CLEP Introductory Psychology

Psychology

the word comes from the greek word for “the study of the soul”

the science of behavior and mental processes

Structuralism

(William Wundt and Edward Titchner) first school of thought which broke down mental processes into basic components by asking patients to reflect on how they felt about things (but this is very subjective so this is an unreliable school of thought since it relied on introspection)

Functionalism

(William James) focused on what the function of mental processes are or the WHY

Psychoanalysis

(Freud) the idea that our personalities are shaped by our unconscious motives and that we can come to understand our subconscious

• Free associate: letting people talk freely usually helps them heal their inner traumas, developed by Freud

• Psychodynamic theories: focused on how early experiences shape the unconscious and how that affects our thoughts, behaviors, and personalities

Behavioralism

 focused on observable behavior (popularized by B.F. Skinner and Pavlov)

Hindsight Bias

“I knew it all along” affect where we are better at describing what just happened than what will happen later

Scientific Method

Question and theory, hypothesis, test with a replicable experiment (terms are defined)

Case Study

studies unique cases and individuals (can be good to study something specific but no so good to make generalizations)

Naturalistic Observation

when scientists simply observe people or animals in their natural environment (good at describing behavior but not very good at explaining it) 

Sampling Bias

non random, worded harshly

Random Sample

ensures that the study is representative of the population

CORRELATION…

DOES NOT EQUAL CAUSATION (they can predict a possibility but NEVER prove it)

Independent Variable

 the factor that is changed

Dependent Variable

the result

Experimental Group

the group that is messed with

Control Group

 the group that doesn't get messed with

Placebo

usually a sugar pill that has no effect on the person to test whether expectations will cause results

Blind Procedure

when the people being experimented on don't know if they are in the control group or the experimental group

Double Blind Procedure

 when neither the experimenters or experimentees know what group the exterminetees are in (this prevents giving the answer away through facial expressions)

Informed Consent

informing the people you are experimenting on what you are going to do to them 

Nervous System

Neurons: our nervous systems are comprised of these and they can communicate with each other

• Cell body: contains all the organelles needed

• Dendrite: bushy and branch like; receive messages from other cells, activates the cell body’s action potential 

• Axon: long cable like extension that sends electrical signals from the cell body to other neurons (sometimes this contains fatty tissue around it called the Myelin Sheath which is like an insulated electrical wire that speeds up transmission) ex) Multiple Sclerosis is caused by the degradation of these sheath in the brain and the spinal cords

• Synapsis: contact points between neurons, they do not touch (they are less than 1 millionth of an inch apart called the synaptic gap)

Neurotransmitters

the chemical messengers between neurons that take a message from the axon of one neuron to the receiving part of the next neuron BUT they don't stay there and get reabsorbed by the axon that released them in the first place called reuptake

• Excitatory: rev neurons up

• Endorphins: linked to pleasure and pain control

• Noerepinephrin: controls arousal and alertness

• Glutamate: memory but too much can cause migraines

• Inhibitory: chill neurons out

• GABA: major inhibitory neurotransmitter

• Serotonin: affects mood, hunger, and sleep (low amounts lead to depression)

• Acts as both: some can do both exciting and inhibit

• Acetylcholine: muscle action, learning, and memory (low in Alzheimer's patients)

• Dopamine: movement, learning, attention, and pleasurable emotions (excessive amounts of it are linked to Schizochronia and low amount lead to Parkinsons)

Endocrine System

The body's slow communication system run by hormones secreted by a set of glands into the bloodstream (hormones act on the brain and other tissues BUT the signals linger longer than the nervous system

Glands: secrete these hormones into the bloodstream

• Pituitary gland (the most important): secretes a growth hormone and oxytocin ALSO its secretions boss around the other glands but is controlled by the hypothalamus

• Adrenal Glands: secrete adrenaline

• Pancreas: controls insulin and glucagon to control how your body takes in sugar

• Thyroid and parathyroid glands: control metabolism and monitor calcium levels

• Testes: secrete male smex hormones

• Ovaries: secrete female smex hormones

Phrenology

the study of the shape of the human skull as the supposed indication of mental abilities (this is not true) popularized by Franz Joseph Gall

Central Nervous System

 the bodies command center

Peripheral Nervous System

gathers data from motor and sensory neurons and relays information back to the central nervous system

Phineas Gage

had a rod go through his cheek through his head, he acted the same but he was very mean and short tempered now,

