Final Exam Unit 1 Terms Flashcards
Psychology
Scientific study of behavior and mental processes.
Empiricism
Gathering information using your five senses (objective).
Biological Approach
Human and animal behavior is seen as the direct result of events in the body, also known as neuroscience.
Psychodynamic Approach
(Sigmund Freud) Mental and behavior problems are caused by conflicts between acceptable behavior and unacceptable, unconscious desires.
Humanistic Approach
(Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow) Emphasizes free will, self-actualization, and human nature as growth seeking experiences as motivation for behavior.
Cognition
Study how we think, remember, store, and use information from our environment using a vast array of mental processes.
Evolutionary Approach
How does this thought process give us the advantage from a time when we didn’t have thought processes (natural selection, adaption)
Socio-Cultural Approach
Cultural behavior, does the behavior change on culture, age, race, occupation, religion, income.
Descriptive Research
To observe, collect, and record data.
Naturalistic Observation
Watch in natural habitat from afar, without them knowing it.
Case Studies
In-Depth study of a single subject or small group of strangers.
Survey Research
Form a “polling” to measure wide variety of psychological behaviors and attitudes.
Correlational Research
Observing or measuring two or more variables to find the relationship between them.
Plasticity
The brain has a special capacity to change and adapt as we experience new things or encounter injuries.
Autonomic
Automatic motor system that automatically, and involuntarily activates or inhibits internal organs of the body.
Sympathetic
Fight or flight; danger meter
Parasympathetic
Calms you down; relaxes you.
Organization of the Nervous system
Central: Hindbrain, midbrain, forebrain, spinal cord
Peripheral: autonomic, somatic
Somatic
Sensory and motor system that relay information about touch and pain to the central nervous system, and send messages from the brain to the muscles to produce voluntary movement.
Hindbrain
Contains the Medulla “critical bodily functions”, cerebellum “walking and balance”, and Pons “arousal and sleep”
Cerebellum
“walking and balance”
- Walking and fine motor skills
- muscle memory, forgets extra information.
The Limbic System
Emotional response when in a particular situation. Makes your facial expressions and body movements.
Amygdala
“Fear and Anxiety”
- Ball at the base of hippocampus
- Helps recognize bonds with people you know
- Remembers when something fearful happens for survival
Hippocampus
“learning and memory” Long cord in the middle of the brain, very easily damaged.
Hypothalamus
“Body regulation” triangular piece next to the amygdala.
Frontal Lobe
Motor Cortex
Prefrontal Cortex
Attention and short term memory
Parietal Lobe
Somatosensory cortex (touch, pain, stimuli)
Temporal Lobe
Auditory cortex
Occipital Lobe
Vision cortex
Cerebral Cortex
Outside layer of the brain, ‘gray matter’
Right Hemisphere
Spatial location, faces, art/music, creativity, “whole units”
Left Hemisphere
Logic, mathematics, verbal skills, conscious awareness, doing sequential steps
The Neuron
Specialized cell of the nervous system that is used to detect information, transmit information, and affect muscle glands.
Soma
Neuron cell body
Dendrites
Receive messages from neighboring neurons.
Axon
Conducts nerve impulse from the cell body to distant location.
Myelin Sheath
(Glial Cells) Protects, increases speed, and efficiency of nerve impulse.
Terminal Buttons
Release chemical messages (neurotransmitters) onto neighboring dendrites.
Synaptic Vesicles
Store neurotransmitters.
Neurotransmitters
Chemical messages.
Excitatory Synapse
Neuron more likely to produce an action potential
Inhibitory Synapse
Neuron is less likely to produce an action potential.
Action Potential
Brief wave of positive electrical charge that sweeps down the axon.
