PS102 - MIDTERM 1 Flashcards
Psychoanalytic Theory
Psychological theory that human mental processes are influenced by the competition between unconscious forces to come into awareness
Behaviourism
A branch of psychological thought arguing that psychology should study only directly observable behaviours rather than abstract mental processes
Edward Thorndike
Proposed research finding from studying animals could help explain human behaviour
John Watson
- Responsible for little Albert
- Discovered people can be classically conditioned
B.F. Skinner
Brought operant conditioning (reinforcement/punishment)
Albert Bundura
Described learning by social observation in children
Humanistic Psychology
Theory of psychology that sought to give greater prominence to special and unique features of human functioning
Carl Rogers
Developed “client centered therapy” which said that people are innately good
Abraham Maslow
Developed theory of motivation that consists of heirarchy of needs; we need to fill these needs befoe we can move on to others
Client-Centred Therapy
An approach to therapy founded by Carl Rogers, based on the notion that the client is an equal and that positive gains are made by mirroring clients’ thoughts and feelings in an atmosphere of unconditional positive regard
Donald Hebb
Developed concept of a cell assembly
Congnitive Psychology
The field of psychology studying mental processes as forms of information processing, or the ways in which information is stored and operated in our minds
Cultural Psychology
The study of how cultural practices shape psychological and behavioural tendencies and influence human behaviour
Cross-Cultural Psychology
The study of what is generally or universally true about human beings regardless of culture
Karl Lashley
Attemped to determine which areas of the brain are responsible for memory, learning and other functioning
Behavioural Genetics
A subfield of psychology looking at the influence of genes on human behaviour
Evolutionary Psychology
A field of study believing that the body and brain are products of evolution and that genetic inheritance plays an important role in shaping the complete range of thoughts and behaviours
Branches of Psychology
- Academic Psychology - Work as professors, both teaching and doing research
- Clinical and counselling Psychology - Work as therapists
- Applied Psychology - Work in schools, marketing firms, research institutions, etc.
Academic Psychology
A branch of psychology focusing on research and instruction in the various areas or fields of study in psychology
Applied Psychology
The branch of psychology applying psychological principles to practical problems in other fields, such as education, marketing, or industry
Clinical and Counselling Psychology
Help individuals to cope more effectively or to overcome abnormal functioning. Actually, there are several different types of mental-health practitioners
Shared Values
- Psychology is theory driven; uses theories to explain behaviour
- Psychology is empical; based on research
- Psychology is multi-level; explained by the brain, the individual, and social influences
- Psychology is contextual; based on cultural context
Collectivist
A culture whose members focus more on the needs of the group and less on individual desires
Individualistic
A culture that places the wants or desires of the person over the needs of the group
Cognitive Neuroscience
The study of mental processes and how they relate to the biological functions of the brain
Social Neuroscience
The study of social functioning and how it is tied to brain activity
Developmental Psychology
The study of changes in behaviour and mental processes over time and the factors that influence the course of those constancies and changes
Cross-Sectional Design
A research approach that compares groups of different-aged people to one another
Advantages:
- Quick, easy, and straightforward
- Convenient for both researchers and participants
- Yields information about age differences
Disadvantages:
- Cohort effects are difficult to separate from age effects
- Does not explain how or when changes may have occurred—measures behaviours at only a single point in time
Longitudinal Design
A research approach that follows the same people over a period of time by administering the same tasks or questionnaires and seeing how their responses change
Advantages:
- Gives reasonably reliable information about age changes
- Gives information about the stability or instability of traits
- Gives information about the effects of early experiences
Disadvantages:
- Requires considerable time and money
- Many participants drop out over the course of study
- Cohort effects are not controlled as all participants come from the same cohort
Cohort-Sequential Design
Blended cross-sectional and longitudinal research, designed to look at how individuals from different age groups compare to one another and to follow them over time
Advantages:
- Cohort effects can be separated from age effects
- Gives reliable information about age changes
- Gives information about the stability or instability of traits
- Gives information about the effects of early experiences
Disadvantages:
- Requires considerable time and money
- Many participants drop out over the course of the study
Maturation
The unfolding of development in a particular sequence and time frame
Epigenetic
Changes in gene expression that are independent of the DNA sequence of the gene
Stage
A distinct developmental phase in which organisms behave, think, or respond in a particular way that is qualitatively different from the way they responded before
Critical Periods
