Review of Reinforcement and Punishment

Review of reinforcement and punishment

False Memory: Lost in a Shopping Mall

How does your memory work?

Creating False Memories

Animation explaining classical conditioning

Homework

Here are links to some of the articles you can use for your 5-point summaries. Each paper you submit should be a summary of an article. (From time to time, I will show or post a video that is approved for this purpose as well.) To receive the full five points, you should write at least two full paragraphs about the article you chose, and include your own comments/reactions. (Resulting in approximately two-thirds of a page typed, double-spaced.) I will continue to post new articles throughout the quarter. The sooner you get started on these summaries, the better, because once you have earned the full 30 points for the "Homework" category on your syllabus, you will be allowed to submit additional papers for extra credit.

All homework must be submitted by March 10 (the last day of class), but I highly recommend submitting your first summary by Thursday, January 27. This will help me make sure you understand the assignment and are on the right track.


Optogenetics: controlling brain cells with lasers

Enhancing worker well-being

Turning Lemons into Lemonade: Hardiness Helps People Turn Stressful Circumstances into Opportunities

Alien Friends

Thriving on Half a Brain

When Rats Dream, It Seems, It´s After a Day at the Mazes
Tetris Dreams

Scientists Show Blue Light Can Help Reset Sleep Cycle

Scientists see how placebo effect eases pain

Déjà vu and the Brain, Consciousness and Self

One 'Type A' Trait May Actually Lower Work Stress

Dopamine Blockers Lead Faithful Voles Astray

Clever Hans

Time Magazine profile of Sigmund Freud

Skinner's "Baby Box"

The amazing brain

I will continue to add links over the course of the quarter, but you aren't limited to the articles I've linked to. If you like, you can find your own by going to this page on the American Psychological Association web site. Click on one of the topics, for example Learning and Memory,Intelligence, Children--anything that interests you. Once you choose one of those pages, look for the headings "News" and "Monitor on Psychology Articles". Articles in either of those categories are acceptable to use.

More articles:

Any of the articles at this Science Daily link.

YOU CAN'T BE A SWEET CUCUMBER IN A VINEGAR BARREL A Talk with Philip Zimbardo

"THAT DAMN BIRD" A Talk with Irene Pepperberg

Approved videos

Man without a memory: Clive Wearing

Temple Grandin: The World Needs All Kinds of Minds

Dr. Money and the Boy with No Penis

Can we slow aging?

Magnetic Mind Control

The riddle of experience vs. memory

Treatment

Therapy – General term for any treatment process; in psychology and psychiatry, therapy refers to a variety of psychological and biomedical techniques aimed at dealing with mental disorders or coping with problems of living

The components of therapy

In addition to the relationship between the therapist and the patient/client, the therapeutic process typically involves some or all of the following processes:

• Identifying the problem
• Identifying the cause of the problem or the conditions that maintain the problem
• Deciding on and carrying out some form of treatment

Psychological therapies –Based on psychological principles (rather than biomedical approach)

The psychological therapies are often collectively called psychotherapy

Biomedical therapies – Treatments that focus on altering the brain, especially with drugs, psychosurgery, or electroconvulsive therapy

Insight therapies – Psychotherapies in which the therapist helps patients/clients understand (gain insight into) their problems

Psychodynamic therapies – Insight therapies based on the assumption that mental disorder is caused by powerful (dynamic) mental forces and conflicts

Psychoanalysis – The form of psychodynamic therapy developed by Sigmund Freud



Analysis of transference – Analyzing and interpreting the patient’s relationship with the therapist, based on the assumption that this relationship mirrors unresolved conflicts in the patient’s past

Neo-Freudian psychodynamic therapies – Therapies developed by psychodynamic theorists who embraced some of Freud’s ideas, but disagreed with others

Humanistic therapies – Techniques based on the assumption that people have a tendency for positive growth and self actualization, which may be blocked by an unhealthy environment

Client-centered therapy – Emphasizes healthy psychological growth through self-actualization

Carl Rogers

Reflection of feeling – Paraphrasing client’s words to capture the emotional tone expressed

Cognitive therapy – Emphasizes rational thinking as the key to treating mental disorder

Cognitive therapy for depression involves

• Evaluating evidence
• Situational factors
• Alternative solutions

Group therapy – Psychotherapy with more than one client



Self-help support groups – Groups that provide social support and an opportunity for sharing ideas about dealing with common problems; typically organized/run by laypersons (not professional therapists)

Behavior therapy – Any form of psychotherapy based on the principles of behavioral learning, especially operant conditioning and classical conditioning

Systematic desensitization – Technique in which anxiety is extinguished by exposing the patient to an anxiety-provoking stimulus


Exposure therapy – Desensitization therapy in which patient directly confronts the anxiety-provoking stimulus (as opposed to imagining it)

Aversion therapy – Involves presenting individuals with an attractive stimulus paired with unpleasant stimulation in order to condition a repulsive reaction



