Chapters 1-4 Flashcards

You may prefer our related Brainscape-certified flashcards:
1
Q

Human behaviour is difficult to predict because most actions are ______

A

Multiply determinded

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

The belief that we see the world as it “really is” is also known as ___________

A

Naive Realism

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

Belief perseverance is _______________

A

The tendency to stick to our initial beliefs even when evidence contradicts them.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

The perception of a relationship where none exists is known as an _____________

A

Illusory Correlation

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

Conformation bias is ______________

A

The tendency for people to search for information that confirms their perception

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

An excuse to protect a theory or claim from falsifiability is known as an ___________

A

Ad hoc Immunizing Hypothesis

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

What is patternicity

A

Perceiving meaningful images in meaningless visual stimuli

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

What does reciprocal determinism mean?

A

people can often be influenced by each other

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

What is pseudoscience?

A

Claims that seem scientific but are not

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

What are the six principles of critical thinking?

A
  1. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence
  2. Falsifiability
  3. Occam’s Razor- If two explanations account equally well for an observation, we should generally select the simpler one.
  4. Replicability
  5. Ruling out rival hypotheses
  6. Correlation is not causation
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

What are the seven sins of pseudoscience?

A
  1. Ad hoc immunizing hypothesis
  2. Lack of self-correction E.g., Facilitated communication?
  3. Exaggerated claims
  4. Anecdotes
  5. Evasion of peer review
    6.No connectivity
  6. Psychobabble - Language that sounds highly scientific?
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

In the homeopathy video, why did Benveniste’s team find positive homeopathic findings under initial testing?

A

Benveniste’s team found positive results under initial testing because it was not a blind test. During initial testing, Benveniste’s team knew which samples should be positively charged and which were just water.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

The homeopathy video indicated that the experimenters knew which tubes contained the homeopathic water and which contained ordinary water. What is the issue here?

A

The issue with this is that the experimenters may be experimenting with confirmation bias

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

In the homeopathy video, when the study was replicated by Randi’s crew using codes so nobody knew which tubes were which- what happened?

A

The homeopathic testing result came back negative.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

Why do so many people then find homeopathic testing useful as a treatment?

A

So many people find homeopathic testing useful because of the placebo effect.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

Homeopathy appears to work even when a placebo should not. Like when a patient does not even know that they are taking medicine. Like animals. What might be the explanation here?

A

The veterinarian/ experimenter has a confirmation bias. The veterinarian may be looking for the animal to act better. The other question that is raised is how do veterinarians know that the animal is better.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

What is intuitive thinking?

A

quick and reflexive, “gut hunches”, minimal mental effort . (ex. The first impression of people, getting out of the way of a moving car)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

What is analytical thinking?

A

slow and reflective takes mental effort (ex. reasoning through a problem)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

What are heuristics?

A

Quick and efficient “Mental shortcuts” which can be systematically and predictably wrong

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

What is the availability heuristic?

A

judging the likelihood of things by how readily available they come to mind

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

What is the representative heuristic?

A

judging the likelihood of an event by its superficial similarity to a prototype. This may lead one to ignore other relevant information

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

What are base rates?

A

how common a behaviour or characteristic is in the general population

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

Observing people in a real-world setting and carefully observing their behaviours without intervening is known as

A

Naturalistic Observation

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

What is a correlation design

A

a research design that examines the extent to which two variables are associated

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Q

What is an example of positive correlation

A

As height increases so does weight

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
26
Q

What is an example of a negative correlation

A

As tooth brushing increases, tooth decay decreases

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
27
Q

What is an independent variable

A

What the experimenter manipulates

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
28
Q

What is a dependant variable

A

what the experimenter measures to see whether the manipulation had an effect. It is usually measured by a score

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
29
Q

What is the placebo effect?

A

improvement resulting from the mere expectation of improvement

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
30
Q

What is the nocebo effect?

A

harm resulting from the mere expectation of harm

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
31
Q

What is the experimenter expectancy effect

A

a phenomenon in which researchers hypothesize leads them to unintentionally bias a study

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
32
Q

What is a double-blind design?

A

When neither researchers nor subjects know who is in the experimental or control group

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
33
Q

What is the halo effect

A

The tendency of rating one positive characteristic to “spill over” to influence the ratings of other positive characteristics

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
34
Q

What is the horn effect?

A

The tendency of rating one negative characteristic to “spill over” to influence the ratings of other negative characteristics

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
35
Q

What are demand characteristics?

