INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY

Textbook: Chapter 1:  Psychology History and Approaches   pgs. 1-15

INTRODUCING PSYCHOLOGY

1. Recognize how philosophical and physiological perspectives shaped the development 

    of psychological thought     

• Socrates and Plato- believed that the mind is separated from the body and continues after the body’s death  

• Aristotle-believed that knowledge isn’t preexisting but grows from memories and experiences  

• Francis Bacon- believed that memories are created by experiences    

• John Adams incorporated this into the belief that we are born for a “empty slate”

-Rene Descartes- discovered that neurons flow from the brain to the muscle (used Socrates and Plato’s  idea of how the mind is separated from the body

• John Adams- created the idea of empiricism of how we are born with a “blank slate”

*empiricism- the idea how knowledge comes from personal experience and that observation and and experimentation creates scientific knowledge

2. People to know

Wilhelm Wundt- the founder of the first psychology laboratory. He made this laboratory to measure the “atoms of the mind”  

• First psychological journal

Edward Bradford Tichener- created structuralism with Wundt to understand human behavior and their thoughts  (main person to create structuralism)

*Stanley Hall- a student of Wundt who started the first laboratory in the U.S. and created the American Psychological Association (first president)  

• First psychological journal (in U.S)

William James- the creator of the idea of functionalism that was influenced by Darwin idea of natural selection 

Mary Calkins- woman who wasn’t allowed to get a Harvard degree due to the fact that she is a woman (supposed to get a PHD) 

• First woman president of the APA

Margaret Washburn - first woman to get a psychology degree but banned from joining experimental psychologists (a group of people who study psychology by the experimental method) 

• Studied animal behaviors 

John Watson- one of the creators of the idea of behaviorism 

• Learned about conditioned responses through observing babies  

• Defined psychology as study of behavior and mental processes 

B.F Skinner- one of the creators of the idea of  behaviorism

• Believed that consequences of actions affected behavior  

• Defined psychology as a study of behavior and mental processes 

*Ivan Pavlov- created  the idea of classical conditioning of how neutral stimulus is associated for another stimulus to produce a behavior 

Sigmund Freud- a controversial figure that studies the unconscious mind and childhood experiences (things that we don’t think about)  

Carl Rogers- one of the founders of humanistic psychology

Abrahm Maslow -  another founder of humanistic psychology;created the hierarchy of the self-actualization theory in psychology 

Modern definition of psychology- science of behavior(any action someone does that can be observed or recorded) and mental processes (internal subjective experiences people have from their behavior: thoughts,feelings, beliefs,etc)

3.  Describe and compare different theoretical approaches in explaining behavior.      

     Recognize the strengths and limitations of applying theories to explain behavior  

*Scientific method- generate question -> create theory-> hypothesis-> Test hypothesis-> Analyze data and draw conclusions

*Nature-nurture issue- a controversy over the ideas of genes and societal experiences which affects psychological development of  people   

• Nurture endows nature 

• **Nature and nurture works together that affects the development of people 

Nature aspect- Genetics (eye color, hair color, temperament)

Nurture aspect- everything that determines who we are (language, learning, associations) 

Natural Selection- a theory made by Darwin where there is a range of possible trait variations and the ones if the most survivability and reproducement are most likely to pass from generation to generation  

*Epigenetics- how our environmental factors affect changes in gene activity without changing the DNA sequence 

Structuralism- the idea of introspection (asking people how they feel/react upon their surroundings) 

• Introspection- Looking inside one's self and reflecting on their thoughts  

• Functionalism- the idea of how mental and physical processes function by  adapting and flourishing in a certain environment  

behaviorism - a study of psychology where they analyze behavior of people (through observation and recording their behavior)

( Psychologists in the past used to study this without using the understanding of mental processes) 

Humanistic psychology- a historically significant perspective that emphasizes on the potential well being of people  (mental health)   

• How people’s environment influences can expand or limit our personal growth potential

*Cognitive neuroscience-  study of brain activity that connects to cognition (the mind)/ behavior kinda of   

*Cognitive psychology- the scientific study of all mental thinking activities that are associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating  (how we process information)

*evolutionary psychology- the study of evolution of behavior and mind, incorporating natural selection principles   

*Psychodynamic psychology- the study of how the how unconscious drives and conflicts influence behavior, and that use to treat patients with disorders     

*educational psychology- the study of how psychological processes affect an can enhance teaching and learning 

*personality psychologists - the study of a person’s characteristic patterns of thinking

*Social-cultural psychology- the study of how situations and cultures affect our behavior and thinking 

*Levels of analysis- different views of biological, psychological, social-culture to analyze a phenomenon   

*Biopsychosocial approach- an approach the incorporates biological, psychological, and social-cultural behavior 

Behavioral Approach- an approach where observable behavior is studied and explained through the use of stimuli 

Psychoanalytic/psychodynamic Psychology-  an approach that focuses on the unconscious mind and how we react in response of it 

Humanistic- an approach of how we feel satisfaction, love, and appreciation for ourselves  

Evolutionary Approach- How we evolve throughout generations to adapt and behave a certain way 

Gestalt Psychology- a form of psychology that analyzes the experiences and complex small parts of an individual (people have more depth than on the surface) Ex. illusions with two paintings in them 

*Biological Approach - how the brain and body wire our thoughts, experiences, and memories 

Developmental Approach-  how we develop physically and mentally throughout our lifespan 

*Cognitive Approach- how we use cognition (memory, thinking, beliefs) 

*Biopsychosocial Approach- how we were biologically wired genetically since birth, how social interactions, and how psychologically we have a certain personality trait 

Sociocultural Approach- how traits perceived in other societies and cultures influence our behavior 

4.  Careers in Psychology  

*Psychometrics- a branch of psychology devoted to studying the measurement of our own abilities and traits 

Psychiatrist- a field of medicine where they are able to diagnose and treat patients as well as doing psychotherapy 

Clinical Psychologist- a psychologist that treats people with medical disorders (not prescribing medicine) 

Counseling Psychologist- a psychologist that helps people go through stresses in their lives (ex school, work, home life) 

5.    Basic vs Applied Research 

-basic research- is research from pure science   

JOBS THAT ARE BASIC RESEARCH

-*biological psychologists- explores the connections between the mind and the brain 

-* developmental psychologists- explores how we change and grow mentally throughout life  

- educational psychologists- studies psychological processes to enhance learning and teaching 

- social psychologists- the scientific study of how think, influence, relate to one another 

-personality psychologist- the characteristic study of how people think, feeling, and behave within   

their characteristics

- Applied research is research from practicality   

- *Gestalt psychology - a form of psychology where all aspects of thought can be observed in their simplest forms 

- opposing to behaviorism, of how behavior can be only be observed \

JOBS THAT ARE APPLIED RESEARCH - 

• Industrial/ Organizational Psychologist   

• Works with fulfilling psychological needs of employees and workplaces to increase productivity and functionality 

• *Human Factors Psychologist 

• A subfield of I/O psychology where they work with machines and people and create ways how they can safely interact with each other 

•  Clinical psychologist 

• Psychiatrist   

• Positive psychology- a study that explores human functions with a goal of promoting strengths and virtues for betterment of the community 

• Community psychologist- studies social environments to improve on oneself’s wellbeing

