PSY 101 EXAM 1 Flashcards
Chapters 1-3
psychology is…
the scientific study of mind and behavior
dualism
mind and body are separate but interact to produce conscious experience
René Descartes, opposite of materialism
materialism
the view that all mental phenomena is the result of physical phenomena
Thomas Hobbes, opposite of dualism
realism
the view that our perception of the world is a copy of the info we receive from our sensory apparatus
John Locke
idealism
the view that our perception of the world is our brain’s best interpretation of the info we receive from our sensory apparatus
Immanuel Kant, built off realism
empiricism
school of thought
the view that all knowledge is aquired through experience (what you’ve encountered, 5 senses), we are born without innate knowledge
- backbone of the scientific method
John Locke, opposite to nativism
nativism
the view that certain knowledge/abilities are innate rather than aquired
Immanuel Kant, opposite to empiricism
human beings must be born with some basic knowledge of the world that allows them to acquire additional knowledge of the world
structuralism
school of thought
an approach to psychology that attempted to isolate and analyze the mind’s basic elements
Wilhelm Wundt
didn’t last, no way to tell if a person’s description of their experience was accurate
introspection
“systematic self-observation”
the analysis of subjective experience by trained observers
Edward Titchener
functionalism
school of thought
an approach to psychology that emphasized the adaptive significance of mental processes
William James
if our physical characteristics had evolved because they were adaptive, then the same should be true of our psychological characteristics
hysteria
a loss of function that has no obvious physical origin
psychoanalytic theory
emphasizes the influence of the unconscious on feelings, thoughts, and behaviors
Sigmund Freud
psychoanalysis
big wave of thought
a therapy that aims to give people insight into the contents of their unconscious minds
Freud
behaviorism
2nd big wave/school of thought
an approach to psychology that restricts scientific inquiry to observable behavior
- early behaviorists, radical: mind doesnt exist
- modern: mind does exist, interested in changing behavior
John Broadus Watson, set the mind aside
principle of reinforcement
a principle stating that any behavior that is rewarded will be repeated and any behavior that isn’t rewarded won’t be repeated
Skinner
gestalt psychology
an approach to psychology that emphasized the way in which the mind creates perceptual experience
Max Wertheimer, German “gestalt” = “whole”
developmental psychology
he study of the ways in which psychological phenomena change over the life span
Jean Piaget
social psychology
experimental study of the causes and consequences of sociality
Kurt Lewin
cognitive psychology
the study of human information processing
Ulric Neisser, brought back the mind since behaviorism
evolutionary psychology
the study of the ways in which the human mind has been shaped by natural selection
a way of thinking about psychology that can be applied to any topic with
cognitive neuroscience
the study of the relationship between the brain and the mind (esp. in humans)
behavioral neuroscience
the study of the relationship between the brain and behavior (esp. in animals)
cultural psychology
the study of how culture influences mental life
epistemology
the philosophical study of the nature, origin, and limits of human knowledge
rationalism
the view that certain perceptual and conceptual capacities (language, thought, etc.) are innate
Plato
theologism
there is a god/greater being
philosophy
use logic and real concepts
physiologists
believed that the body was the only real thing, mind wasn’t important
humanism
idea that we have freewill, concious experience, unique potential for growth, looked at motivators to improve
carl rogers, abraham maslow, opposite to determinism
determinism
nothing is an accident, everything happens for a reason because of previous events you may or may not be aware of
opposite of humanism
perspectives of psychology
biological perspective
Physiological mechanisms in brain and nervous systems that organize and control behavior
perspectives of psych
psychodynamic perspective
unconcious influences, childhood experiences
freud
perspectives of psych
behavioral perspective
Behavior based on experience and learning
pavlov, watson, skinner
perspectives of psych
humanistic perspective
self-perception, concious forces
rogers, maslow
perspectives of psych
postive psychology
Positive relationships, what situations/environments foster positive feelings
stemmed from humanism
perspectives of psych
cognitive perspective
- How knowledge is acquired, organized, remembered, used to guide behavior
- Intellectual development
- Language
