Final (Exam 1 and 2 Material) Flashcards
What is the definition of psychology and who is recognized as its father?
- Psychology- associated with behavior and mental processes (human nature)
- Wilhelm Wundt- Opened the first lab in Germany 1879
Describe the Head vs Heart Debate including where you’d place each of the following historical figures and why: Aristotle, Plato, Hippocrates, Galen, and Ancient Egyptians
- The Head vs Heart debate is a debate about which organ played a bigger role in making decisions: the heart of the brain
- Aristotle- Followed the cardiac hypothesis of reasoning, believed this because the heart was centralized, the blood is “hotter” at the heart, you can feel the heart beat but you cannot feel the brain, believed that the brain would cool down the blood (Heart)
- Plato- Tripartite theory of reasoning- Rational Thinking was attributed to the head, Emotional thinking was attributed to the heart, and other emotions (greed, lust etc.) where attributed to the gut. (Head)
- Hippocrates- believed in the humoral theory (balance of black bile, yellow bile. blood, and phlegm would lead to you maintain a healthy lifestyle), he also was convinced that the brain was the major control center. (Brain)
- Galen- Brain was the central organ of cognition, believed in the ventricular theory (though that the ventricles is where thinking took place, and assigned functions to different ventricles) (Brain)
- Ancient Egypts- Believed that the heart was more important than the brain, would preserve all organs, but they would put the brain in the waste basket, the heart would not even be looked at. (Heart)
Describe the Localization versus Holism debate including where you’d place each of the following historical figures and why: Gall, Flourens, Broca. as well as Fritz and Hitzig
- The debate was whether or not the brain works as one, using more with difficult tasks, or if certain sections do certain parts
- Gall- you have bumps on your head that correspond to the area of the brain that is most active (Local)
- Flourens- did experiments on animals rather than humans (hired by French to prove Gall wrong), tried to prove holism by removing parts of pigens brain to prove holism, good methodology bad theory. (Whole)
- Broca- Put pressure on soldiers brain, stopping their ability to talk, found a patient that could only say tan. (Local)
- Fritz and Hitzig- Mapped out the motor cortex of the dog, fritz was a surgeon, and Hitzig play with electricity. (Localism)
What was Descartes role in the history of psychology?
- Followed the dualism approach to scientific study
- The body is an automation with tiny tubes or balloons running into muscles
- Church hated him
Compare and contrast structuralism, functionalism, behaviorism, and the psychoanalytic paradigms in psychology?
- Structuralism- is advanced interception, structuralism the idea that the consciousness can be broken down into basic elements, Criticism: you can’t get defiant answers, experiences would change experiences (Tichnere)
- Functionalism: focuses on the adaptive purpose or intent of cognition and behaviors, Criticisms: unable to explain social change, downplaying roles of individual. (James)
- Behaviorism- modifying behavior through rewards and punishment, Criticisms: threw out the mind, did not show how we feel (Skinner)
- Psychoanalytic- Ego, Id, Superego, Criticism: over sexualized things, hard to subjectify, lack of counter evidence (Freud)
Summarize and differentiate between the five modern directions of psychological study described in class?
- Biological- looking though a biological lens
- Humanistic- Belief in existence of free will and we are all essentially “good” and searching for self-actualization
- Social-Culture- Investigates the relationship between group dynamics and the influences of a cult
- Cognitive- Studying mental processes such as: memory, intelligence, perception, problem solving, learning
- Developmental- Investigating various changes that can occur at certain points across the lifespan
Compare and contrast the terms hypothesis and theory as well as sample and populations
- Theory- an organized set of principles that describes, predicts, and explains some phenomenon
- Hypothesis- A specific testable prediction, often derived from a theory
- Population- the overall group of people
- Sample- random and representative subset of the population
Explain the three main types of descriptive methods including their general benefits and concerns
- Observational- study of participants in their natural environments, Cons: mustn’t disturb the environment or participants Pros: good for behavior
- Survey- Survey, Pros- Cheap, large scale. Cons- honesty, non-responsive, how the questions are phrased
- Case Study-In lengthy detailed investigation of an individual of small group of people. Pros: In detail. Cons: Expensive, time consume, cannot apply to population
Outline what is meant by strength and direction of correlations as well as how to determine these elements from a given example such as a correlation coefficient
- 1,0,-1
- 1,-1 are strong
Describe experimental designs in terms of experimental groups, control groups, as well as independent and dependent variables
- Control
- Experimental group you control
- Dependent- Changed variable
- Independent- what the variable effects
What are some concerns with using an experimental design?
