Introduction to Psychology: Foundations, Research Methods, and Biological Bases of Behaviour

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering introductory psychology, scientific thinking principles, research methodologies, statistics, ethics, and neuroanatomy/biological psychology.

Psychology

The scientific study of the mind, brain, and behaviour.

Multiply Determined

The characteristic of human psychological actions and behaviours being produced by many factors rather than a single cause.

Reciprocal Determinism

The concept that people mutually influence one another's behaviour.

Naïve Realism

The erroneous belief that we see the world precisely as it is, encapsulated by the phrase 'seeing is believing.'

Scientific Theory

An explanation for a large number of findings in the natural world that generates testable predictions.

Hypothesis

A specific, testable prediction regarding the outcome of an investigation, often emerging from a theory.

Metaphysical Claim

An assertion about the world that cannot be empirically tested, such as claims regarding the existence of God or an afterlife.

Confirmation Bias

The tendency to seek out evidence that supports a preexisting hypothesis while denying, dismissing, or distorting contradictory evidence.

Belief Perseverance

The tendency to stick to initial beliefs even in the face of contradictory evidence, colloquially known as the 'don't confuse me with the facts' bias.

Pseudoscience

A set of claims that appears scientific but lacks rigorous evidence, connectivity to broader research, and self-correction.

Patternicity

The human tendency to detect patterns among unrelated stimuli.

Pareidolia

A form of apophenia involving the perception of meaningful images or shapes in meaningless visual stimuli, such as seeing a face in burnt toast.

Terror Management Theory

A theory proposing that awareness of our inevitable mortality produces an underlying terror that individuals manage by adopting reassuring cultural worldviews.

Emotional Reasoning Fallacy

The error of using one's emotions as a guideline for evaluating the validity of an objective claim.

Bandwagon Fallacy

The error of assuming a claim is correct simply because a large number of people believe it.

Argument from Antiquity Fallacy

The logical error of assuming that a belief or practice must be true because it has existed for a long time.

Not Me Fallacy

The cognitive error of believing that one is uniquely immune to errors and biases in thinking that afflict other people.

Scientific Skepticism

An approach of evaluating all claims with an open mind while insisting on persuasive empirical evidence before accepting them.

Falsifiability

A core criterion of scientific claims requiring that they be capable of being tested in a way that could demonstrate them to be false.

Replicability

The standard requiring that a study's findings can be consistently duplicated, preferably by independent investigators.

Occam's Razor

The principle of parsimony stating that when presented with two or more explanations for a phenomenon, the simplest explanation is most likely correct.

Introspection

A research method developed in early scientific psychology requiring trained observers to carefully reflect upon and report their conscious mental experiences.

Structuralism

An early psychological framework founded by Edward Titchener that aimed to identify the basic fundamental elements or structures of psychological experience using introspection.

Functionalism

An early school of psychology led by William James that sought to understand the adaptive purposes and evolutionary functions of thoughts, feelings, and behaviours.

Behaviourism

A psychological framework founded by John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner focused exclusively on uncovering general laws of learning by studying observable, overt behaviour.

Cognitivism

A psychological perspective pioneered by Jean Piaget and Ulric Neisser proposing that thinking and internal mental processes are central to understanding behaviour.

Psychoanalysis

A psychological approach founded by Sigmund Freud focused on uncovering the role of unconscious psychological processes, drives (such as sexuality and aggression), and early experiences.

Empiricism

The philosophical view that knowledge must be acquired through systematic, careful observation rather than through logic or intuition alone.

Prefrontal Lobotomy

A historically prominent surgical procedure intended to treat schizophrenia by severing neural fibers connecting the frontal lobes and thalamus, later disproven by controlled studies.

Representativeness Heuristic

A mental shortcut where the probability of an event is judged based on its superficial similarity to a prototype, often leading to the base rate fallacy.

Base Rate Fallacy

The cognitive error of neglecting to consider the baseline statistical prevalence of an event when estimating its likelihood.

Availability Heuristic

A cognitive shortcut where people estimate the likelihood of an occurrence based on how readily examples come to mind.

Hindsight Bias

The tendency to overestimate our ability to have predicted an outcome after it is already known ('I knew it all along').

Operational Definition

A clear, specific definition of a variable articulated in terms of the precise procedures or methods used to measure or manipulate it.

Independent Variable (IV)

The condition or factor in an experiment that is deliberately manipulated by the researcher to determine its causal effect.

Dependent Variable (DV)

The measurable response or behaviour observed by the experimenter to assess the effects of the independent variable.

Random Assignment

The experimental procedure of sorting participants into experimental and control groups entirely by chance to neutralize confounding differences.

Placebo Effect

Improvement in a condition or performance caused by the mere psychological expectation of receiving an effective treatment.

Experimenter Expectancy Effect

A phenomenon wherein researchers unintentionally bias the results of a study to confirm their hypotheses, controlled using double-blind procedures.

Demand Characteristics

Subtle cues within a research study that allow participants to infer the researcher's hypotheses and consciously or unconsciously alter their behaviour.

Case Study

A descriptive research design in which an investigator studies one individual or a small group in depth over an extended period.

Naturalistic Observation

A descriptive research method in which behaviour is observed and recorded in its natural environment without researcher intervention.

Response Sets

Prevalent tendencies of research participants to distort their answers on self-report instruments, including positive impression management and malingering.

Correlation Coefficient

A statistical index ranging from $-1.00$ to $+1.00$ that indicates the direction and strength of the relationship between two variables.

