Psych 100 Test #1

Psychology

The scientific study of mental processes and behavior (why people think and act as they do)

Psychological Domains

Biological, Cognitive, Developmental, Social + Personality, Mental + Physical Health

individual differences

variations among people on physical/psychological dimensions

anchoring bias

tendency to give greater weight to initial information and to not sufficiently adjust our thinking after receiving additional information

data

any information collected through formal observation/measurement

self-serving bias

the tendency to interpret events in a way that assigns credit for success to oneself but denies one’s responsibility for failure which is blamed on external factors

scientific method

a systematic, five-step process used to observe behavior, test predictions, and gather objective data

Law

Principles that are so general that they apply to all situations in a given domain of study

theory

an integrated set of principles that explains and predicts many observed relationships within a particular area

good theories have:

1. organization

2. parsimony (simplest possible account of observations)

3. falsifiability (can be put to the test)

research hypothesis

specific/falsifiable prediction about relationship between or among 2 or more variables

variable

any attribute that can assume different values among different people or across different times/places

operational definition

precise statement of how a variable is measured for a particular study (i.e. variable = aggression, op. def. = # of seconds taken to honk @ care ahead after stoplight turns green)

deception

whenever research participants aren’t completely and fully informed about the nature of the research project before participating in it

Independent variable

predator variable, what we think is CAUSING the dependent variable

dependent variable

outcome variable, the variable we are interested in predicting

informed consent

before a participant begins research session, designed to explain research procedure and inform participants of their rights during the study

debriefing

fully explains the purposes and procedures of research, removes harmful after effects of participation

objective

free from personal bias or emotions of the scientist

empirical

based on systematic collection and analysis of data

peer review

process where research articles submitted for publication are reviewed, often anonymously, by others doing research in the same area

research articles are made up of…

1. abstract (short summary)

2. introduction (background + explanation of what they’re testing)

3. method (how it was conducted)

4. results (explanation of statistics)

5. discussion (summary, in greater detail, of study and findings)

6. reference (every source used)

descriptive (research method)

to observe and record behavior

• naturalistic observations/case studies/surveys

• weakness: no control of variables

correlational research method

to detect naturally occurring relationships; to assess how well one variable predicts another

• collect data on two or more variables, no manipulation

• weakness: cannot specify cause and effect

experimental research method

to explore cause and effect

• manipulate one of more factors; use random assignment

• weakness: sometimes not feasible; results may not generalize to other contexts; not ethical to manipulate certain variables

quantitative

numerical measurements

qualitative

narrative descriptions

case study

in depth investigation of a single individual, family, event, etc.

convenience sampling

any process for selecting a sample of individuals or cases that is neither random nor systematic, governed by chance/ready availability

naturalistic observation

research that relies on observation of everyday events

Hawthorne Effect

a person’s change in behavior when they know they’re being observed

correlation research

measurement of two or more variables and an assessment of the relationship between or among those variables

What is correlation?

the extent to which one variable is related to and predicts another

• correlation coefficient (-1 to 1) determines the strength of the correlation, the closer to 1 the |correlation coefficient| is, the stronger it is

third variable

variable that has an effect on both measured variables and thus produces observed correlation between them

experiment

one or more variables are manipulated, effects of that manipulation are observed on one or more measured variables

random assignment

each participant will be randomly assigned to a condition

SIFT test

stop, investigate, find, and trace

• use when we hear of new research

nervous system

a collection of billions of specialized and interconnected cells through which messages are sent between the brain and the rest of the body

central nervous system

the brain and spinal chord

peripheral nervous system

portion of the nervous system that lies outside the brain and spinal chord

endocrine system

chemical regulator of the body that consists of glands that secrete hormones

neuron

a cell in the nervous system whose function it is to receive and transmit information

motor neurons

neurons that send signals from the brain to the muscles

sensory neurons

neurons that send signals from the body to the brain

interneurons

transfer signals between sensory and motor neurons as well as communicate with other interneurons

cell body

part of neuron, AKA soma, contains nucleus of the cell

dendrites

part of neuron, collect information from other cells and send information the the cell body

axon

part of neuron, transmits information away from the cell body towards other neurons or ot the muscles and glands

myelin sheath

part of neuron, a layer of fatty tissue surrounding the axon of a neuron that allows faster transmission of the electrical signal

axon terminals (AKA terminal buttons)

part of neuron, how axons branch out towards their ends

neurotransmitters

chemical messengers that allow neurons to communicate with each other into the synapse

