PSYA01 Textbook Notes - Chap 1- 4

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CHAPTER 1: The Science of Psychology What Does a Psychologist Do? -

Research, teaching, counseling, psychotherapy Advise industry and governmental agencies about personnel matters, design of products, advertising and marketing, legislation They make up and perform tests for personality, achievement and ability They study different things: physiological processes of the nervous system, genetics, environmental events, personality, mental abilities, social interactions Psychology is a new discipline, the first psychologist lived into the 1920s

What Is Psychology? -

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Psychology: a science with a special focus on behavior; discovering and explaining the causes of behavior These discoveries then lead to treatment for psychological disorders and improving the society But what we focus on is how psychologists made their discoveries The word psychology comes from two Greek words: psukhe (breath or soul) and logos (word or reason) The modern meaning: psycho (mind) and logy (science)  science of the mind, but it is really the science of behavior Over time, what psychologists have thought about the mind has changed First, they thought of it as an independent, free-floating spirit Then, they said it was a characteristic of a functioning brain, whose main role is to control behavior So before, psychology was about the mind (something we can’t observe) and now it’s more about behavior (something we CAN observe) Since the brain is the organ that contains the mind and controls behavior, psychology also involves studying the brain

How Is Behavior Studied? -

Psychology: to understand human behavior, why do people do what they do First step: describe the behaviors, be familiar with the things people do and categorize/measure them so that psychologists in different places can know they are observing the same things Second step: find out the causes to these behaviors, what are the events responsible?  if this part is done, then it means we have “explained the behavior” Causal events: events that cause other events (such as behavior) to occur There are different kinds of behavior and different levels of explanation Ex. of different kinds of behavior: studying how vision and movement is coordinated vs. courtship

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

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Ex. of different levels of explanation: it’s the same behavior but looking at it from a literal sense, or a metaphorical sense, looking at physiological causes vs explaining using hypothetical mental states like anger or fear Or, you could only look at how events in the environment causes a behavior to occur

Why Is Behavior Studied? -

Why do we study behavior, vs studying a non-observable mind? Ans: Human behavior is the root for many world problems War and conflict  poverty and hunger/starvation Lack of exercise, drugs, stressful lifestyles  health problems Polluting habits  global warming and acid rain Other examples: overpopulation, bigotry, oppression, terrorism Psychology tries to solve these problems

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Psychology is also related to other sciences, in the way that a discovery in another science may need psychology to help implement it British explorer James Cook knew that sauerkraut prevented scurvy, but sailors didn’t like it He forced the officers to eat it (increasing the status of the sauerkraut) and soon the sailors wanted this “privilege” too and scurvy became not as common

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Fields of Psychology -

Scientists in psychology: discover causes of behaviors Applied psychology: applying psychological discoveries to the solutions to worldly problems Some psychologists do both

Areas of Psychological Research -

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Most research psychologists: colleges, universities, or employed by private/governmental research laboratories Research psychologists differ by 1) the types of behavior they investigate 2) the causal events they analyze So they explain different types of behaviors and they explain it in terms of different types of causes Ex. Two people both study the behavior of memory, but one explains it using physiological causal events and the other explains it using environmental events To show the different areas of psychological research, we will take a look at drug abuse from different points of views

Physiological Psychology -

Focuses on the physiology of behavior They explain things by looking at the organism’s physiology, especially the brain

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

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Learning, memory, sensory processes, emotional behavior, motivation, sexual behavior and sleep Those are studied in non-humans and then serves as a model to help explain human behavior

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On drug abuse… All drugs have the potential for addiction because it acts on a part of the brain that is involved with our reactions to pleasurable events (food, warmth, sex) Some drugs can artificially activate this system Knowing how drugs affect the brain can lead to medications to help break habits

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Comparative Psychology -

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The study of the behavior of members of a species to try to explain behavior in terms of evolutionary adaptation to the environment Topics studied are similar to those of physiological psychologists Study inherited behavioral patterns (courting, mating, predation, defensive and parental behaviors) On drug abuse… They tested many different mammals and found that they react like humans do with addictive drugs Test animals are addicted if they are able to control the amount injected into their vein

Behavior Analysis -

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What is the effect of environmental events on behavior? Focus on learning and motivation They think that the cause of a behavior is related to the relationship between the behavior and the consequent event Ex. if there are pleasant outcomes, the behavior will be repeated Research is done in labs, schools, homes, businesses  applied to teaching, business management, psychotherapy On drug abuse… They found methods for studying the way that pleasurable events make people repeat certain behaviors The negative effects of using drugs are learned (ex. withdrawal symptoms) Found methods of seeing if a new drug has the potential to make people addicted

Behavior Genetics -

They study the role of genetics in behavior They examine similarities in the physical and behavioral characteristics of blood relatives They perform breeding experiments with lab animals to see which types of behavior can be passed down to the next generation

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

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Using molecular genetics, they alter some genes during experiments and see what behavior is changed

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On drug abuse… They developed strains of lab animals that are especially susceptible to the effects of drugs (more likely to be addicted) This helps us understand physiological mechanisms involved in drug dependence

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Cognitive Psychology -

They study mental processes and complex behaviors Perception, attention, learning and memory, verbal behavior, concept formation, problem solving Events that cause behavior include functions of the brain that occur in response to environmental events Most of them do not study physiological mechanisms, but some collaborate with neurologists and work with brain scanning Brain scanning helps us measure the activity of various parts of the brain On drug abuse… They developed therapeutic methods that are useful in the treatment of drug addictions They found the importance of teaching people coping strategies that helps them to resist temptations

Cognitive Neuroscience -

Closely related to cognitive psychology and physiological psychology Interested in the same topics as cognitive psychology Focuses on trying to discover brain mechanisms that are responsible for cognitive processes Ex. study the behavior of people whose brains are damaged by stroke, diseases, tumors

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On drug abuse… They developed tests that can assess behavioral and cognitive deficits caused by abnormal brain functions Ex. they have tests that show the effects on a baby caused by the use of drugs of a pregnant woman

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Developmental Psychology -

They study physical, cognitive, emotional and social development (especially children) Or they may study effects on aging on older people Causal events studied: physiological processes, cognitive processes, social influences

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On drug abuse… They show how drug-taking behavior can change over the course of a person’s life Research on infant development shows the time at which cognitive abilities (like memory) are present

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

Carlson/Heth

PLEASE DO NOT COPY Social Psychology -

Study of the effects of people on people Ex. perception (of oneself and of others), cause and effects relationships in human interactions, attitudes and opinions, interpersonal relationships, group dynamics, emotional behaviors (aggression and sexual behavior)

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On drug abuse… Children don’t start smoking because it is pleasant, more because their peers do it and because of how smoking is portrayed There are social influences related to drug taking

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Personality Psychology -

Study of individual differences in temperament and patterns of behavior They look for causal events in a person’s history, both genetic and environmental Some are closely related to social psychologists

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On drug abuse… A person’s personality plays a role on the susceptibility of that person to drugs They developed tests of personality which then can be used to study factors involved in susceptibility to drugs

Evolutionary Psychology -

Tries to explain cognitive, social and personality aspects of psychology from an evolutionary perspective They are interested in discoveries made by comparative psychologists and behavioral geneticists Their guiding principle: theory of evolution and natural selection They explore how humans’ adaptive advantages might explain behaviors of modern humans On drug abuse… Why would an advanced species fall prey to such harmful substances? They explore the side effects of drugs Maybe addictions are caused by processes that usually work to our benefit, but we react harmfully to drugs because they were substances that were not part of the environment of early humans

Cross-Cultural Psychology -

Study of the impact of culture on behavior Ancestors of different races lived in different environments with different problems and opportunities So there are many different strategies developed specifically for that environment Laws, customs, myths, religious beliefs, ethical principles

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

Carlson/Heth

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On drug abuse… Some cultures have drug use traditions (not necessarily abuse) In some cultures, they have more problems with their members so then turn to drugs There may also be genetic differences, ex. ability to metabolize alcohol, sensitivity of nerve cells to drugs) They study the customs and habits related to drug use (ex. drugs can be associated with rituals)

Clinical Psychology -

Study of psychological disorders and problems of adjustments Most are practitioners that try to help people solve their problems The rest are scientists that look for causal events to these problems (both genetic and physiological and environmental like parents and siblings) They research about methods of psychotherapy On drug abuse… These psychologists are the ones we call on to apply what we learned about causes to the individuals Their contribution: development of therapeutic methods to prevent and treat drug abuse

But most psychologists work outside of the lab, in applied areas Summary: page 9, Table 1.1

The Growth of Psychology as a Science -

Psychology started in late 19th century in Germany Its roots are traced back to philosophy and the natural sciences

Philosophical Roots of Psychology -

We are all conscious of our own existence, and we generally have the impression that our conscious mind controls our behavior Ex. we consider alternatives, we make plans, and then act (engage in behavior) We also know that others, and animals also are conscious When we have similar behaviors, we think that we have similar minds/mental states Long ago, anything that moved or grew, we said that their bodies were controlled by their minds/spirits Ex. the sun, the moon, wind, tides The belief that all animals and all moving objects possess spirits providing their motive force is called animism  primitive philosophy which we only look at historically Even gravity was explained with animism: rocks fell because they wanted to be reunited with the Earth

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

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When we try to find out why people do what they do, we tend to attribute behavior to the action of a motivating spirit: a will On a scientific level though, this is not a good explanation because a will cannot be directly observed and measured When we study psychology as a science, we need to look at behavior as subject to physical laws, just like all other natural phenomena

Rene Descartes (1596-1650) -

In reality, the history of Western philosophy began with the ancient Greeks 17th century French philosopher and mathematician Called the father of modern philosophy and of a biological tradition that led to modern physiological psychology He used sensory experience and human reasoning

What Descartes Believed -

The world is mechanical and was set in motion by God To understand the world, we must understand how it was created

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Animals were creatures of the natural world only, their behaviors were controlled by natural causes that could only be understood with science The human body is a machine affected by natural causes and producing natural effects Ex. hot object to finger  immediate withdrawal; these did not need participation from the mind, they happened automatically: energy from the outside source is reflected back through the nervous system to the muscles (which would contract) Reflex: an automatic response to a stimulus

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Mind vs. Matter (Dualism) -

What set human apart from the rest of the world? Descartes said it was their possession of a mind The mind is not part of the natural world, and obeyed different laws Descartes had dualism: the philosophical belief that reality consists of mind and matter (all reality can be divided into one of the two groups) Physical bodies (extended things) vs. minds (thinking things) He said that physical bodies don’t think and minds are not made of normal matter Descartes wasn’t the first to think of dualism He was the first to say there was a link between the mind and its physical housing  which other philosophers said didn’t agree with dualism But later on, people did begin to study the interaction between mind and matter, though they were said to be separate

Descartes also says: Mind and Matter -

He said the mind controls the movements of the body The body, through its sense organs, supply the mind with information about the environment

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

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Descartes thought that the interaction between the mind and body happened in the pineal body The pineal body is a small organ at the top of the brain stem, under the large cerebral hemispheres of the brain Mind decides to perform an action  the pineal body is tilted a certain way  fluid flows from the brain into the proper set of nerves  flow of fluid causes appropriate muscles to move Descartes came up with this because it was a time period full of scientific advances He thought of muscles like balloons, that become inflated when a fluid is passed through the nerves that connected the muscles to the CNS It is inflation that causes us to move This is similar to water moving through pipes to cause statues to move

A Model -

Descartes was one of the first people to explain something using a technological device as a model Model: a relatively simple system that works on known principles and is able to do some of the things that a more complex system can do Ex. scientists found out that nervous system communication was due to electrical impulses  model of the brain: telephone switchboards, computers There are also abstract models, which are completely mathematical

Back to Descartes’ Model -

So he described the human body as something mechanical that was controlled by a nonmechanical mind This makes humans greater than the sum of their physical parts Descartes always said that there was a spiritual basis to human actions (maybe because of the Church)

John Locke (1632-1704) -

English philosopher Descartes used rationalism  looking for the truth through reason Locke used empiricism  looking for the truth through observation and experience - the philosophical view that all knowledge is obtained through the senses He said that ideas were NOT innately present in an infant’s mind, that all knowledge came through experience

Locke’s Model of the Mind -

Tabula rasa or cleaned slate He compared the mind to the waxed tablets that people used to write on, where they had to scrape clean before using Our minds are empty at birth, and ready to accept the writings of experience Locke says that our knowledge is developed through simple sensations, so small ideas combine to form complex ones

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

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George Berkeley (1685-1753) also added: our knowledge of the world also requires inferences based on past experiences  we must learn how to perceive Ex. our perception of depth requires observing movements of objects as we move our head/eyes and focus on near/close objects; so many simple things combine into a secondary complex response Together, Locke and Berkeley worked on the origins of knowledge and concept of learning Descartes’ model of the mind was rejected

James Mill (1773-1836) -

Scottish philosopher It went from animism (physical matter animated by spirits)  materialism (mind composed entirely of matter) Materialism: a philosophical belief that reality can be known through an understanding of the physical world, of which the mind is a part Mill didn’t invent materialism but developed it His assumption: humans and animals were the same, both are completely physical things and are subject to the physical laws of the universe He agreed with Descartes’ approach of looking at the human body but disagreed about the immaterial mind To Mill, the mind is also a machine, no less than the body

Biological Roots of Psychology -

Descartes was a bit biological when you look at his physiological model of the muscle He lived around the same time as Galileo, who used models of inclined planks to try to explain physical laws of motions Descartes, unlike Galileo, only used simple similarity as proof, he had no scientific proof

Luigi Galvani (1737-1798) -

Italian physiologist Proved Descartes’ hydraulic model of muscular movement to be wrong He found that muscles could contract when we applied an electrical current directly to them or to the nerves attached to them There was no need for pressurized fluid A British physician also proved it wrong by flexing his arm under water  his muscles did not increase in volume as Descartes had said

Johannes Muller (1801-1858) -

German physiologist Recommended that biologists not only need to observe and classify, but also remove/isolate organs, test their responses to chemicals and change conditions to see how the organism worked

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

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Doctrine of specific nerve energies: his famous observation that different nerve fibres convey specific information from one part of the body to the brain, or vice versa The message along all nerves was the same  electrical impulse, and the impulse itself is the same, whether it’s for seeing or hearing Question: How then does the brain distinguish between the different kinds of sensory information? Answer: messages are sent over different channels ex. optic nerves are attached to eyes, so brain interprets these impulses as visual sensations, sensations of light Muller’s answer led to the thought that the brain may be specialized After all, different nerves convey messages about different types of info, then it could be that the regions that receive such messages have different functions

Pierre Flourens (1774-1867) -

French physiologist Provided experimental proof for Muller’s doctrine about nerves He removed various parts of the nervous system and found that there were different effects, depending on which part was removed He would remove a part, see what the animal could no longer do, then associated the missing part with that ability Ex. remove a part of brain  animal can no longer move leg  that region must control leg movements Experimental ablation: the removal/destruction of a portion of the brain of an experimental animal to study the functions of that region Experimental ablation was soon adopted by neurologists and is still used today Using this method, Flourens found regions of the brain that controlled heart rate and breathing, purposeful movements, visual/auditory reflexes

Paul Broca (1824-1880) -

French surgeon Applied Muller’s logic (the doctrine) to humans He found the region of the brain for speech thanks to a man who had a stroke who could no longer speak The centre of speech was found to be the cerebral cortex on the left side of the brain Later, research showed that there was no single “centre” that controls speech, but the area that Broca indicated did indeed involve speech production Psychologists can play around with animals’ brains, but unfortunately can only study effects of brain damage in humans due to natural causes

Gustav Fritsch and Eduard Hitzig -

German physiologists In 1870, introduced the use of electrical stimulation as a tool for mapping the functions of the brain

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Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

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The outcomes using this method matched with the outcomes found through experimental ablation and even more was discovered You send a small electric shock to a part of the cerebral cortex and a certain part of your body will move Later on, Wilder Penfield (Canadian neurosurgeon) showed that you could also map memories and specific sensory experiences using the same method

Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894) -

German physicist and physiologist Showed that mental phenomena could be explained by physiological means Contributed to physics and physiology He purposely separated himself from natural philosophy because there were so many unproven theories Helmholtz had no room for assumptions with unproved or unprovable phenomena, he had a scientific approach with conclusions based on investigation and measurement

The Speed of Nerve Impulses -

Before, people thought that the transmission of impulses through nerves took the speed of electricity in wires, which is pretty much instantaneous Helmholtz measured the speed of the nerve impulse: 27 m/s (slower than electricity) This led people to think that maybe the nerve impulse is more complex than electricity through a wire

The Speed of a Person’s Reaction to a Physical Stimulus -

He found that there was no one law because it varied from person to person People thought, You could measure the speed of nerve impulses and of a person’s reaction, so if only we could investigate the mental events themselves

Ernst Weber (1795-1878) -

Anatomist and physiologist His work led to the development of a method to measure the magnitude of human sensations Weber found that people’s ability to distinguish between two similar stimuli followed orderly laws Ex. brightness of two lights, heaviness of two objects This led to the study of perception from a physical and biological perspective Psychophysics : the study of the relation between the physical characteristics of a stimulus and the perceptions produced - measures the quantitative relation between physical stimuli and perceptual experience

Applications in Education and Therapy -

Descartes believed in free will, the ability to make decisions for which it was morally responsible

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

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This matches with the Catholic faith but not with fate or karma (that individual decisions were determined by outside forces)

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Philosophers eventually realized that to believe in empiricism and materialism, would mean to believe in determinism Determinism: the doctrine that behavior is the result of prior events Psychologists have different views on determinism Ex. Sigmund Freud believed in determinism based on internal psychological events Others emphasize autonomous choice as a factor (humanistic psychologists) But most psychologists believe in some form of determinism due to philosophical and biological reasons

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From Descartes to Helmholtz: Changes in the Society -

American and French revolutions: new conception of government as an institution that improves lives of citizens (inspired by Locke’s writings) Education became important for improvement and so became more public There were medical advances, cures for diseases (including diseases of the mind)

The Wild Boy of Aveyron -

1880s, the study of change became more popular thanks to the wild boy In 1800, wild boy was found He knew no language, couldn’t contact with humans, did not want to be clothed, only wanted to eat and sleep, and didn’t know what a mirror was French scholars debated what his problem was Some said he grew up in the wild and was a noble savage Some said he suffered from a psychological disorder The boy was put in Parisian institute for the deaf where the young physician Jean-Marc Gaspard Itard worked with him He tried to discover what the boy could learn and tried many different procedures (some worked better than others) The boy’s deficits in language only slightly improved This led to people thinking that maybe all children should be taught with methods suited to them specifically

Child Education -

Child education became more important in the US at this time By late 1800s, most states had the system “American Common School”

John Dewey (1859-1952) -

Philosopher Said that education should match the way in which children’s abilities develop Children learn activities that are organized around goals and that education should match this “natural way of learning”

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

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Said that education should aim to establish habits that will integrate the child into the community This shaped “Progressive Education” But how should these integrative habits be learned? This leads to Thorndike.

