PSY 1200 Exam 2 Vocab

Modules 11,12,13,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26

**twin studies

provided insight into the effect genes/DNA has on who we are, to address nature vs nurture debate, identical twins are more similar than fraternal for personality and behavior

*identical twins

one egg gets fertilized, divides, genetically identical, same environment

*fraternal twins quasi-experiment

two fertilized, genetically different, same environment

**adoption studies

experiments testing children with their biological parents and adaptive parents, showcase the impact of environment, results

*heritability

the extent to which difference between people can be attributed to differences in their genes

*epigenetics

the study of molecular mechanisms that allow the environment to affect the activity of genes

epigenetic marks

changes in activity/expression of genes due to experiences (ex. Trigger or block expression due to stress)

**evolutionary psychology

describes attributes of human behavior to selective value (will it help them survive)

environment influences

the effect our environment can have on who we are are

enriched environment

enriched environment has its benefits and developed more cerebral cortex in mice

Plasticity

your brain is always changing

*recruitment of brain regions

you call the different parts of your brain to perform a task

**culture

the shared beliefs, customs, values, and behaviors that are learned and passed down through generations within a particular group of people

norms

rules for acceptable and expected behaviors that is dictated by culture

**individualist culture

a cultural pattern that emphasizes people’s own goals over group goals and defines identity mainly in terms of unique personal attributes

**collectivist culture

a cultural pattern that prioritizes the goals of important groups (one one’s extended family or work group)

subgroups of culture

family structure, peer influences, parent’s education

family self

meaning that what shames children shames their parents, and what brings honor to children brings honor to their parents

*sex

biologically determined male/female/intersex, defined based on physical traits

**gender

behavior characteristics (female, male, non-binary) based on attitudes, beliefs, and identity

sexual orientation

direction of a person’s attraction or desire for sexual acts

**gender identity

individual sense of self with respect to gender

gender development

2 years aware of differences in sex, 3 years label their sex, 4-6 stable gender identity, 6-10 flexible gender roles, 10-15 stereotyped and rigid gender roles

*gender roles

social expectations that guides people’s behavior as men or as women

sexual aggression

any physical or verbal behavior of a sexual nature that is unwanted or intended to harm someone physically or emotionally. Can be expressed as either sexual harassment or sexual assault

androgyny

blending traditionally masculine and traditionally feminine psychological characteristics

transgender

gender identity differs from what’s typical for that person’s assigned sex

**perception

the interpretation of sensory information in order to understand the world around us

*sensation

transduction of energy from the world such as light, sound, pressure into neural activity (taking something from outside to make use feel something inside)

*sensory receptors

cells in the sensory system that perform transduction sensory nerve endings that respond to a stimulus

Transduction

conversion of one form of energy into another. In sensation, the transforming of physical energy, such as sights, sounds, and smells, into neural impulses our brain can interpret

**stimulus

any energy from the environment that has an effect on sensory receptor and the organism

**bottom-up processing

starting with sensory response, then putting the piers together to make concepts and abstractions

Psychophysics

a field of science that studies the relationship between physical energy taken in from the world and the psychological experience it produces

threshold measurement

titrating amount of energy from the world to the point at which the observer can detect or discriminate the perceptual information

absolute threshold

detects a stimulus 50% of the time (is it there?)

difference threshold

discriminate between two different stimuli (which one is it?)

Weber’s Law

II=constant to be perceived two stimuli must differ in intensity (I) by a constant percentage

subliminal perception

interpretation of sensory information that does not reach conscious awareness

subliminal persuasion

interpretation of sensory information that does not reach conscious awareness

signal detection theory

a system for explaining what response in tests mean for for the perception reality of a stimulus

Sensory adaptation

exposure for a long period of time produces lapses in perception

*aftereffect

after adaption to one stimulus, the opposite is perceived in the neutral stimulus

*photoreceptors

cells that transduce light into energy( or neural signals)

Rods

very sensitive to light, no color differentiation, widely spaced, less detail

Cones

requires more light, different types of colors, packed together for detail(center of your eye)

*retina

the light-sensitive back inner surface of the eye, containing the receptor rods and cones plus layers of neurons that begin the processing of visual information

ganglion and bipolar cells

types of eye neurons, are activated when light enters the eye

optic nerve

the nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain

optic chiasm

where the optic nerves connect and allow the brain to process visual information from both eyes

optic tract

the nerve fibers the carries the visual information from the optic chiasm to the brain

*feature detection

study by Huber and Wiesel identified that the visual cortex was sensitive to spots of light in specific places, bars of light in specific orientations, color dimensions, difference between spots of light in the two eyes, motion of light in different directions

