Psych 10

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Psychology

267 Terms

1
Structuralism
  • Analyze conscious experience by breaking it down into basic elements (e.g. hydrogen + oxygen = water); Wilhelm Wundt, Edward Titchener.

  • Difficult to access subconscious aspects of cognition (3+25=28, but how do we know?)

  • Fell out of favor because of limitations.

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Psychoanalytic Theory
Explains how behavior and personality are influenced by unconscious processes.
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WERID
Tends to Western countries, Educated countries, Industrialized countries, Rich countries, and Democratic countries.
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Introspection
  • Subjective observation of one's own experience.

  • Couldn't break it down in a literal way like chemistry so they trained individuals to do introspection.

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Abraham Maslow
  • Hierarchy of need in motivating behavior.

  • So long as basic needs (e.g. food, water, shelter) were met, higher-level needs (e.g. social) would begin to motivate behavior.

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Behaviorism
Study only observable behavior; less subjective, more scientific.
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Functionalism
Purpose and function of behaviors and mental processes; influenced by Theory of Evolution.
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Humanism
  • Perspective within psychology that emphasizes the potential for good that is innate to all humans.

  • Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers.

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9
Carl Rogers
  • Therapeutic technique known as client-centered therapy in helping his clients deal with problematic issues.

  • Involves patient taking lead role vs therapist interpreting (psychoanalytic approach).

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10
Hindsight Bias
The belief that an outcome as foreseeable (after it has occurred); feeling like you knew it all along.
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11
Scientific Method
  • Helps reduce bias.

  • Helps us study the mind and behavior in an objective way.

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12
Theory
Explanation based on observations; broader.
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13
Cross-cultural Psychology
Field that draws comparisons about individuals and group behavior across culture (e.g. burning house); WEIRD.
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14
Deductive Reasoning
Ideas are tested in the real world.
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15
Dependent Variable
  • Behavior that is measured (and is expected to change as a function of change in the independent variable).

  • Often has a unit of measurement.

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16
Experimental Designs
Manipulate one variable and look at the other.
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17
Falsifiable
  • Capable of being shown to be incorrect.

  • Scientific hypothesis are falsifiable.

  • Major criticism of Freud because his are not.

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18
Gestalt Psychology
  • Although a sensory experience can be broken down into individual parts, how these parts relate to each other as a whole is often what the individual responds to in perception (e.g. melody of a song rather than the notes).

  • Would have likely directly contradicted Wundt's ideas of structuralism.

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19
Hypothesis
Prediction based on the theory; specific in how this theory applies.
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20
Independent Variable
Varied or manipulated; the influence.
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21
Inductive Reasoning
Real-world observations lead to new ideas (e.g. fruit trees).
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22
Operational Definition
  • A description of a property in concrete measurable terms.

  • Describe the variable in a way that you know and are measuring.

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23
Research
Test of the hypothesis; this test yields data.
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24
Clinical/Case Study
  • Allows researchers to have a very deep understanding of the individual(s) and the particular phenomena being studied.

  • Cannot generalize any observation to the larger population as a whole.

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25
Naturalistic Observation
  • Benefit is the validity of information collected unobtrusively in a natural setting and generalization.

  • Often difficult to set up and control.

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26
Observer Bias
Observers may unconsciously skew observation to fit research goals or explanation.
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Experimenter Bias
Possibility that a researcher's expectation might skew the results of the study.
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Reliability
The ability to consistently produce a given result.
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29
Demand Characteristics
Participants form an interpretation of the experiment's purpose and subconsciously change their behavior to fit the interpretation ; caused by experimenter or participants.
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30
Forebrain
  • Two hemispheres of the cerebral cortex; largest part of the brain.

  • Limbic system, 4 lobes, thalamus, cerebral cortex.

  • Processes sensory info, helps with reasoning and problem-solving, and regulates autonomic, endocrine, and motor functions.

