Introduction to Psychology 6e

Adapted by Martha Lally and Suzanne Valentine-French

Introduction to Psychology 6th Edition
Adapted by: College of Lake County Faculty: Martha Lally and Suzanne
Valentine-French

(Revised July 2021, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014)

This project was funded by a grant from the College of Lake County Foundation.

Adapted College of Lake County text can be found at:

http://dept.clcillinois.edu/psy/IntroductionToPsychologyText.pdf

Original text materials for Introduction to Psychology by Stangor 2011 (non-HCC version) at:
http://www.saylor.org/site/textbooks/Introduction%20to%20Psychology.pdf

Adapted by: Houston Community College Faculty: Carol Laman, Sandra Greenstone, Huong Ho,
Jennifer Suarez, Sheila Weick, Kenneth Woodruff, Robert Morecook, Eileen Mello, Saundra Boyd, Ilija
Gallego, Karen Saenz (Revised May, 2013).

Houston Community College 2013 revision for Introduction to Psychology by Stangor, 2011 at:
http://learning.hccs.edu/faculty/robert.morecook/free-psychology-2301-textbook-dsm-5-version-2013

Original Publication Under the following license:

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 unported
license to view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to
Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.

2
 Table of Contents
 Chapter 1 -- Introducing Psychology

 Chapter 2 -- Psychological Science

 Chapter 3 – Brain and Behavior

 Chapter 4 – Learning

 Chapter 5 – Memory and Cognition

 Chapter 6 – Intelligence and Language

 Chapter 7 – Lifespan Development

 Chapter 8 – Personality

 Chapter 9 – Social Psychology

 Chapter 10 – Mental Health Disorders

 Chapter 11 – Treating Mental Health Disorders

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Contents
...................................................................................................................................................................... 1
Introduction to Psychology ....................................................................................................................................................... 2
Table of Contents ....................................................................................................................................................................... 3
Chapter 1 Introducing Psychology ......................................................................................................................................... 6
Psychology as a Science .......................................................................................................................................................... 7
The Evolution of Psychology: Central Questions, History, and Contemporary Perspectives ............. 11
The Many Disciplines of Psychology ............................................................................................................................... 26
Chapter 2 Psychological Science ............................................................................................................. 38
Psychologists Use the Scientific Method to Guide Their Research ................................................................... 39
Descriptive, Correlational, and Experimental Research Designs .................................................................... 48
Factors that Contribute to Credible Research ........................................................................................................... 58
Chapter 3 Brain and Behavior................................................................................................................. 66
The Neuron Is the Building Block of the Nervous System..................................................................................... 66
The Brain ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 74
Psychologists Study the Brain Using Many Different Methods ........................................................................... 85
The Nervous System and the Endocrine System ....................................................................................................... 90
Sleeping and Dreaming ......................................................................................................................................................... 96
Chapter 4 Learning ................................................................................................................................ 112
Classical Conditioning ........................................................................................................................................................ 113
Operant Conditioning ........................................................................................................................................................ 120
Cognition and Conditioning ............................................................................................................................................. 128
Other Forms of Learning based on Cognition......................................................................................................... 129
Chapter 5 Memory and Cognition ......................................................................................................... 141
Encoding and Storage: How Our Perceptions Become Memories .................................................................. 142
Retrieval ................................................................................................................................................................................... 154
The Biology of Memory ...................................................................................................................................................... 157
Cues to Improving Memory ............................................................................................................................................. 160
Cognition and Cognitive Biases ..................................................................................................................................... 162
Problem-Solving Strategies ............................................................................................................................................. 172
Chapter 6 Intelligence and Language ................................................................................................... 180
Defining and Measuring Intelligence ........................................................................................................................... 180
Group Differences in Intelligence ................................................................................................................................. 191
The Development and Use of Language ..................................................................................................................... 198
Chapter 7 Lifespan Development ......................................................................................................... 217

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 Conception and Prenatal Development ...................................................................................................................... 218
Physical Development across the Lifespan ............................................................................................................. 223
Cognitive Development across the Lifespan ........................................................................................................... 228
Social Development across the Lifespan ................................................................................................................... 241
Chapter 8 Personality ............................................................................................................................ 264
Personality as Traits ........................................................................................................................................................... 264
Studying the Nature of Personality ............................................................................................................................. 270
Studying the Nurture of Personality ........................................................................................................................... 277
Personality Assessment ...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................282
Chapter 9 Social Psychology ................................................................................................................. 299
Social Cognition ..................................................................................................................................................................... 299
Social Influences ................................................................................................................................................................... 309
Social Relationships ............................................................................................................................................................ 325
Chapter 10 Defining Mental Health Disorders ..................................................................................... 345
Defining a Mental Health Disorder............................................................................................................................... 346
Anxiety, OCD, and PTSD ...................................................................................................................................................... 351
Depressive and Bipolar Disorders ................................................................................................................................ 358
Schizophrenia ........................................................................................................................................................................ 365
Personality Disorders ......................................................................................................................................................... 370
Disorders Originating in Childhood ............................................................................................................................ 375
Chapter 11 Treating Mental Health Disorders...................................................................................... 389
Psychotherapy ....................................................................................................................................................................... 390
Biomedical Therapy ............................................................................................................................................................ 400
Social and Community Therapy .................................................................................................................................... 407
Eclectic Approach to Therapy and Seeking Treatment...................................................................................... 412

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Chapter 1 Introducing Psychology
Learning Objective

1. Define psychology.

Psychology is the scientific study of mind (mental processes) and behavior. The word
“psychology” comes from the Greek words “psyche,” meaning life, and “logos,” meaning
explanation.

Because we are frequently exposed to the work of

psychologists in our everyday lives, we all have
an idea about what psychology is and what
psychologists do. In many ways your conceptions
are correct. Psychologists do work in forensic
fields, and they do provide counseling and
therapy for people in distress. But there are
hundreds of thousands of psychologists in the
world, and many of them do other types of work

Many psychologists work in research laboratories,

hospitals, and other field settings where they
study the behavior of humans and animals.
Psychologists also work in schools and
businesses, and they use a variety of methods,
including observation, questionnaires, interviews,
and laboratory studies, to help them understand
behavior.

This chapter introduces the broad field of

psychology and the many approaches that
psychologists take to understanding human
behavior. We will consider how psychologists Figure 1.1
conduct scientific research. We will look at some Psychology is in part the study of behavior.
of the most important approaches used and topics Why do you think these people are behaving the
studied by psychologists. We will consider the way they are?
variety of fields in which psychologists work and Sources: “The Robot: It's not a dance, it's a lifestyle!” photo courtesy of Alla,
the careers that are available to people with http://www.flickr.com/photos/alla2/2481846545/. Other photos © Thinkstock.

psychology degrees. You may find that at least

some of your preconceptions about psychology will be challenged and changed, and you will
learn that psychology is a field that will provide you with new ways of thinking about your own
thoughts, feelings, and actions.

6
 Psychology as a Science

Learning Objective

1. Describe the differences among opinions, values and facts, and explain how the
scientific method is used to provide evidence for facts.

Despite the differences in their interests, areas of study, and approaches, all psychologists have
one thing in common: They rely on the scientific method. Research psychologists use scientific
methods to create new knowledge about the causes of behavior. Practitioners, such as clinical,
counseling, industrial-organizational, and school psychologists, primarily use existing research
to help solve problems.

In a sense all humans are scientists. We all have an interest in asking and answering questions
about our world. We want to know why things happen, when and if they are likely to happen
again, and how to reproduce or change them. Such knowledge enables us to predict our own
behavior and that of others. We may even collect data, or any information collected through
formal observation or measurement, to aid us in this undertaking. It has been argued that people
are “everyday scientists” who conduct research projects to answer questions about behavior
(Nisbett & Ross, 1980). When we perform poorly on an important test, we try to understand
what caused our failure to remember or understand the material and what might help us do better
the next time. When our good friends Monisha and Charlie break up, we try to determine what
happened. When we think about the rise of terrorism around the world, we try to investigate the
causes of this problem by looking at the terrorists themselves, the situation, and others’
responses.

The Problem of Intuition

The results of these “everyday” research projects can teach us many principles of human
behavior. We learn through experience that if we give someone bad news, they may blame us
even though the news was not our fault. We learn that people may become depressed after they
fail at an important task. We see that aggressive behavior occurs frequently in our society, and
we develop theories to explain why this is so. These insights are part of everyday social life. In
fact, much research in psychology involves the scientific study of everyday behavior (Heider,
1958; Kelley, 1967).

Unfortunately, the way people collect and interpret data in their everyday lives is not always
scientific. Often, when one explanation for an event seems “right,” we adopt that explanation as
the truth. However, this reasoning is more intuitive than scientific. Intuition is thinking that is
more experiential, emotional, automatic, and unconscious, and does not lead to careful analysis
of all the variables in a situation (Kahneman, 2011). Other explanations might be possible and
even more accurate. For example, eyewitnesses to violent crimes are often extremely confident
in their identifications of criminals. But research finds that eyewitnesses are just as

7
confident when they are wrong as when they are right (Cutler & Wells, 2009; Wells & Hasel,
2008). People may also believe in extrasensory perception (ESP), or the predictions of astrology,
when there is no evidence for either (Gilovich, 1993). Furthermore, psychologists have also
found that there are a variety of biases that can influence our perceptions. These biases lead us
to draw faulty conclusions (Fiske & Taylor, 2007; Hsee & Hastie, 2006). In addition, most
individuals listen to people they know and trust to give them accurate information rather than
doing research to determine what scientific studies show. In summary, accepting explanations
for events without testing them thoroughly may lead us to think that we know the causes of
things when we really do not.

Hindsight Bias

Once we learn about the outcome of a given event, such as when we read about the results of a
research project, we frequently believe that we would have been able to predict the outcome
ahead of time. For instance, if half of a class of students is told that research concerning
attraction between people has demonstrated that “opposites attract” and the other half is told that
research has demonstrated that “birds of a feather flock together,” most of the students will
report believing that the outcome that they just read about is true, and that they would have
predicted the outcome before they had read about it. Of course, both of these contradictory
outcomes cannot be true. In fact, psychological research finds that “birds of a feather flock
together” is generally the case. The problem is that just reading a description of research findings
leads us to think of the many cases we know that support the findings, and thus makes them
seem believable. The tendency to think that we could have predicted something that has already
occurred that we probably would not have been able to predict is called the hindsight bias.

Why Psychologists Rely on Empirical Methods

All scientists, whether they are physicists, chemists, biologists, or psychologists, use empirical
research to study the topics that interest them. We can label the scientific method as the set of
assumptions, rules, and procedures that scientists use to conduct empirical research. Empirical
research methods include collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data, reaching conclusions, and
sharing information.

Figure 1.2
Psychologists use a variety of techniques to measure and understand human behavior.
Sources: Poster photo courtesy of Wesleyan University, http://newsletter.blogs.wesleyan.edu/files/2009/04/psychposter11.jpg. Language lab photo courtesy of Evansville University,
http://psychology.evansville.edu/langlab.jpg. Other photo © Thinkstock.

8
Although scientific research is an important method of studying human behavior, not all
questions can be answered using scientific approaches. Statements that cannot be objectively
measured or objectively determined to be true or false are not within the domain of scientific
inquiry. Scientists generally do not attempt to prove values, beliefs, or opinions to be true or
false. Values are personal statements such as “Abortion should not be permitted in this
country.” Religious beliefs include statements such as “I will go to heaven when I die.”
Opinions are individual ideas such as “It is important to study psychology.” Facts are objective
statements determined to be accurate through empirical study. The following are two examples
of facts. “There were more than 21,000 homicides in the United States in 2009.” “Research
demonstrates that individuals who are exposed to highly stressful situations over long periods of
time develop more health problems than those who are not.”

Because values cannot be either true or false, science cannot prove or disprove them.
Nevertheless, as shown in Table 1.1, research can sometimes provide facts that can help people
develop their values. For instance, scientists may be able to objectively measure the effect of
capital punishment on the crime rate in the United States. This factual information can and
should be made available to help people formulate their values about capital punishment. People
also use values to decide which research is appropriate or important to conduct. For instance, the
U.S. government has recently provided funding for research on HIV, AIDS, and terrorism, while
denying funding for some research using human stem cells.

Table 1.1 Examples of Values and Facts in Scientific Research

Personal value Scientific fact

The United States government should provide The U.S. government paid $32 billion in benefits in 2016.
financial assistance to its citizens.

There were 33,599 deaths caused by handguns in the United States in

Handguns should be outlawed.
2014.

More than 35% of college students indicate that blue is their favorite
Blue is my favorite color.
color.

It is important to quit smoking. Smoking increases the incidence of cancer and heart disease.

Scientific procedures do not necessarily guarantee that the answers to questions will be unbiased.
However, since information from scientific research is shared, knowledge is continually
challenged. New research follows, and scientific facts can be modified when new evidence is
found. Particularly in fields involving human behavior, scientists may find it necessary to update
their research on a regular basis. Norms for behavior 50 years ago may no longer be “facts”
today. Cell phones and the internet are now part of everyday communications. Psychologists
must update their research on relationships to include online dating, multitasking, and cyber
bullying.

9
The Challenges of Studying Psychology

Psychological experiences are extremely complex. The questions psychologists pose are as
difficult as those posed by other scientists, if not more so (Wilson, 1998). A major goal of
psychology is to predict behavior by understanding its causes. Making predictions is difficult
because people vary and respond differently in different situations. Individual differences are
the variations among people on physical or psychological dimensions. For example, most
people experience negative events at some time in their lives. Some individuals handle the
challenges, while other people develop symptoms of a major depression. Other important
individual differences discussed in future chapters include: differences in intelligence, self-
esteem, anxiety, and aggression.

Because of individual differences, we cannot always predict who will become aggressive or who
will perform best on the job. The predictions made by psychologists (and most other scientists)
are only probabilities. We can say, for instance, that people who score higher on an intelligence
test will, on average, do better at school. However, we cannot make very accurate predictions
about exactly how any one person will perform.

There is an additional reason that predictions are difficult. Human behavior is influenced by
more than one variable at a time, and these factors occur at different levels of explanation. For
instance, depression is caused by genetic factors, personal factors, and cultural factors. You
should always be skeptical about people who attempt to explain important human behaviors,
such as violence or depression, in terms of a single cause.

Furthermore, these multiple causes are not independent of one another and when one cause is
present, other causes tend to be present as well. This overlap makes it difficult to pinpoint which
cause or causes are operating. For instance, some people may be depressed because of biological
imbalances in neurotransmitters in their brain. The resulting depression may lead them to act
more negatively toward other people around them. This then leads those other people to respond
more negatively to them, which then increases their depression. As a result, the biological
determinants of depression become intertwined with the social responses of other people,
making it difficult to disentangle the effects of each cause.

Key Takeaways

 Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior.

 Though it is easy to think that everyday situations have commonsense answers, scientific
studies have found that people are not always as good at predicting outcomes as they
think they are.
 The hindsight bias leads us to think that we could have predicted events that we could not
have predicted.
 People are frequently unaware of the causes of their own behaviors.
 Psychologists use the scientific method to collect, analyze, and interpret evidence.

10
  Employing the scientific method allows the scientist to collect empirical data objectively,
which adds to the accumulation of scientific knowledge.
 Psychological phenomena are complex, and making predictions about them is difficult
because of individual differences and because they are determined by multiple factors.

Exercises and Critical Thinking

1. Can you think of a time when you used your intuition to analyze an outcome, only to be
surprised to find that your explanation was completely incorrect? Did this surprise help
you understand how intuition may sometimes lead us astray?
2. Describe the scientific method in a way that someone who knows nothing about science
could understand it.

Videos and Activities

If you would like to watch videos about the topics in this book, you can watch 26 free online,
30-minute programs at https://www.learner.org/series/discovering-psychology/. Most, but not
all topics from the text will be illustrated and discussed. In addition, supplemental introductory
level information on psychology is presented by Philip Zimbardo, past president of the
American Psychological Association, researcher, lecturer, and text author.

The Evolution of Psychology: Central Questions, History, and Contemporary

Perspectives

Learning Objectives

1. Identify the central questions in psychology.

2. Describe the historical roots of psychology.
3. Explain the major theoretical perspectives in the field.
4. Identify important women in the history of psychology.
5. Describe the subfields of psychology and related professions.

In this section, we will review the history of psychology with a focus on the important questions
that psychologists ask and the major perspectives, or approaches, of psychological inquiry. The
Psychological perspectives that we will review are summarized in Table 1.2.

The perspectives that psychologists have used to assess the issues that interest them have changed
dramatically over the history of psychology. Perhaps most importantly, the field has moved
steadily toward a more scientific approach as the technology available to study human behavior
has improved (Benjamin & Baker, 2004).

11
Table 1.2 Important Perspectives of Psychology

Psychological
Description Historical Contributors
Perspectives

Uses the method of introspection to identify the basic Wilhelm Wundt,

Structuralism elements or “structures” of psychological experience Edward B. Titchener

Attempts to understand why animals and humans have

Functionalism developed the particular psychological aspects that they William James
currently possess
Focuses on the role of our unconscious thoughts, Sigmund Freud, Carl
feelings, and memories, and our early childhood Jung, Alfred Adler, Erik
Psychodynamic
experiences in determining behavior Erickson, Karen Horney

Based on the premise that it is not possible to objectively

study the mind, and therefore that psychologists should John B. Watson, B. F.
Behaviorism
limit their attention to the study of behavior itself Skinner

Focuses on the role of biology (genetics,

Biological neurotransmitters, hormones, and the brain) on human Michael Gazzaniga
behavior and mental processes
Emphasis is placed on the individual’s potential for Carl Rogers, Abraham
Humanistic personal growth Maslow
The study of mental processes, including perception, Hermann Ebbinghaus,
thinking, memory, and judgments Sir Frederic Bartlett,
Cognitive
Jean Piaget

The study of how the social situations and the cultures in Fritz Heider, Leon
Social-cultural which people find themselves influence thinking and Festinger, Stanley
behavior Schachter

Focuses on adaptation and survival as the basis of Charles Darwin, David

Evolutionary behavior and mental processes Buss, Richard Dawkins,
Steven Pinker

12
Psychology’s Central Questions

Psychology has changed dramatically over its history, but the most important questions that
psychologists address have remained constant. Some of these questions follow, and we will discuss
them both in this chapter and in the chapters to come:

 Nature versus nurture: Are genes or environment most influential in determining the
behavior of individuals and in accounting for differences among people? Most scientists
now agree that both genes and environment play crucial roles in most human behaviors.
Yet we still have much to learn about how nature, our biological makeup, and nurture,
the environment and experiences that we have during our lives, work together (Harris,
1998; Pinker, 2002). The proportion of differences that is due to genetics is known as the
heritability of the characteristic. We will see, for example, that the heritability of
intelligence is very high (about .85 out of 1.0), but we will also see that nature and nurture
interact in complex ways. Given this complex interaction, psychologists now consider
the question of how they interact to produce behavior as more relevant than whether
nature or nurture is more important.

 Free will versus determinism: This question concerns the extent to which people have
control over their own actions. Are we the products of our environment, guided by forces
out of our control, or are we able to choose the behaviors we engage in? Most of us like
to believe that we are able to do what we want. Our legal system is based on the concept
of free will. We punish criminals because we believe that they have choice over their
behaviors and freely choose to disobey the law. But as we will discuss later in the
research focus in this section, recent research has suggested that we may have less control
over our own behavior than we think we do (Wegner, 2002).

 Conscious versus unconscious processing: To what extent are we conscious of our own
actions and the causes of them? Many of the major theories of psychology, ranging from
the Freudian psychodynamic theories to cognitive psychology, argue that much of our
behavior is determined by variables of which we are not aware.

 Differences versus similarities: To what extent are we all similar, and to what extent are
we different? For instance, are there basic psychological and personality differences
between men and women, or are men and women by-and-large similar? What about
people from different ethnicities and cultures? Are people around the world generally the
same, or are they influenced by their backgrounds and environments in different ways?
Personality, social, and cross-cultural psychologists attempt to answer these classic
questions.

 Accuracy versus inaccuracy: To what extent are humans good information processors?
It appears that people are “good enough” to make sense of the world around them and to
make decent decisions (Fiske, 2003). But human judgment is sometimes compromised by
inaccuracies in our thinking styles and by our motivations and emotions. For instance, our
judgment may be affected by emotional responses to events in our environment.

13
 Figure 1.3
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden (left photo) meet with BP executives to
discuss the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (right photo). Psychologists study the causes
of poor judgments such as those made by these executives.
Sources: Source

Early Philosophy as the Foundation for Psychology

The earliest psychologists that we know about are the Greek philosophers Plato (428–347 BC)
and Aristotle (384–322 BC) (see Figure 1.4). These philosophers asked many of the same
questions that today’s psychologists ask. They questioned the distinction between nature and
nurture and the existence of free will. Plato argued on the nature side, believing that certain
kinds of knowledge are innate or inborn,
whereas Aristotle was more on the nurture side,
believing that each child is born as an “empty
slate” in Latin a tabula rasa, and that knowledge
is primarily acquired through learning and
experience.

European philosophers continued to ask these

fundamental questions during the Renaissance Figure 1.4
Period. For instance, the French philosopher Plato (left) believed that much knowledge was
René Descartes (1596–1650) also argued in innate, whereas Aristotle (right) thought that each
favor of free will. He believed that the mind child was born as an “empty slate” and that
knowledge was primarily acquired through learning
controls the body through the pineal gland in the and experience.
brain, an idea that made some sense at the time Sources: Source
but was later proved incorrect. Descartes also
believed in the existence of inborn natural abilities. A scientist as well as a philosopher,
Descartes dissected animals and was among the first to understand that the nerves controlled the
muscles. He also addressed the relationship between mind, the mental aspects of life, and body,
the physical aspects of life. Descartes believed in the principle of dualism; that is, the mind is
fundamentally different from the mechanical body. Other European philosophers, including
Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679), John Locke (1632–1704), and Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–
1778), also weighed in on these issues.

The fundamental problem that these philosophers faced was that they had few methods for
settling their claims. Most philosophers did not conduct any research on these questions, in part

14
because they did not yet know how to do it, and in part because they were not sure it was even
possible to objectively study human experience. But dramatic changes came during the 1800s
with the help of the first two research psychologists: The German psychologist Wilhelm Wundt
(1832–1920), who developed a psychology laboratory in Leipzig, Germany in 1879, and the
American psychologist, William James (1842–1910), who founded a psychology laboratory at
Harvard University.

Early Psychology: Stucturalism and Functionalism

Structuralism: Wilhelm Wundt is considered to

have created the first psychology lab in Leipzig,
Germany in1879. Wundt’s research focused on
the nature of consciousness itself. Wundt and his
students believed that it was possible to analyze
the basic elements of the mind and to classify
our conscious experiences scientifically. Wundt
began the field known as structuralism, a
school of psychology whose goal was to identify
the basic elements or “structures” of
psychological experience. Its goal was to create a Figure 1.5
periodic table of the elements of sensations, Wilhelm Wundt (seated at left) and Edward
similar to the periodic table of elements that had Titchener (right) helped create the
recently been created in chemistry. structuralist school of psychology. Their goal
was to classify the elements of sensation
Structuralists used the method of introspection to through introspection.
Sources: Source
attempt to create a map of the elements of
consciousness. Introspection involves asking research participants to describe exactly what
they experience as they work on mental tasks, such as viewing colors, reading a page in a book,
or performing a math problem. A participant who is reading a book might report, for instance,
that he saw some black and colored straight and curved marks on a white background. In other
studies, the structuralists used newly invented reaction time instruments to systematically assess
not only what the participants were thinking but how long it took them to do so. Wundt
discovered that it took people longer to report what sound they had just heard than to simply
respond that they had heard the sound. These studies marked the first time researchers realized
that there is a difference between the sensation of a stimulus and the perception of that stimulus,
and the idea of using reaction times to study mental events has now become a mainstay of
cognitive psychology.

Perhaps the best known of the structuralists was Edward Bradford Titchener (1867–1927).
Titchener was a student of Wundt who came to the United States in the late 1800s and founded a
laboratory at Cornell University. In his research using introspection, Titchener and his students
claimed to have identified more than 40,000 sensations, including those relating to vision,
hearing, and taste.

The structuralist approach marked the beginning of psychology as a science, because it

demonstrated that mental events could be quantified, but the structuralists also discovered the

15
limitations of introspection. Even highly trained research participants were often unable to report
on their subjective experiences. When the participants were asked to do simple math problems,
they could easily do them, but they could not easily answer how they did them. Thus, the
structuralists were the first to realize the importance of unconscious processes, that many
important aspects of human psychology occur outside our conscious awareness, and that
psychologists cannot expect research participants to be able to accurately report on all their
experiences. Consequently, the structuralist approach is no longer used.

Functionalism: William James was a member

of the school of functionalism. The goal of
functionalism was to understand why animals
and humans have developed the mental processes
that they currently possess (Hunt, 1993). For
James, one’s thinking was relevant only to one’s
behavior. As he put it in his psychology
textbook, “My thinking is first and last and
always for the sake of my doing” (James, 1890).
James and the other members of the functionalist Figure 1.6
school were influenced by Charles Darwin’s The functionalist school of psychology,
(1809–1882) theory of natural selection, which founded by the American psychologist
proposed that the physical characteristics of William James (left), was influenced by
animals and humans evolved because they were the work of Charles Darwin (right).
Source: Source
useful, or functional. The functionalists believed
that Darwin’s theory applied to psychological characteristics too. Just as some animals have
developed strong muscles to allow them to run fast, the functionalists thought the human brain
must have adapted to serve a particular function in human survival. Although functionalism no
longer exists as a school of psychology, its basic principles have been absorbed into psychology
and continue to influence it in many ways.

Contemporary Perspectives

Psychodynamic Perspective: Perhaps the psychological perspective that is most familiar to the
public is the psychodynamic approach, which was initiated by Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) and
modernized by his followers. The Psychodynamic Perspective is an approach to understanding
human behavior that focuses on early childhood experiences and the role of unconscious
thoughts, feelings, and memories. Freud believed that many of the problems that his patients
experienced, including anxiety, depression, and sexual dysfunction, were the result of the effects
of painful childhood experiences that the person could no longer remember. The terms
psychoanalytic and psychodynamic have both been used to describe Freud’s theory, however,
psychoanalytic refers specifically to Freud’s original theory. Psychodynamic refers to all the
theories derived from Freud’s work, and this approach continues to evolve today (Hansell et al.,
2008). Today’s psychodynamic theory differs significantly from Freud’s original idea, and
consequently, we will use the term psychodynamic throughout the book. Theorists who
contributed to the psychodynamic approach include: Carl Jung (1875– 1961), Alfred Adler
(1870–1937), Karen Horney (1855–1952), and Erik Erikson (1902–1994).

16
 Because the founders of the
Figure 1.7 psychodynamic perspective were
Sigmund Freud and the primarily practitioners who worked
other psychodynamic with individuals to help them with their
psychologists believed psychological symptoms, they did not
that many of our thoughts conduct much research on their ideas.
and emotions are Later, more sophisticated tests of their
unconscious.
theories have not supported many of
Psychotherapy was
their ideas. For example, cognitive
designed to help patients
recover and confront their psychology explains how many of the
“lost” memories. processes involved in memory are
Source: Photo courtesy of Max Halberstadt, “behind the scenes in the cognitive
unconscious” (Reisberg, 2016, p. 564).
Even when our thinking is conscious, we are influenced by unconscious processing and guides
that affect our thoughts. Personality is better explained by one’s executive control, which
corresponds to the individual’s ability to balance urges and motivations and choose the
appropriate course of action, and not a balance among one’s id, ego, and superego as Freud
indicated. Additionally, the psychosexual stages of development, the idea of sex and death
driving behavior, and the significance of dreams have not been supported (Vazire, 2014).

The current psychodynamic perspective focuses on the importance of human development from
birth on, and early child development is seen as critical for later adult functioning (Hansell et al.,
2008). Parents and other “loved figures” are considered crucial role models for children, and
children will develop mental models of how relationships work based on their personal
experiences with family members. The psychodynamic theories of object relations and
attachment focus on the child-caregiver relationship and assume that basic human motivation is
for interpersonal connection. This idea that early childhood experiences are critical and the
concept of therapy as a way of improving human lives, are both derived from current
psychodynamic perspective and remain important to psychology (Moore & Fine, 1995).

Behavioral Perspective: Although they differed in approach,

Figure 1.8
both structuralism and functionalism were essentially studying
the mind. The psychologists associated with behaviorism, on the
other hand, were reacting in part to the difficulties psychologists
encountered when they tried to use introspection to understand
behavior. Behaviorism is based on the premise that it is not
possible to objectively study the mind, and therefore
psychologists should limit their attention to the study of
behavior itself. Behaviorists believe that the human mind is a
black box into which stimuli are sent and from which responses
are received. They argue that there is no point in trying to
determine what happens in the box because we can successfully
predict behavior without knowing what happens inside the
mind. Furthermore, behaviorists believe that it is possible to
develop laws of learning that can explain all behaviors. John Broadus Watson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_B._Watson#mediavi
ewer/File:John_Broadus_Watson.JPGjpg

17
The first behaviorist was the American psychologist John B. Watson (1878–1958). Watson was
influenced in large part by the work of the Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936), who
had discovered that dogs would salivate at the sound of a tone that had previously been
associated with the presentation of food. Watson and the other behaviorists began to use these
ideas to explain how events that people and other organisms experienced in their environment,
called stimuli, could produce specific behaviors called responses. For instance, in Pavlov’s
research the stimulus, either the food or tone, would produce the response of salivation in the
dogs.

In his research, Watson found that systematically exposing a child to fearful stimuli in the
presence of objects that did not themselves elicit fear could lead the child to respond with a
fearful behavior to the presence of the stimulus (Watson & Rayner, 1920; Beck et al., 2009). In
the best known of his studies, an 8-month-old boy named Little Albert was used as the subject.
Here is a summary of the findings:

The boy was placed in the middle of a room; a white laboratory rat was placed near him
and he was allowed to play with it. The child showed no fear of the rat. In later trials, the
researchers made a loud sound behind Albert’s back by striking a steel bar with a
hammer whenever the baby touched the rat. The child cried when he heard the noise.
After several such pairings of the two stimuli, the child was again shown the rat. Now,
however, he cried and tried to move away from the rat.

In line with the behaviorist perspective, the boy had learned to associate the white rat with the
loud noise, resulting in crying.
The most famous behaviorist was Burrhus Frederick (B. F.)
Skinner (1904–1990), who expanded the principles of
behaviorism and also brought them to the attention of the public
at large. Skinner used the ideas of stimulus and response, along
with the application of rewards or reinforcements, to train
pigeons and other animals. Additionally, he used the general
principles of behaviorism to develop theories about how best to
teach children and how to create societies that were peaceful and
productive (Skinner, 1957, 1968, 1972).

The behaviorists made substantial contributions to psychology by

Figure 1.9
identifying the principles of learning. Although the behaviorists
B. F. Skinner was a
were incorrect in their beliefs that it was not possible to measure member of the
thoughts and feelings, their ideas provided new ideas that helped behaviorist school of
further our understanding regarding the nature-nurture debate, as psychology. He argued
well as the question of free will. The ideas of behaviorism are that free will is an
fundamental to psychology and have been developed to help us illusion and that all
better understand the role of prior experiences in a variety of behavior is determined by
areas of psychology. environmental factors.
Source:

18
Humanistic Perspective: Another perspective which focuses on thinking and emotions is
humanism. Humanism embraces the concepts of self, self-esteem, self-actualization, and free
will. The humanistic perspective, popularized in the 1950s, was referred to as the “Third Force”
in psychology (Moore, 1989). This perspective was seen as an alternative to the deterministic and
pessimistic approach of the psychoanalytic perspective. The humanistic perspective believes that
individuals possess personal choice and can rise above the unconscious desires suggested by
Freud and his followers. Additionally, the humanistic perspective counters the blank slate belief
and constraints imposed by the environment, as suggested by the behaviorist perspective.

Figure 1.10 Unlike the psychoanalytic and behavioral

Abraham Maslow Carl Rogers perspectives, humanistic psychologists are more
likely to talk about the self-concept. Humanists,
such as Carl Rogers (1902-1987) and Abraham
Maslow (1908-1970), believed that each
individual strives to reach their full potential.
Rogers and Maslow stressed self-actualization,
which is “the inherent tendency of an organism
to develop all of its capacities in ways which
serve to maintain or enhance the organism,”
(Rogers, 1959, p. 196). They also viewed
individuals as basically trustworthy, possessing
dignity and worth, and desiring to be in harmony
Sources:
Maslowhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/4695005
7
@N00/2281515623/in/photolist with others.
Rogers https://www.flickr.com/photos/18413451
@N07/4374695574/in/photolist

Rogers developed person-centered, also known as client-centered, therapy which believes that
clients should guide the direction of therapy as they are capable of choosing a healthy direction
for their lives. The therapist should provide an empathic and nonjudgmental alliance and provide
unconditional positive regard towards the client. Person-centered therapy will be discussed
further in the chapter on treating mental health disorders. Maslow conceptualized personality in
terms of a “Hierarchy of Needs”. Shaped as a pyramid, the base consists of the lower level
motivations, including those for hunger and thirst, while the higher-level needs of self-esteem and
eventually self-actualization occur at the top. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is further described in
the chapter on personality.

The tenants of humanism are alive and well today in positive psychology, which emphasizes
promoting mental health rather than just treating mental illness. Psychologists from this approach
strive to understand the variables that promote resilience, self-acceptance, and personal growth.
They also examine how social institutions and systems can foster such growth.

Biological Perspective: The biological perspective focuses on the interaction between biology
and emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. According to Carlson (2013), scientists who study the
importance of the biological perspective combine the understanding of physiology with the
experimental methods of psychology. Such scientists, often called neuroscientists, believe that
all thoughts, emotions, and behaviors have a physical basis. Neuroscientists study a variety of
human processes including perceptions, eating, reproduction, sleeping, learning, memory, and

19
language. Additionally, neuroscientists focus on societal issues of addiction, neurological, and mental
health disorders.

Some researchers from the biological perspective might examine the role of genes in influencing
our personality, intelligence, or tendency to develop mental health disorders. For example,
genes may be the source of anatomical, chemical or physiological defects, but may also cause a
susceptibility to develop a variety of behavioral problems (Kolb & Whishaw, 2011). Some
neuroscientists may focus on the functions of the nervous system, including the effects of
neurotransmitters, brain trauma and disease on individual behavior. Others may compare
different species to better understand human behavior. For example, sleep has very old
evolutionary roots. Even simple animals such as fruit flies (Huber et al., 2005) and cockroaches
(Tobler & Neuner-Jehle, 1992) display sleep-like behavior. Huber and colleagues also found that
fruit flies display learning and memory deficits when deprived of sleep. Examining how other
animals react to stimuli may provide insight into the human experience. However, using animals
for research is a controversial topic and will be discussed further in the next chapter.

Cognitive Perspective and Cognitive Neuroscience: Science is always influenced by the

technology that surrounds it, and psychology is no exception. Thus, it is no surprise that
beginning in the 1960s, growing numbers of psychologists began to think about the brain and
about human behavior in terms of the computer, which was being developed and becoming
publicly available at that time. The analogy between the brain and the computer, although by no
means perfect, provided part of the impetus for a new school of psychology called cognitive
psychology. The Cognitive perspective studies mental processes, including perception, thinking,
memory, and judgment. These actions correspond well to the processes that computers perform.

Although cognitive psychology began in earnest in

the 1960s, earlier psychologists had also taken a
cognitive orientation. Some of the important
contributors to cognitive psychology include the
German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850–
1909), who studied the ability of people to
remember lists of words under different conditions,
and the English psychologist Sir Frederic Bartlett
(1886–1969), who studied the cognitive and social
processes of remembering. Bartlett created short
stories that were in some ways logical but also
contained some very unusual and unexpected
events. Bartlett discovered that people found it very
Figure 1.11 difficult to recall the stories exactly, even after
Cognitive psychologists, such as Jean being allowed to study them repeatedly, and he
Piaget, worked to understand how hypothesized that the stories were difficult to
people learn, remember, and make
remember because they did not fit the participants’
judgments about the world around them.
Source expectations about how stories should go. The idea
that our memory is influenced by what we already
know was also a major idea behind the cognitive-developmental stage model of Swiss
psychologist Jean Piaget (1896–1980).

20
With its argument that our thinking has a powerful influence on behavior, the cognitive approach
provides a distinct alternative to behaviorism. These psychologists contend that people interpret,
as well as, respond to the stimuli they experience. It is essential to take the mind into account to
fully understand the actions of humans in response to environmental stimuli. For instance, when
a boy turns to a girl on a date and says, “You are so beautiful,” a behaviorist would probably see
that as a reinforcing (positive) stimulus. Yet, the girl might not be so easily fooled. She might try
to understand why the boy is making this statement at this particular time, and wonder if he
might be attempting to influence her through the comment. Cognitive psychologists maintain that
when we take into consideration how stimuli are evaluated and interpreted, we understand
behavior more deeply.

As previously noted, one model of information processing used by early cognitive theorists was
the computer. Information-processing theory describes the human mind as receiving input,
processing the information based on programs, or schemas, and using the results of this
processing to produce output. For example, someone asks you a question in Spanish. If you
have a program for that language, you process the question and respond. If you only have a
program for English, the input is not useful. Psychologists now recognize that the human brain
is much more complex than a computer.

Cognitive psychology remains enormously influential today, and it has guided research in such
varied fields as language, problem solving, memory, intelligence, education, human
development, social psychology, and psychotherapy. The cognitive revolution has been given
even more life over the past decade as the result of recent advances in our ability to see the brain
in action using neuroimaging techniques. Neuroimaging is the use of various techniques to
provide pictures of the structure and function of the living brain (Ilardi & Feldman, 2001). These
images are used to diagnose brain disease and injury, but they also allow researchers to view
information processing as it occurs in the brain, because the processing causes the involved area
of the brain to increase metabolism and show up on the scan. We will discuss the use of
neuroimaging techniques in many areas of psychology in the chapters to follow.

Evolutionary Perspective: The work of the early functionalists developed into the field of
evolutionary psychology, a branch of psychology that applies the Darwinian theory of natural
selection to human and animal behavior (Dennett, 1995; Tooby & Cosmides, 1992).
Evolutionary psychology accepts the functionalists’ basic assumption, namely that many human
psychological systems, including memory, emotion, and personality, serve key adaptive
functions. As we will see in the chapters to come, evolutionary psychologists use evolutionary
theory to understand many different behaviors including romantic attraction, stereotypes and
prejudice, and even the causes of some mental health disorders.

A key component of the ideas of evolutionary psychology is fitness, which refers to the extent
that having a given characteristic helps the individual organism survive and reproduce at a
higher rate than do other members of the species who do not have the characteristic. Fitter
organisms pass on their genes more successfully to later generations, making the characteristics
that produce fitness more likely to become part of the organism’s nature than characteristics that
do not produce fitness. For example, it has been argued that the emotion of jealousy has survived
over time in men because men who experience jealousy are more likely to pass on the genes for

21
that jealousy than men who do not get jealous. According to this idea, the experience of jealously
leads men to be more likely to protect their mates and guard against rivals, which increases their
reproductive success (Buss, 2000).

Despite its importance in psychological theorizing, evolutionary psychology also has some
limitations. One problem is that many of its predictions are extremely difficult to test. Unlike the
fossils that are used to learn about the physical evolution of species, we cannot know which
psychological characteristics our ancestors possessed or did not possess; we can only make
guesses about this. Because it is difficult to directly test evolutionary theories, it is always
possible that the explanations we apply are made up after the fact to account for observed data
(Gould & Lewontin, 1979). Nevertheless, the evolutionary approach is important to
psychology because it provides logical explanations for why we have many psychological
characteristics.

Most psychologists use the theory of evolution to explain the existence of our species. They rely
on the theory to explain the foundation for motivation, emotion, instincts, reflexes, language, and
other psychological traits. For example, learning theorists use reflexes to explain the
development of phobias. Psychoanalytic theorists use sexual motivation to explain art and music.
Evolutionary theory also provides the rationale for doing psychological research on species
which share a similar genetic background.

Social-Cultural Perspective: A final perspective, which has had substantial impact on

psychology, can be broadly referred to as the social-cultural or sociocultural perspective,
which is the study of how the social situations and the cultures in which people find themselves
influence thinking and behavior. Social-cultural psychologists are particularly concerned with
how people perceive themselves and others, and how people influence each other’s behavior. For
instance, social psychologists have found that we are attracted to others who are similar to us in
terms of attitudes and interests (Byrne, 1969), that we develop our own beliefs and attitudes by
comparing our opinions to those of others (Festinger, 1954), and that we frequently change our
beliefs and behaviors to be similar to those of the people we care about, a process known as
conformity.

An important aspect of social-

cultural psychology are social
norms defined as the ways of
thinking, feeling, or behaving that
are shared by group members and
perceived by them as appropriate
(Asch, 1952; Cialdini, 1993). Norms
include customs, traditions,
standards, and rules, as well as the
Figure 1.12
general values of the group. Many of In Western cultures norms promote a focus on the self, or
the most important social norms are individualism, whereas in Eastern cultures the focus is more
determined by the culture in which on families and social groups, or collectivism. ©Thinkstock
we live, and these cultures are
studied by cross-cultural psychologists. A culture represents the common set of social norms,

22
including religious and family values and other moral beliefs, shared by the people who live in a
geographical region (Fiske et al., 1998; Markus et al., 1996; Matsumoto, 2001). This definition
can be extended to include people whose origins are from that region as well.

Cultures influence every aspect of our lives, and it is not inappropriate to say that our culture
defines our lives just as much as does our evolutionary experience (Mesoudi, 2009).
Psychologists have found that there is a fundamental difference in social norms between Western
cultures, including those in the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Australia, and New
Zealand, and East Asian cultures, including those in China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, India, and
Southeast Asia. Norms in Western cultures are primarily oriented toward individualism, which
is about valuing the self and one’s independence from others. Children in Western cultures are
taught to develop and to value a sense of their personal self, and to see themselves in large part
as separate from the other people around them. Children in Western cultures feel special about
themselves; they enjoy getting gold stars on their projects and the best grade in the class. Adults
in Western cultures are oriented toward promoting their own individual success, frequently in
comparison to, or even at the expense of, others.

Figure 1.13 Norms in the East Asian culture, on the other hand, are
oriented toward interdependence or collectivism. In these
cultures, children are taught to focus on developing
harmonious social relationships with others. The
predominant norms relate to group togetherness and
connectedness, and duty and responsibility to one’s family
and other groups. When asked to describe themselves, the
members of East Asian cultures are more likely than those
from Western cultures to indicate that they are
particularly concerned about the interests of others,
including their close friends and their colleagues.

Another important cultural difference is the extent to

which people in different cultures are bound by social
norms and customs, rather than being free to express their
own individuality without considering social norms
(Chan et al., 1996). Cultures also differ in terms of
personal space, such as how closely individuals stand to each other when talking, as well as the
communication styles they employ.

It is important to be aware of cultures and cultural differences because people with different
cultural backgrounds increasingly interact with each other due to increased travel and
immigration, the development of the Internet, and other forms of communication. In the United
States, for instance, there are many different ethnic groups, and the proportion of the population
that comes from minority groups is increasing from year to year. The social-cultural perspective
to understanding behavior reminds us again of the difficulty of making broad generalizations
about human nature. People experience things differently, and their experience vary depending
on their culture.

23
As in many sciences, the most noteworthy theorists and practitioners in the field of psychology
were predominantly European and European Amercian men. Table 1.3 is a timeline of some of
those important psychologists, beginning with the early Greek philosophers and extending to the
present day. This timeline cannot capture every important psychologist, but it does illustrate
some of the important contributors to the history of psychology. Additional female, Black, and
other psychologists of color will be discussed to demonstrate their important contributions.

Table 1.3 Timeline Showing Several Important Psychologists

24
Women in Psychology’s History

Although most of the earliest psychologists were men,

women also studied psychology, but often faced discrimination Figure 1.14 Mary Whiton Calkins
based on their sex. Women were not admitted to any
institutions of higher learning in Europe and North
America until about 1837 (Oberlin College in Ohio), and
even then, women of color were not admitted, and graduate
level programs were off limits to all women until later in
the 19th century (O’Boyle, 2021). They also were not able to
receive degrees they earned because the institutions were
unwilling to grant them. They often taught at all women’s
colleges without access to graduate students or laboratories
(Crawford, 2012). Despite this discrimination, many female
psychologists still made important theoretical and research
contributions. For example, the first female president of the Calkins photo courtesy of Vlad Sfichi,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/2411080 0@N08/2779490726.
American Psychological Association (APA) in 1905 was
Mary Whiton Calkins (1863–1930). Calkins made significant contributions to the study of
memory and the self-concept, despite having her degree withheld from Harvard University.

Margaret Floy Washburn (1871-1939) was the first women to earn a doctorate in psychology
from Cornell University and she was the second female president of APA in 1921. Her research
focused on animal behavior, and she wrote The Animal Mind in 1908, which for the next 25
years, was the standard text for comparative psychology (Stewart, 2008). Leta Stetter
Hollingworth (1886-1939) focused her research on women and child development.
Hollingworth’s research disproved the prevailing belief at the time that female abilities were
inferior to those of males, and that female abilities declined during menstruation. Anna Freud
(1895-1982), the daughter of Sigmund Freud, developed the basic concepts in the theoretical and
practical approach to child psychoanalysis.

There are many important recent female psychologists that we will be discussing in this book.
Karen Horney (1885-1952) founded a Neo-Freudian school of psychoanalysis and focused on the
social and cultural factors that affect personality (Stewart, 2008). Mamie Phipps Clark (1917-
1983) was a prominent African American psychologist who was instrumental in the Brown
versus Board of Education case of Topeka, Kansas. Working with her husband, she demonstrated
that black children often preferred white dolls over black dolls because they viewed white as
good and pretty. The Clarks demonstrated that feeling inferior resulted in academic
underachievement for black children. In the field of memory, Elizabeth Loftus (1944-present)
made ground breaking research regarding eye witness testimony (Hock, 2009). She exposed the
bias that individuals demonstrate when they attempt to recall events, and she showed how easy it
was for people to create false memories. Using the strange situation technique developed with a
colleague, Mary Ainsworth (1913-1999) demonstrated the types of attachment toddlers had with
their caregivers, and Diana Baumrind (1927-2018) researched parenting styles.
Since the early years in psychology, females have studied psychology and currently they earn
more bachelor’s (76.7% overall) and doctorate (73.5% overall) degrees in psychology than males
(National Science Foundation, 2017).

25
Table 1.4 lists the many accomplishments and recognition for Black, Indigenous and
People of Color in the field of psychology.

Francis C. Sumner is first African American awarded a Ph.D. in Psychology

1920
J. Henry Alston is first African American to publish a psychological research article
1920
Inez Beverly Prosser is first African American woman to receive a Ph.D. in Psychology
1933
Robert Chin is first Chinese American to receive a Ph.D. in Psychology
1943
Efrain Sanchez-Hidalgo is first Puerto Rican to receive a Ph.D. in Psychology
1951
Martha Bernal is first Mexican American woman to be awarded a Ph.D. in Psychology
1962
The Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi) is founded
1968
The Association of Psychologists Por La Raza is founded
1970
Kenneth B. Clark becomes the first person of color to be president of the APA
1970
The Asian American Psychological Association is founded
1972
Founding of the Journal of Black Psychology
1974
The Society of Indian Psychologists is founded
1975
The APA founds the Office of Ethnic Minority Affairs with Esteban Olmedo as its first director
1979
Founding of the National Hispanic Psychological Association
1979
Amado Padilla founds the Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences
1979
The first issue of the Journal of the Asian American Psychological Association is published
1979
Logan Wright is the first individual of American Indian heritage to become president of the APA
1986
The APA passes a resolution supporting affirmative action and equal opportunity
1999
Richard M. Suinn is first Asian American to be elected APA president
1999
The APA issues its “Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice, and Organizational
2002 Change for Psychologists”

The Many Disciplines of Psychology

Psychology is not one discipline, but rather a collection of many sub disciplines that all share at
least some common approaches and that work together and exchange knowledge to form a
coherent discipline (Yang & Chiu, 2009). Because the field of psychology is so broad, students
may wonder which areas are most suitable for their interests and which types of careers might be
available to them. Table 1.5 will help you consider the answers to these questions. A
psychologist has generally been trained to understand research and earned a doctoral degree in

26
psychology (Ph.D. or Psy.D) Psychologists who do testing and therapy are usually licensed by
the state.

Related Disciplines: Psychology, psychiatry, counseling, and social work are related disciplines.
These disciplines may share research and sometimes work as members of a team. Psychiatrists
go to medical school to earn an MD and then receive special training in how to treat mental
illness. Like other physicians, they frequently prescribe medication or use other physiological
tests and treatments. Social workers and counselors generally have at least a master's degree.
They generally work for institutions or agencies. Some practice independently and specialize in
treating a specific type of problem (e.g. substance abuse or family problems).

Table 1.5 Some Career Paths in Psychology

Psychology field Description Career opportunities

Biopsychology and This field examines the physiological bases of Most biopsychologists work in research
neuroscience behavior in animals and humans by studying settings, for instance, at universities, for
the functioning of different brain areas and the federal government, and in private
the effects of hormones and research labs.
neurotransmitters on behavior.
Clinical and These are the largest fields of psychology. The Clinical and counseling psychologists
counseling focus is on the assessment, diagnosis, causes, provide therapy to patients with the
psychology and treatment of mental disorders. goal of improving their life experiences.
They work in hospitals, schools, social
agencies, and in private practice.
Because the demand for this career is
high, entry to academic programs is
highly competitive.
Cognitive psychology This field uses sophisticated research Cognitive psychologists work primarily
methods, including reaction time and brain in research settings, although some,
imaging to study memory, language, and including those who specialize in
thinking. human-computer interactions, consult
for businesses.
Developmental These psychologists conduct research on the Many work in research settings,
psychology cognitive, emotional, and social changes that although others work in schools and
occur across the lifespan. community agencies to help improve
and evaluate the effectiveness of
intervention programs such as Head
Start.

Forensic psychology Forensic psychologists apply psychological Forensic psychologists work in the
principles to understand the behavior of criminal justice system. They may
judges, attorneys, courtroom juries, and testify in court and provide
others in the criminal justice system. information about the reliability of
eyewitness testimony and jury
selection.

27
Psychology field Description Career Opportunities
Health psychology Health psychologists are concerned with Health psychologists work with medical
understanding how biology, behavior, and the professionals in clinical settings to
social situation influence health and illness. promote better health, conduct
research, and teach at universities.
Community psychology These psychologist study how individuals Community psychologist focus on how
relate to their community, and the reciprocal community members might share a
effect of communities on individuals. particular mental disorder or social
problem that affects the community as
a whole.
Industrial- Industrial-organizational psychology applies There are a wide variety of career
organizational (I/O) and psychology to the workplace with the goal of opportunities working in businesses.
environmental improving the performance and well-being of These psychologists help select
psychology employees. employees, evaluate employee
performance, and examine the effects
of different working conditions on
behavior. They may also work to design
equipment and environments that
improve employee performance and
reduce accidents.

Personality psychology These psychologists study people and the Most work in academic settings, but
differences among them. The goal is to the skills of personality psychologists
develop theories that explain the are also in demand in advertising and
psychological processes of individuals, and to marketing. PhD programs in personality
focus on individual differences. psychology are often connected with
programs in social psychology.

School and educational This field studies how people learn in school, School psychologists work in
psychology the effectiveness of school programs, and the elementary and secondary schools or
psychology of teaching. school district offices with students,
teachers, parents, and administrators.
They may assess children’s
psychological and learning problems
and develop programs to minimize the
impact of these problems.

Social and cross- This field examines people’s interactions with Many social psychologists work in
cultural psychology other people. Topics of study include marketing, advertising, organizational,
conformity, group behavior, leadership, systems design, and other applied
attitudes, and person perception. psychology fields.

Sports psychology This field studies the psychological aspects of Sports psychologists work in gyms,
sports behavior. The goal is to understand the schools, professional sports teams, and
factors that influence performance in sports, other areas where sports are practiced.
including exercise and team interactions.

28
Psychology in the 21st Century

The year 2020 brought significant social changes to the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic and
the increased recognition of systemic racism that adversely affects the lives of Black, Indigenous
and People of Color (BIPOC). The murder of George Floyd in May 2020 by a Minneapolic police
officer, highlighted police injustices and galvanized the Black Lives Matter movement. Just as
Americans reflected on issues of race, psychologists focused their attention on research to better
understand bias, policing, research participation, racial trauma, and racial inequities (Abrams,
2021). Both community psychology as a field, and individual psychologists in a variety of
disciplines, are highlighted below to reflect what psychology is doing to fight racism, assist those
affected by COVID-19, and improve the lives of all people (Kurylo, 2020).

COVID-19: The global COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the deaths of over 600,000
Americans and over 33 million more have been infected (CDC, 2021). Physical distancing, shelter-
in-place orders, business and school closures, and widespread job losses dramatically changed
lives. Not surprisingly, the COVID-19 pandemic generated a mental health crisis in America that
psychologists quickly began to address (Andoh, 2020). The American Psychological Association
(APA) and individual psychologists, working both as clinicians and researchers, confronted the
crisis in multiple ways. These included offering teletherapy for clients, screening health care
workers and frontline workers for mental health issues, encouraging healthy habits and coping
strategies, exposing racial and social inequities that adversely affected the health of marginalized
communities, working with schools to address the needs of children struggling with remote
learning, and communicating with government officials to best meet the mental and physical needs
of constituents. Psychologists have played an important role in lessening the negative effects of the
pandemic. The impact of COVID-19 on mental health will be further addressed in chapter 10.

Community Psychology focuses Figure 1.15

on individuals having the right to
live healthy and fulfilling lives,
regardless of their ability levels,
gender, sexual orientation, race,
ethnicity, income, or other
characteristics (Jason et al., 2019).
A person’s well-being depends on
personal choices and the dynamic
interaction between individual and
environmental factors. Community
psychologists support the most
vulnerable groups of society in their
quest for justice and equality, and
they continually work to refine the “ADA Amendments Act March and Rally” by LCCR & LCCREF is
effectiveness of empowerment and licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
advocacy efforts.

29
The #BlackLivesMatter movement emerged after the shooting death of Travyon Martin and the
acquittal of his killer George Zimmerman. The movement was created by Patrisse Cullors, Opal
Tometi, and Alicia Garza to be an affirmation of Black lives in the context of systemic anti-Black
racism (Thomas & Zuckerman, 2018). The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement illuminated the
disparities facing the Black population as a result of systemic racism in the United States.
Community psychologists focus research on the historical and contemporary trauma that Blacks
have and continue to experience in the U.S. They highlight that Blacks are at-risk for cardiovascular
disease, maternal and infant mortality, breast cancer, and mental health symptoms. Further,
community psychologists support a culturally and politically appropriate informed therapeutic
approach (Bartholomew et al., 2018).

Ethnic psychology focuses on ethnic and cultural group differences within a single nation or
community, while cross-cultural psychology emphasizes differences in cultural influences
across nations or regions of the world (Organista et al., 2009). As an illustration of cross-
cultural psychology, parenting practices differ among various countries. For example, co-
sleeping with infants is more common in other countries than America (Morelli et al., 1992).
However, within America the percentage of infants who sleep with their parents differ based on
the family’s ethnicity and socioeconomic status (Lozoff et al., 1984), thus demonstrating ethnic
psychology. Both ethnic and cross-cultural psychologists believe that psychology must consider
the social influences that affect ethnic groups, especially if they are ethnic minorities.

How to Effectively Learn and Remember

One way that the findings of psychological research may be particularly helpful to you is in
terms of improving your learning and study skills. Psychological research has provided a
substantial amount of knowledge about the principles of learning and memory. This information
can help you do better in this and other courses, and can also help you to improve your learning
of new concepts and techniques in other areas of your life.

The most important thing you can learn in college is how to become more efficient at studying,
learning, and remembering. These skills will help you throughout your life, as you learn new
jobs and take on other responsibilities. There are substantial individual differences in learning
and memory, such that some people learn faster than others. However, even if it takes you
longer to learn, the extra time you put into studying is well worth the effort. Learning to
effectively study and to remember information is just like learning any other skill, such as
playing a sport or a video game.

To learn well, you need to be ready to learn. You cannot learn well when you are tired, under
stress, or abusing alcohol or drugs. Try to keep a consistent routine of sleeping and eating. Eat
moderately and nutritiously, and avoid drugs that can impair memory, particularly alcohol. There
is no evidence that stimulants such as caffeine, amphetamines, or any of the many memory
enhancing drugs on the market will help you learn (Gold et al., 2002; McDaniel et al., 2002).

30
Psychologists have studied the ways that best allow people to acquire new information, to retain
it over time, and to retrieve information that has been stored in our memories. One important
finding is that learning is an active process. To acquire information most effectively, we must
actively manipulate it. One active approach is rehearsal, which is repeating the information that
is to be learned over-and-over again.

Although simple repetition does help us learn, psychological research has found that we acquire
information most effectively with elaboration, which is when we actively think about its meaning
and relate the material to something we already know. If you want to remember the different
perspectives of psychology, for instance, try to think about how each of the perspectives is
different from the others. As you make the comparisons, determine what is most important about
each one and then relate it to the features of the other perspectives. In an important study showing
the effectiveness of elaborative encoding, Rogers et al. (1977) found that students learned
information best when they related it to aspects of themselves, a phenomenon known as the self-
reference effect. This research suggests that imagining how the material relates to your own
interests and goals will help you learn it.

To learn well, you need to be ready to learn. You cannot learn well when you are tired, under
stress, or abusing alcohol or drugs. Try to keep a consistent routine of sleeping and eating. Eat
moderately and nutritiously, and avoid drugs that can impair memory, particularly alcohol. There
is no evidence that stimulants such as caffeine, amphetamines, or any of the many memory
enhancing drugs on the market will help you learn (Gold et al., 2002; McDaniel et al., 2002).

Psychologists have studied the ways that best allow people to acquire new information, to retain
it over time, and to retrieve information that has been stored in our memories. One important
finding is that learning is an active process. To acquire information most effectively, we must
actively manipulate it. One active approach is rehearsal, which is repeating the information that
is to be learned over-and-over again.

Although simple repetition does help us learn, psychological research has found that we acquire
information most effectively with elaboration, which is when we actively think about its meaning
and relate the material to something we already know. If you want to remember the different
perspectives of psychology, for instance, try to think about how each of the perspectives is
different from the others. As you make the comparisons, determine what is most important about
each one and then relate it to the features of the other perspectives. In an important study showing
the effectiveness of elaborative encoding, Rogers et al. (1977) found that students learned
information best when they related it to aspects of themselves, a phenomenon known as the self-
reference effect. This research suggests that imagining how the material relates to your own
interests and goals will help you learn it.

An approach known as the method of loci involves linking each of the pieces of information that
you need to remember to places with which you are familiar. You might think about the house
that you grew up in and the rooms in it. Then you could put the behaviorists in the bedroom, the
humanists in the living room, and the social-culturists in the kitchen. Then when you need to
remember the information, you retrieve the mental image of your house and should be able to see
the theorists in each of the areas.
31
One of the most fundamental principles of memory is known as the spacing effect or distributed
practice, which is studying material in several shorter study periods, rather than just once for a
long period-of-time. Both humans and animals more easily remember and learn material when
they study the material over several shorter periods. Cramming for an exam is a particularly
ineffective way to learn.

One of the most fundamental principles of memory is known as the spacing effect or distributed
practice, which is studying material in several shorter study periods, rather than just once for a
long period-of-time. Both humans and animals more easily remember and learn material when
they study the material over several shorter periods. Cramming for an exam is a particularly
ineffective way to learn.

Psychologists have also found that performance is improved when people set difficult, yet
realistic goals for themselves (Locke & Latham, 2006). You can use these goals to help you
learn. For example, set realistic goals for the time you are going to spend studying and what you
are going to learn, and try to stick to those goals. Do a small amount every day, and by the end
of the week you should have accomplished your goals.

When studying for a test, do not just go over your notes again and again. Instead, make a list of
questions you think will be on the test and then see if you can answer them. Study the
information, and then test yourself again after a few minutes. If you made any mistakes, study
again and keep testing yourself until you are successful. Testing yourself by attempting to
retrieve information in an active manner is better than simply studying the material, because it
will help you determine if you know it.

When studying for a test, do not just go over your notes again and again. Instead, make a list of
questions you think will be on the test and then see if you can answer them. Study the
information, and then test yourself again after a few minutes. If you made any mistakes, study
again and keep testing yourself until you are successful. Testing yourself by attempting to
retrieve information in an active manner is better than simply studying the material, because it
will help you determine if you know it.

In summary, everyone can learn more efficiently. Learning is an important skill, and following
the previously mentioned ideas, will likely help you improve your memory.

32
Key Takeaways
 Some basic questions asked by psychologists include those about nature versus nurture,
free will versus determinism, conscious versus unconscious processing, differences
versus similarities, and accuracy versus inaccuracy.
 The first psychologists were philosophers, but the field became more empirical and
objective as more sophisticated scientific approaches were developed and employed.
 The structuralists attempted to analyze the nature of consciousness using introspection.
 The functionalists based their ideas on the work of Darwin, and their approaches led
to the field of evolutionary psychology.
 Psychodynamic perspective focuses on unconscious drives and the potential to improve
lives through psychoanalysis and psychotherapy.
 The behaviorists explained behavior in terms of stimulus, response, and reinforcement,
while denying the presence of free will.
 Humanism examines the self-concept and free will.
 The biological perspective focuses on the role of physiological processes on
behavior and thought.
 The cognitive perspective studies how people perceive, process, and remember
information.
 The evolutionary perspective examines human behavior and mental processes in terms of
their adaptive value for our survival.
 The social-cultural perspective focuses on the social situation, including how
cultures and social norms influence our behavior.
 Women have played an active role in the history of psychology, but often did not
receive the recognition they deserved.
 Black, Indegenous and People of Color have also contributed extensively to the field
of psychology despite facing many roadblocks to their success.
 There are several strategies students can use to be more effective learners.

Exercises and Critical Thinking

 What type of questions can psychologists answer that philosophers might not be able
to answer as completely or as accurately? Explain why you think psychologists can
answer these questions better than philosophers can.
 Choose one of the major questions of psychology and provide some evidence from
your own experience that supports one side or the other.
 Choose two of the perspectives of psychology discussed in this section, and explain
how they differ in their approaches to understanding behavior and mental processes.

33
Videos and Activities

 You can learn more about the different fields of psychology and the careers associated
with them at http://www.apa.org/careers/psyccareers/

Chapter Summary

Although it is easy to think that everyday situations have commonsense answers, scientific
studies have found that people are not always as good at predicting outcomes as they often think
they are. The hindsight bias leads us to think that we could have predicted events that we could
not actually have predicted.

Employing the scientific method allows psychologists to objectively and systematically study
human behavior.

Psychological phenomena are complex, and making predictions about them is difficult because
there are many factors that influence humans. Research has found that people are frequently
unaware of the causes of their own behaviors.

Some of the basic questions asked by psychologists, both historically and currently, include
those about the relative roles of nature versus nurture in behavior, free will versus determinism,
accuracy versus inaccuracy in perception, differences versus similarities, and conscious versus
unconscious processing.

The first psychologists were philosophers, but the field became more objective as more
sophisticated scientific approaches were developed and employed. Some of the most important
historical schools of psychology include: Structuralism and functionalism. Contemporary
perspectives include: Psychodynamic, behavioral, humanistic, biological, cognitive,
evolutionary, and social-cultural.

Women have played an active role in the history of psychology, but often did not receive the
recognition they deserved.

Psychiatry, counseling, and social work are disciplines related to psychology. Psychologists
generally have a Ph.D. or Psy.D. Psychiatrists are physicians with an MD. Counselors and social
workers usually have a master’s degree and may treat clients with specific problems.

There are a variety of available career choices within psychology that provide employment in
many different areas of interest.

34
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Chapter 2 Psychological Science
Learning Objective

1. Differentiate between basic and applied research.

Psychologists study the behavior of both humans and animals. The main purpose of this research
is to help us understand people and to improve the quality of human lives. The results of
psychological research are relevant to problems such as learning and memory, homelessness,
mental health disorders, family instability, and aggressive behavior and violence. Psychological
research is used in a range of important areas, from public policy to driver safety. It guides court
rulings with respect to racism and sexism (Brown v. Board of Education, 1954; Fiske, Bersoff,
Borgida, Deaux, & Heilman, 1991). It shapes court procedures by allowing for the analysis of
lie detector results during criminal trials (Saxe, Dougherty, & Cross, 1985). Research helps us
understand how driver behavior affects safety (Fajen & Warren, 2003. It demonstrates which
methods of teaching children are most effective (Alexander & Winne, 2006; Woolfolk-Hoy,
2005). Other research shows how to best detect deception (DePaulo et al., 2003) and some of
the causes of terrorism (Borum, 2004).

Basic vs. Applied Research

Some psychological research is basic research. Basic

research is research that answers fundamental Figure 2.1
questions about behavior. For instance,
biopsychologists study how nerves conduct impulses
from the receptors in the skin to the brain. Cognitive
psychologists investigate how different types of
studying influence memory for pictures and words.
There is no reason to examine such things except to
acquire a better knowledge of how these processes
occur. Applied research is research that investigates
issues that have implications for everyday life and
provides solutions to everyday problems. Applied Source: https://www.flickr.com/help/photos/#2265887

research has been conducted to study, among many other things, the most effective methods for
reducing depression, the types of advertising campaigns that serve to reduce drug and alcohol
abuse, the key predictors of managerial success in business, and the indicators of effective
government programs.

Basic research and applied research complement each other, and advances in science occur more
rapidly when each type of research is conducted (Lewin, 1999). For instance, research
concerning the role of practice on memory for lists of words is basic in orientation, but the

38
results could potentially be applied to help children learn to read. Correspondingly, psychologist-
practitioners who wish to reduce the spread of AIDS frequently base their programs on the
findings of basic research. This basic AIDS research is applied to help change people’s attitudes
and behaviors.

The results of psychological research are reported primarily in research articles published in
scientific journals. The research reported in scientific journals has been evaluated, critiqued, and
improved by scientists in the field through the process of peer review. In this book, there are
many citations to original research articles, and you are encouraged to read those reports when
you find a topic interesting. Most of these papers are readily available online through our college
library. It is only by reading the original reports that you will see how the research process
works.

In this chapter, you will learn how psychologists develop and test their research ideas, how they
measure the thoughts, feelings, and behavior of individuals, and how they analyze and interpret
the data they collect. To understand psychology, you must understand how and why the
research you are reading about was conducted and what the collected data mean. Learning
about the principles and practices of psychological research will allow you to critically read,
interpret, and evaluate research.

In addition to helping you learn the material in this course, the ability to interpret and conduct
research is also useful in many of the careers that you might choose. For instance, advertising
and marketing researchers study how to make advertising more effective. Health and medical
researchers study how behaviors, such as drug use and smoking, influence illness. Computer
scientists study how people interact with computers. Furthermore, even if you are not planning
a career as a researcher, jobs in almost any area of social, medical, or mental health science
require that a worker be informed about psychological research.

Psychologists Use the Scientific Method to Guide Their Research

Learning Objectives

1. Describe the principles of the scientific method and explain its importance in
conducting and interpreting research.
2. Explain what is meant by a research hypothesis.
3. Discuss the procedures that researchers use to ensure participant representation and that
their research with humans and animals is ethical.

Psychologists are not the only people who seek to understand human behavior and solve social
problems. Philosophers, religious leaders, politicians and others also strive to provide
explanations for human behavior. But psychologists believe that research is the best tool for
understanding human beings and their relationships with others. Rather than accepting the claim
of a philosopher that people have free will, a psychologist would collect data to empirically test
whether people are able to actively control their own behavior. Rather than accepting a
politician’s contention that creating a new center for mental health will improve the lives of

39
individuals, a psychologist would empirically assess the effects of receiving mental health
treatment on the quality of life of the recipients. The statements made by psychologists are
empirical, which means they are based on systematic collection and analysis of data.

The Scientific Method

All scientists, whether they are physicists, chemists, biologists, sociologists, or psychologists,
are engaged in the basic processes of collecting data and drawing conclusions about those data.
The methods used by scientists have developed over many years and provide a common
framework for developing, organizing, and sharing information. The scientific method is the set
of assumptions, rules, and procedures scientists use to conduct research.

In addition to requiring that science be empirical, the scientific method demands that the
procedures used are objective, or free from the personal bias or emotions of the scientist. The
scientific method describes how scientists collect, analyze, draw conclusions from, and share
data. These rules increase objectivity by placing data under the scrutiny of other scientists and
even the public at large. Because data are reported with all relevant details about the procedure,
the setting and the participants, other scientists know exactly how the scientist collected and
analyzed the data. This means that they do not have to rely only on the scientist’s own
interpretation of the data; they may draw their own conclusions.

Most research is designed to repeat, add to, or modify previous research findings. The scientific
method, therefore, results in the accumulation and continuous refinement or revision of scientific
knowledge.

Laws and Theories as Organizing Principles

One goal of research is to organize information into meaningful statements that can be applied in
many situations. Principles that are so general as to apply to all situations in a given domain of
inquiry are known as laws.

The next step down from laws in the hierarchy of organizing principles is theory. A theory is an
integrated set of principles that explains and predicts many, but not all, observed relationships
within a given domain of inquiry. One example of an important theory in psychology is the stage
theory of cognitive development proposed by the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget. The theory
states that children pass through a series of cognitive stages as they grow, each of which must be
mastered in progression before movement to the next cognitive stage can occur. This is an
extremely useful theory in human development because it can be applied to many different
content areas and can be tested in numerous ways.

Good theories have four important characteristics. First, good theories are general, meaning they
summarize many different outcomes. Second, they are parsimonious, meaning they provide the
simplest possible account of those outcomes. The stage theory of cognitive development meets

40
both of these requirements. It can account for developmental changes in behavior across a wide
variety of domains, and it does so parsimoniously by hypothesizing a simple set of cognitive
stages. Third, good theories are generative, that is they provide ideas for future research. The
stage theory of cognitive development has been applied not only to learning about cognitive
skills, but also to the study of children’s moral (Kohlberg, 1966) and gender development (Ruble
& Martin, 1998).

Finally, good theories are falsifiable, which means the variables of interest can be adequately
measured and the predicted relationships between the variables can be shown through research
to be incorrect (Popper, 1959). The stage theory of cognitive development is falsifiable because
the stages of cognitive reasoning can be measured. Additionally, if research discovers that
children learn new tasks before the theory says they should, then the theory will be shown to be
incorrect. Research can lead to new theories, but most psychologists use existing theories and
develop hypotheses that match the theory they are using.

No single theory accounts for all behavior in all cases. Rather, theories are each limited in that
they make accurate predictions in some situations or for some people, but not in other situations
or for other people. As a result, there is a constant exchange between theory and data: Existing
theories are modified on the basis of collected data. The new modified theories then make new
predictions that are tested by new data, and so forth. When a better theory is found, it will
replace the old one. This is part of the accumulation of scientific knowledge.

The Research Hypothesis

Theories are usually framed too broadly to be tested in a single experiment. Therefore, scientists
use a research hypothesis as the basis for their research. A research hypothesis is a specific and
falsifiable prediction about the relationship between or among two or more variables. A
variable is any attribute that can assume different values among different people or across
different times or places. The research hypothesis states the existence of a relationship between
the variables of interest and the specific direction of that relationship. For instance, the research
hypothesis “Using marijuana will reduce learning” predicts that there is a relationship between
the variable “using marijuana” and another variable called “learning.”

The term operational definition refers to a precise statement of how a variable is measured
or manipulated by the researcher. For example, depression might be operationally defined by
the score on a checklist, or intelligence might be operationally defined as the results of an IQ
test. When an operational definition is used, then everyone knows precisely what a researcher
means by an otherwise vague term like depression or intelligence.

Table 2.1 lists some potential operational definitions of variables that have been used in
psychological research. As you read through this list, note that the variables are very specific.
This specificity is important for two reasons. First, more specific definitions mean that there is
less danger that the collected data will be misunderstood by others. Second, specific
definitions will enable future researchers to replicate the research.

41
Table 2.1 Examples of the Operational Definitions of Conceptual Variables That Have
Been Used in Psychological Research

Variable Operational Definitions

Aggression  Number of presses of a button that administers shock to another student

 Number of seconds taken to honk the horn at the car ahead after a stoplight
turns green

 Number of inches that an individual place their chair away from

Interpersonal
another person
attraction  Number of millimeters of pupil dilation when one person looks at another

Employee  Number of days per month an employee shows up to work on time

satisfaction
 Rating of job satisfaction from 1 (not at all satisfied) to 9 (extremely satisfied)

Decision-making  Number of groups able to correctly solve a group performance task

skills  Number of seconds in which a person solves a problem

Depression  Number of negative words used in a creative story

 Number of appointments made with a psychotherapist

Conducting Ethical Research

One of the issues that all scientists must address concerns the ethics of their research. Physicists
are concerned about the potentially harmful outcomes of their experiments with nuclear
materials. Biologists worry about the potential outcomes of creating genetically engineered
human babies. Medical researchers agonize over the ethics of withholding potentially beneficial
drugs from control groups in clinical trials. Likewise, psychologists are continually considering
the ethics of their research.

Research in psychology may cause some stress, harm, or inconvenience for the people who
participate in that research. For instance, researchers may ask introductory psychology students
to participate in research projects and then deceive these students, at least temporarily, about the
nature of the research. Psychologists may induce stress, anxiety, or negative moods in their
participants, expose them to weak electrical shocks, or convince them to behave in ways that
violate their moral standards. Additionally, researchers may sometimes use animals, potentially
harming them in the process.

Decisions about whether research is ethical are made using established ethical codes developed
by scientific organizations, such as the American Psychological Association, and federal
governments. In the United States, the Department of Health and Human Services provides the
guidelines for ethical standards in research. Some research, such as the research conducted by the
Nazis on prisoners during World War II, is perceived as immoral by almost everyone. Other
procedures, such as the use of animals in research testing the effectiveness of drugs, are more
controversial.

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Characteristics of an Ethical Research Project Using Human Participants

This list presents some of the most important factors that psychologists take into consideration
when designing their research:

 Trust and positive rapport are created between the researcher and the participant.
 The rights of both the experimenter and participant are considered, and the relationship
between them is mutually beneficial.
 The experimenter treats the participant with concern and respect and attempts to make
the research experience a pleasant and informative one.
 Before the research begins, the participant is given all information relevant to their
decision to participate, including any possibilities of physical danger or psychological
stress.
 The participant is given a chance to have questions about the procedure answered, thus
guaranteeing their choice about participating.
 After the experiment is over, any deception that has been used is made public, and the
necessity for it is explained.
 The experimenter carefully debriefs the participant, explaining the underlying research
hypothesis and the purpose of the experimental procedure in detail and answering any
questions.
 The experimenter provides information about how they can be contacted and offers to
provide information about the results of the research if the participant is interested in
receiving it. (Stangor, 2011)

American Psychological Association Code of Ethics

No Harm is the most direct ethical concern of the researcher and prevents harm to the research
participants. One example that potentially violated this principle is the well-known research of
Stanley Milgram (1974), who investigated obedience to authority. In his studies, participants
were instructed by an experimenter to administer electric shocks to another person so that
Milgram could study the extent to which they would obey the demands of an authority figure.
Although no shocks were actually administered, the participants thought they had, and as a
result, evidenced high levels of stress. They also experienced psychological conflict between
following the experimenter’s instructions to deliver the shocks and what they wanted to do,
which was not to administer the shocks. Studies, such as those by Milgram, are no longer
conducted because the scientific community is more sensitized to the potential of such procedures
creating emotional discomfort or harm.

Informed consent is conducted before a participant begins a research session, and is designed
to explain the research procedures and inform the participant of their rights during the
investigation. The informed consent explains as much as possible about the true nature of the
study, particularly everything that might be expected to influence willingness to participate, but it
may in some cases withhold some information that allows the study to work.
A goal of ethical research is to guarantee that participants have free choice regarding whether
they wish to participate in research. Students in psychology classes may be allowed, or even
required, to participate in research, but they are also always given an option to choose a different

43
study to be in, or to perform other activities instead. Once an experiment begins, the research
participant is always free to leave the experiment if they wish to. Concerns with free choice also
occur in institutional settings, such as in schools, hospitals, corporations, and prisons, when
individuals are required by the institutions to take certain tests, or when employees are told or
asked to participate in research.

Confidentiality refers to researchers protecting the privacy of research participants. In some

cases, data can be kept anonymous by not having the respondents put any identifying
information on their questionnaires. In other cases, the data cannot be anonymous because the
researcher needs to keep track of which respondent contributed the data. In this case one
technique is to have each participant use a unique code number to identify their data, such as
the last four digits of the student ID number. In this way, the researcher can keep track of which
person completed which questionnaire, but no one will be able to connect the data with the
individual who contributed them.

Deception occurs whenever research participants are not completely and fully informed about
the nature of the research project before participating in it. This is perhaps the most widespread
ethical concern to the participants in behavioral research. Deception may occur in an active way,
such as when the researcher tells the participants that a study is about learning when in fact the
experiment really measures obedience to authority. In other cases, the deception is more passive,
such as when participants are not told about the hypothesis being studied or the potential use of
the data being collected.

Some researchers have argued that no deception should ever be used in any research (Baumrind,
1985). They argue that participants should always be told the complete truth about the nature of
the research they are in, and that when participants are deceived there will be negative
consequences, such as the possibility that participants may arrive at other studies already
expecting to be deceived. Other psychologists defend the use of deception on the grounds that it
is needed to get participants to act naturally and to enable the study of psychological phenomena
that might not otherwise get investigated. They argue that it would be impossible to study topics
such as altruism, aggression, obedience, and stereotyping without using deception because if
participants were informed ahead of time what the study involved, this knowledge would
certainly change their behavior. The codes of ethics of the American Psychological Association
and other organizations allow researchers to use deception, but these codes also require them to
explicitly consider how their research might be conducted without the use of deception.

Debriefing is a procedure designed to fully explain the purposes and procedures of the research
and remove any harmful aftereffects of participation. Because participating in research has the
potential for producing long-term changes in the research participants, all participants should be
fully debriefed immediately after their participation.

Ensuring That Research Is Ethical

Making decisions about the ethics of research involves weighing the costs and benefits of
conducting versus not conducting a given research project (Rosenthal, 1994). The costs involve
potential harm to the research participants and to the field, whereas the benefits include the

44
potential for advancing knowledge about human behavior and offering various advantages, some
educational, to the individual participants. Most generally, the ethics of a given research project
are determined through a cost-benefit analysis, in which the costs are compared to the benefits.
If the potential costs of the research appear to outweigh any potential benefits that might come
from it, then the research should not proceed.

One example of this risk-benefit analysis can be found in clinical drug trials. Researchers must
weigh the potential good of a new drug against the possible harm. Few drugs are without side
effects, and the drugs used to treat mental illness are no exception. However, for a severely
depressed patient who has not responded to approved forms of treatment, the side effects of a
new drug must be weighed against the likelihood of prolonged suffering and the risk of suicide.

Arriving at a cost-benefit ratio is not simple. For one thing, there is no way to know ahead of
time what the effects of a given procedure will be on every person or animal who participates or
what benefit to society the research is likely to produce. In addition, what is ethical is defined by
the current state of thinking within society, and thus perceived costs and benefits change over
time. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services regulations require that all universities
receiving funds from the department set up a review process to determine whether proposed
research meets department regulations. The Institutional Review Board (IRB) is a committee
of at least five members whose goal it is to determine the cost-benefit ratio of research
conducted within an institution. The IRB approves the procedures of all the research conducted
at the institution before the research can begin. The board may suggest modifications to the
procedures, or in rare cases, it may inform the scientist that the research violates Department of
Health and Human Services guidelines and thus cannot be conducted at all.

Antiracism and Representation in Psychology Research

The murder of George Floyd in May, 2020 resulted in organizations throughout the world evaluating
their beliefs and policies to address systemic racism. Psychology was no different. Psychologists
raised concerns about the lack of diversity in psychological research, lack of representation in who
becomes a psychologist, and lack of research funding, publishing, and citing for Black, Indigenous
and People of Color (BIPOC) researchers (Andoh, 2021). The American Psychological Association
(APA) has condemned racist practices and encourages all practitioners and researchers to follow the
Race and Ethnicity Guidelines in Psychology supported by an APA taskforce (APA, 2019).

An important area that especially needs to be addressed is the lack of participant diversity in
psychological research (Andoh, 2021). Meaningful psychological research requires a representative
sample of the population. Unfortunately, most standardization samples in psychological research are
made up of individuals from Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD)
societies (Henrich et al., 2010). In reviewing databases from across the behavioral sciences, Heinrich
and colleagues found that there was substantial variability in results, and WEIRD participants were
unusual when compared to other members of the species. They found that members of WEIRD
societies, who were predominantly from American universities and Europe, were less representative
of the world populations as a whole. The results obtained from WEIRD participants often distort the
generalizations made about mental processes and human behavior, and consequently more research
specifically on Black, Indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC) is needed (Andoh, 2021).

45
Research with Animals

Because animals make up an important part of the natural world, and because some research
cannot be conducted using humans, animals are also participants in psychological research. Most
psychological research using animals is now conducted with rats, mice, and birds, and the use of
other animals in research is declining (Thomas & Blackman, 1992). As with ethical decisions
involving human participants, a set of basic principles has been developed that helps researchers
make informed decisions about such research; a summary is shown below.

APA Guidelines on Humane Care and Use of Animals in Research

The following are some of the most important ethical principles from the American Psychological
Association’s guidelines on research with animals.

 Psychologists acquire, care for, use, and dispose of animals in compliance with current
federal, state, and local laws and regulations, and with professional standards.
 Psychologists trained in research methods and experienced in the care of laboratory
animals supervise all procedures involving animals and are responsible for ensuring
appropriate consideration of their comfort, health, and humane treatment.
 Psychologists ensure that all individuals under their supervision who are using animals
have received instruction in research methods and in the care, maintenance, and handling
of the species being used, to the extent appropriate to their role.
 Psychologists make reasonable efforts to minimize the discomfort, infection, illness, and
pain of animal subjects.
 Psychologists use a procedure subjecting animals to pain, stress, or privation only
when an alternative procedure is unavailable and the goal is justified by its
prospective scientific, educational, or applied value.
 Psychologists perform surgical procedures under appropriate anesthesia and follow
techniques to avoid infection and minimize pain during and after surgery.
 When it is appropriate that an animal’s life be terminated, psychologists proceed rapidly,
with an effort to minimize pain and in accordance with accepted procedures. (American
Psychological Association, 2012)
Because the use of animals in research involves a personal
Figure 2.2 value, people naturally disagree about this practice.
Although many people accept the value of such research
(Plous, 1996), some people believe that it is ethically
wrong to conduct research on animals. This argument
assumes that because animals are living creatures just as
humans are, no harm should ever be done to them.

Most scientists, however, reject this view. They

Psychologists make reasonable efforts
argue that such beliefs ignore the potential benefits
to minimize the discomfort animals that have come from research with animals. For
experience in research. © thinkstock instance, drugs that can reduce the incidence of
cancer or AIDS may first be tested on animals, and
surgery that can save human lives may first be
46
practiced on animals. Research on animals has also led to a better understanding of the
physiological causes of depression, phobias, and stress, among other illnesses. Thus, scientists
believe that because there are many benefits that accrue from animal research. They maintain
that such research can and should continue as long as the humane treatment of the animals used
in the research is guaranteed.

Key Takeaways

 Psychologists use the scientific method to generate, accumulate, and report

scientific knowledge.
 Basic research, which answers questions about behavior, and applied research,
which finds solutions to everyday problems, inform each other and work together
to advance science.
 Research reports describing scientific studies are published in scientific journals
so that other scientists and laypersons may review the empirical findings.
 Organizing principles, including laws, theories and research hypotheses, give
structure and uniformity to scientific methods.
 Concerns for conducting ethical research are paramount. Researchers assure that
participants are given free choice to participate and that their privacy is protected.
Informed consent and debriefing help provide humane treatment of participants.
 A cost-benefit analysis is used to determine what research should and should not
be allowed to proceed
 Research should be representative of all members of a participation, and
generalizations to other populations should not occur unless they are part of the
research study.

Exercises and Critical Thinking

1. Give an example from personal experience of how you or someone you know have
benefited from the results of scientific research.
2. Find and discuss a research project that in your opinion has ethical concerns. Explain
why you find these concerns to be troubling.
3. Indicate your personal feelings about the use of animals in research. When should
and should not animals be used?

47
Descriptive, Correlational, and Experimental Research Designs

Learning Objectives

1. Differentiate between the goals of descriptive, correlational, and experimental research

designs and explain the advantages and disadvantages of each.
2. Explain how descriptive research is conducted.
3. Summarize the uses of correlational research and describe the difference between
correlation and causation.
4. Review the procedures of experimental research and explain how it can be used to
draw causal inferences.
5. Define representative sample, independent variable, dependent variable.

Psychologists agree that if their ideas and theories about human behavior are to be taken
seriously, they must be supported by data. However, the research of different psychologists is
designed with different goals in mind, and the different goals require different approaches. These
varying approaches, summarized in Table 2.2, are known as research designs, which are the
specific methods a researcher uses to collect, analyze, and interpret data. Psychologists use
three major types of research designs in their research, and each provides an essential avenue for
scientific investigation. Descriptive research is research that observes specific behaviors and
records the observation. Correlational research is research designed to discover relationships
among variables and to allow the prediction of future events from present knowledge.
Experimental research is research in which initial equivalence among research participants in
more than one group is created, followed by a manipulation of a given experience for these
groups and a measurement of the influence of the manipulation. Each of the three research
designs varies according to its strengths and limitations.

Table 2.2 Characteristics of the Three Research Designs

Research Goal Advantages Disadvantages

design

Descriptive To observe and record Provides a relatively complete Does not assess relationships
specific behaviors picture of what is occurring at a among variables. May be
given time. Allows the unethical if participants do not
development of questions for know they are being observed.
further study.

Correlational To assess the Allows testing of expected Cannot be used to draw

relationships between relationships between and among inferences about the causal
and among two or more variables and the making of relationships between and
variables predictions. Can assess these among the variables.
relationships in everyday life
events.

48
 Experimental To assess the causal Allows drawing of conclusions Cannot experimentally
impact of one or more about the causal relationships manipulate many important
experimental among variables. variables. May be expensive
manipulations on a and time consuming.
dependent variable

Source: Stangor, C. (2011). Research methods for the behavioral sciences (4th ed.). Mountain View, CA: Cengage.

Descriptive Research

Descriptive research is designed to create a snapshot of the current thoughts, feelings, or

behavior of individuals. This section reviews three types of descriptive research: Case studies,
surveys, and observations.

Case Study: Sometimes the data in a descriptive research project are based on only a small set
of individuals, often only one person or a single small group. These research designs are known
as case studies or descriptive records of one or more individual’s experiences and behavior.
Sometimes case studies involve ordinary individuals. Developmental psychologist Jean Piaget
observed his own children. More frequently, case studies are conducted on individuals who
have atypical experiences. The assumption is that by carefully studying these individuals, we
can learn something about human nature.

A well-known case study is Phineas Gage, a man whose thoughts and emotions were extensively
studied after a tamping iron was blasted through his skull in an accident. Although there is a
question about the interpretation of this case study (Kotowicz, 2007), it did provide early
evidence that the brain’s frontal lobe is involved in emotion and morality (Damasio et al., 2005).

Observations: Another type of descriptive research is known as observation. When using

naturalistic observation, psychologists observe and record behavior that occurs in everyday
settings. For instance, a developmental psychologist might watch children on a playground and
describe what they say to each other. Laboratory observation is conducted in a setting created
by the researcher. This permits the researcher to control more aspects of the situation. One
example of laboratory observation involves a systematic procedure known as the strange
situation. This research is used to get a picture of how adults and young children interact.

49
Survey: In other studies, the data from descriptive
research projects come in the form of a survey,
questions administered through either an interview
or a written questionnaire to get a picture of the
beliefs or behaviors of a sample of people of
interest. The following categories are used for
individuals involved in a survey:

 Population is all the people that the Figure 2.3

researcher wishes to know about. Political polls reported in newspapers
and online are descriptive research
 Sample is the people chosen from the designs. © Thinkstock
population to participate in the research.

 Representative sample reflects the population on key variables, such as gender,

ethnicity, and socio-economic status, to draw valid conclusions about the population.

In election polls, for instance, a sample is taken from the population of all “likely voters” in the
upcoming elections. A representative sample of likely voters would include the same percentages
of gender, age, racial/ethnic, and socio-economic groups as the larger population.

Descriptive Statistics
The results of descriptive research projects are analyzed using descriptive statistics; that is,
numbers that summarize the distribution of scores on a measured variable. Most variables have
distributions where most of the scores are located near the center of the distribution and the
distribution is symmetrical and bell-shaped. A data distribution that is shaped liked a bell in
known as a normal distribution.

A distribution can be described in terms of its central tendency; that is, the point in the
distribution around which the data are centered. There are three measures of central tendency.
They include: The mean or arithmetic average is the most commonly used measure of central
tendency. It is computed by calculating the sum of all the scores of the variable and dividing this
sum by the number of participants in the distribution. In some cases, however, the data
distribution is not symmetrical. This occurs when there are one or more extreme scores, known
as outliers, at one end of the distribution. Consider, for instance, the variable of family income
(see Figure 2.4), which includes an outlier of $3,800,000. In this case the mean is not a good
measure of central tendency. Although it appears from Figure 2.4 that the central tendency of
the family income variable should be around $70,000, the mean family income is actually
$223,960. The single very extreme income has a disproportionate impact on the mean, resulting
in a value that does not well represent the central tendency of the data.

The median is the score in the center of the distribution, meaning that 50% of the scores are
greater than the median and 50% of the scores are less than the median. The median is used as
an alternative measure of central tendency when distributions are not symmetrical. In our case,
the median household income ($73,000) is a much better indication of central tendency than is
the mean household income ($223,960).
50
A final measure of central tendency, known as the mode, represents the value that occurs most
frequently in the distribution. You can see from Figure 2.4, the mode for the family income
variable is $93,000 as it occurs four times. In addition to summarizing the central tendency of a
distribution, descriptive statistics convey information about how the scores of the variable are
spread around the central tendency. The distribution of family incomes is likely to be
nonsymmetrical because some incomes can be very large in comparison to most incomes. In this
case the median or the mode is a better indicator of central tendency than is the mean.

Figure 2.4 Family Income Distribution

Dispersion refers to the extent to which the scores are all tightly clustered around the central
tendency. Figures 2.5 and 2.6 demonstrate the dispersion of scores. In Figure 2.5 the scores are
clustered together indicating little dispersion or variation in the scores, while in Figure 2.6 the
scores are spread out indicating greater dispersion or variation.

Figure 2.5 Figure 2.6

One simple measure of dispersion is to find the range, which is the maximum observed score
minus the minimum observed score. However, the standard deviation, which is the measure of
the approximate average amount scores in a distribution deviate from the mean, is the most
commonly used measure of dispersion. Distributions with a larger standard deviation have more
spread.

51
Advantages and Disadvantages of Descriptive Research

An advantage of descriptive research is that it attempts to capture the complexity of everyday

behavior. Case studies provide detailed information about a single person or a small group of
people, surveys capture the thoughts or reported behaviors of a large population of people, and
observation objectively records the behavior of people or animals as it occurs. Thus, descriptive
research is used to provide a relatively complete understanding of what is currently happening.

Despite these advantages, descriptive research has a distinct disadvantage in that, although it
allows us to get an idea of what is currently happening, it is usually limited to static pictures.
Although descriptions of particular experiences may be interesting, they are not always
transferable to other individuals in other situations, nor do they tell us exactly why specific
behaviors or events occurred. For instance, descriptions of individuals who have suffered a
stressful event, such as a war or an earthquake, can be used to understand the individuals’
reactions to the event but cannot tell us anything about the long-term effects of the stress.
Because there is no comparison group that did not experience the stressful situation, we cannot
know what these individuals would be like if they had not had the stressful experience.

Correlational Research

In contrast to descriptive research, which is designed primarily to provide static pictures,

correlational research involves the measurement of two or more relevant variables and an
assessment of the relationship among those variables. For instance, the variables of height and
weight are correlated because taller people generally weigh more than shorter people. In the
same way, study time and memory errors are also correlated, because the more time people are
given to study a list of words, the fewer errors they will make.

When variables change in the same direction, the relationship is said to be a positive
correlation. Examples of positive correlations include those between height and weight,
education and income, and age and mathematical abilities in children. In each case, people who
score higher on one of the variables also score higher on the other variable. In contrast, a
negative correlation occurs when values for one variable change in the opposite direction for
the other variable. Examples of negative correlations include those between the age of a child
and the number of diapers the child uses, and between amount of time studying and the number
of errors made on a test. In these cases, people who score higher on one of the variables score
lower on the other variable.

One way of organizing the data from a correlational study with two variables is to graph the
values of each of the measured variables using a scatter plot, a visual image of the relationship
between two variables. As you can see in Figure 2.7, a point represents the intersection of a
participant’s scores for two variables. When the association between the variables on the scatter
plot can be easily approximated with a straight line, as in parts (a) and (b) of Figure 2.7, the
variables are said to have a linear relationship.

52
 Figure 2.7 Examples of
Scatter Plots
Some examples of relationships
between two variables as shown in
scatter plots. Note that the Pearson
correlation coefficient (r) between
variables that have curvilinear
relationships will likely be close to
zero.
Source: Adapted from Stangor, C. (2011). Research methods for
the behavioral sciences (4th ed.). Mountain View, CA: Cengage.

The Pearson Correlation Coefficient, symbolized by the letter r, is the most common statistical
measure of the strength of linear relationships among variables. The value of the correlation
coefficient ranges from r= –1.00 to r = +1.00. The direction of the linear relationship is indicated
by the sign of the correlation coefficient. Positive values of r (such as r = .54 or r = .67) indicate
that the relationship is positive linear (i.e., the pattern of the dots on the scatter plot runs from the
lower left to the upper right), whereas negative values of r (such as r = –.30 or r = –.72) indicate
negative linear relationships (i.e., the dots run from the upper left to the lower right). The
strength of the linear relationship is indexed by the distance of the correlation coefficient from
zero. For instance, r = –.54 is a stronger relationship than r= .30, and r = .72 is a stronger
relationship than r = –.57.

