Psychology Baron notes

Chapter 2: Biology, Culture and Human behavior

There is a sub topic about neurons, Nervous system and endocrine system. I will be
very selective about that.
Selected points:
● Glial cells, which outnumber the neurons by ten to one, performs a lot of
functions, major among them are formation of myelin sheath, housekeeping
functions like cleaning up of cellular debris, and formation of blood-brain barrier.
● The communication within neurons is guided by the Graded potential (The signal
within neurons resulting from external stimulus to the dendrite or the cell body,
unlike the action potential this does not follow the all-or-none phenomenon, and
increases as the signal increases) and the action potential(rapidly moving wave
of depolarization travelling along the cell membrane of the neuron, thus
communicating the disturbance within the neuron).
● The various neurotransmitters, the common ones --
Acetylcholine -- found throughout the CNS,ANS and all neuromuscular junctions --
involved in muscle action, learning and memory.
Norepinephrine -- in ANS -- Control/alertness and wakefulness.
Dopamine -- Neurons in substantia nigra -- movement, attention and learning.(Its
deficiency may cause Parkinsons, excess Schizo)
Serotonin -- Brain and spinal cord -- regulation of mood, and control of eating, sleeping
and arousal. also, regulation of pain and dreaming.
GABA -- ditto -- major inhibitory NT. Abnormal levels implicated in eating and sleep
disorders.
● Endorphins -- Naturally occurring substances produced by the brain that closely
resemble morphine. Released by the brain in response to pain/vigorous
exercises to reduce sensations that might otherwise affect ongoing behavior, they
 also increase the pleasure sensations, thus serving as an internal mechanism to
reduce unpleasantness, and increase pleasure.
● Posterior pituitary produces hormones that regulate reabsorption of water by the
kidneys, and also, production and release of milk by females. anterior pituitary
releases hormones that affect other endocrine glands.
● The major functions of various organs in brain are to be done from the book, they
are not mentioned in the syllabus.
The functions performed by the various lobes in cerebral cortex--
1. Frontal lobe -- Has the motor cortex, controls the body movements; damage to which
does not produce total paralysis( thus showing PLASTICITY, which is greater at a
younger age than after maturity, but seems to operate to some extent throughout life).
PLasticity means that while a specific area may normally perform a given function, other
regions can take up that function of the original area is damaged, and may gradually
come to perform the same functions.
2. Parietal lobe - contains the somatosensory cortex(to which info from the skin senses
-- temp, pressure, touch etc - is carried)
Damage to the left cerebral hemisphere may cause loss of ability to read or write, and
difficulty in knowing the spatial orientation of body parts. Damage to the right
hemisphere may cause the individual to be unaware of the left side of the body.
3. Occipital lobe -- helps in vision, and damage causes a "hole" in the person's field of
vision, that is objects in a particular field cannot be seen, the rest is unaffected.
4. Temporal lobe -- key role in hearing. Injuries on left hemisphere can cause loss of
ability to understand spoken words; right damage can cause unaffected understanding,
but inability to understand other organizations of sound like melodies, tones etc.

* It is interesting that the total sensory and motor controlling area of the cortex is only a
quarter of the total area, with the rest being made up of association cortex, which
integrates various activities,and translates sensory input for motor output.
LATERALIZATION OF FUNCTION IN BRAIN
● In general, the left hemisphere is the verbal hemisphere, while right specializes in
the control of certain motor movements, in synthesis(putting isolated elements
together), and comprehension and communication of emotion.
● evidence for this has been collected from research with split-brain persons due to
accident or surgery; or studies in connected hemispheres, where surgeries are
done.
● Of mention is the tenant experiment. page 54.
● The evidence for the right hemisphere being much more emotive is when while
surgery the pt describes a traumatic experience before and after the right
hemisphere is anesthetized.
● Conclusive evidence is provided with PET scans.
● One question that might come to mind is why this specialization exists? the
answer, from an evolutionary point of view is that, it helps us to not think in words
when a threat comes -- a quicker response can be made on a gut-level. So
logical thought is done with the left part, while global, non-analytic thought of the
likes of "I like it" or not, are done by the right brain. so this increases survival, and
hence might be naturally selected.

THE BRAIN AND HUMAN BEHAVIOR: WHEN BIOLOGY AND CONSCIOUSNESS

MEET

The basic difference between a modern computer and a human brain is the fact that
while the former work SERIALLY, the brain works in a PARALLEL way, with many
modules-- collections of interconnected neurons -- processing information
simultaneously.
REsearch shows how we might have two different pathways for finding out what an
object is,and where it is located. Apparently, light from eyes reaches to the extrastriate
cortex,and then divides into two branches - the ventral branch going down to the
temporal lobe, and the ventral going down to parietal lobe to tell what the object is. PET
scans further corroborate this.

THE BRAIN AND HUMAN SPEECH: SOMETHING ABOUT BROCA AND WERNICKE
APHASIA
Damage to Broca's area results in inability to speak, and pp, speak slow, laborious
speech that is agrammatical in nature. Also, there is difficulty in finding the right word,
and even if it is found, it is difficult to pronounce that word.
This might mean that the memories of muscular movements needed to speak the
words is stored in this area.
Speech comprehension is largely concentrated in Wernicke's area, and damage to this
area produces three major symptoms - inability to recognize spoken words(to tell one
word from another), inability to understand the meaning of these words, and inability to
convert thought into words. But, study has revealed that not every function is found in a
single area. So,
If only wernicke area is damaged -- pure word deafness results -- indiv cannot
understand the words being told to them, and cannot repeat them. They can hear the
other sounds, and are not deaf, as in, can understand the emotion expressed by the
speech, and can even read lips to understand what is being said.
If an area behind wernicke's called the posterior language area is damaged alone -
persons can repeat words, but have no idea about their meanings.(The fact that
repetition of words is possible suggests that there is a link between Broca and wernicke
area)
If injury to the posterior area completely separates it from Wernicke's - the third
symptom happens- inability to convert thought sinto words, and no meaningful speech
can happen without assistance.
If both the areas are damaged -- all 3 symptoms happen.
In sum, the following Model of Human Speech has been developed:
Speech comprehension involves flow of information from wernicke area to posterior
language area and then to sensory areas and back.
speech production involves flow from sensory association areas to posterior language
area to Broca's area.

THE BRAIN AND HIGHER MENTAL PROCESSES

Relational reasoning may underlie many aspects of our higher mental processes, and
the brain part associated with this has been found out to be the prefrontal cortex.

HEREDITY AND BEHAVIOR: GENETICS AND EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY

This is the basic debate about nature vs nurture.
Progress has been made in determining the role of genetic factors in the transmission of
traits and diseases.
In some cases however, merely having the gene does not mean that the effect will
follow, because in these cases, the gene acts indirectly via the chemical processes, and
not via direct action. eg Phenylketonuria.
Research strategies that disentangle the genetic and environmental effects are the
TWIN STUDIES and the ADOPTION STUDIES. A major problem with the former is
basically that the environments in which twins are raised are not identical, which is
especially true for fraternal twins. And if their sex is different, that further complicates the
problem. Hence, while they help, they cannot provide conclusive evidence.
Adoption studies however, come closer to the goal because they study identical twins
who b=have been adopted into different homes.
Using these methods, psychologists have come down to a measure known as
HERITABILITY. It basically means the extent to which variability with respect to a given
trait or behavior in individuals is due to genetic factors. So for a value of 50%, it will
mean a variability of that much. but is does NOT mean that the trait is half due to
genetic, and half due to environmental factors.
Evolutionary psychology part talks about dominance motivation and natural selection --
it's really stupid, pg 68.

CULTURE AND BEHAVIOR

The particular environment in which we are born is full of material and symbolic artifacts
which constrain or afford our behaviors.
The concept of culture:
● carries two different meanings- either people sharing the same set of features
like language, cultural heritage, country etc.; or a system of meaning sor
practices working as an organiser of the experiential world of individuals, and
therefore belonging to an individual.
● Culture is humanly created environment in its simplest form, and consists of
subjective(attitudes, beliefs). as well as non subjective/material(tools, artifacts)
parts.
● Our relationship with culture is bidirectional, whereby it influences us, and we in
turn, create and shape our culture.
● The concept of ethnocentrism: people often evaluate others' customs and
practices by their own cultural standards, leading to prejudice, discrimination and
interethnic conflict.
● A close scrutiny of human behavior reveals that its major part is intentional, and
irreducible to biology, and does not show a fixed, deterministic association with
genes. ven biologically important motives like hunger or sex lead to different
behaviors and are governed by different norms in different cultures.
● Biology, as pointed out by Bruner(1990) is only a constraint, and it is only through
culture that we are able to go beyond these constraints.
THE PROCESS OF CULTURAL SHAPING:
 ● Diverse cultures have diverse worldviews, and it is through a process cultural
transmission, which is very prolonged, that a person becomes a full-fledged
member of that culture.
● Studies of cross-cultural and cultural psychology indicate that cultural context has
a formative form in psychological functioning, and that the concept of a central
processor or psychic unity leading to presumed universal and invariant
psychological processes is not acceptable.
● Western thought is analytic, while Asian thought is holistic. So, while the former
focuses on the object and its attributes, uses attributes to categorize, laws are
deterministic and linear, implies formal logic; the latter considers the field around
the object, the relation between the object and the field, has less control and no
universal laws, formal logic is replaced by experiential knowledge and prefers a
dialectical approach.
THE PROCESS OF CULTURAL TRANSMISSION:
● The transmission through own culture happens through enculturation and
socialization, while through a different culture happens through Acculturation.
● Enculturation encompasses all learning that happens in human life because of
what is available to be learnt without any deliberate teaching. It takes place
primarily based on the cultural surroundings of the individual. The behaviors
learnt through modeling or effects of conformity provide good examples of
enculturation.
● Socialization refers to the process by which an individual is led to develop actual
behaviors which are confined within a narrow range -- one which is customary
and acceptable to the group to which the person belongs. it has two basic
phases - primary(taking place during infancy and childhood, largely within the
family setting), and secondary(taking place outside the family).
The agents of socialization are
● 1. Family: Parenting or parental practices vary along two dimensions- emotional
responsiveness(ranging from warm and responsive to cold and rejecting), and
 control/demand(ranging from authoritarian power assertion to indifference and
neglect.)
Based on this, 3 parenting styles have been mentioned-- Authoritarian(low warmth, high
control), authoritative(high warmth, high control, but foster independent responsibility),
and permissive(unstable omn warmth, low on control).
The children of the second category show high self esteem, high academic
performance, and a positive response to traumatic conditions. First category children
tend to be low in self esteem, poor peer relationship, and high on aggression. third
category children are high in aggression, have difficulty adjusting in school, and show
problematic behavior.
● 2. School: a formalized and structured manner is used. In interaction with
teachers, and peers, normative aspects of culture, values and beliefs are
inculcated, and they also make children learn problem solving skills, conflict
resolution, strategies of cooperation and friendship.
● 3. Peers: They emphasize independence from parents, and conformity with
group.
● 4. Mass media: with this, the virtual is fast becoming a reality, and better use of
this agent in socialization needs to be done, to prevent undesirable behaviors to
develop in children.
ACCULTURATION
● Refers to the changes individuals/groups undergo in relation to a change in the
cultural context.
● Acculturation at indiv level is termed as psychological acculturation, which
focuses on changes in identity, values and attitudes.
● At group level, it takes place when changes occur in social structure, economic
base and political organization.
● Acculturation involves continuous and first hand contact or interaction between
the two groups, and while it can change both the dominant and the acculturating
groups, generally one group dominates, that mostly being the dominant group.
 The outcome depends on the cultural and psychological factors like the length
and purpose of stay, and the policies adopted.. The changes among the
acculturating group are not similar, and some domains within them may be more
susceptible to change than others.
Key acculturation strategies:
a. Assimilation - acculturating indiv does not tend to maintain one's culture, and seeks
daily interaction with the dominant group.
b. Separation - emphasis on maintaining one's own culture, and avoiding the other
culture.
c. INtegration - interested in the dual goal and wants to maintain own culture as well as
interacting with the new culture.
d. Marginalization - low interest/possibility for maintaining either one's own culture or
relating with other.
● A multicultural society shows greater tolerance, and acceptance of cultural
diversity and promotes assimilation.
CULTURAL CONTACT IN THE CONTEMPORARY PERIOD
● Globalisation is promoting cultural borrowing, exposing people to a range of
values, beliefs and lifestyles. The clash between tradition and modernity is seen
everywhere; while there is nothing to say that both are contradictory or mutually
exclusive, certain cultures are putting emphasis on fundamentalism.
● This push and pull of culture has great value, because it is adaptive in nature.
But while biological predispositions create behavioral tendencies, rational
reflection, in which the modern man engages gives a chance for logical choices.

CHAPTER 8: HUMAN DEVELOPMENT, THE CHILDHOOD YEARS

Skipping the physical development part, do the reflexes table to know about the various
reflexes, locomotor development which shows milestones. Within this broad topic, is
also mentioned the LEARNING ABILITIES OF NEWBORNS:
Evidence indicates that newborns can be classically conditioned, but primarily with
respect to survival values for babies. But on the other hand, infants do not readily
acquire conditioned fears until they are eight months old.
Operant conditioning however, comes naturally to newborns and they learn to suck
faster, see visual designs, hear music or human voices, and by the age of two, they can
move their heads to the side on which their cheeks are gently brushed to gain access to
a bottle of sugar water.
PERCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT
The studies are based on the fact that as infants can't talk, their facial expressions and
other cues are used to find out whether or not they are able to differentiate between two
different colors, or depth etc. So if they look at two stimuli for the same amount of time,
then those two stimuli are not different and vice versa.
Studies based on these have found that infants can distinguish between different colors,
tastes, sounds and odors, as they change the pattern of their expressions and sucking
patterns.
Earlier studies about depth perception using the visual cliff experiment(the dip in the
surface but covered with a transparent surface) show that infants as young as 6-7
months refuse to crawl over the dip. Study of infants lower than this age is difficult
because they cannot crawl anyway, but some research has shown this ability to be
coming at 2 months of age, as these infants showed increase in heart rate when
presented with a visual cliff.
So infants have sophisticated abilities to interpret complex sensory input.