• Social psychologists - studies how we relate to one another  

  -sensation vs perception-  

  -sensation- our sensory receptors and nervous system receive sensory information (sight, hearing, feeling, etc) stimuli energies from our environment   

  - perception- processes where the brain organizes and interprets the sensory output that was sent to our brain (sensations) 

  - perception comes from our experiences   

  Main senses- hearing vision, taste, touch, smell 

  Discuss basic principles of sensory transduction

  -transduction- the conversion of sensations into information that the brain is able to understand and process  

  - light is transduced into impulses for the brain the process our vision 

  -psychophysics- the study of relationship between physical traits of stimuli and psychological experiences with stimuli 

  -absolute threshold-  the minimum amount of stimulation that is detected by a particular stimulus 50% of the time   

  - the minimum amount of stimulation for us to pick it up  

  - not always absolute 

  -difference threshold- the minimum difference between two stimuli require for detection 50% of the time  

  - known as noticeable difference (JND)

  -subliminal threshold-  below one’s threshold of awareness (stimuli not detected 50% of the time) 

  - not consciously pick up but can affect our decisions 

  -priming- an unconscious association created from information laid out before which affects our memory, perception, and response 

  -signal detection theory- a theory of how we predict how or when we detect weaker signals (usually information faint that is hard to grasp because of background stimulation 

  - fairly depends on emotional state, experiences, levels of fatigue (explains why people react differently with same stimuli) 

  -sensory adaptation- one’s ability to adapt to constant stimulation (continuous) 

  -Weber’s Law-  a law that claims that in order for a person to perceive a difference, two stimuli must differ by minimum percentage, then the constant amount (ex. Frequency of waves must be 8% different in order to be detected by the human mind) 

  - change is needed is proportional to the original intensity of the stimulus  

  - the more intense original stimulus is, the more difference needed for the needed for a certain stimulus to notice the difference  

  --selective attention- the focus area of our consciousness on a particular stimulus 

  --cocktail party effect- the ability to process important information while a lot of background stimulation is going on (filters out a range of other stimuli that is insignificant)

  -inattentional blindness- the failure to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere 

  -change blindness- the failure of recognizing changes in our environment 

    -sensory interaction

  -Synesthesia- the ability to use a sense to interpret something from one sense of the body, using the other sense of the body 

  - Ex. the ability to see people as colors   

  Feature detectors- neurons that identify properties such as color, odor, etc is routed to the visual cortex by the thalamus

  
  

  2.1 PRINCIPLES OF PERCEPTION     pgs 163-165

  Discuss how experience and culture can influence perceptual processes

  -top-down processing-  uses the higher levels of mental processing to make perceptions to drawing on our experience and expectations (senses) 

  - drawing from experience & schemas (files/folders)  

  - Brain→Sensory 

  -bottom-up processing- the analysis from sensory receptors to the high-level mental  processing  

  Sensory→ Brain

  -context effects- context can be used to build perception 

  - Without context, we can interpret/perceive things as different 

  -perceptual set-  mental assumptions that greatly affect how we perceive things 

  - Context effects affect the perceptual set  

  - experiences & schemas also creates perceptual sets in our head   

  Convergence- The ability for us to combine different senses/ stimuli to perceive our world 

  (PROBABLY NOT ON THE TEST BUT…)

  - extrasensory perception (ESP)- the belief that perception can occur without sensation like telepathy  

  Parapsychology- the study of paranormal phenomena such as ESP  

  
  

  1.6 VISUAL SENSATION   pgs 171-179

   Describe the vision processes including the specific nature of energy transduction, relevant 

  anatomical structures and specialized pathways in the brain 

  -wavelength- distance from one maximum of a wave to the other (Electromagnetic waves vary in length)

  -hue- color determined by wavelengths of light 

  -intensity- the amount of energy in light waves which we perceive as loudness or brightness. Is determined by wavelength’s amplitude 

  -pupil, iris, lens,retina  

  Cornea- a clear layer of the eye that is continuous with the sclera (allows light to bend)  

  • Nearsightedness is caused by too much curvature of the cornea or lens to focus on the image of  close by than further away 

  • Farsightedness caused by something with too little curvature and lens focus on further away than close

  • Sclera- white tissue that protects the eye

  - pupil- small adjustable opening in the center of the eye which light enters  

  - iris- ring of muscle tissue that is the colored part of the eye which light enters  (can dilate and controls how much light is coming in our eyes ) 

  - Conjunctiva- thin layer of mucus out and inside the eye to protect the eye 

  - lens- inside of the pupil which bends the light rays and sends the light to the retina for the rods and cones to deal with 

  -accommodation- the process by which the eye’s lens changes shape to focus near or far objects of the retina (shape the lens to match context)

  -rods, cones, optic nerve, ganglion cells, bipolar cells  

  - rods and cones are photoreceptors that convert light energy to neural impulse 

  Rods and cones→bipolar cells→ ganglion cells→ thalamus→ visual cortex  

  - rods- rational receptors that detect black, white, and gray, perfect for twilight vision, peripheral, twilight vision  

  - help with peripheral vision  

  -peripheral retina (outside retina)

  - helps with seeing darker areas (black, white, gray) 

  -Share bipolar cells with other rods, sending messages together 

  - chemical changes are triggered and spark neural signals, activating bipolar cells → activates ganglion cells which axons twine together to create optic nerve 

  - retina- a light-sensitive inner surface of eye, containing the receptor rods and cones + layers of neurons that begin processing of visual information  

  - millions of receptor cells convert particles of light energy into neural signals each day 

  -blind spot- the point where the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating a “blind spot” because no receptor is taking that spot 

  -fovea- focus point in retina where cone cluster  

  
  

  Cones- receptors in retina that detect things such as color  

  -Bipolar cells carry cones’ messages to the visual cortex which devotes a large area to input from the retina (hotline)  

  - controls fine detail and color 

  - usually in daylight well light conditions  

  - near center retina 

  
  

  Explain common visual sensory conditions

  -feature detectors- nerve cells that respond to specific features of the stimulus  

  - passes info to super clusters (teams of cells) that respond to complex stimuli 

  -parallel processing- processing multiple things at the same time (ex. Color observing color, weight, depth)

  -color theories

    --Young-Helmholtz trichromatic (three-color) theory-  theory that the retina contains three color receptors, red, blue, and green. 

  - doesn’t explain afterimages 

    --opponent-process theory- cones are either red-green, blue-yellow, or black-white and afterimages will turn the image to its opposing colors   

  - Red and green are opposing colors 

  -blue and yellow are opposing colors 

  - black and white are opposing colors 

  - trichromatic theory- 3 types of cones that help us see color and combining these colors together creates other colors

  - red 

  -Green 

  -Blue  

  
  

  Prosopagnosia- the inability of recognizing faces 

  Blindsight- the idea of not seeing properly but can still respond to visual stimuli   

   Motion parallax-  involves images of objects at different distances moving across the retina at different rates 

  Convergence- depth of eye sight based on how much they move inward  (he more focused you are  ( the more eyes inward with each other), the more you see a certain object better

  
  

  2.1 VISUAL PERCEPTION   pgs. 182-191

   Explain  the role of top-down processing in producing vulnerability to illusion

  -figure-ground- ability to disguise between figures and the actual ground in an image 

  -grouping- our ability to organize stimuli to different groups 

  -proximity- type of grouping where we group nearby figures together 

  -continuity- type of grouping where we think patterns are continuous 

  -closure- type of grouping that fill in the gaps to complete an object 

  -depth perception- ability to see objects as 3-dimensional even though their drawn as 2-dimensional 