Edward Thorndike (1874-1949) -

Originally studied the behavior of animals and responses that indicate intelligence What decides whether or not a response occurs again? Pleasant events “stamp in” a response and so it is more likely to occur again Noxious events seem to “stamp out” the response and so it is less likely to occur Today we call these processes reinforcement and punishment

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Law of effect: Thorndike’s observation that stimuli that occur as a consequence of a response can increase or decrease the likelihood of making that response again The law of effect gives us a universal principle by which habits could be learned Goals: they satisfy and so cause the action to occur more frequently The ideal curriculum: to identify discrete units that make up the task to be learned “stamping in” kind of implies that learning was automatic and inevitable

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Maria Montessori (1870-1952) -

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At that time in Italy, the only profession for women was teaching, but Montessori was also a doctor She was appointed to make an institution for children with developmental disabilities Montessori used Itard’s approach on the savage boy  individualized instruction She wondered if children without disabilities would also benefit from this approach She tested her theories when she organized a school for poor preschool children She added more things and developed the Montessori method  children matured through stages and were sensitive to different kinds of teaching at specific age ranges Education was believed to be the most effective when it matched the competency of the child at their stage She was against what Thorndike said about rewards, she said that extrinsic rewards interfere with the child’s natural incentive to learn She also thought that movement was related to thought and so moving around the class was encouraged Montessori had attention in Europe but not so much in North America, she felt only she could train teachers in her methods Later on, trends in psychology support more of Thorndike’s philosophy of learning

Philippe Pinel (1745-1826) -

Father of psychiatry, the medical specialty that treats psychological disorders Before Pinel, the mentally ill were the responsibility of the family but they were often locked up in dirty places

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

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The activist governments started looking for solutions, ex. to build asylums where they could be cared for Pinel was hired to administer an asylum Pinel wanted to show that an asylum could become a therapeutic institution, with proper practices They tried to restore the cognitive abilities of the ill using different approaches, mostly social interventions such as, long conversations with a therapist or poetry reading That was because it was believed that mental illness had a social cause and so could be cured in a similar way

Jean-Martin Charcot (1825-1893) -

In the 1800s, asylums became more numerous and more people became committed to them Not all patients truly had mental illnesses One example is women who had symptoms such as memory loss, intermittent paralysis and insensitivity to painful stimuli They were thought to have the nervous disorder “hysteria” Charcot proposed that hysteria was related to the condition produced by hypnosis and so treated the patients by hypnotizing them Today, hysteria is no longer recognized as a disorder Charcot’s linking of hypnosis to treatment of mental illnesses was important

Major Trends in the Development of Psychology Germany: The Birthplace of Psychology -

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Psychology as a science began in Germany in the late 19th century Wilhelm Wundt was the first to call himself a psychologist who studied the human mind scientifically He wrote the first textbook of psychology: Principles of Physiological Psychology German science also emphasized the importance of classification Experimental physiology started in Germany There were many reasons why psychology began in Germany 1) social, political and economic influences 2) abilities of its scientists and scholars German university system was well established and had highly respected profs Universities were well financed, there was money to support researchers who wanted to explore new fields The scientific approach was emphasized (on history, phonetics, archaeology, aesthetics, literature) French and British mostly had a philosophical approach to studying the human mind

Notes by Mary Lee

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Structuralism -

Structuralism: the system of experimental psychology that began with Wundt; it emphasized introspective analysis of sensation and perception  psychology was viewed as the science of immediate experience  the subject matter was the structure of the mind, built from elements of consciousness (ideas and sensations)

How Wundt Studied the Nature of Mental Processes -

The raw material came from observers who described their own experiences Introspection: “looking within” in an attempt to describe one’s own memories, perceptions, cognitive processes, or motivations The observers did introspection and Wundt noted how changes in the stimuli caused changes in the observers’ verbal reports  the nature of mental processes

More About Wundt -

Like Berkeley, Wundt was interested in the way the basic sensory info gave rise to complex perceptions Ex. seeing red is elementary and perception of an apple is complex

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Wundt wrote many books and trained other scientists The scientists then brought the new conception of psychology to North America

James Mark Baldwin (1861-1934) -

Was trained by Wundt Appointed professor of psychology at the University of Toronto Since he was the first modern psychologist, there were many debates Other trained scientists went to University of Alberta, and Queen’s University

The Death of Structuralism -

Structuralism died out in the early 20th century Main problem: it was hard to report the raw data of sensation, unmodified by experience Another problem: psychology shifted from the study of the mind to the study of behavior More recently, we started the study of the mind again, but we use better methods

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Structuralism and Wundt are still acknowledged Psychology was established as an experimental science, independent of philosophy And Wundt trained many psychologists

Functionalism -

This was the next major trend in psychology This was a reaction against structuralism

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

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Functionalism: the strategy of understanding a species’ structural or behavioral features by attempting to establish their usefulness with respect to survival and reproductive success Structuralists  components of consciousness (ideas and sensations) Functionalists  process of conscious activity (perceiving and learning) Started by Charles Darwin, and the biological significance of natural processes (including behavior) was stressed There was more of a focus on observable behaviors rather than private mental events

Charles Darwin (1809-1882) -

Proposed the theory of evolution in On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection Consequences of an animals’ characteristics affect its ability to survive From then on, biologists began to look at adaptive significances of the ways in which species differed

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Darwin’s theory was also important to psychology Behaviors (like other biological characteristics) could also be explained by understand their role in the adaptation of an organism to its environment Behaviors, just like body parts, can be inherited, they have evolutionary histories The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals: facial gestures animals make to express emotions came from movements that previously had other functions

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William James (1842-1910) -

American scholar who most embraced functionalism He said that thinking’s function was to produce useful behaviors He didn’t do much research, mostly read, thought, taught and wrote His teaching and writing influenced those who followed him He was most famous for his theory of emotion

Functionalism 1) It is the study of mental operations, and not of mental structures ex. the mind remembers, it does not contain a memory - we shouldn’t just compile what the mind does, but understand what the mind accomplishes by doing it 2) Mental processes are not studied as independent, isolated events but as the biological activity of the organism - we look at the processes as aspects of the organism’s adaptation to the environment, a product of evolutionary history ex. we are conscious, this implies that consciousness has adaptive value in humans 3) It is the study of the relation between the environment and the response of the organism to the environment - mind and body are of the same entity

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

Carlson/Heth

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Freud’s Psychodynamic Theory Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) -

Started as a neurologist, so his work is firmly rooted in biology Became interested in behavioral and emotional problems Was impressed by Charcot’s demo of how a psychological event, hypnosis, could cause the neurological disorder hysteria Freud had a theory of the mind, which included structures, but was different from Wundt’s He made up the concepts of ego, superego, id, etc. by talking to his patients rather than through experiments Freud emphasized function, he showed us our animal nature

Psychology in Transition -

Psychology took a turn in early 20th century

Baldwin: -

The controversy eventually died down He set up the first psychological lab in the British Dominion and it was used for the experimental investigation of the mine, with attention to the control of noise and light

New Emphasis on Experiment and Observation -

Experiment and observation were becoming more prominent in the classroom Calkins described her senior class Students were taught the anatomy of the brain, and had exercises about lamb brain dissection, measurement of sensation and comparison of associations to simple words Experiments of taste were unpopular

Canada and Psychology -

Psychology became a part of the university curriculum in Canada Psychology profs became recognized as part of an emerging scientific discipline 1938: a group of psychologists began to establish the Canadian Psychological Association

Psychology Textbooks -

Textbooks began to reflect the prominence of physiological observation and the measurement of human reactivity Baldwin wrote a major handbook of current psychological knowledge It included work of Mill, Wundt, Darwin and other natural historians He made up the Baldwin effect that he thought could explain the evolution of mental phenomena In addition, he talked about the relationship between consciousness and muscular movement

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

Carlson/Heth

PLEASE DO NOT COPY In summary… Before: Wundt said the science of psychology should describe the contents of the mind 20th century: James and Baldwin (and others) say: How do we understand the actions that the mind supposedly determines?

Behaviorism -

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Behaviorists say that because psychology is the study of observable behaviors, then mental events are outside of the realm of psychology, since they cannot be observed Behaviorism: the study of the relation between people’s environments and their behavior, without looking at the hypothetical events occurring in their heads  a movement in psychology that says that the only proper subject matter for scientific study in psychology is observable behavior Thorndike, who formulated the law of effect, was one of the first behaviorists His law stated that the consequences of a behavior act back upon the organism, affecting the likelihood that the behavior will occur again This is similar to natural selection Organisms that successfully adapt are more likely to survive and reproduce Behaviors that cause useful outcomes are more likely to reoccur

Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) -

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Russian physiologist who help develop the behavioristic trend Studied the physiology of digestion He was studying the stimuli that produce salivation and he realized that hungry dogs would salivate at the sight of the attendant who usually brought them food First, he called this “psychic reflex”, but soon, Pavlov traced it to the experience the dog had received He found that the dog would salivate at any stimuli, if the stimuli were quickly followed by the delivery of food (ex. a bell rings) Pavlov showed that an animal could learn to respond to a stimulus through experience Pavlov explains how organisms learn cause and effect relations in the environment Thorndike explains how an individual’s behavior adapts to its particular environment These are two important principles in behaviorism

John B. Watson (1878-1958) -

Professor of psychology He published the book Psychology from the Standpoint of a Behaviorist and so began behaviorism as a formal school of psychology Watson said: Psychology is a natural science, whose domain is restricted to observable events: the behavior of organisms

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The elements of consciousness studied by the structuralists were too subjective and couldn’t be studied scientifically He defined psychology  the objective study of stimuli and the behaviors they produced

Modern Behaviorists -

Moved away from the strict behaviorism of Watson We again consider mental processes such as imagery and attention An example of the view of a modern behaviorist is Margaret Floy Washburn

Margaret Floy Washburn (1871-1939) -

She had her own version of structuralism She suggested to behaviorists that they look at introspection as a form of behavior itself, which could help make sense of mental processes

Objectivity in Psychology -

Watson had an emphasis on objectivity in psychological research, and that remained When a psychologist tries to study private mental events, they realize that they can only study it indirectly, through behavior Unfortunately, behavior is not a pure reflection of these mental events, there are also other factors Psychologists try to keep an objective stance to make sure that their research findings can be verified

Humanistic Psychology -

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Humanistic psychology developed in the 1950s and 1960s as a reaction to behaviorism and psychoanalysis At that time, researchers could not agree on object ways to study things like free will, creativity and consciousness Psychoanalysis said that: people are products of their own environment and of unconscious forces Humanistic psychologists say: human nature goes beyong environmental influences, and they should study conscious processes, not unconscious ones They also say that psychoanalysis is too preoccupied with disturbed people, and ignore positive phenomena (ex. happiness) Humanistic psychology: an approach to the study of human behavior that emphasizes human experience, choice and creativity, self realization and positive growth  humanistic psychologists emphasize the positive sides of human nature and the potential we all share for personal growth  they do not believe that human consciousness and behavior could be understood through scientific research  do not view psychology as a science  major contribution: development of methods of psychotherapy based on a positive view of human potential

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Reaction against Behaviorism: The Emphasis on Cognition -

Recall that behaviorism was all about restricting psychology to observable behaviors But over time, even though behaviorism was the dominant trend in psychology, there began the thought that maybe unobservable factors influence larger patterns of human consciousness

Max Wertheimer (1880-1943) -

German psychologist, who began the movement He bought a toy that showed many similar pictures in rapid successions, so there was an impression of continuous motion He then suggested that psychological processes provided the continuity Thus began the attempt to discover the organization of cognitive processes, not their elements The approach was called Gestalt psychology

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Gestalt psychology: a movement in psychology that emphasized that cognitive processes could be understood by studying their organization, not their elements  perceptions result from patterns of interactions among many elements  ex. we recognize a song as the relation between the notes, rather than the individual notes by themselves

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Today, the Gestalt school of psychology no longer exists, but its contribution was that the elements of an experience are organized into larger units The organizational processes are not directly observable, but they do determine behavior For the past few decades, many psychologists have begun to reject behaviorism and also study consciousness, feelings, imagery and other private events

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The Approach of Cognitive Psychology -

Cognitive psychology used an approach called information processing Information processing: explaining the workings of the brain  information received through the senses is processed by systems of neurons in the brain  some systems store the info in the form of memory, other systems control behavior  some systems operate automatically and unconsciously, other systems require effort and are conscious  for most cognitive psychologists, the modern model of the human brain is the computer

Cognitive Psychology is Objective -

Even though cognitive psychologists now study mental structures and operations, they did not go back to the introspective methods of structuralists like Wundt Like behaviorists, they use objective research methods

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Ex. when studying imagery The experience of imagery cannot be shared in a scientific sense, the apple I’m imagining may be different from yours But… Kosslyn found a way to measure behaviors based on images

Kosslyn’s Experiment -

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Memorize several drawings Imagine one of them, focusing on a particular feature Then he asked a question about a detail of the image that was near or far from the point they were focused on Observation: people could answer quickly if the detail was close to the focused point If it was far, they took longer, as if they had to scan their mental image to get from one place to another The concept of imagery is still hypothetical because we cannot observe what is happening inside a person’s head The hypothetical concept does give some concrete results, such as the time needed to give an ans This is an example of how private mental events could be empirical and objective through behavioral data

Reaction against Behaviorism: The Emphasis on Neurobiology -

The scientific roots of psychology were in biology and physiology Recently, the biological approach has become stronger During the early and mid 20th century, when behaviorism dominated, biology was pushed aside At that time, scientists didn’t have a way to study what went on inside the brain, so people just made theories of how the brain controlled behavior They thought that since they couldn’t see for sure what was happening inside the brain, then there was no point in inventing explanations that couldn’t be verified

Donald Hebb (1904-1985) -

Canadian psychologist He challenged the behaviorists He argued that behavioral and mental phenomena is related directly to brain activity He suggested that the nervous system organized itself into special circuits that could represent mental activity

Advances in Neurobiology -

Like early behaviorists, cognitive psychologists were suspicious of the value of biology in explaining behavior So the cognitive revolution didn’t lead to interest in biology Advances in neurobiology in the late 20th century revolutionized psychology

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Neurobiologists are biologists who study the nervous system They have developed ways to study the brain, the details of nerve cells, find interconnections, analyze the chemicals used for communication, produce drugs that block the action of these chemicals/mimic their effects, find the internal structure of the brain, measure activities in parts of the brain Almost every day a new gene is discovered that plays a role in a certain behavior Drugs are created to mimic or block effects of these genes

CHAPTER 2: The Ways and Means of Psychology -

The goal of psychology is the explain behavior Most psychologists study behavior objectively The method that they use is called the scientific method A properly conducted research follows the scientific method The scientific method helps us not to be misled by casual observations and helps us to distinguish between good and bad research displayed by the media

The Scientific Method in Psychology -

To explain behavior, we must use a method that is both precise and general Precise so that it can be understood by others General so that it could be applied to many situations

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Scientific method: a set of rules for the collection and analysis of data which was gained through observational studies or experiments  it is a set of rules that tell a scientist a procedure in which he should follow for his research  rules are based on logic and common sense  originally thought of by philosophers

Three Major Types of Scientific Research 1) Naturalistic observation and clinical observation - naturalistic observation: observation of the behavior of people/animals in their natural environments - clinical observation: observation of the behavior of people who are undergoing diagnosis or treatment - getting facts from observations, it is very unconstrained - ex. Darwin  he observed animals/plants in their environment, which gave him raw material for the theory of evolution - ex. Montessori  she watched children in the classroom, which gave her ideas about child development

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PLEASE DO NOT COPY - ex. Broca  observed a man with no ability to speak, which led him to suggest specific region responsible for speech production 2) Correlational Studies - correlational studies: examination of relations between two or more measurements of behavior - also observational in nature, but involves more formal measurements - you may measure environmental events, individual social and physical characteristics, etc. - researchers look at the relations between these measurements to explain observed behaviors 3) Experiment - experiment: a study in which the researcher changes the value of an independent variable and observes whether this manipulation affects the value of a dependent variable  only experiments can confirm whether there is a cause and effect relation between variables - researcher not only makes mere measurements - they manipulate things and observes results -- the three types of scientific research, naturalistic observation/clinical observation, correlational studies and experiment give more and more evidence Example: 3D images -

An example is those 3D images Some people take less/more time to see the image Recall that the three types of scientific research give more and more evidence

1) Naturalistic observation: - Observing you and your friends looking at the image would give you the context of the problem, you will observe that some people take longer than others to see the image - Observational evidence identifies the phenomenon and may indicate magnitude 2) Correlational Studies: - This starts when you observe relations between observations ex. you may note that you guys bring the 3D object into focus much faster of given a 2D picture of it 3) Experiment: - This gives you concrete evidence about the causal role that you think visual hints play when seeing 3D images - They provide us with evidence about the psychological processes that affect behavior

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Ex. if we see that people with a 2D hint can find the 3D image faster, you now have evidence that visual hints have a causal role

The Scientific Method: 5 Steps (In a Nutshell) First Step: Identify the problem, and make up hypothetical cause and effect relations between variables -

Identify the variables (the behavior, the environmental/physiological event) Describe the relation between the variables Ex. expectation of an image and detection of that same image are the two variables The relation is that the first will increase the second

Second Step: Design the experiment -

The experiment must involve the manipulation of an independent variable and the observation of a dependent variable (s) Independent variable vs. dependent variable  produce an expectation vs. change in person’s ability to see 3D image Independent variable must be controlled and be the only cause in changes in the dependent variable

