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Exam 1 474317718 Flashcards

1
Q

Psychology defined

A

Psychology is the scientific study of thought and behavior
Distinguishing between the science of psychology and popular (“folk”) psychology

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2
Q

Cognitive psychology

A

Study of how we perceive information, how we learn and remember, how we acquire and use language, and how we solve problems

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3
Q

Developmental psychology

A

Study of how thought and behavior change and show stability across the life span

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4
Q

Behavioral neuroscience

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Study of the links among brain, mind, and behavior

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5
Q

Biological psychology

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Study of the connections between bodily systems and chemicals, and their relationship to behavior and thought

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6
Q

Personality psychology

A

Study of what makes people unique and the consistencies in people’s behavior across time and situations

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7
Q

Social psychology

A

Study of how the real or imagined presence of others influences thought, feeling, and behavior

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8
Q

Clinical psychology

A

Study of the treatment of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders and ways to promote psychological health

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9
Q

Counseling Psychology

A

Similar to clinical psychology, but may work with less severe psychological disorders

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10
Q

Health psychology

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Study of the role that psychological factors play in physical health and illness

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11
Q

Educational psychology

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Study of how students learn, the effectiveness of particular teaching techniques, the dynamics of school populations, and the psychology of teaching

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12
Q

Industrial/organizational (I/O) psychology

A

Applies psychological concepts and questions to work settings
Industrial side – focuses on selecting workers, matching employees to jobs, and evaluating job performance
Organizational side – focuses on worker satisfaction, performance, and productivity by examining management styles and work environment

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13
Q

Sports psychology

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Examines the psychological factors that affect performance and participation in sports and exercise

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14
Q

Forensic psychology

A

Field that blends psychology, law, and criminal justice

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15
Q

Ancient Views

A

Moved away from supernatural and toward natural and physiological explanations of psychological disorders
Ancient Chinese
Made connections between bodily organs and emotions
Ancient Egyptians and Greeks
Used narcotics to treat pain
Hippocrates

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16
Q

Middle Ages

A

Supernatural causes were blamed (again!)
The Renaissance
People were thought to be possessed by demons, spirits, and the devil – not physical disorders
The Inquisition
Float test for witchcraft
Asylums – facilities for the mentally ill
Conditions were deplorable and chaotic – “Bedlam”
Movements for moral treatment emerged in Europe and the United States

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17
Q

Modern Views

A

Late 1880s
Emil Kraepelin classified different disorders
Dementia praecox was the predecessor to schizophrenia
Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalysis
Assumes the unconscious mind is the most powerful force behind thought and behavior
Dreams are an important source of data about the unconscious mind

Mid-1900s – Three developments in clinical psychology
Psychotherapy
Drug treatment
Criteria for diagnosing mental disorders
DSM-IV-TR: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, 4th edition, Text Revision
Classification system that includes diagnoses for more than 250 psychological disorders

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18
Q

The Philosophy of Empiricism

A

View that all knowledge and thoughts come from experience
17th Century
John Locke
Tabula rasa (“blank slate”)

Because philosophy does not gather data to test its ideas, psychology moved in a different, more scientific direction

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19
Q

The Psychophysics of Human Perception

A

First scientific form of psychology
Laboratory studies of the subjective experience of physical sensations
Differs from the study of physics
Physics – studies the physical properties of light and sound
Psychophysics – studies human perception of light and sound

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20
Q

The Psychophysics of Human Perception

A

Relationship between the physical and psychological worlds
Early important work was done by such scientists as Ernst Weber, Gustav Fechner, and Hermann von Helmholtz

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21
Q

Wilhelm Wundt

A

opened the first psychology laboratory in Leipzig, Germany

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22
Q

1879

A

opened the first psychology laboratory in Leipzig, Germany
This date, 1879, is a “red-letter” date in psychology!

