Introduction to Psychology- Exam 1

Wilhelm Wundt 1842-1910

Father of Psychology; used structuralism (Focus on the structures of the human mind

William James 1842-1910

Used functionalism (the focus on the function and behavior on the mind along with adaptation)

Biological Approach

An approach to psychology focusing on the body, especially the brain and nervous system

Behavioral approach

an approach to psychology emphasizing the scientific study of observable behavioral responses and their environmental processes

Psychodynamic approach

emphasizes unconscious thought, the conflict between biological drives (such as the drive for sex) and society's demands, and early childhood family experiences

Humanistic approach

emphasizes a person's positive qualities, the capacity for positive growth, and the freedom to choose any destiny

Cognitive approach

emphasizes the mental processes involved in knowing: how we direct our attention, perceive, remember, think and solve problems

Evolutionary Approach

centered on evolutionary ideas such as adaptation, reproduction, and natural selection as the basis for explaining specific human behaviors

Sociocultural Approach

examines the ways in which social and cultural environments influence bad behavior

Scientific Method

how psychologists gain knowledge about mind and behavior; use of this is what makes psychology a science; summarized in 5 steps- 1. observing some phenomenon, 2. formulating hypotheses and predictions, 3. testing through empirical research, 4. drawing conclusions, 5. evaluating conclusions

Theory

a broad idea or set of closely related ideas that attempts to explain observations and to make predictions about future observations

Hypothesis

a testable prediction that derives logically from a theory

Descriptive Research

about describing some phenomenon- determining its basic dimensions and defining what this thing is, how often it occurs, and so on; cant prove alone what causes some phenomenon, but it can reveal important information about people's behaviors and attitudes; methods include observation, surveys and interviews, and case studies

Naturalistic Observation

observing what people do in their natural environment and keeping careful notes about what's observed

Survey

(Questionnaire) Presents a standard set of questions, or items, to obtain peoples self-reported attitudes or beliefs about a particular topic

Case Studies

(a.k.a. Case History) an in-depth look at a single individual

Correlational Research

Research that examines the relationships between variables, whose purpose is to examine whether and how two variables change together (co-relationship)

Experimental Research

to determine whether a casual relationship exists between variables, researchers must use experimental methods

Random Assignment

researchers assignment of participants to groups by chance, to reduce the likelihood that an experiment's results will be due to preexisting differences between groups

Independent Variable

a manipulated experimental factor; the variable that the experimenter changes to see what its effects are

Dependent Variable

the outcome; the factor that can change in an experiment in response to changes in the independent variable

Experimental Group

the participants in an experiment who receive the drug or other treatment under study- that is, those who are exposed to the change that the independent variable represents

Control Group

the participants in an experiment who are as much like the experimental group as possible and who are treated in every way like the experimental group except for a manipulated factor, the independent variable

Placebo Effect

the situation where participants expectations, rather than the experimental treatment, produce an experimental outcome

Nervous system

the body's electrochemical communication circuitry

Central Nervous System (CNS)

brain and spinal cord; more than 99% of all nerve cells located in CNS

Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)

network of nerves that connects the brain and spinal cord to other parts of the body; bring information to and from the brain and spinal cord, carry out commands of the CNS to execute various muscular and glandular activities

Somatic Nervous System

consists of sensory nerves (afferent), whose function is to convey information from the skin and muscles to the CNS about conditions such as pain and temperature, and the motor nerves, whose function is to tell muscles what to do

Autonomic Nervous System

The body system that takes messages to and from the body's internal organs, monitoring such processes as breathing, heart rate, and digestion

Sympathetic Nervous System

part of autonomic nervous system that arouses the body to mobilize it for action and thus is involved in the experience of stress

Parasympathetic Nervous System

part of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body

Plasticity

the brains special capacity for change

Stress

the body's response to stressors; responses of individuals to environmental stressors

Stressors

circumstances and events that threaten individuals and tax their coping abilities and that cause physiological changes to ready the body to handle the assault of stress

Neurons

one of two types of cells in the nervous system; ______ are the nerve cells that handle the information-processing function

Dendrites

treelike fibers projecting from a neuron, which receive information and orient it toward the neuron's cell body

Cell Body

part of the neuron that contains the nucleus, which directs the manufacture of substances that the neuron needs for growth and maintenance

Axon

the part of the neuron that carries information away from the cell body toward other cells

Myelin Sheath

a layer of fat cells that encases and insulates most axons

Action Potential

brief wave of positive electrical charge that sweeps down the axon

Synapse

tiny spaces between neurons; the gaps between neurons are referred to as synaptic gaps

Neurotransmitter

chemical substances that are stored in very tiny sacs within the neuron's terminal buttons and involved in transmitting information across a synaptic gap to the next neuron

Acetylcholine (ACh)

stimulates the firing of neurons and is involved in the action of muscles, learning and memory; found throughout the central and peripheral nervous systems

GABA (gamma aminobutyric acid)

found throughout the central nervous system; important because it keeps many neurons from firing; helps to control the precision of the signal being carried from one neuron to the next; low levels linked with anxiety

Norepinephrine

inhibits the firing of neurons in the central nervous system, but it excites the heart muscle, intestines, and urogenital tract; stress triggers release of this and also helps to control alertness

Dopamine

helps to control voluntary movement and effects sleep, mood, attention, learning, and the ability to recognize rewards in the environment; related to personality trait extraversion (being outgoing and gregarious)

Serotonin

regulation of sleep and wakefulness, teams with actylcholine and norepinephrine; lower levels associated with depression

Endorphins

natural opiates, mainly stimulate the firing of neurons; shield the body from pain and elevate feelings of pleasure

