STUDYING EXAM 1 Flashcards
BEHAVIOR
anything you can see another person doing
What is Psychology?
The science of behavior and mental processes
Biopsychosocial approach !
Whenever we want to study somebody’s behavior or mental process there are different levels we can take .
BIOLOGICALLY - someone may have imbalences neurotransmitters like serotin
PYSHCOLOGICCALY - low self esteem , past trauma that con contribue to depressiveness
SOCIALLY - individuals enviornment, support system can contribute to depression
ALL THREE ASPECTS is what a psychratist will look at to determine treatment plan
Biological influences
Adaptive traits /Genetic / brain mechanisms /hormonal influences
Cognitive
Thoughts
Psychological influences
Learned fears / Emotional responses / Processing & perceptual interpretations
CAN DEVELOP FROM PAST EXPERENCIES
Social - cultural influences
Presence of others / Cultural, Societal, Family expectations / Peer Influences / Media
Careers in Psychology ;
-> Basic and applied research
-> Clinical psychologist ; PHD (Mainly can’t prescribe medication) - Gonna do talk therapy
-> Psychiatrist ; Goes to Medical school ( prescribe medication ) - Mainly look at biological influences
Psychologist ;
Offer counseling , analyze personalities, child raising advice, examine crime scenes, testify in court
Science :
a passion for exploring and understanding without being misleading or misled
; questions such as what if the after life cannot be explaining ( leap of faith)
- Psychology
s a science that seeks to answer such questions about us all , how and why we think, feel, and act as we do
! No matter how wild the idea is the smarter think ; does it work
SCIENTIFIC ATTITUDE
HUMILITY
Scientific attitude - being skeptical not cynical, open minded not gullible
Humility ( Important trait to have for a scientific attitude) - Being okay with having error but also open to new perspectives
!Nobodys opinion matter only the facts!
Scientific attitude ;
CUROSITY, SKEPTICISM, HUMILITY
CURIOSITY ; when put to the test can predictions be confirmed
SKEPTICISM; Don’t doubt everything, but be gullible as well.
HUMILITY; Must be open to new ideas “the rat is always right”
—> allows us to think harder and smarter
NEED CRITICAL THINKING FOR ; (common sense thinking is flawed)
HINDISIGHT BIAS
OVERCONFIDENCE
PERCIEVING WRONG
TENDENCY___
*Hingsight bias - After something happens someone claims they knew that was going to happen. ( They had no way of knowing)
*Overconfidence
*Perceiving order in random events
Tendency to believe other scientist & professionals
“Knowing what we don’t know enables generosity and intellectual humility”
allows you to question everything and revise your opinions based on the evidence
To be human is to be curious about ourselves and the world around us.
CRITICAL THINKING:
Examines assumptions and evaluates evidence ( critical thinkers ask more in dept questions) - They dont like people who make claims based off their gut
-Examine assumptions
-Appraises the sources
-Finding hidden biases
-Evaluating Evidence
-Assessing conclusions
!Science is rooted in observation!
What you cannot observe, a feeling , thought, sensation,
What you can observe - Behavior in different situations
COGNITIVE PHYSCHOLOGY :
Scientific exploration of how we perceive, process, and remember and how thinking and emotion interact in anxiety ,depresion , ect.
Positive Pyschology;
Belief that Happiness is a product of meaningful life
-Humans are behavior watches/ sometimes what seems like common sense is a countless casual observation
SCIENTIFIC METHOD:
self correcting process for evaluating ideas with observation and analysis
COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE:
studies the brain activity underlying mental activity.
HARMFUL TREATMENTS PRESENT DAY:
-Conversion Therapy
-Rebirthing therapy
THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD;
1-Theories →Hypotheses → Research and observations
STEP 1 SCIENTIFIC METHOD
THEORY:
an explanation using an integrated set of principles that organizes observations and predicts behaviors or events
Have a good theory to -> organize information , make predictions
STEP 2 SCIENTIFIC METHOD:
HYPOTHESIS-
A testable prediction, often implied by theory
→ Design a research study to test your hypothesis
STEP 3 SCIENTIFIC METHOD
OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS =
a carefully worded statement of the exact procedures (operations) used in a research study
STEP 4 SCIENTIFIC METHOD
-Revise theory based on results of your study
If you are right you want others to replicate your findings
Descriptive Studies:
Just describe and say how many times you observe something
Case Studies ->
In depth observation of an individual
Advantages ; You get a lot of data/ good for rare cases
Limitations; results may not apply to others/ time consuming
Naturalistic observation ->
observe behaior in natural surroundings without control
Surveys
Advantages ; Easy / Cheap
Limitation: If your sample does not represent population can be misleading
Population =
Everyone you want to know about
Sample =
The specific people out of the population you actually study and wish to generalize the information to
Random sample =
Everyone has an equal chance of being in your STUDY or not
Correlational Studies:
Capture natural relationships between two variables
A statistical method to analyze data from studies or naturalistic observations
Correlation Coefficient ——>
represents how much things are associated with each other
-Positive- / - negative-
-zero-
Advantages;
Allows us to predict things
Experimental;
Explore cause and effect
Involve the manipulation of an independent variable and observing its effects on the dependent variable while holding all other things constant
Disadvantages;
can’t determine causation
Independent variable->
thing you can manipulate
Dependent variable ->
The outcome; the variable that may change in response to the independent variable
Experimental vs Control Group
-In clinical research the control group is often a placebo to rule out the placebo effect.
