Reading: 1 Year of Publication: 1967 Page Numbers: 1-11
Major Psychologists or Study Author/s: M.S. Gazzaniga and Roger W. Sperry
Theoretical Proposition: (What aspects of human behavior were the researchers interested in?) - Explore the extent to which the two halves of the human brain are able to function independently, and if they have separate and unique abilities
Methods of Study: (How did the psychologists conduct their research?) 3 tests: - visual abilities: used a technique that only allowed an image to be transmitted only to the visual field of either the left or right brain - tactile stimulation: they could feel, but not see, an object, block letter, or a word in block letters. The visual and tactile tests could be performed at the same time - auditory abilities: verbally asked to find and identify objects in a bag only using touch and specifically using only one hand. Study Results and Significance: - 2 different brains can exist in one cranium, each with complex abilities - left brain is better at speaking, writing, math, reading, and is the primary center for language - right brain is better at recognizing faces, solving problems involving spatial relationships, symbolic reasoning, and artistic activities - researchers continue to uncover the amazing complexities of the human brain - this discovery helps doctors treat victims of stroke or head injury Criticisms: - main criticism focuses on the way the idea of right- and left- brain specialization has filtered down to popular culture and the media - popular myths state that someone is more right-brained or left-brained, suggesting that we have two brains that can function on their own. - You can only function properly with both hemispheres Subsequent Research/Recent Applications: - 1998 study in France questions the foundations of this study (children born with out corpus callosum and can still transmit information between the hemispheres) - 1998 study in US said split-brain patients may perceive the world differently (communication between your right and left hemispheres is necessary for imagining in your mind the movements of others) - 2003 study suggests that your more dominant hemisphere will lead you toward specific interests and professions Personal Reflection: - this study is very interesting, especially after taking the junior theology class, The Paschal Mystery, because we talk about the left and right brain and how people can be more left-brained or right-brained.
Article Title: Brain Changes in Response to Experience
Reading: 2 Year of Publication: 1972 Page Numbers:11-18
Major Psychologists or Study Author/s: M.R. Rosenzweig, E.L. Bennett, and M.C. Diamond
Theoretical Proposition: (What aspects of human behavior were the researchers interested in?) - animals raised in highly stimulating enviroments will demonstrate differences in brain growth and chemistry when compared with animals reared in plain or dull circumstances - in every experiment they used 12 set s of 3 male rats, each set from the same litter Methods of Study: (How did the psychologists conduct their research?) - 3 rats were assigned randomly to live in 1 of 3 cages for 4-10 weeks: 1) standard lab colony cage w/ several rats in an adequate space with food and water always available 2) impoverished cage was slightly smaller and was isolated in a separate room in which the rat was placed alone with adequate food and water. 3) Enriched environment had 6-8 rats in a large cage with a variety of toys - Then they were examined to see if there were any differences the brain development - Brains were measured, weighed, and analyzed to determine amount of cell growth and neurotransmitter activity. They were especially looking for the enzyme, acetylcholinesterase, which allows for faster and more efficient transmission of impulses among brain cells. Study Results and Significance: - The brains of the enriched rats were very different from the brains of the impoverished rats - The enriched rats had a heavier and thicker cerebral cortex and the enzyme was found in their brain tissue. They produced larger neurons, implying that a higher level of chemical activity had taken place in their brains. The synapses of the enriched rats were larger than the impoverished rats synapses, allowing for increased brain activity. Criticisms: - Maybe it wasnt the enriched environment that produced the brain changes but other differences in the treatment of the rats - Does it apply to humans? Subsequent Research/Recent Applications: - Learning itself is enhanced by enriched environmental experience - Brains of adult animals raised in impoverished environments can improve if placed in an enriched environment. - Proved to be true for humans too through careful autopsies of humans who died naturally - Weiss and Bellinger (2006) when children are raised in poverty, not only is their developmental environment likely to be impoverished, but they may also be at a greater risk of exposure to neurotoxic chemicals - The Mozart Effect Personal Reflection: - This study interests me because of the subsequent research section, where it says that learning can be enhanced by enriched environmental experience.
