midterm 1 Flashcards
Psychology
scientific study of the causes of behaviour and associated mental processes
behaviour is multiply determined
produced by many factors (not just one)
__, ___, ___ behavior and mental processes using scientific method
observe
describe
explain
we measure behaviour because it can be quantified and verified and it is used as the…
outer sign of inner reality
- conscious experience and mental processing
empirical, verifiable facts
acquired by observation or experimentation
can be replicated
we measure behaviour to characterize…
conscious experience and mental processing
psychology includes many areas of study:
basic
applied
basic
description, explanation
no practical application
applied
prediction, control
behaviour studied at many different levels
micro - brain processes
molecular - responses of individual
molar - groups
2 groups psychologists classify factors responsible for behaviour
dispositional - personal, internal causes
situational - environmental/external
theses are closely related to…
nature vs nurture
Psychology is (3)
emperical - relying on/derived from observation
theoretically diverse - different levels of analysis
operates in sociohistorical context - psychologists investigate in things we care about/are popular
Behavior is (4)
1) multiply determined
2) shaped by cultural heritage (sociocultural)
3) determined by interaction b/w heredity + environment (nature versus nurture)
4) based on our highly subjective experiences
6 Theoretical Perspectives of Psychology
Biological Psychodynamic Evolutionary Humanistic Cognitive Behavioural
Biological
neuroscience
physiological + biochemical processes
brain & CNS, biochemical basis of behavior & mental processes
Psychodynamic
unconscious motivation and early childhood experiences (play big role in who you are)
unconscious drives, motives, conflicts
Behaviourism
stimulus-response contingencies
stimulus conditions, overt responses, reinforcement contingencies
ONLY OBSERVED BEHAVIOUR
Cognitive
stimulus conditions and mental processes
mental processes inferred through behavioural indicators
Evolutionary
environmental pressures and adaptations
evolved behaviours and mental mechanisms
Humanistic
achievement of self-actualization
human potential, personal growth
Structuralism (def’n)
uses introspection to identify basic elements or structures of experience
Structuralism
- who
- what
- examined..
- used..
Wundt 1879 - developed 1st psych lab in Leipzig Germany
scientific study of the mind (consciousness)
components of consciousness
introspection
Introspection
careful reporting of inner sensations (mental processes)
Functionalism - who - focus on.. - influenced by.. emphasized study of ...
- James
- functions/adaptive purposes of consciousness
- Darwin
mental operations: thinking produces useful behaviour
Behaviourism
- who (4)
- study
- law of..
- pavlov, watson, thorndike, skinner
- OBJECTIVE study of stimuli-response relations
law of effect: reinforcement
Law Of Effect:
pleasing after effect strengthens action that produced it (REINFORCEMENT)
Gestalt
Wetheimer
organization of cognitive processes
elements alone sufficient
whole greater than sum of its parts
Psychodynamic
Freud
unconscious influences on behaviour
case studies, no research
grand theory of personality (how stages affect person later in life)
Humanistic
Rogers, Maslow
opposed behaviourism, psychodynamic
personal growth, self-actualization
positive side of human nature
Cognitive
Neisser, Simon
re-introduction of the study of mental processes and cognitive structures
using reaction-time, accuracy
infer cognitive processes
Biological
Sperry, Hubel, Wiesel, D.O. Hebb
brain function and behaviour
imaging techniques
Scientific Method
a set of general procedures for gathering and interpreting data
- controlled observation and measurement that permits replication of results
Correlation can help us…but doesnt allow..
but Experimentation allows us to..
predict behavior but doesn’t allow us to draw cause and effect conclusions (infer causation)
(measuring pre-existing differences in participants)
understand and explain behavior,
if you understand you can control and apply
Theory
a system of interrelated ideas used to explain a set of observations
A good theory … (2)
accounts for..
must also be specific enough to..
accounts for a large # of disparate facts
generate testable hypotheses (falsifiable/verifiable)
Hypothesis
tentative statement about the relationship between 2 or more variables
Hypothesis
derived from…
ideally a…
- from previous knowledge
- cause and effect relationship
Steps in a Scientific Investigation
1 - formulate HYPOTHESIS 2 - DESIGN study 3 - collect DATA 4 - ANALYZE data to evaluate hypothesis 5 - communicate RESULTS (evaluation, replication)
Experiments allow researchers to..
