Psychology Flashcards
What is corpus callosum
connects right n left hemispheres, 20% larger in females
Whats the differences in male and female brain
male brain is 10% larger, parietal cortex is larger, amygdala is larger
More tightly packed neurons, greater network of connections btw neurons, Limbic cortex 20% larger in females, Part of frontal lobe which focuses on decision making is larger
Parietal cortex
involved in spatial perception (manipulating things), larger in males
Amygdala
responsible for sexual and social behaviour. larger in men
limbic cortex
responsible for regulating emotions, connects right hemisphere to left
what is sex
biological and physiological characteristics that define men and women
Gender
socially constructed roles, behaviour, activites, attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women
Why do teens take more risks/chances
Teenagers seek dopamine as the dopamine system is largely present in teens. This fires motavation and provides rewards, risk taking chances are increased when peers are present
Dopamine system
Components of risk, reward, and motavation
What age is the brain fully developed?
Age 25, prefrontal cortex is the last to mature
Which neurotransmitter is the teen brain attuned to and what does it do?
Dopamine, Risk reward and motivation. Dopamine levels in the limbic system increase
What is the limbic system
Regulate emotions and behaviour
How does the delayed completion of the brain help teens?
The delayed maturity in specifically the prefrontal cortex, in crucial in how teens develop into independent people and form their own experiences. Developmental experiences
6 structures of the brain
frontal lobe, occipital lobe, temporal lobe, brain stem, cerebellum, parietal lobe,
Frontal cortex
Involved in decision making, problem solving/planning, contains prefrontal cortex which is personality and expression
Occipital lobe
Visual processing, colour, shape etc
Temporal lobe
Combining what we see and hear, mostly recognized for processing auditory information, eg hearing ability, speech, emotional response etc
Brain stem
Responsible for vital functions of life eg, breathing, consciousness, blood pressure, heart rate and sleep
Cerebellum
Responsible for movement coordination and balance and muscle tone
Parietal lobe
reception and processing of sensory information from body, eg speech, pain/touch, manipulation of objects
structuralism
william wundt, conducted experiments on sensation,perception, and attention. Have people describe everything that goes on in mind
Who is william wundt
Founder of psychology
Functionalism (william james)
Believed that mental characteristics developed to allow people to survive by solving problems.
Studies people in everyday life
Psychoanalysis (sigmund freud)
Process designed to uncover patients unconscious thoughts by encouraging them to discuss background, feelings and experiences w trained psychologists. (therapy)
Behaviourism (john watson)
Psychology should only study what can be observed (reaction/response to environmental stimuli)
Humanism
started in the 50’s, human beings can make choices and control their lives
Cognitive psychology
1950s, study of mental processes involved in memory, learning and thinking
Sensation
Process that activates our sense receptors, sight, hearing, smell, taste, transmits signals to the brain
Perception
Process allows us to select, organize, and interpret sensory signals in brain
Sensation vs perception
Sensation involves when the sensory receptors detect stimuli
Perception is the organization, interpretation and conscious experience of those sensations
Classical conditioning
Learning to transfer a natural response from stimulus to another,associates one thing with another discovered by ivan pavlov
Stimuli
Objects/events that produce a response from a person/living being
Conditioned learning
The way we learn to respond to particular environmental stimuli eg stopping at a red light
Operant conditioning
B.F skinner, repetition of responses influenced by rewards/punishments
Positive reinforcement & Negative reinforcement
event/situation/condition which increases likelihood it will recur
neg: event, situation or condition which decreases the likelihood that behaviour will recur
Observational learning and 4 processeses
Albert bandura, Learn more by observing role models
attention, retention, reproduce, motivation
explain the 4 processes to observational learning
attention: attention to behaviour of others
retention: store a mental representation of what u observe in ur memory eg what went well
Reproduction: practice, put stored memory into action
motivation: U must be motivated to practice skill, believe its important
what did maslow believe
humans are motivated by their needs, created hierarchy of needs
He believed that once needs at a certain level are met, people play at lower levels and tend to take risks
What are the 7 defense mechanisms