BIOLOGY OF BEHAVIOR
Everything psychological is stimutenaously biological”
NEURON COMMUNICATION :
Cell body- >
the cell’s life support center; contains the nucleus of the cell
Double blind =
The participants and people who give the drug do not know what treatment they are giving.
NEURON COMMUNICATION:
AXON
passes messages to other neurons, muscles or glands
Blind=
The participants don’t know that treatment they are getting
Neuron Communication :
DENDRITE
branching extensions that receive messages and conduct impulses toward the cell body
NEURON COMMUNICATION
Myelin sheath->
a fatty tissue that covers axons to help speed transmission of neural impulses
NEURON COMMUNICATION
Glial cells->
cells that support, nourish, and protect neurons; may also be involved in learning, thinking and memory
Resting potential
(-70 mv charge inside cell)
Important Neurotransmitters :
Serotonin ;
Linked with mood, hunger , sleep, and arousal
Neuronal Communication - The Neural Impulse
1.Dendrites receive signals from other neurons
2.When the cell has enough signals, the cells threshold is passes and the neuron fires. The action potential ( All or nothing principle ) is triggered. Each section of the axon now depolarizes (the inside of the cell turns positive ) in that section
О + - - - -
3.The singal travels down the length of the axon
*After the signal passes that section, the cell’s positive ions are pumped out of the cells positive ions are pumped out of the cell by the sodium potassium pump so that the cell is negatively charged again.
O - + - - -
4.Finally the impulse reaches the end of the axon (the terminal buttons)
… But neurons dont connect to each other so how does the signal pass from one neuron to the next?
O - - - - +
LOOK AT PERIPHERAL PICTURE
Dopamine:
Movement, learning attention, and emotion
Norepinephrine:
Alertness/ Arousal
GO LOOOK AT GRAPH PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM + CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM
Syphanetic Nervous System;
Fight or flight response
Homeostasis is a dynamic balance between the autonomic branches
WHAT ARE THE TWO BRANCHES
2 Branches ; parasympathetic / sympathetic
Parasympathetic nervous system balances sympathetic.
Allows your body to heal and restore itself after fight and flight mode is activated
ENDOCRINE SYSTEM
Communicate via hormone released from endocrine glands
Communicated via blood stream
Slower and lasting messages
PITUITARY GLAND - The master Gland
Dendrites recieve messages
Axons deliver messages
Dopamine is the neurotransmitter most involved with movement
Sympathetic is the part of the system involved with fight / flight response
PRENATAL DEVELOOPMENT
*Conception - flash of light at time of conception
DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
“Emaines physical, cognitive, and social development across the lifespan
Major questions in the field:
1.Nature and nurture: How do our genes (nature) interact with the environment ( nurture) to make us who we are ?
2.Continuity and stages - How much of our change is gradual versus in stages ?
3/Stability and change - How much do we change versus stay the same ?
PRENENTAL STAGES:
1.Germinal periods: Days 1-14
*Zygote - fertilized egg
* The cells divide and the zygote attaches to the mothers uterus
2.Embroyonic period: 2wks until 8th week
*embroyo - 2wks till 2 months
*Organogenesis, Sexual differentiation
3. Fetal period - 9th week; birth
*Fetus
* Tremendous brain development & growth
PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT- TERATOGENS- THINGS LIKE THESE THAT CAN CAUSE HARM TO THE EMBRYO/FETUS -
drinking/smoking /radiation/medications/viruses/nutritional deficiencies
FETAL ALCHOL SYNDROME- PHYSICAL AND COGNITIVE ABNORMALITIES IN CHILDREN WHOSE MOTHER DRANK HEAVILY DURING PREGNANCY
ABILITIES OF NEWBORNS -
automatic reflecex - rooting/sucking/startle/and others / socially responsive
HOW DO WE STUDY BABIES?
