PSY 1411 Introduction to Psychology

Lecture: The Science of Psychology

Outcomes

• Define psychology
• Define empiricism
• Discuss the history of psychology. Compare the goals and beliefs of structuralism, Gestalt psychology, psychoanalysis, functionalism, and behaviorism
  • Describe introspection and the functional analysis of behavior
• Compare and contrast the basic assumptions of the six approaches to psychology: biological, evolutionary, psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, and humanistic
  • Define eclectic
• Name the psychological subfields
  • Give examples of the questions and issues associated with each subfield
• Name the four main goals of scientific research in psychology
• Explain how the reliability and validity of evidence are checked
• Describe the evolution of a theory
• Describe the three basic research methods used to describe and predict a phenomenon and give examples of each
  • Explain the advantages and disadvantages of each method
• Describe the experimental research method and give an example of it
  • Define variables
• Explain why an experiment allows investigation of causation
• Define and explain the role of independent and dependent variables and of experimental and control groups in an experiment
• Define hypothesis and operational definition
• Define confounding variables
  • Discuss the problems presented by confounding variables in the interpretation of experimental results
  • Define random variables, placebo effect, and experimental bias
• Define random assignment and double-blind design
  • Explain the purpose of each in an experiment
• Define quasi-experiments
  • Explain why they are used as experimental designs
• Define sampling, random sampling and biased sample
  • Discuss the importance of sampling in data collection
• Define correlation
  • Describe how the absolute value and sign of a correlation coefficient are interpreted
• Describe the ethical guidelines that psychologists must follow

Lecture: Biology and Behavior

Outcomes

• Define biological psychology
• Describe the nervous system
  • List the three main components of information processing that the nervous system performs
• Compare and contrast neurons and glial cells with other body cells
• Name and describe the features of neurons that allow them to communicate with one another
• Define and describe action potentials
  • Define myelin and discuss its effects
• Define neurotransmitter and synapse and describe their roles in nervous system activity
• Describe the role of receptors in the communication process between neurons
  • Explain the role of postsynaptic potentials in the creation of an action potential in the postsynaptic cell
• Define neurotransmitter systems
  • Name the seven major neurotransmitters
  • Discuss the behaviors and mental processes associated with each
• Name and describe the two major divisions of the nervous system
• Name the two components of the peripheral nervous system and describe their functions
• Name the two components of the autonomic nervous system and describe their functions
• Describe the spinal cord and its functions
  • Define reflex
• Describe the methods used by scientists in their study of the brain
• Name and describe the three major subdivisions of the brain and describe their functions
  • Define brainstem
• Name and define the structures in the hindbrain
  • Describe their functions
• Name and define the structures in the midbrain
  • Describe their functions
• Name and define the structures in the forebrain
  • Describe their functions
• Define cerebral cortex
  • Name the four lobes that make up the cortex and state their locations
• Name three functional divisions of the cortex and describe their functions
• Describe split brain studies and explain the function of the corpus callosum
• Describe the lateralization of the cerebral hemispheres
• Define synaptic plasticity
  • Explain why the brain has difficulty repairing itself after it has been damaged
  • Describe the methods used to help people recover from brain damage today
• Define the fight-or-flight syndrome

