Andrew Hoff’s Psychology Notes 1

Psychology – the study of the mind (Greek)

Psychology definition – the scientific study of the behavior and mental processes

Behavior- animate activity

Animate human behavior

Goal – to describe, explain, predict and control (modify) behavior

Tools – scientific method

Why does it exist?

Small Reason: Curiosity about how and why people behave the way they do.
Large reason : humankind is plagued with problems of behavior ( intrapersonal,
interpersonal, and intergroup). Humans engage in behavior harmful to themselves and
others.

What is a problem?
It’s only a problem if someone considers it to be a problem. It’s not a problem if no one
considers it to be a problem.

Genocides

Main problem in the world is overpopulation.

Problem Solving Cycle

2. Problem
1. Problem Definition (find
Perception real problem)
(diagnostic)

3. Causal
6. Evaluate Determination
Intervention (real cause of
problem)

4. Select
Alternative
5. Implement
Interventions
intervention
(changes to
make)
 Andrew Hoff’s Psychology Notes 2

Overpopulation is a major behavior problem.

Critical Thinking about Behavior

(science) Truth by empiricism? (collecting data)

Or

Truth by authority? (it’s okay but you need to verify empirically)

What actually causes what?

Attribution = cause

2 causes for behavior

1. situational – not caused by person or character but a situation causes it

2. dispositional – caused by the person or character

Fundamental Attribution Error –If it’s good and you did it, you assign dispositional
attribute. If it’s bad and you did it, you assign situational attribute. It is just the opposite
when describing someone else.

If you apply wrong cause to human behavior, you will get the wrong solutions.

The best index of future behavior is past behavior.

Causes of behavior

Ultimate causes – evolutionary events and conditions that over generations, have slowly
shaped some of our behaviors and behavioral dispositions. Influence of evolution,
survival of the fittest, natural selection of physical characteristics and psychological
predispositions. Once you are born nature doesn’t change, nurture does.

Proximate causes – variables in the immediate (or recent past) environment that affect
behavior. (parenting, drugs, education, health, associates, neighborhood, work,
government, climate, models)

Ultimate causes are advantageous to our genes. You inherit behavior propensities. We
don’t inherit instincts or complex behavior patterns.

Most behavior problems are caused by a mix of ultimate and proximate attributes. Nature
vs. Nurture.
 Andrew Hoff’s Psychology Notes 3

4 major emotions
1. mad
2. sad
3. glad
4. scared

Structuralism
Wilhelm Wundt (1880’s)
Leipzig, Germany
Structure of consciousness
Introspection
Edwaard Titchener, Cornell

Functionalism
William James
Late 1800’s
Influenced by Darwin
Studied functions of the mind
Not its elements
Introspection
Dewey, Hall

Not what makes a computer but how a computer works

Gestalt Psychology
Wertheimer, Kohler, Kofka
Germany early 1900’s
“the whole is more than the sum of its parts”
Studied perceptual phenomena
Perceptual demonstrations phi
Phenomenom
Insight (Sultan the Chimpanzee with Kohler on island)
Gestalt in Germany means form

Psychoanalysis
Sigmund Freud, Vienna late 1800’s
Studied abnormal behavior
Emphasis on unconscious determinants of behavior and importance of childhood in
determining “personality”
Psychotherapy
Jung, Rank, Horney, Anna Freud, Adler, Brill
Father of personality theory and psychotherapy

Behaviorism
 Andrew Hoff’s Psychology Notes 4

Emphasis on what is observable: behavior rather than the mind

Behavior determined by its context (rewards and penalties)
Laboratory experiments in learning (animals and people)
John Watson
BF Skinner, (Harvard)

Is there free will? Depends on consequences.

Humanistic Psychology
Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow, Perls

Early Middle 1900s

Studied abnormal behavior

Emphasis on growth of “self” and notion that people are basically perfectable and have
natural tendency towards personal growth

“self-actualization”

Psychotherapy

Individual Differences
B=f (R)

Alfred Binet, France

Late 1800s
Intelligence testing
Studied children’s intelligence predicting school performance
Terman, Merrill, Otis
Personality testing, achievement testing

Current Approaches to Psyhology

Dynamic Psychology (psychoanalysis)
Behaviorism
Humanistic Psychology
Behavioral Neuroscience (from Gestalt)
Cognitive Psychology (from functionalism)

Psychology: the search for functional relationships

B= f (S) B= Behavior; S= Stimulus (cop pulling someone over)

B=f (o) O=organistic (headache)

B= f (R) R=Response (GPA based on ACT scores)

 Andrew Hoff’s Psychology Notes 5

SOR are functions of B, they do NOT cause B.

