PSYCH 3M03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Tachycardia, Modern Language, Mendelian Inheritance
18 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Motivation & Emotion
Motivation: impulses to behave in a manner that alters or sustains the course
of life.
By seeking survival, growth, reproduction, social advancement, or
changes in finer aspects of our relationship to nature and other people.
○
-
Emotion: internal sensations of individuals, often in response to physiological
events.
In organisms with cognition.
○
-
Best considered in tandem.
-
Prescientific People
Emotions/motivations often start with strong internal feelings (e.g., rapid heart
rate or feelings in stomach)
-
Must have cognitive ability to attribute these sensations.
-
Primitive people were the first to consider what these feelings mean.
-
The same physiological events to describe/relate to different emotions.
Primitive people didn't understand this.
○
-
They began attributing these drives/motivation to different things.
-
As we evolve, we get better answers to these questions.
Because of communication/language.
○
-
Language allows us to characterize & categorize drives & physiological
responses.
-
But with language, there's some confusion & inconsistency
Terminology use causes this.
○
-
Prescientific Ideas
Animism & misattributions
-
Mythological
-
Subjective & inadequate data
-
Animism
Primitive people said that every living thing had a spirit.
-
Attribution of spirits to activity of people, other animals, & even plants, natural
forces, & abstract concepts.
-
Spirits will explain what drove you to do things.
-
Actions were only due to what your spirit wanted, not your own self.
-
Therefore, abnormal behaviour results from possession by evil spirits.
Modern language references -- "animated" "spirited" "dispirited" "in
good or bad spirits" "spirits (liquor)"
○
-
E.g., Greek gods -- they each were described as controlling different drives.
-
Spirit leaves the body at death (ghosts)
-
Misattributions
Heart & Soul -- heart as the locus of motivation & emotion.
People thought all feelings & actions came from the heart/soul.
○
E.g., Mayan's took people's hearts out.
○
Ideas still linger in our vocabulary -- "half-hearted" "heartache" "heavy
heart" "disheartened" "heartbroken" "hard-hearted" "kind-hearted"
"heart-to-heart" "home is where the heart is" "your heart is in the right
place"
○
-
Stomach & Gut
We have feelings in our guts that we attribute to different things such as
nerves, intuition, etc.
○
Modern language references -- "butterflies in my stomach" "gut feeling"
"he's got guts" "gut-wrenching"
○
-
Skin
Modern language references -- "skin crawls" "warm & tingly"
○
-
Face
Modern language references -- "written all over your face"
○
Makes evolutionary sense because some expressions are common to all
cultures.
○
-
^ these all come from the idea that there were spirits in your organs creating
feelings & behaviours.
-
Light & Dark
Day = bright, happy, etc.
○
Night = down, upset, etc.
○
Modern language references -- "bright & cheerful" "sunny disposition"
"dark mood" "gloomy mood"
○
Came from the idea that people thought that the sun & environment
controlled their state.
○
-
Up & Down
Similar idea as light & dark
○
Modern language references -- "uplifted spirits" "elevated spirits" "high"
"down & out" "downhearted" "low"
○
Consider drugs?
○
-
Mythological
Pagan & various ancient religions made many statements about motivation &
emotion.
-
Catholicism -- Genesis (6:4-8)
"God saw the wickedness of man was great & that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually"
○
Emphasis on heart as main drive for emotions.
○
-
Religion/religious figures were authority figures.
Authority figures are often unquestioned, & their statements are cited as
infallible evidence.
○
Therefore, these ideas perpetuated.
○
-
Subjective & Inadequate Data
Introspection by a limited number of philosophers.
-
Introspection:
People reflected on why they felt these drives & emotions.
○
-
Philosophers:
Based on ideas of personal experience.
○
-
Philosophers
Descartes (1596-165)
Dualism: separation of mind & body.
They do interact, but at no point can the mind be reduced solely to
the body or vice versa.
§
○
Attempt to integrate physiology & spiritualism.
○
Mind is a soul that inhabits the physical body.
○
Began dividing.
Emotions as human things of the mind.
§
Physical motivations as animalistic things of the body.
§
○
Pineal gland is the interface of mind & spirit.
He knew it was the centre of the brain so it just made logical sense.
§
No scientific evidence at the time.
§
○
Not the first time the brain was considered the centre of human
behaviour.
○
-
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1697)
Hedonism: pleasure driven.
○
Human nature is inherently evil, barbaric, warlike, & ignorant.
○
Pleasure is the only motivation.
