Psych Flashcards
What are the nervous system breakdowns?
Central-> brain and SC
Peripheral -> autonomic ; somatic
Autonomic -> sympathetic ; parasympathetic
Cerebral cortex
Conscious mind, 4 lobes: frontal, parietal, temporal, occipital
Cocktail party effect
Phenomenon of info of personal importance from previously unattended channels “catching” ones attention
Conflict theory
Society is in competition for limited resources
Conversion disorder
Psych disorder characterized by change in sensory or motor function that has no physical cause
Define: absolute threshold
Minimum intensity of a stimulus needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time
Corpus collision
Largest bundle of white matter (axons) connecting the two cerebral hemispheres
Crude birth rate
Annual number of live births per thousand people
Cyclothymic disorder
Similar to bipolar but moods are less extreme
Define: absolute poverty
Inability to meet bare minimum of basic needs
Death instinct
Psychoanalytic theory, drives aggressive behavior fueled by unconscious wish to die or hurt oneself or others
Define: accommodation
Adjusting schemas to better accommodate new info (or creating new schemas)
(aCCommodation = Creating Change)
Define: acquisition
In classical conditioning, the process of learning the association between conditioned stimulus and response
Define: activation synthesis theory
Dreams are simply byproducts or brain activation during REM sleep
Define: affect
A persons visible emotion in the moment
Define: aggregate
People exist in the same space but do not share anything or interact
Define: amalgamation
When majority and minority groups combine to form new group
Define: attitude
Learned tendency to evaluate things a certain way
Define: availability heuristic
Using examples that readily come to mind or are in recent memory to come to a conclusion
Define: behavioral therapy
Use of conditioning to shape clients behaviors in the desired direction
Define: belief bias
Tendency to draw conclusions based on what one already believes rather than sound logic
Define: belief perseverance
People have a tendency or unwillingness to admit that their foundational premises are incorrect even when shown convincing evidence to the contrary. Belief perseverance is this tendency to reject convincing proof and become even more tenaciously held when the belief has been publicly announced to others.
Define: somatosensation amplification
Increases regulation of receptors, allowing increased noticing
Define: bipolar neuron
A neuron with a single axon and single dendrite
Define: Bottom-up Processing
We attend to or perceive elements by starting with the smaller, more fine details of that element and then building upward until we have a solid representation of it in our minds
Define: bureaucracy
Structure/groups that govern organizations
Define: caste system
Closed social stratification where people can do nothing to change the category they are born into
Define: category
People who share similar characteristics but are not otherwise tied together as a group
Define: change blindness
Fail to notice changes in the environment
Define: coercive organization
No choice for membership (ie prison)
Define: cognitive dissonance
People often have two conflicting or inconsistent cognitions which produce a state of tension or discomfort (also known as “dissonance”). People are then motivated to reduce the dissonance, often in the easiest manner possible.
Define: confederate
Person working with experimenter and posing as part of the experiment
Define: assimilation
Understanding something in terms of current schemas
aSSimilation = Same Schema
Define: confirmation bias
Seeking out only confirming facts
Define: conjunction fallacy
Thinking that co-occurrence of 2 instances is more likely than a single one
Define: crystallized intelligence
Accumulated knowledge (increases or stays same into adulthood)
Define: encoding
Act of moving from working to long term memory
Define: explicit memory
Long term memory, involves facts/events and can clearly describe details
- semantic (facts)
- episodic (memories)
Define: fixation
Getting stuck on the wrong approach to solving a problem
Define: fixed interval
Reinforcement occurs after a set amount of time
Define: fixed ratio
Reinforcement only occurs after a fixed # of responses
Define: fluid intelligence
Ability to reason quickly and abstractly (decreases in older adulthood)
Define: folkways
Common rules or manners and traditions with minimal consequences
Define: generalization
More similar stimuli can illicit same conditioned response
Define: Gestalt principle of closure
Objects groups together are seen as a whole
Define: Gestalt principle of continuity
Lines are seen as following the smoothest path
Define: Gestalt principle of pragnanz
Reality is reduced to simplest form
Define: Gestalt principle of similarity
Items that are similar are grouped together
Define: Gestalt principle of proximity
Objects close together are grouped together
Define: groupthink
Maintaining harmony of the group becomes more important than issues. Members censor their opinions to match group opinion
Define: habituation
Decreased response with stimulus
Define: heuristic
Mental shortcut allowing solution to be found more quickly
Define: ill-defined problem
Ambiguous ¬ completely understood end point
Define: implicit memory
Long term memory, can’t articulate, but can do task
- procedural (bike riding)
- priming
Define: inattentional blindness
Not consciously aware of things that happen in our visual field when our attention is directed elsewhere within that field
Define: information processing model
Brain receives input, analyzes, creates output
Define: intelligence
Mental quality allowing one to learn from experience, solve problems, and adapt to new situations
Define: kinesthetics
Kinesthetics is the study of body motion and how it relates to both the conscious and unconscious perception of those body movements
Define: laws
Based on moral values but are formal written outline of right and wrong, with formal and consistent consequences
Define: learned helplessness
When an organism (person, animal, etc.) is prevented from avoiding some aversive stimulus repeatedly (e.g., continuous electric shocks) the organism will reach a state in which it becomes passive and depressed because he believes that there are no actions it can take to avoid the aversive stimulus. Esssentially, the organism just gives up trying to avoid it and just takes the aversive stimulus. Thus, the organism learns that it is helpless against the aversive stimulus.