Article Title: Sources of Human Psychological Differences: the Minnesota study of Twins reared apart
Reading: 3 Year of Publication: 1990 Page Numbers: 19-27
Major Psychologists or Study Author/s: T. Bouchard, D. Lykken, N. Segal, and A. Tellegen
Theoretical Proposition: (What aspects of human behavior were the researchers interested in?) - How much influence do your genes have in determining your personal psychological qualities? - Monozygotic reared-apart (MZA) vs. Monozygotic reared-together (MZT)
Methods of Study: (How did the psychologists conduct their research?) - Participants: MZA and MZT twins - Procedure: each twin completed 4 personality tests, 3 aptitude and occupational interest inventories, 2 intelligence tests, checklist of household belongings, a family environment scale that measured how they felt about the parenting they received from their adoptive parents, a life history interview, a psychiatric interview, and a sexual history interview. Each twin was assessed separately, so they wouldnt be influenced by each other. Study Results and Significance: - Genome appears to account for most of the variations in a variety of human characteristics - MZA grew into adults who were similar in appearance as well as basic psychology and personality - There was little effect of the environment on MZT - Family environments exert less influence over who the kids grow up to be than do the genes they inherit from birth - Peoples tendencies actually mold their environments Criticisms: - Some studies claim that the researchers are not publishing their data as fully and completely as they should, and, therefore, their findings cant be independently evaluated. - Equal environment assumption: many of the conclusions drawn by Bouchard and Lykken about genetic influence assume that monozygotic and dizygotic twins raised together develop in identical environments. They say this assumption isnt valid Subsequent Research/Recent Applications: - The vocation you choose is largely determined by your genes but also about 30% of the variation in your overall job satisfaction and work ethic is due to genetic factors - Genomes effect: extraversion-introversion, neuroticism, and conscientiousness - They have studied peoples selection of a mate to see if falling in love with Mr. or Ms. Right is genetically predisposed. Its not. But theyve found a genetic link to likelihood of divorce, eating disorders, and life expectancy Personal Reflection: - After reading this selection, I find that it makes sense that our intelligence and personalities are genetically predisposed and that our environments are products of our personalities
Article Title: The visual cliff
Reading: 4 Year of Publication: 2004 Page Numbers: 27-34
Major Psychologists or Study Author/s: E.J Gibson and R.D. Walk
Theoretical Proposition: (What aspects of human behavior were the researchers interested in?) - At what stage in development can a person or animal respond effectively to the stimuli of depth and height? Do these responses appear at different times with animals of different species and habitats? Are these responses preprogrammed at birth or do they develop as a result of experience and learning? Methods of Study: (How did the psychologists conduct their research?) - Visual cliff: 4 ft high table with thick, clear glass as the top. Directly under half the table is a pattern surface. The same pattern surface is on the floor, under the other half of the glass table. It looks like a sudden drop-off, but in reality, the glass extends all the way across the table. A center board about a foot wide was placed in the drop-off. - 36 infants (6-14 months old) and mothers participated. The mother would call for the baby to move across the table - baby animals were also brought in for testing Study Results and Significance: - 9 babies refused to move from the center board - 27 babies crawled to their moms on the safe side - only 3 babies crawled off the visual cliff, the rest either crawled away from the mom on the shallow side or cried in frustration at being unable to reach the mom without moving off the cliff - this doesnt prove that humans ability to perceive depth is innate or learned, because they had 6 months of experience - the baby animals learn to move within days (chicks, goats) and they were able to not fall off the visual cliff - if they are to survive, they need to develop the ability to perceive depth by the time the can move independently - this capacity is inborn Criticisms: - whether they really proved that depth perception is innate in humans - another study with infants of 2-5 months showed that when placed on the deep side of the table, their heart rate decreased, instead of increase, which should happen when scared Subsequent Research/Recent Applications: - they used the visual cliff but changed the height of the drop to 30 inches. When on the edge of the cliff, the baby would stop and look down, sometimes, the mother on the other side looked scared. Then the baby would not crawl over. When the mom looked happy, the baby would check the cliff and then crawl over. When the cliff was made flat, the baby would just crawl over. This is social referencing - study researched how toddlers analyze the characteristics of tasks involving heights (crossing a bridge) Personal Reflection: - This is kind of blows my mind but I dislike the fact that they used babies. The poor things.
