E Psych Midterm 1

overconfidence effect

Definition: Overly sure of what you know.

This often leads to taking greater risks or making inaccurate judgments, as people believe they are less likely to experience negative outcomes than they actually are. Common in various contexts, including finance, sports, and personal decision-making.

confirmation bias

pay more attention to the data that supports your hypothesis

Structuralism

scientific approach that analyzes the structure of the mind to see responses to physical environment. Trying to understand how the mind processes

Functionalism

A psychological perspective focused on the function and purpose of mental processes.

Example: Understanding how fear prepares us for danger.

Clinical approach

therapeutic interventions for psychological disorders in medical settings (psychotherapy, psychiatry, clinical practice)

empirical research

based on astute observation and accurate measurement

evidence

proves whether a belief is true

evolutionary psych

Focuses on how evolution shapes behavior.

Example: Aggression might be understood as a trait that helped our ancestors survive.

cultural psych

Focuses on how culture influences behavior and mental processes. Example: Different cultural norms around family roles.

Cultural psych and evolutionary psych

used to predict broad patterns of human behavior and individual behavior

cognitive perspective

Examines mental processes such as memory, thinking, and problem-solving.

Example: Studying how people remember information.

emotional approach

how emotions influence decision making, behavior, and social relationships

emotional and cognitive psych

influenced by conscious and unconscious processes

biological-neuroscience perspective

Studies how the brain and nervous system influence behavior.

Example: Exploring how neurotransmitters impact mood.

developmental psych

how people change in behavior, cognition, emotion, etc. over the lifespan

Example: studying how children learn language

the two viewpoints for dev psych

personality: traits that affect behavior (why some people are extroverted vs introverted)

social: situations that affect behavior (how peer pressure affects decision making)

Clinical psych

causes and treatment of psychological disorder

multiple approaches to understand origin of disorders

positive psychology

based on studies of learned helplessness; studies factors that make people happy, keep them healthy, and help them manage stress

metacognition

an awareness and understanding of your own thought processes

descriptive research

measures one variable at a time; surveys/self-report, naturalistic observations, case studies

correlational research

nothing is manipulated; examine association between two or more variables

can’t tell which variable is the cause and which is the effect

third-variable problem

correlation may arise from both being influenced by some third variable

experimental research

manipulate one variable and assess effect; can infer causality

independent variable

what you maipulate

dependent variable

what you measure

ways to avoid bias

random assignment, blind and double-blind procedures

random assignment vs random sampling

RA: placing participants into different groups to ensure each group is the same from the start (helps isolate independent variable)

RS: select participants from a larger population to create a sample that represents the population and can be generalized

positive vs negative correlation

+ as one variable increases, the other increases (height and weight) r > 0

- as one variable increases, the other decreases (time spent studying and errors on a test) r < 0

r = 0 means no correlation between the two variables

meta-analysis

pool results across studies that have the same variables

statistical analysis combining the results of multiple studies

advantage: larger sample (and replication) to assess strength of a relationship

ethics in human research

autonomy (informed consent), beneficence (acting in ways that will benefit others), justice (ensuring benefits and burdens are distributed fairly amongst all groups in society)

construct validity

how well a test/assessment measures what it claims to measure

external validity

how well do results generalize beyond the study sample

internal validity

how well does a study rule out alternative explanations for a relationship between two variables

replication

repeating a study to see if its original findings can be reproduced

Autonomic Nervous System (ANS)

A part of the nervous system that operates without conscious control, consisting of two main divisions: the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems. It plays a crucial role in maintaining homeostasis and responding to stress.

digestion, heart beats

Sympathetic nervous system

fight or flight response

stress hormones secreted, eyes dilate, salvation decreases, perspiration increases, heart rate increases

overall: arousing

parasympathetic nervous system

returns body to resting state

rest and digest, stress hormones decrease, pupils contract, salvation increases, perspiration decreases, heart rate decreases

overall: calming

Somatic nervous system

voluntary; controls conscious movements- skeletal muscles

Central Nervous System

Definition: This system consists of the brain and spinal cord, serving as the main control center for processing information and coordinating responses. It plays a critical role in regulating bodily functions, emotions, and thoughts. Damage to this system can lead to significant impairments in motor skills, sensation, and cognitive abilities.

peripheral nervous system

system that connects the central nervous system to limbs and organs

This system is responsible for transmitting sensory information to the central nervous system and carrying motor commands to the muscles. It includes all the nerves outside the brain and spinal cord, divided into the somatic and autonomic nervous systems.