Define: looking glass self
States that the person’s “self” grows out of their own social interactions and from the perceptions of others, or that a person’s self-concepts are based on the beliefs and feelings about how others feel about them. This concept is based on the belief that human actions and interactions are based on conformity to other people’s beliefs and perceptions.
Define: magno pathway
High temporal resolution, allows eyes to see motion
*low spatial resolution/less details and no color
Define: means to an end analysis
Breaking a problem down into smaller sub-problems & attacking biggest sub-problem in order to reduce most difference between current and goal state
Define: memory reconstruction
Changing certain memories due to environment, mood, gaps, etc.
Define: mores
Based on moral values and strong opinions, sometimes have consequences
Define: non-associative learning
No reinforcement/punishment
Define: normative organization
Working together through shared goals
Define: norms
Unwritten rules that dictate behavior, defined by a group of people (include folkways, mores, laws, and taboos)
Define: parallel processing
Ability to see all things at the same time (motion and color/details)
Define: parvo pathway
Allows special resolution, can see fine details and color
*can’t have object moving due to low temporal resolution
Define: proactive interference
Something learned in past prevents learning/remembering something in present
What is the Brocca’s area known to do, and what are symptoms of its damage?
Speech
damaged: words become slurred, can’t produce speech (Brocca’s aphasia)
Define: proprioception
Proprioception refers to the body’s kinesthetic sense, or sense of locomotion (movement). This sense is derived from the action of the skeletal muscles and the”propriceptors” (movement sensors) that send sensations of movement to the brain. It is responsible for keeping track of the relative position of neighboring parts of the body, as well as measuring the amount of strength needed/being used to engage in physical tasks.
What is it called when both Wernicke’s and Brocca’s areas are damaged?
Global aphasia
Define: representativeness heuristic
Judge probability of an event based on existing prototype or general concept of what is typical (leads to conjunction fallacy)
Define: retroactive interference
New piece of learning prevents retrieval of old learning
Define: schema
Mental model that allows framework to organize & interpret new info
Define: selective attention
Switching between tasks or choosing to focus on one thing at a time
Define: self concept
How someone perceives/evaluated themselves
Define: self-serving bias
People’s tendency to attribute positive outcomes to personal factors, but attribute negative outcomes to external factors. In other words, “If it’s a success, it’s because of me. If it’s a failure, it’s because of someone or something else.”
Define: sensory adaptation
Change in sensitivity of perception of sensation
Define: sensory memory
Temporary registration of all inputs
Define: shaping
Learning through practice by gradually increasing reinforcement of smaller behaviors leading up to a target behavior
Define: signal detection theory
Signal Detection Theory holds that the detection of a stimulus depends on both the intensity of the stimulus and the physical and psychological state of the individual
Define: social facilitation
Presence of others increases arousal which increases performance of simple/practiced tasks, but hinders performance of unpracticed tasks
Define: social loafing
Tendency to put in less effort in a group if not being evaluated individually
Define: somatosensation adaptation
Decreased regulation of receptors (change in stimulus is no longer changing, no longer noticed)
Define: source monitoring
Difficulty separating memories from different sources
Define: taboo
Behaviors completely forbidden under any circumstance, based on deep understanding of morals, with extreme consequences
Define: Top-Down Processing
Background knowledge or expectations influence perception. We form perceptions (or focus our attention) by starting with the larger concept or idea and then working our way down to the finer details of that concept or idea
Define: utilitarian organization
Members are paid/rewarded for efforts
Define: variable interval
Reinforcement occurs after a variable amount of time has passed
Define: variable ratio
Reinforcement occurs after an average # of responses has occurred
What is the function of the thalamus?
Part of the limbic system, responsible for sensory relay, directing senses to the cortex for emotion processing (excluding smell). Relay station and major integrating area for sensory impulses
Define: vestibular system
Balance and spatial perception-mostly from the inner ear
What is the function of the hippocampus?
Part of the limbic system, responsible for converting short-term memories to long-term (can be associated with emotions). Memory formation
What is the function of the hypothalamus?
Part of the limbic system, responsible for regulating autonomic nervous system (via endocrine system). Autonomic processes including body temp, hunger, thirst, fatigue, sleep
Emotion
What is the function of the prefrontal cortex?
High order functions, problem solving, decision-making, behavior. Frontal lobes, planning, sequencing, decision making
Define: well-defined problem
Clear start and end point
Define: working backwards for problem solving
Starting with goal state and use it to suggest connections back to current state
Define: working memory
Things stored in short-term memory (7 +/- 2 pieces of info at a time)
Dependent personality disorder
Need to be taken care of by others and unrealistic fear of being unable to take care of oneself
Depersonalization disorder
Recurring feeling of being cut off or detached from ones body or mental processes
Depth of processing
Info that is thought about at a deeper level is better understood
Describe Carl Rogers and the Humanistic approach to Self
3 components:
- Self image, view we have of ourselves
- Self esteem, how much we value ourselves
- Ideal self, who we wish to be
Describe the anal stage
1-3 years
The main focus is on eliminating or retaining feces.
Describe the genital stage
12+ years
Sexual desires reawaken and are directed towards peers of the opposite sex
Describe the latent stage
6-12 years
Sexual urges lie dormant until the next stage.
Describe the oral stage
0-1 years
Characterized by a preoccupation with oral pleasures such as nursing and sucking.
