Psychology Unit 1 Flashcards
1
Q
What is psychology today?
A
It’s the scientific study of the behavior of individuals and their mental processes
2
Q
What is behavioral psychology?
A
it focuses on observable behavior
3
Q
What is cognitive psychology?
A
it looks at how people understand and think about the world
4
Q
What is humanistic psychology?
A
it says basically that people can control their behavior and they want to reach their full potential
5
Q
What is psychodynamic psychology?
A
it basically says that behavior is motivated by inner unconscious forces that people have little control over and originated from the ideas of Freud
6
Q
What is evolutionary psychology?
A
It wants to identify behavior that results from our genetic inheritance from our ancestors
7
Q
What is developmental psychology?
A
It looks at how thought and behavior change and show stability through a life
8
Q
What is behavioral neuroscience?
A
It looks at the links among, brain, mind, and behavior
9
Q
What is personality psychology?
A
It looks at what makes people unique and whether the behavior is consistent across time and situations
10
Q
What is social psychology?
A
It looks at how the real or imagined presence of others influences thought, feeling, and behavior
11
Q
What is clinical psychology?
A
It diagnoses and treats mental, emotions, and behavioral disorders and looks at promoting psychological health
12
Q
What is health psychology?
A
It looks at the role of psychological factors in physical health and illness
13
Q
What is educational psychology?
A
It studies how students learn and how effective teaching techniques are, it also looks at dynamics of school populations and the psychology of teaching
14
Q
What industrial/organizational psychology?
A
The industrial side matches employees to jobs and selects employees and evaluates job performance. The organizational side tries to make workers more productive and satisfied by looking at how work environments and management styles influence worker motivation, satisfaction, and productivity.
15
Q
What is sports psychology?
A
It looks at the psychological factors that affect performance and participation in sports and exercise.
16
Q
What is community psychology?
A
It looks at how individuals are to and part of their communities
17
Q
What is forensic psychology?
A
It blends psychology, law, and criminal justice
18
Q
What is hindsight bias?
A
It says that after learning an outcome, a person thinks they could have foreseen it
19
Q
What is free will?
A
It says that behavior is caused by a person’s independent decisions but there is an argument against it that says “free will is an illusion” and that external forces guide behavior
20
Q
What is determinism?
A
It assumes that everything has a cause in the observable world
21
Q
What is a theory?
A
It’s a statement about the causal relation between 2 or more variables and it is induced from a a lot of observations that explain and organize facts
22
Q
What is a hypothesis?
A
It’s a testable prediction, but it must be falsifiable
23
Q
What is the operational definition?
A
It specifies the operations aka procedures used to produce or measure something
24
Q
What is illusory correlation?
A
It’s an apparent relationship based on casual observations of unrelated or weakly related events (aka people see what they expect to see)
25
What is trephination?
It involved drilling a small hole in a skull to help with brain injury and release the spirits and demons that were believed to possess the afflicted person
26
What was the major contribution of Hippocrates to psychology?
theorized that personality traits and human behaviors are based on four separate temperaments associated with four fluids (humors) of the body
27
According to the book, what were the views on psychology proposed by ancient Chinese?
They made connections between organs and emotions. The heart housed the mind, the liver housed the spiritual soul, the lung had the animal soul, the spleen had ideas and intelligence, and the kidneys had will and vitality.
28
Who was the pioneer of moral treatment of the mentally ill in the U.S.?
Dorthea Dix
29
What modern view of psychological disorders developed at the end of the 1800s?
They are one form of illness and should be treated as medical conditions with diagnosis and therapy.
30
Describe the clinically based approach of psychoanalysis?
The unconscious mind is the most powerful force behind thought and behavior and that dreams have meaning and are the most direct route to the unconscious mind. It also assumes that our experiences during childhood are a big force in developing adult personality and that people use psychological defense to protect themselves. It also assumes that unconscious blocking of disturbing thoughts is at the heart of all maladaptive adult behavior.
31
What are the contributions of Emil Kraepelin?
