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Psychology 101 Exam 1 Latest Update
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Psychology ✔✔The scientific investigation of mental processes and behavior
Where did psychology branch out from? ✔✔Physiology and Philosophy
Structuralism ✔✔Focused on the structure of consciousness and the mind (not identified with anymore)
2 Structuralists ✔✔Wundt and Titchener
Functionalism ✔✔Focused on the function of the mind in helping people adapt to their environment (not identified with anymore)
2 Functionalists ✔✔Darwin and James
3 Broad ways of understanding psychological phenomena ✔✔Theoretical Propositions, Shared Metaphors, Accepted Methods of Observation
Modern Perspectives ✔✔Psychodynamic, Behaviorist, Cognitive, Evolutionary
Psychodynamic ✔✔started by Sigmund Freud; case studies, not easy to test or prove because of small sample size
Behaviorist ✔✔Ivan Pavlov and B.F. Skinner; mental processes are byproducts of environmental events; experiment
Behaviorist Metaphor ✔✔People are like machines
Cognitive ✔✔Wundt; focuses on how people perceive, process and retrieve information (Perspective)
Cognitive Metaphor ✔✔Brain like a computer
Evolutionary ✔✔Darwin; behaviors have come about because they helped our ancestors survive
Cognitive Psychology ✔✔Nature of mental process such as thought, memory, language
Personality Psychology ✔✔Enduring patterns of thought, feeling and behavior for types of people or individuals (sub-discipline)
Theory ✔✔Systematic way of organizing and explaining observations
Variable ✔✔changes across circumstance or varies among individuals
Hypothesis ✔✔a tentative belief or guess predicting or explaining the relationship between 2 or more variables
Continuous Variable ✔✔a variable rated from none to much (amount of variable)
Categorical Variable ✔✔a variable rated in groups or categories (definite answers like man/woman)
Standardized Procedure ✔✔doing the same thing with each participant in the same way (e.g. how the procedure is explained)
Population ✔✔the group you want to be able to generalize to
Sample ✔✔the group participating in the experiment
Generalizability ✔✔how much the findings apply to your population
Internal Validity ✔✔the methods are valid
External Validity ✔✔generalizable outside of the lab
Measure ✔✔a concrete way of assessing a variable
Reliability ✔✔produces consistent results
Descriptive Research types ✔✔Case Studies, Naturalistic Observation, Survey Research and Correlational
Case Study ✔✔in depth observation of a small group of participants (useful at beginning or end of a series of quantitative series)
Drawbacks to Case Studies ✔✔small sample, not very generalizable, researcher bias
Naturalistic Observation ✔✔in depth observation in the participant's natural setting, the researcher can be a covert participant or observer
Drawbacks to Naturalistic Observation ✔✔researcher bias, only descriptive so we can't know what causes what
Survey Research ✔✔large sample, uses interviews and questionnaires, focused on an attitude or behavior
Random Sample ✔✔random people from your sample
Stratified Random Sample ✔✔decides how many people from each subgroup of the population there should be
Drawbacks of Survey Research ✔✔participants have to report truthfully and accurately
Hawthorne Effect ✔✔change in behavior because of the attention of being studied
Mean ✔✔average of scores
Median ✔✔middle score
Mode ✔✔most common score
Range ✔✔lowest to highest score
Standard Deviation ✔✔amount that the average participant differs from the mean
Dendrites ✔✔receiving end of a neuron
Cell Body ✔✔neuron part that processes information from dendrites
Axon ✔✔sends information out of a neuron
Myelin Sheath ✔✔lipid coating from glial cells (neruoglia) that surrounds most axons and enable faster signal transport
Resting Potential ✔✔charge when a neuron is not firing, the Na (outside) and K (inside) ions are balanced
Depolarization ✔✔influx of Na ions that makes the neuron more likely to fire
Hyperpolarization ✔✔outflow of K ions making the neuron less likely to fire
Action Potential (nerve impulse) ✔✔all or none triggering of nerve that passes along already created information
Neurotransmitter ✔✔chemical signal that travels through the synaptic cleft (fits with a particular receptor)
Synaptic Cleft ✔✔actual connection point between the axon and next dendrite
Excitatory Signals ✔✔increase action potential
Inhibitory Signal ✔✔decrease action potential
Glutamate ✔✔excites neurons; important in learning (neurotransmitter)
GABA ✔✔inhibits neurons; important for anxiety regulation (neurotransmitter)
Dopamine ✔✔emotional arousal, pleasure, voluntary movement and attention (neurotransmitter)
Peripheral Nervous System (PNS) ✔✔made of neurons in the rest of the body that transmit signals to and from the CNS (nervous system)
Somatic Nervous System ✔✔regulates automatic behaviors; transmits signals to and from the PNS and CNS (nervous system)
Autonomic Nervous System ✔✔serves internal body structures connected with basic life processes (automatic) (nervous system)
Sympathetic Nervous System ✔✔Fight or flight; responds to threats (increases heart rate, stops digestion etc.) (division of the nervous system)
Parasympathetic Nervous System ✔✔brings the body back to normal; regulates routine duties (nervous system)
Electroencephalogram ✔✔measures electrical activity on the surface of the brain
Neuroimaging Techniques ✔✔PET scans show active parts of brain; fMRI shows the brain as an individual solves tasks
Spinal Cord ✔✔transmits info from the brain to motor neurons and from sensory neurons to the brain; capable of reflexes
Hindbrain ✔✔Medulla Oblongata, Cerebellum, Parts of the reticular formation, Pons
Medulla Oblongata ✔✔essential to life (heartbeat, circulation, and respiration); nerve bundles cross to opposite sides here (extension of spinal cord into brain)
Reticular Formation ✔✔sends signals to the CNS (maintains consciousness, regulates arousal and modulates activity of neurons in the CNS)
Cerebellum ✔✔involved with motor learning, movement, balance and posture (affected by alcohol)
Midbrain ✔✔vision and hearing, orienting body and eyes toward a sensory stimuli
Primary Areas of Cortex ✔✔involved in sensory functions and direct control of motor movements (more specific and basic neurons)(area)
Association Areas ✔✔put together perceptions, ideas and plans (area)
Frontal Lobes ✔✔movement, planning, abstract thinking, memory and some aspects of personality (lobe)
Temporal Lobes ✔✔hearing, language and recognizing objects by sight (lobe)
Occipital Lobes ✔✔involved in vision (lobes)
Parietal Lobes ✔✔involved in touch (lobes)
Corpus Callosum ✔✔connects the two hemispheres of the brain
Cerebral Lateralization ✔✔some division of labor exists but each hemisphere of the brain is dominant in some functions
Left Brain ✔✔language, logic, complex behavior and consciousness (analytical brain)
Right Brain ✔✔non linguistic functions such as visual images, music, feeling (creative brain)
Positive Psychology ✔✔there is a brain region related to happiness
