Psychology 101 Midterm 1

Functionalism

William James, functions of mental activity, role of behavior allowing people to adapt to their environment.

Demo: Dr.Hinitz taking students things

Submitting to a higher authority in which personal items were given, despite not knowing who he was and his intentions.

Bystander Effect

Not doing anything in a situation, frozen with no sign of giving aid. Refer to Latane and Darley.

Victor Frankl

Founded logotherapy

Define psychology

the study of behavior and mental processes

Evolutionary Psychology

Roots behind behavior, change and growth and adapting to an environment.

Difference between psychologist and psychiatrist/medical doctor

psychologist treats via psychotherapy, medical doctor diagnoses and treats via meds

Structuralism

Wundt, fundamentals of consciousness, thought and mental states.

Gestalt

Seeing things as a whole instead of the small things

Determinism/Free Will

Free will- autonomy and determinism is opposite

"Between stimulus there is a " (Given)

Gap

Are mind and body connected? (Given)

No, they are simply part of one system.

Basis of disease

Stress

Diathesis Stress

Caused by life experiences.

Behavioral Perspective

Focus on external behavior and objectively measured and observed.

Behavioral Perspective (Given)

Makes me feel good, I'm going to do this, first to introduce idea was John B. Watson but B.F Skinner championed it.

Cognitive Perspective

how people think. understand, and know about the world, "thinking is info processing

Prefrontal cortex is

A experience simulator

Humanistic Perspective

suggests everyone strives to grow, develop, and be in control of their lives and behaviors

Correlational Data

violent games make violent people going hand in hand example

What form of research gives a causal result? (given)

scientific method and experimental???

Significant outcome

Results meaningful so researchers are confident

All or none law

a neuron is either on or off

action potential

sudden reversal of charge

mirror neurons

neurons that are fired when seeing an action performed and mirror that behavior

central nervous system

brain and spinal cord

peripheral nervous system

dendrites and long axons

somatic nervous system

voluntary movement

autonomic nervous system

involuntary movement

sympathetic nervous system

fight or flight

parasympathetic nervous system

brings back from fight or flight

endocrine system

system that secretes hormones through blood

pitutitary gland

"master gland" in brain

brain scan types

EEG, TMS, MRI, tMRI, PET

cerebellum

balance

reticular formation

arousal and alertness

thalamus

relay center, handles in and out signals

hypothalamus

biological regulations, like body temperature, four f's: feeding, fighting, fleeing, mating

limbic system

pleasure center, amygdala and hippocampus

cerebral cortex

new brain, higher thinking,

motor area/sensory area

motor: in frontal lobe, responsible for motor function/movement

sensory: in parietal lobe, 3 areas of senses such as sight, sensation and noise

neuroplasticity

brain changes based on this ability to add neurons as life goes on to allow more thinking and information processing

corpus callosum

fibers that connect 2 brain hemispheres which transmit information

"everything we study is on a ....

bellcurve; some will, some dont, some are

demo: independent/dependent variables

dr hinitz used 2 students at basketball to shoot in front of a crowd, and made a hypothesis that they will choke due to pressure, but when we didnt look they improved. independent: eyes open or closed

dependent: improvement

basic unit of nervous system (given)

neuron

speed of transmission

depends on thickness of myelin sheath, neurons differ on quickness of an impulse

myelin sheath thickens through

repeated movement

stimulated mirror neurons could help

stroke victims or people with emotional problems

not every neuron is capable of

recieving the chemical message carried by a particular neurotransmitter

successful chemical communication is only possible

when a neurotransmitter fits precisely into a receptor site

sensation

activation of sense organs that generate a physical response to stimuli

perception

how physical stimulation is interpreted by sense organs

psychophysics

how physical forms of stimuli interact with sensory systems

absolute threshold

minimum stimuli to be detected

difference threshold

smallest of adding or taking away stimuli to serve a change in stimulation

webers law

difference threshold but the difference is a constant of inital stimuli

cornea, iris, pupil and lens; passage of light into the eye

cornea, due to its curvature refracts the light focusing it > pupil, a dark whole in the center of the iris, which its opening depends on the amount of light in the environment > lens, bends rays of light so they are focus on the rear of the eye

