General Psychology Exam 2 Study Guide - Brynildsen

Amygdala

Brain structure processing emotions, aggression, and fear.

Hypothalamus

Brain region regulating endocrine activity, hormone release, and reward/pleasure.

Hippocampus

Gateway to memory enabling the formation of new conscious memories.

Cerebral cortex

Outer layer responsible for higher forms of thinking, split into two hemispheres.

Frontal lobes

Front region involved in planning, creative thinking, personality, and motor control.

Motor cortex

Strip in the frontal region controlling voluntary movement.

Homunculus

Map representing motor or sensory functions across different body parts.

Broca's area

Left frontal region responsible for speech production.

Broca's aphasia

Disorder characterized by difficulty producing spoken words or sentences.

Mirror neurons

Cells that fire both when performing an action and when observing another perform it.

Parietal lobes

Top region containing the somatosensory cortex.

Somatosensory cortex

Brain area receiving and processing information about touch sensations.

Occipital lobes

Back region of the brain containing the visual processing center.

Visual cortex

Brain area that processes incoming light visual signals.

Temporal lobes

Sides of the head containing auditory processing areas and Wernickes area

Auditory cortex

Brain area responsible for processing sound.

Wernicke's area

Left-side region responsible for language comprehension.

Wernicke's aphasia

Disorder impairing the ability to understand spoken and written communication.

Plasticity

Flexibility of brain structures to adapt, reorganize, or shift functions after damage.

Neurogenesis

Growth and development of brand-new neurons.

Selective attention

Focusing on specific information while ignoring surrounding distractions.

Inattentional blindness

Failing to detect visible objects because focus is directed elsewhere.

Change blindness

Failing to notice alterations in environment due to focused focus elsewhere.

Suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN)

Hypothalamic structure sensitive to light that regulates daily circadian rhythms.

Pineal gland function in rest

Secretes melatonin in response to signals from light-sensitive brain regions.

Artificial lighting impact

Stalls melatonin production and disrupts natural daily biological cycles.

N1 stage

Light initial resting state marked by involuntary muscle twitches and vivid perceptions.

Hypnagogic jerk

Involuntary muscle twitch occurring during light resting transitions.

Hypnagogic hallucination

Vivid sensory perception experienced while falling into rest.

N2 stage

True resting period with slowed brain activity, lower heart rate, and reduced tension.

N3 stage

Deepest resting period involving pituitary hormone release and disorientation upon waking.

REM stage

Phase featuring wake-like brain waves, rapid eye movement, and irregular breathing.

Paradoxical state

Condition where the brain is highly active while physical body muscles are paralyzed.

Sleep paralysis

dreams, 90% of dreams in REM

Evolutionary theory of sleep

Proposal that resting at night evolved to protect organisms from darkness and predators.

Restorative theory of sleep

Proposal that resting repairs body tissue and supports growth through hormone release.

Information processing theory of sleep

sleep supports cognitive processes

restores and rebuilds memories

supports creative thinking

Manifest content

The actual remembered images and events within a dream.

Latent content

The hidden unconscious thoughts, feelings, and wishes behind dream images.

Freudian Theory of Dreaming

dreams stem from unconscious thoughts

Activation-synthesis theory

Brain internally generated signals form dreams

Information Processing Theory of Dreaming

memories of events form dreams

Preserving neural pathways theory of dreaming

purpose of dreaming is to provide brain stimulation

Twin studies

compare pairs of monozygotic and same-sex dizygotic twins

Monozygotic twins

Identical pairs originating from one fertilized egg, sharing 100% of genetic material.

Dizygotic twins

Fraternal pairs originating from two separate eggs, sharing 50% of genetic material.

Adoption Studies

adopted children compare to adoptive families and biological parents

Adoption twin studies

compare MZ twins separated in infancy and MZ twins reared together

Assimilation

Fitting new information into an existing mental framework.

Accommodation

Modifying existing mental frameworks in response to new information.

Primitive Reflexes

sucking, rooting, moro, grasping, babinski

Piagets approach to cognitive development

children understand the world with schemes/schema, children make constant mental adaptations to new observations and experiences

Piagets stages of cognitive development

sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational

Sensorimotor stage

Period from birth to 2 years - looking sucking, touching, development of object permanence

preoperational stage

2-7 years old - egocentrism, animistic thinking, conservation

concrete operational stage

7-11 years - understand conversation and reversibility

Object permanence

Understanding that physical items continue to exist even when hidden from view.

Egocentrism

Inability to view situations from any perspective other than one's own.

Animistic thinking

Believing inanimate objects possess feelings, intentions, or lifelike qualities.

