Biology and Behaviour Flashcards
Relex arch
- During reflex arch, sensory receptors detect pain and a signal is sent via a sensory neuron to the spinal cord.
- There, the afferent signal moves to an interneuron where it is processed resulting in an efferent signal being sent to the motor neuron, after which the reflexive action occurs
- Thus, the pathway that the nerve impulse travels is
- Sensory neuron → interneuron → motor neuron.
Dopamine and Diseases
- Dopamine is a neurotransmitter which serves multiple functions. It plays an important role in movement and posture, and a loss of dopaminergic neurons in the brain is associated with Parkinson’s disease
- Schizophrenia has also been found to be related to imbalanced in dopamine transmission
- It is also involved in the brain’s reward pathways, and a malfunction in these pathways is associated with drug addiction
- It is NOT associated with Alzheimer’s disease (that is associated with decreased levels and functions of acetylcholine)
Cerebellum
Helps to maintain balance and coordinate movement. Clumsiness and loss of balance are possible symptoms of damage to this area
Hippocampus
Plays a role in learning and memory process
Thalamus
Serves as a relay station for incoming sensory information
Amygdala
Involved in the experience of emotion
Forebrain
- Has many functions, including cognitive processes, memory and the experience of emotion
- Contains the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex which are heavily involved in all the above functions
Parts of the limbic System
- The limbic system is part of the brain associated with emotion and memory, comprises several structures including:
- Septal nuclei
- Amygdala
- Hippocampus
- Anterior cingulate cortex
Hypothalamus
- Involved in expression of emotion
- Integrates the nervous and endocrine systems via the pituitary gland
Sublimation
- Defense mechanism where someone channels an unacceptable impulse in a socially acceptable direction
Person-Centered Therapy
- An application of the humanistic perspective, which focusses on the ways that healthy people strive towards self-realization
- Rather than focusing on providing solutions or diagnoses, person-centered therapy helps the client to reflect on problem, generate solutions on their own, and take positive action
Behaviourist Perspective
States that people can learn skills and change behaviour through the use of operant conditioning techniques. Giving candy to children who share their toys is an example of positive reinforcement, and operant conditioning technique.
Expectency-Value theory
States that motivation is based on how much someone values a goal and their expectations of success at attaining it
Drive Reduction Theory
- Drives are states of internal tension which activates behaviours based on goals.
- Drive reduction theory states that motivation is based on the desire to eliminate uncomfortable states
- Hunger is an example: when someone feels hungry, they seek out food to eliminate the feeling of hunger.
Self-Determination Theory (SDT)
- emphasizes three universal needs:
- Autonomy: The need to be in control of one’s actions and ideas
- Competence: The need to complete and excel at difficult tasks
- Relatedness: The need to feel wanted and accepted in relationships
Opponent-process Theory
- Explains that when a drug is used repeatedly, the body will change its physiology to attempt to counteract the effects of the drug
- The problem, with this is that these physiological changes can last longer than the effects of the drug itself, leading to symptoms of withdrawal, and potentially leading to physical dependence of the drug.
- This also results in tolerance, where consecutive use of the same amount of drug has less of an effect over time
Attitude Influencing Behaviour
- Would result in change in behaviour because of the way one thinks or feels about something
- A farmer believing that a certain would result in bad luck is an example of an attitude, and not planting that crop because of its belief is an example of behaviour being influences by an attitude.
Foot-in-the-door Technique
- Is when someone makes a small request, and when that is agreed to, follow it with a larger request.
- It is an example of behaviour influencing attitude, since agreeing to a smaller request makes one more likely to agree to a larger one
Neurotransmitters and Behaviour
- The Brian needs ways of communicating with the rest of the cells in your body to coordinate all the function that need to be carried out from moment to moment
Neurotransmitters
- Small molecules which are synthesized directly in the neuron
- All neurotransmitters are released in response to some kind of stimulus
Fight or Flight Response ( epinephrine and norepinephrine )
- Regulated by epinephrine and norepinephrine
- Both neurotransmitters act on the sympathetic nervous system to mobilize resources to deal with stressful situation
- Epinephrine is released in stressful situations and works to increase heart rate, direct the blood flow to muscles and dilating the pupils
- Norepinephrine also released in times of stress keeps the body temperature up, increases the blood flow if low and stimulates energy production through glycogenolysis, gluconeogenesis, and lipolysis
Gamma Aminobutyric Acid (GABA)
- Inhibitory neurotransmitter
- Responsible for allowing us to regulate out behaviours
- Calls your nerves
- Benzodiazepines and alcohols are antagonist
Acetylcholine
- neurotransmitter associated with memory
- Responsible for cholinergic singling, which is what allows us to focus our attention, to learn and to form memories
- Impaired cholinergic singling can cause delay’s. In fact atrophy of acetylcholine producing neurons is one factor in the development of Alzheimer’s disease
Serotonin
- Responsible for sleep wake cycles, and involved in processes including emotional processing, mood, appetite and more.
