Introductory Psychology, 9.00 - Lecture by Professor John Gabrieli

Course Overview

• Instructor: John Gabrieli
• Focus: Scientific understanding of human nature
  • How minds and brains work
  • Understanding human behavior, feelings, thoughts

Key Topics

1. Brain Functionality

   • How the brain supports and contributes to different behaviors

2. Perception

   • How we perceive the world (focus on sight and hearing)
   • Visual and auditory illusions
   • Context influences perception

3. Personality and Behavior

   • Personal differences and commonalities

4. Development

   • From infancy to old age
   • Different stages such as childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood

5. Social Interactions

   • How we behave and think in groups
   • Social psychology concepts

6. Psychopathology

   • Mental health variations and issues

7. Mind and Brain Relationship

   • To what extent the mind is what the brain does
   • Neurological and neuroscientific literature insights

Interactive Elements in Course

• Participatory Exercises
  • Engaging with visual illusions, memory tests, and other demonstrations
  • Understanding how our mind interprets the world

Visual and Cognitive Illusions

• Examples:
  • Line Length Illusion
    • Lines of identical length appearing different due to context
  • Circle Size Illusion
    • Identical circles appearing different due to surrounding shapes
  • Perspective Illusions
    • Objects appearing different sizes due to perspective cues
  • Shepard's Tables
    • Identical tabletops appearing different
  • Stepping Bars Illusion
    • Horizontal bars appearing to move in steps
  • Rotating Mask
    • Illusion of a mask rotating inside out due to light interpretation

Attention and Perception

• Selective Attention Experiment: Counting basketball passes while missing a gorilla running through
• Limited Attentional Resources: Importance and limits, noticeable changes overlooked when attention is focused elsewhere

Hearing and Interpretation

• McGurk Effect: Conflict between visual and auditory stimuli resulting in altered perception

Knowledge and Memory

• Location Misconceptions: Reno east of San Diego, Rome north of Philadelphia
• False Memories: Remembering words that weren't present due to context or association (sweets list example)

Automaticity and Cognitive Shortcuts

• Example: Reading signs incorrectly due to automatic reading
• Stroop Effect: Delayed naming of ink color when the word indicates a different color

Predictions and Happiness

• Tenure Study: Long-term happiness unaffected by tenure decisions
• Lottery Study: Lottery winners not significantly happier in the long term
• Accident Impact: Long-term happiness of individuals post-accident returns to average levels

Racism and Social Behavior Experiment

• Forecaster vs. Experiencer Groups
  • Disparity between predicted and actual reactions to racist comments
  • Difficulty aligning values with actions in unexpected situations
  • Social psychology evidence on behavior vs. espoused values

Conclusion

• Exploration of how scientific discoveries shed light on human nature
• The importance of understanding perception, social interactions, memory, and mind-brain relationships