MarkyMark's Notes [University Level]

[MarkyMark.]

I go to Ryerson University in Toronto for Psychology with a Criminology minor.
To make the forum more lively I'ma start posting my notes and essays and stuff.
There will be descriptions before each post.

This semester I'm taking
Politics Through Film [POL128]
Psych - Behaviour Disorders[PSY325]
Research Design and Qualitative Methods[ACS301]
Sociology: Human Origins [SOC128]
Business Information Systems [ITM102]

Feel free to PM me any questions if you need help with anything in the Humanities area.
Oh and I take crappy notes sometimes so my bad.

[MarkyMark.]

ACS301 - Sept 11
-Everyone has assumptions before doing research
How do these assumptions relate to how we do research?

What is research design?
-Framework for the collection and analysis of the data
-Architecture vs Design [Design process]
Design [Four Cs]
-Creativity
-Using something new to get at your answers
-Complexity
-Wicked problem [No easy answer, complex, no absolute right answer]
-Compromise
-Deal with a problem [budget, language barrier]
-Choice
-Make a decision and deal with it [Getting it Done]
-Judgement, or Perception

How to Choose Design?
-I want to know what causes something [Causal]
-How something changes over time
-Understand the meaning of behaviour [Verschten]
-Generalizations over large populations [Generalization]
-Choosing what you want to know will affect your research as a whole

Judgement Research [Part I: Quantitative Validity]
-Reliability
-Can we get the same results every time?
-Replication
-Can other researchers get the same results?
-Validity
-Internal [How do we know what causes something else? Can your study tell us?]
-External [Can we extend these findings somewhere else?]

Judgement Research [Part II: Qualitative Trustworthiness]
-Dependability
-Is there a general consistency in the findings?
-Confirmability
-Would another researcher find similar results?
-Credibility
-Do the findings seem believable?
-Transferability
-Do these findings extend to another context?



 
Research Designs
Experimental Design
-Relates to Natural Science closely [Scientific method]
-Causal nature of what’s going on
-Variable is something that changes [Number of books; Level of Spices, Type of Spices -> Age, Race]
-Independent vs Dependant Variables [Age affect Height]
-Study vs Non-Study; Classic Experimental Design [Strong Internal validity]
-Raises Ethical issues on the negative effects on the perceived negative test group
Quasi-Experiment Design
-Does not rely on the flipping of a coin, still takes a snapshot in time though [Government RSSP, America vs Canada]
Cross-Sectional Study
-Takes a snapshot in time by taking the final grade in a class and surveying to see if the students studied
-Inferring the results of the study [Correlation Study]
-There is no changing of variables, only observation
-More of an ethical study since there is no downside to the study
Longitudinal Design
-Panel Study is the 1970 and 1980 Survey about Drug use between the same people
-Cohort Study is the same except everyone would have a similar attribute [DOB, Twins, Etc.]
-Good way to look at the changes in attitudes between times
-Very hard to fund and carry out
Case Study
-Unique, Interesting case study
-One of a kind, interesting, can help us learn
-Revelatory [How can Coke shoot itself in the foot like it did?]
-Critical, something that has never happened anywhere else [Toronto shutting down car access], so it shows results of how new policies may affect new things
-Interesting and Available, mundane, still worthwhile

Experiment – Strong Internal – Potentially Weak External
Cross Sectional – Potentially Weak – Strong [If Done Right]
Longitudinal - Potentially Weak – Strong [If Done Right]
Case Study – Potentially Weak – Weak

[MarkyMark.]

