Exam 1

Chapters 1-5 from lecture notes

Wilhelm Wundt

• father of psychology

• established the first every laboratory

• developed introspection; method involving looking inward to examine “conscious experience” then recording it

William James

• wrote principles of psychology

• functionalism; mental process are fluid and have continuity meaning they change and aren’t rigid

• psychology the study of behavior and observing

Sigmund Freud

• psychoanalysis; theory of personality and treatment of psychological disorder

• unconscious is primary focus along with early childhood experiences

Behaviorism

• John Watson

• science of behavior is measurable and observable

Humanistic Psychology

• Abraham Maslow and Carl Rodgers

• focuses on the uniqueness of human beings and capacity for choice and growth

• criticized Freud saying that people have free will

Cognitive

• developed in response to behaviorism humans are active participant in their environment

• HOW we think determines our emotions and behavior

Cross-Culture Approach

• social and cultural influences on human behavior and the importance of understanding these influences

  • ex: slang, social norms

Evolutionary

• focus on. how humans behaviors that are required for survival have adapted over environmental pressures

Biological

• looks for links between behaviors and biological differences in people that help explain individual differences

Representative Sample

• a sample that represents the population of interest

Experimental Method

• the only research method that can be used to identify cause and effect relationship

Independent Variable vs Dependent

• a factor or condition that can be manipulated

  • the cause

• a factor or condition that is measured at the end of ann experiment

  • the effect

Positive vs Negative Correlation

• as one variable goes up so does the other

  • studying and class grade

• as one variable goes up the other goes down

  • watching tv and gpa

Confounding Variables

• variables other than the independent variable that can also contribute to outcome

Random Assignment

• selecting participants through a chance procedure that each participant has equal chance to be assignment

  • eliminates bias

Correlation Coefficient

• how strong is the relationship between data

EEG (elctroengcephalogram)

• records brain-wave activity

• Three types:

  • beta - physical activity

  • alpha - associated with deep relaxation

  • delta - slow-waves or deep sleep

Neurons

• individual nerve or brain cells

  • when stimulated an action potential (-70) arrives at the cell and causes it to fire

Dendrites

• a neurons branching fibers that recieves input

  • little branch looking things

Synapse

• a tiny gap separating neurons

  • provides chemical communication between cells

Neurotransmitters

• control certain impulses

• each one has a distinctive shape that fits into a receptor

  • keys only fit into certain locks

Dopamine

• affects movement, attention and pleasure

Serotonin

• affects mood, sleep, appetite and aggression

Endorphines

• relief from pain and feelings of well-being

Nervous system divisions

• Peripheral

  • motor or sensory

    • somatic (voluntary movement)

    • autonomic

      • sympathetic and parasympathetic

• Central

  • brain and spinal cord

Peripheral Nervous System

• Autonomic

  • operates without conscious control or awareness

• Sympathetic

  • fight or flight response

• Parasympathetic

  • brings heightened bodily functions back to normal

  • rest and digest

What is the forebrain?

• Thalamus - regulates sleep cycles and damage can cause a coma

  • rely stations of the brain

• Limbic system - emotional memories

  • Amygdala - fear response and forming memories

  • Hippocampus - plays a role in the storing of new memories

Cerebral lobe (frontal)

• involved in thinking, motivation and impulse control and planning for the future

Parietal lobe

• directly behind the frontal lobes

• involved in the reception and processing of touch stimuli

  • ex: touching a hot stove

Occipital lobe

• reception and interpretation of visual information

  • left field registers the right visual cortex

  • right field registers the left visual cortex

Consciousness

• everything that we are aware of at a given time

Circadian Rhythm

• regular fluctuation of your sleep to wake cycle

• regulates all vital life functions

  • ex: pattern of breathing

• disruptions

  • jet lag

  • time changes

Pineal gland

• secretes the hormone melatonin at night which induces sleep

Subjective night

• the time of day when a persons biological clock tells them to go to sleep

• Swing shift

  • not consistent rhyrhm

Circadian Theory of Sleep

• sleep evolved to keep humans from predators during the dark of night

  • wakefulness depends on time of day

Stages of Sleep

• NREM (non-rem)

  • slow breathing, little body movement low brain activity and BP

• Stage 1: transition form waking to sleeping occasional alpha waves (mainly beta waves)

• Stage 2: light sleep to deep sleep

• Stage 3: deep sleep (slow delta waves)

• Stage 4 or REM

  • vivid sleep

  • rapid eye movement

  • brain are highly active

  • memory retention after learning

Sigmund Freud (psychoanalytic)

• dreams satisfy unconscious sexual and aggressive desires

• latent content

  • underlying meaning of the dream (more significant)

• manifest content

  • dream as recalled by the dreamer

Cognitive Theory of Dreaming

• dreaming is simply thinking while asleep

• dreams reflect dreamers concern rather than an expression of sexual impulses

Activation-Synthesis hypothesis of dreaming

• dreams are simply brains attempt to make sense of the random firing of brain cells during REM

Evolutionary Theory of dreaming

• emotionally charged dreams serve a protective function

Psychoactive drugs

• any substance that alters mood perception or thought

  • controlled substances (medical use only)

  • illicit or illegal substances

Stimulants vs Depressants vs Hallucinogens

• speed up activity in the central nervous system

  • more awake alert

• decrease activity in CNS

  • slows down bodily functions

• alter and distorts perception of time and space

Sensation

• process whereby senses pick up sensory stimuli

  • ex: ingredients like in baking a cake

Preception

• process where the brain actively recognizes and interprets sensory information

  • ex: finished cake

Absolute Threshold

• minimal amount of sensory stimulation that can be detected 50% of the time

Webers law

• percent of change necessary for detection of change in stimulus

Sensory receptors

• highly specialized cells in the senes organs

• detect and respond to on type of stimuli

• provides the link between the physical sensory world and the brain

Sensory adaptation

• grow accustomed to constant unchanging levels of stimuli over time

Visible spectrum

• waves that form a small subgroup of electromagnetic waves

  • the distance form the peak of a light wave to the peak of the next wave

Rods and Cones

• extremely sensitive and allows the eye to respond to small amounts of light

• allows us to see color and fine details

  • cant function well in the dark

Trichromatic Theory

• there are there types of cones in the retina

  • blue, green and red

Opponent-process Theory

• cells respond by increasing or decreasing their rate of firing

  • red/green

  • blue/yellow

  • white/black

  • all function like alight switch one goes on the other turns off

Frequency

• number of cycles completed by sound wave in one second

• lower frequency = lower pitch

  • measured in hertz

Amplitude

• loudness of sound

  • how someone voice vibrates

• measured in decibles

Timbre

• quality of a sound that distinguished it from other sounds of the same pitch and loudness

Place Theory

• how we hear sound with frequencies higher than 1000 hertz

Frequency Theory

• hair cell receptors vibrate the same number of times per second as do the sounds that reach them

  • low-frequencies sounds are heard