Third Step: Perform the experiment -

Organize materials, train people who will perform, recruit volunteers whose behavior will be observed Randomly assign volunteers to experimental/control groups Observations are recorded

Fourth Step: Evaluate the hypothesis by examining obtained data -

Do the results support the hypothesis? Sometimes requires mathematical procedures to determine if effects are statistically significant

Fifth Step: Communicate the results -

Tell others about findings, for example, write an article Articles are sent to journals that publish results Journal editors and reviewers choose which articles to publish Can also present findings at conferences/conventions This step is good because other psychologists can incorporate these findings into their own thinking

Identifying the Problem: Getting an Idea for Research -

Great science comes from the work of many individual researchers part of a larger group Ex. universities or other institutions Long-term projects require financial support Therefore, it is important to have good ideas, and good ideas come from observations

Notes by Mary Lee

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Hypothesis: a statement (usually to be tested in an experiment), that expresses a cause and effect relationship between two or more events  it is an idea that the scientist wants to test in his research  hypothesis means suggestion

Theories -

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Theory: a set of statements designed to explain a set of phenomena  explains known facts, proposes relations among variables and makes new predictions  a more elaborate hypothesis A good theory includes a testable hypothesis, which can be supported or proven wrong by research Can’t be too general or too abstract Ex. Freud had a theory that conflicts between mental structures (such as the id and the superego) strongly determine personality and behavior  but it was too abstract to test Sometimes people don’t just try to make a theory stronger, but they try to show that there is evidence that is consistent with the hypothesis, or they explore more relationships within the theory Sometimes people look at old problems in a new way

Observations: Sources of Hypotheses and Theories -

By ordinary experience, we learn much about behavior Ex. observing people, listening to their stories, films, novels  this is naturalistic observation Careful systematic observations are made to discover subtle categories of behavior and develop hypotheses

Naturalistic Observations -

A naturalist: they observe animals in their natural environment with little disturbance  naturalists do naturalistic observation It is important that the observer does not interfere

Clinical Observations -

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Case studies: a detailed description of an individual’s behavior during the course of clinical treatment/diagnosis  it is what clinical observers write down Like naturalistic observations, it could lead to hypotheses Unlike naturalistic observations, the observer is NOT in the background, the point of therapy is to change the patient’s behavior and to solve their problems

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The clinician still has a limitation: he cannot interfere with the treatment prescribed

Interferences -

In some cases, psychologists DO interfere with the natural/clinical setting Ex. when you go and ask questions Survey study: a study of people’s responses to standardized questions  the kind of behavior studied is the answer to the questions  the more precise the questions asked, they give us the same formal measurement of relations in correlational studies

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Another case where psychologists interfere with the natural/clinical setting is that a clinical psychologist may manipulate a patient’s treatment in order to make them produce a more beneficial response This is more of an experiment, and less of just an observation

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Designing an Experiment -

Observations can classify behaviors and make hypotheses, but an experiment is needed to see whether the hypothesis is true

Variables -

Variable: anything capable of assuming any of several values  things that can vary in value, can differ in amount  ex. temperature, happiness

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Scientists either manipulate, or measure variables Manipulate: setting the values of an independent variable in an experiment to see whether the value of another variable is affected  it means “to handle”  ex. for the 3D image exp, you may manipulate “visual expectation present” and “visual expectation absent”

Groups of Volunteers -

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The volunteers must be grouped, to test a hypothesis Experimental group: exposed to a particular value of the independent variable, which has been manipulated by researcher  we would give this group a similar 2D picture to look at first Control group: they are the comparison group, they are exposed to naturally occurring, or zero value, of the independent variable  they would not receive any 2D picture as a clue You then measure the ability of seeing the 3D image of both groups, and we will be able to see differences in detection ability depending on expectation

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We examine the effect of one variable on another Independent variable: the variable that is manipulated in an experiment in order to determine cause and effect relations  ex. expectation of the image Dependent variable: the variable that is measured in an experiment  recognition of the image Sometimes scientists generalize behaviors ex. they would put into the category of “interpersonal aggression”: hitting, kicking, etc. they would assume that these behaviors have similar causes

Nominal Fallacy -

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Nominal fallacy: the false belief that one has explained the causes of a phenomenon by identifying and naming it  ex. you think you explained lazy behavior because you said it was caused by laziness Just because you have named a behavior, it doesn’t mean that you have explained the causes Classifying ≠ Explaining Ex. a guy is throwing stuff and yelling at people If you say that he is angry, you have only classified, you have not explained his behavior It doesn’t tell us WHY he is acting the way he is, we have only described it A better explanation would be that he is acting like that because he has a painful ache

Preceding Events -

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However, identifying preceding events ≠ identifying causes Ex. a guy gets off the train there were many preceding events such as the stop was announced, a guy coughed but the CAUSE was that his stop was announced The psychologist’s task is to determine THE event that caused the behavior

Operational Definitions -

Operational definition: the definition of a variable in terms of the operations the researcher performs to measure/manipulate it

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The setting, independent and dependent variables are described thoroughly so that it could be repeated by others Ex. you would need to give a good description of what a SIRD stereogram image is and describe the one used in the experiment

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Validity

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Validity: the degree to which the operational definition of a variable accurately reflects the variable it is designed to measure/manipulate  the validity of the operational definitions refers to how appropriate they are for testing the hypothesis, how accurate do they represent the variables?  only if the operational definitions of their variables are valid, then you will get meaningful results

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Ex. what if the person pushes the button to say they saw the 3D image but it was really imagination? To make this more valid, you could ask them to point out which quadrant the image was in, and only the correct people will count

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Control of Independent Variables -

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Changes in the dependent variable caused by changes in the independent variable give us a cause and effect relation Only the independent variable is controlled, and it must be done carefully Ex. we play a tv program and notice that a person’s reading speed is slower because of the noise  but how can we be sure that the person wasn’t distracted because the program was interesting?  If we want to see if noise has an effect on reading speed, then we must choose a neutral noise Confounding of variables: inadvertent simultaneous manipulation of more than one variable. The results of an experiment involving confounded variables give no valid conclusions of cause and effect relations  ex. introduce the effects of another variable besides noise on reading speed (such as an interesting program)  confound = fail to distinguish  when a researcher introduces more independent variables, then they won’t know the effects of either independent variable on the dependent variable  we say that the effects of the variables are confounded  noise from the program and the content of the program would make TWO independent variables

Predator Experiment -

Would a species of bird recognize a large bird that usually preys on it? We showed pictures of the predator, two non-carnivorous birds and a triangle The most predator-like model produced the greatest response when shown in that order

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However, we should take habituation into account The more they see the same model, the lesser the response  habituation So we don’t know if the bird got less and less alarmed because of habituation or if it’s because th model looked less and less like the predator

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A way to fix the problem and to find the real cause of a lesser reaction would be to present to different birds, different orders of the models This procedure is called counterbalancing Counterbalancing: a systematic variation of conditions in an experiment which prevents confounding of independent variables with time-dependent processes (like habituation, fatigue)  ex. of variation of conditions is the order of presentation of stimuli so that different participants encounter them in different orders  counterbalance = weigh evenly  that way, effects of habituation would be spread evenly/equally among all the stimuli in the predator experiment

Performing an Experiment -

After designing an experiment, you must think of the best way to conduct the experiment Choosing participants, what instructions to give, materials to use

Reliability of Measurements -

Reliability: repeatability of a measurement, the likelihood that if the measurement was made again, it would yield the same value  if we say a procedure has high reliability, it means that it produces consistent results under consistent conditions  ex. measuring a person’s height is reliable academic aptitude is reliable but a little less

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Reliable ≠ valid When a person blinks is reliable, but if we define the detection of the 3D image as the time it takes until the person blinks, this is not valid Many things could have caused the person to blink, not just the detection of the 3D image Achieving reliability is easier than achieving validity

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External Factors Decreasing Reliability -

Sometimes there are external factors that can decrease the reliability of a variable Ex. some images projected were not properly scanned and so were out of focus, this will cause differences in measurement of detection among participants

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There are some things that could help with the control of extraneous factors that affect reliability of measurements Give the same set of instructions to each participant Make sure all equipment functions properly Assistants are well trained Noise and other distractions are kept to a minimum

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Subjectivity and Reliability

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Subjectivity is a factor that could affect reliability At times, some measurements are subjective and requires judgment and expertise Ex. we want to study the number of friendly interactions that a child has with other children in a group  but a “friendly interaction” to me may not be friendly to you One possible solution is to specify a friendly interaction Another solution is to have more than one observer and have them score independently If their ratings agree, the scoring system has a high interrater reliability Interrater reliability: the degree to which two or more independent observers agree in their ratings of another organism’s behavior If their ratings disagree, the interrater reliability is low and the experiment has no point in continuing That’s why it’s important that a rating system is defined well and that raters are trained properly

Selecting the Participants -

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Who should we choose? How do we split the participants into the control and experimental groups? If we don’t randomly assign participants, conclusions will not be valid Ex. research on which teaching method is better, one taught at 8 am or one taught at 4 pm (students choose which class to sign up for)  there may be too many differences between the two groups of participants  maybe the 8 am students are athletes who have practices in the afternoon  maybe the 4 pm students all like to sleep in Random assignment: procedure in which each participant has an equally likely chance of being assigned to any of the conditions/groups of an experiment  a common way to avoid confounding participant characteristics with the values of the independent variable  you could toss a coin  people have different abilities, personalities, etc. that could affect outcome of the experiment, but if we do random assigning, then the differences are equally spread across the groups

Anger Experiment -

They wanted to study whether anger has an effect on ability to concentrate Experimental group: were treated rudely by experimenters Control group: were treated politely Both groups were asked to identify when a certain letter appeared

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Problem: some angry participants of the experimental group walked out of the experiment The control group and the leftover of the experiment group are no longer equivalent, they have distinguishable differences in personality Experimental group: people who will put up with rudeness

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Control group: people who will or will not put up with rudeness

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Moral: sometimes confounded variables occur while the experiment is under way There is no solution to this particular problem

Expectancy Effects -

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The Hawthorne effect: when participants in an experiment know that they’re being observed, it may affect their behavior  observation can change that which you observe Ex. experiment where they tested whether increasing the level of lighting in the plant would increase productivity of workers  results: yes, but it was short-lived  people’s productivity actually increased even when they decreased the light levels  explanation: the workers knew that they were being observed on their productivity Eventually, methods were developed where the Hawthorne effect was countered Sometimes, participants try to help the researchers confirm their hypothesis  there is a type of cooperation where participants, knowing the hypothesis, will sometimes unintentionally behave in the way to make the hypothesis true That is why researchers at times don’t disclose their hypothesis until after the dependent variable has been measured Rarely, researchers may use deception, providing the participant with an alternative explanation for the experimental events to prevent the person from purposely confirming the hypothesis However, when using deception, researchers must tell participants the truth as soon as they could to regain their trust

Techniques to Cope with Hypothesis Awareness Single-Blind Experiments -

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Single-blind study: experiment in which the researcher but not the participant knows the value of the independent variable Ex. we want to study whether a stimulant drug has any effect on a person’s ability to perform a task requiring fine manual dexterity We could get one group to take the pill and the other not to, and then see how many needle threading are done in a 10 minute period Problem: the administration of a drug itself have an effect on behavior, now you have two independent variables, on top fo the physiological effects of the drugs, you have the administration of the drug To cope, we can do a single-blind study Both groups take a pill, but they don’t know if it’s a stimulant drug or a placebo Placebo: inert substance that can’t be distinguished in appearance from a real medication; it is used as the control substance in a single-blind/double-blind experiment Participants now only know that they have 50-50 chance that they took the stimulant drug

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Double-blind study: experiment in which neither participant, nor researcher knows the value of the independent variable  often used when observation is subjective for the researcher Ex. we want to test whether a psychological disorder person taking a drug would cause them to be more willing to engage in conversation (because enhanced communicability would facilitate their therapy) Their “quality of conversation” is a difficult dependent variable to measure and the rating is subjective, which is why researchers also should not know whether the participant received the drug or the placebo If the researcher doesn’t know, then the ratings of the conversation quality won’t be affected by any preconceived ideas Ex. we want to see if a type of psychotherapy causes a person to be more willing to engage in conversation The person doing the psychotherapy and the person rating the conversation should be a different person

Correlational Studies -

There are some things that a researcher cannot manipulate, for example, a person’s sex, genetic history, income, social class, family environment, personality But these factors may affect behavior A correlational study studies these factors Correlational study: the examination of 2 or more measurements of behavior or other characteristics of people/animals  in a correlational study, we measure 2 variables and determine if they are related, using the statistical procedure correlation

Shyness Experiment -

If two variables are correlated, we cannot necessarily say that there is cause and effect relation There was a study that hypothesized that shy people tend to daydream more than less shy people They looked at the relation between the shyness of a person and the time per day they septn daydreaming Results showed that shy people spent more time daydreaming That gives us a correlation, it shows that shyness and daydreaming are related However, we cannot make a cause and effect conclusion We cannot tell whether shyness causes daydreaming or vice versa, or another variable that causes shyness and more daydreaming

Major in University Experiment -

Allen conducted a study that was focused on the employability of social science graduates

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He tracked the income growth of graduates with bachelor’s degree in social sciences from their early 20s to their 50s (the peak) He also did the same for graduates of other educational programs Results showed that the income growth was the highest for social science graduates There is a correlation between graduating from a social science program and long-term career growth This correlation doesn’t imply a cause and effect relation, there are many other factors It could be that people who have a secure career path take social sciences It could be that people who take social sciences have good people skills which brings them success in their positions To determine if there is a causal role, we would have to randomly assign participants to various programs, then track their income (do an experiment) Since we cannot make such an interference, we can only accept the correlation as suggestive

Another Correlation Example -

People who read a certain newspaper have a high income This is a correlation, not necessarily a cause and effect relation This doesn’t mean that reading the newspaper would increase your income It could be that people with high incomes reach the newspaper because there is news about their profession

How to Reduce Uncertainty in Correlational Studies -

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Matching: a systematic selection of participants in groups in an experiment/correlational study to ensure that the mean values of important participant variables of the groups are similar  instead of selecting participants randomly, we match the participants in each of the groups on all of the relevant variables expect the one being studied Ex. for the shyness experiment, we can separate 2 groups: shy and not shy, then make sure that both groups have the same average age, intelligence, income, personality If we still find a relation between shyness and increased daydreaming, then we can say that there is in fact a relation of cause and effect between the two variables (we now have no 3rd variable to worry about) Limitation to the matching procedure: we may not know all the variables that should be held constant  if the two groups are not matched on an unknown important variable, results will be misleading Also, even with the matching procedure, we do not know which variable is the cause and which is the effect

Reporting and Generalizing a Study -

Scientists must report enough details so that the experiment could be replicated

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Replication: repetition of an experiment/observational study to see whether previous results will be obtained ensures that erroneous results and incorrect conclusions are weeded out  other scientists repeat an experiment to make sure the results were not just a statistical fluke  if there is a problem replicating an experiment, then it shows that the research was done incompetently or there were statistical mistakes

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Sample: a selection of elements from a larger population ex. a group of participants selected to participate in an experiment  when we study the behavior of a group of 5 year olds (the sample), we are making conclusions about five year olds in general

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Generalization: the conclusion that the results obtained from a sample apply also to the population from which the sample was taken  we generalize specific results to the population as a whole  we conclude something about human nature, not just the particular participants Generalization is very limited Ex. when participants are 1st year psychology students  we cannot generalize to people of other courses or other ages  we cannot generalize to all 1st year psych students because there might be a difference between those who volunteer and those who don’t Ex. if we used random samples of all ages of adults, we cannot even generalize to people of other areas

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Replication helps us to know whether a result can be generalized or not When results are replicated with different samples of people, we gain confidence in the generalization of the results

Jean Chretien Experiment -

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Not only do generalizing problems occur in experiments, but also in observation and correlational studies In 1993, advertisements by Kim Campbell making fun of Jean Chretien were broadcasted More people became on Chretien’s side However, the people who developed these ads tested them on focus groups selected to represent the target audience and found that even Chretien supporters found him embarrassing  this did not match with the public reaction Later, Haddock and Zanna did a before and after test where opinions about Chretien and Campbell were polled Attitudes for Chretien went up, it went down for Campbell There are 2 reasons as to why the ads failed 1) the focus groups may not have included a good balance of individuals of the general public (could not generalize to the entire public)

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2) opinions may depend on context  the public reaction was not available to the focus group, but was available to the Haddock and Zanna group  maybe public criticism of the negative ad made people who thought Chretien was embarrassing actually defend him

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Moral: generalization occurs in 2 ways We try to generalize from observations of our sample to a different group We try to generalize from one context to a different context

ETHICS -

There are living participants, so ethical rules must be applied

Research with Human Participants -

Federal research funding agencies require that all institutions that receive research support funds have one or more Research Ethics Boards (REBs) review the ethics of human research All research must be reviewed by an REB before it is conducted Researchers must follow ethical principles and guidelines Two other guiding documents are Canadian Code of Ethics for Psychologists and the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct

Examples of Unethical Research -

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During World War 2: terrible medical experiments under the Nazi regime in Germany 1930s: poor African-American men went through the final stage of syphilis without treatment 1950s and 1960s: brainwashing experiments conducted on psychiatric patients at Allan Memorial Institute in Montreal  all without their consent A major source of ethical principles has been the values and concerns of the researchers Researchers are concerned about respect for the dignity of their participants

Codes of Human Research Ethics -

In our everyday lives, we believe that: 1) it is wrong to hurt others needlessly 2) it is good to help others 3) it is usually wrong to make others do things contrary to their own wishes 4) it is usually wrong to lie to others 5) we should respect others’ privacy 6) under most circumstances, we should not break our promises to keep others’ secrets 7) we should afford special protection to those who are more powerless and vulnerable

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The codes of research ethics tells us: 1) we should minimize harm to participants (physical and mental)

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

Carlson/Heth

PLEASE DO NOT COPY 2) we should maximize the benefits of research to participants in particular and the society in general 3) participants should be fully informed about the research (including risks and benefits) and their informed consent must be voluntary 4) deception in research is generally unacceptable 5) we should not intrude into private lives of participants without permission 6) should make sure that the information provided by participants remain anonymous/confidential 7) vulnerable populations should be treated with special care (ex. children, prisoners, seriously ill, compromised cognitive abilities) -

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Informed consent: agreement to participate in an experiment after being informed about the nature of the research and any possible risks and benefits Confidentiality: privacy of participants and non-disclosure of their participation in a research project At times, good research procedures are in conflict with good treatment of participants The goal is to have a research procedure that is both as ethical and as scientifically valid as possible

Exceptions to Ethical Rules -

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Ex. sometimes telling the participants the full truth about the nature of the research will invalidate the research results  the whole hypothesis awareness thing At times, researcher may conceal the hypothesis, or actively deceive you, which is considered good science The researcher is allowed to use concealment and minor deception, only if there is no foreseeable harm to the participants and only if the research can get back their trust Upon completion of the experiment, the researcher will disclose the truth in a debriefing Debriefing: full disclosure to research participants of the nature and purpose of a research project after its completion

Research with Animal Participants -

Some psychologists study the behavior of animals The research must be humane and worthwhile Must maintain lab animals in good health and in a comfortable, sanitary place If surgery is involved, then animals should not have to suffer

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There are ethical guidelines developed by the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC) All projects involving animals must be reviewed by a committee and they could be prevented or halted if the procedure does not follow the principles

Animal Use: Exploitation?