Contingency management – Approach to changing behavior by altering the consequences, especially rewards and punishments, of behavior



Token economies – Applied to groups (e.g. classrooms, mental hospital wards) involving distribution of “tokens” contingent on desired behaviors; tokens can later be exchanged for privileges, food, or other reinforcers

Participant modeling – Therapist demonstrates and encourages a client to imitate a desired behavior

Cognitive-behavioral therapy

• Combines cognitive emphasis on thoughts with behavioral strategies that alter reinforcement contingencies
• Assumes irrational self-statements cause maladaptive behavior
• Seeks to help the the client develop a sense of self-efficacy

Rational-emotive behavior therapy – Based on the idea that irrational thoughts and behaviors are the cause of mental disorders (REBT)



Albert Ellis

Drug Therapies

Antipsychotic drugs

• Include chlorpromazine, haloperidol, and clozapine
• Usually affect dopamine pathways
• May have side effects

Tardive dyskinesia – Incurable disorder of motor control resulting from long-term use of antipsychotic drugs

Antidepressants and mood stabilizers

• Include Prozac, monoamine oxidase (MOA) inhibitors, and lithium carbonate (effective against bipolar disorder)
• Treat depression and bipolar disorder
• Usually affect serotonin and/or norepinephrine
• The use of antidepressants to deal with general feelings of unease is highly controversial

Antianxiety drugs

• Include barbiturates and benzodiazepines
• May include some antidepressant drugs which work on certain anxiety disorders
• Should not be used to relieve ordinary anxieties of everyday life
• Should not be taken for more than a few days at a time
• Should not be combined with alcohol

Stimulants suppress activity level in persons with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

There is controversy from concern that the causes and boundaries of ADHD are vague and the potential exists for overdiagnosis

Psychosurgery –The general term for surgical intervention in the brain to treat psychological disorders

The infamous prefrontal lobotomy is no longer performed

Severing the corpus callosum, however, can reduce life-threatening seizures

Electroconvulsive therapy is used for the treatment of severe depression


Therapeutic community – Program of treating mental disorder by making the institutional environment supportive and humane for patients

Deinstitutionalization – Policy of removing patients, whenever possible, from mental hospitals

Community mental health movement – Effort to deinstitutionalize mental patients and to provide therapy from outpatient clinics

Social Psychology

Chapter 14

Social psychology – The branch of psychology that studies the effects of social variables and cognitions on individual behavior and social interactions

Social context – The combination of

• The activities and interactions among people
• The setting in which behavior occurs, and
• The expectations and social norms governing behavior in that setting

Situationism – The view that environmental conditions influence people’s behavior as much or more than their personal dispositions do


Social role – One of several socially defined patterns of behavior that are expected of persons in a given setting or group

Script – Knowledge about the sequence of events and actions that is expected in a particular setting

Conformity - changing your behavior or opinions to match those of your group


Ashe identifies three factors that influence whether a person will yield to pressure:

• The size of the majority
• The presence of a partner who dissented from the majority
• The size of the discrepancy between the correct answer and the majority position

In “groupthink,” members of the group attempt to conform their opinions to what each believes to be the consensus of the group

Conditions likely to promote groupthink include:

• Isolation of the group
• High group cohesiveness
• Directive leadership
• Lack of norms requiring methodical procedures
• Homogeneity of members’ social background and ideology
• High stress from external threats with low hope of a better solution than that of the group leader

Obedience to authority


In Milgram’s experiment

• The victim was an actor
• The victim receive no actual shocks
• Nevertheless, this controversial experiment demonstrated how powerful effects of obedience to authority
• Situational factors, and not personality variables, appeared to effect people’s levels of obedience

Diffusion of responsibility – Dilution or weakening of each group member’s obligation to act when responsibility is perceived to be shared with all group members

Interpersonal attraction

Reward theory of attraction – A social learning view that says we like best those who give us maximum rewards at minimum cost

Matching hypothesis – Prediction that most people will find friends and mates that are about their same level of attractiveness

Cognitive dissonance – A highly motivating state in which people have conflicting cognitions, especially when their voluntary actions conflict with their attitudes



Fundamental attribution error – Tendency to emphasize internal causes and ignore external pressures

Self-serving bias – Attributional pattern in which one takes credit for success but denies responsibility for failure

Prejudice – A negative attitude toward an individual based solely on his or her membership in a particular group

Discrimination – A negative action taken against an individual as a result of his or her group membership

In-group – The group with which an individual identifies

Out-group – Those outside the group with which an individual identifies

Social distance – The perceived difference or similarity between oneself and another person

Scapegoating

Combating prejudice

Research suggests that the possible tools for combating prejudice include:

• New role models
• Equal status contact
• Legislation

In the Robber’s Cave experiment, conflict between groups arose from an intensely competitive situation


Cooperation, however, replaced conflict when the experimenters contrived situations that fostered mutual interdependence and common goals for the groups