A

cues that participants pick up from a study that allows them to generate a guess regarding the researcher’s hypothesis

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
36
Q

What are self-report measures?

A

questionnaires assessing a variety of characteristics

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
37
Q

What are surveys?

A

A self-report measure, that measures opinions and attitudes

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
38
Q

What is reliability

A

consistency or repeatability of the measurement

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
39
Q

What is validity?

A

Does it measure what it is supposed to measure?

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
40
Q

What is the mean

A

The average of all scores

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
41
Q

What is the central tendency?

A

where the group tends to cluster

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
42
Q

What is the median?

A

The middle score in the data set

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
43
Q

What is the mode?

A

most frequent score in the data set

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
44
Q

What is the range?

A

the difference between the highest and lowest scores; a measure of variability

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
45
Q

What is a standard deviation?

A

a measure of variability that takes into account how far each data point is from the mean

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
46
Q

What are inferential statistics?

A

allows us to determine how much we can generalize findings from our sample to the full population. If we find a difference between groups

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
47
Q

What is statistical significance?

A

To be statistically significant, the finding would have occurred by less than 5%

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
48
Q

What is practical significance?

A

real-world importance

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
49
Q

What are neurons?

A

Specialized cells that carry messages throughout the CNS (Central Nervous System- brain and spinal cord)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
50
Q

What does the cell body do?

A

the cells’ life support center, cell executive

51
Q

What do dendrites do?

A

receive info and send it toward the cell body

52
Q

What does the axon do?

A

pass the message along to other neurons or tissue

53
Q

What does the Myelin Sheath do?

A

fatty tissue that insulates some axons and speeds their message

54
Q

What is the axon terminal?

A

the tip of the axon

55
Q

What are Synaptic Vesticles

A

littles balls at the ed of the axon terminal that contain the neurotransmitter

56
Q

What are neurotransmitters?

A

chemical messengers

57
Q

What is an action potential?

A

a brief electrical charge that travels down the axon

58
Q

What is the absolute refractory period?

A

The time directly following the action potential where another action potential is impossible

59
Q

What is acetylcholine involved in?

A

Muscle movement

60
Q

What is dopamine involved in?

A

Learning, attention, movement and reinforcement

61
Q

What is norepinephrine affect?

A

eating habits, arousal and wakefulness

62
Q

What is serotonin involved in?

A

Plays a role in regulating mood, sleep, impulsivity, and agression

63
Q

What does GABA do?

A

Lowers anxiety

64
Q

What do endorphins do?

A

relieves pain, produces feelings of pleasure and well being

65
Q

What do agonist neurotransmitters do?

A

Similar enough to the transmitter to imitate it and its effects

66
Q

What do antagonist neurotransmitters do?

A

inhibit transmitter action

67
Q

What is the antagonist transmitter for opiates?

A

Naloxone

68
Q

After neurotransmitters are released into the synapse they _________

A

Bind with recptor sites

69
Q

What does the clinical method of studying the brain involve?

A

studying the behavioral result of brain injury or “Posthumous examination” of brain structures to identify injured areas thought responsible for behavioral conditions existing before death

70
Q

What are the cerebral hemispheres?

A

The left and right hemispheres of the brain

71
Q

What is the corpus callosum?

A

the physical connection between the right and left hemispheres

72
Q

What is the cerebral cortex?

A

an outer layer of cells that cover the cerebral hemispheres; primarily responsible for higher-level processes

73
Q

What do Gilal cells do?

A

support, nourish, and protect neurons- they produce myelin

74
Q

What is the frontal lobe responsible for?

A

Mediate movement, problem-solving, decision-making, inhibition, language, planning

75
Q

What is the parietal lobe responsible for?

A

mediates touch sensation, spatial ability, attention

76
Q

What is the occipital lobe responsible for?

A

involved with vision, edge detection, shape, form

77
Q

What is the temporal lobe responsible for?

A

involved in memory, hearing, language, complex vision (facial recognition)

78
Q

What does an electroencephalogram (EEG) do?

A

Measures electrical activity generated by the brain. Can detect rapid changes

79
Q

What does Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) do?

A

Applies strong and quick-changing magnetic fields to the skull to enhance or disrupt brain function in a specific region

80
Q

What does Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) do?

A

Measures the release of energy from water in biological tissue following exposure to a magnetic field

81
Q

What does Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) do?

A

MRI with the measure of blood oxygen changes

82
Q

What does Positron Emission Tomography (PET) do?

A

Measures changes in the brain activity in response to stimuli, based on their consumption of glucose.

83
Q

What does Computed Axial Tomography (CAT)
do?