Article Title: The Origin of Form Perception
Reading: 5 Year of Publication: 1961 Page Numbers: 36-42
Major Psychologists or Study Author/s: R.L Fantz
Theoretical Proposition: (What aspects of human behavior were the researchers interested in?) - pinpoint when perceptual skills develop - determine the degree of complexity of their perceptual skills
Methods of Study: (How did the psychologists conduct their research?) - place babies (1-15 weeks old) in a comfortable, padded viewing box and presented various pairs of objects for them to look at. They were presented with solid and textured disks, spheres, an oval with a human face, an oval with a jumbled up human face, and shapes and patterns of various paired combinations - Study Results and Significance: - infants preferred the objects with the greatest complexity. This was true for all the ages, proving that form perception is innate - infants depend on other people to care for them, their perceptual tendencies favor the human face, this was present at birth - Criticisms:
- No criticism
Subsequent Research/Recent Applications: - his methods and discoveries have led to more studies into the perceptual abilities of the infant (the visual cliff) - babies can also become bored staring at the same stimulus over and over - infants as of 4 months old can distinguish between a possible and an impossible object - Personal Reflection: - this study is interesting because it led to more studies regarding the perceptual abilities of human infants
Articles Title: Regularly occurring periods of eye mobility and concomitant phenomena during sleep & The effect of dream deprivation
Reading: 6 Year of Publication: 1953 &1960 Page Numbers: 43-49
Major Psychologists or Study Author/s: E. Aserinsky and N. Kleitman and W. Dement
Theoretical Proposition: (What aspects of human behavior were the researchers interested in?) - Would it be possible for human beings to continue to function normally if their dream life were completely or partially suppressed? - Should dreaming be considered necessary in psychological sense or a physiological sense or both? - Study participants who had been somehow deprived of the chance to dream
Methods of Study: (How did the psychologists conduct their research?) - Participants: all male (23-32) - Electrode were attached to record brain-wave patterns and eye movements - They slept in a quiet, dark room and were allowed to sleep normally for the first few nights. Then, once they were REM sleeping (dreaming) they would be fully woken up and then allowed to sleep again. - They could not sleep at any other time - Recovery phase: allowed to sleep undisturbed - Then they were given nights off and came back for dream deprivation nights where they would be woken up after their dream ended. Then they were given recovery nights again Study Results and Significance: - Amount of time spent dreaming was similar from participant to participant - During dream-deprivation nights, they were progressively getting woken up more and more as the nights passed - Increase in dreaming time after they were prevented from dreaming for several nights - We need to dream, the pressure to dream increases over successive dream- deprivation nights - Behavioral changes: anxiety, irritability, difficulty concentrating, increase in appetite (gained 3-5 lbs) Criticisms: none
Subsequent Research/Recent Applications: - People are deprived of REM sleep when drinking alcohol and drugs, so when they quit, the REM rebound effect is so strong that they return to the drug because they want to avoid dreaming. Sometimes its so strong, it can happen while theyre awake, which explains what happens during withdrawals - We might be able to dream during NREM sleep too? - Humans are diurnal creatures? Personal Reflection: - I find this fascinating because dreams are such an unknown. I usually dont dream.
Article Title: The brain as a dream-state generator: An activation-synthesis hypothesis of the dream process
Reading: 7 Year of Publication: 1977 Page Numbers: 49-56 Major Psychologists or Study Author/s: J.A. Hobson, and R.W. McCarley Theoretical Proposition: (What aspects of human behavior were the researchers interested in?) - Dreams are triggered by basic physiological processes, and there is no censor distorting the true meaning to protect you from your unconscious wishes. The strangeness and distortions are results of the physiology of how the brain and mind work during sleep - REM sleep causes dreams, not the reverse
Methods of Study: (How did the psychologists conduct their research?) - Study and review previous work by researchers in the area of dream and sleep - Using lab techniques they were able to stimulate or inhibit certain parts of the cats brains and record the effect on dreaming sleep
Study Results and Significance: - Your brain can control physical movement while sleeping but your spinal cord paralyzes you (except for the muscles and nerves controlling the eyes) - The D state is preprogrammed event in the brain that functions almost like a neurobiological clock - Dreaming sleep is purely physiological because mammals sleep cycles vary based on size, the smaller and more vulnerable to predators, the more it shifts from REM to NREM - Because a part of the brain completely separate from the pontine brain stem is involved in consciousness, dreaming cannot be driven be psychological forces - Images are called up from your memory to match the data generated by the brain stems activation. It is because of the randomness of the impulses, and the difficult task of the brain to try to inject them with some meaning that dreams are often bizarre, disjointed, and seemingly mysterious - You dont remember a dream because the chemistry of your brain immediately changes when you wake up and certain chemicals necessary for converting short-term memories into long-term ones are suppressed during REM sleep
Criticisms: - Has not been universally accepted (Freudian supporters)
Subsequent Research/Recent Applications: - Dreams do have meaning, but should be read more straight forward - Dreams dont have hidden unconscious messages, but they do tell us a lot about the importance of your memories and insight to your thinking process
Personal Reflection: - This is interesting because its not interesting. This is boring.
