Intro To Psychology

What is psychology?

scientific study of behavior and mental processes

Why study psychology?

understand why people do things while understanding ourselves and reaction to others

Wilhelm Wundt

"father of psych"

objective introspection

Edward Titchener

structuralism

Structuralism

thinking about the elements of the structure

William James

functionalism

Functionalism

examine the purpose of consciousness not elements

relates to behavior not mind

Gestalt Psychology

"whole is greater than the sum of its parts"

Max Wertheimer

Gestalt psych

james vs werthemier

look at objects as a whole to find their purpose vs focus on patterns to perceive the whole

Sigmund Freud

importance of early childhood experiences

personality formed in first 6 years of life

Psychoanalysis

therapy emphasized revealing unconscious conflicts

Ivan Pavlov

classical conditioning

Watson Behaviorism

focus on scientific inquiry

focus on observable behavior only

Freud vs Watson

behavior stems from unconscious motivation and phobia is repressed vs behavior is learned and phobia is learned

Little Albert

watson shows behavior is a result of stimulus response, infant conditioned to fear white fuzzy things

Little Peter

mary cover jones (watsons student), counterconditioning to cancel out phobia fears

electric perspective

uses all 7 modern perspectives

Behavioral Perspective

focuses on behavior and consequences

cognitive perspective

focuses on memory, intelligence, perception, problem solving, and learning

influenced by how we think

psychodynamic perspective

focuses on development of sense of self and the motivations, unconscious mind

Humanistic Perspective

focuses on peoples abilities to direct their own lives, people have free will

biopsychological perspective

focus that attributes behavior to biological events in the body (genetics, hormones, drugs)

evolutionary perspective

focus on the biological base of the universal mental characteristics, what is adaptive and allows humans to survive

sociocultural perspective

focuses on the relationships between social behavior and culture

psychologists

professional with an academic degree and specialized training in one more areas of psychology

psychiatrist

physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders

basic research

research for the sake of gaining knowledge

applied research

research done to find practical solutions to real world problems

experiment

manipulation of a variable to see if corresponding variable changes

independent variable

manipulated

dependent variable

measured

natrualistic observation

observe people in natural enviroment

labatory observation

obsevere in artificial setting

case study

one individual is studied in great detail

Surveys

find out private behaviors by asking questions

represenative sample

randomly selected sample of subjects from a larger population of subjects

Population

the group of subjects in which the researcher is studying

Correlation

A measure of the relationship between two variables

correlation coefficient

number that represents the strength and direction of a relationship

mental processes

refers to all internal activity of our minds such as thinking feeling and remembering

objective introspection

the process of objectively examining 

measuring thoughts and mental activity

natural selection

charles darwin

physical traits helps adapt and survive

emperical questions

questions that can be tested through direct observations or expierence

experimenter effect

the tendency of the experimenters expectations for a study to infulence

single blind study

study in which the participants dont know what group theyre in

neuron

cell in the nervous system

receives and sends messages in the nervous system

structure of the neuron

Soma, dendrites, axon, axon terminals

soma (cell body)

contains the nucleus

responsible for maintaining the life of the cell

dendrites

receives messages from other neurons

attaches to soma

axon

tube like structure that carries the neural message from the cell body to the axon terminals for communication

axon terminals

enlarged ends of axonal branches

specialized for communication between cells

glial cells

provide support for the neurons to grow on and around

what glial cells do

deliever nutrients, produce myelin, clean waste, maintains homestasis

myelin

coasts axons of neurons to insulate, protect, and speed up neural impulse

nodes

inbetween myelin bumps, have more ion channels

how myelin works

electrical impulse travels down axon, jumps from node to node, message goes faster down myelin coated axon

cell is resting

state of electrical potential is at resting potential

cells receives stimulation

channels allow entrences/exit of molecules

electrical charge reversal

electrical potential in state of action potential

cell returns to resting state

ion channel closes

sodium pump finishes pumping out ions

synapse

sends message to other cells

synaptic gap

fluid filled space between axon terminal of one cell and dendrites of another

synaptic vesicles

saclike structures on end of axon terminal, contains neurotransmittters

postsynaptic membrane

contains receptor sites, only allow certain shape neurotransmitter

exciatory synapse

neurotransmitters turn cells on

inhibitory synapse

neurotransmitters turn cells off

muscles

contract or relax

glands

secrete chemical or stop

Acetycholine (ACh)

stimulates skeletal muscles, contractions in heart muscle

antagonist

blocks or reduces cells response to neurotransmitters

agonist

mimic or enhances effects of neurotransmitters

central nervous system

brain and spinal cord, neurons and glial cells

spinal cord

bundle of neurons, carries messages between body and brain

outer (white) carry messages

inner (gray) primitive brain

peripheral nervous system

all other nerves and neurons, allows brain and spinal cord to communicate with sensory system

somatic nervous system

info from senses to cns to voluntary muscles

autonomic nervous system

controls the involuntary muscles, organs, and glands

sensory pathways

nerves from sensory organs to CNS, afferent neurons

motor pathways

nerves from CNS to voluntary muscles, efferent neurons

sympathetic division

sympathy, reacts to stressful events and arousal

parasympathetic division

day to day functioning of organs and glands, restores body to normal functioning

endocrine glands

secrete hormones directly into bloodstream, affects behavior and emotion

pituitary gland

master glans, secretes human growth hormone

pineal gland

secretes melatonin

thyroid gland

regulates metabolism

Pancreas

controls levels of sugar in blood

Gonads

sex glands

adrenal glands

ontop of each kidney, secrete over 30 diff hormones to deal with stress

deep brain stimulation (DBS)

electrodes in brain area connected to device,sends impulses to stimulate brain, used for parkinsons

transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

use of magentic pulses over the head

transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)

scalp electrodes pass low direct current

Image of brain structure

CT, MRI

image of brain function

MEG,EEG, PET, fMRI

Forebrain

cortex, basal ganglia, limbic system

Midbrain

tectum and tegmentum, sensory and motor functions

Hindbrain

medulla, pons, cerebellum

Medulla

responsible for life sustaining functions

Pons

relays info from the cortex to cerebellum

reticular formation

area of neurons in middle of medulla and pons, responsible for attention, alertness and arousal

Cerebellum

controls and coordinates involuntary, rapid, fine motor movements