Book Info Flashcards
Amygdala
determines if significant emotional content is detected
Hippcampus
crucial for establishing long term memories
Fear conditioning
an organism is given a warning stimulus and then a few seconds later, is presented with a fear-inducing stimulus
organism learns warning
What unites psychology?
shared set of thematic concerns
multiple perspectives
Limited value of dichotomies in psychology
nature vs nurture
biology vs environment
Active perceivers
humans interpret, select, and organize our experiences
by interpreting our activities we both help and hurt ourselves
Operational definition
a definition that translates a variable we want to assess into a specific procedure/measurement
Sample
can’t often study the whole population
subset of the population investigator studies
Random sampling
make sure sample represents the broader group
every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected
External validity
the degree to which a study adequately reflects the world as it actually is
Demand characteristics
cues that might tell research participants what behaviors are expected/desirable in that setting
Descriptive statistics
characterize a data pattern
Inferential stats
allow researchers to draw claims between samples
Internal validity
experiment has properties that allow us to conclude that the change observed in the dependent variable was caused by the independent variable
Empirical claims
claims that can be true or false depending on the facts
what psychologists study
Naturalistic fallacy
idea anything natural must be good
sometimes traits can become harmful that were once beneficial
What type of behavior does evolution normally favor?
favors traits that produce flexibility in an organism’s behavior and ability to adapt
Intelligence
capacity that allows people to acquire new knowledge and use it to draw conclusions, solve problems, and adapt to circumstances
What did descarte believe?
that all human action is a response to something we experience
Neurons
specialized cell in nervous system that recieves and sends information
Efferent signals
Messages carries outward from central nervous system
Afferent neurons
nerves that carry messages inward towards the central nervous system
Glia
another type of cell in the nervous system that support neurons
increase the speed of neuronal communication
Excitation threshold
a signal has to surpass this threshold in order for the action potential to fire
Lock and key model
only certain neurotransmitters go with receptors
What nervous system are efferent and afferent nerves a part of?
perphereal nervous system
Cerebral cortex
outer surface of the forebrain
large, thin tissue that is folded
deep groves called convolutions divide the brain into different lobes of the brain
Projection areas
1st receiving areas for information going into and out of the brain
Contralateral organization
the idea that the right side of the body is controlled by the left hemisphere of the brain and vice versa
Plasticity of the brain
nervous system is plastic
subject to alteration in function
ex: overall changes to architecture after damage or neurons changing sensitivity to receptors
Active perceiver versus the passive perceiver
Active minds categorizes events and experiences
Passive perceiver is guided by proximal and distal stimulus
Absolute threshold
the smallest quantity of the stimulus that an individual can detect
Difference threshold
smallest amount the stimulus must be increased/decreased to be detected
Just noticeable difference
smallest difference an organism can reliably detect between 2 stimuli
Weber’s law
size of the difference threshold is proportional to the intensity of the standard stimulus
Fechner’s law
strength of sensation is proportional to the logarithm of physical stimulus intensity
Decision critera
an organism’s rule for how much evidence is needed before making a decision
Signal detection theory
theory that perceiving/not perceiving is actually a judgment about whether a momentary sensual experience is due to background noise alone or background and a signal
Demand characteristics
cues that might tell the research participant what behaviors are expected/desirable in that setting
can reduce through conducting a double blind experiment
Correlational studies
investigator analyzes relationships among variables that are already present (do not impose treatments)
Perceptual sensitivity
an organism’s ability to detect a signal
Sensory codes
the rules by which the nervous system translates the properties of a proximal stimulus to neural impulses
How is psycological intensity coded?
By rates of firing neurons and how many neurons are triggered
Specificity theory of sensation
different sensory qualities (ex: red vs green) are signaled by different neurons
Pattern theory of sensation
certain sensory qualities arise because of different patterns of activation across a whole set of neurons
What is a commonality among all sensory systems?
adaptation- the tendency to respond less to a stimuli that has been around and unchanging for some time