Article Title: Hypnotic Behavior: A cognitive, social, psychological perspective
Reading: 8 Year of Publication: 1982 Page Numbers: 56-64
Major Psychologists or Study Author/s: N.P. Spanos
Theoretical Proposition: (What aspects of human behavior were the researchers interested in?) - All the behaviors commonly attributed to a hypnotic trance state are within normal, voluntary abilities of humans. The only reason people define themselves as having been hypnotized is that they have interpreted their own behavior under hypnosis in ways that are consistent with their expectations about being hypnotized
Methods of Study: (How did the psychologists conduct their research?) - A group of studies conducted prior to 1982 designed to support his position countering Hilgards contention that hypnosis is a unique state of consciousness Study Results and Significance: - Participants interpret their behavior during hypnosis as caused by something other than the self, making it seem involuntary - The hypnosis ritual creates expectations in participants, which in turn motivates them to behave in ways that are consistent with their expectations - A persons susceptibility to hypnosis correlates with his or her general tendency to become absorbed in other activities, such as books, music, or daydreaming - People will enact their experience of hypnosis according to how they believe they are supposed to behave - Participants who participate in both conditions expect the ritual of hypnosis to produce more intense imagery, and therefore, they rate it accordingly
Criticisms: - Whether or not hypnosis is an altered state of consciousness remains a highly controversial issue
Subsequent Research/Recent Applications: - People enter hypnosis with the intention to do what the hypnotist suggests - They strongly expect that hypnosis has the power to mold their behavior whether they voluntarily cooperated or not - Question certain therapeutic practices often employed by some psychotherapists to induce clients to recover ostensibly repressed memories of past sexual abuse
Personal Reflection: - His claim makes sense to me because I can understand why someone can only be hypnotized if they are willing to cooperate with the hypnotist
Article Title: Conditioned Reflexes
Reading: 9 Year of Publication: 1927 Page Numbers: 65-72
Major Psychologists or Study Author/s: I.P. Pavlov
Theoretical Proposition: (What aspects of human behavior were the researchers interested in?) - Unconditioned reflexes: inborn and automatic, require no learning, and are generally the same for all members of a species. - Conditional reflexes: acquired through experience or learning and may vary a great deal among individual members of a species - Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) forms unconditioned reflexes and produces unconditioned response (UCR) - Conditioned reflexes consist of a conditioned stimulus (CS) producing a conditioned response (CR) - How are conditioned reflexes acquired?
Methods of Study: (How did the psychologists conduct their research?) - Put dogs in soundproof labs that allowed for complete isolation of the dogs from the experimenters and from all extraneous stimuli during the experimenters and the animals - At first gave dogs food without them hearing the metronome, then gave them food allowing them to hear the metronome (repeat several times) then only let them hear the metronome without giving them food - Also did this with the odor of vanilla and a rotating object
Study Results and Significance: - The metronome, vanilla odor, and rotating object had become conditioned stimuli for the conditioned response of salivation - Theories of classical conditioning explained a major portion of human behavior and helped to launch psychology as a true science - Classical conditioning focuses on reflexive behavior
Criticisms: - No criticism, its universally accepted and unchanged
Subsequent Research/Recent Applications: - Where phobias come from, why you dislike certain foods, the source of your emotions, how advertising works, why you feel anxiety before a job interview or an exam, and what arouses you sexually
Personal Reflection: - This is interesting to me because I have begun to notice this theory when I am making food for my dog or taking her for a walk
Article Title: Conditioned emotional responses
Reading: 10 Year of Publication: 1920 Page Numbers: 72-78
Major Psychologists or Study Author/s: J.B. Watson, and R. Rayner
Theoretical Proposition: (What aspects of human behavior were the researchers interested in?) - If a stimulus automatically produces a certain emotion in you and that stimulus is repeatedly experienced at the same moment as something else, it will eventually become associated in your brain with that emotion - Like the classical conditioning - Fears are learned through conditioning
Methods of Study: (How did the psychologists conduct their research?) - Subject: Little Albert was a 9 months old orphan from the hospital - Neutral stimuli: white rat, rabbit, monkey, dog, masks with and without hair, and whit cotton wool (no fear) - Unconditioned stimulus: steel bar banged with a hammer= loud noise, made him scared - At 11 months, they presented Albert with the NS and then made the loud noise
Study Results and Significance: - Albert was scared of all the NS because he associated them with the noise - They even made him scared of an image of Santa Clause - He continued to be scared of these things months after - They planned on reconditioning him so he wouldnt be scared, but he was adopted and never reconditioned - All human behavior stems from learning and conditioning - Our behavior doesnt stem from unconscious processes( Freud was wrong)
Criticisms: - This isnt ethical - How could they let someone grow into adulthood with all of these fears still there - Extinction: condition and unconditioning processes we experience throughout our lives
Subsequent Research/Recent Applications: - Behaviorism - You learn to have certain emotions when in certain situations - Theories of effective parenting and psychotherapy - Facial expression of emotions in infants
Personal Reflection: - The study is interesting but that fact that they allow people to continue to have these fears is totally immoral and unethical. I am quite disgusted.
