UCSC Psychology 1

UCSC Psychology 1 (Fall,
2016)
Maureen Callanan, Kim Cardilla, Ben Storm
NOBA
Copyright
R. Biswas-Diener & E. Diener (Eds), Noba Textbook Series: Psychology. Champaign, IL: DEF
Publishers. DOI: nobaproject.com
Copyright 2016 by Diener Education Fund. This material is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy
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at these sites.
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Contents
About Noba & Acknowledgements
Research Methods in Psychology (9/27)5

1
Why Science?
Edward Diener
2
Research Designs
17
Christie Napa Scollon

Biological Bases of the Mind (9/29)33
3
The Brain
34
Diane Beck & Evelina Tapia

4
The Brain and Nervous System
51
Robert Biswas-Diener
Perception (10/4)66
5
Vision
67
Simona Buetti & Alejandro Lleras

6
Failures of Awareness: The Case of Inattentional Blindness
83
Daniel Simons
Attention and Consciousness (10/6)95
7
Attention
96
Frances Friedrich
8
States of Consciousness
111
Robert Biswas-Diener & Jake Teeny

Memory (10/11)131
9
Factors Influencing Learning
132
Aaron Benjamin
10 Forgetting and Amnesia
Nicole Dudukovic & Brice Kuhl
146
11 Memory (Encoding, Storage, Retrieval)
157
Kathleen B. McDermott & Henry L. Roediger

Cognition Cont. (10/13)180
12 Eyewitness Testimony and Memory Biases
181
Cara Laney & Elizabeth F. Loftus

13 Judgment and Decision Making
194
Max H. Bazerman
14 Language and Language Use
208
Yoshihisa Kashima
Cognitive and Language Development (10/20)223
15 The Nature-Nurture Question
224
Eric Turkheimer
16 Cognitive Development in Childhood
237
Robert Siegler
Social and Emotional Development (10/25)252
17 Social and Personality Development in Childhood
253
Ross Thompson
18 Attachment Through the Life Course
269
R. Chris Fraley
Learning (10/27)284
19 Conditioning and Learning
285
Mark E. Bouton
20 Self-Efficacy
311
James E Maddux & Evan Kleiman

Intelligence (11/1)329
21 Intelligence
330
22 Intellectual Abilities, Interests, and Mastery
David Lubinski
344
Personality and Identity (11/3)363

23 Personality Traits
364
Edward Diener & Richard E. Lucas

24 Self and Identity
381
Dan P. McAdams
Motivation (11/10)399
25 Drive States
400
Sudeep Bhatia & George Loewenstein

26 Motives and Goals
413
Ayelet Fishbach & Maferima Tour-Tillery

Social Psychology (11/15)430
27 Social Cognition and Attitudes
431
Yanine D. Hess & Cynthia L. Pickett

28 Conformity and Obedience
452
Jerry M. Burger
29 Social Comparison
465
Stephen Garcia & Arnor Halldorsson

Emotions, Stress, and Coping (11/17)481
30 Functions of Emotions
482
Hyisung Hwang & David Matsumoto

31 Emotional Intelligence
496
Marc Brackett, Sarah Delaney & Peter Salovey

32 Emotion Experience and Well-Being
515
Brett Ford & Iris B. Mauss

Psychological Disorders & Therapy, Part 1 (11/29)531
33 Anxiety and Related Disorders
532
David H. Barlow & Kristen K. Ellard

34 Mood Disorders
552
Anda Gershon & Renee Thompson

35 Positive Psychology
Robert A. Emmons
574
Psychological Disorders & Therapy, Part 2 (12/1)587

36 Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders
Deanna M. Barch
588
37 Therapeutic Orientations
Hannah Boettcher, Stefan G. Hofmann & Q. Jade Wu
610
Index
629
About Noba
The Diener Education Fund (DEF) is a non-profit organization founded with the mission of reinventing higher education to serve the changing needs of students and professors. The initial
focus of the DEF is on making information, especially of the type found in textbooks, widely
available to people of all backgrounds. This mission is embodied in the Noba project.
Noba is an open and free online platform that provides high-quality, flexibly structured
textbooks and educational materials. The goals of Noba are three-fold:
To reduce financial burden on students by providing access to free educational content

To provide instructors with a platform to customize educational content to better suit their
curriculum
To present material written by a collection of experts and authorities in the field
The Diener Education Fund is co-founded by Drs. Ed and Carol Diener. Ed is the Joseph Smiley
Distinguished Professor of Psychology (Emeritus) at the University of Illinois. Carol Diener is
the former director of the Mental Health Worker and the Juvenile Justice Programs at the
University of Illinois. Both Ed and Carol are award- winning university teachers.
Acknowledgements
The Diener Education Fund would like to acknowledge the following individuals and companies
for their contribution to the Noba Project: The staff of Positive Acorn, including Robert BiswasDiener as managing editor and Peter Lindberg as Project Manager; The Other Firm for user
experience design and web development; Sockeye Creative for their work on brand and
identity development; Arthur Mount for illustrations; Chad Hurst for photography; EEI
Communications for manuscript proofreading; Marissa Diener, Shigehiro Oishi, Daniel
Simons, Robert Levine, Lorin Lachs and Thomas Sander for their feedback and suggestions
in the early stages of the project.
Research Methods in Psychology (9/27)
1
Why Science?
Edward Diener
Scientific research has been one of the great drivers of progress in human history, and the
dramatic changes we have seen during the past century are due primarily to scientific findings
modern medicine, electronics, automobiles and jets, birth control, and a host of other
helpful inventions. Psychologists believe that scientific methods can be used in the behavioral
domain to understand and improve the world. Although psychology trails the biological and
physical sciences in terms of progress, we are optimistic based on discoveries to date that
scientific psychology will make many important discoveries that can benefit humanity. This
module outlines the characteristics of the science, and the promises it holds for understanding
behavior. The ethics that guide psychological research are briefly described. It concludes with
the reasons you should learn about scientific psychology.
Learning Objectives
Describe how scientific research has changed the world.

Describe the key characteristics of the scientific approach.
Discuss a few of the benefits, as well as problems that have been created by science.
Describe several ways that psychological science has improved the world.
Describe a number of the ethical guidelines that psychologists follow.
Scientific Advances and World Progress

There are many people who have made positive contributions to humanity in modern times.
Why Science?
Take a careful look at the names on the following list. Which of these individuals do you think
has helped humanity the most?
1. Mother Teresa
2. Albert Schweitzer
3. Edward Jenner
4. Norman Borlaug
5. Fritz Haber
The usual response to this question is Who on earth are Jenner, Borlaug, and Haber? Many
people know that Mother Teresa helped thousands of people living in the slums of Kolkata
(Calcutta). Others recall that Albert Schweitzer opened his famous hospital in Africa and went
on to earn the Nobel Peace Prize. The other three historical figures, on the other hand, are
far less well known. Jenner, Borlaug, and Haber were scientists whose research discoveries
saved millions, and even billions, of lives. Dr. Edward Jenner is often considered the father
of immunology because he was among the first to conceive of and test vaccinations. His
pioneering work led directly to the eradication of smallpox. Many other diseases have been
greatly reduced because of vaccines discovered using sciencemeasles, pertussis, diphtheria,
tetanus, typhoid, cholera, polio, hepatitisand all are the legacy of Jenner. Fritz Haber and
Norman Borlaug saved more than a
billion human lives. They created the
Green Revolution by producing
hybrid agricultural crops and synthetic
fertilizer. Humanity can now produce
food for the seven billion people on
the planet, and the starvation that
does occur is related to political and
economic factors rather than our
collective ability to produce food.
If you examine major social and
technological changes over the past
century most of them can be directly
Due to the breakthrough work of Dr. Edward Jenner, millions of
attributed to science. The world in
vaccinations are now administered around the world every year
1914 was very different than the one
preventing the spread of many treatable diseases while saving the lives
we see today (Easterbrook, 2003).
of people of all ages. [Photo: cambodiaforkids.org]
There were few cars and most people
Why Science?
traveled by foot, horseback, or carriage. There were no radios, televisions, birth control pills,
artificial hearts or antibiotics. Only a small portion of the world had telephones, refrigeration
or electricity. These days we find that 80% of all households have television and 84% have
electricity. It is estimated that three quarters of the worlds population has access to a mobile
phone! Life expectancy was 47 years in 1900 and 79 years in 2010. The percentage of hungry
and malnourished people in the world has dropped substantially across the globe. Even
average levels of I.Q. have risen dramatically over the past century due to better nutrition and
schooling.
All of these medical advances and technological innovations are the direct result of scientific
research and understanding. In the modern age it is easy to grow complacent about the
advances of science but make no mistake about itscience has made fantastic discoveries,
and continues to do so. These discoveries have completely changed our world.
What Is Science?
What is this process we call science, which has so dramatically changed the world? Ancient
people were more likely to believe in magical and supernatural explanations for natural
phenomena such as solar eclipses or thunderstorms. By contrast, scientifically minded people
try to figure out the natural world through testing and observation. Specifically, science is the
use of systematic observation in order to acquire knowledge. For example, children in a
science class might combine vinegar and baking soda to observe the bubbly chemical reaction.
These empirical methods are wonderful ways to learn about the physical and biological world.
Science is not magicit will not solve all human problems, and might not answer all our
questions about behavior. Nevertheless, it appears to be the most powerful method we have
for acquiring knowledge about the observable world. The essential elements of science are
as follows:
1. Systematic observation is the core of science. Scientists observe the world, in a very organized
way. We often measure the phenomenon we are observing. We record our observations
so that memory biases are less likely to enter in to our conclusions. We are systematic in
that we try to observe under controlled conditions, and also systematically vary the
conditions of our observations so that we can see variations in the phenomena and
understand when they occur and do not occur.
2. Observation leads to hypotheses we can test. When we develop hypothesesand theories, we
state them in a way that can be tested. For example, you might make the claim that candles
made of paraffin wax burn more slowly than do candles of the exact same size and shape
made from bees wax. This claim can be readily tested by timing the burning speed of
Why Science?
candles made from these materials.

3. Science is democratic. People in
ancient times may have been willing
to accept the views of their kings or
pharaohs as absolute truth. These
days, however, people are more likely
to want to be able to form their own
opinions and debate conclusions.
Scientists are skeptical and have open
discussions about their observations
and theories. These debates often
occur as scientists publish competing
Systematic observation is the core of science. [Photo: Micah Sittig]
findings with the idea that the best

data will win the argument.
4. Science is cumulative. We can learn the important truths discovered by earlier scientists and
build on them. Any physics student today knows more about physics than Sir Isaac Newton
did even though Newton was possibly the most brilliant physicist of all time. A crucial
aspect of scientific progress is that after we learn of earlier advances, we can build upon
them and move farther along the path of knowledge.
Psychology as a Science
Even in modern times many people are skeptical that psychology is really a science. To some
degree this doubt stems from the fact that many psychological phenomena such as
depression, intelligence, and prejudice do not seem to be directly observable in the same way
that we can observe the changes in ocean tides or the speed of light. Because thoughts and
feelings are invisible many early psychological researchers chose to focus on behavior. You
might have noticed that some people act in a friendly and outgoing way while others appear
to be shy and withdrawn. If you have made these types of observations then you are acting
just like early psychologists who used behavior to draw inferences about various types of
personality. By using behavioral measures and rating scales it is possible to measure thoughts
and feelings. This is similar to how other researchers explore invisible phenomena such as
the way that educators measure academic performance or economists measure quality of life.
One important pioneering researcher was Francis Galton, a cousin of Charles Darwin who
lived in England during the late 1800s. Galton used patches of color to test peoples ability to
distinguish between them. He also invented the self-report questionnaire, in which people
offered their own expressed judgments or opinions on various matters. Galton was able to
Why Science?
use self-reports to examineamong other thingspeoples differing ability to accurately

judge distances.
Although he lacked a modern
understanding of genetics Galton
also had the idea that scientists
could look at the behaviors of
identical and fraternal twins to
estimate the degree to which
genetic and social factors contribute
to personality; a puzzling issue we
currently refer to as the naturenurture question.
In modern times psychology has
become more sophisticated. Rese
In 1875 Francis Galton did pioneering studies of twins to determine how
archers now use better measures,
much the similarities and differences in twins were affected by their life
more sophisticated study designs
experiences. In the course of this work he coined the phrase "Nature versus
Nurture". [Photo: bambibabe48]
and better statistical analyses to

explore human nature. Simply take
the example of studying the emotion of happiness. How would you go about studying
happiness? One straightforward method is to simply ask people about their happiness and
to have them use a numbered scale to indicate their feelings. There are, of course, several
problems with this. People might lie about their happiness, might not be able to accurately
report on their own happiness, or might not use the numerical scale in the same way. With
these limitations in mind modern psychologists employ a wide range of methods to assess
happiness. They use, for instance, peer report measures in which they ask close friends and
family members about the happiness of a target individual. Researchers can then compare
these ratings to the self-report ratings and check for discrepancies. Researchers also use
memory measures, with the idea that dispositionally positive people have an easier time
recalling pleasant events and negative people have an easier time recalling unpleasant events.
Modern psychologists even use biological measures such as saliva cortisol samples (cortisol
is a stress related hormone) or fMRI images of brain activation (the left pre-frontal cortex is
one area of brain activity associated with good moods).
Despite our various methodological advances it is true that psychology is still a very young
science. While physics and chemistry are hundreds of years old psychology is barely a hundred
and fifty years old and most of our major findings have occurred only in the last 60 years.
There are legitimate limits to psychological science but it is a science nonetheless.
10
Why Science?
Psychological Science is Useful

Psychological science is useful for creating interventions that help people live better lives. A
growing body of research is concerned with determining which therapies are the most and
least effective for the treatment of psychological disorders.
For example, many studies have
shown that cognitive behavioral
therapy can help many people
suffering
from
depression
and
anxiety disorders (Butler, Chapman,

Forman, & Beck, 2006; Hoffman &
Smits, 2008). In contrast, research
reveals that some types of therapies
actually might be harmful on average
(Lilienfeld, 2007).
In
organizational
psychology,
number of psychological interventions
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy has shown to be effective in treating a
have been found by researchers to
variety of conditions, including depression. [Photo: SalFalco]
produce greater productivity and

satisfaction in the workplace (e.g., Guzzo, Jette, & Katzell, 1985). Human factor engineers have
greatly increased the safety and utility of the products we use. For example, the human factors
psychologist Alphonse Chapanis and other researchers redesigned the cockpit controls of
aircraft to make them less confusing and easier to respond to, and this led to a decrease in
pilot errors and crashes.
Forensic sciences have made courtroom decisions more valid. We all know of the famous
cases of imprisoned persons who have been exonerated because of DNA evidence. Equally
dramatic cases hinge on psychological findings. For instance, psychologist Elizabeth Loftus
has conducted research demonstrating the limits and unreliability of eyewitness testimony
and memory. Thus, psychological findings are having practical importance in the world outside
the laboratory. Psychological science has experienced enough success to demonstrate that
it works, but there remains a huge amount yet to be learned.
Ethics of Scientific Psychology

Psychology differs somewhat from the natural sciences such as chemistry in that researchers
11
Why Science?
conduct studies with human research participants.

Because of this there is a natural tendency to want
to guard research participants against potential
psychological harm. For example, it might be
interesting to see how people handle ridicule but it
might not be advisable to ridicule research
participants.
Scientific psychologists follow a specific set of
guidelines for research known as a code of ethics.
There are extensive ethical guidelines for how
human
participants
should
be
treated
in
psychological research (Diener & Crandall, 1978;

Sales & Folkman, 2000). Following are a few
highlights:
Diagram of the Milgram Experiment in which the

"teacher" (T) was asked to deliver a (supposedly)
1. Informed consent. In general, people should know
painful electric shock to the "learner"(L). Would this
when they are involved in research, and
experiment be approved by a review board today?
understand what will happen to them during the

study. They should then be given a free choice as to whether to participate.
2. Confidentiality. Information that researchers learn about individual participants should not
be made public without the consent of the individual.
3. Privacy. Researchers should not make observations of people in private places such as
their bedrooms without their knowledge and consent. Researchers should not seek
confidential information from others, such as school authorities, without consent of the
participant or his or her guardian.
4. Benefits. Researchers should consider the benefits of their proposed research and weigh
these against potential risks to the participants. People who participate in psychological
studies should be exposed to risk only if they fully understand these risks and only if the
likely benefits clearly outweigh the risks.
5. Deception. Some researchers need to deceive participants in order to hide the true nature
of the study. This is typically done to prevent participants from modifying their behavior
in unnatural ways. Researchers are required to debrief their participants after they have
completed the study. Debriefing is an opportunity to educate participants about the true
nature of the study.
Why Learn About Scientific Psychology?
12
Why Science?
I once had a psychology professor who asked my class why we were taking a psychology
course. Our responses give the range of reasons that people want to learn about psychology:
1. To understand ourselves
2. To understand other people and groups
3. To be better able to influence others, for example, in socializing children or motivating
employees
4. To learn how to better help others and improve the world, for example, by doing effective
psychotherapy
5. To learn a skill that will lead to a profession such as being a social worker or a professor
6. To learn how to evaluate the research claims you hear or read about
7. Because it is interesting, challenging, and fun! People want to learn about psychology
because this is exciting in itself, regardless of other positive outcomes it might have. Why
do we see movies? Because they are fun and exciting, and we need no other reason. Thus,
one good reason to study psychology is that it can be rewarding in itself.
Conclusions
The science of psychology is an exciting adventure. Whether you will become a scientific
psychologist, an applied psychologist, or an educated person who knows about psychological
research, this field can influence your life and provide fun, rewards, and understanding. My
hope is that you learn a lot from the modules in this e-text, and also that you enjoy the
experience! I love learning about psychology and neuroscience, and hope you will too!
13
Why Science?
Outside Resources
Web: Science Heroes- A celebration of people who have made lifesaving discoveries.
http://www.scienceheroes.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=258&Itemid=27
Discussion Questions
1. Some claim that science has done more harm than good. What do you think?
2. Humanity is faced with many challenges and problems. Which of these are due to human
behavior, and which are external to human actions?
3. If you were a research psychologist, what phenomena or behaviors would most interest
you?
4. Will psychological scientists be able to help with the current challenges humanity faces,
such as global warming, war, inequality, and mental illness?
5. What can science study and what is outside the realm of science? What questions are
impossible for scientists to study?
6. Some claim that science will replace religion by providing sound knowledge instead of
myths to explain the world. They claim that science is a much more reliable source of
solutions to problems such as disease than is religion. What do you think? Will science
replace religion, and should it?
7. Are there human behaviors that should not be studied? Are some things so sacred or
dangerous that we should not study them?
14
Why Science?
Vocabulary
Empirical methods
Approaches to inquiry that are tied to actual measurement and observation.
Ethics
Professional guidelines that offer researchers a template for making decisions that protect
research participants from potential harm and that help steer scientists away from conflicts
of interest or other situations that might compromise the integrity of their research.
Hypotheses
A logical idea that can be tested.
Systematic observation
The careful observation of the natural world with the aim of better understanding it.
Observations provide the basic data that allow scientists to track, tally, or otherwise organize
information about the natural world.
Theories
Groups of closely related phenomena or observations.
15
Why Science?
References
Butler, A. C., Chapman, J. E., Forman, E. M., & Beck, A. T. (2006). The empirical status of cognitivebehavioral therapy: A review of meta-analyses. Clinical Psychology Review, 26, 1731.
Diener, E., & Crandall, R. (1978). Ethics in social and behavioral research. Chicago, IL: University
of Chicago Press.
Easterbrook, G. (2003). The progress paradox. New York, NY: Random House.
Guzzo, R. A., Jette, R. D., & Katzell, R. A. (1985). The effects of psychologically based intervention
programs on worker productivity: A meta-analysis. Personnel Psychology, 38, 275.291.
Hoffman, S. G., & Smits, J. A. J. (2008). Cognitive-behavioral therapy for adult anxiety disorders.
Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 69, 62132.
Lilienfeld, S. O. (2007). Psychological treatments that cause harm. Perspectives on Psychological
Science, 2, 5370.
Moore, D. (2003). Public lukewarm on animal rights. Gallup News Service, May 21.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/8461/public-lukewarm-animal-rights.aspx
Sales, B. D., & Folkman, S. (Eds.). (2000). Ethics in research with human participants. Washington,
DC: American Psychological Association.
2
Research Designs
Christie Napa Scollon
Psychologists test research questions using a variety of methods. Most research relies on
either correlations or experiments. With correlations, researchers measure variables as they
naturally occur in people and compute the degree to which two variables go together. With
experiments, researchers actively make changes in one variable and watch for changes in
another variable. Experiments allow researchers to make causal inferences. Other types of
methods include longitudinal and quasi-experimental designs. Many factors, including
practical constraints, determine the type of methods researchers use. Often researchers
survey people even though it would be better, but more expensive and time consuming, to
track them longitudinally.
Learning Objectives
Articulate the difference between correlational and experimental designs.

Understand how to interpret correlations.
Understand how experiments help us to infer causality.
Understand how surveys relate to correlational and experimental research.
Explain what a longitudinal study is.
List a strength and weakness of different research designs.
Research Designs
17
Research Designs
In the early 1970s, a man named Uri Geller tricked the world: he convinced hundreds of
thousands of people that he could bend spoons and slow watches using only the power of
his mind. In fact, if you were in the audience, you would have likely believed he had psychic
powers. Everything looked authenticthis man had to have paranormal abilities! So, why
have you probably never heard of him before? Because when Uri was asked to perform his
miracles in line with scientific experimentation, he was no longer able to do them. That is,
even though it seemed like he was doing the impossible, when he was tested by science, he
proved to be nothing more than a clever magician.
When we look at dinosaur bones to make educated guesses about extinct life, or systematically
chart the heavens to learn about the relationships between stars and planets, or study
magicians to figure out how they perform their tricks, we are forming observationsthe
foundation of science. Although we are all familiar with the saying seeing is believing,
conducting science is more than just what your eyes perceive. Science is the result of
systematic and intentional study of the natural world. And psychology is no different. In the
movie Jerry Maguire, Cuba Gooding, Jr. became famous for using the phrase, Show me the
money! In psychology, as in all sciences, we might say, Show me the data!
One of the important steps in scientific inquiry is to test our research questions, otherwise
known as hypotheses. However, there are many ways to test hypotheses in psychological
research. Which method you choose will depend on the type of questions you are asking, as
well as what resources are available to you. All methods have limitations, which is why the
best research uses a variety of methods.
Most psychological research can be divided into two types: experimental and correlational
research.
Experimental Research
If somebody gave you $20 that absolutely had to be spent today, how would you choose to
spend it? Would you spend it on an item youve been eyeing for weeks, or would you donate
the money to charity? Which option do you think would bring you the most happiness? If
youre like most people, youd choose to spend the money on yourself (duh, right?). Our
intuition is that wed be happier if we spent the money on ourselves.
Knowing that our intuition can sometimes be wrong, Professor Elizabeth Dunn (2008) at the
University of British Columbia set out to conduct an experiment on spending and happiness.
She gave each of the participants in her experiment $20 and then told them they had to spend
18
Research Designs
the money by the end of the day.

Some of the participants were told
they must spend the money on
themselves, and some were told they
must spend the money on others
(either charity or a gift for someone).
At the end of the day she measured
participants levels of happiness
using a self-report questionnaire.
(But wait, how do you measure
something like happiness when you
At the Corner Perk Cafe customers routinely pay for the drinks of
strangers. Is this the way to get the most happiness out of a cup of coffee?
Elizabeth Dunn's research shows that spending money on others may
affect our happiness differently than spending money on ourselves.
cant really see it? Psychologists

measure many abstract concepts,
such as happiness and intelligence,
by
beginning
with
operational
definitions of the concepts. See the Noba modules on Intelligence [http://noba.to/acxb2thy] and
Happiness [http://noba.to/qnw7g32t], respectively, for more information on specific
measurement strategies.)
In an experiment, researchers manipulate, or cause changes, in the independent variable,
and observe or measure any impact of those changes in the dependent variable. The
independent variable is the one under the experimenters control, or the variable that is
intentionally altered between groups. In the case of Dunns experiment, the independent
variable was whether participants spent the money on themselves or on others. The
dependent variable is the variable that is not manipulated at all, or the one where the effect
happens. One way to help remember this is that the dependent variable depends on what
happens to the independent variable. In our example, the participants happiness (the
dependent variable in this experiment) depends on how the participants spend their money
(the independent variable). Thus, any observed changes or group differences in happiness
can be attributed to whom the money was spent on. What Dunn and her colleagues found
was that, after all the spending had been done, the people who had spent the money on
others were happier than those who had spent the money on themselves. In other words,
spending on others causes us to be happier than spending on ourselves. Do you find this
surprising?
But wait! Doesnt happiness depend on a lot of different factorsfor instance, a persons
upbringing or life circumstances? What if some people had happy childhoods and thats why
theyre happier? Or what if some people dropped their toast that morning and it fell jam-side
down and ruined their whole day? It is correct to recognize that these factors and many more
19
Research Designs
can easily affect a persons level of happiness. So how can we accurately conclude that
spending money on others causes happiness, as in the case of Dunns experiment?
The most important thing about experiments is random assignment. Participants dont get
to pick which condition they are in (e.g., participants didnt choose whether they were
supposed to spend the money on themselves versus others). The experimenter assigns them
to a particular condition based on the flip of a coin or the roll of a die or any other random
method. Why do researchers do this? With Dunns study, there is the obvious reason: you can
imagine which condition most people would choose to be in, if given the choice. But another
equally important reason is that random assignment makes it so the groups, on average, are
similar on all characteristics except what the experimenter manipulates.
By randomly assigning people to conditions (self-spending versus other-spending), some
people with happy childhoods should end up in each condition. Likewise, some people who
had dropped their toast that morning (or experienced some other disappointment) should
end up in each condition. As a result, the distribution of all these factors will generally be
consistent across the two groups, and this means that on average the two groups will be
relatively equivalent on all these factors. Random assignment is critical to experimentation
because if the only difference between the two groups is the independent variable, we can
infer that the independent variable is the cause of any observable difference (e.g., in the
amount of happiness they feel at the end of the day).
Heres another example of the importance of random assignment: Lets say your class is going
to form two basketball teams, and you get to be the captain of one team. The class is to be
divided evenly between the two teams. If you get to pick the players for your team first, whom
will you pick? Youll probably pick the tallest members of the class or the most athletic. You
probably wont pick the short, uncoordinated people, unless there are no other options. As a
result, your team will be taller and more athletic than the other team. But what if we want the
teams to be fair? How can we do this when we have people of varying height and ability? All
we have to do is randomly assign players to the two teams. Most likely, some tall and some
short people will end up on your team, and some tall and some short people will end up on
the other team. The average height of the teams will be approximately the same. That is the
power of random assignment!
Other considerations
In addition to using random assignment, you should avoid introducing confounds into your
experiments. Confounds are things that could undermine your ability to draw causal
20
Research Designs
inferences. For example, if you wanted to test if a new happy pill will make people happier,
you could randomly assign participants to take the happy pill or not (the independent variable)
and compare these two groups on their self-reported happiness (the dependent variable).
However, if some participants know they are getting the happy pill, they might develop
expectations that influence their self-reported happiness. This is sometimes known as a
placebo effect. Sometimes a person just knowing that he or she is receiving special treatment
or something new is enough to actually cause changes in behavior or perception: In other
words, even if the participants in the happy pill condition were to report being happier, we
wouldnt know if the pill was actually making them happier or if it was the placebo effectan
example of a confound. A related idea is participant demand. This occurs when participants
try to behave in a way they think the experimenter wants them to behave. Placebo effects
and participant demand often occur unintentionally. Even experimenter expectations can
influence the outcome of a study. For example, if the experimenter knows who took the happy
pill and who did not, and the dependent variable is the experimenters observations of peoples
happiness, then the experimenter might perceive improvements in the happy pill group that
are not really there.
One way to prevent these confounds from affecting the results of a study is to use a doubleblind procedure. In a double-blind procedure, neither the participant nor the experimenter
knows which condition the participant is in. For example, when participants are given the
happy pill or the fake pill, they dont know which one they are receiving. This way the
participants shouldnt experience the placebo effect, and will be unable to behave as the
researcher expects (participant demand). Likewise, the researcher doesnt know which pill
each participant is taking (at least in the beginninglater, the researcher will get the results
for data-analysis purposes), which means the researchers expectations cant influence his or
her observations. Therefore, because both parties are blind to the condition, neither will be
able to behave in a way that introduces a confound. At the end of the day, the only difference
between groups will be which pills the participants received, allowing the researcher to
determine if the happy pill actually caused people to be happier.
Correlational Designs
When scientists passively observe and measure phenomena it is called correlational research.
Here, we do not intervene and change behavior, as we do in experiments. In correlational
research, we identify patterns of relationships, but we usually cannot infer what causes what.
Importantly, with correlational research, you can examine only two variables at a time, no
more and no less.
21
Research Designs
So, what if you wanted to test whether spending on others is related to happiness, but you
dont have $20 to give to each participant? You could use a correlational designwhich is
exactly what Professor Dunn did, too. She asked people how much of their income they spent
on others or donated to charity, and later she asked them how happy they were. Do you think
these two variables were related? Yes, they were! The more money people reported spending
on others, the happier they were.
More details about the correlation

To find out how well two variables correspond, we can plot the relation between the two
scores on what is known as a scatterplot (Figure 1). In the scatterplot, each dot represents a
data point. (In this case its individuals, but it could be some other unit.) Importantly, each dot
provides us with two pieces of informationin this case, information about how good the
person rated the past month (x-axis) and how happy the person felt in the past month (yaxis). Which variable is plotted on which axis does not matter.
The association between two variables
can be summarized statistically using the
correlation coefficient (abbreviated as r).
A correlation coefficient provides information
about the direction and strength of the
association between two variables. For
the example above, the direction of the
association is positive. This means that
people who perceived the past month as
being good reported feeling more happy,
whereas people who perceived the
month as being bad reported feeling less
happy.
With a positive correlation, the two
Figure 1. Scatterplot of the association between happiness and
variables go up or down together. In a
ratings of the past month, a positive correlation (r = .81). Each dot
scatterplot, the dots form a pattern that
represents an individual.
extends from the bottom left to the upper

right (just as they do in Figure 1). The r
value for a positive correlation is indicated by a positive number (although, the positive sign
is usually omitted). Here, the r value is .81.
22
Research Designs
A negative correlation is one in which the two variables move in opposite directions. That is,
as one variable goes up, the other goes down. Figure 2 shows the association between the
average height of males in a country (y-axis) and the pathogen prevalence (or commonness
of disease; x-axis) of that country. In this scatterplot, each dot represents a country. Notice
how the dots extend from the top left to the bottom right. What does this mean in real-world
terms? It means that people are shorter in parts of the world where there is more disease.
The r value for a negative correlation is indicated by a negative numberthat is, it has a minus
() sign in front of it. Here, it is .83.
The strength of a correlation has to
do with how well the two variables
align. Recall that in Professor Dunns
correlational study, spending on
others positively correlated with
happiness: The more money people
reported spending on others, the
happier they reported to be. At this
point you may be thinking to
yourself, I know a very generous
person who gave away lots of
money to other people but is
miserable! Or maybe you know of a
very stingy person who is happy as
can
be.
Yes,
there
might
be
exceptions. If an association has

many exceptions, it is considered a
Figure 2. Scatterplot showing the association between average male

height and pathogen prevalence, a negative correlation (r = .83). Each
dot represents a country. (Chiao, 2009)
weak correlation. If an association

has few or no exceptions, it is considered a strong correlation. A strong correlation is one in
which the two variables always, or almost always, go together. In the example of happiness
and how good the month has been, the association is strong. The stronger a correlation is,
the tighter the dots in the scatterplot will be arranged along a sloped line.
The r value of a strong correlation will have a high absolute value. In other words, you disregard
whether there is a negative sign in front of the r value, and just consider the size of the
numerical value itself. If the absolute value is large, it is a strong correlation. A weak correlation
is one in which the two variables correspond some of the time, but not most of the time.
Figure 3 shows the relation between valuing happiness and grade point average (GPA). People
who valued happiness more tended to earn slightly lower grades, but there were lots of
exceptions to this. The r value for a weak correlation will have a low absolute value. If two
23
Research Designs
variables are so weakly related as to be unrelated, we say they are uncorrelated, and the r
value will be zero or very close to zero. In the previous example, is the correlation between
height and pathogen prevalence strong? Compared to Figure 3, the dots in Figure 2 are tighter
and less dispersed. The absolute value of .83 is large. Therefore, it is a strong negative
correlation.
Can you guess the strength and
direction of the correlation between
age and year of birth? If you said this is
a strong negative correlation, you are
correct! Older people always have
lower years of birth than younger
people (e.g., 1950 vs. 1995), but at the
same time, the older people will have
a higher age (e.g., 65 vs. 20). In fact, this
is a perfect correlation because there
are no exceptions to this pattern. I
challenge you to find a 10-year-old
born before 2003! You cant.
Figure 3. Scatterplot showing the association between valuing
happiness and GPA, a weak negative correlation (r = .32). Each dot
Problems with the correlation
represents an individual.
If
generosity
and
happiness
are
positively correlated, should we conclude that being generous causes happiness? Similarly, if
height and pathogen prevalence are negatively correlated, should we conclude that disease
causes shortness? From a correlation alone, we cant be certain. For example, in the first case
it may be that happiness causes generosity, or that generosity causes happiness. Or, a third
variable might cause both happiness and generosity, creating the illusion of a direct link
between the two. For example, wealth could be the third variable that causes both greater
happiness and greater generosity. This is why correlation does not mean causationan often
repeated phrase among psychologists.
Qualitative Designs
Just as correlational research allows us to study topics we cant experimentally manipulate (e.
g., whether you have a large or small income), there are other types of research designs that
allow us to investigate these harder-to-study topics. Qualitative designs, including participant
observation, case studies, and narrative analysis are examples of such methodologies.
24
Research Designs
Although something as simple as observation may seem like it would be a part of all research
methods, participant observation is a distinct methodology that involves the researcher
embedding him- or herself into a group in order to study its dynamics. For example, Festinger,
Riecken, and Shacter (1956) were very interested in the psychology of a particular cult.
However, this cult was very secretive and wouldnt grant interviews to outside members. So,
in order to study these people, Festinger and his colleagues pretended to be cult members,
allowing them access to the behavior and psychology of the cult. Despite this example, it
should be noted that the people being observed in a participant observation study usually
know that the researcher is there to study them.
Another qualitative method for research is the case study, which involves an intensive
examination of specific individuals or specific contexts. Sigmund Freud, the father of
psychoanalysis, was famous for using this type of methodology; however, more current
examples of case studies usually involve brain injuries. For instance, imagine that researchers
want to know how a very specific brain injury affects peoples experience of happiness.
Obviously, the researchers cant conduct experimental research that involves inflicting this
type of injury on people. At the same time, there are too few people who have this type of
injury to conduct correlational research. In such an instance, the researcher may examine
only one person with this brain injury, but in doing so, the researcher will put the participant
through a very extensive round of tests. Hopefully what is learned from this one person can
be applied to others; however, even with thorough tests, there is the chance that something
unique about this individual (other than the brain injury) will affect his or her happiness. But
with such a limited number of possible participants, a case study is really the only type of
methodology suitable for researching this brain injury.
The final qualitative method to be discussed in this section is narrative analysis. Narrative
analysis centers around the study of stories and personal accounts of people, groups, or
cultures. In this methodology, rather than engaging with participants directly, or quantifying
their responses or behaviors, researchers will analyze the themes, structure, and dialogue of
each persons narrative. That is, a researcher will examine peoples personal testimonies in
order to learn more about the psychology of those individuals or groups. These stories may
be written, audio-recorded, or video-recorded, and allow the researcher not only to study
what the participant says but how he or she says it. Every person has a unique perspective on
the world, and studying the way he or she conveys a story can provide insight into that
perspective.
Quasi-Experimental Designs
25
Research Designs
What if you want to study the effects of marriage on a variable? For example, does marriage
make people happier? Can you randomly assign some people to get married and others to
remain single? Of course not. So how can you study these important variables? You can use
a quasi-experimental design.
A quasi-experimental design is similar
to experimental research, except that
random assignment to conditions is
not used. Instead, we rely on existing
group memberships (e.g., married vs.
single).
We
treat
these
as
the
independent variables, even though we

dont assign people to the conditions
and dont manipulate the variables. As
a
result,
with
quasi-experimental
designs causal inference is more

difficult. For example, married people
might differ on a variety of characteristics
What is a reasonable way to study the effects of marriage on
from unmarried people. If we find that
happiness? (Photo: Nina Matthews Photography)
married participants are happier than

single participants, it will be hard to say that marriage causes happiness, because the people
who got married might have already been happier than the people who have remained single.
Because experimental and quasi-experimental designs can seem pretty similar, lets take
another example to distinguish them. Imagine you want to know who is a better professor:
Dr. Smith or Dr. Khan. To judge their ability, youre going to look at their students final grades.
Here, the independent variable is the professor (Dr. Smith vs. Dr. Khan) and the dependent
variable is the students grades. In an experimental design, you would randomly assign
students to one of the two professors and then compare the students final grades. However,
in real life, researchers cant randomly force students to take one professor over the other;
instead, the researchers would just have to use the preexisting classes and study them as-is
(quasi-experimental design). Again, the key difference is random assignment to the conditions
of the independent variable. Although the quasi-experimental design (where the students
choose which professor they want) may seem random, its most likely not. For example, maybe
students heard Dr. Smith sets low expectations, so slackers prefer this class, whereas Dr. Khan
sets higher expectations, so smarter students prefer that one. This now introduces a
confounding variable (student intelligence) that will almost certainly have an effect on
students final grades, regardless of how skilled the professor is. So, even though a quasiexperimental design is similar to an experimental design (i.e., it has a manipulated
26
Research Designs
independent variable), because theres no random assignment, you cant reasonably draw the
same conclusions that you would with an experimental design.
Longitudinal Studies
Another powerful research design is the longitudinal study. Longitudinal studies track the
same people over time. Some longitudinal studies last a few weeks, some a few months, some
a year or more. Some studies that have contributed a lot to psychology followed the same
people over decades. For example, one study followed more than 20,000 Germans for two
decades. From these longitudinal data, psychologist Rich Lucas (2003) was able to determine
that people who end up getting married indeed start off a bit happier than their peers who
never marry. Longitudinal studies like this provide valuable evidence for testing many theories
in psychology, but they can be quite costly to conduct, especially if they follow many people
for many years.
Surveys
A survey is a way of gathering
information, using old-fashioned
questionnaires or the Internet.
Compared to a study conducted
in
psychology
laboratory,
surveys can reach a larger

number of participants at a
much
lower
cost.
Although
surveys are typically used for

correlational research, this is not
Surveys provide researchers with some significant advantages in gathering
always the case. An experiment
data. They make it possible to reach large numbers of people while keeping
can be carried out using surveys
costs to the researchers and the time commitments of participants relatively
as well. For example, King and
low.
Napa (1998) presented participants

with different types of stimuli on
paper: either a survey completed by a happy person or a survey completed by an unhappy

person. They wanted to see whether happy people were judged as more likely to get into
heaven compared to unhappy people. Can you figure out the independent and dependent
variables in this study? Can you guess what the results were? Happy people (vs. unhappy
people; the independent variable) were judged as more likely to go to heaven (the dependent
variable) compared to unhappy people!
27
Research Designs
Likewise, correlational research can be conducted without the use of surveys. For instance,
psychologists LeeAnn Harker and Dacher Keltner (2001) examined the smile intensity of
womens college yearbook photos. Smiling in the photos was correlated with being married
10 years later!
Tradeoffs in Research
Even though there are serious limitations to correlational and quasi-experimental research,
they are not poor cousins to experiments and longitudinal designs. In addition to selecting a
method that is appropriate to the question, many practical concerns may influence the
decision to use one method over another. One of these factors is simply resource availability
how much time and money do you have to invest in the research? (Tip: If youre doing a
senior honors thesis, do not embark on a lengthy longitudinal study unless you are prepared
to delay graduation!) Often, we survey people even though it would be more precisebut
much more difficultto track them longitudinally. Especially in the case of exploratory
research, it may make sense to opt for a cheaper and faster method first. Then, if results from
the initial study are promising, the researcher can follow up with a more intensive method.
Beyond these practical concerns, another consideration in selecting a research design is the
ethics of the study. For example, in cases of brain injury or other neurological abnormalities,
it would be unethical for researchers to inflict these impairments on healthy participants.
Nonetheless, studying people with these injuries can provide great insight into human
psychology (e.g., if we learn that damage to a particular region of the brain interferes with
emotions, we may be able to develop treatments for emotional irregularities). In addition to
brain injuries, there are numerous other areas of research that could be useful in
understanding the human mind but which pose challenges to a true experimental design
such as the experiences of war, long-term isolation, abusive parenting, or prolonged drug
use. However, none of these are conditions we could ethically experimentally manipulate and
randomly assign people to. Therefore, ethical considerations are another crucial factor in
determining an appropriate research design.
Research Methods: Why You Need Them

Just look at any major news outlet and youll find research routinely being reported. Sometimes
the journalist understands the research methodology, sometimes not (e.g., correlational
evidence is often incorrectly represented as causal evidence). Often, the media are quick to
draw a conclusion for you. After reading this module, you should recognize that the strength
of a scientific finding lies in the strength of its methodology. Therefore, in order to be a savvy
Research Designs
28
consumer of research, you need to understand the pros and cons of different methods and
the distinctions among them. Plus, understanding how psychologists systematically go about
answering research questions will help you to solve problems in other domains, both personal
and professional, not just in psychology.
29
Research Designs
Outside Resources
Article: Harker and Keltner study of yearbook photographs and marriage
http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/psp/80/1/112/
Article: Rich Lucass longitudinal study on the effects of marriage on happiness
Article: Spending money on others promotes happiness. Elizabeth Dunns research
https://www.sciencemag.org/content/319/5870/1687.abstract
Article: What makes a life good?
1. What are some key differences between experimental and correlational research?
2. Why might researchers sometimes use methods other than experiments?
3. How do surveys relate to correlational and experimental designs?
30
Research Designs
Vocabulary
Confounds
Factors that undermine the ability to draw causal inferences from an experiment.
Correlation
Measures the association between two variables, or how they go together.
Dependent variable
The variable the researcher measures but does not manipulate in an experiment.
Experimenter expectations
When the experimenters expectations influence the outcome of a study.
Independent variable
The variable the researcher manipulates and controls in an experiment.
Longitudinal study
A study that follows the same group of individuals over time.
Operational definitions
How researchers specifically measure a concept.
Participant demand
When participants behave in a way that they think the experimenter wants them to behave.
Placebo effect
When receiving special treatment or something new affects human behavior.
Quasi-experimental design
An experiment that does not require random assignment to conditions.
Random assignment
Assigning participants to receive different conditions of an experiment by chance.
31
Research Designs
References
Chiao, J. (2009). Culturegene coevolution of individualism collectivism and the serotonin
transporter gene. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 277, 529-537. doi: 10.1098/
rspb.2009.1650
Dunn, E. W., Aknin, L. B., & Norton, M. I. (2008). Spending money on others promotes happiness.
Science, 319(5870), 16871688. doi:10.1126/science.1150952
Festinger, L., Riecken, H.W., & Schachter, S. (1956). When prophecy fails. Minneapolis, MN:
University of Minnesota Press.
Harker, L. A., & Keltner, D. (2001). Expressions of positive emotion in women\'s college
yearbook pictures and their relationship to personality and life outcomes across adulthood.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 112124.
King, L. A., & Napa, C. K. (1998). What makes a life good? Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 75, 156165.
Lucas, R. E., Clark, A. E., Georgellis, Y., & Diener, E. (2003). Re-examining adaptation and the
setpoint model of happiness: Reactions to changes in marital status. Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology, 84, 527539.
Biological Bases of the Mind (9/29)
3
The Brain
Diane Beck & Evelina Tapia
The human brain is responsible for all behaviors, thoughts, and experiences described in this
textbook. This module provides an introductory overview of the brain, including some basic
neuroanatomy, and brief descriptions of the neuroscience methods used to study it.
Learning Objectives
Name and describe the basic function of the brain stem, cerebellum, and cerebral
hemispheres.
Name and describe the basic function of the four cerebral lobes: occipital, temporal,
parietal, and frontal cortex.
Describe a split-brain patient and at least two important aspects of brain function that
these patients reveal.
Distinguish between gray and white matter of the cerebral hemispheres.

Name and describe the most common approaches to studying the human brain.
Distinguish among four neuroimaging methods: PET, fMRI, EEG, and DOI.
Describe the difference between spatial and temporal resolution with regard to brain
function.
Introduction
Any textbook on psychology would be incomplete without reference to the brain. Every
34
The Brain
behavior, thought, or experience described in the other modules must be implemented in

the brain. A detailed understanding of the human brain can help us make sense of human
experience and behavior. For example, one well-established fact about human cognition is
that it is limited. We cannot do two complex tasks at once: We cannot read and carry on a
conversation at the same time, text and drive, or surf the Internet while listening to a lecture,
at least not successfully or safely. We cannot even pat our head and rub our stomach at the
same time (with exceptions, see A Brain Divided). Why is this? Many people have suggested
that such limitations reflect the fact that the behaviors draw on the same resource; if one
behavior uses up most of the resource there is not enough resource left for the other. But
what might this limited resource be in the brain?
The brain uses oxygen and glucose,
delivered via the blood. The brain is a
large consumer of these metabolites,
using 20% of the oxygen and calories we
consume despite being only 2% of our
total weight. However, as long as we are
not oxygen-deprived or malnourished,
we have more than enough oxygen and
glucose
to
fuel
the
brain.
Thus,
insufficient brain fuel cannot explain

our limited capacity. Nor is it likely that
our limitations reflect too few neurons.
The average human brain contains 100
billion neurons. It is also not the case that
we use only 10% of our brain, a myth that
was likely started to imply we had
Figure 1. An MRI of the human brain delineating three major
structures: the cerebral hemispheres, brain stem, and cerebellum.
untapped potential. Modern neuroimaging

(see Studying the Human Brain) has
shown that we use all parts of brain, just at different times, and certainly more than 10% at
any one time.
If we have an abundance of brain fuel and neurons, how can we explain our limited cognitive
abilities? Why cant we do more at once? The most likely explanation is the way these neurons
are wired up. We know, for instance, that many neurons in the visual cortex (the part of the
brain responsible for processing visual information) are hooked up in such a way as to inhibit
each other (Beck & Kastner, 2009). When one neuron fires, it suppresses the firing of other
nearby neurons. If two neurons that are hooked up in an inhibitory way both fire, then neither
neuron can fire as vigorously as it would otherwise. This competitive behavior among neurons
35
The Brain
limits how much visual information the brain can respond to at the same time. Similar kinds
of competitive wiring among neurons may underlie many of our limitations. Thus, although
talking about limited resources provides an intuitive description of our limited capacity
behavior, a detailed understanding of the brain suggests that our limitations more likely reflect
the complex way in which neurons talk to each other rather than the depletion of any specific
resource.
The Anatomy of the Brain

There are many ways to subdivide the mammalian brain, resulting in some inconsistent and
ambiguous nomenclature over the history of neuroanatomy (Swanson, 2000). For simplicity,
we will divide the brain into three basic parts: the brain stem, cerebellum, and cerebral
hemispheres (see Figure 1). In Figure 2, however, we depict other prominent groupings
(Swanson, 2000) of the six major subdivisions of the brain (Kandal, Schwartz, & Jessell, 2000).
Brain Stem
The brain stem is sometimes referred to as the trunk of the brain. It is responsible for many
of the neural functions that keep us alive, including regulating our respiration (breathing),
heart rate, and digestion. In keeping with its function, if a patient sustains severe damage to
the brain stem he or she will require life support (i.e., machines are used to keep him or her
alive). Because of its vital role in survival, in many countries a person who has lost brain stem
function is said to be brain dead, although other countries require significant tissue loss in
the cortex (of the cerebral hemispheres), which is responsible for our conscious experience,
for the same diagnosis. The brain stem includes the medulla, pons, midbrain, and
diencephalon (which consists of thalamus and hypothalamus). Collectively, these regions also
are involved in our sleepwake cycle, some sensory and motor function, as well as growth
and other hormonal behaviors.
Cerebellum
The cerebellum is the distinctive structure at the back of the brain. The Greek philosopher
and scientist Aristotle aptly referred to it as the small brain (parencephalon in Greek,
cerebellum in Latin) in order to distinguish it from the large brain (encephalon in Greek,
cerebrum in Latin). The cerebellum is critical for coordinated movement and posture. More
recently, neuroimaging studies (see Studying the Human Brain) have implicated it in a range
of cognitive abilities, including language. It is perhaps not surprising that the cerebellums
The Brain
36
Figure 2. A sample of neuroanatomy nomenclature. The colored boxes indicate the different groupings of the seven structures
printed in black, with the labels matching the color of the boxes. The hindbrain, midbrain, and forebrain nomenclature stems
from the development of the vertebrate brain; these three areas differentiate early in embryonic development and later give
rise to the structures listed in black. These three areas further subdivide into the telencephalon, diencephalon, mesencephalon,
metencephalon, and myelencephalon at a later stage of development.
The four lobes of the brain and the cerebellum. [Image: MIT OpenCourseWare]
37
The Brain
influence extends beyond that of movement and posture, given that it contains the greatest
number of neurons of any structure in the brain. However, the exact role it plays in these
higher functions is still a matter of further study.
Cerebral Hemispheres
The cerebral hemispheres are responsible for our cognitive abilities and conscious
experience. They consist of the cerebral cortex and accompanying white matter (cerebrum
in Latin) as well as the subcortical structures of the basal ganglia, amygdala, and hippocampal
formation. The cerebral cortex is the largest and most visible part of the brain, retaining the
Latin name (cerebrum) for large brain that Aristotle coined. It consists of two hemispheres
(literally two half spheres) and gives the brain its characteristic gray and convoluted
appearance; the folds and grooves of the cortex are called gyri and sulci (gyrus and sulcus if
referring to just one), respectively.
The two cerebral hemispheres can be further subdivided into four lobes: the occipital,
temporal, parietal, and frontal lobes. The occipital lobe is responsible for vision, as is much
of the temporal lobe. The temporal lobe is also involved in auditory processing, memory, and
multisensory integration (e.g., the convergence of vision and audition). The parietal lobe
houses the somatosensory (body sensations) cortex and structures involved in visual
attention, as well as multisensory convergence zones. The frontal lobe houses the motor
cortex and structures involved in motor planning, language, judgment, and decision-making.
Not surprisingly then, the frontal lobe is proportionally larger in humans than in any other
animal.
The subcortical structures are so named because they reside beneath the cortex. The basal
ganglia are critical to voluntary movement and as such make contact with the cortex, the
thalamus, and the brain stem. The amygdala and hippocampal formation are part of the
limbic system, which also includes some cortical structures. The limbic system plays an
important role in emotion and, in particular, in aversion and gratification.
A Brain Divided
The two cerebral hemispheres are connected by a dense bundle of white matter tracts called
the corpus callosum. Some functions are replicated in the two hemispheres. For example,
both hemispheres are responsible for sensory and motor function, although the sensory and
motor cortices have a contralateral (or opposite-side) representation; that is, the left cerebral
hemisphere is responsible for movements and sensations on the right side of the body and
38
The Brain
the right cerebral hemisphere is responsible for movements and sensations on the left side
of the body. Other functions are lateralized; that is, they reside primarily in one hemisphere
or the other. For example, for right-handed and the majority of left-handed individuals, the
left hemisphere is most responsible for language.
There are some people whose two hemispheres are not connected, either because the corpus
callosum was surgically severed (callosotomy) or due to a genetic abnormality. These splitbrain patients have helped us understand the functioning of the two hemispheres. First,
because of the contralateral representation of sensory information, if an object is placed in
only the left or only the right visual hemifield, then only the right or left hemisphere,
respectively, of the split-brain patient will see it. In essence, it is as though the person has two
brains in his or her head, each seeing half the world. Interestingly, because language is very
often localized in the left hemisphere, if we show the right hemisphere a picture and ask the
patient what she saw, she will say she didnt see anything (because only the left hemisphere
can speak and it didnt see anything). However, we know that the right hemisphere sees the
picture because if the patient is asked to press a button whenever she sees the image, the
left hand (which is controlled by the right hemisphere) will respond despite the left
hemispheres denial that anything was there. There are also some advantages to having
disconnected hemispheres. Unlike those with a fully functional corpus callosum, a split-brain
patient can simultaneously search for something in his right and left visual fields (Luck, Hillyard,
Mangun, & Gazzaniga, 1989) and can do the equivalent of rubbing his stomach and patting
his head at the same time (Franz, Eliason, Ivry, & Gazzaniga, 1996). In other words, they exhibit
less competition between the hemispheres.
Gray Versus White Matter

The cerebral hemispheres contain both grey and white matter, so called because they appear
grayish and whitish in dissections or in an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging; see, Studying
the Human Brain). The gray matter is composed of the neuronal cell bodies (see module,
Neurons). The cell bodies (or soma) contain the genes of the cell and are responsible for
metabolism (keeping the cell alive) and synthesizing proteins. In this way, the cell body is the
workhorse of the cell. The white matter is composed of the axons of the neurons, and, in
particular, axons that are covered with a sheath of myelin (fatty support cells that are whitish
in color). Axons conduct the electrical signals from the cell and are, therefore, critical to cell
communication. People use the expression use your gray matter when they want a person
to think harder. The gray matter in this expression is probably a reference to the cerebral
hemispheres more generally; the gray cortical sheet (the convoluted surface of the cortex)
being the most visible. However, both the gray matter and white matter are critical to proper
39
The Brain
functioning of the mind. Losses of either result in deficits in language, memory, reasoning,
and other mental functions. See Figure 3 for MRI slices showing both the inner white matter
that connects the cell bodies in the gray cortical sheet.
Studying the Human Brain

How do we know what the brain does?
We have gathered knowledge about the
functions of the brain from many
different methods. Each method is useful
for answering distinct types of questions,
but the strongest evidence for a specific
role or function of a particular brain area
is converging evidence; that is, similar
findings reported from multiple studies
using different methods.
One of the first organized attempts to
study the functions of the brain was
Figure 3. MRI slices of the human brain. Both the outer gray matter
phrenology, a popular field of study in
and inner white matter are visible in each image. The brain is a
the first half of the 19th century.
three-dimensional (3-D) structure, but an image is two-
Phrenologists assumed that various
dimensional (2-D). Here, we show example slices of the three

possible 2-D cuts through the brain: a saggital slice (top image), a
features of the brain, such as its uneven
horizontal slice (bottom left), which is also know as a transverse or
surface, are reflected on the skull;
axial slice, and a coronal slice (bottom right). The bottom two
therefore, they attempted to correlate
images are color coded to match the illustration of the relative
bumps and indentations of the skull with
orientations of the three slices in the top image.
specific functions of the brain. For

example, they would claim that a very
artistic person has ridges on the head that vary in size and location from those of someone
who is very good at spatial reasoning. Although the assumption that the skull reflects the
underlying brain structure has been proven wrong, phrenology nonetheless significantly
impacted current-day neuroscience and its thinking about the functions of the brain. That is,
different parts of the brain are devoted to very specific functions that can be identified through
scientific inquiry.
Neuroanatomy
Dissection of the brain, in either animals or cadavers, has been a critical tool of neuroscientists
40
The Brain
since 340 BC when Aristotle first published his dissections. Since then this method has
advanced considerably with the discovery of various staining techniques that can highlight
particular cells. Because the brain can be sliced very thinly, examined under the microscope,
and particular cells highlighted, this method is especially useful for studying specific groups
of neurons or small brain structures; that is, it has a very high spatial resolution. Dissections
allow scientists to study changes in the brain that occur due to various diseases or experiences
(e.g., exposure to drugs or brain injuries).
Virtual dissection studies with living humans are also conducted. Here, the brain is imaged
using computerized axial tomography (CAT) or MRI scanners; they reveal with very high
precision the various structures in the brain and can help detect changes in gray or white
matter. These changes in the brain can then be correlated with behavior, such as performance
on memory tests, and, therefore, implicate specific brain areas in certain cognitive functions.
Changing the Brain

Some researchers induce lesions or ablate (i.e., remove) parts of the brain in animals. If the
animals behavior changes after the lesion, we can infer that the removed structure is
important for that behavior. Lesions of human brains are studied in patient populations only;
that is, patients who have lost a brain region due to a stroke or other injury, or who have had
surgical removal of a structure to treat a particular disease (e.g., a callosotomy to control
epilepsy, as in split-brain patients). From such case studies, we can infer brain function by
measuring changes in the behavior of the patients before and after the lesion.
Because the brain works by generating electrical signals, it is also possible to change brain
function with electrical stimulation. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) refers to a
technique whereby a brief magnetic pulse is applied to the head that temporarily induces a
weak electrical current in the brain. Although effects of TMS are sometimes referred to as
temporary virtual lesions, it is more appropriate to describe the induced electricity as
interference with neurons normal communication with each other. TMS allows very precise
study of when events in the brain happen so it has a good temporal resolution, but its
application is limited only to the surface of the cortex and cannot extend to deep areas of the
brain.
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is similar to TMS except that it uses electrical
current directly, rather than inducing it with magnetic pulses, by placing small electrodes on
the skull. A brain area is stimulated by a low current (equivalent to an AA battery) for a more
extended period of time than TMS. When used in combination with cognitive training, tDCS
41
The Brain
has been shown to improve performance of many cognitive functions such as mathematical
ability, memory, attention, and coordination (e.g., Brasil-Neto, 2012; Feng, Bowden, & Kautz,
2013; Kuo & Nitsche, 2012).
Neuroimaging
Neuroimaging tools are used to study the brain in action; that is, when it is engaged in a
specific task. Positron emission tomography (PET) records blood flow in the brain. The PET
scanner detects the radioactive substance that is injected into the bloodstream of the
participant just before or while he or she is performing some task (e.g., adding numbers).
Because active neuron populations require metabolites, more blood and hence more
radioactive substance flows into those regions. PET scanners detect the injected radioactive
substance in specific brain regions, allowing researchers to infer that those areas were active
during the task. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) also relies on blood flow in
the brain. This method, however, measures the changes in oxygen levels in the blood and
does not require any substance to be injected into the participant. Both of these tools have
good spatial resolution (although not as precise as dissection studies), but because it takes
at least several seconds for the blood to arrive to the active areas of the brain, PET and fMRI
have poor temporal resolution; that is, they do not tell us very precisely when the activity
occurred.
A researcher looking at the areas of activation in the brain of a study participant who had an fMRI scan
areas of brain activation are determined by the amount of blood flow to a certain area the more blood
flow, the higher the activation of that area of the brain. [Image: National Institute of Mental Health]
The Brain
42
Electroencephalography (EEG), on the other hand, measures the electrical activity of the
brain, and therefore, it has a much greater temporal resolution (millisecond precision rather
than seconds) than PET or fMRI. Like tDCS, electrodes are placed on the participants head
when he or she is performing a task. In this case, however, many more electrodes are used,
and they measure rather than produce activity. Because the electrical activity picked up at
any particular electrode can be coming from anywhere in the brain, EEG has poor spatial
resolution; that is, we have only a rough idea of which part of the brain generates the measured
activity.
Diffuse optical imaging (DOI) can give researchers the best of both worlds: high spatial and
temporal resolution, depending on how it is used. Here, one shines infrared light into the
brain, and measures the light that comes back out. DOI relies on the fact that the properties
of the light change when it passes through oxygenated blood, or when it encounters active
neurons. Researchers can then infer from the properties of the collected light what regions
in the brain were engaged by the task. When DOI is set up to detect changes in blood oxygen
levels, the temporal resolution is low and comparable to PET or fMRI. However, when DOI is
set up to directly detect active neurons, it has both high spatial and temporal resolution.
Because the spatial and temporal resolution of each tool varies, strongest evidence for what
role a certain brain area serves comes from converging evidence. For example, we are more
likely to believe that the hippocampal formation is involved in memory if multiple studies
using a variety of tasks and different neuroimaging tools provide evidence for this hypothesis.
The brain is a complex system, and only advances in brain research will show whether the
brain can ever really understand itself.
43
The Brain
Outside Resources
Video: Brain Bank at Harvard (National Geographic video)
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/science/health-human-body-sci/human-body/brain-bank-sci/
Video: Frontal Lobes and Behavior (video #25)
http://www.learner.org/resources/series142.html
Video: Organization and Evaluation of Human Brain Function video (video #1)
Video: Videos of a split-brain patient
http://youtu.be/ZMLzP1VCANo
Video: Videos of a split-brain patient (video #5)
Web: Atlas of the Human Brain: interactive demos and brain sections
http://www.thehumanbrain.info/
Web: Harvard University Human Brain Atlas: normal and diseased brain scans
http://www.med.harvard.edu/aanlib/home.html
1. In what ways does the segmentation of the brain into the brain stem, cerebellum, and
cerebral hemispheres provide a natural division?
2. How has the study of split-brain patients been informative?
3. What is behind the expression use your gray matter, and why is it not entirely accurate?
4. Why is converging evidence the best kind of evidence in the study of brain function?
5. If you were interested in whether a particular brain area was involved in a specific behavior,
what neuroscience methods could you use?
6. If you were interested in the precise time in which a particular brain process occurred,
which neuroscience methods could you use?
44
The Brain
Vocabulary
Ablation
Surgical removal of brain tissue.
Axial plane
See horizontal plane.
Basal ganglia
Subcortical structures of the cerebral hemispheres involved in voluntary movement.
Brain stem
The trunk of the brain comprised of the medulla, pons, midbrain, and diencephalon.
Callosotomy
Surgical procedure in which the corpus callosum is severed (used to control severe epilepsy).
Case study
A thorough study of a patient (or a few patients) with naturally occurring lesions.
Cerebellum
The distinctive structure at the back of the brain, Latin for small brain.
Cerebral cortex
The outermost gray matter of the cerebrum; the distinctive convolutions characteristic of the
mammalian brain.
Cerebral hemispheres
The cerebral cortex, underlying white matter, and subcortical structures.
Cerebrum
Usually refers to the cerebral cortex and associated white matter, but in some texts includes
the subcortical structures.
Contralateral
Literally opposite side; used to refer to the fact that the two hemispheres of the brain process
sensory information and motor commands for the opposite side of the body (e.g., the left
hemisphere controls the right side of the body).
The Brain
45
Converging evidence
Similar findings reported from multiple studies using different methods.
Coronal plane
A slice that runs from head to foot; brain slices in this plane are similar to slices of a loaf of
bread, with the eyes being the front of the loaf.
Diffuse optical imaging (DOI)
A neuroimaging technique that infers brain activity by measuring changes in light as it is
passed through the skull and surface of the brain.
Electroencephalography (EEG)
A neuroimaging technique that measures electrical brain activity via multiple electrodes on
the scalp.
Frontal lobe
The front most (anterior) part of the cerebrum; anterior to the central sulcus and responsible
for motor output and planning, language, judgment, and decision-making.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI): A neuroimaging technique that infers brain
activity by measuring changes in oxygen levels in the blood.
Gray matter
The outer grayish regions of the brain comprised of the neurons cell bodies.
Gyri
(plural) Folds between sulci in the cortex.
Gyrus
A fold between sulci in the cortex.
Horizontal plane
A slice that runs horizontally through a standing person (i.e., parallel to the floor); slices of
brain in this plane divide the top and bottom parts of the brain; this plane is similar to slicing
a hamburger bun.
Lateralized
To the side; used to refer to the fact that specific functions may reside primarily in one
The Brain
46
hemisphere or the other (e.g., for the majority individuals, the left hemisphere is most
responsible for language).
Lesion
A region in the brain that suffered damage through injury, disease, or medical intervention.
Limbic system
Includes the subcortical structures of the amygdala and hippocampal formation as well as
some cortical structures; responsible for aversion and gratification.
Metabolite
A substance necessary for a living organism to maintain life.
Motor cortex
Region of the frontal lobe responsible for voluntary movement; the motor cortex has a
contralateral representation of the human body.
Myelin
Fatty tissue, produced by glial cells (see module, Neurons) that insulates the axons of the
neurons; myelin is necessary for normal conduction of electrical impulses among neurons.
Nomenclature
Naming conventions.
Occipital lobe
The back most (posterior) part of the cerebrum; involved in vision.
Parietal lobe
The part of the cerebrum between the frontal and occipital lobes; involved in bodily sensations,
visual attention, and integrating the senses.
Phrenology
A now-discredited field of brain study, popular in the first half of the 19th century that
correlated bumps and indentations of the skull with specific functions of the brain.
Positron emission tomography (PET)
A neuroimaging technique that measures brain activity by detecting the presence of a
radioactive substance in the brain that is initially injected into the bloodstream and then pulled
in by active brain tissue.
The Brain
47
Sagittal plane
A slice that runs vertically from front to back; slices of brain in this plane divide the left and
right side of the brain; this plane is similar to slicing a baked potato lengthwise.
Somatosensory (body sensations) cortex
The region of the parietal lobe responsible for bodily sensations; the somatosensory cortex
has a contralateral representation of the human body.
Spatial resolution
A term that refers to how small the elements of an image are; high spatial resolution means
the device or technique can resolve very small elements; in neuroscience it describes how
small of a structure in the brain can be imaged.
Split-brain patient
A patient who has had most or all of his or her corpus callosum severed.
Subcortical
Structures that lie beneath the cerebral cortex, but above the brain stem.
Sulci
(plural) Grooves separating folds of the cortex.
Sulcus
A groove separating folds of the cortex.
Temporal lobe
The part of the cerebrum in front of (anterior to) the occipital lobe and below the lateral fissure;
involved in vision, auditory processing, memory, and integrating vision and audition.
Temporal resolution
A term that refers to how small a unit of time can be measured; high temporal resolution
means capable of resolving very small units of time; in neuroscience it describes how precisely
in time a process can be measured in the brain.
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)
A neuroscience technique that passes mild electrical current directly through a brain area by
placing small electrodes on the skull.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)
The Brain
48
A neuroscience technique whereby a brief magnetic pulse is applied to the head that
temporarily induces a weak electrical current that interferes with ongoing activity.
Transverse plane
See horizontal plane.
Visual hemifield
The half of visual space (what we see) on one side of fixation (where we are looking); the left
hemisphere is responsible for the right visual hemifield, and the right hemisphere is
responsible for the left visual hemifield.
White matter
The inner whitish regions of the cerebrum comprised of the myelinated axons of neurons in
the cerebral cortex.
49
The Brain
References
Beck, D. M., & Kastner, S. (2009). Top-down and bottom-up mechanisms in biasing competition
in the human brain. Vision Research, 49, 11541165.
Brasil-Neto, J. P. (2012). Learning, memory, and transcranial direct current stimulation. Frontiers
in Psychiatry, 3(80). doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2012.00080.
Feng, W. W., Bowden, M. G., & Kautz, S. (2013). Review of transcranial direct current stimulation
in poststroke recovery. Topics in Stroke Rehabilitation, 20, 6877.
Franz, E. A., Eliassen, J. C., Ivry, R. B., & Gazzaniga, M. S. (1996). Dissociation of spatial and
temporal coupling in the bimanual movements of callosotomy patients. Psychological
Science, 7, 306310.
Kandal, E. R., Schwartz, J. H., & Jessell, T. M. (Eds.) (2000). Principles of neural science (Vol. 4).
New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Kuo, M. F., & Nitsche, M. A. (2012). Effects of transcranial electrical stimulation on cognition.
Clinical EEG and Neuroscience, 43, 192199.
Luck, S. J., Hillyard, S. A., Mangun, G. R., & Gazzaniga, M. S. (1989). Independent hemispheric
attentional systems mediate visual search in split-brain patients. Nature, 342, 543545.
Swanson, L. (2000). What is the brain? Trends in Neurosciences, 23, 519527.
4
The brain is the most complex part of the human body. It is the center of consciousness and
also controls all voluntary and involuntary movement and bodily functions. It communicates
with each part of the body through the nervous system, a network of channels that carry
electrochemical signals.
Learning Objectives
Name the various parts of the nervous system and their respective functions
Explain how neurons communicate with each other
Identify the location and function of the limbic system
Articulate how the primary motor cortex is an example of brain region specialization
Name at least three neuroimaging techniques and describe how they work
In the 1800s a German scientist by the name of Ernst Weber conducted several experiments
meant to investigate how people perceive the world via their own bodies. It is obvious that
we use our sensory organsour eyes, and ears, and noseto take in and understand the
world around us. Weber was particularly interested in the sense of touch. Using a drafting
compass he placed the two points far apart and set them on the skin of a volunteer. When
the points were far apart the research participants could easily distinguish between them. As
Weber repeated the process with ever closer points, however, most people lost the ability to
tell the difference between them. Weber discovered that the ability to recognize these just
noticeable differences depended on where on the body the compass was positioned. Your
51
back, for example, is far less sensitive to touch than is the skin on your face. Similarly, the tip
of your tongue is extremely sensitive! In this way, Weber began to shed light on the way that
nerves, the nervous system, and the brain form the biological foundation of psychological
processes.
In this module we will explore the
biological side of psychology by paying
particular attention to the brain and to
the nervous system. Understanding
the
nervous
system
is
vital
to
understanding psychology in general.

It is through the nervous system that
we experience pleasure and pain, feel
emotions, learn and use language, and
plan goals, just to name a few
examples. In the pages that follow we
will begin by examining how the human
nervous system develops and then we
will learn about the parts of the brain
Measuring just noticeable differences.
and how they function. We will

conclude with a section on how
modern psychologists study the brain.

It is worth mentioning here, at the start, that an introduction to the biological aspects of
psychology can be both the most interesting and most frustrating of all topics for new students
of psychology. This is, in large part, due to the fact that there is so much new information to
learn and new vocabulary associated with all the various parts of the brain and nervous system.
In fact, there are 30 key vocabulary words presented in this module! We encourage you not
to get bogged down in difficult words. Instead, pay attention to the broader concepts, perhaps
even skipping over the vocabulary on your first reading. It is helpful to pass back through with
a second reading, once you are already familiar with the topic, with attention to learning the
vocabulary.
Nervous System development across the human lifespan

As a species, humans have evolved a complex nervous system and brain over millions of years.
Comparisons of our nervous systems with those of other animals, such as chimpanzees, show
some similarities. Researchers can also use fossils to study the relationship between brain
52
volume and human behavior over the course of evolutionary history. Homo habilis, for
instance, a human ancestor living about 2 million years ago shows a larger brain volume than
its own ancestors but far less than modern homo sapiens. The main difference between
humans and other animals-- in terms of brain development-- is that humans have a much
more developed frontal cortex (the front part of the brain associated with planning).
Interestingly, a persons unique nervous system develops over the course of their lifespan in
a way that resembles the evolution of nervous systems in animals across vast stretches of
time. For example, the human nervous system begins developing even before a person is
born. It begins as a simple bundle of tissue that forms into a tube and extends along the headto-tail plane becoming the spinal cord and brain. By day 40 of gestation (40 days after
fertilization of the egg) the spinal cord, hindbrain, midbrain and forebrain are all visibly distinct.
What, exactly, is this nervous system that is developing and what does it do?
The nervous system can be thought of as the bodys communication network that consists
of all nerve cells. There are many ways in which we can divide the nervous system to
understand it more clearly. One common way to do so is by parsing it into the central nervous
system and the peripheral nervous system. Each of these can be sub-divided, in turn. Lets
take a closer, more in-depth look at each. And, dont worry, the nervous system is complicated
with many parts and many new vocabulary words. It might seem overwhelming at first but
through the figures and a little study you can get it.
The Central Nervous System (CNS): The

Neurons inside the Brain
The Central Nervous System, or CNS for short, is made
up of the brain and spinal cord (see Figure 1). The CNS is
the portion of the nervous system that is encased in bone
(the brain is protected by the skull and the spinal cord is
protected by the spinal column). It is referred to as
central because it is the brain and spinal cord that are
primarily responsible for processing sensory information
touching a hot stove or seeing a rainbow, for example
and sending signals to the peripheral nervous system
for action. It communicates largely by sending electrical
signals through individual nerve cells that make up the
fundamental building blocks of the nervous system,
called neurons. There are approximately 100 billion
Figure 1: The central nervous system
53
neurons in the human brain and each has many contacts with other neurons, called synapses.
If we were able to magnify a view of individual neurons we would see that they are cells made
from distinct parts (see Figure 2). The three main components of a neuron are the dendrites,
the soma, and the axon. Neurons communicate with one another by receiving information
through the dendrites, which act as an antenna. When the dendrites channel this information
to the soma, or cell body, it builds up as an electro-chemical signal. This electrical part of the
signal, called an action potential shoots down the axon, a long tail that leads away from the
soma and toward the next neuron. When people talk about nerves in the nervous system,
it typically refers to bundles of axons that form long neural wires along which electrical signals
can travel. Cell-to-cell communication is helped by the fact that the axon is covered by a myelin
sheatha layer of fatty cells that allow the signal to travel very rapidly from neuron to neuron.
Figure 2: The parts of a neuron
If we were to zoom in still further we could take a closer look at the synapse, the space between
neurons (see Figure 3). Here, we would see that there is a space between neurons, called the
synaptic gap. To give you a sense of scale we can compare the synaptic gap to the thickness
of a dime, the thinnest of all American coins (about 1.35 mm). You could stack approximately
70,000 synaptic gaps in the thickness of a single coin!
As the action potential, the electrical signal reaches the end of the axon, tiny packets of
chemicals, called neurotransmitters, are released. This is the chemical part of the electrochemical signal. These neurotransmitters are the chemical signals that travel from one neuron
to another, enabling them to communicate with one another. There are many different types
of neurotransmitters and each has a specialized function. For example, serotonin affects sleep,
54
hunger and mood. Dopamine is associated with attention, learning and pleasure.
It is amazing to realize that when you think
when you reach out to grab a glass of water,
when you realize that your best friend is
happy, when you try to remember the name
of the parts of a neuronwhat you are
experiencing is actually electro-chemical
impulses shooting between nerves!
The Central Nervous System:

Figure 3: A view of the synapse between neurons
Looking at the Brain as a Whole
If we were to zoom back out and look at the central nervous system again we would see that
the brain is the largest single part of the central nervous system. The brain is the headquarters
of the entire nervous system and it is here that most of your sensing, perception, thinking,
awareness, emotions, and planning take place. For many people the brain is so important
that there is a sense that it is thereinside the brainthat a persons sense of self is located
(as opposed to being primarily in your toes, by contrast). The brain is so important, in fact,
that it consumes 20% of the total oxygen and calories we consume even though it is only, on
average, about 2% of our overall weight.
It is helpful to examine the various parts of the brain and to understand their unique functions
to get a better sense of the role the brain plays. We will start by looking at very general areas
of the brain and then we will zoom in and look at more specific parts. Anatomists and
neuroscientists often divide the brain into portions based on the location and function of
various brain parts. Among the simplest ways to organize the brain is to describe it as having
three basic portions: the hindbrain, midbrain and forebrain. Another way to look at the brain
is to consider the brain stem, the Cerebellum, and the Cerebrum. There is another part, called
the Limbic System that is less well defined. It is made up of a number of structures that are
sub-cortical (existing in the hindbrain) as well as cortical regions of the brain (see Figure 4).
The brain stem is the most basic structure of the brain and is located at the top of the spine
and bottom of the brain. It is sometimes considered the oldest part of the brain because we
can see similar structures in other, less evolved animals such as crocodiles. It is in charge of
a wide range of very basic life support functions for the human body including breathing,
digestion, and the beating of the heart. Amazingly, the brain stem sends the signals to keep
these processes running smoothly without any conscious effort on our behalf.
55
The limbic system is a collection of highly specialized neural structures that sit at the top of
the brain stem, which are involved in regulating our emotions. Collectively, the limbic system
is a term that doesnt have clearly defined areas as it includes forebrain regions as well as
hindbrain regions. These include the amygdala, the thalamus, the hippocampus, the insula
cortex, the anterior cingulate cortex, and the prefrontal cortex. These structures influence
hunger, the sleep-wake cycle, sexual desire, fear and aggression, and even memory.
The cerebellum is a structure at the very back of the brain. Aristotle referred to it as the small
brain based on its appearance and it is principally involved with movement and posture
although it is also associated with a variety of other thinking processes. The cerebellum, like
the brain stem, coordinates actions without the need for any conscious awareness.
The cerebrum (also called the
cerebral cortex) is the newest,
most advanced portion of the
brain. The cerebral hemispheres
(the left and right hemispheres
that make up each side of the top
of the brain) are in charge of the
types
of
processes
that
are
associated with more awareness

and voluntary control such as
speaking and planning as well as
contain our primary sensory areas
(such as seeing, hearing, feeling,
Figure 4: General areas of the brain (Image: biology corner)
and moving). These two hemispheres

are connected to one another by a thick bundle of axons called the corpus callosum. There
are instances in which peopleeither because of a genetic abnormality or as the result of
surgeryhave had their corpus callosum severed so that the two halves of the brain cannot
easily communicate with one another. The rare split-brain patients offer helpful insights into
how the brain works. For example, we now understand that the brain is contralateral, or
opposite-sided. This means that the left side of the brain is responsible for controlling a
number of sensory and motor functions of the right side of the body, and vice versa.
Consider this striking example: A split brain patient is seated at a table and an object such as
a car key can be placed where a split-brain patient can only see it through the right visual field.
Right visual field images will be processed on the left side of the brain and left visual field
images will be processed on the right side of the brain. Because language is largely associated
with the left side of the brain the patient who sees car key in the right visual field when asked
56
What do you see? would answer, I see a car key. In contrast, a split-brain patient who only
saw the car key in the left visual field, thus the information went to the non-language right
side of the brain, might have a difficult time speaking the word car key. In fact in this case,
the patient is likely to respond I didnt see anything at all. However, if asked to draw the item
with their left handa process associated with the right side of the brainthe patient will be
able to do so! See the outside resources below for a video demonstration of this striking
phenomenon.
Besides looking at the brain as an organ that is made up of two halves we can also examine
it by looking at its four various lobes of the cerebral cortex, the outer part of the brain (see
Figure 5). Each of these is associated with a specific function. The occipital lobe, located at
the back of the cerebral cortex, is the house of the visual area of the brain. You can see the
road in front of you when you are driving, track the motion of a ball in the air thanks to the
occipital lobe. The temporal lobe, located on the underside of the cerebral cortex, is where
sounds and smells are processed. The parietal lobe, at the upper back of the cerebral cortex,
is where touch and taste are processed. Finally, the frontal lobe, located at the forward part
of the cerebral cortex is where behavioral motor plans are processed as well as a number of
highly complicated processes occur including speech and language use, creative problem
solving, and planning and organization.
One particularly fascinating area in
the frontal lobe is called the primary
motor cortex.
This strip running
along the side of the brain is in charge

of voluntary movements like waving
goodbye, wiggling your eyebrows,
and kissing. It is an excellent example
of the way that the various regions of
the brain are highly specialized.
Interestingly, each of our various
body parts has a unique portion of
the primary motor cortex devoted to
Figure 5: The 4 lobes of the cerebral cortex
it (see Figure 6). Each individual finger
has about as much dedicated brain space as your entire leg. Your lips, in turn, require about
as much dedicated brain processing as all of your fingers and your hand combined!
Because the cerebral cortex in general, and the frontal lobe in particular, are associated with
such sophisticated functions as planning and being self-aware they are often thought of as a
higher, less primal portion of the brain. Indeed, other animals such as rats and kangaroos
57
Figure 6: Specific body parts like the tongue or fingers are mapped onto certain areas of the brain including
the primary motor cortex.
while they do have frontal regions of their brain do not have the same level of development
in the cerebral cortices. The closer an animal is to humans on the evolutionary treethink
chimpanzees and gorillas, the more developed is this portion of their brain.
The Peripheral Nervous System

In addition to the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord) there is also a complex
network of nerves that travel to every part of the body. This is called the peripheral nervous
system (PNS) and it carries the signals necessary for the body to survive (see Figure 7). Some
Figure 7: The peripheral nervous system
58
of the signals carried by the PNS are related to voluntary actions. If you want to type a message
to a friend, for instance, you make conscious choices about which letters go in what order
and your brain sends the appropriate signals to your fingers to do the work. Other processes,
by contrast, are not voluntary. Without your awareness your brain is also sending signals to
your organs, your digestive system, and the muscles that are holding you up right now with
instructions about what they should be doing. All of this occurs through the pathways of your
peripheral nervous system.
How we study the brain

The brain is difficult to study because it is housed inside the thick bone of the skull. Whats
more, it is difficult to access the brain without hurting or killing the owner of the brain. As a
result, many of the earliest studies of the brain (and indeed this is still true today) focused on
unfortunate people who happened to have damage to some particular area of their brain.
For instance, in the 1860s a surgeon named Paul Broca conducted an autopsy on a former
patient who had lost his powers of speech. Examining his patients brain, Broca identified a
damaged areanow called the Brocas Areaon the left side of the brain (see Figure 8).
Over the years a number of researchers have been able to gain insights into the function of
specific regions of the brain from these types of patients.
An alternative to examining the brains or
behaviors of humans with brain damage
or surgical lesions can be found in the
instance of animals. Some researchers
examine the brains of other animals such
as rats, dogs and monkeys. Although
animals brains differ from human brains
in both size and structure there are many
similarities as well. The use of animals for
study can yield important insights into
human brain function.
Figure 8: Broca's Area (Image: Charlyzon)
In modern times, however, we do not have

to exclusively rely on the study of people with brain lesions. Advances in technology have led
to ever more sophisticated imaging techniques. Just as X-ray technology allows us to peer
inside the body, neuroimaging techniques allow us glimpses of the working brain. Each type
of imaging uses a different technique and each has its own advantages and disadvantages.
59
Positron
Emission
Tomography
(PET)
records
metabolic activity in the brain by detecting the amount

of radioactive substances, which are injected into a
persons bloodstream, the brain is consuming. This
technique allows us to see how much an individual uses
a particular part of the brain while at rest, or not
performing a task. Another technique, known as
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) relies
on blood flow. This method measures changes in the
levels of naturally occurring oxygen in the blood. As a
brain region becomes active, it requires more oxygen.
This technique measures brain activity based on this
increase oxygen level.
This means fMRI does not
require a foreign substance to be injected into the body.

Both PET and fMRI scans have poor temporal
resolution , meaning that they cannot tell us exactly
when brain activity occurred. This is because it takes
several seconds for blood to arrive at a portion of the
brain working on a task.
One imaging technique that has better temporal
resolution is Electroencephalography (EEG), which
Above: A PET scan - Below: An fMRI scan (Image:
measures electrical brain activity instead of blood flow.
Erik1980)
Electrodes are place on the scalp of participants and

they are nearly instantaneous in picking up electrical activity. Because this activity could be
coming from any portion of the brain, however, EEG is known to have poor spatial resolution,
meaning that it is not accurate with
regards to specific location.
Another technique, known as Diffuse
Optical Imaging (DOI) can offer high
temporal and spatial resolution. DOI
works by shining infrared light into the
brain. It might seem strange that light
can pass through the head and brain.
Light properties change as they pass
through oxygenated blood and through
active neurons. As a result, researchers
An EEG cap (Image: Chris Hope)
can make inferences regarding where
60
and when brain activity is happening.
Conclusion
It has often been said that the brain studies itself. This means that humans are uniquely
capable of using our most sophisticated organ to understand our most sophisticated organ.
Breakthroughs in the study of the brain and nervous system are among the most exciting
discoveries in all of psychology. In the future, research linking neural activity to complex, real
world attitudes and behavior will help us to understand human psychology and better
intervene in it to help people.
61
Outside Resources
Video: Animation of Neurons
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SHBnExxub8
Video: Split Brain Patient
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMLzP1VCANo
Web: Animation of the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
http://sites.sinauer.com/neuroscience5e/animations01.01.html
Web: Animation of the Positron Emission Tomography (PET)
http://sites.sinauer.com/neuroscience5e/animations01.02.html
Web: Teaching resources and videos for teaching about the brain, from Colorado State
University:
Web: The Brain Museum
http://brainmuseum.org/
1. In your opinion is learning about the functions of various parts of the brain by studying
the abilities of brain damaged patients ethical. What, in your opinion, are the potential
benefits and considerations?
2. Are research results on the brain more compelling to you than are research results from
survey studies on attitudes? Why or why not? How does biological research such as studies
of the brain influence public opinion regarding the science of psychology?
3. If humans continue to evolve what changes might you predict in our brains and cognitive
abilities?
4. Which brain scanning techniques, or combination of techniques, do you find to be the
best? Why? Why do you think scientists may or may not employ exactly your recommended
techniques?
62
Vocabulary
Action Potential
A transient all-or-nothing electrical current that is conducted down the axon when the
membrane potential reaches the threshold of excitation.
Axon
Part of the neuron that extends off the soma, splitting several times to connect with other
neurons; main output of the neuron.
Brain Stem
The trunk of the brain comprised of the medulla, pons, midbrain, and diencephalon.
Brocas Area
An area in the frontal lobe of the left hemisphere. Implicated in language production.
Central Nervous System
The portion of the nervous system that includes the brain and spinal cord.
Cerebellum
The distinctive structure at the back of the brain, Latin for small brain.
Cerebrum
Usually refers to the cerebral cortex and associated white matter, but in some texts includes
the subcortical structures.
Contralateral
Literally opposite side; used to refer to the fact that the two hemispheres of the brain process
sensory information and motor commands for the opposite side of the body (e.g., the left
hemisphere controls the right side of the body).
Corpus Callosum
The thick bundle of nerve cells that connect the two hemispheres of the brain and allow them
to communicate.
Dendrites
Part of a neuron that extends away from the cell body and is the main input to the neuron.
63
Diffuse Optical Imaging (DOI)

A neuroimaging technique that infers brain activity by measuring changes in light as it is
passed through the skull and surface of the brain.
Electroencephalography (EEG)
A neuroimaging technique that measures electrical brain activity via multiple electrodes on
the scalp.
Frontal Lobe
The front most (anterior) part of the cerebrum; anterior to the central sulcus and responsible
for motor output and planning, language, judgment, and decision-making.
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI): A neuroimaging technique that infers brain
activity by measuring changes in oxygen levels in the blood.
Limbic System
Includes the subcortical structures of the amygdala and hippocampal formation as well as
some cortical structures; responsible for aversion and gratification.
Myelin Sheath
Fatty tissue, that insulates the axons of the neurons; myelin is necessary for normal conduction
of electrical impulses among neurons.
Nervous System
The bodys network for electrochemical communication. This system includes all the nerves
cells in the body.
Neurons
Individual brain cells
Neurotransmitters
Chemical substance released by the presynaptic terminal button that acts on the postsynaptic
cell.
Occipital Lobe
The back most (posterior) part of the cerebrum; involved in vision.
Parietal Lobe
64
The part of the cerebrum between the frontal and occipital lobes; involved in bodily sensations,
visual attention, and integrating the senses.
Peripheral Nervous System
All of the nerve cells that connect the central nervous system to all the other parts of the body.
Positron Emission Tomography (PET)
A neuroimaging technique that measures brain activity by detecting the presence of a
radioactive substance in the brain that is initially injected into the bloodstream and then pulled
in by active brain tissue.
Soma
Cell body of a neuron that contains the nucleus and genetic information, and directs protein
synthesis.
Spatial Resolution
A term that refers to how small the elements of an image are; high spatial resolution means
the device or technique can resolve very small elements; in neuroscience it describes how
small of a structure in the brain can be imaged.
Split-brain Patient
A patient who has had most or all of his or her corpus callosum severed.
Synapses
Junction between the presynaptic terminal button of one neuron and the dendrite, axon, or
soma of another postsynaptic neuron.
Synaptic Gap
Also known as the synaptic cleft; the small space between the presynaptic terminal button
and the postsynaptic dendritic spine, axon, or soma.
Temporal Lobe
The part of the cerebrum in front of (anterior to) the occipital lobe and below the lateral fissure;
involved in vision, auditory processing, memory, and integrating vision and audition.
Temporal Resolution
A term that refers to how small a unit of time can be measured; high temporal resolution
means capable of resolving very small units of time; in neuroscience it describes how precisely
in time a process can be measured in the brain.
Perception (10/4)
5
Vision
Simona Buetti & Alejandro Lleras
Vision is the sensory modality that transforms light into a psychological experience of the
world around you, with minimal bodily effort. This module provides an overview of the most
significant steps in this transformation and strategies that your brain uses to achieve this
visual understanding of the environment.
Learning Objectives
Describe how the eye transforms light information into neural energy.
Understand what sorts of information the brain is interested in extracting from the
environment and why it is useful.
Describe how the visual system has adapted to deal with different lighting conditions.
Understand the value of having two eyes.
Understand why we have color vision.
Understand the interdependence between vision and other brain functions.
What Is Vision?
Think about the spectacle of a starry night. You look up at the sky, and thousands of photons
from distant stars come crashing into your retina, a light-sensitive structure at the back of
your eyeball. These photons are millions of years old and have survived a trip across the
universe, only to run into one of your photoreceptors. Tough luck: in one thousandth of a
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Vision
second, this little bit of light energy becomes the fuel to a photochemical reaction known as
photoactivation. The light energy becomes neural energy and triggers a cascade of neural
activity that, a few hundredths of a second later, will result in your becoming aware of that
distant star. You and the universe united by photons. That is the amazing power of vision.
Light brings the world to you. Without moving, you know whats out there. You can recognize
friends coming to meet you before you are able to hear them coming, ripe fruits from green
ones on trees without having to taste them and before reaching out to grab them. You can
also tell how quickly a ball is moving in your direction (Will it hit you? Can you hit it?).
How does all of that happen? First, light enters the eyeball through a tiny hole known as the
pupil and, thanks to the refractive properties of your cornea and lens, this light signal gets
projected sharply into the retina (see Outside Resources for links to a more detailed description
of the eye structure). There, light is transduced into neural energy by about 200 million
photoreceptor cells.
Diagram of the human eye [Image: wikimedia commons]
This is where the information carried by the light about distant objects and colors starts being
encoded by our brain. There are two different types of photoreceptors: rods and cones. The
human eye contains more rods than cones. Rods give us sensitivity under dim lighting
conditions and allow us to see at night. Cones allow us to see fine details in bright light and
give us the sensation of color. Cones are tightly packed around the fovea (the central region
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Vision
of the retina behind your pupil) and more sparsely elsewhere. Rods populate the periphery
(the region surrounding the fovea) and are almost absent from the fovea.
But vision is far more complex than just catching photons. The information encoded by the
photoreceptors undergoes a rapid and continuous set of ever more complex analysis so that,
eventually, you can make sense of whats out there. At the fovea, visual information is encoded
separately from tiny portions of the world (each about half the width of a human hair viewed
at arms length) so that eventually the brain can reconstruct in great detail fine visual
differences from locations at which you are directly looking. This fine level of encoding requires
lots of light and it is slow going (neurally speaking). In contrast, in the periphery, there is a
different encoding strategy: detail is sacrificed in exchange for sensitivity. Information is
summed across larger sections of the world. This aggregation occurs quickly and allows you
to detect dim signals under very low levels of light, as well as detect sudden movements in
your peripheral vision.
The Importance of Contrast

What happens next? Well, you might think that the eye would do something like record the
amount of light at each location in the world and then send this information to the visualprocessing areas of the brain (an astounding 30% of the cortex is influenced by visual signals!).
But, in fact, that is not what eyes do. As soon as photoreceptors capture light, the nervous
system gets busy analyzing differences in light, and it is these differences that get transmitted
to the brain. The brain, it turns out, cares little about the overall amount of light coming from
a specific part of the world, or in the scene overall. Rather, it wants to know: does the light
coming from this one point differ from the light coming from the point next to it? Place your
hand on the table in front of you. The contour of your hand is actually determined by the
difference in lightthe contrastbetween the light coming from the skin in your hand and
the light coming from the table underneath. To find the contour of your hand, we simply need
to find the regions in the image where the difference in light between two adjacent points is
maximal. Two points on your skin will reflect similar levels of light back to you, as will two
points on the table. On the other hand, two points that fall on either side of the boundary
contour between your hand and the table will reflect very different light.
The fact that the brain is interested in coding contrast in the world reveals something deeply
important about the forces that drove the evolution of our brain: encoding the absolute
amount of light in the world tells us little about what is out there. But if your brain can detect
the sudden appearance of a difference in light somewhere in front of you, then it must be that
something new is there. That contrast signal is information. That information may represent
Vision
69
something that you like (food, a friend) or something dangerous approaching (a tiger, a cliff).
The rest of your visual system will work hard to determine what that thing is, but as quickly
as 10ms after light enters your eyes, ganglion cells in your retinae have already encoded all
the differences in light from the world in front of you.
Figure 1. Illustration of Lateral Inhibition at work. The top of the figure shows a black stripe on a white background. The first row
of circles illustrates photoreceptors responding in a graded fashion: the more light hits them, the more they fire. The numbers
inside the circles represent how much these cells are firing, and the thickness of lines is also meant to illustrate the strength of
neural firing. These photoreceptors activate the next layer of neurons in the retina: bipolar cells. These cells produce lateral
inhibition signals, depicted by the horizontal lines that end with a small circle. The inhibition signals are proportional (here, 10%
for ease) to the excitatory input they receive. Cells receiving 100 units will inhibit their neighbors by 10 units. Cells receiving 20
units will inhibit their neighbors by 2 units. The output of a bipolar cell will be determined by the input it receives minus all the
lateral inhibition signals from its neighbors. As a result of the inhibition, notice how on the bright side of the edges, the firing
rates are the highest (88) compared to nearby neurons just coding bright light (80). These higher values near the edge occur
because these cells receive a comparatively small amount of inhibition from their dark-side neighbor (-2). Similarly, on the dark
side of the edge, the firing rates are the lowest (8) of all the dark region (16) because these cells receive a comparatively large
amount of inhibition from their bright-side neighbor (-10). Overall, the image is coded as a black stripe surrounded by brighter
light, but now, thanks to lateral inhibition, all the edges in the image have been emphasized (enhanced), as illustrated by the
perceived luminance profile at the bottom of the image.
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Vision
Contrast is so important that your neurons go out of their way not only to encode differences
in light but to exaggerate those differences for you, lest you miss them. Neurons achieve this
via a process known as lateral inhibition. When a neuron is firing in response to light, it
produces two signals: an output signal to pass on to the next level in vision, and a lateral signal
to inhibit all neurons that are next to it. This makes sense on the assumption that nearby
neurons are likely responding to the same light coming from nearby locations, so this
information is somewhat redundant. The magnitude of the lateral inhibitory signal a neuron
produces is proportional to the excitatory input that neuron receives: the more a neuron fires,
the stronger the inhibition it produces. Figure 1 illustrates how lateral inhibition amplifies
contrast signals at the edges of surfaces.
Sensitivity to Different Light Conditions

Lets think for a moment about the range of
conditions in which your visual system must
operate day in and day out. When you take a
walk outdoors on a sunny day, as many as
billions of photons enter your eyeballs every
second. In contrast, when you wake up in the
middle of the night in a dark room, there might
be as little as a few hundred photons per
second entering your eyes. To deal with these
extremes, the visual system relies on the
different properties of the two types of
photoreceptors. Rods are mostly responsible
for processing light when photons are scarce
(just a single photon can make a rod fire!), but
it takes time to replenish the visual pigment
that rods require for photoactivation. So, under
bright conditions, rods are quickly bleached
(Stuart & Brige, 1996) and cannot keep up with
The human eye is capable of adapting to changes in light
the constant barrage of photons hitting them.
conditions include bright light and nighttime. [Photo:
Thats when the cones become useful. Cones
yooperann]
require more photons to fire and, more

critically, their photopigments replenish much
faster than rods photopigments, allowing them to keep up when photons are abundant.
What happens when you abruptly change lighting conditions? Under bright light, your rods
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Vision
are bleached. When you move into a dark environment, it will take time (up to 30 minutes)
before they chemically recover (Hurley, 2002). Once they do, you will begin to see things around
you that initially you could not. This phenomenon is called dark adaptation. When you go
from dark to bright light (as you exit a tunnel on a highway, for instance), your rods will be
bleached in a blaze and you will be blinded by the sudden light for about 1 second. However,
your cones are ready to fire! Their firing will take over and you will quickly begin to see at this
higher level of light.
A similar, but more subtle, adjustment occurs when the change in lighting is not so drastic.
Think about your experience of reading a book at night in your bed compared to reading
outdoors: the room may feel to you fairly well illuminated (enough so you can read) but the
light bulbs in your room are not producing the billions of photons that you encounter outside.
In both cases, you feel that your experience is that of a well-lit environment. You dont feel
one experience as millions of times brighter than the other. This is because vision (as much
of perception) is not proportional: seeing twice as many photons does not produce a sensation
of seeing twice as bright a light. The visual system tunes into the current experience by favoring
a range of contrast values that is most informative in that environment (Gardner et al., 2005).
This is the concept of contrast gain: the visual system determines the mean contrast in a
scene and represents values around that mean contrast best, while ignoring smaller contrast
differences. (See the Outside Resources section for a demonstration.)
The Reconstruction Process

What happens once information leaves your eyes and enters the brain? Neurons project first
into the thalamus, in a section known as the lateral geniculate nucleus. The information then
splits and projects towards two different parts of the brain. Most of the computations
regarding reflexive eye movements are computed in subcortical regions, the evolutionarily
older part of the brain. Reflexive eye movements allow you to quickly orient your eyes towards
areas of interest and to track objects as they move. The more complex computations, those
that eventually allow you to have a visual experience of the world, all happen in the cortex,
the evolutionarily newer region of the brain. The first stop in the cortex is at the primary visual
cortex (also known as V1). Here, the reconstruction process begins in earnest: based on the
contrast information arriving from the eyes, neurons will start computing information about
color and simple lines, detecting various orientations and thicknesses. Small-scale motion
signals are also computed (Hubel & Wiesel, 1962).
As information begins to flow towards other higher areas of the system, more complex
computations are performed. For example, edges are assigned to the object to which they
Vision
72
belong, backgrounds are separated from foregrounds, colors are assigned to surfaces, and
the global motion of objects is computed. Many of these computations occur in specialized
brain areas. For instance, an area called MT processes global-motion information; the
parahippocampal place area identifies locations and scenes; the fusiform face area specializes
in identifying objects for which fine discriminations are required, like faces. There is even a
brain region specialized in letter and word processing. These visual-recognition areas are
located along the ventral pathway of the brain (also known as the What pathway). Other brain
regions along the dorsal pathway (or Where-and-How pathway) will compute information
about self- and object-motion, allowing you to interact with objects, navigate the environment,
and avoid obstacles (Goodale and Milner, 1992).
Figure 2: Areas of the brain
Now that you have a basic understanding of how your visual system works, you can ask
yourself the question: why do you have two eyes? Everything that we discussed so far could
be computed with information coming from a single eye. So why two? Looking at the animal
kingdom gives us a clue. Animals who tend to be prey have eyes located on opposite sides of
their skull. This allows them to detect predators whenever one appears anywhere around
them. Humans, like most predators, have two eyes pointing in the same direction, encoding
almost the exact scene twice. This redundancy gives us a binocular advantage: having two
eyes not only provides you with two chances at catching a signal in front of you, but the minute
difference in perspective that you get from each eye is used by your brain to reconstruct the
sense of three-dimensional space. You can get an estimate of how far distant objects are from
you, their size, and their volume. This is no easy feat: the signal in each eye is a two-dimensional
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Vision
projection of the world, like two separate pictures drawn upon your retinae. Yet, your brain
effortlessly provides you with a sense of depth by combining those two signals. This 3-D
reconstruction process also relies heavily on all the knowledge you acquired through
experience about spatial information. For instance, your visual system learns to interpret how
the volume, distance, and size of objects change as they move closer or farther from you. (See
the Outside Resources section for demonstrations.)
The Experience of Color

Perhaps one of the most beautiful aspects of vision is the richness of the color experience
that it provides us. One of the challenges that we have as scientists is to understand why the
human color experience is what it is. Perhaps you have heard that dogs only have 2 types of
color photoreceptors, whereas humans have 3, chickens have 4, and mantis shrimp have 16.
Why is there such variation across species? Scientists believe each species has evolved with
different needs and uses color perception to signal information about food, reproduction,
and health that are unique to their species. For example, humans have a specific sensitivity
that allows you to detect slight changes in skin tone. You can tell when someone is
embarrassed, aroused, or ill. Detecting these subtle signals is adaptive in a social species like
ours.
How is color coded in the brain? The two leading theories of color perception were proposed
in the mid-19th century, about 100 years before physiological evidence was found to
corroborate them both (Svaetichin, 1956). Trichromacy theory, proposed by Young (1802)
and Helmholtz (1867), proposed that the eye had three different types of color-sensitive cells
based on the observation that any one color can be reproduced by combining lights from
three lamps of different hue. If you can adjust separately the intensity of each light, at some
point you will find the right combination of the three lights to match any color in the world.
This principle is used today on TVs, computer screens, and any colored display. If you look
closely enough at a pixel, you will find that it is composed of a blue, a red, and a green light,
of varying intensities. Regarding the retina, humans have three types of cones: S-cones, Mcones, and L-cones (also known as blue, green, and red cones, respectively) that are sensitive
to three different wavelengths of light.
Around the same time, Hering made a puzzling discovery: some colors are impossible to
create. Whereas you can make yellowish greens, bluish reds, greenish blues, and reddish
yellows by combining two colors, you can never make a reddish green or a bluish yellow. This
observation led Hering (1892) to propose the Opponent Process theory of color: color is
coded via three opponent channels (red-green, blue-yellow, and black-white). Within each
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Vision
channel, a comparison is constantly computed between the two elements in the pair. In other
words, colors are encoded as differences between two hues and not as simple combinations
of hues. Again, what matters to the brain is contrast. When one element is stronger than the
other, the stronger color is perceived and the weaker one is suppressed. You can experience
this phenomenon by following the link below.
http://nobaproject.com/assets/modules/module-vision-color-demonstration.pdf
When both colors in a pair are present to equal extents, the color perception is canceled and
we perceive a level of grey. This is why you cannot see a reddish green or a bluish yellow: they
cancel each other out. By the way, if you are wondering where the yellow signal comes from,
it turns out that it is computed by averaging the M- and L-cone signals. Are these colors
uniquely human colors? Some think that they are: the red-green contrast, for example, is finely
tuned to detect changes in human skin tone so you can tell when someone blushes or becomes
pale. So, the next time you go out for a walk with your dog, look at the sunset and ask yourself,
what color does my dog see? Probably none of the orange hues you do!
So now, you can ask yourself the question: do all humans experience color in the same way?
Color-blind people, as you can imagine, do not see all the colors that the rest of us see, and
this is due to the fact that they lack one (or more) cones in their retina. Incidentally, there are
a few women who actually have four different sets of cones in their eyes, and recent research
suggests that their experience of color can be (but not always is) richer than the one from
three-coned people. A slightly different question, though, is whether all three-coned people
have the same internal experiences of colors: is the red inside your head the same red inside
your moms head? That is an almost impossible question to answer that has been debated
by philosophers for millennia, yet recent data suggests that there might in fact be cultural
differences in the way we perceive color. As it turns out, not all cultures categorize colors in
the same way, for example. And some groups see different shades of what we in the Western
world would call the same color, as categorically different colors. The Berinmo tribe in New
Guinea, for instance, appear to experience green shades that denote leaves that are alive as
belonging to an entirely different color category than the sort of green shades that denote
dying leaves. Russians, too, appear to experience light and dark shades of blue as different
categories of colors, in a way that most Westerners do not. Further, current brain imaging
research suggests that peoples brains change (increase in white-matter volume) when they
learn new color categories! These are intriguing and suggestive findings, for certain, that seem
to indicate that our cultural environment may in fact have some (small) but definite impact
on how people use and experience colors across the globe.
Integration with Other Modalities
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Vision
Vision is not an encapsulated system. It interacts with and depends on other sensory
modalities. For example, when you move your head in one direction, your eyes reflexively
move in the opposite direction to compensate, allowing you to maintain your gaze on the
object that you are looking at. This reflex is called the vestibulo-ocular reflex. It is achieved
by integrating information from both the visual and the vestibular system (which knows about
body motion and position). You can experience this compensation quite simply. First, while
you keep your head still and your gaze looking straight ahead, wave your finger in front of
you from side to side. Notice how the image of the finger appears blurry. Now, keep your
finger steady and look at it while you move your head from side to side. Notice how your eyes
reflexively move to compensate the movement of your head and how the image of the finger
stays sharp and stable. Vision also interacts with your proprioceptive system, to help you find
where all your body parts are, and with your auditory system, to help you understand the
sounds people make when they speak. You can learn more about this in the Noba module
about multimodal perception (http://noba.to/cezw4qyn).
Finally, vision is also often implicated in a blending-of-sensations phenomenon known as
synesthesia. Synesthesia occurs when one sensory signal gives rise to two or more sensations.
The most common type is grapheme-color synesthesia. About 1 in 200 individuals experience
a sensation of color associated with specific letters, numbers, or words: the number 1 might
always be seen as red, the number 2 as orange, etc. But the more fascinating forms of
synesthesia blend sensations from entirely different sensory modalities, like taste and color
or music and color: the taste of chicken might elicit a sensation of green, for example, and
the timbre of violin a deep purple.
Concluding Remarks
We are at an exciting moment in our scientific understanding of vision. We have just begun
to get a functional understanding of the visual system. It is not sufficiently evolved for us to
recreate artificial visual systems (i.e., we still cannot make robots that see and understand
light signals as we do), but we are getting there. Just recently, major breakthroughs in vision
science have allowed researchers to significantly improve retinal prosthetics: photosensitive
circuits that can be implanted on the back of the eyeball of blind people that connect to visual
areas of the brain and have the capacity to partially restore a visual experience to these
patients (Nirenberg & Pandarinath, 2012). And using functional magnetic brain imaging, we
can now decode from your brain activity the images that you saw in your dreams while you
were asleep (Horikawa, Tamaki, Miyawaki, & Kamitani, 2013)! Yet, there is still so much more
to understand. Consider this: if vision is a construction process that takes time, whatever we
see now is no longer what is front of us. Yet, humans can do amazing time-sensitive feats like
Vision
76
hitting a 90-mph fastball in a baseball game. It appears then that a fundamental function of
vision is not just to know what is happening around you now, but actually to make an accurate
inference about what you are about to see next (Enns & Lleras, 2008), so that you can keep
up with the world. Understanding how this future-oriented, predictive function of vision is
achieved in the brain is probably the next big challenge in this fascinating realm of research.
77
Vision
Outside Resources
Video: Acquired knowledge and its impact on our three-dimensional interpretation of the
world - 3D Street Art
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwNeukAmxJw
world - Anamorphic Illusions
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBNHPk-Lnkk
world - Optical Illusion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjmHofJ2da0&feature=related
Web: Amazing library with visual phenomena and optical illusions, explained
http://michaelbach.de/ot/index.html
Web: Anatomy of the eye
http://www.eyecareamerica.org/eyecare/anatomy/
Web: Demonstration of contrast gain adaptation
http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/lum_contrast-adapt/
Web: Demonstration of illusory contours and lateral inhibition. Mach bands
http://michaelbach.de/ot/lum-MachBands/index.html
Web: Demonstration of illusory contrast and lateral inhibition. The Hermann grid
http://michaelbach.de/ot/lum_herGrid/
Web: Further information regarding what and where/how pathways
http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/What_and_where_pathways
1. When running in the dark, it is recommended that you never look straight at the ground.
Why? What would be a better strategy to avoid obstacles?
Vision
78
2. The majority of ganglion cells in the eye specialize in detecting drops in the amount of light
coming from a given location. That is, they increase their firing rate when they detect less
light coming from a specific location. Why might the absence of light be more important
than the presence of light? Why would it be evolutionarily advantageous to code this type
of information?
3. There is a hole in each one of your eyeballs called the optic disk. This is where veins enter
the eyeball and where neurons (the axons of the ganglion cells) exit the eyeball. Why do
you not see two holes in the world all the time? Close one eye now. Why do you not see a
hole in the world now? To experience a blind spot, follow the instructions in this website:
http://michaelbach.de/ot/cog_blindSpot/index.html
4. Imagine you were given the task of testing the color-perception abilities of a newly
discovered species of monkeys in the South Pacific. How would you go about it?
5. An important aspect of emotions is that we sense them in ourselves much in the same
way as we sense other perceptions like vision. Can you think of an example where the
concept of contrast gain can be used to understand peoples responses to emotional
events?
79
Vision
Vocabulary
Binocular advantage
Benefits from having two eyes as opposed to a single eye.
Cones
Photoreceptors that operate in lighted environments and can encode fine visual details. There
are three different kinds (S or blue, M or green and L or red) that are each sensitive to slightly
different types of light. Combined, these three types of cones allow you to have color vision.
Contrast
Relative difference in the amount and type of light coming from two nearby locations.
Contrast gain
Process where the sensitivity of your visual system can be tuned to be most sensitive to the
levels of contrast that are most prevalent in the environment.
Dark adaptation
Process that allows you to become sensitive to very small levels of light, so that you can actually
see in the near-absence of light.
Lateral inhibition
A signal produced by a neuron aimed at suppressing the response of nearby neurons.
Opponent Process Theory
Theory of color vision that assumes there are four different basic colors, organized into two
pairs (red/green and blue/yellow) and proposes that colors in the world are encoded in terms
of the opponency (or difference) between the colors in each pair. There is an additional black/
white pair responsible for coding light contrast.
Photoactivation
A photochemical reaction that occurs when light hits photoreceptors, producing a neural
signal.
Primary visual cortex (V1)
Brain region located in the occipital cortex (toward the back of the head) responsible for
processing basic visual information like the detection, thickness, and orientation of simple
lines, color, and small-scale motion.
Vision
80
Rods
Photoreceptors that are very sensitive to light and are mostly responsible for night vision.
Synesthesia
The blending of two or more sensory experiences, or the automatic activation of a secondary
(indirect) sensory experience due to certain aspects of the primary (direct) sensory stimulation.
Trichromacy theory
Theory that proposes that all of your color perception is fundamentally based on the
combination of three (not two, not four) different color signals.
Vestibulo-ocular reflex
Coordination of motion information with visual information that allows you to maintain your
gaze on an object while you move.
What pathway
Pathway of neural processing in the brain that is responsible for your ability to recognize what
is around you.
Where-and-How pathway
Pathway of neural processing in the brain that is responsible for you knowing where things
are in the world and how to interact with them.
81
Vision
References
Enns, J. T., & Lleras, A. (2008). New evidence for prediction in human vision. Trends in Cognitive
Sciences, 12 327333.
Gardner, J. L., Sun, P., Waggoner, R. A. , Ueno, K., Tanaka, K., & Cheng, K. (2005). Contrast
adaptation and representation in human early visual cortex. Neuron, 47, 607620.
Goodale, M. A., & Milner, A. D. (1992). Separate visual pathways for perception and action.
Trends in Neuroscience, 15, 2025.
Helmholtz, H. von. (1867). Handbuch der Physiologischen Optik. Leipzig: Leopold Voss.
Hering, E. (1892). Grundzu ge der Lehre vom Lichtsinn. Berlin, Germany: Springer.
Horikawa, T., Tamaki, M., Miyawaki, Y., & Kamitani, Y. (2013). Neural decoding of visual imagery
during sleep. Science, 340(6132), 639642.
Hubel, D. H., & Wiesel, T. N. (1962). Receptive fields, binocular interaction, and functional
architecture in the cats visual cortex. Journal of Physiology, 160, 106154.
Hurley, J. B. (2002). Shedding light on adaptation. Journal of General Physiology, 119, 125128.
Nirenberg, S., & Pandarinath, C. (2012). Retinal prosthetic strategy with the capacity to restore
normal vision. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109 (37), 1501215017.
Stuart, J. A., & Brige, R. R. (1996). Characterization of the primary photochemical events in
bacteriorhodopsin and rhodopsin. In A. G. Lee (Ed.), Rhodopsin and G-protein linked receptors
(Part A, Vol. 2, pp. 33140). Greenwich, CT: JAI.
Svaetichin, G. (1956). Spectral response curves from single cones, Actaphysiologica Scandinavia,
Suppl. 134, 1746.
Young, T. (1802). Bakerian lecture: On the theory of light and colours. Philosophical Transaction
of the Royal Society London, 92, 1248.
6
Failures of Awareness: The Case of
Inattentional Blindness
Daniel Simons
We think important objects and events in our world will automatically grab our attention, but
they often dont, particularly when our attention is focused on something else. The failure to
notice unexpected objects or events when attention is focused elsewhere is now known as
inattentional blindness. The study of such failures of awareness has a long history, but their
practical importance has received increasing attention over the past decade. This module
describes the history and status of research on inattentional blindness, discusses the reasons
why we find these results to be counterintuitive, and the implications of failures of awareness
for how we see and act in our world.
Learning Objectives
Learn about inattentional blindness and why it occurs.