Humans behave purely in ways which will bring pleasure or avoid
pain.
§
Fighting occurred when people fought for a pleasurable thing.
§
○
Most people find hedonism uncomfortable.
E.g., people consider nudists to be hedonists because their nudist
lifestyle is pleasure driven.
§
○
-
John Locke (1632-1704)
Tabula rasa: humans are born with a "blank slate" of mind.
Experience alone shapes knowledge, behaviour & essentially, who
we are.
§
○
Empiricism
Early behaviourism
§
Only look at what's observable -- don't study what you can't
observe (no past beliefs)
§
○
Ignored physiology
○
-
Scientific Method
Objective methods
-
Discard preconceptions
-
Rebuild knowledge with systematic observation
-
Empiricism: use only data from direct sensory observation, not from subjective
experience.
-
Operational definition: define in terms of concrete observations.
Allows us to communicate using a set way in which we're to measure
things.
○
Solves the confusion problem with language … in theory.
○
-
Experimentation
-
Measurement & quantification
-
Statistical analysis
-
Publication
-
Skeptical evaluation
-
No unquestioned authorities
-
Consensus seeking
-
Replication
Most important -- best thing is for other researchers to use their own
labs/data/resources to replicate it.
○
-
Paradigm Shifts
Thomas Kuhn
-
Paradigm: common theory/idea at a given time.
-
Paradigm shift: changes in technology, conception, or measurement methods
lead to revolutions in scientific progress.
-
Everything fits into a common theory, but one day, another idea is more widely
accepted & everything must fit into that -- paradigm shift.
Observations are placed within that paradigm.
○
When too many observations don't fit in, we accept a new theory aka
paradigm shift.
○
-
Darwin's "Pangenesis" vs Mendelian Inheritance
Pangenesis was once widely accepted, but then it became obsolete & was
replaced by Mendelian inheritance because the data fit it better.
○
-
Early Scientific Influences
(1) Physiology
(2) Evolution & Genetics
(3) Experimental Psychology
(1) Physiology
Examination of human physiology reveals that we have the same basic structure
as other mammals.
Indicates our mechanistic nature -- makes some behaviours easy to
predict.
○
-
Nervous system increasingly seen as underlying thought, consciousness,
motivation & emotion.
-
(2) Evolution & Genetics
Darwin suggested that we shouldn't introspect to understand emotions, but
should instead objectively measure body language.
-
Emotions are evolutionary adaptive instincts with general positioning found in
many species.
-
Gather evidence from:
Cross-species comparisons
○
Examination of expression through development
○
Examination of expression across human cultures
○
Study of special populations
○
-
We still see primitive emotions today & in all species.
-
(3) Experimental Psychology
James (1898)
One of the founding fathers of modern psychology.
○
Argued that we must be abandon old philosophy & preconceptions, &
apply best scientific methods to study ourselves.
○
Influenced by Darwin, he suggested that humans might have one of
richest sets of instincts among animals, which are our emotions.
○
James-Lange Theory of Emotional Sensations
Each individual acts in a specific way based on their
internal/physiological changes which they interpret subjectively.
§
○
-
Watson (1920s)
Returned to idea of tabula rasa, suggesting learning & experience account
for everything.
○
Blank slate -- learning/experience account for knowledge.
Argued anyone could be anything based on what they were
taught/experienced.
§
Didn't think genetics played a role.
§
○
-
Skinner (1950s)
Hall talked about reinforcement. From there, Skinner developed operant
conditioning.
○
Suggests that environment shapes behaviour & that "instinct", "emotion",
& "drives" are myths.
E.g., it's not that you are hungry, it's that your environment lacks
food .
§
○
-
Modern psychology has been greatly influenced by biology (physiology,
evolution, & behaviour)
-
Basic dimensions of motivation & emotion are best understood through natural
selection.
-
Concepts of emotion are once again a major focus of modern research.
-
Modern Influences
Experimental psychology
-
Biopsychology
-
Evolutionary psychology
-
Animal behaviour
-
Neuroscience & neuroendocrinology
-
Chapter 1: History & Motivation
Tuesday, January 16, 2018
9:51 AM
Motivation & Emotion
Motivation: impulses to behave in a manner that alters or sustains the course
of life.
By seeking survival, growth, reproduction, social advancement, or
changes in finer aspects of our relationship to nature and other people.
○
-
Emotion: internal sensations of individuals, often in response to physiological
events.
In organisms with cognition.
○
-
Best considered in tandem.
