Psych 101 exam 1

What is psychology?

Scientific study of mind, brain, and behavior

Examples of behavior include…

thinking, emotions, reactions

Biological psychology

Study of how biological processes in brain and body are related to behavior.

Clinical Psychology

Study of causes of mental disorders and their treatment.

Social Psychology

Study of how people think about themselves and others and how they influence

one another.

Developmental Psychology

Study of how change in behavior and mental processes over the lifespan.

Personality Psychology

Study of similarities and differences among people such as sociability, reliability,

emotionality and others.

Cognitive Psychology

Study of mental abilities including sensation, perception, learning and memory,

thinking, consciousness, intelligence, and creativity.

Some possible problems with knowledge of psychology based on intuition/authority are…

limited sample size, don’t know info about sample, authorities can be incorrect

Confirmation bias

the tendency to seek out evidence that supports our beliefs and deny, dismiss, or distort evidence that contradicts theme

Empirical

based on observation or experience

Objective

the bast majority of people will agree on these observations CONTRASTS WITH SUBJECTIVE

Subjective

only available to one person

systematic study

doing your best to eliminate alternative explanations for your findings

Theory

an explanation for a large number of findings in the natural world

Hypothesis

a testable prediction (often derived from a theory)

Self-correction

when the evidence says you are wrong, you have to admit it and change your ideas

Advantages of science:

BASED ON OBJECTIVE OBSERVATIONS, YOU KNOW WHERE THEY CAME FROM YOU KNOW THEY CAN BE REPEATED, RESISTS CONFIRMATION BIAS, SELF-CORRECTING, USES LOGIC AND SYSTEMATIC STUDY TO RULE OUT ALTERNATIVE EXPLANATIONS, MORE LIKELY TO BE RIGHT!

Disadvantages of intuition:

SUBJECT TO CONFIRMATION BIAS, NOT SELF-CORRECTING, NOT SYSTEMATIC

Critical thinking

The purposeful, reasoned, and goal-directed process of exploring a situation or problem.

ad hoc immunizing hypotheses

making excuses for lack of evidence

Sign of Pseudoscience

Exaggerated claims, Lack of peer review, Overuse of ad hoc immunizing hypotheses, Over-reliance on anecdotes, Absence of connectivity to other research, Unnecessary jargon, Talk of proof instead of evidence

Signs of reputable science

Author information (e.g., works at a major university, government organization, had an advanced degree in the field), Author does not have an obvious economic stake in the findings (I’m selling you this wonderful product!), Published in a peer-reviewed journal, Includes citations to other work in peer-reviewed journals.

scientific skepticism

Keeping an open mind, Accepting claims once they have been tested

Descriptive Research

Collecting data: Variables, Operational Definitions, Reliability and Validity, Distributions.

Qualitative

(what kind?) E.g., hair color, Nationality, major...

Quantitative

(how much?) E.g., age, height, score on a Depression Scale...

Operational Definitions

Defining a concept in terms of how you measure it.

Reliability

the consistency of the measurement

Test-retest reliability

same result on 2 different occasions

Validity

the extent to which the measure measures what it is supposed to measure

Inter-rater reliability

2 raters agree

Variability

Range = Highest score – lowest score

Descriptive Research

Naturalistic observation, case studies, surveys

Naturalistic observations

observe behavior without interfering

Limitations to Naturalistic observations

not manipulating variables, time consuming

Case studies

intensive examination of behavior and mental processes in an unusual individual

Surveys

have people complete questionnaires

Sampling

who is included in your study

Population

the entire group you are interested in

Sample

the people in your study

Random sample

every member of the population has an equal change of being in the sample

Correlational design

a research design that investigates the association between two variables

Experimental Group

receives the treatment

Control Group

does not receive the treatment

Independent Variable

what the researcher manipulates

Dependent Variable

what the researcher observes

Confound

any difference between the experimental and control groups other than the independent variable

Experimenter expectations

can influence the outcome of a study even if the experimenter doesn’t intend to

Placebo effect

improvement resulting from mere expectation of improvement (as in when taking a drug)

Participant demand

participants try to behave in the way they believe the experimenter wants them to behave

Double-blind design

neither the participant nor the experimenter knows the which condition the participants are in.

quasi- experiment

When you study differences between existing groups, takes advantage of naturally

occurring circumstances to control for as many extraneous variables as possible

neurons

a cell in the brain specialized for sending fast signals

glial cells

support cells, insulate neurons with myelin which allows for faster communication, provides physical support/ clean up/ regulate the chemical environent/ some communication

dendeites

many branches of a neuron that receive signals from other neurons

axon

one per neuron, sends signals to other neurons and transports electrical pulses (the single long middle part)

myelin sheath

insulate axon to help send signal more quickly

synapse

tiny gap between the ends of the cell’s axon and the dendrites of other neurons

axon terminal

end of the neuron near the synapse where the signal leavs the neuron

action potential

electrical impulses that travel from the axon — signals are one way, signals are all or nothing

excitatory synapses

synapses that make it more likely to fire, if inputs are excitatory enough then the neuron will fire

inhibitory synapses

synapses that make it less likely to fire

neurotransmitters

chemicals that send signals between neurons

synaptic vesicle

small packets of neurotransmitters

synaptic cleft

the synapse is the space between one neuron and another

neural plasticity

the brain’s ability to change, even into adulthood

5 basic processes of neural plasticity

1. axon and dendrite growth

2. synaptogenesis

3. pruning (cell death)

4. myelination

5. long term potentiation

myelination

myelin added to axons

long term potentiation

more neurotransmitters, more receptors — learning involves this

the nervous system is divided into two parts

central and peripheral

central nervous system

brain and spinal cord

peripheral nervous system

sensory and motor nerves

the peripheral nervous system is divided into two parts

somatic and autonomic

somatic nervous system

voluntary movements

autonomic nervous system

automatic movements

the autonomic nervous system is divided into two parts

sympathetic (excited) and parasympathetic (relaxed)

sympathetic system

prepares body for action “fight or flight“

parasympathetic system

“rest and relax“

meninges and cerebrospinal fluid

cushions the brain in the cerebral ventricles

cerebrum

most evolutionary recent part of the brain

cerebral cortex

largest part of the cerebrum, takes in sensory information and is responsible for higher brain functions

frontal lobe

complex thought, planning control of body movement, map of the body’s muscles

parietal lobe

touch, spacial awareness, map of the body’s skin surface

temporal lobe

hearing, object memory

insular lobe

taste, awareness of internal organs (in middle of brain)

occipital lobe

vision

motor cortex

in frontal lobe, planning and preparation of motor movements, initiating motor movements

prefrontal cortex

in frontal lobe, responsible for thought, planning, and decision making, and self control

broca’s area

in frontal lobe, language production

primary sensory cortex

in parietal lobe, receives sensory info

somatosensory cortex

in charge of more specific body movements (knee, hip, fingers, eye, nose)

auditory cortex

temporal lobe, receives auditory info

wernicke’s area

in temporal lobe, language comprehension

visual cortex

in occipital lobe, receives and processes visual information

insular lobe

lies beneath frontal and parietal lobes, sensing internal states, maintaining homeostasis, diverse roles

corpus callosum

connects the hemispheres

contralateral organization

left brain represents right side of body, right brain represents left side of body

limbic system

processes info about internal states, emotion, motivation, and memory

thalamus

in limbic system, sensory relay information