Module 1 Flashcards
Define “Psychological Hedonism” and what is its problem with subjectivity?
Organisms approach goals/engage in actions which have desirable or appetitive out comes and avoid events that are expected to have unpleasant or aversive outcomes.
Subjectivity: “desirable” + “unpleasant” are subjective and vary across individuals; difficult to determine the degree of desirability/unpleasantness
What is the difference between internal and external motivators?
Internal: motives, eg. Hunger
External: incentives, the value associated w/ the item (cucumber + monkey example), eg. Tasty food
What is the difference between Determinism vs. Free-will?
Free-will: behaviour is not predictable
Determinism: cause-effect relationship, psychology mainly studies from this perspective
What are the 2 philosophical ideas surrounding the Mind-Body Problem?
Dualism: acknowledges that the mind and brain are qualitatively different; 2 separate entities
Monism: acknowledges that mind and brain are qualitatively the same; the same entity
Body -> many measurable parameters, eg. Height, weight, sweat
Mind -> known to one’s own consciousness, can be barred by language
What are the 2 types of Dualism?
Cartesian dualism: mind-body interaction, the pineal body is where the “soul” is, the mind and brain (body) communicate with each other.
Parallelism: no interactions between the mind and body, the mind works separately from the brain (body)
What are the 2 types of Monism?
Mentalism: only the mind is real
Materialism: mind is generated by body, the mind state is made by the brain’s state, every mind state has an underlying brain state, EXPERIMENTALLY APPROACHABLE: can recreate mental states by recreating body states -> establish mind-body relationship
What is the difference between a theory and a fact?
Theory are the dots that outline the fact (the circle)
What makes a good theory? (4 components)
Testability, Fruitfulness, Simplicity, Comprehensiveness
-> a good theory is intrinsically connected to conducting valid+reliable research
What is empirical research and the scientific method?
An evidence-based method for accepting/rejecting hypotheses. Uses the scientific method.
Scientific Method: Question -> Background Research -> Construct Hypothesis -> Test w/ Experiment (if procedure doesn’t work, stay here and troubleshoot) -> Analyze Data + Draw Conclusions -> Communicate Results
What are 6 factors to consider when conducting research?
Operational definitions: specifies what is measured, and what is the meaning behind the measurement
Control groups: provides a baseline of the effects of IVs on DVs
Confounds: Variables that affect both IVs and DVs, randomization can help mitigate confounding effects
Reproducibility: Whether scientific findings can be reproduced without the influence of errors/biases
Production of public knowledge: Created from peer review for quality control and verification
Research ethics: Guideline outlining acceptable + unacceptable behaviour in research; Researchers - honesty + integrity, Experimental work - animal care (use substitution) + human subject protection (confidentiality)
What is ethology?
The scientific + objective study of animal behaviour
-> focus on behaviour under natural conditions
->assumes behavioural traits are evolutionarily adaptive and selected for
It is important to appreciate that many animal behaviours are also species-specific
What are 2 conflicting views on thinking about animal behaviour as humans?
Anthropomorphism: extending + attributing human characteristics to other animals
Anthropodenial: a priori rejection of shared characteristics between humans and animals
Interpretation of animal behaviour should avoid OVER-ANTHROPOMORPHISM and ANTHROPODENIAL
What are Tinbergen’s 4 questions for ethologists?
Function: how does behaviour affect the animal’s chances of survival and reproduction? Why does the animal respond that way instead of some other way?
Causation: what are the stimuli that elicit the response, how is it modified by recent learning
Development: how does the behaviour change w/ age, what early experiences are necessary for animal to display certain behaviour?
Evolutionary history: How does the behaviour compare with similar behaviour in related species, how might it begun through phylogeny?
What are the differences between Instinct and Learning? How should experiments be designed when organisms are involved?
Instincts: related to biologically essential resources, critical for animal survival, potentially evolutionarily ancient
Learning: acquisition of new behaviour, allows for flexibility of innate behaviour
Experiments should be designed with organism’s natural behaviour (produced by their natural environments and physiology) taken into consideration
What 3 resources and 6 behaviours that are biologically essential?
Resources: Food, Water, Thermal Energy
Behaviours: Feeding, Drinking, Temperature Regulation, Sex, Sleep, Pain Avoidance
What is the homeostatic model and its relationship to motivation?
Homeostatic model: Body makes automatic adjustments to restore stability when there is a departure from the narrow tolerance ranges for biologically essential resources.
-> argues for regulatory function of motivation
Start signals -> detection of deviation
Stop signals -> when tolerance range is met
Motivated behaviour initiated by START SIGNALS, terminated by STOP SIGNALS
What is the peripheral theory of homeostatic signals?
Peripheral theory: Signals are generated outside of the brain.
Example: stomach contraction recorded in human subjects that reported hunger, but patients with gastric bypass still eat normal amount of food
What is the central theory of homeostatic signals?
Central theory: signals are generated in the brain
Hypothalamus is a key brain region for regulating homeostasis through a variety of hormones.
What are central motive states (CMS)?
- CMS are hypothesized states, that are defined by the stimuli (hunger CMS, thirst CMS)
- Pathways and/or centres in the brain become activated and trigger a CMS for a period of time
- Active CMS predisposes the organism to directly emit certain behaviours to particular stimuli
What are limitations of the homeostatic model?
Eating: we eat to prevent starvation, homeostatic model would predict that the longer we wait to eat, the more we eat (which is not often the case)
- Some other factors may be involved; humans may have social factors playing a role.
The homeostatic model is not successful at explaining ALL aspects of motivated behaviour.
What are 2 ways the body informs the brain what it needs?
- Direct innervation
- Signalling molecules in the circulatory system
What is the differences between Neurotransmitters, Neuromodulators, and Neurohormones
Neurotransmitters: synaptically transmitted, usually acts on ionotropically, fast, but not the most effective for neuromodulation due to being energetically expensive
Neuromodulators: synaptically and extra-synaptically transmitted, usually metabotropic (G protein coupled receptors), release site may not be directly adjacent to receptor site
Neurohormone: secreted and acts on other parts of the brain or other organs, works both ways (body -> brain, brain -> body) and across different systems
What is neuromodulation?
The modulation of neuronal and neural circuit functions, which subsequently alter physiology and behaviour
Neuromodulators + Neurohormones: What are monoamines and what are 3 examples of monoamines?
Monoamines: synthesized from amino acids
Dopamine, Serotonin, Norepinephrine/epinephrine