Describe the phallic stage
3-6 years
Children derive pleasure from the genitals, and develop a desire for the opposite sex parent. (Oedipus/Electra complex). Society dictates that these inappropriate feelings be repressed, and when done successfully, is followed by the Latency Stage where sexual urges lie dormant until the next stage.
Diencephalon
Portion of brain that includes thalamus and hypothalamus
Dishabituatiom
Restoration of full response to conditioned stimulus
Dissociative disorder
Thoughts, feelings, perceptions, memories, behaviors being separated from conscious awareness or control
Dissociative fugue
Someone suddenly goes on a journey, during which he cannot recall personal history prior to journey
Dual coding hypothesis
It is easier to remember words with associated images than either words or images alone
Dysthmic disorder
Less intense, chronic form of depression
Ecclesiastes
Dominant religious organization that includes most members of society, recognized as national religion and tolerates no other religions
Echoic memory
Sound, lasts 3-4 seconds
EEG vs EMG vs EOG
EEG = electrical impulses in brain EMG = skeletal muscle movements EOG = eye movements
Efferent neurons
Info away from CNS, motor
Endogamy
Marrying within a particular group
Exocrine gland
Gland that secretes it’s product into a duct which ultimately carries the products to the surface of body or body cavity
Exogamy
Requirement to marry outside a group
False consensus
When we assume that everyone else agrees with what we do, even if they do not
Fecundity
Potential reproductive capacity of female
Frustration-aggression principle
When someone is blocked from achieving a goal, this frustration can trigger anger, which can lead to aggression
Functional fixedness
Tendency to perceive the function of objects as fixed and unchanging
Functionalism
Society as a living organism with many different parts and organs, each with a distinct purpose
Fundamentalists
People who adhere to religious beliefs strictly
General fertility rate
Annual number of live births per 1000 women
Generalized other
When a person tries to imagine what is expected of them for society, they are taking on the perspective of the generalized other
Gestalt psychology
The brain processes info in a holistic manner
Glucagon
Produced and secreted by α cells of pancreas, targets the liver, stimulating breakdown of glycogen to increase glucose
Gonadotropins
Anterior pituitary tropic hormones (FSH, LH), stimulate the gonads to produce gametes and secrete sex steroids
Gray matter
Unmyelinated neuron cell bodies and short unmyelinated axons
Histrionic personality disorder
Desire to be center of attention
How are dopamine and serotonin related with regards to drug addiction?
Increased release of dopamine decreases serotonin levels, which decrease feelings satiation. This requires body to need more drugs to feel same affects
How does amount of neurons used affect sensory thresholds?
Use of more neurons requires a larger difference in sensation to be noticeable
How many minutes is a full sleep cycle?
~90
Hypophysis
Pituitary gland
Iconic memory
Visual photographic memory, decays in tenths of a second
Illusory correlation
Perceived relationship between two things
Incongruity
Emotional result when the real self falls short of the ideal self
Informational social influence
Complying because others might know something we don’t know
Interneurom
Neuron found completely within the CNS (connect sensory to motor)
Language is usually associated with which side of the brain?
Left
Linguistic relativity hypothesis
Language one speaks determines their thoughts and perceptions of the world
List the factors that can affect absolute threshold?
Expectations
Experiences
Motivation
Alertness
List the monocular cues?
Relative size (bigger looks closer to us) Interposition (in front = closer) Relative height (taller looks further away) Shading/contour (allows for different perceptions) Motion parallax (closer looks like it’s moving quickly)
Luteinizing hormone
Anterior pituitary targeting the gonads
Females: stimulates ovulation and development of corpus luteum
Males: stimulates testosterone production and release
Manifest content
According the Freud, the overt storylines of our dreams
Medulla oblongata
Hindbrain, controls respiratory rate and BP
Melatonin
Pineal gland, sleep/wake cycles
Midbrain
Visual and auditory startle reflexes
Mind guarding
Pressure to conform within a group causes individuals to censor their own opinions in favor of consensus, which creates an illusion of unanimity
Nucleus accumbens
Brainstem, dopaminergic reward path, releases dopamines
Opening K+ channels ________ the membrane
Repolarizes
Opening Na+ channels ________ the membrane
Depolarizes
Optic disk
Blind spot
Optimism bias
Belief that bad things happen to other people, but not us
Palmar grasp reflex
In response to stroking baby’s palm, hand will grasp
Parathyroid hormone
Parathyroid glands, increases Ca2+ levels Targets bones (stimulates osteoclasts) and kidneys (increases Ca2+ reabsorption) and the small intestine (increases Ca2+ reabsorption)
Primary reinforcers
Unconditioned consequences that are innately satisfying or desirable-biologically driven
Progesterone
Steroid, produced by corpus luteum during second half of menstrual cycle, maintains uterine lining
Prospective memory
Remembering to do something in the future
Rational-legal authority
Leadership that is organized around rational legal rules
Reciprocal determinism
Reciprocal interaction between a persons behavior (conscious actions), personal factors (cognition, motivation, personality), and environmental factors
Resource model of attention
Attention is a limited resource. If multiple tasks do not exceed this limit, they can be done simultaneously.
