Exam 1 Flashcards
basic research
attempt to understand the fundamental principles that govern behavior and mind
- academic
- usually with healthy people
- understand how/why
- NOT solve anything
applied psych
solving practical problems by changing behavior or altering environment, trying to solve something
- reseach
- practice
Applied reseach
- done to discover more effective way to solve specific problem
Applied practice
actual application of the techniques to problems
transitional research
effort to translate basic findings into practical solutions, basic research –> applied solutions
Applied psych
broken down according to problem trying to solve, could be research/practice/both
clinical psych
identify, prevent, and relieve distress/dysfunction that has psych origin, type of applied
- psychiatrist
- counseling psychologist
daulism
- philosophical position that the mind and body are separate
- Rene Descartes
tabula rasa
blank slate, everything you are you learned, you are born with no knowledge
- aristotle and plato
empiricism
knowledge arises directly from what we observe and experience
- john locke
structuralism
breaking down immediate conscious experience into sensations and feelings (introspection), how things work
- wilhelm wundt and titchener
functionalism
must first understand function of behavior/mental process to understand how it works together, physical traits include psych processes, inspired by darwin
- william james
gestalt
whole is greater than some of its parts, need to see the big picture
- wolfgang kohler
- kurt koffka
psychoanalysis
form of psychotherapy, seeks to help clients learn unconscious thought/behavior/motives
- sigmund freud
behaviorism
observable behavior should be the only topic of study, ignore conscious
- John B Watson
- Skinner
cognitive revolution
increase interest in mind, shift from behaviorism, skepticism in behaviorism
- Noam Chomsky
abnormal psych
explain how/why unusual patterns develop by examining thoughts/emotions/bio
- depression after trauma
behavioral genetics psych
explain individual differences in behavior patterns through genetics
- gene markers of autism
cognitive psych
broad, how people process info, attention/perception/memory/problem solving/language/thought
- eye –> image
comparative psych
study of behavior of non-human animals to compare to humans ( test on mice)
developmental psych
way people develop across lifespan
behavioral neuroscience
understand how specific areas of brain/activities produce behavior, processing face linked to brain area
Personality psych
individual differences, how/why people act different based on character/traits (extroversion)
social psych
how thoughts/actions influenced by social environment (how/why ads work)
consumer behavior
understand decisions
- r = investigate ad effectiveness
- p= design labels to increase interest
educational psych
learning outcomes, increase learning outcomes
- r = test online to increase understanding
- p = design textbook to increase learning
forensic and legal
in legal system
- r = investigate accuracy of witness
- p = testify that defendant is good to stand trial
human factors
design products that increase usefulness
- r = study what burner used more
- p = design product with audience in mind
health psych
increase health with psych application
- r = understand effects of stress
- p = develop campaign to decrease stress at work
industrial/organizational psych
help increase performance
- r = determine what stress causes leave
- p = help increase management training
political psych
understanding psych role in policy
- r = how demographics vote
- p = use r to decide where to campaign
school psych
students’ experience, use psych to increase academics
- r= how to prevent absences
- p = meet with parents to manage angry children
boulder model
scientist and practitioner, bother researcher in clinician/practice, usually PhD
veil model
scholar and practitioner, emphasis on clinical training/practice, PSYD
Steps of theory/data cycle
- revision, scientific method, as you gain more data you object the theory
- theory –> research Q –> research design –> hypothesis –> support or revision
Good theory
- supported by data
- consistent with itself and other theories
- falsifiable
Publication/peer review process
- very rigorous
- rarely accepted first try
- journal –> editor –> 2-5 expert of field
- takes 2 months - 2 years
- make sure information if quality and correct
How science journalism can get story wrong
- research -> research institution of university/university PR-> PR gets in touch with news-> internet -> cable news-> local new -> public
- lots of steps
why research is better than other sources
- based on research rather than experience
- experience in confounded
- research is probabilistic
