Final Exam Study Guide - Introduction to Psychology | PSYC 100, Study notes of Psychology

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PSYC Final Study Guide Scientific Method: -Beginnings of Psychology: -Empiricism=test our theories and ideas against experience gained from senses (Locke) -Rationalism=take undeniable truth and logically reason because experience is flawed (Descartes) -Great Man Approach=evaluating all ideas against “great man” (Freud/religion) -hypothesis- a tentative prediction/explanation about some phenomenon -prediction- a statement about what you expect to see -theories- a set of formal statements that explains how and why certain events or phenomena are related to one another -Darley & Latané experiment showed as the number of bystanders increased, help decreased (bystander effect) -independent variable- the variable that is controlled -dependent variable- the uncontrolled variable; changes based on independent variable manipulation -control group- the group that doesn’t receive the treatment/thing being tested -experimental group- group that receives treatment/thing being tested -correlational research- associating two variable by looking at statistical relation -experimental research- manipulation of a ind. variable in a controlled environment to measure change in dependent variable (PROVE CAUSATION) -confounding/third variables- an extraneous variable that influences dependent variable - Schacter experiment- people in high stress state seek out people to lower stress (those that were told painful shock chose room with people) Biopsychology: -how neurons work: -graded potential= small changes in membrane potential that do not cause an action potential -action potential= a nerve impulse resulting from the depolarization of an axon’s cell membrane - all-or-none= neuron fires to max potential or not at all - polarization= at rest, neuron as positive exterior and negative interior -neural anatomy and function -soma= main body of the neuron -dendrites= antennae like units that receive info. from other neurons and send it to the cell body (soma) -axon= conducts electrical impulses away from cell body to other neurons, muscles, or glands -myelin sheath= fatty insulation of axon that speeds up firing -synapse= space between the axon of of one neuron and the dendrites of another -neurotransmitters- chemical substances released from axon of one neuron, travel across the synaptic space, and bind to specially keyed receptors in another neuron, where they produce a chemical reaction that is either excitatory or inhibitory -agonist- compound that mimics action of neurotransmitter and increases effect -antagonist- a compound that blocks or inhibits effects of neurotransmitters -drugs affect neural signaling -Neuroanatomy and function: -blood-brain barrier= special lining of tightly packed cells that lets vital nutrients pass through so neurons can function -central nervous system= portion that includes brain and spinal cord -peripheral nervous system= all the neurons that connect the central nervous system with the sensory receptors, the muscles, and the glands -autonomic nervous system= senses the body's internal functions and controls the glands and the smooth (involuntary) muscles that form the heart, the blood vessels, and the lining of the stomach and intestines -sympathetic nervous system= activation or arousal function, acts as a total unit. Fight or Flight. ie. speeds up heart rate -parasympathetic nervous system= slows down body processes and maintains a state of tranquility. ie. slows down heart rate -CAT and MRI look at structure -PET and EEG look at function -fMRI looks at both -lateralization- left brain controls right body and vice versa -right brain controls negative emotion and spatial abilities, while left controls language and math Sensation and Perception: -sensation- stimulation of sense (sight, smell, etc.) -perception- selection, organization, and interpretation of sensory input -absolute threshold- limits of sensory system; workable range/parameters -JND- smallest difference between two stimuli that people can perceive 50% of the time (touch 1/7, weight 1/30) -fractions breakdown at extremes -Concept of Information Processing: -rods= specialize in low light conditions and provide a blury picture (120 million) -cones= specialized for bright light and color (7 million) -fovea= concentration of cones at center of retina -opponent-process theory= one channel suppresses the others (staring a green flower w/ red stem and then looking away creates a red flower w/ green stem) -trichromatic color theory= 3 types of cones w/ each corresponding to a wavelength of -reliable and remains stable over time -does not accurately measure intelligence; low validity -race= a social way of categorizing people based on appearance; no genetic difference to warrant race - multiple intelligences= 8-9 categories of intelligence proposed by Gardener that relate to to different demands (e.g. write has “linguistic intelligence”) - genetics and environment affect IQ - Twin studies: - identical twins raised together have higher IQ’s than fraternal in same environment -identical twins raised apart have higher IQ’s than fraternal twins raised together - study shows that IQ is affected more by genetics than environment - heritability ratio= variance in