We use things like habituation- a decrease in responding if infant are continually exposed to a stimulus
MOTOR DEVELOPMENT IN SUM:
Infants have a similar pattern of development skills
Most of the timinging is due to genetics ( the environment or practice does not help too much)
BRAIN DEVELOPMENT - CHILDREN
Then “pruning process” use it or lose it
Critical period for certain skills
Critical period: an optimal period in early life which the organisms needs to be exposure to certain hings or have certain experiences for normal development
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT - CHILDREN
*Piaget
*Develop through interaction with physical environment
*develop in stages
*Schemas
*Assimilation and Accomodation
Vygotsky
*Develp through social interactions
*Language is the building blocks
*Scaffolding
ASSIMILATION VS.ACCOMODATION
Assimiliation: Fit new experiences into our current schemas
Accomodation: We change our schemas to incorporate experiences (if the child now calls the moose a moose)
Piaget stages of cognitive development
Birth → 2 years { Sensorimotor- experiencing the world through senses and actions (looking, hearning, touching, mouthing, and grasping } * Object permanence / stranger anxiety
2 years -> 6 or 7 yrs { Preoperational - representing things with words and images: using intuitive rather than logical reasoning} * Pretend play / Egotentrism
7-11 yrs { Concrete operational - thinking logically about concrete events ; grasping concrete analogies and performing arithmetic operations} * Conservation / mathematical transformations
12- adulthood { formal operational/ abstract reasoning} * Abstract logic / potential for mature moral reasoning
Piaget misunderstood children?
Development is more continuous than Piaget thought and a lot of abilities develop earlier than he thought
Piaget underestimated childrens abilities
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT CHILDREN
Formation of attachment bods ( an emotional tie with another person)
Begins with
Stranger anxiety
Body contact
Familarity
TYPES OF ATTATCHEMTN
Secure - strong attatchemnt to mother
Insecure - avoidant - doesn’t pay attention to child
Insecure - ambivalent - resistant - parent is not consistent
Disorganized - no attachment - child doesn’t know if caregiver will be there
PARENTING STYLES :
Permissive; child is aggressive, immature
Authoritative ; Child has high self esteem and competence
Uninvolved : child is detached, destructive
Authoritarian : Child has low self esteem and is not as competent
ADOLESENCE :
The time period from puberty to independence
ADOLESENCE - COGNITIVE AND MORAL DEVELOPMENT
Begin to think abstractly
Formal operational stage of piaget stages
Kohlbergs stages of moral development ( moral reasoning)
Focus on maintaining social norms and law and order in adolescence also can reach basic right and ethical principles
Physical development ;
Puberty= person becomes capable of reproducing
Brain development ↓
Pruning of unused connections
Increased mylein helps to speed transmission
Frontal lobe is still not mature, lags behind the limbic system
ADOLESCENE - SOCIAL DEV
Key social development task of adolescence = forming and identity
EMERGING ADULTHOOD
In modern cultures, late teens to mid twenties at this stage adults have not quite taken on full independence or adult responsibilities
ADULTHOOD
Emerging adulthood - late teens to mid twenties
Early adulthood - twenties and thirties
Middle adulthood - forties to age 65
Late adulthood - after age 65
PHYSICAL CHANGED IN MID ADULTHOOD
Vigor depends on exercise and health habits
Small changes in this time can have profound impacts later in life
Fertility decreases, especially by ages 35-39
Women go through perimenopause and menopause
PHYSICAL CHANGES IN OLDER ADULTS
Importance of excercise
Vision, hearing, and smell become less accurate
Immune system weakens
Brain process information more slowlyg
COGNITIVE CHANGES - MEMORY
Memory changes depending on the task
Can remember meaningful events
Recognition of new information stays similar but recall of new information gets worse as we age
May take longer to produce memories into words
Memory varies more from person to person as we age
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT - ADULTS
2 important features - intimacy and generativity
Intimacy - young adulthood
Generativity - mid adulthood
Attribution theory =
the way we explain what caused someones behavior
Usually based on the stable traits of the person or the situation
Fundamental attribution error=
when we observe another persons behavior we tend to overestimate the impact of personality ( disposition) and underestimate the impact of the situation
TERMINAL DECLINE →
In the years before death
Self serving bias =
when things go well you say they are because of an internal factor and when they go poorly they are due to external factors
Attiudes
“feelings” often influenced by our beliefs that lay the foundation for behaviors
How can actions lead to attitudes ?
