Psych Exam 10/13/22 Flashcards
psyche
study of the soul
William James (1890)
science of mental life
mind, brain, and behvaior
mind = mental states, thoughts and feelings and motives
brain = enables mind, mind = emergent property of brain functions
behavior = any overt action (speech, gesture etc)
behavior + brain = observable
mind = invisible, inferred not observed
structuralism (Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchener)
break down conscious experience into basic elements, like chemistry
introspection - years of training, required the ability to describe sensory elements in the most basic form without any influence of expectations from society (eg newborn child) - Hersey kiss example
primary areas = perception, sensation
functionalism (William James)
consciousness should be studied for function rather than structure - Hershey’s kiss example = focus on what we feel about it and why
primary areas = social, practical, everyday higher-order experience (ex evolutionary psychology)
gestalt (Max Wertheimer)
experience is not made up of finite components but rather the whole of experience is indescribably different than the mere sum of its parts - anti-strucuturalist
primary area = perception
psychoanalytic (Sigmund Freud)
behavior is determined by unconscious drives - heavily affected by childhood, used dream analysis and free association to uncover unconscious desires and conflicts
primary area = personality development + psychopathology
behaviorism (John Watson, B. F Skinner and Ivan Pavlov)
shouldn’t worry about a conscious mind because you will never know what the people next to you are thinking
should study behavior as an end to itself rather than as a means for inferring mental processes or structures
primary area = learning
“Tabula Rasa” (behavioralism)
people are born as a blank slate and we become who we are sole though learning history - built his daughter a box and focused her learning history on behavior psychology…she became a behavioral psychologist
humanistic (Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers)
humans can determine their own fate through the concept of free will and everyone can develop to their fullest potential
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
Roger’s person-centered therapy
focused heavily on a person’s present more than past
primary area = personality and therapy
cognitive revolution (George Miller)
thinking should be studied as information processing
primary areas = memory, learning, language and cognitive psychology in general
social revolution (Kurt Lewin)
need to understand both individual and social pressures/social context in order to fully predict behavior
B = f(P,E)
primary area = social, cultural
“group dynamics (social revolution)
believed that group behavior was different than what could be expected from the individuals alone
case study
deep investigation of a single case (one participant, couple or group)
for studies that cannot be ethically manipulated in a lab (ex brain injury, cults etc), way to uncover truths about the mind that would be difficult to study in any other way
rare minds that have been injured or mind with extraordinarily rare abilities (
case study pros
real-life observation and rich description, what the human mind is capable of, what is possible, even if it’s not typical
case study cons
limited generalizability pr inferences that you can make
correlational research
observational or survey methodology
correlational research step 1
hypothesis of relationship among variables - example “does absence make the heart grow fonder?”
variables - measurable conditions, events, characteristics or behaviors of interest (anything that “varies) - ex absence, fondness
correlational research hypotheses
1 - absence makes the heart grown fonder
2 - “out of sight out of mind”
correlational research step 2
operationalization = translation of the hypothesized variables into specifics, concrete measurable or manipulatable definition of the variable of interest
variable - fondness, how could you measure fondness
- self-reported relationship satisfaction
- frequency of gazing touching eye contact and smiling observed in the lab field
correlational research pros
easier to get larger samples, ask about a wider variety of events that can be manipulated in lab, easier to ensure generalizability across situations
correlational research cons
self-report biases, people can lack insight, “tests” of hypotheses are correlational in nature
definition of correlation
an expression of the relationship between two variables
definition of sign
positive or negative reflects the pattern of relationships
positive - A increases, B increase (ex temperature and popsicle consumption)
negative - A increases, B decreases (ex temperature and hot chocolate consuption)
definition of magnitude
vary from 1 to -1, absolute magnitude reflects the strength of relationship (larger = stronger)
1 = perfect positive correlation
-1 = perfect negative correlation
example - r = -0.87 stronger than r = +0.23
correlation does not equal causation
A causes B - increasing absence reduces fondness
B causes A - decreasing fondness increases absences
