Psych 101 Review Questions from Lectures for Exam #1 Flashcards
What is Psychology?
The science of behavior and mental processes
What is Psychiatry?
the study of the medical treatment of psychological disorders
What did Rene Descartes think about the soul?
He thought the soul was separate from the body and was not subject to physical laws
What was the main research technique of Structuralism?
Introspection
Who opened the first Psychology laboratory and in what country was it opened?
Wilhelm Wundt; Germany
Who was the founder of Structuralism who opened the first Psychology laboratory in America?
Edward Titchner
What are the two reasons why introspection was a bad method for studying mental events?
- Introspection does not replicate across individuals
2. Many psychological processes are not open to introspection because they are not conscious
How did Functionalists try to understand the mind?
They tried to understand the mind by determining its purpose.
Who was the founder of Functionalism who wrote a book called The Principles of Psychology?
William James
What scientific theory influenced the Functionalists?
Darwins Theory of Evolution
What is Psychoanalysis?
An approach to studying mental illness that assumes mental illness is caused by subconscious conflicts
What did Sigmund Freud think caused mental illnesses?
He thought subconscious events caused mental illnesses
What is Behaviorism?
The scientific study of the relationship between behavior and reinforcement.
Who was the founder of behaviorism who conditioned Little Albert?
John Watson (1878-1958)
What was the name of the behaviorist who studied operant conditioning?
B.F. Skinner
Why did behaviorism decline in popularity?
primarily due to its inability to provides explanations for many psychological phenomena (language in particular)
What is the Cognitive approach to studying Psychology?
An approach to studying psychology that tries to determine how information is encoded, stored, transformed, and retrieved by the brain.
What is the metaphor upon which the Cognitive approach relies?
computer metaphor
What is the Evolutionary approach to studying Psychology?
An approach to studying psychology in which a researcher tries to develop theories by speculating about what brain structures would have been useful in the environment when the human brain was evolving.
What does Physiological Psychology study?
The study of the brain mechanisms underlying behavior
What do Sensation and Perception Psychologists study?
The study of how nerve systems receives and interprets information from the senses
What does Cognitive Psychology study?
The study of how the brain encodes, stores, retrieves, and interprets information
What does Social Psychology study?
Studies how people influence and relate to one another.
What does Counseling and Clinical Psychology study?
The study of mental health problems and vocational guidance.
What is a scientific theory?
An explanation for a phenomenon that can be falsified and that involves entities.
What does it mean for a scientific theory to be falsifiable?
There must be some hypothetical facts that would prove the theory is false.
What is a hypothesis?
A prediction about observable events
What is a case study?
A description of the behavior or abilities of a single individual
Which school of Psychology used case studies as their primary research technique?
The theories of the Psychoanalysts (Freud) were based on case studies. ????????
Functionalism
What research technique in Psychology is most subject to the problem of confirmation bias?
Case studies
What is naturalistic observation?
A research technique in which the researcher observes and describes behavior
What research technique did Jane Goodall use to study the chimpanzees?
naturalistic observation
What are naturalistic observations good for?
answering simple questions
What is the correlational approach?
Attempts to determine the relationships between variables without manipulating that variables.
What are the two circumstances when a Psychologist would use the correlational approach?
When manipulating the variables being studied would be:
a. impossible or very difficult
b. unethical
What is causation?
A causal relationship exists is a change in one variable results in a change in the other
Can the correlational approach be used to determine if two variables have a causal relationship?
No
If two variables have a perfect positive relationship, what would be the value of the correlation co-efficient for those variables?
+1
What does it mean if the correlation co-efficient between two variables is near 0?
The weaker the relationship is
What two characteristics must an experiment possess?
- The researcher manipulates the independent variable
2. random assignment
What is an independent variable?
The variable the researcher manipulates in an experiment.
What is a dependent variable?
The variable the researcher measures to determine the effects of the independent variable
What is random assignment?
Occurs when every person in the experiment has an equally likely chance of being assigned to each level of the independent variable
In contrast to all other research techniques, what does an experiment allow a researcher to do?
Experiments allow researchers to infer a causal relationship between the independent and dependent variables.
What is an operational definition?
A concept is defined in terms of the variables used to measure (hunger could be defined as “hours without food”)
What is the name of an individual nerve cell?
Neuron
What are the four parts of a neuron and what are their functions?
- Dendrites: Receive electrical signals from other neurons
- Cell Body (soma): contains the nucleus and provides for the life processes of the cell
- Axon: carries the electrical signal from the soma to the terminal buttons
- Terminal Buttons: release neurotransmitters that cause electrical changes to the next neuron in the chain
What is an action potential?
A spike of electricity that travels down its axon.
What is the space between the terminal buttons of one neuron and the dendrites of another neuron called?
Synaps
What is a neurotransmitter?
Binds to receptors in the dendrites of the next neuron in the chain thereby electrically exciting or inhibiting the next cell.
Which part of the brain (hindbrain, midbrain, or forebrain) contains the medulla oblongata and the pons?
Hindbrain
What does the medulla oblongata do?
Controls breathing, heart rate, and vomiting
What does the pons do?
Regulates sleep and arousal
What part of the brain (hindbrain, midbrain, or forebrain) contains the superior colliculus, the inferior colliculus, and the substantia nigra?
Midbrain
What do the superior colliculus and the inferior colliculus do?
Superior Colliculus: Controls visual reflexes
Inferior Colliculus: Controls auditory reflexes
What disease involves the death of neurons in the substantia nigra?
Parkinson’s diseases
What part of the brain (hindbrain, midbrain, or forebrain) contains the cortex, hypothalamus, amygdala, hippocampus, and basal ganglia?
