PSYCH 10 Midterm Practice

Combination of all Psych 10 sets from 1-5.

What is psychology?

The scientific study of mind and behavior

Structuralism:

Broke down mental process into basic elements

Used introspection techniques to observe and report mental states and processes

how the mind was structured

What is psychology?

The scientific study of mind and behavior

Structuralism:

Broke down mental process into basic elements

Used introspection techniques to observe and report mental states and processes

how the mind was structured

structuralism limitations:

experience is subjective

difficult to access subconscious aspects of cognition

Introspection:

Examining their own mental and emotional processes

associated with structuralism

Structuralism key member(s):

Wihelm Wundt

Edward Titchener

Functionalism:

Study of the purpose and functions of behaviors and mental processes

Influenced by Darwin’s theory of evolution

What the mind does

What was Functionalism influenced by?

Darwin’s theory of Evolution

Functionalism key member(s):

William James

Behaviorialism:

Focused on studying only observable behavior

rejected introspection

Behavioralism key member(s):

John B. Watson

Ivan Pavlov

B.F. Skinner

Cognitive Psychology:

Mental processes play just as big of a role in human psychology as observable behaviors

contradicted behavioralism

What did Cognitive psychology reject?

Behavioralism

What did behavioralism reject?

Introspection

Cross-cultural psychology:

Thought that culture impacts individuals’ behavior and mental processes

Differences and similarities in different ethnic groups

example: Taiwanese and American participants

Psychoanalytic theory:

Explained how behavior and personality are influenced by unconscious processes

Psychoanalytic theory key member(s):

Sigmund Freud

What theory would the iceberg analogy best be associated with?

Psychoanalytic theory

Who was Phineas Gage

Suffered severe damage to the brain

The rod crossed through his frontal lobe

important case occurred in 1848

Strong evidence for the localization of brain functions

Earliest record case of the brain affecting personality

Which one of Phineas’s lobes did the rod cross through?

Frontal lobe

When did the Phineas Gage event take place?

1848

What does localization mean?

That specific areas of the brain are responsible for certain functions

What is behavior?

Observable actions

What are mental processes?

Experiences, perceptions, emotions, and thoughts

Hindsight bias

When you find out the answer and feel you knew the answer before it was revealed.

“knew it all along” affect

What makes a good theory?

Falsifiable

When findings support the hypothesis, confidence in theory grows

What happens to a theory when findings support the hypothesis?

Confidence in the theory grows

What makes a good hypothesis?

It’s specific and testable

How can we make a hypothesis more testable?

Operationalizing

What is operationalizing?

Using specific details in your variables such as using units

HOW will you measure your variables?

This does NOT mean to convert units that already exist!

Steps in scientific investigation

1. formulate a testable hypothesis

2. select the research method and design the study

   -experimental verses correlational

3. collect data

4. analyze the data and draw conclusions

5. report the findings

Correlation method

Measures how closely 2 factors vary

How well you can predict a change in one factor from observing a change in another factor

Ranges from -1 to 1

What happens to the variables in positive correlations?

They either increase together or decrease together

What happens to the variables in negative correlations?

One variable decreases while the other increases

What happens to the variables in zero correlations?

The variables are not predictably related to each other.

Limitation of correlation

Correlation cannot infer causation

Why can’t correlation infer causation?

There are issues with directionality and potential third variables

What are the benefits of correlational studies?

They are usually more ethical

You can establish relationships by making predictions

—Can inspire experiments

What is Alburt Bandura’s social learning theory?

People learn from another through observation, imitation, and modeling.

ie, aggression

Experimental method:

The investigator manipulates a variable under carefully controlled conditions and observes whether any changes occur in the second variable as a result

Independent variable:

The factor that is manipulated

Dependent variable

The factor that is measured and is expected to change as the independent variable changes.

Confounding variables:

An outside variable not taken into account that causes a result and interferes with causation.

What is a third variable

A third variable is a variable not considered in a correlational design that could interfere with the outcome or second variable.

Control group:

A sample that remains unaffected throughout the experiment to compare with the experimental group’s results.

Is compared against the dependent variables

Placebo Effect:

People’s expectations influence or determine their experiences in a given situation due to “special treatment”.

Population:

Everyone in the group that the experiment or is interested in.

Sample:

A subset of a population

Random assignment:

Assigns participants randomly to experimental conditions

Why do we do random assignment?

