College Psychology Test 1

My knowt that I made and Noelle's

What is psychology?

The scientific study of behavior and natural processes. It’s goal is to describe, predict, and explain behaviors.

Empiricism

Our knowledge originates in experience

Structuralism

What exists

Introspection

To sit down and think

Functionalism

How we function

Neuroplasticity

How the brain changes/adjusts to experiences

Neurons

Building blocks of neural information center

Cell body

Each has one

Dendrite

Receive and integrate information

Axon

Passes message to other axons

Glial cells

Spidery “glue cells”

Threshold

Signals by a minimum intensity

Refractory period

Resting pause

All-or-none response

The level of stimulation will not affect it. It will either respond or it won’t.

Myelin sheath

Fatty tissue that insulates and speeds up the impules of axons

Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

Communication to muscles and brain regions is slow, with diminished muscle control and impaired cognition.

Synapse

Meeting point between neurons

Neurotransmitters

Chemical messengers

Reuptake

Excess neurotransmitters finally drift away and are broken down by enzymes or reabsorbed by the sending neuron.

Acetylcholine

Enables muscle function, learning and memory

Dopamine

Influences mood/emotion

Seratonin

Affects mood

Norepinephrine

Helps control alertness and arousal

GABA

Major inhibitory transmitter

Glutamate

Exitory and memorial

Endorphins

Inhibity

Endorphin

Natural chemicals produced by the body that act as painkillers and mood enhancers. They help reduce pain, improve mood, and promote a sense of well-being.

Agonist

Increases a neurotransmitter’s action

Antagonist

Decreases a neurotransmitter’s action

Sensory neurons

Transmit sensory information from the body's sensory organs to the central nervous system (CNS)

Motor neurons

Transmit signals from the central nervous system to muscles and glands, allowing for voluntary and involuntary movements

Sympathetic mode

Fight or flight response

Parasympathetic mode

Rest and digest

Endocrine system

Sends molecules as messages through bloodstream (hormones) that go to various glands

Label these!

1. Cell body

2. Nucleus

3. Dendrites

4. Axon

5. Terminal of the axon

6. Myelin sheath

Cerebellum

“Little brain” helps coordinate voluntary movement, also enables nonverbal learning, judgement of time, memory

Medulla

Controls the most basic functions such as breathing and heartbeat

Pons

Coordinate automatic and unconscious movements

Reticular Formation

Nerve network in the brainstem that enables alertness, arousal from coma to wide awake

Thalamus

“inner chamber” all sensory messages go through this

Hypothalamus

Governs bodily maitnence

Amygdala

Neuron clusters that enable aggression and fear

Hippocampus

Holds conscious, explicit memories

Corpus collosum

Axon fibers connecting the two cerebral hemispheres

Motor cortex

Stimulating this region in the right or left will cause movement on the opposite

Somatosensory

Recieves information from skin senses

Visual cortex

Recieve. segement, and integrate visual info.

Auditory cortex

Processing auditory information

Lobes of the brain

1. Frontal

2. Parietal

3. Temporal

4. Occipital

Functions of frontal lobe

Speaking, problem solving, muscle movements, making plans and judgement

Functions of parietal lobe

Includes the sensory cortex, controls touch, sensory and perception

Functions of the temporal lobe

The auditory processing areas

Functions of the occipital lobe

Visual areas, recieve visual information from the opposite visual field

What the Phineas Gage incident helps us understand:

Frontal lobe damage changes personality completely

What happens if the motor cortex is damaged?

Paralysis of some kind

What parts of the brain, if injured would cause death?

Medulla - we would be incapable of basic human functions

Consciousness

Our subjective awareness of ourselves and our environment

What 2 things make up consciousness

1. Awareness of self

2. Awareness of environment

Hypnosis

Altered state of consciousness

Cognitive neuroscience

Brain activity linked with mental processes

Etymology

The study of the origin and history of words, including their meanings and changes over time.

Selective attention

Where our awareness focuses

Inattentional blindness

Focusing on only one thing

Change blindness

Phenomenon where individuals fail to notice significant changes in their visual environment

Parallel processing

Your mind taking care of routine business

Sequential processing

A cognitive process that involves completing tasks in a step-by-step manner, following a specific order.

Flashcard: Brain Plasticity

The brain's ability to change and adapt by forming new neural connections throughout life, allowing for learning, memory, and recovery from injury.

