Final Psych Exam Study Guide

What is structuralism, and who are the major players?

a theory of psych to understand the structure of the mind. Introspection, nomothetics (structural model of mind),

William Wundt, Titchtener, Von Helmholts

What is functionalism & who are the major players?

Theory to understand how the mind and behavior work in aiding organisms adjust to the environment

\
William James.

Behaviorism

understand behavior as a product of observable phenomena, based on observation and experimentation

\
Pavlov & Watson & Skinner

\
John B watson applied objective analysis to study of animal behavior. Little Albert

Neurons

building blocks of the brain

Glial cells

give brain mass & substance. Also responsible for nutrient transmission, myelin production & break down of neurons.

Type 1 of neurons -- Sensory Mechanoreceptors

touch, heat/cool, chemical substance/taste. Bring info IN the nervous system

Type 2 of neurons -- Motor

operate motor system. Efferent, cells that exit the central nervous system and enter the periphery

Type 3 of neurons -- Interneurons

btwn afferent and efferent neurons. Brain & CNS. not myelinated.

Excitatory neurotransmitters

dopamine, epinephrine, glutamate

inhibitory neurotransmitters

serotonin, GABA, endorphins

Agonism

increases activity

Antagonism

inhibiting activity

Bottom of brain

simple motion

middle of brain

emotions, sleep, hunger, etc.

top of brain

higher order thought, cognition (neocortex)

Spinal cord/medulla

transmits activity to and from CNS, heart rate & respiration

Pons

relay btwn thalamus & cerebellum. Facial movements, nausea.

Midbrain

Senosry & motor processing

Thalamus

primary relay

Hypothalamus

bodily regulation, drive systems, mediating & manipulating behavior

Pituitary

master gland of endocrine system run by hypothalamus

Basal ganglia

Movement coordination

Hippocampus

processing of memory (spatial memory)

Amygdala

emotional memory (feeling) tells us how important something is

Corpu callosum

connects left and right brain

the limbic system

basal ganglia, hippocampus, amygdala, corpus callosum

4 lobes of neocortex & 2 hemispheres

left & right hemisphere. Frontal lobe, temporal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital lobe

Frontal lobe

inhibition, self awareness, goal oreintation, decision making. Pursuits (talk, walk, school, eat, shower) live by this plan how we do this Competing goals = we have to make decisions on what is important.

Temporal lobe

audition, olfacation, visual association, memory. Links past & present.

Damage to the left of temporal lobe =

spoken & written language recognition & production damage

Damage to right of temporal lobe =

non verbal recognition, processing, facial blindness

Parietal Lobe

seeing & organizing world, integration & spatial recognition of the self

Occipital lobe

visual processing of the world

Label parts of brain

thalamus, cingulate cortex, hypothalamus, amygdala, hippocampus , cerebellum, cerebral cortex, pituitary gland, pons, medulla, basal ganglia

Distress

stress that makes us feel bad

eustress

stress that promotes a positive state/growth. Athletic, cognitive challenges.

Stress is a process

we must assess and respond to situations we view as threatening, everyone responds differently

Avoidance-avoidance approach to stress

must choose btwn two undesireable goals

approach -- avoidance

must choose or not choose a goal that has both good and bad aspects

multiple approach avoidance

must choose btwn two or more goals each with good and bad

Lazarus & Folkman 1960’s -- Transactional Model of Stress

Primary appraisal process -- identifying if a stress is harmful or not. If it is harmless, there is no reason to experience stress. If it is harmful you must determine if/how to cope with it .

General Adaptation Syndrom

Hans Seyle. 1930s. Pressures from environment place strain on individual.

Alarm stage -- sympathetic nervous system is activated.

Resistance phase -- coping

Exhaustive stage -- crash after long term heightened resistance/alarm

Physiology of Stress -- Autonomic nervous system reaction

central network, collection of brain structures asses the environment internally & externally

Physiology of stress -- neuro endocrine reaction

two pathways, sympatho adreno meduallry (fast)

hypothalamaic pituitary adrenocortical (slow)

Assimilation

Respond/think about an object in a way that is consistent with one’s current way of thinking

Accommodation

when children modify or create a new scheme.

Scheme

behavior used to gather information about existing objects in the world

Schema

Stabilized information about objects in the world

Stages of Development Stage 1 -- Sensorimotor

0-2 years. Object permanence. If they can’t see an object, it doesn’t exist. S

Stages of development Stage 2 -- Preoperational

2-7 years. Children are egocentric, centration (things cant change and if they do they are not the same) and transfuctive thinking (magical thinking, animism, desires have an affect on the outside world)

Stages of Development Stage 3 -- Concrete operational thinking

7-11 years. Development of logical thinking. Reversibility & decentraion

Stages of Development Stage 4 -- Formal Operations development

11+ years. Abstract thinking, hypothetical deductive reasoning, personal fable & imaginary audience.

