Exam #1 Flashcards
Define psychology
Science of behavior & mental process
Goals of psych
Describe predict and explain behavior and mental processes
Wundt
Founder of psychology
Structuralism
Analyze consciousness into its basic elements (structure)
Functionalism
Analyze how consciousness works - its function or purpose
Psychoanalytic
How the unconscious mind influence behavior
Behaviorism
Learning behaviors
Humanism
Unique qualities of humans
Cognitive
Study of peoples minds and how they are unique
Academic psychologist
Study how people change mentally over a long period of time
Clinical psychologist
OCD, ADHD, Anxiety
Health psychologist
Help reduce stress to make body more physically healthy
Gestalt Psychology
Emphasizes that the whole of anything is greater than its parts
Scientific method steps
Research questions
Hypothesis
Test hypothesis
Analyze data and draw conclusion
Confounding Variables
Variables that vary systematically with the independent variable
Operational Definitions
Concept defined in terms of how its measured
Experimental method
Manipulate or controls variable and look for changes in the 2nd variable
Random sample
Everyone in your population has an equal chance of being in your study
Random assignment
Everyone in your study has an equal chance of being placed in different groups
Correlational Method
Descriptive or observational, recording behavior
Nervous system
Complex communication network
Major categories of cells
Glia, neurons
Absolute threshold
Minimum amount of stimulation necessary or a particular stimulus to be detected 50% of the time
Difference threshold
Minimum difference in stimulation that can be detected 50% of the time
Subliminal
Affected by stimuli that are too weak to notice
Sensory adaptation
Diminishing sensitivity to an unchanging stimulus
Retina
Tissue that lines the back of the eye, absorbs light
Cones
Gives us color vision
Rods
Sensitive to light levels, gives vision in low light
Optic nerve
Blind spot of the eye
Fovea
Responsible for central vision
Amplitude - hearing
Loudness
Frequency - hearing
Pitch
Cochlea
Inner ear, Bony fluid part of the inner ear concerned with hearing
Oval window
Membrane that covers opening from middle ear to inner ear
Basilar Membrane
Lines cochlea and contains receptor cells for hearing
Perceptual organization
How we organize our sensations into perceptions
Proximity
Items near each other belong together
Similarity
Groups things that are similar
Continuity
Groups things in smooth continuous patterns
Closure
Fill in to make a sense of closure and completeness
Depth perception
Ability to see in 3-D, estimating distance
Binocular Cues
Retinal disparity, Convergence
Monocular cues
Relative size, Overlap, Relative height, Linear perspective, Motion parallax
Perceptual Constancies
Tendency to perceive a stable perception in the face of continually changing sensory input
ESP
Telepathy, Clairvoyance, Precognition
Top down processing
Perceptions begin with the most general and move towards more specific
Bottom up processing
Perceptual processing for recognizing meaningful patterns by piecing together pieces of sensory information
