Psychology in Your Life: Chapter 1, 2, 3

Psychology

Study of mental activity/behavior; based on brain processes.
-Mental activity lets us perceive world(use senses) to take in info from outside ourselves

Behavior

All our actions that result from sensing/interpreting info

Critical Thinking

Systematically evaluating info to reach responsible conclusions supported by evidence.
1.) What am I being asked to believe or accept?
2.) What evidence is provided to support claim?
3.) What are the most reasonable conclusions?

Structuralism

-EDWARD TITCHENER & Wilhem Wund

-Early school of psychology that explored structures of the mind through introspection

-Based on idea that conscious experience can be broken down into underlying parts

-Components of conscious mind

Functionalism

WILLIAM JAMES & Charles Darwin

Concerned with adaptive purpose/function of mind/behavior

James argued that the mind is much more complex than its elements and couldn't be broken down

Goal to describe how conscious mind aids adaption to an environment

Psychoanalytic Theory

Sigmund Freud

Try to understand connection between psychology and physical problems

Used psychoanalysis to treat unconscious mental forces that conflicted with acceptable behavior and produce psychological disorders

Goal to understand how unconscious though cause psychological disorders

Unconscious conflicts

Gestalt Theory

Max Wertheimer & Wolfgang Kohler

Developed in opposition to structuralism

Idea that whole of personal experience is different from simply the sum of its parts

Experiencing the "whole"

Different people view some object and have perceptual experience and then seeing the same object differently each time

Behaviorism

JOHN B. WATSON & B.F. Skinner

Stimuli and responses

Emphasizes role of environmental forces in producing behavior

Investigate observable environmental effect on human and animal behaviors

Dominated psychological research into early 1960s

View furthered by thousands of psychologists including Skinner

Humanistic Psychology

Abraham Maslow & Carl Rogers

Focus on positives

Investigates how people grow to become happier and more fulfilled; focuses on people's basic goodness

How people are free to choose activities that make them fulfilled or happy

"Positive psychology"

Cognitive Psychology

George Miller & Ulric Neissler

Mental Activity

Learning not as simple as behaviorists believed

Study or how people think, learn, and remember

Language, attention, problem solving, decision making

Cognitive Neuroscience

Consists of cognitive psychologists, philosophers, computer scientists, and brain researchers

Biological Level of Analysis

How the physical body influences over our thoughts and behaviors

-Brain systems
-Neurochemistry
-Genetics

Individual Level of Analysis

Individual differences in personality and mental processes that affect perception and understanding

-Individual differences
-Perception and cognition
-Behavior

Social Level of Analysis

Investigating how groups affect people's interactions and people's influence on each other

-Interpersonal behavior
-Social cognition

Culture Level of Analysis

Explores how people's thoughts, feeling, and actions are similar or different across cultures/societies

-Norms,beliefs, values, symbols, ethnicity, religion
-Common language and environment transmitted through learning passed from generation to generation

Institutional Review Boards (IRB)

Groups of people responsible for reviewing proposed research to ensure that it meets accepted standards of science and provides for the physical and emotional well-being of research participant

-Privacy, confidentiality, informed consent, deception, and risks

Scientific Method

Systematic procedure observing and measuring observable things to answer questions about what happens, when it happens, what causes it, and why

Involves dynamic interaction between theories, hypotheses, and research methods

-Theory, hypothesis, testing hypothesis, analyze data, and report results

Theory

Model of interconnected ideas or concepts that explains what's observed/makes predictions about future events

Hypothesis

Specific prediction of what should be observed if a theory is correct

Descriptive Method

"Research method"

Provides systematic and objective description of what's occuring

Self-Report

Descriptive method consisting of obtaining self-reports from research participants

Questionnaires or surveys used for data from large group in short time

-Bias must be considered

Observational Study

Specific type of descriptive method involving systematically assessing/coding observable behavior

-Can be used in lab or natural environment
-Qualitative research

Case Studies

Involve intensive examination of a few unique people or organizations

-Commonly use people with psychological disorders

Correlational Methods

Examine how variables are naturally related in real world. Researchers make no attempt to alter variables or assign causation between them

-Measure 2 factors then determine degree of association between them

-Real world setting; not causality; directionality problem, third variable problem

Experimental Method

Test casual hypotheses by manipulating independent variable and measuring effects on dependent variables

-Provide control over dependent variables

Independent Variable

Variable that experimenter manipulates to examine its impact on dependent variable