  - Helps eliminate objects of difference 

  -visual-cliff-  a laboratory device to test depth perception in children and small animals 

  -binocular cues- depth cues that depend on both eyes 

  -monocular cues- depth cues that can be seen with using only one eye 

  -phi phenomenon- the ability to see 2 or more adjacent lights as movement even though their just flashing images (flashing lights)  

  - Stroboscopic book (flipbook effect)- same drawing drawn in different frames that looks like its moving when flipped 

  **Anything that ends with constancy-> objects that change in our changes but our perception of them DON'T change

  -perceptual constancy- the constant perception of objects being the same shape as one another despite them being different 

  -color constancy- perceiving similar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illuminations alter wavelengths to appear as a different color 

  -shape and size constancy-  perception that the shape or size of the object is the same even though it’s different 

  -perceptual adaptation- our visual ability to adapt to changes in vision  

  - linear perspective- parallel lines meeting in the distance makes us believing something is further away depending on the angle its seen on  

  -size-distance relationships- the further away something is, the smaller we perceive it. Distance affects how we see size.  

  - light & shadow- shading produces sense of depth, assuming that the light comes from above  

  - Interposition- if one object blocks our view, we perceive the blocker as closers 

  - OVERALL- Our brain creates our perceptions   

  - perceptual sensation/ perceptual adaptation- the ability to adjust to artificially displaced or inverted visual field 

  - Ex. getting used to wear new glasses with new prescription  
  VISUAL CAPTURE- VISION IS OUR MOST DOMINANT  SENSE 

  1.6 & 2.1 AUDITORY SENSATION AND PERCEPTION   pgs. 194-199

  Describe the hearing process, including the specific nature of energy transduction, relevant anatomical structures and specialized pathways in the brain for each of the senses 

  -Hearing allows mind-to-mind communication with enables connection  

  - Sounds measured in decibels; 0 decibels= ABSOLUTE THRESHOLD 

  -pitch- tone’s experienced highness or lowness, depends on frequency  

  Audition- sense or act of hearing 

  -amplitude- the height of waves( determines loudness)

  -frequency- length of a complete wavelength which determines the pitch of the sound 

  Visible outer ear→auditory canal → eardrum 

  -outer ear: eardrum- vibrations within the ear which transfers to the middle ear 

  -middle ear: hammer, anvil, stirrup-  chamber between eardrum and cochlea containing 3 bones (hammer, anvil, and stirrup) that picks up vibrates to the cochlea

  Oval window- the entrance to the cochlea which transmits vibrations from stirrup (vibration of the three bones) and convert them to neural impulses

         -inner ear; oval window, basilar membrane, hair cells, cochlea, auditory cortex- the innermost part of the ear; once it goes through the cochlea’s oval window, its vibrations causes the cochlea fluid to fill, which causes the basal membrane to bend hair cells, which triggers neural impulses to the auditory cortex in the temporal lobe.  

  - Cochlea- a oval window (snail-shaped) fluid-filled tube in the inner corner of the ear; contains basilar membrane and hair cells  

  -semicircular canals- next to the cochlea that controls balance  

  - occurs when you do an activity like going on the swings for a long time 

         -sensorineural hearing loss  vs  conductive hearing loss   

  - Sensorineural hearing loss- hearing loss caused by damage to hair cells (cochleas receptor cells)  

  - conductive hearing loss- hearing loss caused by damage to the mechanical system in the ear which creates sound waves in the cochlea  

  - cochlear implant- a device for converting sounds into electrical impulses and stimulates the auditory nerve through electrodes threaded into the cochlea  

  - helps with hearing loss 

  -place theory  vs frequency theory 

  - place theory- theory that the pitch we hear is connected to a specific area where the cochlea is  (based of frequency) stimulated and creating a neural signal  

  - Flaw: doesn’t explain how we hear low pitch sounds 

  - frequency theory- theory where the brain reads pitch through neural impulses transmitted information( from the basal membrane vibrating a sound wave) to the auditory cortex   

  - All hairs visible but are in different speeds 

  - Flaw: doesn’t explain how we hear sounds with frequency over 1k 

  - Valley principle- neural impulses shoot while others reload (neural cells alternate firing) When firing rapidly, they can reach over 1K sound frequencies 

         -sound localization- we locate sound through one ear getting the sound sooner than the other and the other hearing the soundwave more intensely 

   THE STAGES OF AUDIO TRANSDUCTION 

  - sounds waves→ eardrum→ cochlea vibrates→ basilar membrane→ hair cells vibrate→ neural impulses send to thalamus→ temporal lobe  

  
  

  1.6 CHEMICAL SENSES   pgs.  207-209

  Describe taste and smell processes, including the specific nature of energy transduction, relevant anatomical structures and specialized pathways in the brain for each of the senses

          - taste- chemical sense 

  -types of taste- sweet (energy source), salty (sodium essential to physiological processes), sour (potentially toxic acid), sour (potentially toxic acid), Umami (proteins grow and pair tissue) 

  -taste receptors- we have 200 or more taste buds and have 50-100 taste receptors per pore 

  - reproduces every 1-2 weeks  

  -expectancy bias affects taste 

  -smell- chemical sense

      -olfactory receptors- where molecules of substances reach in the nasal cavity 

  - alert the brain through axon fibers which goes by the brain’s sensory control center (thalamus ) 

  - embedded at the surface of the nasal cavity 

      -pheromones- chemicals that humans and animals use in order to communicate 

  -*memory stimulation- a hotline runs between the brain area receiving info from the nose and limbic system, which is why certain smells are related to emotions and memory 

  
  

  1.6  BODY SENSES   pgs. 202-206; 209-211

  Describe sensory processes including the specific nature of energy transduction, relevant 

  anatomical structure and specialized pathways in the brain for each of the body

  -touch

  -gate-control theory- a theory where the spinal cord has a “neurological gate” that blocks pain signals and allows them to travel to the brain. But when we are in pain, the spinal cord opens the gate and pain signals travel up in small fibers, blocking the large ones  

   Phantom limb sensations- the central nervous system misinterprets pain because of the lack of normal sensory output  

  -we edit memories of our pain (only remembering when we ARE in pain and the post-pain) 

  - placebo drugs can ease pain 

  -distractions can help activate pain-inhibiting circuits to increase pain tolerance   

  - Itching is caused by light gentle stimulation of pain receptors while tickling is caused by repeated stimulation of touch receptors  

  -sensation of wetness results from simultaneous stimulation of adjacent cold and pressure receptors

  
  

  -kinesthesia- system of sensing body parts movements 

  -vestibular sense- monitors head and body’s position and movement including sense of balance  

  - these senses are the semicircular canals and vestibular sacs  

  - hair cells sends messages to cerebellum to maintain balance  

  - lost of balance can give a dizzy aftereffect 

  -sensory interaction- multiple sense influencing one another

  -embodied cognition- how senses affect our thoughts and judgements 

  
  -heritability - the difference between genetics to your behaviors 

  monozygotic (identical) vs  dizygotic (fraternal) twins 

  • Can’t determine percentages for personality traits or intelligence  

  • Percentages don’t equal exact percentages of an individual having a particular trait 

  • Heritability of one person doesn't equivalent to similarities of heritability to others 

