AP Psychology Unit 1 Flashcards

Psychology

Study of behavior and mind

Behavior

Natural process subject to natural laws. Observable actions of person or animal

Mind

Senations, memories, motives, emotions, thoughts, and other phenomena particular to individual or animal that are not readily observed.

Dualism

Came from ancient Greeks. Splits world into body and spirit

Tabula rasa

Locke’s idea (blank slate). Almost all knowledge is learnt.

Materialism

Hobbes’s idea. Only things that exist are matter and energy.

Natural selection/Evolutionary theory

Darwin’s idea. All creates have evolved into their present states over long periods of time. Provides way to explain differences between species and justified use of animals to study human behavior.

Structuralism

Tichener’s idea. Looking for patterns in thought.

Introspection

Interview process where subjects describe conscious experience based on stimuli, after which experimenters identify commanlities amongst participants’ descriptions.

Functionalism

William James’s idea. Assesses how the mind fulfills its purpose.

Biological approach

Field of psychology that seeks to understand interactions between anatomy and physiology and behavior. Applies biological experimentations to psychological problems. Uses brain scans.

Behavioral Genetics approach

Field of psychology that seeks to understand how particular behaviors can be attributed to genetics. Takes into account biology and environment impact on expresion of trait. Uses genetic analysis

Behaviorism approach

Posits that psychology is study of observable behavior. Empahsis on observable behavior over mind or mental events. Famous discovery is classical and operant conditioning, and subscribed to by John Watson, BF Skinner, Ivan Pavlov. Uses behavior modification.

Classical conditioning

Behavior is elicited by formerly neutral stimulusl

Operant conditioning

Subject learns to associate behavior with environmental outcome.

Behavior modification

Set of techniques in which psychological problems are considere to be product of learned habits, which can also be unlearned by application of behavioral methods.

Cognitive approach

Rooted in the idea that to understand behavior, one must first understand how environment is construed. Emphasis on thinking, learning, memory, problem solving, language, intelligence, etc. Predominant approach in US. Uses computer models of memory networks

Humanistic approach

Rooted in philosophical tradition. Free will, consciousness. Focus on personal values and goals and how they influence behavior. Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers. Uses talk therapy

Unconditional positive regard

Carl Rogers’s idea. Complete support and kindness for person being treated in therapy, regardless of their beliefs and values.

Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic approach

Developed by Siegmund Freud. Draws distinction between conscious and unconscious mind. Stress on importance of early childhood experiences and relationship with parents and that impact on personality. Approach to therapy is to uncover repressed information. Uses dream analysis, talk therapy.

Conscious mind

Mental states of awareness we can access.

Unconscious mind

Cannot access this mental state but still influences our behaviors.

Sociocultural approach

Emphasis on environment and how it impacts how person behaves and social perception of that behavior. Cultural values vary and must be taken into account to understand behvaior. Also considers, education, socioeconomic status, occupation, demographics. Uses cross cultural studies

Evolutionary approach

Explains how behavior can be explained in terms of evolution. Behavior is adaptive to our survival. Uses species comparison.

Biopsychosocial approach

Approach that emphasizes interaction of biological, psychological, and social factors to explain behavior. Combination of many methods.

Domains

Broad areas of psychological research. Different areas include biological(effect), social(relationships), clinical(treatment), cognitive(thoughts), counseling(counselor, talking), developmental(age, stages), educational(school), experimental(experiments), industrial-organizational(workplaces), personality, psychometric(measuring things in psychology), and positive(positive aspects and strengths of human behavior).

Self selection bias

Bias in which volunteers might skew results because they can choose to participate.

Bias of selection

Bias in which area of selecting people can play a role in results because that area is not representative of the general population.

Pre-screening or advertising bias

Bias in which advertising may attract people who are motivated to do something or already have done something in the study, skewing results because of the people attracted.

Health user bias

Bias in which population chosen is healthier than general population.

Longitudinal studies

Happen over long periods of time with same subjects

Cross sectional studies

Designed to test wide array of subjects from different backgrounds for generalization.

Case studies

Intensive psychological studies of single individuals. Often used in clinical research

Conceptual definition

Theory or issue being studied

Operational definition

Way in which theory or issue of study will be observed or measured.

Internal validity

Certainty that results of experiment can be attributed to manipulation of independent variable rather than to some other confounding variable.

External validity

Extent to which findings of study can be generalized to other contexts in real world

Reliability

Same results appear if experiment is repeated under similar conditions

Inter-rater reliability

Degree to which different raters agree on their observations of the same data.

Naturalistic observation

Allows the study of authentic real world behaviors. However, you cannot control several extraneous variables in real world, limits reliability.

Qualitative research

Used in psychology. Provides detailed descriptions of experience rather than numerical data.

Descriptive statistics

Statistics that summarizes data

Inferential statistics

Allows researchers to test hypotheses about data and determine how confident they can be in inferences about data.

Confederates

People who are aware what’s happening but pretend to be participants.

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

Assess research plans before research is approved to ensure that it meets all ethical standards

Traits

Distinctive characteristics or behavior patterns that are determined by genetics.

Heritability

The degree of variance among indiviudals that can attributed to genetic variations

Environmentality

Degree to which a trait’s epxression is caused by the environment in which an organism lives.

Twin Studies, family studies, adoption studies

Primary methods of research in behavioral genetics. Analyzes how traits are influenced biologically and the influence of genetics and environment on psychology.