draw conclusions about cause and effect relationships
Dependant Variable
measured behavior
Independant Variable
cause of behaviour
Operational Definitions of Variables
how the variables are practically defined
- involves taking something abstract (ex. aggression) and turning it into something measurable (ex. # of times child is suspended for fighting)
Operational Definitions of Variables PERMITS…
assessment of validity
(the extent to which a measure assesses what it claims to measure)
- whether it is a reasonable measure of the general concept
experimental group
exposed to a particular value of the independent variable manipulated by experimenter
control group
comparison group exposed to the naturally occurring or zero value of independent variable
it is crucial that the experimental and control groups be ____ in all respects except for the manipulation of the __ ___
similar
independent variable
Extraneous Variable
any variable other than the independant variable that could influence dependant variable
Confounding
possible extraneous variable between groups compromise cause and effect relationships
Extraneous variables can be equated across experimental and control groups through…
RANDOM ASSIGNMENT of participants to conditions
Within-Subject Design
this rules out..
same subject participates in all conditions or groups
..extraneous subject variables
Within Subject Design
- must be careful about…
order in which subjects participate in the various conditions - COUNTERBALANCING
we often manipulate more than one independant variable in an experiment
therefore we evaluate __ and __ effects of each independant variable
seperate and joint
subject and experimenter expectations can ___ the outcome
influence
Placebo Effect
effect of belief without an actual influence by the presumed causal agent
improvement resulting from the mere expectation of improvement
To protect again Placebo Affects
Double Blind Experiments
Double Blind Experiment
both the participants and the experimenter are unaware of the specific treatment condition
What makes a study an experiment? (2)
1) RANDOM ASSIGNMENT
2) manipulation of INDEPENDANT VARIABLE
Experimental Research
one or more variables are manipulated, and effect of that manipulation on other variables is studied
Advantages of EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH
strict control of variables offer researchers opportunity to draw conclusions about cause & effect relationships
No other method can duplicate this advantage
Limitations of EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH
- the artificiality of the lab setting may influence subjects behavior:
unexpected and uncontrolled variables may confound results:
many variables cannot be controlled and manipulated
Non-experimental Methods are often used to …
initially describe behavior for future research
- evaluate behavior that cant be experimentally examined
- establish DEGREE of relationship b/w different variables and behavior
naturalistic observation:
formal record of observed events in a natural setting
case studies:
detailed history and analysis of a single individual
surveys:
large number of participants complete a self-report questionnaire
Correlational Research
employs ___ ___ to examine the ___ between ___ or ___ ____
statistical methods
relationship
two or more variables
Correlational Research allows for the ___ of behavior from ___ of certain variables
prediction
knowledge
Scatterplot
paired X and Y scores for each variable are plotted as single points
Scatterplots can depict… (3)
positive (direct)
negative (inverse)
or zero
CORRELATION
Correlation
ranges b/w…
quantifies the strength of association between two variables
-1.0 and +1.0
Positive Correlation
as X increases, Y increases
0 -> +1
Negative Correlation
as X increases, Y decreases
0 -> -1
No Correlation
no relationship
0
Descriptive statistics
used to…
2 types
numerical characterizations that describe data
- used to summarize behavioral observations, and compare measurements to test hypothesis
central tendency, variability
central tendancy
type of descriptive statistics
gives a sense of the central score in our data set or where group tends to cluster
3 measures of central tendency
mean: arithmetic average
median: middle value of scores
mode: most frequent score
Variability
degree to which a group of scores are clustered or distributed
2 measures of variability
range
standard deviation - shows how much variation there is from the average (increases/decreases proportionally to variability)
Normal Distribution
1 SD - ___ %
2 SD - ___ %
scores cluster around the mean in the form of a bell-shaped curve
1 SD - 68%
2 SD - 95%
Inferential Statistics
used to determine..