Retention interval
Amount of time elapsed since info was learned and when it must be recalled
Reticular activating system
Structures in the brainstem that are important for alertness and arousal
Role exit
Process of disengaging from a role that has become closely tied to ones self identity to take on a new role
Saltatory conduction
A rapid foe, of action potential conduction along the axon of a neuron in which action potential appears to jump from node of ranvier to node
Schizoaffective disorder
Combo of mood and psychotic symptoms, schizophrenia and major depressive, manic, or mixed episode
Secondary reinforcers
Conditioned reinforcers learned through their direct or indirect relationship with primary reinforcers
Selective priming
Being predisposed to observe something because it has previously been encountered frequently or is expected
Semantic memory
Memory for facts
Social behaviorism
The idea that the mind and self emerge through the process of communicating with others
Social cognition
Ability of the brain to store and process info regarding social perception
Social constructionism
Theory that argues that people actively shape their reality through social interactions. Looks to uncover ways in which individuals and groups participate in the construction of their perceived social reality
Somnambulism
Sleep walking
Spotlight model
Model for visual attention, with a spotlight representing ones attention and its ability to unlock from the current target, move focus, and lock onto a new target
Symbolic interactionism
Micro-level theory in sociology, examining the relationship between individuals and society by focusing on communication, the exchanges of info through language and symbols
Traditional authority
Form of leadership where power is due to custom, tradition, or accepted practice
Tropic hormone
Hormone that controls release of another hormone
True or false: emotional memories are more easily remembered and less susceptible to alteration
False- emotional memories are more easily remembered but MORE susceptible to alteration
True or false: sympathetic nervous system arousal results in increased glucose release?
True, the brain can only process glucose for energy
What 3 factors influence ability to multitask?
- Task similarity
- Task difficulty
- Practice
What are complex, innate behaviors?
Unlearned, a fixed action pattern
- mating dance
- migration
- circadian rhythms
What are Freud’s 5 stages of psychosexual development?
Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latent and Genital. At each of these stages, pleasure is focused on a particular part of the body. Too much or too little pleasure in any one of these stages caused a fixation which would lead to personality or psychological disorders. For example, too much pleasure in the phallic stage could lead to obsessive masturbation and sexual dysfunction as an adult.
What is intrinsic motivation?
Motivation based on internal factors, like what you like to do and things that make you happy
What are Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development?
- Sensorimotor stage
- Pre-operational stage
- Concrete-operational stage
- Formal operational stage
What are retrieval cues?
Cues associated with memory that help recall
- Priming (associations made w/ memory that we are unaware of
- Context (environment in which encoding occurs)
- Stare (mood, current internal state during encoding)
What are simple, innate behaviors?
Unlearned, ie reflexes
What are the 3 components of attitude?
- Affective-feel emotions that affect/shape attitude
- Behavioral-how we act/behave toward object
- Cognitive-form thoughts or beliefs, or use knowledge to form attitude
*ABC
What are the 3 components of emotion?
Physiological reaction
Cognitive reaction (interpretation of environment)
Behavioral response
What are the 6 universal emotions?
Happy, sad, fear, disgust, anger, surprise
What are the components to prejudice?
3 components:
- Cognition (stereotype)
- Affective
- Behavioral (tendency to lead to discrimination)
What are the defense mechanisms, and which theory are they associated with?
Freud’s psychosexual approach to personality
They distort reality to protect the ego from anxiety caused by id impulses
- repression
- denial
- regression
- rationalization
- intellectualization (detached)
- projection
- displacement (expressing feelings toward something or someone besides the target person, because they are perceived as less threatening.)
- reaction formation – acting in a manner opposite our true feelings.
- compensation
- sublimation – expression of sexual or aggressive impulses through indirect, socially acceptable ones.
What are the encoding strategies?
Rote rehearsal
Chunking
Mnemonics
Self-referencing (how info relates to you)
Spacing (spread studying out over more time)
Define: group polarization
Group’s opinions and actions become more extreme than each individual’s. Group decisions enhance beliefs and opinions of individual group members
What are the main differences between rod and cone cells?
Rods = rhodopsin cones = photopsin More rods than cones Rods in periphery, cones in the center (fovea) Rods = light, cones = color Rods = slow recovery time, cones = fast
What are the memory retrieval methods?
Free recall-w/out cues
- primacy effect
- recency effect
Cued recall- given more cues
Recognition- correct answer is given (easiest)
What are the methods of problem solving?
Trial and error
Algorithm
Heuristic
What are the ways of reducing discomfort felt from cognitive dissonance?
- May try to slightly modify opinion/view
- Trivialize-change importance of one cognition
- Add more cognitions
- Denying cognition links altogether
What are α waves?
Medium frequency, associated with a relaxed state
What are β waves?
High frequency, associated with alertness
What are θ waves?
Low frequency, associated with period right after falling asleep
What cognitive abilities decline with age?
Recall
Episodic memory
Processing speed
Divided attention
What cognitive abilities improve with age?
Semantic memory (until ~60years) Crystallized intelligence Emotional reasoning
What cognitive abilities remain stable with age?
Implicit memory
Recognition memory
What does cortisol do?
In times of stress, shifts body’s use of fuel from glucose to fats and proteins, saving glucose for the brain
What does the cerebellum do?
Coordinates and smooths skeletal muscle activity
What effect do depressants have on the body? And what are the 3 main types?
Decrease CNS, HR, BP, Processing speed (increase response to GABA)
Barbiturates/benzodiazepines/alcohol
What effect do hallucinogens have on the body? And what are the 2 main types?
Increase dopamine and serotonin, causing ecstasy
Distorted perceptions, increased or decreased energy/mood swings
LSD/PCP
What is characteristic of Parkinson’s disease?
Progressive decay or motor/cognition
Loss of dopaminergic neurons
Degenerating neurons -> Lewy bodies
Death of cells that generate dopamine
What effect do opiates have on the body? And what are the 2 main types?