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23
Q

G. Stanley Hall

A

Founded the American Psychological Association (APA)
Established the first psychology laboratory in the USA, at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore
Taught Francis Cecil Sumner, the first African American to earn a PhD in psychology in 1920

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24
Q

William James

A

Considered the founder of American psychology
Taught G. Stanley Hall, and Mary Whiton Calkins, who went on to be the first female president of the APA in 1905

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25
Structuralism
19th century school of thought that argued that breaking down experience into its elemental parts offers the best way to understand thought and behavior
26
Introspection
looking into one’s own mind to determine the structure of consciousness
27
Functionalism
19th century school of thought that argued it was better to look at why the mind works the way it does than to describe its parts Influenced by Darwin’s theory of natural selection Championed by William James Used introspection as well
28
Behaviorism
School of thought that asserts that psychology can be a true science only if it examines observable behavior, not ideas, thoughts, feelings, or motives John Watson B.F. Skinner
29
Humanistic psychology
Theory of psychology that promotes personal growth and meaning as a way of reaching one’s highest potential Abraham Maslow Carl Rogers
30
Positive psychology
``` Scientific approach to studying, understanding, and promoting healthy and positive psychological functioning Martin Seligman Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (Can you say that name three times quickly?) ```
31
Gestalt psychology
``` Theory of psychology that maintains that we perceive things as wholes rather than as a compilation of parts Max Wertheimer (1880-1943) ```
32
Frederick Bartlett
Stated that memory is not an objective and accurate representation of events but rather a highly personal reconstruction based on one’s own beliefs, ideas, and point of view The way we think about things (cognitive frameworks) organizes how we experience the world
33
Evolutionary Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience
Who we are and what we do is a result of brain activity, is impacted by genetic factors, and has a long evolutionary past John Tooby and Leda Cosmides published “The Psychological Foundations of Culture” in 1992 Brain imaging techniques Human genome
34
Nature through nurture
Position that the environment constantly interacts with biology to shape who we are, and what we do
35
René Descartes
17th century philosopher and mathematician Stated that the mind and the body are separate entities Mind controls the body most of the time
36
Evolution
Evolution is the change over time in the frequency with which specific genes occur within a breeding species
37
Evolutionary psychology
Branch of psychology that studies human behavior by asking what adaptive problems it may have solved for our early ancestors By-products (or exaptations)
38
List the three distinct “flavors” to science
Physical Biological Social
39
Scientific thinking
The cognitive skills required to generate, test, and revise theories
40
Principles of Research Design
Includes all of the following: Variable Any characteristic that changes, or “varies” Population The entire group of interest to a researcher Samples A subset of a larger population
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Descriptive designs
* Case study * National Geographic Clip * Naturalistic observation * Interview and survey -Representative sample
42
Descriptive Studies
* Case study * Naturalistic observation * Interview and survey * Representative sample
43
Correlational Studies
Studies that measure two or more variables and their relationship to one another Cannot be used to show cause-and-effect relationships (“causation”)
44
Experimental Studies
**Random assignment** Each participant in the study has the same chance of being in an experimental or a control group **Experimental group** The participants who will receive the treatment being investigated **Control group** The participants who do not receive the treatment being investigated **Placebo** A substance or treatment that appears identical to the actual treatment but lacks the active substance Is sometimes given to the control group **Independent variable Dependent variable Confounding variable**
45
Meta-Analysis
A quantitative method for combining all published research results on one question and drawing a conclusion Requires the use of effect sizes A measure of the strength of the relationship between two variables or the extent of an experimental effect Allows different studies to be compared to each other even if they used different methods or produced different statistics
46
Self-Report Measures
Written or oral accounts of one’s thoughts, feelings, or actions **Interviews** A research asks a set of questions and the respondent answers in whatever way feels appropriate Usually involves very open-ended questions **Questionnaires** Taken without an interviewer Answers are limited to the response options given
