PSYCH UNIT ONE

Psychology

The scientific study of the mind and behaviour, investigating the mental processes and behaviours of humans and other species

Empiricism

The theory that science relies on empirical evidence gathered through observation and experimentation.

Scientific theories and hypotheses are based on observable and measurable evidence, rather than speculation or conjecture,

Parsimony

Explanations should be as simple and concise as possible, while still accounting for all available evidence.

Often referred to as Occams Razor, which states that the simplest explanation that accounts for all the data is usually the best explanation

Tentativeness

Scientific theory is subject to revision in light of new evidence.

Scientific theories are not considered absolute truths but rather, are subject to ongoing testing and refinement.

Before accepting a hypothesis, consider whether alternative explanations have been ruled out and remember that correlation doesn’t equal causation.

Objectivity

Science strives for objectivity by minimising personal biases.

Scientists use rigorous and systematic methods to gather and analyse data.

Replicability

Methods must be able to be reproduced by independant researchers, using the same techniques

Scientist - Practitioner Model

Belar and Perry - An innovative approach that incorporates science and practice. This means that clinicians’ practice is informed by empirical research and, simultaneously, future research is informed by the experiences of practicing clinicians.

Confirmation Bias

This is when someone selectivey looks for evidence that is consistent with their hypothesis.

What type of thinking can Confirmation Bias lead to?

Faulty thinking - belief perserverence - none of us want to believe we are wrong and are often reluctant to give up our cherished notions.

Why is faciltated communication not scientific?

Bceause the outcome is actually determined by the facilitatior.

Lockes Empiricism

Argued that the human mind is a “blank slate” at birth.

Where does learning and ideas come from according to Locke?

Derived entirely from sensory experience “tabula rasa”

Contiguity

In Psychology, it refers to the idea that things or events occuring close together in time or space become mentally linked by our memory.

The Laws of Contiguity

The idea that the mind naturally links ideas that are experienced close together in space or time

Phenotype

The characteristic that is expressed

Dominant Gene (more specificall, a dominant allele)

You only need one copy of the gene to express the characteristic.

Recessive

You need both gene copies to be identical to express the characterisitc

When could a recessive gene show up?

Only if the dominant gene is completely missing

Are we more prone to be a product of our genetic makeup (the nature component) OR are our individual life experiences more important (the nurture component)

Describe the Nature VS Nurture debate

Karyotype

A visual display of a persons chromosomes

Chromosomes are long, thread-like structures made of DNA that contain our genes

Define what a chromosome is

What does DNA stand for

Deoxy-ribon-ucleic

How many chromosomes do we inherit from our parents?

46 (23 mother, 23 father)

A biological female has what pair of chromosomes?

XX

A biological male has what pair of chromosomes?

XY

Epigenetics

Describes how certain environments can impact our genes

Gene

Each gene is essentially a short segment of the chromosome, carrying instructions to make a specific protein.

What is the function of proteins in genetics?

By expressing different proteins, genes can influence who we are, our physical characteristics and observable behaviour, and how we interact.

Perception

It begins with a stimulus in our environment that catches our attention. For instance, we gaze at a visual stimulus or touch a tactile one. When we attend to the stimulus, it brings it into contact with our sensory receptors. 

Sensory receptors

are specialised cells in our sensory organs - such as the eyes, ears, skin, nose, and tongue - that detect various forms of physical energy, such as light, sound, touch, smell, and taste.

They spring into action, setting off the process of transduction.

What happens when sensory receptors encounter a specific stimulus?

Transduction

Is like biological alchemy that our sensory organs perform.

Our sensory receptors convert the language of the physical world- stimuli such as sound into a language the brain can understand: electrical impulses. We then use transmission to send that electrical signal to the brain, where its processed.

Explain the Process of Transduction

Coding

An intricate process of organising and labelling that helps the brain make sense of the incoming sensory information.

How can coding help with the sensation of touch?

Coding helps distinguish whether the touch was a pinch or a caress based on the intensity and neural signals sent from our skin receptors.

What is the function of Sensory Adaption?

It leads the strength of our response to diminish gradually.

Senses

Are the frontline for our understanding of the world

Sensation

Is the sensory organs detection of external and internal stimuli transmitted into the brain.

Perception

Our brains assembly line, crafting meaningful interpretations from sensory information.

Psychophysics

The study of the relationship between physical stimuli and the sensations and perceptions they produce in our minds. It explores how physical things in our environment (ie light, noise or pressure) get translated into our subjective experiences of sight, sound or touch.

Sensory Receptors

Are the specialised cells in our in our sensory organs.

Eyes, ears, skin, nose and tongue.

What are our sensory organs that encounter a specific stimulus and begin the process of transduction?

Transduction or Transmission - which one comes first

Transduction - our sensory perceptors convert the language of the physical world into a language our brain can understand - electical impulses. We then use transmission to send that signal to the brain, where its processed.

Processing

What comes after Transmission

Cognition

Refers to the mental processes and activities related to acquiring, processing, storing and using information.

Bottom up processing

we build representations of the environment by understanding the basic properties of the stimuli within it.

Processing that is like a puzzle, piecing together individual stimuli

Bottom up processing

Top Down Processing

Reflects on our previous experiences, memories and learning

Our brain interpreting a stimulus based on prior knowledge

Top Down Pro

Webers Law

This law tells us that the difference threshold varies depending on the type of sensory input and also the individual's sensitivity. It is often not a fixed quantity, but rather is proportionate to the intensity of the initial stimulus.

