psych midterm

in my knowt era

psychology

the scientific study of behavior and mental processes

behavior

includes all our outward or overt actions and reactions, such as talking, facial expressions and movements. !!overt behavior!!

mental processes

refers to all the internal, covert activity of our minds, such as thinking, feeling, and remembering. !!covert behavior!!

description

the first goal of psychology. involves observing a behavior and noting everything about it. gives a starting point to ask "why?"

explanation

the second goal of psychology. a very important step in the process of forming theories of behavior.

theory

general explanation of a set of observations or facts

prediction

the third goal of psychology. determining what will happen in the future. using descriptions and explanations to support.

control

the fourth goal of psychology. the modification of some behavior. has been somewhat controversial in the past as some people consider it "brainwashing". the goal is to change a behavior from an undesirable one to a desirable one.

structuralism

a historical perspective of psychology. focuses on the structure of the mind. believed that every experience could be broken down into its individual emotions and sensations. concept of "introspection". built from Wundt's original ideas and associated with Titchener. died out in the early 1900s.

functionalism

a historical perspective of psychology. William James believed that trying to study consciousness was like trying to study the wind- constantly flowing in an ever-changing system. instead, he believed we should focus on how the mind allows people to function in the real world- how people work, play, and adapt to their surroundings. natural selection heavily influenced his theory. no longer a major perspective in modern psychology.

gestalt psychology

a historical perspective of psychology. thought that psychological events such as perceiving and sensing cold could not be broken down into smaller elements and still be properly understood. believes instead, that people naturally seek out patterns ("wholes") in the sensory information available to them. was the beginning of cognitive psychology. "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts". associated with Wertheimer.

psychoanalysis

a historical perspective of psychology. Sigmund Freud proposed that there is an unconscious mind in which we push, or repress all of our threatening urges and desires. he believed that the repressed urges, in trying to surface, created the nervous disorders in his patients. stresses the importance or early childhood experiences, believing that personality was formed in the first 6 years of life (psychosexual development). freud believed that there were three components to personality, the ID, the EGO and the SUPEREGO

behaviorism

a historical perspective of psychology. John B. Watson wanted to bring psychology back to a focus on scientific inquiry, and he felt the only way to do that was to ignore the whole "consciousness" issue and focus only on observable behavior. based on stimulus-response. believed that behaviour is learned.

psychodynamic

a modern modification of Freud's psychoanalytic approach. the focus is still on the unconscious mind and its influence over conscious behavor and on early childhood experiences, but with less emphasis on sex and sexual motivations and more emphasis on the development of sense of self and the discovery of other motivations behind a person's behavior.

perceiving the question

step 1 of the scientific method. you notice something interesting happening in your surroundings for which you would like to have an explanation.

forming a hypothesis

step 2 of the scientific method. based on your initial observations about what's going on in your surroundings, you form an educated guess about the explanation for your observations, putting it into the form of an "if, then" statement

testing the hypothesis

step 3 of the scientific method. depends on exactly what kind of answer you think you might get. e.g., you might make more detailed observations, do a survey, etc.

drawing conclusions

step 4 of the scientific method. once you know your results, you will find that either your hypothesis was supported or it wasn't

report your results

step 5 of the scientific method. at this point, you'd want to write up exactly what you did, why you did it, how you did it, and what you found, so that others can learn from what you have already accomplished or failed to accomplish. another reason for this step is so that others can replicate your experiment.

case study

in which one individual is studied in great detail. the researcher tries to learn everything they can about the individual. advantage: tremendous amount of detail. cons: can't really apply the results to other similar people. people are unique and have too many complicating factors in their lives to be that predictable

surveys

sometimes what psychologists want to know about is pretty personal. the only way to find out about very private behavior is to ask questions. can be conducted in many forms. reaches a large group of people easily. cons: have to be very careful about the group of people participating, that they're the right population. people aren't always going to give researchers accurate answers, whether on purpose or not.

naturalistic observation

the best way to look at the behavior of animals or people is to watch them behave in their normal environment. cons: observer effect- the tendency of people or animals to behave differently from normal when they know they're being observed. participant observation- in which the observer becomes a participant in the group being observed.

correlational research

measure of the relationship between two or more variables. e.g., looking at the two variables, smoking and life expectancy. once the researchers have gone through records, they go through a statistical procedure to develop a correlation coefficient. allows psychologists to make predictions, but correlation does not prove causation.

variables

anything that can change or vary- scores on a test, temperature in a room, etc.