Central Nervous System (CNS)

Consists of brain and spinal cord

Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)

Consists of all other nerves in body.

Sensory (afferent) neurons

Nerves sending info to brain

Motor (efferent) neurons

Nerves convey info from brain

Reflexes

Small subset of movements controled by direct transmission from afferent to efferent cells at spinal cord level.

Reflex arc

Path that goes from sensory neurons to motor neurons

Interneurons

Neurons that communicate between sensory and motor neurons.

Somatic Nervous System

Division of PNS. Responsible for voluntary movement of large skeletal muscles

Autonomic Nervous System

Division of PNS that controls nonvoluntary nonskeletal or smooth muslces like that in heart and digestive tract.

Sympathetic Nervous System

Division of autonomic. Associated with processes that burn energy.

Parasympathetic Nervous System

Division of autonomic. Responsible for conserving energy.

Nerves

Bundles of neurons

Soma

Cell body of neurons

Dendrites

Branches out from soma, receives input from ohter neurons through receptors on surface

Axon

Long tubelike structure that responds to input from dendrites and soma.

Myelin sheath

Fatty coating surrounding axon, serves as insulation for axons and speeds up rate of electrical communication traveling down them.

Nodes of Ranvier

Gaps between beads of myelin, speed up transmission

Terminal buttons

Axon ends in these, knobs on branched end of axon. Release neurotransmitters, chemical messengers, across synapse.

Glial cells

Non neyronal cells that provide support to neurons.

Resting membrane potential

Electric potential around -70mV that exists in interior of neuron.

Action potential

AKA nerve impulse. Disturbance to membrane potential. Wave of depolarization that leads to release of neurotransmistters, and repolarization returns membrane potential to normal. “All or none,” either generated or not.

Refractory phase

Neuron passes this after neuron fires. No amount of stimulation can cause neuron to fire again.

Neurotransmitters

Chemical messengers. Excitatory neurotransmitters excite cell, causing neuron to fire. Inhibitory neurotransmitters stop cell firing. After doing its job, they are either broken down by enzymes or absorbed back through reuptake.

Acetylcholine

Neurotransmitter that affects memory function as well as muscle contraction

Serotonin

Neurotransmitter related to arousal, sleep, pain sensing, mood, hunger regulation

Dopamine

Associated with movement, attention, reward; imbalances can lead to Parkinson’s or schizophrenia.

GABA

Inhibitory neurotransmitter

Glutamate

Excitatory neurotransmitter, counterpart to GABA

Norepinephrine

Affects levels of alertness, lack of this leads to depression

Endorphins

Body’s natural painkillers

Substance P

Neurotransmitter linked to pain, mood, vasodilation, learning

Endocrine system

System through which various parts of body relays information through hormones. Main gland of this system is pituitary gland, which is the master gland.

Epinephrine

Hormone that is adrenaline

Norepinephrine

Noradrenaline

Leptin

Hormone involved in hunger and energy regulation

Ghrelin

Hormone that tells brain its hungry

Melatonin

Hormone involved with sleep; controlled by level of light

Oxytocin

Involved with sexual arousal, romantic attachment, and parental bonding. Important in childbirth.

Agonists

Drugs that increase effect of neurotransmitter at synapse

Antagonists

Drugs that decrease effect of neurotransmitter at synapse.

Alcohol

Depressant, decreases dopamine levels

Effects: Dizziness, slurred speech, impaired judgement, high doses can result in respiratory depression and death

Barbiturates (Seconal, Nembutal)

Depressant, inhibits neural arousal centers

Effects: Decreases anxiety, increases relaxation, high doses can result in death, very addictive and dangerous when mixed with other depressants or alcohol

Tranquilizers (Xanax, Valium, Librium)

Depressant, inhibits neural arousal centers

Effects: Reduce anxiety without inducing sleep

Caffeine

Stimulant, accelerates heart rate, constricts blood vessels, reduces leel of adenosine (regulator of norepinephrine release).

Effects: Can lead to irritability, anxiety, insomnia.

Amphetamines (diet pills, Adderall)

Stimulant, increases body temp and heart rate, increases production of dopamine and norepinephrine

Effects: can be addictive, produce feelings of euphoria, high doses can lead to motor dysfunction

Cocaine

Stimulant, stimulates heart rate and blood pressure, increases dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine release

Effects: Users feel as though they have increased mental abilities and social ability. Can be highly addictive

Nicotine

Stimulant, stimulates acetylcholine transmission, increases heart rate

Effects: Has depressant behavioral effects such as decreasing appetite while increasing heart rate and respiration, can sometimes cause euphoria and dizziness, highly addictive

Opioids (oxycodone, heroin)

Depressant, activate receptors for endogenous endorphins

Effects: Induce relaxation and euphoria; can relieve pain, may cause impaired cognitive ability, sweating, nausea, and respiratory depression, highly addictive and available only by prescription or through ilicit means

Hallucinogens (LSD, marijuana)

Distorts sensory perceptions, may increase serotonin levels

Effects; May induce sensory synesthesia (hearing colors), occasionally terrifying and unpleasant alterations and hallucinations. Paranoia.

Dependence

AKA addiction.

Tolerance

When increasingly larger doses are needed for a drug to have the same effect to occur. Possible to develop this without being dependent.