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

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You could say that we are doing a form a exploitation since humans have the power to decide whether a research project is carried out and the animals do not But we exploit animals all the time: we eat them, have them as pets, extract insulin from them

Should We Use Animals? -

We must consider the nature of controls placed on research activity There is a lot of control when compared to other uses of animals Ex. pet ownership causes more suffering among animals than scientific research does Pet owners don’t have permission from boards of experts (including vets) Pet owners aren’t subject to periodic inspections to ensure they have a clean environment, that their pets have enough space to exercise and that the diets are appropriate All research facilities in Canada are inspected by a special team of vets and scientists every 3 years

Why Do We Use Animals? -

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Medical, mental and behavioral problems of humans can be solved only through research involving non-human animals Using lab animals, research has discovered possible causes/treatments of neurological and psychological disorders Such as Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, OCDs, anorexia nervosa, obesity, drug additions Some people have suggested that instead of animals, we use tissue cultures or computer simulations These are rarely interchangeable substitutes for living organisms Ex. you can’t study drug addiction on a tissue culture If we could, we would have all the answers

UNDERSTANDING RESEARCH RESULTS -

When the study is finished, and we have a collection of data (numbers of measurements of behavior), we need to analyze the data collected We use statistical methods

Descriptive Statistics: What are the Results? -

We have measurements of the behavior of participants assigned to groups, we need a way to compare these measurements First, we use descriptive statistics Descriptive statistics: mathematical procedures for organizing collections of data (determining the mean, median, range, variance, correlation coefficient)  a way to summarize a set of results so that we could compare them  we could also use these summaries to explain results of the experiment to others

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

Carlson/Heth

PLEASE DO NOT COPY Measures of Central Tendency -

Measure of central tendency: a statistical measure used to characterize the value of items in a sample of numbers  the average weight of an adult male in North America is 79 kg  the average salary of a female university graduate was $32 669 in 1995

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The most common measure of central tendency in psychological reports is the mean, and also the median Mean: a measure of central tendency, the sum of a group of values divided by their number; the arithmetical average Median: a measure of central tendency; the midpoint of a group of values arranged numerically  this is for when mean is not precise for there is a few especially high/low values

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Measures of Variability -

When we find that the mean scores of two groups differ, the researcher can conclude that the independent variable had an effect However, they must decide whether the difference between the two groups is larger than that which would occur by chance To know if it’s by chance or not, they must calculate a measure of variability Measure of variability: a statistical measure used to characterize the dispersion in values of items in a sample of numbers  shows us how different the numbers are  this measure is then used to compare the means of the two groups

Range -

Just because two sets of numbers have the same mean or same median, they could still be very different in their overall character For example, both Sample A and Sample B have a mean of 10 But Sample A has a range from 8-12 (the range is 4) Sample B has a range from 0-20 (the range is 20)

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Range: the difference between the highest score and the lowest score of a sample The range is not that often used in psychological experiments The standard deviation has more useful mathematical properties

Standard Deviation -

Standard deviation: a statistic that expresses the variability of a measurement; square root of the average of the squared deviations from the mean How do you find the standard deviation? Calculate the mean Find the difference between each number and the mean Square that difference

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

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Find the mean of the squared numbers  variance The standard deviation is the square root of the variance The more different the numbers are from one another, the larger the standard deviation

Measurement of Relations Scatterplots -

Sometimes, to see if two variables are related, we use a scatterplot Scatterplot: a graph of items that have two values, one value is plotted against the horizontal axis, and the other against the vertical axis Ex. we want to see if there is a relation between scores on a specific test, and the measures of success in the program First we have a chart indicating the student, the test score and their average grade (for the average grade, since they get letters, A B C D F  4 3 2 1 0) We make a scatterplot with the average grade on the y-axis and the test score on the x-axis After plotting the points, we see that the points tend to be located along a diagonal line from bottom left to upper right There is a strong relation between a student’s test score and average grade  high scores are associated with good grades and low scores with poor grades

Correlation Coefficient -

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Thought scatterplots are useful, we need a more conventional way to communicate results to others, so we use the correlation coefficient Correlation coefficient: a measurement of the degree to which two variables are related  it is a number that indicates the strength of a relation  can vary from 0 (no relation) to 1.0 (perfect relation) A perfect relation means that if we know one variable, we can predict exactly the other A positive correlation means that high values on one measure are associated with high values of the other and the low values on one are associated with low values on the other A negative correlation shows that high values on one measure are associated with low values on the other and vice versa  ex. the relation between people’s mathematical ability and the amount of time it takes to solve a series of math problems  people with higher mathematical ability will take the least time If the points of a scatterplot fall into a line, the relation is said to be linear Many relations are non-linear  ex. the relation between level of illumination and reading speed  it is impossible to read in the dark  as light level increases, reading speed will increase, but once there is adequate amount of lighting, increasing the light will produce the same reading speed  then when the light is too bright, it will decrease reading speed

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

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A correlation coefficient cannot accurately represent a non-linear relation, so we usually present them in graphs and express them as non-linear mathematical formulas

Inferential Statistics: Are the Results Significant? -

Summary of performing an experiment: We select a sample of participants from a larger population We randomly assign the participants to groups We manipulate only the relevant independent variables We measure the dependent variable We examine the results and decide whether there is a relation between the variables

Statistical Significance -

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To say that a relation “really” exists is to say that our results were not due to a fluke or by chance If we find that our results are most probably not accidental, we say they possess statistical significance Statistical significance: the likelihood that an observed relation or difference between two variables really exists rather than is due to chance factors Descriptive statistics help us summarize our data Inferential statistics helps us to calculate the probability that our results are due to chance and so tell us whether the results have statistical significance Inferential statistics: mathematical procedures for determining whether relations or differences between samples are statistically significant

Assessment of Differences between Samples -

Ex. recall the 3D image detection experiment To see if there is a relation between seeing the 2D image and the time it takes to find the 3D image, we calculate the mean response time of both groups If the means are different, we can say that visual expectation does affect people’s ability to find the 3D image But if you repeat the same experiment with two other groups of people, by chance, the mean would be different How different do the means have to be for us to say that there really is a relation? An easy way to see if two group means differ enough is to look at the difference If the difference is very large, we can be pretty confident that the independent variable had a significant effect If the difference is very small, it’s probably due to chance

Vowels and Consonants Experiment -

We wanted to show that people whose first names end in vowels are on average shorter than those who end in consonants

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

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Mean height of entire class of 76 people was 172 cm The mean height of the two groups (consonants and vowels) had a difference of 10.4 cm

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How do we know if 10.4 cm is a large enough difference for the result to be significant? They then randomly separated the class into 2 groups  the mean height difference is 1.7 cm This was done 5 times and the differences were from 0.5 – 1.8 cm This was showing that 10.4 cm was probably bigger than what could happen by chance This was then done 1000 more times and the difference was never greater than 7.6 cm So we could say that the chances of there being a 10.4 cm difference when splitting the group randomly is less than 1/1000 We can say that there really is a relation between the last letter of their name and their height

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Looking at the frequency distribution of the differences between the means of the two groups for 1000 random divisions of the class, the height difference that occurred the most was 0.5 cm

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Suppose that the height difference we found was not 10.4 cm and it was 5.8 cm We can look at the frequency distribution to see if it was by chance We see that only 15/1000 times does the height difference between the two random groups go greater than 5.8 cm So there is a 1.5% chance that we are wrong in our conclusion 1.5 % of the time, a difference of 5.8 cm would be due to chance Since 1.5 is a small number, we could still say that the relation is statistically significant

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Vowel and Consonant Experiment: Summary -

We considered two possibilities 1) that the difference between the means was due to chance 2) that the difference between the means occurred because of the relation between the last letter and the height Because we found that 10.4 cm difference is expected by chance less than 1/1000, we rejected the first alternative and concluded that the second was correct

Ways to see if it was by Chance -

Usually, researchers don’t repeat something randomly for 1000 times They calculate the mean and standard deviation for each group and then consult a table The table tells them how likely the difference is NOT significant Most psychologists say that 5% probability is good, but others say 1%

CHAPTER 3: Evolution, Heredity and Behavior

The Development of Evolutionary Theory Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

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Charles Darwin said that, over time, organisms originate and become adapted to their environments by biological means Biological evolution: changes that take place in the genetic and physical characteristics of a population or group of organisms over time  primary explanation of the origin of life Darwin’s theory affected many other natural sciences, including psychology Psychologists now use Darwin’s theory and new discoveries in genetics to understand behavior Many behavioral differences among organisms, both within and across species, correspond to genetic and other biological differences Understanding these biological differences and their evolution allows psychologists to understand behavior in terms of its possible origins and adaptive significance Adaptive significance: the effectiveness of heavier in aiding organisms to adapt to changing environmental conditions

Example: Novelty Seeking -

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Novelty seeking is the tendency to engage in behaviors that lead to new experiences  impulse, exploratory, excitable  reflective, stoic, slow tempered You may ask, is it more beneficial to be one or the other? What is the adaptive significance?

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We must answer these two questions: 1) What events/conditions in a person’s lifetime might contribute to a tendency to seek/avoid novelty? What function does novelty seeking (or its converse) serve in helping people adapt to the changing circumstances of life? 2) What events/conditions in the evolution of our species favored/punished novelty seekers? What functions has novelty seeking served in the history of humankind?

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If you want to understand a behavior, you must look at its present as well as its past

Ultimate Causes and Proximate Causes -

Psychologists must research on past environmental conditions favored a certain behavior and how the immediate environment influences day to day choices Psychologists must understand both the ultimate causes and proximate causes Ultimate causes: evolutionary conditions that have slowly shaped a behavior of a species over generations Proximate causes: immediate environmental events and conditions that affect behavior

Example: Sexual Behaviors of Gerbils (Clark and Galef) -

In the mother’s uterus, fetus gerbils grow beside their siblings

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

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If a male gerbil grows beside other males, they are exposed to high levels of testosterone secreted by the others The male gerbil, when grown up, will react with different sexual behaviors to a receptive female (which helps them propagate his kind) If a male gerbil grows beside females, they will grow up to act uninterested in females If they do mate, the matings are less successful Proximal cause: Testosterone from nearby brothers in the womb acts as a proximal cause for the development of sexual behaviors of these males Its absence causes a deficit in sexual proficiency You may ask, why didn’t natural selection weed out such differences, for ex, why won’t there be a reducing of the sensitivity of the fetus to testosterone in the womb? It makes sense that a sexually competent male competes better for females and so produces more offspring

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A possible solution: the males who gestated near females, when they did mate successfully, they were better fathers, spent more time with pups and their mates became sexually active more quickly

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Ultimate cause: in gerbils, there are two breeding strategies, males who are better sexual performers and males who are better parents  natural selection chooses both strategies over the history of gerbil evolution

Moral: -

Understanding adaptive behavior throughout evolution, psychologists can understand more about our ability to adapt in our immediate environment To understand the present, we must understand the past (the history of both the individual and the species) Ultimate cause  we behave as we do because we are members of the human species Proximal cause  we behave as we do because we have learned to act in special ways So both biology and the environment matters

The Field of Evolutionary Psychology -

This area of psychology looks at how an organism’s evolutionary history contributes to the development of behavior patterns and cognitive strategies related to reproduction and survival during its lifetime  looking at the evolution, focusing on the behavior

The Evolution of Culture -

Evolutionary psychology tries to understand the relation between evolution and development It could also help to understand the evolution of culture

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

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Culture: the sum of socially transmitted knowledge, customs, and behavior patterns common to a particular group of people Psychology tries to explain how thinking and behaving shape cultural adaptations to changing environmental conditions  psychology tries to see how behaviors make culture adapt over time

The Voyage of the Beagle -

1831: Darwin met captain who was looking for an unpaid naturalist and traveling buddy for a 5 year voyage on the HMS Beagle The Beagle was going to explore the coast of South America and make hydrographic measurements worldwide Darwin explored flora and fauna He collected creatures and sent them to England to be examined by European naturalists Theory of evolution was not formed at sea He was, though, impressed by the amount of diversity among related animals

The Origin of Species Artificial Selection -

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1836: Darwin returned to England and began to study collections He also reviewed the work of earlier naturalists who have speculated the concept of evolution Darwin became interested in artificial selection Artificial selection: procedure in which particular animals are deliberately mated to produce offspring that possess especially desirable characteristics  ex. you want colorful pigeons, so you only let the colorful pigeons reproduce and over time, all the pigeons will be more colorful Darwin thought: If artificial selection can produce so many varieties for pigeons, could it be for other species as well?

Natural Selection -

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Natural selection: the consequence of the fact that, because there are physical and behavioral differences among organisms, they reproduce differentially. Within a given population, some animals (survivors) will produce more offspring than will other animals  favorable variations tend to be preserved, unfavorable ones to be destroyed  the result is the formation of a new species Any animal that has a characteristics that helps to survive or adapt to changes in its environment is likely to live longer and to produce more offspring than the animals without the characteristic

Wallace vs. Darwin -

1858: Wallace recognized that natural selection may be the force for the origin of new species He sent a short description to Darwin

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

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They presented their idea together so that they have equal claim to the theory of natural selection One year later, Darwin published his abstract, The Origin of Species

Natural Selection Mayr and Darwin’s Four Insights -

Mayr said that Darwin’s contribution to evolution can be traced by to these 4 insights: 1) species are not fixed, they change over time 2) evolution if a branching process (common ancestor) 3) evolution is continuous with gradual changes 4) evolution is based on natural selection

Natural Selection -

Was the key to Darwin’s version of evolution It was based on two things: - individuals within a population show variability in heritable behavioral and physical characteristics - there is competition because the capacity of the environment to sustain a population is limited

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Darwin and Wallace noticed that these two factors means that the population with characteristics that compete better are more likely to survive and reproduce Since these characteristics are heritable, they would go into the next generation This led Darwin to think that behavioral adaptations were important to survival and so an important part of evolution

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Example: Wolves -

Faster wolves are better at capturing prey Fast wolves therefore outlive and out-reproduce slower wolves If a wolf’s tendency to run fast is a genetically controlled trait, then it will be passed on to its offspring These offspring will also be more likely to survive and reproduce

Reproductive Success -

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Reproductive success: the number of viable offspring an individual produces relative to the number of viable offspring produced by other members of the same species  the ability of an individual to produce offspring “survival of the fittest” is not necessarily the most physically fit or the strongest  it’s not so much the physical strength, but the reproductive success Physical strength does contribute to reproductive success, but there are actually many other things that contribute to such success  humans ex: good looks, charm, intelligence

Natural Selection: Variation Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

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Variation is an important factor that determines whether an animal and its offspring will have reproductive success Variation: the differences found across individuals of any given species in terms of their genetic, biological, and psychological characteristics  biological characteristics: size, strength, physiology  psychological characteristics: intelligence, sociability, behavior An individual organism’s genotype is responsible for such differences

Genotype and Phenotype -

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Genotype: an organism’s genetic makeup  it is unique except in the case of identical twins Because of differences in the genes, an individual organism’s phenotype also varies Phenotype: the outward expression of an organism’s genotype, an organism’s physical characteristics and behavior Note that an individual’s phenotype is produced by the interaction between its genotype and the environment The genotype determines how much the environment can influence an organism’s development and behavior

Example: Identical Twins -

This is an example to show that both the genotype and a favorable environment must be present for a certain phenotype to appear

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Separate identical twins are birth, make one well fed, and the other poorly fed Their phenotype will be different, the well fed one will be taller and more muscular But only if their genotype allows them to be that tall/muscular

Grant’s Study: Finches -

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Phenotypes and genotypes may or may not be selected, depending on the particular advantages they give in that immediate environment An example of this is the 13 species of finch that Darwin discovered in the Galapagos Islands The variation was beak size  small thin beaks vs. large, thick beaks  small thin beaks are for small seeds covered by weak shells  large, thick beaks are for large seeds covered by tough shells Grant looked at the relationship between rainfall, food supply, and finch population They found that the amount of rainfall and the size of the food supply directly affected the mortality of finches having certain kinds of beaks Drought  small seeds were scarce  more small beak finches died over the next few years, there were more large beak finches (natural selection)

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

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Lots of rainfall  more small seeds  more small beak finches

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Grant shows that thought evolution occurs over a long time, natural selection can make changes in only a few years Grant also shows that phenotypic variation (like beak size) can make big advantages that affect survival

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Imagine if all finches had small beaks During drought, the finches might have become extinct, so it’s good that there is variation The large beak finches survived and out-reproduced the small beak finches

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Imagine if all finches had big beaks When rain is plentiful, and small seeds are abundant, then small beak finches have an easier time feeding Under these conditions, small beak finches have the phenotypic/genotypic advantage

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Natural Selection: Competition -

Competition is also an important factor in deciding whether a particular animal and its offspring will have reproductive success

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Competition: a striving or vying with others who share the same ecological niche for food, mates and territory  due to the fact that they share the same environment, they must compete  ex. bald eagles compete for mates and for salmon

