Studied by 7 people
Excluding parts of the brain
What is Psychology
The scientific study of the mind and behavior
Evolutionary Psychology
Theory of Evolution : evolve certain characteristics to help the species survive, thrive, reproduce
Heredity
Mostly known as nature (biological)
Enviornment
Mostly known as nurture (surroundings)
Authoritarian Parenting
High expectations on children, rigid rules, no explanation
Permissive Parenting
Warm and nurturing, minimal expectations
Authoritative Parenting
Nurturing and supporting, yet sets firm limits for children
Neglectful Parenting
Lack of parental interest, lack of responsiveness
Epigenetics
environmental pressures can change the activity of ones genes (not the structure)
[changes can change metabolic processes and behavior. is NOT passed on to next generations]
Polygenetic
many genes
Diathesis
related to psychological disorders, many disorders might have genetic predisposition with enviornmental trigger
Maturationism
related to devlopment; all children follow the same pattern: sit up, crawl, walk. Genetic. When they do is influenced by their enviornment
Plasticity
the brain changes and arranges itself on the cellular level in response to what is going on in the environment
Epigenetics
Genes turn on or off, slow changes, important for the benefits of the species
Plasticity
brain structure changes, quickly changes, flexible brains are important
Nervous System
Our body’s speedy, electrochemical messaging system (splits to CNS and PNS)
CNS
brain and spinal cord (send messages quickly)
Reflex
automatic response created by a signal neural pathway in spinal cord
Spinal Cord
highway connecting the PNS and brain
PNS
All nerves and sensory structures outside of CNS (splits into somatic and autonomic)
Somatic Nervous
in charge of controlling voluntary movements
Autonomic Nervous
Controls all automatic functions in internal organs (heart, lungs, fight or flight) [broken down furhter into sympathetic and parasympathetic]
Sympathetic Nervous
our arousal :: fight or flight
Parasympathetic Nervous
returns us to a calm and neutral state :: rest and digest
Theory
Explanation of a phenomenon
Hypothesis
Explanation of relationship, testable
Opperational Definition
Precise parameters or qualification
Reliability
consistency
validity
accuracy
Replication
repeating of a study, considered scientific
Case study
small population, in depth, unique
PROS : details of subjects, unique situtation, unethical
CONS: no correlational data, no generalizability, time consuming
Survey
Questionnaires
PROS: type of data, inexpensive, simple, amount
CONS: cooperation, wording, self reporting (bias)
Naturalistic Observation
observing subjects in natural envriornment
PROS: natural enviornment, no hawthorn effect
CONS: no manipulation, no cause n effect
Hawthorne Effect
peoples ability to act differently when they are aware of being observed
Neurons
bodys nerve cell which makes up the nervous system
Action potential
“firing” of communication; a rapid electrical impulse that traveles along acon of neuron ; transmits a signal to other neurons
Repolarization
the process by which the cells membrane potential returns to its resting state
Refractory Period
the time following an action potential during which the neuron is unable to fire another action potential
Dendrite
Recieves information and transfers it to the cell body
Cell Body
the neurons support center
Axon
Passes messages to its terminal branches. The neural impulse goes through the axon and is an electrical signal
Myelin Sheath
A layer of tissue that covers the axon and speeds up neural impulses. No mylein = loss of muscle control
The Axon’s Terminal Branches
Pass on chemical messanges to other cells and parts of the body
DO NOT assist in the processing of information
Glial Cells
most abundent cells in the body. protects and provides nutrients for neurons
Soma
Cell body, contains the nucleus and other structures (help maintain health of neuron)
Axon
Carries information away from cell
Myelin Sheath
covers and protects the axon
Nodes of Ranvier
gaps between meylin sheath (helps promote action potential)
Axon terminal
located at the end of neuron, houses neurotransmitters
Synapse
space between axon terminals and adjunct dendrite
Neurotransmitters
Internal, excitatory, inhibatory
Drugs
external, agonist, antagonist
Excitatory
Neurotransmitter that excite the neuron n fire message
Inhibitory
block or prevent the chemical message from being passed
Agonist
enhances the effects of neurotransmitter
Antagonist
prevents the effect of a neurotransmitter
Reuptake inhibitor
enhances the effects of a neurotransmitter by preventing repuptake
Psychoactive drugs
any substance that alters our perceptions and moods
Tolerance
body becoming used to a substance, need more to reach same high
Depressants
drus that reduce or slow neural activity
Stimulants
excite neural activity and speed up body functions
Nicotine
highly addictive drug in tobacco
Dopamine/Seratonin
calm anxiety and reduce pain
Epinephrine/Norepinephrine
diminish appetite
Hallucinogens
distort perception and evoke snesory images without any sensory input
Split brain
Both hemispheres operate independently from one another :: corpus callosum severed to reduce neural feedbac
Left Hemisphere
right handed + right side of the body
spoke/written language
mathematical and logical thought process, analysis
reading
Right Hemisphere
Left handed + left side of body
nonverbal (visual) perception
responsible for musical artistic processing
emotional thought
Circadian Rhythm
Internal clock
close to 25 hour cycles
tired/sleepy
reason for jet lag
light causes pineal gland to adjust melatonin production
EEG (electroenphalograms)
Measures brain waves
Beta waves
problem solving, focussed attention, engagement, cognitive thinking (faster)
Alpha waves
Light mediation, relaxation, creativity, information absorption (slower)
Delta waves
deep sleep, healing restoration (much slower)
Theta waves
deep mediatation, rem sleep, dreaming (more than delta, less than alpha)
NREM-1
falling into unconciousness, easily awakened (alpha)
NREM-2
deeper into sleep, bursts of brain activity // sleep spindles (theta)
Sleep splindles
random bursts of brain activity
NREM-3
Deepest sleep; characterized by deep and slow delta waves
REM
dreaming occurs, high brain activity, physical appearence of deep sleep
Narcolepsy
sudden unctrollable sleep attacks
Sleep apnea
stop breathing while asleep, frequently awaken
Night terrors
occur during NREM-3, most common in children, nightmares
Sensation
process where sensory receptors an dbrain interpret the stimulus energy around us from our enviornment
Bottom up processing
starts at sensory receptors, works up to brain (five senses)
Top down processing
constructs perception, interpreting what your senses detect
Sensory adaptation
decreasing responses to a stimulue due to constant stimulation
Sensory habituation
perception of sensation depending on much you focus on it
Vestibular senses
knowing where your body is positioned in relation to space
kinesthetic senses
knowing where your specific body parts are positioned and oriented
Sensory transduction
our sensory systems converting one form of energy into another form of energy
recieve the sensory info
transform it into neural impules
deliver the ingo to our brain to be interpreted
Absolute threshold
the minimum stimulation needed to detect any stimuli 50% of the time (gustav fechner)
Subliminal
stimuli that are below absolute threshold
Signal detection theory
predicts when we detect a faunt stimulus in our surroundings
difference threshold
noticeable difference
Weber’s law
two perceive a different, two stimuli must differ by a constant amount
Energy Senses
vision (rods, cones)
hearing (cochlea)
touch (pain, pressure, texture, temperature)
Chemical senses
taste (gustation — sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami)
smell (olfacation — smell receptors)
Body Position senses
vestibular sense (inner ear)
kinesthetic sense (receptors in muscle and joints)
Proprioception
awareness of where the parts of your body are in relation to space around you
Sensory interaction
where our senses interact with one another and infelucne each other
Note
Flashcard