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT: CHANGES IN OUR ABILITY TO UNDERSTAND THE

WORLD AROUND US
Until well into the twentieth century, it was believed that children think, reason and
remember in the same way as adults, after which Piaget challenged this view, and said
that children differ in thought processes not only in degree but kind as well. And hence,
came into being his theory.
PIAGET'S THEORY: AN OVERVIEW
1. His theory is a scale theory, that is, it talks about stages, and that there is an
organized, predictable series of changes in every child's life.
This theory, however, is being challenged, because of the things it assumes, which are
no longer assumed owing to wide variability between individuals. These assumptions
pertain to:
a. that all human beings move through a set series of changes.
b. that they move from one set to another at specific ages;
c. and that this order is unchangeable.
2. His theory is based on Constructivism -- that children are active thinkers who are
constantly trying to construct a more accurate understanding of the world around them,
by interacting with it.
3. According to him, this building of understanding is done in 2 ways -- assimilation, and
accommodation. The first refers to incorporation of new knowledge or information, into
existing knowledge structures(into "schemas"); and the latter to modification of existing
knowledge structures due to exposure to new information or experiences. Piaget
believed that its the tension between the two that stimulates cognitive development.
STAGES OF PIAGET'S THEORY:
1. THE SENSORIMOTOR STAGE: FIGURING OUT WAYS TO MAKE THINGS
HAPPEN.
● During this period, infants learn that their actions produce a change in the
external world, that there is a relationship between the two.(acquire a sense of
cause and effect)
● this leads to them experimenting what they do will produce what effect.
● In this stage, they come to know the world only through sensory impressions and
motor activities, leading to some interesting phenomenon like "out of sight, out of
mind".
● By 8-9 months, acc to him, children gain a sense of Object Permanence -- that
an object exists, even when hidden.
2. THE PREOPERATIONAL STAGE: GROWTH OF SYMBOLIC ACTIVITY
● Somewhere between the age of 18-24 months, children acquire the ability to
make mental images of objects and events, at the same time language
developing to a point where they can think in terms of symbols - words. This
stage lasts till 7 years of age.
● This stage are called preoperational,, because acc to Piaget, children don't yet
show the ability to use logic, and mental operations.
● Children demonstrate Symbolic Play - where they pretend that one object is
another, eg a wooden block is a frog!
● This leads us to 3 observations/insights about the cognitive development
happening in the children. One is Decentration( the child starts making someone
else the recipients of their playful actions eg dressing a doll), second is
decontextualisation(making objects substitute for each other -- eg making a twig
a spoon), and third is Integration(combining play actions into increasingly
complex sequences, meaning that the child is also having a growing ability to
think in terms of words).
● After all this also, there is a lot that these children lack in maturity, three concepts
of Piaget explain that.
● One is egocentrism-- their inability to understand that others may perceive the
world differently than they do; secondly, that lack Seriation, i.e. they are unable to
arrange things in an order along some dimension, and fail to understand the term
lighter, softer etc. Third, they show Conservation -- knowledge that certain
attributes remain unchanged no matter how much outward appearance is
altered.
3. THE STAGE OF CONCRETE OPERATIONS: THE EMERGENCE OF LOGICAL
THOUGHT
● According to Piaget, a child's mastery over conservation marks the beginning of
the third stage. lasts until 11 years of age.
 ● Many important skills emerge -- the understanding of reversibility(that many
physical changes can be undone through reversal of original action), and children
who learn this, also begin to engage in what he called Logical Thought.(limited to
concrete objects and events)

4. THE STAGE OF FORMAL OPERATIONS: DEALING WITH ABSTRACTIONS, AS

WELL AS REALITY
● During this stage, many adult features make their appearance. Logical thought
extends from concrete to abstract too, and also extends to possibilities which do
not exist, but can be imagined.
● At this stage, child becomes capable of hypothetico-deductive reasoning --
developing a hypothesis and thinking logically about symbols, ideas and
propositions; and interpropositional thinking(where they seek to test the validity of
several propositions). Children in concrete stage can sometimes test validity of a
single proposition.
● Even at this stage, Piaget believed that children have still not developed adult
thinking. While they can make theories, and give reasonings for the, the theories
in themselves are false, and young people do not have experience or information
enough to do a better job.
● One crucial point here is that people who have reached the stage of formal
operations, although they have reached a stage of logical thought, does not
mean that they will necessarily use it. Because such thinking requires a lot of
cognitive effort, it is not surprising that adolescents, and adults too slip back into
less advanced modes of thought.

A MODERN ASSESSMENT OF PIAGET'S THEORY:

Although it provides insight in a lot of areas, in light of new evidence, revisions have
been sought in 3 areas :
a. cognitive abilities of infants and preschoolers have been found to be much more than
what Piaget defined.
● It has been mentioned that maybe, the apparatus and the methods used by him
were too difficult for the infants and preschoolers to show the cognitive ability that
they actually possessed. eg it seems that the children have a problem
understanding the concept of "under" when "out of sight, out of mind" is done.
however, if things are hidden "behind" a screen, infants as young as 4-5 months
can act like it is there.
● Also they can understand much more than this. Consider the IMPRESSIVE
EVENTS experiment by Baillargeon. pg 260.
● a different model used for egocentrism also showed that children as young as 3-4
respond correctly(Newcombe), and even 14-18 months old infants also show
some awareness of the fact that others may not see what they
see.(Schickedanz). Piaget also underestimated the ability towards overcoming
conservation, both of number of physical attributes or their size; their ability to
classify objects and their understanding of what it means to be alive.(Bullocks)
b. discreteness of the stages of cognitive development.
● Piaget suggested that these stages are discrete and discontinuous - meaning
one must finish one stage before entering into another. But research proves that
these changes are more gradual, and all the more, they are DOMAIN SPECIFIC
-- that is, a child may advance with respect to one thinking, but be far behind in
the other aspect.
c. importance of social interaction between children and caregivers in a child's cognitive
development.
● Piaget's theory completely contrasts with the SOCIO-CULTURAL THEORY (By
Lev Vygotsky)in this aspect - in that the latter gives a major role in a child's
development to social factors and language. He suggested that growth happens
in an interpersonal, social context in which children move from their Zone of
actual development(what they can do unassisted), to their zone of potential
 development(what they can do with assistance from their older tutors/other
people). The gap between the two has been called the Zone of proximal
development.
● The social assistance provided may take the form of reciprocal teaching(teacher
and child taking turns engaging in an activity, allowing the adult to serve as a
model to the child; or in the form of Scaffolding - mental structures or images on
which the child can master new tasks and ways of thinking.
● It has been proven that the more socially skilled children are, the more advanced
they are in the understanding of how other people think -- an important aspect of
cognitive development.

BEYOND PIAGET: TWO LATER MODELS OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

A. CHILDREN'S THEORY OF MIND: THINKING ABOUT THINKING
● The ability, it seems to know that others can hold beliefs different from their own,
and that these beliefs can be false, is learnt only by four years, as shown by the
MAXI EXPERIMENT.
● Another example that shows how theory of mind attains sophistication is
observing that infants even 2-3 months old can know when someone is looking
the other way, but it is only by two years, that they will follow the gaze of the
person to see where is he looking.
● It should be added however, that while children are capable of all that, they do
lack important insights into the processes of thought. eg they have difficulty
recognizing when the other person is thinking(they know it is different from talking
or seeing but don't know it is a pvt mental event. Also, when they know
something, they are unclear about the source of the knowledge, whether it was
something they saw, or whether someone narrated it to them(thus making them
unreliable witnesses, even in traumatic events that they have experienced
personally.
B. THE INFORMATION PROCESSING PERSPECTIVE:
 ● It seeks insights into the cognitive development of a child that happens by the
basic aspects of cognition like attention, memory, metacognition(thinking about
thinking, and being able to use one's own creative abilities strategically).
● eg as they grow older, children increasingly are able to use rehearsal(ability of
repeating things to yourself to memorize them), and likewise, older children are
better able to use the technique of elaboration(strategy in which new information
is linked to existing knowledge)
● It happens for attention and metacognition too, and this theory has helped linked
the cognitive development process to the basic processes of cognition. So that
has been its utility.

MORAL DEVELOPMENT: REASONING ABOUT RIGHT AND WRONG

● The most famous theory put forward is the one by Lawrence Kohlberg(1984)
● He studied boys and men, and reasoned that human beings move through three
distinct levels of reasoning, each with two separate phases. He gave them a
moral dilemma, and asked them to choose what they would do. (One of them is
the wife's cancer dilemma, pg 264) He then said that it was the explanations, and
not the choices that actually reveal an individual's stage of moral development.
● Based on his research following was put forth:
a. Preconventional level
● the first stage of moral development, where morality is perceived in terms of
consequences, and anything that is rewarding is considered as good, and
vice-versa.
● two phases are Stage 1. Punishment and obedience orientation - morality judged
in terms of consequences, and Stage 2. Naive hedonistic orientation- judged in
terms of what satisfies own needs or those of others.

b. The conventional level

 ● as cognitive abilities increase, children become aware of the complexities of the
social order, judge morality in terms of what supports the laws and preserves the
rule of their society.
● two phases are Stage 3: Good boy-good girl orientation -- judged in terms of
adherence to social rules or norms, with respect to personal acquaintances.
Stage 4: in terms of social rules or laws apeopleied universally, not only to
acquaintances.

c. The postconventional level

● in adolescence or early adulthood, people judge morality in terms of abstract
principles and values rather than existing rules or laws, and they believe that
certain obligations transcend the laws of the society, and the rules they follow are
based on inner conscience rather than external authority.
● Stage 5: Legalistic orientation -- judged in terms of human rights, which may
transcend laws
● Stage 6: universal ethical principle orientation: in terms of self chosen ethical
principles.

ANALYZING HIS THEORY

While there is support for an increasingly sophisticated moral development with
age(Walker), major revisions are also sought in some areas:
a. Gender differences -
● Carol Gilligan criticized the theory arguing that females perceive the given
situations not in terms of justice, but from the point of Care based principles -
concerns over relationships, caring and promotion of others' welfare. Because
moral reasoning based on these would be termed immature according to his
theory, she said that this theory is biased against women.
● These charges however, have not been supported by research, and it has been
argued that even females, score the same, even higher when taking the tests. It
 has been said that while females do use the basis of care based principles, they
are mostly used for own personal dilemmas, and not for other types of questions.
b. consistency of moral judgments:
● In a study of Krebs, it was found that the level of moral development witnessed
was not consistent across different situations presented in front of people.
c. Cultural differences and moral development:
● In cross cultural studies(Taiwan, Turkey), it has been found(Nisan and KOhlberg),
that rural or village background people may not be able to reach stage 5 at all,
compared to people from more advantaged backgrounds. This makes the theory
"culture bound"
● Kohlberg's work is limited to the person and the justice paradigm as his work is
rooted in an individualistic framework(Shweder etal)
● "second order" culture meanings often make the apeopleication of this theory
problematic(Shweder and Much)
● Millor and Bersoff show how Indian subjects prioritize beneficence prescriptions
over justice prescriptions. along with that they have different perspectives of role
oriented obligations and contextual information as important info to solve social
issues.
● In the Indian context, dharma and karma are important, karma operating within a
broad framework of dharma, and the two offering a broad template for untangling
right and wrong behavior in the Indian context.

SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT: FORMING RELATIONSHIPS WITH

ONE ANOTHER
While cognitive development is very important part of growth, it doesn't happen in a
social vacuum.
1. Emotional development and temperament
● Infants, as studied by their facial expressions start showing expressions as early
as two months of life, when they show social smiling in response to human faces,
 at 3-4 months, they begin to laugh, with other emotions also appearing early and
being easily recognizable to humans.
● Some expressions appear before the others, and it must be noted that emotional
development and cognitive development happen at the same time. It has been
shown that following medical inoculations, two months show pain expressions
more than the expression of anger, but after a few months, anger expressions
are shown more frequently than pain, probably showing how infants gain a
growing ability to understand who inflicted the pain.
● As they grow older, infants also gain the capacity to "read" the emotional
expressions of others, by three months they become upset when their mothers
show immobile facial expressions.
● By 8-9 months they begin to demonstrate a growing understanding of of their
own mental states and others. So, if a one year old falls, he/she will look at their
expressions, and depending on that, will engage in crying or laughing -- that is,
engaging in Social Referencing.
● Children also learn how to regulate their own emotional expressions, and show
them to others, although they do not have this skill as infants.By the time they are
ten, they have learnt to express emotions - both verbally and non verbally.
Progress in both these tasks - regulating and expressing emotions- determines
how they form complex social relationships.
Temperament:
● Refers to the stable individual differences in characteristic mood, individual
reactivity, and activity level.
● Growing evidence suggests that these differences are present very early on in
life -- probably at birth.
● The dimensions of temperament - positive emotionality(extent to which an infant
shows pleasure, and is in a good mood), distress-anger(extent to which infant
shows distress and the emotion of anger), fear(extent to which infant shows fear
in various situations), and activity(infant's overall level of activity and energy).
 ● On the basis of such differences, infants are divided into 3 basic groups:
(Thomas and Chess)
a. Difficult children(10%) ; irregular in daily routines, slow to accept new
situations/experiences, show negative reactions more often than infants.
b. Slow-to-warm-up children(15%): relatively inactive and apathetic, and show mild
negative reactions when exposed to unexpected situations.
c. Easy children(40%): generally cheerful, adapt readily to new experiences, and quickly
establish routines for many activities of daily life.
Remaining 35% cannot be put into any category.
Stability of the above classification? research suggests that they are moderately stable
from birth to ~24 months of life, and highly stable after that.
● It has been shown that while temperament is partly genetic in origin, social and
environmental factors play a large role in shaping it..
● Temperament has important implications for social development - difficult children
have problems later in life making friends,, adjusting to school etc, high reactive
children demonstrate shyness as they grow older and enter into a broad range of
social situations. Also, temperament can also influence attachment -- the kinds of
bonds infant forms with their caregivers- and hence important aspects of a child's
personality, and even their abilities to form close bonds later in life as adults.
EMPATHY
● It has been shown that the capacity for empathy increases in the first two years
of our lives.
● Our cognitive development permits us to first clearly differentiate between us and
others - forming a self - and then to construct a more sophisticated theory of
mind, which allows us to understand that others have feelings which might be
different from our own.
● Infants as young as 18 months - do something comforting when the child is
distressed; by two years they give an object or got to seek adult help in this
situation. By the age of 4, they have a grasp on what causes emotional distress,
 and why others are upset, empathy ultimately developing to the point where they
feel guilt if they know that they are the cause of someone's distress.
● Empathy serves as an important source of prosocial behavior - actions designed
to help others without necessarily benefiting oneself.

