Exam 1 Flashcards
What is psychology?
the scientific study if behavior and mental processes
What kinds of degrees are possible in psychology?
bachelors, masters, phd, psyd
What is the one main difference between the training of psychiatrist and a psychologist?
psychiatrists- focus more on medicine
psychologists- focus more on other methods, cannot prescribe medication
structuralism
what are the elements of mental activity, use of introspection
functionalism
what is the purpose of mental activity, adaptive to environment
gestalt
whole is different from sum its parts
behavioral neuroscience
biological basis of behavior
clinical
study, treatment and diagnosis of psychological disorders
cognitive
higher mental processes
developmental
progression of growth and change throughout the lifespan
social
influence of other on our thinking, feelings, behavior
psychology’s use of the scientific method
- Objectify, 2. Observable phenomena, 3. Testable hypotheses, 4. Control, 5. Replication/confirmation
What does it mean to operationalize your variables?
it is the specific definition of variables
archival
use of data that has already been gathered, pros: low-cost, cons: may not hold the information that you are interested in
naturalistic observation
unobtrusively watching behaviors, pros: watching real behaviors in their natural settings, cons: change in behavior due to your presence
survey research
collection of data from a sample of people, pros: quick, easy, cons: people may not want to report certain behaviors
case study
close examination of a few individuals, pros: when the pop. is small rare/unethical topics of study, cons: not representative of the entire population
positive
two factors have correlation to eachother
negative
two factors go down together
zero
two factors have absolutely nothing to do with eachother
What language is appropriate to use when describing a correlation?
correlational language, x associated with y
What is the key to being able to establish causality?
true experiment
What is random assignment?
randomly assigning participants to experimental groups
What is the purpose of randomly assignment?
purpose is to make sure that participants all have an equal chance of being in each condition
Where does bias in an experiment come from?
it can come from experimenters and participants
How do both participants and experimenters negatively affect the results of a study? This can be intentional or unintentional.
they can skew the results to be in their favor or the participants can lie about symptoms and make the results not accurate
How can we prevent these biases from affecting a study?
by doing a double blind study
How do experimenters ensure that their studies are ethical?
they use the protection of participants guidelines
What is the main job of the Institutional Review Board
they make sure that all studies done at universities are reviewed
What safeguards are used to protect participants (e.g., how are they carried out in a study)?
they sign consent forms
What is hindsight bias and how might it affect how you respond to study findings?
the belief that an individual knew the outcome of a situation after it occurred and it can make you not want to accept the true facts that you gained from the experiment
What do behavioral neuroscientists do?
psychologists specializing in how biological structures/functions affect behavior
neuron
basic cells that make up the nervous system
dendrites
tree like structures that detect incoming signals
axon
cable like filament that carries neuron’s signals away
terminal buttons
release neurotransmitter which carries the neuron’s signal across the synaptic gap
cell body (soma)
contains DNA (in the nucleus)
Myelin Sheath
fatty insulation surrounding axon and protecting signals
how neurons work
- neurotransmitter are produced and stored in the axon
- for neuron to fore, it must reach its action potential
- neurotransmitters travel across synapse to receptor sites on another cell’s dendrite sending an electrical signal
- neurotransmitters get reabsorbed to presynaptic cells
What is the purpose of neurotransmitters?
produce endorphins, serotonin, dopamine
central
brain, spinal cord, controls communication and reflexes
peripheral
voluntary and involuntary actions, controls heart beating, breathing, and organ functioning
medulla
unconsciously controls necessary life essentials
cerebellum
balance
thalamus
relay station of senses
corpus callosum
fibers connecting two halves of the brain
frontal
motor
temporal
auditory
occipital
visual
parietal
sensory information (touch/pressure)
How do the brain hemispheres work? What is associated with the left and right hemispheres?
the left controls the right side and the right controls the left side; left- verbal competence; right- nonverbal
How might a drug like Prozac or Paxil work to help neural communication?
they block some of the serotonin receptors from leave the location they need to be in
sensation
the process of taking in the information
perception
the process of interpreting the information
What does it mean to reach absolute threshold?
it means that you cannot detect certain stimuli anymore
What is the process by which we see?
the image travels through the cornea, then the pupil, lens, and last the retina
What are the main parts of the eye?
iris, lens, pupil, cornea, retina, fovea, blind spot, and optic nerve to brain’s visual cortex
trichromatic theory
the human eye has 3 different cones that are each sensitive to certain wavelengths of light
opponent processes theory
our visual system has 3 pairs of opponent color receptors and when one pair is stimulated, the others are inhibited
How do we hear?
Sound hits the eardrum which makes it vibrate, vibrations hit the bones in the ears and reached the cochlea, then the hair cells in the cochlea send messgaes to the brain
How are we able to smell?
molecules of a substance go to the nasal passage then reach the olfactory cells
How frequently are taste buds replaced?
about every 10 days
What 4 types of taste sensations are we able to detect?
sweet, sour, salty, bitter
super-tasters
sensation of taste is more intense
non-tasters
sensation of taste is less intense; proneness to obesity
What are the evolutionary reasons for pain?
you would not know how to stay away from danger
How are humans designed such that we are built to be able to sense pain better with certain parts of our bodies?
because we use our hands for many things and we manipulate the world around us with them
How do the Gestalt laws of perceptual organization affect how we see thing?
the whole image is more important that parts of an image; provides closure
In what ways are we able to detect depth?
disparity between 2 images (binocular cues)
What cues help us determine how far or close something is?
binocular cues and monocular cues