  • Heritability works with the environment to determine people’s traits 

  • - environment- any influence other than genetics that affect your personality 

  • HOW genes and environment interact make up a person  

  • interaction-  how the effect of one factor affects another (Ex. environment affects heritability)  

  • Epigenetics- the study of how environmental influences of gene expression occurs without any real changes in DNA 

  • Occurs when epigenetic molecules keep from certain genes to function which affects gene expression 

  • Environmental factors can influence epigenetic molecules 

  molecular genetics- the study of biology that studies genetics and function of genes  

  • They figure out how genes can affect our behavior and thought processes  

  • Understand likelihoods of generations getting mental disorders/diseases 

  twin studies-   

  Identical twins (monozygotic) - developed in a single fertilized egg and then split to two 

  • Share the same genes because have different copies of it 

  • Usually have same placentas  

  • More behaviorally similar to each other whether separated at birth or not 

  Fraternal twins(dizygotic)- developed in separate individual eggs  

  • Share the same fetal environment but genetically different 

   

  family studies-   provides the nurture to examine the relation between genetics and environmental factors in family dynamics   

  • Does the case run in the family?

  
  

  Genetic relatives - people who are genetically related to offspring 

  Environmental relative- adopted parents of siblings  

  • Family environments doesn’t necessarily changes or affect child’s personality completely  

  • Adopted children personalities will be just the same as the child next door 

  • However, parenting styles can affect how alike siblings behave 

  adoption studies- adaptive children tend to have more similar traits to their biological parents than adoptive parents 

  *temperament- the study of a person’s characteristics when they at birth

  • Behavior Genetics- study of the limits genes and environment influences can have on behavior  

  • Natural selection- the principle of the more you participate in reproduction, the more genes you pass to your offspring that has survivability 

  • Mutations-  gene error during gene replication 

  • Men tend to be sexually intimate than women 

  • Women select men wisely while men choose women widely 

  • Nature and nurture doesn’t always mean that everyone would follow the same behavioral standards  

  • Evolutionary psychology- studies how behavior is shaped through natural selection and adaptability 

  1.2  OVERVIEW OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM…….pgs 86-89

  Describe the nervous system and its subdivisions and functions

  central  vs  peripheral nervous systems 

  • Central nervous systems contains the brain and spinal cord  (major components of the brain)   

  • Processes all body parts and is the main proccessing center

  • Spinal cord is a two-way information highway that connects the brain with the peripheral nervous system (through using ascending and descending fibers) 

  • Main function is to PROCESS INFORMATION AND COORDINATE RESPONSES THROUGHOUT THE BODY 

  • The peripheral nervous system- sensory and motor neurons that connect to the central part of the nervous system of other areas of the body  

  • Contains two systems somatic and autonomic

  • somatic nervous system- controls the skeletal muscles  

  • autonomic nervous system- controls the glands and muscles of internal organs(kidneys, digestion, etc)

  sensory neurons- carry messages from outer parts of the body (periphery) to the central nervous system 

  motor neurons-  neurons carrying info from spinal cord and brain to receptors, glands, and muscles 

  Interneurons- in the middle of motor and sensory neurons that regulate both neurons coming through  

  • Main function is processing information of both neurons and reflexes 

  sympathetic nervous system- division of autonomic nervous system that stimulates the body and consumes energy

  parasympathetic nervous system- division of the autonomic nervous system that converses and calms the body

  Reflexes- automatic response to sensory stimulus (pathways are used to control them)  

  • Brain controls sensations in our bodies   

  • Reflexes occur in the spinal cortex where it automatic sends a response without it going to the brain

  
  

  1.3  THE NEURON AND NEURAL FIRING….pgs 76-83

  Identify basic processes and systems in the biological bases of behavior, including parts of the neuron…...76-83 

  
  

  Neuron- nervous cells that are the building blocks for mental processes  

  • Passes on messages through chemical signals from neighboring neurons and fires an impulse by action potential   

  • Biological psychology- relates to the science of biology and its relationship to behavior 

  • Phrenology - the study of bumps in your head (said that the bumps in your head determines your characteristics as a person) obviously later proven false

  •  Action potential - a brief electrical charge that travels down its atom  (generates positive charged atoms in the atom’s membrane)  

  • Atom is positive inside and negative outside 

  • Resting potential- the electrical potential of a neuron when it is in a non-excited or resting state 

  • Animal brains are used to understand human processes because they share similar nervous systems as us  

  • Soma- cell body (neurons control center) 

  Dendrite- fibers that receive information and gives information to the cell body (connects with the Axon transmitters) 

  Axon- carries the information and passes it to muscles, glands, and terminal branches  

  • The terminal branches connect to the dendrites of other neurons (any of them nearby) and transmits the information  

  myelin sheath- fatty tissues that encases axons and speeds up the process of axons passing information to other parts of the body  

  • When neurons fire, axons (selectively permeable) open their gates, and the sodium ions depolarizes it for every atom to open 

  • Refractory period- a short period of inactivity once a neuron is fired (reboot)

  • In a resting state, ions are positive on the outside and negative on the inside in resting  

  • Threshold- the receiver of more excitatory signals that moves towards action potential  

  • In order to activate action potentials the excitatory signals must push beyond threshold 

  • Excitatory signals accelerates the neuron to turn on action potential  

  • Inhibitory signals stops the neuron from firing impulses 

  • All-or-none response- a neuron’s reaction of either firing (with full strength or no firing at all) think of it has a gun 

  • Depolarization- when positive ions enter the neuron which makes the neuron more prone to fire 

  • Hyperpolarization- when negative ions enter the neuron and lowers the chance of the neuron to fire

  • potential state - when ions are negative on the inside and positive on the outside 

    terminal branches (potential for the neurons to fire)

  Synapse- the junction between two nerve cells (used for neurotransmitters to be released into the receptors of the receiving neuron) 

  
  

  • Ions are made of sodium-potassium 

  
  
  

  Identify basic process of transmission of a signal between neurons

  resting potential- when atoms are in a non excited, resting state 

  action potential - a electrical charge that travels down the axon creating movement of positively charged toms in the atoms membrane 

  Depolarization- the positive ions that enter the neuron making it more prone to fire 

  refractory period*-  a brief resting period to reboot the neuron system before excitatory atoms come to the axon’s selectively permeable barrier again (ions become negative)

  Threshold- an area of the neuron that tends to get a lot of excited neurons 

  all-or-nothing response- when firing, the neurons will either COMPLETELY fire or NOT fire at all

  refractory period- a brief resting period before the neurons are ready to let in excited neurons to be able to fire again 

  
  

  Explain synaptic activity 

  • The synaptic gap 

  synaptic gap-  a gap between the the axon terminal and the receptor sites 

  receptor sites- areas that receive neurons and carries the message into the neuron 

  Reuptake- the reabsorption of excess transmitters by the sending neuron  

  
  

   Discuss the influence of drugs on neurotransmitters

  reuptake inhibitors- affects how the receiving neuron responds

  agonist  - a molecule that stimulates a response by binding to the receptor site 

  antagonist - a molecule that binding the receptor site to block a response from the receiving neuron  

  • These receptors are usually the effects of certain drugs 

  
  

  Identify major neurotransmitters

  Acetylcholine- transmitter that is control of learning, memory, and muscles  (m&ms)

  Malfunction- Alzhemiers disease

  Dopamine- controls movement, emotions, learning alterations ()