retina, rods, cones

retina, is the part of the eye that reverts electromagnetic energy of light to impulses that can be sent to the brain

rods and cones are sensitive light receptor cells in the retina, in which rods are used in dimly light and peripheral vison, where cones are used in sharp focus and color perception

feature detectors

special neurons that acitvate by visual stimuli having features such as shapes and patterns

vision and visual spectrum

light in which is measured in wavelengths in which are on a colored spectrum allowing us to see

trichromatic theory of color vision

3 kinds of cones in retina are in respect with particular set of wavelengths

opponent process theory of color vision

suggests that receptor cells working in opposition of each other

sound

The movement of air molecules brought about by a source of vibration

features of sound

frequency: number of wave cycles that occur in a second

pitch: characteristics of sounds high and low

amplitude: feature of wave patterns that allow distinguishing loudest of sounds; measured in Db

passage of sound through the ear

sound arrives at the outer ear in wavelike vibrations that then are funneled into the auditory canal leading to the eardrum where it vibrates then reach the middle ear where the hammer, anvil and stirrup vibrate transmitting sounds to the oval window into the inner ear where the cochlea is filled with fluid and vibrates in which the basilar membrane is covered in hair cells sending a neural message to the brain

place theory of hearing

in basilar membrane, sound is heard in a particular space

frequency theory of hearing

in basilar membrane, sound is heard throughout and fully picked up, like a microphone

smell & pheremones

olfactory cells that are the nasal neurons that are sent to the brain and combined to recognize a particular smell

pheromones are chemicals released un the environment creating social response in species

taste

involves receptor cells that detect 5 categories of stimulus: umami, salty, sweet, bitter, and sour

pain & given

a sensory experience in response to a great variety of stimuli. the most studied skin sense

(given) pain is a test of intensity?

no pain is cognitive

substance p

chemical neurotransmitter that transmits pain message to the brain

gate-control theory

pain nerve receptors in the spinal cord that lead to specific areas in the brain (opening the gate) causing sensation of pain the and when stimulate other neural receptors can close the gate lowering sensation of pain

gestalt laws

closure: group elements to form complete figures than empty ones

proximity: perceive elements that are closer together

similarity: grouping similar things together

simplicity: perceive in the simplest form

top-down processing

information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations

bottom up processing

perception that consists of the progression and processing information from individual components then to the perspective as a whole

demo: girl got water thrown on her, what was the truth

she was wet

depth perception

ability to percive in 3d to percieve distance

perceptual constancy

recognizing that physical objects are constant and do not vary despite sensory input changes

subliminal perceptions

stimuli that is not seen/hidden

binocular disparity

difference in images from left and right eye

monocular cues

allows humans to get a sense of depth and distance in one eye

motion parallax

changes in position of an object on the retina allows for perception of movement

relative size

if 2 objects are the same size the object that makes a smaller image in the retina is farther away

linear perspective

objects int he distance converge

texture gradient

details of things farther away are less distinct

apparent movement

the perception that a stationary object is moving

extrasensory perception (ESP)

perception not involving known senses; not really supported

consciousness

awareness of sensation, thoughts and feelings

stages of sleep

1- transition from awake to sleep

2- sleep deeper than stage 1

3- deepest sleep, which we are least responsive to stimuli

REM

Rapid eye movement sleep in which we dream, where our heart/breath and blood pressure increase and major muscles are paralyzed

why do we sleep

conservation of energy, grow, restoring and replenishing the brain

dream theories

unconscious wish theory: wishes the dreamer wants to fufill

dreams for survival theory: information vital to survival is reprocessed and reconsidered

activation-synthesis theory: activation of various memories in which are made into a logical storyline

circadian rhythms

biological process that occurs approximately in a 24-hour period which are controlled by the suprachasmaticnucleus

hypnosis

trancelike, allows to be susceptible to the suggestions of others

meditation

technique of refocusing attention that brings out altered state of consciousness

research technique that can be used to establish a causal relationship between two variables

experimental study

how do hormone smove throughout the body

in a wave like radio waves

what is the most common neurotransmitter

acetylcholine