Prologue intro Structuralism and Functionalism o Structuralism Breaking our inner world into component pieces o Titchener Wundt o introspection o First experiments rxn time o Functionalism Focused on the adaptive nature of mental processes o William James o evolution Psychology s big questions o critical thinking is key o Science supports thinking that examines assumptions uncovers hidden values weighs evidence and tests conclusions Science aided thinking is smart thinking o behavior is a bio psychosocial event o biological psychological and social cultural o we share a biologically rooted human nature o Cultural and psychological influences fine tune our assumptions values and behaviors o mental operations occur on at least two levels 2 track mind o Dual processing capacity o Our perception thinking memory and attitudes operate on two levels conscious and unconscious o psychology explores human strengths and challenges o understanding and building emotions and traits that help us thrive Psychology s current perspectives o Neuroscience sensory experiences o ex biological cognitive clinical how the body and brain enable emotions memories and how natural selection explains certain human traits and o Evolutionary tendencies o Behavior genetics individual differences o Ex biological developmental social how much our genes and our environment influence our o Ex personality developmental legal forensic o Psychodynamic o Clinical how behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts counseling personality o Behavioral how we learn observable responses o Clinical counseling industrial organizational o Cognitive how we encode process store and retrieve information o Cognitive neuroscience clinical counseling industrial organizational o Social cultural how behavior and thinking vary across situations and Cultures o Developmental social psychology clinical counseling Critical thinking Hindsight bias and overconfidence o I knew it all along o the tendency to believe after learning an outcome that we could have predicted it o wreat water o Hindsight bias and overconfidence often lead us to overestimate our intuition But scientific inquiry can help us sift reality from illusion The scientific method o construct theories that organize summarize and simplify observations o theory hypothesis research observations Types of descriptive studies o don t manipulate variables o case studies o surveys o naturalistic observation Correlation and causation o correlation does not cause causation o knowing that two events are associated need not tell us anything about which causes the other 3 good scientific principles o true experiments isolate cause and their effects o representative sample o random sampling o evaluating therapies interventions o double blind procedure no one knows o random assignment placebo o converging evidence from multiple experiments techniques increases confidence independent and dependent variables o independent experimental factor that is manipulated the variable whose effect is being studied breast milk formula o dependent the outcome factor the variable that may change in response to manipulations of the independent variable intelligence score age 8 Biology of the Mind Neurons anatomy and communication Method of studying the brain strengths and weaknesses EEG electroencephalograph device that uses electrodes placed on the scalp to record waves of electrical activity sweeping across the brain s surface PET Positron emission tomography scan a view of brain activity showing where a radioactive form of glucose goes while the brain performs a given task MRI Magnetic resonance imaging a technique that uses magnetic fields and radio waves to produce computer generated images of soft tissue MRI scans show brain anatomy fMRI functional magnetic resonance imaging a technique for revealing blood flow and therefore brain activity by comparing successive MRI scans fMRI scans show brain function Limits of PET fMRI o Doesn t really track neural activity Only blood flow o Very poor temporal resolution o It is only correlational No causal inference Limits of EEG MEG o Poor spatial resolution and only surface activity not 3D o Signals are very weak o No causal inference Patient Studies Brain is a system of specialized regions Different regions means different contributions to behavior Brain damage impairs specific behaviors what patients can and can t do after brain damage gives us clues about the architecture of the mind Limits of Patient studies o No two lesions are exactly the same o Long term consequences affect behavior Recovery Rehabilitation Neuroplasticity o Psychological factors compromise behavior Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Creates reversible virtual lesions Creates virtual patients in the lab and is safe if done properly Pros and Cons of Patient studies TMS o Pros Pinpoint a function to a particular region Provide hard evidence o Cons Difficult to localize damage precisely binary manipulation locality assumption The locality assumption Idea that one brain region has one function Problems o Many regions are involved in most functions and most regions are involved in multiple functions o Regions vary across individuals o Highly interconnected Computational models what do they do and what can we do o Every phenomenon can be reduced to its basic components Allows new prediction Laterality and the brain o Corpus callosum band of neural fibers connects the two hemispheres and carries messages between them o Left hemisphere making quick literal interpretations of language o Right hemisphere high level language processing o Split brain patients o Say what they saw ART Point with left hand HE o The left hemisphere sees the right side speech o The right hemisphere pick feel stuff o Pick up on left side transfers to right hemp and but can t speak Consciousness Consciousness and information processing o Conscious and subconscious processes o Selective attention o Focusing conscious awareness on a particular stimulus o Blocking other parts of your environment from awareness thru your peripheral vision o Inattentional blindness failure to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere ex white shirt passes not the bear o Zoning out default network Sleeping and dreaming o Biological rhythms and sleep o Sleep stages o Circadian rhythm internal biological clock Regular bodily rhythms that occur on a 24 hour cycle o Age and experience can alter our circadian rhythm o Awake