  Malfunction- oversupply that can lead to  Parksion’s disease, schizophrenia  and potentially depression (indirect)

  Serotonin- affects mood hunger, sleep and arousal 

  • Malfunction - linked to depression/bad mood 

  Norepinephrine- controls alertness and arousal (physical, arousal, learning, memory) 

  • “Fight or flight response”

  • Malfunction- undersupply can depress mood/depression

  Endorphins- inhibitory signals that block pain signals  

  (ex. The more you exercise, the less tired you are)  

  -runners’ high 

  GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid)- a major inhibitory neurotransmitter  

  • Balances out glutamate 

  • Malfunctions- undersupply gives a higher risk of seizures, terrors, and insomnia, huntington disease, anxiety  

  glutamate-  an excitatory neurotransmitter that influences memory  

  • Malfunction- oversupply  

  • Too much glutamate and too little GABA can cause seizures  

  Substance P- co exists with glutamine which release from pain stimulation (tells body that its in pain) 

  Cortisol- regulates metabolism and response to stress 

  Pancreas- regulates blood sugar  

  • Insulin- decreases blood sugar 

  • Glucagon- Increases blood sugar

  
  

  Discuss the effect of the endocrine system on behavior…..pgs  90-91  

  Endocrine system- a system interconnected with the nervous system which is a “slow”  communication system that is a set of glands responsible for secreting hormones into the bloodstream

  Hormones- chemical messengers that are carried in the endocrine glands to other fibers

  pituitary glands- the most influential gland in the endocrine system where it releases growth hormones and other glands   

  Cortisol- regulates metabolism and response to stress 

  Pancreas- regulates the level of blood sugar in bloodstream 

  • Hypothalamus controls this gland

  –adrenaline glands-pair of endocrine glands that  sit on top of kidneys and secrete epinephrine or norepinephrine (or adrenaline and noradrenaline) which arouses the body to be in a stressed state 

  • Gives the flight-or-fight response 

  –oxytocin-  a hormone that’s produced in the hypothalamus that releases in the pituitary glands 

  
  

  Identify the major psychoactive drug categories and classify specific drugs, including their psychological and physiological effects……..pgs 248-256

  Tolerance- the diminishing effect with regular use of the same drug, making the user take more to feel the effect

  Addiction- the constant craving of a drug or behavior which can lead to consequences 

  Withdrawal- the discomfort of discontinuing the usage of a drug or behavior 

  Depressants-  drugs reduces neural activity and slows body functions  

  • alcohol - a drug that slows neural processing, an disinhibitor (slow brain activity and inhibitions)  

  --barbiturates/tranquilizers- depresses the nervous system (helps with sleep and anxiety) 

  --opiates- opium and its derivatives that depresses the nervous  system (gives short-term pleasure that replaces pain and anxiety)  

  - can help with sleep or anxiety 

  -lethal if taken if alcohol 

  Stimulants- drugs that excite or stimulate the neural activity and other body functions 

  --nicotine- a drug that is high addictive (tends to be in tobacco)  

  - quickly signals the central nervous system to release a bunch of neurotransmitters which can reduce stress 

  - increases heart rate and pressure 

  - At high levels, relaxes muscles and triggers the release of neurotransmitters that may reduce stress 

  - reduces circulation to extremities 

  --amphetamines-  a stimulant that stimulating neural activity, leadining speed-up body functions and energy and mood swings  

  --caffeine

  --cocaine- a powerful and addictive stimulant, derived from the coca plant, producing temporarily increased alertness and euphoria  

  - heightens reactions which can lead to convulsions, emotional disturbances, cardiac arrest, respiratory failure  

  - expectancy bias of this drug can make effects worse 

  --methamphetamine- a stimulant that stimulates the central nervous system with speeded-up body functions and associated energy and mood changes; overtime, appears to reduce baseline dopamine levels 

  - triggers the release of dopamine, stimulating brain cells that enhance mood or energy   

  -Effects: reduce natural dopamine levels, hypertension, seizures, social isolation, depression, and occasional violent outbursts 

  -Ecstasy/ MDMA-  a synthetic stimulant and mild hallucinogen. Produces euphoria and social intimacy with long term health risks  

  - releases dopamine and serotonin ( blocks reuptake to maintain the “good mood”)  

  -Effects: dehydrates the body (leads to overheating), increased blood pressure, and death. The amount of serotonin released can lower natural serotonin production 

  -Opioids-- 

  –heroin- depress neural activity, temporarily lessens pain and anxiety 

  –opium- opium and derivatives (heroin) that depress neural activity, temporarily lessens   pain and anxiety    

  -the more you take, the higher dose you need to feel the effect (more tolerance)  

  - includes narcotics 

  Hallucinogens- a psychedelic (“mind-manifesting” ) drug, which distort perceptions and evoke sensory images in the absence of sensory input

  --LSD- a powerful hallucinogenic drug which creates hallucinations  

  - start small and grow into bigger hallucinations  

  -Hallucinations by drugs often see a bright light in the center  

  - similar effect to near-death experience 

  -near-death experience- an altered state of consciousness that is reported with near death experience (cardiac arrest) which can be stimulated by hallucinations created from drugs 

  --marijuana- a  mild hallucinogen which contains THC (an active ingredient which causes hallucinations) does many things to the brain

  1.4  THE BRAIN…….pgs 96-107 

  Explain how the structures and functions of the brain apply to behavior and mental processes

   Brainstem-  the body part  that is the oldest part of the brain (between the back of the brain and the beginning of the spinal cord)  functions for mainly automatic survival functions 

  • Contains pons and medulla 

    --medulla- the part of the brainstem that controls breathing and heart pumping (hindbrain)

    --pons- above the medulla and part of the brainstem. Coordinates movement with the brain (hindbrain)

    --reticular formation- a nerve network that goes through brainstem and thalamus and plays an important role in consciousness (hindbrain)  

  - located from the spinal cord to the thalamus; near the ear 

   --thalamus- brain’s sensory control center that receives information from all senses except for smell. Can also receive information from the higher brain areas (which the information received from the senses was sent to) and give the information back to the senses.  Sensory switchboard  that receives sensory signals from the spinal cord and sends them to other parts of the brain (hindbrain)

  - Processes most information to HIGHER BRAIN STRUCTURES 

  -Switching senses to right place of the brain

  Cerebellum- the “little brain” at the rear of the brain stem which controls nonverbal learning and memory functions  (hindbrain) 

  • Discrimination of senses   s

  • Modulates emotions  

  • Coordinates voluntary movement where procedural memories (non-verbal) are kept (implicit memories )

  • Coordinates muscle movements 

  Limbic System- neural system located below the cortex hemispheres that associates with emotions  (amygdala, hypothalamus, hippocampus) 

  • Emotional control center (emotions drive our behavior) 

  • Considered midbrain 

  –amygdala- two-lima-bean-sized neural cluster in the limbic system link with emotions (usually anger or fear)  

  • Close to the hippocampus and works with memories (reason why memories are more prominent when emotions are tied to it) 

  --hypothalamus- neural structure lying below the thalamus; directs several maintenance activities (body temperature, eating, drinking) reward system  

  - keeps body’s internal environment at a steady state (homeostasis)

  -connected to endocrine system (pituitary glands) 