Identify ways in which failures of awareness are counterintuitive.
Better understand the link between focused attention and failures of awareness.
Do you regularly spot editing errors in movies? Can you multitask effectively, texting while
talking with your friends or watching television? Are you fully aware of your surroundings? If
you answered yes to any of those questions, youre not alone. And, youre most likely wrong.
More than 50 years ago, experimental psychologists began documenting the many ways that
our perception of the world is limited, not by our eyes and ears, but by our minds. We appear
83
able to process only one stream of information at a time, effectively filtering other information
from awareness. To a large extent, we perceive only that which receives the focus of our
cognitive efforts: our attention.
Imagine the following task, known as
dichotic listening (e.g., Cherry, 1953;
Moray, 1959; Treisman, 1960): You put
on a set of headphones that play two
completely different speech streams,
one to your left ear and one to your
right ear. Your task is to repeat each
syllable spoken into your left ear as
quickly and accurately as possible,
mimicking each sound as you hear it.
When
performing
this
attention-
demanding task, you wont notice if the

speaker in your right ear switches to a
different language or is replaced by a
different speaker with a similar voice.
You wont notice if the content of their
Some researchers contend that there really is no such thing as multi-
speech becomes nonsensical. In effect,
tasking. Instead, people are just rapidly switching their attention
you are deaf to the substance of the
between tasks, rather than holding those tasks in their attention at
ignored speech. But, that is not
the same time. [Image: Melvin Gaal]
because of the limits of your auditory

senses. It is a form of cognitive
deafness, due to the nature of focused, selective attention. Even if the speaker on your right
headphone says your name, you will notice it only about one-third of the time (Conway, Cowan,
& Bunting, 2001). And, at least by some accounts, you only notice it that often because you
still devote some of your limited attention to the ignored speech stream (Holendar, 1986). In
this task, you will tend to notice only large physical changes (e.g., a switch from a male to a
female speaker), but not substantive ones, except in rare cases.
This selective listening task highlights the power of attention to filter extraneous information
from awareness while letting in only those elements of our world that we want to hear. Focused
attention is crucial to our powers of observation, making it possible for us to zero in on what
we want to see or hear while filtering out irrelevant distractions. But, it has consequences as
well: We can miss what would otherwise be obvious and important signals.
The same pattern holds for vision. In a groundbreaking series of studies in the 1970s and
84
early 1980s, Neisser and his colleagues devised a visual analogue of the dichotic listening task
(Neisser & Becklen, 1975). Their subjects viewed a video of two distinct, but partially
transparent and overlapping, events. For example, one event might involve two people playing
a hand-clapping game and the other might show people passing a ball. Because the two events
were partially transparent and overlapping, both produced sensory signals on the retina
regardless of which event received the participants attention. When participants were asked
to monitor one of the events by counting the number of times the actors performed an action
(e.g., hand clapping or completed passes), they often failed to notice unexpected events in
the ignored video stream (e.g., the hand-clapping players stopping their game and shaking
hands). As for dichotic listening, the participants were unaware of events happening outside
the focus of their attention, even when looking right at them. They could tell that other stuff
was happening on the screen, but many were unaware of the meaning or substance of that
stuff.
To test the power of selective attention to
induce failures of awareness, Neisser and
colleagues (Neisser, 1979) designed a variant
of this task in which participants watched a
video of two teams of players, one wearing
white shirts and one wearing black shirts.
Subjects were asked to press a key whenever
the players in white successfully passed a ball,
but to ignore the players in black. As for the
other videos, the teams were filmed separately
and then superimposed so that they literally
occupied the same space (they were partially
transparent). Partway through the video, a
person wearing a raincoat and carrying an
umbrella strolled through the scene. People
were so intently focused on spotting passes
that they often missed the umbrella woman.
(Pro tip: If you look closely at the video, youll
see that Ulric Neisser plays on both the black
and white teams.)
Have you ever been paying attention to something so
closely you missed another event in the background? Or
These surprising findings were well known in
have you ever been so used to seeing something a certain
the field, but for decades, researchers
way that when it changed, you didnt even notice it had?
dismissed their implications because the
[Image: Lafayette College]
displays had such an odd, ghostly appearance.
85
Of course, we would notice if the displays were fully opaque and vivid rather than partly
transparent and grainy. Surprisingly, no studies were built on Neissers method for nearly 20
years. Inspired by these counterintuitive findings and after discussing them with Neisser
himself, Christopher Chabris and I revisited them in the late 1990s (Simons & Chabris, 1999).
We replicated Neissers work, again finding that many people missed the umbrella woman
when all of the actors in the video were partially transparent and occupying the same space.
But, we added another wrinkle: a version of the video in which all of the actions of both teams
of players were choreographed and filmed with a single camera. The players moved in and
around each other and were fully visible. In the most dramatic version, we had a woman in a
gorilla suit walk into the scene, stop to face the camera, thump her chest, and then walk off
the other side after nine seconds on screen. Fully half the observers missed the gorilla when
counting passes by the team in white.
This phenomenon is now known as inattentional blindness, the surprising failure to notice
an unexpected object or event when attention is focused on something else (Mack & Rock,
1998). The past 15 years has seen a surge of interest in such failures of awareness, and we
now have a better handle on the factors that cause people to miss unexpected events as well
as the range of situations in which inattentional blindness occurs. People are much more
likely to notice unexpected objects that share features with the attended items in a display
(Most et al., 2001). For example, if you count passes by the players wearing black, you are
more likely to notice the gorilla than if you count passes by the players wearing white because
the color of the gorilla more closely matches that of the black-shirted players (Simons &
Chabris, 1999). However, even unique items can go unnoticed. In one task, people monitored
black shapes and ignored white shapes that moved around a computer window (Most et al.,
2001). Approximately 30
percent of them failed to
detect the bright red
cross traversing the display,
even though it was the
only colored item and
was
visible
for
five
seconds.
Another crucial influence
on noticing is the effort
you put into the attention-
Typically, even when were intently focused on a stationary object, a moving object will
demanding task. If you
catch our attention. Why is this? Some researchers claim, evolutionarily speaking, we are
have to keep separate
more attuned to movement because it likely indicated food or a threat was near. [Image:
counts of bounce passes
Phil Roeder]
86
and aerial passes, you are less likely to notice the gorilla (Simons & Chabris, 1999), and if you
are tracking faster moving objects, you are less likely to notice (Simons & Jensen, 2009). You
can even miss unexpected visual objects when you devote your limited cognitive resources
to a memory task (Fougnie & Marois, 2007), so the limits are not purely visual. Instead, they
appear to reflect limits on the capacity of attention. Without attention to the unexpected
event, you are unlikely to become aware of it (Mack & Rock, 1998; Most, Scholl, Clifford, &
Simons, 2005).
Inattentional blindness is not just a laboratory curiosityit also occurs in the real world and
under more natural conditions. In a recent study (Chabris, Weinberger, Fontaine, & Simons,
2011), Chabris and colleagues simulated a famous police misconduct case in which a Boston
police officer was convicted of lying because he claimed not to have seen a brutal beating
(Lehr, 2009). At the time, he had been chasing a murder suspect and ran right past the scene
of a brutal assault. In Chabris simulation, subjects jogged behind an experimenter who ran
right past a simulated fight scene. At night, 65 percent missed the fight scene. Even during
broad daylight, 44 percent of observers jogged right passed it without noticing, lending some
plausibility to the Boston cops story that he was telling the truth and never saw the beating.
Perhaps more importantly, auditory distractions can induce real-world failures to see.
Although people believe they can multitask, few can. And, talking on a phone while driving or
walking decreases situation awareness and increases the chances that people will miss
something important (Strayer & Johnston, 2001). In a dramatic illustration of cell phone
induced inattentional blindness, Ira Hymen observed that people talking on a cell phone as
they walked across a college campus were less likely than other pedestrians to notice a
unicycling clown who rode across their path (Hyman, Boss, Wise, McKenzie, & Caggiano, 2011).
Recently, the study of this sort of awareness failure has returned to its roots in studies of
listening, with studies documenting inattentional deafness: When listening to a set of spatially
localized conversations over headphones, people often fail to notice the voice of a person
walking through the scene repeatedly stating I am a gorilla (Dalton & Fraenkel, 2012). Under
conditions of focused attention, we see and hear far less of the unattended information than
we might expect (Macdonald & Lavie, 2011; Wayand, Levin, & Varakin, 2005).
We now have a good understanding of the ways in which focused attention affects the
detection of unexpected objects falling outside that focus. The greater the demands on
attention, the less likely people are to notice objects falling outside their attention (Macdonald
& Lavie, 2011; Simons & Chabris, 1999; Simons & Jensen, 2009). The more like the ignored
elements of a scene, the less likely people are to notice. And, the more distracted we are, the
less likely we are to be aware of our surroundings. Under conditions of distraction, we
87
effectively develop tunnel vision.

Despite this growing understanding
of the limits of attention and the
factors that lead to more or less
noticing, we have relatively less
understanding of individual differences
in noticing (Simons & Jensen, 2009).
Do some people consistently notice
the unexpected while others are
obliviously unaware of their surrou
ndings? Or, are we all subject to
Now you see me, now you dont! Although the research on attention has
inattentional
blindness
due
to
only developed over the last few decades, magicians have been taking
structural limits on the nature of
advantages of our susceptibility to misguided focus for centuries. [Image:
attention? The question remains
Les Black]
controversial. A few studies suggest

that those people who have a
greater working memory capacity are more likely to notice unexpected objects (Hannon &
Richards, 2010; Richards, Hannon, & Derakshan, 2010). In effect, those who have more
resources available when focusing attention are more likely to spot other aspects of their
world. However, other studies find no such relationship: Those with greater working memory
capacity are not any more likely to spot an unexpected object or event (Seegmiller, Watson,
& Strayer, 2011; Bredemeier & Simons, 2012). There are theoretical reasons to predict each
pattern. With more resources available, people should be more likely to notice (see Macdonald
& Lavie, 2011). However, people with greater working memory capacity also tend to be better
able to maintain their focus on their prescribed task, meaning that they should be less likely
to notice. At least one study suggests that the ability to perform a task does not predict the
likelihood of noticing (Simons & Jensen, 2009; for a replication, see Bredemeier & Simons,
2012). In a study I conducted with Melinda Jensen, we measured how well people could track
moving objects around a display, gradually increasing the speed until people reached a level
of 75% accuracy. Tracking ability varied greatly: Some people could track objects at more than
twice the speed others could. Yet, the ability to track objects more easily was unrelated to the
odds of noticing an unexpected event. Apparently, as long as people try to perform the tracking
task, they are relatively unlikely to notice unexpected events.
What makes these findings interesting and important is that they run counter to our intuitions.
Most people are confident they would notice the chest-thumping gorilla. In fact, nearly 90%
believe they would spot the gorilla (Levin & Angelone, 2008), and in a national survey, 78%
agreed with the statement, People generally notice when something unexpected enters their
88
field of view, even when theyre paying attention to something else (Simons & Chabris, 2010).
Similarly, people are convinced that they would spot errors in movies or changes to a
conversation partner (Levin & Angelone, 2008). We think we see and remember far more of
our surroundings than we actually do. But why do we have such mistaken intuitions?
One explanation for this mistaken intuition is that our experiences themselves mislead us
(Simons & Chabris, 2010). We rarely experience a study situation such as the gorilla experiment
in which we are forced to confront something obvious that we just missed. That partly explains
why demonstrations such as that one are so powerful: We expect that we would notice the
gorilla, and we cannot readily explain away our failure to notice it. Most of the time, we are
happily unaware of what we have missed, but we are fully aware of those elements of a scene
that we have noticed. Consequently, if we assume our experiences are representative of the
state of the world, we will conclude that we notice unexpected events. We dont easily think
about what were missing.
Given the limits on attention coupled with our mistaken impression that important events will
capture our attention, how has our species survived? Why werent our ancestors eaten by
unexpected predators? One reason is that our ability to focus attention intently might have
been more evolutionarily useful than the ability to notice unexpected events. After all, for an
event to be unexpected, it must occur relatively infrequently. Moreover, most events dont
require our immediate attention, so if inattentional blindness delays our ability to notice the
events, the consequences could well be minimal. In a social context, others might notice that
event and call attention to it. Although inattentional blindness might have had minimal
consequences over the course of our evolutionary history, it does have consequences now.
At pedestrian speeds and with minimal distraction, inattentional blindness might not matter
for survival. But in modern society, we face greater distractions and move at greater speeds,
and even a minor delay in noticing something unexpected can mean the difference between
a fender-bender and a lethal collision. If talking on a phone increases your odds of missing a
unicycling clown, it likely also increases your odds of missing the child who runs into the street
or the car that runs a red light. Why, then, do people continue to talk on the phone when
driving? The reason might well be the same mistaken intuition that makes inattentional
blindness surprising: Drivers simply do not notice how distracted they are when they are
talking on a phone, so they believe they can drive just as well when talking on a phone even
though they cant (Strayer & Johnston, 2001).
So, what can you do about inattentional blindness? The short answer appears to be, not
much. There is no magical elixir that will overcome the limits on attention, allowing you to
notice everything (and that would not be a good outcome anyway). But, there is something
89
you can do to mitigate the consequences of such limits. Now that you know about inattentional
blindness, you can take steps to limit its impact by recognizing how your intuitions will lead
you astray.
First, maximize the attention you
do have available by avoiding
distractions, especially under conditions
for which an unexpected event
might be catastrophic. The ring of
a new call or the ding of a new text
are hard to resist, so make it
impossible to succumb to the
temptation by turning your phone
off or putting it somewhere out of
reach when you are driving. If you
know that you will be tempted and
you know that using your phone
Even though you may think you can drive, text, listen to music, and make
will increase inattentional blindness,
a smoothie at the same time, really, your focus should be only on the road,
for everything else can easily distract you from whats most important:
you must be proactive. Second, pay
driving safely! [Image: Michael Heigl]
attention to what others might not
notice. If you are a bicyclist, dont
assume that the driver sees you, even if they appear to make eye contact. Looking is not the
same as seeing. Only by understanding the limits of attention and by recognizing our mistaken
beliefs about what we know to be true can we avoid the modern-day consequences of those
limits.
90
Outside Resources
Article: Scholarpedia article on inattentional blindness
http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Inattentional_blindness
Video: The original gorilla video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo
Video: The sequel to the gorilla video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGQmdoK_ZfY
Web: Website for Chabris & Simons book, The Invisible Gorilla. Includes links to videos and
descriptions of the research on inattentional blindness
http://www.theinvisiblegorilla.com
1. Many people, upon learning about inattentional blindness, try to think of ways to eliminate
it, allowing themselves complete situation awareness. Why might we be far worse off if we
were not subject to inattentional blindness?
2. If inattentional blindness cannot be eliminated, what steps might you take to avoid its
consequences?
3. Can you think of situations in which inattentional blindness is highly likely to be a problem?
Can you think of cases in which inattentional blindness would not have much of an impact?
91
Vocabulary
Dichotic listening
A task in which different audio streams are presented to each ear. Typically, people are asked
to monitor one stream while ignoring the other.
Inattentional blindness
The failure to notice a fully visible, but unexpected, object or event when attention is devoted
to something else.
Inattentional deafness
The auditory analog of inattentional blindness. People fail to notice an unexpected sound or
voice when attention is devoted to other aspects of a scene.
Selective listening
A method for studying selective attention in which people focus attention on one auditory
stream of information while deliberately ignoring other auditory information.
92
References
Bredemeier, K., & Simons, D. J. (2012). Working memory and inattentional blindness.
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 19, 239244.
Chabris, C. F., Weinberger, A., Fontaine, M., & Simons, D. J. (2011). You do not talk about fight
club if you do not notice fight club: Inattentional blindness for a simulated real-world
assault. i-Perception, 2, 150153.
Cherry, E. C. (1953). Experiments on the recognition of speech with one and two ears. Journal
of the Acoustical Society of America, 25, 975979.
Conway, A. R. A., Cowan, N., & Bunting, M. F. (2001). The cocktail party phenomenon revisited:
The importance of working memory capacity. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 8, 331335.
Dalton, P., & Fraenkel, N. (2012). Gorillas we have missed: Sustained inattentional deafness
for dynamic events. Cognition, 124, 367372.
Levin, D. T., & Angelone, B. L. (2008). The visual metacognition questionnaire: A measure of
intuitions about vision. The American Journal of Psychology, 121, 451472.
Macdonald, J. S. P., & Lavie, N. (2011). Visual perceptual load induces inattentional deafness.
Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 73, 17801789.
Mack A., & Rock I. (1998). Inattentional blindness. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Moray, N. (1959). Attention in dichotic listening: Affective cues and the influence of instructions.
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 11, 5660.
Most, S. B., Scholl, B. J., Clifford, E. R., & Simons, D. J. (2005). What you see is what you set:
Sustained inattentional blindness and the capture of awareness. Psychological Review, 112,
217242.
Most, S. B., Simons, D. J., Scholl, B. J., Jimenez, R., Clifford, E., & Chabris, C. F. (2001). How not
to be seen: The contribution of similarity and selective ignoring to sustained inattentional
blindness. Psychological Science, 12, 917.
Neisser U., & Becklen R., (1975). Selective looking: Attending to visually specified events.
Cognitive Psychology, 7, 480494.
Neisser, U. (1979). The control of information pickup in selective looking. In A. D. Pick (Ed.),
Perception and its development: A tribute to Eleanor J. Gibson (pp. 201219). Hillsdale, NJ:
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Richards, A., Hannon, E., & Derakshan, N. (2010). Predicting and manipulating the incidence
of inattentional blindness. Psychological Research, 74, 513523.
Seegmiller, J. K., Watson, J. M., & Strayer, D. L. (2011). Individual differences in susceptibility
93
to inattentional blindness. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and

Cognition, 37, 785791.
Simons, D. J., & Chabris, C. F. (2010). The invisible gorilla, and other ways our intuitions deceive
us. New York, NY: Crown.
Simons, D. J., & Chabris, C. F. (1999). Gorillas in our midst: Sustained inattentional blindness
for dynamic events. Perception, 28, 10591074.
Simons, D. J., & Jensen, M. S. (2009). The effects of individual differences and task difficulty on
inattentional blindness. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 16(2), 398403.
Strayer, D. L., & Johnston, W. A. (2001). Driven to distraction: Dual-task studies of simulated
driving and conversing on a cellular telephone. Psychological Science, 12, 462466.
Treisman, A. (1960). Contextual cues in selective listening. Quarterly Journal of Experimental
Wayand. J. F., Levin, D. T., & Varakin, D. A. (2005). Inattentional blindness for a noxious
multimodal stimulus. The American Journal of Psychology, 118, 339352.
Attention and Consciousness (10/6)
7
Attention
Frances Friedrich
We use the term attention all the time, but what processes or abilities does that concept
really refer to? This module will focus on how attention allows us to select certain parts of our
environment and ignore other parts, and what happens to the ignored information. A key
concept is the idea that we are limited in how much we can do at any one time. So we will
also consider what happens when someone tries to do several things at once, such as driving
while using electronic devices.
Learning Objectives
Understand why selective attention is important and how it can be studied.

Learn about different models of when and how selection can occur.
Understand how divided attention or multitasking is studied, and implications of
multitasking in situations such as distracted driving.
What is Attention?
Before we begin exploring attention in its various forms, take a moment to consider how you
think about the concept. How would you define attention, or how do you use the term? We
certainly use the word very frequently in our everyday language: ATTENTION! USE ONLY AS
DIRECTED! warns the label on the medicine bottle, meaning be alert to possible danger. Pay
attention! pleads the weary seventh-grade teacher, not warning about danger (with possible
exceptions, depending on the teacher) but urging the students to focus on the task at hand.
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Attention
We may refer to a child who is easily

distracted as having an attention
disorder, although we also are told that
Americans have an attention span of
about 8 seconds, down from 12
seconds in 2000, suggesting that we all
have trouble sustaining concentration
for any amount of time (from www.St
atisticbrain.com). How that number
was determined is not clear from the
Web site, nor is it clear how attention
Are you reading these words right here right now? If so, its only
span in the goldfish9 seconds!was
because you directed your attention toward them. [Image: geralt]
measured, but the fact that our average

span reportedly is less than that of a
goldfish is intriguing, to say the least.

William James wrote extensively about attention in the late 1800s. An often quoted passage
(James, 1890/1983) beautifully captures how intuitively obvious the concept of attention is,
while it remains very difficult to define in measurable, concrete terms:
Everyone knows what attention is. It is the taking possession by the mind, in clear and
vivid form, of one out of what seem several simultaneously possible objects or trains of
thought. Focalization, concentration of consciousness are of its essence. It implies
withdrawal from some things in order to deal effectively with others. (pp. 381382)
Notice that this description touches on the conscious nature of attention, as well as the notion
that what is in consciousness is often controlled voluntarily but can also be determined by
events that capture our attention. Implied in this description is the idea that we seem to have
a limited capacity for information processing, and that we can only attend to or be consciously
aware of a small amount of information at any given time.
Many aspects of attention have been studied in the field of psychology. In some respects, we
define different types of attention by the nature of the task used to study it. For example, a
crucial issue in World War II was how long an individual could remain highly alert and accurate
while watching a radar screen for enemy planes, and this problem led psychologists to study
how attention works under such conditions. When watching for a rare event, it is easy to allow
concentration to lag. (This a continues to be a challenge today for TSA agents, charged with
looking at images of the contents of your carry-on items in search of knives, guns, or shampoo
bottles larger than 3 oz.) Attention in the context of this type of search task refers to the level
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Attention
of sustained attention or vigilance one can maintain. In contrast, divided attention tasks allow
us to determine how well individuals can attend to many sources of information at once.
Spatial attention refers specifically to how we focus on one part of our environment and how
we move attention to other locations in the environment. These are all examples of different
aspects of attention, but an implied element of most of these ideas is the concept of selective
attention; some information is attended to while other information is intentionally blocked
out. This module will focus on important issues in selective and divided attention, addressing
these questions:
Can we pay attention to several sources of information at once, or do we have a limited

capacity for information?
How do we select what to pay attention to?

What happens to information that we try to ignore?
Can we learn to divide attention between multiple tasks?
Selective Attention
The Cocktail Party
Selective attention is the ability to
select
certain
environment
stimuli
to
in
process,
the
while
ignoring distracting information.

One way to get an intuitive sense
of how attention works is to
consider
situations
in
which
attention is used. A party provides

an excellent example for our
purposes. Many people may be
milling around, there is a dazzling
variety of colors and sounds and
Beyond just hearing your name from the clamor at a party, other words or
smells,
the
buzz
of
many
concepts, particularly unusual or significant ones to you, can also snag your
conversations is striking. There
attention. [Image: Pavlina Jane]
are so many conversations going

on; how is it possible to select just
one and follow it? You dont have to be looking at the person talking; you may be listening
with great interest to some gossip while pretending not to hear. However, once you are
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Attention
engaged in conversation with someone, you quickly become aware that you cannot also listen
to other conversations at the same time. You also are probably not aware of how tight your
shoes feel or of the smell of a nearby flower arrangement. On the other hand, if someone
behind you mentions your name, you typically notice it immediately and may start attending
to that (much more interesting) conversation. This situation highlights an interesting set of
observations. We have an amazing ability to select and track one voice, visual object, etc., even
when a million things are competing for our attention, but at the same time, we seem to be
limited in how much we can attend to at one time, which in turn suggests that attention is
crucial in selecting what is important. How does it all work?
Dichotic Listening Studies

This cocktail party scenario is the quintessential example of selective attention, and it is
essentially what some early researchers tried to replicate under controlled laboratory
conditions as a starting point for understanding the role of attention in perception (e.g., Cherry,
1953; Moray, 1959). In particular, they used dichotic listening and shadowing tasks to evaluate
the selection process. Dichotic listening simply refers to the situation when two messages are
presented simultaneously to an individual, with one message in each ear. In order to control
which message the person attends to, the individual is asked to repeat back or shadow one
of the messages as he hears it. For example, lets say that a story about a camping trip is
presented to Johns left ear, and a story about Abe Lincoln is presented to his right ear. The
typical dichotic listening task would have John repeat the story presented to one ear as he
hears it. Can he do that without being distracted by the information in the other ear?
People can become pretty good at the shadowing task, and they can easily report the content
of the message that they attend to. But what happens to the ignored message? Typically,
people can tell you if the ignored message was a mans or a womans voice, or other physical
characteristics of the speech, but they cannot tell you what the message was about. In fact,
many studies have shown that people in a shadowing task were not aware of a change in the
language of the message (e.g., from English to German; Cherry, 1953), and they didn't even
notice when the same word was repeated in the unattended ear more than 35 times (Moray,
1959)! Only the basic physical characteristics, such as the pitch of the unattended message,
could be reported.
On the basis of these types of experiments, it seems that we can answer the first question
about how much information we can attend to very easily: not very much. We clearly have a
limited capacity for processing information for meaning, making the selection process all the
more important. The question becomes: How does this selection process work?
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Attention
Models of Selective Attention

Broadbents Filter Model. Many researchers have investigated how selection occurs and what
happens to ignored information. Donald Broadbent was one of the first to try to characterize
the selection process. His Filter Model was based on the dichotic listening tasks described
above as well as other types of experiments (Broadbent, 1958). He found that people select
information on the basis of physical features: the sensory channel (or ear) that a message was
coming in, the pitch of the voice, the color or font of a visual message. People seemed vaguely
aware of the physical features of the unattended information, but had no knowledge of the
meaning. As a result, Broadbent argued that selection occurs very early, with no additional
processing for the unselected information. A flowchart of the model might look like this:
Figure 1: This figure shows information going in both the left and right ears. Some basic sensory information, such as pitch, is
processed, but the filter only allows the information from one ear to be processed further. Only the information from the left
ear is transferred to short-term memory (STM) and conscious awareness, and then further processed for meaning. That means
that the ignored information never makes it beyond a basic physical analysis.
Treismans Attenuation Model

Broadbents model makes sense, but if you think about it you already know that it cannot
account for all aspects of the Cocktail Party Effect. What doesnt fit? The fact is that you tend
to hear your own name when it is spoken by someone, even if you are deeply engaged in a
conversation. We mentioned earlier that people in a shadowing experiment were unaware
of a word in the unattended ear that was repeated many timesand yet many people noticed
their own name in the unattended ear even it occurred only once.
Anne Treisman (1960) carried out a number of dichotic listening experiments in which she
presented two different stories to the two ears. As usual, she asked people to shadowthe
message in one ear. As the stories progressed, however, she switched the stories to the
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Attention
opposite ears. Treisman found that individuals spontaneously followed the story, or the
content of the message, when it shifted from the left ear to the right ear. Then they realized
they were shadowing the wrong ear and switched back.
Results like this, and the fact that you tend to hear meaningful information even when you
arent paying attention to it, suggest that we do monitor the unattended information to some
degree on the basis of its meaning. Therefore, the filter theory cant be right to suggest that
unattended information is completely blocked at the sensory analysis level. Instead, Treisman
suggested that selection starts at the physical or perceptual level, but that the unattended
information is not blocked completely, it is just weakened or attenuated. As a result, highly
meaningful or pertinent information in the unattended ear will get through the filter for further
processing at the level of meaning. The figure below shows information going in both ears,
and in this case there is no filter that completely blocks nonselected information. Instead,
selection of the left ear information strengthens that material, while the nonselected
information in the right ear is weakened. However, if the preliminary analysis shows that the
nonselected information is especially pertinent or meaningful (such as your own name), then
the Attenuation Control will instead strengthen the more meaningful information.
Figure 2
Late Selection Models

Other selective attention models have been proposed as well. Alate selection or response
selection model proposed by Deutsch and Deutsch (1963) suggests that all information in the
unattended ear is processed on the basis of meaning, not just the selected or highly pertinent
information. However, only the information that is relevant for the task response gets into
conscious awareness. This model is consistent with ideas of subliminal perception; in other
words, that you dont have to be aware of or attending a message for it to be fully processed
for meaning.
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Attention
Figure 3
You might notice that this figure looks a lot like that of the Early Selection modelonly the
location of the selective filter has changed, with the assumption that analysis of meaning
occurs before selection occurs, but only the selected information becomes conscious.
Multimode Model
Why did researchers keep coming up
with different models? Because no
model really seemed to account for all
the data, some of which indicates that
nonselected information is blocked
completely,
whereas
other
studies
suggest that it can be processed for

meaning. The multimode model addresses
this apparent inconsistency, suggesting
that the stage at which selection occurs
can change depending on the task.
Johnston and Heinz (1978) demonstrated
that under some conditions, we can
select what to attend to at a very early
stage and we do not process the content
of the unattended message very much
at all. Analyzing physical information,
such as attending to information based
on whether it is a male or female voice,
Think how quickly you can shift your attention: One moment youre
reading the text; the next, youre thinking about the upcoming Friday.
As much as a strength our attention flexibility can be, it is also a
weakness. [Image: woodleywonderworks]
is relatively easy; it occurs automatically,

rapidly, and doesnt take much effort. Under the right conditions, we can select what to attend
to on the basis of the meaning of the messages. However, the late selection option
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Attention
processing the content of all messages before selectionis more difficult and requires more
effort. The benefit, though, is that we have the flexibility to change how we deploy our attention
depending upon what we are trying to accomplish, which is one of the greatest strengths of
our cognitive system.
This discussion of selective attention has focused on experiments using auditory material,
but the same principles hold for other perceptual systems as well. Neisser (1979) investigated
some of the same questions with visual materials by superimposing two semi-transparent
video clips and asking viewers to attend to just one series of actions. As with the auditory
materials, viewers often were unaware of what went on in the other clearly visible video.
Twenty years later, Simons and Chabris (1999) explored and expanded these findings using
similar techniques, and triggered a flood of new work in an area referred to as inattentional
blindness. We touch on those ideas below, and you can also refer to another Noba Module,
Failures of Awareness: The Case of Inattentional Blindness for a more complete discussion.
Text Box 1
103
Attention
Divided Attention and Multitasking

In spite of the evidence of our limited capacity, we all like to think that we can do several things
at once. Some people claim to be able to multitask without any problem: reading a textbook
while watching television and talking with friends; talking on the phone while playing computer
games; texting while driving. The fact is that we sometimes can seem to juggle several things
at once, but the question remains whether dividing attention in this way impairs performance.
Is it possible to overcome the limited capacity that we experience when engaging in cognitive
tasks? We know that with extensive practice, we can acquire skills that do not appear to require
conscious attention. As we walk down the street, we dont need to think consciously about
what muscle to contract in order to take the next step. Indeed, paying attention to automated
skills can lead to a breakdown in performance, or choking (e.g., Beilock & Carr, 2001). But
what about higher level, more mentally demanding tasks: Is it possible to learn to perform
two complex tasks at the same time?
Divided Attention Tasks

In a classic study that examined
this type of divided attention
task, two participants were
trained to take dictation for
spoken words while reading
unrelated material for compre
hension (Spelke, Hirst, & Neisser,
1976). In divided attention tasks
such as these, each task is
evaluated separately, in order to
determine baseline performance
when the individual can allocate
Unless a task is fully automated, some researchers suggest that multi-tasking
as many cognitive resources as
doesnt really exist; you are just rapidly switching your attention back and forth
necessary to one task at a time.
between tasks. [Image: Ryan Ritchie]
Then performance is evaluated

when
the
two
tasks
are
performed simultaneously. A decrease in performance for either task would suggest that even
if attention can be divided or switched between the tasks, the cognitive demands are too great
to avoid disruption of performance. (We should note here that divided attention tasks are
designed, in principle, to see if two tasks can be carried out simultaneously. A related research
104
Attention
area looks at task switching and how well we can switch back and forth among different tasks
[e.g., Monsell, 2003]. It turns out that switching itself is cognitively demanding and can impair
performance.)
The focus of the Spelke et al. (1976) study was whether individuals could learn to perform
two relatively complex tasks concurrently, without impairing performance. The participants
received plenty of practicethe study lasted 17 weeks and they had a 1-hour session each
day, 5 days a week. These participants were able to learn to take dictation for lists of words
and read for comprehension without affecting performance in either task, and the authors
suggested that perhaps there are not fixed limits on our attentional capacity. However,
changing the tasks somewhat, such as reading aloud rather than silently, impaired
performance initially, so this multitasking ability may be specific to these well-learned tasks.
Indeed, not everyone could learn to perform two complex tasks without performance costs
(Hirst, Neisser, & Spelke, 1978), although the fact that some can is impressive.
Distracted Driving
More relevant to our current
lifestyles are questions about
multitasking while texting or
having cell phone conversations.
Research designed to investigate,
under
controlled
conditions,
multitasking while driving has

revealed some surprising results.
Certainly there are many possible
types of distractions that could
impair
driving
performance,
such as applying makeup using

If you look at your phone for just 5 seconds while driving at 55mph, that means
the rearview mirror, attempting
you have driven the length of a football field without looking at the road.
(usually in vain) to stop the kids
[Image: Lord Jim]
in the backseat from fighting,

fiddling with the CD player, trying
to negotiate a handheld cell phone, a cigarette, and a soda all at once, eating a bowl of cereal
while driving (!). But we tend to have a strong sense that we CAN multitask while driving, and
cars are being built with more and more technological capabilities that encourage
multitasking. How good are we at dividing attention in these cases?
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Attention
Most people acknowledge the distraction caused by texting while driving and the reason
seems obvious: Your eyes are off the road and your hands and at least one hand (often both)
are engaged while texting. However, the problem is not simply one of occupied hands or eyes,
but rather that the cognitive demands on our limited capacity systems can seriously impair
driving performance (Strayer, Watson, & Drews, 2011). The effect of a cell phone conversation
on performance (such as not noticing someones brake lights or responding more slowly to
them) is just as significant when the individual is having a conversation with a hands-free
device as with a handheld phone; the same impairments do not occur when listening to the
radio or a book on tape (Strayer & Johnston, 2001). Moreover, studies using eye-tracking
devices have shown that drivers are less likely to later recognize objects that they did look at
when using a cell phone while driving (Strayer & Drews, 2007). These findings demonstrate
that cognitive distractions such as cell phone conversations can produce inattentional
blindness, or a lack of awareness of what is right before your eyes (see also, Simons & Chabris,
1999). Sadly, although we all like to think that we can multitask while driving, in fact the
percentage of people who can truly perform cognitive tasks without impairing their driving
performance is estimated to be about 2% (Watson & Strayer, 2010).
Summary
It may be useful to think of attention as a mental resource, one that is needed to focus on
and fully process important information, especially when there is a lot of distracting noise
threatening to obscure the message. Our selective attention system allows us to find or track
an object or conversation in the midst of distractions. Whether the selection process occurs
early or late in the analysis of those events has been the focus of considerable research, and
in fact how selection occurs may very well depend on the specific conditions. With respect to
divided attention, in general we can only perform one cognitively demanding task at a time,
and we may not even be aware of unattended events even though they might seem too
obvious to miss (check out some examples in the Outside Resources below). This type of
inattention blindness can occur even in well-learned tasks, such as driving while talking on a
cell phone. Understanding how attention works is clearly important, even for our everyday
lives.
106
Attention
Outside Resources
Video: Here's a wild example of how much we fail to notice when our attention is captured
by one element of a scene.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubNF9QNEQLA&feature=related
Video: Try this test to see how well you can focus on a task in the face of a lot of distraction.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahg6qcgoay4&NR=1
1. Discuss the implications of the different models of selective attention for everyday life. For
instance, what advantages and disadvantages would be associated with being able to filter
out all unwanted information at a very early stage in processing? What are the implications
of processing all ignored information fully, even if you aren't consciously aware of that
information?
2. Think of examples of when you feel you can successfully multitask and when you cant.
Discuss what aspects of the tasks or the situation seem to influence divided attention
performance. How accurate do you think you are in judging your own multitasking ability?
3. What are the public policy implications of current evidence of inattentional blindness as a
result of distracted driving? Should this evidence influence traffic safety laws? What
additional studies of distracted driving would you propose?
107
Attention
Vocabulary
Dichotic listening
An experimental task in which two messages are presented to different ears.
Divided attention
The ability to flexibly allocate attentional resources between two or more concurrent tasks.
Inattentional blindness
The failure to notice a fully visible object when attention is devoted to something else.
Limited capacity
The notion that humans have limited mental resources that can be used at a given time.
Selective attention
The ability to select certain stimuli in the environment to process, while ignoring distracting
information.
Shadowing
A task in which the individual is asked to repeat an auditory message as it is presented.
Subliminal perception
The ability to process information for meaning when the individual is not consciously aware
of that information.
108
Attention
References
Bargh, J., & Morsella, E. (2008). The unconscious mind. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 3
(1), 7379.
Beilock, S. L., & Carr, T. H. (2001). On the fragility of skilled performance: What governs choking
under pressure? Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 130, 701725.
Broadbent, D. A. (1958). Perception and communication. London, England: Pergamon Press.
Cheesman, J., & Merikle, P. (1986). Distinguishing conscious from unconscious perceptual
processes. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 40, 343367.
Cheesman, J., & Merikle, P. (1984). Priming with and without awareness. Perception and
Psychophysics, 36, 387395.
Cherry, E. C. (1953). Experiments on the recognition of speech with one and two ears. Journal
of the Acoustical Society of America, 25, 975979.
Deutsch, J. A., & Deutsch, D. (1963). Attention: some theoretical considerations. Psychological
Review, 70, 8090.
Greenwald, A. G. (1992). New Look 3: Unconscious cognition reclaimed. American Psychologist,
47, 766779.
Hirst, W. C., Neisser, U., & Spelke, E. S. (1978). Divided attention. Human Nature, 1, 5461.
James, W. (1983). The principles of psychology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
(Original work published 1890)
Johnston, W. A., & Heinz, S. P. (1978). Flexibility and capacity demands of attention. Journal of
Experimental Psychology: General, 107, 420435.
Merikle, P. (2000). Subliminal perception. In A. E. Kazdin (Ed.), Encyclopedia of psychology (Vol.
7, pp. 497499). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Monsell, S. (2003). Task switching. Trends in Cognitive Science, 7(3), 134140.
Moray, N. (1959). Attention in dichotic listening: Affective cues and the influence of instructions.
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 11, 5660.
Neisser, U. (1979). The control of information pickup in selective looking. In A. D. Pick (Ed.),
Perception and its development: A tribute to Eleanor J. Gibson (pp. 201219). Hillsdale, NJ:
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Simons, D. J., & Chabris, C. F. (1999). Gorillas in our midst: Sustained inattentional blindness
for dynamic events. Perception, 28, 10591074.
Spelke, E. S., Hirst, W. C., & Neisser, U. (1976). Skills of divided attention. Cognition, 4, 215250.
Attention
109
Strayer, D. L., & Drews, F. A. (2007). Cell-phone induced inattention blindness. Current Directions
in Psychological Science, 16, 128131.
Strayer, D. L., & Johnston, W. A. (2001). Driven to distraction: Dual-task studies of simulated
driving and conversing on a cellular telephone. Psychological Science, 12, 462466.
Strayer, D. L., Watson, J. M., & Drews, F. A. (2011) Cognitive distraction while multitasking in
the automobile. In Brian Ross (Ed.), The Psychology of Learning and Motivation (Vol. 54, pp.
2958). Burlington, VT: Academic Press.
Treisman, A. (1960). Contextual cues in selective listening. Quarterly Journal of Experimental
Watson, J. M., & Strayer, D. L. (2010). Supertaskers: Profiles in extraordinary multitasking ability.
8
Robert Biswas-Diener & Jake Teeny
No matter what youre doing--solving homework, playing a video game, simply picking out a
shirt--all of your actions and decisions relate to your consciousness. But as frequently as we
use it, have you ever stopped to ask yourself: What really is consciousness? In this module,
we discuss the different levels of consciousness and how they can affect your behavior in a
variety of situations. As well, we explore the role of consciousness in other, altered states
like hypnosis and sleep.
Learning Objectives
Define consciousness and distinguish between high and low conscious states
Explain the relationship between consciousness and bias
Understand the difference between popular portrayals of hypnosis and how it is currently
used therapeutically
Introduction
Have you ever had a fellow motorist stopped beside you at a red light, singing his brains out,
or picking his nose, or otherwise behaving in ways he might not normally do in public? There
is something about being alone in a car that encourages people to zone out and forget that
others can see them. And although these little lapses of attention are amusing for the rest of
us, they are also instructive when it comes to the topic of consciousness.
111
Consciousness is a term meant to indicate

awareness. It includes awareness of the self,
of bodily sensations, of thoughts and of the
environment. In English, we use the opposite
word unconscious to indicate senselessness
or a barrier to awareness, as in the case of
Theresa fell off the ladder and hit her head,
knocking herself unconscious. And yet,
psychological theory and research suggest
that consciousness and unconsciousness
are more complicated than falling off a
This guy is singing his heart out in his one-man mobile music
ladder. That is, consciousness is more than
studio. Have you ever done this? [Image: Joshua Ommen]
just being on or off. For instance, Sigmund

Freud (1856 1939)perhaps the most
influential psychologist of all timeunderstood that even while we are awake, many things
lay outside the realm of our conscious awareness (like being in the car and forgetting the rest
of the world can see into your windows and hear your singing). In response to this notion,
Freud introduced the concept of the subconscious (Freud, 2001) and proposed that some
of our memories and even our basic motivations are not always accessible to our conscious
minds.
Upon reflection of what constitutes this awareness of consciousness, though, it is easy to
see how slippery a topic it is. For example, are people conscious when theyre daydreaming?
What about when theyre drunk? Clearly, consciousness is more of a continuum than an onor-off state of being. In this module, we will describe several levels of consciousness and then
discuss altered states of consciousness such as hypnosis and sleep.
Levels of Awareness
In 1957, a marketing researcher inserted the words Eat Popcorn onto one frame of a film
being shown all across the United States. And although that frame was only on screen for
1/24th of a seconda speed too fast to be perceived by conscious awarenessthe researcher
reported an increase in popcorn sales by nearly 60%. Almost immediately, all forms of
subliminal messaging were regulated in the US and banned in countries such as Australia
and the United Kingdom. And even though it was later shown that the researcher had made
up the data (he hadnt even inserted the words into the movie frame), this fear about influences
on our subconscious persists. At its heart, this issue pits various levels of awareness against
one another. On the one hand, we have the low awareness of subtle, even subliminal
112
influences. On the other hand, there is youthe conscious thinking, feeling you which includes
all that you are currently aware of, even reading this sentence. However, when we consider
these different levels of awareness separately, we can better understand how they operate.
Low Awareness
Outside of being in a coma, you are constantly receiving and evaluating sensory information.
Although any moment has too many sights, smells, and sounds for them all to be consciously
considered, our brains are nonetheless processing all that information. For example, have
you ever been at a party, overwhelmed by all the people and conversation, when out of
nowhere you hear your name called? Even though you have no idea what else the person is
saying, you are somehow conscious of your name (for more on this, the cocktail party effect,
see Nobas Module on Attention). So, even though you may not be aware of various stimuli in
your environment, your brain is paying closer attention than you think.
Similar to a reflex (like jumping when startled), some cues in our environment, or significant
sensory information, will automatically elicit a response from us even though we never
consciously perceive it. For example, hman and Soares (1994) took participants with a fear
of snakes and connected them to a machine that measured subtle variations in sweating. The
researchers then flashed pictures of different items (e.g., mushrooms, flowers, and most
importantly, snakes) on a screen in front of them, but did so at speeds that left the participant
clueless to what he or she had actually seen. However, when snake pictures were flashed,
these participants started sweating more (i.e., a sign of fear), even though they had no idea
what theyd just viewed!
Yet just because our brains perceive these stimuli without our conscious awareness, do they
really affect our subsequent thoughts and behaviors? In a landmark study, Bargh, Chen, and
Burrows (1996) had participants solve a word search puzzle where the answers pertained to
words about the elderly (e.g., old, grandma) or something random (e.g., notebook,
tomato). Afterward, the researchers secretly measured how fast the participants walked
down the hallway exiting the experiment. And although none of the participants were aware
of a theme to the answers, those who had solved a puzzle with elderly words (vs. those random
ones) walked more slowly down the hallway!
This effect called priming (i.e., readily activating certain concepts and associations from ones
memory) has been replicated in a number of other studies. For example, priming the people
by having them drink from a warm glass (vs. a cold one) resulted in behaving more warmly
toward others (Williams & Bargh, 2008). Although all of these influences occur beneath ones
113
conscious awareness, they still have a

significant effect on ones subsequent
thoughts and behaviors.
In the last two decades researchers have
made advances in studying aspects of
psychology that exist beyond conscious
awareness. As you can understand, it is
difficult to use self-reports and surveys to
ask people about motives or beliefs that
they, themselves, might not even be aware
of! One way of side-stepping this difficulty
can be found in the implicit associations
test,
or
IAT
(Greenwald,
McGhee
&
Schwartz, 1998). This research method uses

computers to assess peoples reaction times
to various stimuli and is a very difficult test
to fake because it records automatic reactions that occur in milliseconds. For instance, to shed
light on deeply held biases, the IAT might present photographs of Caucasian faces and Asian
faces while asking research participants to click buttons indicating either good or bad as
quickly as possible. This method can help uncover non-conscious biases as well as those that
we are motivated to suppress. Even if the participant clicks good for every face shown, the
IAT can still pick up minute delays in responding. Delays are associated with more mental
effort needed to process information. When information is processed quicklyas in the
example of white faces being judged as goodit can be contrasted with slower processing
as in the example of Asian faces being judged as goodand the difference in processing
speed is reflective of bias. In this regard, the IAT has been used for investigating stereotypes
(Nosek, Banaji & Greenwald, 2002) as well as self-esteem (Greenwald & Farnam, 2000).
High Awareness
Just because we may be influenced by these invisible factors, it doesnt mean we are
helplessly controlled by them. The other side of the awareness continuum is known as high
awareness. This is what you think of as effortful attention and decision making. For example,
when you listen to a funny story on a date, consider which class schedule would be preferable,
or complete a complex math problem, you are engaging a state of consciousness that allows
you to be highly aware of and focused on particular details in your environment.
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An actual screenshot from an IAT (Implicit Association Test) that a person might
take to test their own mental representations of various cognitive constructs.
In this particular case, this is an item testing an individuals unconscious reaction
towards members of various ethnic groups. [Image: Courtesy of Anthony
Greenwald from Project Implicit]
Mindfulness is a state of this heightened conscious awareness of the thoughts passing

through ones head. For example, have you ever snapped at someone in frustration, only to
take a moment and reflect on why you responded so aggressively? This more effortful
consideration of your thoughts could be described as an expansion of your conscious
awareness as you take the time to consider the possible influences on your thoughts. Research
has shown that when you engage in this more deliberate consideration, you are less persuaded
by irrelevant yet biasing influences, like the presence of a celebrity in an advertisement (Petty
& Cacioppo, 1986). Higher awareness is also associated with recognizing when youre using
a stereotype, rather than fairly evaluating another person (Gilbert & Hixon, 1991).
Constantly, were alternating between low and high thinking states: the less were paying
attention, the more likely were influenced by non-conscious stimuli (Chaiken, 1980). And
although these subliminal influences may have an effect on us regardless of how effortfully
were thinking, we can use our higher conscious awareness to blunt or even reverse the effect
of them. In whats known as the Flexible Correction Model (Wegener & Petty, 1997), as long
as people are aware that their thoughts or behavior is being influenced by an undue, outside
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source, they will correct their attitude against the bias.

To help make this relationship between lower and
higher conscious thoughts clearer, imagine the brain is
like a train terminal and all of our thoughts are the
different trains you can ride. Sometimes, when you
have low awareness, you just jump on the first train that
opens its doors for you. However, if youre more mindful
of your thoughts, you can pause to consider all the
various trains and select the one that will best get you
to your destination. But this analogy, and all the other
research weve discussed, has only applied to your
standard conception of consciousness. So what about
other stateslike sleeping, daydreaming, or hypnosis
how are these related to our conscious awareness?
Some people practice meditation. This has
been linked to lower stress and higher well-
Other States of Consciousness
being. [Image: Paul Vallejo]
Hypnosis
If youve ever watched a stage
hypnotist perform, it may paint a
misleading portrait of this state of
consciousness. The hypnotized people
on stage, for example, appear to be in
a state similar to sleep. However, as
the hypnotist continues with the
show, you would recognize some
profound differences between sleep
and hypnosis. Namely, when youre
asleep, hearing the word strawberry
doesnt make you flap your arms like
a chicken. In stage performances, the
People being hypnotized on stage. [Image: New Media Expo]
hypnotized participants appear to be highly suggestible, to the point that they are seemingly
under the hypnotists control. Such performances are entertaining but have a way of
sensationalizing the true nature of hypnotic states.
Hypnosis is an actual, documented phenomenonone that has been studied and debated
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Table 1: States of Consciousness.
for over 200 years (Pekala et al., 2010). Franz Mesmer (1734 1815) is often credited as among
the first people to discover hypnosis, which he used to treat members of elite society who
were experiencing psychological distress. It is from Mesmers name that we get the English
word, mesmerize meaning to entrance or transfix a persons attention. Mesmer attributed
the effect of hypnosis to animal magnetism, a supposed universal force (similar to gravity)
that operates through all human bodies. Even at the time, such an account of hypnosis was
not scientifically supported, and Mesmer himself was frequently the center of controversy.
Over the years, researchers have proposed that hypnosis is a mental state characterized by
reduced peripheral awareness and increased focus on a singular stimulus, which results in
an enhanced susceptibility to suggestion (Kihlstrom, 2003). For example, the hypnotist will
usually induce hypnosis by getting the person to pay attention only to the hypnotists voice.
As the individual focuses more and more on that, s/he begins to forget the context of the
setting and responds to the hypnotists suggestions as if they were his or her own. Some
people are naturally more suggestible, and therefore more hypnotizable than are others,
and this is especially true for those who score high in empathy (Wickramasekera II & Szlyk,
2003). One common trick of stage hypnotists is to discard volunteers who are less suggestible
than others. Regardless of ones predisposition to being hypnotized, this mental state relies
on two psychological processes: a dissociation of the self, and reduction in elaborative (or
critical) thinking (Aguado, 2015).
Dissociation is the separation of ones awareness from everything besides what one is
centrally focused on. For example, if youve ever been daydreaming in class, you were likely
so caught up in the fantasy that you didnt hear a word the teacher said. During hypnosis, this
dissociation becomes even more extreme. That is, a person concentrates so much on the
words of the hypnotist that s/he loses perspective of the rest of the world around them. As a
consequence of dissociation, a person is less effortful, and less self-conscious in consideration
of his or her own thoughts and behaviors. Similar to low awareness states, where one often
acts on the first thought that comes to mind, so, too, in hypnosis does the individual simply
follow the first thought that comes to mind, i.e., the hypnotists suggestion. Still, just because
117
one is more susceptible to suggestion under hypnosis, it doesnt mean s/he will do anything
thats ordered. To be hypnotized, you must first want to be hypnotized (i.e., you cant be
hypnotized against your will; Lynn & Kirsh, 2006), and once you are hypnotized, you wont do
anything you wouldnt also do while in a more natural state of consciousness (Lynn, Rhue, &
Weekes, 1990).
Today, hypnotherapy is still used in a variety of formats, and it has evolved from Mesmers
early tinkering with the concept. Modern hypnotherapy often uses a combination of relaxation,
suggestion, motivation and expectancies to create a desired mental or behavioral state.
Although there is mixed evidence on whether hypnotherapy can help with addiction reduction
(e.g., quitting smoking; Abbot et al., 1998) there is some evidence that it can be successful in
treating sufferers of acute and chronic pain (Ewin, 1978; Syrjala et al., 1992). For example, one
study examined the treatment of burn patients with either hypnotherapy, pseudo-hypnosis
(i.e., a placebo condition), or no treatment at all. Afterward, even though people in the placebo
condition experienced a 16% decrease in pain, those in the actual hypnosis condition
experienced a reduction of nearly 50% (Patterson et al., 1996). Thus, even though hypnosis
may be sensationalized for television and movies, its ability to disassociate a person from
their environment (or their pain) in conjunction with increased suggestibility to a clinicians
recommendations (e.g., you will feel less anxiety about your chronic pain) is a documented
practice with actual medical benefits.
Now, similar to hypnotic states, trance states also involve a dissociation of the self; however,
people in a trance state are said to have less voluntary control over their behaviors and actions.
Trance states often occur in religious ceremonies, where the person believes he or she is
possessed by an otherworldly being or force. While in trance, people report anecdotal
accounts of a higher consciousness or communion with a greater power. However, the body
of research investigating this phenomenon tends to reject the claim that these experiences
constitute an altered state of consciousness.
Most researchers today describe both hypnosis and trance states as subjective alterations
of consciousness, not an actually distinct or evolved form (Kirsch & Lynn, 1995). Just like you
feel different when youre in a state of deep relaxation, so, too, are hypnotic and trance states
simply shifts from the standard conscious experience. Researchers contend that even though
both hypnotic and trance states appear and feel wildly different than the normal human
experience, they can be explained by standard socio-cognitive factors like imagination,
expectation, and the interpretation of the situation.
Sleep
118
You may have experienced the

sensation, as you are falling asleep,
of falling and then found yourself
jerking forward and grabbing out
as if you were really falling. Sleep is
a unique state of consciousness.
People generally follow a biological
clock that impacts when they
naturally become drowsy, when
they fall asleep, and the time they
naturally awaken. The hormone
melatonin increases at night and
Sleep is necessary in order for people to function well [Image:
is
RelaxingMusic]
associated
with
becoming
sleepy. Your natural daily rhythm,

or Circadian Rhythm, can be influenced by the amount of daylight to which you are exposed
as well as your work and activity schedule. Changing your location, such as flying from Canada
to England, can disrupt your natural sleep rhythms, and we call this jet lag. You can overcome
jet lag by synchronizing yourself to the local schedule by exposing yourself to daylight and
forcing yourself to stay awake even though you are naturally sleepy.
Interestingly, sleep itself is more than shutting off for the night (or for a nap). Instead of turning
off like a light with a flick of a switch, your shift in consciousness is reflected in your brains
electrical activity. While you are awake and alert your brain activity is marked by beta waves.
Beta waves are characterized by being high in frequency but low in intensity. In addition, they
are the most inconsistent brain wave and this reflects the wide variation in sensory input that
a person processes during the day. As you begin to relax these change to alpha waves. These
waves reflect brain activity that is less frequent, more consistent and more intense. As you
slip into actual sleep you transition through 5 stages of sleep, each characterized by its own
unique pattern of brain activity:
Stage 1: is a light sleep and is marked by theta waves

Stage 2: is deeper sleep (here there are sleep spindles, or occasional very high intensity
brain waves).
Stage 3: is marked by greater muscle relaxation and the appearance of delta waves
Stage 4: is very relaxed and marked by delta waves
Stage 5: sleep marked by rapid eye movement (REM). It is here that people dream most
vividly. Interestingly, this stage iswhere brain activity is concernedsimilar to
119
wakefulness. That is, the brain waves occur less intensely than in other stages of sleep.
Dreams are, arguably, the most interesting
aspect of sleep. Throughout history dreams
have
been
given
special
importance
because of their unique, almost mystical

nature. They have been thought to be
predictions of the future, hints of hidden
aspects of the self, important lessons about
how to live life, or opportunities to engage
in impossible deeds like flying. There are
several competing theories of why humans
dream. One is that it is our nonconscious
attempt to make sense of our daily
experiences and learning. Another, popularized
Figure 1. Changes in brain activity or brainwaves across different
stages of consciousness from being awake and throughout
various stages of sleep. [Image: OpenStax]
by Freud, is that dreams represent taboo or

troublesome wishes or desires. Regardless
of the specific reason we know a few facts
about dreams: all humans dream, we dream at every stage of sleep, but dreams during REM
sleep are especially vivid. One under explored area of dream research is the possible social
functions of dreams: we often share our dreams with others and use them for entertainment
value.
Sleep serves many functions, one of which is to give us a period of mental and physical
restoration. Children generally need more sleep than adults since they are developing. It is
so vital, in fact, that a lack of sleep is associated with a wide range of problems. People who
do not receive adequate sleep are more irritable, have slower reaction time, have more
difficulty sustaining attention, and make poorer decisions. Interestingly, this is an issue
relevant to the lives of college students. In one highly cited study researchers found that 1 in
5 students took more than 30 minutes to fall asleep at night, 1 in 10 occasionally took sleep
medications, and more than half reported being mostly tired in the mornings (Buboltz, et
al, 2001).
Psychoactive Drugs
On April 16, 1943, Albert Hoffmana Swiss chemist working in a pharmaceutical company
accidentally ingested a newly synthesized drug. The druglysergic acid diethylimide (LSD)
turned out to be a powerful hallucinogen. Hoffman went home and later reported the effects
120
of the drug, describing them as seeing the world through a warped mirror and experiencing
visions of extraordinary shapes with intense, kaleidoscopic play of colors. Hoffman had
discovered what members of many traditional cultures around the world already knew: there
are substances that, when ingested, can have a powerful effect on perception and on
consciousness.
Drugs operate on human physiology in a variety of ways and researchers and medical doctors
tend to classify drugs according to their effects. Here we will briefly cover 3 categories of drugs:
hallucinogens, depressants, and stimulants.
Hallucinogens
It is possible that hallucinogens are the substance that have, historically, been used the most
widely. Traditional societies have used plant-based hallucinogens such as peyote, ebene, and
psilocybin mushrooms in a wide range of religious ceremonies. Hallucinogens are substances
that alter a persons perceptions, often by creating visions or hallucinations that are not real.
There are a wide range of hallucinogens and many are used as recreational substances in
industrialized societies. Common examples include marijuana, LSD, and MDMA, also known
as ecstasy. Marijuana is the dried flowers of the hemp plant and is often smoked to produce
euphoria. The active ingredient in marijuana is called THC and can produce distortions in the
perception of time, can create a sense of rambling, unrelated thoughts, and is sometimes
associated with increased hunger or excessive laughter. The use and possession of marijuana
is illegal in most places but this appears to be a trend that is changing. Uruguay, Bangladesh,
several of the United States, and a few other countries have recently legalized marijuana. This
may be due, in part, to changing public attitudes or to the fact that marijuana is increasingly
used for medical purposes such as the management of nausea or treating glaucoma.
Depressants
Depressants are substances that, as their name suggests, slow down the bodys physiology
and mental processes. Alcohol is the most widely used depressant. Alcohols effects include
the reduction of inhibition, meaning that intoxicated people are more likely to act in ways they
would otherwise be reluctant to. Alcohols psychological effects are the result of it increasing
the neurotransmitter GABA. There are also physical effects, such as loss of balance and
coordination, and these stem from the way that alcohol interferes with the coordination of
the visual and motor systems of the brain. Despite the fact that alcohol is so widely accepted
in many cultures it is also associated with a variety of dangers. First, alcohol is toxic, meaning
that it acts like a poison because it is possible to drink more alcohol than the body can
121
effectively remove from the bloodstream. When a persons blood alcohol content (BAC)
reaches .3 to .4% there is a serious risk of death. Second, the lack of judgment and physical
control associated with alcohol is associated with more risk taking behavior or dangerous
behavior such as drunk driving. Finally, alcohol is addictive and heavy drinkers often
experience significant interference with their ability to work effectively or in their close
relationships.
Other common depressants include opiates (also called narcotics), which are substances
synthesized from the poppy flower. Opiates stimulate endorphins production in the brain
and because of this they are often used as pain killers by medical professionals. Unfortunately,
because opiates such as Oxycontin so reliably produce euphoria they are increasingly used
illegallyas recreational substances. Opiates are highly addictive.
Stimulants
Stimulants are substances that speed up
the bodys physiological and mental
processes. Two commonly used stimulants
are caffeinethe drug found in coffee and
teaand nicotine, the active drug in
cigarettes and other tobacco products.
These substances are both legal and
relatively inexpensive, leading to their
widespread
use.
Many
people
are
attracted to stimulants because they feel

more alert when under the influence of
these drugs. As with any drug there are
health risks associated with consumption.
For example, over intoxication of these
types of stimulants can result in anxiety,
headaches,
and
insomnia.
Similarly,
smoking cigarettesthe most common

means of ingesting nicotineis associated
Caffeine is the most widely consumed stimulant in the world. Be

honest, how many cups did you have today? [Image:
Personeelsnet]
with higher risks of cancer. For instance, among heavy smokers 90% of lung cancer is directly
attributable to smoking (Stewart & Kleihues, 2003).
There are other stimulants such as cocaine and methamphetamine (also known as crystal
meth or ice) that are illegal substances that are commonly used. These substances act by
122
blocking re-uptake of dopamine in the brain. This means that the brain does not naturally
clear out the dopamine and that it builds up in the synapse, creating euphoria and alertness.
As the effects wear off it stimulates strong cravings for more of the drug. Because of this these
powerful stimulants are highly addictive.
Conclusion
When you think about your daily life it is easy to get lulled into the belief that there is one
setting for your conscious thought. That is, you likely believe that you hold the same opinions,
values, and memories across the day and throughout the week. But you are like a dimmer
switch on a light that can be turned from full darkness increasingly on up to full brightness.
This switch is consciousness. At your brightest setting you are fully alert and aware; at dimmer
settings you are day dreaming; and sleep or being knocked unconscious represent dimmer
settings still. The degree to which you are in high, medium, or low states of conscious
awareness affect how susceptible you are to persuasion, how clear your judgment is, and how
much detail you can recall. Understanding levels of awareness, then, is at the heart of
understanding how we learn, decide, remember and many other vital psychological processes.
123
Outside Resources
App: Visual illusions for the iPad.
http://www.exploratorium.edu/explore/apps/color-uncovered
Book: A wonderful book about how little we know about ourselves: Wilson, T. D. (2004).
Strangers to ourselves. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674013827
Book: Another wonderful book about free willor its absence?: Wegner, D. M. (2002). The
illusion of conscious will. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/illusion-conscious-will
Information on alcoholism, alcohol abuse, and treatment:
http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health/support-treatment
The American Psychological Association has information on getting a good nights sleep
as well as on sleep disorders
http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/sleep-disorders.aspx
The LSD simulator: This simulator uses optical illusions to simulate the halluginogenic
experience of LSD. Simply follow the instructions in this two minute video. After looking
away you may see the world around you in a warped or pulsating way similar to the effects
of LSD. The effect is temporary and will disappear in about a minute.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2zBNXW7XtI
The National Sleep Foundation is a non-profit with videos on insomnia, sleep training in
children, and other topics
https://sleepfoundation.org/video-library
Video: An artist who periodically took LSD and drew self-portraits:
http://www.openculture.com/2013/10/artist-draws-nine-portraits-on-lsd-during-1950s-resea
rch-experiment.html
Video: An interesting video on attention:
http://www.dansimons.com/videos.html
Video: Clip on out-of-body experiences induced using virtual reality.
124
https://youtu.be/4PQAc_Z2OfQ
Video: Clip on the rubber hand illusion, from the BBC science series "Horizon."
https://youtu.be/Qsmkgi7FgEo
Video: Clip showing a patient with blindsight, from the documentary "Phantoms in the
Brain."
https://youtu.be/Cy8FSffrNDI
Video: Demonstration of motion-induced blindness - Look steadily at the blue moving
pattern. One or more of the yellow spots may disappear:
https://youtu.be/4Aye9FWgxUg
Video: Howie Mandel from American Idol being hypnotized into shaking hands with people:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9dFLXV9hs0
Video: Imaging the Brain, Reading the Mind - A talk by Marsel Mesulam.
http://video.at.northwestern.edu/lores/SO_marsel.m4v
Video: Lucas Handwerker a stage hypnotist discusses the therapeutic aspects of hypnosis:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zepp_H6K5wY
Video: Ted Talk - Simon Lewis: Don't take consciousness for granted
http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_lewis_don_t_take_consciousness_for_granted.html
Video: TED Talk on Dream Research:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9ArPNAOHCo
Video: The mind-body problem - An interview with Ned Block:
https://vimeo.com/58254376
Want a quick demonstration of priming? (Want a quick demonstration of how powerful
these effects can be? Check out:
https://youtu.be/QTTbDy3AZ9A
Web: A good overview of priming:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priming_(psychology)
Web: Definitions of Consciousness:
125
http://www.consciousentities.com/definitions.htm
Web: Learn more about motion-induced blindness on Michael Bach's website:
http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/mot-mib/index.html
1. If someone were in a coma after an accident, and you wanted to better understand how
conscious or aware s/he were, how might you go about it?
2. What are some of the factors in daily life that interfere with peoples ability to get adequate
sleep? What interferes with your sleep?
3. How frequently do you remember your dreams? Do you have recurring images or themes
in your dreams? Why do you think that is?
4. Consider times when you fantasize or let your mind wander? Describe these times: are
you more likely to be alone or with others? Are there certain activities you engage in that
seem particularly prone to daydreaming?
5. A number of traditional societies use consciousness altering substances in ceremonies.
Why do you think they do this?
6. Do you think attitudes toward drug use are changing over time? If so, how? Why do you
think these changes occur?
7. Students in high school and college are increasingly using stimulants such as Adderol as
study aids and performance enhancers. What is your opinion of this trend?
126
Vocabulary
Blood Alcohol Content (BAC)
Blood Alcohol Content (BAC): a measure of the percentage of alcohol found in a persons
blood. This measure is typically the standard used to determine the extent to which a person
is intoxicated, as in the case of being too impaired to drive a vehicle.
Circadian Rhythm
Circadian Rhythm: The physiological sleep-wake cycle. It is influenced by exposure to sunlight
as well as daily schedule and activity. Biologically, it includes changes in body temperature,
blood pressure and blood sugar.
Consciousness
Consciousness: the awareness or deliberate perception of a stimulus
Cues
Cues: a stimulus that has a particular significance to the perceiver (e.g., a sight or a sound
that has special relevance to the person who saw or heard it)
Depressants
Depressants: a class of drugs that slow down the bodys physiological and mental processes.
Dissociation
Dissociation: the heightened focus on one stimulus or thought such that many other things
around you are ignored; a disconnect between ones awareness of their environment and the
one object the person is focusing on
Euphoria
Euphoria: an intense feeling of pleasure, excitement or happiness.
Flexible Correction Model
Flexible Correction Model: the ability for people to correct or change their beliefs and
evaluations if they believe these judgments have been biased (e.g., if someone realizes they
only thought their day was great because it was sunny, they may revise their evaluation of
the day to account for this biasing influence of the weather)
Hallucinogens
Hallucinogens: substances that, when ingested, alter a persons perceptions, often by creating
127
hallucinations that are not real or distorting their perceptions of time.

Hypnosis
Hypnosis: the state of consciousness whereby a person is highly responsive to the suggestions
of another; this state usually involves a dissociation with ones environment and an intense
focus on a single stimulus, which is usually accompanied by a sense of relaxation
Hypnotherapy
Hypnotherapy: The use of hypnotic techniques such as relaxation and suggestion to help
engineer desirable change such as lower pain or quitting smoking.
Implicit Associations Test
Implicit Associations Test (IAT): A computer reaction time test that measures a persons
automatic associations with concepts. For instance, the IAT could be used to measure how
quickly a person makes positive or negative evaluations of members of various ethnic groups.
Jet Lag
Jet Lag: The state of being fatigued and/or having difficulty adjusting to a new time zone after
traveling a long distance (across multiple time zones).
Melatonin
Melatonin: A hormone associated with increased drowsiness and sleep.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness: a state of heightened focus on the thoughts passing through ones head, as well
as a more controlled evaluation of those thoughts (e.g., do you reject or support the thoughts
youre having?)
Priming
Priming: the activation of certain thoughts or feelings that make them easier to think of and
act upon
Stimulants
Stimulants: a class of drugs that speed up the bodys physiological and mental processes.
Trance States
Trance: a state of consciousness characterized by the experience of out-of-body possession,
or an acute dissociation between ones self and the current, physical environment surrounding
them.
128
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Syrjala, K. L., Cummings, C., & Donaldson, G. W. (1992). Hypnosis or cognitive behavioral
training for the reduction of pain and nausea during cancer treatment: A controlled clinical
trial. Pain, 48, 137-46.
Wegener, D. T., & Petty, R. E. (1997). The flexible correction model: The role of naive theories
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Wickramasekera II, I. E., & Szlyk, J. (2003). Could empathy be a predictor of hypnotic ability?
International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 51(4), 390399.
Williams, L. E., & Bargh, J. A. (2008). Experiencing physical warmth promotes interpersonal
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Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 103(2), 231.
Memory (10/11)
9
Aaron Benjamin
Learning is a complex process that defies easy definition and description. This module reviews
some of the philosophical issues involved with defining learning and describes in some detail
the characteristics of learners and of encoding activities that seem to affect how well people
can acquire new memories, knowledge, or skills. At the end, we consider a few basic principles
that guide whether a particular attempt at learning will be successful or not.
Learning Objectives
Consider what kinds of activities constitute learning.

Name multiple forms of learning.
List some individual differences that affect learning.
Describe the effect of various encoding activities on learning.
Describe three general principles of learning.
Introduction
What do you do when studying for an exam? Do you read your class notes and textbook
(hopefully not for the very first time)? Do you try to find a quiet place without distraction? Do
you use flash cards to test your knowledge? The choices you make reveal your theory of
learning, but there is no reason for you to limit yourself to your own intuitions. There is a vast
and vibrant science of learning, in which researchers from psychology, education, and
neuroscience study basic principles of learning and memory.
132
In fact, learning is a much broader

domain than you might think.
Consider: Is listening to music a
form of learning? More often, it
seems listening to music is a way
of avoiding learning. But we know
that your brains response to
auditory
information
changes
with your experience with that

information, a form of learning
called
When you study for a test, you incorporate your past knowledge into learning
auditory
perceptual
learning (Polley, Steinberg, &
this new knowledge. That is, depending on your previous experiences, you
Merzenich, 2006). Each time we
will learn the material through different ways. [Image: UBC Learning
listen to a song, we hear it
Commons]
differently because of our experience.

When we exhibit changes in
behavior without having intended to learn something, that is called implicit learning (Seger,
1994), and when we exhibit changes in our behavior that reveal the influence of past
experience even though we are not attempting to use that experience, that is called implicit
memory (Richardson-Klavehn & Bjork, 1988).
Other well-studied forms of learning include the types of learning that are general across
species. We cant ask a slug to learn a poem or a lemur to learn to bat left-handed, but we
can assess learning in other ways. For example, we can look for a change in our responses to
things when we are repeatedly stimulated. If you live in a house with a grandfather clock, you
know that what was once an annoying and intrusive sound is now probably barely audible to
you. Similarly, poking an earthworm again and again is likely to lead to a reduction in its
retraction from your touch. These phenomena are forms of nonassociative learning, in which
single repeated exposure leads to a change in behavior (Pinsker, Kupfermann, Castelluci, &
Kandel, 1970). When our response lessens with exposure, it is called habituation, and when
it increases (like it might with a particularly annoying laugh), it is called sensitization. Animals
can also learn about relationships between things, such as when an alley cat learns that the
sound of janitors working in a restaurant precedes the dumping of delicious new garbage (an
example of stimulus-stimulus learning called classical conditioning), or when a dog learns to
roll over to get a treat (a form of stimulus-response learning called operant conditioning).
These forms of learning will be covered in the module on Conditioning and Learning
(http://noba.to/ajxhcqdr).
Here, well review some of the conditions that affect learning, with an eye toward the type of
133
explicit learning we do when trying to learn something. Jenkins (1979) classified experiments
on learning and memory into four groups of factors (renamed here): learners, encoding
activities, materials, and retrieval. In this module, well focus on the first two categories; the
module on Memory (http://noba.to/bdc4uger) will consider other factors more generally.
Learners
People bring numerous individual differences with them into memory experiments, and many
of these variables affect learning. In the classroom, motivation matters (Pintrich, 2003), though
experimental attempts to induce motivation with money yield only modest benefits (Heyer &
OKelly, 1949). Learners are, however, quite able to allocate more effort to learning prioritized
over unimportant materials (Castel, Benjamin, Craik, & Watkins, 2002).
In addition, the organization and planning skills that a learner exhibits matter a lot (Garavalia
& Gredler, 2002), suggesting that the efficiency with which one organizes self-guided learning
is an important component of learning. We will return to this topic soon.
One well-studied and important
variable is working memory capacity.
Working memory describes the
form of memory we use to hold onto
information temporarily. Working
memory is used, for example, to
keep track of where we are in the
course of a complicated math
problem, and what the relevant
outcomes of prior steps in that
problem are. Higher scores on
working memory measures are
predictive of better reasoning skills
(Kyllonen & Christal, 1990), reading
comprehension (Daneman & Carpenter,
1980), and even better control of
Research attests that we can hold between 5 to 9 individual pieces of
information in our working memory at once. This is why phone numbers
were originally designed to be 7 numbers long. [Image: UBC Library
attention (Kane, Conway, Hambrick,

& Engle, 2008).
Communications]
Anxiety also affects the quality of

learning. For example, people with math anxiety have a smaller capacity for remembering
134
math-related information in working memory, such as the results of carrying a digit in

arithmetic (Ashcraft & Kirk, 2001). Having students write about their specific anxiety seems
to reduce the worry associated with tests and increases performance on math tests (Ramirez
& Beilock, 2011).
One good place to end this discussion is to consider the role of expertise. Though there
probably is a finite capacity on our ability to store information (Landauer, 1986), in practice,
this concept is misleading. In fact, because the usual bottleneck to remembering something
is our ability to access information, not our space to store it, having more knowledge or expertise
actually enhances our ability to learn new information. A classic example can be seen in
comparing a chess master with a chess novice on their ability to learn and remember the
positions of pieces on a chessboard (Chase & Simon, 1973). In that experiment, the master
remembered the location of many more pieces than the novice, even after only a very short
glance. Maybe chess masters are just smarter than the average chess beginner, and have
better memory? No: The advantage the expert exhibited only was apparent when the pieces
were arranged in a plausible format for an ongoing chess game; when the pieces were placed
randomly, both groups did equivalently poorly. Expertise allowed the master to chunk (Simon,
1974) multiple pieces into a smaller number of pieces of informationbut only when that
information was structured in such a way so as to allow the application of that expertise.
Encoding Activities
What we do when were
learning is very important.
Weve all had the experience
of reading something and
suddenly coming to the
realization that we dont
remember a single thing,
even the sentence that we
just read. How we go about
encoding information dete
rmines a lot about how
We are better at encoding information when we connect it to personally relevant or
much we remember.
pre-established knowledge structures. So if youre studying for a psychology test, one

of the best tactics is to consider how the terms and theories apply to your own life.
You might think that the
[Image: Ohio University Libraries]
most important thing is to

try to learn. Interestingly, this is not true, at least not completely. Trying to learn a list of words,
135
as compared to just evaluating each word for its part of speech (i.e., noun, verb, adjective)
does help you recall the wordsthat is, it helps you remember and write down more of the
words later. But it actually impairs your ability to recognize the wordsto judge on a later list
which words are the ones that you studied (Eagle & Leiter, 1964). So this is a case in which
incidental learningthat is, learning without the intention to learnis better than intentional
learning.
Such examples are not particularly rare and are not limited to recognition. Nairne, Pandeirada,
and Thompson (2008) showed, for example, that survival processingthinking about and
rating each word in a list for its relevance in a survival scenarioled to much higher recall
than intentional learning (and also higher, in fact, than other encoding activities that are also
known to lead to high levels of recall). Clearly, merely intending to learn something is not
enough. How a learner actively processes the material plays a large role; for example, reading
words and evaluating their meaning leads to better learning than reading them and evaluating
the way that the words look or sound (Craik & Lockhart, 1972). These results suggest that
individual differences in motivation will not have a large effect on learning unless learners
also have accurate ideas about how to effectively learn material when they care to do so.
So, do learners know how to effectively encode material? People allowed to freely allocate
their time to study a list of words do remember those words better than a group that doesnt
have control over their own study time, though the advantage is relatively small and is limited
to the subset of learners who choose to spend more time on the more difficult material (Tullis
& Benjamin, 2011). In addition, learners who have an opportunity to review materials that
they select for restudy often learn more than another group that is asked to restudy the
materials that they didnt select for restudy (Kornell & Metcalfe, 2006). However, this advantage
also appears to be relatively modest (Kimball, Smith, & Muntean, 2012) and wasnt apparent
in a group of older learners (Tullis & Benjamin, 2012). Taken together, all of the evidence seems
to support the claim that self-control of learning can be effective, but only when learners have
good ideas about what an effective learning strategy is.
One factor that appears to have a big effect and that learners do not always appear to
understand is the effect of scheduling repetitions of study. If you are studying for a final exam
next week and plan to spend a total of five hours, what is the best way to distribute your
study? The evidence is clear that spacing ones repetitions apart in time is superior than massing
them all together (Baddeley & Longman, 1978; Bahrick, Bahrick, Bahrick, & Bahrick, 1993;
Melton, 1967). Increasing the spacing between consecutive presentations appears to benefit
learning yet further (Landauer & Bjork, 1978).
A similar advantage is evident for the practice of interleaving multiple skills to be learned: For
136
example, baseball batters improved more when they faced a mix of different types of pitches
than when they faced the same pitches blocked by type (Hall, Domingues, & Cavazos, 1994).
Students also showed better performance on a test when different types of mathematics
problems were interleaved rather than blocked during learning (Taylor & Rohrer, 2010).
One final factor that merits discussion is the role of testing. Educators and students often
think about testing as a way of assessing knowledge, and this is indeed an important use of
tests. But tests themselves affect memory, because retrieval is one of the most powerful ways
of enhancing learning (Roediger & Butler, 2013). Self-testing is an underutilized and potent
means of making learning more durable.
General Principles of Learning

Weve only begun to scratch the surface here of the many variables that affect the quality and
content of learning (Mullin, Herrmann, & Searleman, 1993). But even within this brief
examination of the differences between people and the activities they engage in can we see
some basic principles of the learning process.
The value of effective metacognition

To be able to guide our own learning effectively,
we must be able to evaluate the progress of our
learning accurately and choose activities that
enhance learning efficiently. It is of little use to
study for a long time if a student cannot discern
between what material she has or has not
mastered, and if additional study activities
move her no closer to mastery. Metacognition
describes the knowledge and skills people have
in monitoring and controlling their own learning
and memory. We can work to acquire better
metacognition by paying attention to our
successes and failures in estimating what we do
and dont know, and by using testing often to
Metacognition, or thinking about ones thoughts, is
crucial in everyday life. It allows us to decide which
monitor our progress.
thoughts are useful and which are not. [Image:

digitalbob8]
Transfer-appropriate processing
137
Sometimes, it doesnt make sense to talk about whether a particular encoding activity is good
or bad for learning. Rather, we can talk about whether that activity is good for learning as
revealed by a particular test. For example, although reading words for meaning leads to better
performance on a test of recall or recognition than paying attention to the pronunciation of
the word, it leads to worse performance on a test that taps knowledge of that pronunciation,
such as whether a previously studied word rhymes with another word (Morris, Bransford, &
Franks, 1977). The principle of transfer-appropriate processing states that memory is better
when the test taps the same type of knowledge as the original encoding activity. When thinking
about how to learn material, we should always be thinking about the situations in which we
are likely to need access to that material. An emergency responder who needs access to
learned procedures under conditions of great stress should learn differently from a hobbyist
learning to use a new digital camera.
The value of forgetting

Forgetting is sometimes seen as the enemy of
learning, but, in fact, forgetting is a highly desirable
part of the learning process. The main bottleneck
we face in using our knowledge is being able to
access it. We have all had the experience of retrieval
failurethat is, not being able to remember a piece
of information that we know we have, and that we
can access easily once the right set of cues is
provided. Because access is difficult, it is important
to jettison information that is not neededthat is,
to forget it. Without forgetting, our minds would
become cluttered with out-of-date or irrelevant
information. And, just imagine how complicated life
would be if we were unable to forget the names of
past
acquaintances,
teachers,
or
romantic
partners.
But the value of forgetting is even greater than that.
There is lots of evidence that some forgetting is a
In order to not forget things, we employ a variety of
prerequisite for more learning. For example, the
tricks (like tying string around our fingers as a
previously discussed benefits of distributing
reminder). However, if we were unable to forget
practice opportunities may arise in part because of

the greater forgetting that takes places between
information, it would interfere with learning new or

contradictory material. [Image: bibliojojo]
138
those spaced learning events. It is for this reason that some encoding activities that are difficult
and lead to the appearance of slow learning actually lead to superior learning in the long run
(Bjork, 2011). When we opt for learning activities that enhance learning quickly, we must be
aware that these are not always the same techniques that lead to durable, long-term learning.
Conclusion
To wrap things up, lets think back to the questions we began the module with. What might
you now do differently when preparing for an exam? Hopefully, you will think about testing
yourself frequently, developing an accurate sense of what you do and do not know, how you
are likely to use the knowledge, and using the scheduling of tasks to your advantage. If you
are learning a new skill or new material, using the scientific study of learning as a basis for
the study and practice decisions you make is a good bet.
139
1. How would you best design a computer program to help someone learn a new foreign
language? Think about some of the principles of learning outlined in this module and how
those principles could be instantiated in rules in a computer program.
2. Would you rather have a really good memory or really good metacognition? How might
you train someone to develop better metacognition if he or she doesnt have a very good
memory, and what would be the consequences of that training?
3. In what kinds of situations not discussed here might you find a benefit of forgetting on
learning?
140
Vocabulary
Chunk
The process of grouping information together using our knowledge.
Classical conditioning
Describes stimulus-stimulus associative learning.
Encoding
The pact of putting information into memory.
Habituation
Occurs when the response to a stimulus decreases with exposure.
Implicit learning
Occurs when we acquire information without intent that we cannot easily express.
Implicit memory
A type of long-term memory that does not require conscious thought to encode. It's the type
of memory one makes without intent.
Incidental learning
Any type of learning that happens without the intention to learn.
Intentional learning
Any type of learning that happens when motivated by intention.
Metacognition
Describes the knowledge and skills people have in monitoring and controlling their own
learning and memory.
Nonassociative learning
Occurs when a single repeated exposure leads to a change in behavior.
Operant conditioning
Describes stimulus-response associative learning.
Perceptual learning
141
Occurs when aspects of our perception changes as a function of experience.

Sensitization
Occurs when the response to a stimulus increases with exposure
Transfer-appropriate processing
A principle that states that memory performance is superior when a test taps the same
cognitive processes as the original encoding activity.
Working memory
The form of memory we use to hold onto information temporarily, usually for the purposes
of manipulation.
142
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10
Forgetting and Amnesia
Nicole Dudukovic & Brice Kuhl
This module explores the causes of everyday forgetting and considers pathological forgetting
in the context of amnesia. Forgetting is viewed as an adaptive process that allows us to be
efficient in terms of the information we retain.
Learning Objectives
Identify five reasons we forget and give examples of each.

Describe how forgetting can be viewed as an adaptive process.
Explain the difference between anterograde and retrograde amnesia.
Introduction
Chances are that you have
experienced memory lapses
and been frustrated by them.
You may have had trouble
remembering the definition
of a key term on an exam or
found yourself unable to
Forgetting can often be obnoxious or even embarrassing. But as we explore this
recall the name of an actor
module, youll learn that forgetting is important and necessary for everyday
from one of your favorite TV
functionality. [Image: jazbeck]
shows. Maybe you forgot to
146
call your aunt on her birthday or you routinely forget where you put your cell phone.
Oftentimes, the bit of information we are searching for comes back to us, but sometimes it
does not. Clearly, forgetting seems to be a natural part of life. Why do we forget? And is
forgetting always a bad thing?
Causes of Forgetting
One very common and obvious reason why you cannot remember a piece of information is
because you did not learn it in the first place. If you fail to encode information into memory,
you are not going to remember it later on. Usually, encoding failures occur because we are
distracted or are not paying attention to specific details. For example, people have a lot of
trouble recognizing an actual penny out of a set of drawings of very similar pennies, or lures,
even though most of us have had a lifetime of experience handling pennies (Nickerson &
Adams, 1979). However, few of us have studied the features of a penny in great detail, and
since we have not attended to those details, we fail to recognize them later. Similarly, it has
been well documented that distraction during learning impairs later memory (e.g., Craik,
Govoni, Naveh-Benjamin, & Anderson, 1996). Most of the time this is not problematic, but in
certain situations, such as when you are studying for an exam, failures to encode due to
distraction can have serious repercussions.
Another proposed reason why we forget is that memories fade, or decay, over time. It has
been known since the pioneering work of Hermann Ebbinghaus (1885/1913) that as time
passes, memories get harder to recall. Ebbinghaus created more than 2,000 nonsense
syllables, such as dax, bap, and rif, and studied his own memory for them, learning as many
as 420 lists of 16 nonsense syllables for one experiment. He found that his memories
diminished as time passed, with the most forgetting happening early on after learning. His
observations and subsequent research suggested that if we do not rehearse a memory and
the neural representation of that memory is not reactivated over a long period of time, the
memory representation may disappear entirely or fade to the point where it can no longer
be accessed. As you might imagine, it is hard to definitively prove that a memory has decayed
as opposed to it being inaccessible for another reason. Critics argued that forgetting must be
due to processes other than simply the passage of time, since disuse of a memory does not
always guarantee forgetting (McGeoch, 1932). More recently, some memory theorists have
proposed that recent memory traces may be degraded or disrupted by new experiences
(Wixted, 2004). Memory traces need to be consolidated, or transferred from the hippocampus
to more durable representations in the cortex, in order for them to last (McGaugh, 2000).
When the consolidation process is interrupted by the encoding of other experiences, the
memory trace for the original experience does not get fully developed and thus is forgotten.
147
Both encoding failures and decay

account for more permanent forms of
forgetting, in which the memory trace
does not exist, but forgetting may also
occur when a memory exists yet we
temporarily cannot access it. This type
of forgetting may occur when we lack
the appropriate retrieval cues for
bringing the memory to mind. You
have probably had the frustrating
experience of forgetting your password
for
an
online
site.
Usually,
the
password has not been permanently

forgotten; instead, you just need the
right reminder to remember what it is.
For example, if your password was
At times, we will completely blank on something were certain weve
learned. However, once we get the right retrieval cue, the memory
pizza0525, and you received the
rushes back to us like it was there all along (thank goodness!). [Image:
password hints favorite food and
Helga Weber]
Moms birthday, you would easily be

able to retrieve it. Retrieval hints can
bring back to mind seemingly forgotten memories (Tulving & Pearlstone, 1966). One real-life
illustration of the importance of retrieval cues comes from a study showing that whereas
people have difficulty recalling the names of high school classmates years after graduation,
they are easily able to recognize the names and match them to the appropriate faces (Bahrick,
Bahrick, & Wittinger, 1975). The names are powerful enough retrieval cues that they bring
back the memories of the faces that went with them. The fact that the presence of the right
retrieval cues is critical for remembering adds to the difficulty in proving that a memory is
permanently forgotten as opposed to temporarily unavailable.
Retrieval failures can also occur because other memories are blocking or getting in the way
of recalling the desired memory. This blocking is referred to as interference. For example,
you may fail to remember the name of a town you visited with your family on summer vacation
because the names of other towns you visited on that trip or on other trips come to mind
instead. Those memories then prevent the desired memory from being retrieved. Interference
is also relevant to the example of forgetting a password: passwords that we have used for
other websites may come to mind and interfere with our ability to retrieve the desired
password. Interference can be either proactive, in which old memories block the learning of
new related memories, or retroactive, in which new memories block the retrieval of old related
memories. For both types of interference, competition between memories seems to be key
148
(Mensink & Raaijmakers, 1988). Your memory for a town you visited on vacation is unlikely to
interfere with your ability to remember an Internet password, but it is likely to interfere with
your ability to remember a different towns name. Competition between memories can also
lead to forgetting in a different way. Recalling a desired memory in the face of competition
may result in the inhibition of related, competing memories (Levy & Anderson, 2002). You
may have difficulty recalling the name of Kennebunkport, Maine, because other Maine towns,
such as Bar Harbor, Winterport, and Camden, come to mind instead. However, if you are able
to recall Kennebunkport despite strong competition from the other towns, this may actually
change the competitive landscape, weakening memory for those other towns names, leading
to forgetting of them instead.
Finally,
some
forgotten
memories
because
we
may
be
deliberately
attempt to keep them out of mind. Over

time,
by
actively
trying
not
to
remember an event, we can sometimes

successfully
keep
the
undesirable
memory from being retrieved either by

inhibiting the undesirable memory or
generating diversionary thoughts (Anderson
& Green, 2001). Imagine that you
slipped and fell in your high school
cafeteria
during
lunch
time,
and
everyone at the surrounding tables

laughed at you. You would likely wish
to avoid thinking about that event and
might try to prevent it from coming to
mind. One way that you could accomplish this is by thinking of other, more positive, events
that are associated with the cafeteria. Eventually, this memory may be suppressed to the point
that it would only be retrieved with great difficulty (Hertel & Calcaterra, 2005).
Adaptive Forgetting
We have explored five different causes of forgetting. Together they can account for the dayto-day episodes of forgetting that each of us experience. Typically, we think of these episodes
in a negative light and view forgetting as a memory failure. Is forgetting ever good? Most
people would reason that forgetting that occurs in response to a deliberate attempt to keep
an event out of mind is a good thing. No one wants to be constantly reminded of falling on
149
their face in front of all of

their friends. However,
beyond that, it can be
argued that forgetting is
adaptive, allowing us to be
efficient and hold onto
only the most relevant
memories (Bjork, 1989;
Anderson & Milson, 1989).
Shereshevsky, or S, the
mnemonist studied by
Alexander Luria (1968),
was a man who almost
Could you imagine being unable to forget every path you have taken while hiking?
never forgot. His memory
Each new trip, you would be walking around the forest for days, incapable of
appeared to be virtually
distinguishing todays path from the prior ones. [Image: Dan Trew]
limitless. He could memorize
a table of 50 numbers in
under 3 minutes and recall the numbers in rows, columns, or diagonals with ease. He could
recall lists of words and passages that he had memorized over a decade before. Yet
Shereshevsky found it difficult to
function in his everyday life because he
was constantly distracted by a flood of
details and associations that sprung to
mind. His case history suggests that
remembering everything is not always a
good thing. You may occasionally have
trouble remembering where you parked
your car, but imagine if every time you
had to find your car, every single former
parking space came to mind. The task
would become impossibly difficult to
sort through all of those irrelevant
memories. Thus, forgetting is adaptive
in that it makes us more efficient. The
price of that efficiency is those moments
when our memories seem to fail us
To help remember which amnesia is which (retrograde vs.
(Schacter, 1999).
anterograde), just think of the word retro (e.g., that lamp from the
70s is so retro) to help remind you that this amnesia deals with
forgetting old memories. [Image: Richard Davis]
Amnesia
150
Clearly, remembering everything would be maladaptive, but what would it be like to remember
nothing? We will now consider a profound form of forgetting called amnesia that is distinct
from more ordinary forms of forgetting. Most of us have had exposure to the concept of
amnesia through popular movies and television. Typically, in these fictionalized portrayals of
amnesia, a character suffers some type of blow to the head and suddenly has no idea who
they are and can no longer recognize their family or remember any events from their past.
After some period of time (or another blow to the head), their memories come flooding back
to them. Unfortunately, this portrayal of amnesia is not very accurate. What does amnesia
typically look like?
The most widely studied amnesic patient was known by his initials H. M. (Scoville & Milner,
1957). As a teenager, H. M. suffered from severe epilepsy, and in 1953, he underwent surgery
to have both of his medial temporal lobes removed to relieve his epileptic seizures. The medial
temporal lobes encompass the hippocampus and surrounding cortical tissue. Although the
surgery was successful in reducing H. M.s seizures and his general intelligence was preserved,
the surgery left H. M. with a profound and permanent memory deficit. From the time of his
surgery until his death in 2008, H. M. was unable to learn new information, a memory
impairment called anterograde amnesia. H. M. could not remember any event that occurred
since his surgery, including highly significant ones, such as the death of his father. He could
not remember a conversation he had a few minutes prior or recognize the face of someone
who had visited him that same day. He could keep information in his short-term, or working,
memory, but when his attention turned to something else, that information was lost for good.
It is important to note that H. M.s memory impairment was restricted to declarative memory,
or conscious memory for facts and events. H. M. could learn new motor skills and showed
improvement on motor tasks even in the absence of any memory for having performed the
task before (Corkin, 2002).
In addition to anterograde amnesia, H. M. also suffered from temporally graded retrograde
amnesia. Retrograde amnesia refers to an inability to retrieve old memories that occurred
before the onset of amnesia. Extensive retrograde amnesia in the absence of anterograde
amnesia is very rare (Kopelman, 2000). More commonly, retrograde amnesia co-occurs with
anterograde amnesia and shows a temporal gradient, in which memories closest in time to
the onset of amnesia are lost, but more remote memories are retained (Hodges, 1994). In the
case of H. M., he could remember events from his childhood, but he could not remember
events that occurred a few years before the surgery.
Amnesiac patients with damage to the hippocampus and surrounding medial temporal lobes
typically manifest a similar clinical profile as H. M. The degree of anterograde amnesia and
retrograde amnesia depend on the extent of the medial temporal lobe damage, with greater
151
damage associated with a more extensive impairment (Reed & Squire, 1998). Anterograde
amnesia provides evidence for the role of the hippocampus in the formation of long-lasting
declarative memories, as damage to the hippocampus results in an inability to create this
type of new memory. Similarly, temporally graded retrograde amnesia can be seen as
providing further evidence for the importance of memory consolidation (Squire & Alvarez,
1995). A memory depends on the hippocampus until it is consolidated and transferred into
a more durable form that is stored in the cortex. According to this theory, an amnesiac patient
like H. M. could remember events from his remote past because those memories were fully
consolidated and no longer depended on the hippocampus.
The classic amnesiac syndrome we have considered here is sometimes referred to as organic
amnesia, and it is distinct from functional, or dissociative, amnesia. Functional amnesia
involves a loss of memory that cannot be attributed to brain injury or any obvious brain disease
and is typically classified as a mental disorder rather than a neurological disorder (Kihlstrom,
2005). The clinical profile of dissociative amnesia is very different from that of patients who
suffer from amnesia due to brain damage or deterioration. Individuals who experience
dissociative amnesia often have a history of trauma. Their amnesia is retrograde,
encompassing autobiographical memories from a portion of their past. In an extreme version
of this disorder, people enter a dissociative fugue state, in which they lose most or all of their
autobiographical memories and their sense of personal identity. They may be found
wandering in a new location, unaware of who they are and how they got there. Dissociative
amnesia is controversial, as both the causes and existence of it have been called into question.
The memory loss associated with dissociative amnesia is much less likely to be permanent
than it is in organic amnesia.
Conclusion
Just as the case study of the mnemonist Shereshevsky illustrates what a life with a near perfect
memory would be like, amnesiac patients show us what a life without memory would be like.
Each of the mechanisms we discussed that explain everyday forgettingencoding failures,
decay, insufficient retrieval cues, interference, and intentional attempts to forgethelp to
keep us highly efficient, retaining the important information and for the most part, forgetting
the unimportant. Amnesiac patients allow us a glimpse into what life would be like if we
suffered from profound forgetting and perhaps show us that our everyday lapses in memory
are not so bad after all.
152
Outside Resources
Web: Self-experiment, Penny demo
http://www.exploratorium.edu/exhibits/common_cents/
Web: The Brain Observatorys Project HM
http://thebrainobservatory.ucsd.edu/hm
Web: The Man Who Couldnt Remember
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/corkin-hm-memory.html
1. Is forgetting good or bad? Do you agree with the authors that forgetting is an adaptive
process? Why or why not?
2. Can we ever prove that something is forgotten? Why or why not?
3. Which of the five reasons for forgetting do you think explains the majority of incidences
of forgetting? Why?
4. How is real-life amnesia different than amnesia that is portrayed on TV and in film?
153
Vocabulary
Anterograde amnesia
Inability to form new memories for facts and events after the onset of amnesia.
Consolidation
Process by which a memory trace is stabilized and transformed into a more durable form.
Decay
The fading of memories with the passage of time.
Declarative memory
Conscious memories for facts and events.
Dissociative amnesia
Loss of autobiographical memories from a period in the past in the absence of brain injury
or disease.
Encoding
Process by which information gets into memory.
Interference
Other memories get in the way of retrieving a desired memory
Medial temporal lobes
Inner region of the temporal lobes that includes the hippocampus.
Retrieval
Process by which information is accessed from memory and utilized.
Retrograde amnesia
Inability to retrieve memories for facts and events acquired before the onset of amnesia.
Temporally graded retrograde amnesia
Inability to retrieve memories from just prior to the onset of amnesia with intact memory for
more remote events.
154
References
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Review*, 96, 703719.
Anderson, M. C., & Green, C. (2001). Suppressing unwanted memories by executive control.
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Bahrick, H. P., Bahrick, P. O., & Wittinger, R. P. (1975). Fifty years of memory for names and
faces: A cross-sectional approach. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 104, 5475.
Bjork, R. A. (1989). Retrieval inhibition as an adaptive mechanism in human memory. In H. L.
Roediger, III, & F. I. M. Craik (Eds.), Varieties of Memory and Consciousness (pp. 309 330).
Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Corkin, S. (2002). Whats new with the amnesic patient H. M.? *Nature Reviews Neuroscience*,
3, 153160.
Craik, F. I. M., Govoni, R., Naveh-Benjamin, M., & Anderson, N. D. (1996). The effects of divided
attention on encoding and retrieval processes in human memory. *Journal of Experimental
Psychology: General*, 125, 159180.
Ebbinghaus, H. (1913). Memory. A contribution to experimental psychology. New York: Teachers
College/Columbia University (Engl. ed.). (Original work published in 1885.)
Hertel, P. T., & Calcaterra, G. (2005). Intentional forgetting benefits from thought substitution.
Hodges, J. R. (1994). Retrograde amnesia. In A. Baddeley, B. A. Wilson, & F. Watts (Eds.),
Handbook of Memory Disorders (pp. 81107). New York: Wiley.
Kihlstrom, J. F. (2005). Dissociative disorders. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 1, 227 253.
Kopelman, M. (2000). Focal retrograde amnesia and the attribution of causality: An
exceptionally critical review. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 17, 585621.
Levy, B. J., & Anderson, M. C. (2002). Inhibitory processes and the control of memory retrieval.
Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 6, 299305.
Luria, A. R. (1968). The mind of a mnemonist: A little book about a vast memory (L. Solataroff,
Trans.). New York: Basic Books.
McGaugh, J. L. (2000). Memory: A century of consolidation. Science, 287, 248251.
McGeoch, J. A. (1932). Forgetting and the law of disuse. Psychological Reviews, 39, 352 370.
Mensink, G., & Raaijmakers, J. G. (1988). A model for interference and forgetting. *Psychological
Review*, 95, 434455.
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Nickerson, R. S., & Adams, M. J. (1979). Long-term memory for a common object. *Cognitive
Psychology*, 11, 287307.
Reed, J. M. & Squire, L. R. (1998). Retrograde amnesia for facts and events: Findings from four
new cases. Journal of Neuroscience, 18, 39433954.
Schacter, D. L. (1999). The seven sins of memory: Insights from psychology and cognitive
neuroscience. American Psychologist, 54, 182203.
Scoville, W. B. & Milner, B. (1957). Loss of recent memory after bilateral hippocampal lesions.
Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, & Psychiatry, 20, 1121.
Squire, L. R., & Alvarez, P. (1995). Retrograde amnesia and memory consolidation: A
neurobiological perspective. Current Opinions in Neurobiology, 5, 169177.
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Psychology*, 55, 235269.
11
Memory (Encoding, Storage, Retrieval)
Kathleen B. McDermott & Henry L. Roediger
Memory is a single term that reflects a number of different abilities: holding information
briefly while working with it (working memory), remembering episodes of ones life (episodic
memory), and our general knowledge of facts of the world (semantic memory), among other
types. Remembering episodes involves three processes: encoding information (learning it, by
perceiving it and relating it to past knowledge), storing it (maintaining it over time), and then
retrieving it (accessing the information when needed). Failures can occur at any stage, leading
to forgetting or to having false memories. The key to improving ones memory is to improve
processes of encoding and to use techniques that guarantee effective retrieval. Good encoding
techniques include relating new information to what one already knows, forming mental
images, and creating associations among information that needs to be remembered. The key
to good retrieval is developing effective cues that will lead the rememberer back to the encoded
information. Classic mnemonic systems, known since the time of the ancient Greeks and still
used by some today, can greatly improve ones memory abilities.
Learning Objectives
Define and note differences between the following forms of memory: working memory,
episodic memory, semantic memory, collective memory.
Describe the three stages in the process of learning and remembering.

Describe strategies that can be used to enhance the original learning or encoding of
information.
Describe strategies that can improve the process of retrieval.

