Psyc

🧠 Reasoning and Scientific Thinking

Everyday vs Scientific Reasoning

Everyday reasoning: We base beliefs on personal experiences, opinions, or stories.
Scientific reasoning: Uses a structured, systematic process to reach conclusions.

Inductive vs Deductive

Inductive reasoning: Start small → go big. You look at specific observations and make a general conclusion.
Deductive reasoning: Start big → go small. You take a general rule and apply it to specific cases.

Falsifiability (Karl Popper)

A claim is scientific only if it can be proven wrong with evidence.

Empiricism vs Dogmatism

Empiricism: We learn about the world through observation and experience.
Dogmatism: Refusing to change your beliefs, even when faced with evidence.

🔬 Scientific Method

Develop a theory (a general explanation).
Create a hypothesis (a testable prediction).
Test it by collecting evidence.

A scientific theory can’t ever be proven right — only proven wrong.

👀 The Art of Looking

Empirical Method

Using observation to gather data.
Two main parts:
- Observation methods: What people do.
- Explanation methods: Why they do it.

Operational Definitions

Turning a concept into something measurable.
Example: Measuring “stress” by looking at heart rate.

Construct Validity

How well your measurement actually represents what you meant to study.

Good Measurement Tools

Reliability: Consistent results every time.
Power: Sensitive enough to detect what’s actually happening.

Steps in Measurement

Define what you’re studying.
Create a valid operational definition.
Use a reliable and powerful tool to measure it.

🧍‍♀ Demand & Observer Bias

Demand Characteristics

When people change their behavior because they know they’re being watched.
To reduce it:
- Use naturalistic observation (watching in real settings).
- Keep responses private or anonymous.
- Don’t tell participants the real purpose of the study.

Observer Bias

When the researcher’s expectations influence what they see or record.

👥 Populations, Samples, and Data

Population: The whole group you care about.
Sample: A smaller group taken from the population.

Good sampling:

Diverse (matches the population).
Random (everyone has an equal chance).
Large enough to be accurate.

📊 Making Sense of Data

Descriptive Stats

Summarize what the data looks like (e.g., averages, graphs).

Frequency Distribution

Shows how often each value appears.

Central Tendency

Mean, Median, Mode – if they’re equal, it’s a perfect bell curve.

Skewed Distributions

Negative (left): Tail goes left → Mean < Median < Mode
Positive (right): Tail goes right → Mode < Median < Mean

Variability

Range: Biggest - smallest value.
Standard deviation (SD): How spread out the data is.
- High SD → lots of variation.
- Low SD → data’s close together.

🔗 Correlation

Shows how two variables move together.
r = correlation coefficient
- +1.0 = perfect positive
- 0 = no correlation
- –1.0 = perfect negative

Strong = close to ±1
Weak = close to 0

Spurious correlation: Two things seem related but aren’t.
Third variable problem: Some hidden variable affects both.

🧪 Experiments

Goal: Find out if one thing causes another.
Independent variable (IV): What you change.
Dependent variable (DV): What you measure.

Steps:

Manipulate the IV
Measure the DV
Compare results

Self-selection: When participants pick their own group → bad for cause-effect.

📈 Hypotheses and Stats

Null vs Alternative

Null (H₀): No effect or relationship.
Alternative (H₁): There is an effect or difference.

P-value & Significance

P-value: Probability of getting your results if H₀ is true.
p < .05: Statistically significant → unlikely to be by chance.
p > .05: Likely due to chance → fail to reject H₀.

Errors

Type I error: False positive (think something happened when it didn’t).
Type II error: False negative (missed a real effect).

🌍 Validity & Generalization

Internal validity: Confidence that IV caused the effect.
External validity: How well it applies to the real world.

Sampling

Random sampling: Everyone in population has an equal chance.
Random assignment: Every participant has an equal chance to be in any group.
Non-random sample: Okay if it’s still similar enough to the population.

Replication

Repeating a study to see if results hold up.
Replication crisis (2015): Over 60% of psych studies didn’t replicate.

⚖ Ethics in Research

Core Principles

Respect for persons: Right to make their own choices.
Concern for welfare: Minimize risks, maximize benefits.
Justice: Fair balance of risks and rewards.

Participant Rights

Informed consent: Must know the risks and can withdraw anytime.
Freedom from coercion: Can’t be pressured or bribed to join.
Protection from harm: Always use the safest possible method.
Risk-benefit analysis: No greater risk than normal life.
Deception: Only if necessary and justified.
Debriefing: Explain the study afterward.
Confidentiality: Keep info private.

Research Ethics Board (REB)

Must approve studies before they happen.

🐭 Ethics in Animal Research

Replacement: No alternative to using animals.
Reduction: Use the fewest animals possible.
Refinement: Minimize pain and distress.

📖 Respecting Truth

Always report results honestly.
Give proper credit.
Share data transparently.

