The Cross-Platform Prep Course

W elcome to the Cross-Platform Prep Course Edition! McGraw-Hill Education’s multi-platform course gives you a variety of tools to raise your scores and get in to the school of your choice. Whether you’re studying at home, the library, or on-the-go, you can find practice content in the format you need—print, online, or mobile.

Print Book

This print book gives you the tools you need to ace the test. In its pages you’ll find smart test-taking strategies, in-depth reviews of key topics, and ample practice questions and tests. See the Welcome section of your book for a step-by-step guide to its features.

Online Platform

The Cross-Platform Prep Course’s online platform gives you additional study and practice content that you can access anytime, anywhere. You can create a personalized study plan based on your test date that sets daily goals to keep you on track. Integrated lessons provide important review of key topics. Practice questions, exams, and flashcards give you the practice you need to build test-taking confidence. The game center is filled with challenging games that allow you to practice your new skills in a fun and engaging way. You can interact with other test-takers in the discussion section and gain valuable peer support.

Getting Started

To get started, open your account on the online platform:

Go to www.xplatform.mhprofessional.com

Enter your access code, which you can find on the inside back cover of your book

Provide your name and e-mail address to open your account and create a password

Click “Start Studying” to enter the platform

It’s as simple as that. You’re ready to start studying online.

Your Personalized Study Plan

First, select your test date on the calendar, and you’re on your way to creating your personalized study plan. Your study plan will help you stay organized and on track and will guide you through the course in the most efficient way. It is tailored to your schedule and features daily tasks that are broken down into manageable goals. You can adjust your end date at any time and your daily tasks will be reorganized into an updated plan.

You can track your progress in real time on the Study Plan Dashboard. The Today’s Knowledge Goal progress bar gives you up-to-the minute feedback on your daily goal. Fulfilling this is the most efficient way to work through the entire course. You can getan instant view of where you stand in the entire course with the Study Plan Progress bar.

Practice Tests

One of the first tasks in your personalized study plan is to take the Diagnostic Test. At the end of the test, a detailed evaluation of your strengths and weaknesses shows the areas where you need to focus most. You can review your practice test results either by the question category to see broad trends or question-by-question fora more in-depth look.

The full-length tests are designed to simulate the real thing. Try to simulate actual testing conditions and be sure you set aside enough time to complete the full-length test. You’ll learn to paceyourself so thatyou can get the best possible score on test day.

Lessons

The lessons in the online platform are divided into manageable pieces that let you build knowledge and confidence in a progressive way. They cover the full range of topics that appear on your test.

After you complete a lesson, mark your confidence level. (You must indicate a confidence level in order to count your progress and move on to the next task.) You can also filter the lessons by confidence levels to see the areas you have mastered and those that you might need to revisit.

Practice Questions

All of the practice questions are based on real-life exams and simulate the test-taking experience. The Review Answer gives you immediate feedback on your answer. Each question includes a rationale that explains why the correct answer is right and the others are wrong. To explore any topic further, you can find detailed explanations by clicking the “Help me learn about this topic” link.

You can go to the Practice Dashboard to find an overview of your performance in the different categories and sub-categories.

Dashboard

Visit the dashboard to see personalized information on your progress and performance. The Percentile Rank icon shows your position relative to all the other students enrolled in the course. You can also find information on your average scores in practice questions and exams.

A detailed overview of your strengths and weaknesses shows your proficiency in a category based on your answers and difficulty of the questions. By viewing your strengths and weaknesses, you can focus your study on your weaker spots.

Flashcards

Hundreds of flashcards are perfect for learning key terms quickly, and the interactive format gives you immediate feedback. You can filter the cards by category and confidence level for a more organized approach. Or, you can shuffle them up for a challenge.

Another way to customize the flashcards is to create your own sets. You can keep these private or share or them with the public. Subscribe to Community Sets to access sets from other students preparing for the same exam.

Game Center

Play a game in the Game Center to test your knowledge of key concepts in a challenging but fun environment. Up the difficulty level and complete the games quickly to build the highest score. Be sure to check the leaderboard to see who’s on top.

Social Community

Interact with other students who are preparing for your test. Start a discussion, reply to a post, or even upload files to share. You can search the archives for common topics or start your own private discussion with friends.

Mobile App

The companion mobile app lets you toggle between the online platform and your mobile device without missing a beat. Whether you access the course online or on your smartphone or tablet, you’ll pick up exactly where you left off.

Go to the iTunes or Google Play stores and search “BenchPrep Companion” to download the companion ¡OS or Android app . Enter your e-mail address and the same password you created for the online platform to open your account.

Now, let’s get started!

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CONTENTS

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Preface

About the Author

Introduction: The 5-Step Program

STEP 1 Set Up Your Study Plan

1 What You Need to Know About the AP Psychology Exam

Background Information

Some Frequently Asked Questions About the AP Psychology Exam

2 How to Plan Your Time

Three Approaches to Preparing for AP Exams

STEP 2 Determine Your Test Readiness

3 Take a Diagnostic Exam

Diagnostic Exam in AP Psychology

STEP 3 Develop Strategies for Success

4 How to Approach Each Question Type

Section I: Multiple-Choice Questions

Section II: The Free-Response Questions

STEP 4 Review the Knowledge You Need to Score High

5 History and Approaches

Roots of Psychology

Schools of Psychology

Principal Approaches to Psychology

Domains of Psychology

6 Research Methods

Experimental Method

Correlational Research

Case Study

Elementary Statistics

Ethical Guidelines

7 Biological Bases of Behavior

Techniques to Learn About Structure and Function

Organization of Your Nervous System

Localization and Lateralization of the Brain’s Function

Structure and Function of the Neuron

The Endocrine System

Genetics and Evolutionary Psychology

Genetics and Behavior

8 Sensation and Perception

Thresholds

Vision

Hearing (Audition)

Touch (Somatosensation)

Body Senses

Chemical Senses

Perceptual Processes

9 States of Consciousness

Levels of Consciousness

Sleep and Dreams

Hypnosis

Meditation

Drugs

10 Learning

Classical Conditioning

Operant Conditioning

Superstitious Behavior

Cognitive Processes in Learning

Biological Factors in Learning

11 Cognition

Models of Memory

Language

Thinking

12 Motivation and Emotion

Theories of Motivation

Physiological Motives

Social Motivation

Theories of Emotion

Stress and Coping

Positive Psychology

13 Developmental Psychology

Key Issues in Development

Methods of Studying Development

Physical Development

Theories of Cognitive Development

Theories of Moral Development

Theories of Social and Emotional Development

Gender Roles and Sex Differences

14 Personality

Personality Theories and Approaches

Assessment Techniques

Self-Concept and Self-Esteem

15 Testing and Individual Differences

Standardization and Norms

Reliability and Validity

Types of Tests

Ethics and Standards in Testing

Intelligence and Intelligence Testing

Heredity/Environment and Intelligence

Human Diversity

16 Abnormal Behavior

Defining Abnormal Behavior

Causes of Abnormal Behavior

Types of Disorders

17 Treatment of Abnormal Behavior

Mental Health Practitioners

Brief History of Therapy

Treatment Approaches

Biological/Biomedical Treatments

Modes of Therapy

Community and Preventive Approaches

18 Social Psychology

Group Dynamics

Attribution Processes

Interpersonal Perception

Conformity, Compliance, Obedience

Attitudes and Attitude Change

Aggression/Antisocial Behavior

STEP 5 Build Your Test-Taking Confidence

AP Psychology Practice Exam 1 and Answers

AP Psychology Practice Exam 2 and Answers

Glossary

Bibliography

Websites

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PREFACE

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Welcome to the new edition of this test preparation book for AP Psychology that includes information from DSM-5 . If you don’t know what DSM-5 is, you will soon. The book has been designed so that it is user friendly and employs the concepts psychologists know about learning and remembering to help you succeed. Each chapter begins with an advance organizer to help you understand the material. Smaller sections enable you to fit what you are learning into the framework of what you already know. Features that previous users found most helpful, such as the definitions in the glossary at the end of the book, questions very similar to those actually on the AP exam, and Rapid Review at the end of each content chapter have been retained.

If psychology were mainly common sense, as many people think, you wouldn’t need this book. You wouldn’t need to study either. In fact, many concepts in psychology are counterintuitive, the opposite of what common sense leads us to think. Actually, psychology is a real science with a substantial knowledge base. If you are currently enrolled in an Advanced Placement Psychology course, you know how much more than listening to people’s problems and analyzing them is included in the study of psychology, and you know how many hundreds of pages you need to navigate in a hard-covered course textbook. If you’re not enrolled in an AP course, you may need additional support to help you select material that is likely to be tested on the May exam. In either situation, you’ll benefit from this book, which was created to help you study for the Advanced Placement Exam in Psychology®.

This book provides you with the information on which you need to focus for taking the Advanced Placement Exam in Psychology®, and gives you opportunities to practice answering AP-type questions. The multiple-choice questions count for two-thirds of your test score, and the essays count for one-third. While multiple-choice questions usually assess your understanding of one concept, essays test your understanding of numerous concepts and your ability to integrate information from more than one chapter. Practice in answering both multiple-choice and essay questions will help you do well on the AP exam. Read all of the material and answer all of the questions in all of the content chapters of this book, if you have enough time. Check your answers. Follow the study tips to help you learn and remember material you need to know. As the May exam approaches, take the two practice tests at the end of the book, and check your answers to see what you still need to learn. Since studying will help you succeed, it’s time to get started!

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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Laura Lincoln Maitland received a BA in Biological Sciences from Douglass College, an MA in Psychology from Stony Brook University, an MS in Education from CUNY–Queens College, and a Professional Diploma from Long Island University.

Retired from the Bellmore-Merrick Central H.S. District where she was lead science chairperson and taught Living Environment, AP Psychology, and Science Research for many years, she is currently an adjunct instructor at Hofstra University. She is also an education consultant at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories, Long Island BOCES, and a variety of other venues. Laura has been a workshop presenter for the College Board, the New York State Biology-Chemistry Professional Development Network, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s Dolan DNA Learning Center, the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District, the New York City Board of Education, and the New York State Education Department.

One of the founders and early chairs of Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools, she chaired the committee that created National Standards for High School Psychology Curricula. She also served on the AP Psychology Development Committee for the College Board/ETS. She received the first American Psychological Association Presidential Citation presented to a high school teacher and the American Psychological Association Division Two Excellence in Teaching Award.

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INTRODUCTION:
THE 5-STEP PROGRAM

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The Basics

Learning, thinking, solving problems, and remembering are all psychological processes. To earn the highest score of 5 on the AP Psychology exam, you’ll need to do them successfully! While the content sections of this book will help you understand concepts involved in learning and cognition, following the 5-step program will help you apply these concepts to maximize your success on the May exam.

Introducing the 5-Step Preparation Program

This book is organized as a 5-step program to prepare you to succeed on the exam. These steps are designed to provide you with vital skills and strategies and the practice that can lead you to that perfect 5. Here are the 5 steps.

Step 1: Set Up Your Study Program

In this step you’ll read a brief overview of the AP Psychology exam, including an outline of topics and the approximate percentage of the exam that will test knowledge of each topic. You will also follow a process to help determine which of the following preparation programs is right for you:

• Full school year: September through May.

• One semester: January through May.

• Six weeks: Basic training for the exam.

Step 2: Determine Your Test Readiness

In this step you’ll take a diagnostic multiple-choice exam in psychology. This pretest should give you an idea of how prepared you are to take the real exam before beginning to study for the actual AP Psychology Exam®.

• Go through the diagnostic exam step by step and question by question to build your confidence level.

• Review the correct answers and explanations so that you see what you do and do not yet fully understand.

Step 3: Develop Strategies for Success

In this step you’ll learn strategies that will help you do your best on the exam. These strategies cover both the multiple-choice and free-response sections of the exam. Since serving on the College Board committee to design the first course of study and examinations for Advanced Placement Psychology®, I have worked with many students and teachers who have helped me gain insight into how they think and study. Tasks that lull you into a false sense of security with shortcuts that may not work are NOT here.

• Learn to read multiple-choice questions.

• Learn how to answer multiple-choice questions.

• Learn how to plan and write the free-response questions.

Step 4: Review the Knowledge You Need to Score High

In this step you’ll learn or review the material you need to know for the test. This review section takes up the bulk of this book. It contains:

• A comprehensive review of introductory psychology.

Psychologists and educators do not agree on exactly what students should know after completing an introductory course in psychology, so no book can correctly forecast what concepts you need to know to get 100% of the questions on the AP exam right. But I can safely guarantee that this book includes the information that will enable you to earn a 5! The substantial knowledge you gain from studying it will significantly increase your chances of scoring well.

Step 5: Build Your Test-Taking Confidence

In this step you’ll complete your preparation by testing yourself on practice exams. I have provided you with two complete exams in psychology and scoring guides for them. Although these practice exams are not reproduced questions from actual AP Psychology exams, they mirror both the material tested by AP and the way in which it is tested.

Finally, at the back of this book you’ll find additional resources to aid your preparation. These include:

• A brief bibliography.

• A list of websites related to the AP Psychology exam.

• A glossary of terms related to the AP Psychology exam.

Introduction to the Graphics Used in this Book

To emphasize particular skills and strategies, we use several icons throughout this book. An icon in the margin will alert you that you should pay particular attention to the accompanying text. We use these three icons:

This icon points out a very important concept or fact that you should not pass over.

This icon calls your attention to a strategy that you may want to try.

This icon indicates a tip that you might find useful.

Boldfaced words indicate terms that are included in the glossary at the end of this book. Throughout the book you will also find marginal notes, boxes, and starred areas. Pay close attention to these areas because they can provide tips, hints, strategies, and further explanations to help you reach your full potential.

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What You Need to Know About the AP Psychology Exam

IN THIS CHAPTER

Summary: Learn what topics are tested, how the test is scored, and basic test-taking information.

Key ideas

AP Psychology is equivalent to a college-level introductory psychology course.

Most, but not all, colleges will award credit for a score of 4 or 5.

Multiple-choice questions account for two-thirds of your final score.

There is NO penalty for guessing.

Free-response questions account for one-third of your final score.

Your composite score on the two test sections is converted to a score on the 1-to-5 scale.

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Background Information

The College Board’s Advanced Placement (AP) program enables high school students to study college-level subjects. Most colleges grant credit, placement, or both for qualifying AP exam grades. You may want to check with the colleges of your choice to find out their policies. Enrollment in AP Psychology has increased annually since its inception to become one of the most popular of 37 AP courses and exams offered.

Some Frequently Asked Questions About the AP Psychology Exam

Why Take the AP Psychology Exam?

AP Psychology is an exciting course to take not only because it gives you an opportunity to understand your own behavior and mental processes better, but also because it enables you to learn more about other people and animals. Benefits of taking such a challenging course can include strengthening your transcript, proving to yourself that you can do it, and starting college with some credit. Admissions officers from Adelphi University to Yale University have told me that their number one criterion for admissions decisions is the strength of an applicant’s high school program.

Additional benefits are sometimes offered. Some high schools weight or scale AP course grades. Because some colleges charge per credit, you can save money. Getting three or more credits for the price of the exam is a good value.

The College Board reports, “Studies have shown that AP students are more likely to maintain a high grade point average and graduate from college with honors than their college classmates of similar ability… .”

What Is the Format of the Exam?

Table 1.1 summarizes the format of the AP Psychology exam.

Table 1.1 AP Psychology

The exam is 2 hours long. During the first 70 minutes, you have 100 multiple-choice questions to answer. At the end of the 70 minutes, your booklet and answer sheet will be collected. However, no matter how early you finish this first part of the exam, you cannot begin the free-response questions (essays) early. The multiple-choice section counts for two-thirds of your score. If you have time remaining after you complete the questions, you can go back to those you were uncertain about or want to reread. You are limited to 50 minutes to answer two required essay questions.

Who Writes the AP Psychology Exam?

Development of each AP exam is a multiyear effort that involves many education and testing professionals and students. At the heart of the effort is the AP Psychology Development Committee, a group of highly regarded college and AP high school teachers from diverse backgrounds who are typically asked to serve for 3 years. The committee and experienced test-item writers create a large pool of multiple-choice questions. With the help of psychometricians (measurement psychologists) at Educational Testing Service (ETS), these questions are then pretested with college students who are enrolled in introductory psychology at selected colleges and universities. Questions are evaluated for accuracy, appropriateness, clarity, and assurance that there is only one possible answer. Data from pretests allow each question to be categorized by degree of difficulty.

In general, the easiest questions to answer are at the beginning of Section I, and the most difficult questions are at the end. After additional development and refinement, Section I of the exam is ready to be administered.

Numerous free-response questions (essay questions) are written for possible inclusion on the exams. After these questions are edited, discussed by committee members, and pretested with college psychology classes, the committee chooses essay questions for inclusion on a specific AP Psychology exam. They ensure that the free-response questions cut across content areas, are well presented and unambiguous, as well as considerably different from each other. Only free-response questions that will allow for clear and equitable grading by the AP readers (scorers) are selected.

After exams have been scored, the AP Psychology Development Committee and ETS evaluate the test results. The College Board can use the results to further course development in high schools and to plan future exams.

What Is Going to Appear on the Exam?

The College Board periodically surveys colleges/universities throughout the United States and around the world to find out what is being taught in introductory psychology courses in order to ensure that what is being taught in the AP course is comparable. The exam presumes the equivalent of at least one term/semester of college-level work.

Based on the latest information, the AP Psychology Development Committee has updated the course description and point distribution outline for the AP Psychology exam. Content review chapters in this test preparation book conform to their outline. The percentage range in front of each topic represents the number of questions about it that will be asked on the exam. For example, 2 to 4 questions will deal specifically with history and approaches, and 8 to 10 questions will deal with research methods.

2–4%	history and approaches
8–10%	research methods
8–10%	biological bases of behavior
6–8%	sensation and perception
2–4%	states of consciousness
7–9%	learning
8–10%	cognition
6–8%	motivation and emotion
7–9%	developmental psychology
5–7%	personality
5–7%	testing and individual differences
7–9%	abnormal behavior
5–7%	treatment of abnormal behavior
8–10%	social psychology

Typically free-response questions require you to make connections among concepts from multiple topics, or to apply concepts from different theoretical frameworks to design, analyze, or critique an experiment or other type of research study.

Who Grades My AP Psychology Exam?

The multiple-choice questions are scored by computer, but this is not possible for essay questions. These free-response questions are scored by a select group of experienced college professors of introductory psychology and AP Psychology teachers who gather at the AP Reading for several days in June to assess the papers. Each of these faculty consultants spends a day or so getting trained on one question and one question only. Because each Reader becomes an expert on a single question and because each essay booklet is anonymous, this process provides a very consistent (reliable ) and unbiased scoring of that question. During a typical day of grading, a random sample of each consultant’s scored papers is selected and cross-checked by other experienced “Table Leaders” to ensure that consistency is maintained across all scorers throughout the Reading. Each Reader’s scores on a given question are also statistically analyzed to make sure that he or she is not giving scores that are significantly higher or lower than the mean scores given by other Readers of that question. All measures are taken to maintain consistency and fairness for your benefit. Your answers to the two questions will be scored by at least two different consultants.

AP Psychology exams are administered to college psychology students at the end of their introductory psychology course so that their performance on the AP Exam can be compared to their performance in the college course (as measured by their test and course grades). This information is used to guide the assignment of the AP exam grades 1–5 to raw scores.

Will My Exam Remain Anonymous?

Absolutely. Even if your high school teacher were to randomly rate one of your free-response questions at the Reading, there is virtually no way he or she would recognize that the paper belongs to you. To a faculty consultant, each student is a number, and to the computer, each student is a bar code.

What About That Permission Box on the Back?

The College Board uses some exams to help train high school teachers so that they can help the next generation of psychology students avoid common mistakes. If you check this box, you simply give permission to use your exam in this way. Even if you give permission, your anonymity is still maintained.

How Is My Multiple-Choice Answer Sheet Scored?

The multiple-choice section of the psychology exam is 100 questions and is worth two-thirds of your final score. Your answer sheet is run through the computer, which adds up your correct responses. The total number of right answers is your Section I Raw Score.

How Is My Free-Response Exam Scored?

Your performance on the free-response section is worth one-third of your final score. Two required essays comprise this section. Although the two questions are typically given equal weight (25 each), they may be scored on different point scales. As a result, if Essay #1 has nine points that are scored, the number of points earned toward the total exam score for that essay would be Score #1 × 2.778. The multiplier for each free-response question is determined by dividing 25 by the maximum number of points in the scoring rubric or scoring guide. Table 1.2 indicates multipliers for essay questions with different point maximums.

Table 1.2 Points/Multiplier Table

Section II Raw Score = (Score #1 × Correct Multiplier) + (Score #2 × Correct Multiplier)

So How Is My Final Grade Determined and What Does It Mean?

To determine your Composite Raw Score, add the Section I Raw Score and the Section II Raw Score. Based on the composite scores of all of the test takers, the Chief Reader sets four cut points that divide the composite scores into groups. Rather than report your composite score the College Board reports to you one of five numbers assigned to your composite score based on the cut points:

• 5 indicates you are extremely well qualified.

• 4 indicates you are well qualified.

• 3 indicates you are qualified.

• 2 indicates you are possibly qualified.

• 1 indicates no recommendation.

Table 1.3 shows a rough example of a conversion chart, and as you complete the practice exams, you may use this to give yourself a hypothetical grade. Keep in mind that the conversion changes slightly every year to adjust for the difficulty of the questions. You should receive your grade in early July.

Table 1.3 Grade Guide Table—AP Psychology

Example

In Section I of Practice Exam 1, if you answered 76 questions correctly, your Section I score would be 76.

In Section II of Practice Exam 1, if you earned 7 out of 10 points on Essay 1 and 6 out of 8 points on Essay 2, your Section II score would be 36.25.

Section II Raw Score = (7 × 2.5) + (6 × 3.125)
= 17.5 + 18.75 = 36.25

Your composite score would be 76 + 36.25 = 112.25, which would be assigned a 5.

What Should I Bring to the Exam?

On exam day, I suggest bringing the following items:

• Several pencils and an eraser that doesn’t leave smudges.

• Black or blue colored pens for the free-response section.

• A watch so that you can monitor your time. You never know if the exam room will have a clock on the wall that keeps accurate time.

• Your school code.

• Your photo identification and social security number.

• Tissues.

• Your quiet confidence that you are prepared.

Avoid bringing electronic data and communications devices, and study materials to the testing site.

How to Plan Your Time

IN THIS CHAPTER

Summary: The right preparation plan for you depends on your study habits and the amount of time you have before the test.

Key Idea

Choose the study plan that’s right for you.

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Three Approaches to Preparing for AP Exams

What kind of preparation program for the AP exam should you follow? Should you carefully follow every step, or are there perhaps some steps you can bypass? That depends not only on how much time you have, but also on what kind of student you are. No one knows your study habits, likes, and dislikes better than you. You are the best one to decide the approach for you to adopt to prepare successfully for the Advanced Placement Psychology Exam. This chapter presents three possible study plans, labeled A, B, and C. Look at the following brief profiles. These may help you determine which of these three plans is right for you.

You’re a Full-School-Year Prep Student if:

1. You are the kind of person who likes to plan for everything very far in advance.

2. You arrive at the airport hours before your scheduled flight because you never know when something can happen.

3. You like detailed planning and to have everything in its place.

4. In order to be comfortable, you must feel thoroughly prepared.

5. You arrive early for appointments.

6. You hate surprises.

If you fit this profile, consider Plan A .

You’re a One-Semester Prep Student if:

1. You plan a graduation party or vacation a few months in advance so that people you invite will likely be available, and you can get everything you need.

2. You generally get to the airport with enough time to pass through security without feeling hassled, and get to the gate before boarding has begun.

3. You are willing to plan ahead to feel comfortable in stressful situations, but are okay with skipping some details.

4. You feel more comfortable when you know what to expect, but a surprise or two are cool.

5. You arrive on time for appointments.

If you fit this profile, consider Plan B .

You’re a 6-Week Prep Student if:

1. You buy your best friend a gift for his or her birthday, but you need to include a belated card because you missed it by a couple of days.

2. You work best under pressure and tight deadlines.

3. You feel very confident with the skills and background you’ve learned in your AP Psychology class.

4. You decided late in the year to take the exam.

5. Surprises energize you.

6. You feel okay if you arrive 10–15 minutes late for an appointment.

If you fit this profile, consider Plan C .

Table 2.1 Three Different Study Plans for AP Psychology

Calendar for Each Plan

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Plan A: You Have a Full School Year to Prepare.

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Use this plan to organize your study during the coming school year. Although its primary purpose is to prepare you for the AP Psychology exam, this book can enrich your study of psychology and help you develop your analytical and free-response writing skills.

SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER (Check off the activities as you complete them.)

— Determine the student mode (A, B, or C) that applies to you.

— Carefully read the Preface, Introduction, and Chapters 1 –4 of this book.

— Take the Diagnostic Exam and get an idea of what you’ll need to know to succeed in this course.

— Begin to integrate boldfaced words into your vocabulary.

— Get on the Web and take a look at the AP website(s) listed at the back of this book.

— Skim the review chapters in Step 4 of this book. (Reviewing the topics covered in this section will be part of your year-long preparation.)

— Buy a few color highlighters.

— Flip through the entire book. Break the book in. Write in it. Highlight it.

— Get a clear picture of your own school’s AP Psychology curriculum.

— Begin to use the book as a resource to supplement the classroom learning.

NOVEMBER (The first 10 weeks have elapsed.)

If your class is learning topics in a different order, it would be beneficial for you to substitute the corresponding Step 4 chapters in this book.

— Read and study Chapter 5 , History and Approaches. Answer all Review Questions.

— Read and study Chapter 6 , Research Methods. Answer all Review Questions.

— Read and study Chapter 7 , Biological Bases of Behavior. Answer all Review Questions.

DECEMBER

— Read and study Chapter 8 , Sensation and Perception. Answer all Review Questions. If you have time, visit the San Francisco Exploratorium website to do related activities.

— Read and study Chapter 9 , States of Consciousness. Answer all Review Questions.

— Read and study Chapter 10 , Learning. Answer all Review Questions.

— Review Chapters 5 –7 .

JANUARY (20 weeks have elapsed.)

— Read and study Chapter 11 , Cognition. Answer all Review Questions. If you have time, visit the Exploratorium website to do activities dealing with cognition.

— Read and study Chapter 12 , Motivation and Emotion. Answer all Review Questions.

— Read and study Chapter 13 , Developmental Psychology. Answer Review Questions

— Review Chapters 8 –10 .

FEBRUARY

— Read and study Chapter 14 , Personality. Answer all Review Questions.

— Read and study Chapter 15 , Testing and Individual Differences. Answer all Review Questions.

— Read and study Chapter 16 , Abnormal Behavior. Answer all Review Questions.

— Review Chapters 5 –13 .

MARCH (30 weeks have now elapsed.)

— Read and study Chapter 17 , Treatment of Abnormal Behavior. Answer all Review Questions.

— Read and study Chapter 18 , Social Psychology. Answer all Review Questions.

— Review Chapters 5 –18 .

APRIL

— Take Practice Exam 1 the first week in April.

— Score your answers.

— Evaluate your strengths and weaknesses.

— Study appropriate chapters to correct your weaknesses.

— Go over previous AP Psychology exams you took.

— Go to suggested websites that offer additional questions for you to answer.

MAY (THIS IS IT!)

— Review all Step 4 chapters.

— Take Practice Exam 2.

— Score your answers.

— Study appropriate material to correct your weaknesses.

— Get a good night’s sleep before the exam. Fall asleep knowing that you are well prepared.

I hope the test questions give you an opportunity to show how well prepared you are!

---

Plan B: You Have One Semester to Prepare

---

If your class is learning topics in a different order, it would be beneficial for you to substitute the corresponding Step 4 chapters in this book.

JANUARY–FEBRUARY

— Carefully read Chapters 1 –4 of this book.

— Take the Diagnostic Exam and get an idea of what you’ll need to know to succeed in this course.

— Read and study Chapter 5 , History and Approaches. Answer all Review Questions.

— Read and study Chapter 6 , Research Methods. Answer all Review Questions.

— Read and study Chapter 7 , Biological Bases of Behavior. Answer all Review Questions.

— Read and study Chapter 8 , Sensation and Perception. Answer all Review Questions. If you have time, visit the San Francisco Exploratorium website to do related activities.

— Read and study Chapter 9 , States of Consciousness. Answer all Review Questions.

— Read and study Chapter 10 , Learning. Answer all Review Questions.

MARCH (10 weeks to go)

— Read and study Chapter 11 , Cognition. Answer all Review Questions. If you have time, visit the Exploratorium Web site to do activities dealing with cognition.

— Read and study Chapter 12 , Motivation and Emotion. Answer all Review Questions.

— Read and study Chapter 13 , Developmental Psychology. Answer Review Questions.

— Review Chapters 5 –10 .

— Read and study Chapter 14 , Personality. Answer all Review Questions.

— Read and study Chapter 15 , Testing and Individual Differences. Answer all Review Questions.

— Read and study Chapter 16 , Abnormal Behavior. Answer all Review Questions.

— Review Chapters 5 –16 . Answer all Review Questions.

APRIL

— Read and Study Chapter 17 , Treatment of Abnormal Behavior. Answer Questions.

— Read and study Chapter 18 , Social Psychology. Answer all Review Questions.

— Take Practice Exam 1.

— Score your answers.

— Evaluate your strengths and weaknesses.

— Study appropriate chapters to correct your weaknesses.

— Review all Step 4 chapters.

MAY (first 2 weeks) (THIS IS IT!)

— Take Practice Exam 2.

— Score your answers.

— Evaluate your strengths and weaknesses.

— Study appropriate material to correct your weaknesses.

— Get a good night’s sleep before the exam knowing that you are well prepared.

I hope the test questions give you an opportunity to show how well prepared you are!

---

Plan C: You Have Six Weeks to Prepare

---

When time is short, you need to use this book as a specific guide to the AP Psychology exam. Rather than rereading an introductory psychology college textbook, you can read through the Step 4 Chapters 5 –18 , focusing on the Key Terms and Names. Answer all of the questions at the end of the chapters, and check your answers.

APRIL 1–15

— Skim Chapters 1 –4 of this book.

— Skim Chapters 5 –11 .

— Carefully go over the Rapid Review sections of Chapters 5 –11 .

— Complete the Diagnostic/Master Exam starting on p. 19.

— Score yourself and analyze your errors.

— Skim and highlight the Glossary at the end of the book.

APRIL 15–MAY 1

— Skim Chapters 12 –17 .

— Carefully go over the Rapid Review sections of Chapters 12 –17 .

— Complete AP Psychology Practice Exam 1.

— Score yourself and analyze your errors.

— Continue to skim and highlight the Glossary at the end of the book.

MAY (first 2 weeks) (THIS IS IT!)

— Carefully go over the Rapid Review sections of Chapters 5 –17 .

— Take AP Psychology Practice Exam 2.

— Score yourself and analyze your errors.

— Get a good night’s sleep before the exam knowing that you are ready for a challenge.

I hope the AP exam asks exactly what you know best.

---

Take a Diagnostic Exam

IN THIS CHAPTER

Summary: Get started in your review by answering the questions in the diagnostic exam. Use the answer sheet to record your answers. After you’ve finished answering the questions, check your answers in the answer key. The review chapter to which the question applies is indicated at the beginning of each answer in the key. Your results should give you a good idea of how well you’re prepared for the AP exam at this time. Follow the directions regarding scoring and interpretation. If you get all of the questions right, pass this book on to someone who needs it! Note those chapters that you need to study the most, and spend more time on them. Ready, set, go!

Key Ideas

Practice the kind of multiple-choice questions you will be asked on the AP Psychology exam.

Answer questions that approximate the coverage of topics on the real exam.

Check your work against the given answers.

Determine your areas of strength and weakness.

Identify and mark the pages to which you must give special attention.

---

Diagnostic Exam in AP Psychology

---

ANSWER SHEET

---

The Diagnostic/Master Exam

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SECTION I

Time—49 minutes
70 Questions

Directions: Each of the questions or incomplete statements below is followed by five suggested answers or completions. Select the one that is best in each case and then fill in the corresponding oval on the answer sheet.

1 . The evolutionary approach emphasizes changes in behavior

(A) resulting from cloning

(B) resulting from changes in chromosome number

(C) on the species level

(D) within cultural groups

(E) that show how behavior of monkeys compares to behavior of people

2 . Which approach emphasizes the nature of people to maximize their own potential?

(A) biological

(B) behavioral

(C) cognitive

(D) humanistic

(E) sociocultural

3 . Which of the following psychologists is best trained to treat people with schizophrenia?

(A) counseling

(B) clinical

(C) developmental

(D) psychometric

(E) health

4 . As part of a research study, Sanjay is asked to fill out a 30-question form about his study habits. Which of the following research methods does this characterize?

(A) controlled experiment

(B) quasi-experiment

(C) naturalistic observation

(D) survey

(E) clinical

5 . Why can’t a controlled experiment be designed to answer the question, “Do boys have higher self-esteem than girls?”

(A) Random selection is not possible.

(B) Random assignment is not possible.

(C) A population cannot be defined.

(D) Self-esteem cannot be operationalized.

(E) Informed consent cannot be obtained.

6 . Which of the following graphs would best picture correlational data about the relationship between scores on the first psychology test and final exam in psychology for Mr. Sochet’s third-period class?

(A) a frequency polygon

(B) a histogram

(C) a line graph

(D) a box plot

(E) a scatterplot

7 . Which of the following is the same for these two sets of data?

Set 1: 1, 7, 5, 9, 3

Set 2: 2, 5, 6, 5, 7

I. mean

II. median

III. mode

(A) I only

(B) II only

(C) III only

(D) I and II only

(E) I, II, III

8 . Which measure of variability provides the most meaningful information about the following set of scores?

Set of scores: 12, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 17, 32

(A) mean

(B) median

(C) mode

(D) range

(E) standard deviation

9 . Which of the following technologies enables psychologists to visualize brain function?

(A) EEG and EKG

(B) CAT and MRI

(C) EKG and PET

(D) PET and CAT

(E) fMRI and PET

10 . Which of the following nervous systems work in opposition to each other?

(A) central and peripheral

(B) somatic and autonomic

(C) sympathetic and parasympathetic

(D) central and sympathetic

(E) somatic and peripheral

11 . The unit of structure and function of the human nervous system is the

(A) neuron

(B) nerve

(C) axon

(D) reflex arc

(E) brain

12 . Hormones most closely associated with stress are produced by the

(A) thyroid

(B) parathyroids

(C) pineal

(D) adrenals

(E) thalamus

13 . The part of the brain most closely associated with regulation of hunger, thirst, and body temperature is the

(A) left frontal lobe

(B) right frontal lobe

(C) amygdala

(D) cerebellum

(E) hypothalamus

14 . As a result of injury to her brain, Starla no longer can understand what people say to her, although she hears them. The region of the cerebral cortex most likely injured is her

(A) left temporal lobe

(B) left frontal lobe

(C) right frontal lobe

(D) right parietal lobe

(E) right occipital lobe

15 . Chemical energy is transduced to the electrochemical energy of neural impulses at the

(A) cochlea

(B) retina

(C) olfactory mucosa

(D) semi-circular canals

(E) ganglion cells

16 . Damage to the hammer, anvil, and stirrup can result in

(A) conduction deafness

(B) sensorineural deafness

(C) blindness

(D) color blindness

(E) loss in taste sensation

17 . Although Hannah could barely hear the person on the other side of Maya whisper, Maya couldn’t hear him at all. For hearing, compared to Maya, Hannah has a

(A) lower absolute threshold

(B) lower difference threshold

(C) higher absolute threshold

(D) higher difference threshold

(E) lower tolerance

18 . If you stand on one foot and close your eyes, which of the following senses prevents you from falling?

(A) gustatory

(B) olfactory

(C) kinesthetic

(D) somatosensory

(E) visual

19 . Which depth cue best explains that we are able to perceive a tall building to be in front of hills about a mile away?

(A) interposition

(B) texture gradient

(C) retinal disparity

(D) convergence

(E) the phi phenomenon

20 . Alpha and beta waves are characteristic of

(A) conscious awareness

(B) stage 2 sleep

(C) stage 3 sleep

(D) stage 4 sleep

(E) REM sleep

21 . Monitoring by a hidden observer provides evidence for which theory of hypnosis?

(A) dissociation

(B) state

(C) diathesis-stress

(D) place

(E) activation-synthesis

22 . Which of the following are stimulants?

(A) methamphetamine and codeine

(B) caffeine and morphine

(C) nicotine and cocaine

(D) alcohol and benzedrine

(E) marijuana and LSD

23 . Which of the following is the result of learning?

(A) Salmon swim upstream in order to spawn.

(B) A neonate cries immediately after birth.

(C) A man blinks when a puff of air is blown into his eyes.

(D) A boy cringes when he sees lightning.

(E) A girl falls asleep when she feels tired.

24 . In classical conditioning, between what two factors is a new association formed?

(A) reinforcer and unconditioned stimulus

(B) reinforcer and unconditioned response

(C) reinforcer and conditioned response

(D) unconditioned stimulus and conditioned stimulus

(E) unconditioned stimulus and unconditioned response

25 . Although the pigeon was trained to peck at a yellow light, it pecks at green, red, and orange lights too. This behavior indicates the pecking behavior has been

(A) discriminated

(B) generalized

(C) extinguished

(D) spontaneously recovered

(E) punished

26 . When alarms on timers started going off in the back of the classroom, students were distracted, but the teacher continued lecturing. As more alarms went off, one student got up, and the teacher nodded. The student walked toward the back of the room, and the teacher nodded. The student turned the alarms off, and the teacher thanked him. What operant conditioning process does this best illustrate?

(A) shaping

(B) generalization

(C) discrimination

(D) extinction

(E) omission training

27 . After Tom’s parents told him not to take his father’s car to the movies, he did anyway. As a result, his parents took away Tom’s car keys and told him he was not permitted to drive for a month. Taking away the car keys and not letting Tom drive for a month exemplifies

(A) positive reinforcement

(B) positive punishment

(C) negative reinforcement

(D) omission training

(E) insight learning

28 . JoBeth watched her mother cook dinner, then went to her room, made believe she was cooking the same dinner, and served it to her stuffed toys. JoBeth learned to cook and serve like her mother by

(A) insight learning

(B) classical conditioning

(C) operant conditioning

(D) observational learning

(E) maturation

29 . In describing a ball that is both red and big, we say, “Big red ball,” rather than, “Red big ball,” in the English language. Such a rule about word order is a specific rule of

(A) grammar

(B) syntax

(C) semantics

(D) spelling

(E) deep structure

30 . Ralph thinks senior citizens are the ones who back up traffic on parkway entrance ramps because senior citizens are hesitant drivers. Every time he sees lots of cars waiting to enter the parkway, he looks to see who is driving the front car. If a senior citizen is in the driver’s seat, he points it out to passengers in his car. Ralph is evidencing

(A) confirmation bias

(B) hindsight bias

(C) groupthink

(D) the availability heuristic

(E) the representativeness heuristic

31 . Jho remembers which wavelengths of light are shorter than others by recalling ROYGBIV. ROYGBIV is an example of

(A) a mnemonic device

(B) the method of loci

(C) the self-reference effect

(D) constructive memory

(E) the representativeness heuristic

32 . Knowing how to ride a bicycle is stored in which of our memory subsystems?

(A) explicit

(B) implicit

(C) semantic

(D) episodic

(E) declarative

33 . Rather than taking the time to check the dictionary, Vinny used “i before e , except after c ” to decide the spelling of “niether” (sic). To solve his spelling problem, Vinny applied

(A) Weber’s law

(B) an algorithm

(C) the law of effect

(D) the misinformation effect

(E) a heuristic

34 . After hearing this list of words, “Night, snore, bed, tired, pillow, dark, yawn, blanket, toss, turn,” subjects were asked to write the words they heard. They frequently included the word sleep . This illustrates

(A) source amnesia

(B) procedural memory

(C) constructive memory

(D) retroactive interference

(E) proactive interference

35 . According to the drive reduction theory, the aim of drive reduction is

(A) raising motivation

(B) homeostasis

(C) incentive

(D) to maintain a tension state

(E) to increase arousal

36 . After Madison got home from the buffet (at which she stuffed herself), she went to the bathroom and made herself throw up. She does this every time she binges on food. She thinks about food a lot, craves chocolate, and would be considered of average weight. Madison is most likely suffering from

(A) anorexia nervosa

(B) bulimia nervosa

(C) set point depression

(D) panic disorder

(E) type A behavior

37 . Physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience best characterize

(A) the two factor theory

(B) motives

(C) incentives

(D) drives

(E) emotions

38 . Physiological arousal is characterized by which of the following?

(A) contracted pupils and increased perspiration

(B) slowed digestion and accelerated heartbeat

(C) increased respiration and increased salivation

(D) contracted pupils and increased heartbeat

(E) dilated pupils and speeded digestion

39 . Of the following, which means of communication is the most universal?

(A) English language

(B) hand gestures

(C) facial expressions

(D) vocal intonation

(E) bowing

40 . A person with X, X, and Y sex chromosomes must be

(A) heterosexual

(B) homosexual

(C) bisexual

(D) male

(E) female

41 . According to Lev Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, the upper limit of a child’s zone of proximal development is the level at which the child can

(A) solve a problem only with the help of a skilled instructor

(B) solve a difficult problem working alone

(C) recognize that the volume of a liquid stays the same whether it is in a tall, narrow container or short, wide container

(D) use metacognitive skills to solve a problem

(E) perform logical deductions

42 . Chemicals that cause birth defects are

(A) morphogenic

(B) homophobic

(C) homeostatic

(D) teratogenic

(E) pathogenic

43 . Which controversy deals with the question of whether development is a gradual, cumulative change or a sequence of distinct stages?

(A) nature versus nurture

(B) continuity versus discontinuity

(C) stability versus change

(D) evolution versus creationism

(E) individualism versus collectivism

44 . Darren is a happily married man who is a successful nursery school teacher. According to traditionalists, he has adopted the wrong

(A) gender

(B) gender identity

(C) gender role

(D) sex

(E) sexual orientation

45 . Freud’s personality construct that contains psychic energy to power all personality systems and is guided by the pleasure principle is the

(A) id

(B) ego

(C) superego

(D) libido

(E) collective unconscious

46 . After Rowena’s boyfriend broke up with her, Rowena had a hot fudge sundae with four scoops of ice cream and whipped cream on top. Which defense mechanism does this exemplify?

(A) projection

(B) rationalization

(C) reaction formation

(D) regression

(E) displacement

47 . Aurora enjoys playing with her young nieces and nephews because they always laugh and tell her how much fun she is. So Aurora goes out of her way to visit them. Her behavior is best explained by

(A) Sternberg’s triarchic theory

(B) Gardner’s multiple intelligences theory

(C) Hering’s opponent process theory

(D) the halo effect

(E) Bandura’s reciprocal determinism theory

48 . Rolf is very reserved, is inner-directed, would rather be alone than with lots of people, rarely displays emotions, and is level-headed in an emergency. On Hans Eysenck’s dimensions of personality, Rolf would be

(A) high on extroversion and high on psychoticism

(B) high on neuroticism and high on psychoticism

(C) high on extroversion and low on neuroticism

(D) low on extroversion and high on neuroticism

(E) low on extroversion and low on neuroticism

49 . The Rorschach inkblot test is

(A) a personality inventory

(B) used to fingerprint suspects

(C) an aptitude test

(D) an achievement test

(E) a projective personality test

50 . In a normal distribution

(A) the range is always the same

(B) the standard deviation is equal to the range

(C) the standard deviation equals about 34%

(D) the median is equal to the mode

(E) the mean is equal to the standard deviation

51 . Peter Salovey and John Mayer’s concept of emotional intelligence is most similar to which of Howard Gardner’s intelligences?

(A) analytic and practical

(B) naturalist and existential

(C) interpersonal and intrapersonal

(D) bodily/kinesthetic and verbal/linguistic

(E) spatial and logical

52 . All good achievement tests should have

I. content validity

II. predictive validity

III. reliability

(A) I only

(B) II only

(C) III only

(D) I and III only

(E) I, II, and III

53 . All polar bears appear to have a white coat at birth. In warmer climates about 25% appear to have yellow or green coats as they age because of algae growing on them. The heritability of the white coat phenotype is

(A) 0%

(B) 25%

(C) 50%

(D) 75%

(E) 100%

54 . According to Claude Steele, self-fulfilling prophecy might account for the poorer performance of African Americans on intelligence tests and girls on mathematics achievement tests because of

(A) generalized anxiety disorder

(B) stereotype threat

(C) neuroticism

(D) the primacy effect

(E) psychological profiling

55 . Although your friend thinks there is nothing wrong with her, you are concerned with her behavior of unplugging every electrical item in her house every time she leaves, including all lamps, radios, the television, toaster, clocks, and telephones. Her behavior might be considered abnormal because

(A) she doesn’t know right from wrong

(B) it is atypical and violates cultural norms

(C) she thinks it interferes with her everyday life

(D) it is insane

(E) it is dangerous

56 . Which of the following perspectives attributes abnormal behavior to failure to resolve unconscious conflicts?

(A) biological

(B) behavioral

(C) psychoanalytic

(D) humanistic

(E) evolutionary

57 . Narcissistic personality disorder is characterized by

(A) unwarranted suspiciousness and mistrust of other people

(B) lack of interest in social relationships

(C) a grandiose sense of one’s own importance

(D) instability revolving around problems of mood and thought processes

(E) pleasure-seeking, shallow feelings, lack of conscience

58 . David thought he heard a dog telling him to kill people. Hearing the dog talking is an example of

(A) a hallucination

(B) a delusion

(C) inappropriate affect

(D) incoherent speech

(E) palsy

59 . The American Psychiatric Association’s DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders )

(A) is meant to be used by psychiatrists, but not psychologists

(B) describes the causes of a variety of mental disorders

(C) explains why homosexuality should be considered a mental disorder

(D) contains case illustrations to help diagnosticians identify a client’s disorder

(E) defines categories of mental disorders in terms of symptoms

60 . Which is a behavioral therapy that has proven successful in treating phobias?

(A) electroconvulsive shock treatment

(B) group therapy

(C) psychosurgery

(D) systematic desensitization

(E) rational emotive therapy

61 . Psychoanalytic therapy and humanistic therapy differ in that psychoanalytic therapy focuses on

(A) the present, and humanistic therapy focuses on the future

(B) subconscious and preconscious thoughts, and humanistic therapy focuses on conscious thoughts

(C) curing illness, and humanistic therapy focuses on preventing illness

(D) fixations, and humanistic therapy focuses on insight

(E) probing past feelings, and humanistic therapy focuses on exploring feelings as they occur

62 . Clients who drink too much alcohol are sometimes treated with a drug that causes nausea if the client consumes alcohol. This type of therapy is known as

(A) systematic desensitization

(B) progressive relaxation

(C) client-centered therapy

(D) aversive conditioning

(E) psychodynamic therapy

63 . Light therapy, consisting of exposure to bright light in the morning, has been successful in relieving symptoms of

(A) dissociative amnesia

(B) seasonal affective disorder

(C) schizophrenia

(D) obsessive-compulsive disorder

(E) Alzheimer’s disease

64 . Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil help elevate mood by

(A) increasing the availability of serotonin to postsynaptic neurons

(B) decreasing the availability of norepinephrine to postsynaptic neurons

(C) facilitating reuptake of serotonin

(D) acting as agonists of dopamine

(E) preventing reuptake of dopamine

65 . A college professor asked a biology teacher to let a college student observe her teaching for one period. After the student observed the teacher, the professor asked the teacher to accept the student as a student teacher for 10 weeks. She agreed. The strategy the professor used to get the teacher to agree is called

(A) cognitive dissonance

(B) foot-in-the-door phenomenon

(C) obedience to authority

(D) normative social influence

(E) conformity

66 . As part of each lab, Ms. Geraci requires her students to wash their glassware so it is clean for the next class. She has found that the glassware is cleaner when students wash it in full view of their classmates. This is best explained by

(A) deindividuation

(B) the mere exposure effect

(C) social facilitation

(D) social loafing

(E) superordinate goals

67 . In Heartsaver AED training, the American Heart Association teaches rescuers to direct specific people standing around the victim to do specific jobs, such as calling 911. Directing specific people to perform these jobs prevents

(A) the victim from dying

(B) people from feeling scared

(C) group polarization

(D) the bystander effect

(E) a social trap

68 . According to group polarization studies, after Mary and Marie (who are strongly in favor of the death penalty) discuss the issue with Lisa and Liza (who are strongly opposed to the death penalty), it is likely that

(A) all of them will be more strongly in favor of the death penalty

(B) all of them will be more strongly opposed to the death penalty

(C) Mary and Marie will be more strongly in favor of the death penalty than before, and Lisa and Liza will be more strongly opposed to the death penalty than before

(D) Mary and Marie will be less strongly in favor of the death penalty, and Lisa and Liza will be less strongly opposed to the death penalty

(E) Mary and Marie will be opposed to the death penalty, and Lisa and Liza will be in favor of the death penalty

69 . The field of psychology that examines how the behavior and subjective experiences of individuals are influenced by other people is

(A) sociobiology

(B) sociology

(C) social psychology

(D) social anthropology

(E) psychopathology

70 . According to evolutionary psychologists, in making a decision to help in life-or-death situations, most people will choose to help

(A) cousins sooner than siblings

(B) ill people rather than healthy people

(C) poor people rather than wealthy people

(D) close friends rather than close relatives

(E) sisters in their 20s rather than mothers in their 50s

END OF SECTION I

Answers and Explanations, Section I

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1 . C— (Chapter 5 ) The evolutionary approach looks at behaviors that have resulted from natural selection. Natural selection operates at the population or species level; an organism doesn’t evolve, a population or species does.

2 . D— (Chapter 5 ) The humanistic approach views human nature as naturally positive and growth seeking.

3 . B— (Chapter 5 ) While both counseling and clinical psychologists treat people, only clinical psychologists are trained to help people suffering from psychoses and other severe mental disorders.

