Contents Page
5 interesting concepts
1. Selective Inattention
When attention is diverted (invisible gorilla), one develops "inattentional blindness," it becomes easy to miss details when one is not looking out for them.
2. choice blindness
def. The inability to detect a change between an object/image we have chosen and a similar object/image.
According to Johansson and Hall, we frequently fail to notice when we are presented with something different from what we really want, and, we will come up with reasons to defend this "choice."
3. causes of change blindness:
Focused Attention and Limited Resources
We can only focus on a limited number of objects at any given time, and it's those few objects that we pay attention to in great detail. Large volumes of information simply pass by our awareness because we lack the resources to attend to it.
Expectations and Past Experiences
We don't notice certain changes—particularly those that are artificially produced in an experimental lab—because we simply don't expect that such changes could, or would, occur.
How often in real life does a person suddenly turn into someone else, an object suddenly blink into existence, or a person's shirt change color right before our eyes?
These things simply don't happen in our day to day existence, so we tend not to notice them when they happen in a staged experiment or scene.
4. Cognitive Development through life
Cognition —> refers to all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating
– PIAGETʼS studies led him to believe that a childʼs mind develops in stages
– his core idea is that our intellectual progression is an unceasing struggle to make sense of our experiences
– so the mind continues to build schemas, concepts or mental models into which we pour our experiences
– these continue to be changed and progress through assimilate and accommodate
– assimilate —> we interpret them in terms of our current understandings (schemas) (to turn the experience to fit the schema)
– accommodate —> adjust the schema to account for the new information provided by the new experiences
5. Theories on Learning
- Ian Pavlov claims that in classical conditioning, two stimuli are linked together to produce a new learned response in a person.
- Skinner was instead more interested in learning how the consequences of actions influence behaviors.
- Albert Bandura claims associations and direct reinforcements simply could not account for all learning.
4 misconceptions debunked
1. Theory of mind (ToM)
ToM is the ability to attribute mental states to ourselves and others, serving as one of the foundational elements for social interaction.
Having a theory of mind is important as it provides the ability to predict and interpret the behavior of others.
During infancy and early childhood, children learn the early skills that they’ll need to develop their theory of mind later on, such as paying attention to people and copying them.
The traditional test for theory of mind is a false-belief task (sally-anne marble experiment), used to assess a child’s understanding that other people can have beliefs about the world which contrast with reality.
Countless empirical studies reveal that this ability develops in toddlers as young as 15 months old and deteriorates with age. Research also demonstrates this ability in some of our closest relatives: apes.
Some individuals with autism, Asperger’s, schizophrenia, depression, or social anxiety disorder exhibit a deficit in theory of mind and perform poorly on related tasks.
2. Dreams have functions
To satisfy our own wishes (FREUD)
psychic safety valve that discharges unacceptable feelings – Manifestʼs content of the dream is censored, symbolic version of latent content (THE DREAM ITSELF)
– Latent content = meaning of the dream which consists of unconscious drives and wishes that could be threatening if expressed directly
– Freud thought dreams are key to understanding our inner conflicts
To file away with memories
– dreams = information processing —> sift a sort a fits the dayʼs experiences in our memory
To develop and preserve neural pathways
– Dreams serve as a physiological function
– THEORY: REM sleep provides the brain with periodical stimulation – stimulating experiences —> develop + preserve neural pathways
To reflect cognitive development
– dreams as part of brain maturation and cognitive development
– draw on our concepts and knowledge
3. Spotlight effect
People tend to overestimate how much others notice aspects of one's appearance or behavior. This causes a lot of social anxiety for people.
4. Dual Processing
Perception, memory, thinking, language, and attitudes all operate on TWO LEVELS - conscious / unconscious
much of our everyday thinking, feeling, and acting operates outside of our consciousness awareness
FREUD"S ICEBERG THEORY: on the surface is our conscious aware of the result of our cognitive processing, under the surface is unconscious information being processed
on parallel tracks
Through SELECTIVE ATTENTION, your conscious awareness focuses on a VERY LIMITED aspect of your experience
11,000,000 BITS —> 40 bits consciously
11,000,000 BITS —> 10,966,960 bits unconsciously
E.g. tongue in your mouth (you donʼt notice its there) / peripheral vision blocking (attentional spotlight shift)
3 surprising facts
1. Split Brain syndrome
A structure known as the corpus callosum connects the left and right hemispheres of the brain and enables communication between them. Dysfunction or absence of this structure can result in a condition known as split-brain syndrome, in which each hemisphere of the brain functions independently. Split-brain syndrome is associated with conditions such as alien-hand syndrome, They cannot learn to perform new tasks that require interdependent movement of each hand.
