Final Exam Study Outline (1)

Final Exam Study Outline

Understanding definitions is crucial to grasping psychological concepts and theories. Prioritizing comprehension ensures mastery over the material, allowing students to effectively apply what they have learned to various scenarios. Simply memorizing terms and phrases is insufficient; students must engage with the material on a deeper level through examples and critical analysis.

Chapter 1: Subfields of Psychology

• Clinical Psychology: Focuses on diagnosing and treating mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders, employing various therapeutic techniques such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and psychoanalysis. Clinical psychologists work in a range of settings, including private practices, hospitals, and academic institutions, providing comprehensive mental health care for individuals and groups.

• Developmental Psychology: Examines psychological changes across the lifespan, exploring cognitive, social, and emotional development from infancy through old age. Key theories include Erikson's psychosocial development stages and Piaget's theory of cognitive development.

• Cognitive Psychology: Delves into understanding mental processes such as perception, memory, thought, and problem-solving. Researchers in this subfield study how people acquire, process, and store information, analyzing phenomena like decision-making and cognitive biases.

• Personality Psychology: Investigates the structure, development, and variation of personality traits. Theories such as the Five Factor Model (Big Five) and Freud’s psychodynamic approach discuss how individual characteristics influence behavior and interactions.

• Social Psychology: Explores how individuals' thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the presence of others. Topics include group dynamics, conformity, aggression, and prosocial behavior, as well as the impact of stereotypes and prejudice.

• Counseling Psychology: Aims to improve well-being by helping individuals make healthier choices through various therapeutic approaches, including solution-focused therapy and humanistic psychology.

• School Psychology: Applies psychological principles to address academic and social issues in educational settings. School psychologists support students' academic, emotional, and social development, often collaborating with educators and parents.

• Behaviorism: Focuses on the idea that all behaviors are learned through interaction with the environment, primarily through conditioning. Notable figures include B.F. Skinner and John Watson.

• Evolutionary Psychology: Examines human behavior through the lens of evolution, proposing that psychological traits, including behaviors and cognitive processes, have been shaped by natural selection for survival and reproduction.

• Biological Psychology: Investigates the connections between biological factors (such as genetics, neurochemistry, and the nervous system) and behavior, studying how these factors affect thoughts, emotions, and actions.

Chapter 2: Research Variables

• Independent Variables: The factor manipulated in an experiment to study its effects on dependent variables—often thought of as the cause in a cause-effect relationship.

• Dependent Variables: The outcome that is measured to assess changes resulting from variations in the independent variable. These variables express the effects of experimental manipulations.

• Theories and Hypotheses: A theory is an organized set of concepts that explains a phenomenon, while a hypothesis is a specific, testable prediction derived from a theory, often forming the basis for research studies.

Chapter 3: Nervous System Divisions

• Central Nervous System (CNS): Comprises the brain and spinal cord and is responsible for processing sensory information, coordinating movement, and regulating consciousness.

• Peripheral Nervous System (PNS): Connects the CNS to the rest of the body and is further divided into the Somatic Nervous System (SNS), which controls voluntary muscles, and the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS), which manages involuntary functions relevant to homeostasis.

  • Sympathetic Nervous System: Activates the body’s fight or flight response, preparing it for action in stressful situations.

  • Parasympathetic Nervous System: Promotes rest and digestion, helping calm the body down after stress.

• Brain Plasticity: Refers to the brain's ability to adapt and reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life, crucial for learning and recovery from injury.

• Neurons Structure:

  • Dendrites: Branch-like structures that receive messages from other neurons.

  • Axon: The long projection that transmits signals away from the cell body to other neurons or muscles.

  • Cell Body/Soma: Contains the cell's nucleus and is responsible for maintaining cell health.

  • Synapse: The junction where communication occurs between neurons through neurotransmitters.

• Neurotransmitters and Their Effects:

  • Acetylcholine (ACh): Vital for muscle action, learning, and memory; its deficiency is linked to Alzheimer's disease.

  • Dopamine (DA): Involved in regulating movement and emotional responses, with imbalances associated with Parkinson's disease and schizophrenia.

  • Endorphins: Help regulate pain perception and are often released during stress and pain relief.

