Psychology Final Exam

Major Subfields

Biopsychology,Clinical, Cognitive, Counseling, Cross

Psychologist vs. Psychiatrist

A psychiatrist is a medical doctor and can prescribe medication. While psychologists typically hold doctorate degrees, they do not attend medical school and are not medical doctors.

Independent Variable

variable that is manipulated

Dependent Variable

variable that is measured

Survey Research

ask a series of questions about their behavior, thoughts, or attitudes.

Case Study

an in-depth, intensive investigation of an individual or small group of people

Experimental Research

deliberately producing a change in one variable in a situation and observing the effects of that change on other aspects of the situation

Naturalistic Observation

observe a naturally occurring behavior and does not make a change in the situation

Serotonin

affects mood, hunger, sleep and arousal. undersupply linked to depression

Dopamine

influences movement, learning, attention and emotion. Excess dopamine linked to schizophrenia

Norepinephrine

helps control alertness and arousal. undersupply can depress mood.

GABA

relaxes, undersupply linked to seizures, tremors and insomnia

Glutamate

major excitatory neurotransmitter involved in memory, oversupply can produce migraines or seizures

Temporal lobe

hearing, language comprehension, memory and information retrieval

Parietal Lobe

touch perceptors, body orientation and sensory discrimination

Frontal Lobe

motor control, problem solving, speech production

Occipital Lobe

sight, visual receptor and visual interpretation

Hippocampus

factual episodic memory

Cerebellum

balance and coordination

Sensorimotor

Birth to 2, Senses and Actions

Preoperational

2 to 7, Represent things with words; use intuitive not logic, Pretend play, Egocentrism, Language Development

Concrete Operational

7 to 11, Logic thinking, Concrete Analogies, Arithmetical Operations, Conservation, Mathematical advancement

Formal Operational

12 to adult, Abstract Reasoning, Abstract logic, Potential for moral reasoning

Theory of Mind

People's ideas about their own and others' mental states

Conservation

same amount of water or different

Object Permanence

out of sight, out of mind, develops gradually

Trust vs. Mistrust

Infancy to 1, Infants develop trust by having parent meet their needs

Autonomy v. shame and doubt

1 to 2, toddlers try to to do things on their own or doubt their abilities

initiative vs. guilt

3 to 5, begin tasks and carry out plans or feel guilty about being independent

competence vs inferiority

6 to puberty, pleasure of applying self to tasks or feel inferior

identity vs. role confusion

puberty to 20s refine sense of self and form an identity or become confused about who they are

intimacy vs. isolation

20s to 40s, struggle to form close relationships and gain capacity for intimate love or feel socially isolated

generativity vs stagnation

40s to 60s sense of contributing to the world or feel lack of purpose

integrity vs. despair

60s and up, satisfaction with life or failure with life

Preconventional

before age 9 obey to avoid punishment or receive rewards

Conventional

early adolescent, cares for others, upholds laws and social rules just because

Postconventional

affirms agreed upon rights or follows personal ethical principles

Authoritative

high demanding, high responsiveness

Authoritarian

high demanding, low responsiveness

Permissive

low demanding, high responsiveness

Neglectful

Low demands, low responsiveness

Emerging Adulthood

18 to mid 20s

Classical conditioning

is when we learn to associate 2 different stimuli for one event

Pavlov

began classical conditioning

Unconditioned Stimulus

naturally and automatically triggers a response

Unconditioned Response

unlearned, naturally occurring

Neutral Stimulus

elicits no response

Conditioned Stimulus

an originally neutral stimulus that now triggers a conditioned response when paired with an US

Conditioned Response

the learned response to a previously neutral stimulus

Operant Conditioning

Associate our own actions with consequences. strengthened if followed by a reinforcer, diminished if followed by a punisher.

Skinner

did operant conditioning experiments

Positive Reinforcement

increasing behaviors by presenting positive stimuli (+)

Negative Reinforcement

increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing negative stimuli (-)

Fixed ratio

set number of responses

Fixed interval

specified time has elapsed

variable ratio

unpredictable number of responses

variable interval

unpredictable time intervals

Positive Punishment

add unwanted stimulus

Negative Punishment

take away a desireable stimulus

Observational Learning

learning by observing

bandura

made the bobo doll experiments

Fundamental Attribution Error

Tendency for observers to underestimate the situation and overestimate disposition

Role Playing

affects attitude, strive to follow social rules

Foot in the Door Phenomenon

comply w/ small request can lead to bigger requests

Conformity

adjusting one's behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard

Conditions that strengthen conformity

One is made to feel incompetent or insecure, The group has at least three people, The group is unanimous, One admires the group's status and attractiveness., One has no prior commitment or response, The group observes one's behavior, One's culture strongly encourages respect for a social standard.

Obedience

to follow orders and commands even if you don't agree with them you follow due to authority figures wanting it

Normative Social Influence

Person's desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval

Informational Social Influence

One's willingness to accept others' opinions about reality

GROUP POLARIZATION

the enhancement of a group's prevailing inclinations through discussion within the group.

GROUPTHINK

the mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision

deindividuation

the loss of self

SOCIAL LOAFING

the tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable.

SOCIAL FACILITATION

stronger responses on simple or well

Proximity

Geographic nearness is a powerful predictor of friendship.

mere exposure effect

Repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases their attraction

Physical Attractiveness

Once proximity affords contact, the next most important thing in attraction is physical appearance.

Similarity

Similar views among individuals causes the bond of attraction to strengthen.

Passionate Love

An aroused state of intense positive absorption in another, usually present at the beginning of a love relationship.

Companionate Love

A deep, affectionate attachment we feel for those with whom our lives are intertwined.

Prejudice

an unjustifiable (and usually negative) attitude toward a group and its members. negative attitude.

Discrimination

unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group and its members. negative behavior

halo effect

when one assumes that a good

Bystander Effect

Tendency of any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present.

Social Exchange Theory

Our social behavior is an exchange process. The aim is to maximize benefits and minimize costs.

Reciprocity Norm

The expectation that we should return help and not harm those who have helped us.

Social-Responsibility Norm

Largely learned, it is a norm that tells us to help others when they need us even though they may not repay us.

Sensory Memory

the immediate, very brief recording of sensory info in the memory system

Short-Term Memory

activated memory that holds a few items briefly

Long-Term Memory

the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system; knowledge, skills, experiences

Encoding

The processing of information into the memory system; extracting meaning

Storage

the retention of info

Retrieval

getting info out of storage

Proactive interference

the disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information (Call your new girlfriend your old girlfriend's name)

Retroactive interference

the disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old info (Learned Spanish... now studying Italian... can only remember Italian)

Encoding Failure

info never enters our long term memory

Storage Decay

fading of physical memory trace

Retrieval Failure

Info is stored, it's just hard to find

The next in line effect

the phenomenon of people being unable to recall information concerning events immediately preceding their turn to perform.

Serial Position Effect

our tendency to recall best the last and first items in a list