PSY 10000 Notre Dame Exam 1

psychology

study of mind, brain, and behavior

mind

thoughts, feelings, perceptions

behavior

observable actions of human beings

brain

physical body part that thinks

nativism

view that certain kinds of knowledge are innate or inborn (nature)

empiricism

view that knowledge comes from experience

animism

view that we have a life-giving spirit

tabula rasa

blank slate (empiricism)

Aristotle

empiricism philosopher

Plato

nativism philosopher

Rene Decartes

believed body=material/physical, mind=spiritual, animals have no soul, thought from pineal gland

dualism

how mental activity can be reconciled and coordinated w/ physical behavior

Thomas Hobbes

mind and body are one, mind tells brain

Franz Joseph Gill

developed phrenology

phrenology

bumpology, parts of brain get bigger when you use them

Marie Jean Pierre Flourens

experimental ablation, observed differences in behavior after removing parts of brain

experimental ablation

removing parts of brain for experiment

Paul Broca

linked mind with physical brain, observed that damage to specific parts of brain impacted specific mental function

materialism

mind is product of brain

physiology

study of biological processes

Helmholtz

measured time taken for nerve impulses to reach brain

stimulus

sensory input from environment

reaction time

time taken to respond to stimulus

Wundt

first psychologist and lab in 1879 in Leipzig, Germany, structuralism, introspection

structuralism

understand structure of mental processes

Titchener

identified basic elements of consciousness/thought

flaws with structuralism

difficult to interpret results, cannot replicate introspection

functionalism

understanding the function that mental processes served

William James

functionalism, drew from Darwin

functionalism from Darwin's natural selection

development of mental process was favored, behavior influences selection

G. Stanley Hall

believed childhood development showed how humans evolved

hysteria

temporary loss of cognitive or motor functions, usually as a result of emotionally upsetting experiences

Freud

theorized most patients suffered from lost painful childhood memories

unconscious

part of mind that operates outside of conscious awareness but influences conscious thoughts

psychoanalytic theory

approach that emphasizes the importance of unconscious mental processes in shaping thoughts

psychoanalysis

bringing unconscious material into conscious awareness to better understand psychological disorders

humanistic psychology

approach to understanding human nature that emphasizes the positive potential of human beings

behaviorism

advocated that psychologists restrict themselves to the scientific study of objectively observable behavior

Maslow

developed hierarchy of needs

response

action or psychological change elicited by a stimulus

Pavlov

classical conditioning, noticed dogs salivated when they saw food/feeder person, environment influences behavior

Skinner

developed theory of operant conditioning, don't have free will, many causes for actions

Skinner Box

rat in box, repeatedly pressed button for food

Gestalt psychology

the whole brain is different from sum of parts

levels of psychology

social, individual, biological

cognitive psychology

study of internal mental processes

neuroscience

studies how physical brain impacts mental processes

psychologist

specialist of the mind, PsyD or PhD, therapists

psychiatrist

medical doctor who has specialized in treating psychological disorders, MD or DO

applied psychology

clinical/counseling, education, industrial/organizational

research psychology

cognition, neuroscience, quantitative, social/personality, developmental, evolutionary

dogmatism

people's tendency to cling to their assumptions

scientific method

procedure for finding facts by using empirical evidence (purpose, research, hypothesis, experiment, analysis, conclusion)

theory

hypothetical explanation of natural pheonomenon

rule of parsimony

simplest theory is usually best

hypothesis

falsifiable prediction made by a theory, lack of support puts theory into question

empirical method

set of rules and techniques for observation

operational definition

description of a property in concrete, measurable terms

instrument

anything that can detect the condition to which an operational definition refers

reliability

tendency of a test to produce same measurement when testing same thing

demand characteristics

aspects of an observational setting that cause people to behave as they think someone else wants or expects

confirmation bias

tendency to search for information that confirms one's preconceptions

single-blind study

study in which the subjects do not know if they are in the experimental or the control group

naturalistic observation

technique for gathering scientific information by unobtrusively observing people in their natural environments

cover stories

misleading explanations that are meant to keep people from discerning the true purpose of the observations

filler items

pointless measurements that are designed to mislead about the true purpose of the study

double-blind observation

observation whose true purpose is hidden from both observer and observed

matched samples technique

participants in two groups are identical in terms of a third variable

external validity

attribute of an experiment in which variables have been defined in a normal, typical, realistic way to apply outside of experiment

case method

gathering scientific info by studying a single individual

debriefing

verbal description of true nature and purpose of study

experiment

draws causal inferences through manipulation of variables and measurement of effect

correlation study

implies relationship

descriptive research

case studies, observational studies, surveys

case study

observes single case, potentially insightful or very misleading

observational study

study in which data is recorded over time, not directly manipulating

Mozart effect

research showed that Mozart music lead to higher test results, but it was not a replicable study

ethics in research

consent, rights, choice, right to withdraw/withhold response, debriefing, no needless harm/coercion, protect vulnerable, privacy, confidential

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

committee of administrators, scientists, and community members that reviews proposals for research involving human participants

validity

variable measures what you want to study, and the study can be applied to world

stability

tool used to measure is consistent

replicability

able to reproduce and get similar pattern

descriptive statistics

central tendency, variability

inferential statistics

evaluates how likely the results would be true to the population

Type I error

rejecting a true null hypothesis

Type II error

failing to reject a false null hypothesis

power

probability that one will not have a Type II error, made higher by larger sample size and lower standard deviation

neuron

cell in nervous system that communicates w/each other to perform information-processing tasks (cell body, dendrites, axon)

cell body (soma)

coordinates info-processing tasks and keeps cell alive, nucleus, protein synthesis, energy, metabolism

dendrites

receive info from other neurons and relay it to cell body, branches

axon

carries info to other neurons/muscles/glands

myelin sheath

insulating layer of fatty material on axon to speed up signals

glial cell

support cells in nervous system

demyelinating diseases

slows signals, multiple sclerosis

Nodes of Ranvier

gaps in myelin sheath, uses saltutory conduction, letting information jump through gaps

synapse

junction between axon of one neuron and dendrites

sensory neuron

receive info from external world and tell brain via spine, afferent

motor neuron

from spine to muscles to produce movement or to glands, efferent

interneurons

connect neurons, makes up most of system

Purkinje cells

info from cerebellum to brain spine, dense dendrites