gen psych exam 1

review for exam 1

what is psychology?

the scientific study of thought, behavior, and emotion

why do people think, behave and feel the way they do?

biological/neuroscientific perspective

how physical systems (e.g. the brain) affect behavior, feelings, and thoughts?

understanding thought process through the brain

evolutionary perspective

natural selection of traits

ex: lack of need for affiliation did not pass (being around other people) due to lack of favorability

behavior genetics perspective

nature vs. nurture - contribution of genes and environment to behavior

psychoanalytic/psychodynamic

unconscious dynamics within the mind; something you don't know of is affecting you

behavioral perspective

learning via reinforcements and punishments

ex: positive reinforcement when you act angry/aggressive causes you to act that way more

cognitive perspective

how people reason, remember, and interpret 

how memories and attention affect behaviors (someone getting angry causes you to be sad)

sociocultural perspective

how social and cultural forces shape individual behavior

erroneous conclusions

due to popular wisdom (birds of a feather flock together, opposites attract) and common sense 

hindsight bias

overestimation of the ability to have predicted an outcome, finding something and you thought you knew it all along

"I saw this coming"

the scientific method

tests ideas with the use of data and evidence (empiricism - coming to conclusions from evidence and data)

steps in the research process

1. formulate the research question

2. formulate the hypothesis

3. design the study to test the hypothesis

4. perform the study (test the hypothesis - scanning brain, surveys, etc.)

5. interpret the data (draw conclusions - make scores of gratitude, check correlations

6. communicate the findings - publish the study, peer review

hypothesis

a testable prediction; must be something you can collect data on and based on a research question

operational definition

statement about the procedures the researcher used to measure a variable

ex: what do you mean by "gratitude" (the variable) in the experiment context: saying thank you, having a gratitude journal

descriptive methods 

tell you something is happening and not why (qualitative)

examples: case study, observation, survey

case study

in-depth analysis of one subject (or more)

usually a small group/one person, and a rare occurrence/finding

CANNOT GENERALIZE FROM A CASE STUDY - do not assume conclusion is true for all people

case study examples

ex 1: Phineas Gage - had rod through his eye and tests were done on him; personality change post-rod as frontal lobe processes personality

ex 2: HM - doctor removed his hippocampus to prevent seizures; side effects were that he couldn't form memories

observation

describe and measure people and/or animals' behavior systematically

watching and listening without interference

observation examples

observing behavior of parents dropping off kids at day care

hawthorne effect

people know they are being watched (possible bias in an observation study)

survey

asking people questions about their thoughts, feelings, desires, and actions and recording their answers 

could be paper, online, interview

pros of a survey

gives access to info you wouldn't have access to otherwise (personal)

cons of a survey

wording - people can respond differently if question is worded differently

response bias - pattern of responses that does not accurately reflect the content of the question (laziness, not remembering, trying to look good)

solutions to this: make it anonymous and add paying attention questions

random sampling (aka random selection)

everyone in the population has an equal chance of being in the sample

easy to generalize from this --> if there is a subset of a larger population, you can generalize to that population

cannot generalize gen psych students to all students at Rutgers

correlational method

measures the strength and direction of the relationship between 2 variables 

correlation examples

ex 1: highschool gpa correlates with college performance

ex 2: sitting in front of class correlates with grades

positive correlation

variables change in the same direction 

ex: high gratitude and happiness

negative correlation

variables change in opposite directions

ex: coffee intake and risk of depression

correlation coefficient (r)

indicator of the strength of the relationship between 2 variables

+1.00 - perfect positive correlation

-1.00 - perfect negative correlation

strength depends on how close to 1/-1

closer to zero, the weaker the r

correlation and causation

correlation does NOT necessarily indicate causation

instead of A causing B, B could cause A

or, there could be a third variable C, causing both B and A

correlation and causation example

ex: low self esteem (A) could cause depression (B) or vice versa

or distressing events (C) could cause A and B

third variable (C) must cause BOTH not just one

experimental method

researcher changes (manipulates) one variable and measures the effects of that change on another variable 

ONLY research design in which cause and effect could be inferred 

independent variable (IV)

manipulated by experimenter

ex: number of coffee cups

dependent variable (DV)

outcome variable

ex: depression levels

purpose of experimental method

test effects of the IV on the DV

experimental (treatment) condition/group

receives the treatment/stimulus

ex: coffee

control condition/group

does not receive the treatment/stimulus (comparison group)

ex: no coffee

nonexperimental study

IV is not manipulated 

Simply measuring a variable would be non-experimental

confounding variable

variable that is potentially responsible for the results, but not the variable of interest (the IV)

example: candy, kind treatment to people writing about gratefulness

cannot tell if IV causes DV if you have confounds

random assignment

method used to place participants into experimental condition where all participants have an equal chance of being in every condition

assigning all people at random to prevent confounds

experimental control

researcher ensures that no factors other than the IV are changing and thus could affect the DV 

only difference between experimental and control group is the IV (ex: don't give a scone to coffee drinkers)

placebo effect

observed improvement following an inert treatment

group gets treatment with no interventions but they still feel a difference

placebo control group

participants who receive placebo rather than actual treatment or nothing 

regular journal - writing about something meaningless (placebo) vs gratitude journal (experimental)

expectancy effect (experimenter bias)

results when the experimenter's hypothesis (expectation) leads unintentionally to behavior towards the likelihood that participants' behavior will confirm the hypothesis 

ex: teacher expectations for students affect performance

bloomers did better on IQ test a second time --> teacher treatment must have affected this (Rosenthal and Jacobson)

single blind procedures

participants do not know if they have been assigned to experimental or control group

double blind procedure

neither participants nor the researchers know who has been assigned to the experimental or control group (eliminates expectancy effect of researchers)

generalizability

is an outcome generalizable to other groups and settings

can the results apply to other situations?