🧠 Foundations of Psychology
Q: What is the definition of psychology?
A: The scientific study of mind and behavior.
Q: What’s the difference between mind and behavior?
A: Mind = private internal experiences (thoughts, feelings); Behavior = public actions that can be observed by others.
⚖ Philosophical Roots
Q: What is dualism?
A: The belief that the body and mind are separate entities (Descartes).
Q: What is materialism?
A: The belief that the mind and body are the same; the mind is the activity of the brain.
Q: What is realism?
A: The idea that perception is a direct reflection of the real world — like a photograph.
Q: What is idealism?
A: The idea that perception is the brain’s interpretation of sensory information — more like a painting.
Q: What is empiricism vs nativism?
A: Empiricism = all knowledge from experience.
Nativism = some knowledge is innate (inborn).
Q: What do most modern psychologists believe?
A: Materialism, Idealism, and Nativism.
🧪 History of Psychology
Q: Who is Wilhelm Wundt and what did he do?
A: Founded the first psychology lab (1879), wrote the first textbook, taught the first course; focused on structuralism.
Q: What is structuralism?
A: The approach that analyzes the mind’s basic elements using introspection.
Q: What is functionalism?
A: The study of how mental processes help people adapt; inspired by natural selection.
Q: What did Hermann von Helmholtz study?
A: Human reaction time — used stimuli and responses to estimate the speed of nerve impulses.
🧩 Major Approaches
Q: What is psychoanalysis and who developed it?
A: Freud’s theory focusing on bringing unconscious material into conscious awareness.
Q: What is behaviourism and who started it?
A: John B. Watson — psychology should only study observable behavior.
Q: What is the principle of reinforcement?
A: (B.F. Skinner) Behaviors that are rewarded are repeated; those not rewarded fade.
Q: What is Gestalt psychology?
A: (Max Wertheimer) We perceive the whole experience, not just the sum of parts — explains illusions.
Q: What did Frederic Bartlett discover about memory?
A: People often remember what they expect rather than what actually happened.
👶 Developmental & Social Psychology
Q: Who was Jean Piaget and what did he study?
A: Studied children’s thinking; proposed stages of cognitive development.
Q: Define Piaget’s key terms:
- Schemas: Mental frameworks organizing knowledge.
- Assimilation: Fitting new info into existing schemas.
- Accommodation: Changing schemas for new info.
- Equilibration: Balancing new info with existing knowledge.
Q: Who was Lev Vygotsky?
A: Emphasized social interaction’s role in learning and development.
Q: What is social psychology?
A: Study of the causes and consequences of social behavior.
Q: What did Kurt Lewin argue?
A: Behavior depends on how a person interprets their environment (subjective construal).
Q: What did Solomon Asch study?
A: How people form impressions and make inferences about others (primacy effect).
💻 Cognitive & Biological Perspectives
Q: What did Noam Chomsky argue against behaviorism?
A: That language learning requires an innate universal grammar — behaviorism couldn’t explain it.
Q: What is cognitive psychology?
A: Study of human information processing.
Q: What is evolutionary psychology?
A: Study of how natural selection shapes the mind and behavior (John Garcia’s taste aversion studies).
Q: What is cognitive neuroscience?
A: Study of how brain activity produces mental processes (often with fMRI).
Q: What is behavioral neuroscience?
A: Study of how the brain affects behavior, especially in animals.
🌍 Cultural Psychology
Q: What is cultural psychology?
A: The study of how culture shapes mental life and behavior.