Example: Blackbirds -

Competition could also occur for members of different species  ex. yellow-headed blackbirds and red-winged blackbirds each the same foods and need the same breeding territories, but they don’t compete for mates  even though they don’t compete for mates, competing for food and territory affects reproductive success  in order to find a mate and reproduce, they must occupy a territory and be strong enough to defend it  so to be reproductively successful, they must compete with their own species as well as others

Example: Red Squirrels of Yukon -

Since 1975, the average spring temperature in the region of Kluane Lake has increased by 2 degrees Celsius due to global warming This has increased the availability of seeds that red squirrel mothers us to support their young Red squirrels must get to the seeds before other animals exhaust the supply Studies found that the average time at which a female gives birth has advanced more than 2 weeks in 10 years The squirrels are exploiting the increased availability of food, shown by the increase in number of pine cones stored in treetops

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

Carlson/Heth

PLEASE DO NOT COPY Natural Selection: Variation and Competition -

Natural selections works because of the variety of phenotypes Since phenotypes are due to genotypes, the favored phenotypes are passed to the next generation Over time, competition for food and other resources allow the best-adapted phenotypes to survive  evolutionary change

Heredity and Genetics -

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Genetics: the study of the genetic makeup of organisms and how it influences their physical and behavioral characteristics  study the structure and functions of genes  how genes are transmitted from one generation to the next  how genes operate in populations Heredity: the sum of the traits and tendencies inherited from a person’s parents and other biological ancestors  closely related to genetics Darwin knew that variety within species are key to natural selection, but he didn’t know how these adaptations were passed on to the next generation

Gregor Mendel -

Austrian monk who conducted experimental crossbreeding studies with pea plants Uncovered the basic principles of heredity Mendel showed how traits like height, flower colour, seed shape, etc. could be transmitted from one generation to the next

Genetics and Psychology -

Sometimes genetic explanations are used to understand how people develop into who they are and why they behave the way they do Genetic explanations also help us to understand the extent to which our differences are due to culture and which are due to our ancestors Also, many psychological disorders/diseases have genetic causes, in those cases, it is important to look at the person’s genetic origins

Basic Principles of Genetics -

Heredity is determined by the genetic material DNA DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid): the DNA structure resembles that of a twisted ladder. Strands of sugar and phosphates are connected by rungs made from nucleotide molecules of adenine,

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

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thymine, cytosine and guanine  the sugar and phosphate form the sides, the nucleotides form the rungs Discovered by Watson and Crick in 1953 Gene: small units of DNA that direct the synthesis of proteins and enzymes  location of a particular sequences of nucleotides along the DNA molecule  some genes have short sequences, some have long  the sequence directs the synthesis of protein molecules Genome: the total set of genetic material of an organism  for humans, it comprises of 24 different DNA molecules for women, 25 for men

Genes as “Recipes” for Protein Synthesis -

Genes influence our physical and behavioral development through protein synthesis Proteins  strings of amino acids, arranged in a chain in a specific order given by the order of the nucleotides in the DNA gene  every three nucleotides = 1 amino acid

Behavior and Genes -

There are no genes coded especially for behavior There are genes coded for physical structures and physiological processes that are related to behavior Ex. behavior: ability to learn gene: a substance called dopamine affects learning, so we may call the gene related to dopamine production “the learning gene”

Genes and Enzymes -

Genes also direct the synthesis of enzymes which control each cell’s structure and function Enzymes: proteins that regulate the structure of bodily cells and the processes occurring within those cells Faulty genes lead to faulty enzymes, which produces serious physiological and behavioral problems

Junk DNA -

Junk DNA is the name for large segments of the DNA molecule that are not involved in the direct synthesis of proteins  they are non-coding But non-coding DNA still regulates the processes of other genes that synthesize proteins by genes  junk DNA can still affect evolution

Chromosomes and Meiosis -

Most genes are located on chromosomes

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

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Chromosomes: threadlike structures in the nuclei of living cells, contains genes  some may be located in the mitochondria Genes are particular parts of chromosomes that contain recipes for particular proteins Humans have 23 individual chromosomes from each parent, so 46 in total 22 chromosomes have pairs, but the remaining pair of chromosomes only match if you are a female, they are sex chromosomes Sex chromosomes: the chromosomes that contain the instructional code for the development of male or female sex characteristics  females have two X chromosomes  males have one X and one Y Autosomes: the chromosomes that are not sex chromosomes

Sexual Reproduction and Meiosis -

It is the union of a sperm and an ovum Sperm and ova contain only one member of each chromosome pair

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Sperm and ova are different from ordinary body cells because they were produced by meiosis Meiosis: the form of cell division by which new sperm and ova are formed. The chromosomes within the cell are randomly rearranged so that new sperm and ova contain 23 individual chromosomes (half of which are found in body cells)

Siblings and Twins -

The splitting (to the poles) of the chromosomes is random so a single individual can produce 223 different ova or sperm Siblings resemble but are different because the union of a particular sperm with a particular ovum is random A couple could have many different possible children Only identical twins are genetically identical, it occurs when an ovum divides, making two identical individuals Fraternal twins are due to the woman producing two ova, which are both fertilized (resemblance is like siblings)

Sex -

Sex is determined by the sex chromosomes: there is the X chromosome and the Y chromosome Females (XX), males (XY) Each ovum contains an X chromosome Each sperm contains either an X or Y chromosome

Dominant and Recessive Traits -

One pair of chromosomes  one pair of genes (one from each parent) Genes come in different forms called alleles

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

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Alleles: alternative forms of the same gene  ex. eye colour  the colour of the eye is determined by a gene  homozygous: if parents contribute the same allele  heterozygous: if parents contribute different alleles

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When the gene combination is heterozygous, the character/trait produced is the dominant trait  dominant trait: the trait that is exhibited when an individual possesses heterozygous alleles  brown eyes is a dominant trait The trait that is not present when an individual is heterozygous is the recessive trait  recessive trait: a trait that occurs only when it is expressed by homozygous alleles  blue eyes is a recessive trait For black and hazel eyes: there are genes that influence the brown allele to code for more or less pigment in the iris

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Polygenic Control and Environmental Control -

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Genetic contribution can be very complex Protein synthesis is often under polygenic control, meaning that it is influenced not only by a single pair of genes but many more Inheritance of behavior is even more complex because of the fact that environment plays a role in the expression of polygenic traits Ex. behavior: the ability to run  there are many genetic factors, for proteins influence muscle, bone, blood, oxygen metabolism, motor coordination, etc.  there are also environmental factors, such as exercise patterns, age, nutrition, accidents, etc.

The Importance of Genetic Diversity -

There is genetic diversity and this allows for species to reproduce sexually Some organisms produce asexually: yeast, fungi, plants and trees (using the process grafting) But most organisms produce sexually, why?

Sexual Reproduction and Environment Changes -

Sexual reproduction increases a species’ ability to adapt to environmental changes  sexual reproduction leads to genetic diversity  when there is an environmental change, a genetically diverse species has a better chance of adapting  some individuals may have the genes that will allow them to survive in the new environment  that’s because genes -- > physical structures, physiological processes

Example: Fruit Fly Larvae

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

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Observation done by Kokolowski, Pereira, and Hughes (1997) Fruit fly larvae have two reactions when they encounter food Phenotype “rover” will travel in long, straight paths  rovers travel long distances to find new sources of food Phenotype “sitter” will crawl in short segments with many turns  sitters stay within the discovered patch They noticed that when fruit fly larvae were raised in crowded conditions, there were more rovers When they were raised in less crowded conditions, there were more sitters

Example: Moth Species Biston betularia -

The moth’s lifespan is very short, in a short period of time, there would be many generations Normal wing colour is very light During Industrial Revolution, many white trees were coated, so moths were more visible to predators Some survived because they had a darker wing colour, and these survivors reproduced Natural selection favours species that reproduce sexually because of the adaptive value of genetic diversity

Influences of Gender on Heredity -

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Some genes are located on the sex chromosomes Ex. hemophilia: an increased tendency to bleed from even minor injuries  usually, people only bleed for a few minutes after a cut  those who have hemophilia bleed for 30 minutes or even a few hours Hemophilia is a recessive trait, it is when this gene located on the X chromosome fails to produce a protein necessary for blood clotting It is more common in males since they only have 1 X chromosome The gene for hemophilia is called a sex-linked gene; it resides only on one of the sex chromosomes Sex-influenced genes are sex-related genes that express themselves in both males and females but more in one gender  ex. baldness when a man has one or two alleles for baldness, they are bald when a woman has one or two alleles for baldness, they are not bald  that is because the expression of baldness is influenced by sex hormones

Mutations and Chromosomal Aberrations -

Mutations or chromosomal aberrations cause changes in genetic material

Notes by Mary Lee

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Mutations: accidental alterations in the DNA code within a single gene. Mutations can be either spontaneous, occurring naturally, or the results of environmental factors such as exposure to highenergy radiation Hemophilia is a good example of a mutation It was a spontaneous mutation that was passed among the royal families of the 19th century Europe  it began with Queen Victoria who gave birth to 2 female carriers and an afflicted son Chromosomal aberration: the rearrangement of genes within chromosomes or a change in the total number of chromosomes  it involves changes in parts of a chromosome or a change in the total number Cri-du-chat syndrome is an example of a chromosomal aberration  there is a partial deletion of genetic material in chromosome 5 Children with this disorder have gastrointestinal and cardiac problems, have severe problems in mental functioning and makes crying sounds like a cat Psychologists have discovered that early special education training allows these individuals to learn self-care and communication skills  this shows that behavior caused by something genetic could still be modified by training/experience

Genetic Disorders -

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Killer genes are genes that decrease an organism’s ability to survive  on average, each person has 2 to 4 of them  usually, these lethal genes are expressed as recessive traits and it is unlikely that a couple would both have that gene A few lethal genes are dominant, however They can express themselves at different times in a lifespan  fetus may die before you realize it’s there, there could be a stillborn, or the lethal genes are expressed in adulthood

Example: Down Syndrome -

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Down syndrome: a genetic disorder caused by a chromosomal aberration results in an extra 21st chromosome. These people show impairments in physical, psychomotor and cognitive development  Named after British physician John Langdon Down Many children born with Down syndrome have heart and respiratory complications that require surgical and medical attention Frequency of Down syndrome increases with age of the mother  40% of children with Down syndrome are born to women over 40  the frequency also increases with age of the father The cause is a chromosomal aberration, it is not an inherited disorder

Example: Huntington’s Disease

Notes by Mary Lee

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Huntington’s disease: a genetic disorder caused by a dominant lethal gene in which a person experiences slow, but progressive mental and physical deterioration  tends to emerge when the person is 30-40 years old  it causes degeneration of parts of the brain  person is otherwise healthy before  then the person goes through loss of coordination and motor ability  death occurs 5-15 years after onset Since the onset of the gene is past sexual maturity, this lethal gene can be passed from parent to child before parent even is aware of the gene

Example: Phenylketonuria (PKU) -

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Phenylketonuria (PKU): a genetic disorder caused by a particular pair of homozygous recessive genes and characterized by the inability to break down phenylalanine (amino acid found in many high-protein foods). The resulting high levels of phenylalanine causes mental retardation This recessive gene makes a faulty enzyme which cannot break down phenylalanine Children are tested for PKU before leaving the hospital Those with PKU have a low-phenylalanine diet, and if the diet is followed carefully, brain development will be normal

Heredity and Behavior Genetics -

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Humans are actually much less diverse than other primates (ex. the chimpanzees) However, since we’re all born into different environment and we do have unique genetic makeup, we still differ from each other But you may ask, to what extent do heredity and the environment contribute to our differences? Imagine if everyone was raised in the exact same environment  any differences would be due to genetic differences Heritability: the amount of variability in a given trait in a given population at a given time due to genetic factors  the more a trait is influenced by genetic factors, the greater its heritability Heritability ≠ Inheritance, which was the tendency of a given trait to be passed to the next generation Heritability doesn’t apply to individuals, but to a specific population There is a field that studies the mechanisms of genetic influences on behavior Behavior genetics: the study of genetic influences on behavior Behavior geneticists try to find the roles of heredity and environment in individual differences in physical and mental abilities

Studying Genetic Influences Mendel and Mendelian Traits -

Mendel’s experiments gave us the first clue that traits could actually be heritable

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He traced traits through biological pedigrees Mendelian trait: a trait showing a classical dominant, recessive, or sex-linked pattern of inheritance. Mendelian traits are usually dichotomous and are controlled by a single locus  trait that shows standard patterns of inheritance  the traits are determined by DNA coding at a single concentrated location on the chromosome

Galton and Non-mendelian Traits -

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Galton tried to apply concepts of heredity to psychology He showed that intelligences tends to run in families Intelligence is a non-mendelian trait Non-mendelian trait: a trait that does not show the inheritance pattern described by Mendel. Non-mendelian traits are usually polygenic and show continuous variation in the phenotype  trait showing continuous variation instead of the either-or pattern of Mendel Since non-mendelian traits are polygenic, then they cannot be analyzed in the same way that Mendel analyzed his plant pedigrees

Modern Behavior Genetics -

Modern behavior geneticists use techniques that rely on both Mendel’s methods, as well as Galton’s statistical techniques The three primary tools of modern behavior genetics: artificial selection, segregation analysis, allelic association

Artificial Selection in Animals -

Any heritable trait, no matter if it is mendelian or not, can be selected in a breeding program We could study the heritability of many traits in animals using artificial selection  aggression, docility, preference for alcohol, running speed, mating behaviors If a trait is very heritable, then we should be able to modify it greatly using artificial selection

Maze Learning Experiment -

1940: conducted by Robert Tryon He wanted to see whether genetic variables influenced learning Get a bunch of rats to learn a maze Sort it into bright rats and dull rats, depending on how many errors they make Make bright rats with bright rats, dull with dull To ensure that pups weren’t learning the maze from the mothers (environment), they mixed up the pups (ex. a dull pup would be reared by a bright mother, etc.) He found that parenting didn’t matter much Over many generations, he continued to breed the brightest rats together and the dullest rats together Soon, the maze performance of the two groups no longer overlapped

Notes by Mary Lee

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Conclusion: maze learning in rats could be manipulated through artificial selection  it has high heritability

Cooper and Zubek on Maze Learning -

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There was a problem with Tryon’s experiment  heritability applies only to a specific population living in a specific environment Tryon’s results were limited by the standard lab cage environment in which rats lived in when not running the maze 1958: Cooper and Zubek showed that whether a rat is bright or dull also depends on the environment in which it lived Differences in maze ability were eliminated when bright and dull rats were reared in either environments that stimulate learning (blocks, tunnels) or environments that inhibit learning (only food and water) Therefore, environmental conditions reduces the effects of genetic differences between the bright and dull rats This makes sense because genes are not expressed if there is an important environmental factor absent

Tryon’s Research -

In the end, his research shows that over successive generations, a trait can be made to become more or less likely in a given population It does not tell us why Also, we don’t know exactly which genes were selected It could be genes related to learning, or it could be genes related to motivation to obtain the food reward at the end of the maze

The Human Genome -

2003: the entire human genome was mapped Now, behavior geneticists not only can identify specific sequences within an individual, but also synthesize sequences and insert them into an animal’s genetic code

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Genetic engineering: the new scientific discipline of manipulating genetic sequences to alter an organism’s genome  can be used to identify the function of a suspected gene and find out more about its inheritance Knockout mutation: an artificially constructed genetic sequence inserted into a gene to inactivate it  could also eliminate the gene completely  the phenotypic effect gives us a clue about the function of the inactivated gene We could also insert an active mutation into a gene to see if the insertion changes the phenotype

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Genetic Markers -

Recall that fruit fly larvae could have a rover phenotype

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1997: Osborne wanted to show that the rover phenotype is the result of a gene that controls the production of a special enzyme  he wanted to show that the rover phenotype was due to a genetic factor They used a procedure where you insert an active mutation into a gene and sees what happens to the phenotype The way that they trace natural/artificially induced mutations is by genetic markers Genetic marker: a known DNA sequence that occurs at a particular place in the chromosome  they serve as landmarks along the chromosome  they help to understand how specific DNA sequences influence physiological processes that can affect behavior, emotion, etc.

