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Psychology 101 Exam 1
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 Evolutionary Metaphor - runners in a race Biopsychology - Physical bases of psychological phenomena (sub-discipline) Developmental psychology - How thought, feeling, and behavior develops through life span Social Psychology - Influence of real or imagined others influence on the individual
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
Test-Retest Reliability - being able to test the participants again over time and getting the same results Internal Consistency (or reliability) - do all of the items in a test measure the same thing Interrater Reliability - do different people rate the behaviors in the same way Face Validity - does it look like it measures what it says it measures (sometimes psychologists want this to be low) Construct Validity - does it measure what it is supposed to Criterion Validity - does it relate to other measures like it should Error - the part of a score that is unrelated to the person's true score (some people are more inclined in certain things that could affect the experiment) 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)
Median - middle score Mode - most common score Range - lowest to highest score Standard Deviation - amount that the average participant differs from the mean Correlation - one number that shows the relationship between two variables (what happens to a variable as the other changes Positive Correlation - variables increase together Negative Correlation - variables have an inverse relationship Nervous System - the interacting network of nerve cells that underlies all psychological activity Neuron - fundamental unit of the nervous system (communicate with chemical and electrical signals) Sensory (afferent) Neurons -
carry information from the sensory cells to the brain Motor (efferent ) Neurons - carry information from the brain to the muscles and organs Interneurons - pass information between sensory and motor neurons 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
learning and memory (neurotransmitter) Endorphins - pain relief and elevation of mood (neurotransmitter) Endocrine System - a collection of glands that secrete hormones into the blood stream (able to simultaneously stimulate numerous cells) Pituitary Gland - master gland; releases hormones that stimulate other glands Thyroid Gland - growth and metabolic hormones Adrenal Glands - release adrenalin; fight or flight response Gonads - release hormones for sexual development and behavior Central Nervous System (CNS) - Brain and spinal cord 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 -
allows flexible construction of voluntary movements; enables symbolic thinking 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