Forebrain
What does the hypothalamus regulate?
Regulates feeding, fighting, fleeing, mating
What does the amygdala do?
Controls emotional responses; particularly fear
What does the hippocampus do?
Encodes long term memories
What part of the brain was missing in HM that led to his problems transferring information from short term to long term memory?
hippocampus
What do the basal ganglia do?
The reward system of the brain
According to Burnham and Phelan’s theory of how the basal ganglia work, what happens when people have a gain in their material success?
we are rewarded briefly, but then the happiness fades so we will continue to strive to make more money
According to Burnham and Phelan’s theory of how the basal ganglia work, what happens when people experience negative events?
We are sad but then the emotional pain fades quickly with time so we won’t be debilitated by grief.
Why is the surface of the cortex wrinkly?
To increase surface area
What are the four lobes of the cortex?
Frontal Lobe, Temporal Lobe, Parietal lobe, Occipital lobe
What is the frontal lobe responsible for? (4)
- Responsible for planning
- interpreting emotions
- speech productions
- houses the motor cortex.
What lobe of the brain was damaged in Phineas Gage?
frontal lobe
What happened to Phineas Gage as the result of his brain damage?
He was unable to acceptably express his emotions
What is the temporal lobe responsible for? (3)
- houses the primary auditory cortex
- performs speech comprehension
- visual recognition.
What lobe of the brain is damaged in someone with visual agnosia?
temporal lobe
What is someone with visual agnosia unable to do?
can not identify shapes
What is the parietal lobe responsible for? (3)
- Houses the somatosensory cortex (used for touch)
- navigation
- math ability.
What lobe of the brain is damaged in someone with hemispatial neglect?
Parietal lobe
How do people with hemispatial neglect behave?
they ignore half the visual field and one side of all objects
What is the function of the occipital lobe?
Houses the primary visual cortex; used entirely for vision.
What lobe of the brain is damaged in someone with achromatopsia?
occipital lobe
What would someone with achromatopsia be unable to do?
imagine color
What is the name of the neural structure that allows the two hemispheres of the brain to communicate with one another?
corpus callosum
Which hemisphere of the brain controls and receives input from the right side of the
body?
Which hemisphere of the brain controls and receives input from the left side
of the body?
left hemisphere; right hemisphere
What functions of the brain are considered left hemisphere functions?
Speech productions, Speech comprehension.
In what hemisphere and lobe of the brain is Broca’s area?
left hemisphere, frontal lobe
What is Broca’s area responsible for?
responsible for speech production
In what hemisphere and lobe of the brain is Wernicke’s area?
left hemisphere, temporal lobe
What is Wernicke’s area responsible for?
responsible for language comprehension
What functions of the brain are considered right hemisphere functions? (3)
- face identification
- music processing
- Spatial abilities (mental rotation)
What is prosopagnosia?
the inability to identify faces
Which hemisphere of the brain is damaged in prosopagnosia?
Damage to the face area of the right hemisphere
What is the last name of the man who did the split brain studies?
Sperry
If a split brain patient held an orange in her left hand and a pencil in her right, what would she say if asked what she was holding?
If Sperry asked patients to show him how to use and object in their left hand (right hemisphere), they could do so. The right hemisphere understands the object, but can’t say the name
What sort of machine is used to measure brain waves?
Electroencephalogram (EEG)
What sorts of brain waves are observed in NREM1 sleep?
Alpha waves; slightly larger than beta
beta waves are short and irregular (occur in an awake brain)
What sorts of brain waves are observed in NREM2 sleep?
Theta; they are slower than NREM1
In what stage of sleep do sleep spindles first appear?
NREM2
What is the function of sleep spindles?
Thought to reduce the brains sensitivity to sensory input
What sorts of brain waves are associated with NREM3 sleep?
delta waves - this is when brain waves are the slowest
In what stage of sleep do night terrors occur?
most frequently to occur in stage 3 and tend to be non narrative
How will people in NREM3 sleep feel when awakened?
very groggy
What sorts of brain waves are observed during REM sleep?
Look like NREM1 brain waves (slightly larger than beta)
What part of the brain paralyzes the body during REM sleep?
The brain is paralyzed by the PONs and the muscles relax
What sort of stimuli can awaken someone in REM sleep?
Meaningful stimuli; such as hearing your name
What will people report doing when awakened from REM sleep?
They will almost always report dreaming
During what stage of sleep does a male’s penis become erect and a female’s vaginal lubrication increase?
REM
How long does a full sleep cycle last?
90 minutes
What are the two theories explaining why animals need to sleep?
Circadian theory and Recuperation theory
What is Circadian theory?
Sleep has evolved to keep animals inactive during times of the day when they do not need to be active
What is the evidence for Circadian theory?
The amount of time animals spend sleeping can be manipulated by manipulating the time of the light-dark cycle
What is Recuperative theory?
Animals sleep in order to provide time for the body to repair itself
What is the evidence for Recuperative theory?
Mentally taxing days produce more NREM3 sleep
What are the effects of deprivation of NREM3 and REM sleep on memory?
harms long term memory consolidation
Can external stimuli be incorporated into dreams?
yes
Do people perceive time accurately during dreams?
yes
What did Freud believe was the function of dreams?
He believed dreams contained symbols that revealed the unconscious mind
What is the Activation-Synthesis theory?
Circuits in the amygdala bombard the cortex with random signals during REM sleep. Dreams are the cortex’s efforts to make sense of the neural signals
it explains why dreams are chaotic and largely negative
What part of the brain is bombarding the cortex with random signals during REM sleep?
Amygdala (circuits in the amygdala)
Why don’t people remember most of their dreams?
because the hippocampus is suppressed