Psych Midterm 1

Structuralism

Analyzes sensations, images, and feelings to understand how they combine into complex mental experiences

Functionalism

Examines mental states and behaviors by their purpose, emphasizing the mind's broad capabilities.

Freudian (Psychoanalytic)

Examines how our unconscious mind and childhood experiences affect behaviour

Behaviorism

What matters is only what scientists observe, aka through perceivable behaviour.

Humanistic

Rejects behaviourism, and focuses on needs for love and acceptance and personal growth.

Cognitive bias

A systematic error in thinking that can lead to inaccurate judgments and decisions E.g. stereotypes

Hindsight bias

Tendency to believe, after learning the outcome, that one would have foreseen it (I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon)

Overconfidence bias

A person's subjective confidence in their judgment is reliably greater than the objective accuracy of those judgements

Perceiving order in random events

finding patterns in the world when there's nothing; no meaning

Descriptive studies

research strategy that involves observing and describing particular behaviours or patterns as is, without changing anything about them.

Correlational studies

Research strategy that involves studying. how related two factors or ideas are to one another without changing anything about them.

Experimental studies

studies in which the independent variables are directly manipulated and the effects on the dependent variable are examined

Descriptive statistics

using statistical methods to provide a simple summary of data. It tells us about the sample we are studying

Inferential statistics

using statistical methods to interpret data meaningfully. Let us generalize information about the broad population from our smaller sample

Measures of central tendency

mean, median, mode

Measures of variation

standard deviation, range, normal curve (normal distribution)

Phrenology

Tried to relate human traits and behaviours to skull formation

Neuron

elementary component of the nervous system

Cell body

cell's life support center

Dendrites

receives messages from other cells

Axon

passes messages away from the cell body to other neurons, muscles or glands

Myelin sheath

insulates axon electrically and speeds neural impulses

Glial shell

provides myelin and support, nourish and protect neurons

Action potential

Brief electrical signal that travels along a nerve cell, allowing it to communicate.

Terminal branches

small endings of a neuron that send signals to other cells

Acetylcholine

neurotransmitter that helps nerves communicate, controlling muscles and brain functions

Endorphins

chemicals in the brain that help reduce pain and make you feel good.

Agonist

molecule that increases a neurotransmitter's action

Antagonist

molecule that inhibits or blocks a neurotransmitter's action

Peripheral nervous system

Sensory and motor neurons connect CNS to the rest of body for gathering and transmitting information

Central nervous system

Brain and spinal cord are body's decision-makers

Autonomic nervous system

Controls involuntary functions like heartbeat, breathing, and digestion.

Somatic nervous system

Controls voluntary movements and carries signals between the brain and muscles.

Sympathetic nervous system

Prepares the body for stress or emergencies, triggering the "fight or flight" response.

Parasympathetic nervous system

Calms the body down after stress, promoting rest and digestion.

Sensory input

Information received by the brain from the senses (like sight, sound, or touch)

Motor output

Controls skeletal muscles

Sensory neurons

Carry messages from body's tissues and sensory receptors inward to spinal cord and brain for processing

Motor neurons

Carry ongoing information from central nervous system out to body's muscles and glands

Interneurons within the brain and spinal cord

Communicate with one another and process information between sensory input and motor output

Endocrine system

set of glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream that travel through the body and affect other tissues, including the brain.

Pituitary

master gland that influences hormone release by other glands

EEG (Electroencephalography)

Measures small electrical currents at the scalp.

Good for measuring fast electrical responses to stimuli

Bad for knowing what brain area is generating the signal

MEG (Magnetoencephalography)

Measures small fields at the scalp.

Good for measuring fast electrical/magnetic responses to stimuli

Bad for knowing what brain area is generating the signal (but better than EEG)

MRI (Magnetic resonance imaging)

Sends radio waves into tissue and measures how they are re-emitted.

Good for creating detailed images of brain structure at ~1mm3

Bad for trying to learn about different brain areas in different experimental conditions (takes only structural images)

DTI (diffusion tensor imaging)

Measures diffusion of water molecules along axons in the brain to know where the axons are.

Good for learning about the strength of connectivity between two brain areas

Bad for learning about function or structures other than axons

PET (Positron emission tomography)

Injects a radioactive isotope into the body, then measures radioactive emissions from active parts of the brain.

Good for relating brain functions to certain brain areas

Bad for fast measurements of brain activity and limiting exposure to radiation

fMRI (Functional magnetic resonance imaging)

Measures small changes in blood flow due to neural activity in different brain areas.

Good for learning about brain function in certain areas

Bad for learning about fast neural activity (blood flow change is a slow process)

Hindbrain

Cerebellum: Receives inputs from sensory motor and cognitive systems, helps coordinate movement and balance, supports nonverbal learning and skill memory

Pons: relays signals to the cerebellum

Medulla: connects brain to spinal cord

(***both pons and medulla contribute to sleep wake cycles, respiration etc)

Midbrain

Connector between the brainstem and higher level structures

Forebrain

Thalamus: Relays sensory information to the cortex from the sensory systems; plays a major role in modulating attention throughout the cortex

Limbic System: Associated with emotion and memory formation

Hypothalamus: Helps maintain steady internal state or homeostasis (hunger, thirst, body temperature) and controls pituitary gland

Amygdala: Linked to emotion; enables aggression, fear, and rage

Hippocampus: Involved in the formation of new explicit memories for facts and autobiographical events

Cerebral cortex

Responsible for complex cognitive processing and information representation

Gyri, sulci, gray matter, white matter

Gyri: The raised folds on the brain surface.