4 . D— (Chapter 6 ) The form with 30 questions is a questionnaire. Questionnaires and interviews are survey methods.

5 . B— (Chapter 6 ) While people for the study can be randomly chosen from the population, they cannot be divided into the experimental and control groups without considering their sex. If sex must be considered, the subjects cannot be randomly assigned.

6 . E— (Chapter 6 ) A scatterplot shows points on a graph. The points are determined by the values of the score on each test. For example, the score on the first test could be the x value and the score on the final could be the y value for each student. The points form a pattern. If, for example, the pattern extends from the lower left to the upper right of the graph, the correlation between the first and final exams is positive.

7 . D— (Chapter 6 ) Both the mean and the median are 5 for each set. Adding all scores for each set, the sum is 25. Dividing by the number of scores (7) the mean is 5. The middle score for each set, when put in order, is the median. Set 1 does not have a mode.

8 . E— (Chapter 6 ) The mean, median, and mode are measures of centrality and do not tell anything about variability. The range is a crude measure that can be misleading for this set, because 32 is so different from the rest of the set. Standard deviation is a more sensitive measure of variability.

9 . E— (Chapter 7 ) Functional magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography enable psychologists to see the parts of the brain that are functioning when a subject is engaged in a particular task. An electroencephalograph enables psychologists to see patterns of brain waves, but an electrocardiogram shows heart function. Computerized axial tomography and magnetic resonance imaging picture brain structure rather than function.

10 . C— (Chapter 7 ) The sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems are subdivisions of the autonomic nervous system. Whereas the sympathetic usually speeds up the function of an organ, the parasympathetic typically slows it down.

11 . A— (Chapter 7 ) A neuron is a single cell that transmits messages in our bodies. Nerves, a reflex arc, and the brain are composed of neurons. An axon is part of a neuron.

12 . D— (Chapter 7 ) The adrenal glands secrete corticosteroids and adrenaline when we are stressed.

13 . E— (Chapter 7 ) The tiny hypothalamus helps regulate hunger, thirst, body temperature, some biological rhythms, some emotions, heart rate, and other functions.

14 . A— (Chapter 7 ) Starla probably has damage to Wernicke’s area, critical for understanding language, which is part of the left temporal lobe of the cerebral cortex.

15 . C— (Chapter 8 ) Taste (gustation) and smell (olfaction) are the chemical senses. For the sense of smell, chemical energy of molecules is changed to the electrochemical energy of a neural impulse at the mucous membrane on the roof of the nose. This membrane is called the olfactory mucosa.

16 . A— (Chapter 8 ) The hammer, anvil, and stirrup are the three tiny bones in the middle ear that transmit vibrations to the cochlea, where transduction takes place. If they are damaged, vibrations may not be transmitted, resulting in conduction deafness.

17 . A— (Chapter 8 ) Since Hannah could hear a sound from farther away than Maya, she seems to have a lower absolute threshold for hearing than Maya.

18 . C— (Chapter 8 ) Kinesthesis is your sense of body position and movement of individual body parts, with receptors in your muscles, tendons, and joints.

19 . A— (Chapter 8 ) A mile is too far away for texture gradient, retinal disparity, and convergence to be factors in perceiving depth. At that distance, the fact that the building partially hides the hills behind it is a cue to which is closer.

20 . A— (Chapter 9 ) Alpha and beta waves characterize our awake states, whereas theta and delta waves are more characteristic of sleep states.

21 . A— (Chapter 9 ) According to the dissociation theory, hypnotized individuals experience two or more streams of consciousness cut off from each other, where the hidden observer monitors behavior.

22 . C— (Chapter 9 ) Methamphetamine, caffeine, nicotine, cocaine, and benzedrine are all classified as stimulants.

23 . D— (Chapter 10 ) Because of a learned association with loud thunder, lightning can evoke a cringing reaction. The other behaviors are unlearned, automatic behaviors.

24 . D— (Chapter 10 ) Classical conditioning establishes an association between an unconditioned stimulus and a neutral stimulus that becomes a conditioned stimulus. The unconditioned stimulus is the reinforcer.

25 . B— (Chapter 10 ) The pigeon does not discriminate among the different lights. Responding the same way to other colors of light as to yellow light is generalizing.

26 . A— (Chapter 10 ) The teacher wanted someone to turn off the alarms. She reinforced closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior, which is known as shaping.

27 . D— (Chapter 10 ) Tom wants to drive the car, but because of his behavior, his parents took the car away from him. This is called omission training or negative punishment.

28 . D— (Chapter 10 ) JoBeth learned by observing her mother and imitating the behavior.

29 . B— (Chapter 11 ) Syntax is the set of rules that regulate the order in which words can be combined into grammatically sensible sentences in a language.

30 . A— (Chapter 11 ) Ralph is looking only for instances that uphold his hypothesis, not for instances that disconfirm it, so he is showing the confirmation bias.

31 . A— (Chapter 11 ) Mnemonic devices are memory tricks that help us retrieve information from long-term memory.

32 . B— (Chapter 11 ) Implicit memory stores memories of procedural skills.

33 . E— (Chapter 11 ) A heuristic is a “rule of thumb,” a shortcut to an answer that is usually, but not always, correct.

34 . C— (Chapter 11 ) We often incorporate information that was not presented into our memories of events.

35 . B— (Chapter 12 ) Homeostasis is the maintenance of the steady state of metabolism in our bodies. Reestablishing equilibrium is the goal of drive reduction.

36 . B— (Chapter 12 ) Bingeing and purging characterize bulimia nervosa.

37 . E— (Chapter 12 ) All three factors define emotions.

38 . B— (Chapter 12 ) The sympathetic nervous system is activated when the body is aroused, which dilates pupils, slows digestion, speeds the heart, speeds breathing, increases perspiration, etc.

39 . C— (Chapter 12 ) Facial expressions seem to be universal across all cultures.

40 . D— (Chapter 13 ) The Y chromosome determines that the fertilized egg will develop into a male baby, no matter how many X chromosomes are present.

41 . A— (Chapter 13 ) The lower limit is the level at which the child can solve the problem working alone, whereas the upper limit requires the child to work hard with a mentor to solve the problem.

42 . D— (Chapter 13 ) Chemicals that damage the embryo or fetus, such as alcohol, are teratogens.

43 . B— (Chapter 13 ) Continuity is gradual change and discontinuity occurs in stages.

44 . C— (Chapter 13 ) As a happily married man, Darren seems to identify himself as a heterosexual male, which is appropriate according to traditionalists. Traditionally, however, nursery school teachers are women, so being a nursery school teacher would be regarded as an inappropriate role for a male.

45 . A— (Chapter 14 ) Of Freud’s three personality constructs (the id, ego, and superego), the id is the one guided by the pleasure principle.

46 . D— (Chapter 14 ) Regression is a retreat to an earlier level of development characterized by more immature, pleasurable behavior (in this case oral behavior).

47 . E— (Chapter 14 ) Reciprocal determinism theory states that characteristics of the person, the person’s behavior, and the environment all affect one another in two-way causal relationships.

48 . E— (Chapter 14 ) According to Eysenck, neuroticism is our level of instability and extroversion is our sociability.

49 . E— (Chapter 14 ) The Rorschach presents ambiguous inkblots so that test takers will project their unconscious thoughts or feelings onto them.

50 . D— (Chapter 15 ) In a normal distribution, the mean, median, and mode are the same score.

51 . C— (Chapter 15 ) Salovey and Mayer described emotional intelligence as the ability to perceive, express, understand, and regulate emotions.

52 . D— (Chapter 15 ) All good tests must have content validity and reliability. Aptitude tests, but not achievement tests, must have predictive validity.

53 . A— (Chapter 15 ) Heritability is the proportion of variation among individuals in a population that results from genetic causes. All polar bears inherit transparent hairs that appear white. None of the variation results from genetic causes.

54 . B— (Chapter 15 ) Claude Steele hypothesizes that at least part of the difference in scores can be attributed to anxiety that influences members of a group concerned that their performance on a test will confirm a negative stereotype.

55 . B— (Chapter 16 ) Abnormal behavior is statistically rare, violates cultural norms, personally interferes with day-to-day living, and legally may cause a person to be unable to know right from wrong. Her behavior seems bizarre to others, but not to her.

56 . C— (Chapter 16 ) According to Freudian theory, all abnormal behavior results from unconscious conflicts that have not been resolved.

57 . C— (Chapter 16 ) Narcissistic personality is characterized by preoccupation with fantasies about ultimate power, riches, brilliance, or beauty, as well as an unwarranted sense of self-importance.

58 . A— (Chapter 16 ) A hallucination is a sensory experience in the absence of an external stimulus, which in this case is hearing a voice that isn’t there.

59 . E— (Chapter 16 ) DSM-5 classifies mental disorders into 22 major categories according to their symptoms.

60 . D— (Chapter 17 ) Systematic desensitization is the only behavioral therapy listed. It has been very helpful in lessening fear step by step.

61 . E— (Chapter 17 ) Humanistic therapy focuses on the present and future, conscious thoughts and feelings, and promoting growth. Psychoanalytic therapy focuses on unconscious thoughts and feelings in the past and on curing illness.

62 . D— (Chapter 17 ) Aversive conditioning is a type of counterconditioning. An association is formed between an obnoxious stimulus (such as nausea) and an unwanted behavior (such as drinking alcohol).

63 . B— (Chapter 17 ) Bright light exposure in the morning results in lower secretion of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin and protects against depression.

64 . A— (Chapter 17 ) Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil are classified as SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors), which prevent the presynaptic neuron from reabsorbing serotonin, leaving more serotonin in the synapse to bind to receptor sites on postsynaptic neurons, enabling them to fire.

65 . B— (Chapter 18 ) Foot-in-the-door phenomenon is the tendency for a person who has agreed to a limited commitment to later agree to a more significant commitment.

66 . C— (Chapter 18 ) Social facilitation is the improved performance of well-learned or simple tasks in the presence of others.

67 . D— (Chapter 18 ) The bystander effect, the tendency for bystanders not to help someone in need when others are present, often results from diffusion of responsibility and lack of recognition of the need. Specifying someone to perform a specific task generally results in the person doing that job.

68 . D— (Chapter 18 ) Research by Burnstein and Vinokur has shown that when a group is evenly split on an issue, participants in a discussion partially convince each other that their own positions are valid, and participants moderate their positions—but this seems to be true only when group members are evenly divided and equally passionate about their views.

69 . C— (Chapter 18 ) Social psychology studies how the individual thinks about, influences, and relates to others and how others relate to him or her; sociology emphasizes the behavior and functions of groups.

70 . E— (Chapter 18 ) According to evolutionary psychologists, our behavior tends to help perpetuate our genes. We are, thus, more likely to help close kin who are likely to reproduce than others. If we need to choose others to help in life-or-death situations, we will tend to choose those who may benefit us or our kin.

Scoring and Interpretation

Now that you’ve finished Section I of the diagnostic exam and scored your answers, you can figure out what your results mean. Did you answer all of the questions correctly for any chapters? Did you get all or most of the questions wrong for any chapters? Note which ones. In using this review book, you don’t need to spend as much time on a chapter with which you are very familiar as you do with a chapter that puzzles you. If you found yourself saying “Huh?” or felt “clueless,” spend more time learning the material in that chapter. If you are not reading this for the first time at the beginning of May, you have probably left yourself time to learn most of the information in this book.

Calculate Your Score

Multiple-Choice Questions

If you have progressed beyond Chapter 13 (Developmental Psychology) in your study of psychology and are ready to write a practice essay, try the one that follows in this book. If you haven’t studied development yet, and you really do want to write an essay, here’s a good alternative:

• Go to the College Board website at http://www.collegeboard.com/student/ .

• Select “Preparing for the Exams” under Advanced Placement.

• Select “AP Psychology” under History & Social Science.

• You will arrive at a page that typically lets you select from over 10 years of exams. Choose a year for which you see Scoring Guidelines available so that you’ll be able to score your response.

• Free-response question #1 for 2006 deals with research methods. This is a topic generally studied early in the course, so it might be an appropriate practice essay for you.

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The Diagnostic/Master Exam

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SECTION II

Time—22 minutes

Directions: Read the following question and then write your response on a separate sheet of paper. According to the College Board directions, “It is not enough to answer a question by merely listing facts. You should present a cogent argument based on your critical analysis of the question posed, using appropriate psychological terminology.”

A controversy in psychology about which psychologists have differing views is continuity versus discontinuity. Describe what is meant by continuity versus discontinuity. Explain how theories of cognitive development and personality development support each side of the controversy.

END OF DIAGNOSTIC EXAM

Essay Scoring Directions

Score your essay using this eight-point rubric or guide. Award yourself a point for each segment you answered correctly.

This essay has eight points:

Point 1: Define continuity or communicate its meaning.

Continuity is gradual or cumulative or quantitative change.

Point 2: Define discontinuity or communicate its meaning.

Discontinuity is distinct or qualitative change, or stages.

Point 3: Describe cognitive development.

Cognitive development is characterized by changes in thinking and the way people process information as they grow from birth to death.

Point 4: Give an example of a theory of cognitive development that supports continuity.

Vygotsky’s theory supports continuity.

Point 5: Give an example of a theory of cognitive development that supports discontinuity.

Piaget’s theory supports discontinuity.

Point 6: Describe personality development.

Personality development is characterized by changes in unique behaviors, attitudes, and emotions as an individual grows from birth to death.

Point 7: Give an example of a theory of personality development that supports continuity.

Behavioral studies support continuity. Kagan’s studies support continuity for temperament, activity level.

Point 8: Give an example of a theory of personality development that supports discontinuity.

Stage theories support discontinuity.

Sample Full-Credit Essay

The controversy of continuity versus discontinuity deals with the question of whether development is gradual with change accumulating until we die, or a sequence of discrete stages that differ in kind, structure, or organization.

Cognitive development refers to development of the ability to think and know. Lev Vygotsky thought that cognitive change is continuous. His sociocultural theory highlights the zone of proximal development (ZPD), which is the distance between what a child can master on his/her own and what a child can master with the assistance of others. Working close to the upper limit of a child’s capability, the instructor and child work closely together to reach that goal and then, through continued practice, the child is able to attain the goal more and more independently. When the goal is achieved without help, then that goal becomes the new lower limit for a new ZPD. So, in Vygotsky’s theory, cognitive development is gradual or continuous.

On the other hand, Jean Piaget in his theory of cognitive development thought that cognitive development is marked by stages during which children have different abilities. He named four stages: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. During the sensorimotor stage, babies are unable to use symbols, whereas once in the preoperational stage, young children can.

Personality refers to the unique behaviors, attitudes, and emotions of an individual. Theorists who support continuity think that change in an individual’s personality over time is gradual, whereas theorists who support discontinuity think that change occurs in stages.

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How to Approach Each Question Type

IN THIS CHAPTER

Summary: Knowing and applying question-answering strategies helps you succeed on tests. This chapter provides you with many test-taking tips to help you earn a 5 on the AP Psychology exam.

Key Ideas

Multiple-Choice Questions

Read the question carefully.

Try to answer the question yourself before reading the answer choices.

Guess, if you do not know the answer.

Drawing a picture may help you.

Don’t spend too much time on any one question.

Free-Response Questions

Write clearly and legibly.

Answer the question!

Segment the question into parts that will earn a credit.

Leave out complex introductions and summary paragraphs.

Allot about 20 minutes for each question.

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Section I: Multiple-Choice Questions

You’ve undoubtedly taken final exams before. What did you do that enabled you to succeed on the exams where you earned your highest scores? Probably doing similar preparation for your AP Psychology exam will pay off. If you relaxed the night before the exams, watched TV, or spent time with friends, that may be most productive for you. I always found it most productive for me to review note cards I made with important definitions, important themes, major issues, key research studies, and notable names written in small letters on them. As you use this review book, you may want to make your own note cards—or not!

Every multiple-choice question has three important parts:

1. The stem is the basis for the actual question. Sometimes this comes in the form of a fill-in-the-blank statement, rather than a question.

Example: Psychometricians are psychologists who:
Example: How do SSRIs work?

2. The correct answer option . Obviously, this is the one selection that best completes the statement, or responds to the question in the stem. Making good use of this book will help you choose lots of correct answer options.

3. Distractor options . Just as it sounds, these are the four incorrect answers intended to distract the person who doesn’t know the concepts being assessed.

Some students who do well on multiple-choice exams are so well prepared that they can easily find the correct answer, but other students do well because they are savvy enough to identify and avoid the distractors. Much research has been done on how to best study for, and complete, multiple-choice questions. There are no foolproof rules for taking the exam, but here are some heuristics (“rules of thumb”) that are usually helpful:

1. Carefully read the question. This sounds pretty obvious, but you would be surprised how often test takers miss words that can change the meaning of a question, such as not, all, always, never, except, least or least likely, and rarely .

Example: Which of the following is least likely to be part of a reflex arc?

(A) an afferent neuron

(B) a sensory receptor

(C) a voluntary muscle

(D) cells of the adrenal glands

(E) cells from the occipital cortex

Someone who misses the word least might choose the first answer without looking any further. Over half the students who answered this question on a class test got it wrong because they did just that.

2. Words like never and always are called absolute qualifiers. If these words are used in one of the choices, it is rarely the correct choice. If you can think of even a single instance where the statement is untrue, then you have discovered a distractor and can eliminate it as the correct answer.

3. Before looking at the answer options, try to visualize the correct answer. Then look for that answer among the distractors. If that answer isn’t there, see if you can find an answer option that means the same as your answer.

4. Write in your booklet. Make notes to yourself in your question booklet whenever you think it would be helpful. Highlight or underline words that can change the meaning of a question. Jot down words or draw a quick sketch in the margin.

5. Answer the questions in order if you can do them in a reasonable amount of time. Multiple-choice questions on AP exams are arranged in order of difficulty according to pretest data. If you spend a ridiculous amount of time on one question, you will feel your confidence and your time slipping away. Mark any question you skip in your booklet so that you can easily come back to it after you’ve finished all of the other questions. Be sure to skip the corresponding answer row on your answer sheet. You have an average of about 45 seconds to answer each question. Perhaps a question later in the exam will provide information or a retrieval cue that will enable you to answer the question you originally skipped. Go back to questions you skipped after doing all of the other questions. Put your answers on the answer sheet.

6. Don’t “overthink.” Some of the questions may be easy for you to answer. Answer them and move on. Don’t think that they are too easy. What is easy for you may be difficult for other people.

7. Yes, you absolutely should guess. Students who took the AP Psychology exam used to get penalized for wrong answers, but this is no longer the case. Because your Section I raw score equals the number of correct responses, you might improve your score by guessing on the questions you aren’t sure of. You will probably have some idea about the concept being tested, so the odds are that you’ll be able to eliminate at least some of the answer choices and improve your chances of guessing correctly. Even if you don’t know anything about the concept and can’t eliminate answer choices, you should still guess. You can’t get any credit for an answer you leave blank, so don’t leave any blanks on your answer sheet.

8. Change an answer only if you have a good reason for the change.

9. Time flies. Keep an eye on your watch as you pass the halfway point. If you are running out of time and you have a few questions left, skim them for the easy (and quick) ones so that the rest of your scarce time can be devoted to those that need a little extra reading or thought.

Other things to keep in mind:

• Take the extra half of a second required to clearly fill in the bubbles.

• Don’t smudge anything with sloppy erasures. If your eraser is smudgy, ask the proctor for another.

• Absolutely, positively, check that you are bubbling the same line on the answer sheet as the question you are answering. I suggest that every time you turn the page you double check that you are still lined up correctly.

Section II: The Free-Response Questions

Free-response questions on the AP Psychology exam may differ from the essay questions you’ve answered in other subjects. High interrater reliability , the extent to which two or more scorers evaluate the responses in the same way, is very important on the AP exam because you should get the same score no matter who reads your paper. Because only your own teacher ordinarily grades your classroom tests, this is not usually of importance. One aspect of ensuring high interrater reliability is by creating questions that have specific, correct answers that raters look for in scoring. The scoring guidelines are rubrics that are written and followed for each free-response question.

Although there are no magic pills to enable you to answer the free-response questions perfectly, let’s look at some possible strategies for maximizing your score:

1. Read both essay questions to get a quick idea of the topics you’ll need to recall. Directly on the question sheet, jot down some key terms that serve as retrieval cues for you.

2. Note the time and allot about half the remaining minutes to each question. Stick to the time you’ve allotted for your first question so that you’ll have adequate time to answer the second one.

3. Read the question again carefully. Underline or highlight key words. Say the question to yourself in your own words. Be sure you know what the question is asking. (If you are not sure, read the question again.)

4. See if you can segment the question into parts that will earn a credit. Generally each question has six to twelve segments which each earn a credit. For example, if you are asked to differentiate between proactive and retroactive interference, and give an example that illustrates each, you can segment the question into four points—

Point 1 —Define proactive interference.

Point 2 —Define retroactive interference, indicating clearly how it is different from proactive interference.

Point 3 —Give an example of proactive interference.

Point 4 —Give an example of retroactive interference.

5. No matter how much you write, you cannot get more than the one point allotted for any segment. Scorers look for an adequate answer for the point and move on. So should you!

6. No matter how brilliant an introduction you write, or what a great closing paragraph you create, if it doesn’t answer a segment of the question, you will not earn credit for it. So, do NOT spend any time writing an introductory paragraph or a concluding paragraph. Do NOT spend time rewriting the question as an introductory statement. Start by answering the first question segment, and finish by answering the last question segment.

7. Write complete sentences. You cannot earn any points for a list, or an outline. Unless you are specifically told that you can provide a graph, table, or diagram in your answer, you will NOT earn any credit for one.

8. Even if you are not sure of something that you think might possibly earn a credit, write it. You may get credit for it. Unless you are contradicting something else that you said, you will not have points subtracted for saying something wrong.

9. Write your answers clearly and legibly in dark blue or black ink. If you are equally comfortable printing or writing in script, print your answers. Readers appreciate easy-to-read answers. Put a line through anything you want to cross out. Do NOT waste time blackening out, erasing, or “whiting” out.

10. You don’t need to get full credit in order to get a 5 on the AP exam. The better you do on the multiple-choice section, the more leeway you have for your essays.

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History and Approaches

IN THIS CHAPTER

Summary: Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes. Behavior is anything you do that can be observed. Mental processes are your internal experiences such as thoughts, feelings, sensations, and perceptions. Scientific study involves systematic collection and examination of data (empirical evidence) to support or disprove hypotheses (predictions) rather than depending on common sense.

Psychology has a long past, but a short history as a science. Although people have thought about their own behavior for thousands of years, the thinking was not done in an organized and scientific manner.

This chapter looks at highlights in the development of the science of psychology and its conceptual approaches.

Key Ideas

Roots of psychology are in philosophy and physiology/biology.

Structuralism and Functionalism—Schools of Psychology

Behavioral approach

Psychodynamic/psychoanalytic approach

Humanistic approach

Biological approach

Evolutionary approach

Cognitive approach

Sociocultural approach

Biopsychosocial model

Domains of psychology

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Roots of Psychology

Roots of psychology can be traced to philosophy and physiology/biology over 2,000 years ago in ancient Greece. As a result of examining organisms, physician/philosopher/physiologist Hippocrates thought the mind or soul resided in the brain, but was not composed of physical substance (mind-body dualism ). Philosopher Plato (circa 350 BC), who also believed in dualism, used self-examination of inner ideas and experiences to conclude that who we are and what we know are innate (inborn). On the other hand, Plato’s student Aristotle believed that the mind/soul results from our anatomy and physiological processes (monism ), that reality is best studied by observation, and that who we are and what we know are acquired from experience. About 2,000 years later (circa 1650), similar ideas persisted with René Descartes and John Locke. Descartes defended mind-body dualism (Cogito ergo sum —“I think, therefore I am”) and that what we know is innate. On the other hand, empirical philosopher Locke believed that mind and body interact symmetrically (monism), knowledge comes from observation, and what we know comes from experience since we are born without knowledge, “a blank slate” (tabula rasa ). The debate about the extent to which our behavior is inborn or learned through experience is called the nature-nurture controversy.

Schools of Psychology

By the late 1800s, psychology was beginning to emerge as a separate scientific discipline. Biologist Charles Darwin applied the law of natural selection to human beings, forwarding the idea that human behavior and thinking are subject to scientific inquiry. Physiologists Ernst Weber and Gustav Fechner showed how physical events are related to sensation and perception. Hermann von Helmholtz measured the speed at which nerve impulses travel. Should their studies be considered under the heading of biology or psychology?

Structuralism

Schools of psychology aren’t schools the way we think of them, but early perspectives or approaches.

Wilhelm Wundt is generally credited as the founder of scientific psychology because in 1879 he set up a laboratory in Leipzig, Germany, specifically for research in psychology, dedicated to the scientific study of the immediate conscious experiences of sensation. Using careful methodology, he trained his associates and observers to objectively analyze their sensory experiences systematically through introspection (inward looking). He required that results be replicated, which means tested repeatedly under different conditions to produce similar results.

Wundt focused on the structure of the mind and identification of the basic elements of consciousness (sensations, feelings, and images) using trained introspection. G. Stanley Hall set up a psychology lab employing introspection at Johns Hopkins University, helped found the American Psychological Association, and became its first president. Edward Titchener brought introspection to his own lab at Cornell University, analyzed consciousness into its basic elements, and investigated how these elements are related. Wundt, Hall, and Titchener were members of the School of Structuralism.

Margaret Floy Washburn was Titchener’s first graduate student and the first woman to complete her PhD in psychology.

Functionalism

American psychologist William James thought that the structuralists were asking the wrong questions. James was interested in the function or purpose of behavioral acts. He viewed humans as more actively involved in processing their sensations and actions. James and other psychologists, such as James Cattell and John Dewey, who studied mental testing, child development, and educational practices, exemplified the School of Functionalism. Functionalists focused on the application of psychological findings to practical situations and the function of mental operations in adapting to the environment (stream of consciousness) using a variety of techniques. Their goal was to explain behavior. Functionalism paved the way for behaviorism and applied subfields of psychology.

Mary Whiton Calkins, who studied psychology under James at Harvard, became the first woman president of the American Psychological Association. She viewed her psychology of selves as a reconciliation between structural and functional psychology.

Principal Approaches to Psychology

Major modern perspectives or conceptual approaches to psychology are behavioral, psychodynamic, humanistic, biological, evolutionary, cognitive, and sociocultural. An overarching approach is the biopsychosocial model.

Behavioral Approach

The behavioral approach focuses on measuring and recording observable behavior in relation to the environment. Behaviorists think behavior results from learning. Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov trained dogs to salivate in response to the sound of a tone, demonstrating stimulus-response learning. Pavlov’s experiments at the beginning of the 20th century paved the way for behaviorism, which dominated psychology in America from the 1920s to the 1960s. Behaviorists examine the ABCs of behavior. They analyze a ntecedent environmental conditions that precede a behavior, look at the b ehavior (the action to understand, predict, and/or control), and examine the c onsequences that follow the behavior (its effect on the environment). Behaviorists have rejected the study of consciousness/mental processes because such private events cannot be verified or disproved. American behaviorist John B. Watson said that psychology should be the science of behavior. B. F. Skinner worked mainly with laboratory rats and pigeons, demonstrating that organisms tend to repeat responses that lead to positive consequences and not to repeat responses that lead to neutral or negative consequences. He thought that free will is an illusion. Like Aristotle and Locke before them, behaviorists such as Watson, E. L. Thorndike, and B. F. Skinner took the position that behavior is determined mainly by environment and experience rather than by genetic inheritance. In Germany, Gestalt psychologists studying perception disagreed with structuralists and behaviorists, maintaining that psychologists should study the whole conscious experience.

Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic Approach

In Austria, Sigmund Freud also disagreed with behaviorists. He treated patients with mental disorders by talking with them over long periods of time to reveal unconscious conflicts, motives, and defenses in order to enhance each patient’s self-knowledge. His psychoanalytic theory focused on unconscious internal conflicts to explain mental disorders, personality, and motivation. Freud thought that the unconscious is the source of desires, thoughts, and memories below the surface of conscious awareness, and that early life experiences are important to personality development. Variations of psychoanalysis by Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, Karen Horney, Heinz Kohut, and others are collectively known as the psychodynamic approach.

Humanistic Approach

By the middle of the 20th century, in disagreement with both behaviorists and psychoanalysts, Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, and other psychologists thought that humans have unique qualities of behavior different from other animals. The unique qualities of free will and potential for personal growth guide behavior and mental processes. Humanists emphasize the importance of people’s feelings and view human nature as naturally positive and growth seeking. Using interview techniques, humanists believe that people have the ability to solve their own problems.

Biological Approach

At about the same time, research on the physiological bases of behavior flourished. Technological advances enabled biologists to extend knowledge far beyond Weber’s, Fechner’s, and von Helmholtz’s work to examine how complex chemical and biological processes within the nervous and endocrine systems are related to the behavior of organisms. Many biological psychologists think that the mind is what the brain does.

Evolutionary Approach

An offshoot of the biological approach, evolutionary psychologists, returning to Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection, explain behavior patterns as adaptations naturally selected because they increase reproductive success.

Cognitive Approach

Technological advances also permitted psychologists to renew their study of consciousness (thinking and memory), currently called cognition. Cognitive psychologists emphasize the importance of receiving, storing, and processing information; of thinking and reasoning; and of language to understanding human behavior. Jean Piaget studied cognitive development in children, laying part of the foundation for preschool and primary educational approaches.

Sociocultural Approach

In the second half of the 20th century, travel and the economy became more global, greatly increasing interactions among people from different cultures. Psychologists recognized that people from different cultures interpret gestures, body language, and spoken language differently from one another. Psychologists began to study social and environmental factors that influence these cultural differences in behavior. The sociocultural approach examines cultural differences in an attempt to understand, predict, and control behavior.

Biopsychosocial Model

No single theoretical approach explains all aspects of behavior, although all provide a framework for studying and understanding behavior. Most psychologists adopt ideas from multiple perspectives. Psychologists who use techniques and adopt ideas from a variety of approaches are considered eclectic. The biopsychosocial model integrates biological processes, psychological factors, and social forces to provide a more complete picture of behavior and mental processes. The model is a unifying theme in modern psychology drawing from and interacting with the seven approaches to explain behavior.

Domains of Psychology

Scientific psychology developed in universities with research laboratories where basic research was conducted, and where experimental psychologists continue to add knowledge to the field. After World War II, many opportunities for applied psychologists developed outside of these institutions. The number of clinical, counseling, and school psychologists mainly involved in treatment grew enormously. Specialties in treating children, adolescents, students, older people, and athletes emerged. Industries and organizations hired psychologists to help them prosper. The field became more fragmented and specialized.

Research and applied psychologists deal with a huge number of topics. Topics can be grouped into broad categories known as domains. Psychologists specializing in different domains identify themselves with many labels. Examples include the following:

Clinical psychologists evaluate and treat mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders.

Counseling psychologists help people adapt to change or make changes in their lifestyle.

Developmental psychologists study psychological development throughout the lifespan.

Educational psychologists focus on how effective teaching and learning take place.

Engineering psychologists and human factors psychologists promote the development and application of psychology to improve technology, consumer products, energy systems, communication and information, transportation, decision making, work settings, and living environments.

Forensic psychologists apply psychological principles to legal issues.

Health psychologists concentrate on biological, psychological, and social factors involved in health and illness.

Industrial/organizational psychologists aim to improve productivity and the quality of work life by applying psychological principles and methods to the workplace.

Neuropsychologists explore the relationships between brain/nervous systems and behavior. Neuropsychologists are also called biological psychologists or biopsychologists, behavioral geneticists, physiological psychologists, and behavioral neuroscientists.

Personality psychologists focus on aspects of the individual such as traits, attitudes, and goals.

Psychometricians, sometimes called psychometric psychologists or measurement psychologists, focus on methods for acquiring and analyzing psychological data.

Rehabilitation psychologists help clients with mental retardation, developmental disabilities, and disabilities resulting from stroke or accidents adapt to their situations.

School psychologists assess and counsel students, consult with educators and parents, and perform behavioral intervention when necessary.

Social psychologists focus on how a person’s mental life and behavior are shaped by interactions with other people.

Sports psychologists help athletes refine their focus on competition goals, increase motivation, and deal with anxiety and fear of failure.

Review Questions

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Directions: For each item, choose the letter of the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.

1 . Wilhelm Wundt and the structuralists studied questions still asked today primarily by

(A) behavioral psychologists

(B) cognitive psychologists

(C) psychodynamic psychologists

(D) humanistic psychologists

(E) sociocultural psychologists

2 . With which definition of psychology would John Watson and B. F. Skinner most agree?

(A) Psychology is the science of behavior.

(B) Psychology is the science of mental processes.

(C) Psychology is the science of behavior and mental processes.

(D) Psychology is the science of behavior and mental processes specific to contexts.

(E) Psychology is the extension of population.

3 . The question, “Is intelligence more influenced by heredity or experience?” deals with a big issue in psychology known as

(A) stability vs. change

(B) mind-body dualism

(C) rationality vs. irrationality

(D) structure vs. function

(E) nature vs. nurture

4 . If Aristotle and Locke, who both believed that what we know is acquired from experience, were alive today, they would best agree with the

(A) behavioral approach

(B) psychoanalytic approach

(C) humanistic approach

(D) biological approach

(E) psychodynamic approach

5 . Which psychological approach is most concerned with the importance of encoding, storing, and retrieving information?

(A) information technology

(B) behavioral approach

(C) psychodynamic approach

(D) biological approach

(E) cognitive approach

6 . Dr. Didden was hired by the TLC Company to help it retain its employees without lowering the firm’s profits. After TLC removed cubicles and permitted employees to decorate their workroom as recommended by Dr. Didden, the absentee rate declined and no employees left for jobs elsewhere. Dr. Didden is most likely to be

(A) a forensic psychologist

(B) an industrial/organizational psychologist

(C) a counseling psychologist

(D) a clinical psychologist

(E) an engineering psychologist

Answers and Explanations

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1 . B— Wilhelm Wundt, Hall, and Titchener studied the basic elements of consciousness. Consciousness is currently called cognition. Cognitive psychologists examine thinking, memory, etc., using different methods.

2 . A— John Watson and B. F. Skinner rejected the study of consciousness/mental processes because they are private events that cannot be verified scientifically. These behaviorists focused on the antecedents of a behavior, the behavior, and the consequences of the behavior.

3 . E— The nature-nurture issue deals with the relative contribution of genes and experience to the expressions of psychological traits and behaviors.

4 . A— Behaviorists think that what we know is gained through learning. The other approaches accept that some of our behavior is inborn.

5 . E— Cognitive psychologists focus on how we acquire, maintain, and use information.

6 . B— Industrial/organizational psychologists examine and assess the conditions, methods, and procedures in the workplace and apply psychological principles to help improve the working environment to increase productivity and job satisfaction.

Rapid Review

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Psychology —the science of behavior and mental processes.

Monism —seeing mind and body as different aspects of the same thing.

Dualism —seeing mind and body as two different things that interact.

Nature-Nurture Controversy —the extent to which behavior results from heredity or experience.

Plato and Descartes believed that behavior is inborn (nature).

Aristotle, Locke, Watson, and Skinner believed that behavior results from experience (nurture).

Schools of psychology:

• School of Structuralism —early psychological perspective that emphasized units of consciousness and identification of elements of thought using introspection.

Wilhelm Wundt—founder of scientific psychology in Leipzig, Germany; studied consciousness using introspection.

G. Stanley Hall—brought introspection to his lab at Johns Hopkins University in the United States; first president of the American Psychological Association.

Edward Titchener—studied elements of consciousness at his Cornell University lab.

Margaret Floy Washburn—first woman to complete her PhD in psychology.

• School of Functionalism —early psychological perspective concerned with how an organism uses its perceptual abilities to adapt to its environment.

William James—wrote Principles of Psychology .

Mary Whiton Calkins—first woman president of the American Psychological Association.

Principal approaches to psychology:

• Behavioral approach —psychological perspective concerned with behavioral reactions to stimuli; learning as a result of experience.

Ivan Pavlov—known for classical conditioning of dogs.

John Watson—known for experiments in classical aversive conditioning.

B. F. Skinner—known for experiments in operant conditioning.

• Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic approach —psychological perspective concerned with how unconscious instincts, conflicts, motives, and defenses influence behavior.

Sigmund Freud—“Father of psychoanalysis.”

Jung, Adler, Horney, Kohut—psychodynamic psychologists.

• Humanistic approach —psychological perspective concerned with individual potential for growth and the role of unique perceptions in growth toward one’s potential.

Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow—humanistic psychologists.

• Biological approach —psychological perspective concerned with physiological and biochemical factors that determine behavior and mental processes.

• Cognitive approach —psychological perspective concerned with how we receive, store, and process information; think/reason; and use language.

Jean Piaget—studied cognitive development in children.

• Evolutionary approach— psychological perspective concerned with how natural selection favored behaviors that contributed to survival and spread of our ancestors’ genes; evolutionary psychologists take a Darwinian approach to the study of human behavior.

• Sociocultural approach —psychological perspective concerned with how cultural differences affect behavior.

• Biopsychosocial model —overarching psychological perspective that integrates biological processes, psychological factors, and social forces to provide a more complete picture of behavior and mental processes than a single approach.

• Eclectic —use of techniques and ideas from a variety of approaches.

Psychologists specialize in different domains:

• Clinical psychologists evaluate and treat mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders.

• Counseling psychologists help people adapt to change or make changes in their lifestyle.

• Developmental psychologists study psychological development throughout the lifespan.

• Educational psychologists focus on how effective teaching and learning take place.

• Engineering psychologists and human factors psychologists do research on how people function best with machines.

• Experimental psychologists do research to add new knowledge to the field.

• Forensic psychologists apply psychological principles to legal issues.

• Health psychologists concentrate on biological, psychological, and social factors involved in health and illness.

• Industrial/Organizational psychologists aim to improve productivity and the quality of work life by applying psychological principles and methods to the workplace.

• Neuropsychologists explore the relationships between brain/nervous systems and behavior. Neuropsychologists are also called biological psychologists or biopsychologists, behavioral geneticists, physiological psychologists, and behavioral neuroscientists.

• Personality psychologists focus on traits, attitudes, and goals of the individual.

• Psychometricians (also known as psychometric or measurement psychologists) focus on methods for acquiring and analyzing psychological data.

• Rehabilitation psychologists help clients with mental retardation, developmental disabilities, and disabilities resulting from stroke or accidents adapt to their situations.

• School psychologists assess and counsel students, consult with educators and parents, and perform behavioral intervention when necessary.

• Social psychologists focus on how a person’s mental life and behavior are shaped by interactions with other people.

• Sports psychologists help athletes refine their focus on competition goals, increase motivation, and deal with anxiety and fear of failure.

History and Approaches

1. The focus of functionalists on the application of psychological findings to practical situations and adapting to the environment paved the way for

(A) structuralists.

(B) behaviorists.

(C) developmental psychologists.

(D) cognitivists.

(E) humanistic psychologists.

2. Eclectic psychologists adopt their ideas primarily from the

(A) behavioral perspective.

(B) psychoanalytic/psychodynamic perspective.

(C) humanistic perspective.

(D) cognitive perspective.

(E) at least two of the above

3. A job opening at Educational Testing Service, which develops AP exams, requires the following qualifications: Coordinate and perform statistical analyses required for score reporting and data interpretation of complex programs in connection with various educational measurement initiatives. The best qualified applicants for this position are

(A) developmental psychologists.

(B) organizational psychologists.

(C) psychometricians.

(D) neurologists.

(E) social psychologists.

4. Which psychological approach is most concerned with the importance of the unconscious mind?

(A) Behavioral approach

(B) Psychoanalytic/psychodynamic approach

(C) Humanistic approach

(D) Cognitive approach

(E) Biopsychosocial approach

Answers

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1. B— Functionalists focused on the application of psychological findings to practical situations to explain behavior, which led to the behavioral approach that focuses on measuring and recording observable behavior in relation to the environment.

2. E— Eclectic psychologists use techniques and ideas from a variety of perspectives.

3. C— Psychometricians are measurement psychologists who focus on methods for acquiring and analyzing psychological data.

4. B— Psychoanalytic theory focuses on the unconscious as the source of desires, thoughts, and memories.

Research Methods

IN THIS CHAPTER

Summary: In their scientific study of behavior and mental processes, psychologists aim to describe, understand, predict, and explain psychological phenomena. Theories are organized sets of concepts that explain phenomena. Psychologists conduct research to answer behavioral questions. They systematically collect accurate data through a variety of carefully made observations and measurements. Scientific experiments, naturalistic observations, interviews, questionnaires, case studies, and psychological tests are some methods psychologists use to explore our personalities, values, intelligence, talents, and the effects of heredity and environment on our development. The scientific method is a set of general procedures psychologists use for gathering and interpreting data. Other researchers working independently must be able to obtain similar results using the same methods; this is called replication .

This chapter examines research methods and statistics used to make sense of research data.

Key Ideas

Experimental method

The controlled experiment

Eliminating confounding variables

Quasi-experimental research

Correlational research

Naturalistic observation

Survey and test methods

Case study

Elementary statistics

Descriptive statistics

Measures of central tendency

Measures of variability

Correlation

Graphic representation of correlation

Inferential statistics

Ethical guidelines

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Experimental Method

Some psychologists conduct experimental research in laboratories designed for carefully controlling conditions and measuring behavior.

The Controlled Experiment

The laboratory is one of the places where scientists test hypotheses, predictions of how two or more factors are likely to be related. Variables are factors that can have different values. In a scientific experiment, the researcher systematically manipulates a variable under controlled conditions and observes the response. The factor the researcher manipulates is called the independent variable (IV). The dependent variable (DV) is the behavior or mental process that is being measured, the factor that may change as a result of manipulation of the independent variable. If the dependent variable changes when only the independent variable is changed, the researcher can conclude that the change in the independent variable caused the change in the dependent variable. Thus, the independent variable is the cause, and the dependent variable is the effect. A controlled experiment is the only research method that can establish a cause and effect relationship.

An effective way to determine the independent and dependent variables is to word the hypothesis in the form of an “If …, then …” statement. What follows the “if” is the independent variable (cause), and what follows the “then” is the dependent variable (effect). For example, “If students study for a quiz before going to sleep, rather than in the morning, then they will get higher scores on the quiz.” Studying for a quiz before going to sleep, rather than in the morning, is the independent variable and cause. Getting a higher score on the quiz is the dependent variable and effect.

For example, an experimenter hypothesizes that sleeping after studying for a biology quiz in the evening is more effective than studying for the same amount of time after waking in the morning. The population includes all of the individuals in the group to which the study applies (all of the students enrolled in introductory biology courses at the university for this example). To save time and money, most researchers use a subgroup of the population called a sample in their experimental research. The larger the sample size, the more likely it is to represent the population. The sample must fairly represent the whole group. This is achieved when every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected for the sample, when participants are selected randomly. Random selection can be achieved by putting all of the names in a hat and picking out a specified number of names, by alphabetizing the roster of enrollees and choosing every fifth name, or by using a table of random numbers to choose participants. These are examples. To test the hypothesis, the scientist needs to randomly assign some subjects to an experimental group that receives the treatment and to randomly assign others to a control group that does not receive the treatment. The control group is a comparison group. This is called a between-subjects design because the participants in the experimental and control groups are different individuals. Everything is similar between the experimental group and the control group except for the independent variable. Random assignment of participants to the experimental and control groups minimizes the existence of preexisting differences between the two groups. Differences between the experimental group and the control group other than those resulting from the independent variable are called confounding variables. Confounding variables limit confidence in research conclusions. All participants, also called subjects, attend the same two sessions upon which the quiz is based. The experimental group is permitted to study for the quiz for 1 hour in the evening before going to sleep while the control group watches an unrelated comedy show. The control group studies for the quiz for 1 hour in the morning after awakening. The experimental group watches the comedy show in the morning at the same time. Everyone eats breakfast together, and then they all take the same quiz. If the experimental group scores significantly higher than the control group, the experimenter can say that the results support the hypothesis. How does the experimenter measure effectiveness of studying? The experimenter uses the score on the quiz as the operational definition of effectiveness of studying. An operational definition describes the specific procedure used to determine the presence of a variable.

In order to attribute a particular result to a specific factor, the controlled experiment must limit variables. Confounding variables that could contribute to the effect must be eliminated. Participants in the biology quiz experiment need to share the same environmental factors; they need to eat the same foods, sleep in similar beds in the same rooms, sleep for the same amount of time, etc.

Eliminating Confounding Variables

Experimenter bias (also called the experimenter expectancy effect) is a phenomenon that occurs when a researcher’s expectations or preferences about the outcome of a study influence the results obtained. This is a special kind of confounding variable that can occur when a researcher is unaware that he or she is treating either the experimental group or control group differently from the other. A simple smile when addressing the experimental group that is not also shown to the control group qualifies as experimenter bias and as a confounding variable. The clues participants discover about the purpose of the study, including rumors they hear about the study suggesting how they should respond, are called demand characteristics. To eliminate the effects of demand characteristics, experimenters use the single-blind procedure, a research design in which the participants don’t know which treatment group—experimental or control—they are in. To eliminate the effects of both experimenter bias and demand characteristics, experimenters use the double-blind procedure, a research design in which neither the experimenter nor the participants know who is in the experimental group and who is in the control group. The double-blind is most easily accomplished when a second experimenter or assistant who doesn’t know the hypothesis or group assignments administers the experiment, keeping the principal investigator away from the subjects. When a number of factors might be responsible for an observed effect, to determine which deserves the credit, an experimenter needs to systematically manipulate or vary one or more factors while holding constant all the others that might be important. The effects of these manipulated events on some behavioral reaction are then assessed. It is then possible to demonstrate whether one factor is responsible for the result or whether an interacting package of factors is involved.

In experiments involving drugs, participants in the experimental group usually receive the drug with the active ingredient, while subjects in the control group receive a drug that seems identical, but lacks the active ingredient. The imitation pill, injection, patch, or other treatment is called a placebo. Subjects sometimes believe that the treatment will be effective, and they think they experience an improvement in health or well-being. This is the placebo effect. The placebo effect is now used to describe any cases when experimental participants change their behavior in the absence of any kind of experimental manipulation. The experiments need not involve drugs at all.

A research design that uses each participant as his or her own control is called a within-subjects design. For example, the behavior of an experimental participant before receiving treatment might be compared to his or her behavior after receiving treatment. Two treatments might be tried. If two treatments are used, the order of the treatments could cause an effect. To eliminate the possibility, psychologists use counterbalancing, a procedure that assigns half the subjects to one of the treatments first and the other half of the subjects to the other treatment first.

Quasi-Experimental Research

Quasi-experimental research designs are similar to controlled experiments, but participants are not randomly assigned. Experimental research designs to study differences in behavior between men and women, boys and girls, young and old, or students in one class and students in another class are “sort of” experiments or quasi-experiments. Because of confounding variables—preexisting differences between the experimental group and comparison groups—quasi-experiments do not establish cause and effect relationships, although they can point in the direction of them.

Correlational Research

Although experiments conducted under carefully controlled conditions help establish cause and effect relationships, the time, expense, and artificiality of the environment limit that type of research. Psychologists more often use descriptive and correlational research methods such as survey methods that involve interviews or questionnaires, tests, and naturalistic observation. Correlational methods look at the relationship between two variables without establishing cause and effect relationships. The goal is to determine to what extent one variable predicts the other. Many factors that seem to be causally related are not. Often it’s a third factor that causes the other two.

Naturalistic Observation

Naturalistic observation is carried out in the field where naturally occurring behavior can be observed. Naturalistic observation studies gather descriptive information about typical behavior of people or animals without manipulating any variables. For example, Jane Goodall’s team of scientists has been observing the behavior of chimpanzees in the wild for decades. Such studies have enabled scientists to predict when the chimps will fight each other or when they will mate. Similarly, other scientists have been studying human behavior in the workplace, in schools, in bars, etc. The data can be used for correlational analysis or for generating ideas for other research.

Survey Method

In the survey method, researchers use questionnaires or interviews to ask a large number of people questions about their behaviors, thoughts, and attitudes. In order for the information to be useful, the participants in the study should be representative of a larger population, which can best be achieved by random sampling. Accuracy of data is an issue because people sometimes distort their answers to appear more “politically correct,” or they fail to recall information correctly. The data from surveys can be used for correlational analysis or for generating ideas for other research.

Retrospective or ex post facto studies look at an effect and seek the cause. For example, when researchers found an increase in babies being born with deformed limbs, especially in England but also in the United States and other western countries in the early 1970s, they asked the mothers of the babies many questions and then compared the answers of all of the mothers through correlational analysis. They found the strongest relationship between the mother taking the drug thalidomide during the pregnancy and the appearance of the limb deformities in the babies. Controlled experiments with rodents verified that the drug caused abnormal limb development in the babies of the animals.

Test Method

Tests are procedures used to measure attributes of individuals at a particular time and place. Like surveys, tests can be used to gather huge amounts of information relatively quickly and cheaply. Results of tests can be used for correlational analysis or for generating ideas for other research.

For surveys or tests to be accurate measures of behaviors or mental processes, they must be both reliable and valid. Reliability is consistency or repeatability. Subjects should answer questions the same way on two different occasions. A subject should also get the same score on a test on two different occasions. Validity is the extent to which an instrument measures or predicts what it is supposed to. Questions about frequency of showering would not be valid indicators of cooking ability. Algebra questions would not be valid measures of what you learned in this chapter.

Case Study

Another research method, the case study method, is an in-depth examination of a specific group or single person that typically includes interviews, observations, and test scores. The intensive description and analysis of the small group or individual is especially useful for understanding complex or rare phenomena. For example, case studies done on patients with gunshot wounds to the head enabled scientists to better understand how the loss of brain tissue affected specific aspects of behavior. Case studies have enabled us to better understand a wide range of topics, from how the brain processes information to autism. Clinical psychologists frequently do case studies.