🧠 Neurons & Communication
Q: What are neurons?
A: Cells in the nervous system that communicate with one another to perform information-processing tasks.
Q: Who discovered that neurons do not touch each other?
A: Santiago Ramón y Cajal.
Q: What is a synapse?
A: The region between the axon of one neuron and the dendrites or cell body of another.
Q: List the three main parts of a neuron.
A: Dendrites, cell body (soma), and axon.
Q: What is the function of dendrites?
A: Receive information from other neurons and relay it to the cell body.
Q: What does the axon do?
A: Transmits information to other neurons, muscles, or glands.
Q: What is the myelin sheath and what does it do?
A: A fatty insulating layer that speeds up electrical signal transmission.
⚡️ Electrical Signaling
Q: What is the resting potential of a neuron?
A: About –70 mV; inside of the cell is more negative than outside.
Q: What is an action potential?
A: A brief positive electrical charge that travels down the axon when the neuron fires.
Q: What triggers an action potential?
A: When depolarization reaches the threshold (“all-or-none” principle).
Q: During an action potential, which ion rushes into the neuron?
A: Sodium (Na+).
Q: What is the refractory period?
A: A short time after an action potential when another can’t occur.
Q: What is saltatory conduction?
A: When the action potential jumps from node to node along a myelinated axon, speeding transmission.
🧬 Chemical Signaling & Neurotransmitters
Q: What are neurotransmitters (NTs)?
A: Chemical messengers that transmit signals across a synapse to another cell.
Q: Where are neurotransmitters stored?
A: In vesicles inside the presynaptic neuron.
Q: What are receptors?
A: Parts of the postsynaptic membrane that receive NTs and trigger new electrical signals.
Q: What happens after NTs are released?
A: They bind to receptors, then are either reabsorbed (reuptake), broken down (enzyme deactivation), or drift away (diffusion).
Q: What’s the difference between excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters?
A: Excitatory increase the likelihood of firing; inhibitory decrease it.
Q: Which NT is the main excitatory one in the brain?
A: Glutamate.
Q: Which NT is the main inhibitory one?
A: GABA.
Q: What does dopamine do?
A: Involved in movement, motivation, pleasure, and reward.
Q: What does serotonin regulate?
A: Mood, sleep, appetite, and aggression.
Q: What is acetylcholine (ACh) responsible for?
A: Muscle activation, attention, learning, and memory.
Q: What do endorphins do?
A: Act within pain and emotion pathways to reduce pain and produce pleasure.
Q: What is an agonist?
A: A drug that increases the action of a neurotransmitter.
Q: What is an antagonist?
A: A drug that blocks the function of a neurotransmitter.
Q: What does naloxone (Narcan) do?
A: It’s an opioid antagonist that reverses opioid overdoses by blocking receptor sites.
🧩 Nervous System Organization
Q: What are the two main divisions of the nervous system?
A: Central Nervous System (CNS) and Peripheral Nervous System (PNS).
Q: What are the two parts of the Peripheral Nervous System?
A: Somatic (voluntary) and Autonomic (involuntary).
Q: What does the sympathetic nervous system do?
A: Activates the body for action (fight or flight).
Q: What does the parasympathetic nervous system do?
A: Returns the body to rest (rest and digest).
Q: What are spinal reflexes?
A: Simple automatic responses controlled by the spinal cord, not the brain.
🧠 Brain Structure & Function
Q: What does the cerebellum do?
A: Controls coordination, balance, and motor learning.
Q: What does the thalamus do?
A: Acts as a relay and processing center for sensory information.
Q: What is the hypothalamus responsible for?
A: Maintaining homeostasis—regulating hunger, thirst, and temperature.
Q: What does the amygdala do?
A: Processes emotions, especially fear and aggression.
Q: What does the hippocampus do?
A: Involved in forming new memories and spatial navigation.
Q: What is the corpus callosum?
A: A thick band of axons connecting the left and right hemispheres.
Q: What does the pituitary gland do?
A: It’s the “master gland” that releases hormones controlling other glands.
🧍‍♀ Cerebral Cortex
Q: What are the four lobes of the brain?
A: Frontal, Parietal, Occipital, Temporal.
Q: What does the frontal lobe control?
A: Movement, planning, decision-making.
Q: What does the parietal lobe control?
A: Touch and spatial awareness.
Q: What does the occipital lobe control?
A: Vision.
Q: What does the temporal lobe control?
A: Hearing and language.
Q: What is brain plasticity?
A: The brain’s ability to change and adapt through experience.
🧬 Methods & Imaging
Q: What is TMS used for?
A: Temporarily deactivating parts of the brain to mimic brain damage.
Q: What do structural neuroimaging methods show?
A: The brain’s anatomy (CT, MRI, DTI).
Q: What do functional neuroimaging methods show?
A: Brain activity during tasks (PET, fMRI).
Q: What is EEG used for?
A: Recording the brain’s electrical activity.

Psyc

🧠 Reasoning and Scientific Thinking

Everyday vs Scientific Reasoning

Inductive vs Deductive

Falsifiability (Karl Popper)

Empiricism vs Dogmatism

🔬 Scientific Method

👀 The Art of Looking

Empirical Method

Operational Definitions

Construct Validity

Good Measurement Tools

Steps in Measurement

🧍‍♀ Demand & Observer Bias

Demand Characteristics

Observer Bias

👥 Populations, Samples, and Data

📊 Making Sense of Data

Descriptive Stats

Frequency Distribution

Central Tendency

Skewed Distributions

Variability

🔗 Correlation

🧪 Experiments

📈 Hypotheses and Stats

Null vs Alternative

P-value & Significance

Errors

🌍 Validity & Generalization

Sampling

Replication

⚖ Ethics in Research

Core Principles

Participant Rights

Research Ethics Board (REB)

🐭 Ethics in Animal Research

📖 Respecting Truth

⚖ Philosophical Roots

🧪 History of Psychology

🧩 Major Approaches

👶 Developmental & Social Psychology

💻 Cognitive & Biological Perspectives

🌍 Cultural Psychology

⚡️ Electrical Signaling

🧬 Chemical Signaling & Neurotransmitters

🧩 Nervous System Organization

🧠 Brain Structure & Function

🧍‍♀ Cerebral Cortex

🧬 Methods & Imaging