PSY 1010 EXAM 1 OHIO UNIVERSITY

Psychology

the scientific study of Human Behavior and Mental Processes

Behavior

Actions that can be directly observed

Mental Processes

Private, internal experiences

Science

The use of systematic methods to observe the natural world. Psychology is a field of science.

Critical Thinking

Thinking deeply, evaluating, asking questions

Curiosity

Open mind and imagination

Skepticism

Asking questions, challenging facts

Objectivity

Seeing thing as they really are, not as what you want them

Psychology is a young science

135 years old

Biological Approach

Focuses on the body, especially the brain and nervous system.

Behavioral Approach

Focuses on observable behavior

how behavior is influenced by learning and the environment

Psychodynamic Approach

Focuses on unconscious thought. The conflict between biological drives and societal demands, and early childhood family experiences.

Humanistic Approach

Focuses on freedom, positive qualities and personal growth. (pyramid)

Cognitive Approach

Focuses on mental processes

ex: Perception, memory, thought, problem solving, decision making.

Evolutionary Approach

Uses evolutionary ideas to explain certain human behavior and mental processes

Charles Darwin

founding father of the theory evolution

Natural Selection

Process by which organisms that are best adapted to their environment will survive and produce offspring.

Sociocultural Approach

Focuses on the influence of other people and culture on human behavior and mental processes.

Variables

Anything that can change (vary) in the study

Steps of a research method

1. Observe some phenomenon and ask a question

2. Literature Search

3. Formulate Hypothesis

4. Test through Empirical Research

Operational Definition

An object description of how a variable is going to be measured and observed in a particular study.

Nervous System

the network of nerve cells and fibers that transmits nerve impulses between parts of the body.

Neurons

The basic cell that makes up the nervous system

Receives and sends messages within the nervous system

receives a message from a previous neuron and passes along the message to the next neuron.

Glial

Provides support to the neurons.

90% of brain cells are glial cells; the other 10% are neurons

Soma (cell body)

Contains the nucleus

Keeps the entire cell alive and functioning

The Nucleus

directs the manufacture of substances that the neuron needs to grow and survive

Dendrites

branchlike structures that project from the cell body

Receive info/messages from other neurons and delivers them toward the cell body

Axon

Long part of the neuron

Carries information from the cell body toward other neurons.

Myelin sheath

Fatty substance that insulates the axon.

Speeds up the transmission of a nerve impulse.

Think of the myelin sheath as a highway. Keeps everything moving fast and smoothly

ions

inside and outside of the axon.

Some ions (sodium and potassium) have positive charges.

Others (chloride) have negative charges.

Neural Impulse

When the neuron is not transmitting a message, it's ion channels are closed and it is polarized.

This means there are more negatively charged ions inside the axon and more positively charged ions outside the axon.

Resting Potential

This is the stable, negative charge of the neuron when not firing a neural impulse.

When a neuron receives a message from another neuron

Voltage is raised.

Ion channels are opened.

Once the ion channels are open, the cell becomes

depolarized

action potential

the brief wave of positive electrical charge that sweeps down the axon.

When the action potential occurs, the neuron is said to be "firing'

do not vary in intensity - either fires completely or does not fire

All or nothing principle

action potential occurs or it doesn't - it does not vary in strength; also the intensity / strength does not weaken as it travels down the axon.

This is how neurons communicate with one another

A neuron receives a message or impulse from another neuron

It "fires" it's message down the axon to the next neuron

Positive ions

It returns to its resting potential

Negative ions

synapse (synaptic gap

the space between the axon of one neuron and the dendrites of another

Neurotransmitters

The chemicals which neurons use to communicate across the synaptic gap.

Two Types of Neurotransmitters

Excitatory: Stimulate other neurons to fire

Inhibitory: Prevent other neurons from firing

When an impulse reaches the terminal button at the end of an axon, it triggers the release

neurotransmitters

How Neurons communicate

A neuron receives neurotransmitters from another neuron.

This results in an impulse that, if strong enough, causes an action potential

Or in the case of inhibitory neurotransmitters, it prevents an action potential from occurring.

This action potential travels down the axon, which causes a release of neurotransmitters into the synaptic gap where it attaches to the next neuron.

NeoCortex

The outermost part of the cerebral cortex

Newest part of the cerebral cortex

Highest level thinking

In mammals, positive correlation between the size of neocortex and size of a species' social group.

Cerebral Cortex

divided into the left and right hemispheres.

Each hemisphere is divided into four lobes.

Corpus callosum

A large bundle (80 million) of axons that connect the right and left hemispheres.