POL 128 – Sept 11

Nicos Machiavelli
-“So long as the great majority of men are not deprived of either property or honour, they are satisfied.”
-Is this correct?
-Wants vs Needs
-Never will be able to satisfy wants
-1 in 6 do not have their needs fulfilled [bottom billion]
-Most humans do not care about the greater good they only care about themselves [property or honour]
-Are there times when people will give for the greater good?
-Balance of Property or Honour [Giving property in exchange for honour]
-Ownership of property, private property is a newly formed concept [only a drop in the bucket]
-What about women?
-Machiavelli speaks of men owning property because the concept of women having honour or property is a very new concept
-Women were once considered property because of male chauvinism
-In contemporary society what is the bond between realizing our wants and needs?
-Money. Comodification of wants and needs
-Media. Turns us into spending machines, cashing in on our needs and turning our wants into needs
-Aristotle - Politics is the master science [not in the explanatory sense but rather it prioritizes rival claims on scarce resources]
-Politics explains to us how to divide and allocate the claims on scarce resources our society needs
-Taxation? What forms? More? Spending in the poor?
-Divide between US and Canada [Health Care, the great debate, allocating the taxation to enable them to have access to the scarce resource of health care]
-They have so much trouble because of the opposition claim of scarce resources and the need to make money

What is Politics?
-Social Science
-Art of Possible
-Compromise
-If there is no compromise between nation states there is war
-WWII, Rwanda, “war is the failure of politics”
-War is the failure of nations to come together in a global trade market
-Fail of the global institutions of governance [UN, World Bank, IMF]; for example the United Nations is not truly democratic, it is run by those larger countries who have VETO power, heavily dominated by the West
-Consideration of a compromise of someone from each continent being a member of the Security Council [broke down because of fighting over VETO power, people not wanting certain countries to have VETO power, etc.] The smallest kink in a compromise could lead to the full breakdown of a system

 
What does politics involve?
-Co-operation
-Role of the city in Canadian society
-Over representation in Parliament of electorates from cities instead of rural areas
-Conflict
-Different groups who want to represent of debating about the issues that they believe
-Rich vs Poor
-Urban vs Rural
-Conservation vs Development
-If we do not compromise over national conflicts we are sometimes gridlocked into not being able to make change or even the generation of [unemployment, hunger, revolution] social chaos
-Ideas in managing conflict, the Great Depression and the historic compromise between social conflict and the government spending in order to create new employment
-Competing Interest Groups
-No party can support every interest that a person can believe
-Politics are not politicians
-Not voting is giving up your voice in the community [social responsibility to vote vs force marching of democratic voting]
-Increased voter apathy is taking place all around the world [voting is on the decrease]
-Has to do with people’s perception of politicians and politics
-There is neutrality, neutrality in this term means having no voice
-Competing interest groups create conflict; these must then be fought through compromise
-Allocation of Resources
-What role does the government play in budgeting its resources and budgets to fight poverty
-Power
-The ability to coerce, speak for, influence, inspire, impose upon others
-Institutions influence and coerce the people
-Coercion exists within countries through laws
-Structural coercion [must pick a side, Liberal, Conservative]
-Naked power [Military Might and Power]; Power appears from the barrel of a gun

Politics the Definition
-A process by which agreed upon procedures are used to resolve certain types of social conflicts in a group, community, or society, which results in decisions which are binding upon the members of that group, community, or society.
-The process of an election, a procedure which has laws and regulations still has flaws which influence the politics of an electoral process
-An example of this could be age [or for the past couple generations, gender, residency]
-There is also the problem of citizenship, who can vote?
-No taxation without representation [immigrants cannot vote and have their say, yet they still pay taxes within the society; this can go the same for age]
-What happens when the political process breaks down?
-Usually an opposition member will step down, occasionally, there will be conflicts such a coos where the military will forcefully take over the government
-There is also the example of the South American country where the elected female representative is constantly barred from taking power because the army doesn’t believe in her views
-Without the confidence of the country there will always be conflict

[MarkyMark.]

PSY325 - September 8 / 08

How Do we Define Abnormal Behaviour?
- Is unusual
- Is socially or culturally unacceptable
- Behaviour causes discomfort / distress
- Is maladaptive
- Poses risk to self or other people

Is unusual [Gary Holloway - Environmentalist]
- Fascinated by Martin Van Buren, 8th president, founded fan club
- Dresses in Monks clothing
- Bedroom had everything he had as a boy
- Fixation of childhood items show he may not be developing properly
- Developmental milestones, is he the same as others in his age group
- Despite unusual tendencies he still holds a job and lives his life normally
What is problematic?
- We don’t really know what people do “normally”
- Depending on viewpoint the definition of “normal” may be different from one person to the next
- Uncommon is not necessarily abnormal [Michael Phelps is not considered abnormal]
- Sociocultural context [bereavement, how cultures adapt to different situations]
- Choosing a cut of [what is rare?] 10%, 1%, 5% of population?
- Can’t rare also be possible [Michael Phelps]