2. Attachment: the beginning of love

● Psychologists generally use the strange situation test for measuring attachment
in infants, this test being in turn based on a theory by Balby(1969), which says
that attachment involves a balance between infant's tendencies to seek to be
near their caregivers, and their willingness to explore the new environments. The
quality of attachment is determined by the degree to which the infant behaves as
if, the caregiver, when present, serves as a secure base of operations- provides
comfort and reassurance; and by the effectiveness of the infant-caregiver
interactions when the caregiver returns after a separation.
● Patterns of attachment:
a. Secure attachment - freely explore new environments, touching base with the
caregiver periodically to see whether she is there; they may or may not cry on
separation, but if they do it is mostly due to her absence, and when she is back, they
actively seek contact, and stop crying very quickly.
b. Insecure/avoidant attachment: don't cry when the caregiver leaves, and behave with
the stranger in the same way that they would have behaved with the caregiver. When
the caregiver is back, they do not seek contact.
c. Insecure/ambivalent attachment: seek contact before separation, but after the
caregiver returns after separation, first seek her and then reject her offers of comfort,
hence ambivalent.
d. Disorganized/Disoriented attachment: has elements of both b and c.
● All of this however is culturally bound. eg b is highly prevalent in Germany where
independence is encouraged.
 ● Factors that affect attachment patterns -- It was long believed that maternal
sensitivity - a caregiver's alertness to infant signals, appropriate and prompt
responses to them, flexibility of attention and behavior go a long way in
establishing an attachment pattern, but recently, other factors like the
temperament of the child have been found to play a larger role.(Rosen and
Rothbaum, 1996)
● The long term effects of attachment style -- It has been shown that children with
an ambivalent attachment are found to be ambivalent in their adult relationships
too, and those that were avoidantly attached to their caregivers seem to worry
too much about losing their partners, and they don't trust spouses or lovers,as
they did not trust their caregivers.
Contact comfort and attachment
Harlow's experiment pg 272.
The results have been found to be true for human babies too who feel secure with
security blankets given to them(Passman and Weisberg).
3. The role of friendships in social development
● Give children an opportunity to learn and practice social skills needed for
effective interpersonal relationships, and these skills actually do help a lot in
children's developing theory of mind.
● also help in the understanding that others may have feelings different from one's
own self.
● help in emotional development as bonds form between friends, and other people
apart from caregivers.
● Research findings indicate that having a friend may prevent bullies from picking
up on on children who show behaviors that would otherwise make them the
prime candidates of bullying - internalizing behaviors like working alone, or
appearing sad/tearful etc.
● Do parents really matter? discussion pg 276 - fight between a Judith Rich Harsis
book, and NICHD Study of Early Child Care.
GENDER DEVELOPMENT - FROM GENDER IDENTITY TO SEX-CATEGORY
CONSTANCY
Complete understanding of one's sexual identity, what is known as Sex Category
Constancy(SCC) centers around biologically based categorical distinction between
males and females, and involves 3 components:
a. Gender identity : the understanding that one is a male or a female. established quite
early, by 2 years.
b. Gender stability : that one will always remain either a male or a female. by 4.
c. Gender consistency: Children's understanding that their gender will not change even
if they adopted the behavior, dress or hairstyles of the other gender. only by 6-7 years of
age.
● while the biological sex is straightforward, gender sex is complicated and rests
upon society's beliefs about traits and behaviors supposedly characteristic of
males and females. And thus the concept of gender incorporates in it gender
stereotypes(beliefs, often exaggerated about traits possessed by males and
females, and differences between them.), and gender roles(expectations
regarding what both sexes should do and the way they should behave).
● The change with regard to sexual identity as children grow older is also part of
their increasingly sophisticated reasoning/theory of mind being developed as
they grow older.
Theories of how children move through the stages of SCC- many explanations have
been offered -
a. Social Learning theory --
● emphasizes the role of learning - explains it with the use of operant conditioning
theory, and modeling.
● It says that children are rewarded(eg with verbal praise) for fulfilling their gender
stereotypes and roles, and also because they imitate models they perceive as
 being similar to themselves, they tend to adopt the behavior of the same-sex
parent.
b. Cognitive development theory -
● says that children's increasing understanding of gender is only a reflection of
their steady cognitive growth. First, they develop a self, because of which they
start identifying themselves as a boy or a girl, followed by which they acquire the
ability to classify things into specific categories, when they realize that they are in
one category and won't shift to another, and later, as they understand they
belong to one sex, they strive to adopt behaviors which are consistent with this
identity.
● So, basically what this says is opposite to the first theory in the sense that the
first theory says that the children first imitate and then develop a sexual identity,
but this says identity is established first followed by behavior learning.
c. Gender schema theory: Proposed by Bem.
● He proposed that knowledge of gender is far more important than the knowledge
of one's race or the color of eyes.
● He said that children acquire Gender schemas - cognitive experiences reflecting
children's experiences with their society's beliefs about the attributes of females
and males such as instructions of parents, observations of how males and
females behave etc.Gender schemas develop, in part, because adults call
attention to these differences even when it is irrelevant(eg good morning, boys
and girls!)
● Once these schemas are established, it starts influencing their processing of
social information - they categorize others' behavior as masculine or feminine.
So, gender becomes for them, a key concept or dimension by which they attempt
to make sense of their social world, and one which gets linked to their self
concept too.

CHAPTER 9: HUMAN DEVELOPMENT II : Adolescence, Adulthood, and Aging

The question of when does childhood end and adulthood start does not have one
answer, and every culture decides for itself just where the dividing line falls.
Physical development during adolescence -
you know this.
Facial changes take place during puberty, and while "baby-faced" appearance helps
females, because males find it attractive but the same thing does not confer so many
advantages on males, and research suggests that these males may engage in
antisocial behavior to compensate for their physical looks.
Similarly, gender differences also exist with respect to effects of early sexual maturation.
Early maturing males have an edge over the delayed maturing ones because the former
are more athletic and often excel in competitive sports. Partly because of this, they tend
to be more self assured, popular and are chosen for leadership roles.
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT DURING ADOLESCENCE
As seen in Piaget's theory, adolescents become capable of logical thought, but it does
not mean that they necessarily show it. In fact, only 40% could solve the problems used
by Piaget to test for formal operational thinking. Moreover, even if they do solve
problems, it is mostly related to topics/types of problems they have had direct
experience with.
How does the theory of mind - their understanding of how they and others think -
evolve?

a. Younger children have a realistic approach to knowledge: believe that knowledge is a

property of the real world, and that there are specific facts or truths that can be
acquired.
b. Older children show a relativist approach - understand that different people may
interpret the same information in contrasting ways.
c. Preadolescents adopt a defended realism approach: recognizes the difference
between facts and opinions, but still believe that there is a set of facts about the world
that is the truth,and difference in opinion results from differences in available
information.
d. Adolescents later adopt dogmatism-skepticism approach : there is no secure basis
for making for knowledge or making decisions, at this point they alternate between blind
faith in some authority, and doubting everything.
e. At least some of them take an approach called post-skeptical rationalism- they realise
that while there are no absolute truths, there are specific better or worse reasons for
holding a certain view.
The last view is the one which democratic societies want to promote between its
citizens, because people capable of judgments like these are capable of making
informed judgment needed in elections.

SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT DURING ADOLESCENCE

A. Emotional changes: the ups and downs of everyday life
Research has speculated the speculation that adolescents are wildly emotional,and go
through a lot of mood swings. Beeper random signaling expt by Larson, 1984. Pg 287.
Other widely accepted beliefs are,however, not supported. eg it is believed that
adolescence is a period of unhappiness and great stress, but in fact, most of them
report feeling quite happy and confident, not unhappy or distressed(Diener and Diener,
1996).
Also, contrary to prevailing views, they report having good relations with their
parents,and agreeing with them about their future plans, and many other
matters(Bachman, 1987).
B. Parenting styles, and their effects on adolescents
Two key dimensions have seemed to underlie parenting styles -- Parental
demandingness (extent to which parents are strict or controlling, with those high on this
dimension seeking to control children through status and power, and confronting them
angrily when they do not meet parents' expectations); and parental
responsiveness(extent to which parents are involved in and supportive of their children's
activities, parents high on this listen actively to their children, respond to their requests,
show warmth, and focus on their children's concerns and interests during
conversations). On the basis of these two -
1. Authoritarian parents - high in a, low on b
2. Authoritative parents - high in both, establish rules but show great interest and high
responsiveness.
3. Permissive - high in b, low on a' warm and responsive, but fix no rules and do not
hold children accountable
4. Rejecting/neglecting - low on both.
Growing evidence suggests that style 2 is the best style - children handled by parents in
this way are competent both socially and cognitively; in contrast adolescentswhose
parents show style 4 are low in both , and also show unsettled patterns of behavior,
often engaging in antisocial activities that can get them in serious trouble.
adolescentswhose parents fall in style 1 and 3 fall in between.
C. Social development: Friendships, and their quest for identity
Girls tend to have larger social networks than boys, and these networks become smaller
and more exclusive as adolescentsgrow older - a trend that continues throughout life.
One motive for developing friendships seems to be the need to belong: need to have
frequent positive interactions with ongoing relationships; this need strengthens during
early adolescence and leads many teenagers to reject parental influence and to identify
with their peers instead.
Friendships and social success also play a crucial role in another aspect of social dev -
quest for personal identity- something that is a vital component of Erikson's theory.

ERIKSON'S EIGHT STAGES OF LIFE

● Like Piaget, it is a stage theory. But unlike him, it is more a theory of social
development and not cognitive development.
● The fundamental basis for this theory is that at every stage of life, there is a
different crisis or conflict between competing tendencies and only if it is solved,
 will the individual grow in a normal, healthy manner. Biological drives reflect
individual growth and physical changes, and societal demands reflect the
expectations and requirement of the society for people at different ages.
● The stages occur in the ratio of 4:1:3, 4 conflicts during childhood, 1 during
adolescence and 3 during adulthood.
● The first is trust vs mistrust in the first year of life, where infants must trust others
to fulfill their needs. If that doesn't happen, then they do not develop trust, and
always remain suspicious and wary.
● Second year of life, the conflict is autonomy vs shame and doubt. During this
time, toddlers are regulating their own bodies, and trying to do things
independently. If they succeed, they develop autonomy. If they fail, or if they are
labeled as inadequate by the persons who care for them, they may feel shame
and doubt their abilities to interact with the external world.
● Between the age of 3-5, is the conflict of initiative vs guilt. The children are
learning new mental and physical skills. At this point, they must also learn to
control their impulses. If they find the right balance between initiative and guilt, all
is well. But if the former overpowers the latter, they become unruly, and if the
latter overpowers, they become too uninhibited.
● Fourth and final childhood stage is between 6-11/12 years of age. Industry vs
inferiority. Children acquire many of the skills necessary for adult life, learn to
make things and use tools. If they succeed, they form a sense of their own
competence, if they don't, they may suffer from low self esteem, as they
unfavorably compare themselves with other kids.
● The adolescent stage is the stage of identity vs role confusion. At this point, they
seek to establish a clear self-identity - to understand their unique traits and what
is centrally important to them. It is crucial that these questions are answered, if
not, they drift, uncertain of what they want to do or what they want to accomplish.
Adolescents use a lot of techniques to establish a self identity for themselves - like
acquiring different roles (the good boy/girl, rebel. supercool operator, athlete etc) and
join many different social groups, form many social selves of themselves - different
kinds of persons they might potentially become.
Out of these experiences, they gradually piece together a cognitive framework for
understanding themselves - a self schema, which once formed remains fairly constant
and serves as a guide for adolescents in many contexts.
Apart from Erikson, there are many other psychologists who have focused on the
development of a personal identity for adolescents - eg Marcia suggests that
adolescents can be categorized in terms of whether they have explored alternative
selves, and whether they have actually chosen one. Based on this -
a. Identity achievement - those who have gone through the identity crisis, and made a
commitment to one clear alternative.
b. identity moratorium - tjose still searching for an identity.
c. identity foreclosure - those who have chosen the identity given by their parents/other
authority figures.
d. identity diffusion - those who haven't started.