- experience has no comparison group
How intuition is biased
- being swayed by a good story
- persuaded by what easily comes to mind
- failure to think about what we cannot see
- focusing on evidence we like (confirmation bias)
- being biased about being biased
Research article parts
- abstract
- intro
- methods
- results
- discussion
- references
Types of peer reviewed articles
- empirical
- review
Empirical PR
report the method and results for NEW research studies
- have research article parts
Review PR
summarizes all of the studies done in field to form a conclusion, qualitative
- meta analysis = effects size/magnitude quantitative, takes round numbers and looks at effects, combines all data from studies again
Why scientists not objective in designing experiments
because each person has there own individual values and beliefs about how the world should be
- these determine what we do and how we do it
descriptive experimental design
nonexperimental, describe and predict behavior and mental processes
quasi-experimental
use already created group/sometimes can’t randomly sign/groups are not randomly assigned
experimental designs
only study that can determine causal relationship between variables
variables
any event/behavior that varies, must have at least two possible values
independent variable
what are manipulated, aka factors
dependent variable
what is measured
levels of IV
all values of independent variable being tested (treatments/conditions)
operational definitions
how exactly we measure dependent variables, decide beforehand what count as trait
Key aspects of experiment
- manipulation
- randomization
- control
Manipulation
- treatment groups
- simplest experiment has two group
1. experimental
2. control
-
Randomization
how we decide groups, population -> random selection -> sample -> random assign -> either experimental or control group
control
want to control confounding variables so they don’t affect dependent variable
- specific for each experiment
control group
not manipulated
experimental/treatment group
independent variable is manipulated
Placebos
substance/treatment given to control group that should have no effect
- help see real effect of treatment
extraneous/confounding variables
other variables not IV that could affect results
random selection
taken from population, creates sample group
random assignment
taken from sample, try to create roughly equal groups, distribute variable evenly, done using chance procedures, everyone has an equal chance to participate
types of descriptive studies
- naturalistic observation
- case study
- survey
- correlation study
naturalistic observation
look at environment to observe behaviors
- strength: realistic setting
- W =only describe, not private/rare events, absorb observer bias, poor control
case study
intensive examination of a specific person/situation
- S = very detailed, rare/private for normal
- W = may not be representative, can’t determine causation
Survey
questionnaires or interviews given to many people
- S = lots of data, fast, inexpensive
- W = question wording, response bias/social desirability bias, sampling errors/biased, convenience
correlation study
relationship between 2+ variables and determine strength of relationship
- S = contest predictions, evaluate theories, and suggest new hypothesis, useful and cannot manipulate variables
- W = correlation is not causation
Correlations
- positive (increase one increase the other)
- negative (increase one decrease other)
- 0 (no predicted value)
R values
correlation coefficient
- sign = direction of relationship
- number = strength of relationship
- between negative one and positive one
third variables in correlations
other variable that influences
reverse causation
can go either way, both effect each other
reciprocal causation
can affect environment and be affected by environment
reliability
get same results when measure same seeing the same way
viability
the degree that test accurately measures, accuracy
- internal
- external
internal viability
how only the independent variable influences dependent variable, trust that IV caused the DV to change, experiments not confounded
external viability
generalizability of results, consistent in real world
descriptive stats
mean, median mode (central tendancy)
- variability (range, STDEV, variance)
mean
average, skewed by outliers, used most
median/central tendency
middle point
- total/2
- one number represents score set
range
subtract lowest from highest
STDEV
how much spread there is between points and average
- how close measures are to average
variance
STDEV ^2
inferential stats
make judgement with data
- stats makes 5% bet that is is wrong/chance, rare
5% rule/p-value
if it’s 0.05 it is statistically different
5 principles of ethics
