Pre-Ap Psychology Fall Final Review

Behavioral Perspective

Behavioral Perspective

• John Watson and B.F Skinner

• Study only observable behavior and explain behavior through learning principles

• Leaned through rewards and punishments

Biological Perspective

• Behavior/Behavior disorders are seen as the result of physical processes, especially those relating to the brain and to hormones and other chemicals

• Concerned with how the physical properties of the brain influence behaviors and mental state

Cognitive Perspective

• Mental processes underlying judgement, decision making, problem solving, imagining, and other aspects of human thought or cognition

• How individuals interpret their experience

Evolutionary Perspective

• Emphasizes the inherited adaptive aspects of behavior and mental processes

Humanistic Perspective

Behavior is controlled by the decisions that people make about their lives based on their perceptions of the world; view in which personality develops through and actualizing tendency that unfolds in accordance with each person's unique perceptions of the world

Psychodynamic Perspective

• Sigmund Freud

• Behavior is controlled by the unconscious mental processes in determining human thought, feelings, and behavior

Who established the first psychology lab?

Wilhelm Wundt

Explain the concept of standard deviation

• A measure of variability that is the average difference between each score and the mean of the data set

• The "average of the average"

• A lower standard deviation = more consistent results

What are descriptive statistics?

• Numbers that summarize a set of research data

• Describes a data set numerically

What are inferential statistics?

A set of procedures that provides a measure of how likely it is that research results came about by chance

Naturalistic Observation

The process if watching without interfering as a phenomenon occurs in the natural environment (ie. observing children's interactions on a playground)

Survey

Research method that involves giving people questionnaires or special interviews designed to obtain descriptions of their attitudes, beliefs, opinions, and intentions

Case Studies

Research method involving the intensive examination of some phenomenon in a particular individual, group, or situation

Double-Blind Design

Research design in which neither the experimenter nor the participants know who is in the experimental group and who is in the control group which guards bias

Correlation Study

Research method that examines relationships between variables in order to analyze trends in data, to test predictions, to evaluates theories and to suggest new hypotheses

What are the correlation coefficients associated with positive correlation, negative correlation and no correlation?

Positive correlation = 0 to +1

Negative correlation = 0 to -1

No correlation = 0

Statistical significance

• Describes research results when the outcome of a statistical test indicates that the probability of those results occurring by a chance is small

• More likely to find statistical significance with a large sample size

Sympathetic Nervous System

• The subsystem of the autonomic nervous system that usually prepares the organism for vigorous activity

• Mobilizes its energy in stressful situations & arousal

Parasympathetic Nervous System

• The subsystem of the autonomic nervous system that typically influences activity related to the protection, nourishment, and growth of the body

• Conserves energy and calms the body

Axon

A fiber that carries signals from the body of a neuron out to where communication occurs with other neurons

Dendrite

A neuron fiber that receives signals from the axons of other neurons and carries those signals to the cell body

Synapse

The tiny gap between neurons across which they communicate

Refractory Period

• A short rest period between action potentials

• Neurons needs to take a break in between firing action potentials to become re-polarized

Thalamus

• A forebrain structure that relays signals from most sense organs to higher levels in the brain and plays an important role in processing and making sense out of this information

• "Relay Station"

Which human sense does not pass through the thalamus?

Olfactory (Smell)

What is the primary function of the endocrine system?

• Cells that form organs called glands and that communicate with one another by secreting chemicals called hormones into the bloodstream

• Regulates functions ranging from stress responses to physical growth

Somantic Nervous System

• The subsystem of the peripheral nervous system that transmits information from the senses to the central nervous system and carries signals from the central nervous system to the muscles

Central Nervous System

The parts of the nervous system encased in bone, including the brain and the spinal cord

Corpus Callosum

A massive bundle of fibers that connects the right and left cerebral hemispheres and allows them to communicate with each other

Describe the common responses of split brain patients when taking visual tests

Left hemisphere more verbal

Right hemisphere excels in visual perception and emotion

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Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

• Exposes the brain to a magnetic field and measures radio frequency waves

• Forms a detailed structural picture of the brain

Positron Emission Tomography (PET)

• Positions and photons are emissions from radioactive substances

• Glucose in brain is marked with a radioactive substance. Then radiation detectors identified especially active brain areas

Explain the functions of the two hemispheres of the brain and how they control the rest of the body

• Hemispheres control sensations and motor movements from the opposite side of the body

• Right Hemisphere: More artistic and creative side of the brain

• Left Hemisphere: More academic and logical side of the brain

Cerebellum

• The part of the hindbrain whose main functions include controlling finely coordinated movements and storing memories about movement, but which may also be involved in impulse control, emotion, and language

• Balance and coordination

Hippocampus

A structure in the forebrain associated with the formation of new memories

Sensory Cortex

The parts of the cerebral cortex that receive stimulus information from the senses

Motor Cortex

The part of the cerebral cortex whose neurons control voluntary movements in specific parts of the body

What ear structure is responsible for transduction?