C causes both A and B - third variable may be causing both increases absence and decreased fondness (ex financial stress causing argument and more time away because they are working more)
experimental research
manipulation of one set of variables in order to assess effects on other variables
experimental research pros
can draw casual inferences
experimental research cons
can be artificial, limited to certain topics
independent and dependent variables (experimental research)
requires manipulation of an independent variable and measurement of a dependent variable
IV - hypothesized cause, different levels of the IV must be randomly assigned
DV - hypothesized out come, must be measurable/quantifiable
random assignment (experimental research)
placing participants into conditions based on chance (not volunteer-based)
on average the comparison groups are the same - all other differences should logically be unrelated to the manipulation (since it’s random)
manipulation of IV is the most likely cause of effect (correlational language is acceptable here)
definition of confound (good research)
any alternative variable that covaries with the experimental condition and could potentially explain differences between experimental groups - example what if Beyonce was always “dropping paper” in the morning and Nick Nolte (creepy man) was “dropping paper” in the evening = a confound
avoiding confounds (good research)
rigid control, every participant’s experience is controlled/identical except for the manipulation
randomly vary as many “nonessentials” as possible (ie who the experimenter is, order of dependent measures…) so that any differences presumably will average out
avoiding bias (experimenter and/or participant)
correcting ways in which the experimenter or participant could (even unconsciously) influence the results by changing their behavior
experimenter expectancy effects
subtle differences in treatment may influence participant behavior - ex telling some students they have a “smart, genius rat” vs “dumb rats” changes the way they treated them so in the end those who were told they had smart rats ended up with smarter rats than those who were told they had dumb rats
observer bias
observer expectations alter the way one interprets behavior
participant bias
social desirability - behave “better” in studies than real-life in order to look morally good
suggestibility - desire to confirm study hypothesis (or reactance - desire to do the reverse of the hypothesis)
ways to avoid participant bias
single and double “blind” procedures - participants don’t know the hypothesis, experimenter/observers don’t know what conditions were assigned to which participant
mundane realism
lab tasks mirror the real-world environment in hopes of capturing more natural behavior (ie studying consumer preferences in a grocery story layout, with real brands)
psychological realism
when the tasks used to capture the psychological process in a controllable setting, even if it still looks and feels like a lab, rather than an everyday environment - more important than mundane realism
easy = low-level visual perception, psychological process is the same in and out of lab
difficult = resisting temptation, hard to bring into the lab (“taste test” study)
ethical research
when creating “psychological events” in a lab one must ensure the benefits of the knowledge outweigh any costs to participants
IRBS (Institutional review Boards) - does not include the researchers themselves, reviews studies to ensure cost/benefit ratio is appropriate
participant rights
informed consent, ability to withdraw without penalty, debriefing on what the study was about and informed of any deception
replicability
if study was run again, would you get the same results
reliability
how stable are your manipulations and measures
well-established introversion scale is going to be more reliable than a Buzzfeed survey or projective (ink blot) test
validity
how “true” are your findings
internal validity - lack of confounds and larger samples imply that within this experiment inference is solid, unlikely to be due to chance alone
construct validity - operations are good reflections of the construct you think you are studying (ie “fondness” as measured by the expense of presents purchased for a partner - obviously has very bad construct validity)
external validity - generalizability of findings to other samples across ages, cultures, genders, social class
genes
segments of DNA that guide the production of proteins to carry out specific tasks
all humans have the same genes arranged in the same order, more than 99.9% of our DNA sequence is the same, but the few differences matter and can change the shape and function of a protein
units of heredity
genes can be turned “on” or “off” by aspects of environment (seasonal changes and animal fur color)
genotype
actual genetic constitution - the DNA sequence itself
phenotype
observable expression of characteristics - results from genes and environment
genotype vs phenotype
same genotype can be expressed in different phenotypes ( example tortoiseshell coloring occurs because one coat gene is randomly inactivated in the embryo stage)
same phenotype can result from different genotypes (tongue rolling)
TT = T
Tt = T
tT = T
tt = t
role of heredity (behavioral genetics)
genes passed down through families