Lecture: Sensation and Perception

Outcomes

• Define sense, sensation, and perception
  • Explain the difference between sensation and perception
• Define accessory structure, transduction, receptor, and coding
  • Define adaptation and give an example
• Define psychophysics and absolute threshold
  • Explain the influence of internal noise and response criterion on performance
• Define signal-detection theory
  • Explain how sensitivity and response criterion affect signal detection
• Describe Weber’s Law
  • Define just-noticeable difference (JND)
• Define wavelength, frequency, and amplitude
  • Define visible light and explain how light intensity and light wavelength are related to what you sense
• Define and describe the accessory structures of the eye, including the cornea, pupil, iris, and lens
  • Define retina and explain how accommodation affects the image on the retina
• Define photoreceptors, rods, and cones
  • Describe how these structures are involved in transduction and dark adaptation
  • Define fovea and explain why visual acuity is greatest in the fovea
• Describe the path that visual information follows on its way to the brain, including the roles of the optic nerve, optic chiasm, primary visual cortex, and feature detectors
  • Explain what creates the blind spot
• Define hue, saturation, and brightness
• Describe the trichromatic and opponent-process theories of color vision
  • Discuss the phenomena each explains
  • Describe the physical problem that causes colorblindness
• Define sound
  • Describe the psychological characteristics of sound, including loudness, pitch, and timbre
  • Discuss the relationship among pitch, frequency, and wavelength as well as that between amplitude and loudness
• Describe how information is relayed to the primary auditory cortex
  • Explain how the cortex processes the messages received from the auditory nerve
  • Describe the process of coding auditory information
  • Discuss the relationship between place theory and volley theory
• Describe the sense of smell (olfaction) and sense of taste (gustation)
  • Describe the relationship among taste, smell, and flavor
• Define somatic sense
  • Describe the transduction process in the skin senses, including touch, pain, and temperature
• Describe the gate-control theory of pain sensation
  • Define analgesia
  • Name the body’s natural analgesics
• Define proprioceptive and kinesthesia
  • Name the sources of kinesthetic information
  • Describe the types of information that the vestibular sense provides
  • Discuss the role of the vestibular sacs, otoliths, and semicircular canals in the sensation of vestibular information
• Describe the two basic principles of perceptual organization: figure-ground and grouping
  • Define and give examples of proximity, similarity, continuity, closure, texture, simplicity, common fate, common region, and synchrony
• Define and describe depth perception
  • Describe the stimulus cues that influence depth perception, including relative size, height in the visual field, interposition, linear perspective, reduced clarity, light and shadow, and textural gradient
• Define perceptual constancy
  • Give examples of size, shape, and brightness constancy
• Define attention
  • Give examples of overt and covert orienting
  • Explain parallel processing
  • Describe factors that affect the ability to direct or divide attention
  • Describe the research using reaction time and PETs

Lecture: Consciousness

Outcomes

• Define consciousness
• Define state of consciousness
  • Distinguish among the various levels of conscious activity: conscious, nonconscious, preconscious, and unconscious or subconscious
    • Give example for each
• Define altered state of consciousness
• Compare and contrast slow-wave and REM sleep
  • Be sure to discuss how the two types of sleep differ in terms of physiological arousal and brain activity
• Describe a night’s sleep
  • Discuss the changes in sleep that occur over the course of the life span
• Discuss the symptoms of insomnia, narcolepsy, sleep apnea, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), sleepwalking, nightmares, night terrors, and REM behavior disorder; Specify the sleep stages in which sleepwalking, nightmares, night terrors, and REM behavior disorder occur
• Define circadian rhythm and discuss the brain’s role in regulating sleep patterns; define jet lag and explain how to reduce fatigue and disorientation that results from shifts in sleep patterns
• Define dreams and lucid dreaming
• Discuss the various theories that explain why people dream, including wish fulfillment and activation-synthesis theory
• Define hypothesis and describe the process of becoming hypnotized

Lecture: Consciousness and Drugs

Outcomes

• Define psychoactive drugs and psychopharmacology. Explain the function of the blood-brain barrier and discuss how agonist, antagonist, and other types of drugs work
• Define substance abuse. Distinguish between psychological dependence and physical dependence, or addiction. Define withdrawal syndrome and tolerance

Lecture: Learning: Classical and Operant Conditioning

Outcomes

• Define learning
• Define classical conditioning, unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, conditioned stimulus, and conditioned response
  • Give an example that illustrates the process of classical conditioning, and label the parts of your example using terms
• Describe the processes of extinction, reconditioning, and spontaneous recovery
  • Give an example of each
  • Explain Figure 5.3 in your text
• Define and give examples of stimulus generalization and stimulus discrimination
  • Describe the adaptive balance between these two phenomena
• Discuss how attention influences the process of classical conditioning
  • Define and give an example of second-order conditioning
• Explain and give examples of biopreparedness; explain why conditioned taste aversion is a special case of classical conditioning
• Discuss the role of classical conditioning in the development and treatment of phobias and in the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease
• Define habituation and give an example; describe opponent-process theory and explain how it applies to drug addiction
• Define the law of effect
• Describe instrumental or operant conditioning and explain how it differs from classical conditioning
• Define operants and reinforcers
• Define positive reinforcers and negative reinforcers and give examples for each
• Define escape conditioning and avoidance conditioning
  • Give an example of each that highlights their similarities and differences
• Define discriminative stimuli
  • Explain and give an example of stimulus control
  • Explain how stimulus discrimination and stimulus generalization can work together
• Define shaping
  • Explain when it is used in operant conditioning
• Discuss the differences between primary and secondary reinforcers
• Explain the difference between continuous and partial reinforcement schedules; compare and contrast fixed-ratio, variable-ratio, fixed-interval, and variable-interval schedules
  • Be sure to describe how these schedules affect response patterns and discuss the partial reinforcement extinction effect
• Define punishment and describe its role in operant conditioning
  • Explain why punishment differs from negative reinforcement
  • Discuss the disadvantages of and guidelines for using punishment

