AP PSYCH S1 FINAL EXAM

Psychology

study of behavior and mental process

Positive psychology

focus on good things/what makes life worth living (opposite of Froid)

Developmental psychologists

lifetime of changes: study anything and everything that happens

Clinical psychologists

research/studies

Counseling psychologists

receives patients

Community psychology

prevention of disorders

Health psychologists

general wellbeing of people, could look at stress

Industrial/Organizational psychologists

workplace management

Environmental psychologists

everything around us, your setting

Biological approach

assumes that behavior and mental processes are largely shaped by biological processes

Evolutionary approach

assumes that the behavior and mental processes of animals and humans today are also the result of evolution through natural selection

Psychodynamic/Psychoanalytic approach

A view developed by Freud that emphasizes the interplay of unconscious mental processes in determining human thought, feelings, and behavior

Behavioral approach

assumes that behavior and mental processes are largely shaped by biological processes (hormones and chemicals)

Cognitive approach

focuses on how we take in, mentally represent, and store information; how we perceive and process that information; and how all these cognitive processes affect our behavior

Humanistic approach

approach: see behavior as determined primarily by each person’s capacity to choose how to think and act

Sociocultural/Social-cultural approach

Social identity and other background factors, such as gender, ethnicity, social class, and culture

Eclectic approach

various approaches to treat people

Empiricism/Empirical Approach

guide for psychology through the scientific method – took psychology out of philosophy

Nature

genetics

Nurture

environment

Basic Research

knowledge based (not fixing a problem)

Applied Research

you’re going to do something with the research

Hypothesis

prediction/guess (could be wrong)

Operational definition

must define things specifically and cannot be up to interpretation

Naturalistic observation

observe in its natural environment cannot interfere only observe, hard to replicate so things happen normally but it’s hard to not be seen or disturb environment

Case studies

an in-depth investigation for something new or rare (positive) but it might not be representative of the population

Experimental group

gets the treatment/what you’re testing

Control group

baseline; status quo

Independent variable

(IV) controlled/manipulated

Dependent variable

(DV) measured – end result

Double-Blind design

researcher and experimenter know nothing, 3rd party does (ideal)

Random Sample

everyone in the population had an equal chance of being selected (large population is worse)

Representative sample

people selected is a good mix

Random assignment

everyone in the sample can be assigned either group, experimental or control group – equal chance regardless of amount in group

Standard deviation (SD)

the greater the range, the greater the SD, greater the SD the more variability (CONSITANCY)

Positive correlation

variables are going in the same direction

negative correlation

variable is going in the opposite direction

Illusory Correlation

correlation doesn’t exist (superstitions, stereotypes)

Correlation coefficient

strengths and direction (+1.0 to -1.0)

Statistically significant

results did not come by chance; results mean something

Debrief / debriefing

occurs at the end; doesn’t always happen, you have to let the participants know that they were lied to

Neuron

basic building block of the nervous system; releases neurotransmitters

Peripheral nervous system

parts of the nervous system not housed in bone

Somatic nervous system

control voluntary movements (motor)

Autonomic nervous system

automatic movements 

Sympathetic nervous system

gets body ready to go “fight or flight”

Parasympathetic nervous system

Parasympathetic nervous system: after sympathetic nervous system and calms you down

Central nervous system

The parts of the nervous system encased in bone; specifically, the brain and the spinal cord.

EEG

(electroencephalograph) skull cap that measures the electrical activity in the brain – simplifies what happening in the brain (used for coma patients, sleep studies, or other brain injuries) 

MRI

(magnetic resonance imaging) similar machine to CAT scan but you get a more detailed photo of everything because the brain is exposed to a magnetic field

Medulla

located in the hindbrain and controls blood pressure, heart rate, breathing, and other vital functions

Cerebellum

part of hindbrain that controls coordination of movements, storehouse for well-rehearsed movements, memory, impulse controls, pain, emotion, language, telling time, etc. 