Negative Correlation

A statistical relationship where as the values of one variable increase, the values of the other variable decrease.

Positive Correlation

A statistical relationship where as the values of one variable increase, the values of the other variable also increase.

Standard Deviation

A measure of variability that quantifies how much individual scores in a distribution deviate from the mean.

Inferential Statistics

Mathematical procedures used to deduce whether research findings are statistically significant and unlikely to have occurred solely by chance.

Ethnocentrism

The cognitive bias wherein an individual, group, or institution views their own cultural vantage point as the only valid standard.

Informed Consent

An ethical prerequisite requiring human research participants to be educated about the nature and procedures of a study before agreeing to join.

Debriefing

The process conducted at the conclusion of a study where researchers explain the experiment's true purpose, hypotheses, and design to the participants.

Neuron

A brain cell specialized for intercellular communication, numbering approximately 100 billion with over 100 trillion synaptic connections.

Dendrite

A branchlike extension of the neuron's cell body that receives incoming chemical signals from adjacent neurons.

Axon

A specialized, elongated projection of the neuron that conducts electrical impulses away from the cell body toward the axon terminal.

Synapse

The microscopic fluid-filled junction across which neurotransmitters travel to communicate between neurons.

Myelin Sheath

A protective fatty coat insulating the axons of certain neurons that accelerates the speed of electrical impulse transmission.

Astrocyte

The most abundant, star-shaped glial cell in the brain that controls cerebral blood flow, enhances transmission reliability, and contributes to the blood-brain barrier.

Oligodendrocyte

A type of glial cell that promotes neural connections, participates in healing, and manufactures the myelin sheath around axons.

Multiple Sclerosis

A progressive disease characterized by demyelination, where scarred and damaged myelin sheaths impair the transmission of nerve impulses.

Resting Potential

The baseline electrical state of a neuron when no neurotransmitters are acting on it, maintaining a greater concentration of negative particles inside relative to the outside.

Action Potential

An abrupt, all-or-none wave of electrical discharge triggered when the neuron reaches its threshold of excitation, propagating down the axon.

Absolute Refractory Period

A brief duration immediately following an action potential during which a neuron is completely unable to generate another impulse.

Reuptake

The synaptic recycling process whereby released neurotransmitter molecules are reabsorbed back into the axon terminal to halt transmission.

Lock and Key Model

The structural mechanism describing how specific neurotransmitter molecules geometrically fit into receptor sites on the postsynaptic membrane.

Glutamate

The most prevalent excitatory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system, vital for learning and memory but neurotoxic at elevated levels.

GABA (Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid)

The primary inhibitory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system that dampens neural excitability and is targeted by anti-anxiety medications.

Acetylcholine

A neurotransmitter that plays prominent roles in arousal, selective attention, sleep, memory, and voluntary muscle contraction at neuromuscular junctions.

Dopamine

A monoamine neurotransmitter responsible for motor function and reward processing, implicated in Parkinson's disease and schizophrenia.

Serotonin

A monoamine neurotransmitter regulating mood, temperature control, aggression, and sleep cycles, commonly targeted by antidepressant SSRIs.

Anandamide

A neurotransmitter that binds to the same cannabinoid receptors as THC to regulate eating, motivation, memory, and sleep.

Neural Plasticity

The capacity of the nervous system to adapt, structurally reorganize, and grow connections across development or following learning and brain injury.

Somatic Nervous System

The division of the peripheral nervous system that carries motor commands from the CNS to voluntary muscles and conveys sensory signals back to the CNS.

Autonomic Nervous System

The branch of the peripheral nervous system that regulates involuntary bodily processes, internal organs, and glands, consisting of sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions.

Sympathetic Nervous System

The division of the autonomic nervous system mobilized during crises or fight-or-flight scenarios, increasing heart rate and dilating bronchi.

Parasympathetic Nervous System

The division of the autonomic nervous system active during rest and digestion, decreasing heart rate and stimulating digestive activity.

Pituitary Gland

The master gland of the endocrine system directed by the hypothalamus that secretes hormones controlling growth, blood pressure, and oxytocin release.

Adrenal Glands

Endocrine glands situated atop the kidneys that release the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol during emotional arousal.

Corpus Callosum

A thick band of nerve fibers connecting the left and right cerebral hemispheres, facilitating interhemispheric communication.

Prefrontal Cortex

The anterior region of the frontal lobe that governs executive functioning, planning, thinking, language, and personality.

Phineas Gage

A railroad foreman who survived an 1848 accident where a tamping iron pierced his skull and destroyed much of his prefrontal cortex, fundamentally altering his personality.

Somatosensory Cortex

A strip located in the parietal lobe dedicated to processing sensations of touch, pressure, pain, and temperature.

Basal Ganglia

Forebrain nuclei that help initiate and control voluntary movement, particularly motor actions performed to obtain rewards.

Amygdala

A limbic system structure that plays a critical role in mediating fear, excitement, and emotional arousal.

Hippocampus

A limbic structure essential for spatial memory and the consolidation of new long-term memories.

Medulla

The lowest region of the brain stem responsible for regulating vital autonomic functions, such as respiration and heartbeat.

Cerebellum

A hindbrain structure primarily responsible for maintaining bodily balance, motor coordination, and learned motor skills.

Electroencephalograph (EEG)

A non-invasive brain-monitoring technique using skull electrodes to record electrical brain activity with high temporal precision.

Heritability

A statistical estimate expressing the percentage of variability in a given trait within a population that is attributable to genetic differences.