Socially / Culturally Unacceptable
- All societies have standards that define acceptable / unacceptable behaviour
What is problematic?
- Different cultures. Norms, relative or universal? Must consider cross-cultural and cross-generational differences [women & assertiveness, attitudes toward homosexuality]
- Generational perspectives also play a large part
- Cultural relativism, there are no universal rules for labelling behaviour as abnormal
- Relativism could lead to slippery slope, cannibalism, the holocaust
- On the other hand we Relativism talks about norms, not behaviours

Behaviour Causes Discomfort / Distress
- People sometimes don’t realize that what they’re doing is distressful
- Again, definition between normal stressful fluctuation, and abnormal distress
- Circumvents problems with “societal norm criterion”
What is problematic?
- Psychotic Spectrum problems, people are not always aware of the problems their behaviours are causing for themselves and others
- Antisocial Personality Disorder, disregarding feelings of others [engage in harmful behaviour yet have no awareness of what they’re doing, may actually enjoy it]
- Excessive Drinking [clouds vision of being able to realize problematic behaviour]
- Developmental Stages


Behaviour is Maladaptive
- Distress and impairment in daily functioning are important indicators of psychological disorder
What is problematic?
- Sometimes the two can be seen independently
- Subjective judgements [what is “normal” functioning
- Should we compare people to a standard or does “adequate functioning” depend on the individual
- There are still definition problems with this definition of Abnormal Behaviour [polygamist communities in US]

Behaviour Poses Risk to Self or Others
- Behaviour that is dangerous may be abnormal [depression sometimes leads to suicide, people who abuse children]
What is problematic?
- Raises a lot of questions about the rest of the pathological psychological field
- Does everyone that signs up for the army or contact sports or sensation seekers have some kind of abnormal pathological problem?

Bottom Line
- It isn’t straightforward
- A combination of the criteria must be used to define abnormality
- Some criteria are weighed more heavily than others, depending on the situation
- [1973] Rosenhan study highlights the complexity of diagnosing psychopathology
o Study to see how diagnosing takes place
o People sent all over to different psychologists and told to tell them they hear voices
o Psychologists took in all case studies as schizophrenia and were held for up to 52 days
o Even after telling psychologists they no longer hear the voices they were kept for observation
o The only people who didn’t think they were schizophrenic were the other psychological patients

Normal or Abnormal?
- Dr. Smith makes a good salary and is a successful researcher
- Interacts minimally with colleagues at work
- He still gets his work done even though not connecting
- No desire for a social life [owns a god]
- Solitary lifestyle, has hobbies at home yet, all of them are hobbies that do not involve anyone else

- May be introverted instead of extraverted
- Lifestyle, who are we to judge his lifestyle? If it makes him happy why bother him?
- Dog can be seen as either a friend or personal counterpart, or unnatural sense of control
- He would be diagnosed with a pathological disorder


 
History of Abnormal Behaviour
Demonic Possessions
- Trephining, a surgery that involved drilling a hole into the skull as a treatment for psychological disorders
- Originated in prehistoric times, endured for a lot longer. Still exists in some places.
- No empirical scientific basis for trephining , pseudo-science
- Also, was used as a way to scare away spirits in Exorcisms

Emergence of Scientific Models of Abnormal Behaviours
- Early Greek philosiphors such as Hippocrates [black bile, yellow bile, phlegm,
- Blood letting [idea from menstruation], purging
- Eysenck’s Four Temperaments [actually quite close to the scales we have today]

Middle Ages and Renaissance
- “Dark” period in psychology’s history
- Regression to spiritual possession as an explanation for abnormal behaviour
- Roman Catholic Church [even though they were responsible for Witch Hunts and harm to those that were ill, they also set up first shelters from those that were abnormal that eventually turned into asylums]
- Witch hunts and water-float tests [damned if you do, damned if you don’t]