Elementary Statistics

A large amount of data can be collected in research studies. Psychologists need to make sense of the data. Qualitative data are frequently changed to numerical data for ease of handling. Quantitative data already are numerical. Numbers that are used simply to name something are said to be on a nominal scale and can be used to count the number of cases. For example, for a survey, girls can be designated as “1,” whereas boys can be designated as “2.” These numbers have no intrinsic meaning. Numbers that can be ranked are said to be on an ordinal scale, and can be put in order. For example, the highest scorer can be designated as “1,” the second highest as “2,” the third highest as “3,” etc. These numbers cannot be averaged. Number 1 could have scored 50 points higher than 2. Number 2 may have scored 4 points higher than 3. If there is a meaningful difference between each of the numbers, the numbers are said to be on an interval scale. For example, the difference between 32° Fahrenheit (F) and 42°F is 10°F. The difference between 64°F and 74°F is also 10°F. However, 64°F is not twice as hot as 32°F. When a meaningful ratio can be made with two numbers, the numbers are said to be on a ratio scale. The key difference between an interval scale and a ratio scale is that the ratio scale has a real or absolute zero point. For quantities of weight, volume, and distance, zero is a meaningful concept, whereas the meaning of 0°F is arbitrary.

Statistics is a field that involves the analysis of numerical data about representative samples of populations.

Descriptive Statistics

Numbers that summarize a set of research data obtained from a sample are called descriptive statistics. In general, descriptive statistics describe sets of interval or ratio data. After collecting data, psychologists organize the data to create a frequency distribution, an orderly arrangement of scores indicating the frequency of each score or group of scores. The data can be pictured as a histogram —a bar graph from the frequency distribution—or as a frequency polygon —a line graph that replaces the bars with single points and connects the points with a line. With a very large number of data points, the frequency polygon approaches a smooth curve. Frequency polygons are shown in Figure 6.1 .

Measures of Central Tendency

Measures of central tendency describe the average or most typical scores for a set of research data or distribution. Measures of central tendency include the mode, median, and mean. The mode is the most frequently occurring score in a set of research data. If two scores appear most frequently, the distribution is bimodal; if three or more scores appear most frequently, the distribution is multimodal. The median is the middle score when the set of data is ordered by size. For an odd number of scores, the median is the middle one. For an even number of scores, the median lies halfway between the two middle scores. The mean is the arithmetic average of the set of scores. The mean is determined by adding up all of the scores and then dividing by the number of scores. For the set of quiz scores 5, 6, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10; the mode is 7; the median is 7.5; the mean is 7.6. The mode is the least used measure of central tendency, but can be useful to provide a “quick and dirty” measure of central tendency especially when the set of data has not been ordered. The mean is generally the preferred measure of central tendency because it takes into account the information in all of the data points; however, it is very sensitive to extremes. The mean is pulled in the direction of extreme data points. The advantage of the median is that it is less sensitive to extremes, but it doesn’t take into account all of the information in the data points. The mean, mode, and median turn out to be the same score in symmetrical distributions. The two sides of the frequency polygon are mirror images as shown in Figure 6.1a . The normal distribution or normal curve is a symmetric, bell-shaped curve that represents data about how many human characteristics are dispersed in the population. Distributions where most of the scores are squeezed into one end are skewed. A few of the scores stretch out away from the group like a tail. The skew is named for the direction of the tail. Figure 6.1b pictures a negatively skewed distribution, and Figure 6.1c shows a positively skewed distribution. The mean is pulled in the direction of the tails, so the mean is lower than the median in a negatively skewed distribution, and higher than the median in a positively skewed distribution. In very skewed distributions, the median is a better measure of central tendency than the mean.

Measures of Variability

Variability describes the spread or dispersion of scores for a set of research data or distribution. Measures of variability include the range, variance, and standard deviation. The range is the largest score minus the smallest score. It is a rough measure of dispersion. For the same set of quiz scores (5, 6, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10), the range is 5. Variance and standard deviation (SD) indicate the degree to which scores differ from each other and vary around the mean value for the set. Variance and standard deviation indicate both how much scores group together and how dispersed they are. Variance is determined by computing the difference between each value and the mean, squaring the difference between each value and the mean (to eliminate negative signs), summing the squared differences and then taking the average of the sum of squared differences. The standard deviation of the distribution is the square root of the variance. For a different set of quiz scores (6, 7, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 9, 10), the variance is 1 and the SD is 1. Standard deviation must fall between 0 and half the value of the range. If the standard deviation approaches 0, scores are very similar to each other and very close to the mean. If the standard deviation approaches half the value of the range, scores vary greatly from the mean. Frequency polygons with the same mean and the same range, but a different standard deviation, that are plotted on the same axes show a difference in variability by their shapes. The taller and narrower frequency polygon shows less variability and has a lower standard deviation than the short and wider one.

Figure 6.1 (a) The normal distribution or bell curve. (b) Negatively skewed distribution—skewed to the left. (c) Positively skewed distribution—skewed to the right.

If you are not required to bring a calculator to the exam, you won’t be required to figure out variance or standard deviation.

Correlation

Scores can be reported in different ways. One example is the standard score or z score. Standard scores enable psychologists to compare scores that are initially on different scales. For example, a z score of 1 for an IQ test might equal 115, while a z score of 1 for the SAT in mathematics might equal 600. The mean score of a distribution has a standard score of zero. A score that is one standard deviation above the mean has a z score of 1. A standard score is computed by subtracting the mean raw score of the distribution from the raw score of interest and then dividing the difference by the standard deviation of the distribution of raw scores. Another type of score, the percentile score , indicates the percentage of scores at or below a particular score. Thus, if you score at the 90th percentile, 90% of the scores are the same or below yours. Percentile scores vary from 1 to 99.

A statistical measure of the degree of relatedness or association between two sets of data, X and Y , is called the correlation coefficient. The correlation coefficient (r ) varies from −1 to +1. One indicates a perfect relationship between the two sets of data. If the correlation coefficient is −1, that perfect relationship is indirect or inverse; as one variable increases, the other variable decreases. If the correlation coefficient (r ) is +1, that perfect relationship is direct; as one variable increases, the other variable increases, and as one variable decreases, the other variable decreases. A correlation coefficient (r ) of 0 indicates no relationship at all between the two variables. As the correlation coefficient approaches +1 or −1, the relationship between variables gets stronger. Correlation coefficients are useful because they enable psychologists to make predictions about Y when they know the value of X and the correlation coefficient. For example, if r = .9 for scores of students in an AP Biology class and for the same students in an AP Psychology class, a student who earns an A in biology probably earns an A in psychology, whereas a student who earns a D in biology probably earns a D in psychology. If r = .1 for scores of students in an English class and scores of the same students in an AP Calculus class, knowing the English grade doesn’t help predict the AP Calculus grade.

Correlation does not imply causation . Correlation indicates only that there is a relationship between variables, not how the relationship came about .

The strength and direction of correlations can be illustrated graphically in scattergrams or scatterplots in which paired X and Y scores for each subject are plotted as single points on a graph. The slope of a line that best fits the pattern of points suggests the degree and direction of the relationship between the two variables. The slope of the line for a perfect positive correlation is r = +1, as shown in Figure 6.2a . The slope of the line for a perfect negative correlation is r = −1, as shown in Figure 6.2b . Where dots are scattered all over the plot and no appropriate line can be drawn, r = 0 as shown in Figure 6.2c , which indicates no relationship between the two sets of data.

Inferential Statistics

Inferential statistics are used to interpret data and draw conclusions. They tell psychologists whether or not they can generalize from the chosen sample to the whole population, if the sample actually represents the population. Inferential statistics use rules to evaluate the probability that a correlation or a difference between groups reflects a real relationship and not just the operation of chance factors on the particular sample that was chosen for study. Statistical significance (p ) is a measure of the likelihood that the difference between groups results from a real difference between the two groups rather than from chance alone. Results are likely to be statistically significant when there is a large difference between the means of the two frequency distributions, when their standard deviations (SD) are small, and when the samples are large. Some psychologists consider that results are significantly different only if the results have less than a 1 in 20 probability of being caused by chance (p < .05). Others consider that results are significantly different only if the results have less than a 1 in 100 probability of being caused by chance (p < .01). The lower the p value, the less likely the results were due to chance. Results of research that are statistically significant may be practically important or trivial. Statistical significance does not imply that findings are really important. Meta-analysis provides a way of statistically combining the results of individual research studies to reach an overall conclusion. Scientific conclusions are always tentative and open to change should better data come along. Good psychological research gives us an opportunity to learn the truth.

Figure 6.2 (a) Scattergram for perfect positive correlation ( r = +1.0). (b) Scattergram for perfect negative correlation ( r = –1.0). (c) Scattergram for no relationship between two sets of data ( r = 0).

Ethical Guidelines

Whether involved in research or practice, psychologists need to act responsibly and morally. Studies conducted by Harry Harlow involving rhesus monkeys separated from their mothers and subjected to frightening conditions, studies by Phil Zimbardo involving students role-playing prisoners and guards, and studies conducted by Stanley Milgram in which participants believed they were delivering painful electric shocks to another person were highly publicized in the 1960s and 1970s. Following Milgram’s experiments, members of the American Psychological Association strengthened their ethical guidelines regarding research design, implementation, and practice; and other groups adopted similar guidelines. The guidelines prevent unnecessary deception and pain to humans and other animals, and they protect confidentiality.

All public and most private institutions have Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) that must approve of all research conducted within their institutions. Boards specifically protect participants by requiring researchers to obtain signed informed-consent agreements from all participants. These statements describe procedures, risks, benefits, and the right of the participant not to participate or to withdraw from the research study without penalty at any time. Research participants cannot be deceived about significant aspects that would affect their willingness to participate. After the participant finishes his or her part or research is completed, participants are debriefed about the research (i.e., the nature, results, and conclusions of the research are revealed).

Psychologists who conduct research involving other animals must treat them humanely; acquire, care for, use, and dispose of animals properly; and make efforts to minimize their discomfort, infection, illness, and pain.

Review Questions

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Directions: For each question, choose the letter of the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.

1 . Organized sets of concepts that explain phenomena are

(A) independent variables

(B) dependent variables

(C) hypotheses

(D) theories

(E) statistics

Refer to the following and your knowledge of psychology to answer questions 2 and 3:

Students will be able to read a statement printed in the Comic Sans font faster than the same statement written in the Lucida Calligraphy font.

2 . This statement is a(n)

(A) hypothesis

(B) theory

(C) replication

(D) operational definition

(E) correlation

3 . The dependent variable in an experiment based on the statement would be

(A) the statement written in the Comic Sans font

(B) the statement written in the Lucida Calligraphy font

(C) the length of time it takes students to read the statements

(D) the students who read the statements written in the Comic Sans font

(E) the number of students who participate in the experiment

4 . A quasi-experiment cannot be considered a controlled experiment because

(A) subjects cannot be randomly selected

(B) subjects cannot be randomly assigned

(C) experimenter bias is unavoidable

(D) demand characteristics are unavoidable

(E) too few subjects participate in the procedure

Refer to the following and your knowledge of psychology to answer questions 5 and 6:
When subjects in the experimental group put a puzzle piece in the wrong place, the experimenter unconsciously winced. The experimenter did not wince when subjects in the control group put a piece in the wrong place.

5 . The wincing of the experimenter must be eliminated because it is

(A) fraudulent

(B) a demand characteristic

(C) a placebo effect

(D) a confabulation

(E) a confounding variable

6 . One method to eliminate the wincing of the experimenter is by instituting

(A) the experimenter expectancy effect

(B) the single-blind procedure

(C) the double-blind procedure

(D) the placebo effect

(E) counterbalancing

7 . Of the following, which research method is most effective for studying unusually complex or rare phenomena?

(A) controlled experiment

(B) quasi-experiment

(C) test

(D) survey

(E) case study

8 . Of the following, which research method would be most appropriate for investigating the relationship between political party membership and attitude toward the death penalty?

(A) controlled experiment

(B) quasi-experiment

(C) test

(D) survey

(E) case study

9 . Of the following, the strongest positive correlation would most likely be shown between

(A) an adult’s weight and running speed

(B) close friendships and happiness

(C) sense of humor and years of education

(D) poverty and good health

(E) visual acuity and salary

10 . John wants to study the effects of alcohol on the behavior of college students. For his study, he spends 5 hours every night for 2 weeks at a bar near a college watching how the patrons act before and after drinking alcoholic beverages. The research method John is employing is a

(A) controlled experiment

(B) quasi-experiment

(C) test

(D) naturalistic observation

(E) case study

11 . Of the following, which can establish a cause and effect relationship?

I. controlled experiment

II. quasi-experiment

III. correlational research

(A) I only

(B) II only

(C) I and II only

(D) I and III only

(E) I, II, and III

Refer to the following and your knowledge of psychology to answer questions 12–14:
Ms. Costas owns a business with nine other employees. Ms. Costas’s annual salary is $90,000. Her manager’s salary is $60,000. Of her other employees, three earn $25,000 each and five earn $15,000 each.

12 . The range of this distribution is

(A) $75,000

(B) $50,000

(C) $25,000

(D) $20,000

(E) $15,000

13 . For this distribution, the mean is

(A) lower than both the median and the mode

(B) lower than the median, but higher than the mode

(C) lower than the mode, but higher than the median

(D) higher than both the median and the mode

(E) the same as the median

14 . The frequency polygon for this distribution resembles a

(A) normal curve

(B) positively skewed line graph

(C) negatively skewed line graph

(D) bar graph

(E) scatterplot

Answers and Explanations

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1 . D —This is the definition of theory.

2 . A —A hypothesis predicts how two or more factors are related. This statement relates the appearance of a font with the speed at which it can be read.

3 . C —The dependent variable in an experiment is the factor that is measured. In this experiment, the type of font is the factor the experimenter is manipulating or the independent variable. The speed at which it is read is the factor that is measured or the dependent variable.

4 . B —Quasi-experiments deal with groups that have preexisting differences, such as males and females, young and old, etc. Since the study is examining differences associated with those preexisting differences, participants are assigned on the basis of sex, age, etc. Thus, random assignment is not possible.

5 . E —The wincing behavior of the experimenter is an unintentional difference between the treatment of the experimental group and the treatment of the control group. An additional difference between the experimental and control groups is a confounding variable. If the wincing is deliberate, then it is considered dishonest, possibly even fraudulent.

6 . C —The double-blind procedure, in which neither the experimenter nor the subjects know who is in the experimental group and who is in the control group, would probably eliminate the wincing behavior. A single-blind procedure in which only the subjects do not know in which treatment group they have been placed would not affect the experimenter’s behavior.

7 . E —An in-depth examination, usually over an extended period of time, characterizes the case study method.

8 . D —Correlational research examines the relationship between two variables. Questionnaires or interviews that ask questions about political party membership and attitude toward the death penalty distributed to a large representative sample of the population could gather appropriate data for the study. Questionnaires and interviews are kinds of surveys.

9 . B —People who have close friendships tend to be happy. Lonely people tend to be unhappy. The presence of close friendships predicts happiness. An adult’s weight and running speed (A), sense of humor and years of education (C), and visual acuity and salary (E) are unrelated pairs of factors. Impoverished people are less likely to be healthy than people who have more money, so (D) indicates an inverse relationship or negative correlation.

10 . D —He is gathering information in the field about typical behavior of people without manipulating any variables, which characterizes naturalistic observation.

11 . A —Only controlled experiments can establish cause and effect relationships.

12 . A —The range is $90,000 to $15,000, or $75,000. To find the range, deduct the lowest score from the highest score.

13 . D —The mean is determined by adding all of the scores and then dividing by the number of scores. $300,000 ÷ 10 = $30,000. The median is the middle score in the ordered distribution. Since there is an even number of scores in the distribution, the median is halfway between the 5th and 6th scores, or $20,000. The most frequent score or mode is $15,000, so the mean is higher than both the median and the mode.

14 . B —A frequency polygon is a line graph. A positively skewed distribution has scores clustered toward the low end of the range and a small number of unusually high scores. If you draw the graph with the value of scores on the X axis and the frequency of scores on the Y axis, you can see that the tail is on the right or more positive side of the graph.

Rapid Review

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Theories —organized sets of concepts that explain phenomena.

Hypothesis —prediction of how two or more factors are likely to be related.

Replication —repetition of the methods used in a previous experiment to see whether the same methods will yield the same results.

Independent variable (IV) —the factor the researcher manipulates in a controlled experiment (the cause).

Dependent variable (DV) —the behavior or mental process that is measured in an experiment or quasi-experiment (the effect).

Population —all of the individuals in the group to which the study applies.

Sample —the subgroup of the population that participates in the study.

Random selection —choosing of members of a population so that every individual has an equal chance of being chosen to participate in a study.

Experimental group —the subgroup of the sample that receives the treatment or independent variable.

Control group —the comparison group; the subgroup of the sample that is similar to the experimental group in every way except for the presence of the independent variable.

Table 6.1 Overview of Research Methods

Random assignment —division of the sample into groups so that every individual has an equal chance of being put in any group or condition.

Confounding variables— factors that cause differences between the experimental group and the control group other than the independent variable.

Operational definition —a description of the specific procedure used to determine the presence of a variable.

Experimenter bias —a phenomenon that occurs when a researcher’s expectations or preferences about the outcome of a study influence the results obtained.

Demand characteristics —clues participants discover about the purpose of the study that suggest how they should respond.

Single-blind procedure —research design in which participants don’t know whether they are in the experimental or control group.

Double-blind procedure —research design in which neither the experimenter nor the participants know who is in the experimental group and who is in the control group.

Placebo —a physical or psychological treatment given to the control group that resembles the treatment given to the experimental group, but that contains no active ingredient.

Placebo effect —a response to the belief that the independent variable will have an effect, rather than the actual effect of the independent variable, which can be a confounding variable.

Reliability —consistency or repeatability of results.

Validity —the extent to which an instrument measures or predicts what it is supposed to measure or predict.

Statistics —a field that involves the analysis of numerical data about representative samples of populations.

Descriptive statistics —numbers that summarize a set of research data obtained from a sample. Key concepts of descriptive statistics include:

• Frequency distribution —an orderly arrangement of scores indicating the frequency of each score or group of scores.

• Central tendency —average or most typical scores of a set of research data or distribution.

mode —most frequently occurring score in a set of research data (“quick and dirty”).

median —the middle score when a set of data is ordered by size.

mean —the arithmetic average of a set of scores.

• Variability —the spread or dispersion of a set of research data or distribution.

Range —the difference between the largest score and the smallest score (“quick and dirty”).

• Standard deviation (SD) —measures the average difference between each score and the mean of the data set.

• Normal distribution —bell-shaped curve that represents data about how lots of human characteristics are dispersed in the population.

• Percentile score —the percentage of scores at or below a particular score (from 1 to 99).

• Correlation coefficient ( r )—a statistical measure of the degree of relatedness or association between two sets of data that ranges from –1 to +1.

Inferential statistics —statistics that are used to interpret data and draw conclusions.

Statistical significance ( p )—the condition that exists when the probability that the observed findings are due to chance is less than 1 in 20 (p < .05) according to some psychologists, or less than 1 in 100 (p x< .01) according to those with more stringent standards.

Ethical guidelines —suggested rules for acting responsibly and morally when conducting research or in clinical practice.

1. Scientists must clearly communicate the methods they use in experiments when they report their results and conclusions in order to facilitate

(A) hypothesizing.

(B) confounding variability.

(C) correlation.

(D) replication.

(E) random selection.

2. Implementing a research design in which participants don’t know whether they are in the experimental group or control group eliminates

(A) preexisting differences.

(B) experimenter bias.

(C) the placebo effect.

(D) counterbalancing.

(E) confounding variables.

3. Paulo thinks that if he and his friends get more sleep, they will do better on the tests they take. If he were able to set up an experiment to test his hypothesis, the independent variable would be

(A) getting more sleep.

(B) the difference between the current number of hours the students sleep and the longer amount of sleep.

(C) the scores they get on tests.

(D) the difference between the scores the students currently get and those they get after the longer amount of sleep.

(E) the people who get more sleep.

4. Daniella thought the psychology test her teacher made up was unfair because the exam tested topics the class had not studied. According to her argument, the test was not

(A) statistically composed.

(B) reliable.

(C) valid.

(D) correlated.

(E) counterbalanced.

Answers

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1. D— Clearly communicating methods lets other scientists repeat the experiment in an effort to obtain similar results to strengthen the conclusions of the original experiment. This process is called replication.

2. B— To prevent behavior that results when participants guess how they should respond, thus influencing the outcome of an experiment, the researcher keeps participants from knowing to which group they have been assigned.

3. A— Getting more sleep is the variable Paulo would manipulate.

4. C— Content validity is the extent to which the test measures what it is supposed to.

Biological Bases of Behavior

IN THIS CHAPTER

Summary: As you read this page, lots of things are going through your mind. Your mind is what your brain does, according to many psychologists. The relationships of behavior, the mind, and the nervous system, especially the brain, have become increasingly clear as improvements in technology have enabled scientists to make better observations. In all areas of anatomy and physiology, structure is related to function. Specialized structures throughout your body enable regulatory function at all levels of organization from your neurotransmitter molecules to your nervous and endocrine systems.

Neuropsychologists explore the relationships between brain/nervous systems and behavior. Neuropsychologists are also called biological psychologists or biopsychologists, behavioral geneticists, physiological psychologists, and behavioral neuroscientists.

This chapter focuses on what we know about our nervous system and all of its parts at different levels of organization, and the tools that have enabled us to learn about them.

Key Ideas

Techniques to learn about structure and function

Nervous system organization

Brain structure and function

Neuron structure and function

Endocrine system structure and function

Evolution and behavior

Genetics and behavior

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Techniques to Learn About Structure and Function

As technology has improved, scientists have used a wide range of techniques to learn about brain and neural function. Over 150 years ago, studying patients with brain damage linked loss of structure with loss of function. Phineas Gage was the level-headed, calm foreman of a railroad crew (1848) until an explosion hurled an iron rod through his head. After the injury severed the connections between his limbic system and frontal cortex, Gage became hostile, impulsive, and unable to control his emotions or his obscene language. Observed at autopsy, his loss of tissue (where the limbic system is connected to the frontal lobes) revealed the relationship between frontal lobes and control of emotional behavior. In another case, Paul Broca (1861) performed an autopsy on the brain of a patient, nicknamed Tan, who had lost the capacity to speak although his mouth and vocal cords weren’t damaged and he could still understand language. Tan’s brain showed deterioration of part of the frontal lobe of the left cerebral hemisphere, as did the brains of several similar cases. This connected destruction of the part of the left frontal lobe known as Broca’s area to loss of the ability to speak, known as expressive aphasia. Carl Wernicke similarly found another brain area involved in understanding language in the left temporal lobe. Destruction of Wernicke’s area results in loss of the ability to comprehend written and spoken language, known as receptive aphasia.

Gunshot wounds, tumors, strokes, and other diseases that destroy brain tissue enabled further mapping of the brain. Because the study of the brain through injury was a slow process, quicker methods were pursued. Lesions, precise destruction of brain tissue, enabled more systematic study of the loss of function resulting from surgical removal (also called ablation), cutting of neural connections, or destruction by chemical applications. Surgery to relieve epilepsy cuts neural connections at the corpus callosum, between the cerebral hemispheres. Studies by Roger Sperry and Michael Gazzaniga of patients with these “split brains” have revealed that the left and right hemispheres do not perform exactly the same functions (brain lateralization), that the hemispheres specialize in. The left cerebral hemisphere is specialized for verbal, mathematical, and analytical functions. The nonverbal right hemisphere is specialized for spatial, musical, and holistic functions such as identifying faces and recognizing emotional facial expressions.

Direct electrical stimulation of different cortical areas of the brain during surgery enabled scientists to observe the results. Stimulating the back of the frontal cortex at particular sites caused body movement for different body parts enabling mapping of the motor cortex.

In recent years, neuroscientists have been able to look inside the brain without surgery. Computerized axial tomography (CAT or CT) creates a computerized image using x-rays passed through various angles of the brain showing two-dimensional “slices” that can be arranged to show the extent of a lesion. In magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a magnetic field and pulses of radio waves cause emission of faint radio frequency signals that depend upon the density of the tissue. The computer constructs images based on varying signals that are more detailed than CT scans. Both CT scans and MRIs show the structure of the brain, but don’t show the brain functioning.

Measuring Brain Function

Scientists have developed a number of tools to measure the brain functions of people. An EEG (electroencephalogram) is an amplified tracing of brain activity produced when electrodes positioned over the scalp transmit signals about the brain’s electrical activity (“brain waves”) to an electroencephalograph machine. The amplified tracings are called evoked potentials when the recorded change in voltage results from a response to a specific stimulus presented to the subject. EEGs have been used to study the brain during states of arousal such as sleeping and dreaming, to detect abnormalities (such as deafness and visual disorders in infants), and to study cognition. Another technology, positron emission tomography (PET) produces color computer graphics that depend on the amount of metabolic activity in the imaged brain region. When neurons are active, an automatic increase in blood flow to the active region of the brain brings more oxygen and glucose necessary for respiration. Blood flow changes are used to create brain images when tracers (such as radioactively tagged glucose) injected into the blood of the subject emit particles called positrons, which are converted into signals detected by the PET scanner. Functional MRI (fMRI) shows the brain at work at higher resolution than the PET scanner. Changes in oxygen in the blood of an active brain area alters its magnetic qualities, which is recorded by the fMRI scanner. After further computer processing, a detailed picture of that local brain activity emerges. With new brain imaging technology, psychologists can explore far more about our abilities than ever before, from well-known systems like perception to less understood systems like motivation and emotion.

Organization of Your Nervous System

Your patterns of behavior generally involve masses of neural tissue rather than a few neurons. All of the neurons in your body are organized into your nervous system. Your nervous system has subdivisions based on location and function. The two major subdivisions are your central nervous system and your peripheral nervous system. Your central nervous system consists of your brain and your spinal cord. Your peripheral nervous system includes two major subdivisions: your somatic nervous system and your autonomic nervous system. Your peripheral nervous system lies outside the midline portion of your nervous system carrying sensory information to and motor information away from your central nervous system via spinal and cranial nerves. Your somatic nervous system has motor neurons that stimulate skeletal (voluntary) muscle. Your autonomic nervous system has motor neurons that stimulate smooth (involuntary) and heart muscle. Your autonomic nervous system is subdivided into the antagonistic sympathetic nervous system and parasympathetic nervous system. Sympathetic stimulation results in responses that help your body deal with stressful events including dilation of your pupils, release of glucose from your liver, dilation of bronchi, inhibition of digestive functions, acceleration of heart rate, secretion of adrenalin from your adrenal glands, acceleration of breathing rate, and inhibition of secretion of your tear glands. Parasympathetic stimulation calms your body following sympathetic stimulation by restoring digestive processes (salivation, peristalsis, enzyme secretion), returning pupils to normal pupil size, stimulating tear glands, and restoring normal bladder contractions. Your spinal cord, protected by membranes called meninges and your spinal column of bony vertebrae, starts at the base of your back and extends upward to the base of your skull where it joins your brain. The cord is composed mainly of interneurons and glial cells, which are all bathed by cerebrospinal fluid produced by your glial cells.

The Brain

Your brain , which has the consistency of soft-serve yogurt, is covered by protective membranes called meninges and is housed in your skull. The evolutionary approach describes the brain’s evolution from more primitive organisms, reasoning that new types of behavior developed as each new layer of the brain evolved. According to one evolutionary model (triune brain), the human brain has three major divisions, overlapping layers with the most recent neural systems nearest the front and top. The reptilian brain, which maintains homeostasis and instinctive behaviors, roughly corresponds to the brainstem, which includes the medulla, pons, and cerebellum. Developmental psychologists call the brainstem the hindbrain. The old mammalian brain roughly corresponds to the limbic system that includes the septum, hippocampus, amygdala, cingulate cortex, hypothalamus, and the thalamus, which are all important in controlling emotional behavior, some aspects of memory, and vision. The new mammalian brain or neocortex, synonymous with the cerebral cortex, accounts for about 80% of brain volume and is associated with the higher functions of judgment, decision making, abstract thought, foresight, hindsight and insight, language and computing, as well as sensation and perception. Developmental psychologists call the structures of the “mammalian brains” the forebrain. The surface of your cortex has peaks called gyri and valleys called sulci, which form convolutions that increase the surface area of your cortex. Deeper valleys are called fissures. The last evolutionary development of the brain is the localization of functions on different sides of your brain.

Localization and Lateralization of the Brain’s Function

Although multiple representations of information can be located within different areas of your brain, specific regions of your brain seem most critical in handling particular functions. This localization of structure and function has been identified for numerous regions (see Figure 7.1 ). Association areas are regions of the cerebral cortex that do not have specific sensory or motor functions, but are involved in higher mental functions, such as thinking, planning, remembering, and communicating. In general, crossing over of nerves sending information from one side of your body to the other side of your brain results in contralaterality, control of one side of your body by the other side of your brain.

Figure 7.1 Major structures of the brain in medial view.

Structure of Brain	Function
MEDULLA OBLONGATA	Where most fibers cross, resulting in contralateral (opposite side) control. Regulates heart rhythm, blood flow, breathing rate, digestion, vomiting.
PONS	Includes portion of reticular activating system (a.k.a. reticular formation) critical for arousal. Bridge between cerebral hemispheres and both medulla and cerebellum.
CEREBELLUM	Coordinates motor function, integrating motion and positional information from the inner ear and muscles. Helps maintain balance.
BASIL GANGLIA (or basal nuclei )	Links the thalamus with the motor cortex and other motor areas. Regulates initiation of movements, balance, eye movements, and posture. Involved in reward/punishment learning, focus, and functions in processing of implicit memory. Some nuclei (neural clusters) involved in emotion.
THALAMUS	Relay “station” for sensory pathways carrying visual, auditory, taste, somatosensory information to/from appropriate areas of cerebral cortex. Some nuclei (neural clusters) involved in emotion.
HYPOTHALAMUS	Controls autonomic functions such as body temperature and heart rate via control of sympathetic and parasympathetic centers in the medulla. Sets appetitive drives (such as thirst, hunger, sexual desire) and behaviors. Sets emotional states, such as rage, with the limbic system. Integrates with endocrine system by secretion of hormones that regulate hormones from pituitary. Helps determine biological rhythms, such as the menstrual cycle.
AMYGDALA	Influences aggression and fear. Coordinates fight-or-flight response. Important in formation of sensory memory.
HIPPOCAMPUS	Enables formation of new long-term memories.
CEREBRAL CORTEX	Receives and processes sensory information and directs movement. Center for higher order processes such as thinking, planning, judgment.

Just as a map or globe can be divided into hemispheres and continents, your cerebral cortex can be divided into eight lobes, four in the left cerebral hemisphere and four in the right cerebral hemisphere (see Figure 7.2 ). Go to http://www.g2conline.org and click on 3-D Brain for a more detailed view of a three-dimensional brain model. You can download it as an app.

Region of Brain	Function
OCCIPITAL LOBES	Information from left half of visual field of both eyes is processed in right occipital lobe, from right visual field in left occipital lobe.
PARIETAL LOBES	Somatosensory cortex (for touch sensations) is the front strip. Contralateral representation of all body parts.
FRONTAL LOBES	Motor cortex strip just in front of somatosensory cortex initiates movements and integrates activities of skeletal muscles. Contralateral—right/left hemisphere controls other side of body. Broca’s area in left frontal lobe controls production of speech. Interpret and control emotional behaviors, make decisions, carry out plans.
TEMPORAL LOBES	Center for hearing. Wernicke’s area in left temporal lobe plays role in understanding language and making meaningful sentences. Right temporal lobe important for understanding music/tonality. Sound from both ears processed mostly contralaterally. Smell processed near front of temporal lobes.

Figure 7.2 Regions of the left cerebral cortex in lateral view.

Although specific regions of the brain are associated with specific functions, if one region is damaged, the brain can reorganize to take over its function, which is called plasticity. In phantom limb syndrome, a somewhat unfortunate example of plasticity, reorganization of the somatosensory cortex leads to someone experiencing sensations where a missing limb used to be.

Structure and Function of the Neuron

Your extraordinarily complex brain is composed of trillions of neurons and glial cells. Glial cells guide the growth of developing neurons, help provide nutrition for and get rid of wastes of neurons, and form an insulating sheath around neurons that speeds conduction. The neuron is the basic unit of structure and function of your nervous system. Neurons perform three major functions: receive information, process it, and transmit it to the rest of your body. Three major regions of a neuron enable the cell to communicate with other cells (see Figure 7.3 ). The cell body (a.k.a. cyton or soma) contains cytoplasm and the nucleus, which directs synthesis of such substances as neurotransmitters. The dendrites are branching tubular processes capable of receiving information. The axon emerges from the cyton as a single conducting fiber (longer than a dendrite) which branches and ends in tips called terminal buttons, axon terminals, or synaptic knobs. The axon is usually covered by an insulating myelin sheath (formed by glial cells). Neurogenesis, the growth of new neurons, takes place throughout life.

Figure 7.3 Typical neurons.

Neurotransmitters are chemicals stored in structures of the terminal buttons called synaptic vesicles. Different neurotransmitters have different chemical structures and perform different functions. For example, acetylcholine (ACh) causes contraction of skeletal muscles, helps regulate heart muscles, is involved in memory, and also transmits messages between the brain and spinal cord. Lack of ACh is associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Dopamine stimulates the hypothalamus to synthesize hormones and affects alertness and movement. Lack of dopamine is associated with Parkinson’s disease; too much dopamine is associated with schizophrenia. Glutamate is a major excitatory neurotransmitter involved in information processing throughout the cortex and especially memory formation in the hippocampus. Both schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s may involve glutamate receptors. Serotonin is associated with sexual activity, concentration and attention, moods, and emotions. Lack of serotonin is associated with depression. Opioid peptides such as endorphins are often considered the brain’s own pain killers. Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) inhibits firing of neurons. Benzodiazepine (Valium) and anticonvulsant drugs increase activity of GABA. Huntington’s disease is associated with insufficient GABA-producing neurons in parts of the brain involved in coordination of movement. Seizures are associated with malfunctioning GABA systems. Other chemicals, such as drugs, can interfere with the action of neurotransmitters. Agonists may mimic a neurotransmitter and bind to its receptor site to produce the effect of the neurotransmitter. Antagonists block a receptor site inhibiting the effect of the neurotransmitter or agonist.

Figure 7.4 Action potential.

Neuron Functions

All your behavior begins with the actions of your neurons. A neuron gets incoming information from its receptors spread around its dendrites. That information is sent to its cell body, where it’s combined with other incoming information. Neural impulses are electrical in nature along the neuron. The neuron at rest is more negative inside the cell membrane relative to outside of the membrane. The neuron’s resting potential results from the selective permeability of its membrane and the presence of electrically charged particles called ions near the inside and outside surfaces of the membrane in different concentrations. When sufficiently stimulated (to threshold), a net flow of sodium ions into the cell causes a rapid change in potential across the membrane, known as the action potential (see Figure 7.4 ). If stimulation is not strong enough, your neuron doesn’t fire. The strength of the action potential is constant whenever it occurs. This is the all-or-none principle.

The wave of depolarization and repolarization is passed along the axon to the terminal buttons, which release neurotransmitters. Spaces between segments of myelin are called nodes of Ranvier. When the axon is myelinated, conduction speed is increased since depolarizations jump from node to node. This is called saltatory conduction. Chemical neurotransmitters are released into the synapse where they attach to specific receptor sites on membranes of dendrites of your postsynaptic neurons, like a key fitting into the tumbler of a lock (the lock and key concept). Some of your synapses are excitatory, the neurotransmitters cause the neuron on the other side of the synapse to generate an action potential (to fire); other synapses are inhibitory, reducing or preventing neural impulses. The sum of all excitatory and inhibitory inputs determines whether your next neuron will fire and at what rate. The constant flow of these neurochemical impulses gives your behavior its amazing complexity. It regulates your metabolism, temperature, and respiration. It also enables you to learn, remember, and decide.

Reflex Action

The simplest form of your behavior, called a reflex, involves impulse conduction over a few (perhaps three) neurons. The path is called a reflex arc. Sensory or afferent neurons transmit impulses from your sensory receptors to the spinal cord or brain. Interneurons, located entirely within your brain and spinal cord, intervene between sensory and motor neurons. Motor or efferent neurons transmit impulses from your sensory or interneurons to muscle cells that contract or gland cells that secrete. Muscle and gland cells are called effectors. Examples of your reflexes include your pupillary reflex, knee jerk, sneezing, and blinking. Neural impulses travel one way along the neuron from dendrites to axons to terminal buttons, and among neurons from the receptor to the effector.

The Endocrine System

Your endocrine system interacts with your nervous system to regulate your behavior and body functions. Your endocrine system consists of glands that secrete chemical messengers called hormones into your blood. The hormones travel to target organs where they bind to specific receptors. Endocrine glands include the pineal gland, hypothalamus, and pituitary gland in your brain; the thyroid and parathyroids in your neck; the adrenal glands atop your kidneys; pancreas near your stomach; and either testes or ovaries.

Endocrine Gland	Function
PINEAL GLAND	Produces melatonin that helps regulate circadian rhythms and is associated with seasonal affective disorder.
HYPOTHALAMUS	Produces hormones that stimulate or inhibit secretion of hormones by the pituitary.
PITUITARY GLAND	Sometimes called “master gland” because it produces stimulating hormones that promote secretion by other glands including: TSH—thyroid-stimulating hormone ACTH—adrenocorticotropic hormone stimulates adrenal cortex FSH—follicle stimulating hormone stimulates egg or sperm production Produces ADH (antidiuretic hormone) to help retain water in your body and HGH (human growth hormone).
THYROID GLAND	Produces thyroxine, which stimulates and maintains metabolic activities. Lack of thyroxine in children can result in mental retardation.
PARATHYROIDS	Produce parathyroid hormone that helps maintain the calcium ion level in blood which is necessary for normal functioning of neurons.
ADRENAL GLANDS	Adrenal cortex, the outer layer, produces steroid hormones such as cortisol, which is a stress hormone. Adrenal medulla, the core, secretes adrenaline (epinephrine) and noradrenaline (norepinephrine), which prepare the body for “fight or flight,” like the sympathetic nervous system.
PANCREAS	Insulin and glucagon regulate blood sugar that fuels all behavioral processes. Imbalances result in diabetes and hypoglycemia, respectively.
OVARIES AND TESTES	Gonads in females and males respectively, necessary for reproduction and development of secondary sex characteristics.

Genetics and Evolutionary Psychology

Why do you behave the way you do? To what extent is your behavior determined by your heredity? To what extent is it determined by your life history or environment? The nature-nurture controversy deals with the extent to which heredity and the environment each influence behavior. Evolutionary psychologists study how natural selection favored behaviors that contributed to survival and spread of our ancestors’ genes, and may currently contribute to our survival into the next generations. Evolutionary psychologists look at universal behaviors shared by all people. They look at behaviors conserved across related species to understand how we are adapted to maximize our success in our environments. Charles Darwin pointed out the similarities of the expressions of emotions in people and other animals, suggesting that expressions shared across cultures and species are biologically determined.

Genetics and Behavior

Behavioral geneticists study the role played by our genes and our environment in mental ability, emotional stability, temperament, personality, interests, etc.; they look at the causes of our individual differences. Your genes predispose your behavior. Studies of twins have been helping to separate the contributions of heredity and environment. Identical twins are two individuals who share all of the same genes/heredity because they develop from the same fertilized egg or zygote; they are monozygotic twins. Fraternal twins are siblings that share about half of the same genes because they develop from two different fertilized eggs or zygotes; they are dizygotic twins. Heritability is the proportion of variation among individuals in a population that is due to genetic causes. For the special case of identical twins, you might want to say that the heritability for traits of identical twins is zero, but that is not exactly correct. Like evolution, heritability is a concept applied to the population rather than the individual. When twins grow up in the same environment, the extent to which behaviors of monozygotic twins are behaviorally more similar than dizygotic twins reveals the contribution of heredity to behavior. Schizophrenia and general intelligence are more similar in monozygotic twins than dizygotic twins. If monozygotic twins are separated at birth and raised in different environments (adoption studies), behavioral differences may reveal the contribution of environment to behavior; similarities may reveal the contribution of heredity.

Adoption studies assess genetic influence by comparing resemblance of adopted children to both their adoptive and biological parents. The children must have been adopted as infants without contact with their biological parents. If the children resemble their biological parents, but not their adoptive families, with respect to a given trait, researchers infer a genetic component for that trait. Such constellations of behaviors as alcoholism, schizophrenia, and general intelligence have shown both genetic and environmental components.

Transmission of Hereditary Characteristics

Transmission of hereditary characteristics is achieved by biological processes, including formation of sex cells, fertilization, embryonic development, and protein synthesis. Each DNA segment of a chromosome that determines a trait is a gene. Chromosomes carry information stored in genes to new cells during reproduction. Normal human body cells have 46 chromosomes, except for eggs and sperms that have 23 chromosomes. Males have 44 chromosomes, plus X and Y. Females have 44 chromosomes, plus X and X. At fertilization, 23 chromosomes from the sperm unite with 23 chromosomes from the egg to form a zygote with 46 chromosomes. If the male contributes an X chromosome, the baby is female; if the male contributes a Y chromosome, the baby is male. The presence of a Y chromosome makes the baby a male. All of the cells of the embryo/baby have the same 23 pairs of chromosomes, which carry genes for the same traits. Fertilization that includes a sperm or egg with the wrong number of chromosomes results in a zygote, and subsequently an individual, with chromosomal abnormalities. Females with Turner syndrome have only one X sex chromosome (XO). Girls with Turner syndrome are typically short with a webbed neck, lack ovaries, and fail to develop secondary sex characteristics at puberty. Although usually of normal intelligence, they typically evidence specific cognitive deficits in arithmetic, spatial organization, and visual form perception. Males with Klinefelter’s syndrome arise from an XXY zygote. The syndrome becomes evident at puberty when male secondary sex characteristics fail to develop, but breast tissue does. Males with Klinefelter’s tend to be passive. The presence of three copies of chromosome-21 results in the expression of Down syndrome. Individuals with Down syndrome typically have intellectual disability and have a round head, a flat nasal bridge, a protruding tongue, small round ears, a fold in the eyelid, and poor muscle tone and coordination.

The genetic makeup for a trait of an individual is called its genotype. The expression of the genes is called its phenotype. For traits determined by one pair of genes, if they are the same (homozygous), the individual expresses that phenotypic characteristic. If the genes are different, the expressed gene is called the dominant gene; the hidden gene is the recessive gene. Numerous recessive genes are responsible for syndromes in the homozygous condition. Tay-Sachs syndrome produces progressive loss of nervous function and death in a baby. Albinism arises from a failure to synthesize or store pigment and also involves abnormal nerve pathways to the brain, resulting in quivering eyes and the inability to perceive depth or three-dimensionality with both eyes. Phenylketonuria (PKU) results in severe, irreversible brain damage unless the baby is fed a special diet low in phenylalanine within 30 days of birth; the infant lacks an enzyme to process this amino acid which can build up and poison cells of the nervous system. Thus, heredity and environment interact to determine a trait. Huntington’s disease is an example of a dominant gene defect that involves degeneration of the nervous system. Progressive symptoms involve forgetfulness, tremors, jerky motions, loss of the ability to talk, personality changes such as temper tantrums or inappropriate accusations, blindness, and death. Recessive genes for color blindness are located on the X chromosome with no corresponding gene on the Y chromosome. As a result, males show sex-linked traits like color blindness much more frequently than females. Behaviors and diseases may have variations only some of which are genetically based. A form of familial Alzheimer’s disease has been attributed to a gene on chromosome 21, but not all cases of Alzheimer’s disease are associated with that gene.

Review Questions

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1 . A neuron without terminal buttons would be unable to

(A) receive information from neighboring neurons

(B) generate an action potential

(C) direct the synthesis of neurotransmitters

(D) secrete neurotransmitters to postsynaptic neurons

(E) transport ions across the cell membrane

2 . Paul Broca found that the loss of the ability to speak intelligibly is associated with damage to a region of the brain in the

(A) thalamus

(B) right parietal lobe

(C) right occipital lobe

(D) left temporal lobe

(E) left frontal lobe

3 . Scientists are able to see changes in the brain as it processes information by means of

(A) lesioning

(B) autopsy

(C) CT

(D) MRI

(E) PET

4 . The simplest behaviors

(A) are learned when we are infants

(B) do not involve the central nervous system

(C) are called instincts

(D) include sneezing and blinking

(E) must be processed by the medulla

5 . Of the following, the effect of adrenalin on the body is most similar to the effect of the

(A) cerebellum

(B) parathyroids

(C) somatic nervous system

(D) parasympathetic nervous system

(E) sympathetic nervous system

6 . Mr. Jenkins suffered a “stroke” as a result of a brain injury. Although he can still move the fingers on his right hand, he has lost sensation in these parts. Of the following, the site of damage to his brain is most likely in the

(A) right frontal lobe

(B) right temporal lobe

(C) left frontal lobe

(D) left parietal lobe

(E) hypothalamus

7 . Of the following, which are located exclusively in the central nervous system?

(A) afferent neurons

(B) interneurons

(C) efferent neurons

(D) glial cells

(E) effectors

8 . Which of the following glands interact(s) most directly with all of the others to help regulate body processes?

(A) pituitary

(B) adrenals

(C) parathyroids

(D) thyroid

(E) ovaries

9 . Gunshot wounds, tumors, and strokes all result in

(A) infections

(B) significant loss of function

(C) lesions

(D) pain

(E) necessity for surgery

10 . Which of the following must be males?

(A) dizygotic twins

(B) monozygotic twins

(C) Down syndrome children

(D) Klinefelter’s syndrome children

(E) Turner’s syndrome children

11 . Which includes all of the others?

(A) autonomic nervous system

(B) peripheral nervous system

(C) somatic nervous system

(D) parasympathetic nervous system

(E) sympathetic nervous system

12 . Which stimulate a muscle to contract?

(A) adrenal hormones

(B) receptors

(C) sensory neurons

(D) motor neurons

(E) interneurons

13 . The part of the brain most closely associated with maintaining balance and the coordination of complex sequences of movements is the

(A) hypothalamus

(B) thalamus

(C) pons

(D) medulla

(E) cerebellum

14 . Loss of the ability of the brain to produce adequate levels of dopamine often leads to

(A) aphasia

(B) Alzheimer’s disease

(C) Parkinson’s disease

(D) bipolar disorder

(E) amnesia

15 . Which task is primarily a right cerebral hemisphere function in most people?

(A) understanding written language

(B) understanding spoken language

(C) processing visual information from the left eye

(D) recognizing faces

(E) processing sensory information from the right leg

Answers and Explanations

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1 . D —Terminal buttons secrete neurotransmitters into the synapse.

2 . E —Broca’s area is a region in the left frontal lobe anterior to the motor cortex.

3 . E —PET scans visualize changes in the brain as it functions. While fMRI also shows changes in the brain as it functions, MRI and CT scans show structure only.

4 . D —Our simplest behaviors are reflexes. Sneezing and blinking are reflexes.

5 . E —Adrenalin is a hormone that speeds up breathing and heart rate, sends a message to change stored food back to glucose, etc. The sympathetic nervous system stimulates the same changes in the body.

6 . D —The center for sensation in the brain is the somatosensory region of the cerebral cortex located in the front of the parietal lobes. Nerves carrying sensations from the right side of the body cross over to the left side of the brain, so the most probable site of damage is the left parietal lobe.

7 . B —Interneurons are found in the brain and spinal cord only. The others can be found in the peripheral nervous system.

8 . A —The pituitary gland, which is sometimes called “the master gland,” produces many hormones that stimulate other glands, including the adrenals, parathyroids, thyroid, and ovaries.

9 . C —Lesions are interruptions in tissue. While the other choices may accompany wounds, tumors, and strokes, they also may not.

10 . D —Presence of the Y chromosome determines the sex of a human baby. Of the choices, only a Klinefelter’s child (XXY) must have a Y chromosome.

11 . B —The peripheral nervous system comprises the autonomic nervous and somatic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system is subdivided into the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems.

12 . D —Motor neurons or efferent neurons cause muscles to contract or glands to secrete.

13 . E —The cerebellum functions in balance and coordination.

14 . C —Parkinson’s disease is associated with depletion of cells that produce dopamine.

15 . D —Pattern matching and picture and facial recognition are all right hemispheric functions.

Rapid Review

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Neuropsychologists —those who explore the relationships between brain/nervous systems and behavior. Neuropsychologists are also called biological psychologists or biopsychologists, behavioral geneticists, physiological psychologists, and behavioral neuroscientists.

Studying patients with brain damage linked loss of structure with loss of function.

Lesions —precise destruction of brain tissue, enables more systematic study of the loss of function resulting from surgical removal (also called ablation), cutting of neural connections, or destruction by chemical applications.

CT scans and MRIs show structure.

• Computerized axial tomography (CAT or CT)— creates a computerized image using x-rays passed through the brain to show structure and/or the extent of a lesion.

• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) —creates more detailed computerized images using a magnetic field and pulses of radio waves that cause emission of signals that depend upon the density of tissue.

EEGs, PET scans, and fMRIs show function.

• EEG (electroencephalogram) —an amplified tracing of brain activity produced when electrodes positioned over the scalp transmit signals about the brain’s electrical activity (“brain waves”) to an electroencephalograph machine.

• Evoked potentials —EEGs resulting from a response to a specific stimulus presented to the subject.

• Positron emission tomography (PET) —shows brain activity when radioactively tagged glucose rushes to active neurons and emits positrons.

• Functional MRI (fMRI) —shows brain activity at higher resolution than the PET scan when changes in oxygen concentration near active neurons alter magnetic qualities.

Central nervous system (CNS) —brain and spinal cord.

Peripheral nervous system (PNS) —portion of the nervous system outside the brain and spinal cord; includes all of the sensory and motor neurons, and subdivisions called the autonomic and somatic nervous systems.

Autonomic nervous system (ANS) —subdivision of PNS that includes motor nerves that innervate smooth (involuntary) and heart muscle. Its sympathetic nervous system prepares the body for “fight or flight”; the parasympathetic nervous system causes bodily changes for maintenance or rest.

