unit 1-3 ap psych study guide

structuralism

created by wilhelm wundt, studied how the elements of the mind were organized as units and elements that were related to one another

functionalism

created by william james, influenced by darwin and said that consciousness (feelings and thoughts) function in an environment to help people adapt to things

evolutionary approach

how natural selection (our inherited traits that enable us to survive) causes behavior to develop and adapt

natural selection

individuals that have certain inherited traits tend to survive and reproduce at higher rates than other individuals because of those traits.

cognitive approach

mental processes involved in knowing: how we direct our attention, perceive, remember, think, and solve problems.

humanistic approach

emphasizing a human's overall growth and potential, self-esteem and wellbeing

behavioral approach

how our learning processes affect our behaviors

Gestalt Psychology

consciousness is best understood by observing the whole rather than trying to break it down into a cluster of elements

psychodynamic/psychoanalytic approach

developed by freud, says that unconscious mind directs all behavior

industrial-organizational psychology

human behavior in the workplace

positive psychology

emphasize focus on positive events and influences in life

counseling psychology

assists people with problems in living (often related to school, work, or marriage) and in achieving greater well-being

clinical psychology

a branch of psychology that studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders

mean

the arithmetic average, obtained by adding the scores and then dividing by the number of scores

Median

the middle score in a distribution

mode

the most frequently occurring score(s) in a distribution

Correlation vs. Causation

correlation does not equal causation

Correlation

A measure of the extent to which two factors vary together, and thus of how well either factor predicts the other

illusory correlation

perception of a relationship where none exists, or perception of a stronger relationship than what actually exists

experiment

A research method in which an investigator manipulates factors to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process

case study

a group of people are studied intensively to determine new findings, often extensive and expensive

naturalistic observation

observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation

endocrine system

the body's "slow" chemical communication system; a set of glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream

pituitary gland

The endocrine system's most influential gland. Under the influence of the hypothalamus, the pituitary regulates growth and controls other endocrine glands. things travel from the brain, to the pituitary, to other glands, and more hormones.

thyroid gland

inside the lower neck, secretes thyroxin that regulates metabolism, growth, and appetite

pineal gland

located in the brain, secretes melatonin

melatonin

regulates sleep and body rhythms, a hormone

adrenal glands

on top of the kidneys involved in stress response, releases epinephrine and norepinephrine (adrenaline)

Oxytocin

A hormone released by the pituitary, the "love hormone"

Hypothalamus

directs several maintenance activities (eating, drinking, body temperature), helps govern the endocrine system via the pituitary gland, and is linked to emotion and rewards

Neurons

nerve cells, specialized in the nervous system for receiving and sending messages with electrochemical signals

Reuptake

after the neurotransmitters stimulate the receptors on the neuron, chemicals are taken back up into the neuron to be used again later on

nervous system

the body's speedy, communication network, consisting of all the nerve cells of the peripheral and central nervous systems

sympathetic nervous system

the division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy in stressful situations

parasympathetic nervous system

the division of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body, conserving its energy

Neurotransmitters

chemical messengers that sends signals between neurons -- opens specific locks in the brain

Acetylcholine

enables learning, thought, and memory. too much of it is associated with muscle spasms, and a deficit of it is linked to alzheimers

serotonin

feelings of well-being, happiness. too much of it can lead to hallucinations, too little can lead to depression and other mood disorders

dopamine

the reward pleasure chemical, too much leads to schizophrenia, too little likely leads to parkinson's

norepinephrine

"fight or flight", associated with responses to danger, too much causes anxiety, too little causes depression and other mental disorders

GABA

calming, slows things down and calms the brain -- too much causes sleep and eating disorders, we are overly relaxed, too little causes anxiety and seizures

glutamate

excitatory neurotransmitter, thinking, memory, learning -- too much overstimulates the brain and might cause migraines or seizures

endorphins

relieves pain and stress, feelings of pleasure and euphoria -- too much leas to a lack of pain feeling, too little leads to pain

Broca's area

Controls language expression - an area of the frontal lobe, usually in the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle movements involved in speech.