Article Title: Superstition in the pigeon
Reading: 11 Year of Publication: 1948 Page Numbers: 78-85
Major Psychologists or Study Author/s: B.F. Skinner
Theoretical Proposition: (What aspects of human behavior were the researchers interested in?) - People behave superstitiously because they believe a connection exists between the behavior in a certain setting and a reinforcing consequence, even though, it doesnt. - The connection exists because it was accidently reinforced once, twice, or several times (noncontigent reinforcement)
Methods of Study: (How did the psychologists conduct their research?) - Skinner box: a cage or box that is empty except for a dish or tray into which food may be dispensed (lets the experimenter control when the animal receives reinforcement) - Pigeons were given less food for several days so they could be hungry, and then were given food every 15 seconds regardless of what they were doing - After several days, they observed the birds behavior
Study Results and Significance: - In 6 out of 8 cases the resulting responses were so clearly defined that two observers could agree perfectly in counting instances. - The pigeons behaved as if a certain action would produce the food (superstitious) - This can be applied to humans too (the bowler who does the weird dance after he lets the ball go)
Criticisms: - Strict behavorial view is unable to account for many of the psychological processes that are fundamental to humans
Subsequent Research/Recent Applications: - Bruner and Revuski study on superstitious behavior in humans - Comparing two types of reinforcement in the development of superstitious behavior (positive vs. negative reinforcement) - Superstitious behavior occurred when there was nega tive reinforcement - Boys with ADHD possessed significantly less ability to cope with delays of reinforcement than did the comparison group of boys
Personal Reflection: - This is interesting because I began comparing that to my superstitions to see if it was true.
Article Title: Transmission of aggression through imitation of aggressive models
Reading: 12 Year of Publication: 1961 Page Numbers: 85-92
Major Psychologists or Study Author/s: A. Bandura, D. Ross, and S.A. Ross
Theoretical Proposition: (What aspects of human behavior were the researchers interested in?) - Children exposed to aggressive models would imitate the adult and engage in similar aggressive behaviors, even if they are no longer present - Children exposed to nonaggressive models would not only be less aggressive than those who observed the aggression but also significantly less aggressive than a control group who were exposed to no model - Children would imitate the behavior of the same-sex model to a greater degree than a model of the opposite sex. - Boys would be more predisposed than girls toward imitating aggression, the difference being most marked for subjects exposed to the male model Methods of Study: (How did the psychologists conduct their research?) - 48 kids were divided into 2 groups: aggressive models and nonaggressive models. These groups were divided again into males and females. These groups were divided into same-sex models and opposite-sex models - took kid to the playroom with toys, inviting the model to play too, when in the room, kid was given some stickers and stamps to play with and model was given tinkertoys, a mallet, and the punching Bobo doll. Aggressive models attacked Bobo violently, exactly the same, and nonaggressive models ignored Bobo - after, kids were taken to another room with good toys (dolls, firetrucks, etc) then they were told they couldnt play with these toys, but could play with others in another room - then they were taken to a room with both aggressive and nonaggressive toys they played for 20 minutes and watched through one-way glass Study Results and Significance: - kids who were exposed to the violent models tended to imitate the exact violent behaviors they observed and specific violent acts werent imitated in children with nonviolent models or control group - nonaggressive exposed kids were not really less aggressive then control - same-sex aggressive conditions, girls were more likely to imitate verbal aggression, while boys would imitate physical violence - boys are much more aggressive Criticisms: None Subsequent Research/Recent Applications: - live adult models have stronger influences than the filmed adult, who was more influential than the cartoon - kids imitated violence more when they saw it rewarded, but less when they saw it punished
Personal Reflection: - Interesting because I can apply this to me and my brothers growing up
Article Title: Teachers Expectancies: Determinates of pupils IQ gains
Reading: 13 Year of Publication: 1966 Page Numbers: 93-100
Major Psychologists or Study Author/s: R. Rosenthal, and L. Jacobson
Theoretical Proposition: (What aspects of human behavior were the researchers interested in?) - When an elementary teacher is provided with information that creates certain expectancies about students potential whether strong or weak, the teacher might unknowingly behave in ways that subtly encourage or facilitate the performance of the students seen as more likely to succeed.
Methods of Study: (How did the psychologists conduct their research?) - Students in grades 1-6 took the TOGA at the beginning of the year. Teachers thought they were taking a test thats a predictor of academic blooming, which they didnt. - Each teacher was given a list of students who scored in the top 20% of the predictor test, but the list was just a bunch of random students names - At the end of the year, the students took the TOGA again and experimenters compared the results
Study Results and Significance: - The students for whom the teachers had expected greater intellectual growth averaged significantly greater improvement than did the control children - The expectancy effect demonstrated in lab settings also appeared to function in less experimental, real-world situations - The effect was very strong in the early grades, yet almost nonexistent for the older children
Criticisms: - May be a bit unethical
Subsequent Research/Recent Applications: - Filmed teacher-student interactions when with a bright student and not a bright student. - Teacher was favorable to these students which affects whether they enjoy school, receive constructive comments, work harder to improve, not just IQ
Personal Reflection: - We see this a lot in todays education system yet no one does anything about it. Teachers may say that they dont have favorites, but they lie, they so have favorites.
