Introduction to Course Web Site: www. psy. cmu Introduction to Course Web Site: www.psy.cmu.edu/~kotovsky/85102/home.php Instructor TA’s Major Instructional Strategy and Goals Depth, higher educ., focus, purpose(s) Major Activities: highly varied Methodology

Questions For the first recitation, bring a significant or “big” and real question about psychology, one that psychology might (or perhaps might not) have an answer to, and be prepared to discuss it a bit and also turn it in to your TA. It should be something that you are genuinely interested in and curious about. Save a copy for yourself—it might come in handy when generating a paper topic!

Question Examples (Including one author’s attempt to answer) David Brook’s Ex. (NYT 8/24/10)- What are our thinking weaknesses? “For example, Charlie Munger of Berkshire Hathaway once described “The Psychology of Human Misjudgment.” He and others list our natural weaknesses: -We have confirmation bias; we pick out evidence that supports our views. -We are cognitive misers; we try to think as little as possible. -We are herd thinkers and conform our perceptions to fit in with the group. To use a fancy word, there’s a metacognition deficit. Very few in public life habitually step back and think about the weakness in their own thinking and what they should do to compensate. Brooks also more recently wrote about what makes true genius: the ability to hold two contradictory ideas in your head simultaneously; a kind of self examining or self-challenging stance we might think of as a thinking strength. Antietam: Historic battlefield—leads to a question….Why are we so willing to kill each other?

Methodology: Some Basic Issues Why Psychology? (vs. other sources of wisdom) Observation vs. experimentation Independent and dependent variables Experimental control-getting rid of spurious variables Correlation and causation “Unusualness” of a result: statistics Focus on actual data Distributions (the statistical nature of our data)

Basic Methodology Experimentation Independent vs. Dependent variables Observational vs. Experimental studies Causation vs. Correlation Experimental “control”

Making Observations Scientific observations often begin with a question or hypothesis. The hypothesis must be testable. This calls for an operational definition of key terms to specify the study’s dependent variable. Data must also be systematically collected. Researchers ignore anecdotal evidence. - Psychologists, like all scientists, proceed by examining patterns in carefully measured data. - But what exactly should they measure? - Need to specify a research question as a testable, falsifiable hypothesis about concepts that are well defined as observable responses (or operationalized). - These operational definitions must also be valid; a concept like "aggression" is better operationalized by counting punches than by measuring frowns. Once a question is formed, data collection must be systematic (that is, not dependent on anecdotes) and not influenced by the hypothesis.

Courtesy of American Media, Ltd. 1.2 Testable hypotheses? Astrologers and newspaper tabloids often predict the future, but the phrasing of these predictions is usually so open-ended that we can’t test the claims in any rigorous way.

Defining the Sample Based on observations of a sample, psychologists want to draw conclusions about a broad population. Random sampling All members of the population have an equal chance of being picked to participate. Researchers also use other procedures, including stratified sampling and case studies. Defining the right sample for the desired conclusions is a key step in measurement; common approaches include random sampling, maximum variation sampling, and carefully chosen case studies.

The Power of Experiments The two groups must be matched at the outset of the experiment. To ensure matching groups, researchers use: random assignment (ex. Clinical trials) within-subject comparison. taking precautions to address problems created by the sequence of conditions Control groups should be matched as closely as possible to the experimental group to isolate the desired effect. Random assignment is the best way to guarantee that groups are matched and prevents the third-variable problem. An additional tool for matching experimental and control groups is to use the same groups for both conditions (a within-subjects design). These design features are all used to establish that only our variable of interest can potentially explain any differences we see in the data, which is the goal of internal validity.

The Control Condition

Assessing External Validity Researchers want their study to mirror circumstances of the broader world. external validity External validity depends on many factors. The study should not change behaviors the researchers hope to understand. - Having the right sample is important in allowing us to generalize our conclusions—that is, for the study's external validity.

Assessing External Validity One concern here involves the study’s possible demand characteristics: cues that can signal to participants how they’re supposed to behave (Rosenthal) One way of avoiding this problem is to use a double-blind design.

Courtesy John Chase/Chasecartoons.com 1.8 Double-blind testing Unlike the effort shown here, double-blind testing doesn’t involve experiments done by pairs of blindfolded researchers. Instead, it involves studies in which neither the person tested nor the person conducting the test knows the experimental hypothesis and neither knows which participants are in which comparison group.

Measurement The Description of Data Central tendency Variability Mean, median, mode Variability Variance Standard deviation Correlation & significance level

Measurement

T H HT TH HH TT T = tails H = heads

Correlation Coefficients (0 – 1)

Sleeping The ignored behavior!

Defining/describing sleep Decreased awareness & interaction with world Decreased motility & muscular activity Characteristic posture Partial or total decrement in voluntary consciously directed behavior Decreased forebrain activity & cortical input from lower centers

Sleep as a behavior Quietude Life span decrease Brain activity/EEG & reactivity

Theories of sleeping Motivation Energy conservation Restorative Memory consolidation Adaptive

Brain Control Hypothalamus: Rostral/Caudal sleep areas Rostral (stimulate --> sleep, extirpate --> wake) Caudal (stimulate --> wake, extirpate --> sleep) Reticular activating system & monitoring Melatonin (pineal & hypothal.) and diurnal cycle Suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus and entrainment to diurnal rhythm “zeitgrabers” Dement in a cave!