Activate receptor sites for endorphins, causing euphoria
Decrease CNS/HR/BP, analgesic (pain relief)
Heroin/morphine
What effect do stimulants have on the body? And what are the 6 main types?
Release dopamine
Increase CNS, HR, BP, Alertness
Nicotine/cocaine/caffeine/amphetamines/meth/MDMA
What hormone is released by the adrenal cortex in response to stress?
Cortisol (glucocorticoid), redistributes glucose
What hormones are products of the anterior pituitary and what controls it?
FSH LH ACTH TSH Prolactin Growth hormone
Controlled by hypothalamus
What is normative influence?
Conforming even if you disagree to avoid conflict
Motivation to comply is a desire for the approval of others and to avoid rejection
What is a neurocognitive disorder?
Loss of cognitive abilities AFTER development of nervous system
What is a neurodevelopmental disorder?
Intellectual disability from BIRTH
What is a ratio in a schedule of reinforcement?
Amount of correct responses
What is ACTH?
Adrenocorticotropic hormone, released by the anterior pituitary that targets adrenal cortex, stimulating release of cortisol and aldosterone
What is an interval in a schedule of reinforcement?
An amount of time, unrelated to response numbers
What is aversive control?
Behavior motivated by the threat of something unpleasant
What is Broadbent’s early selection theory? (Bottleneck theory)
Individuals have a limited amount of attentional resources that they can use at one time. Therefore, information and stimuli are ‘filtered’ somehow so that only the most salient and important information is perceived. T
What is characteristic of depression?
Major depressive moods
Decreased frontal lobe activity
Decreased serotonin
What is characteristic of dissociative identity disorder?
2+ identities exist in single body
Deny other personality
What is characteristic of schizophrenia?
Increased dopamine
Delusions/hallucinations
Reduction in brain tissue size (cerebral cortex & temporal lobes)
What is characteristic of somatic symptom disorder?
Physical symptoms that may or may not be real
What is cognitive behavior therapy
Addresses thoughts and behaviors that are maladaptive by using goal-oriented and systematic techniques
What is convinced private conformity?
Changing opinions and beliefs to match others
What is convinced public conformity?
Publicly agreeing with opinions, but privately disagreeing
What is Erickson’s theory of psychosocial development?
Includes eight stages. At each stage there is a different and specific conflict that the individual must resolve in order to move to the next stage of development. If the person is unable to resolve a conflict at a particular stage, they will confront and struggle with it later in life. According to Schultz and Schultz (1987), “The person is faced with a choice between two ways of coping with each crisis, an adaptive or maladaptive way. Only when each crisis is resolved, which involves a change in the personality, does the person have sufficient strength to deal with the next stages of development”. So you see, this theory is based on encountering and resolving conflicts, which helps the person establish a sense of identity and move from one developmental stage to the next.
What is extrinsic motivation?
Motivation that is based on external factors, like money, rewards, obligations, or approval
What is George Herbert Mead’s the “I” and the “Me”?
Only certain people influence how we view ourselves, and only during certain life stages. The “I” is the response to social self, the “Me” is the social self
What is identification?
Going along with someone to be like a specific individual
What is informative influence?
Uncertain of the truth, assuming group is correct
What is internalization?
A belief/behavior becomes internalized and you come to believe it yourself
What is involved in the concrete operational stage?
7-11 years
Learn concept of conservation
Reasoning and mathematics
What is involved in the formal operational stage?
12+ years
Abstract thinking/consequences
Moral reasoning
What is involved in the sensorimotor stage?
0-2 years old
Develop through sensing environment
Lack object permanence
What is involved in the pre-operational stage?
2-6 years
Pretend play, use symbols
Egocentric
How is dopamine involved with the reward pathway in the brain?
Pleasure->dopamine to amygdala, nucleus accumbens, prefrontal cortex, hippocampus
Mesolimbic pathway
What is Kohlberg’s theory of Moral development?
Moral judgment progresses with age and is primarily concerned with justice.
Divided his six stages of ethical behavior into 3 stages pre-conventional, conventional and post-conventional (related to age and maturity) that are then subdivided into two other stages that describe the moral rationales for the adoption of ethical behaviors. For example, avoiding punishment, doing the “right thing”, positive benefit to society, etc. These stages are based on the premise that mastering the lower stages of moral development is essential for aspiring to the higher levels of achievement.
What is Korsakoff’s Syndrome?
Lack of vitamin B1 (thiamine) in brain causes cognitive decay
Treatable, not progressive
What is majority influence?
Solomon Asch, line studies
Occurs when the behaviors or beliefs of a larger (majority) group of individuals influences the behaviors or beliefs of a smaller group. This is a type of social influence in which conformity occurs.
What is Piaget’s theory of language?
Thought influences language
What is priming?
Exposure to one stimulus influences response to another stimulus
What is role-playing?
Following a social quota in a certain role, over time acting becomes “normal” as change in attitudes occur
What is Sleep Stage 1?
Between sleep and wakefulness
Hypnogogic hallucinations (hearing/seeing things that are not there)
Mostly θ waves
What is Sleep Stage 2?
Deeper sleep
More θ waves
Sleep spindles and k-complexes appear on EEG
What is Sleep Stage 3?
“Slow-wave sleep”, Δ waves
Difficult to wake
Stage where sleep walking/talking occurs
What is Sleep Stage 4?
REM Sleep
Muscle paralysis
Dreams
Paradoxical sleep
What is stereotype threat?
