test 1 COPY Flashcards
Psyche
soul
Logos
to study
Wilhelm Wundt (1870s)
combines the disciplines of philosophy and physiology
Psychological Research
- Naturalistic
- observation
- Surveys
- Case Study
- Correlational
- Experimental
correlation
- a measure of association between two variables (-1 < r < +1)
- direction (positive vs. negative/inverse)
- strength
- perfect correlation (1.0)
- strong (0.6 to 0.8)
- moderately strong (0.3 to 0.5)
- no correlation (0)
- cannot tell us about causation
Correlational Research
- Establishes whether there is a relationship between two or more variables
- CANNOT INFER CAUSALITY
- Directionality problem
- Potential for a third variable (confound)
Correlational vs. Experimental Research
- Smoking is correlated with lung cancer
- High grades are correlated with successful careers
- Eating Frosted Flakes is correlated with lower cancer rates
- In Taiwan birth control use is correlated with number of household appliances
Experimental Research
- Considered the most powerful tool for determining causal relationships
- Random Assignment: ensures that every participant has an equal chance of being assigned to any of the conditions
- This minimizes the chance that a pre-existing difference between groups is the cause of the “experimental effect”
Experimental Research
- Considered the most powerful tool for determining causal relationships
- Random Assignment: ensures that every participant has an equal chance of being assigned to any of the conditions
- This minimizes the chance that a pre-existing difference between groups is the cause of the “experimental effect”
Bias in Research
- Sampling bias
- Placebo effects
- Social desirability bias
- Response sets
Experimenter bias:
- double blind procedure
Components of the Neuron
(Dendrites)
receive information from other neurons
Components of the Neuron
(cell body)
creates transmitter molecules
Components of the Neuron
(Axon)
- Myelin insulates the nerve cell, speeds up conduction of nerve messages
- Terminal buttons of the axon release transmitter
Graded Potentials
Stimulation of the nerve membrane can open ion channels in the membrane
Graded Potentials NA+
NA+ ions flowing in will depolarize the membrane (movement from -70 mV to say -60 mV
Graded Potentials K+
K+ ions flowing out of membrane will hyperpolarize the membrane (-70 mV to say -90 mV)
The Action Potential
Graded potentials:
- generated at the dendrites
-are conducted along the membrane to the axon hillock
- If summated activity at the axon hillock raises the membrane potential past threshold
- an action potential (AP) will occur
- During the AP, NA+ ions flow into the cell raising the membrane potential to +40 mV, producing the spike
- The restoration of the membrane potential to -70 mV is produced by an opening of channels to K+
- The AP is conducted along the axon toward the terminals
Neurotransmitters
- Acetylcholine (Ach)
- Monoamines:
- epinephrine and norepinephrine
- serotonin
- dopamine
- GABA
- Glutamate
Autonomic Nervous System
(two systems)
The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) has two divisions:
- Sympathetic: Emergency system
- Parasympathetic: Vegetative functions (e.g. digestion)
- The two systems often act in opposition (as in the control of heart rate)
- Can act in concert (as in the control of sexual reflexes)
Middle View of Human Brain
(Medulla)
Controls heart rate, respiration
Midline View of Human Brain
(Cerebellum)
Coordinates smooth movements, balance, and posture
Midline View of Human Brain
(Pons)
Involved in the control of sleep
Limbic System Functions
- Septal area is involved in pleasure and in relief from pain
- Amygdala is involved in learning and recognition of fear
- Hippocampus is involved in memory
Limbic System Functions
- Septal area is involved in pleasure and in relief from pain
- Amygdala is involved in learning and recognition of fear
- Hippocampus is involved in memory
Cerebral Cortex
Functions of cerebral cortex:
- Provides for flexible control of patterns of movement
- Permits subtle discrimination among complex sensory patterns
- Makes possible symbolic thinking
- Symbolic thought is the foundation of human thought and language
Frontal Lobe Damage and Personality
- Frontal lobes involve movement, attention, planning, memory, and personality.
- Frontal lobe function in personality is evident in the case of Phineas Gage:
Gage suffered frontal lobe damage after an accident involving a dynamite tamping rod
Gage was a railroad supervisor prior to the damage; after the damage he became childish and irreverent, could not control his impulses, and could not effectively plan.