Responsible for relaying information between the two hemispheres

The right hemisphere receives information from the ___ side of the body

left

The left hemisphere receives information from the ____ side of the body.

right

Occipital lobe

Located at the back of the head

The visual center

Temporal lobe

Located above the ears

Responsible for the sense of hearing, meaningful speech, and long-term memory

Parietal Lobe

Located at the top-rear of the head

Involved in spatial location, attention, and motor control

Frontal lobe

Located behind the forehead

Involved in personality, intelligence, and control of voluntary muscles

Prefrontal cortex

Located in the front of the frontal lobe

An executive control system

Involved in planning, reasoning, and self-control

Somatosensory Cortex

Processes info about body sensations.

Front of parietal lobe

Motor Cortex

Processes info about voluntary movement.

Rear of frontal lobe

Genes

Units of hereditary information

Short segments of chromosomes composed of DNA.

Genes interact with the environment to produce various physical and psychological characteristics

Twins

Fraternal twins raised together

Share 50% genes; same environment

Identical twins raised together

Share 100% genes; same environment

Identical twins raised apart

Share 100% genes; different environment

Sensation

The process that occurs when special receptors in the sense organs are activated.

I.e., the eyes, ears, nose, skin, and taste buds

Sensory receptors

Specialized cells that detect stimulus information and transmit it to sensory (afferent) nerves and the brain.

Perception

The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information so that it makes sense.

Purpose of Sensation & Perception

Organisms need to sense and respond quickly and accurately to events in the environment;

Being able to do so improves one's chances of survival.

Vision

Photoreception:

detection of light

Hearing

Mechanoreception:

detection of vibration

Touch

Mechanoreception:

detection of pressure

Smell

Chemoreception:

detection of chemical stimuli

Taste

Chemoreception:

detection of chemical stimuli

Absolute threshold

The minimum amount of stimulus energy that a person can detect 50% of the time

Stimulus

anything that evokes a psychological response

Difference Threshold A.K.A. Just Noticeable Difference (JND

The degree of difference that must exist before the difference is detected 50% of the time.

E.g., How big of a difference in weight does there have to be between two hand weights before you can tell a difference?

At low levels of a stimulus (e.g. quite room) JND will be very small

At high levels of a stimulus (e.g. loud room) JND will be much larger

E.g., adding 1 candle to 2 candles can produce a JND...

Whereas adding 1 candle to 120 cannot

Change blindness

Inability to spot changes in our visual field.

Noise

Irrelevant and competing stimuli

I.e., "background noise"

Can influence your thresholds

More noise = less likely to detect a stimulus

Subliminal Perception

The detection of information without conscious awareness.

You don't know that you are perceiving it.

Can't make you do anything you wouldn't already do

Just activates existing concepts in your mind

Selective attention

Focusing on one aspect of a stimulus while ignoring others.

Cocktail party effect

focusing on some voices and ignoring others

Inattentional blindness

The failure to detect other events while engaged by a task

E.g., The invisible gorilla experiment

Stroop Effect

Automatically reading a color name makes it difficult to name the ink color.

Failure of

Sensory adaptation

A change in responsiveness of the sensory systems based on the average level of surrounding stimulation.

ex: eyes in a dark room

Cornea

A clear membrane that covers the surface of the eye.

It protects the eyes and bends light waves so the image can be focused on the retina.

Pupil

A hole in the eye / iris.

Lens:

Transparent, flexible, disk-like structure.

Finishes the focusing process on to the retina.

Changes its shape (from thick to thin) enabling it to focus on objects that are close or far away

Retina

Back of the eye

Contains the fovea

Tiny area in the center that processes detailed vision

photoreceptor cells

Rods and cones

Rods

sensitive to light/ dark, shape and movement

Cones

color perception

Fovea

vision is best in this area. It contains only cones

Rods and Cones convert light into

neural impulses.

Then they are transmitted to the bipolar cells.

Then, they are transmitted to the ganglion cells, which form the optic nerve.

Optic Nerve

Carries the impulse to the brain for perception.

Leaves the eyes through the blind spot

The area on the retina that has no rods

Information from the left visual field is processed in the side ___ of the brain and vice versa.

right

The right half of each retina is processed in the right side of the

occipital lobe (visual cortex).

The left halves of the retinas are processed in the left side of the

occipital lobe

Depth Perception

The ability to perceive the world in three dimensions.

Binocular cues

Cues for perceiving depth that require both eyes.

Binocular disparity

Because our eyes are a few inches apart, they don't see the exact same image

The more similar the two images appear to both eyes, the closer the object is.

Convergence

a muscular cue

We have to rotate our eyes in their socket for objects that are close.

We use the degree of rotation ("convergence") to know how close or far away objects are.

Monocular cues

Cues for perceiving depth that require one eye.

Familiar size

We know how big objects are from experience.

If a large object appears smaller we know it's far away

Overlap

When one object blocks another object we assume that the blocked object is behind the first one.

Texture gradient

The tendency for textured surfaces to appear to become smaller and finer as distance from the viewer increases

People organize their perception according to certain _____

Patterns

Figure - Ground Principle

The tendency to perceive objects or figures as existing on a background

Reversible figures

Visual illusions in which the figure and the ground can be reversed