Absolute threshold

Refers to the smallest amount of sensory input that a person can detect.

a visual test, it might be the dimmest light a person can detect

Which is an Example of Absolute Threshold?

Through different individuals and factors such as fatigue, attention, or motivation.

How can Absolute Threshold vary

The difference threshold or 'difference limen' (otherwise known as Delta L, ΔL, or the just noticeable difference)

A concept in psychophysics that refers to the smallest difference someone can detect between two stimuli.

The method of limits

Involves gradually increasing or decreasing the intensity of a stimulus in a ‘stepped’ fashion until the participant can or can no longer perceive it

adjustment method

the participant controls the intensity of the stimulus.

Multiple stimuli, varying in intensity, are presented in random order. These repeated presentations in an experiment are called trials. The participant indicates on each trial whether they can perceive the stimuli.

Describe a method of constant stimuli

Simply the 50% point

What is the threshold in a method of constant stimuli experiment?

A change in an organisms behaviour due to an experience

What is learning?

What is the primary goal of learning from an evolutionary standpoint as an adaptive process?

Being able to predict what will happen, based on what we’ve experienced in the past, allows us to adapt effectively to our environments to achieve important survival goal.

Habituation

where we see a decreased behavioural response to the repeated presentation of a stimulus, which cannot be explained by adaptation of the sensory receptors or muscle fatigue.

Sensitisation

where our response to a stimulus increases following repeated exposures.

Sensitisation

if you burn your hand while cooking and then reach out to pick up something warmer than you expected, you might draw back as if in pain, even though it wasn’t painful is an example of…

Associative Learning

A type of learning that involves making associations between two different stimuli or events in our environment.

Three crucical processes of memory

Acquisition, storage, and retrieval

What is empirical research?

Empirical research is research that is based on direct observation or measurement of evidence, rather than opinions, assumptions or theories alone.

Iconic Memory

A type of sensory memory related to the visual system. It's the brief mental image or 'icon' you hold in your mind after the disappearance of a visual stimulus.

It pertains to the auditory system, preserving sounds in a 'buffer' for a slightly longer period than iconic memory, generally up to 3-4 seconds.

Describe Echocic Memory (a type of sensory memory)

What does the Echoic System allow?

This allows us to process and understand spoken language.For instance, when someone says a sentence to you, you might not understand the meaning until the entire sentence has been spoken, which is made possible by your echoic memory.

Short-term memory

Refers to our ability to hold a small amount of information in an active, readily available state for a brief period

Proactive interference

When old information inhibits the ability to remember new information

Retroactive interference

Happens when new information makes it challenging to recall older information.

Example of retroactive interferance

if you move and get a new phone number, you might have difficulty remembering your old number after memorising the new one. Here, the new information (your new phone number) interferes with the retrieval of the old information (your old phone number).

Chunking

Chunking involves organising information into discreet chunks.

What did George Miller Believe

short-term memory capacity is about seven items, plus or minus two. However, this capacity can be extended through processes like chunking

Rehearsal

TRehearsal, broadly speaking, is repeating information in order to extend its duration in short-term memory. 

Elaborate Rehearsal

Mapping information to something already known/ linking incoming stimuli to existing information in a meaningful way is known as?

Example of Elaborate Rehearsal

mnemonics or other memory tricks  

Why is elaborate rehearsal more effective than maintenance rehearsal?

Because we are attaching new information to something already stored in long-term memory.

Maintenance rehearsal

involves repeating stimuli in the same form over and over.

Reciting a phone number over and over is an example of…

Maintenance Rehearsal

What are the three levels of processing according to Craik and Tulving?

Visual, phonological (sound-related), and semantic (meaning-related).

Long-term memory

Is an enduring store of information. It includes facts, experiences, and skills.

Permastore

What term do we use to refer to long term memory that is thought to be permanent?

The limitations of Short-term memory

around 7 ± 2 items for 5 to 30 seconds

what type of data does Short term memory hold

immediate perceptual and linguistic data,

what type of data does long term memory hold

facts, personal experiences, procedures, and more. 

Procedural memory (an implicit long term memory system)

Memory for doing things, like performing motor actions like riding a bike.

Priming (an implicit long term memory system)

Ability to identify a stimulus more easily after encountering similar stimuli.

Classical Conditioning (an implicit long term memory system)

Associations between stimuli and responses

Semantic (an explicit long term memory system)

Factual knowledge, such as 'Who was the last prime minister?' or knowing an apple is fruit.

Episodic (an explicit long term memory system)

Recollection of personal experiences, like listening to your favourite song or attending your brother’s wedding.

How did Structuralists like William Wudnt study psychological processes,

By using reaction-time experiments

Wilhelm Wundt

Who is often credited with establishing the first psychological laboratory, thus establishing psychology as an experimental science?

One of the factors that led to the downfall of structuralism was 

its steadfast use of introspection as a measurement tool

Which psychologist would be most likely to argue that free will is something that does not truly exist, and that we are simply unaware of the environmental influences that affect our behaviors at any given moment?

B.F Skinner

Jean Piaget was known to be a would most accurately be considered…

Question 9

Cognitivist because of his empathasis on thinking.

William James

Which psychologist is considered to be the founder of functionalism as a framework for understanding conscious experience?

The belief that someone sees the world correctly, and that the world exists precisely as they see it, is called

Naive Realism

It tries to break down conscious experience into basic elements—like sensations, feelings, and images—using a method called introspection

The aim of Structuralism is (as founded by Wilheim Wundt)