ALL TERMS PSY1011 EXAM weeks 1-12

Biopsychology

examines the physical basis of psychological phenomena such as motivation, emotion and stress.

The sociocultural perspective

represents a modern approach to psychology that emphasises social interaction and the cultural determinants of behaviour and mental processes.

the perspectives in psychology

1. the psychodynamic perspective

2. the humanistic perspective

3. the behaviourist perspective

4. the cognitive perspective

5. the evolutionary perspective

the psychodynamic perspective

1. Behaviour is shaped by unconscious thoughts, feelings, and conflicts

2. Freud's psychoanalytic theory highlights how unconscious motives and past experiences influence actions

the humanistic perspective

1. focuses on the uniqueness of the individual — it assumes that people are motivated to become self-actualised (reach their full potential).

2. Carl Rogers' client-centred therapy emphasised conscious, goal-directed choices and the need for individuals to realise their true potential — to self-actualise.

the behaviourist perspective

1. focuses on the way objects or events in the environment come to control behaviour through learning.

2. B. F. Skinner observed that behaviour can be controlled by environmental consequences that either increase (reinforce) or decrease (punish) their likelihood of occurring

the cognitive perspective

1. focuses on the way people perceive, process and retrieve information

2. René Descartes' early philosophical questions led many cognitive psychologists to emphasise the role of reason in creating knowledge

the evolutionary perspective

1. argues that many behavioural tendencies in humans, evolved because they helped our ancestors survive and rear healthy offspring.

2. Evolutionary psychologists support Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection — the most adaptive behavioural traits are those that helped our ancestors adjust and survive in their environment.

positive psychology

focuses on understanding and harnessing positive emotions and actively stimulating conditions that produce valued, subjective experiences that help people flourish.

structuralism

proposes that the structure of conscious experience could be understood by analysing the basic elements of thoughts and sensations

functionalism

focuses on the purpose and function of mental states and behaviours, rather than simply analysing their structure

introspection

the process of examining one's own thoughts, feelings, and mental states.

paradigm

is a broad system of theoretical assumptions employed by a scientific community that includes a distinct set of concepts or thought patterns, and shared metaphors and research methods.

falsifiability criterion

proposes that a scientific theory must be able to be proven false through empirical testing

what are the primary methods of evolutionary psychology

deductive

what is the preferred method of the psychodynamic psychologist

an intensive case study

freud - id

the primal, instinctual, and unconscious part of the personality

frued - ego

the part of the mind that mediates between the conscious and the unconscious and is responsible for reality testing, judgment, and other higher-level cognitive functions

frued - superego

the ethical component of the personality that represents internalised societal and parental standards of right and wrong

Who pioneered American Behaviourism

John Watson

attitude

is an association between an act or object and an evaluation

Attitude strength

refers to the durability and impact of an attitude on behaviour.

what is attitude strength influenced by

1. attitude importance

2. attitude accessibility

3. or the ease with which an attitude comes to mind

Persuasion

refers to deliberate efforts to change an attitude.

what affects the effectiveness of persuasive appeals

Characteristics of the source, message, channel, context and receiver

what routes can persuasion occur through

1. a central route

2. a peripheral route

central route - persuasion

1. explicit attitude change as it requires conscious deliberation

2. people who process centrally are highly involved with the issue, tend to be higher in their need for cognition or their need to think about issues, relevant arguments and are attentive to the quality of the arguments that are presented

peripheral route - persuasion

1. influence implicit attitude change

2. classical conditioning of an object with an emotional response

3. appeals to less rational and thoughtful processes

4. limbic system, the heart of the gut

how is an attitude durable

if it tends to persist over time and is resistant to change

how does an attitude have an impact

if it affects behaviour and influences the way the person thinks and feels

three components of an attitude

1. a cognitive component of belief

2. Affective - an emotional or evaluative component

3. a behavioural component - behavioural disposition

attitude importance

refers to the personal relevance of an attitude and the psychological significance of that attitude for an individual

attitude accessibility

1. refers to the ease with which an attitude comes to mind

2. highly accessible attitudes come to mind rapidly and automatically when primed by environmental events

3. the more accessible an attitude, the more likely it is to affect behaviour and the stronger the attitude is

implicit attitudes

associations between attitude objects and feelings about them that regulate thought and behaviour unconsciously and automatically

explicit attitudes

the attitudes someone may express publicly to allow them to make a desirable impression on others

cognitive complexity

the intricacy of thoughts about different attitude objects

attitude ambivalence

the extent to which a given attitude object is associated with conflicting evaluative responses

what does attitude ambivalence argue

that attitudes include two evaluative dimensions, positive and negative, that are relatively independent

attitude coherence

refers to the extent to which an attitude (particularly its cognitive and evaluative components) is internally consistent

an example of attitude coherence

we should like things we believe have positive consequences

the elaboration likelihood model

1. the central route to attitude persuasion is more effective when the person is both motivated and able to think about the arguments

2. the peripheral route is more effective when the likelihood that the person will engage in high-effort cognitive processing is low

cognitive dissonance

refers to a perceived discrepancy between an attitude and a behaviour or between an attitude and a new piece of information

Self-perception theory

holds that individuals infer their attitudes, emotions and other internal states by observing their own behaviour

dissonance theory

1. applies to all situations involving attitude formation and change

2. it is especially relevant to decision-making and problem-solving

cognitive dissonance leads to...