  • Epinephrine: Increases alertness and prepares the body for action; also known as adrenaline.

  • GABA (gamma-Aminobutyric acid): Acts as an inhibitory neurotransmitter, reducing neuronal excitability and regulating anxiety.

  • Norepinephrine: Influences attention and responding actions; plays a role in fight or flight responses.

  • Serotonin: Regulates mood, appetite, and sleep; imbalances are linked to mood disorders such as depression.

Chapter 4: Sensory Processing

• Rods and Cones of the Eye:

  • Rods: Specialized photoreceptors that provide vision in low light; crucial for night vision and peripheral vision.

  • Cones: Operate in bright light and enable color vision and fine detail recognition.

• Inner vs. Outer Ear Functions:

  • Inner Ear: Responsible for converting sound waves into electrical signals and maintaining balance through the vestibular system.

  • Outer Ear: Collects sound waves and directs them into the ear canal towards the eardrum.

Chapter 5: Consciousness

• Circadian Rhythm: A natural internal process that regulates the sleep-wake cycle and other physiological processes over a 24-hour period, primarily influenced by external cues like light exposure.

• Drug Effects: Various classifications of drugs, including opioids, depressants, and hallucinogens, differentially affect consciousness, perception, and behavior, leading to altered states ranging from relaxation to intense hallucinations.

Chapter 6: Conditioning Principles

• Classical Conditioning: Involves learning through association, where a neutral stimulus becomes conditioned to elicit a response after being paired with an unconditioned stimulus.

• Operant Conditioning: A method of learning that employs rewards and punishments for behavior; it emphasizes the role of reinforcement—both positive and negative—in shaping behavior.

Chapter 7: Memory and Attention

• Importance of Attention in Memory: Attention is crucial for effective memory encoding and retrieval; multitasking is shown to impede performance and memory consolidation.

• Declarative vs. Nondeclarative Memory:

  • Declarative Memory: Involves facts and events that require conscious recall (e.g., remembering a birthday).

  • Nondeclarative Memory: Includes skills and conditioned responses that are performed automatically without conscious thought (e.g., riding a bike).

Chapter 8: Language Acquisition

• Nativist Theories: Propose that language acquisition is an inherent capability, facilitated by a 'Language Acquisition Device' in the brain, allowing children to learn languages naturally.

Chapter 9: Factors Influencing Motivation

• Hunger and Eating Factors: Various influences such as stress, emotional state, self-esteem, and physiological cravings significantly shape eating behaviors and food choices.

• Achievement Motivation: Self-efficacy beliefs and intrinsic motivation greatly impact an individual's drive towards achieving personal goals and overcoming challenges.

Chapter 10: Prenatal Development

• Genetic and Environmental Influences: Genetic predispositions shape development, while environmental factors such as maternal health, prenatal exposure to substances, and nutrition during pregnancy play a pivotal role in fetal development and later life outcomes.

Chapter 11: Personality Traits

• Big Five Traits: Neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness constitute a widely accepted model for understanding personality differences and their implications for behavior.

• Jung's Collective Unconscious: This concept posits that certain images and symbols are shared across cultures, influencing human behavior and experiences.

Chapter 12: Social Psychology Concepts

• Attributions and Stereotypes: Differentiating between internal (personal) and external (situational) attributions affects how events and behaviors are perceived; stereotypes can contribute to biases and discriminatory behavior in social contexts.

Chapter 13: Stress and Coping

• Types of Stress: Various types of stress, including frustration, conflict, and significant life changes, can greatly impact mental health and coping mechanisms.

• Coping Strategies: Range from problem-focused tactics (directly addressing the stressor) to emotion-focused coping (managing emotional responses), influencing an individual’s adaptation to stress.

Chapter 14: Anxiety Disorders

• OCD and GAD Symptoms: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is characterized by persistent thoughts and repetitive behaviors, while Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) involves excessive worry about a range of everyday issues.

Chapter 15: Therapeutic Techniques

• Client-centered Therapy: Emphasizes a non-directive, empathetic approach where the therapist supports clients in exploring their thoughts and feelings, facilitating personal growth.

• Eclectic Therapy: Combines multiple therapeutic approaches based on the individual client's needs, ensuring a tailored treatment strategy that encompasses various psychological perspectives.