**motion aftereffect

a psychological illusion where a stationary object appears to move in the opposite direction after staring at a moving stimulus for a period of time

parallel processing

brain cells teams process combine information about color, movement, form and depth

the binding problem

eye is structure the opposite way and has the light receptions at the back of the eye

**top-down processing

starting with the concept or idea then working your way down to the sensory response

*Gestalt Psychology

an organized whole. Gestalt psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes

perceptual constancy

perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent color, brightness, shape, and size) even as illumination and retinal images change

Audition

the transduction of air pressure waves into sound perception

Outer ear

structured to funnel the sound waves to the eardrum

Middle ear

the chamber between the eardrum and cochlea containing three tiny bones— hammer (malleus), anvil (incus), and stirrup (stapes)—that concentrate the vibrations of the eardrum on the cochlea’s oval window

inner ear

the innermost part of the ear, containing the cochlea, semicircular canal, and vestibular sac

Eardrum

separates the outer ear from the middle ear

bones of the inner ear

the hammer (malleus), anvil (incus), and stirrup (stapes

oval window

the cochlea membraned covered opening

*cochlea

a coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear; sound waves traveling through the cochlear fluid trigger nerve impulse

*semicircular canals

three loops filled with fluid in the inner ear that tells the brain about balance and spatial orientation

*auditory pathway

the way sound is collected in the ear, and sent to the brain to be interpreted

sensorineural hearing loss

damage to the hair cells in the cochlea causing deficit in sound transduction, more common, can be specific to sound type or range

conduction hearing loss

damage to the mechanical system that makes sound waves in the cochlea, less common, general deficit to all sounds

Pain

aversive, attention demanding sensation arising from body injury that varies with intensity

*nociceptors

specialized detectors in the skin, muscles, and some organs for signaling pain

*placebo effect

a change in physical or mental condition due to expectations that arise from a treatment that is ineffective

Hypnosis

placebo can reduce the pain experiences, a social interaction in which one person (the hypnotist) suggests to another (the subject) that certain perceptions, feelings, thoughts, or behaviors will spontaneously occur.

*taste receptors

5 types, sweet, salty, sour, bitter, umami, 50-100 taste buds in tongue, project to temporal lobe, reproduce every week, individual differences

Smell

chemical sense, like taste, in which airborne molecules inhaled through the nose activate the olfactory receptors in the nasal cavity

olfaction

our sense of smell

*olfaction pathway

molecules bind to receptors in many multiple patterns, active receptor cells send signals through bone, signals converge in olfactory bulb, message sent on to further brain areas in cortex

*kinesthesia

the perception of the bodies position, muscles tendons and joints send signals to the cerebellum

*vestibular sense

semicircular canals of the inner ear are filled with fluid that moves when your head tilts sending signals to the cerebellum for interception and movement compensation(balance)

sensory interaction

the perception that arises from one sensory system is affected by another sensory system (ex. Taste and smell, vision and body sense, touch and taste, hearing and vision)

embodied cognition

sensory effects on judgment and decisions (eg warm drinks make people seem friendlier)

Synesthesia

the stimulation of one sensory system leads to automatic involuntary experiences in different sensory systems (tasting colors, smelling sounds)

extrasensory perception

perception without the senses, people with telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance

**memory

the stored information in the brain typically created or deliberate thought

*encoding

the process of creating memories

*retrieval

the process of bringing stored memories into the consciousness

Learning

a process in which humans adapt to the environment, acquisition of behaviors through experience, can be through encoding of memory or can be deliberate or accidental

associative learning

linking of two events or pieces of information that have occurred at the same time or in close succession

Habit

strong associations that reliably elicit behaviors, behaviors becomes liked ot the context

Conditioning

a process of learning associations

**classical conditioning

two events are associated

**operant conditioning

a behavior is associated with a consequence that follows

cognitive learning

acquisition of new information through deliberate thought ( ex classroom or book)

**observational learning

acquiring information by watching people

*classical conditioning acronyms

US, UR, NS, CS, CR

*Unconditioned Stimulus

food that causes the saliva, in classical conditioning, a stimulus that unconditionally—naturally and automatically—triggers an unconditioned response (UR)

*Unconditioned Response

salivation to the food, in classical conditioning, an unlearned, naturally occurring response (such as salivation) to an unconditioned stimulus (US) (such as food in the mouth)

*Neutral Stimulus

tone that does not produce the unconditioned response, in classical conditioning, a stimulus that elicits no response before conditioning

*Conditioned Stimulus

tone does produce response ( salivation), in classical conditioning, an originally neutral stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus (US), comes to trigger a conditioned response (CR)