Psychology and Life, Fudan University

Posted on 2023-07-25 繁/简： set

为了水 CC 学分上的一门暑校课。比想象中的有趣，老师教的也很好 (比 Social Media 不知道高到哪里去了)，唯一的缺点是有一场 final；于是在这里简单写一写，在作为课程记录的同时也能复习一下。

This article is a self-administered course note.

It will NOT cover any exam or assignment related content.

Introduction

What is Psychology?

Psychology is the science that seeks to understand behavior and mental processes and to apply that understanding in the service of human welfare.

behavior: actions taken by organisms to adjust to their environment.
mental processes: the working of the human mind, such as thinking, planning, dreaming, etc.

The goals of psychologist conducting basic research are to describe, explain, predict and control behavior.

describe: what? observations.
explain/understand: why? pattern-finding.
predict: who is more/less likely to? in what circumstances?
control/influence: how to make it appear/disappear?

First Psychologists

Wilhelm Wundt 威廉·冯特 [德]

founded the first formal laboratory devoted to experimental psychology.
structuralism (结构主义): mind can be split into distinct structures.

William James 威廉·詹姆斯 [美]

Focus on how mental processes work.
functionalism (机能主义): minds with a purpose.

Contemporary Perspectives

Psychodynamic (心理动力学):
- Sigmund Freud: The unconscious, inner forces & conflicts are the main causes underlying our behaviors.
Behaviorist (行为主义): study of the relationship between stimulus and behavior, NOT the "black box" — mental states themselves.
- John B. Watson: Environment matters: every behavior triggered by a stimulus.
- B. F. Skinner: operant conditioning - reinforcement increases the incidence of a behavior; punishment decreases it.
Humanistic (人本主义): People are neither driven by instinctive forces, nor manipulated by their environments. Instead, they are active creatures who are innately good and capable of choice.
Cognitive (认知心理学): focus on mental processes (attention, thinking, problem solving, etc).
Biological (生物心理学): Experience and behaviors are understood as the result of chemical and electrical activities taking place within and between nerve cells.
Evolutionary (进化心理学): Mental abilities & behavioral tendencies are evolved to solve central adaptive problems (survival pressures). Based on Darwin's law of natural selection.
Social-cultural (社会&文化心理学).

Research Methods

Experimental Methods

Researchers manipulates an independent variables (自变量) to look for an effect on a dependent variable (因变量).

The goal of experimental method is to make strong causal claims about the impact of one variable on the other. It is NOT easy!

Confounding variable (混淆变量): 与自变量和因变量均相关的变量，该变量使自变量和因变量间产生虚假的关系。Such as expectancy effects (期望效应), placebo effects (安慰剂效应)。
Control procedures
- Double blind control (双盲控制)：测试者与被试者都不知道使用的是何种药物。
- Control group (对照组)。
Between-subject design: 每个实验参与者只参与一个实验变量的测试。注意 Random sampling - every member of a population has an equal likelihood of participating in the experiment.
Within-subject design: 每个实验参与者都需要参与所有实验变量的测试。注意 repetition effects.

Correlational Methods

We use correlational methods to solve questions involve variables that a psychologist could not easily or ethically manipulate.

Correlational methods determine whether two variables are related.

To determine the degree of correlation that exists between two variable, a statistical measure is computed: correlation coefficient (r): -1.00 (negative) ~ 1.00 (positive).

Note that correlation does NOT imply causation.

Biological & Evolutionary Bases of Behavior

Biological Bases: Nervous System & Brain

Neuron (神经元)：

Sensory neurons: carry messages: receptor cells => central nervous system.
Motor neurons: carry messages: central nervous system => muscles & glands.
Interneurons: relay messages: sensory neurons => other interneurons / motor neurons
Mirror neurons: respond when an individual observes another individual performing an action - understand other's behavior, learn through imitation...