mathematical methods that allow us to determine whether we can generalize findings from sample to population
used to determine whether numerical differences between groups are relevant
use chance or probability
Statistical Significance
indicates that the observed differences were unlikely to occur on the basis of chance alone
Evolutionary Psychology seeks to understand how..
abilities and behaviours have evolved over time due to enviromental demands
Charles Darwin’s dangerous idea
Evolution
Evolution
theory about creation of life that is governed by natural causes that occur over unimaginable tracts of time
Theory of Evolution : (3)
Heredity : offspring share (inherit) similarities with parents
Variation: members of the same species, although similar, share differences
Natural Selection: organisms well adapted to their environment will produce more offspring than those who are less well adapted
If Variation and Heredity and Natural Selection Then…
must have design out of chaos
Social Darwinism
application of darwinism to study of human society
Evolution shapes society and social systems
Social Darwinism - Functionalism
Complex mental functions (e.g., Consciousness) have adaptive significance (William James).
Social Darwinism - Herbert Spencer saw evolution as a …
concept that applied to our social as well as physical world.
“survival of the fittest”
Spencer used principles of Natural Selectional to justify…
justify the exploitation of poor working class.
Sir Francis Galton
interested in…
believed that…
how and why people differ in abilities.
talent/genius and intelligence is inherited and related to one’s moral worth
Sir Francis Galton attempted to base public policy on the concept of…
this started…
genetically superior and inferior people
Started eugenics movement.
Eugenics
The study of improving the human species by applying evolutionary theory to encouraging biologically superior people to interbreed while discouraging biologically inferior people from having offspring.
In response to the extreme abuses of social darwinism and later the eugenics movement, there was a swing in philosophy back towards …
environmental determinism (e.g., tabula rasa). supported by behaviorists
Sociobiology
..attempts to explain…
A hybrid of various disciplines that attempts to explain social behaviours in animal species as influenced by evolutionary processes.
Sociobiology does NOT imply that…
or that..
behaviour is genetically predetermined
or that behaviour is unchangeable (David Buss).
Sociobiology provides a way to understand the…
the human mind and behaviour from an evolutionary perspective.
Evolutionary psychology provides a way to understand the
human mind and complex behaviour from an evolutionary perspective.
Neuron
nerve cell specialized for communication
receives, processes, sends info to other cells
Soma
cell body/central region of neuron
Dendrites
collect info from other neurons
Axon
carries message away from cell body towards next neuron
Axon Hillock
regulates the firing of the neuron in an all-or-none manner
Terminal Buttons
secrete neurotransmitters to next neuron
myelin sheath
insulates axons
prevents cross-talk, speeds transmission
cross-talk
info transfer with other neurons
- scrambled info transfer
(to neurons other than post synaptic neuron)
How do neurons send info?
action potentials
primary objective of each neuron is to determine …
whether they are going to release an action potential or not
The summation of excitatory and inhibitory signals occurs at the …
AXON HILLOCK
Action Potential
(electrical impulse) brief shift in a neuron’s electrical charge that travels along the axon from the cell body (or axon hillock) to the terminal buttons and triggers release of neurotransmitters
Action Potential Events
1) Resting potential
2) stimulated neuron
Na+
3) K+
4) back to normal
1)
Resting Potential: inside of cell membrane negative (-70mv) relative to outside (high [Na+] outside
2) when neuron stimulated, Na+ channels open and Na+ rushes in
E charge becomes +50 mv
3) K+ channels open, K+ rushes out
E charge becomes -75 to -80 mv
4) sodium-potassium transporter (pump) exchanges Na+ and K+
E charge returns to resting potential
Synaptic Transmission
neuronal processing at the synapse:
once charge has headed into terminal buttons
stimulates synaptic vesicles (containing neurotransmitters) to migrate to cell membrane
- vesicles open and release neurotransmitters
Synaptic Transmission
After vesicles open and release neurotransmitters…
neurotransmitters travel across synaptic cleft and bind to appropriate receptor sites
- this open ion channels on post synaptic membrane (lets ions in)
Excitatory/Inhibitory Post Synaptic Potential
neurotransmitter released for reuptake or inactivation by enzymes
Excitatory Post Synaptic Potential
Inhibitory Post Synaptic Potential
Na+
Cl-
NERVOUS SYSTEM comprised of 2 major subsystems
Peripheral NS
Central NS
PNS contains all…
helps us know what is going on with our bodies and helps our bodies repond by..
the neuron based structures outside of the brain and spinal cord.