  - includes pleasure/reward system 

  --hippocampus- processes explicit memories  

  - left side of hippocampal damage- trouble with verbal info 

  - right side of hippocampal damage- trouble with visual spatial information  

    --pituitary gland- releases hormones and other glands. Most influential gland in the endocrine system

  Cerebral cortex- the fabric or surface layer of interconnected neural cells that is the brain’s ultimate control and information processing center  

  • Outer bark layer 

  
  

  –two hemispheres- the brain has two hemispheres left and right  

  • The left hemisphere controls speech 

  • The right hemisphere controls language (recognition) , making inferences, seeing emotions, identifying senses 

  –lobes- there are 4 of them, Frontal lobe, Parietal Lobe, Occipital Lobe, and Temporal Lobe 

    --frontal lobe- the part of the cerebral cortex lying just behind the forehead; main functions are speaking,, decision and planning and decision making, and muscle movement (control behavior) 

    --parietal lobe- portion of the cerebral cortex on the top of the head and toward the rear; which main component is receiving sensory information to move body functions (touch and sensory information like how a parent comforting their child)  

  - Sensory cortex- part of parietal lobe which controls body touch and other sensations/ process movements (*left hemisphere that receives input from the body’s right side) 

      --motor cortex- part of the parietal lobe which controls voluntary movements (*sends signals to our body controlling the right hemisphere)

      --somatosensory cortex- left hemisphere that receives a input from the body’s right side and processes body touch and movement (body→ brain communication) (the same thing as a sensory cortex)

  –occipital lobe- portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the lack of the head; areas that receive visual information (occipital→ eye)  

  • Visual cortex- the part of the occipital lobe that interprets visual information from our eyes 

  • Processes words, emotions by vision 

  –temporal lobe- portion of the cerebral cortex lying below the frontal lobe and parietal lobe that mostly controls the processing of auditory information from the opposite side of the ear  

  • NO PREFERENCE/ LATERALIZATION sound is processed in a circuit route from one ear to the auditory receiving side of the brain 

  Association Areas   ….pgs 109-111 

  Association areas- any areas of the brain that don’t control the main components or sensory functions; contributes in memory , learning, thought process, unconsciousness movement, facial recognition, etc. 

  -Broca’s area- association areas for speaking  

  - Broca’s Aphasia- Damage to Broca’s area can cause a person to be unable to pronounce words properly 

  -Wernicke’s area- associated area for language comprehension 

  - Wernicke Aphasia- damage to the area can cause a person to speak meaningless words 

  -aphasia- partial or complete inability to articulate ideas or comprehend language because of brain injury or damage 

  -plasticity- the brain’s ability to change especially after damage was done to it 

                

  Technologies that involve brain research   pgs 94-96

  case studies- studying a particular group of people in a population (usually atypical) 

  Leasoning- destroying a certain part of the brain’s tissue (usually for research purposes)

  imaging

  --electroencephalogram EEG- a bunch of clips scientists put on your head to determine your brain electrical activity (safest machine to use) 

  - electrical waves made by the stimulus 

  --computed tomography  CT- x-ray photos of the brain   

  -reveal brain damage 

  - shows structure of the brain 

  -PET scan- a technique used by depicting brain activity through recording the movement of radioactive glucose in the brain (see what the energy glucose is used for)  

  -shows areas of the brain that is being used at the moment 

  --magnetic resonance imaging  MRI-  the measurement of brain radio waves and magnetic fields that produce computer generated images of different types of tissues 

  - reveals size of brain (the brain is larger in certain areas that people are strong at)

  --functional MRI (fMRI)- a technique that shows the brain’s functioning that reveals the blood flow in the brain to determine what parts of the brain are used at certain times   

  -shows how the brain divides up the work  

  - shows functions of the brain 

  Research in brain specialization…pgs 114-120

  corpus callosum- a large band of neural fibers that connect the two hemispheres of the brain together and carry messages between them 

  split brains- a condition resulting from surgery that isolates the two hemispheres in the brain through cutting the corpus callosum apart 

  brain plasticity- in certain cases, some parts of the brain can be restored by therapy that can connect neurons together for a person to normally function again. Neurogenesis can occur too (the regeneration of neurons)  

  Dual processing- the principle that information is often simultaneously processed in both conscious and unconscious tracks

  Encoding- getting information into our brain

  Storage- retaining information in our brain

  Retrieval- getting information back out of our brain

  parallel processing- processing multiple things at once; the usual way the brain processes multiple information at the same time 

  Ex. going to the park and seeing children play, hearing the loud noises, and smelling dirt 

  *sensory memory (echoic and iconic)-  immediate memory that is made (at the moment) is only remembered by a couple of seconds/minutes. With enough attention, it can go into your short term memory.  

  • Capacity is unlimited 

  *Iconic memory- a form of sensory memory of visual stimuli (photographic) lasts for a tenth of a second  

  Ex. reading at a page at a textbook

  *Echoic memory- a form of sensory memory of auditory stimuli and last for less than 4 seconds  

  Ex. Eavesdropping to a conversation between two people around you

  short-term memory- a form of memory that is produced once you attentively absorb the information. Doesn’t last very long and needs to be rehearsed/practiced to encode into long-term memory  

  • Holds for 20-30 seconds 7+2 without rehearsal 

  long-term memory- a form of memory that stays in your head forever. The information will always be in your head when you need to retrieve it.  

  • Capacity is unlimited 

  implicit memory- nondeclarative memories (automatic processing)  

  • Occurs in the ganglia and cerebellum 

  • *Motor cognitive  skills 

  • *Time, space, frequency  

  • *Classical conditioning (reflexes) 

  • Primed responses (retrieval cues)

  working memory- a complex version of short-term memory that shows how short-term memory processes visual, auditory, and retrieval information from long term memory 

  -*Visual-spatial information- stores and process information in spatial/visual form

  *central executive functions- control of the entire system and puts the information to the data systems  (main part of the mind)

  *Auditory information- stores and processes information in auditory form

  *phonological loop- stores information that utilizes info that is spoken or written 

  *visuospatial sketchpad- the ability to temporarily store visual/spatial information 

  Episodic memory- memory that contains information of specific events of experiences of life

  Shallow to Deep memory; structural, phonemic and semantic- 

  Shallow memory-structural memory (structure of letters)   

  Ex. how many capital letters in CAPTAIN 

  Intermediate memory- phonemic memory (remembering how it sounds)  

   Ex. SYS-TEM-MA-TIC

  Deep memory- semantic memory  (able to apply the word into a sentence)  

  EX. The doll sat on the bookshelf as the little girl walked in.

  explicit memory- declarative memories (effortful processing) 

  • Memories of personal experiences 

  • Memories of general knowledge 

  effortful processing- the processing of explicit memories (declarative memory) 

  • Occurs the hippocampus and the frontal lobes  

  • Processes personal experiences(Episodic memory) 

  •  and general knowledge (Semantic memory)

  automatic memory- memories that automatically go into long-term memory (implicit memories)

  working Capacity- the capacity of information  short-term/working memory can hold  

   WAYS TO REMEMBER BETTER (FIT INTO LONG TERM MEMORY)

  Chunking-  a memory hack where it generalizes pieces of information into different groups that they are associated with 

  Ex. DOg, CAt, monkey, mouse, zebra all are grouped together because they are animals 

  Mnemonics- memory aids 

  Peg-word- a memory aid that associates a word with a number so you can remember the order the words  