Article Title: Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences
Reading: 14 Year of Publication: 1983 Page Numbers: 110
Major Psychologists or Study Author/s: H. Gardner
Theoretical Proposition: (What aspects of human behavior were the researchers interested in?) - Multiple intelligences theory (MI theory) based on much more than observing the various, diverse mental skills people can demonstrate - Human brain is not only diverse in its abilities but also extremely specialized in its functioning - Different parts of the human brain are responsible for different aspects of intelligence or different intelligences all together
Methods of Study: (How did the psychologists conduct their research?) - 8 indicators that define an intelligence: (1) potential isolation of the intelligence by brain damage (2) the existence of savants, prodigies, and other exceptional individuals relating to intelligence (3) a clear set of information-processing operations linked to the intelligence (4) a distinctive developmental history of the intelligence and the potential to reach high levels of expertise (5) evidence that the intelligence has developed through evolutionary time (6) ability to study the intelligence with psychological experiments (7) ability to measure the intelligence with existing standardized tests (8) aspects of the intelligence may be represented by a system of symbols
Study Results and Significance: - types of intelligence found: - linguistic, musical, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily kinesthetic, intrapersonal, and interpersonal intelligence
Criticisms: - they are just different thinking styles, not separate intelligences - theory contains too many embedded contradictions to be valid - can be molded conveniently to explain any cognitive activity making it impossible to prove or disprove
Subsequent Research/Recent Applications: - people are smart in different ways - enhancing the educational process for children and adults - naturalist intelligence - existential intelligence
Personal Reflection: - I find comfort in that there isnt just one way to be smart. People cannot be compared with each other because they each possess different types of intelligence.
Article Title: Cognitive maps in rats and men
Reading: 15 Year of Publication: 1948 Page Numbers: 110-117 Major Psychologists or Study Author/s: E.C. Tolman
Theoretical Proposition: (What aspects of human behavior were the researchers interested in?) - The true nature and complexity of learning could not be fully understood without an examination of the internal mental processes that accompany the observable stimuli and responses - Even though internal cognitive processes could not be directly observed , they could be objectively and scientifically inferred from observable behavior Methods of Study: (How did the psychologists conduct their research?) - Latent learning: rats placed in mazes. Control group was given food at the end of the maze, group N never received a reward, and group D at first had no rewards and then were given a reward later - Spatial orientation: rats placed in a maze and learned the maze to near perfection. Then they changed the maze to a sunburst pattern, blocking the original path the rats took to get to the food. Study Results and Significance: - Latent learning: control group learned the maze in 2 weeks. But, when group D discovered the reward, they learned it in 3 days. Group N never learned the maze. - During 10 days prior to reward, group D was learning much more about the maze than they were showing. They were making a mental map and could utilize it as soon as they were motivated to do so - Spatial orientation: most rats chose path 6 of the sunburst which ran about 4 inches from where the reward box had been placed in the previous maze. The cognitive mas that are produced are more than strip maps, they are much broader, comprehensive, or conceptual maps that give organisms a cognitive lay of the land Criticisms: none
Subsequent Research/Recent Applications: - Cognitive psychology is one of the most active and influential subfields of the behavioral sciences today - Environmental psychology: human behavior and the environment in which it occurs. Environmental cognition, cognitive maps. - How birds rely on the location of the sun to find landmarks and create cognitive maps for their migratory treks - You use cognitive maps when going on the internet. Personal Reflection: - I find it interesting that scientists rely on rats so much and that rats are easily manipulated. What a sad life they live/
Article Title: Leading questions and the eyewitness report
Reading: 16 Year of Publication: 1975 Page Numbers: 117-125
Major Psychologists or Study Author/s: E.F. Loftus
Theoretical Proposition: (What aspects of human behavior were the researchers interested in?) - The power of questions containing presuppositions to alter a persons memory of an event - If eyewitnesses are asked questions that contain a false presupposition about the witnessed event, the new false information may be incorporated into the witnesss memory of the even and appear subsequently in new testimony by the witness Methods of Study: (How did the psychologists conduct their research?) - Experiment 1: shown a film of an accident and then given a questionnaire, half of quiz had a question implying that there was a stop sign, the other half didnt. - 2: shown a film about protestor entering a classroom. Later given a questionnaire, one asking if leader of 12 was male, the other asking if leader of 4 was male. 1 week later, given another test, asking how many protestors there were. - 3: they watched a film with a car driving in a country road. Questionnaire 1 asked, how fast was it going when it passed the barn. Questionnaire 2 asked, how fast was it going when it was driving along the countryside. 1 week later, quizzed, and asked if they saw a barn - 4: three groups shown a film with an accident. Group D was asked direct questions about nonexistent objects. Group F was asked questions with false presuppositions. Group c was only given filler questions. One week later, they all answered a quiz with the direct questions. Study Results and Significance: - Experiment 1: when asked if they saw a stop sign, 53% of the first half saw a stop sign while only 26% of the second half saw a stop sign - 2: people with 12 demonstrators saw an average of 8.85. People with 4 demonstrators saw and average of 6.40. the wording of one question altered the way participants remembered the basic characteristics of a witnessed event - 3: 17.3% of barn people saw a barn, 2.7% of non barn people saw a barn. - 4: 29.4% of group F saw nonexistent objects. 15.6% of group D saw nonexistent objects. 8.4% of group c saw nonexistent objects. Criticisms: none Subsequent Research/Recent Applications: - Lawyers complicated questions negatively affect eyewitness accuracy and confidence - When eyewitnesses are shown more than one photographic line up of criminal suspects, their accuracy in identifying the correct perpetrator decreases as they incorporate the new faces into their reconstruction of the event. Personal Reflection: Its pretty cool, actually may be not really cool. Because I am bored.