• Sympathetic nervous system —subdivision of PNS and ANS whose stimulation results in responses that help your body deal with stressful events.

• Parasympathetic nervous system —subdivision of PNS and ANS whose stimulation calms your body following sympathetic stimulation by restoring normal body processes.

Somatic nervous system —subdivision of PNS that includes motor nerves that stimulate skeletal (voluntary) muscles.

Spinal cord —portion of the central nervous system below the level of the medulla.

Brain —portion of the central nervous system above the spinal cord.

According to the evolutionary model, the brain consists of three sections: reptilian brain (medulla, pons, cerebellum); old mammalian brain (limbic system, hypothalamus, thalamus); and the new mammalian brain (cerebral cortex).

According to the developmental model, it consists of three slightly different sections: the hindbrain (medulla, pons, cerebellum), the midbrain (small region with parts involved in eye reflexes and movements), and the forebrain (including the limbic system, hypothalamus, thalamus, cerebral cortex).

Convolutions —folding-in and out of the cerebral cortex that increases surface area of the brain.

Contralaterality —control of one side of your body by the other side of your brain.

The parts of the brain with the functions associated with each are:

• Medulla oblongata —regulates heart rhythm, blood flow, breathing rate, digestion, vomiting.

• Pons —includes portion of reticular activating system or reticular formation critical for arousal and wakefulness; sends information to and from medulla, cerebellum, and cerebral cortex.

• Cerebellum —controls posture, equilibrium, and movement.

• Basal ganglia —regulates initiation of movements, balance, eye movements, and posture, and functions in processing of implicit memories.

• Thalamus —relays visual, auditory, taste, and somatosensory information to/from appropriate areas of cerebral cortex.

• Hypothalamus —controls feeding behavior, drinking behavior, body temperature, sexual behavior, threshold for rage behavior, activation of the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems, and secretion of hormones of the pituitary.

• Amygdala —influences emotions such as aggression, fear, and self-protective behaviors.

• Hippocampus —enables formation of new long-term memories.

• Cerebral cortex —center for higher-order processes such as thinking, planning, judgment; receives and processes sensory information and directs movement.

• Association areas —areas of the cerebral cortex that do not have specific sensory or motor functions, but are involved in higher mental functions such as thinking, planning, and communicating.

Geographically, the cerebral cortex can be divided into eight lobes, four on the left side and four on the right side:

• Occipital lobes —primary area for processing visual information.

• Parietal lobes —front strip is somatosensory cortex that processes sensory information including touch, temperature, and pain from body parts; association areas perceive objects.

• Frontal lobes —interpret and control emotional behaviors, make decisions, carry out plans; motor cortex strip just in front of somatosensory cortex initiates movements and integrates activities of skeletal muscles; produces speech (Broca’s area ).

• Temporal lobes —primary area for hearing, understanding language (Wernicke’s area ), understanding music/tonality, processing smell.

Aphasia —impairment of the ability to understand or use language.

Glial cells —supportive cells of the nervous system that guide the growth of developing neurons, help provide nutrition for and get rid of wastes of neurons, and form an insulating sheath around neurons that speeds conduction.

Neuron —the basic unit of structure and function of your nervous system. Neurons perform three major functions: receive information, process it, and transmit it to the rest of your body. Terms relating to the structure and function of the neuron include:

• Cell body —also called the cyton or soma; the part of the neuron that contains cytoplasm and the nucleus, which directs synthesis of such substances as neurotransmitters.

• Dendrites —branching tubular processes of a neuron that have receptor sites for receiving information.

• Axon —a long, single conducting fiber extending from the cell body of a neuron that transmits an action potential and that branches and ends in tips called terminal buttons (a.k.a. axon terminals, or synaptic knobs), which secrete neurotransmitters.

• Myelin sheath —a fatty covering of the axon made by glial cells, which speeds up conduction of the action potential.

• Terminal buttons (a.k.a. axon terminals, end bulbs, or synaptic knobs)—tips at the end of axons that secrete neurotransmitters when stimulated by the action potential.

Neurotransmitters —chemical messengers released by the terminal buttons of the presynaptic neuron into the synapse. Different neurotransmitters have different chemical structures and perform different tasks:

• Acetylcholine (ACh )—a neurotransmitter that causes contraction of skeletal muscles, helps regulate heart muscles, is involved in memory, and also transmits messages between the brain and spinal cord. Lack of ACh is associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

• Dopamine —a neurotransmitter that stimulates the hypothalamus to synthesize hormones and affects alertness, attention, and movement. Lack of dopamine is associated with Parkinson’s disease; too much is associated with schizophrenia.

• Glutamate —a neurotransmitter that stimulates cells throughout the brain, but especially in the hypothalamus, and is associated with memory formation and information processing.

• Serotonin —a neurotransmitter associated with arousal, sleep, appetite, moods, and emotions. Lack of serotonin is associated with depression.

• Endorphin —a neurotransmitter similar to the opiate morphine that relieves pain and may induce feelings of pleasure.

• Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA )—a neurotransmitter that inhibits firing of postsynaptic neurons. Huntington’s disease and seizures are associated with malfunctioning GABA systems.

Action potential —also called an impulse, the “firing” of a neuron; a net flow of sodium ions into the cell that causes a rapid change in potential across the membrane when stimulation reaches threshold.

All-or-none principle —the law that the neuron either generates an action potential when the stimulation reaches threshold or doesn’t fire when stimulation is below threshold. The strength of the action potential is constant whenever it occurs.

Nodes of Ranvier —spaces between segments of myelin on the axons of neurons.

Saltatory conduction —rapid conduction of impulses when the axon is myelinated since depolarizations jump from node (of Ranvier) to node.

Synapse —region of communication between the transmitting presynaptic neuron and receiving postsynaptic neuron, muscle, or gland, consisting of the presynaptic terminal buttons, a tiny space, and receptor sites typically on the postsynaptic dendrites.

Excitatory neurotransmitter —chemical secreted at terminal button that causes the neuron on the other side of the synapse to generate an action potential (to fire).

Inhibitory neurotransmitter —chemical secreted at terminal button that reduces or prevents neural impulses in the postsynaptic dendrites.

Reflex —the simplest form of behavior.

Reflex arc —the path over which the reflex travels, which typically includes the following:

• Sensory receptor —cell typically in sense organs that initiates action potentials, which then travel along sensory/afferent neurons to the CNS.

• Afferent neuron —also called sensory neuron; nerve cell in your PNS that transmits impulses from receptors to the brain or spinal cord.

• Interneuron —nerve cell in the CNS that transmits impulses between sensory and motor neurons. Neural impulses travel one way along the neuron from dendrites to axons to terminal buttons, and among neurons from the receptor to the effector.

• Efferent neuron —also called motor neuron; nerve cell in your PNS that transmits impulses from sensory or interneurons to muscle cells that contract or gland cells that secrete.

• Effector —muscle cell that contracts or gland cell that secretes.

Endocrine system —ductless glands that typically secrete hormones directly into the blood, which help regulate body and behavioral processes. Components of the endocrine system include:

• Hormone —chemical messenger that travels through the blood to a receptor site on a target organ.

• Pineal gland —endocrine gland in brain that produces melatonin that helps regulate circadian rhythms and is associated with seasonal affective disorder.

• Hypothalamus —portion of brain part that acts as endocrine gland and produces hormones that stimulate (releasing factors) or inhibit secretion of hormones by the pituitary.

• Pituitary gland (sometimes called “master gland”)—endocrine gland in brain that produces stimulating hormones, which promote secretion by other glands including TSH (thyroid-stimulating hormone); ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone), which stimulates the adrenal glands; FSH (follicle stimulating hormone), which stimulates egg or sperm production; ADH (antidiuretic hormone) to help retain water in your body; and HGH (human growth hormone).

• Thyroid gland —endocrine gland in neck that produces thyroxine, which stimulates and maintains metabolic activities.

• Parathyroids —endocrine glands in neck that produce parathyroid hormone, which helps maintain calcium ion level in blood necessary for normal functioning of neurons.

• Adrenal glands —endocrine glands atop kidneys. Adrenal cortex—the outer layer—produces steroid hormones such as cortisol, which is a stress hormone. Adrenal medulla—the core—secretes adrenaline (epinephrine) and noradrenaline (norepinephrine), which prepare the body for “fight or flight” like the sympathetic nervous system.

• Pancreas —gland near stomach that secretes the hormones insulin and glucagon, which regulate blood sugar that fuels all behavioral processes. Imbalances result in diabetes and hypoglycemia.

• Ovaries and testes —gonads in females and males, respectively, that produce hormones necessary for reproduction and development of secondary sex characteristics.

Evolutionary psychologists —study how Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection favored behaviors that contributed to survival and spread of our ancestors’ genes; evolutionary psychologists look at universal behaviors shared by all people.

Behavioral geneticists —study the role played by our genes and our environment in mental ability, emotional stability, temperament, personality, interests, etc.; they look at the causes of our individual differences.

Zygote —fertilized egg.

Studies of twins help separate the contributions of heredity from environment.

• Identical twins —also called monozygotic twins; two individuals who share all of the same genes/heredity because they develop from the same zygote.

• Fraternal twins —also called dizygotic twins; siblings that share about half of the same genes because they develop from two different zygotes.

Heritability —the proportion of variation among individuals in a population that is due to genetic causes.

When twins grow up in the same environment, the extent to which behaviors of monozygotic twins are behaviorally more similar than dizygotic twins reveals the contribution of heredity to behavior.

If monozygotic twins are separated at birth and raised in different environments (adoption studies), behavioral differences may reveal the contribution of environment to behavior; similarities reveal the contribution of heredity.

In adoption studies, if the children resemble their biological parents, but not their adoptive families, with respect to a given trait, researchers infer a genetic component for that trait.

Gene —each DNA segment of a chromosome that determines a trait.

Chromosome —structure in the nucleus of cells that contains genes determined by DNA sequences.

Human cells contain 23 pairs of chromosomes, 23 of which come from the sperm of the father and 23 of which come from the egg of the mother at fertilization. If the father contributes a Y sex chromosome, the baby is male; otherwise the baby is female.

Errors during fertilization can result in the wrong number of chromosomes in cells of a baby. These can result in:

• Turner syndrome —females with only one X sex chromosome who are short, often sterile, and have difficulty calculating.

• Klinefelter’s syndrome —males with XXY sex chromosomes.

• Down syndrome —usually with three copies of chromosome-21 in their cells, individuals typically have intellectual disability and have a round head, flat nasal bridge, protruding tongue, small round ears, a fold in the eyelid, and poor muscle tone and coordination.

Genotype —the genetic makeup of an individual.

Phenotype— the expression of the genes.

Homozygous —the condition when both genes for a trait are the same.

Heterozygous —also called hybrid; the condition when the genes for a trait are different.

Dominant gene —the gene expressed when the genes for a trait are different.

Recessive gene —the gene that is hidden or not expressed when the genes for a trait are different.

Tay-Sachs syndrome —recessive trait that produces progressive loss of nervous function and death in a baby.

Albinism —recessive trait that produces lack of pigment and involves quivering eyes and inability to perceive depth with both eyes.

Phenylketonuria (PKU)— recessive trait that results in severe, irreversible brain damage unless the baby is fed a special diet low in phenylalanine.

Huntington’s disease —dominant gene defect that involves degeneration of the nervous system, characterized by tremors, jerky motions, blindness, and death.

Sex-linked traits —recessive genes located on the X chromosome with no corresponding gene on the Y chromosome, which result in expression of recessive trait, more frequently in males.

Color blindness —sex-linked trait with which individual cannot see certain colors, most often red and green.

1. Human organ systems most closely associated with behavior are the nervous and

(A) excretory systems.

(B) respiratory systems.

(C) endocrine systems.

(D) circulatory systems.

(E) perceptual systems.

2. Along a single neuron, conduction is speeded up by the presence of

(A) lithium ions.

(B) myelin.

(C) beta-amyloid plaques.

(D) glucagon.

(E) glutamate receptors.

3. Of the following, which is typically NOT involved in a simple reflex?

(A) Cerebral cortex

(B) Medulla oblongata

(C) Spinal cord

(D) Sense organ

(E) Muscle

4. A little girl who has an intellectual disability, a round head, a flat nasal bridge, a protruding tongue, and poor muscle tone and coordination most likely has the chromosome abnormality

(A) XO.

(B) XXY.

(C) XXX.

(D) trisomy 18.

(E) trisomy 21.

Answers

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1. C— Hormones of the endocrine system, such as adrenalin and thyroxine, play key roles in regulating behavior.

2. B— The myelin sheath around the axon of neurons acts like an insulator around wires.

3. A— Typically the path of a reflex is from receptor in a sense organ to sensory neuron to interneuron in the spinal cord or medulla to motor neuron to effector, which is a muscle or gland cell.

4. E— The symptoms are characteristic of Down syndrome.

Sensation and Perception

IN THIS CHAPTER

Summary: If you had to give up one of your senses, which one would it be? Most people choose the sense of smell or taste; no one ever chooses sight or hearing. What we see and hear are more essential for our survival than what we smell and taste. Vision is the most studied sense, and has the largest area of our cerebral cortex devoted to it of all of our senses.

All species have developed special sensory mechanisms for gathering information essential for survival. Sensation is the process by which you detect physical energy from your environment and encode it as neural signals. Perception is the process that organizes sensory input and makes it meaningful. What you perceive is influenced by your memory, motivation, emotion, and even culture. The study of sensation and perception is rooted in physics. Psychophysics is the study of the relationship between physical energy and psychological experiences. Psychophysics asks questions about our sensitivity to stimuli.

This chapter focuses on the conversion of sensations to perceptions that give you your view of your world.

Key Ideas

Thresholds

Vision

Hearing (audition)

Touch (somatosensation)

Chemical senses—taste (gustation) and smell (olfaction)

Gestalt organizing principles

Depth perception

Perceptual constancy

Perceptual adaptation and perceptual set

ESP

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Thresholds

Sensory sensitivity can be measured by the absolute threshold, the weakest level of a stimulus that can be correctly detected at least half the time. Measured in studies by Galanter about 50 years ago, our absolute threshold for sight/vision is a candle flame seen at 30 miles on a dark, clear night; for hearing/audition, the tick of a watch under quiet conditions at 20 feet; for taste/gustation, 1 teaspoon of sugar in 2 gallons of water; for smell/olfaction, 1 drop of perfume diffused in a three-room apartment; for touch, the wing of a bee falling on your cheek from a distance of 1 centimeter. Have you noticed that dental or medical procedures feel more painful when you feel tired? It’s not your imagination! According to signal detection theory, there is no actual absolute threshold because the threshold changes with a variety of factors, including fatigue, attention, expectations, motivation, and emotional distress. It also varies from one person to another. In a signal-detection experiment, a person needs to decide whether a signal is present or not. If the signal is present and the person thinks it is present, it is a hit. If the signal is present and the person thinks it is absent, it is a miss. If the signal is absent and the person thinks it is present, it is a false alarm. If the signal is absent and the person thinks it is absent, it is a correct rejection. Clearly, you want an air controller in front of a radar screen with the ability to score both hits and correct rejections.

Subliminal stimulation is the receipt of messages that are below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness. Subliminal messages can have a momentary, subtle effect on thinking. Such stimuli can evoke a feeling, though not a conscious awareness of the stimulus. When you are just barely aware of a change in stimulus, such as an increase in volume of a CD or brightness on your computer screen, the difference threshold —the minimum difference between any two stimuli that a person can detect 50% of the time—has been reached. In order to survive, organisms must have difference thresholds low enough to detect minute changes in important stimuli. You experience the difference threshold as what Ernst Weber called the just noticeable difference (jnd). If you add one BB to a container with 10 BBs in it, you’re more likely to notice a difference than if you add one BB to a container holding 100 BBs. According to Weber’s law, which was quantified by Gustav Fechner, difference thresholds increase in proportion to the size of the stimulus. When stimulation is unchanging, you become less sensitive to the stimulus. This sensory adaptation permits you to focus your attention on informative changes in your environment without being distracted by irrelevant data such as odors or background noises.

Transmission of Sensory Information

Sensory information of stimuli comes from millions of sensory receptors in your eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin, muscles, joints, and tendons. Different receptors detect different types of physical energy, such as light waves, mechanical energy, chemical energy, and heat energy. Receptors transduce energy from one form into another. In sensation, transduction refers to the transformation of stimulus energy to the electrochemical energy of neural impulses. Except for impulses for olfaction/smell transmitted directly to the olfactory bulbs on the underside of the cortex, impulses from sense organs are transmitted to the thalamus before the cortex. The cerebral cortex puts all the sensory information together and acts on it. Different areas of the cortex translate neural impulses into different psychological experiences, such as odor or touch. Visual information is first processed in the occipital lobes in the back of the cortex, hearing in the temporal lobes, body senses in the parietal lobes, taste at the junction of temporal and parietal lobes, and smell in the lower portion of the frontal lobes. These primary sensory centers then project the results of their activity to other areas in the cortex, the association areas, where more abstract information processing takes place and where you connect new information with old information stored in your memory. Perception is the process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting sensations, enabling you to recognize meaningful objects and events.

Vision

While psychologists study all sensory processes, a major focus is visual perception because most of us depend so much on sight. Initial visual sensation and perception take place in three areas: in the cones and rods of the retina located at the back inner surface of your eye; in the pathways through your brain; and in your occipital lobes, also called the visual cortex. The image formed on your retina is upside down and incomplete. Your brain fills in information and straightens out the upside down image almost immediately.

Visual Pathway

Millions of rods and cones are the photoreceptors that convert light energy to electrochemical neural impulses. Your eyeball is protected by an outer membrane composed of the sclera, tough, white, connective tissue that contains the opaque white of the eye, and the cornea, the transparent tissue in the front of your eye.

Rays of light entering your eye are bent first by the curved transparent cornea, pass through the liquid aqueous humor and the hole through your muscular iris called the pupil, are further bent by the lens, and pass through your transparent vitreous humor before focusing on the rods and cones in the back of your eye (see Figure 8.1 ).

Figure 8.1 The eye.

You are said to be near-sighted if too much curvature of the cornea and/or lens focuses an image in front of the retina so nearby objects are seen more clearly than distant objects. You are said to be far-sighted if too little curvature of the cornea and/or lens focuses the image behind the retina so distant objects are seen more clearly than nearby ones. Astigmatism is caused by an irregularity in the shape of the cornea and/or the lens. This distorts and blurs the image at the retina.

The more abundant rods have a lower threshold than cones and are sensitive to light and dark, as well as movement. Three different kinds of cones are each most sensitive to a different range of wavelengths of light, which provides the basis for color vision. When it suddenly becomes dark, your gradual increase in sensitivity to the low level of light, called dark adaptation, results from a shift from predominantly cone vision to predominantly rod vision. Rods and cones both synapse with a second layer of neurons in front of them in your retina, called bipolar cells. More rods synapse with one bipolar cell than do cones. Small amounts of stimulation from each rod to a bipolar cell can enable it to fire in low light. In bright light, just one cone can stimulate a bipolar cell sufficiently to fire, providing greater visual acuity or resolution. Bipolar cells transmit impulses to another layer of neurons in front of them in your retina, the ganglion cells. Axons of these cells converge to form the optic nerve of each eye. Where the optic nerve exits the retina, there aren’t any rods or cones, so the part of an image that falls on your retina in that area is missing—the blind spot. At the optic chiasm on the underside of your brain, half the axons of the optic nerve from each eye criss-cross, sending impulses from the left half of each retina to the left side of your brain and from the right half of each retina to the right side of your brain. The thalamus then routes information to the primary visual cortex of your brain, where specific neurons called feature detectors respond only to specific features of visual stimuli, for example a line in a particular orientation. Many different feature detectors can process the different elements of visual information, such as color, contours, orientation, etc., simultaneously. Simultaneous processing of stimulus elements is called parallel processing. David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel (1979) won a Nobel prize for the discovery that most cells of the visual cortex respond only to particular features, such as the edge of a surface. More complex features trigger other detector cells, which respond only to complex patterns.

Color Vision

The colors of objects you see depend on the wavelengths of light reflected from those objects to your eyes. Light is the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Do you remember ROYGBIV? The letters stand for the colors red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet, which combine to produce white light. The colors vary in wavelength from the longest (red) to the shortest (violet). A wavelength is the distance from the top of one wave to the top of the next wave. The sun and most electric light bulbs essentially give off white light. When light hits an object, different wavelengths of light can be reflected, transmitted, or absorbed. Generally, the more lightwaves your eyes receive (the higher the amplitude of the wave), the brighter an object appears. The wavelengths of light that reach your eye from the object determine the color, or hue, the object appears to be. If an object absorbs all of the wavelengths, then none reach your eyes and the object appears black. If the object reflects all of the wavelengths, then all reach your eyes and the object appears white. If it absorbs some of the wavelengths and reflects others, the color you see results from the color(s) of the waves reflected. For example, a rose appears red when it absorbs orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet wavelengths and reflects the longer red wavelengths to your eyes.

What enables you to perceive color? In the 1800s, Thomas Young and Hermann von Helmholtz accounted for color vision with the trichromatic theory that three different types of photoreceptors are each most sensitive to a different range of wavelengths. People with three different types of cones are called trichromats; with two different types, dichromats; and with only one, monochromats. Cones are maximally sensitive to red, green, or blue. Each color you see results from a specific ratio of activation among the three types of receptors. For example, yellow results from stimulation of red and green cones. People who are color-blind lack a chemical usually produced by one or more types of cones. The most common type of color blindness is red–green color blindness resulting from a defective gene on the X-chromosome, for a green cone chemical, or, less often, for a red cone chemical. Because it is a sex-linked recessive trait, males more frequently have this inability to distinguish colors in the red–orange–green range. Blue–yellow color blindness and total color blindness are rarer. Although trichromatic theory successfully accounts for how you can see any color in the spectrum, it cannot explain how mixing complementary colors produces the sensation of white, or why after staring at a red image, if you look at a white surface, you see green (a negative afterimage). According to Ewald Hering’s opponent-process theory, certain neurons can be either excited or inhibited, depending on the wavelength of light, and complementary wavelengths have opposite effects. For example, the ability to see reds and greens is mediated by red–green opponent cells, which are excited by wavelengths in the red area of the spectrum and inhibited by wavelengths in the green area of the spectrum, or vice versa. The ability to see blues and yellows is similar. Black–white opponent cells determine overall brightness. This explains why mixing complementary colors red and green or blue and yellow produces the perception of white, and the appearance of negative afterimages. Colors in afterimages are the complements of those in the original images. Recent physiological research essentially confirms both the trichromatic and opponent-process theories. Three different types of cones produce different photochemicals, and then cones stimulate ganglion cells in a pattern that translates the trichromatic code into an opponent-process code further processed in the thalamus.

Hearing (Audition)

In the dark, without visual stimuli that capture your attention, you can appreciate your sense of hearing, or audition. Evolutionarily, being able to hear approaching predators or prey in the dark, or behind one’s back, helped increase chances of survival. Hearing is the primary sensory modality for human language. How do you hear? Sound waves result from the mechanical vibration of molecules from a sound source such as your vocal cords or the strings of a musical instrument. The vibrations move in a medium, such as air, outward from the source, first compressing molecules and then letting them move apart. This compression and expansion is called one cycle of a sound wave. The greater the compression, the larger the amplitude or height of the sound wave and the louder the sound. The amplitude is measured in logarithmic units of pressure called decibels (dB). Established by Fechner, every increase of 10 dB corresponds to a 10-fold increase in volume. The absolute threshold for hearing is 0 dB. Normal conversations measure about 60 dB. Differences in the frequency of the cycles, the number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a second (hertz or Hz), determine the highness or lowness of the sound called the pitch. The shorter the wavelength, the higher the frequency and the higher the pitch. The longer the wavelength, the lower the frequency and the lower the pitch. People are sensitive to frequencies between about 20 and 20,000 Hz. You are best able to hear sounds with frequencies within the range that corresponds to the human voice. You can tell the difference between the notes of the same pitch and loudness played on a flute and on a violin because of a difference in the purity of the wave form or mixture of the sound waves, a difference in timbre.

Parts of the Ear

Your ear is well adapted for converting sound waves of vocalizations to the neural impulses you perceive as language (see Figure 8.2 ). Your outer ear consists of the pinna, which is the visible portion of the ear; the auditory canal, which is the opening into the head; and the eardrum or tympanum. Your outer ear channels sound waves to the eardrum that vibrates with the sound waves. This causes the three tiny bones called the ossicles (the hammer, anvil, and stirrup) of your middle ear to vibrate. The vibrating stirrup pushes against the oval window of the cochlea in the inner ear. Inside the cochlea is a basilar membrane with hair cells that are bent by the vibrations and transduce this mechanical energy to the electrochemical energy of neural impulses. Hair cells synapse with auditory neurons whose axons form the auditory nerve. The auditory nerve transmits sound messages through your medulla, pons, and thalamus to the auditory cortex of the temporal lobes. Crossing of most auditory nerve fibers occurs in the medulla and pons so that your auditory cortex receives input from both ears, but contralateral input dominates.

Figure 8.2 The ear.

Locating Sounds

How do you know where a sound is coming from? With ears on both sides of your head, you can locate a sound source. The process by which you determine the location of a sound is called sound localization. If your friend calls to you from your left side, your left ear hears a louder sound than your right ear. Using parallel processing, your brain processes both intensity differences and timing differences to determine where your friend is. The location of a sound source directly in front, behind, above, or below you is harder for you to pinpoint by hearing alone because both of your ears hear the sound simultaneously at the same intensity. You need to move your head to cause a slight offset in the sound message to your brain from each ear.

Determining Pitch

Do you know someone with perfect pitch? Many musicians can hear a melody, then play or sing it. Several theories attempt to explain how you can discriminate small differences in sound frequency or pitch. According to Georg von Békésy’s place theory, the position on the basilar membrane at which waves reach their peak depends on the frequency of a tone. High frequencies produce waves that peak near the close end and are interpreted as high-pitched sound, while low frequency waves travel farther, peaking at the far end, and are interpreted as low-pitched sound. Place theory accounts well for high-pitched sounds. According to frequency theory, the rate of the neural impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, enabling you to sense its pitch. Individual neurons can only fire at a maximum of 1,000 times per second. A volley mechanism in which neural cells can alternate firing can achieve a combined frequency of about 4,000 times per second. The brain can read pitch from the frequency of the neural impulses. Frequency theory together with the volley principle explains well how you hear low-pitched sounds of up to 4,000 Hz, but this theory doesn’t account for high-pitched sounds. It appears that hearing intermediate-range pitches involves some combination of the place and frequency theories.

Hearing Loss

Why do hearing aids help only some deaf people? Conduction deafness and sensorineural or neural deafness have different physiological bases. Conduction deafness is a loss of hearing that results when the eardrum is punctured or any of the ossicles lose their ability to vibrate. People with conduction deafness can hear vibrations when they reach the cochlea by ways other than through the middle ear. A conventional hearing aid may restore hearing by amplifying the vibrations conducted by other facial bones to the cochlea. Nerve (sensorineural) deafness results from damage to the cochlea, hair cells, or auditory neurons. This damage may result from disease, biological changes of aging, or continued exposure to loud noise. For people with deafness caused by hair cell damage, cochlea implants can translate sounds into electrical signals, which are wired into the cochlea’s nerves, conveying some information to the brain about incoming sounds.

Touch (Somatosensation)

Just as hearing is sensitivity to pressure on receptors in the cochlea, touch is sensitivity to pressure on the skin. Psychologists often use somatosensation as a general term for four classes of tactile sensations: touch/pressure, warmth, cold, and pain. Other tactile sensations result from simultaneous stimulation of more than one type of receptor. For example, burning results from stimulation of warmth, cold, and pain receptors. Itching results from repeated gentle stimulation of pain receptors, a tickle results from repeated stimulation of touch receptors, and the sensation of wetness results from simultaneous stimulation of adjacent cold and pressure receptors. Transduction of mechanical energy of pressure/touch and heat energy of warmth and cold occurs at sensory receptors distributed all over the body just below the skin’s surface. Neural fibers generally carry the sensory information to your spinal cord. Information about touch usually travels quickly from your spinal cord to your medulla, where nerves criss-cross, to the thalamus, arriving at the opposite sides of your somatosensory cortex in your parietal lobes. Weber used a two-point discrimination test to determine that regions such as your lips and fingertips have a greater concentration of sensory receptors than your back. The amount of cortex devoted to each area of the body is related to the sensitivity of that area. Touch is necessary for normal development and promotes a sense of well-being.

Pathways for temperature and pain are slower and less defined. You probably have a harder time localizing where you sense warmth and pain on your skin than where you sense touch or pressure. Pain is often associated with secretion of substance P, and relief from pain is often associated with secretion of endorphins. Because the experience of pain is so variable, pain requires both a biological and psychological explanation. Ronald Melzack and Patrick Wall’s gate-control theory attempts to explain the experience of pain. You experience pain only if the pain messages can pass through a gate in the spinal cord on their route to the brain. The gate is opened by small nerve fibers that carry pain signals. Conditions that keep the gate open are anxiety, depression, and focusing on the pain. The gate is closed by neural activity of larger nerve fibers, which conduct most other sensory signals, or by information coming from the brain. Massage, electrical stimulation, acupuncture, ice, and the natural release of endorphins can influence the closing of the gate. The experience of pain alerts you to injury and often prevents further damage.

Body Senses

The body senses of kinesthesis and the vestibular sense provide information about the position of your body parts and your body movements in your environment. Close your eyes and touch your nose with your index finger. Kinesthesis is the system that enables you to sense the position and movement of individual parts of your body. Sensory receptors for kinesthesis are nerve endings in your muscles, tendons, and joints.

Your vestibular sense is your sense of equilibrium or body orientation. Your inner ear has semicircular canals at right angles to each other. Hair-like receptor cells are stimulated by acceleration caused when you turn your head. The vestibular sacs respond to straight-line accelerations with similar receptors. The combined activities of your vestibular sense, kinesthesis, and vision enable you to maintain your balance.

Chemical Senses

Gustation (taste) and olfaction (smell) are called chemical senses because the stimuli are molecules. Your chemical senses are important systems for warning and attraction. You won’t eat rotten eggs or drink sour milk, and you can smell smoke before a sensitive household smoke detector. Evolutionarily, these adaptations increased chances of survival.

Taste receptor cells are most concentrated on your tongue in taste buds embedded in tissue called fungiform papillae, but are also on the roof of your mouth and the opening of your throat. Tasters have an average number of taste buds, nontasters have fewer taste buds, and supertasters have the most. You can taste only molecules that dissolve in your saliva or a liquid you drink. Scientists have identified five types of taste receptors for sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and, most recently, umami or glutamate. Babies show a preference for sweet and salty, both necessary for survival; and disgust for bitter and sour, which are characteristic of poisonous and spoiled substances. Supertasters are more sensitive than others to bitter, spicy foods and alcohol, which they find unpleasant. Each receptor is sensitive to specific chemicals that initiate an action potential. The pathway for taste messages passes to the brainstem, thalamus, and primary gustatory cortex. Receptors for different tastes activate different regions of the primary taste cortex. Our tongues also have receptors for touch, pain, cold, and warmth. The sensory interaction of taste, temperature, texture, and olfaction determine flavor.

Odor molecules reach your moist olfactory epithelium high in your nasal cavity through the nostrils of your nose and the nasal pharynx linking your nose and mouth. Dissolved odor molecules bind to receptor sites of olfactory receptors, triggering an action potential. Research has not uncovered basic odors. Axons of olfactory sensory neurons pass directly into the olfactory bulbs of the brain. Sensory information about smell is transmitted to the hypothalamus and structures in the limbic system associated with memory and emotion as well as the primary cortex for olfaction on the underside of the frontal lobes, but not the thalamus. The primary olfactory cortex is necessary for making fine distinctions among odors and using those distinctions to consciously control behavior.

Perceptual Processes

What you perceive is an active construction of reality. Perception results from the interaction of many neuron systems, each performing a simple task. Natural selection favors a perceptual system that is very efficient at picking up information needed for survival in a three-dimensional world in which there are predators, prey, competitors, and limited resources. According to the nativist direct-perception theory of James Gibson, inborn brain mechanisms enable even babies to create perceptions directly from information supplied by the sense organs. For visual perception, your visual cortex transmits information to association areas of your parietal and temporal lobes that integrate all the pieces of information to make an image you recognize. Your brain looks for constancies and simplicity, making a huge number of perceptual decisions, often without your conscious awareness, in essentially two different ways of processing. The particular stimuli you select to process greatly affect your perceptions.

Attention

Attention is the set of processes by which you choose from among the various stimuli bombarding your senses at any instant, allowing some to be further processed by your senses and brain. You focus your awareness on only a limited aspect of all you are capable of experiencing, which is selective attention. You are often blind to stimuli you do not focus on, which can lead to accidents. In data-driven bottom-up processing, your sensory receptors detect external stimulation and send these raw data to the brain for analysis. Hubel and Wiesel’s feature-detector theory assumes that you construct perceptions of stimuli from activity in neurons of the brain that are sensitive to specific features of those stimuli, such as lines, angles, even a letter or face. In his constructionist theory, Hermann von Helmholtz maintained that we learn through experience to convert sensations into accurate perceptions. Anne Treisman’s feature-integration theory proposes that detection of individual features of stimuli and integration into a whole occur sequentially in two different stages. First, detection of features involves bottom-up parallel processing; and second, integration of features involves less automatic, partially top-down serial processing. Concept-driven top-down processing takes what you already know about particular stimulation, what you remember about the context in which it usually appears, and how you label and classify it, to give meaning to your perceptions. Your expectations, previous experiences, interests, and biases give rise to different perceptions. Where you perceive a conflict among senses, vision usually dominates, which is called visual capture. That accounts for why you think the voice is coming from a ventriloquist’s wooden pal when the puppet’s mouth moves.

Gestalt Organizing Principles of Form Perception

Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka, and Wolfgang Kohler studied how the mind organizes sensations into perceptions of meaningful patterns or forms, called a gestalt in German. These Gestalt psychologists concluded that in perception, the whole is different from, and can be greater than, the sum of its parts. Unlike structuralists of the early 1900s, they thought that forms are perceived not as combinations of features, but as wholes.

This is exemplified by the phi phenomenon, which is the illusion of movement created by presenting visual stimuli in rapid succession. Videos consist of slightly different frames projected rapidly one after another, giving the illusion of movement. Gestaltists also noted that we see objects as distinct from their surroundings. The figure is the dominant object, and the ground is the natural and formless setting for the figure. This is called the figure–ground relationship. Gestaltists claimed that the nervous system is innately predisposed to respond to patterns of stimuli according to rules or principles. Their most general principle was the law of Pragnanz, or good form, which claimed that we tend to organize patterns in the simplest way possible. Other principles of organization include proximity, closure, similarity, and continuity or continuation. Consider the following: DEMON DAY BREAK FAST. Looking at the groups of letters, you probably read the four words demon , day , break , and fast , rather than Monday , daybreak , or breakfast . Proximity, the nearness of objects to each other, is an organizing principle. We perceive objects that are close together as parts of the same pattern. Do you know someone who writes letters without quite closing the letter “o” or crossing the “t”? You probably still know what the letter is. The principle of closure states that we tend to fill in gaps in patterns. The closure principle is not limited to vision. For example, if someone started singing, “Happy Birthday to …,” you might finish it in your mind. The principle of similarity states that like stimuli tend to be perceived as parts of the same pattern. The principle of continuity or continuation states that we tend to group stimuli into forms that follow continuous lines or patterns.

Optical or visual illusions are discrepancies between the appearance of a visual stimulus and its physical reality. Visual illusions, such as reversible figures, illustrate the mind’s tendency to separate figure and ground in the absence of sufficient cues for deciding which is which. Illusory contours illustrate the tendency of the perceptual system to fill in missing elements to perceive whole patterns.

Depth Perception

Survival in a three-dimensional world requires adaptations for determining the distances of objects around you. Depth perception is the ability to judge the distance of objects. You interpret visual cues that tell you how near or far away objects are. Cues are either monocular or binocular. Monocular cues are clues about distance based on the image of one eye, whereas binocular cues are clues about distance requiring two eyes.

Binocular cues include retinal disparity and convergence. Your principal binocular cue is retinal disparity, which is the slightly different view the two eyes have of the same object because the eyes are a few centimeters apart. You can experience retinal disparity by extending your arm directly in front of you with your thumb up. Close one eye while looking at your thumb with the other. Then close the open eye and open the closed eye. Your thumb appears to move with respect to the background. If you follow the same procedure with your thumb closer, you’ll notice that your thumb appears to move more. The degree of retinal disparity decreases with distance. With both eyes open, your brain fuses the two images, resulting in perception of depth. Convergence is the inward turning of your eyes that occurs when you look at an object that is close to you; the closer an object, the more convergence. You can experience convergence by looking at the tip of your nose with both eyes. Convergence is a less important distance cue than retinal disparity and cannot be used for objects beyond about 8 meters (about 25 feet).

Monocular cues include motion parallax, accommodation, interposition or overlap, relative size, relative clarity, texture gradient, relative height or elevation, linear perspective, and relative brightness. Motion parallax and accommodation require active use of your eye in viewing, whereas the other monocular cues are pictorial depth cues that can be given in a flat picture. Motion parallax involves images of objects at different distances moving across the retina at different rates. Closer objects appear to move more than distant objects when you move your head. When riding in a moving vehicle, you see very close objects move rapidly in the opposite direction; more distant objects move more slowly past you; extremely far away objects, such as the moon, seem to move with you. Accommodation of the lens increases as an object gets closer.

Look outside your window to notice all of the pictorial cues:

• Interposition or overlap can be seen when a closer object cuts off the view of part or all of a more distant one.

• Relative size of familiar objects provides a cue to their distance when the closer of two same-size objects casts a larger image on your retina than the farther one.

• Relative clarity can be seen when closer objects appear sharper than more distant, hazy objects.

• Texture gradient provides a cue to distance when closer objects have a coarser, more distinct texture than far away objects that appear more densely packed or smooth.

• Relative height or elevation can be seen when the objects closest to the horizon appear to be the farthest from you. The lowest objects in our field of vision generally seem the closest.

• Linear perspective provides a cue to distance when parallel lines, such as edges of sidewalks, seem to converge in the distance.

• Relative brightness can be seen when the closer of two identical objects reflects more light to your eyes.

• Optical illusions, such as the Müller-Lyer illusion and the Ponzo illusion, in which two identical horizontal bars seems to differ in length, may occur because distance cues lead one line to be judged as farther away than the other. Similarly, the moon illusion may occur because the moon, when near the horizon, is judged to be farther away than when it is high in the sky, although in both positions it casts the same image on the retina.

At the San Francisco Exploratorium website, you can see examples of visual illusions and link to other great sites. Go to http://www.exploratorium.org .

Perceptual Constancy

As a car approaches, you know that it’s not growing in size, even though the image it casts on your retina gets larger, because you impose stability on the constantly changing sensations you experience. This phenomenon is called perceptual constancy. Three perceptual constancies are size constancy, by which an object appears to stay the same size despite changes in the size of the image it casts on the retina as it moves farther away or closer; shape constancy, by which an object appears to maintain its normal shape regardless of the angle from which it is viewed; and brightness constancy, by which an object maintains a particular level of brightness regardless of the amount of light reflected from it. The real shape, orientation, size, brightness, and color are perceived as remaining relatively constant even when there are significant variations in the image it projects. This enables you to identify objects no matter what your viewing angle is, how far away you are, or how dim the lights are.

Perceptual Adaptation and Perceptual Set

Have you ever looked through a periscope or displacement goggles and tried to reach for an object only to find it wasn’t where you thought it was? If you repeated your actions, after a short period of time you were probably able to reach the item easily. You adapted to the changed visual input. Newly sighted people who had been blind from birth are immediately able to distinguish colors and to separate figure from ground, but only gradually become able to visually recognize shapes. Visual perception can also be influenced by cultural factors, assumptions, and beliefs. To make use of the cue of relative size, you need to be familiar with the object and have been exposed to viewing objects in the distance.

Culture and Experience

Your perceptual set or mental predisposition can influence what you perceive when you look at ambiguous stimuli. Your perceptual set is determined by the schemas you form as a result of your experiences. Schemas are concepts or frameworks that organize and interpret information. This can account for people’s interpretations of unidentified flying objects (UFOs), the Loch Ness monster, or seeing a cloud of dust in a movie.

Extrasensory Perception

Parapsychologists study evidence of psychological phenomena that are currently inexplicable by science. They try to answer the question “Is there perception without sensation?” ESP (extrasensory perception) is the controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input. Parapsychology, the study of paranormal events, investigates claims of ESP, including

• telepathy: mind-to-mind communication

• clairvoyance: perception of remote events

• precognition: perception of future events

• telekinesis or psychokinesis: moving remote objects through mental processes

In 1998, a National Research Council investigation on ESP concluded that the best available evidence at that time did not support the contention that these phenomena exist.

Review Questions

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1 . Mechanical energy of vibrations is transduced to the electrochemical energy of neural impulses at the

(A) retina

(B) lens

(C) cochlea

(D) olfactory mucosa

(E) taste buds

2 . Of the following, which bend incoming light rays to focus an image on the retina?

I. cornea

II. iris

III. lens

(A) I only

(B) II only

(C) III only

(D) I and III only

(E) I, II, III

3 . When food supplies may be unsafe, which of the following would have an adaptive advantage over most other people?

I. Supertasters

II. Average Tasters

III. Nontasters

(A) I only

(B) II only

(C) III only

(D) I and III only

(E) I, II, III

4 . On its way to the cones and rods of the eye, (in order) light passes through the

(A) cornea, vitreous humor, lens, iris, aqueous humor

(B) sclera, lens, pupil, iris, vitreous humor

(C) cornea, aqueous humor, pupil, lens, vitreous humor

(D) sclera, aqueous humor, lens, pupil, vitreous humor

(E) retina, vitreous humor, lens, iris, aqueous humor, fovea

5 . Neural impulses go directly to the cortex without passing through the thalamus from receptors in the

(A) retina

(B) joints

(C) cochlea

(D) olfactory epithelium

(E) taste buds

6 . Of the following, which is NOT a basic taste?

(A) sweet

(B) salty

(C) peppery

(D) bitter

(E) sour

7 . Receptors for kinesthesis are located in the

(A) retina

(B) joints

(C) semicircular canals

(D) olfactory epithelium

(E) taste buds

8 . Carlos was just able to perceive a difference in weight when Maria removed two of the 50 jelly beans from his plastic bag. It is most likely that if Carlos had the jumbo bag of 100 jelly beans, the smallest number of jelly beans he could notice removed would be

(A) 2

(B) 4

(C) 8

(D) 16

(E) 20

9 . Conventional hearing aids may restore hearing by

(A) restoring functionality to a badly punctured eardrum

(B) amplifying vibrations conducted by facial bones to the cochlea

(C) translating sounds into electrical signals wired into the cochlea’s nerves

(D) stimulating the semicircular canals to transduce sound waves

(E) converting sound waves to radio waves

10 . The theory that best accounts for the experience of pain is

(A) the opponent-process theory

(B) Weber’s law

(C) the trichromatic theory

(D) the direct perception theory

(E) the gate-control theory

11 . Which sense is least involved in enabling you to maintain your balance when you stand on one foot?

(A) kinesthesis

(B) olfaction

(C) vision

(D) vestibular sense

(E) somatosensation

12 . Although sound comes from speakers on the sides of the room, viewers watching a movie perceive the sound to be coming from the screen. This phenomenon is best accounted for by

(A) visual capture

(B) proximity

(C) closure

(D) opponent-processes

(E) feature-detection

13 . Your tendency to see the words “went” and “ties,” rather than the word “twenties” when you look at T WENT TIES is best explained by the organizing principle of

(A) bottom-up processing

(B) closure

(C) continuity

(D) figure–ground

(E) proximity

14 . A landscape painting shows boats on a lake in the foreground and mountains farther away. Of the following, which cue would not contribute to your perception that the mountains are farther away than the boats in the picture?

(A) texture gradient

(B) linear perspective

(C) relative height

(D) retinal disparity

(E) interposition

15 . When a fortune teller claims to have the ability to see what the person you will meet and marry 10 years from now will look like, the person is professing to possess the ability of

(A) telepathy

(B) clairvoyance

(C) precognition

(D) telekinesis

(E) top-down processing

Answers and Explanations

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1 . C— Hair cells of the cochlea transduce the mechanical energy of sound waves to the electrochemical energy of neural impulses. Rods and cones of the retina transduce light energy; cells of the olfactory epithelium and taste buds transduce chemical energy.

2 . D— The curved transparent cornea and curved lens both bend light rays focusing an image on the retina.

3 . A— Supertasters are especially sensitive to the sensation of bitterness that they dislike intensely and that is characteristic of many poisons. Tasters and nontasters are less sensitive to bitter substances and could die from eating them.

4 . C— Light passes through mainly transparent structures. The iris and sclera are not transparent.

5 . D— Smell is our most direct sense. Neurons from the olfactory mucosa synapse with neurons in the olfactory bulbs of the brain.

6 . C— Peppery is sensed by pain and temperature receptors and is not a basic taste. Sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and umami are considered basic tastes by psychologists.

7 . B— Receptors for your sense of body position are located primarily in your joints and tendons. Receptors for your vestibular sense or sense of balance are located in the semicircular canals of your inner ears.

8 . B— According to Weber’s Law, the jnd is proportional to the intensity of the stimulus. So if the strength of the stimulus is doubled, the strength of the change in the stimulus that is just noticed must be doubled also.

9 . B— Conventional hearing aids are primarily amplifiers. Facial bones other than the ossicles can transmit vibrations to the cochlea when vibrations are intense. Choice C describes cochlear implants.

10 . E— According to gate-control theory you experience pain when pain messages can pass through the spinal cord via small nerve fibers (open gate) that carry pain signals.

11 . B— Your sense of smell or olfaction is not important for helping you to maintain your balance. To experience that vision is important, stand on one foot with your eyes closed.

12 . A— In this case there is a conflict between audition signals and visual signals. When you perceive a conflict between senses, you tend to perceive what your vision tells you—visual capture.

13 . E— The Gestalt organizing principle of proximity explains that you perceive objects that are close together as parts of the same group.

14 . D— Retinal disparity is a binocular cue to depth. Since the picture is two dimensional, the mountains aren’t actually any farther away from your eyes than the boats, so retinal disparity will not provide information that the mountains are farther away than monocular cues will offer.

15 . C— Precognition is the extrasensory perception of future events, which has not been scientifically substantiated.

Rapid Review

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Sensation —the process by which you detect physical energy from your environment and encode it as neural signals.

Psychophysics —the study of the relationship between physical energy and psychological experiences.

Stimulus —a change in the environment that can be detected by sensory receptors.

Absolute threshold —the weakest level of a stimulus that can be correctly detected at least half the time.

Signal detection theory —maintains that minimum threshold varies with fatigue, attention, expectations, motivation, emotional distress, and from one person to another.

Difference threshold —minimum difference between any two stimuli that a person can detect 50% of the time.

Just noticeable difference (jnd )—experience of the difference threshold.

Weber’s law —difference thresholds increase in proportion to the size of the stimulus.

Subliminal stimulation —receiving messages below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness.

Transduction— transformation of stimulus energy to the electrochemical energy of neural impulses.

Perception —the process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting sensations, enabling you to recognize meaningful objects and events.

Vision and the Human Eye

Rays of light from an object pass from the object through your cornea, aqueous humor, pupil, lens, and vitreous humor before forming an image on your retina.

Cornea —transparent, curved layer in the front of the eye that bends incoming light rays.

Iris —colored muscle surrounding the pupil that regulates the size of the pupil opening.

Pupil —small adjustable opening in the iris that is smaller in bright light and larger in darkness.

Lens —structure behind the pupil that changes shape, becoming more spherical or flatter to focus incoming rays into an image on the light-sensitive retina.

Accommodation —process of changing the curvature of the lens to focus light rays on the retina.

Retina —light-sensitive surface in the back of the eye containing rods and cones that transduce light energy. Also has layers of bipolar cells and ganglion cells that transmit visual information to the brain.

Fovea —small area of the retina in the most direct line of sight where cones are most concentrated for highest visual acuity in bright light.

Photoreceptors —modified neurons that convert light energy to electrochemical neural impulses. They include rods and cones:

• Rods —photoreceptors that detect black, white, and gray and that detect movement. Rods are necessary for peripheral and dim-light vision when cones do not respond. Distributed throughout the retina, except none are in the fovea.

• Cones —photoreceptors that detect color and fine detail in daylight or in bright-light conditions. Most concentrated at the fovea of the retina; none are in the periphery.

Bipolar cells —second layer of neurons in the retina that transmit impulses from rods and cones to ganglion cells.

Ganglion cells —third layer of neurons in the retina, whose axons converge to form the optic nerve.

Blind spot —region of the retina where the optic nerve leaves the eye so there are no receptor cells; creates an area with no vision.

Optic nerve —nerve formed by ganglion cell axons; carries the neural impulses from the eye to the thalamus of the brain.

Acuity —ability to detect fine details; sharpness of vision. Can be affected by small distortions in the shape of the eye.

Dark adaptation —increased visual sensitivity that gradually develops when it gets dark.

Feature detectors —individual neurons in the primary visual cortex/occipital lobes that respond to specific features of a visual stimulus.

Parallel processing —simultaneously analyzing different elements of sensory information, such as color, brightness, shape, etc.

Trichromatic theory —proposed mechanism for color vision with cones that are differentially sensitive to different wavelengths of light; each color you see results from a specific ratio of activation among the three types of receptors.

Opponent-process theory —proposed mechanism for color vision with opposing retinal processes for red–green, yellow–blue, white–black. Some retinal cells are stimulated by one of a pair and inhibited by the other.

Sensory adaptation —temporary decrease in sensitivity to a stimulus that occurs when stimulation is unchanging.

Attention —the set of processes from which you choose among the various stimuli bombarding your senses at any instant, allowing some to be further processed by your senses and brain.

