Social Psychology * How people influence one another * We have a bio need for social interaction * Social isolation activates areas of cingulate cortex (also associated w/ physical pain) * We seek to conform to a group (evolutionarily)
Social Facilitation: The presence of others enhances our performance 1897 – 1st social psych experiment – bicyclist’s bike faster when racing others rather than the clock
Social Disruption: Presence of others worsens performance (usually when task is difficult
Attribution
Assigning a cause to someone’s behavior (Why you are acting the way you are)
Internal Attribution Saying that the cause of a behavior is because of an internal personality (This person acts this way because that’s the way she is)
External Attribution Attribute cause of behavior to something external (The person is acting this way because of an external reason- life problems)
Fundamental Attribution Error Lee Ross (1977) Tendency to overuse the internal attribution for other behavior, but underused it for yourself (for ourselves, we use the external attribution)
Social Comparison theory Leon Festinger (1954) We evaluate our own beliefs, reactions, behaviors by comparing them to others. Can lead to mass hysteria When entire group behaves irrationally Most likely when situation is ambiguous “Collective delusions” entire group is convinced of something false

Conformity Tendency to conform behavior as a result of group pressure Solomon Asch 1950s Confederates people who are really researchers but act as research participants to “fool the real participants” People conform 37% of the time People with low self-esteem are more likely to conform Asians are more likely to conform than Americans (due to cultural differences)
Deindividuation
Tendency to engage in atypical behavior when one is stripped of usual identity Phillip Combardo- Studied dehumanizing conditions in prisons Stanford prison study * 24 undergrad males assigned to either prisoner or guard * No names, uniforms, etc (identity stripped) * Study was not replicated * Demand characteristics
Groupthink
Emphasis on unanimity of the group at the cost of critical thinking “devils advocate” – points out counter example for the sake of critical thinking
Group think can lead to cult behavior exhibiting intense devotion to a cause without thinking critically
Conformity
The power is HORIZONTAL The power transmission comes from our equals our peers

Obedience Power transmission is Vertical Taking orders from those who are in authority superior (boss teacher, etc
Stanley Milgram- student of Asch Wants to explore obedience in Nazi Germany
Milgram’s Paradigm (1960s) 1) Proposes a study on “the effects of punishment on learning” a. Man in white lab coat “the experimenter” b. Confederate (actually a researcher) c. Pick from hat “teacher” or “learner” d. Administer word pairs and “learner” has to memorize them, or will get shocked e. The farther away the experimenter is the less likely the teacher will administer the shock
Deception
* Hypothesis is NOT effects of punishment on learning- it’s the effects of authority on obedience * Shocks are fake * Use of confederate and rigged hat draw
Pro social Behavior and aggression Pro social – behavior intended to help others Antisocial- includes aggression. We are a combination of both *Bystander Nonintervention - Kitty Genovese- stabbed in NYC for 35 minutes No one comes to aid. - Bystander effect Psychological paralysis – want to help, but don’t know what to do. In a group people are less likely (rather than more likely) to help
Why?
* Plausible ignorance * Error in assuming that no one else is perceiving the situation as we do (ie, if no one else seems to think it’s a big deal we will act calm too) * Diffusion of responsibility * Even if situation is clearly an emergency we are less likely to help if in a group because the more people there are the less responsible we personally feel * People are more likely to help when alone v. when in a group 90% of the time
Altruism
* Selfless helping of others * Empathy – If we feel empathetic toward someone, we are more likely to help * We are more likely to help if we can’t escaped the situation * Being in a good mood makes you more likely to help * Enlightenment effect * If you’re educated on this topic, you’re more likely to help * Extraverts are more likely to help than introverts * Men are more likely to help w/physical risk * Men are more likely to help women than other men * Men are more likely to help attractive women
Aggression
* Behavior intended to harm others (verbally or physically) * Provoked or frustrated, media influences (Bandura) * Arousal of autonomic nervous system * Alcohol and drugs * Heat * Negative emotions * Impulsivity * Lack of closeness to often * Men are more aggressive than women * Ages 12-28 * Testosterone * Socialization
Relational aggression Girls score higher on this Gossiping, social manipulation dirty looks

Cognitive Dissonance Theory
Leon Festingur (50s) * When we alter attitudes because we experience unpleaseant tension between our beliefs and evidence from the environment
Sigmund Freud * Psychoanalytic theory * Psychodynamic theory

* Intrested in how physical symptoms can have psychological causes.