Cochlea

Sensory Adaptation

The process through which responsiveness to an unchanging stimulus decreases over time

Describe the route of sensory information in hearing

Pinna funnels sound > eardrum > bones of inner ear (hammer, anvil, & stirrup) > oval window to cochlea > transduction > temporal lobe

Describe the route of sensory information in vision

Cornea > Pupil > Lens > Fovea & Photoreceptors > Bipolar Cells > Ganglion Cells > Optic Nerve > Optic Chiasm > Thalamus > Occipital Lobe

Gate Control Theory

A theory suggesting that a functional 'gate' in the spinal cord can either let pain impulses travel upward to the brain or block their progress

Example: Josh fell off the jungle gym and scraped his arm. At first he cried out in pain, but when he rubbed his knee the pain went away

Perception

The process through which people take raw sensations from the environment and interpret them, using knowledge, experience, and understanding of the world, so that the sensations become meaningful experiences

Sensation

Messages from the senses that make up raw information that affects many kinds of behavior and mental processes

Absolute Threshold

The minimum amount of stimulus energy that can be detected 50% of the time

Subliminal Stimuli

Stimuli that are too weak or brief to be perceived

Supraliminal Stimuli

Stimuli that are strong enough to be consistently perceived

Response Criterion

The internal rule a person uses to decide whether or not to report a stimulus.

Difference Threshold

The smallest detectable difference in stimulus energy

Top Down Processing

Aspects of recognition that are guided by higher-level cognitive processes and psychological factors such as expectations

Bottom Up Processing

Aspects of recognition that depend first on the information about the stimulus that comes to the brain from the sensory receptors

Inattentional Blindness

When the spotlight of your attention is voluntarily or involuntarily focused on one part of the

environment, you may ignore of be "blind" to stimuli occurring in other parts. (ie. Moonwalking Bear)

Change Blindness

Researchers found that 40 percent of people focused on repeating a list of challenging words failed to notice a change in the person speaking

Learning

• The modification through experience of pre-existing behavior and understanding

• Relatively permanent change in behavior or knowledge due to experience

Spontaneous Recovery

The reappearance of the conditioned response after extinction and without further pairings of the conditioned and unconditioned stimuli

Reconditioning

The quick relearning of a conditioned response following extinction

Classical Conditioning

A procedure in which a neutral stimulus is repeatedly paired with a stimulus that elicits a reflex or other response until the neutral stimulus alone comes to elicit a similar response

Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)

• A stimulus that elicits a response without conditioning

• Example: Meat powder / food

Unconditioned Response (UCR)

• The automatic or unlearned reaction to a stimulus

• Example: Salivate to food

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

• The originally neutral stimulus that, through pairing with the unconditioned stimulus, comes to elicit a conditioned response

• Example: Bell

Conditioned Response (CR)

• The response that the conditioned stimulus elicits

• Example: Salivate to bell

Learned Helplessness

Learning that responses do not affect consequences, resulting in failure to try to exert control over the environment

Example: George keeps failing his bio class. He has tried to take several different types of study methods, but nothing seems to help. When his teacher recommends a new study idea, George doesn't even bother to go try it

Observational Learning

Learning how to perform new behaviors by watching others

Operant

A response that has some effect on the world

Fixed Interval (FI)

A partial reinforcement schedule that provides reinforcement for the first response that occurs after some fixed time has passed since the last reward

Fixed Ratio (FR)

A partial reinforcement schedule that provides reinforcement following a fixed number of responses Example: Car salesmen receive a $1000 bonus for every twenty cars they sell

Variable Interval (VI)

• A partial reinforcement schedule that provides reinforcement for the first response after varying periods of time

• Example: In Econ 101 the professor takes attendance on the average every 5 to 10 days, and students who are present receive extra points

Variable Ratio (VR)

• A partial reinforcement schedule that provides reinforcement after a varying number of responses