Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and exercises for Psychology and sociology for University

Elicited Behaviors and Reflexes

Types of Stimuli

Eliciting Stimuli: These stimuli trigger reflex responses or respondents (e.g., a puncture).

Reinforcing Stimuli: Environmental consequences that follow responses, increasing their frequency (e.g., a child repeating a word for attention).

Discriminative Stimuli: Stimuli that accompany responses without producing them, signaling when it's appropriate to respond (e.g., light).

Neutral Stimuli: Stimuli that have no effect on a particular behavior.

Types of Responses

Respondent Behaviors: Reactions triggered by eliciting stimuli. Automatic reactions.

Operant or Instrumental Responses: Responses emitted spontaneously by organisms, modified by environmental consequences.

Instinctive Behavior

Also called fixed...

Types of Reinforcement

Bandura identifies three forms of reinforcement that promote learning by observation:

1. Direct Reinforcement: Reinforcing the observer directly when they reproduce the model's behavior.

2. Indirect or Vicarious Reinforcement: Reinforcing the model. Observing the consequences of others' behavior can modify behavior similarly to direct experience. Vicarious reinforcement:

• a) Informs observers about appropriate behavior based on success and failure patterns.
• b) Enhances practical learning through direct experience, as multiple observers can be exposed to the modeled behavior simultaneously.
• c) Reduces attention demands compared to direct experience.

3. Self-Reinforcement: Controlling one's own reinforcements without expecting...

Consequences and Reinforcement

Consequences shape behavior. Rewarding or improving consequences produce pleasant results and increase the likelihood of repeated behavior. Understanding the types of reinforcement helps explain how behavior is strengthened or maintained.

Types of Reinforcement

1. Primary reinforcement: Reinforcers that have value for subjects naturally, without prior training. These are unlearned rewards, such as food or basic comforts.
2. Secondary reinforcement: Reinforcers that are learned. These can be divided into:
   1. Reinforcing materials: Tangible objects like food, tokens, or manipulatives that have been conditioned to reinforce behavior.
   2. Social reinforcement: Social actions such as praise, attention, or approval. These are often

Edwin Sutherland and the Theory of Differential Association

Sutherland was the creator of the concept of differential association and white-collar crime. Based on his research, criminal behavior is learned, thereby denying all sorts of biological or hereditary causes of deviation in its origin. He opposed positivism and racist tides that suggested race or intelligence resided in the lower capacity of criminal individuals.

The Origin and Process of Differential Association

Differential association is the origin and consequence of learning materialized through contacts with individuals who make up the most frequent groups with certain values and rules.

Nine Propositions of Sutherland's Theory

Sutherland summarized his theory into nine key propositions:...

Data Collection Methods and Types

Primary Data vs. Secondary Data

Data can be categorized based on its origin:

Primary Data

Data that previously did not exist in our research and, therefore, we had to collect ourselves (e.g., from surveys).

• Advantages: Tailored to suit specific research needs.
• Disadvantages: High cost in terms of time and money.

Secondary Data

Data that had been collected in a previous independent study and is repurposed for use (e.g., from official sources like the INE, IDESCAT).

• Advantages:
  • Fast and cheap.
  • May contain information difficult to obtain from primary sources.
  • Saves effort.
• Disadvantages:
  • May not align well with the objectives of the current study.
  • May be measured in inadequate units.
  • May refer to a previous, potentially outdated,

Foundations of Systematic Research

Research: Generating knowledge enables us to better understand reality. It is a rigorous, systematic, methodical, and rational process. You must establish contextualization, setting limits such as the area of knowledge (discipline), spatial limits, temporal limits, and population limits.

There are two primary types of knowledge:

• Scientific Knowledge: Based on empirical evidence (rescued from reality in some form).
• Folk Knowledge (People's Knowledge): Transmitted from generation to generation.

Stages of the Research Process

Research typically involves three or four main stages:

Stage 1: Desk or Cabinet Work

• Epistemological: Fixing the object of study (a moment of reflection and interest).
• Theoretical: Reviewing literature

Sensoperception: Core Concepts

Sensoperception refers to the initial processes of detection and encoding of environmental energy.

Sensation

Sensation involves the initial contact between an organism and its environment.

Sensations refer to certain immediate and direct fundamental experiences. They are developed with the awareness of qualities and attributes associated with the physical environment, such as "tough" or "cold," and are generally produced from simple, isolated physical stimuli.

Perception

Perception refers to the product of psychological processes that are implicated in meaning, relationships, context, and memory.

It is the result of the organization and integration of sensations into an awareness of environmental objects and events.

Relationship

Philosophical Foundations of the Mind

Empiricism and Rationalism

• John Locke (Empiricist): Argued that the mind is a tabula rasa (blank canvas), where knowledge is derived from sensory experience.
• Immanuel Kant (Rationalist): In his Critique of Pure Reason, he proposed that the mind is not passive. He distinguished between a priori knowledge (innate characteristics) and a posteriori knowledge (derived from experience).
• David Hume (Empiricist): Maintained that the mind consists solely of perceptions. He was a skeptic who associated reality through concrete elements.

Positivism and Scientific Evolution

• Auguste Comte: Founded 19th-century positivism, advocating for methodological monism and the use of induction to move from the particular to the general.

Profile and Roles of Community Workers

1. Qualities, Provisions, and Styles of Community Workers

A) Organizational Experience as a Source of Training

• Belief in the Organization: The organizer believes in the value of the organization, not only for the target population but also for themselves. Strengthening organizations is considered essential for both the community and the professional.
• Learning Through Experience: Organizational experiences are a vital source of training. It is difficult to imagine an effective organizer without prior experience. Engaging in various professional contexts provides opportunities to acquire and apply specific community organizing skills.
• Collaborative Growth: Skills related to knowledge construction, planning, communication,

Unit 1: New Forms and Systems of Social Stratification

• The sense of social inequality (1)
• The historical course of inequality and social stratification (2-5)
• Increasing inequalities (6-8)
• New approaches to social stratification (8-10)

Item 2: Inequalities in Emerging Societies

• Social impacts of technological change (11-12)
• A new corporate model (12-14)
• Technology and society (15-16)
• The structuring role of science and technology (16-19)
• New technologies and new inequalities (19-23)
• The social structure in the technological age (24-27)

Item 3: The Logic of Social Inequality

• The evolution of social inequalities (27-29)
• Structure of class and inequality (30-33)
• The dysfunctional nature of social inequalities (34-36)
• Main factors of social stratification (37-40)