Exam 1 Flashcards
- The definition of psychology has evolved over the past 130 years to mean:
: The scientific study of behavior and mental processes
- The branch of psychology that studies the relationship between behavior and bodily processes and systems is known as:
: biological psychology
- The decision-making model known as the______, involves evaluating all the alternatives, one characteristic at a time, starting with the most important feature and scratching each alternative off the list of possible choices if it fails to meet the criterion
Elimination-by-aspects mode
- _______ is the scientific study of the nervous system.
Neuroscience
- Edward Titchener (1867–1927) started a school of thought in psychology called:
structuralism
- Louis forgot to bring his pillow when he went camping for the weekend, so he spent a very uncomfortable night. It didn’t occur to him that he could use his down-filled jacket as a pillow. This example best illustrates
functional fixedness
- Often resembling the branches of a tree, which of the following are the short fibers extending from the neuron’s cell body that receive information from other neurons or from sensory receptor cells?
dendrites
- Responsible for carrying information from the neuron to other cells in the body (including other neurons), the _____ is a single, elongated tube that extends from the cell body in most neurons.
axon
- The heuristic by which we estimate an event’s likelihood of happening by comparing how similar its essential features are to our prototype of the event is called the _____heuristic.
representative
- The brief electrical impulse by which information is transmitted along the axon of a neuron is called a(n)
action potential
the minimum level of stimulation required to activate a particular neuron is called the _____ threshold
stimulus
the early school of psychology called functionalsm was largely influenced by the ideas of
William James
- Functionalism differs primarily from structuralism in that functionalism emphasized
the function of behavior and mental experiences
- The decision-making strategy known as the _____model, involves basing a decision on one thing in order to simplify the choice among many alternatives.
single-feature
- In order for an action potential to begin, the neuron must ______, which has been preceded by a stimulation of other neurons or sensory receptors.
Depolarize
Freud believed that human behavior was motivated by unconscious conflicts that were almost always _____ or ______ in nature.
sexual;aggressive
- Behaviorism differs from psychoanalysis MOST notably in the behaviorists’ emphasis on:
that which is observable
- Devan is studying for his midterm and is quizzing himself on the topic of neurons. He is trying to figure out what that “tiny space” is where neurons connect. You tell him that he is correct if he guesses the:
synaptic gap
- The entire process through which neurotransmitters are released by one neuron, cross the synaptic gap, and then attach to receptor sites on the dendrites of surrounding neurons is known as:
Synaptic transmission
- Melissa has been asked to write a paper on the history of the school of psychology called behaviorism. She will MOST likely include work by which group of three psychologists?
Pavlov, Watson, Skinner
- The model known as the _________________model of decision making involves generating a list of the most important factors, then using an arbitrary rating scale to rate each alternative on each factor, and, finally, adding the ratings together for comparison purposes.
additive
- The process by which neurotransmitter molecules detach from a postsynaptic neuron and are reabsorbed by a presynaptic neuron so they can be recycled and reused is called:
reuptake
- The neuron responsible for communicating information from one neuron to the next is also known as a(n):
Interneuron
- In contrast to behaviorism’s focus on behavior as being shaped by external causes, humanistic psychology regarded which of the following as the important influences on human behavior?
Self-determination and free will
- The relationship between the receptor site on a neuron and the neurotransmitter can best be characterized as similar to the relationship between a:
Lock and key
- Josie is conducting a study on whether sleep deprivation increases stress levels. She will manipulate the levels of sleep by randomly assigning subjects to different conditions. In some, subjects will sleep fewer hours than in others. In this experiment, sleep is the:
independent variable
- A patient suffers from a number of symptoms, including depression, sleep disturbances, and mood fluctuations, as well as problems with learning and memory retrieval. Her doctor prescribes Prozac and other drugs because the patient’s problems are probably due to abnormal levels of which two neurotransmitters?
Serotonin and norepinephrine
- Dr. Setiadi uses acupuncture, an ancient Chinese procedure, in his medical practice. Acupuncture as a pain-killing technique involves inserting needles at various points in the body. This technique is assumed to involve the production of________ by the brain.
_endorphins
- Josie is conducting a study on whether sleep deprivation increases stress levels. She will be observing and measuring levels of stress based on whether the subjects were assigned to the deprived or nondeprived sleep conditions. In this experiment, the stress level is the:
dependent variable
- Which of the following is not a goal of psychology?
to illustrate behavior and mental processes
- Dr. Fine is a psychologist who emphasizes the importance of unconscious influences in her work with patients. It is most likely that Dr. Fine conceptualizes her work from a ___________perspective.
psychodynamic____
- A hypothesis is:
a tentative statement about the relationship between variables
- Francine has tried everything to relieve her back pain, from changing her sleeping positions to prescription pain relief. She has recently started acupuncture and has noticed relief from her symptoms, likely due to the ______ released during acupuncture that are said to be a hundred times more potent than morphine.
endorphins
- A drug that mimics a neurotransmitter is called a(n):
agonist
- Cynthia always buys the brand of paper towels that is on sale, even if it is not the highest quality towel. She makes her paper-towel-buying decision based on the _____________ model of decision making.
_single-feature
- A drug that acts as a(n) ______ blocks the effect of a neurotransmitter
___antagonist
- The branches at the end of the axon that contain synaptic vesicles are called:
Axon terminals
- When Vasilis is faced with the decision of which of two equally attractive apartments to rent, he makes a list of what is most important to him and gives each factor a numerical rating. Apparently he is using the _________ model of decision making.
additive
- You have discovered in your recent research study that as self-reported levels of happiness increase, binge-eating behavior significantly decreases. You have just revealed a ______ correlation in your research.
negative
- The tiny pouches in axon terminals that contain neurotransmitters are called:
synaptic vesicles
- Karen is going to measure happiness based on how frequently a person smiles or laughs. This measure of happiness is called her ______ definition.
operational
- Neurotransmitters can be found in:
synaptic vesicles
- A theory:
A tentative explanation that tries to integrate and account for the relationship of various findings and observations.
- The National Health and Social Life Survey gathered information about the sexual practices of U.S. adults between the ages of 18 and 59. This is an example of ______, in that every member of the larger group has an equal chance of being selected for inclusion in the sample.
random selection