Psych Midterm

Psychology

the science of the brain and how the human brain works

Psychoanalytic

understanding how unwilling/unconscious thoughts can cause mental disorders

Cognitive

explores how mental processes can influence behavior

Humanistic

How people find happiness/ the good in people

Behaviorism

behavior responds to environment/ nature over nurture

Compare and contrast the following approaches to psychology and identify contributions of each approach: Psychoanalytic, Cognitive, Humanistic, and Behaviorism

All four of the psychological approaches are about how humans behave and the process of the brain but focus on different parts, subjects, and methods.

Scientific Method

Make a theory, Develop a hypothesis, Work with a chosen research method, Analyze the data from your research, Share the results/ Research more.

Critical Thinking

Systematically going through information to reach the strongest conclusion

Discuss the importance of critical thinking in Psychology

Critical thinking can help narrow down possible situations in such a broad topic and reach the strongest possible conclusion in many for Psychology. It can also help separate fact from opinion.

Distinguish between theory and hypothesis

A theory is a broader, untested explanation of how something occurs and what occurs, while a hypothesis is a more specific and narrow forecast of the theory.

Theory

an explanation or a model of how some mental process or behavior occurs

Hypothesis

a specific, testable prediction about a theory

Case Study

an intensive examination of individuals

Advantages- can give a lot of information on a specific topic

Disadvantage- researcher could have a bias against the individual

Self Reports

A descriptive method that consists of obtaining self-reports from research participants.

Advantages - can gather a lot of data from a lot of people in a small amount of time, gives the interviewer more opportunities

Disadvantages - People can give biased answers or might not be able to remember

Observational Studies

involve observing and classifying behavior, either with intervention by the observer or without intervention by the observer

Advantages - important when trying to find out if an entity exists can take place with or without intervention

Disadvantages - observer bias/observer can change the data witnessed

Correlational Methods

examine how variables are related without intervention by the observer

Advantages - naturally occurring, may take place in real life, observer (should) have no bias

Disadvantages - no casual relationships, cannot determine directionality, and there might be a hidden third variable

Experimental methods

how when one variable is manipulated by researchers the other variable is affected

Advantages - Provides control over the controlled variable can demonstrate what happens to the other variables

Disadvantages - something other than the independent variable can affect the dependent variable resulting in inaccurate results

Dependent Variable

the variable affected by the manipulation of the independent variable

Independent Variable

the controlled variable that the experimenter can manipulate

Explain the purpose of random assignment and distinguish between the experimental group and the control group in an experiment.

Random sampling fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion. Random assignment helps balance out differences between groups. The control group stays as they are and the experimental group is tested.

Discuss the pupose of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) in dealing with ethical concerns in research.

The IRB ensures studies include informed consent, freedom to withdraw, no harm, deception, debriefing, and confidentiality

Axon

A long single extension of the neuron that passes messages from cell body to other neurons/muscles/glands

Cell Body

Collects and integrates the information from other neurons “life support center”

Dendrites

branching extensions at cell body that receive messages from other neurons

Terminal Branches

branched end of axon that transmit messages to other neurons

Neuron

receives, integrates, and transmits information throughout the nervous system

neurotransmitters

chemicals released from sending neurons travel across the synapse (space between neurons) and bind to receiving neurons’ receptor sites, influencing it to generate action potentials

Peripheral Nervous System

consists of nerve cells outside of the brain and spinal cord, contains the Somatic and Autonomic nervous systems

The Central Nervous System

consists of nerve cells in only the brain and spinal cord

antagonists

decrease the effect of the neurotransmitters

agonists

facilitate the effect of the neurotransmitter making it easier to affect the brain

Electroencephalograph (EEG)

measures the brains electrical activity

Functional Magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

maps mental activity during a mental task by measuring the blood oxygen levels in the brain

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)

momentarily disrupts brain activity in a specific region

hindbrain

survival functions + movement (medulla, pons, cerebellum)

midbrain

movement (substantia nigra)

Hypothalamus

Part of the forebrain (below thalamus), regulates body functions (sleep, temp) and motivation (hunger, thirst, sex)

Hippocampus

Part of the forebrain, helps form new memories

Amygdala

Part of the forebrain, associates emotions with new experiences

Occipital lobe

vision

Parietal lobe

touch and spatial information

Frontal lobe

decision-making, thinking

Temporal lobe

hearing and memory

The Prefrontal Cortex

controls attention, self-control, rational thought processes, personality, and how someone functions socially

Sympathetic Nervous System

prepares the body for action and brings it to alert making heart rate and respiration increase as well as your pupils dilating and digestion slowing down.

