Intro to Psychology sem 1 '26

Dualism

mind and body are two different things

What are two types of descriptive statistics and what do they measure?

1) Central tendency (most of measurements); mode, mean and median

2) Variabilty (differences between measurements); range and standard deviation

Third variable problem

a third factor could cause both x and y, making them appear correlated when they are not.

What are two ways to solve the third variable problem?

• manipulation (changing one variable to observe the effect)

• random assignment (ensuring groups are comparable)

Internal vs external validity

• internal; variables are isolated to review the effect on each other

• external; variables are representative of the real world

Type I vs Type II errors

• type I; causal relationship detected when there is not one (false positive)

• type II; causal relationship not detected when there is one (false negative)

7 rules of ethics in research

1) Informed consent

2) No coercion

3) Protection from harm

4) Risk-benefit analysis

5) No deception unless necessary

6) Debriefing (reversing effects of study/ revealing deception)

7) Confidentiality

3 rules of the honour system of research

1) Report truthfully

2) Share credit fairly

3) Share data

What are four ways to solve demand characteristics?

1) Naturalistic observation

2) Privacy (e.g. replying anonymously)

3) Control (e.g. measuring pupil dilation)

4) Unawareness (disguising study’s goal)

Operational definition

how to measure a construct

Independent vs dependent variable

• independent; manipulated

• dependent; measured

How do you calculate the effect of the independent variable?

pre-measurement minus post-measurement score

Representative sample

variations in dependent variable make sure that you can generalize to the population

Self-selection and how to fix it

letting participants choose their own condition, causing differences between groups, fixed by random assignment

Placebo effect and how to fix it

believing in a non-effective treatment will make it work, solved by double-blind study

Demand characteristics

participants do what they think is expected of them, solved by double blind study

Meta analysis

summary results of many studies

Preregistration

publishing what you think outcome of study is gonna be before you do it

Data fishing

only report the tests that show significant results

What are three aspects of measuring in research and what do they entail?

1) construct validity; do we measure what we want to measure?

2) measurement error; random factors that influence the measurement

3) bias

What are the three types of research designs?

1) Descriptive; what is x?

2) Correlational; is there a correlation between x and y?

3) Experimental; does x cause y

What is a falsifiable hypothesis?

hypothesis where results can be found that would not support the hypothesis

What is a detector and what are two aspects of it?

• detector; way to measure a property

• power; detects differences when they exist

• reliability; shows no differences when there are none

Rouge test

• test where animals get a marking and look into a mirror

• to test if they have a sense of self

Materialism

physical base for mental processes

Empiricism

all knowledge is acquired through experiences via senses

Nativism

some knowledge is innate

Behaviourism

all behaviour is learned by associating stimuli and responses

Gestalt Psychology

perception is the interpretation of senses based on theories the mind has about the world

Structuralism

isolate and analyze the mind's basic elements

Functionalism

mental processes adapt to serve our survival

Realism

perception is produced by the senses

Idealism

perception is the interpretation of sensory information

Which philosophical root was René Descartes the founder of?

body-mind dualism (consious thought is performed by a supernatural mind that exists separate from the body)

Which philosophical root was Thomas Hobbes the founder of?

materialism

Which philosophical root was John Locke the founder of?

empiricism

Which psychological approach was Jonh Watson the founder of and who inspired him?

behaviourism, inspired by Ivan Pavlov (dogs, bell and salivating)

Which philosophical root was Kant the founder of?

nativism

Who founded Gestalt psychology and which philosophical root can it be explained by?

Max Wertheimer, philosophical idealism (we construct our perception)

Which psychological approach was Wilhelm Wundt the founder of and which method did he use?

structuralism, introspection (analysis of subjective experience by trained observers)

Which psychological approach was William James the founder of and who inspired him?

functionalism, inspired by Charles Darwin (evolution by natural selection)

Who helped with the emergence of cognitive psychology (info processing in the brain) and why?

Broadbent, by making the first information processing model

How did European psychologists resist behaviorism?