Moral Treatment [1800s + 1900s]
- More humane treatment of those with problems
- First “real” psychological theories emerged
- Abnormal behaviour was a result in not being able to adapt to social change
- Treatment was pretty much Rest and Relaxation
- Didn’t last long, there was a lot of critique on the program as not doing enough
- Very radical

The Medical model
- Early 20th century, tremendous advances
- Behaviours are the result of biological defects
- Kraeplin [dementia paradox, manic-depressive psychosis]
- Psychiatric Lexicon [diagnosis, patient, prognosis, treatment, relapse]

Psychological Models
- Other variables that need to be considered
- Charcot [hypnosis as a treatment for hysteria, sudden onset of psychological problems]
- Freud [developed from that model they Psychodynamic theory, that psychological problems come from underlying problems]
- Breuer [Anna O. - the “talking cure”]
- Wundt, Pavlov, Watson, Thorndlike, Skinner [Behaviourism, are people unable to recognize that what they are doing is harmful to themselves?]
- Bandura, Ellis, Beck [Cognitive revolution, people’s thoughts and actions] – Cognitive merges with behaviourism very much


 
Abnormal Psychology from the Scientists Perspective
- We are exposed to untested assumptions and pseudoscientific claims than ever before
Abnormal Psychology from the Scientists Perspective
- We are exposed to untested assumptions and pseudoscientific claims than ever before
- These claims can be harmful
- Pseudoscientific claims are presented so they appear scientific even though they look scientific even though they lack supporting evidence and plausibility
- A “false” or “fake” science
These treatments can cause serious harm
- Candance Newmaker’s death from re-birthing therapy
- Emerge from being crushed under flannel blanket as a sign that she wanted to reconnect with her mother again
- They would not let her out and she eventually died
- Many treatments are relatively innocuous, can still cost the individual in time and financial resources [homeopathy; alternative therapies]
- Homeopaths put forward that pills cure cancer, when cancer is actually cures it is because of placebo effects
- Problem is most times homeopaths do not claim this [there have been many cases of people not seeing real doctors and seeing homeopaths instead]

Features of Critical Thinking
- Maintain scepticism
- Look for operational definitions
- Correlation is not equal to causation
- Evaluate the quality of the evidence
- Psychopathology is complex, be wary of simple answers
- Be careful not to “overgeneralize’
- Cognitive biases [confirmation bias, only take in information to fit how we think]

[Luddy]

Not interested in the notes but I do appreciate you typing all that. + rep

[MarkyMark.]

PSY325 – Sept 12

Theoretical Perspectives and Methods of Treatment
-Traditionally, biological, psychological, and social perspectives are incompatible with one another
-Nature Nurture debate [has died down to an extent; acknowledged that there are multiple causes for problems]
-Emerging are integrative models which incorporate all of the above [vulnerability-stress model; biological risk factors and personality risk factor emerge when being exposed to a stressor]
-PTSD; some people adapt to post traumatic stress, some people don’t. Those who don’t can be believed to have these vulnerabilities which make them more likely to have the disorder

Biological Perspective

Structural Explanation
-Phineas Gage; suffered unusual trauma to his frontal lobe [iron rod shot through]
-Severe changes in personality, and moral reasoning
-First evidence linking frontal lobe [prefrontal cortex] and personality; intellectual capacity is not affected by injuries
-Cerebral Cortex
-Advanced thinking processes
-Hypothalamus
-Regulation of eating, drinking, and sexual behaviour
-Limbic System
-Additional over behaviour regulated by hypothalamus [reactions to stress, fear]

Biochemical Explanation
-Neurotransmitter
-Chemical messenger that transfers neural impulses from one neuron to another
-Too much or too little, can cause certain types of psychopathology
-Uptake and Degradation [Neuro A is not taking back enough leftover neurotransmitters; Neuro B is not receiving enough]
-Receptors [How sensitive the neuron is to certain neurotransmitters]
-Norepinephrine
-Produced by neurons in brain stem
-Too much = Stimulates; can cause excessive anxiety [Cocaine]
-Too little = Causes depression
-Dopamine
-Regulates experiences [reinforcements, rewards]
-Important to muscle systems
-Serotonin
-Regulates body [general
-Endocrine System
-Role of Hormones
-Pituitary [Master Gland] ex. Releases ACTH which travels to adrenals and organs, causing a release of other helpful hormones