Dependent Variable

Affected by manipulation of independent variable

Operational Definition

Detailed description of variables

Control Group

Comparison group in experiment
-No intervention given or receive intervention unrelated to independent variable being investigated

Experimental Group

1 or more treatment groups in experiment
-Receive intervention of independent variable being investigated

Confound

Anything that affects dependent variable that may unintentionally vary between the study's different experimental conditions

Random Assignment

Placing research participants in conditions of experiment so each participant has an equal chance of being assigned to any level of independent variable

Random Variable

Sample that fairly represents the population by allowing each member of population an equal chance of being included

Freud's thought about psychological and physical problems

Large extent of behavior is directed by mental processes that operate at a subconscious level

Empiricism

Approach to gaining knowledge about behavior and metal processes by observation and measurement only

Untrue about Modern Psychology

Few cognitive psychologists recognize the importance that the brain plays in cognition

Cycle of Scientific Method

Statistics help you determine whether your hypothesis is supported

Biological Psychology

Study how biological systems give rise to mental activity

"How do brain cells change during learning?"

"How do brain chemicals influence sexual behavior?"

Cognitive Psychology/Neuroscience

Study attention, perception, memory, problem solving, and language, often based on brain processes

"How do cell phone distract people when they drive?"

"What makes some problems harder to solve than other?"

Developmental Psychology

Study how people change from infancy through old age

"How do children learn to speak?"

"How can older adults maintain mental abilities as they age?"

Personality Psychology

Study enduring characteristics that people display overtime and across circumstances

"Why are some people shy?"

"How do genes, circumstances, and culture shape personality?"

Social Psychology

Study how people are affected by others

"When do people form impressions of others?"

"How do people form or dissolve intimate relationships?"

Cultural Psychology

Study how people are influenced by societal rules that dictate behavior in their culture

"How does culture shape the sense of self?"

"Does culture create differences in perception?"

Clinical Psychology

Study the factors that cause psychological disorders and the best methods to treat them

"What factors lead people to feel depressed?"

"How does the brain change as a result of therapy for depression?"

Industrial/Organizational Psychology

Study issues pertaining to industry and workplace

"How can building morale help motivate workers?"

"How can equipment be designed so workers can easily perform duties and avoid accidents?"

Pons

Hindbrain structure above medulla

Regulates sleep, arousal, and coordinates movements of the left and right sides of the body

Temporal Lobes

Regions of cerebral cortex below parietal lobes and in front of occipital lobes

Important for processing auditory info and for perceiving objects and faces

Occipital Lobes

Regions of cerebral cortex at back of brain

Important for vision

Parietal Lobes

Regions of cerebral cortex in front of occipital lobes and behind frontal lobes

Important for sense of touch and for picturing layout of spaces in an environment

"Homunculus"

Frontal Lobes

Regions of cerebral cortex at front of brain

Important for movement and complex processes

-Rational thought, attention, social processes

Neuron Communication

Transmission~ When enough stimulation in presynaptic neuron to create action potential travels quickly down myelinated axon to terminal button

Reception~ Action potential causes neurotransmitters to be released from terminal buttons at end of the axon. Neurotransmitters cross synapse and fit into receptors in dendrites of postsynaptic neuron

Integration~ Each neurotransmitter has either excitatory or inhibitory effects on post synaptic neuron that's summed up in cell body. If enough action it'll lead to another action potential

Neurons

Basic unit of nervous system; cells that receive, integrate, and transmit info in nervous system

Operate through electrical impulses, communicate with other neurons through chemical signals, and for neural networks

-Can't fire only a little bit, either fires or doesn't at all

Cell Body

Part of neuron where info from thousands of other neurons are collected and integrated

Axon

Long, narrow outgrowth of neuron that enables it to transmit info to other neurons

Myelin Sheath

Fatty layer that insulates the axon

Dendrites

Branchlike extensions of neuron with receptors that detect info from other neurons

Synapse

Site of communication between neurons through neurotransmitters

-Don't actually touch

Action Potential

Neutral impulses that travel along axon then causes release of neurotransmitters into synapse

-During, sodium ions continue to enter neuron and potassium ions leave neuron

Action Potential Communication

1. Pass signals to receive neurons
2. Receive signals from neighboring neurons
3. Assess incoming signals

Pasticity

Property of brain that allows it to change as a result of experience, drugs, or injury