Points in development when an organism is extremely sensitive to environmental input, making it easier for the organism to acquire certain brain functions and behaviours
Prenatal Period
The period of development from conception to birth
Genes
Basic building blocks of our biological inheritance
Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA)
Molecules in which genetic information is enclosed
Chromosomes
Strands of DNA; each human has 46 chromosomes, distrbuted into 23 pairs
Genotype
A person’s genetic inheritance
Phenotype
The observable manifestation of a person’s genetic inheritance
Allele
Variation of a gene
- E.g., Allele for hair colour, eye colour, going bald
Homozygous
Having both parents contribute the same genetic material for a particular trait
Heterozygous
Having parents contribute two different alleles to offspring
Dominant Trait
A trait that is expressed in a phenotype, no matter whether the genotype is homozygous of heterozygous for the trait
Recessive Trait
A trait that is only expressed if a person carries the same two genetic alleles (E.g., is homozygous for the trait)
Codominance
What occurs when in a heterozygous combination of alleles, both traits are expressed in the offspring. E.g., Blood type; if one parent has type A and the other B, the child can expresds both with the blood type AB
Discrete Trait
A trait that results as the product of a single gene pairing
Polygenic
A trait that manifestsas the result of the contributions of multiple genes
- Most human traits are polygenic
Zygote
A single cell resulting from successful fertilization of the egg by sperm
Germinal Stage (First Stage) (Ovulation to implantation)
- During first 36 hours, the zygote divides and becomes two cells
- The two cells then divide into four, then 8, etc
- As cells multiply, the zygote moves through the fallopian tube to uterus
- After 4th day following conception, the zygote is now referred to as the Blastocyst
- A week after fertilization, the blastocyst impants it’s self to the side of the uterus
- Major transition during the germinal stage is the formation of the placenta
Placenta
A nutrient-rich structure that serves to feed the developing fetus
- Allows the circulatory system of the mother to interact with the circulatory system of the embryo to exchange oxygen and nutrients through the umbillical cord
Embryonic Stage (Second Stage)
- (2-8 w) Major systems, basic body structure and major organs begin to shape
- Most vulnerable to environmental influence
Fetal Stage (Third Stage)
- (9-40w) Most basic organ systems are complete
- Immature organ systems and structures continue to grow and develop during last 3 months
- Fetus’s brain begins to grow at remarkable pace
- Abnormalities may arise and lead to miscarriage
Teratogens
Any environmental agent that causes damage during gestation (gestation is period of developing in the womb)
***STUDY TYPES IN NOTES
Prosimodistal Pattern
A pattern in which growth and development proceed from the centre to the extremities
- Parts closer to the centre of the body grow and develop sooner than parts at the outer edges
Cephalocaudal Pattern
A pattern in which growth and development proceed from top to bottom
- Why infants have large heads
Synapses
Transmission points between neurons
Synaptic Pruning
Developmental reduction of neuronal connections, allowing stronger connections to flourish
Myelination
Development of fatty deposits on neurons that allow electric impulses to pass through neurons more efficiently
Cognitive Development
Changes in thinking that occur over the course of time
Scheme
Piaget’s proposed mental structures or frameworks for understanding or thinking about the world
Assimilation
One of two ways of acquiring knowledge, defined by Piaget as the inclusion of new information or experiences into pre-existing schemes
Accomodation
One of two ways of acquiring knowledge, defined by Piaget as the alteration of pre-existing mental frameworks to take in new information
Equillibrium
Balance in a mental framework
Object Permanence
An infant’s realization that objects continue to exist even when they are outside of immediate sensory awareness
Representations
What results when a person has the ability to understand symbols (such as words) and to think about objects and events as mental entities
- Sensorimotor Stage (Piaget’s Four Stages of Cognitive Development)
- Birth to age 2
- Infant or toddler uses senses and motor skills; initially has no thought beyond immediate experience but eventually develops object permanence
- Example: Babies enjoy games like peekaboo once they realize that people and objects continue to exist even if they can’t see them
- Preoperational (Piaget’s Four Stages of Cognitive Development)
- Age 2–7
- Although children cannot yet perform “operations” they are able to hold representations or ideas of objects in imagination. They are unable to consider another’s point of view when it is different than their own (egocentric) or to understand that not all things that move or look “alive” are living (animistic)
- Example: Children may believe that a doll experiences hunger
- Concrete Operational (Piaget’s Four Stages of Cognitive Development)
- Age 7–11
- Child can now operate on concrete objects and so they can think logically about complex relationships (cause and effect, categorization) and understand conservation. They are unable to think abstractly or hypothetically
- Example: Children in this stage begin to question concepts like Santa Claus or the tooth fairy
- Formal Operational (Piaget’s Four Stages of Cognitive Development)
- Age 11 on
- Adolescent can think abstractly and hypothetically.