-
Prescientific People
Emotions/motivations often start with strong internal feelings (e.g., rapid heart
rate or feelings in stomach)
-
Must have cognitive ability to attribute these sensations.
-
Primitive people were the first to consider what these feelings mean.
-
The same physiological events to describe/relate to different emotions.
Primitive people didn't understand this.
○
-
They began attributing these drives/motivation to different things.
-
As we evolve, we get better answers to these questions.
Because of communication/language.
○
-
Language allows us to characterize & categorize drives & physiological
responses.
-
But with language, there's some confusion & inconsistency
Terminology use causes this.
○
-
Prescientific Ideas
Animism & misattributions
-
Mythological
-
Subjective & inadequate data
-
Animism
Primitive people said that every living thing had a spirit.
-
Attribution of spirits to activity of people, other animals, & even plants, natural
forces, & abstract concepts.
-
Spirits will explain what drove you to do things.
-
Actions were only due to what your spirit wanted, not your own self.
-
Therefore, abnormal behaviour results from possession by evil spirits.
Modern language references -- "animated" "spirited" "dispirited" "in
good or bad spirits" "spirits (liquor)"
○
-
E.g., Greek gods -- they each were described as controlling different drives.
-
Spirit leaves the body at death (ghosts)
-
Misattributions
Heart & Soul -- heart as the locus of motivation & emotion.
People thought all feelings & actions came from the heart/soul.
○
E.g., Mayan's took people's hearts out.
○
Ideas still linger in our vocabulary -- "half-hearted" "heartache" "heavy
heart" "disheartened" "heartbroken" "hard-hearted" "kind-hearted"
"heart-to-heart" "home is where the heart is" "your heart is in the right
place"
○
-
Stomach & Gut
We have feelings in our guts that we attribute to different things such as
nerves, intuition, etc.
○
Modern language references -- "butterflies in my stomach" "gut feeling"
"he's got guts" "gut-wrenching"
○
-
Skin
Modern language references -- "skin crawls" "warm & tingly"
○
-
Face
Modern language references -- "written all over your face"
○
Makes evolutionary sense because some expressions are common to all
cultures.
○
-
^ these all come from the idea that there were spirits in your organs creating
feelings & behaviours.
-
Light & Dark
Day = bright, happy, etc.
○
Night = down, upset, etc.
○
Modern language references -- "bright & cheerful" "sunny disposition"
"dark mood" "gloomy mood"
○
Came from the idea that people thought that the sun & environment
controlled their state.
○
-
Up & Down
Similar idea as light & dark
○
Modern language references -- "uplifted spirits" "elevated spirits" "high"
"down & out" "downhearted" "low"
○
Consider drugs?
○
-
Mythological
Pagan & various ancient religions made many statements about motivation &
emotion.
-
Catholicism -- Genesis (6:4-8)
"God saw the wickedness of man was great & that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually"
○
Emphasis on heart as main drive for emotions.
○
-
Religion/religious figures were authority figures.
Authority figures are often unquestioned, & their statements are cited as
infallible evidence.
○
Therefore, these ideas perpetuated.
○
-
Subjective & Inadequate Data
Introspection by a limited number of philosophers.
-
Introspection:
People reflected on why they felt these drives & emotions.
○
-
Philosophers:
Based on ideas of personal experience.
○
-
Philosophers
Descartes (1596-165)
Dualism: separation of mind & body.
They do interact, but at no point can the mind be reduced solely to
the body or vice versa.
§
○
Attempt to integrate physiology & spiritualism.
○
Mind is a soul that inhabits the physical body.
○
Began dividing.
Emotions as human things of the mind.
§
Physical motivations as animalistic things of the body.
§
○
Pineal gland is the interface of mind & spirit.
He knew it was the centre of the brain so it just made logical sense.
§
No scientific evidence at the time.
§
○
Not the first time the brain was considered the centre of human
behaviour.
○
-
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1697)
Hedonism: pleasure driven.
○
Human nature is inherently evil, barbaric, warlike, & ignorant.
○
Pleasure is the only motivation.
Humans behave purely in ways which will bring pleasure or avoid
pain.
§
Fighting occurred when people fought for a pleasurable thing.
§
○
Most people find hedonism uncomfortable.
E.g., people consider nudists to be hedonists because their nudist
lifestyle is pleasure driven.
§
○
-
John Locke (1632-1704)
Tabula rasa: humans are born with a "blank slate" of mind.
Experience alone shapes knowledge, behaviour & essentially, who
we are.