Reflects interactive nature of biological and environmental influences

Subjective Opinions

People have unique perspectives on events and ideas

Possible that some people find traits admirable and others not share shame opinion

Genetic Diseases

Huntington's disease is a genetic disorder that damages nervous system/ specific parts of the brain

Affects thoughts and behavior

Hormones

Chemical substances, released from endocrine glads, that travel through bloodstream to targeted tissues

Tissues are later influenced by hormones

Genes

Units of heredity

Partially determine an organism's characteristics

Monozygotic Twins

Identical Twins

Result from one zygote splitting in two

Share same genes

Dizygotic Twins

Faternal twins

Result from two separately fertilized eggs

No more similar genetically than non-twin siblings

Endocrine System

Communication System that uses hormones to influence thought and actions

Central Nervous System

Part of nervous system that consists of the brain and spinal cord

Nervous System

Network of billions of cells in brain and body that are responsible for all aspects of what we think, feel, and do

-Receive sensory input through senses
-Process info in brain by paying attention, perceiving, and remembering it
-Respond to info by acting on it

Peripheral Nervous System

Part of nervous system that enables nerves to connect central nervous system to muscles, organ, and glands

-Somatic
-Autonomic
-Sympathetic
-Para-sympathetic

Autonomic Nervous System

Part of peripheral nervous system

Transmit sensory signals and motor signals between central nervous system and body's glands and internal organs

Two divisions-sympathetic and parasympathetic

Sympathetic

Control activity of organs and glands

Prepares body for action

Parasympathetic

Control activity of organs and glands

Returns body to resting state

Somatic Nervous System

Part of peripheral nervous system

Transmits sensory signals and motor signals between central nervous system and skin, muscles, and joints

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)

Measures changes in blood oxygen level

-A technology that uses magnetic fields to detect activity in the brain by monitoring blood flow.

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)

Uses very fast and powerful magnetic field to momentarily disrupt activity in specific brain region

Electroencephalograph (EEG)

instrument used to record the electrical impulses of the brain

-different behavioral states produce different and predictable EEG patterns

Thalamus

Subcortical forebrain structure

Gateway to brain for almost all incoming sensory info before that info reaches cortex

Cerebral Cortex

Outer layer of forebrain

Hemispheres are connected by corpus callosun

Corpus Callosum

Massive bridge consisting of millions of axons

Hypothalamus

Subcortical forebrain structure involved in regulating bodily functions

Influences basic motivated behaviors

Midbrain

Involved in reflexive movement of eyes and body

Substantia Nigra

Initiation of voluntary motor activity

Region is critical for production of dopamine

Parkinson's caused by death of these cells and resulting in loss of dopamine produced by these cells

Cerebellum

Hindbrain structure at back of brain stem

Essential for coordinated movement and balance

Medulla

Hindbrain structure at top of spinal cord

Controls survival functions such as breathing and heart rate

Hippocampus

Subcortical forebrain structure

Associated with formation of memories

Amygdala

Subcortical forebrain structure

Vital role in learning to associate things with emotional responses and in processing emotional info

Neurotransmitters

Chemical substances that carry signals from one neuron to another

Receptors

Removed from synapse~Reuptake and enzyme degradation

Receptors

Specialized sites that specifically respond to certain types of neurotransmitters

Norepinephrine

Precursor of epinephrine that is secreted by the adrenal medulla and also released at synapses.


Neurotransmitter involved in arousal, as well as in learning and mood regulation (alertness)

Epinephrine

Formally known as adrenaline

Neurotransmitter involved with energy

Dopamine

Motor control over voluntary movement

Reward and motivation

Neurotransmitter associated with movement, attention and learning and the brain's pleasure and reward system.

Seratonin

Emotional states, impulse control, dreaming

Neurotransmitter that affects mood, hunger, sleep, and arousal; linked to depression

GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid)

Inhibition of action potentials, anxiety reduction, intoxication (through alcohol)

Glutamate

Major excitatory neurotransmitter

Learning and memory

Enhancement of action potentials

Endorphins

Chemical substance that involves pain reduction

Reward

Phrenology

Franz Gall

Analysis of personality based on location and size of skull bumps

Broca's Area

Paul Broca

Small portion of left frontal region of brain

Crucial for producing speech

Acetylcholine

A neurotransmitter that enables learning, attention, sleeping, and memory and also triggers muscle contraction

Excitatory

Signal produced by postsynaptic neurons

Increase likelihood that it'll fire