Article Title: The nature of love
Reading: 17 Year of Publication: 1958 Page Numbers: 126-134
Major Psychologists or Study Author/s: H.F. Harlow
Theoretical Proposition: (What aspects of human behavior were the researchers interested in?) - Infant monkeys must have some basic need for close contact with something soft and comforting in addition to primary biological needs such as hunger and thirst.
Methods of Study: (How did the psychologists conduct their research?) - They built 2 surrogate monkey mommies, one was soft and the other was not. They were both warm, gave milk, and were easy to cling to. - In one cage of infant monkeys, the soft mom was not supplying milk, they babies had a bottle. In the other cage, the wire mom was supplying milk - Later, a wind up toy bear was placed in the cage too to scare the babies and see if they seek comfort in their mothers - Babies were placed in an unfamiliar room with different toys and sometimes with the soft mom, wire mom, and no mom. - Once they were 6 months and were on solid food, babies were separated from moms and then reunites in the unfamiliar room Study Results and Significance: - The monkeys were given access to both mothers but half of them were fed by the bottle and the other half by the wire mom. They all preferred the soft mom - Contact comfort was more important than fundamental needs for survival - Infants from wire mother did not digest milk well and had diarrhea - When scared, they still ran to the cloth mother - In the unfamiliar room, the monkeys clutched to the soft mother and then explored. When no mom was in the room, they freaked out and started crying, they did the same when with the wire mom - After the separation and then placed in the unfamiliar room with the soft mom, they clutched to her and then played with her, not leaving to explore the room. Criticisms: - Ethics? Why perform such experiments on baby monkeys? - Is this applicable to humans? Subsequent Research/Recent Applications: - Institutionalized children need to be touched and held by staff members, nurses, and volunteers as much as possible - Offered encouragement and optimism that nonmaternal caregivers are perfectly able to be effective parents - Enhanced views about adoption - Also draws attention to child abuse, children are still attached to their abusers. Personal Reflection: - I find it interesting that individuals need a sense of safety and familiarity to be comfortable.