He collected data on different psychological disorders and began to classify them and diagnose them (like dementia praecox - premature dementia which later turned into schizophrenia). He was also the first to distinguish thought disorders from mood disorders (depression).
32
What are the major differences between scientists and philosophers?
Philosophers do not collect data to test their ideas while psychologists do
33
What is the main contribution of Wilhelm Wundt?
He set up a laboratory in Germany that is now the birthplace of experimental psychology. He is credited for giving psychology its independence from philosophy and physiology.
34
Who is the founder of American Psychology?
William James
35
Who was Mary Whiton Calkins?
She was the first female president of the APA (American Psychological Association) in 1905. She conducted research on dreaming, gender issues, and self-image.
36
What’s the difference between structuralism and functionalism?
Structuralism is concerned with the structure of the mind. Functionalism is concerned with things people do or try to get done
37
Describe the Nature-Nurture Debate:
The nature view believes that who we are comes from inborn tendencies and genetic traits. The nurture view states we are essentially the same at birth and we are the product of our own experiences. We have moved to nature through nurture where the environment interacts with biology to shape who we are and what we do.
38
How is validity and reliability defined?
Reliability is when the test or measure gives us consistent results over time or between different scientific observers. Validity is when a scientist says they are measuring a concept, they are actually measuring that concept.
39
What does pseudoscience refer to? What is the difference between science and pseudoscience?
It refers to practices that appear to be and claim to be science but do not use the scientific method to reach their conclusions. The difference between science and pseudoscience is open skepticism.
40
According to Derry (1999) what defines pseudoscience practitioners?
They disregard facts that contradict their claims, do not challenge their own assumptions, and offer vague or incomplete explanations of how they got to their conclusions. They make no real advances in knowledge and tend to use unsound logic in making their arguments.
41
According to the book, which fields may be considered as pseudoscience?
Alchemy, creation science, intelligent design, attempts to create perpetual motion machines, astrology, alien abduction, psychokinesis, and some forms of mental telepathy.
42
Why do researchers draw on small subsets of each population to collect data?
Because most populations are too large to survey or interview directly
43
How are samples and populations defined?
What is the difference between sample and population? Samples are small subsets of each population while populations are the entire group a researcher is interested in.
44
How would you define descriptive designs?
It’s when the researcher makes no prediction and does not try to control any variables. They just define the problem of interest and describe the variable of interest.
45
In the context of experimental studies, how does a quasi-experimental design differ from an experimental design?
A true experiment uses random assignment of participants while quasi-experiments do not.
46
What defines a naturalistic observation? What are the advantages of using this design?
It’s when the researcher observes and records behavior in the real world. The advantages are that it allows researchers to study actual behavior in the real world rather than in a controlled setting where people might not behave naturally.
47
What’s the difference between quantitative research and qualitative research?
Qualitative research involves data gathered from open-ended and unstructured answers rather than quantitative research which gathers quantitative or numeric answers.
48
What is a representative sample?
A research sample that accurately reflects the population of people one is studying.
49
How do control and experimental groups differ in an experiment?
The control group does not receive the treatment aka the independent variable while experimental groups do receive the treatment.
50
What are confounding variables? How can this affect the results of the experiment?
A variable that is related to the cause and the effect of the study, which could mean causation of an experiment could not be concluded.
51
What are the differences between single-blind studies and double-blind studies?
Single-blind studies mean the participants do not know the experimental condition they have been assigned while the experimenter does. In double-blind studies, neither the participants nor the researchers know who has been assigned which condition.
52
What is social desirability bias?
The tendency toward favorable self-presentation that could lead to inaccurate self-reports.
53
What are the ethical guidelines psychological and medical researchers must adhere to?
Informed consent, respect for persons, beneficence, privacy and confidentiality, justice
54
What are the two main parts of the nervous system and their components (or branches)?
Central nervous system (CNS) - includes brain and spinal cord
Peripheral Nervous system (PNS) - all other nerve cells in the body
- Somatic nervous system
- Autonomic nervous system (ANS): Sympathetic nervous system, Parasympathetic nervous system
55
What are the roles of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems?
