Psychology Chapters 1,2, and 3

psychology

scientific study of thought and behavior

pseudoscience, popular opinion/common sense

psychology is not…

subdisciplines of psychology

educational school, social, neuro/physiotherapy, health, industrial/organizational, experimental, developmental /child/family, cognitive/psycholinguistics, counseling, clinical

critical thinking

process in which one analyzes, evaluates, and forms ideas

analyze, evaluate, maker inferences, interpret, explain findings, and self-regulate

what are the steps in critical thinking?

metacognitive thinking

ability to think first and then reflect on that that thinking

biopsychosocial model

to explain human behavior

rationalism

using logic and reasoning to understand the world

senses can be tricked (visual or auditory illusions), empiricism (to make observations and use your senses around you), and sampling error

what are the limits of observation?

question authority, open skepticism, and intellectual honesty

what are the 3 attitudes to scientific thinking?

scientific method

Observation, Question, Hypothesis, Experiment, Data Analysis, Conclusion, Communication, Replication, Theory

theory

a unifying set of principles (more broad)

hypothesis

a prediction about what is going to happen in a certain situation (specific)

evolution

natural selection (when an animal has a favorable trait it will get passed onto the next generation, favorable meaning fit/match to the environment) characteristics of the environment help to deter what traits an organism needs to survive there

reliability

when conducting experiments make sure they are reliable, consistency (the same thing happens over and over again)

validity

the methods that you are using are appropriate

pseudoscience

claims presented as scientific that are not supported by evidence obtained through the scientific method

variable

characteristic that changes between or within individuals (comparing person one to person two or track 1 person over time)

population

entire group of interest to the researcher

sample

a subset of a population (want this to be representative of your population/characteristics that are similar to the population)

inferences

use sample to make inferences about your population as a whole

variable, population, sample, inference

what are the principles of research designs?

correlational study

tells you the strength and direction of the relationship between 2 continuous variables

continuous variable

can take on a continuous amount of scores like height, weight, score on an exam, etc

discrete variables

is a this or that variable (categorical) like eye color, nationality, favorite food, etc

correlation

as low as -1 and as high as 1

causation - low self-esteem can cause depression or depression could cause low self-esteem or a distressing event could cause both

correlation does not equal…

experimental study

is the only study that gives casual claims, have to include IVs and DVs

independent variable

what the experimenter manipulates

dependent variable

the outcome that the experimenter measures or response to the experimental manipulation

random assignments

all participants are equally likely to be placed in each research group to guarantee that each person has the same chance of being in one group as another

an experimental group or a control group

in a random assignment what group can you be placed in to?

experimental group

the one that gets the variable of interest or treatment

control group

a standard of comparison, the ones that get the placebo

rationalism

is the view that using logic and reason is the way to understand how the world works

our senses are easy to fool and the way in which our brains organize and process information varies from person to person

how can observation lead us astray?

scientific thinking

thinking that involves cognitive skills to generate, test, and revise theories in psychology

research designs

psychology makes ___________ ___________ which are plans for how to conduct a study

descriptive designs

the researcher makes no predictions and does not try to control any variables

when there’s a new question/topic in the field

when do researchers use descriptive designs?

what is variable X

what is the basic question in descriptive designs?

during the exploratory phase of research

when do descriptive designs occur?

case study

involves observing one person over a period of time

naturalistic observation

the researcher observes and records behaviors in the real world rather than in a controlled environment like a lab (it’s important researchers don’t change the situation they’re observing)

it does not establish whether 1 variable actually causes the other

what is a limitation of a correlational study?

single-blind study

participants don’t know the experimental condition to which they have been assigned

double-blind study

neither the participant nor the researcher know who has been assigned to which condition

longitudinal designs

make observations of the same people over time, ranging from months to decades (useful for studying change over time and how specific causes affect specific outcomes)

twin-adoption studies

to study twins who are adopted or not and compare them to other siblings who are adopted or not

nature and nurture

what is involved in creating differences or similarities between people?