Article Title: The development of object concept
Reading: 18 Year of Publication: 1954 Page Numbers: 134-142
Major Psychologists or Study Author/s: J. Piaget
Theoretical Proposition: (What aspects of human behavior were the researchers interested in?) - During childhood, humans progress through four stages of cognitive development that always occur in the same sequence and at approximately the same ages. - No standardized IQ tests, but an verbal interview, to see the processes underlying the kids reasoning - Object permanence: you ability to know that an object exists even when it is hidden from your senses Methods of Study:
- Unstructured evaluation methods: infants cant be interviewed, so these techniques often took the form of games he could play with his children Study Results and Significance: - 6 substages of sensori-motor stage that leads to object permanence: - Stage 1: 0-1 months. relating to feeding and touching. - Stage 2: 1-4 months. repeat certain behaviors that center on the infants own body. Able to follow objects with eyes, if object leaves visual field and fails to reappear, the child turns it attention away with no signs of looking for the object. If object reappears in the same place, child will look at place longer. - Stage 3: 4-10 months. Manipulate objects they encounter in their environment. Rapid eye movement occurs. First signs of object permanence appear - Stage 4: 10-12 months. Child knows that objects continue to exist even when the objects no longer visible, but doesnt understand visible displacements (the A-not-B effect) - Stage 5: 12-18 months. Follow visible sequential displacements and searches for an object where it was last visibly hidden. Unable to understand invisible displacements. - Stage 6: 18-24 months. Ability to represent mentally objects that undergo invisible displacements occurs. - Object permanence is the foundation for all subsequent advances in intellectual ability Criticisms: - Theorists disagree, saying that intellectual development is continuous, without any particular sequence built into the process - The age ranges of the stages are incorrect - Methods were inadequate to measure accurately the abilities of very young infants because they required motor skills that they dont have Subsequent Research/Recent Applications: - Comparing infants finding objects in dark to objects covered by cloth. They found it in the dark easier. - Infants can differentiate between objects if they also know the names of the objects Personal Reflection: - The development of a childs learning and thinking ability is really interesting
Article Title: The development of childrens orientations towards a moral order: Sequence in the development of moral thought
Reading: 19 Year of Publication: 1963 Page Numbers: 143-150
Major Psychologists or Study Author/s: L. Kohlberg
Theoretical Proposition: (What aspects of human behavior were the researchers interested in?) - Each moral stage is a different kind of moral thinking and not just an increase understanding of an adult concept of morality - Stages always occur in the same order so no stage is skipped - They are prepotent, children comprehend all the stages below their own and maybe some understanding of no more than one stage above - They tend to function at the highest moral stage they have reached - Stages are universal and occur in the same order Methods of Study: (How did the psychologists conduct their research?) - Participants: 72 boys. Age groups: 10, 13, 16. Half were from lower middle class, other half were from upper middle class - They gave each boy a moral dilemma and interviewed them for 2 hours for analysis of the moral reasoning used Study Results and Significance: - 1: premoral level- stage 1: punishment and obedience orientation (Consequences for actions determine right and wrong) Stage 2: nave instrumental hedonism (satisfaction of ones own needs defines what is good) - 2: morality of conventional role conformity- stage 3: good boy-nice girl orientation (what pleases others is good) Stage 4: authority maintaining morality (maintaining law and order, doing ones duty are good) - 3: morality of self-accepted moral principles- stage 5: morality of agreements and democratically determined law (societys values and individual rights determine right and wrong) stage 6: morality of individual principles of conscience (right and wrong are matters of individual philosophy according to universal principles) Criticisms: - moral reasoning cannot be applied to moral behavior - these 6 stages are not universal, maybe only in western societies - there is a difference between male and female. There is a gender bias in his theory Subsequent Research/Recent Applications: - examined the effects of womens alcohol abuse during pregnancy on their childrens moral development . the alcohol exposed group was primarily in stage 2 and control group was in stage 3 - accuracy of eye witness testimony given by children. Older children told to keep a secret withhold more info than older kids not told to keep it a secret. Younger kids were not affected by the manipulation Personal Reflection: - this is interesting, but I dont necessarily agree with the fact that the stages are universal and will occur in the same step by step order.
Article Title: The effects of choice and enhanced personal responsibility for the aged: a field experiment in an institutional setting
Reading: 20 Year of Publication: 1976 Page Numbers: 150-257
Major Psychologists or Study Author/s: E.J. Langer, and J. Robin
Theoretical Proposition: (What aspects of human behavior were the researchers interested in?) - increasing the control and power nursing home residents have in their lives should demonstrate improvements in mental alertness, activity level, satisfaction with life, and other measures of behavior and attitude
Methods of Study: (How did the psychologists conduct their research?) - participants: Arden house nursing home- 4 floor modern house, excellent medical care, recreational facilities, and residential comforts. All of them were physically and psychologically healthy. 2 floors participated, the 4 th
floor was given more responsibility and the 2 nd floor was the control group - procedure: the director gave a message to each floor, the 4 th floor was given the opportunity to make choices and exercise control over their lives in various ways. 2 nd floor, while other factors were basically the same, was given the message that most of their decisions would be made for them. This policy lasted for 3 weeks - measuring outcomes: a questionnaire was given to residents and nurses 1 week before the experiment asking about the residents behavior and how happy they are at the home. The same questionnaire was given 3 weeks later. They also measured the residents behavior by keeping an attendance record for the movie and a contest for patients to guess how many jelly beans were in the jar. Study Results and Significance: - 4 th floor felt happier and more active than those in the comparison group - 93% of the 4 th floor were considered improved, only 21% of the 2 nd floor showed this positive change - more of the 4 th floor came to watch the movie and play the jelly bean game Criticisms: - unethical to give them new controls and then have it taken away after the research and may be harmful to residents
Subsequent Research/Recent Applications: - they did a follow-up on the residents and found a continued superior condition of the 4 th floor - many nursing homes are applying this today, giving residents more choice and responsibility in their lives to improve their health and happiness Personal Reflection: - this study makes sense and can be true for not only the elderly, but others. Thats why people rebel against oppressive governments.