Conservation

Understanding that physical properties remain unchanged despite alterations in outward appearance.

Reversibility

Concept that an altered object can be returned to its original state.

Transitivity

Ability to logically arrange and recognize relationships among items in a series.

formal operational stage

11-adulthood - abstract thinking, thinking about future, conjuring hypothesis

Zone of proximal development

Range of tasks a learner can accomplish only with guidance from others.

Scaffolding

The teacher adjusts the amount of support to how much support the child needs

Theory of mind

Understanding how other people think - people vary

Band aid box study -

Kids are shown a box of this, and was asked inside, kids were surprised to find pencil in the box

- 3 years old haven't developed theory of mind, assumed anyone else asked would know that there are pencil in there

- 4-5 year olds who have developed theory of mind, knows that other people don't know what's actually in the box

Trust vs. Mistrust

Eriksons theory of social development - Infancy (to 1 yr) - the ability to trust other people develops based on the caregivers ability to provide for them

Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt

Eriksons theory of social development - Toddlerhood (1-3yrs) - autonomy - independence and self control - piaget, letting a kid struggle and do things on their own

Initiative vs. Guilt

Eriksons theory of social development - Preschool (3-5yrs) - kids will make choices and discover "am i good or bad?"

Industry vs. Inferiority

Eriksons theory of social development - Elementary (6rs-puberty) - kids will see their capabilities and will compare themselves to others "am i good enough?"

Harlow's monkey experiment

Study demonstrating that infants prioritize soft physical contact comfort over food source access.

Ainsworth study

Strange situation experiment -mom leaves stranger and child in room, then child left alone

Ainsworth resultuing attchment styles

Secure, Insecure-anxious/ambivalent, Insecure-avoidant

Secure attachment

Pattern where infants rely on caregivers as a safe anchor to explore. trusting relationships

correlations of attachment styles

Children with secure attachment style have larger size of vocabulary, better interpersonal interactions, more stable emotions

langlois al.'s study

Studied mothers and their babies, had college students rate cuteness of a group of babies, found babies got more affection and attention from their mothers if they were cute. Mothers with not so cute babies said that their kids interfere with their lives

what contributes to attachment styles

Stressful home life, inconsistencies in parental response

Insecure-anxious attachment

Pattern resulting from inconsistent care, causing infant distress and distress upon separation.

Insecure-avoidant attachment

Pattern resulting from emotionally unresponsive care, leading to child detachment.

Authoritative parenting

High warmth, high control - not overly demanding, child centered, get higher grades, cooperative, assertive

- most optimal, higher grades, assertive and cooperative

Authoritarian parenting

Low warmth, high control - controlling, demanding, emphasizing obedience, restrictive with lots of rules

- lower grades, low self esteem, dependence on others

Permissive parenting

High warmth, low control - very few rules and restrictions

- lower grades, low self control, quick temper

Uninvolved parenting

Low warmth, low control - least effective, most determine

- low self esteem, emotional detachment

Preconventional morality

(4-10) - avoid punishment or gain reward

Ex: dont steal the drug bc youll be punished

Conventional morality

(after 10) - good boy morality, law and order

Ex: dont steal bc it against the law, makes you a bad person

Postconventional morality

(Early adolescence/young adulthood) - individual principles and conscience

Ex: dont steal bc stealing is immoral

Delay of gratification

Ability to forgo immediate small rewards to receive larger benefits later.

Marshmallow test

one marshmallow now or two in a few minutes

Identity vs. confusion

Adolescent (12-19) - Stable sense of who one is and what one's values are or identity confusion Identity - who am I? Where do I belong? Which social roles fit me?

Intimacy vs. isolation

Young adult (20s) - Establish enduring, committed relationships, Who do I trust with intimacy and love?

Generativity vs. stagnation

Middle adult (30s-50s) - Generativity - generate things that contribute to the future of society, Stagnation - see life as meaningless, How do I grow as a person?

Integrity vs. despair

Elders (60s+) , Ego integrity - feeling that one's life has coherence and purpose, Despair - disappointment, regret, Can I face death calmly?

Socioemotional selectivity theory

old age- smaller social network, very close relationships maintained, superficial relationships filtered out

Sensation

process by which sensory organs obtain information about the environment and transmit it to the brain

Perception

the organization of sensations into interpretations

Transduction

translation of physical energy into electrical signals

Bottom up processing

start with raw sensory data that gets communicated to the brain

Top down processing

start with observers expectations and knowledge

Absolute thresholds

Minimal amount of stimulation that can be detected half of the time