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Cerebral Cortex
  • Forebrain.

  • Associated with consciousness, thoughts, emotions, reasoning, language and memory.

  • 4 lobes.

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Frontal Lobe
  • Forebrain → Cerebral Cortex.

  • Involved in reasoning, motor control, emotion, and language.

  • Motor cortex, prefrontal cortex, Broca's area.

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Motor Cortex
  • Forebrain → Cerebral Cortex → Frontal Lobe.

  • Involved in planning and coordinating movements.

  • Similar to somatosensory cortex; cortical representation of information are weighted by "importance."

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Prefrontal Cortex
  • Forebrain → Cerebral Cortex → Frontal Lobe.

  • Responsible for higher level cognitive functioning (problem solving; impulse control).

  • Develops last; not fully developed until 20-25 years of age.

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Broca's Area
  • Forebrain → Cerebral Cortex → Frontal Lobe.

  • Language production.

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36
Parietal Lobe
  • Forebrain → Cerebral Cortex.

  • Involved in sensory processing (e.g. touch information).

  • Somatosensory cortex.

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Somatosensory Cortex
  • Forebrain → Cerebral Cortex → Parietal Lobe.

  • Processes touch and sensation.

  • Cortical representations of information are weighted by "importance" (e.g. fingers/hands; lips/mouth).

  • Each different area of the cortex processes sensations from a different part of your body.

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Temporal Lobe
  • Forebrain → Cerebral Cortex.

  • Involved in auditory processing; hearing, memory, emotion, and some aspects of language.

  • Auditory cortex, Wernicke's and Broca's area.

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Auditory Cortex
  • Forebrain → Cerebral Cortex → Temporal Lobe.

  • Responsible for processing auditory information.

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40
Wernicke's Area
  • Forebrain → Cerebral Cortex → Temporal Lobe.

  • Speech comprehension.

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41
Occipital Lobe
  • Forebrain → Cerebral Cortex.

  • Involved in visual processing.

  • Primary visual cortex.

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Visual Cortex
  • Forebrain → Cerebral Cortex → Occipital Lobe.

  • Responsible for interpreting incoming visual information.

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43
Limbic System
  • Forebrain.

  • involved in emotion, motivation, and memory.

  • Hippocampus, Amygdala, Hypothalamus, Basal Ganglia.

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Hypothalamus
  • Forebrain → Limbic System.

  • "Hypo" → below.

  • Regulates 4 F's (fight, flee, feeding, mating).

  • Serves as interface between nervous and endocrine system.

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Amygdala
  • Forebrain → Limbic System.

  • Almond-shaped.

  • Emotional processes (experience of emotion; tying emotional meaning to memories).

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Hippocampus
  • Forebrain → Limbic System.

  • Critical for creating and integrating new memories.

  • Thought to be involved in memory consolidation.

  • Looks like seahorse.

  • Patient H.M.

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Patient H.M.
  • Removed hippocampus and seizures went away.

  • Could no longer make new memories.

  • Difficulty creating future memories; anterograde amnesia.

  • Unable to form new explicit memories; difficulty transferring from STM to LTM.

  • Performance improved on a mirror tracking task even though he doesn’t remember doing it.

    • Test of procedural memory.

    • Gets better at the task every day (minimizes errors) despite not remembering doing it.

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48
Basal Ganglia
  • Forebrain → Limbic System.

  • Involved in intentional movement.

  • Looks like an over the ear headphone.

  • Thought to have links to Parkinson; dopamine neurons are thought to lead to tremors.

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49
Thalamus
  • Forebrain.

  • Sensory relay for the brain; like a train station.

  • Filters and transmits from senses to the cortex.

  • All of our senses are routed through it before being directed to other areas of the brain for processing.

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50
Midbrain
  • Compromised of structures located deep within the brain, between the forebrain and hindbrain.

  • Relay station between sensory and motor areas of the brain.