Scientific Method
Hypothesis – a testable prediction or proposition that attempts to explain some observable
phenomena

Theory- An attempt to fit all the currently known facts about a subject into an integrated
and logical whole

Law- a theory that’s been repeatedly confirmed

Theoretical constructions and operational definitions

Theoretical constructs: not observable (love, gravity)

Operational Definitions: observable

What happens in science?

Theoretical construct -> operational contruct -> study -> findings -> theoretical construct

Approaches to Psychological Research

Determining Y=f(x)

Observational method – naturalist and case study (Jane Goodal)

Survey Method – population, sample

Correlation Method – something related to something (as height goes up so does weight),
scatter plot, correlation range from 0 (no relation) to 1.0 (perfect relationship), NOT
causation, correlation lets us predict, correlation does not mean causation

Experimentation (manipulation) – causation, independent and dependent variables,

behavior depends upon something else, we manipulate independent variable
(amphetamine and test scores)

Types of Psychologists

57 Areas
Clinical/counseling
Industrial/organizational
School
Cognitive and learning
Sensation and perception
Social/personality
Developmental
 Andrew Hoff’s Psychology Notes 6

Applied
Health behavior medicine
Biopsychology

Basic vs. Applied Psychological Research

Basic Research (in lab) – What causes the way things are?
Applied Research (in real world) – What causes the way things should be?

As we evolved from Apes, our frontal lobes developed and brain box got bigger.

Biological Foundations of Behavior

What determines behavior?

Nature: biological (inherited) behavior tendencies

Nurture: behavioral consequences

Humans are a part of their nature, not apart from it.

How body communicates with itself?

-nervous system
-endocrine system

Nervous System

Peripheral
Central Nervous
Nervous System
System (CNS)
(PNS)

Somatic Nervous Autonomic

Brain Spinal Cord System Nervous System
(voluntary) (involuntary)

Sympathetic
Nervous System
(arousing)

Parasympathetic
Nervous System
(Calming)
Autonomic Nervous System

Parasympathetic Sympathetic
Division Division
Relax Fight or Flight
 Andrew Hoff’s Psychology Notes 7

Types of Neurons

-Afferent Neurons (sensory)

-Efferent Neurons (motor)
-Association Neurons (connectors)

Neuron is building block of the nervous system.

Cell body
Dendrites – pick up information for neuron
Axon – send information

Axon terminal is the final sender. Myelin sheath surrounds most axons to insulate it and
speed transmission. If axon is cut, it may grow back if myelin sheath is in tact. A neuron
itself will not grow back. Axons know where to grow to because of myelin sheath.

MS is an autoimmune disorder where body kills myelin sheaths.

How Neurons Communicate

Pottassium and Sodium

Dendrites – toward the cell body; Generator Potentials (bow and arrow); don’t fire just
building potential

Axon – away from cell body, action potentials (rifle), myelin (sometimes)

Neurotransmitters – a chemical, at the end of axon called axon terminal like little buttons,
there is a space between axon terminal and next dendrite (synapse), terminal buttons
release and chemicals flow into synapse and like lock and key stimulate next neurons

Brain looks grey from myelin.

How the brain and nervous system are studied

Brain lesioning (cut parts) (what parts do what)

Staining (What parts are attached to what)
Electrical Recording (What parts are active)
Electrical Stimulation (Map Brain)
Brain Imaging (MRI and Catscan) (Sees brain burn glucose and energy)

Levels of organization in the brain

 Andrew Hoff’s Psychology Notes 8

Hindbrain

Medulla (controls Cerebellum

Pons (involved in
breathing and (involved in motor
sleep and arousal)
posture) coordination)

Midbrain

Reticular Formation Brain stem

(sleeping and (connects brain to
walking) spinal cord)
 Andrew Hoff’s Psychology Notes 9

