MIDTERM
Psychology Midterm
Psychology
Scientific methods to understand human behavior and mental process
Wilhelm Wundt
Structuralism
William James
Father of psychology
John B Watson
Father of behaviorism and Little Albert
B.F Skinner
Behaviorism
Sigmund Freud
Father of psychoanalysis
Introspection
Examining ones own thoughts and experience
Functionalism
Function of sensations, ideas, and memories
Biological
genetic influences
Evolutionary
Survival, reproduction and adaptation, behavior, thinking, emotions as natural acts of sexual selection
Psychodynamic
Unconscious mind and resolved past conflicts and how it influences adult life and behavior
Behavioral
Mostly influenced by environmental factors rather than genetics
Cognitive
Eternal processes to understand how people use behavior to influence behavior
Humanistic
Unique processes of free will and potential for personal growth guide behavior and mental processes
Sociocultural
Environments create cultures which impacts actions, values, and mind sets. The beliefs are shaped by the environment around
Scientific method
Process of research through observation, hypothesis, experimentation and analysis
Goals of Basic Research
Expand knowledge, understanding and thesis
Case Studies
Study one individual or a few individuals
Naturalistic Observation
Watching behavior in real world settings
Laboratory Observation
Study of behavior in a controlled situation
Surveys
Self report questionare or interviews
Sampling
Every person in a population has an equal chance in participation
Longitudinal Method
Observing a group overtime
Cross Sectional method
Select similar samples of different ages and compare behaviors of different age groups
Independent Variable
Variable researcher controls
Dependent Variable
Factor may change due to independent variable
Control Group
Does not receive treatment
Placebos
Treatment that contains nothing to be helpful but produces benefits because the person believes it to be beneficial.
Experimenter Bias
Researcher favors a certain group
Single Blind Experiment
Participants are unaware of the treatment they are receiving
Double Blind Experiment
Participants or staff don’t know the research
Correlation
Statistical measure of two variables
Positive Correlation
One goes up, one goes up
One goes down, one goes down
Negative Correlation
One goes up, one goes down
One goes down, one goes up
How do you determine strength of a correlation
Through correlation coefficients -1.00 to +1.00
Neuron
Nerve cells that provide communication through the body
Neurotransmitter
Chemical messenger that carriers impulses across synaptic gap across transmitters
Central Nervous System
Brain and spinal chord
Peripheral Nervous system
Nerves outside the brain and spinal chord
Communication through central nervous system and body
Somatic and autonomic
Hindbrain
Vital functions, heart rate, respiration and balance
Medulla
Blood pressure and breathing
Pons
Bodily movement, attention and sleep
Cerebellum
Balance and coordination
Reticular activating system
Attention, sleep, and arousal
Thalamus
Sensory info
Hypothalamus
Body temp, motivation, emotion, hunger, and thirst
Limbic system
Memory, emotion, aggression
Cerebrum
Large part of the brain
Voluntary activty
Frontal Lobe
Movement and thinking
Parietal Lobe
Touch sensation and spatial relationships
Occipital Lobe
Visual information
Temporal Lobe
Sounds including speech
Corpus callosum
Connects two hemispheres of the brain
Broca’s Area
Left hemisphere - produces language
Wernicke Area
Speech Comprehension
Pituitary Gland
Regulates growth and controls other endocrine glands
Master gland
Thyroid Gland
Regulates body metabolism by producing thyroxin
Genetics
Building blocks of heredity that make up chromosomes
Sensation
Stimulation of sensory receptors
Perception
Psychological process by which we interpret sensory info
Absolute Threshold
Weakest amount of stimulus that can be sensed
Signal Detection Theory
Focusing on whatever we consider important
Vestibular Sense
The body’s mechanism for discovering poisons
Conductive
Guiding participants through creative conditions for motor and cognitive
Sensorineural Deafness
Deafness caused by damage to middle ear
Conductive Deafness
Deafness caused by damage to middle ear
Kinesthesis
Sense that tells us about the position and motion of their body parts