trait that is effected by genetics (~60%) - reaction range= genetics determine range of traits and environment determines where in that range the trait falls (20-25 pts.) Social Behaviors: -Internal Attribution= the cause is personal (i.e. their dumb, lazy, etc.) -External Attribution= The cause environmental/ situational (i.e. bad test) -Fundamental Attribution Error= others behavior is internal but ours is external -3 Components of Behavior: -Cognitive=our thoughts, beliefs, and ideas about something. When a human being is the object of an attitude, the cognitive component is frequently a stereotype, e.g. refusal to serve the Chinese -Affective= feelings or emotions that something evokes. e.g. fear, sympathy, hate, etc. -Behavioral=tendency or disposition to act in certain ways toward something -Attitude-Behavior Inconsistency= people express attitude and behave in different manor; more likely to act according to attitude if actively engaged (i.e. people said they would deny Chinese service yet took them in anyway) -Cognitive Dissonance= when 2 cognitions conflict one must add or change cognition to reduce anxiety/stress ($1 group rated task as positively while $20 group thought task was boring) -Conformity= people behavior in one way because everyone else is doing it -Asch Experiment= confederate all give wrong answer which lead to 25% conforming, 25% never answered wrong -Obedience= behaving in a way because you are being persuaded or a person in power has commanded it -Milgram Experiment= person shocked someone due to authority figure command -Persuasion Techniques: -Fear Inducing= works best when fear is moderate to strong and provides effective ways to reduce threat -Peripheral Route= people do not scrutinize the message, but are influenced mostly by other factors (attractiveness of speaker, emotional appeal, etc.) -Central Route= people think carefully about the message and are influenced because they find arguments compelling Personality -Single Inventory Self Report= set of questions measuring one trait (used in research setting) -Multi-Trait Inventory= set of questions covering wide range of traits (used in clinical setting) -Projective Tests= show ink blots (Rorschach) or two people not interacting but aware of each other (TAT) and ask people to respond in order to reveal hidden aspects of personality; worthless because there are no norms/standardization and up to interpretation -Freud’s Theories: -id= innermost core of the personality, the only structure present at birth, and the source of all psychic energy (functions according to pleasure principle “want...take”) -ego= has direct contact with reality and functions primarily at conscious level (functions according to reality principle “safe discharge of id”) -superego= the moral arm of the personality -conscious= immediate awareness of current environment -preconscious= available to awareness (i.e. names, addresses, etc.) -unconscious= unavailable to awareness (infantile memories, repressed wishes, etc.) -defense mechanisms= unconscious mental operations hat deny or distort reality -oral stage= infants gain satisfaction through food and sucking/suckling -anal stage= 2-3 year olds are introduced to society’s control on biological urge (potty training) -phallic stage= 4-5 year olds derive pleasure from sexual organs (Oedipus complex arises) -latency stage= 6+ sexuality becomes dormant -genital stage= adolescents express erotic impulse in sexual relationships -Alfred Adler= people are social being who want to advance welfare of others and compensate for real or imagined defects in themselves -Carl Jung= people have a collective unconscious that consist of memories accumulated over entire history of mankind and these memories a represented by archetypes, inherited tendencies to interpret experiences in certain ways -Carl Rogers= forces that drive behavior move us toward self-actualization -Multi-trait Personalities: -Cattell’s 16= measured 16 dimensions to provide comprehensive personality description - Five Factor Model= O.C.E.A.N. (openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, neuroticism) -Minnesota Twins Study: -Positive Emotionality= 40% genetics, 38% unique exp., 22% shared family exp. -Negative Emotionality= 58% genetics, 52% unique exp., 2% shared family exp. -Constraint= 58% genetics, 42% unique exp. Mental Illness/Therapy -DSM IV=diagnostic statistical manual 4 -Criteria for being “abnormal”: -content= does it get in the way of social behavior -context= doing something normal in an abnormal way (poop in public) -consequences= behavior causes undesirable outcome but cannot stop it -Therapies of Mental Illness: -physical therapy= drugs and medication -mind therapy= includes insight therapy where knowledge is gained why person behaves in certain way, cognitive therapy where patients are lead to believe that their beliefs are irrational, and humanistic therapy where patients are told their problems come from failure to realize full potential -behavioral therapy= therapist creates new reinforcement and punishment system -Case Study= professional provides details of symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment of a single patient (weak form of evidence) -Clinical Outcome Study= designed study to evaluate therapies (accurate b/c of norms and stnd.) -ALL THERAPIES WORK