PSYC 101 - MIDTERM 1

Chapter 1:

Psychology:

• the scientific study of mind and behaviour.

• mind refers to a set of private events that happen inside a person

  • the thoughts and feelings that we experience at every moment but that no one else can see

• behaviour refers to a set of public events

  • the things we say and do that can potentially be observed by others

Philosophical Dualism:

• the view that mind and body are fundamentally different things

Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679):

• argued that the mind and body aren’t fundamentally different things at all

• rather, the mind is what the brain does

Philosophical Materialism:

• the view that all mental phenomena are reducible to physical phenomena

Philosophical Realism:

• John Locke (1632–1704)

• suggests our perceptions of the physical world are a faithful copy of information from the world that enters our brains through our sensory apparatus

Philosophical Idealism:

• Immanuel Kant (1724–1804)

• suggests that our perceptions of the physical world are our brain’s best interpretation of the information that enters through our sensory apparatus

Philosophical Empiricism:

• the view that all knowledge is acquired through experience

• Locke believed that babies were to have “blank slate” minds

Philosophical Navitism:

• the view that some knowledge is innate rather than acquired

• Kant argued that human beings must be born with some basic knowledge of the world that allows them to acquire additional knowledge of the world

Hermann Ebbinghaus (1908)

• “psychology has a long past but a short history”

Reaction Time:

• Hermann von Helmholtz (1821–1894)

• the amount of time between the onset of a stimulus and a person’s response to that stimulus

Structuralism:

• an approach to psychology that attempted to isolate and analyze the mind’s basic elements

Introspection:

• the analysis of subjective experience by trained observers

Functionalism:

• James Angell (1869–1949)

• an approach to psychology that emphasized the adaptive significance of mental processes

Natural Selection:

• Charles Darwin (1809–1882)

• the process by which the specific attributes that promote an organism’s survival and reproduction become more prevalent in the population over time

Hysteria:

• Jean-Martin Charcot (1825–1893) and Pierre Janet (1859–1947)

• a loss of function that has no obvious physical origin

Unconsciousness:

• Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)

• the part of the mind that contains information of which people are not aware

• Freud felt confident that these exiled or “repressed” memories were the source of his patients’ hysterical symptoms

Psychoanalytic Theory:

• a general theory that emphasizes the influence of the unconscious on feelings, thoughts, and behaviours

Psychoanalysis:

• a therapy that aims to give people insight into the contents of their unconscious minds

Behaviourism:

• John Broadus Watson (1878–1958)

• an approach to psychology that restricts scientific inquiry to observable behaviour.

Principle of Reinforcement:

• Burrhus Frederick Skinner (1904–1990)

• states that any behaviour that is rewarded will be repeated and any behaviour that isn’t rewarded won’t be repeated

Gestalt Psychology:

• Max Wertheimer (1880–1943)

• an approach to psychology that emphasizes how the mind creates a perceptual experience

Developmental Psychology:

• Jean Piaget (1896–1980)

• the study of how psychological phenomena change over the lifespan

Social Psychology:

• Kurt Lewin (1890–1947)

• the study of the causes and consequences of sociality

Cognitive Psychology:

• Ulric Neisser (1928–2012)

• the study of human information-processing

Evolutionary Psychology:

• the study of how the human mind has been shaped by natural selection

Cognitive Neuroscience:

• the study of the relationship between the brain and the mind (especially in humans)

Behavioural Neuroscience:

• the study of the relationship between the brain and behaviour (especially in nonhuman animals)

Cultural Psychology:

• the study of how culture influences mental life

Chapter 2:

Empiricism:

• the conviction that accurate knowledge of the world can be acquired by observing it

The Scientific Method:

• a procedure for using empirical evidence to establish facts

Theories:

• explanations of natural phenomena

Hypothesis:

• falsifiable prediction made by a theory

Empirical Method:

• a set of rules and techniques for observation

Operational Definition:

• a description of a property in measurable terms

Construct Validity:

• a feature of operational definitions whose specified operations are generally considered good indicators of the specified properties

Power:

• a detector’s ability to detect the presence of differences or changes in the magnitude of a property

Reliability:

• a detector’s ability to detect the absence of differences or changes in the magnitude of a property

Demand Characteristics:

• those aspects of an observational setting that cause people to behave as they think someone else wants or expects

Naturalistic Observation:

• a technique for gathering information by unobtrusively observing people in their natural environments

Privacy and Control:

• People are less likely to be influenced by demand characteristics when they can’t be identified as the authors of their actions, and psychologists often take advantage of this fact by allowing participants in their studies to respond privately

Unawareness:

• One of the best ways to avoid demand characteristics is to make sure that the people who are being observed are unaware of the true purpose of the observation

• People can’t try to behave how they should behave if they don’t know how they should behave

Observer Bias:

• the tendency for observers’ expectations to influence both what they believe they observed and what they actually observed

Double-Blind Study:

• a study in which neither the researcher nor the participant knows how the participants are expected to behave

Population:

• a complete collection of people

Sample:

• a partial collection of people drawn from a population

Frequency Distribution:

• a graphic representation showing the number of times that the measurement of a property takes on each of its possible values

Normal Distribution:

• a mathematically defined distribution in which the frequency of measurements is highest in the middle and decreases symmetrically in both directions

Mode:

• the value of the most frequently observed measurement

Mean:

• the average value of all the measurements

Median:

• the value that is in the middle, i.e., greater than or equal to half the measurements and less than or equal to half the measurements

Range:

• the value of the largest measurement in a frequency distribution minus the value of the smallest measurement

Standard Deviation:

• statistic that describes how each of the measurements in a frequency distribution differs from the mean

Variables:

• properties that can have more than one value

Correlation:

• a relationship between variables in which variations in the value of one variable are synchronized with variations in the value of the other

Correlation Coefficient:

• a mathematical measure of both the direction and strength of a correlation

• symbolized by the letter r

Natural Correlation:

• a correlation that is observed in the natural world

Third-Variable Problem:

• the natural correlation between two variables cannot be taken as evidence of a causal relationship between them because a third variable might be causing them both

Experimentation:

• a technique for establishing the causal relationship between variables

Manipulation:

• a technique for determining the causal power of a variable by actively changing its value

Independent Variable:

• value is determined entirely by the experimenter and therefore does not depend on — or is “independent of” — everything else.

Dependent Variable:

• value “depends on” the value of the independent variable

Self-Selection:

• a problem that occurs when anything about a participant determines the value of the independent variable to which the participant was exposed

Random Assignment:

• procedure that assigns participants to conditions by chance

Internal Validity:

• an attribute of an experiment that allows it to establish causal relationships

External Validity:

• an attribute of an experiment in which variables have been operationally defined in a representative way

Case Method:

• a procedure for gathering scientific information by studying a single individual

Random Sampling:

• a technique for selecting participants that ensures that every member of a population has an equal chance of being included in the sample

Replication:

• an experiment that uses the same procedures as a previous experiment but with a new sample from the same population

Type I Error:

• occurs when researchers conclude that there is a causal relationship between two variables when in fact there is not

• also known as a false positive

Type II Error:

• occurs when researchers conclude that there is not a causal relationship between two variables when in fact there is

• also known as a false negative

Sir Francis Bacon (1561–1626):

• 1620

  • “Baconian method”→ the scientific method

Informed Consent:

• a verbal agreement to participate in a study made by an adult who has been informed of all the risks that participation may entail

Freedom from Coercion:

• Psychologists may not coerce participation. Coercion not only means physical and psychological coercion but monetary coercion as well. It is unethical to offer people large amounts of money to do something that they might otherwise decline to do

Protection from Harm:

• Psychologists must take every possible precaution to protect their research participants from physical or psychological harm. If there are two equally effective ways to study something, the psychologist must use the safer method. If no safe method is available, the psychologist may not perform the study