Fantasy, repression, rationalization, regression, denial, projection, displacement
fantasy
daydreaming, can be helpful, however if we resort to this rather than reality it will not solve problems
repression
process of pushing a painful thought into our unconscious mind eg feelings of hostility for someone into back of mind
rationalization
if we cannot face real reasons for our behaviour we convince yourself we have other reasons
regression
when a problem is too big to handle in mature ways, we go back to old behavioural habits/patterns
Denial
When reality is too unpleasant we may deny its existence, ignore criticism
Projection
A person attributes their own threatening impulses onto someone else
Displacement
shifting an emotional focus from original focus to another person, object/situation
3 components of emotion, explain
cognitive: mental state, conscious feelings and how we interpret situations
Physical: physical characteristics which accompany emotional reactions eg, clenching fists
Behavioural: outward expression of emotion, facial expressions, tone, body lang
emotional makeup, explain
heredity: we inherit some emotional capacities, argued we only inherit excitement capacities, relating to fight or flight, some facial expressions are innate
Learning: emotional makeup is largely determined by learning experiences, shape us as ppl, men n women taught to express differently
Maturity: emotional feelings/reactions develop and change over a lifetime
what are the 5 tiers of maslow’s hierarchy
Physiological needs (shelter, food, clothes etc), Safety and security (health, employment), property, love and belongings (friendship, family, relationships, etc), self esteem (Confidence, achievement, respect of others), Self-actualization (morality, acceptance, inner potential)
Levels of memory, explain
Sensory: Records information from these senses for only a few seconds, record what is necessary
Short-term memory: Refers to what is going on in your conscious mind this very second, holds for 50 seconds, discarded if not worked on
Longterm memory:Items that are important and have meaning to you are stored in long term memory
Types of memory, explain
Episodic: ability to remember events from the past eg birthday parties
Semantic memory: knowledge of how the world works (school, on time, notes etc)
Procedural memory: memory of how to do things/perform (riding a bike)
ways to improve long term memory
give material meaning, organize info, spread practice over several sessions, learn actively by doing, transfer learning areas, copy experts etc
freuds theory of mind
many people who studied human behaviour believed ppl were aware of their concious motives, freud opposed that
He believed many were unaware of their thoughts and motives as it was apart of the unconscious mind, he believed the mind had 3 parts, id, superego, ego
What is Id, ego, superego
ego - rational part of the brain, reality.
Id- instincts, impulsive thoughts, what i wanna do
superego - mortality, what we should do
biological motavation
innate, physical needs eg water, food
social motavation
learned, physiological needs such as praise and success
instinctive motivation: desire to perform task for its own sake, ur own reasons
extrinsic motivation: performing a task due to external factors eg rewards/threat of punishment)
types of dreams
Night terror: Occur in NREM, indivisdual will sit up, scream,a nd go back to sleep not recalling it
Nightmare:Frightening dream in REM sleep
Daydreams: Consciousness btw wake and sleep, mind wanders
false awakening dreams: thinking youve gone thro morning routine, daily routine but ur sleepings
Recurring dreams: most often negative, reflect neglected/unresolved issues in reality, finding solutions end it usually
5 main Personality theories
Freud - unconcious desires/past expierences shape personality
Jean piaget - cognitive deveolpment was how people learn and use language
charles horton cooley - looking glass self, self identity developed through socialization
george herbert mead - self devs thro social interaction w others
erik erikson: dev is lifelong process
what stage is REM
stage 4, 123 is NREM cycle repeats until awake. most dreams happen in 4
harlow expierement
Monkeys were separated from their mothers and put with a cloth monkey (nurture) and a wired monkey (nature) the experiment showed the monkeys stayed with the cloth mother for 22 hours of the day and only left when necessary for food
Attachement styles
Secure - higher maturity, less disruptiveness, better at relationships, feel protected and dependent on caregivers
Ambivalent -anxious pre-occupied style, cling to caregivers, dev into overly dependent adult
Avoidant - do not experience sensitivity from caregivers to their needs, leading to difficulties with intimate relationships
disorganized - mistreated/neglected, behaviour disorganized, attachment derived from trauma and fear