Hearing and the Human Ear

Audition —the sense of hearing. The loudness of a sound is determined by the amplitude or height of the sound wave.

Frequency —the number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given amount of time. The wavelength is inversely proportional to the frequency. Frequency or wavelength determines the hue of a light wave and the pitch of a sound.

Pitch —the highness or lowness of a sound. The shorter the wavelength, the higher the frequency, the higher the pitch. The longer the wavelength, the lower the frequency, the lower the pitch.

Timbre —the quality of a sound determined by the purity of a waveform. What makes a note of the same pitch and loudness sound different on different musical instruments.

Sound localization —the process by which you determine the location of a sound.

Parts of the ear

• The outer ear includes the pinna, the auditory canal, and the eardrum.

• The middle ear includes three tiny bones: the hammer, anvil, and stirrup.

• The inner ear includes the cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs.

Cochlea —snail-shaped fluid-filled tube in the inner ear with hair cells on the basilar membrane that transduce mechanical energy of vibrating molecules to the electrochemical energy of neural impulses. Hair cell movement triggers impulses in adjacent nerve fibers.

Auditory nerve —axons of neurons in the cochlea converge transmitting sound messages through the medulla, pons, and thalamus to the auditory cortex of the temporal lobes.

Conduction deafness —loss of hearing that results when the eardrum is punctured or any of the ossicles lose their ability to vibrate. A hearing aid may restore hearing.

Nerve (sensorineural) deafness —loss of hearing that results from damage to the cochlea, hair cells, or auditory neurons. Cochlear implants may restore some hearing.

Place theory —the position on the basilar membrane at which waves reach their peak depends on the frequency of a tone. Accounts well for high-pitched sounds.

Frequency theory —the rate of the neural impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, enabling you to sense its pitch. Frequency theory explains well how you hear low-pitched sounds.

Other Senses

Somatosensation —the skin sensations: touch/pressure, warmth, cold, and pain.

Gate-control theory —pain is experienced only if the pain messages can pass through a gate in the spinal cord on their route to the brain. The gate is opened by small nerve fibers that carry pain signals and closed by neural activity of larger nerve fibers, which conduct most other sensory signals, or by information coming from the brain.

Kinesthesis —body sense that provides information about the position and movement of individual parts of your body with receptors in muscles, tendons, and joints.

Vestibular sense —body sense of equilibrium with hairlike receptors in semicircular canals and vestibular sac in the inner ear.

Gustation —the chemical sense of taste with receptor cells in taste buds in fungiform papillae on the tongue, on the roof of the mouth, and in the throat. Molecules must dissolve to be sensed. The five basic taste sensations are sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and, newly added to the list, umami or glutamate. Flavor is the interaction of sensations of taste and odor with contributions by temperature, etc.

Olfaction —the chemical sense of smell with receptors in a mucous membrane (olfactory epithelium) on the roof of the nasal cavity. Molecules must reach the membrane and dissolve to be sensed. Olfactory receptors synapse immediately with neurons of the olfactory bulbs in the brain with no pathways to the thalamus.

Perceptual Processes

Attention —the set of processes by which you choose from among the various stimuli bombarding your senses at any instant, allowing some to be further processed by your senses and brain.

Selective attention —focused awareness of only a limited aspect of all you are capable of experiencing.

Bottom-up processing —information processing that begins with sensory receptors and works up to the brain’s integration of sensory information to construct perceptions; is data-driven.

Top-down processing —information processing guided by your preexisting knowledge or expectations to construct perceptions; is concept-driven.

Perceptual constancy —perceiving an object as unchanging even when the immediate sensation of the object changes.

Visual capture —vision usually dominates when there is a conflict among senses.
Gestalt psychologists recognized the importance of figure-ground in perception. They proposed organizing principles by which we perceive wholes rather than combinations of features including figure-ground, proximity, similarity, and continuity.

Depth perception —the ability to judge the distance of objects.

Monocular cues —clues about distance based on the image of one eye.
Monocular cues include interposition or overlap, relative size, aerial perspective or relative clarity, texture gradient, relative height or elevation, linear perspective, relative brightness, motion parallax, and accommodation.

Binocular cues —clues about distance requiring two eyes.
Binocular cues include the more important retinal disparity and less important convergence.

Optical or visual illusions —discrepancies between the appearance of a visual stimulus and its physical reality. Common examples of visual illusions include reversible figures, illusory contours, the Müller-Lyer illusion, Ponzo illusion, and moon illusion.

Schemas —concepts or frameworks that organize and interpret information.

ESP (extrasensory perception) —the controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input.

Parapsychology —the study of paranormal events that investigates claims of ESP, including telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, and telekinesis or psychokinesis.

1. Light energy is transduced to the electrochemical energy of neural impulses at the

(A) retina.

(B) lens.

(C) cochlea.

(D) olfactory mucosa.

(E) taste buds.

2. The same note played on different musical instruments sounds different because of the

(A) pitch.

(B) frequency.

(C) volume.

(D) length of wave.

(E) timbre.

3. Tanisha finds that drinking water during a meal makes the food taste better. Of the following, the best explanation for this is that the water

(A) slows down digestion.

(B) is a solvent for food.

(C) makes taste buds pop up on her tongue.

(D) clears her nasal passages.

(E) inhibits salivation.

4. As a result of disease, Ellen lost vision in one of her eyes. Her ability to judge the distance of objects is diminished because she has lost the ability to perceive

(A) convergence.

(B) interposition.

(C) texture gradient.

(D) elevation.

(E) linear perspective.

Answers

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1. A— Light sensitive rods and cones in the retina of the eye begin transmission of neural messages to the occipital lobes of the brain.

2. E— The purity of the wave form or mixture of sound waves (timbre) is different for different musical instruments.

3. B— Food molecules must be dissolved to initiate neural impulses in your taste buds.

4. A— Without sight in both eyes, she cannot perceive binocular cues of convergence or retinal disparity to judge distance.

States of Consciousness

IN THIS CHAPTER

Summary: While you are reading this book you may find yourself daydreaming as irrelevant thoughts surface, images of other situations come into view, and you create inner, private realities unconnected to this topic. Daydreams provide stimulation when your interest is flagging and let you experience positive emotions. Although we hope not, you may even doze off. If so, you are experiencing different states of consciousness. In the late 1800s, early structuralists like Wilhelm Wundt, followed by Edward Titchener, examined consciousness in order to learn about the structure of the mind, and functionalists like William James considered consciousness as essential for adapting to the environment. During the first half of the 1900s, behaviorists discounted and ignored consciousness. By the 1950s, cognitive psychologists returned to the examination of consciousness, especially the phenomenon of attention. Attention is a state of focused awareness. What you pay attention to is what you process into perceptions, thoughts, and experiences.

Consciousness is your awareness of the outside world and yourself, including your own mental processes, thoughts, feelings, and perceptions. Your consciousness is selective, subjective and unique to you, always changing, and central to your sense of self.

This chapter examines variations in consciousness, some which you commonly experience and others which you don’t.

Key Ideas

Levels of consciousness

Sleep and dreams

Sleep disorders

Hypnosis

Meditation

Psychoactive drugs—depressants, narcotics, stimulants, hallucinogens

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Levels of Consciousness

Although your current level of consciousness is basically limited to what is relevant to you and what you notice, other events can either become conscious or influence your conscious experience. Your preconscious is the level of consciousness that is outside of awareness but contains feelings and memories that you can easily bring into conscious awareness. For example, if asked what you ate for dinner last night, you could easily remember and tell. Your nonconscious is the level of consciousness devoted to processes completely inaccessible to conscious awareness, such as blood flow, filtering of blood by kidneys, secretion of hormones, and lower level processing of sensations, such as detecting edges, estimating size and distance of objects, recognizing patterns, etc. For psychoanalysts, also known as psychodynamic psychologists, the unconscious, sometimes called the subconscious, is the level of consciousness that includes often unacceptable feelings, wishes, and thoughts not directly available to conscious awareness. According to cognitive psychologists, the unconscious is the level of consciousness that processes information of which you are unaware. The unconscious operates whenever you feel or act without being aware of what’s influencing you, whether it’s a stimulus from the current situation or from your past. Dual processing refers to processing information on conscious and unconscious levels at the same time. Don’t confuse the unconscious and unconsciousness. Unconsciousness is characterized by loss of responsiveness to the environment resulting from disease, trauma, or anesthesia. Consciousness enables you to analyze, compare, and interpret experiences, and allows you to integrate what you already know, what you perceive in the present, and what you anticipate. Consciousness can be altered by sleep, hypnosis, meditation, and drugs.

Sleep and Dreams

Your finely tuned “biological clock,” controlled by the hypothalamus, systematically regulates changes in your body temperature, blood pressure, pulse, blood sugar levels, hormonal levels, and activity levels over the course of about a day. In an environment devoid of environmental cues to the length of a day, your free-running biological clock cycles approximately every 25 hours, but in a typical environment with light during the day and dark at night, cycles of changes, circadian rhythms, recur approximately every 24 hours. The forebrain, reticular formation, and thalamus are involved in the changes in wakefulness, arousal, and attention. Your physiological fluctuations are reflected in changes in your energy level, mood, performance, wakefulness, and sleep. Jet lag and night-shift work involve disruptions of circadian rhythms.

Why do you sleep? Evolutionary psychologists say that humans evolved a unique waking–sleeping cycle as a result of natural selection that maximized our chances of survival. Sleep serves at least two restorative functions—one involved in protein synthesis throughout the body, the other involved in maintaining plasticity of neural connections essential for storing and retrieving memories, which enables you to put together new material from the day before with old material. This is sometimes called consolidation. Sleep deprivation makes you drowsy, unable to concentrate, and impairs your memory and immune system. Sleep time seems to decrease from about 16 to 18 hours for a newborn, to about 7 to 8 hours for an adult.

Sleep is a complex combination of states of consciousness, each with its own level of consciousness, awareness, responsiveness, and physiological arousal. The amount we sleep changes as we age. Electroencephalograms (EEGs) can be recorded with electrodes on the surface of the skull. EEGs have revealed that brain waves change in form systematically throughout the sleep cycle (see Figure 9.1 ). When you are awake, your EEG shows beta waves when you are alert and alpha waves when you are relaxed. As you fall asleep, you pass into a semiwakeful state of dreamlike awareness, known as the hypnagogic state; you feel relaxed, fail to respond to outside stimuli, and begin stage 1 sleep. EEGs of stage 1 sleep show theta waves, which are higher in amplitude and lower in frequency than alpha waves. As you pass into stage 2, your EEG shows high-frequency bursts of brain activity (called sleep spindles) and K complexes. As you fall more deeply asleep, your stage 3 sleep EEG shows some very high amplitude and very low-frequency delta waves. In stage 4, your deepest sleep stage, EEGs show mostly delta waves. During stage 4, your heart rate, respiration, temperature, and blood flow to your brain are reduced. You secrete growth hormone involved in maintaining your physiological functions. Stages 1 through 4, during which rapid eye movements do not occur, are called NREM or Non-REM sleep. After passing through stages 1 through 4, you pass back through stages 3, 2, and 1; then, rather than awaking, you begin REM sleep (Rapid Eye Movement sleep) about 90 minutes after falling asleep. Your eyes jerk rapidly in various directions; your breathing becomes more rapid, irregular, and shallow; your heart rate increases; your blood pressure rises; and your limb muscles become temporarily paralyzed. Because your EEG shows beta activity typical of wakefulness and theta activity typical of stage 1 sleep, but you are truly asleep, REM sleep is often also called paradoxical sleep. Throughout the night, you cycle through the sleep stages with REM sleep periods increasing in length and deep sleep decreasing. About 50% of our sleep is in stage 2. More of a newborn’s sleep is spent in REM sleep than an adult’s. Nightmares are frightening dreams that occur during REM sleep. Most of your dreaming takes place during REM sleep. Dreams remembered from other stages are less elaborate and emotional. Training in lucid dreaming, the ability to be aware of and direct one’s dreams, has been used to help people make recurrent nightmares less frightening.

Figure 9.1 (a) Electroencephalograms of human sleep stages. (b) Sleep stages during a typical night.

Interpretation of Dreams

But what do dreams mean? Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud thought dreams were “the royal road to the unconscious,” a safety valve for unconscious desires, that reveal secrets of the unconscious part of the mind unknown to the conscious mind. Freud tried to analyze dreams to uncover the unconscious desires (many of them sexual) and fears disguised in dreams. He considered the remembered story line of a dream its manifest content, and the underlying meaning its latent content. Psychiatrists Robert McCarley and J. Alan Hobson proposed another theory of dreams called the activation-synthesis theory. During a dream, the pons generates bursts of action potentials to the forebrain, which is activation. The dreamer then tries to make sense of the stimulation by creating a story line, which is synthesis. The origin of dreams is psychological according to psychoanalysts, and physiological according to McCarley and Hobson. A cognitive view holds that when we sleep, information from the external world is largely cut off. So the only world our constantly active brain can model is the one already inside it from stored memories, recent concerns, current emotions, and expectations, which can be activated by electrical impulses discharged from within the brain. In other words, dreams are the interplay of the physiological triggering of brain waves and the psychological functioning of the imaginative, interpretive parts of the mind. Recent studies indicate correspondences between what you do in the dream state and what happens to your physical body and brain. Thus if you dream you’re doing something, to your brain, it’s as if you’re actually doing it.

Sleep Disorders

Chances are you’ve been sleep deprived at one time or another. When you get little or no sleep one night, you spend more of your sleep time the next night in REM sleep (called REM rebound), with few consequences. But millions of people suffer from chronic, long-term sleep disorders. The most common adult sleep disorders include insomnia, sleep apnea, and narcolepsy, while children are more likely to experience night terrors and sleepwalking. Insomnia is the inability to fall asleep and/or stay asleep. Insomnia complainers typically overestimate how long it takes them to fall asleep and underestimate how long they stay asleep. Sleep researchers recommend that you go to bed at a set time each night and get up at the same time each morning; exercise for about a half hour daily 5 or 6 hours before going to bed; avoid alcohol, sleeping pills, and stimulants; avoid stress; and relax before bed to avoid insomnia. Narcolepsy is a condition in which an awake person suddenly and uncontrollably falls asleep, often directly into REM sleep. Victims often benefit from naps or drug therapy with stimulants or antidepressants. Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder characterized by temporary cessations of breathing that awaken the sufferer repeatedly during the night. Sleep apnea most often results from obstruction or collapse of air passages, which occurs more frequently in obese people. Weight loss and sleeping on the side can help alleviate the problem. An effective treatment is a positive pressure pump that provides a steady flow of air through a face mask worn by the sufferer. Night terrors are most frequently childhood sleep disruptions from stage 4 sleep characterized by a bloodcurdling scream and intense fear. Sleepwalking, also called somnambulism, is also most frequently a childhood sleep disruption that occurs during stage 4 sleep characterized by trips out of bed or carrying on of complex activities. Typically, sufferers do not recall anything in the morning.

Hypnosis

Hypnosis is an altered state of consciousness characterized by deep relaxation and heightened suggestibility. Under hypnosis, subjects can change aspects of reality and let those changes influence their behavior. Hypnotized individuals may feel as if their bodies are floating or sinking; see, feel, hear, smell, or taste things that are not there; lose sense of touch or pain; be made to feel like they are passing back in time; act as if they are out of their own control; and respond to suggestions by others. For some people, this make-believe may be so vivid and intense that they have trouble differentiating it from reality. Subjects can actually think immersing a hand in ice water is comfortable! Many psychologists think hypnosis involves highly focused awareness and intensified imagination. Other psychologists propose social cognitive theories that hypnosis is a social phenomenon in which highly motivated subjects enter a hypnotized “role.” Still others believe that hypnosis involves a division or dissociation of consciousness. According to the dissociation theory, hypnotized individuals experience two or more streams of consciousness cut off from each other. According to Ernest Hilgard, part of the consciousness responds to suggestions, while the other, the “hidden observer,” remains in the background monitoring behavior. Evidence for this dissociation of consciousness is provided by hypnotized subjects who indicate, for example, that a part of them is experiencing more pain with hands submerged in ice water than the hypnotized subjects acknowledge. After hypnosis, the individual may follow a posthypnotic suggestion and may have a thought or feeling without conscious knowledge of its hypnotically suggested source, or may experience posthypnotic amnesia, forgetting selected events by suggestion. One of the most important practical applications of hypnosis is in analgesia (pain control), which is used in surgery, childbirth, and dentistry.

Meditation

Do you know someone who practices yoga or meditates? Meditation is a set of techniques used to focus concentration away from thoughts and feelings in order to create calmness, tranquility, and inner peace. Meditation is popular in Asia, where Zen Buddhists meditate. EEGs of meditators show alpha waves characteristic of relaxed wakefulness. Physiological changes, such as lowered blood pressure, slowed heart rate and breathing rate, and warming of hands, common during meditation, indicate activation of the parasympathetic nervous system, which is normally not under conscious control. Meditators often report an increased feeling of well being. Psychologists disagree as to whether or not meditation is an altered state of consciousness.

Drugs

Do you drink coffee, tea, cocoa, or cola in the morning to get you going? Lots of people do. These beverages contain a psychoactive drug called caffeine. Psychoactive drugs are chemicals that can pass through the blood-brain barrier into the brain to alter perception, thinking, behavior, and mood, producing a wide range of effects from mild relaxation or increased alertness to vivid hallucinations. The effect a person expects from a drug partly determines the effect of the drug on that person. That person may experience different effects, depending on his/her mood and social situation. Psychoactive drugs stimulate or inhibit different regions of the brain by interacting with neurotransmitter systems. Psychological dependence develops when the person has an intense desire to achieve the drugged state in spite of adverse effects. If a person uses a drug repeatedly, the intensity of effects produced by the same dose may decrease, causing the person to take larger doses. This decreasing responsivity to a drug is called tolerance. Tolerance for drugs partly depends on environmental stimuli associated with taking of the drug. Physiological dependence or addiction develops when changes in brain chemistry from taking the drug necessitate taking the drug again to prevent withdrawal symptoms. Typically, withdrawal symptoms include intense craving for the drug and effects opposite to those the drug usually induces. Although hundreds of psychoactive drugs differ in their chemical composition, drugs can be classified into broad categories. One classification system categorizes drugs by their main effects: depressants, narcotics, stimulants, and hallucinogens.

• Depressants are psychoactive drugs that reduce the activity of the central nervous system and induce relaxation. Depressants include sedatives, such as barbiturates, tranquilizers, and alcohol. Among the barbiturates are secobarbital (Seconal) and phenobarbital (Luminal). Sedatives are taken to induce sleep and prevent seizures. Tranquilizers include the benzodiazepines Valium, Xanax, and Rohypnol (“roofies”), as well as quaaludes. Rohypnol has been dubbed “The date rape drug.” Tranquilizers relieve anxiety, induce sleep, and prevent seizures. Because more people use alcohol than any other depressant, alcohol has been the most studied psychoactive chemical. It acts at many sites, including the reticular formation, spinal cord, cerebellum, and cerebral cortex, and on many neurotransmitter systems. Alcohol increases transmission of the neuroinhibitor GABA, decreases transmission of the excitatory neurotransmitter acetylcholine, and increases production of beta-endorphins. In low doses, alcohol produces a relaxing effect, reduces tension, lowers inhibitions, impairs concentration, slows reflexes, impairs reaction time, and reduces coordination. It lowers inhibitions by depressing activity in the frontal lobes, which usually control expression of emotions. In medium doses, alcohol produces slurred speech, drowsiness, and altered emotions. In high doses, alcohol produces vomiting, depressed breathing, unconsciousness, coma, and even death. Chronic drinking can lead to addiction. Withdrawal symptoms include shaking (tremors), sleep problems, nausea, hallucinations, and even seizures.

• Narcotics are analgesics (pain reducers) which work by depressing the central nervous system. They can also depress the respiratory system. Narcotics include the opiates and synthetic opiates: codeine, heroin, morphine, opium, Percodan, Darvon, Talwin, Dilaudid, methadone, and Demerol. People take narcotics to induce feelings of euphoria, relieve pain, and induce sleep. Their chemical properties are very similar to the endorphins that our brains produce. Opiates are very physically and psychologically addictive.

• Stimulants are psychoactive drugs that activate motivational centers and reduce activity in inhibitory centers of the central nervous system by increasing activity of serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine neurotransmitter systems. Stimulants include caffeine, nicotine, amphetamines, and cocaine. Stimulants are used to treat hyperactivity and narcolepsy. Among the amphetamines are methamphetamine, benzedrine, Ritalin, ephedrine (Ephedra), and ecstasy (MDMA), made popular at “all-night raves.” Amphetamines stimulate the sympathetic nervous system and speed up the metabolism, reducing appetite and making a person feel alert, energetic, and elated. Recent research indicates that MDMA damages brain cells. Cocaine and “crack cocaine” that is sniffed, smoked, swallowed, and injected are powerfully addicting drugs that produce feelings of euphoria, excitement, and strength and reduce hunger. Various doses of cocaine can also produce neurological and behavioral problems, such as dizziness, headache, movement problems, anxiety, insomnia, depression, hallucinations, high blood pressure, and stroke. Overdose results in death; comedian John Belushi died from a cocaine/heroin overdose.

• Hallucinogens, also called psychedelics, are a diverse group of psychoactive drugs that alter moods, distort perceptions, and evoke sensory images in the absence of sensory input. Hallucinogens include lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), phencyclidine (PCP), marijuana (THC), psilocybin from mushrooms, and mescaline (Peyote). Some users report profound, dreamlike feelings.

Review Questions

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Directions: For each question, choose the letter of the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.

1 . As you are reading this question, you are probably not thinking about what you ate for lunch. The memory of what you ate for lunch is most likely in your

(A) nonconscious

(B) preconscious

(C) unconsciousness

(D) sensory memory

(E) attention

2 . Traveling in a jet plane from California to New York is most likely to

(A) disrupt your circadian rhythms

(B) prevent the onset of REM sleep

(C) stimulate your parasympathetic nervous system

(D) induce delta brain waves

(E) cause withdrawal symptoms

3 . According to psychodynamic psychologists, the unconscious

(A) processes information of which you are unaware

(B) includes unacceptable feelings, wishes, and thoughts

(C) is characterized by loss of responsiveness to the environment

(D) is synonymous with the preconscious

(E) develops after the ego and superego

4 . Of the following, which does your hypothalamus regulate over the course of 24 hours?

I. body temperature

II. hormonal levels

III. memory of the day’s events

(A) I only

(B) II only

(C) III only

(D) I and II only

(E) I, II, and III

5 . “Humans developed a unique waking-sleep cycle that maximized our chances of survival,” is a statement most typical of

(A) developmental psychologists

(B) physiological psychologists

(C) psychoanalysts

(D) sociologists

(E) evolutionary psychologists

6 . Which has enabled psychologists to learn the most about sleep processes over the last 50 years?

(A) psychopharmacology

(B) lesions

(C) EEGs

(D) CT scans

(E) MRI

7 . Which stage of sleep is characterized by brain waves with spindles and K-complexes?

(A) stage 1

(B) stage 2

(C) stage 3

(D) stage 4

(E) REM

8 . Nightmares most frequently occur during

(A) stage 1

(B) stage 2

(C) stage 3

(D) stage 4

(E) REM

9 . During paradoxical sleep, muscles seem paralyzed and

(A) eyes dart about in various directions

(B) breathing is slow and shallow

(C) night terrors are likely

(D) sleepwalking occurs

(E) the sleeper is easily awakened

10 . After her bridal shower, a young woman dreamed that she was dining with her parents when a young guy grabbed her wallet containing her driver’s license, credit cards, cash, and family pictures. She awoke in a cold sweat. After discussing the dream with a friend, she realized that she felt anxious about losing her identity in her approaching marriage. This explanation of her dream represents the

(A) manifest content

(B) latent content

(C) ego

(D) activation-synthesis theory

(E) cognitive analysis

11 . Monitoring by the hidden observer during hypnosis provides evidence for

(A) the nonconscious

(B) activation-synthesis

(C) dissociation of consciousness

(D) role playing

(E) posthypnotic amnesia

12 . Zen Buddhists and others practicing meditation are better able than most other people to stimulate their

(A) sympathetic nervous systems

(B) parasympathetic nervous systems

(C) somatic nervous systems

(D) salivation

(E) urination

13 . Of the following, which pair of psychoactive drugs shares the most similar effects on the brain?

(A) alcohol–marijuana

(B) caffeine–morphine

(C) nicotine–heroin

(D) amphetamines–cocaine

(E) barbiturates–LSD

14 . In small quantities, alcohol can be mistaken for a stimulant because it

(A) inhibits control of emotions

(B) stimulates the sympathetic nervous system

(C) speeds up respiration and heartbeat

(D) induces sleep

(E) affects the cerebellum

Answers and Explanations

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1 . B— Memories that can easily be brought into consciousness are in the preconscious level of consciousness.

2 . A— Crossing time zones can change the amount of light and dark your body gets and alter your sleeping/waking cycle, secretion of hormones, etc. This disrupts your circadian rhythms.

3 . B— According to psychoanalysts/psychodynamic psychologists, the unconscious harbors unacceptable thoughts, wishes, and feelings that can be revealed in dreams, through hypnosis, etc.

4 . D— The hypothalamus regulates body temperature, blood pressure, pulse, blood sugar levels, hormonal levels, etc.

5 . E— Evolutionary psychologists believe that adaptive behavior persists because of natural selection. Those who have that trait survive, reproduce, and pass on their traits.

6 . C— Of the choices, only electroencephalograms can reveal function. Before the use of EEGs, people thought that little brain activity went on during sleep.

7 . B— EEGs of stage 2 sleep are characterized by waves showing sleep spindles and K-complexes.

8 . E— Nightmares are unpleasant, complex dreams that occur mainly during REM sleep.

9 . A— A paradox is something contradictory that is true. REM sleep is considered paradoxical sleep because the eyes are darting around, brain waves are similar to being awake, but the muscles of the arms and legs are inactive.

10 . B— Freudians believe the hidden meaning of a dream is its latent content.

11 . C— Ernest Hilgard demonstrated that when people are hypnotized, some part of their consciousness—the hidden observer—is passively aware of what is happening.

12 . B— Ordinarily we lack the ability to activate our parasympathetic nervous systems to any significant extent, but we can easily activate the other functions listed.

13 . D— Amphetamines and cocaine are both classified as stimulants.

14 . A— After drinking small amounts of alcohol, people are often lively and seem uninhibited. This results from inhibition of part of the frontal lobes that usually keep emotions in check.

Rapid Review

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Consciousness —our awareness of the outside world and of ourselves, including our own mental processes, thoughts, feelings, and perceptions. EEGs show alpha and beta waves.

Levels of consciousness:

• Normally conscious, what you pay attention to is what you process into perceptions, thoughts, and experiences. Attention is a state of focused awareness.

• Preconscious —level of consciousness that is outside of awareness but contains feelings and memories that can easily be brought to conscious awareness.

• Unconscious (subconscious)—level of consciousness that includes often unacceptable feelings, wishes, and thoughts not directly available to conscious awareness.

• Nonconscious —the level of consciousness devoted to processes completely inaccessible to conscious awareness.

• Dual processing —processing information on conscious and unconscious levels at the same time.

Hypothalamus controls your biological clock, regulating changes in blood pressure, body temperature, pulse, blood sugar levels, hormonal levels, activity levels, sleep, and wakefulness over 24 hours in normal environment (25 hours in a place without normal night–day).

Circadian rhythms —daily patterns of changes.

Reticular formation (reticular activating system )—neural network in brainstem (medulla and pons) and midbrain essential to the regulation of sleep, wakefulness, arousal, and attention.

States of consciousness include: (normal waking) consciousness, daydreaming, sleep, hypnosis, meditation, and drug-induced states.

Sleep is a complex combination of states of consciousness, each with its own level of consciousness, awareness, responsiveness, and physiological arousal.

• Stage 1 sleep —quick sleep stage with gradual loss of responsiveness to outside, drifting thoughts, and images (the hypnagogic state). EEGs show theta waves.

• Stage 2 sleep —about 50% of sleep time. EEGs show high-frequency sleep spindles and K-complexes.

• Stage 3 sleep —deep sleep stage. EEGs show some high-amplitude, low-frequency delta waves.

• Stage 4 sleep —deepest sleep stage. EEGs show mostly delta waves. Slowed heart rate and respiration, lowered temperature and lowered blood flow to the brain. Growth hormone secreted.

• REM sleep (Rapid Eye Movement sleep)— sleep stage when eyes dart about. About 80% dreaming, 5 to 6 times each night (about 20% of sleep time). Called paradoxical sleep because EEGs are similar to stage 1 and wakefulness, but we are in deep sleep with skeletal muscles paralyzed.

• NREM (Non-REM sleep) —sleep stages 1 through 4 without rapid eye movements.

During sleep we synthesize proteins and consolidate memories from the preceding day.

Sleep disorders include insomnia, the inability to fall asleep and/or stay asleep; narcolepsy, sudden and uncontrollable lapse into sleep (usually REM); and sleep apnea, temporary cessations of breathing that awaken the sufferer repeatedly during the night. Sleep disruptions include night terrors, characterized by bloodcurdling screams and intense fear in children during stage 4 sleep; and sleepwalking (somnambulism), usually in children during stage 4 sleep.

Three theories of what dreams mean:

1. To [Freudian] psychoanalysts, dreams are a safety valve for unconscious desires. Manifest content —according to Freud, the remembered story line of a dream. Latent content —according to Freud, the underlying meaning of a dream.

2. Activation-synthesis theory —during REM sleep the brainstem stimulates the forebrain with random neural activity, which we interpret as a dream.

3. Cognitive information processing theory —dreams are the interplay of brain waves and psychological functioning of interpretive parts of the mind.

Daydreaming —state with focus on inner, private realities, which can generate creative ideas.

Hypnosis —state with deep relaxation and heightened suggestibility. The hidden observer provides evidence for dissociation of consciousness.

Meditation —set of techniques used to focus concentration away from thoughts and feelings in order to create calmness, tranquility, and inner peace.

Psychoactive drug —a chemical that can pass through the blood-brain barrier to alter perception, thinking, behavior, and mood.

Four categories of psychoactive drugs:

1. Depressants —reduce activity of CNS and induce sleep.

2. Narcotics —depress the CNS, relieve pain, induce feelings of euphoria.

3. Stimulants —activate motivational centers; reduce activity in inhibitory centers of the CNS.

4. Hallucinogens —distort perceptions and evoke sensory images in the absence of sensory input.

Psychological dependence —person has intense desire to achieve the drugged state in spite of adverse effects.

Physiological dependence (addiction)— blood chemistry changes from taking a drug necessitate taking the drug again to prevent withdrawal symptoms.

Withdrawal symptoms —typically intense craving for drug and effects opposite to those the drug usually induces.

1. Creativity is often heightened in a state of

(A) focused awareness.

(B) unconsciousness.

(C) depression.

(D) stage 4 sleep.

(E) daydreaming.

2. Your biological clock is controlled primarily by your

(A) temporal lobes.

(B) thyroid.

(C) cerebellum.

(D) amygdala.

(E) hypothalamus.

3. Driving under the influence of marijuana can be dangerous because the drug typically

(A) induces sleep.

(B) distorts perceptions.

(C) causes dizziness.

(D) increases alertness.

(E) heightens suggestibility.

4. An electoencephalogram (EEG) of a person in deep sleep would show

(A) alpha waves.

(B) the phi phenomenon.

(C) spindles.

(D) delta waves.

(E) K complexes.

Answers

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1. E— When you daydream, your mind wanders, often focusing on inner, private realities that generate creative ideas.

2. E— The hypothalamus systematically regulates changes in body temperature, blood pressure, pulse, blood sugar levels, hormonal levels, and activity levels over the course of about a day.

3. B— A driver under the influence of moderate or higher levels of marijuana often thinks his car is further away from the car in front of him than it actually is, has slowed reaction times, and can have difficulty maintaining focus.

4. D— Delta waves characterize stage 3 and stage 4 sleep.

Learning

IN THIS CHAPTER

Summary: Did you have to learn how to yawn? Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior as a result of experience. For a change to be considered learning, it cannot simply have resulted from maturation, inborn response tendencies, or altered states of consciousness. You didn’t need to learn to yawn; you do it naturally. Learning allows you to anticipate the future from past experience and control a complex and ever-changing environment.

This chapter reviews three types of learning: classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and cognitive learning. All three emphasize the role of the environment in the learning process.

Key Ideas

Classical conditioning

Classical conditioning paradigm

Classical conditioning learning curve

Strength of conditioning

Classical aversive conditioning

Higher-order conditioning

Operant conditioning

Thorndike’s instrumental conditioning

Operant conditioning training procedures

Operant aversive conditioning

Reinforcers

Operant conditioning training schedules of reinforcement

Superstitious behavior

Cognitive processes in learning

The contingency model

Latent learning

Insight

Social learning

Biological factors in learning

Preparedness evolves

Instinctive drift

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Classical Conditioning

In classical conditioning, the subject learns to give a response it already knows to a new stimulus. The subject associates a new stimulus with a stimulus that automatically and involuntarily brings about the response. A stimulus is a change in the environment that elicits (brings about) a response. A response is a reaction to a stimulus. When food—a stimulus—is placed in our mouths, we automatically salivate—a response. Because we do not need to learn to salivate to food, the food is an unconditional or unconditioned stimulus, and the salivation is an unconditional or unconditioned response. In the early 1900s, Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov scientifically studied the process by which associations are established, modified, and broken. Pavlov noticed that dogs began to salivate as soon as they saw food (i.e., even before the food was placed in their mouths). The dogs were forming associations between food and events that preceded eating the food. This simple type of learning is called Pavlovian or classical conditioning.

Classical Conditioning Paradigm and the Learning Curve

In classical conditioning experiments, two stimuli, the unconditioned stimulus and neutral stimulus, are paired together. A neutral stimulus (NS) initially does not elicit a response. The unconditioned stimulus (UCS or US) reflexively, or automatically, brings about the unconditioned response (UCR or UR). The conditioned stimulus (CS) is a neutral stimulus (NS) at first, but when paired with the UCS, it elicits the conditioned response (CR). During Pavlov’s training trials, a bell was rung right before the meat was given to the dogs. By repeatedly pairing the food and the bell, acquisition of the conditioned response occurred; the bell alone came to elicit salivation in the dogs. This exemplified the classical conditioning paradigm or pattern—

If you are having trouble figuring out the difference between the UCS and the CS, ask yourself these questions: What did the organism LEARN to respond to? This is the CS. What did the organism respond to REFLEXIVELY? This is the US. The UCR and the CR are usually the same response.

In classical conditioning, the learner is passive. The behaviors learned by association are elicited from the learner. The presentation of the US strengthens or reinforces the behavior. A learning curve for classical conditioning is shown in Figure 10.1 .

Figure 10.1 Classical conditioning learning curve.

Strength of Conditioning and Classical Aversive Conditioning

Does the timing of presentation of the NS and US matter in establishing the association for classical conditioning? Different experimental procedures have tried to determine the best presentation time for the NS and the UCS, so that the NS becomes the CS. Delayed conditioning occurs when the NS is presented just before the UCS, with a brief overlap between the two. Trace conditioning occurs when the NS is presented and then disappears before the UCS appears. Simultaneous conditioning occurs when the UCS and NS are paired together at the same time. In backward conditioning, the UCS comes before the NS. In general, delayed conditioning produces the strongest conditioning, trace conditioning produces moderately strong conditioning, simultaneous conditioning produces weak conditioning, and backward conditioning produces no conditioning except in unusual cases. A pregnant woman who vomits hours after eating a burrito often will not eat a burrito again, which is a case of rare backward conditioning.

The strength of the UCS and the saliency of the CS in determining how long acquisition takes have also been researched. In the 1920s, John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner conditioned a nine-month-old infant known as Baby Albert to fear a rat. Their research would probably be considered unethical today. The UCS in their experiment was a loud noise made by hitting a steel rod with a hammer. Immediately Albert began to cry, a UCR. Two months later, the infant was given a harmless rat to play with. As soon as Albert went to reach for the rat (NS), the loud noise (UCS) was sounded again. Baby Albert began to cry (UCR). A week later, the rat (CS) was reintroduced to Albert and without any additional pairings with the loud noise, Albert cried (CR) and tried to crawl away. Graphs of the learning curve in most classical conditioning experiments show a steady upward trend over many trials until the CS–UCS connection occurs. In most experiments, several trials must be conducted before acquisition occurs, but when an unconditioned stimulus is strong and the neutral stimulus is striking or salient, classical conditioning can occur in a single trial. Because the loud noise (UCS) was so strong and the white rat (CS) was salient, which means very noticeable, the connection between the two took only one trial of pairing for Albert to acquire the new CR of fear of the rat (CS). This experiment is also important because it shows how phobias and other human emotions might develop in humans through classical conditioning. Conditioning involving an unpleasant or harmful unconditioned stimulus or reinforcer, such as this conditioning of Baby Albert, is called aversive conditioning.

Unfortunately, Watson and Rayner did not get a chance to rid Baby Albert of his phobia of the rat. In classical conditioning, if the CS is repeatedly presented without the UCS, eventually the CS loses its ability to elicit the CR. Removal of the UCS breaks the connection and extinction, weakening of the conditioned association, occurs. If Watson had continued to present the rat (CS) and taken away the fear-inducing noise (UCS), eventually Baby Albert would probably have lost his fear of the rat. Although not fully understood by behaviorists, sometimes the extinguished response will show up again later without the re-pairing of the UCS and CS. This phenomenon is called spontaneous recovery. If Baby Albert had stopped crying whenever the rat appeared, but 2 months later saw another rat and began to cry, he would have been displaying spontaneous recovery. Sometimes a CR needs to be extinguished several times before the association is completely broken.

Generalization occurs when stimuli similar to the CS also elicit the CR without any training. For example, when Baby Albert saw a furry white rabbit, he also showed a fear response. Discrimination occurs when only the CS produces the CR. People and other organisms can learn to discriminate between similar stimuli if the US is consistently paired with only the CS.

Higher-Order Conditioning

Higher-order conditioning occurs when a well-learned CS is paired with an NS to produce a CR to the NS. In this conditioning, the old CS acts as a UCS. Because the new UCS is not innate, the new CR is not as strong as the original CR. For example, if you taught your dog to salivate to a bell, then flashed a light just before you rang your bell, your dog could learn to salivate to the light without ever having had food associated with it.

This exemplifies the higher-order conditioning paradigm or pattern.

Higher-Order Conditioning

Other applications of classical conditioning include overcoming fears, increasing or decreasing immune functioning, and increasing or decreasing attraction of people or products.

Operant Conditioning

In operant conditioning, an active subject voluntarily emits behaviors and can learn new behaviors. The connection is made between the behavior and its consequence, whether pleasant or not. Many more behaviors can be learned in operant conditioning because they do not rely on a limited number of reflexes. You can learn to sing, dance, or play an instrument as well as to study or clean your room through operant conditioning.

Thorndike’s Instrumental Conditioning

About the same time that Pavlov was classically conditioning dogs, E. L. Thorndike was conducting experiments with hungry cats. He put the cats in “puzzle boxes” and placed fish outside. To get to the fish, the cats had to step on a pedal, which released the door bolt on the box. Through trial and error, the cats moved about the box and clawed at the door. Accidentally at first, they stepped on the pedal and were able to get the reward of the fish. A learning curve shows that the time it took the cats to escape gradually fell. The random movements disappeared until the cat learned that just stepping on the pedal caused the door to open. Thorndike called this instrumental learning, a form of associative learning in which a behavior becomes more or less probable depending on its consequences. He studied how the cats’ actions were instrumental or important in producing the consequences. His Law of Effect states that behaviors followed by satisfying or positive consequences are strengthened (more likely to occur), while behaviors followed by annoying or negative consequences are weakened (less likely to occur).

B. F. Skinner’s Training Procedures

B. F. Skinner called Thorndike’s instrumental conditioning operant conditioning because subjects voluntarily operate on their environment in order to produce desired consequences. Skinner was interested in the ABCs of "indent">Skinner developed four different training procedures: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment, and omission training. In positive reinforcement, or reward training, emission of a behavior or response is followed by a reinforcer that increases the probability that the response will occur again. When a rat presses a lever and is rewarded with food, it tends to press the lever again. Being praised after you contribute to a class discussion is likely to cause you to participate again. According to the Premack principle, a more probable behavior can be used as a reinforcer for a less probable one.

Negative reinforcement takes away an aversive or unpleasant consequence after a behavior has been given. This increases the chance that the behavior will be repeated in the future. When a rat presses a lever that temporarily turns off electrical shocks, it tends to press the lever again. If you have a bad headache and then take an aspirin that makes it disappear, you are likely to take aspirin the next time you have a headache. Both positive and negative reinforcement bring about desired responses, and so both increase or strengthen those behaviors.

In punishment training, a learner’s response is followed by an aversive consequence. Because this consequence is unwanted, the learner stops exhibiting that behavior. A child who gets spanked for running into the street stays on the grass or sidewalk. Punishment should be immediate so that the consequence is associated with the misbehavior, strong enough to stop the undesirable behavior, and consistent. Psychologists caution against the overuse of punishment because it does not teach the learner what he or she should do, suppresses rather than extinguishes behavior, and may evoke hostility or passivity. The learner may become aggressive or give up. An alternative to punishment is omission training. In this training procedure, a response by the learner is followed by taking away something of value from the learner. Both punishment and omission training decrease the likelihood of the undesirable behavior, but in omission training the learner can change this behavior and get back the positive reinforcer. One form of omission training used in schools is called time-out, in which a disruptive child is removed from the classroom until the child changes his or her behavior. The key to successful omission training is knowing exactly what is rewarding and what isn’t for each individual.

Operant Aversive Conditioning

Negative reinforcement is often confused with punishment. Both are forms of aversive conditioning, but negative reinforcement takes away aversive stimuli—you get rid of something you don’t want. By putting on your seat belt, an obnoxious buzz or beep is ended. You quickly learn to put your seat belt on when you hear that sound. There are two types of negative reinforcement—avoidance and escape. Avoidance behavior takes away the aversive stimulus before it begins. A dog jumps over a hurdle to avoid an electric shock, for example. Escape behavior takes away the aversive stimulus after it has already started. The dog gets shocked first and then he escapes it by jumping over the hurdle. Learned helplessness is the feeling of futility and passive resignation that results from the inability to avoid repeated aversive events. Later, if it becomes possible to avoid or escape the aversive stimuli, it is unlikely that the learner will respond. Sometimes in contrast to negative reinforcement, punishment comes as the result of your exhibiting a behavior that is followed by aversive consequences. You get something you don’t want. By partying instead of studying before a test, you get a bad grade. That grade could result in your failing a course. You learn to stop doing behaviors that bring about punishment, but learn to continue behaviors that are negatively reinforced.

Reinforcers

A primary reinforcer is something that is biologically important and, thus, rewarding. Food and drink are examples of primary reinforcers. A secondary reinforcer is something neutral that, when associated with a primary reinforcer, becomes rewarding. Gold stars, points, money, and tokens are all examples of secondary reinforcers. A generalized reinforcer is a secondary reinforcer that can be associated with a number of different primary reinforcers. Money is probably the best example because you can get tired of one primary reinforcer like candy, but money can be exchanged for any type of food, another necessity, entertainment, or a luxury item you would like to buy. The operant training system, called a token economy, has been used extensively in institutions such as mental hospitals and jails. Tokens or secondary reinforcers are used to increase a list of acceptable behaviors. After so many tokens have been collected, they can be exchanged for special privileges like snacks, movies, or weekend passes.

Applied behavior analysis, also called behavior modification, is a field that applies the behavioral approach scientifically to solve individual, institutional, and societal problems. Data are gathered both before and after the program is established. For example, training programs have been designed to change employee behavior by reinforcing desired worker behavior, which increases worker motivation.

Teaching a New Behavior

What is the best way to teach and maintain desirable behaviors through operant conditioning? Shaping, positively reinforcing closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior, is an effective way of teaching a new behavior. Each reward comes when the learner gets a bit closer to the final goal behavior. When a little boy is being toilet trained, the child may get rewarded after just saying that he needs to go. The next time he can get rewarded after sitting on the toilet. Eventually, he gets rewarded only after urinating or defecating in the toilet. For a while, reinforcing this behavior every time firmly establishes the behavior. Chaining is used to establish a specific sequence of behaviors by initially positively reinforcing each behavior in a desired sequence and then later rewarding only the completed sequence. Animal trainers at SeaWorld often have dolphins do an amazing series of different behaviors, like swimming the length of a pool, jumping through a hoop, and then honking a horn before they are rewarded with fish. Generally, reinforcement or punishment that occurs immediately after a behavior has a stronger effect than when it is delayed.

Schedules of Reinforcement

A schedule refers to the training program that states how and when reinforcers will be given to the learner. Continuous reinforcement is the schedule that provides reinforcement every time the behavior is exhibited by the organism. Although continuous reinforcement encourages acquisition of a new behavior, not reinforcing the behavior even once or twice could result in extinction of the behavior. For example, if a disposable flashlight always works, when you click it on once or twice and it doesn’t work, you expect that it has quit working and throw it away.

Reinforcing behavior only some of the time, which is using partial reinforcement or an intermittent schedule, maintains behavior better than continuous reinforcement. Partial reinforcement schedules based on the number of desired responses are ratio schedules. Schedules based on time are interval schedules. Fixed ratio schedules reinforce the desired behavior after a specific number of responses have been made. For example, every three times a rat presses a lever in a Skinner box, it gets a food pellet. Fixed interval schedules reinforce the first desired response made after a specific length of time. Fixed interval schedules result in lots of behavior as the time for reinforcement approaches, but little behavior until the next time for reinforcement approaches. For example, the night before an elementary school student gets a weekly spelling test, she will study her spelling words, but not the night after (see Figure 10.2 ). In a variable ratio schedule, the number of responses needed before reinforcement occurs changes at random around an average. For example, if another of your flashlights works only after clicking it a number of times and doesn’t light on the first click, you try clicking it again and again. Because your expectation is different for this flashlight, you are more likely to keep exhibiting the behavior of clicking it. Using slot machines in gambling casinos, gamblers will pull the lever hundreds of times as the anticipation of the next reward gets stronger. On a variable interval schedule, the amount of time that elapses before reinforcement of the behavior changes. For example, if your French teacher gives pop quizzes, you never know when to expect them, so you study every night.

Figure 10.2 Partial reinforcement schedules.

fixed ratio schedule—know how much behavior for reinforcement

fixed interval schedule—know when behavior is reinforced

variable ratio schedule—how much behavior for reinforcement changes

variable interval schedule—when behavior for reinforcement changes

Superstitious Behavior

Have you ever wondered how people develop superstitions? B. F. Skinner accounted for the development of superstitious behaviors in partial reinforcement schedule experiments he performed with pigeons. He found that if food pellets were delivered when a pigeon was performing some idiosyncratic behavior, the pigeon would tend to repeat the behavior to get more food. If food pellets were again delivered when the pigeon repeated the behavior, the pigeon would tend to repeat the behavior over and over, thus indicating the development of “superstitious behavior.” Although there was a correlation between the idiosyncratic behavior and the appearance of food, there was no causal relationship between the superstitious behavior and delivery of the food to the pigeon. But the pigeons acted as if there were. People who play their “lucky numbers” when they gamble or wear their “lucky jeans” to a test may have developed superstitions from the unintended reinforcement of unimportant behavior, too.

Cognitive Processes in Learning

John B. Watson and B. F. Skinner typified behaviorists. They studied only behaviors they could observe and measure—the ABCs of "h2"> The Contingency Model

Cognitivists interpret classical and operant conditioning differently. Beyond making associations between stimuli and learning from rewards and punishment, cognitive theorists believe that humans and other animals are capable of forming expectations and consciously being motivated by rewards. Pavlov’s view of classical conditioning is called the contiguity model. He believed that the close time between the CS and the US was most important for making the connection between the two stimuli and that the CS eventually substituted for the US. Cognitivist Robert Rescorla challenged this viewpoint, suggesting a contingency model of classical conditioning that the CS tells the organism that the US will follow. Although the close pairing in time between the two stimuli is important, the key is how well the CS predicts the appearance of the UCS. Another challenge to Pavlov’s model is what Leon Kamin calls the blocking effect. Kamin used a rat and paired a light (NS) with a tone (CS). The rat had already been classically conditioned with shock (UCS) to produce fear (CR). He found that he was unable to produce conditioned fear to the light alone. He argued that the rat had already learned to associate the signal for shock with the tone so that the light offered no new information. The conditioning effect of the light was blocked.

Although reinforcement or punishment that occurs immediately after a behavior has a stronger effect than delayed consequences, timing sometimes is less critical for human behavior. The ability to delay gratification—forgo an immediate but smaller reward for a postponed greater reward—often affects decisions. Saving money for college, a car, or something else special rather than spending it immediately is an example. People vary in the ability to delay gratification, which partially accounts for the inability of some people to quit smoking or lose weight.

Latent Learning

Cognitive theorists also see evidence of thinking in operant conditioning. Latent learning is defined as learning in the absence of rewards. Edward Tolman studied spatial learning by conducting maze experiments with rats under various conditions. An experimental group of rats did not receive a reward for going through a maze for 10 days, while another group did. The rewarded group made significantly fewer errors navigating the maze. On day 11, both groups got rewards. On day 12, the previously unrewarded group navigated the maze as well as the rewarded group, demonstrating latent learning. He hypothesized that previously unrewarded rats formed a cognitive map or mental picture of the maze during the early nonreinforced trials. Once they were rewarded, they expected future rewards and, thus, were more motivated to improve.

Insight

Have you ever walked out of a class after leaving a problem blank on your test and suddenly the answer popped into your head? Insight is the sudden appearance of an answer or solution to a problem. Wolfgang Kohler exposed chimpanzees to new learning tasks and concluded that they learned by insight. In one study, a piece of fruit was placed outside Sultan’s cage beyond his reach. A short stick was inside the cage. After several attempts using the stick to reach the fruit were unsuccessful, Sultan stopped trying and stared at the fruit. Suddenly Sultan bolted up and, using the short stick, raked in a longer stick outside his cage. By using the second stick, he was able to get the fruit. No conditioning had been used.

