midterm review

Behavioral Psychology

How we learn observable responses

Cognitive Psychology

How we encode, process, store, and retrieve information

Humanistic Psychology

How we meet our needs for love and acceptance and achieve self-fulfillment

Social-Cultural Psychology

How behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures

Biological Psychology

How the body and brain enable emotions, memories, and sensory experiences

Evolutionary Psychology

How the natural selection of genes promoted the survival of genes

Independent Variable

The one thing you change in an experiment

Dependent Variable

The change that happens as a result of the independent variable

Motor Area

control of voluntary muscles

Sensory Area

skin sensations (pressure, temperature, pain)

Frontal Lobe

movement, problem solving, personality

Broca’s Area

speech control

Temporal Lobe

hearing, language, memory

Medulla

breathing, consciousness, heart rate

Parietal Lobe

bodily awareness, language

Occipital Lobe

sight, perception

Wernicke’s Area

language comprehension

Cerebellum

posture, balance, movement coordination

Corpus Callosum

passes information between brain hemispheres

Ventricles

contain cebrospinal fluid

Thalamus

passes sensory information to cerebral cortex

Pituitary Gland

regulates hormone production

Brain Stem

midbrain, medulla and pons

Pons

sleep cycle

Midbrain

relay station for auditory and visual information

Hypothalamus

controls pituitary gland, regulating temperature, blood pressure, arousal and appetite

Dendrites

receive messages from other cells

Axon

passes messages from cell body to other neurons

Cell Body

life support center of neuron cell

Neural Impulse

electrical signal traveling down the axon

Myelin Sheath

covers axon, speeds up neural impulses

Terminal Buttons

form junctions with cell of other neurons

Acetylcholine

muscle action, learning, memory, lack can lead to Alzheimer’s

Dopamine

movement, learning, attention, emotion, excess is associated with Schizophrenia, lack can lead to Parkinson’s

Serotonin

mood, hunger, sleep, arousal, lack can lead to depression

Norepinephrine

alertness, arousal, lack depresses mood

GABA

inhibitory neurotransmitter, lack can lead to seizures, tremors and insomnia

Glutamate

excitatory neurotransmitter, linked with memory, excess leads to migraines or seizures

Thyroid Gland

affects metabolism

Parathyroids

regulate calcium levels in blood

Adrenal Glands

trigger fight-or-flight response

Pancreas

regulate level of blood sugar

Central Nervous System

contains brain and spinal cord

Spinal Cord

conducts signals to and from brain, controls reflexes

Peripheral Nervous System

contains motor neurons and sensory neurons

Motor Neurons

CNS to muscles and glands

Somatic Nervous System

motor neurons, control voluntary movement

Autonomic Nervous System

motor neurons, control involuntary responses

Sympathetic Division

part of autonomic nervous system, “fight or flight”

Parasympathetic Division

part of autonomic nervous system, “rest or digest”

Sensory Neurons

sensory organs to CNS

Ring of Muscle in Eye

controls shape of lens, when relaxed the lens is less curved

Lens

focuses rays on retina

Retina

layer of cones and rods, light energy into electrical signals

Pupil

hole in iris that lets light in, expands or dilates based on amount of light

Iris

colored ring of muscle that controls pupil size

Cornea

thick layer of transparent cells that protect the eye and focus rays of refraction on entering the eye

Optic Nerve

carries electrical impulses to brain where image information is processed

Light

form of electromagnetic radiation that travels as a wave

Physical Property: Wavelength (sight)

Perceptual Property: Hue

Physical Property: Amplitude/Intensity (sight)

Perceptual Property: Brightness

Physical Property: Purity/Bandwidth (sight)

Perceptual Property: Saturation

Outer Ear

collects soundwaves and funnels them into ear canal

Auditory Canal

where sound is amplified

Middle Ear

transfer sound vibrations, equalize air pressure

Eardrum

causes vibrations which are then transferred to middle ear

Inner Ear

changes sound waves to electrical signals, balance

Semicircular Canals

liquid filled tubes that help balance

Cochlea

transforms sound into electrical impulses

Eustachian Tube

equalizes air pressure in middle ear

Physical Dimension: Amplitude/Intensity (sound)

Perceptual dimension: loudness

Physical Dimension: Frequency (sound)

Perceptual dimension: pitch

Physical Dimension: Complex Sounds

Perceptual dimension: timbre

4 Odors

musky, flowery, burnt, minty

4 Flavors

sweet, sour, bitter, salty

Vestibular Sense

sensed by inner ear, in charge of spatial movement and gravitational pull

Kinesthesis

sensed by muscles and tendons, in charge of movement and position of body parts (think phantom limbs)

Alcohol

depressant, causes depression, memory loss, organ damage, impaired reactions

Heroin

depressant, causes depressed physiology, painful withdrawal

Caffeine

stimulant, causes anxiety, restlessness, insomnia, uncomfortable withdrawal

Methamphetamine

stimulant, causes irritability, insomnia, hypertension, seizures

Cocaine

stimulant, causes cardiovascular stress, suspiciousness, depressive crash

Nicotine

stimulant, causes heart disease, cancer

Marijuana

mild hallucinogen, causes lowered sex hormones, disrupted memories, lung damage

Freud’s Wish-Fulfillment Theory

dreams express taboo desires through latent and manifest content, lacks scientific support

Latent Content

hidden meaning of dream

Manifest Content

remembered content of dream

Information-Processing Theory

dreams sort out day’s events and create memories, criticism is that we dream about things we haven’t experienced

Physiological Function Theory

brain stimulation from REM develops and preserves neural pathways, doesn’t explain why we have meaningful dreams

Activation-Synthesis Theory

REM sleep triggers impulses that are interpreted as images which are weaved into a story, this implies that since the stories are woven by the brain it still has something to do with the dreamer

Cognitive Theory

dream content reflects dreamers’ knowledge and understanding, doesn’t address neuroscience

Pavlov

classical conditioning

Watson

behaviorism

Skinner

operant conditioning

Garcia

taste aversion

Seligman

learned helplessness

Thorndike

law of effect

Ebbinghaus

forgetting curve

Loftus

misinformation effect

Kohler

insight learning