Olfactory nerve importance
Transmits odors to limbic system of the brain
Proximity
Gestalt principle
we group items together just because of closeness
Similarity
Gestalt principle
Similar objects as belonging together
Continuity
Gestalt Principle
We want to see smooth and continous patterns
Common Fate
Gestalt Principle
We think things that move together, belong together
Closure
Gestalt principle
We perceive complete image even when our senses are missing information
Figure ground perception
The perception of figures against a background
Six Monocular cues
perspective
Clearness
overlapping
shadow
gradient texture
motion parallax
Two Binocular cues
Retinal disparity
Convergence
Color constancy
perceiving objects as keeping its color even though light changes its appearance
Size Constancy
Seeing objects as having constant size
Shape Constancy
Perceiving objects as only one shape
Brightness Constancy
Seeing an object as equally bright
Conscious
Awareness of oneself and environment
Preconscious
info not in the conscious
Subconscious/unconscious
Unaccepted thoughts, info is hidden
Nonconscious
Process that individual is unaware
Circadian Rhythm
Biological clock
Insomnia
Problems falling asleep
Narcolepsy
Suffer from sleeplessness
Night Terrors
Wake up screaming
Sleep Walking
Partly but not fully awake
Sleep Apnea
Stops breathing during sleep
Stimulants
Increase neural activity speed up body functions
Depressant
Drugs that slow neural activity and body functions
Hallucinogens
Distorts perceptions
Opioids
Morphine/Heroin
Stimulates endorphins
Addiction
Compulsive drug craving
Hypnosis
Altered state of consciousness deeply relaxed
Biofeedback
Learning to control bodily states with help of machines
Meditation
Focusing of attention to clear mind and relax
Classical conditioning
Form of learning where one stimulus elicits a response by another stimulus
Neutral Stimulus
Something that does not elicit a response
Unconditioned Stimulus
The simulate that elicits an unconditioned response
Unconditioned response
The unlearned reaction to an unconditioned stimulus
Conditioned Response
Learned reaction to the conditioned stimulus
Extinction
When the conditioning stops taking place
Reconditioning
Relearning of a conditioned response after extinction
Spontaneous
The condition response randomly reappears
Stimulus Generalization
The conditioned response will tend to occur to similar stimuli without further training
Timing
Closer the more effective
Predictability
Pairing is consistent
Signal Stregnth
Strength of classical conditioning is strong
Attention
Amount of attention that is directed at the classical conditioning
Phobias
Irrational fear of specific stimuli
Flooding
A person is exposed to the harmless stimuli until fear responses to that stimuli is extinguished
Systematic Desensitization
Being gradually exposed to the feared stimuli using a relaxation technique
Counterconditioning
A pleasant stimulus that is paired with a fearful one
Positive Reinforcement
Stimulus that increases the frequency of a behavior when presented
Negative Reinforcement
An unpleasant stimulus that increases the frequency of the behavior
Primary Reinforcement
Reinforcement that uses a physical survival need
Secondary Reinforcement
Reinforcement that comes to represent a primary reinforcer
Positive Punishment
Admister a “bad stimulus” to decrease a behavior
Negative Punishment
Withdraw a rewarding stimulus to decrease a behavior
Problems with Punishment
Doesn’t erase behavior, just suppresses it
May have bad side effects
Abusive or imitated
Fixed Ratio schedule
Reinforce after unpredictable number of responses
Variable Ratio Schedule
Reinforces after an unpredictable number of responses
Fixed Interval Schedule
Reinforces the first response after a varying time period
Variable interval
Reinforce the first response after a varying time period
Continuous Reinforcement
Reinforcement that occurs when a behvaior occurs
Cognitive learning
Learning because we want to
Latent Learning
Learning that happens but stays hidden until there is a need to use it
Cognitive Maps
Mental map of physical area
Insight
Sudden understanding of a problem
Observational Learning
Learning by watching or imitating others
Mirror Neurons
Fire when observing or imitating
Modeling
Observing and imitate others