psychology

• Damage to the hippocampus can cause amnesia (loss of memory), and is associated with Alzheimer's, epilepsy and depression
• Damage to the amygdala can cause impaired decision making, depression, and hypervigilance
• People whose amygdala has been damaged through disease were found to be unable to judge the emotions of others from their facial expressions
• In response to viewing sad faces, the amygdala of depressed people is extremely active when compared to the amygdala of non-depressed people, yet when viewing happy faces, amygdala activity is not distinguishable between the two groups
• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)


  Combination of Cognitive therapy and Behaviour Therapy
• Cognitive therapy


  1. Developing an awareness of automatic and unhelpful thoughts

  2. Challenging underlying assumptions and cognitive distortions that may be unhelpful

  3. Using cognitive restructuring, develop a more helpful and adaptive ways of thinking
• Behaviour Therapy


  Aimed at changing behaviour in small steps, analysing behaviours, creating a plan to overcome the unhelpful or inappropriate behaviours
• Cognitive Distortions


  • Personalisation: attributing personal responsibility for events which aren't under a person's control
  • Catastrophising: jumping to the worst-case scenario immediately
  • Overgeneralisation: making sweeping conclusions based on a single event
• Anger


  A natural and healthy emotion, but it can be difficult to manage and when uncontrolled impact relationship, work/school, mental health, etc
• People who experience anger

  • They experience anger more frequently and with more intensity than most, causing them, to respond with disproportionate aggression
• Anger triggers


  External (eg., a person, an event, a situation) or internal (negative or irrational thinking processes or memories)
• Aggressive behaviors


  Harmful to others, but aggressive thinking patterns and the long term physiological changes associated with anger can be damaging to the individual
• Anger management strategies


  Expressing, suppressing and calming
• Expressing anger


  Teaching the person how to express emotions assertively (instead of aggressively)
• Assertive communication


  Expressing emotions and POV in a way that is clear and direct, while still respecting others
• Communication styles


  • Passive
  • Assertive
  • Aggressive
• Suppressing anger


  Purposeful control over expressive behavior so that they are held inside and not exhibited without consideration of the impact
• Calming anger


  Attempting to relax and control one's internal responses using techniques like deep breathing, meditation, allowing time for feelings to subside
• Calming: Anger 

  
• Suppressing: Anger

  
• Hemispheres of the brain

  
• The Amygdala

  
• The Hippocampus

  
• The Thalamus

  
• The Limbic System

  
• What is psychology?

  
•The scientific study of thoughts, feelings andbehaviour.••Scientific study - based on observations, measurements and experiments.•Behaviour - any observable (measurable) action made by a living person or animal•Thoughts and feelings – experiences or mental processes that occur within an individual (cannot be directly observed)•Behaviour and thoughts and feelings influence each other
• Biopsychosocial Model:

  •Biological (in the body)•Drugs, alcohol, medication•Nervous system (fight or flight response)•Genetics (genetic predisposition)•Brain structures and neurochemistry•Psychological (in the mind)•Thoughts, beliefs and attitudes•Learning and memory (eg., past experiences)•Emotions•Self-esteem•Personality•Social (relating to others/society)•Family•Friends and peer pressure•School/work•Societal expectations / norms
• Emotion definition:

  Emotion is the simultaneous experience of 3 components:•Physiological response (changes in the body)•Subjective feelings (inner personal experience of emotion including the way we think about it)•Expressive behavior (observable behaviors or actions that convey emotions)
• •Sympathetic Nervous System:

  •Activates the body to prepare for action

  •Expends energy

  •Fight or Flight
• Parasympathetic Nervous System:

  •Calms the body down

  •Conserves energy

  •Rest and Digest
• explain Paul Ekman's research and findings, including naming and identifying the seven basic emotions:

  Paul Ekman conducted a cross cultural studies on facial expressions to examine whether emotional expressions are universal across cultures. The seven basic emotions are joy, sadness, fear discussed anger, surprised, and contempt.
• Cerebrum

  Divided into two major parts: the right and left cerebral hemispheres
• Limbic System:

  
A series of structures within the brain that process emotions and coordinate emotional responses
• Structures of the Limbic System

  • Hypothalamus
  • Thalamus
  • Amygdala
  • Hippocampus
• Hippocampus:

  Plays an important role in memory, transferring short term memories to long-term storage, and episodic memory
• Amygdala:

  Plays an important role in learning, memory and emotion, involved in fear and stress response, responsible for the 'distress signal' being sent to the hypothalamus to initiate fight or flight
• Thalamus
:Responsible for relaying information from the sensory receptors to areas of the brain where it can be processed
• Hypothalamus:

  
Converts emotions into physiological reactions, responds to input from the amygdala by activating the adrenal gland to secrete adrenaline and cortisol (triggering fight or flight response)
• 7 Steps of the Scientific Method

  1. Identify the research topic of interest with a research question

  2. Formulate the hypothesis (testable prediction)

  3. Select the research design (how will we test the hypothesis?)

  4. Data collection (gathering data/evidence to test the hypothesis)

  5. Data analysis (does the data support the hypothesis or not?)

  6. Draw conclusions (what does the data tell us?)

  7. Report the findings
• Research design


  A plan of the procedures to be followed during a study in order to reach valid conclusions – it is the method used to test a hypothesis or answer a research question