A = beneficence and nonmaleficence B = fidelity and responsibility C = integrity D = justice E = respect for people's rights and dignity
informed consent
participants given information about the risks and benefits or the research so they can decide whether to participate in an informed manner
deception
true nature not revealed until after it’s over, millgram, can be used to a point but needs debriefing
debriefing
post experimental process of revealing all aspects/nature
Major study in history that breached ethical standards
tuskegee syphilis study, participants were not treated respectfully, participants were harmed by not being told penicillin was a treatment, the participants were a targeted disadvantaged social group
Replication crisis
1/2 - 3/4 of studies are hard to replicate
- 50-75% studies are not repeated
- big problem and caused distrust in the field
Replication
repetition of findings previously presented or published
- exact/direct
- conceptual
Exact/direct replication
scientist tries to replicate using exactly the same as original
Conceptual replication
provide support for theory/hypothesis but not exactly the same process/measure
reasons for non-replication in psych
- fabricated/falsified data
- sample size
- culturally and generationally specific
- poor replication quality
How to fix replication crisis
- replicate and share results
- study -> replicate 1 -> publish and dissemination 1 -> publish and dissemination 2 -> publish and dissemination 3
open science
- open data
- open source
- open access
- open methodology
- open peer review
- open education resources
File drawer problem
most studies show positive effect, studies that show neg/no results do not get published, bias that studies that show effect get published
Structure of nuron
- dendrites = receive
- soma = cell body
- nucleus = center of soma, DNA/nucleic acid
- axon = length depends on purpose
- ap
- synapse
- myelin sheath = insulator, increase speed and efficiency
- nodes of ranvier = increase speed, break in myelin, regenerate ap
Functional class of neurons
- motor = CNS -> PNS
- sensory = PNS -> CNS
- interneuron
Structural class of neurons
- multi polar neuron
- bipolar neuron
- unipolar
Multipolar neuron
- most common
- can carry sensory and motor info
- can cause muscles to contraction
- 1 axon with multiple different dendrites
Bipolar neurons
- rare
- found with sensory perception in the eye and ear
- in retina
- 1 axon and 1 dendrite
- close to surface
- pass in one direction
unipolar neurons
- one action
- small section of dendrites
- most of body sensory neurons
- 1 process from cell body
- whole thing considered axon
Resting membrane potential
- -70mV
- more negative inside cell
- three sodium ions leave the cell and 2 potassium ions enter
Neurons are polarized
at resting state, -70, more negative inside cell
How ions separated
by phospholipid bilayer, there is more potassium inside the cell and more chloride and sodium outside
What pressures act on ions
- diffusion
- electrostatic pressure
Gated channels
normally closed
- open in response to specific stimuli
- ligand gated
- voltage gated
ligand gated channels
closed at rest, has binding site, opens when ligand binds with receptor
voltage gated channels
opens when electrical potential across membrane is altered
metabolictropic receptors
- receptor types that take longer to kick in but lasts longer
- work by activating G protein/second messengers
- either alter the opening of G protein gated ion channel for stimulating affecter enzyme they either synthesizes or breaks down a second messenger
ionotropic receptors
different types allow different flow, ligand gated, faster but don’t last as long
how ap initiated
- neurons receive chemical messages from dendrites and bind to ligand gated channels -> change in charge
- if charge is strong enough it produces an ap
- neuron must become more positive to reach threshold
- sodium enters cell
Spatial summation
NT linger, charge builds up, see repeated messages
temporal summation
enough positive charge to create negative -55mV -> fire
hyperpolarization
more IPSP then EPSP
- decreases membrane potential further away from threshold charges further apart
depolarization
increases membrane potential toward neutrality and approach threshold
- more EPSP than IPSP
threshold of excitation
- 55mV
- potassium leaves cell by diffusion
ions/channels involved in ap generation
- sodium channels and potassium channels
- potassium, chloride, sodium, animo
refractory period
sodium ions channels close
- neuron cannot fire right away
- happens because neuron is too negative and has to reach resting potential
myelin
insulate the axon and speed up process
nodes of ranvier
where ap regenerates with ion channels
saltatory conduction