family studies (behavioral genetics)
behaviors/traits can be similar in families but families provide environments as well as genes
twin studies
identical twins - genetic clones
fraternal twins - non-clones
compare the size of the positive correlations of the trait under study between MZ “identical” twins vs DZ “fraternal” twins
MZ > DZ - genetic heritability
MZ = DZ - common evniorment
MZ < 1 - unique environment
examples of heritable characteristics
physical traits (height, weight), vulnerability to some mental illnesses, extraversion/introversion, daily happiness
gold standard of heritability studies
adoption studies of twins raised apart, shows hereditary genetic traits vs environmental but does it really prove solely genetic basis
evocative interaction of genes and environment - when a heritable feature changes how environment responds to you
evocative interaction (behavioral genetics)
when a heritable feature changes how environment responds to you
passive genotype-environment correlation (behavioral genetics)
association between the genotype a child inherits from their parents and the environment in which the child is raised
active genotype-environment correlation (behavioral genetics)
association between an individual’s genetic propensities and the environmental niches that individual selects
“niches” (behavioral genetics)
environments and genetics working together to support a trait
“active interaction” (behavioral genetics)
“genetically happy” people tend to spend their time differently (with friends, family and pursuing hobbies they love) which then magnifies their initial predisposition towards happiness (happiness niches)
but no matter who you are genetically when you intentionally choose to do the same activities that the genetically happy people do you are happy
“active interaction” (behavioral genetics)
“genetically happy” people tend to spend their time differently (with friends, family and pursuing hobbies they love) which then magnifies their initial predisposition towards happiness (happiness niches)
but no matter who you are genetically when you intentionally choose to do the same activities that the genetically happy people do you are happy
hormones
chemicals released by the endocrine system, influence a wide variety of physiological states but also psychological states
oxytocin
bonding love, universal quick mammalian bonding with infant
“virgin” sheep study
tried giving abandoned baby lambs to teenage sheep but they rejected the child because they did not possess oxytocin (released during labor; contractions)
cortisol (psychological stress)
released by the adrenal glands and implicated in
- glucose metabolism, insulin release for blood sugar maintenance
- regulation of blood pressure
- immune function and inflammatory response
- levels are higher in the morning and decrease across the day
classic lab stressor (cortisol)
having people prepare a speech they think they will give to a panel of judges, during preparation the cortisol increases
occurs naturalistically (cortisol)
marital conflict, the higher the cortisol release = decreased relationship health
oxytocin downregulates cortisol release
Depression/anxiety disorders (cortisol)
have been linked to chronically high cortisol levels, enhanced cortisol release under stress and higher number of glucocorticoid recpetors
DISC1 gene in mice
associated with vulnerability to mental illness, adolescent stress, cortisol release, and depression
bred some mice - half have DISC1 gene variant and others do not
half underwent a stressful adolescence (social isolation stressor)
as adults, they were given normal life until they were given a swim test (situational stressor/challenge) to see how long before they gave up (analogue of depression
DISC1 mice w stressful adolecnese gave up faster = higher cortisol levels during swim
DISC1 mice w/o stressful adl were fine and mice without DISC1 (w or w/o stressful adl) were also fine
DISC1 w stressful adl could be fine if given anti-depressants to increase dopamine
cortisol downregulates dopamine
microbiome
trillions of organisms living on and in us - gut, bacterial genome is as powerful as the human genome in predicting some phenotypes
microbiome and cortisol
Suggestive evidence in humans → people fed one specific strain of bifidobacterium in a daily yogurt showed lower brain reactivity to negative words/images → lower cortisol release in response to lab stressors, lower self-reported stress levels in response to daily hassles
somatic (peripheral nervous system)
info to and from muscles, joins and skin
autonomic (peripheral nervous system)
internal organs and glands
sympathetic (autonomic - peripheral nervous system)
“fight or flight” acute stressors
heart rate up, vasoconstriction, heightened blood glucose
may not be adaptive for modern stressors - more likely psychological not physical stress threats (chronic stress linked to heart disease)
parasympathetic (autonomic - peripheral nervous system)
heart rate down, vasodilation, increase the digestion
vagus nerve (parasympathetic)
primary interface of the system - connects the brain to lungs, heart, and digestive tract and can transmit “relax” signals - reducing stress responses
gut bacteria (parasympathetic)