SOME SPECIFIC ISSUES

A. Living in two worlds: identity formation among bicultural adolescents
Children whose parents are immigrants. or when they come from two different ethnic or
cultural groups have problems in forming a clear identity and they may cope in one of
the many different ways -
They achieve separate identities in both cultures, then alternate between them
depending on the social situation (k/a the Alternation model)
They combine different identities into one(k/a identity fusion); and biracial/mixed race is
becoming quite common in the US.
They might reject one cultural heritage and identify with the other. THis is especially
more common, if the rejected culture can lead to discrimination against them.
B. Dysfunctional families: The intimate enemy
Families where one parent is an alcohol addict or someone with a serious psychological
problem - these families may not be able to provide for the growth of children
emotionally, and in fact may be seriously physically threatening.
Research findings indicate that when these factors are lacking, children and
adolescents are at increasing risk for a wide range of problems and externalizing
behaviors (eg stealing, overt aggression, disobedience at home and elsewhere etc)
Another facet of the same problem is sexual abuse - sexual contact or activities forced
on children or adolescents - especially if it is perpetrated by a close member of the
family. The most common symptoms of this can be depression, running away,
withdrawal and substance abuse.

C. Adolescent Personality: Future problem predictor?

It must be noted that while env is important, it does interact with the personality of an
adolescent to generate contrasting level of adjustment. And hence, the whole blame for
an adolescent cannot be blamed on the parenting style or or families.
GRowing evidence shows that certain kinds of adolescents are at a high risk for being
rejected by their peers, and for growing anti-social behavior - adolescents who show
high levels of aggression, who are disruptive or hyperactive, and especially, who show
Irritable-Inattentive behavior(complain a lot, behave like a baby and don't pay attention
to others).
Pope Bierman experiment pg 293.

D. Overcoming the odds: Resilient adolescents

Some children, despite exposure to truly devastating conditions,develop into confident,
competent and healthy adults, and these are those who show resilience in
development.
How they become so is because of several protective factors - factors which, together
serve to buffer them against conditions that would ordinarily be expected to undermine
their chances. These factors include
a. protective factors within individuals themselves = they are active, affectionate, good
caregivers and easy to deal with. ("easy" temperament), this allows them to recruit the
help of many caregivers who are willing to contribute to their development. Also, such
youngsters are highly intelligent and have good communication and problem solving
skills resulting in good friendships, and getting-along skills.
b. protective factors within their families - they have the opportunity to establish close
bond with at least one competent and emotionally stable person, thus giving them the
element of trust that Erikson considers so important. Mostly, this person is not their
family member, but someone else in the extended family, so what is important is not the
biological relation, but the fact that these adults serve as models and provide
encouragement.
c. protective factors related to their community - favorite teachers , youth workers,
caring neighbors, others - all give them the boost to rise above, parental problems,
poverty and other destabilising factors of their lives.

DEVELOPMENT DURING ADULT YEARS

CONTRASTING VIEWS : STAGE THEORIES VERSUS THE CONTEXTUAL

APPROACH
A. Stage theories --
As suggested by Erikson, during adulthood, we pass through 3 major crisis. The first of
these is intimacy versus isolation.
Erikson suggests that in early adolescence and late adulthood,, ppl must learn to form
deep, intimate relationships with others, involving not only sexual intimacy, but also
strong emotional attachments. Ppl who fail to resolve this live in isolation, unable to form
truly intimate, long lasting relationships.
The second crisis is generativity versus self-absorption: reflects a need for overcoming
selfish, self-centered concerns and to take an active interest in guiding and helping the
next generation. For parents, this is served by their children, after children grow up,
these ppl may seek to become a mentor for the younger generation; for ppl who cannot
have children, express generativity by helping and guiding the young ppl - students,
co-workers and so on. Individuals who successfully overcome this struggle find a new
meaning, and those who cannot resolve this crisis meaningfully get cut off from an
important source of growth and satisfaction.
The last crisis is that of integrity versus despair: the final questions of :did I live my life
well? Did my being here matter? If the answer to all these questions is yes, and ppl feel
like they have reached many goals, they attain a sense of integrity. If not, they may go
into despair. Successful resolution of this crisis is an important component of how ppl
face their mortality - and an important part of their psychological and physical well
being.
Several other stage theories exist like Kotre, Levinson, with their basic assumption
remaining that at different times in our lives, we all experience the same problems,
events, challenges or crises, and the way in which we deal with them determines the
course and nature of our lives from that point on.

B. Contextual approach: development in response to the environment

These theories suggest that because life events vary from culture to culture, as well as
over time, any theory for adult development must take these social and historical factors
into account.
A notable example of this theory is Urie Bronfenbrenner's ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS
THEORY.
This suggests that in order to understand human development fully, we must focus on
the relationship between the individual and his environments, and that these
relationships exist at various levels. According to him, it makes no sense to study how
ppl change in the course of their lives without the knowledge of how they interact with,
and are affected by their environment. And because the latter vary, their is no possibility
that the course of adult development will not vary.
a. Microsystem - the developing person interacting directly with ppl and objects - at
home, at work, school, neighborhood, and so on.
b. Mesosystem - relationships between settings in which the individual participates. eg
what happens at work also affects what happens at home.
c. exosystem - settings the individual does not experience directly, but have an effect on
his life - eg company in which spouse works, school board of kids etc.
d. Macrosystem - widely shared cultural beliefs, laws, values - which influence inner
systems, and therefore, the person's life and development.
So unlike stage theories, contextual theories suggest that the barrier between
chronological age and specific developmental events are very fluid. eg the example of
social age clocks(internalized calendars telling us when certain events should happen in
our lives, and what we should be doing at certain ages.)
In recent years, there has been the blurring of the social age clock, and the boundary
between chronological age and social events is becoming fluid, largely because people
are living longer, and postponing the age of doing certain things like having a child etc,
and also people have, started feeling younger, with the gap widening with passing
years. So, as contextual theories suggest, adult development is more a component of
social beliefs and definitions than age-linked stages.

C. Are we strongly shaped by the events of our youth?

This is not a new belief - it fitting closely with Erikson's observation that what happens
during 17-25 years of age shapes us for the rest of our lives. This idea also fits with
other views about origins of cohort effects (difference between groups of ppl born at
different times who had contrasting life experiences as a result of being raised in
different decades).
Perhaps this effect,much more than what happens at a particular age helps explain why
persons belonging to a different generation see the world through different eyes.
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT DURING ADULTHOOD
Because cognitive abilities rest on biological processes, it is reasonable to expect some
loss of cognition with age; however, experience is gained, and our overall knowledge
base is expanded, so can these changes compensate?
A. AGING AND MEMORY
Research on short term memory indicates that older ppl seem to retain as much
information in this limited capacity system, as the younger ones - seven to nine
separate items. Some findings, however, suggest that ability to transform short term
memory into long term memory may decrease with age.(Hunt, 1993)
It is also seen that older ppl perform perform poorly if multiple working memory tasks
have to be done in a row. This means that as we grow older, our ability to deal with
Proactive Interference - interference from materials we are currently entering into
working memory with the ones that we entered earlier - declines. (However, such an
effect may also happen due to slowing of cognitive system with age.)
With respect to long term memory, while the episodic memory shows some decline,
semantic memory remains intact, while procedural memory is the most stable of all.
Other findings indicate that memory for relatively meaningless information like nonsense
syllables, or paired associated declines with age, but is the information is meaningful -
for instance, has some connection with everyday life, differences between young and
old ppl is very small, and sometimes don't appear at all.
So overall, unless a serious disease is encountered, cognitive memory remains
relatively intact, and also, that even modest declines in memory can be avoided by
"mental exercises" - engaging in activities that require us to think, reason and
remember.
Declines in certain aspects of memory due to age can be attributed to changes in brain -
decreased weight, with frontal lobe(the lobe for memory) losing the most neurons,and
hippocampus also getting increasingly damaged.
Interestingly, female sex hormones are protective and protect women from memory loss
relative to the males.
AGING AND INTELLIGENCE
Cross sectional studies has earlier proved that intelligence increases into early
adulthood, remains stable through the thirties, and declines as early as the forties.
Longitudinal studies paint a more positive picture, saying that many intellectual abilities
remain quite stable across the lifespan, and in fact show little change until a person is in
their sixties, seventies or even beyond.
Only on tasks involving speed of reasoning do there appear to be constant declines,
and considering the fact that drops in performance may be because of a slower reaction
time - that happens with age, there is little indication of intelligence decreasing with age.
Important cohort related changes may be evident in age-related changes in
intelligence(Finkel and others), with old people showing decline in intelligence probably
because of poor nutrition and lack of formal educational methods. If these factors are
equated, no changes are evident.
However, standardized tests used to measure intelligence for all these findings may not
be the whole story, with the differentiation between crystallized and fluid intelligence
relevant.
Crystallized intelligence - (those aspects of intelligence that rely on previously learned
information - our accumulated knowledge eg vocabulary tests, many social situations in
which we must make decisions or judgments) tends to increase throughout the lifespan.
In contrast, fluid intelligence(our abilities, in part inherited, to think and reason)
increases into early twenties and then declines.
There is no decline in practical intelligence - the ability to solve everyday problems, with
it being possible that it might actually increase,
So, in sum, while there might be decline in intelligence with age, they are smaller in
magnitude and scope compared to what age related stereotypes suggest.

AGING AND CREATIVITY

THis concept is easier to define than measure.
Cross sectional research says that, as measured by standard tasks such as coming up
with novel ways of using everyday objects, creativity declines with age. Other research
points to the following conclusions -
a. Creativity rapidly rises to a peak, usually in late thirties or forties, then gradually
declines.
b. The age at which peak occurs varies with the field - in poetry, mathematics,
theoretical physics, it happening early (late 20s to early 30s) In psychology , early 40s,
and in still other fields - writing, philosophy, history - late 40s or 50s
c. what is crucial is the no of career age, not chronological age, so for ppl who start late,
the peak will be late.
d. Many ppl show a secondary peak in creativity near the end of their lives - THE SWAN
SONG PHENOMENON - these works of old age are shorter and more restrained, but
they often win critical acclaim often for precisely this reason - they do it all with less
complexity.

SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT DURING ADULTHOOD

A. FRIENDSHIPS: THE CONVOY MODEL

This is a model of social networks suggesting that from midlife on, we tend to maintain
close relationships with a small number of people, for the remainder of our lives
Named so because of the symbolic resemblance to convoy of ships sailing the ocean.

B. LEVINSON'S STAGES OF ADULT LIFE(1986)

One crucial aspect of his theory is a concept he terms as life structure -- refers to the
underlying pattern of a person's life at a particular point of time, an evolving cognitive
framework reflecting an individual's views about the nature and meaning of his or her
life. Work and family are usually central, but other components might also be included -
like ethnic background, economic boom or depression etc.
Acc to Levinson, the individuals move from one life structure to another at different
times during adult years, with a transition period lasting about five years between them.
See diagram - pg 305.
He divides the adult years into 4 major eras, each separated from the next by a
transition period.
The first transition happens between the preadult era - early adulthood time.(between
17-22); this transition involves establishing one's independence, both financial and
emotional,and is marked by events such as establishing one's own residence and
learning to live independently.
In early adulthood, the two key components are DREAM (vision of future
accomplishments) and MENTOR (more experienced individuals who guide individuals).
At about 30, many ppl experience AGE THIRTY TRANSITION - Individuals realizing
they are entering the point of no return- faced with this, they reexamine their initial
choices, and either make specific changes or conclude that they have indeed chosen
the best course.
Then comes midlife transition - mostly happening between 40-45 years- many ppl come
to terms with their own mortality, up until then, they consider themselves "still young".
This si period of emotional turmoil, where they take stock of their past choices and
possibility of raeching their youthful dreams. This leads to the formation of a new life
structure that takes into account an individual's new position of life, and involves new
elements such as change in career, divorce, redefinition of relationship with spouse.
Between 50-55 - many ppl experience another transition - in which they consider
modifying their life structure once again, for example, by adopting a new role as a
grandparent and as a parent, but this transition is much less dramatic than the one that
happens at 60-65, the LATE ADULT TRANSITION - during this individuals must come to
terms with the impending retirement and the life changes that it will bring.

IS THIS THEORY ACCURATE?

While consonant with the common sense ideas about aging, it must be remembered,
that he built this theory only on the basis of interviews with 40 men of US, and hence,
critics argue that this sample is too small and restricted to have such a sweeping
framework based upon. Also, it is uncertain whether these apply to women as well as
men.
The results of interviews with women - pg 306.

AGING, DEATH AND BEREAVEMENT

Theories of aging: contrasting theories about why we grow old
A. Stochastic theories - "growing old is the result of living"
also known as wear and tear theories of aging.
says that we grow old because of cumulative damage to our body through external and
internal sources, because such damage is not completely repaired, we simply wear out
over time.
One such theory emphasizes on the role of "free radicals" - atoms which are unstable
due to loss of electrons - and once formed, react violently with cells, once this affects
DNA they can interfere with basic aspects of cell maintenance and repair - the damage
cumulates over time and produces aging. Evidence for such theories is provided by ppl
who drink/take drugs and show premature aging - probably because they have
overloaded their bodies' capacity for internal repairs.

B. Programmed theories
attribute aging primarily to genetic programming. According to them, every living
individual contains a biological clock that is built in and regulates the process of aging. It
suggests that it may involve, at least in part, telomeres which when shortened to a
critical point, hamper the repair processes.
Other theories stress the fact that our immune system seems to "wind down" over time
and that our endocrine system, and the neural areas that control it, decline with
increasing age.
Support for these theories is provided by various facts -
a. each species has a characteristic maximum life span suggesting that the maximum
life is probably built into the genetic codes.
b. Longevity appears to be an inherited trait, with how long you will live depending on
your parents and grandparents.
c. age related changes in our body are hard to explain without reference to genetic
factors.
d. Findings Suggest that a cell can only divide a certain number of times before dying,
and no environmental condition seems to be able to change that.