Doing the very thing that behaviorism forbade: studying people’s perceptions, memories, and judgments in order to understand the nature of an unobservable entity called the mind

Summarize Chomsky’s critique of Skinner

• critized his book on language learning

• behaviorism can’t account for grammar rules

Explain what cognitive psychology is and how it emerged

• cognitive psychology; study of human info processing

• because of computers (brain=hardware, mind=software)

• cognitive revolution; studying mental processes that behaviorism had ignored

What is the difference between cognitive neuroscience and behavioral neuroscience?

• cognitive; relationship between brain and mind in humans

• behavioral; relationship between brain an behavior in non-humans

Who discovered biological preparedness and how?

John Garcia, rats associate nausea with food they just ate instead of other stimuli due to evolutionary history

Why did American social psychologists resist behaviorism?

beliefs, stereotypes, prejudices, identities, intentions — concepts like these had been banished from behaviorism but were the heart and soul of social psychology

Which two women made historic contributions to Psychology and were both APA presidents?

• Mary Calkins

• Margaret Washburn

Who concluded that our minds interpret and reconstruct memories based on what we expect the world to be like?

Frederic Bartlett

Who was the founder of developmental psychology and how?

Jean Piaget; kids playing with clay (mind develop theories about how the world works)

Who was the founder of social psychology and how?

Kurt Lewin, observing autocracy and democracy in children

What are the two components of the nervous system?

central (brain and spinal cord) & peripheral

What are the two components of the peripheral nervous system?

somatic (voluntary movements) & autonomic (involuntary commands; heartrate, breathing etc.)

What is the difference in functions and locations between the peripheral and central nervous system?

central= brain & spinal cord, simpler tasks such as reflexes

peripheral= whole body, complicated tasks & connecting central system with body

What is the difference in functions between the autonomic and somatic nervous system?

autonomic= automatic commands (heartrate, breathing etc.)

somatic= voluntary movements

What are the two components of the autonomic nervous system?

sympathetic (alerting) & parasympathetic (calming)

What is the difference in functions between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system?

sympathetic= functions to be alert (pupildilation, higher heartrate, more air etc.)

parasympathetic= functions to calm down (pupilcontraction, lower heartrate, less air etc.)

What is the function of the corpus callosum?

communication between hemispheres

How does the reflex arc work?

Shorter timespan because sensory information doesn't go to the brain; sensory neuron - spinal cord (interneuron) - motor neuron

What are the different regions of the spinal cord?

cervical (7 rings), thoracic (12 rings), lumbar (5 rings) & sacral (5 rings)

What are the three different types of neurons and what are their functions?

sensory (bringing sensory information to the brain via spinal cord), motor (carry signals from the spinal cord to the muscles to produce movement) and interneurons (connect neurons and spinal cord together)

What is the difference between Purkinje and bipolar cells?

Purkinje cells = interneuron (lots of dendrites)

Bipolar cells= sensory neuron (one dendrite)

What are the two types of neuron signaling?

elektric (conducted in the neuron) and chemical (transmitted across the synaps junction)

What are the major steps in synaptic transmission?

1) action potential stimulates terminal buttons with vesicles to release neurotransmitters

2) neurotransmitters bind to receptors on the postsynaptic dendrites

3) new action potential because of ion channel activation

4) reuptake, diffusion, deactivated by enzymes or binds to autoreceptor (inhibits presynaptic neurotransmitter release)

What are the major steps in electric signaling?

1) resting potential (-70 mv, more K+ in the cel)

2) depolarization (Na+ in cel, -55 mv threshold is reached)

3) action potential (40 mv, more Na+ in cel)

4) repolarization (K+ out of cel)

5) hyperpolarization (sodium-potassium pump restores resting potential; 3 Na+ out & 2 K+ in)

Psychoanalytic theory

Freud’s theory that emphasizes the influence of the unconscious on feelings, thoughts, and behaviors.