Risk-Benefit Analysis:

• Although participants may be asked to accept small risks, such as a minor shock or a small embarrassment, they may not even be asked to accept large risks, such as severe pain, psychological trauma, or any risk that is greater than the risks they would ordinarily take in their everyday lives. Furthermore, even when participants are asked to take small risks, the psychologist must first show that these risks are outweighed by the social benefits of the new knowledge that might be gained from the study

Deception:

• Psychologists may use deception only when it is justified by the study’s scientific, educational, or applied value and when alternative procedures are not feasible. They may never deceive participants about any aspect of a study that could cause them physical or psychological harm or pain

Debriefing:

• a verbal description of the true nature and purpose of a study

Replacement:

• researchers have to prove there is no alternative to using animals in research and that the use of animals is justified by the scientific or clinical value of the study

Reduction:

• researchers must use the smallest number of animals possible to achieve the research

Refinement:

• procedures must be modified to minimize discomfort, infection, illness, and pain of animals

Chapter 3:

Neurons:

• cells in the nervous system that communicate with each other to perform information processing tasks

Cell Body:

• also called the soma

• the largest component of the neuron that coordinates the information-processing tasks and keeps the cell alive

Dendrites:

• receive information from other neurons and relay it to the cell body

• name comes from the Greek word, “tree”

Axon:

• arries information to other neurons, muscles, or glands

Myelin Sheath:

• an insulating layer of fatty material

• covers the axon

Glial Cells:

• named for the Greek word for “glue”

• support cells found in the nervous system

• serve a variety of roles critical to the function of the nervous system

  • Some glial cells digest parts of dead neurons, while others provide physical and nutritional support for neurons, and still others form the myelin that insulates the axons of nearby neurons and allows those neurons to carry information more efficiently

Synapse:

• the junction or region between the axon of one neuron and the dendrites or cell body of another

Neurons Specialized by Function:

Sensory Neurons:

• receive information from the external world and convey this information to the brain via the spinal cord

Motor Neurons:

• carry signals from the spinal cord to the muscles to produce movement

Interneurons:

• connect sensory neurons, motor neurons, or other interneurons

Resting Potential:

• the difference in electric charge between the inside and outside of a neuron’s cell membrane

Action Potential:

• an electric signal that is conducted along the length of a neuron’s axon to a synapse

Refractory Period:

• the time following an action potential during which a new action potential cannot be initiated

Terminal Buttons:

• knoblike structures that branch out from an axon

Neurotransmitters:

• chemicals that transmit information across the synapse to a receiving neuron’s dendrites

Receptors:

• parts of the cell membrane that receive the neurotransmitter and either initiate or prevent a new electric signal

Acetylcholine (ACh):

• a neurotransmitter involved in a number of functions, including voluntary motor control

• activates muscle movements

• also contributes to the regulation of attention, learning, sleeping, dreaming, and memory

Dopamine:

• a neurotransmitter that regulates motor behaviour, motivation, pleasure, and emotional arousal

Glutamate:

• major excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain

• enhances the transmission of information between neurons

Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid (GABA):

• the primary inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain

• contrasts Glutamate

• tends to prevent the firing of neurons

  • too much glutamate, or too little GABA, can cause neurons to become overactive, causing seizures

Norepinephrine:

• involved in states of vigilance, or heightened awareness of dangers in the environment

Serotonin:

• involved in the regulation of sleep and wakefulness, eating, and aggressive behaviour

Endorphins:

• chemicals that act within the pain pathways and emotion centres of the brain

• name is a contraction of endogenous morphine

  • morphine → drug that has an intensely pleasurable and pain-relieving effect

  • endorphin → an internally produced substance that has similar but less intense properties (such as dulling the experience of pain and elevating moods)

Agonists:

• drugs that increase the action of a neurotransmitter

Antagonists:

• drugs that diminish the function of a neurotransmitter

The Nervous System:

• an interacting network of neurons that conveys electrochemical information throughout the body