  Ex. one,two buckle my shoe, three, four buckle some more, five, six, nike kicks

  method of loci- memory aid where you associate a word with a vivid location  

  Ex. dog→ a tennis shoe 

  *Acronyms- memory aid associates a word with a letter in ALL caps 

  Ex. FANBOYS and PEMDAS

  Hierarchy- a memory aid that associates a general topic with complex pieces of information 

  distributed practice- a recommended practice where you space out your learning to encode the information into your long-term memory

  spacing effect-distributed practice for retention of  long term memory

  • Ex. studying for 20 minutes of a subject per a day 

  *testing effect- testing your ability to to retrieve information from your long term memory

  *self-referencing effect - making the information about you to help obtain information into your long-term memory better (uses semantic memory) 

  *autobiographical memory - memory of your past  

  Ex. your 10th birthday 

  *prospective memory- memory of the future (things to do)  

  *Procedural memory- long-term memory that takes part of learning motor skills  

  *Eidetic imagery- photographic memory 

  Episodic memory- remembering past experiences/events   

  Procedural memory- retrieval of information of motor skills  

  semantic memory- memory of meaning and significance of words  

  Ex. needing to talk to a teacher after class 

  Biological Bases for Memory   pgs 329-333      

  Hippocampus- the process of the brain that controls and processes explicit memories (located in the center of the brain)

  left vs right- the left hippocampus controls the visual designs, while the right hippocampus controls the verbal information   

  • Without the HIPPOCAMPUS, people are unable to form new memories 

  frontal lobes- the process of the brain that controls explicit memories and retrieves them from long-term memory 

  brain cortex- sends information to the basal ganglia to show how to do a certain task, but the basal ganglia doesn’t send information back to the cortex

  Sleep- when you sleep the hippocampus processes information into long term memory (consolidation) 

  Cerebellum- part of the brain that controls implicit memories (controls classical conditioning) 

  • Classical conditioning-natural reflexes  

  Ex.  feeling excited to go on a rollercoaster 

  basal ganglia- a part of the brain that controls implicit memories in motor movement 

  *infantile amnesia- the inability to remember in the first 0-3 years of a person’s life 

  amygdala (flashbulb memories)-the process of the brain that processing emotional experiences  

  Flashbulb memories- memories heavily associated with emotions are vividly memories due to the tied emotional experience  

  Ex. what you were doing before Donald Trump’s attempted assassination 

  *long-term potentiation - the potential of memory sticking to you when you learn something 

  • Sleep helps consolidate the things that you learn 

  • It is always best to study an hour before bed because of this

  Topic 2.6  Retrieving Memories  pgs 334-338    

  *Recall- the retrieval of information that you just learned  

  Ex.fill in the blank

  Recognition- the retrieval of information that is associated with the information you learn  

  Ex. Multiple Choice

  Relearning- relearning information that was in your long-term memory before  (it is easier to retain information that you learned before in your head) 

  Ex. applying the word into a sentence

  *meta-cognition - an learners ability to find an effective strategy to learn and remember information

  testing effect- an effect where you try to retrieve information from your long-term memory to see if you remember something or not 

  Ex.Testing yourself on vocabulary you need to remember for a test 

  *Priming- activates specific associations in memory unconsciously 

  *Retrieval Cues - associations which helps a person remember a certain piece of information

  Context-dependent- the retrieval of information where you remember once you in the same location where you encoded something in your head 

  Ex. You left your toothbrush and leave the room and forgot what you were doing and then came back to the same room and it instantly came into your memory again

  mood congruent memory- the retrieval of information that can be recalled once you are in a certain mood  

  Ex. Being sad and thinking about your sad memories 

  *serial position effect - an effect where our brains tend to remember the beginning and end of a set of information 

  recency effect- the ability to recall mostly the things that was at the end of a list (usually occurs RIGHT after you processed the list)

  primacy effect- the ability to recall mostly the things at the beginning of the list (usually occurs once the list leaves your mind)

  
  

   Forgetting and Memory Distortion   pgs 341-354      

   

  Cognitive bias- the tendency to have bias to remember a certain thing 

  -Confirmation bias- only remembering what you WANT to remember 

  -Hindsight bias- current emotions and cognitive  needs rewrites memories 

  Overconfidence- being overly confident leads to wrong conclusions 

  anterograde amnesia- the inability to remember new information but can remember old information  

  • Damage to the hippocampus

  retrograde amnesia- the inability to remember old information but can remember new information     

  • Damage to the cerebral cortex 

  Forgetting- the inability to retrieve information from long-term memory  

  encoding failure- short-term memory failing to encode into long-term memory properly 

  storage decay- physical trace of the memory that disappears  

   -Happens in sensory, short-term memory 

  retrieval failure- the inability to retrieve information from long-term memory  

  • You remember something but it can’t come out of your head 

  Interference- pieces of information that distracts the brain from processing information

  proactive interference- the inability to process new information because of old information processing in your brain 

  retrograde interference- the inability to process old information because of new information  

  Interference vs Amnesia- 

  Interference is associated with PROCESSING information  

  Amnesia is associated with  ENCODING AND RETRIEVING INFORMATION

  *imagination inflation- imagination of false events that occurred to a person 

  motivated forgetting- the idea where people purposely repress their memories 

  Repression - A theory made by Freud where people purposely repress their memories  due to the anxiety they get when they recall those memories 

  • Theory later proven wrong by modern psychologists since we tend to have vivid memories of emotional tied events 

  misinformation effect- an effect where you encode and retrieve wrong/false information into your brain  

  • Occurs due to encoding failures, retrieval failures, interferences 

  source amnesia - amnesia of remembering a source of information (where the information came from)  

  deja vu - the feeling of familiarity of something you never seen before

  Principles of Repressed and Constructed Memories

  • A controversial aspect where memories are repressed due to trauma 

  ****Identify the contributions of key researchers in cognitive psychology***

  *Hermann Ebbinghaus - a psychologist who is responsible for the understanding of the forgetting process (forgetting curve) where at first forgetting is really likely and then it stabilizes (at the next day only ⅓ was stored in long-term memory) (used nonsensical syllables in the study of the human memory). 

  *Eric Kandel and James Schwartz- they did an experiment where they study a snail’s nervous system and learn that the neurotransmitters get released to the synapses, and create more connections with neurons (long-term potentiation)  

  *Elizabeth Loftus- did an experiment where she would make people watch a car accident and a week later tell a group misinfo to see if once they recall again, they will accurately recall what happened or not. Learned about the misinformation effect  

  Sperling- Created a partial report of an experiment where people would have to memorize 3 rows of words for 2 seconds and then based on the tone of voice, the people would have to recall a row. (Learned about how long visual-spatial memory last)

  
  Why do we need psychological science?   

