1st Midterm - PSYA01 - COMPLETE

Psychology

What is the modern definition of psychology?

Hub Science

Why is psychology categorized as a "hub science"?

Empiricism

Which philosophical school views the mind as a "blank slate" (tabula rasa) filled through sensory experience?

Nativism

What is the view that certain abilities and mental structures are innate or hardwired from birth?

Hermann von Helmholtz

Whose experiment measuring reaction times to thigh versus toe touches proved that neural conduction speed is physical and measurable?

Wilhelm Wundt

Who established the first psychology laboratory in Leipzig, Germany, in 1879, and pioneered mental chronometry?

Structuralism

Which early school of thought, led by Edward Titchener, attempted to break down consciousness into basic elements using introspection?

Gestalt Psychology

Which school of psychology argued that "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts"?

Functionalism

Which perspective, influenced by Darwin, focused on WHY mental processes operate as evolutionary adaptations?

Behaviourism

Which school of thought completely rejected unobservable mental processes to focus purely on observable actions?

Ulric Neisser

Who is recognized as a key figure in launching the Cognitive Revolution with his 1967 book?

Operationalization

What is the process of translating an abstract construct (like anxiety) into a concrete, measurable variable?

Case Study

Which descriptive method provides an in-depth examination of a single individual, like amnesic patient H.M.?

Third Variable Problem

Why can researchers never claim cause-and-effect from a correlational study?

Independent Variable

What is the variable that an experimenter manipulates or controls to test its causal effect?

Random Assignment

What experimental protocol ensures that participants have an equal chance of being placed in any group, eliminating confounding variables?

Double-Blind Procedure

What procedure prevents both participants and researchers from knowing who receives the treatment versus a placebo?

Validity

Which measurement quality evaluates whether a tool actually measures what it claims to measure, rather than just being consistent?

Standard Deviation

What descriptive statistic measures how much individual scores spread out around the mean?

Statistical Significance

What concept is indicated by a p-value of less than .05 in inferential statistics?

Genotype

What term refers to an individual's complete, underlying genetic profile and DNA sequence?

Sex-Linked Characteristics

Why are males more susceptible to X-linked recessive genetic conditions like hemophilia?

Heritability

What statistical measure estimates the proportion of trait variation across a population attributable to genetic differences?

Epigenetics

What field studies how environmental factors alter gene expression without changing the underlying DNA sequence?

DNA Methylation

Which epigenetic mechanism typically attaches a chemical group to DNA to silence or turn off gene expression?

Natural Selection

What mechanism proposed by Darwin favors organisms with adaptive traits that enhance survival and reproduction?

Fitness

In evolutionary biology, what term refers to an organism's relative ability to pass its genes to succeeding generations?

Kin Selection

Why do animals often risk their lives to protect genetic relatives, according to evolutionary theory?

Parental Investment Theory

According to Trivers's theory, which sex is generally more selective when choosing mates?

Monism

What philosophical viewpoint states that the mind is what the brain does, uniting mental and physical processes?

Resting Potential

What is the electrical charge of an inactive neuron at rest (approximately -70 mV)?

Threshold

What critical internal voltage (around -55 mV) must be reached to trigger an action potential?

All-or-None Principle

What principle states that a neuron either fires a full-strength action potential or does not fire at all?

Saltatory Conduction

How does myelination speed up neural transmission along an axon?

Neurotransmitters

What chemical messengers are released by axon terminals into the synaptic cleft?

Acetylcholine

Which neurotransmitter is crucial for muscle action and memory, and is notably deficient in Alzheimer's disease?

Dopamine

Which neurotransmitter regulates reward, motivation, and motor control, and is implicated in Parkinson's disease?

GABA

What is the primary inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain that calms neural activity?

Glutamate

What is the primary excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain essential for learning and memory?

Medulla

Which brainstem structure regulates vital life-support functions like heart rate and breathing?

Cerebellum

What structure attached to the rear of the brainstem coordinates balance, fine motor skills, and procedural timing?

Thalamus

What subcortical structure acts as the brain's primary sensory relay station?

Hypothalamus

Which structure regulates homeostasis, biological rhythms, endocrine function, and 4F behaviours?

Hippocampus

Which subcortical structure is essential for consolidating and forming new long-term memories?

Amygdala

What subcortical structure is critical for processing fear, threat detection, and emotional responses?

Sympathetic Nervous System

Which division of the autonomic nervous system triggers the "fight-or-flight" response?

Parasympathetic Nervous System

Which division of the autonomic nervous system promotes "rest-and-digest" and calms the body?

Operationalization

A researcher measures "aggression" by counting how many times a child hits a punching bag in 5 minutes. This procedure is an example of what?

Negative Correlation

A study finds a correlation of r = -0.85 between hours of video game play and high school GPA. What type of relationship does this represent?

Third Variable Problem

If ice cream sales and shark attacks are positively correlated, what issue explains why one does not cause the other?

Independent Variable

In an experiment testing whether caffeine improves memory, the amount of caffeine given to participants is classified as the what?

Double-Blind Procedure

To prevent both participant expectations (placebo effect) and experimenter bias, researchers implement a what?

Null Hypothesis

When a researcher calculates a p-value of .02, which hypothesis do they reject?

High Heritability

If monozygotic twins show a much higher concordance rate for a psychological trait than dizygotic twins, what does this indicate about the trait?

Epigenetics

Rat pups raised by nurturing mothers show calmer stress responses as adults because early care altered gene expression through what mechanism?

Sodium Ions

During an action potential, which positively charged ions rush into the neuron to cause depolarization?

Hippocampus

If a patient can recall childhood memories perfectly but cannot form any new long-term memories after surgery, which brain structure was damaged?

Amygdala

A patient who displays a complete lack of fear when confronted with dangerous stimuli likely has damage to which subcortical structure?

Cerebellum

A police officer asks a driver to walk a straight line and touch their nose during a sobriety check. Which brain structure is being evaluated?

Thalamus

Damage to which subcortical brain structure would most directly disrupt the relay of visual and auditory information to the cerebral cortex?