psychology chapters 1-5

psychology

the scientific study of behavior and mental processes

behavior

what can be directly observed

mental processes

thoughts, feelings, motives

empirical method

observation of events, collection of data, logical reasoning link between mind and body

Wilhelm Wundt

explored structures of consciousness: structuralism, introspection

William James

explored purposes of the mind and behavior: functionalism

Biological Approach

the body (brain) and nervous system

neuroscience

scientific study of nervous system

behavioral approach

environmental determinants of observable behavior, rejects explanations referrencing thought

psychodynamic

unconscious thought, childhood family experiences, sexu@l and aggressive impulses

humanistic

positive human qualities and capacity for growth, free will/ personal choice

cognitive

mental processes involved in knowing/thinking, mind as active not passive

evolutionary

explanations of human behaviors: adaptation, reproduction, natural selection

sociocultural

social and cultural environments

scientific method steps

observe, hypothesis, test, conclusions, evaluate

curiosity

researchers motivation/attitude

variables

partitioning observations into measurable aspects

theory

trying to understand

descriptive research

describing a phenomenon

case studies

individuals or small groups not generalized

types of research

descriptive, correlational, and experimental

correlational research

identify relationships between variables, how two things are related… r

correlational research scale

0-.25 weak

.25-.5 moderate

.5-.75 strong

.75-.99 very strong

1 perfect

true or false: correlation equals causation

false, it does not because correlation doesn’t settle why behavior occurs

experimental research

determine causation random assignment to group

experimental group

hypothesis cause is manipulated… independent variable

control group

treated equally, no manipulation… independent variable

types of neurons

sensory (afferent), motor (efferent), interneurons (most plentiful)

afferent

arrives at the brain

parts of a neuron

dendrites, cell body (soma), axon, axon terminals

The Myelin Health

protective sleeve of fatty material that surrounds the axon… manufactured by glial cells

synapse

gap between two connecting neurons

neurotransmitters

chemical messengers either good or bad

endorphins (neurotransmitter)

reduces pain, increases pleasure

dopamine (neurotransmitter)

influences brain’s reward system and body movement, motivation

serotonin (neurotransmitter)

balances mood, sleep and appetite: SSRI helps with depression and anxiety

epinephrine/adrenaline (neurotransmitter)

helps the fight or flight response, danger

histamine (neurotransmitter)

influences the immune system, allergies

acetylcholine (neurotransmitter)

helps activate muscles

GABA (neurotransmitter)

helps control anxiety

glutamate (neurotransmitter)

helps with memory, learning, brain development

action potentials

the release or firing of an electrical impulse that travels through the axon, all or none response

Phineas Gage

ion rod through his brain in 1848, personality changed, no sensory neurons in your brain

Paul Broca

French physician, language production

cerebellum “mini brain”

10% of the brain, contains 50% of neurons, manages balance and coordinated movement

brainstem

connects to the spine, control functions most essential to stay alive: pons, medulla, reticular activating system

Thalamus

sensory processing center, attention and movement

limbic system

governs emotion

hypothalamus

maintains homeostasis

hippocampus

memory

cerebrum (forebrain)

larger in humans than other species, two hemispheres (hand you use opposite side of brain works), corpus callous

cerebral cortex

outer layer of cerebrum, association areas

split-brain surgery

corpus callous is cut typically to reduce epileptic seizures

left hemisphere

names things, right side of body controls

right hemisphere

can draw, left side of body controls

the lobes

4 lobes of the brain that aren’t fully developed until 25

occipital

vision, back of the cerebrum

temporal

hearing and speech production, middle of brain

parietal

touch and perception, somatosensory cortex, top of brain

frontal

complex thinking, planning, other advanced functions, front of the brain, motor cortex (voluntary movements)

brain plasticity

ability of the brain to adapt its structure or function to damage or experience

neurogenesis

creation of new neurons

stem cells

can repair damage and help brain recover functions that might otherwise be lost… brain increases after surgery

the nervous system

full set of nerves that connects the brain with all other parts of the body

central

connects brain and spinal cord

peripheral

neurons that connect the central nervous system to other parts of the body

autonomic

controls self-regulated action of internal organs and glands

the endrocrine system

set of glands that sends hormones throughout the body via the bloodstream

hormones

influences appetite, mood, energy levels, sleep schedule, s*x drive, metabolism, digestion,etc.

pituitary

in brain, human growth hormone controls other glands

adrenal

in kidneys, adrenaline, cortisol (stress hormone)

electroencephalography (EEG)

records electrical activity in brain, best used for the study of seizure-based disorders

computed tomography (CT)

3D xray, detects structure and lesions

magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

uses magnetic field and radio waves, for structure

positron emission tomography (PET)

radioactive sugar injected into body, brain uses sugar as fuel, more active=more sugar

function magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

magnetic fields used to detect brain function

stimulus

any internal or external event, object, or change that triggers a sensory or behavioral response in an organism

sensation

the ability of the sensory organs to pick up energy in the environment around the body and transmit it to the brain

transduction

conversion of energy outside your body into neural energy

perception

the ability of the brain to interpret the raw sensations it has taken in

parapsychology

the study of topics that fall outside the range of mainstream psychology

absolute threshold

the minimum level of a stimulus necessary for a person to detect it at least half of the time

Weber-Fechner law

the bigger the original amount, the bigger the difference will have to be for you to notice

significant variability

sense of hearing and smelling

difference threshold

the smallest change in a stimulus necessary for a person to detect it at least half of the time

sensory adaptation

the tendency of stimulus sensation to decrease when the stimulus itself remains constant. ex: eyes adjusting to the bright sun

perceptual constancy

the brain’s ability to maintain the same perception of an object even when conditions around it cause it to produce different sensations

extrasensory perception

precognition like telepathy and see future events

selective attention

brain pays more attention to one sensory channel than others

cocktail party effect

ability to attend to certain stimulus within one sense over other stimuli within the same sense

sensory interaction

the idea that the sense can influence each other

The McGurk effect

vision and hearing

sensory conflict theory

the theory that explains motion sickness as a by-product of sensory interaction, brain convinced youre staying still

bottom-up processing

sensation before perception… minimizes the role of experience and expectations, often arrives at the correct answer, weakness is that it takes time and enery

top-down processing

perception before sensation, guided by experience and expectations… more efficient, weakness is that it is more prone to error, foundation of stereotypes

perceptual set

your tendency to perceive things in a certain way because of your previous experiences or your attention strategy

change blindness

failure to notice changes in the visual field simply because you expect otherwise

inattentional blindness

failure to notice something in your visual field simply because your attention was focused elsewhere

ventral stream

helps us identify “what”