47
Behavioral Measures
Based on systematic observation of people’s actions, either in their normal environment or in a laboratory setting Social desirability bias *Reduced when behavioral measures are used*
48
Physiological Measures
Measures of bodily responses used to determine changes in psychological state Blood pressure Heart rate Sweating Respiration Brain-imaging technologies
49
Ethics
The rules governing the conduct of a person or group in general or in a specific situation Standards of right and wrong Essential to conducting research, either with human beings or with animals
50
Research Ethics With Humans
**Informed consent Respect for persons Beneficence** *Debriefing Institutional review boards (IRBs)* **Privacy and confidentiality Justice Stanley Miligram**
51
Complex Connections between Genes and Behavior
Specific genes can cause specific diseases but play only a small part in creating a given behavior Environmental events can interact with genes to make behaviors more or less likely
52
Monogenic transmission
The hereditary passing on of traits determined by a single gene
53
Polygenic transmission
When many genes interact to create a single characteristic Much more common than monogenetic transmission
54
Heritability
refers to the extent to which a characteristic is influenced by genetics
55
Twin-adoption studies
the study of hereditary influences on twins, both identical and fraternal, who were raised together and apart.
56
Gene-by-environment interaction research
Studies hereditary influences by comparing genetic markers (specific parts of the human genome) Involves observing the interaction of genetic differences and the environment to assess the impact on how certain behaviors are produced in some people but not others
57
Epigenetics
study of changes in the way genes are turned on or off without a change in the sequence of DNA
58
Central nervous system consists of:
Brain and spinal cord
59
Peripheral nervous system
**Somatic (voluntary) nervous system Autonomic (involuntary) nervous system** * Sympathetic nervous system Fight or flight response * Parasympathetic nervous system
60
Glial Cells
The “glue” that holds the nervous system together
61
Neurons
62
The Structure of Neurons
Soma- cell body of the neuron. holds nucleus Axon- long projection that extends from a neurons soma, it transmits electrical inpulses toward the adjeacent neuron annd stimulates the release of neurotransmitters. Myelin Sheath surrounds axon Dentrites- fingerlike projections from a neurons soma that receive incoming messages from other neurons Synapse- the junction betwwen an axon and the adjacent neuron, where information is transmitted from one neuron to another-
63
Sensory neurons
Receive incoming sensory information
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Motor neurons
Carry commands for movement Includes mirror neurons
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Interneurons
Communicate only with other neurons By far the most common type of neuron
66
Mirror Neurons
nerve cells that are active when we observe others performing an action as well as when we are performing the same action
67
Synaptic vesicles
Tiny sacs in the terminal buttons that contain neurotransmitters
68
Two ways to remove excess neurotransmitters from the synaptic cleft
Enzymatic degradation Reuptake- presynaptic neuron, postsynaptic neuron
69
Neurotransmitter Acetylcholine (ACh):
controls muscle movement and plays a role in mental processes such as learning, memory, attention, sleeping, and dreaming.
70
Neurotransmitter Dopamine:
is released in response to behaviors that feel good or are rewarding to the person or animal. Because dopamine activity makes us feel good, many drug addictions involve increased dopamine activity.
71
neurotransmitters Epinephrine and norepinephrine:
primarily have energizing and arousing properties. Epinephrine was formerly called “adrenaline”. Both epinephrine and norepinephrine are produced in the brain and by the adrenal glands that rest on the kidneys.
72
neurotransmitters Serotonin:
is involved in dreaming and in controlling emotional states, especially anger, anxiety, and depression. People who are generally anxious and/or depressed often have low levels of serotonin.
73
neurotransmitters GABA:
is a major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain. Remember that inhibitory neurotransmitters tell the post-synaptic neurons NOT to fire. It slows CNS activity and is necessary for the regulation and control of neural activity. Without GABA the central nervous system would have no “brakes” and could run out of control.
74
Glutamate:
the brains major excitatory neurotransmitter. Glutamate is important in learning, memory, neural processing, and brain development. More specifically, glutamate facilitates growth and change in neurons, and the migration of neurons to different sites in the brain, all of which are basic processes of early brain development.

Psychology (5 decks)

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