- Low levels are associated with major depressive disorder, which is why insomnia and depression often go hand in hand
Endorphins
- Class of neurotransmitters which bind to opioid receptors and act to inhibit pain
- Like other opioids they can produce feelings of euphoria
Dopamine
- Alcohol increases its effects
- Neurotransmitter which plays a direct role in the reward pathway, by producing an appetite in response to a positive stimulus
Temperament
A person’s or animals nature, especially as it permanently affects their behaviour
Regulator Genes
Genes involved in controlling the expression of one or more other genes
Candidate Gene Approach
- Focuses on specific genes of intrest to study genetic variation
Genome-Wide association studies (GWAS)
Focuses on the entire human genome of interest to study genetic variation
Genome
Complete genetic information of an organism
Factors influencing Motivation
- Instinct
- Arousal
- Drives
- Needs
Motivation
Process of psychological and physical requirements, goals, or desires causing behaviour
Instinct Theory
People are driven to engage in behaviours based on evolutionarily preprogrammed instincts
Arousal Theory
Particular level of arousal requires in order to preform actions optimally. Some common examples of arousal are the fight/flight/freeze response, or anxiety or panic attack
Drives
It is an urge to carry out a behaviour to satisfy a biological or physical need such as hunger, sexual satisfaction, reproduction or avoiding death.
Unsatisfied drives can cause uncomfortable tension, which can lead to psychological distress or death
Negative Feedback System
- Body’s system to return to homeostasis
- Body employs numerous biological and psychological negative feedback systems to keep us alive and running smoothly
Needs
- Physiological and psychological requirements that motive and influence behaviour
- Can be psychological of physical
- Pertaining to mental or physical well-being
- Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs (Pyramid)
- This is wrong as we now understand that any and all of these needs can be addressed concurrently, and putting them in a pyramid can be wrong
- You can meet these needs at anytime
- These needs however are all universal
Attitude
An attitude is the expression of positive or negative feeling towards a person, place, thing or scenario
Attitudes three components
- Affective
- Behavioural
- Cognitive
Affective component of attitude
Emotional component of attitude
Behavioural Component of Atiitude
The way that you act towards something. For example closing the door so that a mosquito does not come into the house
Cognitive Component of Attitude
The way that you think about something and usually provides justification for you affective and behavioural responses
For example, that the reason you hate mosquitoes and why it is necessary for you to destroy them, is because they want to suck on your blood
Social Cognitive Theory
- Stipulates that people learn how to behave by observing the behaviours of others, and shape their attitudes accordingly
- Rather than using their own trial and error, this theory proposes that people’s behaviour develops through the direct observation and replication of others behaviours
Role-playing effects
- Can result in a person learning new behaviours that they eventually adopt as their own
Insufficient Justification
Social situation causes behaviour but is not recognized as the cause
Over justification
When we view our behaviours as caused by the situation leading us to discount the extent to which our behaviour was actually caused by our own interest in it
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
- Discomfort caused by behaving in ways we see as inconsistent
- This discomfort can disappear by;
- Changing your behaviour
- Reduce dissonant cognition
- Create new consonant consignation
Personality
Set of thoughts, feelings, traits, and behaviours that are characteristic of an individual across time and location
Psychoanalytic Perspective
Based on the idea that many of the motivations behind our thoughts and actions are not within our conscious control. Instead most of our thoughts exist within out unconscious and that they affect us without our knowledge, often causing us anxiety as we try to deal with thoughts and urges that we know are not appropriate
Humanistic Perspective
- Rather than being driven by largely negative unconscious impulses, people are innately good
- Personality should be understood in the context of the person as a whole
- Humanistic psychologists include Abraham Maslow with his Hierarchy of needs
- Describes the way people strive towards self-actualization.
- George Kelly focused on how a person gathers information, assess the information and interprets it.
- Kurt Lewin believed on looking at the present rather than looking back to the past to determine what is blocking a person and what can help an individual attain their goals
- Carl Rogers promoted a person-centered approach, where the therapist only serves as the individual works to define and solve their problems
Trait Perspective
- Focused on describing individual personalities as the sum of characteristic behaviours
- Hans and Sybil Eysenk developed the PEN model through factor analysis
PEN Model
-
P - Psychoticims
- How aggressive or tough-minded you are
-
E - Extraversion
- Describes how outgoing you tend to be
- N - Neuroticism describes how prone you are to anxiety or depression
- The PEN model has then been expanded to include:
- Openness to experience
- Agreeableness - Which measures how trusting and moral you are
- New mnemonic: OCEAN and is now known as the BIG FIVE Traits of Personality
Gordon Allport
- Believed that there were three types of traits:
- Cardinal Traits
- Central Traits
- Secondary Traits
Cardinal Traits
Dominant traits that drive all aspects of a person’s behaviour
Central Traits
All of us have central traits and they do not dominate our personality the way cardinal traits do but they shine through in most of out interactions with others (They are the main traits of personality)
Secondary Traits
Traits that vary depending upon the circumstances
Behaviorist Perspective
- Personality is a reflection of behaviourist that have been reinforced over time
- B.F skinner is the “father” of behaviorism and says that personality is not based on thoughts and emotions, but rather JUST behaviours
Social Cognitive Perspective
- Attitudes are formed through observation, behaviour, cognition and the environment
- Albert Bandura and other social cognitive psychologist built on the concepts of behaviorists with the inclusion of the environment and its influence on personality
- Social cognitive theorists also say that locus of control plays an import role in a person’s attitudes and behavious
- Your locus of control is the degree to which you believe you are in control of the events in your life
Albert Bandura
- His concept on reciprocal determinism says that thoughts feelings, behaviours and environment all interact with on another
- Where you grow up can have an impact on thoughts and behaviours
Albert Bandura
- His concept on reciprocal determinism says that thoughts feelings, behaviours and environment all interact with on another
- Where you grow up can have an impact on thoughts and behaviours
Biological Perspective
- Personality can be explained because of genetic expression in the brain