Segregation Analysis -

There are many non-mendelian psychological traits  there may be more variations than just simple categories like brown or blue  that’s because the genes for these traits are polygenic, the gene is on many chromosomes

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It’s hard to study the effects of heredity on human behavioral traits for two reasons: 1) there are ethics that stop us from manipulating a person’s genetic history or restricting them to a certain environment ex. you can’t artificially breed humans, or insert a knockout mutation 2) since humans live in such a large variety of environments, it’s hard to tell whether It’s genetics or environments (especially for non-mendelian traits)

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So what behavior geneticists do is just observe a person’s phenotype, and then analyze the sequences of nucleotides Then knowing the person’s family history, we can find the extent to which genetics are passed from one generation to the next But we still can’t see the environmental contributions on a trait, so to see this, we use twins

Twins -

Monozygotic (MZ) twins are from a single fertilized ovum that splits into two genetically identical cells (identical twins)  more similar in psychological characteristics Dizygotic (DZ) twins develop from fertilization of 2 ova (fraternal twins)  they are alike like siblings

Concordance Research -

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Concordance research: research that studies the degree of similarity between twins in their expressed traits. Twins are said to be concordant for a trait if both or neither twin expresses it, and discordant if only one twin expresses it Concordance rates range from 0-100% If we find that concordance rates of a certain trait are a lot higher for MZ twins, then we can say that the trait is strongly influenced by genetics  ex. blood type, which has 100% heritability

Notes by Mary Lee

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If we find that concordance rates of a certain trait is around the same level for MZ and DZ twins, then the effect of heredity is low  ex. religious belief has similar concordance for MZ and DZ, so it is not inherited

Twin Studies -

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Twin studies and some other studies using adopted individuals were used to study stuff and showed that genetic factors affect the following: - cognitive abilities (language, math, vocab skills) - personality traits (extroversion, emotional stability) - personality development - occurrence of psychological disorders There have also been extensive analyses of twin studies regarding heredity and intelligence

Segregation Analysis -

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Still, the best thing to do to find genetic influences to identify the DNA locations responsible So after we identify (using concordance) that a trait has strong genetic influences, we examine the segregation of various markers that we think are close to the suspected gene  the markers allow us to treat a region of a chromosome in a mendelian fashion We are especially interested in some regions called “quantitative trait loci” because they have large influences on a certain psychological characteristic

FOXP2 and Language Deficits -

The human genome has now been mapped They examined the genetics of 3 generations of a family Some members of this family had pronounced language deficits, they had problems with processing word sounds and grammar They found that all the affected had a mutation on the 7th chromosome on a gene called FOXP2 This mutation was not found in many other people outside the family who didn’t have disorder Study shows that a normally functioning FOXP2 gene is important for language (muscle movements in face and mouth) Then they compared the human genome with the mouse genome (similar to other primates)( and found that FOXP2 gene has changed since we were apes So they think that FOXP2 appeared within the 200 000 years of human evolution

Allelic Association Studies -

Since we have mapped the human genome, we can identify the alleles present at a particular place along the chromosome If we know where the gene is located, then we can specify an individual’s genotype If we know a gene interacts with brain neurochemicals, then we would look at those genes when we want to study psychological traits

Novelty Seeking and D4DR gene

Notes by Mary Lee

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Recall novelty seeking, which is related to personality We have found that our personality is closely related to 5 factors Novelty seeking is tied with 2 factors: high degree of extroversion and low degree of conscientiousness  twin studies show that these two have moderate heritability So we know that genetics moderately contribute to novelty seeking

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Novelty seeking is also related to dopamine (chemical) The gene D4DR is for synthesis of proteins that react to dopamine  so D4DR gene may influence novelty seeking

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To test if D4DR gene really influences novelty seeking, we used allelic association studies  we looked at the association between the two alleles of D4DR and the scores for novelty seeking They found that presence of one of the alleles was associated with high novelty seeking scores

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D4DR = novelty seeking gene? -

However, even if D4DR is named the “novelty-seeking gene”, its effect is small and the trait is most likely polygenetic Wahlsten (1999), through 10 allelic association studies with D4DR, found that the gene actually only influenced 3-4% on the novelty seeking scores They predicted that 10 genes control this trait, which means that D4DR contribution is very small This shows that genetic analysis doesn’t give an finite answer, because it depends on the environment, and there could be one unknown variable involved

Epigenetics -

Epigenetics is an emerging field of research  it examines inherited modifications that do not involve changes in the genetic code Examples of epigenetic changes - X chromosome inactivation - paramutations - prion self-replication

Humans and Evolution -

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Darwin didn’t really apply evolution to humans  the science at that time placed severe limits on the time available to happen for evolution 1858: Thompson (Lord Kelvin) said Earth was around 100 million years old  he used calculations for time required for Earth to cool  Rutherford later found that it was 4.5 billion years because of radioactive decay Finally, Darwin published The expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals

Natural Selection in Human Evolution

Notes by Mary Lee

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Recall the importance of diversity to finches Our species is also diverse (homo sapiens) Some paleoarchaeologists say that there used to be many human species Our species evolved over time and was also the only surviving descendant of the hominid line (we were competitively superior to the other human species) You many ask, what are the characteristics that made our line so successful?

History of the Homonid Line -

The ancestral branching of our species is unclear 4.4 million years ago in Africa, there lived an early hominid Ardipithecus ramidus  after them there were 2 species similar to us: Australopithecus anamensis and Australopithecus afarensis  they were like us because of bipedalism: the ability to move about the environment upright on two feet  these species showed the ape-like ability to climb trees

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3 to 2 million years ago, the hominid line split in 2 This may be due to the African environment become drier, making changes in the food source The two lines were 1) genus Paranthropus, with powerful jaws to crush plants and nuts 2) continued from Australopithecus

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2.5 to 1.8 million years ago, there were 2 distinct new species that made the genus Homo: Homo ruddfensis, Homo habilis (means handy man because of stone tools)

Tools = Advantage -

Homo habilis had an advantage if they really used stone tools By then, there were 4 homonid species in East Africa, and so tools meant an advantage for food competition By then, hominids showed encephalization: an increase in brain size  bigger brains = more metabolic energy = tolls needed to get more calories But the use of the stone tools is still unclear  it could be for raising their children  it could be that they carried their tools to scavenge meals opportunistically

New Tools: A Certain Kind of Technology -

1.8 million years ago, hominids left Africa Homo erectus was found as far as java and China They used tools where they chipped at larger stones until they became a hand axe

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600 000 years ago, Africa, Homo heidelbergensis planned more for their tools  they made it so a well directed blow would detach the finished tool

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From them came the last 2 major hominid groups: Homoneanderthalensis (Neanderthals) and Homo sapiens We originated in Africa 150 000 – 200 000 years ago and lived with the Neanderthals for awhile Two characteristics of us that natural selection favored: bipedalism (greater mobility, use of hands) and encephalization (learning, remembering skills, tool making, escaping predators)

The Need for Encephalization -

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You may think, the Paranthropus hominids adapted to their drier environment by having stronger jaws, it makes sense But why did we all of a sudden, develop a larger brain? 1993: Dunbar said that Homo species were in an environment that favored large groups  a large brain is then needed to remember things that underlie all social interactions  he found that encephalization was correlated with the typical size of that species’ social group  according to this relationship, then the typical group size of modern humans is 148 Large brains may have been our advantage because it helped us to coordinate socially and meet environmental challenges as a group As the brain got larger, more and more of it became for organizing social life  memorizing actions (hunting and tool production)  linguistic ability  manipulating symbols  planning (hunts, social customs, planting/harvesting crops)

Language -

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Tool making and hunting advances, and the use of fire all helped humans survive longer There was more wisdom in the older members Eventually, the wisdom was passed on to younger members through language From then on, language evolved because it was so adaptively significant  use it to warm others of danger  to communicate information like good hunting spots, how to make a tool  language reinforced the strong social tendencies of the early humans Dunbar said that language replaced grooming behavior Language probably then led to cultural traditions

Neanderthals vs. Homo sapiens -

Neanderthals became extinct 25 000 years ago Homo sapiens have survived for 200 000 years The two species overlapped and it’s unclear if there was interbreeding Neanderthals had a cultural tradition, they used symbols in art Culture has adapted over the years

Cultural Evolution

Notes by Mary Lee

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Cultural evolution: the adaptive changes of cultures in response to environmental changes over time  agricultural revolution, Industrial Revolution, technological revolution  cultural evolution is only possible because humans have the capacity for learning and language Cultural evolution, unfortunately, leads to pollution, social ills/injustices (racism), and overpopulation

Evolution of our Capacity for Learning -

Harris says that our capacity for learning has also evolved, and so it allows 1) more flexible and faster way to have reproductive success 2) groups of people can adjust in one generation without waiting for genetic mutation  we now have cures for many diseases so we don’t have to wait many years for us to become immune to it

Sociobiology -

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Sociobiology: the study of the genetic bases of social behavior  it is related to evolutionary psychology and behavior genetics, which are more broad  sociobiology looks at social behavior as well as things like intelligence, cognition  they try to understand evolutionary roots of our modern day social actions  they first study animals, then extrapolate to humans  sociobiology is the line between psychology and biological science One thing that sociobiologists study is reproductive strategies and parenting

Reproductive Strategies and the Biological Basis of Parenting -

Reproduction and parenting are the most important social behaviors related to survival Sociobiology tries to understand the different kinds of social organization due to different reproductive strategies Reproductive strategies: different systems of mating and rearing offspring  monogamy, polygyny, polyandry, polygynandry ONE MALE

MANY MALES

ONE FEMALE

Monogamy

Polyandry

MANY FEMALES

Polygyny

Polygynandry

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For humans, 84% polygyny, 15% monogamy

Parental Investment  Competition

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Why are there four different reproductive strategies? Trivers (1972) said that the 4 reproductive strategies evolved because of sex differences in the resources that the parents invest Parental investment: the resources (time, physical effort, risks to life) that a parent spends in procreation and in feeding, nurturing, protecting offspring  this is a factor in mate selection  that’s because someone who is willing to make a greater investment are more sought after as a mate, and they are more selective in finding a mate Sometimes, competition for these mates leads to sexual selection: selection for traits specific to sex (body size, particular patterns of behavior, etc.) Ex. buffalo: females like males who can survive the skirmishes of the mating season (usually the larger, more aggressive males) Sexual selection has its costs also Ex. male elephant seals: they fight for mates, so they’ve evolved to be very large compared to the females  if they are too large, their mobility and fighting goes down, and they can’t find enough food to sustain their size

Females and Males -

Females who are more choosy produced more offspring Males who mate with more females produced more offspring Females are interested in the quality of their offspring (so are selective) Males are interested in the quantity of offspring

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But keep in mind that humans are also affected by culture

Polygyny: High F Investment, Low M Investment -

Often, females make the greater parental investment, you can take for example mammals

Female Investment - Less opportunities to reproduce - Carry fertilized ovum after long period (give up own metabolic resources) - Risks of pregnancy and childbirth - Nurse after birth - Number of offspring limited by ova

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Male Investment - Sperm (which they have many) - Time for intercourse

Males’ limit of offspring is only limited by the number of mates who they can impregnate

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The record for most offspring: F 69, M 1056

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In polygyny, female investment is so high that they are highly selective of mates  so their offspring will tend to have the same attributes as the father and further on win their own mate As a result, the favored sexual traits like large strength and size continue on to future generations

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Monogamy: Shared (not always equal) Parental Investment -

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Monogamy is common in environments that favored contribution of both parents to the survival and reproductive success of their offspring 2 individuals share parental duties, and enjoy more reproductive success than if they were doing it alone Ex. foxes need to give to pups food, milk and protection - if there is only one fox, it puts the pups at risk - to go hunting, they would either have to be left behind unprotected, or tag along Though the investment is shared between the parents, it is not always equal Females still invest more  less mating opportunities, pregnancy risks, nursing, time and energy for caring Patterns of reproductive behavior and parental investment are actually similar to polygynous (since it is shared)

Polyandry: High M Investment, Low F Investment -

Polyandry is rare among humans and is non-existent among mammals Ex. Himalayan villages Harsh environment, and land is barely arable Farmland is inherited through paternal side of the family To prevent chopping up their land, many brothers marry the same woman Woman is then more supported, and food and income is protected

Polygynandry: Group Parental Investment -

Ex. chimpanzees They live in colonies where at mating season, intercourse is frequent and indiscriminant The primary advantage: cooperation in the colony in rearing offspring The males protect all the offspring and defend all the mothers There is unity in the colony, lack of aggression Many mates access and offspring are well cared for

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Ex. Smith’s longspur  though males then to care more for nests where they had more offspring

The Biological Basis of Altruism

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Another social behavior that sociobiologists try to explain is altruism  it is the centre of the sociobiological theory Altruism: the unselfish concern of one individual for the welfare of another ex. when a person risks their life to save another’s  also common in the rest of the animal kingdom ex. honeybee stings intruder to protect others, then dying prairie dog warms of intruders (make a call), but increases his own chances of being captured In altruism, the altruist’s chances of survival and reproductive success decreases while for others, it goes up

A New Way to Look at Reproductive Success -

Altruism is a problem for sociobiology since sociobiology is based on natural selection Natural selection is there to select individuals, it favors the phenotypes that enhance one’s reproductive success So how did altruistic behavior continue on if it is less adaptive than selfish competitive behavior? Hamilton explained it in terms of inclusive fitness He looked at natural selection from the point of view of the genotype He says that natural selection does favor reproductive success, but more specifically on inclusive fitness, the continuing on of your genes Inclusive fitness: the reproductive success of those who share common genes Altruistic acts are aimed at close relatives, the closer the relation, the more likely the genetic similarity Kin selection: a type of selection that favors altruistic acts aimed at individuals who share some of the altruist’s genes (close relatives and under some conditions, distant relatives) Parenting is a form of kin selection Parents do this because it means that they are increasing the survival of their own genes So individuals behave altruistically toward others with whom they share a genetic history, and the willingness goes down as the relative distance goes up So altruism isn’t a conscious act, but rather, it’s favored by natural selection What’s at stake is more the survival of the genes rather than the survival of the individual organisms, so altruism could be seen as a genetically selfish act

Reciprocal Altruism -

What then explains altruism toward non-relatives? It doesn’t help with the survival of the altruist’s genes Trivers (1971): this type of altruism is called reciprocal altruism: altruism in which people behave altruistically toward one another because they are confident that such acts will be reciprocated toward either them or their kin  the biological version of the golden rule

Notes by Mary Lee

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If this reciprocal altruism increases the changes that altruistic behavior is reciprocated, then it will be promoted by natural selection

Reciprocal Altruism Conditions 1) Giving help must have low risk to altruist, high benefit to recipient  there’s a cost-benefit ratio, the lower the cost to themselves and the greater the benefit for others, the more likely the altruistic act 2) There must be a good chance that the situation could be reversed  the altruist must be likely to benefit from the same action from the recipient 3) The more familiar the two people are, the more likely the act Sociobiology vs. Evolutionary Psychology -

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Sociobiology looks at broad mating strategies and examples of both humans and non-humans Evolutionary psychologists look at specific mating strategies, they look at more particular aspects of psychological processes ex. Daly and Wilson (2001) looked specifically at the sex differences in behavior in terms of decisions involving risks In a nutshell, sociobiology looks at brain functions and applies broadly to behavior Evolutionary psychology looks at behavior then goes back to the brain functions

Criticizing Sociobiology CRITIC We can’t learn important human social behavior with the use of non-human animals. We can’t only explain human social behavior in the genetic terms, ignoring the environment.

All sociobiologists do is put one group over another.

RESPONSE It is important to use non-humans to understand human genetics and physiology through generalization. We are looking at how genes and the environment interact to produce phenotypes. Genes give behavioral capacity, while the environment shapes the behavior. The point of sociobiology is to understand social behavior, not find justification.

CHAPTER 4: Biology of Behavior -

Human brain is the most important living tissue, the only object capable of studying itself One kg and a half Contains our perceptions, thoughts, memories, emotions, desires If there were a brain transplant, we would say that the owner of the brain is getting a new body, instead of the reverse If there were a brain transplant of your younger clone, you would get the clone’s memories, thoughts and personality Brains change, maturation and experience cause physical changes

Notes by Mary Lee

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The Brain and Its Components -

Brain contains 10 billion – 100 billion nerve cells, as well as many helper cells There are many types of nerve cells, differing in shape, size and chemicals they produce Flourens: different parts of the nervous system were responsible for different functions Physiological psychologists: many memory functions (ex) are distributed over large areas of the brain

Donald Hebb -

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He looked at how individual nerve cells were organized into larger units He proposed some specific organizations of these units He said that these larger units could generate higher processes of the brain (memory, thought, decision making) Mostly, Hebb showed that to understand brain functions, we must understand it in terms of both the individual cells and the larger networks that they make up Later, neuroscientists found that nerve cells of the brain are organized into modules (clusters of nerve cells that communicate with each other) Modules are then connected to other neural circuits Receive info  process info  send results to other modules

Structure of the Nervous System -

The brain has 3 major functions: controlling behavior, processing/retaining information we get from the environment and regulating the body’s physiological processes  the brain doesn’t do all this by itself  the brain gets information from the body’s sense receptors  the brain is connected to muscles and glands of the body since it needs to affect behavior and physiological processes

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Central nervous system: the brain and the spinal cord Spinal cord: a long, thin collection of nerve cells attached to the base of the brain and running the length of the spinal column  it contains circuits of nerve cells that control some simple reflexes (like when you touch something hot) The way that the CNS communicates with other parts of the body is using nerves nerve: a bundle of fibres that transmits information between the CNS and the body’s sense organs, muscles and glands Peripheral nervous system: the cranial and spinal nerves’ that part of the nervous system peripheral to the brain and spinal cord  the nerves that are attached to the spinal cord and the base of the brain are the peripheral nervous system

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Sensory information goes from the sensory organs to the CNS Cranial nerve: nerve attached to the base of the brain; conveys sensory information from the face and head and carries messages to muscles and glands  information goes from the head/neck region to the brain through the cranial nerves Spinal nerve: nerve attached to the spinal cord; conveys sensory information from the body and carries messages to muscles and glands  sensory information from the rest of the body goes to the spinal cord through the spinal nerves Both the cranial nerves and the spinal nerves also carry information away from the CNS

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There are 3 main parts to the human brain: brain stem, cerebellum, cerebral hemispheres Brain stem: the “stem” of the brain, includes the medulla, pons and midbrain  one of most primitive regions of the brain  basic functions: control physiological functions and automatic behaviors  some animals, like amphibians, most of their brain is the brain stem and a simple cerebellum

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Cerebral hemisphere: the largest part of the brain; covered by the cerebral cortex and contains parts of the brain that have evolved recently Cerebellum: a part of the hemispheres resembling the cerebral hemispheres but much smaller and lying beneath and in back of them; controls posture and movements, especially rapid ones

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The CNS is important to an animal’s survival, so it must be well protected The brain is in the skull and the spinal cord runs through a column of hollow bones called the vertebrae  vertebra: one of the bones that encase the spinal cord and constitute the vertebral column Furthermore, both the brain and the spinal cord are enclosed by meninges  meninges: the three-layered set of membranes that enclose the brain and spinal cord  meningitis is the inflammation of the meninges

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The brain and the spinal cord don’t touch the bones of the skull and vertebrae, they float in a clear liquid  cerebrospinal fluid (CSF): the liquid in which the brain and spinal cord float; it provides a shock-absorbing cushion  the liquid fills the space between 2 of the meninges, it protects the brain and spinal cord from being bruised by the bones that encase them

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Not only is the brain protected physically, but also chemically The capillaries in the brain allow fewer substances to pass from the blood to the brain  blood-brain barrier: a barrier between the blood and the brain produced by the cells in the walls of the brain’s capillaries; prevents some substances from passing from the blood into the brain  it makes it so that toxic chemicals that we ingest are less likely to get into our brain where they could damage neurons, but the barrier is not foolproof

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

Carlson/Heth

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The surface of the cerebral hemispheres is covered by the cerebral cortex cerebral cortex: the outer layer of the cerebral hemispheres of the brain, approx. 3 mm thick We often call the cerebral cortex “grey matter” because of its appearance grey matter: the portions of the CNS that are abundant in cell bodies of neurons rather than axons. The colour is grey. In the cerebral cortex is where perceptions take place, memories are stored, plans are formed and executed The nerve cells in the cerebral cortex are connected to other parts of the brain by a layer of nerve fibres called white matter white matter: the portions of the CNS that are abundant in axons rather than cell bodies of neurons. The colour white is from the axons’ myelin sheaths.