Relationships between variables that cannot be described with a straight line are known
as nonlinear relationships. Examples of nonlinear relationships include independent and
curvilinear. Part (c) of Figure 2.7 shows a common pattern in which the distribution of the points
is essentially random. In this example, there is no relationship at all between the two variables,
and they are said to be independent. Parts (d) and (e) show patterns of association in which,
although there is an association, the points are not well described by a single straight line. For
instance, part (d) shows the type of relationship that frequently occurs between anxiety and
performance. Increases in anxiety from low to moderate levels are associated with performance
increases, whereas increases in anxiety from moderate to high levels are associated with
decreases in performance. Relationships that change in direction and thus are not described by a
single straight line are called curvilinear relationships.

An important limitation of correlational research designs is that they cannot be used to draw
conclusions about the causal relationships among the measured variables. Consider, for instance,
a researcher who has hypothesized that viewing violent behavior will cause increased aggressive
play in children. They have collected, from a sample of fourth-grade children, a measure of how
much violent television each child views during the week, as well as a measure of how

53
aggressively each child plays on the school playground. From this collected data, the researcher
discovers a positive correlation between the two measured variables. Although this positive
correlation appears to support the researcher’s hypothesis, it cannot be taken to indicate that
viewing violent television causes aggressive behavior.

Figure 2.8

Although the researcher is tempted to assume that viewing violent television causes aggressive
play (see Figure 2.8) there are other possibilities. One alternate possibility is that the causal
direction is exactly opposite from what has been hypothesized (see Figure 2.9). Perhaps children
who have behaved aggressively at school develop residual excitement that leads them to want to
watch violent television shows at home:

Figure 2.9

Although this possibility may seem less likely, there is no way to rule out the possibility of such
reverse causation on the basis of this observed correlation. It is also possible that both causal
directions are operating and that the two variables cause each other (see Figure 2.10):

Figure 2.10

Third Variables: Still another possible explanation for the observed correlation is that it has
been produced by the presence of a third variable. A third variable is a variable that is not part
of the research hypothesis but produces the observed correlation between them. In our example a
potential third variable is the discipline style of the children’s parents (see Figure 2.11). Parents
who use a harsh and punitive discipline style may produce children who both like to watch
violent television and who behave aggressively in comparison to children whose parents use less
harsh discipline:

54
 Figure 2.11

In this case, television viewing and aggressive play would be positively correlated, as indicated
by the curved arrow between them, even though neither one caused the other but they were both
caused by the discipline style of the parents, the straight arrows. When the variables are both
caused by a third variable, the observed relationship is said to be spurious. If effects of the third
variable were taken away, or controlled for, the relationship between the variables would
disappear. In the example the relationship between aggression and television viewing might be
spurious because by controlling for the effect of the parents’ disciplining style, the relationship
between television viewing and aggressive behavior might go away.

Third variables in correlational research designs can be thought of as mystery variables because,
as they have not been measured, and their presence and identity are usually unknown to the
researcher. Since it is not possible to measure every variable that could cause both the variables,
the existence of an unknown third variable is always a possibility. For this reason, we are left
with the basic limitation of correlational research: Correlation does not demonstrate
causation. It is important that when you read about correlational research projects, you keep in
mind the possibility of spurious relationships, and be sure to interpret the findings appropriately.
Although correlational research is sometimes reported as demonstrating causality without any
mention being made of the possibility of reverse causation or third variables, informed
consumers of research, like you, are aware of these interpretational problems.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Correlational Research

In sum, correlational research designs have both advantages and disadvantages. One strength is
that they can be used when experimental research is not possible because the variables cannot be
manipulated. Correlational designs also have the advantage of allowing the researcher to study
behavior as it occurs in everyday life. Additionally, we can also use correlational designs to
make predictions, for instance, to predict from the scores on their battery of tests the success of
job trainees during a training session. However, we cannot use such correlational information to
determine whether the training caused better job performance. For that, researchers rely on
experiments.

55
Experimental Research

The goal of the experimental research is to provide more definitive conclusions about the
causal relationships among the variables in the research hypothesis than is available from
correlational research. In the experimental research design, the variables of interest are called
the independent variable and the dependent variable. The independent variable in an
experiment is the causing variable that is created or manipulated by the experimenter. The
dependent variable in an experiment is a measured variable that is expected to be influenced by
the experimental manipulation. In other words, this variable is dependent on the experimental
manipulation. The research hypothesis suggests that the manipulated independent variable will
cause changes in the measured dependent variable.

A good experiment has at least two groups that are compared. The experimental group
receives the experimenters’ manipulation. For example, the experimental group might receive a
new medication for depression. The comparison group, often called the control group, receives
either no manipulation or nothing out of the ordinary. For example, the control group might
receive their current medication for depression or a placebo, which is often just a sugar pill.
The research hypothesis suggests that the manipulated independent variable or variables will
cause changes in the measured dependent variables. Specifically, the new drug for depression
will cause a decrease in depressive symptoms in the experimental group when compared to the
control group. To ensure that the participants in the experimental group and control group are
equal in terms of demographic characteristics (e.g., gender, age, race, socioeconomic status,
symptoms), they must be randomly assigned to the groups. When using random assignment,
each participant is assigned to a group through a random process, such as drawing numbers or
using a random number table.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Experimental Research

Experimental designs have two very nice features. For one, they guarantee that the independent
variable occurs prior to the measurement of the dependent variable. This eliminates the
possibility of reverse causation. Second, the influence of third variables is controlled, and thus
eliminated, by creating initial equivalence through randomly assigning the participants in each of
the study groups before the manipulation occurs.

Despite the advantage of determining causation, experiments do have limitations. One is that
they are often conducted in laboratory situations rather than in the everyday lives of people.
Therefore, we do not know whether results that we find in a laboratory setting will necessarily
hold up in everyday life. Second, and more important, is that some of the most interesting and
key social variables cannot be experimentally manipulated because of both practical and ethical
concerns. If we want to study the influence of the size of a mob on the destructiveness of its
behavior, or to compare the personality characteristics of people who join suicide cults with
those of people who do not join such cults, these relationships must be assessed using
correlational designs, because it is simply not possible to experimentally manipulate these
variables.

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Research Focus: Video Games and Aggression

Consider an experiment conducted by Anderson and Dill (2000). The study was designed to test
the hypothesis that viewing violent video games would increase aggressive behavior. In this
research, male and female undergraduates from Iowa State University were given a chance to
play with either a violent video game (Wolfenstein 3D) or a nonviolent video game (Myst).
During the experimental session, the participants played their assigned video games for 15
minutes. Then, after the play, each participant played a competitive game with an opponent in
which the participant could deliver blasts of white noise through the earphones of the opponent.
The operational definition of the dependent variable (aggressive behavior) was the level and
duration of noise delivered to the opponent. The design of the experiment is shown in Figure
2.12
Figure 2.12 An Experimental Research Design

Anderson and Dill first randomly assigned about 100 participants to each of their two groups
(Group A and Group B). Because they used random assignment to conditions, they could be
confident that, before the experimental manipulation occurred, the students in Group A were, on
average, equivalent to the students in Group B on every possible variable, including variables
that are likely to be related to aggression, such as parental discipline style, peer relationships,
hormone levels, diet, and in fact everything else.

Then, after they had created initial equivalence, Anderson and Dill created the experimental
manipulation. They had the participants in Group A play the violent game and the participants in
Group B play the nonviolent game. Then they compared the dependent variable, which was the
white noise blasts, between the two groups, finding that the students who had viewed the violent
video game gave significantly longer noise blasts than did the students who had played the
nonviolent game.

Anderson and Dill had from the outset created initial equivalence between the groups. This
initial equivalence allowed them to observe differences in the white noise levels between the two
groups after the experimental manipulation, leading to the conclusion that it was the independent
variable, and not some other variable, that caused these differences. The idea is that the only
thing that was different between the students in the two groups was the video game they had
played.

57
 Key Takeaways

 Descriptive, correlational, and experimental research designs are used to collect

and analyze data.
 Descriptive designs include case studies, surveys, and observations. The goal of these
designs is to get a picture of the current thoughts, feelings, or behaviors in a given
group of people. Descriptive research is summarized using descriptive statistics.
 Correlational research designs measure two or more relevant variables and assess a
relationship between or among them. The Pearson Correlation Coefficient (r) is a
measure of the strength of linear relationship between two variables.
 The possibility of third variables makes it impossible to draw causal conclusions
from correlational research designs.
 Experimental research involves the manipulation of an independent variable and
the measurement of a dependent variable. Random assignment to conditions (e.g.
experimental group or control group) is normally used to create initial
equivalence between the groups, allowing researchers to draw causal conclusions.

Exercises and Critical Thinking

1. There is a negative correlation between the row that a student sits in in a large class
(when the rows are numbered from front to back) and the student’s final grade in the
class. Do you think this represents a causal relationship or a third variable, and why?
2. Think of two variables, other than those mentioned in this book, that are likely to be
correlated, but in which the correlation is probably spurious. What is the likely third
variable that is producing the relationship?
3. Imagine a researcher wants to test the hypothesis that participating in psychotherapy
will cause a decrease in reported anxiety. Describe the type of research design the
investigator might use to draw this conclusion. What would be the independent and
dependent variables in the research?

Factors that Contribute to Credible Research

Learning Objectives

1. Explain how a double-blind experiment is used to overcome experimenter bias and

participant expectancy effects.
2. Define placebo and explain how placebos are used to prevent expectations from
leading to faulty conclusions.

Validity: Good research is valid research meaning the conclusions drawn by the researcher are
legitimate. For instance, if a researcher concludes that participating in psychotherapy reduces
anxiety, the research is valid only if the therapy works. Unfortunately, there are many threats to
58
the validity of research, and these threats may sometimes lead to unwarranted conclusions.
Often, and despite researchers’ best intentions, some of the research reported on websites as well
as in newspapers, magazines, and even scientific journals is invalid. Validity is not an all-or-
nothing proposition, which means that some research is more valid than other research.

Normally, we can assume that the researchers have done their best to assure the validity of their
measures. But it is appropriate for you, as an informed consumer of research, to question this. It
is always important to remember that the ability to learn about the relationship between the
variables in a research hypothesis is dependent on the operational definitions of the measured
variables. The measures may not really measure the conceptual variables that they are designed
to assess. If, for example, a specific IQ test does not really measure intelligence, then it cannot be
used to draw accurate conclusions about intelligence (Nunnally, 1978).

Reliability: One threat to valid research is that the measured variables are not reliable or
consistent. For example, a bathroom scale is usually reliable because if we step on and off, the
scale will consistently measure the same weight every time. Other measures, including some
psychological tests that will be discussed in later chapters, may be less reliable and thus less
valid.

Statistical Significance: The statistical methods that scientists use to test their research
hypotheses are based on probability estimates. You will see statements in research reports
indicating that the results were statistically significant or not statistically significant. Statistical
significance refers to the confidence with which a scientist can conclude that data are not due to
chance or random error. When a researcher concludes that a result is statistically significant,
they have determined that the observed data was very unlikely to have been caused by chance
factors alone. Hence, there is likely a real relationship between or among the variables in the
research design. Otherwise, the researcher concludes that the results were not statistically
significant. Normally, we can assume that the researchers have done their best to ensure the
statistical conclusion validity of a research design, but we must always keep in mind that
inferences about data are probabilistic and never certain, this is why research never proves a
theory.

A possible threat to validity is experimenter bias, a situation in which the experimenter subtly
treats the research participants in the various experimental conditions differently, resulting in an
invalid confirmation of the research hypothesis. In one study demonstrating experimenter bias,
Rosenthal and Fode (1963) sent twelve students to test a research hypothesis concerning maze
learning in rats. Although it was not initially revealed to the students, they were actually the
participants in an experiment. Six of the students were randomly told that the rats they would be
testing had been bred to be highly intelligent. The other six students were led to believe that the
rats had been bred to be unintelligent. In reality, there were no differences among the rats given
to the two groups of students. When the students returned with their data, a startling result
emerged. The rats run by students who expected them to be intelligent showed significantly
better maze learning than the rats run by students who expected them to be unintelligent.
Somehow the students’ expectations influenced their data. They evidently did something
different when they tested the rats, perhaps subtly changing how they timed the maze running or
how they treated the rats. This experimenter bias probably occurred entirely out of their
awareness.

59
Double-Blind Experiments: To avoid experimenter bias, researchers frequently run experiments
in which the researchers are blind to condition. This means that although the experimenters
know the research hypotheses, they do not know which conditions the participants are assigned
to. Experimenter bias cannot occur if the researcher is blind to condition. In a double-blind
experiment, both the researcher and the research participants are unaware of which subjects
are receiving the active treatment. For instance, in a double-blind trial of a drug, the researcher
does not know whether the drug being given is the real drug or the ineffective placebo, and the
patients also do not know which they are getting. Double-blind experiments eliminate the
potential for experimenter effects and at the same time eliminate the effects of a placebo.

Replication: Any single test of a research hypothesis will always be limited in terms of what it
can show, and consequently, important advances in science are never the result of a single
research project. Advances occur through the accumulation of knowledge that comes from many
different tests of the same theory or research hypothesis. These tests are conducted by different
researchers using different research designs, participants, and operational definitions of the
independent and dependent variables. The process of repeating previous research, which forms
the basis of all scientific inquiry, is known as replication.

Generalization refers to the extent to which relationships among conceptual variables can be
demonstrated in a wide variety of people and a wide variety of manipulated or measured
variables. Psychologists who use college students as participants in their research may be
concerned about generalization, wondering if their research will generalize to people who are not
college students. Likewise, researchers who study the behaviors of employees in one company
may wonder whether the same findings would translate to other companies. Whenever there is
reason to suspect that a result found for one sample of participants would not hold up for another
sample, then research may be conducted with these other populations to test for generalization.

Recently, many psychologists have been interested in testing hypotheses about the extent to
which a result will duplicate the original results for people from different cultures (Heine, 2010).
For instance, a researcher might test whether the effects on aggression of viewing violent video
games are the same for Japanese children as they are for American children by showing violent
and nonviolent films to a sample of both Japanese and American schoolchildren. If the results are
the same in both cultures, then we say that the results have generalized, but if they are different,
then we have learned a limiting condition of the effect (see Figure 2.13).

In a cross-cultural replication, external validity

Figure 2.13: A Cross-Cultural Replication is observed if the same effects that have been
found in one culture are replicated in another
culture. If they are not replicated in the new
culture, then a limiting condition of the
original results is found.

Researchers must specify who exactly

participated in their research for generalization
to occur (Andoh, 2021). It is inappropriate to
assume that a result found in one population,
such as American college students, will
60
generalize to other populations. Diverse populations must be included in research to be
generalizable. Because the investigator can never demonstrate that the research results generalize
to all populations, it is not expected that the researcher will attempt to do so. Rather, the
researchers should indicate which groups participated and only make statements about those
groups. Remember: research results apply to populations. Individual differences within
populations also exist, and rates of individual variation must also be stated.

Critically Evaluating the Validity of Websites

The validity of research reports published in scientific journals is likely to be high because the
hypotheses, methods, results, and conclusions of the research have been rigorously evaluated by
other scientists before the research was published. Most peer reviewed articles have also been
checked for factual accuracy. For this reason, you will want to use peer-reviewed journal
articles as your major source of information about psychological research.

Although peer reviewed research articles are the gold standard for validity, you may also need to
get information from other sources. The Internet is a vast source of information from which you
can learn about almost anything, including psychology. Wikipedia may be a good starting point
to find general information about a subject, but most professors will not accept this source as a
reference for college-level work. Search engines, such as Google or Yahoo!, bring hundreds or
thousands of hits on a topic. Google Scholar is a more academic source than Google, and is a
better place to start your search. You can also try our library’s databases for access to sources
that have been organized by discipline.

Although you will naturally use the web to help you find information about fields such as
psychology, you must also realize that it is important to carefully evaluate the validity of the
information you get from the web. You must try to distinguish information that is based on
empirical research from information that is based on opinion, and between valid and invalid data.
The following material may be helpful to you in learning to make these distinctions.

The techniques for evaluating the validity of websites are similar to those that are applied to
evaluating any other source of information. Ask first about the source of the information. Is the
domain a ”.com” (business), ”.gov” (government), ”.edu” (educational institution) or ”.org”
(nonprofit) entity? This information can help you determine the author’s (or organization’s)
purpose in publishing the website. Try to determine where the information is coming from. Is the
data being summarized from objective sources, such as journal articles or academic or
government agencies? Does it seem that the author is interpreting the information as objectively
as possible, or is the data being interpreted to support a particular point of view? Consider what
groups, individuals, and political or commercial interests stand to gain from the site. Is the
website potentially part of an advocacy group whose web pages reflect the positions of the
group? Material from any group’s site may be useful, but be aware of the group’s purposes and
potential biases.

Also, ask whether the authors appear to be a trustworthy source of information. Do they hold
positions in an academic institution or have peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals?
Many useful web pages appear as part of organizational sites and reflect the work of that
organization. You can be more certain of the validity of the information if it is sponsored by a
61
professional organization, such as the American Psychological Association (APA) or the
American psychological Society (APS). Try to check on the accuracy of the material and
discern whether the sources of information seem current. Is the information cited such that you
can read it in its original form? Reputable websites will probably link to other reputable
sources, such as journal articles and scholarly books.

It is fair to say that all authors, researchers, and organizations have at least some bias and that the
information from any site can be invalid. But good material attempts to be fair by acknowledging
other possible positions, interpretations, or conclusions. A critical examination of the websites
you browse for information will help you determine if the information is valid. It will also give
you more confidence in the information you take from it.

Key Takeaways

 Research is said to be valid when the conclusions drawn by the researcher are
legitimate. Because all research has the potential to be invalid, no research ever
“proves” a theory or research hypothesis.
 Reliability, or consistency, is important for research to be valid.
 Statistical significance refers to the confidence with which a scientist can conclude
that the research data are not due to chance or random error.
 Replication, or repeating previous research, is important to ensure research results are
accurate.
 Research using a double-blind method helps control for experimenter bias and
participant expectations.
 Internet research is more likely to produce valid results if consumers use websites
that are established by organizations such as the American Psychological
Association or if they limit their searches to websites that are .edu (educational
instructions) or .gov (government).

Exercises and Critical Thinking

1. The Pepsi Cola Corporation, now PepsiCo Inc., conducted the “Pepsi Challenge” by
randomly assigning individuals to taste either a Pepsi or a Coke. The researchers
labeled the glasses with only an “M” (for Pepsi) or a “Q” (for Coke) and asked the
participants to rate how much they liked the beverage. The research showed that
subjects overwhelmingly preferred glass “M” over glass “Q,” and the researchers
concluded that Pepsi was preferred to Coke. Can you tell what confounding variable is
present in this research design? How would you redesign the research to eliminate the
confounding variable?
2. Go to the website for the American Psychological Association http://www.apa.org/
and explore the resources provided for consumers, students, and professionals.

62
 Videos and Activities

1. Placebo effect in Scientific American Frontiers episode on the Wonder drug in season
13, episode 7. http://www.chedd-angier.com/frontiers/season13.html
2. If you are interested in learning to work with correlations, you can try the following
activity: http://psych.hanover.edu/JavaTest/NeuroAnim/stats/Correl1_instr.html
3. Google Scholar can be accessed at: http://scholar.google.com/

Chapter Summary

Psychologists study the behavior of both humans and animals. The main purpose of this research
is to help us understand people and to improve the quality of human lives.

Psychological research may be either basic or applied. Basic research and applied research
complement each other, and advances in science occur more rapidly when each type of research
is conducted.

The results of psychological research are reported primarily in research reports in scientific
journals. These research reports have been evaluated, critiqued, and improved by other scientists
through the process of peer review.

The methods used by scientists have developed over many years and provide a common
framework through which information can be collected, organized, and shared.

The scientific method is the set of assumptions, rules, and procedures that scientists use to
conduct research. In addition to requiring that science be empirical, the scientific method
demands that the procedures used are objective, or free from personal bias.

Scientific findings are organized by theories, which are used to summarize and make new
predictions. Theories are usually framed too broadly to be tested in a single experiment.
Therefore, scientists normally use the research hypothesis as a basis for their research.

Scientists use operational definitions to turn the ideas of interest, or conceptual variables, into
measured variables.

Decisions about whether psychological research using human and animals is ethical are made
using established ethical codes developed by scientific organizations and on the basis of
judgments made by the local Institutional Review Board. These decisions are made through a
cost-benefit analysis. If the potential costs of the research appear to outweigh any potential
benefits that might come from it, then the research should not proceed.

Descriptive research is designed to observe and record behaviors. Representatives from diverse
populations must be included in psychological research, and generalizations to other populations
should not be made without diverse participants. Descriptive research allows the development of
questions for further study, but does not assess relationships among variables. The results of
63
descriptive research projects are analyzed using descriptive statistics. Types of descriptive
research include observations, case studies, and surveys.

Correlational research assesses the relationships between and among two or more variables. It
allows making predictions, but cannot be used to draw inferences about the causal relationships
between and among the variables. Linear relationships between variables are normally analyzed
using the Pearson correlation coefficient.

The goal of experimental research is to assess the causal impact of one or more experimental
manipulations on a dependent variable. Important terms to learn include independent variable,
dependent variable, random assignment, experimental group, control group, and placebo.
Experimental designs are not always possible because many important variables cannot be
experimentally manipulated.

Because all research has the potential for invalidity, research never proves a theory or
hypothesis. Research can provide evidence to support or not support a theory.

Informed consumers are aware of the strengths and limitations of research. Research using a
double-blind method helps control for experimenter bias and participant expectations. Placebos
may also be used to control for participant expectations.

References

Alexander, P. A., & Winne, P. H. (Eds.). (2006). Handbook of educational psychology (2nd ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

American Psychological Association. (2012). Guidelines for ethical conduct in the care and use of nonhuman animals in
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American Psychological Association, APA Task Force on Race and Ethnicity Guidelines in Psychology. (2019). Race and
Ethnicity Guidelines in Psychology: Promoting Responsiveness and Equity. http://www.apa.org/about/policy/race-and-
ethnicity-in-psychology.pdf
Anderson, C. A., & Dill, K. E. (2000). Video games and aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behavior in the laboratory and in life.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78(4), 772–790.

Andoh, E. (2021). Psychology's urgent need to dismantle racism. Monitor on Psychology, 52(3), 38-45.
https://www.apa.org/monitor/2021/04/cover-dismantle-racism

Baumrind, D. (1985). Research using intentional deception: Ethical issues revisited. American Psychologist, 40, 165–174.

Borum, R. (2004). Psychology of terrorism. University of South Florida.

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Damasio, H., Grabowski, T., Frank, R., Galaburda, A. M., Damasio, A. R., Cacioppo, J. T., & Berntson, G. G.
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DePaulo, B. M., Lindsay, J. J., Malone, B. E., Muhlenbruck, L., Charlton, K., & Cooper, H. (2003). Cues to deception.
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Fajen, B. R., & Warren, W. H. (2003). Behavioral dynamics of steering, obstacle avoidance, and route selection.
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stereotyping research in Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins. American Psychologist, 46(10), 1049–1060.

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Chapter 3 Brain and Behavior
Learning Objectives

1. Describe the nervous system and the endocrine system.

Every behavior begins with biology. Our behaviors, as well as our thoughts and feelings, are
produced by the actions of our brains, nerves, muscles, and glands. In this chapter we will begin
our journey into the world of psychology by considering the biological makeup of the human
being, including the most remarkable of human organs, the brain. We’ll consider the structure of
the brain and also the methods that psychologists use to study the brain and to understand how it
works.

We will see that the body is controlled by an information highway known as the nervous system,
a collection of hundreds of billions of specialized and interconnected cells through which
messages are sent between the brain and the rest of the body. The nervous system consists of the
central nervous system (CNS), made up of the brain and the spinal cord, and the peripheral
nervous system (PNS), the neurons that link the CNS to our skin, muscles, and glands. We will
see that our behavior is also influenced in large part by the endocrine system, the chemical
regulator of the body that consists of glands that secrete hormones.

An understanding of the biology underlying psychological processes is an important cornerstone

of understanding psychology. We will consider throughout the chapter how our biology
influences important human behaviors, including our mental and physical health, our reactions to
drugs, as well as our aggressive responses and our perceptions of other people. This chapter is
particularly important for contemporary psychology because the ability to measure biological
aspects of behavior, including the structure and function of the human brain, is progressing
rapidly, and understanding the biological foundations of behavior is an increasingly important
line of psychological study.

The Neuron Is the Building Block of the Nervous System

Learning Objectives

1. Describe the structure and functions of the neuron.

2. Define the terms action potential and resting potential, and explain the process of
activation in a neuron.
3. Define the terms synapse and neurotransmitter.
4. Describe the effect of neurotransmitters on behavior.
5. List the major neurotransmitters and explain their functions.

66
The nervous system is composed of approximately 86 billion cells known as neurons (Jarrett,
2015). A neuron is a cell in the nervous system whose function it is to receive and transmit
information. As you can see in Figure 3.1, neurons are made up of three major parts: a cell body,
or soma, which contains the nucleus of the cell and keeps the cell alive; a branching treelike
fiber known as the dendrite, which collects information from other cells and sends the
information to the soma; and a long, segmented fiber known as the axon, which transmits
information away from the cell body toward other neurons or to the muscles and glands.

Figure 3.1 Components of the Neuron

Some neurons have hundreds or even thousands of

dendrites, and these dendrites may themselves be
branched to allow the cell to receive information
from thousands of other cells. The axons are also
specialized, and some, such as those that send
messages from the spinal cord to the muscles in the
hands or feet, may be very long, even up to several
feet in length. To improve the speed of their
communication, and to keep their electrical charges
from shorting out with other neurons, axons are often Figure 3.2
surrounded by a myelin sheath. The myelin sheath The nervous system, including the brain, is
is a layer of fatty tissue surrounding the axon of a made up of billions of interlinked neurons.
neuron that both acts as an insulator and allows This vast interconnected web is responsible
faster transmission of the electrical signal. Axons for all human thinking, feeling, and
behavior.
branch out toward their ends, and at the tip of each Source: Photo courtesy of GE Healthcare,
branch is a terminal button, which forms junctions http://www.flickr.com/photos/gehealthcare/42535878
with other neurons. 27/.

67
Supporting all these neurons are billions more glial cells (glia), cells that surround and link to
the neurons, protecting them, providing them with nutrients, and absorbing unused
neurotransmitters. Glial cells come in different forms and have different functions. For instance,
the myelin sheath surrounding the axon of many neurons is a type of glial cell. The myelin
sheath acts as insulation and speeds transmission of the electrical impulse in the neuron. Glia are
also necessary for the development of the synapses, where chemical transmission of impulses
occurs (Ullian et al., 2001). The glia are essential partners of neurons, without which the
neurons could not survive or function (Miller, 2005).

Neurons Communicate Using Electricity and Chemicals

The nervous system operates using an electrochemical process, which occurs when an electrical
charge moves through the neuron itself and chemicals are used to transmit information between
neurons. Within the neuron, when a signal is received by the dendrites, it is transmitted to the
soma in the form of an electrical signal, and, if the signal is strong enough, it may then be passed
on to the axon and then to the terminal buttons. If the signal reaches the terminal buttons, they
are signaled to emit chemicals known as neurotransmitters, which communicate with other
neurons by crossing the synapse, or space between the cells.

The electrical signal moves through the neuron as a result of changes in the electrical charge of
the axon. Normally, the axon remains in the resting potential, a state in which the interior of the
neuron contains a greater number of negatively charged ions than does the area outside the cell.
When the segment of the axon that is closest to the cell body is stimulated by an electrical signal
from the dendrites, and if this electrical signal is strong enough that it passes a certain level or
threshold, the cell membrane in this first segment opens its gates, allowing positively charged
sodium ions that were previously kept
out to enter. This change in electrical Figure 3.3
charge that occurs in a neuron when a The Myelin Sheath and the Nodes of Ranvier
nerve impulse is transmitted is known
as the action potential. Once the action
potential occurs, the number of positive
ions exceeds the number of negative
ions in this segment, and the segment
temporarily becomes positively charged.

As you can see in Figure 3.3, the axon

is segmented by a series of breaks The myelin sheath wraps around the axon but also leaves
small gaps called the nodes of Ranvier. The action potential
between the sausage-like segments of jumps from node to node as it travels down the axon.
the myelin sheath. Each of these gaps
is a node of Ranvier. The electrical charge moves down the axon from segment to segment, in a
set of small jumps, moving from node to node. When the action potential occurs in the first
segment of the axon, it quickly creates a similar change in the next segment, which then
stimulates the next segment and so forth as the positive electrical impulse continues all the way
down to the end of the axon. As each new segment becomes positive, the membrane in the prior
segment closes up again, and the segment returns to its negative resting potential. In this way, the
action potential is transmitted along the axon, toward the terminal buttons. The entire response
along the length of the axon is very fast as it can happen up to 1,000 times each second.

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An important aspect of the action potential is that it operates in an all or nothing manner, and
this means that the neuron either fires completely, such that the action potential moves all the
way down the axon, or it does not fire at all. Thus, neurons can provide more energy to the
neurons down the line by firing faster but not by firing more strongly. Furthermore, the neuron is
prevented from repeated firing by the presence of a refractory period, which is a brief time after
the firing of the axon in which the axon cannot fire again because the neuron has not yet
returned to its resting potential.

Neurotransmitters: The Body’s Chemical Messengers

Not only do the neural signals travel via electrical charges within the neuron, but they also travel
via chemical transmission between the neurons. Neurons are separated by junction areas known
as synapses, areas where the terminal buttons at the end of the axon of one neuron nearly, but
do not quite, touch the dendrites of another. The synapses provide a remarkable function because
they allow each axon to communicate with many dendrites in neighboring cells. Because a
neuron may have synaptic connections with thousands of other neurons, the communication links
among the neurons in the nervous system allow for a highly sophisticated communication
system (see Figure 3.4).

Figure 3.4 The Synapse

When the nerve impulse reaches the terminal button, it triggers the release of neurotransmitters into the
synapse. The neurotransmitters fit into receptors on the receiving dendrites in the manner of a lock and
key.

When the electrical impulse from the action potential reaches the end of the axon, it signals the
terminal buttons to release neurotransmitters into the synapse. A neurotransmitter is a chemical
that relays signals across the synapses between neurons. Neurotransmitters travel across the
synaptic space between the terminal button of one neuron and the dendrites of other neurons,

69
where they bind to the dendrites in the neighboring neurons. Furthermore, different terminal
buttons release different neurotransmitters, and different dendrites are particularly sensitive to
different neurotransmitters. The dendrites will admit the neurotransmitters only if they are the
right shape to fit in the receptor sites on the receiving neuron. For this reason, the receptor sites
and neurotransmitters are often compared to a lock and key.

When neurotransmitters are accepted by the receptors on the receiving neurons their effect may
be either excitatory in that they make the cell more likely to fire, or inhibitory, making the cell
less likely to fire. Furthermore, if the receiving neuron is able to accept more than one
neurotransmitter, then it will be influenced by the excitatory and inhibitory processes of each. If
the excitatory effects of the neurotransmitters are greater than the inhibitory influences of the
neurotransmitters, the neuron moves closer to its firing threshold, and if it reaches the threshold,
the action potential and the process of transferring information through the neuron begins.

Neurotransmitters that are not accepted by the receptor sites must be removed from the synapse
in order for the next potential stimulation of the neuron to happen. This process occurs in part
through the breaking down of the neurotransmitters by enzymes, called inactivation, and in part
through reuptake, a process in which neurotransmitters that are in the synapse are reabsorbed
into the transmitting terminal buttons, ready to again be released after the neuron fires.

More than 100 chemical substances produced in the body have been identified as
neurotransmitters, and these substances have a wide and profound effect on emotion, cognition,
and behavior. Neurotransmitters regulate our appetite, our memory, our emotions, as well as our
muscle action and movement. As can be seen in Table 3.1, some neurotransmitters are also
associated with psychological and physical diseases.

Some of these neurotransmitters will be discussed again later in the text when psychological
problems are explained. Dopamine, is involved in motivation and emotion, and is linked to
schizophrenia. Serotonin, is involved in mood, sleep, and aggression, and is linked to depression.
Acetylcholine, is involved in memory, and is linked to Alzheimer's disease. On a more positive
note, endorphins, neurotransmitters released by vigorous exercise, are the body's natural pain
relievers.

Some chemicals in the body can occur either as neurotransmitters or hormones, which are
chemicals in the bloodstream that affect behavior. Norepinephrine, also known as
noradrenaline, is one of these chemicals with a dual role. As a neurotransmitter, norepinephrine
increases arousal and plays a role in learning and memory. Norepinephrine produced by the
sympathetic nervous system also stimulates the biological responses associated with fear and
anxiety. As both a neurotransmitter and a hormone, norepinephrine is part of the fight-flight
response that elevates heart rate, causes the release of blood glucose, and increases blood flow to
the muscles in preparation for emergency action.

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Table 3.1 The Major Neurotransmitters and Their Functions

Neurotransmitter Description and function Notes

Acetylcholine (ACh) A common neurotransmitter used in the Alzheimer’s disease is associated with an
spinal cord and motor neurons to undersupply of acetylcholine. Nicotine is an
stimulate muscle contractions. agonist that acts like acetylcholine.
It’s also used in the brain to regulate
memory, sleeping, and dreaming.

Dopamine Involved in movement, motivation, Schizophrenia is linked to increases in

and emotion, Dopamine produces dopamine activity, whereas Parkinson’s disease
feelings of pleasure when released by is linked to reductions in dopamine.
the brain’s reward system, and it is
also involved in learning.

Endorphins Released in response to behaviors Endorphins are natural pain relievers. They are
such as vigorous exercise, orgasm, related to the compounds found in drugs such as
and eating spicy foods. opium, morphine, and heroin. The release of
endorphins creates the runner’s high that is
experienced after intense physical exertion.

GABA (gamma- The major inhibitory A lack of GABA can lead to involuntary motor
aminobutyric acid) neurotransmitter in the brain. actions, including tremors and seizures. Alcohol
stimulates the release of GABA, which inhibits the
nervous system and makes us feel drunk.
Low levels of GABA can produce anxiety, and
GABA agonists are used to reduce anxiety.

Glutamate The most common neurotransmitter, it Excess glutamate can cause overstimulation,
is released in more than 90% of the migraines and seizures.
brain’s synapses. Glutamate is found
in the food additive MSG
(monosodium glutamate).

Serotonin Involved in many functions, including Low levels of serotonin are associated with
mood, appetite, sleep, and aggression. depression, and some drugs designed to treat
depression are known as selective serotonin
reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs. They serve to
prevent their reuptake.

Drugs that we might ingest, either for medical reasons or recreationally, can act like
neurotransmitters to influence our thoughts, feelings, and behavior. An agonist is a drug that has
chemical properties similar to a particular neurotransmitter and thus mimics the effects of the
neurotransmitter or increases the activity of a neurotransmitter. When an agonist is ingested, it
binds to the receptor sites in the dendrites to excite the neuron, acting as if more of the
neurotransmitter had been present. Still other agonists work by blocking the reuptake of the

71
neurotransmitter itself. When reuptake is reduced by the drug, more neurotransmitter remains in
the synapse, increasing its action. As an example, cocaine is an agonist for the neurotransmitter
dopamine. Cocaine blocks the reuptake of dopamine thus increasing its effect. An antagonist is
a drug that reduces or stops the normal effects of a neurotransmitter. When an antagonist is
ingested, it binds to the receptor sites in the dendrite, thereby blocking the neurotransmitter. As
an example, the poison curare is an antagonist for the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. When the
poison enters the body, it binds to the dendrites, stops communication among the neurons, and
usually causes death.

Father of Neuroscience

The scientific field of neuroscience focuses on all aspects of

Figure 3.5 the nervous system including its anatomy, chemistry,
Santiago Ramón y Cajal physiology, development, and functioning (Carlson, 2013).
Santaigo Ramón y Cajal (1852-1934) is known as one of the
fathers of neuroscience (Kalat, 2016). In 1873, Camillo Golgi
found a way to stain individual nerve cells with silver salts.
This enabled researchers to examine the structure of a single
cell. Cajal used Golgi’s methods, and he demonstrated that
nerve cells remain separate instead of merging into one
another. He confirmed anatomically that a narrow gap
separated one neuron from another neuron. Additionally, Cajal
published more than 100 articles in French and Spanish journal
on the structures of the brain and spinal cord, as well as those
of muscles and other tissues. In 1906, Cajal and Golgi shared
the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work on
the structure of the nervous system (The Nobel Prize, 2021).

Key Takeaways

 The central nervous system (CNS) is the collection of neurons that make up the brain
and the spinal cord.
 The peripheral nervous system (PNS) is the collection of neurons that link the CNS to
our skin, muscles, and glands.
 Neurons are specialized cells, found in the nervous system, which transmit information.
Neurons contain dendrites, a soma, and an axon.
 Some axons are covered with a fatty substance known as the myelin sheath, which
surrounds the axon, acting as an insulator and allowing faster transmission of the
electrical signal.

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 The dendrite is a treelike extension that receives information from other neurons and
transmits electrical stimulation to the soma.
 The axon is an elongated fiber that transfers information from the soma to the terminal
buttons.
 Neurotransmitters relay information chemically from the terminal buttons and
across the synapses to the receiving dendrites using a type of lock and key
system.
 The many different neurotransmitters work together to influence cognition,
memory, and behavior.
 Agonists are drugs that mimic the actions of neurotransmitters, whereas antagonists
are drugs that block the action of neurotransmitters.
 Santiago Ramón y Cajal is considered the father of neuroscience as we was able to
show that neurons remain separate and do not merge into each other.

Exercises and Critical Thinking

1. Draw a picture of a neuron and label its main parts.

2. Imagine an action that you engage in every day and explain how neurons and
neurotransmitters might work together to help you engage in that action.
3. Interesting interactive activity is Mouse Party. As you select different drugs and learn
about their effects on the human brain, consider whether the effect of the drug on
certain neurotransmitters is one of an agonist or antagonist.

Videos and Activities

1. The electrochemical action of the neuron:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZG8M_ldA1M
2. Journey through the neuron and synapse:
http://epsych.msstate.edu/biological/neuron/index.html (click "Next" for feedback)

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 The Brain

Learning Objectives

1. Describe the structures and functions of the oldest parts of the brain, including the brain
stem and cerebellum, and their influence on behavior.
2. Describe the location and functions of the thalamus, limbic system, and cerebrum.
3. Explain the hemispheric structure of the brain and the function of the corpus callosum.
4. Identify the location and functions of the four lobes and association areas.
5. Define Broca's and Wernickes’s areas.
6. Define brain plasticity and the research done to prove neuroplasticity.
7. Explain neurogenesis and research regarding the hippocampus.
8. Describe the research with split-brain patients and brain lateralization

If you were someone who understood brain anatomy and were to look at the brain of an animal
that you had never seen before, you would nevertheless be able to deduce the likely capacities of
the animal. This is because the brains of all animals are very similar in overall form. In each
animal, the brain is layered, and the basic structures of the brain are similar (see Figure 3.5). The
innermost structures of the brain; that is, the parts nearest the spinal cord, are the oldest part of
the brain, and these areas carry out the same the functions they did for our distant ancestors.
These regions regulate basic survival functions, such as breathing, moving, resting, and feeding,
and creates our experiences of emotion. Mammals, including humans, have developed further
brain layers that provide more advanced functions. For instance, better memory, more
sophisticated social interactions, and the ability to experience emotions are demonstrated.
Humans have a very large and highly developed cerebral cortex, or outer layer which makes us
particularly adept at these processes (see Figure 3.6).

Major Brain Structures

The Brain Stem: The brain stem is the oldest and innermost region of the brain and is wired
for survival. It is designed to control the most basic functions of life, including breathing,
attention, and motor responses (see Figure 3.8). The brain stem begins where the spinal cord
enters the skull and forms the medulla, the area of the brain stem that controls heart rate and
breathing. In many cases the medulla alone is sufficient to maintain life as animals that have the
remainder of their brains above the medulla severed are still able to eat, breathe and move. The
spherical shape above the medulla is the pons, a structure in the brain stem that is important to
sleep and arousal.

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Figure 3.6 Figure 3.7 Cerebral Cortex
The Major Structures in the Human Brain

Humans have a very large and highly developed

outer brain layer known as the cerebral cortex. The
cortex provides humans with excellent memory,
outstanding cognitive skills, and the ability to
The major brain parts are colored and labeled. experience complex emotions.
Source: Adapted from Camazine, S. (n.d.). Images of the brain. Medical, science, and nature
Source: Adapted from Wikia Education. (n.d.). Cerebral cortex. Retrieved from
things Photography and digital imagery by Scott Camazine. Retrieved from
http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Cerebral_cortex.
http://www.scottcamazine.com/photos/brain/pages/09MRIBrai n_jpg.htm.

Figure 3.8 The Brain Stem and the Thalamus

The brain stem is an extension of the spinal cord, including the medulla, the
pons, and the reticular formation.

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Running through the medulla and the pons is a long, narrow network of neurons known as the
reticular formation. The job of the reticular formation is to filter out some of the stimuli that are
coming into the brain from the spinal cord and to relay the remainder of the signals to other areas
of the brain. The reticular formation also plays important roles in reflexes, muscle tone, arousal,
and sleeping. When electrical stimulation is applied to the reticular formation of an animal, it
immediately becomes fully awake, and when the reticular formation is severed from the higher
brain regions, the animal falls into a deep coma.

Cerebellum: The cerebellum, literally, “little brain”, consists of two wrinkled ovals behind the
brain stem and its main function is to coordinate voluntary movement. People who have damage
to the cerebellum have difficulty walking, keeping their balance, and holding their hands steady.
Consuming alcohol influences the cerebellum, which is why people who are drunk have more
difficulty walking in a straight line. Also, the cerebellum contributes to emotional responses, helps
us discriminate between different sounds and textures, and is important in learning (Bower &
Parsons, 2003). Finally, the cerebellum is also used to coordinate thinking through connections to
the frontal and parietal cortex (O'Reilly et al., 2009).

Thalamus: Above the brain stem are other older parts of the brain that also are involved in the
processing of behavior and emotions. The thalamus is the egg-shaped structure above the brain
stem that applies still more filtering to the sensory information that is coming up from the spinal
cord and through the reticular formation, and it relays some of these remaining signals to the
appropriate areas of the cortex or higher brain levels (Sherman & Guillery, 2002). The thalamus
also receives some of the higher brain’s replies, forwarding them to the medulla and the
cerebellum. The thalamus is also important in sleep because it shuts off incoming signals from the
senses, allowing us to rest.

Limbic System: Whereas the primary function of the Figure 3.9 The Limbic System
brain stem is to regulate the most basic aspects of life,
including motor functions, the limbic system is a brain
region largely responsible for memory and emotions,
including our responses to reward and punishment.
The limbic system is located between the brain stem
and the two cerebral hemispheres. It includes the
amygdala, the hypothalamus, and the hippocampus (see
Figure 3.9).

The amygdala consists of two almond-shaped clusters

that is primarily responsible for regulating our
perceptions of, and reactions to, aggression and fear.
The amygdala has connections to other bodily systems
related to fear, including the sympathetic nervous This diagram shows the major parts of the
system, which is important in fear responses, facial limbic system, as well as the pituitary
responses, the processing of smells, and the release of gland, which is controlled by it.

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neurotransmitters related to stress and aggression (Best, 2009). In one early study, Klüver and Bucy
(1939) damaged the amygdala of an aggressive rhesus monkey. They found that the once angry
animal immediately became passive and no longer responded to fearful situations with aggressive
behavior. Electrical stimulation of the amygdala in other animals also influences aggression. In
addition to helping us experience fear, the amygdala also helps us learn from situations that create
fear. When we experience events that are dangerous, the amygdala stimulates the brain to
remember the details of the situation so that we learn to avoid it in the future (Sigurdsson et al.,
2007).

Located just under the thalamus and just above the brain stem, the hypothalamus links the
nervous system to the endocrine system via the pituitary gland, and thus regulates body
temperature, hunger, thirst, and sex. It also responds to the satisfaction of these needs by creating
feelings of pleasure. Olds and Milner (1954) discovered these reward centers accidentally after they
had momentarily stimulated the hypothalamus of a rat. The researchers noticed that after being
stimulated, the rat continued to move to the exact spot in its cage where the stimulation had
occurred, as if it were trying to recreate the circumstances surrounding its original experience.
Upon further research into these reward centers, Olds (1958) discovered that animals would do
almost anything to re-create enjoyable stimulation, including crossing a painful electrified grid to
receive it. In one experiment a rat was given the opportunity to electrically stimulate its own
hypothalamus by pressing a pedal. The rat enjoyed the experience so much that it pressed the
pedal more than 7,000 times per hour until it collapsed from sheer exhaustion.

The hippocampus is important in forming and storing information in long-term memory and
consists of two horns that curve back from the amygdala. If the hippocampus is damaged, a person
cannot build new memories, living instead in a strange world where everything they experience
just fades away, even while older memories from the time before the damage are untouched.

Cerebrum: From an evolutionary perspective, the newest part of our brain is the cerebrum, which
consists of the cerebral cortex and the corpus callosum. The key to the advanced intelligence of
humans is not found in the size of our brains. What sets humans apart from other animals is our
larger cerebral cortex, which is the outer bark-like layer of our cerebrum that allows us to so
successfully use language, acquire complex skills, create tools, and live in social groups (Gibson,
2002). In humans, the cerebral cortex is wrinkled and folded, rather than smooth as it is in most
other animals. This creates a much greater surface area and size, and allows increased capacities
for learning, remembering, and thinking. Although the cerebral cortex is only about one tenth of an
inch thick, it makes up more than 80% of the brain’s weight. The cerebral cortex contains about 20
billion nerve cells and 300 trillion synaptic connections (de Courten-Myers, 1999). The corpus
callosum connects the two halves of the brain and supports communication between the
hemispheres.

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 Figure 3.10 The Two Hemispheres
The brain is divided into two hemispheres (left and right), each of which has four lobes (temporal, frontal,
occipital, and parietal). Furthermore, there are specific cortical areas that control different processes.

The cerebral cortex is divided into two hemispheres, and each hemisphere is divided into four
lobes, each separated by folds known as fissures. If we look at the cortex starting at the front of the
brain and moving over the top (see Figure 3.10), we see the following:
 Frontal lobes: Located behind the forehead and responsible primarily for thinking,
planning, memory, and judgment.
 Parietal lobes: Located from the middle to the back of the skull, and responsible
primarily for processing information about touch and taste. These lobes also receive input
from vision, which helps us identify objects by touch and locate objects in space (Garrett,
2011).
 Occipital lobes: Located at the very back of the skull, and processes visual information.
 Temporal lobe: Located at the sides of the brain and responsible for hearing, language,
and integrating vision and audition.

Functions of the Cerbral Cortex

When the German physicists Gustav Fritsch and Eduard Hitzig (1870/2009) applied mild electric
stimulation to different parts of a dog’s cortex, they discovered that they could make different
parts of the dog’s body move. Furthermore, they discovered an important and unexpected principle
of brain activity. They found that stimulating the right side of the brain produced movement in the
left side of the dog’s body, and vice versa. This finding follows from a general principle about how
the brain is structured, called contralateral control, which means the brain is wired such that in
most cases the left hemisphere receives sensations from and controls the right side of the body, and
vice versa.

Fritsch and Hitzig also found that the movement that followed the brain stimulation only occurred
when they stimulated a specific arch-shaped region that runs across the top of the brain from ear to
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ear, just at the front of the parietal lobe (see Figure 3.11). Fritsch and Hitzig had discovered the
motor cortex, the part of the cortex that controls and executes movements of the body by sending
signals to the cerebellum and the spinal cord. The motor cortex is located in the frontal lobes.
Recent research has mapped the motor cortex even more fully, by providing mild electronic
stimulation to different areas of the motor cortex in fully conscious patients while observing their
bodily responses. Because the brain has no sensory receptors, these patients felt no pain. As you
can see in Figure 3.10, this research has revealed that the motor cortex is specialized for providing
control over the body, in the sense that the parts of the body that require more precise and finer
movements, such as the face and the hands, also are allotted the greatest amount of cortical space.

Figure 3.11 The Motor Cortex and the Sensory Cortex

Just as the motor cortex sends out messages to the specific parts of the body, the somatosensory
cortex, located in the parietal lobe behind the primary motor cortex, receives information from the
skin’s sensory receptors (pain, warmth, cold, touch) and the senses that pertain to body position
and movement. Again, the more sensitive the body region, the more area is dedicated to it in the
sensory cortex. Our sensitive lips, for example, occupy a large area in the sensory cortex, as do our
fingers and genitals.

Other areas of the cerebral cortex process other types of sensory information. The visual cortex is
the area located in the occipital lobe that processes visual information. If you were stimulated in
the visual cortex, you would see flashes of light or color, and perhaps you remember having had
the experience of “seeing stars” when you were hit in, or fell on, the back of your head. The
temporal lobe contains the auditory cortex, which is responsible for hearing and language. The
temporal lobe also processes some visual information, providing us with the ability to name the
objects around us (Martin, 2007).

As you can see in Figure 3.11, the motor and sensory areas of the cortex account for a relatively
small part of the total cortex. The remainder of the cortex is made up of association areas in which
sensory and motor information is combined and associated with our stored knowledge. These

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association areas are the places in the brain that are responsible for most of the things that make
human beings seem human. The association areas are involved in higher mental functions, such as
learning, thinking, planning, judging, moral reflecting, figuring, and spatial reasoning.

Broca's area in the left frontal lobe controls facial movements and the production of language.
Wernicke's area is located in the left temporal lobe and is responsible for understanding speech.
In a small percentage of people, who are usually left-handed, these structures are located on the
right side of the brain. Strokes or trauma to Broca's area or Wernicke' area can result in aphasia,
an impairment in the use of language. A patient with Broca's aphasia may be able to understand
words, but the individual lacks the ability to speak. Damage in Wernicke’s area produces
Wernicke’s aphasia, which is difficulty with understanding speech.

Neuroplasticity and Neurogenesis

The control of some specific bodily functions, such as movement, vision, and hearing, is
performed in specified areas of the cortex, and if these areas are damaged, the individual will
likely lose the ability to perform the corresponding function. For instance, if an infant suffers
damage to facial recognition areas in the temporal lobe, it is likely that they will never be able to
recognize faces (Farah, Rabinowitz, Quinn, & Liu, 2000). On the other hand, the brain
is not divided up in an entirely rigid way. The brain’s neurons have a remarkable capacity to
reorganize and extend themselves to carry out particular functions in response to the needs of the
organism, and to repair damage. As a result, the brain constantly creates new neural
communication routes and rewires existing ones. Neuroplasticity refers to the brain’s ability to
change its structure and function in response to experience or damage. Neuroplasticity enables us
to learn and remember new things and adjust to new experiences.

Marian Cleeves Diamond is one of

Figure 3.12 Marian Cleeves Diamond the most influential pioneers in
neuroscience, especially because of
her research demonstrating
neuroplasticity. In the early 1960s,
the prevailing view was that the
brain’s capabilities were based on
genetics and were unchangeable.
Diamond and her colleagues were
able to prove neuroplasticity
occurred anatomically; that is, the
brain can change and that changes in
the brain could occur based on the
environment (Diamond et al., 1964).
In her experiments, some young rats
were raised in enriched environments
that included ladders, wheels, and
Picture: Elena Zhukova/University of California, Berkeley, 2010 other rats, while other young rats
were housed alone in bare cages. By
the end of the experiment, she was able to show that the cerebral cortex of the enriched rats was 6%
thicker than the cortex of the impoverished rats. Further, she demonstrated that an enriched cortex
80
showed greater learning capacity than an impoverished one. The implication of her research was
that the brains of all animals benefit from an enriched environment, which improves one’s ability to
learn. Worldwide, Diamond’s ideas have been supported by physicians and educators who promote
early nurturing and educational enrichment for all children (Sanders, 2017).

In 1984, Diamond received four blocks of the preserved brain of Einstein and found that he had
more glial cells per neuron in the inferior parietal area than the average male brains of a control
group (Kolb & Whishaw, 2011). Glial cells are nervous system cells that insulate, provide
nutrients, remove waste, and repair neurons. Diamond found that each of the neurons in this area
had a higher number of glial cells supporting them, and consequently she brought attention to the
important role that glial cells provide. Additionally, she demonstrated that the brain can continue
to develop at any age, emphasizing the importance of growth and learning throughout life.

Our brains are the most “plastic” when we are young children, as it is during this time that we
learn the most about our environment. On the other hand, neuroplasticity continues to be observed
even in adults (Kolb & Fantie, 1989). The principles of neuroplasticity help us understand how our
brains develop to reflect our experiences. For instance, accomplished musicians have a larger
auditory cortex compared with the general population (Bengtsson et al., 2005) and also require less
neural activity to move their fingers over the keys than do novices (Münte et al., 2002). These
observations reflect the changes in the brain that follow our experiences.

Plasticity is also observed when there is damage to the brain or to parts of the body that are
represented in the motor and sensory cortexes. When a tumor in the left hemisphere of the brain
impairs language, the right hemisphere will begin to compensate to help the person recover the
ability to speak (Thiel et al., 2006). If a person loses a finger, the area of the sensory cortex that
previously received information from the missing finger will begin to receive input from adjacent
fingers, causing the remaining digits to become more sensitive to touch (Fox, 1984).

Although neurons cannot repair or regenerate themselves as skin or blood vessels can, new
evidence suggests that the brain can engage in neurogenesis, the forming of new neurons (Van
Praag et al., 2004). These new neurons originate deep in the brain and may then migrate to other
brain areas where they form new connections with other neurons (Gould, 2007). This leaves open
the possibility that someday scientists might be able to rebuild damaged brains by creating drugs
that help grow neurons.

In 2019 researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) examined post-mortem brain
tissue from people ages 79 to 99 and found evidence of significant numbers of neural stem
cells and newly developing neurons present in the hippocampal tissue of older adults (Tobin et
al., 2019). The study demonstrated that neurogenesis occurred well into old age and even in
people with cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease, although the neurogenesis was
significantly reduced compared to older adults with normal cognitive functioning. The
researchers also found that people who scored better on measures of cognitive function prior to
death had more newly developing neurons in the hippocampus compared to those who scored
lower on these tests. As you recall, the hippocampus is involved in the formation of memories
and in learning. Because neurogenesis continues to occur in the hippocampus of older adults,
researchers may be able to find a way to slow or prevent cognitive declines in late adulthood.

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Research Focus Using Split-Brain Patients

We have seen that the left hemisphere of the brain primarily senses and controls the motor
movements on the right side of the body, and vice versa. This fact provides an interesting way to
study brain lateralization which means the left and the right hemispheres of the brain are
specialized to perform different functions. Gazzaniga et al. (1965) studied a patient, known as
W. J., who had undergone an operation to relieve severe seizures, and his corpus callosum was
severed. Because the left and right hemispheres were separated, each hemisphere developed its
own sensations, concepts, and motivations (Gazzaniga, 2005).

Gazzaniga and his colleagues tested the ability of W. J. to recognize and respond to objects and
written passages that were presented to only the left or only the right hemispheres (see Figure
3.13). The researchers had W. J. look straight ahead and then flashed a picture of a geometrical
shape to the left of where he was looking. By doing so, they assured that the image of the shape
was experienced only in the right hemisphere. Remember that sensory input from the left side of
the body is sent to the right side of the brain. Gazzaniga and his colleagues found that W. J.
identified what he had been shown when he was asked to pick the object from a series of shapes,
using his left hand, but he could not do this when the object was shown in the right visual field.
On the other hand, W. J. could easily read written material presented in the right visual field, and
thus experienced in the left hemisphere, but not when it was presented in the left visual field.

The information that is presented on the left side of our field of vision is transmitted to the right
hemisphere, and vice versa. In split-brain patients, the severed corpus callosum does not permit
information to be transferred between hemispheres. This allows researchers to learn about the
functions of each hemisphere. In the sample on the left, the split-brain patient could not choose
which image had been presented because the left hemisphere cannot process visual
information. In the sample on the right the patient could not read the passage because the right
brain hemisphere cannot process language.

Figure 3.13 Visual and Verbal Processing in the Split-Brain Patient

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This research, and many other studies following it, has demonstrated that the two hemispheres
specialize in different abilities. In most people the ability to speak, write, and understand
language is located in the left hemisphere. This is why W. J. could read passages that were
presented on the right side and thus transmitted to the left hemisphere, but could not read
passages that were only experienced in the right hemisphere. The left hemisphere is also better at
math and at judging time and rhythm. It is also superior in coordinating the order of complex
movements, such as the lip movements needed for speech. The right hemisphere has only very
limited verbal abilities, and yet it excels in perceptual skills. The right hemisphere is able to
recognize objects, including faces, patterns, and melodies, and it can put a puzzle together or
draw a picture. This is why W. J. could pick out the image when he saw it on the left, but not the
right, visual field.

Although Gazzaniga’s research demonstrated that the brain is in fact lateralized, this does not
mean that when people behave in a certain way or perform a certain activity they are only using
one hemisphere of their brains at a time. That would be drastically oversimplifying the concept
of brain differences. We normally use both hemispheres at the same time, and the difference
between the abilities of the two hemispheres is not absolute (Soroker et al., 2005).

Psychology in Everyday Life: Why Are Some People Left-Handed?

Across cultures and ethnic groups, about 90% of people are mainly right-handed, whereas only
10% are primarily left-handed (Peters et al., 2006). This fact is puzzling, in part because the
number of left-handers is so low, and in part because other animals, including our closest
primate relatives, do not show any type of handedness. The existence of right-handers and left-
handers provides an interesting example of the relationship among evolution, biology, and social
factors and how the same phenomenon can be understood at different levels of analysis (Harris,
1990; McManus, 2002).

At least some handedness is determined by genetics. Ultrasound scans show that 9 out of 10
fetuses suck the thumb of their right hand, suggesting that usually the preference is determined
before birth (Hepper et al., 2005), and the mechanism of transmission has been linked to a gene
on the X chromosome (Jones & Martin, 2000).

Culture also plays a role. In the past, left-handed children were forced to write with their right
hands in many countries, and this practice continues, particularly in collectivistic cultures, such
as India and Japan, where left-handedness is viewed negatively as compared with
individualistic societies, such as the United States. For example, India has about half as many
left-handers as the United States (Ida & Mandal, 2003).

There are both advantages and disadvantages to being left-handed in a world where most people
are right-handed. One problem for lefties is that the world is designed for right-handers.
Automatic teller machines (ATMs), classroom desks, scissors, microscopes, drill presses, and
table saws are just some examples of everyday machinery that is designed with the most
important controls on the right side. This may explain in part why left-handers suffer somewhat
more accidents than do right-handers (Dutta & Mandal, 2006).
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Despite the potential difficulty living and working in a world designed for right-handers, there
seem to be some advantages to being left-handed. Throughout history, a number of prominent
artists have been left-handed, including Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Pablo Picasso, and
Max Escher. Because the right hemisphere is superior in imaging and visual abilities, there may
be some advantage to using the left hand for drawing or painting (Springer & Deutsch, 1998).
Left-handed people are also better at envisioning three-dimensional objects, which may explain
why there is such a high number of left-handed architects, artists, and chess players in proportion
to their numbers (Coren, 1992). However, there are also more left-handers among those with
reading disabilities, allergies, and migraine headaches (Geschwind & Behan, 2007), perhaps due
to the fact that a small minority of left-handers owe their handedness to a birth trauma, such as
being born prematurely (Betancur et al., 1990).

In sports in which handedness may matter, such as tennis, boxing, fencing, or judo, left-handers
may have an advantage. They play many games against right-handers and learn how to best
handle their styles. Right-handers, however, play very few games against left-handers, which may
make them more vulnerable. This explains why a disproportionately high number of left- handers
are found in sports where direct one-on-one action predominates. In other sports, such as golf,
there are fewer left-handed players because the handedness of one player has no effect on the
competition.

The fact that left-handers excel in some sports suggests the possibility that they may have also
had an evolutionary advantage because their ancestors may have been more successful in
important skills such as hand-to-hand combat (Bodmer & McKie, 1994). At this point, however,
this idea remains only a hypothesis, and determinants of human handedness are yet to be fully
understood.

Key Takeaways

 The oldest parts of the brain, including the brain stem and cerebellum, regulate basic
survival functions.
 The limbic system regulates feeding, emotions, sex, and memory.
 The cerebral cortex is divided into the right and left cerebral hemispheres and into
four lobes.
 The frontal lobe is primarily responsible for thinking, planning, memory, and
judgment. The parietal lobe is primarily responsible for bodily sensations and touch.
The temporal lobe is primarily responsible for hearing and language. The occipital
lobe is primarily responsible for vision. Other areas of the cortex act as association
areas, responsible for integrating information.
 The motor cortex controls voluntary movements. Body parts requiring the most
control and dexterity take up the most space in the motor cortex.
 The sensory cortex receives and processes bodily sensations. Body parts that are
the most sensitive occupy the greatest amount of space in the sensory cortex.
 The brain changes as a function of experience and potential damage in a process
known as neuroplasticity. The brain can generate new neurons through
neurogenesis.
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  The severing of the corpus callosum, which connects the two hemispheres, creates a
split-brain patient.
 Studies with split-brain patients as research participants have been used to
study brain lateralization.
 The left cerebral hemisphere is primarily responsible for language and speech in most
people, whereas the right hemisphere specializes in spatial and perceptual skills,
visualization, and the recognition of patterns, faces, and melodies.

Exercises and Critical Thinking

1. Imagine yourself going through a typical day. Which part of the brain will you rely
on for each activity? For the next 24 hours, ask yourself what part of the brain you are
using as you change behaviors.
2. Consider your own experiences and speculate on which parts of your brain might be
particularly well developed as a result of these experiences.
3. Which brain hemisphere are you likely to be using when you search for a fork in the
silverware drawer? Which brain hemisphere are you most likely to be using when you
struggle to remember the name of an old friend?
4. Do you think that encouraging left-handed children to use their right hands is a good
idea? Why or why not?

Videos and Activities

1. You can visualize the parts of the brain and manipulate a 3_D model at
https://www.brainfacts.org/3dbrain#intro=false&focus=Brain&zoom=false
2. Neuroscientist Michael Merzenich discusses plasticity in the brain.
http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_merzenich_on_the_elastic_brain.html
3. You can view split-brain research at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFgtGIL7vEY

Psychologists Study the Brain Using Many Different Methods

Learning Objective

1. Compare and contrast the techniques that scientists use to view and understand
brain structures and functions.

One problem in understanding the brain is that it is difficult to get a good picture of what is going
on inside it. But there are a variety of empirical methods that allow scientists to look at brains in
action, and the number of possibilities has increased dramatically in recent years with the

85
introduction of new neuroimaging techniques. In this section, we will consider the various
techniques that psychologists use to learn about the brain. Each of the different techniques has
some advantages, and when we put them together, we begin to get a relatively good picture of how
the brain functions and which brain structures control which activities.

Brain Lesions

The brains of living human beings may be damaged as a result of strokes, falls, automobile
accidents, gunshots, or tumors, and these brain damages are called lesions. In rare occasions, brain
lesions may be created intentionally through surgery, such as that designed to remove brain tumors
or to reduce the effects of epilepsy, as in split-brain patients. Psychologists also sometimes
intentionally create lesions in animals to study the effects on their behavior. In so doing, they hope
to be able to draw inferences about the likely functions of human brains from the effects of the
lesions in animals.

Lesions allow the scientist to observe any loss of brain function that may occur. For instance,
when an individual suffers a stroke, a blood clot deprives part of the brain of oxygen, killing the
neurons in the area and rendering that area unable to process information. In some cases, the result
of the stroke is a specific lack of ability. For instance, if the stroke influences the occipital lobe,
then vision may suffer, and if the stroke influences the areas associated with language or speech,
these functions will suffer. In fact, our earliest understanding of the specific areas involved in
speech and language were gained by studying patients who had experienced strokes.

It is now known that a good part of

Figure 3.14 our moral reasoning abilities is
Areas in the frontal lobe of Phineas located in the frontal lobe, and at
Gage were damaged when a metal rod least some of this understanding
blasted through it. Although Gage lived
comes from lesion studies. For
through the accident, his personality,
emotions, and moral reasoning were instance, consider the well-known
influenced. The accident helped case of Phineas Gage, a 25-year-old
scientists understand the role of the railroad worker who, as a result of
frontal lobe in these processes. Source: Photo an explosion, had an iron rod
courtesy of John M. Harlow,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Phineas_gage_-
_1868_skull_diagram.jpg.
driven into his cheek and out
through the top of his skull (see
Figure 3.14), causing major
damage to his frontal lobe (Macmillan, 2000). Although remarkably Gage was able to return to
work after the wounds healed, he no longer seemed to be the same person to those who knew him.
The amiable, soft-spoken Gage had become irritable, rude, irresponsible, and dishonest. Although
there are questions about the interpretation of this case study (Kotowicz, 2007), it did provide
early evidence that the frontal lobe is involved in emotion and morality (Damasio et al., 2005).
Koenigs et al. (2007) also found that the frontal lobe is important in moral judgment.

Recording Electrical Activity in the Brain

In addition to lesion approaches, it is also possible to learn about the brain by studying the
electrical activity created by the firing of its neurons. One approach, primarily used with animals,
is to place detectors in the brain to study the responses of specific neurons. Research using these
86
techniques has found, for instance, that there are specific neurons, known as feature detectors, in
the visual cortex that detect movement, lines and edges, and even faces (Kanwisher, 2000).

A less invasive approach, and one that can be used on living humans, is electroencephalography
(EEG), which is a technique that records the electrical activity produced by the brain’s neurons
through the use of electrodes that are placed around the research participant’s head. An EEG can
show if a person is asleep, awake, or anesthetized because the brain wave patterns are known to
differ during each state. EEGs can also track the waves that are produced when a person is
reading, writing, and speaking, and are useful for understanding brain abnormalities, such as
epilepsy. A particular advantage of EEG is that the participant can move around while the
recordings are being taken, which is useful when measuring brain activity in children who often
have difficulty keeping still. Furthermore, by following electrical impulses across the surface of
the brain, researchers can observe changes over very fast time periods.

Peeking Inside the Brain: Neuroimaging

Although the EEG can provide information about the

Figure 3.15 general patterns of electrical activity within the brain, and
although the EEG allows the researcher to see these
changes quickly as they occur in real time, the electrodes
must be placed on the surface of the skull and each
electrode measures brain waves from large areas of the
brain. As a result, EEGs do not provide a very clear
picture of the structure of the brain.

Looking inside the brain can also be accomplished with

several techniques. Computerized Axial Tomography
(CT scan) uses an X-ray tube to encircle the head, and a
cross sectional series of X-rays are combined to produce
A participant in an EEG study has a
number of electrodes placed around
a three-dimensional image of brain structures. In
the head, which allows the researcher traditional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI),
to study the activity of the person’s magnetic fields are used to differentiate between types of
brain. The patterns of electrical tissue in the brain. These scans avoid exposing patients
activity vary depending on the to harmful X-rays. Both CT scans and MRIS produce
participant’s current state (e.g.,
whether they are sleeping or awake)
only static images.
and on the tasks the person is
engaging in. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) monitors the
Source: Photo courtesy of the University of Oregon Child and
decay of a radioactive isotype which has been injected
Family Center, http://www.uoregon.edu/~cfc/projects-bbl.htm.

into the patient. Rates of decay in different parts of the

brain can show which areas are more active. This allows the radiologist to see how the brain is
functioning. PET scans are often combined with MRIs or CT scans.

More precise techniques also exist which can provide specific information on structure and
function. Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) is a type of brain scan that uses a
magnetic field to create images of brain activity in each brain area. The patient lies on a bed
within a large cylindrical structure containing a very strong magnet. Neurons that are firing use
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 more oxygen, and the need for oxygen increases blood flow to the area. The fMRI detects the
amount of blood flow in each brain region, and thus is an indicator of neural activity.

Very clear and detailed pictures of brain structures

Figure 3.16 fMRI Image
(see Figure 3.16) can be produced via fMRI. Often,
the images take the form of cross-sectional slices
that are obtained as the magnetic field is passed
across the brain. The images of these slices are taken
repeatedly and are superimposed on images of the
brain structure itself to show how activity changes in
different brain structures over time. When the
research participant is asked to engage in tasks
while in the scanner, for example, by playing a game
with another person, the images can show which
parts of the brain are associated with which types of
tasks. Another advantage of the fMRI is that is it
noninvasive. The research participant simply enters
the machine and the scans begin.
The fMRI creates brain images of brain
structure and activity. In this image the red and
Although the scanners themselves are expensive, the
yellow areas represent increased blood flow and
thus increased activity. From your knowledge advantages of fMRIs are substantial, and they are
of brain structure, can you guess what this now available in many university and hospital
person is doing? settings. fMRI is now the most commonly used
Source: Photo courtesy of the National Institutes of Health,
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Face_recognition.jpg method of learning about brain structure.

There is still one more approach that is being more frequently implemented to understand brain
function, and although it is new, it may turn out to be the most useful of all. Transcranial
Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is a procedure in which magnetic pulses are applied to the brain of
living persons with the goal of temporarily and safely deactivating a small brain region. In TMS
studies the research participant is first scanned in an fMRI machine to determine the exact location
of the brain area to be tested. Then the electrical stimulation is provided to the brain before or
while the participant is working on a cognitive task, and the effects of the stimulation on
performance are assessed. If the participant’s ability to perform the task is influenced by the
presence of the stimulation, then the researchers can conclude that this particular area of the brain
is important to carrying out the task.

The primary advantage of TMS is that it allows the researcher to draw causal conclusions about
the influence of brain structures on thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. When the TMS pulses are
applied, the brain region becomes less active, and this deactivation is expected to influence the
research participant’s responses. Current research has used TMS to study the brain areas
responsible for emotion and cognition and their roles in how people perceive intention and
approach moral reasoning (Kalbe et al., 2010; Van den Eynde et al., 2010; Young et al., 2010).
TMS is also used as a treatment for a variety of mental health conditions, including migraine,
Parkinson’s disease, and major depressive disorder.

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Research Focus: Cyberostracism

Neuroimaging techniques have important implications for understanding our behavior,

including our responses to those around us. Naomi Eisenberger and her colleagues (2003)
tested the hypothesis that people who were excluded by others would report emotional distress
and that images of their brains would show that they experienced pain in the same part of the
brain where physical pain is normally experienced. In the experiment, 13 participants were each
placed into an fMRI brain-imaging machine. The participants were told that they would be
playing a computer “Cyberball” game with two other players who were also in fMRI machines
The two opponents did not actually exist, and their responses were controlled by the computer.

Each of the participants was measured under three different conditions. In the first part of the
experiment, the participants were told that as a result of technical difficulties, the link to the other
two scanners could not yet be made, and thus at first they could not engage in, but only watch,
the game play. This allowed the researchers to take a baseline fMRI reading. Then, during a
second inclusion scan, the participants played the game, supposedly with the two other players.
During this time, the other players threw the ball to the participants. In the third, exclusion, scan,
however, the participants initially received seven throws from the other two players but were
then excluded from the game because the two players stopped throwing the ball to the
participants for the remainder of the scan (45 throws).

The results of the analyses showed that activity in two areas of the frontal lobe was
significantly greater during the exclusion scan than during the inclusion scan. Because these
brain regions are known from prior research to be active for individuals who are experiencing
physical pain, the authors concluded that these results show that the physiological brain
responses associated with being socially excluded by others are similar to brain responses
experienced upon physical injury.

Further research (Chen et al., 2008; Wesselmann et al., 2009) has documented that people react
to being excluded in a variety of situations with diverse emotions and behaviors. People who
feel that they are excluded, or even those who observe other people being excluded, not only
experience pain, but feel worse about themselves and their relationships with people more
generally, and they may work harder to try to restore
their connections with others.

Key Takeaways

 Lesion studies are informative about the effects of lesions on different brain regions.
 Electrophysiological recording may be used in animals to directly measure brain activity.
 Measures of electrical activity in the brain, such as electroencephalography (EEG),
are used to assess brain-wave patterns and activity.
 CT, MRI, PET, fMRI and TMS are all ways to image the brain.

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Exercise and Critical Thinking

1. Consider the different ways that psychologists study the brain, and think of a
psychological characteristic or behavior that could be studied using each of the different
techniques.

Videos and Activities

1. Neuroscientist Christopher Decharms discusses the use of the fMRI.

http://www.ted.com/talks/christopher_decharms_scans_the_brain_in_real_time.html

The Nervous System and the Endocrine System

Learning Objectives

1. Explain the difference between the central, peripheral, sympathetic,

parasympathetic, and autonomic nervous systems.
2. Describe the function of hormones.
3. Explain how the nervous system and the endocrine system work together to influence
behavior.
4. Explain how the pituitary gland and adrenal glands influence behavior.

Now that we have considered how individual neurons operate and the roles of the different brain
areas, it is time to ask how the body manages to “put it all together.” How do the complex
activities in the various parts of the brain, the simple all-or-nothing firings of billions of
interconnected neurons, and the various chemical systems within the body, work together to allow
the body to respond to the social environment and engage in everyday behaviors? In this section,
we will see that the complexities of human behavior are accomplished through the joint actions of
electrical and chemical processes in the nervous system and the endocrine system.

The Nervous System

The nervous system, the electrical information highway of the body, is made up of nerves, which
are bundles of interconnected neurons that fire in synchrony to carry messages. The nervous
system has two major divisions. The central nervous system (CNS), made up of the brain and
spinal cord, is the major controller of the body’s functions, charged with interpreting sensory
information, and responding to it with its own directives. The CNS interprets information coming
in from the senses, formulates an appropriate reaction, and sends responses to the appropriate
system to respond accordingly. Everything that we see, hear, smell, touch, and taste is conveyed to
us from our sensory organs as neural impulses, and each of the commands that the brain sends to
the body, both consciously and unconsciously, travels through this system as well. The peripheral
nervous system (PNS) links the CNS to the body’s sense receptors, muscles, and glands.

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 Figure 3.17 The Functional Divisions of the Nervous System

Nerves are differentiated according to their function. A sensory or afferent neuron carries
information from the sensory receptors, whereas a motor or efferent neuron transmits
information to the muscles and glands. Both of these neurons are located in the peripheral nervous
system. An interneuron, responsible for communicating among the neurons, is by far the most
common type of neuron, and is located primarily within the central nervous system. Interneurons
allow the brain to combine the multiple sources of available information to create a coherent
picture of the sensory information being conveyed.

The spinal cord is the long, thin, tubular bundle

of nerves and supporting cells that extends Figure 3.18 The Reflex
down from the brain. It is the central
throughway of information for the body. Within
the spinal cord, ascending tracts of sensory
neurons relay sensory information from the
sense organs to the brain while descending
tracts of motor neurons relay motor commands
back to the body. When a quicker-than-usual
response is required, the spinal cord can do its
own processing, bypassing the brain altogether.

A reflex is an involuntary and nearly

instantaneous movement in response to a
stimulus. Reflexes are triggered when sensory

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information is powerful enough to reach a given threshold and the interneurons in the spinal cord
act to send a message back through the motor neurons without relaying the information to the
brain (see Figure 3.18). When you touch a hot stove and immediately pull your hand back, or
when you fumble your cell phone and instinctively reach to catch it before it falls, reflexes in your
spinal cord order the appropriate responses before your brain even knows what is happening.

The peripheral nervous system is divided into two subsystems. The somatic nervous system
(SNS) is the division of the PNS that controls the external aspects of the body, including the
skeletal muscles, skin, and sense organs. The somatic nervous system consists primarily of motor
nerves responsible for sending brain signals for muscle contraction. We become aware of the
world through the sensory division of the somatic nervous system, and we act on the world
through the motor division of the somatic nervous system.

The autonomic nervous system (ANS) is the division of the PNS that governs the internal
activities of the human body, including heart rate, breathing, digestion, salivation, perspiration,
urination, and sexual arousal. Many of the actions of the ANS, such as heart rate and digestion,
are automatic and out of our conscious control, but others, such as breathing and sexual activity,
can be controlled and influenced by conscious processes.

The autonomic nervous system itself can be further subdivided into the sympathetic and
parasympathetic systems (see Figure 3.19). The sympathetic division of the ANS is involved in
preparing the body for behavior, particularly in response to stress, by activating the organs and
the glands in the endocrine system. The parasympathetic division of the ANS tends to calm the
body by slowing the heart and breathing and by allowing the body to recover from the activities
that the sympathetic system causes.
Figure 3.19 The Autonomic Nervous System
The sympathetic and the
parasympathetic divisions normally
function in opposition to each other,
such that the sympathetic division acts a
bit like the accelerator pedal on a car and
the parasympathetic division acts like
the brake.

Our everyday activities are controlled by

the interaction between the sympathetic
and parasympathetic nervous systems.
For example, when we get out of bed in
the morning, we would experience a
sharp drop in blood pressure if it were
not for the action of the sympathetic
system, which automatically increases
blood flow through the body. Similarly,
after we eat a big meal, the
parasympathetic system automatically
sends more blood to the stomach and

92
intestines, allowing us to efficiently digest the food. Perhaps you have had the experience of not
being at all hungry before a stressful event, such as a sports game or an exam when the
sympathetic division was primarily in action, but suddenly finding yourself starved afterward, as
the parasympathetic takes over. The two systems work together to maintain vital bodily functions,
resulting in homeostasis, the natural balance in the body’s systems.

The Endocrine System

The nervous system is designed to protect us from danger through its interpretation of and
reactions to stimuli. However, a primary function of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous
systems is to interact with the endocrine system the chemical regulation of the body that consists of
glands that secrete hormones which influence behavior.

A gland in the endocrine system is made up of groups of cells that function to secrete hormones.
A hormone is a chemical that moves throughout the body to help regulate emotions and
behaviors. When the hormones released by one gland arrive at receptor tissues or other glands,
these receiving receptors may trigger the release of other hormones, resulting in a series of
complex chemical chain reactions. The endocrine system works together with the nervous system
to influence many aspects of human behavior, including growth, reproduction, and metabolism,
and the endocrine system plays a vital role in emotions. The major glands in the endocrine system
are shown in Figure 3.20.

The pituitary gland, a small pea-sized

gland located near the center of the Figure 3.20 The Major Glands of the Endocrine
brain, is responsible for controlling System
the body’s growth, but it also has
many other influences that make it of
primary importance to regulating
behavior. The pituitary secretes
hormones that influence our responses
to pain, as well as, hormones that
signal the ovaries and testes to make
sex hormones. The pituitary gland also
controls ovulation and the menstrual
cycle in women. Because the pituitary
has such an important influence on
other glands, it is sometimes known as
the master gland.

Other glands in the endocrine system

include the pancreas, which secretes
hormones designed to keep the body
supplied with fuel to produce and
maintain stores of energy; the pineal
gland, located in the middle of the
brain, which secretes melatonin, a The male is shown on the left and the female on the right.
hormone that helps regulate the
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wake-sleep cycle; and the thyroid and parathyroid glands, which are responsible for determining
how quickly the body uses energy and hormones, and controlling the amount of calcium in the
blood and bones.

The body has two triangular adrenal glands, one atop each kidney, which produce hormones that
regulate salt and water balance in the body, and they are involved in metabolism, the immune
system, and sexual development and function. The most important function of the adrenal glands is
to secrete the hormones epinephrine and norepinephrine when we are excited, threatened, or
stressed.

Epinephrine and norepinephrine stimulate the sympathetic division of the ANS, causing increased
heart and lung activity, dilation of the pupils, and increases in blood sugar, which give the body a
surge of energy to respond to a threat. The activity and role of the adrenal glands in response to
stress provides an excellent example of the close relationship and interdependency of the nervous
and endocrine systems. A quick-acting nervous system is essential for immediate activation of the
adrenal glands, while the endocrine system mobilizes the body for action.

The male sex glands, known as the testes, secrete a number of hormones, the most important of
which is testosterone, the male sex hormone. Testosterone regulates body changes associated with
sexual development, including enlargement of the penis, deepening of the voice, growth of facial
and pubic hair, and the increase in muscle growth and strength. The ovaries, the female sex glands,
are located in the pelvis. They produce eggs and secrete the female hormones estrogen and
progesterone. Estrogen is involved in the development of female sexual features. Both estrogen
and progesterone are also involved in pregnancy and the regulation of the menstrual cycle.

Recent research has pinpointed some of the important roles of the sex hormones in social behavior.
Dabbs, Hargrove, and Heusel (1996) measured the testosterone levels of 240 men who were
members of 12 fraternities at two universities. They also obtained descriptions of the fraternities
from university officials, fraternity officers, yearbook and chapter house photographs, and
researcher field notes. The researchers correlated the testosterone levels and the descriptions of
each fraternity. They found that the fraternities with the highest average testosterone levels were
also more wild and unruly, and one of these fraternities was known across campus for the
crudeness of its behavior. On the other hand, the fraternities with the lowest average testosterone
levels were better behaved, friendly and pleasant, academically successful, and socially
responsible. Banks and Dabbs (1996) found that juvenile delinquents and prisoners who had high
levels of testosterone also acted more violently, and Tremblay et al. (1998) found that testosterone
was related to toughness and leadership behaviors in adolescent boys. Although testosterone levels
are higher in men than in women, the relationship between testosterone and aggression is not
limited to males. Studies have also shown a positive relationship between testosterone and
aggression and related behaviors (such as competitiveness) in women (Cashdan, 2003).

It must be kept in mind that the observed relationships between testosterone levels and aggressive
behavior that have been found in these studies do not prove that testosterone causes aggression,
only that the relationships are correlational. In fact, there is evidence that the relationship between
violence and testosterone also goes in the other direction: Playing an aggressive game, such as
tennis or even chess, increases the testosterone levels of the winners. Testosterone levels in the
losers actually go down (Gladue et al., 1989; Mazur et al., 1992).

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Recent research has also begun to document the role that female sex hormones may play in
reactions to others. A study about hormonal influences on social-cognitive functioning (Macrae et
al., 2002) found that women were more easily able to perceive and categorize male faces during the
more fertile phases of their menstrual cycles. Although researchers did not directly measure the
presence of hormones, it is likely that phase-specific hormonal differences influenced the women’s
perceptions.

At this point you can begin to see the important role that hormones play in behavior, but the
hormones we have reviewed in this section represent only a subset of the many influences that
hormones have on our behaviors. In the chapters to come, we will consider the important roles that
hormones play in many other behaviors, including sleeping, sexual activity, and helping and
harming others.

Key Takeaways

 The body uses both electrical and chemical systems to communicate.

 The CNS is made up of bundles of nerves that carry messages to and from the PNS.
 Specific nerves, including sensory neurons, motor neurons, and interneurons,
each have specific functions.
 The spinal cord may bypass the brain by responding rapidly using reflexes.
 The peripheral nervous system is composed of the autonomic nervous system
(ANS) and the somatic nervous system (SNS). The ANS is further divided into the
sympathetic (activating) and parasympathetic (calming) nervous systems. These
divisions are activated by glands and organs in the endocrine system.
 The endocrine system is composed of glands that secrete hormones. These
chemicals influence thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
 The pituitary gland is a master gland, affecting many other glands.
 Hormones produced by the pituitary and adrenal glands regulate growth,
stress, sexual functions, and chemical balance in the body.
 The adrenal glands produce epinephrine and norepinephrine, the hormones
responsible for our reactions to stress.
 The sex hormones, testosterone, estrogen, and progesterone, play an important
role in sex differences.

Exercises and Critical Thinking

1. Recall a time when you were threatened or stressed. What physiological reactions
did you experience in the situation and what aspects of the endocrine system do you
think created those reactions?
2. Consider the emotions that you have experienced over the past several weeks. What
hormones do you think might have been involved in creating those emotions?

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Videos and Activities
1. Take a journey through the central nervous system at
http://epsych.msstate.edu/biological/neuroanatomy/Part2/index.html (click “next” for
feedback).
2. Take a journey through the Peripheral Nervous System:
http://epsych.msstate.edu/biological/neuroanatomy/Part1/index.html (progress through all
small squares, then click next.

Sleeping and Dreaming

Learning Objectives

1. Explain circadian rhythms.

2. Distinguish among the different stages of sleep.
3. Review the disorders that affect sleep and the costs of sleep deprivation.
4. Explain the similarities and differences among the theories of sleep and dreaming.

The lives of all organisms, including humans, are influenced by regularly occurring cycles of
behaviors known as biological rhythms. One important biological rhythm is the annual cycle that
guides the migration of birds and the hibernation of bears. Women also experience a 28-day cycle
that guides their fertility and menstruation. But perhaps the strongest and most important
biorhythm is the daily circadian rhythm that guides the daily waking and sleeping cycle in many
animals.

Many biological rhythms are coordinated by changes in the level and duration of ambient light,
for instance, as winter turns into summer and as night turns into day. In some animals, such as
birds, the pineal gland in the brain is directly sensitive to light and its activation influences
behavior, such as mating and annual migrations. Light also has a profound effect on humans. We
are more likely to experience depression during the dark winter months than during the lighter
summer months, and exposure to bright lights can help reduce this depression (McGinnis, 2007).

Sleep is also influenced by ambient light. The ganglion cells in the retina send signals to a brain
area above the thalamus called the suprachiasmatic nucleus, which is the body’s primary
circadian pacemaker. The suprachiasmatic nucleus analyzes the strength and duration of the light
stimulus and sends signals to the pineal gland when the ambient light level is low or its duration is
short. In response, the pineal gland secretes melatonin, a powerful hormone that facilitates the
onset of sleep.

Sleep Stages

Although we lose consciousness as we sleep, the brain nevertheless remains active. The patterns of
sleep have been tracked in thousands of research participants who have spent nights sleeping in
research labs while their brain waves were recorded by monitors, such as an EEG. Sleep
researchers have found that sleeping people undergo a fairly consistent pattern of sleep stages,
each lasting about 90 minutes.
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As you can see in Figure 3.21, these stages are of two major types: Rapid eye movement
(REM) sleep is a sleep stage characterized by the presence of quick fast eye movements and
dreaming. REM sleep accounts for about 25% of our total sleep time. During REM sleep, our
awareness of external events is dramatically reduced, and consciousness is dominated primarily
by internally generated images and a lack of overt thinking (Hobson, 2004). During this sleep
stage our muscles shut down, and this is probably a good thing as it protects us from hurting
ourselves or trying to act out the scenes that are playing in our dreams. The second major sleep
type, non-rapid eye movement (non-REM) sleep is a deep sleep, characterized by very slow
brain waves, that is further subdivided into four stages: 1, 2, 3, and 4. Each of the sleep stages
has its own distinct pattern of brain activity (Horne, 1988).

Figure 3.21 Stages of Sleep

During a typical night, our sleep cycles move between REM and non-REM sleep, with each cycle repeating
at about 90-minute intervals. The deeper non-REM sleep stages usually occur earlier in the night, and more
REM sleep (in red) at the end of the sleep cycle.
Wikimedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep#mediaviewer/File:Sleep_Hypnogram.svg

As you can see in Figure 3.22, the brain waves that are recorded by an EEG as we sleep show that
the brain’s activity changes during each stage of sleeping. When we are awake, our brain activity
is characterized by the presence of very fast beta waves. When we first begin to fall asleep, the
waves get longer, called alpha waves, and as we move into stage 1 sleep, which is characterized by
the experience of drowsiness, the brain begins to produce even slower theta waves. During stage 1
sleep, some muscle tone is lost, as well as most awareness of the environment. Some people may
experience sudden jerks or twitches and even vivid hallucinations during this initial stage of sleep.
Stage 1 sleep occupies about 5 percent of the night.

Normally, if we are allowed to keep sleeping, we will move from stage 1 to stage 2 sleep. During
stage 2 sleep, muscular activity is further decreased and conscious awareness of the environment
is lost. This stage typically represents about half of the total sleep time in normal adults. Stage 2
sleep is characterized by theta waves interspersed with bursts of rapid brain activity known as
sleep spindles.

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Stage 3 is a transition phase between stages 2
and 4. Stage 4, also known as slow wave Figure 3.22 EEG Recordings of Brain
sleep, is the deepest level of sleep, Patterns During Sleep
characterized by an increased proportion of
very slow delta waves. This is the stage in
which most sleep abnormalities, such as
sleepwalking, sleeptalking, sleep terrors, and
bed-wetting occur.

Some skeletal muscle tone remains, making it

possible for affected individuals to rise from
their beds and engage in sometimes very
complex behaviors, but consciousness is
distant. Even in the deepest sleep, however, we
are still aware of the external world. If smoke
enters the room or if we hear the cry of a baby
we are likely to react, even though we are
sound asleep. These occurrences again
demonstrate the extent to which we process
information outside consciousness.

After falling initially into a very deep sleep,

the brain begins to become more active again,
and we normally move into the first period of
REM sleep about 90 minutes after falling
asleep. REM sleep is accompanied by an
increase in heart rate, facial twitches, and the Each stage of sleep has its own distinct pattern of
repeated rapid eye movements that give this brain activity. Non-Rem Stage 3 and 4 demonstrate
stage its name. People who are awakened delta waves.
during REM sleep almost always report that
they were dreaming, while those awakened in other stages of sleep report dreams much less often.
REM sleep is also emotional sleep. Activity in the limbic system, including the amygdala, is
increased during REM sleep, and the genitals become aroused, even if the content of the dreams
we are having is not sexual. A typical 25-year-old man may have an erection nearly half of the
night, and the common “morning erection” is left over from the last REM period before waking.

Normally we will go through several cycles of REM and non-REM sleep each night (see Figure
3.21). The length of the REM portion of the cycle tends to increase through the night, from about 5
to 10 minutes early in the night to 15 to 20 minutes shortly before awakening in the morning.
Dreams also tend to become more elaborate and vivid as the night goes on. Eventually, as the sleep
cycle finishes, the brain resumes its faster alpha and beta waves and we awake, normally
refreshed.

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Sleep-Wake Disorders

According to a recent poll (National Sleep Foundation, 2009), about one-fourth of American
adults say they get a good night’s sleep only a few nights a month or less. These people are
suffering from an insomnia disorder, defined as persistent
difficulty falling or staying asleep. Most cases of insomnia Figure 3.23
are temporary, lasting from a few days to several weeks, but
in some cases, insomnia can last for years.

Insomnia can result from physical disorders, such as pain due

to injury or illness, or from psychological problems such as
stress, financial worries, or relationship difficulties. Changes
in sleep patterns, such as jet lag, changes in work shift, or
even the movement to or from daylight savings time can
produce insomnia. Sometimes the sleep that the insomniac
does get is disturbed and nonrestorative, and the lack of
quality sleep produces impairment of functioning during the
Taking pills to sleep is not
day. Ironically, the problem may be compounded by people’s recommended unless all other
anxiety over insomnia itself. Their fear of being unable to methods of improving sleep have
sleep may wind up keeping them awake. Some people may been tried. © Thinkstock
also develop a conditioned anxiety to the bedroom or the bed.

People who have difficulty sleeping may turn to drugs to help them sleep. Barbiturates,
benzodiazepines, and other sedatives are frequently marketed and prescribed as sleep aids, but
they may interrupt the natural stages of the sleep cycle, and in the end, are likely to do more harm
than good. In some cases, they may also promote dependence. Most practitioners of sleep
medicine today recommend making environmental and scheduling changes first, followed by
therapy for underlying problems, with pharmacological remedies used only as a last resort.

According to the National Sleep Foundation, some steps that can be used to combat insomnia
include the following:

 Use the bed and bedroom for sleep and sex only. Do not spend time in bed during the day.
 Establish a regular bedtime routine and a regular sleep-wake schedule.
 Think positively about your sleeping and try not to get anxious just because you are losing a
little sleep.
 Do not eat or drink too much close to bedtime.
 Create a sleep-promoting environment that is dark, cool, and comfortable.
 Avoid disturbing noises and consider a bedside fan or white-noise machine to block out
disturbing sounds.
 Consume less or no caffeine, particularly late in the day.
 Avoid alcohol and nicotine, especially close to bedtime.
 Exercise, but not within 3 hours before bedtime.
 Avoid naps, particularly in the late afternoon or evening.
 Keep a sleep diary to identify your sleep habits and patterns that you can share with your
doctor.

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Another common sleep problem is sleep apnea, a sleep disorder characterized by pauses in
breathing that last at least 10 seconds during sleep (Morgenthaler et al., 2006). In addition to
preventing restorative sleep, sleep apnea can also cause high blood pressure and may raise the risk
of stroke and heart attack (Yaggi et al., 2005).

Most sleep apnea is caused by an obstruction of the walls of the throat that occurs when we fall
asleep. It is most common in obese or older individuals who have lost muscle tone and is
particularly common in men. Sleep apnea caused by obstructions is usually treated with an air
machine that uses a mask to create a continuous pressure that prevents the airway from collapsing,
or with mouthpieces that keep the airway open. If all other treatments have failed, sleep apnea may
be treated with surgery to open the airway.

Narcolepsy is a disorder characterized by extreme daytime sleepiness with frequent episodes of

nodding off. The syndrome may also be accompanied by attacks of cataplexy, in which the
individual loses muscle tone, resulting in a partial or complete collapse. It is estimated that at least
200,000 Americans suffer from narcolepsy, although only about a quarter of these people
have been diagnosed (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, 2008).

Narcolepsy is in part the result of genetics; that is, people who suffer from the disease lack
neurotransmitters that are important in keeping us alert (Taheri et al., 2002), and is also the result
of a lack of deep sleep. While most people descend through the sequence of sleep stages, then
move back up to REM sleep soon after falling asleep, narcolepsy sufferers move directly into
REM and undergo numerous awakenings during the night, often preventing them from getting
good sleep.

Narcolepsy can be treated with stimulants, such as amphetamines, to counteract the daytime
sleepiness, or with antidepressants to treat a presumed underlying depression. However, since
these drugs further disrupt already-abnormal sleep cycles, these approaches may, in the long run,
make the problem worse. Many sufferers find relief by taking a number of planned short naps
during the day, and some individuals may find it easier to work in jobs that allow them to sleep
during the day and work at night.

Other sleep disorders occur when cognitive or motor processes that should be turned off or
reduced in magnitude during sleep operate at higher than normal levels (Mahowald & Schenck,
2000). One example is somnambulism or sleepwalking in which the person leaves the bed and
moves around while still asleep. Sleepwalking is more common in childhood, with the most
frequent occurrences around the age of 12 years. About 4% of adults experience somnambulism
(Mahowald & Schenck, 2000).