Actions → Attitudes
Foot- in door phenomenon - if you agree to a small request you are more likely to comply with a larger one later
Social roles and role playing - when you adopt to a new role you may play the part but then it becomes more real (like it is you)
Cognitive dissonance theory - we reduce the discomfort when our action do not match our belief by either changing our actions or belief to match
Cultural influences -
- “behaviors , ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by a group of people and passed on from one generation to the next
3 definitions cultural influences always leave out
Culture is always changing
Culture can be shaped by the physical worlds
People decide their own culture by picking and choosing aspects
How does culture influence your behavior
Automatic mimicry -
when we imitate what others do ( not consciously) ,
“The chameleon effect”
Applies to behavior and emotions
Can help us emphathize with others
SOCIAL INFLUENCES
Cultural influences
Social contagion
Conformity n norms
Obedience: following orders
Group behavior
Conformity:
Adjusting your behavior or thoughts to a group standard
MOST LIKELY TO BE OBEDIENT WHEN :
*Person giving the orders was physically close and was an
*authority figure
*Authority figure was supported by a powerful institution
*Victim was depersonalized or at a distance
*No role models for defiance
Why do we conform to group norms?
Good - When a group of people conform and make a quick/easy decision
Bad - constantly conforming in a group standard
MINORITY INFLUENCE
works best when position is firm
When does the presence of others help you perform
*Social facilitation
*Audiences help most when you are good at a task
*When does working as a group make you perform less well
Social loafing
Deindividuation
*Happens most in situations fostering arousal and anonymity
Group polarization -
the groups dominant opinion
Gets stronger through discussion
Groupthink -
desire for harmony overrides realistic view of the situation
PREJUDICE:
“ an unjustifable and usually negative attitude toward a group.’’
It is a mixture of
BELIEFS = stereotypes
EMOTIONS = hostility/fear
ACTIONS= predisposition to act in a discrimnatory way
*Discrimination = is a negative behavior
*Microaggressions
*explicit vs implicit prejudice
Explicit is asking
Implicit - cant think about it have to do it quick
*race influenced perceptions
The Scapegoat theory
Prejudice helps us relieve out anger because it gives us someone else to blame for our problems
How do we become prejudice
Social inequalities
*Just world phenomenon
Social divisions
*Ingroup vs outgroup
*Ingroup bia
COGNITIVE ROOTS OF PREJUDICE
THE THREE CATEGORIES
*Categories for others often are more homogenous
EX: the other - race effect
Remembering vivid cases
*Because of the availability heuristic (See negative portrayal of a group it becomes sensationalized and we stereotype people in that group)
Victim Blaming
*Because of just worl phenomenon
*because of hindsight bias
What can lead to aggression ?
*Genetics, functioning of brain reg
*Genetics, functioning of brain regions, hormones
*Aversive events
*Frusturation - aggression principle
*Hot temperatures , pain, crowding, etc
*Reinforcement- when people are rewarded, reinforced for doing aggressive things
ROBO DOLL EXPERIMENENT - CHILDREN COPIED AGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR THEY SAW THE ADULTS DO
*PROXIMITY-
Mere exposure effect- ‘’repeated exposure to nevel stimuli increases liking of them’’
*PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS- ]
*Physically attractive people are rated high on various qualities not related to appearance
*Average and symmetrical faces
*SIMILARITY
*OPPOSITED DO NOT ATTRACT!
*People who think like us
REWARD THEORY OF ATTRACTION
-Maximum rewards with minimal costs
*BYSTANDER EFFECT -
tendency for any given by stander to give less likely to give help if there are other bystanders present
WHEN ARE YOU MOST LIKELY TO HELP
1.NOTICES INCIDENT
2.INTERPRETS INCIDENT AS EMERGENCY
3.ASSUMES RESPONSIBILITY
4.ATTEMPTS TO HELP (not going to assume responsibility if more people are around)
ALTRUISM - WHY DO WE HELP
Potential theories:
Social exchange theory
We are socailized to help through norms
*Reciprocity norm
*Social responsibility norm
SOCIAL RELATIONS -PEACE
*CONTACT ( HAS TO BE NON COMPETITVE CONTACT AND PEOPLE OF EQUAL SATUS)
*COOPERATION : SUPERODINATE GOALS - Having shared goals that require cooperation
MOTIVATION :
THE NEED/DESIRE THAT MAKES US DO TINGS
WHAT CAN EXPLAIN MOTIVATION
- INSTINCT THEORY
- DRIVE REDUCTION THEORY
- AROUSAL THEORY
YERKES - DODSON LAW = medium level of arousal leads to optimal performance - MASLOWS HIERARCHY OF NEEDS- needs differ by culture
THEORIES OF MOTIVATION
*THE idea that a psychological need creates an aroused tension state (a drive) that motivates an organism to satisfy the need
NEED → DRIVE → DRIVE - REDUCING BEHAVIOR
*examples?
The goal of reducing drives? To maintain homeostasis incentives can also motivate us
CONTROL GROUP
DOES NOT RECIEVE THE ITEM BEING TESTED . used to compare the results to experimental group.
EXPERIMENTAL GROUP
GROUP that recieves the item to be tested. ITS EXPOSED TO INDEPENDENT VARIABLE (The veriable being manipulated)