- information processing (cybernetics)
Piaget, chomsky, touring
perspectives of psych
cross-culture perspective
- Psychological differences between cultural groups
- Influence of culture on thoughts, feelings, behavior
- Common elements across culture (innate)
- Attitudes, values, beliefs
- Why culture is used to judge other cultures
- Indivualistic vs communalistic
king, trimble
perspectives of psychology
evolutionary perspective
- Innate, adaptive behavior patterns
- Applying principles of evolution to explain behavior and psychological processes
Darwin, lorenz, bouchard, wilson
scientific method
procedure for using empirical evidence to establish facts
1. develop a theory
2. derive a falsifiable hypothesis
3. test hypothesis by gathering emperical evidence
emperical method
set of rules and techniques for observation
3 reasons why humans are more difficult to study
emperical method
- people are complex
- people are very variable
- people are very reactive (people think, feel, and act differently when they think they are being observed, ex: “demand characteristics”)
psychologists meet challenges of human studying with:
methods of observation
- define the property being measured
- detect how it can be measured
psychologists meet challenges of human studying with:
methods of explanation
- conclusions
- errors
- replication
methods of observation
operational definition
description of a property in measurable terms, a good definition has construct validity
methods of observation
construct validity
specified operations are generally considered good indicators of the specified properties
methods of observation
power
a detector’s ability to detect the presence of differences or changes in the magnitude of a property
methods of observation
reliability
a detector’s ability to detect the absence of differences or changes in the magnitude of a property
methods of observation
demand characteristics
aspects of an observational setting that cause people to behave as they think someone else wants or expects
avoided by:
- naturalistic observation
- privacy and control
- unawareness
methods of observation: avoiding demand characteristics
privacy and control
- allow participants to be anonymous to avoid influence (ex: surveys - descriptive strategy)
- measure behaviors that are not under one’s voluntary control (ex: pupil dialation)
methods of observation: avoiding demand characteristics
naturalistic observation
systematic observation and recording of behaviors in one’s natural environment
- allows researchers to observe how they are, ethics involved
descriptive strategy
methods of observation: avoiding demand characteristics
unawareness
the people who are being observed are unaware of the true purpose of the observation
methods of observation
observer bias
the tendency for observers’ expectations to influence both what they believe they observed and what they actually observed
- expectations can influence observations (ex: decisions made in the process can unconciously lead in the direction of one’s bias)
- expectations can influence reality (ex: one may unwittingly guide an experiment in the direction of their bias through their actions)
avoided by: double-blind studies, etc.
methods of observation: avoiding observer bias
double-blind study
a study in which neither the researcher nor the participant knows how the participants are expected to behave / the true direction of the study
methods of observation: visual representation of data
frequency distribution
graphic representation showing the number of times that the measurement of a property takes on each of its possible values
- info summarized into descriptive statistics
methods of observation: representation of data
normal distribution
frequency of measurements is highest in the middle and decreases symmetrically in both directions
methods of observation: representation of data
descriptive statistics
central tendency (mode - most frequent, mean - average, median - middle) and variability (the extent the measurements in a frequency distribution differ from each other, range - largest minus smallest) of a frequency distribution
- interdependent features
small range = less variability
methods of observation: representation of data
standard deviation
how each of the measurements in a frequency distribution differs from the mean
methods of explanation
correlation
relationship between variables in which variations in the value of one variable are synchronized with variations in the value of the other
1. measuring a pair of variables
2. making a series of these measurements
3. finding a pattern
allows predictions not accuracy
methods of explanation: correlation
correlation coefficient
measurement of the strength and direction of a correlation
- symbolized with r, between 1 (positive corr.) and -1(negative corr.), r = 0 (no corr.)
