Psychology Exam! Flashcards
What is psychology?
the scientific study of behavior and mental processes
What does the definition of psychology mean?
psychology encompasses what we study and how we study
example: trying to understand bullimia
Common misconceptions in psych:
-only about Freud
-synonymous with therapy
How is psychology different from psychiatry?
-psychiatrists can prescribe medication and psychologists cannot
-psychology: MD
-psychiatry: PhD
Psych’s Big Questions
-nature vs. nurture
-change or stability
-universal or unique
Nature or Nurture
nature is your genetics (we were born like this) vs. nurture is your environment
Change or Stability
is change steady and progressive or staggard and discreet
Universal or Unique
can certain psychological principles and phenomena be applied universally (everyone) or uniquely (specific culture)
What is the APA?
American Psychological Association
What are the TWO specializations?
basic and applied
What is basic specialization?
when psychologists conduct research to enhance the understanding of behavior and mental processes
What is physiological psychology?
how the brain influences disorders, how the brain communicates, neuropsychology, etc
What is developmental psychology?
how people change throughout their lifespan and just how we develop
What is personality psychology?
focuses on personality traits, what influences them, and how culture influences them
What is social psychology?
understanding how people think, how their influenced, and how they relate to others
What is applied specialization?
psychologists apply their expertise to real-world problems and use knowledge of the mind and behavior to enhance their client’s lives
What is clinical psychology?
focus on psychological disorders while applying it due to research done by BASIC researchers
What is counseling psychology?
focus on improving the functioning of people having a difficult time and work with those experiencing a major life change
What is industrial/organizational psychology?
focus on what takes places in the work place or consultants with businesses
What is community psychology?
focus on the wellbeing of the entire community
What is forensic psychology?
focus on legal and criminal justice issues, typically they can be consultants to lawyers
What is educational psychology?
focus on how people learn and help to improve their performance
What makes up psychology?
philosophy and physiology
Diversity within Psych
-geographic
-Kenneth and Mammie Clark
Who are Kenneth and Mammie Clark?
the first African-Americans to earn a PhD in psychology and responsible for the doll experiments
What is pseudo-psychology?
psychological info that is not supported by science, but may appear phrenology, physiognomy, and spiritualism
What will psychologists always use?
critical thinking to avoid confirmation bias
What is confirmation bias?
interpreting new evidence as confirmation of one’s existing beliefs
3 Aims of Psychological Studies
descriptive, correlational, and experimental
Descriptive Research
describes a characteristic of a population and is reported as measures of central variation
Correlational Research
describes the relationship between 2 variables and reported as a correlation coefficient
Experimental Research
determine cause and effect relationships between variables (independent/dependent)
What constitutes a culture?
a group of people who share similar beliefs, values, and patterns of behavior
How do we ensure our cultural understanding doesn’t morph into prejudice?
dynamic sizing which is the ability to simultaneously know the norms of a group
In what ways does diversity surround you?
intersectionality
Intersectionality
a persons unique combination of social and cultural categories intersect/overlap
Cultural Intelligence
ability to live and interact effectively in a multicultural society which allows us to interact/get along
Acculturation
managing a life that involves the coexistence of more than one culture
Assimilation
adopt new culture, reject old
Separation
retains old cultures, rejects new
Marginalization
rejects old and new culture
Integration
adopts new and old culture
Acculturative Stress
pressure from old or new culture
Hofstede’s Cultural Values
individualism vs. collectivism and large vs. small (power distance)
Individualism vs. Collectivism
wellbeing of oneself over a group vs. wellbeing of group over oneself
Large vs. Small (power distance)
when a culture has an hierarchy and there’s a gap between who holds power and who doesn’t
Who is Phineas Gage?
