Psychology Unit 1 exam

Critical Thinking

Thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions. It examines assumptions, asses the source, uncover values, weighs evidence, and asses conclusions

What is Psychology?

A science- use imperial or scientific method

The systematic study of behavior and experience

Things that are experiences

-previous life events

-Biology

-mental disorders

-environment

-emotions

-beliefs

-attitude

-thinking

Why do psychologist always awnser questions with “It Depends”

Vast majority of concepts studied by psychologists are extremely complex and multiply determined

EX: on why do psychologists answer questions with depends

ex: Does a person remember a list better on land or underwater

Factors to ex

-Are they afraid of water

-Do they have oxygen

-Can a person remember a list

-Where did you learn the list ( land or water )

-Where did you recall the list

How is Nature Vs Nurture considered today

How does nature (genes and our biology) and nurture ( our environment) interact to determine out behavior and experience

What does Biopsychosocial mean

Human Behavior an mental processes are influenced by complex interaction among these 4 factors

4 factors of Biopsychosocial

1.) Biological

-Genes

-Gender

-Brain

2.) Psychological

-past events

-personality

-Beliefs

-Values

-Self Identity

3.) Social

-Where you live

-Environment

-People you surround yourself with

4.) Social Cultural

-Higher education

-Duties to society

-Roles in Society

Example of Biopsychosocial

Ex: Dr.Holmgreen wears a mask to school

Biological- protect immune system from virus

Psychological- Fear of germs

Social- protect others from getting sick &/ communicate a value

Social Cultural- Norm to wear a mask

What is dual processing

The principal that our mind processes information at the same time on separate conscious and unconscious tracks

Conscious mind vs Subconscious mind examples

Conscious

-Will power'

-Logical thinking

-Long term memory

-Critical thinking

Subconscious

-Beliefs

-Emotions

-Habits

-Values

-Protective reactions

-Long term memory

-Imagination

-Intuition

Theory

A testable explanation for a set of facts or observations. In science, a theory is not a speculation or a guess

Hypothesis

A tentative statement about the relationship between to or more variables

Ex: Men and women behave differently while having intercourse

Operationalization

objective description of a concept involved in a scientific study; it must specify measurement procedures

Variable

A dimension of interest ( a long which there are at least two values or levels) that is observed or controlled in a study

Independent Variable ( IV )

Variable which is manipulated by the experiment

Dependent Variable ( DV )

Variable that is being measured as an out come

Hyper activity is being studied between human babies and baby chimpanzees

What is the variable

How many levels

Variable: Species

Level: 2

Correlation

A measure of the extent to which two events vary together, and thus of how well either on predicts the other

What are used to help determine correlations

Range: -1.00 to +1.00

Absolute value: strength of the correlation

Sign: Direction of the correlation ( + or - )

What is the correlation when one variable goes up while the other goes down

Negative - ( Inverse relation )

What is the correlation when as one variable increases or decreases the other variable also increases or decreases

positive- ( direct relationship )

Different ways of correlations between A and B

A>B

B>A

A<>B

C<A & B ( third variable affects the other two)

Third variable example

Temperature<Murder and Ice cream sales

As temperatures increase it causes a spike in murder rates and in ice cream sales. Even though murder rates and Ice cream sales have a positive correlation a third variable effects them

Experiment

A research method in which researchers vary one or more factors ( IV ) to observe the effect on some outcome

IV>DV

Experimental control groups & definitions

Experimental groups- Exposes them/ manipulates them

Control group: Does Not need to do anything

Why do experimental groups need to be as alike as possible

In order to draw conclusions the groups have to be the same so we know that the IV was the only thing manipulated

Confounding Variables

Variable that is uncontrolled, varies systematically with the IV, and affects the DV. It can interfere with the ability to determine causality

What is a big confounding variable that effects experiments

Socioeconomic status

How do researchers get around confounds when designing groups

They uses random assignments

Random assignment

Expiremental procedure in which each participant has an equal chance of being assigned to any group/ condition. It balances group differences and therefore allows for casual

Example of using random assignments

Flipping a coin to assign people to groups

What is the essential difference between an experimental study and a correlation study.

Experimental study involves MANIPULATION of IV, while correlation studies are only measured/observed

What do experiments require?

Random assignment to conditions

What does it mean if random assignment is mentioned in a study

That it was an experimental study and the IV is being manipulated

Is this a causal or association example:

What is the key word

Worry may make women’s brains work overtime

Causal

Key word: make

Is this a causal or association example:

What is the key word

Those with ADHD do one month’s less work a year

association

Is this a causal or association example:

What is the key word

High “normal” blood sugar may still harm brains

Causal

Key word: Harm

Is this a causal or association example:

What is the key word

The greater the childs shoe size, the stronger their reading skills

association

Three parts of the scientific attitude

1.) Curiosity

2.) Skepticism

3.) Humility

Behaviorism

The view that psychology (1) should be objective science that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental process. No longer agreed upon. Most agree with 1 not 2.

Psychology

The science of behavior and mental processes

Behavior

Is an action that can be observed and recorded

Mental processes

internal, subjective experiences

Perspectives

Neuroscience- How body and Brain enable emotions, memories, expirences

Evolutionary- How traits pass down to each generation and how ones survive

Behavior genetics- how genes and environment influence individual differences

psychodynamic- How behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflict

behavioral- How we learn observable responses

cognitive- How we encode, process, store, and retrieve information

social cultural- How behavior, thinking vary across situations and culture

Visual perception track

enables us to think about the world, recognize, and plan

Visual action track

Guides moment to moment actions

Common Flaws in Common sense thinking

1.) Hindsignt Bias

2.) Overconfidence

3.)Perceiving patterns in random events

Replication

Repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different participants in different situations, to see whether basic findings can be reproduced

Correlational methods

associate different factors

Experimental methods

manipulate, or vary, factors to discover their effect

Does correlation cause causation

NO

Informed consent

Giving people enough information about a study to enable them to decide whether they wish to participate

Measures of Cultural tendency

1.) Mode- most frequently occurring scores in a distribution

2.) Mean- Average of all the scores

3.) Median- Middle score in a distribution

What type of graph is this

scatterplot

Three principals to generalize samples

1.) Representative samples are better than biased samples

2.) Less variable observations are more reliable than those that are more variable

3.) More cases are better than fewer cases

SQ3R stand for

Survey, Question, Read, Retrieve, Review

What are different types of psychology?