* Psychic determinism: All psychological events have a cause (mostly subconscious) * Symbolic Meaning: No action that we do is meaningless. everything we do have some subconscious root. * Subconscious motivation: The mind is an iceberg
3 components of the psyche (agencies) * ID: animalistic, basic, primitive impulses * Entirely self-conscious * Libido = sexual impulses * Aggression * Operates by the pleasure principle = immaculate gratification * Ego: The boss * Principle decision maker * Resolves the demands of the id * Operating by “reality principle” * Delay gratification until you find a really appropriate outlet. * The Superego: Moral standards * Our sense of Morality * “judgmental parent” guiding the ego
The 3 must be in balance when in conflict, psych distress occurs
Defense mechanism The ego’s effort to minimize anxiety important for psychological health * Repression: “ Forgetting a traumatic experience because it’s painful” * Denial: Not accepting a traumatic situation * Regression: Return to a psychologically younger age * Intellectualization: Focusing on abstract or impersonal facts when facing an anxiety provoking situation
Freud’s theory of personality development * Stage theory :Psychosexual stages: each stage focuses on an erogenous zone, beginning in infancy * The Oral Stage (Birth – 18mths) * Mouth is erogenous if there is too much or too little gratification than we have an oral fixation * As adults when stressed they revert to oral means of anxiety reduction * People end up clingy and dependent * Anal Stage (18mos- 3yrs) * 1st exposure to conflict between id and ego (potty training) * If potty training is too harsh or lenient, child becomes anally fixated(neat, stingy, stubborn=”anal” * Anus is erogenous zone * Phallic stage (3-6) * Genitals become erogenous zone * Become “attracted” to opposite sex percent * Boys * Oedipal complex * Love the mom * Want to “kill the dad (dad is the rival) * Begin to fear the dad * Castration anxiety- fears dad will cut off his penis * Ends up bonding w/ dad * This resolves castration anxiety. Bond with aggressor
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Top of Form 1) Oral Stage
2) Anal Stage
3) Phallic stage: We already covered the Oedipal complex in boys. In girls, the experience is called the Electra Complex According to Freud, young girls desire the affections of their fathers, and want to do away with their mothers.
Instead of castration anxiety (which is the conflict felt by boys), girls experience penis envy (they want a penis and feel inferior because of their missing organ. There is no way for a girl to resolve penis envy, but the urge to do away with the mother and love the father lessens over time. Penis envy can be resolved if the woman gives birth to a boy.
4) Latency Stage (6-12 years old): Here, sexual impulses are submerged into the subconscious, and children play with same-sex peers and are not interested in the opposite sex.
5) Genital Stage (12-adulthood): sexual impulses reawaken, and mature romantic relationships can form. If early conflicts were not resolved appropriately in the early stages, then intimacy is not achieved in the genital stage.

CRITIQUE OF FREUD:
-many claims are unfalsifiable (you cannot really argue that there is NOT an id, ego, superego. or that repression doesnt exist, etc).
-claims are not supported by research: no correlation between potty training and later personality, for instance
-defense mechanisms lack evidence
-no generalizable samples (his patients were mainly Viennese women with anxiety) -chauvinism in regards to the penis envy theory

NEO-FREUDIANS
These are theorists who follow in the tradition of Freud, and are considered psychodynamic, but have revised Freuds theory. So while Neo-Freudians still emphasize the unconscious influence on behavior and the importance of early experience on later personality, there is less emphasis on sexuality. There is more focus on the positive aspects of personality development rather than just dysfunctional development.
-KARL JUNG: proposes a theory called the collective unconscious he expands
Freuds idea of the unconscious, stating that there is a personal unconscious and then a collective unconscious which is comprised of all the memories of our ancestors which have been passed down through the generations.