wilhelm wundt

established the first psychology laboratory in leipzig, germany in 1879. believed consciousness could be broken down into thoughts, experiences, emotions, and other basic elements. developed objective introspection: the process of objectively examining and measuring one's own thoughts and mental activities. known as the father of psychology

observer bias

the tendency of observers to see what they expect to see.

edward titchener

wundt's student; brought structuralism to america. structuralism focused on structure of the mind; experiences could be broken down into emotions and sensations. it died out in the early 1900s.

william james

founder of functionalism; studied how the mind allows people to adapt, live, work and play. wrote principles of psychology.

wertheimer

founded gestalt psychology, studied sensation and perception

sigmund freud

founded psychoanalysis, proposed concept of unconscious mind into which we push- or repress- our threatening urges and desires. believed repressed urges created nervous disorders. stressed the importance of early childhood experiences.

john b. watson

founded behaviorism. focused on observable behaviour that could be seen or measured only. based on pavlov's work, who demonstrated that a behaviour could be conditioned or learned. conducted the "little albert" experiment; baby taught to fear a white rat.

behavioral perspective

a modern perspective of psychology. explains how voluntary behavior is learned. introduces concept of reinforcement. became a major force in the twentieth century. B.F. skinner developed theory of operant conditioning.

humanistic perspective

a modern perspective of psychology. "third force" in psychology; reaction to both psychoanalytic theory and behaviorism. believed that people have free will: the freedom to choose their own destiny. self actualization: achieving one's full potential or actual self. early founders: abraham maslow and carl rogers

cognitive perspective

a modern perspective in psychology that focuses on memory, intelligence, perception, problem solving, language, and learning.

sociocultural perspective

a modern perspective of psychology that focuses on the relationship between social behaviour and culture, combining two areas of study. study of groups, social roles, and rules of social actions and relationships. study of cultural norms, values, and expectations. includes cross-cultural research.

biopsychological perspective

a modern perspective of psychology that attributes human and animal behavior to biological events occurring in the body, such as genetic influences, hormones, and the activity of the nervous system

evolutionary perspective

a modern perspective of psychology that focuses on the biological bases of universal mental characteristics that all humans share. looks at how mind works and why it works as it does. behavior seen as having an adaptive or survival value.

scientific approach

system of gathering data so that bias and error in measurement are reduced

observer effect

tendency of people or animals to behave differently from normal when they know they are being observed. can be avoided if the observer remains out of view (pretending to read a book, wearing glasses, using a one-way mirror, becoming a participant in the group)

laboratory observation

watching animals or humans behave in a laboratory setting. advantages: control over environment, allows use of specialized equipment. disadvantages: artificial situation may result in artificial behavior

correlation coefficient

a number that represents the strength and direction of a relationship existing between two variables; number derived from the formula for measuring a correlation. measured between +1.00 and -1.00. the closer to +1.00 or -1.00 the coefficient is, the stronger the correlation is.

positive correlation

variables are related in the same direction. as one increases, the other also increases. as one decreases, the other also decreases.

negative correlation

variables are related in opposite direction. as one increases, the other decreases.

scatterplot

a graphed cluster of dots, each of which represents the values of two variables. used to map correlation of two variables.

experiment

a deliberate manipulation of a variable to see if corresponding changes in behavior result, allowing the determination of cause-and-effect relationships

independent variable

variable in an experiment that is manipulated by the experimenter

dependent variable

variable in an experiment that represents the measurable response or behavior of the subjects in the experiment

confounding variable

any variable that you're not investigating that can potentially affect variables in your experiment

control group

subjects in an experiment who are not subjected to the independent variable and who may receive a placebo treatment (controls for confounding variables).

experimental group

subjects in an experiment who are subjected to the independent variable

random assignment

process of assigning subjects to experimental or control groups randomly, so that each subject has an equal chance of being in either group. controls for confounding variables

placebo effect

the phenomenon in which the expectations of the participants in a study can influence their behavior

experimenter effect

tendency of experimenter's expectations for a study to unintentionally influence results of the study

single blind study

study in which the subjects do not know if they are in the experimental or the control group. reduces placebo effect

double blind study

study in which neither the experimenter nor the subjects know which subjects are in the experimental or control group. reduces placebo effect and experimenter effect.

courtesy bias

a tendency to give "polite" or socially desirable answers, skewing the results of a survey

deception

in psychological experiments, this must be justified. in some cases, it is necessary to do this because the study wouldn't work any other way. the participants have to be told after the study exactly why this was important. this is called debriefing.