A

A 3D reconstruction of multiple x-rays through the brain

84
Q

What does the medulla do?

A

controls autonomic functions such as breathing, heartbeat, blood pressure, coughing, barfing

85
Q

What does the PONS do?

A

plays a role in facial movement and tactile sensations of the face and sleep and dreaming

86
Q

What does the reticular formation do?

A

regulates attention, arousal, and alertness

87
Q

What does the amygdala do?

A

involved in fear and aggression

88
Q

What does the hippocampus do?

A

processes memory

89
Q

What does the thalamus do?

A

brain sensory switchboard

90
Q

What does the hypothalamus do?

A

regulates hunger, thirst, body temperature, and sexual behaviour

91
Q

What does the cerebellum do?

A

Processing sensory input, coordinating movement and balance, and learning motor skills

92
Q

What is the central nervous system composed of?

A

The brain and spinal cord

93
Q

What is the endocrine system?

A

A system of glands and hormones that controls the secretion of blood-borne chemical messengers

94
Q

What are hormones?

A

chemicals released into the bloodstream that influences particular organs and glands

95
Q

What is the pituitary gland

A

a master gland that, under the control of the hypothalamus, directs the other glands of the body

96
Q

What are adrenal glands?

A

tissue located on top of the kidneys that releases adrenaline and cortisol during states of emotional arousal

97
Q

What is sensation

A

how the senses detect visual, auditory, and other sensory stimuli and encode them as neural signals

98
Q

What is transduction

A

the process by which the nervous system converts an external stimulus, like light or sound, into electrical signals within neurons

99
Q

What are sense receptors?

A

a specialized cell responsible for the transduction of a specific stimulus

100
Q

What is sensory adaptation

A

process in which activation is greatest when a stimulus is first detected

101
Q

What is psychophysics

A

the study of how we perceive sensory stimuli based on their physical characters

102
Q

What is bottom-up processing?

A

begins with the sensory receptors. We construct a whole stimulus from its parts

103
Q

What is top-down processing?

A

information processing that we use to construct perceptions based on our experience and expectations

104
Q

What does the McGurk effect display?

A

what we see can influence what we hear

105
Q

What is the absolute threshold?

A

Is the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus, 50% of the time?

106
Q

What is the Just Noticeable Difference

A

The smallest change in the intensity of a stimulus that we can detect

107
Q

What is synesthesia

A

a condition in which people experience cross-modal sensations, like hearing sounds when they see colours, or even tasting colours

108
Q

What is selective attention

A

processes of selecting one sensory channel and ignoring or minimizing others

109
Q

What is inattention blindness

A

Failure to detect stimuli that are in plain sight our attention if focused elsewhere

110
Q

What is change blindness?

A

A form of inattentional blindness. Where our brain does not notice changes that happen right in front of our face

111
Q

What is subliminal stimulation

A

Stimulation that occurs below our absolute threshold for conscious awareness

112
Q

What does the cornea do?

A

Protects the eye

113
Q

What does the iris do?

A

The iris is a muscle the dilates when excited

114
Q

What do lens’s do?

A

Focus and accommodation

115
Q

What is the retina?

A

The light-sensitive surface?

116
Q

What do the rods respond to?

A

Dim light

117
Q

What do the cones respond to?

A

colour and detail

118
Q

What is interposition?

A

A monocular depth cue where an object partly blocks your view of another. You perceive the partially blocked object as farther away
an object partly blocks your view of another. You perceive the partially blocked object as farther away (like cards stacked on top on another)

119
Q

What is liner perspective

A

A monocular depth cue where parallel lines known to be the same distance apart appear to grow closer together, or converge as they recede into the distance (like train tracks)

120
Q

What is relative size?

A

A monocular depth cue where larger objects are perceived as being closer to the viewer, and smaller objects as being farther away

121
Q

What is texture gradient?

A

A monocular depth cue where near objects appear to have sharply defined textures, while similar objects appear progressively smoother and fuzzier as they recede into the distance

122
Q

What is the muller-lyer illuson?

A

A line of identical length appears longer when it ends in a set of arrowheads pointing inward than in a set of arrowheads pointing outward. That’s because we perceive lines as a part of a larger context

123
Q

What is the Ponzo illusion?

A

Making use of the monocular depth cue of Linear Perspective, the Ponzo illusion leads us to perceive the object closer to the converging lines as larger

124
Q

What is Akinetopsia?

A

(aka motion blindness) a serious disorder in which patients cant seamlessly string still images processed by their brains into the perception of ongoing motion