1. PSYCG1560 Cognitive and Affective Bases of Behavior
The Mind Brain Problem and
Emotional Development

2. Define the Mind Descartes: The soul
Titchner: The cumulation of our experiences throughout life
James: A function whose purpose is to allow us to make choices
“The mind is what the brain does.”
Monism
A simple side effect of our neural processes

3. Can these processes effect behavior?
It’s essentially a question of free will
Our brain, operating a’ la physics determines our everything (behavior, inner life, etc).
Brain events may trigger mental events, which may trigger brain events (thus giving us a modicum of free will)

4. Representative Ideas Descartes: Two way street
Prior, just a one-way
Wundt: No real interactions, but are in synchrony
Skinner: A series of behaviors just like any other.
Kandel: The mind is a function of neural networks.

5. Consciousness? A form of mental activity “Awareness of awareness”
The feeling of
What’s happened
What is happening
What could happen

6. Current Thoughts on Consciousness
Perceptions
Thoughts
Feelings
Motivations
A sense of self
We are rarely conscious of most of what goes on in the brain; we are only aware of its outcomes.

7. Properties of Consciousness
Considered equivalent to working memory (remember the 7 +/- 2?)
It allows for flexible output (i.e., “free will”) in terms of making choices
Intervenes between perception and action
Can allows us to review the past and plan for the future
Therefore, is symbolic in nature
Is an emergent property (i.e., not material)

8. Neural Loci
Temporal Lobe
Limbic regions

9. A great place to take a first date…
Ice cream
Movies
Dinner
Alligator wrestling

10. Somwhere on A Bridge Schachters’ attribution theory
Dunnon & Aaron (1974) on a bridge

11. When is YOUR earliest memory?

12. Do you remember the first time you felt angry?

13. Emotional Elicitors Things that bring about emotions
Some learned, others innate (genetic?)
Fear as the primal emotion
Evolutionarily adaptive fears
Dark
Isolation
May habituate to some innate fears

14. Triggering via Elicitors
Can be physiological
May be cognitive
“What if there’s a bear in that cave?”
In order to interpret our emotions we must:
Recall past physiological changes
Recall emotional experiences of the past
Compare and associate these emotions with physiology in an evaluative fashion

15. In other words, we must: Know how we feel physically
Know how we felt physically in the past
Remember emotional experiences in the past
Use this information to evaluate current emotions

16. This, of course, is beyond the typical infant
This level of sophistication takes a bit of time to develop
At birth, our emotional range is limited to simple, survival-based emotions:
Contentment
Interest
Distress
Notice that fear isn’t in here
Discuss Watson’s 3-emotion model

17. By 3 months old… We get to add more complex emotions to our repertiore
Joy: Contentment in overdrive
Sadness: Distress associated with loss
Disgust: Distress associated with noxious stimuli

18. As we get older, we get more complex:
4 – 6 months
Anger
Surprise
7 – 8 months
Fear

19. As the child becomes more self-aware (9 to 24 months):
Empathy
Embarrassment
Envy

20. By 24 months: More rule-governed behavior
Social constrictions + Self awareness gives rise to:
Pride
Shame
Guilt
More complex forms of embarrassment
Kids generally learn to lie around this time

21. Questions? Thoughts?