Describe why the classic mnemonic device, the method of loci, works so well.
157
Introduction
In 2013, Simon Reinhard sat in front of 60 people in a room at Washington University, where
he memorized an increasingly long series of digits. On the first round, a computer generated
10 random digits6 1 9 4 8 5 6 3 7 1on a screen for 10 seconds. After the series disappeared,
Simon typed them into his computer. His recollection was perfect. In the next phase, 20 digits
appeared on the screen for 20 seconds. Again, Simon got them all correct. No one in the
audience (mostly professors, graduate students, and undergraduate students) could recall
the 20 digits perfectly. Then came 30 digits, studied for 30 seconds; once again, Simon didnt
misplace even a single digit. For a final trial, 50 digits appeared on the screen for 50 seconds,
and again, Simon got them all right. In fact, Simon would have been happy to keep going. His
record in this taskcalled forward digit spanis 240 digits!
When
most
of
us
performance
like
that
witness
of
Simon
Reinhard, we think one of two things:

First, maybe hes cheating somehow.
(No, he is not.) Second, Simon must
have abilities more advanced than the
rest of humankind. After all, psychologists
established many years ago that the
normal memory span for adults is
about 7 digits, with some of us able to
recall a few more and others a few less
In some ways memory is like file drawers where you store mental
(Miller, 1956). That is why the first
information. Memory is also a series of processes: how does that
phone numbers were limited to 7
information get filed to begin with and how does it get retrieved when
digitspsychologists determined that
needed? [Photo: Jason Carpenter]
many errors occurred (costing the

phone company money) when the
number was increased to even 8 digits. But in normal testing, no one gets 50 digits correct in
a row, much less 240. So, does Simon Reinhard simply have a photographic memory? He does
not. Instead, Simon has taught himself simple strategies for remembering that have greatly
increased his capacity for remembering virtually any type of materialdigits, words, faces
and names, poetry, historical dates, and so on. Twelve years earlier, before he started training
his memory abilities, he had a digit span of 7, just like most of us. Simon has been training
his abilities for about 10 years as of this writing, and has risen to be in the top two of memory
athletes. In 2012, he came in second place in the World Memory Championships (composed
of 11 tasks), held in London. He currently ranks second in the world, behind another German
158
competitor, Johannes Mallow. In this module, we reveal what psychologists and others have
learned about memory, and we also explain the general principles by which you can improve
your own memory for factual material.
Varieties of Memory
For most of us, remembering digits
relies on short-term memory, or working
memorythe ability to hold information
in our minds for a brief time and work
with it (e.g., multiplying 24 x 17 without
using paper would rely on working
memory). Another type of memory is
episodic memorythe ability to remember
the episodes of our lives. If you were
given the task of recalling everything you
did 2 days ago, that would be a test of
episodic
memory;
you
would
be
To be a good chess player you have to learn to increase working
required to mentally travel through the
memory so you can plan ahead for several offensive moves while
day in your mind and note the main
simultaneously anticipating - through use of memory - how the other
events.
player could counter each of your planned moves. [Photo: D-Stanley]
storehouse of more-or-less permanent
Semantic
memory
is
our
knowledge, such as the meanings of

words in a language (e.g., the meaning of parasol) and the huge collection of facts about the
world (e.g., there are 196 countries in the world, and 206 bones in your body). Collective memory
refers to the kind of memory that people in a group share (whether family, community,
schoolmates, or citizens of a state or a country). For example, residents of small towns often
strongly identify with those towns, remembering the local customs and historical events in a
unique way. That is, the communitys collective memory passes stories and recollections
between neighbors and to future generations, forming a memory system unto itself.
Psychologists continue to debate the classification of types of memory, as well as which types
rely on others (Tulving, 2007), but for this module we will focus on episodic memory. Episodic
memory is usually what people think of when they hear the word memory. For example,
when people say that an older relative is losing her memory due to Alzheimers disease, the
type of memory-loss they are referring to is the inability to recall events, or episodic memory.
(Semantic memory is actually preserved in early-stage Alzheimers disease.) Although
remembering specific events that have happened over the course of ones entire life (e.g.,
159
your experiences in sixth grade) can be referred to as autobiographical memory, we will focus
primarily on the episodic memories of more recent events.
Three Stages of the Learning/Memory Process

Psychologists distinguish between three necessary stages in the learning and memory
process: encoding, storage, and retrieval (Melton, 1963). Encoding is defined as the initial
learning of information; storage refers to maintaining information over time; retrieval is the
ability to access information when you need it. If you meet someone for the first time at a
party, you need to encode her name (Lyn Goff) while you associate her name with her face.
Then you need to maintain the information over time. If you see her a week later, you need
to recognize her face and have it serve as a cue to retrieve her name. Any successful act of
remembering requires that all three stages be intact. However, two types of errors can also
occur. Forgetting is one type: you see the person you met at the party and you cannot recall
her name. The other error is misremembering (false recall or false recognition): you see
someone who looks like Lyn Goff and call the person by that name (false recognition of the
face). Or, you might see the real Lyn Goff, recognize her face, but then call her by the name
of another woman you met at the party (misrecall of her name).
Whenever forgetting or misremembering occurs, we can ask, at which stage in the learning/
memory process was there a failure?though it is often difficult to answer this question with
precision. One reason for this inaccuracy is that the three stages are not as discrete as our
description implies. Rather, all three stages depend on one another. How we encode
information determines how it will be stored and what cues will be effective when we try to
retrieve it. And too, the act of retrieval itself also changes the way information is subsequently
remembered, usually aiding later recall of the retrieved information. The central point for now
is that the three stagesencoding, storage, and retrievalaffect one another, and are
inextricably bound together.
Encoding
Encoding refers to the initial experience of perceiving and learning information. Psychologists
often study recall by having participants study a list of pictures or words. Encoding in these
situations is fairly straightforward. However, real life encoding is much more challenging.
When you walk across campus, for example, you encounter countless sights and sounds
friends passing by, people playing Frisbee, music in the air. The physical and mental
environments are much too rich for you to encode all the happenings around you or the
internal thoughts you have in response to them. So, an important first principle of encoding
160
is that it is selective: we attend to some events in our environment and we ignore others. A
second point about encoding is that it is prolific; we are always encoding the events of our
livesattending to the world, trying to understand it. Normally this presents no problem, as
our days are filled with routine occurrences, so we dont need to pay attention to everything.
But if something does happen that seems strangeduring your daily walk across campus,
you see a giraffethen we pay close attention and try to understand why we are seeing what
we are seeing.
Right after your typical walk across campus
(one without the appearance of a giraffe), you
would be able to remember the events
reasonably well if you were asked. You could
say whom you bumped into, what song was
playing from a radio, and so on. However,
suppose someone asked you to recall the same
walk a month later. You wouldnt stand a
chance. You would likely be able to recount the
basics of a typical walk across campus, but not
the precise details of that particular walk. Yet,
if you had seen a giraffe during that walk, the
event would have been fixed in your mind for
a long time, probably for the rest of your life.
You would tell your friends about it, and, on
later occasions when you saw a giraffe, you
might be reminded of the day you saw one on
campus. Psychologists have long pinpointed
distinctivenesshaving an event stand out as
quite different from a background of similar
eventsas a key to remembering events (Hunt,
2003).
A giraffe in the context of a zoo or its natural habitat may

register as nothing more than ordinary, but put it in another
setting - in the middle of a campus or a busy city - and its
level of distinctiveness increases dramatically. Distinctiveness
In addition, when vivid memories are tinged
is a key attribute to remembering events. [Image: David
with strong emotional content, they often
Blackwell]
seem to leave a permanent mark on us. Public

tragedies, such as terrorist attacks, often create vivid memories in those who witnessed them.
But even those of us not directly involved in such events may have vivid memories of them,
including memories of first hearing about them. For example, many people are able to recall
their exact physical location when they first learned about the assassination or accidental
death of a national figure. The term flashbulb memory was originally coined by Brown and
161
Kulik (1977) to describe this sort of vivid memory of finding out an important piece of news.
The name refers to how some memories seem to be captured in the mind like a flash
photograph; because of the distinctiveness and emotionality of the news, they seem to
become permanently etched in the mind with exceptional clarity compared to other
memories.
Take a moment and think back on your own life. Is there a particular memory that seems
sharper than others? A memory where you can recall unusual details, like the colors of
mundane things around you, or the exact positions of surrounding objects? Although people
have great confidence in flashbulb memories like these, the truth is, our objective accuracy
with them is far from perfect (Talarico & Rubin, 2003). That is, even though people may have
great confidence in what they recall, their memories are not as accurate (e.g., what the actual
colors were; where objects were truly placed) as they tend to imagine. Nonetheless, all other
things being equal, distinctive and emotional events are well-remembered.
Details do not leap perfectly from the world into a persons mind. We might say that we went
to a party and remember it, but what we remember is (at best) what we encoded. As noted
above, the process of encoding is selective, and in complex situations, relatively few of many
possible details are noticed and encoded. The process of encoding always involves recoding
that is, taking the information from the form it is delivered to us and then converting it in
a way that we can make sense of it. For example, you might try to remember the colors of a
rainbow by using the acronym ROY G BIV (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet). The
process of recoding the colors into a name can help us to remember. However, recoding can
also introduce errorswhen we accidentally add
information during encoding, then remember that
new material as if it had been part of the actual
experience (as discussed below).
Psychologists
have
studied
many
recoding
strategies that can be used during study to improve

retention. First, research advises that, as we study,
we should think of the meaning of the events (Craik
& Lockhart, 1972), and we should try to relate new
events to information we already know. This helps
us form associations that we can use to retrieve
information later. Second, imagining events also
Although it requires more effort, using images and
makes them more memorable; creating vivid
associations can improve the process of recoding.
images
[Image: Leo Reynolds]
information) can greatly improve later recall (Bower
out
of
information
(even
verbal
162
& Reitman, 1972). Creating imagery is part of the technique Simon Reinhard uses to remember
huge numbers of digits, but we can all use images to encode information more effectively.
The basic concept behind good encoding strategies is to form distinctive memories (ones that
stand out), and to form links or associations among memories to help later retrieval (Hunt &
McDaniel, 1993). Using study strategies such as the ones described here is challenging, but
the effort is well worth the benefits of enhanced learning and retention.
We emphasized earlier that encoding is selective: people cannot encode all information they
are exposed to. However, recoding can add information that was not even seen or heard
during the initial encoding phase. Several of the recoding processes, like forming associations
between memories, can happen without our awareness. This is one reason people can
sometimes remember events that did not actually happenbecause during the process of
recoding, details got added. One common way of inducing false memories in the laboratory
employs a word-list technique (Deese, 1959; Roediger & McDermott, 1995). Participants hear
lists of 15 words, like door, glass, pane, shade, ledge, sill, house, open, curtain, frame, view, breeze,
sash, screen, and shutter. Later, participants are given a test in which they are shown a list of
words and asked to pick out the ones theyd heard earlier. This second list contains some
words from the first list (e.g., door, pane, frame) and some words not from the list (e.g., arm,
phone, bottle). In this example, one of the words on the test is window, whichimportantly
does not appear in the first list, but which is related to other words in that list. When subjects
were tested, they were reasonably accurate with the studied words (door, etc.), recognizing
them 72% of the time. However, when window was on the test, they falsely recognized it as
having been on the list 84% of the time (Stadler, Roediger, & McDermott, 1999). The same
thing happened with many other lists the authors used. This phenomenon is referred to as
the DRM (for Deese-Roediger-McDermott) effect. One explanation for such results is that,
while students listened to items in the list, the words triggered the students to think about
window, even though window was never presented. In this way, people seem to encode events
that are not actually part of their experience.
Because humans are creative, we are always going beyond the information we are given: we
automatically make associations and infer from them what is happening. But, as with the
word association mix-up above, sometimes we make false memories from our inferences
remembering the inferences themselves as if they were actual experiences. To illustrate this,
Brewer (1977) gave people sentences to remember that were designed to elicit pragmatic
inferences. Inferences, in general, refer to instances when something is not explicitly stated,
but we are still able to guess the undisclosed intention. For example, if your friend told you
that she didnt want to go out to eat, you may infer that she doesnt have the money to go
out, or that shes too tired. With pragmatic inferences, there is usually one particular inference
youre likely to make. Consider the statement Brewer (1977) gave her participants: The karate
163
champion hit the cinder block. After hearing or seeing this sentence, participants who were
given a memory test tended to remember the statement as having been, The karate champion
broke the cinder block. This remembered statement is not necessarily a logical inference (i.
e., it is perfectly reasonable that a karate champion could hit a cinder block without breaking
it). Nevertheless, the pragmatic conclusion from hearing such a sentence is that the block was
likely broken. The participants remembered this inference they made while hearing the
sentence in place of the actual words that were in the sentence (see also McDermott & Chan,
2006).
Encodingthe initial registration of informationis essential in the learning and memory
process. Unless an event is encoded in some fashion, it will not be successfully remembered
later. However, just because an event is encoded (even if it is encoded well), theres no
guarantee that it will be remembered later.
Storage
Every experience we have changes our
brains. That may seem like a bold, even
strange, claim at first, but its true. We encode
each of our experiences within the structures
of
the
nervous
system,
making
new
impressions in the processand each of

those impressions involves changes in the
brain. Psychologists (and neurobiologists)
say that experiences leave memory traces,
or engrams (the two terms are synonyms).
Memories have to be stored somewhere in
the brain, so in order to do so, the brain
Memory traces, or engrams, are NOT perfectly preserved
biochemically alters itself and its neural
recordings of past experiences. The traces are combined with
tissue. Just like you might write yourself a
current knowledge to reconstruct what we think happened in
note to remind you of something, the brain
the past. [Photo: INDEED]
writes a memory trace, changing its own

physical composition to do so. The basic idea is that events (occurrences in our environment)
create engrams through a process of consolidation: the neural changes that occur after
learning to create the memory trace of an experience. Although neurobiologists are concerned
with exactly what neural processes change when memories are created, for psychologists,
the term memory trace simply refers to the physical change in the nervous system (whatever
that may be, exactly) that represents our experience.
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Although the concept of engram or memory trace is extremely useful, we shouldnt take the
term too literally. It is important to understand that memory traces are not perfect little packets
of information that lie dormant in the brain, waiting to be called forward to give an accurate
report of past experience. Memory traces are not like video or audio recordings, capturing
experience with great accuracy; as discussed earlier, we often have errors in our memory,
which would not exist if memory traces were perfect packets of information. Thus, it is wrong
to think that remembering involves simply reading out a faithful record of past experience.
Rather, when we remember past events, we reconstruct them with the aid of our memory
tracesbut also with our current belief of what happened. For example, if you were trying to
recall for the police who started a fight at a bar, you may not have a memory trace of who
pushed whom first. However, lets say you remember that one of the guys held the door open
for you. When thinking back to the start of the fight, this knowledge (of how one guy was
friendly to you) may unconsciously influence your memory of what happened in favor of the
nice guy. Thus, memory is a construction of what you actually recall and what you believe
happened. In a phrase, remembering is reconstructive (we reconstruct our past with the aid
of memory traces) not reproductive (a perfect reproduction or recreation of the past).
Psychologists refer to the time between learning and testing as the retention interval.
Memories can consolidate during that time, aiding retention. However, experiences can also
occur that undermine the memory. For example, think of what you had for lunch yesterday
a pretty easy task. However, if you had to recall what you had for lunch 17 days ago, you
may well fail (assuming you dont eat the same thing every day). The 16 lunches youve had
since that one have created retroactive interference. Retroactive interference refers to new
activities (i.e., the subsequent lunches) during the retention interval (i.e., the time between
the lunch 17 days ago and now) that interfere with retrieving the specific, older memory (i.e.,
the lunch details from 17 days ago). But just as newer things can interfere with remembering
older things, so can the opposite happen. Proactive interference is when past memories
interfere with the encoding of new ones. For example, if you have ever studied a second
language, often times the grammar and vocabulary of your native language will pop into your
head, impairing your fluency in the foreign language.
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Retroactive interference is one of the main causes of forgetting (McGeoch, 1932). In the module
Eyewitness Testimony and Memory Biases (http://noba.to/uy49tm37), Elizabeth Loftus
describes her fascinating work on eyewitness memory, in which she shows how memory for
an event can be changed via misinformation supplied during the retention interval. For
example, if you witnessed a car crash but subsequently heard people describing it from their
own perspective, this new information may interfere with or disrupt your own personal
recollection of the crash. In fact, you may even come to remember the event happening exactly
as the others described it! This misinformation effect in eyewitness memory represents a
type of retroactive interference that can occur during the retention interval (see Loftus [2005]
for a review). Of course, if correct information is given during the retention interval, the
witnesss memory will usually be improved.
Although interference may arise between the occurrence of an event and the attempt to recall
it, the effect itself is always expressed when we retrieve memories, the topic to which we turn next.
Retrieval
Endel Tulving argued that the key process in memory is retrieval (1991, p. 91). Why should
retrieval be given more prominence than encoding or storage? For one thing, if information
were encoded and stored but could not be retrieved, it would be useless. As discussed
previously in this module, we encode and store thousands of eventsconversations, sights
and soundsevery day, creating memory traces. However, we later access only a tiny portion
of what weve taken in. Most of our memories will never be usedin the sense of being brought
back to mind, consciously. This fact seems so obvious that we rarely reflect on it. All those
events that happened to you in the fourth grade that seemed so important then? Now, many
years later, you would struggle to remember even a few. You may wonder if the traces of
those memories still exist in some latent form. Unfortunately, with currently available
methods, it is impossible to know.
Psychologists distinguish information that is available in memory from that which is accessible
(Tulving & Pearlstone, 1966). Available information is the information that is stored in memory
but precisely how much and what types are stored cannot be known. That is, all we can
know is what information we can retrieveaccessible information. The assumption is that
accessible information represents only a tiny slice of the information available in our brains.
Most of us have had the experience of trying to remember some fact or event, giving up, and
thenall of a sudden!it comes to us at a later time, even after weve stopped trying to
remember it. Similarly, we all know the experience of failing to recall a fact, but then, if we are
given several choices (as in a multiple-choice test), we are easily able to recognize it.
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What factors determine what information

can be retrieved from memory? One
critical factor is the type of hints, or
cues, in the environment. You may
hear a song on the radio that suddenly
evokes memories of an earlier time in
your life, even if you were not trying to
remember it when the song came on.
Nevertheless, the song is closely
associated with that time, so it brings
We can't know the entirety of what is in our memory, but only that
the experience to mind.
portion we can actually retrieve. Something that cannot be retrieved

now and which is seemingly gone from memory may, with different
The general principle that underlies
cues applied, reemerge. [Photo: sean dreilinger]
the effectiveness of retrieval cues is

the encoding specificity principle
(Tulving & Thomson, 1973): when people encode information, they do so in specific ways. For
example, take the song on the radio: perhaps you heard it while you were at a terrific party,
having a great, philosophical conversation with a friend. Thus, the song became part of that
whole complex experience. Years later, even though you havent thought about that party in
ages, when you hear the song on the radio, the whole experience rushes back to you. In
general, the encoding specificity principle states that, to the extent a retrieval cue (the song)
matches or overlaps the memory trace of an experience (the party, the conversation), it will
be effective in evoking the memory. A classic experiment on the encoding specificity principle
had participants memorize a set of words in a unique setting. Later, the participants were
tested on the word sets, either in the same location they learned the words or a different one.
As a result of encoding specificity, the students who took the test in the same place they
learned the words were actually able to recall more words (Godden & Baddeley, 1975) than
the students who took the test in a new setting. In this instance, the physical context itself
provided cues for retrieval. This is why its good to study for midterms and finals in the same
room youll be taking them in.
One caution with this principle, though, is that, for the cue to work, it cant match too many
other experiences (Nairne, 2002; Watkins, 1975). Consider a lab experiment. Suppose you
study 100 items; 99 are words, and one is a pictureof a penguin, item 50 in the list. Afterwards,
the cue recall the picture would evoke penguin perfectly. No one would miss it. However,
if the word penguin were placed in the same spot among the other 99 words, its memorability
would be exceptionally worse. This outcome shows the power of distinctiveness that we
discussed in the section on encoding: one picture is perfectly recalled from among 99 words
because it stands out. Now consider what would happen if the experiment were repeated,
167
but there were 25 pictures distributed within the 100-item list. Although the picture of the
penguin would still be there, the probability that the cue recall the picture (at item 50) would
be useful for the penguin would drop correspondingly. Watkins (1975) referred to this outcome
as demonstrating the cue overload principle. That is, to be effective, a retrieval cue cannot
be overloaded with too many memories. For the cue recall the picture to be effective, it
should only match one item in the target set (as in the one-picture, 99-word case).
To sum up how memory cues function: for a retrieval cue to be effective, a match must exist
between the cue and the desired target memory; furthermore, to produce the best retrieval,
the cue-target relationship should be distinctive. Next, we will see how the encoding specificity
principle can work in practice.
Psychologists measure memory performance by using production tests (involving recall) or
recognition tests (involving the selection of correct from incorrect information, e.g., a multiplechoice test). For example, with our list of 100 words, one group of people might be asked to
recall the list in any order (a free recall test), while a different group might be asked to circle
the 100 studied words out of a mix with another 100, unstudied words (a recognition test). In
this situation, the recognition test would likely produce better performance from participants
than the recall test.
We usually think of recognition tests as being quite easy, because the cue for retrieval is a
copy of the actual event that was presented for study. After all, what could be a better cue
than the exact target (memory) the person is trying to access? In most cases, this line of
reasoning is true; nevertheless, recognition tests do not provide perfect indexes of what is
stored in memory. That is, you can fail to recognize a target staring you right in the face, yet
be able to recall it later with a different set of cues (Watkins & Tulving, 1975). For example,
suppose you had the task of recognizing the surnames of famous authors. At first, you might
think that being given the actual last name would always be the best cue. However, research
has shown this not necessarily to be true (Muter, 1984). When given names such as Tolstoy,
Shaw, Shakespeare, and Lee, subjects might well say that Tolstoy and Shakespeare are famous
authors, whereas Shaw and Lee are not. But, when given a cued recall test using first names,
people often recall items (produce them) that they had failed to recognize before. For example,
in this instance, a cue like George Bernard ________ often leads to a recall of Shaw, even though
people initially failed to recognize Shaw as a famous authors name. Yet, when given the cue
William, people may not come up with Shakespeare, because William is a common name
that matches many people (the cue overload principle at work). This strange factthat recall
can sometimes lead to better performance than recognitioncan be explained by the
encoding specificity principle. As a cue, George Bernard _________ matches the way the famous
writer is stored in memory better than does his surname, Shaw, does (even though it is the
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target). Further, the match is quite distinctive with George Bernard ___________, but the cue
William _________________ is much more overloaded (Prince William, William Yeats, William
Faulkner, will.i.am).
The phenomenon we have been describing is called the recognition failure of recallable words,
which highlights the point that a cue will be most effective depending on how the information
has been encoded (Tulving & Thomson, 1973). The point is, the cues that work best to evoke
retrieval are those that recreate the event or name to be remembered, whereas sometimes
even the target itself, such as Shaw in the above example, is not the best cue. Which cue will
be most effective depends on how the information has been encoded.
Whenever we think about our past, we engage in the act of retrieval. We usually think that
retrieval is an objective act because we tend to imagine that retrieving a memory is like pulling
a book from a shelf, and after we are done with it, we return the book to the shelf just as it
was. However, research shows this assumption to be false; far from being a static repository
of data, the memory is constantly changing. In fact, every time we retrieve a memory, it is
altered. For example, the act of retrieval itself (of a fact, concept, or event) makes the retrieved
memory much more likely to be retrieved again, a phenomenon called the testing effect or the
retrieval practice effect (Pyc & Rawson, 2009; Roediger & Karpicke, 2006). However, retrieving
some information can actually cause us to forget other information related to it, a
phenomenon called retrieval-induced forgetting (Anderson, Bjork, & Bjork, 1994). Thus the act
of retrieval can be a double-edged swordstrengthening the memory just retrieved (usually
by a large amount) but harming related information (though this effect is often relatively small).
As discussed earlier, retrieval of distant memories is reconstructive. We weave the concrete
bits and pieces of events in with assumptions and preferences to form a coherent story
(Bartlett, 1932). For example, if during your 10th birthday, your dog got to your cake before
you did, you would likely tell that story for years afterward. Say, then, in later years you
misremember where the dog actually found the cake, but repeat that error over and over
during subsequent retellings of the story. Over time, that inaccuracy would become a basic
fact of the event in your mind. Just as retrieval practice (repetition) enhances accurate
memories, so will it strengthen errors or false memories (McDermott, 2006). Sometimes
memories can even be manufactured just from hearing a vivid story. Consider the following
episode, recounted by Jean Piaget, the famous developmental psychologist, from his
childhood:
One of my first memories would date, if it were true, from my second year. I can still see,
most clearly, the following scene, in which I believed until I was about 15. I was sitting in
my pram . . . when a man tried to kidnap me. I was held in by the strap fastened round
169
me while my nurse bravely tried to stand between me and the thief. She received various
scratches, and I can still vaguely see those on her face. . . . When I was about 15, my parents
received a letter from my former nurse saying that she had been converted to the Salvation
Army. She wanted to confess her past faults, and in particular to return the watch she
had been given as a reward on this occasion. She had made up the whole story, faking
the scratches. I therefore must have heard, as a child, this story, which my parents believed,
and projected it into the past in the form of a visual memory. . . . Many real memories are
doubtless of the same order. (Norman & Schacter, 1997, pp. 187188)
Piagets vivid account represents a case of a pure reconstructive memory. He heard the tale
told repeatedly, and doubtless told it (and thought about it) himself. The repeated telling
cemented the events as though they had really happened, just as we are all open to the
possibility of having many real memories ... of the same order. The fact that one can
remember precise details (the location, the scratches) does not necessarily indicate that the
memory is true, a point that has been confirmed in laboratory studies, too (e.g., Norman &
Schacter, 1997).
Putting It All Together: Improving Your Memory

A central theme of this module has been the
importance of the encoding and retrieval
processes, and their interaction. To recap: to
improve learning and memory, we need to
encode
information
in
conjunction
with
excellent cues that will bring back the

remembered events when we need them. But
how do we do this? Keep in mind the two critical
principles we have discussed: to maximize
retrieval, we should construct meaningful cues
that remind us of the original experience, and
those cues should be distinctive and not
associated with other memories. These two
conditions are critical in maximizing cue
effectiveness (Nairne, 2002).
Some people employ tricks to help them improve their

memories. [Photo: Fld]
So, how can these principles be adapted for use in many situations? Lets go back to how we
started the module, with Simon Reinhards ability to memorize huge numbers of digits.
Although it was not obvious, he applied these same general memory principles, but in a more
170
deliberate way. In fact, all mnemonic devices, or memory aids/tricks, rely on these
fundamental principles. In a typical case, the person learns a set of cues and then applies
these cues to learn and remember information. Consider the set of 20 items below that are
easy to learn and remember (Bower & Reitman, 1972).
1. is a gun.
11 is penny-one, hot dog bun.
2. is a shoe.
12 is penny-two, airplane glue.
3. is a tree.
13 is penny-three, bumble bee.
4. is a door.
14 is penny-four, grocery store.
5. is knives.
15 is penny-five, big beehive.
6. is sticks.
16 is penny-six, magic tricks.
7. is oven.
17 is penny-seven, go to heaven.
8. is plate.
18 is penny-eight, golden gate.
9. is wine.
19 is penny-nine, ball of twine.
10. is hen.
20 is penny-ten, ballpoint pen.
It would probably take you less than 10 minutes to learn this list and practice recalling it several
times (remember to use retrieval practice!). If you were to do so, you would have a set of peg
words on which you could hang memories. In fact, this mnemonic device is called the peg
word technique. If you then needed to remember some discrete itemssay a grocery list, or
points you wanted to make in a speechthis method would let you do so in a very precise
yet flexible way. Suppose you had to remember bread, peanut butter, bananas, lettuce, and
so on. The way to use the method is to form a vivid image of what you want to remember
and imagine it interacting with your peg words (as many as you need). For example, for these
items, you might imagine a large gun (the first peg word) shooting a loaf of bread, then a jar
of peanut butter inside a shoe, then large bunches of bananas hanging from a tree, then a
door slamming on a head of lettuce with leaves flying everywhere. The idea is to provide good,
distinctive cues (the weirder the better!) for the information you need to remember while you
are learning it. If you do this, then retrieving it later is relatively easy. You know your cues
perfectly (one is gun, etc.), so you simply go through your cue word list and look in your
minds eye at the image stored there (bread, in this case).
This peg word method may sound strange at first, but it works quite well, even with little
training (Roediger, 1980). One word of warning, though, is that the items to be remembered
need to be presented relatively slowly at first, until you have practice associating each with
its cue word. People get faster with time. Another interesting aspect of this technique is that
171
its just as easy to recall the items in backwards order as forwards. This is because the peg
words provide direct access to the memorized items, regardless of order.
How did Simon Reinhard remember those digits? Essentially he has a much more complex
system based on these same principles. In his case, he uses memory palaces (elaborate
scenes with discrete places) combined with huge sets of images for digits. For example,
imagine mentally walking through the home where you grew up and identifying as many
distinct areas and objects as possible. Simon has hundreds of such memory palaces that he
uses. Next, for remembering digits, he has memorized a set of 10,000 images. Every four-digit
number for him immediately brings forth a mental image. So, for example, 6187 might recall
Michael Jackson. When Simon hears all the numbers coming at him, he places an image for
every four digits into locations in his memory palace. He can do this at an incredibly rapid
rate, faster than 4 digits per 4 seconds when they are flashed visually, as in the demonstration
at the beginning of the module. As noted, his record is 240 digits, recalled in exact order.
Simon also holds the world record in an event called speed cards, which involves memorizing
the precise order of a shuffled deck of cards. Simon was able to do this in 21.19 seconds!
Again, he uses his memory palaces, and he encodes groups of cards as single images.
Many books exist on how to improve memory using mnemonic devices, but all involve forming
distinctive encoding operations and then having an infallible set of memory cues. We should
add that to develop and use these memory systems beyond the basic peg system outlined
above takes a great amount of time and concentration. The World Memory Championships
are held every year and the records keep improving. However, for most common purposes,
just keep in mind that to remember well you need to encode information in a distinctive way
and to have good cues for retrieval. You can adapt a system that will meet most any purpose.
172
Outside Resources
Book: Brown, P.C., Roediger, H. L. & McDaniel, M. A. (2014). Smarter, sooner, longer: Effective
strategies for learning and remembering. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Student Video 1: Eureka Foong's - The Misinformation Effect. This is a student-made video
illustrating this phenomenon of altered memory. It was one of the winning entries in the
2014 Noba Student Video Award.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMPIWkFtd88
Student Video 2: Kara McCord's - Flashbulb Memories. This is a student-made video
illustrating this phenomenon of autobiographical memory. It was one of the winning
entries in the 2014 Noba Student Video Award.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPhW9bUI4F0
Student Video 3: Ang Rui Xia & Ong Jun Hao's - The Misinformation Effect. Another studentmade video exploring the misinformation effect. Also an award winner from 2014.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsn9iKmOJLQ
Video: Simon Reinhard breaking the world record in speedcards.
http://vimeo.com/12516465
1. Mnemonists like Simon Reinhard develop mental journeys, which enable them to use the
method of loci. Develop your own journey, which contains 20 places, in order, that you
know well. One example might be: the front walkway to your parents apartment; their
doorbell; the couch in their living room; etc. Be sure to use a set of places that you know
well and that have a natural order to them (e.g., the walkway comes before the doorbell).
Now you are more than halfway toward being able to memorize a set of 20 nouns, in order,
rather quickly. As an optional second step, have a friend make a list of 20 such nouns and
read them to you, slowly (e.g., one every 5 seconds). Use the method to attempt to
remember the 20 items.
2. Recall a recent argument or misunderstanding you have had about memory (e.g., a debate
over whether your girlfriend/boyfriend had agreed to something). In light of what you have
just learned about memory, how do you think about it? Is it possible that the disagreement
173
can be understood by one of you making a pragmatic inference?

3. Think about what youve just learned in this module and about how you study for tests.
On the basis of what you have just learned, is there something that you want to try that
might help your study habits?
174
Vocabulary
Autobiographical memory
Memory for the events of ones life.
Consolidation
The process occurring after encoding that is believed to stabilize memory traces.
Cue overload principle
The principle stating that the more memories that are associated to a particular retrieval cue,
the less effective the cue will be in prompting retrieval of any one memory.
Distinctiveness
The principle that unusual events (in a context of similar events) will be recalled and recognized
better than uniform (nondistinctive) events.
Encoding
The initial experience of perceiving and learning events.
Encoding specificity principle
The hypothesis that a retrieval cue will be effective to the extent that information encoded
from the cue overlaps or matches information in the engram or memory trace.
Engrams
A term indicating the change in the nervous system representing an event; also, memory trace.
Episodic memory
Memory for events in a particular time and place.
Flashbulb memory
Vivid personal memories of receiving the news of some momentous (and usually emotional)
event.
Memory traces
A term indicating the change in the nervous system representing an event.
Misinformation effect
When erroneous information occurring after an event is remembered as having been part of
175
the original event.

Mnemonic devices
A strategy for remembering large amounts of information, usually involving imaging events
occurring on a journey or with some other set of memorized cues.
Recoding
The ubiquitous process during learning of taking information in one form and converting it
to another form, usually one more easily remembered.
Retrieval
The process of accessing stored information.
Retroactive interference
The phenomenon whereby events that occur after some particular event of interest will usually
cause forgetting of the original event.
Semantic memory
The more or less permanent store of knowledge that people have.
Storage
The stage in the learning/memory process that bridges encoding and retrieval; the persistence
of memory over time.
176
References
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Cognition Cont. (10/13)
12
Eyewitness Testimony and Memory
Biases
Cara Laney & Elizabeth F. Loftus
Eyewitnesses can provide very compelling legal testimony, but rather than recording
experiences flawlessly, their memories are susceptible to a variety of errors and biases. They
(like the rest of us) can make errors in remembering specific details and can even remember
whole events that did not actually happen. In this module, we discuss several of the common
types of errors, and what they can tell us about human memory and its interactions with the
legal system.
Learning Objectives
Describe the kinds of mistakes that eyewitnesses commonly make and some of the ways
that this can impede justice.
Explain some of the errors that are common in human memory.

Describe some of the important research that has demonstrated human memory errors
and their consequences.
What Is Eyewitness Testimony?

Eyewitness testimony is what happens when a person witnesses a crime (or accident, or other
legally important event) and later gets up on the stand and recalls for the court all the details
of the witnessed event. It involves a more complicated process than might initially be
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Eyewitness Testimony and Memory Biases
presumed. It includes what happens

during the actual crime to facilitate or
hamper witnessing, as well as everything
that happens from the time the event is
over to the later courtroom appearance.
The eyewitness may be interviewed by
the
police
and
numerous
lawyers,
describe the perpetrator to several

different people, and make an identification
of the perpetrator, among other things.
If two people witness the same event will they both report seeing
the same things? [Photo: Sigfrid Lundberg]
Why Is Eyewitness Testimony

an Important Area of Psychological Research?
When an eyewitness stands up in front of the court and describes what happened from her
own perspective, this testimony can be extremely compellingit is hard for those hearing
this testimony to take it with a grain of salt, or otherwise adjust its power. But to what extent
is this necessary?
There is now a wealth of evidence, from research conducted over several decades, suggesting
that eyewitness testimony is probably the most persuasive form of evidence presented in
court, but in many cases, its accuracy is dubious. There is also evidence that mistaken
eyewitness evidence can lead to wrongful convictionsending people to prison for years or
decades, even to death row, for crimes they did not commit. Faulty eyewitness testimony has
been implicated in at least 75% of DNA exoneration casesmore than any other cause
(Garrett, 2011). In a particularly famous case, a man named Ronald Cotton was identified by
a rape victim, Jennifer Thompson, as her rapist, and was found guilty and sentenced to life in
prison. After more than 10 years, he was exonerated (and the real rapist identified) based on
DNA evidence. For details on this case and other (relatively) lucky individuals whose false
convictions were subsequently overturned with DNA evidence, see the Innocence Project
website (http://www.innocenceproject.org/).
There is also hope, though, that many of the errors may be avoidable if proper precautions
are taken during the investigative and judicial processes. Psychological science has taught us
what some of those precautions might involve, and we discuss some of that science now.
Misinformation
182
In an early study of eyewitness memory, undergraduate

subjects first watched a slideshow depicting a small red car
driving and then hitting a pedestrian (Loftus, Miller, & Burns,
1978). Some subjects were then asked leading questions
about what had happened in the slides. For example,
subjects were asked, How fast was the car traveling when
it passed the yield sign? But this question was actually
designed to be misleading, because the original slide
included a stop sign rather than a yield sign.
Later, subjects were shown pairs of slides. One of the pair
was the original slide containing the stop sign; the other
was a replacement slide containing a yield sign. Subjects
were asked which of the pair they had previously seen.
Subjects who had been asked about the yield sign were
likely to pick the slide showing the yield sign, even though
Misinformation can be introduced into
the memory of a witness between the
time of seeing an event and reporting it
they had originally seen the slide with the stop sign. In other
words, the misinformation in the leading question led to
inaccurate memory.
later. Something as straightforward as

which sort of traffic sign was in place at
This phenomenon is called the misinformation effect,
an intersection can be confused if
because the misinformation that subjects were exposed to
subjects are exposed to erroneous

information after the initial incident.
after the event (here in the form of a misleading question)

apparently contaminates subjects memories of what they
witnessed. Hundreds of subsequent studies have demonstrated that memory can be

contaminated by erroneous information that people are exposed to after they witness an
event (see Frenda, Nichols, & Loftus, 2011; Loftus, 2005). The misinformation in these studies
has led people to incorrectly remember everything from small but crucial details of a
perpetrators appearance to objects as large as a barn that wasnt there at all.
These studies have demonstrated that young adults (the typical research subjects in
psychology) are often susceptible to misinformation, but that children and older adults can
be even more susceptible (Bartlett & Memon, 2007; Ceci & Bruck, 1995). In addition,
misinformation effects can occur easily, and without any intention to deceive (Allan & Gabbert,
2008). Even slight differences in the wording of a question can lead to misinformation effects.
Subjects in one study were more likely to say yes when asked Did you see the broken
headlight? than when asked Did you see a broken headlight? (Loftus, 1975).
Other studies have shown that misinformation can corrupt memory even more easily when
183
it is encountered in social situations (Gabbert, Memon, Allan, & Wright, 2004). This is a problem
particularly in cases where more than one person witnesses a crime. In these cases, witnesses
tend to talk to one another in the immediate aftermath of the crime, including as they wait
for police to arrive. But because different witnesses are different people with different
perspectives, they are likely to see or notice different things, and thus remember different
things, even when they witness the same event. So when they communicate about the crime
later, they not only reinforce common memories for the event, they also contaminate each
others memories for the event (Gabbert, Memon, & Allan, 2003; Paterson & Kemp, 2006;
Takarangi, Parker, & Garry, 2006).
The misinformation effect has been modeled in the laboratory. Researchers had subjects
watch a video in pairs. Both subjects sat in front of the same screen, but because they wore
differently polarized glasses, they saw two different versions of a video, projected onto a
screen. So, although they were both watching the same screen, and believed (quite reasonably)
that they were watching the same video, they were actually watching two different versions
of the video (Garry, French, Kinzett, & Mori, 2008).
In the video, Eric the electrician is seen wandering through an unoccupied house and helping
himself to the contents thereof. A total of eight details were different between the two videos.
After watching the videos, the co-witnesses worked together on 12 memory test questions.
Four of these questions dealt with details that were different in the two versions of the video,
so subjects had the chance to influence one another. Then subjects worked individually on
20 additional memory test questions. Eight of these were for details that were different in the
two videos. Subjects accuracy was highly dependent on whether they had discussed the
details previously. Their accuracy for items they had not previously discussed with their cowitness was 79%. But for items that they had discussed, their accuracy dropped markedly, to
34%. That is, subjects allowed their co-witnesses to corrupt their memories for what they had
seen.
Identifying Perpetrators
In addition to correctly remembering many details of the crimes they witness, eyewitnesses
often need to remember the faces and other identifying features of the perpetrators of those
crimes. Eyewitnesses are often asked to describe that perpetrator to law enforcement and
later to make identifications from books of mug shots or lineups. Here, too, there is a
substantial body of research demonstrating that eyewitnesses can make serious, but often
understandable and even predictable, errors (Caputo & Dunning, 2007; Cutler & Penrod, 1995).
184
In most jurisdictions in the United States, lineups are typically conducted with pictures, called
photo spreads, rather than with actual people standing behind one-way glass (Wells, Memon,
& Penrod, 2006). The eyewitness is given a set of small pictures of perhaps six or eight
individuals who are dressed similarly and photographed in similar circumstances. One of
these individuals is the police suspect, and the remainder are foils or fillers (people known
to be innocent of the particular crime under investigation). If the eyewitness identifies the
suspect, then the investigation of that suspect is likely to progress. If a witness identifies a foil
or no one, then the police may choose to move their investigation in another direction.
This process is modeled in laboratory
studies of eyewitness identifications. In
these studies, research subjects witness a
mock crime (often as a short video) and
then are asked to make an identification
from a photo or a live lineup. Sometimes
the lineups are target present, meaning
that the perpetrator from the mock crime
is actually in the lineup, and sometimes
they are target absent, meaning that the
lineup is made up entirely of foils. The
Mistakes in identifying perpetrators can be influenced by a
subjects, or mock witnesses, are given
number of factors including poor viewing conditions, too little
some instructions and asked to pick the
time to view the perpetrator, or too much delay from time of
perpetrator out of the lineup. The
witnessing to identification. [Photo: Tim Snell]
particular
details
of
the
witnessing
experience, the instructions, and the

lineup members can all influence the extent to which the mock witness is likely to pick the
perpetrator out of the lineup, or indeed to make any selection at all. Mock witnesses (and
indeed real witnesses) can make errors in two different ways. They can fail to pick the
perpetrator out of a target present lineup (by picking a foil or by neglecting to make a selection),
or they can pick a foil in a target absent lineup (wherein the only correct choice is to not make
a selection).
Some factors have been shown to make eyewitness identification errors particularly likely.
These include poor vision or viewing conditions during the crime, particularly stressful
witnessing experiences, too little time to view the perpetrator or perpetrators, too much delay
between witnessing and identifying, and being asked to identify a perpetrator from a race
other than ones own (Bornstein, Deffenbacher, Penrod, & McGorty, 2012; Brigham, Bennett,
Meissner, & Mitchell, 2007; Burton, Wilson, Cowan, & Bruce, 1999; Deffenbacher, Bornstein,
Penrod, & McGorty, 2004).
185
It is hard for the legal system to do much about most of these problems. But there are some
things that the justice system can do to help lineup identifications go right. For example,
investigators can put together high-quality, fair lineups. A fair lineup is one in which the suspect
and each of the foils is equally likely to be chosen by someone who has read an eyewitness
description of the perpetrator but who did not actually witness the crime (Brigham, Ready, &
Spier, 1990). This means that no one in the lineup should stick out, and that everyone should
match the description given by the eyewitness. Other important recommendations that have
come out of this research include better ways to conduct lineups, double blind lineups,
unbiased instructions for witnesses, and conducting lineups in a sequential fashion (see
Technical Working Group for Eyewitness Evidence, 1999; Wells et al., 1998; Wells & Olson,
2003).
Kinds of Memory Biases

Memory is also susceptible to a wide variety of other biases and errors. People can forget
events that happened to them and people they once knew. They can mix up details across
time and place. They can even remember whole complex events that never happened at all.
Importantly, these errors, once made, can be very hard to unmake. A memory is no less
memorable just because it is wrong.
Some small memory errors are commonplace, and you have no doubt experienced many of
them. You set down your keys without paying attention, and then cannot find them later when
you go to look for them. You try to come up with a persons name but cannot find it, even
though you have the sense that it is right at the tip of your tongue (psychologists actually call
this the tip-of-the-tongue effect, or TOT) (Brown, 1991).
Other sorts of memory biases are more complicated and longer lasting. For example, it turns
out that our expectations and beliefs about how the world works can have huge influences
on our memories. Because many aspects of our everyday lives are full of redundancies, our
memory systems take advantage of the recurring patterns by forming and using schemata,
or memory templates (Alba & Hasher, 1983; Brewer & Treyens, 1981). Thus, we know to expect
that a library will have shelves and tables and librarians, and so we dont have to spend energy
noticing these at the time. The result of this lack of attention, however, is that one is likely to
remember schema-consistent information (such as tables), and to remember them in a rather
generic way, whether or not they were actually present.
False Memory
186
For most of our experiences schematas are a benefit and help with information overload.
However, they may make it difficult or impossible to recall certain details of a situation
later. Do you recall the library as it actually was or the library as approximated by your
library schemata? [Photo: peyri]
Some memory errors are so large that they almost belong in a class of their own: false
memories. Back in the early 1990s a pattern emerged whereby people would go into therapy
for depression and other everyday problems, but over the course of the therapy develop
memories for violent and horrible victimhood (Loftus & Ketcham, 1994). These patients
therapists claimed that the patients were recovering genuine memories of real childhood
abuse, buried deep in their minds for years or even decades. But some experimental
psychologists believed that the memories were instead likely to be falsecreated in therapy.
These researchers then set out to see whether it would indeed be possible for wholly false
memories to be created by procedures similar to those used in these patients therapy.
In early false memory studies, undergraduate subjects family members were recruited to
provide events from the students lives. The student subjects were told that the researchers
had talked to their family members and learned about four different events from their
childhoods. The researchers asked if the now undergraduate students remembered each of
these four eventsintroduced via short hints. The subjects were asked to write about each
of the four events in a booklet and then were interviewed two separate times. The trick was
that one of the events came from the researchers rather than the family (and the family had
actually assured the researchers that this event had not happened to the subject). In the first
such study, this researcher-introduced event was a story about being lost in a shopping mall
and rescued by an older adult. In this study, after just being asked whether they remembered
187
these events occurring on three separate occasions, a quarter of subjects came to believe
that they had indeed been lost in the mall (Loftus & Pickrell, 1995). In subsequent studies,
similar procedures were used to get subjects to believe that they nearly drowned and had
been rescued by a lifeguard, or that they had spilled punch on the brides parents at a family
wedding, or that they had been attacked by a vicious animal as a child, among other events
(Heaps & Nash, 1999; Hyman, Husband, & Billings, 1995; Porter, Yuille, & Lehman, 1999).
More recent false memory studies have used a variety of different manipulations to produce
false memories in substantial minorities and even occasional majorities of manipulated
subjects (Braun, Ellis, & Loftus, 2002; Lindsay, Hagen, Read, Wade, & Garry, 2004; Mazzoni,
Loftus, Seitz, & Lynn, 1999; Seamon, Philbin, & Harrison, 2006; Wade, Garry, Read, & Lindsay,
2002). For example, one group of researchers used a mock-advertising study, wherein subjects
were asked to review (fake) advertisements for Disney vacations, to convince subjects that
they had once met the character Bugs Bunny at Disneylandan impossible false memory
because Bugs is a Warner Brothers character (Braun et al., 2002). Another group of researchers
photoshopped childhood photographs of their subjects into a hot air balloon picture and then
asked the subjects to try to remember and describe their hot air balloon experience (Wade
et al., 2002). Other researchers gave subjects unmanipulated class photographs from their
childhoods along with a fake story about a class prank, and thus enhanced the likelihood that
subjects would falsely remember the prank (Lindsay et al., 2004).
Using a false feedback manipulation, we have been able to persuade subjects to falsely
remember having a variety of childhood experiences. In these studies, subjects are told
(falsely) that a powerful computer system has analyzed questionnaires that they completed
previously and has concluded that they had a particular experience years earlier. Subjects
apparently believe what the computer says about them and adjust their memories to match
this new information. A variety of different false memories have been implanted in this way.
In some studies, subjects are told they once got sick on a particular food (Bernstein, Laney,
Morris, & Loftus, 2005). These memories can then spill out into other aspects of subjects lives,
such that they often become less interested in eating that food in the future (Bernstein &
Loftus, 2009b). Other false memories implanted with this methodology include having an
unpleasant experience with the character Pluto at Disneyland and witnessing physical violence
between ones parents (Berkowitz, Laney, Morris, Garry, & Loftus, 2008; Laney & Loftus, 2008).
Importantly, once these false memories are implantedwhether through complex methods
or simple onesit is extremely difficult to tell them apart from true memories (Bernstein &
Loftus, 2009a; Laney & Loftus, 2008).
Conclusion
188
To conclude, eyewitness testimony is very powerful and convincing to jurors, even though it
is not particularly reliable. Identification errors occur, and these errors can lead to people
being falsely accused and even convicted. Likewise, eyewitness memory can be corrupted by
leading questions, misinterpretations of events, conversations with co-witnesses, and their
own expectations for what should have happened. People can even come to remember whole
events that never occurred.
The problems with memory in the legal system are real. But what can we do to start to fix
them? A number of specific recommendations have already been made, and many of these
are in the process of being implemented (e.g., Steblay & Loftus, 2012; Technical Working Group
for Eyewitness Evidence, 1999; Wells et al., 1998). Some of these recommendations are aimed
at specific legal procedures, including when and how witnesses should be interviewed, and
how lineups should be constructed and conducted. Other recommendations call for
appropriate education (often in the form of expert witness testimony) to be provided to jury
members and others tasked with assessing eyewitness memory. Eyewitness testimony can
be of great value to the legal system, but decades of research now argues that this testimony
is often given far more weight than its accuracy justifies.
189
Outside Resources
Video 1: Eureka Foong's - The Misinformation Effect. This is a student-made video
illustrating this phenomenon of altered memory. It was one of the winning entries in the
2014 Noba Student Video Award.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMPIWkFtd88
Video 2: Ang Rui Xia & Ong Jun Hao's - The Misinformation Effect. Another student-made
video exploring the misinformation effect. Also an award winner from 2014.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsn9iKmOJLQ
1. Imagine that you are a juror in a murder case where an eyewitness testifies. In what ways
might your knowledge of memory errors affect your use of this testimony?
2. How true to life do you think television shows such as CSI or Law & Order are in their
portrayals of eyewitnesses?
3. Many jurisdictions in the United States use show-ups, where an eyewitness is brought to
a suspect (who may be standing on the street or in handcuffs in the back of a police car)
and asked, Is this the perpetrator? Is this a good or bad idea, from a psychological
perspective? Why?
190
Vocabulary
False memories
Memory for an event that never actually occurred, implanted by experimental manipulation
or other means.
Foils
Any member of a lineup (whether live or photograph) other than the suspect.
Misinformation effect
A memory error caused by exposure to incorrect information between the original event (e.
g., a crime) and later memory test (e.g., an interview, lineup, or day in court).
Mock witnesses
A research subject who plays the part of a witness in a study.
Photo spreads
A selection of normally small photographs of faces given to a witness for the purpose of
identifying a perpetrator.
Schema (plural: schemata)
A memory template, created through repeated exposure to a particular class of objects or
events.
191
References
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Allan, K., & Gabbert, F. (2008). I still think it was a banana: Memorable lies and forgettable
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Bartlett, J., & Memon, A. (2007). Eyewitness memory in young and older adults. In: M.P. Toglia,
J.D. Read, D.F. Ross, & R.C.L. Lindsay (Eds.), The handbook of eyewitness psychology: Volume
II: Memory for people (pp. 309338). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Berkowitz, S. R., Laney, C., Morris, E. K., Garry, M., & Loftus, E. F. (2008). Pluto behaving badly:
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Bernstein, D. M., & Loftus, E. F. (2009b). The consequences of false memories for food
preferences and choices. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 4, 135139.
Bernstein, D. M., & Loftus, E. F., (2009a). How to tell if a particular memory is true or false.
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Bernstein, D. M., Laney, C., Morris, E. K., & Loftus, E. F. (2005). False memories about food can
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Bornstein, B. H., Deffenbacher, K. A., Penrod, S. D., & McGorty, E. K. (2012). Effects of exposure
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of eyewitness psychology, Vol. 2: Memory for people (pp. 257281). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence
Erlbaum.
Brigham, J. C., Ready, D. J., & Spier, S. A. (1990). Standards for evaluating the fairness of
photographic lineups. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 11, 149163.
Burton, A. M., Wilson, S., Cowan, M., & Bruce, V. (1999). Face recognition in poor-quality video:
Evidence from security surveillance. Psychological Science, 10, 243248.
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13
Judgment and Decision Making
Max H. Bazerman
Humans are not perfect decision makers. Not only are we not perfect, but we depart from
perfection or rationality in systematic and predictable ways. The understanding of these
systematic and predictable departures is core to the field of judgment and decision making.
By understanding these limitations, we can also identify strategies for making better and more
effective decisions.
Learning Objectives
Understand the systematic biases that affect our judgment and decision making.
Develop strategies for making better decisions.
Experience some of the biases through sample decisions.
Introduction
Every day you have the opportunity to make countless decisions: should you eat dessert,
cheat on a test, or attend a sports event with your friends. If you reflect on your own history
of choices you will realize that they vary in quality; some are rational and some are not. This
module provides an overview of decision making and includes discussion of many of the
common biases involved in this process.
In his Nobel Prizewinning work, psychologist Herbert Simon (1957; March & Simon, 1958)
argued that our decisions are bounded in their rationality. According to the bounded
194
rationality framework, human beings try to make rational decisions (such as weighing the
costs and benefits of a choice) but our cognitive limitations prevent us from being fully rational.
Time and cost constraints limit the quantity and quality of the information that is available to
us. Moreover, we only retain a relatively small amount of information in our usable memory.
And limitations on intelligence and perceptions constrain the ability of even very bright
decision makers to accurately make the best choice based on the information that is available.
About 15 years after the publication of Simons
seminal work, Tversky and Kahneman (1973,
1974; Kahneman & Tversky, 1979) produced
their own Nobel Prizewinning research, which
provided critical information about specific
systematic and predictable biases, or mistakes,
that influence judgment (Kahneman received
the prize after Tverskys death). The work of
People are subject to systematic and predictable biases
Simon, Tversky, and Kahneman paved the way
that influence judgment. In many instances this results
to our modern understanding of judgment and
in poor decision-making. [Photo: koocbor]
decision making. And their two Nobel prizes

signaled the broad acceptance of the field of behavioral decision research as a mature area
of intellectual study.
What Would a Rational Decision Look Like?

Imagine that during your senior year in college, you apply to a number of doctoral programs,
law schools, or business schools (or another set of programs in whatever field most interests
you). The good news is that you receive many acceptance letters. So, how should you decide
where to go? Bazerman and Moore (2013) outline the following six steps that you should take
to make a rational decision: (1) define the problem (i.e., selecting the right graduate program),
(2) identify the criteria necessary to judge the multiple options (location, prestige, faculty, etc.),
(3) weight the criteria (rank them in terms of importance to you), (4) generate alternatives (the
schools that admitted you), (5) rate each alternative on each criterion (rate each school on
each criteria that you identified, and (6) compute the optimal decision. Acting rationally would
require that you follow these six steps in a fully rational manner.
I strongly advise people to think through important decisions such as this in a manner similar
to this process. Unfortunately, we often dont. Many of us rely on our intuitions far more than
we should. And when we do try to think systematically, the way we enter data into such formal
decision-making processes is often biased.
195
Fortunately, psychologists have learned a

great deal about the biases that affect our
thinking. This knowledge about the systematic
and predictable mistakes that even the best
and the brightest make can help you identify
flaws in your thought processes and reach
better decisions.
Biases in Our Decision Process

Simons concept of bounded rationality
taught us that judgment deviates from
rationality, but it did not tell us how judgment
is biased. Tversky and Kahnemans (1974)
People often have to use incomplete information to make
decisions about risk [Photo: beanhead4529]
research helped to diagnose the specific

systematic, directional biases that affect
human judgment. These biases are created
by the tendency to short-circuit a rational decision process by relying on a number of

simplifying strategies, or rules of thumb, known as heuristics. Heuristics allow us to cope with
the complex environment surrounding our decisions. Unfortunately, they also lead to
systematic and predictable biases.
To highlight some of these biases please answer the following three quiz items:
Problem 1 (adapted from Alpert & Raiffa, 1969):

Listed below are 10 uncertain quantities. Do not look up any information on these items. For
each, write down your best estimate of the quantity. Next, put a lower and upper bound
around your estimate, such that you are 98 percent confident that your range surrounds the
actual quantity. Respond to each of these items even if you admit to knowing very little about
these quantities.
1. The first year the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded
2. The date the French celebrate "Bastille Day"
3. The distance from the Earth to the Moon
4. The height of the Leaning Tower of Pisa
196
5. Number of students attending Oxford University (as of 2014)

6. Number of people who have traveled to space (as of 2013)
7. 2012-2013 annual budget for the University of Pennsylvania
8. Average life expectancy in Bangladesh (as of 2012)
9. World record for pull-ups in a 24-hour period
10. Number of colleges and universities in the Boston metropolitan area
Problem 2 (adapted from Joyce & Biddle, 1981):

We know that executive fraud occurs and that it has been associated with many recent financial
scandals. And, we know that many cases of management fraud go undetected even when
annual audits are performed. Do you think that the incidence of significant executive-level
management fraud is more than 10 in 1,000 firms (that is, 1 percent) audited by Big Four
accounting firms?
1. Yes, more than 10 in 1,000 Big Four clients have significant executive-level management
fraud.
2. No, fewer than 10 in 1,000 Big Four clients have significant executive-level management
fraud.
What is your estimate of the number of Big Four clients per 1,000 that have significant
executive-level management fraud? (Fill in the blank below with the appropriate number.)
________ in 1,000 Big Four clients have significant executive-level management fraud.
Problem 3 (adapted from Tversky & Kahneman, 1981):

Imagine that the United States is preparing for the outbreak of an unusual avian disease that
is expected to kill 600 people. Two alternative programs to combat the disease have been
proposed. Assume that the exact scientific estimates of the consequences of the programs
are as follows.
1. Program A: If Program A is adopted, 200 people will be saved.
2. Program B: If Program B is adopted, there is a one-third probability that 600 people will be
saved and a two-thirds probability that no people will be saved.
197
Which of the two programs would you favor?
Overconfidence
On the first problem, if you set your ranges so that you were justifiably 98 percent confident,
you should expect that approximately 9.8, or nine to 10, of your ranges would include the
actual value. So, lets look at the correct answers:
1. 1901
2. 14th of July
3. 384,403 km (238,857 mi)
4. 56.67 m (183 ft)
5. 22,384 (as of 2014)
6. 536 people (as of 2013)
7. $6.007 billion
8. 70.3 years (as of 2012)
9. 4,321
10. 52
Overconfidence is a natural part of most people's decision-making

process and this can get us into trouble. Is it possible to overcome our
faulty thinking? Perhaps. See the "Fixing Our Decisions" section below.
Count the number of your 98% ranges
[Photo: Kimli]
that actually surrounded the true

quantities. If you surrounded nine to 10, you were appropriately confident in your judgments.
But most readers surround only between three (30%) and seven (70%) of the correct answers,
despite claiming 98% confidence that each range would surround the true value. As this
problem shows, humans tend to be overconfident in their judgments.
Anchoring
Regarding the second problem, people vary a great deal in their final assessment of the level
of executive-level management fraud, but most think that 10 out of 1,000 is too low. When I
run this exercise in class, half of the students respond to the question that I asked you to
answer. The other half receive a similar problem, but instead are asked whether the correct
answer is higher or lower than 200 rather than 10. Most people think that 200 is high. But,
again, most people claim that this anchor does not affect their final estimate. Yet, on average,
people who are presented with the question that focuses on the number 10 (out of 1,000)
198
give answers that are about one-half the size of the estimates of those facing questions that
use an anchor of 200. When we are making decisions, any initial anchor that we face is likely
to influence our judgments, even if the anchor is arbitrary. That is, we insufficiently adjust our
judgments away from the anchor.
Framing
Turning to Problem 3, most people choose Program A, which saves 200 lives for sure, over
Program B. But, again, if I was in front of a classroom, only half of my students would receive
this problem. The other half would have received the same set-up, but with the following two
options:
1. Program C: If Program C is adopted, 400 people will die.
2. Program D: If Program D is adopted, there is a one-third probability that no one will die
and a two-thirds probability that 600 people will die.
Which of the two programs would you favor?
Careful review of the two versions of this problem clarifies that they are objectively the same.
Saving 200 people (Program A) means losing 400 people (Program C), and Programs B and D
are also objectively identical. Yet, in one of the most famous problems in judgment and
decision making, most individuals choose Program A in the first set and Program D in the
second set (Tversky & Kahneman, 1981). People respond very differently to saving versus
losing liveseven when the difference is based just on the framing of the choices.
The problem that I asked you to respond to was framed in terms of saving lives, and the
implied reference point was the worst outcome of 600 deaths. Most of us, when we make
decisions that concern gains, are risk averse; as a consequence, we lock in the possibility of
saving 200 lives for sure. In the alternative version, the problem is framed in terms of losses.
Now the implicit reference point is the best outcome of no deaths due to the avian disease.
And in this case, most people are risk seeking when making decisions regarding losses.
These are just three of the many biases that affect even the smartest among us. Other research
shows that we are biased in favor of information that is easy for our minds to retrieve, are
insensitive to the importance of base rates and sample sizes when we are making inferences,
assume that random events will always look random, search for information that confirms
our expectations even when disconfirming information would be more informative, claim a
priori knowledge that didnt exist due to the hindsight bias, and are subject to a host of other
199
effects that continue to be developed in the literature (Bazerman & Moore, 2013).
Contemporary Developments
Bounded rationality served as the integrating concept
of the field of behavioral decision research for 40
years. Then, in 2000, Thaler (2000) suggested that
decision making is bounded in two ways not precisely
captured by the concept of bounded rationality. First,
he argued that our willpower is bounded and that, as
a consequence, we give greater weight to present
concerns than to future concerns. Our immediate
motivations are often inconsistent with our long-term
interests in a variety of ways, such as the common
failure to save adequately for retirement or the
difficulty many people have staying on a diet. Second,
Thaler suggested that our self-interest is bounded
such that we care about the outcomes of others.
Sometimes we positively value the outcomes of
othersgiving them more of a commodity than is
necessary out of a desire to be fair, for example. And,
The concept of bounded willpower may explain
in unfortunate contexts, we sometimes are willing to
why many of us are better shoppers than savers.
forgo our own benefits out of a desire to harm others.
[Photo: Tinou Bao]
My colleagues and I have recently added two other

important bounds to the list. Chugh, Banaji, and Bazerman (2005) and Banaji and Bhaskar
(2000) introduced the concept of bounded ethicality, which refers to the notion that our ethics
are limited in ways we are not even aware of ourselves. Second, Chugh and Bazerman (2007)
developed the concept of bounded awareness to refer to the broad array of focusing failures
that affect our judgment, specifically the many ways in which we fail to notice obvious and
important information that is available to us.
A final development is the application of judgment and decision-making research to the areas
of behavioral economics, behavioral finance, and behavioral marketing, among others. In
each case, these fields have been transformed by applying and extending research from the
judgment and decision-making literature.
Fixing Our Decisions
200
Ample evidence documents that even smart people are routinely impaired by biases. Early
research demonstrated, unfortunately, that awareness of these problems does little to reduce
bias (Fischhoff, 1982). The good news is that more recent research documents interventions
that do help us overcome our faulty thinking (Bazerman & Moore, 2013).
One critical path to fixing our biases is provided in Stanovich and Wests (2000) distinction
between System 1 and System 2 decision making. System 1 processing is our intuitive system,
which is typically fast, automatic, effortless, implicit, and emotional. System 2 refers to decision
making that is slower, conscious, effortful, explicit, and logical. The six logical steps of decision
making outlined earlier describe a System 2 process.
Clearly, a complete System 2 process is not required for every decision we make. In most
situations, our System 1 thinking is quite sufficient; it would be impractical, for example, to
logically reason through every choice we make while shopping for groceries. But, preferably,
System 2 logic should influence our most important decisions. Nonetheless, we use our
System 1 processes for most decisions in life, relying on it even when making important
decisions.
The key to reducing the effects of bias and improving our decisions is to transition from trusting
our intuitive System 1 thinking toward engaging more in deliberative System 2 thought.
Unfortunately, the busier and more rushed people are, the more they have on their minds,
and the more likely they are to rely on System 1 thinking (Chugh, 2004). The frantic pace of
professional life suggests that executives often rely on System 1 thinking (Chugh, 2004).
Fortunately, it is possible to identify conditions where we rely on intuition at our peril and
substitute more deliberative thought. One fascinating example of this substitution comes
from journalist Michael Lewis (2003) account of how Billy Beane, the general manager of the
Oakland Athletics, improved the outcomes of the failing baseball team after recognizing that
the intuition of baseball executives was limited and systematically biased and that their
intuitions had been incorporated into important decisions in ways that created enormous
mistakes. Lewis (2003) documents that baseball professionals tend to overgeneralize from
their personal experiences, be overly influenced by players very recent performances, and
overweigh what they see with their own eyes, despite the fact that players multiyear records
provide far better data. By substituting valid predictors of future performance (System 2
thinking), the Athletics were able to outperform expectations given their very limited payroll.
Another important direction for improving decisions comes from Thaler and Sunsteins (2008)
book Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness. Rather than setting out
to debias human judgment, Thaler and Sunstein outline a strategy for how decision architects
201
can change environments in ways that account for

human bias and trigger better decisions as a result. For
example, Beshears, Choi, Laibson, and Madrian (2008)
have shown that simple changes to defaults can
dramatically improve peoples decisions. They tackle the
failure of many people to save for retirement and show
that a simple change can significantly influence
enrollment in 401(k) programs. In most companies, when
you start your job, you need to proactively sign up to join
the companys retirement savings plan. Many people
take years before getting around to doing so. When,
instead, companies automatically enroll their employees
in 401(k) programs and give them the opportunity to opt
out, the net enrollment rate rises significantly. By
changing defaults, we can counteract the human
Nudges can be used to help people make
tendency to live with the status quo.
better decisions about saving for retirement.

[Photo: aag photos]
Similarly, Johnson and Goldsteins (2003) cross-European
organ donation study reveals that countries that have opt-in organ donation policies, where
the default is not to harvest peoples organs without their prior consent, sacrifice thousands
of lives in comparison to opt-out policies, where the default is to harvest organs. The United
States and too many other countries require that citizens opt in to organ donation through a
proactive effort; as a consequence, consent rates range between 4.25%44% across these
countries. In contrast, changing the decision architecture to an opt-out policy improves
consent rates to 85.9% to 99.98%. Designing the donation system with knowledge of the power
of defaults can dramatically change donation rates without changing the options available to
citizens. In contrast, a more intuitive strategy, such as the one in place in the United States,
inspires defaults that result in many unnecessary deaths.
Concluding Thoughts
Our days are filled with decisions ranging from the small (what should I wear today?) to the
important (should we get married?). Many have real world consequences on our health,
finances and relationships. Simon, Kahneman, and Tversky created a field that highlights the
surprising and predictable deficiencies of the human mind when making decisions. As we
understand more about our own biases and thinking shortcomings we can begin to take them
into account or to avoid them. Only now have we reached the frontier of using this knowledge
to help people make better decisions.
202
Outside Resources
Book: Bazerman, M. H., & Moore, D. (2013). Judgment in managerial decision making (8th ed.).
John Wiley & Sons Inc.
Book: Kahneman, D. (2011) Thinking, Fast and Slow. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Book: Thaler, R. H., & Sunstein, C. R. (2008). Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health,
Wealth, and Happiness. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
1. Are the biases in this module a problem in the real world?
2. How would you use this module to be a better decision maker?
3. Can you see any biases in todays newspaper?
203
Vocabulary
Anchoring
The bias to be affected by an initial anchor, even if the anchor is arbitrary, and to insufficiently
adjust our judgments away from that anchor.
Biases
The systematic and predictable mistakes that influence the judgment of even very talented
human beings.
Bounded awareness
The systematic ways in which we fail to notice obvious and important information that is
available to us.
Bounded ethicality
The systematic ways in which our ethics are limited in ways we are not even aware of ourselves.
Bounded rationality
Model of human behavior that suggests that humans try to make rational decisions but are
bounded due to cognitive limitations.
Bounded self-interest
The systematic and predictable ways in which we care about the outcomes of others.
Bounded willpower
The tendency to place greater weight on present concerns rather than future concerns.
Framing
The bias to be systematically affected by the way in which information is presented, while
holding the objective information constant.
Heuristics
cognitive (or thinking) strategies that simplify decision making by using mental short-cuts
Overconfident
The bias to have greater confidence in your judgment than is warranted based on a rational
assessment.
204
System 1
Our intuitive decision-making system, which is typically fast, automatic, effortless, implicit,
and emotional.
System 2
Our more deliberative decision-making system, which is slower, conscious, effortful, explicit,
and logical.
205
References
Alpert, M., & Raiffa, H. (1969). A progress report on the training of probability assessors.
Unpublished Report.
Banaji, M. R., & Bhaskar, R. (2000). Implicit stereotypes and memory: The bounded rationality
of social beliefs. In D. L. Schacter & E. Scarry (Eds.), Memory, brain, and belief (pp. 139175).
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Bazerman, M. H., & Moore, D. (2013). Judgment in managerial decision making (8th ed.). John
Wiley & Sons Inc.
Beshears, J., Choi, J. J., Laibson, D., & Madrian, B. C. (2008). The importance of default options
for retirement saving outcomes: Evidence from the United States. In S. J. Kay & T. Sinha
(Eds.), Lessons from pension reform in the Americas (pp. 5987). Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Chugh, D. (2004). Societal and managerial implications of implicit social cognition: Why
milliseconds matter. Social Justice Research, 17(2), 203222.
Chugh, D., & Bazerman, M. H. (2007). Bounded awareness: What you fail to see can hurt you.
Mind & Society, 6(1), 118.
Chugh, D., Banaji, M. R., & Bazerman, M. H. (2005). Bounded ethicality as a psychological barrier
to recognizing conflicts of interest. In D. Moore, D. M. Cain, G. Loewenstein, & M. H.
Bazerman (Eds.), Conflicts of Interest (pp. 7495). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Fischhoff, B. (1982). Debiasing. In D. Kahneman, P. Slovic, & A. Tversky (Eds.), Judgment under
uncertainty: Heuristics and biases (pp. 422444). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Johnson, E. J., & Goldstein, D. (2003). Do defaults save lives? Science 302(5649), 13381339.
Joyce, E. J., & Biddle, G. C. (1981). Are auditors judgments sufficiently regressive? Journal of
Accounting Research, 19(2), 323349.
Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1979). Prospect theory: An analysis of decision under risk.
Econometrica, 47(2), 263292.
Lewis, M. (2003). Moneyball: The art of winning an unfair game. New York, NY: W.W. Norton &
Company Ltd.
March, J. G., & Simon, H. A. (1958). Organizations. Oxford: Wiley.
Simon, H. A. (1957). Models of man, social and rational: Mathematical essays on rational human
behavior in a social setting. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.
Stanovich, K. E., & West, R. F. (2000). Individual differences in reasoning: Implications for the
rationality debate? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 23, 645726.
206
Thaler, R. H. (2000). From homo economicus to homo sapiens. Journal of Economics

Perspectives, 14, 133141.
Thaler, R. H., & Sunstein, C. R. (2008). Nudge: Improving decisions about health, wealth, and
happiness. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1981). The framing of decisions and the psychology of choice.
Science, New Series, 211(4481), 453458.
Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1974). Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases. Science,
New Series, 185(4157), 11241131.
Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1973). Availability: A heuristic for judging frequency and
probability. Cognitive Psychology, 5(2), 207232.
14
Language and Language Use
Yoshihisa Kashima
Humans have the capacity to use complex language, far more than any other species on Earth.
We cooperate with each other to use language for communication; language is often used to
communicate about and even construct and maintain our social world. Language use and
human sociality are inseparable parts of Homo sapiens as a biological species.
Learning Objectives
Define basic terms used to describe language use.

Describe the process by which people can share new information by using language.
Characterize the typical content of conversation and its social implications.
Characterize psychological consequences of language use and give an example.
Introduction
Imagine two men of 30-something age, Adam and Ben, walking down the corridor. Judging
from their clothing, they are young businessmen, taking a break from work. They then have
this exchange.
Adam: You know, Gary bought a ring.
Ben: "Oh yeah? For Mary, isn't it?" (Adam nods.)
208
If you are watching this scene and hearing their conversation, what can you guess from this?
First of all, youd guess that Gary bought a ring for Mary, whoever Gary and Mary might be.
Perhaps you would infer that Gary is getting married to Mary. What else can you guess?
Perhaps that Adam and Ben are fairly close colleagues, and both of them know Gary and Mary
reasonably well. In other words, you can guess the social relationships surrounding the people
who are engaging in the conversation and the people whom they are talking about.
Language is used in our everyday lives. If
psychology is a science of behavior, scientific
investigation of language use must be one of
the most central topicsthis is because
language use is ubiquitous. Every human
group has a language; human infants (except
those who have unfortunate disabilities) learn
at least one language without being taught
explicitly. Even when children who dont have
much language to begin with are brought
Language is an essential tool that enables us to live the kind
of lives we do. Much of contemporary human civilization
wouldnt have been possible without it. [Photo: Marc
Wathieu]
together, they can begin to develop and use

their own language. There is at least one
known instance where children who had had
little language were brought together and
developed their own language spontaneously with minimum input from adults. In Nicaragua
in the 1980s, deaf children who were separately raised in various locations were brought
together to schools for the first time. Teachers tried to teach them Spanish with little success.
However, they began to notice that the children were using their hands and gestures,
apparently to communicate with each other. Linguists were brought in to find out what was
happeningit turned out the children had developed their own sign language by themselves.
That was the birth of a new language, Nicaraguan Sign Language (Kegl, Senghas, & Coppola,
1999). Language is ubiquitous, and we humans are born to use it.
How Do We Use Language?

If language is so ubiquitous, how do we actually use it? To be sure, some of us use it to write
diaries and poetry, but the primary form of language use is interpersonal. Thats how we learn
language, and thats how we use it. Just like Adam and Ben, we exchange words and utterances
to communicate with each other. Lets consider the simplest case of two people, Adam and
Ben, talking with each other. According to Clark (1996), in order for them to carry out a
conversation, they must keep track of common ground. Common ground is a set of knowledge
209
that the speaker and listener share and they think, assume, or otherwise take for granted that
they share. So, when Adam says, Gary bought a ring, he takes for granted that Ben knows
the meaning of the words he is using, whom Gary is, and what buying a ring means. When
Ben says, For Mary, isnt it? he takes for granted that Adam knows the meaning of these
words, who Mary is, and what buying a ring for someone means. All these are part of their
common ground.
Note
that,
when
Adam
presents
the
information about Garys purchase of a ring,

Ben responds by presenting his inference
about who the recipient of the ring might be,
namely, Mary. In conversational terms, Bens
utterance
acts
as
evidence
for
his
comprehension of Adams utteranceYes, I

understood that Gary bought a ringand
Adams nod acts as evidence that he now has
understood what Ben has said tooYes, I
The "common ground" in a conversation helps people
understood that you understood that Gary
coordinate their language use. And as conversations progress
has bought a ring for Mary. This new
common ground shifts and changes as the participants add
information is now added to the initial
new information and cooperate to help one another
common
understand. [Photo: boellstiftung]
utterances by Adam and Ben (called an

adjacency
ground.
pair)
Thus,
together
the
with
pair
of
Adams
affirmative nod jointly completes one proposition, Gary bought a ring for Mary, and adds
this information to their common ground. This way, common ground changes as we talk,
gathering new information that we agree on and have evidence that we share. It evolves as
people take turns to assume the roles of speaker and listener, and actively engage in the
exchange of meaning.
Common ground helps people coordinate their language use. For instance, when a speaker
says something to a listener, he or she takes into account their common ground, that is, what
the speaker thinks the listener knows. Adam said what he did because he knew Ben would
know who Gary was. Hed have said, A friend of mine is getting married, to another colleague
who wouldnt know Gary. This is called audience design (Fussell & Krauss, 1992); speakers
design their utterances for their audiences by taking into account the audiences knowledge.
If their audiences are seen to be knowledgeable about an object (such as Ben about Gary),
they tend to use a brief label of the object (i.e., Gary); for a less knowledgeable audience, they
use more descriptive words (e.g., a friend of mine) to help the audience understand their
utterances (Box 1).
210
So, language use is a cooperative

activity, but how do we coordinate
our language use in a conversational
setting? To be sure, we have a
conversation in small groups. The
number of people engaging in a
conversation at a time is rarely more
than four. By some counts (e.g.,
Dunbar, Duncan, & Nettle, 1995;
James, 1953), more than 90 percent
of conversations happen in a group
of four individuals or less. Certainly,
coordinating conversation among
four is not as difficult as coordinating
conversation among 10. But, even
among only four people, if you think
about it, everyday conversation is an
almost miraculous achievement. We
typically have a conversation by
rapidly
exchanging
words
and
utterances in real time in a noisy environment. Think about your conversation at home in the
morning, at a bus stop, in a shopping mall. How can we keep track of our common ground
under such circumstances?
Pickering and Garrod (2004) argue that we achieve our conversational coordination by virtue
of our ability to interactively align each others actions at different levels of language use:
lexicon (i.e., words and expressions), syntax (i.e., grammatical rules for arranging words and
expressions together), as well as speech rate and accent. For instance, when one person uses
a certain expression to refer to an object in a conversation, others tend to use the same
expression (e.g., Clark & Wilkes-Gibbs, 1986). Furthermore, if someone says the cowboy
offered a banana to the robber, rather than the cowboy offered the robber a banana, others
are more likely to use the same syntactic structure (e.g., the girl gave a book to the boy rather
than the girl gave the boy a book) even if different words are involved (Branigan, Pickering,
& Cleland, 2000). Finally, people in conversation tend to exhibit similar accents and rates of
speech, and they are often associated with peoples social identity (Giles, Coupland, &
Coupland, 1991). So, if you have lived in different places where people have somewhat
different accents (e.g., United States and United Kingdom), you might have noticed that you
speak with Americans with an American accent, but speak with Britons with a British accent.
211
Pickering and Garrod (2004) suggest that these interpersonal alignments at different levels
of language use can activate similar situation models in the minds of those who are engaged
in a conversation. Situation models are representations about the topic of a conversation. So,
if you are talking about Gary and Mary with your friends, you might have a situation model
of Gary giving Mary a ring in your mind. Pickering and Garrods theory is that as you describe
this situation using language, others in the conversation begin to use similar words and
grammar, and many other aspects of language use converge. As you all do so, similar situation
models begin to be built in everyones mind through the mechanism known as priming.
Priming occurs when your thinking about one concept (e.g., ring) reminds you about other
related concepts (e.g., marriage, wedding ceremony). So, if everyone in the conversation
knows about Gary, Mary, and the usual course of events associated with a ringengagement,
wedding, marriage, etc. everyone is likely to construct a shared situation model about Gary
and Mary. Thus, making use of our highly developed interpersonal ability to imitate (i.e.,
executing the same action as another person) and cognitive ability to infer (i.e., one idea
leading to other ideas), we humans coordinate our common ground, share situation models,
and communicate with each other.
What Do We Talk About?

What are humans doing when we are talking?
Surely, we can communicate about mundane
things such as what to have for dinner, but
also more complex and abstract things such
as the meaning of life and death, liberty,
equality, and fraternity, and many other
philosophical thoughts. Well, when naturally
occurring
conversations
were
actually
observed (Dunbar, Marriott, & Duncan,

1997), a staggering 60%70% of everyday
conversation, for both men and women,
turned out to be gossippeople talk about
themselves and others whom they know. Just
like Adam and Ben, more often than not,
Studies show that people love to gossip. By gossiping, humans
can communicate and share their representations about their
social worldwho their friends and enemies are, what the
people use language to communicate about

their social world.
right thing to do is under what circumstances, and so on.

[Photo: Bindaas Madhav]
Gossip may sound trivial and seem to belittle

our noble ability for languagesurely one of
212
the most remarkable human abilities of all that distinguish us from other animals. Au contraire,
some have argued that gossipactivities to think and communicate about our social world
is one of the most critical uses to which language has been put. Dunbar (1996) conjectured
that gossiping is the human equivalent of grooming, monkeys and primates attending and
tending to each other by cleaning each others fur. He argues that it is an act of socializing,
signaling the importance of ones partner. Furthermore, by gossiping, humans can
communicate and share their representations about their social worldwho their friends
and enemies are, what the right thing to do is under what circumstances, and so on. In so
doing, they can regulate their social worldmaking more friends and enlarging ones own
group (often called the ingroup, the group to which one belongs) against other groups
(outgroups) that are more likely to be ones enemies. Dunbar has argued that it is these social
effects that have given humans an evolutionary advantage and larger brains, which, in turn,
help humans to think more complex and abstract thoughts and, more important, maintain
larger ingroups. Dunbar (1993) estimated an equation that predicts average group size of
nonhuman primate genera from their average neocortex size (the part of the brain that
supports higher order cognition). In line with his social brain hypothesis, Dunbar showed
that those primate genera that have larger brains tend to live in larger groups. Furthermore,
using the same equation, he was able to estimate the group size that human brains can
support, which turned out to be about 150approximately the size of modern huntergatherer communities. Dunbars argument is that language, brain, and human group living
have co-evolvedlanguage and human sociality are inseparable.
Dunbars hypothesis is controversial. Nonetheless, whether or not he is right, our everyday
language use often ends up maintaining the existing structure of intergroup relationships.
Language use can have implications for how we construe our social world. For one thing,
there are subtle cues that people use to convey the extent to which someones action is just
a special case in a particular context or a pattern that occurs across many contexts and more
like a character trait of the person. According to Semin and Fiedler (1988), someones action
can be described by an action verb that describes a concrete action (e.g., he runs), a state
verb that describes the actors psychological state (e.g., he likes running), an adjective that
describes the actors personality (e.g., he is athletic), or a noun that describes the actors role
(e.g., he is an athlete). Depending on whether a verb or an adjective (or noun) is used, speakers
can convey the permanency and stability of an actors tendency to act in a certain wayverbs
convey particularity, whereas adjectives convey permanency. Intriguingly, people tend to
describe positive actions of their ingroup members using adjectives (e.g., he is generous)
rather than verbs (e.g., he gave a blind man some change), and negative actions of outgroup
members using adjectives (e.g., he is cruel) rather than verbs (e.g., he kicked a dog). Maass,
Salvi, Arcuri, and Semin (1989) called this a linguistic intergroup bias, which can produce and
reproduce the representation of intergroup relationships by painting a picture favoring the
213
ingroup. That is, ingroup members are typically good, and if they do anything bad, thats more
an exception in special circumstances; in contrast, outgroup members are typically bad, and
if they do anything good, thats more an exception.
In addition, when people exchange
their gossip, it can spread through
broader social networks. If gossip is
transmitted from one person to
another, the second person can
transmit it to a third person, who then
in turn transmits it to a fourth, and so
on through a chain of communication.
This often happens for emotive stories
(Box 2). If gossip is repeatedly
transmitted and spread, it can reach a
large number of people. When stories
travel through communication chains,
they tend to become conventionalized
(Bartlett, 1932). A Native American tale
of the War of the Ghosts recounts a
warriors
encounter
with
ghosts
traveling in canoes and his involvement

with their ghostly battle. He is shot by
an arrow but doesnt die, returning
home to tell the tale. After his narration, however, he becomes still, a black thing comes out
of his mouth, and he eventually dies. When it was told to a student in England in the 1920s
and retold from memory to another person, who, in turn, retold it to another and so on in a
communication chain, the mythic tale became a story of a young warrior going to a battlefield,
in which canoes became boats, and the black thing that came out of his mouth became simply
his spirit (Bartlett, 1932). In other words, information transmitted multiple times was
transformed to something that was easily understood by many, that is, information was
assimilated into the common ground shared by most people in the linguistic community. More
recently, Kashima (2000) conducted a similar experiment using a story that contained
a sequence of events that described a young couples interaction that included both
stereotypical and counter-stereotypical actions (e.g., a man watching sports on TV on Sunday
vs. a man vacuuming the house). After the retelling of this story, much of the counterstereotypical information was dropped, and stereotypical information was more likely to be
retained. Because stereotypes are part of the common ground shared by the community, this
finding too suggests that conversational retellings are likely to reproduce conventional
214
content.
Psychological Consequences of Language Use

What are the psychological consequences of language use? When people use language to
describe an experience, their thoughts and feelings are profoundly shaped by the linguistic
representation that they have produced rather than the original experience per se (Holtgraves
& Kashima, 2008). For example, Halberstadt (2003) showed a picture of a person displaying
an ambiguous emotion and examined how people evaluated the displayed emotion. When
people verbally explained why the target person was expressing a particular emotion, they
tended to remember the person as feeling that emotion more intensely than when they simply
labeled the emotion.
Thus, constructing a linguistic representation of
another persons emotion apparently biased the
speakers memory of that persons emotion.
Furthermore, linguistically labeling ones own
emotional experience appears to alter the speakers
neural processes. When people linguistically
labeled negative images, the amygdalaa brain
structure that is critically involved in the processing
of negative emotions such as fearwas activated
less than when they were not given a chance to label
them (Lieberman et al., 2007). Potentially because
of
these
effects
of
verbalizing
emotional
experiences, linguistic reconstructions of negative

life events can have some therapeutic effects on
those who suffer from the traumatic experiences
(Pennebaker & Seagal, 1999). Lyubomirsky, Sousa,
and Dickerhoof (2006) found that writing and
talking about negative past life events improved
peoples psychological well-being, but just thinking
By verbalizing our own emotional experiences - such
about them worsened it. There are many other
as in a conversation with a close friend - we can
examples of effects of language use on memory and
improve our psychological well-being.
decision making (Holtgraves & Kashima, 2008).

Furthermore, if a certain type of language use (linguistic practice) (Holtgraves & Kashima,
2008) is repeated by a large number of people in a community, it can potentially have a
215
significant effect on their thoughts and

action. This notion is often called SapirWhorf hypothesis (Sapir, 1921; Whorf,
1956; Box 3). For instance, if you are
given a description of a man, Steven, as
having greater than average experience
of the world (e.g., well-traveled, varied
job
experience),
strong
family
orientation, and well-developed social

skills, how do you describe Steven? Do
you think you can remember Stevens
personality five days later? It will
probably be difficult. But if you know
Chinese and are reading about Steven
in Chinese, as Hoffman, Lau, and
Johnson (1986) showed, the chances
are that you can remember him well.
This is because English does not have a
word
to
describe
this
kind
of
personality, whereas Chinese does (sh

g). This way, the language you use can
influence your cognition. In its strong
form, it has been argued that language
determines thought, but this is probably
wrong. Language does not completely
determine our thoughtsour thoughts
are far too flexible for thatbut
habitual uses of language can influence
our habit of thought and action. For
instance,
some
linguistic
practice
seems to be associated even with

cultural values and social institution.
Pronoun drop is the case in point.
Pronouns such as I and you are used
to represent the speaker and listener of
a speech in English. In an English
sentence, these pronouns cannot be
dropped if they are used as the subject of a sentence. So, for instance, I went to the movie
last night is fine, but Went to the movie last night is not in standard English. However, in
216
other languages such as Japanese, pronouns can be, and in fact often are, dropped from
sentences. It turned out that people living in those countries where pronoun drop languages
are spoken tend to have more collectivistic values (e.g., employees having greater loyalty
toward their employers) than those who use nonpronoun drop languages such as English
(Kashima & Kashima, 1998). It was argued that the explicit reference to you and I may
remind speakers the distinction between the self and other, and the differentiation between
individuals. Such a linguistic practice may act as a constant reminder of the cultural value,
which, in turn, may encourage people to perform the linguistic practice.
Conclusion
Language and language use constitute a central ingredient of human psychology. Language
is an essential tool that enables us to live the kind of life we do. Can you imagine a world in
which machines are built, farms are cultivated, and goods and services are transported to our
household without language? Is it possible for us to make laws and regulations, negotiate
contracts, and enforce agreements and settle disputes without talking? Much of contemporary
human civilization wouldnt have been possible without the human ability to develop and use
language. Like the Tower of Babel, language can divide humanity, and yet, the core of humanity
includes the innate ability for language use. Whether we can use it wisely is a task before us
in this globalized world.
217
1. In what sense is language use innate and learned?
2. Is language a tool for thought or a tool for communication?
3. What sorts of unintended consequences can language use bring to your psychological
processes?
218
Vocabulary
Audience design
Constructing utterances to suit the audiences knowledge.
Common ground
Information that is shared by people who engage in a conversation.
Ingroup
Group to which a person belongs.
Lexicon
Words and expressions.
Linguistic intergroup bias
A tendency for people to characterize positive things about their ingroup using more abstract
expressions, but negative things about their outgroups using more abstract expressions.
Outgroup
Group to which a person does not belong.
Priming
A stimulus presented to a person reminds him or her about other ideas associated with the
stimulus.
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
The hypothesis that the language that people use determines their thoughts.
Situation model
A mental representation of an event, object, or situation constructed at the time of
comprehending a linguistic description.
Social brain hypothesis
The hypothesis that the human brain has evolved, so that humans can maintain larger
ingroups.
Social networks
Networks of social relationships among individuals through which information can travel.
Syntax
Rules by which words are strung together to form sentences.
219
220
References
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UK: Cambridge University Press.
Branigan, H. P., Pickering, M. J., & Cleland, A. A. (2000). Syntactic co-ordination in dialogue.
Cognition, 75, B1325.
Clark, H. H. (1996). Using language. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Clark, H. H., & Wilkes-Gibbs, D. (1986). Referring as a collaborative process. Cognition, 22, 139.
Dunbar, R. (1996). Grooming, gossip, and the evolution of language. Boston, MA: Harvard
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Dunbar, R. I. M. (1993). Coevolution of neorcortical size, group size and language in humans.
Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 16, 681735.
Dunbar, R. I. M., Duncan, N. D. C., & Nettle, D. (1995). Size and structure of freely forming
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Dunbar, R. I. M., Marriott, A., & Duncan, N. D. C. (1997). Human conversational behaviour.
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Fussell, S. R., & Krauss, R. M. (1992). Coordination of knowledge in communication: Effects of
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Giles, H., Coupland, N., & Coupland, J. (1991) Accommodation theory: Communication, context,
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Halberstadt, J. (2003). The paradox of emotion attribution: Explanation biases perceptual
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Hoffman, C., Lau, I., & Johnson, D. R. (1986). The linguistic relativity of person cognition: An
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Kashima, E., & Kashima, Y. (1998). Culture and language: The case of cultural dimensions and
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Kashima, Y. (2000). Maintaining cultural stereotypes in the serial reproduction of narratives.

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Putting feelings into words. Psychological Science, 18, 421428.
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Cognitive and Language Development

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15
The Nature-Nurture Question
Eric Turkheimer
People have a deep intuition about what has been called the naturenurture question. Some
aspects of our behavior feel as though they originate in our genetic makeup, while others feel
like the result of our upbringing or our own hard work. The scientific field of behavior genetics
attempts to study these differences empirically, either by examining similarities among family
members with different degrees of genetic relatedness, or, more recently, by studying
differences in the DNA of people with different behavioral traits. The scientific methods that
have been developed are ingenious, but often inconclusive. Many of the difficulties
encountered in the empirical science of behavior genetics turn out to be conceptual, and our
intuitions about nature and nurture get more complicated the harder we think about them.
In the end, it is an oversimplification to ask how genetic some particular behavior is. Genes
and environments always combine to produce behavior, and the real science is in the discovery
of how they combine for a given behavior.
Learning Objectives
Understand what the naturenurture debate is and why the problem fascinates us.
Understand why naturenurture questions are difficult to study empirically.
Know the major research designs that can be used to study naturenurture questions.
Appreciate the complexities of naturenurture and why questions that seem simple turn
out not to have simple answers.
Introduction
224
There are three related problems at the intersection of philosophy and science that are
fundamental to our understanding of our relationship to the natural world: the mindbody
problem, the free will problem, and the naturenurture problem. These great questions have
a lot in common. Everyone, even those without much knowledge of science or philosophy,
has opinions about the answers to these questions that come simply from observing the
world we live in. Our feelings about our relationship with the physical and biological world
often seem incomplete. We are in control of our actions in some ways, but at the mercy of
our bodies in others; it feels obvious that our consciousness is some kind of creation of our
physical brains, at the same time we sense that our awareness must go beyond just the
physical. This incomplete knowledge of our relationship with nature leaves us fascinated and
a little obsessed, like a cat that climbs into a paper bag and then out again, over and over,
mystified every time by a relationship between inner and outer that it can see but cant quite
understand.
It may seem obvious that we are born with certain characteristics while others are acquired,
and yet of the three great questions about humans relationship with the natural world, only
naturenurture gets referred to as a debate. In the history of psychology, no other question
has caused so much controversy and offense: We are so concerned with naturenurture
because our very sense of moral character seems to depend on it. While we may admire the
athletic skills of a great basketball player, we think of his height as simply a gift, a payoff in
the genetic lottery. For the same reason, no one blames a short person for his height or
someones congenital disability on poor decisions: To state the obvious, its not their fault.
But we do praise the concert violinist (and perhaps her parents and teachers as well) for her
dedication, just as we condemn cheaters, slackers, and bullies for their bad behavior.
The problem is, most human characteristics arent usually as clear-cut as height or instrumentmastery, affirming our naturenurture expectations strongly one way or the other. In fact,
even the great violinist might have some inborn qualitiesperfect pitch, or long, nimble fingers
that support and reward her hard work. And the basketball player might have eaten a diet
while growing up that promoted his genetic tendency for being tall. When we think about our
own qualities, they seem under our control in some respects, yet beyond our control in others.
And often the traits that dont seem to have an obvious cause are the ones that concern us
the most and are far more personally significant. What about how much we drink or worry?
What about our honesty, or religiosity, or sexual orientation? They all come from that uncertain
zone, neither fixed by nature nor totally under our own control.
One major problem with answering nature-nurture questions about people is, how do you
set up an experiment? In nonhuman animals, there are relatively straightforward experiments
for tackling naturenurture questions. Say, for example, you are interested in aggressiveness
225
in dogs. You want to test for the

more important determinant of
aggression: being born to aggressive
dogs or being raised by them. You
could mate two aggressive dogs
angry Chihuahuastogether,
and mate two nonaggressive
dogshappy beaglestogether,
then switch half the puppies from
each litter between the different
sets of parents to raise. You
would then have puppies born to
aggressive parents (the Chihuahuas)
Researchers have learned a great deal about the nature-nurture dynamic by
working with animals. But of course many of the techniques used to study
animals cannot be applied to people. Separating these two influences in
human subjects is a greater research challenge. [Photo: mharrsch]
but being raised by nonaggressive

parents (the Beagles), and vice
versa, in litters that mirror each
other in puppy distribution. The
big questions are: Would the Chihuahua parents raise aggressive beagle puppies? Would the
beagle parents raise nonaggressive Chihuahua puppies? Would the puppies nature win out,
regardless of who raised them? Or... would the result be a combination of nature and nurture?
Much of the most significant naturenurture research has been done in this way (Scott &
Fuller, 1998), and animal breeders have been doing it successfully for thousands of years. In
fact, it is fairly easy to breed animals for behavioral traits.
With people, however, we cant assign babies to parents at random, or select parents with
certain behavioral characteristics to mate, merely in the interest of science (though history
does include horrific examples of such practices, in misguided attempts at eugenics, the
shaping of human characteristics through intentional breeding). In typical human families,
childrens biological parents raise them, so it is very difficult to know whether children act like
their parents due to genetic (nature) or environmental (nurture) reasons. Nevertheless,
despite our restrictions on setting up human-based experiments, we do see real-world
examples of nature-nurture at work in the human spherethough they only provide partial
answers to our many questions.
The science of how genes and environments work together to influence behavior is called
behavioral genetics. The easiest opportunity we have to observe this is the adoption study.
When children are put up for adoption, the parents who give birth to them are no longer the
parents who raise them. This setup isnt quite the same as the experiments with dogs (children
arent assigned to random adoptive parents in order to suit the particular interests of a
226
scientist) but adoption still tells us some interesting things, or at least confirms some basic
expectations. For instance, if the biological child of tall parents were adopted into a family of
short people, do you suppose the childs growth would be affected? What about the biological
child of a Spanish-speaking family adopted at birth into an English-speaking family? What
language would you expect the child to speak? And what might these outcomes tell you about
the difference between height and language in terms of nature-nurture?
Another option for observing naturenurture in humans involves twin studies.
There are two types of twins: monozygotic
(MZ) and dizygotic (DZ). Monozygotic
twins, also called identical twins, result
from a single zygote (fertilized egg) and
have the same DNA. They are essentially
clones. Dizygotic twins, also known as
fraternal twins, develop from two
zygotes and share 50% of their DNA.
Fraternal twins are ordinary siblings who
happen to have been born at the same
time. To analyze naturenurture using
twins, we compare the similarity of MZ
and DZ pairs. Sticking with the features of
height and spoken language, lets take a
look at how nature and nurture apply:
Identical twins, unsurprisingly, are almost
Studies focused on twins have lead to important insights about

the biological origins of many personality characteristics. [Photo:
ethermoon]
perfectly similar for height. The heights of

fraternal twins, however, are like any other sibling pairs: more similar to each other than to
people from other families, but hardly identical. This contrast between twin types gives us a
clue about the role genetics plays in determining height. Now consider spoken language. If
one identical twin speaks Spanish at home, the co-twin with whom she is raised almost
certainly does too. But the same would be true for a pair of fraternal twins raised together.
In terms of spoken language, fraternal twins are just as similar as identical twins, so it appears
that the genetic match of identical twins doesnt make much difference.
Twin and adoption studies are two instances of a much broader class of methods for observing
nature-nurture called quantitative genetics, the scientific discipline in which similarities
among individuals are analyzed based on how biologically related they are. We can do these
studies with siblings and half-siblings, cousins, twins who have been separated at birth and
raised separately (Bouchard, Lykken, McGue, & Segal, 1990; such twins are very rare and play
227
a smaller role than is commonly believed in the science of naturenurture), or with entire
extended families (see Plomin, DeFries, Knopik, & Neiderhiser, 2012, for a complete
introduction to research methods relevant to naturenurture).
For better or for worse, contentions about naturenurture have intensified because
quantitative genetics produces a number called a heritability coefficient, varying from 0 to
1, that is meant to provide a single measure of genetics influence of a trait. In a general way,
a heritability coefficient measures how strongly differences among individuals are related to
differences among their genes. But beware: Heritability coefficients, although simple to
compute, are deceptively difficult to interpret. Nevertheless, numbers that provide simple
answers to complicated questions tend to have a strong influence on the human imagination,
and a great deal of time has been spent discussing whether the heritability of intelligence or
personality or depression is equal to one number or another.
One reason naturenurture continues to
fascinate us so much is that we live in an era
of great scientific discovery in genetics,
comparable to the times of Copernicus,
Galileo,
and
Newton,
with
regard
to
astronomy and physics. Every day, it seems,

new discoveries are made, new possibilities
proposed. When Francis Galton first started
thinking
about
naturenurture
in
the
late-19th century he was very influenced by

his cousin, Charles Darwin, but genetics per
se was unknown. Mendels famous work with
peas, conducted at about the same time, went
undiscovered for 20 years; quantitative
genetics was developed in the 1920s; DNA
Quantitative genetics uses statistical methods to study the
was discovered by Watson and Crick in the
effects that both heredity and environment have on test
1950s; the human genome was completely
subjects. These methods have provided us with the
sequenced at the turn of the 21st century; and
heritability coefficient which measures how strongly
we are now on the verge of being able to
differences among individuals for a trait are related to
obtain the specific DNA sequence of anyone
differences among their genes. [Image: EMSL]
at a relatively low cost. No one knows what

this new genetic knowledge will mean for the study of naturenurture, but as we will see in
the next section, answers to naturenurture questions have turned out to be far more difficult
and mysterious than anyone imagined.
228
What Have We Learned About NatureNurture?

It would be satisfying to be able to say that naturenurture studies have given us conclusive
and complete evidence about where traits come from, with some traits clearly resulting from
genetics and others almost entirely from environmental factors, such as childrearing practices
and personal will; but that is not the case. Instead, everything has turned out to have some
footing in genetics. The more genetically-related people are, the more similar they arefor
everything: height, weight, intelligence, personality, mental illness, etc. Sure, it seems like
common sense that some traits have a genetic bias. For example, adopted children resemble
their biological parents even if they have never met them, and identical twins are more similar
to each other than are fraternal twins. And while certain psychological traits, such as
personality or mental illness (e.g., schizophrenia), seem reasonably influenced by genetics, it
turns out that the same is true for political attitudes, how much television people watch
(Plomin, Corley, DeFries, & Fulker, 1990), and whether or not they get divorced (McGue &
Lykken, 1992).
It may seem surprising, but genetic
influence on behavior is a relatively
recent discovery. In the middle of
the 20th century, psychology was
dominated by the doctrine of
behaviorism,
which
held
that
behavior could only be explained in

terms of environmental factors.
Psychiatry concentrated on psycho
analysis, which probed for roots of
behavior in individuals early lifeResearch over the last half century has revealed how central genetics are
histories. The truth is, neither
to behavior. The more genetically related people are the more similar they
behaviorism nor psychoanalysis is
are not just physically but also in terms of personality and behavior.
incompatible with genetic influences
[Photo: aikawake]
on behavior, and neither Freud nor

Skinner
was
naive
about
the
importance of organic processes in behavior. Nevertheless, in their day it was widely thought
that childrens personalities were shaped entirely by imitating their parents behavior, and
that schizophrenia was caused by certain kinds of pathological mothering. Whatever the
outcome of our broader discussion of naturenurture, the basic fact that the best predictors
of an adopted childs personality or mental health are found in the biological parents he or
she has never met, rather than in the adoptive parents who raised him or her, presents a
229
significant challenge to purely environmental explanations of personality or psychopathology.

The message is clear: You cant leave genes out of the equation. But keep in mind, no behavioral
traits are completely inherited, so you cant leave the environment out altogether, either.
Trying to untangle the various ways nature-nurture influences human behavior can be messy,
and often common-sense notions can get in the way of good science. One very significant
contribution of behavioral genetics that has changed psychology for good can be very helpful
to keep in mind: When your subjects are biologically-related, no matter how clearly a situation
may seem to point to environmental influence, it is never safe to interpret a behavior as wholly
the result of nurture without further evidence. For example, when presented with data
showing that children whose mothers read to them often are likely to have better reading
scores in third grade, it is tempting to conclude that reading to your kids out loud is important
to success in school; this may well be true, but the study as described is inconclusive, because
there are genetic as well as environmental pathways between the parenting practices of
mothers and the abilities of their children. This is a case where correlation does not imply
causation, as they say. To establish that reading aloud causes success, a scientist can either
study the problem in adoptive families (in which the genetic pathway is absent) or by finding
a way to randomly assign children to oral reading conditions.
The outcomes of naturenurture studies have fallen short of our expectations (of establishing
clear-cut bases for traits) in many ways. The most disappointing outcome has been the inability
to organize traits from more- to less-genetic. As noted earlier, everything has turned out to be
at least somewhat heritable (passed down), yet nothing has turned out to be absolutely
heritable, and there hasnt been much consistency as to which traits are more heritable and
which are less heritable once other considerations (such as how accurately the trait can be
measured) are taken into account (Turkheimer, 2000). The problem is conceptual: The
heritability coefficient, and, in fact, the whole quantitative structure that underlies it, does not
match up with our naturenurture intuitions. We want to know how important the roles of
genes and environment are to the development of a trait, but in focusing on important
maybe were emphasizing the wrong thing. First of all, genes and environment are both crucial
to every trait; without genes the environment would have nothing to work on, and too, genes
cannot develop in a vacuum. Even more important, because naturenurture questions look
at the differences among people, the cause of a given trait depends not only on the trait itself,
but also on the differences in that trait between members of the group being studied.
The classic example of the heritability coefficient defying intuition is the trait of having two
arms. No one would argue against the development of arms being a biological, genetic process.
But fraternal twins are just as similar for two-armedness as identical twins, resulting in a
heritability coefficient of zero for the trait of having two arms. Normally, according to the
230
heritability model, this result (coefficient of zero) would suggest all nurture, no nature, but we
know thats not the case. The reason this result is not a tip-off that arm development is less
genetic than we imagine is because people do not vary in the genes related to arm development
which essentially upends the heritability formula. In fact, in this instance, the opposite is
likely true: the extent that people differ in arm number is likely the result of accidents and,
therefore, environmental. For reasons like these, we always have to be very careful when
asking naturenurture questions, especially when we try to express the answer in terms of a
single number. The heritability of a trait is not simply a property of that trait, but a property
of the trait in a particular context of relevant genes and environmental factors.
Another issue with the heritability coefficient is that it divides traits determinants into two
portionsgenes and environmentwhich are then calculated together for the total
variability. This is a little like asking how much of the experience of a symphony comes from
the horns and how much from the strings; the ways instruments or genes integrate is more
complex than that. It turns out to be the case that, for many traits, genetic differences affect
behavior under some environmental circumstances but not othersa phenomenon called
gene-environment interaction, or G x E. In one well-known example, Caspi et al. (2002) showed
that among maltreated children, those who carried a particular allele of the MAOA gene
showed a predisposition to violence and antisocial behavior, while those with other alleles
did not. Whereas, in children who had not been maltreated, the gene had no effect. Making
matters even more complicated are very recent studies of what is known as epigenetics (see
module, Epigenetics http://noba.to/37p5cb8v), a process in which the DNA itself is modified
by environmental events, and those
genetic changes transmitted to children.
Some common questions about nature
nurture are, how susceptible is a trait to
change, how malleable is it, and do we
have a choice about it? These questions
are much more complex than they may
seem
at
first
glance.
For
example,
phenylketonuria is an inborn error of

metabolism caused by a single gene; it
prevents the body from metabolizing
phenylalanine. Untreated, it causes mental
retardation and death. But it can be treated
The answer to the nature nurture question has not turned out
to be as straightforward as we would like. The many questions
we can ask about the relationships among genes, environments,
effectively by a straightforward environmental
and human traits may have many different answers, and the
intervention: avoiding foods containing
answer to one tells us little about the answers to the others.
phenylalanine. Height seems like a trait
[Photo:legends2k]
231
firmly rooted in our nature and unchangeable, but the average height of many populations
in Asia and Europe has increased significantly in the past 100 years, due to changes in diet
and the alleviation of poverty. Even the most modern genetics has not provided definitive
answers to naturenurture questions. When it was first becoming possible to measure the
DNA sequences of individual people, it was widely thought that we would quickly progress to
finding the specific genes that account for behavioral characteristics, but that hasnt happened.
There are a few rare genes that have been found to have significant (almost always negative)
effects, such as the single gene that causes Huntingtons disease, or the Apolipoprotein gene
that causes early onset dementia in a small percentage of Alzheimers cases. Aside from these
rare genes of great effect, however, the genetic impact on behavior is broken up over many
genes, each with very small effects. For most behavioral traits, the effects are so small and
distributed across so many genes that we have not been able to catalog them in a meaningful
way. In fact, the same is true of environmental effects. We know that extreme environmental
hardship causes catastrophic effects for many behavioral outcomes, but fortunately extreme
environmental hardship is very rare. Within the normal range of environmental events, those
responsible for differences (e.g., why some children in a suburban third-grade classroom
perform better than others) are much more difficult to grasp.
The difficulties with finding clear-cut solutions to naturenurture problems bring us back to
the other great questions about our relationship with the natural world: the mind-body
problem and free will. Investigations into what we mean when we say we are aware of
something reveal that consciousness is not simply the product of a particular area of the brain,
nor does choice turn out to be an orderly activity that we can apply to some behaviors but
not others. So it is with nature and nurture: What at first may seem to be a straightforward
matter, able to be indexed with a single number, becomes more and more complicated the
closer we look. The many questions we can ask about the intersection among genes,
environments, and human traitshow sensitive are traits to environmental change, and how
common are those influential environments; are parents or culture more relevant; how
sensitive are traits to differences in genes, and how much do the relevant genes vary in a
particular population; does the trait involve a single gene or a great many genes; is the trait
more easily described in genetic or more-complex behavioral terms?may have different
answers, and the answer to one tells us little about the answers to the others.
It is tempting to predict that the more we understand the wide-ranging effects of genetic
differences on all human characteristicsespecially behavioral onesour cultural, ethical,
legal, and personal ways of thinking about ourselves will have to undergo profound changes
in response. Perhaps criminal proceedings will consider genetic background. Parents,
presented with the genetic sequence of their children, will be faced with difficult decisions
about reproduction. These hopes or fears are often exaggerated. In some ways, our thinking
232
may need to changefor example, when we consider the meaning behind the fundamental
American principle that all men are created equal. Human beings differ, and like all evolved
organisms they differ genetically. The Declaration of Independence predates Darwin and
Mendel, but it is hard to imagine that Jeffersonwhose genius encompassed botany as well
as moral philosophywould have been alarmed to learn about the genetic diversity of
organisms. One of the most important things modern genetics has taught us is that almost
all human behavior is too complex to be nailed down, even from the most complete genetic
information, unless were looking at identical twins. The science of nature and nurture has
demonstrated that genetic differences among people are vital to human moral equality,
freedom, and self-determination, not opposed to them. As Mordecai Kaplan said about the
role of the past in Jewish theology, genetics gets a vote, not a veto, in the determination of
human behavior. We should indulge our fascination with naturenurture while resisting the
temptation to oversimplify it.
233
Outside Resources
Web: Institute for Behavioral Genetics
http://www.colorado.edu/ibg/
1. Is your personality more like one of your parents than the other? If you have a sibling, is
his or her personality like yours? In your family, how did these similarities and differences
develop? What do you think caused them?
2. Can you think of a human characteristic for which genetic differences would play almost
no role? Defend your choice.
3. Do you think the time will come when we will be able to predict almost everything about
someone by examining their DNA on the day they are born?
4. Identical twins are more similar than fraternal twins for the trait of aggressiveness, as well
as for criminal behavior. Do these facts have implications for the courtroom? If it can be
shown that a violent criminal had violent parents, should it make a difference in culpability
or sentencing?
234
Vocabulary
Adoption study
A behavior genetic research method that involves comparison of adopted children to their
adoptive and biological parents.
Behavioral genetics
The empirical science of how genes and environments combine to generate behavior.
Heritability coefficient
An easily misinterpreted statistical construct that purports to measure the role of genetics in
the explanation of differences among individuals.
Quantitative genetics
Scientific and mathematical methods for inferring genetic and environmental processes based
on the degree of genetic and environmental similarity among organisms.
Twin studies
A behavior genetic research method that involves comparison of the similarity of identical
(monozygotic; MZ) and fraternal (dizygotic; DZ) twins.
235
References
Bouchard, T. J., Lykken, D. T., McGue, M., & Segal, N. L. (1990). Sources of human psychological
differences: The Minnesota study of twins reared apart. Science, 250(4978), 223228.
Caspi, A., McClay, J., Moffitt, T. E., Mill, J., Martin, J., Craig, I. W., Taylor, A. & Poulton, R. (2002).
Role of genotype in the cycle of violence in maltreated children. Science, 297(5582), 851
854.
McGue, M., & Lykken, D. T. (1992). Genetic influence on risk of divorce. Psychological Science,
3(6), 368373.
Plomin, R., Corley, R., DeFries, J. C., & Fulker, D. W. (1990). Individual differences in television
viewing in early childhood: Nature as well as nurture. Psychological Science, 1(6), 371377.
Plomin, R., DeFries, J. C., Knopik, V. S., & Neiderhiser, J. M. (2012). Behavioral genetics. New
York, NY: Worth Publishers.
Scott, J. P., & Fuller, J. L. (1998). Genetics and the social behavior of the dog. Chicago, IL:
University of Chicago Press.
Turkheimer, E. (2000). Three laws of behavior genetics and what they mean. Current Directions
in Psychological Science, 9(5), 160164.
16
Cognitive Development in Childhood
Robert Siegler
This module examines what cognitive development is, major theories about how it occurs,
the roles of nature and nurture, whether it is continuous or discontinuous, and how research
in the area is being used to improve education.
Learning Objectives
Be able to identify and describe the main areas of cognitive development.