MEETING DEATH:FACING THE END OF LIFE

Elizabeth Kubler Ross' five distinct stages - Denial, anger, bargaining, depression,
acceptance.
However, these are not widely accepted due to its sample not being generalizable,
especially to older individuals for whom death is a less unexpected event.
READ THE INDIAN CONTEXTS THAT ARE THERE IN THE BOXES ALONGSIDE.

CHAPTER 3: SENSATION AND PERCEPTION: MAKING CONTACT WITH THE

WORLD AROUND US

Psychological research has shown that we do not understand the external world in a
simple, automatic way. Instead, we actively construct our interpretation of sensory
information through complex processes.
In making sense of the outside world, psychologists use two concepts -- sensation and
perception.
Sensation - focuses on describing the relationship between various forms of sensory
stimulation(pressure, electromagnetic waves etc.) and how these inputs are registered
with our sense organs.
Perception - concerned with the way we organize and interpret this information to
produce a conscious experience of objects and relationship between objects.
Perception is not a passive process of decoding incoming sensory output.

SENSATION: THE RAW MATERIALS OF UNDERSTANDING

An interesting paradox is that while our surroundings are bombarded with lots of
physical energy, our brain is able to respond to only intricate patterns of action potential
generated by the neurons. Thus, a critical question is how physical energy is converted
into nervous signals we can understand.
Highly specialized cells called sensory receptors, located in our sensory organs help
accomplish this task of sensation, and so this process is accomplished by
TRANSDUCTION - a process by which the physical energy of stimulus is converted into
neural signals via specialized sensory nerves.
A. Sensory thresholds: How much stimulation is enough?
Our bodies seem well prepared to deal with the abundance of information around us, so
much so that absence of sensory input - called sensory deprivation, causes one to
hallucinate.
As far as threshold is concerned, it turns out to be pretty low for all the senses,but while
our receptors are remarkably efficient, they do not register all the information available
around us. So, we are able to smell and taste certain chemicals but not others, hear
only in a certain frequency range, and see only in particular wavelengths.(The range of
physical stimuli we are able to detect is closely designed to maximize our survival
potential, like for example, as the survival of humans is tied to their unique capacity for
spoken language, our auditory system is best suited to detect frequencies that fall under
human speech.)
Our sensitivity to stimuli changes from moment to moment.For this reason,
psychologists have coined the term Absolute threshold as the smallest magnitude of
stimulus that can be reliably discriminated from no stimulus 50% of the time.
B. Sensory Thresholds: Some complications
The first complication is that sensory thresholds are not really fixed, but change in
response to variety of factors like fatigue, lapses in attention and moment-to-moment
fluctuations occurring within our nervous system, with additional research suggesting
that motivational factors(rewards/costs associated with detecting various stimuli) may
also play an important role.
SIGNAL DETECTION THEORY says that complex decision mechanisms are involved
when we want to determine whether we have or have not detected a specific stimulus.
e.g. the radiologist example.

C. Difference Threshold: Are two stimuli same or different?

DIFFERENCE THRESHOLD is defined as the amount of change in a stimulus required
for a person to detect the difference. In other words, it is the amount of change in a
physical stimulus necessary to produce a just noticeable difference(jnd) in sensation.
a. Our ability to detect differences in stimulus intensity depends on the strength of the
initial stimulus, if it is a weak stimulus, even slight changes can be detected but we need
much larger changes for us to detect changes in stronger stimuli.
b. We are also more sensitive to some kind to stimulus changes than we are to the rest
like temperature changes are sensitive, while loudness/smells is not.

D. Stimuli without perception: Subliminal perception

The question is that can we sense/get affected by stimuli that remain outside of our
conscious awareness?
The most direct answer is given by visual priming, where participants are "primed" with
brief exposures (less than one tenth of a second) to words or simple pictures long
enough to be detected by the nervous system, but not registered into conscious
awareness. While the participants were not able to name the visual primes, their
reactions to stimuli were changed.
Systematic research has shown that indeed, subliminally presented visual stimuli can
indeed have measurable differences in many aspects of our cognition and emotion,
including liking for ambiguous stimuli, attraction to members of opposite sex, and even
liking for words.
New research is beginning to reveal how subliminal stimuli are processed by the brain.
Study by Bar and Biederman(pg 85), which showed that while visual priming may be
sufficient for activating brain processes necessary for object identification, they may not
be sufficient to activate processes necessary to make more subtle distinctions about
objects.
Practical implications of Subliminal visual priming? while it appears huge, they are much
less dramatic because-
a. effects are generally small and are obtained only under controlled laboratory
conditions.
b. effects are short lived and mostly, target stimuli must be presented within a few
minutes following the prime for the effect to be obtained.

E. Sensory adaptation: 'It feels great once you get used to it'.
It refers to reduced sensitivity to changed stimuli over time.
It has various practical advantages, and without it, we will not be adapted to our clothes
rubbing our skin, or to bodily processes like blinking or swallowing.
However, it also has some harmful effects, eg olfactory adaptation may reduce the
knowledge of some risky chemicals or smells being detected.
In general however, it allows us to focus on the more important things and that small
stimulus changes are what is more important for survival.

VISION:
A. The eye: its basic structure
Light passes through the cornea, enters pupil,(is controlled by iris,the colored part of
eye, and the pupil helps in accommodation).
After entering through the pupil, light enters the lens(helps in focus, i.e. adjustment to
distances) which bends light rays so as for them to fall on the retina.
The retina is a postage stamp-sized structure, that has 2 types of light-sensitive
receptor cells: 5 mn cones, and 20 mn rods. The cones are in the centre, concentrated
at a point called fovea, function best in bright light and play an important role in color
vision and in our ability to notice fine detail. In contrast, rods are found only outside the
fovea, function at low levels of illumination, and help in dark vision.
The rods and cones pass the neural signal to bipolar neurons, which further pass it on
to ganglion cells. Axons from ganglion cells converge to form optic nerve, which goes to
the brain. There are no receptors present at the spot from where the nerve exits the
eye, and we have a blind spot in our visual field here.

B. Light: The physical stimulus for vision

Our visual range is rather limited, with the range between cosmic rays on the shorter
wavelength side to radio waves on the longer/slow end of the spectrum.
Certain physical attributes of the light are the cause of our psychological experience of
the same. eg
a. The wavelength of light(distance between the peaks and valleys of a light wave)
cause us to perceive HUE/COLOR. As the wavelength increases, we perceive
VIBGYOR.
b. The intensity of light, that is the amount of energy it contains is perceived as
brightness.
c. The amount by which light is mixed with other wavelengths is perceived as saturation
- the less mixed wavelengths, the more saturated a color is.

C. Basic functions of the visual system - Acuity, Dark adaptation, and Eye movements
1. Acuity refers to our ability to resolve fine details.
 ● Visual acuity is of two types -- static and dynamic. The former refers to the ability
to discriminate different objects when they are stationary, and the latter referring
to that ability when the test object is in motion.
● In general, the more the angular velocity of the object -- the rate at which the
object moves across our retina - the lesser is the visual acuity.
● It is to correct this visual acuity that lens are used. In nearsightedness, either the
eyeball is too long/the cornea stiffly curved, resulting in the formation of the
image a little in front of the retina. Ulta for farsightedness.
2. Dark adaptation refers to the increase in sensitivity that occurs when we move from a
bright light to a dim environment. (A dark adapted eye is about 100,000 times more
sensitive than a light adapted eye).
THis happens in two phases -- first within 5-10 mins, the cones reach their maximum
sensitivity. Then, after 10 mins, the rods begin to adapt, and this process takes nearly
30 mins.
3. Eye movements -- are of two basic types - version movements(where eyes move
together in the same direction), and vergence movements(where the lines of sight for
the two eyes converge or diverge)
There are 3 types of version movements - involuntary, saccadic, and pursuit
movements.
a. Involuntary -- happen without our conscious control, and help in ensuring that the
stimuli reaching our rods and cones are constantly changing. (If that were not to
happen, to sensory adaptation, we would experience temporary adaptation if we
focused on an object for more than a few seconds!)
b. Saccadic - fast, frequent jumps by the eye from one fixation point to the next. These
movements are apparent in reading or driving.
Both the size of the jumps, and the region seen during each fixation maximize the
information we glean while reading.
Saccadic movements of good readers move smoothly across the materials being read,
while that of poor readers tend to move backwards and forward.
Research suggests that the characteristics of word tend to guide the location and the
duration of each fixation, with the fixation shortest for short, predictable words that occur
frequently.
c. Pursuit movements - smooth movements used to track moving objects.

D. Color vision
There are two theories that explain color vision.
a. Trichromatic theory --
says that we have 3 types of cones in our retina - each of which is maximally sensitive
to (though not exclusively)- particular ranges of wavelengths, a range roughly
corresponding to blue, green and red.
Careful study has proven that that there are indeed 3 types of receptors - although with
a lot of overlap.
So, according to this theory, color vision results from differential stimulation of the cones
in the retina by the light of a particular wavelength, and the overall pattern of stimulation
produces the rich sense of color. The differential sensitivity may be due to genes
directing different cones to produce pigments sensitive to red, green and blue.
This theory fails to account for negative afterimages - sensation of complementary color
occurring after staring at a particular color.

b. Opponent process theory -

This addresses the aspects of afterimages more effectively by describing what happens
after the light is processed in the cones, and transmitted to bipolar and ganglion cells, to
the visual cortex (located in the back of the brain and processes visual information).
It suggests that there are specialized cells we possess that play a role in the sensation
of color. Two of these cells handle red and green - in an opponent process manner -
one is stimulated by red light, and inhibited by green light, and the other is stimulated by
green light and inhibited by red light.
Two additional cells handle yellow and blue, and two others black and white.
It explains negative afterimages by putting forth that when stimulation of one cell in a
pair is terminated, the other is automatically activated. So, each opponent pair is
stimulated in different patterns by three types of cones, and it is the overall pattern of
such stimulation that yields our complex and eloquent sense of color.
* Both these theories are necessary for us to have an understanding about color vision -
while the first theory tells us how color coding happens in the cones of retina, the other
theory tells us how processing occurs in the higher order nerve cells.

E. Vision and the Brain: Processing visual information.

The understanding of initial stages of teh processing of visual information was done in
the studies of Hubel and Wiesel - who conducted studies on Feature Detectors --
neurons at various levels in the visual cortex. Their work revealed three types of feature
detectors --
a. Simple cells - respond to bars and lines present in certain vertical or horizontal or
other orientations.
b. Complex cells - respond maximally to moving stimuli eg a tilted bar moving from rt to
lt, or a vertical bar moving from lt to rt.
c. Hypercomplex cells - respond to even more complex features of the visual world,
including length, width height and other aspects of shapes such as corners and angles.
These findings led scientists to believe that brain processes information hierarchically,
consistent with which PET scans have shown that there are specialized areas in the
brain to process only certain types of visual information.
However, other studies have also shown that destruction of an area does not lead to
loss of perception of that information.
Additional clues suggesting that brain processes various aspects of visual information
separately is by studying certain disorders like Blindsight in which damage to primary
visual cortex takes place. These patients respond to certain aspects of visual
stimulation like color or movement, and yet paradoxically, are completely blind, and
deny having "seen" anything.
Another disorder called Prosopagnosia - people lose the ability to recognize well known
persons by their faces, but continue to have a normal vision.
THese disorders seem to confirm that a division of labor takes place in the visual
system, and therefore while some abilities are lost, some may still be kept intact.
These findings, combined, indicate -
a. that the visual system is selective - certain types of visual stimuli have a greater
chance at reaching the brain and undergoing further processing.
b. Because nature is rarely wasteful, the presence of specialized cells to detect certain
features of the external world suggest that these features may be the building blocks for
many complex visual abilities eg identifying subtly varied faces.
c. the study of certain disorders shows how "seeing" the world is a complex process 0
one that requires integration at various levels of the visual system.

HEARING
A. The ear: Its basic structure
From pinna to the eardrum to the middle ear bones, of which the third bone is attached
to a second membrane called the oval window, covering a spiral, fluid filled structure,
cochlea. The vibration of the fluid bends tiny hair cells which are the true sensory
receptors of sound, creating neural messages which are transmitted to brain via
auditory nerve.

B. Sound: the physical stimulus for hearing

The relationships between physical properties of sound and psychological perception of
them.
Greater the amplitude(magnitude) of the waves - greater the loudness; greater the
frequency - greater the pitch.(human ear most sensitive to frequencies between
1000-5000 Hz)
A third psychological aspect of sound is its Timbre - the quality of sound - depends on
the mixture of frequencies and amplitudes in a sound. In general, the timbre of sound is
related to its complexity -- how many different frequencies it contains. Other factors may
also be involved, but the relationship is not that simple.