Secure Attachment

caregiver absent -- negative Caregiver returns -- positive

Avoidant attachment

Caregiver absent -- negative Caregiver returns -- negative

Ambivalent Attachment

caregiver absent -- positive/negative Caregiver present -- positive/negative (both behaviors driving)

Disorganized attachment

caregiver absent -- positive/negative Caregiver present -- positive/negative (no consistent pattern)

Self regulation

delay of gratification

Frontal Cortex

behavioral/emotional regulation (latest portion of neocortex to develop)

Theory of Natural Kinds

emotions are innate, biological basis, cross cultural, and across time. Consists of 6 fundamental emotions & FACS (facial action coding system)

6 fundamental emotions of theory of natural kinds

1. happiness
2. saddnes
3. anger
4. disgust
5. fear


1. excitement

Feelings

cognitive, personal, conscious, semi specific

Emotions

cognitive, conscious, expressive, highly specific, social

Affect

underlying bodily process associated with an emotional state (physical, unconscious, simple)

James Lange Theory of emotions

stimulus (external) -→ internal specific psychological state -→ emotion.

Canon Bard Theory of emotion

emotion can happen BEFORE a specific psychological state OR with it

2 Factor theory of emotion

stimulus -→ physical (general arousal state + cognitive environment/interpretation -→ emotion

Drives

needs and desires (hunger, sleep, sex, thirst, success, affiliation, enjoyment)

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

self actualization (top of pyramid)

self esteem

belonging -- social ability, connection

Safety/security -- health, family

Basic needs -- food, water, shelter

\
Criticized because it does not necessarily work in a step by step leveled process (you can have family without food and water)

Self Determination theory

competence -- need to be effective in dealing with environment

human 3 basic needs -- autonomy, need control course of life,

Relatedness -- need to have close personal relationships with others

Extrinsic Motivation

experiences/activities done bc of outside influence (grades, threats)

good for simple behaviors,

action purely for reward or punishment

Identification

value external identification (showing up early to work bc you like to be seen as punctual = self identification)

Integration

focuses less on the outcome and more on the action being asked

Consciousness

awareness of everything going on around you & inside your head. Organize behavior, thoughts, sensations and feelings.

Waking consciousness

thoughts, feelings & sensations are clear & organized, feel alert

Altered state of consciousness

many daily activities. Fuzzy, disorganized thoughts.

Controlled processes

require conscious attention to a high degree (driving, taking notes) should only be done one at a time

Automatic consciousness

far less conscious level of attention (walking, brushing hair)

Biological ryhthms

natural cycles of activity that the body must undergo (sleep, menstruation, heart beat)

Circadian rhythm

a bodily rythm that takes a day to complete (sleep , wake cycle)

Sleep wake cycle is controlled by the

hypothalamus

Adaptive theory of sleep

evolved sleep patterns to avoid predators by sleeping when predators are most active (why they sleep when they do)

Restorative theory of sleep

sleep is necessary to the physical health of the body . Replenishes chemicals & cellular damage when sleeping (why need to sleep )

Sleep is important for forming memories because

it enhances synaptic connections among neurons & plasticity of the brain , reduces activity of neurons associated with forgetting.

Rapid eye movement sleep (REM)

eyes move rapidly under eyelids & person is typically experiencing a dream Vary little movement

Non rapid eye movement sleep (NREM)

any of the stages of sleep that do not include REM, body is free to move around

Beta waves

smaller & faster brain waves, indicate mental activity

Alpha waves

brain waves indicate relaxation/light sleep

Theta waves

early stage of sleep

Delta waves

long, slow brain waves, indicate deepest stage of sleep.

N1 Sleep/Light Sleep

wave activity increases, alpha wave fades. Hallucinations, not really aware you are asleep . Hypnic jerk

N2 Sleep Spindles

body temp drops, slowed heart, breathing shallow. Brief bursts of activity that help stimulate neural areas of memory for better recall.

N3 Deep sleep

delta waves. 50% brain activity. Growth hormones released from pituitary. Lowest body functioning level

Sleeps physical functions (NREM)

energy conservation, cell restoration

Sleep mental functions (NREM & REM)

memory consolidation, dreaming. Reduces oxidative stress, resotores energy levels.

Freud’s interpretation of dreaming

dreams as wish fulfillment. Dreams manifest as conflicts, events & desires of past will be presented in symbolic form.

Manifest content (freud)

actual content of the dream itself (climbing out of bathtub)

Latent (freud)

dream hidden meaning expressed in symbols (tub = womb = dreaming about being born)

Activation Synthesis hypothesis of dreams

dreams are created by higher centers of cortex to explain the activation by the brain stem of cortical cells during REM sleep. Pons sends random signals to upper brain during REM, thalamus recieves signals and sends to sensory areas of cortex, association areas of cortex respond to random activation by synthesizing them into dreams using memories from past & life experiences

Activation information mode model of dreams

revised version of activation synthesis. information accessed during waking hours can have influence on dreams. recent info from day/past few days rather than random memories fro the past.

Cognitive theory of dreams (calvin Hall)

most dreams reflect life events that occur in everyday life. Differencecs btwn age, gender, nationality