Midterm Material (Chapter 1 - 6) Flashcards
Introspection
Studying one’s own mind and behaviour.
Arguments against introspection as a method to study behaviour empirically is that it does not allow for any independent objective evaluation of a claim.
Willhelm Wundt
- Advocated to make psychology an independent discipline (a study)
- Intended to push subjectivity and bring objectivity as a tool to study psychology
- Psychology was born; the study of mind through empirical methods.
- Established the first psychology lab, in Europe (Germany?)
G. Stanley Hall
Brief student of Willhem Wundt and established the first psychology lab in the US.
Structuralism
One of the first schools of Psychology. Led by Edwards Titchener, this school of thought was based on the notion that the task of psychology is to analyze consciousness into its basic elements and investigate how these elements are related. They relied a lot on the use of introspection.
Edward Titchener
Most influential figure in the Structuralist school of thought of Psychology.
Functionalism
One of the first schools of Psychology. Led by William James, this school of thought was based on the notion that the task of psychology is about investigating the function or purpose of consciousness, rather than its structure.
This led to an investigation of mental testing, developmental patterns, and sex differences.
This school’s view may have attracted the first women into psychology.
William James
Most influential figure in the Functionalist school of thought of psychology.
Behaviourism
Came after Structuralism and Functionalism, the first schools. Descendant of Functionalism.
Founded by John Watson, it was a reorientation of psychology as an objective science of ONLY observable behaviour.
Behaviourists had an inclination for nurture over nature.
John Watson
Founder of the school of thought, Behaviourism.
Watson argued strongly for nurture.
Observable behaviour
Observable responses or activities by an organism.
Stimulus/stimuli
any detectable input from the environment.
Nature vs. Nurture
One of the oldest questions in psychology: Are we who we are because of nature or nurture? How much can our environment mold us?
Behaviourists took the side of Nurture.
Sigmund Freud
Founder of the psychoanalytic school of thought.
His work with people with psychological problems led him to believe that people are influenced by unconscious forces; that is, thoughts, memories, and desires that are outside conscious awareness.
Unconscious experience
Aspects of experience below the surface of conscious awareness that influence behaviour.
B.F. Skinner
- Skinner championed a return to the strict focus on OBSERVABLE behaviour only; he didn’t deny that mental events exist, just that they cannot be studied scientifically and are therefore outside the realm of the science of psychology.
- Fundamental principle is that organisms tend to repeat responses that lead to positive outcomes and vice versa.
- Asserted that all behaviour is governed by external stimuli, that people are controlled by their environments, not themselves, and that free will is an illusion.
Conditioning
Revolves around the notion that certain stimuli that originally would not cause a specific response from a subject can be conditioned to do so.
Two types of conditioning: Classical (Ivan Pavlov) and Operant (B.F. Skinner).
Humanistic Psychology
- Psychoanalytic and behaviourist approaches were de-humanizing.
- Emphasis on the unique qualities of humans: freedom and personal growth.
Cognition
Mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge.
Multicultural Psycholgy
Psychologists began to recognize that they neglect of cultural variables has diminished the value of their work, and are devoting increased attention to culture as a determinant to behaviour.
Ethnocentrism
Viewing one’s own group as superior and as the standard for judging.
Evolutionary Psychology
Evolution occurs for behavioural, as well as physical, characteristics.
Studies natural selection of various behaviours and emotions.
Positive Psychology
Uses theory and research to better understand the positive aspects of human existence.
Theory
A system of interrelated ideas used to explain a set of observations.
Operational definitions
Describes the actions or operations that will be used to measure or control a variable in a study.
Participants/Subjects
Persons or animals whose behaviour is systematically observed in a study.
Sample
A number of subjects taken from a total number, that should generalize that total number. Example, if sample is SMU students, the samples should include students from all faculties and departments.
Population
A total amount of subjects, which in most cases is impossible to gather. Example, all SMU students.
Hypothesis
Tentative statement about the relationship between two or more variables.
Steps in the scientific method
- Formulate a testable hypothesis
- Select a research method and design
- Collect the data
- Analyze the data and draw conclusions.
- Report the findings.
Experiment
It’s a research method in which the investigator manipulates a variable under carefully controlled conditions and observes whether an changes occur in a second variable as a result.
Experimental group
Consists of the subjects who receive some special treatment in regard to the independent variable.
Control group
Consists of subjects who do not receive the special treatment in regard to the independent variable given to the experimental group.
Independent variable
It’s a condition or event that an experimenter varies in order to see its impact on another variable.
Dependent variable
It’s the variable that that is thought to be affected by manipulation of the independent variable.