Sympathetic nervous system - Activates body systems in times of emergence (fight or flight), Parasympathetic nervous system - returns body to a less active and restful state
56
What are the primary functions of glia cells and neurons?
Glia cells hold neurons in place, insulate them, and remove waste products. Neurons transmit information throughout the nervous system and receive and integrate and generate messages.
57
What is the structure of a neuron?
Axon, dendrites, cell body
58
What is the difference between motor and sensory neurons?
Motor neurons take commands from the brain and carry to muscles. Sensory Neurons receive incoming sensory information from sense organs.
59
Define the process of reuptake.
When the sending neuron absorbs the excess neurotransmitters in the synapse.
60
What are the main neurotransmitters discussed in the book? What are their main functions?
Acetylcholine is involved in learning, memory, sleeping, eating, drinking, and dreaming. Dopamine is involved in arousal, mood, and voluntary muscle control. Epinephrine increases ANS activity and is involved in the fight or flight response. Norepinephrine affects CNS activity, has a role in increasing alertness and attention. Serotonin plays a role in mood, sleeping, eating, and temperature regulation. GABA is a major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain. Glutamate is the most common excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain, involved with learning and memory.
61
What is the difference between inhibitory and excitatory neurotransmitters?
Inhibitory neurotransmitters decrease the likelihood of a neuron firing. Excitatory neurotransmitters increase the likelihood of an action potential.
62
What are the main brain regions? What are the main functions of these regions?
HIndbrain regulates breathing, heart rate, arousal and other basic functions of survival. Midbrain controls the eye muscles, processes auditory and visual information, and initiates voluntary movement of the body. Forebrain controls cognitive, sensory, and motor functions and regulates temperature, reproductive functions, eating, sleeping and displays of emotion.
63
What are the main parts (or structures) of the hindbrain and midbrain? What are their functions?
Hindbrain - medulla, pons, and cerebellum. Medulla - regulates breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, and is involved in reflexing responses. Pons regulates body movement and other autonomic functions. Cerebellum is responsible for body movement, balance, coordination and other fine-motor skills and is important in cognitive activities like learning and language. Midbrain - reticular formation - plays a key role in wakefulness.
64
What are the functions of the hypothalamus and hippocampus?
Hypothalamus regulates all of our major drives and motivations and controls the pituitary gland which is responsible for producing and controlling hormones. Hippocampus plays a vital role in learning and memory.
65
What is the main function of the amygdala?
It determines the emotional significance of stimuli especially with fear and processes facial expressions of emotion.
66
What is the role of the cingulate gyrus and the basal ganglia?
The cingulate gyrus is important in attention and cognitive control. The basal ganglia is involved in voluntary motor control.
67
What is the cerebrum?
It’s the uppermost portion of the brain where thought, planning, perception, and consciousness takes place.
68
What are the four lobes of the cerebral cortex? What are the functions of these lobes?
4 lobes - parietal, temporal, occipital, and frontal. Frontal - attention, holding information in our minds while we solve problems, planning, abstract thinking, control of impulses, creativity, and social awareness. Parietal - sensation and perception of touch. Temporal - hearing. Occipital - processes visual information.
69
According to the book, what is the importance of the frontal lobe? What allows the integration of brain activity in this area of the brain?
The integration of brain activity allows for insight and creative problem solving.
70
What brains functions take place in the primary cortex?
Movement
71
Where are the visual and auditory cortex located at?
Visual is in occipital lobe and auditory in temporal lobe
72
What is the insula? What role does it play?
Small structure deep in the cerebrum and is active in our awareness of our bodies as our own and in impulsive behavior.
73
What is the corpus callosum? What is its function?
Thick band of nerve fibers that connect the 2 hemispheres and provides a channel for communication
74
What is the best-known and biggest functional difference between the cerebral hemispheres?
Language (speech and language comprehension take place in 2 separate regions of the left hemisphere)
75
How is aphasia defined in the book?
Deficit in the ability to speak or comprehend language
76
What is the importance of the Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas?
Broca’s - speech formation, Wenicke’s - speech understanding
77
What are the different methods for measuring brain activity discussed in the book? How do they operate?