Sleep terrors is a disruptive sleep disorder, most frequently experienced in childhood that may
involve loud screams and intense panic. The sufferer cannot wake from sleep even though they are
trying to. In extreme cases, sleep terrors may result in bodily harm or property damage as the sufferer
moves about abruptly. Up to 3% of adults suffer from sleep terrors, which typically occur in non-
REM sleep stage four (Mahowald & Schenck, 2000).

Other sleep disorders include bruxism, in which the sufferer grinds his teeth during sleep; restless
legs syndrome, in which the sufferer reports an itching, burning, or otherwise uncomfortable
100
feeling in his legs, usually exacerbated when resting or asleep; and periodic limb movement
disorder, which involves sudden involuntary movement of limbs. The latter can cause sleep
disruption and injury for both the sufferer and bed partner.

Although many sleep disorders occur during non-REM sleep, REM sleep behavior disorder
(Mahowald & Schenck, 2005) is a condition, thought to be neurological in nature, in which people,
especially middle-aged or older men, engage in vigorous and bizarre physical activities during
REM sleep in response to intense, violent dreams. As their actions may injure themselves or their
sleeping partners, this disorder is normally treated with medications.

Why do we sleep?

Currently there is no consensus on the function of sleep for humans or other animals (Harrison,
2012). However, there are several theories.

Evolutionary Theory: From an evolutionary perspective, sleep has evolved as a function of

homeostasis and the circadian rhythms discussed earlier. Our sleep patterns have adjusted to the
environmental demands placed on us including climate, seasonal patterns and predators. Our
preferred sleep times and our sleep requirements vary throughout our life cycle. Newborns tend to
sleep between 16 and 18 hours per day, preschoolers tend to sleep between 10 and 12 hours per
day, school-aged children and teenagers usually prefer at least 9 hours of sleep per night, and most
adults say that they require 7 to 8 hours per night (Mercer, Merritt, & Cowell, 1998; National
Sleep Foundation, 2008). There are also individual differences in need for sleep. Some people do
quite well with fewer than 6 hours of sleep per night, whereas others need 9 hours or more. The
most recent study by the National Sleep Foundation suggests that adults should get between 7 and
9 hours of sleep per night (see Figure 3.24), and yet Americans now average fewer than 7 hours.

Figure 3.24 Average Hours of Required Sleep per Night

Restoration Theory: Sleep has a vital restorative function and a prolonged lack of sleep results in
increased anxiety, diminished performance, and, if severe and extended, may even result in death.
In 1964, 17-year-old high school student Randy Gardner remained awake for 264 hours (11 days) in
101
order to set a new Guinness World Record. Figure 3.25 The Effects of Sleep Deprivation
At the request of his worried parents, he was
monitored by a U.S. Navy psychiatrist, Lt.
Cmdr. John J. Ross. The chart in Figure 3.25
maps the progression of his behavioral
changes over the 11 days.

Research shows that after sleep loss there is a

rebound of non-REM sleep to compensate for
the loss (Harrison, 2012). Many road
accidents involve sleep deprivation, and
people who are sleep deprived show
decrements in driving performance similar to
those who have ingested alcohol (Hack et al.,
2001; Williamson & Feyer, 2000). Poor
treatment by doctors (Smith-Coggins et al.,
1994) and a variety of industrial accidents
have also been traced in part to the effects of
sleep deprivation.
Source: Adapted from Ross (1965).

Health and Growth: Good sleep is also important to our health and longevity. It is no surprise that
we sleep more when we are sick, because sleep works to fight infection. Sleep deprivation
suppresses immune responses that fight off infection, and can lead to obesity, memory impairment,
and hypertension (Ferrie et al., 2007; Kushida, 2005). Sleeping well can even save our lives. Dew
et al. (2003) found that older adults who had better sleep patterns also lived longer. Additionally,
during slow wave sleep the pituitary gland releases a surge of growth hormone. No nighttime surge
is noted when the individual is awake, only when asleep (Dijk & Lazar, 2012).

Memory Consolidation: Lastly, sleep is linked to the formation of memories and learning. Sleep
has been implicated in the encoding process as well as the consolidation of memory (Walker, 2012).
Under conditions of sleep deprivation using fMRI, deficits are noted in regions of the hippocampus,
which are critical for learning new information. Sleep deprivation on memory formation is
especially pronounced for emotional material.

Figure 3.26 © Thinkstock

For college students, getting needed rest is difficult in part because
school and work schedules still follow the early-to-rise timetable that
was set years ago. We tend to stay up late to enjoy activities in the
evening, but then are forced to get up early to go to work or school.
The situation is particularly bad for college students, who are likely to
combine a heavy academic schedule, an active social life, and work.
Getting enough sleep is a luxury that many of us seem to be unable or
unwilling to afford, and yet sleeping is one of the most important things
we can do for ourselves. Continued over time, a nightly deficit of even
only 1 or 2 hours can have a substantial impact on mood and
performance.

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Theories of Dreaming

Dreams are the succession of images, thoughts, sounds, and emotions that passes through our
minds while sleeping. When people are awakened from REM sleep, they normally report that they
have been dreaming, suggesting that people normally dream several times a night but that most
dreams are forgotten on awakening (Dement, 1997). The content of our dreams generally relates to
our everyday experiences and concerns, and frequently our fears and failures (Cartwright et al.,
2006; Domhoff et al., 2005). Just like with sleep, there is no consensus on the functions of dreams,
and consequently, we will focus on the three most prominent theories.

Road to the Unconscious: Many cultures regard dreams as having great significance for the
dreamer, either by revealing something important about the dreamer’s present circumstances or
predicting his future. The Austrian psychologist Sigmund Freud (1913/1988) analyzed the dreams
of his patients to help him understand their unconscious needs and desires, and psychotherapists
still make use of this technique today. Freud believed that the primary function of dreams was
wish fulfillment, or the idea that dreaming allows us to act out the desires that we must repress
during the day. He differentiated between the manifest content of the dream or its literal actions,
and its latent content or the hidden psychological meaning of the dream. Freud believed that the
real meaning of dreams is often suppressed by the unconscious mind in order to protect the
individual from thoughts and feelings that are hard to cope with. By uncovering the real meaning
of dreams through psychoanalysis, Freud believed that people could better understand their
problems and resolve the issues that create difficulties in their lives.

Information Processing: Although Freud and others have focused on the meaning of dreams,
other theories about the causes of dreams are less concerned with their content. One possibility is
that we dream primarily to help with consolidation, or the moving of information into long-term
memory (Alvarenga et al., 2008; Zhang (2004). Rauchs et al. (2005) found that rats that had been
deprived of REM sleep after learning a new task were less able to perform the task again later
than were rats that had been allowed to dream, and these differences were greater on tasks that
involved learning unusual information or developing new behaviors.
Payne and Nadel (2004) argued that the content of dreams is the result of consolidation when we
dream about the things that are being moved into long-term memory. Thus, dreaming may be an
important part of the learning that we do while sleeping (Hobson et al., 2000).

Activation-Synthesis Theory: The activation-synthesis theory of dreaming (Hobson & McCarley,

1977; Hobson, 2004) proposes still another explanation for dreaming; that is, dreams are our
brain’s interpretation of the random firing of neurons in the brain stem. According to this theory,
the signals from the brain stem are sent to the cortex, just as they are when we are awake, but
because the pathways from the cortex to skeletal muscles are disconnected during REM sleep, the
cortex does not know how to interpret the signals. As a result, the cortex strings the messages
together into the coherent stories we experience as dreams.

Although researchers are still trying to determine the exact causes of dreaming, one thing remains
clear, and that is we need to dream. If we are deprived of REM sleep, we quickly become less able
to engage in the important tasks of everyday life, until we are finally able to dream again.

103
 Key Takeaways

 Human and animal behavior is influenced by biological rhythms, including annual,

monthly, and circadian rhythms.
 Sleep consists of two major stages: REM and non-REM sleep. Non-REM sleep
has four substages, known as stages 1, 2, 3, and 4.
 Each sleep stage is marked by a specific pattern of biological responses and brain wave
patterns.
 Sleep is essential for adequate functioning during the day. Sleep disorders, including
insomnia, sleep apnea, and narcolepsy, may make it hard for us to sleep well.
 Dreams occur primarily during REM sleep. Some theories of dreaming, such Freud’s,
are based on the content of the dreams. Other theories of dreaming propose that
dreaming is related to memory consolidation. The activation-synthesis theory of
dreaming is based only on neural activity.

Exercises and Critical Thinking

1. If you happen to be home alone one night, try this exercise: At nightfall, leave the lights
and any other powered equipment off. Does this influence what time you go to sleep as
opposed to your normal sleep time?
2. Review your own sleep patterns. Are you getting enough sleep? What makes you think
so?
3. Review some of the dreams that you have had recently. Consider how each of the
theories of dreaming discussed would explain your dreams.

Chapter Summary

All human behavior, thoughts, and feelings are produced by the actions of our brains, nerves,
muscles, and glands.

The body is controlled by the nervous system, consisting of the central nervous system (CNS)
and the peripheral nervous system (PNS) and the endocrine system, which is made up of glands
that create and control hormones.

Neurons are the cells in the nervous system. Neurons are composed of a soma that contains the
nucleus of the cell; a dendrite that collects information from other cells and sends the
information to the soma; and a long-segmented fiber, known as the axon, which transmits
information away from the cell body toward other neurons and to the muscles and glands.

The nervous system operates using an electrochemical process. An electrical charge moves
through the neuron itself, and chemicals are used to transmit information between neurons.
Within the neuron, the electrical charge occurs in the form of an action potential. The action
potential operates in an all-or-nothing manner.

104
Neurons are separated by junction areas known as synapses. Neurotransmitters travel across the
synaptic space between the terminal button of one neuron and the dendrites of other neurons,
where they bind to the dendrites in the neighboring neurons. More than 100 chemical substances
produced in the body have been identified as neurotransmitters, and these substances have a wide
and profound effect on emotion, cognition, and behavior.

Drugs that we may ingest can be agonists that mimic neurotransmitters, or they may be
antagonists that block the operations of neurotransmitters.

The brain stem is the oldest and innermost region of the brain. It controls the most basic
functions of life, including breathing, attention, and reflexes. The brain stem includes the
medulla, the pons, and the reticular formation.

The cerebellum, behind the brain stem, is primarily responsible for the coordination of voluntary
movement.

Above the brain stem are other older parts of the brain involved in the processing of behavior and
emotions, including the thalamus and the limbic system. The limbic system includes the
amygdala, the hypothalamus, and the hippocampus.

The cerebral cortex contains about 20 billion nerve cells and 300 trillion synaptic connections,
and it is supported by billions more glial cells that surround and link to the neurons. The cerebral
cortex is divided into two cerebral hemispheres, and each hemisphere is divided into four lobes,
each separated by folds known as fissures.

The frontal lobe is primarily responsible for thinking, planning, memory, and judgment. The
parietal lobe is responsible for processing information about touch and locating objects in space.
The occipital lobe processes visual information, and the temporal lobe is responsible for hearing
and language.

The cerebral cortex also includes the motor cortex, the somatosensory cortex, the visual cortex,
the auditory cortex, and the association areas. Damage to Broca's area can lead to difficulty
speaking, and damage in Wernicke’s area produces difficulty with understanding speech.

The brain can develop new neurons, a process known as neurogenesis, as well as new routes for
neural communications known as neuroplasticity.

Psychologists study the brain using lesion approaches, as well as through neuroimaging
techniques that include electroencephalography (EEG), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI),
functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), positron emission tomography (PET),
computerized axial tomography (CT), and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).

Sensory or afferent neurons carry information from the sensory receptors, whereas motor or
efferent neurons transmit information to the muscles and glands. Both are locatesd in the
peripheral nervous system. Interneurons, by far the most common neurons, are located
primarily within the CNS and responsible for communicating among the neurons.

105
The Central Nervous System consists of the brain and spinal cord. The peripheral nervous system
is divided into two subsystems, one controlling internal responses called the autonomic nervous
system (ANS) and one controlling external responses, called the somatic nervous system. The
sympathetic division of the ANS is involved in preparing the body for behavior by activating the
organs and the glands in the endocrine system. The parasympathetic division of the ANS tends to
calm the body by slowing the heart and breathing and by allowing the body to recover from the
activities that the sympathetic system causes.

Glands in the endocrine system include the pituitary gland, the pancreas, the adrenal glands, and
the male and female sex glands. The male sex hormone testosterone and the female sex
hormones estrogen and progesterone play important roles in behavior and contribute to sex
differences. Other hormones also influence thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

The behavior of organisms is influenced by biological rhythms, including the daily circadian
rhythms that guide the waking and sleeping cycle in many animals.

Each of the sleep stages has its own distinct pattern of brain activity. Rapid eye movement
(REM) accounts for about 25% of our total sleep time, during which we dream. Non-rapid eye
movement (non-REM) sleep is a deep sleep characterized by very slow brain waves, and is
further subdivided into four stages: Stages 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Sleep has a vital restorative function, and a prolonged lack of sleep results in increased anxiety,
diminished performance, and if severe and extended, even death. Sleep deprivation suppresses
immune responses that fight off infection, and can lead to obesity, hypertension, and memory
impairment.

Some people suffer from sleep disorders, including insomnia, sleep apnea, narcolepsy,
sleepwalking, and REM sleep behavior disorder.

Freud believed that the primary function of dreams was wish fulfillment, and he differentiated
between the manifest and latent content of dreams. Other theories of dreaming propose that we
dream primarily to help with memory consolidation or the moving of information into long-term
memory. The activation-synthesis theory of dreaming proposes that dreams are simply our brain’s
interpretation of the random firing of neurons in the brain stem.

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Chapter 4 Learning
Learning Objective

1. Define learning and conditioning.

The topic of this chapter is learning defined as the relatively permanent change in knowledge or
behavior that is the result of experience. You might think of learning in terms of what you need to
do before an upcoming exam or new skills that you acquire through practice, but these changes
represent only one component of learning. In fact, learning is a broad topic that is also used to
explain a wide variety of other psychological changes. Learning even describes how a person
acquires a psychological disorder such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Learning is perhaps the most important

Figure 4.1 Watson and Skinner
human capacity. Learning allows us to create
effective lives by being able to respond to
changes. We learn to avoid touching hot
stoves, to find our way home from school,
and to remember which people have helped
us in the past. Without the ability to learn
from our experiences, our lives would be
remarkably dangerous and inefficient. The
principles of learning can also be used to
explain a wide variety of social interactions,
including social dilemmas in which people
make important decisions about how to
behave.
John B. Watson (right) and B. F. Skinner (left) were
champions of the behaviorist school of learning. The study of learning is closely associated
Source: Watson photo
Source: Skinner photo
with the behavioral perspective of
psychology. Two early leaders in the
behaviorist school are John B. Watson and B. F. Skinner. These psychologists focused their
research entirely on behavior, excluding mental processes. For behaviorists, learning is a process
of conditioning which means that the response to a specific stimulus can be learned.

Conditioning is just one type of learning. In this chapter, we will also consider learning through
insight, cognition, and observation. In each case, we will see not only what psychologists have
learned about the topics, but also the important influence that learning has on many aspects of our
everyday lives. Additionally, we will see that in some cases learning can be maladaptive.

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Classical Conditioning

Learning Objectives

1. Explain the process of classical conditioning as described by Pavlov.

2. Differentiate among the concepts of classical conditioning, including neutral stimulus
(NS), unconditioned stimulus (US), conditioned stimulus (CS), unconditioned
response (UR), and conditioned response (CR).
3. Explain the processes of extinction, spontaneous recovery, stimulus generalization, stimulus
discrimination, and second-order conditioning, in learning.
4. Explain how classical conditioning occurs in everyday life through both nature and nurture
factors.

Pavlov Demonstrates Conditioning in Dogs

In the early part of the 20th century, Russian physiologist Ivan

Pavlov (1849–1936) was studying the digestive system of dogs Figure 4.2 Ivan Pavlov
when he noticed an interesting behavioral phenomenon: The dogs
began to salivate as soon as the lab technicians who normally fed
them entered the room. Pavlov realized that the dogs were
salivating because they knew that they were about to be fed; the
dogs had begun to associate the arrival of the technicians with the
food that soon followed their appearance in the room.

With his team of researchers, Pavlov began studying this process in

more detail. He conducted a series of experiments in which, over a
number of trials, dogs were exposed to a sound immediately before
receiving food. He systematically controlled the onset of the sound
and the timing of the delivery of the food, and recorded the amount
Ivan Pavlov’s research made
of the dogs’ salivation. Initially the dogs salivated only when they substantial contributions to
saw or smelled the food, but after several pairings of the sound and our understanding of
the food, the dogs began to salivate as soon as they heard the sound. learning.
The animals had learned to associate the sound with the food that Source

followed.

Pavlov had identified a fundamental associative learning process called classical conditioning.
Classical conditioning refers to learning that occurs when a neutral stimulus becomes associated
with a stimulus that naturally produces a behavior. After the association is learned, the previously
neutral stimulus is sufficient to produce the behavior.

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Psychologists use specific terms to identify the stimuli and the responses in classical conditioning.
 Unconditioned stimulus (US) is something that triggers a naturally occurring response.
 Unconditioned response (UR) is the naturally occurring response that follows the
unconditioned stimulus. Some examples of the US-UR pairs include:
o Sneezing (UR) to pepper (US)
o Shivering (UR) to cold (US)
o Blinking (UR) to a bright light (US)
*Notice how all of these responses are reflexive and unlearned, which is why we refer to them as
being unconditioned.
 Neutral stimulus (NS) is something that does not naturally produce a response.
 Conditioned stimulus (CS) is a once neutral stimulus that has been repeatedly presented
prior to the unconditioned stimulus and evokes a similar response as the unconditioned
stimulus.
 Conditioned Response (CR) is the acquired response to the conditioned stimulus, which
was the formerly neutral stimulus.

In Pavlov’s experiment, the sound of the tone served as the initial neutral stimulus. It became a
conditioned stimulus after learning because it produced a conditioned response. Note that the
unconditioned response and the conditioned response are the same behavior. In Pavlov’s
experiment, it was salivation. The unconditioned and conditioned responses are given different
names because they are produced by different stimuli. The unconditioned stimulus produces the
unconditioned response and the conditioned stimulus produces the conditioned response (see
Figure 4.3).

Figure 4.3 Four-Panel Illustration of Classical Conditioning

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The Persistence and Extinction of Conditioning

After he had demonstrated that learning could occur through association, Pavlov moved on to
study the variables that influenced the strength and the persistence of conditioning. In some
studies, after the conditioning had taken place, Pavlov presented the sound repeatedly but without
presenting the food afterward. Figure 4.4 shows what happened. As you can see, after the initial
acquisition or learning phase in which the conditioning occurred, when the CS was then presented
alone, the behavior rapidly decreased. The dogs salivated less and less to the sound, and eventually
the sound did not elicit salivation at all. Extinction refers to the reduction in responding that
occurs when the conditioned stimulus is presented repeatedly without the unconditioned stimulus.

Figure 4.4 Acquisition, Extinction, and Spontaneous Recovery

Acquisition: The CS and the US are repeatedly paired together and behavior increases.
Extinction: The CS is repeatedly presented alone, and the behavior slowly decreases.
Spontaneous Recovery: After a pause, when the CS is again presented alone, the behavior may again occur
and then again show extinction.
Source

Although at the end of the first extinction period the CS was no longer producing salivation, the
effects of conditioning had not entirely disappeared. Pavlov found that, after a pause, sounding the
tone again elicited salivation, although to a lesser extent than before extinction took place. The
increase in responding to the CS following a pause after extinction is known as spontaneous
recovery. When Pavlov again presented the CS alone, the behavior again showed extinction.

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Although the behavior has disappeared, extinction is never complete. If conditioning is again
attempted, the animal will learn the new associations much faster than it did the first time.

Stimulus Generalization vs. Stimulus Discrimination

Pavlov also experimented with presenting new stimuli that were similar, but not identical to, the
original conditioned stimulus. For instance, if the dog had been conditioned to being scratched
before the food arrived, the stimulus would be changed to being rubbed rather than scratched. He
found that the dogs also salivated upon experiencing the similar stimulus.

This process is known as stimulus generalization, which refers to the tendency to respond to
stimuli that resemble the original conditioned stimulus. The ability to generalize has important
evolutionary significance. If we eat some red berries and they make us sick, it would be a good
idea to think twice before we eat some purple berries. Although the berries are not exactly the
same, they nevertheless are similar and may have the same negative properties.

Lewicki (1985) conducted research that demonstrated the influence of stimulus generalization and
how quickly and easily it occurs. In his experiment, high school students first had a brief interaction
with a female experimenter who had short hair and glasses. The study was set up so that the
students had to ask the experimenter a question, and according to random assignment, the
experimenter responded either in a way that made students feel bad or in a neutral way. Then the
students were told to go into a second room in which two experimenters were present, and to
approach either one of them. However, the researchers arranged it so that one of the two
experimenters looked a lot like the original experimenter, while the other one did not as she had
longer hair and no glasses. The students were significantly more likely to avoid the experimenter
who looked like the earlier experimenter when that experimenter had been negative to them than
when she had treated them more neutrally. The participants showed stimulus generalization, such
that the new, similar-looking experimenter created the same negative response in the participants
as had the experimenter in the prior session.

The flip side of generalization is stimulus discrimination or the tendency to respond differently to
stimuli that are similar but not identical. Pavlov’s dogs quickly learned, for example, to salivate
when they heard the specific tone that had preceded food, but not upon hearing similar tones that
had never been associated with food. Discrimination is also useful; if we do try the purple berries,
and if they do not make us sick, we will be able to make the distinction in the future.

Second-order Conditioning: In some cases, an existing conditioned stimulus can serve as an

unconditioned stimulus for a pairing with a new conditioned stimulus, and this process is known as
second-order conditioning. In one of Pavlov’s studies, for instance, he first conditioned the dogs
to salivate to a sound, and then repeatedly paired a new CS, a black square, with the sound.
Eventually he found that the dogs would salivate at the sight of the black square alone, even
though it had never been directly associated with the food.

Secondary conditioners in everyday life include our attractions to or fears of things that stand for
or remind us of something else. For example, we might feel good (CR) when hearing a particular
song (CS) that is associated with a romantic moment (US). If we associate that song with a
particular artist, then we may have those same good feelings whenever we hear another song by
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that same artist. We now have a favorite performing artist, thanks to second order conditioning,
and according to the early behaviorists, we acquired this preference without consciously making
the decision.

Classical Conditioning and the Role of Nature

In the beginning, behaviorists argued that all learning is driven by experience, and that nature plays
no role. Classical conditioning, which is based on learning through experience, represents an
example of the importance of the environment, but classical conditioning cannot be understood
entirely in terms of experience. Natural instinct also plays a part. Unconditioned stimulus- response
patterns generally represent reflexes that are species-specific. In addition, our evolutionary history
has made us more prepared to learn some associations than others. We are more likely to learn a
fear of dogs, for example, than a fear of small children, even though both may bite, move
suddenly, and make loud noises.

Conditioning is evolutionarily beneficial because it allows organisms to develop expectations that

help them prepare for both good and bad events. Imagine, for instance, that an animal first smells a
new food, eats it, and then gets sick. If the animal can learn to associate the smell (CS) with the
food (US), then it will quickly learn that the food creates the negative outcome, and not eat it the
next time. This is referred to as taste aversion, one time learning to avoid a food that made an
organism sick. Generally, the US-UR pairs are reflexive and unlearned. The fact that these pairs
are present in all members of a species adds to the evidence that these are the result of evolution.

Even more significant, nature-based conditioning is superior to other environmental stimuli present
during the conditioning. In his important research on food conditioning, John Garcia and his
colleagues (Garcia et al., 1955; Garcia et al., 1966) attempted to condition rats by presenting either
a taste, a sight, or a sound as a neutral stimulus before the rats were given drugs (the US) that made
them nauseous. Garcia discovered that taste conditioning was extremely powerful and that the rat
learned to avoid the taste associated with illness, even if the illness occurred several hours later.
Conditioning the behavioral response of nausea to a sight or a sound was much more difficult.
These results contradicted the idea that conditioning occurs entirely as a result of environmental
events, such that it would occur equally for any kind of unconditioned stimulus that followed any
kind of conditioned stimulus. Rather, Garcia’s research showed that genetics matters. Organisms
are evolutionarily prepared to learn some associations more easily than others, which is referred
to as biological preparedness. You can see that the ability to associate smells with illness is an
important survival mechanism, allowing the organism to quickly learn to avoid foods that are
poisonous.

Clinical psychologists make use of classical conditioning to explain the learning of a phobia, a
strong and irrational fear of a specific object, activity, or situation. People are more likely to
develop phobias toward objects such as snakes, spiders, heights, and open spaces. In modern
society, it is rare for humans to be bitten by spiders or snakes, to fall from trees, or to be attacked
by a predator in an open area. Being injured while riding in a car or being cut by a knife are much
more likely, but in our evolutionary past, being bitten by snakes or spiders, falling out of a tree, or
being trapped in an open space represented survival issues. Therefore, humans are still biologically
more prepared to learn associations with these objects or situations (Öhman & Mineka, 2001;
LoBue & DeLoache, 2010).
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John Watson, described in chapter 1 as the first behaviorist, may have benefitted from this
biological preparedness in his work with Little Albert (Seligman, 1970). As you recall from that
chapter, Little Albert was the baby who learned to be afraid of a rat. The rat (a neutral stimulus)
was paired with a loud noise (the unconditioned stimulus). Little Albert's response to the loud
noise was fear (unconditioned response). After conditioning, the rat became a conditioned stimulus
which produced a conditioned response of fear. From an evolutionary perspective, people are
more prepared to develop a fear of creatures that may spread disease or, especially in the case of
babies, harm them.

Classical conditioning has also been used to help explain the experience of posttraumatic stress
disorder (PTSD). PTSD is a severe anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to a fearful
event, such as the threat of death (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). PTSD occurs when
the individual develops a strong association between the situational factors that surrounded the
traumatic event. For example in war, military uniforms or the sounds and smells (neutral stimuli)
become associated with the fearful trauma of war (unconditioned stimulus). As a result of the
conditioning, being exposed to similar stimuli, or even thinking about the situation in which the
trauma occurred (conditioned stimulus) becomes sufficient to produce the conditioned response of
severe anxiety (Keane et al., 1985).

Figure 4.5 The Role of Classical Conditioning and PTSD

Photo © Thinkstock

PTSD develops because the emotions experienced during the event have produced neural activity
in the amygdala and created strong conditioned learning. In addition to the strong conditioning that
people with PTSD experience, they also show slower extinction to classical conditioning (Milad et
al., 2009). In short, people with PTSD have developed very strong association with the events
surrounding the trauma and are also slow to show extinction to the conditioned stimulus.

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Key Takeaways

 In classical conditioning, a neutral stimulus is paired with an unconditioned stimulus.

The result of the pairing is that the neutral stimulus becomes conditioned or learned
and elicits the same response as the unconditioned stimulus
 Extinction occurs when the CS is repeatedly presented without the US, and the CR
eventually disappears, although it may reappear later in a process known as
spontaneous recovery.
 Stimulus generalization occurs when a stimulus that is similar to an already-conditioned
stimulus begins to produce the same response as the original stimulus does.
 Stimulus discrimination occurs when the organism learns to differentiate between
the CS and other similar stimuli.
 In second-order conditioning, a neutral stimulus becomes a CS after being
paired with a previously established CS.
 Some stimuli, such as response pairs, such as those between smell and food, are
more easily conditioned than others because they have been particularly important
in our evolutionary past.

Exercises and Critical Thinking

1. A particular song is playing when you first fell in love with a special person. Now,
every time you hear the song, you get a warm feeling. Can you explain this response
in terms of classical conditioning? Can you label the NS, US, UR, CS, and CR?
2. Recall a time in your life, perhaps when you were a child, when your behaviors were
influenced by classical conditioning. Describe in detail the nature of the
unconditioned and conditioned stimuli and the response, using the appropriate
psychological terms.
3. If posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a type of classical conditioning,
how might psychologists use the principles of classical conditioning to
treat the disorder?

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Operant Conditioning
Learning Objectives

1. Describe the work of Edward Thorndike and B.F. Skinner.

2. Explain the process of operant conditioning.
3. Define reinforcement, reinforcer, punishment, punisher, shaping, successive
approximations, extinction, generalization, discriminative stimulus, primary reinforcer,
secondary reinforcer.
4. Explain the difference between positive and negative reinforcement.
5. Explain the difference between positive and negative punishment.
6. Describe the effective use of punishment.
7. Describe the use of behavior modification and a token economy.
8. Differentiate amongh the four partial reinforcement schedules.

In classical conditioning the organism learns to associate new stimuli with natural, biological
responses such as salivation or fear. The organism does not learn something new, but rather begins
to perform in an existing behavior in the presence of a new signal. Operant conditioning, on the
other hand, is learning that occurs based on the consequences of behavior and can involve the
learning of new actions. Operant conditioning occurs when a dog rolls over on command because it
has been praised for doing so in the past, when a schoolroom bully threatens his classmates
because doing so allows him to get his way, and when a child gets good grades because her parents
threaten to punish her if she does not. In operant conditioning, the organism learns from the
consequences of its own actions.

The Research of Thorndike and Skinner

Psychologist Edward L. Thorndike (1874–1949) was the first scientist to systematically study
operant conditioning. In his research, Thorndike (1898) observed cats who had been placed in a
puzzle box from which they tried to escape. At first the cats scratched, bit, and swatted
haphazardly, without any idea of how to get out, but eventually, and accidentally, they pressed the
lever that opened the door and exited to their prize, a scrap of fish. The next time the cat was
constrained within the box it attempted fewer of the ineffective responses before carrying out the
successful escape, and after several trials the cat learned to almost immediately make the correct
response.

Observing these changes in the cats’ behavior led Thorndike to develop his law of effect, the
principle that responses that create a typically pleasant outcome in a particular situation are more
likely to occur again in a similar situation, whereas responses that produce a typically unpleasant
outcome are less likely to occur again in the same situation (Thorndike, 1911). The essence of the
law of effect is that successful responses are pleasurable. These responses are strengthened or
enriched by experience, and thus occur more frequently. Unsuccessful responses, which produce
unpleasant experiences, are weakened and subsequently occur less frequently. When Thorndike
placed his cats in a puzzle box, he found that they learned to engage in the important escape
behavior faster after each trial.

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 The influential behavioral psychologist B. F.
Figure 4.6 Rat in a Skinner Box Skinner (1904–1990) expanded on Thorndike’s
ideas to develop a more complete set of
principles to explain operant conditioning.
Skinner created a specially designed
environment known as a Skinner box, which is
a structure that is big enough to fit a rodent or
bird and that contains a bar or key that the
organism can press or peck to release food or
water. It also contains a device to record the
animal’s responses (see Figure 4.6).

The most basic of Skinner’s experiments was

quite similar to Thorndike’s research with cats.
B. F. Skinner used a Skinner box to study operant A hungry rat placed in the chamber reacted as
learning. The box contains a bar or key that the one might expect, scurrying about the box and
organism can press to receive food and water, and a sniffing and clawing at the floor and walls.
device that records the organism’s responses.
Eventually the rat chanced upon a lever, which
Source
it pressed to release pellets of food. The next
time around, the rat took a little less time to press the lever, and on successive trials, the time it
took to press the lever became shorter and shorter. Soon the rat was pressing the lever as fast as it
could eat the food that appeared. As predicted by the law of effect, the rat had learned to repeat the
action that brought about the food and cease the actions that did not.

Reinforcement and Punishment

Skinner studied in detail how animals changed their behavior through reinforcement, which
increases the likelihood of a behavior reoccurring, and punishment, which decreases the likelihood
of a behavior reoccurring. Skinner used the term reinforcer to refer to any event that strengthens
or increases the likelihood of a behavior and the term punisher to refer to any event that weakens
or decreases the likelihood of a behavior. He used the terms positive and negative to refer to
whether a reinforcement was presented or removed, respectively.

Reinforcement: There are two ways of reinforcing a behavior: Positive reinforcement

strengthens a response by presenting something pleasant after the response and negative
reinforcement strengthens a response by reducing or removing something unpleasant. For
example, giving a child praise for completing his homework is positive reinforcement. Taking
aspirin to reduce the pain of a headache is negative reinforcement. In both cases, the
reinforcement makes it more likely that behavior will occur again in the future.

Unfortunately, getting a child to do homework is not as simple as giving praise. The rats in
Skinner's box were always hungry, so food was always reinforcing. A child is not always in
need of praise, especially if some alternate activity (e.g. TV) is providing superior reinforcement.
Reinforcement is not a specific item or event. Reinforcement is what increases behavior.
People differ in what makes them feel good, and what makes a hungry person feel good is not
the same as what will reinforce a full person. Something does not count as reinforcement unless
it increases the targeted behavior.
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Because people differ in what please them, using reinforcement to control behavior in a group
setting is not easy. Sometimes tokens, such as coins or points, are used as reinforcers in settings
such as schools, homes, or prison, and this is called a token economy. These tokens can be
exchanged for what the individual finds reinforcing at that time. A child, for example, might be
able to use their points for a desired snack or time on the computer. Reinforcement size must
still, however, be greater than the reinforcement value of any alternate behavior. A tired
teenager, for example, might obtain more reinforcement from sleeping, even if they are offered a
lot of money to take a job that starts at 5 a.m.

Punishment: There are two ways to punish a behavior: Positive punishment weakens a response
by presenting something unpleasant after the response, whereas negative punishment weakens a
response by reducing or removing something pleasant. A child who is given chores after fighting
with a sibling, a type of positive punishment, or who loses out on the opportunity to go to recess
after getting a poor grade, a type of negative punishment, is less likely to repeat these behaviors.
Consistent use of punishment for a behavior is more effective than occasional punishment. A
child who is only occasionally reprimanded for sneaking candy into their room will be more likely
to continue. Also, if the punishment is strong, it will be more effective. For example, a $1000 fine
for a first-time jaywalking offense will be more likely to deter the behavior in the future than a $10
fine. These terms are summarized in Table 4.1.

Table 4.1 How Positive and Negative Reinforcement and Punishment Influence Behavior

Operant Description Outcome Example

conditioning term
Positive Add or increase a Behavior is Giving a student a prize after they get an A
reinforcement pleasant stimulus strengthened on a test

Negative Reduce or remove an Behavior is Taking painkillers that eliminate pain

reinforcement unpleasant stimulus strengthened increases the likelihood that you will take
painkillers again

Positive Present or add an Behavior is Giving a student extra homework after they
punishment unpleasant stimulus weakened misbehave in class

Negative Reduce or remove a Behavior is Taking away a teen’s computer after they
punishment pleasant stimulus weakened miss curfew

Discriminative stimuli can provide clues to let the organism know when reinforcement, or
punishment, will occur in response to a behavior. For example, the presence of other speeding
vehicles might let the hurried motorist know that they will be reinforced by arriving sooner at their
destination without a ticket. The presence of a police car might alert a driver that punishment will
likely occur if they speed. Some motorists slow down when they see a car in their rear-view mirror
that resembles a police car. Similar to classical conditioning, this is referred to as stimulus
generalization. Drivers are treating the similar stimulus in the same way as they treated the
discriminative stimulus.

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Reinforcement Schedules

One way to expand the use of operant learning is to modify the schedule on which the
reinforcement is applied. To this point we have only discussed a continuous reinforcement
schedule, in which the desired response is reinforced every time it occurs; whenever the dog
rolls over, for instance, it gets a biscuit. Continuous reinforcement results in relatively fast
learning, but also rapid extinction of the desired behavior once the reinforcer disappears. The
problem is that because the organism is used to receiving the reinforcement after every
behavior, the responder may give up quickly when it does not appear.

Most real-world reinforcers are not continuous; they occur on a partial (or intermittent)
reinforcement schedule, which is a schedule in which the responses are sometimes reinforced,
and sometimes not. In comparison to continuous reinforcement, partial reinforcement schedules
lead to slower initial learning, but they also lead to greater resistance to extinction. Because the
reinforcement does not appear after every behavior, it takes longer for the learner to determine that
the reward is no longer coming, and thus extinction is slower.

Partial reinforcement schedules are determined by whether the reinforcement is:

 Ratio: Based on the number of responses that the organism engages in
 Interval: Based on the time that elapses between reinforcement
 Fixed: Based on a regular schedule
 Variable: Based on an unpredictable schedule

In a fixed-ratio schedule, a behavior is reinforced

after a specific number of responses. For instance, Figure 4.7 Slot Machine
a rat’s behavior may be reinforced after it has
pressed a key 20 times, or a salesperson may
receive a bonus after she has sold 10 products. As
you can see in Figure 4.8, once the organism has
learned to act in accordance with the fixed-
reinforcement schedule, it will pause only briefly
when reinforcement occurs before returning to a
high level of responsiveness.

A variable-ratio schedule provides reinforcers Slot machines are examples of a variable-

after a specific but average number of responses. ratio reinforcement schedule. © Thinkstock
Winning money from slot machines or on a lottery
ticket are examples of reinforcement that occur on a variable-ratio schedule. For instance, a slot
machine may be programmed to provide a win every 20 times the user pulls the handle, on
average. As you can see in Figure 4.7 involving slot machines, a variable ratio schedule tends to
produce high rates of responding because reinforcement increases as the number of responses
increase.

In a fixed-interval schedule, reinforcement occurs for the first response made after a specific
amount of time has passed. For instance, on a one-minute fixed-interval schedule the animal
receives a reinforcer every minute, assuming it engages in the behavior at least once during the
minute. As you can see in Figure 4.8, animals under fixed-interval schedules tend to slow down
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their responding immediately after the reinforcement, but then increase the behavior again as the
time of the next reinforcement gets closer. Most students study for exams the same way.

In a variable-interval schedule, the reinforcers appear on an interval schedule, but the timing is
varied around the average interval, making the appearance of the reinforcer unpredictable. An
example might be checking your e-mail: You are reinforced by receiving messages that come, on
average, say every 30 minutes, but the reinforcement occurs only at random times. Interval
reinforcement schedules tend to produce slow and steady rates of responding. The four types of
partial reinforcement schedules are summarized in Table 4.2.

Figure 4.8 Examples of Response Patterns by Animals Trained Under Different Partial
Reinforcement Schedules

Schedules based on the number of responses (ratio types) induce greater response rate than do schedules based
on elapsed time (interval types). Also, unpredictable schedules (variable types) produce stronger responses than
do predictable schedules (fixed types).
Source: Adapted from Kassin, S. (2003). Essentials of psychology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Retrieved from Essentials of Psychology Prentice Hall Companion Website:

Table 4.2 Reinforcement Schedules

Reinforcement Explanation Real-world example

schedule
Fixed-ratio Behavior is reinforced after a specific number of Factory workers who are paid
responses according to the number of
products they produce
Variable-ratio Behavior is reinforced after an average, but Payoffs from slot machines and
unpredictable, number of responses other games of chance
Fixed-interval Behavior is reinforced for the first response after People who earn a monthly salary
a specific amount of time has passed

Variable- Behavior is reinforced for the first response after Person who checks voice mail for
interval an average, but unpredictable, amount of time messages
has passed

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Creating Complex Behaviors through Operant Conditioning

Perhaps you remember watching a movie or going to an aquarium in which an animal, maybe a
dolphin, did some pretty amazing things. The trainer gave a command and the dolphin swam to
the bottom of the pool, picked up a ring on its nose, jumped out of the water through a hoop in
the air, dived again to the bottom of the pool, picked up another ring, and then took both of the
rings to the trainer at the edge of the pool. The animal was trained to do the trick, and the
principles of operant conditioning were used to train it. How can reinforcement be used to create
complex behaviors such as these?

Complex behaviors are also created through shaping. Shaping is the process of guiding an
organism’s behavior to the desired outcome through the reinforcement of successive
approximations to a final desired behavior. Successive approximations are small changes in
behavior which move the organism in the right direction. In other words, successive
approximations are improvements. Skinner made extensive use of this procedure in his boxes. For
instance, he could train a rat to press a bar two times to receive food, by first providing food when
the animal moved near the bar. Then when that behavior had been learned he would begin to
provide food only when the rat touched the bar. Further shaping limited the reinforcement to only
when the rat pressed the bar, to when it pressed the bar and touched it a second time, and finally, to
only when it pressed the bar twice. Although it can take a long time, in this way operant
conditioning can create chains of behaviors that are reinforced only when they are completed.

Reinforcing animals if they correctly discriminate between similar stimuli allows scientists to test
the animals’ ability to learn, and the discriminations that they can make are sometimes quite
remarkable. Pigeons have been trained to distinguish between images of Charlie Brown and the
other Peanuts characters (Cerella, 1980), and between different styles of music and art (Porter
& Neuringer, 1984; Watanabe et al., 1995).

Primary and Secondary Reinforcers

Behaviors can also be trained through the use of secondary reinforcers. Whereas a
primary reinforcer includes stimuli that are naturally preferred or enjoyed by the organism, such
as food, water, and relief from pain, a secondary reinforcer, also called a conditioned reinforce,
is a neutral event that has become associated with a natural primary reinforcer through classical
conditioning. An example of a learned secondary reinforcer would be the whistle given by an
animal trainer, which has been associated over time with the primary reinforcer, food. An example
of an everyday secondary reinforcer is money. We enjoy having money for the primary reinforcers
with which it is associated. For example, money can be used to buy food.

Changing Behavior with Reinforcement and Punishment

It is also important to note that reinforcement and punishment are not simply opposites. The use
of positive reinforcement in changing behavior is almost always more effective than using
punishment. This is because positive reinforcement makes the person or animal feel better,
helping create a positive relationship with the person providing the reinforcement.

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Types of positive reinforcement that are effective in everyday life include verbal praise or
approval, the awarding of status or prestige, and direct financial payment. Punishment combined
with reinforcement for an alternative behavior is more effective than punishment alone.

Punishment is more likely to create only temporary changes in behavior because it is based on
coercion and typically creates a negative and adversarial relationship with the person providing
the punishment. When the person, who provides the punishment, leaves the situation, the
unwanted behavior is likely to return. Additionally, those punished for bad behavior typically
change their behavior only to avoid the punishment rather than internalizing the norms of being
good for its own sake.

Punishment may also have unintended consequences. Punishment models aggression as a

method to control other people (Kohn, 1993). Punishment can cause anxiety which interferes
with learning. Emotional punishment, such as criticism or withdrawal of affection, can lead to
depression. If punishment is used, it is important to combine the punishment with reinforcement
for an alternative behavior. Then the person can leave the situation having learned how to earn
positive consequences.

There are alternatives to using punishment in operant conditioning. Extinction, for example,
will occur if you remove reinforcement from a previously occurring behavior. For example, if a
child is getting attention for throwing a tantrum, some psychologists recommend that you ignore
him. If attention has been the reward for this behavior in the past, removing the attention will
cause extinction of the tantrum. In some cases, "time-outs" are a form of extinction for a
misbehaving child. The parent takes away the reinforcing situation to eliminate a behavior.

Behavior modification refers to the deliberate and systematic use of conditioning to modify
behavior. Parents, for example, might want to use behavior modification with their children. A
system of rewards and punishments could be used to train children to do chores. Psychologists
might design programs using behavior modification for a variety of group settings. Prisons,
schools, and mental institutions are examples of places where administrators need to control
behavior. Token economies might be established so that individuals received tokens for good
behaviors. Tokens could then be exchanged for a variety of rewards. Penalties would be used for
less desirable acts, and these penalties could include fines that are paid with tokens.

Although the distinction between reinforcement and punishment is usually clear, in some cases
it is difficult to determine whether a reinforcer is positive or negative. On a hot day, a cool
breeze could be seen as a positive reinforcer (because it brings in cool air) or a negative
reinforcer (because it removes hot air). In other cases, reinforcement can be both positive and
negative. One may smoke a cigarette both because it brings pleasure, positive reinforcement,
and because it eliminates the craving for nicotine, negative reinforcement. Remember that
reinforcement always increases behavior, regardless of whether it is negative or positive.
Punishment is the correct term used for a consequence that suppresses behavior.

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Key Takeaways

 Edward Thorndike developed the law of effect: The principle that responses that
create a typically pleasant outcome in a particular situation are more likely to
occur again in a similar situation, whereas responses that produce a typically
unpleasant outcome are less likely to occur again in the same situation.
 B. F. Skinner expanded on Thorndike’s ideas to develop a set of principles to
explain operant conditioning.
 Positive reinforcement strengthens a response by presenting something that is
typically pleasant after the response, whereas negative reinforcement
strengthens a response by reducing or removing something that is typically
unpleasant.
 Positive punishment weakens a response by presenting something typically unpleasant
after the response, whereas negative punishment weakens a response by reducing or
removing something that is typically pleasant.
 Discriminative stimuli helps us to predict the consequence of a behavior before we do
it.
 Reinforcement may be either partial or continuous. Partial reinforcement schedules are
determined by whether the reinforcement is presented on the basis of the time that
elapses between reinforcements (interval) or on the basis of the number of responses
that the organism engages in (ratio), and by whether the reinforcement occurs on a
regular (fixed) or unpredictable (variable) schedule.
 Complex behaviors may be created through shaping, the process of guiding an
organism’s behavior to the desired outcome through the reinforcement of successive
approximations to a final desired behavior.
 Primary and secondary reinforcers can also train behaviors.
 Behavior modification is the deliberate and systematic use of conditioning to modify
behavior.

Exercises and Critical Thinking

1. Give an example from daily life of each of the following: Positive

reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, and negative
punishment.
2. Consider the reinforcement techniques that you might use to train a dog to catch and
return a Frisbee that you throw.
3. Watch the following two videos from current television shows. Can you determine
which learning procedures are being demonstrated? How is the concept of negative
reinforcement used incorrectly in the second clip? How can you remember the
difference between punishment and negative reinforcement?
a. The Office: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSHWzOXJDSs
b. The Big Bang Theory: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JA96Fba-WHk

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Cognition and Conditioning

Learning Objective

1. Understand the role of cognition in conditioning and learning.

Contemporary learning theorists recognize that internal mental processes, referred to as cognition,
also play a role in most instances of classical and operant conditioning (Kirsch & Lynn, 2004).
The level of cognition varies according to the situation and according to the individual. At a
minimum, almost all agree that for adult humans, expectations are involved in the learning process.
For classical conditioning, this means that specific unconditioned and even conditioned stimuli are
anticipated. Like Pavlov’s dogs, people salivate when they eat. Food is an unconditioned
stimulus, and salivation is the unconditioned response. If the lunch break at work happens at noon
every day, people learn to associate 12 o’clock (conditioned stimulus) with food (unconditioned
stimulus). They may begin to salivate (conditioned response) when they see that time on wall
clock. However, people anticipate lunch time even when they cannot see a clock. They may start
thinking about lunch at 9 a.m. when someone mentions where they want to go. They may begin to
watch the clock and even put away their work well in advance, and they may salivate and get
hungry just thinking about food.

Fear responses can also be acquired through expectations, especially since some people are very
skilled at imagining painful consequences. For example, the sound of a dentist’s drill (conditioned
stimulus) is associated with painful stimulation (unconditioned stimulus). The painful stimulation
causes anxiety/fear (unconditioned response). For some people, the sound of that drill is enough
to make them nervous (conditioned response). They may even experience second order
conditioning and fear entering the dentist’s office. Expectations of pain can even cause some
people to avoid making or keeping appointments with their dentist.

For operant conditioning, reinforcements and punishments are expected and sometimes even
requested. The child reminds a parent who has forgotten to provide reinforcement for a chore, and
employees request extra pay for working more hours. Placebos, described in chapter 2, provide
negative reinforcement for a headache because of the expectation that taking the placebo will
remove the headache.

People can also learn to expect that their actions will have no effect on a situation. For example,
learned helplessness results from repeated exposure to inescapable, painful events (Seligman &
Maier, 1967). Learned helplessness was originally demonstrated in dogs. One group of dogs was
permitted to escape an electrified floor. They quickly learned the behavior required to do this
through negative reinforcement. Another group could not avoid the shocks. This group became
passive. They had learned to be helpless. Psychologists have demonstrated learned helplessness in
a variety of species, including humans. Learned helplessness has been used to explain the
passiveness that might accompany repeated academic failure or even abuse. People can sometimes
think through a problem and change a pattern of helplessness, though. Cognition and expectations
can influence conditioned responses.

Cognition and expectations can also affect the major decisions that people make in life. People
start college, change jobs, get married, and have children with the expectation that rewards will

128
follow. Even when these expectations are unrealistic, the anticipation of pleasure encourages risk-
taking and change. This optimism about the future provides its own reward in the form of
pleasant daydreams. In fact, this optimism may be adaptive since it encourages people to explore,
initiate relationships, and innovate (Sharot et al., 2010).

Reflection

1. Imagine being outside on a hot summer day. Someone arrives with a tray of limes, a
knife, a pitcher of ice water, a glass and a bowl of sugar. You begin to slice a large,
juicy lime, and then slowly squeeze it into the glass. Are these thoughts affecting your
salivation? How would seeing a large fly in the bottom of the glass affect your
conditioned response?
2. Most children are controlled, at least in part, by punishment and reinforcement.
Remember a time as a child when you were conditioned to respond in a
particular way. How is your behavior different now? Did your cognitions or
expectations produce this change?
3. List the situations in which you anticipate reinforcement. These might include
trying a new hobby, getting into a relationship, becoming a parent. Are there
situations in which you anticipate punishment? How do these expectations affect
your behavior?

Other Forms of Learning based on Cognition

Learning Objectives

1. Understand the principles of learning by insight and latent learning.

2. Explain observational learning, including the research on mirror neurons.
3. Explain how learning principles can be used in advertisement and education.

John B. Watson and B. F. Skinner were behaviorists who believed that all learning could be
explained by the processes of conditioning; that is, that associations, and associations alone,
influence learning. However, some kinds of learning are very difficult to explain using only
conditioning. Thus, although classical conditioning and operant conditioning play a key role in
learning, they constitute only a part of the total picture.

Insight: One type of learning that is not determined only by conditioning occurs when we
suddenly find the solution to a problem, as if the idea just popped into our head. This type of
learning is known as insight, the sudden understanding of a solution to a problem. The German
psychologist Wolfgang Köhler (1925) carefully observed what happened when he presented
chimpanzees with a problem that was not easy for them to solve, such as placing food in an area
that was too high in the cage to be reached. He found that the chimps first engaged in trial-and-
error attempts at solving the problem. When these attempts failed, they seemed to stop and think
for a while. After this period of contemplation, they would suddenly seem to know how to solve
the problem. For instance, they might use a stick to knock the food down or stand on a chair to

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reach it. Köhler argued that it was this flash of insight that allowed the animals to solve the
problem.

Latent Learning: Further demonstrating the role of the mind in problem solving, Edward Tolman
compared the behavior of three groups of rats that were learning to navigate their way through
mazes (Tolman & Honzik, 1930). The first group always received a reward of food at the end of
the maze. The second group never received any reward, and the third group received a reward, but
only beginning on the 11th day of the experimental period. As you might expect when considering
the principles of conditioning, the rats in the first group quickly learned to negotiate the maze,
while the rats of the second group seemed to wander aimlessly through it. The rats in the third
group, however, although they wandered aimlessly for the first 10 days, quickly learned to
navigate to the end of the maze as soon as they received food on day 11. By the next day, the rats
in the third group had caught up in their learning to the rats that had been rewarded from the
beginning.

It was clear to Tolman that the rats that had been allowed to experience the maze, even without any
reinforcement, had nevertheless learned something. Tolman called this latent learning, which
refers to learning that is not reinforced and not demonstrated until there is motivation to do so.
Tolman argued that the rats had formed a cognitive map of the maze but did not demonstrate this
knowledge until they received reinforcement.

Observational Learning: The idea of latent learning suggests that

Figure 4.9
animals, and people, may learn simply by experiencing or watching.
Observational learning, also called modeling, is learning by
observing the behavior of others. To demonstrate the importance of
observational learning in children, Albert Bandura, Dorothea Mary
Ross and Shelia Ross at Stanford University showed children a live
image of either a man or a woman interacting with their associate, the
Bobo doll, a filmed version of the same events, or a cartoon version of
the events (Bandura, Ross, & Ross, 1963). The Bobo doll is an
inflatable balloon with a weight in the bottom that makes it come back
up when you knock it down (see Figure 4.9). In all three conditions, the
model violently punched the clown, kicked the doll, sat on it, and hit it
with a hammer.

The researchers first let the children view one of the three types of modeling, and then let them
play in a room in which there were some really fun toys. To create some frustration in the
children, Bandura let the children play with the fun toys for only a couple of minutes before
taking them away. Then Bandura gave the children a chance to play with the Bobo doll.

If you guessed that most of the children imitated the model, you would be correct. Regardless of
which type of modeling the children had seen, and regardless of the sex of the model or the child,
the children who had seen the model behaved aggressively, just as the model had done. They also
punched, kicked, sat on the doll, and hit it with the toy hammer. Bandura and his colleagues had
demonstrated that these children had learned new behaviors, simply by observing and imitating
others.

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Observational learning is useful for animals and for people because it allows us to learn without
having to actually engage in what might be a risky behavior. Monkeys that see other monkeys
respond with fear to the sight of a snake learn to fear the snake themselves, even if they have been
raised in a laboratory and have never actually seen a snake (Cook & Mineka, 1990). As Bandura
(1977) stated:
The prospects for [human] survival would be slim indeed if one could learn only by
suffering the consequences of trial and error. For this reason, one does not teach children to
swim, adolescents to drive automobiles, and novice medical students to perform surgery by
having them discover the appropriate behavior through the consequences of their successes
and failures. The more costly and hazardous the possible mistakes, the heavier is the
reliance on observational learning from competent learners. (p. 212)

Although modeling is normally adaptive, it can be problematic for children who grow up in violent
families. These children are not only the victims of aggression, but they also see it happening to
their parents and siblings. Because children learn how to be parents, in large part by modeling the
actions of their own parents, it is no surprise that there is a strong correlation between family
violence in childhood and violence as an adult. Children who witness their parents being violent or
who are themselves abused are more likely as adults to inflict abuse on intimate partners or their
children, and to be victims of intimate violence (Heyman & Slep, 2002). In turn, their children are
more likely to interact violently with each other and to aggress against their parents (Patterson et
al., 1984).

However, although modeling can increase violence, it can also have positive effects. Research
has found that, just as children learn to be aggressive through observational learning, they can
also learn to be altruistic in the same way (Seymour et al., 2009). Simple exposure to a model is
not enough to explain observational learning. Many children watch violent media and do not
become violent. Others watch acts of kindness and do not learn to behave in a similar fashion. A
variety of factors have been shown to explain the likelihood that exposure will lead to learning
and modeling. Similarity, proximity, frequency of exposure, reinforcement, and likeability of the
model are all related to learning. In addition, people can choose what to watch and whom to
imitate. Observational learning is dependent on many factors, so people are well advised to select
models carefully, both for themselves and their children.

Some scientists now believe that mirror neurons, or neurons that fire when an organism is
observing an action, in the parieto-frontal cortex provide the biological basis for observational
learning (Rizzolatti & Sinigaglia, 2010). These neurons were originally identified in monkeys
during a research study on the motor cortex. Scientists found that the same neurons fired
regardless of whether the monkeys performed an action or merely watched it being performed.
Similar research on humans also supports the role of mirror neurons in learning through mental
imitation (Carlson, 2014). Neural firing may be less dramatic during observation than during
actual performance of a behavior, however. This lower level of neural firing may explain why
people inhibit their actions rather than immediately imitate what they see (Villiger et al., 2011).

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Using the Principles of Learning in Advertisement and Education

The principles of learning are some of the most general and most powerful in all of psychology.
The principles of learning are applied in numerous ways in everyday settings. For example,
operant conditioning has been used to motivate employees, to improve athletic performance, to
increase the functioning of those suffering from developmental disabilities, and to help parents
successfully toilet train their children (Simek & O’Brien, 1981; Pedalino & Gamboa, 1974; Azrin
& Foxx, 1974; McGlynn, 1990). In this section, we will consider how learning theories are used in
advertising and education.

Classical conditioning has long been, and continues to be, an effective tool in marketing and
advertising (Hawkins, Best, & Coney, 1998). The general idea is to create an advertisement that
has positive features, such that the ad creates enjoyment in the person exposed to it. The enjoyable
ad serves as the unconditioned stimulus (US), and the enjoyment is the unconditioned response
(UR). Because the product being advertised is mentioned in the ad, it becomes associated with the
US, and then becomes the conditioned stimulus (CS). In the end, if everything has gone well,
seeing the product online or in the store will then create a conditioned response (CR) leading him
or her to be more likely to purchase the product.

A similar strategy is used by corporations that sponsor teams or events. For instance, if people
enjoy watching a college basketball team playing basketball, and if that team is sponsored by a
product, such as Pepsi, then people may end up experiencing positive feelings when they view a
can of Pepsi. Of course, the sponsor wants to sponsor only good teams and good athletes because
these create more pleasurable responses.

Advertisers use a variety of techniques to create positive advertisements, including enjoyable

music, cute babies, attractive models, and funny spokespeople. In one study, Gorn (1982) showed
research participants pictures of different writing pens of different colors, but paired one of the
pens with pleasant music and the other with unpleasant music. When given a choice as a free gift,
more people chose the pen color associated with the pleasant music. Schemer et al. (2008) found
that people were more interested in products that had been embedded in music videos of artists
that they liked and less likely to be interested when the products were in videos featuring artists
that they did not like.

Another type of ad that is based on principles of classical conditioning is one that associates fear
with the use of a product or behavior, such as those that show images of lung cancer surgery to
discourage smoking. These ads have also been found to be effective (Das et al., 2003; Perloff,
2003; Witte & Allen, 2000), due in large part to conditioning. When we see a cigarette and the
fear of dying has been associated with it, we are hopefully less likely to light up.

Taken together then, there is ample evidence of the utility of classical conditioning, using both
positive as well as negative stimuli, in advertising. This does not, however, mean that we are
always influenced by these ads. The likelihood of conditioning being successful is greater for
products that we do not know much about, where the differences between products are relatively
minor, and when we do not think too carefully about the choices (Schemer et al., 2008).

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Psychology in Everyday Life: Operant Conditioning in the Classroom

John B. Watson and B. F. Skinner believed that all learning was the result of reinforcement, and
thus that reinforcement could be used to educate children. For instance, Watson wrote in his
book on behaviorism,
Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them
up in and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of
specialist I might select—doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-
man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and
race of his ancestors. I am going beyond my facts and I admit it, but so have the
advocates of the contrary and they have been doing it for many thousands of years
(Watson, 1930, p. 82)

Skinner promoted the use of programmed instruction, an educational tool that consists of self-
teaching with the aid of a specialized textbook or teaching machine that presents material in a
logical sequence (Skinner, 1965). Programmed instruction allows students to progress through a
unit of study at their own rate, checking their own answers and advancing only after answering
correctly. Programmed instruction is used today in many classes, for instance to teach computer
programming (Emurian, 2009).

Although reinforcement can be effective in education, and teachers make use of it by awarding
gold stars, good grades, and praise, there are also substantial limitations to using reward to
improve learning. To be most effective, rewards must be contingent on appropriate behavior. In
some cases, teachers may distribute rewards indiscriminately, for instance by giving praise or
good grades to children whose work does not warrant it, in the hope that they will feel good
about themselves, and that this self-esteem will lead to better performance. Studies indicate,
however, that high self-esteem alone does not improve academic performance (Baumeister,
Campbell, Krueger, & Vohs, 2003). When rewards are not earned, they become meaningless
and no longer provide motivation for improvement.

Another potential limitation of rewards is that they may teach children that the activity should be
performed for the reward, rather than for one’s own interest in the task. If rewards are offered too
often, the task itself becomes less appealing. Mark Lepper and his colleagues (Lepper et al.,
1973) studied this possibility by leading some children to think that they engaged in an activity
for a reward, rather than because they simply enjoyed it. First, they placed some fun felt- tipped
markers in the classroom of the children they were studying. The children loved the markers and
played with them right away. Then, the markers were taken out of the classroom, and the
children were given a chance to play with the markers individually at an experimental session
with the researcher. At the research session, the children were randomly assigned to one of three
experimental groups. One group of children in the expected reward condition was told that if
they played with the markers they would receive a good drawing award. A second group in the
unexpected reward condition also played with the markers, and also got the award, but they were
not told ahead of time that they would be receiving the award; it came as a surprise after the
session. The third group, or the no reward group, played with the markers too, but got no award.

133
Then, the researchers placed the markers back in the classroom and observed how much the
children in each of the three groups played with them. As you can see in Figure 4.10, the children
who had been led to expect a reward for playing with the markers during the experimental
session played with the markers less at the second session than they had at the first session. The
idea is that, when the children had to choose whether or not to play with the markers when the
markers reappeared in the classroom, they based their decision on their own prior behavior. The
children in the no reward groups and the children in the unexpected reward groups realized that
they played with the markers because they liked them. Children in the expected award condition,
however, remembered that they were promised a reward for the activity the last time they played
with the markers. These children, then, were more likely to draw the inference that they play
with the markers only for the external reward, and because they did not expect to get an award
for playing with the markers in the classroom, they determined that they did not like them.
Expecting to receive the award at the session had undermined their initial interest in the markers.

This research suggests that, although giving rewards may in many cases lead us to perform an
activity more frequently or with more effort, reward may not always increase our liking for the
activity. In some cases, rewards may actually make us like an activity less than we did before we
were rewarded for it. This outcome is particularly likely when the reward is perceived as an
obvious attempt on the part of others to get us to do something.
Figure 4.10 Undermining Intrinsic Interest

Source: Adapted from Lepper, M. R., Greene, D., & Nisbett, R. E. (1973). Undermining children’s intrinsic interest with extrinsic reward: A test of
the “overjustification” hypothesis. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 28(1), 129–137

When children are given money by their parents to get good grades in school, they may improve
their school performance to gain the reward. But at the same time their liking for school may
decrease. On the other hand, rewards that are seen as more internal to the activity, such as
rewards that praise us, remind us of our achievements in the domain, and make us feel good
about ourselves as a result of our accomplishments are more likely to be effective in increasing
not only the performance of, but also the liking of, the activity (Hulleman et al., 2008; Ryan &
Deci, 2002).

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Key Takeaways

 Not all learning can be explained through the principles of classical and operant
conditioning.
 Insight is the sudden understanding of the components of a problem that makes the
solution apparent.
 Latent learning refers to learning that is not reinforced and not demonstrated until
there is motivation to do so.
 Observational learning occurs by viewing the behaviors of others, and researchers
believe that mirror neurons play a role.
 Both aggression and altruism can be learned through observation.
 Many factors influence whether or not observational learning will occur.
 Learning theories have been used to change behaviors in many areas of everyday life.
 Some advertising uses classical conditioning to associate a pleasant response with a
product.
 Rewards are frequently and effectively used in education, but must be carefully
designed to be contingent on performance and to avoid undermining interest in the
activity.

Exercises and Critical Thinking

1. Describe a time when you learned something by insight. What do you think led to your
learning?
2. Imagine that you had a 12-year-old nephew who spent many hours a day playing
violent video games. Basing your answer on the material covered in this chapter, do
you think that his parents should limit his exposure to the games? Why or why not?
3. How might we incorporate principles of observational learning to encourage acts of
kindness and selflessness in our society?
4. Find and share with your class some examples of advertisements that make use of
classical conditioning to create positive attitudes toward products.
5. Should parents use both punishment as well as reinforcement to discipline their
children? On what principles of learning do you base your opinion?

135
 Videos and Activities
1. Train Pavlov’s Dog:
http://www.nobelprize.org/educational/medicine/pavlov/index.html
2. Original footage and an explanation of Pavlov's research:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhqumfpxuzI&playnext=1&list=PL50FD6087AF
EADFEE
3. Thorndike’s Puzzle Box: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDujDOLre-8
4. Train Fuzz using operant conditioning: Needs Java
http://epsych.msstate.edu/adaptive/Fuzz/index.html?2.html
5. Test your own cognitive mapping abilities by learning your way
through the cave maze:
http://epsych.msstate.edu/adaptive/learningCurves/mazeJS.html
6. Bandura Discussing Clips From His Modeling Studies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZXOp5PopIA
7. Mirror Neurons
https://wisconsin.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/hew06.sci.life.reg.mirrorneurons/mir
ror-neurons/
8. Consider how this ad is using conditioning to get you to like the product.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zCsFvVg0UY

Chapter Summary

Learning is the relatively permanent change in knowledge or behavior due to experience.

Classical conditioning was first studied by Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov. In classical
conditioning a person or animal learns to associate a neutral stimulus with a stimulus (the
unconditioned stimulus, or US) that naturally produces a behavior (the unconditioned response, or
UR). As a result of this association, the previously neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned
stimulus (CS) and elicits the same or similar response (the conditioned response, or CR).
Classically conditioned responses show extinction if the CS is repeatedly presented without the
US. The CR may reappear later in a process known as spontaneous recovery.

Organisms may show stimulus generalization, in which stimuli similar to the CS may produce
similar behaviors, or stimulus discrimination, in which the organism learns to differentiate between
the CS and other similar stimuli.

Second-order conditioning occurs when a second CS is conditioned to a previously established CS.

Organisms are evolutionarily prepared to learn some associations more easily than others, which is
referred to as biological preparedness. Taste aversion, phobias, and PTSD reactions are all
examples.

Psychologist Edward Thorndike developed the law of effect: The idea that responses that are
reinforced are strengthened by experience and thus occur more frequently, whereas responses that
are punishing are weakened and subsequently occur less frequently.
136
B. F. Skinner (1904–1990) expanded on Thorndike’s ideas to develop a set of principles to explain
operant conditioning.

A reinforcer is anything which increases behavior. Positive reinforcement strengthens a response

by presenting something pleasant after the response, and negative reinforcement strengthens a
response by reducing or removing something unpleasant. Punishment suppresses behavior.
Positive punishment weakens a response by presenting something unpleasant after the response,
whereas negative punishment weakens a response by reducing or removing something pleasant.

Reinforcement may be either partial or continuous. Partial-reinforcement schedules are determined

by whether the reward is presented on the basis of an interval, or the time that elapses between
rewards, or on the basis of a ratio, the number of responses that the organism engages in, and by
whether the reinforcement occurs on a fixed or regular schedule or one that is variable or
unpredictable.

Shaping is the process of guiding an organism’s behavior by reinforcing successive

approximations to the desired behavior.

Primary reinforcers are innately satisfying consequences such as sleep or food. Secondary
reinforcers have been associated with primary reinforcers and acquire their reinforcement value
through learning. For example, money can be used to buy food, so money becomes a reinforcer.

Side effects of punishment include aggression, anxiety, and poor relationships. Punishment should
be combined with reinforcement of a preferred behavior.

Behavior modification is the systematic use of behavioral learning principles to modify behavior.
Tokens are generic reinforcers that can be exchanged for items that are reinforcing to a particular
individual. Token economies can be used for behavior modification in group settings.
Contemporary psychologists recognize that people do not merely react to stimuli or change their
behavior based on how a consequence makes them feel. People anticipate associations and expect
specific consequences. These expectations can also change behavior.

Not all learning can be explained through the principles of classical and operant conditioning.
Insight is the sudden understanding of the components of a problem that makes the solution
apparent, and latent learning refers to learning that is not reinforced and not demonstrated until
there is motivation to do so.

Learning by observing the behavior of others and the consequences of those behaviors is known as
observational learning. Aggression, altruism, and many other behaviors are learned through
observation.

Learning theories can and have been applied to change behaviors in many areas of everyday life.
Some advertising uses classical conditioning to associate a pleasant response with a product.

Rewards are frequently and effectively used in education but must be carefully designed to be
contingent on performance and to avoid undermining interest in the activity.

137
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Chapter 5 Memory and Cognition
Learning Objectives

1. Define cognitive psychology, memory, cognition, and problem-soving.

2. Describe information processing theory.

Cognitive psychology is the field of psychology dedicated to examining how people think. It
attempts to explain how and why we think the way we do by studying how our memory system
functions, how creativity affects our problem-solving, the impact of language on our
development, the different types of intelligence, and the fundamental errors we make in decision-
making. Cognitive psychologists also focus on how we organize thoughts and information
gathered from our environments into meaningful categories.

The three subjects of this chapter are memory, defined as the ability to store and retrieve
information over time, cognition, defined as the processes of acquiring and using knowledge, and
problem-solving, defined as the strategies used to find a solution. It is useful to consider memory
and cognition in the same chapter because they work together to help us interpret and understand
our environments. The next chapter will examine intelligence and language.

Memory and cognition represent the two major interests of cognitive psychologists. The cognitive
approach became the most important perspective of psychology during the 1960s, and the field of
psychology has remained, in large part, cognitive since that time. The cognitive perspective was
influenced by the development of the computer, and although the differences between computers
and the human mind are vast, cognitive psychologists have used the computer as a model for
understanding the workings of the mind. Information processing theory is a theory of cognitive
development that describes the mind as functionally similar to a computer. Information comes in
as data or inputted. It is processed through working memory, stored in long term memory, and can
be converted to output by using the correct commands. Changes in thinking occur over time as
new information enters the system.

Our memories allow us to do relatively simple things, such as remembering where we put our keys
or the name of the current governor of Illinois. Memories also allow us to form complex
memories, such as how to ride a bicycle or to write a computer program. Moreover, our memories
define us as individuals as they are our experiences, our relationships, our successes, and our
failures. Without our memories, we would not have a life, but our memories are far from perfect
(Schacter, 1996).

At least for some things, our memory is very good (Bahrick, 2000). Once we learn a face, we can
recognize that face many years later. We know the lyrics of many songs by heart, and we can give
definitions for tens of thousands of words, but memory is not like a video. When people are asked
to remember an event, they use current knowledge to put together a story that makes sense. This
story is assembled using their original perceptions and memory traces, emotions, beliefs, and other
experiences from life. In effect, they rebuild the memory each time they are asked to recall it.
Reconstructive memory is a memory for an event that has been pieced together from past and
present knowledge, emotions, and beliefs. Reconstructive memory can also be inaccurate (Bartlett,
1932). The errors that we make are because our memories are not simply recording devices
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that input, store, and retrieve the world around us. Rather, we actively process and interpret
information as we remember it, and we do not reproduce exact replicas of those events. Later
in the chapter, the reasons these inaccuracies occur will be explained.

Figure 5.1 Kim Peek For some people, memory is truly amazing. Consider, for
instance, the case of Kim Peek, who was the inspiration for
the Academy Award winning film Rain Man (see Figure 5.1)
Although Peek’s IQ was only 87, significantly below the
average of about 100, it is estimated that he memorized more
than 10,000 books in his lifetime (Kim Peek, 2004). The
Russian psychologist Luria (2004) has described the abilities
of a man known as “S,” who seems to have unlimited
memory. He remembered strings of hundreds of random
letters for years at a time, and seemed to never forget
anything.
Source.

Encoding and Storage: How Our Perceptions Become Memories

Learning Objectives

1. Explain the processes of encoding, storage, and retrieval.

2. Describe the role of elaborative encoding in studying and learning.
3. Explain the progression from sensory memory to short-term memory to long-term
memory
4. Describe the role of chunking and rehearsal in aiding memory.
5. Differentiate between declarative/explicit and nondeclarative/implicit memory.
6. Describe the following methods of measuring memory: Recall, free recall, cued
recall, recognition, and relearning.
7. Define semantic and episodic memory.
8. Describe the ways in which long-term memory organizes information, and the
impact those organization strategies have on memory.

Psychologists conceptualize memory in terms of three processes. These include:

 Encoding is the process by which we place the things that we experience into memory.
Unless information is encoded, it cannot be remembered. You have been to a party where
you were introduced to someone and then, maybe only seconds later, you realized that you
did not remember the person’s name. You could not remember the name, probably because
you were distracted and never encoded the name to begin with.
 Storage is the process of holding information in memory to be processed or used. Some
memories we will hold for years, other memories we hold only long enough to use the
information, such as looking up a phone number and retaining it long enough to place the
call.

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  Retrieval refers to the process of reactivating information that has been stored in memory.
Memory would be useless without the ability to retrieve the memories that we have created.
Retrieval is not a simple process and many factors can influence the ease with which we can
locate a memory.

Encoding

Not everything we experience can or should be encoded. We tend to encode things that we need to
remember and not bother to encode things that are irrelevant. Look at Figure 5.2, which shows
different images of U.S. pennies. Can you tell which one is the real one? Nickerson and Adams
(1979) found that very few of the U.S. participants they tested could identify the right one. We see
pennies a lot, but we do not bother to encode all of the details.

Figure 5.2 Pennies in Different Styles

Can you identify the “real” penny? We tend to have poor memory for things that do not matter,
even if we see them frequently.

One way to improve our memory is to use better encoding strategies. Some ways of studying are
more effective than others. Research has found that we are better able to remember information if
we encode it in a meaningful way. When we engage in elaborative rehearsal or elaborative
encoding, we process new information in ways that make it more relevant or meaningful (Craik &
Lockhart, 1972; Harris & Qualls, 2000).

Ineffective encoding, or an encoding failure, is an important cause of memory failure and

forgetting in humans. If you do not make the correct association between memories, for example,
you will not be able to retrieve a memory when cued. If you have encoded someone's name in the
category of "people in my class," you might not be able to identify that person when you see them
in the grocery store. Whether you are trying to learn names or definitions for psychology, it is
important to make useful associations when you encode or memorize the information.

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Imagine that you are trying to remember the characteristics of the different perspectives of
psychology we discussed in Chapter 1. Rather than simply trying to remember the perspectives and
their characteristics, you might try to relate the information to things you already know. For
instance, you might try to remember the fundamentals of cognitive psychology by linking the
characteristics to the computer model. The cognitive perspective focuses on how information is
inputed, processed, and retrieved, and you might think about how computers do pretty much the
same thing. You might also try to organize the information into meaningful units. For instance, you
might link the cognitive perspective to structuralism because both were concerned with mental
processes. You also might try to use visual cues to help you remember the information. You might
look at the image of Freud and imagine what he looked like as a child. That image might help you
remember that childhood experiences were an important part of Freudian theory. Each person has
his or her unique way of elaborating on information; the important thing is to try to develop unique
and meaningful associations among the materials.

Research Focus: Elaboration and Memory

In an important study showing the effectiveness of elaborative encoding, Rogers et al., (1977)
studied how people recalled information that they had learned under different processing
conditions. All the participants were presented with the same list of 40 adjectives to learn, but
through the use of random assignment, the participants were given one of four different sets
of instructions about how to process the adjectives. Participants assigned to the structural task
condition were asked to judge whether the word was printed in uppercase or lowercase
letters. Participants in the phonemic task condition were asked whether or not the word
rhymed with another given word. In the semantic task condition, the participants were asked
if the word was a synonym of another word, and in the self-reference task condition,
participants were asked to indicate whether or not the given adjective was or was not true of
themselves. After completing the specified task, each participant was asked to recall as many
adjectives as they could remember.

Rogers and his colleagues hypothesized that different types of processing would have different
effects on memory. As you can see in Figure 5.3, the students in the self-reference task
condition recalled significantly more adjectives than did students in any other condition. This
finding, known as the self-reference effect, is powerful evidence that the self-concept helps us
organize and remember information. The next time you are studying for an exam, you might
try relating the material to your own experiences. The self-reference effect suggests that doing
so will help you better remember the information (Symons & Johnson, 1997).

Figure 5.3 Self-Reference Effect Results Participants recalled the same words
significantly better when they were
processed in relation to the self than
when they were processed in other
ways.
Source: Adapted from Rogers, T. B., Kuiper, N. A., & Kirker, W.
S. (1977). Self-reference and the encoding of personal
information. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology,
35(9), 677–688.

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Storage

Another way of understanding memory is to think about it in terms of stages that describe the
length of time that information remains available to us; how long it can be stored. According to this
approach (see Figure 5.4), information begins in sensory memory, moves to short-term memory,
and eventually moves to long-term memory (Atkinson & Shriffin, 1968). Not all information makes
it through all three stages; most of it is forgotten. Whether the information moves from shorter-
duration memory into longer-duration memory or whether it is lost from memory entirely depends
on how the information is attended to and processed.

Figure 5.4 Memory Duration

Memory can be characterized in terms of stages—the length of time that information remains available to us.
Source: Adapted from Atkinson, R. C., & Shiffrin, R. M. (1968). Human memory: A proposed system and its control
processes. In K. Spence (Ed.) The psychology of learning and motivation (Vol. 2). Academic Press.

Sensory Memory

Sensory memory refers to the brief storage of sensory information. Unless it is attended to and
passed on for more processing, the memory is quickly forgotten. The purpose of sensory memory
is to give the brain some time to process the incoming sensations, and to allow us to see the world
as an unbroken stream of events rather than as individual pieces.

Iconic memory is sensory memory for visual information. Iconic memory was first studied by the
psychologist George Sperling (1960). In his research, Sperling showed participants a display of
letters in rows, similar to that shown in Figure 5.5. He showed the image of 12 letters for only
about 50 milliseconds (1/20 of a second). Then, Sperling gave his participants a recall test in which
they were asked to name all the letters that they could remember. On average, the participants
could remember only about one-third of the letters that they had seen. Sperling knew that the
participants had seen all the letters, but he could tell that they did not have enough time to
memorize all twelve.

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To Sperling's surprise, some participants reported a lingering visual image of all the letters,
although the image of the twelve letters faded quickly. Sperling decided to look for evidence that
this image existed in the mind of each participant who reported it. To do so, in his next experiment
he again showed twelve letters in three rows of four to each participant. Then after the display had
been removed, he quickly signaled to the participants to report the letters from only the first,
second, or third row. He did this by presenting a high, medium, or low tone for each row in the
display. In this condition, the participants reported almost all the letters in that specific row.

This finding confirmed Sperling’s hunch: Participants had access to all of the letters in their iconic
memories. If the time delay between the removal of the display and the presentation of the tone
was short enough, they were able to report on the part of the display he asked them to before the
iconic memory faded from view. Sperling discovered that if the delay between the removal of the
display and the presentation of the tone was greater than about ¼ second, the entire image would
fade from view. The participant could remember few if any letters. Thus, we say the duration of
iconic sensory memory is about ¼ second.

Figure 5.5 Measuring Iconic Memory

Sperling (1960) showed his participants displays such
as this one for only 1/20th of a second. He found that
when he cued the participants to report one of the three
rows of letters, they could do it, even if the cue was
given shortly after the display had been removed. The
research demonstrated the existence of iconic memory.
Source: Adapted from Sperling, G. (1960). The information available in brief visual
presentation. Psychological Monographs, 74(11), 1–29.

Echoic memory is the sensory memory for sound. In contrast to iconic memory, which decays
very rapidly, echoic memories can last as long as 4 seconds (Cowan et al., 1990). This is
convenient as it allows you to remember the words that you said at the beginning of a long
sentence when you get to the end of it, and to take notes on your psychology professor’s most
recent statement even after they have finished saying it.

In some people, iconic or echoic memory seems to last longer than usual. For visual images, this
phenomenon is known as eidetic imagery, having a photographic memory. People with a
photographic memory can report details of an image over long periods of time. These people state
that they can see an image long after it has been presented, and can often report accurately on that
image. There is also some evidence for eidetic memories in hearing; some people report that their
echoic memories persist for unusually long periods of time. The composer Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart may have possessed eidetic memory for music, because even when he was very young and
had not yet had a great deal of musical training, he could listen to long compositions and then play
them back almost perfectly (Solomon, 1995).

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Short-Term Memory

Most of the information that gets into sensory memory is forgotten, but information that we turn
our attention to, with the goal of remembering it, may pass into short-term memory. In Short-term
memory (STM) small amounts of information can be temporarily kept for more than a few
seconds, but usually for less than one minute (Baddeley et al., 1990). Information in short-term
memory is not stored permanently but rather becomes available for us to process, and the
processes that we use to make sense of, modify, interpret, and store information in STM are known
as working memory.

Working memory is not a store of memory like STM, but rather a set of memory procedures or
operations. Imagine that you are asked to participate in a working memory task, such as this one
researched by Unsworth and Engle (2007). Each of the following questions appears individually on
a computer screen and then disappears after you answer the question (see Figure 5.6):

To successfully accomplish the task,

Figure 5.6 you have to answer each of the math
problems correctly and at the same
Is 10 × 2 − 5 = 15? (Answer YES OR NO) Then remember
time remember the letter that follows
“S” Is 12 ÷ 6 − 2 = 1? (Answer YES OR NO) Then remember
the task. Then, after the six questions,
you must list the letters that
“R” Is 10 × 2 = 5? (Answer YES OR NO) Then remember “P” appeared in each of the trials in the
correct order (in this case S, R, P, T,
Is 8 ÷ 2 − 1 = 1? (Answer YES OR NO) Then remember “T” U, Q).

Is 6 × 2 − 1 = 8? (Answer YES OR NO) Then remember “U” To accomplish this difficult task you
need to use a variety of skills. You
Is 2 × 3 − 3 = 0? (Answer YES OR NO) Then remember “Q” clearly need to use STM, as you
must keep the letters in storage until
you are asked to list them, but you also need a way to make the best use of your available attention
and processing. For instance, you might decide to use a strategy of “repeat the letters twice, then
quickly solve the next problem, and then repeat the letters twice again including the new one.”
Keeping this strategy, or others like it, going is the role of working memory’s central executive,
which is the part of working memory that directs attention and processing. The central executive
will make use of whatever strategies seem to be best for the given task. For instance, the central
executive will direct the process known as rehearsal. At the same time, it will direct the visual
cortex to form an image of the list of letters in memory. You can see that although STM is
involved, the processes that we use to operate on the material in memory are also critical.

Short-term memory is limited in both the length and the amount of information it can hold.
Peterson and Peterson (1959) found that when people were asked to remember a list of three-letter
strings and then were immediately asked to perform a distracting task, such as counting backward
by threes, the material was quickly forgotten. By 18 seconds it was virtually gone (see Figure 5.7).

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 Figure 5.7 STM Decay

Peterson and Peterson (1959) found that

information that was not rehearsed decayed
quickly from memory.
Source: Adapted from Peterson, L., & Peterson, M. J. (1959). Short-term retention of
individual verbal items. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 58(3), 193–198.

However, Keppel and Underwood (1962) reexamined Peterson and Peterson’s research and argued
that the problem was not one of memory decay, but memory interference. They reasoned that in
the Peterson and Peterson study there was a confound between length of delay and the order of the
memory strings. In the first trial of the study, participants were asked to recall the letter string
immediately. In subsequent trials of the study, participants were given new letter strings and asked
to hold that information for longer and longer periods before recalling the information. Keppel and
Underwood suggested that any forgetting of later letter strings may not have been due to the delay
in recall, but interference from earlier letter strings. When information is very similar it is easier
for us to confuse one memory for another. In Keppel and Underwood’s research they found that it
did not matter whether people were asked to recall the information immediately or for up to 18
seconds later; they were able to accurately recall the three letters on the first trial. It was only on
later trials that they showed memory decline, suggesting it was interference not decay that
influenced Peterson and Peterson’s results.

One way to prevent the decay of information from short-term memory is to use working memory
to rehearse it. Maintenance rehearsal is the process of repeating information mentally or out loud
with the goal of keeping it in memory. We engage in maintenance rehearsal to keep something that
we want to remember (e.g., a person’s name, e-mail address, or phone number) in mind long
enough to write it down, use it, or potentially transfer it to long-term memory. If we continue to
rehearse information, it will stay in STM until we stop rehearsing it, but there is also a capacity
limit to STM.

The digit span of most adults is between five and nine digits, with an average of about seven. The
cognitive psychologist George Miller (1956) referred to “seven plus or minus two” pieces of
information as the “magic number” in short-term memory. However, if we can only hold a
maximum of about nine digits in short-term memory, then how can we remember larger amounts
of information than this? For instance, how can we ever remember a 10-digit phone number long
enough to dial it?

One way we are able to expand our ability to remember things in STM is by using a memory
technique called chunking. Chunking is the process of organizing information into smaller
groupings, or chunks, thereby increasing the number of items that can be held in STM.

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For instance, try to remember this string of 12 letters:

XOFCBANNCVTM
You probably will not do that well because the number of letters is more than the magic number of
seven. Now try again with this one:

MTVCNNABCFOX
Would it help you if we pointed out that the material in this string could be chunked into four sets
of three letters each? It would, because then rather than remembering 12 letters, you would only
have to remember the names of four television stations. In this case, chunking changes the number
of items you have to remember from 12 to only four. People routinely rely on chunking to help
them process complex information efficiently. Remembering area codes for phone numbers is one
example. Usually these are put into memory as a three-digit chunk rather than individual numbers,
especially since each region has only a limited number of area codes. Knowing the first number in
the chunk enables you to recall the other two numbers automatically.

Long-term Memory

If information makes it past short term-memory it may enter long-term memory (LTM), the
memory storage that can hold information for days, months, and years. The capacity of long- term
memory is large, and there is no known limit to what we can remember (Wang et al., 2003).
Although we may forget at least some information after we learn it, other things will stay with us
forever. In the next section we will discuss the two types of long-term memory; that is explicit and
implicit.

Explicit/Declarative Memory

When we assess memory by asking a person to consciously remember things, we are measuring
explicit memory. Explicit/declarative memory refers to knowledge or experiences that can be
consciously remembered. As you can see in Figure 5.8, there are two types of explicit memory:
episodic and semantic. Episodic memory refers to the firsthand experiences that we have had.
For example, recollections of our high school graduation day or sixteenth birthday. Semantic
memory refers to our knowledge of facts and concepts about the world. For example, the absolute
value of −90 is greater than the absolute value of 9 and one definition of the word “affect” is the
experience of feeling or emotion.

Explicit memory is assessed using measures in which the individual being tested must consciously
attempt to remember the information. A recall memory test is a measure of explicit memory that
involves bringing from memory information that has previously been remembered. We rely on our
recall when we take an essay test, because the test requires us to generate previously remembered
information. Free recall is a measure of memory with no prompts or clues. Cued recall includes a
retrieval cue in the request for memory. Fill-in the blank questions use cued recall. A multiple-
choice test is an example of a recognition memory test, a measure of explicit memory that
involves determining whether information has been seen or learned before.
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 Figure 5.8 Types of Memory

Your own experiences taking tests will probably lead you to agree with the scientific research
finding that recall is more difficult than recognition. Recall, which is required on essay tests,
involves two steps: first generating an answer and then determining whether it seems to be the
correct one. Recognition, which is required on multiple-choice tests, only involves determining
which item from a list seems most correct (Haist et al., 1992). Although they involve different
processes, recall and recognition memory measures tend to be correlated. Students who do
better on a multiple-choice exam will also, by and large, do better on an essay exam
(Bridgeman & Morgan, 1996).

A third way of measuring memory is known as relearning (Nelson, 1985). Measures of relearning
assess how much more quickly information is processed or learned when it is studied again after it
has already been learned, but then forgotten. If you have taken French courses in the past, for
instance, you might have forgotten most of the vocabulary you learned. However, if you were to
work on your French again, you would learn the vocabulary much faster the second time around.
Relearning can be a more sensitive measure of memory than either recall or recognition because it
allows assessing memory in terms of how much or how fast rather than simply correct versus
incorrect responses. Relearning also allows us to measure memory for procedures like driving a car
or playing a piano piece, as well as memory for facts and figures.

Implicit/Nondeclarative Memory

While explicit memory consists of the things that we can consciously report that we know,
implicit/nondeclarative memory refers to knowledge that we cannot consciously access.
However, implicit memory is nevertheless exceedingly important to us because it has a direct
effect on our behavior. As you can see in Figure 5.8, there are three general types of implicit
memory: Procedural memory, classical conditioning effects, and priming.

Procedural memory refers to our knowledge of how to do things. When we walk from one place
to another, speak to another person in English, dial a cell phone, or play a video game, we are
using procedural memory. Procedural memory allows us to perform complex tasks, even though
we may not be able to explain to others how we do them. There is no way to tell someone how to

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ride a bicycle; a person has to learn by doing it. The idea of implicit memory helps explain how
infants are able to learn. The ability to crawl, walk, and talk are procedures, and these skills are
easily and efficiently developed while we are children despite the fact that as adults we have no
conscious memory of having learned them.

A second type of implicit memory involves the effects of classical conditioning, in which we learn,
without effort or awareness, to associate a neutral stimulus with another stimulus that creates a
naturally occurring response. The memory for the association is demonstrated when the conditioned
stimulus begins to create the same response as the unconditioned stimulus did before the learning.
For example, you may learn to associate the sounds in a restaurant (CS) with food (US), that
naturally results in enjoyment (UR). When you enter a restaurant and hear the sounds (CS), the
same response of enjoyment (CR) is experienced.

The final type of implicit memory is known as priming, or changes in behavior as a result of
experiences that have happened frequently or recently. Priming refers both to the activation of
knowledge and to the influence of that activation on behavior. For example, we can prime the
concept of “kindness” by presenting people with words related to kindness. We can then assess if
people who are primed, actually act more kindly.

Our everyday behaviors are influenced by priming in a wide variety of situations. Seeing the flag of
our home country may arouse our patriotism, and seeing a rival school may arouse our competitive
spirit. Moreover, these influences on our behaviors may occur without our being aware of them.

The Structure of Long-Term Memory: Categories, Prototypes, and Schemas

Memories that are stored in LTM are not isolated but rather are linked together into categories or
networks of associated memories that have features in common with each other. Forming
categories, and using categories to guide behavior, is a fundamental part of human nature.
Organization within the categories improves memory. Associated concepts within a category are
connected through spreading activation, which occurs when activating one element of a category
activates other associated elements. When people have learned lists of words that come from
different categories, they do not recall the words haphazardly. If they have just remembered the
word “wrench,” from a list, they are more likely to remember the word “screwdriver” than to
remember the word “rose,” because the words are organized in memory by category (Srull &
Wyer, 1989).

Some categories have defining features that must be true of all members of the category. For
instance, all members of the category triangles have three sides, and all members of the category
birds lay eggs. However, most categories are not so well-defined; the members of the category
share some common features, but it is impossible to define which are or are not members of the
category. For instance, there is no clear definition of the category tool. Some examples of the
category, such as a hammer and a wrench, are clearly and easily identified as category members,
whereas other members are not so obvious. Is an ironing board a tool? What about a car?

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 Members of categories, even those with defining features,
Figure 5.9 Prototype
can be compared to the category prototype, which is the
member of the category that is most average or typical of
the category. Some category members are more
prototypical of, or similar to, the category than others. For
instance, some category members, such as Siamese, are
highly prototypical of the category cat, whereas other
category members, such as lions, are less prototypical.
We retrieve information that is prototypical of a category
faster than we retrieve information that is less
prototypical (Rosch, 1975).

Category members vary in terms of their

Mental categories are sometimes referred to as schemas,
prototypicality. Some cats are “better”
or frameworks of knowledge in long-term memory that
members of the category than are others.
© Thinkstock help us organize information. We have schemas about
objects, people, events, and social groups. Schemas are
important because they help us remember new information by providing an organizational structure
for it.

Figure 5.10 Different Schemas

Our schema about people, couples, and events help us organize and remember information. © Thinkstock

Read the following paragraph (Bransford & Johnson, 1972) and then try to write down everything
you can remember.

The procedure is actually quite simple. First you arrange things into different groups. Of
course, one pile may be sufficient depending on how much there is to do. If you have to go
somewhere else due to lack of facilities, that is the next step; otherwise you are pretty well
set. It is important not to overdo things. That is, it is better to do too few things at once
than too many. In the short run this may not seem important, but complications can easily
arise. A mistake can be expensive as well. At first the whole procedure will seem
complicated. Soon, however, it will become just another facet of life. It is difficult to
foresee any end to the necessity for this task in the immediate future, but then one never
can tell. After the procedure is completed, one arranges the materials into different groups
again. Then they can be put into their appropriate places. Eventually they will be used once
more and the whole cycle will then have to be repeated. However, that is part of life.
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It turns out that people’s memory for this information is quite poor. However, if they have been
told ahead of time that the information describes doing the laundry, their memory for the material
is much better. This demonstration of the role of schemas in memory shows how our existing
knowledge can help us organize new information, and how this organization can improve
encoding, storage, and retrieval. Unfortunately, categories, prototypes, and schemas can also lead
to memory distortions. For example, each of us has a prototype for colors. When judging the
“blueness” of a color we compare it to the color that comes to mind when we think of the color blue.
Sometimes what we later recall is not the exact shade of blue, such as a blue car speeding away
from the scene of an accident, but our prototype color blue. Thus, what we recall is often a product
of whatever categories, prototypes, or schemas were activated during the creation of the memory,
rather than exactly what happened.

Key Takeaways

 Memory refers to the ability to store and retrieve information over time.
 For some things our memory is very good, but our active cognitive processing of
information assures that memory is never an exact replica of what we have
experienced.
 We use three processes to control the movement of information in memory:
Encoding, storage, and retrieval.
 Information processing begins in sensory memory, moves to short-term memory, and
eventually moves to long-term memory.
 Maintenance rehearsal and chunking are used to keep information in short-term memory.
 The capacity of long-term memory is large, and there is no known limit to what
we can remember.
 Long-term memory organizes information using categories, prototypes, and
schemas. This can both improve memory and lead to distortions.

Exercises and Critical Thinking

1. List some situations in which sensory memory is useful for you. What do you
think your experience of the stimuli would be like if you had no sensory
memory?
2. Describe a situation in which you need to use working memory to perform a task
or solve a problem. How do your working memory skills help you?
3. Try the following interactive activities to test digit span memory and your memory for
faces:
a. https://www.koshland-science-museum.org/explore-the-science/interactives/memory
b. https://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sleep/tmt/

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Retrieval

Learning Objectives

1. Define memory retrieval.

2. Describe how the context, bodily states or mood can influence memory retrieval.
3. Describe the serial position curve and the role of rehearsal and decay theory.
4. Distinguish between proactive and retroactive interference.
5. Define the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon.

Even when information has been adequately encoded and stored, it does not do us any good without
retrieval, which is getting information out of long-term memory. We have all experienced retrieval
failure for information we know we have encoded. How does this happen?

The main reason for retrieval failure is that the information was not adequately encoded to begin
with, which is known as an encoding failure. Remember the penny example earlier in the
chapter? If you had difficulty identifying the correct image, it was because you had not
adequately encoded the details to your long-term memory.

Decay theory is an older memory theory proposed to explain the loss of information, that has not
been used over time, from long-term memory. However, most current research does not support the
concept of decay as a reason for the loss of information in long term memory. Instead, the
prevailing belief is that, with the proper cues, memories can still be retrieved.

