Psych 1010

Chapter 1-3

How do the mind and brain relate?

the mind (mental activity) is produced by biochemical processes in the brain

What is amiable skepticism?

being open to new ideas but carefully considering the evidence

This describes the totality of observable human/animal actions

Behaviour

Dunning-Kruger effect

The tendency for unskilled individuals to overestimate their own ability and the tendency for experts to underestimate their own ability.

Descartes' belief on Dualism

The body is governed by a "reflex" while deliberate action is controlled by the rational mind

The difference between the mind/body problem and nature/nurture debate

* M/B: speaks to the separation of mental life & the body


* N/N: talks about the origin of mental life

The brain hypothesis

the idea that the brain is the source of behavior

Proximate explanations vs Ultimate explanations

* P: concerned with HOW a behavior works with its mechanisms & development

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* U: concerned with WHY a behavior exists; has an evolutionary history perspective

Interactionist perspective

theoretical perspective that focuses on how individuals interact with one another in society

Nature vs nurture

name for a controversy in which it is debated whether genetics or environment is responsible for driving behavior. Later discovered that both plays a role in behavior

Structuralism vs. Functionalism

Structuralists wanted to understand the components of the mind based on introspection. Functionalists wanted to explore what the mind could do and they focused on behavior mostly

Wilhelm Wundt

* father of psychology, structuralism, introspection
* Believed that consciousness has 2 parts: sensation & affection

Edward Titchener

* pioneered structuralism


* Believed that consciousness has 3 parts: sensation, affection, & image

William James

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


* Noted that the mind consists of an ever-changing, continuous series of thoughts

Behaviourism

the view that psychology should be an objective science that studies behaviour without reference to mental processes

Epigenetics

* the study of heritable changes in genome function that occur without alterations to the DNA sequence


* Alters gene expression

Gut-brain axis

the bi-directional pathway between the intestines and the central nervous system, by which changes in the intestinal environment affect the brain and vice versa

B.F Skinner

* Contributions: created techniques to manipulate the consequences of an organism's behavior in order to observe the effects of subsequent behavior
* Known for his operant conditioning

John 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

Cognitive Revolution

a shift in psychology from the behaviorist's stimulus-response relationships to an approach whose main thrust was to understand the operation of the mind

Information Processing Theory

theory proposing that human cognition consists of mental hardware (brain & nervous system) and mental software (mental process)

The cultural differences between westerners & easterners

Westerners: independent & autonomous; breaks down complex ideas to explain behavior

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Easterners: interdependent & collective; holistic thinking when explaining a behavior

What are cultural norms?

socially upheld rules regarding how people ought to behave in certain situations

Biopsychosocial model

perspective that asserts that biology, psychology, and social factors interact to determine an individual's health

Interdisciplinary

covering more than one area or study that uses several discipline

Types of learning methods

* Distributed
* Retrieval/testing
* Elaborated interrogation

3 primary goals of science

description, prediction, explanation

What is confirmation bias?

the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one's existing beliefs or theories.

Illusory correlation

the perception of a relationship where none exists that benefits one's assumptions

Hindsight bias

the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it

Availability heuristic

making a decision based on the answer that most easily comes to mind

Ash's line of estimation

Conforming to the majority's desire due to peer pressure that you might be wrong

George A Miller

* Found that short term memory has the capacity of about 7 (+/- 2) items.


* Launched the cognitive revolution in psych

Ivan Pavlov

discovered classical conditioning; trained dogs to salivate at the ringing of a bell

Modern scientific psychology

* Eclectic approach
* Drawn from several theoretical perspectives


* Acceptance based on scientific methods & not an option

Evolutionary Pscyhology

the study of the evolution of behavior and the mind, using principles of natural selection

Scientific Methodology

involves observing and asking questions, making inferences and forming hypotheses, conducting controlled experiments, collecting and analyzing data, and drawing conclusions

Role of a theory

* Guides scientists in casting testable hypotheses
* Explains how the construct relates to one another

Operationalization

The process of assigning a precise method for measuring a term being examined for use in a particular study

Small samples

has insufficient power to detect differences in groups being compared

HARKing

hypothesizing after results are known

P-hacking

running many different statistical analyses until it yields the desired results

Underreporting null effects

choosing not to publish (or being unable to publish) non-significant results that doesn't support the hypothesis in a research

Types of research method

descriptive, correlational, experimental

Descriptive Study

Used to observe measure, describe behaviour & experience but can't provide explanations for the causes of the behaviour

Types of descriptive studies

* case study


* naturalistic & participant observation
* survey


* self reports (Unreliable)


* testimonials

Correlation study

* a descriptive study that looks for a consistent relationship between two phenomena


* Values fall between -1.0 &. +1.0

third variable problem (confounding variable)

* The circumstance where a variable that has not been measured accounts for the relationship between two other variables.


* also known as confounds.

