PSYCH EXAM 2

Evolutionary psychologists

- evolution of mind and behavior follows Darwin’s theory of natural selection ex:inherited fear of snakes -focus on universal human tendencies. One prominent area is the differences between men and women

Social Connectedness

women tend to prefer social connections with others, whereas men prefer independence ■ When looking for someone to confide, both tend to prefer women

Aggression

men are more physically aggressive than women ■ More likely to engage in violent crime ■ Male killing male is 20 x more likely than women-women killing ■ In all cultures, fighting, hunting, war, are seen as male

Social Dominance

■ Men tend to be more dominant in social settings than women ■ Men in groups tend to letter opinions and take leadership positions ■ Women in groups tend to be supportive and seek opinions ■ Men leaders are bossy, women are more democratic

Sexuality

Men tend to initiate sexual activity ■ Respond more easily to visual sexual stimulus ■ Men are more likely to interpret friendliness as attraction ■ Evolutionary psychologists say that the sexual tension arises b/c of competing sexual strategies for reproductive success ■ In terms of seeking partners, men can offer status, while they seek looks. Women offer looks, and seek status

Behavioral genetics

ask how genes and environment combine to produce behavioral differences

Twin Study

●Are identical twins more similar in behavior than fraternal twins. → answer is yes ● Identical twins are more likely to be influenced by sibling divorce than fraternal twins ● Genes may be important, but identical twins in the same environment are often treated the same

Alzheimer’s Disease

■ Identical twins (60%), Fraternal twins (30%) chance ■ Characteristics: ● Plaques: beta amyloid on tips of neuron branches ● Tangles: shriveled protein filaments ● Atrophy: loss of brain tissue

Heritability

extent to which differences in traits are due to differing genes ● For IQ: ranges b/w 50-70%

Adoption studies

2 families are created ■ A. Adoptive parents - same env, different genes ■ B. Biological parents - same genes, different env ■ Is an adopted child more like the adoptive or biological parents? ● For traits such as temperament or IQ, kids are more biological

Prenatal influences

males and females are indistinguishable until 8 weeks after conception when Y chromosome switches on production of testosterone which causes creation of testes and external genitals ●Genetic Male → no testosterone → female genitals ●Genetic Female → testosterone → male genitals ● After birth, environment influences testosterone levels ● Ex: dad drop. Test levels drop after fatherhood ● Bruce Reimer ○ Went from Bruce to Brenda to David

Postnatal influences

Imitation of role models and the rewards and punishments from following these role models

Psychophysics

psychological study of sensation

Absolute threshold

minimum energy required to detect a stimulus half of the time ○ Subliminal sensation - right below the threshold

The Ear

Must detect 2 properties of sound waves ■ 1. Amplitude ■ 2. Wavelength: ●Long wave → low freq → low pitch ●Short wave → high freq → high pitch

Auditory Sensory Transduction (the ear)

has 5 steps: ■ 1. Sound waves flow down ear canal and vibrate the eardrum at the frequency of the sound ■ 2. The vibration from the eardrum is transmitted to the 3 smallest bones in the body: hammer, anvil, stirrup, all in the middle ear ■ 3. Vibration of the stirrup is transmitted to the cochlea (snail shaped structure in the inner ear) through its oval window ■ 4. The cochlea vibration causes a traveling wave along the basilar membrane which is lined with neurons called hair cells where the wave peaks. Neurotransmitters are released; triggering an action potential ■ 5. The hair cells synapse with the auditory nerve carrying the neural message through a cascade of synapses to the auditory cortex i the temporal lobe

The ear (cont.)

●The pitch of a sound is determined by where on the basilar membrane the hair cells fire ■Close to the back (near the oval window) → high pitch ■Close to the apex → low pitch ●Loudness determined by # of hair cells that fire

Causes of hearing loss with the loss of hair cells

■ 1. Diseases: ● Tinnitus: ringing in the ears. Can be caused by food allergies, aspirin, very loud sudden sound ■ 2. Aging (presbycusis) ● Loss of high frequency sounds with age. Worse for men ■ 3. Noise-induced hearing loss ● Decibels - how we measure intensity of sound. ● Prolonged exposure to sounds > 85 dB causes permanent hearing loss

The eye

○Wavelength → color ■ Short wavelength - blue ■ Long wavelength - red ■ Med wavelength - green ○Amplitude → brightness ■Large amp → bright colors ■Small amp → dark colors ○ The light waves enter the eye through the pupil, size of which is determined by iris ○ Pupil size determined by: ■ Amount of light: expands in low light, contracts in bright light ■ Emotion: dilates with interest in someone or something

Accommodation (the eye)

the process by which the lens changes shape to bend light rays so the image is in focus on the retina

Myopia (the eye)

nearsightedness. The eyeball is too long and/or the lens/cornea bend too much, making the image in focus in front of the retina, instead of on it. Caused by too much time indoors. Far objects are blurry ● Solutions ○ Concave lens - diverge the light to bring into focus ○ LASIK

Farsightedness (hyperopia) (the eye)

Eyeball is too short and/or the lens/cornea doesn’t bend the light enough so the image is in focus behind the retina. Near objects are blurry ● Solutions ○ Reading glasses (convex lens)

Rods vs Cones (the eye)