- Bias
- Participator effect
- Placebo effect
- Nacebo effect
- Double-blind
- Hawthrone effect
Compare and contrast the processes of intra-neuronal versus inter-neuronal communication
- Intra-neuronal- electrical-Resting potential (state of the inactive neuron), depolarization (electrical charge towards the threshold, to create an action potential), refractory period (point where new action potential cannot generate)
- Inter-neuronal- chemical (neurotransmitter), Inhibitory and Excitatory
Describe the anatomy of a prototypical neuron
- Dendrites (receive messages from other cells)
- Cell Body (Soma)
- Axon (passes messages away from the cell body to other neurons, muscles or glands_
- Myelin Sheath (covers the axon of some neurons and helps speed neural impulses)
- Terminal Buttons (form junctions with other neurons dendrites)
Explain the difference between an agonist and antagonist interaction
- Agonist- mimics/enhances neurotransmitters effect on receptor site
- Antagonists- blocks/reduces cell’s response to other neurotransmitters
Outline the four major neurotransmitters discussed in class and their association with various functions
- ACH- helps with memory, and muscle contractions (Alhzymers)
- Dopamine- pleasure neurotransmitters (Shz or Parkenzins)
- Serotonin- mood, dreaming (REM sleep), depression
- GABA- calming (inhibitory), restorative sleep, insomnia
Summarize the major functions of the areas of the hindbrain, limbic system, forebrain, cortical lobes, as well as the corpus callosum.
The hind brain- Medulla, Pons. Reticular Formation, Cerebellum
-Medulla- important for varius non-conscious functions (HR, BP)
-Pons- highway for sensory and motor information (front is motor and back is sensory)
-Reticular Formation- neuronal network important for states of consciousness
-The cerebellum- muscle coordination and balance
-Limbic system- Hippocampus and amygdala
-Hippocampus- (memory) important for processing and creating new memories from experiences, contains 10 years of memories
-Amygdala- (emotions) processes of basic negative emotions such as fear. aggression and rage
-Forebrain/midbrain- Thalamus and hypothalamus
-Thalamus- main relay station for major sensory info
-Hypothalamus- plays a crucial role for modulating and regulating a large number of behaviors from eating to sleeping
Cortical lobes- Frontal, Parietal, Occipital, Temporal
-Temporal- important for processing, sounds, including language as well as recognizing visual information and accessing new memories
-Occipital-Important for processing and integrating components of visual information from color and contrast to line orientation and shadows
-Parietal Lobe- important for maintain aspect of out attentional system (contains somatosensory cortex)
-Frontal Lobe: contains primary motor cortex, involved with expressive speech, plays a crucial role in planning and impulse control
-Corpus Collousm- Connects the fibers between the two halves of the brain
Discuss subliminal messages, aw well as absolute and difference thresholds (JND)
- Subliminal Messages: a stimulus that is found below the threshold
- Back Masking: a message that has a meaning when played in reverse
- Absolute Threshold-weakest stimulation of the sense that is detected 50% of the time
- Just Noticeable Difference-smallest change between multiple stimuli that is perceived 50% of the time
What is the blind spot in the eye and why does it exist?
-No photoreceptors at optic nerve creating a blind spot
Compare and Contrast the functions of rods and cones
- Rods: help you see black and white, more rods then cones, rods are periphery, scotopic vision, not good with detail
- Cones: help you see color, centrally located, Photopic vision, help you see detail
Explain the function of the ventral and dorsal visual pathways
Ventral- interpret what you see, damage can lead to prosopagnosia
Dorsal- where it is located, damage to this area can lead to motion blindness
Compare and contrast the Trichromatic and Opponent processing Theories of color vision.