We are more likely to retrieve items from memory when conditions at retrieval are similar to the
conditions under which we encoded them. Context-dependent learning refers to an increase in
retrieval when the external situation in which information is learned matches the situation in
which it is remembered. Godden and Baddeley (1975) conducted a study to test this idea using
scuba divers. They asked the divers to learn a list of words either when they were on land or when
they were underwater. Then they tested the divers on their memory, either in the same or the
opposite situation. As you can see in Figure 5.11, the divers’ memory was better when they were
tested in the same context in which they had learned the words than when they were tested in the
other context.

Context-dependent learning might also be important in improving your memory. For instance,
you might want to try to study for an exam in a situation that is similar to the one in which you
are going to take the exam. Whereas context-dependent learning refers to a match in the external
situation between learning and remembering, state-dependent learning refers to superior
retrieval of memories when the individual is in the same physiological or psychological state as
during encoding.

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 Research has found, for instance, that
Figure 5.11 Context Dependent Memory
animals that learn a maze while under the
influence of one drug tend to remember
their learning better when they are tested
under the influence of the same drug than
when they are tested without the drug
(Jackson et al., 1992). Research with
humans finds that bilinguals remember
better when tested in the same language in
which they learned the material (Marian &
Kaushanskaya, 2007). Mood states may
also produce state-dependent learning.
Godden and Baddeley (1975) tested the memory of
People who learn information when they
scuba divers to learn and retrieve information in different
contexts and found strong evidence for context- are in a bad, rather than a good, mood find
dependent learning. it easier to recall these memories when
Source: Adapted from Godden, D. R., & Baddeley, A. D. (1975). Context-dependent memory in
two natural environments: On land and underwater. British Journal of Psychology, 66(3), 325– they are tested in the same mood. It is
331.
easier to recall unpleasant memories than
pleasant ones when we are sad, and
easier to recall pleasant memories than unpleasant ones when we are happy (Bower, 1981; Eich,
2008).

Variations in the ability to retrieve

information are also seen in the Figure 5.12 The Serial Position Curve
serial position curve. When we give
people a list of words one at a time,
and then ask them to recall them,
the results look something like those
in Figure 5.12. These results form
the Serial Position Curve as people
are able to retrieve more words
presented to them at the beginning
and end of the list than words
presented in the middle of the list.
This pattern is caused by two
retrieval phenomena: The primacy
effect refers to a tendency to better
remember stimuli that are presented early in a list. The recency effect refers to the tendency to
better remember stimuli that are presented later in a list.

While there are a number of explanations for primacy and recency effects, one of them is the effects
of rehearsal on short-term and long-term memory (Baddeley et al., 2009). Because we can keep the
last words that we learned in the presented list in short-term memory by rehearsing them before the
memory test begins, they are relatively easily remembered. So, the recency effect can be explained
in terms of maintenance rehearsal in short-term memory. The primacy effect may also be due to
rehearsal because we hear the first word in the list we start to rehearse it, making it more likely that
it will be moved from short- term to long-term memory.

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The same is true for the other words that come early in the list. However, for the words in the
middle of the list, this rehearsal becomes much harder, making them less likely to be moved to
LTM.

According to interference theory, our existing memories can influence our new learning. This
may occur either in a backward way or a forward way. Retroactive interference occurs when
learning something new impairs our ability to retrieve information that was learned earlier. For
example, when you start a new semester and learn the names of your new teacher and classmates,
you may have difficulty remembering the names of previous teachers and classmates. In this case
the new memories work backward, or retroactively, to influence retrieval from memory that is
already in place.

In proactive interference occurs when earlier learning impairs our ability to encode information
that we try to learn later. For example, have you ever written the previous year down when writing
the date? For many people this type of proactive interference occurs in the first few days of a new
year. An old memory, such as the prior year, is moving forward in time and putting itself in the
place of a new memory. Proactive interference is common in everyday verbal mistakes. For
example, many parents find themselves calling a younger child by an older child's name, or
someone may call their new boyfriend or girlfriend by a previous partner's name.

A partial retrieval failure can be explained by the frustrating tip-of-the- tongue phenomenon, in
which we are certain that we know something that we are trying to recall, but cannot quite come
up with it. The tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon occurs more frequently as one ages, typically due
to interference among many similar memories.

Figure 5.13 Pooja K. Agarwal Retrieval Practice: In order to “learn” information, you must
Cognitive Psychologist not only encode it, but you must also be able to retrieve it a
later time. Consequently, research demonstrates that retrieval
practice, or rehearsing getting information out of long-term
memory, is a powerful method to boost one’s learning
(Agarwal, 2017). Roediger and Karpicke (2012) demonstrated
the power of retrieval practice by having one group of college
students repeatedly read a brief passage. Another group read a
passage once, and then completed a few periods of free recall
whereby they wrote down everything they could remember
from the passage. Both groups of students then took a final
retention test 5 min, 2 days, and 1 week later. When the final
test was given after 5 min, students who repeatedly read the
material performed better on the recall test compared to those
who repeatedly wrote down what they remembered. However,
on the delayed tests, those students who completed the free
Source
recall activities produced substantially greater retention than
those students who just reread the material. Similar to
cramming, just rereading material prior to an exam does not result in long-term learning. Retrieval
practice has repeatedly been shown to improve retention and also boosts learning for diverse students,
multiple content areas, and all education levels (Agarwal, 2017).

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 Key Takeaways

 There are several factors that can influence the retrieval of information from memory:
Encoding failure, absence of retrieval cues, the context, our physiological state or
mood, the order of presentation and our ability to rehearse the information, and
competing information in memory.

The Biology of Memory

Learning Objectives

1. Describe long-term potentiation (LTP) and the role of neurotransmitters.

2. Describe the brain regions involved in memory.
3. Define amnesia and distinguish between anterograde and retrograde amnesia.
4. Describe the effect of drugs on memory.

Just as information is stored on digital media, such as DVDs and flash drives, the information in
long term memory must be stored in the brain. The ability to maintain information in long term
memory involves a gradual strengthening of the connections among the neurons in the brain. When
pathways in these neural networks are frequently and repeatedly fired, the synapses become more
efficient in communicating with each other, and these changes create memory. This process,
known as long-term potentiation (LTP), refers to the strengthening of the synaptic connections
between neurons as result of frequent stimulation (Lynch, 2002). Drugs that block LTP reduce
learning, whereas drugs that enhance LTP increase learning (Lynch et al., 1991). Because the new
patterns of activation in the synapses take time to develop, LTP happens gradually. The period of
time in which LTP occurs and in which memories are stored is known as consolidation.

The Role of Neurotransmitters in LTP

Long-term potentiation occurs as a result of changes in the synapses, which suggests that
chemicals, particularly neurotransmitters and hormones, must be involved in memory. There is
quite a bit of evidence that this is true. Glutamate, a neurotransmitter and a form of the amino acid
glutamic acid, is perhaps the most important neurotransmitter in memory (McEntee & Crook,
1993). When animals, including people, are under stress, more glutamate is secreted, and this
glutamate can help them remember (McGaugh, 2003). The neurotransmitter serotonin is also
secreted when animals learn, and epinephrine may also increase memory, particularly for stressful
events (Maki & Resnick, 2000; Sherwin, 1998).

Location of Memory

Memory is not confined to the cortex; it occurs through sophisticated interactions between new and
old brain structures (see Figure 5.14). One of the most important brain regions in explicit memory
is the hippocampus, which serves as a preprocessor and elaborator of information (Squire, 1992).
The hippocampus helps us encode information about spatial relationships, the context in which
events were experienced, and the associations among memories (Eichenbaum, 1999). The
hippocampus also serves as a switching point that holds the memory for a short time. It then directs
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the information to other parts of the brain, such as the cortex, to actually do the rehearsing,
elaboration, and long-term storage (Jonides et al., 2005).

Without the hippocampus, our explicit

Figure 5.14 Schematic Image of Brain memories would be inefficient and
with Hippocampus, Amygdala, and disorganized. While the hippocampus is
Cerebellum Highlighted handling explicit memory, the cerebellum
and the amygdala are concentrating on implicit
and emotional memories, respectively.
Research shows that the cerebellum is more
active when we are learning associations and
in priming task. Animals and humans with
damage to the cerebellum have more difficulty
in classical conditioning studies (Krupa et al.,
1993; Woodruff-Pak et al., 2000). The storage
of many of our most important emotional
memories, and particularly those related to
fear, is initiated and controlled by the
amygdala (Sigurdsson et al., 2007).
Evidence for the role of different brain
structures in different types of memories
comes in part from case studies of patients
who suffer from amnesia, a memory
disorder that involves the inability to remember information. As with memory interference
effects, amnesia can work in either a forward or a backward direction, affecting retrieval or
encoding. For people who suffer damage to the brain, for instance, as a result of a stroke or other
trauma, the amnesia may work backward. The outcome is retrograde amnesia, a memory
disorder that produces an inability to retrieve events that occurred before a given time. Because
LTP takes time through the process of consolidation, retrograde amnesia is usually more severe
for memories that occurred just prior to the trauma than for older memories. In fact, events that
occurred just before the trauma that caused the memory loss, may never be recovered because they were
not fully encoded.

Organisms with damage to the hippocampus develop a type of amnesia that works in a forward
direction to affect encoding, known as anterograde amnesia. Anterograde amnesia is the inability
to transfer information from short-term into long-term memory, making it impossible to form new
memories. One well-known case study was a man named Henry Gustav Molaison who had parts of
his hippocampus removed to reduce severe seizures (Corkin, et al., 1997). Following the operation,
Molaison developed virtually complete anterograde amnesia. Although he could remember most of
what had happened before the operation, and particularly what had occurred early in his life, he
could no longer create new memories. Molaison was said to have read the same magazines over
and over again without any awareness of having seen them before.

Cases of anterograde amnesia also provide information about the brain structures involved in
different types of memory (Bayley & Squire, 2005; Helmuth, 1999; Paller, 2004). Although
Molaison’s explicit memory was compromised because his hippocampus was damaged, his
implicit memory was not because his cerebellum was intact. He could learn to trace shapes in a

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mirror, a task that requires procedural memory, but he never had any explicit recollection of having
performed this task or of the people who administered the test to him.

Although some brain structures are particularly important in memory, this does not mean that all
memories are stored in one place. The American psychologist Karl Lashley (1929) attempted to
determine where memories were stored in the brain by teaching rats how to run mazes, and then
lesioning different brain structures to see if they were still able to complete the maze. This idea
seemed straightforward, and Lashley expected to find that memory was stored in certain parts of
the brain. Instead, he discovered that no matter where he removed brain tissue, the rats retained at
least some memory of the maze, leading him to conclude that memory is not located in a single
place in the brain, but rather is distributed around it.

Drugs and Memory

Most people are familiar with the negative effects some drugs, including alcohol, can have on our
memories. However, our knowledge of the role of biology in memory suggests that it might also
be possible to use drugs to improve our memories. Americans spend several hundred million
dollars per year on memory supplements with the hope of doing just that. Yet controlled studies
comparing memory enhancers, including Ritalin, ginkgo biloba, and amphetamines, with placebo
drugs find very little evidence for their effectiveness (Gold et al., 2002; McDaniel et al., 2002).
This is not to say that we cannot someday create drugs that will significantly improve our
memory. It is likely that this will occur in the future, but the implications of these advances are as
yet unknown (Farah et al., 2004; Turner & Sahakian, 2006).

Although the most obvious potential use of drugs is to attempt to improve memory, drugs might also
be used to help us forget. This might be desirable in some cases, such as for those suffering from
posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) who are unable to forget disturbing memories.

Although there are no existing therapies that involve using drugs to help people forget, it is
possible that they will be available in the future (Wickelgren, 2012). These possibilities will raise
some important ethical issues: Is it ethical to erase memories, and if it is, is it desirable to do so?
Perhaps the experience of emotional pain is a part of being a human being, and the experience of
emotional pain may help us cope with the trauma.

Key Takeaways
 Memories are stored in connected synapses through the process of long-term
potentiation (LTP). In addition to the cortex, other parts of the brain, including the
hippocampus, cerebellum, and the amygdala, are also important in memory.
 Memory is influenced by chemicals including glutamate, serotonin, and epinephrine.
 Damage to the brain may result in retrograde amnesia or anterograde amnesia. Case
studies of patients with amnesia can provide information about the brain structures
involved in different types of memory.
 Studies comparing memory enhancers with placebo drugs find very little evidence for
their effectiveness.

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Cues to Improving Memory

Learning Objectives

1. Differentiate between the success of massed practice and distributed practice.

2. Explain what is meant by a mnemonic.

Psychological research has produced a great deal of knowledge about long-term memory, and this
research can be useful as you try to learn and remember new material. Hermann Ebbinghaus
(1850–1909) was a pioneer of the study of memory. In his research, in which he was the only
research participant, Ebbinghaus practiced memorizing lists of nonsense syllables, such as the
following: DIF, LAJ, LEQ, MUV, WYC, DAL, SEN, KEP, NUD

You can imagine that because the material that he was trying to learn was not at all meaningful, it
was not easy to do. Ebbinghaus plotted how many of the syllables he could remember against the
time that had elapsed since he had studied them. He discovered an important principle of memory:
Memory decays rapidly at first, but the amount of decay levels off with time (see Figure 5.15).

Although Ebbinghaus looked at

Figure 5.15 Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve forgetting after days had elapsed, the
same effect occurs on longer and shorter
time scales. Bahrick (1984) found that
students who took a Spanish language
course forgot about one half of the
vocabulary that they had learned within
three years, but that after that time their
memory remained pretty much constant.
Forgetting also drops off quickly on a
shorter time frame. This suggests that
Hermann Ebbinghaus found that memory for information you should try to review the material you
drops off rapidly at first but then levels off after time. have already studied right before you
take an exam; you will be more likely to
remember the material during the exam.

Ebbinghaus also considered the role of overlearning; that is, continuing to practice and study
even when we think that we have mastered the material. Ebbinghaus and other researchers have
found that overlearning helps encoding (Driskell et al., 1992). Students frequently think that they
have already mastered the material, but then discover when they get to the exam that they have
not. Try to keep studying and reviewing, even if you think you already know all the material.

Ebbinghaus discovered another important principle of learning, known as the spacing effect. The
spacing effect, also known as distributed practice, refers to improved learning when the same
amount of studying is spread out over periods of time, then when it occurs closer together, known
as massed practice. This means that you will learn more if you study a little bit every day
throughout the semester than if you wait to cram at the last minute (see Figure 5.16).

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 If you are having difficulty
Figure 5.16 Effects of Massed versus Distributed remembering a particular piece of
Practice on Learning information, it never hurts to try using a
mnemonic or memory aid. Many
people use rhyming, for example, to
remember the number of days in each
month: "thirty days hath September,
April, June, and November." The "first-
letter" technique uses the first letter of
each word in a list to form a new word.
For example, HOMES can represent the
five great lakes: Huron, Ontario,
Michigan, Erie, and Superior. These
techniques are primarily used for simple
The spacing effect refers to the fact that memory is better memorization such as lists and names.
when it is distributed over time rather than massed at Table 5.1 lists some helpful techniques
once. to improve memory.

Table 5.1 Helpful Memory Techniques Based on Psychological Research

Technique Description Useful example

Use elaborative Material is better remembered if it Think about how new information relates to prior
encoding. is processed more fully. knowledge.

Make use of self- Material is better recalled if it is Connect new information about memory strategies
reference. linked to thoughts about the self. to your study habits.

Be aware of the Information that we have learned Review the material that you have already studied
forgetting curve. drops off rapidly with time. right before the exam to increase the likelihood it
will remain in memory.
Make use of the Information is learned better when Study a little bit every day; do not cram at the
spacing effect it is studied in shorter periods last minute.
spaced over time.
Rely on We can continue to learn even Keep studying, even if you think you already have
overlearning. after we think we know the it down.
information perfectly.

Use context- We have better retrieval when it If possible, study under conditions similar to
dependent occurs in the same situation in the conditions in which you will take the
retrieval. which we learned the material. exam.

Use state- We have better retrieval when we Do not study under the influence of drugs or
dependent are in the same psychological state alcohol because they will affect your retrieval.
retrieval. as we were when we learned the
material.

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Key Takeaways

 Hermann Ebbinghaus made important contributions to the study of memory, including

modeling the forgetting curve, the superiority of distributive practice over massed
practice, and the benefits of overlearning.
 There are several methods that can be used to improve memory performance.

Videos and Activities

1. Go to this website to try some memory games illustrating key concepts in this
chapter. The site was designed for kids, but it is fun for anyone.
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/chmemory.html

Exercises and Critical Thinking

1. Plan a course of action to help you study for your next exam, incorporating as
many of the techniques mentioned in this section as possible. Try to implement
the plan.
2. In the film “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” the characters undergo a medical
procedure designed to erase their memories of a painful romantic relationship. Would
you engage in such a procedure if it was safely offered to you?

Cognition and Cognitive Biases

Learning Objectives

1. Define cognition.
2. Describe the role of cognitive biases in memory.

Imagine all of your thoughts as if they were physical entities, swirling rapidly inside your mind.
How is it possible that the brain is able to move from one thought to the next in an organized,
orderly fashion? The brain is endlessly perceiving, processing, planning, organizing, and
remembering; it is always active. Yet, you do not notice most of your brain’s activity as you
move throughout your daily routine. This is only one facet of the complex processes involved in
cognition. Simply put, cognition is thinking, and it encompasses the processes associated with
perception, knowledge, problem solving, judgment, language, and memory. Scientists who study
cognition are searching for ways to understand how we integrate, organize, and utilize our
conscious cognitive experiences without being aware of all of the unconscious work that our
brains are doing (Kahneman, 2011). Exceptionally complex, cognition is an essential feature of
human consciousness, yet not all aspects of cognition are consciously experienced.
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Accuracy and Inaccuracy in Memory and Cognition

She Was Certain, but She Was Wrong: In 1984 Jennifer Thompson was a 22-year-old college
student in North Carolina. One night a man broke into her apartment, put a knife to her throat, and
raped her. According to her own account, Ms. Thompson studied her rapist throughout the
incident with great determination to memorize his face. She said:

I studied every single detail on the rapist’s face. I looked at his hairline; I looked for scars,
for tattoos, for anything that would help me identify him. When and if I survived.

Ms. Thompson went to the police that same day to create a sketch of her attacker, relying on what
she believed was her detailed memory. Several days later, the police constructed a photographic
lineup. Thompson identified Ronald Cotton as the rapist, and she later testified against him at trial.
She was positive it was him, with no doubt in her mind.

I was sure. I knew it. I had picked the right guy, and he was going to go to jail. If there
was the possibility of a death sentence, I wanted him to die. I wanted to flip the switch.

As positive as she was, it turned out that Jennifer Thompson was wrong. But it was not until after
Mr. Cotton had served 11 years in prison for a crime he did not commit that conclusive DNA
evidence indicated that Bobby Poole was the actual rapist, and Cotton was released from jail.

Jennifer Thompson’s memory had failed her, resulting in a substantial injustice. It took definitive
DNA testing to shake her confidence, but she now knows that despite her confidence in her
identification, it was wrong. Consumed by guilt, Thompson sought out Cotton when he was
released from prison, and they have since become friends (Innocence Project, n.d.; Thompson,
2000).
Jennifer Thompson is not the only person to have been fooled by her memory of events. Over the
past 10 years, almost 400 people have been released from prison when DNA evidence confirmed
that they could not have committed the crime for which they had been convicted, and in more than
three-quarters of these cases, the cause of the innocent people being falsely convicted was
erroneous eyewitness testimony (Wells et al., 2006).

As we have seen, our memories are not perfect. They fail in part due to our inadequate encoding
and storage, and in part due to our inability to accurately retrieve stored information. Memory is
also influenced by the setting in which it occurs, by the events that occur to us after we have
experienced an event, and by the cognitive processes that we use to help us remember. Although
our cognition allows us to attend to, rehearse, and organize information, cognition may also lead to
distortions and errors in our judgments and our behaviors.

In this section we consider some of the cognitive biases that are known to influence humans.
Cognitive biases are errors in memory or judgment that are caused by the inappropriate use of
cognitive processes (see Table 5.2). The study of cognitive biases is important both because it
relates to the important psychological theme of accuracy versus inaccuracy in perception, and
because being aware of the types of errors that we may make can help us avoid them and therefore
improve our decision-making skills.

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Overconfidence

One of the most remarkable aspects of Jennifer Thompson’s mistaken identity of Ronald Cotton
was her certainty. But research reveals a pervasive cognitive bias toward overconfidence, which is
the tendency for people to be too certain about their ability to accurately remember events and to
make judgments. Eichenbaum (1999), and Dunning et al. (1990) asked college students to predict
how another student would react in various situations. Some participants made predictions about a
fellow student whom they had just met and interviewed, and others made predictions about their
roommates whom they knew very well. In both cases, participants reported their confidence in
each prediction, and accuracy was determined by the responses of the people themselves. The
results were clear: Regardless of whether they judged a stranger or a roommate, the participants
consistently overestimated the accuracy of their own predictions.

Table 5.2 Cognitive Processes That Pose Threats to Accuracy

Cognitive process Description Potential threat to accuracy

Overconfidence When we are more certain that our Eyewitnesses may be very confident that
memories and judgments are accurate they have accurately identified a suspect,
than we should be even though their memories are incorrect.

Source monitoring The ability to accurately identify the Uncertainty about the source of a
source of a memory memory may lead to mistaken
judgments.

Misinformation Errors in memory that occur when new, Eyewitnesses, based on the questions asked
effect but incorrect information influences by the police, may change their memories
existing accurate memories of what they observed at the crime scene.

Confirmation bias The tendency to verify and confirm our Once beliefs become established, they
existing memories rather than to become self-perpetuating and difficult to
challenge and disconfirm them change.

Functional fixedness When schemas prevent us from seeing Creativity may be impaired by the overuse
and using information in new and of traditional, expectancy-based thinking.
nontraditional ways

Salience When some stimuli, (e.g., those that are We may base our judgments on a single
colorful, moving, or unexpected) grab our salient event while we ignore hundreds of
attention and make them more likely to be other equally informative events that we
remembered do not see.

Representativeness Tendency to make judgments according to After a coin has come up head many times
heuristic how well the event matches our in a row, we may erroneously think that the
expectations next flip is more likely to be tails. This is
known as the gambler’s fallacy.

Availability heuristic Idea that things that come to mind easily We may overestimate the crime statistics
are seen as more common in our own area, because these crimes are
so easy to recall.

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Eyewitnesses to crimes are also frequently overconfident in their memories, and there is only a
small correlation between how accurate and how confident an eyewitness is. The witness who
claims to be absolutely certain about his or her identification (e.g., Jennifer Thompson) is not
much more likely to be accurate than one who appears much less sure, making it almost impossible
to determine whether a particular witness is accurate or not (Wells & Olson, 2003).

When we experience a situation with a great deal of emotion, we may form a flashbulb memory,
which is a vivid and emotional memory of an unusual event that people believe they remember very
well (Brown & Kulik, 1977). People are very certain of their memories of these important events,
and are typically overconfident. Talarico and Rubin (2003) tested the accuracy of flashbulb
memories by asking students to write down their memory of how they had heard the news about
either the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks or about an everyday event that had occurred to
them during the same time frame. These recordings were made on September 12, 2001. Then the
participants were asked again, either 1, 6, or 32 weeks later, to recall their memories. The
participants became less accurate in their recollections of both the emotional event and the
everyday events over time, but the participants’ confidence in the accuracy of their memory of
learning about the attacks did not decline over time. After 32 weeks the participants were
overconfident; they were much more certain about the accuracy of their flashbulb memories than
they should have been. Schmolck et al. (2000) found similar distortions in memories of news about
the verdict in the O. J. Simpson trial.

Source Monitoring: Did It Really Happen?

One potential error in memory involves mistakes in differentiating the sources of information.
Source monitoring refers to the ability to accurately identify the source of a memory. Perhaps you
have had the experience of wondering whether you really experienced an event or only dreamed or
imagined it. If so, you would not be alone. Rassin et al. (2001) reported that up to 25% of college
students reported being confused about real versus dreamed events. Studies suggest that people
who are fantasy-prone are more likely to experience source monitoring errors (Winograd et al.,
1998), and such errors also occur more often for both children and the elderly, than for adolescents
and younger adults (Jacoby & Rhodes, 2006).

In other cases we may be sure that we remembered the information from real life, but be uncertain
about exactly where we heard it. Imagine that you read a news story in a tabloid magazine such as
the National Enquirer. Probably you would have discounted the information because you know
that its source is unreliable. What if later you were to remember the story, but forget the source of
the information? If this happens, you might become convinced that the news story is true because
you forgot to discount the source. The sleeper effect refers to attitude change that occurs over
time when we forget the source of information (Pratkanis et al., 1988).

Misinformation Effects

A particular problem for eyewitnesses is that our memories are often influenced by the things that
occur to us after we have learned the information (Erdmann et al., 2004; Loftus, 1979; Zaragoza et
al., 2007). This information can distort our original memories such that we are no longer sure what
the real information is and what was provided later. The misinformation effect refers to errors in
memory that occur when new information influences existing memories.

165
In an experiment by Loftus and Palmer (1974), participants viewed a film of a traffic accident and
then, according to random assignment to experimental conditions, answered one of three
questions:

Figure 5.17 Misinformation Effect

Participants viewed a film of a traffic accident and then answered a question about the accident. According to
random assignment, the verb in the question was filled by either “hit,” “smashed,” or “contacted” each other.
The wording of the question influenced the participants’ memory of the accident.
Source: Adapted from Loftus, E. F., & Palmer, J. C. (1974). Reconstruction of automobile destruction: An example of the interaction between language and memory. Journal of Verbal
Learning & Verbal Behavior, 13(5), 585–589.

As you can see in Figure 5.17, although all the participants saw the same accident, their estimates
of the cars’ speed varied by condition. Participants who had been asked about the cars
“smashing” each other estimated the highest average speed, and those who had been asked the
“contacted” question estimated the lowest average speed.

In addition to distorting our memories for events that have actually occurred, misinformation may
lead us to falsely remember information that never occurred. Loftus and her colleagues asked
parents to provide them with descriptions of events that did, such as moving to a new house, and
did not, such as being lost in a shopping mall, happen to their children. Then without telling the
children which events were real or made-up, the researchers asked the children to imagine both
types of events. The children were instructed to think really hard about whether the events had
occurred (Ceci et al., 1994). More than half of the children generated stories regarding at least one
of the made-up events, and they remained insistent that the events did in fact occur, even when
told by the researcher that they could not possibly have occurred (Loftus & Pickrell, 1995). Even
college students are susceptible to manipulations that make events that did not actually occur seem
as if they did (Mazzoni et al., 2001).

The ease with which memories can be created or implanted is particularly problematic when the
events to be recalled have important consequences. Some therapists argue that patients may
repress memories of traumatic events they experienced as children, such as childhood sexual
abuse, and then recover the events years later as the therapist leads them to recall the information
by using techniques, such as dream interpretation and hypnosis (Brown et al., 1998).

Other researchers argue that painful memories, such as sexual abuse, are usually very well
remembered, that few memories are actually repressed, and that even if they are it is virtually
impossible for patients to accurately retrieve them years later (McNally et al., 2003; Pope, et al.,
2007). These researchers have argued that the procedures used by the therapists to “retrieve” the
memories are more likely to actually implant false memories, leading the patients to erroneously
recall events that did not actually occur. Because hundreds of people have been accused, and even
166
imprisoned, on the basis of claims about recovered memory of child sexual abuse, the accuracy of
these memories has important societal implications. Many psychologists now believe that most of
these claims of recovered memories are due to implanted, rather than real, memories (Loftus &
Ketcham, 1994).

Distortions Based on Expectations

We have seen that schemas help us remember information by organizing material into coherent
representations. However, although schemas can improve our memories, they may also lead to
cognitive biases. Using schemas may lead us to falsely remember things that never happened to us
and to distort or misremember things that did. For one, schemas lead to the confirmation bias,
which is the tendency to verify and confirm our existing memories rather than to challenge and
disconfirm them. The confirmation bias occurs because once we have schemas, they influence how
we seek out and interpret new information. The confirmation bias leads us to remember
information that fits our schemas better than we remember information that disconfirms them
(Stangor & McMillan, 1992), a process that makes our stereotypes very difficult to change. We
also ask questions in ways that confirm our schemas (Trope & Thompson, 1997). If we think that a
person is an extrovert, we might ask her about ways that she likes to have fun, thereby making it
more likely that we will confirm our beliefs. In short, once we begin to believe in something, such
as a stereotype about a group of people, it becomes very difficult to later convince us that these
beliefs are not true; the beliefs become self-confirming.

Darley and Gross (1983) demonstrated how schemas about social class could influence memory.
In their research they gave participants a picture and some information about a fourth-grade girl
named Hannah. To activate a schema about her social class, Hannah was pictured, sitting in front
of a nice suburban house for one-half of the participants and pictured in front of an impoverished
house in an urban area for the other half. Then the participants watched a video that showed
Hannah taking an intelligence test. As the test went on, Hannah got some of the questions right and
some of them wrong, but the number of correct and incorrect answers was the same in both
conditions. Then the participants were asked to remember how many questions Hannah got right
and wrong. Demonstrating that stereotypes had influenced memory, the participants who thought
that Hannah had come from an upper-class background remembered that she had gotten more
correct answers than those who thought she was from a lower-class background.

Schemas can not only distort our memory, but our reliance on schemas can also make it more
difficult for us to “think outside the box.” Wason (1960) asked college students to determine the
rule that was used to generate the numbers 2-4-6 by asking them to generate possible sequences
and then telling them if those numbers followed the rule. The first guess that students made was
usually “consecutive ascending even numbers,” and they then asked questions designed to confirm
their hypothesis: (“Does 102-104-106 fit?” “What about 404-406-408?”). Upon receiving
information that those guesses did fit the rule, the students stated that the rule was “consecutive
ascending even numbers.” But the students’ use of the confirmation bias led them to ask only
about instances that confirmed their hypothesis, and not about those that would disconfirm it. They
never bothered to ask whether 1-2-3 or 3-11-200 would fit, and if they had they would have
learned that the rule was not “consecutive ascending even numbers,” but simply “any three
ascending numbers.” Again, you can see that once we have a schema, we continually retrieve that
schema from memory rather than other relevant ones, leading us to act in ways that tend to confirm
our beliefs.
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Functional fixedness occurs when people’s schemas
prevent them from using an object in new and Figure 5.18 Functional Fixedness
nontraditional ways. Duncker (1945) gave participants a
candle, a box of thumbtacks, and a book of matches,
and asked them to attach the candle to the wall so that it
did not drip onto the table below (see Figure 5.17). Few
of the participants realized that the box could be tacked
to the wall and used as a platform to hold the candle.
The problem again is that our existing memories are
powerful, and they bias the way we think about new
information. Because the participants were fixated on
the box’s normal function of holding thumbtacks, they
could not see another use.

In the candle-tack-box problem, functional

Salience and Cognitive Accessibility fixedness may lead us to see the box only as
a box and not as a potential candleholder
Still another potential for bias in memory occurs
because we are more likely to attend to, and thus make use of and remember, some information
more than other information. For one, we tend to attend to and remember things that are highly
salient, meaning that they attract our attention. Things that are unique, colorful, bright, moving,
and unexpected are more salient (McArthur & Post, 1977; Taylor & Fiske, 1978). In one relevant
study, Loftus et al. (1987) showed people images of a customer walking up to a bank teller and
pulling out either a pistol or a checkbook. By tracking eye movements, the researchers determined
that people were more likely to look at the gun than at the checkbook, and that this reduced their
ability to accurately identify the criminal in a lineup that was given later. The salience of the gun
drew people’s attention away from the face of the criminal. The salience of the stimuli in our
social worlds has a big influence on our judgment, and in some cases, may lead us to behave in
ways that we might better not have. Imagine that you wanted to buy a new car for yourself. You
checked Consumer Reports online and found that, after reviewing price, gas mileage, safety, and
options, you decided to purchase a particular vehicle. That night you go to a party, and a friend
shows you her brand-new car. You check it out, and it seems really cool. You tell her that you
were thinking of buying a different model, and she tells you that you are crazy. She says she
knows someone who had that car and it had a lot of problems, and she would never buy one.
Would you still buy that car, or would you switch your plans?

If you think about this question logically, the information that you just got from your friend is not
really all that important. You now know the opinion of one more person cannot change the overall
rating of cars very much. On the other hand, the information your friend gives you is highly salient,
whereas the statistical information from Consumer Reports is not as salient. Typically, in cases
such as this, people frequently ignore the less salient, but more important information, such as that
coming from Consumer Reports, in favor of the more salient, but less important, report from a
friend.

Heuristic Processing: Availability and Representativeness

Another way that our information processing may be biased occurs when we use heuristics,
which are information-processing strategies that are useful in many cases but may lead to errors
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when misapplied. Let us consider two of the most frequently applied heuristics: The
representativeness heuristic and the availability heuristic.

In many cases we base our judgments on information that seems to represent, or match, what we
expect will happen, while ignoring other potentially more relevant statistical information, and
when we do so, we are using the representativeness heuristic. Consider, for instance, the puzzle
presented in Table 5.3. Say that you went to a hospital, and you checked the records of the babies
that were born today. Which pattern of births do you think you are most likely to find?

Table 5.3 The Representativeness Heuristic

List A List B
Using the
6:31 a.m. Girl 6:31 a.m. Boy representativeness heuristic
may lead us to incorrectly
8:15 a.m. Girl 8:15 a.m. Girl
believe that some patterns
9:42 a.m. Girl 9:42 a.m. Boy of observed events are
more likely to have
1:13 p.m. Girl 1:13 p.m. Girl
occurred than others. In this
3:39 p.m. Boy 3:39 p.m. Girl case, list B seems more
5:12 p.m. Boy 5:12 p.m. Boy random, and thus is judged
as more likely to have
7:42 p.m. Boy 7:42 p.m. Girl occurred, but statistically
11:44 p.m. Boy 11:44 p.m. Boy both lists are equally likely.

Most people think that list B is more likely, probably because list B looks more random, and thus
matches or is representative of our ideas about randomness. However, statisticians know that any
pattern of four girls and four boys is mathematically equally likely. The problem is that we have a
schema of what randomness should be like, which does not always match what is mathematically
the case. Similarly, people who see a flipped coin come up heads five times in a row will
frequently predict, and perhaps even wager money, that tails will be next. This behavior is known
as the gambler’s fallacy. Mathematically, the gambler’s fallacy is an error: The likelihood of any
single coin flip being tails is always 50%, regardless of how many times it has come up heads in
the past.

Our judgments can also be influenced by how easy it is to retrieve a memory. The tendency to
make judgments of the frequency or likelihood that an event occurs on the basis of the ease with
which it can be retrieved from memory is known as the availability heuristic (MacLeod &
Campbell, 1992; Tversky & Kahneman, 1973). Imagine you were asked to indicate whether there
are more words in the English language that begin with the letter “R” or have the letter “R” as the
third letter. You would probably answer this question by trying to think of words that have each of
the characteristics, thinking of all the words you know that begin with “R” and all that have “R” in
the third position. Because it is much easier to retrieve words by their first letter than by their third,
we may incorrectly guess that there are more words that begin with “R,” even though there are in
fact more words that have “R” as the third letter. The availability heuristic may also operate on
episodic memory. We may think that our friends are nice people, because we see and remember
them primarily when they are around us being nice. The traffic might seem worse in our own

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neighborhood than we think it is in other places, in part because nearby traffic jams are more easily
retrieved than are traffic jams that occur somewhere else.

Psychology in Everyday Life: Cognitive Biases in the Real World

Perhaps you are thinking that the kinds of errors that we have been talking about do not seem
that important. After all, who really cares if we think there are more words that begin with the
letter “R” than there actually are. These are not big problems in the overall scheme of things,
but it turns out that what seem to be relatively small cognitive biases on the surface can have
profound consequences for people.

Why would so many people continue to purchase lottery tickets, buy risky investments in the
stock market, or gamble their money in casinos when the likelihood of them ever winning is so
low? One possibility is that they are victims of salience; they focus their attention on the salient
likelihood of a big win, forgetting that the base rate of the event occurring is very low. The
belief in astrology, which all scientific evidence suggests is not accurate, is probably driven in
part by the salience of the occasions when the predictions are correct. When a horoscope
comes true, which will sometimes happen by chance, the correct prediction is highly salient and
may allow people to maintain the overall false belief.

People may also take more care to prepare for unlikely events than for more likely ones,
because the unlikely ones are more salient. For instance, people may think that they are more
likely to die from a terrorist attack or a homicide than they are from diabetes, stroke, or
tuberculosis, but the odds are much greater of dying from the latter than the former. People are
frequently more afraid of flying than driving, although the likelihood of dying in a car crash is
hundreds of times greater than dying in a plane crash. Because people do not accurately
calibrate their behaviors to match the true potential risks, such as they drink and drive or do not
wear their seatbelts, the individual and societal level costs are often quite large (Slovic, 2000).

Salience and accessibility also color how we perceive our social worlds, which may have a big
influence on our behavior. For instance, people who watch a lot of violent television shows
also view the world as more dangerous (Doob & Macdonald, 1979), probably because
violence becomes more cognitively accessible for them. We also unfairly overestimate our
contribution to joint projects (Ross & Sicoly, 1979), perhaps in part because our own
contributions are highly accessible, whereas the contributions of others are much less so.

Even people who should know better are subject to cognitive biases. Economists, stock traders,
managers, lawyers, and even doctors make the same kinds of mistakes in their professional
activities that people make in their everyday lives (Gilovich et al., 2002). Just like us, these
people are victims of overconfidence, heuristics, and other biases. Furthermore, every year
thousands of individuals, such as Ronald Cotton, are charged with and often convicted of
crimes based largely on eyewitness evidence. When eyewitnesses testify in courtrooms
regarding their memories of a crime, they often are completely sure that they are identifying
the right person, but the most common cause of innocent people being falsely convicted is
erroneous eyewitness testimony (Wells et al., 1999). The many people who were convicted

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by mistaken eyewitnesses prior to the advent of forensic DNA and who have now been
exonerated by DNA tests have certainly paid for all-too-common memory errors (Wells et al.,
2006).

Although cognitive biases are common, they are not impossible to control, and psychologists
and other scientists are working to help people make better decisions. One possibility is to
provide people with better feedback about their judgments. Weather forecasters, for instance,
learn to be quite accurate in their judgments because they have clear feedback about the
accuracy of their predictions. Other research has found that accessibility biases can be reduced
by leading people to consider multiple alternatives rather than focus only on the most obvious
ones, and particularly by leading people to think about opposite possible outcomes than the
ones they are expecting (Lilienfeld et al., 2009). Forensic psychologists are also working to
reduce the incidence of false identification by helping police develop better procedures for
interviewing both suspects and eyewitnesses (Steblay et al., 2001).

Key Takeaways

 A variety of cognitive biases may lead us to falsely remember things that never
happened to us and to distort or misremember things that did.
 Cognitive biases can also influence the accuracy of our judgments.

Exercises and Critical Thinking

1. Consider a time when you were uncertain if you really experienced an event or
only imagined it. What impact did this have on you, and how did you resolve it?
2. Consider again some of the cognitive schemas that you hold in your memory.
How do these knowledge structures bias your information processing and
behavior, and how might you prevent them from doing so?
3. Imagine that you were involved in a legal case in which an eyewitness claimed that he
had seen a person commit a crime. Based on your knowledge about memory and
cognition, what techniques would you use to reduce the possibility that the eyewitness
was making a mistaken identification?

Videos and Activities

1. These video segments from Scientific American discuss some special topics related to
memory http://chedd-angier.com/frontiers/season14.html (watch Episode 2)

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Problem-Solving Strategies

Learning Objective

1. Describe the different types of problem-solving.

When you are presented with a problem, whether it is a complex mathematical problem or a
broken printer, how do you solve it? Before finding a solution to the problem, the problem must
first be clearly identified. After that, one of many problem-solving strategies can be applied,
hopefully resulting in a solution.

A problem-solving strategy is a plan of action used to find a solution (OpenStax College, 2014).
Different strategies have different action plans associated with them. For example, a well-known
strategy is trial and error, which is continually trying different solutions until the problem is
solved. The old adage, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” describes trial and error. In
terms of your broken printer, you could try checking the ink levels, and if that does not work, you
could check to make sure the paper tray is not jammed, or maybe the printer is not actually
connected to your laptop. Although trial and error is not typically one of the most time-efficient
strategies, it is a commonly used one.

Another type of strategy is an algorithm. An algorithm is a problem-solving formula, such as a

mathematical equation, that provides you with step-by-step instructions used to achieve a
desired outcome (Kahneman, 2011). You can think of an algorithm as a recipe with highly
detailed instructions that produce the same result every time they are performed. Algorithms are
used frequently in our everyday lives, especially in computer science. When you run a search on
the Internet, search engines like Google use algorithms to decide which entries will appear first
in your list of results. Facebook also uses algorithms to decide which posts to display on your
newsfeed. Can you identify other situations in which algorithms are used?

As previously indicated, a heuristic is an information processing strategy. While an algorithm

must be followed exactly to produce a correct result, a heuristic is a general problem-solving
framework (Tversky & Kahneman, 1974). You can think of these as mental shortcuts that are
used to solve problems. A “rule of thumb” is an example of a heuristic. Such a rule saves the
person time and energy when deciding, but despite its time-saving characteristics, it is not
always the best method for making a rational decision.

Working backwards is a useful heuristic in which you begin solving the problem by focusing on
the end result. Consider this example: You live in Washington, D.C. and have been invited to a
wedding at 4 PM on Saturday in Philadelphia. Knowing that Interstate 95 tends to back up any day
of the week, you need to plan your route and time your departure accordingly. If you want to be at
the wedding service by 3:30 PM, and it takes 2.5 hours to get to Philadelphia without traffic, what
time should you leave your house? You use the working backwards heuristic to plan the events of
your day, probably without even thinking about it.

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Another useful heuristic is Sub-goaling, which is the practice of accomplishing a large goal
or task by breaking it into a series of smaller steps. Students often use this common method to
complete a large research project or long essay for school. For example, students typically
brainstorm, develop a thesis or main topic, research the chosen topic, organize their information
into an outline, write a rough draft, revise and edit the rough draft, develop a final draft,
organize the references list, and proofread their work before turning in the project. The large
task becomes less overwhelming when it is broken down into a series of small steps.

Chapter Summary

Memory and cognition are the two major interests of cognitive psychologists. The cognitive
perspective was influenced in large part by the development of the computer. The computer is the
model for information processing theory. Psychologists conceptualize memory in terms of
processes, stages, and types.

Memory is not like a video recording, but rather is a reconstructive process that is prone to error.

The three processes of memory include encoding, storage, and retrieval.

Sensory memory, including iconic and echoic memory, is a memory buffer that lasts only very
briefly and then, unless it is attended to and passed on for more processing, is forgotten.

Information that we turn our attention to may move into short-term memory (STM). STM is
limited in both the length and the amount of information it can hold. Working memory is a set of
memory procedures or operations that operates on the information in STM. Working memory’s
central executive directs the strategies used to keep information in STM, such as maintenance
rehearsal, visualization, and chunking.

Long-term memory (LTM) is memory storage that can hold information for days, months, and
years. The information that we want to remember in LTM must be encoded and stored, and then
retrieved.

Explicit/declarative memory is assessed using measures in which the individual being tested must
consciously attempt to remember the information. Explicit memory includes semantic and episodic
memory. Explicit memory tests include free recall memory tests, cued recall memory tests,
recognition memory tests, and measures of relearning.

Implicit /nondeclarative memory refers to the influence of experience on behavior, even if the
individual is not aware of those influences. Implicit memory is made up of procedural memory,
classical conditioning effects, and priming. An important characteristic of implicit memories is that
they are frequently formed and used automatically, without much effort or awareness on our part.

Memories that are stored in LTM are not isolated, but rather are linked together into categories and
schemas. Schemas are important because they help us encode and retrieve information by
providing an organizational structure for it. However, they can lead to biases.

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The ability to maintain information in LTM involves a gradual strengthening of the connections
among the neurons in the brain, known as long-term potentiation (LTP). The hippocampus is
important in explicit memory, the cerebellum is important in implicit memory, and the amygdala is
important in emotional memory. A number of neurotransmitters are important in consolidation and
memory. Evidence for the role of different brain structures in different types of memories comes in
part from case studies of patients who suffer from amnesia.

Some strategies for improving LTM include making use of the forgetting curve, the spacing effect
which finds that distributed practice is superior to massed practice, overlearning, and being aware of
context-dependent and state-dependent retrieval effects. Lists, names, and simple facts might be
learned more easily by using mnemonics.

Cognitive biases are errors in memory or judgment that are caused by the inappropriate use of
cognitive processes. These biases are caused by the overuse of schemas, the reliance on salience,
and the use of rule-of-thumb strategies known as heuristics. These biases include errors in source
monitoring, the confirmation bias, functional fixedness, the misinformation effect, and
overconfidence. These biases are one cause of inaccuracy in the reconstruction of memory.
Understanding the potential cognitive errors we frequently make can help us make better decisions
and engage in more appropriate behaviors.

Problem-solving involves several strategies, including algorithms, heuristics, trial-and-error and

subgoaling. Different problems will require different plans of action to reach a solution.

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 Chapter 6 Intelligence and Language
Learning Objective
1. Define intelligence and language.

In this chapter, we consider how psychologists conceptualize and measure human intelligence,
the ability to think, learn from experience, solve problems, and adapt to new situations. We will
consider whether intelligence involves a single ability or many different abilities, how we
measure intelligence, and what intelligence predicts. We will also consider how intelligence is
represented in the brain and in terms of nature versus nurture. We will also discuss psychology’s
shameful history regarding intelligence testing and how group differences have been erroneously
explained.

Our vast intelligence also allows us to have language, a system of communication that uses
symbols in a regular way to create meaning. Language gives us the ability to communicate our
intelligence to others by talking, reading, and writing. As the psychologist Steven Pinker put it,
language is the the jewel in the crown of cognition (Pinker, 1994). Although other species
have at least some ability to communicate, none of them have language. In the last section of this
chapter, we will consider the structure and development of language, as well as its vital
importance to human beings.

Defining and Measuring Intelligence

Learning Objectives

1. List the different types of intelligences psychologists study.

2. Summarize the characteristics of a scientifically valid intelligence test.
3. Outline the biological and environmental determinants of intelligence.

General (g) Versus Specific (s) Intelligences Figure 6.1 Alfred Binet

In the early 1900s, the French psychologist Alfred Binet (1857–

1911) and his colleague Theodore Simon (1872–1961) began
working on behalf of the French government to develop a
measure that would differentiate students who were expected to
be better learners from students who were expected to be slower
learners. The goal was to help teachers better educate these two
groups of students. Binet and Simon developed what most
psychologists today regard as the first intelligence test, which
consisted of a wide variety of questions that included the ability
to name objects, define words, draw pictures, complete
sentences, compare items, and construct sentences.
Source

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Binet and Simon (Binet et al., 1915; Siegler, 1992) believed that the questions they asked their
students, even though they were on the surface dissimilar, all assessed the basic abilities to
understand, reason, and make judgments. It turned out that the correlations among these
different types of measures were in fact all positive; students who got one item correct were
more likely to also get other items correct, even though the questions themselves were very
different.
On the basis of these results, Charles Spearman (1863–1945) hypothesized that there must be a
single underlying construct that all items measure. He called the construct that the different abilities
and skills measured on intelligence tests have in common the general intelligence factor (g).
Many psychologists believe that there is a generalized intelligence factor, “g”, that relates to
abstract thinking and includes the abilities to acquire knowledge, reason abstractly, adapt to novel
situations, and benefit from instruction and experience (Gottfredson, 1997; Sternberg, 2003).
According to “g”, people with higher general intelligence learn faster.

Soon after Binet and Simon introduced their test, the American psychologist Lewis Terman at
Stanford University (1877–1956) developed an American version of Binet’s test that became
known as the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test. The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test is a measure
of general intelligence made up of a wide variety of tasks including vocabulary, memory for
pictures, naming of familiar objects, repeating sentences, and following commands.

In addition to “g”, there is also evidence for specific intelligence (s), or measures of specific
skills in narrow domains. One empirical result in support of the idea of “s” comes from
intelligence tests themselves. Although the different types of questions do correlate with each
other, some items correlate more highly with each other than do other items such that they form
clusters or clumps of intelligences.

Crystallized versus Fluid Intelligence

One distinction in specific intelligences is between fluid intelligence, which refers to the
capacity to learn new ways of solving problems and performing activities quickly and abstractly,
and crystallized intelligence, which refers to the accumulated knowledge of the world we have
acquired throughout our lives (Salthouse, 2004). These intelligences must be different because
crystallized intelligence increases with age, while fluid intelligence tends to decrease with age
(Horn et al., 1981; Salthouse, 2004).

Research demonstrates that older adults have more crystallized intelligence, as reflected in
semantic knowledge, vocabulary, and language. As a result, older adults generally outperform
younger people on measures of history, geography, and even on crossword puzzles, where this
information is useful (Salthouse, 2004). This superior knowledge, combined with a slower and
more complete processing style and sophisticated understanding of the workings of the world,
gives those older an advantage, despite greater fluid intelligence in those younger (Baltes et al.,
1999; Scheibe et al., 2009). The differential changes in crystallized versus fluid intelligence also
explains why those older do not necessarily show poorer performance on tasks that require
experience, although they show poorer memory overall. A young chess player may think more
quickly, but a more experienced chess player has more knowledge to draw on.

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Triarchic Theory

Another advocate of specific intelligences, or multiple

intelligences, is the psychologist Robert Sternberg. Sternberg has
proposed a triarchic (three-part) theory of intelligence that
proposes that people may display more or less analytical
intelligence, creative intelligence, and practical intelligence.
Sternberg (1985, 2003) defined the three intelligences as: Figure 6.2
 Analytical intelligence or the ability to perform academic Test your divergent
problem solving thinking. How many uses
 Creative intelligence or the ability to adapt to new for a paper clip can you
think of? © Thinkstock
situations and create new ideas
 Practical intelligence or the ability to demonstrate street
smarts and common sense

Analytical intelligence is measured on traditional intelligence tests and assesses finding the
single correct answer to a problem. Research has found that creativity is not highly correlated
with analytical intelligence (Furnham & Bachtiar, 2008) and exceptionally creative scientists,
artists, mathematicians, and engineers do not score higher on intelligence tests than do their less
creative peers (Simonton, 2000). Furthermore, the brain areas that are associated with convergent
thinking, thinking that is directed toward finding the correct answer to a given problem, are
different from those associated with divergent thinking, the ability to generate many different
ideas for or solutions to a single problem (Tarasova et al., 2010). On the other hand, being
creative reflects basic abilities measured by “g”, including the abilities to learn from experience,
to remember information, and to think abstractly (Bink & Marsh, 2000). Ericsson (1998), Weisberg
(2006), Hennessey and Amabile (2010) and Simonton (1992) studied creative people and identified at
least five components that are likely to be important for creativity as listed in Table 6.1.

Table 6.1 Important Components for Creativity

Component Description
Expertise Creative people have studied and know a lot about a topic
Imaginative Thinking Creative people view problems in new and different ways
Risk Taking Creative people take on new, but potentially risky approaches
Intrinsic Interest Creative people take on projects for interest not money
Working in Creative The most creative people are supported, aided, and challenged by
Environments other people working on similar projects

The last aspect of the triarchic model, practical intelligence, refers primarily to intelligence that
cannot be gained from books or formal learning. Practical intelligence represents a type of street
smarts or common sense that is learned from life experiences. Although a number of tests have
been devised to measure practical intelligence (Sternberg et al., 1993; Wagner & Sternberg,
1985), research has not found much evidence that practical intelligence is distinct from “g” or
that it is predictive of success at any particular tasks (Gottfredson, 2003). Practical intelligence
may include, at least in part, certain abilities that help people perform well at specific jobs, and
these abilities may not always be highly correlated with general intelligence (Sternberg et al.,
1993).

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Theory of Multiple Intelligences

Figure 6.3 Another champion of the idea of specific types of intelligences is the
psychologist Howard Gardner (1983, 1999) who developed a theory
of multiple intelligences. Gardner argued that it would be
evolutionarily functional for different people to have different talents
and skills, and proposed that there are eight intelligences that can be
differentiated from each other. A potential ninth intelligence; that
is, existential still needs empirical support. See Table 6.2 for a list
of Gardner’s eight specific intelligences. Gardner noted that some
evidence for multiple intelligences comes from the abilities of
autistic savants, people who score low on intelligence tests overall,
but who nevertheless may have exceptional skills in a given domain,
such as math, music, art, or in being able to recite statistics in a
© Thinkstock
given sport (Treffert & Wallace, 2004).

Table 6.2 Howard Gardner’s Specific Intelligences

Intelligence Description

Linguistic The ability to speak and write well

Logical- The ability to use logic and mathematical skills to solve problems
mathematical

Spatial The ability to think and reason about objects in three dimensions

Musical The ability to perform and enjoy music

Kinesthetic (body) The ability to move the body in sports, dance, or other physical activities

Interpersonal The ability to understand and interact effectively with others

Intrapersonal The ability to have insight into the self

Naturalistic The ability to recognize, identify, and understand animals, plants, and
other living things
Existential The ability to identify and ponder the fundamental questions of human
(Possible) existence

Source: Adapted from Gardner, H. (1999). Intelligence reframed: Multiple intelligences for the 21st century. New York, NY: Basic Books.

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 The idea of multiple intelligences has been
influential in the field of education,
and teachers have used these ideas to try to
teach differently to different students. For
instance, to teach math problems to students
who have particularly good kinesthetic
intelligence, a teacher might encourage the
students to move their bodies or hands
according to the numbers. On the other
hand, some have argued that these
intelligences sometimes seem more like
abilities or talents rather than real
intelligence. There is no clear conclusion
about how many intelligences there are. Are
sense of humor, artistic skills, dramatic
Figure 6.4
Although intelligence is often conceptualized in a general skills, and so forth also separate
way (as the “g” factor), there is a variety of specific skills intelligences? Further, demonstrating the
that can be useful for particular tasks. © Thinkstock underlying power of a single intelligence,
the many different intelligences show some
correlations with each other, and thus represent, in part, “g” (Brody, 2003).

Measuring Intelligence: The Intelligence Quotient and Historical Bias

The goal of most intelligence tests is to measure “g”, the general intelligence factor. Good
intelligence tests are reliable, meaning that they are consistent over time, and also demonstrate
validity, meaning that they actually measure intelligence rather than something else. Because
intelligence is such an important individual difference dimension, psychologists have invested
substantial effort in creating and improving measures of intelligence, and these tests are now
considered the most accurate of all psychological tests. In fact, the ability to accurately assess
intelligence is one of the most important contributions of psychology to everyday public life,
however validity has not readily been established for all demographic groups.

Understanding intelligence test scores requires that we know the norms or standards in a given
population of people at a given age. The standardization of a test involves giving it to a large
number of people at different ages and computing the average score on the test at each age level.
Once the standardization has been accomplished, we have a picture of the average abilities of
individuals in that population at different ages and can calculate a person’s mental age, which is
the age at which a person is performing intellectually. If we compare the mental age of a person
to the person’s chronological age, the result is the Intelligence Quotient (IQ), a measure of
intelligence that is adjusted for age. Historically, the way to calculate IQ was by using the
following formula:

IQ = mental age ÷ chronological age × 100.

Thus a 10-year-old child who does as well as the average 10-year-old child has an IQ of 100 (10
÷ 10 × 100), whereas an 8-year-old child who does as well as the average 10-year-old child
would have an IQ of 125 (10 ÷ 8 × 100). Most modern intelligence tests are based on the relative
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position of a person’s score among people of the same age, rather than on the basis of this
formula, but the idea of an intelligence quotient provides a good description of the score’s
meaning.

It is important that intelligence tests be standardized on a regular basis, because the overall level
of intelligence in a population may change over time. The Flynn effect refers to the observation
that scores on intelligence tests worldwide have increased substantially over the past decades
(Flynn, 1999). Although the increase varies somewhat from country to country, the average
increase is about 3 IQ points every 10 years. There are many explanations for the Flynn effect,
including better nutrition, increased access to information, and more familiarity with multiple-
choice tests (Neisser, 1998), but whether people are actually getting smarter is debatable
(Neisser, 1997).

Wechsler Scales

A number of scales are based on the IQ. The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) is the
most widely used intelligence test for adults (Watkins et al., 1995). The current version of the
WAIS, the WAIS-IV, was standardized on 2,200 people ranging from 16 to 90 years of age. It
consists of 15 different tasks, each designed to assess intelligence, including working memory,
arithmetic ability, spatial ability, and general knowledge about the world. The WAIS-IV yields
scores on four domains: verbal, perceptual, working memory, and processing speed. The
reliability of the test is high (more than 0.95). The WAIS-IV is correlated highly with other IQ
tests such as the Stanford-Binet, as well as with criteria of academic and life success, including
college grades, measures work performance, and occupational level. It also shows significant
correlations with measures of everyday functioning among people with intellectual disabilities.

The Wechsler scale has also been adapted for preschool children in the form of the Wechsler
Primary and Preschool Scale of Intelligence-Fourth Edition (WPPSI-IV) and for older children
and adolescents in the form of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fifth Edition (WISC-
V). Figure 6.5 illustrates items from the WAIS.

Figure 6.5 Sample Items from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)
https://www.flickr.com/search/?q=wechsler+scale

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Aptitude Tests

The intelligence tests that you may be most familiar with are aptitude tests, which are designed to
measure one’s ability to perform a given task, for instance, to do well in college or in postgraduate
training. Most U.S. colleges and universities require students to take the Scholastic Assessment
Test (SAT) or the American College Test (ACT), and postgraduate schools require the Graduate
Record Examination (GRE), Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT), or the Law School
Admission Test (LSAT). These tests are useful for selecting students because they predict success
in the programs that they are designed for, particularly in the first year of the program (Kuncel et
al., 2010). These aptitude tests also measure, in part, intelligence. Frey and Detterman (2004)
found that the SAT correlated highly (between about r = .7 and r = .8) with standard measures of
intelligence.

Bias in Intelligence and Aptitude Testing

Psychological assessment, especially in the area of intelligence testing, with racial and ethnic
minorities has a controversial and dark history. The early assumption was that psychological
assessments were objective, meaning they were free from prejudice, even though they were typically
standardized and validated based on White, middle-class, English-language speakers (Leong & Park,
2016). Research has shown that such tests may yield misleading results, such as the result of the test
being more accurate for some groups than for others. Early psychologists in the area of intelligence
testing often assumed an Inferiority/Pathology model when non-White groups scored lower (Leong &
Park, 2016).

To explain group differencs, concerns have been raised that IQ testing is biased. Bias means that a
test predicts outcomes, such as grades or occupational success, better for one group than it does
for another. One way that tests might be biased is if questions are framed such that they are easier
for people from one culture to understand than for people from other cultures. For example, even a
very smart person will not do well on a test if they are not fluent in the language in which the test
is administered, or does not understand the meaning of the questions being asked. To counteract
bias, modern intelligence tests are supposed to be designed to be culturally neutral, however some
researchers are still concerned about the possibility that intelligence tests are culturally biased.

To assess the occurrence of testing bias, Reynolds and Suzuki (2013) reviewed research on
intelligence testing and found little support for IQ tests being substantially biased, at least in cultures
with a common language and a degree of similar experiences. Group differences in children that do
emerge from the research are hypothesized to be due to a variety of other factors including: “Illness,
fatigue, poor motivation, missed instruction due to frequent absences from school, frequent moves or
school changes, poor vision or hearing, inattention, or difficulties with the English language, a
common issue for immigrant students,” (Ortiz et al., 2010, p. 2). Additionally, discrimination,
economic disadvantage, exclusion from education opportunities, and social support have also been
identified as factors (Reynolds & Suzuki, 2013).

When decisions about a child’s education are made, Ortiz et al. (2010) highlight the importance of
including ecological information in an assessment; that is, information about the student’s
environment and history, in addition to formal intelligence tests, Ecological information includes a
review of the child’s educational records, developmental history, observations, parent and teacher
186
interviews, examples of school work and measures of adaptive functioning. Ortiz et al. state that
intelligence test scores can easily be misinterpreted if ecological information is overlooked.

In summary, most experts believe that environmental factors, and not genetic factors, are the reason
why scores differ across groups (Nisbett et al., 2012). It is important to realize that, although IQ is
partly heritable, this does not mean that group differences are caused by genetics. Although some
people are naturally taller than others, as height is heritable, people who get plenty of nutritious food
are taller than people who do not, and this difference is clearly due to environment. This is a
reminder that group differences may be created by environmental variables, but also able to be
reduced through appropriate environmental actions, such as educational and training programs.

Brain Functioning and Intelligence

The brain processes underlying intelligence are not completely understood, but current research
has focused on four potential factors: thickness of the cortex, sensory ability, speed and
efficiency of neural transmission, and working memory capacity. There is at least some truth to
the idea that smarter people have thicker brains. Studies using neuroimaging techniques find
that larger brain volume is correlated with intelligence (McDaniel, 2005), and intelligence has
also been found to be correlated with the number of neurons in the brain and with the thickness
of the cortex (Haier, 2004; Shaw et al., 2006). It is important to remember that these
correlational findings do not mean that having more brain volume causes higher intelligence. It
is possible that growing up in a stimulating environment that rewards thinking and learning may
lead to greater brain growth (Garlick, 2003), and it is also possible that a third variable, such as
better nutrition, causes both brain volume and intelligence.

Another possibility is that the brains

Figure 6.6 Where Is Intelligence? of more intelligent people operate
more efficiently and faster than the
brains of the less intelligent. Some
evidence supporting this idea comes
from data showing that people who
are more intelligent frequently show
less brain activity (suggesting that
they need to use less capacity) than
those with lower intelligence when
they work on a task (Haier et al.,
1992). Additionally, the brains of
more intelligent people also seem to
run faster than the brains of the less
intelligent. Research has found that
the speed with which people can
perform simple tasks, such as
determining which of two lines is
longer or pressing, as quickly as possible, one of eight buttons that is lighter, is predictive of
intelligence (Deary et al., 2001). Intelligence scores also correlate at about r = .5 with measures
of working memory (Ackerman et al., 2005), and working memory is now used as a measure of
intelligence on many tests.

187
Although intelligence is not located in a specific part of the brain, it is more prevalent in some
brain areas than others. Duncan et al. (2000) administered a variety of intelligence tasks and
observed the places in the cortex that were most active. Although different tests created different
patterns of activation, as you can see in Figure 6.6, these activated areas were primarily in the outer
parts of the cortex, the area of the brain most involved in planning, executive control, and short-
term memory.

Emotional Intelligence

Although most psychologists have considered intelligence a cognitive ability, people also use
their emotions to help them solve problems and relate effectively to others. Emotional
intelligence refers to the ability to accurately identify, assess, and understand emotions, as
well as to effectively control one’s own emotions (Feldman-Barrett & Salovey, 2002; Mayer
et al., 2000).

The idea of emotional intelligence is seen in Howard Gardner’s interpersonal intelligence, the
capacity to understand the emotions, intentions, motivations, and desires of other people, and
intrapersonal intelligence, the capacity to understand oneself, including one’s emotions. Public
interest in, and research on, emotional intelligence became widely prevalent following the
publication of Daniel Goleman’s best-selling book, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter
More Than IQ (Goleman, 1998).

There are a variety of measures of emotional intelligence (Mayer et al., 2008; Petrides & Furnham,
2000). One problem with emotional intelligence tests is that they often do not show a great deal of
reliability or validity (Føllesdal & Hagtvet, 2009). Although it has been found that people with
higher emotional intelligence are also healthier (Martins et al., 2010), findings are mixed about
whether emotional intelligence predicts life success, for instance, job performance (Harms &
Credé, 2010). Furthermore, other researchers have questioned the construct validity of the
measures, arguing that emotional intelligence really measures knowledge about what emotions are,
but not necessarily how to use those emotions (Brody, 2004). Others argue that emotional
intelligence is actually a personality trait, a part of “g”, or a skill that can be applied in some
specific academic and work situations (Landy, 2005).

Although measures of the ability to understand, experience, and manage emotions may not predict
effective behaviors, another important aspect of emotional intelligence is emotion regulation.
Emotion regulation refers to the ability to control and productively use one’s emotions. Research
has found that people who are better able to override their impulses to seek immediate
gratification and who are less impulsive also have higher cognitive and social intelligence. They
have better SAT scores, are rated by their friends as more socially adept, and cope with frustration
and stress better than those with less skill at emotion regulation (Ayduk et al., 2000; Eigsti et al.,
2006; Mischel & Ayduk, 2004). Because emotional intelligence seems so important, many school
systems have designed programs to teach it to their students. However, the effectiveness of these
programs has not been rigorously tested, and we do not yet know whether emotional intelligence
can be taught, or if learning it would improve the quality of people’s lives (Mayer & Cobb, 2000).

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Intelligence: Nature and Nurture

Intelligence has both genetic and environmental causes, and these have been systematically studied
through a large number of twin and adoption studies (Neisser et al., 1996; Plomin et al., 2003). These
studies have found that between 40% and 80% of the variability in IQ is due to genetics, meaning
that overall genetics plays a bigger role than does environment in creating IQ differences among
individuals (Plomin & Spinath, 2004). The IQs of identical twins correlate very highly (r = .86),
much higher than do the scores of fraternal twins who are less genetically similar (r = .60). And the
correlations between the IQs of parents and their biological children (r = .42) is significantly greater
than the correlation between parents and adopted children (r = .19). The role of genetics gets stronger
as children get older. The intelligence of very young children (less than 3 years old) does not predict
adult intelligence, but by age 7 it does, and IQ scores remain very stable in adulthood (Deary et al.,
2004).

However, there is also evidence for the role of nurture, indicating that individuals are not born with
fixed, unchangeable levels of intelligence. Twins raised together in the same home have more
similar IQs than do twins who are raised in different homes, and fraternal twins have more similar
IQs than do nontwin siblings, which is likely due to the fact that they are treated more similarly
than are nontwin siblings.

The fact that intelligence becomes more stable as we get older provides evidence that early
environmental experiences matter more than later ones. Environmental factors also explain a
greater proportion of the variance in intelligence for children from lower-income households than
they do for children from upper-income households (Turkheimer et al., 2003). This is because
most upper-income households tend to provide a safe, nutritious, and supporting environment for
children, whereas these factors are more variable in lower-income households.

Social and economic deprivation can adversely affect IQ. Children from households in poverty
have lower IQs than do children from households with more resources, even when other factors,
such as education, race, and parenting, are controlled (Brooks-Gunn & Duncan, 1997). Poverty
may lead to diets that are under-nourishing or lacking in appropriate vitamins, and poor children
may also be more likely to be exposed to toxins, such as lead in drinking water, dust, or paint chips
(Bellinger & Needleman, 2003). These factors can slow brain development and reduce
intelligence.

If impoverished environments can harm intelligence, we might wonder whether enriched

environments can improve it. Government-funded after-school programs, such as Head Start, are
designed to help children learn. Research has found that attending such programs may increase
intelligence for a short time, but these increases rarely last after the programs end (McLoyd,
1998; Perkins & Grotzer, 1997). However, other studies suggest that Head Start and similar
programs may improve emotional intelligence and reduce the likelihood that children will drop
out of school or be held back a grade (Reynolds et al., 2001).

Intelligence is improved by education; the number of years a person has spent in school correlates
at about r = .6 with IQ (Ceci, 1991). In part, this correlation may be due to the fact that people
with higher IQ scores enjoy taking classes more than people with low IQ scores, and they are more
likely to stay in school, but education also has a causal effect on IQ.

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Comparisons between children who are almost exactly the same age, but who just make or do not
make a deadline for entering school in a given school year, show that those who enter school a
year earlier have a higher IQ score than those who have to wait until the next year to begin school
(Baltes & Reinert, 1969; Ceci & Williams, 1997). Children’s IQs tend to drop significantly during
summer vacations (Huttenlocher et al., 1998), a finding that suggests that a longer school year, as
is used in Europe and East Asia, is beneficial.

It is important to remember that the relative roles of nature and nurture can never be completely
separated. For instance, a child with a higher than average intelligence will be treated differently
than a child with a lower than average intelligence, and these differences in treatment will likely
amplify initial differences in intelligence. This means that modest genetic differences can be
multiplied into big differences over time.

To explain how nature and nurture work together, range of reaction is the theory that each person
responds to the environment in a unique way based on his or her genetic makeup. According to this
idea, your genetic potential is a fixed quantity, but whether you reach your full intellectual potential is
dependent upon the environmental stimulation you experience, especially in childhood. Think about
this scenario: A couple adopts a child who has average genetic intellectual potential. They raise her in
an extremely stimulating environment. What will happen to the couple’s new daughter? It is likely
that the stimulating environment will improve her intellectual outcomes over the course of her life
(Spielman et al., 2020).

Key Takeaways

 Intelligence is the ability to think, learn from experience, solve problems, and adapt to
new situations.
 Psychologists believe that there is a construct that accounts for the overall differences
in intelligence among people, known as general intelligence “g”.
 There is also evidence for specific intelligences “s”. These are measures of specific
skills in narrow domains, including fluid and crystalized intelligence.
 Other specific intelligences include the Triarchic Theory that focuses on analytical,
creative and practical intelligence and the Theory of Multiple Intelligences, which
identifies eight, possibly nine, intelligences.
 Intelligence tests need to be reliable, valid, and regularly standardized due to the
Flynn effect.
 The intelligence quotient (IQ) is a measure of intelligence that is adjusted for age.
The Wechsler scales and the Stanford-Binet are the most widely used intelligence
tests.
 Historically, intelligence testing has had a shameful past by being biased against
certain demographic groups
 Most experts believe that environmental factors, and not genetic factors, are the
reason why scores differ among various groups
 Brain volume, speed of neural transmission, and working memory capacity are
related to IQ.

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  Emotional intelligence refers to the ability to identify, assess, manage, and control
one’s emotions. People who are better able to regulate their behaviors and emotions
are also more successful in their personal and social encounters.
 Between 40% and 80% of the variability in IQ is due to genetics, meaning that
overall genetics plays a bigger role than does environment in creating IQ differences
among individuals.
 Intelligence is improved by education and may be hindered by environmental
factors, such as poverty.
 Range of reaction indicates that intelligence is based on how the environment and
one’s genetics interact.

Exercises and Critical Thinking

1. Consider your own IQ. Are you smarter than the average person? What
specific intelligences do you think you excel in?
2. Did your parents try to improve your intelligence? Do you think their efforts
were successful?
3. Consider the meaning of the Flynn effect. Do you think people are really
getting smarter?
4. Give some examples of how emotional intelligence, or the lack of it,
influences your everyday life and the lives of other people you know.

Group Differences in Intelligence

Learning Objectives

1. Explain IQ and how the bell curve distributes IQ scores in the general population.
2. Explain how individuals with very high and very low IQ scores are characterized.
3. Describe the biological and environmental explanations for sex differences in IQ.
4. Define stereotype threat and explain how it might influence scores on intelligence tests.
5. Describe how eugenics was used to discriminate among different groups based on IQ
testing.

Extremes of Intelligence: Intellectual Disability and Giftedness

The results of studies assessing the measurement of intelligence show that IQ is distributed in the
population in the form of a bell curve, also known as a normal distribution, which is the pattern
of scores usually observed in a variable that clusters around its average. In a normal distribution,
the bulk of the scores fall toward the middle, with many fewer scores falling at the extremes. The
normal distribution of intelligence shows that on IQ tests, as well as on most other measures, the
majority of people cluster around the average. As can be seen in Figure 6.7, the average IQ score
is 100, and fewer scores are very high or very low. About 2% of people score above an IQ of 130,
which is often considered the threshold for giftedness. Because the standard deviation of an IQ
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test is 15 points, this IQ score would be two standard deviations above the mean and infrequently
found in the population. About the same percentage score below an IQ of 70, which is two
standard deviations below the mean. Figure 6.7 presents a theoretical distribution of IQ scores
within a population.

Figure 6.7 Distribution of IQ Scores in the General Population

Extremely Low IQ Scores

One end of the distribution of intelligence scores is defined by people with a very low IQ score.
An Intellectual Disability or Intellectual Developmental Disorder are terms used to identify
those possessing low IQ and adaptive functioning (APA, 2013). The severity of the disability is
based on adaptive functioning, or how well the person handles everyday life tasks. About 1% of
the United States population fulfill the criteria for intellectual developmental disorder, but some
children who are given this diagnosis lose the classification as they get older and learn to adapt in
society. A particular vulnerability of people with low IQ is that they may be taken advantage of by
others, and this is an important aspect of the definition of intellectual developmental disorder
(Greenspan et al., 2001).

One cause of an intellectual developmental

Figure 6.8 Individuals with Down Syndrome disorder is Down syndrome, a
chromosomal disorder caused by the
presence of all or part of an extra 21st
chromosome. The incidence of Down
syndrome is estimated at 1 per 800 to 1,000
births, although its prevalence rises sharply
in those born to older mothers. People with
Down syndrome typically exhibit a
distinctive pattern of physical features,
including a flat nose, upwardly slanted
© Thinkstock. eyes, a protruding tongue, and a short neck
(see Figure 6.8).

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Societal attitudes toward individuals with intellectual disabilities have changed over the past
decades, and we no longer use derogatory terms to describe these people. Laws such as the
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) have made it illegal to discriminate on the basis of mental
and physical disability, and there has been a trend to bring people with mental disabilities out of
institutions and into our workplaces and schools. Using the DSM-IV term, in 2002 the U.S.
Supreme Court ruled that: the execution of people with “mental retardation” is “cruel and unusual
punishment,” thereby ending this practice (Atkins v. Virginia, 2002).

Extremely High IQ scores

Having an extremely high IQ score is clearly less of a problem than having an extremely low IQ
score, but there may also be challenges to scoring particularly high. It is often assumed that
schoolchildren who are labeled as gifted may have adjustment problems that make it more difficult
for them to create social relationships. To study gifted children, in 1921 Terman and Oden (1959)
selected about 1,500 high school students who scored in the top 1% on IQ tests, meaning they had
IQs of about 135 or higher. Terman tracked them for more than seven decades, and found that these
students were not unhealthy or poorly adjusted, but rather were above average in physical health
and were taller and heavier than individuals in the general population. The students also had above
average social relationships. For example, they were less likely to divorce than the average person
(Seagoe, 1975).

Terman’s study also found that many of these

Figure 6.9 students went on to achieve high levels of
education and entered prestigious professions,
including medicine, law, and science. Of the
sample, 7% earned doctoral degrees, 4% earned
medical degrees, and 6% earned law degrees.
These numbers are all considerably higher than
what would have been expected from a more
general population at the time. Another study of
young adolescents who had even higher IQs found
that these students ended up attending graduate
school at a rate more than 50 times higher than that
The popular stereotype of highly intelligent people
as physically uncoordinated and unpopular is not in the general population (Lubinski & Benbow,
true. © Thinkstock 2006).

As you might expect based on our discussion of intelligence, children who are gifted have higher
scores on general intelligence “g”, but there are also different types of giftedness. Some children
are particularly good at math or science, some at automobile repair or carpentry, some at music or
art, some at sports or leadership, and so on. There is a lively debate among scholars about whether
it is appropriate or beneficial to label some children as gifted and talented in school and to provide
them with accelerated special classes and other programs that are not available to everyone.
Although doing so may help the gifted kids (Colangelo & Assouline, 2009), it also may isolate
them from their peers and make such provisions unavailable to those who are not classified as
gifted.

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Sex Differences in Intelligence

Research demonstrates that men and women have almost identical intelligence as measured by
standard IQ and aptitude tests (Hyde, 2005). However, there is variability in intelligence, in that
more males than females have very high, as well as very low, intelligence. This occurrence is
known as the greater male variability hypothesis (Baye & Monseur, 2016; Gray et al., 2019).
There are also observed sex differences on some types of tasks. Women tend to do better than men
on some verbal tasks, including spelling, writing, and pronouncing words (Halpern et al., 2007;
Nisbett et al., 2012), and they have better emotional intelligence in the sense that they are better at
detecting and recognizing the emotions of others (McClure, 2000).

On average, men do better than women on tasks requiring spatial ability, such as the mental
rotation tasks shown in Figure 6.10 (Nisbett et al., 2012; Voyer, Voyer, & Bryden, 1995). Males
tend to do better than females on both geography and geometry tasks (Vogel, 1996). Historically,
males have earned higher scores on the math part of the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT). Three
decades ago, boys with scores of 700 or above outnumbered girls by more than 10 to 1 (Benbow &
Stanley, 1983). However, more females are now being exposed to higher level math courses, and
recent research indicates that the ratio of males to females earning scores above 700 are now 3 to 1
or 4 to 1 (Nisbett et al, 2012).

Although these differences are real, the

average difference between men and women is Figure 6.10 Mental Rotation Task
small compared to the average difference
within each sex. There are many women who
are better than the average man on spatial
tasks, and many men who score higher than
the average women in terms of emotional
intelligence. Sex differences in intelligence
allow us to make statements only about
average differences and do not say much
about any individual person.

Differences between men and women may be

Source
in part genetically determined, perhaps by
differences in brain lateralization or by
hormones (Kimura & Hampson, 1994; Voyer, Voyer, & Bryden, 1995), but nurture is also
important (Newcombe & Huttenlocker, 2006). As infants, boys and girls show no or few
differences in spatial or counting abilities, suggesting that the differences occur at least in part due
to socialization (Spelke, 2005). Consequently, a biopsychological explanation has been proposed
for explaining sex differences in intelligence. Exactly how hormones, brain structures, and the
environment affect intelligence is not well understood (Nisbett et al, 2012).

Stereotype Threat

Although intelligence tests may not be culturally biased, the situation in which one takes a test
may be. An important environmental factor that may affect how individuals perform and achieve
is their expectations about their ability at a task. In some cases, these beliefs may be positive,
and they have the effect of making us feel more confident and thus better able to perform tasks.
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For instance, research has found that because Asian students are aware of the cultural stereotype
that “Asians are good at math,” reminding them of this fact before they take a difficult math test
can improve their performance on the test (Walton & Cohen, 2003). On the other hand,
sometimes these beliefs are negative, and they create negative self-fulfilling prophecies such that
we perform more poorly just because of our knowledge about the stereotypes.

In 1995 Steele and Aronson tested the hypothesis that the differences in performance on IQ
tests between Blacks and Whites might be due to the activation of negative stereotypes (Steele
& Aronson, 1995). These negative stereotypes about their intelligence, might create a negative
expectation for black students that could interfere with their performance on intellectual tests
through fear of confirming that stereotype.

In support of this hypothesis, the experiments revealed that Black college students performed
worse, in comparison to their prior test scores, on standardized test questions when this task was
described to them as being diagnostic of their verbal ability, and thus when the stereotype was
relevant. In contrast, their performance was not influenced when the same questions were
described as an exercise in problem solving. In another study, the researchers found that when
Black students were asked to indicate their race before they took a math test, again activating the
stereotype, they performed more poorly than they had on prior exams, whereas White students
were not affected by first indicating their race.

Steele and Aronson argued that thinking about negative stereotypes that are relevant to a task that
one is performing creates stereotype threat, or performance decrements that are caused by the
knowledge of cultural stereotypes. That is, they argued that the negative impact of race on
standardized tests may be caused, at least in part, by the performance situation itself. Because the
threat is considered, Black students may be negatively influenced by it.

Figure 6.11 Do Stereotypes Affect Test Performance? Over 200 research studies have
found that stereotype threat
effects can help explain a wide
variety of performance
decrements among those who
are targeted by negative
stereotypes Nisbett et al.,
2012). For instance, when a
math task is described as
diagnostic of intelligence,
Latinos and Latinas perform
more poorly than do Whites
(Gonzales et al., 2002).
Similarly, when stereotypes
are activated, children with
low socioeconomic status
Source perform more poorly in math
than do those with high
socioeconomic status, and psychology students perform more poorly than do natural science
students (Brown et al., 2003; Croizet & Claire, 1998). Even groups who typically enjoy
195
advantaged social status can be made to experience stereotype threat. White men perform more
poorly on a math test when they are told that their performance will be compared with that of
Asian men (Aronson et al., 1999), and Whites perform more poorly than Blacks on a sport-related
task when it is described to them as measuring their natural athletic ability (Stone, 2002; Stone et
al., 1999).

Both cognitive and emotional factors have been found to affect stereotype threat (Schmader et al.,
2008). On the cognitive side, individuals who are experiencing stereotype threat show an
increased vigilance toward the environment, as well as, increased attempts to suppress stereotypic
thoughts. Engaging in these behaviors takes cognitive capacity away from the task. On the
affective side, stereotype threat occurs when there is a discrepancy between our positive concept
of our own skills and abilities and the negative stereotypes that suggest poor performance. These
discrepancies create stress and anxiety, and these emotions make it harder to perform well on the
task.

Stereotype threat is not, however, absolute; we can get past it if we try. What is important is to
reduce the self-doubts that are activated when we consider the negative stereotypes.
Manipulations that affirm positive characteristics about the self or one’s social group are
successful at reducing stereotype threat (Marx & Roman, 2002; McIntyre et al., 2003). In
fact, just knowing that stereotype threat exists and may influence our performance can help
alleviate its negative impact (Johns et al., 2005).

Psychology’s Shameful Past: Eugenics

The observed average differences in intelligence between groups has at times led to malicious and
misguided attempts to try to correct for them through discriminatory treatment of people from
different races, ethnicities, nationalities, and mental and physical abilities (Lewontin et al., 1984). One
of the most egregious was the spread of eugenics, the proposal that one could improve the human
species by encouraging or permitting reproduction of only those people with genetic characteristics
judged desirable. The concept of eugenics was introduced by Francis Galton in 1883, who asserted
that certain groups were genetically superior to others (Washington et al., 2016). Dozens of
universities, including those in the Ivy League, offered courses in eugenics, and the topic was
presented in most high school and college biology texts (Selden, 1999).

Psychology’s role in eugenics was through the use of IQ tests to determine mental deficiency, and
thus, inferiority, despite the considerable bias in the tests at the time. In 1917, psychologists created
the Army Alpha and Army Beta intelligence tests as a way of sorting out who would serve as
infantrymen versus officers. These tests were based on the Stanford-Binet, and in essence determined
who would be sent to the front lines in World War I. Non-Europeans and non-Nordic
Europeans would score lower and thus be more likely to find themselves as cannon fodder, in what
some have suggested amounted to cultural-genocide (Washington et al., 2016). After World War I,
colleges and public school systems across the country wanted to use these tests, and national
intelligence tests were quickly created (Murdoch, 2007). By the mid-1920s, 75 different mental tests
were being used in schools and approximately 4 million students a year were taking one. Children
were sorted and ranked into different groups, and those scoring the lowest were most at risk for the
discriminatory consequences of eugenics.

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Proponents of eugenics took two approaches to reduce those deemed unfit for reproducing. The first
was the forced sterilization of those considered inferior. From 1907 to 1930, 24 U.S. states enacted
sterilization laws. In 1927, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a state’s right to forcibly sterilize someone
deemed unfit to procreate (National Public Radio (NPR), 2016). More than 70,000 Americans,
mostly African Americans and other poor minorities, underwent forced sterilizations (NPR, 2016).
Fortunately, the practice of sterilization was abandoned between the 1940s and the 1960s, although
sterilization laws remained on the books in some states until the 1970s, and Native American women
continued to experience forced sterilization. In 1977, Maria Sanchez, the chief tribal judge of the
Northern Cheyenne Reservation brought the plight of Native American women to the United Nations
(Theobald, 2019).

The second approach used by supporters of eugenics was the control of immigration. Belief in the
policies of eugenics led the U.S. Congress to pass laws designed to restrict immigration from other
countries supposedly marked by low intelligence, particularly those in eastern and southern Europe
(NPR, 2016). The same IQ tests were used to determine that immigrants from certain nations were
more “feebleminded” and thus restrictive quotas should be placed on immigration from those
countries. The lower test scores of racially/ethnically diverse people were seen as a validation of
existing racial/ethnic stereotypes, and not as indication of the limitations of these measures.

Key Takeaways

 IQ is distributed in the population in the form of a normal distribution frequently

known as a bell curve.
 Intellectual developmental disorder or intellectual disability is a generalized disorder
ascribed to people who have an IQ below 70, who have experienced deficits since
childhood, and who have trouble with basic life skills, such as dressing and feeding
oneself and communicating with others. One cause of intellectual disability is Down
syndrome.
 Extremely intelligent individuals are not unhealthy or poorly adjusted, but rather
are above average in many dimensions than individuals in the general population.
 Men and women have almost identical intelligence, but men have more variability
in their IQ scores than do women.
 On average, men do better than women on tasks requiring spatial ability, whereas
women do better on verbal tasks and score higher on emotional intelligence.
 The situation in which one takes a test may create stereotype threat, or performance
decrements caused by the knowledge of cultural stereotypes.
 The observed average differences in intelligence between racial and ethnic groups has
at times led to malicious attempts to correct for them, such as the eugenics
movement in the early part of the 20th century.

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 Exercises and Critical Thinking

1. Do you think that we should give intelligence tests? Why or why not?
2. Give your ideas about the practice of providing accelerated classes to children listed as
gifted in high school. What are the potential positive and negative outcomes of doing
so? What research evidence has helped you form your opinion?
3. Consider the observed sex and racial differences in intelligence. What implications do
you think the differences have had for education and career choices?

The Development and Use of Language

Learning Objectives

1. Review the components and structure of language.

2. Explain the biological underpinnings of language.
3. Outline the theories of language development.

Language involves both the ability to comprehend spoken and written words and to create
communication in real time when we speak or write. Most languages are oral, generated through
speaking. Speaking involves a variety of complex cognitive, social, and biological processes
including operation of the vocal cords, and the coordination of breath with movements of the
throat and mouth, and tongue. Other languages are sign languages, in which the communication is
expressed by movements of the hands. The most common sign language is American Sign
Language (ASL), currently used by more than 500,000 people in the United States alone.

Although language is often used for the transmission of information, this is only its most mundane
function. Language also allows us to access existing knowledge, to draw conclusions, to set and
accomplish goals, and to understand and communicate complex social relationships. Language is
fundamental to our ability to think, and without it we would be less intelligent.

The Components of Language

Language can be conceptualized in terms of sounds, meaning, and the environmental factors that
help us understand it. These include phonemes, morphemes, semantics, syntax, pragmatics and
contextual information.

Phoneme: A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound that makes a meaningful difference in a
language. The word “bit” has three phonemes. In spoken languages, phonemes are produced by
the positions and movements of the vocal tract, including our lips, teeth, tongue, vocal cords, and
throat, whereas in sign languages phonemes are defined by the shapes and movement of the hands.
There are hundreds of unique phonemes that can be made by human speakers, but most languages
only use a small subset of the possibilities. English contains about 45 phonemes, and some have
more than 60. In contrast, the Hawaiian language contains only a dozen phonemes, including 5
vowels (a, e, i, o, and u) and 7 consonants (h, k, l, m, n, p, and w).

198
Infants are born able to understand all phonemes, but they lose their ability to do so as they get
older. By 10 months of age, a child’s ability to recognize phonemes becomes very similar to that
of the adult speakers of the native language. Phonemes that were initially differentiated come to
be treated as equivalent (Werker & Tees, 2002).

Morpheme and Semantics: Whereas phonemes are the smallest units of sound in language, a
morpheme is a string of one or more phonemes that makes up the smallest units of meaning in a
language. Most morphemes are made up of combinations of phonemes. Some morphemes are
prefixes and suffixes used to modify other words. For example, the syllable “re-” as in “rewrite” or
“repay” means “to do again,” and the suffix “-est” as in “happiest” or “coolest” means “to the
maximum.” Semantics refers to the set of rules we use to obtain meaning from morphemes. For
example, adding “ed” to the end of a verb makes it past tense.

Syntax: Each language has a different syntax, which is the set of rules of a language by which we
construct sentences. The syntax of the English language requires that each sentence have a noun
and a verb, each of which may be modified by adjectives and adverbs. Some syntaxes make use of
the order in which words appear. For example, in English “The man bites the dog” is different
from “The dog bites the man.”

Pragmatics: The social side of language is expressed through pragmatics, or how we

communicate effectively and appropriately with others. Examples of pragmatics include turn-
taking, staying on topic, volume and tone of voice, and appropriate eye contact.

Context: Lastly, words do not possess fixed meanings but change their interpretation as a function
of the context in which they are spoken. We use contextual information; that is, the information
surrounding language to help us interpret it. Examples of contextual information include the
circumstances and setting in which the communication takes place, and nonverbal expressions, such
as facial expressions, postures, and gestures. Misunderstandings can easily arise if people are not
attentive to contextual information or if some of it is missing, such as newspaper headlines or in
text messages.

The Biology and Development of Language

Figure 6.12 Victor of
Anyone who has tried to master a second language as an adult knows Aveyon
the difficulty of language learning. Yet children learn languages
easily and naturally. Psychologists believe for language there is a
critical period, known as a time in which learning can easily
occur, lasting between infancy and puberty in which language
learning becomes more difficult or impossible (Lenneberg, 1967;
Penfield & Roberts, 1959). Children not exposed to language early
in their lives will likely never learn one. Case studies, including
Victor the “Wild Child,” who was abandoned as a baby in France
and not discovered until he was 12, and Genie, a child whose
parents kept her locked in a closet from 18 months until 13 years of
age, are two of the only known examples of these deprived
children. Both of these children made some progress in socialization
after they were rescued, but neither of them ever developed
Source
199
language (Rymer, 1993). This is also why it is important to determine quickly if a child is deaf and to begin
immediately to communicate in sign language. Deaf children who are not exposed to sign language during
their early years will likely never learn it (Mayberry et al., 2002).

Research Focus: When Can We Best Learn Another Language?

An important study by Jacqueline Johnson and Elissa Newport (1989) using Chinese and Korean
speakers who had learned English as a second language provided the first insight. The participants
were all adults who had immigrated to the United States between 3 and 39 years of age and who
were tested on their English skills by being asked to detect grammatical errors in sentences.
Johnson and Newport found that the participants who had begun learning English before they were
7 years old learned it as well as native English speakers, but that the ability to learn English
dropped off gradually for the participants who had started later. Newport and Johnson also found a
correlation between the age of acquisition and the variance in the ultimate learning of the
language. While early learners were almost all successful in acquiring their language to a high
degree of proficiency, later learners showed much greater individual variation.

Johnson and Newport’s finding that children who immigrated before they were 7 years old
learned English fluently seemed consistent with the idea of a critical period in language
learning, but their finding of a gradual decrease in proficiency for those who immigrated
between 8 and 39 years of age was not. Rather, it suggested that there might not be a single
critical period of language learning that ended at puberty, as early theorists had expected, but
that language learning at later ages is simply better when it occurs earlier.

This idea was reinforced in research by Hakuta et al. (2003), who examined U.S. census
records of language learning in millions of Chinese and Spanish speakers living in the United
States. The census form asks respondents to describe their own English ability using one of
five categories: “not at all,” “not well,” “well,” “very well,” and “speak only English.” The
results of this research showed that regardless of what year was used as a cutoff point for the
end of the critical period, there was no evidence for any discontinuity in language-learning
potential. Rather, the results showed that the degree of success in second-language
acquisition declined steadily throughout the respondent’s life span. The difficulty of learning
language as one gets older is probably due to the fact that, with age, there is a reduction in
brain plasticity or its ability to develop new neural connections

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Brain Areas for Language

For the 90% of people who are right- handed,

Figure 6.13 Drawing of Brain Showing
language is stored and controlled by the left
Broca’s and Wernicke’s Areas
cerebral cortex, although for some left-handers
this pattern is reversed. These differences can
easily be seen in the results of neuroimaging
studies that show that listening to and producing
language creates greater activity in the left
hemisphere than in the right. Broca’s area, is
responsible for language production and is
located in the left hemisphere near the motor
cortex. This area was first localized in the 1860s
by the French physician Paul Broca, who
studied patients with lesions to various parts of
the brain. Wernicke’s area is responsible for
language comprehension and is in the left
hemisphere next to the auditory cortex (see
Figure 6.13).

Evidence for the importance of Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas in language is seen in patients who
experience aphasia, a condition in which language functions are severely impaired. People with
Broca’s aphasia have difficulty producing speech, whereas people with damage to Wernicke’s area
can produce speech, but what they say makes no sense and they have trouble understanding spoken
language.

Language Stages

For most people

Language the left
learning hemisphere
begins even is specialized
before birth,forbecause the fetus can
language. Broca’s area, near the motor cortex, is involved Figure 6.14
hear muffled versions of speaking from outside the womb. Moon,
in language production, whereas Wernicke’s area, near the
Cooper, and Fifer (1993) found that infants only
auditory cortex, is specialized for language comprehension. two days old
sucked harder on a pacifier when they heard their mothers’ native
language being spoken than when they heard a foreign language,
even when strangers were speaking the languages. Babies are also
aware of the patterns of their native language. They show surprise
when they hear speech
that has a different pattern of phonemes than those they are used to
hearing (Saffran et al., 2004).

During the first year or so after birth, and long before they speak
their first words, infants are already learning language. One aspect
of this learning is practice in producing speech. By the time they
are 6 to 8 weeks old, babies start making coos or vowel sounds,
such as “ooohh,” “aaahh,” “goo”, as well as a variety of cries and © Thinkstock
squeals to help them practice.

201
At about six months, infants begin babbling, engaging in intentional consonant-vowel repetitions
that lack specific meaning. For example, infants will repeat “bababa and dadada”. Children babble
as practice in creating specific sounds, and by the time they are ten months, the babbling reflects
the sounds of the language they are learning (de Boysson-Bardies et al., 1984). These vocalizations
have a conversational tone that sounds meaningful, even though it is not. Babbling also helps
children understand the social, communicative function of language. Children who are exposed to
sign language babble in sign by making hand movements that represent real signs (Petitto &
Marentette, 1991).

At the same time that infants are practicing their speaking skills by babbling, they are also learning
to better understand sounds and eventually the words of language. One of the first words that
children understand is their own name, usually by about 6 months, followed by commonly used
words like “bottle,” “mama,” and “doggie” by ten to twelve months (Mandel et al., 1995). The
infant usually produces his or her first words at about one year of age. It is at this point the child
first understands that words are more than sounds, and that they refer to particular objects and
ideas. At two years of age, children have a vocabulary of several hundred words, and by age six
their vocabularies have increased to approximately 10,000 words (Byrnes & Wasik, 2009).

