MIDTERM Flashcards
1st female psych phd
margaret floy washburn
nature v nurture examples
long standing controversy over the contributions that genes and experience make to the development of psychological traits and behaviors
hereditary
environmental
ex: children’s grammar mostly innate or formed by experience
know and apply biopsychosocial approaches
an integrated approach that incorporates biological, psychological, and social-cultural levels of analysis.
biological approach
concerned with the links between biology and behavior
active processing
refers to sets of procedures in which a learner acts on instructional inputs to generate, re-organize, self-explain, or otherwise goes beyond the encoding of presented material.
theory
an explanation using an integrated set of principles that organizes observations and predicts behaviors or events
importance of replication
repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different participants in different situations -> to see whether the basic finding extends to other participants and circumstances
Strengths/ weaknesses of psychological testing methods (case study etc)
Case study-examines one individual in depth in hope of revealing things true of a greater population
Some are revealing. or suggest directions for further study
Many times incorrect information in attained because the individual piece of data is an outlier
mistake of overgeneralizing results
identify different kinds of correlations
positive
none
negative
positive = 2 sets of scores rise and fall together
none = no relationship
negative = 2 sets of scores relate inversely.. one falls and the other rises
distinguish between different kinds of psychological testing methods
case study: one person
survey: random population
naturalistic observation: observation of one person without them knowing that they are being observed
ethics in research- example
informed consent, etc?
placebo effect - apply
experimental results caused by expectations alone; any effect on behavior caused by the administration of an inert substance or condition, which the recipient assumes is an active agent
statistical significance
a statistical statement of how likely it is that an obtained result occurred by chance
sample size
how big the sample is?
informed consent
an ethical principle that research participants be told enough to enable them to choose whether they wish to participate
polarization and depolarization
Depolarization- the change in electric charge inside and outside the cell membrane and the cell becomes positive.
Polarization- the cell becomes negative
synapses - definition and function
the junction between the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving neuron
reuptake - definition
a neurotransmitter’s reabsorption by the sending neuron
opiates
opium and its derivatives, such as morphine and heroin; they depress neural activity, temporarily defined as what an intelligence test measures
receptor sites?
receive the neurotransmitters?
schizophrenia
a group of severe disorders characterized by disorganized and delusional thinking, disturbed perceptions, and inappropriate emotions and actions
dopamine
influences movement, learning, attention, and emotion (excess dopamine reception linked to schizophrenia)
fight or flight
in a moment of danger for example, releases adrenaline and noradrenaline
noradrenaline counteracts the adrenaline
reflex
a simple, automatic response to a sensory stimulus, such as the knee-jerk response
PET scans
a visual display of brain activity that detects where a radioactive form of glucose goes while the brain performs a given task.
limbic system - location/purpose
doughnut-shaped neural system (including the hippocampus, amygdala, and hypothalamus) located below the cerebral hemispheres; associated with emotions and drives.
which part of the brain processes new memories
hippocampus
direct stimulation of the motor cortex results in
movement of the mouth and lips
results of foerster and penfields research
were able to map the motor cortex in hundreds of wide-awake patients by stimulating different cortical areas and observing the body’s responses. They discovered that body areas requiring precise control, such as the fingers and mouth, occupied the greatest amount of cortical space
stimulation of the occipital lobe
visual functions
brain plasticity - define and apply
the brain’s ability to change, especially during childhood, by reorganizing after damage or by building new pathways based on experience.
neurogenesis - define and apply
the formation of new neurons
right and left hemispheres - what do they control?