Brain - the crown of humanity:

Brain stem (脑干) - maintain autonomic processes, such as breathing.
- Thalamus (丘脑): passing sensory information to cortex (皮层).
- Cerebellum (小脑): body movement, procedure memory acquisition.
Limbic system (边缘系统) - emotional center, motivation, emotion memory.
- Hippocampus (海马回): acquisition of long-term memories.
- Amygdala (杏仁核): detect & evaluate threats; formation of emotional memory.
- Hypothalamus (下丘脑): motivation regulation & maintain internal balance.
Cerebrum (大脑) - the headquarter. cerebral cortex (two hemispheres) + corpus callosum (胼胝体) + four brain lobes (脑叶).
- Frontal lobe (额叶): motor control and cognitive activities.
- Parietal lobe (顶叶): sensation of touch, pain, and temperature.
- Temporal lobe (颞叶): processes of hearing.
- Occipital lobe (枕叶): final destination for visual information.

Hemispheric lateralization:

One hemisphere specializes in certain function.
The evidence from split-brain patient.
Common misunderstanding: 左撇子的右脑更发达。

Plasticity:

Changes in the performance of the brain based on experiences.

Evolutionary Bases: Heredity & Behavior

Genotypes (基因型) - genetic structure (from parents), determine an individual's development and behaviors within a particular environment.

Phenotypes (表型) - outward appearance repertory of behaviors.

Epigenetics (表观遗传学) - environment may enhance or inhibit the expression of certain genes.

To study the casual link between inheritance and behavior, we need to separate the source of variance into two components: genetic (nature) versus environmental components (nurture).

Twin studies: monozygotic (MZ, identical) twins v.s. dizygotic (DZ, fraternal) twins.
Adoption studies: To assess the relative similarity between adopted children to their birth parents and their adoptive families.

Measurement: Heritability, ranges from 0 to 1. e.g., intelligence 50%, height 90%.

Interaction between genes and environment.

Environment allows genes to be expressed.
Certain genes affect the importance of the environment.
Behavior is the joint product of nature and nurture.

Sensation & Perception

Sensation

Sensation is the process where the stimulation of sensory receptors produces neural impulses that represent internal or external experiences.

Psychophysics (精神物理学) - The study of the relationship between physical stimuli and psychological experience (sensation).

Absolute Threshold: The minimum amount of physical energy needed to produce a sensory experience. Operational definition (OD): the stimulus level at which a sensory signal is detected half the time.
Sensory Adaption: 喜新厌旧，由暗到明之后眼睛逐渐适应光线 (bright/dark adaptation)……
Difference Threshold (JND): The smallest physical difference (Just Noticeable Difference, JND) between two stimuli that can still be recognized as a difference. OD: The point at which the stimuli are recognized as different half the time.

The visual system:

Sensory organ: eye.
The Retina (视网膜): convert info. about the world from light waves into neural signals.
- Rod cells (视杆细胞): operates best in near darkness.
- Cone cells (视锥细胞): specialized for the bright, color-filled day.
- Blind spot/optic disk: where the optic nerve leaves the eye and no receptors.

Perception

Perception is the process where neural impulses are organized and transformed into mental representations, and recognized as meaningful objects.

Attentional processes (after sensation, before perception):

Attention: enable you to direct your awareness to a subsets of all the information available to you.
Selective attention: Stimulus-driven attention wins over goal-directed attention.
Cocktail party effect (鸡尾酒会效应): 人的一种听力选择能力：注意力能够集中在某一个人的谈话之中而忽略背景中其他的对话与噪音。

Depth Perception: How to perceive 3-dimensional world out of 2-dimensional patterns?

Binocular cues (双目线索) - comparisons of the visual information from two eyes.
- Retinal disparity (双眼视差)：利用双眼视差观测到物体到眼睛的距离。
- Convergence (双眼汇聚)：估算物体离眼睛的距离。
Monocular cues (单目线索) - using cues from one eye.
- Interposition (插入): 利用物体间的覆盖关系判断距离的远近。
- Relative size: 物体近大远小的观测原则。
- Linear perspective: 平行线在视距远处重合。
- Texture gradient (纹理渐变): 类似均匀分布的问题，在近处较为稀疏，而在远处较为密集。
Perceptual constancy (感知恒常性) - we see the world as invariant, constant, and stable despite changes in the stimulation of our sensory receptors.
- Size constancy: 视觉中的相对大小并不改变绝对大小的恒常。(近大远小的相同小球)
- Shape constancy: 形状的变化不影响绝对形状的恒常。(逐渐打开的门)
- Lightness constancy: 光影并不影响绝对颜色的恒常。(颜色在阴影下往往较深)
Illusion: Experience a stimulus pattern that is inconsistent with reality.

