apraxia: The loss of the ability to actually carry out coordinated body movements.
3. Agnosia: The loss of the ability to recognize familiar objects

Causes of Alzheimer's

1. Formation of plaques or tangles in the areas of the brain controlling memory or vital cognitive functioning
2. Diagnosis usually done by exclusion because no one specific indicator exists. Historically done through autopsy for characteristic tangles/plaques central to disease

Language

Systems of symbols, sounds, meanings, and rules of combinations that allow for communication among humans.

Benjamin Whorf

Linguistic relativity - one's language determines one's thoughts

Eskimos had numerous names for "snow," and it had different meanings.

Structure of Language

Phonemes

The smallest unit of sounds which can be distinguished; change in sound can alter meaning.

• 'c'at or 'b'at - Initial Phonemes
• b'i't or b'a't - Middle Phonemes
• bi'g' or bi't' - End Phonemes 

Structure of Language

Morphemes

The smallest units of meaning in a language

Phrases made up of morphemes

Structure of Language

Semantics

The study of the meaning of words/combinations/sentences

• He bit the dog. The dog bit him.
• Context think of a 'bat' either ball or animal

Structure of Language

Syntax

The structure of language, underlying rules of order/function

'Bill hit John' = 'John was hit by Bill'

Structure of Language

Gleason Study

Language rules are generative.

Made up words and then asked the children to make the words plural, and past tense, and they were able to do so following the rules of language. 

Structure of Language

Overregularizations

Grammatical rules incorrectly generalized to "exception" cases

Children sometimes say, "yesterday we 'goed' to the store," instead of 'went'

Language Acquisition Device: Chomsky

• Humans possess an inborn language mechanism
• Hard-wired to sort input from 20-80 pronemes
• Lose capacity between 4-12 months to properly pronounce phonemes if not used (some languages use "rr," some "ch," difficult to pronounce otherwise
• Surface Structure: Particular words used
• Deep Structure: Notion of nouns, verbs, commands
• Chomsky believes languages differ only in surface structure

Expressive Language

The ability to produce language

Receptive Language

The ability to comprehend, process, and integrate the meaning of language

• Children usually have a greater capacity for receptive speech

Stages in Language Development

Crying Cooing Babbling First Words Holophrases Telegraphic Speech

By the age of 6, children learn an average of 15 words per day, vocabulary 8,000-14,000 words

Holophrases

Simple word that conveys meaning, ex. "Go"

OVEREXTENTIONS: In Monsters Inc., Boo calls the big blue monster "kitty" because she associates furry things with kitties.

Telegraphic Speech

Using only the most important words, children say, "Go car," not "Let's go into the car" since they are still learning the language

Nonverbal Communication

• Vocal intonation (stress, pitch, and volume)
• Body language (crossed arms, sitting up)
• Gestures
• Physical Distance
• Facial Expressions
• Touch

Bilingualism

A second language is best learned when children are younger, at a "sensitive period" for language development.

Critical Points in Language Development

Case Study of Genie:

There does appear to be some sensitive/critical period for language development skills

Learning Theory and Language

Language is based on modeling, imitations, and reinforcement

Learning Theory and Language

Flaws of this notion

• Children acquire language with ease, not broad variations
• Adult speech is often sloppy, children acquire basic rules/structures anyway
• Children's speech is not a mechanical play back of adults... EX. children say "goed," which is not something modeled.

Interactionalist Theory of Language

Both biology and experience make important contributions to language development.

Thought

An extension of perception and memory, mental representations are formed, recalled, and manipulated

Concepts and Categories

Objects are classified on the basis of their properties

Concepts: a mental representation of a group

Categorization: Recognizing an object as a member of a group

Thought

Prototype

We rate things based on their similarity to models or prototypes which represent the main characteristics of a group (Big Foot Example)

Thought

Rosch

Concepts are defined by a prototype or the most typical member of a "class"

• Is a sparrow a bird?
• Is a penguin a bird?
• Is a bat a bird?

Reasoning

The process by which we generate and evaluate arguments.

Reasoning

Algorithms

A methodical, step by step procedure for trying all possible alternatives to solve a problem, computers can help to figure these out

Inductive Reasoning

We reason from the specific to the general

Ex. When a waitress brings over a plate and says "it's hot," usually everyone will touch it to see.

