psych 100

psychology

the scientific study of mind and behavior (where mind refers to a set a private events that happen inside a person, and behavior refers to a set of public events)

philosophical dualism

the view that the mind and body are fundamentally different things

philosophical materialism

the view that all mental phenomena are reducible to physical phenomena

philosophical realism

the view that perceptions of the physical world are produced entirely by information from the sensory organs (reality has an absolute existence outside of our consciousness)

philosophical idealism

the view that perceptions of the physical world are the brain's interpretation of information from the sensory organs (reality is shaped by our thoughts and ideas)

William James

founder of functionalism; studied how humans use perception to function in our environment

philosophical empiricism

the view that all knowledge is acquired through experience, people are born as blank slates

philosophical nativism

the view that some knowledge is innate rather than acquired

Hermann von Helmholtz

studied human reaction time; estimated the length of nerve impulse

reaction time

the amount of time between the onset of a stimulus and a person's response to that stimulus

structuralism

an approach to psychology that attempted to isolate and analyze the mind's basic elements (structure of mind and consciousness)

introspection

an examination of one's own thoughts and feelings, most prominent in functionalism

Wilhelm Wundt

research assistant to Helmholtz, German physiologist who founded psychology as a formal science; opened first psychology research laboratory in 1879

functionalism

an approach to psychology that emphasized the adaptive significance of mental processes

natural selection

the process by which the specific attributes that promote an organism's survival and reproduction become more prevalent in their species over time

Charles Darwin

naturalist, published On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection

hysteria

a loss of function that has no obvious physical origin

Sigmund Freud

Austrian physician whose work focused on the unconscious causes of behavior and personality formation, founded psychoanalysis

unconscious

the part of the mind that contains information of which people are not aware

psychoanalytic theory

a general theory that emphasizes the influence of the unconscious on feelings, thoughts, and behaviors

psychoanalysis

a therapy that aims to give people insight into the contents of their unconscious minds

John B. Watson

behaviorism, emphasis on external behaviors of people and their reactions on a given situation, famous for Little Albert study in which baby was taught to fear a white rat

behaviorism

the view that psychology should be an objective science that restricts scientific inquiry to observable behavior

B. F. Skinner

behaviorism, pioneer in operant conditioning; behavior is based on an organism's reinforcement history, worked with pigeons (Skinner box)

Ivan Pavlov

pioneer in classical conditioning, trained dogs to salivate at the ringing of a bell

principle of reinforcement

any behavior that is rewarded will be repeated and any behavior that isn't rewarded won't be repeated

JEAN PIAGET

known for his theory of cognitive development in children

Gestalt psychology

suggests that we do not focus on every small part of the world around us, but rather that we perceive objects of elements of more complex systems

developmental psychology

a branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span

social psychology

the scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another

Solomon Asch

conformity; showed that social pressure can make a person say something that is obviously incorrect

Noam Chomsky

language development; disagreed with Skinner about language acquisition, stated there is an infinite # of sentences in a language, humans have an inborn native ability to develop language

cognitive psychology

the scientific study of all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

John Garcia

researched taste aversion. showed that when rats ate a novel substance before being nauseated by a drug or radiation, they developed a conditioned taste aversion for the substance

evolutionary psychology

the study of the ways in which the human mind has been shaped by natural selection

cognitive neuroscience

the study of the relationship between the brain and the mind (mostly in humans)

behavioral neuroscience

the study of the relationship between the brain and behavior (mostly in nonhuman animals)

cultural psychology

the study of how culture influences mental life

Mary Whiton Calkins

first female president of the APA

Kenneth Clark

researched impact of segregation on children of color, work was cited in Brown v. Board of Education

empiricism

the belief that accurate knowledge can be acquired through observation

scientific method

a procedure for using empirical evidence to establish facts

theories

hypothetical explanations of natural phenomena

hypothesis

a falsifiable prediction made by a theory

empirical method

a set of rules and techniques for observation

operational definiton

a description of a property in concrete, measurable terms

construct validity

the extent to which the thing being measured adequately characterizes the property

power

a detector's ability to detect the presence of differences or changes in the magnitude of a property