Social Learning

A type of social cognitive learning is called modeling or observational learning, which occurs by watching the behavior of a model. For example, if you want to learn a new dance step, first you watch someone else do it. Next you try to imitate what you saw the person do. The cognitive aspect comes in when you think through how the person is moving various body parts and, keeping that in mind, try to do it yourself. Learning by observation is adaptive, helping us save time and avoid danger. Albert Bandura, who pioneered the study of observational learning, outlined four steps in the process: attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation. In his famous experiment using inflated “bobo” dolls, he showed three groups of children a scene where a model kicked, punched, and hit the bobo doll. One group saw the model rewarded, another group saw no consequences, the third group saw the model punished. Each child then went to a room with a bobo doll and other toys. The children who saw the model punished kicked, punched, and hit the bobo doll less than the other children. Later, when they were offered rewards to imitate what they had seen the model do, that group of children was as able to imitate the behavior as the others. Further research indicated that viewing violence reduces our sensitivity to the sight of violence, increases the likelihood of aggressive behavior, and decreases our concerns about the suffering of victims. Feeling pride or shame in ourselves for doing something can be important internal reinforcers that influence our behavior.

Abstract learning goes beyond classical and operant conditioning and shows that animals such as pigeons and dolphins can understand simple concepts and apply simple decision rules. In one experiment, pigeons pecked at different-colored squares. The pigeon was first shown a red square and then two squares—one red and the other green. In matching-to-sample problems, pecking the red square, or “same,” was rewarded. In oddity tasks, pecking the green square, or “different,” would bring the reward. To prove this wasn’t merely operant conditioning, the stimuli were changed, and in 80% of the trials, the pigeons proved successful in making the transfer of “same” or “different.”

Biological Factors in Learning

Mirror neurons in the premotor cortex and other portions of the temporal and parietal lobes provide a biological basis for observational learning. The neurons are activated not only when you perform an action, but also when you observe someone else perform a similar action. These neurons transform the sight of someone else’s action into the motor program you would use to do the same thing and to experience similar sensations or emotions, the basis for empathy.

Preparedness Evolves

Taste aversions are an interesting biological application of classical conditioning. A few hours after your friend ate brussels sprouts for the first time, she vomited. Although a stomach virus (UCS) caused the vomiting (UCR), your friend refuses to eat brussels sprouts again. She developed a conditioned taste aversion, an intense dislike and avoidance of a food because of its association with an unpleasant or painful stimulus through backward conditioning. According to some psychologists, conditioned taste aversions are probably adaptive responses of organisms to foods that could sicken or kill them. Evolutionarily successful organisms are biologically predisposed or biologically prepared to associate illness with bitter and sour foods. Preparedness means that through evolution, animals are biologically predisposed to easily learn behaviors related to their survival as a species, and that behaviors contrary to an animal’s natural tendencies are learned slowly or not at all. People are more likely to learn to fear snakes or spiders than flowers or happy faces. John Garcia and colleagues experimented with rats exposed to radiation, and others exposed to poisons. They found that rats developed conditioned taste aversions even when they did not become nauseated until hours after being exposed to a taste, which is sometimes referred to as the Garcia effect. Similarly, cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy develop loss of appetite. They also found that there are biological constraints on the ease with which particular stimuli can be associated with particular responses. Rats have a tendency to associate nausea and dizziness with tastes, but not with sights and sounds. Rats also tend to associate pain with sights and sounds, but not with tastes.

Instinctive Drift

Sometimes, operantly conditioned animals failed to behave as expected. Wild rats already conditioned in Skinner boxes sometimes reverted to scratching and biting the lever. In different experiments, Keller and Marian Breland found that stimuli that represented food were treated as actual food by chickens and raccoons. The Brelands attributed this to the strong evolutionary history of the animals that overrode conditioning. They called this instinctive drift —a conditioned response that drifts back toward the natural (instinctive) behavior of the organism. Wild animal trainers must stay vigilant even after training their animals because the animals may revert to dangerous behaviors.

Review Questions

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Directions: For each item, choose the letter of the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.

1 . Once Pavlov’s dogs learned to salivate to the sound of a tuning fork, the tuning fork was a(n)

(A) unconditioned stimulus

(B) neutral stimulus

(C) conditioned stimulus

(D) unconditioned response

(E) conditioned response

2 . Shaping is

(A) a pattern of responses that must be made before classical conditioning is completed

(B) rewarding behaviors that get closer and closer to the desired goal behavior

(C) completing a set of behaviors in succession before a reward is given

(D) giving you chocolate pudding to increase the likelihood you will eat more carrots

(E) inhibition of new learning by previous learning

3 . John loves to fish. He puts his line in the water and leaves it there until he feels a tug. On what reinforcement schedule is he rewarded?

(A) continuous reinforcement

(B) fixed ratio

(C) fixed interval

(D) variable ratio

(E) variable interval

4 . Chimpanzees given tokens for performing tricks were able to put the tokens in vending machines to get grapes. The tokens acted as

(A) primary reinforcers

(B) classical conditioning

(C) secondary reinforcers

(D) negative reinforcers

(E) unconditioned reinforcers

5 . Which of the following best reflects negative reinforcement?

(A) Teresa is scolded when she runs through the house yelling.

(B) Lina is not allowed to watch television until after she has finished her homework.

(C) Greg changes his math class so he doesn’t have to see his old girlfriend.

(D) Aditya is praised for having the best essay in the class.

(E) Alex takes the wrong medicine and gets violently ill afterwards.

6 . Watson and Rayner’s classical conditioning of “Little Albert” was helpful in explaining that

(A) some conditioned stimuli do not generalize

(B) human emotions such as fear are subject to classical conditioning

(C) drug dependency is subject to classical as well as operant conditioning

(D) small children are not as easily conditioned as older children

(E) fear of rats and rabbits are innate responses previously undiscovered

7 . Jamel got very sick after eating some mushrooms on a pizza at his friend’s house. He didn’t know that he had a stomach virus at the time, blamed his illness on the mushrooms, and refused to eat them again. Which of the following is the unconditioned stimulus for his taste aversion to mushrooms?

(A) pizza

(B) stomach virus

(C) mushrooms

(D) headache

(E) aversion to mushrooms

8 . If a previous experience has given your pet the expectancy that nothing it does will prevent an aversive stimulus from occurring, it will likely

(A) be motivated to seek comfort from you

(B) experience learned helplessness

(C) model the behavior of other pets in hopes of avoiding it

(D) seek out challenges like this in the future to disprove the expectation

(E) engage in random behaviors until one is successful in removing the stimulus

9 . While readying to take a free-throw shot, you suddenly arrive at the answer to a chemistry problem you’d been working on several hours before. This is an example of

(A) insight

(B) backward conditioning

(C) latent learning

(D) discrimination

(E) the Premack Principle

10 . If the trainer conditions the pigeon to peck at a red circle and then only gives him a reward if he pecks at the green circle when both a red and green circle appear, the pigeon is demonstrating

(A) matching-to-sample generalization

(B) abstract learning

(C) intrinsic motivation

(D) insight

(E) modeling

11 . Latent learning is best described by which of the following?

(A) innate responses of an organism preventing new learning and associations

(B) unconscious meaning that is attributed to new response patterns

(C) response patterns that become extinguished gradually over time

(D) delayed responses that occur when new stimuli are paired with familiar ones

(E) learning that occurs in the absence of rewards

12 . Rats were more likely to learn an aversion to bright lights and noise with water if they were associated with electric shocks rather than with flavors or poisoned food. This illustrates

(A) insight

(B) preparedness

(C) extinction

(D) observational learning

(E) generalization

13 . Which of the following responses is NOT learned through operant conditioning?

(A) a rat learning to press a bar to get food

(B) dogs jumping over a hurdle to avoid electric shock

(C) fish swimming to the top of the tank when a light goes on

(D) pigeons learning to turn in circles for a reward

(E) studying hard for good grades on tests

14 . Spontaneous recovery refers to the

(A) reacquisition of a previously learned behavior

(B) reappearance of a previously extinguished CR after a rest period

(C) return of a behavior after punishment has ended

(D) tendency of newly acquired responses to be intermittent at first

(E) organism’s tendency to forget previously learned responses, but to relearn them more quickly during a second training period

Answers and Explanations

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1 . C— The tuning fork is the CS and salivation is the CR. Pavlov’s dog learned to salivate to the tuning fork.

2 . B— The definition of shaping is reinforcing behaviors that get closer and closer to the goal.

3 . E— Variable interval is correct. John doesn’t know when a fish will be on his line. Catching fish is unrelated to the number of times he pulls in his line, but rather to when he pulls in his line.

4 . C— Tokens serve as secondary reinforcers the chimps learned to respond to positively. They were connected with the primary reinforcer—grapes.

5 . C— Greg transferred from the class to avoid having to see his old girlfriend. Avoidance is one type of negative reinforcement that takes away something aversive.

6 . B— Watson and Raynor’s experiment with Little Albert showed emotional learning and phobias may be learned through classical conditioning.

7 . B— The stomach virus is the UCS that automatically caused him to get sick. The mushrooms are the CS which he learned to avoid because of the association with the virus that caused his sickness.

8 . B— Learned helplessness occurs when an organism has the experience that nothing it does will prevent an aversive stimulus from occurring.

9 . A— Insight learning is the sudden appearance of a solution to a problem.

10 . B— The animal showed understanding of a concept when it was able to tell the difference between the red and green circles, and only pecked at the green circle to get a reward.

11 . E— Latent learning is defined as learning in the absence of rewards.

12 . B— The rats were biologically prepared to associate two external events, like shock and the lights and sounds together.

13 . C— The fish swimming to the top of the tank when the light goes on shows classical conditioning.

14 . B— Spontaneous recovery occurs when a conditioned response is extinguished, but later reappears when the CS is present again without retraining.

Rapid Review

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Learning —a relatively permanent change in behavior as a result of experience (nurture).

Classical conditioning —learning which takes place when two or more stimuli are presented together; an unconditioned stimulus is paired repeatedly with a neutral stimulus until it acquires the capacity to elicit a similar response. The subject learns to give a response it already knows to a new stimulus. Terms and concepts associated with classical conditioning include:

• Stimulus —a change in the environment that elicits (brings about) a response.

• Neutral stimulus (NS) —a stimulus that initially does not elicit a response.

• Unconditioned stimulus (UCS or US) reflexively, or automatically, brings about the unconditioned response.

• Unconditioned response (UCR or UR) —an automatic, involuntary reaction to an unconditioned stimulus.

• Conditioned stimulus (CS) —a neutral stimulus (NS) at first, but when paired with the UCS, it elicits the conditioned response (CR).

• Acquisition —in classical conditioning, learning to give a known response to a new stimulus, the neutral stimulus

• Extinction —repeatedly presenting a CS without a UCS leads to return of the NS.

• Spontaneous recovery —after extinction, and without training, the previous CS suddenly elicits the CR again temporarily.

• Generalization —stimuli similar to the CS also elicit the CR without training.

• Discrimination —the ability to tell the difference between stimuli so that only the CS elicits the CR.

• Higher-order conditioning —classical conditioning in which a well-learned CS is paired with an NS to produce a CR to the NS.

Aversive conditioning —learning involving an unpleasant or harmful stimulus or reinforcer.

Avoidance behavior takes away the unpleasant stimulus before it begins.

Escape behavior takes away the unpleasant stimulus after it has already started.

Instrumental learning —associative learning in which a behavior becomes more or less probable depending on its consequences.

Law of Effect —behaviors followed by positive consequences are strengthened while behaviors followed by annoying or negative consequences are weakened.

Operant conditioning —learning that occurs when an active learner performs certain voluntary behavior, and the consequences of the behavior (pleasant or unpleasant) determine the likelihood of its recurrence. Terms and concepts associated with operant conditioning include:

• Positive reinforcement —a rewarding consequence that follows a voluntary behavior thereby increasing the probability the behavior will be repeated.

• Primary reinforcer —something that is biologically important and, thus, rewarding.

• Secondary reinforcer —something rewarding because it is associated with a primary reinforcer.

• Generalized reinforcer —secondary reinforcer associated with a number of different primary reinforcers.

• Premack principle —a more probable behavior can be used as a reinforcer for a less probable one.

• Negative reinforcement —removal of an aversive consequence that follows a voluntary behavior thereby increasing the probability the behavior will be repeated; two types are escape and avoidance.

• Punishment —an aversive consequence that follows a voluntary behavior thereby decreasing the probability the behavior will be repeated.

• Omission training —removal of a rewarding consequence that follows a voluntary behavior thereby decreasing the probability the behavior will be repeated.

• Shaping —positively reinforcing closer and closer approximations of a desired behavior to teach a new behavior.

• Chaining establishes a specific sequence of behaviors by initially positively reinforcing each behavior in a desired sequence and then later rewarding only the completed sequence.

A reinforcement schedule states how and when reinforcers will be given to the learner.

• Continuous reinforcement —schedule that provides reinforcement following the particular behavior every time it is exhibited; best for acquisition of a new behavior.

• Partial reinforcement or intermittent schedule —occasional reinforcement of a particular behavior; produces response that is more resistant to extinction.

• Fixed ratio —reinforcement of a particular behavior after a specific number of responses.

• Fixed interval —reinforcement of the first particular response made after a specific length of time.

• Variable ratio —reinforcement of a particular behavior after a number of responses that changes at random around an average number.

• Variable interval —reinforcement of the first particular response made after a length of time that changes at random around an average time period.

Superstitious behaviors can result from unintended reinforcement of unimportant behavior.

Behavior modification —a field that applies the behavioral approach scientifically to solve problems (applied behavior analysis).

Token economy —operant training system that uses secondary reinforcers to increase appropriate behavior; learners can exchange secondary reinforcers for desired rewards.

(Biological) Preparedness —predisposition to easily learn behaviors related to survival of the species.

Instinctive drift —a conditioned response that moves toward the natural behavior of the organism.

Cognitivists interpret classical and operant conditioning differently from behaviorists.

Cognitivists reject Pavlov’s contiguity theory that classical conditioning is based on the association in time of the CS prior to the UCS.

Cognitivist Richard Rescorla’s contingency theory says that the key to classical conditioning is how well the CS predicts the appearance of the UCS.

Latent learning —learning in the absence of rewards.

Insight —the sudden appearance of an answer or solution to a problem.

Observational learning —learning that occurs by watching the behavior of a model.

1. In classical reward conditioning, the subject learns

(A) to give a response it already knows to a new stimulus.

(B) a new response.

(C) by watching the behavior of a model.

(D) to avoid a stimulus.

(E) to escape a stimulus.

2. Each time Roger reaches into the candy bowl without asking permission, his mother hits his hand. Hitting his hand is

(A) shaping.

(B) intermittent conditioning.

(C) negative reinforcement.

(D) punishment.

(E) positive reinforcement.

3. Even after extensive successful conditioning at Sea World, killer whales have attacked their trainers. According to Keller and Marian Breland, this can be attributed to

(A) inconsistent operant conditioning.

(B) instinctive drift.

(C) overlearning.

(D) feedback control.

(E) the Premack principle.

4. A biological basis for observational learning is

(A) basal ganglia.

(B) chaining.

(C) mirror neurons.

(D) interneurons.

(E) Golgi bodies.

Answers

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1. A— Classical conditioning is successful when an organism gives a response to a previously neutral stimulus that is similar to the response it gives to a stimulus that naturally elicits that response.

2. D— Punishment is an aversive consequence for his reaching into the candy bowl without permission. Roger’s mother is attempting to stop him from repeating this behavior.

3. B— According to evolutionary psychologists, the strong evolutionary history of animals can override conditioning.

4. C— Mirror neurons in the premotor cortex respond when we perform an action and also when we see someone else perform that action.

Cognition

IN THIS CHAPTER

Summary: Do you remember how classical conditioning compares with operant conditioning? In order to profit from what you learn, you need to remember it—information from sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and even skin sensations needs to be translated into codes that your brain can store and you can retrieve. Memory is your capacity to register, store, and recover information over time, or more simply, the persistence of learning over time. Your memory can be affected by how well you focus your attention, your motivation, how much you practice, your state of consciousness when you learn something and your state of consciousness when you recall it, and interference from other events and experiences. Cognitive psychologists study cognition , all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, and remembering information.

This chapter looks at how you make memories, remember and forget them, solve problems, and use thinking in your use of language.

Key Ideas

Models of memory

Organization of memories in long-term memory (LTM)

Retrieving stored memories

Forgetting

Language

Thinking

Problem solving

Creativity

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Models of Memory

Different models are used to explain memory. No model accounts for all memory phenomena.

Information Processing Model

The general information processing model compares our mind to a computer. According to this model, input is information. First input is encoded when our sensory receptors send impulses that are registered by neurons in our brain, similar to getting electronic information into our computer’s CPU (central processing unit) by keyboarding. We must store and retain the information in our brain for some period of time, ranging from a moment to a lifetime, similar to saving information in our computer’s hard drive. Finally, information must be retrieved upon demand when it is needed, similar to opening up a document or application from the hard drive.

Because we are unable to process all incoming sensory stimulation that is available, we start seeking out, focusing on, and selecting aspects of the available information. Donald Broadbent modeled human memory and thought processes using a flowchart that showed competing information filtered out early, as it is received by the senses and analyzed in the stages of memory. Attention is the mechanism by which we restrict information. Trying to attend to one task over another requires selective or focused attention . We have great difficulty when we try to attend to two complex tasks at once requiring divided attention , such as listening to different conversations or driving and texting. In dichotic listening experiments, participants heard different messages through left and right headphones simultaneously. They were directed to attend to one of the messages and repeat back the words (shadow it). Very little about the unattended message was processed, unless the participant’s name was said, which was noticed (the cocktail party effect ). When the cocktail party effect occurred, information was lost from the attended ear. According to Anne Treisman’s feature integration theory, you must focus attention on complex incoming auditory or visual information in order to synthesize it into a meaningful pattern.

Levels of Processing Model

According to Fergus Craik and Robert Lockhart’s levels of processing model, how long and how well we remember information depends on how deeply we process the information when it is encoded. With shallow processing, we use structural encoding of superficial sensory information that emphasizes the physical characteristics, such as lines and curves, of the stimulus as it first comes in. We assign no relevance to shallow processed information. For example, once traffic passes and no more traffic is coming, we cross the street. We notice that vehicles pass, but don’t pay attention to whether cars, bikes, or trucks make up the traffic and don’t remember any of them. Semantic encoding, associated with deep processing, emphasizes the meaning of verbal input. Deep processing occurs when we attach meaning to information and create associations between the new memory and existing memories (elaboration ). Most of the information we remember over long periods is semantically encoded. For example, if you noticed a new red sports car, just like the one you dream about owning, zoom past you with the license plate, “FASTEST1,” and with your English teacher in the driver’s seat, you would probably remember it. One of the best ways to facilitate later recall is to relate the new information to ourselves (self-referent encoding ), making it personally meaningful.

Three-Stage Model

A more specific information processing model, the Atkinson-Shiffrin three-stage model of memory, describes three different memory systems characterized by time frames: sensory memory, short-term memory (STM), and long-term memory (LTM) (see Figure 11.1 ). External events from our senses are held in our sensory memory just long enough to be perceived. In sensory memory, visual or iconic memory that completely represents a visual stimulus lasts for less than a second, just long enough to ensure that we don’t see gaps between frames in a motion picture. Auditory or echoic memory lasts for about 4 seconds, just long enough for us to hear a flow of information. Most information in sensory memory is lost. Our selective attention, focusing of awareness on a specific stimulus in sensory memory, determines which very small fraction of information perceived in sensory memory is encoded into short-term memory. Encoding can be processed automatically or require our effort. Automatic processing is unconscious encoding of information about space, time, and frequency that occurs without interfering with our thinking about other things. This is an example of parallel processing, a natural mode of information processing that involves several information streams simultaneously. Effortful processing is encoding that requires our focused attention and conscious effort.

Figure 11.1 Atkinson–Shiffrin three-stage model of memory.

Short-Term Memory

Short-term memory (STM) can hold a limited amount of information for about 30 seconds unless it is processed further. Experiments by George Miller demonstrated that the capacity of STM is approximately seven (plus or minus two) unrelated bits of information at one time. STM lasts just long enough for us to input a seven-digit phone number after looking it up in a telephone directory. Then the number disappears from our memory. How can we get around these limitations of STM? We can hold our memory longer in STM if we rehearse the new information, consciously repeat it. The more time we spend learning new information, the more we retain of it. Even after we’ve learned information, more rehearsal increases our retention. The additional rehearsal is called overlearning . While rehearsal is usually verbal, it can be visual or spatial. People with a photographic or eidetic memory can “see” an image of something they are no longer looking at. We can increase the capacity of STM by chunking, grouping information into meaningful units. A chunk can be a word rather than individual letters, or a date rather than individual numbers, for example.

Although working memory is often used as a synonym for STM, Alan Baddeley’s working memory model involves much more than chunking, rehearsal, and passive storage of information. Baddeley’s working memory model is an active three-part memory system that temporarily holds information and consists of a phonological loop, visuospatial working memory, and the central executive. The phonological loop briefly stores information about language sounds with an acoustic code from sensory memory and a rehearsal function that lets us repeat words in the loop. Visuospatial working memory briefly stores visual and spatial information from sensory memory, including imagery, or mental pictures. The central executive actively integrates information from the phonological loop, visuospatial working memory, and long-term memory as we associate old and new information, solve problems, and perform other cognitive tasks. Working memory actively processes visual and auditory information, and focuses our attention. Working memory accounts for our ability to carry on a conversation (using the phonological loop), while exercising (using visuo-spatial working memory) at the same time. Most of the information transferred into long-term memory seems to be semantically encoded.

Long-Term Memory

Long-term memory is the relatively permanent and practically unlimited capacity memory system into which information from short-term memory may pass. LTM is subdivided into explicit memory and implicit memory. Explicit memory, also called declarative memory, is our LTM of facts and experiences we consciously know and can verbalize. Explicit memory is further divided into semantic memory of facts and general knowledge, and episodic memory of personally experienced events. Implicit memory, also called non-declarative memory, is our long-term memory for skills and procedures to do things affected by previous experience without that experience being consciously recalled. Implicit memory is further divided into procedural memory of motor and cognitive skills, and classical and operant conditioning effects, such as automatic associations between stimuli. Procedural memories are tasks that we perform automatically without thinking, such as tying our shoelaces or swimming.

Organization of Memories

How is information in long-term memory organized? Four major models account for organization of LTM: hierarchies, semantic networks, schemas, and connectionist networks. Hierarchies are systems in which concepts are arranged from more general to more specific classes. Concepts, mental representations of related things, may represent physical objects, events, organisms, attributes, or even abstractions. Concepts can be simple or complex. Many concepts have prototypes, which are the most typical examples of the concept. For example, a robin is a prototype for the concept bird; but penguin, emu, and ostrich are not. The basic level in the hierarchy, such as bird in our example, gives us as much detail as we normally need. Superordinate concepts include clusters of basic concepts, such as the concept vertebrates, which includes birds. Subordinate concepts are instances of basic concepts. Semantic networks are more irregular and distorted systems than strict hierarchies, with multiple links from one concept to others. Elements of semantic networks are not limited to particular aspects of items. For example, in a semantic network, the concept of bird can be linked to fly, feathers, wings, animals, vertebrate, robin, canary, and others, which can be linked to many other concepts. We build mental maps that organize and connect concepts to let us process complex experiences. Dr. Steve Kosslyn showed that we seem to scan a visual image of a picture (mental map) in our mind when asked questions. Schemas are preexisting mental frameworks that start as basic operations and then get more and more complex as we gain additional information. These frameworks enable us to organize and interpret new information, and can be easily expanded. These large knowledge structures influence the way we encode, make inferences about, and recall information. A script is a schema for an event. For example, because we have a script for elementary school, even if we’ve never been to a particular elementary school, we expect it to have teachers, young students, a principal, classrooms with desks and chairs, etc. Connectionism theory states that memory is stored throughout the brain in connections between neurons, many of which work together to process a single memory. Changes in the strength of synaptic connections are the basis of memory. Cognitive psychologists and computer scientists interested in artificial intelligence (AI) have designed the neural network or parallel processing model that emphasizes the simultaneous processing of information, which occurs automatically and without our awareness. Neural network computer models are based on neuronlike systems, which are biological rather than artificially contrived computer codes; they can learn, adapt to new situations, and deal with imprecise and incomplete information.

Biology of Long-Term Memory

According to neuroscientists, learning involves strengthening of neural connections at the synapses, called long-term potentiation (or LTP). LTP involves an increase in the efficiency with which signals are sent across the synapses within neural networks of long-term memories. This requires fewer neurotransmitter molecules to make neurons fire and an increase in receptor sites. Where were you when you heard about the 9/11 disaster? Like a camera with a flashbulb that captures a picture of an event, you may have captured that event in your memory. A flashbulb memory, a vivid memory of an emotionally arousing event, is associated with an increase of adrenal hormones triggering release of energy for neural processes and activation of the amygdala and hippocampus involved in emotional memories.

Evidence from electrophysiology, neuroimaging, computational modeling, and neuropsychology shows that memory function is more integrated rather than isolated in specific brain areas. Although memory is distributed throughout the brain, in multiple memory systems, specific regions are more actively involved in both short-term and long-term memories. The role of the thalamus in memory seems to involve the encoding of sensory memory into short-term memory. STM seems to be located primarily in the prefrontal cortex and temporal lobes. The hippocampus, frontal and temporal lobes of the cerebral cortex, and other regions of the limbic system are involved in explicit long-term memory. Destruction of the hippocampus results in anterograde amnesia, the inability to put new information into explicit memory; no new semantic memories are formed. Another type of amnesia, retrograde amnesia, involves memory loss for a segment of the past, usually around the time of an accident, such as a blow to the head. This may result from disruption of the process of long-term potentiation. Studies using fMRI indicate that the hippocampus and left frontal lobe are especially active in encoding new information into memory, and the right frontal lobe is more active when we retrieve information. A person with damage to the hippocampus can develop skills and learn new procedures. The cerebellum is involved in implicit memory of skills, and studies involving patients with Parkinson’s disease have indicated involvement of basal ganglia in implicit memory too.

Retrieving Memories

Retrieval is the process of getting information out of memory storage. Whenever we take tests, we retrieve information from memory in answering multiple-choice, fill-in, and essay questions. Multiple-choice questions require recognition, identification of learned items when they are presented. Fill-in and essay questions require recall, retrieval of previously learned information. Often the information we try to remember has missing pieces, which results in reconstruction, retrieval of memories that can be distorted by adding, dropping, or changing details to fit a schema.

Hermann Ebbinghaus experimentally investigated the properties of human memory using lists of meaningless syllables. He practiced lists by repeating the syllables and keeping records of his attempts at mastering them. He drew a learning curve . Keeping careful records, he then tested to see how long it took to forget a list. He drew a forgetting curve that declined rapidly before slowing. He found that recognition was sometimes easier than recall to measure forgetting. A method he used to measure retention of information was the savings method , the amount of repetitions required to relearn the list compared to the amount of repetitions it took to learn the list originally. Ebbinghaus also found that if he continued to practice a list after memorizing it well, the information was more resistant to forgetting. He called this the overlearning effect . When we try to retrieve a long list of words, we usually recall the last words and the first words best, forgetting the words in the middle. This is called the serial position effect. The primacy effect refers to better recall of the first items, thought to result from greater rehearsal; the recency effect refers to better recall of the last items. Immediately after learning, the last items may still be in working memory, accounting for the recency effect. We may remember words from the beginning of the list days later because rehearsal moved the words into our LTM.

What helps us remember? Retrieval cues, reminders associated with information we are trying to get out of memory, aid us in remembering. Retrieval cues can be other words or phrases in a specific hierarchy or semantic network, context, and mood or emotions. Priming is activating specific associations in memory either consciously or unconsciously. Retrieval cues prime our memories.

Cramming for a test does not help us remember as well as studying for the same total amount of time in shorter sessions on different occasions. Numerous studies have shown that distributed practice, spreading out the memorization of information or the learning of skills over several sessions, facilitates remembering better than massed practice, cramming the memorization of information or the learning of skills into one session.

If we use mnemonic devices or memory tricks when encoding information, these devices will help us retrieve concepts, for example, acronyms such as ROY G. BIV for colors of the spectrum (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet) or sayings such as, “My very educated mother just served us noodles” for the planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune). Another mnemonic, the method of loci, uses association of words on a list with visualization of places on a familiar path. For example, to remember ten items on a grocery list (chicken, corn, bread, etc.), we associate each with a place in our house (a chicken pecking at the front door, corn making a yellow mess smashed into the foyer, etc.). At the grocery store, we mentally take a tour of our house and retrieve each of the items. Another mnemonic to help us remember lists, the peg word mnemonic, requires us to first memorize a scheme such as “One is a bun, two is a shoe,” and so on, then mentally picture using the chicken in the bun, the corn in the shoe, etc. These images help both to encode items into LTM and later to retrieve them back into our working memory.

Successful retrieval often depends on the match between the way information is encoded in our brains and the way it is retrieved. The context that we are in when we experience an event, the mood we are in, and our internal state all affect our memory of an event. Our recall is often better when we try to recall information in the same physical setting in which we encoded it, possibly because along with the information, the environment is part of the memory trace; this process is called context-dependent memory. Taking a test in the same room where we learned information can result in greater recall and higher grades. Mood congruence aids retrieval. We recall experiences better that are consistent with our mood at retrieval; we remember information of other happy times when we are happy, and information of other sad times when we are unhappy. Finally, memory of an event can be state-dependent; things we learn in one internal state are more easily recalled when in the same state again. Although memory of anything learned when people are drunk is not good, if someone was drunk when he or she hid a gift, he or she might recall where the gift was hidden when he or she was drunk again.

Forgetting

Forgetting may result from failure to encode information, decay of stored memories, or an inability to access information from LTM. Encoding failure results from stimuli to which we were exposed never entering LTM because we did not pay attention to them. For example, most of us cannot remember what is on the front or back of different denominations of money. We use money to pay for things, yet have never paid attention to the details of the coins or paper bills. Decay of stored memories can be explained by a gradual fading of the physical memory trace. We may not remember vocabulary words we learned in a class for a different language several years ago because we have never used that information, and the neural connections are no longer there. Relearning is a measure of retention of memory that assesses the time saved compared to learning the first time when learning information again. If relearning takes as much time as initial learning, our memory of the information has decayed.

Cues and Interference

Forgetting that results from inability to access information from LTM can result from insufficient retrieval cues, interference, or motivated forgetting, according to Freud. Sometimes we know that we know something but can’t pull it out of memory; this is called tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon. Often, providing ourselves with retrieval cues we associate with the blocked information can enable us to recall it. Learning some items may prevent retrieving others, especially when the items are similar. This is called interference. Proactive interference occurs when something we learned earlier disrupts recall of something we experience later. Trying to remember a new phone number may be disrupted by the memory of an old phone number. Retroactive interference is the disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information. Someone asks us for our old address and it is blocked because our new address interferes with our recall of it.

Hint: Proactive interference is forward-acting . Retroactive interference is backward-acting . If we learn A, then B, and we can’t remember B because A got in the way, we are experiencing proactive interference. If we learn A, then B, and we can’t remember A because B got in the way, we are experiencing retroactive interference.

Sigmund Freud believed that repression (unconscious forgetting) of painful memories occurs as a defense mechanism to protect our self-concepts and minimize anxiety. Freud believed that the submerged memory still lingered in the unconscious mind, and with proper therapy, patience, and effort, these memories could be retrieved. Repressed memories are a controversial area of research today, with Elizabeth Loftus being one of the strongest opponents. She believes that rather than the memory of traumatic events, such as child molestation, being suddenly remembered during therapy, this phenomenon is more a result of the active reconstruction of memory and, thus, confabulation, filling in gaps in memory by combining and substituting memories from events other than the one we are trying to remember. Loftus has found that when we try to remember details at an accident scene, our emotional state, the questions a police officer may ask, and other confusing inconsistencies may result in confabulation. When asked how fast a car was going when it bumped, smashed, or collided into another vehicle, our estimate of the speed would probably differ depending on whether bumped or collided was part of the question. This misinformation effect occurs when we incorporate misleading information into our memory of an event. Forgetting what really happened, or distortion of information at retrieval, can result when we confuse the source of information—putting words in someone else’s mouth—or remember something we see in the movies or on the Internet as actually having happened. This is a misattribution error, also referred to as source amnesia .

Research has shown that we can improve our memory. Applying the information in this section, we can improve our memory for information in AP Psychology by overlearning, spending more time actively rehearsing material, relating the material to ourselves, using mnemonic devices, activating retrieval cues, recalling information soon after we learn it, minimizing interference, spacing out study sessions, and testing our own knowledge.

Language

Language is a flexible system of spoken, written, or signed symbols that enables us to communicate our thoughts and feelings. Language transmits knowledge from one generation to the next and expresses the history of a culture.

Building Blocks: Phonemes and Morphemes

Language is made up of basic sound units called phonemes. The phonemes themselves have no meaning. Of about 100 different phonemes worldwide, English uses about 45. Morphemes are the smallest meaningful units of speech, such as simple words, prefixes, and suffixes. Most morphemes are a combination of phonemes. For example, farm is made up of three phonemes (sounds) and one morpheme (meaning). Farmer has two morphemes. By adding -er to farm we change the meaning of the word to an individual who farms.

Combination Rules

Each language has a system of rules that determines how sounds and words can be combined and used to communicate meaning, called grammar. The set of rules that regulate the order in which words can be combined into grammatically sensible sentences in a language is called syntax. When we hear a sentence or phrase that lacks proper syntax, such as, “a yellow, big balloon,” we know it doesn’t sound right. The set of rules that enables us to derive meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences is semantics. Sentences have both a surface structure (the particular words and phrases) and a deep structure (the underlying meaning).

Language Acquisition Stages

From birth, we can communicate. A newborn’s cry alerts others to the infant’s discomfort. Children’s language development proceeds through a series of stages from the simple to the more complex. The coos and gurgles of the newborn turn into the babbling of the 4-month-old baby. Babbling is the production of phonemes, not limited to the phonemes to which the baby is exposed. Around 10 months of age, however, the phonemes a baby uses narrow to those of the language(s) spoken around him or her. At about their first birthday, most babies use a holophrase —one word—to convey meaning. They may point outdoors and say, “Go!” By their second birthday, they begin to put together two-word sentences, telegraphic speech characterized by the use of a verb and noun, such as “eat cookie.” At between 2 and 3 years of age, the child’s vocabulary expands exponentially. Sentences also increase in length and complexity. By the age of 3, children begin to follow the rules of grammar without any instruction. A 3-year-old says, “I goed to the store,” indicating use of the general rule that we form the past tense by adding -ed to a word. This is an example of overgeneralization or overregularization in which children apply grammatical rules without making appropriate exceptions. As their language develops further, children are able to express more abstract ideas that go beyond the physical world around them and to talk about their feelings.

Theories of Language Acquisition

Young children quickly acquire the language of others around them. Nativists argue that we are born with a biological predisposition for language, while behaviorists insist that we develop language by imitating the sounds we hear to create words. There is no debate about the sequential stages of language development described in the above section. Representing the nature side, nativist Noam Chomsky says that our brains are prewired for a universal grammar of nouns, verbs, subjects, objects, negations, and questions. He compares our language acquisition capacity to a “language acquisition device,” in which grammar switches are turned on as children are exposed to their language. He cites overgeneralization as evidence that children generate all sorts of sentences they have never heard, and thus could not be imitating. He further believes that there is a critical period for language development. If children are not exposed to language before adolescence, Chomsky believes they will be unable to acquire language. On the nurture side of the language acquisition debate, behaviorist B. F. Skinner believed that children learn language by association, reinforcement, and imitation. He contended that babies merely imitate the phonemes around them and get reinforcement for these. A baby’s first meaningful use of words is a result of shaping that is done by parents over the course of the first year. Today, social interactionists agree with both sides that language acquisition is a combination of nature and nurture. They believe, like Chomsky, that children are biologically prepared for language, but, like Skinner, they assert that the environment can either activate this potential or constrain it. Cognitive neuroscientists emphasize that the building of dense neuronal connections during the first few years of life is critical for the mastery of grammar.

Thinking

Thinking affects our language, which in turn affects our thoughts. Linguist Benjamin Whorf proposed a radical hypothesis that our language guides and determines our thinking. He thought that different languages cause people to view the world quite differently. Some words do not translate into other languages. In support of his idea, people who speak more than one language frequently report a different sense of themselves depending on the language they are speaking at the time. His linguistic relativity hypothesis has largely been discredited by empirical research. Rather than language determining what we can perceive, a more likely hypothesis is that the objects and events in our environment determine the words that become a part of our language.

Do you ever think about how you solve problems to attain goals? If so, you engage in metacognition, thinking about how you think. We usually manipulate concepts to solve problems. Concepts enable us to generalize, associate experiences and objects, access memories, and know how to react to specific experiences.

Problem Solving

How do we solve problems? Most problem-solving tasks involve a series of steps. Typically, we first identify that we have a problem. Next we generate problem-solving strategies. These can include using an algorithm or a heuristic, or breaking the problem into smaller problems, developing subgoals that move us toward the solution. An algorithm is a problem-solving strategy that involves a slow, step-by-step procedure that guarantees a solution to many types of problems. Although we will eventually solve the problem correctly using an algorithm, we usually want to solve problems quickly and employ heuristics or mental shortcuts to solve most problems. For example, when we’re not sure how to spell the word receive , rather than look up the word in the dictionary, we usually follow the heuristic “I before E , except after C , or when sounded like ‘ay,’ as in neighbor and weigh .” A heuristic suggests but does not guarantee a solution to a problem, and can result in incorrect solutions. Sometimes after trying to find a solution to a problem for a while, the solution suddenly comes to us. Insight is a sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem. For example, after trying to unscramble the letters NEBOTYA to form a word, you suddenly realize that the word is bayonet . When we don’t have a clue how to solve a problem, we often start with a trial and error approach. This approach involves trying possible solutions and discarding those that do not work. If we need a combination lock for a locker and find an old lock in the drawer, we can try combinations of three numbers that come to mind, but this can be time consuming and may not lead to a solution. Trial and error works best when choices are limited. After we have tried to solve a problem, we need to evaluate the results. How will we decide if we have solved the problem? Using critical thinking, we think reflectively and evaluate the evidence. We reason by transforming information to reach conclusions. Inductive reasoning involves reasoning from the specific to the general, forming concepts about all members of a category based on some members, which is often correct but may be wrong if the members we have chosen do not fairly represent all of the members. Deductive reasoning involves reasoning from the general to the specific. Deductions are logically correct and lead to good answers when the initial rules or assumptions are true. Have we attained our goal? Over time, we may profit from rethinking and redefining problems and solutions.

Obstacles to Problem Solving

Sometimes we are unsuccessful at solving a problem; we cannot attain our goal. What hinders our ability to solve the problem? Obstacles to problem solving and biases in reasoning can keep us from reaching a goal. Fixation is an inability to look at a problem from a fresh perspective, using a prior strategy that may not lead to success. If we’ve solved 10 problems in a 50-problem set using one rule, we tend to use the same rule to solve the 11th. This tendency to approach the problem in the same way that has been successful previously is a type of fixation called mental set. We may get stuck on the 11th problem because it requires a different rule from the first 10. Another type of fixation that can be an obstacle to problem solving is called functional fixedness, a failure to use an object in an unusual way. For example, if people are carrying plastic tablecloths to a picnic area when it starts to rain, and they get soaked because they aren’t wearing raincoats and don’t have umbrellas, they are evidencing functional fixedness. They could have used the tablecloths to protect them from the rain. Using decision-making heuristics when we problem solve can result in errors in our judgments. Amos Tversky and Nobel prize winner Daniel Kahneman studied how and why people make illogical choices. They looked at two types of research. Normative studies ask how we ought to make decisions, and do not actually reflect how people make decisions. Descriptive studies look at how decisions are actually being made. Tversky and Kahneman found we often make erroneous decisions based on intuition. Under conditions of uncertainty, we often use the availability heuristic, estimating the probability of certain events in terms of how readily they come to mind. For example, many people who think nothing of taking a ride in a car are afraid to ride in an airplane because they think it is so dangerous. In fact, riding in an airplane is much safer; we are far less likely to be injured or die as a result of riding in an airplane. Other errors in decision making result from using the representative heuristic, a mental shortcut by which a new situation is judged by how well it matches a stereotypical model or a particular prototype. Is someone who loves to solve math problems more likely to be a mathematics professor or a high school student? Although many people immediately reply that it must be the professor, the correct answer to the problem is the high school student. The total number of high school students is so much greater than the total number of mathematics professors that even if only a small fraction of high school students love to solve math problems, there will be many more of them than mathematics professors. Framing refers to the way a problem is posed. How an issue is framed can significantly affect people’s perceptions, decisions, and judgments. We are more likely to buy a product that says it is 90% fat-free, than if it says it contains 10% fat. A suggestion can have a powerful effect on how we respond to a problem. Kahneman and Tversky asked if the length of the Mississippi River is longer or shorter than some suggested length and then asked how long the person thinks the river actually is. When the suggested length was 500 miles, the length guessed was much smaller than when the suggested length was 5,000 miles. The anchoring effect is this tendency to be influenced by a suggested reference point, pulling our response toward that point.

Biases

Confirmation bias is a tendency to search for and use information that supports our preconceptions and ignore information that refutes our ideas. To lessen this tendency, we can consider the opposite. Belief perseverance is a tendency to hold onto a belief after the basis for the belief is discredited. This is different from belief bias, the tendency for our preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning, making illogical conclusions seem valid or logical conclusions seem invalid. Hindsight bias is a tendency to falsely report, after the event, that we correctly predicted the outcome of the event. Finally, the overconfidence bias is a tendency to underestimate the extent to which our judgments are erroneous. For example, when reading this section dealing with obstacles to problem solving and errors in decision making, we tend to think that we make these errors less often than most other people do.

Creativity

Creativity is the ability to think about a problem or idea in new and unusual ways, to come up with unconventional solutions. One way to overcome obstacles to problem solving and avoid biases in reasoning is to borrow strategies from creative problem solvers. Convergent thinkers use problem-solving strategies directed toward one correct solution to a problem, whereas divergent thinkers produce many answers to the same question, characteristic of creativity. When they feel stuck on a particular problem, creative thinkers tend to move on to others. Later they come back to those stumpers with a fresh approach. To combat the confirmation and overconfidence biases, when beginning to solve a problem, creative problem solvers brainstorm, generating lots of ideas without evaluating them. After collecting as many ideas as possible, solutions are reviewed and evaluated.

Review Questions

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Directions: For each question, choose the letter of the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.

1 . The three stages of the Atkinson-Shiffrin process of memory are

(A) iconic, echoic, encoding

(B) sensory, short term, long term

(C) shallow, medium, and deep processing

(D) semantic, episodic, procedural

(E) cerebellum, temporal lobe, hippocampus

2 . Which of the following examples best illustrates episodic memory?

(A) telling someone how to tie a shoe

(B) answering correctly that the Battle of Hastings was in 1066

(C) knowing that the word for black in French is noir

(D) remembering that a clown was at your fifth birthday party

(E) long-term memory for the times tables learned in second grade

3 . Doug wrote a grocery list of 10 items, but leaves it at home. The list included in order: peas, corn, squash, onions, apples, pears, bananas, flour, milk, and eggs. If the law of primacy holds, which of the following is Doug most likely to remember when he gets to the store?

(A) peas, pears, eggs

(B) banana, flour, peas

(C) apples, pears, bananas

(D) flour, milk, eggs

(E) peas, corn, onions

4 . In the preceding example, which of the items would be recalled in Doug’s short-term memory immediately after writing the list?

(A) peas, corn, squash

(B) peas, corn, onions

(C) apples, pears, bananas

(D) flour, milk, eggs

(E) flour, corn, bananas

5 . According to the levels of processing theory of memory,

(A) we remember items that are repeated again and again

(B) maintenance rehearsal will encode items into our long-term memory

(C) deep processing involves elaborative rehearsal, ensuring encoding into long-term memory

(D) input, output, and storage are the three levels

(E) we can only hold 7 items in our short-term memory store before it is full

6 . Which of the following brain structures plays a key role in transferring information from short-term memory to long-term memory?

(A) hypothalamus

(B) thalamus

(C) hippocampus

(D) frontal lobe

(E) parietal lobe

7 . Dai was drunk, so his girlfriend convinced him to get out of his car, and she drove him home in her car. He could not remember where his car was parked when he got up the next morning, but after drinking some liquor, Dai remembered where he left his car. This phenomenon best illustrates

(A) the misinformation effect

(B) mood-congruent memory

(C) the framing effect

(D) state-dependent memory

(E) anterograde amnesia

8 . Phonemes are:

(A) the rules of grammar that dictate letter combinations in a language

(B) the smallest unit of sound in a language

(C) the smallest unit of meaning in a language

(D) semantically the same as morphemes

(E) about 100 different words that are common to all languages

9 . Because it has all of the features commonly associated with the concept bird, a robin is considered

(A) a prototype

(B) a schematic

(C) an algorithm

(D) a phenotype

(E) a heuristic

10 . Compared to convergent thinkers, to solve a problem, divergent thinkers are more likely to:

(A) process information to arrive at the single best answer

(B) think creatively and generate multiple answers

(C) problem solve in a systematic step-by-step fashion

(D) frequently suffer from functional fixedness

(E) use algorithms rather than heuristics to arrive at a solution

11 . Unlike B. F. Skinner, Noam Chomsky believes that children

(A) learn to speak by mimicking the sounds around them

(B) speak more quickly if their parents correct their mispronunciations early

(C) are hard-wired for language acquisition

(D) learn language more quickly if positive rewards are given to them

(E) can learn to speak correctly only during a critical age

12 . Which of the following is a good example of functional fixedness?

(A) failing to use a dime as a screwdriver when you have lost your screwdriver

(B) not being able to solve a physics problem because you apply the same rule you always do

(C) using a blanket as a pillow

(D) adding water to a cake mix when it calls for milk

(E) thinking of an apple first when you are asked to name fruits

13 . Having been told that Syd is an engineer and Fran is an elementary school teacher, when Arnold meets the couple for the first time, he assumes that Syd is the husband and Fran is the wife, rather than the opposite, which is the case. This best illustrates:

(A) confirmation bias

(B) cognitive illusion

(C) the mere exposure effect

(D) the anchoring effect

(E) the representativeness heuristic

14 . Which of the following is a holophrase one-year-old Amanda is likely to say?

(A) “Mmmmm”

(B) “Gaga”

(C) “Eat apple”

(D) “I eated the cookie”

(E) “Bottle”

15 . Which of the following exemplifies retroactive interference?

(A) After suffering a blow to the head, Jean cannot form new memories.

(B) Elle failed a Spanish test because she studied for her Italian test after studying Spanish.

(C) Lee cannot remember an important date on the history exam.

(D) Gene cannot remember his new locker combination but remembers last year’s.

(E) Jodi remembers the first few items on her school supply list, but can’t remember the rest of them.

Answers and Explanations

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1 . B— The three stages of the Atkinson-Shiffrin process of memory are sensory memory, short-term (working) memory, and long-term memory.

2 . D— Episodic memories, like having a clown at your fifth birthday, are memories of events which happened to you personally—rather than factual semantic memories like dates, math problems, and French vocabulary—or procedural memories like how to tie a shoe.

3 . E— Peas , corn , and onions all are words at the beginning of the list. The primacy effect refers to better recall for words at the beginning of a list, which have been transferred to long-term memory as a result of rehearsal.

4 . D— Flour, milk, and eggs are the last items on the list. They are likely to be in our short-term memory for retrieval for 20 seconds unless rehearsed. Words at the beginning of the list, as in the question above, are more likely encoded into our long-term memories because we have rehearsed them more often than items at the end of the list.

5 . C— Elaborative rehearsal enables deeper processing of information into long-term memory. It makes both encoding into and retrieval from long-term memory easier.

6 . C— Although explicit memories are not necessarily stored in the hippocampus, we know that hippocampal damage does affect processing of explicit memories for semantic and episodic events into long-term memory.

7 . D— Dai remembered where he left his car when he was in the same physiological state as when he was last in his car.

8 . B— There are about 100 phonemes worldwide; the English language uses about 45 of them.

9 . A— When asked to mention types of birds, an average or typical one likely to come to mind (a prototype) would be a robin because it has all the characteristics of the category.

10 . B— Divergent thinkers think out of the box, generate more possible solutions, and are more creative thinkers than convergent thinkers.

11 . C— Nativist Noam Chomsky has suggested that babies come equipped with a language acquisition device in their brains that is preprogrammed to analyze language as they hear it and determine its rules.

12 . A— Using a dime to substitute for a screwdriver shows a lack of functional fixedness because you are able to come up with an unconventional way to use a standard item when needed.

13 . E— Arnold made a faulty decision based on his prototypes that elementary school teachers are women and engineers are men.

14 . E— The one-year-old communicates that she wants a drink using a holophrase, one word.

15 . B— In retroactive interference we can’t recall previously learned information, because newer information (Italian) disrupts the older information (Spanish) and makes it more difficult to retrieve.

Rapid Review

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Memory —human capacity to register, retain, and remember information.

Three models of memory:

1. Information processing model of memory—encoding, storage, and retrieval.

• Encoding —the process of putting information into the memory system.

• Storage —the retention of encoded information over time.

• Retrieval —the process of getting information out of memory storage.

We have difficulty attending to two complex tasks—divided attention.

2. Levels of processing theory or semantic network theory —the ability to form memories depends upon the depth of the processing.

• Shallow processing —structural encoding emphasizes structure of incoming sensory information.

• Deep processing —semantic encoding involves forming an association or attaching meaning to a sensory impression and results in longer-lasting memories.