C. Pitch Perception
The question is how do we make fine distinctions between various pitches? Two
theories exist -
a. Place theory also called as the Traveling wave theory
says that different sound frequencies cause different places in the basilar
membrane(floor of cochlea) to vibrate, these vibrations in turn stimulate hair cells.
Actual observations have shown that different frequencies produce peaking of waves or
maximal displacement at various distances along basilar membrane with high frequency
sounds causing displacement at the narrow end of basilar membrane near the oval
window, and low frequency on the opposite side.
Does not explain our ability to discriminate among very low frequency sounds - sounds
of only a few 100 cycles/second - because for them, the displacement site is almost
identical. For the same reason, it cannot provide for a reason for us being able to
discriminate among sounds for which frequencies vary only by 1 or 2 Hz.
b. Frequency theory -
Suggests that sounds of different pitch cause different rates of neural firing, so a high
pitch sound will cause a higher rate of auditory nerve firing, and vice versa.
This theory works fine till frequencies of about1000 Hz, which is the maximum rate of
firing for individual neurons. After that, the Volley principle must be included - rests on
the assumption that sound receptors for other neurons begin to fire in volleys. ( so for a
5000 Hz sound, a pattern of activity will be generated where each five groups of
neurons fire 1000 times in rapid succession -- that is in volleys.
* Because our daily activity expose us to sounds of varying frequencies, it takes both
theories to help understand pitch perception - the first theory explains high frequency
perception, and teh second low frequency. Between 500 - 4000 Hz, both of them apply.
C. Sound Localization
Research suggest that several factors play a role in our ability to localize a sound.
a. firstly, we have two ears placed on opposite side of our head ~~ creation of a "sound
shadow" - a barrier that reduces the intensity of sound on the "shadowed" side. So a
sound to our behind and left will be louder on the left than right side.
The shadow effect is highest for high frequency sounds, which have difficulty bending
around teh head, and thus, produce a difference in intensity to the tune of 30 dB or
more in the ear farthest away.
b. The placement of our ears also affects the time it takes for the sound to reach each
ear. Although this difference is truly minute - often less than a millisecond, it does
produce a clue to sound localization.
c. When, however, the sound comes from the front rather than the back of us, we have
difficulty localizing because the sound reaches our ears at the same time. In these
situations, head movements may help - by turning our head a little, we create a slight
difference in the time taken for teh sound to reach both ears - helping in localization.

TOUCH AND OTHER SKIN SENSES

The skin is teh largest sensory organ and produces teh most varied experiences -
touch, warmth, cold, pain.
As there are specific sensory receptors for vision and hearing, it might be logical to
assume that each skin sensation might also have a different receptor - but the results of
tests conducted to test this prediction have been disappointing -- while there are several
different types of skin receptors, they were not found at the spots highly sensitive to
their corresponding sensation. Thus, the skin's sensory experience is probably
determined by the total pattern of nerve impulses reaching the brain.

A. Pain: Its nature and control

Determining its mechanism has been difficult for the reason that it has no specific
stimulus - unlike other sensations. However, sensations of pain do seem to originate in
free nerve endings located throughout the body - in skin, around muscles and internal
organs.
Two types of pain seems to be transmitted through two different nerve bundles -- sharp
and quick through large myelinated sensory nerve fibres, and dull and throbbing through
unmyelinated nerve fibres(as they carry impulses slowly). Both fibres synapse with
neurons in the spinal cord that carry pain messages to the thalamus, and other parts of
brain.

B. Pain perception -- the role of physiological mechanisms.

The above discovery of pain systems led to the development of Gate Control
Theory(Melzack, 1976).
This suggests that there are neural mechanisms that close the "gate" of spinal cord,
thus preventing pain messages from reaching the brain. These fibres are those of large
nerve fibres, the ones that transmit short and quick pain, and not by the smaller fibres-
the ones transmitting dull and throbbing pain. (This may explain why sharp pain is
relatively brief compared to the dull pain). It might also explain why vigorous stimulation
of an area, might relieve the pain in another area, as also rubbing the area around an
injury, applying hot water bottles or cold packs, or acupuncture.
This theory has also been revised to account for the various brain mechanisms that
might alter the perception of pain, eg our current emotional state may interact our pain
stimulus and alter the experience of our pain.
Various tribal and cultural ceremonies where people pierce their skins have led to the
intriguing question about the nature of pain. So, although pain is perceived as automatic
and universal, large cultural differences in its perception exist. What, then are the basis
for these differences?
On first glance, it is tempting to conclude that cultural differences in pain threshold -
physical differences - are responsible for these, but no experimental evidence supports
this view. Instead, these differences seem to be perceptual in nature, and reflect the
powerful effects of social learning. This social learning is different in some cultures
where honor and social standing are related strongly to stoicism and ability to tolerate
pain.
C. Pain perception : The role of cognitive processes
Evidence indicates that pain exerts its unpleasant effects through interrupting our
ongoing thought process,and redirecting attention to pain.
The extent to which we experience pain is a dynamic interplay between two
characteristics - the character of the pain(intensity, novelty, predictability) and the
context in which the pain emerges. Thus, cognition appears to play an important
mediator role, determining the extent to which we focus on our pain relative to these
factors,and the amount of threat they pose to us.
This cognitive activity may help explain why procedures that redirect our attention can
reduce our pain. eg Hypnosis, has been shown to reduce the effects of pain, apparently
by activating the supervisory attention-control system in the brain that shifts the focus
away from the pain.
A group of therapies, collectively called cognitive-behavioral procedures have also
shown to counteract the effects of pain. These are based on the fact that our thoughts,
emotions and beliefs can actually help to influence our perceptions of pain.
Research suggests that moods and beliefs can affect the way pain is perceived. (The
movies experiment - and the placebo experiment for mood and belief respectively). pg
102.

SMELL AND TASTE - THE CHEMICAL SENSES

They both respond to substances in solution - chemicals dissolved in either fluid or air;
and they both are interrelated in everyday life.
A. Smell and Taste - how they operate
SMELL:
stimulus for smell sensation consists of molecules of various substances(odorants)
contained in the air, these molecules dissolve in the nasal lining and reach the receptor
cells in the olfactory epithelium.
Human beings possess 50 million of these receptors, compared to 200 mn in the dogs.
But still the human smell perception is impressive enough.Our olfactory senses,
however, are restricted in terms of the range of stimuli it can detect -- this being related
to the molecular weight of substances - human olfactory receptors can detect only
substances with a combined atomic weight between 15-300.
Theories about how smell messages are intercepted by the brain -
a. Stereochemical theory which says that the different smell perception of various foods
is due to difference in molecular shapes. The support for this theory has been mixed
because identical shape substances tends to have different odors, and vice versa.
b. Some theories have focused on isolating "primary odors" , much like the basic hues
in color vision, but these attempts have been unsuccessful because the human
perception of even the most basic of all human smells also disagree.
c. An additional intriguing possibility is that brain's ability to recognize odors may be
based on the overall pattern of activity provided by olfactory receptors. This view says
that these receptors are stimulated to varying degrees by a particular odorant, and
these different patterns of stimulation may then result in different patterns of output. The
actual way this happens is yet unknown.

With regards to taste, Within each papilla is a cluster of taste buds, and each taste bud
has several receptor cells. Humans have nearly 10,000 taste buds.
The reason why while we can detect lots of flavors, but know only of 4 taste sensations
is that we are aware not only of the taste, but its smell, texture, temperature, the
pressure it exerts on tongue and mouth, and many other sensations, which if removed,
will actually leave only these 4 basic tastes.

While our ability to identify various odors is limited, our memory for them is quite vast,
extending up to many years. This might be due to them being associated with a more
complex and significant life event.(Richardson & Zucco).
Knowledge of the chemical senses can have various practical implications, eg
commercial success of aromatherapy, which claim that they can successfully treat
various psychological and physical ailments with their specific fragrances. A growing
body of evidence suggests that fragrance can actually affect human behavior in
measurable ways, but whether specific fragrances produce contrasting effects is still
uncertain, with some findings supporting the claim, and others not. Cite a research by
Diego, and the contrasting research by Baron.(pg 105)

KINESTHESIA AND VESTIBULAR SENSE

Kinesthesia is the sense that gives us information about the location of our body parts
with respect to one another, and allows us to perform movements - both simple and
complex.
This movement comes from receptors in joints, ligaments and muscle fibres. These
receptors register the rate of change of movement speed as well as rate of change of
angle of the bones in our limbs, then transform this mechanical movement into neural
signals for the brain. (Important kinesthetic information is also received from the visual
and touch sensations, as 'touching nose with eyes closed' shows).
The vestibular sense gives us information about body position, movement and
acceleration - factors critical for maintaining our sense of balance. The sensory organs
for this sense are located in the inner ear - two fluid filled vestibular sacs providing
information about body's position in relation to the earth by tracking changes in linear
movement. When movement occurs - hair cells bend accordingly and this differential
bending causes neural discharge sending signals to brain.
Semicircular canals provide information about rotational acceleration of head or body
along three principal axes; because these three canals are perpendicular to each other,
bending is greatest along the axes in which movement is occurring.
Also, this vestibular system is designed to detect changes in motion rather than
constant motion(and thus, take off is perceived, but not the constant velocity that
follows).
We also receive vestibular information from our other senses, especially vision - and
this fact can actually be problematic if these two signals do not match. eg a ride where
visual signal does not match the movement felt can result in motion sickness.

PERCEPTION: PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

It is the process by which we select. organize and interpret our sensory input.
A. Perception: The focus of our attention
The certain thing is that we cannot attend to all the available sensory information from
our environment. We selectively attend to certain stimuli relegating the others to the
background.
This sensory selection has various advantages, and helps to focus on the point of
attention, and reduce sensory interference from other stimuli. This same thing however,
can be counter-productive hindering the notice of even salient stimuli for people who
focus intently on their tasks.
However, there are many situations in the daily life when we are confronted with
conflicting inputs, and must handle them together. The phenomenon, where in a
crowded party, one is able to listen to their own name or a juicy bit of conversation, is
known as COCKTAIL PARTY PHENOMENON, and is one way in which we might deal
with the demands of divided attention.

B. Perception: Some organizing principles

Aspects of perceptual organization were first studied by Gestalt psychologists in 1900s -
they were intrigued by the tendencies of the human mind to impose order and structure
on the physical world and perceive the sensory patterns as well-organized wholes than
separate, isolated parts. They outlined several principles that influence the way in which
we organize sensory input into whole patterns(gestalts).
a. Figure and ground: what stands out?
This means that we tend to divide our worlds in two parts - the figure, which has a
specific shape and location, and the ground, which does not have a shape, tends to run
behind the figure and does not have a definite location.
eg the young woman - old woman photo, where although the sensory pattern generated
is the same, the perception continually shifts between the two figure-ground patterns.
This same relationship extends also to other senses eg audition; (the eg of whispering
in class)

b. Grouping: which stimuli go together?

The law of grouping are the simple principles describing how we tend to group discrete
stimuli together in the perceptual world.
Law of proximity, law of simplicity, law of good continuation - pg 112.
These however, are not hard and fast rules, and merely describe a way in which we
perceive our world. Whether they are innate, as the Gestaltists believe, or learned, is
still open to debate.

Perceptual organization is visible in the natural world, and helps us to organize our
perceptual world.

C. Constancies and Illusions - When perception succeeds - and fails.

a. Perceptual constancies - stability in the face of change.
Constancies are our tendencies to perceive physical objects as unchanging despite
them inducing a change in the pattern of their sensations.
The principle of size constancy is one example - with two factors contributing towards it.
The principle of SIZE-DISTANCE INVARIANCE suggests that while estimating the size
of an object, we take into account both the size of the image that is cast on our retina,
but also the apparent distance of the object, from this data we instantly calculate the
size of the object. Only when the cues that normally reveal an object's distance are
absent do we run into some difficulties,(as are shown by illusions).
Also, the RELATIVE SIZE of an object is compared to objects of known size. THis is
especially used for unfamiliar things.
In a similar way, shape constancy (flipping a coin), and brightness constancy( same
color of cloth in indoor and outdoor light; this happening probably because the objects
and their surroundings are lighted by the same illumination source thus sending the
same neural signals to tne brain; if this is changed, brightness constancy will be
changed(Sekular& Blake)) is present.
Also worth remembering is how while research on constancies has focused on the
visual sense, it also extends to other senses like audition.(listening to remix of an old
song)

Constancies play an important role in our everyday life because without them, we would
spend a lot of time re-identifying sensory information in our environment each time we
perceive them in a different perspective.

b. Illusions - when perception fails

These are instances when perceptions yields false interpretations of physical reality.
There are two types of illusions -- those due to physical processes(mirage), and those
due to cognitive processes, which can further be illusions of size, or illusions of shape or
area.
The explanation for illusions is provided by various theories, one of which is the
THEORY OF MISAPPLIED CONSTANCY, which says that we use certain cues to
estimate the size of certain objects thus bringing into play size constancy and
perceptually distorting the length of various lines.
The other theory blames it on LEARNING, eg Muller Lyer illusion (pg 115). Learning
also seems to affect the extent to which our perception is affected by illusions: Many
visual illusions decline in magnitude following extended exposure - although they do not
disappear altogether.

Illusions of shape/area also exist - the most common area illusion being the moon
illusion, which again happens due to the first theory.(pg 115). Poggendorf illusion is an
eg of shape illusion.(pg 115)

Like other things, illusions are also not limited to visual senses alone, and extend to
other senses like touch and temperature. (the hot-cold touch temperature activity).