Learning and Behavior Analysis

Learning is a process (based on experience) that results in a relatively consistent change in behaviors or behavior potential.

Habitation versus Sensitization.

Habitation: a decrease in behavioral response when a stimulus is presented repeatedly.
Sensitization: your response to a stimulus becomes stronger, when it occurs repeatedly.

There are three important forms of learning: classical conditioning (CC), operant conditioning (OC), and cognitive influence on learning.

Instinct drift (本能漂移): Biological factors put limits on CC and OC; learned behavior drifts toward instinctual behavior.

Classical Conditioning

Classical conditioning is an accidental discovery by Russian physiologist Pavlov.

Classical conditioning is a type of learning in which an initially neutral stimulus (NS), when paired with a stimulus that elicits a reflex response, results in a learned response.

Reflex (反射): response triggered by specific stimuli that are biologically relevant for the organism, 例如狗闻到食物味道后流口水这一本能反应。

Basic features of classical conditioning.

Before: Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS, e.g. 食物) => Unconditioned Reaction (UCR, e.g. 流口水)
During conditioning: Conditioned Stimulus (CS, e.g. 铃声) => Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS) => Unconditioned Reaction (UCR)
After conditioning: Conditioned Stimulus (CS) => Conditioned Reaction (CR, e.g. 流口水)

Timing is very important.

Delay conditioning (most widely used): CS comes before and stays on at least until UCS is presented.
Simultaneous conditioning: both CS and UCS are presented at the same time.
CS must reliably predict the occurrence of the UCS, but NOT necessarily occur close together in time.

Special Phenomenons.

Extinction - CR not longer appears when CS is presented if CS does not predict UCS.
Spontaneous recovery
- CS elicits a weak CR after extinction.
- Rapid relearning of CS => CR (saving).
Stimulus generalization (overresponsive) - A stimulus similar to CS may also elicit the response.
Stimulus discrimination (overselective) - Respond differently to stimuli that are distinct from CS in some aspects.

Operant conditioning

Operant conditioning shows how external conditions affect the probability of a given behavior R.

Reinforcer: a stimulus that increases the probability of a given behavior.

Primary reinforcers (biologically determined, e.g. food, sex)
Conditioned reinforcers (e.g. money, praise)

Reinforcement: the delivery of reinforcers.

Positive Reinforcement: delivery of an appetitive stimulus.
Negative Reinforcement: removal of an aversive stimulus.

Punisher: a stimulus the decreases the probability of a given behavior.

Positive Punishment: delivery of an aversive stimulus.
Negative Punishment: removal of an appetitive stimulus.

Shaping: To train new complex behaviors, use method called shaping by successive approximations - in which you reinforce any responses that successively approximate and ultimately match the desired response.

Memory

Memory is the capacity to encode, store, and retrieve information.

Encoding: initial processing of information & forming mental representations of information.
Storage: the retention over time of encoded material.
Retrieval: the recovery at a later time of the stored information.

Three-stages model of memory

Information is stored in three functionally independent yet connected memory systems.
Sensory memory => Short-term memory (working memory) <=> Long-term memory

Different Memory Models

Sensory Memory (感觉记忆/瞬时记忆)

Iconic & Echoic Memory that has large capacity but fades rapidly: 1/4~1/2 second.
Measurement: three rows and four columns of letters and numbers.
- Whole-report procedure: 4 items.
- Partial-report procedure: any of three rows according to the tone signal.

Short-term memory (STM) - Sensory information you choose to focus your attention on on will be processed further in STM.

The capacity of STM and how to improve it.

Digital span test: free recall & 7 (5~9) numbers rule.
Rehearsal: repeat the information. (记电话号码)
Chucking: the process of reconfiguring items by grouping them on the basis of similarity or other organizing principles/patterns that are meaningful to you. (口诀记忆)

Working memory (WM) - A updated model of STM.

