AP Psych Semester 1

John Locke

created the idea of Tabula Rasa

Tabula Rasa

when babies are born, their minds are blank and the slowly gain knowledge through their experiences

Wihelm Wundt

conducted the first reaction time experiment

Edward Titchener

created the idea of Structuralism

Structuralism

how the mind works, tool to figure this out is called introspection

Introspection

looking inward, self-evaluation, asking yourself questions about why you did something

William James

heavily influenced by Charles Darwin, developed Functionalism

Functionalism

how the mind is adaptive, this enables us to learn new things and adapt to survive

Psychology

scientific study of behavior and mental processes

Behavioral perspective

rewards and punishments are the biggest influence on our behavior

Flaw of Behavioral perspective

some people continue to do the wrong thing even though there are punishments

Biological perspective

how your biology, hormones, brain biochemistry, etc. affects our behavior; has been the leading perspective in psychology

Flaw of Biological perspective

you can have identical; twins yet they are completely different people and have different personalities

Cognitive perspective

what we think and how we think, our thinking is what determines our behaviors

Flaw of Cognitive perspective

we don't always think before we act

Evolutionary perspective

much of our behavior and thinking ties into the idea that we want to survive so we can reproduce

Flaw Evolutionary perspective

not everyone wants to have kids, homosexuality, doing risky things, etc.

Humanistic perspective

you have to desire to fulfill your potential if your needs are met (grow up in a safe family, home, or environment, can explain why you do well in school: college - pathway to future jobs or careers)

Flaw in Humanistic perspective

there are people who make poor decisions, do things to harm others, but they grew up in a supportive family

Psychodynamic perspective

behavior based on conflict, early childhood events can have a big impact on your thinking and behavior

Social-cultural perspective

the society and the culture you live in influences your behavior

Flaw in social-cultural perspective

independent person, doesn't like to go by society, minimizing nature

Nature vs. nurture

nature is all based on biology and genetic inheritance but nurture is based on external factors and life experiences

Biological psychologist

work in a lab, research to learn more about some aspect of our biology

Industrial/organizational psychologist

hired by companies to offer advice on how to boost employee productivity (not hired to help employees with psychological disorders

Counseling psychologist

not school guidance counselor, help people with things like drugs and alcohol abuse/addiction, family relationships/marriage counseling

Clinical psychologist

help people who might be helping people with psychological disorders, can diagnosis but cannot administer medicine

Psychiatrist

same thing as clinical psychologist however they have a medical degree, can administer medicine

School psychologists

trained to evaluate and diagnosis potential learning disabilities, then can set up a plan

Sport psychologists

focus on the mental part of athletic performance

Hindsight bias

I knew it all along, ties into the fact that you are overconfident

Scientific method

theory, hypothesis, operational definition, replication (repeat)

Case study

in-depth look at one or few individuals, hope to reveal universal truths

Survey

questionnaire, looks at many cases at once, random sampling

Advantage of survery

huge sample size, quick and easy

Disadvantage of survey

might not answer truthfully, would be broader data, survey question could persuade an answer, confusing questions

Correlation

Looks at the relationship between two variables

Correltion coefficient

assigns a numeric value to the correlation, tells us how strong or weak the relationship is between the 2 variables, tells us if it is a positive or negative correlation

Scatterplot

show us the data points on the graph so we can see the relationship visually

Advantage of correlations

helps us to predict behavior

Disadvantage of correlations

does not show cause and effect

Random sample

a sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion

Random assignment

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

Single blind

the participants are uniformed about whether they are in the experimental or control group

Double blind

the participants and the people working with participants are unaware of what groups the participants are in

Independent

you can manipulate

Dependent

what are we measuring, test results

Operational definition

precise description of dependent or independent variable

Mean

the average

Median

middle score

Mode

what occurs the most

Range

take the highest value and subtract it by the lowest value

Statistical significance

use to evaluate the performance of the experimental group and the performance of the control group and compare them

Informed consent

willing to participate in the experiment, can't force them participate if they don't sign off and give you their consent

Protect from harm and discomfort

protect from physical and psychological harm and discomfort

Maintain confidentiality

no individual names can be published

Debriefing

tell people what actually happened in the study

Neuron

basic unit of the nervous system

Dendrites

receive messages from other neurons

Axon

passes messages away from the cell body to other neurons, muscles, or glands

Myelin sheath

covers the axon of some neurons and helps speed neural impulses

Action potential

electrical signal traveling down the axon (very very very fast)

Axon terminals

forms junctions with other cells

Cell body

the cell's life-support system

Multiple sclerosis

the myelin sheath slowly deteriorates

Selectively permeable

allows positive ions to interact with negative ion called depolarization

Refractory period

rest period

Threshold

the minimum stimulation required to activate a neural impulse

All or none response

if the threshold for the neuron is met, it will fire (ALL), if the threshold is not met, there's no response from the neuron (NONE), the response will always have the same speed, but the difference would be the number of neurons activated and how often

Synapse

a junction where you have an axon terminal of one neuron (sending) near the dendrite of a different neuron (receiving)

Reuptake

the extra neurotransmitters are reabsorbed into the terminals

Neurotransmitters

chemical messengers

Acetylcholine (ACh)

Enables muscle action, learning, and memory

Malfunctions of ACh

With Alzheimer's disease, ACh-producing neurons deteriorate

Dopamine

Influences movement, learning, attention, and emotion

Malfunctions of dopamine

Oversupply linked to schizophrenia, undersupply linked to tremors and decreased mobility in Parkinson's disease

Serotonin

Affects mood, hunger, sleep, and arousal (alertness and/or energy levels)

Malfunctions of serotonin

undersupply linked to depression, some antidepressant dugs raise serotonin levels

Endorphins

act as our body's natural pain killer

CNS

brain and spinal cord

PNS

consists of the autonomic and somatic nervous system

Somatic

controls voluntary movements of skeletal muscles

Afferent nerves

activates sensory neurons of the 5 senses

Efferent nerves

anything to do with movement

Autonomic

controls self-regulated action of internal organs and glands

Sympathetic

your fight or flight response (arousing)

Parasympathetic

relaxes body after stress or danger, pupils contract

Sensory neurons

receive sensory input and deliver it to the brain

Motor neurons

gets signals from the brain to allow the body to perform actions

Interneurons

neurons in the spinal cord and brain

Pituitary gland

secretes many different hormones, some of which affect other glands

Thyroid gland

affects metabolism

Parathyroids

help regulate the level of the calcium in the blood

Pancreas

regulates the level of sugar in the blood

Adrenal glands

inner part helps trigger the fight-orflight response

Testis

secretes male sex hormones

Ovary

secretes female sex hormones

Medulla

regulates heart rate and breathing, you sever the medulla - you die!

Pons

regulates sleep and arousal

Cerebellum "little brain"

allows you to coordinate your movements, after you have learned a movement your brain can go into autopilot (embed in the cerebellum of how to do it, muscle memory)