psych exam study

Wilhelm Wundt

•Founded structuralism

•Used introspection

•Wrote the first book on Psychology

William James

•Founded functionalism

•Used introspection and objective measures

•Influenced by Charles Darwin

Sigmund Freud

•Founded the Psychoanalytic approach

•Used indirect methods of observation (Dream analysis, “Freudian slips”)

Introspection

•the observation of thoughts

Functionalism

•What’s the function of our thoughts and behaviors?

•How do they help you adapt your environment

Psychoanalysis

•Study of the unconscious mind

John Watson

•Founded behaviorism

•Researched cause and effect

Behaviorism

•Study of observable, learned behavior

B.F Skinner

•Continued Watson’s work in behaviorism

Abraham Maslow

•Proponent of humanism

•Made hierarchy of needs to explain people behavior

Humanism

•All humans have innate capacity for good → we should strive to reach that

Carl Rogers

•Applied humanism to psychotherapy

•Developed client-centered therapy

Evolutionary Psychology

•Attempts to explain the biological origins of our behaviors

•Natural selection/adaptations

•Assumes studied behavior has a genetic basis

Cognitive Psychology

•How do our thoughts and mental processes influence our behavior?

•Typically more empirical ways of measure

ex: caffeine reaction time test, human memory test, etc.

Developmental Psychology

•How do our thoughts and behaviors change throughout the course of our life

•Do kids, babies, and adults act the same??

ex: object permanence test w/ babies

Personality Psychology

•What patterns of thought and behavior make us unique

Social Psychology

•How does the presence of others influence our thoughts and behaviors

ex: social influence, mob mentality

Industrial Organizational Psychology

•social psychology applied to the workplace

Health Psychology

•psychology applied to medicine and health

Sports & Exercise Psychology

•psychology applied to sports and competition

Clinical Psychology

•How can we diagnose and treat psychological disorders?

Counseling Psychology

•How can we maintain/improve the mental health of people w/o psychological disorders

Forensic Psychology

•How can we use psychology to help solve criminal cases?

Nervous System

•network of nerves and cells that transmit information

•Brain, spinal cords, nerve, support cells (glial)

Central Nervous System

•brain + spinal cord

Peripheral Nervous System

•nerves and cells connecting the rest of the body to the brain and spinal cord

•Has 2 subdivisions → Somatic and Autonomic Nervous System

Somatic Nervous System

•controls your voluntary, conscious actions

ex: raising your hand, walking, playing soccer, etc.

Autonomic Nervous System

•control your involuntary, unconscious actions

•Has 2 subdivisions → Sympathetic and Parasympathetic Nervous System

ex: breathing, digestion, heartbeat

Sympathetic Nervous System

•flight-or-flight response

•prepares body for stressful situations

•”amps up your body” → heartbeat, shaking, sweating, fast breathing

Parasympathetic Nervous System

•calms the body back down after stress

•diminishes flight-or-flight response

•diminishes physiological arousal (amped up state)

Neurons

•nerve cells

•cells that transmit information from the body to the brain and the brain to body

Dendrites

•”branches” of the neuron that receive information from other neurons

Soma

•the “body” of the neuron

•contains the nucleus

Nucleus

•contains the genetic material of the neuron

Axon

•”tail” of the neuron that extends away from the soma and leads to the axon terminals

Axon Terminals

•the endings of the axon

•connects to other neurons

Myelin Sheath

•fatty substance that coats the axon

•insulates the axon & allows for faster processing

Resting Potential

•when a neuron is “at rest”

•has a negative electrical charge

Action Potential

•positive electrical charge that sweeps through the neuron

All-or-Nothing Principle

•a neuron either fires or doesn’t

•once a neuron hits the threshold of excitation, it fires

Synapse

•space between the axon (sending) and dendrites (receiving) of a neuron

Neurotransmitters

•chemicals that carry messages across the synapse

Receptor Sites

•areas on the receiving neuron that accept neurotransmitters

Reuptake

•neurotransmitters that do not land on receptor sites which are then reabsorbed by the sender neuron

Natural Selection

•organism better fit reproduce and less fit do not reproduce

The Spinal Cord

•connects the brain to the rest of the body

•controls reflexes

•routes info to and from the brain

Reflex

•an automatic response to certain sensory inputs

•controlled by the spinal cord (never reaches the brain)

ex: sneeze, startle, quick jerk away, etc.