Extraneous variable
It’s a variable other than the independent variable that may influence the dependent variable and can affect the study in ways not desired.
A Confounding of variables
This occurs when two variables are linked together in a way that makes it difficult to sort out their specific effects.
Advantages of experimental research
The power of the experimental method lies in the ability to draw conclusions about cause-and-effect relationships from an experiment. No other research method has this power.
Disadvantages of experimental research
Experiments are often artificial; researchers have to come up with contrived settings so that they have control over the environment.
Some experiments cannot be done because of ethical concerns; for example, you would never want to malnourish infants on purpose to see what the effects are on intelligence.
Others cannot be done because of practical issues: there’s no way we can randomly assign families to live in urban vs. rural areas so we can determine the effects of city vs. country living.
Naturalistic observation
In a naturalistic observation a researcher engages in careful observation of behaviour without intervening directly with the research subjects.
Case studies
It’s an in-depth investigation of an individual subject.
Surveys
A questionnaire or interview to gather information about specific aspects of participant’s behaviour.
General statistics
it’s the use of mathematics to organize, summarize, and interpret numerical data.
Descriptive statistics
Used to organize and summarize data. Consists on the use of samples, populations, median, correlation, etc.
Measures of central tendency
The median - is the score that falls exactly in the center of a distribution of scores.
The mean - is the arithmetic average of the score in a distribution.
The mode - is the most frequent score in a distribution.
Find the median:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
3
Find the mean:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
21/6
Find the mode:
1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
1
Variability.
Refers to how much the scores in a data set vary from each other and from the mean.
Standard deviation
Can determine positions of the samples in terms of the variability: 2Omega, negativeOmega, etc. Think of the bell curve.
Correlation
A correlation exists when two variables are related to each other.
Correlation is a value from -1 to 1. its absolute magnitude determines the strength of the correlation. If greater than 0, the correlation is positive, meaning tat as one variable increases, so does the other. If less than 0, the correlation is negative, meaning that as one variable increases, the other decreases.
What can be said about correlation and causation?
they are unrelated. Correlation does not equal causation. Smart people can have big feet, but that does not mean that being smart increases your feet size, or viceversa.
Inferential statistics
Are used to interpret data and draw conclusions.
- Are findings real or due to chance?
Statistical significance
Is said to exist when the probability that the observed findings are due to chance is very low.
Very low is usually defined as 5 in 100; the .05 rule.
Meta-analysis
It is the combination of the statistical results of many studies of the same question, yielding an estimate of the size and consistency of a variable’s effect.
Sampling bias
it exists when a sample is NOT representative of the population from which it was drawn.
Placebo effect
These occur when participants’ expectations lead them to experience some change even though they receive empty, fake or ineffectual treatment.
Self-reporting bias
Several self-reports can be plagued by several kinds of distortion from the participant:
Social desirability bias - a tendency to give socially approved answers to questions about oneself.
Response set - a tendency to respond to questions in a particular way that is unrelated to the content of the questions; as an example, agree to nearly everything in a questionnaire.
Halo Effect - a tendency to let one’s overall evaluation spill over to influence more specific ratings.
Experimenter bias and the double-blind procedure
Experimenter bias occurs when a researcher’s expectations or preferences about the outcome of a study influence the results obtained.
the double-blind procedure is a research strategy to neutralize experimenter bias in which neither subjects nor experimenters know which subjects are in the experimental or control groups.
Which organizations have ethical standards for research and with what purpose?
The American Psychology Association (APA) and the Canadian Psychology Association (CPA). With the purpose of ensuring both humans and animals to be treated with dignity.
Neuron
Individual cells in the nervous systems that receive, integrate and transmit information.
Soma
Cell body of the neuron. Contains the cell nucleus and much of the chemical machinery common to most cells.
Glia
Cells found throughout the nervous system that provide various types of support for neurons. They support the neurons` structure and provide insulation.
Dendrites
Parts of the neuron that are specialized to receive information.
Axon
it is a long, thin fibre that transmits signals away from the soma to other neurons or to muscles or glands.
Myelin Sheath
It is insulating material, derived from glial cells, that encases some axons. Speeds up transmissions that move along axons.
Terminal buttons
They are small knobs located at the end of the axon that secrete chemicals called neurotransmitters.
Neurotransmitters
Chemicals that transmit information from one neuron to another. They are contained inside synaptic vesicles.
Synapse
Junction where information is transmitted from one neuron to another, through neurotransmitters.
Resting Potential
The resting potential of a neuron is its stable, negative charge when the cell is inactive.
Synaptic cleft
a microscopic gap in the synapse; separates the terminal button of a neuron and the cell membrane of another.