Cerebral Lateralization
The structures of the cortex and sub-cortex appear to specialize in function:
- Hemispheric Specialization
- Left hemisphere is dominant for language, logic, and complex motor behavior.
- Right hemisphere is dominant for non-linguistic functions including recognition of faces, places, and sounds (music)
The hemispheric specializations are evident from studies of
- Damage to one hemisphere (I.e. Broca’s area)
- Split-brain subjects
The Split-Brain Study
- Information from the one visual field is usually transmitted to the opposite visual cortex
- The corpus callosum serves to integrate the two hemispheres
- Cutting the corpus callosum can result in information reaching only one hemisphere
- Language is a left-hemisphere function
- Information reaching the left hemisphere will be reported by the subject, but not information reaching the right hemisphere
The Endocrine System
- Glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream to help control bodily functioning
- Hypothalmus connected to pituitary gland (master gland)
- adrenal glands = fight or flight
- Gonads = secondary sex characteristics
Endocrine Systems
- Endocrine glands release hormones into blood stream
- Have effects at diffuse target sites throughout the body
- Hormones bind to receptors
- Hormones can have organizational effects (permanent change in structure and function)
- Hormones can have activational effects:
Lack of testosterone reduces sexual behaviour
psychology
the scientific study of behaviour and mental process
- the goal is to describe, predict and explain behaviour
behaviour
everything to do with what we directly observe
- two people kissing, a baby crying
mental process
the thoughts, feelings and motives that each of us experiences privately that cannot be seen directly
- thoughts and feelings
Scientific approach 4 attitudes:
- critical thinking
- skepticism
- objectivity
- curiosity
critical thinking
(scientific approach)
reduces likelihood that conclusions will be based on unreliable personal beliefs, opinions, biases and emotions
skepticism
people challenge whether a fact is really true
pseudoscience
information that is couched in scientific terminology but is not supported by scientific research
empirical method
gaining knowledge through the observation of events, the collection of data and logical reasoning
Sigmund Freud(1856-1939)
belived most human behaviour is casued by dark, unpleasant, unconscious impulses to show
- did not use trials or controlled experiamnts
positive psychology
emphasizes human strengths
- centers topics like hope, optimism, happiness, and grattitude
The fact that researchers focus their attention on findings that are unlikely to have occurred by chance illustrates which of your text’s unifying themes?
Psychology is empirical.
Charley tells you that 17 out of the 30 students enrolled in his English class scored exactly 62 points on the last exam. Conceptually, this is the same as saying
the mode for that particular English exam was 62 points
A psychologist who studies information processing and decision making would probably be considered a __________ psychologist.
cognitive
Which of the following best characterizes people’s understanding of reality?
highly subjective
The first two major “schools” of psychology were
structuralism and functionalism
In the Featured Study on the use of subliminal self-help tapes, one of the independent variables was
In the Featured Study on the use of subliminal self-help tapes, one of the independent variables was
Nature is to nurture as heredity is to
environment
In a study designed to test the effects of a new drug developed to treat Alzheimer’s disease half the patients were given the actual drug while the other half of the patients were given a placebo (sugar pill). In this study, the experimental group is
the group who received the actual drug
Dr. Hackle has found that no matter how students score on the first midterm, all the students in her class tend to score between 75% and 80% on her final exam. This suggests that
the scores on the final exam and the first midterm are not very highly correlated
Theories permit researchers to move from
application to control
a hormone is
a chemical secreted into the blood by a gland
We would expect the greatest degree of phenotypic similarity among
identical twins
If a key part of the __________ is destroyed, an animal will lose all interest in food and may well starve to death.
hypothalamus
In evolutionary theory, __________ refers to the reproductive success (number of descendants) of an individual organism relative to the average reproductive success in the population.
fitness
by definition, a population
is the group of people to whom the conclusion of the study will apply
Empiricism refers to a
position on how information should be acquired
Which of the following neurotransmitters is primarily involved in the activation of motor neurons controlling skeletal muscles?
acetylcholine
The notion that all behavior is fully governed by external stimuli is most consistent with which of the following schools of thought?
behaviourism
For John B. Watson, the appropriate subject matter of psychology was
animal behaviour
The tendency to view one’s own group as superior to others and as the standard for judging the worth of foreign ways is called
ethnocentrism