Number ● Cones: 6 million ● Rods: 120 million ■ Location ● Cones: Center of retina (fovea) ● Rods: Periphery ■ Sensitivity to low light ● Cones: low ● Rods: high ■ Color? ● Cones: Yes ● Rods: No ■ Detail: ● Cones: Yes ● Rods: No

Pathway (the eye)

Rods/cones → bipolar cells → ganglion cells → optic nerve (axons of ganglion cells, blind spot) → brain

The brain does not process whole images but is specialized to analyze the different features of the visual scene which are _____? (the eye)

■ Shape ■ Motion ■ Depth ■ Color

To experience color, the eye and brain use 2 systems which are ________? (the eye)

1. Trichromatic System: there are 3 cones. L cones (red), M cones (green, most likely to be defected), and S cones (blue). Colors are mixed using additive color mixing → produces the rainbow of colors ■ Deuteranopes - see the spectrum as shades of yellows and blues 2. Opponent-Process system ■ Reds vs. greens ■ Blues vs. yellows ■ Color cells in the brain that give a positive response to red/blue give a negative response to green/yellow

Selective attention (the eye)

- only one interpretation is possible at a time. Perception selects one interpretation - we focus our awareness on a particular perception

Cocktail party effect (the eye)

being able to pay attention to one specific person’s voice in a crowd of people

Principles of grouping (the eye)

the rules for assembling elements 1.proximity 2.similarity 3.closure

binocular cues (the eye)

require both eyes. Retinal disparity is when the two eyes have different views of the image, and the brain fuses them together

Monocular cues (the eye)

only one eye required (pictorial cues) ■1. Relative size: objects of similar size → smaller image seems farther away ■ 2. Interposition: object that is blocking another object seems closer ■ 3. Relative height: higher objects perceived as farther away ■ Texture gradient: As objects change from big and scattered to small and compacted, we perceive as farther.

Relative Motion (the eye)

as we move through a scene, objects beyond our fixation (where we’re staring) appear to move with us slowly, whereas objects in front of fixation appear to move away from us quickly.

Linear Perspective (the eye)

whenever a 3D scene is projected on a 2D surface (like a painting canvas), parallel lines in scene converge into a vanishing point on the horizon

Perceptual Constancy (the eye)

The experience of the world staying the same despite constant changes to the stimulation of our sensory receptors ○ Shape Constancy: Our perception of shape stays constant despite changes in the angle of viewing ○ Size Constancy: Experiencing the size of an object as unchanging despite changes in the distance of viewing.

ponzo illusion (the eye)

Top bar seems longer because we perceive it as farther away yet casting the same size as the lower bar on the retina

Miller Lyer illusion (the eye)

we perceive the left line as longer than the right line because it resembles an inside corner which we see as farther away.

Perceptual adaptation (the eye)

our ability to alter our perception based on new experiences.

Perceptual set (the eye)

predisposition to see the world one way and not another

Perception (the eye)

○ Bottom-up processing: sensations, stimulation of our sensory receptors ○ Top-down processing: experiences, expectations, assumptions

Circadian Rhythm

a pattern of bodily function that happens on a daily basis.

NREM 1 (Stage 1 sleep)

● Lightest stage of sleep ● EEG shows theta waves ● Heart rate falls, blood pressure falls, but easy to wake up ● Muscle jerks

NREM 2 (Stage 2 sleep)

● First definitive stage of sleep ● Harder to wake up ● EEG shows sleep K-complexes and spindles (burst of activity). Indicate how well you’re able to maintain sleep ● Sleep talking

NREM 3 (Sleep 3)

● EEG shows large, slow delta waves ○ Slow-wave sleep ○ Deep sleep ● Very difficult to wake one up ● Disoriented upon waking ● Heart rate very slow ● Blood pressure very low ● Sleep walking, bed wetting ● Night terrors (different from nightmares) ● As night goes on, NREM 3 gets progressively shorter

REM Sleep (rapid eye movement)

● EEG shows large, fast beta waves ● Increased blood flow to the brain ● Increased heart rate and blood pressure ● Paralysis of the limbs. Paradoxical sleep ● Sleep paralysis ● Eyes moving underneath lids signifies the onset of a dream ● Genital arousal ● Nightmares ● Gets progressively longer as night goes on

Insomnia

■ Affects 15% of adults, more women than men ■ Persistent problems falling or staying asleep ■ Behavioral management recommended: ● Restrict time in bed ● Only go to bed when feeling sleepy ● Avoid napping

Narcolepsy

■ Feeling sleepy all the time, and sometimes experience sleep attacks ■ Often brought my stress or strong emotions ■ 1 in 1000 suffer ■ No cure or remission of symptoms

Sleep Apnea

■ Person stops breathing for minute-long periods throughout the night ■ 1 in 25 adults suffer, mostly overweight, middle-aged men ■ Mask helps breathing

Night terror

■ Kids wake up terrified ■ Fall back to sleep, no memory the next day ■ NREM 3 ■ Runs in families

explain random activity during sleep

latent

inner corner

unconscious

bottom-up; expect to see; top-down

alertness

theta

NREM 2

converge; vanishing point

angle from which we view the object

muller lyer illusion

perceptual adaptation

L

continuity

refuse to cross to the clear side

sensations organize into perceptions by rules

his pupils dilate

little time outdoors

rods

photoreceptors-> bipolar cells -> ganglion cells

environment affects expression

turn off methyl groups

does not fall into the category of male or female

biological factors

self esteem

women;women

matches in behavior

differences; commonalities