Lecture: Cognitive and Observational Learning

Outcomes

• Define learned helplessness and give an example of it; describe the experiments used to study learned helplessness and the results
• Define and give an example of latent learning and cognitive map
• Define and discuss how insight differs from classical and operant conditioning
• Define observational learning and vicarious conditioning
  • Discuss their similarities and differences

Lecture: Memory

Outcomes

• Define encoding, storage, and retrieval, and discuss the role of each in our ability to remember; define and give examples of acoustic, visual, and semantic codes; explain the difference between recall and recognition
• Define and give examples of episodic, semantic, and procedural memories
• Define and give examples of explicit and implicit memories
• Define the levels-of-processing model of memory; define maintenance and elaborative rehearsal and explain how these concepts relate to the levels-of-processing model
• Define the parallel distribution processing (PDP) model of memory; describe the role of association networks in drawing inferences and making generalizations
• Define the information-processing model of memory
  • Name the three stages of processing
• Define sensory memory and sensory registers
  • Discuss the capacity and duration of sensory memory
  • Explain the importance of selective attention in information processing
• Define short-term memory (STM) and explain why it is sometimes referred to as the working memory
  • Describe short-term memory encoding
• Define immediate memory span and chunks
  • Discuss the role of long-term memory in the chunking process
• Define the Brown-Peterson procedure
  • Describe the importance of rehearsal in maintaining information in short-term memory
• Define long-term memory (LTM) and discuss the relationship between semantic encoding and long-term memory
  • Describe the storage capacity of LTM
  • Discuss the studies illustrating the distortion of long-term memories
• Define retrieval cues and explain why their use can increase memory efficiency
  • Define the encoding specificity principle
• Define context-dependent and state-dependent memories and give examples of each
  • Explain the mood congruency effect
• Describe the semantic network theory of memory and explain the principle of spreading activation
• Define the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon and explain how it relates to the semantic network theory of memory
• Compare and contrast the decay and interference theories of forgetting
  • Define retroactive interference and proactive interference and give an example of each
• Discuss the controversy surrounding repressed memories; Describe motivated forgetting and false memories
• Define mnemonics and explain why they improve memory
  • Give an example of the method of loci

Lecture: Thought, Language, and Intelligence: Part I

Outcomes

• Define information-processing system and thinking
  • Explain the sequence of events that occurs in the circle of thought in terms of an information-processing model
• Define cognitive maps and discuss their formation and use
  • Describe the manipulation of mental images
• Define concepts, formal, and natural concepts, and prototype
  • Give examples of each
• Define schema, scripts, propositions, and mental models and describe their role in the thinking process
• Define inductive or informal reasoning, and heuristics
  • Describe and give examples of the anchoring, representativeness, and availability heuristics
• Define artificial intelligence
  • Discuss the cognitive and personality characteristics necessary for creative thinking
• Define divergent and convergent thinking

Lecture: Thought, Language, and Intelligence: Part II

Outcomes

• Explain how our decision-making abilities are influenced by biases and flaws in our perceptions of utilities, losses, and probabilities
  • Be sure to discuss loss aversion and the gambler’s fallacy
• List the components of language
  • Define grammar
• Describe language development in children
  • Define babblings and telegraphic speech
• Define intelligence
• Discuss the history of intelligence test construction
  • Explain the scoring methods used in the Binet and Stanford-Binet intelligence tests
• Describe Wechsler’s intelligence test
  • Explain why it is different from tests that were used previously
  • Define verbal and performance scales
• Explain how intelligence quotients (IQ scores) are calculated today
• Define test
  • Describe the advantages of tests over other evaluation methods
  • Define and describe the usefulness of norms
• Define reliability and validity
  • Describe how correlation coefficients are used to evaluate the reliability and validity of tests
• Discuss the research evaluating the reliability and validity of IQ tests

