Psych exam 1

Psychology

the scientific study of behavior

Levels of analysis

A stepwise approach to analysis with lower biological levels and higher social levels

Trepanation

Drilling holes in the skull

Dualism

Humans consist of two distinct entities: Body (purely physical) and soul (purely spiritual)

Rene Descartes

Modified dualism into Interactionism- body can control behavior, reflexes

Materialism (Monism)

mind and body are whole

Thomas Hobbes

Materialist

Wilhelm Wundt

Founded psychology, structuralist, introspection and experiment

Structuralism

Study directly the basic elements of conscious experience

Introspection

"looking inside" ones own mind, however, not observable, Dif results, Hard to test

Functionalism

William James - The mind functions to aid the organism in adjusting to changes in its environment, influenced by Darwin

Gestalt Psychology

Perception, whole is sum of more than parts

Psychoanalysis

Freud, Unconscious motivations drive human behavior and personality development, end goal treat abnormal behavior, dream analysis & free association

Freud

Made psychoanalysis

Id

Unconscious, basic impulses- closely linked to biological processes

Superego

(both conscious and unconscious) ideals and morals, strives for perfection, criticizes and prohibits

Ego

(mostly conscious), exclusive mediating between Id impulses and Superego inhibitions

Behavioralism

Watson, observable behavior ONLY, no introspection, consciousness and mental experience can not be studied scientifically

Variables

represent things that cantata on different values, operationally define concepts

Theory

Broad set of statements about relationship between variables

Hypothesis

tentative explanation or prediction about specific variables

Research design

observational study, case study, or experiment

Research setting

Lab or field

Data-collection method

Self-report or observation

Observational study

Naturalistic, survey/questionnaire, or archival based, no intervention but only correlation

Cause and effect needs

Independent and dependent variables, controls

Between groups

Two separate groups

Within groups

Two groups, both exp. and control

Random assignment

Randomly assignment experiment and control groups

Counterbalancing

When there are two conditions, half the group does condition a then b, other half does reverse

operational definition

Clear, consise definition of a major

Falsifiability

Falsifiability is the capacity for some proposition, statement, theory or hypothesis to be proven wrong.

Self correcting

an objective process that incorporates new information and updates beliefs about the world depending on the available evidence.

frequency distribution

histogram

Descriptive statistics

Describe data quantitatively, mean median mode

Measures of variability

Range, valance, standard deviation

Correlational coefficient

Measures relationship between variables x and y

inferential statistics

numerical methods used to determine whether research data support a hypothesis or whether results were due to chance

Learning

a change in behavior that occurs as a result of experience.

classical conditioning

Stimulus-Response relationship

Ivan Pavlov

Dogs associated bell with food

Neutral stimulus

Stimulus w/ no response

Unconditioned stimulus

Stimulus that elicits automatic response (UCR)

Unconditioned response

Automatic response to UCS that does not need to be learned

Conditioned response

Response previously associated w/ a non neutral stimulus that comes to be elicited by a neutral stimulus

Conditioned stimulus

A previously neutral stimulus that has, through conditioning, acquired the capacity to evoke a conditioned response.

Aquisition

Learning phase during which CR is established

Extinction

Gradual reduction and elimination of CR after CS presented repeatedly without UCS

spontaneous recovery

the reappearance, after a pause, of an extinct CR

Renewal effect

sudden reemergence of a CR following extinction when an animal is returned to the environment in which the CR was acquired

Stimulus discrimination

Process by which organisms display a less pronounced CR to CS’s that differ from original CS

stimulus generalization

Process by which organisms display a less pronounced CR to CS's that differ from original CS

Higher order classical conditioning

Developing a CR to a CS by virtue of its association with another CS

Little Albert

Experiment done by Behaviorist, John B. Watson, classically conditioned Little Albert to fear a white rat (as well as all furry animal)

systematic desensitization

Gradually introduce fear w/ goal of extinction

Flooding

Rapid introduction of fear w/ goal of extinction

operant conditioning

Learning results from consequence

Thorndike's Law of Effect

If a response, in presence of a stimulus, is followed by a satisfying state of affairs, bond between stimulus and repsonse will be strengthened

Thorndike

Puzzle box, cats learn to escape quicker

B.F. Skinner

Skinner box, operant conditioning and came up with term reinforcer rather satisfaction

Operant

Behaviors that operate on the environment to bring about some change the environment, cause presentation/removal of stimulus

Reinforcement

Increase in responding

Punishment

Decrease in responding

Positive reinforcement/punishment

Presentation of stimulus

Negative reinforcement/stimulus

Removal of stimulus

schedules of reinforcement

specific patterns that determine when a behavior will be reinforced

Continuous schedule

reinforcing the behavior every time it occurs

Partial schedule

Reinforce behavior some of time

Fixed ratio schedule

Reward after every fixed number of responses

Variable ratio schedule

Reward after every variable number of responses (w/ average)

Fixed interval schedule

Reward after every fixed amount of time

Variable interval schedule

Reward every variable amount of time

biological predispositions

Genetically programmed tendencies to acquire classically conditioned fear responses to potentially life-threatening stimuli

Fixed action pattern

In animal behavior, a sequence of unlearned acts that is essentially unchangeable and, once initiated, usually carried to completion.

Prepardness

The species-specific biological predisposition to learn in certain ways but not others.

Cognitivism

A theory of learning. The idea is that learning is a conscious, rational process. People learn by making models, maps and frameworks in their mind. ~ is the opposite of behaviorism.

S-O-R psychology

stimulus-organism-response

Edward Tolman

Learning provides knowledge, based on knowledge, organisms develop an expectancy or cognitive representation of what leads to what

Cognitive map

a mental representation of the layout of one's environment

Latent learning

learning that occurs but is not apparent until there is an incentive to demonstrate it

Bobo doll experiment

kids watch man beat up bobo doll. Then kids went into a room with the doll and beat it up just because they watched someone else do it

Stimulus

Any pattern of physical energy

Sensation

The activity of sensory receptors

Perception

The meaningful organization and interpretation of component sensations, requires experience

Transduction

the process of converting physical energy into a neural code

Sensory neurons

Specialized cells which are specifically designed to detect the different forms of energy.

Psychophysics

Assessment of the psychological (i.e., perceptual) representation of physical energy (Gustav Fechner,1801-1887)

Neurophysiology

Concerned with the neural response of the sensory system to physical energy.

Absolute thresholds

The minimum amount of physical energy needed to detect a stimulus

psychometric function

Graph presenting the % correct plotted as a function of stimulus intensity.

Difference threshold (JND)

minimal amount of difference in stimulus energy needed for participant to notice the difference.

Weber's Law

Proportional ratio between intensity of original stimuli and difference needed to detect a difference

Fovea

small area of retina located at our "line-of-sight" (responsible for our 'detail vision')

peripheral retina

all of the retinal area that does not include the fovea

Retina

Membrane at the back of the eye responsible for converting light into neural activity

Rod system

Designed to operate at low light levels (night vision), Highly sensitive,

Cone system

Designed to operate at high light levels (daytime vision), see in color

Convergent Processing

There are ~ 125 million photoreceptors and only ~ 1 million ganglion cells in the human retina.

The optic disc

where the eye's ~ 1 million ganglion cell axons exit the eye to form the optic nerve.

Blind spot

There are no photoreceptors in the optic disc