  • Tegmentum and Tectum help orient in response to stimuli (e.g. hearing a loud noise and turning to the source).

  • Reticular formation.

  • Could survive without it.

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51
Reticular Formation
  • Midbrain; Hindbrain.

  • Centered in the midbrain, but extends up into the forebrain and down into hindbrain.

  • Regulates sleep, wakefulness, and arousal.

  • "RE[M]ticular."

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Hindbrain
  • Located in the back of the head and looks like an extension of the spinal.

  • Cerebellum, medulla, reticular formation, pons.

  • Helps to regulate autonomic functions, relay sensory information, coordinate movements, and maintain balance.

  • Controls information.

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Cerebellum
  • Hindbrain.

  • The "little brain."

  • Controls balance, coordination, movement, and motor skills; roadside walk-the-line test.

  • Important for processing procedural memory; learning and remembering how to perform tasks.

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Medulla
  • Hindbrain; below pons.

  • Coordinates heart rate, circulation, respiration, and respiration.

  • Without "me" medulla, "me" die.

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Pons
  • Hindbrain.

  • The "bridge" (over a pon[d]) to the cerebellum.

  • Relays information from cerebellum to the rest of the brain.

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56
Descartes
  • Argued mind and body are separate.

  • Believed the two interact in the pineal gland, because he thought it was unique to humans and there wasn't two of them, so it must've been the convergent point.

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57
Hemispheric Specialization/Contralateral Organization
  • Cerebral hemispheres connected by corpus callosum.

  • Largely symmetric, but there is some "lateralization."

  • Left hemisphere controls right side of the body and vice versa.

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58
Neuron
  • A cell that specializes in receiving information.

  • Essential for all the tasks of the nervous system.

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59
Cell Body/Soma
  • Coordinates information-processing tasks.

  • Keeps cell alive.

  • Nucleus of neuron is located in here.

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60
Dendrites
  • Receives information from other neurons and relays it to the cell body.

  • Has receptor sites where neurotransmitters can bind.

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Axon
- A major extension from the soma that signals transmit down from after being transmitted electrically across the soma.
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Synapse
  • Region between the axon of one neuron and the dendrite (or cell body) of another.

  • Where information is relayed.

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63
Mylin Sheath
  • Fatty sheath that is formed by glial cells.

  • Acts as an insulator.

  • Increases the speed at which the signal travels.

  • Not continuous as there are small gaps (nodes of ranvier).

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Action Potential
  • Electrical signal that is conducted along the length of a neuron's axon to a synapse; firing threshold of -55mv.

  • Sends information to a neuron.

  • Once you set up one channel, all the other channels in the axon will open; all-or-none phenomenon.

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Resting Potential
  • State of readiness that holds the neuron membrane's potential between signals.

  • Ions line up on either side of the cell membrane ready to rush across the membrane when the neuron goes active and opens its channels.

  • Outside "+" charged (sodium, chloride); inside "-" charged (potassium, anions).

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Depolarization
  • When stimulated sodium channels open and + ions rush in.

  • It's getting less (-de) negative.

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Repolarization
  • After the sodium gates close, potassium moves out.

  • (Re)turns to negative state.

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Transmission Across A Synapse
  • How that information is transferred from one neuron to the other.

  • Neuron signals move down to terminal buttons, where the vesicles release neurotransmitters into the synaptic cleft.

  • These transmitters are then released and bind with a receptor on a dendrite.

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Synaptic Cleft
  • Small space between neurons where communication occurs.

  • When an action potential reaches terminal buttons, it causes release of neurotransmitters into synaptic cleft.

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70
Excitatory
  • One of the two options of what a neurotransmitter can be.

  • Increase the likelihood of an action potential (by causing membrane potential to be less negative).

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Inhibitory
  • One of the tow options of what a neurotransmitter can be.

  • Decrease the likelihood of an action potential (by causing the membrane potential to be more negative).