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The cerebral cortex is very wrinkled and it has bulges and grooves Bulges = gyri Grooves = fissures  both gyri and fissures increase the surface area of the brain and so increase the number of nerve cells it can contain  animals with the largest/most complex brains are the most wrinkled, they have the largest cerebral cortex

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Muscles, glands and sense organs + the CNS are connected through nerves of the peripheral nervous system Nerves do incoming and outgoing information

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Cells of the Nervous System -

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Neuron: a nerve cell; consists of a cell body with dendrites and an axon whose branches end in terminal buttons that synapse with muscle fibres, gland cells, or other neurons  they are the elements of the nervous system Neurons can receive information from other neurons (or cells of sensory organs), process it, communicate it to another neuron (or muscle, gland, organ cells) Glial cell: a cell of the CNS that provides support for neurons and supplies them with some essential chemicals  from Greek word for glue because at one time, we thought that glia held neurons in place Glia actually do more than just hold the neurons in place  can form long fibres that guide developing neurons from birthplace to final place (this is during the development of the brain)  can make chemicals that neurons need for their tasks  can absorb chemicals that would otherwise mess with the neuron’s functioning  can form a protective insulating sheaths  act as the brain’s nervous system, stop invading micro-organisms Dendrite: a tree-like part of a neuron on which other neurons form synapses  mostly just receives messages from other neurons

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

Carlson/Heth

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 comes from Dendron = tree, because they are like branches that transmit the messages to the “trunk” (the cell body) Dendrite spine: a small bud-like protuberance on the surface of a neuron’s dendrite  found in neurons in the brain

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Soma: a cell body, largest part of the neuron  contains the mechanisms that control the metabolism and maintenance of the cell  also receives messages from other neurons

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Axon: a long, thin part of a neuron attached to the soma; divides into a few or many branches, ending in terminal buttons  carries messages away from the soma, towards the cells that it is communicating to  the messages are called action potentials (brief changes in the electrical charge of the axon)

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Terminal button: the rounded swelling at the end of the axon of a neuron; releases transmitter substance  they rest on the dendrites, dendritic spines, the soma or the axon of another neuron Neurotransmitter: a chemical released by the terminal buttons that causes the postsynaptic neuron to be excited or inhibited  it is secreted when an AP is sent down the axon  so as you can see, the message is passed from one neuron to the next chemically  most drugs that affect the nervous system (and so behavior) affect the chemical transmission of messages

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Myelin sheath: the insulating material that encases most large axons  it is the reason why the white matter beneath the cerebral cortex is white  part protein, part fat  made by glial cells that wrap parts of themselves around parts of the axon  there are bare patches where there is no myelin sheath  insulates axons from one another  increases the speed of an AP

Multiple Sclerosis -

It is when a person’s immune system begins to attack parts of his CNS Autopsy of the CNS will show hardened, damaged tissue Immune system attacks a protein in the myelin sheath, stripping it away Neurons can no longer function normally

The Excitable Axon: The Action Potential -

Recall Helmholtz found that the speed of an AP is much slower than electricity through a wire Membrane of axon is electrically charged Resting potential: - 70 mV

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

Carlson/Heth

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Action potential: a brief electrochemical event that is carried by an axon from the soma of the neuron to its terminal buttons; causes the release of a transmitter substance  reversal in the electric charge of axon

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The electric charge is caused by unequal distribution of ions in the axon and in the fluid around it Ions: positively/negatively charged particles; produced when substances dissolve in water Ion channel: a special protein molecule located in the membrane of a cell; controls the entry or exit of particular ions  can open and close  membrane of axon contains Na+ and K+ channels Ion transporter: a special protein molecule in the membrane of a cell; actively transports ions into or out of the cell  work like pumps  need energy of the cell to move ions

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During resting, outside is more positive because there are more negative ions on inside At action potential, some ion channels open, allowed Na+ ions to enter, so there is a reversal of the membrane potential This reversal at this point causes nearby ion channels to open and so there is another reversal that the new point also, and this goes on until the terminal buttons Action potential is very brief Na+ channels close, K+ channels open, allowing K+ to exit the cell This restores the normal electrical charge Eventually, ion transporters pump Na+ ions out and K+ ions back in

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All-or-none law: the principle that once an action potential is triggered in an axon, it is propagated, without getting smaller, to the end of the axon  there is no such thing as a large/small AP  the AP either happens or it doesn’t happen

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Messages are not conveyed by a single AP, but rather, the information is represented by an axon’s rate of firing Sensory neuron: a neuron that detects changes in the external or internal environment and sends information about these changes to the CNS  strong stimuli, like bright lights, trigger a high rate of firing in the axons of sensory neurons that receive visual information Motor neuron: a neuron whose terminal buttons form synapses with muscle fibres. When an AP travels down its axon, the associated muscle fibres with twitch  high rate of firing in these axons will cause strong muscular contractions

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Synapses -

Synapse: the junction between the terminal button of one neuron and the membrane of a muscle fibre, a gland, or another neuron  neurons communicate with other cells by means of synapses

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

Carlson/Heth

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Presynaptic neuron: a neuron whose terminal buttons form synapses with and excite/inhibit another neuron  releases the neurotransmitters Postsynaptic neuron: a neuron with which the terminal buttons of another neuron form synapses and that is excited/inhibited by that neuron  receives the message/detects the neurotransmitters A neuron can be connected with many terminal buttons Let’s look at the relation between a motor neuron and a muscle When there is an AP in the motor neuron, all the muscle fibres that have synapses with it will contract a short twitch One muscle has many muscle fibres and so one muscle must be controlled by many motor neurons Strength of muscular contraction is proportional to rate of firing of the axons There are two types of synapses: excitatory and inhibitory Excitatory synapse  makes it more likely that the axons of postsynaptic neurons will fire - if there are many of these, the axon will fire at a high rate Inhibitory synapse  makes it less likely that the axons of postsynaptic neurons will fire - if there are many of these, the axon will fire at a low rate or not at all Terminal buttons contain many synaptic vesicles, filled with molecules of the neurotransmitter When AP reaches terminal button, neurotransmitters are released into the synaptic cleft: a fluidfilled space between the presynaptic and postsynaptic membranes; the terminal button releases transmitter substance into this space The terminal button does not touch the postsynaptic neuron

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The neurotransmitters either excite or inhibit the postsynaptic cell, depending on the neurotransmitter receptors Neurotransmitter receptor: a special protein molecule located in the membrane of the postsynaptic neuron that responds to molecules of the neurotransmitter Neurotransmitters attach to the receptor molecules and activate them Then the receptor molecules produce excitatory/inhibitory effects on the postsynaptic neuron by opening ion channels Excite: allow sodium ions to enter Inhibit: allow potassium ions to leave

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Recall that MS is caused by the immune system attacking the myelin sheaths Myasthenia gravis: disorder where the immune system attacks neurotransmitter receptors

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Like the AP, the excitation/inhibition produced by a synapse is brief, they are terminated by reuptake

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Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

Carlson/Heth

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Reuptake: the process by which a terminal button retrieves the molecules of transmitter substance that it has just released; terminates the effect of the transmitter substance on the receptors of the postsynaptic neuron How fast the neurotransmitters are taken back determines how long the effects of the neurotransmitters on the post neuron will be Some drugs affect the nervous system by slowing the rate of reuptake

Drugs and Behavior -

Long ago, people found that plants could change perceptions and behavior, change moods, could relieve pain/treat diseases or can be used as poisons to kill animals These chemicals are in plants because they are meant to be toxic to insects, and some have been found to be beneficial to humans Bad: abuse of addictive drugs Good: we use them to find how the brain works, and we’ve found drugs that help with anxiety and mental disorders

Effects of Drugs on Synaptic Transmission -

The way that drugs can affect our emotions and behavior is because it affects the activity of neurons in the brain Drugs affect the neurotransmitter process in three ways 1) stimulate/inhibit the release of neurotransmitters 2) stimulate/block postsynaptic receptors 3) inhibit reuptake of neurotransmitters

Stimulating/Inhibiting the Release of Neurotransmitters -

Ex. a drug could stimulate terminal buttons to release neurotransmitters even when there is no AP Ex. a drug could stop the release of neurotransmitters even when there is an AP The effects of a drug is usually specific to a one neurotransmitter

Stimulating/Blocking Postsynaptic Receptors -

Ex. a drug could stimulate postsynaptic receptors, causing ions channels to open for no reason Ex. a drug could mimic neurotransmitter and stimulate postsynaptic receptors  the drug could act like a master key that acts as any neurotransmitter Ex. a drug could bind to a postsynaptic receptor and stay there, blocking it (plugs the lock)

Inhibiting Reuptake -

Recall that usually the effects of neurotransmitters are brief, because of reuptake Inhibiting reuptake will increase the effects of the neurotransmitters

Neurotransmitters: Their Actions, and Drugs that Affect Them

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

Carlson/Heth

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Most synaptic communication in the brain is due to two neurotransmitters The main excitatory neurotransmitter: glutamate The main inhibitory neurotransmitter: GABA

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What about the other neurotransmitters? What do they do? They have modulating effects, rather than transmitting effects They activate/inhibit entire circuits of neurons involved in a particular brain function

Glutamate -

The most important excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain and also the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the spinal cord All the neurons between sensory neurons and the brain (except those that detect painful stimuli) use glutamate as the neurotransmitter There are many glutamate receptors, one is called the NMDA receptor Plays a role in brain development, learning, and is deactivated by alcohol (explains why they can’t remember what happened while they were drunk)

GABA -

The drugs that depress behavior, cause relaxation/loss of consciousness acts on the GABAA receptor, increasing its sensitivity to GABA

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Barbiturate: a drug that causes sedation, comes from barbituric acid  this drug increases sensitivity to GABA  low doses have calming effect  high doses have difficulty in walking and talking, unconsciousness, coma and death  low dose and high dose are actually quite close

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Ethyl alcohol is a commonly depressant drug, is found in alcoholic beverages  also acts on the GABAA receptor  medium dose of ethyl alcohol + medium dose of barbiturate can be fatal

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Anti-anxiety drug: a “tranquilizer” which reduces anxiety Benzodiazepine: a class of drug having anxiolytic (tranquilizing) effects (ex. Valium)  much safer than barbiturates  used for people with periodic anxiety attacks  can serve as sleep medicines These drugs also act on the GABAA receptor, especially in location of brain related to fear and anxiety

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Acetylcholine (ACh) -

Acetylcholine: a neurotransmitter found in the CNS and parts of the peripheral nervous system; responsible for muscular contraction

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

Carlson/Heth

PLEASE DO NOT COPY  the primary neurotransmitter used by motor neurons -

In the brain, ACh…. Activates the brain mechanisms responsible for REM sleep Activates neurons in the cerebral cortex and facilitating learning Controls the functions of the hippocampus, which is also involved in learning

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There are 2 drugs that affect the release of acetylcholine Botulinum toxin: a drug that prevents the release of ACh by terminal buttons  so it inhibits muscular contractions  found in improperly canned foods  botox is used to stop muscular contractions that cause wrinkles Black widow spider venom: a drug that stimulates the release of ACh by terminal buttons  so it promotes muscular contractions  fatal to the young and elderly

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Though most neurotransmitter go through uptake, ACh is deactivated by an enzyme present in the postsynaptic membrane  acetylcholinesterase: AChE AChE can be deactivated by various drugs (this is like slowing down reuptake) Neostigmine: a drug that enhances the effects of ACh by blocking AChE  helps people with myasthenia gravis  by blocking AChE, ACh has a more prolonged effect and so they regain strength

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Nicotine: a drug that binds with and stimulates ACh receptors, mimicking the effects of this neurotransmitter  nicotine pretends to be ACh  found in tobacco plant, is highly addictive

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Curare: a drug that binds with and blocks ACh receptors  it is a plug on the ACh receptors  causes paralysis, but person is still conscious and sensitive to pain  used for surgeries

Monoamines -

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Monoamine: a category of neurotransmitters including dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin  some drugs can affect all these monoamines since they are so similar in structure  produced by some systems of neurons in the brain Neurons that use monoamines as neurotransmitters modulate the function of widespread regions of the brain, they increase/decrease the activities of particular brain functions Dopamine: (DA) a monoamine neurotransmitter involved in the control of brain mechanisms involved movement and reinforcement  movement, attention, learning, reinforcing effects of drugs

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

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Parkinson’s disease: a neurological disorder characterized by tremors, rigidity of the limbs, poor balance, difficulty initiating movements  there is degeneration of a system of dopamine-secreting neurons  so there is not enough dopamine secreted, and dopamine is needed for movements  treated with the drug L-DOPA, which is converted to dopamine in the brain Dopamine is related to Parkinson’s disease, and also schizophrenia  hallucinations, delusions, disruption of normal, logical thought processes  treated with the drug Thorazine, Clozaril, they block dopamine receptors There are some drugs that inhibit the reuptake of dopamine  amphetamine and cocaine Since people abuse these drugs, it shows us that it has to do with reinforcement

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Norepinephrine: (NE) a monoamine neurotransmitter involved in alertness and vigilance and control of REM sleep

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Serotonin: a monoamine neurotransmitter involved in the regulation of mood and pain; control of eating, sleep, arousal  also involved in REM sleep, like NE  Prozac is drug that inhibits reuptake of serotonin and is used to treat depression, anxiety and OCD  drug that promotes release of serotonin was used to suppress appetite If a person has deficiency in the release of serotonin in the cerebral cortex, it is associated with alcoholism and anti-social behavior

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LSD: lysergic acid diethylamide; a hallucinogenic drug that blocks a category of serotonin receptors

Peptides -

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Recall that terminal buttons excite/inhibit post-synaptic neurons by the release of neurotransmitters into the synaptic cleft However, some neurons release chemicals that get into the general circulation of the brain and stimulate receptors on thousands on neurons, some really far away  neuromodulators Neuromodulators: a substance secreted in the brain that modules the activity of neurons that contain the appropriate receptors  like the brain’s own drugs, they diffuse through the brain and activate/inhibit circuits of neurons  it can affect many different neurons and so can affect/control many kinds of behavior Most neuromodulators are peptides Peptides: a category of neurotransmitters and neuromodulators that consists of two or more amino acid, linked by peptide bonds

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

Carlson/Heth

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One type of peptides is called endogenous opioids: a neuromodulator  its action is mimicked by natural/synthetic opiate such as opium, morphine, heroin  reduces sensitivity to pain and gives the tendency to persist in ongoing behavior Opioids are released when an animal is doing a species-typical behavior, like mating or fighting They are then less sensitive to pain and continue the important behavior Opiates are related to dopamine, because it also causes the release of dopamine in the brain, giving that reinforcing effect (addiction) It leads to addictions because it reinforces the person with their ongoing behavior

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Naloxone: a drug that binds with and blocks opioid receptors, preventing opiate drugs/endogenous opioids from exerting their effects  is injected in people with heroin-coma  they block the opioid receptors, opiate can no longer bind, and loses its effect

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Other roles of peptide neuromodulators - behaviors important for survival (eating, metabolism, drinking, mineral balance…) - can reduce/augment anxiety - can promote/curb appetite

Cannabinoids -

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The plant Cannabis sativa produces hemp and mj It produces a resin containing THC that has an effect on perception and behavior Endogenous cannabinoids: a neuromodulator  its action is mimicked by THC and other drugs in mj So in mj is made from the plant, and it contains THC which acts like the modulator endogenous cannabinoid THC has many effects: - promotes analgesia and sedation - stimulates appetite - reduces nausea by drugs used to treat cancer - relieves asthma attacks - decreases pressure in the eye of glaucoma patients - reduces symptoms of some motor disorders THC, unfortunately: - interferes with concentration and memory - alters what you see and hear - messes with your perception of the passage of time

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Anandamide: the most important endogenous cannabinoid

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Cannabinoid receptors are found on many different neurons, the ones that secrete glutamate, GABA, ACh, dopamine, NE, serotonin

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

Carlson/Heth

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That’s why smoking mj, so the secretion of anadamide in the brain, can affect so many neurotransmitters and has many effects on the brain ex. it disrupts short-term memory

Study of the Brain -

Science has advanced, so now we have many research methods with which to study the brain, identify neurons and their particular neurotransmitters We have special microscopes that we use to observe the movement of ions through ion channels We can activate or insert certain genes to study changes in the behavior This section introduces the many research methods used by physiological psychologists

Experimental Ablation -

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Must study the brain and its biological processes in order to understand behavior The brain responds to disease, accident and genes The earliest research method was all about the study of change Flourens and Broca: found there to be a correlation between behavioral deficit and physical disruption of a specific part of the brain  this can be studied more in the lab, by disrupting the brain and seeing the effect in behavior Brain lesion: damage to a particular region of the brain; same as experimental ablation If a particular behavior is disrupted then we can draw a correlation between the behavior, and that area of the brain

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There are steps to make a brain lesion: anaesthetize, drill hole in skull To reach a deep region of the brain, we use the device stereotaxic apparatus: device used to insert an electrode into a particular part of the brain for the purpose of recording electrical activity, stimulating the brain electrically, or producing localized damage

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Electrolytic lesions: using electric current to heat and destroy a part of the brain Excitotoxic lesions: using a chemical that causes lethal overstimulation of neurons Reversible lesions: using anaesthetics that temporarily suppress action of a region

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We can also manipulate the genes that control the nervous system, you could think of it as the neurochemical version of experimental ablation Ex. we hypothesize that a specific neurotransmitter performs a certain function We use a targeted mutation: a mutated gene (knockout gene) produced in the lab and inserted into chromosomes of mice; abolishes the normal effects of the gene  we produce a non-functional version of this neurotransmitter Say after we implant the knockout gene, the function is eliminated, then we know that there is a relationship

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Ex. the sleep disorder narcolepsy - a targeted mutation prevented production of a particular peptide and the person got narcolepsy