Psychology

scientific study of behavior and mental processes

Goal of psychology

describe, predict, and explain behavior

Socrates & Plato

dualism: mind (soul) is separate from the body, ideas thought
and traits are inborn (character/intelligence), knowledge is innate (nature>nurture)

Aristotle

monism: mind (soul) and body are connected / cannot exist separately, knowledge grows from observations and memories (nurture>nature)

Rene Descartes

Dissected animals, observations = key tool, mind is the same as the soul but mind and body are separate entities, mind = non-physical substance

Francis Bacon

father of scientific method, incorporated experiments and research into psychological findings especially how we notice / remember things, compared objects

John Locke

mind at birth is a blank slate, all ideas from experience (nurture), father of empiricism

Empiricism

knowledge originates in experience

Wilhelm Wundt

father of psychology, first to use experimental psychology, opened psych only lab, mental map: physical - chemistry - biology - psychology - philosophy, sensations / apperceptions

Edward Titchener

first US psychologist, structuralism, introspection

Structuralism

what exists

Introspection

sit down and think about it

William James

sought to identify how the mind and consciousness worked, what is the purpose / practical applications to life, interested in how humans function adapt flourish and survive, functionalism

Functionalism

how we function

Sigmund Freud

developed the 1st comprehensive theory of personality, gained his understanding of human behavior simply through non-scientific consultations with patients. Sexual in nature - dreams. Stress and early childhood (unconscious forces) highly influence behavior

Ivan Pavlov

classic conditioning-simple behaviorism, use of dogs in research, Russian psychologist

Jean Piaget

swiss scientist, observed children and attempted to explain how children reason through various stages of life

John Watson & B.F. Skinner

behaviorists, observed and measured people's behavior as they respond to different surroundings. Definition changes: psychology is the scientific study of observable behavior very strict definition, introspection to the trash

Carl Rogers & Abraham Maslow

1960's humanists, stresses self-fulfillment and worth, focused on ways that current environments nurture or limit growth potential and the importance of love / acceptance satisfied, high level of free will, people are basically good and capable of perfection (self actualization)

Psychology's 3 main levels of analysis

biological, psychological, social-cultural --> biopsychosocial

Biological*

focuses on the brain and nervous system - anatomy. neuroscience structure, function, development, genetics, biochemistry of the nervous system

BUZZ WORDS: chemicals, medication, physical causes, genetics, hormones, brain chemistry

Evolutionary

evolutionary theory to all behavior and mental processes --> chances to ancestral environments. Ex: global warming causes people to have darker eye color which helps see at night.

BUZZ WORDS: evolved, higher being, higher order, adaptation, survive (nature)

Charles Darwin

Psychodynamic

unconscious thoughts and conflicts between internal drives and society. Early family experiences influence behavior, thought, and emotion

BUZZ WORDS: unconscious, guilt, conflict, repression, denial, anal retentive

Sigmund Freud, Erik Erikson, Alfred Adler

Behavioral*

humans are the products of learning and associations (nurture). Role of heredity is greatly deemphasized as is mental processes

BUZZ WORDS: rewards, punishments, learned habits, training-conditions

John Watson, B.F. Skinner, Albert Bandura

cognitive*

mental process involved in how we direct our attention, perceive, remember, think, and solve problems. input vs output --> we take info from the environment

BUZZ WORDS: cognitive therapy, thinking, irrational thinking

Piaget

humanistic

positive human qualities, capacity for self-actualization, free will. people are inherently good in nature, we can reach perfection

BUZZ WORDS: inner world, self, personal growth, free choice, free will, understanding life events

Carl Rodgers, Abraham Masslow

sociocultural*

social and cultural environments influence behavior and mental processes --> societal influeces,, pressures, ethnicity, race, religion. Studies differences in ethnic and cultural groups in a country.

BUZZ WORDS: setting, society, situations, groups, race, culture, gender, religion, peer pressure

Behavior Genetics

study of the effects of heredity on behavior. To what extent are abilities, personalities, sexual orientations, sociability, psychological disorder determined by genes from our parents?

Neuroplastiity

the brains ability to repair itself

Neurons

Individual cells in the nervous system that receive, integrate, and transmit information.

Cell body

the cells life-support center

Dendrite

receive messages from other cells

Axon

passes messages away from the cell body to other neurons, muscles, or glands