Experimental study

* Active manipulation of the experimental situation allows you to make cause & effect conclusions


* includes the independent, dependent, possibly controlled variable

Pseudoscience

set of claims that seems scientific but isn't

Random assignment

assigning participants to experimental and control groups by chance, thus minimizing preexisting differences between those assigned to the different groups

Longitudinal designs

track the development of the same group of participants over time

Cross-sectional designs

* several different age groups are studied at one time point
* cohort-effect is the downside to this

3 characteristics of a good research

Validity, reliability, & accuracy

Construct validity

the extent to which variables measure what they are supposed to measure

external validity

the extent to which the results of a study can be generalized to other situations and to other people

Internal validity

the degree to which the effects observed in an experiment are due to the independent variable and not confounds

Operational definition

* Describe & measure variables so the variables can be understood objectively
* Let’s people know what variables was used, & how it was manipulated & measured

2 main ways to analyze data

1. Describe the data
2. What conclusions can you draw from the data?

In the scientific method, what do you call a specific, testable prediction?

Hypothesis

What does false positive mean in a research study?

* occurs when the hypothesis under investigation is false but the study produces a seemingly trustworthy result by chance

Meta-analyses

A study of studies that have already been conducted

Case studies

* Intense observation, recording & description of an event/experience; might not necessarily apply to general population
* Goal is to describe events/experiences that resulted from the exceptional feature of the person/organization

In an experiment, which variable is manipulated and which is measured?

* Independent variable is manipulated
* Dependent variable is measured

Participant observation

Researchers involve themselves in the situation of interest

Naturalistic observation

Observer is passive & makes no attempt to change ongoing behavior

Mean

* The arithmetic average of a set of #’s
* May either give an inflated or deflated summary of the average

Median

The value in a set of #’s that falls exactly halfway between the lowest & highest values

Mode

The most frequent score or value in a set of #’s

Variability

How widely dispersed the values are from each other & from the mean

CNS (central nervous system)

* brain and spinal cord
* Organizes, evaluates & coordinate the info from PNS

PNS (peripheral nervous system)

* cranial nerves and spinal nerves


* includes the somatic & autonomic nervous system (ANS)
* Sends a variety of info to CNS

* Powered by electrical impulses & communicate though chemical signals


* Nerve cells that receive, integrate, & transmit information.


* communicates selectively with other nerve cells to form neural networks

Neurons

sensory neurons (afferent)

neurons that carry incoming info from the sensory receptors to the brain and spinal cord (CNS)

What is a reflex?

An automatic action that your body does in response to something.

* Doesn’t involve the brain and only the spinal coord

efferent neurons

Nerve cells that conduct impulses away from the CNS

Interneurons

CNS neurons that internally communicate and intervene between the sensory inputs and motor outputs

Neuron structure: Dendrites

Branchlike parts of a neuron that are specialized to receive information.

Neuron structure: cell body (soma)

Largest part of a typical neuron; contains the nucleus and much of the cytoplasm

Neuron structure: Axon

A threadlike extension of a neuron that carries nerve impulses away from the cell body.

Neuron structure: Synapse

the gap between the axon of a "sending" neuron and the dendrites of a "receiving" neuron; the site at which chemical communication occurs between neurons

Neuron structure: Myelin

a fatty substance that helps insulate neurons and speeds the transmission of nerve impulses

myelin sheath

an insulating layer covering an axon that allows for faster neural impulses

Neuron structure: terminal buttons (axon terminals)

ends of axons that secrete neurotransmitters

The positional order of neuronal cell structures (from receiving component to sending component)

Dendrites \> soma \> axon \> axon terminal \> synapse

What happens when a neuron is depolarized past its firing threshold?

An action potential occurs

Action Potential (AP) / Neural Firing

* A brief regenerative all-or-nothing electrical signal that propagates along an axon


* terminal buttons release chemicals that transmit to other neurons, causing the membrane to be more positively charged inside than outside = DEPOLARIZATION


* 30-50 mv

Resting membrane potential

* Neuron is at rest; membrane is more negatively charged inside than outside


* Neuron is becoming more POLARIZED


* Electrical charge is at -70 mv

refractory/recovery period

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


* The membrane once again becomes more negatively charged inside than outside by closing the Na gate. = REPOLARIZATION

How many sodium/potassium ions are removed/added in via the Na+/K+ pump?

3 Na+ out, 2 K+ in

excitatory vs. inhibitory neurotransmitters

Excitatory- Causes Depolarization and leads to Action Potential increasing. (Brings it closer to the threshold)

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Inhibitory- Causes Hyperpolarization and leads to Action Potential decreasing (brings it further from the threshold)

Hyperpolarization

* The movement of the membrane potential of a cell away from rest potential in a more negative direction.


* Decreases the likelihood that the neuron will fire

* An autoimmune condition that causes myelin sheath destruction; disrupts in nerve impulse conduction


* Movement, sensation, & coordination can become impaired over time

Multiple Sclerosis

Neurotransmitters

* chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gaps between neurons


* Binds with specific receptors of the postsynaptic neuron and can cause an excitatory or inhibitory signal in it

Psychological function of Acetylcholine (ACh)

Psychological function are:

* Motor control over muscles


* Learning, memory, sleeping, and dreaming

Psychological function of Norepinephrine

Psychological function are: Arousal, vigilance, and attention

Psychological function of serotonin

Psychological function are: Emotional states, and impulsiveness dreaming

Psychological function of Dopamine

Psychological function are:

* reward & motivation


* Motor control over voluntary movement

Psychological function of GABA

Psychological function are: inhibition of AP anxiety reduction

Psychological function of Glutamate

Psychological function are:

* Enhancement of AP


* Learning & memory