Exposure to negative stereotype surrounding a task can decrease performance of individual attempting the task
What is strain theory?
Society puts pressure on individuals to achieve socially accepted goals (such as the American dream), though they lack the means. There are discrepancies between culturally defined goals and the institutionalized means available to achieve these goals. Leads to deviance
What is subliminal threshold?
Intensity that is below our sensation perception
What is the 4th stage of Erickson’s theory?
Industry vs inferiority
6-12 years
Virtue: competence
Outcome: inferiority
What is the 5th stage of Erickson’s theory?
Identify vs role confusion
12-18 years
Virtue: fidelity
Outcome: rebellion
What is the 6th stage of Erickson’s theory?
Intimacy vs isolation
18-40 years
Virtue: love
Outcome: isolation, unhappiness
What is the 7th stage of Erickson’s theory?
Genernativjty vs stagnation
40-65 years
Virtue: care
Outcome: unproductiveness
What is the 8th stage of Erickson’s theory?
Integrity vs despair
65+ years
Virtue: wisdom
Outcome: despair, dissatisfaction
What is the attenuation theory?
Physical characteristics are used to select one message for full processing and other messages are given partial processing (we have an attenuator that weakens but does not eliminate input)
What is the attitude to behavior process model?
An event triggers an attitude, use outside knowledge and attitude to shape resulting behavior
What is the attribution error?
The tendency for an observer, when interpreting and explaining the behavior of another person (the actor), to underestimate the situation and to overestimate the personal disposition
What is the attribution theory?
The way in which people explain their own behavior and that of others. According to this theory, people tend to attribute (or explain) psychological or external causes as the determining factor in behavior.
What is the babinsky reflex?
The bottom of the foot is stimulated by having a blunt instrument, i.e. tongue depressor, run across it.
The normal response to this type of stimulation is a downward flexion of the big toe. An upward flexion can be a sign of disease of the brain or spinal cord.
What is the behavioral approach to personality?
Rejects the importance of biological factors in favor of the environmental forces. Instead of traits, behavioral approach proponents believe that behavior is a function of environmental factors and learning. Skinner and Pavlov
What is the biological approach to personality?
The perspective that personality is determined by biological factors
What is the biomedical approach to psych disorders?
Focuses on bio/physical manifestations to categorize disorders
What is the biopsychosocial approach to psych disorders?
Focuses on bio/physical/psych/social cultural background to categorize disorders
What is the central executive?
Part of Alan Baddeley’s model of working memory that oversees the visuospatial sketchpad, phonological loop, and episodic buffer. Responsible for shifting and dividing attention
What is the cognitive approach to motivation
Focuses on rationale and decision-making ability
What is the critical/sensitive period?
Regarding language development, idea that humans can only learn languages during ages 2-9 years (part of Nativist theory)
What is the difference between active and reactive movements?
Active change society, reactive resist change
What is the difference between bipolar disorder 1 and 2?
1: all hypomanic episodes develop into full mania
2: cycle through hypomania without going into a full manic state
What is the difference between dispositional and situational attributions?
Dispositional = internal Situational = external
What is the difference between false and misleading info?
False info is totally false, whereas misleading info just uses stronger language than what is true
What is the difference between role strain and role conflict?
Role strain involves tension between roles in one status (ie many classes involved with being a student)
Role conflict involves tension between roles in different statuses (ie being a dad and a student and husband)
What is the Door-in-the-face technique for persuasion?
A technique used to get compliance from others (to get them to behave in a way you want) in which a large request is made knowing it will probably be refused so that the person will agree to a much smaller request. The real objective is to get the person to agree to the small request, which is made to seem very reasonable because it is compared to such a large, seemingly unreasonable request. In essence, the large request gets you the “door in the face” when you ask it. For example, someone might ask you to give to give 5 hours of your time a week for the next year as a volunteer to a charity. After hearing this offer you may think it is a huge request, after which you may be asked to, instead of committing to all this volunteering time, to just donate a small amount of money. Compared to the time commitment, this request seems much more acceptable.
What is the drive reduction theory?
Drives and needs are present, one aspires to meet needs and drives reduce those needs
What is the ego?
Helps the individual adapt to external reality by making compromises between the id, the superego, and the environment. Operates by the “reality principle” – directs the individual to express sexual and aggressive impulses in socially acceptable ways.
What is the Elaboration Likelihood Model?
People are more likely to carefully process persuasive messages when they are motivated and capable of considering all available information. So, if someone watches a political debate with great interest and attention they are more likely to evaluate the candidates and their arguments based on merit and to be more thoughtful about their evaluations. But if they watch a debate on a topic they’re not interested in or they don’t understand, they will evaluate the arguments based on other cues such as the emotional tone of the message or the physical attractiveness of the candidate.
What is the evolutionary approach to motivation?
Involves the role that instincts play in motivation
What is the first stage of Erickson’s theory?
Trust vs mistrust
0-1years
Virtue: hope
Outcome: fear, suspicion
What is the foot-In-the-door phenomenon?
The tendancy for people to comply with some large request after first agreeing to a small request. As you can then imagine, the technique is used to get compliance from others (to get them to behave in a way you want) in which a small request is made first in order to get compliance for a larger request.
What is the function of the adrenal cortex?
Release cortisol in times of stress and aldosterone in response to low BP or low blood osmolarity
What is the function of the amygdala?
Part of the limbic system, responsible for anger/violence and/or fear/anxiety inducing.