- Trichromatic- 3 different photoreceptors are used for the three wavelengths (blue, red, green), explains retinal and not cortical
- Opponent processing-Colors arranged in specific antagonistic pairs, explains the cortical level
Compare and contrast sensory adaptation and habituation
-Habituation- the brain stops attending to constant, unchanging auditory stimuli (cognitive)
Sensory Adaptation- sensory receptors become less responsive with time when exposed to constant non-auditory sensory stimuli (biological)
Explain and give examples of circadian rhythms and zeitgebres
- Circadian rhythms- 24 hour cycle
- Zeitgebres- cues to help entrain our rhythms
- Without zeitgebres our circadian rhythm increases to 27 hours
Describe the changes in sleep stages across a typical night of sleep
-N1,N2,N3 decrease and REM increases
Discuss the associated EEG patterns expected with each stage of sleep, including REM
- -Beta (smaller/faster): wakeful activities and engages state
- Alpha waves (larger/slower): brain waves displayed in a relaxes or lightly . sleeping state
- Theta waves are introduces in N1 (light sleep)
- Delta waves are in N3 (deep sleep)
- N2 have sleep spindles and K-complexes
- REM sleep is similar to wakeful stage
Compare and contrast the various sleep disorders discussed in lecture, not only in regard to symptoms and associated features but also whether or not they would be considered a dysomnia or parasomnia
- Parasominas: sleep difficulties where the main symptom is associated with a specific stage of sleep (REM Behavior disorder, Sleep walking)
- Dysomnias: not a sleep disorder, just a category. Sleep latency and sleep continuity
- Insomnia: difficulties with initiating and or maintaining sleep (dysomina)
- Sleep Apnea: Intermittent periods of suffocation during sleep, leading to continual interruptions of deep sleep (dysomina)
- Narcolepsy: excessive sleepiness
- Nightmare vs Nighterror
Review the various theories on why we sleep and why we dream
- Psychoanalytic Approach: Dreams provide a mental sketchpad to play out our deepest desires and fears
- Manifest Content: reflects the dream itself, the storyline including who is in it, what they do and how u feel
- Latent Content: underlying true meaning of the dream hidden underneath the manifest content
- Activation Information Mode (AIM) Model: Dreams reflect the brain trying to make sense of random firing of sensory brain areas during sleep
- Cognitive Theory: dreams provide the context to try and problem solve current issues in our lives
Be capable of applying classical conditioning terms (conditioned/unconditioned stimulus/response) to various scenarios
- Unconditioned Stimulus: something that automatically triggers an involuntary response without any learning needed
- Unconditioned Response: The involuntary response elicited by the stimulus in without any learning needed
- Conditioned Stimulus: An initially neutral stimulus that comes to elicit a conditioned response after being associated with an unconditioned stimulus
- Conditioned Response: The response that is elicited by a conditioned stimulus: it occurs after the conditioned stimulus is associated with an unconditioned stimulus
Review the following principles of classical conditioning: generalization, extinction, spontaneous recovery, and conditioned taste aversion. Make sure you can apply them to various scenarios
- Generalization: A new stimulus resembling the original elicits a response similar to CR
- Extinction: Weakening of the relationship between the CR and the CS by continual presentation of the CS alone
- Spontaneous Recovery: CR recurring after a time delay
- Conditioned Taste Aversion- getting sick from eating burritos, you do not like Mexican food
Be capable of applying operant conditioning principles (reward/punishment positive/negative) to various scenarios
- Reinforcement: The process by which a stimulus or event strengthens increases the probability of the response that it follows
- Punishment: The process by which a stimulus or event weakens or reduces the probability of the response that it follows
- Positive: Getting something (reinforcement: money for grades, punishment: getting yelled at for something u did)
- Negative: Removing something (reinforcement: removing headache, punishment: if you do this I will take away something you like)
Be capable of applying operant conditioning schedules of reinforcement (various/fixed interval/ratio) to various scenarios
- Fixed Ratio: Same number of desired responses required on each trial before receiving the reward
- Variable Ratio: The number of responses required for reward varies for each trial
- Fixed Interval: Same amount of time must pass on each trial before reward is received
- Variable Interval: Reinforcement possibilities after varying amounts of time
Explain the concept of learned helplessness and its application to real world scenarios
Look Up
Explain aspects of observational learning including Albert Bandura’s Bobo doll experiment and the concept of latent learning
- Violent tv program, effect on children
- Latent learning-a form of learning that occurs without any obvious reinforcement of the behavior or associations that are learned.
- Look up rat experiment