..controlling muscles and glands which release various hormones like adrenaline
PNS major subsystems
Somatic NS
Autonomic NS
Somatic NS (often consciously controlled) controls:
skeletal muscles, efferent (outbound) and afferent (inbound) nerves
Somatic NS
Efferent vs Afferent
Efferent - Outbound:
commands you give your body: sent from brain, down spine into PNS
Afferent - Inward
info sent to CNS
Autonomic NS (often auto controlled) controls:
glands and smooth muscles (heart & stomach), blood vessels, internal organs
Autonomic NS has two parts
Sympathetic
Parasympathetic
Sympathetic
action, energy output, fight or flight
Parasympathetic
conserve energy, quiet state
CNS comprised of
spinal cord and brain
what makes humans unique among all other creatures on earth
Spinal Reflexes
Spinal Cord connects to PNS with CNS and is capable of making these simple responses
- adaptive b/c it allows you to respond much faster
Brain is divided into (3) parts
Forebrain
Midbrain
Hindbrain
Hindbrain
- involved with..
old part of brain involved with a lot of important life supporting processes
Hindbrain consists of (4)
1) Cerebellum
2) Pons
3) Medulla
4) Reticular Formation
Hindbrain
1) Cerebellum
plays important role in motor control, coordination, balance, eye movement, learning and cognitive abilities
connects to Pons
Hindbrain
2) Pons
sleep control (regulating sleep), connects brainstem to cerebellum
Hindbrain
3) Medulla
regulates heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, muscle tone, circulation
Damage to Medulla can cause..
brain death - irreversible coma
Hindbrain
4) Reticular Formation
involved with processes associated with arousal levels
activation from ascending fibers related to general arousal
Midbrain
control of…
movements associated with fighting and sexual behaviour, spatial localization
Midbrain (3)
Superior Colliculi
Inferior Colliculi
Substantia Nigra
Midbrain
Superior colliculi:
visual system
Midbrain
Inferior colliculi:
auditory sysem
Midbrain
Substantia nigra:
source of the dopamine system
control of voluntary movement, connected to Parkinson’s disease
Forebrain
includes…
sub-cortical structures as well as the cerebrum
Forebrain Subcortical structures (3)
1) Thalamus
2) Hypothalamus
3) Limbic System
Forebrain
1) Thalamus
relay station for all sensory information EXCEPT smell
Forebrain
2) Hypothalamus
controls pituitary, which influences ANS, physiological maintenance (homeostasis)
Forebrain
3) Limbic System
- parts (4)
emotion and memory
a) Amygdala
b) Hippocampus
c) Medial-forebrain bundle
d) limbic cortex
Forebrain
3) Limbic System
a) AMYGDALA
emotion, particularly fight or flight response
Forebrain
3) Limbic System
b) HIPPOCAMPUS
memory
Forebrain
3) Limbic System
c) MEDIAL-FOREBRAIN BUNDLE
pleasure (dopamine system)
Forebrain
3) Limbic System
d) limbic cortex
above corpus collosum
Corpus Callosum
neural bridge that connects the two sides of your brain called hemispheres
Forebrain:
CEREBRUM
corpus callosum
cortex
Forebrain: Cerebrum:
CORPUS CALLOSUM
communication b/w cerebral hemispheres (200 million connections)
Forebrain: Cerebrum:
CORTEX (4)
Frontal
Parietal
Occipital
Temporal
- LOBE
Forebrain: Cerebrum: Cortex:
FRONTAL LOBE
(2)
- assist us in motor function (movement) language and memory
1) Primary motor cortex - voluntary movement of body parts
2) prefrontal cortex - planning, strategies, self-awareness
BROCA’s AREA - vital for formation of speech