Language Errors
The early utterances of children contain many errors, for instance, confusing /b/ and /d/, or /c/ and
/z/. The words that children create are often simplified, in part because they are not yet able to
make the more complex sounds of the real language (Dobrich & Scarborough, 1992). Children may
say “keekee” for kitty, “nana” for banana, and “vesketti” for spaghetti in part because it is easier.
Often these early words are accompanied by gestures that may also be easier to produce than the
words themselves. Children’s pronunciations become increasingly accurate between one and
three years, but some problems may persist until school age.

Most of a child’s first words are nouns, and early sentences may include only the noun. “Ma” may
mean “more milk please” and “da” may mean “look, there’s Fido.” Eventually the length of the
utterances increases to two words, such as “mo ma” or “da bark”, and these primitive sentences
begin to follow the appropriate syntax of the native language.

Because language involves the active categorization of sounds and words into higher level units,
children make some mistakes in interpreting what words mean and how to use them. In particular,
they often make overextensions of concepts by using a given word in a broader context than
appropriate. A child might at first call all adult men “daddy” or all animals “doggie.”
Additionally, they make underextensions of concepts by using a given word too narrowly. The
word “dog” is used only for the family dog and not any other dogs.

Children also use contextual information, particularly the cues that parents provide, to help them
learn language. Children learn that people are usually referring to things that they are looking at
when they are speaking (Baldwin, 1993), and that that the speaker’s emotional expressions are
related to the content of their speech. Infants are frequently more attuned to the tone of voice of
the person speaking than to the content of the words themselves, and are aware of the target of
speech. Werker et al., (1994) found that infants listened longer to a woman who was speaking to a
baby than to a woman who was speaking to another adult. This higher pitched speech with simple
words is referred to as child directed speech and is preferred by infants (Clark, 2009).
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Theories of Language Acquisition

Psychological theories of language learning differ in terms of the importance they place on nature
and nurture. Yet, it is clear that both matter. Children are not born knowing language; they learn to
speak by hearing what happens around them. On the other hand, human brains, unlike those of any
other animal, are prewired in a way that leads them, almost effortlessly, to learn language. Broca’s
and Wernicke’s areas, critical periods, and a reduction in brain plasticity as one ages support the
importance of nature for explaining language.

Behavioral Perspective

Perhaps the most straightforward explanation of language development is that it occurs through
principles of learning, including association, reinforcement, and the observation and imitation of
others (Skinner, 1965). There must be at least some truth to the idea that language is learned,
because children learn the language that they hear spoken around them rather than some other
language. Also supporting this idea is the gradual improvement of language skills with time. It
seems that children modify their language through imitation, reinforcement, and shaping, as would
be predicted by learning theories.

However, language cannot be entirely learned. For one, children learn words too fast for them to
be learned through reinforcement. Between the ages of 18 months and 5 years, children learn up to
10 new words every day (Anglin, 1993). More importantly, language is more generative than it is
imitative. Generativity refers to the fact that speakers of a language can compose sentences to
represent new ideas that they have never before been exposed to. Language is not a predefined set
of ideas and sentences that we choose when we need them, but rather a system of rules and
procedures that allows us to create an infinite number of statements, thoughts, and ideas, including
those that have never previously occurred. When a child says that she “swimmed” in the pool, for
instance, she is showing generativity. No adult speaker of English would ever say “swimmed,” yet
it is easily generated from the normal system of producing language.

Deaf children, whose parents do not speak ASL very well, nevertheless are able to learn it
perfectly on their own, and may even make up their own language if they need to (Goldin-Meadow
& Mylander, 1998). A group of deaf children in a school in Nicaragua, whose teachers could not
sign, invented a way to communicate through made-up signs (Senghas et al., 2005). The
development of this new Nicaraguan Sign Language has continued and changed as new
generations of students have come to the school and started using the language. Although the
original system was not a real language, it is becoming closer and closer every year, showing the
development of a new language in modern times.

Evolutionary Perspective

The linguist Noam Chomsky is a believer in the nature approach to language, arguing that human
brains contain a language acquisition device that includes a universal grammar that underlies all
human language (Chomsky, 1965, 1972). According to this approach, each of the 7099 languages
spoken today (Simons & Feenig, 2017) is an individual example of the same underlying set of
procedures that are hardwired into human brains. Chomsky’s account proposes that children are
born with a knowledge of general rules of syntax that determine how sentences are constructed.
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Chomsky differentiates between the deep structure of an idea, or how the idea is represented in
the fundamental universal grammar that is common to all languages, and the surface structure of
the idea, or how it is expressed in any one language. Once we hear or express a thought in surface
structure, we generally forget exactly how it happened. At the end of a lecture, you will remember
a lot of the deep structure, or the ideas expressed by the instructor), but you cannot reproduce the
surface structure, or the exact words that the instructor used to communicate the ideas.

Although there is general agreement among psychologists that babies are genetically programmed
to learn language, there is still debate about Chomsky’s idea that there is a universal grammar that
can account for all language learning. Evans and Levinson (2009) surveyed the world’s languages
and found that none of the presumed underlying features of the language acquisition device were
entirely universal. In their search they found languages that did not have noun or verb phrases,
that did not have tenses (e.g., past, present, future), and even some that did not have nouns or
verbs at all, even though a basic assumption of a universal grammar is that all languages should
share these features.

Bilingualism and Cognitive Development

Although it is less common in the United States than in other countries, bilingualism, the ability to
speak two languages, is becoming more and more frequent in the modern world. Nearly 50% of the
world’s population is bilingual (Ansaldo et al., 2008). In recent years many U.S. states have passed
laws outlawing bilingual education in schools. These laws are in part based on the idea that
students will have a stronger identity with the school, the culture, and the government if they speak
only English, and in part based on the idea that speaking two languages may interfere with
cognitive development.

Some early psychological research showed that, when compared with monolingual children,
bilingual children performed more slowly when processing language, and their verbal scores were
lower. These tests were frequently given in English, however, even when this was not the child’s
first language, and the children tested were often of lower socioeconomic status than the
monolingual children (Andrews, 1982).

More current research that has controlled for these factors has found that, although bilingual
children may in some cases learn language somewhat slower than do monolingual children (Oller
& Pearson, 2002), bilingual and monolingual children do not significantly differ in the final depth
of language learning, nor do they generally confuse the two languages (Nicoladis & Genesee,
1997). In fact, participants who speak two languages have been found to have better cognitive
functioning, cognitive flexibility, and analytic skills in comparison to monolinguals (Bialystok,
2009). Research has also found that learning a second language produces changes in the area of the
brain in the left hemisphere that is involved in language, such that this area is denser and contains
more neurons (Mechelli et al., 2004). Furthermore, the increased density is stronger in those
individuals who are most proficient in their second language and who learned the second language
earlier. Thus, rather than slowing language development, learning a second language seems to
increase cognitive abilities.

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Can Animals Learn Language?

Nonhuman animals have a wide variety of systems of communication. Some species communicate
using scents; others use visual displays, such as baring the teeth, puffing up the fur, or flapping the
wings; and still others use vocal sounds. Male songbirds, such as canaries and finches, sing songs
to attract mates and to protect territory, and chimpanzees use a combination of facial expressions,
sounds, and actions, such as slapping the ground, to convey aggression (de Waal, 1989).
Honeybees use a waggle dance to direct other bees to the location of food sources (von Frisch,
1956). The language of vervet monkeys is relatively advanced in the sense that they use specific
sounds to communicate specific meanings. Vervets make different calls to signify that they have
seen a leopard, a snake, or a hawk (Seyfarth & Cheney, 1997).

Despite their wide abilities to communicate, efforts to teach animals to use language have had only
limited success. One of the early efforts was made by Catherine and Keith Hayes, who raised a
chimpanzee named Viki in their home along with their own children, but Viki learned little and
could never speak (Hayes & Hayes, 1952). Researchers speculated that Viki’s difficulties might
have been in part because the she could not create the words in her vocal cords, and so subsequent
attempts were made to teach primates to speak using sign language or by using boards on which
they can point to symbols.
Allen and Beatrix Gardner worked for many years to teach a chimpanzee named Washoe to sign
using ASL. Washoe, who lived to be 42 years old, could label up to 250 different objects and make
simple requests and comments, such as “please tickle” and “me sorry” (Fouts, 1997). Washoe’s
adopted daughter Loulis, who was never exposed to human signers, learned more than 70 signs
simply by watching her mother sign.

The most proficient nonhuman language speaker is Kanzi, a

bonobo who lives at the Language Learning Center at Figure 6.15 Do animals
Georgia State University (Savage-Rumbaugh, & Lewin, have language?
1994). Kanzi has a propensity for language that is in many
ways similar to humans. He learned faster when he was
younger than when he got older, he learns by observation,
and he can use symbols to comment on social interactions,
rather than simply for food treats. Kanzi can also create
elementary syntax and understand relatively complex
commands. Kanzi can make tools and can even play Pac-
Man. The bonobo Kanzi is the most proficient known
nonhuman language speaker.

Yet, even Kanzi does not have a true language in the same
way that humans do. Human babies learn words faster and
faster as they get older, but Kanzi does not. Each new word
he learns is almost as difficult as the one before. Kanzi ©Thinkstock
usually requires many trials to learn a new sign, whereas
human babies can speak words after only one exposure. Kanzi’s language is focused primarily on
food and pleasure and only rarely on social relationships. Although he can combine words, he
generates few new phrases and cannot master syntactic rules beyond the level of about a 2-year-
old human child (Greenfield & Savage-Rumbaugh, 1991).
205
In sum, although many animals communicate, none of them have a true language. With some
exceptions, the information that can be communicated in nonhuman species is limited primarily to
displays of liking or disliking, and related to basic motivations of aggression and mating.
Humans also use this more primitive type of communication, in the form of nonverbal behaviors
such as eye contact, touch, hand signs, and interpersonal distance, to communicate their like or
dislike for others, but they, unlike animals, also supplant this more primitive communication with
language. Although other animal brains share similarities to ours, only the human brain is complex
enough to create language. What is perhaps most remarkable is that although language never
appears in nonhumans, language is universal in humans. All humans, unless they have a profound
brain abnormality or are completely isolated from other humans, learn language.

Key Takeaways

 Language involves both the ability to comprehend spoken and written words and to
speak and write. Some languages are sign languages, in which the communication is
expressed by movements of the hands.
 Phonemes are the elementary sounds of our language, morphemes are the smallest
units of meaningful language, semantics is making meaning out of morphemes,
syntax is the grammatical rules that control how words are put together, pragmatics
is the social side of language, and contextual information is the elements of
communication that help us understand its meaning.
 A critical period is important for learning a first language.
 Recent research suggests that there is not a single critical period for second language
learning, but that language learning is simply better when it occurs earlier.
 Broca’s area is responsible for language production, while Wernicke’s area is
responsible for language comprehension.
 Language learning begins even before birth. An infant usually produces his or her
first words at about 1 year of age.
 One explanation of language development is that it occurs through principles of
learning, including association, reinforcement, and imitation.
 Noam Chomsky argues that human brains contain a language acquisition device that
includes a universal grammar that underlies all human language. Chomsky
differentiates between the deep structure and the surface structure of an idea.
 Bilingual children have better cognitive functioning, cognitive flexibility, and analytic
skills compared to monolingual children.
 Although other animals communicate and may be able to express ideas, only the
human brain is complex enough to create real language.

Exercises and Critical Thinking

1. What languages do you speak? Did you ever try to learn a new one? What problems
did you have when you did this? Would you consider trying to learn a new language?
2. Some animals, such as Kanzi, display at least some language. Do you think that this
means that they are intelligent?

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 Videos and Activities

1. Howard Gardner discusses his theory of multiple intelligences on a PBS special.

http://video.pbs.org/video/1906079430/
2. Daniel Goleman discusses emotional intelligence and compassion
https://www.ted.com/talks/daniel_goleman_why_aren_t_we_more_compassionate
3. Language recognition in Bonobos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Dhc2zePJFE

Chapter Summary

Intelligence is the ability to think, learn from experience, solve problems, and adapt to new
situations. It is more strongly related than any other individual difference variable to successful
educational, occupational, economic, and social outcomes.

The French psychologist Alfred Binet and his colleague Theodore Simon developed the first
intelligence test in the early 1900s. Charles Spearman called the construct that the different
abilities and skills measured on intelligence tests have in common the general intelligence factor,
or simply “g.”

There is also evidence for specific intelligences “s”, measures of specific skills in narrow domains.
Robert Sternberg has proposed a triarchic (three-part) theory of intelligence, and Howard Gardner
has proposed that there are eight different specific intelligences referred to as multiple intelligences.

Good intelligence tests both are reliable and have construct validity. Intelligence tests are the most
accurate of all psychological tests, and they are standardized, which allows calculation of mental
age and the intelligence quotient (IQ),

The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) is the most widely used intelligence test for adults.
Other intelligence tests include aptitude tests such as the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT),
American College Test (ACT), and Graduate Record Examination (GRE), and structured tests
used for personnel selection.

Smarter people have somewhat larger brains, which operate more efficiently and faster than the
brains of the less intelligent. Although intelligence is not located in a specific part of the brain, the
outer cortex, involved in planning, executive control, and short-term memory, is more utilized
than other areas.

Emotional intelligence refers to the ability to identify, assess, manage, and control one’s emotions.
However, tests of emotional intelligence are often unreliable, and emotional intelligence may be a
part of g, or a skill that can be applied in some specific work situations.

Intelligence has both genetic and environmental causes, and between 40% and 80% of the
variability in IQ is heritable. Social and economic deprivation, including poverty, can adversely
affect IQ, and intelligence is improved by education.

207
About 2% of Americans score above an IQ of 130, which is the threshold for giftedness, and about
the same percentage score below an IQ of 70, which is the threshold for intellectual disability.
Males are more common in these extremes than are females.

Females and males show overall equal intelligence, but there are sex differences on some types
of tasks. There are also differences in which members of different racial and ethnic groups
cluster along the IQ line. The causes of these differences have been primarily attributed to
environmental influences. These differences have at times led to malicious, misguided, and
discriminatory attempts to try to correct for them, such as eugenics.

Language involves both the ability to comprehend spoken and written words and to create
communication in real time when we speak or write. Language can be conceptualized in terms of
phonemes, morphemes, semantics, syntax, pragmatics and contextual information. Language is best
learned during a critical period.

Broca’s area, an area of the brain in front of the left hemisphere near the motor cortex, is
responsible for language production, and Wernicke’s area, an area of the brain next to the auditory
cortex, is responsible for language comprehension.

Children learn language quickly and naturally, progressing through stages. Children often make
overextensions and underextensions of concepts.

Some theories of language learning are based on principles of learning, including association,
reinforcement, and imitation. Noam Chomsky argues that human brains contain a language
acquisition device that includes a universal grammar that underlies all human language and that
allows generativity. Chomsky differentiates between the deep structure and the surface structure of
an idea.

Bilingualism is becoming more frequent in the modern world. Bilingual children show more
cognitive functioning, cognitive flexibility, and analytic skills than do monolingual children.
Nonhuman animals have a wide variety of systems of communication, but efforts to teach animals
to use human language have had only limited success. Although many animals communicate, none
of them have a true language.

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Chapter 7 Lifespan Development
Learning Objectives

1. Define development and describe the age periods.

2. Describe the three stages of prenatal development.
3. Discuss the role of teratogens in prenatal development.
4. Explain the causes and effects of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

The goal of this chapter is to investigate the fundamental, complex, and essential processes of
human development. Development refers to the physiological, behavioral, cognitive, and social-
emotional changes that occur throughout human life, which are guided by both genetic
predispositions (nature) and environmental influences (nurture). We will begin our study of
development at the moment of conception, when the sperm unites with the egg, and then consider
prenatal development in the womb. Next, we will focus on the age periods described in Table 7.1.
Each of the age periods of development has its unique physical, cognitive, and emotional changes
that define that period of life. Finally, we will consider the grief process and eventual facing of
death.

Table 7.1 Age Periods of Development

Age Period Description

Prenatal Begins at conception and continues to birth
Infancy Begins at birth and continues to one year of age
Childhood The period between infancy and the onset of puberty
Adolescence The period between the onset of puberty and the beginning of adulthood
Emerging Adulthood The period between ages 18 and 29
Established Adulthood The period between ages 30 and 44
Middle Adulthood The period between ages 45 and 65
Late Adulthood Ages 65 and older

As we progress through this chapter, we will see that nature plays a substantial role in development.
For example, children around the world reach major language stages in a similar order (Parish-
Morris et al., 2013). However, nurture is also important. We begin to be influenced by our
environments, even while still in the womb, and these influences remain with us throughout our
development. Furthermore, we will see that we play an active role in shaping our own lives. Our
own behavior influences how and what we learn, how people respond to us, and how we develop
as individuals. As you read the chapter, you will see how we learn and adapt to life’s changes, and
this new knowledge may help you better understand and guide your own personal life journey.

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Conception and Prenatal Development
Conception occurs when an egg is fertilized by a sperm. As soon as one of the millions of sperm
enters the egg’s coating, the egg immediately responds by both blocking out all other challengers
and at the same time pulling in the single successful sperm.

The Germinal Stage: Within several hours, the

23 chromosomes from the egg and the 23 Figure 7.1 Sperm and Egg
chromosomes from the sperm fuse together,
creating a zygote. This is the beginning of the
germinal stage, which lasts from conception to
implantation in the uterine wall, approximately
10-14 days. The zygote continues to travel
down the fallopian tube to the uterus. Fewer
than half of zygotes survive beyond this earliest
stage of development. If the zygote is no
longer viable, it will be flushed out in the
woman’s menstrual cycle, but if it is still viable
when it completes the journey, the zygote will
attach itself to the wall of the uterus.

During the germinal stage, the cells in the

zygote rapidly divide. Soon the cells begin to differentiate, each taking on a separate function. The
earliest differentiation is between cells on the inside of the zygote and the cells on the outside. The
cells on the inside will begin to form the developing human being. The cells on the outside will
form the protective environment that will provide support for the new life throughout the
pregnancy.

The Embryonic Stage: Once the zygote attaches to

the wall of the uterus, it is known as the embryo. Figure 7.2 Embryo
During the embryonic stage the major internal and
external organs are formed. This stage will last for
the next 6 weeks, and changes in the embryo’s
appearance will continue rapidly from this point until
birth.

While the inner layer of embryonic cells is busy

forming the embryo itself, the outer layer is forming
the surrounding protective environment that will help
the embryo survive the pregnancy. This environment Photo by Lunar Caustic
consists of three major structures: The amniotic sac is
the fluid-filled reservoir in which the embryo (soon to be known as a fetus) will live until birth, and
which acts as both a cushion against outside pressure and as a temperature regulator. The
placenta is an organ that allows the exchange of nutrients between the embryo and the mother,
while at the same time filtering out harmful material. Finally, the umbilical cord links the embryo
directly to the placenta and transfers all material to the fetus. Thus, the placenta and the umbilical
cord protect the fetus from many foreign agents in the mother’s system that might pose a threat.
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The Fetal Stage: Beginning in the 9th week after conception, the embryo becomes a fetus and the
fetal stage begins. Growth is the defining characteristic of the fetal stage. All the major aspects of
the growing organism have been formed in the embryonic phase, and now the fetus has
approximately seven months to go from weighing less than an ounce to weighing an average of 6 to
8 pounds.

The fetus begins to take on many of the

Figure 7.3 Fetus
characteristics of a human being, including
sleeping, swallowing, breathing and moving. By the
third month, the fetus is able to curl and open its
fingers, form fists, and wiggle its toes (Berk &
Myers, 2016). The fetus begins to develop its
senses, becoming able to distinguish tastes and
respond to sounds. Research has found that the
fetus even develops some initial preferences. A
newborn prefers the mother’s voice to that of a
stranger, the languages heard in the womb over
other languages (DeCasper & Fifer, 1980; Moon et
al., 1993), and even the kinds of foods that the
mother ate during the pregnancy (Mennella et al.,
2001). If all goes well, a baby is born sometime
around the 38- 40th week of pregnancy.
Source

How the Environment Can Affect the Vulnerable Fetus

Prenatal development is a complicated process and may not always go as planned. About 45% of
pregnancies result in a miscarriage, often without the mother ever being aware a pregnancy had
occurred (Moore & Persaud, 1993). Although the amniotic sac and the placenta are designed to
protect the embryo, teratogens, substances that can harm the fetus, may cause problems.
Teratogens include general environmental factors, such as air pollution and radiation, but also the
cigarettes, alcohol, and drugs that the mother may use.

Cigarette smoking, for example, reduces the blood oxygen for both the mother and fetus and is
correlated with the infant being born underweight. Another serious threat, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum
Disorders (FASD), is an umbrella term given to a group of conditions that can result from
maternal alcohol drinking and is associated with numerous detrimental developmental effects. The
most serious of these conditions is Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), which can result in limb, facial,
and genital abnormalities, as well as intellectual disabilities. One in about every 500 babies in the
United States is born with FAS, and it is considered one of the leading preventable causes of
intellectual disability in the world today (Maier & West, 2001; Niccols, 1994). There is no known
safe level of alcohol consumption during pregnancy, and consequently the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) caution against drinking while pregnant (CDC, 2005). Fathers’
alcohol use has also been correlated with teratogenic defects (Champagne, 2010). Additionally,
maternal drug abuse is of major concern, and is considered one of the greatest risk factors facing
unborn children (March of Dimes, 2015).

219
Teratogens do not always harm the fetus. They are more likely to do so when they occur in larger
amounts, for longer time periods, and during the more sensitive phases, as when the fetus is
growing most rapidly (Berger, 2005). The most vulnerable period for many of the fetal organs is
very early in the pregnancy during the embryonic stage, often before the mother even knows she is
pregnant. Figure 7.4 illustrates the timing of teratogen exposure and the types of structural defects
that can occur during the prenatal period.

Figure 7.4 The Effects of Teratogenic Exposure According to Prenatal Age

Source: http://angel.southseattle.edu

The environment in which the mother is living also has a major impact on infant development
(Duncan & Brooks-Gunn, 2000; Haber & Toro, 2004). Children born into homelessness or poverty
are more likely to have mothers who are malnourished, who suffer from domestic violence, stress,
and other psychological problems, and who smoke or abuse drugs. Children born into poverty are
also more likely to be exposed to teratogens. Poverty’s impact may also amplify other issues,
creating substantial problems for healthy child development (Evans & English, 2002; Gunnar &
Quevedo, 2007).

220
 Mothers normally receive genetic and blood tests during the first
Figure 7.5 months of pregnancy to determine the health of the embryo or fetus.
They may undergo sonogram, ultrasound, amniocentesis, or other
testing. The ultrasound is a test in which sound waves are used to
examine the fetus, and it is one of the main screening tests.
Ultrasounds are used to check the fetus for defects or problems
including neural tube defects, chromosomal abnormalities (such as
Down syndrome), genetic diseases, and other potentially dangerous
conditions. It can also find out the age of the fetus, location of the
placenta, fetal position, movement, breathing and heart rate, amount
of amniotic fluid in the uterus, and number of fetuses. Most women
have at least one ultra sound during pregnancy, but if problems are
noted, additional ultrasounds may be recommended. Early diagnosis
Thinkstock of prenatal problems can allow medical treatment to improve the
health of the fetus.

COVID-19: Impact on Pregnancy

COVID-19 infections are more severe in pregnant women compared to their nonpregnant peers resulting in
greater hospital admissions, intensive care unit stays, and death (Gray et al., 2021). As of March 1, 2021
more than 80 maternal deaths and over 73,600 COVID-19 infections occurred in pregnant women in the
United States. Despite these numbers, pregnant women were excluded from the initial COVID-19 vaccine
trials. It was not until February 2021 that the first vaccine trials in pregnant women began. Gray et al.
reviewed the results of the COVID-19 vaccine on 131 reproductive age women, including 84 who were
pregnant, 31 lactating, and 16 nonpregnant. Results indicated that the COVID-19 messenger RNA vaccines
generated immunity in pregnant and lactating women similar to that observed in nonpregnant women.
Additionally, immunity transferred to the neonates via placenta and breastmilk. Mithal et al. (2021)
reported that pregnant women who were vaccinated for COVID-19 earlier in their third trimester had a
higher likelihood of passing protective antibodies to their newborns than women who received their
vaccine closer to delivery.

Additionally, Shanes et al. (2021) reviewed the findings of 84 women who received a COVID-19 vaccine
during pregnancy and 116 women in a control group who did not receive a vaccine. Vaccinated women
showed a strong antibody response, and these COVID-19 antibodies were successfully transferred to their
fetuses There was also no evidence that the vaccines affected the women’s placentas. In contrast, the
placentas of 16 women who tested positive for COVID-19 while pregnant showed evidence of injury
(Samuelson, 2020). According to pathological exams completed directly following birth, injuries included
reduced blood flow from the mother to the fetus due to abnormal blood vessels and blood clots in the
placenta. Shanes et al. (2021) concluded that research supports the safety of COVID-19 vaccination in
pregnant women without adverse effects for the fetus.

221
Key Takeaways

 Development refers to the physical, cognitive, and social-emotional changes that occur
throughout life, which are influenced by both nature and nurture.
 Development begins at the moment of conception, when the sperm merges with the egg.
 Within a span of 40 weeks, development progresses from a zygote to an embryo and
finally a fetus.
 The fetus is connected to the mother through the umbilical cord and the placenta, which
allows the mother to provide nourishment and remove waste. The fetus is protected by the
amniotic sac.
 The embryo and fetus are vulnerable and may be harmed by the presence of teratogens.
 Smoking, alcohol use, and drug use are all likely to be harmful to the developing embryo
or fetus, and the mother should refrain from these behaviors during pregnancy or if she
expects to become pregnant.
 Other environmental factors, especially homelessness and poverty, have a substantial
negative effect on healthy development.
 COVID-19 has affected some pregnancies with the formation on blood clots, while
the vaccine has been shown to be safe for the developing fetus.

Exercises and Critical Thinking

1. What behaviors must a woman avoid engaging in when she decides to try to become
pregnant, or when she finds out she is pregnant? Do you think the ability of a mother to
engage in healthy behaviors should influence her choice to have a child?
2. Given the negative effects of poverty on human development, what steps do you think that
societies should take to try to reduce poverty?
3. Watch the following video and consider whether a textbook or a video presentation is
better able to explain prenatal development.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/lifes-greatest-miracle/

Videos and Activities

1. A free online video program, Seasons of Life, can be accessed at

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcpufXZ5Tmm52jPUXdSQ4nQ?view_as=public,
This program includes 5 one-hour videos covering the lifespan from infancy through
old age, or in shorter snippets.
2. The Virtual Human Embryo is over a 14,000-page illustrated atlas of the first 8 weeks
after conception. https://www.ehd.org/virtual-human-embryo/

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Physical Development across the Lifespan
Learning Objectives

1. Describe the skills of the newborn.

2. Distinguish between fine and gross motor skills.
3. Define puberty and distinguish between primary and secondary sexual characteristics.
4. Describe the physical changes in adulthood.

The Newborn

Newborns are biologically prepared to face the world they Figure 7.6
are about to experience. Babies are equipped with a variety
of reflexes, such as grasping and sucking, that will help
them survive their first few months of life. As they continue
to learn new routines and manipulate their environments,
these newborn reflexes will diminish.

In addition to reflexes, newborns have preferences. They

like sweet tasting foods at first, while becoming more open
to salty items by 4 months of age (Beauchamp et al., 1994; Source:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Newborn_infant#media

Blass & Smith, 1992). Newborns also prefer the smell of viewer/File:Newborn_infant_by_Bonnie_Gruenberg.JPG

their mothers. An infant only 6 days old is significantly

more likely to turn toward its own mother’s breast pad than to the breast pad of another baby’s
mother (Porter et al., 1992), and within hours of birth an infant also shows a preference for the face
of its own mother (Bushnell, 2001; Bushnell et al., 1989).

Although infants are born ready to engage in some activities, they also contribute to their own
development. The child’s knowledge and abilities increase as it babbles, crawls, tastes, grasps, and
interacts with objects in the environment (Gibson et al., 1988; Gibson & Pick, 2000; Smith &
Thelen, 2003). Parents may help in this process by providing a variety of activities and
experiences for the child. Research has found that animals reared in environments with more novel
objects and that engage in a variety of stimulating activities have more brain synapses and larger
cerebral cortexes. They perform better on learning tasks than animals raised in more impoverished
environments (Juraska et al., 1984). Similar effects likely occur in children who have
opportunities to play, explore, and interact with their environments (Soska et al., 2010).

Infancy and Childhood

During infancy reflexes make way for deliberate actions. Small movements, such as those involving
the fingers, hands, tongue or lips, care called fine motor skills. Hand-eye coordination is limited in
young infants, such that 3-month olds can touch objects, but often cannot grab objects efficiently
unless the object is placed directly in their hand. Even at 4 months of age, grabbing things can be
tricky as babies may overreach an object, or grab too soon or too late. By 6 months, infants have
mastered this skill.

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Large movements that often involve several
parts of the body are called gross motor skills. Figure 7.7
These include actions such as sitting, crawling,
and walking. By 3 months most babies have
enough muscle control that they can sit
supported in someone’s lap. By 6 months they
can sit unsupported. Most infants can walk by
holding on to someone or something at 9
months, and by 12 months many can walk
independently.

Both gross and fine motor skills continue to

Children jumping rope in Korea for the first full
improve in childhood as children learn to
moon of the lunar calendar, one of the biggest
master the movement of their body enabling traditional holidays.
them to draw and write, button coats and tie Source
shoe laces (fine motor skills), roller skate and
ride a bicycle (gross motor skills).

Adolescence

Adolescence begins with the onset of puberty, a developmental period in which hormonal
changes cause rapid physical alterations in the body, culminating in sexual maturity. Although the
timing varies to some degree across cultures, the average age range for reaching puberty is
between 9 and 14 years for girls and between 10 and 17 years for boys (Marshall & Tanner, 1986).

Puberty begins when the pituitary gland begins to stimulate the production of the male sex
hormone testosterone in boys and the female sex hormones estrogen and progesterone in girls. The
release of these sex hormones triggers the development of the primary sexual characteristics, the
sex organs concerned with reproduction. These changes include the enlargement of the testicles
and the penis in boys, and further development of the ovaries, uterus, and vagina in girls. In
addition, secondary sexual characteristics appear, or those outward changes that indicate
physical maturation, but are not involved in reproduction. These include an enlarged Adam’s
apple, a deeper voice, and pubic and underarm hair in boys, and enlargement of the breasts, hips,
and the appearance of pubic and underarm hair in girls. Both boys and girls experience a rapid
growth spurt during this stage. The growth spurt for girls usually begins at about age 9. For boys,
this occurs 2 years later at age 11 (Abbassi, 1998).

A major milestone in puberty for girls is menarche, the first menstrual period, which typically
occurs at around 12 or 13 years of age (Anderson et al., 2003). The age of menarche varies
substantially and is determined by genetics, as well as, by diet and lifestyle, since a certain amount
of body fat is needed to attain menarche. Girls who are very slim, who engage in strenuous athletic
activities, or who are malnourished may begin to menstruate later. Even after menstruation begins,
girls whose level of body fat drops below the critical level may stop having their periods.

The sequence of events for puberty is more predictable than the age at which they occur. Some
girls may begin to grow pubic hair at age 10, but not attain menarche until age 15. In boys, facial
hair may not appear until ten years after the initial onset of puberty. The timing of puberty in both
boys and girls can have significant psychological consequences. Boys who mature earlier attain
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some social advantages because they are taller and stronger, and therefore often more popular
(Lynne, Graber, Nichols, Brooks-Gunn, & Botvin, 2007). At the same time, however, early-
maturing boys are at greater risk for delinquency and are more likely than their peers to engage in
antisocial behaviors, including drug and alcohol use, truancy, and precocious sexual activity. Girls
who mature early may find their maturity stressful, particularly if they experience teasing or sexual
harassment (Mendle et al., 2007; Pescovitz & Walvoord, 2007). Early-maturing girls are also more
likely to have a lower self-image, and higher rates of depression, anxiety, and disordered eating
than their peers (Ge et al., 1996).

Emerging, Established, and Middle Adulthood

Emerging adulthood is the period between the late teens and late twenties. Those in their early
twenties are probably at the peak of their physiological development, including muscle strength,
reaction time, sensory abilities, and cardiac functioning. The reproductive system, motor skills,
strength, and lung capacity are all operating at their best. Most professional athletes are at the top
of their game during this stage (Boundless, 2016). Established adulthood occurs beteen the ages
of 30 and 44. Established adults differ from emerging adults in a variety of ways, but especially in
the areas of career development, establishment of intimate relationships, and child rearing (Mehta
et al., 2020). In contrast, those in middle adulthood ranging in age from 45-65, typically have
older children who have left the home or do not require as much in-home care. Those in middle
adulthood are also more established in their careers.

The aging process actually begins early in adulthood. However, compared with childhood and
adolescence, the physical changes that occur in adulthood are less dramatic. As individuals pass
into their 30s and 40s, their recovery from muscular strain becomes more prolonged, and their
sensory abilities may become somewhat diminished, at least when compared with their prime years,
during the teens and early 20s (Panno, 2004). Visual acuity diminishes somewhat, and many people
in their late 30s and early 40s notice that their eyes are changing and they need eyeglasses,
especially for close work such as reading (presbyopia). Adults in their 30s and 40s may also begin
to suffer some hearing loss (prebycusis) because of damage to the hair cells (cilia) in the inner ear
(Lacher-Fougëre & Demany, 2005). It is also during middle adulthood that many people first begin
to suffer from ailments, such as high cholesterol and high blood pressure, as well as, low bone
density (Shelton, 2006). Corresponding to changes in our physical abilities, our sensory abilities
show some, but not dramatic, decline during this stage.

The stages of both early and middle adulthood bring about a gradual decline in fertility,
particularly for women. Eventually, women experience menopause, the cessation of the menstrual
cycle, which usually occurs at around age 50. Menopause occurs because of the gradual decrease in
the production of the female sex hormones estrogen and progesterone, which slows the production
and release of eggs into the uterus. Women whose menstrual cycles have stopped for 12
consecutive months are considered to have entered menopause (Minkin & Wright, 2004).

Researchers have found that women’s responses to menopause are social, as well as physical, and
these responses vary substantially across both individuals and cultures. Some women may react
more negatively to menopause, worrying that they have lost their femininity and that their final
chance to bear children is over. Other women may regard menopause more positively, focusing on
the new freedom from menstrual discomfort and unwanted pregnancy. Most American women go

225
through menopause with few problems (Carroll, 2016). In India, where older women enjoy more
social privileges than do younger ones, menopause is typically positively regarded (Avis &
Crawford, 2008). Overall, menopause is not seen as universally distressing (Lachman, 2004).

Menopause may have evolutionary benefits. Infants have better chances of survival when their
mothers are younger and have more energy to care for them, and the presence of older women who
do not have children of their own to care for, but who can help out with raising grandchildren, can
be beneficial to the family group. Also, consistent with the idea of an evolutionary benefit of
menopause, the decline in fertility occurs primarily for women who do most of the child care and
who need the energy of youth to accomplish it. If older women were able to have children, they
might not be as able to effectively care for them.

Most men never completely lose their fertility, but they do experience a gradual decrease in
testosterone levels, sperm count, and speed of erection and ejaculation. Reduced strength and
energy may also accompany this decrease in testosterone. Men, as well as women, respond
psychologically to the physical changes of mid-life, however, experiencing a “midlife crisis” is not
well supported by research. Results of a 10-year study conducted by the MacArthur Foundation
Research Network on Successful Midlife Development, based on telephone interviews with over
3,000 midlife adults, suggest that the years between 40 and 60 are ones marked by a sense of well-
being. Only 23% of their participants reported experiencing a midlife crisis. These crises tended to
occur among the highly educated and were triggered by a major life event rather than out of a fear
of aging (Research Network on Successful Midlife Development, 2007).

Late Adulthood

Late adulthood spans the time from the mid-sixties until death. This is the longest developmental
stage across the lifespan. All body systems become slower and decline in function with advanced
age. As the heart and vascular system become less efficient, blood pressure rises and increases the
risk for heart attack and stroke. In late adulthood, a drop-in lung capacity results in lower levels of
oxygen in the blood. The body also becomes less able to absorb nutrients as the digestive system
slows, making a healthy diet especially important in late adulthood.

A big concern for many older adults is the loss of sensory abilities. The majority of people over age
65 need glasses. Cataracts defined as a thickening of the lens causing cloudy and distorted vision,
glaucoma or an excessive eye pressure causing damage to the optic nerve, and macular
degeneration, a deterioration of the center of the retina, are some visual problems in older adults
(Lally & Valentine-French, 2021). Additionally, almost 1 in 4 adults aged 65 to 74 and 1 in 2 aged
75 and older have disabling hearing loss (NIH, 2016). Pride and fear of looking “old” makes many
older adults reluctant to wear a hearing aid. Yet the inability to follow conversations due to hearing
loss can make the person appear cognitively deficient and can also isolate the elderly from social
interaction. Although there are physical and sensory changes as we age, there is considerable
variation, with some people retaining their abilities well into their senior years.

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Key Takeaways

 Babies are born with a variety of skills and abilities that contribute to their survival, and
they also actively learn by engaging with their environments.
 Reflexes transition into deliberate gross motor and fine motor skills, which continue to be
refined during childhood.
 Puberty is a developmental period in which hormonal changes cause rapid physical
alterations in the body and sexual maturation.
 Emerging adulthood ranges from 18-29, while established adulthood ranges from
30-45.
 After peaking in emerging adulthood, muscle strength, reaction time, cardiac output, and
sensory abilities begin to decline in established and middle adulthood.
 One of the key signs of aging in women is the decline in fertility, culminating in
menopause, which is marked by the cessation of the menstrual period. Males
experience a gradual decrease in testosterone as they age.
 All body systems become less efficient in late adulthood.

Exercises and Critical Thinking

1. Watch the first two sections of this video and think about the interactions between teen
brains and their behavior.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/teenbrain/view/

Videos and Activities

1. Aging Matters is a program from Nashville Public Television that covers a variety of topics
relevant to aging adults. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=aging+matters

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Cognitive Development across the Lifespan
Learning Objectives

1. Explain Piaget’s concepts of assimilation and accommodation.

2. Describe Piaget's stages of cognitive development.
3. Describe Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of cognitive development.
4. Describe the cognitive changes in adolescence and adulthood.
5. Define Alzheimer’s disease and describe the risk factors for its development.
6. Explain Kohlberg's theory of moral reasoning.
7. Describe how children develop their moral reasoning and behavior.

Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

Neurological changes during childhood provide children the ability to do some things at certain
ages, and yet make it impossible for them to do other things. This fact was made apparent through
the groundbreaking work of the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget. During the 1920s, Piaget was
administering intelligence tests to children to determine the kinds of logical thinking in which
children were capable. In the process of testing the
children, Piaget became intrigued, not so much by the Figure 7.8 Jean Piaget
answers that the children got right, but more by the
answers they got wrong. Piaget believed that the
incorrect answers that the children gave were not mere
shots in the dark, but rather represented specific ways
of thinking unique to the children’s developmental
stage. Just as almost all babies learn to roll over before
they learn to sit up by themselves, and learn to crawl
before they learn to walk, Piaget believed that children
gain their cognitive ability in a developmental order. Source
His insights that children at different ages think in
fundamentally different ways led to his stage model of cognitive development.

Piaget argued that children do not just passively learn, but also actively try to make sense of their
worlds. He argued that, as they learn and mature, children develop schemas or patterns of
knowledge in long-term memory that help them remember, organize, and respond to information.
Furthermore, Piaget thought that when children experience new things, they attempt to reconcile
the new knowledge with existing schemas. Piaget believed that the children use two distinct
methods. He called these methods assimilation and accommodation.

When children employ assimilation, they use already developed schemas to understand new
information. If children learned a schema for horses, they may call the striped animal they see at
the zoo a horse rather than a zebra. Children fit the existing schema to the new information and
label the new information with the existing knowledge. Accommodation, in contrast, involves
learning new information, and thus changing the schema. When a mother says, “No, honey, that’s
a zebra, not a horse,” the child may adapt the schema to fit the new stimulus, learning that there
are different types of four-legged animals, only one of which is a horse (see Figure 7.9).
228
 Figure 7.9 Assimilation and Accommodation

Source

Piaget’s most important contribution to understanding cognitive development, and the fundamental
aspect of his theory, was the idea that development occurs in unique and distinct stages, with each
stage occurring at a specific time, in a sequential manner, and in a way, that allows the child to
think about the world using new capacities. Piaget’s stages of cognitive development are
summarized in Table 7.2.

The first developmental stage for Piaget was the sensorimotor stage, the cognitive stage that
begins at birth and lasts until around the age of 2. It is defined by the direct physical interactions
that babies have with the objects around them. During this stage, babies form their first schemas
by using their primary senses; that is, they stare at, listen to, reach for, hold, shake, and taste the
things in their environments.

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Table 7.2 Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

Stage Approximate Characteristics Stage Attainment

Age Range

Sensorimotor Birth to about 2 The child experiences the world through reflexes, the Object permanence
years fundamental senses of seeing, hearing, touching, and
tasting and motor movements.

Preoperational 2 to 7 years Children acquire the ability to internally represent the Loss of egocentrism
world through language and mental imagery. They
also view the world from their own perspectives.

Concrete 7 to 11 years Children become able to think logically, but not Conservation
operational abstractly. They can increasingly perform operations
on objects.

Formal 11 years to Adolescents can think systematically, can reason Abstract logic
operational adulthood about abstract concepts, and can understand ethics
and scientific reasoning.

During the sensorimotor stage, babies’ use of their senses to perceive the world is so central to
their understanding that whenever babies do not directly perceive objects, as far as they are
concerned, the objects do not exist. Piaget found, for instance, that if he first interested babies in a
toy and then covered the toy with a blanket, children who were younger than 6 months of age
would act as if the toy had disappeared completely. They never tried to find it under the blanket,
but would nevertheless smile and reach for it when the blanket was removed. Piaget found that it
was not until about 8 months that the children realized that the object was merely covered and not
gone. Piaget used the term object permanence to refer to the child’s ability to know that an object
exists even when the object cannot be perceived. Children younger than about 8 months of age do
not understand object permanence.

At about 2 years of age, and until about 7 years of age, children internally represent the world
through language and mental imagey and move into the preoperational stage. During this stage,
new language skills and symbolic thinking fuel an explosion of communication and "pretend" play.
However, the child's understanding of events is intuitive rather than based on logical reasoning. The
thinking is preoperational meaning that the child lacks the ability to operate on or transform
objects mentally. In one study that showed the extent of this inability, DeLoache (1987) showed
children a room within a small dollhouse. Inside the room, a small toy was visible behind a small
couch. The researchers took the children to another lab room, which was an exact replica of the
dollhouse room, but full-sized. When children who were 2.5 years old were asked to find the toy,
they did not know where to look. They were simply unable to make the transition across the
changes in room size. Three-year-old children, on the other hand, immediately looked for the toy
behind the couch, demonstrating that they were improving their operational skills.

230
The inability of young children to view transitions also leads Figure 7.10 “What does
them to be egocentric or unable to readily see and understand Dolly see?”
other people’s viewpoints. Piaget’s classic experiment on
egocentrism involved showing children a three-dimensional
model of a mountain and asking them to describe what a doll
that is looking at the mountain from a different angle might see
(see Figure 7.10). Children tend to choose a picture that
represents their own, rather than the doll’s view. By age 7
children are less self-centered. However, even younger
children when speaking to others tend to use different sentence
structures and vocabulary when addressing a younger child or
an older adult. This indicates some awareness of the views of Source
others.

However, more recent developmental psychologists have challenged Piaget’s belief in the
egocentrity of young children, and instead support theory of mind or the ability to take another
person’s viewpoint, which increases rapidly during early childhood. In one demonstration of the
development of theory of mind, a researcher shows a child a video of another child (let’s call her
Anna) putting a ball in a red box. Then Anna leaves the room, and the video shows that while she is
gone, a researcher moves the ball from the red box into a blue box. As the video continues, Anna
comes back into the room. The child is then asked to point to the box where Anna will probably
look to find her ball. Children who are younger than 4 years of age typically are unable to
understand that Anna does not know that the ball has been moved, and they predict that she will
look for it in the blue box. By 5 years of age the majority of children realize that different people
can have different viewpoints, and although she will be wrong, Anna will nevertheless think that
the ball is still in the red box.

The concrete operational stage, occurring at around 7 years of age, is characterized by more
frequent and more accurate use of logical transformations and operations. In addition, the child
can think more logically about physical reality. A fourth grader understands that transforming a
ball of clay from a snake to a ball does not change the amount of clay. School age children
understand operations can be reversed, so they can learn to check their subtraction problems by
adding. For example, 2+3 = 5, so 5 - 3 should = 2.

An important milestone during the concrete operational stage is the development of conservation
or the understanding that changes in the form of an object do not necessarily mean changes in the
quantity of the object. Children younger than 7 years generally think that a glass of milk that is tall
holds more milk than a glass of milk that is shorter and wider, and they continue to believe this
even when they see the same milk poured back and forth between the glasses. This is because
young children exhibit centration whereby they focus only on one dimension (the height of the
liquid in the glass) and ignore the other dimension (the width of the glass). However, when children
reach the concrete operational stage, their abilities to understand such transformations make them
aware that, although the milk looks different in the different glasses, the amount must be the same.
Children in the stage of concrete operations decenter and use a process called reversibility or the
understanding that some things that have been changed can be returned to their original state to
think about transitions and achieve conservation.

231
 Figure 7.11 Figure 7.12

Two glasses with an equal amount of liquid The liquid from one of the short glasses has been
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piaget%27s_concepts_of_conservation#mediaviewer/Fi poured into a taller, skinnier glass. A child that
le:Conservation1.jpeg cannot conserve would assume the taller glass has
more liquid than the shorter glass
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piaget%27s_concepts_of_conservation#mediaviewer/Fi
le:Conservation2.jpeg

At about 11 years of age, children enter the formal operational stage, which is marked by the
ability to think in abstract terms and to use scientific and philosophical lines of thought. Children
in the formal operational stage are better able to systematically test alternative ideas to determine
their influences on outcomes. For instance, rather than haphazardly changing different aspects of a
situation that allows no clear conclusions to be drawn, they systematically make changes in one
thing at a time and observe what difference that particular change makes. They learn to use
deductive reasoning, such as “if this, then that,” and they become capable of imagining situations
that “might be,” rather than just those that actually exist. They can test hypotheses mentally rather
than through trial and error.

Piaget’s theories have made a substantial and lasting contribution to developmental psychology.
His contributions include the idea that children are not merely passive receptacles of information,
but rather actively engage in acquiring new knowledge and making sense of the world around
them. This general idea has generated many other theories of cognitive development, each
designed to help us better understand the development of the child’s information-processing skills
(Klahr & McWinney, 1998; Shrager & Siegler, 1998). Furthermore, the extensive research that
Piaget’s theory has stimulated has generally supported his beliefs about the order in which
cognition develops. Piaget’s work has also been applied in many domains. For instance, many
teachers make use of Piaget’s stages to develop educational approaches aimed at the level for which
children are developmentally prepared (Driscoll, 1994; Levin et al., 1990).

Over the years, Piagetian ideas have been refined. For example, it is now believed that object
permanence develops gradually, rather than more immediately, as a true stage model would
predict, and that it can sometimes develop much earlier than Piaget expected. Baillargeon and her
colleagues (Baillargeon, 2004; Wang et al., 2004) had babies watch a rotating screen, which moved
like a drawbridge back and forth. Then a wooden box was placed in the path of the rotating screen.
The researchers had two scenarios. In the “possible event” the screen moved upward hiding the

232
box and then stopped part way, then rotated back down revealing the box again. In the “impossible
event” the screen rotated upward hiding the box, but instead of stopping it went all the way back
and then rotated forward again revealing the box. Babies who saw the impossible event looked
longer than did babies who witnessed the possible event. These data suggest that the babies were
aware that the object still existed even though it was hidden behind the screen, and thus that they
were displaying object permanence as early as 3 ½ months of age, rather than at 8 months, as Piaget
suggested.

Another factor that might have surprised Piaget is the extent to which a child’s social surroundings
influence learning. In some cases, children progress to new ways of thinking and retreat to old
ones depending on the type of task they are performing, the circumstances they find themselves in,
and the nature of the language used to instruct them (Courage & Howe, 2002).

Children in different cultures show somewhat different patterns of cognitive development. Dasen
(1972) found that children in non-Western cultures moved to the next developmental stage about a
year later than did children from Western cultures, and that level of schooling also influenced
cognitive development. In short, Piaget’s theory probably understated the contribution of social
environmental factors to cognitive development.

Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) was a Russian psychologist who wrote in the early 1900s, but whose work
was not discovered by researchers in the United States until the 1960s and became more widely known
in the 1980s (Crain, 2005). His sociocultural theory emphasizes the importance of culture and
interaction in the development of cognitive abilities.

Figure 7.13 Lev Vygotsky Piaget believed development stemmed directly from the child, and
although Vygotsky acknowledged intrinsic development, he argued
that it is the language, writings, and concepts arising from the culture
that elicit the highest level of cognitive thinking (Crain, 2005). He
believed that the social interactions with adults and more advanced
peers facilitates a child’s potential for learning. Without this
interpersonal instruction, he believed children’s minds would not
advance very far as their knowledge would be based only on their
own discoveries. Some of Vygotsky’s key concepts are described
below.

Zone of Proximal Development and Scaffolding: Vygotsky’s best

known concept is the zone of proximal development (ZPD).
Vygotsky stated that children should be taught in the ZPD, which
Source occurs when they can almost perform a task, but not quite on their
own without assistance. A good teacher identifies a child’s ZPD and
helps the child stretch beyond it. Then the adult (teacher) gradually withdraws support until the child
can then perform the task unaided. Researchers have applied the metaphor of scaffolds (the temporary
platforms on which construction workers stand) to this way of teaching. Scaffolding is the temporary
support that parents or teachers give a child to do a task.

Contrast with Piaget: Piaget was highly critical of teacher-directed instruction believing that
teachers who take control of the child’s learning place the child into a passive role (Crain, 2005).
Further, teachers may present abstract ideas without the child’s true understanding, and instead they
233
just repeat back what they heard. Piaget believed children must be given opportunities to discover
concepts on their own. As previously stated, Vygotsky did not believe children could reach a higher
cognitive level without instruction from more learned individuals. Who is correct? Both theories
certainly contribute to our understanding of how children learn.

Cognitive Development in Adolescence

Although the most rapid cognitive changes occur during childhood, the brain continues to develop
throughout adolescence and adulthood (Weinberger et al., 2005). During adolescence, the brain
continues to form new neural connections, but also casts off unused neurons and connections
(Blakemore, 2008). As teenagers mature, the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain responsible for
reasoning, planning, and problem solving, also continues to develop (Goldberg, 2001). Myelin, the
fatty tissue that forms around axons and neurons and helps speed transmissions between different
regions of the brain, also continues to grow (Rapoport et al., 1999).

Adolescents often seem to act impulsively, rather than thoughtfully, and this may be, in part,
because the development of the prefrontal cortex is slower than the development of the emotional
parts of the brain, including the limbic system (Blakemore, 2008). Furthermore, the hormonal surge
that is associated with puberty, which primarily influences emotional responses, may create strong
emotions and lead to impulsive behavior. It has been hypothesized that adolescents may engage in
risky behavior, such as smoking, drug use, dangerous driving, and unprotected sex, in part, because
they have not yet fully acquired the mental ability to curb impulsive behavior or to make entirely
rational judgments (Steinberg, 2007).

The new cognitive abilities that are attained during adolescence may also give rise to new feelings
of egocentrism. One type of adolescent egocentrism is the personal fable in which adolescents
construct a fantasy of their personal future. They may imagine themselves as a famous actress or
fighter pilot. This personal fable makes them more likely to take risks, since they do not imagine
themselves dying or injured. They also may not listen to their parent's advice about avoiding danger
(Elkind, 1978).

Teenagers are also likely to be highly self-conscious, often creating an imaginary audience in that
they feel that everyone is constantly watching them (Goossens et al., 2002). Because teens are
egocentric, they mistakenly believe that others must be thinking about them too (Rycek et al.,
1998). Worrying about what others are thinking can sometimes lead adolescents to negative
emotions and behavior.

Cognitive Development in Adulthood

Cognitive development continues during early and middle adulthood. Formal operations, the
abstract, hypothetical thinking that emerged in adolescence, are focused on problem solving, while
the postformal thinking of adulthood is more reflective. Postformal thinking includes problem
finding (Arlin, 1975) and dialectical reasoning (Riegel, 1973). A "solution" can be evaluated by
looking for the possible problems that may result from that action. A new solution may emerge
from this evaluation. For example, a teen in formal operations may decide to join the military so
that college tuition can be paid. An adult in postformal operations would also evaluate all of the
possible problems with this solution. This evaluation might lead to a new solution.
234
Adult thinkers are also better able to integrate intuition, emotion, and experience into their abstract
reasoning. For example, a person might consider whether divorce is a valid response to an
unhappy marriage. A teen in formal operations might reason using an abstract concept. This
concept might be an individual’s right to the “pursuit of happiness” as guaranteed by the
constitution. A more mature thinker might also evaluate the emotions involved and consider how
much of the unhappiness is related to other causes. This adult reasoning would also include an
intuitive understanding of how the divorce might impact each individual. Based on past
experience, the adult might also consider whether or not the unhappiness is temporary and
correctable within the marriage. Individuals using formal and postformal thinking may reach the
same conclusions, but the reasoning process of the mature thinker might include more variables.
This ability to engage in multidimensional, reflective thinking may be related to biological
maturation. The prefrontal cortex of the brain continues to mature until at least the age of 25.
Research evidence suggests that this biological maturation parallels the cognitive maturation that is
taking place in early adulthood (Yurgelun-Todd, 2007).

An important factor in our cognitive abilities as we age appears to be our expectations. In one
important study concerning the role of expectations on memory, Levy and Langer (1994) found
that, although young American and Chinese students performed equally well on cognitive tasks,
older Americans performed significantly more poorly on those tasks than did their Chinese
counterparts. Furthermore, this difference was explained by beliefs about aging. In both cultures,
the older adults who believed that memory declined with age also showed more actual memory
declines than did the older adults who believed that memory did not decline with age. In addition,
more older Americans than older Chinese believed that memory declined with age, and as you can
see in Figure 7.14, older Americans performed more poorly on the memory tasks.

Figure 7.14

Is Memory Influenced by Cultural Stereotypes? Levy and Langer (1994) found that although younger samples
did not differ, older Americans performed significantly more poorly on memory tasks than did older Chinese,
and that these differences were due to different expectations about memory in the two cultures.

Whereas it was once believed that almost all older adults suffered from a generalized memory loss,
research now indicates that healthy older adults actually experience only some particular types of
memory deficits, while other types of memory remain relatively intact or may even improve with
age. Older adults do seem to process information more slowly as it may take them longer to
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evaluate information and to understand language. It takes them longer than it does younger people
to recall a word that they know, even though they are perfectly able to recognize the word once
they see it (Burke et al., 2008). Older adults also have more difficulty inhibiting and controlling
their attention (Persad et al., 2002) making them, for example, more likely to talk about topics that
are not relevant to the topic at hand when conversing (Pushkar et al., 2000).

Neurocognitive Disorder and Alzheimer’s Disease

Some older adults suffer from biologically based cognitive impairments in which the brain is so
adversely affected by aging that it becomes very difficult for the person to continue to function
effectively. A Neurocognitive disorder is defined as a progressive neurological disease that
includes loss of cognitive abilities significant enough to interfere with everyday behaviors.
Alzheimer’s disease is a form of this disorder that, over a period of years, leads to a loss of
emotions, cognitions, and physical functioning, and is ultimately fatal. Neurocognitive disorders
and Alzheimer’s disease are most likely to be observed in individuals who are 65 and older (Hebert
et al., 1995). Neurocognitive disorders and Alzheimer’s disease both produce a gradual decline in
functioning of the brain cells that produce the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Without this
neurotransmitter, the neurons are unable to adequately communicate, leaving the brain less and less
functional. Neurocognitive disorders can be diagnosed as either major or mild. Mild
neurocognitive disorders are an earlier and possibly more treatable form of the disorder.

Figure 7.14 A Healthy Brain (Left) Versus a Brain with Advanced Alzheimer’s
Disease (Right)

Neurocognitive disorders and Alzheimer’s are, in part, heritable, but there is increasing evidence
that the environment also plays a role. A Western diet, high in saturated fats and simple
carbohydrates, is associated with developing Alzheimer's disease (Kanoski & Davidson, 2011).
Current research is helping us understand many things that older adults may be able to do that will
help them slow down or prevent the negative cognitive outcomes of aging, including
neurocognitive disorders and Alzheimer’s (Pushkar et al., 2007). Older adults who continue to
keep their minds active by engaging in cognitive activities, such as reading or doing crossword
puzzles, who maintain social interactions with others, and who keep themselves physically fit have
a greater chance of maintaining their mental acuity than those who do not (Cherkas et al., 2008;
Verghese et al., 2003).

Most research on this topic, however, is correlational. Although behavioral factors may predict who
is mentally healthy, there is insufficient evidence that you can control cognitive decline in old age
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by staying active (Plassman et al., 2010). Staying active will not hurt, though. Since it contributes
to overall health and quality of life, participating in social, physical, and mental activity is a good
plan for anyone. Exercise, in particular, will increase blood flow to the brain and improve almost
anyone's cognitive performance.

Developing Moral Reasoning: Kohlberg’s Theory

The independence that comes with adolescence and adulthood requires independent thinking, as
well as the development of morality defined as standards of behavior that are generally agreed on
within a culture to be right or proper. Just as Piaget believed that children’s cognitive development
follows specific patterns, Lawrence Kohlberg (1984) argued that we learn our moral values through
active thinking and reasoning, and that moral development follows a series of stages. Kohlberg's six
stages are generally organized into three levels of moral reasons. To study moral development,
Kohlberg posed moral dilemmas to children, teenagers, and adults, such as the following:

A man’s wife is dying of cancer and there is only one drug that can save her. The only place to
get the drug is at the store of a pharmacist who is known to overcharge people for drugs. The
man can only pay $1,000, but the pharmacist wants $2,000, and refuses to sell it to him for
less, or to let him pay later. Desperate, the man later breaks into the pharmacy and steals the
medicine. Should he have done that? Was it right or wrong? Why?

Kohlberg concluded, on the basis of their responses to the moral questions, that as we develop
intellectually we can pass through different stages of moral reasoning. In the first stage, moral
reasoning is based on concepts of punishment. The child believes that if the consequence for an
action is punishment, then the action was wrong. In the second, slightly more advanced stage,
children base their thinking on self-interest and reward. "You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours."
Adults can also fall into these stages, particularly when they are under pressure. Together, these
two stages constitute a level Kohlberg described as preconventional morality or morality that
focuses on self-interest. Punishment is avoided and rewards are sought.

In the second level, conventional morality, people care about the effect of their actions on others.
Older children, some adolescents, and adults use this reasoning. In the third stage, the person
wants to please others. At a slightly more advanced stage four, the person acknowledges the
importance of social norms or laws and wants to be a good member of the group or society.

In the third level, postconventional morality, abstract reasons are used to determine right and
wrong. In the fifth stage, laws are recognized as social contracts established for the good of
everyone and that can transcend the self and social convention. For example, the man should break
into the store because, even if it is against the law, the wife needs the drug and her life is more
important than the consequences the man might face for breaking the law. The reasons for the laws,
like justice, equality, and dignity, are used to evaluate decisions and interpret laws. In the sixth
stage, individually determined universal ethical principles are weighed to make moral decisions.
Kohlberg said that few adults ever reach this stage. Kohlberg’s stages are reviewed in Table 7.3.

Although research has supported Kohlberg’s idea that moral reasoning changes from an early
emphasis on punishment and social rules and regulations to an emphasis on more general ethical
principles, as with Piaget’s approach, Kohlberg’s stage model is probably too simple. For one,
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people may use higher levels of reasoning for some types of problems, but revert to lower levels in
situations where doing so is more consistent with their goals or beliefs (Rest, 1979). Second, it has
been argued that the stage model is particularly appropriate for Western, rather than non-Western,
samples in which allegiance to social norms (such as respect for authority) may be particularly
important (Haidt, 2001). In addition, there is frequently little correlation between how we score on
the moral stages and how we behave in real life.

Perhaps the most important critique of Kohlberg’s theory is that it may describe the moral
development of males better than it describes that of females. Gilligan (1982) has argued that,
because of differences in their socialization, males tend to value principles of justice and rights,
whereas females value caring for and helping others. Although there is little evidence for a gender
difference on Kohlberg’s stages of moral development (Turiel, 1998), it is true that girls and
women tend to focus more on issues of caring, helping, and connecting with others than do boys
and men (Jaffee & Hyde, 2000).

Table 7.3 Lawrence Kohlberg’s Levels of Moral Reasoning

Age Moral Level Description

Young children- Preconventional Stage 1: Focus is on self-interest and punishment is avoided. The
usually prior to morality man shouldn’t steal the drug, as he may get caught and go to jail.
age 9 Stage 2: Rewards are sought. A person at this level will argue that
the man should steal the drug because he does not want to lose his
wife who takes care of him.

Older children, Conventional Stage 3: Focus is on how situational outcomes impact others and
adolescents, and morality wanting to please and be accepted. The man should steal the drug
most adults because that is what good husbands do.
Stage 4: People make decisions based on laws or formalized rules.
The man should obey the law because stealing is a crime.

Rare with Postconventional Stage 5: Individuals employ abstract reasoning to justify

adolescents and morality behaviors. The man should steal the drug because laws can be
few adults unjust and you have to consider the whole situation.
Stage 6: Moral behavior is based on self-chosen ethical principles.
The man should steal the drug because life is more important than
property.

Current Reasearch on Moral Development

Psychology’s interest in moral development has expanded since the work of Kohlberg. Researchers
have examined the application of moral reasoning and decision making, and considered the role of
moral reasoning and its development in emotion, theory of mind, peer relationships, parent-child

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interactions, aggression, and prejudice (Killen & Smetana, 2006). There have been two main
approaches underlying this research: socialization/internalization theory, and social domain theory.

Socialization/internalization theory notes how parents and other adults pass down the rules or
standards for behavior by using various techniques, and considers the factors that influence why
children do or do not internalize those standards (Kochanska & Askan, 1995). The research has
found that the behaviors of adults can influence whether children comply and internalize
these societal values, and that the success of the strategies used by adults depends in part on the
characteristics of the child, such as their age or personality (Kochanska et al., 2010).

Those who support the social domain theory examine how the responses of adults and peers influences
children’s ability to distinguish between moral and conventional behavior (Smetana, 1997). According
to social domain theory there are at least three different areas or domains of reasoning (Turiel, 2006):
 Moral reasoning, which deals with concerns about justice, people’s rights, and fairness
 Societal reasoning, which deals with the various social conventions in a society and social groups.
 Psychological reasoning, which deals with one’s identity and personal goals.

Adults respond to moral transgressions, such as stealing, and social transgressions, such as eating with
your fingers in different ways. With moral transgressions, adults might draw attention to how this
behavior affects other people, and may do so more consistently across a variety of contexts. With
violations of social conventions, adults may remind children of the rules, but may do so in only certain
contexts, such as eating with your fingers may be fine at home but not in public (Smetana, 1985).
Overtime, children learn to distinguish between these two domains.

Current moral research also focuses on brain areas in assessing whether people make moral decisions
based on their emotional response to a situation or based on a rational consideration of factors
involved in the situation (Palmer, 2021). To assess this dichotomy, Koenigs et al. (2007) used
research participants who had damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPC), an area of the
brain involved in emotions associated with moral judgment. Koenigs et al. found that compared to
control participants, those with focal lesions to the VMPC more often made emotionally aversive and
practical decisions, such as sacrificing their own child to save the group. The researchers concluded
that moral decisions have at least some emotional component. Other research looking at brain areas
and morality include the impact of intentions on individual behavior and how psychopathy affect
moral judgments. Both of these research areas have strong neural connections (Palmer, 2021).

Another current area of morality research looks at our obligations to strangers versus family members
(McManus et al., 2020). In a variety of research scenarios, those who assisted a stranger were judged
more morally good than those who helped a family member. However, those who helped a stranger
instead of a family member were judged as less morally good. Further, those who neglected a
stranger were less morally bad than those who neglected a family member. Lastly, when a
hypothetical person was in an authority position and could allocate resources, those who helped a
stranger were considered more morally good than those who helped a family member. Overall,
McManus et al. concluded that moral decisions are highly dependent on a variety of factors.

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Key Takeaways

 Piaget’s theory of cognitive development proposes that children use both assimilation and
accommodation to develop functioning schemas of the world.
 According to Piaget, children develop in a specific series of sequential stages:
Sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational.
 Piaget’s theories have had a major impact, but they have also been negatively critiqued
and expanded.
 The cerebral cortex continues to develop during adolescence and early adulthood,
enabling improved reasoning, judgment, impulse control, and long-term planning.
 The thinking of adults is more reflective and is able to integrate intuition, emotion, and
experience into their abstract reasoning.
 Expectancies about change in aging vary across cultures and may influence how people
respond to getting older.
 A portion of the elderly suffer from age-related brain diseases, such as a neurocognitive
disorder that includes significant loss of cognitive abilities, and Alzheimer’s disease, a
fatal form of a neurocognitive disorder that is related to changes in the cerebral cortex.
 Kohlberg’s theory proposes that moral reasoning is divided into the following levels:
Preconventional morality, conventional morality, and postconventional morality.
 Kohlberg’s theory of morality has been expanded and challenged, particularly by Gilligan,
who has focused on differences in morality between males and females.
 Socialization/internalization theory and social domain theory explain how children
develop their moral reasoning and behavior.
 Current research also indicates that moral decision making is based on a variety of
factors and brain injury can affect moral behavior.

Exercises and Critical Thinking

1. Give an example of a situation in which you or someone else might show cognitive
assimilation and cognitive accommodation. In what cases do you think each process
is most likely to occur?
2. Based on what you learned in this chapter, do you think that people should be allowed to
drive at age 16? Why or why not? At what age do you think they should be allowed to
vote and to drink alcohol?
3. Based on the information you have read in this chapter, what would you tell your parents
about how they can best maintain healthy physical and cognitive function into late
adulthood?

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Videos and Activities

1. Renee Bailargeon’s research on object permanence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=hwgo2O5Vk_g
2. People being interviewed showing Kolhberg’s stages of moral reasoning.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY4etXWYS84

Social Development across the Lifespan

Learning Objectives

1. List and describe Erik Erikson's psychosocial developmental crises.

2. Explain the needs for contact comfort and for attachment for infants.
3. Describe the patterns of attachment between infants and their caregivers according to
Ainsworth.
4. Explain the difference between longitudinal and cross-sectional research designs.
5. Describe identity development in adolescence, including within ethnic minorities.
6. Describe the use of authoritarian, authoritative, permissive, and rejecting-neglecting parenting
styles.
7. Describe the factors that may lead to a more positive retirement.
8. Describe the five phases of grief according to Kübler-Ross.

Childhood is a time in which changes occur quickly. During

Figure 7.16 Erik Erikson this time the child learns to actively manipulate and control the
environment, and is first exposed to the requirements of
society. According to Erik Erikson (1963), children need to
learn to control themselves, to explore the world, to become
self-reliant, and to make their own way in the environment.

The psychologist and psychoanalyst Erik Erikson (1963)

proposed a model of life-span development that provides a useful
guideline for thinking about the changes we experience
throughout life. Erikson broke with Freud’s emphasis on
sexuality as the cornerstone of social-emotional development,
and instead suggested that social relationships fostered
development. Erikson proposed that each period of life has a
unique challenge or crisis that the person who reaches it must
face. This is referred to as a psychosocial crisis. According to
Erikson, successful development involves dealing with and resolving the goals and demands of
each of these crises in a positive way. These crises are usually called stages, although that is not
the term Erikson used. If a person does not resolve a crisis successfully, it may hinder their ability
to deal with later crises. For example, the person who does not develop a sense of trust (Erikson’s
first crisis) may find it challenging as an adult to form a positive intimate relationship (Erikson’s
sixth crisis). Or an individual who does not develop a clear sense of purpose and identity
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(Erikson’s fifth crisis) may become self-absorbed and stagnate rather than working toward the
betterment of others (Erikson’s seventh crisis). However, most individuals are able to successfully
complete the eight crises of his theory (see Table 7.4).

Table 7.4 Crises of Development as Proposed by Erik Erikson

Age Range Psychosocial Crisis Positive Resolution of Crisis

Birth to 12 to Trust versus Mistrust The infant develops a feeling of trust in his or her caregivers.
18 months
18 months to Autonomy versus Shame The child learns what they can and cannot control and
3 years and Doubt develops a sense of free will.
3 to 6 years Initiative versus Guilt The child learns to become independent by exploring,
manipulating, and taking action.
6 to 12 years Industry versus Inferiority The child learns to do things well or correctly according to
standards set by others, particularly in school.
12 to 18 years Identity versus Role The adolescent develops a well-defined and positive sense of self
Confusion in relationship to others.
18 to 40 years Intimacy versus Isolation The adult develops the ability to give and receive love and to
make long-term commitments.
40 to 65 years Generativity versus The adult develops an interest in guiding the development of the
Stagnation next generation, often by becoming a parent.
65 to death Ego Integrity versus Despair The older adult develops acceptance of his or her life as it was
lived.

Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development will be used as the framework for understanding
subsequent topics in social-emotional development across the lifespan, including attachment,
identity formation, parenting, retirement, and death and dying.

Social Development in Childhood: Attachment

The development of close and meaningful social relationships is one of the most important features
of childhood. The emotional bonds that we develop with those with whom we feel closest, and
particularly the bonds that an infant develops with the mother or primary caregiver, are referred to
as attachment (Cassidy & Shaver, 1999).

As late as the 1930s, psychologists believed that children who were raised in institutions, such as
orphanages, and who received good physical care and proper nourishment, would develop
normally, even if they had little interaction with their caretakers. Studies by the developmental
psychologist John Bowlby (1953) and others, however, showed that these children did not develop
normally. They were usually sickly, emotionally slow, and generally unmotivated. These
observations helped make it clear that normal infant development requires successful attachment
with a caretaker.

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 Figure 7.17

Children develop appropriate attachment styles through their interactions with caregivers. © Thinkstock

Harlow’s Research: In one classic study showing the importance of attachment, Wisconsin
University psychologists Harry and Margaret Harlow investigated the responses of young monkeys.
The infants were separated from their biological mothers, and two surrogate mothers were
introduced to their cages. One, the wire mother, consisted of a round wooden head, a mesh of cold
metal wires, and a bottle of milk from which the baby monkey could drink. The second mother was
a foam-rubber form wrapped in a heated terry-cloth blanket. The infant monkeys went to the wire
mother for food, but they overwhelmingly preferred and spent significantly more time with the
warm terry-cloth mother. The warm terry-cloth mother provided no food, but did provide comfort
(Harlow, 1958). The infant's need for physical closeness and touching is referred to as contact
comfort. Contact comfort is believed to be the foundation for attachment.

The Harlows’ studies confirmed that babies have social, as well as, physical needs. Both monkeys
and human babies need a secure base that allows them to feel safe. From this base, they can gain
the confidence they need to venture out and explore their worlds. Erikson was in agreement on the
importance of a secure base, arguing that the most important goal of infancy was the development
of a basic sense of trust in one’s caregivers.

The Strange Situation Technique: Developmental psychologist Mary Figure 7.18

Ainsworth, a student of John Bowlby, was interested in studying the Mary Ainsworth
development of attachment in infants. Ainsworth created a laboratory test
that measured an infant’s attachment to his or her parent. The test is
called the strange situation because it is conducted in a context that is
unfamiliar to the child and therefore likely to heighten the child’s need
for his or her parent (Ainsworth et al., 1978). During the procedure that
lasts about 20 minutes, the parent and the infant are first left alone, while
the infant explores the room full of toys. Then a strange adult enters the
room and talks for a minute to the parent, after which the parent leaves the
room. The stranger stays with the infant for a few minutes, and then the
parent again enters and the stranger leaves the room. During the entire
session, a video camera records the child’s behaviors, which are later
coded by trained coders. On the basis of their behaviors, the children are Source
categorized into one of four groups, where each group reflects a different
kind of attachment relationship with the caregiver.

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  A child with a secure attachment style usually explores freely while the mother is present
and engages with the stranger. The child may be upset when the mother departs, but is also
happy to see the mother return.
 A child with an ambivalent attachment style (sometimes called insecure-resistant) is
wary about the situation in general, particularly the stranger, and stays close or even
clings to the mother rather than exploring the toys. When the mother leaves, the child is
extremely distressed and is ambivalent when she returns. The child may rush to the mother
but then fail to cling to her when she picks up the child.
 A child with an avoidant attachment style (sometimes called insecure-avoidant) will
avoid or ignore the mother, showing little emotion when the mother departs or returns. The
child may run away from the mother when she approaches. The child will not explore very
much, regardless of who is there, and the stranger will not be treated much differently
from the mother.
 A child with a disorganized attachment style seems to have no consistent way of coping
with the stress of the strange situation. The child may cry during the separation, but avoid
the mother when she returns, or the child may approach the mother, but then freeze or fall
to the floor.

Figure 7.19 Although some cultural differences in attachment styles have

been found (Rothbaum et al., 2000), research has also found that
overall the proportion of children who fall into each of the
attachment categories is relatively constant across cultures.
Figure 7.19 identifies the percentage of children with different
attachment styles.

Factors Determining Attachment: You might wonder

whether differences in attachment style are determined more
by the child (nature) or more by the parents (nurture). Most
developmental psychologists believe that socialization is
primary, arguing that a child becomes securely attached when
the parent is available and able to meet the needs of the child
in a responsive and appropriate manner, but that the insecure styles occur when the parent is
insensitive and responds inconsistently to the child’s needs. In a direct test of this idea, van den
Boom (1994) randomly assigned some babies’ mothers to a training session in which they learned
to better respond to their children’s needs. The research found that these mothers’ babies were
more likely to show a secure attachment style in comparison to the mothers in a control group that
did not receive training.

Severe deprivation of parental attachment can lead to serious problems. According to studies of
children who have not been given warm, nurturing care, they may show developmental delays,
failure to thrive, and attachment disorders (Bowlby, 1982). Failure to thrive is the diagnosis for
an infant who does not grow, develop, or gain weight on schedule. In addition, postpartum
depression can cause even a well-intentioned mother to neglect her infant and negatively impact
the attachment relationship.

The attachment behavior of the child is also likely influenced, at least in part, by temperament, the
innate personality characteristics of the infant. Some children are warm, friendly, and responsive,
while others tend to be more irritable, less manageable, and difficult to console. These differences
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may also play a role in attachment (Gillath et al., 2008; Seifer et al., 1996). Attachment, like most
other developmental processes, is affected by an interplay of genetic and socialization influences.

Research Focus: Using a Longitudinal Research Design to Assess the

Stability of Attachment
You might wonder whether the attachment style displayed by infants has much influence
later in life. In fact, research has found that the attachment styles of children predict their
emotions and their behaviors many years later (Cassidy & Shaver, 1999).

Two approaches to examining the effect of age on development include cross-sectional

and longitudinal. In a cross-sectional research design, age comparisons are made
between samples of different people at different ages at one time. Cross-sectional studies
have a major advantage in that the scientist does not have to wait for years to pass to get
results. However, the interpretations drawn from cross-sectional studies may be
confounded by cohort effects. Cohort effects refer to the possibility that differences in
cognition or behavior may be caused by differences that are unrelated to the changes in
age. The differences might instead be due to environmental factors that affect an entire
age group.

Psychologists have studied the persistence of attachment styles over time using
longitudinal research designs in which individuals in the sample are followed and
contacted over an extended period of time, often over multiple developmental stages. In
one such study, Waters, et al. (2000) examined the extent of stability and change in
attachment patterns from infancy to early adulthood. In their research, 60 middle-class
infants who had been tested in the strange situation at 1 year of age were contacted 20
years later and interviewed using a measure of adult attachment. Waters and colleagues
found that 72% of the infants received the same secure versus insecure attachment
classification in early adulthood as they had received as infants. The adults who changed
categorization, usually from secure to insecure, were primarily those who had experienced
traumatic events, such as the death or divorce of parents, severe illnesses contracted by the
parents or the children themselves, or physical or sexual abuse by a family member.

In addition to finding that people generally display the same attachment style over time,
longitudinal studies have also found that the attachment classification received in
infancy, as assessed using the strange situation or other measures, predicts many
childhood and adult behaviors. Securely attached infants have closer, more harmonious
relationship with peers, are less anxious and aggressive, and are better able to
understand others’ emotions than are those who were categorized as insecure as infants
(Lucas-Thompson & Clarke-Stewart, (2007). Securely attached adolescents also have
more positive peer and romantic relationships than their less securely attached
counterparts (Carlson et al., 2004).

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 Conducting longitudinal research is a very difficult task, but one that has substantial rewards.
When the sample is large enough and the time frame long enough, the potential findings of such
a study can provide rich and important information about how people change over time and the
causes of those changes. The drawbacks of longitudinal studies include the cost and the difficulty
of finding a large sample that can be tracked accurately over the many years it takes to get the
data. In addition, because the results are delayed over an extended period, the research questions
posed at the beginning of the study may become less relevant as the research continues.

Social Development in Adolescence: Identity

According to Erikson, the main social task of the adolescent is the search for a unique identity and
the ability to answer the question, “Who am I?” In the search for identity, the adolescent may
experience role confusion in which they are balancing or choosing among identities. Teens may
also take on negative or undesirable identities, or, if things are not going well, give up looking for
an identity altogether.

One approach to assessing identity development was proposed by James Marcia (1980). In his
approach, adolescents are asked questions regarding their exploration of and commitment to issues
related to occupation, politics, religion, and sexual behavior. The responses to the questions allow
the researchers to classify the adolescent into one of four identity statuses (see Figure 7.20).

Figure 7.20 James Marcia’s Statuses of Identity Development

Exploration
Yes No
Yes Identity-achievement status Identity-foreclosure status
The individual has attained a coherent The individual has not engaged in
and committed identity based on any identity experimentation, but
personal decisions. has established an identity based on
Commitment the choices or values of others.

No Identity-moratorium status Identity-diffusion status

The individual is exploring various The individual does not have firm
choices, but has not yet made a clear commitments regarding the issues in
commitment to any of them. question, and is not making progress
toward them.

Studies assessing how adolescents pass through Marcia’s statuses show that, although most
adolescents eventually succeed in developing a stable identity, the path to it is not always easy and
there are many routes that can be taken. Some adolescents may not search for an identity (identity-
diffusion status), while others may simply adopt the beliefs of their parents or the first role that is
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offered to them, perhaps at the expense of searching for other, more promising possibilities
(identity-foreclosure status).

Other teens may spend years trying on different possible identities (identity-moratorium status)
before finally choosing one. To help them work through the process of developing an identity,
adolescents may try out different identities in different social situations. They may maintain one
identity at home and a different type of persona when they are with their peers. Eventually, most
teenagers do integrate the different possibilities into a single self-concept and a comfortable sense
of identity (identity-achievement status).

Racial and Ethnic Identity Development

While Erikson laid the foundation of identity formation in

Figure 7.21 adolescence, his theory has been criticized for its “homogenized
Margaret Beale Spencer conception of youth” (Velez & Spencer, 2018, p. 76). Identity
formation is influenced by societal experiences and group
memberships. For instance, race/ethnicity may impact experiences
differently for adolescents depending on their gender,
socioeconomic status, and physical and mental abilities. Margaret
Beale Spencer acknowledged that research on human development
had predominantly focused on white males. Consequently, she felt
a responsibility to make her research on human development
inclusive for youth of color (Pennamon, 2018). Her theory of
human development, the Phenomenological Variant of
Ecological Systems Theory (PVEST), examines resiliency,
identity and competence formation for all youth.
Spencer’s PVEST is a merging of phenomenology and
Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory (Pennamon, 2018). A
phenomenological approach is based on how a person makes
Source meaning of their experiences. For example, young African
American boys have different experiences in educational settings
compared to African American girls. Consequently, the meaning they assign to those experiences
differs. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory suggests that development occurs based on
interactions among environments such as school, family, and community (Bronfenbrenner,
1977). PVEST begins with situating youth in multiple environmental contexts and addresses
individuals’ perceived experiences and responses to these interlocking contexts. As identity
formation is a key aspect of adolescents’ development, their awareness of self and context
becomes more heightened than in other times of the life cycle (Spencer et al., 2006).
The research that Spencer et al. (1997) conducted with African American adolescent boys and girls
was explained by PVEST. They found that negative learning attitudes were predicted by
unpopularity with peers for girls and boys. Additionally, for boys, more stress predicted a less
negative attitude toward learning, possibly due to focus on the school environment instead of on
personal issues. This occurred along with perceiving that teachers had positive expectations of
African American boys. The researchers surmised that PVEST accounted for how others’
perceptions and their subsequent attitudes were related and worked both ways.

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For teenagers who are members of ethnic minority groups, racial/ethnic/cultural identity can be
paramount, depending on the family’s processes (Spencer et al., 2006). Racial socialization involves
teaching youth the positive aspects of their in-group, usually by caregivers. Most of the students in a
study by Neblett et al. (2009) reported having received such messages, but a few received no racial
socialization messages. They found that these messages played a role in how they felt about their in-
group. Weir (2021) found that Black families are more likely to balance messages of racial heritage
and pride with preparation for bias. Better psychological and academic outcomes in children are
found when both are taught as teaching pride without warning can cause children to run into
challenges they are unprepared for, while focusing only on bias and discrimination can drive anxiety
or depression.
Because minority youth have markedly different experiences as they become aware of their social
positions, discovering one’s ethnic identity is an important part of their overall identity
formation. According to Phinney (2006), “The task of ethnic identity formation involves sorting out
and resolving positive and negative feelings and attitudes about one’s own ethnic group and about
other groups and identifying one’s place in relation to both,” (p. 119). Phinney’s model of ethnic
identity formation, based on Erikson’s and Marcia’s model of identity formation, explains how
minority youth explore and ultimately commit to an ethnic identity. (Phinney, 1990; Syed & Juang,
2014). Phinney suggests three stages or statuses with regard to ethnic identity:

1. Unexamined Ethnic Identity: Adolescents and adults who have not been exposed to ethnic
identity issues may be in the first stage, unexamined ethnic identity. This is often
characterized with a preference for the dominant culture, or where the individual has given
little thought to the question of their ethnic heritage. This is similar to diffusion in Marcia’s
model of identity. Included in this group are also those who have adopted the ethnicity of
their parents and other family members with little thought about the issues themselves,
similar to Marcia’s foreclosure status (Phinney, 1990).

2. Ethnic Identity Search: Adolescents and adults who are exploring the customs, culture, and
history of their ethnic group are in the ethnic identity search stage, similar to Marcia’s
moratorium status (Phinney, 1990). Often some event “awakens” a teen or adult to their
ethnic group; either a personal experience with prejudice, a highly profiled case in the media,
or even a more positive event that recognizes the contribution of someone from the
individual’s ethnic group. Teens and adults in this stage immerse themselves in their ethnic
culture. For some, “it may lead to a rejection of the values of the dominant culture” (p. 503).

3. Achieved Ethnic Identity: Those who have actively explored their culture are likely to have
a deeper appreciation and understanding of their ethnic heritage, leading to progress toward
an achieved ethnic identity (Phinney, 1990). An achieved ethnic identity does not
necessarily imply that the individual is highly involved in the customs and values of their
ethnic culture. One can be confident in their ethnic identity without wanting to maintain the
language or other customs.
For many, college becomes the time of ethnic identity exploration. “The transition to college may
serve as a consciousness-raising experience that triggers exploration,” (Syed & Azmitia, 2009, p.
618). It is important to note that those who do achieve ethnic identity may periodically reexamine
the issues of ethnicity. This cycling between exploration and achievement is common not only for
ethnic identity formation, but in other aspects of identity development (Grotevant, 1987) and is
referred to as MAMA cycling or moving back and forth between moratorium and achievement.
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Social Development in Adulthood: Generativity

It is in adulthood when most of us make our most substantial contributions to society, by meeting
two of Erik Erikson’s life crises: We learn to give and receive love in close, long-term
relationships referred to as intimacy. We also develop an interest in guiding the development of
the next generation, often by becoming parents or mentors. This is Erikson’s concept of
generativity.

What Makes a Good Parent: One thing that you might think about if you decide to have children
are the skills involved in parenting. Some parents are strict, others are lax; some parents spend a lot
of time with their kids, while others do not; some parents are warm and affectionate, while others
are more emotionally distant. Do these behaviors matter?

We have already considered two answers to this question, in the form of what all children require:
(1) Babies need a conscientious mother who does not smoke, drink, or use drugs during her
pregnancy, and (2) infants need caretakers who are consistently available, loving, and supportive
to help them form a secure base. One case in which these basic goals are less likely to be met is
when the mother is an adolescent. Adolescent mothers are more likely to use drugs and alcohol
during their pregnancies, to have poor parenting skills in general, and to provide insufficient
support for the child (Ekéus, Christensson, & Hjern, 2004). As a result, the babies of adolescent
mothers have higher rates of academic failure, delinquency, and incarceration in comparison to
children of older mothers (Moore & Brooks-Gunn, 2002).

Normally, it is the mother who provides early attachment, but fathers are not irrelevant. Studies
have found that children whose fathers are more involved tend to be more cognitively and socially
competent, more empathic, and psychologically better adjusted, compared with children whose
fathers are less involved (Rohner & Veneziano, 2001). Amato (1994) found that, in some cases, the
role of the father can be as or even more important than that of the mother in the child’s overall
psychological health and well-being. Amato concluded, “Regardless of the quality of the mother-
child relationship, the closer adult offspring were to their fathers, the happier, more satisfied, and
less distressed they reported being” (p. 1039).

The theorist primarily associated with parenting styles is Diana

Figure 7.22 Baumrind. According to Baumrind (1996), as the child grows, parents
Diana Baumrind take on one of four types of parenting styles, which are parental
behaviors that determine the nature of parent-child interactions. These
styles depend on whether the parent is more or less demanding or
having high expectations for behavior and control and more or less
responsive to the child, as determined by the degree of warmth and
attention provided.

Authoritarian parents are demanding but not responsive. They

impose rules and expect obedience, tending to give orders (“Eat your
food!”) and enforcing their commands with rewards and punishment,
without providing any explanation of where the rules came from,
Source except “Because I said so!”

249
Permissive parents, on the other hand, tend to make few demands, give little punishment, and
generally allow their children to make their own rules, but they are warm and affectionate.
Authoritative parents are demanding (“You must be home by curfew”), but they are also
responsive to the needs and opinions of the child (“Let’s discuss what an appropriate curfew
might be”). They set rules and enforce them, but they also explain and discuss the reasons behind
the rules. Finally, rejecting-neglecting parents are undemanding and unresponsive overall.
Figure 7.23 reflects the four types of parenting according to Baumrind.

Many studies of children and their parents,

using different methods, measures, and Figure 7.23 Parenting Styles
samples, have reached the same conclusion,
namely that authoritative parenting, in
comparison to the other three styles, is
associated with a wide range of
psychological and social advantages for
children. Parents who use the authoritative
style, with its combination of demands on
the children, as well as responsiveness to the
children’s needs, have kids who have better
psychological adjustment, school
performance, and psychosocial maturity,
compared with parents who use the other
styles (Baumrind, 1996; Grolnick & Ryan,
1989). On the other hand, there are at least
some cultural differences in the
effectiveness of different parenting styles.
Although the reasons for the differences are
not completely understood, strict authoritarian Parenting styles can be divided into four types, based on
parenting styles seem to work better in the combination of demandingness and responsiveness.
African American and Chinese families than
in European American families (Chang et al.,
2004; Tamis-LeMonda et al., 2008).

Despite the fact that different parenting styles are differentially effective overall, every child is
different and parents must be adaptable. Some children have particularly difficult temperaments,
and these children require more parenting. Because these difficult children demand more
parenting, the behaviors of the parents matter more for the children’s development than they do for
other, less demanding children who require less parenting overall (Pluess & Belsky, 2010). These
findings remind us how the behavior of the child can influence the behavior of the people in his or
her environment.

Although the focus is on the child, the parents must never forget about each other. Parenting is time
consuming and emotionally taxing, and the parents must work together to create a relationship in which
both mother and father contribute to the household tasks and support each other. It is also important for the
parents to invest time in their own intimacy, as happy parents are more likely to stay together, and divorce
can have a negative impact on children, particularly during and immediately after the divorce (Burt et al.,
2008; Ge et al., 2006).

250
The empty nest, or post-parental period (Dennerstein et al., 2002), refers to the time period when
children are grown up and have left home. For most parents this occurs during midlife. This time is
recognized as a “normative event” as parents are aware that their children will become adults and
eventually leave home (Mitchell & Lovegreen, 2009). The empty nest creates complex emotions,
both positive and negative, for many parents. Some theorists suggest this is a time of role loss for
parents, others suggest it is one of role strain relief (Bouchard, 2013). A consistent finding in the
research literature is that raising children has a negative impact on the quality of martial
relationships (Ahlborg et al., 2009; Bouchard, 2013). Several studies have reported that martial
satisfaction often increases during the launching phase of the empty nest period, and this
satisfaction endures long after the last child has left home (Gorchoff et al., 2008).

Social Development in Late Adulthood: Retirement

Because of increased life expectancy in the 21st

century, those in late adulthood can expect to spend Figure 7.24
approximately a quarter of their lives in retirement.
Leaving one’s career is a major life change and
people can experience anxiety, depression, and other
negative changes in their self-concept and self-
identity. However, retirement may also serve as an
opportunity for a positive transition from work and
career roles to stronger family and community roles,
and the latter may have positive outcomes for the
individual. Retirement may be a relief for people
who have worked in boring or physically demanding
jobs, particularly if they have other outlets for Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seniors.jpg

stimulation and expressing self-identity.

Wang (2007) observed the well-being of 2,060 people between the ages of 51 and 61 over an
8-year period, and made the following recommendations to make the retirement phase positive:

1. Continue to work part time past retirement, in order to ease into retirement status slowly.
2. Plan for retirement: This is a good idea financially, but also making plans to incorporate other
kinds of work or hobbies into postemployment life makes sense.
3. Retire with someone: If the retiree is still married, it is a good idea to retire at the same time as a
spouse, so that people can continue to work part time and follow a retirement plan together.
4. If married, have a happy marriage: People with marital problems find retirement stressful
because they do not have a positive home life to return to and can no longer seek refuge in
long working hours. Couples that work on their marriages make their retirements easier.
5. Take care of physical and financial health: A sound financial plan and good physical health can
ensure a healthy, peaceful retirement.
6. Retire early from a stressful job: People who stay in stressful jobs for fear that they will lose
their pensions or will not be able to find work somewhere else feel trapped. Toxic environments
can take a severe emotional toll on an employee. Leaving early from an unsatisfying job may
make retirement a relief.
7. Retire “on time”: Retiring too early or too late can cause people to feel “out of sync” or to feel
they have not achieved their goals.

251
Whereas these seven tips are helpful for a smooth transition to retirement, Wang also notes that
people tend to be adaptable, and that no matter how they do it, retirees will eventually adjust to their
new lifestyles.
Many older adults remain active and happy. In some cultural groups, seniors may prefer to move
in with adult children, helping out with the family, and being cared for as they age. This is not a
universal or even a preferred practice in many Western cultures. Older adults may prefer to live in
retirement communities where they can be among peers in a location that facilitates interaction and
activity. Others want to “age in place”, maintaining ties with family, friends, and service networks
that they have developed over their lifetime. Some want to continue working at jobs they value or
need, while others prefer to travel or retire to a life of gardening. Cultural and individual variations
help determine how this stage of life will can be most rewarding.

Researchers are beginning to better understand the factors that allow some people to age better
than others. For one, research has found that the people who are best able to adjust well to
changing situations early in life are also able to better adjust later in life (Rubin, 2007; Sroufe et
al., 2009). Perceptions also matter. People who believe that the elderly are sick, vulnerable, and
grumpy often act according to such beliefs when they become elderly (Nemmers, 2005). Levy et
al. (2002) found that the elderly who had more positive perceptions about aging also lived longer.

Death, Dying, and Bereavement

Living includes dealing with our own and our loved ones’ mortality. In her book, On Death and
Dying (1997), Elizabeth Kübler-Ross describes five phases of grief through which people pass in
grappling with the knowledge that they or someone close to them is dying:

1. Denial: “This can’t be happening to me.”

2. Anger: “Why me? It’s not fair!”
3. Bargaining: “I’d do anything for a few more years.”
4. Depression: “I’m so sad, why bother with anything?”
5. Acceptance: “I know my time has come.”

Despite Kübler-Ross’s popularity, there are critics of her theory who argue the five-phase sequence
is too constraining. Not everyone passes through the stages in this sequence. Other reactions, such
as, guilt or anxiety, may be prominent in some people but absent in her theory. In addition,
attitudes toward death and dying have been found to vary greatly across cultures and religions, and
these variations make the process of dying different (Bonanno, 2009). As an example, Japanese
Americans restrain their grief (Corr et al., 2009) so not to burden others with their pain.
By contrast, followers of Judaism observe a 7-day, publicly announced mourning period.

In some cultures, older adults are more likely to be living and coping alone, or perhaps only with
their spouse. In other cultures, such as the Hispanic culture, older adults are more likely to be
living with their sons and daughters and other relatives. This social support may create a better
quality of life for them (Diaz-Cabello, 2004). Social support is also important because losing a
loved one is a major source of stress for anyone.

252
Stroebe et al. (2008) found that although most people adjusted to the loss of a loved one without
seeking professional treatment, many had an increased risk of mortality, particularly within the
early weeks and months after the loss. These researchers also found that people going through the
grieving process suffered more physical and psychological symptoms and illnesses and used
more medical services.

The health of survivors during the end of life is influenced by factors such as circumstances
surrounding the loved one’s death, individual personalities, and ways of coping. People serving as
caretakers to partners or other family members who are ill frequently experience a great deal of
stress themselves, making the dying process even more stressful. Despite the trauma of the loss of
a loved one, people do recover and are able to continue with effective lives. Grief intervention
programs can go a long way in helping people cope during the bereavement period (Neimeyer et
al., 2008).