Be able to describe major theories of cognitive development and what distinguishes them.
Understand how nature and nurture work together to produce cognitive development.
Understand why cognitive development is sometimes viewed as discontinuous and
sometimes as continuous.
Know some ways in which research on cognitive development is being used to improve
education.
Introduction
By the time you reach adulthood you have learned a few things about how the world works.
You know, for instance, that you cant walk through walls or leap into the tops of trees. You
know that although you cannot see your car keys theyve got to be around here someplace.
Whats more, you know that if you want to communicate complex ideas like ordering a tripleshot soy vanilla latte with chocolate sprinkles its better to use words with meanings attached
to them rather than simply gesturing and grunting. People accumulate all this useful
237
knowledge through the process of cognitive development, which involves a multitude of

factors, both inherent and learned.
Cognitive development refers to the development
of thinking across the lifespan. Defining thinking
can be problematic, because no clear boundaries
separate thinking from other mental activities.
Thinking obviously involves the higher mental
processes: problem solving, reasoning, creating,
conceptualizing, categorizing, remembering, planning,
and so on. However, thinking also involves other
mental processes that seem more basic and at
which
even
toddlers
are
skilledsuch
as
perceiving objects and events in the environment,

acting skillfully on objects to obtain goals, and
understanding and producing language. Yet other
areas of human development that involve thinking
are
not
usually
associated
with
cognitive
development, because thinking isnt a prominent

feature
of
themsuch
as
personality
and
temperament.
Cognitive development in childhood is about change.

From birth to adolescence a young person's mind
As the name suggests, cognitive development is

about change. Childrens thinking changes in
changes dramatically in many important ways.

[Photo: Kayusa]
dramatic and surprising ways. Consider DeVriess (1969) study of whether young children
understand the difference between appearance and reality. To find out, she brought an
unusually even-tempered cat named Maynard to a psychology laboratory and allowed the 3to 6-year-old participants in the study to pet and play with him. DeVries then put a mask of a
fierce dog on Maynards head, and asked the children what Maynard was. Despite all of the
children having identified Maynard previously as a cat, now most 3-year-olds said that he was
a dog and claimed that he had a dogs bones and a dogs stomach. In contrast, the 6-year-olds
werent fooled; they had no doubt that Maynard remained a cat. Understanding how childrens
thinking changes so dramatically in just a few years is one of the fascinating challenges in
studying cognitive development.
There are several main types of theories of child development. Stage theories, such as Piagets
stage theory, focus on whether children progress through qualitatively different stages of
development. Sociocultural theories, such as that of Lev Vygotsky, emphasize how other
people and the attitudes, values, and beliefs of the surrounding culture, influence childrens
238
development. Information processing theories, such as that of David Klahr, examine the
mental processes that produce thinking at any one time and the transition processes that
lead to growth in that thinking.
At the heart of all of these theories, and indeed of all research on cognitive development, are
two main questions: (1) How do nature and nurture interact to produce cognitive
development? (2) Does cognitive development progress through qualitatively distinct stages?
In the remainder of this module, we examine the answers that are emerging regarding these
questions, as well as ways in which cognitive developmental research is being used to improve
education.
Nature and Nurture

The most basic question about child development is how nature and nurture together shape
development. Nature refers to our biological endowment, the genes we receive from our
parents. Nurture refers to the environments, social as well as physical, that influence our
development, everything from the womb in which we develop before birth to the homes in
which we grow up, the schools we attend, and the many people with whom we interact.
The nature-nurture issue is often presented as an either-or question: Is our intelligence (for
example) due to our genes or to the environments in which we live? In fact, however, every
aspect of development is produced by the interaction of genes and environment. At the most
basic level, without genes, there would be no child, and without an environment to provide
nurture, there also would be no child.
The way in which nature and nurture work together can be seen in findings on visual
development. Many people view vision as something that people either are born with or that
is purely a matter of biological maturation, but it also depends on the right kind of experience
at the right time. For example, development of depth perception, the ability to actively
perceive the distance from oneself to objects in the environment, depends on seeing
patterned light and having normal brain activity in response to the patterned light, in infancy
(Held, 1993). If no patterned light is received, for example when a baby has severe cataracts
or blindness that is not surgically corrected until later in development, depth perception
remains abnormal even after the surgery.
Adding to the complexity of the nature-nurture interaction, childrens genes lead to their
eliciting different treatment from other people, which influences their cognitive development.
For example, infants physical attractiveness and temperament are influenced considerably
239
by their genetic inheritance, but it is also the

case that parents provide more sensitive
and affectionate care to easygoing and
attractive infants than to difficult and less
attractive ones, which can contribute to the
infants later cognitive development (Langlois
et al., 1995; van den Boom & Hoeksma,
1994).
Also contributing to the complex interplay
A child that is perceived to be attractive and calm may receive
of nature and nurture is the role of children
a different sort of care and attention from adults and as a result
in shaping their own cognitive development.
enjoy a developmental advantage. [Photo: tarotastic]
From the first days out of the womb, children

actively choose to attend more to some things and less to others. For example, even 1-montholds choose to look at their mothers face more than at the faces of other women of the same
age and general level of attractiveness (Bartrip, Morton, & de Schonen, 2001). Childrens
contributions to their own cognitive development grow larger as they grow older (Scarr &
McCartney, 1983). When children are young, their parents largely determine their experiences:
whether they will attend day care, the children with whom they will have play dates, the books
to which they have access, and so on. In contrast, older children and adolescents choose their
environments to a larger degree. Their parents preferences largely determine how 5-yearolds spend time, but 15-year-olds own preferences largely determine when, if ever, they set
foot in a library. Childrens choices often have large consequences. To cite one example, the
more that children choose to read, the more that their reading improves in future years (Baker,
Dreher, & Guthrie, 2000). Thus, the issue is not whether cognitive development is a product
of nature or nurture; rather, the issue is how nature and nurture work together to produce
cognitive development.
Does Cognitive Development Progress Through Distinct Stages?

Some aspects of the development of living organisms, such as the growth of the width of a
pine tree, involve quantitative changes, with the tree getting a little wider each year. Other
changes, such as the life cycle of a ladybug, involve qualitative changes, with the creature
becoming a totally different type of entity after a transition than before (Figure 1). The existence
of both gradual, quantitative changes and relatively sudden, qualitative changes in the world
has led researchers who study cognitive development to ask whether changes in childrens
thinking are gradual and continuous or sudden and discontinuous.
240
Figure 1: Continuous and discontinuous development. Some researchers see development as a

continuous gradual process, much like a maple tree growing steadily in height and cross-sectional area.
Other researchers see development as a progression of discontinuous stages, involving rapid
discontinuous changes, such as those in the life cycle of a ladybug, separated by longer periods of slow,
gradual change.
The great Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget proposed that childrens thinking progresses through
a series of four discrete stages. By stages, he meant periods during which children reasoned
similarly about many superficially different problems, with the stages occurring in a fixed
order and the thinking within different stages differing in fundamental ways. The four stages
that Piaget hypothesized were the sensorimotor stage (birth to 2 years), the preoperational
reasoning stage (2 to 6 or 7 years), the concrete operational reasoning stage (6 or 7 to 11
or 12 years), and the formal operational reasoning stage (11 or 12 years and throughout the
rest of life).
During the sensorimotor stage, childrens thinking is largely realized through their perceptions
of the world and their physical interactions with it. Their mental representations are very
limited. Consider Piagets object permanence task, which is one of his most famous problems.
If an infant younger than 9 months of age is playing with a favorite toy, and another person
removes the toy from view, for example by putting it under an opaque cover and not letting
the infant immediately reach for it, the infant is very likely to make no effort to retrieve it and
to show no emotional distress (Piaget, 1954). This is not due to their being uninterested in
the toy or unable to reach for it; if the same toy is put under a clear cover, infants below 9
months readily retrieve it (Munakata, McClelland, Johnson, & Siegler, 1997). Instead, Piaget
claimed that infants less than 9 months do not understand that objects continue to exist even
when out of sight.
During the preoperational stage, according to Piaget, children can solve not only this simple
241
problem (which they actually can solve after 9 months) but show a wide variety of other
symbolic-representation capabilities, such as those involved in drawing and using language.
However, such 2- to 7-year-olds tend to focus on a single dimension, even when solving
problems would require them to consider multiple dimensions. This is evident in Piagets
(1952) conservation problems. For example, if a glass of water is poured into a taller, thinner
glass, children below age 7 generally say that there now is more water than before. Similarly,
if a clay ball is reshaped into a long, thin sausage, they claim that there is now more clay, and
if a row of coins is spread out, they claim that there are now more coins. In all cases, the
children are focusing on one dimension, while ignoring the changes in other dimensions (for
example, the greater width of the glass and the clay ball).
Piaget's Sensorimotor and Pre-operational Reasoning stages
Children overcome this tendency to focus on a single dimension during the concrete
operations stage, and think logically in most situations. However, according to Piaget, they
still cannot think in systematic scientific ways, even when such thinking would be useful. Thus,
if asked to find out which variables influence the period that a pendulum takes to complete
its arc, and given weights that they can attach to strings in order to do experiments with the
pendulum to find out, most children younger than age 12, perform biased experiments from
which no conclusion can be drawn, and then conclude that whatever they originally believed
242
is correct. For example, if a boy believed that weight was the only variable that mattered, he
might put the heaviest weight on the shortest string and push it the hardest, and then conclude
that just as he thought, weight is the only variable that matters (Inhelder & Piaget, 1958).
Finally, in the formal operations period, children attain the reasoning power of mature adults,
which allows them to solve the pendulum problem and a wide range of other problems.
However, this formal operations stage tends not to occur without exposure to formal
education in scientific reasoning, and appears to be largely or completely absent from some
societies that do not provide this type of education.
Although Piagets theory has been very influential, it has not gone unchallenged. Many more
recent researchers have obtained findings indicating that cognitive development is
considerably more continuous than Piaget claimed. For example, Diamond (1985) found that
on the object permanence task described above, infants show earlier knowledge if the waiting
period is shorter. At age 6 months, they retrieve the hidden object if the wait is no longer than
2 seconds; at 7 months, they retrieve it if the wait is no longer than 4 seconds; and so on. Even
earlier, at 3 or 4 months, infants show surprise in the form of longer looking times if objects
suddenly appear to vanish with no obvious cause (Baillargeon, 1987). Similarly, childrens
specific experiences can greatly influence when developmental changes occur. Children of
pottery makers in Mexican villages, for example, know that reshaping clay does not change
Piaget's Concrete and Formal Operations stages
243
the amount of clay at much younger ages than children who do not have similar experiences
(Price-Williams, Gordon, & Ramirez, 1969).
So, is cognitive development fundamentally continuous or fundamentally discontinuous? A
reasonable answer seems to be, It depends on how you look at it and how often you look.
For example, under relatively facilitative circumstances, infants show early forms of object
permanence by 3 or 4 months, and they gradually extend the range of times for which they
can remember hidden objects as they grow older. However, on Piagets original object
permanence task, infants do quite quickly change toward the end of their first year from not
reaching for hidden toys to reaching for them, even after theyve experienced a substantial
delay before being allowed to reach. Thus, the debate between those who emphasize
discontinuous, stage-like changes in cognitive development and those who emphasize gradual
continuous changes remains a lively one.
Applications to Education
Understanding how children think and learn has proven useful for improving education. One
example comes from the area of reading. Cognitive developmental research has shown that
phonemic awarenessthat is, awareness of the component sounds within wordsis a
crucial skill in learning to read. To measure awareness of the component sounds within words,
researchers ask children to decide whether two words rhyme, to decide whether the words
start with the same sound, to identify the component sounds within words, and to indicate
what would be left if a given sound were removed from a word. Kindergartners performance
on these tasks is the strongest
predictor of reading achievement
in third and fourth grade, even
stronger than IQ or social class
background (Nation, 2008). Moreover,
teaching these skills to randomly
chosen 4- and 5-year-olds results in
their being better readers years
later
(National
Reading
Panel,
2000).
Another educational application of
Activities like playing games that involve working with numbers and spatial
cognitive developmental research
relationships can give young children a developmental advantage over
involves the area of mathematics.
peers who have less exposure to the same concepts. [Photo: Ben Husmann]
Even before they enter kindergarten,
244
the mathematical knowledge of children from low-income backgrounds lags far behind that
of children from more affluent backgrounds. Ramani and Siegler (2008) hypothesized that
this difference is due to the children in middle- and upper-income families engaging more
frequently in numerical activities, for example playing numerical board games such as Chutes
and Ladders. Chutes and Ladders is a game with a number in each square; children start at
the number one and spin a spinner or throw a dice to determine how far to move their token.
Playing this game seemed likely to teach children about numbers, because in it, larger numbers
are associated with greater values on a variety of dimensions. In particular, the higher the
number that a childs token reaches, the greater the distance the token will have traveled from
the starting point, the greater the number of physical movements the child will have made in
moving the token from one square to another, the greater the number of number-words the
child will have said and heard, and the more time will have passed since the beginning of the
game. These spatial, kinesthetic, verbal, and time-based cues provide a broad-based,
multisensory foundation for knowledge of numerical magnitudes (the sizes of numbers), a
type of knowledge that is closely related to mathematics achievement test scores (Booth &
Siegler, 2006).
Playing this numerical board game for roughly 1 hour, distributed over a 2-week period,
improved low-income childrens knowledge of numerical magnitudes, ability to read printed
numbers, and skill at learning novel arithmetic problems. The gains lasted for months after
the game-playing experience (Ramani & Siegler, 2008; Siegler & Ramani, 2009). An advantage
of this type of educational intervention is that it has minimal if any costa parent could just
draw a game on a piece of paper.
Understanding of cognitive development is advancing on many different fronts. One exciting
area is linking changes in brain activity to changes in childrens thinking (Nelson et al., 2006).
Although many people believe that brain maturation is something that occurs before birth,
the brain actually continues to change in large ways for many years thereafter. For example,
a part of the brain called the prefrontal cortex, which is located at the front of the brain and
is particularly involved with planning and flexible problem solving, continues to develop
throughout adolescence (Blakemore & Choudhury, 2006). Such new research domains, as
well as enduring issues such as nature and nurture, continuity and discontinuity, and how to
apply cognitive development research to education, insure that cognitive development will
continue to be an exciting area of research in the coming years.
Conclusion
Research into cognitive development has shown us that minds dont just form according to a
245
uniform blueprint or innate intellect, but through a combination of influencing factors. For
instance, if we want our kids to have a strong grasp of language we could concentrate on
phonemic awareness early on. If we want them to be good at math and science we could
engage them in numerical games and activities early on. Perhaps most importantly, we no
longer think of brains as empty vessels waiting to be filled up with knowledge but as adaptable
organs that develop all the way through early adulthood.
246
Outside Resources
Book: Frye, D., Baroody, A., Burchinal, M., Carver, S. M., Jordan, N. C., & McDowell, J. (2013).
Teaching math to young children: A practice guide. Washington, DC: National Center for
Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance (NCEE), Institute of Education Sciences, U.S.
Department of Education.
Book: Goswami, U. G. (2010). The Blackwell Handbook of Childhood Cognitive Development.
New York: John Wiley and Sons.
Book: Kuhn, D., & Siegler, R. S. (Vol. Eds.). (2006). Volume 2: Cognition, perception, and
language. In W. Damon & R. M. Lerner (Series Eds.), Handbook of child psychology (6th ed.).
Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Book: Miller, P. H. (2011). Theories of developmental psychology (5th ed.). New York: Worth.
Book: Siegler, R. S., & Alibali, M. W. (2004). Children's thinking (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River,
NJ: Prentice-Hall.
1. Why are there different theories of cognitive development? Why dont researchers agree
on which theory is the right one?
2. Do childrens natures differ, or do differences among children only reflect differences in
their experiences?
3. Do you see development as more continuous or more discontinuous?
4. Can you think of ways other than those described in the module in which research on
cognitive development could be used to improve education?
247
Vocabulary
Chutes and Ladders
A numerical board game that seems to be useful for building numerical knowledge.
Concrete operations stage
Piagetian stage between ages 7 and 12 when children can think logically about concrete
situations but not engage in systematic scientific reasoning.
Conservation problems
Problems pioneered by Piaget in which physical transformation of an object or set of objects
changes a perceptually salient dimension but not the quantity that is being asked about.
Continuous development
Ways in which development occurs in a gradual incremental manner, rather than through
sudden jumps.
Depth perception
The ability to actively perceive the distance from oneself of objects in the environment.
Discontinuous development
Discontinuous development
Formal operations stage
Piagetian stage starting at age 12 years and continuing for the rest of life, in which adolescents
may gain the reasoning powers of educated adults.
Information processing theories
Theories that focus on describing the cognitive processes that underlie thinking at any one
age and cognitive growth over time.
Nature
The genes that children bring with them to life and that influence all aspects of their
development.
Numerical magnitudes
The sizes of numbers.
248
Nurture
The environments, starting with the womb, that influence all aspects of childrens
development.
Object permanence task
The Piagetian task in which infants below about 9 months of age fail to search for an object
that is removed from their sight and, if not allowed to search immediately for the object, act
as if they do not know that it continues to exist.
Phonemic awareness
Awareness of the component sounds within words.
Piagets theory
Theory that development occurs through a sequence of discontinuous stages: the
sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational stages.
Preoperational reasoning stage
Period within Piagetian theory from age 2 to 7 years, in which children can represent objects
through drawing and language but cannot solve logical reasoning problems, such as the
conservation problems.
Qualitative changes
Large, fundamental change, as when a caterpillar changes into a butterfly; stage theories such
as Piagets posit that each stage reflects qualitative change relative to previous stages.
Quantitative changes
Gradual, incremental change, as in the growth of a pine trees girth.
Sensorimotor stage
Period within Piagetian theory from birth to age 2 years, during which children come to
represent the enduring reality of objects.
Sociocultural theories
Theory founded in large part by Lev Vygotsky that emphasizes how other people and the
attitudes, values, and beliefs of the surrounding culture influence childrens development.
249
References
Baillargeon, R. (1987). Object permanence in 3 1/2- and 4 1/2-month-old infants. Developmental
Baker, L., Dreher, M. J., & Guthrie, J. T., (Eds.). (2000). Engaging young readers: Promoting
achievement and motivation. New York: Guilford.
Bartrip, J., Morton, J., & De Schonen, S. (2001). Responses to mother's face in 3-week to 5month old infants. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 19, 219232
Blakemore, S.-J., & Choudhury, S. (2006). Development of the adolescent brain: Implications
for executive function and social cognition. Journal of Child Psychiatry and Psychology, 47,
296312.
Booth, J. L., & Siegler, R. S. (2006). Developmental and individual differences in pure numerical
estimation. Developmental Psychology, 41, 189201.
DeVries, R. (1969). Constancy of genetic identity in the years three to six. Monographs of the
Society for Research in Child Development, 34, 127.
Diamond, A. (1985). Development of the ability to use recall to guide action, as indicated by
infants' performance on AB. Child Development, 56, 868883.
Held, R. (1993). What can rates of development tell us about underlying mechanisms? In C. E.
Granrud (Ed.), Visual perception and cognition in infancy (pp. 7590). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Inhelder, B., & Piaget, J. (1958). The growth of logical thinking from childhood to adolescence. New
York: Basic Books.
Langlois, J. H., Ritter, J. M., Casey, R. J., & Sawin, D. B. (1995). Infant attractiveness predicts
maternal behaviors and attitudes. Developmental Psychology, 31, 464472.
Munakata, Y., McClelland, J. L., Johnson, M. H., & Siegler, R. S. (1997). Rethinking infant
knowledge: Toward an adaptive process account of successes and failures in object
permanence tasks. Psychological Review, 104, 686 713.
Nation, K. (2008). Learning to read words. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,
61, 1121 1133.
National Reading Panel (2000). Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the
scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. Washington,
DC: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
Nelson, C. A., Thomas, K. M., & de Haan, M. (2006). Neural bases of cognitive development.
In W. Damon & R. M. Lerner (Series Eds.) & D. Kuhn & R. S. Siegler (Vol. Eds.), Handbook of
child psychology: Volume 2: Cognition, perception, and language (6th ed., pp. 357). Hoboken,
250
NJ: Wiley.
Piaget, J. (1954). The construction of reality in the child. New York: BasicBooks.
Piaget, J. (1952). The childs concept of number. New York: W. W. Norton.
Price-Williams, D. R., Gordon, W., & Ramirez, M. (1969). Skill and conservation: A study of
pottery making children. Developmental Psychology, 1, 769.
Ramani, G. B., & Siegler, R. S. (2008). Promoting broad and stable improvements in low-income
childrens numerical knowledge through playing number board games. Child Development,
79, 375394.
Scarr, S., & McCartney, K. (1983). How people make their own environments: A theory of
genotype-environment effects. Child Development, 54, 424435.
Siegler, R. S., & Ramani, G. B. (2009). Playing linear number board gamesbut not circular
onesimproves low-income preschoolers numerical understanding. Journal of Educational
van den Boom, D. C., & Hoeksma, J. B. (1994). The effect of infant irritability on mother-infant
interaction: A growth curve analysis. Developmental Psychology, 30, 581590.
Social and Emotional Development

(10/25)
17
Social and Personality Development in
Childhood
Ross Thompson
Childhood social and personality development emerges through the interaction of social
influences, biological maturation, and the childs representations of the social world and the
self. This interaction is illustrated in a discussion of the influence of significant relationships,
the development of social understanding, the growth of personality, and the development of
social and emotional competence in childhood.
Learning Objectives
Provide specific examples of how the interaction of social experience, biological maturation,
and the childs representations of experience and the self provide the basis for growth in
social and personality development.
Describe the significant contributions of parentchild and peer relationships to the

development of social skills and personality in childhood.
Explain how achievements in social understanding occur in childhood. Moreover, do

scientists believe that infants and young children are egocentric?
Describe the association of temperament with personality development.

Explain what is social and emotional competence and provide some examples of how it
develops in childhood.
Introduction
253
Social and Personality Development in Childhood
How have I become the kind of person I am today? Every adult ponders this question from
time to time. The answers that readily come to mind include the influences of parents, peers,
temperament, a moral compass, a strong sense of self, and sometimes critical life experiences
such as parental divorce. Social and personality development encompasses these and many
other influences on the growth of the person. In addition, it addresses questions that are at
the heart of understanding how we develop as unique people. How much are we products of
nature or nurture? How enduring are the influences of early experiences? The study of social
and personality development offers perspective on these and other issues, often by showing
how complex and multifaceted are the influences on developing children, and thus the
intricate processes that have made you the person you are today (Thompson, 2006a).
Humans are inherently social creatures. Mostly, we work, play,

and live together in groups. [Photo: cesarharada.com]
Understanding social and personality development requires looking at children from three
perspectives that interact to shape development. The first is the social context in which each
child lives, especially the relationships that provide security, guidance, and knowledge. The
second is biological maturation that supports developing social and emotional competencies
and underlies temperamental individuality. The third is childrens developing representations
of themselves and the social world. Social and personality development is best understood
as the continuous interaction between these social, biological, and representational aspects
of psychological development.
Relationships
This interaction can be observed in the development of the earliest relationships between
254
infants and their parents in the first year. Virtually all infants living in normal circumstances
develop strong emotional attachments to those who care for them. Psychologists believe that
the development of these attachments is as biologically natural as learning to walk and not
simply a byproduct of the parents provision of food or warmth. Rather, attachments have
evolved in humans because they promote childrens motivation to stay close to those who
care for them and, as a consequence, to benefit from the learning, security, guidance, warmth,
and affirmation that close relationships provide (Cassidy, 2008).
Although nearly all infants develop emotional
attachments to their caregivers--parents, relatives,
nannies-- their sense of security in those
attachments varies. Infants become securely
attached when their parents respond sensitively
to them, reinforcing the infants confidence that
their parents will provide support when needed.
Infants become insecurely attached when care is
inconsistent or neglectful; these infants tend to
respond
avoidantly,
resistantly,
or
in
disorganized manner (Belsky & Pasco Fearon,

2008). Such insecure attachments are not
necessarily
parenting
the
but
result
are
of
often
deliberately
a
byproduct
bad
of
circumstances. For example, an overworked

single mother may find herself overstressed and
fatigued at the end of the day, making fullyinvolved childcare very difficult. In other cases,
some parents are simply poorly emotionally
equipped to take on the responsibility of caring
One of the first and most important relationships is
for a child.
between mothers and infants. The quality of this

relationship has an effect on later psychological and
The
different
behaviors
of
securely-
and
social development. [Photo: premasagar]
insecurely-attached infants can be observed

especially when the infant needs the caregivers
support. To assess the nature of attachment, researchers use a standard laboratory procedure
called the Strange Situation, which involves brief separations from the caregiver (e.g.,
mother) (Solomon & George, 2008). In the Strange Situation, the caregiver is instructed to
leave the child to play alone in a room for a short time, then return and greet the child while
researchers observe the childs response. Depending on the childs level of attachment, he or
she may reject the parent, cling to the parent, or simply welcome the parentor, in some
255
instances, react with an agitated combination of responses.

Infants can be securely or insecurely attached with mothers, fathers, and other regular
caregivers, and they can differ in their security with different people. The security of
attachment is an important cornerstone of social and personality development, because
infants and young children who are securely attached have been found to develop stronger
friendships with peers, more advanced emotional understanding and early conscience
development, and more positive self-concepts, compared with insecurely attached children
(Thompson, 2008). This is consistent with attachment theorys premise that experiences of
care, resulting in secure or insecure attachments, shape young childrens developing concepts
of the self, as well as what people are like, and how to interact with them.
As children mature, parent-child relationships naturally change. Preschool and grade-school
children are more capable, have their own preferences, and sometimes refuse or seek to
compromise with parental expectations. This can lead to greater parent-child conflict, and
how conflict is managed by parents further shapes the quality of parent-child relationships.
In general, children develop greater competence and self-confidence when parents have high
(but reasonable) expectations for childrens behavior, communicate well with them, are warm
and responsive, and use reasoning (rather than coercion) as preferred responses to childrens
misbehavior. This kind of parenting style has been described as authoritative (Baumrind,
2013). Authoritative parents are supportive and show interest in their kids activities but are
not overbearing and allow them to make constructive mistakes. By contrast, some lessconstructive parent-child relationships result from authoritarian, uninvolved, or permissive
parenting styles (see Table 1).
Table1: Comparison of Four Parenting Styles
Parental roles in relation to their children change in other ways too. Parents increasingly
256
become mediators (or gatekeepers) of their childrens involvement with peers and activities
outside the family. Their communication and practice of values contributes to childrens
academic achievement, moral development, and activity preferences. As children reach
adolescence, the parent-child relationship increasingly becomes one of coregulation, in
which both the parent(s) and the child recognizes the childs growing competence and
autonomy, and together they rebalance authority relations. We often see evidence of this as
parents start accommodating their teenage kids sense of independence by allowing them to
get cars, jobs, attend parties, and stay out later.
Family relationships are significantly affected by conditions outside the home. For instance,
the Family Stress Model describes how financial difficulties are associated with parents
depressed moods, which in turn lead to marital problems and poor parenting that contributes
to poorer child adjustment (Conger, Conger, & Martin, 2010). Within the home, parental marital
difficulty or divorce affects more than half the children growing up today in the United States.
Divorce is typically associated with economic stresses for children and parents, the
renegotiation of parent-child relationships (with one parent typically as primary custodian
and the other assuming a visiting relationship), and many other significant adjustments for
children. Divorce is often regarded by children as a sad turning point in their lives, although
for most it is not associated with long-term problems of adjustment (Emery, 1999).
Peer Relationships
Parent-child relationships are not the
only significant relationships in a
childs life. Peer relationships are also
important. Social interaction with
another child who is similar in age,
skills, and knowledge provokes the
development of many social skills that
are valuable for the rest of life
(Bukowski, Buhrmester, & Underwood,
2011). In peer relationships, children
learn how to initiate and maintain
social interactions with other children.
Peer relationships are particularly important for children. They can be
They learn skills for managing conflict,
supportive but also challenging. Peer rejection may lead to behavioral
such as turn-taking, compromise, and
problems later in life. [Photo: nist6ss]
bargaining. Play also involves the

mutual, sometimes complex, coordination
257
of goals, actions, and understanding. For example, as infants, children get their first encounter
with sharing (of each others toys); during pretend play as preschoolers they create narratives
together, choose roles, and collaborate to act out their stories; and in primary school, they
may join a sports team, learning to work together and support each other emotionally and
strategically toward a common goal. Through these experiences, children develop friendships
that provide additional sources of security and support to those provided by their parents.
However, peer relationships can be challenging as well as supportive (Rubin, Coplan, Chen,
Bowker, & McDonald, 2011). Being accepted by other children is an important source of
affirmation and self-esteem, but peer rejection can foreshadow later behavior problems
(especially when children are rejected due to aggressive behavior). With increasing age,
children confront the challenges of bullying, peer victimization, and managing conformity
pressures. Social comparison with peers is an important means by which children evaluate
their skills, knowledge, and personal qualities, but it may cause them to feel that they do not
measure up well against others. For example, a boy who is not athletic may feel unworthy of
his football-playing peers and revert to shy behavior, isolating himself and avoiding
conversation. Conversely, an athlete who doesnt get Shakespeare may feel embarrassed
and avoid reading altogether. Also, with the approach of adolescence, peer relationships
become focused on psychological intimacy, involving personal disclosure, vulnerability, and
loyalty (or its betrayal)which significantly affects a childs outlook on the world. Each of these
aspects of peer relationships requires developing very different social and emotional skills
than those that emerge in parent-child relationships. They also illustrate the many ways that
peer relationships influence the growth of personality and self-concept.
Social Understanding
As we have seen, childrens experience of relationships at home and the peer group
contributes to an expanding repertoire of social and emotional skills and also to broadened
social understanding. In these relationships, children develop expectations for specific people
(leading, for example, to secure or insecure attachments to parents), understanding of how
to interact with adults and peers, and developing self-concept based on how others respond
to them. These relationships are also significant forums for emotional development.
Remarkably, young children begin developing social understanding very early in life. Before
the end of the first year, infants are aware that other people have perceptions, feelings, and
other mental states that affect their behavior, and which are different from the childs own
mental states. This can be readily observed in a process called social referencing, in which
an infant looks to the mothers face when confronted with an unfamiliar person or situation
258
(Feinman, 1992). If the mother looks calm and reassuring, the infant responds positively as if
the situation is safe. If the mother looks fearful or distressed, the infant is likely to respond
with wariness or distress because the mothers expression signals danger. In a remarkably
insightful manner, therefore, infants show an awareness that even though they are uncertain
about the unfamiliar situation, their mother is not, and that by reading the emotion in her
face, infants can learn about whether the circumstance is safe or dangerous, and how to
respond.
Although developmental scientists used to believe that infants are egocentricthat is, focused
on their own perceptions and experiencethey now realize that the opposite is true. Infants
are aware at an early stage that people have different mental states, and this motivates them
to try to figure out what others are feeling, intending, wanting, and thinking, and how these
mental states affect their behavior. They are beginning, in other words, to develop a theory
of mind, and although their understanding of mental states begins very simply, it rapidly
expands (Wellman, 2011). For example, if an 18-month-old watches an adult try repeatedly
to drop a necklace into a cup but inexplicably fail each time, they will immediately put the
necklace into the cup themselvesthus completing what the adult intended, but failed, to
do. In doing so, they reveal their awareness of the intentions underlying the adults behavior
(Meltzoff, 1995). Carefully designed experimental studies show that by late in the preschool
years, young children understand that anothers beliefs can be mistaken rather than correct,
that memories can affect how you feel, and that ones emotions can be hidden from others
(Wellman, 2011). Social understanding grows significantly as childrens theory of mind
develops.
How do these achievements in social understanding occur? One answer is that young children
are remarkably sensitive observers of other people, making connections between their
emotional expressions, words, and behavior to derive simple inferences about mental states
(e.g., concluding, for example, that what Mommy is looking at is in her mind) (Gopnik, Meltzoff,
& Kuhl, 2001). This is especially likely to occur in relationships with people whom the child
knows well, consistent with the ideas of attachment theory discussed above. Growing language
skills give young children words with which to represent these mental states (e.g., mad,
wants) and talk about them with others. Thus in conversation with their parents about
everyday experiences, children learn much about peoples mental states from how adults talk
about them (Your sister was sad because she thought Daddy was coming home.) (Thompson,
2006b). Developing social understanding is, in other words, based on childrens everyday
interactions with others and their careful interpretations of what they see and hear. There
are also some scientists who believe that infants are biologically prepared to perceive people
in a special way, as organisms with an internal mental life, and this facilitates their
interpretation of peoples behavior with reference to those mental states (Leslie, 1994).
259
Personality
Parents look into the faces of their
newborn infants and wonder, What kind
of person will this child will become? They
scrutinize their babys preferences, chara
cteristics, and responses for clues of a
developing personality. They are quite
right to do so, because temperament is a
foundation for personality growth. But
temperament (defined as early-emerging
differences in reactivity and self-regulation)
is
not
the
whole
story.
Although
temperament is biologically based, it

interacts with the influence of experience
from the moment of birth (if not before) to
shape
personality
(Rothbart,
2011).
Temperamental dispositions are affected,
Although a child's temperament is partly determined by genetics,
for example, by the support level of
environmental influences also contribute to shaping personality.
parental care. More generally, personality
Positive personality development is supported by a "good fit"
is shaped by the goodness of fit between

the childs temperamental qualities and
between a child's natural temperament, environment and

experiences. [Photo: Thomas Hawk]
characteristics of the environment (Chess & Thomas, 1999). For example, an adventurous
child whose parents regularly take her on weekend hiking and fishing trips would be a good
fit to her lifestyle, supporting personality growth. Personality is the result, therefore, of the
continuous interplay between biological disposition and experience, as is true for many other
aspects of social and personality development.
Personality develops from temperament in other ways (Thompson, Winer, & Goodvin, 2010).
As children mature biologically, temperamental characteristics emerge and change over time.
A newborn is not capable of much self-control, but as brain-based capacities for self-control
advance, temperamental changes in self-regulation become more apparent. For example, a
newborn who cries frequently doesnt necessarily have a grumpy personality; over time, with
sufficient parental support and increased sense of security, the child might be less likely to cry.
In addition, personality is made up of many other features besides temperament. Childrens
developing self-concept, their motivations to achieve or to socialize, their values and goals,
their coping styles, their sense of responsibility and conscientiousness, and many other
260
qualities are encompassed into personality. These qualities are influenced by biological
dispositions, but even more by the childs experiences with others, particularly in close
relationships, that guide the growth of individual characteristics.
Indeed, personality development begins with the biological foundations of temperament but
becomes increasingly elaborated, extended, and refined over time. The newborn that parents
gazed upon thus becomes an adult with a personality of depth and nuance.
Social and Emotional Competence

Social and personality development is built from the social, biological, and representational
influences discussed above. These influences result in important developmental outcomes
that matter to children, parents, and society: a young adults capacity to engage in socially
constructive actions (helping, caring, sharing with others), to curb hostile or aggressive
impulses, to live according to meaningful moral values, to develop a healthy identity and sense
of self, and to develop talents and achieve success in using them. These are some of the
developmental outcomes that denote social and emotional competence.
These achievements of social and personality development derive from the interaction of
many social, biological, and representational influences. Consider, for example, the
development of conscience, which is an early foundation for moral development. Conscience
consists of the cognitive, emotional, and social influences that cause young children to create
and act consistently with internal standards of conduct (Kochanska, 2002). Conscience
emerges from young childrens experiences with parents, particularly in the development of
a mutually responsive relationship that motivates young children to respond constructively
to the parents requests and expectations. Biologically based temperament is involved, as
some children are temperamentally more capable of motivated self-regulation (a quality called
effortful control) than are others, while some children are dispositionally more prone to the
fear and anxiety that parental disapproval can evoke. Conscience development grows through
a good fit between the childs temperamental qualities and how parents communicate and
reinforce behavioral expectations. Moreover, as an illustration of the interaction of genes and
experience, one research group found that young children with a particular gene allele (the
5-HTTLPR) were low on measures of conscience development when they had previously
experienced unresponsive maternal care, but children with the same allele growing up with
responsive care showed strong later performance on conscience measures (Kochanska, Kim,
Barry, & Philibert, 2011).
Conscience development also expands as young children begin to represent moral values and
261
think of themselves as moral beings. By the end of the preschool years, for example, young
children develop a moral self by which they think of themselves as people who want to do
the right thing, who feel badly after misbehaving, and who feel uncomfortable when others
misbehave. In the development of conscience, young children become more socially and
emotionally competent in a manner that provides a foundation for later moral conduct
(Thompson, 2012).
The development of gender and gender
identity is likewise an interaction among
social,
biological,
and
representational
influences (Ruble, Martin, & Berenbaum,

2006). Young children learn about gender
from parents, peers, and others in society,
and develop their own conceptions of the
attributes associated with maleness or
femaleness (called gender schemas). They
also negotiate biological transitions (such as
puberty)
that
cause
their
sense
of
themselves and their sexual identity to

mature.
Each of these examples of the growth of
social and emotional competence illustrates
not only the interaction of social, biological,
and representational influences, but also
how their development unfolds over an
extended period. Early influences are
important, but not determinative, because
Social influences such as cultural norms impact children's
the capabilities required for mature moral
interests, dress, style of speech and even life aspirations.
conduct,
[Photo: Mandajuice]
outcomes continue to develop throughout
gender
identity,
and
other
childhood, adolescence, and even the adult

years.
Conclusion
As the preceding sentence suggests, social and personality development continues through
adolescence and the adult years, and it is influenced by the same constellation of social,
262
biological, and representational influences discussed for childhood. Changing social

relationships and roles, biological maturation and (much later) decline, and how the individual
represents experience and the self continue to form the bases for development throughout
life. In this respect, when an adult looks forward rather than retrospectively to ask, what kind
of person am I becoming?a similarly fascinating, complex, multifaceted interaction of
developmental processes lies ahead.
263
Outside Resources
Web: Center for the Developing Child, Harvard University
http://developingchild.harvard.edu
Web: Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning
http://casel.org
1. If parentchild relationships naturally change as the child matures, would you expect that
the security of attachment might also change over time? What reasons would account for
your expectation?
2. In what ways does a childs developing theory of mind resemble how scientists create,
refine, and use theories in their work? In other words, would it be appropriate to think of
children as informal scientists in their development of social understanding?
3. If there is a poor goodness of fit between a childs temperament and characteristics of
parental care, what can be done to create a better match? Provide a specific example of
how this might occur.
4. What are the contributions that parents offer to the development of social and emotional
competence in children? Answer this question again with respect to peer contributions.
264
Vocabulary
Authoritative
A parenting style characterized by high (but reasonable) expectations for childrens behavior,
good communication, warmth and nurturance, and the use of reasoning (rather than coercion)
as preferred responses to childrens misbehavior.
Conscience
The cognitive, emotional, and social influences that cause young children to create and act
consistently with internal standards of conduct.
Effortful control
A temperament quality that enables children to be more successful in motivated selfregulation.
Family Stress Model
A description of the negative effects of family financial difficulty on child adjustment through
the effects of economic stress on parents depressed mood, increased marital problems, and
poor parenting.
Gender schemas
Organized beliefs and expectations about maleness and femaleness that guide childrens
thinking about gender.
Goodness of fit
The match or synchrony between a childs temperament and characteristics of parental care
that contributes to positive or negative personality development. A good fit means that
parents have accommodated to the childs temperamental attributes, and this contributes to
positive personality growth and better adjustment.
Security of attachment
An infants confidence in the sensitivity and responsiveness of a caregiver, especially when
he or she is needed. Infants can be securely attached or insecurely attached.
Social referencing
The process by which one individual consults anothers emotional expressions to determine
how to evaluate and respond to circumstances that are ambiguous or uncertain.
265
Temperament
Early emerging differences in reactivity and self-regulation, which constitutes a foundation
for personality development.
Theory of mind
Childrens growing understanding of the mental states that affect peoples behavior.
266
References
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Larzelere, A. Sheffield, & A. W. Harrist (Eds.), Authoritative parenting: Synthesizing nurturance
and discipline for optimal child development (pp. 1134). Washington, DC: American
Belsky, J., & Pasco Fearon, R. M. (2008). Precursors of attachment security. In J. Cassidy & P. R.
Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (2nd ed.,
pp. 295316). New York, NY: Guilford.
Bukowski, W. M., Buhrmester, D., & Underwood, M. K. (2011). Peer relations as a developmental
context. In M. K. Underwood & L. H. Rosen (Eds.), Social development(pp. 153179). New
York, NY: Guilford
Cassidy, J. (2008). The nature of the childs ties. In J. Cassidy & P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of
attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (2nd ed., pp. 322). New York, NY:
Guilford.
Chess, S., & Thomas, A. (1999). Goodness of fit: Clinical applications from infancy through adult
life. New York, NY: Brunner-Mazel/Taylor & Francis.
Conger, R. D., Conger, K. J., & Martin, M. J. (2010). Socioeconomic status, family processes, and
individual development. Journal of Marriage and Family, 72, 685704
Emery, R. E. (1999). Marriage, divorce, and childrens adjustment (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage.
Feinman, S. (Ed.) (1992). Social referencing and the social construction of reality in infancy. New
York, NY: Plenum.
Gopnik, A., Meltzoff, A. N., & Kuhl, P. K. (2001). The scientist in the crib. New York, NY:
HarperCollins.
Kochanska, G. (2002). Mutually responsive orientation between mothers and their young
children: A context for the early development of conscience. Current Directions in
Psychological Science, 11, 191195.
Kochanska, G., Kim, S., Barry, R. A., & Philibert, R. A. (2011). Childrens genotypes interact with
maternal responsive care in predicting childrens competence: Diathesis-stress or
differential susceptibility? Development and Psychopathology, 23, 605-616.
Leslie, A. M. (1994). ToMM, ToBy, and agency: Core architecture and domain specificity in
cognition and culture. In L. Hirschfeld & S. Gelman (Eds.), Mapping the mind: Domain
specificity in cognition and culture (pp. 119-148). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
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Meltzoff, A. N. (1995). Understanding the intentions of others: Re-enactment of intended acts

by 18-month-old children. Developmental Psychology, 31, 838-850.
Rothbart, M. K. (2011). Becoming who we are: Temperament and personality in development. New
York, NY: Guilford.
Rubin, K. H., Coplan, R., Chen, X., Bowker, J., & McDonald, K. L. (2011). Peer relationships in
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(6th ed. pp. 519570). New York, NY: Psychology Press/Taylor & Francis.
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18
Attachment Through the Life Course
R. Chris Fraley
The purpose of this module is to provide a brief review of attachment theorya theory
designed to explain the significance of the close, emotional bonds that children develop with
their caregivers and the implications of those bonds for understanding personality
development. The module discusses the origins of the theory, research on individual
differences in attachment security in infancy and childhood, and the role of attachment in
adult relationships.
Learning Objectives
Explain the way the attachment system works and its evolutionary significance.
Identify three commonly studied attachment patterns and what is known about the
development of those patterns.
Describe what is known about the consequences of secure versus insecure attachment in
adult relationships.
Introduction
Some of the most rewarding experiences in peoples lives involve the development and
maintenance of close relationships. For example, some of the greatest sources of joy involve
falling in love, starting a family, being reunited with distant loved ones, and sharing experiences
with close others. And, not surprisingly, some of the most painful experiences in peoples lives
involve the disruption of important social bonds, such as separation from a spouse, losing a
269
parent, or being abandoned by a loved one.

Why do close relationships play such a
profound
role
in
human
experience?
Attachment theory is one approach to

understanding the nature of close relationships.
In this module, we review the origins of the
theory, the core theoretical principles, and
some ways in which attachment influences
human behavior, thoughts, and feelings
across the life course.
Attachment Theory: A Brief

History and Core Concepts
Attachment theory was originally developed
in the 1940s by John Bowlby, a British
Relationships are the fabric of society, and are integral to the
psychoanalyst
who
was
attempting
to
maintenance of our species. [Image: Percy Sledge Agbunag
understand the intense distress experienced
Carballo]
by infants who had been separated from their

parents. Bowlby (1969) observed that infants
would go to extraordinary lengths to prevent separation from their parents or to reestablish

proximity to a missing parent. For example, he noted that children who had been separated
from their parents would often cry, call for their parents, refuse to eat or play, and stand at
the door in desperate anticipation of their parents return. At the time of Bowlbys initial
writings, psychoanalytic writers held that these expressions were manifestations of immature
defense mechanisms that were operating to repress emotional pain. However, Bowlby
observed that such expressions are common to a wide variety of mammalian species and
speculated that these responses to separation may serve an evolutionary function (see Box 1).
Drawing on evolutionary theory, Bowlby (1969) argued that these behaviors are adaptive
responses to separation from a primary attachment figurea caregiver who provides
support, protection, and care. Because human infants, like other mammalian infants, cannot
feed or protect themselves, they are dependent upon the care and protection of older and
wiser adults for survival. Bowlby argued that, over the course of evolutionary history, infants
who were able to maintain proximity to an attachment figure would be more likely to survive
to a reproductive age.
270
According to Bowlby, a motivational system, what he called the attachment behavioral

system, was gradually designed by natural selection to regulate proximity to an attachment
figure. The attachment system functions much like a thermostat that continuously monitors
the ambient temperature of a room, comparing that temperature against a desired state and
adjusting behavior (e.g., activating the furnace) accordingly. In the case of the attachment
system, Bowlby argued that the system continuously monitors the accessibility of the primary
attachment figure. If the child perceives the attachment figure to be nearby, accessible, and
attentive, then the child feels loved, secure, and confident and, behaviorally, is likely to explore
his or her environment, play with others, and be sociable. If, however, the child perceives the
attachment figure to be inaccessible, the child experiences anxiety and, behaviorally, is likely
to exhibit attachment behaviors ranging from simple visual searching on the low extreme to
active searching, following, and vocal signaling on the other. These attachment behaviors
271
continue either until the child is able

to reestablish a desirable level of
physical or psychological proximity
to the attachment figure or until the
child exhausts himself or herself or
gives up, as may happen in the
context of a prolonged separation or
loss.
Individual Differences in
Think of your earliest memory, does it involve just you, or does it include
Infant Attachment
your loved ones, your family and caretakers? [Image: Harsha K R]
Although
Bowlby
believed
that
these basic dynamics captured the way the attachment system works in most children, he
recognized that there are individual differences in the way children appraise the accessibility
of the attachment figure and how they regulate their attachment behavior in response to
threats. However, it was not until his colleague, Mary Ainsworth, began to systematically study
infantparent separations that a formal understanding of these individual differences
emerged. Ainsworth and her students developed a technique called the strange situation
a laboratory task for studying infantparent attachment (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall,
1978). In the strange situation, 12-month-old infants and their parents are brought to the
laboratory and, over a period of approximately 20 minutes, are systematically separated from
and reunited with one another. In the strange situation, most children (about 60%) behave in
the way implied by Bowlbys normative theory. Specifically, they become upset when the
parent leaves the room, but, when he or she returns, they actively seek the parent and are
easily comforted by him or her. Children who exhibit this pattern of behavior are often called
secure. Other children (about 20% or less) are ill at ease initially and, upon separation, become
extremely distressed. Importantly, when reunited with their parents, these children have a
difficult time being soothed and often exhibit conflicting behaviors that suggest they want to
be comforted, but that they also want to punish the parent for leaving. These children are
often called anxious-resistant. The third pattern of attachment that Ainsworth and her
colleagues documented is often labeled avoidant. Avoidant children (about 20%) do not
consistently behave as if they are stressed by the separation but, upon reunion, actively avoid
seeking contact with their parent, sometimes turning their attention to play objects on the
laboratory floor.
Ainsworths work was important for at least three reasons. First, she provided one of the first
empirical demonstrations of how attachment behavior is organized in unfamiliar contexts.
272
Second, she provided the first empirical taxonomy of individual differences in infant
attachment patterns. According to her research, at least three types of children exist: those
who are secure in their relationship with their parents, those who are anxious-resistant, and
those who are anxious-avoidant. Finally, she demonstrated that these individual differences
were correlated with infantparent interactions in the home during the first year of life.
Children who appear secure in the strange situation, for example, tend to have parents who
are responsive to their needs. Children who appear insecure in the strange situation (i.e.,
anxious-resistant or avoidant) often have parents who are insensitive to their needs, or
inconsistent or rejecting in the care they provide.
Antecedents of Attachment Patterns

In the years that have followed
Ainsworths ground-breaking re
search, researchers have investigated
a variety of factors that may help
determine
develop
whether
secure
or
children
insecure
relationships with their primary

attachment figures. As mentioned
above, one of the key determinants
of attachment patterns is the
history of sensitive and responsive
interactions between the caregiver
and the child. In short, when the
Is attachment style multi-generational? How does one persons childhood
child is uncertain or stressed, the
attachment style translate to the way they interact with their own children?
ability of the caregiver to provide
[Image: Kamau Akabueze]
support to the child is critical for

his or her psychological development. It is assumed that such supportive interactions help
the child learn to regulate his or her emotions, give the child the confidence to explore the
environment, and provide the child with a safe haven during stressful circumstances.
Evidence for the role of sensitive caregiving in shaping attachment patterns comes from
longitudinal and experimental studies. For example, Grossmann, Grossmann, Spangler,
Suess, and Unzner (1985) studied parentchild interactions in the homes of 54 families, up to
three times during the first year of the childs life. At 12 months of age, infants and their
mothers participated in the strange situation. Grossmann and her colleagues found that
children who were classified as secure in the strange situation at 12 months of age were more
273
likely than children classified as insecure to have mothers who provided responsive care to
their children in the home environment.
Van den Boom (1994) developed an intervention that was designed to enhance maternal
sensitive responsiveness. When the infants were 9 months of age, the mothers in the
intervention group were rated as more responsive and attentive in their interaction with their
infants compared to mothers in the control group. In addition, their infants were rated as
more sociable, self-soothing, and more likely to explore the environment. At 12 months of
age, children in the intervention group were more likely to be classified as secure than insecure
in the strange situation.
Attachment Patterns and Child Outcomes

Attachment researchers have studied the association between childrens attachment patterns
and their adaptation over time. Researchers have learned, for example, that children who are
classified as secure in the strange situation are more likely to have high functioning
relationships with peers, to be evaluated favorably by teachers, and to persist with more
diligence in challenging tasks. In contrast, insecure-avoidant children are more likely to be
construed as bullies or to have a difficult time building and maintaining friendships
(Weinfield, Sroufe, Egeland, & Carlson, 2008).
Attachment in Adulthood
Although Bowlby was primarily focused on understanding the nature of the infantcaregiver
relationship, he believed that attachment characterized human experience across the life
course. It was not until the mid-1980s, however, that researchers began to take seriously the
possibility that attachment processes may be relevant to adulthood. Hazan and Shaver (1987)
were two of the first researchers to explore Bowlbys ideas in the context of romantic
relationships. According to Hazan and Shaver, the emotional bond that develops between
adult romantic partners is partly a function of the same motivational systemthe attachment
behavioral systemthat gives rise to the emotional bond between infants and their
caregivers. Hazan and Shaver noted that in both kinds of relationship, people (a) feel safe and
secure when the other person is present; (b) turn to the other person during times of sickness,
distress, or fear; (c) use the other person as a secure base from which to explore the world;
and (d) speak to one another in a unique language, often called motherese or baby talk.
(See Box 2)
On the basis of these parallels, Hazan and Shaver (1987) argued that adult romantic
274
relationships, such as infantcaregiver relationships, are attachments. According to Hazan

and Shaver, individuals gradually transfer attachment-related functions from parents to peers
as they develop. Thus, although young children tend to use their parents as their primary
attachment figures, as they reach adolescence and young adulthood, they come to rely more
upon close friends and/or romantic partners for basic attachment-related functions. Thus,
although a young child may turn to his or her mother for comfort, support, and guidance
when distressed, scared, or ill, young adults may be more likely to turn to their romantic
partners for these purposes under similar situations.
Hazan and Shaver (1987) asked a diverse sample of adults to read the three paragraphs below
and indicate which paragraph best characterized the way they think, feel, and behave in close
relationships:
1. I am somewhat uncomfortable being close to others; I find it difficult to trust them
completely, difficult to allow myself to depend on them. I am nervous when anyone gets
too close, and often, others want me to be more intimate than I feel comfortable being.
275
2. I find it relatively easy to get close to others and am comfortable depending on them and
having them depend on me. I dont worry about being abandoned or about someone
getting too close to me.
3. I find that others are reluctant to get as close as I would like. I often worry that my partner
doesnt really love me or wont want to stay with me. I want to get very close to my partner,
and this sometimes scares people away.
Conceptually, these descriptions were designed to represent what Hazan and Shaver
considered to be adult analogues of the kinds of attachment patterns Ainsworth described
in the strange situation (avoidant, secure, and anxious, respectively). Hazan and Shaver (1987)
found that the distribution of the three patterns was similar to that observed in infancy. In
other words, about 60% of adults classified themselves as secure (paragraph B), about 20%
described themselves as avoidant (paragraph A), and about 20% described themselves as
anxious-resistant (paragraph C). Moreover, they found that people who described themselves
as secure, for example, were more likely to report having had warm and trusting relationships
with their parents when they were growing up. In addition, they were more likely to have
positive views of romantic relationships. Based on these findings, Hazan and Shaver (1987)
concluded that the same kinds of individual differences that exist in infant attachment also
exist in adulthood.
Research on Attachment in Adulthood

Attachment theory has inspired a large amount of literature in social, personality, and clinical
psychology. In the sections below, I provide a brief overview of some of the major research
questions and what researchers have learned about attachment in adulthood.
Who Ends Up with Whom?

When people are asked what kinds of psychological or behavioral qualities they are seeking
in a romantic partner, a large majority of people indicate that they are seeking someone who
is kind, caring, trustworthy, and understandingthe kinds of attributes that characterize a
secure caregiver (Chappell & Davis, 1998). But we know that people do not always end up
with others who meet their ideals. Are secure people more likely to end up with secure partners
and, vice versa, are insecure people more likely to end up with insecure partners? The
majority of the research that has been conducted to date suggests that the answer is yes.
Frazier, Byer, Fischer, Wright, and DeBord (1996), for example, studied the attachment
patterns of more than 83 heterosexual couples and found that, if the man was relatively
276
secure, the woman was also likely to be secure.

One important question is whether these findings
exist because (a) secure people are more likely to
be attracted to other secure people, (b) secure
people are likely to create security in their partners
over time, or (c) some combination of these
possibilities. Existing empirical research strongly
supports the first alternative. For example, when
people have the opportunity to interact with
individuals who vary in security in a speed-dating
context, they express a greater interest in those
who are higher in security than those who are
more insecure (McClure, Lydon, Baccus, & Baldwin,
2010). However, there is also some evidence that
peoples attachment styles mutually shape one
another in close relationships. For example, in a
longitudinal study, Hudson, Fraley, Vicary, and
People who had relatively secure attachments as
Brumbaugh (2012) found that, if one person in a
children go on to have more secure romantic
relationship experienced a change in security, his
attachments. [Image: Nicolas Fuentes]
or her partner was likely to experience a change in

the same direction.
Relationship Functioning
Research has consistently demonstrated that individuals who are relatively secure are more
likely than insecure individuals to have high functioning relationshipsrelationships that are
more satisfying, more enduring, and less characterized by conflict. For example, Feeney and
Noller (1992) found that insecure individuals were more likely than secure individuals to
experience a breakup of their relationship. In addition, secure individuals are more likely to
report satisfying relationships (e.g., Collins & Read, 1990) and are more likely to provide
support to their partners when their partners were feeling distressed (Simpson, Rholes, &
Nelligan, 1992).
Do Early Experiences Shape Adult Attachment?

The majority of research on this issue is retrospectivethat is, it relies on adults reports of
what they recall about their childhood experiences. This kind of work suggests that secure
277
adults are more likely to

describe their early childhood
experiences
with
their
parents as being supportive,

loving, and kind (Hazan &
Shaver, 1987). A number
of longitudinal studies are
emerging that demonstrate
prospective associations
between early attachment
experiences
and
adult
attachment styles and/or

Sharing food, celebrations and traditions are some of the ways we establish secure
interpersonal functioning
attachments with our loved ones from an early age. [Image: skeeze]
in adulthood. For example,

Fraley, Roisman, Booth-
LaForce, Owen, and Holland (2013) found in a sample of more than 700 individuals studied
from infancy to adulthood that maternal sensitivity across development prospectively
predicted security at age 18. Simpson, Collins, Tran, and Haydon (2007) found that attachment
security, assessed in infancy in the strange situation, predicted peer competence in grades 1
to 3, which, in turn, predicted the quality of friendship relationships at age 16, which, in turn,
predicted the expression of positive and negative emotions in their adult romantic
relationships at ages 20 to 23.
It is easy to come away from such findings with the mistaken assumption that early experiences
determine later outcomes. To be clear: Attachment theorists assume that the relationship
between early experiences and subsequent outcomes is probabilistic, not deterministic.
Having supportive and responsive experiences with caregivers early in life is assumed to set
the stage for positive social development. But that does not mean that attachment patterns
are set in stone. In short, even if an individual has far from optimal experiences in early life,
attachment theory suggests that it is possible for that individual to develop well-functioning
adult relationships through a number of corrective experiencesincluding relationships with
siblings, other family members, teachers, and close friends. Security is best viewed as a
culmination of a persons attachment history rather than a reflection of his or her early
experiences alone. Those early experiences are considered important not because they
determine a persons fate, but because they provide the foundation for subsequent
experiences.
278
Outside Resources
Hazan, C., & Shaver, P. (1987). Romantic love conceptualized as an attachment process.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 511-524. Retrieved from:
http://www2.psych.ubc.ca/~schaller/Psyc591Readings/HazanShaver1987.pdf
Hofer, M. A. (2006). Psychobiological roots of early attachment. Current Directions in
Psychological Science, 15, 84-88. doi:10.1111/j.0963-7214.2006.00412.x
http://cdp.sagepub.com/content/15/2/84.short
Strange Situation Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTsewNrHUHU
Survey: Learn more about your attachment patterns via this online survey
http://www.yourpersonality.net/relstructures/
Video on Harry Harlows Research with Rhesus Monkeys
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrNBEhzjg8I
1. What kind of relationship did you have with your parents or primary caregivers when you
were young? Do you think that had any bearing on the way you related to others (e.g.,
friends, relationship partners) as you grew older?
2. There is variation across cultures in the extent to which people value independence. Do
you think this might have implications for the development of attachment patterns?
3. As parents age, it is not uncommon for them to have to depend on their adult children.
Do you think that peoples history of experiences in their relationships with their parents
might shape peoples willingness to provide care for their aging parents? In other words,
are secure adults more likely to provide responsive care to their aging parents?
4. Some people, despite reporting insecure relationships with their parents, report secure,
well-functioning relationships with their spouses. What kinds of experiences do you think
might enable someone to develop a secure relationship with their partners despite having
an insecure relationship with other central figures in their lives?
5. Most attachment research on adults focuses on attachment to peers (e.g., romantic
279
partners). What other kinds of things may serve as attachment figures? Do you think
siblings, pets, or gods can serve as attachment figures?
280
Vocabulary
Attachment behavioral system
A motivational system selected over the course of evolution to maintain proximity between
a young child and his or her primary attachment figure.
Attachment behaviors
Behaviors and signals that attract the attention of a primary attachment figure and function
to prevent separation from that individual or to reestablish proximity to that individual (e.g.,
crying, clinging).
Attachment figure
Someone who functions as the primary safe haven and secure base for an individual. In
childhood, an individuals attachment figure is often a parent. In adulthood, an individuals
attachment figure is often a romantic partner.
Attachment patterns
(also called attachment styles or attachment orientations) Individual differences in how
securely (vs. insecurely) people think, feel, and behave in attachment relationships.
Strange situation
A laboratory task that involves briefly separating and reuniting infants and their primary
caregivers as a way of studying individual differences in attachment behavior.
281
References
Ainsworth, M. D. S., Blehar, M. C., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of attachment. Hillsdale,
NJ: Erlbaum.
Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss: Vol. 1. Attachment. New York, NY: Basic Books
Chappell, K. D., & Davis, K. E. (1998). Attachment, partner choice, and perception of romantic
partners: An experimental test of the attachment-security hypothesis. Personal
Relationships, 5, 327342.
Collins, N., & Read, S. (1990). Adult attachment, working models and relationship quality in
dating couples. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 644-663.
Feeney, J. A., & Noller, P. (1992). Attachment style and romantic love: Relationship dissolution.
Australian Journal of Psychology, 44, 6974.
Fraley, R. C., Roisman, G. I., Booth-LaForce, C., Owen, M. T., & Holland, A. S. (2013). Interpersonal
and genetic origins of adult attachment styles: A longitudinal study from infancy to early
adulthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 104, 8817-838.
Frazier, P. A, Byer, A. L., Fischer, A. R., Wright, D. M., & DeBord, K. A. (1996). Adult attachment
style and partner choice: Correlational and experimental findings. Personal Relationships,
3, 117136.
Grossmann, K., Grossmann, K. E., Spangler, G., Suess, G., & Unzner, L. (1985). Maternal
sensitivity and newborns orientation responses as related to quality of attachment in
northern Germany. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 50(1-2),
233256.
Hazan, C., & Shaver, P. R. (1987). Romantic love conceptualized as an attachment process.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 511-524.
Hudson, N. W., Fraley, R. C., Vicary, A. M., & Brumbaugh, C. C. (2012). Attachment coregulation:
A longitudinal investigation of the coordination in romantic partners attachment styles.
Manuscript under review.
McClure, M. J., Lydon., J. E., Baccus, J., & Baldwin, M. W. (2010). A signal detection analysis of
the anxiously attached at speed-dating: Being unpopular is only the first part of the
problem. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36, 10241036.
Simpson, J. A., Collins, W. A., Tran, S., & Haydon, K. C. (2007). Attachment and the experience
and expression of emotions in adult romantic relationships: A developmental perspective.
Simpson, J. A., Rholes, W. S., & Nelligan, J. S. (1992). Support seeking and support giving within
282
couples in an anxiety-provoking situation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62,

434446.
Weinfield, N. S., Sroufe, L. A., Egeland, B., Carlson, E. A. (2008). Individual differences in infantcaregiver attachment: Conceptual and empirical aspects of security. In J. Cassidy & P. R.
Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (2nd ed.,
pp. 78101). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
van den Boom, D. C. (1994). The influence of temperament and mothering on attachment and
exploration: An experimental manipulation of sensitive responsiveness among lower-class
mothers with irritable infants. Child Development, 65, 14571477.
Learning (10/27)
19
Conditioning and Learning
Mark E. Bouton
Basic principles of learning are always operating and always influencing human behavior. This
module discusses the two most fundamental forms of learningclassical (Pavlovian) and
instrumental (operant) conditioning. Through them, we respectively learn to associate 1)
stimuli in the environment, or 2) our own behaviors, with significant events, such as rewards
and punishments. The two types of learning have been intensively studied because they have
powerful effects on behavior, and because they provide methods that allow scientists to
analyze learning processes rigorously. This module describes some of the most important
things you need to know about classical and instrumental conditioning, and it illustrates some
of the many ways they help us understand normal and disordered behavior in humans. The
module concludes by introducing the concept of observational learning, which is a form of
learning that is largely distinct from classical and operant conditioning.
Learning Objectives
Distinguish between classical (Pavlovian) conditioning and instrumental (operant)

conditioning.
Understand some important facts about each that tell us how they work.
Understand how they work separately and together to influence human behavior in the
world outside the laboratory.
Students will be able to list the four aspects of observational learning according to Social
Learning Theory.
285
Two Types of Conditioning

Although Ivan Pavlov won a Nobel Prize for studying digestion, he is much more famous for
something else: working with a dog, a bell, and a bowl of saliva. Many people are familiar with
the classic study of Pavlovs dog, but rarely do they understand the significance of its
discovery. In fact, Pavlovs work helps explain why some people get anxious just looking at a
crowded bus, why the sound of a morning alarm is so hated, and even why we swear off
certain foods weve only tried once. Classical (or Pavlovian) conditioning is one of the
fundamental ways we learn about the world around us. But it is far more than just a theory
of learning; it is also arguably a theory of identity. For, once you understand classical
conditioning, youll recognize that your favorite music, clothes, even political candidate, might
all be a result of the same process that makes a dog drool at the sound of bell.
Around the turn of the 20th century,
scientists
who
were
interested
in
understanding the behavior of animals

and humans began to appreciate the
importance of two very basic forms of
learning. One, which was first studied by
the Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov, is
known
as
classical,
or
Pavlovian
conditioning. In his famous experiment,

Pavlov rang a bell and then gave a dog
some food. After repeating this pairing
multiple times, the dog eventually treated
the bell as a signal for food, and began
salivating in anticipation of the treat. This
kind of result has been reproduced in the
lab using a wide range of signals (e.g.,
tones, light, tastes, settings) paired with
many different events besides food (e.g.,
drugs, shocks, illness; see below).
The Pavlov in All of Us: Does your dog learn to beg for food because
We now believe that this same learning
you reinforce her by feeding her from the table? [Photo: dbmease]
process is engaged, for example, when

humans associate a drug theyve taken
with the environment in which theyve taken it; when they associate a stimulus (e.g., a symbol
for vacation, like a big beach towel) with an emotional event (like a burst of happiness); and
286
when they associate the flavor of a food with getting food poisoning. Although classical
conditioning may seem old or too simple a theory, it is still widely studied today for at least
two reasons: First, it is a straightforward test of associative learning that can be used to study
other, more complex behaviors. Second, because classical conditioning is always occurring
in our lives, its effects on behavior have important implications for understanding normal
and disordered behavior in humans.
In a general way, classical conditioning occurs whenever neutral stimuli are associated with
psychologically significant events. With food poisoning, for example, although having fish for
dinner may not normally be something to be concerned about (i.e., a neutral stimuli), if it
causes you to get sick, you will now likely associate that neutral stimuli (the fish) with the
psychologically significant event of getting sick. These paired events are often described using
terms that can be applied to any situation.
The dog food in Pavlovs experiment is called the unconditioned stimulus (US) because it
elicits an unconditioned response (UR). That is, without any kind of training or teaching,
the stimulus produces a natural or instinctual reaction. In Pavlovs case, the food (US)
automatically makes the dog drool (UR). Other examples of unconditioned stimuli include
loud noises (US) that startle us (UR), or a hot shower (US) that produces pleasure (UR).
On the other hand, a conditioned stimulus produces a conditioned response. A conditioned
stimulus (CS) is a signal that has no importance to the organism until it is paired with something
that does have importance. For example, in Pavlovs experiment, the bell is the conditioned
stimulus. Before the dog has learned to associate the bell (CS) with the presence of food (US),
hearing the bell means nothing to the dog. However, after multiple pairings of the bell with
the presentation of food, the dog starts to drool at the sound of the bell. This drooling in
response to the bell is the conditioned response (CR). Although it can be confusing, the
conditioned response is almost always the same as the unconditioned response. However, it
is called the conditioned response because it is conditional on (or, depends on) being paired
with the conditioned stimulus (e.g., the bell). To help make this clearer, consider becoming
really hungry when you see the logo for a fast food restaurant. Theres a good chance youll
start salivating. Although it is the actual eating of the food (US) that normally produces the
salivation (UR), simply seeing the restaurants logo (CS) can trigger the same reaction (CR).
Another example you are probably very familiar with involves your alarm clock. If youre like
most people, waking up early usually makes you unhappy. In this case, waking up early (US)
produces a natural sensation of grumpiness (UR). Rather than waking up early on your own,
though, you likely have an alarm clock that plays a tone to wake you. Before setting your alarm
to that particular tone, lets imagine you had neutral feelings about it (i.e., the tone had no
287
prior meaning for you). However, now that you use it to wake up every morning, you
psychologically pair that tone (CS) with your feelings of grumpiness in the morning (UR).
After enough pairings, this tone (CS) will automatically produce your natural response of
grumpiness (CR). Thus, this linkage between the unconditioned stimulus (US; waking up early)
and the conditioned stimulus (CS; the tone) is so strong that the unconditioned response (UR;
being grumpy) will become a conditioned response (CR; e.g., hearing the tone at any point in
the daywhether waking up or walking down the streetwill make you grumpy). Modern
studies of classical conditioning use a very wide range of CSs and USs and measure a wide
range of conditioned responses.
Although classical conditioning is a
powerful explanation for how we learn
many different things, there is a second
form of conditioning that also helps
explain how we learn. First studied by
Edward Thorndike, and later extended
by B. F. Skinner, this second type of
conditioning is known as instrumental
or
operant
conditioning.
Operant
conditioning occurs when a behavior (as

opposed to a stimulus) is associated
with the occurrence of a significant
event. In the best-known example, a rat
in a laboratory learns to press a lever in
a cage (called a Skinner box) to receive
food. Because the rat has no natural
association between pressing a lever
Receiving a reward can condition you toward certain behaviors. For
and getting food, the rat has to learn this
example, when you were a child, your mother may have offered you
connection. At first, the rat may simply
this deal: "Don't make a fuss when we're in the supermarket and
explore its cage, climbing on top of
you'll get a treat on the way out." [Photo: dalioPhoto]
things, burrowing under things, in

search of food. Eventually while poking around its cage, the rat accidentally presses the lever,
and a food pellet drops in. This voluntary behavior is called an operant behavior, because it
operates on the environment (i.e., it is an action that the animal itself makes).
Now, once the rat recognizes that it receives a piece of food every time it presses the lever,
the behavior of lever-pressing becomes reinforced. That is, the food pellets serve as
reinforcers because they strengthen the rats desire to engage with the environment in this
particular manner. In a parallel example, imagine that youre playing a street-racing video
288
game. As you drive through one city course multiple times, you try a number of different
streets to get to the finish line. On one of these trials, you discover a shortcut that dramatically
improves your overall time. You have learned this new path through operant conditioning.
That is, by engaging with your environment (operant responses), you performed a sequence
of behaviors that that was positively reinforced (i.e., you found the shortest distance to the
finish line). And now that youve learned how to drive this course, you will perform that same
sequence of driving behaviors (just as the rat presses on the lever) to receive your reward of
a faster finish.
Operant conditioning research studies how the effects of a behavior influence the probability
that it will occur again. For example, the effects of the rats lever-pressing behavior (i.e.,
receiving a food pellet) influences the probability that it will keep pressing the lever. For,
according to Thorndikes law of effect, when a behavior has a positive (satisfying) effect or
consequence, it is likely to be repeated in the future. However, when a behavior has a negative
(painful/annoying) consequence, it is less likely to be repeated in the future. Effects that
increase behaviors are referred to as reinforcers, and effects that decrease them are referred
to as punishers.
An everyday example that helps to illustrate operant conditioning is striving for a good grade
in classwhich could be considered a reward for students (i.e., it produces a positive emotional
response). In order to get that reward (similar to the rat learning to press the lever), the student
needs to modify his/her behavior. For example, the student may learn that speaking up in
class gets him/her participation points (a reinforcer), so the student speaks up repeatedly.
However, the student also learns that s/he shouldnt speak up about just anything; talking
about topics unrelated to school actually costs points. Therefore, through the students freely
chosen behaviors, s/he learns which behaviors are reinforced and which are punished.
An important distinction of operant conditioning is that it provides a method for studying how
consequences influence voluntary behavior. The rats decision to press the lever is voluntary,
in the sense that the rat is free
to
make
and
repeat
that
response whenever it wants.

Classical conditioning, on the
other hand, is just the opposite
depending instead on invol
untary behavior (e.g., the dog
doesnt choose to drool; it just
does). So, whereas the rat must
[Image: Bernard W. Balleine]
actively participate and perform
289
some kind of behavior to attain its reward, the dog in Pavlovs experiment is a passive
participant. One of the lessons of operant conditioning research, then, is that voluntary
behavior is strongly influenced by its consequences.
The illustration on the left summarizes the basic elements of classical and instrumental
conditioning. The two types of learning differ in many ways. However, modern thinkers often
emphasize the fact that they differas illustrated herein what is learned. In classical
conditioning, the animal behaves as if it has learned to associate a stimulus with a significant
event. In operant conditioning, the animal behaves as if it has learned to associate a behavior
with a significant event. Another difference is that the response in the classical situation (e.
g., salivation) is elicited by a stimulus that comes before it, whereas the response in the operant
case is not elicited by any particular stimulus. Instead, operant responses are said to be emitted.
The word emitted further conveys the idea that operant behaviors are essentially voluntary
in nature.
Understanding classical and operant conditioning provides psychologists with many tools for
understanding learning and behavior in the world outside the lab. This is in part because the
two types of learning occur continuously throughout our lives. It has been said that much
like the laws of gravity, the laws of learning are always in effect (Spreat & Spreat, 1982).
Useful Things to Know about Classical Conditioning

Classical Conditioning Has Many Effects on Behavior
A classical CS (e.g., the bell) does not merely elicit a simple, unitary reflex. Pavlov emphasized
salivation because that was the only response he measured. But his bell almost certainly
elicited a whole system of responses that functioned to get the organism ready for the
upcoming US (food) (see Timberlake, 2001). For example, in addition to salivation, CSs (such
as the bell) that signal that food is near also elicit the secretion of gastric acid, pancreatic
enzymes, and insulin (which gets blood glucose into cells). All of these responses prepare the
body for digestion. Additionally, the CS elicits approach behavior and a state of excitement.
And presenting a CS for food can also cause animals whose stomachs are full to eat more
food if it is available. In fact, food CSs are so prevalent in modern society, humans are likewise
inclined to eat or feel hungry in response to cues associated with food, such as the sound of
a bag of potato chips opening, the sight of a well-known logo (e.g., Coca-Cola), or the feel of
the couch in front of the television.
Classical conditioning is also involved in other aspects of eating. Flavors associated with certain
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nutrients (such as sugar or fat) can become preferred without arousing any awareness of the
pairing. For example, protein is a US that your body automatically craves more of once you
start to consume it (UR): since proteins are highly concentrated in meat, the flavor of meat
becomes a CS (or cue, that proteins are on the way), which perpetuates the cycle of craving
for yet more meat (this automatic bodily reaction now a CR).
In a similar way, flavors associated with stomach pain or illness become avoided and disliked.
For example, a person who gets sick after drinking too much tequila may acquire a profound
dislike of the taste and odor of tequilaa phenomenon called taste aversion conditioning.
The fact that flavors are often associated with so many consequences of eating is important
for animals (including rats and humans) that are frequently exposed to new foods. And it is
clinically relevant. For example, drugs used in chemotherapy often make cancer patients sick.
As a consequence, patients often acquire aversions to foods eaten just before treatment, or
even aversions to such things as the waiting room of the chemotherapy clinic itself (see
Bernstein, 1991; Scalera & Bavieri, 2009).
Classical conditioning occurs with a variety of significant events. If an experimenter sounds a
tone just before applying a mild shock to a rats feet, the tone will elicit fear or anxiety after
one or two pairings. Similar fear conditioning plays a role in creating many anxiety disorders
in humans, such as phobias and panic disorders, where people associate cues (such as closed
spaces, or a shopping mall) with panic or other emotional trauma (see Mineka & Zinbarg,
2006). Here, rather than a physical response (like drooling), the CS triggers an emotion.
Another interesting effect of classical conditioning can occur when we ingest drugs. That is,
when a drug is taken, it can be associated with the cues that are present at the same time (e.
g., rooms, odors, drug paraphernalia). In this regard, if someone associates a particular smell
with the sensation induced by the drug, whenever that person smells the same odor afterward,
it may cue responses (physical and/or emotional) related to taking the drug itself. But drug
cues have an even more interesting property: They elicit responses that often compensate
for the upcoming effect of the drug (see Siegel, 1989). For example, morphine itself suppresses
pain; however, if someone is used to taking morphine, a cue that signals the drug is coming
soon can actually make the person more sensitive to pain. Because the person knows a pain
suppressant will soon be administered, the body becomes more sensitive, anticipating that
the drug will soon take care of it. Remarkably, such conditioned compensatory responses
in turn decrease the impact of the drug on the bodybecause the body has become more
sensitive to pain.
This conditioned compensatory response has many implications. For instance, a drug user
will be most tolerant to the drug in the presence of cues that have been associated with it
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(because such cues elicit compensatory responses). As a result, overdose is usually not due
to an increase in dosage, but to taking the drug in a new place without the familiar cues
which would have otherwise allowed the user to tolerate the drug (see Siegel, Hinson, Krank,
& McCully, 1982). Conditioned compensatory responses (which include heightened pain
sensitivity and decreased body temperature, among others) might also cause discomfort, thus
motivating the drug user to continue usage of the drug to reduce them. This is one of several
ways classical conditioning might be a factor in drug addiction and dependence.
A final effect of classical cues is that they motivate ongoing operant behavior (see Balleine,
2005). For example, if a rat has learned via operant conditioning that pressing a lever will give
it a drug, in the presence of cues that signal the drug is coming soon (like the sound of the
lever squeaking), the rat will work harder to press the lever than if those cues werent present
(i.e., there is no squeaking lever sound). Similarly, in the presence of food-associated cues (e.
g., smells), a rat (or an overeater) will work harder for food. And finally, even in the presence
of negative cues (like something that signals fear), a rat, a human, or any other organism will
work harder to avoid those situations that might lead to trauma. Classical CSs thus have many
effects that can contribute to significant behavioral phenomena.
[Image: Bernard W. Balleine]
The Learning Process

As mentioned earlier, classical conditioning provides a method for studying basic learning
processes. Somewhat counterintuitively, though, studies show that pairing a CS and a US
together is not sufficient for an association to be learned between them. Consider an effect
called blocking (see Kamin, 1969). In this effect, an animal first learns to associate one CS
call it stimulus Awith a US. In the illustration above, the sound of a bell (stimulus A) is paired
with the presentation of food. Once this association is learned, in a second phase, a second
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stimulusstimulus Bis presented alongside stimulus A, such that the two stimuli are paired
with the US together. In the illustration, a light is added and turned on at the same time the
bell is rung. However, because the animal has already learned the association between
stimulus A (the bell) and the food, the animal doesnt learn an association between stimulus
B (the light) and the food. That is, the conditioned response only occurs during the presentation
of stimulus A, because the earlier conditioning of A blocks the conditioning of B when B is
added to A. The reason? Stimulus A already predicts the US, so the US is not surprising when
it occurs with Stimulus B.
Learning depends on such a surprise, or a discrepancy between what occurs on a conditioning
trial and what is already predicted by cues that are present on the trial. To learn something
through classical conditioning, there must first be some prediction error, or the chance that
a conditioned stimulus wont lead to the expected outcome. With the example of the bell and
the light, because the bell always leads to the reward of food, theres no prediction error
that the addition of the light helps to correct. However, if the researcher suddenly requires
that the bell and the light both occur in order to receive the food, the bell alone will produce
a prediction error that the animal has to learn.
Blocking and other related effects indicate that the learning process tends to take in the most
valid predictors of significant events and ignore the less useful ones. This is common in the
real world. For example, imagine that your supermarket puts big star-shaped stickers on
products that are on sale. Quickly, you learn that items with the big star-shaped stickers are
cheaper. However, imagine you go into a similar supermarket that not only uses these stickers,
but also uses bright orange price tags to denote a discount. Because of blocking (i.e., you
already know that the star-shaped stickers indicate a discount), you dont have to learn the
color system, too. The star-shaped stickers tell you everything you need to know (i.e. theres
no prediction error for the discount), and thus the color system is irrelevant.
Classical conditioning is strongest if the CS and US are intense or salient. It is also best if the
CS and US are relatively new and the organism hasnt been frequently exposed to them before.
And it is especially strong if the organisms biology has prepared it to associate a particular
CS and US. For example, rats and humans are naturally inclined to associate an illness with a
flavor, rather than with a light or tone. Because foods are most commonly experienced by
taste, if there is a particular food that makes us ill, associating the flavor (rather than the
appearancewhich may be similar to other foods) with the illness will more greatly ensure
we avoid that food in the future, and thus avoid getting sick. This sorting tendency, which is
set up by evolution, is called preparedness.
There are many factors that affect the strength of classical conditioning, and these have been
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the subject of much research and theory (see Rescorla & Wagner, 1972; Pearce & Bouton,
2001). Behavioral neuroscientists have also used classical conditioning to investigate many
of the basic brain processes that are involved in learning (see Fanselow & Poulos, 2005;
Thompson & Steinmetz, 2009).
Erasing Classical Learning

After conditioning, the response to the CS can be eliminated if the CS is presented repeatedly
without the US. This effect is called extinction, and the response is said to become
extinguished. For example, if Pavlov kept ringing the bell but never gave the dog any food
afterward, eventually the dogs CR (drooling) would no longer happen when it heard the CS
(the bell), because the bell would no longer be a predictor of food. Extinction is important for
many reasons. For one thing, it is the basis for many therapies that clinical psychologists use
to eliminate maladaptive and unwanted behaviors. Take the example of a person who has a
debilitating fear of spiders: one approach might include systematic exposure to spiders.
Whereas, initially the person has a CR (e.g., extreme fear) every time s/he sees the CS (e.g.,
the spider), after repeatedly being shown pictures of spiders in neutral conditions, pretty soon
the CS no longer predicts the CR (i.e., the person doesnt have the fear reaction when seeing
spiders, having learned that spiders no longer serve as a cue for that fear). Here, repeated
exposure to spiders without an aversive consequence causes extinction.
Psychologists must accept one important fact about extinction, however: it does not
necessarily destroy the original learning (see Bouton, 2004). For example, imagine you strongly
associate the smell of chalkboards with the agony of middle school detention. Now imagine
that, after years of encountering chalkboards, the smell of them no longer recalls the agony
of detention (an example of extinction). However, one day, after entering a new building for
the first time, you suddenly catch a whiff of a chalkboard and WHAM!, the agony of detention
returns. This is called spontaneous recovery: following a lapse in exposure to the CS after
extinction has occurred, sometimes re-exposure to the CS (e.g., the smell of chalkboards) can
evoke the CR again (e.g., the agony of detention).
Another related phenomenon is the renewal effect: After extinction, if the CS is tested in a
new context, such as a different room or location, the CR can also return. In the chalkboard
example, the action of entering a new buildingwhere you dont expect to smell chalkboards
suddenly renews the sensations associated with detention. These effects have been
interpreted to suggest that extinction inhibits rather than erases the learned behavior, and
this inhibition is mainly expressed in the context in which it is learned (see context in the
Key Vocabulary section below).
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This does not mean that extinction is a bad treatment for behavior disorders. Instead, clinicians
can increase its effectiveness by using basic research on learning to help defeat these relapse
effects (see Craske et al., 2008). For example, conducting extinction therapies in contexts
where patients might be most vulnerable to relapsing (e.g., at work), might be a good strategy
for enhancing the therapys success.
Useful Things to Know about Instrumental Conditioning

Most of the things that affect the strength of classical conditioning also affect the strength of
instrumental learningwhereby we learn to associate our actions with their outcomes. As
noted earlier, the bigger the reinforcer (or punisher), the stronger the learning. And, if an
instrumental behavior is no longer reinforced, it will also be extinguished. Most of the rules
of associative learning that apply to classical conditioning also apply to instrumental learning,
but other facts about instrumental learning are also worth knowing.
Instrumental Responses Come Under Stimulus Control

As you know, the classic operant response in the laboratory is lever-pressing in rats, reinforced
by food. However, things can be arranged so that lever-pressing only produces pellets when
a particular stimulus is present. For example, lever-pressing can be reinforced only when a
light in the Skinner box is turned on; when the light is off, no food is released from leverpressing. The rat soon learns to discriminate between the light-on and light-off conditions,
and presses the lever only in the presence of the light (responses in light-off are extinguished).
In everyday life, think about waiting in the turn lane at a traffic light. Although you know that
green means go, only when you have the green arrow do you turn. In this regard, the operant
behavior is now said to be under stimulus control. And, as is the case with the traffic light, in
the real world, stimulus control is probably the rule.
The stimulus controlling the operant response is called a discriminative stimulus. It can be
associated directly with the response, or the reinforcer (see below). However, it usually does
not elicit the response the way a classical CS does. Instead, it is said to set the occasion for
the operant response. For example, a canvas put in front of an artist does not elicit painting
behavior or compel her to paint. It allows, or sets the occasion for, painting to occur.
Stimulus-control techniques are widely used in the laboratory to study perception and other
psychological processes in animals. For example, the rat would not be able to respond
appropriately to light-on and light-off conditions if it could not see the light. Following this
logic, experiments using stimulus-control methods have tested how well animals see colors,
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hear ultrasounds, and detect magnetic fields. That is, researchers pair these discriminative
stimuli with those they know the animals already understand (such as pressing the lever). In
this way, the researchers can test if the animals can learn to press the lever only when an
ultrasound is played, for example.
These methods can also be used to study higher cognitive processes. For example, pigeons
can learn to peck at different buttons in a Skinner box when pictures of flowers, cars, chairs,
or people are shown on a miniature TV screen (see Wasserman, 1995). Pecking button 1 (and
no other) is reinforced in the presence of a flower image, button 2 in the presence of a chair
image, and so on. Pigeons can learn the discrimination readily, and, under the right conditions,
will even peck the correct buttons associated with pictures of new flowers, cars, chairs, and
people they have never seen before. The birds have learned to categorize the sets of stimuli.
Stimulus-control methods can be used to study how such categorization is learned.
Operant Conditioning Involves Choice

Another thing to know about operant
conditioning is that the response always
requires choosing one behavior over
others. The student who goes to the bar on
Thursday night chooses to drink instead of
staying at home and studying. The rat
chooses to press the lever instead of
sleeping or scratching its ear in the back of
the box. The alternative behaviors are each
associated with their own reinforcers. And
the tendency to perform a particular action
depends on both the reinforcers earned
for it and the reinforcers earned for its
alternatives.
To investigate this idea, choice has been
studied in the Skinner box by making two
levers available for the rat (or two buttons available for the pigeon), each of which has its own
reinforcement or payoff rate. A thorough study of choice in situations like this has led to a
rule called the quantitative law of effect (see Herrnstein, 1970), which can be understood
without going into quantitative detail: The law acknowledges the fact that the effects of
reinforcing one behavior depend crucially on how much reinforcement is earned for the
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behaviors alternatives. For example, if a pigeon learns that pecking one light will reward two
food pellets, whereas the other light only rewards one, the pigeon will only peck the first light.
However, what happens if the first light is more strenuous to reach than the second one? Will
the cost of energy outweigh the bonus of food? Or will the extra food be worth the work? In
general, a given reinforcer will be less reinforcing if there are many alternative reinforcers in
the environment. For this reason, alcohol, sex, or drugs may be less powerful reinforcers if
the persons environment is full of other sources of reinforcement, such as achievement at
work or love from family members.
Cognition in Instrumental Learning

Modern research also indicates that reinforcers do more than merely strengthen or stamp
in the behaviors they are a consequence of, as was Thorndikes original view. Instead, animals
learn about the specific consequences of each behavior, and will perform a behavior
depending on how much they currently wantor valueits consequence.
This idea is best illustrated by a phenomenon called the reinforcer devaluation effect (see
Colwill & Rescorla, 1986). A rat is first trained to perform two instrumental actions (e.g.,
pressing a lever on the left, and on the right), each paired with a different reinforcer (e.g., a
sweet sucrose solution, and a food pellet). At the end of this training, the rat tends to press
both levers, alternating between the sucrose solution and the food pellet. In a second phase,
one of the reinforcers (e.g., the sucrose) is then separately paired with illness. This conditions
a taste aversion to the sucrose. In a final test, the rat is returned to the Skinner box and allowed
to press either lever freely. No reinforcers are presented during this test (i.e., no sucrose or
food comes from pressing the levers), so behavior during testing can only result from the rats
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memory of what it has learned earlier. Importantly here, the rat chooses not to perform the
response that once produced the reinforcer that it now has an aversion to (e.g., it wont press
the sucrose lever). This means that the rat has learned and remembered the reinforcer
associated with each response, and can combine that knowledge with the knowledge that the
reinforcer is now bad. Reinforcers do not merely stamp in responses; the animal learns
much more than that. The behavior is said to be goal-directed (see Dickinson & Balleine,
1994), because it is influenced by the current value of its associated goal (i.e., how much the
rat wants/doesnt want the reinforcer).
Things can get more complicated, however, if the rat performs the instrumental actions
frequently and repeatedly. That is, if the rat has spent many months learning the value of
pressing each of the levers, the act of pressing them becomes automatic and routine. And
here, this once goal-directed action (i.e., the rat pressing the lever for the goal of getting
sucrose/food) can become a habit. Thus, if a rat spends many months performing the leverpressing behavior (turning such behavior into a habit), even when sucrose is again paired with
illness, the rat will continue to press that lever (see Holland, 2004). After all the practice, the
instrumental response (pressing the lever) is no longer sensitive to reinforcer devaluation.
The rat continues to respond automatically, regardless of the fact that the sucrose from this
lever makes it sick.
Habits are very common in human experience, and can be useful. You do not need to relearn
each day how to make your coffee in the morning or how to brush your teeth. Instrumental
behaviors can eventually become habitual, letting us get the job done while being free to think
about other things.
Putting Classical and Instrumental Conditioning Together

Classical and operant conditioning are usually studied separately. But outside of the laboratory
they almost always occur at the same time. For example, a person who is reinforced for
drinking alcohol or eating excessively learns these behaviors in the presence of certain stimuli
a pub, a set of friends, a restaurant, or possibly the couch in front of the TV. These stimuli
are also available for association with the reinforcer. In this way, classical and operant
conditioning are always intertwined.
The figure below summarizes this idea, and helps review what we have discussed in this
module. Generally speaking, any reinforced or punished operant response (R) is paired with
an outcome (O) in the presence of some stimulus or set of stimuli (S).
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The figure illustrates the types of associations that can be learned in this very general scenario.
For one thing, the organism will learn to associate the response and the outcome (R O). This
is instrumental conditioning. The learning process here is probably similar to classical
conditioning, with all its emphasis on surprise and prediction error. And, as we discussed
while considering the reinforcer devaluation effect, once R O is learned, the organism will
be ready to perform the response if the outcome is desired or valued. The value of the
reinforcer can also be influenced by other reinforcers earned for other behaviors in the
situation. These factors are at the heart of instrumental learning.
Second, the organism can also learn to associate the stimulus with the reinforcing outcome
(S O). This is the classical conditioning component, and as we have seen, it can have many
consequences on behavior. For one thing, the stimulus will come to evoke a system of
responses that help the organism prepare for the reinforcer (not shown in the figure): The
drinker may undergo changes in body temperature; the eater may salivate and have an
increase in insulin secretion. In addition, the stimulus will evoke approach (if the outcome is
positive) or retreat (if the outcome is negative). Presenting the stimulus will also prompt the
instrumental response.
The third association in the
diagram is the one between the
stimulus and the response (S R).
As discussed earlier, after a lot of
practice, the stimulus may begin
to elicit the response directly. This
is habit learning, whereby the
response occurs relatively auto
matically, without much mental
processing of the relation between
the action and the outcome and
the outcomes current value.
The final link in the figure is
between the stimulus and the
response-outcome association [S (R O)]. More than just entering into a simple association
with the R or the O, the stimulus can signal that the R O relationship is now in effect. This is
what we mean when we say that the stimulus can set the occasion for the operant response:
It sets the occasion for the response-reinforcer relationship. Through this mechanism, the
painter might begin to paint when given the right tools and the opportunity enabled by the
canvas. The canvas theoretically signals that the behavior of painting will now be reinforced
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by positive consequences.
The figure provides a framework that you can use to understand almost any learned behavior
you observe in yourself, your family, or your friends. If you would like to understand it more
deeply, consider taking a course on learning in the future, which will give you a fuller
appreciation of how classical learning, instrumental learning, habit learning, and occasion
setting actually work and interact.
Observational Learning
Not all forms of learning are accounted for entirely by classical and operant conditioning.
Imagine a child walking up to a group of children playing a game on the playground. The game
looks fun, but it is new and unfamiliar. Rather than joining the game immediately, the child
opts to sit back and watch the other children play a round or two. Observing the others, the
child takes note of the ways in which they behave while playing the game. By watching the
behavior of the other kids, the child can figure out the rules of the game and even some
strategies for doing well at the game. This is called observational learning.
Observational learning is a
component of Albert Banduras
Social Learning Theory (Bandura,
1977), which posits that individuals
can learn novel responses via
observation
of
key
others
behaviors. Observational learning

does not necessarily require
reinforcement,
but
instead
hinges on the presence of

others, referred to as social
models. Social models are
A child observing social models to learn the rules of a game. [Photo: horizontal.
typically of higher status or
integration]
authority compared to the

observer, examples of which
include parents, teachers, and police officers. In the example above, the children who already
know how to play the game could be thought of as being authoritiesand are therefore social
modelseven though they are the same age as the observer. By observing how the social
models behave, an individual is able to learn how to act in a certain situation. Other examples
of observational learning might include a child learning to place her napkin in her lap by
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watching her parents at the dinner table, or a customer learning where to find the ketchup
and mustard after observing other customers at a hot dog stand.
Bandura theorizes that the observational learning process consists of four parts. The first is
attentionas, quite simply, one must pay attention to what s/he is observing in order to learn.
The second part is retention: to learn one must be able to retain the behavior s/he is observing
in memory.The third part of observational learning, initiation, acknowledges that the learner
must be able to execute (or initiate) the learned behavior. Lastly, the observer must possess
the motivation to engage in observational learning. In our vignette, the child must want to
learn how to play the game in order to properly engage in observational learning.
Researchers have conducted countless experiments designed to explore observational
learning, the most famous of which is Albert Banduras Bobo doll experiment.
In this experiment (Bandura, Ross & Ross 1961), Bandura had
children individually observe an adult social model interact with
a clown doll (Bobo). For one group of children, the adult
interacted aggressively with Bobo: punching it, kicking it,
throwing it, and even hitting it in the face with a toy mallet.
Another group of children watched the adult interact with other
toys, displaying no aggression toward Bobo. In both instances
the adult left and the children were allowed to interact with Bobo
on their own. Bandura found that children exposed to the
aggressive social model were significantly more likely to behave
aggressively toward Bobo, hitting and kicking him, compared to
those exposed to the non-aggressive model. The researchers
concluded that the children in the aggressive group used their
observations of the adult social models behavior to determine
that aggressive behavior toward Bobo was acceptable.
Bobo [Image: wikimedia commons]
While reinforcement was not required to elicit the childrens behavior in Banduras first
experiment, it is important to acknowledge that consequences do play a role within
observational learning. A future adaptation of this study (Bandura, Ross, & Ross, 1963)
demonstrated that children in the aggression group showed less aggressive behavior if they
witnessed the adult model receive punishment for aggressing against Bobo. Bandura referred
to this process as vicarious reinforcement, as the children did not experience the
reinforcement or punishment directly, yet were still influenced by observing it.
Conclusion
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We have covered three primary explanations for how we learn to behave and interact with
the world around us. Considering your own experiences, how well do these theories apply to
you? Maybe when reflecting on your personal sense of fashion, you realize that you tend to
select clothes others have complimented you on (operant conditioning). Or maybe, thinking
back on a new restaurant you tried recently, you realize you chose it because its commercials
play happy music (classical conditioning). Or maybe you are now always on time with your
assignments, because you saw how others were punished when they were late (observational
learning). Regardless of the activity, behavior, or response, theres a good chance your
decision to do it can be explained based on one of the theories presented in this module.
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Outside Resources
Article: Rescorla, R. A. (1988). Pavlovian conditioning: Its not what you think it is. American
Psychologist, 43, 151160.
Book: Bouton, M. E. (2007). Learning and behavior: A contemporary synthesis. Sunderland,
MA: Sinauer Associates.
Book: Bouton, M. E. (2009). Learning theory. In B. J. Sadock, V. A. Sadock, & P. Ruiz (Eds.), Kaplan
& Sadocks comprehensive textbook of psychiatry (9th ed., Vol. 1, pp. 647658). New York, NY:
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Book: Domjan, M. (2010). The principles of learning and behavior (6th ed.). Belmont, CA:
Wadsworth.
Video: Albert Bandura discusses the Bobo Doll Experiment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqNaLerMNOE
1. Describe three examples of Pavlovian (classical) conditioning that you have seen in your
own behavior, or that of your friends or family, in the past few days.
2. Describe three examples of instrumental (operant) conditioning that you have seen in your
own behavior, or that of your friends or family, in the past few days.
3. Drugs can be potent reinforcers. Discuss how Pavlovian conditioning and instrumental
conditioning can work together to influence drug taking.
4. In the modern world, processed foods are highly available and have been engineered to
be highly palatable and reinforcing. Discuss how Pavlovian and instrumental conditioning
can work together to explain why people often eat too much.
5. How does blocking challenge the idea that pairings of a CS and US are sufficient to cause
Pavlovian conditioning? What is important in creating Pavlovian learning?
6. How does the reinforcer devaluation effect challenge the idea that reinforcers merely
stamp in the operant response? What does the effect tell us that animals actually learn
in operant conditioning?
7. With regards to social learning do you think people learn violence from observing violence
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in movies? Why or why not?

8. What do you think you have learned through social learning? Who are your social models?
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Vocabulary
Blocking
In classical conditioning, the finding that no conditioning occurs to a stimulus if it is combined
with a previously conditioned stimulus during conditioning trials. Suggests that information,
surprise value, or prediction error is important in conditioning.
Categorize
To sort or arrange different items into classes or categories.
Classical conditioning
The procedure in which an initially neutral stimulus (the conditioned stimulus, or CS) is paired
with an unconditioned stimulus (or US). The result is that the conditioned stimulus begins to
elicit a conditioned response (CR). Classical conditioning is nowadays considered important
as both a behavioral phenomenon and as a method to study simple associative learning.
Same as Pavlovian conditioning.
Conditioned compensatory response
In classical conditioning, a conditioned response that opposes, rather than is the same as, the
unconditioned response. It functions to reduce the strength of the unconditioned response.
Often seen in conditioning when drugs are used as unconditioned stimuli.
Conditioned response (CR)
The response that is elicited by the conditioned stimulus after classical conditioning has taken
place.
Conditioned stimulus (CS)
An initially neutral stimulus (like a bell, light, or tone) that elicits a conditioned response after
it has been associated with an unconditioned stimulus.
Context
Stimuli that are in the background whenever learning occurs. For instance, the Skinner box
or room in which learning takes place is the classic example of a context. However, context
can also be provided by internal stimuli, such as the sensory effects of drugs (e.g., being under
the influence of alcohol has stimulus properties that provide a context) and mood states (e.
g., being happy or sad). It can also be provided by a specific period in timethe passage of
time is sometimes said to change the temporal context.
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Discriminative stimulus
In operant conditioning, a stimulus that signals whether the response will be reinforced. It is
said to set the occasion for the operant response.
Extinction
Decrease in the strength of a learned behavior that occurs when the conditioned stimulus is
presented without the unconditioned stimulus (in classical conditioning) or when the behavior
is no longer reinforced (in instrumental conditioning). The term describes both the procedure
(the US or reinforcer is no longer presented) as well as the result of the procedure (the learned
response declines). Behaviors that have been reduced in strength through extinction are said
to be extinguished.
Fear conditioning
A type of classical or Pavlovian conditioning in which the conditioned stimulus (CS) is associated
with an aversive unconditioned stimulus (US), such as a foot shock. As a consequence of
learning, the CS comes to evoke fear. The phenomenon is thought to be involved in the
development of anxiety disorders in humans.
Goal-directed behavior
Instrumental behavior that is influenced by the animals knowledge of the association between
the behavior and its consequence and the current value of the consequence. Sensitive to the
reinforcer devaluation effect.
Habit
Instrumental behavior that occurs automatically in the presence of a stimulus and is no longer
influenced by the animals knowledge of the value of the reinforcer. Insensitive to the reinforcer
devaluation effect.
Instrumental conditioning
Process in which animals learn about the relationship between their behaviors and their
consequences. Also known as operant conditioning.
Law of effect
The idea that instrumental or operant responses are influenced by their effects. Responses
that are followed by a pleasant state of affairs will be strengthened and those that are followed
by discomfort will be weakened. Nowadays, the term refers to the idea that operant or
instrumental behaviors are lawfully controlled by their consequences.
Observational learning
306
Learning by observing the behavior of others.

Operant
A behavior that is controlled by its consequences. The simplest example is the rats leverpressing, which is controlled by the presentation of the reinforcer.
Operant conditioning
See instrumental conditioning.
Pavlovian conditioning
See classical conditioning.
Prediction error
When the outcome of a conditioning trial is different from that which is predicted by the
conditioned stimuli that are present on the trial (i.e., when the US is surprising). Prediction
error is necessary to create Pavlovian conditioning (and associative learning generally). As
learning occurs over repeated conditioning trials, the conditioned stimulus increasingly
predicts the unconditioned stimulus, and prediction error declines. Conditioning works to
correct or reduce prediction error.
Preparedness
The idea that an organisms evolutionary history can make it easy to learn a particular
association. Because of preparedness, you are more likely to associate the taste of tequila,
and not the circumstances surrounding drinking it, with getting sick. Similarly, humans are
more likely to associate images of spiders and snakes than flowers and mushrooms with
aversive outcomes like shocks.
Punisher
A stimulus that decreases the strength of an operant behavior when it is made a consequence
of the behavior.
Quantitative law of effect
A mathematical rule that states that the effectiveness of a reinforcer at strengthening an
operant response depends on the amount of reinforcement earned for all alternative
behaviors. A reinforcer is less effective if there is a lot of reinforcement in the environment
for other behaviors.
Reinforcer
Any consequence of a behavior that strengthens the behavior or increases the likelihood that
307
it will be performed it again.

Reinforcer devaluation effect
The finding that an animal will stop performing an instrumental response that once led to a
reinforcer if the reinforcer is separately made aversive or undesirable.
Renewal effect
Recovery of an extinguished response that occurs when the context is changed after
extinction. Especially strong when the change of context involves return to the context in
which conditioning originally occurred. Can occur after extinction in either classical or
instrumental conditioning.
Social Learning Theory
The theory that people can learn new responses and behaviors by observing the behavior of
others.
Social models
Authorities that are the targets for observation and who model behaviors.
Spontaneous recovery
Recovery of an extinguished response that occurs with the passage of time after extinction.
Can occur after extinction in either classical or instrumental conditioning.
Stimulus control
When an operant behavior is controlled by a stimulus that precedes it.
Taste aversion learning
The phenomenon in which a taste is paired with sickness, and this causes the organism to
rejectand dislikethat taste in the future.
Unconditioned response (UR)
In classical conditioning, an innate response that is elicited by a stimulus before (or in the
absence of) conditioning.
Unconditioned stimulus (US)
In classical conditioning, the stimulus that elicits the response before conditioning occurs.
Vicarious reinforcement
Learning that occurs by observing the reinforcement or punishment of another person.
308
References
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20
Self-Efficacy
James E Maddux & Evan Kleiman
The term self-efficacy refers to your beliefs about your ability to effectively perform the tasks
needed to attain a valued goal. Self-efficacy does not refer to your abilities but to how strongly
you believe you can use your abilities to work toward goals. Self-efficacy is not a unitary
construct or trait; rather, people have self-efficacy beliefs in different domains, such as
academic self-efficacy, problem-solving self-efficacy, and self-regulatory self-efficacy. Stronger
self-efficacy beliefs are associated with positive outcomes, such as better grades, greater
athletic performance, happier romantic relationships, and a healthier lifestyle.
Learning Objectives
Define self-efficacy.
List the major factors that influence self-efficacy.
Explain how self-efficacy develops.
Understand the influence of self-efficacy on psychological and physical health andwellbeing as well as academic and vocational success.
Define collective efficacy and explain why it is important.
Introduction: What Is Self-Efficacy?

