Psychology: FINAL EXAM Study Guide - Ch. 4-16

What structures are involved in the outer ear?

The outer ear consists of the auditory canal and tympanic membrane (eardrum).

What is the function of semicircular canals in the inner ear?

Help maintain balance.

What does the cochlea do?

a body tube of the inner ear, filled with fluid, involved in hearing.

What is the role of hair cells in the ear?

inner ear sensory receptors that transduce sound vibrations into neural impulses.

Define top-down processing.

perception based on prior experiences and knowledge.

What is bottom-up processing?

involves processing sensory information and using clues to understand stimuli.

What does attachment theory explain?

explains the strong emotional connection between infants and their caregivers.

What is a secure base in attachment theory?

A responsive and accessible caregiver creates a secure base that is crucial for the child's development

What role does prenatal exposure play in developmental programming?

can cause permanent changes affecting health and increasing the risk of disease.

What is the germinal stage of prenatal development?

begins at conception and lasts 2 weeks.

What occurs during the embryonic stage?

All major organs form in this stage, which lasts from 2 weeks to 8 weeks after conception.

What defines the fetal stage of development?

This stage starts with the formation of bone cells at 8 weeks and ends at birth.

What is the reticular activating system?

a bundle of nerves in the brain stem involved in wakefulness and sleep transitions.

Differentiate between REM and non-REM sleep.

REM sleep involves rapid eye movements and dreaming, while non-REM sleep has few slow eye movements.

What is the purpose of sleep according to the lecture?

Helps with metabolic cleanup, neural growth, memory consolidation, and protection against cellular damage.

What is the definition of psychoactive drugs?

substances that produce qualitative changes in conscious experiences.

Explain the difference between implicit and explicit memory.

Implicit memory is unconscious and automatic, while explicit memory is conscious recall of facts and events.

What is Alzheimer's disease?

a form of severe age-related memory loss due to organic brain disease.

What is the definition of classical conditioning?

a form of associative learning where a neutral stimulus becomes associated with an automatic response

Define operant conditioning.

changes behavior by manipulating the consequences of that behavior.

What is the significance of the fixed-ratio schedule in reinforcement?

reinforces behavior after a set number of responses.

What are the stages of language development?

Stages include cooing, babbling, one-word utterances, two-word utterances, and sentence phase.

Describe the major characteristics of Wernicke's Area.

responsible for comprehension and the ability to speak in meaningful sentences.

What are the Big Five personality traits?

openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.

What is the concept of the Yerkes-Dodson Law in motivation?

optimal arousal enhances performance, while too much or too little arousal hinders it.

What is the fundamental attribution error?

is the tendency to explain others' behavior with dispositional rather than situational terms.

Epigenetics

the study of changes in the way genes are expressed–that is, are activated (turned “on”) or deactivated (turned “off”)—without changing the sequence of DNA

Heritability

 the extent to which a characteristic is influenced by genetics

Psychedelic Medicine

the controlled use of psychedelic drugs for the treatment of physical and mental disorders 

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

treatment that integrates elements of cognitive-behavior therapy with exercises aimed at developing mindfulness without meditation and is used to treat borderline personality disorders

Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)

an approach that combines elements of cognitive behavior therapy with mindfulness meditation to help people with depression learn to recognize and restructure negative thought patterns

Prolonged Exposure Therapy

an integrative treatment program for people who have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Integrative Therapy

an eclectic approach in which the therapist draws on different treatment approaches and uses those that seem most appropriate for the situation

Virtual Reality Therapies

therapies that use virtual (digital simulation) environments to create therapeutic situations that would be hard to create otherwise

Technology-Based Therapies

therapies that make use of technology or the Internet to complement current therapies or to make psychotherapeutic techniques available to more people 

Group Therapy

a therapeutic setting in which several people who share a common problem all meet regularly with a therapist to help themselves and one another

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

an approach to treating psychological disorders that combines techniques for restructuring irrational thoughts with operant and classical conditioning techniques to shape desirable behaviors

Cognitive Therapy

a type of psychotherapy that works to restructure irrational thought patterns; structured and problem-oriented, with the primary goal of fixing erroneous thought patterns, as we will illustrate an example shortly

Behavior Therapies

therapies that apply the principles of classical and operant conditioning in the treatment of psychological disorders

Positive Psychotherapy

focuses explicitly on increasing a person’s happiness, well-being, and positive emotions

Client-Centered Therapy

a form of humanistic therapy in which the therapist shows unconditional positive regard for the patient

Psychodynamic Therapy

the modern offshoot of Freud’s psychoanalysis and a form of talk therapy that confronts unconscious impulses, ideas, and wishes

Psychoanalytic Therapy

Based on Freud’s ideas, a therapeutic approach oriented toward major personality change with a focus on uncovering unconscious motives, especially through dream interpretation

Psychotherapy

the use of psychological techniques to modify maladaptive behaviors or thought patterns, or both, and to help patients develop insight into their own behavior

Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)

the treatment of last resort for severe depression that involves passing an electrical current through a person’s brain in order to induce a seizure

Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD)

anxious-fearful personality disorder characterized by rigid habits and extreme perfectionism; more general than obsessive-compulsive disorder

Symptoms of Obsessive-Compulsive

extreme perfectionism and anxiety over the minor disruption of routine, very rigid activities, and relationships, pervade most aspects of everyday life

Symptoms of Dependent

pervasive selflessness, need to be cared for, fear of rejection, total dependence on others

Symptoms of Avoidant

anxious and worrying, sense of inadequacy, fear of being criticized, nervousness, avoids social interaction

Symptoms of Antisocial

impulsive, violent, deceptive, and criminal behavior; no respect for social norms, ruthless

Antisocial Personality

a dramatic-emotional personality disorder characterized by extremely impulsive, deceptive, violent, ruthless, and callous behaviors; a serious and potentially dangerous disorder

Symptoms of Narcissistic

grandiose thoughts and sense of one’s importance, exploitative, arrogant, lack of concern for others

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

a dramatic-emotional personality disorder characterized by having an extremely positive and arrogant self-image and being extraordinarily self-centered; other symptoms are an exaggerated sense of self-importance and grandiosity

Symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder

shifting moods, dramatic, impulsive, self-injury (e.g., cutting) 

Borderline Personality Disorder

a dramatic-emotional personality disorder characterized by out-of-control emotions, fear of being abandoned by others, and vacillation between idealizing and despising people who are close to the person with the disorder

Symptoms of Histrionic

wild, exaggerated behaviors, extreme need for attention, suicidal, seductive, unstable relationships, shifting moods

Histrionic Personality Disorder

a dramatic-emotional personality disorder characterized by the desire to be the center of attention and by dramatic, seductive, flamboyant, and exaggerated behaviors

Symptoms of Paranoid

extreme, unwarranted, and maladaptive suspicion

Paranoid Personality Disorder

an odd-eccentric personality disorder characterized by extreme suspicions and mistrust of others in unwarranted and maladaptive ways 

Symptoms of Schizotypal

isolated, odd, and bizarre thoughts and beliefs 

Schizotypal Personality Disorder

an odd-eccentric personality disorder characterized by a desire to live an isolated and asocial life, but also by the presence of odd thoughts and belief

Symptoms of Schizoid

lack of interest in social relationships, inappropriate or flat emotions, thoughts, and coldness 

Schizoid Personality Disorder

an odd-eccentric personality disorder characterized by a desire to avoid close relationships as well as by emotional aloofness, reclusivity, and a lack of humor

Personality Disorders

patterns of cognition, emotion, and behavior that develop in late childhood or adolescence and are maladaptive and inflexible; they are more stable than clinical disorders

Causes of psychological disorders

Recent evidence from more than 60,000 people worldwide suggests that five major psychiatric disorders (autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, bipolar disorder, depression, and schizophrenia) have a common genetic cause.

Autism Spectrum Disorder

symptoms of impaired social interaction (has impaired eye-to-eye gaze and facial expressions, doesn’t develop peer relationships, lacks sharing interests), impaired communication (has impaired or severely delayed speech; language use is stereotypical or repetitive), and repetitive and stereotypical behaviors (shows preoccupation and repetitive interests or behaviors–such as finger or hand flapping, inflexible routines or rituals 

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

symptoms of inattention (often does not give close attention to details or makes careless mistakes, can’t sustain attention, doesn’t listen when spoken to, doesn’t follow through on instructions), hyperactivity (fidgets with hands or feet, leaves seat in a classroom when sitting is expected, inappropriate and excessive running or climbing, talks excessively), and impulsivity (blurts out answers before the question is complete, can’t wait their turn, often intrudes or interrupts others) 

Other Conditions That May Be A Focus of Clinical Attention

include relational problems (with a partner, sibling, and so on), problems related to abuse or neglect (physical abuse of a child, for example), or additional conditions (such as bereavement, academic problems, and religious or spiritual problems)

Personality Disorders

develop when personality traits become inflexible and maladaptive 

Intellectual Disability

low intellectual functioning and an inability to adapt to everyday life

Adjustment Disorders

characterized by distressing emotional or behavioral symptoms in response to an identifiable stressor

Impulse-Control Disorders Not Elsewhere Classified

Sleep Disorders including kleptomania, pyromania, and compulsive gambling

Sleep Disorders

consist of primary sleep disorders, such as insomnia and narcolepsy, and sleep disorders due to general medical conditions, such as sleep apnea

Eating Disorders

include anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa

Sexual Disorders & Gender-Dysphoria

consist of three main types of disorders: gender-dysphoria (a person experiences an incongruence between their experienced or expressed gender and the gender assigned at birth), paraphilias (a person has a preference for unusual sexual acts to stimulate sexual arousal), and sexual dysfunctions (impairments in sexual functioning)

Substance-Related Disorders

characterized by abuse or dependence on drugs, such as alcohol, cocaine, and hallucinogens

Schizophrenia & Other Psychotic Disorders

characterized by distorted thoughts and perceptions, odd communication, inappropriate emotion, and other unusual behaviors

Mood Disorders

characterized by a primary disturbance in mood; include depressive disorders and bipolar disorder (sometimes called manic depression)

Delirium, Dementia, Amnestic, & Other Cognitive Disorders

disorders involving problems in consciousness and cognition, such as substance-induced delirium or dementia related to Alzheimer’s disease

Dissociative Disorders

involve a sudden loss of memory or change of identity

Factitious Disorders

characterized by the individual’s deliberate fabrication of a medical or mental disorder to gain medical attention

Somatic Symptom Disorders

occur when psychological symptoms take a physical form even though no physical causes can be found–including hypochondriasis and conversion disorder

Anxiety Disorders

characterized by motor tension, hyperactivity, and apprehensive expectations/thoughts–including generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, phobic disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder

Mere Exposure

direct experience with an object, an idea, or a person, increases our overall preference for it; a psychological phenomenon in which people prefer things that they are familiar with

Illusory Truth

describes how when we hear the same false information repeated again and again; we often come to believe it is true

The Fundamental Attribution Error

 the tendency to explain others’ behavior in dispositional rather than situational terms 

Conformity

the tendency of people to adjust their behavior to what others are doing or to adhere to the norms of their culture

About Human Evolutionary Heritage

The social nature of human beings stems from the importance of group living in our evolutionary history. This heritage explains why people work to preserve group membership and why they modify their behavior when in the presence of others.

Obedience

a type of social influence in which a person yields to the will of another person, complies with their demands

Minority Social Influence

when a small number of individuals in a larger group shifts majority opinion by presenting a consistent, unwavering massage

Normative Social Influence

conformity to the behavior of others in order to be accepted by them

Informational Social Influence

conformity to the behavior of others because one views them as a source of knowledge about what one is supposed to do

Cortical Arousal

the brain’s level of activity at a resting state and its sensitivity to stimulation

Openness

How interested in new experiences or new ideas is someone? How imaginative, original, and curious is he or she?

Conscientiousness

How planned, organized, orderly, hard-working, controlled, persevering, punctual, and ambitious is someone?

Extraversion

How sociable, talkative, active, outgoing, confident, and fun-loving is someone?

Agreeableness

How friendly, warm, trusting, generous, and good-natured is someone?

Neuroticism

How anxious, worrying, tense, emotional, and high-strung is someone?

Trait

a disposition to behave consistently in a particular way

State With Positive Psychology

The core idea behind this type of psychology is a focus on positive states and experiences, such as hope, optimism, wisdom, creativity, spirituality, and positive emotions