Parasympathetic Nervous System

functions are to calm down the body and bring it to a resting state having the opposite effect of the sympathetic nervous system.

Plasticity

a property in the brain which causes it to modify after experience, drugs, illness, or injury

Discuss the nature/nurture issue and how genes and the environment influence humans

your genes affect your metal activity and behavior, your genes interact with your environment to influence you, your environment changes your brain

Learning

Any relatively permanent change in behavior due to experience.

Sensitization

an increase in behavioral response

Habituation

a decrease in behavioral response

Classical conditioning

pairing new stimuli creates a response where one previously was not (Ivan Pavlov’s dogs)

unconditioned stimulus

stimulus that elicits an innate response and does not require any prior learning

unconditioned response

response that does not have to be learned

conditioned stimulus

stimulus that elicits a response only after learning has taken place

conditioned response

response to a conditioned stimulus that has been learned

extinction

process in which the conditioned response is weakened when the conditioned stimulus is repeated without the unconditioned stimulus

spontaneous recovery

process in which a previously extinguished response reemerges after the conditioned stimulus is presented again

generalization

occurs when stimuli that are similar but not identical to the conditioned stimulus produce the conditioned response

discrimination

differentiates between two similar stimuli when only one of them is consistently associated with the unconditioned stimulus

Operant

action that is performed on an environment and has consequences

Reinforcer

a stimulus that occurs after a response and increases the likelihood that the response will be repeated

Thorndike's Law of Effect

any behavior that leads to a "satisfying state of affairs" is likely to occur again. Any behavior that leads to an "annoying state of affairs" is less likely to occur again.

Operant conditioning

a learning process when somethings behavior leads to a certain outcome and can eventually determine what would happen if that behavior occurs again

positive punishment

something added as an unpleasant consequence so the behavior is not repeated (spanking, extra chores)

negative punishment

something taken away that creates something unpleasant so the behavior doesn’t repeat (phone taken away, grounded)

positive reinforcement

something added to increase a behavior

negative reinforcement

something taken away to increase a behavior (seatbelt alarm in car)

fixed interval schedule (FI)

reinforcer is delivered for the first response after a fixed period of time elapses

variable interval schedule (VI)

reinforcer is delivered for the first response after an average time has elapsed, differs between trials

fixed ratio schedule (FR)

a reinforce is delivered after a fixed number of correct responses

variable ratio schedule (VR)

a reinforcer is delivered after an average number of responses, varies between trials

Behavior modification

the use of operant conditioning techniques to eliminate unwanted behaviors and replace them with desirable ones.

observational learning

you learn or change a behavior after watching a person engage in that behavior

modeling

imitate a behavior that you see in others

vicarious conditioning

you learn to engage in a behavior or not, after seeing others being rewarded or punished for performing that action

Memory

The nervous system's ability to take information and skills for later retrieval in the future.

Encoding

Processing information so it will be able to be stored.

storage

lets you maintain the information in your brain

Retrieval

Remembering stored information when it is needed.

Selective attention

The ability to direct mental resources to relevant information in order to process that information further, while also ignoring irrelevant information.

Sensory Storage

a very brief maintenance of sensory information (5 senses)

Short term storage

keeps 5-9 encoded items available for less than 20 seconds so that you can use the information immediately

Working memory

active processing system that allows manipulation of different types of information to keep it available for current use

Long term storage

relatively permanent and virtually limitless for deeply encoded information, allowing access to information over very long periods of time

Chunking

organizing information into groups to make it easier to remember.

Maintenance Rehearsal

Repeating auditory information to make it easier to remember; only provides a shallow amount of information.

Elaborative Rehearsal

Connecting old information and traits to newly given information to make it easier to remember.

Primary Effect

Only or better remembering of the first part of information of the group.

Recency Effect

Only or better remembering of the last part of information of the group.

Schemas

ways of structuring memories in long term storage that help you perceive, organize, process, and use information

Long Term Storage

allows relatively permanent retention for probably an unlimited amount of information

Amnesia Retrograde

A condition in which people lose the ability to access memories they had before a brain injury.

Amnesia Anterograde

A condition in which people lose the ability to form new memories after experiencing a brain injury.

Episodic Memory

A type of explicit memory that includes a person's personal experiences.

Semantic Memory

type of explicit memory that includes a person’s knowledge about the world, independent of personal experiences

Explicit Memory

The system for long term storage of conscious memories that can be verbally described.

Implicit Memory

The system for long term storage of unconscious memories that cannot be verbally described.

Consolidation

When immediate memories become permanent through the processes of long term storage.

Reconsolidation

The process of consolidation long term memories again after reactivating them.