BEHAVIORAL AND SOCIAL LEARNING THEORIES of PERSONALITY
Behaviorists believe that our personalities come from what we have learned in our past. They believe that personality doesnt CAUSE our behavior, but it
CONSISTS of our behavior. Our personality is determined by reinforcers and punishers in the environment: we act a certain way because we find it rewarding, and thats how our personalities are molded.

HUMANISTIC MODELS OF PERSONALITY
We are free to choose socially constructive and destructive paths in our lives.
The core motive in personality is self actualization the desire to develop ones innate potential to the fullest extent. Carl Rogers: Our personalities consist of 1) the organism (the genetic blueprint, which is inherently positive), 2) the self (our self concept/set of beliefs about who we are), 3) conditions of worth (the expectations we place on ourselves for appropriate behavior, coming from our parents and society)
(similar to the superego).
Issues with DSM * Are some “disorders” truly disorders? * Comorbidity * High level of overlapping between diagnosis; are they truly different? Or are they just different variations of the same condition? * Reliance on categorial model; yes-no criterion for having diagnosis; maybe disorders lie on a continuum
Anxiety Disorders * Most prevalent of all mental illnesses (29%) 1. Somatoform Disorders 2. Hypochondriasis * Belief that minor aches and pains are life threatening, despite medical reassurance. * Roots of physical issues are psychological
Panic Disorders * Physical symptoms: sweating, dizziness, faintness, lightheaded, racing heart, shortness of breath, derealization plus the feeling that you are going to die or go crazy. * Panic disorders attacks are repeated and unexpected; one repeated fears, they will have another attack.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) * Spend 60% for the day worrying
Phobias: fear that a situation that is out of proportion to the actual threat * Must restrict life and create considerable distress; 1/9 people have phobia * Agoraphobia: fear of being in a situation that you can’t escape from * Social phobia: fear of being embarrassed in social situations * Specific phobia
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) * Results from having experienced a physically dangerous or life threatening event * Response must involve fear/horror * Experiences flashbacks, avoid associated stimuli
OCD (obsessive compulsive disorders) * Obsessions: persistent thoughts/impulses that are unwanted and cause distress * Compulsions: most OCD people have compulsions but not all * Repetitive actions that are started in order to reduce distress. * Behavioral outcome
Roots of Anxiety Disorders: * Leading models: Leaning * Fears are learned (conditioned) * Baby Albert/Watson * Operant & classical conditioning models fear are maintained by their consequences * Social Leaning * We learn anxious responses through others responses to stimuli * Genetics * Twin studies show a genetic component * OCD – genes affect transport of serotonin * Malfunction in caudal nucleus (basal ganglia) * Causes repetitive movements and a failure to set aside worry: also issue in frontal lobe
Mood Disorders (depressions) * Prevalence 20% * 2 times as likely in a woman * Onset in 30s typically * An episode lasts 6 months to a year * Some cases are chronic Interpersonal model of depression Coyne: depression creates interpersonal problems-the symptoms may turn off others, resulting in further rejection
Behavioral Model * Depression is perpetual by low rates of positive reinforcement
Cognitive Model * Think about the world in a dysfunctional way depression is a disorder of thinking. BCCK: depression thinking has a 3 characteristics 1. Negative view of oneself 2. Negative view of one’s experiences 3. Negative view of future
These are all negative schemes
-may have to do with early experiences (loss, early rejection, too much failure, etc.)
“Depressive realism” * Depressed people have a more realistic view of how much control they have over the world.
Seligman: learned helplessness * Dogs who can control the shocks will resume to make an effort to stop the shocking; those who can’t control it won’t try
Biology of depression (issue w/reuptake) Low levels of serotonin there is genetic evidence
Bipolar disorder (“manic depression”) Manic state: elevated mood, decreased need for sleep, heightened energy, high self—esteem, overly talkative followed by depressive episode * Genetic * Increased sensitivity to dopamine receptors * Decreased sensitivity to serotonin * Increased activity in amygdala * Decreased activity in prefrontal cortex (responsible for planning, organizing, etc)
Dissociative identity Disorders (DID) AKA multiple personality disorder)
Disruptions in consciousness, memory, identity, and perception * One or more distinct personalities. identities * Host: main personality * Alters: the different personalities alter egos may have different genders, names, ages, handedness, brain activity, eyeglass, prescriptions, handwriting, talents, etc. the concept of the alters is debatable
Post Traumatic model:
DID results from severe childhood abuse (create another “self” as a way of coping)
Socio cognitive model:
Evidence for DID is unconvincing; maybe the idea of “alters” is planted patients minds during therapy. 3. Most patients show no signs of alters until therapy 4. The process of treating DID may reference presence of alters. 5. Media has an influence- cases skyrocket when there are media figures on DID
Schizophrenia
* Most severe of all * “split mind”; thought disorder * Disturbance in thinking, language, emotion, interpersonal relationships * Prevalence is only 1% * Prognosis remains chronic but requires life-long continued treatment
Psychotic symptoms * Hallucination & delusions involve a distortion of reality

