Intro to psychology
Lecture 1
Three Underlying ideas:
1. Behaviours and mental processes have no supernatural but a material origin. Dualism vs
materialism
2. An individual changes because of experiences. Nature vs nurture
3. Humankind was shaped by evolution and natural selection. Evolution vs Creationism.
Important terms:
- Stimulus; what is offered to organism to provoke a reaction
- Response: measurable reaction
Dualism Descartes vs Materialism Hobbes. Hobbes is truth
Rene Descartes: Role of the body. body = complex machine. Animals are mechanic. Humans not
because they have conscious thoughts (deliberation & judgement) performed by a supernatural soul
separate from the body > body-soul dualism. Soul helps the stimulus-response reaction. Only purpose
of soul= conscious thought.
Dualism. Individual deliberation and judgement is related to qualia: Subjective quality of an
observable thought/memory (u can see red). HHmm but thoughts only cannot be researched
scientifically.
VS
Counterforces: why cant subjective quality be produced by the brain. When does the soul
come into existence? Result: materialism: behavior is product of the body/physical. There is a
material base for our thought processes, consider material possessions and physical comfort as more
important than spiritual values. U can study consiuousness cause its caused by neurons
(no winner) Nature vs Nurture=Tabula rasa: the senses are the building blocks of experience.
Learning = associating experiences. Association appears when building blocks appear.
Ivan Pavlov: how we learn things. Learning behavior of dogs > association a stimulus to a response.
John B Watson: transformed Pavlovs work into behaviorism: people can learn everything by
associating stimuli and responses (all behavior is learned).
Counterforces: nature. A priori knowledge: things you don’t have to learn (time, space).
A posteriori knowledge: things you have to learn.
Ornstein: a cat can learn human language, a cat cannot.
Experiences change people (nurture) but only in the areas in which we can change (nature).
Empiricism: all thought/knowledge are rooted in sensory experience (zintuigelijk). u study psychology
by studying the influence of the outside world on the organism.
Nativism: some knowledge is innate (= foundation for human nature)
Law of Association by contiguity: link two stimuli. If a person experiences two stimuli at the same
time/right after the other, those 2 events will become associated in the mind.
,Lecture 2 about Chapter 2: Methods of Psychology
Experimental design: what is the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable?
- Prediction
- Operational definitions: define how to measure
- Define usage of …
- Pre-measurement
- Post-measurement
- Effect pre minus post-measurement
- Control group with a random assignment but same conditions
- Effect: difference between experimental and control group
- (Strong) support for the hypothesis?
U need a representative sample in order to generate the result for the whole population/research
group.
Think of placebo effect
- Observer-expectancy effect: the observer's expectations can also have an (intentional or
unintentional) effect on the results eg: the observer/experiment treats participants
differently in different conditions > danger of wrong conclusions.
- subject-expectancy bias: Subjects’ expectations as to how they should respond can also
influence results. Hawthorne effect: Changes in subjects’ behavior as a result of knowing
they are being watched.
Prevention: double-blind experiment, randomized double-blind placebo-control studies.
Metanalysis, still hard to draw a conclusion
If mixed results of different tests/groups > preregistration: register studies > research > publish the
results whatever they are. This avoids:
- Data-dredging/fishing: try different tests but only report the ones with significant results.
- Publication bias: only some results are published.
That’s why Important: transparency of research and results
Measurements: 2 important things at play:
- Validity: do we measure what we want to measure? (eg socially acceptable answers, a survey
only useful in particular situations)
- Error/reliability: random factors that influence the measurement (random variation). If u do
the experiment again you should kinda get the same results. The less randiom variation=
error, the more reliable the measurement is. And vice versa.
- Low reliability = large error. This is problematic when number of observations is low.
Otherwise with a big sample > the average still gives a good indication
Also (bias): systematic deviation: always too high or too low. Eg if theres noise in condition 1 and
silence in condition 2. Eg If a sample only includes a specific group. Eg observers expectations. A
strong bias is problematic.
Research designs:
, - Descriptive: what is X?
- Correlational: correlation between X and Y? When variables cannot be
manipulated/manipulating is hard. Positive or negative relation. Correlation coefficient R: 1 of
-1 is perfect correlation.
- Experimental: does X cause Y?
Most psychological research with people is done from samples from Western, Educated,
Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) societies, which are not representative of humans.
Median: middle value
Standard deviation: amount of variation/dispersion of values.
Lecture 3 about Chapter 3: Genetics and Evolutionary Foundations of
Behavior
Human trait/behavior: how (look at mechanisms: proximate explanations) and why (to understand
historical perspective: distal explanation) do we do it
Evolution theory: Darwin. had been mentioned in other cultures. Focus on the functions of behavior.
Nativism.
Natural selection: Individuals with favorable traits within their particular environment will reproduce
most successfully. Favorable vs unfavorable traits. Conditions:
- There is variation of traits
- Favorable traits are hereditary
Darwin had help from breeders to investigate animals.
- Not every individual is able to produce (a lot of) offspring > so particular traits are there
more. There is reproductive advantage for some. E.g. as a result of a lack of resources (food,
water, territory) or differences in vulnerability for diseases/predation.
Survival of the fittest: about passing on traits.
Next to natural selection change can also occur by selective breeding
- Evolution has no purpose: because its based on random variation
- All species are equally adapted to their environment (otherwise extinct)
Human evolution
Mendelian patterns of inheritance. Sometimes you see specific inheritance of trait. Dominant vs
recessive alleles: Gregor Mendel.
Humans: characteristics are polygenetic: characteristics, such as height or skin color, that is influenced
by two or more genes (less or more not green or yellow)
Genes interact with the environment.
Genes expression: each cell contains all genes > Cells can activate particular genes as a result of a
changing environment.