when the ap skips the nodes of ranvier to next nodes of ranvier
parts of synapse
- vesicle = store/carry NT
- synaptic gap = space in between dendrite and axon term
- receptor
- NT
- presynaptic terminal button
- post synaptic spine
Neuromuscular junction
synapse between a neuron and a muscle cell
steps of NT
- synthesis = neurons produce chems for NT
- storage/transport - neurons store NT in vesicles, some need to be transported down axon
- ap
- release = ap triggers release of NT into synaptic cleft
- receptor binding = NT cross cleft and attach to receptor on postsynaptic
- inactivation = reuptake, diffuse away, inactivated by enzymes
Classes of NT
- amino acids
- monoamines
- acetycholine
amino acids
glutamate = excitatory GABA = inhibitory
monoamines
- dopamine (reward, movement)
- norepinephrine (hunger, alertness)
- serotonin (mood/sleep)
acetycholine
learning, memory, muscle contraction
Glutamate
increase CNS activity
- too much = epilepsy
- stim by hallucinogenics
GABA
decrease in CNS activity
- too little = epilepsy
- stim by alcohol
types of glial cells
- microglia
- astrocytes
- oligodendrocytes
microglia
brains immune cells, access figure sites, clean up neurons
astrocytes
provide nutrients, uptake of NT, regulate B flow and B brain barrier by wrapping around BV
oligodendrocytes
in CNS
- Schwann in PNS
CNS
brain and sc
PNS
everything else
- somatic
- autonomic
a. sympathetic
b. parasympathetic
Somatic
- voluntary
- motor and sensory neurons
- external environment information
- goal = voluntary motor control
autonomic
- involuntary
- internal organ/environment
- smooth/cardiac muscle
- organs/glands
a. sympathetic
b. parasympathetic
sympathetic
fight or flight
parasympathetic
rest and digest
gray matter
cell bodies, outside, soma with no myelin
white matter
myelinated axons
brain has __ cerebral hemispheres
2
commissures
- white matter tracks connecting hemispheres
- allow communication between lateralized areas
corpus callosum
- largest commissures
- bridge between hemispheres
forebrain
- evolutionarily
- newest
- voluntary
- process most comples
midbrain
- substantia nigra
- VTA (motivation, reward, addiction)
hindbrain
- oldest
- mid + hind = brainstem
- perform primitive/life necessary functions
- priority when starving
4 lobes of brain
- frontal
- parietal
- occipital
- temporal
Frontal lobe
- motor
- executive functions
- personality, decision/plan/perform
parietal
- sensory info
- integrate info from senses
occipital
visual
temporal
memory/emotion/auditory
prefrontal cortex
- control executive function
- high order mental processes
- control over some more primitive brain areas to guide behavior
- last to fully develop @ 20
- important in addiction
Limbic system regions
- amygdala
- hypothalamus
- hippocampus
amygdala
regulate emotion, fear
hypothalamus
control autonomic NS and endocrine system
hippocampus
learning, memory, emotions
Basal ganglia function
motor control, nigrostriatal dopamine pathwat
2 major dopaminergic pathways
- nigrostriatal = substantia nigra -> dop -> stiatum
- VTA -> dop -> nucleus accumbens
Thalamus
process and relay stations, motor info, re-routes info
hypothalamus
controls autonomic NS and endocrine, controls basic drive, stress response
HPA axis
hypothalamus -> pituitary -> adrenal glands release cortisol and trigger stress response
raphe nuclei
make serotonin, mood and sleep
locus coeruleus
noradrenalin (norepinephrine)
hindbrain
- essential for life
- medulla
- pons
- cerebellum
medulla
- HR
- breathing
- can sense toxins
- BP
pons
- bulb
- control sleep/wakefulness
- reticular activating system
cerebellum
- little brain
- lots of cells
- motor control *fine
- coordination
- balance
- some cognitive
phrenology
structure of skull determines character and mental capacity
lateralization of brain
- L hem = language, receive info/controls R side of body
- R hem = nonverbal info/visual recognition/emotion/perception, receives info/controls L side of body
Split brain
- corpus collosum cut
- can see and say what if from R eye but not from L because info can’t cross
fMRI
can see what area of the brain is most active, detects change in cerebral B flow, functional
PET
- what area of brain have more NT receptor and transporters, injected with radioactively tagged mlc that binds
- can measure brain activity, injected with FDG with radiolabeled
EEG
pick up electro activity from cortex/scalp, senses brain waves, picks up electrical potential, bad for spacial
3 levels of analysis in psych
- biological
- individual
- social
biological analysis
memory as brain structure (neuroanatomy)/neurochemical (NT)/gene (hereditory)
individual analysis
perception, cognition, behavior, individual differences
social analysis
cultural, interpersonal (groups relationship)