Lecture: Motivation

Outcomes

• Define motivation
  • Discuss the types of behaviors that motivation may help to explain
• Define instinct
  • Discuss how instinct theory explains behavior
  • Explain the problems with this theory of motivation
• Define homeostasis, need, drive, and drive reduction theory.
  • Define primary and secondary drives and discuss their role in motivation
  • Describe the kinds of behavior that drive reduction theory can and cannot explain
• Define arousal
  • Discuss the relationship between arousal level and performance
  • Describe the arousal theory of motivation
• Define hunger and satiety
  • Describe the role of stomach cues and the role of the brain in regulating hunger and eating
  • Be sure to list the nutrients and hormones that the brain monitors, and explain how the ventromedial nucleus and lateral hypothalamus might interact to maintain a set point
• Define obesity, anorexia nervosa, and bulimia nervosa
  • Describe the behaviors and health problems associated with each of these eating disorders
  • Discuss the potential causes of each disorder, and describe how each is treated
• Describe the University of Chicago study of sexual behavior and discuss its findings
  • Describe the sexual response cycle
  • Name the male and female sex hormones and explain their organizing and activating effects
• Discuss the social and cultural influences on sexual motivation
  • Define heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual orientation
  • Describe the evidence of the extent to which genes may determine sexual orientation
  • Define sexual dysfunction and give examples
• Define need achievement
  • Describe the characteristics of people with strong achievement motivation and the factors that can affect its development
• Describe Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
  • Give examples of each kind of need
• Describe the four types of motivational conflicts, and explain the relationship between motivation and stress

Lecture: Emotion

Outcomes

• Describe the defining characteristics of the subjective experiences of emotion
  • Give examples of the objective aspects of emotion
• Describe the role of the brain in emotion and facial expressions; describe how the parasympathetic and sympathetic systems are involved in emotional experience, including the fight-or-flight syndrome
• Describe James’ theory of emotion
  • Use the theory to explain an emotional experience
• Discuss the research that evaluates James’s theory
  • Describe the facial feedback hypothesis.
  • Describe the various types of lie-detection tests and discuss the assumptions upon which they are based
• Describe Schachter’s modification of James’ theory of emotion
  • Define attribution and give an example
• Discuss the research that evaluates Schachter’s theory
  • Define transferred excitation and give an example of its effects
• Describe Cannon’s theory of emotion
  • Discuss the updates to Cannon’s theory
• Compare and contrast James’, Schachter’s, and Cannon’s theories of emotion
• Discuss the role of facial movements in expressing human emotion; describe Darwin’s theory of innate basic facial expressions
  • Discuss the research that supports this theory

Lecture: Human Development

Outcomes

• Define developmental psychology
• Define and give examples of teratogens; define critical period and name the stage associated with it
  • Describe the types of birth defects that can be caused by using teratogens, including the pattern of defects known as fetal alcohol syndrome
• Describe Piaget’s theory of cognitive development
  • Define schemas, assimilation, and accommodation
• Describe the development of mental abilities during the sensorimotor period
  • Define object permanence
• Describe the changes in cognition that occurs during the preoperational period
  • Discuss the ability to use symbols during this period
• Define conservation
  • Describe the changes in cognition that occurs during Piaget’s stage of concrete operations
• Discuss the criticism of Piaget’s theory of cognition development, and discuss the information processing approach as an alternative to Piaget’s theory
• Define temperament
  • Describe the different behaviors exhibited by easy, difficult, and slow-to-warm-up babies
• Define attachment and discuss how this type of relationship is formed between caregiver and infant
  • Describe Harlow’s studies of motherless monkeys
• Explain how the Strange Situation is used to study attachment
  • Describe how secure attachment patterns differ from avoidant, ambivalent, and disorganized attachment patterns
  • Discuss the question of whether day care damages the formation of a healthy mother-infant attachment
• Compare and contrast the parenting styles of authoritarian, permissive, and authoritative parents
  • Describe the characteristics of children raised by each type of parent, and discuss the limitations of the research in this area
• Define puberty, and discuss the physical and psychological changes and problems that occur during adolescence
  • Describe the relationship adolescents have with their parents and peers
• Describe the development of both the personal and the ethnic identity
  • Define identity crisis
• Describe the changes in cognition that occurs during the formal operational period
• Describe the stages of moral reasoning suggested by Kohlberg
  • Define preconventional, conventional, and postconventional moral reasoning and give examples of statements that illustrate reasoning at each of these stages
  • Discuss the cultural and gender-related limitations of Kohlberg’s theory
• Define generativity, midlife transition, and terminal drop