Destruction results in mellow personality or disinhibited behavior
What is the function of the adrenal medulla?
Release epinephrine and norepinephrine to prolong and enhance the sympathetic stimulation
What is the General Adaptation System?
3 phases to stress response:
- Alarm
- Resistance (hormones increase, fight or flight)
- Exhaustion
What is the Humanistic approach to personality?
Humans have free will and can actively develop ourselves and reach self-actualization
What is the Id?
Contains innate biological drives, seeks immediate gratification, and operates by the pleasure principle (seeking gratification of impulses).
What is the incentive theory?
Reward is presented after the occurrence of an action, increases that action
What is the Interactionist theory?
Language development is both biological and social. Interactionists argue that language learning is influenced by the desire of children to communicate with others. (Mainly via Vygotsky)
What is the James-Lange Theory of Emotion?
An individual has a physiological response to a stimulus first, and then experiences an emotion based on his or her perception of the physiological response. A person sees a bear and starts trembling, breathing faster, and sweating. The person interprets these physical symptoms as resulting from the emotion “fear,” so he or she consequently feels afraid.
Bear (Event ) => “Fight or Flight” response (physical) => Emotion (Fear)
What is the labeling theory?
A behavior is deviant simply if people have judged behavior and labeled it as deviant
What is the Late Selection Theory?
All messages get through, but that only one response can be made (late selection)
What is the Lazarus Theory of Emotion?
A thought must occur before an emotion or physiological response can take place. Therefore, a person sees a bear (event), the person thinks “I am going to be shredded into tiny little pieces” (thought), and the person simultaneously feels fear and prepares for “fight or flight.”
Bear (Event) => “I am going to die” => fear (Emotion) + “Fight or Flight” (Physical)
What is the limbic system?
A grouping of structures in the brain that sits between in the most primitive part of the forebrain called the rhinecephalon. It is a network of neurons that influences pain, anger, hunger, sex, thirst, and pleasure. The thalamus, hypothalamus, amygdala, fornix, mammiliary bodies, and septal areas are all parts of the limbic system.
What is the Low-ball technique for persuasion?
A technique used in sales and other styles of persuasion to offer products or services at a bargain price in order to first attract a buyer, but then adds on additional expenses to make the purchase less of a bargain than originally thought. This is the technique often seen in car sales when the salesperson quotes a low price for the basic car, but then tacks on options, extended warranties, service packages, etc. to end in a much higher price tag than was originally quoted.
What is the mnemonic to remember what brain structures are part of the limbic system?
HATH Hypothalamus Amygdala Thalamus Hippocampus
What is the Moro reflex?
As a response to a sudden loss of support, the infant feels as if it is falling. It spreads out the arms (abduction), then curls them back in, unspreading the arms (adduction)
What is the Nativist theory?
Humans are born with the ability to learn language (perhaps with a language acquisition device, as hypothesized by Chomsky)
What is the observer bias?
Viewing others’ behavior as internal, and our own as external
What is the optimum arousal theory?
People are motivated to reach full alertness or full arousal
What is the primacy bias?
First impressions count
What is the primary appraisal of stress?
First appraisal, involving 3 possible responses
- Irrelevant
- Benign/positive
- Stressful
What is the prototype willingness model?
Behavior is a function of 6 things:
- Previous behavior.
- Attitudes to behavior
- Subjective norms
- Intentions
- Willingness to engage in behavior
- Models/prototyping
What is the psychoanalytic theory approach to personality?
Childhood experiences and unconscious desires influence behavior (fixation at a certain age predicts personality)
Freud’s ID, EGO, SUPEREGO
What is the purpose of 2 eyes?
Binocular vision which allows for retinal disparity
What is the rational choice theory?
People weigh pros and cons before joining movements
What is the recency bias?
Recent impression is more important than first impression
What is the relative deprivation theory?
Social movements arise from groups that are oppressed/unequal
What is the resource mobilization theory?
Movements are started when resources are available to start
What is the rooting reflex?
A tendency for the infant, when stroked on the side of the face, to move its face in the direction being stroked, open its mouth, and search for a nipple. This reflex is for survival as it helps infants locate food.
What is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, aka Whorfianism?
The structure of human language effects the way in which an individual conceptualizes their world. Working from the position that every language describes and conceptualizes the world in its own unique way, it holds that a person’s native language limits their cross-cultural understanding.
What is the Schachter-Singer Theory of Emotion?
Their theory states that a person has a physiological response, thinks or reasons about it, and then has the emotion. I see a bear (event), my heart starts racing and I breath faster (physical response), I think “hmmm… that bear looks upset that I pushed its bear cub around. I probably should have not done that. I might want to consider retreating before I’m fed to the cub for dinner” (thought), and I feel terrified.
Bear (Event) => “Fight or Flight” (Physical) => Bears are protective parents (Reasoning) => Fear (Emotion)
What is the second stage in Erickson’s theory?
Autonomy vs doubt
1-2 years
Virtue: independence
Outcome: shame, doubt
What is the secondary appraisal of stress?
If the primary is negative, there are 3 possible assessments to evaluate the organism’s ability to cope with stressor:
- Harm?
- Threat?
- Challenge?
What is the self concept derived from?
Self esteem and self efficacy
What is the self fulfilling prophesy?
A prediction that causes itself to come true due to the simple fact that the prediction was made. This happens because our beliefs influence our actions.
What is the social cognitive theory of personality?