Self-reference effect or self-referent encoding —processing information deemed important or relevant more deeply, making it easier to recall.

3. Atkinson-Shiffrin model: Three memory systems—sensory, short term, and long term.

Sensory memory —memory system that holds external events from the senses for up to a few seconds.

• Visual encoding —the encoding of picture images.

• Iconic memory —a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli.

• Acoustic encoding —the encoding of sound, especially the sound of words.

• Echoic memory —a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli.

• Selective attention —the focusing of awareness on stimuli in sensory memory that facilitates its encoding into STM.

• Automatic processing —unconscious encoding of information about space, time, and frequency that occurs without interfering with our thinking about other things.

• Parallel processing —a natural mode of information processing that involves several information streams simultaneously.

• Effortful processing —encoding that requires our attention and conscious effort.

• Feature extraction (pattern recognition) —finding a match for new raw information in sensory storage by actively searching through long-term memory.

Short-term memory (STM) —working memory, 20 seconds before forgotten; capacity of seven plus or minus two items.

• Rehearsal —conscious repetition of information to either maintain information in STM or to encode it for storage.

• Maintenance rehearsal —repetition that keeps information in STM about 20 seconds.

• Elaborative rehearsal —repetition that creates associations between the new memory and existing memories stored in LTM.

• Chunking —grouping information into meaningful units increasing the capacity of STM.

• Mnemonic devices —memory tricks or strategies to make information easier to remember.

• Method of loci —uses visualization with familiar objects on a path to recall information in a list.

• Peg word system —uses association of terms to be remembered with a memorized scheme (“One is a bun, two is …”).

Long-term memory (LTM) —relatively permanent storage with unlimited capacity, LTM is subdivided into explicit (declarative) memory and implicit memory.

• Explicit memory (declarative) —memory of facts and experiences that one consciously knows and can verbalize. Explicit memory is subdivided into semantic memory (memory of general knowledge or objective facts) and episodic memory (memory of personally experienced events).

• Implicit memory (nondeclarative) —retention without conscious recollection of learning the skills and dispositions. Implicit memory includes procedural memory —memories of perceptual, motor, and cognitive skills.

Four major models account for organization of information in LTM:

1 . Hierarchies —systems in which concepts are arranged from more general to more specific classes.

Concepts —mental representations of related things.

Prototypes —the most typical examples of a concept.

2 . Semantic networks —more irregular and distorted systems than strict hierarchies, with multiple links from one concept to others.

3 . Schemas —frameworks of basic ideas and preconceptions about people, objects, and events based on past experience.

Script —a schema for an event.

4 . Connectionism —theory that memory is stored throughout the brain in connections between neurons, many of which can work together to process a single memory.

Artificial intelligence (AI) —a field of study in which computer programs are designed to simulate human cognitive abilities such as reasoning, learning, and understanding language.

Neural network or parallel processing model —clusters of neurons that are interconnected (and computer models based on neuronlike systems) and process information simultaneously, automatically, and without our awareness.

Long-term potentiation or LTP —an increase in a synapse’s firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation and possibly the neural basis for learning and memory, involving an increase in the efficiency with which signals are sent across the synapses within neural networks.

The biology of memory:

• The thalamus is involved in encoding sensory memory into STM.

• The hippocampus is involved in putting information from STM into LTM.

• The amygdala is involved in the storage of emotional memories.

• The cerebellum processes implicit memories and seems to store procedural memory and classically conditioned memories.

• The basal ganglia process implicit memories.

Retrieval —the process of getting information out of memory storage. Key terms and concepts associated with retrieval include:

• Retrieval cue —a stimulus that provides a trigger to get an item out of memory.

• Priming —activating specific associations in memory either consciously or unconsciously.

• Recognition —identification of something as familiar such as multiple choice and matching questions on a test.

• Recall —retrieval of information from LTM in the absence of any other information or cues such as for an essay question or fill-in on a test.

• Reconstruction —retrieval that can be distorted by adding, dropping, or changing details to complete a picture from incomplete stored information.

• Confabulation —process of combining and substituting memories from events other than the one you’re trying to remember.

• Flashbulb memory —vivid memory of an emotionally significant moment or event.

• Misinformation effect —incorporation of misleading information into memories of a given event.

• Serial position effect —better recall for information that comes at the beginning (primacy effect) and at the end of a list of words (recency effect) .

• Encoding specificity principle —retrieval depends upon the match between the way information is encoded and the way it is retrieved.

• Context-dependent memory —physical setting in which a person learns information is encoded along with the information and becomes part of the memory trace.

• Mood congruence (mood-dependent memory) —tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one’s current good or bad mood.

• State-dependent memory effect —tendency to recall information better when in the same internal state as when the information was encoded.

• Distributed practice —spreading out the memorization of information or the learning of skills over several sessions typically produces better retrieval than massed practice.

• Massed practice —cramming the memorization of information or the learning of skills into one session.

Forgetting —the inability to retrieve information. Forgetting results from failure to encode, decay of stored memories, or inability to access stored information. Key terms and concepts associated with memory include:

• Interference —learning some items prevents retrieving others, especially when the items are similar.

• Proactive interference —the process by which old memories prevent the retrieval of newer memories.

• Retroactive inference —the process by which new memories prevent the retrieval of older memories.

• Repression —the tendency to forget unpleasant or traumatic memories hidden in the unconscious mind according to Freud.

• Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon —the often temporary inability to access information accompanied by a feeling that the information is in LTM.

• Anterograde amnesia —inability to put new information into explicit memory resulting from damage to hippocampus; no new semantic memories are formed.

• Retrograde amnesia —memory loss for a segment of the past, usually around the time of an accident.

Overlearning —continuing to practice after memorizing information makes it more resistant to forgetting.

Cognition —all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, and remembering.

Metacognition —thinking about how you think.

Problem-solving steps typically involve identifying a problem, generating problem-solving strategies, trying a strategy, and evaluating the results.

Trial and error —trying possible solutions and discarding those that fail to solve the problem.

Algorithm —problem-solving strategy that involves a step-by-step procedure that guarantees a solution to certain types of problems.

Heuristic —a problem-solving strategy used as a mental shortcut to quickly simplify and solve a problem, but that does not guarantee a correct solution.

Insight learning —the sudden appearance (often creative) or awareness of a solution to a problem.

Deductive reasoning —reasoning from the general to the specific.

Inductive reasoning —reasoning from the specific to the general.

Hindrances to problem solving may include:

• Mental sets —barriers to problem solving that occur when we apply only methods that have worked in the past rather than trying new or different strategies.

• Functional fixedness —when we are not able to recognize novel uses for an object because we are so familiar with its common use.

• Cognitive illusion —systematic way of thinking that is responsible for an error in judgment.

• Availability heuristic —a tendency to estimate the probability of certain events in terms of how readily they come to mind.

• Representativeness heuristic —tendency to judge the likelihood of things according to how they relate to a prototype.

• Framing —the way an issue is stated. How an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments.

• Anchoring effect —tendency to be influenced by a suggested reference point, pulling our response toward that point.

• Confirmation bias —tendency to notice or seek information that already supports our preconceptions and ignore information that refutes our ideas.

• Belief perseverance —the tendency to hold onto a belief after the basis for the belief is discredited.

• Belief bias —the tendency for our preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning, making illogical conclusions seem valid or logical conclusions seem invalid.

• Hindsight bias —the tendency to falsely report, after the event, that we correctly predicted the outcome of the event.

• Overconfidence bias —the tendency to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments.

Overcoming obstacles to problem solving can include:

• Creativity —the ability to think about a problem or idea in new and unusual ways to come up with unconventional solutions.

• Incubation —putting aside a problem temporarily; allows the problem solver to look at the problem from a different perspective.

• Brainstorming —generating lots of possible solutions to a problem without making prior evaluative judgments.

• Divergent thinking —thinking that produces many alternatives or ideas.

• Convergent thinking —conventional thinking directed toward a single correct solution.

Language —communication system based on words and grammar; spoken, written, or gestured words and the way they are combined to communicate meaning from person to person and to transmit civilization’s accumulated knowledge. Key elements of language include:

• Phonemes —smallest units of sound in spoken language.

• Morphemes —the smallest unit of language that has meaning.

• Grammar —a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others.

• Syntax —rules that are used to order words into grammatically sensible sentences.

• Semantics —a set of rules we use to derive meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences.

Key concepts and terms associated with language development include:

• Babbling —an infant’s spontaneous production of speech sounds; begins around 4 months old.

• Holophrase —one-word utterances that convey meaning; characteristic of a 1-year-old.

• Telegraphic speech —meaningful two-word sentences, usually a noun and a verb, and usually in the correct order uttered by 2-year-olds.

• Overgeneralization or overregularization —application of grammatical rules without making appropriate exceptions (“I goed to the store”).

• Behavioral perspective —language is developed by imitating sounds we hear to create words.

• Nativist perspective —idea that the human brain has an innate capacity for acquiring language (language acquisition device) possibly during a critical period of time after birth, and that children are born with a universal sense of grammar (Noam Chomsky).

• Social interactivist perspective —babies are biologically equipped for learning language, which may be activated or constrained by experience.

Linguistic relativity hypothesis —our language guides and determines our thinking (Whorf). It is more accurate to say that language influences thought.

1. “The persistence of learning over time” best defines

(A) cognition.

(B) retrieval.

(C) memory.

(D) thinking.

(E) language.

2. When Amelia was learning about the function of lysosomes in cells, she related their function to her own use of Lysol™ to kill germs. This strategy for remembering information uses

(A) dual processing.

(B) priming.

(C) mnemonic devices.

(D) state dependence.

(E) self-referent encoding.

3. Although memory function is distributed throughout the brain, specific regions more actively involved in implicit memory are the

(A) cerebellum and basal ganglia.

(B) thalamus and hippocampus.

(C) left frontal lobe and hippocampus.

(D) left and right frontal lobes.

(E) pons and right parietal lobe.

4. When José received a letter soliciting a donation from a charity he regularly supports, he was planning to send a $15 contribution. The return section had check boxes for his contribution for $100, $75, $50, and “Other.” José sent them $25. This best illustrates

(A) confirmation bias.

(B) serial position effect.

(C) the mere exposure effect.

(D) the representativeness heuristic.

(E) the anchoring effect.

Answers

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1. C— Memory is the capacity to register, store, and recover information over time.

2. E— Amelia made the information personally meaningful.

3. A— Memory of skills is associated with healthy functioning of the cerebellum and basal ganglia, whereas explicit memory is more closely associated with the thalamus, hippocampus, and frontal lobes.

4. E— Suggesting a particular reference point is a strategy charities often use to pull our response toward that amount.

Motivation and Emotion

IN THIS CHAPTER

Summary: Why do you do what you do? Motivation is a psychological process that directs and maintains your behavior toward a goal, fueled by motives, which are needs or desires that energize your behavior. Theories of motivation generally distinguish between primary, biological motives such as hunger, thirst, sex, pain reduction, optimal arousal, aggression; and secondary, social motives such as achievement, affiliation, autonomy, curiosity, and play. Social motives are learned motives acquired as part of growing up in a particular society or culture. Emotion is closely related to motivation. Some psychologists even define emotions as specific motivated states. Emotion is a psychological feeling that involves a mixture of physiological arousal, conscious experience, and overt behavior. Emotions include love, hate, fear, and jealousy. Instinct/evolutionary, drive reduction, incentive, arousal, and humanistic theories look at motivation differently. James-Lange, Cannon-Bard, Schachter-Singer, and opponent-process theories explain the relationship between physiological changes and emotional experiences differently. Both motivation and emotion spur us into action.

This chapter looks closely at direction and maintenance of behavior toward a goal and the psychological feelings that result.

Key Ideas

Instinct/Evolutionary theory of motivation

Drive reduction theory of motivation

Incentive theory of motivation

Arousal theory of motivation

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Physiological motives—hunger, thirst, pain, sex

Social motives—achievement, affiliation

Social conflict situations

James-Lange theory of emotion

Cannon-Bard theory of emotion

Opponent-process theory of emotion

Schachter-Singer two-factor theory of emotion

Cognitive-appraisal theory of emotion

Stress

Coping

Positive psychology

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Theories of Motivation

Instinct/Evolutionary Theory

Charles Darwin’s theory of Natural Selection indicated that individuals best adapted to their environment will be more likely to survive and reproduce, passing their favorable characteristics on to the next generation. As a result, a beneficial trait (one with high adaptive value) tends to become more common in succeeding generations. Eventually almost all individuals in the population will have the beneficial characteristic. Darwin believed that many behaviors were characteristics that could be passed on. William James thought that motivation by instincts was important for human behavior. In the early 1900s, a small group of psychologists led by William McDougall believed all thought and action necessarily resulted from instincts such as curiosity, aggression, and sociability. Sigmund Freud’s theory of personality is based on instincts that motivate sex and aggression. Instincts are complex, inherited behavior patterns characteristic of a species. To be considered a true instinct, the behavior must be stereotypical, performed automatically in the same way by all members of a species in response to a specific stimulus. Birds and butterflies flying south to mate, or salmon swimming upstream to mate, are examples of animals carrying out their instincts, also called fixed-action patterns. Ethologist (animal behaviorist) Konrad Lorenz, who worked with baby ducks and geese, investigated an example considered an instinct. Ducks and geese form a social attachment to the first moving object they see or hear at a critical period soon after birth by following that object, which is usually their mother. This behavior is known as imprinting. When Lorenz was the first moving object they saw, the baby birds followed him, and retained an attachment to humans throughout their lives.

Evolutionary psychologists may work in the field of sociobiology, which tries to relate social behaviors to evolutionary biology. For example, they look at evolutionary mating patterns that differ between the two sexes; a male may be motivated to mate with multiple partners to increase the chance of his genes getting into the next generation, while a female might be motivated to mate for life with the male who has the best resources to take care of her and her children.

Psychologists today debate if there are any human behaviors that can be considered true instincts. Is rooting/sucking behavior complex enough to be considered instinctive behavior, or is it merely reflexive? How much of human behavior is instinctive? Psychologists have found it necessary to devise other theories beyond instinct/evolutionary theory to account for human behavior.

Drive Reduction Theory

According to Clark Hull’s drive reduction theory, behavior is motivated by the need to reduce drives such as hunger, thirst, or sex. The need is a motivated state caused by a physiological deficit, such as a lack of food or water. This need activates a drive, a state of psychological tension induced by a need, which motivates us to eat or drink, for example. Generally, the greater the need, the stronger the drive. Eating food or drinking water reduces the need by satisfying our hunger or quenching our thirst, and our body returns to its state of homeostasis. Homeostasis is the body’s tendency to maintain an internal steady state of metabolism, to stay in balance. Metabolism is the sum total of all chemical processes that occur in our bodies and are necessary to keep us alive. Scientists have identified many of the neural pathways and hormonal interactions associated with biological needs and drives. For example, receptor cells for thirst and hunger are in the hypothalamus. Drive reduction theory accounts well at least to some extent for primary motives such as hunger, thirst, pain, and sex. This biologically based theory does not account as well for secondary motives such as achievement, affiliation, autonomy, curiosity, power, and play that are social in nature.

Incentive Theory

Primary motives push us to satisfy our biologic needs. But we are also pulled by environmental factors, which have little to do with biology. An incentive is a positive or negative environmental stimulus that motivates behavior, pulling us toward a goal. Secondary motives, motives we learn to desire, are learned through society’s pull. Getting a 5 on the AP Psychology examination is an incentive that motivates you to read this book.

Arousal Theory

What explains people’s needs to climb mountains, bungee jump, or ride roller coasters? Arousal is the level of alertness, wakefulness, and activation caused by activity in the central nervous system. The optimal level of arousal varies with the person and the activity. The Yerkes-Dodson law states that we usually perform most activities best when moderately aroused, and efficiency of performance is usually lower when arousal is either low or high. We tend to perform difficult or newly learned tasks better at a lower level of arousal, but we tend to perform very easy or well-learned tasks at a higher level of arousal. When first learning to drive a car, we will drive best if we are not anxious about our performance. Years later, we may need the radio on while we are driving to keep us aroused for our best performance.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow categorized needs and then arranged them in order of priority, starting with powerful physiological needs, such as the needs for food and water. His hierarchy is often pictured as a pyramid (Figure 12.1 ). Maslow agreed with Hull that basic biological needs to satisfy hunger and thirst must be met first, followed by our safety needs to feel safe, secure, and stable in a world that is organized and predictable. When our stomachs are growling because we are hungry and homeless, it is unlikely that our greatest motivation will be to get a high grade on a test. When our needs for food, drink, shelter, and safety have been met, we are motivated to meet our belongingness and love needs, to love and be loved, to be accepted by others and considered part of a group, such as a family, and to avoid loneliness and alienation. This need is followed by esteem needs for self-esteem, achievement, competence, and independence; and the need for recognition and respect from others. According to Maslow, few people reach the highest levels of self-actualization, which is achievement of all of our potentials, and transcendence, which is spiritual fulfillment. Although this theory is attractive, we do not always place our highest priority on meeting lower-level needs. Political activists go on hunger strikes, soldiers sacrifice their lives, parents go without food in order to feed their children. Scientific evidence does not support this theory.

Figure 12.1 Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

Physiological Motives

Hunger

Why do you eat? You eat when you feel hungry because your stomach is contracting or your blood sugar is low, but you also eat because you love the taste of a particular food, and because you are with friends or family who are eating. Our eating behavior is influenced by biological, social, and cultural factors.

Early research indicated that stomach contractions caused hunger. Yet even people and other animals who have had their stomachs removed still experience hunger. Recent research has revealed receptor cells in the stomach that detect food in the stomach and send neural impulses along the vagus nerve to our brain, reducing our level of hunger.

Hunger and Hormones

Secretion of the hormone cholecystokinin by the small intestine when food enters seems to stimulate the hypothalamus to reduce our level of hunger. When the small intestine releases sugars into the blood, blood sugar concentration increases. When blood sugar levels are high, the pancreas secretes the hormone insulin. For some people, the sight and smell of appealing food can stimulate the secretion of insulin. High levels of insulin generally stimulate hunger. Insulin lowers the blood glucose level by increasing the use of glucose in the tissues, by promoting storage of glucose as glycogen in the liver and muscles, and by promoting formation of fat from glucose. When blood sugar levels are low, insulin release is inhibited and the pancreas secretes the hormone glucagon. Glucagon increases the blood glucose level by stimulating rapid conversion of glycogen into glucose, which is released by the liver and muscles into the bloodstream. Thus, insulin and glucagon work antagonistically through a negative feedback loop to help maintain homeostasis. Other secretions seem involved in hunger also, such as ghrelin secreted by an empty stomach that signals hunger and leptin secreted by fat cells that decreases hunger.

Hunger and the Hypothalmus

Neurons in the liver sensitive to glucose in the surrounding fluid send signals to the hypothalamus by way of the vagus nerve. Three parts of the hypothalamus in the brain seem to integrate information about hunger and satisfaction or satiety. The lateral hypothalamus (LH) was originally called the “on” button for hunger. When stimulated, this structure of the brain will start eating behavior, but if it is lesioned or removed, the individual will not eat at all, and will even starve to death. The ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) was called the satiety center, or “off” button, for hunger. When stimulated, it turns off the urge to eat and when removed, the organism will continue to eat excessively and gain weight rapidly. Recent research indicates that a third region of the hypothalamus called the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) also helps regulate eating behavior as a result of stimulation or inhibition by neurotransmitters. Norepinephrine, GABA, and neuropeptide Y seem to increase the desire for carbohydrates, whereas serotonin seems to decrease the desire for carbohydrates. When the hormone leptin, produced by fat cells, is released into the bloodstream, it acts on receptors in the brain to inhibit release of neuropeptide Y into the PVN, thus inhibiting eating behavior.

Eating and Environmental Factors

Although eating behavior is partially regulated by biological factors, environmental factors such as learned preferences, food-related cues, and stress also influence our desire to eat. We all seem to have some inborn taste preferences for sweet foods, salty foods, and high-fat foods, but learning also influences what we eat. People from different cultures show different patterns of food consumption. Meat and potatoes are consumed in larger quantities in the United States, while rice and fish are the staple foods in Japan. Religious values also influence eating behavior by setting specific rules for the foods we may eat and those we are not permitted to eat. Finally, we tend to learn our food habits from our parents, partly by observational learning and partly by classical conditioning, for example, by pairing foods with pleasant social interactions. What, how often, and how much we should eat are expectations we have learned since we were babies.

Obesity

Obesity and the potential for health problems associated with diabetes and hypertension are growing concerns in our population. People of normal weight tend to respond to internal, long-term bodily cues, such as stomach contractions and glucose–insulin levels; while those who are obese tend to pay more attention to the short-term, external cues, such as smell, attractiveness of food, and whether it is mealtime. Stress-induced arousal also stimulates eating behavior in a large proportion of the population.

Aware that obesity often leads to health problems and that millions of people try to lose weight, scientists have studied obesity and weight loss. By studying identical twins who were raised apart, they have found that some people inherit a predisposition to be overweight, while others have a predisposition to be too thin. Most people who lose weight on diets tend to put it back on. Most people who try to gain weight have difficulty keeping their weight up. These observations led to the set-point theory, that we each have a set point, or a preset natural body weight, determined by the number of fat cells in our body. When we eat less, our weight goes down and our fat cells contract, which seems to trigger processes that result in decreased metabolism and increased hunger. When we eat more, our weight goes up and our fat cells increase in size, which seems to result in increased metabolism and decreased hunger. If we continue to eat more, we can continue to gain weight, and our set point can go up. Some scientists theorize that many chronic dieters are restrained eaters who stringently control their eating impulses and feel guilty when they fail. They become disinhibited and eat excessively if their control is disrupted, which contributes to weight gain.

Eating Disorders

Slim models and actresses in the media are pictured as ideals in America and in some European countries. Some people are highly motivated to achieve this ideal weight, and develop eating disorders. Underweight people who weigh less than 85% of their normal body weight, but are still terrified of being fat, suffer from anorexia nervosa. People with this disorder are usually young women who follow starvation diets and have unrealistic body images. No matter how emaciated they become, people with anorexia still think they are fat and may continue to lose weight, which can result in death. Anorexia is associated with perfectionism, excessive exercising, and an excessive desire for self-control. Bulimia nervosa is a more common eating disorder characterized by eating binges involving the intake of thousands of calories, followed by purging either by vomiting or using laxatives. People with this disorder are also usually young women who think obsessively about food, but who are also terrified of being fat. Following the purge, people with bulimia typically feel guilty, self-critical, and depressed. Purging can cause sore throat, swollen glands, loss of tooth enamel, nutritional deficiencies, dehydration, and intestinal damage. Results of research suggest that some people suffering this disorder secrete less cholecystokinin than normal, have a low level of serotonin, have been teased for being overweight, participate in activities that require slim bodies, have been sexually abused, or are restrained eaters.

Thirst

Regulation of thirst is similar to regulation of hunger. The lateral hypothalamus seems to be the “on” button for both hunger and thirst. When stimulated, this area of the hypothalamus will start drinking behavior, but if it is lesioned or removed, the individual refuses liquids, even to the point of dehydration. Different neurotransmitters are involved in hunger and thirst. Mouth dryness plays a minor role in stimulating us to drink. More important is the fluid content of cells and the volume of blood. Osmoreceptors are sensitive to dehydration of our cells. When osmoreceptors detect shrinking of our cells, we become thirsty. The hypothalamus stimulates the pituitary to release antidiuretic hormone (ADH), which promotes reabsorption of water in the kidneys, resulting in decreased urination. When we vomit, donate blood, or have diarrhea, the volume of our blood decreases, resulting in decreased blood pressure. This stimulates kidney cells to release an enzyme that causes synthesis of angiotensin, which stimulates thirst receptors in our hypothalamus and septum. Drinking behavior and reabsorption of water in the kidneys result. Not only is thirst affected by internal cues, but it is affected by external cues too. We often get thirsty when we see other people drinking in real life or advertisements. These external stimuli can act as an incentive that stimulates drinking behavior, even when we have had enough to drink. What we drink is affected by customs as well as the weather.

Pain Reduction

Whereas hunger and thirst drives promote eating and drinking behavior, pain promotes avoidance or escape behavior to eliminate causes of discomfort. (Additional information about pain is in Chapter 8 .)

Sex

Like hunger and thirst, the sex drive involves the hypothalamus, but unlike hunger and thirst, the sex drive can be aroused by almost anything at any time and is not necessary for survival of an individual. The sex drive increases at puberty with an increase in male sex hormones, such as testosterone, and estrogen, as well as small amounts of testosterone, in females. Secretion of hormones by the hypothalamus stimulates the pituitary gland to secrete luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) into the bloodstream, which stimulate gonads (testes in males and ovaries in females) to secrete testosterone and estrogen that initiate and maintain arousal. Without these two hormones, sexual desire is greatly reduced in all species, but testosterone levels in humans seem related to sexual motivation in both sexes. Humans seem less instinctively driven to have children than other animals. Many learned cues are involved in this drive. Societies attempt to regulate sexual behavior by imposing sanctions against incest and encouraging or discouraging masturbation, premarital intercourse, marital intercourse, extramarital intercourse, and homosexuality.

In the 1940s, when biology professor Alfred Kinsey coordinated preparation for a marriage course, he found little scientific information available about sex and decided to pursue that research. He began to interview people about their sex histories, trained other interviewers, and founded the Institute for Sex Research, now the Kinsey Institute, at Indiana University. His popular book Sexual Behavior in the Human Male was based on thousands of interviews, although participants were not randomly selected. A similar book about females followed.

Sexual orientation refers to the direction of an individual’s sexual interest. Homosexuality is a tendency to direct sexual desire toward another person of the same sex, and bisexuality is a tendency to direct sexual desire toward people of both sexes. Heterosexuality is a tendency to direct sexual desire toward people of the opposite sex. While most people are heterosexual, about 10% are estimated to be homosexual. Women’s sexuality seems to be oriented and reoriented more easily than men’s, but there is no evidence that conversion therapy reorients sexuality. The biopsychosocial model supported by research studies attributes the causes of homosexuality to the interaction of biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors.

Although the sex drive is not necessary for survival of an individual, it is necessary for survival of the species. According to evolutionary psychologists, mammalian females lack incentive to mate with many males because they optimize reproductive success by being selective in mating, choosing a male who has resources to provide for children. On the other hand, males optimize reproductive success by mating with many females, choosing young, healthy, fertile females.

Masters and Johnson described a pattern of four stages in the biological sexual response cycle of typical men and women, including excitement characterized by sexual arousal; plateau, which involves increased breathing rate, muscle tension, heart rate, and blood pressure; orgasm, which is characterized by ejaculation in males and pleasurable sensations induced by rhythmic muscle contractions in both sexes; and resolution as blood leaves the genitals and sexual arousal lessens, followed in most males by a refractory period during which another erection or orgasm is not achieved. Females show less tendency for a refractory period and are often capable of multiple orgasms.

Social Motivation

Achievement

According to David McClelland, the achievement motive is a desire to meet some internalized standard of excellence. McClelland used responses to the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) to measure achievement motivation. He suggested that people with a high need for achievement choose moderately challenging tasks to satisfy their need. They avoid easy goals that offer no sense of satisfaction and avoid impossible goals that offer no hope of success. People low in need for achievement select very easy or impossible goals so that they do not have to take any responsibility for failure. College students high in this need attribute success to their own ability, and attribute failure to lack of effort. Some people fear success because success can invite envy or criticism that strains social relationships, or even rejection.

Affiliation

The affiliation motive is the need to be with others. In general, people isolated for a long time become anxious. The affiliation motive is aroused when people feel threatened, anxious, or celebratory. According to evolutionary psychologists, social bonds provided our ancestors with both survival and reproductive benefits offering group members opportunities for food, shelter, safety, reproduction, and care of the young. Affiliation behavior involves an interaction of biological and social factors.

Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation

When you do something because you enjoy it or want to test your ability or gain skill, your motivation is usually intrinsic. Curiosity and a desire for knowledge stem from intrinsic needs. Intrinsic motivation is a desire to perform an activity for its own sake rather than an external reward. Extrinsic motivation is a desire to perform an activity to obtain a reward from outside the individual, such as money and other material goods we have learned to enjoy, such as applause or attention. Society is largely extrinsically motivated by rewards such as money. People who are intrinsically motivated by inner desires for creativity, fulfillment, and inner satisfaction tend to be psychologically healthier and happier. When people are given a reward for doing something for which they are intrinsically motivated, their intrinsic motivation often diminishes, resulting in the overjustification effect in which promising a reward for doing something they already like to do results in them seeing the reward as the motivation for performing the task.

Social Conflict Situations

Conflict involves being torn in different directions by opposing motives that block you from attaining a goal, leaving you feeling frustrated and stressed. The least stressful are approach-approach conflicts, which are situations involving two positive options, only one of which you can have. For example, you are accepted to both Harvard and Yale and must decide which to attend. Avoidance-avoidance conflicts are situations involving two negative options, one of which you must choose. Some expressions, such as, “Between a rock and a hard place,” or, “Damned if you do and damned if you don’t,” and, “Between the devil and the deep blue sea,” exemplify this conflict. Approach-avoidance conflicts are situations involving whether or not to choose an option that has both a positive and negative consequence or consequences. Ordering a rich dessert ruins your diet but satisfies your chocolate cravings. The most complex form of conflict is the multiple approach–avoidance conflict, which involves several alternative courses of action that have both positive and negative aspects. For example, if you take the bus to the movies, you’ll get there in time to get a good seat and see the coming attractions, but you won’t have enough money to buy popcorn. If your parents drive you, you’ll have to help make dinner and wash the dishes. If you walk there, you may be late and get a bad seat, but you’ll have enough money to buy popcorn and you won’t have to help with dinner and the dishes.

Theories of Emotion

An emotion is a conscious feeling of pleasantness or unpleasantness accompanied by biological activation and expressive behavior; emotion has cognitive, physiological, and behavioral components. Two dimensions of emotion are arousal or intensity and valence or positive/negative quality. The greater the arousal, the more intense the emotion. Fear, anger, happiness, sadness, surprise, and disgust are examples of emotions. Evolutionary psychologists suggest that emotions persist because of their adaptive value. Fear of people and animals displaying angry faces, for example, caused humans to focus attention and energize action to protect themselves in ways that enabled the species to survive. Facial expressions seem to be inborn and universal across all cultures. Many areas in the brain, many neurotransmitter systems, the autonomic nervous system, and the endocrine system are tied to emotions. The amygdala, which is part of the limbic system, influences aggression and fear, and interacts with the hypothalamus, which sets emotional states, such as rage. The limbic system has pathways to and from the cerebral cortex, especially the frontal lobes, which are involved in control and interpretation of emotions. The left hemisphere is more closely associated with positive emotions, and the right with negative emotions. Emotions are inferred from nonverbal expressive behaviors, including body language, vocal qualities, and, most importantly, facial expressions. Paul Ekman and others found at least six basic facial expressions are universally recognized by people in diverse cultures all over the world. Emotions cause expressions, and expressions can also cause emotions.

Cultures differ in norms for regulating emotional expression; they have different display rules. For example, the Japanese, who value interdependence, promote more restraint in expression of emotions than other more individualistic cultures.

Psychologists agree that emotions associated with feelings (e.g., love, hate, fear) have physiological, behavioral, and cognitive components, but disagree as to how the three components interact to produce feelings and actions. No one theory seems sufficient to explain emotion, but each appears to contribute to an explanation.

James-Lange Theory

American psychologist William James, a founder of the school of functionalism, and Danish physiologist Karl Lange proposed that our awareness of our physiological arousal leads to our conscious experience of emotion. According to this theory, external stimuli activate our autonomic nervous systems, producing specific patterns of physiological changes for different emotions that evoke specific emotional experiences. When we see a vicious-looking dog growl at us, our sympathetic nervous system kicks in, we begin to run immediately, and then we become aware that we are afraid. This theory suggests that we can change our feelings by changing our behavior.

The James-Lange theory is consistent with the current facial-feedback hypothesis that suggests that our facial expressions affect our emotional experiences. Smiling seems to induce positive moods, and frowning seems to induce negative moods.

Cannon-Bard Theory

Walter Cannon and Philip Bard disagreed with the James-Lange theory. According to the Cannon-Bard theory, conscious experience of emotion accompanies physiological responses. Cannon and Bard theorized that the thalamus (the processor of all sensory information but smell in the brain) simultaneously sends information to both the limbic system (emotional center) and the frontal lobes (cognitive center) about an event. When we see the vicious growling dog, our bodily arousal and our recognition of the fear we feel occur at the same time.

We now know that although the thalamus does not directly cause emotional responses, it relays sensory information to the amygdala and hypothalamus, which process the information.

Opponent-Process Theory

According to opponent-process theory, when we experience an emotion, an opposing emotion will counter the first emotion, lessening the experience of that emotion. When we experience the first emotion on repeated occasions, the opposing emotion becomes stronger and the first emotion becomes weaker, leading to an even weaker experience of the first emotion. If we are about to jump out of an airplane for the first time, we tend to feel extreme fear along with low levels of elation. On subsequent jumps, we experience less fear and more elation.

Schachter-Singer Two-Factor Theory

Cognitive theories argue that our emotional experiences depend on our interpretation of situations. Stanley Schachter and Jerome Singer’s studies suggested that we infer emotion from arousal and then label it according to our cognitive explanation for the arousal. For example, if we feel aroused and someone is yelling at us, we must be angry.

Cognitive-Appraisal Theory

Different people on an amusement park ride experience different emotions. According to Richard Lazarus’s cognitive-appraisal theory, our emotional experience depends on our interpretation of the situation we are in. In primary appraisal, we assess potential consequences of the situation, and in secondary appraisal, we decide what to do. This suggests that we can change our emotions if we learn to interpret the situation differently.

Evolutionary psychologists disagree that emotions depend on our evaluation of a given situation. They note that emotional responses developed before complex thinking in animal evolution. Lower animals fear predators without thinking. Robert Zajonc thinks that we often know how we feel long before we know what we think in a given situation.

Stress and Coping

Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome

Stress is the process by which we appraise and respond to environmental threats. According to Hans Selye, we react similarly to both physical and psychological stressors. Stressors are stimuli such as heat, cold, pain, mild shock, restraint, etc., that we perceive as endangering our well-being. Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) three-stage theory of alarm, resistance, and exhaustion describes our body’s reaction to stress. During the alarm reaction, our body increases sympathetic nervous system activity and activates the adrenal glands to prepare us for “fight or flight,” which by increasing our heart and breathing rates, as well as the availability of glucose for energy, increases our strength for fighting an enemy or our ability to run away. During the second stage of resistance, our temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration remain high while the level of hormones, such as adrenalin and corticosteroids, continues to rise. If crises are not resolved in this stage, continued stress results in the depletion of our resources and decreased immunity to diseases characteristic of the third stage of exhaustion, which may result in illnesses like ulcers or depression, or even death.

Stressful Life Events

We can classify stressors on the basis of intensity from the most intense catastrophes, to significant life changes, to daily hassles.

Catastrophes are stressors that are unpredictable, large-scale disasters that threaten us. When catastrophes cause prolonged stress, health problems often result.

Significant life events include death of a loved one, marriage, divorce, changing jobs, moving to a new home, having a baby, and starting college. Holmes and Rahe created a “Social Readjustment Rating Scale” that rates stressful events in our lives. For example, death of a spouse receives the highest number of points at 100 and getting married receives 50. According to Holmes and Rahe, the higher our score on the scale, the greater the probability we will face a major health event within the next year.

Daily hassles are everyday annoyances, such as having to wait in lines, arguing with a friend, or getting a low grade on a quiz. Over time, these stressors can add up, raising our blood pressure, causing headaches, and lowering our immunity.

Stress and Health

High levels of stress are associated with decreased immunity, high blood pressure, headaches, heart disease, and quicker progression of cancer and AIDS.

According to Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman, people who have different characteristic patterns of reacting to stress have different probabilities of suffering heart attacks. Type A personalities are high achievers, competitive, impatient, multi-taskers, who walk, talk, and eat quickly. Type B personalities, in contrast, are those who are more relaxed and calm in their approach to life. Friedman and Rosenman found that Type A personalities were more likely to experience a heart attack in their 30s and 40s than Type B personalities. Current research suggests that the Type A traits of anger, hostility , and cynicism are most highly correlated with potential risks for cardiac problems. After a heart attack, however, Type As are more likely to make healthy changes in their lifestyles than Type Bs.

Coping Strategies

Coping strategies can be adaptive or maladaptive. Maladaptive strategies ordinarily fail to remove the stressors or wind up substituting one stressor for another. Adaptive strategies remove stressors or enable us to better tolerate them.

Maladaptive coping strategies include aggression; indulging ourselves by eating, drinking, smoking, using drugs, spending money, or sleeping too much; or using defense mechanisms.

Adaptive coping strategies vary from taking direct action through problem solving; to lessening stress through physically exercising, seeking the social support of friends, or finding help through religious organizations and prayer; to accepting the problem. For example, you can adopt the optimistic attitudes of hardy people by committing to a particular project or goal, seeing yourself as being in control rather than a victim of circumstance, and looking at finishing the project or realizing your goal as a challenge or opportunity. Health psychologists often suggest using relaxation, visualization, meditation, and biofeedback to help lessen the effects of stress in our lives, and boost our immune systems.

Positive Psychology

Subjective well-being, your assessment of how happy or satisfied you feel, has become a focus of positive psychology. Positive psychology, founded by Martin Seligman, is the scientific study of optimal human functioning. The three pillars of positive psychology are positive emotions, positive character, and positive groups, communities, and cultures.

Review Questions

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Directions: For each question, choose the letter of the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.

1 . Imprinting is

(A) the adaptive response of an infant when its mother leaves a room

(B) a maladaptive response of anxiety by an infant when abandoned by its mother

(C) a period shortly after birth when a newborn reacts to salty, sweet, or bitter stimuli

(D) a period shortly after birth when an adult forms a bond with his or her newborn

(E) the tendency of some baby animals to form an attachment to the first moving object they see or hear during a critical period after birth

2 . Which of the following topics would a sociobiologist be most interested in studying?

(A) whether or not ape communication can be defined as language

(B) whether pigeons are capable of cognitive learning

(C) altruistic acts that ensure the survival of the next generation

(D) aggressive behavior in stickleback fish related to sign stimuli

(E) stress and its relationship to heart attacks

3 . When asked why he wants to become a doctor, Tom says, “Because I’ve always liked biology and being a doctor will allow me to make a good salary to take care of a family.” His answer is most consistent with which of the following theories of motivation?

(A) drive reduction

(B) incentive

(C) hierarchy of needs

(D) arousal

(E) instinct

4 . According to the Yerkes-Dodson model, when facing a very difficult challenge, which level of arousal would probably lead to the best outcome?

(A) a very low level

(B) a moderately low level

(C) a moderate level

(D) a moderately high level

(E) a very high level

5 . The James-Lange theory of emotion states that

(A) emotional awareness precedes our physiological response to a stressful event

(B) emotional expression follows awareness of our physiological response to an arousing event

(C) an arousing event simultaneously triggers both a cognitive awareness and a physiological response

(D) the level of fear we first feel when we ride a roller coaster is reduced each time we experience the same event until thrill replaces it

(E) when we are unaware of why we are feeling arousal, we take our cue from the environment

6 . Which of the following factors stimulate us to eat?

(A) stomach contractions, high levels of glucagon, and stimulation of the VMH

(B) high levels of cholecystokinin, high levels of insulin, and stimulation of the VMH

(C) lack of cholecystokinin, high levels of glucagon, and stimulation of the LH

(D) lack of cholecystokinin, high levels of insulin, and stimulation of the LH

(E) low blood sugar, stomach contractions, and stimulation of the VMH

7 . Homeostasis refers to

(A) arousal of the sympathetic nervous system

(B) a tendency for individuals to behave consistently when highly motivated

(C) a need state resulting from the physiological experience of hunger or thirst

(D) the body’s tendency to maintain a balanced internal state

(E) the second stage of Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome

8 . During junior high, the typical student is preoccupied with making friends. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which of the following needs is he or she satisfying?

(A) fundamental needs

(B) safety needs

(C) love and belonging needs

(D) esteem needs

(E) self-actualization

9 . Adit really likes the appearance of the Chevy Blazer his friend is selling, but knows he should be more conservative with his money. What type of conflict situation is he facing?

(A) approach-approach

(B) approach-avoidance

(C) avoidance–avoidance

(D) multiple approach–avoidance

(E) no conflict because he either buys it or he doesn’t

10 . The number one tennis player on last year’s squad does not find her name on the list of students who made this year’s team. Which stage of Selye’s general adaptation syndrome is she most likely experiencing?

(A) alarm

(B) resistance

(C) denial

(D) competence

(E) exhaustion

11 . Which of the following characteristics of the Type A personality is most positively correlated with having a heart attack?

(A) competitive

(B) eating quickly

(C) impatient

(D) ambitious

(E) hostile

12 . Terrence’s parents were excited by his recent interest in reading science fiction novels. They bought him toy science fiction characters and praised him for reading the books. When they stopped giving him praise and toys, they were dismayed that he quit reading. Terrence’s behavior best illustrates

(A) the overjustification effect

(B) overlearning

(C) internal locus of control

(D) the self-fulfilling prophecy

(E) drive reduction theory

13 . Which of the following most accurately reflects our current understanding of basic facial expressions?

(A) Facial expressions are universally recognized and displayed by all cultures.

(B) Anger is easily interpreted as a facial expression by most cultures and displayed by all in similar situations.

(C) Facial expressions are universally recognized, but highly variable in how they are displayed.

(D) Cultures vary in their interpretation and display of the six most common facial expressions.

(E) Facial expressions are learned through modeling of basic facial expressions by parents.

14 . Follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormones (LH) are most closely associated with which of the following motivated behaviors?

(A) hunger

(B) thirst

(C) sex

(D) anxiety

(E) happiness

15 . Selection of moderately challenging tasks characterizes the behavior of people who have a

(A) fear of failing

(B) high need for achievement

(C) fear of success

(D) low need for achievement

(E) inferiority complex

Answers and Explanations

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1 . E— Imprinting is the tendency for the newborn of some animals, such as ducklings and goslings, to follow the first moving object they see or hear.

2 . C— Sociobiologists assume that human and animal behavior is based on a biological imperative to ensure survival of genetic material into the next generation. They believe that altruism—selfless behavior—is an instinct that serves this goal.

3 . B— Incentive theory discusses both the primary motives, such as hunger and sex, that push behavior, and the secondary motives, like achievement and money, that are pulled by incentives or rewards found in the environment.

4 . B— According to the Yerkes-Dodson inverted U graph of arousal, average tasks require a moderate level of arousal, very difficult tasks like this one require a moderately low level of arousal, and very easy tasks require a moderately high level of arousal. Very low and very high arousal levels are never optimal, because we need some arousal to do well, but too high a level agitates us.

5 . B— According to the James-Lange theory, we are aware of feeling emotions after the physiological and behavioral responses occur to environmental stimuli. I see the bear, I start to run, and then I realize I am afraid.

6 . D— The lateral hypothalamus (LH) is the “on” button that initiates eating behavior when food is not in our stomachs or small intestines, which is indicated by lack of cholecystokinin and high levels of insulin.

7 . D— Homeostasis is a balanced internal state. When the sympathetic nervous system is activated, the parasympathetic nervous system works to return the body to homeostasis.

8 . C— Most teens are looking to belong to groups and feel acceptance from others, which corresponds to Maslow’s third level in his hierarchy—love and belonging needs.

9 . B— Adit’s conflict situation involves only one choice, to buy or not to buy the truck, and thus this is the approach-avoidance situation. There is both a positive and a negative consequence to buying the new truck.

10 . A— The alarm stage is the first part of Selye’s general adaptation syndrome. The tennis player is probably in a state of shock and her stress at not making the team will cause the sympathetic nervous system to be activated. In the second stage of resistance, her coping skills will probably lessen her stress after the initial shock.

11 . E— Three characteristics of the Type A personality have been found to be positively correlated with heart disease—anger, hostility, and cynicism.

12 . A —In the overjustification effect here, an intrinsically rewarded behavior was turned into an extrinsically rewarded behavior and, thus, when the rewards were taken away by the parents, the behavior diminished.

13 . C— Cross-cultural studies conducted by Paul Ekman and others seem to support identification of six basic facial expressions across all cultures, but different display rules, depending on the culture.

14 . C— Follicle stimulating and luteinizing hormones are associated with sexual arousal in humans.

15 . B— People with a high need for achievement want to feel successful. If they select easy tasks, they are expected to be able to do them and don’t feel very successful. If they select difficult tasks, their likelihood of success is limited. By completing challenging but achievable tasks, they feel successful.

Rapid Review

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Motive is a need or a want that causes us to act. Motivation directs and maintains goal-directed behavior. Motivational theories explain the relationship between physiological changes and emotional experiences.

Theories of motivation include:

• Instinct theory —physical and mental instincts such as curiosity and fearfulness cause us to act. Instincts are inherited automatic species-specific behaviors.

• Drive reduction theory —focuses on internal states of tension, such as hunger, that motivate us to pursue actions that reduce the tension and bring us back to homeostasis, which is internal balance. Need is a motivated state caused by a physiological deficit. Drive is a state of psychological tension, induced by a need, which motivates us.

• Incentive theory —beyond the primary motives of food, drink, and sex that push us toward a goal, secondary motives or external stimuli such as money, approval, and grades regulate and pull us toward a goal.

• Arousal theory —each of us has an optimal level of arousal necessary to perform tasks which varies with the person and the activity. Arousal is the level of alertness, wakefulness, and activation caused by activity in the central nervous system. According to the Yerkes-Dodson law, for easy tasks, moderately high arousal is optimal; for difficult tasks, moderately low is optimal; and for most average tasks, a moderate level of arousal is optimal.

• Maslow’s hierarchy of needs —arranges biological and social needs in priority from the lowest level of (1) basic biological needs to (2) safety and security needs to (3) belongingness and love needs to (4) self-esteem needs to (5) self-actualization needs. The need for self-actualization, the need to fulfill one’s potential, and transcendence, spiritual fulfillment, are the highest needs and can only be realized after each succeeding need below has been fulfilled. Lacks evidence to support theory.

Physiological motives are primary motives such as hunger, thirst, pain, and sex influenced by biological factors, environmental factors, and learned preferences and habits. These include:

1. Hunger —increases with stomach contractions, low blood sugar, high insulin levels that stimulate the lateral hypothalamus (LH); high levels of the neurotransmitters norepinephrine, GABA, and neuropeptide Y that stimulate the paraventricular hypothalamus (PVN); environmental factors such as the sight and smell of desired foods, and stress. Stimulation of the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) stops eating behavior.

Set point —a preset natural body weight, determined by the number of fat cells in our body.

Anorexia nervosa —eating disorder most common in adolescent females characterized by weight less than 85% of normal, abnormally restrictive food consumption, and an unrealistic body image.

Bulimia nervosa —an eating disorder characterized by a pattern of eating binges involving intake of thousands of calories, followed by purging, either by vomiting or using laxatives.

2. Thirst —increases with mouth dryness; shrinking of cells from loss of water and low blood volume which, stimulate the lateral hypothalamus; and sight and smell of desired fluids.

3. Pain —promotes avoidance or escape behavior to eliminate causes of discomfort.

4. Sex —necessary for survival of the species, but not the individual. Testosterone levels in humans seem related to sexual motivation in both sexes. Sexual orientation refers to the direction of an individual’s sexual interest:

• Homosexuality —a tendency to direct sexual desire toward another person of the same sex.

• Bisexuality —a tendency to direct sexual desire toward people of both sexes.

• Heterosexuality —a tendency to direct sexual desire toward people of the opposite sex.

Masters and Johnson described a pattern of four stages in the biological sexual response cycle: sexual arousal, plateau, orgasm, and resolution.

Social motives are learned needs, such as the need for achievement and the need for affiliation, that energize behavior acquired as part of growing up in a particular society or culture.

Need for achievement —a desire to meet some internalized standard of excellence, related to productivity and success. People with a high need for achievement choose moderately challenging tasks to satisfy their need.

Affiliation motive —the need to be with others; is aroused when people feel threatened, anxious, or celebratory.

Intrinsic motivation —a desire to perform an activity for its own sake.

Extrinsic motivation —a desire to perform an activity to obtain a reward such as money, applause, or attention.

Overjustification effect —where promising a reward for doing something we already like to do results in us seeing the reward as the motivation for performing the task. When the reward is taken away, the behavior tends to disappear.

Social conflict situations involve being torn in different directions by opposing motives that block us from attaining a goal, leaving us feeling frustrated and stressed. Types of conflicts include:

• Approach-approach conflicts —situations involving two positive options, only one of which we can have.

• Avoidance-avoidance conflicts —situations involving two negative options, one of which we must choose.

• Approach-avoidance conflicts —situations involving whether or not to choose an option that has both a positive and negative consequence or consequences.

• Multiple approach–avoidance conflicts —situations involving several alternative courses of action that have both positive and negative aspects.

Emotions are psychological feelings that involve physiological arousal (biological component), conscious experience (cognitive component), and overt behavior (behavioral component). Physiological arousal involves stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system and hormonal secretion. The limbic system is the center for emotions; the amygdala influences aggression and fear and interacts with the hypothalamus. Basic emotions such as joy, fear, anger, sadness, surprise, and disgust are inborn. Cross-cultural studies support the universal recognition of at least six basic emotions based on facial expressions. Different cultures have different rules for showing emotions. No one theory accounts completely for emotions:

• Evolutionary theory —emotions developed because of their adaptive value, allowing the organism to avoid danger and survive. We often know how we feel before we know what we think.

• James-Lange theory —conscious experience of emotion results from one’s awareness of autonomic arousal.

• Cannon-Bard theory —the thalamus sends information to the limbic system and cerebral cortex simultaneously so that conscious experience of emotion accompanies physiological processes.

• Opponent-process theory —following a strong emotion, an opposing emotion counters the first emotion, lessening the experience of that emotion. On repeated occasions, the opposing emotion becomes stronger.

