Psych Final

Psychology Definition

scientific study of behavior and mental events

John Locke

developed concept of empiricism

Empiricism

learning comes only from experience and observations

Tabula Rasa

blank tablet

* born w/ no knowledge

Wilhelm Wundt

* father of psychology
* developed introspection
* method of self observation to collect info of the mind

Free Association

technique for indirectly studying the unconscious process

Central Nervous System

* brain, spinal cord, brain stem

Autonomic Nervous System

controls involuntary muscles

Peripheral Nervous System

nerves leading from the spinal cord and brain stem to various parts of the body

Sympathetic Nervous System

a network of nerves that helps your body activate its “fight-or-flight” response

Parasympathetic Nervous System

a network of nerves that relaxes your body after periods of stress or danger

Fight vs. Flight

“acute stress response”

release of hormones that prepare your body to stay and deal with the threat (fight) or run away/escape (flight)

Cerebellum

“little brain”

coordinates voluntary muscle movements

* balance, coordination and eye movements

Cerebral Cortex

gray matter where our highest psychological processing takes place

* reading, language, speech, comprehension

Corpus Callosum

band of nerves which connects the two hemispheres together in a crisscross fashion

Thalamus

sorts info and routes it to the appropriate areas in the higher brain

* connects one part of the brain to another (telephone operator)

Hypothalamus

small structure the size of index finger tip located below the thalamus

* regulates bodys internal environment

Motor Neurons

carry info from the brain signaling the muscles

Sensory Neurons

carry info from the senses about the environment to the brain

Synapse

The space between the end of a nerve cell and another cell

Neurons

receive, carry and transmit info through the nervous system in an electrochemical form

Endocrine System

body’s 2nd largest communication system for sending info to and from the brain

Pituitary Glands

“master gland”

secretes hormones that provide signals for other glands

Stimulus

any aspect or change in the environment to which an organism responds

Sensation

the result of converting physical stimulation into a sensory experience

Olfaction

stimulus : organic molecules

receptor : olfactory epithelium

Audition Stimulus/Receptor

stimulus : sound waves

receptor : organs of corti

Binocular Vision

the combination of two images into the one we see

Cones

most sensitive to color and higher levels of lights

Modeling

informal observations made throughout life

* albert bandura

Disinhibition

* used in clinical work with phobias
* person watches someone engage on a threatening activity without an aversive response

Factors that Influence Learning

* feedback
* transfer

Learned Helplessness

when people are unable to control events in their lives are less motivated to act up and they stop trying

Positive Reinforcement

anything that is __**added**__ to a situation that __**increases**__ the probability that the response will occur again

* rewards

Negative Reinforcement

painful or unpleasant stimulus is removed or not applied if certain behavior occurs

Reinforcement Schedules

* fixed ratio
* variable ratio
* fixed interval

Discrimination

the ability to respond differently to different stimuli

Generalization

when animal responds

Mnemonic Devices

techniques for using association to memorize information

ex; ROYGBIV

Proactive Interference

earlier memory does the blocking

Retroactive Interference

later memory does the blocking

Creativity

ability to use info to somehow, create something new, original, and meaningful

Forgetting

when information that once entered long term memory cant be retrieved

Recall

active reconstruction of information

Selective Attention

the focusing of attention on selected aspects of the environment and the blocking out of others

Feature Extraction

involves locating the outstanding characteristics of incoming information

ex; twins

Confabulation

when a person re-remembers parts of a memory/experience and fills the gaps by making up the rest

Repression

conscious blocking of memories that are painful, unpleasant or undesirable

Eidetic Memory

photogenic memory

Sensory Stage of Memory

holds info for only an instant at the receptors

Short Term Memory

* hold info for approximately 20 seconds
* can only hold 7-8 unrelated items

Long Term Memory

any storage from 20-30 seconds and longer

Dreams

mental activity during sleep

Stages of Sleep

1-2-3-2-1-REM

Stage 1 of Sleep

* body made twitch
* eyes roll
* brief images
* breathing becomes uneven
* brain waves grow irregular 10 minutes

Stage 2 of Sleep

* eyes roll to the side
* brain waves fluctuate between high and low voltages
* 20 to 30 minutes

Stage 3 of Sleep

* deepest stage of sleep
* large regular delta waves indicate person is in state of oblivion

REM

rapid eye-movement

Hypnosis

person becomes highly suggestible and does not use their critical thinking skills

Freud’s View on Dreams

* the symbolism in dreams are persons private language invented for oneself
* dreams are full of hidden meaning and disguises

Marijuana

* intensifies emotions and sensory experiences
* distorts sense of time

LSD

provides most vivid dreams and hallucinations

Alcohol

most common mind altering substance

Psychodynamic Personality Theory

personality is dynamic and consistent, integrating and unifying to external world

Sigmund Freud

psychodynamic theorist

Displacement

the process by which an emotion __originally__ attached to a particular person, object, or situation is __transferred__ to something else

Conversion

physical symptom with no demonstrable physiological cause

Denial

behaving as though whatever is causing the fear or anxiety does not exist or is not true

Fantasy

essentially a daydream and which a wish is fulfilled

Identification

conscience or unconscious incorporation of another's attributes or characteristics into one's own personality

Projection

a process of turning outward one's own objectionable desires, attitudes, and motives and attributing them to others

Rationalization

process by which behaviors or failures are explained away by excuses or reasons that shed them in more favorable light

Reaction Formation

a process in which an unconscious, painful, or undesirable character trait or attitude is mass by an excessive and inflexible demonstration of an opposite trait or attitude

Regression

Person under great anxiety or stress reverts to responses or behaviors from an earlier, or less mature time

Repression

a process or active pushing out of consciousness ideas and feelings that are painful or disturbing

Sublimation

process in which strongly conflicting unconscious impulses are transformed and expressed in socially desirable activities

Behavioral Personality Theory

Believe that as individuals differ in their learning experiences they require different behaviors and thus personality

B.F. Skinner

behavioral personality theorist

Albert Bandura

bobo doll

Humanistic Personality Theory

stress are relative freedom from instinctual pressures and urges

* self-actualization

Abraham Maslow

humanistic personality theorist

Self-Actualization

all humans strive towards the realization of one's potential as a unique human being

Trait Personality Theory

behavior and personality depend on how a person uses their unique pattern of traits

Hans Eysenack

“two dimensions of personality”

William Sheldon

“three basic body types”

Mesomorphs

Tendency to be muscular and strong

* aggressive, assertive, competitive

Ectomorphs

tendency to be thin and fragile

* detached, anxious, introverted

Endomorphs

tendency to be overweight or fat/soft

* jolly, relaxed, sociable

Nativism

person is born with all their knowledge

Brain

integrates incoming and outgoing impulses and provides higher psychological processes

Spinal Cord

integrates impulses while providing channels for ascending and descending nerve tracks

Somatic Nervous System

controls voluntary muscles

Rods

most effective in lower light conditions, black and white, etc

Positive Transfer

old knowledge helps learn new skill

Negative Transfer

old knowledge makes it harder to learn new skill

Ego

* what a person __can__ do
* tries to balance demands of id and super ego
* reality principle

ID

* what person __wants__ to do
* governed by pleasure principle

Superego

* what a person __should__ do


* governed by moral principle

Dualism

mind and body are separate

Glial Cells

support and protect delicate, fragile neurons

* fills in gaps and space between neurons