meta-analysis

is a quantitative method for combining the results of all the published and unpublished results on one question and drawing a conclusion based on the entire set of studies on the topic

effect size

is a measure of the strength of the relationship between two variables

big data

comprise vast amounts of information from websites and apps that are collected and analyzed by unusually large and sophisticated computer programs (come from social media, smartphones, wearable devices, and sometimes scientific literature)

gene

a segment of DNA that codes for protein synthesis (to create proteins)

genome

all the genetic information of DNA

genotype

entire genetic makeup of an organism

phenotype

organisms observed characteristics

monogenetic traits

a single gene controls the characteristic (widows peak vs. straight hair line), a this or that gene

polygenetic traits

multiple genes control characteristics (skin pigmentation), a spectrum rather than a this or that gene

alleles

different forms of a gene

dominant alleles

show their effect even if the individual only has one copy of the allele

recessive allele

only show their effect if the individual has two copies of the allele

heterozygous

having 2 different alleles of a particular gene

homozygous

having 2 identical alleles of a particular gene

genes

the environment can affect your…

nature

the biologically hardwired stuff

nurture

the environment effects (your surroundings)

heredity

how much of a certain characteristic can be attributed to/explained by biological factors (can be found through twin and adoption studies)

fraternal twins

don’t look alike and two different eggs get fertilized by two separate sperm

identical twins

one egg and one sperm and it splits and creates two people

adaption studies

identical twins but are raised by different families, the difference between them are environmental factors

epigenetics

environmental factors that turn genes on or off (diet and nutrition, use of drugs, exposure to toxins can affect this)

soft inheritance

an individual can inherit characteristics that were not expressed in their biological parents but come from their grandparents (skipping a generation)

Santiago Ramon y Cajal

who created the neuron doctrine?

glial cells and neurons

what are the cells of the nervous system?

neurons

the cells that process and transmit information throughout the nervous system, they receive, integrate, and generate messages (building block of the nervous system)

parts of a neuron

soma, dendrites, axon, and myelin sheath

soma

part of the cell that contains the organelles that are responsible for sustaining the life of the cell (nucleus, mitochondria, ribosomes, etc all in here)

dendrites

the many branch-like extensions that come off of the cell body who receive messages from other cells

axon

long tail-like structure who is responsible for sending messages to the next cell

myelin sheath

surrounds the axon, made up of different kinds of glial cells, it helps speed up neural communication, makes it easier to send signals from one neuron to the next

action potential

electrical signals within the cell that the neuron generates

positive impulse charge that runs down an axon (neutrons are fired)

neurotransmitters

chemical messengers between cells

sensory neurons, motor neurons, mirror neurons, interneurons

what are the types of neurons?

sensory neurons

input neurons, are attached to your sense organs (eyes, ears, skin, tongue, nose) - they take information from outside world and put it into your brain (aka afferent neurons)

motor neurons

output neurons, are responsible for your actions (voluntary and involuntary), they end up at and are connected to your muscles and glands (aka efferent neurons)

mirror neurons

is a type of motor neuron that gets activated when you see someone else engage in an action

interneurons

processing neurons, responsible for integrating information from various sources (your mind sensing the things around you, what you smell, the temp., what you eat) taking individual pieces and creating a bigger picture

first process of neural communication

process by which a neuron receives signals from other neurons or sensory receptors, allowing for the transmission of information within the nervous system

negative on the inside, and positive on the outside

when a neuron is at rest…

semipermeable membranes

something that axons have that are channels that allow for stuff to come in and go out as needed

refractory period

a brief period of time when the neuron is temporarily incapable of firing until it gets back to its resting potential (too negative)

propogation

impulse travels down the axon in a wave

all-or-none principle

once the voltage threshold has been crossed, an action potential will fire

second process of neural communication

Process that occurs when an action potential reaches the presynaptic terminal, causing the release of neurotransmitters into the synaptic cleft

synapse

is the space between 2 neurons (if neurons are not touching they cannot send electrical signals)

neurotransmitters

what do neurons rely on to help them cross the synapse?

synaptic vesicles

in the axon and it holds the neurotransmitters (where they’re stored)

excitatory neurotransmitters

if activation level is low, you get these action neurotransmitters that are close to firing (brings the cell closer to firing threshold)

inhibitory neurotransmitters

they say do not fire and have a suppressing effect on the cell (brings the cell farther away from the firing threshold)