False Statement about brains

“we only use around 10% of our brain” is completely wrong and even talking and walking causes most of the parts of our brain to light up

Make Up of Brain

Cerebrum: is made of two hemispheres that are linked together by the corpus callosum, which are the left (language) and right brain (creative), it's a myth that people are right and left brained, we use both sides of the brain actively

Cerebral Cortex: the outer part of both of these hemispheres and contain billions of neurons along with Glial cells which provide support for neurons, made up of four lobes, separated by fissures

• Frontal Lobe: speaking, planning, judging, abstract thinking, and personality aspects, at the back of this is the motor cortex, which controls voluntary movements and the somatomotor cortex processes incoming sensations

• Parietal lobe: middle, sense of touch and body position

• Occipital lobe: back of the head, information related to sight

• Temporal lobe: just above the ears and controls sound and speech

• Association Areas: in all four parts, that interprets the meaning of information through sensory and motor information

Remember that the right hemisphere processes info from the left side of body and vice versa

Parts of the Brain:

Old Brain:

• Brain Stem: the most ancient part of the brain that connects the brain to the spinal cord

• Medulla: above the brainstem, automatically controls heartbeat and breathing

• Pons: above the medulla, helps control movement

• Thalamus: takes in sensory information like touching, tasting, hearing, and seeing

• Reticular Formation: finger shaped inside the brain stem and controls arousal

• Cerebellum: swells from the bottom of the brainstem and responsible for non verbal learning, memory, the perception of time, and voluntary movement (gets impaired easily under the influence of alcohol)

Limbic System

located on top of the old brain system

• Amygdala: (shaped like two lima beans) memory consolidation and also controls fear and aggression

• Hypothalamus: regulates body temperature, circadian rhythm, hunger, and helps regulate the endocrine system (also linked to pleasure and reward feelings)

• Hippocampus: linked to memory and learning (if its damaged it will make the person forget facts and make it harder to remember and learn things)

Sensation

Our senses receive and rely outside information

Perception

 How our brains organize this information and put it into context

Absolute Threshold of Sensation

the minimum stimulation needed to register a stimulus fifty percent of the time

Signal Detection Theory

a model for predicting when a person is going to detect weak stimuli based off of context like them expecting it

Sensory Adaptation

 when you get used to a stimuli, you get used to it and might not feel it anymore

Difference Threshold

 the minimum amount of change in a stimulus that you can tell the difference between them

• Weber's Law: law that states that we perceive differences on a logarithmic scale and not a linear one, it's not the amount of change, but the PERCENT of change that matters / constant proportion

Sight

 light travels in waves (short wavelengths=high frequency and long wavelengths=short frequency) their frequency determines the color and the amplitude determines the brightness

After the light goes into the cornea and pupil, it hits a disc behind the pupil called the lens, which focuses the light waves into specific images to go to the retina which contain the receptors to sense visual information

Retina Receptors

Rods: detect light in a gray scale like in the dark, less detailed

Cones: detect fine detail and color located near fovia

When stimulated these receptors trigger chemical changes that activate the cells behind them called bipolar cells which turn on ganglion cells which rope together to form the optic nerve which carried impulses from the eyeball to the brain (specifically through the thalamus to the optical cortex which has feature detectors that can pick up shape, angles and movement)

Parallel Processing

 the brains process of processing information at the same time like color, motion, form, and depth

Young Hemholz-Trichromatic Theory

theory that the retina contains 3 specific cones that detect red green and blue that when combined, let the eye register any color

Colorblindness

The awareness of ourselves and our environment

States of Consciousness

there are multiple throughout the day like sleeping and being awake or some are drug induced or striked by hypnosis or meditation

Cognitive Neuroscience

the study of how brain activity is linked to our mental processes

Structural Imaging

shows the brain's anatomy to find tumors or injuries

Functional Imaging

 observes electrical activity in the brain to see the correlation between mental functions and particular brain areas

EEG

machine that measures the brain's electrical activity

Dual Processing

information is simultaneously processed on separate conscious and unconscious tracks (automatic vs logical)

Selective Attention

 focus of awareness on one stimuli, tuning out the rest

Cocktail Party Effect

selective attention but shifting attention once you hear a cue like your name

Selective Inattention

ignoring stimuli to pay attention to others

Inattentional Blindness

an individual failing to perceive something obvious because they are focused on a stimuli