D. Some key perceptual processes - pattern and distance.

Perception is a practical process, and it provides organisms with information essential
for survival in their normal habitat. Virtually all organisms need information concerning -
what is out there, and - how far away it is.
a. Pattern recognition - what is out there?
This follows two theories - bottom up approach and top down approach.
The first theory suggests that our ability to recognize specific patterns efg letters of an
alphabet is based on simpler capacities to recognize and combine lower level features
of objects correctly, such as lines, edges, corners and angles. So it suggests that
pattern recognition is a product of simple perceptual abilities through a series of discrete
steps.
The second theory suggests that our expectancies play a critical role in shaping our
perceptions. We proceed in accordance with our past experience, and thus, do not
analyze every feature of a stimulus every time we encounter it. This tendency, while it
can be extremely efficient can also lead us astray.(rushing to some stranger looking like
an old friend)

Evidence suggests that both these theories are involved in pattern recognition.
Marsolek suggests that the arrangement by which the two hemispheres of brain perform
some functions more efficiently than the others, allow separate systems within each
hemisphere to accommodate feature based processing (characteristic of bottom up),
and exemplar based processing(characteristic of top down).
The ability of brain to recognize similarity at one level, and differences at another is
provided by the working of independent systems known as DISSOCIABLE
SUBSYSTEMS operating in each hemisphere simultaneously.
An abstract category subsystem, located primarily on the left side of the brain, analyzes
objects in terms of their features and a specific-exemplar subsystem on the right side
analyzes objects holistically. THis helps us to distinguish between two separate
exemplars within a single abstract category explaining how we recognize the specific
ways in which two objects are different.

b. Distance perception : how far is it?

many different cues are used to form such judgments - monocular and binocular cues.
Monocular cues for depth and distance include -
a. Size cues - larger the image of an object on retina, larger it is perceived to be; also, if
an object is larger than others it is perceived to be closer.
b. Linear perspective : Parallel lines appear to converge in the distance; the greater this
effect, the farther away an object appears to be.
c. Texture gradient: texture of an object appears smoother as distance increases.
d. Atmospheric perspective : The farther away objects are, less distinctly they are seen -
smoke, dust, haze get in the way.
e. Overlap/Interposition - THe object that is overlapped appears farther.
f. Height cues - Below horizon, objects lower down in our field of vision are perceived to
be closer; above the horizon, objects higher up are seen as closer.
g. Motion parallax - SLOB effect; objects at different distances appear to move at
different velocities.

Binocular cues -
a. Convergence - in order to see close objects, our eyes converge; the greater this
effect, the closer the object is perceived to be.
b. Retinal disparity - (binocular parallax) - our eyes view an object from different
positions in space, and the difference between these two images also provides a cue to
depth.

TIME PERCEPTION
You will have to read this to understand. Some important pointers:
says that the ritual of time varies from a physicist's view and by the ritual of clock time,
the latter has been provided by us as a part of our consciousness classifying events into
past, future and present. But for a physicist, everything that happened or will happen at
any point of time is at the same level of existence.
We know from everyday life that our internal clocks can be reset in response to body
heat, differences in the type to stimuli to which we are responding, and by high
adrenaline situations.
In everyday reference, long time ago and terms like that refer to an unspecified period
of time, but in a laboratory, time perception means the judgment of duration, that is, how
much time has elapsed.
The problem with time perception is that there are no cues which will provide an
invariant basis for judgment, and no specific organ for time perception. The whole
process is intrinsic and intuitive. The difference is clear: for other senses, the response
is given when stimuli are physically present but response to duration of events can only
be had only after the events have run their full course.
Humans are accurate measurers of time at relatively short intervals(milliseconds), with
both the mean perceived time and the standard varying linearly with elapsed time. THis
property, of linear relationship between duration and SD of duration judgments indicates
that time perception obeys Weber's law - such that the absolute time sensitivity of time
judgments is independent of the length of actual duration. Factors that affect the
duration judgments include -
order in which stimuli are perceived(time-order errors).
whether interval is filled or empty (filled intervals are perceived as longer than empty
ones)
length of time between event and duration judgment (durations are remembered as
having been longer if there is a delay in recall)

Factors affecting time perception -

1. Stimulus factors -- length of stimulus, filled/unfilled, nature of duration, type and
intensity of filler activity, intensity of onset and offset of stimuli marking the interval time -
affect time perception.
Results-
very small limits are underestimated.
shorter intervals are accurately estimated.
long intervals are overestimated.
Filled duration is underestimated, and unfilled overestimated. Moreover, filler activity
also plays a role (expt, pg 119)
Time duration filled with loud continuous tone is underestimated as the subject tends to
underestimate in comparison to a an interval filled with a longer tone.
If onset is louder than the offset, then time is overestimated; on the other hand if the
offset is lesser in intensity compared to the onset, it results in underestimation of time.
2. Organismic factors - concentration ofn of time, mental activity, personality, motivation,
stress also play a role.
For an inactive person, time passes slowly, and v/v
If a person is happy, he underestimated time, and v/v
introverts overestimated time and v/v
high achievement motivation underestimated time, and v/v
3. Drugs
those that increase dopamine - like cocaine and methamphetamine - speed up the
internal clock and so do moments of stress (when neurotransmitters flood the brain)
leading to o of time
Substances that decrease dopamine - eg marijuana - lead to u.
Dopamine also falls with age, which leads to the felling in old people that time is passing
quickly.

CULTURE AND PERCEPTION

● It has been proven that individuals raised in different cultures can actually
perceive the world differently.
● eg Marshall Segall studied this and concluded that ppl living in rural areas
can sense slanted/crooked lines more easily than urban people - so they
showed susceptibility to horizontal-vertical illusion than westerners who
showed higher susceptibility to Muller Lyer.
● It has also been seen that rural Africans who live in villages live in
between dense forests, and hence, develop a tendency to overestimate
vertical lines, whereas Westerners who live in closed spaces develop a
tendency to underestimate length of enclosed lines.
● Nisbett and Miyamoto(2005) have made a case for "cultural perception" -
their conclusion is that American visual perception is more analytical,
while that of Asians is more holistic, the former view an object in isolation,
and the latter in context.
● This is where the concept of low context and high context comes. Cultures
in which less has to be said or written because more of the meaning is in
the physical environment or already shared by the people are labeled high
context (Asian cultures). Cultures in which little of the meaning is
determined by the context because the message is encoded in the explicit
code are termed as Low context(European and American cultures).
Chapter 5: Learning- How are we changed by experience

Learning is defined as any relatively permanent change in behavior, or behavior

potential, produced by experience.
This implies that-
a. Learning is not temporary changes in behavior from fatigue, illness or drugs.
b. Learning does not refer to changes resulting from growth and maturation.
c. Learning includes both vicarious and direct experiences- meaning one can be
affected either by observing events and behavior, or participating in them (Bandura,
1986).
d. The changes produced by learning are not always positive in nature.

A. CLASSICAL CONDITIONING - LEARNING SOME STIMULI SIGNAL OTHERS

It is defined as a basic form of learning in which one stimulus comes to serve as the
signal for the other stimulus. In this form of learning, organisms acquire information
about relations between different stimuli, not simple associations between them.
Here, a stimulus, that previously did not elicit a response acquires that capability as a
result of repeated pairing with a stimulus that can elicit a reaction.
Learning of this type is quite common and seems to play a role in in such varied
reactions such as strong fears, taste aversions, some aspects of sexual behavior, and
even racial or ethnic prejudice.
Various terms of Pavlov's experiment -
a. Unconditioned stimulus(UCS) - In classical conditioning, a stimulus that can evoke an
unconditioned response the first time it is presented.
b. Unconditioned Response(UCR) - In classical conditioning, the response evoked by
an unconditioned stimulus.
c. CS -In classical conditioning, the stimulus that is repeatedly paired with UCS.
d. CR -In classical conditioning, the response to the conditioned stimulus.
Classical conditioning - some basic principles
1. ACQUISITION : THE CAUSE OF CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
● Acquisition is the process by which a conditioned stimulus acquires the
capacity to elicit a conditioned response by repeated pairing with an
unconditioned stimulus.
● This process proceeds rapidly at first - increasing as the number of
pairings between UCS and CS increase, however, there is a limit to this
effect, and after a number of pairings, it slows down and finally wears off.
● Although it was initially believed that the number of pairings played the
primary part in conditioning, it is now known that other factors may also
play a part, one such factor being Temporal arrangement of the CS-UCS
pairings - the extent to which a conditioned stimulus precedes or follows
the unconditioned stimulus.
● There are 4 types of temporal arrangements this pairing can follow - Delay
conditioning, trace conditioning, simultaneous con , and backward
conditioning. The first two temporal arrangements are examples of forward
conditioning because the conditioned stimulus always precedes the
unconditioned one. (They differ however, in the fact that while CS and
UCS overlap to some degree in delay, there is no overlap in trace
conditioning). In simultaneous con, both CS and UCS begin and end at
the same time, and in backward, CS follows UCS.
● Research suggests that delay conditioning is the most effective method for
establishing a conditioned response, as the CS helps in predicting the
forthcoming presentation of UCS.
● Many additional factors apart from temporal also may affect conditioning.
a. Conditioning is faster when the intensity of CS or UCS increases, or in other words,
when CS stand out in relation to other background stimuli.
b. also depends on the time interval between the two stimuli - a time of 0.2 -2 seconds
is considered optimum, as less than that rarely produces conditioning, and more than
that doesn't allow animals to recognize that CS is a stimulus for some future event.
c. Familiarity also plays a role - in contrast to the laboratory where mostly the uio used
are novel, most of the potential conditioning stimuli in the environment are familiar to us,
(eg background noise) and tell us they don't predict anything unusual, thus making them
irrelevant to us.

2. EXTINCTION: HOW DO WE GET RID OF IT AFTER ACQUISITION?

● Eventual decline and disappearance of the conditioned response in the
absence of the unconditioned stimulus is known as extinction.
● The course of extinction, however, is not smooth. If after extinction, if the
CS and UCS are again paired, the conditioned response returns very
quickly - a process known as Reconditioning. The re-appearance of a
weakened conditioned response to a conditioned stimulus after a time
interval is known as Spontaneous recovery. If extinction is then allowed to
continue, the conditioned response disappears in time.

3. GENERALIZATION AND DISCRIMINATION : RESPONDING TO SIMILARITIES AND

DIFFERENCES
Stimulus generalization refers to the tendency of stimuli similar to conditioned stimuli to
evoke similar conditioned responses.
Stimuli discrimination is the process by which organisms learn to respond to certain
stimuli but not to others.

Stimulus generalization serves a lot of useful functions - eg for dangerous species to

ward off predators, stopping at red lights no matter what shape the lights are in.
However, while it is an important adaptive function, it is also dangerous and may lead
people astray sometimes. eg sexual abuse.
4. CLASSICAL CONDITIONING - THE NEURAL BASIS OF LEARNING
Systematic research with animals has led to the nearly complete identification of the
neural circuitry that underlies eye-blink classical conditioning, with evidence indicating
that the site responsible for acquisition and performance of this conditioning is the
Cerebellum.
When cerebellum is surgically destroyed in animals, previously learned associations
can be severely disrupted, and new association ability eliminated altogether.
Additional areas have also been identified - Hippocampus, amygdala, and brainstem
areas which either project to or receive information from cerebellum.
In humans too, similar results have been identified - Damage to cerebellum/related
structures resulted in difficult conditioning of eye-blink response to a light/tone, although
UCS (puff of air) resulted in UCR(eye blink), indicating that motor stimulation, and ability
to respond to external stimulation remains intact. (Daum and Schugens, 1996)
Because this circuitry is well known, psychologists have used it to study certain basic
processes, even the biological correlates of mental disorders, which can be used in
effect, to form better treatments. eg symptoms of OCD has been known to arise from
due to learned associations that are maladaptive and resistant to extinction.

5. CLASSICAL CONDITIONING : SOME EXCEPTIONS TO THE RULES.

● The most convincing of these studies is by Garcia and his colleagues - the
study of saccharin flavored water, rats, light, noise, X rays and painful
shock (these are keywords, study on pg 154) - this study proved that
animals associate nausea or dizziness with something they have
consumed, and pain with something they have seen/heard. Similar studies
later in 1985 by Braverman and Bronstein proved that acquisition of a
conditioned response does not occur at equal ease for all stimuli.
● Another contradiction that emerged from Garcia's study was that taste
aversion does not necessarily follow the rule of classical conditioning
 happening only if unconditioned response is presented after a very short
interval of CS.
● Further research has also shown the Biological constraints of learning -
meaning that some conditioning readily acquired by one species is slowly
acquired by others, and those that are readily acquired are those that
have adaptive potential. eg because rats feed in the dark, it is useful for
them to associate a later illness with something they ate, but in birds,
visual cue is most useful for associating illness because they use vision
for finding food.

6. CONDITIONED TASTE AVERSION : BREAKING ALL THE RULES?

● They are important because they inhibit the repeated ingestion of toxic
and dangerous substances in animals' natural environments.
● Surveys have shown that food and beverage aversions are very common
amongst humans, are very strong and can last despite our thoughts about
the actual illness. eg studies show that even if we know that a particular
food is not the cause of our illness, we continue to have a taste aversion
for it.
● The way in which these associations differ from classical conditioning in
many ways -
a. taste aversions have been known to occur with a single pairing between UCS and CS
- one-trial learning compared with multiple pairing requirement of classical conditioning.
b. Taste aversions have been reported with conditioned stimulus being presented hours
before UCS.
c. Taste aversions are extremely resistant to extinction - with some lasting for a lifetime.

● These conditioned taste aversions create problems many times eg for

radiotherapy/chemotherapy patients who develop aversion to foods had before
their treatment - for this various measures are recommended for them -- having
 the longest possible gap between food and therapy, eating familiar foods( which
have been previously associated with pleasurable experiences, making the
conditioning difficult), and eating bland foods with avoiding strong flavors.
● This knowledge has also been practically helped farmers keep wild animals out
of their farms, though certain caveats show that results may differ from location to
location and also weak lithium chloride taste aversions and nausea may decay
over time. (mutton laced with this is kept in fields to condition the predators
against coming in the fields).

7. CLASSICAL CONDITIONING: A COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE

● The idea that cognitive processes involving expectation play a part in

classical conditioning has been supported by evidence - firstly, because
the association between UCS and CS are not formed if the pairing is
random, it does not allow room for the expectation that the UCS will
definitely follow the CS. Thus the pairing has to be consistent for the
association to be formed.
● Secondly, this idea is also supported by a phenomenon known as blocking
- that conditioning to one stimulus may be blocked by previous
associations. Because one association is already expected, the other
stimulus fails to get associated with the same UCS because it provides no
new information to the organism and is of very low predictive value.
● Thirdly, the concept of mental imagery also supports the hypothesis - the
main concept tested by the Holzman and Levis experiment was to test
whether mental images can be a substitute for their physical counterparts
in the process of conditioning. Several studies have converged to an
answer of yes.(pg 156)
 ● In conclusion, in what seems to be an automatic function at first, is
actually shaped actually by memory and active comparison processes,
and is much more than simple associations between two stimuli.