Key Takeaways

 Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development describes eight social-emotional

crises that we face across the lifespan.
 Social development requires a secure base from which children feel free to explore.
 Attachment styles refer to the type of relationship that children develop with those
who are important to them.
 Maternal deprivation can cause developmental problems, including a failure in
attachment.
 Longitudinal and cross-sectional studies are each used to test hypotheses about
development.
 A defining aspect of adolescence is the development of a consistent and
committed self- identity. The process of developing an identity can take time,
but most adolescents succeed in developing a stable identity.
 Ethnic minority adolescents often go through distinct stages of ethnic identity
development.
 An important way in which adults fulfill the psychosocial task of generativity is
by raising children. Parents differ in their degree of warmth and control, and
these parenting styles have consequences for children’s development.
 Empty nest research indicates that parents’ relationships often improve when
children leave home.
 Two significant social stages in late adulthood are retirement and dealing with
grief and bereavement. Studies show that a well-planned retirement can result in
a more pleasant retirement experience.
 A significant number of people going through the grieving process are at
increased risk of mortality and physical and mental illness. Grief counseling and
supportive families can help these people cope with their loss.

253
Exercises and Critical Thinking

1. Compare your behavior, values, and attitudes regarding marriage and work to the
attitudes of your parents and grandparents. In what way are your values similar? In what
ways are they different?
2. Think about your experiences in high school. What sort of cliques or crowds were there?
How did people express their identities in these groups? How did you use your groups to
define yourself and develop your own identity?
3. Watch the final section of this video and consider your view on the decisions that are
made at the end of life. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/livingold/view/
4. How do the people in your culture view aging? What stereotypes are there about the
elderly? Are there other ways that people in your society might learn to think about
aging that would be more beneficial?

Videos and Activities

1. Watch the Strage Situation research that demonstrates a secure attachment style:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTsewNrHUHU&t=58s

Chapter Summary

Development begins at conception when a sperm fertilizes an egg creating a new life. The resulting
zygote grows into an embryo and then a fetus. Teratogens can cause abnormalities during the
period of prenatal development. Mothers who drink alcohol during their pregnancy can give birth
to infants with a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

Babies are born prepared with reflexes and cognitive skills that contribute to their survival and
growth. These become deliberate, coordinated actions in the form of gross and fine motor skills.

Adolescence involves rapid physical changes, including puberty, as well as continued cognitive
changes.

Emerging adults are at the peak of physical development, while muscle strength, reaction time,
cardiac output, and sensory abilities begin to slowly decline in early and middle adulthood.
Fertility, particularly for women, also decreases during adulthood, and women eventually
experience menopause.

A portion of the elderly suffers from age-related brain diseases, such as a neurocognitive disorder
or Alzheimer’s disease.

Piaget’s stage theory of cognitive development proposes that children learn through assimilation
and accommodation, and that cognitive development follows specific sequential stages:

254
Sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational.

Moral development develops through the lifespan. Kohlberg proposed 3 levels of moral reasoning:
Preconventional, conventional, and postconventional.

Erikson's psychosocial theory describes 8 developmental crises (stages). His developmental

challenges include trust v. mistrust (infant), autonomy v. shame, doubt (toddler), initiative v. guilt
(early childhood), industry v. inferiority (middle childhood), identity v. role confusion (adolescent),
intimacy v. isolation (early adulthood), generativity v. stagnation (middle adulthood), and ego
integrity v. despair (late adulthood).

An important part of development is attachment between the infant and caregiver. The Harlows'
research on contact comfort provided the basis for understanding attachment. Mary Ainsworth
researched patterns of attachment. Caregiver deprivation may result in failure to thrive,
developmental delays, and an attachment disorder.

In adolescence the major challenge is to establish a sense of identity. James Marcia expanded
Erikson’s work and identified four identity statuses based on exploration and commitment:
Diffusion, foreclosure, moratorium, and achievement. Adolescents from ethnic and minority
populations often experience different paths to their identity formation.

Erikson said that middle adulthood is centered on generativity, or an interest in guiding the next
generation. Parenting is one way to express generativity. Parenting styles include authoritarian,
authoritative, permissive, and rejecting-neglecting, and these styles influence the development of
children and adolescents. Empty nest research indicates that parental relationships often improve
once the children leave the home.

Reactions to retirement vary; it can be a source of anxiety for some, or as an opportunity to take on
new roles for others. Most people eventually adapt to this life change.

Eventually we all have to deal with our own and our loved ones’ mortality. Social support is
important during the grieving process.

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Chapter 8 Personality
Learning Objective

1. Define personality.

One of the most fundamental tendencies of human beings is to size up other people. We say that
Bill is fun, that Marian is adventurous, or that Frank is dishonest. When we make these statements,
we mean that we believe that these people have stable individual characteristics or personalities.
Personality is defined as an individual’s consistent patterns of feeling, thinking, and behaving
(John et al., 2008). Personality does not include physical or behavioral characteristics, skills or
abilities, or changes in mood.

The tendency to perceive personality is a fundamental part of human nature, and a most adaptive
one. If we can draw accurate generalizations about what other people are normally like, we can
predict how they will behave in the future, and this can help us determine how they are likely to
respond in different situations. Understanding personality can also help us better understand
mental health disorders and the negative behavioral outcomes they may produce. In short,
personality matters because it guides behavior.

Psychology’s first attempts at explaining personality were based on the theories of Sigmund Freud
and his followers. However, Freud’s theories on personality development have not been well
supported by empirical research (Crews, 1998; Fisher & Greenberg, 1996; Kihlstrom, 1997; McCrae,
2011; Newman et al., 1997; Vazire, 2014). As you recall from chapter one, psychology is a science,
and consequently, we will consider the contemporary theories of personality that have research
support. We will also review the extent to which personality is caused by nature and nurture and
how psychologists measure personality.

Personality as Traits
Learning Objectives

1. Define the term trait.

2. Describe the Big Five Model of personality traits and distinguish among openness,
conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.
3. Explore how the Big Five traits change over the lifespan and predict behavior.
4. Describe the HEXACO model of personality traits.
5. Explain the personality traits associated with individualistic and collectivist cultures.

As we previously indicated, Freudian theories of personality are outdated and have little to do with
contemporary personality psychology. Instead, one of the areas that personality psychologists
currently investigate are traits (McCrae, 2011). Traits are relatively enduring characteristics that
influence our behavior across many situations. Personality traits, such as introversion, friendliness,
conscientiousness, honesty, and helpfulness are important because they help explain consistencies
in behavior.

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The most popular way of measuring traits is by administering personality tests on which people
self-report about their own characteristics. However, one of the challenges of the trait approach to
personality is that there are so many of them. There are at least 18,000 English words that can be
used to describe people (Allport & Odbert, 1936). Thus, a major goal of psychologists is to take
this vast number of descriptors, many of which are very similar to each other, and to determine the
underlying important or “core” traits among them (John et al., 1988).

The trait approach to personality was pioneered

Figure 8.1
by early psychologists, including Gordon Allport
(1897–1967), Raymond Cattell (1905–1998), and
Hans Eysenck (1916–1997). Each of these
psychologists believed in the idea of the trait as
the stable unit of personality, and each attempted
to provide a list or taxonomy of the most
important trait dimensions. Their approach was to
provide people with a self-report measure and
then to use statistical analyses to look for the
underlying “factors” or “clusters” of traits,
according to the frequency and the co-occurrence
of traits in the respondents. A misconception is
that personality traits represent a type of person,
such as, an extrovert versus an introvert. Rather,
people can have many levels of a personality trait
in that they can score very high, average, or very
low on that trait. Overall, it is not whether or not What traits do you think these individuals
you have that trait, it is the degree to which that possess? Source
trait distinguishes you from others (Vazire, 2014).

The Five Factor Model of Personality

The fundamental work on trait dimensions conducted by Allport, Cattell, Eysenck, and many others
has led to contemporary trait models, the most important and well-validated of which is the Five-
Factor Model of Personality. According to this model, there are five fundamental underlying trait
dimensions that are stable across time, cross-culturally shared, and explain a substantial
proportion of behavior (Costa & McCrae, 1992; Goldberg, 1982; McCrae, 2011). As you can see
in Table 8.1, the five dimensions, known as the “Big Five”, are openness to experience,
conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. You can remember them using the
watery acronyms OCEAN or CANOE.

A large body of research evidence has supported the five-factor model. The Big Five dimensions
seem to be cross-cultural, because the same five factors have been identified in participants in
China, Japan, Italy, Hungary, Turkey, and many other countries (Triandis & Suh, 2002). The Big
Five factors are also increasingly being used in helping researchers understand the dimensions of
mental health disorders, such as anxiety and depression (Oldham, 2010; Saulsman & Page, 2004).

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The Big Five dimensions also accurately predict behavior. For instance, a pattern of high
conscientiousness, low neuroticism, and high agreeableness predicts successful job performance
(Tett et al., 1991). Scores on the Big Five dimensions also predict the performance of U.S.
presidents; ratings of openness to experience are correlated positively with ratings of presidential
success, whereas ratings of agreeableness are correlated negatively with success (Rubenzer et al.,
2000). Conscientiousness was found to be as important as intelligence in the prediction of both
secondary and college academic achievement (Dumfart & Neubauer, 2016; Poropat, 2009).

Table 8.1 The Five-Factor Model of Personality

Dimension Sample items Description Examples of behaviors predicted by

the trait
Openness to “I have a vivid A general appreciation for Individuals who are highly open to
experience imagination”; “I have a art, emotion, adventure, experience tend to have distinctive and
rich vocabulary”; “I unusual ideas, imagination, unconventional decorations in their
have excellent ideas.” curiosity, and variety of home. They are also likely to have
experience books on a wide variety of topics, a
diverse music collection, and works of
art on display.

Conscientiousness “I am always prepared”; A tendency to show self- Individuals who are conscientious have
“I am exacting in my discipline, act dutifully, and a preference for planned rather than
work”; “I follow a aim for achievement spontaneous behavior.
schedule.”

Extraversion “I am the life of the A tendency to experience Extroverts enjoy being with people. In
party”; “I feel positive emotions and to groups they like to talk, assert
comfortable around seek out stimulation and the themselves, and draw attention to
people”; “I talk to a lot company of others themselves.
of different people at
parties.”

Agreeableness “I am interested in A tendency to be Agreeable individuals value getting

people”; “I feel others’ compassionate and along with others. They are generally
emotions”; “I make cooperative rather than considerate, friendly, generous, helpful,
people feel at ease.” suspicious and antagonistic and willing to compromise their
toward others interests with those of others.

Neuroticism “I am not usually A tendency to experience Those who score high in neuroticism
relaxed”; “I get upset negative emotions, such as are more likely to interpret ordinary
easily”; “I am easily anger, anxiety, or situations as threatening and minor
disturbed.” depression; sometimes frustrations as hopelessly difficult. They
called “emotional may have trouble thinking clearly,
instability” making decisions, and coping
effectively with stress.

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Additional predictions based on each of the Big Five factors are provided by Mehl, Gosling, and
Pennebaker (2006), Ozer and Benet-Martinez (2006), and Roberts et al., (2007):

 Openness predicts more traveling, studying abroad, liberal political views, and choosing a
career in the arts
 Conscientiousness predicts work place and academic success, less drug-use, and a less
likelihood of divorcing
 Extraversion predicts being more talkative, happier, a higher social status, and greater
volunteerism
 Agreeableness predicts less swearing, criminal behavior, and divorce, but higher
volunteerism
 Neuroticism predicts depression, higher rates of divorce, and more conflict in relationships

Overall, personality is relatively stable, however, life experiences do affect personality. For
example, when people enter their first serious relationship, they become more agreeable and less
neurotic. Also, when we start our first job, we become more conscientious and agreeable
(Vazire, 2014). Personality stability remains strong in middle adulthood (Lucas & Donnellan,
2011), however, there are slight changes in personality as one ages. According to the research,
conscientiousness and agreeableness show small increases with age, while neuroticism,
extraversion, and openness show slight declines with age (Lachman & Bertrand, 2001; Lucas &
Donnellan, 2011; Allemand et al., 2008).

While pop psychology books with titles such as “Men

Figure 8.2 Are there gender
are from Mars and Women are from Venus” (Gray,
differences in personality?
1992) would suggest that men and women differ in
personality, the reality is that gender differences,
when present, are small, and tend to get even smaller
with age. This is a phenomenon called gender
convergence. When differences are found, women
tend to score slightly higher than men on
conscientiousness, agreeableness, and neuroticism,
and some studies show women may be slightly higher
on extraversion, but only on the aspects of
extraversion that involve gregariousness, warmth, and
Source positive emotions, while men score higher on the
assertiveness and excitement seeking aspects of
extraversion (Costa, Terracciano, & McCrae, 2001; Weisberg et al., 2011).

To assess how well individuals were willing to shelter in place at the onset of the COVID-19
pandemic, Götz et al. (2021) collected data in late March and early April 2020 from 101,005
participants in 55 countires using a measure of the five-factor model of personality. Findings
indicated that scoring high for the factors of openness, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and
neuroticism all predicted increased rates of sheltering-in-place. In contrast, being high in the trait of
extraversion was negatively related to sheltering-in-place. The authors concluded that regardless of
government policies, some people will be more likely to engage in social distancing than others.

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An advantage of the five-factor approach is that it is parsimonious. Rather than studying hundreds
of traits, researchers can focus on only five underlying dimensions. The Big Five may also capture
other dimensions that have been of interest to psychologists. For instance, the trait dimension of
need for achievement relates to the Big Five variable of conscientiousness, and self-esteem relates
to low neuroticism. On the other hand, the Big Five factors do not seem to capture all the important
dimensions of personality. For instance, the Big Five does not capture moral behavior (Ashton &
Lee, 2008), although this variable is important in many theories of personality. There is also
evidence that the Big Five factors are not the same across all cultures (Cheung & Leung, 1998).

Another critique is that people may behave differently in different situations. Personality will only
predict behavior when the behaviors are aggregated or averaged across different situations. We
might not be able to use the personality trait of friendliness to determine how friendly Malik will be
on Friday night, but we can use it to predict how friendly he will be the next year in a variety of
situations. When many measurements of behavior are combined, there is much clearer evidence for
the stability of traits and for the effects of traits on behavior (Roberts & DelVecchio, 2000;
Srivastava et al., 2003).

The Six Factor Model

The HEXACO, or six-factor model of personality is similar to the Big Five (Ashton & Lee, 2007).
This model retains many of the same five traits with some minor modifications and added a sixth
factor. The six factors are:
 Honesty-humility
 Emotionality
 eXtraversion
 Agreeableness
 Conscientiousness
 Openness to experience
The biggest change is the addition of the honesty-humility factor. It includes traits such as
modesty, sincerity, fairness, and disinterest in signs of status (Wallace, n.d.). In essence, this factor
assesses a person’s moral character. Other changes between the two models include the splitting of
the Big Five’s neuroticism factor between HEXACO’s emotionality and agreeableness factors.
HEXACO’s emotionality is fairly similar to the Big Five’s neuroticism, but it also includes
characteristics such as sentimentality. The HEXACO’s agreeableness factor is also fairly similar to
that of the Big Five, but it encompasses some characteristics of neuroticism, such as proneness to
anger.

At present, there has been considerably more research using the Big Five model to predict a variety
of human behaviors. However, the HEXACO model, with its addition of the honesty-humility
factor does allow it to predict a broader range of behaviors, and is consistent with some of the
cross-cultural research suggesting a sixth personality factor (Ashton & Lee, 2007; Bizumic &
Monaghan, 2020).

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Personality Traits and Culture

Western ideas about personality may not always apply to other cultures (Benet-Martinez & Oishi,
2008). Culture greatly affects how individuals perceive themselves, and one important distinction
is where a culture falls on the continuum between individualism and collectivism (Vazire,
2014). Individualistic cultures, such as the mainstream culture in the United States, focus on
the self more than on social relationships. Independence and personal rights are valued over
obligations to others. People who live in individualist cultures tend to believe that independence,
competition, and personal achievement are important. Individuals in Western nations such as the
United States, England, and Australia score high on individualism (Oyserman et al., 2002). In
contrast, collectivistic cultures, such as those in eastern Asia, value obligation to one’s group over
personal rights and desires. People who live in collectivist cultures value social harmony,
respectfulness, and group needs over individual needs. Individuals who live in countries in Asia,
Africa, and South America score high on collectivism (Hofstede, 2001; Triandis, 1995).

How does this relate to personality traits? The strength of personality traits does vary across
cultures. For example, some of the Big Five factors (conscientiousness, neuroticism, openness, and
extroversion) appear less noticeable in collectivistic cultures (Spielman et al., 2014). For instance,
people in more collectivistic cultures tend to be less extroverted, those in Central and South
American cultures tend to score higher on openness to experience, and Europeans score higher on
neuroticism (Benet-Martinez & Karakitapoglu-Aygun, 2003). In addition, as the research noted
earlier on the HEXACO model suggested, other traits may better reflect non-Western cultures.

As Western measures are not always capturing the personality variations of people in non-Western
cultures, this has led to the indigenous approach to personality. In the indigenous
approach, personality assessment instruments are based on constructs relevant to the culture being
studied. They do not assume that there are universal traits that characterize all human
personality (Cheung et al., 2011).

Key Takeaways
 Personality is defined as an individual’s consistent patterns of feeling, thinking, and
behaving.
 Traits are relatively enduring characteristics that influence our behavior across many situations,
and are important because they help explain consistencies in behavior.
 The Five Factor Model of personality suggests that human personality can be best
described by how people score on openness to experience, conscientiousness,
extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.
 The Six Factor Model of personality suggests the traits of honesty/humility,
emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience
best describe human personality.
 Gender differences in personality are small, and get even smaller with age, a
phenomenon called gender convergence.
 There are cultural differences in personality traits, especially when comparing Western
and non-Western cultures, and collectivistic and individualistic cultures.

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Studying the Nature of Personality

Learning Objectives

1. Outline the theory and methodology of behavioral genetics.

2. Describe evidence for the effects of genetics, the environment, and interactions of
the two on personality.
3. Define epigenesis.
4. Explain whether our genetics is our destiny.

Identical Twins Reunited after 35 Years

Paula Bernstein and Elyse Schein were identical twins who were adopted into separate families
immediately after their births in 1968. It was only at the age of 35 that the twins were reunited
and discovered how similar they were to each other.

Paula Bernstein grew up in a happy home in suburban New York. She loved her adopted parents
and older brother and even wrote an article titled “Why I Don’t Want to Find My Birth Mother.”
Elyse’s childhood, also a happy one, was followed by college and then film school abroad.

In 2003, 35 years after she was adopted, Elyse, acting on a whim, inquired about her biological
family at the adoption agency. The response came back: “You were born on October 9, 1968, at
12:51 p.m., the younger of twin girls. You’ve got a twin sister Paula and she’s looking for you.”
Elyse dialed Paula’s phone number: “It’s almost like I’m hearing my own voice in a recorder
back at me,” she said. “It’s funny because I feel like in a way I was talking to an old, close friend
I never knew I had…we had an immediate intimacy, and yet, we didn’t know each other at all,”
Paula said.

The two women met for the first time at a café for lunch and talked until the late evening. “We
had 35 years to catch up on,” said Paula. “How do you start asking somebody, ‘What have you
been up to since we shared a womb together?’ Where do you start?”
With each new detail revealed, the twins learned about their remarkable similarities. They’d both
gone to graduate school in film. They both loved to write, and they had both edited their high
school yearbooks. They have similar taste in music. “I think, you know, when we met it was
undeniable that we were twins. Looking at this person, you are able to gaze into your own eyes
and see yourself from the outside. This identical individual has the exact same DNA and is
essentially your clone. We don’t have to imagine,” Paula said. Now they finally feel like sisters.
“But it’s perhaps even closer than sisters,” Elyse said, “Because we’re also twins.”

The twins, who both now live in Brooklyn, combined their writing skills to write a book called
Identical Strangers about their childhoods and their experience of discovering an identical twin
in their mid-30s (Spilius, 2007).

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How might this have happened? One question that is exceedingly important for the study of
personality concerns the extent to which it is the result of nature or nurture. If nature is more
important, then our personalities will form early in our lives and will be difficult to change later. If
nurture is more important, however, then our experiences are likely to be particularly important,
and we may be able to alter our personalities over time. In this section we will see that the
personality traits of humans and animals are determined in large part by their genetic makeup.
Thus, it is no surprise that identical twins Paula Bernstein and Elyse Schein turned out to be very
similar, even though they had been raised separately, but we will also see that genetics does not
determine everything.

The genes of different members of the same species are almost

identical. The DNA in your genes, for instance, is about 99.9% Figure 8.3 Instincts
the same as the DNA of every other human being. These
common genetic structures lead members of the same species to
be born with a variety of behaviors that come naturally to them
and that define the characteristics of the species. These abilities
and characteristics are known as instincts, or complex inborn
patterns of behaviors that help ensure survival and
reproduction (Tinbergen, 1951). Different animals have
different instincts. Birds naturally build nests, dogs are naturally
loyal to their pack, and humans instinctively learn to walk,
Source
speak, and understand language. The strength of different traits
and behaviors also varies within species. These differences are
determined by the small amount (in humans, the 0.1%) of the differences in genes among the
members of the species.

Personality is not determined by any single gene, but rather by the actions of many genes working
together. There is no “IQ gene” that determines intelligence. Furthermore, even working together,
genes are not so powerful that they can control or create our personality. Some genes tend to
increase a given characteristic and others work to decrease that same characteristic. The complex
relationship among the various genes, as well as a variety of random factors, produces our
personality. Furthermore, genetic factors always work with environmental factors to create
personality.

Having a given pattern of genes does not necessarily mean that a particular trait will develop,
because some traits might occur only in some environments. For example, a person may have a
genetic variant that is known to increase his or her risk for developing alcoholism, but if that
personnever drinks because they live in a country where alcohol is not available, then the person
will not become alcoholic. In addition to the effects of inheritance (nature) and environment
(nurture), interactions between these two also influence personality. A high stress environment
affects a genetically anxious person differently than a low stress environment.

Perhaps the most direct way to study the role of genetics in personality is to selectively breed
animals for the trait of interest. In this approach the scientist chooses the animals that most
strongly express the personality characteristics of interest and breeds these animals with each
other. If the selective breeding creates offspring with even stronger traits, then we can assume that
the trait has genetic origins. In this manner, scientists have studied the role of genetics in how

271
worms respond to stimuli, how fish develop courtship rituals, how rats differ in play, and how pigs
differ in their responses to stress.

Behavioral Genetics

Although selective breeding studies can be informative, they are clearly not useful for studying
humans. For this, psychologists rely on behavioral genetics, which is a variety of research
techniques that scientists use to learn about the genetic and environmental influences on human
behavior by comparing the traits of biologically and nonbiologically related family members
(Baker, 2004). Behavioral genetics is based on the results of family studies, twin studies, and
adoptive studies.

A family study starts with one person who has a trait of interest Figure 8.4
and examines the individual’s family tree to determine the extent
to which other members of the family also have the trait. The
presence of the trait in first-degree relatives (parents, siblings, and
children) is compared to the prevalence of the trait in second-
degree relatives (aunts, uncles, grandchildren, grandparents,
nephews, and nieces) and in more distant family members. The
scientists then analyze the patterns of the trait in the family
members to see the extent to which it is shared by closer and
more distant relatives. Source

Although family studies can reveal whether a trait runs in a family, it cannot explain why. In a
twin study, the data from many pairs of twins are collected and the rates of similarity for identical
and fraternal pairs are compared. A correlation coefficient is calculated that assesses the extent to
which the trait for one twin is associated with the trait in the other twin. Studies on twins rely on
the fact that identical (or monozygotic) twins have essentially the same set of genes, while fraternal
(or dizygotic) twins have, on average, a half-identical set. The idea is that if the twins are raised in
the same household, then the twins will be influenced by their environments to an equal degree,
and this influence will be pretty much equal for identical and fraternal twins. In other words, if
environmental factors are the same, then the only factor that can make identical twins more similar
than fraternal twins is their greater genetic similarity.

An adoption study compares biologically related people, including twins, who have been reared
either separately or apart. Evidence for genetic influence on a trait is found when children who
have been adopted show traits that are more similar to those of their biological parents than to
those of their adoptive parents. Evidence for environmental influence is found when the adoptee is
more like his or her adoptive parents than the biological parents.

Although twin and adoption studies differ in their methodologies, both studies conclude that
genetics is important in determining personality, as well as other cognitive (intelligence levels) and
behavioral (psychopathologies) characterisitcs (Kim & Kim, 2011; Plominm, Defries, Knopik, &
Neiderhiser, 2013). Results indicate that identical twins are much more similar than fraternal
twins, and therefore these results strongly suggest genetic influences. Similarly, adoption studies
demonstrate stronger family resemblances, even when family members are separated due to
adoption. However, adoption studies do not demonstrate the level of heritability that the twin
studies do (Kim & Kim, 2011).
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 Monozygotic and Dizygotic Twins

Many students are interested in twins. Monozygotic or identical twins occur when a
fertilized egg splits apart in the first two weeks of development. The result is the
creation of two separate, but genetically identical offspring. That is, they possess the
same genotype and often the same phenotype. About one-third of twins are
monozygotic twins. Sometimes, however, two eggs or ova are released and fertilized
by two separate sperm. The result is dizygotic or fraternal twins. These two individuals
share the same amount of genetic material as would any two children from the same
mother and father. In other words, they possess a different genotype and phenotype.
Older mothers are more likely to have dizygotic twins than are younger mothers, and
couples who use fertility drugs are also more likely to give birth to dizygotic twins.
Consequently, there has been an increase in the number of fraternal twins recently
(Bortolus et al., 1999).

Source: Monozygotic Twins Source Dizygotic Twins

When looking specifically at personality and the Five Factor Model, Bouchard and McGue (2002)
found that personality is partly genetic with approximately half of the variation on the five
personality traits due to genetic variation between people (see Figure 8.5).

Figure 8.5 Heritability of the Big Five Traits

0.8
0.57 0.54
0.6 0.49 0.52
0.42

openness conscientiousness extraversion agreeableness Neuroticism

Source: Bouchard & McGue (2002)

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Molecular Genetics

In addition to the use of behavioral genetics, our understanding of the role of biology in personality
recently has been dramatically increased through the use of molecular genetics. Molecular
genetics is the study of which genes are associated with which personality traits (Goldsmith et al.,
2003; Strachan & Read, 1999). These advances have occurred, as a result of, new knowledge about
the structure of human DNA made possible through the Human Genome Project and related work
that has identified the genes in the human body (Human Genome Project, 2010). Molecular
genetics researchers have also developed new techniques that allow them to find the locations of
genes within chromosomes and to identify the effects those genes have when activated or
deactivated.

One approach that can be used in animals, usually in laboratory

Figure 8.6 Mice in mice, is the knockout study. In this approach the researchers
Knockout Studies use specialized techniques to remove or modify the influence of
a gene in a line of mice (Crusio et al., 2009). The researchers
harvest embryonic stem cells from mouse embryos and then
modify the DNA of the cells. The DNA is created such that the
action of certain genes will be eliminated or “knocked out.” The
cells are then injected into the embryos of other mice that are
implanted into the uteruses of living female mice. When these
animals are born, they are studied to see whether their behavior
differs from a control group of normal animals. Research has
© Thinkstock found that removing or changing genes in mice can affect their
anxiety, aggression, learning, and socialization patterns.

Changes in gene expression may also be due to known or unknown epigenetic influences, which is
known as epigenesis (Plomin et al., 2013). Epigenesis refers to environmental factors that turn
genes on or off at a molecular level. Substances in the environment, such as drugs or toxins, can
cause epigenesis. Less obvious epigenetic influences, such as diet, may also be part of the
interaction between genes and environment. Having a trait or disorder may require inheriting a
gene, and then being exposed to the epigenetic influence which turns the gene "on" or "off."

In humans, molecular genetics study normally begins with the collection of a DNA sample from
the participants, usually by taking some cells from the inner surface of the cheek. In the lab, the
DNA is extracted from the sampled cells and is combined with a solution containing a marker for
the particular genes of interest, as well as, a fluorescent dye. If the gene is present in the DNA of
the individual, then the solution will bind to that gene and activate the dye. The more the gene is
expressed, the stronger the reaction.

274
 Figure 8.7 In one common approach, DNA is collected from people who
have a specific personality characteristic, and also from
people who do not. The DNA of the two groups is compared
to see which genes differ between them. These studies are
now able to compare thousands of genes at the same time.
Research using molecular genetics has found genes associated
with a variety of personality traits, including novelty-seeking
Researchers use dyes, such as these (Ekelund et a., 1999), inattention and hyperactivity (Waldman
in a sample of stem cells, to & Gizer, 2006), and nicotine dependence (Thorgeirsson et al.,
determine the action of genes from
DNA samples. 2008).
© Thinkstock

Is Our Genetics Our Destiny?

Over the past two decades, scientists have made substantial progress in understanding the
important role of genetics in behavior. Molecular genetics studies have begun to pinpoint the
particular genes that are causing these differences. The results of these studies might lead you to
believe that your destiny is determined by your genes, but this would be a mistaken assumption.

For one, the results of all research must be interpreted carefully. Over time we will learn even
more about the role of genetics, and our conclusions about its influence will likely change.
Current research in the area of behavioral genetics is often criticized for making assumptions about
how researchers categorize identical and fraternal twins, about whether twins are in fact treated in
the same way by their parents, about whether twins are representative of children more generally,
and about many other issues. Although these critiques may not change the overall conclusions, it
must be kept in mind that these findings are relatively new and will certainly be updated with time
(Plomin, 2000).

Furthermore, it is important to reiterate that although genetics is important, and although we are
learning more every day about its role in many personality variables, genetics does not determine
everything. In fact, the major influence on personality is the nonshared environment, which
include all the things that occur to us that make us unique individuals. These differences include
variability in brain structure, nutrition, education, upbringing, and even interactions among the
genes themselves (Plomin et al., 2013; Kim & Kim, 2011).

The genetic differences that exist at birth may be either amplified or diminished over time through
environmental factors and interactions between the genes and environment. The brains and bodies
of identical twins are not exactly the same, and they become even more different as they grow up.
As a result, even genetically identical twins have distinct personalities, resulting in a large part from
environmental effects. The effect of our genes on our behavior is entirely dependent upon the
context of our life as it unfolds day to day. Based on your genes, no one can say what kind of
human being you will turn out to be or what you will do in life.

275
Key Takeaways

 Genes are the basic biological units that transmit characteristics from one generation
to the next.
 Personality is not determined by any single gene, but rather by the actions of many
genes working together.
 Behavioral genetics refers to a variety of research techniques that scientists use to
learn about the genetic and environmental influences on human behavior.
 Behavioral genetics is based on the results of family studies, twin studies, and
adoptive studies.
 Molecular genetics is the study of which genes are associated with which personality
traits.
 Epigeneis refers to environmental factors that turn genes on and off.
 The largely unknown environmental influences, known as the nonshared
environment, may have the largest impact on personality. These differences are
nonsystematic and largely random, and thus we do not inherit our personality in any
fixed sense.

Exercises and Critical Thinking

1. Think about the twins you know. Do they seem to be very similar to each other, or
does it seem that their differences outweigh their similarities?
2. Describe the implications of the effects of genetics on personality, overall. What does it
mean to say that genetics “determines” or “does not determine” our personality?
3. Watch this video on epigenesis and evaluate the complexity of researching these
influences. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avWwfuJYnnI
4. Try finding your own DNA by using the procedure outlined in Popular Science
https://www.popsci.com/how-to-extract-your-own-dna/

276
Studying the Nurture of Personality
Learning Objectives
1. Describe the views of humanism on personality.
2. Distinguish between self-concept and self-esteem.
3. Describe Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs and define self-actualization.
4. Explain Carl Roger’s unconditional positive regard as it relates to personality development.
5. Describe Bandura’s social cognitive theory and the concept of reciprocal determinism.
6. Explain self-efficacy.
7. Differentiate between internal and external locus of control.
8. Explain the consequences of the imposter phenomenon.

Humanism and Self-Actualization

As you recall from chapter one, humanism embraces the notions of the self and free will. Arguing
that people are free to choose their own lives and make their own decisions, humanistic
psychologists focus on the underlying motivations that they believe drive personality, that is,
focusing on the nature of the self-concept, the set of beliefs about who we are, and self-esteem, our
positive feelings about the self.

One of the most important humanists, Abraham Maslow (1908–1970), conceptualized personality
in terms of a pyramid-shaped Hierarchy of Needs (Vazire, 2014) (see Figure 8.8). At the base of
the pyramid are the lowest-level motivations, including hunger and thirst, safety, and
belongingness. Maslow argued that only when people meet the lower-level needs are they able to
move on to achieve the higher-level needs of self-esteem, and eventually self-actualization, which
is the motivation to develop our innate potential to the fullest possible extent.

Maslow studied how successful people, including Albert Einstein, Abraham Lincoln, Martin
Luther King Jr., Helen Keller, and Mahatma Gandhi had been able to lead such successful and
productive lives. Maslow (1970) believed that self-actualized people are creative, spontaneous, and
loving of themselves and others. They tend to have a few deep friendships rather than many
superficial ones, and are generally private. He felt that these individuals do not need to conform to
the opinions of others because they are very confident and thus free to express unpopular opinions.
Self-actualized people are also likely to experience transcendent moments of tranquility or peak
experiences accompanied by a strong sense of connection with others.

One criticism of Maslow's hierarchy of needs is that individuals are not static. They are motivated
by different needs at different times. For instance, sometimes competing motives may exist at the
same time. Additionally, growth in one area does not stop growth in another area (Haggerty, 1999).
The stepwise progression of a pyramid also suggests a one directional journey which may not
reflect the full complexity of human motivation. Needs for recognition, for example, may take
precedence over needs for personal safety. Maslow also focused on a small number of historically
productive individuals that he subjectively identified as self-actualized (Smith, 1978), and thus
drew overly optimistic conclusions about the capacity of people to achieve their full potential.

277
Finally, cross-cultural criticism suggests that the theory is biased by the Western emphasis on
individualism (Vazire, 2014). Other cultures may regard “self-actualization” as “self-indulgent”.
These cultures believe reaching one’s full potential means supporting group needs and sacrificing
one’s own potential for the benefit of others.

Figure 8.8 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Abraham Maslow conceptualized personality in terms of a hierarchy of needs. The highest of

these motivations is self-actualization.

Perhaps the best-known humanistic theorist is Carl Rogers (1902–1987). Rogers was positive
about human nature, viewing people as primarily moral and helpful to others, and he believed that
we can achieve our full potential for emotional fulfillment if the self-concept has experienced
unconditional positive regard, a set of behaviors including being treated in an empathic, genuine,
and open manner by others. In contrast, when people are subjected to conditional positive regard
in that others only showed them warmth or consideration when they behaved as expected, they fail
to reach their full potential.

278
 Figure 8.9 Carl Rogers According to Rogers (Engler, 2014), experiencing unconditional
positive regard allows us to view ourselves favorably and accept
ourselves for who we are. When we treat ourselves or others with
unconditional positive regard, we express understanding and
support, even while we may acknowledge failings. The principle of
unconditional positive regard has become a foundation of
psychological therapy; therapists who use it in their practice are
more effective than those who do not (Prochaska & Norcross, 2007;
Yalom, 1995).

Overall, the ideas of humanism are so powerful and optimistic that

they have continued to influence the development of psychological
theories. Today positive psychology, which is the study of positive
Source human experiences, including compassion, self-actualization,
happiness, leadership, and gratitude (Vazire, 2014) argues for
many of the ideas of humanism. Research has documented the extent to which thinking positively
and openly has important beneficial consequences for our relationships, our life satisfaction, and
our psychological and physical health (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000).

Interactions with the Environment

Albert Bandura’s (1986) Social cognitive theory Figure 8.10

explains personality development as learning that
occurs through interactions with other people. The
term interaction is important. It means that each
person in the interaction influences each other. A
child with ADHD does not act the same as a child
who is shy. A parent does not speak in the same way
to an active child and a quiet child. The shy child
and the active child do not respond in the same way
to what the parent says. If an easily frustrated parent
is paired with an active child, conflict can escalate
and both personalities can be affected. Each
influence the other. When relationships are more
Bandura’s concept of reciprocal determinism
complex, for example in a large family, each
emphasizes the interaction between the person,
individual plays a role in shaping all the other family the person’s behavior, and the environment.
members.

Environments, as well as the individuals themselves, influence their personality. Bandura (1977)
selected the term reciprocal determinism to explain the interactions between environmental
factors (parents, culture, school, work place), personal factors (genetics, feelings, cognition,
appearance) and the individual’s behavior. Bandura stated, “people are neither powerless objects
controlled by environmental forces nor free agents who can become whatever they choose. Both
people and their environments are reciprocal determinants of each other,” (p. vii).

279
The prior example can then be expanded to include environmental factors. A parent under stress at
work yells at the active child. The child throws a tantrum, causing the parent to be late to work.
The tardy parent snaps at a customer and loses a sale. The parent returns home and blames the
child. The child smashes the parent’s cell phone, and the parent misses a call from the office. Both
parent and child become more aggressive.

Bandura (1986) also studied the concept of self-efficacy. Self-

Figure 8.11 efficacy refers to people’s belief that they can be successful in
Albert Bandura achieving their goals. Self-efficacy is not the same as self-esteem.
Self-esteem refers to our judgments of self-worth, whereas, self-
efficacy refers to our judgments of personal ability. Both are affected
by our past experiences and successes. We usually do not try things
that we do not believe we can do. Both self-efficacy and self-esteem
are important features of the “person” factor.

Taken together, these findings make a very important point about

personality, which is that it not only comes from inside us, but is also
shaped by the situations to which we have been exposed. Personality
is partially derived from our interactions with and observations of
others, from our interpretations of those interactions and observations,
Source and from our choices of which social situations we prefer to enter or
avoid (Bandura, 1986).

Locus of Control

The social-cognitive theorist, Julian Rotter examined our belief in personal control (Schultz &
Schultz, 1994). Locus of control refers to the belief that consequences are either the result of our
own actions, or due to outside forces beyond our control. Rotter noted that individuals who have
an internal locus of control assume that their behavior is responsible for the consequences they
experience. Whereas, individuals with an external locus of control believe that they are at the
whim of luck, chance, or the actions of other people.

Several studies have shown that there are benefits to being more internal than external. Internals
tend to achieve more and have better problem-solving abilities (Agarwal & Misra, 1986) are less
likely to be persuaded by others or blindly follow authority (Lefcourt, 1976). In contrast, externals
tend to be more vulnerable to stress and may develop strategies that invite failure (Drwal &
Wiechnik, 1984; Lester, 1992).

280
 Figure 8.12

Imposter Phenomenon

Related to having an external locus of control is the imposter phenomenon, or an internal

experience of intellectual phoniness (Clance & Imes, 1978). This term was initially used to describe
high achieving women. Despite outstanding academic and professional accomplishments, high
achieving women often believed they had not earned what they had achieved and would soon be
found out as a fraud. These women attributed success not to their own abilities, but to external factors
such as hard work, timing, or luck (Clance & O’Toole, 1987). Research now concludes that imposter
phenomenon can be experienced by any person, but especially someone with an underrepresented
identity (Abramson, 2021). This still includes women in work cultures with male leaders, but also
includes men, all age groups, and Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) who work in
predominantly White environments.

Imposter phenomenon is not a clinical diagnosis, but it is associated with depression and anxiety
(Bravata et al., 2020). There is also an association between imposter feelings and lowered job
performance, job satisfaction, and increased burnout among professionals. Additionally, imposter
feelings can lead to isolation as those experiencing it believe they are the only ones who feel this way.
These individuals may not be as open with colleagues for fear that why will be “found out”, which
then can adversely affect work relationships. Further, imposter phenomenon can interfere with risk
taking, salary negotiations, and remaining in a job longer than one wants (Abramson, 2021).
Interventions to overcoming imposter phenomenon focus both on the individual to foster resilience,
as well as changes to work settings to ensure that everyone feels like they belong.

The humanistic and social-cognitive theories contribute to our understanding of the complexities of
human personality. Psychologists may choose explanations based on traits, early childhood
experiences, feelings about the self, and even complex interactions between the person and the
environment.
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Key Takeaways
 Humanism emphasizes the concepts of self-esteem, self-actualization, and free will.
 Self-actualization is the highest level of motivation in Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
 Rogers focused on the need for unconditional positive regard to fulfill our potential.
 The social cognitive theory explains personality development as learning that occurs
through complex interactions among the person, his or her actions, and the environment,
referred to as reciprocal determinism.
 Two important features of the person are self-efficacy and locus of control.
 Imposter phenomenon can negatively impact a person’s emotional and work-related
functioning due to feeling like a fraud in one’s career.

Exercises and Critical Thinking

1. Based on your understanding of humanistic theories, how would you try to change your
behavior to better meet the underlying motivations of physiology, security, acceptance, self-
esteem, and self-actualization?
2. Consider your own self-efficacy and locus of control. How do these influence your
personality?

Personality Assessment
Learning Objectives
1. Diffferentiate between objective and projective measures of personality assessment.
2. Identify two types of objective measures of personality assessment.
3. What problems are associated with the Myers-Briggs as a personality test?
4. Describe the Rorschach and TAT as measures of personality assessment and identify
their drawbacks.
5. Distinguish between individualistic and collectivistic cultures.
6. Describe how mental health disorders are related to personality.
7. Describe the use of the MMPI.

Researchers have adopted a wide range of approaches to measure important personality

characteristics. The most widely used strategies will be summarized in the following sections, and
both their strengths and limitations will be described.

Objective Tests

Objective personality tests use questions with a limited number of answers, for example true-
false items. An Inventory is a questionnaire that may be used in objective psychological testing to
determine personality traits. Research has shown that specific patterns of answers are associated
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with certain traits. This enables a psychologist to determine a person’s traits or diagnosis based on
their answers.

Self-report Measures: Objective personality tests can be further subdivided into two basic types.
The first type, the self-report measure, is the most widely used in modern personality research and
asks people to describe themselves. This approach offers two key advantages. First, self-raters have
access to an unparalleled wealth of information: After all, who knows more about you than you
yourself? Self-raters have direct access to their own thoughts, feelings, and motives, which may not
be readily available to others (Oh et al., 2011; Watson et al., 2000). Second, asking people to describe
themselves is the simplest, easiest, and most cost- effective approach to assessing personality. Figure
8.13 illustrates examples from a self-report measure assessing the general traits from the five-factor
model of personality (John & Srivastava, 1999; McCrae et al., 2005).

Figure 8.13 Sample self-report measure assessing the general traits

comprising the influential five-factor model (FFM) of personality:

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The items included in self-report measures may consist of single words (e.g., assertive), short
phrases (e.g., am full of energy), or complete sentences (e.g., I like to spend time with others).
Countless studies, for instance, have involved administering self-report measures to college
students, who are provided some relatively simple incentive (e.g., extra course credit) to
participate.

Self-report personality tests show impressive validity in relation to a wide range of important
outcomes. For example, self-ratings of conscientiousness are significant predictors of both overall
academic performance (e.g., cumulative grade point average; Poropat, 2009) and job performance
(Oh et al., 2011). Roberts et al. (2007) reported that self-rated personality predicted occupational
attainment, divorce, and mortality. Similarly, Friedman et al. (2010) showed that personality
ratings collected early in life were related to happiness/well-being, physical health, and mortality
risk assessed several decades later. Finally, self-reported personality has important and pervasive
links to psychopathology. Most notably, self- ratings of neuroticism are associated with a wide
array of clinical syndromes, including anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, substance use
disorders, somatoform disorders, eating disorders, personality, conduct disorders, and
schizophrenia/schizotypy (Kotov et al., 2010; Mineka et al., 1998).

At the same time, however, this method is limited in a number of ways. First, raters may be
motivated to present themselves in an overly favorable, socially desirable way (Paunonen & LeBel,
2012). This is a particular concern in “high-stakes testing”, that is, situations in which test scores
are used to make important decisions about individuals (e.g., when applying for a job). Second,
personality ratings reflect a self-enhancement bias (Vazire & Carlson, 2011); in other words,
people are motivated to ignore (or at least downplay) some of their less desirable characteristics
and to focus instead on their more positive attributes. Third, self-ratings are subject to the reference
group effect (Heine et al., 2008); that is, we base our self-perceptions, in part, on how we compare
to others in our sociocultural reference group. For instance, if you tend to work harder than most of
your friends, you will see yourself as someone who is relatively conscientious, even if you are not
particularly conscientious in any absolute sense.

The human tendency to perceive traits is so strong that it is very easy to convince people that trait
descriptions of themselves are accurate. Imagine that you had completed a personality test and the
psychologist administering the measure gave you this description of your personality:

You have a great need for other people to like and admire you. You have a tendency to be
critical of yourself. You have a great deal of unused capacity, which you have not turned to
your advantage. While you have some personality weaknesses, you are generally able to
compensate for them. Disciplined and self-controlled outside, you tend to be worrisome and
insecure inside. At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made the right
decision or done the right thing.

You might find that these statements described you. You probably do criticize yourself at least
sometimes, and you probably do sometimes worry about things. The problem is that you would
most likely have found some truth in a personality description that was the opposite, such as:

You frequently stand up for your own opinions even if it means that others may judge you
negatively. You have a tendency to find the positives in your own behavior. You work to the

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 fullest extent of your capabilities. You have few personality weaknesses, but some may show
up under stress. You sometimes confide in others that you are concerned or worried, but
inside you maintain discipline and self-control. You generally believe that you have made
the right decision and done the right thing.

The Barnum effect refers to the observation that people tend to believe in descriptions of their
personality that supposedly are descriptive of them, but could in fact describe almost anyone. The
Barnum effect helps us understand why many people believe in astrology, horoscopes, fortune-
telling, palm reading, tarot card reading, and even some personality tests. People are likely to accept
descriptions of their personality if they think that they have been written for them, even though they
cannot distinguish their own tarot card or horoscope readings from those of others at better than
chance levels (Hines, 2003). Again, people seem to believe in traits more than they should.

Informant-rating Measures: Another approach to personality assessment is to ask someone who

knows a person well to describe his or her personality characteristics, which is known as an
informant-rating measure. In the case of children or adolescents, the informant is most likely to
be a parent or teacher. In studies of older participants, informants may be friends, roommates,
dating partners, spouses, children, or bosses (Oh et al., 2011; Vazire & Carlson, 2011; Watson et
al., 2000). Generally speaking, informant ratings are similar in format to self-ratings. As was the
case with self-report, items may consist of single words, short phrases, or complete sentences.
Indeed, many popular instruments include parallel self- and informant-rating versions, and it often
is relatively easy to convert a self-report measure so that it can be used to obtain informant ratings.

Informant ratings are particularly valuable when self-ratings are impossible to collect, such as
when studying young children or cognitively impaired adults, or when their validity is suspect,
such as when people may not be entirely honest in high-stakes testing situations. They also may be
combined with self-ratings of the same characteristics to produce more reliable and valid measures
of these attributes (McCrae, 1994).

Informant ratings offer several advantages in comparison to other approaches to assessing

personality. A well-acquainted informant presumably has had the opportunity to observe large
samples of behavior in the person they are rating. Moreover, these judgments presumably are not
subject to the types of defensiveness that potentially can distort self-ratings (Vazire & Carlson,
2011). Indeed, informants typically have strong incentives for being accurate in their judgments.

Nevertheless, informant ratings also are subject to certain problems and limitations. One general
issue is the level of relevant information that is available to the rater (Funder, 2012). For instance,
even under the best of circumstances, informants lack full access to the thoughts, feelings, and
motives of the person they are rating. This problem is magnified when the informant does not
know the person particularly well and/or only sees him or her in a limited range of situations
(Funder, 2012; Beer & Watson, 2010).

Informant ratings also are subject to some of the same response biases noted earlier for self-ratings.
For instance, they are not immune to the reference group effect. Indeed, it is well-established that
parent ratings often are subject to a sibling contrast effect, such that parents exaggerate the true
magnitude of differences between their children (Pinto et al., 2012). Furthermore, in many studies,
individuals are allowed to nominate (or even recruit) the informants who will rate them. Because of

285
this, it most often is the case that informants (who, as noted earlier, may be friends, relatives, or
romantic partners) like the people they are rating. This, in turn, means that informants may
produce overly favorable personality ratings. Indeed, their ratings can be more favorable than the
corresponding self-ratings (Watson & Humrichouse, 2006). This tendency for informants to
produce unrealistically positive ratings has been termed the letter of recommendation effect
(Leising et al., 2010) and the honeymoon effect when applied to newlyweds (Watson &
Humrichouse, 2006).

As with intelligence tests, the utility of self-report measures of personality depends on their
reliability and validity. Some popular measures of personality are not useful because they are
unreliable or invalid. Perhaps you have heard of a personality test known as the Myers-Briggs Type
Indicator (MBTI). If so, you are not alone, because the MBTI is the most widely administered
personality test in the world, given millions of times a year to employees in thousands of
companies. The MBTI categorizes people into one of four categories on each of four dimensions:
introversion versus extraversion, sensing versus intuiting, thinking versus feeling, and judging
versus perceiving.

Although completing the MBTI can be useful for helping people think about individual differences
in personality, and for “breaking the ice” at meetings, the measure itself is not psychologically
useful because it is not reliable or valid. People’s classifications change over time, and scores on
the MBTI do not relate to other measures of personality or to behavior (Hunsley et al., 2003).
Measures such as the MBTI remind us to scientifically and empirically test the effectiveness of
personality tests by assessing their stability over time and their ability to predict behavior.

Projective Techniques
Figure 8.14 Rorschach Inkblot Test
Whereas self-report measures ask people to consciously
report on their inner experiences, projective measures
are measures of personality in which unstructured
stimuli, such as inkblots, drawings of social situations,
or incomplete sentences, are shown to participants, who
are asked to freely list what comes to mind as they think
about the stimuli. Experts then score the responses for
clues to personality. The proposed advantage of these
tests is that they are more indirect as they allow the
respondent to freely express whatever comes to mind.

One commonly used projective test is the Rorschach

Inkblot Test, developed by the Swiss psychiatrist
Hermann Rorschach (1884–1922). The Rorschach Inkblot Test is a projective measure of
personality in which the respondent indicates his or her thoughts about a series of 10 symmetrical
inkblots (Figure 8.14). The Rorschach is administered millions of time every year. The participants
are asked to respond to the inkblots, and their responses are systematically scored in terms of what,
where, and why they saw what they saw. For example, people who focus on the details of the
inkblots may have obsessive-compulsive tendencies, whereas those who talk about sex or
aggression may have sexual or aggressive problems.

286
 Another frequently administered projective
Figure 8.15 Sample Card from the TAT test is the Thematic Apperception Test
(TAT), developed by the psychologist Henry
Murray (1893–1988). The Thematic
Apperception Test (TAT) is a projective
measure of personality in which the
respondent is asked to create stories about
sketches of ambiguous situations, most of
them people, either alone or with others
(Figure 8.15). The sketches are shown to
individuals, who are asked to tell a story
about what is happening in the picture. The
TAT assumes that people may be unwilling
or unable to admit their true feelings when
asked directly, but these feelings will show
This is one of the cards from the TAT. Note that the sex of the figure up in the stories about the pictures. Trained
in the foreground is ambiguous as is the emotional expression of the
woman in the background coders use the stories to develop a personality
profile of the respondent.

The idea is that when people view ambiguous stimuli, they will describe them according to the
aspects of personality that are most important to them, and therefore bypass some of the limitations
of more conscious responding. Despite their widespread use, however, the empirical evidence
supporting the use of projective tests is mixed (Karon, 2000; Wood et al., 2003). The reliability of
the measures is low because people often produce very different responses on different occasions.
The construct validity of the measures is also suspect because there are very few consistent
associations between Rorschach scores or TAT scores and most personality traits.
The projective tests often fail to distinguish between people with mental health disorders and those
without or to correlate with other measures of personality or with behavior.

In sum, projective tests are more useful as icebreakers to get to know a person better, to make the
person feel comfortable, and to get some ideas about topics that may be of importance to that
person than for accurately diagnosing personality.

Psychology in Everyday Life: Leaders and Leadership

One trait that has been studied in thousands of studies is leadership, the ability to direct or
inspire others to achieve goals. Trait theories of leadership are theories based on the idea that
some people are simply “natural leaders” because they possess personality characteristics that
make them effective (Zaccaro, 2007). Consider Bill Gates, the founder of the Microsoft
Corporation, shown in Figure 8.16. What characteristics do you think he possessed that
allowed him to create such a strong company, even though many similar companies failed?

287
Figure 8.16 Varieties of Leaders

Which personality traits do you think characterize these leaders?

Former President Barack Obama photo courtesy Source

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates photo courtesy Source
Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth photo courtesy Source

Research has found that being intelligent is an important characteristic of leaders, as long as the
leader communicates to others in a way that is easily understood by his or her followers
(Simonton, 1994, 1995). Other research has found that people with good social skills, such as the
ability to accurately perceive the needs and goals of the group members and to communicate
with others, also tend to make good leaders (Kenny & Zaccaro, 1983).

Because so many characteristics seem to be related to leader skills, some researchers have
attempted to account for leadership not in terms of individual traits, but rather in terms of a
package of traits that successful leaders seem to have. Some have considered this in terms of
charisma (Sternberg & Lubart, 1995; Sternberg, 2002). Charismatic leaders are leaders who
are enthusiastic, committed, and self-confident; who tend to talk about the importance of group
goals at a broad level; and who make personal sacrifices for the group. Charismatic leaders
express views that support and validate existing group norms, but that also contain a vision of
what the group could or should be. Charismatic leaders use their referent power to motivate,
uplift, and inspire others. Research has found a positive relationship between a leader’s charisma
and effective leadership performance (Simonton, 1988).

Another trait-based approach to leadership is based on the idea that leaders take either
transactional or transformational leadership styles with their subordinates (Bass, 1999; Pieterse
et al., 2010). Transactional leaders are the more regular leaders, who work with their
subordinates to help them understand what is required of them and to get the job done.
Transformational leaders, on the other hand, are more like charismatic leaders as they have a
vision of where the group is going, and attempt to stimulate and inspire their workers to move
beyond their present status and to create a new and better future.

288
Despite the fact there appears to be at least some personality traits that relate to leadership
ability, the most important approaches to understanding leadership take into consideration both
the personality characteristics of the leader, as well as the situation in which the leader is
operating. In some cases, the situation itself is important. President George W. Bush’s ratings as a
leader increased dramatically after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade
Center. This is a classic example of how a situation can influence the perceptions of a leader’s
skill.

In still other cases, different types of leaders may perform differently in different situations.
Leaders whose personalities lead them to be more focused on fostering harmonious social
relationships among the members of the group, for instance, are particularly effective in
situations in which the group is already functioning well, and yet it is important to keep the
group members engaged in the task and committed to the group outcomes. Leaders who are
more task- oriented and directive, on the other hand, are more effective when the group is not
functioning well and needs a firm hand to guide it (Ayman et al., 1995).

Personality and Mental Health

Although they may appear unrelated, personality traits and mental health disorders are often on a
continuum (Twenge & Campbell, 2017). The line between what is considered normal and
abnormal is due to the quantity of a trait. When in very high amounts, traits (such as narcissism)
can result in a mental health diagnosis.

An important objective measure used to diagnose mental health disorders, is the Minnesota
Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), a test used around the world to identify personality
and mental health disorders (Tellegen et al., 2003). The MMPI (see Table 8.2) was developed by
creating a list of more than 1,000 true-false questions and choosing those that best differentiated
patients with different mental health disorders from other people. The current version (the MMPI-
2) has more than 500 questions, and the items can be combined into a large number of different
subscales. The MMPI also has questions that are designed to detect the tendency of the respondents
to answer in ways that make them appear in a more positive light (social desirability), lie, fake, or
simply not answer the questions.

To interpret the results, the clinician looks at the pattern of responses across the different subscales
and makes a diagnosis about the potential psychological problems facing the patient. Although
clinicians prefer to interpret the patterns themselves, a variety of research has demonstrated that
computers can often interpret the results as well as clinicians (Garb, 1998; Karon, 2000). Extensive
research has found that the MMPI-2 can accurately predict which of the many different mental
health disorders a person suffers from (Graham, 2006). This measure contrasts with the projective
measures, Rorschach and TAT, previously discussed. With those projective measures, there is
questionable reliability and validity.

289
Table 8.2 Some of the Major Subscales of the MMPI

Abbreviation Description What is measured No. of items

Hs Hypochondriasis Concern with bodily symptoms 32

D Depression Depressive symptoms 57

Hy Hysteria Awareness of problems and vulnerabilities 60

Pd Psychopathic deviate Conflict, struggle, anger, respect for society’s rules 50

MF Masculinity/femininity Stereotypical masculine or feminine interests/behaviors 56

Pa Paranoia Level of trust, suspiciousness, sensitivity 40

Pt Psychasthenia Worry, anxiety, tension, doubts, obsessiveness 48

Sc Schizophrenia Odd thinking and social alienation 78

Ma Hypomania Level of excitability 46

Si Social introversion People orientation 69

Key Takeaways

 Personality can be assessed using objective measures, including self-report and

informant-rating measures.
 There is often only a low correlation between the specific traits that a person expresses in one
situation and those that is expressed in other situations. Personality predicts behavior better
when the behaviors are aggregated or averaged across different situations.
 Projective measures of personality show participants unstructured stimuli, such as inkblots,
drawings of social situations, or incomplete sentences, and ask them to freely list what
comes to mind as they think about the stimuli. Despite their widespread use, however, the
empirical evidence supporting the use of projective tests is mixed.
 Mental health issues have been researched with personality.
 The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) is a measure of personality and
mental health disorders.

290
Exercises and Critical Thinking

1. Consider your own personality and those of people you know. What traits do you enjoy in
other people, and what traits do you dislike?
2. Consider some of the people who have had an important influence on you. What were the
personality characteristics of these people that made them so influential?

Videos and Activities

1. You can complete a self-report measure of personality using a short form of the Five-
Factor Personality Test here. There are 50 questions and it should take you about 3-8
minutes to complete. You will receive feedback about your personality after you have
finished the test. http://personality-testing.info/tests/IPIP-BFFM/
2. There is an online HEXACO measure as well that looks at the 6 major dimensions of
personality: https://hexaco.org/hexaco-online

Chapter Summary

Personality is defined as an individual’s consistent patterns of feeling, thinking, and behaving.

Personalities are characterized in terms of traits, which are relatively enduring characteristics that
influence our behavior across many situations. Psychologists have investigated hundreds of traits
using the self-report approach.

The trait approach to personality was pioneered by early psychologists, including Allport, Cattell,
and Eysenck, and their research helped produce the Five-Factor (Big Five) Model of Personality.
The Big Five dimensions are openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and
neuroticism.

The Big Five are fairly cross-culturally valid and accurately predict some behavior, including work
place and academic success, relationships, and mental health disorders. However, the Big Five do
not always capture the personality characteristics of people from non-Western cultures. This has
led to the HEXACO model (humility/honesty, emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness,
conscientiousness, and openness to experience), as well as the indigenous approach to personality
assessment.

Personality is reflected through culture, especially the distinction between individualism and
collectivism.

A difficulty of the trait approach to personality is that there is often only a low correlation between
the traits that a person expresses in one situation and those that they express in other situations.
However, psychologists have also found that personality predicts behavior better when the
behaviors are averaged across different situations.

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Personality traits of humans and animals are determined in large part by their genetic makeup.
Personality is not determined by any single gene, but rather by the actions of many genes working
together.

The role of nature and nurture in personality is studied by means of behavioral genetics, including
family studies, twin studies, and adoption studies. These studies partition personality variability
into the interactions among genetics (known as heritability), shared environment, and nonshared
environment. Although these studies find that many personality traits are highly heritable,
genetics does not determine everything. The major influence on personality is nonshared
environmental influences.

In addition to the use of behavioral genetics, our understanding of the role of biology in personality
recently has been increased through the use of molecular genetics, the study of which genes are
associated with which personality traits in animals and humans. Epigenetic influences are also
important in that genes can be expressed through environmental factors.

Humanistic theories of personality focus on the underlying motivations that they believed drive
personality. Humanists focus on the nature of the self-concept and the development of self-esteem.
Abraham Maslow focused on self-actualization as the most advanced motive in his hierarchy of
needs, while Carl Rogers focused on how unconditional positive regard helps us reach our full
potential.

Albert Bandura uses the term reciprocal determinism to explain the complex interactions between
individuals, their behavior, and the environment. Bandura also studied self-efficacy, or the belief
that you can be successful.

Imposter phenomenon can negatively impact a person’s emotional and work-related functioning due to
feeling like a fraud in one’s career.

Objective measures of personality include self-report and informant-rating measures. The utility of
these measures depends on their reliability and validity. Additionally, concerns regarding the
Barnum effect, honeymoon effect, and letter of recommendation effect, are noted.

While measures of the Big Five have shown reliability and validity, the Myers-Briggs does not,
and therefore, is not a useful measure of personality.

Another approach to measuring personality is the use of projective measures, such as the Rorschach
Inkblot Test and the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). However, both lack reliability and
validity.

Personality and mental health disorders are on a continuum, and an important test used to assess mental
health disorders is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI).

292
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Chapter 9 Social Psychology
Learning Objective

1. Define social psychology.

This chapter focuses on social psychology, which is defined as the scientific study of how we feel,
think, and behave toward the other people around us, and how those people influence our feelings,
thoughts, and behavior. The subject matter of social psychology is our everyday interactions with
people, including the social groups to which we belong. Questions these psychologists ask include
why we are often helpful to other people, but at other times are unfriendly or aggressive; why we
sometimes conform to the behaviors of others, but at other times are able to assert our
independence; and what factors help groups work together in effective and productive, rather than in
ineffective and unproductive, ways. A fundamental principle of social psychology is that, although
we may not always be aware of it, our cognitions, emotions, and behaviors are substantially
influenced by the social situation.

In this chapter we will introduce the principles of social cognition, and consider the ways that our
judgments about other people guide our behaviors toward them. We will explore how we form
impressions of other people, including stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination. We will also
discuss attribution theory and attitudes. Next, we will discuss social influence, including social
norms and roles, persuasion, conformity, obedience, and group behavior. Lastly, we will consider
social relationships, including attraction, altruism, and aggression.

Social Cognition

Learning Objectives

1. Define social cognition.

2. Describe the importance of appearance in our perceptions of others.
3. Describe the fundamentals of how we form judgments about other people, including
stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination.
4. Explain the differences among implicit bias, microaggressions and macroaggressions
5. Define attribution and distinguish between internal and external attributions.
6. Describe the two common attributional biases of self-serving and fundamental attribution.
7. Define the concept of attitude and describe when attitudes predict behavior and when
behavior influences attitudes.
8. Desribe the study on cognitive dissonance.

Hopefully you remember from our discussion in chapter five, that psychologists refer to cognition
as the mental activity of processing information and using that information in judgments. Social
cognition is cognition that relates to social activities and that helps us understand and predict the
behavior of ourselves and others (Jhangiani & Tarry, 2014). Making these judgments quickly and
accurately helps us guide our behavior to interact appropriately with both the people we know, and
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do not know. If we can figure out why our roommate is angry at us, we can react to resolve the
problem; if we can determine how to motivate the people in our group to work harder on a project,
then the project might be better.

The Importance of Appearance

Our initial judgments of others are based, in large part, on

Figure 9.1
what we see. The physical features of other people,
particularly their sex, race, age, and physical attractiveness,
are very salient, and we often focus our attention on these
dimensions (Schneider, 2004; Zebrowitz & Montepare,
2006).

Although it may seem inappropriate or shallow to admit it,

we are strongly influenced by the physical attractiveness of
others, and in many cases physical attractiveness is the most
important determinant of our initial liking for other people
(Walster et al., 1966). Infants who are only a year old prefer
to look at faces that adults consider to be attractive than at
unattractive faces (Langlois et al., 1991; Hoss & Langlois,
2003). Evolutionary psychologists have argued that our Can you read a book by its cover?
belief that “what is beautiful is also good” may be because Which of these people do you think is
we use attractiveness as a cue for health; people whom we more fun and friendly? Who is smarter
or more competent? Do you think your
find more attractive may also, evolutionarily, have been judgments are accurate? © Thinkstock
healthier (Zebrowitz et al., 2003).

One indicator of health is youth. Zebrowitz and colleagues Figure 9.2

(Zebrowitz, 1996; Zebrowitz et al., 2009) have extensively
studied the tendency for both men and women to prefer
people whose faces have characteristics similar to those of
babies. These features include large, round, and widely
spaced eyes, a small nose and chin, prominent cheekbones,
and a large forehead. People who have baby faces (both
men and women) are seen as more attractive than people
who are not baby-faced.

Another indicator of health is symmetry. People are more

attracted to faces that are more symmetrical than they are to
People with baby faces are perceived as
those less symmetrical, and this may be due in part to the
attractive.
perception that symmetrical faces are perceived as healthier Source and Source
(Rhodes et al., 2001). Although you might think that we
would prefer faces that are unusual or unique, in fact the opposite is true. Langlois and Roggman
(1990) showed college students the faces of men and women. The faces were composites made up
of the average of 2, 4, 8, 16, or 32 faces. The researchers found that the more faces that were
averaged into the stimulus, the more attractive it was judged. Again, our liking for average faces
may be because they appear healthier.

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Although preferences for youthful, symmetrical, and average faces have been observed cross-
culturally, and thus appear to be common human preferences, different cultures may also have
unique beliefs about what is attractive. In modern Western cultures, “thin is in,” and people prefer
those who have little excess fat (Crandall et al., 2009). The need to be thin to be attractive is
particularly strong for women in contemporary society, and the desire to maintain a low body
weight can lead to low self-esteem, eating disorders, and other unhealthy behaviors. However, the
norm of thinness has not always been in place; the preference for women with slender, masculine,
and athletic looks has become stronger over the past 50 years. In contrast to the relatively
universal preferences for youth, symmetry, and averageness, other cultures do not show such a
strong propensity for thinness (Sugiyama, 2005).

Stereotyping, Prejudice, and Discrimination

Social psychologists refer to us as cognitive misers, meaning we often do not think carefully before
making decisions. We are stingy with our cognitive energy. Humans quickly evaluate others on
characteristics of attractiveness, aggression, trustworthiness, competence, and likeability even after
viewing a photo of a person for a mere tenth of second. Willis and Todorov (2006) found that
those shown a photo briefly and those who were given more time to evaluate the photograph had
very similar impressions. So not only do we arrive at our conclusions quickly, but it is also likely
that once we do, we may be unlikely to change our impressions.

We frequently use people’s appearances to form our judgments about them and to determine our
responses to them. The tendency to attribute personality characteristics to people on the basis of
their external appearance or their social group memberships is known as stereotyping. Our
stereotypes about physically attractive people lead us to see them as more dominant, warm,
mentally healthy, intelligent, and socially skilled than we perceive physically unattractive people
(Langlois et al., 2000). Moreover, our stereotypes lead us to treat people differently, the physically
attractive are given better grades on essay exams, are more successful on job interviews, and
receive lighter sentences in court judgments than their less attractive counterparts (Hosoda et al.,
2003; Zebrowitz & McDonald, 1991).

In addition to stereotypes about physical attractiveness, we also regularly stereotype people on the
basis of their sex, race, age, religion, and many other characteristics, and these stereotypes are
frequently negative (Schneider, 2004). Stereotyping is unfair to the people we judge because
stereotypes are based on our preconceptions and emotions about the members of the group.
Stereotyping is closely related to prejudice, negative feelings we have about people because of
their appearance or group memberships, and discrimination, behaviors toward others based on
prejudice. Generally, these behaviors are negative. Stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination work
together. We may not vote for candidates for public office because of our negative stereotypes
about their ethnicity, and we may avoid people from other religions or those with mental illness
because of our prejudices.

Some stereotypes may be accurate in part. Research has found, for instance, that attractive people
are actually more sociable, more popular, and less lonely than less attractive individuals (Langlois
et al., 2000). Consistent with the stereotype that women are “emotional,” women are, on average,
more empathic and attuned to the emotions of others than are men (Hall & Schmid Mast, 2008).
Group differences in personality traits may occur, in part, because people act toward others on the
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basis of their stereotypes, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. A self-fulfilling prophecy occurs when
our expectations about the personality characteristics of others lead us to behave toward them in
ways that make those beliefs come true. If we have a stereotype that attractive people are friendly,
then we may act in a friendly way toward those who are attractive. This friendly behavior may be
reciprocated by the attractive person, and if many people also engage in the same positive
behaviors, the attractive person may actually become friendlier.

Even if attractive people are, on average friendlier than unattractive people, not all attractive people
are friendlier than all unattractive people. Also, even if women are, on average, more emotional
than men, not all men are less emotional than all women. Social psychologists believe that it is
better to treat people as individuals rather than rely on our stereotypes and prejudices, because
stereotyping and prejudice are always unfair and often inaccurate (Fiske, 1989; Stangor, 1995).
Furthermore, many of our stereotypes and prejudices occur outside of our awareness, such that we
do not even know that we are using them.

We use our stereotypes and prejudices in part

because they are easy; if we can quickly size up Figure 9.3
people based on their physical appearance that
can save us a lot of time and effort. We may be
evolutionarily disposed to stereotyping. Our
primitive ancestors needed to accurately separate
members of their own group from others, thus
categorizing people into the ingroup, those that
are similar to us on physical and social
categories, and outgroup, those that are
different from us (Neuberg et al., 2010).
Separating those we meet into ingroups and
outgroups is something we continue to do. Social identity is the positive emotions that we
The creation of our ingroup strengthens our experience as a member of an important social
social identity, which is our sense of self based group. Source:
on the emotions that we experience as a result of our group membership (Hogg, 2003). We may
gain social identity as members of our college, our sports teams, our religious and racial groups, and
many other groups.

The fact that we may use stereotypes does not mean we should use them. Stereotypes, prejudice,
and discrimination, whether consciously or unconsciously applied, make it difficult for some people
to effectively contribute to society and may create both mental and physical health problems for
them (Swim & Stangor, 1998). For example, as mentioned in chapter one, Mamie Phipps Clark and
her husband, Kenneth Clark, demonstrated that when shown white and black dolls, Black children
preferred the white dolls believing they were better (American Psychological Association, 2018).
The Clarks convinced the Supreme Court in 1954 during the Brown vs. Board of Education court
case that Black children saw themselves as inferior, which adversely affected their academic and
personal achievement. Other important psychological research has helped to advance legal rights
for all Americans (DeAngelis, 2019). Consequently, getting beyond our prejudices is now required
by law as detailed by the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Equal Opportunity Employment Act of
1972, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (Bartol & Bartol, 2015), and the Fair Housing
Act of 1968 (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 1968).
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Implicit Bias, Microaggressions and Macroaggressions

Implicit bias is the hidden attitudes, beliefs, and stereotypes about a social group (Greenwald & Banaji,
1995). These preconceptions can be held about a variety of social identifiers, including gender, age,
race, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, and ability level. The term was first described by psychologists
Mahzarin Banaji and Anthony Greenwald, who argued that social behavior is largely influenced by
associations and judgments that occur outside our conscious awareness, thus making them difficult to
control (Viegas, 2019). In contrast, we are aware of our explicit biases on a conscious level. Implicit
biases can become explicit, however, when we become consciously aware of them and choose whether
or not to act on them (Ruhl, 2020). For example, you might automatically believe that males are better
at math than females-an implicit bias. When one consciously thinks about males being stronger in
math and then deliberately chooses a male for an accounting position, they are acting on an explicit
bias.

Several reasons have been given for the development of implicit biases. One hypothesis is that the
brain looks for patterns to make sense of a complicated world (Ruhl, 2020). Even young children seek
out patterns in their world and recognize how they are different from others. Further, they learn that
characteristics similar to them are “good”, and those different are not. The brain also likes to simplify
the world and take mental shortcuts to keep from having to sort through all the stimuli it constantly
receives. Relying on common sense or educated guesses to guide us instead of reflecting on all the
information obtained can be quicker, but these mental shortcuts often result in implicit biases. One’s
upbringing, culture, schooling, and media can also contribute to the development of implicit biases.

The effects of implicit bias have been especially Figure 9.4

researched within the criminal justice and health care
systems. According to Ruhl (2020), examples in law
enforcement include the shooter bias; that is the tendency
among police to shoot Black civilians more than White
civilians, even when unarmed. Compared to Whites,
Blacks are arrested at higher rates and given harsher
sentences. Black boys are perceived as more adult like,
more responsible for their actions, and more appropriate
targets for police violence than White boys.
Photo by mohamed_hassan is licensed under the
Pixabay License
Fitzgerald and Hurst (2017) examined forty-two research
articles assessing implicit bias towards patients from
health care professionals. Thirty-five articles found evidence of a significant positive relationship
between the level of implicit bias and lower quality of care. Based on their analysis, physicians and
nurses manifested implicit biases to a similar degree as the general population. The following
characteristics were found to show implicit biases: race/ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status
(SES), age, mental illness, weight, having AIDS, brain injured patients perceived to have contributed
to their injury, intravenous drug users, disability, and social circumstances.
Chapman et al. (2013) also reviewed previous research and found that ethnic minorities and women
received less accurate diagnoses and treatment options. Additionally, Black patients seen in
emergency rooms received less pain medication than White patients. Additionally, Hispanic patients in
one study were seven times less likely to receive opioids in the emergency room than non-Hispanic
patients with similar injuries. Chapman et al. concluded that health care disparities could decrease if
303
physicians were aware of their biases and intentionally practiced perspective-taking with patients.
Additionally, they recommended increasing the number of Black physicians as they exhibit
significantly less racial implicit bias.
Microaggressions are characterized as subtle, automatic, innocuous, and offensive remarks against
racial minority groups (Pierce et al., 1977). Microaggressions convey bias toward marginalized
groups, and they are often disguised as innocent questions or compliments, such as “Your English is
very good.” These comments are not always meant to cause harm, but recipients of them can suffer
psychological distress, including an increase in symptoms of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic
stress disorder. Additionally, recipients can face backlash if they speak up (Abrams, 2021). For
minority college students, microaggressions have been linked to greater perceived stress, mental
anguish, depression, poor self-esteem, and costs to academic success (Lui, 2020). Recipients can also
expend cognitive resources as they attempt to figure out what happened, and experience an increase in
stress hormones and sleep disturbances (Clay, 2017). Microaggressions have also been identified as a
factor in achievement gaps between student groups.

Microaggressions can begin as early as the preschool years. Essien and Wood (2020) found that young
Black girls enrolled in early childhood education programs were subjected to messages by educators
that their hair, especially when in a natural hair style, was less preferred and less beautiful than White
hair. Additionally, when teased about their hair styles by peers, educators typically did not intervene.
Essien and Wood further reported that when these microaggressions were reported to educators by
parents, they were either dismissed or no action was taken. The negative messages young girls receive
about Black hair can affect their overall development.

Sue et al. (2020) describe macroaggressions as the symptoms of systemic or institutional biases, and
they identify three major differences between macroaggressions and microaggressions:
First, while the manifestation of microaggressions resides in the biased attitudes and behaviors of
an individual (the perpetrator), macroaggressions reside in the biased programs, policies, and
practices of institutions, communities, and society. Second, microaggressions are generally
directed toward a specific individual target, while macroaggressions are group-focused and affect
an entire socially marginalized class of people. Third, although remedying microaggressions
involves changing or neutralizing the bigotry of the person, combatting macroaggressions means
altering institutional policies and practices that oppress and deny equal access and opportunity to
marginalized groups. (p. 9)

Figure 9.5 Social psychologists believe that we should work to get past our
prejudices. The tendency to hold stereotypes and prejudices and
to act on them can be reduced, for instance, through positive
interactions and friendships with members of other groups,
through practice in avoiding using them, and through education
(Hewstone, 1996). Implicit biases, microaggressions, and
macroaggressions are seen in a variety of societal areas, and
psychologists are actively involved in bringing them to the
attention of the public. Greater awareness of how they operate
in society, the negative consequences that result, and
recommendations for how those who are targeted and allies can
Photo by Psy for Social Responsibility
respond are actively being researched.

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Attribution: Forming Judgments by Observing Behavior

When we observe people’s behavior we may attempt to determine if the behavior really reflects
their underlying personality. If Frank hits Joe, we might wonder if Frank is naturally aggressive or
if perhaps Joe had provoked him. If Leslie leaves a big tip for the waitress, we might wonder if she
is a generous person or if the service was particularly excellent. The process of trying to determine
the causes of people’s behavior, with the goal of learning about their personalities, is known as
attribution (Jones et al., 1987).

Making causal attributions is a bit like conducting an

Figure 9.6
experiment. We observe the people we are interested in
and note how they behave in different social situations.
After we have made our observations, we draw our
conclusions. Sometimes we may decide that the behavior
was caused primarily by something about the person, their
personality, abilities, motives; this is called making a
dispositional (or internal) attribution. At other times,
we may determine that the behavior was caused primarily
by the situation, or chance; this is called making a
situational (or external) attribution. At other times we
may decide that the behavior was caused by both the
person and the situation.

It is easier to make dispositional attributions when

Was the accident caused by John’s bad
driving (internal) or the road conditions behavior is more unusual or unexpected. Imagine that
(external)? you go to a party and you are introduced to Tess. Tess
Source shakes your hand and says, “Nice to meet you!” Can you
readily conclude, on the basis of this behavior, that Tess
is a friendly person? Probably not. The social situation demands that people act in a friendly way.
In this circumstance it is difficult to know whether Tess acted friendly because of the situation or
because she is really friendly. Imagine, however, that instead of shaking your hand, Tess sticks out
her tongue at you and walks away. I think you would agree that it is easier in this case to infer that
Tess is unfriendly because her behavior is so contrary to what one would expect (Jones et al.,
1961).

Attribution Biases

Self-serving Bias: Although people are reasonably accurate in their attributions (Fiske, 2003), they
are far from perfect. One error that we frequently make when making judgments about ourselves is
to make self-serving attributions by judging the causes of our own behaviors in overly positive
ways. If you did well on a test, you will probably attribute that success to person causes (“I’m
smart,” “I studied really hard”), but if you do poorly on the test you are more likely to make
situation attributions (“The test was hard,” “I had bad luck”). Although making causal attributions is
expected to be logical and scientific, our emotions are not irrelevant.

Fundamental Attribution Error: Another way that our attributions are often inaccurate is that we
are, by and large, too quick to attribute the behavior of others to something personal about them
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rather than to something about their situation. We are more likely to say, “Leslie left a big tip, so
she must be generous” than “Leslie left a big tip, but perhaps that was because the service was
really excellent.” The common tendency to overestimate the role of person factors and overlook the
impact of situations in judging others is known as the fundamental attribution error.

The fundamental attribution error Figure 9.7

occurs in part because other people
are so noticeable in our social
environments. When you look at
others, the person is your focus, and
you are likely to make personal
attributions about them. If the
situation is reversed, such that you
see situations from the perspectives
of others, the fundamental attribution
error is reduced (Storms, 1973).
The tendency to make dispositional attributions for others (such as
When we judge people, we often see poor people are lazy) even where situational factors (such as
them in only one situation. It’s easy growing up in poverty) might be a better explanation, is caused by
for you to think that your professor is the fundamental attribution error. © Thinkstock
“picky and detail-oriented”
because that describes their behavior in class, but you do not know how they act with friends and
family, which might be completely different. We also tend to make person attributions because they
are easy. We are more likely to commit the fundamental attribution error when we are tired,
distracted, or busy doing other things (Trope & Alfieri, 1997).
An important moral about perceiving others applies here: We should not be too quick to judge other
people. It is easy to think that poor people are lazy, that people who say something harsh are rude
or unfriendly, and that all terrorists are insane madmen. These attributions may frequently
overemphasize the role of the person, however, resulting in an inappropriate and inaccurate
tendency to blame the victim (Lerner, 1980; Tennen & Affleck, 1990). Sometimes people are lazy
and rude, and some terrorists are probably insane, but these people may also be influenced by the
situation in which they find themselves. Poor people may find it more difficult to get work and
education because of the environment they grow up in, people may say rude things because they are
feeling threatened or are in pain, and terrorists may have learned in their family and school that
committing violence in the service of their beliefs is justified. When you find yourself making
strong dispositional attributions for the behaviors of others, stop and think more carefully and
refrain from making the fundamental attribution error.

How Attitudes Influence Behavior

Attitude refers to our relatively enduring evaluations of people and things (Albarracín et al.,
2005). We hold many thousands of attitudes, including those about family and friends, political
parties and political figures, abortion rights, preferences for music, and much more. Attitudes are important
because they frequently, but not always, predict behavior. Attitudes predict behavior better for some people
than for others. People who are high in self-monitoring, act like social chameleons in that they change
their behavior in response to social situations, and thus do not always act on their attitudes
(Gangestad & Snyder, 2000). High self-monitors agree with statements such as, “In different situations
and with different people, I often act like very different people.” Attitudes are more likely to predict
306
behavior for low self-monitors, who are more likely to act on their own attitudes, even when the social
situation suggests that they should behave otherwise. Low self-monitors are more likely to agree with
statements such as, “I can only argue for ideas that I already believe.”

How Behaviors Influence Attitude

Although it might not have surprised you to hear that our attitudes predict our behaviors, you
might be more surprised to learn that our behaviors also have an influence on our attitudes. It
makes sense that if you like the newest cell phone advertised, you will buy it, because your positive
attitude toward the product influences your behavior. However, your attitudes toward that cell
phone may become even more positive if you decide to buy it. Behaviors influence attitudes
through the process of self-perception. Self-perception occurs when we use our own behavior as a
guide to help us determine our own thoughts and feelings (Bem, 1972; Olson & Stone, 2005).

Behavior also influences our attitudes through a more emotional process known as cognitive
dissonance. Cognitive dissonance refers to the discomfort we experience when we choose to
behave in ways that we see as inconsistent to our attitudes (Festinger, 1957; Harmon-Jones &
Mills, 1999). If we feel that we have wasted our time or acted against our own moral principles, we
experience negative emotions (dissonance) and may change our attitudes about the behavior to
reduce the negative feelings.

Imagine that you are a participant in a psychology study. You have just spent the last 60 minutes
turning pegs on a large peg board a quarter of a turn. The experimenter tells you that the study
concerned the effects of expectation on task performance and as you were in the control group, you
had not been told anything prior to completing the task. The experimenter is concernced because
their research assistant is running late, and the next subject has already arrived. This person is in
the experimental group and the experimenter wonders if you could tell the next participant that the
experiment was really interesting and enjoyable. The researcher explains that their budget is rather
small, but for your effort they can give you a dollar. You agree to this and inform the next person
about how interesting and enjoyable the study was. Before you finally leave, you are asked to
complete a questionnaire about the study and how much you enjoyed the study. Festinger and
Carlsmith (1959) compared the ratings given by people who have been given only $1 to lie to those
who were offered $20, or were not asked to lie to the next person.

As you can see from Figure 9.8, those who were not asked to lie (control group) had no reason to
alter their perceptions of the study. Those who were given $20 to lie also had sufficient
justification. A small lie for $20 seemed a reasonable explanation to lie. Thus, there was no
cognitive dissonance between what they really felt about the study and their willingness to lie to
the next person. But those who lied for only $1 had insufficient justification. To save face they
altered their assessment of the study and gave the highest rating.

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 When we put in effort for something, an
Figure 9.8 initiation, a big purchase price, or even
some of our precious time, we will likely
end up liking the activity more than we
would have if the effort had been less; not
doing so would lead us to experience the
unpleasant feelings of dissonance. After we
buy a product, we convince ourselves that
we made the right choice because the
product is excellent. If we fail to lose the
weight we wanted to, we decide that we
look good anyway. If we hurt someone
else’s feelings, we may even decide that
they are a bad person who deserves our
negative behavior. To escape from feeling
poorly about themselves, people will
engage in quite extraordinary rationalizing. No wonder that most of us believe that “If I had it all to
do over again, I would not change anything important.”

Key Takeaways

 Social psychology studies how we influence, and are influenced, by others.

 Social cognition involves forming impressions of ourselves and other people.
 Our initial judgments of others are based primarily on what we see. The physical features
of other people, particularly their sex, race, age, and physical attractiveness, are very
noticeable, and we often focus our attention on these dimensions.
 We are attracted to people who appear to be healthy. Indicators of health include youth,
symmetry, and averageness.
 We frequently use people’s appearances to form our judgments about them, and to
determine our responses to them. These responses include stereotyping, prejudice, and
discrimination.
 Implicit bias, microaggressions, and macroaggressions all have negative
consequences for minoritized members of society, and psychologists are working to
provide recommendations for those targeted, as well as for supportive allies, for how
to respond to them.
 Causal attribution is the process of trying to determine the causes of people’s behavior
with the goal of learning about their personalities. People often succumb to biases when
making attributions, such as the self-serving bias and the fundamental attribution error.
 Attitudes refer to our relatively enduring evaluations of people and things.
Although attitudes predict behaviors, behaviors also predict attitudes. This occurs
through the processes of self-perception and cognitive dissonance.

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Exercises and Critical Thinking

1. What stereotypes and prejudices do you hold? Are you able to get past them and judge
people as individuals? Do you think that your stereotypes influence your behavior
without your being aware of them?
2. Watch this video and evaluate the use of this technique to increase the awareness of
prejudice and discrimination.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/divided/etc/view.html
3. Consider a time when your behavior influenced your attitudes. Did this occur as a result of
self-perception or cognitive dissonance?

Videos and Activities

1. Cognitive neuroscientist Rebecca discusses how we form judgments about other people.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/rebecca_saxe_how_brains_make_moral_judgmen
ts.html
2. You might want to test your own stereotypes and prejudices by completing the Implicit
Association Test, a measure of unconscious stereotyping.
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo

Social Influences

Learning Objectives

1. Define social roles and social norms and explain how they influence behavior.
2. Describe the findings and controversies of Zimbardo’s Prison Experiment.
3. Define persuasion and describe the two routes to persuasion.
4. Describe the persuasion techniques of foot-in-the-door, door-in-the-face, low-ball,
and that’s-not-all.
5. Define conformity and distinguish between normative and informational conformity.
6. Explain the situations under which people conform to others and their motivations
for doing so.
7. Describe Milgram’s experiment on obedience and explain when obedience was
reduced.
8. Describe how the presence of others affects one’s performance.
9. Describe the problems that can occur when working in groups.
10. Review the factors that can improve the effectiveness of groups.

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Social Roles: One major social determinant of human
Figure 9.9
behavior is our social roles. A social role is a pattern of
behavior that is expected of a person in a given setting or
group (Hare, 2003). Each one of us has several social
roles. You may be, at the same time, a student, a parent,
an aspiring teacher, a son or daughter, or a friend. How
do these social roles influence your behavior? Social
roles are defined by culturally shared knowledge. That is,
nearly everyone in a given culture knows what behavior
is expected of a person in a given role. For example, what
is the social role for a student? If you look around a
college classroom you will likely see students engaging Being a student is just one of the many
social roles you have. (credit: “University
in studious behavior, taking notes, listening to the
of Michigan MSIS”/Flickr)
professor, reading the textbook, and sitting quietly at
their desks (Figure 9.7). Of course, you may see students
deviating from the expected studious behavior such as texting on their phones or using Facebook
on their laptops, but in all cases, the students that you observe are attending class, a part of the
social role of students.

Social roles, and our related behavior, can vary across different settings. How do you behave when
you are engaging in the role of son or daughter and attending a family function? Now imagine how
you behave when you are engaged in the role of employee at your workplace. It is very likely that
your behavior will be different. Perhaps you are more relaxed and outgoing with your family,
making jokes and doing silly things. At your workplace you might speak more professionally, and
although you may be friendly, you are also serious and focused on getting the work completed.
These are examples of how our social roles influence and often dictate our behavior to the extent
that identity and personality can vary with context, that is, in different social groups, (Malloy et
al., 1997).

Social Norms: As discussed previously, social roles are defined by a culture’s shared knowledge
of what is expected behavior of an individual in a specific role. This shared knowledge comes from
social norms. A social norm is a group’s expectation of what is appropriate and acceptable
behavior for its members; that is, how they are supposed to behave and think (Deutsch & Gerard,
1955; Berkowitz, 2004). How are we expected to act? What are we expected to talk about? What
are we expected to wear? In our discussion of social roles, we noted that colleges have social
norms for students’ behavior in the role of student and workplaces have social norms for
employees’ behaviors in the role of employee. Social norms are everywhere including in families,
gangs, and on social media outlets.

Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment: The famous Stanford University prison experiment,
conducted by Zimbardo and colleagues, investigated the power of social roles and social norms. In
the summer of 1971, an advertisement was placed in a California newspaper asking for male
volunteers to participate in a study about the psychological effects of prison life. More than 70 men
volunteered, and these volunteers then underwent psychological testing to eliminate candidates
who had underlying psychiatric issues, medical issues, or a history of crime or drug abuse. The
pool of volunteers was whittled down to 24 healthy male college students. Each student was paid
$15 per day and was randomly assigned to play the role of either a prisoner or a guard in the study.

310
A mock prison was constructed in the basement of the psychology building at Stanford.
Participants assigned to play the role of prisoners were “arrested” at their homes by Palo Alto
police officers, booked at a police station, and subsequently taken to the mock prison. The
experiment was scheduled to run for several weeks. To the surprise of the researchers, both the
“prisoners” and “guards” assumed their roles with zeal. In fact, on day 2, some of the prisoners
revolted, and the guards quelled the rebellion by threatening the prisoners with night sticks. In a
relatively short time, the guards came to harass the prisoners in an increasingly sadistic manner,
through a complete lack of privacy, lack of basic comforts, such as mattresses to sleep on, and
through degrading chores and late-night counts.

The prisoners, in turn, began to show signs of severe anxiety and hopelessness, and they began
tolerating the guards’ abuse. Even the Stanford professor who designed the study and was the head
researcher, Philip Zimbardo, found himself acting as if the prison was real and his role, as prison
supervisor, was real as well. After only six days, the experiment had to be ended due to the
participants’ deteriorating behavior.

The Stanford prison experiment sought to demonstrate the power of social roles and norms in
affecting human behavior. The guards and prisoners enacted their social roles by engaging in
behaviors appropriate to the roles: The guards gave orders and the prisoners followed orders.
Social norms require guards to be authoritarian and prisoners to be submissive. When prisoners
rebelled, they violated these social norms, which led to upheaval. Some prisoners became so
immersed in their roles that they exhibited symptoms of mental breakdown; however, according to
Zimbardo, none of the participants suffered long term harm (Alexander, 2001).

Recently, both the methodology and results of the Stanford Prison Experiment have been criticized
(Toppo, 2018). New interviews with the participants indicated that they deliberately acted in ways
that supported the hypothesis, rather than actually taking on a social role. For example, one
“prisoner” indicated he faked having a mental breakdown so that he could go home and study for
the Graduate Record Examination. Similarly, a “guard” stated he deliberately behaved in an
outrageous way to see how far he could go before someone intervened. Consequently, like all
research, both the methodology and findings need to be
Figure 9.10 critically analyzed and the results replicated before the
results can be taken as proof.

The Stanford Prison Experiment has some parallels with

the abuse of prisoners of war by U.S. Army troops and
CIA personnel at the Abu Ghraib prison in 2003 and
2004. The offenses at Abu Ghraib were documented by
photographs of the abuse, some taken by the abusers
themselves (Figure 9.10). Zimbardo testified on behalf
of one of the U. S. guards and stated, “It’s imperative for
our society to acknowledge how situational forces can
corrupt even good people into becoming perpetrators of
Iraqi prisoners of war were abused by their evil. It is essential that all of us learn to recognize the
American captors in Abu Ghraib prison, during situational and systemic determinants of antisocial
the second Iraq war. (credit: United States
Department of Defense)
behaviors” (Zimbardo, 2015, p. 25). However, not all
military personnel were abusive, and in fact, it was an

311
army reservist who blew the whistle on what occurred in the Abu Ghraib prison. It may be that
both personality characteristics and the situation result in abusive behavior (Toppo, 2018).

Persuasion

In the previous section we discussed that the motivation to reduce cognitive dissonance leads us to
change our attitudes, behaviors, and/or cognitions to make them consistent. Persuasion is the
process by which a message results in a change in our attitudes or behavior. How do people
convince others to change their attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors? What communications do you
receive that attempt to persuade you to change your attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors?

Elaboration Likelihood Model: A model that describes the dynamics of persuasion is the
elaboration likelihood model that considers the variables of the attitude change including
features of the source, the message, and characteristics of the audience, to determine when attitude
change will occur (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986). According to this model, there are two main routes
that play a role in delivering a persuasive message: Central and peripheral (Figure 9.11).

Figure 9.11

Persuasion can take one of two paths, and the durability of the end result depends on the path.

The central route is logic driven and uses data and facts to convince people of an argument’s
worthiness. For example, a car company seeking to persuade you to purchase their model will
emphasize the car’s safety features and fuel economy. This is a direct route to persuasion that
focuses on the quality of the information. In order for the central route of persuasion to be effective
in changing attitudes, thoughts, and behaviors, the argument must be strong and, if successful, will
result in lasting attitude change.

The central route to persuasion works best when the target of persuasion, or the audience, is
analytical and willing to engage in processing of the information. From an advertiser’s perspective,
what products would be best sold using the central route to persuasion? What audience would most
likely be influenced to buy the product? One example is buying a computer. It is likely, for
example, that small business owners might be especially influenced by the focus on the computer’s
quality and features such as processing speed and memory capacity.

312
The peripheral route is an indirect route that uses peripheral cues to associate positivity with the
message (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986). Instead of focusing on the facts and a product’s quality, the
peripheral route relies on association with positive characteristics, such as, positive emotions and
celebrity endorsement. This route to attitude change does not require much effort or information
processing. This method of persuasion may promote positivity toward the message or product, but
it typically results in less permanent attitude or behavior change. The audience does not need to be
analytical or motivated to process the message. In fact, a peripheral route to persuasion may not
even be noticed by people, for example, in the strategy of product placement in films and stores.

Common Persuasion Techniques

Foot-in-the-door Technique:
Figure 9.12
One effective strategy is the
foot-in-the-door technique,
the persuader gets a person to
agree to bestow a small favor
or to buy a small item, only to
later request a larger favor or
purchase of a bigger item
(Cialdini, 2001; Pliner et al.,
1974). The foot-in-the-door
technique was demonstrated
in a study by Freedman and With the foot-in-the-door technique, a small request such as (a)
Fraser (1966) in which wearing a campaign button can turn into a large request, such as
participants who initially (b) putting campaigns signs in your yard.
(credit a: modification of work by Joe Crawford; credit b: modification
agreed to post small signs in
of work by "shutterblog"/Flickr)
their windows stating, “Be a
safe driver” were more likely
to agree to put a large, ugly sign in their yard stating, “Drive carefully” than people who had not
been approached initially to put up the small sign. More than 100 studies have shown that when
people initially commit themselves to a behavior they feel of their own doing, they are more likely
to commit to a larger request later (Myers & Twenge, 2017).