replication

repetition of a study - can other people repeat a study and get the same results?

case studies are not easily replicated

ethical issues

psychological harm, physical harm, deception research

psychological harm

Milgram study of obedience - electric shock given to patients due to authority figures

physical harm

physical activity, painful shocks to induce stress

deception research

any study in which the participant is deceived about the true purpose of the experiment or the experimental procedures --> in an attempt to get authentic results

use of a "cover story" or placebo 

deception must be different from independent variable to not confound the experiment

IRB

all studies must be reviewed and approved by the IRB

informed consent

required before all experiments; provide all the information that might influence decision to participate, including all potential risks and free to leave at any time

debriefing

required after an experiment - offer a full discussion of the study and any deceptions if included to remove any negative effects

anonymity

participant info not shared with researcher

confidentiality

participant tied to data but researcher cannot disclose it

why do psychologists study the brain?

thoughts, feelings, and behaviors can be traced to emotional and chemical signals traveling through the brain and body

nervous system

complex communication network made up of neurons

individual nerve cells communicating with other body cells

neuron

specialized cell that transmits neural messages to other neurons, glands, and muscles (receives and sends messages back and forth)

dendrite (tree)

receives neural messages from other neurons (listens)

cell body 

also called soma; houses DNA

axon

thin tube that transmits messages (speaks)

also connected to dendrite of next neuron

glial cells (glia)

provide structure for neurons (like packing peanuts around a ceramic mug)

blood-brain barrier

formed by some glial cells; prevents toxins from entering the brain (separates blood from brain tissue)

myelin sheath

formed by some glial cells; specialized cells that are wrapped around the axon to help transmit messages (message goes faster through axon with MS)

express train --> myelinated

local train --> unmyelinated (goes through more stops before message is sent)

how do neurons communicate?

1. electrical signal within a neuron (action potential)

2. chemical signal between neurons (neurotransmitters)

action potential

electrical impulse that travels from the cell body down to the end of the axon (neural firing)

threshold

level of electric charge needed to stimulate action potential (just has to meet minimum threshold)

yes or no - happens or not 

light switch - either on or off

all-or-none response

once the electric charge of a neuron reaches a certain threshold, it fires an action potential 

more intense signal

more neurons have action potentials

more action potentials in neurons

synapse

junction between two neurons; messages are transmitted across the synapse via neurotransmitters

(gets stronger when studying in a class with new and hard material)

neurotransmitters

chemical messages that travel across synapse from sending neuron to receptors on receiving neuron

synapse gets stronger with neurotransmitter sending to other neuron multiple times

reuptake

sending neuron reabsorbs excess neurotransmitters 

inhibit reuptake of serotonin via SSRI --> more likely to bind to a receptor

receptor

neurotransmitter binds to receptors which allows or inhibits a new action potential

excitatory signals

increase the likelihood that a neuron will fire

inhibitory signals

decrease the likelihood that a neuron will fire

specific neurotransmitters

acetylcholine, endorphins, dopamine, serotonin, glutamate, gaba, epinephrine/norepinephrine

acetylcholine (ACh)

involved in muscle action, learning, and memory 

examples of ACh

botox --> stops ACh --> blocks facial muscle contractions

black widow bite --> causes larger levels of ACh --> causes muscle spasms

alzheimer's: little ACh

endorphins

reduce pain and promote pleasure

examples of endorphins

runner's high: feeling euphoria through pain

brain stops producing endorphins after taking morphine (opioids) --> addiction

laughter, dancing, and singing produces endorphins

morphine --> also drugs bind to endorphin receptors (opioids)

dopamine

involved in voluntary movement, reward, learning, and memory (reinforcement)

dopamine examples

doing something you can enjoy so do it again and again (posting on social media, drugs)

general addiction is attributed to dopamine like gambling, it only increases dopamine and nothing else will

schizophrenia - excessive dopamine

parkinson's -  insufficient dopamine 

serotonin

involved in sleep, appetite, and mood 

serotonin examples

signals sent when you are hungry

awake during the day and sleepy at night

SSRI (block serotonin reuptake) to treat sleep and eating disorders 

glutamate

excitatory - learning, memory enhancement

synapses get stronger through action potentials

also potentially causing seizures (excessive glutamate)

GABA

inhibitory - calms

alcohol binds to GABA receptors to calm people

stops action potentials - low levels of GABA indicate anxiety (drugs increase GABA)

epinephrine and norepinephrine

hormones; involved in stress response

cause excitement, fatigue (aka adrenaline)

agonists

increase normal activity of a neurotransmitter (bobby pin in lock)

could 1) pretend to be a neurotransmitter; shapes itself to be a neurotransmitter and binds to receptor

or could 2) increase production of a neurotransmitter

antagonists

decrease activity of a neurotransmitter 

blocks receptors so they cannot have an affect 

black widow bite

ACh agonist

botox

ACh antagonist

valium/xanax

GABA agonist; calms nervous system (medication used to treat anxiety)

beta blockers for hypertension

epinephrine antagonist

the nervous system organization

types of neurons

motor and sensory neurons

motor neurons

carry signals from brain or spinal cord to muscles, skin, and glands (brain → spinal cord → periphery)

sensory neurons

carry messages from receptors to spinal cord and brain (periphery → spinal cord → brain)

central nervous system

consists of the brain and spinal cord

sends messages to muscles, glands, and organs via motor neurons

responds to sensory information