It increases the likelihood that characteristics will be equally distributed across the groups.

Convenience sampling:

The sample consists of people who are conveniently available for a study

Drawbacks of experimental designs:

May be impractical or unethical to address certain research questions

—like drinking’s affect on driving

highly controlled lab settings make it hard to generalize findings to real world situations

—Such affect from highly controlled setting might not happen in real life under different conditions

Benefits of experimental designs:

IT CAN INFER CAUSATION

Demand characteristics:

Participants form an interpretation of the experiment's purpose and unconsciously change their behavior to fit that interpretation.

Experimenter Bias:

The experimenter’s expectations influence the outcome of the study

—They might “see” what they want to “see”

Quasi-Experimental Design

Similar to experimental research but there are no random assignments to conditions

IV exists, but there is no direct manipulation

What’s the difference between Quasi-Experimental designs and Experimental Designs?

There are no random assignments to conditions, it relies on group membership.

ie, the Taiwanese vs. American example

What research method is the best (or most commonly used)?

Converging operations

Converging Operations:

A strategy where a variety of research techniques are used to investigate or converge upon a particular research result

What are the three main divisions of the Brain?

Forebrain, Midbrain, and Hindbrain

What are the main components of the midbrain?

Tectum and tegmentum

What is the Tectum responsible for?

Auditory and visual reflexes (stimuli)

What is the tegmentum responsible for?

Multisynaptic network of neurons involved in many unconscious homeostatic reflex pathways.

What are the main components of the hindbrain?

The cerebellum, Medulla, Reticular Formation, and Pons

What is the cerebellem responsible for?

Find motor skills

What is the medulla responsible for?

Coordinating heart rate, circulation, and respiration

What is the reticular formation responsible for?

Regulating sleep, wakefulness, and arousal

What are the pons responsible for?

Relaying information from the cerebellum to the rest of the brain.

What are the main components of the forebrain?

Hypothalamus, amygdala, hippocampus, and thalamus

What is the hypothalamus responsible for?

regulating the four Fs, fighting fleeting, feeding, and mating

What is the amygdala responsible for?

Emotional processing

What is the hippocampus responsible for?

Creating and integrating new memories

What is the thalamus responsible for?

Relaying sensory and motor skills

Who is patient H.M.

He had too many seizures so doctors removed parts of his brain, including the hippocampus. As a result, he couldn’t form new memories but remembered the old ones.

What are the two types of amnesia?

Retrograde and anterograde

Anterograde Amnesia

The incapacity to form new memories

Retrograde Amnesia

The incapacity to remember the old memories before the onset of amnesia

What are the four lobes of the brain?

Temporal, occipital, parietal, and frontal

Where is the temporal lobe located?

Near the ears

Where is the frontal lobe located?

In the front

Where is the occipital lobe located?

In the back

Where is the parietal lobe located?

On the top between occipital and frontal lobe

What is the frontal lobe mainly responsible for?

Motor control, problem-solving, and speech production

What is the temporal lobe mainly responsible for?

Processing auditory information and language comprehension

What is the parietal lobe mainly responsible for?

Touch and perception

What is Broca’s Aphasia?

It’s involved in speech production, and damage to it disrupts speech but leaves speech comprehension in tact.

What causes Broca’s aphasia?

Strokes, brain tumors, injuries to the brain, and brain infections

What is Wernicke’s aphasia?

It’s involved in speech comprehension and with it, speech is fluent, but speech comprehension is impaired.

What causes Wernicke’s aphasia?

Head trauma, tumors, infections, and neurological disorders

What side of the brain does the right hemisphere control?

The left side

What side of the brain does the left hemisphere control?

The right side

What is contralateral organization?

Where the left side of the brain controls the right side and vise versa.

The two hemispheres are connected through what?

The corpus callosum

What happens if the corpus callosum is severed?

The two hemispheres work independently

What do you call patients with severed corpus callosums?

Split brain patients

On the left side there is a coat, on the right side there is a cake, what would happen if you asked the split-brained patient what they see?

They would say cake

On the left side there is a coat, on the right side there is a cake, what would happen if you asked the split-brained patient to draw with their LEFT hand?

They would draw the coat

On the left side there is a coat, on the right side there is a cake, what would happen if you asked the split-brained patient to draw with their RIGHT hand?

They would draw the cake

Wernicke’s area is located on what side of the brain?

The left side

Broca’s area is located on what side of the brain?

The left side