Psychology Final Exam

Chapters 1-15

Social Psychology

the study of how the presence of other people influences the ways we think, feel, and behave

Self-identity

the way we understand ourselves in relation to others

Attribution

quick cognitive processes that happen outside of our conscious awareness to give a reason that people do things

Internal Attribution

inference that it’s internal issues

External Attribution

inference that it’s external issues

Central Route Persuasion

influence of pros, cons, logical reasons on feelings

Peripheral Route Persuasion

influence of emotions on feelings

Cognitive Dissonance

the state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes, especially as relating to behavioral decisions and attitude change

Design

how the research was structured

Execution

how the research was conducted

Evaluation

how are the results interpreted

Hypothesis

Restatement of a question in a way that can be tested, must be falsifiable. Relational Hypothesis- predicts that two variables are related. Causal Hypothesis- predicts that one variable causes another

Independent Variable

the variable that the researcher manipulates

Dependent Variable

the “effect” or the result of the experimental treatment

Confounding Variable

anything that influenced the dependent variable besides the independent variable

Single Blind

where the subjects don’t know the details of the experiment

Double Blind

neither subjects nor experimenters know the details of the experiment

Placebo Effect

when a person's physical or mental health appears to improve after taking a placebo or 'dummy' treatment

Mean

arithmetic average

Median

the measurement of the exact middle of an ordered range

Mode

the value that occurs most often

Range

difference between the lowest and highest values

Cognitive Psychology

approach emphasizes the mental processes involved in perception, decision-making, problem solving, and the ways we construct meaning; suggests that distorted patterns of understanding and interpreting experiences and relationships are responsible for abnormal thoughts and behaviors

Biological Psychology

approach emphasizes biological structures and electro-chemical processes; explains motivation in terms of instincts, drives, and needs; explains mental illnesses as diseases of the mind that, like ordinary physical diseases have discrete physical causes

Behavioral Psychology

approach emphasizes the relationship between environmental influences and behavior, along with what has been reinforced; explains motivation in terms of external forces, rewards, and consequences; suggests that abnormal thoughts and behaviors are learned by association, punishment, and reinforcement

Humanistic Psychology

approach emphasizes thoughts, feelings, and innate human goodness and potential; explains motivation in terms of an intrinsic human need to grow and achieve; explains mental illnesses in terms of circumstances blocking one's progress toward self-actualization

Psychoanalytic Psychology

emphasizes unconscious processes; explains mental illnesses in terms of unconscious psychic conflicts

Rationalism

Rene Descartes, first branch of philosophy's approach to thought, deductive reasoning- beginning from a premise of truth that is certain and deducing one conclusion from another

Empiricism

Francis Bacon, inductive reasoning- arriving at conclusions that started with observations

Phrenology

Dr. Franz Gall, "science" that suggested that the shape of the skull was an indicator of a person's character and personality

Structuralism

early approach to psychology focused on describing mental experiences in terms of complex structures made from increasingly simpler component structures

Functionalism

focused on discovering survival and reproductive advantages that behaviors and mental functions provided

Wilhelm Wundt

credited as the founder of scientific psychology, established a psychology laboratory at the University of Leipzig in 1879

Williams James

father of American psychology, theorized that consciousness and emotions evolved as a complex mix of physical processes that equipped our ancestors for the challenges of survival

Reductive

mental structures and behaviors consist of even simpler component structures and behaviors

Moral Relativism

worldview in which standards of behavior are based on an individual's temporal framework of values and beliefs and not on any absolutes

The Study of the Brain and Nervous System

neuro-psychology, neuro-anatomy, neuro-biology

Dendrites and Axons

specialized extensions that neurons use to communicate with each other

Motor Neurons

carry signals from the brain and spinal cord to the muscles and glands

Sensory Neurons

carry signals from the sense receptors in the body to the brain

Interneurons

exist exclusively in the brain and spinal cord and make up about 90% of all human neurons

Excitatory Neurotransmitters

the chemical signal increases the likelihood that neighboring neurons will fire

Inhibitory Neurotransmitters

the signal lowers the likelihood that other neurons will fire

Peripheral Nervous System

consists of all the neurons running throughout the body outside of the brain and spinal cord; divided into somatic and autonomic

Autonomic Nervous System

controls involuntary body functions like circulation, respiration, perspiration, and digestion; divided into the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems

Phineas Gage

metal rod driven through his head, accident demonstrated that there is a connection between the brain and personality

Glial Cells

support neural functioning by digesting dead neurons, producing myelin sheathing, and providing nutrition to neurons

