pysch assumptions - comp 1

• Localization of brain function


  Behavior has a physiological cause being the activity of individual parts of the brain
• Brain


  • Split into two hemispheres and four lobes that manage behavior
  • Temporal lobe is the language center
  • Parietal lobe is the motor and somatosensory area
  • Occipital lobe is responsible for processing visual stimuli
  • Frontal lobe is an additional language center and manages thought, speech, personality, planning, and decisions
• Damage to brain regions


  • Temporal lobe damage associated with Wernicke's aphasia
  • Frontal lobe damage associated with personality change in Phineas Gage
  • Hippocampus damage inducing anterograde amnesia in HM
• Neurotransmitters


  • Electrical and chemical communications between neurons in the brain
  • Chemicals released from presynaptic vesicles and stimulate or inhibit receptors in postsynaptic neurons
• Neurotransmitters


  • Reduced serotonin implicated in depression
  • Excess dopamine implicated in schizophrenia
  • GABA implicated in sleep, sedation, and anxiety
  • Melatonin regulates sleep and wake cycles
• Evolutionary psychology


  • Focuses on the process of humans becoming special animals and the origins of behavior
  • Behavioral changes occur through the process of natural selection
  • Sexual selection leads to traits that maximize chances of survival being passed down
• Evolutionary psychology


  • Male attraction to youthful features in females
  • Female attraction to tall, muscular males
  • Mating behaviors in animals like ostriches and peacocks
• Blank Slate


  • Behaviorists suggest behavior is environmentally determined, biology has no influence
  • Humans are born as a blank slate, almost completely neutral with only basic instinctual behaviors
  • Behavior will be molded by the environment
• Blank Slate

  • Bandura's study on children and the Bobo doll
• Classical conditioning


  1. Unconditioned stimulus presented

  2. Unconditioned reaction elicited

  3. Neutral stimulus presented with unconditioned stimulus

  4. Neutral stimulus becomes conditioned stimulus
• Classical conditioning


  • Watson and Rayner's study on Little Albert
• Humans and animals learn in similar ways due to shared behavioral traits
• Humans and animals learning

  • Pavlov's dogs
• Tripartite model of personality


  • Id - based on pleasure principle, impulsivity, instant gratification
  • Ego - based on reality principle, manages competing demands of id and superego
  • Superego - based on morality principle, internalizes parents' values and social standards
• Neurotic personality


  Superego dominates id and ego
• Psychotic personality


  Id dominates ego and superego, characterized by impulsive and aggressive tendencies
• Id


  Part of personality based on the pleasure principle, associated with impulsivity, pursuit of instant gratification, and self-service. Present from birth.
• Libido


  Energy of the id
• Ego


  Part of personality based on the reality principle, manages competing demands of id and superego. Develops from age 2.
• Superego


  Part of personality based on the morality principle, internalizes parents' values and social standards, rewards and punishes actions.
• Psychosexual development


  Stages of development influenced by location of libido in the child's body at different ages
• Psychosexual stages


  • Oral (0-1.5 years)
  • Anal (1.5-3 years)
  • Phallic (3-6 years)
  • Latency (7 years to puberty)
  • Genital (puberty to adolescence)
• Conscious


  Rational and logical thoughts and perceptions that we are currently aware of
• Preconscious


  Memories and knowledge that we could be conscious of if we applied thought to it
• Unconscious


  Thoughts and feelings that are inaccessible to us
• Ego defense mechanisms


  Coping mechanisms employed to ease feelings of anxiety
• Repression


  Forgetting a traumatic event, pushing it down from preconscious or conscious to unconscious
• Free will assumption (positive approach)


  • Individuals choose their own course of action and have absolute responsibility for their behavior, free from coercion and internal/external pressures
• Positive approach argues feelings of goodness and positivity are just as valid as negative emotions
• Signature strengths


  Positive individual traits like courage, bravery, patience, etc.
• Types of lives (positive approach)


  • Pleasant life (pursuing positive emotions and daily satisfaction)
  • Good life (determining and developing signature strengths)
  • Meaningful life (using strengths for a greater purpose)
• Internal mental processes (cognitive approach)


  Essential cognitive processes like perception, attention, memory, and language that work together to make sense of and respond to the world
• Computer analogy (cognitive approach)

  Likens the human mind to a computer, with the brain as the hardware and cognitive processes as the software
• Multi-store model of memory


  • Information is input through senses, moves to short-term memory, and can be transferred to long-term memory through rehearsal
• Schemas

  Packets of information used to make sense of the environment, can be refined but may also distort information and lead to inaccuracies
• Schemas can present as event schemas (scripts) or role schemas (information about different roles)