Psych 101 - Units 1, 2, and first half of 3

Psychology

the study of mind and behavior

Mind

perceptions, thoughts, memories, processes (information)

Behavior

everything we do that can be directly observed

HM case study

A patient who had extensive brain surgery to correct epileptic seizures which left him with severe anterograde amnesia; could not create new memories

aneterograde amnesia

an inability to form new memories

retrograde amnesia

loss of memories from the past

Clive Wearing

has both types of amnesia, 7 second memory

Nativism

belief that people are born with some knowledge; associated with Plato

Empircism

all knowledge comes from experience (tabula rasa theory, blank slate); associated with Aristotle

Plato

believed in nativism

Aristotle

believed in empircism

Genie case study

The case of a young girl who was not exposed to language until 13 years old and could never fluently acquire it giving evidence for the *critical period* theory.

Phrenology

Mental characteristics are determined by size and shape of skull; associated with Franz Joseph Gall (late 18th century)

Franz Joseph Gall

founder of phrenology

Paul Broca

discovered area in the brain (named for him) in the left frontal lobe responsible for language production

Broca's area

part of brain in left frontal lobe responsible for speech production

Hermann von Helmholtz

studied human reaction time; estimated the length of nerve impulse; physiology and psychology

Wilhelm Wendt

established the first experimental psychology laboratory, used a form of introspection in which he asked subjects to use self-reflection and verbalize what they are experiencing

Structuralism

an early school of psychology that used introspection to explore the elemental structure of the human mind

Introspection

examination of one's own thoughts and feelings

Functionalism

A school of psychology that focused on how our mental and behavioral processes function - how they enable us to adapt, survive, and flourish; associated with William James

illusion

an error in the brain's perception or judgment

Gestalt Psychology

a psychological approach that emphasizes that we often perceive the whole rather than the sum of the parts; explains how illusions work

Cognitive Psychology

the scientific study of all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating; associated with Frederic Bartlett

cognitive neuroscience

A field that attempts to understand the links between cognitive processes and brain activity; which parts of the brain control which processes; associated with Karl Lashley

behavorial neuroscience

an approach to psychology that links psychological processes to activities in the nervous system and other bodily processes

evolutionary psychology

the study of the evolution of behavior and the mind, using principles of natural selection; associated with John Garcia

William James

founder of functionalism; studied how humans use perception to function in our environment

hysteria

example of how mental illness can translate into physical symptoms; first discovered by Jean-Marie Charcot and Pierre Janet

Functional Neurological Disorder

physical symptoms with no physical explanation - mental illness plays a part

Sigmund Freud

Austrian neurologist known for his work on the unconscious mind (repressed memories and urges). Father of psychoanalysis.

Psychoanalysis

an attempt to bring the unconscious to the conscious mind; developed by Freud (shown as couch therapy in pop media)

humanistic psychology

an approach to understanding human nature that emphasizes the positive potential of human beings (like Humanists); developed by Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers

Pavlov

founder of classical conditioning while trying to study digestive system

Pavlov's Dogs

First experiment that created and demonstrate the theory of classical conditioning

classical conditioning

a learning process that occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired; a response that is at first elicited by the second stimulus is eventually elicited by the first stimulus alone.

John Watson

behaviorism; emphasis on external behaviors of people and their reactions on a given situation; famous for Little Albert study in which baby was taught to fear a white rat; argued against Freud

Behaviorism

the view that psychology should be an objective science and studies behavior without reference to mental processes

B.F. Skinner

Behaviorist that developed the theory of operant conditioning; believed every behavior could be engineered through reinforcement

operant conditioning

subject chooses an action, and it is followed by reinforcement or punishment

Frederic Bartlett

experimentally demonstrated the reconstructive nature of memory; people remember how stories should have ended rather than the acutal ending

Karl Lashley

Found that memory is not stored in just one place of the brain; tested on rats

John Garcia

Researched taste aversion; showed that when rats ate a novel substance before being nauseated by a drug or radiation, they developed a conditioned taste aversion for the substance

social psychology

study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another; associated with Norman Triplett

cultural psychology

the study of how cultures reflect and shape the psychological processes of their members