Electroencephalography (EEG) - records electrical activity of the brain and shows when brain activity will occur. Event-related potential (ERP) - extracts electrical activity from raw EEG data to measure cognitive processes. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) - uses magnetic fields to produce detailed images of the structure of the brain and other soft tissues. Functional MRI (fMRI) - produces indirect high-resolution images of activity based on how brain uses oxygen and shows where brain activity is occurring. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) - measures blood flow to brain areas in the active brain and determines which brain areas are active during certain situations.
78
How is the process of sensory adaptation defined?
The process by which our sensitivity diminishes when an object constantly stimulates our senses
79
What is the importance of sensory adaptation?
It prevents sensory overload and ensure we notice changes in stimulation more that stimulation itself
80
What are absolute thresholds?
Lowest intensity level of a stimulus we can detect half of the time
81
What are false alarms and correct rejections in the context of signal detection theory?
False alarm - when we believe a signal is there when it was not, Correct rejection - when we believe no signal was there and it was not
82
What is a difference threshold?
Smallest amount of change between 2 stimuli that a person can detect half of the time
83
Describe Weber's law?
The finding that the size of a just noticeable difference is a constant fraction of the intensity of the stimulus
84
How do cones and rods in the retina differ from each other?
Cones - responsible for color vision and most functional in bright light, rods - key role in night vision and is more responsive to dark and light contrast
85
How do dark adaptation and visual acuity relate top rods and cones?
Dark adaptation is the adjustment to seeing in the dark via rods. Visual acuity is the ability to see clearly depending on cones.
86
What are feature detectors? Where are they located at?
Neurons in the visual cortex that analyze the retinal image and respond to specific aspects of shapes (angles and movements)
87
Define the trichromatic color theory and the opponent-process theory. How do they differ from each other? Which vision processes do these theories explain better?
Trichromatic color theory - humans are sensitive to 3 colors and the colors we see are just combinations of different intensities of these 3 wavelengths (red, green, and blue) and better explains color processing at red, blue, and green cones in the retina. Opponent-process theory - color vision results from cones linked together in 3 pairs of opposing colors, so the activation of one member of the pair inhibits activity in the other (color blindness, afterimages)
88
What is depth perception?
Ability to see things in 3D and to discriminate what is near and what is far
89
What is the importance of binocular and monocular depth cues?
Binocular - relies on input from both eyes and the difference in these slightly different retinal images plays a key role in ability to perceive depth. Monocular depth cues allow people who are blind in one eye to perceive some depth.
90
How does linear perspective work?
involves parallel lines that converge or come together the farther away they are from the viewer, the more they converge the greater the distance we perceive
91
What are texture gradient, atmospheric perspective, and interposition? What is the importance of these monocular depth cues?
Texture gradient - causes the texture of a surface to appear more tightly packed together as the surface moves to the background, Atmospheric perspective - objects further away appear more blurred and bluish as a result of looking across a vast space into the outdoors, Interposition - partial blocking of objects farther away from the viewer by object closer to the viewer
92
What is perceptual constancy? How does it work?
ability of the brain to preserve perception of objects in spite of changes in retinal image when an object changes position or distance from the viewer
93
Define the Gestalt Laws of continuity, similarity, proximity, and closure. How do these laws (or principles) help us perceive patterns and wholes?
Similarity - we tend to group like objects together in visual perception, Continuity - we see points or lines in such a way that they follow a continuous path, Proximity - we tend to group together objects that are near one another, Law of closure - we perceive a whole object in absence of complete information
94
What is reductionism?
attempt to explain complex phenomena by reducing them to combinations of similar components
95
What is postsynaptic potential?
Change in the polarization of the receiving neuron that results in excitatory or inhibitory action of neurotransmitters
96
What is psychopharmacology?
The study of how drugs affect behavior
97
What does it mean if drugs are agonistic?
They mimic or facilitate action of neurotransmitter, increase the release of neurotransmitter, and make receptors more sensitive to neurotransmitter, can inhibit reuptake of neurotransmitter or change the rate at which neurotransmitters are disabled after they are released
98
What does it mean if drugs are antagonistic?