a state of tension that can motivate attitude change

social cognition

the processes by which people make sense of themselves, others, social interactions and relationships

identity

refers to a sense of who we are, and what our values, beliefs, experiences and roles are in relation to our personal, social self and cultural self

stereotypes

characteristics attributed to people based on their membership of specific groups

polyculturalism

the attitude that all cultures are interrelated and dynamic, with loose boundaries — showed less prejudice and reported better quality contact with minority groups

the authoritarian personality

characterised by a tendency to hate people who are different or downtrodden.

symbolic racism

the beliefs and responses used by the majority cultural group to justify their dominance and advantage

subtle racism

people not expressing their actual attitudes so they appear different

superordinate goals (sherif)

shared goals requiring the groups to cooperate for the benefit of all

reducing prejudice (robbers cave/sherif experiment)

stereotypes and prejudice will diminish as contact between groups increases

what are the three elements of bernard weiner's model of attribution

1. people seek to understand why certain events happened

2. people attribute the outcome to a cause

3. people base their future behaviour on the attributions they make

when making attributions, what information do people rely on

1. consensus

2. consistency

3. distinctiveness of a person's action

consensus (making attributions)

refers to the way most people respond

consistency (making attributions)

refers to the extent to which a person always responds in the same way to the same stimulus

distinctiveness of a person's action (making attributions)

refers to the individuals likelihood to respond this way to many different stimuli

external attributions

attributions made about the situation

internal attributions

attributions to the person

what are the two processes people generally adjust for the strength of situational demands

1. discounting

2. augmentation

discounting

occurs when people downplay the role of one variable because they know that other may be contributing to the behaviour in question

augmentation

increasing internal attribution for behaviour that has occurred despite the situational demands

attribution style

a persons habitual manner of assigning causes behaviours or events

biases in social information processing

1. fundamental attribution error

2. self-serving bias

3. actor-observer effect

fundamental attribution error

the tendency to assume that other people's behaviour corresponds to their internal states rather than external situations

self-serving bias

the tendency to see oneself in a more positive light than others see them, it involves taking credit for success but attributing failure to external causes

actor-observer effect

tendency to attribute other people's behaviour to internal causes while attributing our own actions to external causes

resting potential

when a neuron is at rest, it is polarised, with a negative charge inside the cell membrane and a positive charge outside - not firing

graded potentials

are the spreading voltage changes along the cell membrane that occur as the neuron is excited by other neurons

graded potentials have two notable characteristics

1. their strength diminishes as they travel along the cell membrane away from the source of the stimulation.

2. graded potentials are cumulative or additive

action potentials

the firing of the neuron or a nerve impulse

what is the difference between action and graded potentials

1. graded potentials create new information at the cellular level by allowing the cell to integrate signals from multiple sources (multiple synapses)

2. action potentials in contrast can only pass along information already collected without changing it

glutamate

- memory formation

- synaptic plasticity

- important role in learning

what are the risks associated with abnormally high concentrations of glutamate

;inked with neurodegenerative diseases such as huntington's disease and Alzheimer's disease

GABA

- regulates anxiety

- drugs such as valium and alcohol that bind with its receptors tend to reduce anxiety

dopamine effects are

wide-ranging effects in the nervous system

what is dopamine involved in

- thought

- feeling

- motivation

- behaviour

- some pathways that rely on dopamine are involved in emotional arousal, pleasure and learning to associate behaviours with reward

what are the risks with abnormally high levels of dopamine

linked to schizophrenia

the degeneration of the dopamine releasing neurons in the substantia nigra causes what

1. parkinson's disease

2. depression

3. reduced facial displays of emotion

4. a general slowing of thought that parallels the slowing of behaviour

seretonin

involved in regulating mood, sleep, eating, arousal and pain

decreased seretonin in the brain is common in what

severe depression

what does seretonin's inhibitory role affect

neural circuits involved in aggression, antisocial behaviour and other forms of social behaviour

acetylcholine

involved in learning, memory and muscle movement

depleted acetylcholine

seen in patients with alzhiemer's disease

endorphines

chemicals that elevate mood and reduce pain. opium and similar narcotic drugs kill pain and elevate mood because they stimulate receptors in the brain specialised for endorphines

the endocrine system

is a collection of glands that secrete chemicals directly into the bloodstream

what hormones are secreted by the endocrine system

1. adrenaline and noradrenaline which trigger physiological arousal particularly in potentially dangerous situations

2. oxytocin increases nurturing behaviours when released in the brain, eg. stimulates the production of breast milk

the upper segments of the spinal cord

control the upper parts of the body

the lower segments of the spinal cord

control the lower body

structures that comprise the hind brain

1. the medulla oblongata

2. the cerebellum

3. parts of the reticular formation

4. the pons

what is the pons involved in

respiration, movement, sleep, waking and dreaming

what is the medulla oblongata involved in

essential to life, controlling such vital physiological functions such as heart beat, circulation and respiration

brain stem

controls functions critical to survival

cerebellum is involved in

1. coordinating smooth, well-sequenced movements

2. maintaining balance and posture

3. sensory and cognitive processes such as classical conditioning

what is the reticular formation involved in

1. maintain consciousness

2. regulate arousal levels

3. modulate the activity of neurons throughout the CNS

4. helps higher brain centres to integrate information from different neural pathways by calling attention to their simultaneous activation

reticular damage

1. affects sleep patterns as well as the ability to be alert or attentive

2. a major cause of coma

structures that comprise the midbrain

1. tectum

2. tegmentum

the tectum

1. involved in vision and hearing

2. these structures largely help humans orient to visual and auditory stimuli with eye and body movements