Sulci: The grooves or depressions between the gyri.

Gray matter: The tissue containing neuron cell bodies, primarily located in the cerebral cortex (including the gyri and sulci).

White matter: The tissue composed of myelinated axons, which connects different areas of gray matter

Frontal lobes

involved in speaking and muscle movements and in making plans and judgements

Occipital lobes

receives input from the eyes; allows you to see colors, recognize faces, etc

Parietal lobes

Contains somatosensory cortex, which receives touch sensory information from the body

Temporal lobes

Correspond to brain areas that received information from the ears (auditory and speech cortex)

corpus callosum

A bridge of millions of axons that connect the two cerebral hemispheres

Nature

The genetic, biological, and inherited factors that influence an individual's traits, behaviours, and development

Nurture

Genes

Instructions for making proteins that are encoded in DNA

Cell differentiation

Every cell has the same DNA but the genes that get expressed in each cell are different.

Behaviour genetics

The study of the relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behaviour

Heredity

The genetic transfer of characteristics from parents to offspring

Environment

every external influence, from prenatal nutrition to the people and things around us

Chromosomes

Threadlike structures made of DNA molecules that contain genes

DNA

Complex molecule containing the genetic information that makes up the chromosomes

Genome

The complete instructions for making an organism, consisting of all the genetic material in that organism's chromosomes

During reproduction . . . . . .

genetic recombination and random chromosome selection create unique combinations of parental DNA for each child, resulting in siblings sharing about 50% of their DNA on average (although it probably won't be the same half).

Polygenetic (traits)

They [traits] don't depend on just a single gene, but on the combination of many, each with its own small effects.

Identical (monozygotic) twins

develop from a single fertilized egg and so they share nearly 100% of their DNA

Fraternal (dizygotic) twins

develop from two separate fertilized eggs. Are genetically no more similar than ordinary siblings despite a shared prenatal environment.

Temperament

A person's characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity; apparent from first weeks of life and generally persists into adulthood.

Heritability

the proportion of variation among individuals that can be attributed to genes

Interaction

the interplay that occurs when the effect of one factor (such as environment) depends on another factor (such as heredity)

Molecular genetics

subfield of biology that studies the molecular structure and function of genes

Molecular behaviour genetics

the study of how the structure and function of genes interact with our environment to influence behaviour.

Epigenetics

how the environment can cause changes that affect the way your genes work

End of History Illusion

A psychological phenomenon where people of all ages tend to underestimate how much they will change in the future, despite recognizing significant changes in the past.

Zygote

When a sperm cell unites with an egg (fertilized egg). Zygote enters a 2-week period of rapid cell division.

Embryo

Zygote's inner cells become embryos; outer cells become placenta. Embryo is a developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through 2 months.

Fetus

In next 6 weeks, body organs begin to form and function

Teratogen

Agent, such as a chemical or virus, that can reach embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm; alcohol, nicotine, marijuana

Habituation

presenting the same stimuli over and over again, and then presenting a novel stimulus and measuring if there is increased staring to the novel stimulus. Novel things are interesting, but only if you can tell they are novel.

Schema

concept or framework that organizes information

Assimilation

Interpreting new experiences in terms of existing schemas

Accommodation

Adapting current schemas to incorporate new information

Piaget's Theory

Children's maturing brains build schemas that are used and adjusted through assimilation and accommodation."

Sensorimotor stage (birth to nearly 2 years):

Tools for thinking and reasoning

Object Permanence: Awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived.

Preoperational Stage (2-7 years old):

Pretend play

Piaget: Children can represent things with words and images; too young to perform mental operations (imagining an action and mentally reversing it.

Today: Symbolic thinking and pretend play at this stage, at an earlier age than Piaget supposed.

Egocentrism: Preschoolers have difficulty perceiving things from another's perspective.

Concrete operational (7-11 years):

Children gain mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events.

They begin to understand changes in form before changes in quantity.

They begin to understand simple math and conservation

Formal operational (12 through adulthood):

Piaget: Children can ponder hypothetical propositions and deduce consequences.

Today: Rudiments of formal operational thinking begin earlier than Piaget realized.

Vygotsky's Theory

Children's minds grow through interaction with the social environment; young apprentices

Kohlberg's Moral Development Theory

Preconventional morality: Self interest; obey rules to avoid punishment or gain concrete rewards

Conventional morality: Uphold laws and rules to gain social approval or maintain social order

Postconventional morality: Actions reflect belief in basic rights and self defined ethical principles

Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial Development

Infancy: Trust vs mistrust.

Toddlerhood: Autonomy vs shame and doubt.

Preschool: Initiative vs guilt.

Elementary School: Competence vs inferiority.

Adolescence: Identity vs role confusion.

Young adulthood: Intimacy vs isolation.

Middle adulthood: Generativity vs stagnation.

Late adulthood: Integrity vs despair.

Personal fable

Believe their experiences and feelings are novel and unique to them. Feel that no one else could possibly feel the same as them

Strange Situation Experiment

Child explores room with mom, mom leaves, mom returns. These things are observed: secure attachment, and avoidant-insecure attachment or resistant-insecure attachment.

Critical period

optimal period early in life when exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces typical development

Theory of mind

Ability to reason other people's beliefs. Doesn't neatly fit into Piaget's stages, though it is related to the development of symbolic thinking and less egocentric thinking. Develops around 4-5 years old.

Imprinting

process by which certain animals form attachments during early life. Tested by Konrad Lorenz.