activate the vagus nerve - probiotic “antidepressant” treatment only works (in mice) with an intact vagus nerve because those bacteria activate the parasympathetic system
spinal cord (central nervous system)
“go between” brain and peripheral nervous system, basic motor reflexes
brainstem (central nervous system)
connects spinal cord and brain, houses basic “programs/functions” of survival (ex breathing, swallowing, urinating) are automatic, and do not require communication with higher brain areas to function
decerebrate cats (brainstem)
brainstem severed from brain above it - show some very basic survival behaviors including aggression attack at noises or painful stimulation, eating, and some mating behaviors
disorganized thought process - would eat food if it happened to be there but would not search for food
thalamus
sensory waystation - all sensory information (except olfactory) goes through the thalamus to cortex, gates senses during sleep
hypothalamus
master regulator, regulates endocrine system (hormones), basic needs
4Fs - fighting, fleeing, feeding…fucking
hippocampus
implicated in memory (with parts of medial-temporal lobe)
H.M - had to remove parts of the hippocampus in order to save his life, but developed amnesia and was unable to create new memories but could remember everything that happened before
amygdala
implicated in emotion also receives sensory input prior to the cortex
Eliot - highly intelligent but suffered an infection that damaged his amygdala and was institutionalized despite the fact that every cognitive test came back higher than normal, but he could no longer make decisions
hippocampal damage (anterograde amnesia) w intact amygdala
learn emotional information even without conscious memory of it
Ex: had participants meet a nice stranger and a not nice stranger and the next day they asked the patients to look at a photo of the nice stranger, the mean stranger, and a person they had never met and asked if they ever met them, the patients said no, asked patients to decide who they would ask for a favor and they almost all choose the nice stranger or the neutral person
cerebrum
“seat of thought”
occipital lobe
visual processing, primary and secondary visual cortext porccess and interprets visual information carried from the retinas forward to other brain areas
two functionally independent visual pathways: color/form distinct from motion/spatial
geniculostriate system (occipital lobe)
ventral tream/”what” system: primary visual pathways in humans = detailed consciousness of color and form
tectopulvinar system (occipital lobe)
dorsal stream/”where” system = motion and location
“blindsight” (occipital lobe)
if geniculostraite is damaged but tectopulvinar stays intact - conscious blindness but still can sense motion/location at better than chance levels, causes functional business even if eyes are completely healthy
parietal
sensory association and awareness
primary somatosensory cortex (parietal)
touch, plus integration of sensory information then projection to the frontal lobes
cross-modal matching (parietal)
the ability to recognize concurrent sensory signlas as a single object (feel and color of something)
cross-modal matching (parietal)
the ability to recognize concurrent sensory signals as a single object (feel and color of something)
mental manipulation (parietal)
the ability to mentally “view” an object from a different perspective
sensory awareness/attention (parietal)
damage to the parietal lobe can lead to “neglect” of the opposite side - the conscious awareness
neglect (parietal)
loss of conscious awareness of one side of the body and stimuli on that side (most comply right parietal lesion will create neglect of left side)
does not perceive neglected side, affects memory as well - also internal representation (imagination) only draws half of a flower because the mind can only perceive half of its existence
temporal
auditory and category information
auditory perception (temporal)
extracting the pitch from the sound
necessary for spoken languages comprehension
Wernicke’s aphasia (temporal)
when the left temporal lobe is damaged and causes people to lose speech perception
fusiform face area and prosopagnosia (temporal)
fusiform face area - appears specialized for facial categorization
prosopagnosia - losing the ability to consciously recognize faces
frontal
motor, planning
motor cortex (frontal)
important for fine movements of face and fingers including speech
prefrontal (frontal)
planning, directing and maintaining attention
temporal/time and sequence organization (frontal)
errors of sequence, all the components but in the wrong order
response inhibition (frontal)
preservation = continuing a response even after it is not adaptive
orbitofrontal cortex (frontal)
part of the prefrontal cortext behind the eyes
- implicated in social functioning
- important for social impulse control, damage can lead to socially inappropriate behavior
- Phineas Gage: metal rod shot through his brain and obliterated his prefrontal cortex
hemispheric specialization
each hemisphere has its own “mind” and normally t two minds communicate and work together instantaneously and that’s why we have a single conscious experience but they can be observed separately
split-brain