Right: Creativity, rhythm, spatial awareness, controls left side of body
Left: Language, Numbers, Logic, analysis, Controls right side of the body
research on left handedness
more prone to learning disabilities, allergies, migraines, more common among musicians, mathematicians, pro baseball, architects, artists. (textbook)
conscious vs unconscious serial processing
conscious-our awareness of ourselves and our environment; one part of dual processing
unconscious-automatic, outside of our awareness
define behavior genetics
the study of the relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behavior.
characteristics of adoptive children
biological factors are the same as their birth parents (heart disease, height, Alzheimers)
social factors differ (socioeconomic status, language, religion)
more likely to experience emotional trauma and have a higher possibility for drug and alcohol abuse
popular opinions of biological evolution
supported by science
half of public believes
signal detection theory
a theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (signal) amid background stimulation (noise). Assumes there is no single absolute threshold and that detection depends partly on a person’s experience, expectations, motivation, and alertness.
diff. parts of eye & their functions
Light enters the eye through the cornea, which protects the eye and bends light to provide focus. The light then passes through the pupil, a small adjustable opening surrounded by the iris, a colored muscle that adjusts light intake. The iris dilates or constricts in response to light intensity and even to inner emotions. Each iris is so distinctive that an iris-scanning machine could confirm your identity. Behind the pupil is a lens that focuses incoming light rays into an image on the retina, a multilayered tissue on the eyeball’s sensitive inner surface. The lens focuses the rays by changing its curvature in a process called accommodation.
afterimages - understand & apply
An afterimage is a type of optical illusion in which an image continues to appear briefly even after exposure to the actual image has ended.
correct sequence for sound waves moving to auditory nerve
First, the visible outer ear channels the sound waves through the auditory canal to the eardrum, a tight membrane that vibrates with the waves
The middle ear then transmits the eardrum’s vibrations through a piston made of three tiny bones (the hammer, anvil, and stirrup)to the cochlea, a snail-shaped tube in the inner ear.
The incoming vibrations cause the cochlea’s membrane (the oval window) to vibrate,jostling the fluid that fills the tube. This motion causes ripples in the basilar membrane, bending the hair cells lining its surface
Hair cell movement triggers impulses in the adjacent nerve cells, whose axons converge to form the auditory nerve, which sends neural messages (via the thalamus) to the temporal lobe’s auditory cortex.
distraction & pain control
When we are distracted from pain(a psychological influence) and soothed by the release of endorphins, our natural painkillers (a biological influence), our experience of pain may be greatly diminished.
relationship of endorphins and pain
People who carry a gene that boosts the availability of endorphins are less bothered by pain, and their brain is less responsive to pain
conscious awareness
sentience, awareness, subjectivity, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind.
what triggers circadian rhythms
light
hallucinations - define
false sensory experiences, such as seeing something in the absence of an external visual stimulus
free radicals - define
molecules that are toxic to neurons
sleep allows neurons resting time from combating free radicals
night terrors - define
sleep related problem characterized by high alertness and an appearance of being terrified
positive effects of dreaming
serve to alleviate emotional distress.
Freud: guard sleep and source of wish fulfillment
reflection on life events
hypnosis define/apply
a social interaction in which one person (the hypnotist) suggests to another person (the subject) that certain perceptions, cognitions or behaviors will
post-hypnotic suggestion
suggestions made during hypnosis, have helped alleviate headaches, asthma and stress-related skin disorders.
evidence of drug addiction
physical and psychological dependence on the drug
withdrawal
tolerance
classification of thc
hallucinogen
examples of classical conditioning
little albert
pavlov
?
generalization - define and apply
In operant conditioning, the occurrence of responding when a stimulus similar (but not identical) to the discriminative stimulus is present
ex. Little Albert feared white dogs, fur coats, etc. when conditioned to fear a white rabbit
BF skinner
behaviorist
studied on rats
law of effect: The idea that responses that produced desirable results would be learned, or “stamped” into the organism.
schedules of reinforcement
Fixed Interval Schedule (FI): rewards a learner only for the first correct response after some defined period of time
Variable Interval Schedule (VI): rewards a correct response after an unpredictable amount of time
Fixed Ratio Schedule (FR): rewards a response only after a defined number of correct answers
Variable Ratio Schedule (VR): rewards an unpredictable number of correct responses
latent learning - define
Learning that occurs but is not apparent until the learner has an incentive to demonstrate it.
ex. A student is taught how to perform a special type of addition, but does not demonstrate the knowledge until an important test is administered.