2. theories on personality
Personality —> a personʼs characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting
It is what makes us unique, unlike the other things that are studied such as development over our life span, biology of the brain
2 Important Theories Are Important to the Legacy of Personality:
– Sigmund Freudʼs Psychoanalytical Theory —> childhood experiences + unconscious motives affect our personality
He discovered the unconscious mind and started to develop free association —> exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes and says whatever comes to their mind no matter how embarrassing
– Humanistic Approach —> Focused on our our inner capacities for growth and self fulfillment (INDIVIDUALISM)
3. Freud's Iceberg Theory
Personality was based on the way which we control our side impulses based on restraint and how we express those urges w/o bringing guilt, but satisfaction
Id is the unconscious mind which strives to satisfy basic drives to survive, reproduce, and aggress
– Based on the pleasure principle: It seeks IMMEDIATE gratification
Ego —> children respond to cold, harsh reality when they realize that they canʼt have everything their way
– Reality Principle: Seeks to satisfy the Idʼs impulses in REALISTIC WAYS that bring long term pleasure
– contains PART OF OUR PERCEPTIONS, THOUGHTS, JUDGEMENTS, AND MEMORIES (repress the troublesome ones)
Superego —> voice of our moral compass, STRIVES FOR PERFECTION
– how we should behave —> manners, rules, expectations –> THE IDEAL VERSION OF YOURSELF
2 Experts in the field
Jean Piaget:
Piaget called his collective theories on child development a "genetic epistemology." He also relied on the concept of schemas, defined as the cognitive structures and frameworks through which we understand the world, to help further explain his developmental theories.
Sigmund Freud
Freud was an Austrian neurologist who developed psychoanalysis, a method through which an analyst unpacks unconscious conflicts based on the free associations, dreams and fantasies of the patient. His theories on child sexuality, libido and the ego, among other topics, were some of the most influential academic concepts of the 20th century.
1 concept to learn more about
psychoanalysis
The primary assumption of psychoanalysis is the belief that all people possess unconscious thoughts, feelings, desires, and memories.
The aim of psychoanalysis therapy is to release repressed emotions and experiences, i.e., make the unconscious conscious. It is only having a cathartic (i.e., healing) experience can the person be helped and "cured."
Additional notes
Week 1 Learning Objectives (LO)
1. psychology vs physiology
Understand Phineas Gage’s story and its significance: After the accident, Gage's personality was said to have changed as a result of the damage the frontal lobe of his brain
Understand the “astonishing hypothesis” that our mental life is the product of our physical brain
Understand Descartes’ concept of dualism, identify the strengths of this view, and then explain why modern scientists have abandoned it: In the context of the mind–body problem, dualism is the position that the mind and the body constitute two separate realms or substances.
2. The brain
Explain in what ways the human mind is wired up differently from the computers we use in our everyday live: Human memory is neurally based with rich interconnections between neurons, while computer memory is based on silicon chips with far fewer connections.
If we have an abundance of brain fuel and neurons, how can we explain our limited cognitive abilities? Why can’t we do more at once? The most likely explanation is the way these neurons are wired up. We know, for instance, that many neurons in the visual cortex (the part of the brain responsible for processing visual information) are hooked up in such a way as to inhibit each other (Beck & Kastner, 2009). When one neuron fires, it suppresses the firing of other nearby neurons.
Distinguish the functions of the right hemisphere from the left hemisphere: The left hemisphere controls the right hand side of the body and receives information from the right visual field controlling speech, language and recognition of words, letters and numbers. The right hemisphere controls the left hand side of the body and receives information from the left visual field controlling creativity, context and recognition of faces, places and objects.
Describe the hard problem of consciousness: the problem of explaining why any physical state is conscious rather than nonconscious.