synapse

space between the axon terminal of one neuron and the dendrite of another

reuptake

process in which neurotransmitters that are in the synapse are carried by transporters back into the transmitting axon terminal, ready to again be released after the neuron fires

agonist

a drug that has chemical properties similar to particular neurotransmitter and thus mimics the effects of the neurotransmitter

antagonist

a drug that reduces or stops the normal effects of a neurotransmitter

reuptake inhibitors

a drug that works by blocking the reuptake of the neurotransmitter itself

enzyme inhibitors

a drug that stops certain enzymes from breaking down any neurotransmitter left in the synapse

examples of neurotransmitters include…

dopamine, endorphins, seratonin, etc.

the placebo effect

expectations of receiving a treatment make us feel better/make us experience side effects

experimenter bias

researcher’s expectations of how a participant should feel/behave can inadvertantly influence how the participant feels/behaves

double blind study

when both participants and researchers are blind to the conditions

randomized control trial

participants are randomly assigned to the levels of the independent variable (treatment or placebo) and participants/researchers are blind to the conditions

neural networks

groups of neurons that connect regions of the brain

brainstem

the most autonomous and innermost region of the brain, serving basic life functions like physiological arousal and breathing

medulla

an area of the brainstem that controls heart rate and breathing

pons

a structure in the brainstem that helps control movements of the body

• important for balance and walking

reticular formation

part of the brainstem, runs through the medulla and pons, long/narrow network of neurons, filters out stimuli coming to the brain and relays the remainder of signals to other areas of the brain

thalamus

relay station filtering information between the brain and the body

• every sensory system (besides smell) has a location here (receives/processes/sends info to the cerebral cortex)

cerebellum

two wrinkled ovals behind brainstem, coordinates voluntary movement + balance

• important for learning/remembering skills w/ movement

limbic system

a brain area located between the brainstem and 2 cerebral hemispheres, governs emotion + memory (INCLUDES amygdala, hypothalamus, and hippocampus)

hypothalamus

controls the pituitary gland, so it controls the endocrine system

hippocampus

important for storing information in long-term memory about what/when/where something happened

cerebral cortex

for high cognitive functions, like planning, perception, and language

frontal lobes

of cerebral cortex, perform critical functions (i.e. taste, judgment, planning, organizing, and controlling our emotions)

motor cortex

responsible for voluntary muscle movement

parietal lobes

part of cerebral cortex, allows us to participate in somatosensory activities (i.e. discrimination of size, shape, color of objects, visual activities, auditory activities)

somatosensory cortex

area responsible for sense of touch

occipital lobes

back of brain, important for vision (detecting color, shapes, motion, and reading)

temporal lobes

sides of brain, play role in auditory perception, speech, and complex visual perceptions

neuroplasticity

the brain's ability to change its structure/function in response to experience or damage

brain lateralization

the idea that left and right hemispheres of the brain are specialized to completely different functions

corpus callosum

region that connects the two halves of the brain and supports communication between hemispheres

neurogenesis

the formation of new neurons

stem cells

undifferentiated cells that can divide and turn into many different specialized cells (i.e. muscle, blood, or brain cells)

electroencephalography (EEG)

technique that records electrical activity produced by the brain’s neurons through the use of electrodes that are places around the participant’s head

functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI)

type of brain scan that uses a magnetic field to create images of the brain’s activity in each brain area

nerves

bundles of interconnected neurons that fire together to carry messages

central nervous system

the brain and spinal chord (major controller of the body’s function)

spinal chord

long, thin, tubular bundles of nerves and supporting cells that extends down from the brain

reflex

involuntary and nearly instantaneous movement in response to stimuli

peripheral nervous system

links central nervous system to the body’s sense receptors, muscles, and glands

somatic nervous system

the part of your peripheral nervous system that handles voluntary body movements and processes sensory information (organs + skeletal muscles)

autonomic nervous system

division of peripheral nervous system responsible for regulating activity of internal organs

sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system

responsible for mobilizing the body’s energy and resources during times of stress and arousal

parasympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system

concerned with the conservation of the body’s energy and resources during relaxed states

homeostasis

natural balance in the body’s systems

gland

a group of cells that function to secrete hormones

hormone

chemical that moves through the bloodstream to help regulate emotions and behaviors

pituitary gland

pea-sized gland near center of brain, controlled by hypothalamus

• secretes different hormones that regulate the activity of other endocrine organs throughout the body