endocrine system

network of glands that produces and releases hormones into the bloodstream to regulate the body’s activities

cerebral cortex

higher mental functions (what makes us human)

frontal lobe

complex thought

parietal lobe

touch, map of the body’s skin surface

temporal lobe

hearing, object memory

insular lobe

taste, awareness of internal organs

occipital lobe

vision

neocortex

outermost layer-folds and wrinkles

supports complex functioning

Primary motor cortex

frontal lobe

voluntary movements

primary somatosensory cortex

parietal lobe- sense of touch

subcortical brain

emotion, motivation, and memory

limbic system

limbic system

motivation, emotion, learning, and memory

hippocampus (LS)

creating new memories and stores them indefinitely in cerebral cortex

hypothalamus (LS)

regulates body temperature and hunger

amygala

emotion regulation, particularly fear

basal ganglia

evolutionary older subcortical motor system

thalamus

relay center for senses

synesthesia

brainstem

connects to spinal cord - responsible for basic life functions (breathing, sleeping, arousal, etc)

cerebellum

Functions in motor control, coordination, balance, and posture.

left hemisphere

controls right side of body

• speech

• language

• recognition of words and numbers

right hemisphere

controls left side of body

• creativity

• emotional processing

• music

split-brain procedure

right eye covered- left hemisphere blocked

left eye covered - right hemisphere blocked

neuropsychology

examining brain function through brain damage

lesion

abnormal tissue resulting from disease, trauma, or surgical intervention

helped reveal contralateral control

animal models used to test hypotheses

dissociation

specific brain region that’s involved in only a specific function

occipital

double dissociation

gold standard in lesion studies

one area is responsible for one function but not another, and another area is responsible for another function but not the other

hearing and seeing

CT

combines a series of x-ray images

MRI

uses magnetic fields and radio waves to create images of the brain

better resolution than CT but not very specific

DTI

variations of MRI

allows researchers to assess the size and direction of the connections between brain regions

EEG

temporal (when something occurs)

recording of electrical waves from many thousands of neurons

ERP

a synchronized electrical response to an event

• averages EEG data

• helps visualize cognitive processes

• helps us visualize exactly what is happening at the moment

PET

good for which brain region is active

radioactive glucose is tracked in the brain to assess areas of mental activity

fMRI

measures brain function by tracking oxygen in the blood flow through the brain

• looks at highest level of activity in the brain where there is the most oxygenated blood

DBS

stimulating specific parts of the brain with implanted electrodes

used for OCD, clinical depression (last resort)

TMS

short, high-power electrical surge to coil

can stimulated damage to assess function

silence brain areas

neuron structure

the cell body, which contains the nucleus; dendrites, which receive signals from other cells; and an axon, which transmits impulses away from the cell body to other neurons or muscles.

action potential

rapid change in voltage created by a neuron when it is successfully stimulated to surpass a critical threshold

ways neurons communicate

electric signals

chemical signals: neurotransmission

• synapse

• neurotransmitter

• receptors

  • lock-and-key (specific)

Excitatory signals

glutamate binds to excitatory receptors and helps form long-term memories

inhibitory signal

prevents action potential (GABA)

psychoactive drugs

influence activity of neurotransmitters

agonist

mimic action of a neurotransmitter

antagonist

block neurotransmission

epigenetics

interactions between your genes and the environment regulate gene expression

behavioral genetics

study of how genetic factors influence trait variation between individuals - across a population

twin studies

allow researchers to examine relative gene/environment influence on phenotype

heritability

an indication of how much variation in phenotype across people is due to difference in genotype

• population level measure

• ranges from 0 to 1 (typical 0.3- 0.6)

neuroplasticity

the brains capacity to physiologically modify, regenerate, and reinvent itself constantly over the course of a lifetime

non associative learning

A type of learning that does not involve forming associations between stimuli

habituation

organism becomes less responsive to a repeated stimulus

• decreases response due to muscle fatigue

• adaptation of the sensory receptors

relaxed

associative learning

making connections between stimuli and behavioral responses

sensitization

organism becomes more sensitive, or responsive, to a repeated STRONG stimulus

aroused

dishabituation

recovery of a response that has undergone habituation

classical conditioning

passive form of learning- association is made between a stimulus and a voluntary response

ex: pavlov with the bell and the dogs

unconditioned stimulus (US)

stimulus that produces a reflexive response

unconditioned response

response that is automatically generated by the unconditioned stimulus

conditioned stimulus

neutral stimulus that comes to elicit a response after being associated with the unconditioned stimulus

conditioned response

a response that occurs in the presence of the conditioned stimulus after an association between the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus is learned

generilization

conditioned response is elicited by a stimulus similar to the conditioned stimulus

discrimination

conditioned response only elicited to a specific stimulus