Wernicke's area

controls language reception and comprehension; usually in the left temporal lobe

frontal lobe

front of the brain, reasoning, logic, judgement, motor skills, cognition, etc.

cerebral cortex

outer layer of the brain, higher thought, language, and human consciousness

motor cortex

an area at the rear of the frontal lobes that controls voluntary movements

prefrontal cortex

part of frontal lobe responsible for thinking, planning, and language

parietal lobe

cerebral cortex, processing information about touch.

temporal lobe

A region of the cerebral cortex responsible for hearing and language.

occipital lobe

visual processing

limbic system

neural system located below the cerebral hemispheres; associated with emotions and drives. includes the hippocampus, the hypothalamus, and the amygdala.

Brainstem

where the spinal cord swells as it enters the skull; the brainstem is responsible for automatic survival functions

Pons

several autonomic functions, stimulating breathing and controls sleep cycles

medulla

controls heartbeat and breathing

Hippocampus

A neural center located in the limbic system that helps process explicit memories for storage.

Amygdala

involved in memory and emotion, particularly fear and aggression

depressants

drugs (such as alcohol, barbiturates, and opiates) that reduce neural activity and slow body functions

Stimulants

Drugs that speed up the central nervous system

Max Wertheimer

Gestalt psychologist who argued against dividing human thought and behavior into discrete structures

Gestalt Principles

ways for the brain to infer missing parts of a picture when a picture is incomplete

Sensation

Bottom-up process by which our senses receive and relay information

perception

top-down processing where our brains organize information and put it into context for which we perceive

Transduction Psychology

transducing types of energy so that different parts of the body can understand and interpret them

context effects

how a person responds to certain stimuli based on the environment around them

absolute threshold

the minimum amount of stimulus needed to register a stimuli -- our brain picks up 50% of the time.

difference threshold

the smallest amount by which two sensory stimuli can differ in order for an individual to perceive them as different

top-down processing

the use of preexisting knowledge to organize individual features into a unified whole

bottum-up processing

analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information

signal detection theory

model for predicting how and when a person can detect a weak stimuli

subliminal sensation

detection of stimuli below absolute threshold

inattentional blindness

a failure to perceive objects that are not the focus of attention

change blindness

failing to notice changes in the environment

cocktail party effect

ability to attend to only one voice among many

Photoreceptors

sensing light and/or color and delivering the message back to the brain through the optic nerve

rods and cones

rodds affect grey scale in peripheral vision, cones detect color

fovea

the central focal point in the retina, around which the eye's cones cluster

lens

the transparent structure behind the pupil that changes shape to help focus images on the retina

pupils

the opening in the iris of the eye

eardrum

a thin membrane that marks the beginning of the middle ear; sound waves cause it to vibrate

cochlea

a tube in the inner ear; sound waves traveling through the cochlear fluid trigger nerve impulses

opponent-process theory

the theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green, yellow-blue, white-black) enable color vision. For example, some cells are stimulated by green and inhibited by red; others are stimulated by red and inhibited by green

Young-Hemholtz Theory

the retina houses three cones which allows the eye to see every color

Frequency

the number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time

Amplitude

Height of a wave

pitch

How high or low a sound is

gestalt principles

ways for the brain to infer missing parts of a picture when a picture is incomplete

figure ground

the organization of the visual field into objects (the figures) that stand out from their surroundings

Proximity (Gestalt)

group nearby figures together - horizontal lines of dots

retinal disparity

the greater the disparity (difference) between the two images, the closer the object

shape constancy

the tendency to interpret the shape of an object as being constant, even when its shape changes on the retina

depth perception

the ability to see objects in three dimensions although the images that strike the retina are two-dimensional; allows us to judge distance

size constancy

the tendency to interpret an object as always being the same actual size, regardless of its distance

gate control theory of pain

pain is a product of both physiological and psychological factors that cause spinal gates to open and relay patterns of intense stimulation to the brain, which perceives them as pain

accupuncture

use of needles to relieve pain, opens these gateways through pain

vestibular

controls motion, position, and movement, thrown off when someone is dizzy

kinesthetic sense

sense of the location of body parts in relation to the ground and each other

vertigo

the sensation of dizziness, caused by the vestibular sense being thrown off