Deductive Reasoning

Draw conclusions from a set of assumptions; the conclusion will be true if the premise is true

Deductive Reasoning

Syllogism

Form of deductive reasoning, consists of two premises and a conclusion

• Premise: All A are B
• Premise: C is an A
• Conclusion: C is a B

Problem Solving

Transforms one situation into another to meet a goal. Active efforts to achieve the goal.

Greeno's Three Types of Problems

Problems of Inducing Structure: relationship between numbers, words, and symbols (figuring out the next number in a pattern.

Problems of Arrangement: Arrange the parts of a problem to satisfy a criterion (re-arranging letters to make a word)

Problems of Transformation: Need to carry out a sequence in order to achieve a specific goal

Framing

How decisions or problem solving is posed may change the decision making tast

"Program will have a 50% success rate."

"Program will have a 50% failure rate."

Hypothesis Testing

Make and test an educated guess about a problem/solution

Mental Stimulation

Mental rehearsal of the steps needed to solve a problem (figure out the steps o what you need to do, takes 10 minutes to get to class, 10 on the bus...)

Mental Set

The tendency to stick to solutions which have worked in the past.

Functional fixedness

Our tendency to rely on a function for an object and ignore other possible uses

Ex. Spend an hour trying to get something out from behind a desk before realizing that the coat hanger would be a more effective means

Confirmation Bias

We seek to confirm what we already know

Distraction by Irrelevant Information

People often get sidetracked and it detracts from effective problem solving

Unnecessary Restraints

We put restrictions on our problem solving which don't exist

Insight

The sudden discovery of the correct solution following incorrect attempts based primarily on trial and error... the AHA! experience

Decision Making

Evaluating alternatives and making choices among them

Compensatory Decision Models

  Allows attractive attributes to compensate for unattractive attirubtes. 

Make a decision, since I want to do well on the test, and I want to go out, I'll only go out for an hour.

Noncompensatory Decision Models

Do not allow some attributed to compensate for others

Either I am going out or I am studying, not both.

Heuristics

Shortcuts that guide us in decision making

Availability Heuristic

Decision making based on the fact that things which are easily recalled seem to be typical/common.

Many times after a plane crash, people refuse to fly because of the current facts. 

Representative Heuristic

Matching an object to a 'concept' or 'category' without processing how likely the fit may be

Someone has a criminal record, they are a wrestler and a biker, are they make or female? Member of a motorcycle gang or sailor?

Confirmation Bias

The tendency to seek information which confirms our beliefs while ignoring disconfirming information

Intelligence

Combines verbal ability, problem solving skills, and the ability to adapt and learn from life's everyday experiences

Historically defined by how we 'measure' it

Alfred Binet

Developed intelligence tests to identify slow learners

Mental Age: Based on ability, not chronological age

IQ = Mental Age/Chronological Age X 100

Flaws: a child with a mental age of 6 and c. of 5 has same IQ as mental 12, c 10.

Wechsler Intelligence Tests

WPPSI - Preschool

WISC - children

WAIS - adults

Results in Verbal IQ, Performance IQ, and Full Scale IQ, stnadard bell curve

mean: 100; normal range: 85-115

Wechsler Intelligence Tests

Verbal Subtests

Vocabulary: breadth of concepts, ideas and experiences, section that is most highly correlated with overall IQ - Ex. What does audacity mean?

Information: basic fund of information; culturally sensitive - Ex. On which continent is France?

Comprehension: awareness of socially appropriate behavior, rules, and roles - Ex. What would you do if you lost a friend's belonging?

Similarities: Verbal concept formation; level of abstraction - Ex. In what way are cats and dodgeballs alike?

Arithmetic: Concentration/attention; mathematical ability... verbal subset! - Ex. I have 4 slices of pieces, how many do I have if I eat one?

Digit Span: attention and rote memory - Ex. Series of numbers, done forwards and backwards

Wechsler Intelligence Tests

Performance

Picture Arrangement: social interactions and sequencing

Picture completion: visual organization and concentration

Object Assembly: visual-motor coordination, principles of whole from the parts, timed

Block design: perception and analysis of patterns

Digit Symbol: imitative behavior and learning capacity

Hock Reading

Rosenthal and Jacobson Study

• Self-fulfilling prophecy: if we expect something to happen in a certain way our expectancies will make it so
• Study with teacher expectancy and student performance grade 1 - 6
• Students were randomly assigned to be a good or bad learner
• Results: The children for whom the teachers expected greater growth averaged significantly greater improvement than did the control kids

Possible Explanations foe the findings in Jacobson/Rosenthal's Study

1. Younger children are easier to change
2. Younger students have less developmental reputations
3. Younger children may be more susceptible
4. Teachers of children in lower grades may differ from the teachers of older children

Culture Free Intelligence Tests?