Action potential
Very brief shift in a neuron’s electrical charge that travels along an axon. It’s this potential that produces communication from one neuron to another.
Post-synaptic potential (PSP)
This occurs when a neurotransmitter of one neuron and a receptor molecule of another neuron combine, causing this reaction inside the cell membrane of the second neuron. Two types of messages can be sent from cell to cell: excitatory and inhibitory.
The all-or-none law
This law suggests that a neuron’s action potential does not have a variable magnitude, but rather it can only fire, or not fire to send signals. But it can’t send signals of different magnitudes.
Excitatory PSP
It is a positive voltage shift that increases the likelihood that the post-synaptic neuron will fire action potentials.
Inhibitory PSP
it is a negative voltage shift that decreases the likelihood that the post-synaptic neuron will fire action potentials.
How do excitatory and inhibitory PSPs work in neural networks?
These two balance themselves. A neuron will not fire an action potential with just one excitatory, but rather, there would have to be a quantity of excitatory and small quantity of inhibitory PSPs for the neuron to fire.
Furthermore, specific types of neurotransmitters have to fit in specific receptor sites.
Agonist in neural process
It is a chemical that mimics the action of a neurotransmitter.
Antagonist in neural process
it is a chemical that opposes the action of a neurotransmitter.
What are the two systems the Human Nervous System consists of?
The Central Nervous System and the Peripheral Nervous System.
Central Nervous System
This system consists of the brain and the spinal cord.
The brain integrates information from inside and outside the body, coordinates the body’s actions, and enables us to talk, think, remember, plan, create and dream. The spinal cord connects the brain to the rest of the body through the peripheral nervous system.
Peripheral Nervous System
It is made up of all those nerves that lie outside the brain and spinal cord. Nerves are bundles of neuron fibres (axons) that are routed together in the peripheral nervous system.
Afferent nerve fibres
These are axons that carry information inward to the central nervous system from the periphery of the body.
Efferent nerve fibres
These are axons that carry information outward from the central nervous system to the periphery of the body.
Somatic Nervous System
This system, which is part of the Peripheral Nervous System, is made up of nerves that connect to skeletal muscles and to sensory receptors; controls our voluntary functions (movement).
Autonomic Nervous System
This system, which is part of the Peripheral Nervous System, is made up of nerves that connect to the heart, blood vessels, smooth muscles, and glands; controls our involuntary functions (heart rate, digestion).
Divisions of the Autonomic Nervous System
The sympathetic division and the parasympathetic division.
Sympathetic Division
It is the branch of the Autonomic Nervous System that mobilizes the body’s resources for emergencies.
Remember “Flight-or-flight”.
Parasympathetic Division
It is the branch of the Autonomic Nervous System that generally conserves bodily resources.
EEG
The electroencephalograph (EEG) is a device that monitors electrical activity of the brain using recording electrodes attached to the surface of the scalp.
Lesioning
A damage in a certain area of the brain. Psychologists often study subjects with brain damages in order to study the consequences of the damage, which can provide insight on the functions of said brain area.
MRI and fMRI
(Functional) Magnetic Resonance Imaging. These use magnetic fields, radio waves, and computer enhancement to map our brain structure. Furthermore, the fMRI can monitor blood flow and oxygen consumption in the brain to identify high activity areas.
Hindbrain (what does it consist of? and what does each part do?)
The hindbrain is located at the lower end of the brain, where the spinal cord joins the brainstem. It includes the cerebellum and two structures found in the lower part of the brain-stem: the medulla and the pons.
The medulla is in charge of circulation, breathing, muscle tone, and regulating reflexes. The pons is important in sleep and arousal. The cerebellum is critical in the coordination of movement and equilibrium.
Midbrain (what does it consist of? and what does it generally do?)
The midbrain is the segment of the brainstem that lies between the hindbrain and the forebrain.
It is involved in sensory functions such as locating where things are in space. It also contains structures which are important for voluntary movement (Parkinson’s disease is due to degeneration of the substantial nigra, a structure in the midbrain).
Forebrain (what does it consist of? and what does it generally do?)
The forebrain is the largest and most complex region of the brain, encompassing a variety of structures, including the thalamus, hypothalamus, limbic system, and cerebrum.
It is responsible for emotion, complex thought and logic.
Thalamus
Structure found in the forebrain. It is the way station for all incoming sensory information before it is passed on to appropriate higher brain regions.
Hypothalamus
Structure found in the forebrain. It is the regulator of basic biological needs such as hunger, thirst, sex drive, and temperature regulation.
Limbic System
Structure found in the forebrain. It is a loosely connected network of structures involved in emotion, motivation, memory, and other aspects of behaviour;
