psychology 2024

• Although psychologists distinguish between behaviour and mental processes, and often study (investigate) them separately, in reality, behaviour and mental processes are closely interrelated and influence each other continuously. 
• Psychologists help individuals and groups find solutions to their everyday problems and offers non-medical approaches to enhance one’s mental health and wellbeing and to improve overall quality of life.
• Psychiatrists are qualified medical practitioners (doctors) who specialise in mental illnesses, and are able to prescribe medication for mental disorders and perform medical procedures
• Social workers help individuals, families and communities to access social services and acquire assistance from agencies to cope with their problems.
• Which has greater influence on a person’s mental processes and behaviour: ‘heredity and genetics’ or ‘environmental influence’?
• Is human behaviour a result of ‘free will’, where a person makes a conscious decision to act in a particular way? Or is it ‘determinism’, where actions are governed by both internal and external forces outside the person’s control?
• Doctor Claudieys Galen said that:

  • Nerves and senses were connected to the brain not the heart
  • Pressure to parts of the brain could affect behavior
  • The Brain was filled with fluid filled ventricles - this fluid was spread by the nerves and it affected our health and physical functions
• Rene Decartes, made these theories:

  • theory called dualism- Mind and body are two separate things - kind is the non-physical, spiritual entity and the body uses the physical fleshy structure.
  • Both come into contact via the pineal gland inside the centre of the brain
  • Both the mind and brain can affect each other 
• Franz Gall, said the following:

  • Proposed that different parts of the brain had different functions 
  • The size of each part indicated how fully developed it was and the strength of its influence 
• Pierre Flourens found the following:

  • He introduced brain ablation experiments - involves disabling, destroying or removing selected brain tissue to observe changes in behavior

  He observed:

  • Removing the brain stem would affect or stop respiration
  • Cerebellum appeared to coordinate movement
  • Loss of small section of the cortex resulted in loss of movement but some animal could recover
• Wilder Penfield:

  • Used electrical  stimulation of the brain to map the cerebral cortex with his patients
  • Patient needed to be conscious so the could report or react to their experiences during the electrical stimulation 
  • he was able to pinpoint specific cortical areas involved with specific actions.
• Structural neuroimaging:

  Techniques that produce images or scans show brain structure and anatomy. Examples of structural neuroimaging:

  • Computerised tomography (CT)
  • Magnetic resonance Imaging (MRI
• Functional neuroimaging:

  Techniques that provide views of some particular aspects of the brain function by showing them ‘at work’. Examples of functional neuroimaging:

  • Positron Emission tomography (PET)
  • Functional magnetic resonance Imaging (fMRI)
• Medulla:

  • A continuation of the spine
  • Controls breathing, heartbeat & digestion
• Pons:

  • Above medulla (below midbrain)
  • Receives visual information
  • Controls eye and body action
• Cerebellum:

  • Walnut shaped 
  • Receives information from the pons
  • Coordinates body movement
• Midbrain is responsible for:

  • Sleep regulation
  • Motor movement 
  • Arousal
• The forebrain is comprised of the: 

  • Cerebrum 
  • Hypothalamus 
  • Thalamus
• Hypothalamus: Small structure below the thalamus.

  Plays vital role in maintaining survival functions (homeostasis)

  regulates the four ‘F’s

  • Feeding
  • Fighting
  • Fleeing
  • Fornication
• The Thalamus

  • Receives, processes and prioritises information (stimuli) 
  • Receives stimuli from the eyes, ears, skin and other sensory organs (not the nose)
  • Helps regulate cortex activity
• Consciousness is our awareness of our own thoughts, feelings, perceptions and surroundings (internal events and external stimuli) at any given moment
• Normal waking consciousness is being awake and  aware of objects, events, mental experiences, one’s own  existence (i.e. personal identity - who we are) and being  oriented in time and place.
• Altered states of consciousnes is any state distinctly  different from normal waking consciousness in terms of  levels of awareness and experience.
• 
  

  The stream of conscious experience as:

  Continuous- Never ‘empty’ with seamless transitions between thoughts/ideas/states

  
  

  Ever-changing- Constantly changing as we become aware/receive new information

  
  

  Personal- Subjective to your thoughts, feelings, perceptions etc.

  
  

  Selective- We can choose to focus on things (ignore others)

  
  

  Active- Has a purpose (allows us to function)
• Consciousness as a continuum which has two distinct extremes:

  • Total awareness (focused attention)

  Complete lack of awareness (unconscious/coma)
• Attention refers to the information you are actively processing both consciously or unconsciously
• Attention can be broadly categorised into the following types:

  • Selective inattention
  • Selective attention
  • Divided attention
• Selective inattention is the ignoring or otherwise screening out of stimuli that are threatening,   anxiety producing, or felt to be unimportant.
• selective attention refers to the limitations on how much we can focus on one stimulus or event, to the  exclusion of others
• divided attention refers to the capacity to attend to and perform  two or more activities at the same time
• Controlled (conscious) processes refers to:

  • Processes that require mental effort / concentration to complete the task
  • Slower than automatic processes
  • Improve efficiency over time with practice (can become more automatic)
• Automatic (unconscious)processes refers to:

  • Processes that require little to no attention / thought
  • Can allow you to multi-task 
  • Assists with divided attention
• Psychologists use a variety of techniques to study states of  consciousness and identify specific responses associated with  different states.

  Four common categories:

  • Self-reports
  • Measurement of physiological responses
  • Measurement of performance on cognitive tasks
  • Video monitoring

  The techniques can be used independently or in  combination.
• Self report measures involves a participant’s subjective (personal)  response

  • Responses can be written or spoken or both
  • Often responses to questions, statements or instructions.

  Commonly used in the study of sleep (e.g. sleep diary)

  Advantages: Fast, cheap and easy to administer

  Limitations:

  • Consistency of participant reporting
  • Accuracy of reporting
  • Honesty of responses
  • Incorrect interpretation of information
• Measuring cognitive performance is used to study behavioural responses  (usually speed and accuracy) during  different states of consciousness.

  • Speed: typically involves response of reaction time 
  • Accuracy: number of correct responses vs incorrect responses  (errors)
  • Advantage: Reliable, objective

  Limitation:

  • Requires precise measurement; equipment familiarity
  • Within-subjects could be limited by practice effect.
  • Outliers in some experiments a  researcher may exclude response times that vary too much from the mean
• Video monitoring is used to study sleep, sleep disturbances and/or disorders

  Advantage: 

  • Real-time, can get a lot of data. 
  • Particularly useful with participants who have a serious sleep disorder.  
  • Can record sound and use infrared technology.

  Limitation: 

  • Costly, 
  • Time consuming