Imagine two students, Sally and Lucy, who are about to take the same math test. Sally and
Lucy have the same exact ability to do well in math, the same level of intelligence, and the
same motivation to do well on the test. They also studied together. They even have the same
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Self-Efficacy
brand of shoes on. The only

difference between the two is
that Sally is very confident in
her mathematical and her testtaking abilities, while Lucy is
not. So, who is likely to do
better on the test? Sally, of
course, because she has the
confidence to use her mathe
matical and test-taking abilities
to deal with challenging math
problems and to accomplish
It makes intuitive sense that if you believe youre going to do well on a math test,
goals that are important to her
youll do better than if you believe you wont do well. But why should this be the
in this case, doing well on the
case? [Image: Steven S.]
test. This difference between

Sally and Lucythe student
who got the A and the student who got the B-, respectivelyis self-efficacy. As you will read
later, self-efficacy influences behavior and emotions in particular ways that help people better
manage challenges and achieve valued goals.
A concept that was first introduced by Albert Bandura in 1977, self-efficacy refers to a persons
beliefs that he or she is able to effectively perform the tasks needed to attain a valued goal
(Bandura, 1977). Since then, self-efficacy has become one of the most thoroughly researched
concepts in psychology. Just about every important domain of human behavior has been
investigated using self-efficacy theory (Bandura, 1997; Maddux, 1995; Maddux & Gosselin,
2011, 2012). Self-efficacy does not refer to your abilities but rather to your beliefs about what
you can do with your abilities. Also, self-efficacy is not a traitthere are not certain types of
people with high self-efficacies and others with low self-efficacies (Stajkovic & Luthans, 1998).
Rather, people have self-efficacy beliefs about specific goals and life domains. For example,
if you believe that you have the skills necessary to do well in school and believe you can use
those skills to excel, then you have high academic self-efficacy.
Self-efficacy may sound similar to a concept you may be familiar with alreadyself-esteem
but these are very different notions. Self-esteem refers to how much you like or esteem
yourselfto what extent you believe you are a good and worthwhile person. Self-efficacy,
however, refers to your self-confidence to perform well and to achieve in specific areas of life
such as school, work, and relationships. Self-efficacy does influence self-esteem because how
you feel about yourself overall is greatly influenced by your confidence in your ability to
perform well in areas that are important to you and to achieve valued goals. For example, if
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Self-Efficacy
performing well in athletics is very important to you, then your self-efficacy for athletics will
greatly influence your self-esteem; however, if performing well in athletics is not at all
important you to you, then your self-efficacy for athletics will probably have little impact on
your self-esteem.
How Do We Measure Self-Efficacy?

Like many other concepts in psychology, selfefficacy is not necessarily measured in a
straightforward manner and requires much
thought to be measured accurately. Self-efficacy is
unlike weight, which is simple to objectively
measure by using a scale, or height, which is simple
to objectively measure by using a tape measure.
Rather, self-efficacy is an abstract concept you cant
touch or see. To measure an abstract concept like
self-efficacy, we use something called a self-report
measure. A self-report measure is a type of
questionnaire, like a survey, where people answer
questions usually with answers that correspond to
numerical values that can be added to create an
overall index of some construct. For example, a
well-known self-report measure is the Perceived
Stress Scale (Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein,
1983). It asks questions like, In the last month, how
Self-report measures are a good way to tap into ones
often have you been upset because of something
personal beliefs, but sometimes they can be
that happened unexpectedly? and In the last
inaccurate, for example, when people modify their
month, how often have you been angered because
responses to better conform to social expectations.
of things that were outside of your control?
[Image: Phillip Wong]
Participants answer the questions on a 1 through

5 scale, where 1 means not often and 5 means
very often. Then all of the answers are summed together to create a total stress score, with
higher scores equating to higher levels of stress. It is very important to develop tools to
measure self-efficacy that take peoples subjective beliefs about their self-efficacy and turn
them into the most objective possible measure. This means that one persons score of 6 out
of 10 on a measure of self-efficacy will be similar to another persons score of 6 out of 10 on
the same measure.
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Self-Efficacy
We will discuss two broad types of self-report measures for self-efficacy. The first category
includes measures of general self-efficacy (e.g., Schwarzer & Jerusalem, 1995; Sherer et al.,
1982). These scales ask people to rate themselves on general items, such as It is easy for me
to stick to my aims and accomplish my goals and I can usually handle whatever comes my
way. If you remember from earlier in this module, however, self-efficacy is not a global trait,
so there are problems with lumping all types of self-efficacy together in one measure. Thus,
the second category of self-efficacy measures includes task-specific measures of selfefficacy. Rather than gauge self-efficacy in general, these measures ask about a persons selfefficacy beliefs about a particular task. There can be an unlimited number of these types of
measures. Task-specific measures of self-efficacy describe several situations relating to a
behavior and then ask the participant to write down how confidently he or she feels about
doing that behavior. For example, a measure of dieting self-efficacy would list a variety of
situations where it can be hard to stick to a dietsuch as during vacations, when bored, or
when going out to eat with others who are not on a diet. A measure of exercise self-efficacy
would list a variety of situations where it can be hard to exercisesuch as when feeling
depressed, when feeling tired, and when you are with other people who do not want to
exercise. Finally, a measure of childrens or teens self-regulatory self-efficacy would include
Table 1: Major Influences on Self-efficacy
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Self-Efficacy
a variety of situations where it can be hard to resist impulsessuch as controlling temper,

resisting peer pressure to smoke cigarettes, and defying pressure to have unprotected sex.
Most studies agree that the task-specific measures of self-efficacy are better predictors of
behavior than the general measures of self-efficacy (Bandura, 2006).
What Are the Major Influences on Self-Efficacy?

Self-efficacy beliefs are influenced in five different ways (Bandura, 1997), which are
summarized in Table 1 .
These five types of self-efficacy influence can take many real-world forms that almost everyone
has experienced. You may have had previous performance experiences affect your academic
self-efficacy when you did well on a test and believed that you would do well on the next test.
A vicarious performance may have affected your athletic self-efficacy when you saw your best
friend skateboard for the first time and thought that you could skateboard well, too. Verbal
persuasion could have affected your academic self-efficacy when a teacher that you respect
told you that you could get into the college of your choice if you studied hard for the SATs. Its
important to know that not all people are equally likely to influence your self-efficacy though
verbal persuasion. People who appear trustworthy or attractive, or who seem to be experts,
are more likely to influence your self-efficacy than are people who do not possess these
qualities (Petty & Brinol, 2010). Thats why a teacher you respect is more likely to influence
your self-efficacy than a teacher you do not respect. Imaginal performances are an effective
way to increase your self-efficacy. For example, imagining yourself doing well on a job interview
actually leads to more effective interviewing (Knudstrup, Segrest, & Hurley, 2003). Affective
states and physical sensations abound when you think about the times you have given
presentations in class. For example, you may have felt your heart racing while giving a
presentation. If you believed your heart was racing because you had just had a lot of caffeine,
it likely would not affect your performance. If you believed your heart was racing because you
were doing a poor job, you might believe that you cannot give the presentation well. This is
because you associate the feeling of anxiety with failure and expect to fail when you are feeling
anxious.
When and How Does Self-Efficacy Develop?

Self-efficacy begins to develop in very young children. Once self-efficacy is developed, it does
not remain constantit can change and grow as an individual has different experiences
throughout his or her lifetime. When children are very young, their parents self-efficacies are
important (Jones & Prinz, 2005). Children of parents who have high parental self-efficacies
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Self-Efficacy
perceive their parents as more

responsive
to
their
needs
(Gondoli & Silverberg, 1997).

Around the ages of 12 through
16, adolescents friends also
become an important source of
self-efficacy beliefs. Adolescents
who associate with peer groups
that
are
not
academically
motivated tend to experience a

decline in academic self-efficacy
(Wentzel, Barry, & Caldwell,
2004). Adolescents who watch
their peers succeed, however,
Our assessments of our own self-efficacy arent created in a vacuum. Those
experience a rise in academic
around us (e.g., our parents, our friends) greatly influence our perceptions of
self-efficacy (Schunk & Miller,
self-efficacy. [Image: Danny Choo]
2002). This is an example of

gaining self-efficacy through vicarious performances, as discussed above. The effects of selfefficacy that develop in adolescence are long lasting. One study found that greater social and
academic self-efficacy measured in people ages 14 to 18 predicted greater life satisfaction
five years later (Vecchio, Gerbino, Pastorelli, Del Bove, & Caprara, 2007).
What Are the Benefits of High Self-Efficacy?

Academic Achievement
Consider academic self-efficacy in your own life and recall the earlier example of Sally and
Lucy. Are you more like Sally, who has high academic self-efficacy and believes that she can
use her abilities to do well in school, or are you more like Lucy, who does not believe that she
can effectively use her academic abilities to excel in school? Do you think your own self-efficacy
has ever affected your academic ability? Do you think you have ever studied more or less
intensely because you did or did not believe in your abilities to do well? Many researchers
have considered how self-efficacy works in academic settings, and the short answer is that
academic self-efficacy affects every possible area of academic achievement (Pajares, 1996).
Students who believe in their ability to do well academically tend to be more motivated in
school (Schunk, 1991). When self-efficacious students attain their goals, they continue to set
even more challenging goals (Schunk, 1990). This can all lead to better performance in school
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Self-Efficacy
in terms of higher grades and taking more challenging classes (Multon, Brown, & Lent, 1991).
For example, students with high academic self-efficacies might study harder because they
believe that they are able to use their abilities to study effectively. Because they studied hard,
they receive an A on their next test. Teachers self-efficacies also can affect how well a student
performs in school. Self-efficacious teachers encourage parents to take a more active role in
their childrens learning, leading to better academic performance (Hoover-Dempsey, Bassler,
& Brissie, 1987).
Although there is a lot of research about how self-efficacy is beneficial to school-aged children,
college students can also benefit from self-efficacy. Freshmen with higher self-efficacies about
their ability to do well in college tend to adapt to their first year in college better than those
with lower self-efficacies (Chemers, Hu, & Garcia, 2001). The benefits of self-efficacy continue
beyond the school years: people with strong self-efficacy beliefs toward performing well in
school tend to perceive a wider range of career options (Lent, Brown, & Larkin, 1986). In
addition, people who have stronger beliefs of self-efficacy toward their professional work tend
to have more successful careers (Stajkovic & Luthans, 1998).
One question you might
have about self-efficacy and
academic performance is
how
students
actual
academic ability interacts

with self-efficacy to influence
academic performance. The
answer is that a students
actual ability does play a
role, but it is also influenced
Consider getting a math problem you automatically believe you cant solve. Will you
by self-efficacy. Students
even attempt to answer it? Our perception of self-efficacy affects our motivation to
with greater ability perform
engage with challenges in the first place. [Image: Ben Stephenson]
better
than
those
with
lesser ability. But, among a

group of students with the same exact level of academic ability, those with stronger academic
self-efficacies outperform those with weaker self-efficacies. One study (Collins, 1984)
compared performance on difficult math problems among groups of students with different
levels of math ability and different levels of math self-efficacy. Among a group of students
with average levels of math ability, the students with weak math self-efficacies got about 25%
of the math problems correct. The students with average levels of math ability and strong
math self-efficacies got about 45% of the questions correct. This means that by just having
stronger math self-efficacy, a student of average math ability will perform 20% better than a
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Self-Efficacy
student with similar math ability but weaker math self-efficacy. You might also wonder if selfefficacy makes a difference only for people with average or below-average abilities. Selfefficacy is important even for above-average students. In this study, those with above-average
math abilities and low math self-efficacies answered only about 65% of the questions correctly;
those with above-average math abilities and high math self-efficacies answered about 75%
of the questions correctly.
Healthy Behaviors
Think about a time when you tried to improve your health, whether through dieting, exercising,
sleeping more, or any other way. Would you be more likely to follow through on these plans
if you believed that you could effectively use your skills to accomplish your health goals? Many
researchers agree that people with stronger self-efficacies for doing healthy things (e.g.,
exercise self-efficacy, dieting self-efficacy) engage in more behaviors that prevent health
problems and improve overall health (Strecher, DeVellis, Becker, & Rosenstock, 1986). People
who have strong self-efficacy beliefs about quitting smoking are able to quit smoking more
easily (DiClemente, Prochaska, & Gibertini, 1985). People who have strong self-efficacy beliefs
about being able to reduce their alcohol consumption are more successful when treated for
drinking problems (Maisto, Connors, & Zywiak, 2000). People who have stronger self-efficacy
beliefs about their ability to recover from heart attacks do so more quickly than those who
do not have such beliefs (Ewart, Taylor, Reese, & DeBusk, 1983).
One group of researchers (Roach Yadrick, Johnson, Boudreaux, Forsythe, & Billon, 2003)
conducted an experiment with people trying to lose weight. All people in the study participated
in a weight loss program that was designed for the U.S. Air Force. This program had already
been found to be very effective, but the researchers wanted to know if increasing peoples
self-efficacies could make the program even more effective. So, they divided the participants
into two groups: one group received an intervention that was designed to increase weight
loss self-efficacy along with the diet program, and the other group received only the diet
program. The researchers tried several different ways to increase self-efficacy, such as having
participants read a copy of Oh, The Places Youll Go! by Dr. Seuss (1990), and having them talk
to someone who had successfully lost weight. The people who received the diet program and
an intervention to increase self-efficacy lost an average of 8.2 pounds over the 12 weeks of
the study; those participants who had only the diet program lost only 5.8 pounds. Thus, just
by increasing weight loss self-efficacy, participants were able to lose over 50% more weight.
Studies have found that increasing a persons nutritional self-efficacy can lead them to eat
more fruits and vegetables (Luszczynska, Tryburcy, & Schwarzer, 2006). Self-efficacy plays a
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Self-Efficacy
large role in successful physical exercise (Maddux & Dawson, 2014). People with stronger selfefficacies for exercising are more likely to plan on beginning an exercise program, actually
beginning that program (DuCharme & Brawley, 1995), and continuing it (Marcus, Selby, Niaura,
& Rossi, 1992). Self-efficacy is especially important when it comes to safe sex. People with
greater self-efficacies about condom usage are more likely to engage in safe sex (Kaneko,
2007), making them more likely to avoid sexually transmitted diseases, such as HIV (Forsyth
& Carey, 1998).
Athletic Performance
If you are an athlete, self-efficacy is
especially important in your life.
Professional and amateur athletes
with stronger self-efficacy beliefs
about their athletic abilities perform
better than athletes with weaker
levels of self-efficacy (Wurtele,
1986). This holds true for athletes
in all types of sports, including track
and field (Gernigon & Delloye,
2003), tennis (Sheldon & Eccles,
2005), and golf (Bruton, Mellalieu,
Self-efficacy can work in an upward, feedback loop. That is, when you do
Shearer, Roderique-Davies, & Hall,
well in a sport, you have greater self-efficacy, and by having greater self-
2013). One group of researchers
efficacy, you subsequently do better in the sport! [Image: Phil Roeder]
found that basketball players with

strong athletic self-efficacy beliefs
hit more foul shots than did basketball players with weak self-efficacy beliefs (Haney & Long,
1995). These researchers also found that the players who hit more foul shots had greater
increases in self-efficacy after they hit the foul shots compared to those who hit fewer foul
shots and did not experience increases in self-efficacy. This is an example of how we gain selfefficacy through performance experiences.
Self-Regulation
One of the major reasons that higher self-efficacy usually leads to better performance and
greater success is that self-efficacy is an important component of self-regulation. Selfregulation is the complex process through which you control your thoughts, emotions, and
actions (Gross, 1998). It is crucial to success and well-being in almost every area of your life.
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Self-Efficacy
Every day, you are exposed to situations where you might want to act or feel a certain way
that would be socially inappropriate or that might be unhealthy for you in the long run. For
example, when sitting in a boring class, you might want to take out your phone and text your
friends, take off your shoes and take a nap, or perhaps scream because you are so bored.
Self-regulation is the process that you use to avoid such behaviors and instead sit quietly
through class. Self-regulation takes a lot of effort, and it is often compared to a muscle that
can be exhausted (Baumeister, Bratslavsky, Muraven, & Tice, 1998). For example, a child might
be able to resist eating a pile of delicious cookies if he or she is in the room with the cookies
for only a few minutes, but if that child were forced to spend hours with the cookies, his or
her ability to regulate the desire to eat the cookies would wear down. Eventually, his or her
self-regulatory abilities would be exhausted, and the child would eat the cookies. A person
with strong self-efficacy beliefs might become less distressed in the face of failure than might
someone with weak self-efficacy. Because self-efficacious people are less likely to become
distressed, they draw less on their self-regulation reserves; thus, self-efficacious people persist
longer in the face of a challenge.
Self-efficacy influences selfregulation in many ways to
produce better performance
and greater success (Maddux
& Volkmann, 2010). First,
people with stronger selfefficacies have greater mo
tivation to perform in the
area for which they have
stronger self-efficacies (Ba
ndura & Locke, 2003). This
means that people are
motivated to work harder in
those areas where they
believe they can effectively
perform. Second, people
Self-efficacy is all about your belief of control over your environment. But when
cookies that look this good are nearby, you may feel like you have no control to resist
eating one. Or seven. [Image: Pink Sherbet Photography/D Sharon Pruitt]
with stronger self-efficacies

are more likely to persevere through challenges in attaining goals (Vancouver, More, & Yoder,
2008). For example, people with high academic self-efficacies are better able to motivate
themselves to persevere through such challenges as taking a difficult class and completing
their degrees because they believe that their efforts will pay off. Third, self-efficacious people
believe that they have more control over a situation. Having more control over a situation means
that self-efficacious people might be more likely to engage in the behaviors that will allow
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Self-Efficacy
them to achieve their desired goal. Finally, self-efficacious people have more confidence in their
problem-solving abilities and, thus, are able to better use their cognitive resources and make
better decisions, especially in the face of challenges and setbacks (Cervone, Jiwani, & Wood,
1991).
Collective Efficacy
Collective efficacy is a concept related to self-efficacy. Collective efficacy refers to the shared
beliefs among members of a group about the groups ability to effectively perform the tasks
needed to attain a valued goal (Bandura, 1997). Groups and teams that have higher collective
efficacies perform better than groups and teams with lower collective efficacies (Marks, 1999).
Collective efficacy is especially important during tasks that require a lot of teamwork (KatzNavon & Erez, 2005). For example, when you have to do a group project that involves each
group member contributing a portion of the final project, your groups performance will be
much better if all members share the belief that your group can perform the necessary tasks
together. Collective efficacy plays a role in romantic relationships. Married couples who
strongly believe in their ability to accomplish shared goals are happier than couples with
weaker efficacy beliefs (Kaplan & Maddux, 2002). Although collective efficacy is an important
part of how well a team or group performs, self-efficacy also plays a role in team situations.
For example, better decision-making self-efficacy predicts better performance in team sports,
such as baseball (Hepler & Feltz, 2012).
Conclusion
Self-efficacy refers to your beliefs about your ability to effectively perform the tasks needed
to attain a valued goal and it affects your daily life in many ways. Self-efficacious adolescents
perform better at school and self-efficacious adults perform better at work. These individuals
have happier romantic relationships and work better in teams. People with strong selfefficacies have better health than those with weak self-efficacies; they are more likely to engage
in behaviors that prevent health problems and actually increase their health. They are more
likely to begin and continue exercise, have safer sex, and eat better foods. Higher self-efficacy
is also useful for getting out of bad habits. People with strong self-efficacies are able to lose
weight, quit smoking, and cut down on alcohol consumption more successfully than can
people with low self-efficacies. As illustrated by the well-known childrens book The Little Engine
That Could (Piper, 1930),telling yourself I think I can can be a powerful motivator and can
increase your chances for success.
Our own final words on self-efficacy also draw from childrens literature. Many people receive
Self-Efficacy
321
a copy of Oh, The Places Youll Go! when they reach a major milestone, such as graduating high
school to go on to college or graduating college to enter the workforce. Whether or not you
or whoever gave you the book knew it, Oh, The Places Youll Go! is all about self-efficacy. This
book speaks directly to readers by talking about all of the challenges they might face on their
journeys. Throughout the book, the narrator continues to assure readers that they will be
able to use their abilities to effectively handle these challenges. So, we leave you with Dr.
Seuss wise words: Youre on your own. And you know what you know. And you are the guy
wholl decide where to go. And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! 98 and 3/4 percent
guaranteed.
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Self-Efficacy
Outside Resources
Video: Association for Psychological Science presents an interview with Albert Bandura
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_U-pSZwHy8
Video: Self-efficacys role and sources
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrzzbaomLmc
Web: Professor Frank Pajares self-efficacy site.
http://www.uky.edu/~eushe2/Pajares/self-efficacy.html
1. Can you think of ways your own self-efficacy beliefs play a role in your daily life? In which
areas do you have strong self-efficacy? In which areas would you like your self-efficacy to
be a bit stronger? How could you increase your self-efficacy in those areas?
2. Can you think of a time when a teacher, coach, or parent did something to encourage your
self-efficacy? What did he or she do and say? How did it enhance your self-efficacy?
3. What are some ways that you can help strengthen the self-efficacies of the people in your
life?
4. Can you think of a time when collective efficacy played a role in your team or group activities?
What did you notice about being on a team or in a group that had high collective efficacy?
What about a team or group with low collective efficacy?
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Self-Efficacy
Vocabulary
Collective efficacy
The shared beliefs among members of a group about the groups ability to effectively perform
the tasks needed to attain a valued goal.
Imaginal performances
When imagining yourself doing well increases self-efficacy.
Performance experiences
When past successes or failures lead to changes in self-efficacy.
Self-efficacy
The belief that you are able to effectively perform the tasks needed to attain a valued goal.
Self-regulation
The complex process through which people control their thoughts, emotions, and actions.
Self-report measure
A type of questionnaire in which participants answer questions whose answers correspond
to numerical values that can be added to create an overall index of some construct.
Task-specific measures of self-efficacy
Measures that ask about self-efficacy beliefs for a particular task (e.g., athletic self-efficacy,
academic self-efficacy).
Verbal persuasion
When trusted people (friends, family, experts) influence your self-efficacy for better or worse
by either encouraging or discouraging you about your ability to succeed.
Vicarious performances
When seeing other people succeed or fail leads to changes in self-efficacy.
324
Self-Efficacy
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Intelligence (11/1)
21
Intelligence
Intelligence is among the oldest and longest studied topics in all of psychology. The
development of assessments to measure this concept is at the core of the development of
psychological science itself. This module introduces key historical figures, major theories of
intelligence, and common assessment strategies related to intelligence. This module will also
discuss controversies related to the study of group differences in intelligence.
Learning Objectives
List at least two common strategies for measuring intelligence.

Name at least one type of intelligence.
Define intelligence in simple terms.
Explain the controversy relating to differences in intelligence between groups.
Introduction
Every year hundreds of grade school students converge on Washington, D.C., for the annual
Scripps National Spelling Bee. The bee is an elite event in which children as young as 8 square
off to spell words like cymotrichous and appoggiatura. Most people who watch the bee
think of these kids as being smart and you likely agree with this description.
What makes a person intelligent? Is it heredity (two of the 2014 contestants in the bee have
siblings who have previously won)(National Spelling Bee, 2014a)? Is it interest (the most
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Intelligence
frequently listed favorite subject among

spelling bee competitors is math)(NSB,
2014b)? In this unit we will cover these and
other fascinating aspects of intelligence.
By the end of the unit you should be able
to define intelligence and discuss some
common strategies for measuring intelligence.
In addition, we will tackle the politically
thorny issue of whether there are
differences
A participant in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. [Photo:
in
intelligence
between
groups such as men and women.
ScrippsBee]
Defining and Measuring Intelligence

When you think of smart people you likely have an intuitive sense of the qualities that make
them intelligent. Maybe you think they have a good memory, or that they can think quickly,
or that they simply know a whole lot of information. Indeed, people who exhibit such qualities
appear very intelligent. That said, it seems that intelligence must be more than simply knowing
facts and being able to remember them. One point in favor of this argument is the idea of
animal intelligence. It will come as no surprise to you that a dog, which can learn commands
and tricks seems smarter than a snake that cannot. In fact, researchers and lay people
generally agree with one another that primatesmonkeys and apes (including humans)are
among the most intelligent animals. Apes such as chimpanzees are capable of complex
problem solving and sophisticated communication (Kohler, 1924).
Scientists point to the social nature of primates as one evolutionary source of their intelligence.
Primates live together in troops or family groups and are, therefore, highly social creatures.
As such, primates tend to have brains that are better developed for communication and long
term thinking than most other animals. For instance, the complex social environment has led
primates to develop deception, altruism, numerical concepts, and theory of mind (a sense
of the self as a unique individual separate from others in the group; Gallup, 1982; Hauser,
MacNeilage & Ware, 1996).[Also see Noba unit Theory of Mind http://noba.to/a8wpytg3]
The question of what constitutes human intelligence is one of the oldest inquiries in
psychology. When we talk about intelligence we typically mean intellectual ability. This broadly
encompasses the ability to learn, remember and use new information, to solve problems and
to adapt to novel situations. An early scholar of intelligence, Charles Spearman, proposed the
idea that intelligence was one thing, a general factor sometimes known as simply g. He
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Intelligence
based this conclusion on the observation that people who perform well in one intellectual
area such as verbal ability also tend to perform well in other areas such as logic and reasoning
(Spearman, 1904).
A contemporary of Spearmans named Francis Galtonhimself a cousin of Charles Darwin-was among those who pioneered psychological measurement (Hunt, 2009). For three pence
Galton would measure various physical characteristics such as grip strength but also some
psychological attributes such as the ability to judge distance or discriminate between colors.
This is an example of one of the earliest systematic measures of individual ability. Galton was
particularly interested in intelligence, which he thought was heritable in much the same way
that height and eye color are. He conceived of several rudimentary methods for assessing
whether his hypothesis was true. For example, he carefully tracked the family tree of the topscoring Cambridge students over the previous 40 years. Although he found specific families
disproportionately produced top scholars, intellectual achievement could still be the product
of economic status, family culture or other non-genetic factors. Galton was also, possibly, the
first to popularize the idea that the heritability of psychological traits could be studied by
looking at identical and fraternal twins. Although his methods were crude by modern
standards, Galton established intelligence as a variable that could be measured (Hunt, 2009).
The person best known for formally pioneering the
measurement of intellectual ability is Alfred Binet. Like
Galton, Binet was fascinated by individual differences in
intelligence. For instance, he blindfolded chess players and
saw that some of them had the ability to continue playing
using only their memory to keep the many positions of the
pieces in mind (Binet, 1894). Binet was particularly
interested in the development of intelligence, a fascination
that led him to observe children carefully in the classroom
setting.
Along with his colleague Theodore Simon, Binet created a
test of childrens intellectual capacity. They created
individual test items that should be answerable by children
Intelligence research pioneer Alfred Binet
of given ages. For instance, a child who is three should be
[Photo: wikimedia commons]
able to point to her mouth and eyes, a child who is nine

should be able to name the months of the year in order, and a twelve year old ought to be
able to name sixty words in three minutes. Their assessment became the first IQ test.
IQ or intelligence quotient is a name given to the score of the Binet-Simon test. The score
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Intelligence
Table 1: Examples of the types of items you might see on an intelligence test.
is derived by dividing a childs mental age (the score from the test) by their chronological age
to create an overall quotient. These days, the phrase IQ does not apply specifically to the
Binet-Simon test and is used to generally denote intelligence or a score on any intelligence
test. In the early 1900s the Binet-Simon test was adapted by a Stanford professor named
Intelligence
333
Lewis Terman to create what is, perhaps, the most famous intelligence test in the world, the
Stanford-Binet (Terman, 1916). The major advantage of this new test was that it was
standardized. Based on a large sample of children Terman was able to plot the scores in a
normal distribution, shaped like a bell curve (see Fig. 1). To understand a normal distribution
think about the height of people. Most people are average in height with relatively fewer being
tall or short, and fewer still being extremely tall or extremely short. Terman (1916) laid out
intelligence scores in exactly the same way, allowing for easy and reliable categorizations and
comparisons between individuals.
Figure 1: Bell Curve - Normal Distribution IQ
Looking at another modern intelligence testthe Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)
can provide clues to a definition of intelligence itself. Motivated by several criticisms of the
Stanford-Binet test, psychologist David Wechsler sought to create a superior measure of
intelligence. He was critical of the way that the Stanford-Binet relied so heavily on verbal ability
and was also suspicious of using a single score to capture all of intelligence. To address these
issues Wechsler created a test that tapped a wide range of intellectual abilities. This
understanding of intelligencethat it is made up of a pool of specific abilitiesis a notable
departure from Spearmans concept of general intelligence. The WAIS assesses people's ability
to remember, compute, understand language, reason well, and process information quickly
(Wechsler, 1955).
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Intelligence
One interesting by-product of measuring intelligence for so many years is that we can chart
changes over time. It might seem strange to you that intelligence can change over the decades
but that appears to have happened over the last 80 years we have been measuring this topic.
Heres how we know: IQ tests have an average score of 100. When new waves of people are
asked to take older tests they tend to outperform the original sample from years ago on which
the test was normed. This gain is known as the Flynn Effect, named after James Flynn, the
researcher who first identified it (Flynn, 1987). Several hypotheses have been put forth to
explain the Flynn Effect including better nutrition (healthier brains!), greater familiarity with
testing in general, and more exposure to visual stimuli. Today, there is no perfect agreement
among psychological researchers with regards to the causes of increases in average scores
on intelligence tests. Perhaps if you choose a career in psychology you will be the one to
discover the answer!
Types of Intelligence
David Wechslers approach to testing intellectual ability was based on the fundamental idea
that there are, in essence, many aspects to intelligence. Other scholars have echoed this idea
by going so far as to suggest that there are actually even different types of intelligence. You
likely have heard distinctions made between street smarts and book learning. The former
refers to practical wisdom accumulated through experience while the latter indicates formal
education. A person high in street smarts might have a superior ability to catch a person in a
lie, to persuade others, or to think quickly under pressure. A person high in book learning, by
contrast, might have a large vocabulary and be able to remember a large number of references
to classic novels. Although psychologists dont use street smarts or book smarts as
professional terms they do believe that intelligence comes in different types.
There are many ways to parse apart the concept of intelligence. Many scholars believe that
Carroll s (1993) review of more than 400 data sets provides the best currently existing single
source for organizing various concepts related to intelligence. Carroll divided intelligence into
three levels, or strata, descending from the most abstract down to the most specific (see Fig.
2). To understand this way of categorizing simply think of a car. Car is a general word that
denotes all types of motorized vehicles. At the more specific level under car might be various
types of cars such as sedans, sports cars, SUVs, pick-up trucks, station wagons, and so forth.
More specific still would be certain models of each such as a Honda Civic or Ferrari Enzo. In
the same manner, Carroll called the highest level (stratum III) the general intelligence factor
g. Under this were more specific stratum II categories such as fluid intelligence and visual
perception and processing speed. Each of these, in turn, can be sub-divided into very specific
components such as spatial scanning, reaction time, and word fluency.
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Intelligence
Thinking of intelligence as Carroll (1993) does, as a collection of specific mental abilities, has
helped researchers conceptualize this topic in new ways. For example, Horn and Cattell (1966)
distinguish between fluid and crystalized intelligence, both of which show up on stratum
II of Carrolls model. Fluid intelligence is the ability to think on your feet; that is, to solve
problems. Crystalized intelligence, on the other hand, is the ability to use language, skills and
experience to address problems. The former is associated more with youth while the latter
increases with age. You may have noticed the way in which younger people can adapt to new
situations and use trial and error to quickly figure out solutions. By contrast, older people
tend to rely on their relatively superior store of knowledge to solve problems.
Figure 2: Caroll's Model of Intelligence
Harvard professor Howard Gardner is another figure in psychology who is well-known for
championing the notion that there are different types of intelligence. Gardners theory is
appropriately, called multiple intelligences. Gardners theory is based on the idea that people
process information through different channels and these are relatively independent of one
another. He has identified 8 common intelligences including 1) logic-math, 2) visual-spatial,
3) music-rhythm, 4) verbal-linguistic, 5) bodily-kinesthetic, 6) interpersonal, 7) intrapersonal,
and 8) naturalistic (Gardner, 1985). Many people are attracted to Gardners theory because it
suggests that people each learn in unique ways. There are now many Gardner- influenced
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Intelligence
schools in the world.

Another type of intelligence is Emotional intelligence. Unlike traditional models of intelligence
that emphasize cognition (thinking) the idea of emotional intelligence emphasizes the
experience and expression of emotion. Some researchers argue that emotional intelligence
is a set of skills in which an individual can accurately understand the emotions of others, can
identify and label their own emotions, and can use emotions. (Mayer & Salovey, 1997). Other
researchers believe that emotional intelligence is a mixture of abilities, such as stress
management, and personality, such as a persons predisposition for certain moods (Bar-On,
2006). Regardless of the specific definition of emotional intelligence, studies have shown a
link between this concept and job performance (Lopes, Grewal, Kadis, Gall, & Salovey, 2006).
In fact, emotional intelligence is similar to more traditional notions of cognitive intelligence
with regards to workplace benefits. Schmidt and Hunter (1998), for example, reviewed
research on intelligence in the workplace context and show that intelligence is the single best
predictor of doing well in job training programs, of learning on the job. They also report that
general intelligence is moderately correlated with all types of jobs but especially with
managerial and complex, technical jobs.
There is one last point that is important to bear in mind about intelligence. It turns out that
the way an individual thinks about his or her own intelligence is also important because it
predicts performance. Researcher Carol Dweck has made a career out of looking at the
differences between high IQ children who perform well and those who do not, so-called under
achievers. Among her most interesting findings is that it is not gender or social class that sets
apart the high and low performers. Instead, it is their mindset. The children who believe that
their abilities in generaland their intelligence specificallyis a fixed trait tend to
underperform. By contrast, kids who believe that intelligence is changeable and evolving tend
to handle failure better and perform better (Dweck, 1986). Dweck refers to this as a persons
mindset and having a growth mindset appears to be healthier.
Correlates of Intelligence
The research on mindset is interesting but there can also be a temptation to interpret it as
suggesting that every human has an unlimited potential for intelligence and that becoming
smarter is only a matter of positive thinking. There is some evidence that genetics is an
important factor in the intelligence equation. For instance, a number of studies on genetics
in adults have yielded the result that intelligence is largely, but not totally, inherited
(Bouchard,2004).Having a healthy attitude about the nature of smarts and working hard can
both definitely help intellectual performance but it also helps to have the genetic leaning
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Intelligence
toward intelligence.
Carol Dwecks research on the mindset of children also brings one of the most interesting and
controversial issues surrounding intelligence research to the fore: group differences. From
the very beginning of the study of intelligence researchers have wondered about differences
between groups of people such as men and women. With regards to potential differences
between the sexes some people have noticed that women are under-represented in certain
fields. In 1976, for example, women comprised just 1% of all faculty members in engineering
(Ceci, Williams & Barnett, 2009).
Even today women make up between
3% and 15% of all faculty in mathintensive
fields
at
the
50
top
universities. This phenomenon could

be explained in many ways: it might
be the result of inequalities in the
educational system, it might be due to
differences in socialization wherein
young girls are encouraged to develop
other interests, it might be the result
of that women areon average
responsible for a larger portion of
childcare obligations and therefore
make different types of professional
Women account for a disproportionately small percentage of those

employed in math-intensive career fields such as engineering. [Photo:
Argonne National Laboratory]
decisions, or it might be due to innate

differences between these groups, to name just a few possibilities. The possibility of innate
differences is the most controversial because many people see it as either the product of or
the foundation for sexism. In todays political landscape it is easy to see that asking certain
questions such as are men smarter than women? would be inflammatory. In a
comprehensive review of research on intellectual abilities and sex Ceci and colleagues (2009)
argue against the hypothesis that biological and genetic differences account for much of the
sex differences in intellectual ability. Instead, they believe that a complex web of influences
ranging from societal expectations to test taking strategies to individual interests account for
many of the sex differences found in math and similar intellectual abilities.
A more interesting question, and perhaps a more sensitive one, might be to inquire in which
ways men and women might differ in intellectual ability, if at all. That is, researchers should
not seek to prove that one group or another is better but might examine the ways that they
might differ and offer explanations for any differences that are found. Researchers have
338
Intelligence
investigated sex differences in intellectual ability. In a review of the research literature Halpern
(1997) found that women appear, on average, superior to men on measures of fine motor
skill, acquired knowledge, reading comprehension, decoding non-verbal expression, and
generally have higher grades in school. Men, by contrast, appear, on average, superior to
women on measures of fluid reasoning related to math and science, perceptual tasks that
involve moving objects, and tasks that require transformations in working memory such as
mental rotations of physical spaces. Halpern also notes that men are disproportionately
represented on the low end of cognitive functioning including in mental retardation, dyslexia,
and attention deficit disorders (Halpern, 1997).
Other researchers have examined various explanatory hypotheses for why sex differences in
intellectual ability occur. Some studies have provided mixed evidence for genetic factors while
others point to evidence for social factors (Neisser, et al, 1996; Nisbett, et al., 2012). One
interesting phenomenon that has received research scrutiny is the idea of stereotype threat.
Stereotype threat is the idea that mental access to a particular stereotype can have real-world
impact on a member of the stereotyped group. In one study (Spencer, Steele, & Quinn, 1999),
for example, women who were informed that women tend to fare poorly on math exams just
before taking a math test actually performed worse relative to a control group who did not
hear the stereotype. One possible antidote to stereotype threat, at least in the case of women,
is to make a self-affirmation (such as listing positive personal qualities) before the threat
occurs. In one study, for instance, Martens and her colleagues (2006) had women write about
personal qualities that they valued before taking a math test. The affirmation largely erased
the effect of stereotype by improving math scores for women relative to a control group but
similar affirmations had little effect for men (Martens, Johns, Greenberg, & Schimel, 2006).
These types of controversies compel many lay people to wonder if there might be a problem
with intelligence measures. It is natural to wonder if they are somehow biased against certain
groups. Psychologists typically answer such questions by pointing out that bias in the testing
sense of the word is different than how people use the word in everyday speech. Common
use of bias denotes a prejudice based on group membership. Scientific bias, on the other
hand, is related to the psychometric properties of the test such as validity and reliability.
Validity is the idea that an assessment measures what it claims to measure and that it can
predict future behaviors or performance. To this end, intelligence tests are not biased because
they are fairly accurate measures and predictors. There are, however, real biases, prejudices,
and inequalities in the social world that might benefit some advantaged group while hindering
some disadvantaged others.
Conclusion
Intelligence
339
Although you might not be able to spell esquamulose or staphylococci indeed, you might
not even know what they meanyou dont need to count yourself out in the intelligence
department. Now that we have examined intelligence in depth we can return to our intuitive
view of those students who compete in the National Spelling Bee. Are they smart? Certainly,
they seem to have high verbal intelligence. There is also the possibility that they benefit from
either a genetic boost in intelligence, a supportive social environment, or both. Watching them
spell difficult words there is also much we do not know about them. We cannot tell, for instance,
how emotionally intelligent they are or how they might use bodily-kinesthetic intelligence.
This highlights the fact that intelligence is a complicated issue. Fortunately, psychologists
continue to research this fascinating topic and their studies continue to yield new insights.
340
Intelligence
Vocabulary
G
Short for general factor and is often used to be synonymous with intelligence itself.
Intelligence
An individuals cognitive capability. This includes the ability to acquire, process, recall and
apply information.
IQ
Short for intelligence quotient. This is a score, typically obtained from a widely used measure
of intelligence that is meant to rank a persons intellectual ability against that of others.
Norm
Assessments are given to a representative sample of a population to determine the range of
scores for that population. These norms are then used to place an individual who takes that
assessment on a range of scores in which he or she is compared to the population at large.
Standardize
Assessments that are given in the exact same manner to all people . With regards to intelligence
tests standardized scores are individual scores that are computed to be referenced against
normative scores for a population (see norm).
Stereotype threat
The phenomenon in which people are concerned that they will conform to a stereotype or
that their performance does conform to that stereotype, especially in instances in which the
stereotype is brought to their conscious awareness.
341
Intelligence
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Get
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Competition.
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Corporation.
22
Intellectual Abilities, Interests, and
Mastery
David Lubinski
Psychologists interested in the study of human individuality have found that accomplishments
in education, the world of work, and creativity are a joint function of talent, passion, and
commitmentor how much effort and time one is willing to invest in personal development
when the opportunity is provided.
This module reviews models and measures that
psychologists have designed to assess intellect, interests, and energy for personal
development. The module begins with a model for organizing these three psychological
domains, which is useful for understanding talent development. This model is not only helpful
for understanding the many different ways that positive development may unfold among
people, but it is also useful for conceptualizing personal development and ways of selecting
opportunities in learning and work settings that are more personally meaningful. Data
supporting this model are reviewed.
Learning Objectives
Compare and contrast satisfaction and satisfactoriness.

Discuss why the model of talent development offered in this module places equal emphasis
on assessing the person and assessing the environment.
Articulate the relationship between ability and learning and performance.

Understand the issue of an "ability threshold" beyond which more ability may or may not
matter.
List personal attributes other than interests and abilities that are important to individual
accomplishment.
344
Intellectual Abilities, Interests, and Mastery
An
amalgam
of
intelligence,
interests, and mastery are appropriate

topics for an essay on the crosscutting themes running through
these vast domains of psychological
diversity. For effective performance
and
valued
accomplishments,
these three classes of determinants

are needed for comprehensive
treatments of psychological phen
omena supporting learning, occu
pational performance, and for
Although Platos view of human intelligence may be quite dated, modern-
advancing
knowledge
through
day analyses describe a similar model for understanding humans
innovative solutions. Historically,
intellectual application and development. [Image: A Health Blog]
these personal attributes go back

to at least Platos triarchic view of
the human psyche, described in Phaedra, wherein he depicts the intellect as a charioteer, and
affect(interests) and will(to master) as horses that draw the chariot. Ever since that time,
cognitive, affective, and conative factors have all been found in comprehensive models of
human development, or The Trilogy of Mind (Hilgard, 1980). To predict the magnitude, nature,
and sophistication of intellectual development toward learning, working, and creating, all
three classes are indispensable and deficits on any one can markedly hobble the effectiveness
of the others in meeting standards for typical as well as extraordinary performance. These
three aspects of human individuality all operate in parallel confluences of behaviors,
perceptions, and stimuli to engender stream of consciousness experiences as well as effective
functioning. Hilgard (1980) was indeed justified to criticize formulations in cognitive
psychology, which neglect affection and conation; technically, such truncated frameworks of
human psychological phenomena are known as under-determined or misspecified causal
models (Lubinski, 2000;Lubinski & Humphreys, 1997).
A Framework for Understanding Talent Development

Figure 1 is an adaptation of the Theory of Work Adjustment (TWA; Dawis & Lofquist, 1984;
Lubinski & Benbow, 2000). It provides a useful organizational scheme for this treatment by
outlining critical dimensions of human individuality for performance in learning and work
settings (and in transitioning between such settings). Here, the dominant models of intellectual
abilities and educationaloccupational interests are assembled. Because this review will be
restricted to measures of individual differences that harbor real-world significance, these two
345
models are linked to corresponding features of learning and work environments, ability
requirements and incentive or reward structures, which set standards for meeting
expectations
(performance)
and
rewarding
valued
performance
(compensation).
Correspondence between abilities and ability requirements constitutes satisfactoriness

(competence), whereas correspondence between an interests and reward structures
constitutes satisfaction (fulfillment). To the extent that satisfactoriness and satisfaction cooccur, the individual is motivated to maintain contact with the environment and the
environment is motivated to retain the individual; if one of these dimensions is discorrespondent, the individual is motivated to leave the environment or the environment is
motivated to dismiss.
Figure 1. The above is an adaptation of the Theory of Work Adjustment (Dawis & Lofquist, 1984), following Lubinski and Benbow
(2000) to highlight its general role in talent development over the life span. The radex scaling of cognitive abilities (upper left)
and the RIASEC hexagon of interests (lower left) outline personal attributes relevant to learning and work. The letters within the
cognitive ability arrangement denote different regions of concentration, whereas their accompanying numbers increase as a
function of complexity. Contained within the RIASEC is a simplification of this hexagon. Following Prediger (1982), it amounts to
a two-dimensional structure of independent dimensions: people/things and data/ideas, which underlie RIASEC. The dotted line
running down the individual and environment sectors underscores the idea that equal emphasis is placed on assessing personal
attributes (abilities and interests) and assessing the environment (abilities requirements and reward structure). Correspondence
between abilities and ability requirements constitutes satisfactoriness whereas correspondence between interests and reinforce
systems constitutes satisfaction. Jointly, these two dimensions predict tenure or a longstanding relationship between the
individual and the environment.
This model of talent development places equal emphasis on assessing the individual (abilities
346
and interests) and the environment (response requirements and reward structures).
Comprehensive reviews of outcomes within education (Lubinski, 1996; Lubinski & Benbow,
2000), counseling (Dawis, 1992; Gottfredson, 2003; Rounds & Tracey, 1990), and industrial/
organizational psychology all emphasize this person/environment tandem (Dawis, 1991;
Katzell, 1994; Lubinski & Dawis, 1992; Strong, 1943): aligning competency/motivational
proclivities to performance standards and reward structures for learning and work (Bouchard,
1997; Scarr, 1996; Scarr & McCartney, 1983). And indeed, educational, counseling, and
industrial psychology can be contiguously sequenced by this framework. They all share a
common feature: the scientific study of implementing interventions or opportunities, based
on individual differences, for maximizing positive psychological growth across different stages
of life span development (Lubinski, 1996). For making individual decisions about personal
development, or institutional decisions about organizational development, it is frequently
useful to go beyond a minimum requisite approach of do you like it (satisfaction) and can
you do it (satisfactoriness), and instead consider what individuals like the most and can do
the best (Lubinski & Benbow, 2000, 2001). This framework is useful for identifying optimal
promise for personal as well as organizational development. For now, however, cognitive
abilities and interests will be reviewed and, ultimately, linked to conative determinants that
mobilize, and in part account for, individual differences in how capabilities and motives are
expressed.
Cognitive Abilities
Over the past several decadesthe past 20 years in particulara remarkable consensus has
emerged that cognitive abilities are organized hierarchically (Carroll, 1993). A general outline
of this hierarchy is represented graphically by a radex (Guttman, 1954), depicted in the upper
left region of Figure 1. This illustrates the reliable finding that cognitive ability assessments
covary as a function of their content or complexity (Corno, Cronbach et al., 2002; Lubinski &
Dawis, 1992; Snow & Lohman, 1989). Cognitive ability tests can be scaled in this space based
on how highly they covary with one another. The more that two tests share complexity and
content, the more they covary and the closer they are to one another as points within the
radex. Test complexity is scaled from the center of the radex (g) out, and, along lines emanating
from the origin, complexity decreases but test content remains the same. Test content is scaled
around the circular bands with equal distance from the center of the radex and, progressing
around these bands, the relative density of test content changes from spatial/mechanical to
verbal/linguistic to quantitative/numerical, but test complexity remains constant. Therefore,
test content varies within each band (but complexity remains constant), whereas test
complexity varies between bands (but on lines from the origin to the periphery, content remains
constant). Because the extent to which tests covary is represented by how close together they
347
are within this space (Lubinski & Dawis, 1992; Snow & Lohman, 1989; Wai, Lubinski, & Benbow,
2009), this model is helpful in organizing the many different kinds of specific ability tests.
As Piaget astutely pointed
out, Intelligence is what
you use when you dont
know what to do, and
this model affords an
excellent overview of the
content and sophistication
of thought applied to
familiar and novel problemsolving tasks. Mathematical,
As you can tell already, trying to document ones intelligence in problem-solving tests is
spatial, and verbal reas
very complicated. So although online IQ tests can be fun, rarely are they actually accurate.
oning
[Image: David]
chief specific abilities

with
constitute
implications
the
for
different choices and performance after those choices in learning and work settings (Corno
et al., 2002; Dawis, 1992; Gottfredson, 2003; Lubinski, 2004; Wai et al., 2009). The content of
measures or tests of these specific abilities index individual differences in different modalities
of thought: reasoning with numbers, words, and figures or shapes. Yet, despite this disparate
content and focus, contrasting specific ability tests are all positively correlated, because they
all index an underlying general property of intellectual thought.
This general (common) dimension, identified over 100 years ago (Spearman, 1904) and
corroborated by a massive quantity of subsequent research (Carroll, 1993; Jensen, 1998), is
general mental ability, the general factor, or simply g (Gottfredson, 1997). General mental ability
represents the complexity/sophistication of a persons intellectual repertoire (Jensen, 1998;
Lubinski & Dawis, 1992). The more complex a test is, regardless of its content, the better a
measure of g it is. Further, because g underlies all cognitive reasoning processes, any test that
assesses a specific ability is also, to some extent, a measure of g (Lubinski, 2004). In school,
work, and a variety of everyday life circumstances, assessments of this general dimension
covary more broadly and deeper than any other measure of human individuality (Hunt, 2011;
Jensen, 1998; Lubinski, 2000, 2004).
Measures of g manifest their life importance by going beyond educational settings (where
they covary with educational achievement assessments in the .70.80 range), by playing a role
in shaping phenomena within Freuds two important life domains, arbeiten and lieben, working
and loving (or, resource acquisition and mating). Measures of g covary .20.60 with work
348
performance as a function of job complexity, .30.40 with income, and .20 with criminal
behavior, .40 with SES of origin, and .50.70 with achieved SES; assortative mating correlations
on g are around .50 (Jensen, 1998; Lubinski, 2004; Schmidt & Hunter, 1998). Furthermore,
Malcolm Gladwell (2008) notwithstanding, there does not appear to be an ability threshold;
that is, the idea that after a certain point more ability does not matter. More ability does matter.
Although other determinants are certainly needed (interests, persistence, opportunity), more
ability does make a difference in learning, working, and creating, even among the top 1% of
ability, or IQ equivalents ranging from approximately 137 to over 200 (see Figure 2). When
appropriate assessment and criterion measures are utilized to capture the breadth of ability
and accomplishment differences among the profoundly talented, individual differences within
the top 1% of ability are shown to matter a great deal. In the past this has been difficult to
demonstrate, because intellectual assessments and criterion measures lacked sufficient
scope in gifted or intellectually talented populations, which resulted in no variation in
assessments among the able and exceptionally able (ceiling effects). Without variation there
cannot be co-variation, but modern methods have now corrected for this (Kell, Lubinski, &
Benbow, 2013a; Lubinski, 2009; Park, Lubinski, & Benbow, 2007, 2008). Yet, even when g is
measured in its full scope, and validated with large samples and appropriate low-base-ratecriteria over protracted longitudinal intervals, there is much more to intellectual functioning
than measures of g or general ability.
To reveal how general and specific abilities operate over the course of development, Figure
3 contains data from over 400,000 high schools students assessed between grades 9 through
12, and tracked for 11 years. Specifically, Figure 3 graphs the general and specific ability profiles
of students earning terminal degrees in nine disciplines (Wai et al., 2009). Given that highly
congruent findings were observed for all four cohorts (grades 9 through 12), the cohorts were
combined. High general intelligence and an intellectual orientation dominated by high
mathematical and spatial abilities, relative to verbal ability, were salient characteristics of
individuals who pursued advanced education credentials in science, technology, engineering,
and mathematics (STEM). These participants occupy a region in the intellectual space defined
by the dimensions of ability level and ability pattern different from participants who earn
undergraduate and graduate degrees in other domains.
Two major differences distinguish the STEM from the non-STEM educational groups. First,
students who ultimately secure educational credentials in STEM domains are more capable
than those earning degrees in other areas, especially in nonverbal intellectual abilities. Within
all educational domains, more advanced degrees are associated with more general and
specific abilities. Second, for all three STEM educational groupings (and the advanced degrees
within these groupings), spatial ability > verbal abilitywhereas for all others, ranging from
349
Figure 2. Frey and Detterman (2004) have shown that the SAT composite is an excellent measure of
general intelligence for high ability samples; here, intellectually precocious youth were assessed on
this composite at age 13 and separated into quartiles (Lubinski, 2009). The mean age 13 SAT composite
scores for each quartile are displayed in parentheses along the x-axis. Odds ratios comparing the
likelihood of each outcome in the top (Q4) and bottom (Q1) SAT quartiles are displayed at the end of
every respective criterion line. An asterisk indicates that the 95% confidence interval for the odds ratio
did not include 1.0, meaning that the likelihood of the outcome in Q4 was significantly greater than in
Q1. These SAT assessments by age 13 were conducted before the re-centering of the SAT in the
mid-1990s (i.e., during the 1970s and early 1980s); at that time, cutting scores for the top 1 in 200 were
SAT-M 500, SAT-V 430; for the top 1 in 10,000, cutting scores were SAT-M 700, SAT-V 630 by age
13.
education to biology, spatial ability < verbal ability (with business being an exception). Young
adolescents who subsequently secured advanced educational credentials in STEM manifested
a spatialverbal ability pattern opposite that of those who ultimately earned educational
credentials in other areas. These same patterns play out in occupational arenas in predictable
ways (Kell, Lubinski, Benbow, & Steiger, 2013b). In the past decade, individual differences
within the top 1% of ability have revealed that these patterns portend important outcomes
350
Figure 3. Average z scores of participants on verbal, spatial, and mathematical ability for terminal bachelors degrees, terminal
masters degrees, and doctoral degrees are plotted by field. The groups are plotted in rank order of their normative standing on
g (verbal [V] + spatial [S] + mathematical [M]) along the x-axis, and the line with the arrows from each field pointing to it indicates
on the continuous scale where they are in general mental ability in z-score units. This figure is standardized in relation to all
participants with complete ability data at the time of initial testing. Respective Ns for each group (men + women) were as follows
for bachelors, masters, and doctorates, respectively: engineering (1,143, 339, 71), physical science (633, 182, 202), math/
computer science (877, 266, 57), biological science (740, 182, 79), humanities (3,226, 695, 82), social science (2,609, 484, 158),
arts (615, 171 [masters only]), business (2,386, 191 [masters + doctorate]), and education (3,403, 1,505 [masters + doctorate]).
For education and business, masters degrees and doctorates were combined because the doctorate samples for these groups
were too small to obtain stability (N = 30). For the specific N for each degree by sex that composed the major groupings, see
Appendix A in Wai et al. (2009).
for technical innovation and creativity, with respect to both ability level (Lubinski, 2009; Park
et al., 2008) and pattern (Kell et al. 2013a, Kell et al., 2013b; Park et al., 2007). Level of general
ability has predictive validity for the magnitude of accomplishment (how extraordinary they
are), whereas ability pattern has predictive validity for the nature of accomplishments (the
domains they occur in).
Interests
351
Just because people can do something well doesnt mean they like doing it. Psychological
information on motivational differences (personal passions) is needed to understand
attractions and aversions, different ways to create a meaningful life, and how differential
development unfolds. Even people with the same intellectual equipment vary widely in their
motivational proclivities. Paraphrasing Plato, different horses drive intellectual development
down different life paths. The lower left region of Figure 1 provides the dominant model of
vocational interests, one developed from decades of large-scale longitudinal and crosscultural research. It shows a hexagonal structure consisting of six general themes: Realistic
(R) = working with gadgets and things, the outdoors, need for structure; Investigative (I) =
scientific pursuits, especially mathematics and the physical science, an interest in theory;
Artistic (A) = creative expression in art and writing, little need for structure; Social (S) = people
interests, the helping professions, teaching, nursing, counseling; Enterprising (E) = likes
leadership roles directed toward economic objectives; and Conventional (C) = liking of wellstructured environments and clear chains of command, such as office practices.
These
six
themes
covary
inversely with the distance

between them, hence, the
hexagonal structure circling
around R-I-A-S-E-C. John Holland
(1959, 1996) justifiably receives
most of the credit for this model
(Day & Rounds, 1998), although
Guilford et al. (1954) uncovered
a similar framework based on
military data and labeled them
Mechanical, Scientific, Aesthetic
Expression,
Social
Welfare,
Its pretty easy to think of things youre skilled at but dont enjoy doing. However,
Business, and Clerical. Although
can you think of something youre not very skilled at but still enjoy doing? [Image:
each theme contains multiple
Ed Gregory]
subcomponents, Hollands hexagon,

like the radex of cognitive abilities, captures the general outlines of the educational/
occupational interest domain, but there are molecular strands of intellective and interest
dimensions that add nuance to these general outlines (for abilities, see Carroll, 1993; for
interests, see Dawis, 1991; Savickas & Spokane, 1999). There are also super-ordinal themes
such as people versus things (Su, Rounds, & Armstrong, 2009), which manifest arguably the
largest sex-difference on a psychological dimension of human individuality.
At superordinate levels of people versus things or data versus ideas (Prediger, 1982), or at the
352
RIASEC level of analysis, interest dimensions covary in different ways with mathematical,
spatial, and verbal abilities (Ackerman, 1996; Ackerman & Heggestad, 1997; Schmidt, Lubinski,
& Benbow, 1998); and intense selection, when exclusively restricted to a specific ability, will
eventuate in distinctive interest profiles across the three abilities with implications for
differential development (Humphreys, Lubinski, & Yao, 1993; Webb, Lubinski, & Benbow,
2007). Although correlations between abilities and interests are only in the .20.30 range,
when selection is extreme, distinct profiles emerge and reflect different types (Lubinski &
Benbow, 2000, 2006). For basic science, this shows how ostensibly different kinds of
intelligence at the extreme do not stem from different qualities, but rather from endpoint
extremes within a multivariate space of systematic sources of individual differences, which
pull with them constellations of nonintellectual personal attributes. For applied practice,
skilled educationalvocational counselors routinely combine information on abilities and
interests to distill learning and work environments that individuals are likely to thrive in
competence and experience fulfillment (Dawis, 1992; Rounds & Tracy, 1990). For further
insights, a final class of important psychological determinants is needed, however.
Mastery
As all parents of more than one
child know, there are huge
individual differences in the
extent to which individuals
embrace
opportunities
for
positive development. Seasoned

faculty at top institutions for
graduate training have observed
the same phenonemonamong
highly select graduate students,
task commitment varies trem
endously. Even among the
intellectual
elite,
individual
differences in accomplishments
stem from more than abilities,
interests,
and
opportunity;
conative
determinants
are
According to some researchers, it takes about 10,000 hours of practicing a skill
critical catalysts. Galton (1869)
to become an expert in it. Of course, ones natural ability would vary this amount.
called it zeal, Hull (1928)
However, either way, get to practicing! [Image: Craig Berry]
called it industriousness, and
353
Webb (1915) called it will. Such labels as grit or strivers are sometimes used to define
resources that people call upon to mobilize their abilities and interests over protracted
intervals. Conative factors are distinct from abilities and preferences, having more to do with
individual differences in energy or psychological tempo rather than the content of what people
can do or how rapidly they learn. Indeed, characteristic across scientific studies of expertise
and world-class accomplishment are attributes specifically indicative of indefatigable
capacities for study and work. This is an underappreciated class of individual differences,
although Ackerman (1996) has discussed typical intellectual engagement (TIE) and Dawis and
Lofquist (1984) have discussed pace and endurance. This class of attributes simply has not
received the attention it deserves.
Nevertheless, in the field of talent development and identification, the greatest consensus
appears to be found on the topic of conation, rather than cognition or affect. Exceptional
performers are deeply committed to what they do, and they devote a great deal of time to
doing it. Regardless of the theorist, Howard Gardner, Dean Simonton, Arthur Jensen, Anders
Erikson, and Harriet Zuckerman all agree that this is a uniform characteristic of world class
performers at the top of their game. In the words of Dean Simonton and E. O. Wilson,
respectively:
[M]aking it big [becoming a star] is a career. People who wish to do so must organize their
whole lives around a single enterprise. They must be monomaniacs, even megalomaniacs,
about their pursuits. They must start early, labor continuously, and never give up the
cause. Success is not for the lazy, procrastinating, or mercurial. (Simonton, 1994, p. 181)
I have been presumptuous enough to counsel new Ph.D.s in biology as follows: If you
choose an academic career you will need forty hours a week to perform teaching and
administrative duties, another twenty hours on top of that to conduct respectable
research, and still another twenty hours to accomplish really important research. This
formula is not boot-camp rhetoric. (Wilson, 1998, pp. 5556)
Figure 4 contains data from two extraordinary populations of individuals (Lubinski, Benbow,
Webb, Bleske-Rechek, 2006). One group consists of a sample of profoundly gifted adolescents
identified at age 12 as in the top 1 in 10,000 in mathematical or verbal reasoning ability; they
were subsequently tracked for 20 years. Members of the second group were identified in their
early twenties, as first- or second-year STEM graduate students enrolled in a top-15 U.S.
university; they were subsequently tracked for 10 years. Now in their mid-thirties, subjects
were asked how much they would be willing to work in their ideal job and, second, how much
they actually do work. The data are clear. There are huge individual differences associated
with how much time people are willing to invest in their career development and work. The
354
STEM graduate students are particularly interesting inasmuch as in their mid-twenties they
were assessed on abilities, interests, and personality, and both sexes were found to be highly
similar on these psychological dimensions (Lubinski, Benbow, Shea, Eftekhari-Sanjani, &
Halvorson, 2001). But subsequently, over the life span, they markedly diverged in time
allocation and life priorities (Ceci & Williams, 2011; Ferriman, Lubinski, & Benbow, 2009).
Figure 4: Hours worked per week (top) and hours willing to work per week in ideal job
(bottom) for top STEM Graduate Students (GS) and Profoundly Gifted Talent Search (TS)
participants now in their mid-thirties (from Lubinski et al., 2006).
These figures reveal huge noncognitive individual differences among individuals with
exceptional intellectual talent. One only needs to imagine the ticking of a tenure clock and
the differences likely to accrue over a 5-year interval between two faculty working 45- versus
65-hour weeks (other things being equal). Making partner in a prestigious law firm is no
355
different, nor is achieving genuine excellence in most intellectually demanding areas.
Conclusion
Since Spearman (1904) advanced the idea of general intelligence, a steady stream of
systematic scientific knowledge has accrued in the psychological study of human individuality.
We have learned that the intellect is organized hierarchically, that interests are
multidimensional and only covary slightly with abilities, and that individual differences are
huge in terms of investing in personal development. When these aspects of human
psychological diversity are combined with commensurate attention devoted to opportunities
for learning, work, and personal growth, a framework for understanding human development
begins to take shape. Because frameworks may be found that emphasize only one set of these
determinants, this essay closes with the recommendationbased on the empirical evidence
to stress all three.
356
Outside Resources
Book: Human Cognitive Abilities, by John Carroll constitutes a definitive treatment of the
nature and hierarchical organization of cognitive abilities, based on a conceptual and
empirical analysis of the past centurys factor analytic research.
http://www.amazon.com/Human-Cognitive-Abilities-Factor-Analytic-Studies/dp/0521382750
/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1390944516&sr=1-1&keywords=human+cognitive+abilities
Book: Human Intelligence, by Earl Hunt, provides a superb overview of empirical research
on cognitive abilities.
Collectively, these three sources capture the psychological
significance of what this important domain of human psychological diversity affords.

http://www.amazon.com/Human-Intelligence-Earl-Hunt/dp/0521707811
Book: The g Factor, by Arthur Jensen, explicates the depth and breadth of the central
dimension running through all cognitive abilities, the summit of Carrolls (1993) hierarchical
organization: general intelligence (or g). Revealed here is the practical and scientific
significance for coming to terms with a rich array of critical human outcomes found in
schools, work, and everyday life.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Factor-Evolution-Behavior-Intelligence/dp/0275961036
Book: For additional reading on the history of intellectual assessment, read Century of
Ability Testing, by Robert Thorndike and David F. Lohman
http://www.amazon.com/Century-Ability-Testing-Robert-Thorndike/dp/0829251561
1. Why are abilities and interests insufficient for conceptualizing educational and
occupational development?
2. Why does the model of talent development discussed in this module place equal emphasis
on assessing the individual and assessing the environment.
3. What is the most widely agreed on empirical finding, among investigators who study the
development of truly outstanding careers?
4. Besides what you can do and what you like, what other factors are important to consider
when making choices about your personal development in learning and work settings?
357
Vocabulary
g or general mental ability
The general factor common to all cognitive ability measures, a very general mental capacity
that, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly,
comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly, and learn from experience. It is not merely book
learning, a narrow academic skill, or test-taking smarts. Rather, it reflects a broader and
deeper capability for comprehending our surroundingscatching on, making sense of
things, or figuring out what to do (Gottfredson, 1997, p. 13).
Satisfaction
Correspondence between an individuals needs or preferences and the rewards offered by
the environment.
Satisfactoriness
Correspondence between an individuals abilities and the ability requirements of the
environment.
Specific abilities
Cognitive abilities that contain an appreciable component of g or general ability, but also
contain a large component of a more content-focused talent such as mathematical, spatial,
or verbal ability; patterns of specific abilities channel development down different paths as a
function of an individuals relative strengths and weaknesses.
Under-determined or misspecified causal models
Psychological frameworks that miss or neglect to include one or more of the critical
determinants of the phenomenon under analysis.
358
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Personality and Identity (11/3)
23
Personality Traits
Edward Diener & Richard E. Lucas
Personality traits reflect peoples characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
Personality traits imply consistency and stabilitysomeone who scores high on a specific trait
like Extraversion is expected to be sociable in different situations and over time. Thus, trait
psychology rests on the idea that people differ from one another in terms of where they stand
on a set of basic trait dimensions that persist over time and across situations. The most widely
used system of traits is called the Five-Factor Model. This system includes five broad traits
that can be remembered with the acronym OCEAN: Openness, Conscientiousness,
Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. Each of the major traits from the Big Five can
be divided into facets to give a more fine-grained analysis of someone's personality. In addition,
some trait theorists argue that there are other traits that cannot be completely captured by
the Five-Factor Model. Critics of the trait concept argue that people do not act consistently
from one situation to the next and that people are very influenced by situational forces. Thus,
one major debate in the field concerns the relative power of peoples traits versus the situations
in which they find themselves as predictors of their behavior.
Learning Objectives
List and describe the Big Five (OCEAN) personality traits that comprise the Five-Factor
Model of personality.
Describe how the facet approach extends broad personality traits.

Explain a critique of the personality-trait concept.
Describe in what ways personality traits may be manifested in everyday behavior.
Describe each of the Big Five personality traits, and the low and high end of the dimension.
Give examples of each of the Big Five personality traits, including both a low and high
example.
364
Personality Traits
Describe how traits and social learning combine to predict your social activities.
Describe your theory of how personality traits get refined by social learning.
Introduction
When we observe people around us, one of the first things that strikes us is how different
people are from one another. Some people are very talkative while others are very quiet.
Some are active whereas others are couch potatoes. Some worry a lot, others almost never
seem anxious. Each time we use one of these words, words like talkative, quiet, active,
or anxious, to describe those around us, we are talking about a persons personalitythe
characteristic ways that people differ from one another. Personality psychologists try to
describe and understand these differences.
Although there are many ways to think about
the personalities that people have, Gordon
Allport and other personologists claimed
that we can best understand the differences
between individuals by understanding their
personality traits. Personality traits reflect
basic dimensions on which people differ
(Matthews,
Deary,
&
Whiteman,
2003).
According to trait psychologists, there are a

limited
number
of
these
dimensions
(dimensions like Extraversion, Conscientiousness,

or Agreeableness), and each individual falls
somewhere on each dimension, meaning that
they could be low, medium, or high on any
specific trait.
An important feature of personality traits is
that they reflect continuous distributions
rather than distinct personality types. This
means that when personality psychologists
talk about Introverts and Extraverts, they are
not really talking about two distinct types of
Personality is made up of traits-- identifiable and relatively

stable characteristics-- that set each individual person apart
from others. [Images: laura dye]
365
Personality Traits
people who are completely and qualitatively different from one another. Instead, they are
talking about people who score relatively low or relatively high along a continuous distribution.
In fact, when personality psychologists measure traits like Extraversion, they typically find
that most people score somewhere in the middle, with smaller numbers showing more
extreme levels. The figure below shows the distribution of Extraversion scores from a survey
of thousands of people. As you can see, most people report being moderately, but not
extremely, extraverted, with fewer people reporting very high or very low scores.
There are three criteria that are
characterize personality traits: (1)
consistency, (2) stability, and (3)
individual differences.
1. To
have
individuals
personality
must
be
trait,
somewhat
consistent across situations in their

behaviors related to the trait. For
example, if they are talkative at
home, they tend also to be talkative
at work.
2. Individuals with a trait are also
somewhat
stable
over
time
in
behaviors related to the trait. If they

Figure 1. Distribution of Extraversion Scores in a Sample Higher bars
mean that more people have scores of that level. This figure shows that
are talkative, for example, at age 30,

they will also tend to be talkative at
most people score towards the middle of the extraversion scale, with
age 40.
fewer people who are highly extraverted or highly introverted.
3. People differ from one another on

behaviors related to the trait. Using
speech is not a personality trait and neither is walking on two feetvirtually all individuals
do these activities, and there are almost no individual differences. But people differ on
how frequently they talk and how active they are, and thus personality traits such as
Talkativeness and Activity Level do exist.
A challenge of the trait approach was to discover the major traits on which all people differ.
Scientists for many decades generated hundreds of new traits, so that it was soon difficult to
keep track and make sense of them. For instance, one psychologist might focus on individual
differences in friendliness, whereas another might focus on the highly related concept of
sociability. Scientists began seeking ways to reduce the number of traits in some systematic
366
Personality Traits
way and to discover the basic traits that describe most of the differences between people.
The way that Gordon Allport and his colleague Henry Odbert approached this was to search
the dictionary for all descriptors of personality (Allport & Odbert, 1936). Their approach was
guided by the lexical hypothesis, which states that all important personality characteristics
should be reflected in the language that we use to describe other people. Therefore, if we
want to understand the fundamental ways in which people differ from one another, we can
turn to the words that people use to describe one another. So if we want to know what words
people use to describe one another, where should we look? Allport and Odbert looked in the
most obvious placethe dictionary. Specifically, they took all the personality descriptors that
they could find in the dictionary (they started with almost 18,000 words but quickly reduced
that list to a more manageable number) and then used statistical techniques to determine
which words went together. In other words, if everyone who said that they were friendly
also said that they were sociable, then this might mean that personality psychologists would
only need a single trait to capture individual differences in these characteristics. Statistical
techniques were used to determine whether a small number of dimensions might underlie
all of the thousands of words we use to describe people.
The Five-Factor Model of Personality

Research that used the lexical approach showed that many of the personality descriptors
found in the dictionary do indeed overlap. In other words, many of the words that we use to
describe people are synonyms. Thus, if we want to know what a person is like, we do not
necessarily need to ask how sociable they are, how friendly they are, and how gregarious they
are. Instead, because sociable people tend to be friendly and gregarious, we can summarize
this personality dimension with a single term. Someone who is sociable, friendly, and
gregarious would typically be described as an Extravert. Once we know she is an extravert,
we can assume that she is sociable, friendly, and gregarious.
Statistical methods (specifically, a technique called factor analysis) helped to determine
whether a small number of dimensions underlie the diversity of words that people like Allport
and Odbert identified. The most widely accepted system to emerge from this approach was
The Big Five or Five-Factor Model (Goldberg, 1990; McCrae & John, 1992; McCrae & Costa,
1987). The Big Five comprises five major traits shown in the Figure 2 below. A way to remember
these five is with the acronym OCEAN (O is for Openness; C is for Conscientiousness; E is for
Extraversion; A is for Agreeableness; N is for Neuroticism). Figure 3 provides descriptions of
people who would score high and low on each of these traits.
Personality Traits
367
Figure 2. Descriptions of the Big Five Personality Traits
Scores on the Big Five traits are mostly independent. That means that a persons standing on
one trait tells very little about their standing on the other traits of the Big Five. For example,
a person can be extremely high in Extraversion and be either high or low on Neuroticism.
Similarly, a person can be low in Agreeableness and be either high or low in Conscientiousness.
Thus, in the Five-Factor Model, you need five scores to describe most of an individuals
personality.
In the Appendix to this module, we present a short scale to assess the Five-Factor Model of
personality (Donnellan, Oswald, Baird, & Lucas, 2006). You can take this test to see where you
stand in terms of your Big Five scores. John Johnson has also created a helpful website that
has personality scales that can be used and taken by the general public:
http://www.personal.psu.edu/j5j/IPIP/ipipneo120.htm
After seeing your scores, you can judge for yourself whether you think such tests are valid.
Traits are important and interesting because they describe stable patterns of behavior that
persist for long periods of time (Caspi, Roberts, & Shiner, 2005). Importantly, these stable
patterns can have broad-ranging consequences for many areas of our life (Roberts, Kuncel,
Shiner, Caspi, & Goldberg, 2007). For instance, think about the factors that determine success
in college. If you were asked to guess what factors predict good grades in college, you might
guess something like intelligence. This guess would be correct, but we know much more about
who is likely to do well. Specifically, personality researchers have also found the personality
traits like Conscientiousness play an important role in college and beyond, probably because
highly conscientious individuals study hard, get their work done on time, and are less
distracted by nonessential activities that take time away from school work. In addition, highly
368
Personality Traits
Figure 3. Example behaviors for those scoring low and high for the big 5 traits
conscientious people are often healthier than people low in conscientiousness because they
are more likely to maintain healthy diets, to exercise, and to follow basic safety procedures
like wearing seat belts or bicycle helmets. Over the long term, this consistent pattern of
behaviors can add up to meaningful differences in health and longevity. Thus, personality
traits are not just a useful way to describe people you know; they actually help psychologists
predict how good a worker someone will be, how long he or she will live, and the types of jobs
and activities the person will enjoy. Thus, there is growing interest in personality psychology
among psychologists who work in applied settings, such as health psychology or
organizational psychology.
Facets of Traits (Subtraits)

So how does it feel to be told that your entire personality can be summarized with scores on
just five personality traits? Do you think these five scores capture the complexity of your own
and others characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors? Most people would
probably say no, pointing to some exception in their behavior that goes against the general
pattern that others might see. For instance, you may know people who are warm and friendly
and find it easy to talk with strangers at a party yet are terrified if they have to perform in
front of others or speak to large groups of people. The fact that there are different ways of
being extraverted or conscientious shows that there is value in considering lower-level units
of personality that are more specific than the Big Five traits. These more specific, lower-level
369
Personality Traits
units of personality are often called facets.

To give you a sense of what these narrow
units are like, Figure 4 shows facets for each
of the Big Five traits. It is important to note
that although personality researchers
generally agree about the value of the Big
Five traits as a way to summarize ones
personality, there is no widely accepted list
of facets that should be studied. The list seen
here, based on work by researchers Paul
Costa and Jeff McCrae, thus reflects just one
possible list among many. It should,
however, give you an idea of some of the
facets making up each of the Five-Factor
Model.
Facets can be useful because they provide
more specific descriptions of what a person
is like. For instance, if we take our friend who
loves parties but hates public speaking, we
might say that this person scores high on the
gregariousness and warmth facets of
extraversion, while scoring lower on facets
such as assertiveness or excitementseeking. This precise profile of facet scores
not only provides a better description, it
might also allow us to better predict how this
friend will do in a variety of different jobs (for
example, jobs that require public speaking
versus jobs that involve one-on-one
Figure 4. Facets of Traits
interactions with customers; Paunonen &
Ashton, 2001). Because different facets
within a broad, global trait like extraversion tend to go together (those who are gregarious
are often but not always assertive), the broad trait often provides a useful summary of what
a person is like. But when we really want to know a person, facet scores add to our knowledge
in important ways.
Other Traits Beyond the Five-Factor Model
Personality Traits
370
Despite the popularity of the Five-Factor Model, it is certainly not the only model that exists.
Some suggest that there are more than five major traits, or perhaps even fewer. For example,
in one of the first comprehensive models to be proposed, Hans Eysenck suggested that
Extraversion and Neuroticism are most important. Eysenck believed that by combining
peoples standing on these two major traits, we could account for many of the differences in
personality that we see in people (Eysenck, 1981). So for instance, a neurotic introvert would
be shy and nervous, while a stable introvert might avoid social situations and prefer solitary
activities, but he may do so with a calm, steady attitude and little anxiety or emotion.
Interestingly, Eysenck attempted to link these two major dimensions to underlying differences
in peoples biology. For instance, he suggested that introverts experienced too much sensory
stimulation and arousal, which made them want to seek out quiet settings and less stimulating
environments. More recently, Jeffrey Gray suggested that these two broad traits are related
to fundamental reward and avoidance systems in the brainextraverts might be motivated
to seek reward and thus exhibit assertive, reward-seeking behavior, whereas people high in
neuroticism might be motivated to avoid punishment and thus may experience anxiety as a
result of their heightened awareness of the threats in the world around them (Gray, 1981.
This model has since been updated; see Gray & McNaughton, 2000). These early theories
have led to a burgeoning interest in identifying the physiological underpinnings of the
individual differences that we observe.
Another revision of the Big Five is the HEXACO model of traits (Ashton & Lee, 2007). This model
is similar to the Big Five, but it posits slightly different versions of some of the traits, and its
proponents argue that one important class of individual differences was omitted from the
Five-Factor Model. The HEXACO adds Honesty-Humility as a sixth dimension of personality.
People high in this trait are sincere, fair, and modest, whereas those low in the trait are
manipulative, narcissistic, and self-centered. Thus, trait theorists are agreed that personality
traits are important in understanding behavior, but there are still debates on the exact number
and composition of the traits that are most important.
There are other important traits that are not included in comprehensive models like the Big
Five. Although the five factors capture much that is important about personality, researchers
have suggested other traits that capture interesting aspects of our behavior. In Figure 5 below
we present just a few, out of hundreds, of the other traits that have been studied by
personologists.
Not all of the above traits are currently popular with scientists, yet each of them has
experienced popularity in the past. Although the Five-Factor Model has been the target of
more rigorous research than some of the traits above, these additional personality
characteristics give a good idea of the wide range of behaviors and attitudes that traits can
Personality Traits
371
Figure 5. Other Traits Beyond Those Included in the Big Five
cover.
The Person-Situation Debate and Alternatives to the Trait Perspective

The ideas described in this module should probably seem familiar, if not obvious to you. When
asked to think about what our friends, enemies, family members, and colleagues are like,
some of the first things that come to mind are their personality characteristics. We might think
372
Personality Traits
about how warm and helpful our first

teacher was, how irresponsible and
careless our brother is, or how
demanding and insulting our first
boss was. Each of these descriptors
reflects a personality trait, and most
of us generally think that the
descriptions
that
we
use
for
individuals accurately reflect their

characteristic pattern of thoughts,
feelings, and behaviors, or in other
The way people behave is only, in part, a product of their natural
words, their personality.
personality. Situations also influence how a person behaves. [Photo:

woodleywonderworks]
But what if this idea were wrong?
What if our belief in personality traits were an illusion and people are not consistent from one
situation to the next? This was a possibility that shook the foundation of personality psychology
in the late 1960s when Walter Mischel published a book called Personality and Assessment
(1968). In this book, Mischel suggested that if one looks closely at peoples behavior across
many different situations, the consistency is really not that impressive. In other words, children
who cheat on tests at school may steadfastly follow all rules when playing games and may
never tell a lie to their parents. In other words, he suggested, there may not be any general
trait of honesty that links these seemingly related behaviors. Furthermore, Mischel suggested
that observers may believe that broad personality traits like honesty exist, when in fact, this
belief is an illusion. The debate that followed the publication of Mischels book was called the
person-situation debate because it pitted the power of personality against the power of
situational factors as determinants of the behavior that people exhibit.
Because of the findings that Mischel emphasized, many psychologists focused on an
alternative to the trait perspective. Instead of studying broad, context-free descriptions, like
the trait terms weve described so far, Mischel thought that psychologists should focus on
peoples distinctive reactions to specific situations. For instance, although there may not be
a broad and general trait of honesty, some children may be especially likely to cheat on a test
when the risk of being caught is low and the rewards for cheating are high. Others might be
motivated by the sense of risk involved in cheating and may do so even when the rewards
are not very high. Thus, the behavior itself results from the childs unique evaluation of the
risks and rewards present at that moment, along with her evaluation of her abilities and values.
Because of this, the same child might act very differently in different situations. Thus, Mischel
thought that specific behaviors were driven by the interaction between very specific,
psychologically meaningful features of the situation in which people found themselves, the
373
Personality Traits
persons unique way of perceiving that situation, and his or her abilities for dealing with it.
Mischel and others argued that it was these social-cognitive processes that underlie peoples
reactions to specific situations that provide some consistency when situational features are
the same. If so, then studying these broad traits might be more fruitful than cataloging and
measuring narrow, context-free traits like Extraversion or Neuroticism.
In the years after the publication of Mischels (1968) book, debates raged about whether
personality truly exists, and if so, how it should be studied. And, as is often the case, it turns
out that a more moderate middle ground than what the situationists proposed could be
reached. It is certainly true, as Mischel pointed out, that a persons behavior in one specific
situation is not a good guide to how that person will behave in a very different specific situation.
Someone who is extremely talkative at one specific party may sometimes be reticent to speak
up during class and may even act like a wallflower at a different party. But this does not mean
that personality does not exist, nor does it mean that peoples behavior is completely
determined by situational factors. Indeed, research conducted after the person-situation
debate shows that on average, the effect of the situation is about as large as that of
personality traits. However, it is also true that if psychologists assess a broad range of
behaviors across many different situations, there are general tendencies that emerge.
Personality traits give an indication about how people will act on average, but frequently they
are not so good at predicting how a person will act in a specific situation at a certain moment
in time. Thus, to best capture broad traits, one must assess aggregate behaviors, averaged
over time and across many different types of situations. Most modern personality researchers
agree that there is a place for broad personality traits and for the narrower units such as those
studied by Walter Mischel.
Appendix
The Mini-IPIP Scale
(Donnellan, Oswald, Baird, & Lucas, 2006)
Instructions: Below are phrases describing peoples behaviors. Please use the rating scale
below to describe how accurately each statement describes you. Describe yourself as you
generally are now, not as you wish to be in the future. Describe yourself as you honestly see
yourself, in relation to other people you know of the same sex as you are, and roughly your
same age. Please read each statement carefully, and put a number from 1 to 5 next to it to
describe how accurately the statement describes you.
Personality Traits
374
1 = Very inaccurate
2 = Moderately inaccurate
3 = Neither inaccurate nor accurate
4 = Moderately accurate
5 = Very accurate
1. _______ Am the life of the party (E)
2. _______ Sympathize with others feelings (A)
3. _______ Get chores done right away (C)
4. _______ Have frequent mood swings (N)
5. _______ Have a vivid imagination (O)
6. _______Dont talk a lot (E)
7. _______ Am not interested in other peoples problems (A)
8. _______ Often forget to put things back in their proper place (C)
9. _______ Am relaxed most of the time (N)
10. ______ Am not interested in abstract ideas (O)
11. ______ Talk to a lot of different people at parties (E)
12. ______ Feel others emotions (A)
13. ______ Like order (C)
14. ______ Get upset easily (N)
15. ______ Have difficulty understanding abstract ideas (O)
16. ______ Keep in the background (E)
17. ______ Am not really interested in others (A)
18. ______ Make a mess of things (C)
19. ______ Seldom feel blue (N)
20. ______ Do not have a good imagination (O)
Scoring: The first thing you must do is to reverse the items that are worded in the opposite
Personality Traits
375
direction. In order to do this, subtract the number you put for that item from 6. So if you put
a 4, for instance, it will become a 2. Cross out the score you put when you took the scale, and
put the new number in representing your score subtracted from the number 6.
Items to be reversed in this way: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20
Next, you need to add up the scores for each of the five OCEAN scales (including the reversed
numbers where relevant). Each OCEAN score will be the sum of four items. Place the sum
next to each scale below.
__________ Openness: Add items 5, 10, 15, 20
__________ Conscientiousness: Add items 3, 8, 13, 18
__________ Extraversion: Add items 1, 6, 11, 16
__________ Agreeableness: Add items 2, 7, 12, 17
__________ Neuroticism: Add items 4, 9,14, 19
Compare your scores to the norms below to see where you stand on each scale. If you are
low on a trait, it means you are the opposite of the trait label. For example, low on Extraversion
is Introversion, low on Openness is Conventional, and low on Agreeableness is Assertive.
1920 Extremely High, 1718 Very High, 1416 High,
1113 Neither high nor low; in the middle, 810 Low, 67 Very low, 45 Extremely low
376
Personality Traits
Outside Resources
Web: International Personality Item Pool
http://ipip.ori.org/
Web: John Johnson personality scales
http://www.personal.psu.edu/j5j/IPIP/ipipneo120.htm
Web: Personality trait systems compared
http://www.personalityresearch.org/bigfive/goldberg.html
Web: Sam Gosling website
http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/faculty/gosling/samgosling.htm
1. Consider different combinations of the Big Five, such as O (Low), C (High), E (Low), A (High),
and N (Low). What would this person be like? Do you know anyone who is like this? Can
you select politicians, movie stars, and other famous people and rate them on the Big Five?
2. How do you think learning and inherited personality traits get combined in adult
personality?
3. Can you think of instances where people do not act consistentlywhere their personality
traits are not good predictors of their behavior?
4. Has your personality changed over time, and in what ways?
5. Can you think of a personality trait not mentioned in this module that describes how people
differ from one another?
6. When do extremes in personality traits become harmful, and when are they unusual but
productive of good outcomes?
377
Personality Traits
Vocabulary
Agreeableness
A personality trait that reflects a persons tendency to be compassionate, cooperative, warm,
and caring to others. People low in agreeableness tend to be rude, hostile, and to pursue their
own interests over those of others.
Conscientiousness
A personality trait that reflects a persons tendency to be careful, organized, hardworking, and
to follow rules.
Continuous distributions
Characteristics can go from low to high, with all different intermediate values possible. One
does not simply have the trait or not have it, but can possess varying amounts of it.
Extraversion
A personality trait that reflects a persons tendency to be sociable, outgoing, active, and
assertive.
Facets
Broad personality traits can be broken down into narrower facets or aspects of the trait. For
example, extraversion has several facets, such as sociability, dominance, risk-taking and so
forth.
Factor analysis
A statistical technique for grouping similar things together according to how highly they are
associated.
Five-Factor Model
(also called the Big Five) The Five-Factor Model is a widely accepted model of personality traits.
Advocates of the model believe that much of the variability in peoples thoughts, feelings, and
behaviors can be summarized with five broad traits. These five traits are Openness,
Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism.
HEXACO model
The HEXACO model is an alternative to the Five-Factor Model. The HEXACO model includes
six traits, five of which are variants of the traits included in the Big Five (Emotionality [E],
Extraversion [X], Agreeableness [A], Conscientiousness [C], and Openness [O]). The sixth
Personality Traits
378
factor, Honesty-Humility [H], is unique to this model.

Independent
Two characteristics or traits are separate from one another-- a person can be high on one
and low on the other, or vice-versa. Some correlated traits are relatively independent in that
although there is a tendency for a person high on one to also be high on the other, this is not
always the case.
Lexical hypothesis
The lexical hypothesis is the idea that the most important differences between people will be
encoded in the language that we use to describe people. Therefore, if we want to know which
personality traits are most important, we can look to the language that people use to describe
themselves and others.
Neuroticism
A personality trait that reflects the tendency to be interpersonally sensitive and the tendency
to experience negative emotions like anxiety, fear, sadness, and anger.
Openness to Experience
A personality trait that reflects a persons tendency to seek out and to appreciate new things,
including thoughts, feelings, values, and experiences.
Personality
Enduring predispositions that characterize a person, such as styles of thought, feelings and
behavior.
Personality traits
Enduring dispositions in behavior that show differences across individuals, and which tend
to characterize the person across varying types of situations.
Person-situation debate
The person-situation debate is a historical debate about the relative power of personality
traits as compared to situational influences on behavior. The situationist critique, which
started the person-situation debate, suggested that people overestimate the extent to which
personality traits are consistent across situations.
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Personality Traits
References
Allport, G. W., & Odbert, H. S. (1936). Trait names: A psycholexical study. Psychological
Monographs, 47, 211.
Ashton, M. C., & Lee, K. (2007). Empirical, theoretical, and practical advantages of the HEXACO
model of personality structure. Personality and Social Psychological Review, 11, 150166.
Caspi, A., Roberts, B. W., & Shiner, R. L. (2005). Personality development: Stability and change.
Annual Reviews of Psychology, 56, 453484.
Donnellan, M. B., Oswald, F. L., Baird, B. M., & Lucas, R. E. (2006). The mini-IPIP scales: Tinyyet-effective measures of the Big Five factors of personality. Psychological Assessment, 18,
192203.
Eysenck, H. J. (1981). A model for personality.New York: Springer Verlag.
Goldberg, L. R. (1990). An alternative description of personality: The Big Five personality traits.
Gray, J. A. (1981). A critique of Eysencks theory of personality. In H. J. Eysenck (Ed.), A Model
for Personality (pp. 246-276). New York: Springer Verlag.
Gray, J. A. & McNaughton, N. (2000). The neuropsychology of anxiety: An enquiry into the functions
of the septo-hippocampal system (second edition).Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Matthews, G., Deary, I. J., & Whiteman, M. C. (2003). Personality traits. Cambridge, UK:
Cambridge University Press.
McCrae, R. R., & Costa, P. T. (1987). Validation of the five-factor model of personality across
instruments and observers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 8190.
McCrae, R. R. & John, O. P. (1992). An introduction to the five-factor model and its applications.
Journal of Personality, 60, 175215.
Mischel, W. (1968). Personality and assessment. New York: John Wiley.
Paunonen, S. V., & Ashton, M. S. (2001). Big five factors and facets and the prediction of
behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 524539.
Roberts, B. W., Kuncel, N. R., Shiner, R., Caspi, A., & Golberg, L. R. (2007). The power of
personality: The comparative validity of personality traits, socioeconomic status, and
cognitive ability for predicting important life outcomes. Perspectives on Psychological Science,
2, 313-345.
24
Self and Identity
Dan P. McAdams
For human beings, the self is what happens when I encounters Me. The central
psychological question of selfhood, then, is this: How does a person apprehend and
understand who he or she is? Over the past 100 years, psychologists have approached the
study of self (and the related concept of identity) in many different ways, but three central
metaphors for the self repeatedly emerge. First, the self may be seen as a social actor, who
enacts roles and displays traits by performing behaviors in the presence of others. Second,
the self is a motivated agent, who acts upon inner desires and formulates goals, values, and
plans to guide behavior in the future. Third, the self eventually becomes an autobiographical
author, too, who takes stock of lifepast, present, and futureto create a story about who I
am, how I came to be, and where my life may be going. This module briefly reviews central
ideas and research findings on the self as an actor, an agent, and an author, with an emphasis
on how these features of selfhood develop over the human life course.
Learning Objectives
Explain the basic idea of reflexivity in human selfhoodhow the I encounters and makes
sense of itself (the Me).
Describe fundamental distinctions between three different perspectives on the self: the
self as actor, agent, and author.
Describe how a sense of self as a social actor emerges around the age of 2 years and how
it develops going forward.
Describe the development of the selfs sense of motivated agency from the emergence of
the childs theory of mind to the articulation of life goals and values in adolescence and
beyond.
Define the term narrative identity, and explain what psychological and cultural functions
381
Self and Identity
narrative identity serves.
Introduction
In the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, the ancient Greeks inscribed the words: Know thyself. For
at least 2,500 years, and probably longer, human beings have pondered the meaning of the
ancient aphorism. Over the past century, psychological scientists have joined the effort. They
have formulated many theories and tested countless hypotheses that speak to the central
question of human selfhood: How does a person know who he or she is?
The ancient Greeks seemed to realize
that the self is inherently reflexiveit
reflects
back
on
itself.
In
the
disarmingly simple idea made famous

by the great psychologist William James
(1892/1963), the self is what happens
when I reflects back upon Me. The
self is both the I and the Meit is the
knower, and it is what the knower
knows when the knower reflects upon
itself. When you look back at yourself,
what do you see? When you look inside,
what do you find? Moreover, when you
We work on ourselves as we would any other interesting project. And
when we do we generally focus on three psychological categories The Social Actor, The Motivated Agent, and The Autobiographical
Author. [Photo: Shemer]
try to change your self in some way,

what is it that you are trying to change?
The philosopher Charles Taylor (1989)
describes the self as a reflexive project.
In modern life, Taylor agues, we often try to manage, discipline, refine, improve, or develop
the self. We work on our selves, as we might work on any other interesting project. But what
exactly is it that we work on?
Imagine for a moment that you have decided to improve yourself. You might, say, go on a diet
to improve your appearance. Or you might decide to be nicer to your mother, in order to
improve that important social role. Or maybe the problem is at workyou need to find a
better job or go back to school to prepare for a different career. Perhaps you just need to
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Self and Identity
work harder. Or get organized. Or recommit yourself to religion. Or maybe the key is to begin
thinking about your whole life story in a completely different way, in a way that you hope will
bring you more happiness, fulfillment, peace, or excitement.
Although there are many different ways you might reflect upon and try to improve the self, it
turns out that many, if not most, of them fall roughly into three broad psychological categories
(McAdams & Cox, 2010). The I may encounter the Me as (a) a social actor, (b) a motivated
agent, or (c) an autobiographical author.
The Social Actor

Shakespeare tapped into a deep truth about
human nature when he famously wrote, All the
worlds a stage, and all the men and women
merely players. He was wrong about the
merely, however, for there is nothing more
important for human adaptation than the
manner in which we perform our roles as actors
in the everyday theatre of social life. What
Shakespeare may have sensed but could not
have fully understood is that human beings
evolved to live in social groups. Beginning with
Darwin
(1872/1965)
and
running
through
contemporary conceptions of human evolution,

scientists have portrayed human nature as
profoundly social (Wilson, 2012). For a few million
In some ways people are just like actors on stage. We
play roles and follow scripts every day. [Photo: Lincolnian
(Brian)]
years, Homo sapiens and their evolutionary

forerunners have survived and flourished by
virtue of their ability to live and work together in
complex social groups, cooperating with each other to solve problems and overcome threats
and competing with each other in the face of limited resources. As social animals, human
beings strive to get along and get ahead in the presence of each other (Hogan, 1982). Evolution
has prepared us to care deeply about social acceptance and social status, for those
unfortunate individuals who do not get along well in social groups or who fail to attain a
requisite status among their peers have typically been severely compromised when it comes
to survival and reproduction. It makes consummate evolutionary sense, therefore, that the
human "I" should apprehend the "Me" first and foremost as a social actor.
Self and Identity
383
For human beings, the sense of the self as a social actor begins to emerge around the age of
18 months. Numerous studies have shown that by the time they reach their second birthday
most toddlers recognize themselves in mirrors and other reflecting devices (Lewis & BrooksGunn, 1979; Rochat, 2003). What they see is an embodied actor who moves through space
and time. Many children begin to use words such as me and mine in the second year of
life, suggesting that the I now has linguistic labels that can be applied reflexively to itself: I call
myself me. Around the same time, children also begin to express social emotions such as
embarrassment, shame, guilt, and pride (Tangney, Stuewig, & Mashek, 2007). These emotions
tell the social actor how well he or she is performing in the group. When I do things that win
the approval of others, I feel proud of myself. When I fail in the presence of others, I may feel
embarrassment or shame. When I violate a social rule, I may experience guilt, which may
motivate me to make amends.
Many of the classic psychological theories of human selfhood point to the second year of life
as a key developmental period. For example, Freud (1923/1961) and his followers in the
psychoanalytic tradition traced the emergence of an autonomous ego back to the second
year. Freud used the term ego (in German das Ich, which also translates into the I) to refer
to an executive self in the personality. Erikson (1963) argued that experiences of trust and
interpersonal attachment in the first year of life help to consolidate the autonomy of the ego
in the second. Coming from a more sociological perspective, Mead (1934) suggested that the
I comes to know the Me through reflection, which may begin quite literally with mirrors but
later involves the reflected appraisals of others. I come to know who I am as a social actor,
Mead argued, by noting how other people in my social world react to my performances. In the
development of the self as a social actor, other people function like mirrorsthey reflect who
I am back to me.
Research has shown that when young children begin to make attributions about themselves,
they start simple (Harter, 2006). At age 4, Jessica knows that she has dark hair, knows that she
lives in a white house, and describes herself to others in terms of simple behavioral traits. She
may say that she is nice, or helpful, or that she is a good girl most of the time. By the time,
she hits fifth grade (age 10), Jessica sees herself in more complex ways, attributing traits to
the self such as honest, moody, outgoing, shy, hard-working, smart, good at math
but not gym class, or nice except when I am around my annoying brother. By late childhood
and early adolescence, the personality traits that people attribute to themselves, as well as
those attributed to them by others, tend to correlate with each other in ways that conform
to a well-established taxonomy of five broad trait domains, repeatedly derived in studies of
adult personality and often called the Big Five: (1) extraversion, (2) neuroticism, (3)
agreeableness, (4) conscientiousness, and (5) openness to experience (Roberts, Wood, & Caspi,
2008). By late childhood, moreover, self-conceptions will likely also include important social
384
Self and Identity
roles: I am a good student, I am the oldest daughter, or I am a good friend to Sarah.