Is this possible?

Raven's Progressive Matrices

Draw a Person: Kids draw people with a head and four limbs

Mental Retardation

Mild Retardation

IQ: 50-71 (85% of retarded people)

Found later on, sometimes put in regular classrooms, some signs earlier on but not severe, can usually hold jobs

Moderate Retardation

IQ: 35-50 (10% of Retarded People)

Possible can hold jobs in controlled environments, ability is limited, can live in group homes

Severe Retardation

IQ: 2-35 (4% of retarded people)

Sometimes develop limited speech, can help participate in their own feeding activities and hygein

Profound Retardation

IQ: < 20 (1% of retarded people)

Requires total care, cannot care for themselves

Multiple Causes of Retardation

Organic: Over 100 single genetic traits can result in mental retardation

Environmental: Teratogens (cocaine, fetal alcohol syndrome, poor nutrition, disease)

Giftedness

Generally believed to be those with an IQ or > 130 (upper 2-3% of the population)

Characteristics of Giftedness

Precocious (master things easily)

Teachers may not identify them correctly

May have exceptional potential in visual/performing arts, leadership, or empathy

Acceleration NOT current recommendation

Terman

(long term study of gifted individuals)

• 1,500 youngsters (average IQ = 150)
• Found to be above average in height, weight, strength, physical health, emotional stability, and social satisfaction throughout adulthood
• Known as "termites"
• Found that most gifted kids grow up to be socially successful and above average in psychological adjustment

Spearman on Giftedness

• Two Factor Theory of Intelligence
• G Factor or General Abilities: Comprehension or spatial skills, verbal abilities
• S Factor or Specific Abilities: Numerical reasoning, rote memory skills

Cattell on Giftedness

• Two types of G Factor intelligence
• Fluid Intelligence: Innate skills, not dependent on the environment; more biologically based, such as memory capacity, speed of processing
• Crystallized Intelligence: academic learning, ability to use information learned in problem solving; Related to environment and experience

Sternberg's Triarchic Theory of Intelligence

(really lucky if contain all three)

Componential: good problem solving strategies, "book smart"

Experiential: creative and insightful

Contextual: Practical application, knowing when to adapt to modify the environment

Gardner's Multiple Intelligence (8)

Emotional Intelligence

• Ability to motivate oneself
• Control Impulses
• Persist in the face of frustration
• Regulate moods to keep distress from overwhelming the ability to think

Motivation

Vigor and persistence of goal directed behavior, helps move us towards out goal(s)

Evolution Theory (Motivation)

Motivation plays a significant role in adaptation; social needs to affiliate, share resources, provide protection, procreate

Biological Human Needs/Motivations

Homeostasis

Tendency for the body (person) to want to maintain a state of consistency

Normal body temperature is 98.6, if you get too cold, your body shivers, if too hot, body will sweat.

Biological Human Needs/Motivations

Energy is necessary for maintenance and growth. Search for balanced diet.

Body is hard wired to want/need vitamins, or protein, and fruit

Biological Human Needs/Motivations

Primary structure of the brain which signals hunger and satiation (fullness)

Lateral (near side) turns hunger "on" - stimulation increases eating; a lesion can cause starvation

Ventromedial (lower, middle) turns hunger "off" = stimulation stops eating. Lesion can cause voracious eating. 

