Role of the brain... Flashcards
Hemispheric function
- The left hemisphere controls voluntary movements on the right side of the body.
- The left hemisphere receives sensory information from the right side of the body.
The area of the brain that, if injured, is more likely to adversely affect mental abilities such as symbolic thinking, planning and decision making, is the
Forebrain
Identify the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the CNS
Glutamate
Sharne’s mum makes delicious curries, and Sharne has been watching her cooking. After several weeks of observing her mum make curries, Sharne decides to make one herself. She chops all the ingredients and then begins to cook, but it all burns and gets ruined. According to observational learning, the stage that Sharne has not achieved is
Reproduction
Research studies have found that disobedience during warfare is rarer among those ordered to kill from a distance with a missile than close-up with a knife. These results suggest that _____ may influence obedience.
Social proximity
Lim is taking up surfing. She buys a surfboard with two fins rather than one fin on the advice of a surfer friend.
Informational influence.
Roberta’s therapist says that she is depressed because of underactive neurotransmitters in her nervous system.
The __________ approach best describes abnormality in this situation.
Medical
Attribution theory generally explains why people
Perceive themselves and others as they do.
Damage to the hippocampus may result in
Difficulty forming new memories
When using cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to treat and manage a specific phobia, a mental health professional will focus on
identifying, challenging and changing maladaptive thoughts and behaviours to more appropriate ones.
Short-term memory has a capacity of _________ and a duration of _________.
5–9 items; up to 30 seconds
Jessica is constantly criticised by her mum for not studying hard enough at school. Eventually, every time she sees her mum after school, she starts to feel anxious. What sort of learning has occurred?
Classical conditioning
Soo-jin takes her son to the hairdresser and tells the stylist to give him a ‘Harry Styles’ haircut. In this scenario, Soo-jin is being influenced by __________ power.
Referent
Which approach to describing normality is most appropriate for explaining why board shorts and thongs should not be worn to a job interview?
Situational approach.
Bob has intrusive and unwanted repetitive thoughts about whether he has turned off the lights at home. He then feels driven to repetitively check the switches. Bob is presenting with symptoms of
obsessive-compulsive disorder
Define what a psychological disorder is
The presence of unusual or abnormal mood, thinking and behaviours that cause an individual significant distress or impairment and disrupt their ability to function
Describe the biopsychosocial approach to understanding the causes of psychological disorders. Provide an example factor for each of the components of the model.
The biopsychosocial model suggests that there are significant
- biological (e.g. genetics, neurotransmitter function etc.)
- psychological (thinking styles, personality etc.)
- social (e.g. relationships, early life experiences etc)
factors involved in the development and maintenance of psychological disorder and the relative role played by each set of factors varies depending on the disorder and the individual.
Identify and explain a psychological method of treating an anxiety disorder, e.g. specific phobia of birds.
A behavioural treatment known as systematic desensitization.
- The patient is progressively exposed to the object that causes the phobia
- While undergoing relaxation, to realise that the object does not signify danger
Positive reinforcement
- increase behaviour by adding stimulus
- to increase behaviour stimulus must be pleasant
Positive punishment
- decrease behaviour by adding stimulus
- to decrease behaviour stimulus must be unpleasant
Negative reinforcement
- increase behaviour by removing/avoiding stimulus
- to increase behaviour stimulus must be unpleasant
Negative punishment
- decrease behaviour by removing stimulus
- to decrease behaviour must be pleasant
Psychotherapy
- Exposure therapy
- Systematic desensitisation
- Flooding
- Cognitive behavioral therapy
- Aversion
- Cognitive therapy
- Behavioral therapy
- Pharmacotherapy
Short term memory (STM)
30 seconds, 5-9 items
Sensory memory
Vast storage capacity, very brief duration
Unlimited capacity; 0.2-4 seconds
Long term memory (LTM)
Vast storage capacity, very long duration
Power
refers to your ability to control or influence the thoughts, feelings or behaviours of other group members.
Status
refers to the importance of your position within a group, as perceived by other members of the group.
With greater ______ comes a higher ______ and with a higher _____ comes greater ______.
With greater power comes a higher status and with a higher status comes greater power.
Types of power
Expert
Informational
Coercive
Reward
Referent
Legitimate
What does the Stanford Prison Experiment demonstrate?
- the power of social roles, social norms, and scripts
- power
Milgram’s study of _______
obedience
Asch’s study of ________
conformity
Halo effect
Positive impression
Horn effect
Negative impression
Dendrites
structure of the neuron that receives messages from other neurons.