Moment-by-moment memory source used to accomplish mental tasks; more than just store the information.
WM is active STM: it has special focus on the necessary elements.

Long-term memory (LTM) is the storehouse of all information acquired by sensory memory and STM, constituting each person's total knowledge of the world and of the self.

Dimensions of LTM.

Declarative memory: recollection of facts and events.
- Semantic memory: General knowledge.
- Episodic memory: Recollections of specific personal experiences.
Procedural memory: Memory for how to do things.

Recall vs. recognition: testing your memory.

Recall: reproduce previously exposed information; few cues; open-question format.
Recognition: realization that certain information was seen/heard by you; more cues; multiple-choice test format.

Memory Process

The principles of encoding specificity (Context-dependent memory test): Memories emerge most efficiently when the context of retrieval matches the context of encoding.

The serial position effect: primary (first few words) & recency effects (last few words) in recalling information.

Levels of Processing: the deeper the level at which the information was processed (e.g. judgment on physical features vs. judgment on meaning), the more likely it is to be committed to memory. (e.g. “饕餮”，我们能够记住它的含义却有时不记得如何写)。

Why we forget?

Encoding failures - information is not properly encoded, you did not focus your attention on it or your rehearsals are interrupted.
Decay theory: Ebbinghaus's forgetting curve - memory fades rapidly and then slows down.
Interference (in retrieval): similar memories interfere with the retrieval of certain information.
- Proactive interference: info acquired in the past makes it difficult to acquire new info.
- Retroactive interference: new info makes it difficult to remember older info.
Repressed memory: unacceptable/dangerous memories were repressed into unconsciousness.

How we remember?

Remember is a reconstructive process.
Distortion of memory is common.
- Expectancy effect: we will remember what we expected to happen.
- Self-serving effect: we are more likely to remember info consistent to our self-image.
- Misinformation effect: post-event info may change our memory.
- Imagination effect: the more often we imagined it to happen, the more likely we would remember it actually happen.

Intelligence & Intelligence Assessment

Intelligence is the global capacity to profit from experience and to go beyond given information about the environment.

Basic features of a formal assessment.

Reliability: An assessment instrument can be trusted to give consistent scores.
Validity: the degree to which it measures what an assessor intends it to measure.
Norms: provide a context for interpreting different test scores.
Standardization: the administration of a testing device to all persons under the same conditions.

Intelligence quotient (IQ) tests.

Binet's - seperate developmentally disabled from normal school children (mental age).
Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale: IQ = 100 * mental age / chronological age.
Wechsler Intelligence Scale: combine verbal with nonverbal subtests.

Theories of Intelligence.

Spearman - general intelligence (g) and specific skills (s).
Cattell - crystallized intelligence & fluid intelligence.
Sternberg's 3 intelligences - Analytical, Creative and Pratical intelligence.
Gardner's multiple intelligences - people can excel in domains which are NOT recognized by traditional conceptions of intelligence.
Emotional Intelligence: The ability to perceive, appraise, and express emotions accurately and appropriately.

Heredity and IQ.

A heritability estimate is based on the proportion of the variability in test scores on intelligence that can be traced to genetic factors. 30-80% of the variance in IQ scores is due to genotype.
Heritability estimates pertain only to the average in a given population of individuals. We can NOT determine the specific genetic contribution to any individual's IQ.

Environments and IQ: Socioeconomic status (SES) of the family; The Head Start program.

Human Development across the Life Span

Developmental Psychology concerned with changes in physical and psychological functioning that occur from conception across the entire life span.

Physical Development

Reflexes (反射): a response that is naturally triggered by specific stimuli that are biologically relevant for the organism.

Rooting reflex (觅食反射): if something brushes against infants' cheeks, they turn their heads in that direction.
Sucking reflex (吮吸反射): when an object is placed in their mouth, infants begin to suck.
Hearing: not completely mature. By week 3, recognize mom's voice.
Seeing: not fully developed but can see to some extend.
Touch, Smell, Taste: presented at birth and reasonably sophisticated.

Growth and Maturation in Childhood.