Forebrain

Thalamus (important Basal Ganglia (help Hypothalamus

Limbic System
relay station for control and (controls basic drives
(memory and
processing coordinate voluntary and unleashed
emotions)
information) movement) motivations)

Amygdale (survival Hippocampus

and emotions) (storage of memories)

Cerebral Cortex

4 Lobes – occipital, temporal, frontal, and parietal

Somatosensory cortex – processes info on senses

Motor cortex (backside frontal lobe) – processes info on voluntary movement
Association cortex – 75% of cerebral cortex, integrates information, especially high
intellectual functions

Language areas

Broca’s Area
Werhicke’s Area

We have the same brain as lizards and rats, but ours is more complicated.

Endocrine System

Chemical Communication

Glands produce chemicals that flow through blood stream that affect body. Main one is
pituitary gland. Adrenal gland produces adrenaline. Thyroid gland affects metabolism.
Parathyroid affects calcium level. The pancreas handles sugar level.

Personality- pattern of behavior tendencies that predispose an individual to behave in

certain characteristic ways

Approaches to studying Personality

 Andrew Hoff’s Psychology Notes 10

Somatic
Psychoanalysis
Trait
Learning
Situational

Somatic Orientation Greeks

Humor Personal Trait

Blood Sanguine (cheerful)

Phlegm Phlegmatic (apathetic)
Black Bile Melancholic (sad)
Yellow Bile Choleric (irritable)

It is study of personality based on the body. People change their bodies because they
believe it will change their interactions with the world. Bodybuilding.

William H. Sheldon

1898-1977 Harvard

Somatotyping

3 Body Types

Endomorph – fat; viscertonic, relaxed, sociable

Mesomorph – medium; somatotonic, energetic, assertive
Ectomorph – fit, skinny; cerebrotonic, restrained, introverted

People would rate picture and see if their was a relationship between personality.

Somatotyping didn’t really work but it kept alive the biological basis for personality.

Risk Taking

It is a genetic-driven personality type? Many think it is. Extreme sports

Trait Approach

Allport – cardinal (can’t change), central (possible to change), secondary (change all the
time); proprium: sense of self, unifying core of personality

Cattell – factor analysis, 16 source trait dimensions, 16 pf, pf = personality factor 16 pf,
pf = personality factor
 Andrew Hoff’s Psychology Notes 11

Eysenck- stable – unstable (neuroticism); introversion – extraversion

Introverts – energized by what is going on inside own head

Extraverts – energized by what is going on in others heads

unstable

extra
intro

stable

The big 5 personality traits

Extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, openness to experience

Intelligence and conscientiousness are the main predictors of job performance.

Humanistic Approach

Client centered therapy.

Carl Rogers

People always tend to be perfect. If they don’t, there is a block in the environment.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

 Andrew Hoff’s Psychology Notes 12

Self Actualization ->

(being all you can be)

Most never
get past the Esteem Needs
esteem and
belongingnes
s levels

Belongingness Needs

Safety Needs

Physiological Needs

A satisfied need is not a motivator.

Sigmund Freud
1856-1939
Psychoanalysis

Did not believe humans perfectable.

Born in 1856
Trained in medicine at U. Vienna
Research on neuropathologies and hysteria
 Andrew Hoff’s Psychology Notes 13

Research with cocaine

Charcot (1885) Paris

Mesmerism (hypnosis)
1. some exceptions
2. spontaneous recurrence
3. symptom substitution

hysteria = observable problem with no physiological cause but a psychological one

Freud got abnormal behavior into psychology. He found cocaine did not cure hysteria.
Talked to Charcot about mesmerizing hysteria patients. Mesmerism had problems. There
were exceptions. Mesmerism is merely suggestions. Its affect did not last and there were
frequent symptom substitutions. Freud found that mesmerism did not work and there was
something deeper in personality causing problem. Franz Anton Mesmer was the first
hypnotist.

Joseph Breurer
Vienna

“talking cure”
“studies of hysteria” 1896
“Anna O.” aka Bertha Pappenkim

Through his talking cure came the concept of psychoanalysis therapy.