Absolutism

psychology is the same regardless of culture

Relativism

some aspects of mind/behavior change based on culture

Margaret Mead

cultural anthropologist who helped support theories of relativism

Complexity

humans (and the human brain) is complex and hard to study

Variability

human behavior is varied and unpredictable

Reactibility

humans change their behavior when they know observation is occuring

Scientific Method

Theory → Hypothesis → Gather evidence → Modify theory accordingly (repeat)

case study

an observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles

observational study

observes individuals and measures variables of interest but does not attempt to influence the responses

psychological tests

procedures used to measure and evaluate personality traits, emotional states, aptitudes, interests, abilities, and values

objective tests

Tests that can be scored easily by machine, such as multiple-choice tests and selected-response tests

projective tests

personality assessments that present ambiguous visual stimuli to the client and ask the client to respond with whatever comes to mind (ex. Rorschach ink blot)

Reliability

tests produce the same results regardless of location, time, or scorer

test-retest reliability

using the same test on two occasions to measure consistency; people tend to do better the second time

alternate forms reliability

using different varieties of the test to measure consistency between them

Validity

The ability of a test to measure what it is intended to measure

Power of a test

measurement of how many false negatives a test produces

Surveys

Questionnaires and interviews that ask people directly about their experiences, attitudes, or opinions; prone to selection bias (voluntary response) and response bias (lying)

correlational study

a research project designed to discover the degree to which two variables are related to each other

experiment

A research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more factors to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process

placebo effect

the phenomenon in which the expectations of the participants in a study can influence their behavior

Correlation does not equal causation

correlation does not equal causation (this is very important)

experimenter effect

tendency of the experimenter's expectations for a study to unintentionally influence the results of the study

participants want to please

Participants may act in ways that they ordinarily would not

single-blind study

study in which the subjects do not know if they are in the experimental or the control group

double-blind study

An experiment in which neither the participant nor the researcher knows whether the participant has received the treatment or the placebo

inferential statistics

numerical data that allow one to generalize- to infer from sample data the probability of something being true of a population; was this variation due to the variable or just chance

longitudinal study

research in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period (same people over long time)

cross-sectional study

A study in which a representative cross section of the population is tested or surveyed at one specific time (different people at the same time)

Ethics

Participants must have informed consent and little or no incentive

Neurons

Individual cells in the nervous system that receive, integrate, and transmit information.

cell body

Largest part of a typical neuron; contains the nucleus and much of the cytoplasm; keeps neuron alive

Axon

A threadlike extension of a neuron that carries nerve impulses away from the cell body.

Dendrites

Branchlike parts of a neuron that are specialized to receive information.

myelin sheath

a fatty tissue layer segmentally encasing the axons of some neurons

Nodes of Ranvier

gaps in the myelin sheath that allow for faster transmission of information

motor neurons

neurons that carry outgoing information from the brain and spinal cord to the muscles and glands

Interneurons

neurons within the brain and spinal cord that communicate internally and intervene between the sensory inputs and motor outputs; control reflexes

resting potential of a neuron

-70mV

action potential of a neuron

triggers at -55mV and goes up to +40 mV

refractory period

a period of inactivity after a neuron has fired; it cannot fire again until it reaches -70mV

autoreceptors

signal the presynaptic neuron to stop releasing the neurotransmitter (when concentration of neurotransmitter in the synapse is high enough)

Acetylcholine

A neurotransmitter that enables learning and memory; low levels = Alzheimer's

Dopamine

A neurotransmitter associated with movement, attention and learning and the brain's pleasure and reward system; low levels = Parkinson's, high levels = schizophrenia

Norepinephrine

helps control alertness and arousal; low levels = depression

Serotonin

Affects mood, hunger, sleep and arousal; low levels = depression.

Endorphins

natural, opiate-like neurotransmitters linked to pain control and to pleasure

L-dopa

A drug for Parkinson's disease that contains the precursors to dopamine so that once it is in the brain, it will be converted to dopamine

Prozac

SSRI; limits reuptake of serotonin so that there is more floating around

Central Nervous System (CNS)

consists of the brain and spinal cord

peripheral nervous system

the sensory and motor neurons that connect the CNS to the rest of the body

somatic nervous system

the division of the peripheral nervous system that controls the body's skeletal muscles; controls voluntary motion (sensory and motor neurons)

autonomic nervous system

the part of the peripheral nervous system that controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organs; controls involuntary action

sympathetic response

"fight-or-flight", when activated, increases norepinephrine in the body, increasing heart rate; blood goes to brain and muscles

parasympathetic response

"rest-and-digest", when activated, decrease heart rate and brings blood into the digestive organs; calms the body