Introduction to Psychology

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Introduction to Psychology

• Course Summary

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We began the semester with Chapter 1, What is
Psychology? emphasizing the following topics

• The goals of psychology - observe, describe,
  explain, predict, and control behavior and
  cognitive processes
• Major fields in psychology - basic fields
  discover knowledge for its own sake (ex
  experimental), applied fields use knowledge to
  help others (clinical, forensic, health, etc.)
• History of psychology - 1879 - Wilhelm Wundt
  founded first psychology lab
• Contemporary perspectives - biological,
  evolutionary, cognitive, humanisitic,
  psychoanalytic, learning (behavioral),
  sociocultural, biopsychosocial

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Then we moved on to Chapter 2, Psychological
Methods emphasizing the following topics

• The use of the scientific method in the field of
  psychology - form a research question, form a
  hypothesis, test the hypothesis by gathering
  data, analyze the results, draw conclusions and
  report the results
• Different types of research methods- survey
  (population, sample, generalizing), observation
  (naturalistic, laboratory), testing, case-study,
  longitudinal and cross-sectional studies,
  correlational studies, experiments

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• Issues related to experimentation
• Only way to show causation
• Single-blind and double-blind studies
• Experimental and control groups
• Independent and dependent variables
• Statistics used to analyze data - measures of
  central tendency (mean, median, mode), measures
  of variability (standard deviation, range)
• Ethical issues with research - standards for
  animal care, human treatment (confidentiality,
  informed consent, as little deception as
  possible, debriefing, accurate use of data)

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Chapter 3 was about the physical body and its
impact on behavior and thought processes

• The parts of the neuron - dendrites, cell body
  (soma), axon, myelin sheath, axon terminals,
  synapse, neurotransmitters
• The divisions of the nervous system - central
  nervous system (brain and spinal cord),
  peripheral nervous system (somatic and autonomic
  - sympathetic and parasympathetic)

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• Parts of the brain - medulla, pons, cerebellum,
  thalamus, hypothalamus, limbic system, right and
  left hemispheres of cerebrum covered by cerebral
  cortex and connected by corpus callosum
• Specialty functions of right and left hemipsheres
• Methods of studying the brain - lesions, EEG,
  imaging studies (CAT scan, PET scan, MRI, fMRI)

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• The endocrine system - pituitary gland controls
  all other glands (thyroid, adrenals, testes,
  ovaries)
• Genetics - genes, chromosomes (23 pairs)
• Nature and nurture studies - identical twins
  especially useful

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Chapter 4 was about how our sensory systems are
designed to get outside information to our brain

• Sensation - getting outside info. - absolute
  threshold, difference threshold, sensory
  adaptation, signal-detection theory
• Vision - parts of the eye (pupil, lens, retina,
  rods and cones, optic nerve) - color vision
• Hearing - pitch and loudness, parts of the ear
  (ear canal, ear drum, cochlea, auditory nerve),
  causes of deafness

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• Smell - olfactory nerve
• Taste - five basic tastes
• Pain - gate theory
• Vestibular sense - in inner ear
• Kinesthetic sense
• Perception - rules of perceptual organization,
  Gestalt principles, monocular and binocular cues
  for depth, perceptual constancies, visual
  illusions

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Then we moved to states of consciousness in
Chapter 5

• What is consciousness - levels of consciousness
• Selective attention
• Altered states of consciousness - sleep (stages
  of sleep cycle, theories of dreams, sleep
  disorders), meditation, biofeedback, hypnosis,
  drugs (types of drugs, effects, treatments for
  abuse)

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Chapter 6 was about theories on how we learn

• Classical conditioning - Pavlov, unconditioned
  stimulus, unconditioned response, conditioned
  stimulus, conditioned response, extinction,
  spontaneous recovery, generalization,
  discrimination, systematic desensitization,
  flooding, counterconditioning, Little Albert

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• Operant conditioning - B.F. Skinner, Thorndike,
  reinforcement (positive, negative, primary,
  secondary, schedules of reinforcement),
  punishment (positive, negative)
• Latent learning
• Observational learning - Albert Bandura, social
  learning theory, Bobo Doll study