Psychoanalysis

1. a developmental theory (personality developing) (emphasis on childhood)

2. a stage theory (develops in stages)
3. a psychosexual theory (life drive)
4. what is developing?
a. the ego (contact with the real world)
b. the self identity
c. the coping mechanisms

Psychoanalysis 3 components of the mind

1. conscious mind
2. unconscious mind (hidden drives)
3. preconscious mind (can be brought to conscious easily) (what you ate for
breakfast)

Iceberg analogy

Psychoanalysis 3 parts of personality

 Andrew Hoff’s Psychology Notes 14

1. Id
a. libido “pleasure principle”
b. inherited biological needs and instincts
c. source of mental (psychic) energy
d. operates according to pleasure principle
e. ineffective in dealing with the outside world, in the unconscious

2. Superego
a. conscience
b. sense of right and wrong
c. internalized norms, rules, parent’s wishes
d. “Ego ideal”
e. Not reality oriented (can’t always turn other cheek)

3. Ego
a. “reality principle”
b. Self identity
c. Mediates between id and superego
d. Connection to the world
e. Its underdevelopment is typically cause of emotional disorders

Psychosexual Stages

1. Oral Stage – birth through 2 yrs. – Fixations at oral stage = oral dependent or oral
aggressive

2. Anal Stage – 2 through 4 yrs. – fixations at anal stage = anal retentive (ocd) or
anal expulsive (slobs)

3. Phallic stage – 4 through 7 yrs. – Oedipus and Electra complexes, infantile

sexuality. Oedipus unconsciously attracted to mother but can’t have her because
of father. The resolution is to identify with the parent of the same sex. Fixations at
this stage result in homosexuality. Don’t develop ego. Never say I am a man.

4. Latency – 7yrs through puberty – things sexual disappear, starting to be tested in

life and you have to survive, this takes energy. Fixations at this stage make people
uninterested in things sexual. Asexual

5. Genital stage – puberty through death

Each stage, your ego gets stronger and stronger. Environments holds people up at stages.

Freud’s contributions

1. unconscious determinants of behavior

 Andrew Hoff’s Psychology Notes 15

2. importance of conflict
3. biological basis of behavior
4. emphasis on childhood
5. ego defense mechanisms
6. significant writings
7. important disciples (“The Secret Committee” each member given a ring)

Ego Defense Mechanisms

If ego isn’t strong enough, you defend it with these.

1. denial
2. repression
3. regression
4. projection
5. rationalization
6. compensation
7. reaction formation
8. identification
9. atonement
10. sublimation * (Only positive one) ( you take sex drive and put the energy into
something else. You can do this and not get into trouble)

A lot of Freud’s concepts are not testable. Carl Jung was his main disciple.

Carl Jung
1875-1961
Emphasized introversion and extraversion

1. Freud’s main disciple

2. introversion – extraversion
3. collective unconscious
4. archetypes

Alfred Adler

Human personality is striving for superiority and competence.

Neo-Freudian

Karen Horney
1885-1952

1. Neo-Freudian
2. need for security, not sex or aggression
 Andrew Hoff’s Psychology Notes 16

3. basic anxiety

Otis Rank

1. Birth trauma

Problems with Freud – vague, untestable aspects of theory

Behavioral Theories

B.F. Skinner

Operant Conditioning = Antecedent - - Behavior - - Consequences

Unimportance of mind and personality, only what is observable

Reinforced behavioral tendencies

Antecedents don’t work unless they signal consquences.

Dollard and Miller expanded behaviorism into personality.

Social Learning Theory

Albert Bandura

1. observational learning
2. “Bo-Bo-doll” studies
3. modeling (seeing consequences or behaviors of others and behaving similarly)
a. the model
b. the motivational state
c. the opportunity
4. children often model bad examples

Personality Measurement Techniques

Those that measure personality favor the trait approach.

1. Objective
a. Person a measures person b
b. Rating scale

2. Subjective
a. Interview (you tell others about you)
 Andrew Hoff’s Psychology Notes 17

b. Inventory (test you fill out yourself)

i. MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory) – there are
10 psychiatric categories and 4 validity (lie) scales
ii. 16PF – popular in business – Cattell made it

3. Projective
a. Project personality onto something
b. Rorschach ink blots
i. Themes over a number of cards with ink blots
c. Thematic Apperception Test
i. Not ink blots but actual pictures
ii. With picture, you have to tell what is going on