Agonist

drug that mimics or increases a neurotransmitters effects

Brain Stem

stemlike brain area that includes much of the hindbrain (excluding the cerebellum) and the midbrain; connects with the spinal cord at its lower end and then extends upward to encase the reticular formation in the midbrain

Cerebellum

extends from rear of hindbrain, just above medulla; rounded structure involved in motor coordination

Medulla

begins where the spinal cord enters the skull; controls many vital functions, such as breathing and heart rate

Limbic System

Set of subcortical brain structures central to emotion, memory and reward processing; loosely connected network of structures under cerebral cortex; important in memory and emotion; 2 principal structures- amygdala and hippocampus

Amygdala

almond-shaped structure within the base of the temporal lobe that is involved in the discrimination of objects that are necessary for the organism's survival, such as appropriate food, mates and social rivals

Hippocampus

structure in the limbic system that has a special role in the storage of memories

thalamus

forebrain structure that sits at the top of the brain stem in the brain's central core and serves as an important relay station

hypothalamus

small forebrain structure, located just below the thalamus, the monitors three pleasurable activities- eating, drinking and sex- as well as emotion, stress and reward

Cerebral Cortex

part of forebrain, the outer layer of the brain, responsible for the most complex mental functions, such as thinking and planning

Frontal Lobe

portion of the cerebral cortex behind the forehead, involved in personality, intelligence, and the control of voluntary muscles

Parietal Lobe

structures at the top and toward the rear of the head that are involved in registering spatial location, attention, and motor control

Temporal Lobe

structures in the cerebral cortex that are located just above the ears and are involved in hearing, language, processing and memory

Occipital Lobe

structures located at the back of the head that respond to visual stimuli

Motor Cortex

region in the cerebral cortex, located just behind the frontal lobes, that processes information about voluntary movement

Somatosensory Cortex

region in the cerebral cortex that processes information about body sensations, located at the front of the parietal lobes

Corpus Callosum

thick band of about 80 million axons that connects the brain cells in one hemisphere to those in the other. In healthy brains, the two sides engage in a continuous flow of information via this neural bridge.

Chromosomes

in the human cell, threadlike structures that come in 23 pairs, one member of each pair originating from each parent, and that contain DNA

Genes

units of hereditary information, consisting of short segments of chromosomes composed of DNA

DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid)

complex molecule in the cell's chromosomes that carries genetic information

Sensation

process of receiving stimulus energies from the external environment and transforming those energies into neural energy

Sensory Receptors

specialized cells that detect stimulus information and transmit it to sensory (afferent) nerves and the brain

Absolute Threshold

the minimum amount of stimulus energy that a person can detect

Difference Threshold

the degree of difference that must exist between two stimuli before the difference is detected

Subliminal Perception

the detection of information below the level of conscious awareness

Sensory Adaptation

a change in the responsiveness of the sensory system based on the average level of surrounding stimuli

Retina

multilayered light-sensitive surface in the eye that records electromagnetic energy and converts it to neural impulses for processing in the brain

Rods

receptor cells in the retina that are sensitive to light but not very useful for color vision

Cones

receptor cells in the retina that allow for color perception

Trichromatic Theory

Thomas Young (1802) and was extended by Herman von Helmholtz (1852)- states that color perception is produced by three types of cone receptors in the retina that are particularly sensitive to different but overlapping ranges of wavelengths

Opponent-Process Theory

theory stating that cells in the visual system respond to complementary pairs of red-green and blue-yellow colors; a given cell might be excited by red and inhibited by green, whereas another cell might be excited by yellow and inhibited by blue

Cochlea

tubular, fluid-filled structure that is coiled up like a snail; oval window transmits sound waves

Perception

process of organizing and interpreting sensory information so that it makes sense

Feature Detectors

neurons in the brain's visual system that respond to particular features of a stimulus

Selective Attention

act of focusing on a specific aspect of experience while ignoring others

Gestalt Psychology

school of thought interested in how people naturally organize their perceptions according to certain patterns

Figure-ground relationship

principle by which we organize the perceptual field into stimuli that stand out (figure) and those that are left over (ground)

Depth Perception

the ability to perceive objects three-dimensionally

Binocular Cues

depth cues that depend on the combination of the images in the left and right eyes and on the way the two eyes work together

Monocular Cues

powerful depth cues available from the image in one eye, either the right or the left

Perceptual Constancies

recognition that objects are constant and unchanging even though sensory input about them is changing

Bottom-up processing

operation in sensation and perception in which sensory receptors register information about the external environment and send it up to the brain for interpretation

Top-down processing

operation in sensation and perception, launched by cognitive processing at the brains higher levels, that allows the organism to sense what is happening and to apply that framework to information from the world

Consciousness

an individual's awareness of external events and internal sensations under a condition of arousal, including the awareness of the self and thought about one's experiences

Controlled Processes

the most alert states of human consciousness, during which individuals actively focus their efforts toward a goal

Automatic Processes

states of consciousness that require little attention and do not interfere with other ongoing activities

Sleep

natural state of rest for the body and mind that involves the reversible loss of consciousness

Circadian rhythms

daily behavioral or physiological cycles that involve the sleep/ wake cycle, body temperature, blood pressure, and blood sugar level

non-REM sleep stages

stages 1-4 of sleep; characterized by a lack of of rapid eye movement and little dreaming

REM sleep

active stage of sleep during which dreaming occurs; 20% of sleep a night

insomnia

inability to sleep; problem falling asleep, waking up during the night, or waking up too early

narcolepsy

sudden, overpowering urge to sleep