§
○
Empiricism
Early behaviourism
§
Only look at what's observable -- don't study what you can't
observe (no past beliefs)
§
○
Ignored physiology
○
-
Scientific Method
Objective methods
-
Discard preconceptions
-
Rebuild knowledge with systematic observation
-
Empiricism: use only data from direct sensory observation, not from subjective
experience.
-
Operational definition: define in terms of concrete observations.
Allows us to communicate using a set way in which we're to measure
things.
○
Solves the confusion problem with language … in theory.
○
-
Experimentation
-
Measurement & quantification
-
Statistical analysis
-
Publication
-
Skeptical evaluation
-
No unquestioned authorities
-
Consensus seeking
-
Replication
Most important -- best thing is for other researchers to use their own
labs/data/resources to replicate it.
○
-
Paradigm Shifts
Thomas Kuhn
-
Paradigm: common theory/idea at a given time.
-
Paradigm shift: changes in technology, conception, or measurement methods
lead to revolutions in scientific progress.
-
Everything fits into a common theory, but one day, another idea is more widely
accepted & everything must fit into that -- paradigm shift.
Observations are placed within that paradigm.
○
When too many observations don't fit in, we accept a new theory aka
paradigm shift.
○
-
Darwin's "Pangenesis" vs Mendelian Inheritance
Pangenesis was once widely accepted, but then it became obsolete & was
replaced by Mendelian inheritance because the data fit it better.
○
-
Early Scientific Influences
(1) Physiology
(2) Evolution & Genetics
(3) Experimental Psychology
(1) Physiology
Examination of human physiology reveals that we have the same basic structure
as other mammals.
Indicates our mechanistic nature -- makes some behaviours easy to
predict.
○
-
Nervous system increasingly seen as underlying thought, consciousness,
motivation & emotion.
-
(2) Evolution & Genetics
Darwin suggested that we shouldn't introspect to understand emotions, but
should instead objectively measure body language.
-
Emotions are evolutionary adaptive instincts with general positioning found in
many species.
-
Gather evidence from:
Cross-species comparisons
○
Examination of expression through development
○
Examination of expression across human cultures
○
Study of special populations
○
-
We still see primitive emotions today & in all species.
-
(3) Experimental Psychology
James (1898)
One of the founding fathers of modern psychology.
○
Argued that we must be abandon old philosophy & preconceptions, &
apply best scientific methods to study ourselves.
○
Influenced by Darwin, he suggested that humans might have one of
richest sets of instincts among animals, which are our emotions.
○
James-Lange Theory of Emotional Sensations
Each individual acts in a specific way based on their
internal/physiological changes which they interpret subjectively.
§
○
-
Watson (1920s)
Returned to idea of tabula rasa, suggesting learning & experience account
for everything.
○
Blank slate -- learning/experience account for knowledge.
Argued anyone could be anything based on what they were
taught/experienced.
§
Didn't think genetics played a role.
§
○
-
Skinner (1950s)
Hall talked about reinforcement. From there, Skinner developed operant
conditioning.
○
Suggests that environment shapes behaviour & that "instinct", "emotion",
& "drives" are myths.
E.g., it's not that you are hungry, it's that your environment lacks
food .
§
○
-
Modern psychology has been greatly influenced by biology (physiology,
evolution, & behaviour)
-
Basic dimensions of motivation & emotion are best understood through natural
selection.
-
Concepts of emotion are once again a major focus of modern research.
-
Modern Influences
Experimental psychology
-
Biopsychology
-
Evolutionary psychology
-
Animal behaviour
-
Neuroscience & neuroendocrinology
-
Chapter 1: History & Motivation
Tuesday, January 16, 2018 9:51 AM
Document Summary
Motivation: impulses to behave in a manner that alters or sustains the course of life. By seeking survival, growth, reproduction, social advancement, or changes in finer aspects of our relationship to nature and other people. Emotion: internal sensations of individuals, often in response to physiological events. Emotions/motivations often start with strong internal feelings (e. g. , rapid heart rate or feelings in stomach) Must have cognitive ability to attribute these sensations. Primitive people were the first to consider what these feelings mean. The same physiological events to describe/relate to different emotions. They began attributing these drives/motivation to different things. As we evolve, we get better answers to these questions. Language allows us to characterize & categorize drives & physiological responses. But with language, there"s some confusion & inconsistency. Primitive people said that every living thing had a spirit. Attribution of spirits to activity of people, other animals, & even plants, natural forces, & abstract concepts.