experienced a horrible injury which changed his personality
Neurons
-building blocks of the brain, cells that facilitate communication within the nervous system
-receives input and sends output
Sensory Neurons (input)
carry info to the brain, comes from our senses
Motor Neurons (output)
carry info from the brain to the muscles
Interneurons
connects neurons to others, this is the plentiful type in the brain
Cell Body (soma)
in the center of a neuron and responsible for the functionality and basic activities of a neuron
-“post office”
Axon
carries information from one neuron to the next
-“mail truck”
Axon Terminals
form connections with the next neuron
-“mailman”
Dendrites
receives messages from the axon terminals
-“mailbox”
Synapse
the gap between two connecting neurons
Neurotransmitters
chemical messengers which send information throughout a neuron
-“mail”
Receptor Sites
a vessel that receives a specific neurotransmitter, it is located in the dendrites
Reuptake Process
when a neurotransmitter is trying to be sent, but can’t find a receptor site so it is sent back to the neuron that was trying to send it
What TWO drugs can effect the impact of a neurotransmitter?
agonists and antagonists
Agonists
help enhance the impact of an neurotransmitter
Antagonists
interfere with the impact of an neurotransmitter
Action Potentials
the release (firing) of an electrical impulse that travels through the axon
What is the all or none response?
either a signal is sent or not at all
Resting Period
when the neurons are not firing, a state of rest and low level electrical charge
Threshold
the level of electrical charge needed before firing action potential
Action Potential
firing of electrical impulse
Refractory Period
waiting time, neuron resting before another action potential can begin
What is myelin sheath?
a protective sleeve of fatty tissue which provides insulation and makes sure communication happens between neurons at MAXIMUM speed with MINIMAL loss
What does myelin sheath have to do with?
the axon
Is the axon covered in myelin sheath?
yes
What happens if myelin sheath deteoriates?
multiple sclerosis
What is localization?
specific parts of the brain do specific things
What is localization relative to?
brain size across species
What is the front of the brain responsible for?
decision making, planning, and perform certain cognitive tasks
What is the back of the brain responsible for?
breathing, sleeping, and hunger (shared across species)
What is the brain stem connected to?
the spine
What does the brain stem control?
the functions most essential to staying alive
What are the THREE structures of the brain stem?
pons, medula, and reticular activating system
Pons
transmits information, involved in sleep, breathing, and equilibrium
Medula
involved in heartbeat and breathing
Reticular Activating System
collection of neurons involved in arousal
What do the pons and medulla control together?
swallowing
What is the cerebellum involved in?
balance and the coordination of movement
What does the cerebellum NOT initiate?
movement
What happens if the cerebellum is damaged?
issues with walking, tremors, or impaired speaking
What percentage of the brain does the cerebellum take up?
10%
Where are 50% of the brain’s neurons located?
cerebellum
What is the thalamus?
takes information we receive from our senses
What is the thalamus involved with?
attention and movement
What does the limbic system govern?
emotion
What are the parts of the limbic system?
hypothalamus, hippocampus, and amygdala
Hypothalamus
has control of the pituitary gland and helps us maintain balance (homeostasis)
What does the hypothalamus have a great impact on?
autonomic nervous system
Pituitary Gland
master gland of endocrine system
Hippocampus
associated with memory (spatial and long term)
What happens if there is damage to the hippocampus?
amnesia
Who is Henry Malasion?
had his hippocampus removed and could not remember anything new
What can impact your hippocampus?
stress or traumatic experiences
What is the amygdala responsible for?
fear
What happens when there is damage to the amygdala?
you can display other emotions but not fear, this is known as “extraordinary altruist” research
What is the cerebrum?
forebrain
Is the cerebrum larger in humans?
yes
What does the right hemisphere control?
left side of body
What does the left hemisphere control?
right side of body
What is the corpus callosum?
made up of neurons and connects each hemisphere allowing communication
What is the cerebral cortex?
outer layer of cerebrum
What is the cerebral cortex responsible for?
thinking, perceiving, producing, and understanding
What are the FOUR lobes?
occipital, temporal, parietal, frontal
Occipital Lobe
involved with vision and located in the back of the brain
What happens if there is damage to the occipital lobe?