  • To understand human behavior in a way that avoids  bias

  -overconfidence- intuition that we overestimate

  -hindsight bias- the belief that we hold on to despite knowing the outcome (I knew it all along)

  -perception of order in random events- believing that a pattern is occurring in a situation when its actually random

  -need for critical thinking- help psychologists from immediately jumping into conclusions without more observation 

  *false consensus effect- the tendency to believe that others are thinking the same way as us 

  *bias:  expectancy, experimenter, sampling- 

  *Expectancy bias- when the researcher allows his or her expectations to affect the outcome of the study  

  Ex. A teacher unconsciously giving a student more opportunities to succeed because they believe in them  (distorts one’s events to match their expectations)

   *Experimenter bias/confirmation bias- when research allows his or her personal beliefs to affect his/her study  

  Ex. The owner of the horse influencing the horse’s behavior in order to multiply and divide (this fact lead to people rejecting it and believing that the horse is naturally gifted)

  *Sampling bias- the participants of the research are not randomly assigned (unrepresentative)

  
  

  Module 5 - The Scientific Method and Description

  -theory and hypothesis 

  - Theory- an explanation of organized ideas  

  - hypothesis- an testable prediction 

  *empirical investigation- collecting objective information first by making careful measurements based or experience (uses evidence to come with a conclusion through experience or careful measurements of people)

  -operational definitions - a carefully/particularly worded statement that can be used in a study 

  - a good operational definition can be replicated and gain the same results  

  - be extremely specific when stating hypothesis 

  - explain how variables will be measured in real life in context of the study 

  -replication- the recreation of a study with different people in different situations 

  
  

   Differentiate types of research with regard to purpose, strengths and weaknesses

  -case study– a study of a particular individual or group in depth

  -naturalistic observation- an observation of  naturally occurring behaviors without controlling or manipulating anything 

  *Hawthorne effect- the idea of working better when you are watched

  -survey- a researching technique used to produce a self-reported attitudes or behaviors of  participants of a group usually by questionnaires 

  *longitudinal studies- studies that last for a long period of time 

  *cross-sectional studies- studies that experiments on a individuals in different stages of their life (snapshots)

  Random Sampling

  -sampling bias-  a flawed sample processing that creates an unrepresentative sample of the whole population

  -population- everyone in the group that is being studied 

  -random sample- an sample of a population that equally represents everyone in the population (equally have the chance to be included in the study)

  *representative sample- a sample that equally has a chance to include everyone in the population 

  *random assignment- people being randomly assigned be in an experimental group or control group in an experiment 

  * random selection- the process of randomly selecting people to make an random sample 

  Discuss the value on the reliance of operational definitions as a measurement in research.

  Operational definitions make the variables in the study  specific enough to be applied in real life. These studies can be replicated and can gain the same results.  

  replication - a recreation of a study with different situations and subjects 

  Module 6 - Correlation and Experimentation

  Describe how research design drives the reasonable conclusions that can be drawn

  Correlation: the relationship between two or more variables predict each other 

  -scatterplots- used to gather data to find correlations (the less scattered the data points are, the more correlation they have with each other)

  *positive correlation- variables that go in the same direction (+1.00 max) 

  Ex. the more you smoke, the higher risk you are of getting lung cancer 

  *negative correlation- variables that go in opposite directions (-1,00 max) 

  Ex. The less amount of sleep I get, the more sleep deprivation I have 

  -correlation coefficient- counts by (-1,00-+1.00) on how correlated both variables are (degree of correlation) 

  -illusory correlation- the perception of a false correlation (believing it exists)  

  -We believe that random occurrences are a pattern of sort, which makes us think that two variables are correlated with one another when their not 

  
  
  
  
  

  Experiments:

  -experimental group- a group that receives special treatment in the experiment 

  -control (group)- the group that doesn’t receive any special treatment and are used to compare with the experimental group 

  -random assignment- participants being randomly assigned to be an experimental group or control group  

  -independent variable- a variable that can be changed/manipulated 

  -dependent variable- a variable that is affected by the independent variable 

  -confounding variables - factors that affect the dependent variable other than the independent variable

  *placebo effect- the belief  of a person upon taking the treatment  thinks the treatment is actually effective (stronger the connection with the brain and body to have pain relief)

  *order effect- participants response in various conditions are affected by other factors that they were exposed to

  -blind  vs  double blind procedures - double bind procedures is when both the participants and researchers don’t know who got the treatment or not while blind is when the participants don’t know if their the experimental group or not 

  *applied  vs  basic research-   

  • Applied research is when the research is applied for practical reasons  while basic research is the pure science (basic understanding of psychology) 

  
  

  Module 7 - Statistical Reasoning in Everyday Life

  Apply basic descriptive statistical concepts, including interpreting and constructing graphs and calculate simple descriptive statistics 

  -*measures of central tendency- a single score that represents the entirety of scores 

  -variation- the variety of scores 

  -frequency distribution- number of observations of a particular variable   

  Frequency polygon- graph that represents the frequency distribution 

  Histogram- a bar graph that contains data from descriptive statistics

  Scatter Plot- graph created to see how clustered data points are

  -range- the difference between the highest and lowest values in the set of data 

  *outliers- numbers that are way off from the usual distribution 

  -normal curve- bell-shaped, symmetrical curve 

  -standard deviation- the deviation between each of the data points 

  -mean, median and mode 

   - Mean - arithmetical average 

  - Median - the middle number that is half of the values greater than average and half of the values less than average 

  Mode- the value that most frequently occurs in data 

  -statistical significance (P value)- the % of an event resulting a certain way by chance  

  - less than 5% means that they are statistically significant (not caused by chance)  

  - the lower the P value is the stronger the evidence 

  *z scores- a statistical measurement that describes a value’s relationship to the mean of group values (think of the what Ms.Belotti taught you)  Observed value- mean/ standard deviation= z score  

  • How many deviation scores away from the mean 

  positive and negative correlation- 

  positive skew and negative skew- representations of scores that are outliers of other values  

  Positive skew- long tail first then goes back into standard deviation 

  negative skew- standard deviation then transitions to long tail 

  *inferential statistics- statistics where they make a generalization that the data can be applied to the real world (other scenarios)

  -descriptive statistics- numerical data which is basically a summary that describes characteristics of the groups 

  
  

   Distinguish the purposes of descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. 

  Inferential statistics makes generalizations about the data to be applied to reality, meanwhile descriptive statistics are general summaries of data and measures central tendency to gain characteristics of the data. 

  
  

  Module 8 - Frequently Asked Questions About Psychology

  Identify how ethical issues inform and constrain research practices

   

  Ethical issues such as human and animal abuse need to be avoided as much as possible. Research must be as harmless to the participants as possible.  

  
  

  Describe how ethical and legal guidelines protect research participants and promote sound ethical practice.  

  
  

  Ethical and legal guidelines by the American Psychological Association avoids experimentation from becoming unethical/inhumane. 

  -American Psychological association- an association that controls the study of psychology 

  -Institutional Review Board- Division of APA  (approves experimentation for humans) 

  
  

  Ethical Principles for humans - 

  Informed consent- explain the experiment enough for people to make a choice if they want to participate or not    

  • Avoid deceptions (lying) about the experiment  

  • Keep personal information of participants private (confidentiality) 

  • Debriefing them on what happened  

  • Debriefing- post-experiment explanation ( includes explaining deceptions and manipulation to the participant) 

  
  

  -Institutional Animal Care- Division of APA (approves experimentation on animals) 

  
  

  3 Rs 

  
  

  Replace- Try  to use animals that are not invertebrates and are less responsive alternatives as much as possible 

  Refinement- regulations to avoid harming animals as much as possible 

  Reduction- use as less animals as possible   

  
  

  Culture- the shape of ideas, behavior, attributes, traditions from a group of people (affects people’s behaviors/beliefs)

  • Individual cultures- focuses on personal achievements/ goals  

  • Collective cultures- emphasizes on group goals, cooperation   

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  • Psychology brings us answers to general questions about society and life