Lecture: Health, Stress and Coping

Outcomes

• Define health psychology. List the objectives of health psychologists
• Define stress, stressors, and stress reactions
  • Give examples of stressors
  • Be sure to include a catastrophic event, a life change or strain, a chronic stressor, and a daily hassle
• Describe the Social Readjustment Rating Scale and the Life Experience Survey
  • Explain how each is used to measure stress
• Define general adaptation syndrome
  • Describe the alarm, resistance, and exhaustion stages of the model, and discuss the physiological changes that occur in each stage
  • Define disease of adaptation
  • Discuss the major criticisms of Selye’s model
• Define burnout and posttraumatic stress disorder
  • Describe the symptoms of each and discuss the conditions that can lead to these disorders
• Define psychoneuroimmunology
  • Describe the components of the immune system
  • Discuss the relationship between stress and immune system functioning
• Describe the five stages in changing behavioral health risks
• Describe cognition coping strategies
  • Define cognitive restructuring
• Describe physical coping strategies
  • Explain the possible problems of using drugs to alter stress or stress responses
  • Explain how progressive relaxation training can help people cope

Lecture: Personality: Part I

Outcomes

• Define personality
• Describe the assumptions of Freud’s psychodynamic approach to personality
• Define and describe the nature and function of the id, ego, and superego; define the pleasure principle and reality principle
• Define defense mechanism
  • Explain the purpose and give examples of defense mechanisms
• Name, define, and describe the psychosexual stages in Freud’s theory of personality development
• Compare and contrast the Oedipus and Electra complexes
• Describe the three basic assumptions of the trait approach to personality
• Discuss Allport’s trait theory and Eysenck’s biological trait theory of personality
  • Define and describe the “big five” model

Lecture: Personality: Part II

Outcomes

• Describe the basic assumptions of the social-cognitive approach to personality
• Describe Rotter’s expectancy theory, Bandura’s reciprocal determinism and self-efficacy, and Mischel’s person variables
• Describe the phenomenological approach to personality
• Describe Roger’s self theory and Maslow’s humanistic psychology; define self-actualization, self-concept, and conditions of worth; explain the difference between a deficiency orientation and a growth orientation
• Describe the three general methods of personality assessment; discuss the differences between objective and projective tests and give examples of each

Lecture: Psychological Disorders: Part I

Outcomes

• Define psychopathology; discuss the prevalence of mental disorders in the United States
• Describe the three criteria for abnormality, and discuss the limitations of each; describe the practical approach and impaired functioning
• Describe and give an example illustrating the diathesis-stress approach to mental disorder
• Describe the contents of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV)
  • List the five axes of the DSM-IV used in diagnosis
• Discuss the reliability and validity of diagnostic labels
  • Describe the problems associated with diagnosis
• Define anxiety disorder
  • Specify which disorders are classified as anxiety disorders
• Define phobia, and describe specific phobia, social phobias, and agoraphobia
• Define and describe generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder
  • Explain the difference between obsessions and compulsions
• Define somatoform disorder; describe conversion disorder, hypochondriasis, somatization disorder, and pain disorder
• Define dissociative disorder
  • Compare and contrast dissociative fugue and dissociative amnesia
  • Describe dissociative identity disorder
• Define mood disorders
  • Describe major depressive disorder, dysthymic disorder, bipolar disorder, mania, and cyclothymic disorder

Lecture: Social Psychology

Outcomes

• Define social psychology and social cognition
• Compare and contrast self-esteem and self-concept
• Discuss Festinger’s theory of social comparison
• Describe the role of reference groups in the process of self evaluation, and give an example of downward social comparison
• Define relative deprivation
• Define social identity and discuss its influence on thought and behavior
• Define self-fulfilling prophecies
• Discuss the relationship between self-fulfilling prophecies and impressions
• Define attribution
• Discuss the importance of attributions and give examples of internal and external attributions
• Define and give examples illustrating fundamental attribution error, ultimate attribution error, actor-observer bias, and self-serving bias
• Define unrealistic optimism
• Define attitude
• Describe the cognitive, affective, and behavioral components of attitudes and give an example of each
  • Discuss the factors that influence whether attitude-consistent behavior will occur
• Define and describe cognitive dissonance theory
• Define and give examples of stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination
• Describe the contact hypothesis
• Describe the influence of the environment, similarity, and physical attractiveness on attraction
• Define matching hypothesis
• Define and give examples of social facilitation and social impairment
• Describe the social factors that influence motivation and define social loafing
• Compare and contrast conformity and compliance
• Describe the roles of norms in conformity and compliance
• Define obedience
  • Describe Milgram’s study and his findings on obedience
• Define aggression
  • Describe the genetic and biological influences on aggression
• Discuss the role of brain structures, hormones, and drugs in aggressive behavior
• Describe the role of learning and cultural mechanisms in aggression
• Define the frustration-aggression hypothesis
• Describe the empathy-altruism and evolutionary theories of helping
• Define cooperation, competition, and conflict
  • Give an example of a social dilemma