Change Blindness

 fails to notice changes in our environment 

Sleep

an almost complete loss of consciousness which is reversible; nobody really knows entirely why we need to sleep, the benefits include:

• Recuperation: while we sleep, our neurons and cells rest and repair themselves 

• Growth: when we sleep our pituitary gland releases growth hormones

• Mental Function: helps us process information from our day

4 Stages of Sleep

 these go back and forth every 90 minutes or so

• NREM1: you may experience hypnagogic sensations like falling

• NREM2: experiencing bursts of rapid brain activity called sleep spindles

• NREM3: slow rolling delta waves

• REM: rapid eye movement, vivid dreams occur here, (the motor cortex is freaking out, but the brain stem blocks this which leaves you paralyzed)

Sleep Deprivation

can cause immune system suppression and lack of reaction time 

Insomnia

a consistent problem sleeping or staying asleep

Narcolepsy

uncontrollable sleep attacks (may come from a lack of hypocretin, a neurotransmitter which keeps you awake)

Sleep Apnea

a sleep disorder which causes the sleeper to stop breathing while sleeping

REM Sleep Behavior Disorder

dopamine deficiency which causes the person to actually act out dreams

Night Terror

increased heart rate and breathing rates which are caused by being under 7, unfamiliar location, or stress

Nightmares

occur during REM sleep

Onierology

 the study of dreams

Information Processing Theory

dreams are our way to process information that we received throughout the day and fix them into our memories

Physiological Function Theory

dreaming may promote neural development and preserve neural pathways by providing the brain with stimulation

Wish Fulfillment

Sigmind Freud's theory that dreams are signs of the unconsciousness

Cognitive Development Dreams

they pull from what we know from the world and light up parts of our brain

Learning

 through experience, gaining enduring memory or behaviors

Classical conditioning

the theory that association between two things can help animals better adapt to their environment to survive and can show how learning can be shown through observable outcomes

Neutral Stimulus

things that normally wouldn't make you react

Unconditioned Stimuli

something that automatically elicited a reaction like food to drooling

Conditioned Stimulus

when the neutral stimulus becomes associated with the wanted response

Associate learning

a subject links certain stimuli together in the process of conditioning through acquisition

Little Albert experiment

conditioned a toddler to be afraid of a little white rat through paring it with loud sounds

Operant Conditioning

associating our own behavior with consequences or rewards (behavior increases with reward and decreases with punishment) popularized by B.F. Skinner 

Shaping

where the researchers slowly guide behavior towards the desired outcome since most things that they do dont come naturally through successive approximations

Positive Reinforcement

a behavior that is increased after presented with a reward

Negative Reinforcement

when removed after a response, increases the response (like buckling your seatbelt to make the beeping go away) NOT THE SAME AS PUNISHMENT

Primary Reinforcers

behaviors that satisfy a biological need

Conditioned Reinforcer

learned through association with primary reinforcement (like paycheck=food)

Reinforcement Schedules

constantly reinforcing the behavior

Extinction

when the association between two stimuli dwindles when the reinforcement isn't given anymore

Partial (Intermittent) Reinforcement

reinforcing only part of the time which takes longer to complete but holds up better in the long run

Cognition

our thoughts, expectations, and perspectives

Concepts

mental grouping of similar objects, people, ideas, or events

Prototype

mental image of a certain thing

Trial and Error

trying until you figure something out

Algorithms

 logical and methodological steps for problem solving, may be slow to work through

Heuristics

mental shortcuts that help us solve problems faster but may be prone to error

Insight

suddenly getting an idea for something

Confirmation Bias

the tendency to favor evidence that supports our ideas and ignore evidence that disproves our ideas 

Belief Perseverance

the tendency to cling to your initial ideas even when presented with evidence supporting the contrary, approaching everything with the same mental fix

Mental Availability Heuristic

the tendency to believe that something is more likely to happen if you can imagine more examples of it in your mind

Framing

how an issue is posed or presented which can change your view of it

Developmental Psychology

how our cognitive, social, physical and emotional changes over our entire lives

Maturation

biological growth processes unrelated to experiences

Jean Piaget

 theorized that humans go through different stages of cognitive and psychological development as they age

Shemas

mental frameworks that help organize information

Cognitive Equilibrium

the harmony between our thoughts and environment

Assimilation

when we experience something new, we interpret in the context of our existing schemas