8. CLASSICAL CONDITIONING : TURNING PRINCIPLES INTO ACTION

● One of the first applications was in the area of phobias.

● Research has shown that it can also be useful in altering the immune
system - the study of Alvarez Borda(1995).

B. OPERANT CONDITIONING - LEARNING BASED ON CONSEQUENCES.

A process through which organisms learn to repeat behaviors that yield positive
outcomes and permit them to avoid or escape negative outcomes.
Psychologists generally agree that the probabilities of these behaviors happening are
dependent on on 4 basic procedures - two of which strengthen behavior
(reinforcements), and two suppress behavior (punishments).
A. Reinforcements - the application or removal of a stimulus to increase the strength of
a specific behavior.
● 2 types - positive and negative - positive involves the use of positive reinforcers -
stimulus events that reinforce or strengthen the responses preceding them.
● Some positive reinforcers act like one because they are related to biological
needs eg food when we are hungry or water when we are thirsty, and sexual
pleasure. In association, other events acquire that role by getting related to a
primary reinforcer (eg Finish homework before ice cream, eat vegetables before
dessert etc).
A good point to keep in mind is that a positive reinforcer that acts like one in a context
may not act like that in another - eg food can act as one when the child is hungry, not
after he has had a meal.
Also individual variations exist and one reinforcer that works for one may not work for
another person.
● Negative reinforcer - involves stimuli that strengthen responses allowing
organisms to escape or avoid their presence, or threatened application of them.
● Similar to positive some primary reinforcers are intense heat, extreme cold, or
electric shock and others come to have that effect through associations. eg -
waking up to avoid the sound of alarm clock etc.

B. Punishment
Refers to procedures that weaken or decrease the rate of behavior.
● Positive punishment refers to instances when behaviors are followed by aversive
stimulus events known as Punishers. We learn to not perform these actions
because aversive consequences can follow.
● D/D between negative reinforcement and punishment - the former is the stimulus
needed to avoid an aversive event, and the latter is when behavior is reduced
because it has resulted in an aversive event in the past.
● In negative punishment - the rate of a behavior is weakened/decreased because
t is related to a potential loss of reinforcements. It is commonly referred to as
"timeout" - a procedure experienced by growing up youngsters.

1. OPERANT CONDITIONING - SOME BASIC PRINCIPLES

Operant conditioning differs from classical conditioning in that -
In the latter, certain stimulus events predict the occurrence of others that triggers a
response, and the response is generally involuntary.
In the former, however, organisms learn associations between particular behaviors and
their consequences. The responses are voluntary and are emitted by organisms in a
given environment.

A. Staging and Chaining - getting behavior started and then putting it all together.
 ● In essence shaping is based on the principle that a little can go a long way
eventually.
● The organism undergoing shaping gets a reward for every small step
which is a step towards of the final goal. Initially rewards are given for
actions even remotely resembling final behavior - termed successive
approximations. Then closer and closer approximations of the final
behavior are required before the reward is given.
● Shaping, thus helps organisms to construct increasingly new and complex
behavior from simpler one.
● For even more complex behavior, another method called Chaining is used.
Here trainers establish a series of responses, the last of which leads to a
reward.
● Generally, trainers begin chaining by shaping the final response. Once the
final response is established, the initial responses are shaped. After that,
they are reinforced by giving the organism an opportunity to perform
responses later in the chain, the last one leading to the reinforcer.
● These two techniques have important implications for human behavior -
and is helped by trainers in teaching a new techniques to their students.
Infact they can have dramatic effects in many fields, including training the
animals various acrobatics and tricks.
● However, just like classical conditioning, there are biological constraints to
learning based on consequences, or shaping. This is demonstrated in the
experiments of Keller and Marian, a tendency they term instinctive drift - a
return to the type of behavior one would demonstrate in normal conditions.
Natural tendencies are as important as positive and negative reinforcers.
B. Schedules of reinforcement - different rules for delivery of payoffs.
Research by Skinner and other psychologists has revealed these can affect behavior.
The most important ones are -
a. Continuous reinforcement schedule -
every occurrence of behavior is reinforced.
It is useful for strengthening or establishing new behaviors.
b. Partial/Intermittent reinforcement schedule
more powerful in maintaining behavior.
these are further of various types -
1. The fixed interval schedule : occurrence of reinforcement depends on the
passage of time, with the first response after a specific period of time eliciting the
reward. Here, people show a pattern where the response is weakest just after the
reward is received, and then gradually increases until the time of the next reward.
eg student studying.
2. Variable - interval schedule : here the period that must elapse before reward is
given varies. Because people do not know when the reward will come, they tend
to work consistently, in contrast to the pauses observed in 1. eg random drug
testing of people in safety sensitive jobs like pilots, operators at nuclear reactor
sites, or in sports.
3. fixed ratio schedule : reinforcement happens after a fixed number of
responses, eg workers paid on a piecework basis where a fixed amount is paid
for each item produced. Generally these result in a high response, though with a
brief pause after each reinforcement, as individuals take a breather.
4. Variable ratio schedule : reinforcement occurs after a variable number of
responses. This behavior results in high and steady rate of response, as
individuals do not know how many responses are needed for reinforcement. eg
gambling casinos.
This is also highly resistant to extinction- persisting even when reinforcement is
no longer available.
In fact, the resistance to extinction is much higher in this compared to continuous
reinforcement, for the reason that in variable ratio, reinforcements are intermittent
and infrequent, and people continue to respond because it is difficult for them to
 recognize that reinforcement is no longer available. In other words, they fail to
understand that any responding will not do any good.

C. Operant conditioning - a cognitive perspective.

● This is a controversial topic, with one side saying that there is no need to bring
cognition into the picture - if we know and understand reinforcers and their
schedules in a given situation, it is easy to predict behavior; on the other hand
there are others who say that a discussion of this is not possible without bringing
cognitive factors into picture.
● Perhaps the most dramatic evidence for the latter is the phenomenon of
LEARNED HELPLESSNESS - Feelings of helplessness that develop after
exposure to situations in which no efforts succeed in affecting outcomes. Even if
the situation changes, these people never discover this - rather being in a
seemingly passive state and not trying.
Although the reason for this is not clear,it cannot be explained in terms of individual
behavior or learning and its consequences. Rather, some evidence suggests that
organisms learn a general expectation of helplessness transferred across situations,
even if they gain a control over their environment.
Research has also suggested that it might be related to our perception of control - the
perception that we have no control over our lives and our environment eg in slum
children. Genetic factors have also been implicated.
● another genetically inherited disorder called hypohedonia - impairment in the
ability to experience pleasure, has been reported. According to Hamburg (1998) -
this tendency may cause children who inherit it to perceive the feedback given for
their actions very differently from the children without the disorder, the former
children interpreting these rewarding consequences from their actions as if they
are on an extinction schedule - this tendency to misinterpret rewarding feedback
may in turn, produce false perceptions of control and helplessness.
D. Evidence that it's all relative - the contrast effect.
Evidence states that our behavior is influenced not only by the rewards we receive, but
also by our evaluation of those rewards with the experience of previous ones.
Changes in rewards can lead to dramatic, transient changes in behavior - increase in
rewards lead to positive changes in behavior (compared to those consistently receiving
the larger reward)- termed positive contrast effects and v/v.
These changes however are transient - giving way to performance levels similar to
those who receive a consistent level of reward.
This indicates that reward alone cannot explain the changes in behavior, our experience
with a previous reward - and consequent expectancies- also play a role dramatically.
It also explains some of our everyday behavior eg the spike in performance after an
unexpected rise, with performance falling similar to others with that reward once the
novelty wears off.

E. Tolman's cognitive map : a classic study in the history of psychology.(pg 166)

The experiment led him to hypothesize that animals form a cognitive map - a mental
representation of their environments.
Systematic research by Capaldi and his colleagues also proves that animals make a
mental representation of the rewards they have received in the past - distinct rewards
producing distinct memories. Reward memories serve two distinct functions -
a. serve as discriminative stimuli - directing the animal's behavior by signaling when,
and if, future responses lead to reinforcement.
b. reward memories also lead to a response enhancing function- memories of a larger
or bigger award lead to greater increases in responding than do memories of small or
no award.

F. Applying OPerant conditioning - solving problems of everyday life.

a. Field of education - Computer assisted Instruction(CAI) which provides immediate
reinforcement by giving correct responses. It has also been extended to distance
education programs, and web based training.
b. Biofeedback - a technique that allows people to monitor and self regulate certain
bodily functions through the use of a specialized equipment.
c. Operant conditioning have been applied in interventions aimed at socially significant
issues in our communities.

C. OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING : LEARNING FROM THE BEHAVIOR AND

OUTCOMES OF OTHERS.
Many studies point evidence for this effect - most famous being the Bobo doll
experiments of Bandura.

A. Observational learning - some basic principles.

1. In order to learn through observation - one must pay ATTENTION to appropriate
models - and these are chosen by focusing most attention on ppl who are most
attractive to us, or possess signs that they know what they are doing, ppl whose
behavior seems relevant to our own needs and goals.
2. We must be able to remember what that person has said or done - RETENTION - so
as to acquire some useful information.
3. The ability to convert these memory representations into appropriate actions - known
as PRODUCTION PROCESSES - these depend on - physical abilities of oneself, and
also the capacity to monitor one's own performance and match it until it reaches that of
the model.
4. MOTIVATION also plays a role as after acquiring information, we do not put it to use
immediately. Only if the information is useful, will observers put them to actual use.
Hence, observational learning is far more complex than mere imitation and plays an
important role in many aspects of behavior, an important role in the controversy of
television affecting the violence in children.

A. Observational learning and aggression

Ways in which TV can affect this -
a. when children get to see the new techniques of aggression - it adds new behaviors to
their repertoire, and they can later put this to use when angry or frustrated; the
incidence being highest for those who are by nature more aggressive than others.
b. Can convey messages that violence is an acceptable way to handling interpersonal
difficulties.
c. May elicit aggressive ideas and thoughts through amalgamating real life into them -
and making viewers believe that real life violence is more common than believed.
These effects when coupled with the new behaviors and skills acquired through
observational learning can contribute to the tendency to engage in aggression.
Some contrary views also suggest that these effects are only modest in effect, and in
fact, those who are more concerned about this may start getting help from the sponsors
of the shows. Study by Bushman showed that violent programs decreased the
memories of viewers of brand names and commercial messages.

B. Observational learning and culture

In the context of globalisation and inter-cultural movement of people, a new set of skills
and behavior are needed so as to interact effectively between cultures.
Experts in the area of cross-cultural training have advocated an experiential approach
(Black and Mendenhall, 1990)- based on behavioral modeling where trainees first watch
films in which models exhibit the correct behavior to portray in problematic situations,
followed by trainees engaging in role playing exercise to test their knowledge. This is
followed by constructive feedback regarding their performance.
So observation can first help us learn behaviors appropriate to our own cultures, and
then adapt to the demands to the rapidly changing world.

C. Observational learning : practical applications

All effects of this learning cannot be beneficial - eg development of unhealthy behaviors
like smoking.
But then again, peer influence can also be used to promote more productive behaviors.
Werts study(1996) showed how observational learning can be instrumental in the
learning process.

SKILL LEARNING
A skill is the learned capacity to carry out pre determined results with a minimum
overlay of time, energy or both.
Skills can be domain general and domain specific, (with teamwork, time management
etc in the first group.)
Skills consist of a chain of perceptual motor responses or as a sequence of S-R
associations. Testing a skill requires certain environmental stimuli and situations for
assessment.
Phases of skill acquisition -
The acquisition passes through qualitatively different phases - each making the process
more smooth, efficient, autonomous. In transition from one phase to another, when
performance stands still, it is called performance plateau. When the next stage beging,
it starts rising and level goes up.
1. Fitts and Posner phases of skill acquisition -
a. Cognitive phase - identification and development of component parts of skill -
involves forming a mental picture of the skill. Here, every outside cue, instructional
demand, and response outcome have to be kept alive in consciousness.
b. Associative phase - linking the component parts - involves linking of different sensory
or input stimuli with appropriate responses into smooth action. This involves practicing
the skill and using feedback to improve on it.
As practice increases, errors decrease, performance improves, and time taken is also
reduced.
With continuous practice, error;ess performance begins, though the learner has to be
attentive to all sensory inputs and maintain concentration on the task.
c. Autonomous phase - developing the learned skill so that it becomes automatic -
involves little or no conscious thought or attention, finally attaining the stage of
automaticity with minimal demands on conscious effort.

2. Adams' Closed Loop theory has 2 elements -

a. Perceptual trace - a reference model acquired through practice.
b. Memory trace - responsible for initiating the movement.
The key feature of this theory is the feedback which is used to analyze the reference
model actions, the result of those actions, and the desired goals, and to refine the
reference model to produce the required actions to achieve the desired goals.

3. Schmidt's theory - based on the view that actions are not stored, rather we refer to
abstract relationships or rules about movement.
Every time a movement is conducted - 4 pieces of information are gathered - the initial
conditions(starting point), certain aspects of motor action(how fast, how high), the result
of the action (success or failure), and the sensory consequences of the action - (how it
felt).
Relationships between these informations is used to collect two schemas - a recall
schema based on the initial condition and result and used to generate a motor program,
and a recognition schema consisting of sensory actions and the outcome.
Of course, in conclusion, a person's genetic make up, confidence level and previous
experience influences the speed at which a skill is acquired.