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

Carlson/Heth

PLEASE DO NOT COPY - so we now know that narcolepsy is caused by the degeneration of the neurons that use this particular peptide

Visualizing the Structure of the Brain -

Keep in mind that the brain’s ability to process information is all due to physical connections of neurons We have found different techniques to trace or map these connections

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The brain is always changing It is growing in volume as an individual develops from an embryo to an adult It is also modified by experience even after the physical maturation is done Synapses form and disappear, dendrites grow and shrink, axons become myelinated The brain exhibits neural plasticity: the production of changes in the structure and functions of the nervous system, induced by environmental events

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We have found techniques to trace the effects of neural plasticity, this is done by marking or staining neurons chemically Ex. some chemicals are good at marking a certain % of the neuron, like especially the dendrites  good for examining the growth of dendrites and possible changes in number of synapses Ex. some chemicals focus on the axonal growth  in mice, mutations where axons all converge in one area Sometimes, we use staining techniques when someone has died from a brain injury and we want to perform an autopsy to see location of injury (this has been taken over by new techniques of radiography and nuclear medicine)

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CT scanner: a device that uses special X-ray machine and a computer to produce images of the brain that appear as slices taken parallel to the top of the skull  x-ray beams are passed through person’s head  computer calculates the amount of radiation that passes through part of the brain  you can find the approximate location of a brain injury in a live patient (damaged area shows up as white in colour)

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Positron Emission Tomography (PET)  uses radioactive processes to give tomographical information  person has a dose of radioactive substance  metabolically, the substance is incorporated into the brain tissue where it emits positrons  it travels for about 2 cm, hits matter, and emits a photon which can be measured Useful for measuring biochemical processes in the brain, and so can trace neurotransmitter substances

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Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)  place person in a strong magnetic field  molecules then become aligned with the lines of the magnetic force  radio signal is sent around the person

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

Carlson/Heth

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 this tilts the aligned molecules  different molecules take different amount of time to realign themselves so using the scanner, you can make a picture of the different types of molecules Ex. myelinated and unmyelinated neurons recover at a different time, so in a CT scan, we can see the white matter, and the grey matter Functional MRI (fMRI): measures the different recovery times of blood hemoglobin The recovery time of hemoglobin depends on whether it has released its oxygen Using fMRI, we can see deoxygenated and oxygenated hemoglobin The locations with deoxygenated hemoglobin shows the parts of the brain at work during a task But this is assuming that there is a correlation between oxygen levels and neural activity

Measuring the Brain’s Activity -

Using recording techniques, we can detect APs and synaptic changes Using stimulation methods, we can purposely trigger APs and synaptic changes Recall that the brain works electrically and chemically, and so we have methods that are used to measure the brain’s electric activity, and the brain’s chemical activity

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First... measuring the brain’s electrical activity: Microelectrode: a thin electrode made of wire or glass that can measure the electrical activity of a single neuron  contains an electrically conductive fluid  using amplification, we can measure even small electrical changes of a single AP Sometimes we could use large electrodes, that are placed outside the skull Magnetoencephalography: a method of brain study that measures the changes in magnetic fields that accompany action potentials in the cerebral cortex  it can detect the small magnetic fields that accompany an AP  can be measured outside of the skull

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Now… measuring the brain’s chemical activity Microdialysis: a procedure that collects solutions surrounding the brain’s neurons for subsequent chemical analysis  a set of concentric tubes are used to circulate a carrier fluid into and out of the brain  carried along the current is neurotransmitters, which we can then study

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To measure the brain’s chemical activity, we can also use neurochemical methods  some of these methods detect chemicals by mimicking things in our body Ex. We insert a foreign protein, it is a neurotransmitter and we want to know where it is made The immune system’s antibodies, attach to the protein and bring it to the neuron where it is produced Using chemical dye, we can follow the antibody and the protein to the right neuron

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Recall that fMRI and PET are useful for measuring chemical activities in the brain (fMRI  oxygen levels; PET  trace neurotransmitters)

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Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

Carlson/Heth

PLEASE DO NOT COPY

Stimulating the Brain’s Activity -

Recording techniques usually study the physiology of the brain without really changing it But sometimes, it’s useful to look at the effects of activating regions of the brain through stimulation When we send moderate currents through an electrode, it can mimic an AP and activate neurons We then observe how the artificial stimulation affects behavior

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Ex. rat presses on a level, and a pulse of electricity is shot through an electrode to the rat’s brain - Olds and Milner (1954): if the tip of the electrode is located in certain parts of the brain, the animal will keep wanting to press the lever - we then know that these parts of the brain have something to do with reward mechanisms - we found (using MRI) that these same parts of the brain were activated when men were showed images of beautiful women

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Artificial stimulation doesn’t always require implanting an electrode The neurons on the outer region of the brain can be stimulated using magnetic fields, this is called Transcranial magnetic stimulation: direct stimulation of the cerebral cortex induced by magnetic fields generated outside the skull  we place large electric magnets on the scalp  can be used on conscious humans who can then describe their experience

Understanding the Limitation of Brain Methods -

Ex. one assumption that we’ve made with the fMRI is that deoxygenated hemoglobin reflects neural activity

1) Are all the factors controlled? - this is important because we are comparing the scan of a person performing a task to that of a person performing a controlled task 2) Are there any confounds? - there may be another confounding factor - the brain is so complex that there may be many confounding factors; modules within the brain are highly interconnected, with many feedback loops 3) Can we really generalize this finding? - what we find is specific for certain tasks, and we may not be able to apply to the world - ex. the Mozart effect was too quickly generalized

Control of Behavior -

Recall that the brain has 3 roles 1) controlling movements of muscles

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

Carlson/Heth

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2) processing/retaining information about environment 3) regulating physiological functions of the body The first two roles have to do with outward things and the third with inward things Psychology mostly focuses on the outward roles  has to do with behavior

Organization of the Cerebral Cortex -

The cerebral cortex contains a large groove called the central fissure, it gives the dividing line for the anterior (front) and posterior (back) regions The cerebral cortex is divided into four lobes

1) Frontal lobe: the front portion (including Broca’s speech area and the motor cortex)  damage in the frontal lobe impairs movement, planning, flexibility 2) Parietal lobe: located behind the frontal lobe and above the temporal lobe, contains the somatosensory cortex  involved with spatial perception and memory 3) Temporal lobe: below the frontal and parietal lobes, contains the auditory cortex 4) Occipital lobe: the rearmost portion, contains the primary visual cortex

Regions of Primary Sensory and Motor Cortex -

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We have 5 senses through which we become aware of events in the environment:  vision, audition, olfaction, gestation, somatosenses There are 3 parts of the cerebral cortex that receive information from the sensory organs SIGHT: Primary visual cortex: receives visual information, located in the occipital lobes HEARING: Primary auditory cortex: receives auditory information, located in the temporal lobes (on the inner surface of a deep fissure) TOUCH: primary somatosensory cortex: receives information from the body senses (touch, pressure, vibration, pain, temperature), located in the front part of the parietal lobes  it’s a vertical strip  the base of the somatosensory cortex receives info about taste These primary sensory cortexes: the left side gets information from the right side of the body, and vice versa The connection between the sensory organs and the cerebral cortex are contralateral Contralateral: residing in the side of the body opposite the reference point The part of the cerebral cortex that is most involved with movement is the primary motor cortex  primary motor cortex: directly controls the movements of the body; located posterior to the frontal lobes  note that motor refers to movement  neurons go from parts of the primary motor cortex to muscles all over the body  here, the connections are also contralateral  ex. stimulate “hand region” in left primary motor cortex and right hand will move

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

Carlson/Heth

PLEASE DO NOT COPY Association Cortex -

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So far, we have seen how the cerebral cortex contains primary sensory cortex and primary motor cortex, but that is only very little of it The rest of the cerebral cortex has to do with what happens between sensation and action: perceiving, learning, remembering, planning, acting  anterior region: movement-related activities like planning and executing behaviors  posterior region: perceiving and learning Primary sensory areas of the cerebral cortex sends info to the sensory association cortex where the info is analyzed (perception takes place here and memories are stored here) Regions close to a primary sensory area receives info only from there ex. The region of the sensory association cortex closest to the primary visual cortex gets information only from that one sensory system Regions that are far away from primary sensory areas can receive info from more than one sensory system, they can integrate info from many sensory systems

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The anterior part of the frontal lobe is called the prefrontal cortex and it contains the motor association cortex  motor association cortex: the regions of the cerebral cortex that control the primary motor cortex; involved in planning and executing behaviors  it controls the primary motor cortex  if the primary motor cortex is the piano, then the motor association cortex is the piano player

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Sensory association cortex of posterior part of brain sends info about environment to the motor association cortex which translates the info into plans and actions

Lateralization of Function -

The two cerebral hemispheres cooperate with each other, but they don’t have the same functions Some functions are lateralized, which means that it is located mostly on one side of the brain

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The left side of the brain is all about analysis of information, so it is good at recognizing serial events (events whose elements occur one after the other) The left side also controls serial behaviors (verbal activities such as talking, understand speech, reading, writing)

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The right side of the brain is all about synthesis, putting isolated elements together to perceive things as a whole ex. the ability to draw 3D objects, read maps, construct complex objects

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So the two cerebral hemispheres have different functions, but perceptions and memories are unified, thanks to the corpus callosum Corpus callosum: a large bundle of axons (white matter) that connects the cortex of the two cerebral hemispheres

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Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

Carlson/Heth

PLEASE DO NOT COPY  the left and right temporal/parietal… lobes are connected  there is communication between the two hemispheres thanks to the corpus callosum  what happens if the corpus callosum is cut? In fact, neurosurgeons treat epilepsy by cutting off some of the corpus callosum, at times

Vision: The Occipital and Temporal Lobes -

For seeing: it is the occipital lobe and the lower part of the temporal lobe If the primary visual cortex (at posterior occipital lobe) is totally damaged = blindness If there is a lesion, then there would be a hole in a part of the field of vision  that’s because the visual field is “mapped” onto the surface of the primary visual cortex

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If the visual association cortex is damaged ≠ blindness -- you get visual agnosia: the inability of a person who is not blind to recognize the identity or use of an object by means of vision; usually caused by damage to the brain  ex. show him a clock, he doesn’t know it’s a clock let him touch a clock, he’ll know  ex. show him his wife, he doesn’t know it’s his wife let him hear his wife, he’ll know

Audition: The Temporal Lobe -

The temporal lobe contains: primary auditory cortex and the auditory association cortex Damage to primary auditory cortex = hearing losses Damage to the auditory association cortex = more complex deficits  damage the left side = severe language deficits (can’t understand speech, cannot produce meaningful speech)  damage to right side = affected ability to recognize non0speech sounds (tones and rhythms), hard to locate a sound

Somatosensation and Spatial Perception: The Parietal Lobe -

The parietal lobe takes care of the primary sensory function of the body But the association cortex of the parietal lobe is more than just somatosensation  damage to one part of the association cortex of parietal lobe  disrupted ability to read/write, but can still talk and understand speech)  damage to another part of the association cortex of parietal lobe  disrupted ability to draw

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Focusing on the disrupted ability to draw If it is on the left side, then you’ll have problems with precise hand movements, so that your drawing will be shaky and sloppy If it’s on the right side, it is more perceptual, you have trouble getting the full picture as a whole

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The right side of the parietal lobe also plays a role in people’s ability to pay attention to stimuli toward the left side fo the body

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

Carlson/Heth

PLEASE DO NOT COPY  unilateral neglect is when you only notice things on one side  say you only notice things on the right side, then there’s probably something wrong with your right side of the parietal lobe (which makes you not notice the left side) -

Left parietal lobe  location of the moving parts of our body Right parietal lobe  keep track of the space around us That’s why people with right parietal lobe damage have trouble with spatial tasks like map reading That’s why people with left parietal lobe damage have trouble pointing out parts of their own body  they also have trouble with arithmetic calculations, they can’t work out a problem mentally because they can’t remember what the numbers are

Planning and Moving: The Frontal Lobe -

Frontal lobe is mostly motor abilities  but also planning, changing strategies, being aware of oneself, evaluating emotion-related stimuli, performing spontaneous behaviors  the frontal lobe also has a part that controls speech

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Damage to the primary motor cortex = paralysis in the opposite side of the body  if only a portion is damaged, then only parts are paralyzed

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Damage to the prefrontal cortex has many complex behavioral deficits 1) Your thoughts and behavior are slow and there is a loss of spontaneity 2) Perseveration (have a hard time changing strategies) 3) loss of self-awareness and changes in emotional reactions (bland personality, indifferent) 4) Problems with foresight and planning (so they say things with bad consequences)

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Recall that Broca saw that damage to a part in the left side of the frontal lobe disrupts speech  Broca’s area  this area actually controls the muscles needed for speech

Control of Internal Functions and Automatic Behavior -

The cerebral cortex was mainly for perceiving, remembering, planning and acting However, the cerebral cortex is only the outer 3 mm of the cerebral hemispheres There is still the brain stem, the cerebellum, and the interior of the cerebral hemisphere Cerebellum  movements, both controlled and automatic Brain stem and interior of cerebral hemisphere  homeostasis and species-typical behavior

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

Carlson/Heth

PLEASE DO NOT COPY -

Homeostasis: the process by which important physiological characteristics are regulated so that they remain at their optimum level Species-typical behavior: a behavior seen in all or most members of a species (nest-building, special food-getting behaviors, reproductive behaviors)  automatic behaviors that are important for survival

The Brain Stem -

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Contains three structures: medulla, pons, midbrain The brain stem contains circuits of neurons that control functions that are important for the survival of the organism and of the species Medulla: the part of the brain stem anterior to the pons  controls vital functions like heart rate, blood pressure, rate of respiration, crawling/swimming motions Pons: the part of the brain stem anterior to the medulla  involved with control of sleep Midbrain: part of the brain stem anterior to the pons  involved with control of fighting and sexual behavior and the decreased sensitivity to pain during these behaviors

The Cerebellum -

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The cerebellum has important role in movement, it receives sensory information about the position of body parts The cerebellum also receives information from the frontal lobes, so that it knows what the intended movements are  the cerebellum can be thought of as a computer that looks at the location of the body parts, and compares it with intended movements and helps the frontal lobes execute the movements If cerebellum is damaged, then only frontal lobe is at work, and there will be jerky, uncoordinated, inaccurate movements Cerebellum also monitors information about posture and balance  it helps us to not fall down when we stand/walk  it produces eye movements that compensate for the movement of our head What has recent research found about the cerebellum? It may play a role in cognitive ability  For a long time, we knew that damage to the cerebellum will interfere with the ability to speak, but we thought it was due to problems with the control of speech muscles rather than cognitive abilities But just recently, we did PET scans of brains of people working cognitive tasks Results showed that during cognitive tasks, there was activity in the cerebellum, even when they weren’t moving!

Structures within the Cerebral Hemispheres

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

Carlson/Heth

PLEASE DO NOT COPY The Thalamus -

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Thalamus: a region of the brain near the centre of the cerebral hemispheres, all sensory information (except smell, olfaction) is sent to the thalamus and then relayed to the cerebral cortex  sensory information  thalamus  cerebral cortex (it does some simple analyses) Also does stuff similar to the cerebral cortex, such as receive and integrate sensory information, and help with movements (since it can influence brain stem)

The Hypothalamus -

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Hypothalamus: a region of the brain located just above the pituitary gland; controls the autonomic nervous system and many behaviors related to regulation and survival  located below the thalamus, at the base of the brain  participates in homeostasis and species-typical behaviors (like the brain stem)  it is informed about changes in the physiology of the person  also controls the pituitary gland The hypothalamus controls not only internal physiological changes, but also behavior ex. if you’re hot, the hypothalamus will make you sweat, it can also send messages to the cerebral cortex that will cause you to learn a behavior, such as turning on the AC Pituitary gland: an endocrine gland attached to the hypothalamus at the base of the brain  known as the master gland because the hormones secreted from here act on other endocrine glands So hypothalamus controls pituitary gland which controls other endocrine glands Endocrine gland: a gland that secretes a hormone into the bloodstream Hormones: a chemical substance secreted by an endocrine gland that has physiological effects on target cells in other organs  act over long distances  stimulate receptor molecules, like neurotransmitters and neuromodulators Target cell: a cell whose physiological processes are affected by a particular hormone; contains special receptor molecules that respond to the presence of the hormone  neurons can be a target cell too Autonomic nervous system: the portion of the peripheral nervous system that controls the functions of the glands and internal organs (involuntary)  controlled by hypothalamus  ex. sweating, tearing, salivating, changing size of blood vessels  is further divided into the sympathetic and the parasympathetic branches Sympathetic branch: the portion of the autonomic nervous system that activates functions that accompany arousal and expenditure of energy  ex. increase the flow of blood to the muscles that are about to fight/run away from a threat Parasympathetic branch: the portion of the autonomic nervous system that activates functions that occur during a relaxed state

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

Carlson/Heth

PLEASE DO NOT COPY  quiet activities, like digestion of food -

Psychophysiologists like to look at the activity of the autonomic nervous system and see its relation with things like emotion  ex. anger  blood pressure and heart rate rises (activity in autonomic nervous system)  this is how the lie detector works, it records emotional responses controlled by the autonomic nervous system

The Limbic System -

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The limbic system: a set of interconnected structures of the brain important in emotional and species-typical behavior  contains the amygdala, hippocampus and limbic cortex  limbic system is located in the cerebral hemispheres  is important for learning and expression of emotion Corpus callosum is not part of the limbic system, recall that it allows the left and right cerebral hemispheres to communicate with one another Limbic cortex: the cerebral cortex located around the edge of the cerebral hemispheres where they join with the brain stem Amygdala: a part of the limbic system located deep in the temporal lobe  damage here causes changes in emotional and aggressive behavior (affects especially the emotions caused by painful, stressful events)  amygdala controls short term activities like fighting/fleeing, if an animal’s amydala is destroyed, they will no longer react to prevent events that cause stress  they cannot survive in the wild because they end up provoking attacks, etc. Hippocampus: a part of the limbic system located in temporal lobe that plays roles in learning and memory ex. rats with damage hippocampus can no longer recognize landmarks where they buried things people with lesions in the hippocampus cannot learn anything new

Notes by Mary Lee

Notes from Psychology the Science of Behavior 4th Ed.

Carlson/Heth