population

the entire group of people or animals in which the researcher is interested

sample

group of subjects selected from a larger population of subjects, usually selected randomly

representative sample

randomly selected sample of participants from a larger population of participants. allows researchers to use a certain representative number of the population and receive a result that a broad selection of the population would typically give.

statistical significance

referring to differences in data sets that are larger than chance variation would predict

critical thinking

thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions. rather, it examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions.

nervous system

a network of cells that carries information to and from all parts of the body

neuroscience

a branch of the life sciences that deals with the structure and functioning of the brain and the neurons, nerves and nervous tissue that form the nervous system

biological psychology

branch of neuroscience that focuses on the biological bases of psychological processes, behavior and learning

neuron

the basic cell that makes up the nervous system and receives and sends messages within that system

dendrites

branch-like structures that receive messages from other neurons

soma

the cell body of the neuron, responsible for maintaining the life of the cell

axon

long, tube-like structure that carries the neural message to other cells

axon terminals

rounded areas at the end of the branches at the end of the axon. responsible for communicating with other nerve cells

glial cells

provide support for neurons to grow on and around. deliver nutrients to neurons. produce myelin to coat axons

myelin

fatty substances produced by certain glial cells that coat the axons of neurons to insulate, protect, and speed up the neural impulse. can also clean up waste products and dead neurons.

ions

charged particles. negatively charged inside the cell and positively charged outside the cell.

resting potential

the state of the neuron when not firing a neural impulse.

action potential

the release of the neural impulse consisting of a reversal of the electrical charge within the axon. allows positive sodium ions to enter the cell.

all-or-none

a neuron either fires completely or does not fire at all

threshold

the level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse

synaptic vesicles

sac-like structures found inside the axon terminal containing chemicals

neurotransmitter

chemical found in synaptic vesicles which, when released, has an effect on the next cell

synapse

microscopic fluid-filled space between the rounded areas on the end of the axon terminals of one cell and the dendrites or surface of the next cell

receptor sites

three-dimensional proteins on the surface of dendrites or certain cells of the muscles and glands, which are shaped to fit only certain neurotransmitters

excitatory synapse

neurotransmitter that causes the receiving cell to fire

inhibitory synapse

neurotransmitter that causes the receiving cell to stop firing

medulla

part of the hindbrain. first large swelling at the top of the spinal cord, forming the lowest part of the brain. responsible for life-sustaining functions such as breathing, swallowing, and heart rate

pons

part of the hindbrain. larger swelling above the medulla that connects the top of the brain to the bottom. plays a part in sleep, dreaming, left-right body coordination, and arousal.

reticular formation

part of the hindbrain. area of neurons running through the middle of the medulla and the pons and slightly beyond. responsible for selective attention.

cerebellum

part of the hindbrain — lower brain located behind the pons. controls and coordinates involuntary, rapid, fine-motor movement.

limbic system

a group of several brain structures located under the cortex and involved in learning, emotion, memory, and motivation

thalamus

part of the limbic system located in the center of the brain. relays sensory information from the lower part of the brain to the proper areas of the cortex. processes some sensory information before sending it to its proper area.

hypothalamus

part of the limbic system. small structure in the brain located below the thalamus and directly above the pituitary gland. responsible for motivational behavior such as sleep, hunger, thirst, and sex. also controls a lot of the endocrine system.

cingulate cortex

the limbic structure actually found in the cortex. plays important roles in cognitive and emotional processing.

hippocampus

part of the limbic system. curved structure located within each temporal lobe. responsible for the formation of long-term declarative memories.

amygdala

part of the limbic system. brain structure located near the hippocampus. responsible for fear responses and memory of fear.

cortex

outermost covering of the brain consisting of densely packed neurons. responsible for higher thought processes and interpretation of sensory input.

corticalization

wrinkling of the cortex. allows a much larger area of cortical cells to exist in the small space inside of the skull.

subcortex

a term referring to all brain structures below the cerebral cortex

cerebral hemispheres

the two sections of the cortex on the left and right sides of the brain

corpus callosum

thick band of neurons that connects the right and left cerebral hemispheres

occipital lobe

section of the brain located at the rear and bottom of each cerebral hemisphere containing the visual centers of the brain

parietal lobes

sections of the brain located at the top and back of each cerebral hemisphere containing the centers for touch, taste, and temperature sensations