 
Genetic Explanation
-How are psychological disorders inherited?
-How to genes affect behaviour?
-Most models are polygenetic, most of the time there is no “bad gene”
-Not all families carry on the genetic disorders
-Types of studies:
-Heritability
-Family History studies [Proband versus Control Group]
-Twin Studies [Problems with being raised the same, being kept in the same environment
-Adoption Studies [Jim Lewis and Jim Springer; separated at birth and reunited in their late 30s, both had the same wives names, the same sons names, smoked the same cigarettes, did the same jobs, had the same workshops, and both chewed their fingernails]
-Bottom line:
-Seems reductionist [doesn’t account for environment, etc]
-Based mainly on animal research
-Working backwards, “because the treatment works...”
-Yet it’s still popular [since there isn’t the stigma of psych being a soft science; makes people more happy since it takes away responsibility and hands it off to genetics]

Psychological Perspectives
Psychodynamic Theory
-Freud: The unconscious process
-Three systems regulate the libido
-ID: Immediate gratification, socially unacceptable, primitive, and deep within the subconscious
-Ego: Keeps the Id in check
-Superego: Society, conscious toward people
-Structure of the Mind
-Unconscious: The Ids main place of stay, user does not know what the unconscious is thinking
-Preconscious: Whatever gets through gets reigned in here
-Conscious: What the user can think and talk about
-Defence Mechanisms
-Strategies which the ego transforms unconscious wishes [ex. Projection: getting mad at wife because of wanting to cheat at work]
-Neurotic Complex
-After too many strategies are used a complex forms. A child is abused; goes on to abuse his wife because he cannot express his stressor where he wants to

-Freud’s methods are incredibly hard to test
-Abstract, case studies do not always give accurate theories because you are only working with a test group of 1; which is arguable when talking about representative

[TehReverend]

Not interested in the notes but I do appreciate you typing all that. + rep

Shows that your not at uni level yet. When you are you will understand.

[MarkyMark.]

Sorry these notes aren't the greatest.
Kinda fell asleep.



POL128 – Sept 12

Canada has freedom of speech
-Media has special treatment when it comes to laws
Opening of Constitution
-Canada is founded on the principals that respect God and the rule of law
-Not everyone believes in God
-Shoppers Drug Mart challenged that as a private entity they may not believe in God; led to Sunday shopping
-Contradiction between the rule of law and the rule of God
-All our freedoms are subject to reasonable limits as can be justified by a free and democratic society [in certain extreme cases the Government can abridge a person’s writes within reasonable limits that can be justified]
-Supreme Court asks themselves whether or not a limit to a freedom is justified
-What is a reasonable limit?
-Notion of harm to another; very difficult test to apply
-Danger to public safety, security, morality
-Democracy used to be a fairly exclusive club
-By in large we express ourselves through our ability to vote

Mass Media
-Advertising, books, films, television, radio, internet...
-We have become walking billboards
-Ads everywhere including the toilets
-The media informs, influences, educates [or un-educates], entertain, sells, employs, transmit values
-Take counter culture icons and turn them hip culturally
-Misguide; debate over misinformation
-Desensitization
-The media is both invasive and pervasive
-Intrude on our private spaces [bombardment of media]

[.PiCe.NuSSy.]

+rep for taking the time to post all this

[MarkyMark.]

PSY350 – September 15 2008

Psychosexual Stages
-Oral Stages (0-18)
-Youngest level. Many problems are caused by child not being adapted to society at this age. Selfish stage. Oral fixation.
-Anal Stage (13-3yr)
-Toilet stage. Frustration and anger can form from this stage.
-Phallic Stage (3yr-6yr)
-Oedipus Complex, male must repress sexual impulses for mother for society
-Electra Complex, female must repress impulses to be boy for mother for society
-Latency Stage (6yr-12yr)
-Not as concerned by the opposite sex. Latent sexual growth.
-Genital Stage
-Sexual stage. Wants to make sexual relations. Marriage. etc.