12/6/13
Behavioral Approaches * Functional analysis. * Defining antecedents and consequences of maladaptive behavior * Systematic desensitization * Expose patients to feared stimulus and train them step by step to replace anxious response with released response
Flooding and virtual reality exposure Make patient face the fear by exposing him to feared stimulus for prolonged periods of time Response prevention:
Prevent patient from performing their typical audience behaviors (don’t let patient wash hands if they fear germs) Virtual reality exposure: Simulates environments that expose patients to feared stimuli Participant modeling Bandura. We learn by watching others (observational learning/ social learning) Therapist interact with feared stimulus in a calm way and then client learns to do the same.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Beliefs play a central role in our maladaptive behaviors
Irrational thinking is the root of psychopathology
Ellis: rational emotion therapy (rational emotive behavior therapy) (RET/REBT) * Change how we think (cognitive) and act (behavior)
Variable A- Unpleasant event
Variable C- consequences (emotional) of the event
Variable B- Belief system (Determines our emotional response (C to A))

Beck: cognitive therapy * Identify distorted thinking and change these long held core beliefs
Biological treatments * Pharmacotherapy * Use of medication to treat psych disorders * Antianxiety meds * Benzodiazepines * Valcum, Xanax Ativan, klavpin (Work on 6ABA receptors) * Antidepressants * MAO inhibitors * Works on serotonin dopamine and norepinephrine * Used in depression and some anxiety (panic) * SSRI’s * Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors * Prozac, relexa, Zoloft * Used in depression, eating disorders, OCD, and social phobia * Mood stabilizers * Lithium * Treatment for bipolar disorders * Anticonvulsants * Forgetfu,l Depakote * Used in epilepsy and bipolar * Antipsychotics * Typical and atypical (2 classes) * Thorazine Haldol clozaril, respirdal, zyprexa * Work on serotonin, dopamine, GABA, acetylcholine * Used in schizophrenia, turrets, sometimes bipolar
Side effects – Fatigue, weakness, impaired social performance * Tardive dyskinesia * Involuntary movements of face and neck, legs and arms.
Electrical stimulation Electroconvulsive therapy (shock therapy) * Brief electrical impulses to the brain * Temporarily releases depression, bipolar, schizophrenia, catatonia

Psychosurgery Last resort * Remove or destroy dysfunctional brain areas/tissue * Very controversial