Principle of reinforcement

Skinner’s principle stating that any behavior that is rewarded will be repeated and any behavior that isn’t rewarded won’t be repeated.

What are 5 types of psychology?

1) developmental

2) social

3) cognitive

4) evolutionary

5) cultural

What is the difference between agonists and antagonists (+ examples)?

- agonist= increaces neurotransmitter release (e.g. amphetamine with dopamine and opioids with endorphins)

- antagonist= inhibits neurotransmitter release (e.g. caffeine)

What are the three major parts of the brain and what function do they have?

1) hindbrain; coordinates info coming in an out of spinal cord/ basic functions (heartrate, breathing etc.)

2) midbrain; orienting toward or away from threatening or pleasurable stimuli in enviroment

3) forebrain; complex cognitive, emotional, sensory and motor functions

What structures do the cerebral cortex and the subcortical structures of the forebrain contain?

1) cerebral cortex: prefrontal, association, premotor, visual, somatosensory and primary motor cortex

2) subcortical structures

- basal ganglia

- thalamus

- hypothalamus

- hippocampus

- amygdala

- pituitary gland

What structures does the hindbrain contain?

- medulla

- reticular formation

- pons

- cerebellum

Function and location of the medulla

beginning of the hindbrain & basic functions (heartrate, breathing etc.)

Function and location of the reticular formation

in the medulla & consiousness/sleep

Function and location of the hypothalamus

under thalamus/above pituitary gland & hunger/body temperature/sexual behaviour

Function and location of the association cortex

temporal/parietal lobe & making associations/ interpreting information in cortex

Function and location of the prefrontal cortex

in frontal lobe, planning

Function and location of the hippocampus

connected to basal ganglia/under thalamus & memory/spatial orientation

Function and location of the premotor cortex

in frontal lobe, sends plan of movement to primary motor cortex/basal ganglia/cerebellum

Function and location of the thalamus

under basal ganglia/above hypothalamus & relaying/filtering sensory information to cerebral cortex

Function and location of the somatosensory cortex

in parietal lobe (behind motor cortex), touch

Function and location of the basal ganglia

wrapped around thalamus/hypothalamus & slow precise movements/rewards

Function and location of the primary motor cortex

in frontal lobe/ before somatosensory cortex, delicate movements

What is the role of mirron neurons?

- active when perfoming an action

- active when observing someone else to interpret the goal of their behavior

Function and location of tegmentum

under tectum in midbrain & movement/arousal

What structures does the midbrain contain?

- tectum

- tegmentum

Function and location of the tectum

above pons/atop tegmentum in midbrain & orientating towards/away from stimuli in enviroment

Function and location of the amygdala

at the end of the hippocampus/under (hypo)thalamus & emotional (memory) processing (e.g. fear)

Function and location of the cerebellum

connected to pons in hindbrain & precise fast movement

Lateralization

left and right hemipshere specialize in different functions based on the person (e.g. most people have language in left)

What structures does the limbic system contain?

- hypothalamus

- hippocampus

- amygdala

What are the primary inhibitory and excitatory neurotransmitters of the brain?

- inhibitory: GABA

- excitatory: glutamate

Endocrine system

network of glands that produce/secrete hormones to influence basic functions; e.g. pituitary gland (boss) and pineal gland (sleep/wake cycle)

What is brain plasticity and how does it manifest differently in an amputee and pianist?

- brain plasticity= brain adapts to changes in sensory input

- pianist; more space on somatosensory cortex for fingers bc of practice

- amputee; phantom-limb effect (adjacent body parts fill up somatosensory cortex area)

Epigenetics

the study of how the enviroment affects gene expression (e.g. pups who are groomed more by their mothers experience less stress in adulthood)

How do genes and the enviroment influence human behaviour?

genes define what can happen, the enviroment determines which genes are activated and when (e.g. exercising and thus getting bigger muscles)

What are epigenetic marks and which 2 are widely studied?

- modifications to DNA that turn genes on or off

- 2 types: DNA methylation (off) & histone modification (off or on)