- Example: Adolescent can now engage in scientific experiments
Egocentrism
Flaws in children’s reasoning based on their inability to take another person’s perspective
Conversation
The understanding that certain properties of an object (such as volume and number) remain the same despite changes in the object’s outward appearance
Operations
Piagetian description of children’s ability to hold an idea in their mind and mentally manipulate it
Information-Processing Theory
A developmental theory focusing on how children learn, remember, organize, and use information from their environment
Violation-of-Expectation
An experimental approach capitalizing on infants’ and toddlers’ heightened reactions to an unexpected event
Habituation
The process of habituating, in which individuals pay less attention to a stimulus after it is presented to them over and over again
Theory of Mind
An awareness of one’s own mental states and the mental states of others
Scaffolding
Developmental adjustments that adults make to give children the help that they need, but not so much that they fail to move forward
Zone of Prominal Development
The gap between what a child could accomplish alone and what the child can accomplish with help from others
Temperament
A biologically-based tendency to respond to certain situations in similar ways throughout a person’s lifetime
***DIFFERENT FORMS IN INFANTS IN NOTES
Attachment
A significant emotional connection to another person, such as a baby to a primary caregiver
- Secure, Anxious/Avoidant, Anxious/ambient/ressistant, Disorganized/Disoriented
Reciprocal Socialization
The transactional relationship between parent and child
Cellular Clock Theory
Theory suggesting that we age because our cells have built-in limits on their ability to reproduce
Wear and Tear Theory
Theory suggesting we age because use of our body wears it out
Free-Radical Theory
Theory suggesting we age because special negatively-charged oxygen molecules become more prevalent in our body as we get older, destabilizing cellular structures and causing the effects of aging
Threshold
The point at which the magnitude or intensity of a stimulus initiates a neural impluse
Absolute Threshold
The minimal stimulus necessary for detection by and individual
Difference Threshold
The minimal difference between two stimuli necessary for detection of a difference between the two
Signal Detection Theory
Theory that the response to a signal in every situation depends on an individuals ability to differentiate between the signal and noise, and on their response criteria
Sensory Adaption
The processess whereby repeated stimulation of a sensory call leads to reduced response
Bottom-up Processing
Perception that proceeds by transducing enivronmental stimuli into neural impulses that move into successively more complex brain regions
Top-down Processing
Perceptions process lef by cognitive processes, such as memeory or experctations
Olfactory Sense
Smell
Gustatory Sense
Taste
Olfactory Receptor Neurons
Sensory receptor cells that convert chemical signals from ordorants into neural impulses that travel to the brain
Papillae
Bumps on the tongue that contain clumbs of taste buds
Ageusia
Inability to taste
Hyposmia
Reduced ability to detect odours
Ansomia
Inability to detect odours
Meissner’s Corpuscles
sensory receptors that convert physical stimuli about sensory touch on the fingertips, lips, and palms
Merkel’s Discs
sensory receptors that convert information about light to moderate pressure on the skin
Ruffini’s End-organs
sensory receptors that respond to heavy pressure and joint movement
Pacinian Corpuscles
sensory receptors that respond to vibrations and heavy pressure
Gate Control Theory of Pain
Theory that certain patterns of neural activity can close a “gate” to keep pain information from travelling to parts of the brain where it is perceived
Endorphins and Enkephalins
Chemicals that belong to a naturally occurring class of opiates that reduce pain in the nervous system
Visual Agnosia
Cannot recognize/name objects
Prosopagnosia
Form of visual agnosia in which people cannot recognize faces