Research on this technique also illustrates the principle of consistency (Cialdini, 2001): Our past
behavior often directs our future behavior, and we have a desire to maintain consistency once we
have a committed to a behavior. Guéguen and Jacob (2002) found that students in a computer
discussion group were more likely to volunteer to complete a 40-question survey on their food
habits (which required 15 to 20 minutes) if they had already, a few minutes earlier, agreed to help
the same requestor with a simple computer-related question (how to convert a file type) than if
they had not first been given the smaller opportunity to help. The idea is that when asked the
second time, the people looked at their past behavior, having agreed to the small request, and
inferred that they are helpful people and they desire to remain consistent.

Door-in-the-face Technique: In the door-in-the-face technique a large, unreasonable request is

made, which is it turned down; this is followed by a smaller more reasonable request. People are
more likely to agree to the second request when it is placed in the context of the more unreasonable
request, than if they had been asked to the smaller request at the outset. The success of this
313
technique may be related to the reciprocity social norm, the rule that we should payback in kind
what we receive from others (Cialdini, 2008). The person asking for our support or assistance,
appears to have made a concession by forgoing their initial request, for a much smaller one. As a
result, we feel compelled to reciprocate and agree to the smaller request (Cialdini, 1993). A
common application of foot-in-the-door is when teens ask their parents for a large request
(attending an out-of-town concert) and then when the permission is denied, asking them for
something smaller (attending a local concert). Having denied the larger request, increases the
likelihood that parents will acquiesce with the later, smaller request.

Low-ball Technique: In the low-ball technique,

Figure 9.13 compliance is gained by getting people to agree to an
attractive, less costly request, and then reneging on it.
Cialdini (1993) noted that this is a technique
sometimes used by sales people. An attractive price is
quoted for a car or appliance that the buyer has
verbally agreed upon, only for the salesperson to
come back and say they misquoted the price, or it was
for a different model with fewer of the features that
the buyer desired. A higher price is now quoted for
Source
the desired product. Research shows that people are
more likely to comply and buy the product at the higher price than if they had been quoted this
price at the outset. Cialdini argues that many of us feel obligated to act consistent with our initial
decision.

That’s-not-all Technique: The that’s-not-all technique gains

compliance by sweetening the deal before the person can respond Figure 9.14
to the initial request. Berger (1986) demonstrated the power of this
technique in two experiments. In the first experiment cupcakes
were sold with two cookies for 75 cents (the control condition) or
the cupcakes were sold for 75 cents with two cookies thrown in for
free (experimental condition). More people purchased the
cupcakes in the experimental condition (73%) than in the control
condition (40%). In the second experiment, cupcakes were sold
for 75 cents (control condition) or were initially quoted as a dollar,
but were then discounted to 75 cents before the buyer could Source
respond to the initial price (experimental condition). Compliance
was higher in the experimental condition (73%) versus (44%) in the control condition. Burger
suggested that the success of the technique is reciprocity. The seller looks like they are making a
concession by adding more products or by reducing the price, so the buyer feels more pressure to
reciprocate. Table 9.1 presents additional techniques that can be used to persuade others (Cialdini,
2001).

314
Table 9.1 Techniques That Can Be Effective in Persuading Others

Technique Examples

Choose effective Communicators who are attractive, expert, trustworthy, and similar to the
communicators listener are most persuasive.

Consider the goals of the If the listener wants to be entertained, then it is better to use a humorous
listener ad; if the listener is processing the ad more carefully, use a more
thoughtful one.
Use humor People are more easily persuaded when they are in a good mood.

Use classical conditioning Try to associate your product with positive stimuli, such as funny jokes or
attractive models.

Make use of the listener’s Humorous and fear-arousing ads can be effective because they arouse the
emotions listener’s emotions.

Conformity

When we decide on what courses to enroll in by asking for advice from our friends, change our
beliefs or behaviors as a result of the ideas that we hear from others, or binge drink because our
friends are doing it, we are engaging in conformity, a change in beliefs or behavior that occurs as
the result of the presence of the other people around us. We conform because of:
 Informational Conformity: We believe that other people have accurate information
and we want to have knowledge.
 Normative Conformity: We want to be liked by others.

At times conformity occurs in a relatively spontaneous and unconscious way, without any obvious
intent of one person to change the other, or an awareness that the conformity is occurring. Cialdini,
et al. (1990) found that college students were more likely to throw litter on the ground themselves
when they had just seen another person throw some paper on the ground, and Cheng and Chartrand
(2003) found that people unconsciously mimicked the behaviors of others, such as by rubbing their
face or shaking their foot, and that that mimicry was greater when the other person was of high
versus low social status.

Figure 9.15 Asch’s Line Experiment: Not all conformity is passive

observation. In Asch’s (1955) study, male college students
were told that they were to participate in a test of visual
abilities. The men were seated in front of a board that
displayed the visual stimuli that they were going to judge.
The men were told that there would be 18 trials during the
experiment, and on each trial, they would see two cards. The
standard card had a single line that was to be judged, and the
test card had three lines that varied in length between about
2 and 10 inches (see Figure 9.15 for an example).
Example of the stimuli used in
Asch’s study.

315
On each trial, each person in the group answered out loud, beginning with one end of the group and
moving toward the other end. Although the real research participant did not know it, the other
group members were experimental confederates who gave predetermined answers on each trial.
Because the real participant was seated next to last in the row, he always made his judgment
following most of the other group members. Although on the first two trials the confederates each
gave the correct answer, on the third trial, and on 11 of the subsequent trials, they all had been
instructed to give the same wrong choice. For instance, even though the correct answer was Line 1,
they would all say it was Line 2. Thus, when it became the participant’s turn to answer, he could
either give the clearly correct answer or conform to the incorrect responses of the confederates.

Remarkably, in this study about 76% of the 123 men who were tested gave at least one incorrect
response when it was their turn, and 37% of the responses, overall, were conforming. This is
evidence for the power of conformity because the participants were making clearly incorrect
responses in public, and the influences of others on these responses was apparent. However,
conformity was not absolute; in addition to the 24% of the men who never conformed, only 5% of
the men conformed on all 12 of the critical trials.

Obedience

The tendency to conform to those in authority, known as obedience, was demonstrated in a

remarkable set of studies performed by Stanley Milgram (1974). Milgram designed a study in
which he could observe the extent to which people would obey someone in authority, even to the
extent of causing harm to others. Milgram’s interest stemmed in part from his desire to understand
the Holocaust during World War II. Specifically, how did everyday German citizens commit such
atrocities against other citizens in their own country. Did obedience to authority play a role in the
actions of the German people?

Milgram’s Study: Milgram used newspaper ads to recruit men, and in one study, women, from a
wide variety of backgrounds to participate in his research. When the research participant arrived at
the lab, they were introduced to another research participant, but he was a confederate working for
the experimenter as part of the experimental team. The experimenter explained that the goal of the
research was to study the effects of punishment on learning. The researcher explained that one of
them would be the “teacher”, and the other the “learner”. The real research subject was always
assigned to the role of “teacher”.

The experimenter explained that the participant’s job would be to sit in the control room and read a
list of word pairs to the “learner”. After the participant read the list once, it would be the
“learner’s” job to remember which words went together. The experimenter sat behind the
participant and explained that each time the “learner” made a mistake, the participant was to press
one of the switches to administer the shock. Moreover, the switch that was to be pressed increased
by one level with each mistake, so that each mistake required a stronger shock (see Figure 9.16).

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 Figure 9.16 Materials Used in Once the “learner” was alone in the shock
Milgram’s Experiments on Obedience room, he brought out a tape recorder that
played a prerecorded series of responses
that the particpant could hear through the
wall of the room. The particiapant heard
the “learner” say “ugh!” after the first few
shocks. After the next few mistakes, when
the shock level reached 150 volts, the
“learner” was heard to exclaim, “Let me
out of here. I have heart trouble!” As the
shock reached about 270 volts, the protests
of the “learner” became more vehement,
and after 300 volts the “learner”
proclaimed that he was not going to
answer any more questions. From 330
volts and up, the “learner” was silent. At
this point the experimenter responded to
participants’ questions, if any, with a
Source: Adapted from Milgram (1974). scripted response indicating that they
should continue reading the questions and
applying increasing shock when the “learner” did not respond.

The results of Milgram’s research were themselves quite shocking. Although all the participants
gave the initial mild levels of shock, responses varied after that. Some refused to continue after
about 150 volts, despite the insistence of the experimenter to continue to increase the shock level.
Still others, however, continued to present the questions and to administer the shocks, under the
pressure of the experimenter, who demanded that they continue. In the end, 65% of the participants
continued giving the shock to the “learner” all the way up to the 450 volts maximum, even though
that shock was marked as “danger: severe shock” and no response had been heard from the
participant for several trials.

In case you are thinking that such high levels of obedience would not be observed in today’s
modern culture, there is in fact evidence that they would. Milgram’s findings were almost exactly
replicated, using men and women from a wide variety of ethnic groups, in a study conducted at
Santa Clara University (Burger, 2009). In this replication of the Milgram experiment, 67% of the
men and 73% of the women agreed to administer increasingly painful electric shocks when an
authority figure ordered them to. The participants in this study were not, however, allowed to go
beyond the 150 volts shock switch.

Although it might be tempting to conclude that Burger’s and Milgram’s experiments demonstrate
that people are innately bad creatures who are ready to shock others to death, this is not in fact the
case. Rather, it is the social situation, and not the people themselves, that is responsible for the
behavior. When Milgram created variations on his original procedure, he found that changes in the
situation dramatically influenced the amount of obedience.

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Obedience was significantly reduced when:

 People were allowed to choose their own shock level rather than being ordered to use
the level required by the experimenter.
 The experimenter communicated by phone rather than from within the experimental room.
 Research participants were partnered with someone who refused to give the shock.
 When there were two experimenters who disagreed with each other about
whether the study should continue.
 When the “learner” was sitting right next to the participant.

These findings are consistent with a basic principle of social psychology: The situation in which
people find themselves has a major influence on their behavior.

Do We Always Conform and Obey?

The research that we have discussed to this point Figure 9.17

suggests that most people conform to the opinions and
desires of others, but it is not always the case that we
blindly conform. For one, there are individual
differences in conformity. People with lower self-esteem
are more likely to conform than are those with higher
self-esteem, and people who are dependent on and who
have a strong need for approval from others are also
more conforming (Bornstein, 1993). People who highly
identify with or who have a high degree of commitment
to a group are also more likely to conform to group
norms than those who care less about the group (Jetten
et al., 1997). Despite these individual differences among
people in terms of their tendency to conform, however,
research has generally found that the impact of
Source
individual difference variables on conformity is smaller
than the influence of situational variables, such as the
number and unanimity of the majority.

Minority Influence: We have seen that conformity usually occurs such that the opinions and
behaviors of individuals become more similar to the opinions and behaviors of the majority of the
people in the group. However, and although it is much more unusual, there are cases in which a
smaller number of individuals is able to influence the opinions or behaviors of the larger group, a
phenomenon known as minority influence. Minorities who are consistent and confident in their
opinions may in some cases be persuasive (Moscovici et al., 1985).

Persuasion that comes from minorities has another, and potentially even more important, effect on
the opinions of majority group members: It can lead majorities to engage in fuller, as well as more
divergent, innovative, and creative thinking about the topics being discussed (Martin et al., 2008).
Nemeth and Kwan (1987) found that participants working together in groups solved problems more
creatively when only one person gave a different and unusual response that the other members did

318
(minority influence) in comparison to when three people gave the same unusual response. It is a
good thing that alternative views can be influential. When we look back on history, we find that it
is the unusual, divergent, innovative individuals, who although frequently ridiculed at the time for
their unusual ideas, end up being respected for producing positive changes.

Psychological Reactance: When people feel that their freedom is being threatened by influence
attempts, they have the ability to resist that persuasion. They may develop a strong emotional
reaction that leads people to resist pressures to conform known as psychological reactance
(Miron & Brehm, 2006). Reactance is aroused when our ability to choose which behaviors to
engage in is removed or threatened with possible elimination. The outcome of the experience of
reactance is that people may not conform at all, in fact moving their opinions or behaviors away
from the desires of the influencer. Consider an experiment conducted by Pennebaker and Sanders
(1976), who attempted to get people to stop writing graffiti on the walls of campus restrooms. In
the first group of restrooms they put a sign that read “Do not write on these walls under any
circumstances!” whereas in the second group they placed a sign that simply said, “Please don’t
write on these walls.” Two weeks later, the researchers returned to the restrooms to see if the signs
had made a difference. They found that there was significantly less graffiti in the second group of
restrooms than in the first one. It seems as if people who were given strong pressures to not engage
in the behavior were more likely to react against those directives than were people given a weaker
message.

Social Facilitation and Social Inhibition

Figure 9.18 Drive-Arousal Model In an early study, Triplett (1898) found that bicycle
racers who were competing with other cyclists on the
same track rode significantly faster than cyclists who
were racing alone. This led Triplett to hypothesize that
people perform tasks better when other people are
present than when one is alone. Subsequent findings
validated Triplett’s results, and experiments have shown
that the presence of others can increase performance on
many types of tasks, including jogging, shooting pool,
lifting weights, and solving problems (Bond & Titus,
1983). The tendency to perform tasks better or faster in
the presence of others is known as social facilitation.

However, although people sometimes perform better

when they are in groups than they do alone, the situation
is not that simple. Perhaps you remember an experience
when you performed a task (playing the piano, shooting
basketball free throws, giving a public presentation) very
well alone, but poorly with, or in front of, others. Thus,
it seems that the conclusion that being with others
increases performance cannot be entirely true. The
tendency to perform tasks more poorly or more slowly in
the presence of others is known as social inhibition.

319
Zajonc (1965) explained the observed influence of others on task performance using the concept of
physiological arousal. According to Zajonc, when we are with others we experience more arousal
than we do when we are alone, and this arousal increases the likelihood that we will perform the
action that we are most likely to emit in any given situation (Figure 9.18). For relatively easy tasks,
the arousal caused by others results in increased performance (social facilitation). In contrast, for
difficult tasks, the arousal created by others hinders performance (social inhibition).

A great deal of experimental research has now confirmed these predictions. A meta-analysis by
Bond and Titus (1983), which looked at the results of over 200 studies using over 20,000 research
participants, found that the presence of others significantly increased the rate of performing on
simple tasks, and also decreased both rate and quality of performance on complex tasks.

Working Together in Groups

The ability of a group to perform well is determined by the characteristics of the group members
(e.g., are they knowledgeable and skilled?) as well as by the group process; that is, the events that
occur while the group is working on the task. When the outcome of group performance is better
than we would expect given the individuals who form the group, we call the outcome a group
process gain, and when the group outcome is worse than we would have expected given the
individuals who form the group, we call the outcome a group process loss. Examples of group
process loss include group polarization, social loafing, groupthink, and deindividuation.

Group Polarization: Groups can reach more extreme decisions, either extremely cautious or
extremely risky, even when compared to an individual’s decision. This is called Group
polarization, which refers to the strengthening of a group’s prevailing position on a topic
following discussion on the topic. When like-minded people discuss a topic, group members’
opinions are strengthened because they are not hearing opposing views. This may lead some
groups to endorse a more extreme argument. Group polarization has been observered in real-world
contexts, including financial decision making in corporate boardrooms (Cheng & Chiou, 2008;
Zhu, 2010), extreme positions of terrorist groups (Drummond, 2002; McCauley, 1989), and the
recent polarization in political attitudes between “red” states and “blue” states in the United States
(Jhangiani & Tarry, 2014).

Social Loafing: One group process loss that

Figure 9.19 may occur in groups is that the group
members may engage in social loafing, a
group process loss that occurs when people
do not work as hard in a group as they do
when they are working alone. In one of the
earliest social psychology experiments,
Ringelmann (1913; reported in Kravitz &
Martin, 1986) had individual men, as well as
groups of various numbers of men pull as
Are they working as hard as if they were alone? hard as they could on ropes while he
Source measured the maximum amount that they
were able to pull. Although larger groups
pulled harder than any one individual, Ringelmann also found a substantial process loss. In fact,
320
the loss was so large that groups of three men pulled at only 85% of their expected capability,
whereas groups of eight pulled at only 37% of their expected capability. This type of process loss,
in which group productivity decreases as the size of the group increases, has been found to occur
on a wide variety of tasks.

Groupthink: Group process losses

can also occur when group members Figure 9.20 Causes of Groupthink
conform to each other rather than
expressing their own divergent ideas.
Groupthink is a phenomenon that
occurs when a group, made up of
competent members capable of
making excellent decisions, actually
make poor decisions because of
flawed group processes and strong
conformity pressures (Baron, 2005;
Janis, 2007).

Groupthink is more likely to occur in

groups whose members feel a strong
group identity, when there is a strong
and directive leader, and when the
group needs to make an important
decision quickly. The problem is that
groups suffering from groupthink
become unwilling to seek out or
discuss discrepant or unsettling
information, and the group members
do not express contradictory
opinions. Because group members are
afraid to express opinions that
contradict the leader, or bring in
outside information, the group is
prevented from making fully
informed decisions. Figure 9.20
summarizes the basic causes of
groupthink.

It has been suggested that groupthink was involved in many well-known and important, but very
poor decisions, made by government and business groups, including invasion of Iraq made by
President Bush and his advisors in 2002, two Space Shuttle mission crashes in 1986 and 2003, and
the decision of President Kennedy and his advisors to invade Cuba and overthrow Fidel Castro in
1962 (Dattner, 2011). Analyses of the decision-making processes in these cases have documented
the role of groupthink. Due to the high levels of conformity, the group begins to see itself as
extremely important, highly capable of making quality decisions, and invulnerable to making
mistakes. The group members begin to feel that they were superior and did not seek outside
information. Such a situation is conducive to terrible decision-making and resulting fiascoes.
321
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Forsyth (2020) identified group think as an explanation for why
some people did not follow public health directives to wear masks, socially distance themselves,
shelter at home, and get vaccinated. Group level processes, including group cohesiveness,
isolation, and pressure to conform, were in evidence within antiquarantine groups that protested
medical and legal directives. According to Forsyth, members of these groups shared a common
social identity and strove to act, think, and feel in ways that reflected the group. Many also isolated
themselves from exposure to facts and data held by those outside of the group, thus strengthening
their own beliefs.

Deindividuation: Whether we are waiting for a bus with a group of strangers, sports fans leaving
an arena, or are with colleagues, family, or friends, we can lose our own personal sense of identity
and responsibility when we are part of a group. When the “group mind” becomes one of “mob
behavior” deindividuation may be to blame. Deindividuation refers to the loss of a person’s sense
of individuality and a reduction in the usual social constraints on our behavior. When a part of a
larger group we are more anonymous and the actions of the group are diffused across all members
of the group.

Using Groups Effectively

Taken together, working in groups has both positive and negative outcomes. On the positive side, it
makes sense to use groups to make decisions because people can create outcomes working together
that any one individual could not hope to accomplish alone. In addition, once a group makes a
decision, the group will normally find it easier to get other people to implement it, because many
people feel that decisions made by groups are fairer than are those made by individuals.

Figure 9.21 Yet, groups frequently succumb to

process losses, leading them to be
less effective than they should be.
Furthermore, group members often
do not realize that the process losses
are occurring around them. For
instance, people who participate in
brainstorming groups report that they
have been more productive than those
Working groups are used to perform tasks and make decisions, who work alone, even if the group
but are they effective? © Thinkstock has not done that well (Nijstad et al.,
2006; Stroebe et al., 1992). The
tendency for group members to overvalue the productivity of the groups they work in is known as
the illusion of group productivity, and it seems to occur for several reasons. For one, the
productivity of the group as a whole is highly accessible, and this productivity generally seems
quite good, at least in comparison to the contributions of single individuals. The group members
hear many ideas expressed by themselves and the other group members, and this gives the
impression that the group is doing very well, even if objectively it is not. On the affective side,
group members receive a lot of positive social identity from their group memberships. These
positive feelings naturally lead them to believe that the group is strong and performing well.

322
What we need to do, then, is to recognize both the strengths and limitations of group performance
and use whatever techniques we can to increase process gains and reduce process losses. Table 9.2
presents some techniques that are known to help groups achieve their goals.

Table 9.2 Techniques That Can Be Used to Improve Group Performance

Techniques Examples
Rewarding employees and team members with bonuses will increase their effort toward
Provide rewards for
the group goal. People will also work harder in groups when they feel that they are
performance contributing to the group goal than when they feel that their contributions are not
important (Fareed, Abidan, Shahzad, Umm-e-Amen, & Lodhi, 2013).

Keep group member Group members will work harder if they feel that their contributions to the group
contributions identifiable are known and potentially seen positively by the other group members than they
will if their contributions are summed into the group total and thus unknown
(Szymanski & Harkins, 1987).

Maintain distributive Workers who feel that their rewards are proportional to their efforts in the group
justice (equity) will be happier and work harder than will workers who feel that they are underpaid
or not recognized (Geurts, Buunk, & Schaufeli, 1994).

Keep groups small Larger groups are more likely to suffer from coordination problems and social
loafing. The most effective working groups are of relatively small size—about four
or five members (Wheelan, 2009).

Create positive group Group performance is increased when the group members care about the ability of
norms the group to do a good job (e.g., a cohesive sports or military team). On the other
hand, some groups develop norms that prohibit members from working to their full
potential and thus encourage loafing (Høigaard, Säfvenbom, & Tønnessen, 2006).

Improve information Leaders must work to be sure that each member of the group is encouraged to
sharing present the information that they have in group discussions. One approach to
increasing full discussion of the issues is to have the group break up into smaller
subgroups for discussion. (Mesmer-Magnus & DeChurch, 2009).

Allow plenty of time Groups take longer to reach consensus, and allowing plenty of time will help keep
the group from coming to premature consensus and making an unwise choice.
Time to consider the issues fully also allows the group to gain new knowledge by
seeking information and analysis from outside experts (Kelly & Loving, 2004).

Set specific and attainable Groups that set specific, difficult, yet attainable goals (e.g., “improve sales by 10%
goals over the next 6 months”) are more effective than groups that are given goals that
are not very clear (e.g., “let’s sell as much as we can!”) (Locke & Latham, 2006).

323
Key Takeaways

 Social roles and social norms influence us because they set expectations regarding how
we are to behave in given situtations. Zimbardo’s prison study attempted to demonstrate
the power of social roles.
 Persuasion is the process by which a message results in a change in our attitudes or
behavior. According to the elaboration likelihood model, persuasion can be obtained
through either a central or peripheral route. Several persuasive techniques use either a
desire for consistency or the reprocity norm.
 Conformity, the change in beliefs or behavior that occurs as the result of the presence of
the other people around us, can occur in both active and passive ways. The typical
outcome of conformity is that our beliefs and behaviors become more similar to those of
others around us.
 The important research on conformity and obedience was demonstrated by Asch and
Milgram.
 Conformity can be affected by minority influence and psychological reactance.
 The tendency to perform tasks better or faster in the presence of others is known as social
facilitation. The tendency to perform tasks more poorly or more slowly in the presence of
others is known as social inhibition.
 The performance of working groups is almost never as good as we would expect, given
the number of individuals in the group, and in some cases may even be inferior to the
performance of one or more members of the group working alone.
 Group process losses may occur in groups when the group members engage in group
polarization, social loafing, groupthink, and deindividuation.
 It is important to recognize both the strengths and limitations of group performance and
use whatever techniques we can to increase process gains and reduce process losses.


Exercise and Critical Thinking

1. Consider a time when you worked together with others in a group. Do you think the group
experienced group process gains or group process losses? If the latter, what might you do
now in a group to encourage effective group performance?

Videos and Activities

1. Watch this video to see a demonstration of Asch’s line studies.
http://www.youtube.com/v/iRh5qy09nNw

324
Social Relationships
Learning Objectives

1. Describe how similarity, self-disclosure, and proximity influence the development of

close relationships.
2. Define altruism and summarize the genetic and environmental factors that contribute to
altruism.
3. Explain the bystander effect.
4. Provide an overview of the causes of human aggression.

In this section, we examine how we relate to each other, what attracts us to each other, the
behaviors of aggression and altruism, and the factors that lead to these social behaviors.

Close Relationships

One of the most important tasks faced by humans is to develop successful relationships with others.
These relationships include acquaintanceships and friendships, but also close relationships, which
are the long-term intimate relationships that we develop with another person (Hendrick & Hendrick,
2000). It is useful to know what psychologists have learned about the principles of liking and
loving.

Similarity: A major interest of social psychologists is the study of

Figure 9.22
interpersonal attraction, or what makes people like, and even love, each
other. One important factor isperceived similarity or resemblance in
values and beliefs between the partners (Davis & Rusbult, 2001).
Similarity is important for relationships because it is more convenient.
It is easier if both partners like to ski or go to the movies than if only
one does. In addition, because similarity supports our values, we can
feel better about ourselves and choice of activities if we see that others
also enjoy doing the same things. Having others like and believe in the
same things we do makes us feel validated in our beliefs. This is
referred to as consensual validation, and it is an important aspect of
why we are attracted to others.
Birds of a feather flock
together.
Self-Disclosure: Liking is also enhanced by self-disclosure, the Source:

tendency to communicate frequently, without fear of reprisal, and in an accepting and empathetic
manner. Friends are our friends because we can talk to them openly about our needs and goals and
because they listen to and respond to our needs (Reis & Aron, 2008). However, self-disclosure
must be balanced. If we open up to our friends about the concerns that are important to us, we
expect them to do the same in return. If the self-disclosure is not reciprocal, the relationship may not
last.

325
Proximity: Another important determinant of liking is proximity, or the extent to which people are
physically near us. Research has found that we are more likely to develop friendships with people
who are nearby, for instance, those who live in the same dorm that we do, and even with people
who just happen to sit nearer to us in our classes (Back et al., 2008).

Proximity has its effect on liking through the principle of mere exposure, which is the tendency to
prefer stimuli (including but not limited to people) that we have seen more frequently. The effect of
mere exposure is powerful and occurs in a wide variety of situations. Infants tend to smile at a
photograph of someone they have seen before more than they smile at a photograph of someone
they are seeing for the first time (Brooks-Gunn & Lewis, 1981), and people prefer side-to-side
reversed images of their own faces over their normal (nonreversed) face, whereas their friends
prefer their normal face over the reversed one (Mita et al., 1977). This is expected on the basis of
mere exposure, since people see their own faces primarily in mirrors, and thus are exposed to the
reversed face more often.

Mere exposure may well have an evolutionary basis. We have an initial fear of the unknown, but
as things become more familiar they seem more similar and safer, and thus produce more positive
affect and seem less threatening and dangerous (Harmon-Jones & Allen, 2001; Freitas et al.,
2005). When the stimuli are people, there may well be an added effect. Familiar people become
more likely to be seen as part of the ingroup rather than the outgroup, and this may lead us to like
them more. Zebrowitz and colleagues found that we like people of our own race in part because
they are perceived as similar to us (Zebrowitz et al., 2007)

Helping Others: Altruism

Altruism refers to any behavior that is designed to Figure 9.23

increase another person’s welfare, and
particularly those actions that do not seem to
provide a direct reward to the person who
performs them (Dovidio et al., 2006). Altruism
occurs when we stop to help a stranger who has
been stranded on the highway, when we volunteer
at a homeless shelter, or when we donate to a
charity. Twenty-five percent of Americans (63
million) contributed almost $193 billion in value
by volunteering in 2016. In addition, in that same
year Americans donated $360 billion to charities,
an increase of 2.7 percent over 2015
(Independentsector.org, 2018). We help in part to make ourselves feel good, but
also because we care about the welfare of others.
Why Are We Altruistic? © Thinkstock

Because altruism is costly, you might wonder why we engage in it at all. There are a variety of
explanations for the occurrence of altruism, and Table 9.3 summarizes some of the variables that
are known to increase helping.

326
 Table 9.3 Variables Known to Increase Helping

Variables Research Results

Positive Moods We help more when we are in a good mood (Guéguen & De Gail, 2003).
Time We are more likely to help when we have plenty of time than when we are in a
hurry (Darley & Batson 1973).
Similarity We help people whom we see as similar to us, for instance, those who mimic our
behaviors (van Baaren, Holland, Kawakami, & van Knippenberg, 2004).

Guilt If we are experiencing guilt, we may help in order to relieve those negative feelings
(Malti et al., 2016).
Empathy We help more when we feel empathy for the other person (Batson et al., 1983).

Benefits We are more likely to help if we can feel good about ourselves by doing so (Snyder,
Omoto, & Lindsay, 2004). When we act altruistically, we gain a reputation as a
person with high status who is able and willing to help others, and this status makes
us more desirable in the eyes of others (Hardy & Van Vugt, 2006).

Personal We are more likely to help if it is clear that others are not helping (Rogers et al.,
Responsibility 1982).
Self-presentation We may help in order to show others that we are good people (Hardy & Van Vugt,
2006).

The tendency to help others in need is, in part, a functional evolutionary adaptation. Although
helping others can be costly to us as individuals, helping people who are related to us can
perpetuate our own genes (Madsen et al., 2007; McAndrew, 2002). Burnstein, Crandall, and
Kitayama (1994) found that students indicated they would be more likely to help a person who
was closely related to them (e.g., a sibling, parent, or child) than they would be to help a person
who was more distantly related (e.g., a niece, nephew, uncle, or grandmother). People are more
likely to donate kidneys to relatives than to strangers (Borgida et al., 1992), and even children
indicate that they are more likely to help their siblings than they are to help a friend (Tisak &
Tisak, 1996).
Although it makes evolutionary sense that we would help people who we are related to, why
would we help people to whom we not related? One explanation for such behavior is based on
the principle of reciprocal altruism (Krebs & Davies, 1987; Trivers, 1971). Reciprocal altruism
is the principle that, if we help other people now, those others will return the favor should we
need their help in the future. By helping others, we both increase our chances of survival and
reproductive success and help others increase their survival too. Over the course of evolution,
those who engage in reciprocal altruism should be able to reproduce more often than those who
do not, thus enabling this kind of altruism to continue.

We also learn to help by modeling the helpful behavior of others. Although people frequently
worry about the negative impact of the violence that is seen on TV, there is also a great deal of
327
helping behavior shown on television. Smith et al. (2006) found that 73% of TV shows had some
altruism, and that about three altruistic behaviors were shown every hour. Furthermore, the
prevalence of altruism was particularly high in children’s shows. However, just as viewing
altruism can increase helping, modeling of behavior that is not altruistic can decrease altruism.
For instance, Anderson and Bushman (2001) found that playing violent video games led to a
decrease in helping. We are also more likely to help when we receive rewards for doing so and
less likely to help when helping is costly. Another potential reward is the status we gain as a result
of helping.

We might hope that our children internalize another relevant social norm that seems more
altruistic: the social responsibility norm which tells us that we should try to help others who
need assistance, even without any expectation of future paybacks. The teachings of many cultures
are based on the social responsibility norm; that we should, as good human beings, reach out and
help other people whenever we can.

How the Presence of Others Can Reduce Helping

One reason that might limit our decision to help is the presence of others. The bystander effect
refers to the reduced likelihood of people offering assistance as the number of bystanders
increases. In other words, there is not always safety in numbers. One of the most widely touted
examples of the bystander effect is the case of Kitty Genovese. Late at night on March 13, 1964,
28-year-old Kitty Genovese was murdered within a few yards of her apartment building in New
York City after a violent fight with her killer in which she struggled and screamed. When police
interviewed her neighbors about the crime, they reported that while 38 of her neighbors heard the
sounds of a fight, none had intervened, and only one had called the police. See Box 9.1 for more
recent details on the accuracy of the reporting of this case. Two social psychologists, Latané and
Darley (1968), set out to understand the factors that influence people’s willingness, or
unwillingness, to help. They developed a model (see Figure 9.24) that took into consideration the
important role of the social situation in determining helping. The model has been extensively
tested in many studies, and there is substantial support for it.

The first step in the model is noticing the event. You may not notice a swimmer struggling in the
water at a crowded beach. It would be hard not to notice this person if you were alone on the
beach. Even if we notice the situation, we might not interpret it as an emergency. There may be
other explanations. Are they just goofing around in the water or are they really in need of
assistance? When we are unsure we frequently look to others to see how they are responding. At
the same time, they may be looking to us to help them understand the situation. As no one is
reacting as if this is an emergency, the bystanders take each other’s inaction to mean that this
situation is not serious. This tendency of the individuals to incorrectly assume that others in the
group believe something, when this is not the case is called pluralistic ignorance, and is
considered one of the explanations for the bystander effect (Kitts, 2003).

328
 Figure 9.24

The decision to help can be hindered by the presence of others. The more people present the less likely you are to
notice the victim. The inaction of others at the scene may lead you to redefine the situation as not being an
emergency. The presence of others diffuses any personal responsibility you may feel to step in and take action.

Even if we have noticed the emergency and have interpreted it as such, we still need to decide if it
is our responsibility to do something. When others are present, it is easier for us to assume that
others will help, and we do not need to do anything. Diffusion of responsibility occurs when we
assume that others will take on the responsibility and that we do not need to take action ourselves.

The final step in helping is knowing how to help. Of course, for many of us, the best way to help
someone in an emergency is not always clear; we are not professionals and we have little training
in how to help in an emergency. People who do have such training are more likely to help, whereas
the rest of us just do not know what to do, and may simply walk on by. On the other hand, today
many people have cell phones, and can do a lot with a quick call.

Figure 9.25 Kitty Genovese Did the Bystander Effect Really Occur in the
Case of Kitty Genovese?
The case of Kitty Genovese has come under scrutiny. In a
recent documentary, The Witness, Bill Genovese disputes
the account of his sister’s murder published in the New
York Times in 1964 by Martin Gansberg. In the opening
lines Gansberg states,

“For more than half-an-hour 38 respectable, law‐abiding

citizens in Queens watched a killer stalk and stab a woman
in three separate attacks in Kew Gardens. Twice their chatter
and the sudden glow of their bedroom lights interrupted him
and frightened him off. Each time he returned, sought her
out, and stabbed her again. Not one person telephoned the
police during the assault; one witness called after the woman
Source
was dead,” (Gansberg, New York Times, March 1964).

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Gansberg also goes on to suggest that when the police were finally called they arrived within two
minutes.

Kitty Genovese’s murder became the face of social apathy for decades. Bill Genovese was 16 at
the time of his sister’s murder. Growing up hearing the stories, he felt there was more to it than
had been reported. His investigation uncovered several mistakes in the original article about the
events of that night. The documentary also suggests that the then editor of the newspaper, A.M.
Rosenthal, guided the story to create the “myth of bystander apathy”. Rosenthal later went on to
write a best-selling book, “Thirty-Eight Witnesses: The Kitty Genovese Case”, which Genovese
claims further reinforced the idea that no one helped.

According to Brody (2015), Bill Genovese’s investigation found that:

 Given the location of the apartments, it was late at night, and the advanced age of most of
the witnesses, no one actually “watched,” as the New York Times article stated. Many
heard a commotion and were roused from their sleep. Across from the apartment
complex was a tavern. Hearing shouting late at night was not uncommon, and many
reported this is what they thought they heard. Few saw little of the attack.
 The police were called twice, but failed to respond because they thought it was just a
domestic dispute. The issue of domestic violence was handled quite differently in 1964
than it is today. By the time they did respond it was too late.
 In the account by the New York Times it suggested that she died alone. However, this
was not true as a friend came to her aid and helped her until police arrived.
Just after the recent death of her murderer, Winston Moseley, the New York Times wrote
regarding the original 1964 article:
While there was no question that the attack occurred, and that some neighbors ignored
cries for help, the portrayal of 38 witnesses as fully aware and unresponsive was
erroneous. The article grossly exaggerated the number of witnesses and what they had
perceived. None saw the attack in its entirety. Only a few had glimpsed parts of it, or
recognized the cries for help. Many thought they had heard lovers or drunks quarreling.
There were two attacks, not three. And afterward, two people did call the police. A 70-
year-old woman ventured out and cradled the dying victim in her arms until they
arrived. (MacFadden, New York Times, April 2016)

The one good thing that came out of the death of Kitty Genovese was 911. Calling the police
back in 1964 was not as simple as dialing 911. Dialing zero meant the call went to a general
switchboard operator who had to locate the nearest police station to the caller. Tracking the
caller’s location was not as easy as it is today, and even knowing the location did not mean the
call would get to the correct precinct. New York City officials realized that a more
straightforward system would be needed. In 1964, after the death of Kitty Genovese, the city
provided a centralized police number. In 1968, the 911 system was introduced (MacFadden,
2016).

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Human Aggression

Aggression is behavior that is intended to harm another individual. Aggression may occur in the
heat of the moment, for instance, when a jealous lover strikes out in rage or the sports fans at a
university light fires and destroy cars after an important basketball game. Or it may occur in a
more cognitive, deliberate, and planned way, such as the aggression of a bully who steals another
child’s toys, a terrorist who kills civilians to gain political exposure, or a hired assassin who kills
for money.

Not all aggression is physical. Aggression also occurs in nonphysical ways, as when children
exclude others from activities, call them names, or spread rumors about them. Paquette and
Underwood (1999) found that both boys and girls rated nonphysical aggression, such as name-
calling as making them feel more “sad and bad” than did physical aggression. Bullying can
include physical, verbal, or even cyber-behaviors.

Aggression is Part of Human Nature

We may aggress against others in part because it allows us to gain access to valuable resources
such as food, territory, and desirable mates, or to protect ourselves from direct attack by others.
If aggression helps in the survival of our genes, then the process of natural selection may well
have caused humans, as it would any other animal, to be aggressive (Buss & Duntley, 2006).

There is evidence for the genetics of aggression. Aggression is controlled in large part by the
amygdala. One of the primary functions of the amygdala is to help us learn to associate stimuli
with the rewards and the punishment that they may provide. The amygdala is particularly activated
in our responses to stimuli that we see as threatening and fear-arousing. When the amygdala is
stimulated, in either humans or in animals, the organism becomes more aggressive.

However, just because we can aggress does not mean that we will aggress. It is not necessarily
evolutionarily adaptive to aggress in all situations. Neither people nor animals are always
aggressive; they rely on aggression only when they feel that they absolutely need to (Berkowitz,
1993a). The prefrontal cortex serves as a control center on aggression; when it is more highly
activated, we are more able to control our aggressive impulses. Research has found that the
cerebral cortex is less active in murderers and death row inmates, suggesting that violent crime
may be caused by a failure or reduced ability to regulate aggression (Davidson, Putnam, & Larson,
2000).

Hormones are also important in regulating aggression. Most important in this regard is the male
sex hormone testosterone, which is associated with increased aggression in both males and
females. Research conducted on a variety of animals has found a positive correlation between
levels of testosterone and aggression. This relationship seems to be weaker among humans than
among animals, yet it is still significant (Dabbs et al., 1996).

Consuming alcohol increases the likelihood that people will respond aggressively to provocations,
and even people who are not normally aggressive may react with aggression when they are
intoxicated (Graham et al., 2006). Alcohol reduces the ability of people who have consumed it to
inhibit their aggression because when people are intoxicated, they become more self-focused and
331
less aware of the social constraints that normally prevent them from engaging aggressively
(Bushman & Cooper, 1990; Steele & Southwick, 1985).

Negative Experiences Increase Aggression

When asked about the times that you have been aggressive, you would probably state that many of
them occurred when you were angry, in a bad mood, tired, in pain, sick, or frustrated. You would
be right because we are much more likely to aggress when we are experiencing negative emotions.
The following are some causes of aggression:

 One important determinant of aggression is frustration. When we are frustrated we may

lash out at others, even at people who did not cause the frustration. In some cases, the
aggression is displaced aggression, which is aggression that is directed at an object or
person other than the person who caused the frustration (Marcus-Maxwell et al., 2000).
 Aggression is greater on hot days than it is on cooler days and during hot years than
during cooler years, and most violent riots occur during the hottest days of the year
(Bushman, Wang, & Anderson, 2005).
 Pain also increases aggression (Berkowitz, 1993b).

If we are aware that we are feeling negative emotions, we might think that we could release those
emotions in a relatively harmless way, such as by punching a pillow or kicking something, with
the hopes that doing so will release our aggressive tendencies. This is incorrect! Catharsis or the
idea that observing or engaging in less harmful aggressive actions will reduce the tendency to
aggress later in a more harmful way, was considered by many as a way of decreasing violence.
However, as far as social psychologists have been able to determine, catharsis simply does not
work. Rather than decreasing aggression, engaging in aggressive behaviors of any type increases
the likelihood of later aggression.

Bushman et al. (1999) first angered their research

participants by having another student insult them. Then half Figure 9.26
of the participants engaged in a cathartic behavior. They
were given boxing gloves and were given a chance to hit a
punching bag for 2 minutes. Then all the participants played
a game with the person who had insulted them earlier and
had a chance to get back at the other person with a painful
blast of white noise. Contrary to the catharsis hypothesis, the
students who had punched the punching bag set a higher
noise level and delivered longer bursts of noise than the
participants who did not get a chance to hit the punching bag.
It seems that if we hit a punching bag, punch a pillow, or Source
scream as loud as we can to release our frustration,
the opposite may occur. Rather than decreasing aggression, these behaviors in fact increase it.

332
Viewing Violent Media Increases Aggression

The average American watches over 4 hours of television every day, and these programs contain a
substantial amount of aggression. At the same time, children are also exposed to violence in
movies and video games, as well as in popular music and music videos that include violent lyrics
and imagery. Research evidence makes it very clear that, on average, people who watch violent
behavior become more aggressive. The evidence supporting this relationship comes from many
studies conducted over many years using both correlational designs, as well as experimental studies
in which people have been randomly assigned to view either violent or nonviolent material
(Anderson et al., 2003). Viewing violent behavior also increases aggression in part through
observational learning. Children who witness violence are more likely to be aggressive.

Another outcome of viewing large amounts of violent material is desensitization, which is the
tendency over time to show weaker emotional responses to emotional stimuli. When we first see
violence, we are likely to be shocked, aroused, and even repulsed by it. However, over time, as we
see more and more violence, we become habituated to it, such that the subsequent exposures
produce fewer and fewer negative emotional responses. Continually viewing violence also makes
us more distrustful and more likely to behave aggressively (Bartholow et al., 2006; Nabi &
Sullivan, 2001).

Of course, not everyone who views violent material becomes aggressive; individual differences
also matter. People who experience a lot of negative affect and who feel that they are frequently
rejected by others whom they care about are more aggressive (Downey et al., 2004). People with
inflated or unstable self-esteem are more prone to anger and are highly aggressive when their high
self-image is threatened (Baumeister et al., 1996). For instance, classroom bullies are those
children who always want to be the center of attention, who think a lot of themselves, and who
cannot take criticism (Salmivalli & Nieminen, 2002). Bullies are highly motivated to protect their
inflated self-concepts, and they react with anger and aggression when it is threatened.

There is a culturally universal tendency for men to be more physically violent than women (Archer
& Coyne, 2005; Crick & Nelson, 2002). Worldwide, about 99% of rapes and about 90% of
robberies, assaults, and murders are committed by men (Graham & Wells, 2001). These sex
differences do not imply that women are never aggressive. Both men and women respond to insults
and provocation with aggression; the differences between men and women are smaller after they
have been frustrated, insulted, or threatened (Bettencourt & Miller, 1996).

Key Takeaways

 Close relationships are based on intimacy, which is determined by similarity, self-

disclosure, and proximity.
 Altruism is behavior that is designed to increase another person’s welfare, and particularly
those actions that do not seem to provide a direct reward to the person who performs
them. The tendency to help others in need is a functional evolutionary adaptation, and also
determined by environmental factors.

333
  Although helping others can be costly to us as individuals, helping people who are related
to us can perpetuate our own genes. Some helping is based on reciprocal altruism, the
principle that if we help other people now, those others will return the favor should we
need their help in the future.
 We also learn to help through modeling and reinforcement. The result of this learning is
norms about helping, including the social responsibility norm.
 Research testing the Latané and Darley model of helping has shown the importance of the
bystander effect when noticing, interpreting, and acting in emergency situations.
 Aggression is physical or nonphysical behavior intended to harm another individual.
Aggression has both biological and environmental causes. The experience of negative
emotions tends to increase aggression.
 Viewing violence tends to increase aggression.

Exercises and Critical Thinking

1. Consider a time when you were helpful. Was the behavior truly altruistic, or did you help
for selfish reasons?
2. Consider a time when you or someone you know was aggressive. What do you think
caused the aggression?
3. Should parents limit the amount of violent TV shows and video games that their children
are exposed to? Why or why not?

Videos and Activities

1. Watch this video on the bystander effect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rv22TMtNNkI

2. This video shows Professor Albert Bandura describing his studies on the observational
learning of aggression in children. http://www.youtube.com/v/Pr0OTCVtHbU

Chapter Summary

Social psychology is the scientific study of how we feel about, think about, and behave toward the
other people around us, and how those people influence our thoughts, feelings, and behavior. A
fundamental principle of social psychology is that although we may not always be aware of it, our
cognitions, emotions, and behaviors are substantially influenced by the people with whom we are
interacting.

Our initial judgments of others are based in large part on what we see. The physical features of
other people, particularly their sex, race, age, and physical attractiveness, are noticeable, and we
often focus our attention on these dimensions.
334
Youth, symmetry, and averageness are cross-culturally consistent determinants of perceived
attractiveness, although different cultures may also have unique beliefs about what is attractive.

We frequently use people’s appearances to form our judgments about them, and these judgments
may lead to stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination. We use our stereotypes and prejudices in
part because they are easy and we may be evolutionarily disposed to stereotyping. We can change
and learn to avoid using them through positive interaction with members of other groups, practice,
and education.

Implicit bias, microaggressions, and macroaggressions all have negative consequences for minoritized
members of society, and psychologists are working to provide recommendations for those targeted, as
well as for supportive allies, for how to respond to them.

Causal attribution is the process of trying to determine the causes of people’s behavior.
Attributions may be made to the person, to the situation, or to a combination of both. Although
people are reasonably accurate in their attributions, they may make self-serving attributions and
fall victim to the fundamental attribution error.

Attitudes refer to our relatively enduring evaluations of people and things. Attitudes are important
because they frequently (but not always) predict behavior. Attitudes can be changed through
persuasive communications. Attitudes predict behavior better for some people than for others and in
some situations more than others. Our behaviors also influence our attitudes through the cognitive
processes of self-perception and the more emotional process of cognitive dissonance.

Social norms influence social roles which cultures use to socialize members. Zimbardo’s prison
experiment attempted to prove that social roles can have potentially negative consequences.

Persuasion can be obtained via a central route, that requires more carefully analysis of the
information, or the peripheral route, that focuses more on our emotional reactions.

The foot-in-the-door technique gains compliance by getting people to agree to a small request
followed by a later larger request. The door-in-the-face technique gains compliance by asking for
an unreasonable request first, and then scaling it back to the smaller desired request. In low-ball
compliance is gained by first getting people to agree to an attractive request, and then reneging on it.
The “that’s-not-all” technique gains compliance by adding more features, or dropping the price
before people are asked to agree.

Both the foot-in-the-door and the low-ball techniques rely on people’s desire to be consistent in
their behavior or decision making. Both the door-in-the-face and the “that’s-not-all” techniques
rely on the reciprocity social norm.

We conform not only because we believe that other people have accurate information and we want
to have knowledge (informational conformity) but also because we want to be liked by others
(normative conformity). The typical outcome of conformity is that our beliefs and behaviors
become more similar to those of others around us. Studies demonstrating the power of conformity
include those by Asch, while Milgram researched obedience.

335
Although majorities are most persuasive, a minority influence may be more persuasive.

The tendency to perform tasks better or faster in the presence of others is known as social
facilitation, whereas the tendency to perform tasks more poorly or more slowly in the presence of
others is known as social inhibition. Zajonc explained the influence of others on task performance
using the concept of physiological arousal.

Working in groups involves both costs and benefits. The costs of working in groups are observed in
phenomena such as social loafing, group polarization, groupthink and deindividuation. These
process losses can be reduced by better motivation and coordination among the group members, by
keeping contributions identifiable, and by providing difficult but attainable goals.

Liking and loving in friendships and close relationships are determined by variables including
similarity, disclosure, and proximity.

The tendency to help others in need is in part a functional evolutionary adaptation. We help others
to benefit ourselves and to benefit the others. Reciprocal altruism leads us to help others now with
the expectation those others will return the favor should we need their help in the future. The
outcome of the reinforcement and modeling of altruism is the development of social norms about
helping, including the reciprocity norm and the social responsibility norm. Latané and Darley’s
model of helping proposes that the presence of others can reduce noticing, interpreting, and
responding to emergencies.

Aggression may be physical or nonphysical. Aggression is activated in large part by the amygdala
and regulated by the prefrontal cortex. Testosterone is associated with increased aggression in both
males and females. Aggression is also caused by negative experiences and emotions, including
frustration, pain, and heat. As predicted by principles of observational learning, research evidence
makes it very clear that, on average, people who watch violent behavior become more aggressive.

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Chapter 10 Defining Mental Health Disorders
Learning Objectives

1. Define abnormal psychology.

2. List the criteria for a mental health disorder.
3. Describe the stigma of mental health disorders and their impact on those who are
diagnosed with them.
4. Describe the structure and function of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders and its criticisms.

The focus of the next two chapters is, to many people, the heart of psychology. This emphasis on
abnormal psychology, which is the application of psychological science to understanding and
treating mental health disorders, is appropriate, as more psychologists are involved in the
diagnosis and treatment of mental health disorders than in any other field (Lin et al., 2018).
Assessment and treatment of disorders are probably the most important tasks psychologists face.
About 1 in every 5 American adults (or approximately 44.7 million) are affected by a mental health
disorder during any one year (National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), 2017), and at least a half
billion people are affected worldwide. The impact of mental illness is particularly strong on people
who are poorer, of lower socioeconomic class, and from disadvantaged ethnic groups.

People with mental health disorders are also stigmatized by the people around them, resulting in
shame and embarrassment, as well as prejudice and discrimination against them. Thus, the
understanding and treatment of mental health disorders have broad implications for the everyday
life of many people. Figure 10.1 shows the 2012 prevalence, or the frequency of occurrence of a
given condition in a population at a given time, of any mental illness in the United States based on
gender, age, and ethnicity for adults.

Figure 10.1 Prevalence Rates for Adults

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Children and adolescents also exhibit high levels of mental health disorders. Children 3-17 years of
age were identified as having the following disorders based on information collected between the
years 2005-2011 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2018).
 Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (6.8%)
 Behavioral or conduct problems (3.5%)
 Anxiety (3.0%)
 Depression (2.1%)
 Autism spectrum disorder (1.1%)
 Tourette syndrome (0.2%) (among children aged 6–17 years)
Adolescents aged 12–17 years were identified as having a current diagnosis of
 Illicit drug use disorder in the past year (4.7%)
 Alcohol use disorder in the past year (4.2%)
 Cigarette dependence in the past month (2.8%)

It must be noted that mental health disorders frequently occur together. For instance, children and
adults diagnosed with anxiety disorders also often have depressive disorders (Hunt, Slade, &
Andrews, 2004). Comorbidity occurs when people who suffer from one disorder also suffer at the
same time from other disorders. Because many mental health disorders are comorbid, most severe
mental disorders are concentrated in a small group of people (about 6% of the population) who
have more than three serious diagnoses (Kessler et al., 2005).

Defining a Mental Health Disorder

According to the World Health Organization (2011), a mental health disorder is a clinically
recognizable set of symptoms or behaviours associated in most cases with distress and with
interference with personal functions. Disabilities include loss of the ability to function in an
important area of functioning, such as home, social settings, work, or school.

Mental health disorders have much in common with other medical disorders. They are often out of
the patient’s control, they may in some cases be treated by drugs, and their treatment is often
covered by medical insurance. Like medical problems, mental health disorders have both
biological (nature) as well as environmental (nurture) influences. These causal influences are
reflected in the biopsychosocial model of mental disorders (Engel, 1977).

The biopsychosocial model of mental disorders is a way of understanding disorders that assumes
the disorder is caused by biological, psychological, and social factors (see Figure 10.2). The
biological component refers to the influences that come from the functioning of the individual’s
body. Particularly important are genetic characteristics that make some people more vulnerable to a
disorder than others, and the influence of neurotransmitters. The psychological component refers to
the influences that come from the individual, such as patterns of negative thinking and stress
responses. The social component refers to social and cultural factors, such as socioeconomic status,
homelessness, abuse, and discrimination.

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 Figure 10.2 The Biopsychosocial Model of Mental Disorders

The biopsychosocial model of disorders proposes that disorders are caused by biological, psychological, and social-
cultural factors.

To consider one example, the mental health disorder of schizophrenia has a biological cause
because it is known that there are patterns of genes that make a person vulnerable to the disorder
(Gejman et al., 2010). Whether the person with a biological vulnerability develops the disorder
depends, in large part, on psychological factors. These include how individuals respond to the
stress experienced, whether the stressful environment occurs in adolescence, and whether they
have support from people who care about them (Sawa & Snyder, 2002; Walker et al., 2004).
Similarly, mood disorders are caused, in part, by genetic factors, such as hormones and
neurotransmitters, the individual’s thought patterns, and the ways that other people in the social
environment treat the person with the disorder. The biopsychosocial model will be used as a
framework for considering the causes and treatments of disorders.

Although they share many characteristics with medical conditions, mental health disorders are
nevertheless different from them in important ways. For one, diagnosis of mental health disorders
can be more difficult. Although a medical doctor can see cancer in the lungs using an MRI scan or
see blocked arteries in the heart using cardiac catheterization, there is no corresponding test for a
mental health disorder. Current research is beginning to provide more evidence about the role of
brain structures in mental health disorders, but for now the brains of people with severe mental
disturbances often look identical to those of people without such disturbances.

347
What Makes a Behavior “Abnormal”?

Deviance: Because there are no clear biological diagnoses for most mental disorders, mental health
disorders are instead diagnosed on the basis of clinical observations of the individual's behaviors.
These observations find that emotional states and behaviors operate on a continuum, ranging from
more “normal” and “accepted” to more “abnormal,” and “unaccepted.” Deviance refers to
behaviors that are outside the realm of societal expectations. The behaviors that are associated with
a disorder are in many cases the same behaviors that we engage in our “normal” everyday life, but
they are at an extreme level that is not consistent with normal functioning. For example, washing
one’s hands is a normal healthy activity, but it can be overdone by those with an obsessive-
compulsive disorder (OCD).

Dysfunction: Whether a given behavior is considered a mental Figure 10.3 How Thin Is Too
health disorder is determined not only by whether a behavior is Thin?
deviant, but also by whether a behavior is dysfunctional or
maladaptive. Dysfunction refers to the extent to which the
behavior causes impairment in one or more important areas of
functioning. An intense fear of spiders, for example, would not
be considered a mental health disorder unless it has a
significant negative impact on the individual’s life, for instance
by causing him or her to be unable to step outside the house.

Distress: Lastly, distress refers to the behavior causing the

individual physical or emotional harm. Abusing substances,
suicide attempts, and repeated bingeing and purging can cause
distress. The additional focus on distress and dysfunction means
that behaviors that are simply unusual are not classified as
disorders. For example, less common cultural, religious or
When does dieting turn into a
sexual practices are not considered disorders if they do not cause
disorder? Psychologists believe this
significant distress or dysfunction. happens when the behavior
becomes distressing or
dysfunctional to the person. ©
Combating the Stigma of Abnormal Behavior Thinkstock

Every culture and society have their own views on what constitutes abnormal behavior and
what causes it (Brothwell, 1981). Ancient tradition attributed mental health disorders to sorcery
and witchcraft (Comer, 2015). During the Middle Ages, it was believed that mental illness
occurred when the body was infected by evil spirits, particularly the devil. Remedies included
whipping, bloodletting, purges, and trepanation, which involved cutting a hole in the skull to
release the demons (see Figure 10.4).

348
Until the 18th century, the most common
treatment for the mentally ill was to Figure 10.4 Trepanation
incarcerate them in asylums or
“madhouses.” During the 18th century,
however, some reformers began to oppose
this brutal treatment of the mentally ill,
arguing that mental illness was a medical
problem that had nothing to do with evil
spirits or demons. In France, one of the key
reformers was Philippe Pinel (1745–1826),
who believed that mental illness was
caused by a combination of physical and
psychological stressors, exacerbated by
inhumane conditions (Kring, Johnson,
Davison, & Neale, 2016). Pinel advocated
the introduction of exercise, fresh air, and
daylight for the inmates, as well as treating
them gently and talking with them. In
America, the reformers Benjamin Rush Trepanation (drilling holes in the skull) has been used
since prehistoric times in attempts to cure epilepsy and
(1745–1813) and Dorothea Dix (1802–
mental disorders such as schizophrenia. Source: Courtesy
1887) were instrumental in creating mental of Peter Treveris
hospitals that treated patients humanely
and attempted to cure them if possible (Comer, 2015; Kring et al., 2016). These reformers saw
mental illness as an underlying mental health disorder, which was diagnosed according to its
symptoms and which could be cured through treatment.

Despite the progress made since the 1800s in public attitudes about those who suffer from mental
health disorders, people, including police, coworkers, and even friends and family members, still
stigmatize people with mental health disorders. A stigma refers to a disgrace or defect that
indicates that person belongs to a culturally devalued social group. In some cases, the stigma of
mental illness is accompanied by disrespectful and dehumanizing labels, including names such as
“crazy,” “nuts,” or “mental.” The mass media, including movies, television shows, and
advertisements, have a significant influence on society’s negative attitudes toward mental illness
(Francis et al., 2001; Kring et al., 2016; Tartakovsky, 2009).

The stigma of mental disorder affects people while they are ill, while they are healing, and even
after they have healed (Schefer, 2003). On a community level, stigma can affect the kinds of
services social service agencies give to people with mental disorders, and the treatment provided to
them and their families by schools, workplaces, places of worship, and health-care providers.
Stigma about mental illness also leads to employment discrimination, despite the fact that with
appropriate support, even people with severe mental health disorders are able to hold a job
(Boardman et al., 2003; Leff & Warner, 2006; Ozawa & Yaeda, 2007; Pulido et al., 2004).

The most significant problem of the stigmatization of those with mental health disorders is that
it slows their recovery. People with mental disorders internalize societal attitudes about mental
illness, often becoming so embarrassed or ashamed that they conceal their difficulties and fail to

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seek treatment. Stigma leads to lowered self-esteem, increased isolation, and hopelessness, and it
may negatively influence the individual’s family and professional life (Hayward & Bright, 1997).

Despite all of these challenges, however, many people overcome mental health disorders and go on
to lead productive lives. It is up to all of us who are informed about the causes of mental health
disorders and the impact of these conditions on people to understand, first, that mental illness is not
a “fault” any more than is cancer. People do not choose to have a mental illness. Second, we must
all work to help overcome the stigma associated with disorder. Organizations such as the National
Alliance on Mental Illness (Greenstein, 2017), for example, work to reduce the negative impact of
stigma through education, community action, individual support, and other techniques.

Diagnosing Disorders: The DSM

Figure 10.5 DSM-5
The American Psychiatric Association publishes the Diagnostic
and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) to help
therapists, researchers, drug companies, health insurance
companies and policy makers in the United States determine
whether behavior should be considered a mental health disorder.
The DSM is a book that provides a common language and
standard criteria for the classification of mental disorders
(American Psychiatric Association (APA), 2013).

The first edition of the DSM was published in 1952 on the basis
of census data and psychiatric hospital statistics. Since then, the
DSM has been revised six times. The fifth edition (DSM-5) was
published in May 2013. The DSM-5 was designed in conjunction
with the World Health Organization’s 11th version of the The Diagnostic and Statistical
International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) (APA, 2013). Manual of Mental Disorders
The ICD-11 is used as a guide for mental disorders in Europe (DSM) is used to classify mental
health disorders in the United
and other parts of the world. The DSM-5 made a number of States.
significant changes from previous editions.

Each revision of the DSM takes into consideration new knowledge, as well as changes in cultural
norms about disorders. For example, homosexuality was listed as a mental disorder in the DSM
until 1973. It was removed in response to research that there was no more mental pathology among
homosexuals than among heterosexuals (Hooker, 1957). The current DSM-5 lists more than 300
disorders.

The DSM-5 lists the symptoms that typically must be present to make a diagnosis, as well as,
clinical features, demographic data, and statistical information. The DSM–5 identifies specific
criteria that need to be met for diagnosis, and patients whose symptoms are similar to the
description of the disorder are said to have that disorder. Within a diagnostic category, clinicians
may also rate severity. Relevant psychosocial or environmental factors may also be noted.

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DSM Criticisms: The DSM has been criticized regarding the nature of its categorization system,
being based on weak research, lacking reliability and validity, and primarily focused on Western
illnesses (Comer, 2015). Consequently, it is frequently revised to attempt to address these
criticisms. Nevertheless, the DSM is a comprehensive, practical, and necessary tool that provides a
common language to describe disorders. Most U.S. insurance companies will not pay for therapy
unless the patient has a DSM diagnosis. The DSM approach allows a systematic assessment of the
patient’s medical condition, psychological and cultural factors, and the way the patient functions in
everyday life. The manual is also a useful tool for researchers who need to know they are labeling
disorders in the same way as other scientists.

Key Takeaways

 More psychologists are involved in the diagnosis and treatment of mental health
disorders than in any other area, and those tasks are probably the most important
psychologists face.
 The impact on people with a mental health disorder comes both from the disease
itself and from the stigma associated with disorder.
 A mental health disorder is an ongoing pattern of thought, emotion, and
behavior that causes significant distress or dysfunction and that is considered
deviant in that person’s culture or society.
 According to the biopsychosocial model, mental health disorders have
biological, psychological, and social causes.
 It is difficult to diagnose mental health disorders, although the DSM provides
guidelines that are based on a category system. The DSM is periodically revised,
taking into consideration new knowledge, as well as changes in cultural norms
about disorders.

Exercises and Critical Thinking

1. Do you or your friends hold stereotypes about the mentally ill? Can you think of or
find clips from any films or other popular media that portray mental illness positively
or negatively? Is it more or less acceptable to stereotype the mentally ill than to
stereotype other social groups?

Anxiety, OCD, and PTSD

Learning Objectives

1. Outline and describe the different types of anxiety disorders, including generalized
anxiety disorder, panic disorder, specific phobias, social phobia, and agoraphobia.
2. Discuss OCD and PTSD.
3. Explain the biological and environmental causes of anxiety disorders, OCD, and PTSD.

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Anxiety, the nervousness or agitation that we sometimes experience, often about something that is
going to happen, is a natural part of life. We all feel anxious at times, maybe when we think about
our upcoming visit to the dentist or the presentation we must give to our class next week. Anxiety
is an important and useful human emotion; it is associated with the activation of the sympathetic
nervous system and the physiological and behavioral responses that help protect us from danger.
However, too much anxiety can be distressing and disabling, and every year millions of people
suffer from anxiety disorders, which are psychological disturbances marked by irrational fears,
often of everyday objects and situations (Kessler et al., 2005).

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

For a few months now, I’ve had a really bad feeling inside of me. The best way to describe it is like
a really bad feeling of negative inevitability, like something really bad is impending, but I don’t
know what. It’s like I’m on trial for murder or I’m just waiting to be sent down for something. I
have it all of the time but it gets worse in waves that come from nowhere with no apparent triggers.
I used to get it before going out for nights out with friends, and it kinda stopped me from doing it as
I’d rather not go out and stress about the feeling, but now I have it all the time so it doesn’t really
make a difference anymore (Chase, 2010).

Chase is probably suffering from a generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), a psychological

disorder diagnosed in situations in which a person has been excessively worrying about money,
health, work, family life, or relationships for at least 6 months, even though they know that the
concerns are exaggerated, and when the anxiety causes significant distress and dysfunction
(APA, 2013).

In addition to their feelings of anxiety, people who have GAD may also experience a variety of
physical symptoms, including irritability, sleep troubles, difficulty concentrating, muscle aches,
trembling, perspiration, and hot flashes. The person cannot deal with what is causing the anxiety,
nor avoid it, because there is no clear cause for anxiety. In fact, the preson frequently knows, at
least cognitively, that there is really nothing to worry about.

About 10 million Americans suffer from GAD, and about two thirds are women (Kessler et al.,
2005; Robins & Regier, 1991). Generalized anxiety disorder is most likely to develop between the
ages of 7 and 40 years, but its influence may in some cases lessen with age (Rubio & Lopez-Ibor,
2007).

Panic Disorder

When I was about 30 I had my first panic attack. I was driving home, my three little girls were in
their car seats in the back, and all of a sudden, I couldn’t breathe, I broke out into a sweat, and my
heart began racing and literally beating against my ribs! I thought I was going to die. I pulled off
the road and put my head on the wheel. I remember songs playing on the CD for about 15 minutes
and my kids’ voices singing along. I was sure I’d never see them again. And then, it passed. I
slowly got back on the road and drove home. I had no idea what it was (Ceejay, 2006).

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Ceejay may be diagnosed with a panic disorder, a psychological disorder characterized by sudden
attacks of anxiety and terror, known as panic attacks, that have led to significant behavioral
changes in the person’s life. Symptoms of a panic attack include shortness of breath, heart
palpitations, trembling, dizziness, choking sensations, nausea, and an intense feeling of dread or
impending doom. Panic attacks can often be mistaken for heart attacks or other serious physical
illnesses, and they may lead the person experiencing them to go to a hospital emergency room.
Panic attacks may last as little as one or as much as 20 minutes, but they often peak and subside
within about 10 minutes.

Sufferers are often anxious because they fear that they will have another attack. They focus their
attention on the thoughts and images of their fears, becoming excessively sensitive to cues that
signal the possibility of threat (MacLeod et al., 2002). They may also become unsure of the
source of their arousal, misattributing it to situations that are not actually the cause. As a result,
they may begin to avoid places where attacks have occurred in the past, such as driving, using an
elevator, or being in public places. Panic disorder affects about 2%-3% of the American
population in a given year (APA, 2013).

Phobias

A phobia is a specific fear of a certain object, situation, or

activity that adversely affects an individual’s functioning. The Figure 10.6
condition generally lasts more than 6 months (APA, 2013).
The fear experience can range from a sense of unease to a
full-blown panic attack. Most people learn to live with their
phobias, but for others the fear can be so debilitating that they
go to extremes to avoid the fearful situation. For example, a
person with arachnophobia (fear of spiders), may refuse to
enter a room until it has been checked thoroughly for spiders,
or may refuse to vacation in the countryside because spiders
may be there. Phobias are out of proportion to the real danger Source
in a situation, taking cultural factors into consideration. A
person with acrophobia (a fear of height) could fearlessly sail around the world on a sailboat with
no concerns, yet refuse to go out onto the balcony on the fifth floor of a building.

Specific phobias are unreasonable fears of a clearly identified object or situation. Examples of
specific phobias include animals, blood, flying in a plane, or thunder and lightning. Treatments for
specific phobias are generally successful and will be discussed in the following chapter.

A common phobia is social phobia, also known as social anxiety disorder, which is an extreme
discomfort in social situations due to a fear of being negatively evaluated by others or humiliating
oneself. Social phobia may be specific to a certain event, such as speaking in public or using a
public restroom. People with social phobia will often experience physical symptoms in public, such
as sweating profusely, blushing, stuttering, nausea, and dizziness. They are convinced that
everybody around them notices these symptoms as they are occurring.

Agoraphobia is defined as anxiety about being in places or situations from which escape might be
difficult or in which help may not be available. Typical places that provoke this anxiety are parking
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lots, crowded streets or shops, bridges, tunnels, or expressways. The individual must experience
this anxiety in at least two situations and the condition must last more than 6 months. People
(mostly women) who suffer from agoraphobia may have great difficulty leaving their homes and
interacting with other people.

All phobias affect about 9% of American adults, and they are about twice as prevalent in women as
in men (Fredrikson et al., 1996; Kessler et al., 2009). In most cases phobias first appear in
childhood and adolescence, and usually persist into adulthood. Table 10.1 presents a list of the
most common phobias diagnosed by psychologists.

Table 10.1 The Most Common Phobias

Name Description
Acrophobia Fear of heights

Agoraphobia Fear of situations in which escape

is difficult

Arachnophobia Fear of spiders

Astraphobia Fear of thunder and lightning

Claustrophobia Fear of closed-in spaces

Cynophobia Fear of dogs

Mysophobia Fear of germs or dirt

Ophidiophobia Fear of snakes

Pteromerhanophobia Fear of flying

Social phobia Fear of social situations

Trypanophobia Fear of injections

Zoophobia Fear of small animals

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

I have got this obsessive-compulsive disorder where I have to have everything in a straight line or
everything has to be in pairs. I’ll put my Pepsi cans in the fridge and if there’s one too many then
I’ll put it in another cupboard somewhere. I’ve got that problem. I’ll go into a hotel room. Before I
can relax, I have to move all the leaflets and all the books and put them in a drawer. Everything has
to be perfect (Dave Beckham as reported in Dolan, 2006).

David Beckham’s experience with obsessive behavior is not unusual. We all get a little obsessive
at times. We may continuously replay a favorite song in our heads, worry about getting the right
outfit for an upcoming party, or find ourselves analyzing a series of numbers that seem to have a
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certain pattern. Our everyday compulsions can be useful. Going back inside the house once more to
be sure that we really did turn off the sink faucet or checking the mirror a couple of times to be
sure that our hair is combed, are not necessarily bad ideas. However, when the checking behavior
becomes so persistent and time-consuming, it can then become a disorder.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a psychological

Figure 10.7 David disorder that is diagnosed when an individual continuously
Beckam and OCD experiences distressing or frightening thoughts, and then engages
in repetitive behaviors. Obsessions are unwanted and distressing
repetitive thoughts and compulsions are the repetitive behaviors
done as a way to reduce the anxiety caused by the obsession. OCD
is diagnosed when the obsessive thoughts are so disturbing and the
compulsive behaviors are so time consuming that they cause
distress or interfere with functioning in a person’s everyday life.
Washing your hands once or even twice to make sure that they are
clean is normal; washing them 20 times is not. Keeping your
refrigerator neat is a good idea; spending hours a day organizing it
is not. Those with OCD may know that these rituals are senseless,
but they cannot bring themselves to stop them. One reason for the
repetition is that the rituals reduce anxiety. This relief acts as a
reinforcer, making the behavior more likely to occur again.
The soccer star David
Beckham suffers from Individuals with OCD may avoid certain places that trigger the
obsessive- compulsive disorder obsessive thoughts, or use alcohol or drugs to try to calm
(OCD). themselves down. In compariosn to anxiety disorders, OCD has a
Source: Photo courtesy of Raj
Patel
lower prevalence rate (about 1% of the population in a given year)
and usually develops in adolescence or early adulthood (Horwath & Weissman, 2000; Samuels &
Nestadt, 1997). The course of OCD varies from person to person. Also, symptoms can come and
go, decrease, or get worse with time. OCD is listed in the DSM-5 in the category of Obsessive-
Compulsive and Related Disorders, and this category also includes hoarding disorder and body
dysmorphic disorder (APA, 2013).

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Jill, an Afghanistan war veteran, witnessed her fellow service members being hit by an improvised
explosive device (IED) while driving a combat supply truck. The members of her truck survived,
while those in the truck that hit the IED all died. Since returning home from Afghanistan, she has
become increasingly depressed and began using alcohol on a daily basis. She has had difficulties
in her employment, missing many days of work, and she reported feeling disconnected and numb
around her husband and children. Additionally, she has experienced nightly sleep problems and
has a recurring nightmare of all the images she experienced of the event. With no decrease in her
symptoms, she sought help from a clinician (American Psychological Association, 2017).

People with Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) feel stress and fear that cause distress and
interfere with their lives after having been exposed to a traumatic event. People who have survived
a terrible ordeal, such as combat, torture, sexual assault, imprisonment, abuse, natural disasters, or
witnessing the death of someone, may develop PTSD. PTSD comes under the category of Trauma-
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and Stressor-Related Disorders in the DSM-5 (APA, 2013). PTSD may begin months or even years
after the event. People with PTSD experience flashbacks or high levels of anxiety or arousal along
with re-experiencing the trauma, persistent negative alterations in mood or cognitions, and a strong
desire to avoid any reminders of the event. They may lose interest in things they used to enjoy,
startle easily, have difficulty feeling affection, and may experience terror, rage, depression, or
insomnia. Behavioral changes may include irritability, aggression, recklessness, and self-destructive
acts. The symptoms may be felt especially when approaching the area where the event took place
or when the anniversary of that event is near. Diagnostic thresholds are lower for children and
adolescents.

PTSD affects about 5 million Americans, including victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the wars in
Afghanistan and Iraq, hurricanes, fires and floods. Sixteen percent of Iraq war veterans, for
example, reported experiencing symptoms of PTSD (Hoge & Castro, 2006). PTSD is a frequent
outcome of childhood or adult sexual abuse. Women are more likely to develop PTSD than men
(Davidson, 2000).

Risk factors for PTSD include the degree of the trauma’s severity, the lack of family and
community support, and additional life stressors (Brewin et al., 2000). Many people with PTSD
also suffer from another mental disorder, particularly depression, anxiety disorders, and substance
abuse (Brady et al., 2004).

Explaining Anxiety, OCD, and PTSD

Both nature and nurture contribute to the development of anxiety disorders. In terms of our
evolutionary experiences, humans have evolved to fear dangerous situations. Those of us who had a
healthy fear of the dark, of storms, of high places, of closed spaces, and of spiders and snakes were
more likely to survive and have descendants. Our evolutionary experience can account for some
modern fears as well. A fear of elevators may be a modern version of our fear of closed spaces,
while a fear of flying may be related to a fear of heights.

Also supporting the role of biology, anxiety disorders, OCD, and PTSD are heritable (Hettema
et al., 2001), and molecular genetics studies have found a variety of genes that are important in
the expression of such disorders (Smoller et al., 2008; Thoeringer et al., 2009). Neuroimaging
studies have found that anxiety disorders are linked to areas of the brain that are associated with
emotion, blood pressure and heart rate, decision making, and action monitoring (Brown &
McNiff, 2009; Damsa et al., 2009). People who experience PTSD also have a somewhat smaller
hippocampus in comparison with those who do not, and this difference may lead them to have
a very strong sensitivity to traumatic events (Gilbertson et al., 2002).

Whether the genetic predisposition to anxiety becomes expressed as a disorder depends on

environmental factors. People who were abused in childhood are more likely to be anxious than
those who had normal childhoods, even with the same genetic disposition to anxiety sensitivity
(Stein et al., 2008), and PTSD is triggered by the experience of a major stressful event. One
problem is that modern life creates a lot of anxiety. Although our life expectancy and quality of
life have improved over the past 50 years, the same period has also created a sharp increase in
anxiety levels (Twenge, 2006). These changes suggest that most anxiety disorders stem from
perceived, rather than actual, threats to our well-being.
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Anxiety, OCD, and PTSD are also learned through classical and operant conditioning. Just as rats
that are shocked in their cages develop a chronic anxiety toward their laboratory environment,
which has become a conditioned stimulus for fear, rape victims may feel anxiety when passing by
the scene of the crime, and victims of PTSD may react to memories or reminders of the stressful
event. Classical conditioning may also be accompanied by stimulus generalization. A single dog
bite can lead to generalized fear of all dogs; a panic attack that follows an embarrassing moment in
one place may be generalized to a fear of all public places. People’s responses to their anxieties are
often reinforced. Behaviors become compulsive because they provide relief from the torment of
anxious thoughts. Similarly, leaving or avoiding fear-inducing stimuli leads to feelings of calmness
or relief, which reinforces phobic behavior.

Key Takeaways

 Anxiety is a natural part of life, but too much anxiety can be debilitating. Every year
millions of people suffer from anxiety disorders.
 People who suffer from generalized anxiety disorder experience chronic anxiety,
while those who are identified with a panic disorder suffer from sudden attacks of
extreme anxiety that mimic a heart attack.
 Phobias are specific fears of a certain object, situation, or activity.
 Social phobia is discomfort in social situations in which the individual feels that they
will be negatively evaluated.
 Obsessive-compulsive disorder is diagnosed when a person’s repetitive thoughts
are so disturbing and their compulsive behaviors so time consuming that they
cause distress and significant disruption in a person’s everyday life.
 People who have survived a terrible ordeal may develop PTSD.
 Both nature and nurture contribute to the development of anxiety disorders, OCD, and
PTSD.

Exercises and Critical Thinking

1. Under what situations do you experience anxiety? Are these experiences rational or
irrational? Does the anxiety keep you from doing some things that you would like to
be able to do?
2. Do you or people you know suffer from phobias? If so, what are the phobias and
how do you think the phobias began? Do they seem more genetic or more
environmental in origin?

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Depressive and Bipolar Disorders

Learning Objectives

1. Describe and differentiate the various disorders related to mood, in particular, major
depressive disorder, and bipolar disorder.
2. Explain the genetic and environmental factors that increase the likelihood that a
person will develop a disorder related to mood.
3. Discuss the risk factors for suicide.

The everyday variations in our feelings of happiness and sadness reflect our mood, which can be
defined as the positive or negative feelings that are in the background of our everyday experiences.
In most cases, we are in a relatively good mood, and this positive mood has some positive
consequences. It encourages us to do what needs to be done and to make the most of the situations
we are in (Isen, 2003). When we are in a good mood our thought processes open-up, and we are
more likely to approach others. We are more friendly and helpful to others when we are in a good
mood than we are when we are in a bad mood, and we may think more creatively (De Dreu et al.,
2008). On the other hand, when we are in a bad mood we are more likely to prefer to be alone
rather than interact with others, we focus on the negative things around us, and our creativity
suffers.

Major Depressive Disorder

I didn’t want to face anyone; I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I didn’t really want to do anything for
myself…I couldn’t sit down for a minute really to do anything that took deep concentration…It was
like I had big huge weights on my legs and I was trying to swim and just kept sinking. And I’d get a
little bit of air, just enough to survive and then I’d go back down again. It was just constantly,
constantly just fighting, fighting, fighting, fighting, fighting (NIMH, 2010b).

It is not unusual to feel “down” or “low” at times, particularly after a painful event such as the
death of someone close to us, a disappointment at work, or an argument with a partner. We often
get depressed when we are tired, and many people report being particularly sad during the winter
when the days are shorter. Depressive disorders are diagnosed when depressive symptoms cause
serious distress and negatively influence physical, perceptual, social, and cognitive processes.

The level of depression observed in people with depressive disorders varies widely. If the
depression is deep and lasts two or more weeks, the diagnosis may become that of major
depressive disorder. Major depressive disorder, also known as clinical depression, is a mental
disorder characterized by significant distress or impairment in important areas of function (APA,
2013). Those who suffer from major depressive disorder feel an intense sadness, despair, and loss
of interest in pursuits that once gave them pleasure. These negative feelings profoundly limit the
individual’s day-to-day functioning and ability to maintain and develop interests in life (Fairchild
& Scogin, 2008).

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Depressive disorders can occur at any age, and the median age of
Figure 10.8
onset is 32 years (Kessler et al., 2005). Recurrence of depressive
episodes is fairly common and is greatest for those who first
experience depression before the age of 15 years. About twice as
many women suffer from depression than do men (Culbertson,
1997; Kessler et al., 2003; Kessler et al., 2005). This gender
difference is consistent across many countries and cannot be
explained entirely by the fact that women are more likely to seek
treatment for their depression. It is not unusual to feel “down”
or “low” at times, but about 10%
About 21 million American adults suffer from a major of the population suffers from
dysfunctional and distressing
depressive disorder in any given year; this is approximately 7%
disorders related to mood. ©
of the American population and 1.5% suffer from chronic major Thinkstock
depressive disorder (APA, 2013). Rates of depression have been
increasing over the past years, although the reasons for this increase are not known (Kessler et al.,
2003). In some, clinically depressed people lose contact with reality and experience delusions and
hallucinations.

Behaviors Associated with Depression

 Changes in appetite; weight loss or gain

 Difficulty concentrating, remembering details, and making decisions
 Fatigue and decreased energy
 Feelings of hopelessness, helplessness, and pessimism
 Increased use of alcohol or drugs
 Irritability, restlessness
 Loss of interest in activities or hobbies once pleasurable, including sex
 Loss of interest in personal appearance
 Persistent aches or pains, headaches, cramps, or digestive problems that do not improve
with treatment
 Sleep disorders, either trouble sleeping or excessive sleeping
 Thoughts of suicide or attempts at suicide

Persistent Depressive Disorder

A significant change in the DSM-5 was the consolidation of chronic major depression and
dysthymic disorder resulting in the classification of Persistent Depressive Disorder (APA,
2013). The essential feature of this disorder is a depressed mood that occurs for most days for at
least two years (one year for children or adolescents). If the full criteria for a major depressive
disorder occurs during the time of the disorder, the individual should be diagnosed with major
depressive disorder. Those identified with persistent depressive disorder describe their moods as
“sad or down in the dumps” (APA, 2013, p. 169). These individuals are more likely to
demonstrate comorbidity with other mental disorders, especially anxiety and substance use
disorders, than those identified with major depressive disorder (APA, 2013).

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Suicide

The experience of depression can also have a variety of negative effects on our behaviors.
Individuals may become less productive and socially withdrawn. The person’s sense of
hopelessness and sadness may become so severe that they consider, attempts, or even
succeeds in committing suicide. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States
(American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), 2018).

According to AFSP (2018), women are more likely to attempt suicide, but men are more likely to
succeed. One reason men are more likely to succeed is the method that they choose. Women
will more often take an overdose of medication, while men will choose a gun. European
Americans and Native Americans are more likely to kill themselves than members of other
groups in the U.S. White, middle-aged and older males are most likely to commit suicide.
Sometimes suicide in this group is related to a serious physical illness rather than depression. The
older male may not want to burden his family financially or emotionally during a prolonged
illness.

While the rate of suicide is low among young children, during adolescence the number of
attempts, including successful attempts, is higher. Suicide can result from the interaction of
mental disorders and other factors, and thus was the second leading cause of death among
adolescents aged 12–17 years in 2010 (CDC, 2018). About 2.8 percent of teenagers make an
attempt at suicide that is serious enough for medical attention to be sought (AFSP, 2018). Other
factors that also increase the likelihood of suicide include prior suicide attempt, family history of
mental disorder or substance abuse, family history of suicide, history of physical or sexual abuse,
incarceration, or exposure to the suicidal behavior of others in general (NIMH, 2011).

Bipolar Disorders

Juliana is a 21-year-old single woman. Over the past several years she had been treated by a
psychologist for depression, but for the past few months she had been feeling a lot better. Juliana
had landed a good job in a law office and found a steady boyfriend. She told her friends and
parents that she had been feeling particularly good as her energy level was high and she was
confident in herself and her life.

One day, Juliana was feeling so good that she impulsively quit her new job and left town with her
boyfriend on a road trip. But the trip did not turn out well because Juliana became impulsive,
impatient, and easily angered. Her euphoria continued, and in one of the towns that they visited
she left her boyfriend and went to a party with some strangers that she had met. She danced into
the early morning and ended up having sex with several of the men.

Eventually Juliana returned home to ask for money, but when her parents found out about her
recent behavior, and when she acted aggressively and abusively to them when they confronted
her about it, they referred her to a social worker. Juliana was hospitalized, where she was
diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

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While major depressive disorder is characterized by overwhelming negative moods, a bipolar
disorder is characterized by swings in mood and activity from overly high and energetic to sad
and fatigued, and back again, with periods of near-normal mood and energy in between. Bipolar
disorder is diagnosed in cases such as
Juliana’s, where experiences with Figure 10.9 Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh
depression are followed by a more normal
period and then a period of mania or
euphoria in which the person feels
particularly awake, alive, talkative, excited,
energetic, and involved in everyday
activities. However, the individual is also
impulsive, agitated, distracted, and involved
excessively in activities that have a high
potential for negative consequences, such as
buying sprees, gambling, sexual
indiscretions, and foolish business
investments (APA, 2013). Without
treatment, it is likely that Juliana would Based on his intense bursts of artistic productivity (in one
cycle back into depression and then 2-month period in 1889 he produced 60 paintings),
eventually into mania again, with the personal writings, and behavior (including cutting off his
likelihood that she would harm herself or own ear), it is commonly thought that van Gogh suffered
from bipolar disorder. He committed suicide at age 37
others in the process. (Thomas & Bracken, 2001).

Cyclothymic Disorder

Cyclothymic disorder is diagnosed for those individuals demonstrating numerous fluctuating

periods of hypomanic or persistently elevated, expansive or irritable mood, and depressive
symptoms, but these behaviors do not meet the criteria for a bipolar disorder (APA, 2013). These
behaviors should have been present for at least half the time during a two-year period (at least one
year for children and adolescents), and the individual has not been without the symptoms for more
than two months.

Bipolar disorders are often chronic and lifelong conditions. Although the normal pattern involves
swings from high to low, in some cases the person may experience both highs and lows at the
same time. In this case, it may be difficult to determine if the individual has bipolar disorder or
two separate diagnoses, anxiety and depression. Bipolar disorder is more likely to be diagnosed
when it is initially observed at an early age, when the frequency of depressive episodes is high,
and when there is a sudden onset of the symptoms (Bowden, 2001).

Explaining Mood Disorders

Disorders related to mood are known to be at least, in part, genetic (Berrettini, 2006; Merikangas
et al., 2002). Neurotransmitters also play an important role in these disorders. Serotonin,
dopamine, and norepinephrine are all known to influence mood (Sher & Mann, 2003), and drugs
that influence the actions of these chemicals are often used to treat disorders of mood.

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The brains of those with depressive disorders may, in some cases, show structural differences
from those without them. Videbech and Ravnkilde (2004) found that the hippocampus was
smaller in depressed subjects than in normal subjects, and this may be the result of reduced
neurogenesis or the process of generating new neurons in depressed people (Warner-Schmidt &
Duman, 2006). Antidepressant drugs may alleviate depression in part by increasing
neurogenesis (Duman & Monteggia, 2006).

Research Focus: Using Molecular Genetics to Unravel the Causes of Depression

Caspi and colleagues (Caspi et al., 2003) used a longitudinal study to test whether genetic
predispositions might lead some people, but not others, to suffer from depression as a result of
environmental stress. Their research focused on a particular gene, the 5-HTT gene, which is
known to be important in the production and use of the neurotransmitter serotonin. The
researchers focused on this gene because serotonin is known to be important in depression, and
because selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have been shown to be effective in
treating depression.

People who experience stressful life events, for instance, those involving threat, loss, humiliation,
or defeat, are likely to experience depression. However, biological-situational models suggest
that a person’s sensitivity to stressful events depends on his or her genetic makeup. The
researchers, therefore, expected that people with one type of genetic pattern would show
depression following stress to a greater extent than people with a different type of genetic pattern.

The research included a sample of 1,037 adults from Dunedin, New Zealand. Genetic analysis on
the basis of DNA samples allowed the researchers to divide the sample into two groups on the
basis of the characteristics of their 5-HTT gene. One group had a short version (or allele) of the
gene, whereas the other group did not have the short allele of the gene.

The participants also completed a measure where they indicated the number and severity of
stressful life events that they had experienced over the past 5 years. The events included
employment, financial, housing, health, and relationship stressors. The dependent measure in the
study was the level of depression reported by the participant, as assessed using a structured
interview test (Robins et al., 1995).

As you can see in Figure 10.10, when the number of stressful experiences the participants
reported increased from 0 to 4, depression also significantly increased for the participants with
the short version of the gene (top panel). For the participants who did not have a short allele,
increasing stress did not increase depression (bottom panel). Furthermore, for the participants
who experienced 4 stressors over the past 5 years, 33% of the participants who carried the short
version of the gene became depressed, whereas only 17% of participants who did not have the
short version did.

This important study provides an excellent example of how genes and environment work
together: An individual’s response to environmental stress was influenced by his or her genetic
makeup.

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Figure 10.10

Psychological and social determinants are also important in creating disorders of mood,
including depression. Some situation, like loss of a loved one, may lead a person to become
overwhelmed by negative emotions. In terms of psychological characteristics, mood states are
influenced in large part by our cognitions. Negative thoughts about ourselves and our
relationships to others create negative moods, and a goal of cognitive therapy for depressive
disorders is to attempt to change people’s cognitions to be more positive. Negative moods also
create negative behaviors toward others, such as acting sad, slouching, and avoiding others,
which may lead those others to respond negatively to the person, for instance by isolating that
person, which then creates even more depression. In Figure 10.11 you can see how it might
become difficult for people to break out of this “cycle of depression”.

According to the WHO (2017), in 2015 the depression rate for the global population was
approximately 4.4%, with females (5.1%) exhibiting rates higher than males (3.6%). Results by
region indicated that Africa had the highest rates of depression (5.4%), while the Western Pacific
region had the lowest (3.6%). The United States’s rate of 5.9% was the second highest rate
behind Ukraine (6.3%) and the same as Australia and Estonia. Differences among countries may
be due to discrepancies between individual feelings and cultural expectations about what one
should feel. People from America report that it is important to experience emotions such as
happiness and excitement, whereas the Chinese report that it is more important to be stable and
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calm. Because Americans may feel that they are not happy or excited, but think they are supposed
to be, this may increase their depression (Tsai et al., 2006).

Figure 10.11 Cycle of Depression

Negative emotions create negative behavior which lead people to respond

negatively to the depressed individual, creating even more depression.

Key Takeaways

 Mood is the positive or negative feelings that are in the background of our
everyday experiences.
 We all may get depressed in our daily lives, but people who suffer from depressive
disorders tend to experience more intense, and particularly more intense negative,
moods.
 If a depression lasts longer than 2 weeks and is severe, the diagnosis may be a major
depressive disorder.
 Bipolar disorders are characterized by swings in mood and energy from overly high to sad
and fatigued, and back again, with periods of near-normal mood and energy in between.
 Depressive disorders are caused by the interplay among biological, psychological, and
social variables.

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 Exercises and Critical Thinking

1. Give a specific example of the negative cognitions, behaviors, and responses of

others that might contribute to a cycle of depression like that shown in Figure
10.11 "Cycle of Depression.”
2. Given the discussion about the causes of negative moods and depression, what might
people do to feel better on days that they are experiencing negative moods?

Schizophrenia

Learning Objectives

1. Define schizophrenia
2. Categorize and describe the major symptoms of schizophrenia.
3. Identify the biological and social factors that increase the likelihood that a person will
develop schizophrenia.

I first started to experience symptoms of schizophrenia in college. I started having a common

symptom of mental illness-grandiose thinking. I believed that I was going to discover some
fabulous new mathematical principle that would transform the way we view the universe. I told
no one about these thoughts. I started looking for clues to this mathematical theory in math
books I found at the library. I actually learned very little about math though, because I couldn’t
focus on any of the material for any significant length of time. During my third year of college, I
developed other symptoms more loosely related to paranoid schizophrenia. Once, I saw a police
car behind me and I thought the police were following me. Later on, I cut my leg and decided to
go to the university medical clinic. While I was there, I started to feel very vulnerable. I
wondered if the nurses would try to hurt me in some way. I thought they might try to infect me
with the AIDS virus by using a tainted needle. I started to think I was under surveillance 24
hours a day by some unseen group of people. At one point I wondered whether my whole life was
manufactured by some type of virtual reality machine, operated by aliens (Snyder, 2007).

According to Ray (2018), the term schizophrenia, which in Greek means “to split the mind,” (p.
455) was first used to describe a psychological disorder by Eugen Bleuler (1857–1939), a Swiss
psychiatrist who was studying patients who had very severe thought disorders. Schizophrenia is
a serious psychological disorder marked by delusions, hallucinations, loss of contact with reality,
inappropriate affect, disorganized speech, social withdrawal, and deterioration of adaptive
behavior (APA, 2013). When the patient has lost contact with reality, they are experiencing
psychosis.

Acording to the NIMH (2010c) schizophrenia is the most chronic and debilitating of all mental
health disorders. It affects males and females equally, although males typically have an earlier
onset. Schizophrenia occurs in similar rates across ethnicities and across cultures, and affects at
any one time approximately 3 million people in the United States. Onset of

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schizophrenia is usually between the ages of 16 and 30 and rarely after the age of 45 or in
children (Mueser & McGurk, 2004; Nicholson et al., 2000). Late onset cases (over age 40) are
overrepresented by females, and characterized predominantly by psychotic symptoms and
greater preservation of affect and social functioning. Diagnosing children is more difficult
because delusions and hallucinations must be distinguished from normal fantasy play.
Further, disorganized speech and behavior can occur in many childhood disorders (APA,
2013).

Symptoms of Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is accompanied by a variety of symptoms, but not all patients have all of them
(Lindenmayer & Khan, 2006). The symptoms are divided into positive symptoms, negative
symptoms, and cognitive symptoms (APA, 2003; National Institute of Mental Health, 2010c).

Positive symptoms: Positive symptoms refer

Figure 10.12 to the presence of abnormal behaviors or
experiences that are not observed in other
people. People with schizophrenia almost
always suffer from hallucinations, which are
imaginary sensations that occur in the
absence of a real stimulus or which are gross
distortions of a real stimulus.

Auditory hallucinations are the most common

and are reported by approximately 75% of
patients (Nicolson, et al., 2006). People with
People with schizophrenia may exhibit disorganized schizophrenia frequently report hearing
behavior, as this person does. Source: Photo courtesy of imaginary voices that curse them, comment
Max Avdeev on their behavior, order them to do things, or
warn them of danger (NIMH, 2009). Visual
hallucinations are less common and frequently involve seeing God or the devil (De Sousa,
2007).

Those with schizophrenia also commonly experience delusions, which are false beliefs not
commonly shared by others within one’s culture, and maintained even though they are obviously
out of touch with reality. People with delusions of grandeur believe that they are important,
famous, or powerful. They often become convinced that they are someone else, such as the
president, or that they have some special talent or ability. Some claim to have been assigned to a
special covert mission (Buchanan & Carpenter, 2005). People with delusions of persecution
believe that a person or group seeks to harm them. They may think that people are able to read
their minds and control their thoughts (Maher, 2001). If a person suffers from delusions of
persecution, there is an increased risk of violence (Buchanan & Carpenter, 2005).

People suffering from schizophrenia also experience the positive symptom of derailment, or the
shifting from one subject to another, without following any one line of thought to conclusion. In
addition, they may exhibit grossly disorganized behavior, including inappropriate sexual

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behavior, peculiar appearance and dress, unusual agitation (e.g., shouting and swearing), strange
body movements, and awkward facial expressions. It is also common for those with
schizophrenia to experience inappropriate affect. For example, a patient may uncontrollably laugh
when hearing sad news. Movement disorders are also noted and can appear as repeating a certain
motion again and again, or random and frenzied motor activity during which they become
hyperactive and incoherent (Kirkpatrick & Tek, 2005). In other cases, a movement disorder can
include catatonia, a state in which a person does not move and appears oblivious to the
environment (Janno et al., 2004; Rosebush & Mazurek, 2010). At least one of the core positive
symptoms (hallucinations, delusions, derailment) must be present for schizophrenia to be
diagnosed.