Biological Factors Which Impact Eating Behaviors

• Genetics influence metabolism
• Bodily Sensations: growl, distension
• Chemical Signals to the body
• Genetic Mapping of "obesity genes"... Over 200 weight-related genes identified

Social Factors Which Impact Eating Behaviors

Environmental influences on eating behaviors
Complex and multiply determined
Eat more in groups
Expectation and Memory of Meals (Did study with patients with amnesia who often ate a third lunch if offered to them, non-amnesia patients refused the other lunches)

Palatability: Often we eat only to enjoy the taste sensations

Social Interactions: "Let's go out for dinner!" We eat for social reasons, to celebrate

Psychological Factors Which Impact Eating Behaviors

• Thinking about food and what it "means"... Food reminds me of love, my grandparents
• Learned food habits/preferences
• Memories associated with food
• Belief and feelings regarding body image
• Cultural variations Food as "substitute for love, sex

Obesity

Body weight greater than 20% (30%) of expected body weight based on height

• 54% of Americans are overweight or obese
• 25% of American Children
• Genetic and Environmental factors basis for obesity

Main Reasons for Obesity Rates in the U.S.

Anorexia

Self-starvation resulting in loss of 20-50% of body fat; fall to less than 15% body fat overall

• Peak age: 14-18; greater in females
• 6% fatality rate
• Cultural Variations seen in diagnosis

Theories on Anorexia

• Anorexia regarding maturation
• Difficulty expressing aggression in high achieving families; often bright and capable
• Difficult to treat because patients don't recognize it as a problem
• Males increasing "obligatory runner"

Bulimia

Repeated episodes of bingeing and self-induced vomiting, laxative, or enemas

• 1-3% of adolescent girls
• Significant shame component
• More treatable because recognize problems
• Often in normal weight ranges
• Ulcers, hernias, hair loss, dental damage, electolytes

Sexuality

Kinsey Survey ("How often do you... ?")

Identified sexual behaviors/preferences

Self-Reported date... Bias issues

-> Limited Validity 

Important beginning for research

Sexuality and Twins

About 50% of identical twins have the same sexual orientation

Sexuality

Masters and Johnson

Need to understand actual sexual responses

Need direct systematic observations/measures

Subjects: Originally used prostitutes

Eventually recruited from gen. public (18-92)

Tested pulse, heart rate, blood flow, etc.

Tested about 1,000 sexual cycles, 382 men and 312 women

Sexuality

Masters and Johnson's Findings

There is a predictable cycle for men and women:

Excitement

Plateau

Orgasm

Resolution

Sexuality

Hill on Need for Affiliation

Need to be connected/related with others

HILL proposed 4 functions we strive to affiliate:

(1) To obtain positive stimulation in our lives
(2) To receive emotional support
(3) To gain attention
(4) To permit social comparison

Need varies by individual, increases in fear situations

Achievement Motivation

What drives us to seek and reach goasl; basicl human motive to achieve

Motivation by success: thrill at mastery, sense of achievement

Motivation by fear of failure: fear of performing badly, increases anxiety

Yerkes/Dodson: optimal levels of anxiety/performance

Assessment of Achievement Motivation

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

McClelland used TAT to study achievement motivation although he did not create it

Projective Test which looks at themes of achievements

People high in achievement tend to work harder and more persistently, more future oriented, able to delay gratification for long term goals

* related to emotional motivation as well

Subjects are given a picture and have to create a story based on the image, achievement themes can help determine motivation

Cognitive Components of Emotion

Subjective conscious experiences, includes an "appraisal" or evaluation of the situation

Physiological Components of Emotion

Bodily arousal accompanies feeling states, fight or flight, assess with GSR/polygraph (heart rate,temp.)

Physiological Components to Emotion Measures

Polygraph tests

1. Hypothesis: When subjects lie, noticeable changes in physiological indicators
2. Records autonomic fluctuations
3. Not always accurate... sensitive to those high on anxiety measures
4. Less likely to identify those who lie w/o accompanying discomfort

Behavioral Components to Emotion

Characteristic overt expressions of emotion

Body language, facial expressions

YES! Smiling! Jumping with excitement!

Six basic emotions generally able to identify:

Happiness, sadness, anger, dear, surprise, disgust

Facial Feedback Proponents

Belief that facial expressions themselves can control emotion

Display Rules

Norms that regulate the appropriate expression of emotions; culturally determined

Ex. Nod of approval acceptable in our society, rather than jumping up and down if get a good grade back in large classroom

James-Lang theory of Emotion

Conscious experience of emotion results from perception of arousal, "I'm scared because I'm running."

Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion

Cognitive interpretations of a situation and response occur at approximately the same time, "I am running away and feeling scared."

Schachter's Two-Factor Theory on Emotion

People use two factors to identify emotion:

1. Physiological Arousal
2. Cognitive Interpretation