Sensitive period: an optimal age for children to have appropriate environmental experiences relevant to normal development. However, it they have those experiences later in life, they will still be able to experience development - just with more difficulty.
Critical period: (a stronger constraints) an age range in which children must obtain appropriate environmental experiences.

Cognitive Development

Piaget's insights into mental development: the interweaving of assimilation & accommodation results in new cognitive development & adaption. (皮亚杰认知发展理论)

Scheme (图式): the mental structures for selecting information and interpreting the world.
Assimilation (同化): new environmental information is modified to fit into what is already known.
Accommodation (顺应): existing schemes are reconstructed or modified to understand and interpreting new information.

Piaget's four-stages universal cognitive development theory:

Stages	Age	Schemes	Achievement/Limitaion
Sensorimotor	0-2	Use body movements to coordinate sensations.	From "out of sight, out of mind" to object permanence (absent of objects)
Preoperational	2-7	Improved ability of represent mentally objects that are not physically present. (languages/images/gestures)	Egocentrism and Centration
Concrete operations	7-11	Reasoning with respect to concrete, physical objects. (concepts/categories)	Conservation and Reversibility
Formal operations	11+	Abstract reasoning and hypothetical thinking applied to both concrete and abstract situations.	"Scientist" thinking: topics like truth, justice and existence

Object permanence (客体永久性): it refers to children's understanding that objects exist and behave independently of their actions or awareness.
Egocentrism (自我中心): The child's inability to take the perspective of another person.
Centration (中心性): Focus their attention on only one aspect of a situation and disregard other relevant aspects. (等量但不等长的纽扣序列：学龄前儿童通常会认为更长的纽扣行含有更多纽扣)
Conservation: Physical properties of objects do not change when nothing is added or taken away, even though the object's appearances change. (将一杯水倒入形状不同的杯子里)

Cognitive Development in Adulthood.

Fluid intelligence - Learn quickly and thoroughly.
Crystallized intelligence - Verbal abilities. Age-related gains in wisdom, which expertise in the fundamental practices of life.
Memory - Aging does NOT affect the access to the information stored long ago; instead it affects the processes that allow new information to be effectively organized, stored, and retrieved.

Temperament: biologically based levels of emotional and behavioral responses to the environment. four kinds: Easy babies, Difficult babies, Slow-to-warm-up babies and the remaining.

Attachment (依恋): a close emotional relationship between infants and caregiver, providing the basis of survival and socialization/cognitive development.

Secure base
Assessment of the attachment style: The Strange Situation Test.
Styles: Securely attached children, Insecurely attached-avoidant children, Insecurely attached-anxious/ambivalent children.

Two-dimensions parenting styles.

Demandingness - the parent's willingness to act as a socializing agent.
Responsiveness - the parent's recognition of the child's individuality.

Demandingness/Responsiveness	Accepting; Responsive; Child-centered	Rejecting; Unresponsive; Parent-centered
Demanding; controlling	Authoritative-reciprocal. High in bidirectional communication	Authoritarian. Power assertive
Undemanding; low in control attempts	Indulgent	Neglecting, ignoring, indifferent, uninvolved

Erikson's psychosocial stages: Proposed that every individual must successfully navigate a series of psychosocial stages, each of which presented a particular conflicts or crisis. To solve crisis:

The interaction between dispositions and supports from the social environment.
The quality of the social interactions matters.

Marcia's model of identity formation - Commit & Explore.

Human Personality

The complex set of psychological qualities that influence an individual's characteristic patterns of behavior across different situations and over time.

Universal Trait Dimensions (Five-factor model): Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, Openness.

Humanistic Theories

Humanistic theories are characterized by a concern for the integrity of an individual's personal and conscious experience and growth potential.

Carl Roger's (1902-1987).

Self is a central concept for personality.
Self-actualization (A.Maslow) is a constant striving to realize one's inherent potetial. It moves each person toward generally positive bahaviors and enhancement of the self.
Unconditional positive regard: (children / adult) they should feel they will always be loved and approved of from those to whom are close to them, in spite of their mistakes and misbehaviors.
Genuineness: sincerely express inner feeling, no disguise.
Empathy: understand others' feelings.