Negative symptoms: Negative symptoms refer to the loss or deterioration of thoughts and
behavior of typical functioning. Negative symptoms include social withdrawal, poor hygiene and
grooming, poor problem-solving abilities, and a distorted sense of time (Skrabalo, 2000).
Patients often suffer from flat affect, which means that they have a blank facial expression and
speak in a monotone, even though they may report feeling emotions (Kring, 1999). Many
individuals with a long-standing history of schizophrenia exhibit a lack of speech output. Not all
those with schizophrenia exhibit negative symptoms, but those who do also tend to have the
poorest outcomes (Fenton & McGlashan, 1994). Negative symptoms are predictors of
deteriorated functioning in everyday life, and often make it impossible for sufferers to work or to
care for themselves.

Cognitive Symptoms: Finally, cognitive symptoms are the changes in cognitive processes,
including comprehending information and then using it to make decisions (Skrabalo, 2000).
Additional symptoms include difficulty maintaining focus and attention, problems with working
memory, and trouble using information immediately after it is learned. The cognitive symptoms
of schizophrenia are typically difficult for outsiders to recognize, but make it extremely difficult
for the person with schizophrenia to lead a normal life. Table 10.2 reviews the main symptoms of
schizophrenia.

Table 10.2 Positive, Negative, and Cognitive Symptoms of Schizophrenia

Positive Symptoms Negative Symptoms Cognitive Symptoms

Hallucinations Social withdrawal Poor executive control

Delusions Flat affect and lack of pleasure in Trouble focusing
everyday life
Derailment Apathy and loss of motivation Working memory problems

Grossly disorganized behavior Distorted sense of time Poor problem-solving abilities

Inappropriate affect Lack of goal-oriented activity and

limited speech

Movement disorders Poor hygiene and grooming

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Explaining Schizophrenia

There is no single cause of schizophrenia. Rather, a variety of biological and environmental risk
factors interact in a complex way to increase the likelihood that someone might develop
schizophrenia (Walker et al., 2004).

Studies in molecular genetics have not yet identified the particular genes responsible for
schizophrenia, but it is evident from research using family, twin, and adoption studies that
genetics are important (Walker & Tessner, 2008). As you can see in Figure 10.13, the likelihood
of developing schizophrenia increases dramatically if a close relative also has the disease.

Figure 10.13 Genetic Disposition to Develop Schizophrenia

The risk of developing schizophrenia increases substantially if a person has a relative with the disease.
Adapted from Gottesman (1991).

Neuroimaging studies have found some differences in brain structure between those with
schizophrenia and those who do not have schizophrenia. In some people with schizophrenia, the
cerebral ventricles (fluid-filled spaces in the brain) are enlarged (Suddath et al., 1990). People
with schizophrenia also frequently show an overall loss of neurons in the cerebral cortex, and
some show less activity in the frontal and temporal lobes, which are the areas of the brain
involved in language, attention, and memory. This would explain the deterioration of functioning
in language and thought processing that is commonly experienced by patients with schizophenia
(Galderisi et al., 2008). Woods (1998) indicated that this loss of brain volume occurs suddenly
and rapidly. According to Carlson (2011) this loss coincides with a smaller decrease noted with
young adults who do not have schizophrenia and may be due to an increase in synaptic pruning
that occurs during this time.

Many researchers believe that schizophrenia is caused in part by excess dopamine, and this
theory is supported by the fact that most of the drugs useful in treating schizophrenia inhibit
dopamine activity in the brain (Javitt & Laruelle, 2006). Levels of serotonin may also play a
part (Inayama et al., 1996). However, recent evidence suggests that the role of neurotransmitters
in schizophrenia is more complicated than was once believed. It also remains unclear whether

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observed differences in the neurotransmitter systems of people with schizophrenia cause the
disease, or if they are the result of the disease itself or its treatment (Csernansky & Grace, 1998).
A genetic predisposition to developing schizophrenia does not always develop into the actual
disorder. Even if a person has an identical twin with schizophrenia, he still has less than a 50%
chance of getting it himself, and over 60% of all those diagnosed with schizophrenia have no
first- or second- degree relatives with schizophrenia (Gottesman & Erlenmeyer-Kimling, 2001;
Riley & Kendler, 2005). This suggests that there are important environmental causes as well.

One hypothesis is that schizophrenia is caused in part by disruptions to normal brain

development in infancy that may be caused by poverty, malnutrition, and disease (Brown et al.,
2004; Murray & Bramon, 2005; Susser et al., 1996; Waddington et al., 1999). Stress also
increases the likelihood that a person will develop the symptoms of schizophrenia; onset and
relapse of schizophrenia typically occur during periods of increased stress (Walker et al., 2008).
However, it may be that people who develop schizophrenia are more vulnerable to stress than
others and not necessarily that they experience more stress than others (Walker et al., 2008).
For example, many homeless people are likely to be suffering from undiagnosed schizophrenia.

Another social factor that has been found to be important in schizophrenia is the degree to which
one or more of the patient’s relatives is highly critical or highly emotional in their attitude toward
the patient. Hooley and Hiller (1998) found that patients with schizophrenia who ended a stay in
a hospital and returned to a family with high expressed emotion were three times more likely to
relapse than patients who returned to a family with low expressed emotion. It may be that the
families with high expressed emotion are a source of stress to the patient.

Key Takeaways

 Schizophrenia is a serious mental health disorder marked by delusions,

hallucinations, and loss of contact with reality. Schizophrenia is accompanied by a
variety of symptoms, but not all patients have all of them.
 Because the patient with schizophrenia has lost contact with reality, they
are experiencing psychosis.
 Positive symptoms of schizophrenia include hallucinations, delusions, derailment,
disorganized behavior, inappropriate affect, and catatonia.
 Negative symptoms of schizophrenia include social withdrawal, poor hygiene
and grooming, poor problem-solving abilities, and a distorted sense of time.
 Cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia include difficulty comprehending and using
information, problems maintaining focus, and problems with working memory.
 There is no single cause of schizophrenia. Rather, there are a variety of
biological and environmental risk factors that interact in a complex way to
increase the likelihood that someone might develop schizophrenia.

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 Exercise and Critical Thinking

1. How should society deal with people with schizophrenia? Is it better to keep patients
in psychiatric facilities against their will, but where they can be observed and
supported, or to allow them to live in the community, where they may get worse and
have problems functioning. What factors influence your opinion?

Personality Disorders

Learning Objectives

1. Describe the different types of personality disorders and differentiate antisocial

personality disorder from borderline personality disorder.
2. Outline the biological and environmental factors that may contribute to a person
developing a personality disorder.

A personality disorder is a disorder characterized by inflexible patterns of thinking, feeling, or

relating to others that cause problems in personal, social, and work situations. Personality
disorders tend to emerge during late childhood or adolescence and usually continue throughout
adulthood (Widiger, 2006). The disorders can be problematic for the people who have them, but
they are less likely to bring people to a therapist for treatment.

The personality disorders are summarized in Table 10.3. They are categorized into three types:
 Characterized by odd or eccentric behavior
 Characterized by dramatic or erratic behavior
 Characterized by anxious or inhibited behavior.

As you consider the personality types described in Table 10.3, you will probably think of people
that you know who have each of these traits, at least to some degree. Probably you know
someone who seems a bit suspicious and paranoid, who feels that other people are always
“ganging up on him,” and who really does not trust other people very much. Perhaps you know
someone who fits the bill of being overly dramatic, such as the “drama queen”, who is always
raising a stir and whose emotions seem to turn everything into a big deal. Also, you might have a
friend who is overly dependent on others and cannot seem to get a life of her own.

The personality traits that make up the personality disorders are common. We see them in the
people whom we interact with every day, yet they may become problematic when they are rigid,
overused, or interfere with everyday behavior (Lynam & Widiger, 2001). What is perhaps
common to all the disorders, is the person’s inability to accurately understand and be sensitive to
the motives and needs of the people around them.

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Table 10.3 Descriptions of the Personality Disorders

Cluster Personality Characteristics

Disorder

Odd/Eccentric Schizotypal Peculiar or eccentric manners of speaking or dressing; strange beliefs

or magical thinking, such as belief in ESP or telepathy; difficulty
forming relationships and conversing.

Paranoid Distrust in others, suspicious, and apt to challenge the loyalties of

friends; prone to anger and aggressive outbursts, but otherwise
emotionally cold; often jealous, guarded, secretive, and overly serious.

Schizoid Extreme introversion and withdrawal from relationships; prefers to be

alone, little interest in others, humorless, distant, and often absorbed with
own thoughts and feelings.

Dramatic/Erratic Antisocial Impoverished moral sense or “conscience”; history of deception, crimes, and
legal problems; impulsive, aggressive or violent behavior; little emotional
empathy or remorse; manipulative.

Borderline Unstable moods and intense, stormy personal relationships, frequent mood
changes and anger; unpredictable impulses; self-mutilation or suicidal
threats or gestures; self-image fluctuation.

Histrionic Constant attention seeking, grandiose language, provocative

dress, exaggerated illnesses, overly dramatic, and excessively
flirtatious.
Narcissistic Inflated sense of self-importance, absorbed by fantasies of self
andsuccess, exaggerates own achievement, and exploitative of others.

Anxious/Fearful Avoidant Socially anxious and uncomfortable; yearns for social contact, but fears
criticism and worries about being embarrassed in front of others; avoids
social situations due to fear of rejection.

Dependent Submissive, dependent, requires excessive approval, reassurance, and

advice; clings to people and fears losing them; lacks self-confidence and
uncomfortable when alone.

Obsessive- Conscientious, orderly, perfectionist, and an excessive need to do

compulsive everything “right”; inflexibly high standards and fear of errors can make
this person strict and controlling; poor expression of emotions.
**Obsessive compulsive personality disorder is not the same as obsessive-
compulsive disorder.
Source: American Psychiatric Association. (2013).

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The personality disorders create a bit of a problem for diagnosis. For one, it is frequently difficult
for the clinician to accurately diagnose which of the many personality disorders a person has,
although the friends and colleagues of the person can generally do a good job of it (Oltmanns &
Turkheimer, 2006). Further, the personality disorders are highly comorbid; if a person has one, it is
likely that they have others as well. Also, the number of people with personality disorders is
estimated to be as high as 15% of the population (Grant et al., 2004), which might make us wonder
if these are really “disorders” in any real sense of the word.

Although they are considered as separate disorders, some clinicians believe the personality
disorders are essentially milder versions of more severe disorders (Huang et al., 2009). For
example, obsessive-compulsive personality disorder is a milder version of obsessive-compulsive
disorder (OCD), and schizoid and schizotypal personality disorders are characterized by symptoms
similar to those of schizophrenia. This overlap in classification causes some confusion, and some
theorists have argued that the personality disorders should be eliminated from the DSM. However,
clinicians normally differentiate milder from more severe disorders, and thus the distinction is
useful for them (Krueger, 2005; Phillips et al., 2003; Verheul, 2005).

Two personality disorders that have important implications for behavior, will be further discussed.
The first, borderline personality disorder (BPD), is important because it is so often associated with
suicide, and the second, antisocial personality disorder (APD), because it is the foundation of
criminal behavior. Borderline and antisocial personality disorders are also good examples to
consider because they are so clearly differentiated in terms of their focus. BPD is known as an
internalizing disorder because the behaviors that it entails are mostly directed toward the self
(e.g., suicide and self-mutilation). APD, on the other hand, is a type of externalizing disorder in
which the problem behaviors focus primarily on harm to others (e.g., lying, fighting, vandalism,
and other criminal activity).

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a psychological disorder characterized by a prolonged

disturbance of personality accompanied by mood swings, unstable personal relationships, identity
problems, threats of self-destructive behavior, fears of abandonment, and impulsivity. BPD is
widely diagnosed as up to 20% of psychiatric patients are given the diagnosis, and it may occur in
up to 2% of the general population (Hyman, 2002). About three-quarters of diagnosed cases of
BDP are women.

People with BPD fear being abandoned by others, show a clinging dependency on others, and
engage in manipulation to try to maintain relationships. They become angry if a partner limits the
relationship, but deny that they care about the person. As a defense against fear of abandonment,
those with BPD are compulsively social, but their behaviors, including intense anger, demands, and
suspiciousness, repel people. People with BPD often deal with stress by engaging in self-destructive
behaviors, such as, being sexually promiscuous, getting into fights, binge eating and purging,
engaging in self-mutilation or drug abuse, and threatening suicide. These behaviors are designed to
call forth a “saving” response from the other person. People with BPD are a continuing burden for
police, hospitals, and therapists. Individuals with BPD also show disturbance in their concepts of
identity: They are often uncertain about self-image, gender identity, values, loyalties, and goals.
They may have chronic feelings of emptiness or boredom and be unable to tolerate being alone.

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BPD has both genetic and environmental roots. In terms of genetics, research has found that those
with BPD frequently have neurotransmitter imbalances (Zweig-Frank et al., 2006), and the disorder
is heritable (Minzenberg et al., 2008). In terms of environment, many theories about the causes of
BPD focus on a disturbed early relationship between the child and his or her parents. Some theories
focus on the development of attachment in early childhood, while others point to parents who fail
to provide adequate attention to the child’s feelings. Others focus on parental abuse (both sexual
and physical) in adolescence, as well as on divorce, alcoholism, and other stressors (Lobbestael &
Arntz, 2009). The dangers of BPD are greater when they are associated with childhood sexual
abuse, early age of onset, substance abuse, and aggressive behaviors. The problems are amplified
when the diagnosis is comorbid, as it often is, with other disorders, such as substance related
disorders, major depressive disorder, and PTSD (Skodol et al., 2002).

Research Focus: Affective and Cognitive Deficits in BPD

Posner et al. (2003) hypothesized that the difficulty that individuals with BPD have in regulating
their lives, such as in developing meaningful relationships with other people, may be due to
imbalances in the fast and slow emotional pathways in the brain. Specifically, they hypothesized
that the fast-emotional pathway through the amygdala is too active, and the slow cognitive-
emotional pathway through the prefrontal cortex is not active enough in those with BPD.

The participants in their research were 16 patients with BPD and 14 healthy comparison
participants. All participants were tested in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
machine while they performed a task that required them to read emotional and nonemotional
words, and then press a button as quickly as possible whenever a word appeared in a normal font
and not press the button whenever the word appeared in an italicized font.

The researchers found that while all participants performed the task well, the patients with BPD
had more errors than the controls, both in terms of pressing the button when they should not have
and not pressing it when they should have. These errors primarily occurred on the negative
emotional words.

Figure 10.14 shows the comparison of the level of brain activity in the emotional centers in the
amygdala (left panel) and the prefrontal cortex (right panel). In comparison to the controls, the
borderline patients showed relatively larger affective responses when they were attempting to
quickly respond to the negative emotions, and showed less cognitive activity in the prefrontal
cortex in the same conditions. This research suggests that excessive affective reactions and lessened
cognitive reactions to emotional stimuli may contribute to the emotional and behavioral volatility of
borderline patients.

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Figure 10.14

Individuals with BPD showed less cognitive and greater emotional brain activity in response to negative emotional
words. Source: Adapted from Posner et al. (2003).

Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD)

In contrast to borderline personality disorder, which involves primarily feelings of inadequacy and
a fear of abandonment, antisocial personality disorder (APD) is a pervasive pattern of violation
of the rights of others and a tendency to violate those rights without being concerned about doing
so. APD is about three times more likely to be diagnosed in men than in women. To be diagnosed
with APD, the person must be 18 years of age or older. People having antisocial personality
disorder are sometimes referred to as “sociopaths” or “psychopaths.”

People with APD feel little distress for the pain they cause others. They lie, engage in violence
against animals and people, and frequently have drug and alcohol abuse problems. They are
egocentric and frequently impulsive, for instance suddenly changing jobs or relationships. People
with APD soon end up with a criminal record and often spend time incarcerated. The intensity of
antisocial symptoms tends to peak during the 20s and then may decrease over time.

Biological and environmental factors are both implicated in the development of antisocial
personality disorder (Rhee & Waldman, 2002). Twin and adoption studies suggest a genetic
predisposition (Rhee & Waldman, 2002), and biological abnormalities include low autonomic
activity during stress, biochemical imbalances, right hemisphere abnormalities, and reduced gray
matter in the frontal lobes (Lyons-Ruth et al., 2007; Raine et al., 2000). Environmental factors
include neglectful and abusive parenting styles, such as the use of harsh and inconsistent
discipline and inappropriate modeling (Huesmann & Kirwil, 2007).

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 Key Takeaways
 A personality disorder is a disorder characterized by inflexible patterns of thinking,
feeling, or relating to others that causes problems in personal, social, and work
situations.
 Personality disorders are categorized into three clusters: Those characterized by odd or
eccentric behavior, dramatic or erratic behavior, and anxious or inhibited behavior.
 Although they are considered as separate disorders, the personality disorders are
essentially milder versions of more severe disorders.
 Borderline personality disorder is a prolonged disturbance of personality accompanied
by mood swings, unstable personal relationships, and identity problems, and it is often
associated with suicide.
 Antisocial personality disorder is characterized by a disregard of others’ rights and a
tendency to violate those rights without being concerned about doing so.

Exercises and Critical Thinking

1. What characteristics of men and women do you think make them more likely to have
APD and BDP, respectively? Do these differences seem to you to be more genetic or
more environmental?
2. Do you know people who suffer from antisocial personality disorder? What
behaviors do they engage in, and why are these behaviors so harmful to them and
others?

Disorders Originating in Childhood

Learning Objectives

1. Describe the characterisitcs of ADHD and autism.

2. Outline the biological and environmental factors that may contribute to a person
developing ADHD and autism.

Lastly, we will review two common disorders that originate in childhood: Attention-
deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). These two disorders
have recently raised concerns because they are being diagnosed significantly more frequently than
they were in the past. Assessing children is more difficult than adults, and this difficulty contributes
to the controvery regarding the increased prevalence.

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Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Zack, aged 7 years, has always had trouble settling down. He is easily bored and distracted. In
school, he cannot stay in his seat for very long and he frequently does not follow instructions. He is
constantly fidgeting or staring into space. Zack has poor social skills and may overreact when
someone accidentally bumps into him or uses one of his toys. At home, he chatters constantly and
rarely settles down to do a quiet activity, such as reading a book.

Symptoms such as Zack’s are common among 7-year-olds, and particularly among boys, but what
do the symptoms mean? Does Zack simply have a lot of energy and a short attention span? Boys
mature more slowly than girls at this age, and perhaps Zack will catch up in the next few years.
One possibility is for the parents and teachers to work with Zack to help him be more attentive, to
put up with the behavior, and to wait it out. Another option Zack’s parents might choose, often on
the advice of the child’s school, is to take him to a psychologist for an assessment and diagnosis
when these behaviors occur.

If Zack were taken for testing today, it is very possible that he would be diagnosed with a
psychological disorder known as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). ADHD is a
behavior disorder characterized by inattention and/or hyperactivity/impulsivity, in which symptoms
are present before 12 years of age (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Although it is
usually first diagnosed in childhood, ADHD can remain problematic in adults, and up to 7% of
college students are diagnosed with it (Weyandt & DuPaul, 2006). In adults, the symptoms of
ADHD include forgetfulness, difficulty paying attention to details, procrastination, disorganized
work habits, and not listening to others. ADHD is about 70% more likely to occur in males than in
females (Kessler et al., 2005), and is often comorbid with other disorders.

The diagnosis of ADHD has quadrupled over the past 20 years such that it is now diagnosed in
about 1 out of every 20 American children and it is the most common psychological disorder
among children in the world (Olfson, Gameroff, Marcus, & Jensen, 2003). ADHD is also being
diagnosed much more frequently in adolescents and adults (Barkley, 1998). You might wonder
what this all means. Are the increases in the diagnosis of ADHD due to the fact that today’s
children and adolescents are actually more distracted and hyperactive than their parents were, due
to a greater awareness of ADHD among teachers and parents, or due to psychologists and
psychiatrists’ tendency to overdiagnose the problem? Perhaps drug companies are also involved,
because ADHD is often treated with prescription medications, including stimulants, such as Ritalin.

Although skeptics argue that ADHD is overdiagnosed and is a handy excuse for behavioral
problems, most psychologists believe that ADHD is a real disorder that is caused by a combination
of genetic and environmental factors. Twin studies have found that ADHD is heritable (National
Institute of Mental Health, 2010a), and neuroimaging studies have found that people with ADHD
may have structural differences in areas of the brain that influence self-control and attention
(Seidman et al., 2005). Other studies have also pointed to environmental factors, such as mothers’
smoking and drinking alcohol during pregnancy, and the consumption of lead and food additives by
those who are affected (Braun et al., 2006; Linnet et al., 2003; McCann et al., 2007). Social factors,
such as family stress and poverty, also contribute to ADHD (Burt et al., 2001).

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Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Jared’s kindergarten teacher has voiced her concern to Jared’s parents about his difficulties with
interacting with other children and his delay in developing normal language. Jared is unable to
maintain eye contact and avoids mixing with other children. He also cannot communicate with
people very well. He often responds to questions or comments with long-winded, immature speeches
about trucks or some other topic that interests him, and he seems to lack awareness of other
children’s wishes and needs.

Jared’s concerned parents took him to a multidisciplinary child development center for
consultation. Here he was tested by a pediatric neurologist and a child psychologist. The pediatric
neurologist found that Jared’s hearing was normal, and there were no signs of any neurological
disorder. He diagnosed Jared with an intellectual disability because his language skills and adaptive
functioning were not age appropriate.

Based on her observation of Jared’s difficulty interacting with his peers, and the fact that he did not
respond warmly to his parents, the psychologist diagnosed Jared with autism spectrum disorder
(ASD) or autism, a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction
and communication and by restricted repetitive behaviors, interests, and activities (RRBs). If RRB’s
are not present, a social communication disorder is diagnosed. The psychologist believed that the
autism diagnosis was correct because, like other children with autism, Jared has a poorly developed
ability to see the world from the perspective of others; engages in unusual behaviors, such as
talking about trucks for hours; and responds to stimuli, such as the sound of a car or an airplane, in
unusual ways. According to the DSM-5 (APA, 2013), Jared would most probably receive a
diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, with accompanying intellectual impairment as a specifier.

The number of children diagnosed with an atism spectrum disorder is increasing dramatically. The
most recent comprehensive report on the prevalence of autism in the United States indicated that in
2014, 1 in 59 children (1.7%) aged 8 years was identified with autism (Baio et al., 2018). Males
were four times more likely than females to be identified with ASD, and prevalence estimates were
higher for non-Hispanic white children compared with non-Hispanic black children, and both
groups were more likely to be identified with ASD than Hispanic children. This information was
obtained from The Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network, which
assesses 11 ADDM sites in the United States.

For many years autism was thought to be primarily a socially determined disorder, in which
parents who were cold, distant, and rejecting created the problem, but current research suggests
that biological factors are most important. The heritability of autism has been established (Freitag,
2007), and scientists speculate that autism is caused by an unknown genetically determined brain
abnormality that occurs early in development. Epigenetic factors, such as prenatal exposure to
viruses, may be responsible for turning on or off the genes that cause this disorder, resulting in the
dramatic increase in the number of children currently affected. It is likely that several different
brain sites are affected (Moldin, 2003), and the search for these areas is being conducted in many
scientific laboratories. For example, a lack of synaptic pruning has been theorized as one cause.
Neuroscientists at Columbia University Medical Center reported that children with autism have an
excess amount of brain synapses due to a slowing down in the normal “pruning” process during
development (Tang et al., 2014). Because synapses are the points where neurons connect and
377
communicate with each other, the excessive synapses affect how the brain functions. Paternal age
at conception has also been identified in an autism diagnosis due to the accumulation of mutations
that occur overtime in sperm (Janecka et al., 2017).

Impact of COVID-19 on Mental Health

As the COVID-19 pandemic continued, concerns regarding Americans’ mental health became as
important as their physical health. According to results obtained from a national survey completed by
the Census Bureau in January 2021, 41.1% of adults in America reported symptoms of depression or
anxiety (Panchal et al., 2021). In contrast, only 11% of adults reported these symptoms between
January and June 2019. Adverse symptoms included difficulty sleeping, eating issues, increased
substance use, and worsening chronic health conditions.

Specific populations identified deteriorating mental health more than other groups. For young adults,
the closure of colleges and loss of income were significant risk factors for poorer mental health
(Panchal et al., 2021). The percentage of adults aged 18-24 years identifying mental health issues was
the highest among all ages at 56.2%. Prior to the pandemic, young adults were already at a higher risk
than other ages and were not receiving treatment. The pandemic only increased their symptoms.
Working age adults who experienced job or income loss had greater symptoms of mental health
disorders than those not experiencing losses (53% vs. 32%).

Also reporting higher rates of anxiety and depression included parents of children under the age of 18,
especially mothers (Panchal et al., 2021). Additionally, communities of color identified poorer mental
health. Black and Hispanic communities experienced significantly higher rates of coronavirus cases
and death adding to the stress of the pandemic. Black parents were also more likely to identify
negative effects on their children’s education compared to White parents. Lastly, essential workers,
including health care providers, store employees, mail and package delivery personnel, transportation
workers, and cleaning personnel, also identified poorer mental health. These essential workers were at
an increased risk of contracting COVID-19, while earning less wages than other workers.

Substance Use Disorders: Since the beginning of the pandemic, an increased number of Americans
reported starting to use, or increasing their use of, psychoactive substances to deal with the stress and
emotions related to COVID-19 (Abramson, 2021). Factors contributing to the increased use include
stress from the loss of wages, loneliness, general anxiety about COVID-19, and a lack of healthy
alternatives due to pandemic restrictions. Additionally, clinics and community based programs for
those with substance use disorders closed making it more difficult for people to receive treatment.
Overdoses also increased since the start of the pandemic, with an 18% increase in the early months of
the pandemic compared to the same months the previous year. When individuals use drugs alone,
they are also more likely to die as no one is there to call for help. Additionally, those with substance-
use disorders are more likely to develop COVID-19, and they experience worse outcomes, including
greater hospitalizations and deaths (Cahan, 2021).

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Key Takeaways

 ADHD is a behavior disorder characterized by inattention, hyperactivity,

and impulsivity that occurs prior to 12 years of age.
 Autism is a disorder characterized by impaired social interaction and communication
and by restricted repetitive behaviors, interests, and activities.
 Both genetic and prenatal factors are hypothesized to cause ADHD and autism.
 There is controversy regarding the overdiagnosis of both ADHD and autism.
 The COVID-19 pandemic increased rates for both mental health disorders and substance
use disorders.

Exercises and Critical Thinking

1. Consider the diagnoses of ADHD and autism from the biological, personal and social-
cultural perspectives. Do you think that these disorders are overdiagnosed? How
might clinicians determine if ADHD and autism are distressing to the individual?

Videos and Activities

1. This video course, titled The World of Abnormal Psychology, provides additional
information about many specific disorders, including some not covered in this chapter.
In addition, you will see interviews with patients, scenes from treatment facilities,
demonstrations from research studies, and discussions by mental health professionals.
Thirteen one-hour programs can be viewed for free.
https://www.learner.org/series/the-world-of-abnormal-psychology/

These videos are based on an earlier version of the DSM.

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Chapter Summary

Abnormal psychology is defined as the application of psychological science to understanding and

treating mental health disorders.

More psychologists are involved in the diagnosis and treatment of mental health disorders than
in any other aspect of psychology.

About 1 in every 5 Americans (approximately 44.7 million people) are estimated to be affected by a
mental health disorder during any one year. The impact of mental illness is particularly strong on
people who are poorer, of lower socioeconomic class, and from disadvantaged ethnic groups.

The biopsychosocial model of mental health disorders is used to explain the causes of mental illness.

A mental health disorder is a deviant, distressing, and dysfunctional pattern of thought, emotion, or
behavior. Mental health disorders are often comorbid, meaning that a given person suffers from
more than one disorder.

The stigma of mental health disorders affects people while they are ill, while they are healing, and
even after they have healed. Mental illness is not a “fault,” and it is important to work to help
overcome the stigma associated with disorder.

Psychologists diagnose mental health disorders using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders (DSM). The DSM uses categories, and patients with close approximations to
the characteristics in the category are said to have that disorder. The current version is the DSM-5

Anxiety disorders are psychological disturbances marked by irrational fears, often of everyday
objects and situations. They include generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder, and
phobias. Anxiety disorders affect about 9% of American adults every year.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are other
disorders in which anxiety is a major symptom.

Major depressive disorder, persistent depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, and cyclothymia also
involve inappropriate moods that interfere with daily life. The cycle of depression involves negative
cognitions, leading to negative emotions, leading to negative behaviors towards others that
ultimately lead to negative responses from others that keep the negative cognitions active.

Schizophrenia is a serious mental health disorder marked by delusions, hallucinations, loss of

contact with reality, inappropriate affect, disorganized speech, social withdrawal, and deterioration
of adaptive behavior. About 3 million Americans have schizophrenia.

A personality disorder is a long-lasting, but frequently less severe disorder, characterized by

inflexible patterns of thinking, feeling, or relating to others that causes problems in personal,
social, and work situations. They are characterized by odd or eccentric behavior, by dramatic or
erratic behavior, or by anxious or inhibited behavior. Two of the most important personality
disorders are borderline personality disorder (BPD) and antisocial personality disorder (APD).
380
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autistic spectrum disorder are two
disorders identified in childhood. They are both being diagnosed significantly more frequently
than they were in the past.

COVID-19 has had a tremendous impact on the mental health of the nation. Increased rates of
depression, anxiety and substance use disorders have especially been prevalent.

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Chapter 11 Treating Mental Health Disorders
Learning Objectives

1. Explain the psychological, biomedical, and social approaches to treatment.

2. Define therapy.
3. Explain psychological assessment.

Mental health disorders create a tremendous individual, social, and economic drain on society.
Disorders make it difficult for people to engage in productive lives and effectively contribute to
their family and to society. Disorders lead to disability and absenteeism in the workplace, as well
as physical problems, premature death, and suicide. At a societal level the costs are staggering. It
has been estimated that the annual financial burden of each case of anxiety disorder is over
$3,000 per year, meaning that the annual cost of anxiety disorders alone in the United States runs
into the trillions of dollars (Konnopka et al., 2009; Smit et al., 2006).

The goal of this chapter is to review the various techniques that are used to treat mental health
disorders. Just as psychologists consider the causes of a disorder in terms of the biopsychosocial
model of mental disorders, treatment is also based on psychological, biological, and social
approaches. A clinician may focus on any or all of the three approaches to treatment, but when
deciding which to use, research on the effectiveness of different treatments should prevail.

 The psychological approach to reducing a disorder involves providing help to individuals

or families through psychological therapy, known as psychotherapy. These include
psychodynamic, humanistic, and cognitive-behavioral therapeutic approaches.
 The biomedical approach to reducing a disorder is based on the use of medications to treat
mental disorders, as well as the employment of brain intervention techniques, including
electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), and
psychosurgery.
 The social approach to reducing a disorder focuses on changing the social environment in
which individuals live to reduce the underlying causes of disorders. These approaches
include group, couples, and family therapy, as well as community outreach programs. The
community approach is likely to be the most effective of the three approaches because it
focuses not only on treatment, but also on prevention of disorders (World Health
Organization (WHO), 2004).

Individuals may seek therapy, which is treatment for mental health problems, when their distress
becomes severe or when they find themselves unable to function normally. Other individuals may
be referred to therapy by a physician, court, parent, or school. Couples or family groups might also
attend therapy to address problems with relationships. Possible settings for this therapy include
clinics, hospitals, counseling centers, or private practice. The individual who attends therapy may
be referred to as a client or a patient, depending on the theoretical views of the therapist and the
nature of the problem.

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Psychological Assessment

A psychologist may begin therapy by systematically learning about the patient’s needs through a
formal psychological assessment, which is an evaluation of the patient’s psychological and
mental health. During the assessment the psychologist will conduct a thorough interview with the
individual seeking help. Objective or projective tests might be administered. The therapist may
also get more information from family members, school personnel, medical records, or other
sources. In addition to the psychological assessment, the patient may be seen by a physician to gain
information about potential physical problems.

After the medical and psychological assessments are completed, the therapist might make a formal
diagnosis using the detailed descriptions of the disorder provided in the Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) (APA, 2013). Insurance companies require a DSM diagnosis
in order to justify payment for the treatment.

Some psychotherapists will not use a formal diagnosis. This is particularly true for those therapists
who are helping with relationship issues or other problems that are not being paid for with
insurance. However, all therapists will keep records of the initial assessment and identified
problem areas. The therapist will discuss with the client how the problems might be addressed and
goals for the therapy. Written informed consent documents will be signed which outline financial
and procedural issues of the therapeutic contract. Referrals to other professionals might be made if
the client will need therapy in addition to or instead of the type of services the original therapist can
provide.

Psychotherapy

Learning Objectives

1. Define psychotherapy.
2. Differentiate among psychodynamic, humanistic, behavioral, and cognitive therapies.
3. Explain the behavioral and cognitive aspects of cognitive-behavioral therapy and how
CBT is used to reduce mental health disorders.
4. Describe the effectiveness of psychotherapy.

One approach to treatment is psychotherapy, the professional treatment of mental health

disorders through techniques designed to encourage communication of conflicts and insight. The
fundamental aspect of psychotherapy is that the patient directly confronts the disorder and works
with the therapist to help reduce it. Therapy includes assessing the client’s issues and problems,
planning a course of treatment, setting goals for change, the treatment itself, and an evaluation of
the patient’s progress. Therapy is practiced by thousands of psychologists and other trained
practitioners in the United States and around the world.

To many people, therapy involves a patient lying on a couch with a therapist sitting behind and
nodding sagely as the patient speaks. However, this approach to therapy is outdated (Hansell et
al., 2008). It is estimated that there are over 400 different kinds of therapy practiced by people in
many fields (Norcross et al., 2002), and the most important of these are shown in Figure 11.1. The
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therapists who provide these treatments include psychiatrists, who have a medical degree and can
prescribe drugs, clinical or counseling psychologists, social workers, psychiatric nurses, and
couples, marriage, and family therapists.

Figure 11.1 Types of Therapy Practiced in the U.S. Psychodynamic

Therapy

Psychodynamic therapy is
a psychological treatment
based on Freudian and
neo-Freudian theories in
which the therapist helps the
patient explore early
childhood relationships and
the unconscious dynamics of
the individual. The
patient’s personal concerns
and anxieties are discussed,
and through interpretation,
the therapist tries to
understand the underlying
unconscious problems that
are causing the symptoms.
The analyst may try out
some interpretations on the
Source: Adapted from Norcross, Hedges, & Castle (2002). patient and observe how
they respond to them.

According to Shedler (2010), the current psychodynamic approach to treatment has seven distinct
features:
 Encourages exploration and discussion of the full range of a patient’s emotions
 Explores resistance, or the attempts of the patient to avoid distressing thoughts and feelings
 Identifies recurring themes and patterns in the patient’s thoughts, feelings, self-concept,
relationships, and life experiences
 Discusses past experiences, especially early experiences with attachment figures
 Focuses on patients’ relationships and interpersonal experiences
 Focuses on the therapeutic relationship, including transference
 Explores the patient’s desires, fears, fantasies, dreams, and daydreams to gain insight into
how the patient views self, others, and experiences
The patient may be asked to verbalize his or her thoughts through free association, in which the
therapist listens while the client talks about whatever comes to mind, without any censorship or
filtering. The goal of psychoanalysis is to help the patient develop insight; that is, an
understanding of the unconscious causes of the disorder (Epstein et al., 2001; Lubarsky & Barrett,
2006). Unfortunately, the patient may show resistance, or an unconscious refusal to accept these
new understandings, to avoid the painful feelings in his or her unconscious.

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For example, the patient might forget or miss appointments, or act out with hostile feelings toward
the therapist. The therapist attempts to help the patient develop insight into the causes of the
resistance. The sessions may also lead to transference, in which the patient unconsciously redirects
feelings experienced in an important personal relationship toward the therapist. For instance, the
patient may transfer feelings of guilt or anger that come from the father or mother to the therapist.

The psychodynamic approach to therapy has been criticized for several reasons including:
Incorporating aspects of Freud’s unproven ideas, being too “abstract” by focusing on unconscious
experiences, lacking research on the therapy’s effectiveness, and utilizing a long-term therapeutic
model that is not efficient in today’s insurance-limited world (Novotney, 2017). Current
psychodynamic approaches frequently use shorter-term, focused, and goal-oriented approaches. In
these “brief psychodynamic therapies,” the therapist helps the client determine the important issues
to be discussed at the beginning of treatment and usually takes a more active role (Levenson, 2010).
Additionally, psychodynamic researchers and therapists have focused their efforts on using
research to demonstrate the effectiveness of their approach to treatment. According to Shedler
(2010) and Novotney (2017), early research results assessing the effectiveness of psychodynamic
therapy have been promising.

Humanistic Therapy

Just as psychodynamic therapy is based on the theories of Freud

and the neo-Freudians, humanistic therapy is a psychological Figure 11.2
treatment based on the theories of Carl Rogers and other
humanistic psychologists. Humanistic therapy is based on the
idea that people develop psychological problems when they are
burdened by limits and expectations placed on them by themselves
and others. The treatment emphasizes the person’s capacity for
self-realization and fulfillment. Humanistic therapies attempt to
promote growth and responsibility by helping clients consider their
own situations and the world around them and how they can work
to achieve their life goals.

Carl Rogers developed person-centered therapy also known as Carl Rogers was among the
founders of the humanistic
client-centered therapy, which is an approach to treatment in approach to therapy and
which the client is helped to grow and develop. The therapist developed the
provides a comfortable, nonjudgmental environment. Rogers fundamentals of person-
(1980) argued that therapy was most productive when the therapist centered therapy. Source
created a positive relationship with the client through a therapeutic
alliance. The therapeutic alliance is a relationship between the client and the therapist that is
facilitated by several techniques. These include:

 Genuineness or no barriers to free-flowing thoughts and feelings.

 Unconditional positive regard in which the therapist values the client without any
qualifications and displays an accepting attitude toward whatever the client is feeling at
the moment.
 Empathy by actively listening to and accurately perceiving the personal feelings that
the client expresses.
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The development of a positive therapeutic alliance has been found to be exceedingly important to
successful therapy. The ideas of genuineness, unconditional positive regard, and empathy in a
nurturing relationship in which the therapist actively listens to and reflects the feelings of the client
is probably the most fundamental part of contemporary psychotherapy (Prochaska & Norcross,
2007).

Behavioral Therapy

The goals of some people with mental health disorders are very specific. A person with a social
phobia may want to be able to leave his or her house. A person with OCD may want to stop his
obsessions or compulsions from interfering with everyday activities. In these cases, it is not
necessary to revisit childhood experiences or consider our capacities for self-realization, we simply
want to deal with what is happening in the present, and behavioral therapy does that.

Behavioral therapy is psychological treatment that is based on principles of learning. The most
direct approach is through operant conditioning, which uses rewards or punishments.
Reinforcement may be used to teach new skills to people, for instance, those with autism or
schizophrenia (Granholm et al., 2008; Herbert et al., 2005; Scattone, 2007). If the patient has
trouble dressing or grooming, then reinforcement techniques, such as providing tokens that can be
exchanged for snacks, are used to reinforce appropriate behaviors such as putting on one’s clothes
in the morning or taking a shower at night. If the patient has trouble interacting with others,
reinforcement will be used to teach the client how to more appropriately respond in public, for
instance, by maintaining eye contact, smiling when appropriate, and modulating tone of voice.

As the patient practices the different techniques, the appropriate behaviors are shaped through
reinforcement to allow the client to manage more complex social situations. In some cases,
observational learning may also be used. The client may be asked to observe the behavior of others
who are more socially skilled to acquire appropriate behaviors. People who learn to improve their
interpersonal skills through skills training may be more accepted by others, and this social support
may have substantial positive effects on their emotions.

When the disorder is anxiety or a phobia, then the goal of the therapy is to reduce the negative
affective responses to the feared stimulus. Exposure therapy is a behavioral therapy based on the
classical conditioning principle of extinction, in which people are confronted with a feared
stimulus with the goal of decreasing their negative emotional responses to it (Wolpe, 1973).
Exposure treatment can be carried out in real situations or through imagination, and it is used in the
treatment of panic disorder, agoraphobia, social phobia, OCD, and posttraumatic stress
disorder (PTSD).

In flooding, a client is exposed to the source of his fear all at once. A person with agoraphobia
might be taken to a crowded shopping mall or someone with an extreme fear of heights to the top
of a tall building. The assumption is that the fear will subside as the client habituates to the
situation while receiving emotional support from the therapist during the stressful experience. An
advantage of the flooding technique is that it is quick and often effective, but a disadvantage is that
the patient may relapse after a short period of time.

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 Table 11.1 Hierarcy of Fears in Systematic More frequently, the exposure is
Desensitization done more gradually. Systematic
desensitization is a behavioral
Behavior Fear rating
treatment that combines imagining
Think about a spider 10 or experiencing the feared object or
situation with relaxation exercises
Look at a photo of a spider 25 (Wolpe, 1973). The client and the
therapist work together to prepare a
Look at a real spider in a closed box 50 hierarchy of fears, starting with the
least frightening, and moving to the
Hold the box with the spider 60 most frightening scenario
surrounding the object (see Table
Let a spider crawl on your desk 70 11.1). The patient then confronts his
or her fears in a systematic manner,
Let a spider crawl on your shoe 80
sometimes using imagination, but
Let a spider crawl on your pants leg 90 usually, when possible, in real life
situations.
Let a spider crawl on your sleeve 95
Desensitization techniques use the
Let a spider crawl on your bare arm 100 principle of counterconditioning, in
which a second incompatible
response, such as relaxation, is conditioned to an already conditioned response, the fear response.
The continued pairing of the relaxation responses with the feared stimulus as the patient works up
the hierarchy gradually leads the fear response to be extinguished, and the relaxation response to
take its place.

Behavioral therapy works best when people directly experience the feared object. Fears of spiders
are more directly habituated when the patient interacts with a real spider, and fears of flying are best
extinguished when the patient gets on a real plane, but it is often difficult and expensive to create
these experiences.

Recent advances in virtual reality have allowed clinicians to

Figure 11.3 Virtual Reality provide therapy in what seem like real situations to the
Equipment patient. In virtual reality therapy, the therapist uses
computer-generated, three-dimensional, lifelike images of
the feared stimulus in a systematic desensitization program.
Specially designed computer equipment, often with a head-
mount display, is used to create a simulated environment. A
common use is in helping soldiers who are experiencing
PTSD return to the scene of the trauma and learn how to
cope with the stress it invokes.

Some of the advantages of the virtual reality treatment

approach are that it is economical, the treatment session can
be held in the therapist’s office with no loss of time or
Source confidentiality, the session can easily be terminated as soon
as a patient feels uncomfortable, and many patients who

394
have resisted live exposure to the object of their fears are willing to try the new virtual reality
option first (Hofmann, 2018).

Aversion therapy is a type of behavior therapy in which classical conditioning is used to reduce
the frequency of an undesirable behavior. An unpleasant stimulus is intentionally paired with a
harmful or socially unacceptable behavior until the behavior becomes associated with unpleasant
sensations and is hopefully reduced. A child who wets the bed may be required to sleep on a pad
that sounds an alarm when it senses moisture. Over time, the conditioned response produced by the
alarm reduces the bedwetting behavior (Houts et al., 1994). Aversion therapy is also used to stop
other specific behaviors, such as nail biting (Allen, 1996).

Alcoholism has long been treated with aversion therapy (Baker & Cannon, 1988). In a standard
approach, patients are treated at a hospital where they are administered a drug, antabuse, that makes
them nauseous if they consume any alcohol. The technique works very well if the user keeps taking
the drug (Krampe et al., 2006), but unless it is combined with other approaches the patients are
likely to relapse after they stop taking the drug.

Cognitive Therapy

While behavioral approaches focus on the actions of the patient, cognitive therapy is a
psychological treatment that helps clients identify incorrect or distorted beliefs that are
contributing to disorders. In cognitive therapy, the therapist helps the patient develop new, healthier
ways of thinking about themselves and about the others around them. The idea of cognitive therapy
is that changing thoughts will change emotions, and that the new emotions will then influence
behavior.

The goal of cognitive therapy is not

necessarily to get people to think more Figure 11.4 Aaron Beck and Albert Ellis
positively, but rather to think more
accurately. For instance, a person who
thinks “no one cares about me” is likely
to feel rejected, isolated, and lonely. If the
therapist can remind the client that the
client has a mother or daughter who does
care, more positive feelings will likely
follow. Similarly, it may be helpful to
change beliefs from: “I have to be
perfect” to “No one is always perfect”;
from “I am a terrible student” to “I am
doing well in some of my courses,”; and
from “She did that on purpose to hurt me”
to “Maybe she didn’t realize how Sources: Beck photo courtesy of Michael Britt
Ellis photo courtesy of the Albert Ellis Institute
important it was to me.”

The psychiatrist Aaron Beck and the psychologist Albert Ellis together provided the basic
principles of cognitive therapy. Ellis (2004) called his approach rational emotive behavior therapy
(REBT) or rational emotive therapy (RET), and he focused on pointing out the flaws in the
395
patient’s thinking. Ellis noticed that people experiencing strong negative emotions tend to
personalize and overgeneralize their beliefs, leading to an inability to see situations accurately
(Leahy, 2003). In REBT, the therapist’s goal is to challenge these irrational thought patterns,
helping the patient replace the irrational thoughts with more rational ones, leading to the
development of more appropriate emotional reactions and behaviors.

Beck’s cognitive therapy was based on his observation that people who were depressed generally
had a large number of highly accessible negative thoughts that influenced their thinking (Beck,
1995; Beck et al., 2004). His goal was to develop a short-term therapy for depression that would
modify these unproductive thoughts. Beck’s approach challenges the client to test beliefs against
concrete evidence. If a client claims that “everybody at work is out to get me,” the therapist might
ask to provide instances to corroborate the claim. At the same time, the therapist might point out
contrary evidence, such as the fact that a certain coworker is actually a loyal friend or that the
patient’s boss had recently offered praise.

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
Since the 1980s, therapists have combined the Figure 11.5 Cognitive-Behavior Therapy
principles of the behavioral perspective with
the foundations of the cognitive perspective to
create cognitive-behavioral therapy (Hofmann,
2018). Cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT)
is a structured approach to treatment that
attempts to reduce mental health disorders
through systematic procedures based on
cognitive and behavioral principles. As you
can see in Figure 11.5, CBT is based on the
idea that there is a link among our thoughts,
our feelings, and our behavior. For instance,
if we are feeling depressed, our negative
thoughts (“I am doing poorly in my
chemistry class”) lead to negative feelings
(“I feel hopeless and sad”), which then
contribute to negative behaviors (lethargy, Cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) is based on the idea that
disinterest, lack of studying). When we or our thoughts, feelings, and behavior reinforce each other and
other people look at the negative behavior, that changing our thoughts or behavior can make us feel
the negative thoughts are reinforced and the better.
cycle repeats itself (Beck, 1976). Similarly,
in panic disorder a patient may misinterpret his or her feelings of anxiety as a sign of an impending
physical or mental catastrophe (such as a heart attack), leading to an avoidance of a particular place
or social situation. The fact that the patient is avoiding the situation reinforces the negative
thoughts. Again, the thoughts, feelings, and behavior amplify and distort each other.

CBT is a very broad approach that is used for the treatment of a variety of problems including:
Depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, OCD, PTSD, eating, substance use disorders, ADHD, and
psychotic disorders (Hofmann, 2018). CBT directly treats the inappropriate behaviors or distorted
cognitions, and does not attempt to address the underlying issues that cause the problem. The goal
396
 is simply to stop the negative cycle by intervening to change cognition or behavior. With CBT, the
client and the therapist work together to develop the goals of the therapy, the particular ways that
the goals will be reached, and the timeline for reaching them. The procedures are problem-solving
and action-oriented, and the client is forced to take responsibility for his or her own treatment. The
client is assigned tasks tocomplete that will help improve the disorder and takes an active part in the
therapy. The treatment usually lasts between 10 and 20 sessions.

Depending on the particular disorder, some CBT treatments may be primarily behavioral in
orientation. These treatments focus on the principles of classical, operant, and observational
learning. Other treatments are more cognitive, focused on changing negative thoughts related to the
disorder, but almost all CBT treatments use a combination of behavioral and cognitive approaches.

Effectiveness of Psychotherapy

To determine if therapy is helpful, psychologists use outcome research, that is, studies that assess
the effectiveness of different therapies. As you can see in Figure 11.6, in these studies the
independent variable is the type of the treatment. For instance, what type of psychotherapy was
****

Figure 11.6 Outcome Research

used or how long it lasted, is manipulated. In most cases, characteristics of the client, such as
gender, age, disease severity, and prior psychological histories, are also collected as control
variables. The dependent measure is an assessment of the benefit received by the client. In some
cases, we might simply ask the client if they feel better, and in other cases we may directly
measure behavior. This can include such specific situations as whether the client can now get in an
airplane and take a flight. Accurate empirical answers to these questions are important as they help
practitioners focus their efforts on the techniques that have been proven to be most promising. They
also may guide societies as they decide how to spend public money to improve their citizens
quality (Hunsley & Di Giulio, 2002).

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In every case the scientists evaluating the therapy must keep in mind that other effects, rather than
the treatment itself, might be important, that some treatments that seem effective might not be, and
that some treatments might actually be harmful. One threat to the validity of outcome research
studies is natural improvement or the possibility that people might get better over time, even
without treatment. People who begin therapy or join a self-help group do so because they are
feeling bad or engaging in unhealthy behaviors. After being in a program over a period of time,
people frequently feel that they are getting better, but it is possible that they would have improved
even if they had not attended the program, and that the program is not actually making a difference.
To demonstrate that the treatment is effective, the people who participate in it must be compared
with another group of people who do not get treatment.

Another possibility is that therapy works, but that it does not really matter which type of therapy is
used. Nonspecific treatment effects occur when the patient gets better over time simply by coming
to therapy, even though it does not matter what actually happens at the therapy sessions. The idea
is that therapy works, in the sense that it is better than doing nothing, but that all therapies are
pretty much equal in what they are able to accomplish. Finally, placebo effects are improvements
that occur due to the expectation one will get better rather than the actual effects of a treatment.

Thousands of studies have been conducted to test the effectiveness of psychotherapy, and by and
large they find evidence that it works. Some outcome studies compare a group that gets treatment
with another (control) group that gets no treatment. For instance, Ruwaard, Broeksteeg, Schrieken,
Emmelkamp, and Lange (2010) found that patients who interacted with a therapist over a website
showed more reduction in symptoms of panic disorder than did a similar group of patients who
were on a waiting list but did not get therapy. Although studies such as this one control for the
possibility of natural improvement, they do not control for either nonspecific treatment effects or
for placebo effects. The people in the treatment group might have improved simply by being in the
therapy (nonspecific effects), or they may have improved because they expected the treatment to
help them (placebo effects).

Studies that use a control group that gets no treatment, or a group that gets only a placebo, are
informative, but they raise ethical questions. If the researchers believe that their treatment is going
to work, why would they deprive participants in need of help the possibility for improvement by
putting them in a control group? Researchers do this because when there is no control group in
which to compare the improvement, they cannot state that the changes are due to the treatment. The
improvement could have been due to other factors, so without a control group, any improvements
caused by the treatment are difficult to interpret (Kring et al., 2016).

Some studies have not used a control group (Crits-Christoph, 1992; Crits-Christoph et al., 2004).
These studies compared brief sessions of psychoanalysis with longer-term psychodynamic in the
treatment of anxiety disorder, humanistic therapy with psychodynamic therapy in treating
depression, and cognitive therapy with drug therapy in treating anxiety (Dalgleish, 2004; Hollon
et al., 2002). These studies are advantageous because they compare the specific effects of one type
of treatment with another, while allowing all patients to get treatment

Herbert et al. (2005) tested whether social skills training could boost the results received for the
treatment of social anxiety disorder with cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) alone. As you can see
in Figure 11.7, they found that people in both groups improved, but CBT coupled with social skills
training showed significantly greater gains than CBT alone.
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 Figure 11.7 CBT with Social Skills Training

Herbert et al. (2005) compared the effectiveness of CBT alone with CBT along with social skills training. Both
groups improved, but the group that received both therapies had significantly greater gains than the group that
received CBT alone.

Some meta-analyses have found substantial support for the effectiveness of specific therapies,
including cognitive therapy, CBT (Butler et al., 2006; Deacon & Abramowitz, 2004), couples and
family therapy (Shadish & Baldwin, 2002), and psychodynamic (Shedler, 2010). On the basis of
these and other meta-analyses, a list of empirically supported therapies known to be effective, has
been developed (Chambless & Hollon, 1998; Hollon et al., 2006). These therapies include
cognitive therapy and behavioral therapy for depression; cognitive therapy, exposure therapy, and
stress inoculation training for anxiety; CBT for bulimia; and behavior modification for bed-
wetting.

Smith et al. (1980) did not find much evidence that any one type of therapy was more effective
than any other type, and more recent meta-analyses have not tended to find many differences
either (Cuijpers et al., 2008). What this means is that a good part of the effect of therapy is
nonspecific, in the sense that simply coming to any type of therapy is helpful in comparison to not
coming. This is true partly because there are fewer distinctions among the ways that different
therapies are practiced than the theoretical differences among them would suggest. What a good
therapist practicing psychodynamic approaches does in therapy is often not much different from
what a humanist or a cognitive-behavioral therapist does, and so no one approach is really likely to
be better than the other. What all good therapies have in common is that they give people hope;
help them think more carefully about themselves and about their relationships with others; and
provide a positive, empathic, and trusting relationship with the therapist (Ahn &Wampold, 2001).

Key Takeaways

 Psychotherapy is treatment for mental health disorders.

 Psychodynamic therapy, based on the principles of Freud and neo-Freudians, attempt to
assist the patient in developing insight into their current disorders.

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  Humanist therapy, derived from the theory of Carl Rogers, is based on the idea that
people experience psychological problems when they are burdened by limits and
expectations placed on them by themselves and others. It also focuses on helping people
reach their life goals.
 Behavioral therapy applies the principles of learning therapy to the elimination of
maladaptive behaviors and to replace them with more adaptive responses.
 Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck developed cognitive-based therapies to help clients stop
negative thoughts and replace them with more objective thoughts.
 Cognitive-behavioral therapy combines the behavioral and cognitive perspectives in the
treatment of many types of disorders.
 Outcome research studies the effectiveness of different therapies and demonstrates that
all therapies offer some benefit and no one type of therapy is overall more effective.
Some therapies are more effective than others for specific disorders.
 Threats to the validity of outcome research include natural improvement, nonspecific
treatment effects, and placebo effects.
 Research shows that getting psychological therapy is better at reducing disorder than
not getting it. All good therapies give people hope and help them think more carefully
about themselves and about their relationships with others.

Exercises and Critical Thinking

1. Imagine that your friend has been feeling depressed for several months, but refuses to
consider therapy as an option. What might you tell your friend that might help her or
him feel more comfortable about seeking treatment?
2. Imagine that you have developed a debilitating fear of bees after recently being
attacked by a swarm of them. What type of therapy do you think would be best for
your disorder?
3. Imagine that your friend has a serious drug abuse problem. Based on what you have
learned in this section, what treatment options would you explore in your attempt to
provide your firend with the best help available? Which combination of therapies
might work best?

Biomedical Therapy

Learning Objectives

1. Define biomedical therapy.

2. Classify the different types of drugs used in the treatment of mental disorders and
explain how they each work to reduce disorders.
3. Critically evaluate direct brain intervention methods that may be used by doctors to
treat patients who do not respond to drug or other therapy.
4. Describe the effectiveness of biomedical therapy.

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In addition to psychotherapy, mental health disorders may in some cases be treated biologically.
Biomedical therapies are treatments designed to reduce psychological disorder by influencing the
action of the central nervous system. These therapies primarily involve the use of medications, but
also include direct methods of brain intervention, including electroconvulsive therapy (ECT),
transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), and psychosurgery.

Drug Therapies

Psychologists understand that an appropriate balance of neurotransmitters in the brain is important

for mental health. A mental health disorder might result if there is a chemical imbalance. The most
frequently used biological treatments provide the patient with medication that influences the
production and reuptake of neurotransmitters in the central nervous system (CNS).

Unlike some medical therapies that can be targeted toward specific symptoms, current
psychological drug therapies are not so specific; they do not change particular behaviors or thought
processes, and they do not really solve mental health disorders. However, although they cannot
“cure” disorder, drug therapies are nevertheless useful therapeutic approaches, particularly when
combined with psychological therapy, in treating a variety of mental health disorders. The best
drug combination for the individual patient is usually found through trial and error (Biedermann &
Fleischhacker, 2009).

Antidepressant medications: Drugs designed to improve moods are referred to as

antidepressants. Although they are used primarily in the treatment of depression, they are also
effective for patients who suffer from anxiety, phobias, and obsessive-compulsive disorders.
Antidepressants work by influencing the production and reuptake of neurotransmitters that relate to
emotion, including serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine. Although exactly why they work is
not yet known, as the amount of the neurotransmitters in the CNS is increased through the action of
the drugs, the person often experiences less depression.

The antidepressants most prescribed today are the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs),
including Prozac, Paxil, and Zoloft, which are designed to selectively block the reuptake of
serotonin at the synapse, thereby leaving more serotonin available in the CNS. SSRIs are safer and
have fewer side effects than the tricyclics or the MAOIs (Fraser, 2000; Hollon et al., 2002). SSRIs
are effective, but patients taking them often suffer a variety of sometimes unpleasant side effects,
including dry mouth, constipation, blurred vision, headache, agitation, drowsiness, as well as a
reduction in sexual enjoyment.

Recently, there has been concern that SSRIs may increase the risk of suicide among teens and
young adults, probably because when the medications begin working they give patients more
energy, which may lead them to commit the suicide that they had been planning, but lacked the
energy to go through with. This concern has led the FDA to put a warning label on SSRI
medications and has led doctors to be more selective about prescribing antidepressants to this age
group (Healy & Whitaker, 2003; Simon, 2006; Simon et al., 2006).

Because the effects of antidepressants may take weeks or even months to develop, doctors usually
work with each patient to determine which medications are most effective, and may frequently
change medications over the course of therapy. In some cases, other types of antidepressants may
401
be used instead of or in addition to the SSRIs. These medications also work by blocking the
reuptake of neurotransmitters, including serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine.
Patients who are suffering from bipolar disorders are not helped by the SSRIs or other
antidepressants because their disorder also involves the experience of overly elevated moods.
Treatment is more complicated for these patients, often involving a combination of antipsychotics
and antidepressants along with mood stabilizing medications (McElroy & Keck, 2000). The most
well-known mood stabilizer, lithium carbonate or lithium, was approved by the FDA in the 1970s
for treating both manic and depressive episodes, and it has proven very effective. Anticonvulsant
medications can also be used as mood stabilizers. Another drug, Depakote, has also proven very
effective, and some bipolar patients may do better with it than with lithium (Kowatch et al., 2000).

People who take lithium must have regular blood tests to be sure that the levels of the drug are in
the appropriate range (Kring et al., 2016). Potential negative side effects of lithium are loss of
coordination, slurred speech, frequent urination, and excessive thirst. Though side effects often
cause patients to stop taking their medication, it is important that treatment be continuous, rather
than intermittent. There is no cure for bipolar disorder, but drug therapy does help many people.

Antianxiety medications: Drugs that help relieve fear or anxiety are called antianxiety
medication. They work by increasing the action of the neurotransmitter GABA (Prus, 2018). The
increased level of GABA helps inhibit the action of the sympathetic division of the autonomic
nervous system, creating a calming experience.

The most common class of antianxiety medications is the tranquilizers, known as benzodiazepines.
These drugs are relatively common, and in 2008, 5.2% of adults used a benzodiazepine for either
short or long-term use (Prus, 2018). The benzodiazepines act within a few minutes to treat mild
anxiety disorders, but also have major side effects. They are addictive, frequently leading to
tolerance, and they can cause drowsiness, dizziness, and unpleasant withdrawal symptoms
including relapses into increased anxiety (Otto et al., 1993). Furthermore, because the effects of the
benzodiazepines are very similar to those of alcohol, they are very dangerous when combined
with it.

Antipsychotic medications: In the 1950s, a drug called chlorpromazine (Thorazine) was

discovered that could reduce many of the positive symptoms of schizophrenia. Chlorpromazine was
the first of many antipsychotic drugs. Antipsychotic drugs, also called neuroleptics, are drugs
that treat the symptoms of schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders. Today there are many
antipsychotics, and these drugs treat the positive symptoms of chizophrenia, and some treat the
positive, negative, and cognitive symptoms.

Antipsychotics reduce the positive symptoms of schizophrenia by reducing the transmission of

dopamine at the synapses in the limbic system, and they improve negative symptoms by
influencing levels of serotonin (Marangell et al., 2003). Despite their effectiveness, antipsychotics
have some negative side effects, including restlessness, muscle spasms, dizziness, and blurred
vision. In addition, their long-term use can cause permanent neurological damage, a condition
called tardive dyskinesia that causes uncontrollable muscle movements, usually in the mouth
area (NIMH, 2008). Newer antipsychotics treat more symptoms with fewer side effects than older
medications (Casey, 1996).

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The major classes and brand names of drugs used to treat mental health disorders are shown in
Table 11.2.

Table 11.2 Common Medications Used to Treat Mental Health Disorders

Class Type Brand names Disorder Notes

Psychostimulants Ritalin, Attention- Very effective in most cases, at

Adderall, deficit/hyperactivity least in the short term, at reducing
Dexedrine disorder (ADHD) hyperactivity and inattention

Antidepressants Tricyclics Elavil, Depression and Less frequently prescribed today

Tofranil anxiety disorders than are the serotonin reuptake
inhibitors (SSRIs)

SSRIs Prozac, Paxil, Depression and Most frequently prescribed

Zoloft anxiety disorders antidepressant medications; work
by blocking the reuptake of
serotonin
Other reuptake Effexor, Depression and Work by blocking the reuptake of
inhibitors Celexa, anxiety disorders serotonin, norepinephrine, and
Wellbutrin dopamine
Mood stabilizers Eskalith, Bipolar disorder Effective in reducing the mood
Lithobid, swings associated with bipolar
Depakene disorder

Antianxiety drugs Tranquilizers Valium, Anxiety, panic, and Work by increasing the action of
(benzodiazepines) Xanax depressive disorders the neurotransmitter GABA

Antipsychotics Thorazine, Schizophrenia Treat the positive and, to some

(Neuroleptics) Haldol, extent, the negative symptoms of
Clozaril, schizophrenia by reducing the
Risperdal, transmission of dopamine and
Zyprexa increasing the transmission of
serotonin

Direct Brain Intervention Therapies

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT): In cases of severe disorder, it may be desirable to directly

influence brain activity through electrical activation of the brain or through brain surgery.
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a medical procedure designed to alleviate mental health
disorders in which electric currents are passed through the brain, deliberately triggering a
brief seizure (see Figure 11.8). ECT has been used since the 1930s to treat severe depression.

When it was first developed, the procedure involved strapping the patient to a table before the
electricity was administered. The patient was knocked out by the shock, went into severe
convulsions, and awoke later, usually without any memory of what had happened. Today ECT is
used only in the most severe cases when all other treatments have failed, and the practice is more
humane. The patient is first given muscle relaxants and a general anesthesia, and precisely
calculated electrical currents are used to achieve the most benefit with the fewest possible risks.
403
 ECT is very effective;
Figure 11.8 Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) approximately 60%-80% of people
who undergo ECT report
improvements in their depression
(Comer, 2015). ECT reduces
suicidal thoughts and is assumed to
have prevented many suicides
(Kellner et al., 2005). On the other
hand, the positive effects of ECT
do not always last; over one-half of
patients who undergo ECT
experience relapse within one year,
although antidepressant medication
can help reduce this outcome
(Sackheim et al., 2001). ECT may
also cause temporary failure to
encode and store new memories or
cognitive impairment (Abrams,
1997; Sackheim et al., 2007).

Transcranial magnetic
stimulation: Although ECT
continues to be used, newer
Today’s ECT uses precisely calculated electrical currents to achieve approaches to treating chronic
the most benefit with the fewest possible risks. depression are also being
developed. A newer and gentler
method of brain stimulation is transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), a medical procedure
designed to reduce mental health disorders that uses a pulsing magnetic coil to electrically
stimulate the brain (see Figure 11.9). TMS seems to work by activating neural circuits in the
prefrontal cortex, which is less active in people with depression, causing an elevation of mood.
TMS can be performed without sedation, does not cause seizures or memory loss, and may be as
effective as ECT (Loo et al., 2006; Rado et al., 2008). However, Xia et al. (2008) found a slight
risk of treatment-emergent mania with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation of depression
after reviewing 53 controlled trials. The severity of the manic symptoms varied, but after a
decrease or discontinuation of antidepressants and/or TMS, all cases responded to treatment. In
addition to the treatment of depression, TMS has been effective in the treatment of mania,
schizophrenia, seizure disorder, and substance abuse, although it has proved ineffective for
obsessive-compulsive disorder (Mishra et al., 2011).

Vagus nerve stimulution: Still other biomedical therapies are being developed for people with
severe depression that persists over years. One approach involves implanting a device in the chest
that stimulates the vagus nerve, a major nerve that descends from the brain stem toward the heart
(Corcoran et al., 2006; Nemeroff et al., 2006). When the vagus nerve is stimulated by the device,
it activates brain structures that are less active in severely depressed people.

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 Figure 11.9 Transcranial Magnetic Psychosurgery: Brain surgery used to
Stimulation (TMS) improve a mental health disorder, is
known as psychosurgery and is
reserved for the most severe cases. The
most well-known psychosurgery was
the prefrontal lobotomy. Developed in
1935 by Nobel Prize winner Egas
Moniz to treat severe phobias and
anxiety, the procedure destroys the
connections between the prefrontal
cortex and the rest of the brain.
Lobotomies were performed on
thousands of patients. The procedure
was never validated scientifically and
left many patients in worse condition
than before, subjecting the already
suffering patients and their families to
further heartbreak (Valenstein, 1986).
Perhaps the most notable failure was
TMS is a noninvasive procedure that uses a pulsing magnetic coil the lobotomy performed on Rosemary
to electrically stimulate the brain. Recently, TMS has been used
Kennedy, the sister of President John
in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease.
F. Kennedy, which left her severely
incapacitated.

There are very few centers that still conduct psychosurgery today, and when such surgeries are
performed they are much more limited in nature (Dougherty et al., 2002). The ability to more
accurately image and localize brain structures using modern neuroimaging techniques suggests that
new, more accurate, and more beneficial developments in psychosurgery may soon be available
(Sachdev & Chen, 2009).

Deep Brain Stimulation: One such development that holds promise for many neuropsychiatric
disorders is deep brain stimulation, in which electrodes are inserted into specific brain areas
and constant electrical pulses are delivered via a battery pack inserted under the collar bone.
The goal of the pulses is to alter the brain circuits that are causing the disorders. Deep brain
stimulation has been used to treat Parkinson’s disease, depression, dementia, obsessive-
compulsive disorder, substance use, and obesity (Fisher, 2014). Despite successful cases, deep
brain stimulation is considered controversial given the ethical concerns raised when performing
brain surgery for neuropsychiatric disorders.

Effectiveness of Biomedical Therapies

Overall, meta-analyses support the effectiveness of drug therapies for mental health disorders. For
instance, the use of psychostimulants to reduce the symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD) is well known to be successful (Kring et al. 2016), and many studies find that the
positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia are substantially reduced by the use of
antipsychotic medications (Lieberman et al., 2005).

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People who take antidepressants for depressive disorders or antianxiety medications for anxiety
disorders almost always report feeling better, although drugs are less helpful for phobic disorder
and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Some of these improvements are almost certainly the result of
placebo effects (Cardeña & Kirsch, 2000), but the medications do work, at least in the short term.
Keller et al. (2001) had adolescents who were experiencing anxiety disorders take pills that they
thought would reduce anxiety for 8 weeks. However, one-half of the patients were randomly
assigned to actually receive the antianxiety drug Paxil, while the other half received a placebo drug
that did not have any medical properties. The researchers ruled out the possibility that only placebo
effects were occurring because they found that both groups improved over the 8 weeks, but the
group that received Paxil improved significantly more than the placebo group did.

One problem with drug therapies is that although they provide temporary relief, they do not treat
the underlying cause of the disorder. Once the patient stops taking the drug, the symptoms often
return in full force. In addition, many drugs have negative side effects, and some also have the
potential for addiction and abuse. Different people have different reactions, and all drugs carry
warning labels. As a result, although these drugs are frequently prescribed, doctors attempt to
prescribe the lowest doses possible for the shortest possible periods of time.

Older patients face special difficulties when they take medications for mental illness. Older people
are more sensitive to drugs, and drug interactions are more likely because older patients tend to take
a variety of different drugs every day. They are more likely to forget to take their pills, to take too
many or too few, or to mix them up due to poor eyesight or faulty memory (Youdin, 2016).

Like all types of drugs, medications used in the treatment of mental illnesses can carry risks to an
unborn infant. Tranquilizers should not be taken by women who are pregnant or expecting to
become pregnant, because they may cause birth defects or other infant problems, especially if
taken during the first trimester. Some selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) may also
increase risks to the fetus (Louik et al., 2007; U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2004), as do
antipsychotics (Diav-Citrin et al., 2005). Decisions on medication should be carefully weighed
and based on each person’s needs and circumstances. Medications should be selected based on
available scientific research, and they should be prescribed at the lowest possible dose. All
people must be monitored closely while they are on medications.

Key Takeaways

 Biomedical therapies treat mental health disorders by influencing the actions of the
central nervous system (CNS).
 Psychostimulants are commonly prescribed to reduce the symptoms of ADHD.
 Antidepressant drugs are used in the treatment of depression, anxiety, phobias, and
obsessive-compulsive disorder. They gradually elevate mood by working to balance
neurotransmitters in the CNS. The most commonly prescribed antidepressants are the
SSRIs.
 Mood stabilizers are prescribed to treat bipolar disorder.

406
  Antianxiety drugs relieve apprehension, tension, and nervousness and are prescribed
for people with diagnoses of GAD, OCD, PTSD, and panic disorder. The drugs are
effective, but have severe side effects including dependence and withdrawal
symptoms.
 Antipsychotic drugs play a crucial role in the treatment of schizophrenia. They do
not cure schizophrenia, but they help reduce the positive, negative, and cognitive
symptoms, making it easier to live with the disease.
 Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a controversial procedure used to treat severe
depression, in which electric currents are passed through the brain, deliberately
triggering a brief seizure.
 A newer method of brain stimulation is transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), a
noninvasive procedure that employs a pulsing magnetic coil to electrically stimulate
the brain.
 Deep brain stimulation uses constant electrical impulses delivered to the brain to
reduce psychiatric symptoms.
 Biomedical treatments are effective, at least in the short term, but overall, they are
less effective than psychotherapy.
 Meta-analyses support the effectiveness of drug therapies for disorders, however,
regularly monitoring is necessary, especially among the elderly and pregnant.
 A significant problem with drug therapies is that although they provide temporary
relief, they do not treat the underlying cause of the disorder

Exercises and Critical Thinking

1. What are your opinions about taking drugs to improve mental health disorders?
Would you take an antidepressant or antianxiety medication if you were feeling
depressed or anxious? Do you think children with ADHD should be given stimulants?
Why or why not?
2. Based on what you have just read, would you be willing to undergo ECT or TMS
if you were chronically depressed and drug therapy had failed? Why or why not?

Social and Community Therapy

Learning Objectives

1. Explain the advantages of group therapy and self-help groups for treating disorders.
2. Evaluate the procedures and goals of community mental health services.
3. Describe the effectiveness of social and community approaches.

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Although the individual therapies that we have discussed so far in this chapter focus primarily on
the psychological and biological aspects of the biopsychosocial model of mental disorders, the
social dimension is never out of the picture. Therapists understand that disorders are caused, and
potentially prevented, in large part by the people with whom we interact. People with
schizophrenia do not live in a vacuum. They interact with family members and with the other
members of the community, and the behavior of those people may influence their disease. Further,
depression and anxiety are created primarily by the affected individual’s perceptions, as well as
misperceptions, of the important people around them. Thus, prevention and treatment are
influenced in large part by the social context in which the person is living.

Group, Couples, and Family Therapy

Group therapy: Practitioners sometimes incorporate the social setting in which disorders occur by
conducting therapy in groups. Group therapy is psychotherapy in which clients receive
psychological treatment together with others. A professionally trained therapist guides the group,
usually between 6 and 10 participants, to create an atmosphere of support and emotional safety for
the participants (Yalom & Leszcz, 2005).

Group therapy provides a safe place

Figure 11.10 Group Therapy where people come together to share
problems or concerns, to better
understand their own situations, and to
learn from and with each other. Group
therapy is often cheaper than
individual therapy, as the therapist can
treat more people at the same time, but
economy is only one part of its
attraction. Group therapy allows
people to help each other, by sharing
ideas, problems, and solutions. It
provides social support, offers the
knowledge that other people are facing
Group therapy provides a therapeutic setting where people meet and successfully coping with similar
with others to share problems or concerns, to better understand situations, and allows group members
their own situation, and to learn from and with each other. © to model the successful behaviors of
Thinkstock
other group members. Group therapy
makes explicit the idea that our interactions with others may create, intensify, and potentially
alleviate disorders.

Group therapy has met with much success in the more than 50 years it has been in use, and it has
generally been found to be as, or more effective than, individual therapy (McDermut et al., 2001).
Group therapy is particularly effective for people who have a life-altering illness, as it helps them
cope better with their disease, enhances the quality of their lives, and in some cases, has even
been shown to help them live longer (American Group Psychotherapy Association, 2000).

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Couples therapy: Sometimes group therapy is conducted with people who are in close
relationships. Couples therapy is treatment in which two people who are cohabitating, married, or
dating meet with the therapist to discuss their concerns and issues about their relationship. These
therapies are, in some cases, educational, providing the couple with information about what is to be
expected in a relationship. The therapy may focus on such topics as sexual enjoyment,
communication, or the symptoms of one of the partners (e.g., depression).

Family therapy: Families meeting together with a therapist is family therapy. In some cases, the
meeting is precipitated by a particular problem with one family member, such as a diagnosis of
bipolar disorder in a child. Family therapy assumes that the problem, even if it is primarily
affecting one person, is the result of an interaction among the people in the family.

Self-Help Groups

Group therapy is based on the idea that people can be helped by the positive social relationships
that others provide. One way for people to gain this social support is by joining a self-help group,
which is a voluntary association of people who share a common desire to overcome mental health
disorders or improve their well-being (Humphreys & Rappaport, 1994). Self-help groups have been
used to help individuals cope with many types of addictive behaviors. Three of the best-known self-
help groups are Alcoholics Anonymous, Gamblers Anonymous, and Overeaters Anonymous. The
idea behind self-groups is very similar to that of group therapy, but the groups are open to a broader
spectrum of people. As in group therapy, the benefits include social support, education, and
observational learning. Religion and spirituality are often emphasized, and self-blame is
discouraged. Regular group meetings are held with the supervision of a trained leader.

Community Mental Health Services

The social aspect of disorders is also understood and treated at the community level. Community
mental health services are psychological treatments and interventions that are distributed at the
community level. Community mental health services are provided by nurses, psychologists, social
workers, and other professionals in sites, such as schools, hospitals, police stations, drug treatment
clinics, and residential homes. The goal is to establish programs that will help people get the mental
health services that they need (Gonzales et al., 1991).

Unlike traditional therapy, the primary goal of community mental health services is prevention.
Just as widespread vaccination of children has eliminated diseases, such as polio and smallpox,
mental health services are designed to prevent mental health disorders (Institute of Medicine,
1994). Community prevention can be focused on one or more of three levels: Primary prevention,
secondary prevention, and tertiary prevention:

 Primary prevention is prevention in which all members of the community receive the
treatment. Examples of primary prevention are programs designed to encourage all
pregnant women to avoid cigarettes and alcohol because of the risk of health problems for
the fetus, and programs designed to remove dangerous lead paint from homes.

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  Secondary prevention is more limited and focuses on people who are most likely to need it.
This includes those who display risk factors for a given disorder. Risk factors are the
social, environmental, and economic vulnerabilities that make it more likely than average
that a given individual will develop a disorder (Werner & Smith, 1992).

 Tertiary prevention is treatment, such as psychotherapy or biomedical therapy, that

focuses on people who are already diagnosed with a disorder.

Some Risk Factors for Mental Health Disorders

Community mental health workers practicing secondary prevention will focus on youths with these
markers of future problems:

 Academic difficulties
 Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
 Child abuse and neglect
 Developmental disorders
 Drug and alcohol abuse
 Dysfunctional family
 Early pregnancy
 Emotional immaturity
 Homelessness
 Learning disorder
 Low birth weight
 Parental mental illness
 Poor nutrition
 Poverty

Finally, community prevention programs are designed to provide support during childhood or early
adolescence with the hope that the interventions will prevent disorders from appearing or will keep
existing disorders from expanding. Interventions include such things as help with housing,
counseling, group therapy, emotional regulation, job and skills training, literacy training, social
responsibility training, exercise, stress management, rehabilitation, family therapy, or removing a
child from a stressful or dangerous home situation.

The goal of community interventions is to make it easier for individuals to continue to live a
normal life in the face of their problems. Community mental health services are designed to make it
less likely that vulnerable populations will end up in institutions or on the streets. In summary, their
goal is to allow at-risk individuals to continue to participate in community life by assisting them
within their own communities.

Effectiveness of Social-Community Approaches

Measuring the effectiveness of community action approaches to mental health is difficult because
they occur in community settings and impact a wide variety of people, and it is difficult to find and
assess valid outcome measures. Nevertheless, research has found that a variety of community
interventions can be effective in preventing a variety of mental health disorders (Price et al., 1988).
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Data suggest that federally funded prevention programs, such as the Special Supplemental
Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), which provides federal grants to states for
supplemental foods, health-care referral, and nutrition education for low- income women and their
children, are successful. WIC mothers have higher birth weight babies and lower infant mortality
than other low-income mothers (Ripple & Zigler, 2003). The average blood-lead levels among
children have fallen approximately 80% since the late 1970s as a result of federal legislation
designed to remove lead paint from housing (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2000).

Although some of the many community-based programs designed to reduce alcohol, tobacco, and
drug abuse; violence and delinquency; and mental illness have been successful, the changes
brought about by even the best of these programs are, on average, modest (Wandersman & Florin,
2003; Wilson et al., 2001). This does not necessarily mean that the programs are not useful. What
is important is that community members continue to work with researchers to help determine which
aspects of which programs are most effective, and to concentrate efforts on the most productive
approaches (Weissberg et al., 2003). The most beneficial preventive interventions for young
people involve coordinated, systemic efforts to enhance their social and emotional competence and
health. Many psychologists continue to work to promote policies that support community
prevention as a model of preventing disorders.

Key Takeaways

 Group therapy is psychotherapy in which clients receive psychological treatment

together with others. A professionally trained therapist guides the group. Types of
group therapy include couples’ therapy and family therapy.
 Self-help groups have been used to help individuals cope with many types of disorder.
 The goal of community health service programs is to act during childhood or
early adolescence with the hope that interventions might prevent disorders from
appearing or keep existing disorders from expanding. The prevention provided can
be primary, secondary, or tertiary.
 Federally funded community mental health service programs are effective, but their
preventive effects may in many cases be minor.

Exercise and Critical Thinking

1. Imagine the impact of a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina on the population of
the city of New Orleans. How would you expect such an event to affect the
prevalence of mental health disorders in the community? What recommendations
would you make in terms of setting up community support centers to help the people
in the city?

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Eclectic Approach to Therapy and Seeking Treatment
Learning Objectives

1. Explain the eclectic approach to providing therapy.

2. Describe how to seek treatment for a mental health disorder.

To this point, we have considered the different approaches to therapy under the assumption that a
therapist will use only one approach with a given patient, but this is not the case as you saw in
Figure 11.1. The most commonly practiced approach to therapy is eclectic therapy, an approach
to treatment in which the therapist uses whichever techniques seem most useful and relevant for a
given patient. For bipolar disorder, for instance, the therapist may use both psychotherapy to help
the patient cope with the severe highs and lows, but may also suggest that the patient consider
biomedical drug therapies (Newman et al., 2002). Treatment for major depressive disorder usually
involves antidepressant drugs, as well as CBT, to help the patient deal with their specific problems
(McBride et al., 2007).
As we have seen in Chapter 10, one of the most commonly diagnosed disorders is borderline
personality disorder (BPD). Consider this description, typical of the type of borderline patient who
arrives at a therapist’s office:

Even as an infant, it seemed that there was something different about Bethany. She was an intense
baby, easily upset and difficult to comfort. She had very severe separation anxiety. If her mother
left the room, Bethany would scream until she returned. In her early teens, Bethany became
increasingly sullen and angry. She started acting out more and more by yelling at her parents and
teachers and engaging in impulsive behavior such as promiscuity and running away from home. At
times Bethany would have a close friend at school, but some conflict always developed and the
friendship would end.

By the time Bethany turned 17, her mood changes were totally unpredictable. She was fighting
with her parents almost daily, and the fights often included violent behavior on Bethany’s part. At
times she seemed terrified to be without her mother, but at other times she would leave the house in
a fit of rage and not return for a few days. One day, Bethany’s mother noticed scars on Bethany’s
arms. When confronted about them, Bethany said that one night she just got more and more lonely
and nervous about a recent breakup until she finally stuck a lit cigarette into her arm. She said, “I
didn’t really care for him that much, but I had to do something dramatic.”

When she was 18 Bethany rented a motel room where she took an overdose of sleeping pills. Her
suicide attempt was not successful, but the authorities required that she seek psychological help.

Most therapists will deal with a case such as Bethany’s using an eclectic approach. First, because
her negative mood states are so severe, the therapist will likely recommend that she see her
physician or a psychiatrist to get a prescription for antidepressant medications. These drugs are
likely to help her feel better and will reduce the possibility of another suicide attempt. However,
some drugs have unwanted side effects and may increase the risk of suicide in younger people. In
addition, drugs will not change the underlying psychological problems. Therefore, the therapist will
also provide psychotherapy.

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The therapy may be done at a psychiatric hospital if Bethany is still at high risk for self-destructive
behavior. In addition to 24-hour supervision, hospitalization may also provide Bethany with
ongoing support provided by a team of professionals. Before starting treatment, the therapist will
conduct a thorough evaluation. The first sessions of the therapy will likely be based primarily on
creating trust. Person-centered approaches will be used in which the therapist attempts to create a
therapeutic alliance conducive to a frank and open exchange of information.

If the therapist is trained in a psychodynamic approach, they will probably begin intensive face-to-
face psychotherapy sessions at least three times a week. The therapist may focus on childhood
experiences related to Bethany’s attachment difficulties, but will also focus in large part on the
causes of the present behavior. The therapist will understand that because Bethany does not have
good relationships with other people, she will likely seek a close bond with the therapist, but the
therapist will probably not allow the transference relationship to develop fully. The therapist will
also realize that Bethany will probably try to resist the work of the therapist.

Most likely the therapist will also use principles of CBT. For one, cognitive therapy will likely be
used in an attempt to change Bethany’s distortions of reality. She feels that people are rejecting her,
but she is probably bringing these rejections on herself. If she can learn to better understand the
meaning of other people’s actions, she may feel better. Also, the therapist will likely begin using
some techniques of behavior therapy, for instance, by rewarding Bethany for successful social
interactions and progress toward meeting her important goals.

The eclectic therapist will continue to monitor Bethany’s behavior as the therapy continues,
bringing into play whatever therapeutic tools seem most beneficial. Hopefully, Bethany will stay in
treatment long enough to make some real progress in repairing her broken life.

Another example of an eclectic treatment approach that has been shown to be successful in treating
BPD is dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) (Linehan & Dimeff, 2001). DBT is essentially a
cognitive therapy, but it includes an emphasis on attempting to enlist the help of the patient in his or
her own treatment. A dialectical behavioral therapist begins by attempting to develop a positive
therapeutic alliance with the client, and then tries to encourage the patient to become part of the
treatment process. In DBT the therapist aims to accept and validate the client’s feelings at any given
time, while nonetheless informing the client that some feelings and behaviors are maladaptive, and
showing the client better alternatives. The therapist will use both individual and group therapy,
helping the patient work toward improving interpersonal effectiveness, emotion regulation, and
distress tolerance skills.

Seeking Treatment for Mental Health Disorders

Many people who would benefit from psychotherapy do not get it, either because they do not know
how to find it or because they feel that they will be stigmatized and embarrassed if they seek help.
The decision to not seek help is a very poor choice because the effectiveness of mental health
treatments is well documented, and no matter where a person lives, there are treatments available
(U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1999).

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The first step in seeking help for psychological problems is to accept the stigma. It is possible that
some of your colleagues, friends, and family members will know that you are seeking help and
some may at first think more negatively of you for it, but you must get past these unfair and close-
minded responses. Feeling good about yourself is the most important thing you can do, and
seeking help may be the first step in doing so.

The question of when someone needs help is not always easy to answer because there is no clear
demarcation between “normal” and “abnormal” behavior. Generally, you will know that you or
others need help when one’s psychological state is negatively influencing everyday behavior, when
the behavior is adversely affecting those around the person, and when the problems continue over a
period of time. Often people seek therapy as a result of general depression and anxiety, but therapy
is also effective for life-changing events, such as the diagnosis of a fatal illness, an upcoming
marriage or divorce, or the death of a loved one, as well as specific everyday problems.

There are a wide variety of therapy choices, many of which are free. Begin in your school,
community, or church, asking about community health or counseling centers and pastoral
counseling. You may want to ask friends and family members for recommendations. You will
probably be surprised at how many people have been to counseling, and how many recommend it.

There are many therapists who offer a variety of treatment options. Be sure to ask about the
degrees that the therapist has earned, and about the reputation of the center in which the therapy
occurs. If you have choices, try to find a person or location that you like, respect, and trust. This
will allow you to be more open, and you will get more out of the experience. Your sessions with
the help provider will require discussing your family history, personality, and relationships, and
you should feel comfortable sharing this information.

Remember also that confronting issues requires time to reflect, energy to get to the appointments and
deal with consequential feelings, and discipline to explore your issues on your own. Success at
therapy is difficult, and it takes effort.

The bottom line is that going for therapy should not be a difficult decision for you. All people have
the right to appropriate mental health care just as they have a right to general health care. Just as
you go to a dentist for a toothache, you may go to therapy for psychological difficulties.
Furthermore, you can be confident that you will be treated with respect and that your privacy will
be protected, because therapists follow ethical principles in their practices.

The following is a summary of these principles as developed by the American Psychological

Association (2010):
 Psychologists inform their clients/patients as early as possible in the therapeutic
relationship about the nature and anticipated course of therapy, fees, involvement of third
parties, and limits of confidentiality, and provide sufficient opportunity for the
client/patient to ask questions and receive answers.
 Psychologists inform their clients/patients of the developing nature of the treatment, the
potential risks involved, alternative treatments that may be available, and about the
voluntary nature of their participation.

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  When the therapist is a trainee, the client/patient is informed that the therapist is in training
and is being supervised, and is given the name of the supervisor.
 When psychologists agree to provide services to several persons who have a relationship,
such as spouses, significant others, or parents and children, they take reasonable steps to
clarify at the outset which of the individuals are clients/patients and the relationship the
psychologist will have with each person.
 If it becomes apparent that a psychologist may be called on to perform potentially
conflicting roles, such as family therapist and then witness for one party in divorce
proceedings, the psychologist takes reasonable steps to clarify and modify, or withdraw
from, roles appropriately.
 When psychologists provide services to several persons in a group setting, they describe at
the outset the roles and responsibilities of all parties and the limits of confidentiality.
 Psychologists do not engage in sexual intimacies with current therapy clients/patients, or
with individuals they know to be close relatives, guardians, or significant others of current
clients/patients. Psychologists do not terminate therapy to circumvent this standard.
Psychologists do not accept as therapy clients, patients, or persons with whom they have
engaged in sexual intimacies, nor do they have sexual intimacies with former
clients/patients for at least 2 years after cessation or termination of therapy.
 Psychologists terminate therapy when it becomes reasonably clear that the client/patient no
longer needs the service, is not likely to benefit, or is being harmed by continued service.

COVID-19 and Telepsychology

To help those with mental health and substance use disorders during the stay-at-home orders caused
by the pandemic, an increase in telepsychology/telehealth emerged. Telepsychology is the use of
online tools to assist patients rather than meeting in person. Medicare, Medicaid, and private
insurance companies increased reimbursing mental health clinicians for delivering services via
phones and videoconferencing (Abrams, 2020). Providing mental health care remotely to those who
were isolated, lacked child care, or lacked transportation had already been well established, and
research indicates that telepsychology is effective in treating depression, anxiety, PTSD, and
substance use disorders. Consequently, when the pandemic occurred, clinicians increased their use
of telepsychology for current clients and expanded its use for new ones. A study of 2619 licensed
psychologists found that only 7% of their therapy involved telepsychology before the pandemic,
while 85.5% occurred during the pandemic (Pierce et al., 2021). In fact, 67.32% of psychologists
indicated that they conducted all of their clinical work with telepsychology, and post pandemic, the
psychologists indicated that they would continue to perform 35% of their clinical work via
telepsychology. Given the positive research outcomes and frequency of use, increased levels of
telepsychology are expected in the future.

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 Key Takeaways

 Eclectic therapy is the most common approach to treatment. In eclectic therapy, the
therapist uses whatever treatment approaches seem most likely to be effective for the
client.
 Everyone has the right to appropriate mental health care.
 Licensed therapists follow ethical principles in their practices to protect the rights of
clients.
 The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the increased use of telepsychology to assist
clients.

Exercises and Critical Thinking

1. Given your knowledge about the effectiveness of therapies, what approaches would
you take if you were making recommendations for a person who is seeking treatment
for severe depression?

Chapter Summary

Mental health disorders create a tremendous individual, social, and economic drain on society.
Psychologists work to reduce this burden by preventing and treating disorder. Psychologists base
this treatment and prevention of disorders on the biopsychosocial model, which proposes that
disorder has biological, psychological, and social causes, and that each of these aspects can be the
focus of reducing disorder.

Therapy, or treatment for mental health disorders, begins with a formal psychological assessment.
In addition to the psychological assessment, the patient is usually seen by a physician to gain
information about physical problems.

One approach to treatment is psychotherapy. The fundamental aspect of psychotherapy is that the
patient directly confronts the disorder and works with the therapist to help reduce it.

Psychodynamic therapy is a psychological treatment based on Freudian and neo-Freudian theories.

The analyst engages with the patient in one-on-one sessions during which the patient verbalizes his
or her thoughts through free associations. The goal of the therapy is to help the patient develop
insight; that is, an understanding of early childhood relationships and the unconscious causes of the
disorder.

Humanistic therapy is a psychological treatment based on the theories of Carl Rogers and other
humanistic psychologists. Humanistic therapies attempt to promote growth and responsibility by
helping clients consider their own situations and the world around them, and how they can work to
achieve their life goals.
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Humanistic therapy promotes the ideas of genuineness, empathy, and unconditional positive regard
in a nurturing relationship in which the therapist actively listens to and reflects the feelings of the
client. This relationship is probably the most fundamental part of contemporary psychotherapy.

Behavioral therapy may include operant conditioning using reward or punishment. When the
disorder is anxiety or phobia, then the goal is to reduce the negative affective responses to the
feared stimulus through exposure therapy, flooding, or systematic desensitization. Aversion therapy
is a type of behavior therapy in which classical conditioning is used to reduce the frequency of an
undesirable behavior.

Cognitive therapy includes treatment that helps clients identify incorrect or distorted beliefs that are
contributing to disorder. Cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) is a structured approach to treatment
that attempts to reduce mental health disorders through systematic procedures based on cognitive
and behavioral principles. CBT is a very broad approach used for the treatment of a variety of
problems.

Psychologists use outcome research to determine the effectiveness of different therapies. These
studies help determine if improvement is due to natural improvement, nonspecific treatment
effects, or placebo effects. Research finds that psychotherapy is effective in treating disorders, but
there is not much evidence that any one type of therapy is more effective than any other type.

What all good therapies have in common is that they give people hope; help them think more
carefully about themselves and about their relationships with others; and provide a positive,
empathic, and trusting relationship with the therapist, known as the therapeutic alliance.

Biomedical therapies are treatments designed to reduce psychological disorder by influencing the
action of the central nervous system. These therapies primarily involve the use of medications, but
also include direct methods of brain intervention, including electroconvulsive therapy (ECT),
transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), and psychosurgery.

Depressive disorders are most commonly treated with the antidepressant medications known as
selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), including Prozac, Paxil, and Zoloft. The SSRIs
selectively block the reuptake of serotonin at the synapse. Bipolar disorder is treated with mood
stabilizing medications. Antianxiety medications, including the tranquilizers Ativan, Valium, and
Xanax, are used to treat anxiety disorders.

Schizophrenia is treated with antipsychotic drugs, including Thorazine, Haldol, Clozaril,

Risperdal, and Zyprexa. Some drugs treat the positive symptoms of schizophrenia, and others treat
both the positive, negative, and cognitive symptoms. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD) is treated using psychostimulants, including Ritalin, Adderall, and Dexedrine.

One problem with drug therapies is that, although they provide temporary relief, they do not treat
the underlying cause of the disorder. Once the patient stops taking the drug, the symptoms often
return in full force.

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Practitioners frequently incorporate the social setting in which disorder occurs by conducting
therapy in groups, with couples, or with families. One way for people to gain this social support is
by joining a self-help group.

Community mental health services refer to psychological treatments and interventions that are
distributed at the community level. These centers provide primary, secondary, and tertiary
prevention.

Data suggest that although some community prevention programs are successful, the changes
brought about by even the best of these programs are, on average, modest.

The most commonly used approaches to therapy are eclectic, such that the therapist uses whichever
techniques seem most useful and relevant for a given patient.

Licensed therapists follow ethical principles in their practices to protect the rights of clients.

Telepsychology increased during the COVID-19 pandemic to assist clients.

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