-
methods of explanation
correlation does not imply _
causation
methods of explanation: causation
experimentation
technique for establishing the causal relationship between variables
- manipulation and random assignment
methods of explanation: experimentation
manipulation
determining the causal power of a variable by actively changing its value
1. manipulate a variable (independent variable)
2. measure a variable (dependent variable)
3. compare
methods of explanation: experimentation
random assignment
part of the three “Rs”
procedure that assigns participants to conditions by chance (multiple experimental groups - exposed to the independent variable vs not, or inbetween)
- avoids self-selection
methods of explanation: experimentation
self-selection
a problem that occurs when anything about a participant determines the value of the independent variable to which the participant was exposed
methods of explanation: conclusions
internal validity
an attribute of an experiment that allows it to establish causal relationships
methods of explanation: conclusions
external validity
an attribute of an experiment in which variables have been operationally defined in a representative way
methods of explanation: conclusions, generalization
case method/studies
procedure for gathering scientific information by studying a single individual
- hard to generalize
studies: highly detailed account of a specific individual, instructional purposes, rare findings, novel approaches
- disadvantage > cant be replicated, subjective
descriptive strategy
methods of explanation: conclusions
replication
an experiment that uses the same procedures as a previous experiment but with a new sample from the same population
- usually fail to replicate results
methods of explanation: generalization, conclusions
random selection/sampling
part of the three “Rs”
a technique for selecting participants that ensures that every member of a population has an equal chance of being included in the sample
- can then generalize from sample to population
methods of explanation: conclusion errors
type 1 error
researchers conclude that there is a causal relationship between two variables when there is not, false positive
methods of explanation: conclusion errors
type 2 error
researchers conclude that there is not a causal relationship between two variables when there is, false negative
the three “Rs”
- representative sample
- random selection
- random assignment
the three R’s
representative sample
a sample that closely parallels the population on relevant characteristics
blind study
a study in which the participants are unaware of how they should behave / of the studies true purpose
ethics and participants rights
informed consent
a verbal agreement to participate in a study made by an adult who has been informed of all the risks that participation may entail
ethics and participants rights
freedom from coercion
participitation may not be coerced
ethics and participants rights
protection from harm
every possible precaution to protect participants from physical or psychological harm must be taken
ethics and participants rights
risk-benefit analysis
participants may not be asked/exposed to risks/things above and beyond everyday life
ethics and participants rights
deception
deception may be used only when justified by the study’s scientific, educational, or applied value and when alternative procedures are not feasible
ethics and participants rights
debriefing
a verbal description of the true nature of the study must be provided to any participants who were deceived
ethics and participants rights
confidentiality
private/personal info obtained during a study must be kept confidential
neuroscience
neurons
cells in the nervous system that communicate with each other to perform information-processing tasks
3 parts:
- cell body
- dendrites
- axon
neuroscience: parts of neurons
cell body (soma)
largest component of the neuron that coordinates the information-processing tasks and keeps the cell alive
- nucleus, contains DNA
protein synthesis, energy production, metabolism
neuroscience: parts of neurons
dendrites
receive info from other neurons or sensory receptors and relay it to the cell body
“tree”
neuroscience: parts of neurons
axon
carries info from other neurons, muscles, glands, the cell’s output structure
- covered by a myelin sheath, gaps in this are called nodes of ranvier
neuroscience: parts of neurons
myelin (sheath)
insulating layer of fatty material, more myelin = faster neuron communication speed, protects electrical current from “leaking” out of the axon
- composed of glial cells
neuroscience: parts of neurons
glial cells
structural support cells found in the nervous system
- removes waste
- physical/nutritional support