Amygdala

structure in forebrain that associates feature of stimuli from 2 different senses, shape and feel objects in memory, involved in fear and other emotions, can influence our sensitivity to other people and the strength of our reactions to their facial expressions 

Hypothalamus

part of forebrain that is under the thalamus, is involved in regulating hunger, thirst, and sex drive

Frontal lobe

biggest and most complex part of the brain and controls speech (left hemisphere), personality and decision making (left hemisphere), and muscle movement

Parietal lobe

sense of touch and body position

Temporal lobe

hearing, facial recognition, memory

Occipital lobe

vision

Acetylcholine

a neurotransmitter that is used by the parasympathetic system (slows heartbeat and activate digestive system, important for movement and memory; lack of can lead to Alzheimer’s Disease

Serotonin

neurotransmitter that is involved with mood, appetite, and impulsivity; not enough can lead to depression 

Dopamine

helps with movements and makes you happy (reward neurotransmitter); has nothing to do with depression (__TOO MUCH__ – can develop schizophrenia; __NOT ENOUGH__ – can cause Parkinson’s Disease) 

Sensations

messages from the sense that affects many kinds of behavior and metal processes

Transduction

the process of converting incoming energy into neural activity

Sensory Adaptation

process through which responsiveness to an unchanging stimulus decreases over time.

Coding / encoding

the translation of physical properties of a stimulus into a pattern of nerve cell activity that specifically identifies those properties

Tympanic membrane

eardrum (accessory structure)

Conduction/Conductive Deafness

hole/tear in eardrum, fluid buildup or blockage in middle ear, ossicles are not working like they should

Nerve Deafness/Sensorineural hearing loss

transduction issue; hair cells in the cochlea are damaged (as we get older or extended exposure to loud noise)

Place theory

(higher pitched frequency) hair cells at a particular “location/spot” on the basilar membrane respond to a certain frequency of sound

Frequency matching theory / Volley Theory

(lower pitched frequency) finding rate of a neuron in the auditory nerve can “match” the frequency of sound wave

Rods

black & white/see in the dark; peripheral vision

Cones

help see color

Visual acuity

ability to see details; greatest in the fovea

Trichromatic theory (Young-Helmholtz)

we have cones that are sensitive to 3 colors (red – long wavelength, green – medium wavelength, blue – short wavelength)

Opponent Process theory

color sensitive elements are opposite; what we register is not the same color (red-green, blue-yellow, black-white)

Synesthesia

blending of the senses

Olfactory bulb

connects the limbic system

Gate control theory

Suggests that the spinal cord that either let pain travel to the brain or block it

Endorphins

Neurotransmitter that deals with pain control

Vestibular sense / sense of equilibrium

A proprioceptive sense; position of head & movement (dizziness)

Kinesthesia

Proprioceptive sense that tells you were your body parts are in respect to one another

Perception

analysis of energy

Computational model/approach

take in everything (details), (new)

Constructivist approach

take in information in bigger chunks (experience)

Ecological approach

take in very little (adapted)

Psychophysics

research that looks at physical energy and the psychological experience (research looks at sensation and perception)

Absolute threshold

smallest amount/minimum of energy needed to detect 50% or more of the time (weakest amount)

Just-noticeable difference / difference threshold

when you do notice change/difference in stimuli

Weber’s Law

weight change that is noticeable

Figure-ground discrimination

figure is your focus, everything else is background

Proximity

close together, goes together

Similarity

similar characteristics go together

Closure

fill in the gaps

Connectedness

joined together, goes together

Relative size

brain helps determine the size of something based on a comparison to another

Height in the visual field

the higher something is, the further it is

Texture gradient / gradient of texture

the more texture seen, the closer the object is

Bottom-up processing

using your senses (data) first to perceive; no experience/expectations (BABIES)

Top-Down Processing

experience/knowledge driven

Cocktail party effect

We will hear our name, certain voices you now well