• Schachter-Singer two-factor theory —we determine an emotion from our physiological arousal and then label that emotion according to our cognitive explanation for the arousal.

• Cognitive-appraisal theory —our emotional experience depends on our interpretation of the situation we are in.

Health psychology looks at relationship between psychological behavior—thoughts, feelings, and actions—and physical health.

Stress —both psychological and physiological reactions to stressors; situations, events, or stimuli that produce uncomfortable feelings or anxiety.

Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome —three-stage process describes our body’s reaction to stress:

1. Alarm reaction —stressor triggers increased activity of the sympathetic nervous system.

2. Resistance —raised temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration maintained; levels of adrenalin and corticosteroids rise.

3. Exhaustion stage —immune system is weakened, increased susceptibility to ulcers, depression, death.

Stressful life events include:

• Catastrophes —unpredictable, large-scale disasters that threaten us.

• Significant life events —stressful changes in our lives such as death of a loved one, marriage, starting college, etc. Holmes and Rahe’s Social Readjustment Rating Scale rates stressful events in our lives. The greater the number and intensity of life-changing events, the greater is the chance of developing physical illness or disease in the following year.

• Daily hassles —everyday annoyances that together can raise our blood pressure, cause headaches, and lower our immunity.

Type A personalities with traits of anger, hostility, and cynicism are more likely to have heart attacks than Type B personalities. Type A personalities —high achievers, competitive, impatient, multitaskers, who walk, talk, and eat quickly. Type B personalities —relaxed and calm in their approach to life.

Coping strategies are active efforts to reduce or tolerate perceived levels of stress. Maladaptive coping strategies include aggression; indulging ourselves by eating, drinking, smoking, using drugs, spending money, or sleeping too much; or using defense mechanisms. (See Chapter 14 for defense mechanisms.)

Adaptive coping strategies include taking direct action through problem solving, exercising, seeking the social support of friends, finding help through religious organizations and prayer, and accepting the problem. Relaxation, visualization, meditation, and biofeedback can help lessen the effects of stress in our lives and boost our immune systems.

Positive psychology is the scientific study of optimal human functioning.

1. A psychological feeling that involves a mixture of physiological arousal, conscious experience, and overt behavior defines

(A) motivation.

(B) social motive.

(C) emotion.

(D) instinct.

(E) imprinting.

2. Which signals hunger?

(A) Stimulation of the ventromedial hypothalamus

(B) High levels of glucose in the blood

(C) Secretion of leptin from fat cells

(D) Secretion of ghrelin from the stomach

(E) Secretion of cholecystokinin from the small intestine

3. Maria is having difficulty deciding which college to attend. She wants to go away, but going to the local community college will save her thousands of dollars and eliminate her need for loans. Going to the state college will cost more money, but it will enable her to live in a dorm which she really wants to do. Going to an Ivy League college will be more prestigious and may open doors to the business career she wants, but it will cost even more money. This situation best exemplifies

(A) the overjustification effect.

(B) an approach-approach conflict.

(C) an avoidance-avoidance conflict.

(D) a multiple approach-avoidance conflict.

(E) Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome.

4. An argument against cognitive-appraisal theory is that

(A) we often know how we feel long before we know what we think in a particular situation.

(B) our emotional experience depends on our interpretation of the situation we are in.

(C) we can change our emotions if we learn to interpret the situation differently.

(D) continued stress results in the depletion of our resources.

(E) pain promotes avoidance or escape behavior.

Answers

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1. C —Emotions are specific motivated states.

2. D —Ghrelin is secreted by an empty stomach.

3. D —Maria must decide among several alternatives that all have both positive and negative aspects.

4. A —Choice B states Richard Lazarus’s cognitive-appraisal theory. Choice A is Robert Zajonc’s argument against it.

Developmental Psychology

IN THIS CHAPTER

Summary: From the womb to the tomb, developmental psychologists are interested in how we grow up and how we grow old. Developmental psychology is the study of physical, intellectual, social, and moral changes across the life span from conception to death. Developmental psychologists attempt to describe, explain, and predict age-related behaviors.

In this chapter we look at theories proposed by developmental psychologists in each of the four broad topic areas across the periods of infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.

Key Ideas

Nature vs. nurture

Continuity vs. discontinuity

Stability vs. change

Research designs—longitudinal, cross-sectional, cohort-sequential, retrospective

Physical development

Cognitive development

Moral development

Social development

Emotional development

Gender roles and sex differences

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Key Issues in Development

Nature vs. Nurture

For thousands of years, philosophers and psychologists took sides in the nature versus nurture controversy , dealing with the extent to which heredity and the environment each influences behavior. Today, psychologists agree that both nature and nurture interact to determine behavior, but they disagree as to the extent of each. Many biological psychologists, neuroscientists, and evolutionary psychologists argue the nativist (nature) position that basic structures for our behavior are genetically determined, and their expression depends on interaction with the environment. In other words, development results mostly from genetically determined maturation —biological growth processes that bring about orderly changes in behavior, thought, or physical growth, relatively unaffected by experience. On the other side, behaviorists argue that physical structures are genetically inherited and intellectual structures are learned; the environment shapes us. Developmental psychologists conduct experimental and observational studies on identical twins, for example, to try to determine the relative contributions of nature and nurture. (See Genetics and Behavior in Chapter 7 .)

Continuity vs. Discontinuity

A second controversy, continuity versus discontinuity, deals with the question of whether development is gradual, cumulative change from conception to death (continuity), or a sequence of distinct stages (discontinuity). Behaviorists who favor continuity focus on quantitative changes in number or amount, such as changes in height and weight. Vygotsky favored continuity. On the other hand, theorists such as Piaget, Kohlberg, Gilligan, and Erikson who favor distinct stages focus on qualitative changes in kind, structure, or organization. They theorize that the child and growing adult resolve conflicts or develop different abilities in stages through which everyone passes in the same order and that build upon one another; the growth pattern is discontinuous.

Stability vs. Change

A third controversy, stability versus change, deals with the issue of whether or not personality traits present during infancy endure throughout the life span. Psychoanalysts, followers of Freud, believe that personality traits developed in the first 5 years predict adult personality. Change theorists argue that personalities are modified by interactions with family, experiences at school, and acculturation. Developmental psychologists research which characteristics are most likely to remain stable and consistent, and which are likely to be more flexible and subject to change. Some aspects of temperament, such as energy level and outgoingness, seem relatively stable, whereas social attitudes are more likely to change.

Methods of Studying Development

Developmental psychologists conduct experiments, naturalistic observations, correlational studies, and case studies that enable them to assess change over time. (See Chapter 6 , Research Methods.) They use four basic research designs: longitudinal, cross-sectional, cohort-sequential, and retrospective studies.

Longitudinal Studies

A longitudinal study follows the same group of people over a period of time from months to many years in order to evaluate changes in those individuals. In 1921, Lewis Terman of Stanford University began studying a group of highly intelligent children who have been studied throughout their lives, providing important information about changes in intellectual functioning across the life span. Longitudinal studies can be extremely costly to conduct, take a long time to produce results, and typically lose participants over time. If those who drop out differ from the other subjects in significant ways, results of the study may not be generalizable to the original population.

Cross-Sectional Studies

On the other hand, cross-sectional studies cost less, do not lose participants, and produce results quickly, but they have other major weaknesses. In a cross-sectional study, researchers assess developmental changes with respect to a particular factor by evaluating different age groups of people at the same time. For example, to study life span changes in mathematical skills, psychologists could give the same math tests to groups of 15-, 25-, 35-, 45-, 55-, 65-, and 75-year-olds at the same time. Cross-sectional studies can be invalid if a cohort, group of people in one age group, is significantly different in their experiences from other age groups, resulting in the cohort effect, differences in the experiences of each age group as a result of growing up in different historical times. This difference is a confounding variable in the study. Obviously, most younger participants may have been exposed to calculators and computers their whole lives, whereas 65- and 75-year-olds have had fewer opportunities.

Cohort-Sequential Studies

To minimize the major drawbacks of both longitudinal and cross-sectional research designs, some researchers conduct cohort-sequential studies. In cohort-sequential studies, cross-sectional groups are assessed at least two times over a span of months or years, rather than just once. Results from one cohort are compared with other cohorts at the same age to evaluate their similarity; differences indicate a cohort effect. In this way, researchers can separate age-related changes from cohort effects. These studies share disadvantages of longitudinal research, but to a lesser extent.

Retrospective Studies

Biographical or retrospective studies are case studies that investigate development in one person at a time. Typically, a researcher interviews an individual at the older end of the age span of interest. The researcher reconstructs changes that have occurred in the subject’s life through the subject’s self-reports in interviews and examination of available data. Although these studies can be very detailed, they are not always correct because memory is not always accurate, and they may not be generalizable to a larger population.

Physical Development

Physical development focuses on maturation and critical periods. A critical period is a time interval during which specific stimuli have a major effect on development that the stimuli do not produce at other times.

Prenatal Development

Prenatal development begins with fertilization, or conception, and ends with birth. The zygote is a fertilized ovum with the genetic instructions for a new individual normally contained in 46 chromosomes. (See Genetics and Behavior in Chapter 7 .) During the first 2 weeks following conception, the zygote divides again and again forming first a hollow ball of cells that buries itself in the wall of the uterus and then a three-layered inner cell mass surrounded by outer cells attached to the uterine lining. Different genes function in cells of the three different layers; the forming individual is now considered an embryo. During the embryonic period from the third through the eighth weeks following conception, organs start to develop as a result of differentiation and specialization of cells; and the placenta, umbilical cord, and other structures form from the outer cells. As organs develop, the embryo is particularly sensitive to environmental stimuli such as chemicals and viruses. Nutrients, oxygen, wastes, and other substances pass from the woman’s blood into and out of the developing organism through the placenta. By the end of the eighth week, the embryo has a head with partially formed eyes, limbs, and a skeleton composed of cartilage. At this point, all organs are present in rudimentary form, and the developing individual begins to resemble a human; it is a fetus, the developing human organism from about 9 weeks after conception to birth. During the fetal period, the organ systems begin to interact, bone replaces cartilage in the skeleton, and sex organs and sense organs become more refined.

Birth Defects

Birth defects can result from a malfunctioning gene or an environmental stimulus. If the pregnant woman takes in poisonous chemicals or gets infected with a virus, developmental errors can result in birth defects that are not hereditary. Chemicals such as alcohol, drugs, tobacco ingredients, mercury, lead, cadmium, and other poisons; or infectious agents, such as viruses, that cause birth defects are called teratogens. The specific nature of a birth defect depends on which structures are developing at the time of exposure. Most birth defects develop during the embryonic period and are usually more severe than problems that develop later. The critical period for eyes, ears, arms, legs, and the heart is typically the first 3 months (first trimester) of pregnancy, while the critical period for damage to the reproductive system extends across the first and second trimesters of pregnancy. The critical period for the nervous system is all three trimesters. Because of the long critical period for brain development, many kinds of brain damage can result, the most severe during the embryonic and early fetal periods.

Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is a cluster of abnormalities that occurs in babies of mothers who drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy. Low intelligence, a small head with flat face, misshapen eyes, a flat nose, and thin upper lip characterize children with FAS. Intellectual impairment ranges from minor learning disabilities to severe intellectual disability. The more severe intellectual disability results from exposure of the embryo/fetus during the early months of pregnancy. Currently, FAS is the leading cause of intellectual developmental disorder in the United States. Cigarette smoking during pregnancy is associated with miscarriage, stillbirth, premature delivery, and low birth weight. Heroin- and cocaine-exposed fetuses that are born live may undergo withdrawal symptoms, and may be distractable and unable to concentrate. Researchers have difficulty pinpointing other prenatal effects of cocaine and heroin because affected babies are often exposed to additional substances and situations that can account for other symptoms.

Malnutrition, as well as prescription and over-the-counter drugs, can cause birth defects. Even certain nutrients ingested in large quantities can be teratogenic. For example, high doses of vitamin A can cause heart, nervous system, and facial defects. Viruses such as rubella can pass into the placenta and cause birth defects. During the first trimester of pregnancy, rubella can cause cataracts, deafness, and heart defects; during later weeks effects include learning disabilities, speech and hearing problems, and Type 1 diabetes.

Behavior of the Neonate

At birth, neonates, or newborn babies, are equipped with basic reflexes that increase their chances of survival. A sequence of rooting, sucking, and swallowing reflexes enables the neonate to get food. Rooting is the neonate’s response of turning his or her head when touched on the cheek and then trying to put the stimulus into his or her mouth. What touches the newborn’s cheek is frequently a nipple. Sucking is the automatic response of drawing in anything at the mouth. Swallowing is a contraction of throat muscles that enables food to pass into the esophagus without the neonate choking. The lack of some reflexes in a neonate can indicate possible brain damage to neuropsychologists. Among those they test are the grasping reflex, when the infant closes his/her fingers tightly around an object put in his/her hand, and the Moro or startle reflex, in which a loud noise or sudden drop causes the neonate to automatically arch his/her back, fling his/her limbs out, and quickly retract them. As the infant matures, developing voluntary control over behaviors, many of the reflexes disappear.

Neonates’ adaptive behavior is not limited to reflexes; they also show behaviors that facilitate social interactions. Shortly after birth, infants respond to the human face, voice, and touch. They show a preference for the voice and odor of their mothers. Their vision is best for objects normally about the distance from the infant’s eyes to the caretaker’s face. They can track objects with their eyes when they are only a few days old. Infants can distinguish among different colors, and they prefer certain complex patterns, such as the human face. Newborns also prefer sweet and salty tastes. Their sense of hearing is well developed at birth and typically the dominant sense during the baby’s first months. As structures in the eye and brain develop during infancy, visual acuity (clarity of vision) and depth perception improve, so that sight normally becomes a more dominant sense sometime during the second half of the baby’s first year.

How do psychologists know this information if babies can’t talk? Psychologists depend on gazes, sucking, and head turning measured by sophisticated computerized equipment in response to changes in stimuli to reveal abilities of infants. For example, when infants are shown a stimulus for the first time, they gaze at it for a length of time. With repeated presentations of that stimulus, they look away sooner. If a new stimulus is presented, and the infant can remember and discriminate between the two stimuli, the infant will look at the new stimulus longer than if he or she perceives no difference between the first and second stimulus. These are called habituation studies. Habituation is decreasing responsiveness with repeated presentation of the same stimulus.

The First Two Years

An infant’s physical development during the first two years is amazing. Brain development proceeds rapidly from the prenatal period, during which about 20 billion brain cells are produced, through the baby’s first two years, during which dendrites proliferate in neural networks, especially in the cerebellum, then in occipital and temporal lobes as cognitive abilities grow. Body proportions change as the torso and limbs grow more quickly, so that the head is less out of proportion to body size. Physical development of the musculoskeletal system from head to tail, and from the center of the body outward, accompanies nervous system maturation to enable the baby to lift its head, roll over, sit, creep, stand, and walk, normally in that order. Maturation, motor and perceptual skills, motivation, and environmental support all contribute to development of new behaviors. During childhood, proliferation of dendrites proceeds at a rapid rate, especially in the frontal cortex.

Adolescence

The next growth spurt comes in adolescence, following a dramatic increase in production of sex hormones. The defining feature of puberty is sexual maturation, marked by the onset of the ability to reproduce. Primary sex characteristics, reproductive organs (ovaries and testes) start producing mature sex cells, and external genitals (vulva and penis) grow. So do secondary sex characteristics —nonreproductive features associated with sexual maturity—such as widening of hips and breast development in females, growth of facial hair, muscular growth, development of the “Adam’s apple,” and deepening of the voice in males, and growth of pubic hair and underarm hair in both. Girls begin their growth spurt about two years before their first menstrual period (menarche ), typically at age 12 . Early maturation of females can put them at a social disadvantage, whereas early maturation of males can put them at a social advantage. Boys start their growth spurt about two years later than girls, but about two years before ejaculation of semen with viable sperm.

During adolescence, changes in the brain include selective pruning of unused dendrites with further development of the emotional limbic system, followed by frontal lobe maturation. Maturation of the prefrontal/frontal cortex involved in judgment and decision making continues into early adulthood.

Aging

By our mid-20s, our physical capabilities peak, followed by first almost imperceptible, then accelerating, decline. According to evolutionary psychologists, peaking at a time when both males and females can provide for their children maximizes chances of survival for our species. Decreased vigor, changes in fat distribution, loss of hair pigmentation, and wrinkling of the skin are changes associated with advances in age. In females at about age 50, menopause —cessation of the ability to reproduce—is accompanied by a decrease in production of female sex hormones. Men experience less frequent erections and a more gradual decline in reproductive function as they age. Typically, as adults age, the lenses of their eyes thicken, letting less light reach the retina and worsening vision for near objects; ability to detect high-pitched sounds decreases; and sensitivity to tastes, odors, and temperature may decrease. Neural processes slow and parts of the brain begin to atrophy. Physical signs of aging can be slowed, and to some extent reversed, if we stay physically, mentally, and socially active and have a healthy diet. Heart disease, stroke, cancer, Alzheimer’s, and other degenerative diseases are often terminal diseases of old age. Since they do not interfere with reproductive success, genes involved in these diseases do not incur any selective pressures. On average, men die about four years earlier than women.

Theories of Cognitive Development

Theories of cognitive development look at how our patterns of thinking, reasoning, remembering, and problem solving change as we grow. Most developmental theories focus on infancy, childhood, and adolescence.

Jean Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget developed a stage theory of cognitive development based on decades of careful observation and testing of children. His theory has been very influential because Piaget recognized that children think differently from adults. He thought that certain cognitive structures were innate, but only through a child’s interaction with the environment could they grow and develop over time.

Piaget believed that all knowledge begins with building blocks called schemas, mental representations that organize and categorize information processed by our brain. Through the process of assimilation, we fit new information into our existing schemas. Through the process of accommodation we modify our schemas to fit new information. As babies, we learn through accommodation that not all people fit our schema of mommy.

Sensorimotor (First) Stage

Piaget called the first stage of cognitive development, from birth to approximately age 2, the sensorimotor stage, during which the baby explores the world using his or her senses and motor interactions with objects in the environment. The concept of object permanence —that objects continue to exist even when out of sight—to Piaget seemed to develop suddenly between 8 and 10 months. Piaget said that the 5-month-old who sees a toy does not search for it if it disappears, but a 9-month-old does. Recently, psychologists have found that object permanence seems to develop gradually; young infants gaze where they saw a toy that disappeared. According to Piaget, infants at about 8 months of age also seem to develop stranger anxiety, fear of unfamiliar people, indicating that they can differentiate among people they know and people they don’t know.

Preoperational (Second) Stage

To Piaget, attainment of object permanence and stranger anxiety indicated that cognitive structures had matured sufficiently for the typical 2-year-old to represent and manipulate objects with symbols such as words, whether or not the objects were present, which characterizes Piaget’s second stage, the preoperational stage. From approximately age 2 to age 7, language develops with the ability to think. The child is mainly egocentric, seeing the world from his or her own point of view. Egocentrism is consistent with a belief called animism, that all things are living just like him or her; and the belief, called artificialism, that all objects are made by people. While preoperational, a child uses trial and error to figure out how things work and answers questions intuitively rather than logically. He or she sometimes demonstrates magical thinking, reasoning that something happens because he or she wishes it to happen.

Concrete Operational (Third) Stage

During Piaget’s third stage, the concrete operational stage, children between ages 7 and 12 develop simple logic and master conservation concepts, that changes in the form of an object do not alter physical properties of mass, volume, and number. For example, 12 ounces of juice in a tall, thin glass isn’t more than 12 ounces of juice in a short, fat glass. The child now can logically classify objects into categories mentally. Mathematically and logically, the concrete operational child recognizes reversibility (transformations), for example, that 3 + 4 = 4 + 3.

Formal Operational (Fourth) Stage

According to Piaget, after about age 12, children reason like adults in the fourth stage, the formal operational stage. In this stage, youngsters are able to think abstractly and hypothetically. They can manipulate more information in their heads and make inferences they were unable to make during the previous stage. Teens are able to consider questions involving abstract concepts, such as truth and justice. Some believe that the ability to think abstractly decreases in older adults partially because these skills are not utilized as often.

Piaget emphasized that increases in reasoning skill over time were punctuated by shifts in perspective, which were qualitative from one stage to the next. For example, in moving from the preoperational stage to the concrete operational stage, children decenter their perspective from egocentric to taking other people’s perspectives. With more experience, concrete operational thinkers cognitively reorganize their thinking to become the abstract thinkers of the formal operational stage. Although psychologists agree with the sequence of cognitive development steps and milestones proposed by Piaget, critics fault him for not acknowledging that children go through the stages at different rates, often more quickly than he predicted, and for not understanding that change is more gradual and continuous.

Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory of Cognitive Development

Whereas Piaget emphasized maturation (nature) and development in stages (discontinuity), Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky emphasized the role of the environment (nurture) and gradual growth (continuity) in intellectual functioning. Vygotsky thought that development proceeds mainly from the outside in by the process of internalization, absorbing information from a specified social environmental context. Children learn from observing the interactions of others and through their own interactions within the environment. Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of cognitive development assigns a significant role to mentors such as parents, teachers, and other students. A key concept is his zone of proximal development (ZPD ), the range between the level at which a child can solve a problem working alone with difficulty, and the level at which a child can solve a problem with the assistance of adults or more-skilled children. Working close to the upper limit of a child’s capability, the instructor and child work closely together to reach that goal, and then through continued practice, the child is able to attain it more and more independently. When the goal is achieved without help, then that goal becomes the lower limit for a new ZPD. Both Piaget and Vygotsky have influenced the ways that teachers are trained to help children learn.

Cognitive Changes in Adults

Piaget did not study changes in cognition as adults age. Adult thought is frequently richer and more adaptive than adolescent thought. Middle-aged adults tend to reason more globally and make more rational decisions than younger people. Gerontologist Warner Schaie has found that while fluid intelligence —those abilities requiring speed or rapid learning—generally diminishes with aging, crystallized intelligence —learned knowledge and skills such as vocabulary—generally improves with age (at least through the 60s). In situations that access their skills and long-term memories, older adults may show superior functioning to younger people, but with tasks that require effort, initiative, and speed, may show decline. Decline in mental abilities can be slowed if we stay healthy, live in a favorable environment, engage in stimulating activities, are flexible, have a mentally able partner, maintain perceptual processing speed, and feel satisfied with our earlier accomplishments.

Theories of Moral Development

Moral development refers to growth in the ability to tell right from wrong, control impulses, and act ethically. Lawrence Kohlberg, like Piaget, thought that moral thinking develops sequentially in stages as cognitive abilities develop. Kohlberg examined moral development by asking boys, male adolescents, and men how they would solve hypothetical moral problems, the most famous one dealing with Heinz, who must decide whether or not to steal a scarce drug he is unable to pay for in order to possibly save his wife’s life. Kohlberg analyzed the reasoning subjects used to arrive at their answers. Kohlberg concluded that our moral reasoning develops from simple and concrete to more abstract and principled. He suggested three basic levels of moral development consisting of two stages each.

• When at the preoperational stage of cognitive development, children tend to be at the preconventional level of morality, in which they do the right thing to avoid punishment (stage 1), or to further their self-interests (stage 2).

• When at the concrete operational stage of cognitive development, people tend to move on to the conventional level of morality, in which they follow rules to live up to the expectations of others, “good boy/nice girl” (stage 3), or to maintain “law and order” and do their duty (stage 4). Most teenagers and adults think morally at the conventional level.

• Some people who are in the formal operational stage of cognitive development progress to Kohlberg’s third or postconventional level of morality, in which they evidence a social contract orientation that promotes the society’s welfare (stage 5), or evidence an ethical principle orientation that promotes justice and avoids self-condemnation (stage 6).

Studies by other researchers show the same sequence of stages in moral development for stages 1 through 4. According to cross-cultural studies, people in individualistic societies, such as North Americans and Europeans, are more likely to show Kohlberg’s postconventional morality than those in collectivistic societies who value community standards over personal standards.

Applying Kohlberg’s scale to women, Carol Gilligan found that women rarely reach the highest stages of morality, because they think more about the caring thing to do or following an ethic of care, rather than what the rules allow or following an ethic of justice. She asserted that women are not morally inferior, just different. Subsequent studies by other researchers have found that both men and women use both justice and care dimensions in their moral reasoning. Other critics point out that people are often inconsistent in their moral reasoning, even when dealing with their own moral dilemmas. They also suggest that since both cultural factors and cognitive factors influence moral development, moral ideals are not universal.

Theories of Social and Emotional Development

Theories of social development look at the influence of others on the development of a person. Others include members of the family and other caregivers, peers, and even culture, which consists of the behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions transmitted from one generation to the next within a group of people who share the same language and environment.

Interactions Between Babies and Parents

Interactions aren’t objective; they involve emotions. Bonding is the creation of a close emotional relationship between the mother (or parents) and baby shortly after birth.

Attachment

As the mother (or other caregiver) bonds with the infant, through frequent interactions, the infant gradually forms a close emotional relationship with his or her mother (or other caregivers), a process called attachment. A half century ago, developmental psychologists thought that babies became attached to the caregiver who fed them. Harry Harlow’s experimental research with monkeys disproved that belief when he found that baby monkeys separated from their mothers preferred to spend time with and sought comfort from a soft cloth-covered substitute (surrogate) rather than a bare wire substitute with a feeding bottle. More recent research has revealed that human infants become attached to familiar caregivers, usually parents, who not only provide them with nourishment, but also a soft, warm, reassuring environment where the baby feels safe and secure.

Secure and Insecure Attachment

Mary Ainsworth studied attachment using a “strange situation” where a mother and baby play in an unfamiliar room, the baby interacts with the mother and an unfamiliar woman, the mother leaves the baby with the other woman briefly, the baby is left alone briefly, then the mother returns to the room. A majority of babies played happily when their mothers were present, explored their environment and returned to their mothers periodically, and, when their mothers returned after an absence, they were happy to see them and receptive to their contact, displaying secure attachment . The mothers were generally sensitive and responsive to their babies’ needs. On the other hand, some babies showed insecure attachment . When their mothers were present, they avoided or ignored them, and were upset when they left, but were angry and rejected them when they returned, or they behaved inconsistently. Securely attached babies tend to become socially competent children.

Temperament

The baby’s temperament, or natural disposition to show a particular mood at a particular intensity for a specific period, affects his or her behavior. Both the infant’s heredity and his or her intrauterine environment affect whether the neonate is easy or difficult. Easy babies are cheerful, relaxed, and follow predictable patterns of eating and sleeping, while difficult babies are irritable, intense, and unpredictable. In general, easy babies tend to become sociable children, and difficult babies tend to become less sociable children. How the primary caregiver responds to the baby affects how the baby will react to an extent. Jerome Kagan showed that shy, inhibited babies can become more relaxed and less fearful with responsive parenting.

Awareness of Self and Others

Becoming aware of ourselves and others is crucial to social development. Self-awareness, consciousness of oneself as a person; and social referencing, observing the behavior of others in social situations to obtain information or guidance, both develop between ages 1 and 2. The “rouge test,” in which a red spot is secretly put on a baby’s nose, then the baby is placed in front of a mirror to see if the baby realizes it is his or her own nose with the red spot, has revealed that self-awareness typically develops at age 1 .

Parenting Styles

Diana Baumrind studied how parenting styles affect the emotional growth of children. Authoritarian parents set up strict rules, expect children to follow them, and punish wrongdoing. In contrast, more democratic authoritative parents set limits, but explain the reasons for rules with their children, and make exceptions when appropriate. Permissive parents tend not to set firm guidelines, if they set any at all. They tend to be more responsive than demanding. Uninvolved parents make few demands, show low responsiveness, and communicate little with their children. While these parents fulfill the children’s basic needs, they are generally detached from their children’s lives. In extreme cases, these parents may even reject or neglect the needs of their children. Baumrind and other researchers found that for European and American families, the most self-reliant, socially competent children with the highest self-esteem have warm, authoritative parents. Since these findings come from correlational studies, they do not establish cause and effect.

Erikson’s Stage Theory of Psychosocial Development

Parents are not the only people who interact with children; each stage of development requires a new level of social interaction. Starting with kindergarten, frequent peer interactions become more complex and structured and lead to friendships. Peer interactions help children develop social skills such as cooperation, empathy, and self-regulation. Erik Erikson was an influential theorist partly because he examined development across the life span in a social context, rather than just during childhood, recognizing that we continue to grow beyond our teenage years, and our growth is influenced by others. His stage theory of psychosocial development identifies eight stages during which we face an important issue or crisis. How we resolve each crisis shapes our personality and affects our relationships with others.

• Stage One: Infants (newborn to 1 year old) face the crisis of trust vs. mistrust . Parents must provide a safe, consistent, and loving environment for children to leave this stage healthily with a strong trust that others care and will always be there for them. Mistrust, based on inconsistent, cold, or abusive situations, prevents children from leaving this stage ready to form lasting and close relationships in the future.

• Stage Two: Toddlers (2 years old) face the crisis of autonomy vs. shame and doubt . The nickname “terrible twos” comes from children’s needs to develop self-control and do things for themselves, which can often result in spills, falls, wetting, and other accidents. Children who are encouraged to try new skills develop autonomy, while those who are ridiculed or overprotected may doubt their abilities and feel ashamed of their actions.

• Stage Three: Children (3–5 years of age) face the crisis of initiative vs. guilt . Children need to learn to make plans and carry out tasks through play, asking questions, making choices, and using their imaginations to develop initiative. If they are severely criticized, discouraged from asking questions, not permitted to make choices, or prevented from playing, children feel guilty.

• Stage Four: School-aged children (6–12 years of age) face the crisis of industry vs. inferiority . Children need to be positively reinforced for productive activities, such as achieving in the classroom, on the sports field, or artistically or musically, in order to develop a healthy self-concept and a sense of industry. If children’s efforts are considered inadequate, feelings of social or mental inferiority in this stage can carry over to a poor self-concept in the future.

• Stage Five: The crisis of stage five for adolescents (about 12–20 years of age) is identity vs. role confusion . Answering the question, “Who am I?” is the major task, which involves building a consistent identity, a unified sense of self. During adolescence, peer relationships become much more important. Because family and peer groups often have different values, attitudes, beliefs, and perspectives, adolescents are faced with opportunities and challenges to define themselves. Failure of teens to achieve a sense of identity results in role confusion and uncertainty about who they are and where they are going.

• Stage Six: Young adults (about 21–40 years of age) face the crisis of intimacy vs. isolation . Intimacy involves deeply caring about others and sharing meaningful experiences with them, especially a life partner. Without intimacy, people feel alone and uncared for in life; they experience isolation.

• Stage Seven: In middle adulthood (about 40–65 years of age), the crisis is generativity vs. stagnation . During this period, adults need to express their caring about the next and future generations by guiding or mentoring others or producing creative work that enriches the lives of others. People who fail to achieve generativity can become stagnant and preoccupied with their own needs and comforts.

• Stage Eight: In late adulthood (about age 65 to death), the crisis is integrity vs. despair . Those who look back on their lives with satisfaction that they have lived their lives well develop a sense of wholeness and integrity. Those in despair look back with regrets and disappointment in the lives they’ve led.

Erikson’s theory most accurately describes development in individualistic societies.

Middle Age and Death

Daniel Levinson described a midlife transition period at about age 40, seen by some as a last chance to achieve their goals. People who experience anxiety, instability, and change about themselves, their work, and their relationships during this time have a challenging experience sometimes termed the mid-life crisis .

Death marks the end of life. Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s studies of death and dying have focused attention on the end of life, encouraging further studies of death and dying, and growth of the hospice movement that treats terminal patients and their families to alleviate physical and emotional pain. Based on her observations and interviews with hundreds of dying hospital patients, Kübler-Ross concluded that terminally ill patients pass through five stages of coping: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Subsequent research has revealed that not all terminal patients pass through all of the stages nor do they necessarily go through the stages in the order indicated.

Gender Roles and Sex Differences

The first thing many people ask when they hear about the birth of a baby is, “Is it a boy or a girl?” Gender matters. Gender is the sociocultural dimension of being biologically male or female. We have different expectations for boys and girls. Gender roles are sets of expectations that prescribe how males and females should act, think, and feel. Gender identity is our sense of being male or female, usually linked to our anatomy and physiology.

The biopsychosocial model ascribes gender, gender roles, and gender identity to the interaction of heredity (biology) and environment (including psychological and social-cultural factors).

• The Biological Perspective. The biological perspective attributes differences between the sexes to heredity. Males have 44 chromosomes, plus sex chromosomes X and Y. Females have 44 chromosomes, plus sex chromosomes X and X. The sex chromosomes determine the anatomical differences between the sexes. The Y chromosome contains the instructions for the growth of male sex organs and synthesis of male sex hormones. Male sex hormones influence brain development. Typically, the female’s corpus callosum is larger than males’, which might influence lateralization in the brain. Hormonal differences at puberty not only influence boys’ greater height, but also their added musculature and more aggressive tendencies.

• The Evolutionary Perspective. According to the evolutionary perspective, our behavioral tendencies prepare us to survive and reproduce. Males are more likely than females to be risk takers, show dominance, and achieve high status. Females are more likely to be concerned with their appearance in order to attract high-status, protective males.

• The Psychoanalytic Perspective. According to Freud’s psychoanalytic perspective, young girls learn to act feminine from their mothers, and young boys learn to act masculine from their fathers when they identify with their same-sex parent as a result of resolving either the Electra or Oedipal complex at about age 5.

• The Behavioral Perspective. According to (the behavioral perspective) social learning theory, children respond to rewards and punishments for their behavior, and they observe and imitate significant role models, such as their parents, to acquire their gender identity.

• The Cognitive Perspective. According to the cognitive perspective, children actively engage in making meaning out of information they learn about gender. Sandra Bem’s gender schema theory says that children form a schema of gender that filters their perceptions of the world according to what is appropriate for males and what is appropriate for females. Bem acknowledges that social learning contributes to her cognitive developmental theory. Gender role stereotypes, which are broad categories that reflect our impressions and beliefs about males and females, have typically classified instrumental traits, such as self-reliance and leadership ability, as masculine and expressive traits, such as warmth and understanding, as feminine. Rather than seeing masculinity and femininity as alternatives, many psychologists now recognize androgyny, the presence of desirable masculine and feminine characteristics in the same individual.

Sex Differences in Cognition

Meta-analysis of research on gender comparisons indicates that, for cognitive skills, the differences within either gender are larger than the differences between the two genders. Males tend to have better ability to perform mental rotation tasks. The only evidence that males show higher achievement in mathematics than females is on the math section of the SAT; females receive higher grades in mathematics courses than males. Recent findings suggest that females who get better grades in high school and college may test more poorly because of a phenomenon known as stereotype threat, anxiety that influences members of a group concerned that their performance will confirm a negative stereotype. According to Claude Steele, when they know that their performance is being compared to that of males, girls tend to do less well than if they are not being compared.

Review Questions

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Directions: For each question, choose the letter of the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.

1 . What is the response pattern of securely attached children in the Strange Situation when their mothers return?

(A) They tend to ignore their mothers because they are secure about her care.

(B) Sometimes they run over to their mothers and sometimes they do not; there’s no consistent pattern in their responses.

(C) They tend to run over to their mothers and beg them not to leave again.

(D) They tend to go to their mothers for comfort.

(E) They hit their mothers.

2 . In the nature versus nurture controversy, “nature” refers to

(A) heredity

(B) plants and animals

(C) all living things we interact with

(D) constituents of the problem

(E) the environment

3 . Researchers were interested in studying the effects of divorce on children. Their study included 250 4-year-olds. Interviews and family observations were conducted 6 months, 2 years, 5 years, and 10 years after the initial interviews and observations. Which method did the researcher use?

(A) cohort sequential

(B) cross-sectional

(C) longitudinal

(D) experimental

(E) quasi-experimental

4 . Object permanence is

(A) the belief that all objects have life just like humans do

(B) the idea that gender does not change by putting on the clothes of the opposite sex

(C) the understanding that a tall beaker and a short beaker can hold the same amount of water

(D) a belief that all objects in the world, including mountains and streams, are made by people

(E) the understanding that things continue to exist even when they are out of sight

5 . The rooting reflex is a neonate’s tendency to

(A) open its mouth and turn its head when touched on the cheek

(B) throw out its arms and legs and quickly retract them when startled

(C) explore the world through sucking objects

(D) look longer at round shapes that look like faces than square shapes that do not

(E) grasp nearby objects

6 . Dorothy just celebrated her 90th birthday with her close friends, and is excited about a visit from her grandchildren. According to Erikson, she has probably most recently achieved

(A) isolation

(B) integrity

(C) despair

(D) autonomy

(E) industry

7 . Mr. Hernandez explains to his son that the speed limit is 55 mph. He tells him to stay under the speed limit when driving because it’s the law and will probably prevent accidents. Kohlberg’s level of morality illustrated by this example is

(A) preconventional

(B) concrete operational

(C) conventional

(D) egocentric

(E) postconventional

8 . A critical period is a stage in development when

(A) specific stimuli have a major effect on development that they do not produce at other times

(B) children are resistant to any kind of discipline by their parents

(C) new learning is prevented by older learning

(D) bonding between the child and parent first takes place

(E) the child first enters elementary school and needs positive reinforcement

9 . Which of the following is a similarity between the cognitive developmental theory of Piaget and the moral developmental theory of Kohlberg?

(A) Both theories stress the importance of changes in thinking in their stages.

(B) Both believe personality is formed in the first 5 years.

(C) Both theories stress the importance of the third stage in the developmental process.

(D) Both developed a life span theory and had eight stages.

(E) Both believe that libido fixated in childhood cannot be changed.

10 . Harlow’s experiment with rhesus monkeys and surrogate mothers emphasized the importance of

(A) contact comfort

(B) feeding

(C) aesthetic needs

(D) incentive theory

(E) gender schema

11 . According to Diana Baumrind, which of the following parental styles results in the most socially competent and responsible adults?

(A) authoritarian

(B) authoritative

(C) uninvolved

(D) permissive

(E) indulgent

12 . The child was born with widely spaced eyes, a thin upper lip, and a short flat nose. Chances are that he will later suffer from intellectual disability. To which teratogen was this child most likely exposed during the prenatal period?

(A) tobacco

(B) German measles

(C) heroin

(D) alcohol

(E) cocaine

13 . According to social learning theory, gender identity is

I. a process which occurs when young children unconsciously identify with the same-sex parent.

II. a result of being positively reinforced for acting in ways that conform to male and female roles.

III. learned through observing and imitating role models like their parents.

(A) I only

(B) II only

(C) III only

(D) II and III only

(E) I, II, and III

14 . Which of the following theories best exemplifies continuity?

(A) Erikson’s psychosocial theory

(B) Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory

(C) Piaget’s cognitive development theory

(D) Kohlberg’s theory of moral development

(E) Gilligan’s theory of moral development

15 . According to Kohlberg’s theory, postconventional morality requires thinking at Piaget’s

(A) sensorimotor level

(B) preoperational level

(C) concrete operational level

(D) formal operational level

(E) universal principle level

Answers and Explanations

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1 . D— Securely attached kids tend to come to their mother for comfort when their mothers return. They are not necessarily clingy as choice C suggests.

2 . A— Nature refers to our heredity, and nurture refers to environmental factors.

3 . C— Longitudinal research. If an experimenter is interested in looking at the long-term effects of divorce on children like Mavis Hetherington did, follow-up visits and observations would be made periodically. The disadvantage of this research method is how costly it is to conduct these follow-up visits and how long it takes to analyze the results to reach conclusions.

4 . E— Object permanence occurs as a milestone in the sensorimotor stage when children can picture objects in their heads. When an experimenter hides a cookie behind a newspaper and the child uncovers it and says “cookie,” the child has achieved object permanence and is capable of representational thought.

5 . A— The rooting reflex can be seen when someone puts a finger on the baby’s cheek and the baby turns its head.

6 . B— Dorothy is experiencing the positive side of Erikson’s eighth stage of integrity. People like Dorothy tend to enjoy their golden years and continue to develop their interests.

7 . C— Conventional. Mr. Hernandez’s moral reasoning conforms with Kohlberg’s stage 4 “Law and Order” morality, which is a stage of the conventional level.

8 . A— Specific stimuli have a major effect on development that they do not produce at other times. Konrad Lorenz demonstrated the “critical period” for imprinting in goslings. Newly hatched babies first exposed to Lorenz followed him rather than their natural mothers if they had not been exposed to her soon after birth. Some theorists argue that mother–infant bonding and language development have critical periods.

9 . A— Both Piaget and Kohlberg stressed the importance of changes in thinking in their developmental stages. For example, both recognized that egocentric young children see the consequences of their actions from their own perspectives.

10 . A— Contact comfort. Harlow’s work with rhesus monkeys and surrogate mothers showed that even when food-deprived and anxious, monkeys preferred the terrycloth monkey to the wire monkey with food.

11 . B— The authoritative style of parenting is seen as the “best” style for nurturing independent, responsible, and socially competent teens and adults.

12 . D— Alcohol. The child’s mother likely drank alcohol throughout the pregnancy, producing the baby born with fetal alcohol syndrome. The effects of alcohol on prenatal brain development can be devastating.

13 . D— Both reinforcement and observing and imitating role models like parents contribute to the development of gender identity, according to some (behavioral) social learning theorists.

14 . B— Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory. Vygotsky advocated continuous cognitive growth. Vygotsky believed that with a mentor’s help, children can progress more rapidly through the same milestones they would achieve without a mentor’s help.

15 . D— Formal operational level. Kohlberg modeled his stages of moral development after Piaget’s stages of cognitive development. Those in Piaget’s formal operational stage have developed the ability to think abstractly and, thus, have the ability to move to the postconventional moral thinking of Kohlberg’s stages 5 and 6.

Rapid Review

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Developmental psychology —study of physical, intellectual, social, and moral changes across the life span from conception to death.

Three controversies of developmental psychology are:

1. Nature–nurture controversy —deals with the extent to which heredity and the environment each influence behavior.

2. Continuity–discontinuity controversy —deals with the issue of whether development is a gradual, continuous process or a sequence of separate stages.

3. Stability–change controversy —deals with the issue of whether or not personality traits present during infancy endure throughout the life span.

Research methods of developmental psychologists include experiments, naturalistic observations, correlational studies, and case studies. These designs are conducted to assess change over time:

• Cross-sectional —different age groups are tested at the same time.

• Longitudinal —same participants are tested multiple times with the same or similar tests.

• Cohort sequential —combines cross-sectional and longitudinal to correct for cohort effect.

Cohort effect —observed group differences based on the era when people were born and grew up, exposing them to particular experiences that may affect results of cross-sectional studies.

Physical Development

Critical period —a time interval during which specific stimuli have a major effect on development that the stimuli do not produce at other times.

Prenatal development —period of development that begins with fertilization, or conception, and ends with birth.

Zygote —a fertilized ovum with the genetic instructions for a new individual, normally contained in 46 chromosomes.

Embryo —the developmental prenatal stage (from about 2 weeks through 2 months after fertilization) when most organ development begins.

Fetus —the developing human organism from about 9 weeks after conception to birth when organ systems begin to interact; sex organs and sense organs become refined.

Teratogen —harmful substances (drugs or viruses) during the prenatal period that can cause birth defects.

Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) —a cluster of abnormalities that occurs in babies of mothers who drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy, which includes low intelligence, small head with flat face, misshapen eyes, flat nose, and thin upper lip, as well as some degree of intellectual impairment.

Neonate —newborn baby from birth to 1 month old; shows reflexive behavior.

Reflex —the simplest form of behavior. Reflexes of neonate include:

• Rooting reflex —the newborn’s tendency to move its head when stroked on the cheek, turn toward the stimulus as if searching for a nipple, and open its mouth.

• Sucking —the automatic response of drawing in anything at the mouth.

• Swallowing —automatic contraction of throat muscles that enables food to pass into the esophagus without choking.

• Grasping reflex —infant closes his or her fingers tightly around an object put in hand.

• Moro or startle reflex —when exposed to a loud noise or sudden drop, the neonate automatically arches his or her back, flings his or her limbs out, and quickly retracts them.

As the infant matures, developing voluntary control over behaviors, many reflexes disappear.

Habituation —decreasing responsiveness with repeated presentation of the same stimulus.

Development proceeds from head to tail, from the center of the body outward, enabling baby to lift its head, roll over, sit, creep, stand, and walk—usually in that order. Proliferation of dendrites at a rapid rate is a major way the brain changes during childhood.

Puberty —the early adolescent period, marked by accelerated growth and onset of the ability to reproduce.

Primary sex characteristics —the reproductive organs (ovaries, uterus, and testes) and external genitals (vulva and penis).

Secondary sex characteristics —the nonreproductive sexual characteristics, including developed breasts in females; facial hair, Adam’s apple, and deepened voice in males; and pubic hair and underarm hair in both.

Menarche —first menstrual period at about age 12½ marks female fertility. Male fertility is marked by ejaculation of semen with viable sperm at about age 14. Adolescent brain changes include selective pruning of dendrites and development of emotional limbic system and frontal lobes.

Our physical abilities peak by our mid-20s.

Menopause —the cessation of the ability to reproduce accompanied by a decrease in production of female sex hormones; occurs at about age 50.

Cognitive Development

Schema —framework of basic ideas and preconceptions about people, objects, and events based on past experience in long-term memory.

Assimilation —process by which we incorporate new information into our existing cognitive structures or schemas.

Accommodation —process by which we modify our schemas to fit new information.

Piaget’s theory of cognitive development involves four sequential and discontinuous stages:

1. Sensorimotor stage —Piaget’s first stage (0–2 years) during which the infant experiences the world through senses and action patterns; progresses from reflexes to object permanence (awareness that objects still exist when out of sight) and symbolic thinking.

2. Preoperational stage— Piaget’s second stage of cognitive development (2–7 years) during which the child represents and manipulates objects with symbols (language) and is egocentric.

• Egocentrism —seeing the world from one’s own perspective; the inability to see reality from the perspective of another person, characteristic of the preoperational child.

• Animism —belief of a preoperational child that all things are living.

• Artificialism —the belief of the preoperational child that all objects are made by people.

3. Concrete operational stage —Piaget’s third stage of cognitive development (7–12 years) during which the child develops simple logic and masters conservation concepts.

• Conservation concepts —changes in the form of an object do not alter physical properties of mass, volume, and number.

4. Formal operational stage —Piaget’s fourth stage of cognitive development (12+ years) during which the child begins to think logically about abstract concepts and engages in hypothetical thinking.

Lev Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of cognitive development emphasized the role of the environment (nurture) and gradual growth (continuity) in intellectual functioning.

Internalization —the process of absorbing information from a specified social environmental context.

Zone of proximal development (ZPD) —the range between the level at which a child can solve a problem working alone with difficulty, and the level at which a child can solve a problem with the assistance of adults or more-skilled children.

Alzheimer’s disease —a fatal degenerative disease in which brain neurons progressively die, causing loss of memory, reasoning, emotion, control of bodily functions, and then death.

Moral Development

Moral development —growth in the ability to tell right from wrong, control impulses, and act ethically.

Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory of moral development: moral thinking develops in stages as cognitive abilities develop, with 3 levels divided into 6 sequential stages:

• Preconventional level —when at the preoperational stage of cognitive development, individuals do the right thing to:

stage 1—avoid punishment, obey authority

stage 2—further self-interests, gain reward

• Conventional level —when at the concrete operational stage of cognitive development or formal operational stage for most people:

stage 3—conform, live up to expectations of others

stage 4—maintain law and order, do your duty

• Postconventional level —reached by only some people in the formal operational stage.

stage 5—social contract, to promote society’s welfare

stage 6—to promote justice

Carol Gilligan criticized Kohlberg’s study because it focused on males, and women rarely reach Kohlberg’s highest stage. She said women follow an ethic of care, rather than justice.

Social Development

Social development looks at the influence of others on the development of a person.

Culture —behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions transmitted from one generation to the next within a group of people who share a common language and environment.

Bonding —creation of close emotional relationship between mother (or parents) and baby shortly after birth.

Attachment —a close emotional bond or relationship between the infant and the caregiver.

Harry Harlow found monkeys separated from their mothers sought comfort from a soft cloth-covered substitute (surrogate) rather than a bare wire substitute with a feeding bottle, showing attachment isn’t based on feeding.

Mary Ainsworth’s “strange situation” research categorized a type of attachment based on how a baby reacted to, and after, temporary absence of mother:

• Secure attachment —after absence baby is happy to see mother, receptive to her contact. Securely attached babies tend to become socially competent children.

• Insecure attachment —after absence baby is angry and rejecting of mother, avoids her, ignores her, or behaves inconsistently.

Temperament —an infant’s natural disposition to show a particular mood at a particular intensity for a specific period.

Self-awareness —consciousness of oneself as a person.

Social referencing —observing the behavior of others in social situations to obtain information or guidance.

Diana Baumrind identified four parenting styles that affect emotional growth of children:

1. Authoritarian parenting style —sets up absolute and restrictive rules accompanied by punishment for disobedience.

2. Authoritative parenting style —focuses on flexible rules for which reasons are generally given. Parents are warm and nurture independence within guidelines.

3. Permissive parenting style —sets no firm guidelines for behavior and tends to give in to demands of the child.

4. Uninvolved parenting style —makes few demands, shows low responsiveness and little communication.

For individualistic cultures, the most self-reliant, socially competent children with the highest self-esteem tend to have warm, authoritative parents.

Erik Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development looks at development across the life span in a social context in 8 sequential stages during which we are faced with a crisis to resolve:

Table 13.1 Erik Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development

Gender Development

Gender —the sociocultural dimension of being biologically male or female.

Gender roles —sets of expectations that prescribe how males and females should act, think, feel.

Gender identity —person’s sense of being male or female.

Gender stability —child’s understanding that sex identity is stable over time.

Gender consistency —child’s understanding that his or her sex won’t change even if he or she acts like the opposite sex.

Gender schema —mental set of what society considers appropriate behavior for each of the sexes.

Gender role stereotypes —broad categories that reflect our impressions and beliefs about males and females.

Androgyny —the presence of desirable masculine and feminine characteristics in one individual.