Psychodynamic Theories

Psychodynamic theories: Powerful inner forces shape personality and motivate behaviors.

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939).

Psychic energy: the source of motivation for human actions.
Two basic drives.
- Self-preservation - meeting such needs as hunger and thirst.
- Eros - the driving force related to sexual urges and preservation of the species.
Libido (力比多): the psychic energy that drives individuals toward sensual pleasures of all type, especially sexual ones.
Erogenous zones: genitals and other sensitive areas.

The structure of personality. 本我-超我-自我.

The id is the storehouse of the fundamental drives. It operates irrationally, and is governed by the pleasure principle, without concern for consequences. The id wants to do what feels good.
superego. The conscience, is the storehouse of an individual's values, including moral attitudes learned from society. It is the inner voice of oughts and should nots. Superego insists on doing what is right.
The ego is reality-based aspect of the self that arbitrates the conflict between id impulses and superego demands.

Ego defense mechanism. The mental strategies the ego uses to defend itself in the daily conflict between id impulses that seek expression and the superego's demand to deny them. It is vital to an individual's psychological coping with powerful inner conflicts.

Major ego defense mechanism. Displacement, Fantasy, Identification, Isolation, Projection, Rationalization, Regression, Repression, Sublimation, Reaction formation.
Repression: Keeps information out of consciousness, basic defense.
Anxiety: An intense emotional response triggered when a repressed conflict is about to emerge into consciousness. Repression is not working!

Evaluation of Psychodynamic theories.

Good history but bad science.
- Psychoanalytic concepts are vague and not operationally defined.
- It does not predict what will occur; it is applied retrospectively.
Adult-centered and Androcentric (male-centered).

Psychological Disorders

Mental disorders is typically based on the evaluation of behavior. There are 7 criteria:

Distress or disability.
Maladaptiveness.
Irrationality.
Unpredictability.
Unconventionality & Statistical rarity.
Observer discomfort.
Violation of moral and ideal standards.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (焦虑症).

When a person feels anxious or worried most of the time for at least six month, when not threatened by any specific danger, clinicians diagnose generalized anxiety disorder.

Panic Disorder (恐慌症).

Experience unexpected, severe panic attacks that may last only minutes, like heart attack.
A panic disorder is diagnosed when an individual has recurrent unexpected panic attacks and also begins to have persistent concerns about the possibility of having more attacks.

Phobias (恐惧症).

A person with a phobia suffers from a persistent and irrational fear of a specific object, activity, or a situation that is excessive and unreasonable given the reality of the threat.
Social phobia - irrational fear in anticipation of a public situation.
Specific phobia - animal type, natural environmental type, situational type...

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD, 强迫症).

Obsession are thoughts, images, or impulses that recur or persist despite a person's efforts to suppress them.
Compulsions are repetitive, purposeful acts performed according to certain rules in response to an obsession; either reasonable or clearly excessive.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD, 创伤后应激障碍).

An anxiety disorder that is characterized by the persistent reexperience of those traumatic events through distressing recollections, dreams, hallucinations (幻觉), or flashbacks.
Individuals may develop PTSD in response to rape, life-threatening events or severe injury, etc.

Mood Disorders (情感性精神障碍).

A mood disturbance such as severe depression or depression alternating with mania (狂躁).

Major Depressive Disorder (抑郁症).

A mood disorder characterized by intense feelings of depression over an extended time.
Accounts for the majority of all mental hospital admissions. (prevent suicide)

Bipolar Disorder (双相情感障碍).

It is characterized by periods of severe depression alternating with manic episodes.
A person experiencing a manic episode generally acts and feels unusually elated and expansive, or irritated. He or she shows unwarranted optimism, takes unnecessary risks, promises anything, and may give everything away.

Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD, 注意力缺陷与多动障碍).

Inattention that is not consistent with their level of development.
children must show signs of hyperactivity-impulsivity that, is not consistent with their developmental level.

Autistic Disorder (AD, 自闭症).

A developmental disorder characterized by severe disruption of children's ability to form social bonds and use language.
Repetitive and ritualistic behaviors.
Difficult to establish social relationships.

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