Similar to the behavioral perspective, but here cognitive factors important in determining behavior…the environment/learning and cognition are the determining factors in behavior. In addition, there are two important concepts you need to be familiar with:
1) reciprocal determinism – Bandura’s belief that personality traits, environmental factors, and overt behavior don’t determine behavior in isolation. Rather, these factors affect each other to determine our behaviors. Reciprocal determinism also relies on a person’s self-efficacy.
2) self - efficacy – a person’s belief that he or she can perform behaviors that are necessary to produce a desired outcome. Self-efficacy influences what choices we make in different situations, the situations we enter, and the outcomes. For example, do you think a person with low self-efficacy would enter a situation in which they must perform a difficult task in front of a large crowd of people?
What is the social identity theory
This theory addresses the ways in which people perceive and categorize themselves. According to social identity theory, individuals form self-conceptions that are based on two parts: 1) personal or self identity, and 2) collective identity. Personal or self identity refers to our unique, personal qualities such as our beliefs, our abilities and skills, etc. The collective self includes all the qualities that arise from being part of a society, culture, family, groups, clubs, etc. For example, you may identify yourself as a protestant, male, football player, who is very popular with people at school.
What is the Stanford Prison Experiment?
A controversial experiment which investigated the psychological effects of being a prisoner or prison guard. In the experiment, college students were randomly assigned to become prisoners or guards.
During the course of the experiment, both the prisoners and guards rapidly internalized their roles (they started to become their roles), with the guards becoming sadistic, and the prisoners becoming passive and depressed. Originally designed as a two-week experiment, the duration was cut short after 6 days due to the emotional trauma experienced by the participants.
The study demonstrated what Zimbardo calls the Lucifer Effect - how good people can turn evil in response to the situation they are in, and not as a result of their real personalities.
What is the sucking reflex?
Infant sucks when area around mouth is touched
What is the superego?
Acts as our moral guide; contains the conscience, which makes us feel guilty for doing or thinking something wrong; also contains the ego ideal, which makes us feel good for wanting or doing something good.
What is the theory of 3 intelligences?
Analytical intelligence
Creative intelligence
Practical intelligence
What is the theory of differential association?
Deviance is a learned behavior that results from continued exposure to others that violate norms and laws, changing opinion to believe that behavior is acceptable
What is the theory of planned behavior?
Consider implications of actions before deciding how to behave (based on others’ attitudes toward behavior, subjective norms, perceived behavior control)
What is the third stage of Erickson’s theory?
Initiative vs guilt
3-5 years
Virtue: purpose
Outcome: inadequacy
What is the trichromatic theory?
The human retina contains three different receptors for color (meaning each one is most sensitive to one color): one is most sensitive to red, one is most sensitive to green, and one is most sensitive to blue. These color receptors combine the colors to produce the perception of virtually any color. You notice that there are no receptors specific to orange, but by stimulating the right cones in the right way, orange color is produced.
What is the Wernicke’s area known to do, and what are symptoms of its damage?
Language understanding
Damaged: cannot produce meaningful sentences. Words are real, but whole sentences don’t make sense (Wernicke’s aphasia)
What is Universalism?
Theory of language-thoughts dictate language that develops. Language is merely a reflection of human thought, and so all languages are significantly similar in their conceptual categories.
What is used to study sleep cycles?
EEG
What is Vygotsky’s idea of Sociocultural Development?
The idea that society and culture shape cognition. Social customs, beliefs, values, and language are all part of what shapes a person’s identity and reality. According to this approach, what a person thinks is based on his or her socio-cultural background. A socio-cultural approach takes into account more than the individual in attempting to understand cognitive processes.
What is Vygotsky’s theory of language?
Language and thought are independent and can be learned to connect
What is weak linguistic determinism?
Language only weakly influences thought
Sensitization
An increase in the strength of a response its repeated exposure (increased response with stimulus)
What it the Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion?
An emotion is produced when some stimulus triggers the thalamus to send information simultaneously to the brain (specifically, the cerebral cortex) and the autonomic system (including the skeletal muscles). Thus, the stimulus is perceived at both a physiological and the subjective level.
Bear (Event) => Fear (Emotion) => “Fight or Flight” response (physical)
What type of motor skills develop first?
Gross- larger muscles
What type of motor skills develop second?
Fine motor skills-smaller muscles
What was Lazarus’ stance on stress?
Stress stems from appraisal (primary and secondary appraisals)
What was the Milgram Experiment?
A study that found that a big majority of the participants were willing to obey an authority figure even when they were being instructed to do something that they believed was morally wrong.
The study was composed of an experimenter, a learner (who was an accomplice), and a teacher (the participant). The “teacher” was instructed by the experimenter to deliver increasingly stronger electric shocks whenever the learner gave a wrong response. After several wrong answers and voltage increases, the “learner” would start to bang on the wall that separated him from the “teacher”, scream, and generally make it clear that he was in pain. After several more shocks, the learner ceased responding.
Milgrim found that, even though most participants didn’t want to continue delivering the shocks, they would do it as long as the researcher kept telling them to do so.
Milgram concluded that people’s obedience may be explained by the Agentic State Theory, which states that people see themselves as mere instruments for implementing the wishes of a higher authority, and can therefore not be held liable for their actions, since they are “just doing their job.” Milgram believed that this explains how soldiers were able to act as they did during the Holocaust.
Which reinforcement schedule has a high rate of desired behavior?
Fixed ratio
Which reinforcement schedule has a more regular rate of response?
Variable interval
Which reinforcement schedule has a slower rate of response?
Fixed interval
