Exam 1 Flashcards
define “clinical bias”
The incorrect perception that psychologists are all clinicians (treatment providers)
__________ + __________ = psychology
Philosophy + Physiology
Psychology:
“psyche” = ______________
“ology” = _____________
inner spirit
scientific study
Psychology is the scientific study of…
mental (cognitive) processes and behavior
Science is about _______ investigation- knowable through direct observation
Empirical
Do psychologists typically study normal or abnormal behaviors?
Normal
Nativism
the mind possesses innately a set of procedures or internally represented processing rules
Who was considered the “Father of Psychology”?
Wilhelm Wundt
The basic constituent elements of mind, and conscious experience
Structuralism
List the 3 structuralists discussed in class and how they contributed
1) Wundt= started it all w/ lab
2) Tichner= gave structuralism its name
3) Fechner= “Weber’s Law” on JND
what structuralist analyzed elements of sensations and feelings?
Tichner
Empirical research
Observable, replicable, regular)
Falsifiable
(can be disproved)
phrenology
reading bumps on the skull
Palmistry
Reading palms
List the 4 steps in a scientific investigation.
- NOTE a phenomenon of interest
- DETECT regularities to generate predictions
- GENERATE hypothesis
- TEST
Define Hypothesis
“A prediction about the relationship between variables”
What are the 2 types of research methods?
Descriptive and experimental
Descriptive Research methods
Naturalistic, Observation, Case Study ETC
Experimental Research Methods
Controlled group, uses inferential statistics to give associated Probability
All Research must be _________ & __________
valid and reliable
What are the 3 different kinds of validity? Define them
Face Validity= on the face of things, seems valid, but isn’t
External Validity= asking “is this valid to the real world”
Internal validity= have we captured the relationship of what we are trying to measure, w/o cofounds
When the act of observing influences or affects the behavior under investigation
Reactivity
What was the focus of the Phineas Gage case study
He had a major head injury, surgery changed his entire personality
Difference between sample and population
Sample= people participating in your study
Population= the group you really care about
Self report close-ended questions
surveys
Arithmetic average of a set of scores
Mean
Most frequently occurring score in a set of scores
Mode
Middle point in a set of scores
Median
What is correlation
Measure of association between two variables
What does a correlation coefficient tell us?
Direction of the relationship
Strength of the relationship
Environment agents that damage the developing child
Teratogens
What is it when you manipulate a variable, note what changes, and allow determination of cause and effect relationships
an experiment
What is the definition of a variable of interest that allows it to be directly measured
Operational definition
Independent variable
X variable is manipulated by the experimenter
Dependent variable
y variable the outcome of interest
When everyone in the population has an equal chance of being selected for the sample, or assigned to either group in an experiment
Random Sampling
Define the Law of Large Numbers
The larger our sample, the more confidence we have that our results reflect the true state of the population
Bayesian analysis
Estimates parameters of underlying distributions based on what is already known
Process of gaining permission and providing explanation of risks, procedures…
INFORMAL CONCENT
What does the central nervous system focus on
the brain and spinal cord
What 2 parts is the peripheral nervous system composed of?
Somatic nervous system (musculatory sensation)
Autonomic nervous system (regulated by hypothalamus and brain stem)
Sympathetic nervous system
“fight or flight” response
Prepared body for emergencies
Parasympathetic nervous system
“rest and digest”
Calms the body
Where do dendrites originate?
at the soma
What is the function of dendrites
receiving information
What is the neural function of the soma
information is processed
what is the neural function of the axon
transmits information
The _________ is the microscopic gap between the terminal buttons of one neuron and the dendrite of the next one
Synapse
_____________ Flow into the synapse from the terminal buttons
neurotransmitters
Details about Glial cells
“glue” cells
More plentiful than neurons
involved in recycling neurotransmitters
a neuron at rest has a ___________ charge
slightly negative
List and describe the action potential: excitatory message steps
- Neuron receives stimulation
- Sodium channel opens, sodium rushes in, so more positive charge
- When threshold voltage is reached, action potential occurs
What are the excitatory neurotransmitters?
Acetylcholine (ACh)
Glutamate
what are the inhibitory neurotransmitters
GABA (gamma-amino-butyric acid)
Serotonin
What is the one modulating neurotransmitter
Dopamine
what is the function of acetylcholine (ACh)
Excitatory- muscles, CNA, memory (alzheimers)
What is the function of Dopamine?
Modulating- smoothes out movement, emotional response, and ability to experience pleasure and pain (Parkinson’s Disease, Huntington’s)
What is the function of serotonin?
Inhibitory- mood, arousal, alertness (depression)
What is the function of GABA (gamma-amino-butyric acid)
Inhibitory- CNS (Anxiety)
What is the function of Glutamate
Excitatory, most prevalent in cortex (followed by GABA)
Drugs that affect behavior and mental processes through alterations of conscious awareness are considered…
Psychoactive drugs
What are the categories of psychoactive drugs
Depressants, stimulants, opiates, hallucinogens
Division of the brain: inner to outer
hindbrain
midbrain
forebrain
Divisions of the brain: front to back (cerebral cortex lobes)
Frontal: planning, decision making, memory, personality
Parietal: processing sensations of touch, temperature, pain
Temporal lobes: auditory processing, speech language, comprehension (left hemisphere)
Occipital lobes: vision
divisions of the brain: left/right hemisphere functions
language vs. spatial
communication system that uses the bloodstream rather than neurons
The endocrine system
MRI vs. fMRI
MRI studies brain anatomy
fMRI studies brain function
What is the BOLD signal
Blood Oxygen Level Dependent signal