Traits and roles, and variations on these notions, are the main currency of the self as social
actor (McAdams & Cox, 2010). Trait terms capture perceived consistencies in social
performance. They convey what I reflexively perceive to be my overall acting style, based in
part on how I think others see me as an actor in many different social situations. Roles capture
the quality, as I perceive it, of important structured relationships in my life. Taken together,
traits and roles make up the main features of my social reputation, as I apprehend it in my
own mind (Hogan, 1982).
If you have ever tried hard to change yourself, you may have taken aim at your social
reputation, targeting your central traits or your social roles. Maybe you woke up one day and
decided that you must become a more optimistic and emotionally upbeat person. Taking into
consideration the reflected appraisals of others, you realized that even your friends seem to
avoid you because you bring them down. In addition, it feels bad to feel so bad all the time:
Wouldnt it be better to feel good, to have more energy and hope? In the language of traits,
you have decided to work on your neuroticism. Or maybe instead, your problem is the trait
of conscientiousness: You are undisciplined and dont work hard enough, so you resolve to
make changes in that area. Self-improvement efforts such as theseaimed at changing ones
traits to become a more effective social actorare sometimes successful, but they are very
hardkind of like dieting. Research suggests that broad traits tend to be stubborn, resistant
to change, even with the aid of psychotherapy. However, people often have more success
working directly on their social roles. To become a more effective social actor, you may want
to take aim at the important roles you play in life. What can I do to become a better son or
daughter? How can I find new and meaningful roles to perform at work, or in my family, or
among my friends, or in my church and community? By doing concrete things that enrich your
performances in important social roles, you may begin to see yourself in a new light, and
others will notice the change, too. Social actors hold the potential to transform their
performances across the human life course. Each time you walk out on stage, you have a
chance to start anew.
The Motivated Agent

Whether we are talking literally about the theatrical stage or more figuratively, as I do in this
module, about the everyday social environment for human behavior, observers can never
fully know what is in the actors head, no matter how closely they watch. We can see actors
act, but we cannot know for sure what they want or what they value, unless they tell us
straightaway. As a social actor, a person may come across as friendly and compassionate, or
385
Self and Identity
cynical and mean-spirited, but in neither

case can we infer their motivations from
their traits or their roles. What does the
friendly person want? What is the cynical
father trying to achieve? Many broad
psychological
theories
of
the
self
prioritize the motivational qualities of

human behaviorthe inner needs,
wants, desires, goals, values, plans,
programs, fears, and aversions that
seem to give behavior its direction and
purpose (Bandura, 1989; Deci & Ryan,
When we observe others we only see how they act but are never
1991; Markus & Nurius, 1986). These
able to access the entirety of their internal experience. [Photo: John
kinds of theories explicitly conceive of
St. John Photography]
the self as a motivated agent.
To be an agent is to act with direction and purpose, to move forward into the future in pursuit
of self-chosen and valued goals. In a sense, human beings are agents even as infants, for
babies can surely act in goal-directed ways. By age 1 year, moreover, infants show a strong
preference for observing and imitating the goal-directed, intentional behavior of others, rather
than random behaviors (Woodward, 2009). Still, it is one thing to act in goal-directed ways; it
is quite another for the I to know itself (the Me) as an intentional and purposeful force who
moves forward in life in pursuit of self-chosen goals, values, and other desired end states. In
order to do so, the person must first realize that people indeed have desires and goals in their
minds and that these inner desires and goals motivate (initiate, energize, put into motion)
their behavior. According to a strong line of research in developmental psychology, attaining
this kind of understanding means acquiring a theory of mind (Wellman, 1993), which occurs
for most children by the age of 4. Once a child understands that other peoples behavior is
often motivated by inner desires and goals, it is a small step to apprehend the self in similar
terms.
Building on theory of mind and other cognitive and social developments, children begin to
construct the self as a motivated agent in the elementary school years, layered over their stilldeveloping sense of themselves as social actors. Theory and research on what developmental
psychologists call the age 5-to-7 shift converge to suggest that children become more planful,
intentional, and systematic in their pursuit of valued goals during this time (Sameroff & Haith,
1996). Schooling reinforces the shift in that teachers and curricula place increasing demands
on students to work hard, adhere to schedules, focus on goals, and achieve success in
particular, well-defined task domains. Their relative success in achieving their most cherished
Self and Identity
386
goals, furthermore, goes a long way in determining childrens self-esteem (Robins, Tracy, &
Trzesniewski, 2008). Motivated agents feel good about themselves to the extent they believe
that they are making good progress in achieving their goals and advancing their most
important values.
Goals and values become even more important for the self in adolescence, as teenagers begin
to confront what Erikson (1963) famously termed the developmental challenge of identity.
For adolescents and young adults, establishing a psychologically efficacious identity involves
exploring different options with respect to life goals, values, vocations, and intimate
relationships and eventually committing to a motivational and ideological agenda for adult
lifean integrated and realistic sense of what I want and value in life and how I plan to achieve
it (Kroger & Marcia, 2011). Committing oneself to an integrated suite of life goals and values
is perhaps the greatest achievement for the self as motivated agent. Establishing an adult
identity has implications, as well, for how a person moves through life as a social actor, entailing
new role commitments and, perhaps, a changing understanding of ones basic dispositional
traits. According to Erikson, however, identity achievement is always provisional, for adults
continue to work on their identities as they move into midlife and beyond, often relinquishing
old goals in favor of new ones, investing themselves in new projects and making new plans,
exploring new relationships, and shifting their priorities in response to changing life
circumstances (Freund & Riediger, 2006; Josselson, 1996).
There is a sense whereby any time you try to change yourself, you are assuming the role of a
motivated agent. After all, to strive to change something is inherently what an agent does.
However, what particular feature of selfhood you try to change may correspond to your self
as actor, agent, or author, or some combination. When you try to change your traits or roles,
you take aim at the social actor. By contrast, when you try to change your values or life goals,
you are focusing on yourself as a motivated agent. Adolescence and young adulthood are
periods in the human life course when many of us focus attention on our values and life goals.
Perhaps you grew up as a traditional Catholic, but now in college you believe that the values
inculcated in your childhood no longer function so well for you. You no longer believe in the
central tenets of the Catholic Church, say, and are now working to replace your old values
with new ones. Or maybe you still want to be Catholic, but you feel that your new take on
faith requires a different kind of personal ideology. In the realm of the motivated agent,
moreover, changing values can influence life goals. If your new value system prioritizes
alleviating the suffering of others, you may decide to pursue a degree in social work, or to
become a public interest lawyer, or to live a simpler life that prioritizes people over material
wealth. A great deal of the identity work we do in adolescence and young adulthood is about
values and goals, as we strive to articulate a personal vision or dream for what we hope to
accomplish in the future.
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The Autobiographical Author

Even as the Icontinues to develop a sense of the Me as both a social actor and a motivated
agent, a third standpoint for selfhood gradually emerges in the adolescent and early-adult
years. The third perspective is a response to Eriksons (1963) challenge of identity. According
to Erikson, developing an identity involves more than the exploration of and commitment to
life goals and values (the self as motivated agent), and more than committing to new roles
and re-evaluating old traits (the self as social actor). It also involves achieving a sense of
temporal continuity in lifea reflexive understanding of how I have come to be the person I am
becoming, or put differently, how my past self has developed into my present self, and how
my present self will, in turn, develop into an envisioned future self. In his analysis of identity
formation in the life of the 15th-century Protestant reformer Martin Luther, Erikson (1958)
describes the culmination of a young adults search for identity in this way:
"To be adult means among other things to see ones own life in continuous perspective, both
in retrospect and prospect. By accepting some definition of who he is, usually on the basis of
a function in an economy, a place in the sequence of generations, and a status in the structure
of society, the adult is able to selectively reconstruct his past in such a way that, step for step, it
seems to have planned him, or better, he seems to have planned it. In this sense, psychologically
we do choose our parents, our family history, and the history of our kings, heroes, and gods.
By making them our own, we maneuver ourselves into the inner position of proprietors, of
creators."
-- (Erikson, 1958, pp. 111112; emphasis added).
In this rich passage, Erikson intimates that the development of a mature identity in young
adulthood involves the Is ability to construct a retrospective and prospective story about the
Me (McAdams, 1985). In their efforts to find a meaningful identity for life, young men and
women begin to selectively reconstruct their past, as Erikson wrote, and imagine their future
to create an integrative life story, or what psychologists today often call a narrative identity.
A narrative identity is an internalized and evolving story of the self that reconstructs the past
and anticipates the future in such a way as to provide a persons life with some degree of
unity, meaning, and purpose over time (McAdams, 2008; McLean, Pasupathi, & Pals, 2007).
The self typically becomes an autobiographical author in the early-adult years, a way of being
that is layered over the motivated agent, which is layered over the social actor. In order to
provide life with the sense of temporal continuity and deep meaning that Erikson believed
identity should confer, we must author a personalized life story that integrates our
understanding of who we once were, who we are today, and who we may become in the
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future. The story helps to explain, for the author and for the authors world, why the social
actor does what it does and why the motivated agent wants what it wants, and how the person
as a whole has developed over time, from the pasts reconstructed beginning to the futures
imagined ending.
By the time they are 5 or 6 years of age, children can tell well-formed stories about personal
events in their lives (Fivush, 2011). By the end of childhood, they usually have a good sense
of what a typical biography contains and how it is sequenced, from birth to death (Thomsen
& Bernsten, 2008). But it is not until adolescence, research shows, that human beings express
advanced storytelling skills and what psychologists call autobiographical reasoning
(Habermas & Bluck, 2000; McLean & Fournier, 2008). In autobiographical reasoning, a narrator
is able to derive substantive conclusions about the self from analyzing his or her own personal
experiences. Adolescents may develop the ability to string together events into causal chains
and inductively derive general themes about life from a sequence of chapters and scenes
(Habermas & de Silveira, 2008). For example, a 16-year-old may be able to explain to herself
and to others how childhood experiences in her family have shaped her vocation in life. Her
parents were divorced when she was 5 years
old, the teenager recalls, and this caused a great
deal of stress in her family. Her mother often
seemed anxious and depressed, but she (the
now-teenager when she was a little girlthe
storys protagonist) often tried to cheer her
mother up, and her efforts seemed to work. In
more recent years, the teenager notes that her
friends often come to her with their boyfriend
problems. She seems to be very adept at giving
advice about love and relationships, which
stems, the teenager now believes, from her
early experiences with her mother. Carrying
this causal narrative forward, the teenager now
thinks that she would like to be a marriage
counselor when she grows up.
Unlike children, then, adolescents can tell a full
and convincing story about an entire human
life, or at least a prominent line of causation
Young people often "try on" many variations of identities
within a full life, explaining continuity and
to see which best fits their private sense of themselves.
change in the storys protagonist over time.
[Image: Sangudo]
Once the cognitive skills are in place, young
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389
people seek interpersonal opportunities to share and refine their developing sense of
themselves as storytellers (the I) who tell stories about themselves (the Me). Adolescents and
young adults author a narrative sense of the self by telling stories about their experiences to
other people, monitoring the feedback they receive from the tellings, editing their stories in
light of the feedback, gaining new experiences and telling stories about those, and on and on,
as selves create stories that, in turn, create new selves (McLean et al., 2007). Gradually, in fits
and starts, through conversation and introspection, the I develops a convincing and coherent
narrative about the Me.
Contemporary research on the self as autobiographical author emphasizes the strong effect
of culture on narrative identity (Hammack, 2008). Culture provides a menu of favored plot
lines, themes, and character types for the construction of self-defining life stories.
Autobiographical authors sample selectively from the cultural menu, appropriating ideas that
seem to resonate well with their own life experiences. As such, life stories reflect the culture,
wherein they are situated as much as they reflect the authorial efforts of the autobiographical
I.
As one example of the tight link between culture and narrative identity, McAdams (2013) and
others (e.g., Kleinfeld, 2012) have highlighted the prominence of redemptive narratives in
American culture. Epitomized in such iconic cultural ideals as the American dream, Horatio
Alger stories, and narratives of Christian atonement, redemptive stories track the move from
suffering to an enhanced status or state, while scripting the development of a chosen
protagonist who journeys forth into a dangerous and unredeemed world (McAdams, 2013).
Hollywood movies often celebrate redemptive quests. Americans are exposed to similar
narrative messages in self-help books, 12-step programs, Sunday sermons, and in the rhetoric
of political campaigns. Over the past two decades, the worlds most influential spokesperson
for the power of redemption in human lives may be Oprah Winfrey, who tells her own story
of overcoming childhood adversity while encouraging others, through her media outlets and
philanthropy, to tell similar kinds of stories for their own lives (McAdams, 2013). Research has
demonstrated that American adults who enjoy high levels of mental health and civic
engagement tend to construct their lives as narratives of redemption, tracking the move from
sin to salvation, rags to riches, oppression to liberation, or sickness/abuse to health/recovery
(McAdams, Diamond, de St. Aubin, & Mansfield, 1997; McAdams, Reynolds, Lewis, Patten, &
Bowman, 2001; Walker & Frimer, 2007). In American society, these kinds of stories are often
seen to be inspirational.
At the same time, McAdams (2011, 2013) has pointed to shortcomings and limitations in the
redemptive stories that many Americans tell, which mirror cultural biases and stereotypes in
American culture and heritage. McAdams has argued that redemptive stories support
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happiness and societal engagement for some Americans, but the same stories can encourage
moral righteousness and a nave expectation that suffering will always be redeemed. For
better and sometimes for worse, Americans seem to love stories of personal redemption and
often aim to assimilate their autobiographical memories and aspirations to a redemptive
form. Nonetheless, these same stories may not work so well in cultures that espouse different
values and narrative ideals (Hammack, 2008). It is important to remember that every culture
offers its own storehouse of favored narrative forms. It is also essential to know that no single
narrative form captures all that is good (or bad) about a culture. In American society, the
redemptive narrative is but one of many different kinds of stories that people commonly
employ to make sense of their lives.
What is your story? What kind of a narrative are you working on? As you look to the past and
imagine the future, what threads of continuity, change, and meaning do you discern? For
many people, the most dramatic and fulfilling efforts to change the self happen when the I
works hard, as an autobiographical author, to construct and, ultimately, to tell a new story
about the Me. Storytelling may be the most powerful form of self-transformation that human
beings have ever invented. Changing ones life story is at the heart of many forms of
psychotherapy and counseling, as well as religious conversions, vocational epiphanies, and
other dramatic transformations of the self that people often celebrate as turning points in
their lives (Adler, 2012). Storytelling is often at the heart of the little changes, too, minor edits
in the self that we make as we move through daily life, as we live and experience life, and as
we later tell it to ourselves and to others.
Conclusion
For human beings, selves begin as social actors, but they eventually become motivated agents
and autobiographical authors, too. The I first sees itself as an embodied actor in social space;
with development, however, it comes to appreciate itself also as a forward-looking source of
self-determined goals and values, and later yet, as a storyteller of personal experience,
oriented to the reconstructed past and the imagined future. To know thyself in mature
adulthood, then, is to do three things: (a) to apprehend and to perform with social approval
my self-ascribed traits and roles, (b) to pursue with vigor and (ideally) success my most valued
goals and plans, and (c) to construct a story about life that conveys, with vividness and cultural
resonance, how I became the person I am becoming, integrating my past as I remember it,
my present as I am experiencing it, and my future as I hope it to be.
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Outside Resources
Web: The website for the Foley Center for the Study of Lives, at Northwestern University.
The site contains research materials, interview protocols, and coding manuals for
conducting studies of narrative identity.
http://www.sesp.northwestern.edu/foley/
1. Back in the 1950s, Erik Erikson argued that many adolescents and young adults experience
a tumultuous identity crisis. Do you think this is true today? What might an identity crisis
look and feel like? And, how might it be resolved?
2. Many people believe that they have a true self buried inside of them. From this perspective,
the development of self is about discovering a psychological truth deep inside. Do you
believe this to be true? How does thinking about the self as an actor, agent, and author
bear on this question?
3. Psychological research shows that when people are placed in front of mirrors they often
behave in a more moral and conscientious manner, even though they sometimes
experience this procedure as unpleasant. From the standpoint of the self as a social actor,
how might we explain this phenomenon?
4. By the time they reach adulthood, does everybody have a narrative identity? Do some
people simply never develop a story for their life?
5. What happens when the three perspectives on selfthe self as actor, agent, and author
conflict with each other? Is it necessary for peoples self-ascribed traits and roles to line
up well with their goals and their stories?
6. William James wrote that the self includes all things that the person considers to be mine.
If we take James literally, a persons self might extend to include his or her material
possessions, pets, and friends and family. Does this make sense?
7. To what extent can we control the self? Are some features of selfhood easier to control
than others?
8. What cultural differences may be observed in the construction of the self? How might
gender, ethnicity, and class impact the development of the self as actor, as agent, and as
author?
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Self and Identity
Vocabulary
Autobiographical reasoning
The ability, typically developed in adolescence, to derive substantive conclusions about the
self from analyzing ones own personal experiences.
Big Five
A broad taxonomy of personality trait domains repeatedly derived from studies of trait ratings
in adulthood and encompassing the categories of (1) extraversion vs. introversion, (2)
neuroticism vs. emotional stability, (3) agreeable vs. disagreeableness, (4) conscientiousness
vs. nonconscientiousness, and (5) openness to experience vs. conventionality. By late
childhood and early adolescence, peoples self-attributions of personality traits, as well as the
trait attributions made about them by others, show patterns of intercorrelations that confirm
with the five-factor structure obtained in studies of adults.
Ego
Sigmund Freuds conception of an executive self in the personality. Akin to this modules notion
of the I, Freud imagined the ego as observing outside reality, engaging in rational though,
and coping with the competing demands of inner desires and moral standards.
Identity
Sometimes used synonymously with the term self, identity means many different things in
psychological science and in other fields (e.g., sociology). In this module, I adopt Erik Eriksons
conception of identity as a developmental task for late adolescence and young adulthood.
Forming an identity in adolescence and young adulthood involves exploring alternative roles,
values, goals, and relationships and eventually committing to a realistic agenda for life that
productively situates a person in the adult world of work and love. In addition, identity
formation entails commitments to new social roles and reevaluation of old traits, and
importantly, it brings with it a sense of temporal continuity in life, achieved though the
construction of an integrative life story.
Narrative identity
An internalized and evolving story of the self designed to provide life with some measure of
temporal unity and purpose. Beginning in late adolescence, people craft self-defining stories
that reconstruct the past and imagine the future to explain how the person came to be the
person that he or she is becoming.
Redemptive narratives
Self and Identity
393
Life stories that affirm the transformation from suffering to an enhanced status or state. In
American culture, redemptive life stories are highly prized as models for the good self, as in
classic narratives of atonement, upward mobility, liberation, and recovery.
Reflexivity
The idea that the self reflects back upon itself; that the I (the knower, the subject) encounters
the Me (the known, the object). Reflexivity is a fundamental property of human selfhood.
Self as autobiographical author
The sense of the self as a storyteller who reconstructs the past and imagines the future in
order to articulate an integrative narrative that provides life with some measure of temporal
continuity and purpose.
Self as motivated agent
The sense of the self as an intentional force that strives to achieve goals, plans, values, projects,
and the like.
Self as social actor
The sense of the self as an embodied actor whose social performances may be construed in
terms of more or less consistent self-ascribed traits and social roles.
Self-esteem
The extent to which a person feels that he or she is worthy and good. The success or failure
that the motivated agent experiences in pursuit of valued goals is a strong determinant of
self-esteem.
Social reputation
The traits and social roles that others attribute to an actor. Actors also have their own
conceptions of what they imagine their respective social reputations indeed are in the eyes
of others.
The Age 5-to-7 Shift
Cognitive and social changes that occur in the early elementary school years that result in the
childs developing a more purposeful, planful, and goal-directed approach to life, setting the
stage for the emergence of the self as a motivated agent.
The I
The self as knower, the sense of the self as a subject who encounters (knows, works on) itself
(the Me).
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394
The Me
The self as known, the sense of the self as the object or target of the Is knowledge and work.
Theory of mind
Emerging around the age of 4, the childs understanding that other people have minds in
which are located desires and beliefs, and that desires and beliefs, thereby, motivate behavior.
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Motivation (11/10)
25
Drive States
Sudeep Bhatia & George Loewenstein
Our thoughts and behaviors are strongly influenced by affective experiences known as drive
states. These drive states motivate us to fulfill goals that are beneficial to our survival and
reproduction. This module provides an overview of key drive states, including information
about their neurobiology and their psychological effects.
Learning Objectives
Identify the key properties of drive states

Describe biological goals accomplished by drive states
Give examples of drive states
Outline the neurobiological basis of drive states such as hunger and arousal
Discuss the main moderators and determinants of drive states such as hunger and arousal
Introduction
What is the longest youve ever gone without eating? A couple of hours? An entire day? How
did it feel? Humans rely critically on food for nutrition and energy, and the absence of food
can create drastic changes, not only in physical appearance, but in thoughts and behaviors.
If youve ever fasted for a day, you probably noticed how hunger can take over your mind,
directing your attention to foods you could be eating (a cheesy slice of pizza, or perhaps some
sweet, cold ice cream), and motivating you to obtain and consume these foods. And once you
have eaten and your hunger has been satisfied, your thoughts and behaviors return to normal.
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Drive States
Hunger is a drive state, an affective experience

(something you feel, like the sensation of being
tired or hungry) that motivates organisms to fulfill
goals that are generally beneficial to their survival
and reproduction. Like other drive states, such as
thirst or sexual arousal, hunger has a profound
impact on the functioning of the mind. It affects
psychological processes, such as perception,
attention, emotion, and motivation, and influences
the behaviors that these processes generate.
Key Properties of Drive States

Hunger is among our most basic motivators [Photo:
Jeremy Brooks]
Drive states differ from other affective or
emotional states in terms of the biological functions they accomplish. Whereas all affective
states possess valence (i.e., they are positive or negative) and serve to motivate approach or
avoidance behaviors (Zajonc, 1998), drive states are unique in that they generate behaviors
that result in specific benefits for the body. For example, hunger directs individuals to eat
foods that increase blood sugar levels in the body, while thirst causes individuals to drink
fluids that increase water levels in the body.
Different drive states have different triggers. Most drive states respond to both internal and
external cues, but the combinations of internal and external cues, and the specific types of
cues, differ between drives. Hunger, for example, depends on internal, visceral signals as well
as sensory signals, such as the sight or smell of tasty food. Different drive states also result
in different cognitive and emotional states, and are associated with different behaviors. Yet
despite these differences, there are a number of properties common to all drive states.
Homeostasis
Humans, like all organisms, need to maintain a stable state in their various physiological
systems. For example, the excessive loss of body water results in dehydration, a dangerous
and potentially fatal state. However, too much water can be damaging as well. Thus, a
moderate and stable level of body fluid is ideal. The tendency of an organism to maintain this
stability across all the different physiological systems in the body is called homeostasis.
Homeostasis is maintained via two key factors. First, the state of the system being regulated
must be monitored and compared to an ideal level, or a set point. Second, there need to be
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Drive States
mechanisms for moving the system back to this set pointthat is, to restore homeostasis
when deviations from it are detected. To better understand this, think of the thermostat in
your own home. It detects when the current temperature in the house is different than the
temperature you have it set at (i.e., the set point). Once the thermostat recognizes the
difference, the heating or air conditioning turns on to bring the overall temperature back to
the designated level.
Many homeostatic mechanisms, such as
blood circulation and immune responses,
are automatic and nonconscious. Others,
however, involve deliberate action. Most
drive states motivate action to restore
homeostasis using both punishments
and rewards. Imagine that these
homeostatic
mechanisms
are
like
molecular parents. When you behave

poorly by departing from the set point
(such as not eating or being somewhere
too cold), they raise their voice at you.
You experience this as the bad feelings,
or punishments, of hunger, thirst, or
feeling too cold or too hot. However,
when you behave well (such as eating
nutritious foods when hungry), these
homeostatic parents reward you with the
The body needs homeostasis and motivates us - through both
pleasure that comes from any activity
pleasure and pain - to stay in balance. [Photo: Ian Sane]
that moves the system back toward the

set point. For example, when body temperature declines below the set point, any activity that
helps to restore homeostasis (such as putting ones hand in warm water) feels pleasurable;
and likewise, when body temperature rises above the set point, anything that cools it feels
pleasurable.
The Narrowing of Attention

As drive states intensify, they direct attention toward elements, activities, and forms of
consumption that satisfy the biological needs associated with the drive. Hunger, for example,
draws attention toward food. Outcomes and objects that are not related to satisfying hunger
lose their value (Easterbrook, 1959). For instance, has anyone ever invited you to do a fun
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Drive States
activity while you were hungry? Likely your response was something like: Im not doing
anything until I eat first. Indeed, at a sufficient level of intensity, individuals will sacrifice almost
any quantity of goods that do not address the needs signaled by the drive state. For example,
cocaine addicts, according to Gawin (1991:1581), report that virtually all thoughts are focused
on cocaine during binges; nourishment, sleep, money, loved ones, responsibility, and survival
lose all significance.
Drive states also produce a second form of attention-narrowing: a collapsing of timeperspective toward the present. That is, they make us impatient. While this form of attentionnarrowing is particularly pronounced for the outcomes and behaviors directly related to the
biological function being served by the drive state at issue (e.g., I need food now), it applies
to general concerns for the future as well. Ariely and Loewenstein (2006), for example,
investigated the impact of sexual arousal on the thoughts and behaviors of a sample of male
undergraduates. These undergraduates were lent laptop computers that they took to their
private residences, where they answered a series of questions, both in normal states and in
states of high sexual arousal. Ariely and Loewenstein found that being sexually aroused made
people extremely impatient for both sexual outcomes and for outcomes in other domains,
such as those involving money. In another study Giordano et al. (2002) found that heroin
addicts were more impatient with respect to heroin when they were craving it than when they
were not. More surprisingly, they were also more impatient toward money (they valued
delayed money less) when they were actively craving heroin.
Yet a third form of attention-narrowing involves thoughts and outcomes related to the self
versus others. Intense drive states tend to narrow ones focus inwardly and to undermine
altruismor the desire to do good for others. People who are hungry, in pain, or craving drugs
tend to be selfish. Indeed, popular interrogation methods involve depriving individuals of
sleep, food, or water, so as to trigger intense drive states leading the subject of the
interrogation to divulge information that may betray comrades, friends, and family (Biderman,
1960).
Two Illustrative Drive States

Thus far we have considered drive states abstractly. We have discussed the ways in which
they relate to other affective and motivational mechanisms, as well as their main biological
purpose and general effects on thought and behavior. Yet, despite serving the same broader
goals, different drive states are often remarkably different in terms of their specific properties.
To understand some of these specific properties, we will explore two different drive states
that play very important roles in determining behavior, and in ensuring human survival:
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Drive States
hunger and sexual arousal.
Hunger
Hunger is a classic example of a drive
state, one that results in thoughts and
behaviors related to the consumption
of food. Hunger is generally triggered
by low glucose levels in the blood
(Rolls, 2000), and behaviors resulting
from hunger aim to restore homeostasis
regarding
those
glucose
levels.
Various other internal and external

External cues, like the sight and smell of food, can ignite feelings of
cues can also cause hunger. For
hunger. [Photo: Royal Olive]
example, when fats are broken down
Drive States
404
in the body for energy, this initiates a chemical cue that the body should search for food
(Greenberg, Smith, & Gibbs, 1990). External cues include the time of day, estimated time until
the next feeding (hunger increases immediately prior to food consumption), and the sight,
smell, taste, and even touch of food and food-related stimuli. Note that while hunger is a
generic feeling, it has nuances that can provoke the eating of specific foods that correct for
nutritional imbalances we may not even be conscious of. For example, a couple who was lost
adrift at sea found they inexplicably began to crave the eyes of fish. Only later, after they had
been rescued, did they learn that fish eyes are rich in vitamin Ca very important nutrient
that they had been depleted of while lost in the ocean (Walker, 2014).
The hypothalamus (located in the lower, central part of the brain) plays a very important role
in eating behavior. It is responsible for synthesizing and secreting various hormones. The
lateral hypothalamus (LH) is concerned largely with hunger and, in fact, lesions (i.e., damage)
of the LH can eliminate the desire for eating entirelyto the point that animals starve
themselves to death unless kept alive by force feeding (Anand & Brobeck, 1951). Additionally,
artificially stimulating the LH, using electrical currents, can generate eating behavior if food
is available (Andersson, 1951).
Activation of the LH can not only increase the desirability of food but can also reduce the
desirability of nonfood-related items. For example, Brendl, Markman, and Messner (2003)
found that participants who were given a handful of popcorn to trigger hunger not only had
higher ratings of food products, but also had lower ratings of nonfood productscompared
with participants whose appetites were not similarly primed. That is, because eating had
become more important, other non-food products lost some of their value.
Hunger is only part of the story of when and why we eat. A related process, satiation, refers
to the decline of hunger and the eventual termination of eating behavior. Whereas the feeling
of hunger gets you to start eating, the feeling of satiation gets you to stop. Perhaps surprisingly,
hunger and satiation are two distinct processes, controlled by different circuits in the brain
and triggered by different cues. Distinct from the LH, which plays an important role in hunger,
the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) plays an important role in satiety. Though lesions of
the VMH can cause an animal to overeat to the point of obesity, the relationship between the
LH and the VMB is quite complicated. Rats with VMH lesions can also be quite finicky about
their food (Teitelbaum, 1955).
Other brain areas, besides the LH and VMH, also play important roles in eating behavior. The
sensory cortices (visual, olfactory, and taste), for example, are important in identifying food
items. These areas provide informational value, however, not hedonic evaluations. That is,
these areas help tell a person what is good or safe to eat, but they dont provide the pleasure
405
Drive States
(or hedonic) sensations that actually eating the food produces. While many sensory functions
are roughly stable across different psychological states, other functions, such as the detection
of food-related stimuli, are enhanced when the organism is in a hungry drive state.
After identifying a food item, the brain also needs to determine its reward value, which affects
the organisms motivation to consume the food. The reward value ascribed to a particular
item is, not surprisingly, sensitive to the level of hunger experienced by the organism. The
hungrier you are, the greater the reward value of the food. Neurons in the areas where reward
values are processed, such as the orbitofrontal cortex, fire more rapidly at the sight or taste
of food when the organism is hungry relative to if it is satiated.
Sexual Arousal
A second drive state, especially critical to
reproduction, is sexual arousal. Sexual
arousal results in thoughts and behaviors
related to sexual activity. As with hunger, it
is generated by a large range of internal and
external mechanisms that are triggered
either after the extended absence of sexual
activity or by the immediate presence and
possibility of sexual activity (or by cues
commonly associated with such possibilities).
Unlike hunger, however, these mechanisms
can differ substantially between males and
females, indicating important evolutionary
differences in the biological functions that
sexual arousal serves for different sexes.
Sexual arousal and pleasure in males, for
example, is strongly related to the preoptic
area, a region in the anterior hypothalamus
(or the front of the hypothalamus). If the
preoptic area is damaged, male sexual
behavior is severely impaired. For example,
Unlike other drive states the mechanisms that trigger sexual
rats that have had prior sexual experiences
arousal are not the same for men and women. [Photo:
will still seek out sexual partners after their
Matthew Romack]
preoptic area is lesioned. However, once
406
Drive States
having secured a sexual partner, rats with lesioned preoptic areas will show no further
inclination to actually initiate sex.
For females, though, the preoptic area fulfills different roles, such as functions involved with
eating behaviors. Instead, there is a different region of the brain, the ventromedial
hypothalamus (the lower, central part) that plays a similar role for females as the preoptic
area does for males. Neurons in the ventromedial hypothalamus determine the excretion of
estradiol, an estrogen hormone that regulates sexual receptivity (or the willingness to accept
a sexual partner). In many mammals, these neurons send impulses to the periaqueductal
gray (a region in the midbrain) which is responsible for defensive behaviors, such as freezing
immobility, running, increases in blood pressure, and other motor responses. Typically, these
defensive responses might keep the female rat from interacting with the male one. However,
during sexual arousal, these defensive responses are weakened and lordosis behavior, a
physical sexual posture that serves as an invitation to mate, is initiated (Kow and Pfaff, 1998).
Thus, while the preoptic area encourages males to engage in sexual activity, the ventromedial
hypothalamus fulfills that role for females.
Other differences between males and females involve overlapping functions of neural
modules. These neural modules often provide clues about the biological roles played by sexual
arousal and sexual activity in males and females. Areas of the brain that are important for
male sexuality overlap to a great extent with areas that are also associated with aggression.
In contrast, areas important for female sexuality overlap extensively with those that are also
connected to nurturance (Panksepp, 2004).
One region of the brain that seems to play an important role in sexual pleasure for both males
and females is the septal nucleus, an area that receives reciprocal connections from many
other brain regions, including the hypothalamus and the amygdala (a region of the brain
primarily involved with emotions). This region shows considerable activity, in terms of rhythmic
spiking, during sexual orgasm. It is also one of the brain regions that rats will most reliably
voluntarily self-stimulate (Olds & Milner, 1954). In humans, placing a small amount of
acetylcholine into this region, or stimulating it electrically, has been reported to produce a
feeling of imminent orgasm (Heath, 1964).
Conclusion
Drive states are evolved motivational mechanisms designed to ensure that organisms take
self-beneficial actions. In this module, we have reviewed key properties of drive states, such
as homeostasis and the narrowing of attention. We have also discussed, in some detail, two
Drive States
407
important drive stateshunger and sexual arousaland explored their underlying

neurobiology and the ways in which various environmental and biological factors affect their
properties.
There are many drive states besides hunger and sexual arousal that affect humans on a daily
basis. Fear, thirst, exhaustion, exploratory and maternal drives, and drug cravings are all drive
states that have been studied by researchers (see e.g., Buck, 1999; Van Boven & Loewenstein,
2003). Although these drive states share some of the properties discussed in this module,
each also has unique features that allow it to effectively fulfill its evolutionary function.
One key difference between drive states is the extent to which they are triggered by internal
as opposed to external stimuli. Thirst, for example, is induced both by decreased fluid levels
and an increased concentration of salt in the body. Fear, on the other hand, is induced by
perceived threats in the external environment. Drug cravings are triggered both by internal
homeostatic mechanisms and by external visual, olfactory, and contextual cues. Other drive
states, such as those pertaining to maternity, are triggered by specific events in the organisms
life. Differences such as these make the study of drive states a scientifically interesting and
important endeavor. Drive states are rich in their diversity, and many questions involving their
neurocognitive underpinnings, environmental determinants, and behavioral effects, have yet
to be answered.
One final thing to consider, not discussed in this module, relates to the real-world
consequences of drive states. Hunger, sexual arousal, and other drive states are all
psychological mechanisms that have evolved gradually over millions of years. We share these
drive states not only with our human ancestors but with other animals, such as monkeys,
dogs, and rats. It is not surprising then that these drive states, at times, lead us to behave in
ways that are ill-suited to our modern lives. Consider, for example, the obesity epidemic that
is affecting countries around the world. Like other diseases of affluence, obesity is a product
of drive states that are too easily fulfilled: homeostatic mechanisms that once worked well
when food was scarce now backfire when meals rich in fat and sugar are readily available.
Unrestricted sexual arousal can have similarly perverse effects on our well-being. Countless
politicians have sacrificed their entire lifes work (not to mention their marriages) by indulging
adulterous sexual impulses toward colleagues, staffers, prostitutes, and others over whom
they have social or financial power. It not an overstatement to say that many problems of the
21st century, from school massacres to obesity to drug addiction, are influenced by the
mismatch between our drive states and our uniquely modern ability to fulfill them at a
moments notice.
408
Drive States
Outside Resources
Web: An open textbook chapter on homeostasis
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Human_Physiology/Homeostasis
Web: Motivation and emotion in psychology
http://allpsych.com/psychology101/motivation_emotion.html
Web: The science of sexual arousal
http://www.apa.org/monitor/apr03/arousal.aspx
1. The ability to maintain homeostasis is important for an organisms survival. What are the
ways in which homeostasis ensures survival? Do different drive states accomplish
homeostatic goals differently?
2. Drive states result in the narrowing of attention toward the present and toward the self.
Which drive states lead to the most pronounced narrowing of attention toward the present?
Which drive states lead to the most pronounced narrowing of attention toward the self?
3. What are important differences between hunger and sexual arousal, and in what ways do
these differences reflect the biological needs that hunger and sexual arousal have been
evolved to address?
4. Some of the properties of sexual arousal vary across males and females. What other drives
states affect males and females differently? Are there drive states that vary with other
differences in humans (e.g., age)?
409
Drive States
Vocabulary
Drive state
Affective experiences that motivate organisms to fulfill goals that are generally beneficial to
their survival and reproduction.
Homeostasis
The tendency of an organism to maintain a stable state across all the different physiological
systems in the body.
Homeostatic set point
An ideal level that the system being regulated must be monitored and compared to.
Hypothalamus
A portion of the brain involved in a variety of functions, including the secretion of various
hormones and the regulation of hunger and sexual arousal.
Lordosis
A physical sexual posture in females that serves as an invitation to mate.
Preoptic area
A region in the anterior hypothalamus involved in generating and regulating male sexual
behavior.
Reward value
A neuropsychological measure of an outcomes affective importance to an organism.
Satiation
The state of being full to satisfaction and no longer desiring to take on more.
410
Drive States
References
Anand, B. K., & Brobeck, J. R. (1951). Hypothalamic control of food intake in rats and cats. The
Yale journal of biology and medicine, 24(2), 123.
Andersson, B. (1951). The effect and localization of electrical stimulation of certain parts of
the brain stem in sheep and goats. Acta Physiologica Scandinavica, 23(1), 823.
Ariely, D., & Loewenstein, G. (2006). The heat of the moment: The effect of sexual arousal on
sexual decision making. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 19(2), 8798
Biderman, A. D. (1960). Social-psychological needs and involuntary behavior as illustrated
by compliance in interrogation. Sociometry, 23(2), 120147.
Brendl, C. M., Markman, A. B., & Messner, C. (2003). The devaluation effect: Activating a need
devalues unrelated objects. Journal of Consumer Research, 29(4), 463473.
Buck, R. (1999). The biological affects: A typology. Psychological Review, 106, 301336.
Easterbrook, J. A. (1959). The effect of emotion on cue utilization and the organization of
behavior. Psychological Review, 66(3).
Gawin, F. H. (1991). Cocaine addiction: psychology and neurophysiology. Science, 251(5001),
15801586.
Giordano, L. A., Bickel, W. K., Loewenstein, G., Jacobs, E. A., Marsch, L., & Badger, G. J. (2002).
Mild opioid deprivation increases the degree that opioid-dependent outpatients discount
delayed heroin and money. Psychopharmacology, 163(2), 174182.
Greenberg, D., Smith, G. P., & Gibbs, J. (1990). Intraduodenal infusions of fats elicit satiety in
sham-feeding rats. American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative, and Comparative
Physiology, 259(1), 110118.
Heath, R. G. (1964). Pleasure response of human subjects to direct stimulation of the brain:
Physiologic and psychodynamic considerations. In R. G. Heath (Ed.), The role of pleasure in
behavior (pp. 219243). New York, NY: Hoeber.
Kow, L. M., & Pfaff, D. W. (1998). Mapping of neural and signal transduction pathways for
lordosis in the search for estrogen actions on the central nervous system. Behavioural Brain
Research, 92(2), 169180
Olds, J., & Milner, P. (1954). Positive reinforcement produced by electrical stimulation of septal
area and other regions of rat brain. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 47
(6), 419.
Panksepp, J. (2004). Affective neuroscience: The foundations of human and animal emotions (Vol.
4). New York, NY: Oxford University Press U.S.
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411
Rolls, E. T. (2000). The orbitofrontal cortex and reward. Cerebral Cortex, 10(3), 284-294.
Teitelbaum, P. (1955). Sensory control of hypothalamic hyperphagia. Journal of Comparative
and Physiological Psychology, 48(3), 156.
Van Boven, L., & Loewenstein, G. (2003). Projection of transient drive states. Personality and
Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 11591168.
Walker, P. (2014). Castaway's sea savvy could have helped him survive year adrift, says expert.
The Guardian. Retried from http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/04/castaway-j
ose-salvador-alvarenga-survival-expert
Zajonc, R. B. (1998). Emotions. In Gilbert, D. T., Fiske, S. T., & Lindzey, G. (Eds.), The handbook
of social psychology (Vols. 1 and 2, 4th ed., pp. 591632). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
26
Motives and Goals
Ayelet Fishbach & Maferima Tour-Tillery
Your decisions and behaviors are often the result of a goal or motive you possess. This module
provides an overview of the main theories and findings on goals and motivation. We address
the origins, manifestations, and types of goals, and the various factors that influence
motivation in goal pursuit. We further address goal conflict and, specifically, the exercise of
self-control in protecting long-term goals from momentary temptations.
Learning Objectives
Define the basic terminology related to goals, motivation, self-regulation, and self-control.
Describe the antecedents and consequences of goal activation.
Describe the factors that influence motivation in the course of goal pursuit.
Explain the process underlying goal activation, self-regulation, and self-control.
Give examples of goal activation effects, self-regulation processes, and self-control
processes.
Introduction
Every New Year, many people make resolutionsor goalsthat go unsatisfied: eat healthier;
pay better attention in class; lose weight. As much as we know our lives would improve if we
actually achieved these goals, people quite often dont follow through. But what if that didnt
have to be the case? What if every time we made a goal, we actually accomplished it? Each
day, our behavior is the result of countless goalsmaybe not goals in the way we think of
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Motives and Goals
them, like getting that beach body or being the first person to land on Mars. But even with
mundane goals, like getting food from the grocery store, or showing up to work on time, we
are often enacting the same psychological processes involved with achieving loftier dreams.
To understand how we can better attain our goals, lets begin with defining what a goal is and
what underlies it, psychologically.
A goal is the cognitive representation of a
desired state, or, in other words, our mental
idea of how wed like things to turn out
(Fishbach & Ferguson 2007; Kruglanski,
1996). This desired end state of a goal can
be clearly defined (e.g., stepping on the
surface of Mars), or it can be more abstract
and represent a state that is never fully
completed (e.g., eating healthy). Underlying
all of these goals, though, is motivation, or
the psychological driving force that enables
action in the pursuit of that goal (Lewin,
1935). Motivation can stem from two places.
First, it can come from the benefits
associated with the process of pursuing a
goal (intrinsic motivation). For example, you
Goals are fundamental guides for human behavior. Some are

biological in origin, some are cultural in nature and some are
unique to the individual. [Photo: SweetOnVeg]
might be driven by the desire to have a fulfilling experience while working on your Mars
mission. Second, motivation can also come from the benefits associated with achieving a goal
(extrinsic motivation), such as the fame and fortune that come with being the first person on
Mars (Deci & Ryan, 1985). One easy way to consider intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is through
the eyes of a student. Does the student work hard on assignments because the act of learning
is pleasing (intrinsic motivation)? Or does the student work hard to get good grades, which
will help land a good job (extrinsic motivation)?
Social psychologists recognize that goal pursuit and the motivations that underlie it do not
depend solely on an individuals personality. Rather, they are products of personal
characteristics and situational factors. Indeed, cues in a persons immediate environment
including images, words, sounds, and the presence of other peoplecan activate, or prime,
a goal. This activation can be conscious, such that the person is aware of the environmental
cues influencing his/her pursuit of a goal. However, this activation can also occur outside a
persons awareness, and lead to nonconscious goal pursuit. In this case, the person is unaware
of why s/he is pursuing a goal and may not even realize that s/he is pursuing it.
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Motives and Goals
In this module, we review key aspects of goals and motivation. First, we discuss the origins
and manifestation of goals. Then, we review factors that influence individuals motivation in
the course of pursuing a goal (self-regulation). Finally, we discuss what motivates individuals
to keep following their goals when faced with other conflicting desiresfor example, when a
tempting opportunity to socialize on Facebook presents itself in the course of studying for an
exam (self-control).
The Origins and Manifestation of Goals

Goal Adoption
What makes us commit to a goal? Researchers tend to agree that commitment stems from
the sense that a goal is both valuable and attainable, and that we adopt goals that are highly
likely to bring positive outcomes (i.e., ones commitment = the value of the goal the expectancy
it will be achieved) (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1974; Liberman & Frster, 2008). This process of
committing to a goal can occur without much conscious deliberation. For example, people
infer value and attainability, and will nonconsciously determine their commitment based on
those factors, as well as the outcomes of past goals. Indeed, people often learn about
themselves the same way they learn about other peopleby observing their behaviors (in
this case, their own) and drawing inferences about their preferences. For example, after taking
a kickboxing class, you might infer from your efforts that you are indeed committed to staying
physically fit (Fishbach, Zhang, & Koo, 2009).
Goal Priming
We dont always act on our goals in every context. For instance, sometimes well order a salad
for lunch, in keeping with our dietary goals, while other times well order only dessert. So,
what makes people adhere to a goal in any given context? Cues in the immediate environment
(e.g., objects, images, soundsanything that primes a goal) can have a remarkable influence
on the pursuit of goals to which people are already committed (Bargh, 1990; Custers, Aarts,
Oikawa, & Elliot, 2009; Frster, Liberman, & Friedman, 2007). How do these cues work? In
memory, goals are organized in associative networks. That is, each goal is connected to other
goals, concepts, and behaviors. Particularly, each goal is connected to corresponding means
activities and objects that help us attain the goal (Kruglanski et al., 2002). For example, the
goal to stay physically fit may be associated with several means, including a nearby gym, ones
bicycle, or even a training partner. Cues related to the goal or means (e.g., an ad for running
shoes, a comment about weight loss) can activate or prime the pursuit of that goal. For
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Motives and Goals
example, the presence of ones training partner, or even seeing the word workout in a puzzle,
can activate the goal of staying physically fit and, hence, increase a persons motivation to
exercise. Soon after goal priming, the motivation to act on the goal peaks then slowly declines,
after some delay, as the person moves away from the primer or after s/he pursues the goal
(Bargh, Gollwitzer, Lee-Chai, Barndollar, & Trotschel, 2001).
Consequences of Goal Activation

The
activation
of
goal
and
the
accompanying increase in motivation can

influence many aspects of behavior and
judgment, including how people perceive,
evaluate, and feel about the world around
them. Indeed, motivational states can even
alter something as fundamental as visual
perception.
For
example,
Balcetis
and
Dunning (2006) showed participants an

ambiguous figure (e.g., I3) and asked them
whether they saw the letter B or the number
13. The researchers found that when
participants had the goal of seeing a letter (e.
g., because seeing a number required the
participants to drink a gross tasting juice),
What does this image represent to you, a number or a letter?
they in fact saw a B. It wasnt that the
Training to run the Boston Marathon? Need to pass 13 credit
participants were simply lying, either; their
hours to graduate this semester? The details of your goals
goal literally changed how they perceived the

world!
may influence how you interpret the world around you.

[Photo: Leo Reynolds]
Goals can also exert a strong influence on how people evaluate the objects (and people)
around them. When pursuing a goal such as quenching ones thirst, people evaluate goalrelevant objects (e.g., a glass) more positively than objects that are not relevant to the goal (e.
g., a pencil). Furthermore, those with the goal of quenching their thirst rate the glass more
positively than people who are not pursuing the goal (Ferguson & Bargh, 2004). As discussed
earlier, priming a goal can lead to behaviors like this (consistent with the goal), even though
the person isnt necessarily aware of why (i.e., the source of the motivation). For example,
after research participants saw words related to achievement (in the context of solving a word
search), they automatically performed better on a subsequent achievement testwithout
being at all aware that the achievement words had influenced them (Bargh & Chartrand, 1999;
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Motives and Goals
Srull & Wyer, 1979).
Self-Regulation in Goal Pursuit

Many of the behaviors we like to engage in are inconsistent with achieving our goals. For
example, you may want to be physically fit, but you may also really like German chocolate
cake. Self-regulation refers to the process through which individuals alter their perceptions,
feelings, and actions in the pursuit of a goal. For example, filling up on fruits at a dessert party
is one way someone might alter his or her actions to help with goal attainment. In the following
section, we review the main theories and findings on self-regulation.
From Deliberation to Implementation

Self-regulation involves two basic stages, each with its own distinct mindset. First, a person
must decide which of many potential goals to pursue at a given point in time (deliberative
phase). While in the deliberative phase, a person often has a mindset that fosters an effective
assessment of goals. That is, one tends to be open-minded and realistic about available goals
to pursue. However, such scrutiny of ones choices sometimes hinders action. For example,
in the deliberative phase about how to spend time, someone might consider improving health,
academic performance, or developing a hobby. At the same time, though, this deliberation
involves considering realistic obstacles, such as ones busy schedule, which may discourage
the person from believing the goals can likely be achieved (and thus, doesnt work toward any
of them).
However, after deciding which goal to follow, the second stage involves planning specific
actions related to the goal (implemental phase). In the implemental phase, a person tends
to have a mindset conducive to the effective implementation of a goal through immediate
actioni.e., with the planning done, were ready to jump right into attaining our goal.
Unfortunately, though, this mindset often leads to closed-mindedness and unrealistically
positive expectations about the chosen goal (Gollwitzer, Heckhausen, & Steller, 1990;
Kruglanski et al., 2000; Thaler & Shefrin, 1981). For example, in order to follow a health goal,
a person might register for a gym membership and start exercising. In doing so, s/he assumes
this is all thats needed to achieve the goal (closed-mindedness), and after a few weeks, it
should be accomplished (unrealistic expectations).
Regulation of Ought- and Ideals-Goals
417
Motives and Goals
In addition to two phases in goal pursuit, research

also distinguishes between two distinct selfregulatory orientations (or perceptions of effectiveness)
in pursuing a goal: prevention and promotion. A
prevention focus emphasizes safety, responsibility,
and security needs, and views goals as oughts. That
is, for those who are prevention-oriented, a goal is
viewed as something they should be doing, and they
tend to focus on avoiding potential problems (e.g.,
exercising to avoid health threats). This selfregulatory focus leads to a vigilant strategy aimed
at avoiding losses (the presence of negatives) and
approaching non-losses (the absence of negatives).
On the other hand, a promotion focus views goals as
ideals, and emphasizes hopes, accomplishments,
and advancement needs. Here, people view their
Different individuals may have different orientations
goals as something they want to do that will bring
toward the same goal. One person - with a
them added pleasure (e.g., exercising because being
prevention orientation -might pursue a fitness goal

primarily to prevent negative health problems, while
healthy allows them to do more activities). This type
another person - with a promotion orientation -
of orientation leads to the adoption of an eager
might pursue the same goal in order to look and feel
strategy concerned with approaching gains (the
better. [Photo: thelearningcurvedotca]
presence of positives) and avoiding non-gains (the

absence of positives).
To compare these two strategies, consider the goal of saving money. Prevention-focused
people will save money because they believe its what they should be doing (an ought), and
because theyre concerned about not having any money (avoiding a harm). Promotion-focused
people, on the other hand, will save money because they want to have extra funds (a desire)
so they can do new and fun activities (attaining an advancement). Although these two
strategies result in very similar behaviors, emphasizing potential losses will motivate
individuals with a prevention focus, whereas emphasizing potential gains will motivate
individuals with a promotion focus. And these orientationsresponding better to either a
prevention or promotion focus differ across individuals (chronic regulatory focus) and
situations (momentary regulatory focus; Higgins, 1997).
A Cybernetic Process of Self-Regulation

Self-regulation depends on feelings that arise from comparing actual progress to expected
418
Motives and Goals
progress. During goal pursuit, individuals calculate the discrepancy between their current
state (i.e., all goal-related actions completed so far) and their desired end state (i.e., what they
view as achieving the goal). After determining this difference, the person then acts to close
that gap (Miller, Galanter, & Pribram, 1960; Powers, 1973). In this cybernetic process of selfregulation (or, internal system directing how a person should control behavior), a higher-thanexpected rate of closing the discrepancy creates a signal in the form of positive feelings. For
example, if youre nearly finished with a class project (i.e., a low discrepancy between your
progress and what it will take to completely finish), you feel good about yourself. However,
these positive feelings tend to make individuals coast, or reduce their efforts on the focal
goal, and shift their focus to other goals (e.g., youre almost done with your project for one
class, so you start working on a paper for another). By contrast, a lower-than-expected rate
of closing the gap elicits negative feelings, which leads to greater effort investment on the
focal goal (Carver & Scheier, 1998). If it is the day before a projects due and youve hardly
started it, you will likely feel anxious and stop all other activities to make progress on your
project.
Highlighting One Goal or Balancing Between Goals

When weve completed steps toward achieving our goal, looking back on the behaviors or
actions that helped us make such progress can have implications for future behaviors and
actions (see The Dynamics of Self-Regulation framework; Fishbach et al., 2009). Remember,
commitment results from the perceived value and attainability of a goal, whereas progress
describes the perception of a reduced discrepancy between the current state and desired end
state (i.e., the cybernetic process). After achieving a goal, when people interpret their previous
actions as a sign of commitment to it, they tend to highlight the pursuit of that goal, prioritizing
it and putting more effort toward it. However, when people interpret their previous actions
as a sign of progress, they tend to balance between the goal and other goals, putting less
effort into the focal goal. For example, if buying a product on sale reinforces your commitment
to the goal of saving money, you will continue to behave financially responsibly. However, if
you perceive the same action (buying the sale item) as evidence of progress toward the goal
of saving money, you might feel like you can take a break from your goal, justifying splurging
on a subsequent purchase. Several factors can influence the meanings people assign to
previous goal actions. For example, the more confident a person is about a commitment to
a goal, the more likely s/he is to infer progress rather than commitment from his/her actions
(Koo & Fishbach, 2008).
Conflicting Goals and Self-Control
419
Motives and Goals
In the pursuit of our ordinary and

extraordinary goals (e.g., staying physically
or financially healthy, landing on Mars), we
inevitably come across other goals (e.g.,
eating delicious food, exploring Earth) that
might get in the way of our lofty ambitions.
In such situations, we must exercise selfcontrol to stay on course. Self-control is the
capacity to control impulses, emotions,
desires, and actions in order to resist a
temptation (e.g., going on a shopping spree)
and protect a valued goal (e.g., stay
financially sound). As such, self-control is a
process of self-regulation in contexts
Immediate gratification has a way of interfering with the pursuit
involving a clear trade-off between long-
of more significant long-term goals. New shoes feel awfully
term interests (e.g., health, financial, or
good right now but don't do anything to get us closer to our

financial savings target. [Photo: LipglossJunkie]
Martian) and some form of immediate

gratification (Fishbach & Converse, 2010;
Rachlin, 2000; Read, Loewenstein, & Rabin, 1999; Thaler & Shefrin, 1981). For example,
whereas reading each page of a textbook requires self-regulation, doing so while resisting the
tempting sounds of friends socializing in the next room requires self-control. And although
you may tend to believe self-control is just a personal characteristic that varies across
individuals, it is like a muscle, in that it becomes drained by being used but is also strengthened
in the process.
Self-Control as an Innate Ability

Mischel, Shoda, and Rodriguez (1989) identified enduring individual differences in self-control
and found that the persistent capacity to postpone immediate gratification for the sake of
future interests leads to greater cognitive and social competence over the course of a lifetime.
In a famous series of lab experiments (first conducted by Mischel & Baker, 1975), preschoolers
35 years old were asked to choose between getting a smaller treat immediately (e.g., a single
marshmallow) or waiting as long as 15 minutes to get a better one (e.g., two marshmallows).
Some children were better-able to exercise self-control than others, resisting the temptation
to take the available treat and waiting for the better one. Following up with these preschoolers
ten years later, the researchers found that the children who were able to wait longer in the
experiment for the second marshmallow (vs. those who more quickly ate the single
marshmallow) performed better academically and socially, and had better psychological
420
Motives and Goals
coping skills as adolescents.
Self-Control as a Limited Resource

Beyond personal characteristics, the ability to
exercise self-control can fluctuate from one
context to the next. In particular, previous
exertion of self-control (e.g., choosing not to eat
a donut) drains individuals of the limited
physiological
and
psychological
resources
required to continue the pursuit of a goal (e.g.,

later in the day, again resisting a sugary treat).
Ego-depletion refers to this exhaustion of
resources from resisting a temptation. That is,
just like bicycling for two hours would exhaust
someone before a basketball game, exerting selfcontrol reduces individuals capacity to exert
more self-control in a consequent taskwhether
that task is in the same domain (e.g., resisting a
donut and then continuing to eat healthy) or a
different one (e.g., resisting a donut and then
continuing
to
be
financially
responsible;
Baumeister, Bratslavsky, Muraven, & Tice, 1998;
Willpower is limited. Trying to resist temptation now

takes energy and may leave you feeling like it's harder
Vohs & Heatherton, 2000). For example, in a
to be disciplined later. You can only eat so many radishes
study by Baumeister et al. (1998), research
. . . [Photo: ghbrett]
participants who forced themselves to eat

radishes instead of tempting chocolates were subsequently less persistent (i.e., gave up
sooner) at attempting an unsolvable puzzle task compared to the participants who had not
exerted self-control to resist the chocolates.
A Prerequisite to Self-Control: Identification

Although factors such as resources and personal characteristics contribute to the successful
exercise of self-control, identifying the self-control conflict inherent to a particular situation
is an importantand often overlookedprerequisite. For example, if you have a long-term
goal of getting better sleep but dont perceive that staying up late on a Friday night is
inconsistent with this goal, you wont have a self-control conflict. The successful pursuit of a
goal in the face of temptation requires that individuals first identify they are having impulses
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Motives and Goals
that need to be controlled. However, individuals often fail to identify self-control conflicts
because many everyday temptations seem to have very minimal negative consequences: one
bowl of ice cream is unlikely to destroy a persons health, but what about 200 bowls of ice
cream over the course of a few months?
People are more likely to identify a self-control conflict, and exercise self-control, when they
think of a choice as part of a broader pattern of repeated behavior rather than as an isolated
choice. For example, rather than seeing one bowl of ice cream as an isolated behavioral
decision, the person should try to recognize that this one bowl of ice cream is actually part
of a nightly routine. Indeed, when considering broader decision patterns, consistent
temptations become more problematic for long-term interests (Rachlin, 2000; Read,
Loewenstein, & Kalyanaraman, 1999). Moreover, conflict identification is more likely if people
see their current choices as similar to their future choices.
Self-Control Processes: Counteracting Temptation

The protection of a valued goal involves several cognitive and behavioral strategies ultimately
aimed at counteracting the pull of temptations and pushing oneself toward goal-related
alternatives (Fishbach & Trope, 2007). One such cognitive process involves decreasing the
value of temptations and increasing the value of goal-consistent objects or actions. For
example, health-conscious individuals might tell themselves a sugary treat is less appealing
than a piece of fruit in order to direct their choice toward the latter. Other behavioral strategies
include a precommitment to pursue goals and forgo temptation (e.g., leaving ones credit card
at home before going to the mall), establishing rewards for goals and penalties for temptations,
or physically approaching goals and distancing oneself from temptations (e.g., pushing away
a dessert plate). These self-control processes can benefit individuals long-term interests,
either consciously or without conscious awareness. Thus, at times, individuals automatically
activate goal-related thoughts in response to temptation, and inhibit temptation-related
thoughts in the presence of goal cues (Fishbach, Friedman, & Kruglanski, 2003).
Conclusion
People often make New Years resolutions with the idea that attaining ones goals is simple:
I just have to choose to eat healthier, right? However, after going through this module and
learning a social-cognitive approach to the main theories and findings on goals and motivation,
we see that even the most basic decisions take place within a much larger and more complex
mental framework. From the principles of goal priming and how goals influence perceptions,
feelings, and actions, to the factors of self-regulation and self-control, we have learned the
Motives and Goals
422
phases, orientations, and fluctuations involved in the course of everyday goal pursuit. Looking
back on prior goal failures, it may seem impossible to achieve some of our desires. But, through
understanding our own mental representation of our goals (i.e., the values and expectancies
behind them), we can help cognitively modify our behavior to achieve our dreams. If you do,
who knows?maybe you will be the first person to step on Mars.
423
Motives and Goals
1. What is the difference between goal and motivation?
2. What is the difference between self-regulation and self-control?
3. How do positive and negative feelings inform goal pursuit in a cybernetic self-regulation
process?
4. Describe the characteristics of the deliberative mindset that allows individuals to decide
between different goals. How might these characteristics hinder the implemental phase
of self-regulation?
5. You just read a module on Goals and Motivation, and you believe it is a sign of commitment
to the goal of learning about social psychology. Define commitment in this context. How
would interpreting your efforts as a sign of commitment influence your motivation to read
more about social psychology? By contrast, how would interpreting your efforts as a sign
of progress influence your motivation to read more?
6. Mel and Alex are friends. Mel has a prevention focus self-regulatory orientation, whereas
Alex has a promotion focus. They are both training for a marathon and are looking for
motivational posters to hang in their respective apartments. While shopping, they find a
poster with the following Confucius quote: The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge
to reach your full potential ... . These are the keys that will unlock the door to personal
excellence. Who is this poster more likely to help stay motivated for the marathon (Mel
or Alex)? Why? Find or write a quote that might help the other friend.
7. Give an example in which an individual fails to exercise self-control. What are some factors
that can cause such a self-control failure?
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Motives and Goals
Vocabulary
Balancing between goals
Shifting between a focal goal and other goals or temptations by putting less effort into the
focal goalusually with the intention of coming back to the focal goal at a later point in time.
Commitment
The sense that a goal is both valuable and attainable
Conscious goal activation
When a person is fully aware of contextual influences and resulting goal-directed behavior.
Deliberative phase
The first of the two basic stages of self-regulation in which individuals decide which of many
potential goals to pursue at a given point in time.
Ego-depletion
The exhaustion of physiological and/or psychological resources following the completion of
effortful self-control tasks, which subsequently leads to reduction in the capacity to exert
more self-control.
Extrinsic motivation
Motivation stemming from the benefits associated with achieving a goal such as obtaining a
monetary reward.
Goal
The cognitive representation of a desired state (outcome).
Goal priming
The activation of a goal following exposure to cues in the immediate environment related to
the goal or its corresponding means (e.g., images, words, sounds).
Highlighting a goal
Prioritizing a focal goal over other goals or temptations by putting more effort into the focal
goal.
Implemental phase
The second of the two basic stages of self-regulation in which individuals plan specific actions
Motives and Goals
425
related to their selected goal.

Intrinsic motivation
Motivation stemming from the benefits associated with the process of pursuing a goal such
as having a fulfilling experience.
Means
Activities or objects that contribute to goal attainment.
Motivation
The psychological driving force that enables action in the course of goal pursuit.
Nonconscious goal activation
When activation occurs outside a persons awareness, such that the person is unaware of the
reasons behind her goal-directed thoughts and behaviors.
Prevention focus
One of two self-regulatory orientations emphasizing safety, responsibility, and security needs,
and viewing goals as oughts. This self-regulatory focus seeks to avoid losses (the presence
of negatives) and approach non-losses (the absence of negatives).
Progress
The perception of reducing the discrepancy between ones current state and ones desired
state in goal pursuit.
Promotion focus
One of two self-regulatory orientations emphasizing hopes, accomplishments, and
advancement needs, and viewing goals as ideals. This self-regulatory focus seeks to approach
gains (the presence of positives) and avoid non-gains (the absence of positives).
Self-control
The capacity to control impulses, emotions, desires, and actions in order to resist a temptation
and adhere to a valued goal.
Self-regulation
The processes through which individuals alter their emotions, desires, and actions in the
course of pursuing a goal.
426
Motives and Goals
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Social Psychology (11/15)
27
Social Cognition and Attitudes
Yanine D. Hess & Cynthia L. Pickett
Social cognition is the area of social psychology that examines how people perceive and think
about their social world. This module provides an overview of key topics within social cognition
and attitudes, including judgmental heuristics, social prediction, affective and motivational
influences on judgment, and explicit and implicit attitudes.
Learning Objectives
Learn how we simplify the vast array of information in the world in a way that allows us to
make decisions and navigate our environments efficiently.
Understand some of the social factors that influence how we reason.

Determine if our reasoning processes are always conscious, and if not, what some of the
effects of automatic/nonconscious cognition are.
Understand the difference between explicit and implicit attitudes, and the implications
they have for behavior.
Introduction
Imagine you are walking toward your classroom and you see your teacher and a fellow student
you know to be disruptive in class whispering together in the hallway. As you approach, both
of them quit talking, nod to you, and then resume their urgent whispers after you pass by.
What would you make of this scene? What story might you tell yourself to help explain this
interesting and unusual behavior?
431
People know intuitively that we can better understand others behavior if we know the
thoughts contributing to the behavior. In this example, you might guess that your teacher
harbors several concerns about the disruptive student, and therefore you believe their
whispering is related to this. The area of social psychology that focuses on how people think
about others and about the social world is called social cognition.
Researchers of social cognition study how people make sense of themselves and others to
make judgments, form attitudes, and make predictions about the future. Much of the research
in social cognition has demonstrated that humans are adept at distilling large amounts of
information into smaller, more usable chunks, and that we possess many cognitive tools that
allow us to efficiently navigate our environments. This research has also illuminated many
social factors that can influence these judgments and predictions. Not only can our past
experiences, expectations, motivations, and moods impact our reasoning, but many of our
decisions and behaviors are driven by unconscious processes and implicit attitudes we are
unaware of having. The goal of this module is to highlight the mental tools we use to navigate
and make sense of our complex social world, and describe some of the emotional,
motivational, and cognitive factors that affect our reasoning.
Simplifying Our Social World

Consider how much information you come across on any given day; just looking around your
bedroom, there are hundreds of objects, smells, and sounds. How do we simplify all this
information to attend to what is important and make decisions quickly and efficiently? In part,
we do it by forming schemas of the various people, objects, situations, and events we
encounter. A schema is a mental model, or representation, of any of the various things we
come across in our daily lives. A schema (related to the word schematic) is kind of like a mental
blueprint for how we expect something to be or behave. It is an organized body of general
information or beliefs we develop from direct encounters, as well as from secondhand sources.
Rather than spending copious amounts of time learning about each new individual object (e.
g., each new dog we see), we rely on our schemas to tell us that a newly encountered dog
probably barks, likes to fetch, and enjoys treats. In this way, our schemas greatly reduce the
amount of cognitive work we need to do and allow us to go beyond the information given
(Bruner, 1957).
We can hold schemas about almost anythingindividual people (person schemas), ourselves
(self-schemas), and recurring events (event schemas, or scripts). Each of these types of schemas
is useful in its own way. For example, event schemas allow us to navigate new situations
efficiently and seamlessly. A script for dining at a restaurant would indicate that one should
432
wait to be seated by the host or hostess, that food should be ordered from a menu, and that
one is expected to pay the check at the end of the meal. Because the majority of dining
situations conform to this general format, most diners just need to follow their mental scripts
to know what to expect and how they should behave, greatly reducing their cognitive workload.
Another important way we simplify our social world
is by employing heuristics, which are mental
shortcuts that reduce complex problem-solving to
more simple, rule-based decisions. For example,
have you ever had a hard time trying to decide on
a book to buy, then you see one ranked highly on
a book review website? Although selecting a book
to purchase can be a complicated decision, you
might rely on the rule of thumb that a
recommendation from a credible source is likely a
safe betso you buy it. A common instance of using
heuristics is when people are faced with judging
whether an object belongs to a particular category.
For example, you would easily classify a pit bull into
the category of dog. But what about a coyote? Or
a fox? A plastic toy dog? In order to make this
classification (and many others), people may rely
on the representativeness heuristic to arrive at a
Does the woman in this image fit reasonably into your
heuristic of a librarian? How representative is she of
that category? [Photo: Exolucere]
quick decision (Kahneman & Tversky, 1972, 1973).

Rather than engaging in an in-depth consideration
of the objects attributes, one can simply judge the
likelihood of the object belonging to a category,
based on how similar it is to ones mental representation of that category. For example, a
perceiver may quickly judge a female to be an athlete based on the fact that the female is tall,
muscular, and wearing sports apparelwhich fits the perceivers representation of an athletes
characteristics.
In many situations, an objects similarity to a category is a good indicator of its membership
in that category, and an individual using the representativeness heuristic will arrive at a correct
judgment. However, when base-rate information (e.g., the actual percentage of athletes in
the area and therefore the probability that this person actually is an athlete) conflicts with
representativeness information, use of this heuristic is less appropriate. For example, if asked
to judge whether a quiet, thin man who likes to read poetry is a classics professor at a
prestigious university or a truck driver, the representativeness heuristic might lead one to
433
guess hes a professor. However, considering the base-rates, we know there are far fewer
university classics professors than truck drivers. Therefore, although the man fits the mental
image of a professor, the actual probability of him being one (considering the number of
professors out there) is lower than that of being a truck driver.
In addition to judging whether things belong to particular categories, we also attempt to judge
the likelihood that things will happen. A commonly employed heuristic for making this type
of judgment is called the availability heuristic. People use the availability heuristic to evaluate
the frequency or likelihood of an event based on how easily instances of it come to mind
(Tversky & Kahneman, 1973). Because more commonly occurring events are more likely to be
cognitively accessible (or, they come to mind more easily), use of the availability heuristic can
lead to relatively good approximations of frequency. However, the heuristic can be less reliable
when judging the frequency of relatively infrequent but highly accessible events. For example,
do you think there are more words that begin with k, or more that have k as the third letter?
To figure this out, you would probably make a list of words that start with k and compare it
to a list of words with k as the third letter. Though such a quick test may lead you to believe
there are more words that begin with k, the truth is that there are 3 times as many words
that have k as the third letter (Schwarz et al., 1991). In this case, words beginning with k
are more readily available to memory (i.e., more accessible), so they seem to be more
numerous. Another example is the very common fear of flying: dying in a plane crash is
extremely rare, but people often overestimate the probability of it occurring because plane
crashes tend to be highly memorable and publicized.
In summary, despite the vast amount of information we are bombarded with on a daily basis,
the mind has an entire kit of tools that allows us to navigate that information efficiently. In
addition to category and frequency judgments, another common mental calculation we
perform is predicting the future. We rely on our predictions about the future to guide our
actions. When deciding what entre to select for dinner, we may ask ourselves, How happy
will I be if I choose this over that? The answer we arrive at is an example of a future prediction.
In the next section, we examine individuals ability to accurately predict others behaviors, as
well as their own future thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and how these predictions can
impact their decisions.
Making Predictions About the Social World

Whenever we face a decision, we predict our future behaviors or feelings in order to choose
the best course of action. If you have a paper due in a week and have the option of going out
to a party or working on the paper, the decision of what to do rests on a few things: the amount
434
of time you predict you will need to write the paper, your prediction of how you will feel if you
do poorly on the paper, and your prediction of how harshly the professor will grade it.
In general, we make predictions about others quickly, based on relatively little information.
Research on thin-slice judgments has shown that perceivers are able to make surprisingly
accurate inferences about another persons emotional state, personality traits, and even
sexual orientation based on just snippets of informationfor example, a 10-second video
clip (Ambady, Bernieri, & Richeson, 2000; Ambady, Hallahan, & Conner, 1999; Ambady &
Rosenthal, 1993). Furthermore, these judgments are predictive of the targets future
behaviors. For example, one study found that students ratings of a teachers warmth,
enthusiasm, and attentiveness from a 30-second video clip strongly predicted that teachers
final student evaluations after an entire semester (Ambady & Rosenthal, 1993). As might be
expected, the more information there is available, the more accurate many of these judgments
become (Carney, Colvin, & Hall, 2007).
Because we seem to be fairly adept at
making predictions about others, one
might expect predictions about the self
to be foolproof, given the considerable
amount of information one has about
the self compared to others. To an
extent, research has supported this
conclusion. For example, our own
predictions of our future academic
performance are more accurate than
peers predictions of our performance,
and self-expressed interests better
predict
occupational
choice
than
career inventories (Shrauger & Osberg,

1981). Yet, it is not always the case that
we hold greater insight into ourselves.
While our own assessment of our
personality traits does predict certain
behavioral tendencies better than peer
assessment of our personality, for
certain behaviors, peer reports are
more accurate than self-reports (Kolar,
Although we can be reasonably certain that a winning lottery ticket
Funder, & Colvin, 1996; Vazire, 2010).
will make us feel good, we tend to overestimate both how good we'll
Similarly, although we are generally
feel and for how long. [Photo: aaronmcintyre]
435
aware of our knowledge, abilities, and future prospects, our perceptions are often overly
positive, and we display overconfidence in their accuracy and potential (Metcalfe, 1998). For
example, we tend to underestimate how much time it will take us to complete a task, whether
it is writing a paper, finishing a project at work, or building a bridgea phenomenon known
as the planning fallacy (Buehler, Griffin, & Ross, 1994). The planning fallacy helps explain why
so many college students end up pulling all-nighters to finish writing assignments or study
for exams. The tasks simply end up taking longer than expected. On the positive side, the
planning fallacy can also lead individuals to pursue ambitious projects that may turn out to
be worthwhile. That is, if they had accurately predicted how much time and work it would
have taken them, they may have never started it in the first place.
The other important factor that affects decision-making is our ability to predict how we will
feel about certain outcomes. Not only do we predict whether we will feel positively or
negatively, we also make predictions about how strongly and for how long we will feel that
way. Research demonstrates that these predictions of ones future feelingsknown as
affective forecastingare accurate in some ways but limited in others (Gilbert & Wilson,
2007). We are adept at predicting whether a future event or situation will make us feel positively
or negatively (Wilson & Gilbert, 2003), but we often incorrectly predict the strength or duration
of those emotions. For example, you may predict that if your favorite sports team loses an
important match, you will be devastated. Although youre probably right that you will feel
negative (and not positive) emotions, will you be able to accurately estimate how negative
youll feel? What about how long those negative feelings will last?
Predictions about future feelings are influenced by the impact bias : the tendency for a person
to overestimate the intensity of their future feelings. For example, by comparing peoples
estimates of how they expected to feel after a specific event to their actual feelings after the
event, research has shown that people generally overestimate how badly they will feel after
a negative eventsuch as losing a joband they also overestimate how happy they will feel
after a positive eventsuch as winning the lottery (Brickman, Coates, & Janoff-Bullman, 1978).
Another factor in these estimations is the durability bias. The durability bias refers to the
tendency for people to overestimate how long (or, the duration) positive and negative events
will affect them. This bias is much greater for predictions regarding negative events than
positive events, and occurs because people are generally unaware of the many psychological
mechanisms that help us adapt to and cope with negative events (Gilbert, Pinel, Wilson,
Blumberg, & Wheatley, 1998;Wilson, Wheatley, Meyers, Gilbert, & Axsom, 2000).
In summary, individuals form impressions of themselves and others, make predictions about
the future, and use these judgments to inform their decisions. However, these judgments are
shaped by our tendency to view ourselves in an overly positive light and our inability to
436
appreciate our habituation to both positive and negative events. In the next section, we will
discuss how motivations, moods, and desires also shape social judgment.
Hot Cognition: The Influence of Motivations, Mood, and Desires on

Social Judgment
Although we may believe we are always capable of rational and objective thinking (for example,
when we methodically weigh the pros and cons of two laundry detergents in an unemotional
i.e., coldmanner), our reasoning is often influenced by our motivations and mood. Hot
cognition refers to the mental processes that are influenced by desires and feelings. For
example, imagine you receive a poor grade on a class assignment. In this situation, your ability
to reason objectively about the quality of your assignment may be limited by your anger
toward the teacher, upset feelings over the bad grade, and your motivation to maintain your
belief that you are a good student. In this sort of scenario, we may want the situation to turn
out a particular way or our belief to be the truth. When we have these directional goals, we
are motivated to reach a particular outcome or judgment and do not process information in
a cold, objective manner.
Directional goals can bias our
thinking in many ways, such as
leading to motivated skepticism,
whereby we are skeptical of
evidence that goes against what
we want to believe despite the
strength of the evidence (Ditto &
Lopez,
1992).
For
example,
individuals trust medical tests

less if the results suggest they
have a deficiency compared to
when the results suggest they are
Motivated skepticism is a bias that can easily impact our views of political
healthy. Through this motivated
candidates or issues. It may be more difficult to objectively evaluate the merits
skepticism, people often continue
of a political argument if it comes from someone we don't expect to vote for.
to believe what they want to
[Photo: watsonsinelgin]
believe, even in the face of nearly

incontrovertible evidence to the
contrary.
There are also situations in which we do not have wishes for a particular outcome but our
437
goals bias our reasoning, anyway. For example, being motivated to reach an accurate
conclusion can influence our reasoning processes by making us more cautiousleading to
indecision. In contrast, sometimes individuals are motivated to make a quick decision, without
being particularly concerned about the quality of it. Imagine trying to choose a restaurant
with a group of friends when youre really hungry. You may choose whatevers nearby without
caring if the restaurant is the best or not. This need for closure (the desire to come to a firm
conclusion) is often induced by time constraints (when a decision needs to be made quickly)
as well as by individual differences in the need for closure (Webster & Kruglanski, 1997). Some
individuals are simply more uncomfortable with ambiguity than others, and are thus more
motivated to reach clear, decisive conclusions.
Just as our goals and motivations influence our reasoning, our moods and feelings also shape
our thinking process and ultimate decisions. Many of our decisions are based in part on our
memories of past events, and our retrieval of memories is affected by our current mood. For
example, when you are sad, it is easier to recall the sad memory of your dogs death than the
happy moment you received the dog. This tendency to recall memories similar in valence to
our current mood is known as mood-congruent memory (Blaney, 1986; Bower 1981, 1991;
DeSteno, Petty, Wegener, & Rucker, 2000; Forgas, Bower, & Krantz, 1984; Schwarz, Strack,
Kommer, & Wagner, 1987). The mood we were in when the memory was recorded becomes
a retrieval cue; our present mood primes these congruent memories, making them come to
mind more easily (Fiedler, 2001). Furthermore, because the availability of events in our
memory can affect their perceived frequency (the availability heuristic), the biased retrieval
of congruent memories can then impact the subsequent judgments we make (Tversky &
Kahneman, 1973). For example, if you are retrieving many sad memories, you might conclude
that you have had a tough, depressing life.
In addition to our moods influencing the specific memories we retrieve, our moods can also
influence the broader judgments we make. This sometimes leads to inaccuracies when our
current mood is irrelevant to the judgment at hand. In a classic study demonstrating this
effect, researchers found that study participants rated themselves as less-satisfied with their
lives in general if they were asked on a day when it happened to be raining vs. sunny (Schwarz
& Clore, 1983). However, this occurred only if the participants were not aware that the weather
might be influencing their mood. In essence, participants were in worse moods on rainy days
than sunny days, and, if unaware of the weathers effect on their mood, they incorrectly used
their mood as evidence of their overall life satisfaction.
In summary, our mood and motivations can influence both the way we think and the decisions
we ultimately make. Mood can shape our thinking even when the mood is irrelevant to the
judgment, and our motivations can influence our thinking even if we have no particular
438
preference about the outcome. Just as we might be unaware of how our reasoning is influenced
by our motives and moods, research has found that our behaviors can be determined by
unconscious processes rather than intentional decisions, an idea we will explore in the next
section.
Automaticity
Do we actively choose and control all our behaviors or do some of these behaviors occur
automatically? A large body of evidence now suggests that many of our behaviors are, in fact,
automatic. A behavior or process is considered automatic if it is unintentional, uncontrollable,
occurs outside of conscious awareness, or is cognitively efficient (Bargh & Chartrand, 1999).
A process may be considered automatic even if it does not have all these features; for example,
driving is a fairly automatic process, but is clearly intentional. Processes can become automatic
through repetition, practice, or repeated associations. Staying with the driving example:
although it can be very difficult and cognitively effortful at the start, over time it becomes a
relatively automatic process, and aspects of it can occur outside conscious awareness.
In addition to practice leading to the
learning of automatic behaviors,
some automatic processes, such as
fear responses, appear to be
innate. For example, people quickly
detect negative stimuli, such as
negative words, even when those
stimuli are presented subliminally
(Dijksterhuis & Aarts, 2003; Pratto
& John, 1991). This may represent
an evolutionarily adaptive response
that makes individuals more likely
Our tendency to subtly mimic the people we interact with is largely an
unconscious behavior. [Photo: Robert Thomson]
to detect danger in their environment.

Other innate automatic processes
may have evolved due to their pro-social outcomes. The chameleon effectwhere individuals
nonconsciously mimic the postures, mannerisms, facial expressions, and other behaviors of
their interaction partnersis an example of how people may engage in certain behaviors
without conscious intention or awareness (Chartrand & Bargh, 1999). For example, have you
ever noticed that youve picked up some of the habits of your friends? Over time, but also in
brief encounters, we will nonconsciously mimic those around us because of the positive social
effects of doing so. That is, automatic mimicry has been shown to lead to more positive social
439
interactions and to increase liking between the mimicked person and the mimicking person.
When concepts and behaviors have been repeatedly associated with each other, one of them
can be primedi.e., made more cognitively accessibleby exposing participants to the
(strongly associated) other one. For example, by presenting participants with the concept of
a doctor, associated concepts such as nurse or stethoscope are primed. As a result,
participants recognize a word like nurse more quickly (Meyer, & Schvaneveldt, 1971).
Similarly, stereotypes can automatically prime associated judgments and behaviors.
Stereotypes are our general beliefs about a group of people and, once activated, they may
guide our judgments outside of conscious awareness. Similar to schemas, stereotypes involve
a mental representation of how we expect a person will think and behave. For example,
someones mental schema for women may be that theyre caring, compassionate, and
maternal; however, a stereotype would be that all women are examples of this schema. As
you know, assuming all people are a certain way is not only wrong but insulting, especially if
negative traits are incorporated into a schema and subsequent stereotype.
In a now classic study, Patricia Devine (1989) primed study participants with words typically
associated with Blacks (e.g., blues, basketball) in order to activate the stereotype of Blacks.
Devine found that study participants who were primed with the Black stereotype judged a
targets ambiguous behaviors as being more hostile (a trait stereotypically associated with
Blacks) than nonprimed participants. Research in this area suggests that our social context
which constantly bombards us with conceptsmay prime us to form particular judgments
and influence our thoughts and behaviors.
In summary, there are many cognitive processes and behaviors that occur outside of our
awareness and despite our intentions. Because automatic thoughts and behaviors do not
require the same level of cognitive processing as conscious, deliberate thinking and acting,
automaticity provides an efficient way for individuals to process and respond to the social
world. However, this efficiency comes at a cost, as unconsciously held stereotypes and
attitudes can sometimes influence us to behave in unintended ways. We will discuss the
consequences of both consciously and unconsciously held attitudes in the next section.
Attitudes and Attitude Measurement

When we encounter a new object or person, we often form an attitude toward it (him/her).
An attitude is a psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity
with some degree of favor or disfavor (Eagly & Chaiken, 1993, p. 1). In essence, our attitudes
are our general evaluations of things (i.e., do you regard this thing positively or negatively?)
440
that can bias us toward having a particular response to it. For example, a negative attitude
toward mushrooms would predispose you to avoid them and think negatively of them in other
ways. This bias can be long- or short-term and can be overridden by another experience with
the object. Thus, if you encounter a delicious mushroom dish in the future, your negative
attitude could change to a positive one.
Traditionally, attitudes have been measured through explicit attitude measures, in which
participants are directly asked to provide their attitudes toward various objects, people, or
issues (e.g., a survey).
For example, in a semantic-differential scale,
respondents are asked to provide evaluations of
an attitude object using a series of negative to
positive response scaleswhich have something
like unpleasant at one end of the scale and
pleasant at the other (Osgood, Suci, &
Tannenbaum,
respondents
agreement
1957).
are
level
In
asked
with
a
to
Likert
scale,
indicate
their
various
evaluative
statements, such as, I believe that psychology is

the most interesting major (Likert, 1932). Here,
participants mark their selection between
something like strongly disagree and strongly
agree. These explicit measures of attitudes can
be used to predict peoples actual behavior, but
there are limitations to them. For one thing,
The explicit attitudes expressed by voters are used to

predict the outcomes of elections, however some people
individuals arent always aware of their true
who respond to opinion questions that involve
attitudes, because theyre either undecided or
controversial issues may hide their true attitudes.
havent given a particular issue much thought.
[Photo: lakelandlocal]
Furthermore, even when individuals are aware

of their attitudes, they might not want to admit to them, such as when holding a certain
attitude is viewed negatively by their culture. For example, sometimes it can be difficult to
measure peoples true opinions on racial issues, because participants fear that expressing
their true attitudes will be viewed as socially unacceptable. Thus, explicit attitude measures
may be unreliable when asking about controversial attitudes or attitudes that are not widely
accepted by society.
In order to avoid some of these limitations, many researchers use more subtle or covert ways
of measuring attitudes that do not suffer from such self-presentation concerns (Fazio & Olson,
441
2003). An implicit attitude is an attitude that a person does not verbally or overtly express.
For example, someone may have a positive, explicit attitude toward his job; however,
nonconsciously, he may have a lot of negative associations with it (e.g., having to wake up
early, the long commute, the office heating is broken) which results in an implicitly negative
attitude. To learn what a persons implicit attitude is, you have to use implicit measures of
attitudes. These measures infer the participants attitude rather than having the participant
explicitly report it. Many implicit measures accomplish this by recording the time it takes a
participant (i.e., the reaction time) to label or categorize an attitude object (i.e., the person,
concept, or object of interest) as positive or negative. For example, the faster someone
categorizes his or her job (measured in milliseconds) as negative compared to positive, the
more negative the implicit attitude is (i.e., because a faster categorization implies that the two
conceptswork and negativeare closely related in ones mind).
One common implicit measure is the Implicit Association Test (IAT;Greenwald & Banaji, 1995;
Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998), which does just what the name suggests, measuring
how quickly the participant pairs a concept (e.g., cats) with an attribute (e.g., good or bad).
The participants response time in pairing the concept with the attribute indicates how strongly
the participant associates the two. Another common implicit measure is the evaluative
priming task (Fazio, Jackson, Dunton, & Williams, 1995), which measures how quickly the
participant labels the valence (i.e., positive or negative) of the attitude object when it appears
immediately after a positive or negative image. The more quickly a participant labels the
attitude object after being primed with a positive versus negative image indicates how
positively the participant evaluates the object.
Individuals implicit attitudes are sometimes inconsistent with their explicitly held attitudes.
Hence, implicit measures may reveal biases that participants do not report on explicit
measures. As a result, implicit attitude measures are especially useful for examining the
pervasiveness and strength of controversial attitudes and stereotypic associations, such as
racial biases or associations between race and violence. For example, research using the IAT
has shown that about 66% of white respondents have a negative bias toward Blacks (Nosek,
Banaji, & Greenwald, 2002), that bias on the IAT against Blacks is associated with more
discomfort during interracial interactions (McConnell, & Leibold, 2001), and that implicit
associations linking Blacks to violence are associated with a greater tendency to shoot
unarmed Black targets in a video game (Payne, 2001). Thus, even though individuals are often
unaware of their implicit attitudes, these attitudes can have serious implications for their
behavior, especially when these individuals do not have the cognitive resources available to
override the attitudes influence.
Conclusion
442
Decades of research on social cognition and attitudes have revealed many of the tricks and
tools we use to efficiently process the limitless amounts of social information we encounter.
These tools are quite useful for organizing that information to arrive at quick decisions. When
you see an individual engage in a behavior, such as seeing a man push an elderly woman to
the ground, you form judgments about his personality, predictions about the likelihood of
him engaging in similar behaviors in the future, as well as predictions about the elderly
womans feelings and how you would feel if you were in her position. As the research presented
in this module demonstrates, we are adept and efficient at making these judgments and
predictions, but they are not made in a vacuum. Ultimately, our perception of the social world
is a subjective experience, and, consequently, our decisions are influenced by our experiences,
expectations, emotions, motivations, and current contexts. Being aware of when our
judgments are most accurate, and how our judgments are shaped by social influences,
prepares us to be in a much better position to appreciate, and potentially counter, their effects.
443
Outside Resources
Video: Daniel Gilbert discussing affective forecasting.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xebnl3_dan-gilbert-on-what-affective-forec_people#.UQlwDx3WLm4
Video: Focus on heuristics.
http://study.com/academy/lesson/heuristics.html
Web: BBC Horizon documentary How to Make Better Decisions that discusses many module
topics (Part 1).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul-FqOfX-t8
Web: Implicit Attitudes Test.
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/
1. Describe your event-schema, or script, for an event that you encounter regularly (e.g.,
dining at a restaurant). Now, attempt to articulate a script for an event that you have
encountered only once or a few times. How are these scripts different? How confident are
you in your ability to navigate these two events?
2. Think of a time when you made a decision that you thought would make you very happy
(e.g., purchasing an item). To what extent were you accurate or inaccurate? In what ways
were you wrong, and why do you think you were wrong?
3. What is an issue you feel strongly about (e.g., abortion, death penalty)? How would you
react if research demonstrated that your opinion was wrong? What would it take before
you would believe the evidence?
4. Take an implicit association test at the Project Implicit website (https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit).
How do your results match or mismatch your explicit attitudes.
444
Vocabulary
Affective forecasting
Predicting how one will feel in the future after some event or decision.
Attitude
A psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree
of favor or disfavor.
Automatic
A behavior or process has one or more of the following features: unintentional, uncontrollable,
occurring outside of conscious awareness, and cognitively efficient.
Availability heuristic
A heuristic in which the frequency or likelihood of an event is evaluated based on how easily
instances of it come to mind.
Chameleon effect
The tendency for individuals to nonconsciously mimic the postures, mannerisms, facial
expressions, and other behaviors of ones interaction partners.
Directional goals
The motivation to reach a particular outcome or judgment.
Durability bias
A bias in affective forecasting in which one overestimates for how long one will feel an emotion
(positive or negative) after some event.
Evaluative priming task
An implicit attitude task that assesses the extent to which an attitude object is associated with
a positive or negative valence by measuring the time it takes a person to label an adjective as
good or bad after being presented with an attitude object.
Explicit attitude
An attitude that is consciously held and can be reported on by the person holding the attitude.
Heuristics
A mental shortcut or rule of thumb that reduces complex mental problems to more simple
445
rule-based decisions.
Hot cognition
The mental processes that are influenced by desires and feelings.
Impact bias
A bias in affective forecasting in which one underestimates the strength or intensity of emotion
one will experience after some event.
Implicit Association Test
An implicit attitude task that assesses a persons automatic associations between concepts
by measuring the response times in pairing the concepts.
Implicit attitude
An attitude that a person cannot verbally or overtly state.
Implicit measures of attitudes
Measures of attitudes in which researchers infer the participants attitude rather than having
the participant explicitly report it.
Mood-congruent memory
The tendency to be better able to recall memories that have a mood similar to our current
mood.
Motivated skepticism
A form of bias that can result from having a directional goal in which one is skeptical of evidence
despite its strength because it goes against what one wants to believe.
Need for closure
The desire to come to a decision that will resolve ambiguity and conclude an issue.
Planning fallacy
A cognitive bias in which one underestimates how long it will take to complete a task.
Primed
A process by which a concept or behavior is made more cognitively accessible or likely to
occur through the presentation of an associated concept.
Representativeness heuristic
446
A heuristic in which the likelihood of an object belonging to a category is evaluated based on

the extent to which the object appears similar to ones mental representation of the category.
Schema
A mental model or representation that organizes the important information about a thing,
person, or event (also known as a script).
Social cognition
The study of how people think about the social world.
Stereotypes
Our general beliefs about the traits or behaviors shared by group of people.
447
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450

Wilson, T. D., Wheatley, T. P., Meyers, J. M., Gilbert, D. T., & Axsom, D. (2000). Focalism: A source
of durability bias in affective forecasting. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78,
821836.
28
Conformity and Obedience
Jerry M. Burger
We often change our attitudes and behaviors to match the attitudes and behaviors of the
people around us. One reason for this conformity is a concern about what other people think
of us. This process was demonstrated in a classic study in which college students deliberately
gave wrong answers to a simple visual judgment task rather than go against the group. Another
reason we conform to the norm is because other people often have information we do not,
and relying on norms can be a reasonable strategy when we are uncertain about how we are
supposed to act. Unfortunately, we frequently misperceive how the typical person acts, which
can contribute to problems such as the excessive binge drinking often seen in college students.
Obeying orders from an authority figure can sometimes lead to disturbing behavior. This
danger was illustrated in a famous study in which participants were instructed to administer
painful electric shocks to another person in what they believed to be a learning experiment.
Despite vehement protests from the person receiving the shocks, most participants continued
the procedure when instructed to do so by the experimenter. The findings raise questions
about the power of blind obedience in deplorable situations such as atrocities and genocide.
They also raise concerns about the ethical treatment of participants in psychology
experiments.
Learning Objectives
Become aware of how widespread conformity is in our lives and some of the ways each of
us changes our attitudes and behavior to match the norm.
Understand the two primary reasons why people often conform to perceived norms.
Appreciate how obedience to authority has been examined in laboratory studies and some
of the implications of the findings from these investigations.
Consider some of the remaining issues and sources of controversy surrounding Milgrams
452
obedience studies.
Introduction
When he was a teenager, my son often enjoyed looking at photographs of me and my wife
taken when we were in high school. He laughed at the hairstyles, the clothing, and the kind
of glasses people wore back then. And when he was through with his ridiculing, we would
point out that no one is immune to fashions and fads and that someday his children will
probably be equally amused by his high school photographs and the trends he found so
normal at the time.
Everyday observation confirms that we often adopt the actions and attitudes of the people
around us. Trends in clothing, music, foods, and entertainment are obvious. But our views on
political issues, religious questions, and lifestyles also reflect to some degree the attitudes of
the people we interact with. Similarly, decisions about behaviors such as smoking and drinking
are influenced by whether the people we spend time with engage in these activities.
Psychologists refer to this widespread tendency to act and think like the people around us as
conformity.
Fashion trends serve as good, and sometimes embarrassing, examples of

our own susceptibility to conformity. [Photo: messtiza]
453
Conformity
What causes all this conformity? To start, humans may possess an inherent tendency to imitate
the actions of others. Although we usually are not aware of it, we often mimic the gestures,
body posture, language, talking speed, and many other behaviors of the people we interact
with. Researchers find that this mimicking increases the connection between people and
allows our interactions to flow more smoothly (Chartrand & Bargh, 1999).
Beyond this automatic tendency to imitate others, psychologists have identified two primary
reasons for conformity. The first of these is normative influence. When normative influence
is operating, people go along with the crowd because they are concerned about what others
think of them. We dont want to look out of step or become the target of criticism just because
we like different kinds of music or dress differently than everyone else. Fitting in also brings
rewards such as camaraderie and compliments.
How powerful is normative influence? Consider a classic study conducted many years ago by
Solomon Asch (1956). The participants were male college students who were asked to engage
in a seemingly simple task. An experimenter standing several feet away held up a card that
depicted one line on the left side and three lines on the right side. The participants job was
to say aloud which of the three lines on the right was the same length as the line on the left.
Sixteen cards were presented one at a time, and the correct answer on each was so obvious
as to make the task a little boring. Except for one thing. The participant was not alone. In fact,
there were six other people in the room who also gave their answers to the line-judgment
task aloud. Moreover, although they pretended to be fellow participants, these other
individuals were, in fact, confederates working with the experimenter. The real participant
was seated so that he always gave his answer after hearing what five other participants said.
Everything went smoothly until the third trial, when inexplicably the first participant gave
an obviously incorrect answer. The mistake might have been amusing, except the second
participant gave the same answer. As did the third, the fourth, and the fifth participant.
Suddenly the real participant was in a difficult situation. His eyes told him one thing, but five
out of five people apparently saw something else.
Its one thing to wear your hair a certain way or like certain foods because everyone around
you does. But, would participants intentionally give a wrong answer just to conform with the
other participants? The confederates uniformly gave incorrect answers on 12 of the 16 trials,
and 76 percent of the participants went along with the norm at least once and also gave the
wrong answer. In total, they conformed with the group on one-third of the 12 test trials.
Although we might be impressed that the majority of the time participants answered honestly,
454
most psychologists find it remarkable that so

many college students caved in to the pressure
of the group rather than do the job they had
volunteered to do. In almost all cases, the
participants knew they were giving an incorrect
answer, but their concern for what these other
people
might
be
thinking
about
them
overpowered their desire to do the right thing.

Variations of Aschs procedures have been
conducted numerous times (Bond, 2005; Bond
Examples of the cards used in the Asch experiment. How
powerful is the normative influence? Would you be tempted
to give a clearly incorrect answer, like many participants in
the Asch experiment did, to better match the thoughts of
a group of peers? [Image: wikimedia commons]
& Smith, 1996). We now know that the findings

are easily replicated, that there is an increase
in conformity with more confederates (up to
about five), that teenagers are more prone to
conforming than are adults, and that people
conform significantly less often when they believe the confederates will not hear their
responses (Berndt, 1979; Bond, 2005; Crutchfield, 1955; Deutsch & Gerard, 1955). This last
finding is consistent with the notion that participants change their answers because they are
concerned about what others think of them. Finally, although we see the effect in virtually
every culture that has been studied, more conformity is found in collectivist countries such
as Japan and China than in individualistic countries such as the United States (Bond & Smith,
1996). Compared with individualistic cultures, people who live in collectivist cultures place a
higher value on the goals of the group than on individual preferences. They also are more
motivated to maintain harmony in their interpersonal relations.
The other reason we sometimes go along with the crowd is that people are often a source of
information. Psychologists refer to this process as informational influence. Most of us, most
of the time, are motivated to do the right thing. If society deems that we put litter in a proper
container, speak softly in libraries, and tip our waiter, then thats what most of us will do. But
sometimes its not clear what society expects of us. In these situations, we often rely on
descriptive norms (Cialdini, Reno, & Kallgren, 1990). That is, we act the way most peopleor
most people like usact. This is not an unreasonable strategy. Other people often have
information that we do not, especially when we find ourselves in new situations. If you have
ever been part of a conversation that went something like this,
Do you think we should?

Sure. Everyone else is doing it.,
455
you have experienced the power of informational influence.

However, its not always easy to obtain good descriptive norm information, which means we
sometimes rely on a flawed notion of the norm when deciding how we should behave. A good
example of how misperceived norms can lead to problems is found in research on binge
drinking among college students. Excessive drinking is a serious problem on many campuses
(Mita, 2009). There are many reasons why students binge drink, but one of the most important
is their perception of the descriptive norm. How much students drink is highly correlated with
how much they believe the average student drinks (Neighbors, Lee, Lewis, Fossos, & Larimer,
2007). Unfortunately, students arent very good at making this assessment. They notice the
boisterous heavy drinker at the party but fail to consider all the students not attending the
party. As a result, students typically overestimate the descriptive norm for college student
drinking (Borsari & Carey, 2003; Perkins, Haines, & Rice, 2005). Most students believe they
consume significantly less alcohol than the norm, a miscalculation that creates a dangerous
push toward more and more excessive alcohol consumption. On the positive side, providing
students with accurate information about drinking norms has been found to reduce
overindulgent drinking (Burger, LaSalvia, Hendricks, Mehdipour, & Neudeck, 2011; Neighbors,
Lee, Lewis, Fossos, & Walter, 2009).
Researchers have demonstrated the power of
descriptive norms in a number of areas.
Homeowners reduced the amount of energy they
used when they learned that they were
consuming more energy than their neighbors
(Schultz, Nolan, Cialdini, Goldstein, & Griskevicius,
2007). Undergraduates selected the healthy food
option when led to believe that other students
had made this choice (Burger et al., 2010). Hotel
guests were more likely to reuse their towels
when a hanger in the bathroom told them that
this is what most guests did (Goldstein, Cialdini,
Efforts to influence people to engage in healthier or
& Griskevicius, 2008). And more people began
more sustainable behaviors have benefitted from use
using the stairs instead of the elevator when
of the informational influence. For example, hotels have
informed that the vast majority of people took
been able to significantly increase the numbers of
the stairs to go up one or two floors (Burger &
people who re-use bath towels (reducing water and
Shelton, 2011).
energy use) by informing them on signs in their rooms

that re-using towels is a typical behavior of other hotel
guests. [Image: Tubetroll]
Obedience
456
Although we may be influenced by the people around us more than we recognize, whether
we conform to the norm is up to us. But sometimes decisions about how to act are not so
easy. Sometimes we are directed by a more powerful person to do things we may not want
to do. Researchers who study obedience are interested in how people react when given an
order or command from someone in a position of authority. In many situations, obedience
is a good thing. We are taught at an early age to obey parents, teachers, and police officers.
Its also important to follow instructions from judges, firefighters, and lifeguards. And a military
would fail to function if soldiers stopped obeying orders from superiors. But, there is also a
dark side to obedience. In the name of following orders or just doing my job, people can
violate ethical principles and break laws. More disturbingly, obedience often is at the heart
of some of the worst of human behaviormassacres, atrocities, and even genocide.
It was this unsettling side of obedience that
led to some of the most famous and most
controversial research in the history of
psychology. Milgram (1963, 1965, 1974)
wanted to know why so many otherwise
decent German citizens went along with
the brutality of the Nazi leaders during the
Holocaust. These inhumane policies may
have originated in the mind of a single
person, Milgram (1963, p. 371) wrote, but
they could only be carried out on a massive
scale if a very large number of persons
obeyed orders.
Photographs of victims of Cambodian dictator Pol Pot. From

1975-79 the Khmer Rouge army obediently carried out orders to
execute tens of thousands of civilians. [Photo: Rusty Stewart]
To understand this obedience, Milgram conducted a series of laboratory investigations. In all

but one variation of the basic procedure, participants were men recruited from the community
surrounding Yale University, where the research was carried out. These citizens signed up for
what they believed to be an experiment on learning and memory. In particular, they were told
the research concerned the effects of punishment on learning. Three people were involved
in each session. One was the participant. Another was the experimenter. The third was a
confederate who pretended to be another participant.
The experimenter explained that the study consisted of a memory test and that one of the
men would be the teacher and the other the learner. Through a rigged drawing, the real
participant was always assigned the teachers role and the confederate was always the learner.
The teacher watched as the learner was strapped into a chair and had electrodes attached
to his wrist. The teacher then moved to the room next door where he was seated in front of
457
a large metal box the experimenter identified as a shock generator. The front of the box
displayed gauges and lights and, most noteworthy, a series of 30 levers across the bottom.
Each lever was labeled with a voltage figure, starting with 15 volts and moving up in 15-volt
increments to 450 volts. Labels also indicated the strength of the shocks, starting with Slight
Shock and moving up to Danger: Severe Shock toward the end. The last two levers were
simply labeled XXX in red.
Through a microphone, the teacher administered
a memory test to the learner in the next room.
The learner responded to the multiple-choice
items by pressing one of four buttons that were
barely within reach of his strapped-down hand.
If the teacher saw the correct answer light up on
his side of the wall, he simply moved on to the
next item. But if the learner got the item wrong,
the teacher pressed one of the shock levers and,
thereby, delivered the learners punishment. The
teacher was instructed to start with the 15-volt
lever and move up to the next highest shock for
each successive wrong answer.
In reality, the learner received no shocks. But he
did make a lot of mistakes on the test, which
forced the teacher to administer what he
Diagram of the Milgram Experiment. "E" = the
experimenter, "T" = the teacher, who was the focus of
the experiment, "L" = the learner, the person expected
believed to be increasingly strong shocks. The

purpose of the study was to see how far the
to receive the shocks but who was actually an actor
teacher would go before refusing to continue.
cooperating with the experimenter. [Image: "Milgram
The teachers first hint that something was amiss
experiment v2" by Fred the Oyster - wikimedia
came after pressing the 75-volt lever and hearing
commons]
through the wall the learner say Ugh! The

learners reactions became stronger and louder
with each lever press. At 150 volts, the learner yelled out, Experimenter! Thats all. Get me
out of here. I told you I had heart trouble. My hearts starting to bother me now. Get me out
of here, please. My hearts starting to bother me. I refuse to go on. Let me out.
The experimenters role was to encourage the participant to continue. If at any time the teacher
asked to end the session, the experimenter responded with phrases such as, The experiment
requires that you continue, and You have no other choice, you must go on. The experimenter
ended the session only after the teacher stated four successive times that he did not want to
458
continue. All the while, the learners protests became more intense with each shock. After 300
volts, the learner refused to answer any more questions, which led the experimenter to say
that no answer should be considered a wrong answer. After 330 volts, despite vehement
protests from the learner following previous shocks, the teacher heard only silence, suggesting
that the learner was now physically unable to respond. If the teacher reached 450 voltsthe
end of the generatorthe experimenter told him to continue pressing the 450 volt lever for
each wrong answer. It was only after the teacher pressed the 450-volt lever three times that
the experimenter announced that the study was over.
If you had been a participant in this research, what would you have done? Virtually everyone
says he or she would have stopped early in the process. And most people predict that very
few if any participants would keep pressing all the way to 450 volts. Yet in the basic procedure
described here, 65 percent of the participants continued to administer shocks to the very end
of the session. These were not brutal, sadistic men. They were ordinary citizens who
nonetheless followed the experimenters instructions to administer what they believed to be
excruciating if not dangerous electric shocks to an innocent person. The disturbing implication
from the findings is that, under the right circumstances, each of us may be capable of acting
in some very uncharacteristic and perhaps some very unsettling ways.
If you had been "a teacher" in the Milgram experiment, would you have behaved differently
than the majority who delivered what they thought were massive 450-volt shocks? [Photo:
Sharon Drummond]
Milgram conducted many variations of this basic procedure to explore some of the factors
459
that affect obedience. He found that obedience rates decreased when the learner was in the
same room as the experimenter and declined even further when the teacher had to physically
touch the learner to administer the punishment. Participants also were less willing to continue
the procedure after seeing other teachers refuse to press the shock levers, and they were
significantly less obedient when the instructions to continue came from a person they believed
to be another participant rather than from the experimenter. Finally, Milgram found that
women participants followed the experimenters instructions at exactly the same rate the
men had.
Milgrams obedience research has been the subject of much controversy and discussion.
Psychologists continue to debate the extent to which Milgrams studies tell us something
about atrocities in general and about the behavior of German citizens during the Holocaust
in particular (Miller, 2004). Certainly, there are important features of that time and place that
cannot be recreated in a laboratory, such as a pervasive climate of prejudice and
dehumanization. Another issue concerns the relevance of the findings. Some people have
argued that today we are more aware of the dangers of blind obedience than we were when
the research was conducted back in the 1960s. However, findings from partial and modified
replications of Milgrams procedures conducted in recent years suggest that people respond
to the situation today much like they did a half a century ago (Burger, 2009).
Another point of controversy concerns the ethical treatment of research participants.
Researchers have an obligation to look out for the welfare of their participants. Yet, there is
little doubt that many of Milgrams participants experienced intense levels of stress as they
went through the procedure. In his defense, Milgram was not unconcerned about the effects
of the experience on his participants. And in follow-up questionnaires, the vast majority of
his participants said they were pleased they had been part of the research and thought similar
experiments should be conducted in the future. Nonetheless, in part because of Milgrams
studies, guidelines and procedures were developed to protect research participants from
these kinds of experiences. Although Milgrams intriguing findings left us with many
unanswered questions, conducting a full replication of his experiment remains out of bounds
by todays standards.
Social psychologists are fond of saying that we are all influenced by the people around us
more than we recognize. Of course, each person is unique, and ultimately each of us makes
choices about how we will and will not act. But decades of research on conformity and
obedience make it clear that we live in a social world and thatfor better or worsemuch
of what we do is a reflection of the people we encounter.
460
Outside Resources
Student Video: Christine N. Winston and Hemali Maher's 'The Milgram Experiment' gives
an excellent 3-minute overview of one of the most famous experiments in the history of
psychology. It was one of the winning entries in the 2015 Noba Student Video Award.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVIUZwkM_G0
Video: An example of information influence in a field setting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yFeaS60nWk
Video: Scenes from a recent partial replication of Milgrams obedience studies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwqNP9HRy7Y
Video: Scenes from a recent replication of Aschs conformity experiment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgDx5g9ql1g
Web: Website devoted to scholarship and research related to Milgrams obedience studies
http://www.stanleymilgram.com
1. In what ways do you see normative influence operating among you and your peers? How
difficult would it be to go against the norm? What would it take for you to not do something
just because all your friends were doing it?
2. What are some examples of how informational influence helps us do the right thing? How
can we use descriptive norm information to change problem behaviors?
3. Is conformity more likely or less likely to occur when interacting with other people through
social media as compared to face-to-face encounters?
4. When is obedience to authority a good thing and when is it bad? What can be done to
prevent people from obeying commands to engage in truly deplorable behavior such as
atrocities and massacres?
5. In what ways do Milgrams experimental procedures fall outside the guidelines for research
with human participants? Are there ways to conduct relevant research on obedience to
authority without violating these guidelines?
461
Vocabulary
Conformity
Changing ones attitude or behavior to match a perceived social norm.
Descriptive norm
The perception of what most people do in a given situation.
Informational influence
Conformity that results from a concern to act in a socially approved manner as determined
by how others act.
Normative influence
Conformity that results from a concern for what other people think of us.
Obedience
Responding to an order or command from a person in a position of authority.
462
References
Asch, S. E. (1956). Studies of independence and conformity: I. A minority of one against a
unanimous majority. Psychological Monographs, 70 (9, Whole No. 416).
Berndt, T. J. (1979). Developmental changes in conformity to peers and parents. Developmental
Bond, R. (2005). Group size and conformity. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 8, 331354.
Bond, R., & Smith, P. B. (1996). Culture and conformity: A meta-analysis of studies using Aschs
(1952b, 1956) line judgment task. Psychological Bulletin, 119, 111137.
Borsari, B., & Carey, K. B. (2003). Descriptive and injunctive norms in college drinking: A metaanalytic integration. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 64, 331341.
Burger, J. M. (2009). Replicating Milgram: Would people still obey today? American Psychologist,
64, 111.
Burger, J. M., & Shelton, M. (2011). Changing everyday health behaviors through descriptive
norm manipulations. Social Influence, 6, 6977.
Burger, J. M., Bell, H., Harvey, K., Johnson, J., Stewart, C., Dorian, K., & Swedroe, M. (2010).
Nutritious or delicious? The effect of descriptive norm information on food choice. Journal
of Social and Clinical Psychology, 29, 228242.
Burger, J. M., LaSalvia, C. T., Hendricks, L. A., Mehdipour, T., & Neudeck, E. M. (2011). Partying
before the party gets started: The effects of descriptive norms on pre-gaming behavior.
Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 33, 220227.
Chartrand, T. L., & Bargh, J. A. (1999). The chameleon effect: The perception-behavior link and
social interaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 893910.
Cialdini, R. B., Reno, R. R., & Kallgren, C. A. (1990). A focus theory of normative conduct: Recycling
the concept of norms to reduce littering in public places. Journal of Personality and Social
Crutchfield, R. S. (1955). Conformity and character. American Psychologist, 10, 191198.
Deutsch, M., & Gerard, H. B. (1955). A study of normative and informational social influences
upon individual judgment. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 51, 629636.
Goldstein, N. J., Cialdini, R. B., & Griskevicius, V. (2008). A room with a viewpoint:Using social
norms to motivate environmental conservation in hotels. Journal of Consumer Research, 35,
472482.
Milgram, S. (1974). Obedience to authority: An experimental view. New York, NY: Harper & Row.
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Milgram, S. (1965). Some conditions of obedience and disobedience to authority. Human

Relations, 18, 5776.
Milgram, S. (1963). Behavioral study of obedience. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology,
67, 371.
Miller, A. G. (2004). What can the Milgram obedience experiments tell us about the Holocaust?
Generalizing from the social psychology laboratory. In A. G. Miller (Ed.), The social psychology
of good and evil (pp. 193239). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Mita, M. (2009). College binge drinking still on the rise. JAMA: Journal of the American Medical
Association, 302, 836837.
Neighbors, C., Lee, C. M., Lewis, M. A., Fossos, N., & Larimer, M. E. (2007). Are social norms the
best predictor of outcomes among heavy-drinking college students? Journal of Studies on
Alcohol and Drugs, 68, 556565.
Neighbors, C., Lee, C. M., Lewis, M. A., Fossos, N., & Walter, T. (2009). Internet-based
personalized feedback to reduce 21st-birthday drinking: A randomized controlled trial of
an even-specific prevention intervention. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 77,
5163.
Perkins, H. W., Haines, M. P., & Rice, R. (2005). Misperceiving the college drinking norm and
related problems: A nationwide study of exposure to prevention information, perceived
norms, and student alcohol misuse. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 66, 470478.
Schultz, P. W., Nolan, J. M., Cialdini, R. B., Goldstein, N. J., & Griskevicius, V. (2007). The
constructive, destructive, and reconstructive power of social norms. Psychological Science,
18, 429434.
29
Social Comparison
Stephen Garcia & Arnor Halldorsson
When athletes compete in a race, they are able to observe and compare their performance
against those of their competitors. In the same way, all people naturally engage in mental
comparisons with the people around them during the course of daily life. These evaluations
can impact our motivation and feelings. In this module, you will learn about the process of
social comparison: its definition, consequences, and the factors that affect it.
Learning Objectives
Understand the reasons people make social comparisons.