3. Sigmund Freud
Understand Freud’s idea of the unconscious:
founder of psychoanalysis
Theory of psychosexual development
The id, ego, and superego : Freud developed a complementary framework to account for normal and abnormal personality development—the structural model—which posits the existence of three interacting mental structures called the id, ego, and superego. The id is the seat of drives and instincts, whereas the ego represents the logical, reality-oriented part of the mind, and the superego is basically your conscience—the moral guidelines, rules, and prohibitions that guide your behavior. (You acquire these through your family and through the culture in which you were raised.)
Dream interpretation
Free association
defence mechanisms
Understand the notion of falsifiability and how to distinguish falsifiable theories from unfalsifiable ones :Freud believed that when a person suffers a mental illness it is often due to problems stemming from childhood. For instance, imagine a person who grows up to be an obsessive perfectionist. If she were raised by messy, relaxed parents, Freud might argue that her adult perfectionism is a reaction to her early family experiences—an effort to maintain order and routine instead of chaos. Alternatively, imagine the same person being raised by harsh, orderly parents. In this case, Freud might argue that her adult tidiness is simply her internalizing her parents’ way of being. As you can see, according to Freud’s rationale, both opposing scenarios are possible; no matter what the disorder, Freud’s theory could explain its childhood origin—thus failing to meet the principle of falsifiability.
Identify components of Freud’s theory that are still considered valuable today: Freud compared the mind to an iceberg. The tip of the iceberg that is actually visible above the water represents just a tiny portion of the mind, while the huge expanse of ice hidden underneath the water represents the much larger unconscious.
Understand the three main claims of behaviorism
Skinner identified three types of responses, or operant, that can follow behavior.
• Neutral operants: responses from the environment that neither increase nor decrease the probability of a behavior being repeated. • Reinforcers: Responses from the environment that increase the probability of a behavior being repeated. Reinforcers can be either positive or negative. • Punishers: Responses from the environment that decrease the likelihood of a behavior being repeated. Punishment weakens behavior.
Understand the “Law of Effect”: consequences of behavior act to modify the future probability of occurrence of that behavior.
Understand the main challenges to behaviorism: operant conditioning fails to take into account the role of inherited and cognitive factors in learning, and thus is an incomplete explanation of the learning process in humans and animals.
resources
Week 2 LO
Intellectual development - Piaget
Understand Piaget’s theory of cognitive development: intelligence changes as children grow. A child's cognitive development is not just about acquiring knowledge, the child has to develop or construct a mental model of the world.
Important Concepts To better understand some of the things that happen during cognitive development, it is important first to examine a few of the important ideas and concepts introduced by Piaget. The following are some of the factors that influence how children learn and grow: Schemas A schema describes both the mental and physical actions involved in understanding and knowing. Schemas are categories of knowledge that help us to interpret and understand the world. In Piaget's view, a schema includes both a category of knowledge and the process of obtaining that knowledge.3 As experiences happen, this new information is used to modify, add to, or change previously existing schemas. For example, a child may have a schema about a type of animal, such as a dog. If the child's sole experience has been with small dogs, a child might believe that all dogs are small, furry, and have four legs. Suppose then that the child encounters an enormous dog. The child will take in this new information, modifying the previously existing schema to include these new observations. What Role Do Schemas Play in the Learning Process? Assimilation The process of taking in new information into our already existing schemas is known as assimilation. The process is somewhat subjective because we tend to modify experiences and information slightly to fit in with our preexisting beliefs. In the example above, seeing a dog and labeling it "dog" is a case of assimilating the animal into the child's dog schema. Assimilation and Jean Piaget's Adaptation Process Accommodation Another part of adaptation involves changing or altering our existing schemas in light of new information, a process known as accommodation. Accommodation involves modifying existing schemas, or ideas, as a result of new information or new experiences.5 New schemas may also be developed during this process. The Role of Accommodation in How We Learn New Information Equilibration Piaget believed that all children try to strike a balance between assimilation and accommodation, which is achieved through a mechanism Piaget called equilibration. As children progress through the stages of cognitive development, it is important to maintain a balance between applying previous knowledge (assimilation) and changing behavior to account for new knowledge (accommodation). Equilibration helps explain how children can move from one stage of thought to the next.3
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