Psychotropic Medications

affect the supply of neurotransmitters or the way in which they are absorbed

Central Nervous System

consists of the brain and spinal cord

Neuron

most basic building block of the nervous system

Somatic Nervous System

controls voluntary muscle movement and makes connections between the motor cortex of the brain and the muscles used in movement

Electroencephalograph (EEG)

records electrical voltage produced when neurons fire, shows brain activity

Computer Axial Tomography (CT scan)

involves rotating an x-ray machine around the brain to produce a series of images, shows brain structure

Positron Emission Tomography (PET scan)

produces real-time three-dimensional images of the brain at work, shows both brain structure and activity

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

uses magnetic fields and radio waves to create detailed images of the brain, shows both brain structure and activity

Sympathetic System

creates an excited state and mobilizes the body for action by accelerating some functions and decelerating others

Parasympathetic System

restores the body to a state of rest and relaxation

Forebrain

largest part of the brain making up about two-thirds of the brain's size; includes the cerebral cortex, thalamus, hypothalamus, amygdala, and hippocampus

Corpus Callosum

nerve fibers connecting the left and right hemispheres

Amygdala

almond shaped structure located deep in the temporal lobe and plays a role in fear and other emotions, learning, memory, attention, and perception

Cerebellum

second largest structure in the brain and is associated with movement, coordination, balance, and motor-related memory

Psyche

means mind/soul

ABC's of Psychology

affect (emotions), behavior, cognition

Nervous System

most complex system in the known universe; made up of the Central and Peripheral

Naturalism

worldview that believes all mental activity must ultimately be nothing more than biochemical processes and can be applied to all psychological approaches

Lobotomy

developed by Egas Moniz, psycho-surgery involving removal or alteration of part of the brain

Neuro-transmission

process of converting physical stimuli into neural energy

Absolute Threshold

refers to the minimum intensity of a stimulus that will stimulate an organ to operate. The lowest intensity of something we can sense

Rods

most sensitive to low levels of light and give us night vision

Cones

photoreceptor cells that operate best at high levels of light and are responsible for color vision and vision acuity, activated by electromagnetic energy

Chemoreceptors

respond to chemical substances

Mechanoreceptors

respond to mechanical energy

Just Noticeable Difference

refers to a receptor cell's ability to detect subtle changes in stimulus strength

Nociceptors

extend from the spinal cord to the body and are involved in the experience of pain

Kinesthetic System

the sensory system which tells you what is being done to your body and what your body is doing

Vestibular System

provides the sense of balance and the information about body position that allows rapid compensatory movements in response to both self-induced and externally generated forces.

Motivation

inner state and process that arouses, directs, maintains, and terminates behavior; intrinsic- coming from within; extrinsic- coming from an outside force

Reflexes

automatic, involuntary, and unlearned patterns of behavior that are triggered by particular stimuli

Drive Reduction Theory

biological needs (drives) are the primary motivator of human behavior

Drives

unpleasant internal states of tension which arouse us to take action to meet the need, restore homeostasis, and reduce internal tension

Abraham Maslow

father or humanistic psychology; believed people are born with a motivation to grow toward self-actualization; made the hierarchy of needs

Arousal Theory

we are motivated to achieve our individually optimal state of arousal

Stress

generalized response to a perceived threat; general adaptation syndrome describes the 3 human reactions to prolonged stress

Iris

colored part of the eye and contains the muscles that open and close the pupil

Retina

rounded screen at the back of the eye and contains photoreceptors called rods and cones

Figure-Ground Perception

what a person sees depends on what features they pay more attention to

Paranormal Psychology

refers to any phenomena that is not replicable, "physically" impossible, not explainable by natural processes, or beyond the range of normal experience

6 Basic Human Emotions by Paul Ekman

happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, disgust

Extinction

when a conditioned response ends after the conditioned stimulus is no longer repeatedly paired with the unconditioned stimulus

Classical Conditioning

describes a learning process that occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired

Unconditioned Response

an organism's reflexive unlearned response to a stimulus

Neutral Stimulus

does not elicit a reflexive response

Shaping

describes reinforcing when a subject gets close to the desired behavior

Fixed Ratio Reinforcement

the behavior is reinforced after a fixed number of responses

Reinforcement

a consequence of behavior that increases the likelihood that a response will occur

Punishment

a consequence of behavior that decreases the likelihood that a response will occur

Continuous Reinforcement Schedules

reinforce a behavior every time it occurs

Sensory Memory

like a temporary buffer of memory where information is held very briefly and evaluated for further processing

Latent Learning

a form of learning that is not immediately demonstrated or needed and occurs without direct reinforcement

Social Learning

theory proposes that we learn from one another through observation, imitation, and modeling