Lecture 1
Three Underlying ideas:
1. Behaviours and mental processes have no supernatural but a material origin. Dualism vs
materialism
2. An individual changes because of experiences. Nature vs nurture
3. Humankind was shaped by evolution and natural selection. Evolution vs Creationism.
Important terms:
- Stimulus; what is offered to organism to provoke a reaction
- Response: measurable reaction
Dualism Descartes vs Materialism Hobbes. Hobbes is truth
Rene Descartes: Role of the body. body = complex machine. Animals are mechanic. Humans not
because they have conscious thoughts (deliberation & judgement) performed by a supernatural soul
separate from the body > body-soul dualism. Soul helps the stimulus-response reaction. Only purpose
of soul= conscious thought.
Dualism. Individual deliberation and judgement is related to qualia: Subjective quality of an
observable thought/memory (u can see red). HHmm but thoughts only cannot be researched
scientifically.
VS
Counterforces: why cant subjective quality be produced by the brain. When does the soul
come into existence? Result: materialism: behavior is product of the body/physical. There is a
material base for our thought processes, consider material possessions and physical comfort as more
important than spiritual values. U can study consiuousness cause its caused by neurons
(no winner) Nature vs Nurture=Tabula rasa: the senses are the building blocks of experience.
Learning = associating experiences. Association appears when building blocks appear.
Ivan Pavlov: how we learn things. Learning behavior of dogs > association a stimulus to a response.
John B Watson: transformed Pavlovs work into behaviorism: people can learn everything by
associating stimuli and responses (all behavior is learned).
Counterforces: nature. A priori knowledge: things you don’t have to learn (time, space).
A posteriori knowledge: things you have to learn.
Ornstein: a cat can learn human language, a cat cannot.
Experiences change people (nurture) but only in the areas in which we can change (nature).
Empiricism: all thought/knowledge are rooted in sensory experience (zintuigelijk). u study psychology
by studying the influence of the outside world on the organism.
Nativism: some knowledge is innate (= foundation for human nature)
Law of Association by contiguity: link two stimuli. If a person experiences two stimuli at the same
time/right after the other, those 2 events will become associated in the mind.
,Lecture 2 about Chapter 2: Methods of Psychology
Experimental design: what is the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable?
- Prediction
- Operational definitions: define how to measure
- Define usage of …
- Pre-measurement
- Post-measurement
- Effect pre minus post-measurement
- Control group with a random assignment but same conditions
- Effect: difference between experimental and control group
- (Strong) support for the hypothesis?
U need a representative sample in order to generate the result for the whole population/research
group.
Think of placebo effect
- Observer-expectancy effect: the observer's expectations can also have an (intentional or
unintentional) effect on the results eg: the observer/experiment treats participants
differently in different conditions > danger of wrong conclusions.
- subject-expectancy bias: Subjects’ expectations as to how they should respond can also
influence results. Hawthorne effect: Changes in subjects’ behavior as a result of knowing
they are being watched.
Prevention: double-blind experiment, randomized double-blind placebo-control studies.
Metanalysis, still hard to draw a conclusion
If mixed results of different tests/groups > preregistration: register studies > research > publish the
results whatever they are. This avoids:
- Data-dredging/fishing: try different tests but only report the ones with significant results.
- Publication bias: only some results are published.
That’s why Important: transparency of research and results
Measurements: 2 important things at play:
- Validity: do we measure what we want to measure? (eg socially acceptable answers, a survey
only useful in particular situations)
- Error/reliability: random factors that influence the measurement (random variation). If u do
the experiment again you should kinda get the same results. The less randiom variation=
error, the more reliable the measurement is. And vice versa.
- Low reliability = large error. This is problematic when number of observations is low.
Otherwise with a big sample > the average still gives a good indication
Also (bias): systematic deviation: always too high or too low. Eg if theres noise in condition 1 and
silence in condition 2. Eg If a sample only includes a specific group. Eg observers expectations. A
strong bias is problematic.
Research designs:
, - Descriptive: what is X?
- Correlational: correlation between X and Y? When variables cannot be
manipulated/manipulating is hard. Positive or negative relation. Correlation coefficient R: 1 of
-1 is perfect correlation.
- Experimental: does X cause Y?
Most psychological research with people is done from samples from Western, Educated,
Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) societies, which are not representative of humans.
Median: middle value
Standard deviation: amount of variation/dispersion of values.
Lecture 3 about Chapter 3: Genetics and Evolutionary Foundations of
Behavior
Human trait/behavior: how (look at mechanisms: proximate explanations) and why (to understand
historical perspective: distal explanation) do we do it
Evolution theory: Darwin. had been mentioned in other cultures. Focus on the functions of behavior.
Nativism.
Natural selection: Individuals with favorable traits within their particular environment will reproduce
most successfully. Favorable vs unfavorable traits. Conditions:
- There is variation of traits
- Favorable traits are hereditary
Darwin had help from breeders to investigate animals.
- Not every individual is able to produce (a lot of) offspring > so particular traits are there
more. There is reproductive advantage for some. E.g. as a result of a lack of resources (food,
water, territory) or differences in vulnerability for diseases/predation.
Survival of the fittest: about passing on traits.
Next to natural selection change can also occur by selective breeding
- Evolution has no purpose: because its based on random variation
- All species are equally adapted to their environment (otherwise extinct)
Human evolution
Mendelian patterns of inheritance. Sometimes you see specific inheritance of trait. Dominant vs
recessive alleles: Gregor Mendel.
Humans: characteristics are polygenetic: characteristics, such as height or skin color, that is influenced
by two or more genes (less or more not green or yellow)
Genes interact with the environment.
Genes expression: each cell contains all genes > Cells can activate particular genes as a result of a
changing environment.