Identify consequences of social comparison.
Understand the Self-Evaluation Maintenance Model.
Explain situational factors that can affect

social comparison.
Introduction: Social Comparison

One pleasant Saturday afternoon, Mr.
Social comparison is a well-known concept to advertisers. They
create idealized images that influence consumers self-
Jones arrives home from the car dealership

in a brand-new Mercedes-Benz C-Class, the
perceptions as well as the things they feel they must buy in order
entry-level sedan in the Mercedes family of
to be satisfied. [Image: SenseiAlan, http://goo.gl/XOwjq5, CC BY
cars.
2.0, http://goo.gl/T4qgSp]
common in Europe, they are often viewed
Although
Mercedes-Benzes
are
465
Social Comparison
as status symbols in Mr. Jones neighborhood in North America. This new car is a huge upgrade
from his previous car. Excited, Mr. Jones immediately drives around the block and into town
to show it off. He is thrilled with his purchase for a full weekthat is, until he sees his neighbor
across the street, Mr. Smith, driving a brand-new Mercedes S-Class, the highest tier of Mercedes
sedans. Mr. Smith notices Mr. Jones from a distance and waves to him with a big smile. Climbing
into his C-Class, Mr. Jones suddenly feels disappointed with his purchase and even feels envious
of Mr. Smith. Now his C-Class feels just as lame as his old car.
Mr. Smith is experiencing the effects of social comparison. Occurring frequently in our lives,
social comparison shapes our perceptions, memory, and behavioreven regarding the most
trivial of issues. In this module, we will take a closer look at the reasons we make social
comparisons and the consequences of the social comparison process.
Social Comparison: Basics

In 1954, psychologist Leon Festinger hypothesized that people compare themselves to others
in order to fulfill a basic human desire: the need for self-evaluation. He called this process
social comparison theory. At the core of his theory is the idea that people come to know about
themselvestheir own abilities, successes, and personalityby comparing themselves with
others. These comparisons can be divided into two basic categories.
In one category, we consider social norms and the opinions of others. Specifically, we compare
our own opinions and values to those of others when our own self-evaluation is unclear. For
example, you might not be certain about your position on a hotly contested issue, such as
the legality of abortion. Or, you might not be certain about which fork to use first in a multicourse place setting. In these types of instances people are prone to look toward othersto
make social comparisonsto help fill in the gaps.
Imagine an American exchange student arriving in India for the first time, a country where
the culture is drastically different from his own. He notices quickly through observing others
i.e., social comparisonthat when greeting a person, it is normal to place his own palms
together rather than shaking the other persons hand. This comparison informs him of how
he should behave in the surrounding social context.
The second category of social comparison pertains to our abilities and performance. In these
cases, the need for self-evaluation is driven by another fundamental desire: to perform better
and betteras Festinger (1954) put it, a unidirectional drive upward. In essence, we compare
our performance not only to evaluate ourselves but also to benchmark our performance
466
Social Comparison
related to another person. If we

observe or even anticipate that a
specific person is doing better than us
at some ability then we may be
motivated to boost our performance
level. Take, for example, a realistic
scenario where Olivia uses social
comparison to gauge her abilities:
Olivia is a high school student who
often spends a few hours in her
backyard shooting a soccer ball at her
homemade goal. A friend of hers
When comparing, similarity is important. A professional athlete is far

more likely to compare his or her own performance against that of
suggests she try out for the schools
other professional athletes than that of an amateur. [Image: Chris
soccer team. Olivia accepts her
Turner, http://goo.gl/U3mheO, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0, http://goo.gl/FuDJ6c]
friends suggestion, although nervously,

doubting shes good enough to make the team. On the day of tryouts, Olivia gets her gear
ready and starts walking towards the soccer field. As she approaches, she feels butterflies in
her stomach and her legs get wobbly. But, glancing towards the other candidates who have
arrived early to take a few practice shots at the goal, she notices that their aim is inconsistent
and they frequently miss the goal. Seeing this, Olivia feels more relaxed, and she confidently
marches onto the field, ready to show everyone her skills.
Relevance and Similarity

There are important factors, however, that determine whether people will engage in social
comparison. First, the performance dimension has to be relevant to the self (Festinger, 1954).
For example, if excelling in academics is more important to you than excelling in sports, you
are more likely to compare yourself with others in terms of academic rather than athletic
performance. Relevance is also important when assessing opinions. If the issue at hand is
relevant to you, you will compare your opinion to others; if not, you most likely wont even
bother. Relevance is thus a necessary precondition for social comparison.
A secondary question is, " to whom do people compare themselves ?" Generally speaking,
people compare themselves to those who are similar (Festinger, 1954; Goethals & Darley,
1977), whether similar in personal characteristics (e.g., gender, ethnic background, hair color,
etc.) or in terms of performance (e.g., both being of comparable ability or both being neckand-neck in a race). For example, a casual tennis player will not compare her performance to
that of a professional, but rather to that of another casual tennis player. The same is true of
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Social Comparison
opinions. People will cross-reference their own opinions on an issue with others who are
similar to them rather than dissimilar (e.g., ethnic background or economic status).
Direction of Comparison
Social comparison is a bi-directional phenomenon where we can compare ourselves to people
who are better than usupward comparisonsor worse than usdownward
comparisons. Engaging in either of these two comparisons on a performance dimension can
affect our self-evaluation. On one hand, upward comparisons on relevant dimensions can
threaten our self-evaluation and jeopardize self-esteem (Tesser, 1988). On the other hand,
they can also lead to joy and admiration for others accomplishments on dimensions that are
not relevant to the self, where ones self-evaluation is not under threat. For example, an
academic overachiever who distinguishes himself by having two advanced degrees, both a
PhD and a law degree, may not enjoy meeting another individual with a PhD, a law degree,
and an MBA, but may well enjoy meeting a fellow overachiever in a domain that is not selfrelevant, such as a famous NASCAR racer or professional hockey player.
Downward comparisons may boost our self-evaluation on relevant dimensions, leading to a
self-enhancement effect (Wills, 1981), such as when an individual suffering from an illness
makes downward comparisons with those suffering even more. A person enduring treatment
for cancer, for instance, might feel better about his own side effects if he learns that an
acquaintance suffered worse side effects from the same treatment. More recent findings have
also shown that downward comparisons can also lead to feelings of scorn (Fiske, 2011), such
as when those of a younger generation look down upon the elderly. In these cases, the boost
to self-evaluation is so strong that it leads to an exaggerated sense of pride.
Interestingly, the direction of comparison and a persons emotional response can also depend
on the counterfactualwhat might have beenthat comes most easily to mind. For
example, one might think that an Olympic silver medalist would feel happier than a bronze
medalist. After all, placing second is more prestigious than placing third. However, a classic
study by Victoria Medvec, Scott Madey, and Thomas Gilovich (1995) found the opposite effect:
bronze medalists were actually happier than silver medalists. The reason for this effect is that
silver medalist's focus on having fallen short of achieving the gold (so close!), essentially turning
a possible downward comparison into an upward comparison; whereas the bronze medalists
recognize they came close to not winning any medal, essentially turning a possible upward
comparison (to another medalist) into a downward comparison to those who did not even
receive a medal.
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Social Comparison
Table 1: The effects of social comparison.
Consequences of Social Comparison

The social comparison process has been associated with numerous consequences. For one,
social comparison can impact self-esteem (Tesser, 1988), especially when doing well relative
to others. For example, having the best final score in a class can increase your self-esteem
quite a bit. Social comparison can also lead to feelings of regret (White, Langer, Yariv, & Welch,
2006), as when comparing the negative outcome of ones investment strategy to the positive
outcome of a different strategy taken by a neighbor. Social comparison can also lead to feelings
of envy (Fiske, 2011; Salovey & Rodin, 1984), as when someone with thinning hair envies the
thick hair of a colleague.
Social comparison can also have interesting
behavioral consequences. If you were to
observe a discrepancy in performance
between yourself and another person, then
you might behave more competitively
(Garcia, Tor, & Schiff, 2013), as you attempt
to minimize the discrepancy. If, for example,
you are among the top 10% on your class
mid-term you might feel competitive with
the other top students. Although competition
can raise performance it can also take more
problematic forms, from inflicting actual
Comparing your behavior to that of other people might make
harm to making a comment to another
you jealous, regretful or more motivated. Lapel stickers and
person. These kinds of behaviors are likely

to arise when the situation following the
social comparison does not provide the
online badges that proclaim I voted or I gave blood are

common examples of leveraging social comparison to achieve
positive social outcomes. [Image: CAVE CANEM, http://goo.gl/
ifKSiE, CC BY 2.0, http://goo.gl/v4Y0Zv]
opportunity to self-repair, such as another

chance to compete in a race or retake a test (Johnson, 2012). However, when later
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Social Comparison
opportunities to self-repair do exist, a more positive form of competitive motivation arises,

whether that means running harder in a race or striving to earn a higher test score.
Self-Evaluation Maintenance Model

The self-evaluation maintenance (SEM; Tesser, 1988) model builds on social comparison
theory. SEM points to a range of psychological forces that help and maintain our self-evaluation
and self-esteem. In addition to relevance and similarity, SEM reveals the importance of
relationship closeness. It turns out that relationship closenesswhere two people stand on
the continuum from being complete strangers to being intimate friendsaffects selfevaluations.
For example, in one study, Tesser and Smith (1980) asked people to play a verbal game in
which they were given the opportunity to receive clues from a partner. These clues could be
used to help them guess the correct word in a word game. Half the participants were told the
game was related to intelligence whereas the other half were not. Additionally, half the
participants were paired with a close friend but the other half played with a stranger. Results
show that participants who were led to believe the task was self-relevant or having to do with
intelligence provided more difficult clues when their partner was a friend versus a stranger
suggesting a competitive uptick associated with relationship closeness. However, when
performance was implied to be irrelevant to the self, partners gave easier clues to friends
than strangers.
SEM can predict which of our friends and which of our comparison dimensions are self-relevant
(Tesser & Campbell, 2006; Zuckerman & Jost, 2001). For example, suppose playing chess is
highly self-relevant for you. In this case you will naturally compare yourselves to other chess
players. Now, suppose that your chess-playing friend consistently beats you. In fact, each time
you play she beats you by a wider and wider margin. SEM would predict that one of two things
will likely happen: (1) winning at chess will no longer be self-relevant to you, or (2) you will no
longer be friends with this individual. In fact, if the first option occursyou lose interest in
competingyou will begin to bask in the glory of your chess playing friend as his or her
performance approaches perfection.
These psychological processes have real world implications! They may determine who is hired
in an organization or who is promoted at work. For example, suppose you are a faculty member
of a university law school. Your work performance is appraised based on your teaching and
on your academic publications. Although you do not have the most publications in your law
school, you do have the most publications in prestigious journals.
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Social Comparison
Now, suppose that you are chairing a

committee to hire a new faculty member.
One candidate has even more top tier
publications than you, while another
candidate has the most publications in
general of all the faculty members. How
do you think social comparison might
influence your choice of applicants?
Research suggests that someone in your
hypothetical shoes would likely favor the
It is common advice in the business world for managers to hire
your replacement. In other words, to hire people with as much
talent as possible, even those who could do the job better than the
second candidate over the first candidate:

people
will
actively
champion
the
manager. The SEM model suggests that managers may prefer sub-
candidate who does not threaten their
optimal candidates who arent likely to challenge their standing in
standing on a relevant dimension in an
the organization. [Image: Ethan, http://goo.gl/Inqxas, CC BY 2.0,
organization (Garcia, Song, & Tesser,
http://goo.gl/v4Y0Zv]
2010). In other words, the SEM forces are

so powerful that people will essentially
advocate for a candidate whom they feel is inferior!
Individual Differences
It is also worth mentioning that social comparison and its effects on self-evaluation will often
depend on personality and individual differences. For example, people with mastery goals
(Poortvliet, Janssen, Van Yperen, & Van de Vliert, 2007 ) may not interpret an upward
comparison as a threat to the self but more as challenge, and a hopeful sign that one can
achieve a certain level of performance. Another individual difference is whether one has a
fixed mindset or growth mindset (Dweck, 2007). People with fixed mindsets think that
their abilities and talents cannot change; thus, an upward comparison will likely threaten their
self-evaluation and prompt them to experience negative consequences of social comparison,
such as competitive behavior, envy, or unhappiness. People with growth mindsets, however,
are likely to interpret an upward comparison as a challenge, and an opportunity to improve
themselves.
Situational factors
Social comparison researchers are actively exploring situational factors that can likewise
influence degrees of social comparison:
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Social Comparison
Number
As the number of comparison targets (i.e., the number of people with whom you can compare)
increases, social comparison tends to decrease. For example, imagine you are running a race
with competitors of similar ability as your own, and the top 20% will receive a prize. Do you
think you would try harder if there were only 10 people in the race, or if there were 100? The
findings on N-Effect (Garcia & Tor, 2009; Tor & Garcia, 2010) suggest the answer is 10 . Even
though the expected value of winning is the same in both cases, people will try harder when
there are fewer people. In fact, findings suggest that as the number of SAT test-takers at a
particular venue increases, the lower the average SAT score for that venue will be (Garcia &
Tor, 2009). One of the mechanisms behind the N-Effect is social comparison. As the number
of competitors increases, social comparisonone of the engines behind competitive
motivationbecomes less important. Perhaps you have experienced this if you have had to
give class presentations. As the number of presenters increases, you feel a decreasing amount
of comparison pressure.
Local
Research on the local dominance effect
(Zell & Alicke, 2010) also provides insights
about social comparison. People are more
influenced by social comparison when the
comparison is more localized rather than
being broad and general. For example, if
you wanted to evaluate your height by
using
social
comparison,
you
could
compare your height to a good friend, a

group of friends, people in your workplace,
or even the average height of people living
in your city. Although any of these
comparisons is hypothetically possible
people generally rely on more local
It is natural to make comparisons between oneself and others on
comparisons. They are more likely to
a variety of different standards and to compare oneself with a
compare with friends or co-workers than
variety of different people. Comparisons to friends are among
they are to industry or national averages.
the most influential of all. [Image: Corrie M, http://goo.gl/FRbOfQ,
So, if you are among the tallest in your
CC BY-ND 2.0, http://goo.gl/FuDJ6c]
group of friends, it may very well give you

a bigger boost to your self-esteem, even if
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Social Comparison
youre still among the shortest individuals at the national level.
Proximity to a Standard
Research suggests that social comparison involves the proximity of a standardsuch as the
#1 ranking or other qualitative threshold. One consequence of this is an increase in
competitive behavior. For example, in childhood games, if someone shouts, First one to the
tree is the coolest-person-in the-world! then the children who are nearest the tree will tug
and pull at each other for the lead. However, if someone shouts, Last one there is a rottenegg! then the children who are in last place will be the ones tugging and pulling each other
to get ahead. In the proximity of a standard, social comparison concerns increase. We also
see this in rankings. Rivals ranked #2 and #3, for instance, are less willing to maximize joint
gains (in which they both benefit) if it means their opponent will benefit more, compared to
rivals ranked #202 and #203 (Garcia, Tor, & Gonzalez, 2006; Garcia & Tor, 2007). These latter
rivals are so far from the #1 rank (i.e., the standard) that it does not bother them if their
opponent benefits more than them. Thus, social comparison concerns are only important in
the proximity of a standard.
Social Category Lines

Social comparison can also happen between groups. This is especially the case when groups
come from different social categories versus the same social category. For example, if
students were deciding what kind of music to play at the high school prom, one option would
be to simply flip a coinsay, heads for hip-hop, tails for pop. In this case, everyone represents
the same social categoryhigh school seniorsand social comparison isnt an issue. However,
if all the boys wanted hip-hop and all the girls wanted pop flipping a coin is not such an easy
solution as it privileges one social category over another (Garcia & Miller, 2007). For more on
this, consider looking into the research literature about the difficulties of win-win scenarios
between different social categories (Tajfel, Billig, Bundy, & Flament, 1971; Turner, Brown, &
Tajfel, 1979).
Related Phenomena
Frog Pond Effect
One interesting phenomenon of social comparison is the Frog Pond Effect. As the name
suggests, its premise can be illustrated using the simple analogy of a frog in a pond: as a frog,
473
Social Comparison
would you rather be in a small pond where youre a big frog, or a large pond where youre a
small frog? According to Marsh, Trautwein, Ludtke and Koller (2008), people in general had a
better academic self-concept if they were a big frog in a small pond (e.g., the top student in
their local high school) rather than a small frog in a large one (e.g., one of many good students
at an Ivy League university). In a large study of students, they found that school-average ability
can have a negative impact on the academic self-esteem of a student when the average ability
is 1 standard deviation higher than normal (i.e., a big pond). In other words, average students
have a higher academic self-concept when attending a below-average school (big fish in a
small pond), and they have a lower academic self-concept when attending an above-average
school (small fish in a big pond) (Marsh, 1987; Marsh & Parker, 1984).
The Dunning-Kruger Effect

Another related topic to social comparison is the Dunning-Kruger Effect. The Dunning-Kruger
effect, as explained by Dunning, Johnson, Ehrlinger and Kruger (2003), addresses the fact that
unskilled people often think they are on par or superior to their peers in tasks such as testtaking abilities. That is, they are overconfident. Basically, they fail to accurately compare
themselves or their skills within their surroundings. For example, Dunning et al. (2003) asked
students to disclose how well they thought they had done on an exam theyd just taken. The
bottom 25% of students with the lowest test scores overestimated their performance by
approximately 30%, thinking their performance was above the 50th percentile. This estimation
problem doesnt only apply to poor performers, however. According to Dunning et al. (2003),
top performers tend to underestimate their skills or percentile ranking in their surrounding
context. Some explanations are provided by Dunning et al. (2003) for this effect on both the
good and poor performers:The poor performers, compared to their more capable peers, lack
specific logical abilities similar to the logic necessary to do some of the tasks/tests in these
studies and, as such, cannot really distinguish which questions they are getting right or wrong.
This is known as the double-curse explanation. However, the good performers do not have
this particular logic problem and are actually quite good at estimating their raw scores.
Ironically, the good performers usually overestimate how well the people around them are
doing and therefore devaluate their own performance. As a result, most people tend to think
they are above average in what they do, when in actuality not everyone can be above average.
Conclusion
Social comparison is a natural psychological tendency and one that can exert a powerful
influence on the way we feel and behave. Many people act as if social comparison is an ugly
phenomenon and one to be avoided. This sentiment is at the heart of phrases like keeping
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Social Comparison
The Dunning-Kruger Effect shows that the least experienced and least knowledgeable
people are over-confident. These people dont know what they dont know and are more
likely to overestimate their own abilities.
up with the Joneses and the rat race, in which it is assumed that people are primarily
motivated by a desire to beat others. In truth, social comparison has many positive aspects.
Just think about it: how could you ever gauge your skills in chess without having anyone to
compare yourself to? It would be nearly impossible to ever know just how good your chess
skills are, or even what criteria determine good vs. bad chess skills. In addition, the engine
of social comparison can also provide the push you need to rise to the occasion and increase
your motivation, and therefore make progress toward your goals.
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Social Comparison
Outside Resources
Video: Downward Comparison
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3gGkiWSzvg
Video: Dunning-Kruger Effect
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htEMitphv8w
Video: Social Comparison overview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIRAQvP0ABg
Video: Social Media and Comparison
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mobWMwryKY
Video: Upward Comparison
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlBKORVcyGk
Web: Self-Compassion to counter the negative effects of social comparison
http://self-compassion.org/the-three-elements-of-self-compassion-2/
1. On what do you compare yourself with others? Qualities such as attractiveness and
intelligence? Skills such as school performance or athleticism? Do others also make these
same types of comparisons or does each person make a unique set? Why do you think this
is?
2. How can making comparisons to others help you?
3. One way to make comparisons is to compare yourself with your own past performance.
Discuss a time you did this. Could this example be described as an upward or downward
comparison? How did this type of comparison affect you?
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Social Comparison
Vocabulary
Counterfactual thinking
Mentally comparing actual events with fantasies of what might have been possible in
alternative scenarios.
Downward comparison
Making mental comparisons with people who are perceived to be inferior on the standard of
comparison.
Dunning-Kruger Effect
The tendency for unskilled people to be overconfident in their ability and highly skilled people
to underestimate their ability.
Fixed mindset
The belief that personal qualities such as intelligence are traits that cannot be developed.
People with fixed mindsets often underperform compared to those with growth mindsets
Frog Pond Effect
The theory that a persons comparison group can affect their evaluations of themselves.
Specifically, people have a tendency to have lower self-evaluations when comparing
themselves to higher performing groups.
Growth mindset
The belief that personal qualities, such as intelligence, can be developed through effort and
practice.
Individual differences
Psychological traits, abilities, aptitudes and tendencies that vary from person to person.
Local dominance effect
People are generally more influenced by social comparison when that comparison is
personally relevant rather than broad and general.
Mastery goals
Goals that are focused primarily on learning, competence, and self-development. These are
contrasted with performance goals that are focused on the quality of a persons performance.
Social Comparison
477
N-Effect
The finding that increasing the number of competitors generally decreases ones motivation
to compete.
Personality
A persons relatively stable patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior.
Proximity
The relative closeness or distance from a given comparison standard. The further from the
standard a person is, the less important he or she considers the standard. When a person is
closer to the standard he/she is more likely to be competitive.
Self-enhancement effect
The finding that people can boost their own self-evaluations by comparing themselves to
others who rank lower on a particular comparison standard.
Self-esteem
The feeling of confidence in ones own abilities or worth.
Self-evaluation maintenance (SEM)
A model of social comparison that emphasizes ones closeness to the comparison target, the
relative performance of that target person, and the relevance of the comparison behavior to
ones self-concept.
Social category
Any group in which membership is defined by similarities between its members. Examples
include religious, ethnic, and athletic groups.
Social comparison
The process by which people understand their own ability or condition by mentally comparing
themselves to others.
Upward comparisons
Making mental comparisons to people who are perceived to be superior on the standard of
comparison.
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Social Comparison
References
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Their Own Incompetence. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 12(3), 83-87.
Dweck, C. (2007). Mindset: The new psychology of success. New York, NY: Ballantine Books
Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human relations, 7(2), 117-140.
Fiske, S. (2011). Envy up, scorn down: how comparison divides us. The American Psychologist,
65(8), 698-706.
Garcia, S. M., & Miller, D. (2007). Social categories and group preference disputes: The aversion
to winner-take-all solutions. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 10,
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Garcia, S. M., Tor, A., & Gonzalez, R. D. (2006). Ranks and rivals: A theory of competition.
Garcia, S. M., Tor, A., & Schiff, T. (2013). The Psychology of Competition: A Social
Comparison Perspective. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 8(6), 634-650.
Goethals, G., & Darley, J. (1977). Social comparison theory: An attributional approach. In J. Suls
& R. L. Miller (Eds.), Social comparison processes: Theoretical and empirical perspectives (pp.
259278). Washington, DC: Hemisphere.
Johnson, C. (2012). Behavioral responses to threatening social comparisons: From dastardly
deeds to rising above. Social & Personality Psychology Compass, 6, 515524
Marsh, H. W. (1987). The big-fish-little-pond effect on academic self-concept. Journal of
Educational Psychology, 79, 280-295
Marsh, H. W., & Parker, J. (1984). Determinants of student self-concept: Is it better to be a
relatively large fish in a small pond even if you don\'t learn to swim as well? Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 47, 213-231
Marsh, H. W., Trautwein, U., Ldtke, O. & Kller, O. (2008). Social comparison and big-fish-littlepond effects on self-concept and other self-belief constructs: Role of generalized and
specific others. Journal of Educational Psychology, 100, 510524.
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Medvec, V., Madey, S., & Gilovich, T. (1995). When Less Is More. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 69(4), 603-610.
Poortvliet, P., Janssen, O., Yperen, N., & Vliert, E. (2007). Achievement Goals and Interpersonal
Behavior: How Mastery and Performance Goals Shape Information Exchange. Personality
and Social Psychology Bulletin, 33(10), 1435-1447.
Salovey, P., & Rodin, J. (1984). Some antecedents and consequences of social-comparison
jealousy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 47, 780792
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Emotions, Stress, and Coping (11/17)
30
Functions of Emotions
Hyisung Hwang & David Matsumoto
Emotions play a crucial role in our lives because they have important functions. This module
describes those functions, dividing the discussion into three areas: the intrapersonal, the
interpersonal, and the social and cultural functions of emotions. The section on the
intrapersonal functions of emotion describes the roles that emotions play within each of us
individually; the section on the interpersonal functions of emotion describes the meanings
of emotions to our relationships with others; and the section on the social and cultural
functions of emotion describes the roles and meanings that emotions have to the
maintenance and effective functioning of our societies and cultures at large. All in all we will
see that emotions are a crucially important aspect of our psychological composition, having
meaning and function to each of us individually, to our relationships with others in groups,
and to our societies as a whole.
Learning Objectives
Gain an appreciation of the importance of emotion in human life.

Understand the functions and meanings of emotion in three areas of life: the intrapersonal,
interpersonal, and socialcultural.
Give examples of the role and function of emotion in each of the three areas described.
Introduction
It is impossible to imagine life without emotion. We treasure our feelingsthe joy at a ball
482
game, the pleasure of the

touch of a loved one, or the fun
with friends on a night out.
Even negative emotions are
important, such as the sadness
when a loved one dies, the
anger when violated, the fear
that overcomes us in a scary or
unknown situation, or the guilt
or shame toward others when
our sins are made public.
Emotions color life experiences
and give those experiences
Emotions help us navigate the complex social landscape of our lives. [Image:
Danilo Urbina]
meaning and flavor.

In fact, emotions play many
important roles in peoples lives and have been the topic of scientific inquiry in psychology
for well over a century (Cannon, 1927; Darwin, 1872; James, 1890). This module explores why
we have emotions and why they are important. Doing so requires us to understand the
function of emotions, and this module does so below by dividing the discussion into three
sections. The first concerns the intrapersonal functions of emotion, which refer to the role
that emotions play within each of us individually. The second concerns the interpersonal
functions of emotion, which refer to the role emotions play between individuals within a group.
The third concerns the social and cultural functions of emotion, which refer to the role that
emotions play in the maintenance of social order within a society. All in all, we will see that
emotions inform us of who we are, what our relationships with others are like, and how to
behave in social interactions. Emotions give meaning to events; without emotions, those
events would be mere facts. Emotions help coordinate interpersonal relationships. And
emotions play an important role in the cultural functioning of keeping human societies
together.
Intrapersonal Functions of Emotion

Emotions Help us Act Quickly with Minimal Conscious Awareness
Emotions are rapid information-processing systems that help us act with minimal thinking
(Tooby & Cosmides, 2008). Problems associated with birth, battle, death, and seduction have
occurred throughout evolutionary history and emotions evolved to aid humans in adapting
483
to those problems rapidly and

with minimal conscious cognitive
intervention. If we did not have
emotions, we could not make
rapid decisions concerning whether
to attack, defend, flee, care for
others, reject food, or approach
something useful, all of which
were functionally adaptive in
our evolutionary history and
helped
us
to
survive.
For
instance, drinking spoiled milk

The emotion of disgust serves to protect us from toxins and contamination, of
the physical and moral variety. Consider: would you wear a sweater that was
or
eating
rotten
eggs
has
previously worn by a murderer? Probably not, even though there is no actual
negative consequences for our
contamination that will transfer from the sweater to you. [Image: Bill Couch]
welfare. The emotion of disgust,

however, helps us immediately
take action by not ingesting them in the first place or by vomiting them out. This response is
adaptive because it aids, ultimately, in our survival and allows us to act immediately without
much thinking. In some instances, taking the time to sit and rationally think about what to do,
calculating costbenefit ratios in ones mind, is a luxury that might cost one ones life. Emotions
evolved so that we can act without that depth of thinking.
Emotions Prepare the Body for Immediate Action

Emotions prepare us for behavior. When triggered, emotions orchestrate systems such as
perception, attention, inference, learning, memory, goal choice, motivational priorities,
physiological reactions, motor behaviors, and behavioral decision making (Cosmides & Tooby,
2000; Tooby & Cosmides, 2008). Emotions simultaneously activate certain systems and
deactivate others in order to prevent the chaos of competing systems operating at the same
time, allowing for coordinated responses to environmental stimuli (Levenson, 1999). For
instance, when we are afraid, our bodies shut down temporarily unneeded digestive
processes, resulting in saliva reduction (a dry mouth); blood flows disproportionately to the
lower half of the body; the visual field expands; and air is breathed in, all preparing the body
to flee. Emotions initiate a system of components that includes subjective experience,
expressive behaviors, physiological reactions, action tendencies, and cognition, all for the
purposes of specific actions; the term emotion is, in reality, a metaphor for these reactions.
One common misunderstanding many people have when thinking about emotions, however,
484
is the belief that emotions must always directly produce action. This is not true. Emotion
certainly prepares the body for action; but whether people actually engage in action is
dependent on many factors, such as the context within which the emotion has occurred, the
target of the emotion, the perceived consequences of ones actions, previous experiences,
and so forth (Baumeister, Vohs, DeWall, & Zhang, 2007; Matsumoto & Wilson, 2008). Thus,
emotions are just one of many determinants of behavior, albeit an important one.
Emotions Influence Thoughts

Emotions are also connected to thoughts and memories. Memories are not just facts that are
encoded in our brains; they are colored with the emotions felt at those times the facts occurred
(Wang & Ross, 2007). Thus, emotions serve as the neural glue that connects those disparate
facts in our minds. That is why it is easier to remember happy thoughts when happy, and
angry times when angry. Emotions serve as the affective basis of many attitudes, values, and
beliefs that we have about the world and the people around us; without emotions those
attitudes, values, and beliefs would be just statements without meaning, and emotions give
those statements meaning. Emotions influence our thinking processes, sometimes in
constructive ways, sometimes not. It is difficult to think critically and clearly when we feel
intense emotions, but easier when we are not overwhelmed with emotions (Matsumoto,
Hirayama, & LeRoux, 2006).
Emotions Motivate Future Behaviors

Because emotions prepare our bodies for immediate action, influence thoughts, and can be
felt, they are important motivators of future behavior. Many of us strive to experience the
feelings of satisfaction, joy, pride, or triumph in our accomplishments and achievements. At
the same time, we also work very hard to avoid strong negative feelings; for example, once
we have felt the emotion of disgust when drinking the spoiled milk, we generally work very
hard to avoid having those feelings again (e.g., checking the expiration date on the label before
buying the milk, smelling the milk before drinking it, watching if the milk curdles in ones coffee
before drinking it). Emotions, therefore, not only influence immediate actions but also serve
as an important motivational basis for future behaviors.
Interpersonal Functions of Emotion

Emotions are expressed both verbally through words and nonverbally through facial
expressions, voices, gestures, body postures, and movements. We are constantly expressing
485
emotions when interacting

with others, and others can
reliably judge those emotional
expressions (Elfenbein & Ambady,
2002; Matsumoto, 2001); thus,
emotions have signal value to
others and influence others
and our social interactions.
Emotions and their expressions
communicate information to
others about our feelings,
intentions, relationship with
the target of the emotions,
Emotions can act as signals to our friends and partners, conveying information
and the environment. Because
about the quality of the relationship. [Image: Mo Riza]
emotions have this communi

cative signal value, they help solve social problems by evoking responses from others, by
signaling the nature of interpersonal relationships, and by providing incentives for desired
social behavior (Keltner, 2003).
Emotional Expressions Facilitate Specific Behaviors in Perceivers

Because facial expressions of emotion are universal social signals, they contain meaning not
only about the expressors psychological state but also about that persons intent and
subsequent behavior. This information affects what the perceiver is likely to do. People
observing fearful faces, for instance, are more likely to produce approach-related behaviors,
whereas people who observe angry faces are more likely to produce avoidance-related
behaviors (Marsh, Ambady, & Kleck, 2005). Even subliminal presentation of smiles produces
increases in how much beverage people pour and consume and how much they are willing
to pay for it; presentation of angry faces decreases these behaviors (Winkielman, Berridge, &
Wilbarger, 2005). Also, emotional displays evoke specific, complementary emotional
responses from observers; for example, anger evokes fear in others (Dimberg & Ohman, 1996;
Esteves, Dimberg, & Ohman, 1994), whereas distress evokes sympathy and aid (Eisenberg et
al., 1989).
Emotional Expressions Signal the Nature of Interpersonal Relationships

Emotional expressions provide information about the nature of the relationships among
interactants. Some of the most important and provocative set of findings in this area come
486
from studies involving married couples (Gottman & Levenson, 1992; Gottman, Levenson, &
Woodin, 2001). In this research, married couples visited a laboratory after having not seen
each other for 24 hours, and then engaged in intimate conversations about daily events or
issues of conflict. Discrete expressions of contempt, especially by the men, and disgust,
especially by the women, predicted later marital dissatisfaction and even divorce.
Emotional Expressions Provide Incentives for Desired Social Behavior

Facial expressions of emotion are important regulators of social interaction. In the
developmental literature, this concept has been investigated under the concept of social
referencing (Klinnert, Campos, & Sorce, 1983); that is, the process whereby infants seek out
information from others to clarify a situation and then use that information to act. To date,
the strongest demonstration of social referencing comes from work on the visual cliff. In the
first study to investigate this concept, Campos and colleagues (Sorce, Emde, Campos, &
Klinnert, 1985) placed mothers on the far end of the cliff from the infant. Mothers first smiled
to the infants and placed a toy on top the safety glass to attract them; infants invariably began
crawling to their mothers. When the infants were in the center of the table, however, the
mother then posed an expression of fear, sadness, anger, interest, or joy. The results were
clearly different for the different faces; no infant crossed the table when the mother showed
fear; only 6% did when the mother posed anger, 33% crossed when the mother posed sadness,
and approximately 75% of the infants crossed when the mother posed joy or interest.
Other studies provide similar support for facial expressions as regulators of social interaction.
In one study (Bradshaw, 1986), experimenters posed facial expressions of neutral, anger, or
disgust toward babies as they moved toward an object and measured the amount of inhibition
the babies showed in touching the object. The results for 10- and 15-month olds were the
same: anger produced the greatest inhibition, followed by disgust, with neutral the least. This
study was later replicated (Hertenstein & Campos, 2004) using joy and disgust expressions,
altering the method so that the infants were not allowed to touch the toy (compared with a
distractor object) until one hour after exposure to the expression. At 14 months of age,
significantly more infants touched the toy when they saw joyful expressions, but fewer touched
the toy when the infants saw disgust.
Social and Cultural Functions of Emotion

If you stop to think about many things we take for granted in our daily lives, we cannot help
but come to the conclusion that modern human life is a colorful tapestry of many groups and
individual lives woven together in a complex yet functional way. For example, when youre
487
hungry, you might go to the local

grocery store and buy some
food. Ever stop to think about
how youre able to do that? You
might buy a banana that was
grown in a field in southeast Asia
being raised by farmers there,
where they planted the tree,
cared for it, and picked the fruit.
They probably handed that fruit
off to a distribution chain that
allowed multiple people somewhere
to use tools such as cranes,
Although there are cultural differences in the display of emotion, almost all
trucks, cargo bins, ships or
infants start showing emotion such as smiling or reacting to their caretaker as
airplanes (that were also created
early as 6 weeks after their birth. [Image: Christopher Lance]
by multiple people somewhere)

to bring that banana to your
store. The store had people to care for that banana until you came and got it and to barter
with you for it (with your money). You may have gotten to the store riding a vehicle that was
produced somewhere else in the world by others, and you were probably wearing clothes
produced by some other people somewhere else.
Thus, human social life is complex. Individuals are members of multiple groups, with multiple
social roles, norms, and expectations, and people move rapidly in and out of the multiple
groups of which they are members. Moreover, much of human social life is unique because
it revolves around cities, where many people of disparate backgrounds come together. This
creates the enormous potential for social chaos, which can easily occur if individuals are not
coordinated well and relationships not organized systematically.
One of the important functions of culture is to provide this necessary coordination and
organization. Doing so allows individuals and groups to negotiate the social complexity of
human social life, thereby maintaining social order and preventing social chaos. Culture does
this by providing a meaning and information system to its members, which is shared by a
group and transmitted across generations, that allows the group to meet basic needs of
survival, pursue happiness and well-being, and derive meaning from life (Matsumoto & Juang,
2013). Culture is what allowed the banana from southeast Asia to appear on your table.
Cultural transmission of the meaning and information system to its members is, therefore, a
crucial aspect of culture. One of the ways this transmission occurs is through the development
488
of worldviews (including attitudes, values, beliefs, and norms) related to emotions (Matsumoto
& Hwang, 2013; Matsumoto et al., 2008). Worldviews related to emotions provide guidelines
for desirable emotions that facilitate norms for regulating individual behaviors and
interpersonal relationships. Our cultural backgrounds tell us which emotions are ideal to have,
and which are not (Tsai, Knutson, & Fung, 2006). The cultural transmission of information
related to emotions occurs in many ways, from childrearers to children, as well as from the
cultural products available in our world, such as books, movies, ads, and the like (Schnpflug,
2009; Tsai, Louie, Chen, & Uchida, 2007).
Cultures also inform us about what to do with our emotionsthat is, how to manage or modify
themwhen we experience them. One of the ways in which this is done is through the
management of our emotional expressions through cultural display rules (Friesen, 1972).
These are rules that are learned early in life that specify the management and modification
of our emotional expressions according to social circumstances. Thus, we learn that big boys
dont cry or to laugh at the bosss jokes even though theyre not funny. By affecting how
individuals express their emotions, culture also influences how people experience them as
well.
Because one of the major functions of culture is to maintain social order in order to ensure
group efficiency and thus survival, cultures create worldviews, rules, guidelines, and norms
concerning emotions because emotions have important intra- and interpersonal functions,
as described above, and are important motivators of behavior. Norms concerning emotion
and its regulation in all cultures serve the purpose of maintaining social order. Cultural
worldviews and norms help us manage and modify our emotional reactions (and thus
behaviors) by helping us to have certain kinds of emotional experiences in the first place and
by managing our reactions and subsequent behaviors once we have them. By doing so, our
culturally moderated emotions can help us engage in socially appropriate behaviors, as
defined by our cultures, and thus reduce social complexity and increase social order, avoiding
social chaos. All of this allows us to live relatively harmonious and constructive lives in groups.
If cultural worldviews and norms about emotions did not exist, people would just run amok
having all kinds of emotional experiences, expressing their emotions and then behaving in
all sorts of unpredictable and potentially harmful ways. If that were the case, it would be very
difficult for groups and societies to function effectively, and even for humans to survive as a
species, if emotions were not regulated in culturally defined ways for the common, social
good. Thus, emotions play a critical role in the successful functioning of any society and culture.
489
Outside Resources
Alberta, G. M., Rieckmann, T. R., & Rush, J. D. (2000). Issues and recommendations for
teaching an ethnic/culture-based course. Teaching of Psychology, 27,102-107. doi:10.1207/
S15328023TOP2702_05
http://top.sagepub.com/content/27/2/102.short
CrashCourse (2014, August 4). Feeling all the feels: Crash course psychology #25. [Video
file]. Retrieved from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAMbkJk6gnE
Hughesm A. (2011). Exercises and demonstrations to promote student engagement in
motivation and courses. In R. Miller, E. Balcetis, S. Burns, D. Daniel, B. Saville, & W. Woody
(Eds.), Promoting Student Engagement: Volume 2: Activities, Exercises and Demonstrations
for Psychology Courses. (pp. 79-82) Washington DC, Society for the Teaching of Psychology,
American Psychological Association.
http://teachpsych.org/ebooks/pse2011/vol2/index.php
Johnston, E., & Olson, L. (2015). The feeling brain: The biology and psychology of emotions.
New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company.
http://books.wwnorton.com/books/The-Feeling-Brain/
NPR News: Science Of Sadness And Joy: 'Inside Out' Gets Childhood Emotions Right
http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/06/13/413980258/science-of-sadness-and-j
oy-inside-out-gets-childhood-emotions-right
Online Psychology Laboratory: Motivation and Emotion resources
http://opl.apa.org/Resources.aspx#Motivation
Web: See how well you can read other peoples facial expressions of emotion
http://www.humintell.com/free-demos/
1. When emotions occur, why do they simultaneously activate certain physiological and
psychological systems in the body and deactivate others?
490
2. Why is it difficult for people to act rationally and think happy thoughts when they are angry?
Conversely, why is it difficult to remember sad memories or have sad thoughts when people
are happy?
3. Youre walking down a deserted street when you come across a stranger who looks scared.
What would you say? What would you do? Why?
4. Youre walking down a deserted street when you come across a stranger who looks angry.
What would you say? What would you do? Why?
5. Think about the messages children receive from their environment (such as from parents,
mass media, the Internet, Hollywood movies, billboards, and storybooks). In what ways do
these messages influence the kinds of emotions that children should and should not feel?
491
Vocabulary
Cultural display rules
These are rules that are learned early in life that specify the management and modification
of emotional expressions according to social circumstances. Cultural display rules can work
in a number of different ways. For example, they can require individuals to express emotions
as is (i.e., as they feel them), to exaggerate their expressions to show more than what is
actually felt, to tone down their expressions to show less than what is actually felt, to conceal
their feelings by expressing something else, or to show nothing at all.
Interpersonal
This refers to the relationship or interaction between two or more individuals in a group. Thus,
the interpersonal functions of emotion refer to the effects of ones emotion on others, or to
the relationship between oneself and others.
Intrapersonal
This refers to what occurs within oneself. Thus, the intrapersonal functions of emotion refer
to the effects of emotion to individuals that occur physically inside their bodies and
psychologically inside their minds.
Social and cultural
Society refers to a system of relationships between individuals and groups of individuals;
culture refers to the meaning and information afforded to that system that is transmitted
across generations. Thus, the social and cultural functions of emotion refer to the effects that
emotions have on the functioning and maintenance of societies and cultures.
Social referencing
This refers to the process whereby individuals look for information from others to clarify a
situation, and then use that information to act. Thus, individuals will often use the emotional
expressions of others as a source of information to make decisions about their own behavior.
492
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31
Emotional Intelligence
Marc Brackett, Sarah Delaney & Peter Salovey
In this module, we review the construct of emotional intelligence by examining its underlying
theoretical model, measurement tools, validity, and applications in real-world settings. We
use empirical research from the past few decades to support and discuss competing
definitions of emotional intelligence and possible future directions for the field.
Learning Objectives
Understand the theoretical foundations of emotional intelligence and the relationship

between emotion and cognition.
Distinguish between mixed and ability models of emotional intelligence.

Understand various methods for measuring emotional intelligence.
Describe emotional intelligences evolution as a theoretical, success-oriented, and
achievement-based framework.
Identify and define key concepts of emotional intelligence (including emotion regulation,
expression of emotion, understanding emotion, etc.) and the ways they contribute to
decision making, relationship building, and overall well-being.
Introduction
Imagine you are waiting in line to buy tickets to see your favorite band. Knowing tickets are
limited and prices will rise quickly, you showed up 4 hours early. Unfortunately, so did everyone
else. The line stretches for blocks and hasnt moved since you arrived. It starts to rain. You
496
are now close to Will Call when

you notice three people jump
ahead of you to join their friends,
who appear to have been saving
a spot for them. They talk loudly
on their cellphones as you inch
forward,
following
the
slow
procession of others waiting in

line. You finally reach the ticket
counter only to have the clerk tell
you the show is sold out. You
notice the loud group off to the
How do you feel when you have to wait in a long line? How do you handle that
emotion? [Image: SAITOR]
side, waving their tickets in the

air. At this exact moment, a fiery
line of emotion shoots through your whole body. Your heart begins to race, and you feel the
urge to either slam your hands on the counter or scream in the face of those you believe have
slighted you. What are these feelings, and what will you do with them?
Emotional intelligence (EI) involves the idea that cognition and emotion are interrelated. From
this notion stems the belief that emotions influence decision making, relationship building,
and everyday behavior. After spending hours waiting eagerly in the pouring rain and having
nothing to show for it, is it even possible to squelch such intense feelings of anger due to
injustice? From an EI perspective, emotions are active mental processes that can be managed,
so long as individuals develop the knowledge and skills to do so. But how, exactly, do we
reason with our emotions? In other words, how intelligent is our emotion system?
To begin, well briefly review the concept of standard, or general, intelligence. The late American
psychologist, David Wechsler, claimed that intelligence is the global capacity of an individual
to think rationally, act purposefully, and deal effectively with their environment (Wechsler,
1944). If we choose to accept this definition, then intelligence is an operational process through
which we learn to utilize our internal abilities in order to better navigate our surroundings
a process that is most certainly similar to, if not impacted by, our emotions. In 1990, Drs. Peter
Salovey and John D. Mayer first explored and defined EI. They explained EI as the ability to
monitor ones own and others feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and use
this information to guide ones thinking and actions (Salovey & Mayer, 1990). EI, according to
these researchers, asserts that all individuals possess the ability to leverage their emotions
to enhance thinking, judgment, and behavior. This module aims to unpack this theory by
exploring the growing empirical research on EI, as well as what can be learned about its impact
on our daily lives.
497
History of EI
Traditionally, many psychologists and philosophers
viewed cognition and emotion as separate
domains, with emotion posing a threat to
productive and rational thinking. Have you ever
been told not to let your emotions get in the way
of your decisions? This separation of passion and
reason stretches as far back as early ancient
Greece (Lyons, 1999). Additionally, mid-20th
century scholars explained emotions as mentally
destabilizing forces (Young, 1943). Yet, there are
traces throughout history where the intersection
of emotion and cognition has been theoretically
questioned. In 350 B.C.E., the famous Greek
philosopher Aristotle wrote, some men . . . if they
have first perceived and seen what is coming and
have
first
roused
themselves
and
their
calculative faculty, are not defeated by their

emotion, whether it be pleasant or painful
( Aristotle, trans. 2009, Book VII, Chapter 7,
Perhaps Aristotle might have revised his statement
Section 8). Still, our social interactions and
about people not being defeated by their emotion if
experiences suggest this belief has undergone
he was ever stuck in rush hour traffic. [Image: Pilar
centuries of disregard, both in Western and
Torres]
Eastern cultures. These are the same interactions

that teach us to toughen up and keep our
emotions hidden. So, how did we arrive at EIa scientific theory that claims all individuals
have access to a calculative faculty through emotion?
In the early 1970s, many scientists began to recognize the limitations of the Intelligence
Quotient (IQ)the standardized assessment of intelligence. In particular, they noticed its
inability to explain differences among individuals unrelated to just cognitive ability alone.
These frustrations led to the advancement of more inclusive theories of intelligence such as
Gardners multiple intelligences theory (1983/1993) and Sternbergs triarchic theory of
intelligence (1985). Researchers also began to explore the influence of moods and emotions
on thought processes, including judgment (Isen, Shalker, Clark, & Karp, 1978) and memory
(Bower, 1981). It was through these theoretical explorations and empirical studies that the
concept of EI began to take shape.
498
Today, the field of EI is extensive, encompassing varying perspectives and measurement tools.
Some attribute this growth to Daniel Golemans popularization of the construct in his 1995
book, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ. Generating public appeal, he
focused on EIs connection to personal and professional success. Golemans model of EI
includes a blend of emotion-related skills, traditional cognitive intelligence, and distinct
personality traits. This embellished conceptualization of EI, followed by an increase in EI
literature, contributed, at least in part, to conflicting definitional and measurement models
within the field.
Models and Measures of EI

Many researchers would agree that
EI theory will only be as successful
as its form of measurement. Today,
there are three primary models of
EI: the ability model (Mayer &
Salovey 1997; Salovey & Mayer,
1990),
mixed
models
(Bar-On,
2006; Boyatzis & Sala, 2004), and

the trait EI model (Petrides &
Furnham, 2003).
Ability models approach EI as a
standard intelligence that utilizes a
distinct set of mental abilities that
(1) are intercorrelated, (2) relate to
other extant intelligences, and (3)
Emotions are complex and dynamic as so its no surprise that there are
many models that attempt to unpack them. [Image: Steve Garfield]
develop with age and experience (Mayer, Caruso, & Salovey, 1999; Mayer, Salovey, Caruso, &
Sitarenios, 2003). In contrast, both mixed and trait models define and measure EI as a set of
perceived abilities, skills, and personality traits.
Ability Models: Mayer and Salovey Four-Branch Model of EI

In this section, we describe the EI (Four-Branch) model espoused by Mayer and Salovey (1997).
This model proposes that four fundamental emotion-related abilities comprise EI: (1)
perception/expression of emotion, (2) use of emotion to facilitate thinking, (3) understanding
of emotion, and (4) management of emotion in oneself and others.
499
1. Perception of Emotion
Perception of emotion refers to peoples capacity to identify emotions in themselves and
others using facial expressions, tone of voice, and body language (Brackett et al., 2013). Those
skilled in the perception of emotion also are able to express emotion accordingly and
communicate emotional needs. For example, lets return to our opening scenario. After being
turned away at the ticket booth, you slowly settle into the reality that you cannot attend the
concert. A group of your classmates, however, managed to buy tickets and are discussing
their plans at your lunch table. When they ask if you are excited for the opening band, you
shrug and pick at your food. If your classmates are skilled at perception of emotion, then they
will read your facial expression and body language and determine that you might be masking
your true feelings of disappointment, frustration, or disengagement from the conversation.
As a result, they might ask you if something is wrong or choose not to talk about the concert
in your presence.
2. Use of Emotion to Facilitate Thinking

Using emotion to enhance cognitive activities and adapt to various situations is the second
component of EI. People who are skilled in this area understand that some emotional states
are more optimal for targeted outcomes than others. Feeling frustrated over the concert
tickets may be a helpful mindset as you are about to play a football game or begin a wrestling
match. The high levels of adrenaline associated with frustration may boost your energy and
strength, helping you compete. These same emotions, however, will likely impede your ability
to sit at your school desk and solve algebra problems or write an essay.
Individuals who have developed and practiced this area of EI actively generate emotions that
support certain tasks or objectives. For example, a teacher skilled in this domain may recognize
that her students need to experience positive emotions, like joy or excitement, in order to
succeed when doing creative work such as brainstorming or collaborative art projects. She
may plan accordingly by scheduling these activities for after recess, knowing students will
likely come into the classroom cheerful and happy from playing outside. Making decisions
based on the impact that emotional experiences may have on actions and behavior is an
essential component of EI.
3. Understanding of Emotion
EI also includes the ability to differentiate between emotional states, as well as their specific
500
causes and trajectories. Feelings of

sadness or disappointment can result
from the loss of a person or object,
such as your concert tickets. Standing
in the rain, by most standards, is
merely a slight annoyance. However,
waiting in the rain for hours in a large
crowd will likely result in irritation or
frustration. Feeling like you have been
treated unfairly when someone cuts
in line and takes the tickets you feel
Some scholars view Emotional Intelligence, or EQ as equal to or even
you
deserved
can
cause
your
more important than Intellectual Intelligence, or IQ in facilitating
unpleasantness to escalate into anger
interpersonal functioning in relationships. [Image: Nan Palmero]
and resentment. People skilled in this

area are aware of this emotional
trajectory and also have a strong sense of how multiple emotions can work together to produce
another. For instance, it is possible that you may feel contempt for the people who cut in front
of you in line. However, this feeling of contempt does not arise from anger alone. Rather, it
is the combination of anger and disgust by the fact that these individuals, unlike you, have
disobeyed the rules. Successfully discriminating between negative emotions is an important
skill related to understanding of emotion, and it may lead to more effective emotion
management (Feldman Barret, Gross, Christensen, & Benvenuto, 2001).
4. Management of Emotion
Emotion management includes the ability to remain open to a wide range of emotions,
recognize the value of feeling certain emotions in specific situations, and understand which
short- and long-term strategies are most efficient for emotion regulation (Gross, 1998). Anger
seems an appropriate response to falling short of a goal (concert tickets) that you pursued
both fairly and patiently. In fact, you may even find it valuable to allow yourself the experience
of this feeling. However, this feeling will certainly need to be managed in order to prevent
aggressive, unwanted behavior. Coming up with strategies, such as taking a deep breath and
waiting until you feel calm before letting the group ahead of you know they cut in line, will
allow you to regulate your anger and prevent the situation from escalating. Using this strategy
may even let you gain insight into other perspectivesperhaps you learn they had already
purchased their tickets and were merely accompanying their friends.
Measuring EI with Performance Measures
501
While self-report tests are common in psychology, ability models of EI require a different
approach: performance measures. Performance measures require respondents to
demonstrate their four emotion skills (Mayer & Salovey, 1997) by solving emotion-related
problems. Among these measures, the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test
(MSCEIT) (Mayer, Salovey, & Caruso, 2002) is the most commonly used. The MSCEIT is a 141item test comprised of a total of eight tasks, two per each of the four emotion abilities. To
measure emotion management, for example, respondents are asked to read through
scenarios involving emotionally charged conflicts and then asked to evaluate the effectiveness
of different resolutions. For a comprehensive review of the MSCEIT and other performanceassessment tools, please see Rivers, Brackett, Salovey, and Mayer (2007).
Mixed and Trait Models of EI

Unlike ability models, mixed models offer a broad definition of EI that combines mental
abilities with personality traits such as optimism, motivation, and stress tolerance (see
Cherniss, 2010, for a review). The two most widely used mixed models are the BoyatzisGoleman model (Boyatzis & Sala, 2004) and the Bar-On model of emotional-social intelligence
(Bar-On, 2006). The Boyatzis-Goleman model divides EI competencies into four groups: selfawareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. Similarly, the
Bar-On model offers five main components of EI: intrapersonal skills, interpersonal skills,
adaptability, stress management, and mood. Developers of the trait EI model (Petrides &
Furnham, 2003) explain EI
as a constellation of selfperceived, emotion-related
personality traits.
Mixed and Trait

Model Assessment:
Self-Report
Self-report assessments
surveys that ask respon
dents to report their own
emotional skillsare most
often associated with mixed
As an alternative to somewhat unreliable self-report measures, researchers have been
and trait models. Self-
using fMRI studies to detect changes in brain function when a self-report type of
report measures are usually
question is given to a participant. [Image: Scott Huettel/--Tico-- ]
502
quick to administer. However, many researchers argue that their vulnerability to socialdesirability biases and faking are problematic (Day & Carroll, 2008). In addition, there is wide
speculation concerning the potential for inaccurate judgments of personal ability and skill on
behalf of responders (e.g., Paulhus, Lysy, & Yik, 1998). Self-report measures have been shown
to lack discriminant validity from existing personality measures and have very low correlations
with ability measures of EI (Brackett & Mayer, 2003; Brackett, Rivers, Shiffman, Lerner, &
Salovey, 2006). According to Mayer and colleagues (2008), self-report tests may show reliability
for individual personalities, but should not be considered EI because performance tests are
the gold standard for measuring intelligence.
Although tensions between ability and mixed or trait model approaches appear to divide the
field, competing definitions and measurements can only enhance the quality of research
devoted to EI and its impact on real-world outcomes.
Room for Debate

While mixed and trait models shed some light on the concept of EI, many researchers feel
these approaches undermine the EI construct as a discrete and measurable mental ability.
EI, when conceptualized as an ability, most accurately describes the relationship between
cognition and emotion by accounting for changes in individual outcomes that are often missed
when focusing solely on cognitive intelligence or personality traits (OBoyle, Humphrey, Pollack,
Hawver, & Story, 2010). Whats more, among adults, personality traits provide little room for
malleability, making development in these areas difficult even when combined with emotional
skills. For example, characteristics such as agreeableness and neuroticism, while contributing
to personal and professional success, are seen as innate traits that are likely to remain static
over time. Distinguishing EI from personality traits helps us better target the skills that can
improve desirable outcomes (Brackett et al., 2013). Approaching EI with language that provides
the opportunity for personal growth is crucial to its application. Because the ability model
aligns with this approach, the remainder of this module will focus on ability EI and the ways
in which it can be applied both in professional and academic settings.
Outcomes
Historically, emotions have been thought to have no place in the classroom or workplace
(Sutton & Wheatly, 2003). Yet today, we know empirical research supports the belief that EI
has the potential to influence decision making, health, relationships, and performance in both
professional and academic settings (e.g., Brackett et al., 2013; Brackett, Rivers, & Salovey, 2011).
503
Workplace
Research conducted in the workplace
supports positive links between EI and
enhanced job performance, occupational
well-being, and leadership effectiveness. In
one
study,
EI
was
associated
with
performance indicators such as company

rank, percent merit increase, ratings of
interpersonal facilitation, and affect and
attitudes at work (Lopes, Grewal, Kadis, Gall,
& Salovey, 2006). Similar correlations have
been found between EI and a variety of
managerial simulations involving problem
solving,
determining
employee
layoffs,
adjusting claims, and negotiating successfully

(Day & Carroll, 2004; Feyerherm & Rice, 2002;
Mueller & Curhan, 2006). Emotion management
is seen as most likely to affect job
performance by influencing social and
business interactions across a diverse range
of industries (OBoyle et al., 2010).
Think of a time when you made a choice to demonstrate
Leaders in the workplace also benefit from
emotional intelligence at work what happened? [Image:
high EI. Experts in the field of organizational
Kitsuney]
behavior are beginning to view leadership as

a process of social interactions where leaders
motivate, influence, guide, and empower followers to achieve organizational goals (Bass &
Riggio, 2006). This is known as transformational leadershipwhere leaders create a vision
and then inspire others to work in this direction (Bass, 1985). In a sample of 24 managers,
MSCEIT scores correlated positively with a leaders ability to inspire followers to emulate their
own actions and attend to the needs and problems of each individual (Leban & Zulauf, 2004).
Schools
When applied in educational settings, theoretical foundations of EI are often integrated into
social and emotional learning (SEL) programs. SEL is the process of merging thinking, feeling,
and behaving. These skills enable individuals to be aware of themselves and of others, make
504
responsible decisions, and manage their own behaviors and those of others (Elias et al., 1997;
Elbertson, Brackett, & Weissberg, 2010). SEL programs are designed to enhance the climate
of a classroom, school, or district, with the ultimate goal of enhancing childrens social and
emotional skills and improving their academic outcomes (Greenberg et al., 2003). Adopting
curricula that focus on these elements is believed to enable success in academics,
relationships, and, ultimately, in life (Becker & Luthar, 2002; Catalino, Berglundh, Ryan,
Lonczek, & Hawkins, 2004).
Take a moment to think about the role of a teacher. How might emotions impact the climate
of a classroom? If a teacher enters a classroom feeling anxious, disgruntled, or unenthused,
these states will most likely be noticed, and felt, by the students. If not managed well, these
negative emotions can hurt the classroom dynamic and prevent student learning (Travers,
2001). Research suggests that the abilities to perceive, use, understand, and manage emotions
are imperative for effective teaching (Reyes, Brackett, Rivers, White, & Salovey, 2012; Brackett,
Reyes, Rivers, Elbertson, & Salovey, 2011; Hargreaves, 2001). In a study that examined the
relationship between emotion regulation and both job satisfaction and burnout among
secondary-school teachers, researchers found that emotion regulation among teachers was
associated with positive affect, support from principals, job satisfaction, and feelings of
personal accomplishment (Brackett, Palomera, Mojsa-Kaja, Reyes, & Salovey, 2010).
EI, when embedded into SEL programs, has been shown to contribute positively to personal
and academic success in students (Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Tayloer, & Schellinger, 2011).
Research also shows that strong emotion regulation can help students pay attention in class,
adjust to the school environment, and manage academic anxiety (Lopes & Salovey, 2004;
Mestre, Guil, Lopes, Salovey, & Gil-Olarte, 2006). A recent randomized control trial of RULER*
also found that, after one year, schools that used RULERcompared with those that used
only the standard curriculumwere rated by independent observers as having higher degrees
of warmth and connectedness between teachers and students, more autonomy and
leadership, less bullying among students, and teachers who focused more on students
interests and motivations (Rivers, Brackett, Reyes, Elbertson, & Salovey, 2013).
*RULER - Recognize emotions in oneself and in other people. Understand the causes and
consequences of a wide range of emotions. Label emotions using a sophisticated
vocabulary. Express emotions in socially appropriate way. Regulate emotions effectively.
Limitations and Future Directions

There is a need for further development in EI theory and measurement, as well as more
505
empirical
research
on
its
associated outcomes (Mayer,

Salovey,
&
Caruso,
2008).
Despite its prominent role as

the
signature
performance
assessment of EI, the MSCEIT

has a number of limitations. For
example, it does not allow for
the
assessment
of
several
abilities. These abilities include

the expression of emotion and
monitoring or reflecting on
Individuals have some control over their emotional states and can be active
ones own emotions. (Brackett
participants in their emotional lives. [Image: Sasha Fujin]
et al. 2013). Researchers must

also address growing criticisms,
particularly those that stretch beyond the measurement debate and question the validity of
the EI construct when defined too broadly (Locke, 2005). In order to advance EI research, there
is a great need for investigators to address these issues by reconciling disparate definitions
and refining existing measures. Potential considerations for future research in the field should
include deeper investigation into the genetic (versus acquired) and fluid (versus crystallized)
aspects of EI. The cultural implications and differences of EI also are important to consider.
Studies should expand beyond the United States and Europe in order for the theory of EI to
be cross-culturally valid and for its applications and outcomes to be achieved more universally.
Greater attention should also be paid to developmental trajectories, gender differences, and
how EI operates in the workplace and educational settings (Brackett et al., 2013).
Although further explorations and research in the field of EI are needed, current findings
indicate a fundamental relationship between emotion and cognition. Returning to our opening
question, what will you do when denied concert tickets? One of the more compelling aspects
of EI is that it grants us reign over our own emotionsforces once thought to rule the self by
denying individual agency. But with this power comes responsibility. If you are enraged about
not getting tickets to the show, perhaps you can take a few deep breaths, go for a walk, and
wait until your physiological indicators (shaky hands or accelerated heartbeat) subside. Once
youve removed yourself, your feeling of rage may lessen to annoyance. Lowering the intensity
level of this feeling (a process known as down regulating) will help re-direct your focus on the
situation itself, rather than the activated emotion. In this sense, emotion regulation allows
you to objectively view the point of conflict without dismissing your true feelings. Merely down
regulating the emotional experience facilitates better problem solving. Now that you are less
activated, what is the best approach? Should you talk to the ticket clerk? Ask to see the sales
506
manager? Or do you let the group know how you felt when they cut the line? All of these
options present better solutions than impulsively acting out rage.
As discussed in this module, research shows that the cultivation and development of EI
contributes to more productive, supportive, and healthy experiences. Whether were waiting
in a crowded public place, delivering lesson plans, or engaging in conversation with friends,
we are the ultimate decision makers when it comes how we want to feel and, in turn, behave.
By engaging the right mental processes and strategies, we can better understand, regulate,
and manage our emotional states in order to live the lives we desire.
507
Outside Resources
Article: Are you emotionally intelligent? Heres how to know for sure. Inc.com Retrieved
from:
http://www.inc.com/travis-bradberry/are-you-emotionally-intelligent-here-s-how-to-know-for-sure.html
Article: Grant, A. (2014, January 2). The dark side of emotional intelligence, The Atlantic.
Retrieved from:
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/01/the-dark-side-of-emotional-intelligence/282720/
Article: Gregoire, C. (2014, January 23) How emotionally intelligent are you? Heres how to
tell. Huffington Post. Retrieved from:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/05/are-you-emotionally-intel_n_4371920.html
Book: Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence. New York, NY: Bantam.
Book: Goleman, D. (1998). Working with emotional intelligence. New York, NY: Bantam.
1. What are the four emotional abilities that comprise EI, and how do they relate to each other?
2. What are three possible implications for using ability-based and mixed or trait-based
models of EI?
3. Discuss the ways in which EI can contribute positively to the workplace and classroom
settings.
508
Vocabulary
Ability model
An approach that views EI as a standard intelligence that utilizes a distinct set of mental abilities
that (1) are intercorrelated, (2) relate to other extant intelligences, and (3) develop with age
and experience (Mayer & Salovey, 1997).
Emotional intelligence
The ability to monitor ones own and others feelings and emotions, to discriminate among
them and to use this information to guide ones thinking and actions. (Salovey & Mayer, 1990).
EI includes four specific abilities: perceiving, using, understanding, and managing emotions.
Four-Branch Model
An ability model developed by Drs. Peter Salovey and John Mayer that includes four main
components of EI, arranged in hierarchical order, beginning with basic psychological processes
and advancing to integrative psychological processes. The branches are (1) perception of
emotion, (2) use of emotion to facilitate thinking, (3) understanding emotion, and (4)
management of emotion.
Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT)
A 141-item performance assessment of EI that measures the four emotion abilities (as defined
by the four-branch model of EI) with a total of eight tasks.
Mixed and Trait Models
Approaches that view EI as a combination of self-perceived emotion skills, personality traits,
and attitudes.
Performance assessment
A method of measurement associated with ability models of EI that evaluate the test takers
ability to solve emotion-related problems.
Self-report assessment
A method of measurement associated with mixed and trait models of EI, which evaluates the
test takers perceived emotion-related skills, distinct personality traits, and other
characteristics.
Social and emotional learning (SEL)
The real-world application of EI in an educational setting and/or classroom that involves
509
curricula that teach the process of integrating thinking, feeling, and behaving in order to
become aware of the self and of others, make responsible decisions, and manage ones own
behaviors and those of others (Elias et al., 1997)
510
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32
Emotion Experience and Well-Being
Brett Ford & Iris B. Mauss
Emotions dont just feel good or bad, they also contribute crucially to peoples well-being and
health. In general, experiencing positive emotions is good for us, whereas experiencing
negative emotions is bad for us. However, recent research on emotions and well-being
suggests this simple conclusion is incomplete and sometimes even wrong. Taking a closer
look at this research, the present module provides a more complex relationship between
emotion and well-being. At least three aspects of the emotional experience appear to affect
how a given emotion is linked with well-being: the intensity of the emotion experienced, the
fluctuation of the emotion experienced, and the context in which the emotion is experienced.
While it is generally good to experience more positive emotion and less negative emotion,
this is not always the guide to the good life.
Learning Objectives
Describe the general pattern of associations between emotion experience and well-being.
Identify at least three aspects of emotion experience beyond positivity and negativity of
the emotion that affect the link between emotion experience and well-being.
How we feel adds much of the flavor to lifes highestand lowestmoments. Can you think
of an important moment in your life that didnt involve strong feelings? In fact, it might be
hard to recall any times when you had no feeling at all. Given how saturated human life is
with feelings, and given how profoundly feelings affect us, it is not surprising that much
theorizing and research has been devoted to uncovering how we can optimize our feelings,
or, emotion experiences, as they are referred to in psychological research.
515
Feelings contribute to well-being

So, which emotions are the best
ones to feel? Take a moment to
think
about
how
you
might
answer this question.
At first
glance, the answer might seem

obvious. Of course, we should
experience
as
much
positive
emotion and as little negative

emotion as possible! Why? Because
it
is
pleasant
positive
to
emotions
experience
and
it
is
unpleasant to experience negative

emotions
Although we tend to think we should always strive for positive or feel-
(Russell
&
Barrett,
1999). The conclusion that positive
good emotions, can you think of a time when it would be more advantageous
feelings are good and negative
to feel a negative emotion? [Image: Camdiluv ]
feelings are bad might seem so

obvious as not to even warrant the
question, much less bona fide psychological research. In fact, the very labels of positive and
negative imply the answer to this question. However, for the purposes of this module, it may
be helpful to think of positive and negative as descriptive terms used to discuss two different
types of experiences, rather than a true value judgment. Thus, whether positive or negative
emotions are good or bad for us is an empirical question.
As it turns out, this empirical question has been on the minds of theorists and researchers
for many years. Such psychologists as Alice Isen, Charles Carver, Michael Scheier, and, more
recently, Barbara Fredrickson, Dacher Keltner, Sonja Lyubomirsky, and others began asking
whether the effects of feelings could go beyond the obvious momentary pleasure or
displeasure. In other words, can emotions do more for us than simply make us feel good or
bad? This is not necessarily a new question; variants of it have appeared in the texts of thinkers
such as Charles Darwin (1872) and Aristotle (1999). However, modern psychological research
has provided empirical evidence that feelings are not just inconsequential byproducts. Rather,
each emotion experience, however fleeting, has effects on cognition, behavior, and the people
around us. For example, feeling happy is not only pleasant, but is also useful to feel when in
social situations because it helps us be friendly and collaborative, thus promoting our positive
relationships. Over time, the argument goes, these effects add up to have tangible effects on
peoples well-being (good mental and physical health).
516
A variety of research has been inspired by the notion that our emotions are involved in, and
maybe even causally contribute to, our well-being. This research has shown that people who
experience more frequent positive emotions and less frequent negative emotions have higher
well-being (e.g., Fredrickson, 1998; Lyubomirksy, King, & Diener, 2005), including increased
life satisfaction (Diener, Sandvik, & Pavot, 1991), increased physical health (Tugade,
Fredrickson, & Barrett, 2004; Veenhoven, 2008), greater resilience to stress (Folkman &
Moskowitz, 2000; Tugade & Fredrickson, 2004), better social connection with others
(Fredrickson, 1998), and even longer lives (Veenhoven, 2008). Notably, the effect of positive
emotion on longevity is about as powerful as the effect of smoking! Perhaps most importantly,
some research directly supports that emotional experiences cause these various outcomes
rather than being just a consequence of them (Fredrickson, Cohn, Coffey, Pek, & Finkel, 2008;
Lyubomirsky et al., 2005).
At this point, you might be tempted to conclude
that you should always strive to experience as
much positive emotion and as little negative
emotion as possible. However, recent research
suggests that this conclusion may be premature.
This is because this conclusion neglects three
central aspects of the emotion experience. First,
it neglects the intensity of the emotion: Positive
and negative emotions might not have the same
effect on well-being at all intensities. Second, it
neglects how emotions fluctuate over time:
Stable emotion experiences might have quite
different effects from experiences that change
a lot. Third, it neglects the context in which the
emotion is experienced: The context in which we
experience an emotion might profoundly affect
whether the emotion is good or bad for us. So,
to address the question Which emotions should
we feel? we must answer, It depends! We next
Not only do the emotions we feel vary by the context, but
consider each of the three aspects of feelings,
also the emotions we should feel depend on the
and how they influence the link between feelings
circumstances, too. [Image: Antara]
and well-being.
The intensity of the emotion matters
517
Experiencing more frequent positive emotions is generally beneficial. But does this mean that
we should strive to feel as intense positive emotion as possible? Recent research suggests that
this unqualified conclusion might be wrong.
In fact, experiencing very high levels of positive emotion may be harmful (Gruber, 2011; Oishi,
Diener, & Lucas, 2007). For instance, experiencing very high levels of positive emotion makes
individuals more likely to engage in risky behaviors, such as binge eating and drug use (Cyders
& Smith, 2008; Martin et al., 2002). Furthermore, intense positive emotion is associated with
the experience of mania (Gruber et al., 2009; Johnson, 2005). It appears that the experience
of positive emotions follows an inverted U-shaped curve in relation to well-being: more positive
emotion is linked with increased well-being, but only up to a point, after which even more
positive emotion is linked with decreased well-being (Grant & Schwartz, 2011). These empirical
findings underscore the sentiment put forth long ago by the philosopher Aristotle: Moderation
is key to leading a good life (1999).
Too much positive emotion may pose a problem for well-being. Might too little negative
emotion similarly be cause for concern? Although there is limited empirical research on this
subject, initial research suggests supports this idea. For example, people who aim not to feel
negative emotion are at risk for worse well-being and adaptive functioning, including lower
life satisfaction, lower social support, worse college grades, and feelings of worse physical
health (Tamir & Ford, 2012a). Similarly, feeling too little embarrassment in response to a social
faux pas may damage someones social connections if they arent motivated by their
embarrassment to make amends (Keltner & Buswell, 1997). Low levels of negative emotion
also seem to be involved in some forms of psychopathology. For instance, blunted sadness
in response to a sad situation is a characteristic of major depressive disorder (Rottenberg,
Gross, & Gotlib, 2005) and feeling too little fear is a hallmark of psychopathy (Marsh et al.,
2008; Patrick, 1994).
In sum, this first section suggests that the conclusion Of course we should experience as
much positive emotions and as little negative emotions as possible is sometimes wrong. As
it turns out, there can be too much of a good thing and too little of a bad thing.
The fluctuation of the emotion matters

Emotions naturally varyor fluctuateover time (Davidson, 1998). We probably all know
someone whose emotions seem to fly everywhereone minute theyre ecstatic, the next
theyre upset. We might also know a person who is pretty even-keeled, moderately happy,
with only modest fluctuations across time. When looking only at average emotion experience,
518
say across a month, both of

these people might appear
identical: moderately happy.
However,
underlying
these
identical averages are two very

different patterns of fluctuation
across
time.
Might
these
emotion fluctuations across

timebeyond average intensity
have implications for wellbeing?
Overall, the available research
suggests
that
much
Throughout our lives, our emotions vary such that we experience great highs
emotions fluctuate does indeed
and great lows. However, if you average those emotions over time, we tend to
matter. In general, greater
end up somewhere in the middle. [Image: Moazzam Brohi]
fluctuations
are
how
associated
with worse well-being. For example, higher fluctuation of positive emotionsmeasured either
within a single day or across two weekswas linked with lower well-being and greater
depression (Gruber, Kogan, Quoidbach, & Mauss, 2013). Fluctuation in negative emotions, in
turn, has been linked with increased depressive symptoms (Peeters, Berkhof, Delespaul,
Rottenberg, & Nicolson, 2003), borderline personality disorder (Trull et al., 2008), and
neuroticism (Eid & Diener, 1999). These associations tend to hold even when controlling for
average levels of positive or negative emotion, which means that beyond the overall intensity
of positive or negative emotion, the fluctuation of ones emotions across time is associated
with well-being. While it is not entirely clear why fluctuations are linked to worse well-being,
one explanation is that strong fluctuations are indicative of emotional instability (Kuppens,
Oravecz, & Tuerlinckx, 2010).
Of course, this should not be taken to mean that we should rigidly feel the exact same way
every minute of every day, regardless of context. After all, psychological flexibilityor the
ability to adapt to changing situational demands and experience emotions accordinglyhas
generally demonstrated beneficial links with well-being (Bonanno, Papa, Lalande, Westphal,
& Coifman, 2004; Kashdan, & Rottenberg, 2010). The question remains, however: what exact
amount of emotional fluctuation constitutes unhealthy instability and what amount of
emotional fluctuation constitutes healthy flexibility.
Again, then, we must qualify the conclusion that it is always better to experience more positive
emotions and less negative emotions. The degree to which emotions fluctuate across time
519
plays an important role. Overall, relative stability (but not rigidity) in emotion experience
appears to be optimal for well-being.
The context of the emotion experience matters

This module has already discussed two features of emotion experiences that affect how they
relate to well-being: the intensity of the emotion and the fluctuation of the emotion over time.
However, neither of these features takes into account the context in which the emotion is
experienced. At least three different contexts may critically affect the links between emotion
and well-being: (1) the external environment in which the emotion is being experienced, (2)
the other emotional responses (e.g., physiology, facial behavior) that are currently activated,
and (3) the other emotions that are currently being experienced.
The external environment

Emotions dont occur within
a vacuum. Instead, they are
usually
elicited
by
and
experienced within specific

situations that come in many
shapes and sizes from
birthday parties to funerals,
job interviews to mundane
movie nights. The situation in
which an emotion is experienced
has strong implications for
whether a given emotion is
the best emotion to feel.
Feeling an emotion that matches the persons context (e.g., experiencing happiness
Take happiness, for example.
at a birthday party) is typically the most functional or beneficial emotion to feel.
Feeling
[Image: Ed Garcia]
birthday party may be a great
happiness
at
idea. However, having the

exact same experience of happiness at a funeral would likely not bode well for your well-being.
When considering how the environment influences the link between emotion and well-being,
it is important to understand that each emotion has its own function. For example, although
fear is a negative emotion, fear helps us notice and avoid threats to our safety (hman &
Mineka, 2001), and may thus the best emotion to feel in dangerous situations. Happiness
520
can help people cooperate with others, and may thus be the best emotion to feel when we
need to collaborate (e.g., Van Kleef, van Dijk, Steinel, & van Beest, 2008). Anger can energize
people to compete or fight with others, and may thus be advantageous to experience it in
confrontations (e.g., Tamir & Ford, 2012b; Van Kleef et al., 2008). It might be disadvantageous
to experience happiness (a positive emotion) when we need to fight with someone; in this
situation, it might be better to experience anger (a negative emotion). This suggests that
emotions implications for well-being are not determined only by whether they are positive
or negative but also by whether they are well-matched to their context.
In support of this general idea, people who experience emotions that fit the context at hand
are more likely to recover from depression and trauma (Bonanno et al., 2004; Rottenberg,
Kasch, Gross, & Gotlib, 2002). Research has also found that participants who want to feel
emotions that match the context at hand (e.g., anger when confronting someone)even if
that emotion was negativeare more likely to experience greater well-being (Tamir & Ford,
2012a). Conversely, people who pursue emotions without regard to contexteven if those
emotions are positive, like happinessare more likely to experience lower subjective wellbeing, more depression, greater loneliness, and even worse grades (Ford & Tamir, 2012; Mauss
et al., 2012; Mauss, Tamir, Anderson, & Savino; 2011; Tamir & Ford, 2012a).
In sum, this research demonstrates that regardless of whether an emotion is positive or
negative, the context in which it is experienced critically influences whether the emotion helps
or hinders well-being.
Other emotional
responses
The subjective experience of
an emotionwhat an emotion
feels likeis only one aspect
of an emotion. Other aspects
include
behaviors,
facial
expressions, and physiological

activation (Levenson, 1992).
For example, if you feel
If we experience the emotion of amusement (from seeing something funny), we
excited about having made a
often have the physiological response to laugh. This is an example of emotion
new friend, you might want
coherence, where we express a particular behavior associated with a particular
to be near that person, you
emotion. [Image: Ed Schipul]
might smile, and your heart
521
might be beating faster as you do so. Often, these different responses travel together, meaning
that when we feel an emotion we typically have corresponding behaviors and physiological
responses (e.g., Ekman, 1972; Levenson, 1992). The degree to which responses travel together
has sometimes been referred to as emotion coherence (Mauss, Levenson, McCarter, Wilhelm,
& Gross, 2005). However, these different responses do not co-occur in all instances and for
all people (Bradley & Lang, 2000; Mauss et al., 2005; for review, see Fridlund, Ekman, & Oster,
1987). For example, some people may choose not to express an emotion they are feeling
internally (English & John, 2013), which would result in lower coherence.
Does coherenceabove and beyond emotion experience per sematter for peoples wellbeing? To examine this question, one study measured participants emotion coherence by
showing them a funny film clip of stand-up comedy while recording their experience of positive
emotion as well as their behavioral displays of positive emotion (Mauss, Shallcross, et al.,
2011). As predicted, participants differed quite a bit in their coherence. Some showed almost
perfect coherence between their behavior and experience, whereas others behavior and
experience corresponded not much at all. Interestingly, the more that participants behavior
and experience cohered in the laboratory session, the lower levels of depressive symptoms
and the higher levels of well-being they experienced 6 months later. This effect was found
when statistically controlling for overall intensity of positive emotions experienced. In other
words, experiencing high levels of positive emotion aided well-being only if it was accompanied
by corresponding positive facial expressions.
But why would coherence of different emotional responses predict well-being? One of the key
functions of an emotion is social communication (Keltner & Haidt, 1999), and arguably,
successful social communication depends on whether an individuals emotions are being
accurately communicated to others. When someones emotional behavior doesnt match their
experience it may disrupt communication because it could make the individual appear
confusing or inauthentic to others. In support of this theory, the above study found that lower
coherence was associated with worse well-being because people with lower coherence felt
less socially connected to others (Mauss, Shallcross, et al., 2011). These findings are also
consistent with a large body of research examining the extent to which people mask the
outward display of an emotional experience, or suppression. This research has demonstrated
that people who habitually use suppression not only experience worse well being (Gross &
John, 2003), but they also seem to be particularly worse off with regard to their social
relationships (Srivastava, Tamir, McGonigal, John, & Gross, 2009).
These findings underscore the importance of examining whether an individuals experience
is traveling together with his or her emotional responses, above and beyond overall levels of
subjective experience. Thus, to understand how emotion experiences predict well-being, it is
522
important not only to consider the experience of an emotion, but also the other emotional
responses currently activated.
Other emotions
Up until now, we have
treated emotional experiences
as though people can only
experience one emotion at a
time. However, it should be
kept in mind that positive
and negative emotions are
not simply the opposite of
one another. Instead, they
tend to be independent of
one another, which means
that a person can feel
positive and negative emotions
at the same time (Larsen,
Not all emotions are black and white; we often have a mixture of both positive and
McGraw, Mellers, & Cacioppo,
negative feelings. [Image: Mitya Ku]
2004). For example, how

does it feel to win a prize when you expected a greater prize? Given what might have been,
situations like this can elicit both happiness and sadness. Or, take schadenfreude (a German
term for deriving pleasure from someone elses misfortune), or aviman (an Indian term for
prideful, loving anger), or nostaligia (an English term for affectionate sadness about something
from the past): these terms capture the notion that people can feel both positively and
negatively within the same emotional experience. And as it turns out, the other emotions that
someone feels (e.g., sadness) during the experience of an emotion (e.g., happiness) influence
whether that emotion experience has a positive or negative effect on well-being.
Importantly, the extent to which someone experiences different emotions at the same time
or mixed emotionsmay be beneficial for their well-being. Early support for this theory was
provided by a study of bereaved spouses. In the study, participants were asked to talk about
their recently deceased spouse, which undoubtedly elicited strong negative emotions.
However, some participants expressed positive emotions in addition to the negative ones,
and it was those participants who recovered more quickly from their loss (Bonanno & Keltner,
1997). A recent study provides additional support for the benefits of mixed emotions, finding
that adults who experienced more mixed emotions over a span of 10 years were physically
523
healthier than adults whose experience of mixed emotions did not increase over time
(Hershfield, Scheibe, Sims & Carstensen, 2013). Indeed, individuals who can experience
positive emotions even in the face of negative emotions are more likely to cope successfully
with stressful situations (Larsen, Hemenover, Norris, & Cacioppo, 2003).
Why would mixed emotions be beneficial for well-being? Stressful situations often elicit
negative emotions, and recall that negative emotions have some benefits, as we outlined
above. However, so do positive emotions, and thus having the ability to take the good with
the bad might be another key component of well-being. Again, experiencing more positive
emotion and less negative emotion may not always be optimal. Sometimes, a combination
of both may be best.
Conclusion
Are emotions just fleeting experiences with no consequence beyond our momentary comfort
or discomfort? A variety of research answers a firm noemotions are integral predictors of
our well-being. This module examined how, exactly, emotion experience might be linked to
well-being. The obvious answer to this question is: of course, experiencing as much positive
emotions and as little negative emotions as possible is good for us. But although this is true
in general, recent research suggests that this obvious answer is incomplete and sometimes
even wrong. As philosopher Robert Solomon said, Living well is not just maximizing the good
feelings and minimizing the bad. () A happy life is not necessarily filled with happy moments
(2007, p. 86).
524
Outside Resources
Journal: If you are interested in direct access to research on emotion, take a look at the
journal Emotion
http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/emo/index.aspx
Video: Check out videos of expert emotion researchers discussing their work
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh9mgdi4rNew731mjIZn43G_Y5otqKzJA
Video: See psychologist Daniel Gilbert and other experts discussing current research on
emotion in the PBS series This Emotional Life
http://video.pbs.org/program/this-emotional-life/
1. Much research confirms the relative benefits of positive emotions and relative costs of
negative emotions. Could positive emotions be detrimental, or could negative emotions
be beneficial? Why or why not?
2. We described some contexts that influence the effects of emotional experiences on wellbeing. What other contexts might influence the links between emotions and well-being?
Age? Gender? Culture? How so?
3. How could you design an experiment that tests(A) When and why it is beneficial to feel
a negative emotion such as sadness? (B) How is the coherence of emotion behavior and
emotion experience linked to well-being? (C) How likely a person is to feel mixed (as
compared to simple) emotions?
525
Vocabulary
Emotion
An experiential, physiological, and behavioral response to a personally meaningful stimulus.
Emotion coherence
The degree to which emotional responses (subjective experience, behavior, physiology, etc.)
converge with one another.
Emotion fluctuation
The degree to which emotions vary or change in intensity over time.
Well-being
The experience of mental and physical health and the absence of disorder.
526
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Psychological Disorders & Therapy, Part

1 (11/29)
33
Anxiety and Related Disorders
David H. Barlow & Kristen K. Ellard
Anxiety is a natural part of life and, at normal levels, helps us to function at our best. However,
for people with anxiety disorders, anxiety is overwhelming and hard to control. Anxiety
disorders develop out of a blend of biological (genetic) and psychological factors that, when
combined with stress, may lead to the development of ailments. Primary anxiety-related
diagnoses include generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, specific phobia, social anxiety
disorder (social phobia), post traumatic stress disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
In this module, we summarize the main clinical features of each of these disorders and discuss
their similarities and differences with everyday experiences of anxiety.
Learning Objectives
Understand the relationship between anxiety and anxiety disorders.

Identify key vulnerabilities for developing anxiety and related disorders.
Identify main diagnostic features of specific anxiety-related disorders.
Differentiate between disordered and non-disordered functioning.
Introduction
What is anxiety? Most of us feel some anxiety almost every day of our lives. Maybe you have
an important test coming up for school. Or maybe theres that big game next Saturday, or
that first date with someone new you are hoping to impress. Anxiety can be defined as a
negative mood state that is accompanied by bodily symptoms such as increased heart rate,
532
muscle tension, a sense of unease, and apprehension about the future (APA, 2013; Barlow,
2002).
Anxiety is what motivates us to plan for
the future, and in this sense, anxiety is
actually a good thing. Its that nagging
feeling that motivates us to study for that
test, practice harder for that game, or be
at our very best on that date. But some
people experience anxiety so intensely
that it is no longer helpful or useful. They
may become so overwhelmed and
distracted by anxiety that they actually
fail their test, fumble the ball, or spend
the whole date fidgeting and avoiding
While everyone may experience some level of anxiety at one time
eye contact. If anxiety begins to interfere
or another, those with anxiety disorders experience it consistently
in the persons life in a significant way, it
and so intensely that it has a significantly negative impact on their
is considered a disorder.
quality of life. (Photo: Zetson)
Anxiety and closely related disorders emerge from triple vulnerabilities,a combination of
biological, psychological, and specific factors that increase our risk for developing a disorder
(Barlow, 2002; Surez, Bennett, Goldstein, & Barlow, 2009). Biological vulnerabilities refer to
specific genetic and neurobiological factors that might predispose someone to develop anxiety
disorders. No single gene directly causes anxiety or panic, but our genes may make us more
susceptible to anxiety and influence how our brains react to stress (Drabant et al., 2012;
Gelernter & Stein, 2009; Smoller, Block, & Young, 2009). Psychological vulnerabilities refer
to the influences that our early experiences have on how we view the world. If we were
confronted with unpredictable stressors or traumatic experiences at younger ages, we may
come to view the world as unpredictable and uncontrollable, even dangerous (Chorpita &
Barlow, 1998; Gunnar & Fisher, 2006). Specific vulnerabilities refer to how our experiences
lead us to focus and channel our anxiety (Surez et al., 2009). If we learned that physical illness
is dangerous, maybe through witnessing our familys reaction whenever anyone got sick, we
may focus our anxiety on physical sensations. If we learned that disapproval from others has
negative, even dangerous consequences, such as being yelled at or severely punished for
even the slightest offense, we might focus our anxiety on social evaluation. If we learn that
the other shoe might drop at any moment, we may focus our anxiety on worries about the
future. None of these vulnerabilities directly causes anxiety disorders on its owninstead,
when all of these vulnerabilities are present, and we experience some triggering life stress,
an anxiety disorder may be the result (Barlow, 2002; Surez et al., 2009). In the next sections,
533
we will briefly explore each of the major anxiety based disorders, found in the fifth edition of
the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) (APA, 2013).
Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Most of us worry some of the time, and this worry can actually be useful in helping us to plan
for the future or make sure we remember to do something important. Most of us can set
aside our worries when we need to focus on other things or stop worrying altogether whenever
a problem has passed. However, for someone with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), these
worries become difficult, or even impossible, to turn off. They may find themselves worrying
excessively about a number of different things, both minor and catastrophic. Their worries
also come with a host of other symptoms such as muscle tension, fatigue, agitation or
restlessness, irritability, difficulties with sleep (either falling asleep, staying asleep, or both),
or difficulty concentrating.The DSM-5 criteria specify that at least six months of excessive
anxiety and worry of this type must be ongoing, happening more days than not for a good
proportion of the day, to receive a diagnosis of GAD. About 5.7% of the population has met
criteria for GAD at some point during their lifetime (Kessler, Berglund, et al., 2005), making it
one of the most common anxiety disorders (see Table 1).
Table 1: Prevalence rates for major anxiety disorders. [1] Kessler et al. (2005), [2]Kessler, Chiu, Demler, Merikangas, & Walters
(2005), [3]Kessler, Sonnega, Bromet, Hughes, & Nelson (1995), [4]Craske et al. (1996).
What makes a person with GAD worry more than the average person? Research shows that
individuals with GAD are more sensitive and vigilant toward possible threats than people who
are not anxious (Aikins & Craske, 2001; Barlow, 2002; Bradley, Mogg, White, Groom, & de Bono,
1999). This may be related to early stressful experiences, which can lead to a view of the world
534
as an unpredictable, uncontrollable, and even dangerous place. Some have suggested that
people with GAD worry as a way to gain some control over these otherwise uncontrollable or
unpredictable experiences and against uncertain outcomes (Dugas, Gagnon, Ladouceur, &
Freeston, 1998). By repeatedly going through all of the possible What if? scenarios in their
mind, the person might feel like they are less vulnerable to an unexpected outcome, giving
them the sense that they have some control over the situation (Wells, 2002). Others have
suggested people with GAD worry as a way to avoid feeling distressed (Borkovec, Alcaine, &
Behar, 2004). For example, Borkovec and Hu (1990) found that those who worried when
confronted with a stressful situation had less physiological arousal than those who didnt
worry, maybe because the worry distracted them in some way.
The problem is, all of this what if?-ing doesnt get the person any closer to a solution or an
answer and, in fact, might take them away from important things they should be paying
attention to in the moment, such as finishing an important project. Many of the catastrophic
outcomes people with GAD worry about are very unlikely to happen, so when the catastrophic
event doesnt materialize, the act of worrying gets reinforced (Borkovec, Hazlett-Stevens, &
Diaz, 1999). For example, if a mother spends all night worrying about whether her teenage
daughter will get home safe from a night out and the daughter returns home without incident,
the mother could easily attribute her daughters safe return to her successful vigil. What the
mother hasnt learned is that her daughter would have returned home just as safe if she had
been focusing on the movie she was watching with her husband, rather than being
preoccupied with worries. In this way, the cycle of worry is perpetuated, and, subsequently,
people with GAD often miss out on many otherwise enjoyable events in their lives.
Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia

Have you ever gotten into a near-accident or been taken by surprise in some way? You may
have felt a flood of physical sensations, such as a racing heart, shortness of breath, or tingling
sensations. This alarm reaction is called the fight or flight response (Cannon, 1929) and is
your bodys natural reaction to fear, preparing you to either fight or escape in response to
threat or danger. Its likely you werent too concerned with these sensations, because you
knew what was causing them. But imagine if this alarm reaction came out of the blue, for
no apparent reason, or in a situation in which you didnt expect to be anxious or fearful. This
is called an unexpected panic attack or a false alarm. Because there is no apparent reason
or cue for the alarm reaction, you might react to the sensations with intense fear, maybe
thinking you are having a heart attack, or going crazy, or even dying. You might begin to
associate the physical sensations you felt during this attack with this fear and may start to go
out of your way to avoid having those sensations again.
535
Unexpected panic attacks such as these

are at the heart of panic disorder (PD).
However, to receive a diagnosis of PD,
the
person
must
not
only
have
unexpected panic attacks but also must

experience continued intense anxiety
and avoidance related to the attack for
at least one month, causing significant
distress or interference in their lives.
People with panic disorder tend to
interpret even normal physical sensations
Panic disorder is a debilitating condition that leaves sufferers with
in a catastrophic way, which triggers
acute anxiety that persists long after a specific panic attack has
more anxiety and, ironically, more
subsided. When this anxiety leads to deliberate avoidance of
physical sensations, creating a vicious
particular places and situations a person may be given a diagnosis

of agoraphobia. [Photo: nate steiner]
cycle of panic (Clark, 1986, 1996). The

person may begin to avoid a number of
situations or activities that produce the same physiological arousal that was present during
the beginnings of a panic attack. For example, someone who experienced a racing heart during
a panic attack might avoid exercise or caffeine. Someone who experienced choking sensations
might avoid wearing high-necked sweaters or necklaces. Avoidance of these internal bodily
or somatic cues for panic has been termed interoceptive avoidance (Barlow & Craske, 2007;
Brown, White, & Barlow, 2005; Craske & Barlow, 2008; Shear et al., 1997).
The individual may also have experienced an overwhelming urge to escape during the
unexpected panic attack. This can lead to a sense that certain places or situationsparticularly
situations where escape might not be possibleare not safe. These situations become
external cues for panic. If the person begins to avoid several places or situations, or still
endures these situations but does so with a significant amount of apprehension and anxiety,
then the person also has agoraphobia (Barlow, 2002; Craske & Barlow, 1988; Craske & Barlow,
2008). Agoraphobia can cause significant disruption to a persons life, causing them to go out
of their way to avoid situations, such as adding hours to a commute to avoid taking the train
or only ordering take-out to avoid having to enter a grocery store. In one tragic case seen by
our clinic, a woman suffering from agoraphobia had not left her apartment for 20 years and
had spent the past 10 years confined to one small area of her apartment, away from the view
of the outside. In some cases, agoraphobia develops in the absence of panic attacks and
therefor is a separate disorder in DSM-5. But agoraphobia often accompanies panic disorder.
About 4.7% of the population has met criteria for PD or agoraphobia over their lifetime (Kessler,
Chiu, Demler, Merikangas, & Walters, 2005; Kessler et al., 2006) (see Table 1). In all of these
536
cases of panic disorder, what was once an adaptive natural alarm reaction now becomes a
learned, and much feared, false alarm.
Specific Phobia
The majority of us might have certain things we fear, such as bees, or needles, or heights
(Myers et al., 1984). But what if this fear is so consuming that you cant go out on a summers
day, or get vaccines needed to go on a special trip, or visit your doctor in her new office on
the 26th floor? To meet criteria for a diagnosis of specific phobia, there must be an irrational
fear of a specific object or situation that substantially interferes with the persons ability to
function. For example, a patient at our clinic turned down a prestigious and coveted artist
residency because it required spending time near a wooded area, bound to have insects.
Another patient purposely left her house two hours early each morning so she could walk
past her neighbors fenced yard before they let their dog out in the morning.
The list of possible phobias is staggering, but four major subtypes of specific phobia are
recognized: blood-injury-injection (BII) type, situational type (such as planes, elevators, or
enclosed places), natural environment type for events one may encounter in nature (for
example, heights, storms, and water), and animal type.
A fifth category other includes phobias
that do not fit any of the four major
subtypes (for example, fears of choking,
vomiting, or contracting an illness). Most
phobic reactions cause a surge of activity
in the sympathetic nervous system and
increased
heart
rate
and
blood
pressure, maybe even a panic attack.

However, people with BII type phobias
usually experience a marked drop in
heart rate and blood pressure and may
even faint. In this way, those with BII
phobias almost always differ in their
Elevators can be a trigger for sufferers of claustrophobia or
physiological reaction from people with
agoraphobia. (Image: srgpicker)
other types of phobia (Barlow &

Liebowitz, 1995; Craske, Antony, & Barlow, 2006; Hofmann, Alpers, & Pauli, 2009; Ost, 1992).
BII phobia also runs in families more strongly than any phobic disorder we know (Antony &
Barlow, 2002; Page & Martin, 1998). Specific phobia is one of the most common psychological
537
disorders in the United States, with 12.5% of the population reporting a lifetime history of
fears significant enough to be considered a phobia (Arrindell et al., 2003; Kessler, Berglund,
et al., 2005) (see Table 1). Most people who suffer from specific phobia tend to have multiple
phobias of several types (Hofmann, Lehman, & Barlow, 1997).
Social Anxiety Disorder (Social Phobia)

Many people consider themselves shy, and most people find social evaluation uncomfortable
at best, or giving a speech somewhat mortifying. Yet, only a small proportion of the population
fear these types of situations significantly enough to merit a diagnosis of social anxiety
disorder (SAD) (APA, 2013). SAD is more than exaggerated shyness (Bogels et al., 2010;
Schneier et al., 1996). To receive a diagnosis of SAD, the fear and anxiety associated with social
situations must be so strong that the person avoids them entirely, or if avoidance is not
possible, the person endures them with a great deal of distress. Further, the fear and avoidance
of social situations must get in the way of the persons daily life, or seriously limit their academic
or occupational functioning. For example, a patient at our clinic compromised her perfect 4.0
grade point average because she could not complete a required oral presentation in one of
her classes, causing her to fail the course. Fears of negative evaluation might make someone
repeatedly turn down invitations to social events or avoid having conversations with people,
leading to greater and greater isolation.
The specific social situations that trigger anxiety and fear range from one-on-one interactions,
such as starting or maintaining a conversation; to performance-based situations, such as
giving a speech or performing on stage; to assertiveness, such as asking someone to change
disruptive or undesirable behaviors. Fear of social evaluation might even extend to such things
as using public restrooms, eating in a restaurant, filling out forms in a public place, or even
reading on a train. Any type of situation that could potentially draw attention to the person
can become a feared social situation. For example, one patient of ours went out of her way
to avoid any situation in which she might have to use a public restroom for fear that someone
would hear her in the bathroom stall and think she was disgusting. If the fear is limited to
performance-based situations, such as public speaking, a diagnosis of SAD performance only
is assigned.
What causes someone to fear social situations to such a large extent? The person may have
learned growing up that social evaluation in particular can be dangerous, creating a specific
psychological vulnerability to develop social anxiety (Bruch & Heimberg, 1994; Lieb et al., 2000;
Rapee & Melville, 1997). For example, the persons caregivers may have harshly criticized and
punished them for even the smallest mistake, maybe even punishing them physically.
538
Or, someone might have experienced a social trauma

that had lasting effects, such as being bullied or
humiliated. Interestingly, one group of researchers
found that 92% of adults in their study sample with
social phobia experienced severe teasing and bullying
in childhood, compared with only 35% to 50% among
people with other anxiety disorders (McCabe, Antony,
Summerfeldt, Liss, & Swinson, 2003). Someone else
might react so strongly to the anxiety provoked by a
social situation that they have an unexpected panic
attack. This panic attack then becomes associated
(conditioned response) with the social situation,
causing the person to fear they will panic the next time
they are in that situation. This is not considered PD,
however, because the persons fear is more focused
on social evaluation than having unexpected panic
attacks, and the fear of having an attack is limited to
social situations. As many as 12.1% of the general
Social trauma in childhood may have long-lasting

effects. (Photo: Chesi - Photos CC)
population suffer from social phobia at some point in

their lives (Kessler, Berglund, et al., 2005), making it one of the most common anxiety disorders,
second only to specific phobia (see Table 1).
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

With stories of war, natural disasters, and physical and sexual assault dominating the news,
it is clear that trauma is a reality for many people. Many individual traumas that occur every
day never even make the headlines, such as a car accident, domestic abuse, or the death of
a loved one. Yet, while many people face traumatic events, not everyone who faces a trauma
develops a disorder. Some, with the help of family and friends, are able to recover and continue
on with their lives (Friedman, 2009). For some, however, the months and years following a
trauma are filled with intrusive reminders of the event, a sense of intense fear that another
traumatic event might occur, or a sense of isolation and emotional numbing. They may engage
in a host of behaviors intended to protect themselves from being vulnerable or unsafe, such
as constantly scanning their surroundings to look for signs of potential danger, never sitting
with their back to the door, or never allowing themselves to be anywhere alone. This lasting
reaction to trauma is what characterizes posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
A diagnosis of PTSD begins with the traumatic event itself. An individual must have been
539
exposed to an event that involves actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence.
To receive a diagnosis of PTSD, exposure to the event must include either directly experiencing
the event, witnessing the event happening to someone else, learning that the event occurred
to a close relative or friend, or having repeated or extreme exposure to details of the event
(such as in the case of first responders). The person subsequently re-experiences the event
through both intrusive memories and nightmares. Some memories may come back so vividly
that the person feels like they are experiencing the event all over again, what is known as
having a flashback. The individual may avoid anything that reminds them of the trauma,
including conversations, places, or even specific types of people. They may feel emotionally
numb or restricted in their ability to feel, which may interfere in their interpersonal
relationships. The person may not be able to remember certain aspects of what happened
during the event. They may feel a sense of a foreshortened future, that they will never marry,
have a family, or live a long, full life. They may be jumpy or easily startled, hypervigilant to
their surroundings, and quick to anger. The prevalence of PTSD among the population as a
whole is relatively low, with 6.8% having experienced PTSD at some point in their life (Kessler,
Berglund, et al., 2005) (see Table 1). Combat and sexual assault are the most common
precipitating traumas (Kessler, Sonnega, Bromet, Hughes, & Nelson, 1995). Whereas PTSD
was previously categorized as an Anxiety Disorder, in the most recent version of the DSM
(DSM-5; APA, 2013) it has been reclassified under the more specific category of Trauma- and
Stressor-Related Disorders.
A person with PTSD is particularly sensitive to both internal and external cues that serve as
reminders of their traumatic experience. For example, as we saw in PD, the physical sensations
of arousal present during the initial trauma can become threatening in and of themselves,
becoming a powerful reminder of the event. Someone might avoid watching intense or
emotional movies in order to prevent the experience of emotional arousal. Avoidance of
conversations, reminders, or even of the experience of emotion itself may also be an attempt
to avoid triggering internal cues. External stimuli that were present during the trauma can
also become strong triggers. For example, if a woman is raped by a man wearing a red t-shirt,
she may develop a strong alarm reaction to the sight of red shirts, or perhaps even more
indiscriminately to anything with a similar color red. A combat veteran who experienced a
strong smell of gasoline during a roadside bomb attack may have an intense alarm reaction
when pumping gas back at home. Individuals with a psychological vulnerability toward viewing
the world as uncontrollable and unpredictable may particularly struggle with the possibility
of additional future, unpredictable traumatic events, fueling their need for hypervigilance and
avoidance, and perpetuating the symptoms of PTSD.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
540
Have you ever had a strange thought pop into your mind, such as picturing the stranger next
to you naked? Or maybe you walked past a crooked picture on the wall and couldnt resist
straightening it. Most people have occasional strange thoughts and may even engage in some
compulsive behaviors, especially when they are stressed (Boyer & Linard, 2008; Fullana et
al., 2009). But for most people, these thoughts are nothing more than a passing oddity, and
the behaviors are done (or not done) without a second thought. For someone with obsessivecompulsive disorder (OCD), however, these thoughts and compulsive behaviors dont just
come and go. Instead, strange or unusual thoughts are taken to mean something much more
important and real, maybe even something dangerous or frightening. The urge to engage in
some behavior, such as straightening a picture, can become so intense that it is nearly
impossible not to carry it out, or causes significant anxiety if it cant be carried out. Further,
someone with OCD might become preoccupied with the possibility that the behavior wasnt
carried out to completion and feel compelled to repeat the behavior again and again, maybe
several times before they are satisfied.
To receive a diagnosis of OCD, a person must experience obsessive thoughts and/or
compulsions that seem irrational or nonsensical, but that keep coming into their mind. Some
examples of obsessions include doubting thoughts (such as doubting a door is locked or an
appliance is turned off), thoughts of contamination (such as thinking that touching almost
anything might give you cancer), or aggressive thoughts or images that are unprovoked or
nonsensical. Compulsions may be carried out in an attempt to neutralize some of these
thoughts, providing temporary relief from the anxiety the obsessions cause, or they may be
nonsensical in and of themselves. Either way, compulsions are distinct in that they must be
repetitive or excessive, the person feels driven to carry out the behavior, and the person
feels a great deal of distress if they cant engage in the behavior. Some examples of compulsive
behaviors are repetitive washing (often in response to contamination obsessions), repetitive
checking (locks, door handles, appliances often in response to doubting obsessions), ordering
and arranging things to ensure symmetry, or doing things according to a specific ritual or
sequence (such as getting dressed or ready for bed in a specific order). To meet diagnostic
criteria for OCD, engaging in obsessions and/or compulsions must take up a significant amount
of the persons time, at least an hour per day, and must cause significant distress or impairment
in functioning. About 1.6% of the population has met criteria for OCD over the course of a
lifetime (Kessler, Berglund, et al., 2005) (see Table 1). Whereas OCD was previously categorized
as an Anxiety Disorder, in the most recent version of the DSM (DSM-5; APA, 2013) it has been
reclassified under the more specific category of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders.
People with OCD often confuse having an intrusive thought with their potential for carrying
out the thought. Whereas most people when they have a strange or frightening thought are
able to let it go, a person with OCD may become stuck on the thought and be intensely afraid
541
that they might somehow lose

control and act on it. Or worse,
they believe that having the
thought is just as bad as doing it.
This
is
called
thought-action
fusion. For example, one patient

of ours was plagued by thoughts
that she would cause harm to her
young daughter. She experienced
intrusive images of throwing hot
coffee in her daughters face or
pushing her face underwater
when she was giving her a bath.
These images were so terrifying to
the patient that she would no
Where does productive organization end and compulsive behavior begin? If

the behavior consumes more than an hour per day and causes distress it
can be considered OCD. (Photo: mt_neer man)
longer allow herself any physical

contact with her daughter and would leave her daughter in the care of a babysitter if her
husband or another family was not available to supervise her. In reality, the last thing she
wanted to do was harm her daughter, and she had no intention or desire to act on the
aggressive thoughts and images, nor does anybody with OCD act on these thoughts, but these
thoughts were so horrifying to her that she made every attempt to prevent herself from the
potential of carrying them out, even if it meant not being able to hold, cradle, or cuddle her
daughter. These are the types of struggles people with OCD face every day.
Treatments for Anxiety and Related Disorders

Many successful treatments for anxiety and related disorders have been developed over the
years. Medications (anti-anxiety drugs and antidepressants) have been found to be beneficial
for disorders other than specific phobia, but relapse rates are high once medications are
stopped (Heimberg et al., 1998; Hollon et al., 2005), and some classes of medications (minor
tranquilizers or benzodiazepines) can be habit forming.
Exposure-based cognitive behavioral therapies (CBT) are effective psychosocial treatments
for anxiety disorders, and many show greater treatment effects than medication in the long
term (Barlow, Allen, & Basden, 2007; Barlow, Gorman, Shear, & Woods, 2000). In CBT, patients
are taught skills to help identify and change problematic thought processes, beliefs, and
behaviors that tend to worsen symptoms of anxiety, and practice applying these skills to reallife situations through exposure exercises. Patients learn how the automatic appraisals or
542
thoughts they have about a situation affect

both how they feel and how they behave.
Similarly, patients learn how engaging in
certain behaviors, such as avoiding situations,
tends to strengthen the belief that the
situation is something to be feared. A key
aspect of CBT is exposure exercises, in which
the patient learns to gradually approach
situations they find fearful or distressing, in
order to challenge their beliefs and learn new,
less fearful associations about these
situations.
Typically 50% to 80% of patients receiving
drugs or CBT will show a good initial response,
with the effect of CBT more durable. Newer
developments in the treatment of anxiety
disorders are focusing on novel interventions,
Exposure-based CBT aims to help patients recognize and
such as the use of certain medications to
change problematic thoughts and behaviors in real-life
enhance learning during CBT (Otto et al.,
situations. A person with a fear of elevators would be
2010), and transdiagnostic treatments targeting
encouraged to practice exposure exercises that might
core, underlying vulnerabilities (Barlow et al.,
involve approaching or riding elevators to attempt to
2011). As we advance our understanding of
overcome their anxiety. [Photo: tatejohnson]
anxiety and related disorders, so too will our
treatments advance, with the hopes that for the many people suffering from these disorders,
anxiety can once again become something useful and adaptive, rather than something
debilitating.
543
Outside Resources
American Psychological Association (APA)
http://www.apa.org/topics/anxiety/index.aspx
National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH)
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/anxiety-disorders/index.shtml
Web: Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA)
http://www.adaa.org/
Web: Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders (CARD)
http://www.bu.edu/card/
1. Name and describe the three main vulnerabilities contributing to the development of
anxiety and related disorders. Do you think these disorders could develop out of biological
factors alone? Could these disorders develop out of learning experiences alone?
2. Many of the symptoms in anxiety and related disorders overlap with experiences most
people have. What features differentiate someone with a disorder versus someone
without?
3. What is an alarm reaction? If someone experiences an alarm reaction when they are about
to give a speech in front of a room full of people, would you consider this a true alarm
or a false alarm?
4. Many people are shy. What differentiates someone who is shy from someone with social
anxiety disorder? Do you think shyness should be considered an anxiety disorder?
5. Is anxiety ever helpful? What about worry?
544
Vocabulary
Agoraphobia
A sort of anxiety disorder distinguished by feelings that a place is uncomfortable or may be
unsafe because it is significantly open or crowded.
Anxiety
A mood state characterized by negative affect, muscle tension, and physical arousal in which
a person apprehensively anticipates future danger or misfortune.
Biological vulnerability
A specific genetic and neurobiological factor that might predispose someone to develop
anxiety disorders.
Conditioned response
A learned reaction following classical conditioning, or the process by which an event that
automatically elicits a response is repeatedly paired with another neutral stimulus
(conditioned stimulus), resulting in the ability of the neutral stimulus to elicit the same
response on its own.
External cues
Stimuli in the outside world that serve as triggers for anxiety or as reminders of past traumatic
events.
Fight or flight response
A biological reaction to alarming stressors that prepares the body to resist or escape a threat.
Flashback
Sudden, intense re-experiencing of a previous event, usually trauma-related.
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)
Excessive worry about everyday things that is at a level that is out of proportion to the specific
causes of worry.
Internal bodily or somatic cues
Physical sensations that serve as triggers for anxiety or as reminders of past traumatic events.
Interoceptive avoidance
545
Avoidance of situations or activities that produce sensations of physical arousal similar to

those occurring during a panic attack or intense fear response.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
A disorder characterized by the desire to engage in certain behaviors excessively or
compulsively in hopes of reducing anxiety. Behaviors include things such as cleaning,
repeatedly opening and closing doors, hoarding, and obsessing over certain thoughts.
Panic disorder (PD)
A condition marked by regular strong panic attacks, and which may include significant levels
of worry about future attacks.
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
A sense of intense fear, triggered by memories of a past traumatic event, that another
traumatic event might occur. PTSD may include feelings of isolation and emotional numbing.
Psychological vulnerabilities
Influences that our early experiences have on how we view the world.
Reinforced response
Following the process of operant conditioning, the strengthening of a response following
either the delivery of a desired consequence (positive reinforcement) or escape from an
aversive consequence.
SAD performance only
Social anxiety disorder which is limited to certain situations that the sufferer perceives as
requiring some type of performance.
Social anxiety disorder (SAD)
A condition marked by acute fear of social situations which lead to worry and diminished day
to day functioning.
Specific vulnerabilities
How our experiences lead us to focus and channel our anxiety.
Thought-action fusion
The tendency to overestimate the relationship between a thought and an action, such that
one mistakenly believes a bad thought is the equivalent of a bad action.
546
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34
Mood Disorders
Anda Gershon & Renee Thompson
Everyone feels down or euphoric from time to time, but this is different from having a mood
disorder such as major depressive disorder or bipolar disorder. Mood disorders are extended
periods of depressed, euphoric, or irritable moods that in combination with other symptoms
cause the person significant distress and interfere with his or her daily life, often resulting in
social and occupational difficulties. In this module, we describe major mood disorders,
including their symptom presentations, general prevalence rates, and how and why the rates
of these disorders tend to vary by age, gender, and race. In addition, biological and
environmental risk factors that have been implicated in the development and course of mood
disorders, such as heritability and stressful life events, are reviewed. Finally, we provide an
overview of treatments for mood disorders, covering treatments with demonstrated
effectiveness, as well as new treatment options showing promise.
Learning Objectives
Describe the diagnostic criteria for mood disorders.

Understand age, gender, and ethnic differences in prevalence rates of mood disorders.
Identify common risk factors for mood disorders.
Know effective treatments of mood disorders.
The actress Brooke Shields published a memoir titled Down Came the Rain: My Journey
through Postpartum Depression in which she described her struggles with depression
following the birth of her daughter. Despite the fact that about one in 20 women experience
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Mood Disorders
depression after the birth of a baby (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013), postpartum
depressionrecently renamed perinatal depressioncontinues to be veiled by stigma,
owing in part to a widely held expectation that motherhood should be a time of great joy. In
an opinion piece in the New York Times, Shields revealed that entering motherhood was a
profoundly overwhelming experience for her. She vividly describes experiencing a sense of
doom and dread in response to her newborn baby. Because motherhood is conventionally
thought of as a joyous event and not associated with sadness and hopelessness, responding
to a newborn baby in this way can be shocking to the new mother as well as those close to
her. It may also involve a great deal of shame for the mother, making her reluctant to divulge
her experience to others, including her doctors and family.
Feelings of shame are not unique to
perinatal depression. Stigma applies to
other types of depressive and bipolar
disorders and contributes to people not
always receiving the necessary support
and treatment for these disorders. In fact,
the World Health Organization ranks
both major depressive disorder (MDD)
and bipolar disorder (BD) among the top
10 leading causes of disability worldwide.
Further, MDD and BD carry a high risk of
Perinatal depression following child birth afflicts about 5% of all
suicide. It is estimated that 25%50% of
mothers. An unfortunate social stigma regarding this form of
people diagnosed with BD will attempt
depression compounds the problem for the women who suffer its
effects. [Photo: Quinn Dombrowski]
suicide at least once in their lifetimes

(Goodwin & Jamison, 2007).
What Are Mood Disorders?

