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Chapters 0 - 7, 8-14

Psychology

The scientific study of behaviour and mental processes.

Science

The use of systematic methods to observe the natural world, including human behaviour, to draw conclusions.

Behaviour

Everything we do that can be directly observed.

Mental Processes

The thoughts, feelings, and motives that people experience privately but cannot be observed directly.

Critical Thinking

The process of thinking deeply and actively, asking questions, and evaluating evidence.

Counterintuitive

Results that stem from psychological research that turn up the unexpected in human behaviour.

Objective

Trying to see things as they really are, not as they’d like to be.

Emperical Method

The gaining of knowledge through the observation of events, the collection of data, and the usage of logical reasoning.

Sigmund Freud

Psychologist who believed that most human behaviour is caused by dark, unpleasant, and unconscious impulses that press for expression.

Philosophy

The rational investigation of the underlying principles of being and knowledge.

Structuralism

The focus of identifying the structures of the human mind.

Functionalism

James’s approach to mental processes, emphasizing the functions and purposes of the mind and behaviour in the individual’s adaptation to the environment.

Natural Selection

An evolutionary process in which organisms that are best adapted to their environment will survive and produce offspring.

Biological Approach

An approach focusing on the body, especially on the brain and nervous system.

Neuroscience

The scientific study of the structure, function, development, genetics, and biochemistry of the nervous system, emphasizing that the brain and nervous system are central to understanding behaviour, thought, and emotion.

Behavioural Approach

An approach emphasizing the scientific study of observable behavioural responses and their environmental determinants.

Psychodynamic Approach

An approach emphasizing unconscious thought from conflict between biological drives, societal demands, and early childhood family experiences.

Humanistic Approach

An approach emphasizing a person’s positive qualities, capacity for positive growth, and freedom to choose one’s destiny.

Altruism

An unselfish concern for other people’s well-being

Cognitive Approach

Emphasizes the mental processes involved in knowing: how we direct our attention, perceive, remember, think, and solve problems.

Evolutionary Approach

An approach centered on evolutionary ideas such as adaptation, reproduction, and natural selection as the basis for explaining specific human behaviours.

Sociocultural Approach

An approach examining the influences of social and cultural environments on behaviour.

Cross-Cultural Research

A form of research that compares individuals in various cultures to see how they differ on important psychological attributes.

Variable

Anything that can change.

Theory

A broad idea or set of closely related ideas that attempts to explain observations and to make predictions about future observations.

Hypothesis

A testable prediction that derives logically from a theory.

Empirical Research

Research that collects and analyzes data.

Operational Definition

A definition that provides an objective description of how a variable is going to be measured and observed in a particular study.

Third Variable Problem

The circumstance where a variable that has not been measured accounts for the relationship between two other variables, one that may be be causing the other two.

Experimental

A carefully regulated procedure in which the researcher manipulates one or more variables that are believed to influence another.

Random Assignment

Researchers’ assignment of participants to groups by chance, reducing the likelihood of results being due to preexisting differences between groups.

Independent Variable

A manipulated experimental factor, the variable that the experimenter changes to see what its effects are.

Confederate

A person who is given a role to play in a study so that the social context can be manipulated.

Dependent Variable

The outcome/factor that can change in an experiment in response to the independent variable.

Experimental Group

The participants in an experiment who receive anything specialized (the change) and therefore are exposed to the change that the independent variable represents.

Control Group

The participants that don’t receive anything special.

Validity

The soundness of the conclusions drawn by a researcher from an experiment and the extent to which a test measures what it is intended to measure.

External Validity

The degree to which an experimental design actually reflects real-world issues that it’s supposed to address.

Internal Validity

The degree to which changes to the dependent variable are due to the manipulation of the independent variable.

Experimenter Bias

The influence of the experimenter’s expectations on the outcome of research.

Demand Characteristics

Any aspects of a study that communicate how the experimenter wants them to behave.

Research Participant Bias

When the behaviour of a participant is influenced by their expectations and thoughts of how they should behave.

Placebo Effect

When a participant's expectations, rather than the experimental treatment, produce an outcome. Observable changes that cannot be explained by the effects of an actual treatment.

Double-Blind Experiment

Neither experimenter is aware of which participants are in the control group until the results are calculated.

Population

The entire group about which the investigator wants to draw conclusion.

Sample

The subset of the population chosen by the investigator for study.

Random Sample

A sample that gives every member of the population an equal chance of being selected.

Naturalistic Observation

The observation of behaviour in real-world setting.

Nervous System

The body’s electrochemical communication circuitry. It is made up of billions of communicating cells and is likely the most intricately organized aggregate of matter on the planet.

Plasticity

The brain’s special capacity for change. Thinking is a physical event and the brain can be changed by experience.

Afferent Nerves

Nerves that carry information about the external environment to the brain and spinal cord via sensory receptors. Also known as sensory nerves.

Efferent Nerves

Nerves that carry information out of the brain and spinal cord to other areas of the body. Also known as motor nerves

Neural Networks

Networks of nerve cells that integrate sensory input and motor output.

Central Nervous System (CNS)

The brain and spinal cord. This is where more than 99% of our nerve cells are located.

Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)

The network of nerves that connects the brain and spinal cord to other parts of the body. It brings information to and from the brain and spinal cord to carry out commands of the rest of the nervous system.

Somatic Nervous System

The body system consisting of the sensory nerves and motor nerves. The sensory nerves convey information from the skin and muscles to the central nervous system about conditions such as pain and temperature. The motor nerves tell muscles what to do.

Autonomic Nervous System

The body system that takes messages to and from the body’s internal organs. It monitors processes such as breathing, heart rate, and digestion.

Sympathetic Nervous System

The part of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body to mobilize it for action. This, therefore, makes it involved in the experience of stress.

Parasympathetic Nervous System

The part of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body.

Stress

The response of individuals to environmental stressors.

Circumstances and events that threaten individuals and tax their coping abilities.

Stressors

Corticosteroids

Powerful stress hormones in the brain that allow us to focus our attention on what needs to be done now, creating a strange calmness.

Acute Stress

The momentary stress that occurs in response to life experiences and ends when the stressful situation ends.

Neurons

A type of cell in the nervous system that handles the function of processing information.

Glial Cells

A type of cell in the nervous system that provides support, nutritional benefits, and other functions to keep neurons running smoothly.

Cell Body

The part of the neuron that contains the nucleus. It directs the manufacturing of substances that the neuron needs for growth and maintenance

Replication

Repeating an experiment to gain more confidence in the initial results.

Survey

A study in which members select a group of participants from a population, and data about or opinions from those participants are collected, measured, and analyzed.

Peer Review

The process of submitting academic work to other professionals in the field for critique and evaluation before being published in journals.

Correlation

A relationship between variables or how well they can predict one another.

Directionality Problem

When two variables are related, but is not known which is the cause and which is the effect.

Confounding Variable

An extraneous variable that causes systematic variation, which makes it difficult to separate from the independent variable.

Extraneous Variable

A variable that isn’t the independent or dependent variable, but may affect the outcome.

Single Blind Procedure

Participants are unaware of the experimental conditions.

Double Blind Procedure

Neither the researchers nor the participants know who received the treatment.

Likert Scales

An attitude measurement with positive and negative evaluations

Quantitative Research

Research using numerical measurement.

Qualitative Research

Using descriptive data without numbers.

Debriefing

The explanation of the true purpose of a study after completion.

Informed Assent

Prior approval to participate by someone not able to give legal consent.

Dendrites

Treelike fibers projecting from a neuron which receive information and orient it toward the neuron’s cell body,

Axon

The part of the neuron that carries information away from the cell body toward other cells. They are very thin but can be very long with many branches, some extending more than 3 feet from the top of the brain to the spinal cord.

Myelin Sheath

A layer of fat cells that encases and insulates most axons. This developed as the nervus system evolved because of the necessity of longer distance travel of information from the brain as it increases in size.

Resting Potential

The stable, negative charge of an inactive neuron.

Action Potential

The brief wave of positive electrical charge that sweeps down the axon.

All-Or-Nothing Principle

Once the electrical impulse reaches a certain threshold of intensity, it fires and moves all the way down the axon without losing any intensity.

Synapses

Tiny spaces/gaps between neurons.

Neurotransmitters

Chemical substances that are stored in very tiny sacs within the terminal buttons and involved in the transmission of information across a synaptic gap.

Acetylcholine (ACh)

Simulates the firing of neurons and is involved in the action of muscles, learning, and memory. Is found throughout the central and peripheral nervous systems.

Gamma Aminobutyric Acid (GABA)

It keeps many neurons from firing in the brain, controlling the precision of the signal being carried from one neuron to the next.

Norepinephrine

Inhibits the firing of neurons in the central nervous system, but excites heart muscle, intestines, and urogenital tract. Stress stimulates its release and too little is associated with depression, while having too much causes agitated, manic states. Works with acetylcholine to regulate states of sleep and wakefulness.

Dopamine

Helps to control voluntary movement, affecting sleep, mood, attention, learning, and the ability to recognize rewards in the environment. It is related to the personality trait of extroversion and low levels are associated with Parkinson’s disease.

Serotonin

Involved in the regulation of sleep, mood, attention, and learning. Teams up with acetylcholine and norepinephrine to regulate sleep and wakefulness. Low levels are associated with depression.

Endorphins

Natural opiates that mostly stimulate the firing of neurons and shield the body from pain, and elevate feelings of pleasure.

Oxytocin

A hormone that plays a role in the experience of love and social bonding.

Agonist

A drug that mimics/increases a neurotransmitter’s effects.

Antagonist

A drug that blocks a neurotransmitter’s effects.

Electroencephalograph (EEG)

Records the brain’s electrical activity to assess brain damage, epilepsy, and other problems.

Hindbrain

Located at the skull’s rear as the lowest of the brain, consisting of the medulla, cerebellum, and pons. It governs breathing, reflexes motor coordination, and sleep/arousal.

Brain Stem

The brain area that includes much of the hindbrain and midbrain. Connects with the spinal cord at its lower end and then extends upward to encase the reticular formation in the midbrain.