- form myelin
“glue”
neuroscience: parts of neurons
synapse
the gap between the axon of one neuron and the dendrites or cell body of another
neuroscience: specialized neurons
sensory neurons
receive info from the outside world via sensory organs and convey it to the brain via the spinal cord
- specialized endings on their dendrites that receive signals for light, sound, touch, taste, smell
neuroscience: parts of neurons
nodes of ranvier
gaps in the myelin sheath of axon
neuroscience: specialized neurons
motor neurons
carry signals from the spinal cord (and brain) to glands and muscles to produce movement
neuroscience: specialized neurons
interneurons
connect sensory neurons, motor neurons, other interneurons
- make up most of the nervous system
the process of electrochemical action in neurons
- electrical signal is conducted from dendrites to the cell body, then down axon
- **chemical signal **is transmitted from one neuron to another across the synapse
electrochemical actions
conduction in neurons
cell membrane has channels that allow ions in/out, creating the conduction of electrical current
- ions: atoms with small +/- electrical charge
electrochemical actions
resting potential
the difference in electric charge between the inside and outside of a neuron’s cell membrane
neurons have a slight negative charge inside (-70 millivolts)
- the difference restricts ions going in/out
electrochemical actions
action potential
an electric signal that is conducted along the length of a neuron’s axon to a synapse
- occurs due to changes in the axon’s membrane channels, ions flood making charge +40 millivolts
- all or none, it either fires a neuron, or it doesnt
- jumps node to node
electrochemical actions
refractory period
the time following an action potential during which a new action potential cannot be initiated
- electrical and chemical balance of the neuron is restored
electrochemical actions
chemical signaling
- axons end in terminal buttons
- which are filled with neurotransmitters (chemicals that transmit info across the synapse to a receiving neuron’s dendrites)
- dendrites of receiving neurons contain receptors (parts of the cell membrane that receive the neurotransmitter and either initiate or prevent a new electric signal)
- neurons form pathways in the brain that are characterized by specific neurotransmitters
- neurotransmitters and receptors bind
electrochemical actions
reuptake
- neurotransmitters are absorbed by terminal buttons
- neurotransmitters destroyed by enzymes (enzyme deactivation)
- neurotransmitters drift out synapse past receptors (diffusion)
neurotransmitters
acetylcholine (ACh)
- voluntary motor control
neurotransmitters
dopamine
- regulates motor behavior, motivation, pleasure, emotional arousal
neurotransmitters
serotonin
- regulation of sleep, eating, aggressive behavior
neurotransmitters
norepinephrine
- “fight or flight”
- arousal, learning, memory
neurotransmitters
GABA
-inhibits brain activity -> reduces activity
neurotransmitters
endorphins
- “runners high”
- pain, pleasure, emotion
agonist drugs
mimic NTs or boost their effects, fit receptors well and act like NTs
antagonist drugs
stop NTs from being produced, fit receptor poorly and block the NT
periphiral nervous system
- a division of the nervous system
- connects the central nervous system to the body’s organs and muscles
- further divides into autonomic (carries involuntary and automatic commands that control blood vessels, body organs, and glands, divides into sympathetic [arousing] and parasympathetic [calming]) and somatic (conveys info between skeletal muscles and the central system)
hindbrain
- coordinates info coming in/out of spinal cord
- respiration, alertness, and motor skills
- medulla (HR, circulation, respiration), reticular formation (sleep, arousal), cerebellum (fine motor skills), pons (relays info from cerebellum to rest of brain)
midbrain
- tectum (orientates one to stimuli), tegmentum (movement, arousal, orients)
forebrain
- controls complex cognitive, emotional, sensory, motor functions
- cerebral cortex, subcortical structures: thalamus (relays info from senses to cortex), hypothalamus (regulates body temp, hunger, thirst, sexual behavior), lymbic system (motivation, emotion, learning, memory), hippocampus (creating new memories), amygdala (forms emotional memories), basal ganglia (directs intentional movements, reward processing), corpus collosum (connects R/L hemispheres of the brain)
occipital lobe
- processes visual info
- back of CC
parietal lobe
- front of occipital lobe
- process info from touch
temporal lobe
- lower side of each hemisphere
- hearing, language
frontal lobe
- behind forehead
- movement, abstract thinking, planning, memory, judgment