sever the corpus callosum (due to seizures) the two hemispheres of the brain can no longer communicate efficiently with one another
contralateral organization (split-brain)
right hemisphere gets info from the left visual field, left ear etc and feels/controls the left arm/leg and vice versa for the left hemisphere
left vs right hemisphere
people with only the left hemisphere can speak clearly and well, the right can sometimes say a few words but varies
left brain specialized for
- spoken language/grama
- conceptual fine-coding of meaning (dictionary)
- movement and sensation on the right side of the body
right brain is specialized for
- spatial relations
- emotional tones of sounds, emotional expressions
- conceptual course-coding needed for metaphor, humor
- movement and sensation on the left side of the body
embodied mind
embodiment does not equal determinism, identical bodily experiences can lead to different experiences based on prior experiences, thoughtful processes, and expectations
sensation
conversion of stimulus - light, soundwaves, pressure of touch, chemicals of taste and smell to neural impulses at the receptor sites
perception
interpreting these stimuli and applying meaning to them
linguistic demands (perception)
two words in Russian to talk about the spectrum of color that we can blue which makes them better at distinguishing the blues that cross-category (same vs different)
taste buds (perception)
sommeliers learn to perceive taste and odor distinctions through years of training which helps them interpret the same sensory information they have always
bottom-up
process based upon the sesory signals (light, sound, pressure, temperature) relayed from lower (sensory) to higher (interpretive) systems
top-down
process based upon prior knowledge or expectation information relayed from higher systems can bias lower order systems (so we perceive in context)
ex: old/young woman illusion top-dwon process influencing visual perception
bottom-up vs top-down
bottom-up sensory information constraints the perceptual experience one can have, top-down tuned you to perceive the woman as old or young, bottom-up explains why no one sees a completely random object
vision
rods - most numerous, must more sensitive to light (see at night), no color vision
cones - color, in humans = red, green and blue sensitive cones in the retina clustered in the fovea
second stage visual processing (vision)
opponent processing - patterns of activiation/inhibition
the red/green channel, the yellow.blue channel and the luminance channel in retinal ganglia
activity of these channels in combination allows color perception - we know about opposing activation because of afterimages/exhaustion
“waterfall effect”
motion sensitive neurons can get exhausted if processing the same motion repeatedly, can get motion aftereffects
hearing
hair cells - auditory sensory receptors translate vibrations to electrical signals
loudness - depends upon the amplitude of the soundwave
pitch - depends upon wave frequency
auditory cortex organization tonotopically (hearing)
different parts of the auditory cortex specialized to different frequencies (high vs low pitch sounds)
sound location
depends upon timing and intensity of the sound at each ear (why surround sound is so compelling)
touch
pressure - depends upon the density of mechanoreceptors (touch receptors)
somatosensory cortex (touch)
has a somatotopic organization (body mapping) but more brain areas are devoted to input from face, fingers, tongue/lips - less from trunk or shoulders so difference in sensitivity of input from those locations
temperature (touch)
there are both warm and cold thermoreceptors across the skin, with many more warm thermoreceptors than cold
pain (touch)
1) fast - sharp immediate pain = reflexive withdrawl
2) slow - chemical signals of damage = stop using painful body part
gate control theory (touch)
both attention and interpretation matter for experience of pain
- competing sensory input can reduce perception of pain ex shake or rub hand after minor injury
- cognitive distractions (puzzles or tv) and/or social support (w loved one) can reduce perceived pain
taste
salty, sweet, bitter, sour, umami/savory - possibly a new one for fat
supertasters
6X more than average, tend to be picky eaters, often hypersensitive to bitterness
smell
30 million receptors (as opposed to less than 10,000 for taste), distinguish up to a billion odors
incredibly sensitive - can smell a “single” molecule of green pepper
scents
mothers can identify their baby’s unique smell within 6 hours of birth, biggest sex difference in psychology is that females are significantly better at both perceiving and identifying odors than males (evolutionary reasons)
smell function
bypasses the thalamus and goes straight to olfactory bulb and both the amygdala (emotion) and cortex (representation)
smell evokes strong emotional associations, an excellent cue for memory
anosmia
long-term loss of smell reduces interest in food (duh) and sex (!) also people report a general emotional “flattening” - less intense emotional response
pheromones
not consciously perceived by humans but still responded to in behavior
mammalian “communication” signals of threat, emotion or sexual signals