-Humanistic

-Cognitive

-Cognitive neuroscience

-Clinical

-Psychiatry

-Positive

-Community

-Counseling

Expectancy Bias

Phenomenon that occurs when participants expectations influence their behavior (or when researchers expectations influence their interpretation)

Placebo Effect

A type of participant expectancy Bias; it occurs when a participant experiences positive treatment results because of their expectations

Placebo effect example

There were people who had chest pains and went under surgery to get it fixed. Half got the real surgery the other half only got an incision. The half that only got an incision said they were feeling great even though they did not get the real surgery.

Placebo control group

Group that has equal expectations as the treatment group that is receiving the treatment

Double blind study

Study in which neither the participants nor the people evaluation them know which condition the participant has been assigned to

Experimentation advantages & drawbacks

Advantages

-Can draw causal conclusions

Drawbacks

-artificiality

-ethical constraints

-logistical difficulties

Experimentation example

During a laboratory game, those given a nasal squirt of Oxycontin rather than a placebo were more likely to trust strangers with their money

IV:

DV:

Experimental Group:

Control Group:

IV: levels of Oxycontin

DV: Do they trust strangers with money

Experimental Group: Get the nasal squirt of Oxycontin

Control Group: Get the placebo

Experimentation Example

Preschool children rated French fries as tasting better when served in a McDonald’s bag rather than a plain white bag

IV:

DV:

Experimental Group:

Control Group:

IV: What bag the fries come in

DV: taste of the French fries

Experimental Group: Fries in the McDonald bags

Control Group: Fries in the white bag

Neurons

Cells that receive, integrate, and transmit information, thus permitting communication within the nervous system

Around how many neurons does the brain have

86 billion

Sensory Neuron

Carry INPUT from sensory organs to the brain and spinal cord

Motor Neurons

Carry OUTPUT from the brain and spinal cord to the muscles and glands

Interneurons

Carry information BETWEEN other neurons; only found in brain and spinal cord

Major parts of the Neuron

1.) Dendrites- receives messages from other cells

2.) Soma- the cell body which maintains the health of the Neuron

3.) Axon- passes messages away from the cell body to other neurons, muscles, or glands

4.) Terminal Branches- forms junctions with other cells

5.) Terminal Button- end of axon; secretes neurotransmitters

6.) Myelin sheath- Covers the axon of some neurons and helps speed neural impulses

What are the three phases of communication within a neuron

1.) Action potential

2.) Refractory period

3.) Resting potential

What is action potential?

The neural impulse created when a neuron “Fires”. The impulse travels from the dendrites down the axon to the terminal branches

What is the Refractory period?

The brief instant when a new action potential cannot be generated because the neuron is “Recharging” after previous action potential

What is Resting potential?

The state of a neuron when it is “charged” but waiting for the next action potential to be generated

What is it when a neuron fires?

An all or nothing phenomenon

Synapse

Point at which neurons interconnect. Includes the synaptic gap

Presynaptic Neuron

-Terminal button- end of axon; secretes neurotransmitters

-Synaptic vesicles in terminal buttons contain neurotransmitters

-Neurotransmitters- chemical messengers secreted into synaptic gap

Postsynaptic neuron

Receptor sites: Neurotransmitters bind to site

Why do receptors bind to different spots

each spot has a special function that coordinates with that receptor

What is agonist?

A drug that mimics transmitters

What is antagonist?

Drug that blocks receptors by being close not identical

SSRI

Selective, serotonin, re-uptake, inhibitor

What is re-uptake?

Neurons that are sucked back up if they have not found a site

Glial Cells

provide structure and insulation for neurons

Glial cell functions

-Keep neurons healthy

-produce new myelin

-Hold neurons in place

-Give the central nervous system structure

-supply chemicals

-Regulate neurotransmitter levels

Central Nervous System (CNS)

-Brain and spinal chord

-Combines new and old information

-Guides responses

Nervous System structure

Nervous System

Central Nervous System Peripheral Nervous system

Brain Spinal Cord Autonomic Nervous system Somatic Nervous system Sympathetic Nervous system Parasympathetic Nervous System

The endocrine system

A slow chemical communication system operating via glands that release hormones into the bloodstream

Hormone

Chemical messengers released by endocrine glands into the bloodstream (released in spurts)

Negative Feedback system

Turns itself off after sufficient release

Ex: Thermostat

What do hormones & nervous system regulate

-metabolism

-digestion

-Sexual development

-growth rate

Endocrine Glands

-Pituitary: Secretes many different hormones, some which affect other glands

-Thyroid: Affects metabolism among other things

-Adrenal: Inner part called the medulla, helps trigger the fight or flight

-Pancreas: regulates the level of sugar in blood

-Gonads (ovaries/testes): Secrete female or male sex hormones

electroencephalography (EEG)

monitoring electrical out put to see large groups of electrode signals in real time

Ex: Sleep study

What are damage studies looking at?

Observing the consequences of damage to particular brain areas

What is hard about studying brains that were damaged?

Head injuries cause widespread damage

Why do scientist stimulate the brain?

To see affects and what are brains respond to