Psyc 1018 Midterm 1 Study Guide Flashcards

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering major concepts, historical figures, research methods, and biological psychology terms for Chapters 1, 2, and 3.

Psychology

The scientific study of mind and behavior.

Biopsychology

A field of psychology that explores how biological structure and function, particularly within the nervous system, influence behavior and mental processes.

PhD

Doctor of Philosophy; a doctoral degree in psychology that emphasizes research skills, methodology, and academic research.

PsyD

Doctor of Psychology; a doctoral degree in psychology that focuses primarily on clinical training and application in clinical practice.

Wilhelm Wundt

A pioneer who established the first laboratory for psychological research and utilized structuralism and introspection to examine conscious experience.

William James

The first American psychologist who championed functionalism, focusing on how mental activities serve as adaptive responses to an organism's environment.

Sigmund Freud

An Austrian neurologist who developed psychoanalytic theory, emphasizing the impact of the unconscious mind and early childhood experiences on human behavior.

Gestalt Psychology

A perspective in psychology emphasizing that sensory experience can be broken down into individual parts, but how those parts relate as a whole is what the mind perceives.

Behaviorism

A psychological approach focusing on observing and controlling observable behavior rather than unobservable mental processes.

Humanism

A psychological perspective that emphasizes the inherent potential for good in all humans, personal growth, and self-actualization.

Cognitive Revolution

A movement in psychology during the 1950s and 1960s that redirected scientific focus back to internal mental processes like perception, thinking, and memory.

Forensic Psychology

A branch of psychology that applies psychological theories, principles, and research to questions and issues involving the legal and criminal justice systems.

Clinical Psychology

An area of psychology centered on the diagnosis, assessment, and treatment of psychological disorders and maladaptive behaviors.

Sport Psychology

A subfield of psychology that studies psychological factors influencing athletic performance, exercise, and physical activity.

Industrial-Organizational Psychology

A field that applies psychological concepts, theories, and research methods to workplace environments and organizational settings.

Archival Research

A research method that relies on examining existing records, documents, or data sets to answer research questions.

Confirmation Bias

The tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms existing beliefs or hypotheses.

Deductive Reasoning

A form of logical thinking that uses general ideas or principles to forecast specific empirical outcomes.

Inductive Reasoning

A form of logical thinking that uses specific real-world observations to formulate general conclusions or theories.

Single-Blind Study

An experimental setup where participants do not know whether they are in the experimental or control group, but the researchers do.

Double-Blind Study

An experimental setup where both the participants and the experimenters are unaware of group assignments.

Case Study

An observational research approach focusing in-depth on a single individual or a small group over an extended period.

Naturalistic Observation

A research technique where behavior is observed in its natural environment without interference or manipulation by researchers.

Survey

A data collection tool consisting of structured questions administered to participants to gather self-reported information.

Longitudinal Research

A study design in which data gathering occurs repeatedly across the same sample of individuals over an extended period.

Cross-Sectional Research

A study design comparing multiple groups or segments of a population at a single point in time.

Correlation Coefficient

A numerical value ranging from $-1$ to $+1$ indicating the strength and direction of the linear relationship between two variables.

Independent Variable

The variable manipulated or controlled by the experimenter to assess its causal effect on an outcome.

Dependent Variable

The variable measured by researchers to determine the impact of the independent variable.

Confounding Variable

An unmeasured outside factor that influences both the independent and dependent variables, potentially distorting results.

Informed Consent

The ethical requirement of providing research participants with full information about a study's procedures, risks, and benefits prior to their participation.

Debriefing

The post-experimental process where researchers fully explain the purpose, procedures, deception, and goals of a study to participants.

Genotype

The underlying genetic structure and DNA composition of an individual.

Phenotype

An individual's observable physical characteristics and traits, determined by both genetics and environmental influences.

Action Potential

An electrical impulse that travels down a neuron's axon, triggering chemical communication across the synapse.

Allele

A specific version or variant of a gene.

Amygdala

A structure within the limbic system key to emotional processing, particularly fear and aggressive responses.

Broca's Area

A region in the frontal lobe of the left hemisphere essential for speech production and language generation.

Wernicke's Area

A region in the temporal lobe of the left hemisphere essential for language comprehension and understanding.

Epigenetics

The field of study examining how environmental factors modify gene expression without altering the underlying DNA sequence.

Glial Cells

Non-neuronal cells in the nervous system that provide structural, nutritional, and metabolic support to neurons.

Heterozygous

An organism possessing two different alleles for a specific gene.

Homozygous

An organism possessing two identical alleles for a specific gene.

Limbic System

A collection of brain structures, including the amygdala and hippocampus, involved in processing emotion, memory, and motivation.

Neuroplasticity

The brain's ability to adapt, reorganize, and change its neural structure and function in response to experience or injury.

Agonist

A chemical substance or drug that binds to a receptor and enhances or mimics neurotransmitter activity.

Antagonist

A chemical substance or drug that blocks or inhibits normal neurotransmitter receptor activity.

Central Nervous System

The core division of the nervous system comprising the brain and the spinal cord.

Peripheral Nervous System

The portion of the nervous system that connects the central nervous system to the rest of the body.

Somatic Nervous System

The division of the peripheral nervous system controlling voluntary sensory and motor signals.

Autonomic Nervous System

The division of the peripheral nervous system regulating involuntary organ and gland operations.

Sympathetic Nervous System

The branch of the autonomic nervous system responsible for initiating the body's fight-or-flight response to stress.

Parasympathetic Nervous System

The branch of the autonomic nervous system responsible for rest-and-digest operations that return the body to a state of calm.