reliability

a detector's ability to detect the absence of differences or changes in the magnitude of a property

demand characteristics

aspects of an observational setting that cause people to behave as they think someone else wants or expects

naturalistic observation

a technique for gathering scientific information by unobtrusively observing people in their natural environments

observer bias

the tendency for observers' expectations to influence both what they believed they observed and what they actually observed

double-blind study

a study in which neither the researcher nor the participant knows how the participant is expected to behave

variables

properties that can take on different values

correlation

occurs when variations in the value of one variable are synchronized with variations in the value of another

natural correlation

a correlation observed in the world around us

third-variable problem

a natural correlation between two variables cannot be taken as evidence of a causal relationship between them because a third variable might be causing them both

manipulation

a technique for determining the causal power of a variable by actively changing its value

independent variable

the variable that is manipulated, the variable whose effect is being studied

dependent variable

the variable that is being measured, may change in response to manipulations of the IV

self-selection

a type of bias that can arise when study participants choose their own treatment conditions, rather than being randomly assigned

random assignment

a procedure that assigns participants to a condition by chance

internal validity

the degree of confidence that the causal relationship being tested is trustworthy and not influenced by other factors or variables

external validity

variables have been operationally defined in a realistic way, the extent to which results from a study can be applied to other situations, groups or events

population

a complete collection of people

sample

a partial collection of people drawn from a population

case method

a procedure for gathering scientific information by studying a single individual

random sampling

a technique for selecting participants that ensures that every member of a population has an equal chance of being included in the sample

replication

an experiment that uses the same procedures as a previous experiment but with a new sample from the same population

informed consent

an ethical principle that research participants be told enough to enable them to choose whether they wish to participate

debriefing

the post-experimental explanation of a study, including its purpose and any deceptions, to its participants

neuron

cells in the nervous system that communicate with each other to perform information-processing tasks

cell body/soma

coordinates the information-processing tasks and keeps the cell alive

nucleus

a part of the cell containing DNA and RNA and responsible for growth and reproduction

cell membrane

thin, flexible barrier around a cell; regulates what enters and leaves the cell

dendrites

parts of the neuron that receive information from other neurons and relay it to the cell body

axon

the part of a neuron that carries information to other neurons, muscles, or glands

myelin sheath

speeds up transmission and insulates/protects the axon

glial cells

provide support and nutrition, maintain homeostasis, form myelin

synapse

the region between the axon of one neuron and the dendrites of another

sensory neurons

receive information from the external world and convey this information to the brain via the spinal cord

motor neurons

carry signals from the spinal cord to the muscles to produce movement

interneurons

neurons within the brain and spinal cord that communicate internally and intervene between the sensory and motor neurons

resting potential

The difference in electric charge between the inside and outside of a neuron's cell membrane (-70 millivolts)

action potential

a neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon

refractory period

the time following an action potential during which a new action potential cannot be initiated

terminal buttons

small knobs at the end of axons that secrete chemicals called neurotransmitters

neurotransmitters

chemicals that transmit information across the synapse to a receiving neuron's dendrites

receptors

parts of the cell membrane that receive neurotransmitters and either initiate or prevent a new electric signal

acetylcholine (ACh)

learning, memory, muscle movement; too little is associated with Alzheimer's

dopamine

voluntary motor function, regulates emotion arousal and motivation; too much is associated with schizophrenia and too little is associated with Parkinson's

glutamate

major excitatory neurotransmitter; too much causes overactive neurons which lead to seizures

gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)

A major inhibitory neurotransmitter; too little is associated with seizures, tremors, and insomnia

norepinephrine

alertness, wakefulness, mood, and attention; too little is associated with mood disorders

serotonin ("happy chemical")

sleep, mood, body temp, appetite; too little is associated with mood disorders

endorphins

"body's natural painkillers," dull experience of pain and elevate moods

agonists

drugs that increase the action of a neurotransmitter

antagonists

drugs that diminish the function of a neurotransmitter

nervous system

interacting network of neurons that conveys information throughout the body

central nervous system

consists of the brain and spinal cord