Mood Episodes
Everyone experiences brief periods of sadness, irritability, or euphoria. This is different than
having a mood disorder, such as MDD or BD, which are characterized by a constellation of
symptoms that causes people significant distress or impairs their everyday functioning.
Major Depressive EpisodeA major depressive episode (MDE) refers to symptoms that co-occur
for at least two weeks and cause significant distress or impairment in functioning, such as
interfering with work, school, or relationships. Core symptoms include feeling down or
Mood Disorders
553
depressed or experiencing anhedonialoss of interest or pleasure in things that one typically

enjoys. According to the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5; APA, 2013),
the criteria for an MDE require five or more of the following nine symptoms, including one or
both of the first two symptoms, for most of the day, nearly every day:
1. depressed mood
2. diminished interest or pleasure in almost all activities
3. significant weight loss or gain or an increase or decrease in appetite
4. insomnia or hypersomnia
5. psychomotor agitation or retardation
6. fatigue or loss of energy
7. feeling worthless or excessive or inappropriate guilt
8. diminished ability to concentrate or indecisiveness
9. recurrent thoughts of death, suicidal ideation, or a suicide attempt
These symptoms cannot be caused by physiological effects of a substance or a general medical
condition (e.g., hypothyroidism).
Manic or Hypomanic EpisodeThe core criterion for a manic or hypomanic episode is a distinct
period of abnormally and persistently euphoric, expansive, or irritable mood and persistently
increased goal-directed activity or energy. The mood disturbance must be present for one
week or longer in mania (unless hospitalization is required) or four days or longer in
hypomania. Concurrently, at least three of the following symptoms must be present in the
context of euphoric mood (or at least four in the context of irritable mood):
1. inflated self-esteem or grandiosity
2. increased goal-directed activity or psychomotor agitation
3. reduced need for sleep
4. racing thoughts or flight of ideas
5. distractibility
6. increased talkativeness
7. excessive involvement in risky behaviors
Manic episodes are distinguished from hypomanic episodes by their duration and associated
554
Mood Disorders
impairment; whereas manic episodes must last one week and are defined by a significant
impairment in functioning, hypomanic episodes are shorter and not necessarily accompanied
by impairment in functioning.
Mood Disorders
Unipolar Mood DisordersTwo major types of unipolar disorders described by the DSM-5 (APA,
2013) are major depressive disorder and persistent depressive disorder (PDD; dysthymia).
MDD is defined by one or more MDEs, but no history of manic or hypomanic episodes. Criteria
for PDD are feeling depressed most of the day for more days than not, for at least two years.
At least two of the following symptoms are also required to meet criteria for PDD:
1. poor appetite or overeating
2. insomnia or hypersomnia
3. low energy or fatigue
4. low self-esteem
5. poor concentration or difficulty making decisions
6. feelings of hopelessness
Like MDD, these symptoms need to cause significant distress or impairment and cannot be
due to the effects of a substance or a general medical condition. To meet criteria for PDD, a
person cannot be without symptoms for more than two months at a time. PDD has overlapping
symptoms with MDD. If someone
meets criteria for an MDE during a
PDD episode, the person will receive
diagnoses of PDD and MDD.
Bipolar Mood DisordersThree major
types of BDs are described by the
DSM-5 (APA, 2013). Bipolar I Disorder
(BD I), which was previously known as
manic-depression, is characterized by
a single (or recurrent) manic episode.
A depressive episode is not necessary
but
commonly
present
for
the
diagnosis of BD I. Bipolar II Disorder is
Bipolar disorders are characterized by cycles of high energy and
characterized by single (or recurrent)
depression. [Photo: arghon]
Mood Disorders
555
hypomanic episodes and depressive episodes. Another type of BD is cyclothymic disorder,

characterized by numerous and alternating periods of hypomania and depression, lasting at
least two years. To qualify for cyclothymic disorder, the periods of depression cannot meet
full diagnostic criteria for an MDE; the person must experience symptoms at least half the
time with no more than two consecutive symptom-free months; and the symptoms must
cause significant distress or impairment.
It is important to note that the DSM-5
was published in 2013, and findings
based on the updated manual will be
forthcoming. Consequently, the research
presented below was largely based on
a similar, but not identical, conceptualization
of mood disorders drawn from the DSMIV (APA, 2000).
How Common Are Mood

Disorders? Who Develops
Mood Disorders?
Depressive Disorders
In a nationally representative sample,
lifetime prevalence rate for MDD is
16.6% (Kessler, Berglund, Demler, Jin,
Merikangas, & Walters, 2005). This means that nearly one in five Americans will meet the
criteria for MDD during their lifetime. The 12-month prevalencethe proportion of people
who meet criteria for a disorder during a 12-month periodfor PDD is approximately 0.5%
(APA, 2013).
Although the onset of MDD can occur at any time throughout the lifespan, the average age
of onset is mid-20s, with the age of onset decreasing with people born more recently (APA,
2000). Prevalence of MDD among older adults is much lower than it is for younger cohorts
(Kessler, Birnbaum, Bromet, Hwang, Sampson, & Shahly, 2010). The duration of MDEs varies
widely. Recovery begins within three months for 40% of people with MDD and within 12
months for 80% (APA, 2013). MDD tends to be a recurrent disorder with about 40%50% of
those who experience one MDE experiencing a second MDE (Monroe & Harkness, 2011). An
556
Mood Disorders
earlier age of onset predicts a worse course. About 5%10% of people who experience an
MDE will later experience a manic episode (APA, 2000), thus no longer meeting criteria for
MDD but instead meeting them for BD I. Diagnoses of other disorders across the lifetime are
common for people with MDD: 59% experience an anxiety disorder; 32% experience an
impulse control disorder, and 24% experience a substance use disorder (Kessler, Merikangas,
& Wang, 2007).
Women experience two to three times higher rates of MDD than do men (Nolen-Hoeksema
& Hilt, 2009). This gender difference emerges during puberty (Conley & Rudolph, 2009). Before
puberty, boys exhibit similar or higher prevalence rates of MDD than do girls (Twenge & NolenHoeksema, 2002). MDD is inversely correlated with socioeconomic status (SES), a persons
economic and social position based on income, education, and occupation. Higher prevalence
rates of MDD are associated with lower SES (Lorant, Deliege, Eaton, Robert, Philippot, &
Ansseau, 2003), particularly for adults over 65 years old (Kessler et al., 2010). Independent
of SES, results from a nationally representative sample found that European Americans had
a higher prevalence rate of MDD than did African Americans and Hispanic Americans, whose
rates were similar (Breslau, Aguilar-Gaxiola, Kendler, Su, Williams, & Kessler, 2006). The course
of MDD for African Americans is often more severe and less often treated than it is for European
Americans, however (Williams et al., 2007). Native Americans have a higher prevalence rate
than do European Americans, African Americans, or Hispanic Americans (Hasin, Goodwin,
Stinson & Grant, 2005). Depression is not limited to industrialized or western cultures; it is
found in all countries that have
been
examined,
although
the
symptom presentation as well as

prevalence
rates
vary
across
cultures (Chentsova-Dutton & Tsai,

2009).
Bipolar Disorders
The lifetime prevalence rate of
bipolar spectrum disorders in the
general U.S. population is estimated
at approximately 4.4%, with BD I
Adolescents experience a higher incidence of bipolar spectrum disorders
constituting about 1% of this rate
than do adults. Making matters worse, those who are diagnosed with BD
(Merikangas et al., 2007). Prevalence
at a younger age seem to suffer symptoms more intensely than those with
estimates, however, are highly
adult onset.
dependent
on
the
diagnostic
557
Mood Disorders
procedures used (e.g., interviews vs. self-report) and whether or not sub-threshold forms of
the disorder are included in the estimate. BD often co-occurs with other psychiatric disorders.
Approximately 65% of people with BD meet diagnostic criteria for at least one additional
psychiatric disorder, most commonly anxiety disorders and substance use disorders (McElroy
et al., 2001). The co-occurrence of BD with other psychiatric disorders is associated with poorer
illness course, including higher rates of suicidality (Leverich et al., 2003). A recent cross-national
study sample of more than 60,000 adults from 11 countries, estimated the worldwide
prevalence of BD at 2.4%, with BD I constituting 0.6% of this rate (Merikangas et al., 2011). In
this study, the prevalence of BD varied somewhat by country. Whereas the United States had
the highest lifetime prevalence (4.4%), India had the lowest (0.1%). Variation in prevalence
rates was not necessarily related to SES, as in the case of Japan, a high-income country with
a very low prevalence rate of BD (0.7%).
With regard to ethnicity, data from studies not confounded by SES or inaccuracies in diagnosis
are limited, but available reports suggest rates of BD among European Americans are similar
to those found among African Americans (Blazer et al., 1985) and Hispanic Americans (Breslau,
Kendler, Su, Gaxiola-Aguilar, & Kessler, 2005). Another large community-based study found
that although prevalence rates of mood disorders were similar across ethnic groups, Hispanic
Americans and African Americans with a mood disorder were more likely to remain
persistently ill than European Americans (Breslau et al., 2005). Compared with European
Americans with BD, African Americans tend to be underdiagnosed for BD (and over-diagnosed
for schizophrenia) (Kilbourne, Haas, Mulsant, Bauer, & Pincus, 2004; Minsky, Vega, Miskimen,
Gara, & Escobar, 2003), and Hispanic Americans with BD have been shown to receive fewer
psychiatric medication prescriptions and specialty treatment visits (Gonzalez et al., 2007).
Misdiagnosis of BD can result in the underutilization of treatment or the utilization of
inappropriate treatment, and thus profoundly impact the course of illness.
As with MDD, adolescence is known to be a significant risk period for BD; mood symptoms
start by adolescence in roughly half of BD cases (Leverich et al., 2007; Perlis et al., 2004).
Longitudinal studies show that those diagnosed with BD prior to adulthood experience a more
pernicious course of illness relative to those with adult onset, including more episode
recurrence, higher rates of suicidality, and profound social, occupational, and economic
repercussions (e.g., Lewinsohn, Seeley, Buckley, & Klein, 2002). The prevalence of BD is
substantially lower in older adults compared with younger adults (1% vs. 4%) (Merikangas et
al., 2007).
What Are Some of the Factors Implicated in the Development and

Course of Mood Disorders?
558
Mood Disorders
Mood disorders are complex disorders resulting from multiple factors. Causal explanations
can be attempted at various levels, including biological and psychosocial levels. Below are
several of the key factors that contribute to onset and course of mood disorders are
highlighted.
Research across family and twin
studies has provided support that
genetic factors are implicated in the
development of MDD. Twin studies
suggest that familial influence on
MDD is mostly due to genetic effects
and that individual-specific environ
mental
effects
(e.g.,
romantic
relationships) play an important

role, too. By contrast, the contribution
of shared environmental effect by
siblings is negligible (Sullivan, Neale
& Kendler, 2000).
The mode of
inheritance is not fully understood
Romantic relationships can affect mood as in the case of divorce or the

death of a spouse. [Photo: johnm2205]
although no single genetic variation

has been found to increase the risk of MDD significantly. Instead, several genetic variants and
environmental factors most likely contribute to the risk for MDD (Lohoff, 2010).
One environmental stressor that has received much support in relation to MDD is stressful
life events. In particular, severe stressful life eventsthose that have long-term consequences
and involve loss of a significant relationship (e.g., divorce) or economic stability (e.g.,
unemployment) are strongly related to depression (Brown & Harris, 1989; Monroe et al., 2009).
Stressful life events are more likely to predict the first MDE than subsequent episodes
(Lewinsohn, Allen, Seeley, & Gotlib, 1999). In contrast, minor events may play a larger role in
subsequent episodes than the initial episodes (Monroe & Harkness, 2005).
Depression research has not been limited to examining reactivity to stressful life events. Much
research, particularly brain imagining research using functional magnetic resonance imaging
(fMRI), has centered on examining neural circuitrythe interconnections that allow multiple
brain regions to perceive, generate, and encode information in concert. A meta-analysis of
neuroimaging studies showed that when viewing negative stimuli (e.g., picture of an angry
559
Mood Disorders
face, picture of a car accident), compared with healthy control participants, participants with
MDD have greater activation in brain regions involved in stress response and reduced
activation of brain regions involved in positively motivated behaviors (Hamilton, Etkin, Furman,
Lemus, Johnson, & Gotlib, 2012).
Other environmental factors related to increased risk for MDD include experiencing early
adversity (e.g., childhood abuse or neglect; Widom, DuMont, & Czaja, 2007), chronic stress
(e.g., poverty) and interpersonal factors. For example, marital dissatisfaction predicts
increases in depressive symptoms in both men and women. On the other hand, depressive
symptoms also predict increases in marital dissatisfaction (Whisman & Uebelacker, 2009).
Research has found that people with MDD generate some of their interpersonal stress
(Hammen, 2005). People with MDD whose relatives or spouses can be described as critical
and emotionally overinvolved have higher relapse rates than do those living with people who
are less critical and emotionally overinvolved (Butzlaff & Hooley, 1998).
Peoples attributional styles or their general ways of thinking, interpreting, and recalling
information have also been examined in the etiology of MDD (Gotlib & Joormann, 2010).
People with a pessimistic attributional style tend to make internal (versus external), global
(versus specific), and stable (versus unstable) attributions to negative events, serving as a
vulnerability to developing MDD. For example, someone who when he fails an exam thinks
that it was his fault (internal), that he is stupid (global), and that he will always do poorly (stable)
has a pessimistic attribution style. Several influential theories of depression incorporate
attributional styles (Abramson, Metalsky, & Alloy, 1989; Abramson Seligman, & Teasdale, 1978).
Bipolar Disorders
Although there have been important advances in research on the etiology, course, and
treatment of BD, there remains a need to understand the mechanisms that contribute to
episode onset and relapse. There is compelling evidence for biological causes of BD, which is
known to be highly heritable (McGuffin, Rijsdijk, Andrew, Sham, Katz, & Cardno, 2003). It may
be argued that a high rate of heritability demonstrates that BD is fundamentally a biological
phenomenon. However, there is much variability in the course of BD both within a person
across time and across people (Johnson, 2005). The triggers that determine how and when
this genetic vulnerability is expressed are not yet understood; however, there is evidence to
suggest that psychosocial triggers may play an important role in BD risk (e.g., Johnson et al.,
2008; Malkoff-Schwartz et al., 1998).
In addition to the genetic contribution, biological explanations of BD have also focused on
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brain function. Many of the studies using fMRI techniques to characterize BD have focused
on the processing of emotional stimuli based on the idea that BD is fundamentally a disorder
of emotion (APA, 2000). Findings show that regions of the brain thought to be involved in
emotional processing and regulation are activated differently in people with BD relative to
healthy controls (e.g., Altshuler et al., 2008; Hassel et al., 2008; Lennox, Jacob, Calder, Lupson,
& Bullmore, 2004).
However, there is little consensus as to whether a particular brain region becomes more or
less active in response to an emotional stimulus among people with BD compared with healthy
controls. Mixed findings are in part due to samples consisting of participants who are at various
phases of illness at the time of testing (manic, depressed, inter-episode). Sample sizes tend
to be relatively small, making comparisons between subgroups difficult. Additionally, the use
of a standardized stimulus (e.g., facial expression of anger) may not elicit a sufficiently strong
response. Personally engaging stimuli, such as recalling a memory, may be more effective in
inducing strong emotions (Isacowitz, Gershon, Allard, & Johnson, 2013).
Within the psychosocial level, research has focused on the environmental contributors to BD.
A series of studies show that environmental stressors, particularly severe stressors (e.g., loss
of a significant relationship), can adversely impact the course of BD. People with BD have
substantially increased risk of relapse (Ellicott, Hammen, Gitlin, Brown, & Jamison, 1990) and
suffer more depressive symptoms (Johnson, Winett, Meyer, Greenhouse, & Miller, 1999)
following a severe life stressor. Interestingly, positive life events can also adversely impact the
course of BD. People with BD suffer more manic symptoms after life events involving
attainment of a desired goal (Johnson et al., 2008). Such findings suggest that people with BD
may have a hypersensitivity to rewards.
Evidence from the life stress literature has also suggested that people with mood disorders
may have a circadian vulnerability that renders them sensitive to stressors that disrupt their
sleep or rhythms. According to social zeitgeber theory (Ehlers, Frank, & Kupfer, 1988; Frank
et al., 1994), stressors that disrupt sleep, or that disrupt the daily routines that entrain the
biological clock (e.g., meal times) can trigger episode relapse. Consistent with this theory,
studies have shown that life events that involve a disruption in sleep and daily routines, such
as overnight travel, can increase bipolar symptoms in people with BD (Malkoff-Schwartz et
al., 1998).
What Are Some of the Well-Supported Treatments for Mood

Disorders?
561
Mood Disorders
There are many treatment options
available for people with MDD. First,
a number of antidepressant medications
are available, all of which target one
or more of the neurotransmitters
implicated in depression.The earliest
antidepressant medications were
monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs).
MAOIs inhibit monoamine oxidase,
an enzyme involved in deactivating
dopamine,
norepinephrine,
and
serotonin. Although effective in

A number of medications are effective in treating mood disorders.
Meditation, exercise, counseling and other therapies also show
effectiveness for some disorders. [Photo: TheRogue]
treating depression, MAOIs can have

serious side effects. Patients taking
MAOIs may develop dangerously
high blood pressure if they take certain drugs (e.g., antihistamines) or eat foods containing
tyramine, an amino acid commonly found in foods such as aged cheeses, wine, and soy sauce.
Tricyclics, the second-oldest class of antidepressant medications, block the reabsorption of
norepinephrine, serotonin, or dopamine at synapses, resulting in their increased availability.
Tricyclics are most effective for treating vegetative and somatic symptoms of depression. Like
MAOIs, they have serious side effects, the most concerning of which is being cardiotoxic.
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs; e.g., Fluoxetine) and serotonin and
norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs; e.g., Duloxetine) are the most recently introduced
antidepressant medications. SSRIs, the most commonly prescribed antidepressant
medication, block the reabsorption of serotonin, whereas SNRIs block the reabsorption of
serotonin and norepinephrine. SSRIs and SNRIs have fewer serious side effects than do MAOIs
and tricyclics. In particular, they are less cardiotoxic, less lethal in overdose, and produce fewer
cognitive impairments. They are not, however, without their own side effects, which include
but are not limited to difficulty having orgasms, gastrointestinal issues, and insomnia.
Other biological treatments for people with depression include electroconvulsive therapy
(ECT), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), and deep brain stimulation. ECT involves
inducing a seizure after a patient takes muscle relaxants and is under general anesthesia. ECT
is viable treatment for patients with severe depression or who show resistance to
antidepressants although the mechanisms through which it works remain unknown. A
common side effect is confusion and memory loss, usually short-term (Schulze-
562
Mood Disorders
Rauschenbach, Harms, Schlaepfer, Maier, Falkai, & Wagner, 2005). Repetitive TMS is a
noninvasive technique administered while a patient is awake. Brief pulsating magnetic fields
are delivered to the cortex, inducing electrical activity. TMS has fewer side effects than ECT
(Schulze-Rauschenbach et al., 2005), and while outcome studies are mixed, there is evidence
that TMS is a promising treatment for patients with MDD who have shown resistance to other
treatments (Rosa et al., 2006). Most recently, deep brain stimulation is being examined as a
treatment option for patients who did not respond to more traditional treatments like those
already described. Deep brain stimulation involves implanting an electrode in the brain. The
electrode is connected to an implanted neurostimulator, which electrically stimulates that
particular brain region. Although there is some evidence of its effectiveness (Mayberg et al.,
2005), additional research is needed.
Several psychosocial treatments have received strong empirical support, meaning that
independent investigations have achieved similarly positive resultsa high threshold for
examining treatment outcomes. These treatments include but are not limited to behavior
therapy, cognitive therapy, and interpersonal therapy. Behavior therapies focus on increasing
the frequency and quality of experiences that are pleasant or help the patient achieve mastery.
Cognitive therapies primarily focus on helping patients identify and change distorted
automatic thoughts and assumptions (e.g., Beck, 1967). Cognitive-behavioral therapies are
based on the rationale that thoughts, behaviors, and emotions affect and are affected by each
other. Interpersonal Therapy for Depression focuses largely on improving interpersonal
relationships by targeting problem areas, specifically unresolved grief, interpersonal role
disputes, role transitions, and interpersonal deficits. Finally, there is also some support for
the effectiveness of Short-Term Psychodynamic Therapy for Depression (Leichsenring, 2001).
The short-term treatment focuses on a limited number of important issues, and the therapist
tends to be more actively involved than in more traditional psychodynamic therapy.
Bipolar Disorders
Patients with BD are typically treated with pharmacotherapy. Antidepressants such as SSRIs
and SNRIs are the primary choice of treatment for depression, whereas for BD, lithium is the
first line treatment choice. This is because SSRIs and SNRIs have the potential to induce mania
or hypomania in patients with BD. Lithium acts on several neurotransmitter systems in the
brain through complex mechanisms, including reduction of excitatory (dopamine and
glutamate) neurotransmission, and increasing of inhibitory (GABA) neurotransmission (Lenox
& Hahn, 2000). Lithium has strong efficacy for the treatment of BD (Geddes, Burgess, Hawton,
Jamison, & Goodwin, 2004). However, a number of side effects can make lithium treatment
difficult for patients to tolerate. Side effects include impaired cognitive function (Wingo, Wingo,
563
Mood Disorders
Harvey, & Baldessarini, 2009), as well as physical symptoms such as nausea, tremor, weight
gain, and fatigue (Dunner, 2000). Some of these side effects can improve with continued use;
however, medication noncompliance remains an ongoing concern in the treatment of patients
with BD. Anticonvulsant medications (e.g., carbamazepine, valproate) are also commonly used
to treat patients with BD, either alone or in conjunction with lithium.
There are several adjunctive treatment options for people with BD. Interpersonal and social
rhythm therapy (IPSRT; Frank et al., 1994) is a psychosocial intervention focused on addressing
the mechanism of action posited in social zeitgeber theory to predispose patients who have
BD to relapse, namely sleep disruption. A growing body of literature provides support for the
central role of sleep dysregulation in BD (Harvey, 2008). Consistent with this literature, IPSRT
aims to increase rhythmicity of patients lives and encourage vigilance in maintaining a stable
rhythm. The therapist and patient work to develop and maintain a healthy balance of activity
and stimulation such that the patient does not become overly active (e.g., by taking on too
many projects) or inactive (e.g., by avoiding social contact). The efficacy of IPSRT has been
demonstrated in that patients who received this treatment show reduced risk of episode
recurrence and are more likely to remain well (Frank et al., 2005).
Conclusion
Everyone feels down or euphoric from time to time. For some people, these feelings can last
for long periods of time and can also co-occur with other symptoms that, in combination,
interfere with their everyday lives. When people experience an MDE or a manic episode, they
see the world differently. During an MDE, people often feel hopeless about the future, and
may even experience suicidal thoughts. During a manic episode, people often behave in ways
that are risky or place them in danger. They may spend money excessively or have unprotected
sex, often expressing deep shame over these decisions after the episode. MDD and BD cause
significant problems for people at school, at work, and in their relationships and affect people
regardless of gender, age, nationality, race, religion, or sexual orientation. If you or someone
you know is suffering from a mood disorder, it is important to seek help. Effective treatments
are available and continually improving. If you have an interest in mood disorders, there are
many ways to contribute to their understanding, prevention, and treatment, whether by
engaging in research or clinical work.
564
Mood Disorders
Outside Resources
Books: Recommended memoirs include A Memoir of Madness by William Styron (MDD);
Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression by Andrew Solomon (MDD); and An Unquiet Mind:
A Memoir of Moods and Madness by Kay Redfield (BD).
Web: Visit the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies to find a list of the
recommended therapists and evidence-based treatments.
http://www.abct.org
Web: Visit the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance for educational information and
social support options.
http://www.dbsalliance.org/
1. What factors might explain the large gender difference in the prevalence rates of MDD?
2. Why might American ethnic minority groups experience more persistent BD than European
Americans?
3. Why might the age of onset for MDD be decreasing over time?
4. Why might overnight travel constitute a potential risk for a person with BD?
5. What are some reasons positive life events may precede the occurrence of manic episode?
565
Mood Disorders
Vocabulary
Anhedonia
Loss of interest or pleasure in activities one previously found enjoyable or rewarding.
Attributional style
The tendency by which a person infers the cause or meaning of behaviors or events.
Chronic stress
Discrete or related problematic events and conditions which persist over time and result in
prolonged activation of the biological and/or psychological stress response (e.g.,
unemployment, ongoing health difficulties, marital discord).
Early adversity
Single or multiple acute or chronic stressful events, which may be biological or psychological
in nature (e.g., poverty, abuse, childhood illness or injury), occurring during childhood and
resulting in a biological and/or psychological stress response.
Grandiosity
Inflated self-esteem or an exaggerated sense of self-importance and self-worth (e.g., believing
one has special powers or superior abilities).
Hypersomnia
Excessive daytime sleepiness, including difficulty staying awake or napping, or prolonged
sleep episodes.
Psychomotor agitation
Increased motor activity associated with restlessness, including physical actions (e.g.,
fidgeting, pacing, feet tapping, handwringing).
Psychomotor retardation
A slowing of physical activities in which routine activities (e.g., eating, brushing teeth) are
performed in an unusually slow manner.
Social zeitgeber
Zeitgeber is German for time giver. Social zeitgebers are environmental cues, such as meal
times and interactions with other people, that entrain biological rhythms and thus sleep-wake
cycle regularity.
Mood Disorders
566
Socioeconomic status (SES)

A persons economic and social position based on income, education, and occupation.
Suicidal ideation
Recurring thoughts about suicide, including considering or planning for suicide, or
preoccupation with suicide.
567
Mood Disorders
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Schulze-Rauschenbach, S. C., Harms, U., Schlaepfer, T. E., Maier, W., Falkai, P., & Wagner, M.
(2005). Distinctive neurocognitive effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation
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416. doi: 10.1192/bjp.186.5.410
Shields, B. (2005). Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression. New York:
Hyperion.
Sullivan, P., Neale, M. C., & Kendler, K. S. (2000). Genetic epidemiology of major depression:
Mood Disorders
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appi.ajp.157.10.1552
Twenge, J. M., & Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2002). Age, gender, race, SES, and birth cohort differences
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JCP.08r04972
35
Positive Psychology
Robert A. Emmons
A brief history of the positive psychology movement is presented, and key themes within
positive psychology are identified. Three important positive psychology topics are gratitude,
forgiveness, and humility. Ten key findings within the field of positive psychology are put forth,
and the most important empirical findings regarding gratitude, forgiveness, and humility are
discussed. Assessment techniques for these three strengths are described, and interventions
for increasing gratitude, developing forgiveness, and becoming more humble are briefly
considered.
Learning Objectives
Describe what positive psychology is, who started it, and why it came into existence.
Identify some of the most important findings from the science of positive psychology with
respect to forgiveness, gratitude, and humility.
Explore how positive psychology might make a difference in how you think about your own
life, the nature of human nature, and what is really important to you.
Introduction
Positive psychology is a popular movement that began in the late 1990s. It is the branch of
psychology that has as its primary focus the on the strengths, virtues, and talents that
contribute to successful functioning and enable individuals and communities to flourish. Core
topics include happiness, resiliency, well-being, and states of flow and engagement. It was
574
Positive Psychology
spearheaded by a former president

of
the
American
Psychological
Association, Martin Seligman.

Throughout most of its history,
psychology was concerned with
identifying and remedying human
ills.
It
has
largely
focused
on
decreasing maladaptive emotions

and
behaviors,
while
generally
ignoring positive and optimal functioning.

Martin Seligman, who is credited with starting the positive psychology
movement, attributes this inspiration to his prior work on learned
helplessness, this new research prompting him to instead focus on the
good in peoples lives. [Image: malloreigh]
In contrast, the goal of positive

psychology
is
to
identify
and
enhance the human strengths and

virtues that make life worth living.
Unlike the positive thinking or new thought movements that are associated with people like
Norman Vincent Peale or Rhonda Byrne (The Secret), positive psychology pursues scientifically
informed perspectives on what makes life worth living. It is empirically based. It focuses on
measuring aspects of the human condition that lead to happiness, fulfillment, and flourishing.
The science of happiness is covered in other modules within this section of this book.
Therefore, aside from key findings summarized in Table 1, the emphasis in this module will
be on other topics within positive psychology.
Moving from an exclusive focus on distress, disorder, and dysfunction, positive psychology
shifts the scientific lens to a concentration on well-being, health, and optimal functioning.
Positive psychology provides a different vantage point through which to understand human
experience. Recent developments have produced a common framework and that locates the
study of positive states, strengths and virtues in relation to each other and links them to
important life outcomes. Recent developments suggest that problems in psychological
functioning may be more profitably dealt with as the absence, excess, or opposite of these
strengths rather than traditional diagnostic categories of mental illness. The principal claim
of positive psychology is that the study of health, fulfillment and well-being is as deserving of
study as illness, dysfunction, and distress, has resonated well with both the academic
community and the general public.
As a relatively new field of research, positive psychology lacked a common vocabulary for
discussing measurable positive traits before 2004. Traditional psychology benefited from the
creation of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), which provided
researchers and clinicians with the same set of language from which they could talk about
575
Positive Psychology
the negative. As a first step in remedying this disparity between traditional and positive
psychology, Chris Peterson and Martin Seligman set out to identify, organize and measure
character. The Values in Action (VIA) classification of strengths was an important initial step
toward specifying important positive traits (Peterson & Seligman, 2004). Peterson and
Seligman examined ancient cultures (including their religions, politics, education and
philosophies) for information about how people in the past construed human virtue. The
researchers looked for virtues that were present across cultures and time. Six core virtues
emerged from their analysis: courage, justice, humanity, temperance, transcendence and
wisdom. The VIA is the positive psychology counterpart to the DSM used in traditional
psychology and psychiatry. Unlike the DSM, which scientifically categorizes human deficits
and disorders, the VIA classifies positive human strengths. This approach vastly departs from
the medical model of traditional psychology, which focuses on fixing deficits. In contrast,
positive psychologists emphasize that people should focus and build upon on what they are
doing well.
The VIA is a tool by which people can identify their own character strengths and learn how
to capitalize on them. It consists of 240 questions that ask respondents to report the degree
to which statements reflecting each of the strengths apply to themselves. For example, the
character strength of hope is measured with items that include I know that I will succeed with
the goals I set for myself. The strength of gratitude is measured with such items as At least
once a day, I stop and count my blessings.
Within the United States, the most commonly endorsed strengths are kindness, fairness,
honesty, gratitude and judgment (Park, Peterson & Seligman, 2006). Worldwide, the following
strengths were most associated with positive life satisfaction: hope, zest, gratitude and love.
The researchers called these strengths of the heart. Moreover, strengths associated with
knowledge, such as love of learning and curiosity, were least correlated with life satisfaction
(Park, Peterson & Seligman, 2005).
Three Key Strengths

Forgiveness, gratitude, and humility are three key strengths that have been the focus of
sustained research programs within positive psychology. What have we learned about each
of these and why do these matter for human flourishing?
Forgiveness
Forgiveness is essential to harmonious long-term relationships between individuals, whether
Positive Psychology
576
Table 1: Ten Key Findings from the Science of Positive Psychology
between spouses or nations, dyads or collectives. At the level of the individual, forgiveness
of self can help one achieve an inner peace as well as peace with others and with God.
Wrongdoing against others can result in guilt, and self-loathing. Resentment can give away
to hate and intolerance. Both perpetrator and victim suffer. Conversely, forgiveness can be
an avenue to healing. It is the basic building block of loving relationships with others. When
one person or nation does something to hurt another, the relationship between the two can
be irrevocably damaged. Because the potential for conflict is seemingly built into human
nature, the prospects for long-term peace may seem faint. Forgiveness offers another way.
If the victim can forgive the perpetrator, the relationship may be restored and possibly even
saved from termination. The essence of forgiveness is that it creates a possibility for a
relationship to recover from the damage caused by the offending partys offense. Forgiveness
is thus a powerful pro-social process. It can benefit human social life by helping relationships
to heal. , on the social level, forgiveness may be the critical element needed for world peace.
Culligan (2002) wrote "Forgiveness may ultimately be the most powerful weapon for breaking
577
Positive Psychology
the dreadful cycle of violence."

Research
is
answering
fundamental
questions about what forgiveness is and

isnt, how it develops, what are its
physiological
correlates
and
physical
effects, whether it is always beneficial, and

how peopleif they are so motivated
might be helped to forgive. Forgiveness is
not excusing, condoning, tolerating, or
forgetting that one has been hurt because
of the actions of another. Forgiveness is
letting go of negative thoughts (e.g. wishing
the offender harm), negative behaviors (e.
g. a desire to retaliate, and negative feelings
There is a famous quotation that does a good job of illustrating
(e.g. resentment) toward the offender
the importance of forgiveness: Holding onto anger is like
(McCullough, Root, & Cohen, 2006).
drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. [Image:

Proctor Academy]
There have been numerous studies looking

at forgiveness interventions. The interventions
involved counseling and exercises which were used to help people move from anger and
resentment towards forgiveness. In one study, incest survivors who experienced the
forgiveness intervention had at the end of the intervention increased abilities to forgive others,
increased hopefulness and decreased levels of anxiety and depression. In another study,
college students were randomized to a group that received a forgiveness education program
and another group who studied human relations. The group that received the forgiveness
education program showed higher levels of hope and an increased willingness to forgive
others. This greater self-forgiveness was associated with increased self-esteem, lower levels
of anxiety, lower levels of depression and a more positive view of their patient. In many of
these studies, it was shown that people who are able to forgive are more likely to have better
interpersonal functioning and therefore social support. The act of forgiveness can result in
less anxiety and depression, better health outcomes, increased coping with stress, and
increased closeness to God and others (Enright, 2001).
Gratitude
Gratitude is a feeling of appreciation or thankfulness in response to receiving a benefit. The
emerging science of gratitude has produced some important findings. From childhood to old
578
Positive Psychology
age, accumulating evidence doc

uments
the
wide
array
of
psychological, physical, and relational

benefits associated with gratitude
(Wood, Froh, & Geraghty, 2010).
Gratitude is important not only
because it helps us feel good, but
also because it inspires us to do
good. Gratitude heals, energizes,
and transforms lives in a myriad
of ways consistent with the notion
that virtue is both its own reward
It is hard to feel sad when youre feeling grateful. Try to practice giving thanks,
and produces other rewards
even for something small, every day. [Image: Trey Ratcliff]
(Emmons, 2007).
To give a flavor of these research findings, dispositional gratitude has been found to be
positively associated qualities such as empathy, forgiveness, and the willingness to help
others. For example, people who rated themselves as having a grateful disposition perceived
themselves as having more socially helpful characteristics, expressed by their empathetic
behavior, and emotional support for friends within the last month (McCullough, Emmons, &
Tsang, 2002). In our research, when people report feeling grateful, thankful, and appreciative
in their daily lives, they also feel more loving, forgiving, joyful, and enthusiastic. Notably, the
family, friends, partners and others who surround them consistently report that people who
practice gratitude are viewed as more helpful, more outgoing, more optimistic, and more
trustworthy (Emmons & McCullough, 2003).
Expressing gratitude for lifes blessings that is, a sense of wonder, thankfulness and
appreciation is likely to elevate happiness for a number of reasons. Grateful thinking fosters
the savoring of positive life experiences and situations, so that people can extract the
maximum possible satisfaction and enjoyment from their circumstances. Counting ones
blessings may directly counteract the effects of hedonic adaptation, the process by which our
happiness level returns, again and again, to its set range, by preventing people from taking
the good things in their lives for granted. If we consciously remind ourselves of our blessings,
it should become harder to take them for granted and adapt to them. And the very act of
viewing good things as gifts itself is likely to be beneficial for mood. How much does it matter?
Consider these eye-popping statistics. People are 25% happier if they keep gratitude journals,
sleep 1/2 hour more per evening, and exercise 33% more each week compared to persons
who are not keeping journals. They achieve up to a 10% reduction in systolic blood pressure,
and decrease their dietary fat intake by up to 20%. Lives marked by frequent positive emotions
Positive Psychology
579
of joy, love and gratitude are up to 7 years longer than lives bereft of these pleasant feelings.
Table 2: Your Gratitude Quotient
580
Positive Psychology
The science of gratitude has also revealed some surprising findings. For example, students
who practice gratitude increase their grade point average. Occasional gratitude journaling
boosts well-being more than the regular practice of counting blessings. Remembering ones
sorrows, failures, and other painful experiences is more beneficial to happiness than recalling
only successes. Becoming aware that a very pleasant experience is about to end enhances
feelings of gratitude for it. Thinking about the absence of something positive in your life
produces more gratitude and happiness than imagining its presence.
To assess your own level of gratefulness, take the test below.
Humility
What is humility and why does it matter?
Although the etymological roots of
humility are in lowliness and selfabasement (from the Latin term humilis
meaning lowly, humble, or literally on
the ground and from the Latin term
humus meaning "earth"), the emerging
consensus among scholars is that
humility
is
intellectual
psychological
virtue,
or
and
character
strength. There is no simple definition

Although most people tend to believe they dont receive the
but it seems to involve the following
recognition they deserve for their efforts, being humble means that
elements: A clear and accurate (not
shouldnt matter. Besides, if youre only doing the work because of

the praise you anticipate, you probably should be spending your
underestimated) sense of ones abilities
time on something you actually enjoy. [Image: Stephen McLeod
and
achievements;
the
ability
to
Blythe]
acknowledge ones mistakes, imperfections,

gaps in knowledge, and limitations
(often with reference to a higher power); an openness to new ideas, contradictory

information, and advice keeping ones abilities and accomplishments in perspective; relatively
low self-focus or an ability to forget the self; appreciation of the value of all things, as well
as the many different ways that people and things can contribute to our world.
In
contemporary society, it is easy to overlook the merits of humility. In politics, business and
sports, the egoists command our attention. Show me someone without an ego, said real
estate mogul Donald Trump, and Ill show you a loser. In contrast, the primary message of
this book is that the unassuming virtue of humility, rather than representing weakness or
inferiority, as is commonly assumed, is a strength of character that produces positive,
Positive Psychology
581
beneficial results for self and society. Successful people are humble people. They are more
likely to flourish in life, in more domains, than are people who are less humble (Exline & Hill,
2012).
Do you think you are you a humble person? For obvious reasons, you cannot rate your own
level of humility. Its an elusive concept to get at scientifically. I am very humble is selfcontradictory. This has not discouraged personality psychologists from developing
questionnaires to get at it, albeit indirectly. For example, to what extent do you identify with
each of the following statements:
1. I generally have a good idea about the things I do well or do poorly.
2. I have difficulty accepting advice from other people.
3. I try my best in things, but I realize that I have a lot of work to do in many areas.
4. I am keenly aware of what little I know about the world.
Questions such as these tap various facets of the humble personality, including an
appreciation and recognition of ones limitations, and an accurate assessment of oneself.
Humble people are more likely to flourish in life, in more domains, than are people who are
less humble. Consider a handful of findings from recent research studies and surveys:
People who say they feel humble when they are praised report that the experience made
them want to be nice to people, increase their efforts, and challenge themselves
Humble people are more admired and the trait of humility is viewed positively by most
Humble teachers are rated as more effective and humble lawyers as more likeable by jurors
CEOs who possessed a rare combination of extreme humility and strong professional will
were catalysts for transforming a good company into a great one
Over 80% of adults surveyed indicated that it is important that professionals demonstrate
modesty/humility in their work
Humility is positively associated with academic success in the form of higher grades (Exline
& Hill, 2012).
The science of positive psychology has grown remarkably quickly since it first appeared on
the scene in the late 1990s. Already, considerable progress has been made in understanding
empirically the foundations of a good life. Knowledge from basic research in positive
psychology is being applied in a number of settings, from psychotherapy to workplace settings
Positive Psychology
582
to schools and even to the military (Biswas-Diener, 2011); A proper blend of science and
practice will be required in order for positive psychology to fully realize its potential in dealing
with the future challenges that we face as humans.
583
Positive Psychology
Outside Resources
Web: Authentic Happiness.
http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu
Web: The International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA).
http://www.ippanetwork.org/
1. Can you think of people in your life who are very humble? What do they do or say that
expresses their humility? To what extent do you think it would be good if you were more
humble? To what extent do you think it would be good if you were less humble?
2. How can thinking gratefully about an unpleasant event from your past help you to deal
positively with it? As the result of this event, what kinds of things do you now feel thankful
or grateful for? How has this event benefited you as a person? How have you grown? Were
there personal strengths that grew out of your experience?
3. Mahatma Gandhi once said, The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of
the strong. What do you think he meant by this? Do you agree or disagree? What are some
of the obstacles you have faced in your own life when trying to forgive others?
584
Positive Psychology
Vocabulary
Character strength
A positive trait or quality deemed to be morally good and is valued for itself as well as for
promoting individual and collective well-being.
Flourishing
To live optimally psychologically, relationally, and spiritually.
Forgiveness
The letting go of negative thoughts, feelings, and behaviors toward an offender.
Gratitude
A feeling of appreciation or thankfulness in response to receiving a benefit.
Humility
Having an accurate view of selfnot too high or lowand a realistic appraisal of ones
strengths and weaknesses, especially in relation to other people.
Positive psychology
The science of human flourishing. Positive Psychology is an applied science with an emphasis
on real world intervention.
Pro-social
Thoughts, actions, and feelings that are directed towards others and which are positive in
nature.
585
Positive Psychology
References
Biswas-Diener, R. (2011). Applied positive psychology: Progress and challenges. European
Health Psychologist, 13, 2426.
Culligan, K. (2002). Prayer and forgiveness: Can psychology help? Spiritual Life, 89,78. Emmons,
R. A., & McCullough, M. E. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental
investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of Personality and
Emmons, R. A. (2007). Thanks! How the new science of gratitude can make you happier. Boston.
MA: Houghton-Mifflin.
Emmons, R. A., & McCullough, M. E. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: An
experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of
Enright, R. D. (2001). Forgiveness is a choice. Washington, DC: American Psychological
Association.
Exline, J. J., & Hill, P. C. (2012). Humility: A consistent and robust predictor of generosity. Journal
of Positive Psychology, 7, 208218.
McCullough, M. E., Emmons, R. A., & Tsang, J. (2002). The grateful disposition: A conceptual
and empirical topography. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 112127.
McCullough, M. E., Root, L. M., & Cohen A. D. (2006). Writing about the benefits of an
interpersonal transgression facilitates forgiveness. Journal of Consulting and Clinical
Park, N., Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2006). Character strengths in fifty-four nations and
the fifty U.S. states. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 3, 118129.
Park, N., Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2004). Strengths of character and well-being: A
closer look at hope and modesty. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 23, 603619.
Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and
classification. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Washington, DC: American
Wood, A. M., Froh, J. J., & Geraghty, A. W. (2010). Gratitude and well-being: A review and
theoretical integration. Clinical Psychology Review, 30, 890905.
Psychological Disorders & Therapy, Part

2 (12/1)
36
Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders
Deanna M. Barch
Schizophrenia and the other psychotic disorders are some of the most impairing forms of
psychopathology, frequently associated with a profound negative effect on the individuals
educational, occupational, and social function. Sadly, these disorders often manifest right at
time of the transition from adolescence to adulthood, just as young people should be evolving
into independent young adults. The spectrum of psychotic disorders includes schizophrenia,
schizoaffective disorder, delusional disorder, schizotypal personality disorder, schizophreniform
disorder, brief psychotic disorder, as well as psychosis associated with substance use or
medical conditions. In this module, we summarize the primary clinical features of these
disorders, describe the known cognitive and neurobiological changes associated with
schizophrenia, describe potential risk factors and/or causes for the development of
schizophrenia, and describe currently available treatments for schizophrenia.
Learning Objectives
Describe the signs and symptoms of schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders.
Describe the most well-replicated cognitive and neurobiological changes associated with
schizophrenia.
Describe the potential risk factors for the development of schizophrenia.

Describe the controversies associated with clinical high risk approaches to identifying
individuals at risk for the development of schizophrenia.
Describe the treatments that work for some of the symptoms of schizophrenia.
588
The phenomenology of schizophrenia and related psychotic

disorders
Most of you have probably had
the experience of walking down
the street in a city and seeing a
person you thought was acting
oddly. They may have been
dressed in an unusual way,
perhaps disheveled or wearing
an unusual collection of clothes,
makeup, or jewelry that did not
seem to fit any particular group
or subculture. They may have
been talking to themselves or
yelling at someone you could not
see. If you tried to speak to them,
Schizophrenia is sometimes viewed as a "splitting of the self" in which a person
they may have been difficult to
may have false beliefs about reality. [Photo: Johnny Grim]
follow or understand, or they

may have acted paranoid or
started telling a bizarre story about the people who were plotting against them. If so, chances
are that you have encountered an individual with schizophrenia or another type of psychotic
disorder. If you have watched the movie A Beautiful Mind or The Fisher King, you have also seen
a portrayal of someone thought to have schizophrenia. Sadly, a few of the individuals who
have committed some of the recently highly publicized mass murders may have had
schizophrenia, though most people who commit such crimes do not have schizophrenia. It is
also likely that you have met people with schizophrenia without ever knowing it, as they may
suffer in silence or stay isolated to protect themselves from the horrors they see, hear, or
believe are operating in the outside world. As these examples begin to illustrate, psychotic
disorders involve many different types of symptoms, including delusions, hallucinations,
disorganized speech and behavior, abnormal motor behavior (including catatonia), and
negative symptoms such anhedonia/amotivation and blunted affect/reduced speech.
Delusions are false beliefs that are often fixed, hard to change even when the person is
presented with conflicting information, and are often culturally influenced in their content (e.
g., delusions involving Jesus in Judeo-Christian cultures, delusions involving Allah in Muslim
cultures). They can be terrifying for the person, who may remain convinced that they are true
even when loved ones and friends present them with clear information that they cannot be
589
true. There are many different types or themes to delusions.

The most common delusions
are persecutory and involve the
belief that individuals or groups
are trying to hurt, harm, or plot
against the person in some way.
These can be people that the
person knows (people at work,
the neighbors, family members),
or more abstract groups (the
FBI, the CIA, aliens, etc.). Other
types
of
delusions
include
grandiose delusions, where the

person believes that they have
some special power or ability (e.
g., I am the new Buddha, I am a
rock star); referential delusions,
Under Surveillance: Abstract groups like the police or the government are
commonly the focus of a schizophrenic's persecutory delusions. [Photo: Tim
Shields BC]
where the person believes that events or objects in the environment have special meaning
for them (e.g., that song on the radio is being played specifically for me); or other types of
delusions where the person may believe that others are controlling their thoughts and actions,
their thoughts are being broadcast aloud, or that others can read their mind (or they can read
other peoples minds).
When you see a person on the street talking to themselves or shouting at other people, they
are experiencing hallucinations. These are perceptual experiences that occur even when
there is no stimulus in the outside world generating the experiences. They can be auditory,
visual, olfactory (smell), gustatory (taste), or somatic (touch). The most common hallucinations
in psychosis (at least in adults) are auditory, and can involve one or more voices talking about
the person, commenting on the persons behavior, or giving them orders. The content of the
hallucinations is frequently negative (you are a loser, that drawing is stupid, you should
go kill yourself) and can be the voice of someone the person knows or a complete stranger.
Sometimes the voices sound as if they are coming from outside the persons head. Other
times the voices seem to be coming from inside the persons head, but are not experienced
the same as the persons inner thoughts or inner speech.
Talking to someone with schizophrenia is sometimes difficult, as their speech may be difficult
to follow, either because their answers do not clearly flow from your questions, or because
one sentence does not logically follow from another. This is referred to as disorganized
590
speech, and it can be present even when the person is writing. Disorganized behavior can
include odd dress, odd makeup (e.g., lipstick outlining a mouth for 1 inch), or unusual rituals
(e.g., repetitive hand gestures). Abnormal motor behavior can include catatonia, which refers
to a variety of behaviors that seem to reflect a reduction in responsiveness to the external
environment. This can include holding unusual postures for long periods of time, failing to
respond to verbal or motor prompts from another person, or excessive and seemingly
purposeless motor activity.
Some
of
symptoms
the
of
most
debilitating
schizophrenia
are
difficult for others to see. These

include what people refer to as
negative symptoms or the absence
of certain things we typically expect
most people to have. For example,
anhedonia or amotivation reflect a
lack of apparent interest in or drive to
engage in social or recreational
activities.
These
symptoms
can
manifest as a great amount of time

spent in physical immobility. Importantly,
"Negative symptoms" of schizophrenia like anhedonia - a lack of interest
anhedonia and amotivation do not
in the kinds of social and recreational activities most others enjoy - are
seem to reflect a lack of enjoyment in
not as readily apparent to outside observers as the more obvious

symptoms like disorganized speech or talk of hallucinations. [Photo:
Jessia Hime]
pleasurable
activities
or
events
(Cohen & Minor, 2010; Kring & Moran,

2008; Llerena, Strauss, & Cohen,
2012) but rather a reduced drive or ability to take the steps necessary to obtain the potentially
positive outcomes (Barch & Dowd, 2010). Flat affect and reduced speech (alogia) reflect a
lack of showing emotions through facial expressions, gestures, and speech intonation, as well
as a reduced amount of speech and increased pause frequency and duration.
In many ways, the types of symptoms associated with psychosis are the most difficult for us
to understand, as they may seem far outside the range of our normal experiences. Unlike
depression or anxiety, many of us may not have had experiences that we think of as on the
same continuum as psychosis. However, just like many of the other forms of psychopathology
described in this book, the types of psychotic symptoms that characterize disorders like
schizophrenia are on a continuum with normal mental experiences. For example, work by
Jim van Os in the Netherlands has shown that a surprisingly large percentage of the general
population (10%+) experience psychotic-like symptoms, though many fewer have multiple
591
experiences and most will not continue to experience these symptoms in the long run (Verdoux
& van Os, 2002). Similarly, work in a general population of adolescents and young adults in
Kenya has also shown that a relatively high percentage of individuals experience one or more
psychotic-like experiences (~19%) at some point in their lives (Mamah et al., 2012; Ndetei et
al., 2012), though again most will not go on to develop a full-blown psychotic disorder.
Schizophrenia is the primary disorder that comes to mind when we discuss psychotic
disorders (see Table 1 for diagnostic criteria), though there are a number of other disorders
Table 1: Types of Psychotic Disorders (Simplified from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual - 5th Edition (DSM-5) (APA, 2013)
592
that share one or more features with schizophrenia. In the remainder of this module, we will
use the terms psychosis and schizophrenia somewhat interchangeably, given that most of
the research has focused on schizophrenia. In addition to schizophrenia (see Table 1), other
psychotic disorders include schizophreniform disorder (a briefer version of schizophrenia),
schizoaffective disorder (a mixture of psychosis and depression/mania symptoms), delusional
disorder (the experience of only delusions), and brief psychotic disorder (psychotic symptoms
that last only a few days or weeks).
The Cognitive Neuroscience of Schizophrenia

As described above, when we think of the core symptoms of psychotic disorders such as
schizophrenia, we think of people who hear voices, see visions, and have false beliefs about
reality (i.e., delusions). However, problems in cognitive function are also a critical aspect of
psychotic disorders and of schizophrenia in particular. This emphasis on cognition in
schizophrenia is in part due to the growing body of research suggesting that cognitive
problems in schizophrenia are a major source of disability and loss of functional capacity
(Green, 2006; Nuechterlein et al., 2011). The cognitive deficits that are present in schizophrenia
are widespread and can include problems with episodic memory (the ability to learn and
retrieve new information or episodes in ones life), working memory (the ability to maintain
information over a short period of time, such as 30 seconds), and other tasks that require one
to control or regulate ones behavior (Barch & Ceaser, 2012; Bora, Yucel, & Pantelis, 2009a;
Fioravanti, Carlone, Vitale, Cinti, & Clare, 2005; Forbes, Carrick, McIntosh, & Lawrie, 2009;
Mesholam-Gately, Giuliano, Goff, Faraone, & Seidman, 2009). Individuals with schizophrenia
also have difficulty with what is referred to as processing speed and are frequently slower
than healthy individuals on almost all tasks. Importantly, these cognitive deficits are present
prior to the onset of the illness (Fusar-Poli et al., 2007) and are also present, albeit in a milder
form, in the first-degree relatives of people with schizophrenia (Snitz, Macdonald, & Carter,
2006). This suggests that cognitive impairments in schizophrenia reflect part of the risk for
the development of psychosis, rather than being an outcome of developing psychosis. Further,
people with schizophrenia who have more severe cognitive problems also tend to have more
severe negative symptoms and more disorganized speech and behavior (Barch, Carter, &
Cohen, 2003; Barch et al., 1999; Dominguez Mde, Viechtbauer, Simons, van Os, & Krabbendam,
2009; Ventura, Hellemann, Thames, Koellner, & Nuechterlein, 2009; Ventura, Thames, Wood,
Guzik, & Hellemann, 2010). In addition, people with more cognitive problems have worse
function in everyday life (Bowie et al., 2008; Bowie, Reichenberg, Patterson, Heaton, & Harvey,
2006; Fett et al., 2011).
Some people with schizophrenia also show deficits in what is referred to as social cognition,
593
though it is not clear whether such

problems
are
separate
from
the
cognitive problems described above or

the result of them (Hoe, Nakagami,
Green, & Brekke, 2012; Kerr & Neale,
1993; van Hooren et al., 2008). This
includes problems with the recognition
of emotional expressions on the faces
of other individuals (Kohler, Walker,
Martin, Healey, & Moberg, 2010) and
problems inferring the intentions of
other people (theory of mind) (Bora,
Yucel, & Pantelis, 2009b). Individuals
with schizophrenia who have more
problems with social cognition also
Some with schizophrenia suffer from difficulty with social cognition.
tend to have more negative and
They may not be able to detect the meaning of facial expressions or
disorganized symptoms (Ventura, Wood,
other subtle cues that most other people rely on to navigate the social
& Hellemann, 2011), as well as worse
world. [Photo: Wolfgangfoto]
community function (Fett et al., 2011).
The advent of neuroimaging techniques such as structural and functional magnetic resonance
imaging and positron emission tomography opened up the ability to try to understand the
brain mechanisms of the symptoms of schizophrenia as well as the cognitive impairments
found in psychosis. For example, a number of studies have suggested that delusions in
psychosis may be associated with problems in salience detection mechanisms supported
by the ventral striatum (Jensen & Kapur, 2009; Jensen et al., 2008; Kapur, 2003; Kapur, Mizrahi,
& Li, 2005; Murray et al., 2008) and the anterior prefrontal cortex (Corlett et al., 2006; Corlett,
Honey, & Fletcher, 2007; Corlett, Murray, et al., 2007a, 2007b). These are regions of the brain
that normally increase their activity when something important (aka salient) happens in the
environment. If these brain regions misfire, it may lead individuals with psychosis to mistakenly
attribute importance to irrelevant or unconnected events. Further, there is good evidence
that problems in working memory and cognitive control in schizophrenia are related to
problems in the function of a region of the brain called the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
(DLPFC) (Minzenberg, Laird, Thelen, Carter, & Glahn, 2009; Ragland et al., 2009). These
problems include changes in how the DLPFC works when people are doing working-memory
or cognitive-control tasks, and problems with how this brain region is connected to other brain
regions important for working memory and cognitive control, including the posterior parietal
cortex (e.g., Karlsgodt et al., 2008; J. J. Kim et al., 2003; Schlosser et al., 2003), the anterior
cingulate (Repovs & Barch, 2012), and temporal cortex (e.g., Fletcher et al., 1995; Meyer-
594
Lindenberg et al., 2001). In terms of understanding episodic memory problems in

schizophrenia, many researchers have focused on medial temporal lobe deficits, with a specific
focus on the hippocampus (e.g., Heckers & Konradi, 2010). This is because there is much data
from humans and animals showing that the hippocampus is important for the creation of
new memories (Squire, 1992). However, it has become increasingly clear that problems with
the DLPFC also make important contributions to episodic memory deficits in schizophrenia
(Ragland et al., 2009), probably because this part of the brain is important for controlling our
use of memory.
In addition to problems with regions such as the DLFPC and medial temporal lobes in
schizophrenia described above, magnitude resonance neuroimaging studies have also
identified changes in cellular architecture, white matter connectivity, and gray matter volume
in a variety of regions that include the prefrontal and temporal cortices (Bora et al., 2011).
People with schizophrenia also show reduced overall brain volume, and reductions in brain
volume as people get older may be larger in those with schizophrenia than in healthy people
(Olabi et al., 2011). Taking antipsychotic medications or taking drugs such as marijuana,
alcohol, and tobacco may cause some of these structural changes. However, these structural
changes are not completely explained by medications or substance use alone. Further, both
functional and structural brain changes are seen, again to a milder degree, in the first-degree
relatives of people with schizophrenia (Boos, Aleman, Cahn, Pol, & Kahn, 2007; Brans et al.,
2008; Fusar-Poli et al., 2007; MacDonald, Thermenos, Barch, & Seidman, 2009). This again
suggests that that neural changes associated with schizophrenia are related to a genetic risk
for this illness.
Risk Factors for Developing Schizophrenia

It is clear that there are important genetic contributions to the likelihood that someone will
develop schizophrenia, with consistent evidence from family, twin, and adoption studies.
(Sullivan, Kendler, & Neale, 2003). However, there is no schizophrenia gene and it is likely
that the genetic risk for schizophrenia reflects the summation of many different genes that
each contribute something to the likelihood of developing psychosis (Gottesman & Shields,
1967; Owen, Craddock, & O'Donovan, 2010). Further, schizophrenia is a very heterogeneous
disorder, which means that two different people with schizophrenia may each have very
different symptoms (e.g., one has hallucinations and delusions, the other has disorganized
speech and negative symptoms). This makes it even more challenging to identify specific genes
associated with risk for psychosis. Importantly, many studies also now suggest that at least
some of the genes potentially associated with schizophrenia are also associated with other
mental health conditions, including bipolar disorder, depression, and autism (Gejman,
595
Sanders, & Kendler, 2011; Y. Kim, Zerwas, Trace, & Sullivan, 2011; Owen et al., 2010; Rutter,
Kim-Cohen, & Maughan, 2006).
There are also a number of environmental
factors that are associated with an increased
risk of developing schizophrenia. For example,
problems during pregnancy such as increased
stress, infection, malnutrition, and/or diabetes
have been associated with increased risk of
schizophrenia. In addition, complications that
occur at the time of birth and which cause
hypoxia (lack of oxygen) are also associated
with
an
increased
risk
for
developing
schizophrenia (M. Cannon, Jones, & Murray,

2002; Miller et al., 2011). Children born to older
fathers are also at a somewhat increased risk
of developing schizophrenia. Further, using
cannabis
increases
risk
for
developing
psychosis, especially if you have other risk

factors (Casadio, Fernandes, Murray, & Di Forti,
2011; Luzi, Morrison, Powell, di Forti, & Murray,
2008). The likelihood of developing schizophrenia
is also higher for kids who grow up in urban
settings (March et al., 2008) and for some
There are a number of biological risk factors for
minority ethnic groups (Bourque, van der Ven,
schizophrenia including older fathers, complications
& Malla, 2011). Both of these factors may reflect
during pregnancy/delivery and a family history of
higher social and environmental stress in these
schizophrenia. [Photo: Mattnic]
settings. Unfortunately, none of these risk

factors is specific enough to be particularly useful in a clinical setting, and most people with
these risk factors do not develop schizophrenia. However, together they are beginning to
give us clues as the neurodevelopmental factors that may lead someone to be at an increased
risk for developing this disease.
An important research area on risk for psychosis has been work with individuals who may be
at clinical high risk. These are individuals who are showing attenuated (milder) symptoms
of psychosis that have developed recently and who are experiencing some distress or disability
associated with these symptoms. When people with these types of symptoms are followed
over time, about 35% of them develop a psychotic disorder (T. D. Cannon et al., 2008), most
frequently schizophrenia (Fusar-Poli, McGuire, & Borgwardt, 2012). In order to identify these
596
individuals, a new category of diagnosis, called Attenuated Psychotic Syndrome, was added
to Section III (the section for disorders in need of further study) of the DSM-5 (see Table 1 for
symptoms) (APA, 2013). However, adding this diagnostic category to the DSM-5 created a good
deal of controversy (Batstra & Frances, 2012; Fusar-Poli & Yung, 2012). Many scientists and
clinicians have been worried that including risk states in the DSM-5 would create mental
disorders where none exist, that these individuals are often already seeking treatment for
other problems, and that it is not clear that we have good treatments to stop these individuals
from developing to psychosis. However, the counterarguments have been that there is
evidence that individuals with high-risk symptoms develop psychosis at a much higher rate
than individuals with other types of psychiatric symptoms, and that the inclusion of Attenuated
Psychotic Syndrome in Section III will spur important research that might have clinical benefits.
Further, there is some evidence that non-invasive treatments such as omega-3 fatty acids and
intensive family intervention may help reduce the development of full-blown psychosis (Preti
& Cella, 2010) in people who have high-risk symptoms.
Treatment of Schizophrenia
The currently available treatments for schizophrenia leave much to be desired, and the search
for more effective treatments for both the psychotic symptoms of schizophrenia (e.g.,
hallucinations and delusions) as well as cognitive deficits and negative symptoms is a highly
active area of research. The first line of treatment for schizophrenia and other psychotic
disorders is the use of antipsychotic medications. There are two primary types of antipsychotic
medications, referred to as typical and atypical. The fact that typical antipsychotics helped
some symptoms of schizophrenia was discovered serendipitously more than 60 years ago
(Carpenter & Davis, 2012; Lopez-Munoz et al., 2005). These are drugs that all share a common
feature of being a strong block of the D2 type dopamine receptor. Although these drugs can
help reduce hallucinations, delusions, and disorganized speech, they do little to improve
cognitive deficits or negative symptoms and can be associated with distressing motor side
effects. The newer generation of antipsychotics is referred to as atypical antipsychotics.
These drugs have more mixed mechanisms of action in terms of the receptor types that they
influence, though most of them also influence D2 receptors. These newer antipsychotics are
not necessarily more helpful for schizophrenia but have fewer motor side effects. However,
many of the atypical antipsychotics are associated with side effects referred to as the
metabolic syndrome, which includes weight gain and increased risk for cardiovascular illness,
Type-2 diabetes, and mortality (Lieberman et al., 2005).
The evidence that cognitive deficits also contribute to functional impairment in schizophrenia
has led to an increased search for treatments that might enhance cognitive function in
597
schizophrenia. Unfortunately, as of yet, there are no pharmacological treatments that work

consistently to improve cognition in schizophrenia, though many new types of drugs are
currently under exploration. However, there is a type of psychological intervention, referred
to as cognitive remediation, which has shown some evidence of helping cognition and function
in schizophrenia. In particular, a version of this treatment called Cognitive Enhancement
Therapy (CET) has been shown to improve cognition, functional outcome, social cognition,
and to protect against gray matter loss (Eack et al., 2009; Eack, Greenwald, Hogarty, &
Keshavan, 2010; Eack et al., 2010; Eack, Pogue-Geile, Greenwald, Hogarty, & Keshavan, 2010;
Hogarty, Greenwald, & Eack, 2006) in young individuals with schizophrenia. The development
of new treatments such as Cognitive Enhancement Therapy provides some hope that we will
be able to develop new and better approaches to improving the lives of individuals with this
serious mental health condition and potentially even prevent it some day.
598
Outside Resources
Book: Ben Behind His Voices: One familys journal from the chaos of schizophrenia to hope
(2011). Randye Kaye. Rowman and Littlefield.
Book: Conquering Schizophrenia: A father, his son, and a medical breakthrough (1997). Peter
Wyden. Knopf.
Book: Henrys Demons: Living with schizophrenia, a father and sons story (2011). Henry and
Patrick Cockburn. Scribner Macmillan.
Book: My Mothers Keeper: A daughters memoir of growing up in the shadow of schizophrenia
(1997). Tara Elgin Holley. William Morrow Co.
Book: Recovered, Not Cured: A journey through schizophrenia (2005). Richard McLean. Allen
and Unwin.
Book: The Center Cannot Hold: My journey through madness (2008). Elyn R. Saks. Hyperion.
Book: The Quiet Room: A journal out of the torment of madness (1996). Lori Schiller. Grand
Central Publishing.
Book: Welcome Silence: My triumph over schizophrenia (2003). Carol North. CSS Publishing.
Web: National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. This is an excellent site for learning more about
advocacy for individuals with major mental illnesses such as schizophrenia.
http://www.nami.org/
Web: National Institute of Mental Health. This website has information on NIMH-funded
schizophrenia research.
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/schizophrenia/index.shtml
Web: Schizophrenia Research Forum. This is an excellent website that contains a broad
array of information about current research on schizophrenia.
http://www.schizophreniaforum.org/
599
1. Describe the major differences between the major psychotic disorders.

2. How would one be able to tell when an individual is delusional versus having nondelusional beliefs that differ from the societal normal? How should cultural and sub-cultural
variation been taken into account when assessing psychotic symptoms?
3. Why are cognitive impairments important to understanding schizophrenia?
4. Why has the inclusion of a new diagnosis (Attenuated Psychotic Syndrome) in Section III
of the DSM-5 created controversy?
5. What are some of the factors associated with increased risk for developing schizophrenia?
If we know whether or not someone has these risk factors, how well can we tell whether
they will develop schizophrenia?
6. What brain changes are most consistent in schizophrenia?
7. Do antipsychotic medications work well for all symptoms of schizophrenia? If not, which
symptoms respond better to antipsychotic medications?
8. Are there any treatments besides antipsychotic medications that help any of the symptoms
of schizophrenia? If so, what are they?
600
Vocabulary
Alogia
A reduction in the amount of speech and/or increased pausing before the initiation of speech.
Anhedonia/amotivation
A reduction in the drive or ability to take the steps or engage in actions necessary to obtain
the potentially positive outcome.
Catatonia
Behaviors that seem to reflect a reduction in responsiveness to the external environment.
This can include holding unusual postures for long periods of time, failing to respond to verbal
or motor prompts from another person, or excessive and seemingly purposeless motor
activity.
Delusions
False beliefs that are often fixed, hard to change even in the presence of conflicting
information, and often culturally influenced in their content.
Diagnostic criteria
The specific criteria used to determine whether an individual has a specific type of psychiatric
disorder. Commonly used diagnostic criteria are included in the Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorder, 5th Edition (DSM-5) and the Internal Classification of Disorders,
Version 9 (ICD-9).
Disorganized behavior
Behavior or dress that is outside the norm for almost all subcultures. This would include odd
dress, odd makeup (e.g., lipstick outlining a mouth for 1 inch), or unusual rituals (e.g., repetitive
hand gestures).
Disorganized speech
Speech that is difficult to follow, either because answers do not clearly follow questions or
because one sentence does not logically follow from another.
Dopamine
A neurotransmitter in the brain that is thought to play an important role in regulating the
function of other neurotransmitters.
601
Episodic memory
The ability to learn and retrieve new information or episodes in ones life.
Flat affect
A reduction in the display of emotions through facial expressions, gestures, and speech
intonation.
Functional capacity
The ability to engage in self-care (cook, clean, bathe), work, attend school, and/or engage in
social relationships.
Hallucinations
Perceptual experiences that occur even when there is no stimulus in the outside world
generating the experiences. They can be auditory, visual, olfactory (smell), gustatory (taste),
or somatic (touch).
Magnetic resonance imaging
A set of techniques that uses strong magnets to measure either the structure of the brain (e.
g., gray matter and white matter) or how the brain functions when a person performs cognitive
tasks (e.g., working memory or episodic memory) or other types of tasks.
Neurodevelopmental
Processes that influence how the brain develops either in utero or as the child is growing up.
Positron emission tomography
A technique that uses radio-labelled ligands to measure the distribution of different
neurotransmitter receptors in the brain or to measure how much of a certain type of
neurotransmitter is released when a person is given a specific type of drug or does a
particularly cognitive task.
Processing speed
The speed with which an individual can perceive auditory or visual information and respond
to it.
Psychopathology
Illnesses or disorders that involve psychological or psychiatric symptoms.
Working memory
The ability to maintain information over a short period of time, such as 30 seconds or less.
602
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37
Therapeutic Orientations
Hannah Boettcher, Stefan G. Hofmann & Q. Jade Wu
In the past century, a number of psychotherapeutic orientations have gained popularity for
treating mental illnesses. This module outlines some of the best-known therapeutic
approaches and explains the history, techniques, advantages, and disadvantages associated
with each. The most effective modern approach is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). We also
discuss
psychoanalytic
therapy,
person-centered
therapy,
and
mindfulness-based
approaches. Drug therapy and emerging new treatment strategies will also be briefly explored.
Learning Objectives
Become familiar with the most widely practiced approaches to psychotherapy.

For each therapeutic approach, consider: history, goals, key techniques, and empirical
support.
Consider the impact of emerging treatment strategies in mental health.
Introduction
The history of mental illness can be traced as far back as 1500 BCE, when the ancient Egyptians
noted cases of distorted concentration and emotional distress in the heart or mind (Nasser,
1987). Today, nearly half of all Americans will experience mental illness at some point in their
lives, and mental health problems affect more than one-quarter of the population in any given
year (Kessler et al., 2005). Fortunately, a range of psychotherapies exist to treat mental
illnesses. This module provides an overview of some of the best-known schools of thought in
610
psychotherapy.
Currently, the most effective approach is
called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT);
however,
other
approaches,
such
as
psychoanalytic therapy, person-centered

therapy, and mindfulness-based therapies
are also usedthough the effectiveness of
these treatments arent as clear as they are
for CBT. Throughout this module, note the
advantages and disadvantages of each
approach, paying special attention to their
support by empirical research.
CBT is an approach to treating mental illness that involves work
with a therapist as well as homework assignments between
sessions. It has proven to be very effective for virtually all
psychiatric illnesses.
[Image:
Research Report Series:
Psychoanalysis and
Psychodynamic Therapy
Therapeutic Community. Wikimedia Commons]
The earliest organized therapy for mental disorders was psychoanalysis. Made famous in the
early 20th century by one of the best-known clinicians of all time, Sigmund Freud, this approach
stresses that mental health problems are rooted in unconscious conflicts and desires. In order
to resolve the mental illness, then, these unconscious struggles must be identified and
addressed. Psychoanalysis often does this through exploring ones early childhood
experiences that may have continuing repercussions on ones mental health in the present
and later in life. Psychoanalysis is an intensive, long-term approach in which patients and
therapists may meet multiple times per week, often for many years.
History of Psychoanalytic Therapy

Freud initially suggested that mental health problems arise from efforts to push inappropriate
sexual urges out of conscious awareness (Freud, 1895/1955). Later, Freud suggested more
generally that psychiatric problems are the result of tension between different parts of the
mind: the id, the superego, and the ego. In Freuds structural model, the id represents pleasuredriven unconscious urges (e.g., our animalistic desires for sex and aggression), while the
superego is the semi-conscious part of the mind where morals and societal judgment are
internalized (e.g., the part of you that automatically knows how society expects you to behave).
The egoalso partly consciousmediates between the id and superego. Freud believed that
bringing unconscious struggles like these (where the id demands one thing and the superego
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another) into conscious awareness would relieve the stress of the conflict (Freud, 1920/1955)
which became the goal of psychoanalytic therapy.
Although psychoanalysis is still practiced today, it has largely been replaced by the more
broadly defined psychodynamic therapy. This latter approach has the same basic tenets as
psychoanalysis, but is briefer, makes more of an effort to put clients in their social and
interpersonal context, and focuses more on relieving psychological distress than on changing
the person.
Techniques in Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysts and psychodynamic therapists
employ several techniques to explore patients
unconscious mind. One common technique is
called free association. Here, the patient
shares any and all thoughts that come to mind,
without attempting to organize or censor
them in any way. For example, if you took a
pen and paper and just wrote down whatever
came into your head, letting one thought lead
to the next without allowing conscious
criticism to shape what you were writing, you
would be doing free association. The analyst
then uses his or her expertise to discern
patterns or underlying meaning in the
patients thoughts.
Sometimes, free association exercises are
applied specifically to childhood recollections.
Building on the work of Josef Breuer and others, Sigmund
That is, psychoanalysts believe a persons
Freud developed psychotherapeutic theories and techniques
childhood relationships with caregivers often
that
determine the way that person relates to
became
widely
known
as
psychoanalysis
psychoanalytic therapy. [Photo: Psychology Pictures]
or
others,
and
predicts
later
psychiatric
difficulties. Thus, exploring these childhood

memories, through free association or otherwise, can provide therapists with insights into a
patients psychological makeup.
Because we dont always have the ability to consciously recall these deep memories,
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psychoanalysts also discuss their patients dreams. In Freudian theory, dreams contain not
only manifest (or literal) content, but also latent (or symbolic) content (Freud, 1900; 1955). For
example, someone may have a dream that his/her teeth are falling outthe manifest or actual
content of the dream. However, dreaming that ones teeth are falling out could be a reflection
of the persons unconscious concern about losing his or her physical attractivenessthe latent
or metaphorical content of the dream. It is the therapists job to help discover the latent
content underlying ones manifest content through dream analysis.
In psychoanalytic and psychodynamic therapy, the therapist plays a receptive role
interpreting the patients thoughts and behavior based on clinical experience and
psychoanalytic theory. For example, if during therapy a patient begins to express unjustified
anger toward the therapist, the therapist may recognize this as an act of transference. That is,
the patient may be displacing feelings for people in his or her life (e.g., anger toward a parent)
onto the therapist. At the same time, though, the therapist has to be aware of his or her own
thoughts and emotions, for, in a related process, called countertransference, the therapist may
displace his/her own emotions onto the patient.
The key to psychoanalytic theory is to have patients uncover the buried, conflicting content
of their mind, and therapists use various tacticssuch as seating patients to face away from
themto promote a freer self-disclosure. And, as a therapist spends more time with a patient,
the therapist can come to view his or her relationship with the patient as another reflection
of the patients mind.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Psychoanalytic Therapy

Psychoanalysis was once the only type of psychotherapy available, but presently the number
of therapists practicing this approach is decreasing around the world. Psychoanalysis is not
appropriate for some types of patients, including those with severe psychopathology or
mental retardation. Further, psychoanalysis is often expensive because treatment usually
lasts many years. Still, some patients and therapists find the prolonged and detailed analysis
very rewarding.
Perhaps the greatest disadvantage of psychoanalysis and related approaches is the lack of
empirical support for their effectiveness. The limited research that has been conducted on
these treatments suggests that they do not reliably lead to better mental health outcomes (e.
g., Driessen et al., 2010). And, although there are some reviews that seem to indicate that
long-term psychodynamic therapies might be beneficial (e.g., Leichsenring & Rabung, 2008),
other researchers have questioned the validity of these reviews. Nevertheless, psychoanalytic
613
theory was historys first attempt at formal treatment of mental illness, setting the stage for
the more modern approaches used today.
Humanistic and Person-Centered Therapy

One of the next developments in therapy for mental illness, which arrived in the mid-20th
century, is called humanistic or person-centered therapy (PCT). Here, the belief is that mental
health problems result from an inconsistency between patients behavior and their true
personal identity. Thus, the goal of PCT is to create conditions under which patients can
discover their self-worth, feel comfortable exploring their own identity, and alter their behavior
to better reflect this identity.
History of Person-Centered Therapy

PCT was developed by a psychologist named Carl Rogers,
during a time of significant growth in the movements of
humanistic
theory
and
human
potential.
These
perspectives were based on the idea that humans have

an inherent drive to realize and express their own
capabilities and creativity. Rogers, in particular, believed
that all people have the potential to change and improve,
and that the role of therapists is to foster selfunderstanding in an environment where adaptive
change is most likely to occur (Rogers, 1951). Rogers
suggested that the therapist and patient must engage in
a genuine, egalitarian relationship in which the therapist
is nonjudgmental and empathetic. In PCT, the patient
should experience both a vulnerability to anxiety, which
Carl Rogers, the father of Person Centered
Therapy (CPT). [Image: Didius at nl.wikipedia
motivates the desire to change, and an appreciation for

the therapists support.
- wikimedia commons]
Techniques in Person-Centered Therapy

Humanistic and person-centered therapy, like psychoanalysis, involves a largely unstructured
conversation between the therapist and the patient. Unlike psychoanalysis, though, a therapist
using PCT takes a passive role, guiding the patient toward his or her own self-discovery.
Rogerss original name for PCT was non-directive therapy, and this notion is reflected in the
614
flexibility found in PCT. Therapists do not try to change patients thoughts or behaviors directly.
Rather, their role is to provide the therapeutic relationship as a platform for personal growth.
In these kinds of sessions, the therapist tends only to ask questions and doesnt provide any
judgment or interpretation of what the patient says. Instead, the therapist is present to provide
a safe and encouraging environment for the person to explore these issues for him- or herself.
An important aspect of the PCT relationship is the therapists unconditional positive regard
for the patients feelings and behaviors. That is, the therapist is never to condemn or criticize
the patient for what s/he has done or thought; the therapist is only to express warmth and
empathy. This creates an environment free of approval or disapproval, where patients come
to appreciate their value and to behave in ways that are congruent with their own identity.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Person-Centered Therapy

One key advantage of person-centered therapy is that it is highly acceptable to patients. In
other words, people tend to find the supportive, flexible environment of this approach very
rewarding. Furthermore, some of the themes of PCT translate well to other therapeutic
approaches. For example, most therapists of any orientation find that clients respond well to
being treated with nonjudgmental empathy. The main disadvantage to PCT, however, is that
findings about its effectiveness are mixed. One possibility for this could be that the treatment
is primarily based on unspecific treatment factors. That is, rather than using therapeutic
techniques that are specific to the patient and the mental problem (i.e., specific treatment
factors), the therapy focuses on techniques that can be applied to anyone (e.g., establishing
a good relationship with the patient) (Cuijpers et al., 2012; Friedli, King, Lloyd, & Horder, 1997).
Similar to how one-size-fits-all doesnt really fit every person, PCT uses the same practices
for everyone, which may work for some people but not others. Further research is necessary
to evaluate its utility as a therapeutic approach.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Although both psychoanalysis and PCT are still used today, another therapy, cognitivebehavioral therapy (CBT), has gained more widespread support and practice. CBT refers to
a family of therapeutic approaches whose goal is to alleviate psychological symptoms by
changing their underlying cognitions and behaviors. The premise of CBT is that thoughts,
behaviors, and emotions interact and contribute to various mental disorders. For example,
lets consider how a CBT therapist would view a patient who compulsively washes her hands
for hours every day. First, the therapist would identify the patients maladaptive thought: If
I dont wash my hands like this, I will get a disease and die. The therapist then identifies how
615
this maladaptive thought leads to a maladaptive emotion: the feeling of anxiety when her
hands arent being washed. And finally, this maladaptive emotion leads to the maladaptive
behavior: the patient washing her hands for hours every day.
CBT is a present-focused therapy (i.e., focused on the now rather than causes from the past,
such as childhood relationships) that uses behavioral goals to improve ones mental illness.
Often, these behavioral goals involve between-session homework assignments. For example,
the therapist may give the hand-washing patient a worksheet to take home; on this worksheet,
the woman is to write down every time she feels the urge to wash her hands, how she deals
with the urge, and what behavior she replaces that urge with. When the patient has her next
therapy session, she and the therapist review her homework together. CBT is a relatively
brief intervention of 12 to 16 weekly sessions, closely tailored to the nature of the
psychopathology and treatment of the specific mental disorder. And, as the empirical data
shows, CBT has proven to be highly efficacious for virtually all psychiatric illnesses (Hofmann,
Asnaani, Vonk, Sawyer, & Fang, 2012).
Pattern of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors addressed through cognitivebehavioral therapy.
History of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

CBT developed from clinical work conducted in the mid-20th century by Dr. Aaron T. Beck, a
616
psychiatrist, and Albert Ellis, a psychologist. Beck used the term automatic thoughts to refer
to the thoughts depressed patients report experiencing spontaneously. He observed that
these thoughts arise from three belief systems, or schemas: beliefs about the self, beliefs
about the world, and beliefs about the future. In treatment, therapy initially focuses on
identifying automatic thoughts (e.g., If I dont wash my hands constantly, Ill get a disease),
testing their validity, and replacing maladaptive thoughts with more adaptive thoughts (e.g.,
Washing my hands three times a day is sufficient to prevent a disease). In later stages of
treatment, the patients maladaptive schemas are examined and modified. Ellis (1957) took
a comparable approach, in what he called rational-emotive-behavioral therapy (REBT), which
also encourages patients to evaluate their own thoughts about situations.
Techniques in CBT
Beck and Ellis strove to help patients identify maladaptive appraisals, or the untrue judgments
and evaluations of certain thoughts. For example, if its your first time meeting new people,
you may have the automatic thought, These people wont like me because I have nothing
interesting to share. That thought itself
is not whats troublesome; the appraisal
(or evaluation) that it might have merit is
whats troublesome. The goal of CBT is to
help people make adaptive, instead of
maladaptive, appraisals (e.g., I do know
interesting things!). This technique of
reappraisal, or cognitive restructuring,
is a fundamental aspect of CBT. With
cognitive restructuring, it is the therapists
job to help point out when a person has
an inaccurate or maladaptive thought, so
that the patient can either eliminate it or
modify it to be more adaptive.
In addition to thoughts, though, another
important treatment target of CBT is
maladaptive behavior. Every time a
person engages in maladaptive behavior
(e.g., never speaking to someone in new
situations), he or she reinforces the
validity of the maladaptive thought, thus
617
maintaining or perpetuating the psychological illness. In treatment, the therapist and patient
work together to develop healthy behavioral habits (often tracked with worksheet-like
homework), so that the patient can break this cycle of maladaptive thoughts and behaviors.
For many mental health problems, especially anxiety disorders, CBT incorporates what is
known as exposure therapy. During exposure therapy, a patient confronts a problematic
situation and fully engages in the experience instead of avoiding it. For example, imagine a
man who is terrified of spiders. Whenever he encounters one, he immediately screams and
panics. In exposure therapy, the man would be forced to confront and interact with spiders,
rather than simply avoiding them as he usually does. The goal is to reduce the fear associated
with the situation through extinction learning, a neurobiological and cognitive process by which
the patient unlearns the irrational fear. For example, exposure therapy for someone terrified
of spiders might begin with him looking at a cartoon of a spider, followed by him looking at
pictures of real spiders, and later, him handling a plastic spider. After weeks of this incremental
exposure, the patient may even be able to hold a live spider. After repeated exposure (starting
small and building ones way up), the patient experiences less physiological fear and
maladaptive thoughts about spiders, breaking his tendency for anxiety and subsequent
avoidance.
Advantages and Disadvantages of CBT

CBT interventions tend to be relatively brief, making them cost-effective for the average
consumer. In addition, CBT is an intuitive treatment that makes logical sense to patients. It
can also be adapted to suit the needs of many different populations. One disadvantage,
however, is that CBT does involve significant effort on the patients part, because the patient
is an active participant in treatment. Therapists often assign homework (e.g., worksheets
for recording ones thoughts and behaviors) between sessions to maintain the cognitive and
behavioral habits the patient is working on. The greatest strength of CBT is the abundance of
empirical support for its effectiveness. Studies have consistently found CBT to be equally or
more effective than other forms of treatment, including medication and other therapies
(Butler, Chapman, Forman, & Beck, 2006; Hofmann et al., 2012). For this reason, CBT is
considered a first-line treatment for many mental disorders.
Acceptance and Mindfulness-Based Approaches

Unlike the preceding therapies, which were developed in the 20th century, this next one was
born out of age-old Buddhist and yoga practices. Mindfulness, or a process that tries to
cultivate a nonjudgmental, yet attentive, mental state, is a therapy that focuses on ones
618
awareness of bodily sensations, thoughts, and the outside environment. Whereas other
therapies work to modify or eliminate these sensations and thoughts, mindfulness focuses
on nonjudgmentally accepting them (Kabat-Zinn, 2003; Baer, 2003). For example, whereas
CBT may actively confront and work to change a maladaptive thought, mindfulness therapy
works to acknowledge and accept the thought, understanding that the thought is spontaneous
and not what the person truly believes. There are two important components of mindfulness:
(1) self-regulation of attention, and (2) orientation toward the present moment (Bishop et al.,
2004). Mindfulness is thought to improve mental health because it draws attention away from
past and future stressors, encourages acceptance of troubling thoughts and feelings, and
promotes physical relaxation.
Techniques in Mindfulness-Based Therapy

Psychologists have adapted the practice of mindfulness as a form of psychotherapy, generally
called mindfulness-based therapy (MBT). Several types of MBT have become popular in recent
years, including mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) (e.g., Kabat-Zinn, 1982) and
mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) (e.g., Segal, Williams, & Teasdale, 2002).
MBSR uses meditation, yoga, and attention to
physical experiences to reduce stress. The hope
is that reducing a persons overall stress will allow
that person to more objectively evaluate his or
her thoughts. In MBCT, rather than reducing ones
general stress to address a specific problem,
attention is focused on ones thoughts and their
associated emotions. For example, MBCT helps
prevent relapses in depression by encouraging
patients
to
evaluate
their
own
thoughts
objectively and without value judgment (Baer,

2003). Although cognitive behavioral therapy
(CBT) may seem similar to this, it focuses on
pushing out the maladaptive thought, whereas
mindfulness-based cognitive therapy focuses on
One of the most important advantages of mindfulness
not getting caught up in it. The treatments used
based therapy is its level of accessibility to patients.
in MBCT have been used to address a wide range
[Photo: wmacphail]
of illnesses, including depression, anxiety, chronic

pain, coronary artery disease, and fibromyalgia
(Hofmann, Sawyer, Witt & Oh, 2010).
619
Mindfulness and acceptancein addition to being therapies in their own righthave also
been used as tools in other cognitive-behavioral therapies, particularly in dialectical
behavior therapy (DBT) (e.g., Linehan, Amstrong, Suarez, Allmon, & Heard, 1991). DBT, often
used in the treatment of borderline personality disorder, focuses on skills training. That is, it
often employs mindfulness and cognitive behavioral therapy practices, but it also works to
teach its patients skills they can use to correct maladaptive tendencies. For example, one
skill DBT teaches patients is called distress toleranceor, ways to cope with maladaptive
thoughts and emotions in the moment. For example, people who feel an urge to cut
themselves may be taught to snap their arm with a rubber band instead. The primary
difference between DBT and CBT is that DBT employs techniques that address the symptoms
of the problem (e.g., cutting oneself) rather than the problem itself (e.g., understanding the
psychological motivation to cut oneself). CBT does not teach such skills training because of
the concern that the skillseven though they may help in the short-termmay be harmful
in the long-term, by maintaining maladaptive thoughts and behaviors.
DBT is founded on the perspective of a dialectical worldview. That is, rather than thinking of
the world as black and white, or only good and only bad, it focuses on accepting that some
things can have characteristics of both good and bad. So, in a case involving maladaptive
thoughts, instead of teaching that a thought is entirely bad, DBT tries to help patients be less
judgmental of their thoughts (as with mindfulness-based therapy) and encourages change
through therapeutic progress, using cognitive-behavioral techniques as well as mindfulness
exercises.
Another form of treatment that also uses mindfulness techniques is acceptance and
commitment therapy (ACT) (Hayes, Strosahl, & Wilson, 1999). In this treatment, patients are
taught to observe their thoughts from a detached perspective (Hayes et al., 1999). ACT
encourages patients not to attempt to change or avoid thoughts and emotions they observe
in themselves, but to recognize which are beneficial and which are harmful. However, the
differences among ACT, CBT, and other mindfulness-based treatments are a topic of
controversy in the current literature.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Mindfulness-Based Therapy

Two key advantages of mindfulness-based therapies are their acceptability and accessibility
to patients. Because yoga and meditation are already widely known in popular culture,
consumers of mental healthcare are often interested in trying related psychological therapies.
Currently, psychologists have not come to a consensus on the efficacy of MBT, though growing
evidence supports its effectiveness for treating mood and anxiety disorders. For example,
620
one review of MBT studies for anxiety and depression found that mindfulness-based
interventions generally led to moderate symptom improvement (Hofmann et al., 2010).
Emerging Treatment Strategies

With growth in research and technology,
psychologists have been able to develop
new treatment strategies in recent years.
Often,
these
approaches
focus
on
enhancing existing treatments, such as

cognitive-behavioral therapies, through
the use of technological advances. For
example, internet- and mobile-delivered
therapies make psychological treatments
more available, through smartphones
and online access. Clinician-supervised
online CBT modules allow patients to
Recent improvements in video chat technology along with the
access treatment from home on their own
proliferation of mobile devices like smartphones and tablets has
schedulean opportunity particularly
made online delivery of therapy more commonplace. [Photo:

rbieber]
important for patients with less geographic

or socioeconomic access to traditional
treatments. Furthermore, smartphones help extend therapy to patients daily lives, allowing
for symptom tracking, homework reminders, and more frequent therapist contact.
Another benefit of technology is cognitive bias modification. Here, patients are given
exercises, often through the use of video games, aimed at changing their problematic thought
processes. For example, researchers might use a mobile app to train alcohol abusers to avoid
stimuli related to alcohol. One version of this game flashes four pictures on the screenthree
alcohol cues (e.g., a can of beer, the front of a bar) and one health-related image (e.g., someone
drinking water). The goal is for the patient to tap the healthy picture as fast as s/he can. Games
like these aim to target patients automatic, subconscious thoughts that may be difficult to
direct through conscious effort. That is, by repeatedly tapping the healthy image, the patient
learns to ignore the alcohol cues, so when those cues are encountered in the environment,
they will be less likely to trigger the urge to drink. Approaches like these are promising because
of their accessibility, however they require further research to establish their effectiveness.
Yet another emerging treatment employs CBT-enhancing pharmaceutical agents. These are
drugs used to improve the effects of therapeutic interventions. Based on research from animal
621
experiments, researchers have found that certain drugs influence the biological processes
known to be involved in learning. Thus, if people take these drugs while going through
psychotherapy, they are better able to learn the techniques for improvement. For example,
the antibiotic d-cycloserine improves treatment for anxiety disorders by facilitating the
learning processes that occur during exposure therapy. Ongoing research in this exciting area
may prove to be quite fruitful.
Pharmacological Treatments
Up until this point, all the therapies we have discussed have been talk-based or meditative
practices. However, psychiatric medications are also frequently used to treat mental disorders,
including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, and anxiety disorders. Psychiatric drugs
are commonly used, in part, because they can be prescribed by general medical practitioners,
whereas only trained psychologists are qualified to deliver effective psychotherapy. While
drugs and CBT therapies tend to be almost equally effective, choosing the best intervention
depends on the disorder and individual being treated, as well as other factorssuch as
treatment availability and comorbidity (i.e., having multiple mental or physical disorders at
once). Although many new drugs have been introduced in recent decades, there is still much
we do not understand about their mechanism in the brain. Further research is needed to
refine our understanding of both pharmacological and behavioral treatments before we can
make firm claims about their effectiveness.
Integrative and Eclectic Psychotherapy

In discussing therapeutic orientations, it is important to note that some clinicians incorporate
techniques from multiple approaches, a practice known as integrative or eclectic
psychotherapy. For example, a therapist may employ distress tolerance skills from DBT (to
resolve short-term problems), cognitive reappraisal from CBT (to address long-standing
issues), and mindfulness-based meditation from MBCT (to reduce overall stress). And, in fact,
between 13% and 42% of therapists have identified their own approaches as integrative or
eclectic (Norcross & Goldfried, 2005).
Conclusion
Throughout human history we have had to deal with mental illness in one form or another.
Over time, several schools of thought have emerged for treating these problems. Although
various therapies have been shown to work for specific individuals, cognitive behavioral
622
therapy is currently the treatment most widely supported by empirical research. Still, practices
like psychodynamic therapies, person-centered therapy, mindfulness-based treatments, and
acceptance and commitment therapy have also shown success. And, with recent advances in
research and technology, clinicians are able to enhance these and other therapies to treat
more patients more effectively than ever before. However, what is important in the end is
that people actually seek out mental health specialists to help them with their problems. One
of the biggest deterrents to doing so is that people dont understand what psychotherapy
really entails. Through understanding how current practices work, not only can we better
educate people about how to get the help they need, but we can continue to advance our
treatments to be more effective in the future.
623
1. Psychoanalytic theory is no longer the dominant therapeutic approach, because it lacks
empirical support. Yet many consumers continue to seek psychoanalytic or psychodynamic
treatments. Do you think psychoanalysis still has a place in mental health treatment? If so,
why?
2. What might be some advantages and disadvantages of technological advances in
psychological treatment? What will psychotherapy look like 100 years from now?
3. Some people have argued that all therapies are about equally effective, and that they all
affect change through common factors such as the involvement of a supportive therapist.
Does this claim sound reasonable to you? Why or why not?
4. When choosing a psychological treatment for a specific patient, what factors besides the
treatments demonstrated efficacy should be taken into account?
624
Vocabulary
Acceptance and commitment therapy
A therapeutic approach designed to foster nonjudgmental observation of ones own mental
processes.
Automatic thoughts
Thoughts that occur spontaneously; often used to describe problematic thoughts that
maintain mental disorders.
Cognitive bias modification
Using exercises (e.g., computer games) to change problematic thinking habits.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)
A family of approaches with the goal of changing the thoughts and behaviors that influence
psychopathology.
Comorbidity
Describes a state of having more than one psychological or physical disorder at a given time.
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)
A treatment often used for borderline personality disorder that incorporates both cognitivebehavioral and mindfulness elements.
Dialectical worldview
A perspective in DBT that emphasizes the joint importance of change and acceptance.
Exposure therapy
A form of intervention in which the patient engages with a problematic (usually feared)
situation without avoidance or escape.
Free association
In psychodynamic therapy, a process in which the patient reports all thoughts that come to
mind without censorship, and these thoughts are interpreted by the therapist.
Integrative or eclectic psychotherapy
Also called integrative psychotherapy, this term refers to approaches combining multiple
orientations (e.g., CBT with psychoanalytic elements).
625
Integrative or eclectic psychotherapy

Also called integrative psychotherapy, this term refers to approaches combining multiple
orientations (e.g., CBT with psychoanalytic elements).
Mindfulness
A process that reflects a nonjudgmental, yet attentive, mental state.
Mindfulness-based therapy
A form of psychotherapy grounded in mindfulness theory and practice, often involving
meditation, yoga, body scan, and other features of mindfulness exercises.
Person-centered therapy
A therapeutic approach focused on creating a supportive environment for self-discovery.
Psychoanalytic therapy
Sigmund Freuds therapeutic approach focusing on resolving unconscious conflicts.
Psychodynamic therapy
Treatment applying psychoanalytic principles in a briefer, more individualized format.
Reappraisal, or Cognitive restructuring
The process of identifying, evaluating, and changing maladaptive thoughts in psychotherapy.
Schema
A mental representation or set of beliefs about something.
Unconditional positive regard
In person-centered therapy, an attitude of warmth, empathy and acceptance adopted by the
therapist in order to foster feelings of inherent worth in the patient.
626
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Index
Ability models, 498
Biological vulnerabilities, 532
ablate, 40
blocking, 291
acceptance and commitment therapy, 619
blood alcohol content (BAC), 121
action potential, 53
bounded awareness, 199
adoption study, 225
bounded ethicality, 199
affective forecasting, 435
bounded rationality, 194
agoraphobia, 535
brain stem, 35, 54
Agreeableness, 366
Brocas Area, 58
alogia, 590
callosotomy, 38
anchor, 197
case studies, 40
anhedonia, 553
catatonia, 588
anhedonia/amotivation, 588
categorize, 295
anterograde amnesia, 150
Central Nervous System, 52
Anxiety, 531
cerebellum, 35, 55
attachment behavioral system, 270
cerebral cortex, 37
attachment behaviors, 270
cerebral hemispheres, 37
attachment figure, 269
cerebrum, 35, 55
attachment patterns, 272
chameleon effect, 438
attitude, 439
character strengths, 575
attributional styles, 559
chronic stress, 559
audience design, 209
chunk, 134
authoritative, 255
Chutes and Ladders, 244
autobiographical memory, 159
Circadian Rhythm, 118
autobiographical reasoning, 388
classical, 285
automatic, 438
classical conditioning, 132
automatic thoughts, 616
cognitive bias modification, 620
availability heuristic, 433
cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), 614
axon, 53
Collective efficacy, 320
balance, 418
commitment, 418
basal ganglia, 37
common ground, 208
behavioral genetics, 225
comorbidity, 621
biases, 194
concrete operational reasoning stage, 240
Big Five, 383
concrete operations stage, 241
binocular advantage, 72
conditioned compensatory responses, 290
conditioned response, 538
dichotic listening, 83, 98
conditioned response (CR), 286
Diffuse Optical Imaging, 59
conditioned stimulus (CS), 286
Diffuse optical imaging (DOI), 42
cones, 67
directional goals, 436
conformity, 452
discontinuous., 239
Confounds, 19
discriminative stimulus, 294
Conscience, 260
Disorganized behavior, 590
Conscientiousness, 366
disorganized speech, 590
conscious, 413
Dissociation, 116
Consciousness, 111
dissociative amnesia, 151
conservation problems, 241
distinctiveness, 160
consolidated, 146
divided attention, 97
consolidation, 163
dopamine, 596
context, 293
downward comparisons, 467
continuous, 239
drive state, 400
continuous distributions, 364
Dunning-Kruger Effect, 473
contralateral, 37, 55
durability bias, 435
contrast, 68
early adversity, 559
contrast gain, 71
effortful control, 260
converging evidence, 39
ego, 383
corpus callosum, 55
Ego-depletion, 420
correlation, 21
Electroencephalography (EEG), 42, 59
counterfactual, 467
emotion coherence, 521
cue overload principle, 167
emotion fluctuations, 518
cues, 112
Emotional intelligence, 496
cultural display rules, 488
emotions, 515
dark adaptation, 71
empirical methods, 7
decay, 146
encoding, 134, 146, 159
declarative memory, 150
encoding specificity principle, 166
deliberative, 416
engrams, 163
Delusions, 588
episodic memory, 592
dendrites, 53
episodic memory, 158
dependent variable, 18
ethics, 11
Depressants, 120
euphoria, 120
depth perception, 238
evaluative priming task, 441
descriptive norms, 454
experimenter expectations, 20
diagnostic criteria, 591
explicit attitude, 440
dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), 619
exposure therapy, 617
dialectical worldview, 619
external cues, 535
extinction, 293
gray matter, 38
Extraversion, 365, 366
growth mindset, 470
extrinsic, 413
gyri, 37
facets, 369
gyrus, 37
factor analysis, 366
habit, 297
false memories, 186
habituation, 132
Family Stress Model, 256
hallucinations, 589
fear conditioning, 290
Hallucinogens, 120
fight or flight, 534
heritability coefficient, 227
Five-Factor Model, 366
heuristics, 195, 432
fixed mindset, 470
HEXACO model, 370
flashback, 539
highlight, 418
flashbulb memory, 160
homeostasis, 400
Flat affect, 590
Hot cognition, 436
Flexible Correction Model, 114
humility, 580
flourish, 573
hypersomnia, 553
foils, 184
hypnosis, 116
Forgiveness, 575
hypnotherapy, 117
formal operational reasoning stage, 240
hypothalamus, 404
formal operations stage, 242
hypotheses, 7
Four-Branch, 498
identity, 386
framing, 198
Imaginal performances, 314
free association, 611
impact bias, 435
Frog Pond Effect, 472
implemental, 416
frontal lobe, 37, 56
Implicit Association Test, 441
functional capacity, 592
implicit associations test, 113
Functional magnetic resonance imaging
implicit attitude, 441
(fMRI), 41
implicit learning, 132
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
implicit measures of attitudes, 441
(fMRI), 59
implicit memory, 132
g, 330
inattentional blindness, 85
gender schemas, 261
inattentional deafness, 86
General mental ability, 347
incidental learning, 135
generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), 533
independent variable, 18
goal, 413
individual differences, 470
goal-directed, 297
Information processing theories, 238
goodness of fit, 259
informational influence, 454
grandiosity, 553
ingroup, 212
gratitude, 575
instrumental, 287
integrative or eclectic psychotherapy, 621
motivated skepticism, 436
intelligence, 330
motivation, 413
intentional learning, 135
motor cortex, 37
interference, 147
myelin, 38
internal bodily or somatic cues, 535
myelin sheath, 53
interoceptive avoidance, 535
narrative identity, 387
interpersonal, 482
Nature, 238
intrapersonal, 482
need for closure, 437
intrinsic, 413
N-Effect, 471
IQ, 332
nervous system, 52
jet lag, 118
neurodevelopmental, 595
lateral inhibition, 70
neurons, 52
lateralized, 38
Neuroticism, 366
law of effect, 288
neurotransmitters, 53
lesions, 40
nomenclature, 35
lexical hypothesis, 366
nonassociative learning, 132
lexicon, 210
nonconscious, 413
limbic system, 37, 55
normative influence, 453
limited capacity, 96
normed, 334
linguistic intergroup bias, 212
numerical magnitudes, 244
local dominance effect, 471
Nurture, 238
longitudinal study, 26
obedience, 456
magnetic resonance imaging, 593
object permanence task, 240
mastery goals, 470
observational learning, 299
Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence
obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), 540
Test (MSCEIT), 501
occipital lobe, 37, 56
means, 414
Openness, 366
medial temporal lobes, 150
operant, 287
melatonin, 118
operant conditioning, 132, 287
memory traces, 163
operational definitions, 18
metabolites, 34
Opponent Process theory of color, 73
Metacognition, 136
outgroups, 212
Mindfulness, 114, 617
overconfident, 197
mindfulness-based therapy, 618
panic disorder (PD), 535
misinformation effect, 165, 182
parietal lobe, 37, 56
mixed models, 501
participant demand, 20
mnemonic devices, 170
Pavlovian conditioning, 285
mock witnesses, 184
perceptual learning, 132
mood-congruent memory, 437
performance assessment, 505
performance experiences, 318
quantitative changes, 239
peripheral nervous system, 57
quantitative genetics, 226
personality, 364, 470
quantitative law of effect, 295
Personality traits, 364
quasi-experimental design, 25
person-centered therapy, 613
random assignment, 19
person-situation debate, 372
reappraisal, or cognitive restructuring, 616
phonemic awareness, 243
recoding, 161
photo spreads, 184
redemptive narratives, 389
photoactivation, 67
reflexive, 381
phrenology, 39
reinforced, 534
Piagets stage theory, 237
reinforcer, 287
placebo effect, 20
reinforcer devaluation effect, 296
planning fallacy, 435
renewal effect, 293
Positive psychology, 573
representativeness heuristic, 432
positron emission tomography, 593
retardation, 553
Positron Emission Tomography (PET), 59
retrieval, 147, 159
Positron emission tomography (PET), 41
retroactive interference, 164
posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), 538
Retrograde amnesia, 150
prediction error, 292
reward value, 405
preoperational reasoning stage, 240
rods, 67
preoptic area, 405
SAD performance only, 537
preparedness, 292
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, 215
prevention, 417
satiation, 404
primary visual cortex, 71
satisfaction, 345
prime, 413
satisfactoriness, 345
primed, 439
schema, 431
priming, 112, 211
schemas, 616
processing speed, 592
schemata, 185
progress, 417
security of attachment, 255
promotion, 417
selective attention, 97
pro-social, 576
selective listening, 83
proximity, 472
self as autobiographical author, 389
psychoanalytic therapy, 611
self as motivated agent, 386
psychodynamic therapy, 611
self as social actor, 384
Psychological vulnerabilities, 532
self-control, 414
psychomotor agitation, 553
self-efficacy, 311
psychopathology, 590
self-enhancement effect, 467
punishers, 288
self-esteem, 386, 467
qualitative changes, 239
self-evaluation maintenance, 469
self-interest is bounded, 199
storage, 159
self-regulation, 318, 414
strange situation, 271
Self-report assessments, 501
subcortical, 37
self-report measure, 312
suicidal ideation, 553
Semantic memory, 158
sulci, 37
sensitization, 132
sulcus, 37
sensorimotor stage, 240
synapses, 53
set point, 400
synaptic gap, 53
shadowing, 98
synesthesia, 75
situation models, 211
syntax, 210
social and cultural, 482
System 1, 200
social and emotional learning (SEL), 503
System 2, 200
social anxiety disorder (SAD), 537
systematic observation, 7
social brain hypothesis, 212
task-specific measures of self-efficacy, 313
social category, 472
taste aversion conditioning, 290
social cognition, 431
temperament, 259
social comparison, 465
temporal lobe, 37, 56
Social Learning Theory, 299
temporal resolution, 40, 59
social models, 299
temporally graded retrograde amnesia,
social networks, 213
150
social referencing, 257, 486
the age 5-to-7 shift, 385
social reputation, 384
the I, 387
social zeitgeber, 560
the Me, 387
Sociocultural theories, 237
theories, 7
socioeconomic status, 556
theory of mind, 258
soma, 53
theory of mind, 385
somatosensory (body sensations) cortex,
thought-action fusion, 541
37
trance states, 117
spatial resolution, 40, 59
Transcranial direct current stimulation
specific abilities, 348
(tDCS), 40
Specific vulnerabilities, 532
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS),
split-brain, 55
40
split-brain patients, 38
transfer-appropriate processing, 137
spontaneous recovery, 293
Trichromacy theory, 73
standardized, 333
twin studies, 226
stereotype threat, 338
unconditional positive regard, 614
Stereotypes, 439
unconditioned response (UR), 286
Stimulants, 121
unconditioned stimulus (US), 286
stimulus control, 294
under-determined or misspecified causal
models, 344
upward comparisons, 467
Verbal persuasion, 314
vestibulo-ocular reflex, 75
vicarious performances, 315
vicarious reinforcement, 300
visual hemifield, 38
well-being, 515
What pathway, 72
Where-and-How pathway, 72
white matter, 38
willpower is bounded, 199
working memory, 133, 592

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UCSC Psychology 1 (Fall,

About Noba & Acknowledgements

Research Methods in Psychology (9/27)5

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The Brain and Nervous System

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Failures of Awareness: The Case of Inattentional Blindness

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Factors Influencing Learning

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Psychological Disorders & Therapy, Part 2 (12/1)587

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Describe how scientific research has changed the world.

Scientific Advances and World Progress

attributed to science. The world in

vaccinations are now administered around the world every year

1914 was very different than the one

we see today (Easterbrook, 2003).

of people of all ages. [Photo: cambodiaforkids.org]

There were few cars and most people

candles made from these materials.

Systematic observation is the core of science. [Photo: Micah Sittig]

findings with the idea that the best

use self-reports to examineamong other thingspeoples differing ability to accurately

archers now use better measures,

more sophisticated study designs

and better statistical analyses to

Psychological Science is Useful

anxiety disorders (Butler, Chapman,

number of psychological interventions

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy has shown to be effective in treating a

have been found by researchers to

variety of conditions, including depression. [Photo: SalFalco]

produce greater productivity and

Ethics of Scientific Psychology

conduct studies with human research participants.

psychological research (Diener & Crandall, 1978;

Diagram of the Milgram Experiment in which the

1. Informed consent. In general, people should know