blindness
Temporal Lobe
involved in hearing/speech production and located above our ears
What is Wernicke’s Area?
area located in the temporal lobe involved in understanding speech
What is Wernicke’s Aphasia?
can’t understand or create speech, you can speak but it will not make sense
What is the parietal lobe?
involved in touch/perception and located near the top of the brain
What is the somatosensory cortex?
strip of brain matter involved in receiving information from our senses
What does the somatosensory cortex monitor?
the sensation of touch and our lips take up a good portion of the somatosensory cortex
What is the frontal lobe involved in?
complex thinking/decision making and it is located behind the forehead
What does the prefrontal cortex do?
distinguishes humans from other primates
What is the motor cortex?
a strip of brain matter involved in involuntary movement and motor movement
What happens to the parts of your body that need more motor control?
they get more representation from the motor cortex
What parts of our body take up the most space?
hands, lips, tongue, fingers
What is Broca’s Area?
specific part of the frontal area that is associated with speaking
What is Broca’s Aphasia?
damage to Broca’s area which would result in damage to speech
What is plasticity?
ability of the brain to adapt its structure or function to damage/experience
What is one factor that influences plasticity?
age
Is it true that the younger you are, the more brain plasticity you have?
yes
What is the nervous system set up of?
nerves that connect the brain with all other parts of the body
How is the nervous system organized?
central nervous system and peripheral nervous system
Central Nervous System
made up of ONLY the brain stem and the spinal cord
Peripheral Nervous System
the neurons that connect the central nervous system to other parts of the body
What makes up the peripheral nervous system?
somatic nervous system and autonomic nervous system
Somatic Nervous System
connects the central nervous system to the parts of the brain we voluntarily control
Autonomic Nervous System
connects the central nervous system to the parts of the body we involuntarily control
Sympathetic Nervous System
revs up the body in response to stressors
Parasympathetic Nervous System
calms the body down when the stressors decrease
What is sensation?
the way in which we absorb what is in our surroundings through different senses and transmit it to the brain
What is transduction?
converting the energy outside of our body into neural energy
What is perception?
the ability of the brain to interpret raw sensations it has taken in or putting sensations into context
What is one fact about sensation and perception?
as humans brains evolved, more space was made for them
What are the TWO thresholds?
absolute and difference
What is absolute threshold?
minimum level of a stimulus necessary to detect the presence of the stimulus at least half of the time
Does the absolute threshold have specific measures?
no
What affects the absolute threshold?
age, gender, race, and lifestyle factors
Does the absolute threshold have significant variability?
yes
What is difference threshold?
the smallest change in a stimulus necessary for a person to detect it at least half of the time
The difference threshold varies based on…
age, gender, experience
What is sensory adaptation?
the tendency of stimulus decreasing when it remains constant
What is an example of sensory adaptation?
eyes adjusting to the sun after leaving a dark movie theater
What is perceptual constancy?
our brains ability to maintain the same perception of an object even when conditions around it cause it to produce different sensations
What is an example of perceptual constancy?
catching a baseball as it is coming towards you
What is selective attention?
when the brain pays more attention to one sensory channel over others
What would happen if we did not have selective attention?
overstimulation
What is the cocktail party effect?
the ability to focus one’s attention a particular stimulus while filtering out a range of other stimuli
What is sensory interaction?
the idea that senses can influence each other
What is the McGurk Effect?
only pertains to hearing and vision, and vision can trump all other senses
What is the sensory conflict theory?
the theory that explains motion-sickness as a by-product of sensory interaction
What is bottom-up processing?
minimizes or eliminates that role of experiences/expectations
What is top-down processing?
you already have experiences, and those experiences will influence your senses
What is a perceptual set?
tendency to perceive things in a certain way because of your previous experiences or your attention strategy
What is change blindness?
failure to notice changes in the visual field simply because you expect otherwise
What is inattentional blindness?
failure to notice somethings in your visual field because your attention was elsewhere