Arguments for Necessity/Functionality of sleep! Regularity Motivation/crummy feelings Health involvement -Fatal Familial Insomnia (30+ families/thalamic/death) -Some linkage to other disorders (depression) Hallucination argument REM recovery Restorative: increase in SWS in sleep-deprived and athletes, increase anabolic/decrease catabolic activity Memory consolidation REM block->poor memory function

Arguments Against Necessity Deprivation/human & animal Exceptional sleepers Hallucination explanation Dement study 11 days deprv. Then 16/8 REM recovery: limited Programmatic reduction-->1-2 hr. decline 5.5/60, 1/2 hr per 2 weeks->4.5-5.5 ok and year later slept 1 to 2.5 less! Cats in a puddle!

Conclusions Adaptive theory seems to win! The function of sleep is sleep! Ungulates sleep much less than meat eaters Five hours or less (opossums 19-20 hours) Accounts for life span decrease as well But still a bit of an open question

Multiple perspectives and much speculation! Dreaming: What & Why? Multiple perspectives and much speculation!

Outline Dream behavior Theories of Dreaming Conclusions What can we learn from our dreams? Are they meaningful? True / predictive?

Dream behavior & description Within sleep Amount Brainwave activity & bodily quietude:the paradox REM

Dreams & REM sleep Aserinsky-REM Dement & Kleitman-Stages REM amount & periodicity Brainstem cholinergic & adrenergic promoting & inhibiting areas for REM

Some Questions: Are Dreams meaningful--what do they mean? Are the predictive or “true”? How do they differ from other states? What is their function do they even have one? Are they brain functions or mind functions?

Outline Characteristics and Descriptions Theories of Dreaming Conclusions What can we learn from our dreams? Are they meaningful? True / predictive?

Theories of Dreaming Dreams as meaningful events: Freud (& Jung) Aserinsky, Dement & Kleitman implications Hall/Cartright Dreams as random activity (Hobson +) Synthesis (perhaps)

Psychoanalytic Theory Mental conflict Unconscious motivations Two forces: impulses & defenses Dreams as a release Dreamwork and its results Latent dream Manifest dream Remembered dream Dreamwork and forgetting as protective mechanisms Poetzel Effect

Freud & Neuroimaging Michael Anderson- Validates Repression: Forebrain active in inhibiting hippocampus on repressed items Allen Braun: Limbic system-emotion active during REM Prefrontal cortex (working mem. Attention, logic & self- monitoring) inactive during REM Above consistent with dream bizarreness & emotional disinhibition/wish fulfillment Visual cortex inactive but higher visual areas active so we see w.o. visual input- one of the amazing things about dreaming!

Freud & Neuroimaging (Mark Solms) Injured Pons vs. injured Forebrain -Pons-disrupts REM but dreaming goes on. -Forebrain-lose dreaming but REM goes on. -Also, some dreaming outside of REM Role of Motivation (in addition to emotional areas) -Prefrontal leukotomy (white matter in ventro-medial forebrain area) decreases dopamine release. It’s a motivational area “seeking” behavior. -Hartmann: administering dopamine supercharges dreaming! Supportive of Freudian tie between motiv. & dreaming.

Variations on Psychoanalytic Explanation + Challenges Aserinsky, Dement & Kleitman: REM & implications Hall and Cartwright: Dream Series Challenging Views Dreams as random activity (Hobson +) Synthesis (perhaps) as Hobson accepted imaging results

Other Neuroscience Views Crick: Purge extraneous connections Evans: Sorting function on day’s events Winson: Sorting for survival Wilson: Rat Dream article- maze learning during dreams Hobson: random activity & activation-synthesis hypothesis

Hobson: Dream Transformations From: inanimate animate character To: inanimate 21 0 0 Animate 2 0 7 Character 0 0 14

Dream Characteristics Lack of active volition Absence of ongoing reflective judgment Limited to phenomena of the immediate present Diffuse cognitive slippage--dreamlike confusion- transformations of perception, thought, memory, emotion, relationships, etc. Gaps in experience: 20% Confusion of thought & irrational intuitions: 41% Problems in sustained attention: 5% Memory deficiencies within the dream: 15% Overall, even 51% of "clearest dreams" had clouding of cs. --Usually not radical (scz, psychedelic) but rather more like that of waking life Can even have hallucinations or psychedelic exper. in dreams (as in waking life!) ex. flying 4%, bizarre figures,4%, changed identity 3%, LSD-like transformations of vision 13%. Mostly visual 47%. Somatic 10%, audit. 14%.

Conclusions Can we obtain meaningful insights about ourselves through our dreams? What can we learn from our dreams? Are they meaningful? true / predictive/useful? Dream problem-solving (Lowie, Kekule)!