INTRODUCTION IN TO

PSYCHOLOGY
Nervous System
 Structure of the Cortex

• Cerebral Cortex
divided into lobes, or
regions of the brain
– Each lobe is (roughly)
responsible for different
higher-level functions,
but remember that they
do not work merely in
isolation.
 Structure of the Cortex

• Occipital Lobe: brain

lobe at the back of the
head
– responsible primarily
for vision; separate
areas specify visual
properties such as
shape, color, and
motion
 Structure of the Cortex

• Parietal Lobe: brain lobe

at the top and center /
rear of the head
– involved in registering
spatial location, attention,
and motor control
– also involved in arithmetic
 Structure of the Cortex

• Temporal Lobe: the

brain lobe under the
temples, in front of the
ears
– many functions,
including processing
sounds, committing
information to memory,
and comprehending
language
 Structure of the Cortex

• Frontal Lobe: the brain

lobe located behind the
forehead
– the seat of planning, memory
search, motor control,
reasoning, emotions, and
many other functions
– In many ways, the frontal
lobe is what makes us
uniquely human.
 Structure of the Neuron

• Soma (Cell Body): The central part of the neuron,

contains the nucleus
– Regulates cell functioning
• Dendrites: the branching part of the neuron that receives
messages from other neurons and relays them to the cell
body
 Structure of the Neuron

• Axon: The long, cable-like extension that delivers messages to

other neurons
• Myelin Sheath: Layer of fatty tissue that insulates the axon and
helps speed up message transmission
 Structure of the Neuron

• Synapse: The gap between two neurons allowing

communication
– Chemical Synapse utilizes Neurotransmitters
– Electrical Synapse utilizes Action Potentials
 Major Neurotransmitters
• Acetylcholine (ACh)
• Dopamine
• Norepinephrine
• Serotonin
• Gamma amino butryic acid (GABA)
• Glutamate
 Six Primary
Neurotransmitters
1. Acetylcholine –Firing of neurons
2. GABA- Keeps neurons from firing
3. Norepinephrine- Inhibits firing of neurons in
the CNS
4. Dopamine- Inhibitor –helps to control
voluntary movement affects sleep, mood,
attention and learning
5. Serotonin- Primarily inhibits, regulates
sleep, mood, attention and learning
6. Endorphins- Stimulates firing of neurons,
shields body from pain and elevates feeling of
pleasure
 Other Chemical Messengers
• Hormones: Chemical substances, primarily produced in
the endocrine glands, which are released in the
bloodstream and carried to various organs and cells.
 Important Hormones
• Melatonin > Sleep
• Adrenal Hormones
– Cortisol > Boosts energy, reduces inflammation
– Adrenaline (Epinephrine) & Noradrenaline
(Norepinephrine) > Increase arousal and improve
memory
• Sex Hormones
– Androgens (e.g., testosterone) > Masculinizing
– Estrogens > Feminizing
 Psychology

• Psychology: the study of behavior and

mental processes and how they are
affected by an organism’s physical state,
mental state, and environment.
• Behavior is the result of interaction
between environmental factors and
genetic programs.
• Specific mechanisms by which
environmental events shape behavior:

– Memory
– Learning
 Types of Psychology
Experimental Psychology
• The branch of the discipline that sets up
experiments to see how individuals act in
particular situations
Clinical Psychology
• The branch that develops programs for
treating individuals suffering from mental
illnesses and behaviour disorders
 Psychology’s Present
• Biological Perspective – emphasizes the role of biology
(physiology, genetics) on behavior and mental processes
– How damage to different parts of the brain affects personality,
behavior, learning ability, language
– How genetics predispose us to develop certain personality traits,
mental illness
• Learning Perspective – emphasizes the role of the
environment and our experiences on behavior and mental
processes
– How children adopt certain behaviors by imitating their parents
(social-learning) or by parents directly rewarding those behaviors
(behavioral)
• Cognitive Perspective – emphasizes the role of cognitive
processes on behavior and mental processes
– If we believe we will fail, we may not even try
– It is easier for us to remember/recall information that is consistent
with our beliefs than information that is inconsistent with our beliefs
 Psychology’s Present (cont.)
• Sociocultural Perspective – emphasizes the role of
society/culture on behavior and mental processes
– Technological advances in our culture (internet, gaming, cell
phones) have affected our attention processes
– Societal pressure for thinness has contributed to increased
incidence rates of eating disorders

• Psychodynamic Perspective: emphasizes the role of

unconscious conflicts on behavior and mental processes

• Humanistic: emphasizes free will, personal growth, and

resilience
 Psychological Perspectives: Depression
Example
• Biological: abnormalities in neurotransmitters in the brain
• Learning: depressive symptoms have been reinforced
(rewarded) by the environment (e.g., getting to stay
home from school because of feeling depressed)
• Cognitive: negative, pessimistic thinking style
• Socio-cultural: societal stress and role demands; modern
culture has made us increasingly isolated
• Psychodynamic: depression is due to unconsciously
displacing anger towards your parent onto yourself
• Humanistic: depression is due to being inauthentic or by
being otherwise blocked in fulfilling your potential
 The profession of psychology: Two areas

• Basic Psychology

• Applied Psychology
 Differences Among Applied
Psychologists in Field of Mental Health
• Psychologists
– Clinical
– Counseling
– School
• Psychotherapists
• Psychoanalysts
• Psychiatrists
 Psychological Schools of Thought
• Like the other social sciences, psychology
has been divided into a number of schools
of thought:

• Psychoanalytic Theory
• Behaviouralism
• Learning Theory
 Psychoanalytic Theory
• The mind is divided into two parts: the
conscious (aware of ) and the
unconscious (not aware of)
• According to psychologists, our
unconscious mind has more influence than
our conscious mind on our personalities
and behaviour
• Founded by Sigmund Frued
 The Unconscious Mind
The Unconscious mind is divided into three parts:

• Id – which encourages us to seek physical

satisfaction – I really want that ring.

