psychology exam 1

psychological science

the scientific study of mind and behavior

Wundt

structuralism: analyzes the mind by breaking it down into its basic components

James

Functionalism: studies how mental abilities allow people to adapt to their environments

Freud

clinical: therapeutic interventions for psychological disorders in medical settings ie. psychotherapy, psychiatry and clinical practice

empirical

based on astute observation and accurate measurement

evidence

the available body or facts or information indicating weather a belief or proposition is true or valid

WEIRD

Western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic backgrounds

evolutionary psychology

adaptive function of behavior from evolutionary perspective

cultural psychology

how culture shapes psychological processes

cognitive

mental precesses-perception, thought, learning, memory, language,creativity

emotional

how emotions influence decision making, behavior, and social relationships

biological-neuroscience perspective

biological bases of thought, action and behavior; hormones, neural activity, brain areas involved in behaviors and abilities; experience can influence biology

developmental

hoe people change in behavior, cognition, emotion, etc… over the lifespan

clinincal

causes and treatment of psychological disorders

positive psychology

based on studies of learned helplessness; studies factors that make people happy, help them healthy and help them manage stress

metacognition

an awareness and understanding of your own thought processes

empirical method

set of rules and techniques used for observation

theory

hypothetical explanation of a natural phenomena

hypothesis

falsifiable prediction made by a theory

Scientific method

choose question to answer, formulate a hypothesis, develop methods to test hypothesis, draw conclusion based on results

3 types of research methods

descriptive, correlational, and experimental

variable

something of interest that varies from person to person or situation to situation

descriptive research

a type of study in which researchers measure one variable at a time ie. surveys/self report, naturalistic observations, case studies

correlational research

nothing is manipulated, and examines association between 2 or more variables

direction of causation problem

cannot tell which variable is the cause and which is the effect

third variable problem

correlation may arise from both being influenced by some third variable

correlation does not equal

causation

experiment

manipulate one variable and assess effect

independent variable

what you manipulate

dependent variabel

what you measure

experimental group

who you treat

control group

placebo or comparison group

construct vlidity

how well a test or assessment measures what it claims to measure

external validity (descriptive)

how well do results generalize beyond the study sample

internal validity (experiments)

how ell does a study rule out alternative explanations for a relationship between 2 variables

effect size

assess how strongly variables are related

null hypothesis

the assumption that there is no relationship between the variables in the population

autonomic nervous system is what kind of movements

involuntary

what is included in the autonomic nervous system?

Sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system

sympathetic nervous system

fight or flight

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parasympathetic nervous system

returns body to resting state

somatic nervous system

control conscious movements-skeletal muscles

endocrine system

a network of glands that produces and releases hormones into the bloodstream to regulate the body’s activities

pituitary gland

master gland

adrenal gland

fight or flight

thyroid gland

metabolism

parathyroid gland

calcium levels

sex glands

ovaries and testis

what are the 4 lobes of the cerebral cortex

frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital

frontal lobe

complex thought, planning control of movement, map of the bodys muscles

parietal lobe

touch, spatial awareness, map of the body’s skin surface

temporal lobe

hearing, object memory

occipital lobe

vision

neocortex

outermost layer-folds and wrinkles; supports complex functioning

primary motor cortex

located in the frontal lobe and responsible for voluntary movements

primary somatosensory cortex

located in the parietal lobe and responsible for sense of touch

what is included in the limbic system?

hippocampus, amygdala, and hypothalamus

limbic system

group of forebrain structures involved in motivation, emotion, learning, and memory

hypothalamus

regulates body temperature, hunger, thirst, and sexual behavior; also a subcortical structure

hippocampus

critical for creating new memories and integrating them into a network of knowledge so they can be stored indefinitely in other parts of the cerebral cortex

amygdala

plays a central role in many emotional processes, particularly the formation of emotional memories

Basal ganglia

evolutionarily older subcortical motor system

thalamus

relay center for senses except for olfaction

brainstem

connects to spinal cord and responsible for basic life functions

what are the parts of the brainstem?

Pons, Medulla oblongata, reticular formation, and cerebellum

Pons

controls breathing and relays sensations to subcortex and cortex

medulla oblongata

controls autonomic functions

reticular formation

regulates sleep and arousal

cerebellum

supports a variety of functions including coordination, precision, balance, and accurate timing

executive functions

the cognitive processes that allow us to plan, focus attention, and organize multiple tasks to complete our goals.

corpus callosum

bridge of fibers that connects the 2 halves of the brain

brain networks

the collections of brain regions that are connected and work together to support brain functions

brain connectme project

an attempt to map all the neural connections in the brain

CAT/CT scan

combines a series of X-ray images

MRI

uses magnetic fields and radio waves to create images of the brain

DTI

variation of MRI; allows researchers to asses the size and direction of the connections between brain regions

neuropsychology

examining brain function through brain damage

lesion

an abnormal normal tissue resulting from disease, trauma, or surgical intervention

Dissociation

a spesfic brain area is involved in a particular function but not in others

EEG

the recording of electrical waves from many thousands of neurons

MEG

the recording of the magnetic fields produced by the brains electrical currents

ERP

a synchronized electrical response to an event

PET

radioactive glucose is tracked in the brain to asses areas of mental activity

fMRI

measures brain function by tracking oxygen in the blood flow through the brain

Deep Brain Stimulation

stimulating specific parts of the brain with implanted electrodes

Transcranial magnetic stimulation

short, high power electrical surge to the coil

transcranial direct current stimulation

low electrical current, several minutes

Glia

the cells that make up the myelin sheath around neurons

path of neuronal communication

dendrites, down the axon, to the terminals, synapse, and to the receiving dendrites

action potential

rapid change in voltage created by a neuron when its is unsuccessfully stimulated to the surpass a critical threshold

resting potential

neuron strongly negatively polarized

psychoactive drugs

influence activity of neurotransmitters

agonist

mimic action of a neurotransmitter

antagonist

block neurotransmission

allele

a variant form of a gene

epigenetics

interactions between your genes and the environment regulate gene expression

behavioral genetics

the study of how genetic factors influence trait variation between individuals

heritability

an indication of how much variation in phenotype across people is due to differences in genotype

neural plasticity

the brains capacity to physiologically modify, regenerate, and reinvent itself constantly over the course of a lifetime

neurogenesis

new brain cells are born in our brains over our lifespan