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Memory was the topic for Chapter 7

• Episodic, semantic, and implicit memory
• Memory process - encoding, storage, retrieval
• Maintenance rehearsal versus elaborative
  rehearsal
• Context and state dependent memories
• Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon
• Sensory memory, short-term memory, long-term
  memory
• Problems with eyewitness testimony
• Forgetting - interference, decay, amnesia
• Measuring memory - recognition, recall,
  relearning

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Chapter 10,11,12 covered human development
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Chapter 10 was about infancy and childhood

• Jean Piaget - stages of cognitive development
  (sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete
  operations, formal operations) - assimilation,
  accommodation
• Lawrence Kohlberg - moral development -
  preconventional, conventional, postconventional
• Attachment - secure/insecure
• Parenting styles - democratic (authoritative),
  authoritarian, permissive (laissez-faire)

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Adolescence (teen years) was the topic for
Chapter 11

• Physical changes - puberty
• James Marcias identity statuses - achieved,
  foreclosure, diffused, moratorium
• Importance of peers
• Issues - delinquency, eating disorders, sexual
  activity, conflicts with parents

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Chapter 12 covered adulthood

• Younger adulthood, middle age, older adulthood
• Eriksons stages - intimacy v. isolation,
  generativity v. stagnation, integrity v. despair
• Kubler-Ross - stages of adjusting to death -
  DABDA
• Physical and cognitive decline (dementia)

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In Chapter 14, we studied personality theories

• Trait approach - identifying the traits we have
• Psychoanalytic approach - explaining our
  personality in terms of unconscious conflicts
  between id, ego (protected by defense
  mechanisms), and superego - Freud, Jung, Horney,
  Adler
• Behaviorist (Learning) approach - explaining our
  personality in terms of responding to the rewards
  and punishments in our environment - Skinner,
  Bandura

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• Humanistic approach - explaining our personality
  in terms of our desire to achieve our full
  potential - Rogers, Maslow (hierarchy of needs)
• Sociocultural approach - explaining our
  personality in terms of how it is shaped by our
  gender, culture, social groups

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Most recently, we studied psychological disorders
in Chapter 18

• Psychological disorders - characterized by
  maladaptive behaviors or thought processes
• Diagnosed using DSM-IV-TR
• Anxiety disorders - specific phobias, social
  phobia, agoraphobia, panic disorder, generalized
  anxiety disorder, OCD, acute stress disorder, PTSD

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• Mood disorders - depression and biplar disorder
  (manic-depression)
• Dissociative disorders - dissociative amnesia and
  fugue, dissociative identity disorder (multiple
  personality disorder)
• Somatoform disorders - conversion disorder,
  hypochondriasis
• Schizophrenia - paranoid, disorganized, catatonic
  - hallucinations and delusions

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• Personality disorders
• Cluster A - paranoid, schizoid, schizotypal
• Cluster B - antisocial, borderline, histrionic,
  narcissistic
• Cluster C - avoidant, dependent,
  obsessive-compulsive personality disorder

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Finally, in Chapter 19, we gave an overview of
the types of therapies available to treat
psychological disorders

• Psychotherapies are geared towards changing
  thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that are
  maladaptive
• Group therapies (self-help, family)
• Individual
• Psychoanalysis - Freudian focus on unconscious,
  dream analysis, free association, transference
• Humanistic - person-centered (Carl Rogers) - aka
  client-centered

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• Individual
• Cognitive - new ways of thinking
• Rational-emotive therapy - Ellis - challenge
  false assumptions
• Beck - restructuring illogical thought processes
• Behavior - changing maladaptive behaviors
• Counterconditioning, operant conditioning
• CBT (cognitive-behavior therapy) popular today

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• Biological therapies are designed to affect the
  physical body, particularly the nervous system
• Drug therapies - antianxiety, antidepressant,
  mood stabilizers, antipsychotics
• Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) - only for severe
  depression not alleviated with drugs
• Psychosurgery - prefrontal lobotomies no longer
  performed

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