• Ego – the referee between the two and deals with

external reality, this is our most conscious self – It
would need a lot of money to buy that ring. How?

• Superego – prompts us to do the moral thing, not

the one that feels best – I will have to wait to buy
it.
 How does this apply to human
development??

ID A newborn child’s personality is all id.

(Self gratification)

EGO Channels the desires of the id to more

advantageous direction of the individual.

SUPEREGO -Firstseen as recognition of parental

control.
-Later as a reflection of values and moral
of the larger society.
 Sigmund Freud
• The founder of psychoanalytic theory.

• He believed our early childhood experiences,

usually involving our relationships with parents and
family, are stored in our unconscious mind.

• While we are normally unaware of these memories,

they can have a powerful influence on the way
we function.

• Those that live with a general sense of frustration,

their behaviour may become neurotic and
connected with anxiety or obsessiveness which can
be treated using dream analysis, hypnosis and
individual counseling.

• Freud felt that individual sexual satisfaction or

frustration was the key element in personality
development.
 Behaviourism
 Behaviourists believe that psychologists can predict
and control or modify human behaviour
 by  identifying the factors that motivate it in the first
place.

 Behaviourists placed particular stress on the early

childhood years, and the rules or practices parents
use to raise their children behavior, because the
Behaviourists believe these methods have a huge
influence on the character of individuals even into
adulthood.

 Developed by John B. Watson, Benjamin Spock.

 John B. Watson (1878-1958)
• The founder of behaviourism.

• He used animal experiments to determine

whether strict or flexible learning patterns
are more effective.

• Wrote book “Psychological Care of the

Infant and Child” concluded that children
should be brought up using a ‘scientific’,
strictly scheduled, rules-based model.
 Learning Theory
 Learning Theorists agree that humans are born with little instinct
but much learning potential.

 They believe that most human behaviour is learned, especially in

child and youth.

 By controlling the way in which humans learn behaviours, society

can have a great influence on their ultimate personalities.

 Believe that children who were brought up in loving families would

grow up to become secure and loving adults, but only if parents
provided clear and consistent expectations for good behaviour, and
swift but fair consequences for bad behaviour.

 Founded by Ivan Pavlov, BF Skinner, Albert Bandura.

 Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)
• Pavlov’s experiments with dogs
showed that is was possible to
get a dog to associate the sound
of a bell with the imminent arrival
of food.

• At the sound of a bell, the dog

would salivate in anticipation.
 Ivan Pavlov’s Classic Experiment

Before Conditioning

UCS (food
in mouth)
Neutral
UCR stimulus No
(salivation) (tone) salivation

During Conditioning After Conditioning

UCS (food
in mouth)

Neutral CS
stimulus UCR (tone)
(tone) (salivation) CR (salivation)
 B.F. Skinner (1904-1990)
 Rats received food rewards for pressing
specific levers in a complicated sequence
leading many theorists to believe that
learning was a STIMULUS-RESPONSE
effect.

 He believed that if the subject is correctly

stimulated it will give the appropriate
response.

 Theory of OPERANT CONDITIONING:

learning can be programmed by whatever
consequences follows a particular behaviour.
 Operant Conditioning

• Ex. Skinner Box - Training

– A hungry rat is placed in a box with a lever.
– It has no particular reason to press the lever.
– By random interaction, the rat learns that it will get
a food reward for pressing the lever.
– This will increase the likelihood that the rat will
press the lever to get more food (reinforcing
stimulus).
 Operant Conditioning
• Ex. Skinner Box – Extinction
– Once trained, the rat is then also shocked (a
punishing stimulus) when the lever is pressed,
decreasing the likelihood of further lever presses.

– The lever pressing behavior is extinguished.

– Recent research suggests 2 mechanisms:

• Immediate: The new synaptic connection destroyed.
• Delayed: A separate learned inhibitory pathway forms.
 Instrumental or Operant Conditioning

 B.F. Skinner

 Positive Reinforcement
 Negative Reinforcement
 Punishment
 Jean Piaget
• Believed that children learn in 4
distinct levels of congnitive
development.

• Children MUST go through each

stage before moving on to the next.
 Piaget’s Stages
Stages
1. Sensorimotor (0-2)-senses & actions
• object permanence, stranger anxiety
2. Pre-Operational (2-7)
• egocentrism, no conservation, - centration, animistic thinking
3. Concrete Operational (7-12)
• reversible actions, mathematical transformations, conservation
4. Formal Operations (12+)
• true logic, abstract reasoning, algebra
 Abraham Maslov (1908-1970
• Analysis of human needs organized into a
hierarchy ranging from basic survival through
to the need for love, security and esteem.

• Highest level was “self actualization

(integration of the self > making the
personality whole) .

• Maslov’s theories had most profound impact

on industrial psychology (making workplace
a satisfying experience by raising morale of
workers to improve performance).
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs