Psychology 100 - Introduction to Mind, Behavior, and Research Methods

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering foundational concepts, historical schools of thought, research methods, biological psychology, and cognitive processes from Psych 100 lecture notes.

Mind

Subjective experience, or what an individual has access to within internal awareness.

Behavior

Observable events and actions performed by an organism.

Psychology

The scientific study of the mind and behavior.

Wilhelm Wundt

Psychologist who established the first school of psychology in 1879, marking the birth of psychology as a formal discipline.

Structuralism

A school of psychological thought focused on breaking down mental processes and behavior into their most basic components to understand how they come together.

Simple Reaction Time

The time required to respond when presented with a single stimulus requiring one response.

Choice Reaction Time

The time required to respond when presented with multiple stimuli (e.g., two stimuli) requiring a decision to select the correct response.

Functionalism

A school of thought created by William James, inspired by Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, that studies how particular behaviors help an organism survive and succeed.

Behaviorism

A school of psychology asserting that psychology should study only observable events and focus on predicting and controlling behavior, without studying the unobservable mind.

Law of Effect

Principle stating that behaviors followed by positive consequences tend to be repeated, whereas behaviors followed by negative consequences tend to not be repeated.

Psychoanalysis

Sigmund Freud's school of thought focused on studying unobservable mental processes, specifically the unconscious mind, using methods such as hypnosis and dream interpretation.

Nature vs. Nurture

The debate over whether psychological traits and behaviors are determined at birth by genes (nature) or developed through environmental experience (nurture).

Naturalistic Observation

A descriptive research method involving observing and describing behavior as closely as possible in the environment where it naturally occurs.

Observer Reactivity

A potential flaw in naturalistic observation where the presence of an observer changes the behavior of the subjects being studied.

Case Study

An in-depth research method (commonly used in neuropsychology) comparing an individual before and after an event or injury, providing detailed insight into specific brain functions, though the results are not generalizable.

Henry Molaison (H.M.)

A famous neuropsychology case study who lost the ability to form new long-term episodic memories after surgery removed portions of his temporal lobes and hippocampus, while retaining procedural (muscle) memory.

Positive Correlation

A relationship between two variables where both move in the same direction (e.g., as one increases, the other increases).

Negative Correlation

A relationship between two variables where they move in opposite directions (e.g., as one increases, the other decreases).

Correlation Coefficient ($r$)

A statistic ranging from $-1$ to $+1$ that indicates the direction and strength of a relationship between two variables.

Third Variable Problem

A phenomenon in correlational research where two variables appear related only because both are influenced by a third, unmeasured variable.

Independent Variable (IV)

The factor in an experiment that is directly manipulated or changed by the researcher.

Dependent Variable (DV)

The outcome factor in an experiment that is measured to determine the effect of the independent variable.

Random Assignment

An experimental procedure giving every participant an equal chance of being placed in any group, eliminating confounding variables between groups.

Transduction

The conversion of sensory energy from the environment into electrochemical signals (action potentials) that the brain can process.

Müller's Law of Specific Nerve Energies

The principle that the nature of a perception depends on which nerve pathway is stimulated, rather than on the specific nature of the stimulus itself.

Action Potential

An all-or-none electrical impulse fired down an axon when a neuron is stimulated past its threshold.

Nodes of Ranvier

Gaps in the myelin sheath along an axon where neural impulses jump from node to node, speeding up neural conduction.

Reuptake

The process by which neurotransmitters in the synaptic gap are reabsorbed back into the pre-synaptic neuron.

SSRI (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor)

A class of medication that blocks the reuptake of serotonin in the synaptic gap, increasing the strength of serotonin signaling.

Broca's Aphasia

Language impairment resulting from damage to the left frontal hemisphere, characterized by difficulty producing speech.

Wernicke's Aphasia

Language impairment resulting from damage to the left temporal lobe, characterized by impaired speech perception and comprehension.

Neuroplasticity

The brain's ability to adapt and reorganize neural pathways, allowing uninjured areas to take over functions of damaged areas through practice and rehabilitation.

Circadian Rhythms

The body's internal 24-hour biological clock governing physiological cycles, including sleep/wake states, alertness, and mood.

REM Sleep

A stage of sleep characterized by rapid eye movement, high brain activity, vivid dreaming, muscle paralysis, and the consolidation of short-term experiences into long-term memories.

Stroop Effect

A demonstration of cognitive interference where an automatic process (such as reading a word) interferes with a controlled process (such as naming the ink color of the word).