3 Regions of the Brain

•Forebrain

•Midbrain

•Hindbrain

Hindbrain

•regulates survival functions

•composed of the Medulla, Pons, and Reticular Activating System (RAS), and Cerebellum

Medulla

•regulates breathing, heart rate, blood pressure

•”MVP” of the brain

Pons

•regulates activity during sleep

Reticular Activating System (RAS)

•regulates sleeping cycle

•regulates alertness

Cerebellum

•Handles coordination, and procedural/muscle memory

Midbrain

•regulates sleep and dopamine production (through extension of RAS)

ex: Parkinson’s is caused by the degeneration of structures in the midbrain

Forebrain

•Cerebral cortex

•Front lobe

•Temporal lobe

•Occipital lobe

•Parietal lobe

•Thalamus

Gyri

•bumps of the cerebral cortex/brain surface

Sulci

•valleys of the cerebral cortex/brain surface

•Longitudinal Fissure

•large sulcus that splits the brain into two hemispheres

Left hemisphere

•controls the right side of the body

Right hemisphere

•controls the left side of the body

Lateralization

•specialization of hemispheres to handle certain tasks

ex: Wernicke’s/Brocha’s area in the left handle speech but nothing similar in the right

Frontal Lobe

•controls reasoning, motor control, emotion, and language

•Contains prefrontal cortex and motor cortex

Prefrontal cortex

•part of Frontal Lobe

•control high level cognition

→ risk assessment, planning, social behavior, personality

Motor cortex

•part of Frontal Lobe

•controls movement and planning

Parietal lobe

•processes sensory information

•contains Somatosensory Cortex

Somatosensory Cortex

•part of the Parietal Lobe

•processes sensory information from across the body

•Occipital Lobe

•handles visual processing

Temporal Lobe

•controls hearing, memory, emotion, and language

•contains Auditory Cortex and Wernicke’s area

Auditory Cortex

•processes auditory information/hearing

•part of the Temporal Lobe

Wernicke’s Area

•processes heard speech

→ damaged = can’t understand spoken language

•part of the Temporal Lobe

Thalamus

•sensory relay for the brain

•routes all sensory info to other areas (except smell)

Limbic System

•processes emotion, memory, and smell

Hippocampus

•involved in learning and memory

•allows a person to form new memories

Amygdala

•involved in emotional experience

→ strong emotional memory

Hypothalamus

•Regulates many “housekeeping”/everyday functions

→body temp, appetite, blood pressure, fatigue, etc.

***when in doubt, guess Hypothalamus

The Endocrine System

•brain uses neurotransmitters to communicate

•body uses hormones to communicate

•the glands that release hormones make up the Endocrine System

Hormones

•chemicals that communicate info throughout the body

•travel in the bloodstream

•trigger widespread bodily reactions

Pituitary Gland

•”messenger gland”

•sends hormones to other glands telling them what to do

•located in brain; works w/ hypothalamus

Thyroid Gland

•regulates growth, appetite, metabolism

•located in throat

•Hyperthyroidism = overactive thyroid → weight loss

•Hypothyroidism = underachieve thyroid → tired, cold

Adrenal Gland

•regulates stress response

•secretes adrenaline and norepinephrine

Gonads

•secretes sexual hormones

→ estrogen in females; testosterone in males

→ either ovaries in females or testes in males

Sensation v.s Perception

•Sensation → the activation of sensory organs by stimuli

ex: eyes, ears, nose, mouth, skin

•Perception → interpretation and analysis of stimuli

Top-Down Processing

•using the big picture to reason out the little pieces

Bottom-Up Processing

•using individual pieces to figure out the big picture

Subliminal Perception

•deletion of indication below the level of conscious awareness

Selective Attention

•focusing on a specific stimuli and ignoring others

Sensory Adaptation

•becoming accustomed to a constant stimulus

ex: not noticing a smell after a while or noise of the A/C

Inattentional Blindness

•failing to detect a certain stimuli when attention is occupied

ex: Gorilla-neurology study

Divided Attention (multi-tasking)

•paying attention to multiple stimuli at once

→ OR quickly switching between stimuli

•compared to one stimuli there’s worse memory and more mistakes