They interfere with the release of a neurotransmitter, used when someone might have too many neurotransmitters
99
How do behaviorists and psychologists who adopt a biological perspective view determinism? What differences exist between these two approaches?
comes from inside (unconscious motivation or genetic determinism), Sees us as no more than biological machines and personality traits and the behavior they associate with are triggered by neurological and hormonal processes
100
According to the article, what are the limitations or problems with determinism?
psychologists cannot predict a person’s behavior with 100% accuracy due to the complex interaction of variables which can influence behavior
101
How does “freewill” fit the humanistic approach?
freedom is necessary if we are to become fully functional human beings
102
According to the article, cognitive psychologists adopt a soft determinism view of behavior? How do their views differ from the ones supported by humanists?
more focused on the rational processing of information which goes into the making of a decision compared to humanists that focus on our choice of ends (how each of us sees the road to self actualization)
103
According to the article, why do mental illnesses undermine the concept of free will?
OCD Individuals lose control of their thoughts and people with depression lose control of their emotions
104
As stated in the article, a pure deterministic or free will approach does not seem appropriate when studying human behavior. How does soft determinism integrate these two views?
People do have a choice but their behavior is always subject to some form of biological or environmental pressure
105
What are perceptual sets
the tendency for perception to be influenced by one’s expectations or preconceptions (seeing what you expect to see)
106
How do perceptual sets influence perceptions?
Once we have formed a wrong idea about reality, we have more difficulty seeing the truth making us see or hear things that are not true
107
Schemas determine our perceptual sets. How do these processes take place?
They organize and interpret unfamiliar information
108
How do our schemas for faces prime us to see facial patterns?
We recognize people by facial features
109
How is psychology defined?
The study of the mind and behavior
110
How does nativism differ from philosophical empiricism?
nativist - certain types of knowledge are innate, Philosophical Empiricism - all knowledge is gained through experience
111
What is Descartes’ view of body and mind?
Dualism - body and mind are fundamentally different things
112
What is the focus of structuralism?
concerned with structure of mind
113
How did William James’ perspective (i.e., functionalism) influenced how psychologists study mental processes? What were James’ views?
consciousness served to adapt people to their environments, studies mental functions (functionalism)
114
What is main focus of behaviorism?
examined outside behavior
115
What are cognitive neuroscientists likely to study?
study of mental processes
116
How do psychologists study mental processes and behavior?
Experimentation and direct observation
117
What are the components of the scientific method?
hypothesis, observation and testing, data collection, analysis of results, reporting
118
What is reliability and validity?
Reliability - consistency of measurement, validity - test actually measured what it reported to
119
What is a naturalistic observation and a case study? What is the difference between them?
Naturalistic observation - just watch others and observe, Case studies - in depth observations of single individuals
120
What are the ethical considerations of a study?
Provide informed consent
121
What do we mean by study “manipulation”?
Isolate a variable as the cause of any differences we see, eliminate confounding variables ie random assignment
122
What is building block of living matter?
cells
123
What is the basic unit in the brain?
neurons
124
What are the neuron's main parts?
axon, cell body, dendrite
125
When at rest, what is the polarity of a cell?
negative
126
What causes an action potential?
When chemical input from other neurons enters the cell body via dendrites, there total charge is summed together to see if it can bring it above threshold, once the cell hits threshold is fires an action potential
127
What is the main function of the myelin sheath?
Keeps the positive charge from leaking out of the axon, crucial for neuron communication, clean toxic waste, clean infection, and transport neurons
128
What happens when neurotransmitters bind to receptors?
Allows ions to pass between neurons and influence the neurons to cause action potential
129
What do we mean by neurons’ plasticity?
New neurons are born and other neurons are shifting and adapting
130
What does the peripheral nervous system regulate?
Digestion, breathing, and sexual arousal
131
What are the two main categories of function of the peripheral nervous system?
somatic and autonomic
132
What controls our reflexes?
spinal cord
133
What are the structures (and functions) of the hindbrain?
controls respiration, alertness, and motor skills, Cerebellum - governs fine motor skills,
134
What is the main function of thalamus?
receives inputs from all senses except for smell and routes them to parts of the cortex
135
What is the hypothalamus?