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Strength of Sensations

Determined by:

  • Rate of firing.

  • Number of neurons stimulated.

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73
Agonist
  • Chemical that enhances or mimics the action of neurotransmitter.

  • Dopamine Agonist and Parkinson's disease.

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Antagonist
Chemical that blocks the action/normal activity of a neurotransmitter at the receptor.
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75
MRI
  • Magnetic resonance imaging.

  • Uses a powerful magnetic field to produce high-quality images of the brain and its structure.

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fMRI
  • Functional magnetic resonance imaging.

  • Used to examine changes in ongoing brain activity by measuring changes in the blood oxygen level.

  • Great for determining location (i.e. good spatial resolution); not so great at determining timing (i.e. bad temporal resolution).

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EEG
  • Electroencephalogram.

  • Can record electrical activity from large population of simultaneously active neurons at the scalp with millisecond resolution.

  • A direct measure of neural activity.

  • Good temporal resolution, but poor spatial resolution.

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Sensation
The physical processing of environmental stimuli by the sense organs.
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79
Perception
The physiological process of interpreting sensory information.
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80
Psychophysics
Methods that measure the strength of stimulus; Gustav Fechner.
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81
Absolute Threshold
The smallest amount of stimulation needed for detection by a sense 50% of the time.
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82
Just Noticeable Difference (JND)
  • The minimum difference between two stimuli needed to detect a difference between them 50% of the time.

  • The more intense the original stimulus, the larger the amount that needs to be added before you detect the difference.

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83
Top-Down Processing
When our perceptions are influenced by our expectations or by our prior knowledge.
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84
Bottom-Up Processing
Occurs when we perceive individual bits of sensory information (e.g., sounds) and use them to construct a more complex message.
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85
Signal Detection Theory

Response to stimulus depends on person's sensitivity and on a person's decision criteria:

  • Person's experience.

  • Expectations.

  • Motivations.

  • Level of Fatigue.

  • Consequences of Missing → Radiologists.

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86
Sensory Adaptation
Diminished sensitivity as a result of contact or recurring stimuli (e.g. phone in pocket, smell on bus, sound of AC).
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Selective Attention
  • Focusing on one particular task or event.

  • Intentional/Change Blindness.

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Intentional Blindness
A failure to perceive objects that are not the focus of attention.
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Change Blindness
The failure to detect changes to the visual details of a scene.
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90
Retina
  • Photoreceptors transform light into a neural signal (transduction).

  • Ganglion cells gather info from photoreceptors.

  • Messages sent to brain via optic nerve.

  • Blind spot in visual field, but brain creates rest of image.

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Fovea
The center of the retina.
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Cones
  • 6 million.

  • Center in retina.

  • Low sensitivity in dim light.

  • High color/detail sensitivity light.

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Rods
  • 120 million.

  • Periphery in retina.

  • High sensitivity in dim light.

  • Low color/detail sensitivity.

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94
Trichromatic Color Theory
  • 3 different cones each sensitive to different wavelengths of light (short, medium, long).

  • Does not explain negative afterimages.

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95
Opponent Process Theory
  • We perceive colors in terms of opposing pairs: red/green, yellow/blue, white/black.

  • Cells stimulated by red are inhibited by green — when green is no longer perceived a rebound effect occurs — the previously inhibited cells are free to fire (ganglia cells).

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Vision
  • Signal travels down optic nerve to brain.

  • Passes through thalamus.

  • Sent to primary visual cortex.

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Dorsal
  • After the visual cortex, information is routed to other cortical areas for processing.

  • "Where Pathway"

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Ventral
  • After the visual cortex, information is routed to other cortical areas for processing.

  • "What Pathway"

  • Important for face processing & object recognition.

  • Visual Agonia; Prosopagnosia.

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Visual Agnosia
Inability to recognize objects.
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Prosopagnosia
Inability to recognize familiar faces.
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