Cell body
the structure that contains the nucleus and keeps the entire cell alive and functioning.
Axon
the structure of the neuron that carries messages to other cells.
Myelin sheath
the structure on a neuron that provides ‘insulation’ for the axon and allows messages to be sent faster.
protective structure
Axon terminal
send and receive neurotransmitters
Explicit memory
Consciously accessible memory responsible for remembering who, what, where, when and why.
Episodic memory
Memory for specific events (episodes) e.g. first day of school
Semantic memory
Memory for facts, not tied to any time or place e.g. the capitol of France.
Implicit memory
Unconsciously accessible memory responsible for remembering how.
Procedural memory
Memory for skills and habits e.g. riding a bike
Socio-cultural approach
Thoughts, feelings and behaviour that are appropriate or acceptable in a particular society or culture are viewed as normal and those that are inappropriate or unacceptable are considered abnormal.
Historical approach
What is considered normal and abnormal in a particular society or culture depends on the era, or period in time, when the judgment is made.
Functional approach
Thoughts, feelings and behaviour are viewed as normal if the individual is able to cope with living independently.
Medical approach
Abnormal thoughts, feelings or behaviour as having an underlying biological cause that can be diagnosed and treated, in much the same way as a disorder with physical health.
Statistical approach
If a large majority of people think, feel or behave in a certain way, it is considered normal (or typical).
Situational approach
Within a society or culture, thoughts, feelings and behaviour that may be considered normal in one situation may be considered abnormal in another.
Expert power
having special knowledge and/or skills that are desirable or needed e.g. teacher, coach, consultant
Information power
having resources or information that are useful or not available elsewhere e.g. police informant, someone who has gossip.
Legitimate power
individuals status or position gives them the right (authority) to exercise power over those with lower power or less authority e.g. police, principal, manager.
Coercive power
ability to give negative consequences or remove positive consequences in response to specific behaviour.
e.g. teacher, employer.
Reward power
ability to give positive consequences or remove negative consequences in response to a specific behaviour.
e.g. teacher, employer
Referent power
individuals identify with or want to be liked by this person e.g. celebrity, influencer, popular kid at school.
Self-serving bias refers to
a person’s tendency to attribute their successes to personal/ internal factors and their failures to situational / external factors.
Fundamental attribution approach
the tendency to overemphasise personal (internal) factors, and fail to account for situational (external) factors
Pharmacotherapy
restore the balance of neurotransmitters in the brain
Behavioural therapy
aims to change a person’s maladaptive behaviours
Aversion
involves conditioning the client to change or eliminate undesirable behaviour or symptoms by associating them with noxious or unpleasant experiences
Stigma
negative social attitude attached to a characteristic of an individual that may be regarded as a mental, physical, or social deficiency
Cognitive therapy
aims to change a person’s distorted thinking and core beliefs
Exposure therapy
aims to change a person’s maladaptive behaviours by exposing them to the things that make them anxious
Flooding
involves intensive rather than gradual exposure to the situations the person fears
Cognitive behavioural
therapy aims to change patterns of thinking and acting that are maladaptive and causing and/or maintaining mental illness
Mental disorder characterised by persistent symptoms of psychosis involving disturbances and disorganisation of thoughts, perceptions, feelings and behaviour.
Schizophrenia
Mental disorder characterised by the presence of intrusive and unwanted repetitive thoughts, impulses, images or urges together with repetitive mental acts or behaviours that an individual feels driven to perform.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Mental disorder characterised by excessive anxiety and worry about a range of concerns accompanied by physical symptoms such as restlessness, fatigue, and disturbed sleep.
Generalised anxiety disorder
Mental disorder characterised by persistent depressed mood, diminished interests, impaired cognitive function and vegetative symptoms, such as disturbed sleep or appetite.
Major depressive disorder
Improve memory - duration
maintenance rehearsal
Improve memory - capacity
chunking
Schizophrenia
Psychosis, biological
Major depressive disorder
Major life stressor
Parasympathetic
peaceful
Sympathetic
stress
Observational
- Attention
- Memory
- Imitation
- Motivation
Parietal
the lobe that processes sensory information from the skin and muscles and judges the position of the body in space.
Temporal
the lobe that processes auditory information and allows us to recognise familiar sights, sounds and smells.
Occipital
the lobe that helps us to make sense of the visual information from our eyes.
amygdala
our emotional responses (especially fear) and attaches emotional content to our memories.
hippocampus
formation of long-term explicit memories and navigation.
Both the __________ and ______________ are involved in the encoding and storage of implicit procedural memories
basal ganglia
cerebellum
