Psych100 exam 1

biological

how the physical body affects psychology

psychodynamic

internal forces within the mind - sigmund freud

behaviorism

how the environment affects psychology - skinner & watson

cognitive

internal mental processes and capabilities - chomsky & neisser

humanism

human growth and potential - rogers & maslow

sociocultural

how social and cultural factors influence us

educational psychologist

research ways to improve the educational systems

developmental psychologist

how we grow and change throughout the lifespan (research from pre-birth to death)

industrial/organizational psychologist

behavior in the workplace, effective business practices (studying leadership, motivation, choosing the right employee... anything to do with business)

psychometric psychologists

design and evaluate tests (interest, personality, IQ)

school psychologist

works with parents, teachers, students to solve problems (specifically to the student such as a learning disability)

clinical psychologist

focus on understanding and treating emotional problems, abnormal or dysfunctional behavior (talk therapist - diagnose and treat)

counseling psychologist

focus on helping people with adjustment problems and helping people make career choices (talk therapist working with less severe ill than a clinical psychologist)

theory

explanation of something (why?/how?)

hypothesis

a prediction based on a theory

what does it mean to operationally define a variable?

how what was is in a question will be measured

case study

a detailed amount of an individual being studied - only one person, limited in scope

observational studies

naturalistic and laboratory observation

naturalistic observation

observing in a natural setting

laboratory observation

observing in a lab

formal tests/assessmets

standardized and norms

standardized

uniform procedures for giving and scoring the tests

norms

established standards of high/low scores

surveys (self-report)

asking people to report on their behaviors/attitudes

correlation (a descriptive method)

looks for a consistent relationship between two things

correlation coefficient

a number that describes the strength and direction of a relationship between two variables

positive correlation

when the variables move in the same direction

negative correlation

when the variables move in opposite directions

experiment

the researcher manipulates one variable to study its effect on another variable

independent variable (IV)

the variable that is controlled or manipulated

dependent variable (DV)

the variable that is benign measured (to see what effect the IV has had)

chromosomes

threadlike structure that carry our genes

genes

basic units of heredity; contain coded instructions (DNA) to carry out genetic characteristics

DNA

complex molecules that contain the coded instruction

alleles

one of several types of a gene

genotype

an individual's profile of alleles

phenotype

observable characteristic in the individual

monozygotic twins

formed from one egg and one sperm that splits (genetically indentical)

dizygotic twins

formed by two separate eggs and sperm (genetically like sibling)

heritability

statistical measure of how much genes explain the observed variance in people for that specific trait

central nervous system (CNS)

the brain and spinal cord

peripheral nervous system

nerves that connect the CNS to the rest of the body

somatic NS

nerves under conscious control (motor movements, sense receptors)

automatic NS

controls involuntary actions (heart, glands, digestion)

sympathetic NS

activates internal organs during times of stress and arousal (activates the fight or flight response)

parasympathetic NS

reverses the effects of the sympathetic NS (returns body back to normal)

sensation

information coming in to your brain

perception

organizing and interpreting the information

absolute threshold

the smallest magnitude of a stimulus that can be detected (the weakest detectable stimulus)

difference threshold

the smallest detectable difference between two stimuli

weber's law

the difference threshold between two things depends on the strength of the original stimulus (the stronger the original stimulus, the bigger the changes must be in order for them to be noticed, yet changes in a weak stimuli are very noticeable)

sensory adaption

the perceived weakening of a sensation due to prolonged exposure of the stimulus

cornea

protective coating on the surface of the eye

iris

the colored part of the eye that regulates the amount of light that enters

pupil

the opening of the iris (the black part)

lens

the transparent portion of the eye that focuses light onto the retina

retina

images fall here, sensory receptor cells are here

trichomatic theory

the first level of color processing

the opponent-process theory

second level of color processing

the 4 gestalt principles of perceptual organization

proximity, closure, similarity, continuation

proximity

things that are close together are grouped together in the mind as if they belong together

closure

incomplete figures tend to be seen as complete because our brain fills in missing information

similarity

similar things are seen as being related

continuation

images are seen in ways that produce smooth continuation

visual/perception consistency

the perception of objects remain unchanged, even when the sensation of the object is changing

brightness constancy

we understand the brightness of an object does not change even when the object is dimly lit

color constancy

we understand that colors do not change despite different conditions of light

size constancy

size does not change

shape constancy

shape does not change

monocular cues

cues in the environment that suggest depth and can be seen by only one eye

linear perspective

parallel lines appear to come together as they go off into the distance (railroad tracks)

binocular cues

uses both eyes

convergence

eyes ange inward as an object gets closer to us

retinal disparity

because each retina is a few inches apart, they have slightly different images and this helps with depth perception