Regulates vital internal systems including hunger and sexual behavior
136
What are the functions of the hippocampus and amygdala?
Hippocampus - new memory formation, Amygdala - rage, aggression, and fear links emotion to responses (fight or flight)
137
What sensory information does the amygdala receive?
Sight, sound, smell, taste, hearing
138
What is the cerebral cortex responsible for?
reception, emotion, movement, and thought
139
What structure connects the two brain hemispheres?
Corpus callosum
140
In which lobe(s) does vision reside?
Occipital lobe
141
In which lobe is the sense of touch processed?
Parietal lobe
142
What is the function of the frontal lobe?
speech and movement, motor cortex, deals with abstract thinking, planning, judgment
143
What is the amplitude of a light wave?
the brightness or intensity of the wave
144
What are the different structures of the eye?
Cornea, iris, pupil, lens, retina
145
Where does light make its first contact with the nervous system?
retina
146
What are color-opponent cells?
yellow and blue, blue is stronger so not yellow-ish blue only blue-ish yellow
147
What is parallel processing of visual information?
when brain does many things at once (ie color, movement, sharp edges or blurred)
148
Where are faces processed in the brain?
temporal lobe
149
What is the “mere exposure effect”?
By being more exposed to something, you will like it more
150
What is sensation?
conversion of a stimulus (ie wave of light) to neural impulses at a receptors site (ie eyes)
151
What is perception?
interpreting and applying meaning to those stimuli (begins at neural impulses)
152
What happens in the outer ear?
sound waves enter auditory canal
153
What happens in the middle ear?
when sound waves reach eardrum (tympanic membrane) there will be vibrations (Hammer (malleus), anvil (incus), and stirrup (stapes): vibrate in response to vibrations of eardrum and Oval window - separates middle ear from inner ear)
154
What happens in the inner ear?
cochlea - contains sensory receptors for hearing
- Basilar membrane - stimulates hair cells, membrane inside the cochlea
- Organ of Corti - containing the hair cells that serve as auditory receptors
Auditory nerve - transduction - process by which a perceptual system converts stimuli into electrical impulses
155
What are papillae?
bumpy looking structures that contain the cell receptors (taste buds
156
What are the basic tastes?
salty, sweet, sour, bitter, “unami” (L-glutamate (monosodium glutamate or MSG))
157
What are olfactory receptors?
(cilia) - hairlike structures in upper portion of nasal passage
158
What is the olfactory nerve?
nerve that carries impulses from olfactory receptors in nose to brain
159
What is the olfactory bulb?
the area in front of the brain above the nostrils that receives sensory input from olfactory receptors in the nose
160
What are the other sensory systems?
Vestibular system for balance, Proprioception system - allows us to monitor the position of our bodies, Nociceptors - pain, Thermoreceptors - heat or cold, Mechanoreceptors - soft touch, pressure, etc. Chemoreceptors - taste and smell
161
What is top-down processing?
use of preexisting knowledge to organize individual features into a unified whole
162
What is bottom-up processing?
analysis of the smaller features to build up complete perception
163
What is constructivism?
people create much of what they perceive and remember, each person’s view of reality is a constructions shaped by cognitive processes and social processes
164
What is selective attention?
the process by which we attend meaningful stimuli and filter out irrelevant or extraneous stimuli
165
Where do we perceive faces?
occipital face area- recognizing face as distinct from other objects
Fusiform face area - area in the inferotemporal area of the temporal lobe that specializes in recognizing familiar faces
166
What is Pareidolia?
tendency for incorrect perceptions of stimulus of an object (ie seeing faces in inanimate objects)
166
What is Prosopagnosia?
selective deficit in recognizing faces
167
What happens during face perception?
identify fixed features of faces, identify changeable facial expressions, provides knowledge about a person
168
What are spontaneous trait inferences?
trustworthiness and competence (height shows strength - why politicians are tall)