Overview of Behavioural Theories
-Influence of reinforcements and punishments on behaviour
-Learning occurs through:
-Classical conditioning
-Pavlov’s dog.
-Unconditioned Stimuli
-Unconditioned Response
-Conditioned Stimuli
-Conditioned Response
-Little Albert
-Exposing Albert to UC then making him scared of it
-The White Rat
-Generalization
-Operant conditioning:
-Thorndike and the Law of Effect
-Leads and shapes behaviour
-Rewards Desired Behaviour
-Punished
-Skinner (1930) and Pigeons
-Modelling/Observation learning:
-Learning from other people
-May play a role in phobias in which no trauma has been experienced
-Mineka’s monkey-vicarious acquisition of fear by watching fear reactions
-Information Transmission
-Bottom Line
-“Set the standard” for scientifically testing hypotheses about behaviour
-Rigorously studies but, do these lab tests represent real life

 
The Cognitive Revolution
-Cognitions [thoughts, beliefs, mental images]
-Causal Attribution
-The way people interpret what happens to them influences how they think
-I failed an exam because Exam was Hard vs I am Stupid
-My heart is racing because I’m Anxious vs I’m Having a Heart Attack
-Control Beliefs
-Learned Helplessness
-Dog depression. Dogs not even trying to jump to non shock barrier because it did not work in the past [dogs with control avoided electricity, dogs without did not]
-Dysfunctional Assumptions
-Ellis, Beck
-Negative emotions and problematic behaviour are driven by maladaptive assumptions
[If a person asks for help that person is weak]
-Different from causal because these are broad assumptions
-Bottom Line
-hard to prove changes in cognition lead to changes in emotion and behaviour
-It it’s taken at face value it makes it seem as though all negative thinking is irrational
-In treatment this view is often not expressed by the therapist

Human and Existential Perspectives
-Concepts of “the person”
-Societal pressures to conform get in the way of capacity for living a full life
-Problematic behaviours arise from difficulties self-actualizing
-Non-Pathological is attractive
-Focus on the person while doing therapies
-but, vague, nearly untestable

Interactions Theories
-Combine theories [biological psychological]
-Stress-Vulnerability framework
-Stress alone cannot trigger psychopathological disorder
-Diathesis + Stress = Development of Disorder
-Most prominent theory of psychological treatment

Pseudoscientific Theories
-Thought Field
-Claims to treat a crapload of diseases and problems
-Bioenergetic units called perturbations cause emotional disturbances
-Each perturbation corresponds to a point on the body
-Must tap the right point
-When a treatment fails, it’s an indicator that a client has a toxin
-$100000 TFT treatment training
-Trainee signs a confidentiality agreement not to reveal trade secrets
-Science is public domain, keeping science for themselves is not right

[zerofallensk8er]

dang... im gonna hate college

[TEX-Nathan]

Even tho im not at that level of education yet, some off this stuff sounds interesting. +Rep.

[the_turnernator]

lol at the last notes. i bet you didn't keep a straight face for that top section:biggrin:

[kylesoloman5000]

I read first post.. and you take some decent notes. Seeing as how I'm in High school and take almost as good notes as you I should be okay :o

[Konkins]

I read first post.. and you take some decent notes. Seeing as how I'm in High school and take almost as good notes as you I should be okay :o

High school and college are not even on the same planet as each other. Take a short hand or a note writing class. Most professors at universities will not hold up for you to write or go back over things. Also get used to studying because I went from none in high school to all day every day in college. I'm done with school now and it is worth it after it is said and done.

[nMg_Mr.Fogie]

in most universities in the states they have all gone digital. In all my classes we use smartboards where everything that is written gets saved and is posted onto the web. in every one of my classes everything is on the internet. so all i do in class is try to understand the ideas we are going over and ask alot of questions. then i spend 15-30 mins going over the notes online and rewritting them in my own words. if you do that for every class you should only have to study for a test for about an hour. university/ college level is not as bad as it seems you just have to do the work

[xRoYaLx]

Psych notes, very enjoyable.
Would this happen to be the first semester you've taken the class?
Im only wondering because i have dual enrollment at our community college (Im still in high school)
And we are learning the same concepts that you are.

[EXCeS1VE]

That looks like a, A+