The Central Nervous System (CNS):

• composed of the brain and spinal cord

• receives sensory information from the external world → processes and coordinates this information → sends commands to the skeletal and muscular systems for action

Peripheral Nervous System (PNS):

• connects the central nervous system to the body’s organs and muscles

• composed of two major subdivisions:

  • the somatic nervous system

  • the autonomic nervous system

Somatic Nervous System:

• a set of nerves that conveys information between skeletal muscles and the central nervous system

Autonomic Nervous System:

• a set of nerves that carries involuntary and automatic commands that control blood vessels, body organs, and glands

• this system works on its own to regulate bodily systems, largely outside of conscious control

Sympathetic Nervous System:

• a set of nerves that prepares the body for action in challenging or threatening situations

• ex. panic situations like running away

Parasympathetic Nervous System:

• helps the body return to a normal resting state

• ex. calming down after panic situations

Spinal Reflexes:

• simple pathways in the nervous system that rapidly generate muscle contractions

Reflex Arc:

• a neural pathway that controls reflex actions

Hindbrain:

• an area of the brain that coordinates information coming into and out of the spinal cord

Medulla:

• an extension of the spinal cord into the skull that coordinates heart rate, circulation, and respiration

Reticular Formation:

• regulates sleep, wakefulness, and levels of arousal

Cerebellum:

• a large structure of the hindbrain that controls fine motor skills

Pons:

• “bridge” in Latin

• a structure that relays information from the cerebellum to the rest of the brain

Tectum:

• orients an organism in the environment

• receives stimulus input from the eyes, ears, and skin and moves the organism in a coordinated way towards the stimulus

Tegmentum:

• involved in movement and arousal; it also helps to orient an organism towards sensory stimuli

Cerebral Cortext:

• the outermost layer of the brain, visible to the naked eye, and divided into two hemispheres

Subcortial Structures:

• areas of the forebrain housed under the cerebral cortex near the centre of the brain

Thalamus:

• relays and filters information from the senses and transmits the information to the cerebral cortex

Hypothalamus:

• hypo → Greek = under

• located below the thalamus

• regulates body temperature, hunger, thirst, and sexual behaviour

Hippocampus:

• Latin for “seahorse” because of its shape

• critical for creating new memories and integrating them into a network of knowledge so that they can be stored indefinitely in other parts of the cerebral cortex

Amygdala:

• Latine for “almond” because of its shape

• located at the tip of each horn of the hippocampus, plays a central role in many emotional processes, particularly the formation of emotional memories

• attaches significance to previously neutral events that are associated with fear, punishment, or reward

Basal Ganglia:

• a set of subcortical structures that directs intentional movements and plays a role in reward processing

Endocrine System:

• a network of glands that produce and secrete into the bloodstream chemical messages

  • (aka. hormones)

  • influence a wide variety of basic functions, including metabolism, growth, and sexual development

Pituitary Gland:

• the “master gland” of the body’s hormone-producing system

• releases hormones that direct the functions of many other glands in the body

Occipital Lobe:

• located at the back of the cerebral cortex

• processes visual information

Parietal Lobe:

• ocated in front of the occipital lobe

• carries out several functions that include processing information about touch

• contains the somatosensory cortex

  • strip of brain tissue running from the top of the brain down to the sides

Temporal Lobe:

• located on the lower side of each hemisphere

• responsible for hearing and language

  • The primary auditory cortex in the temporal lobe is analogous to the somatosensory cortex in the parietal lobe and the primary visual areas of the occipital lobe

Frontal Lobe:

• which sits behind the forehead

• specialized areas for movement, abstract thinking, planning, memory, and judgement

Association Areas:

• composed of neurons that help provide sense and meaning to information registered in the cortex

Mirror Neurons:

• active when an animal performs a behaviour, such as reaching for or manipulating an object

• also activated when another animal observes that animal performing the same behaviour

Cultural Neuroscience:

• the study of how culture and neurobiological processes influence one another

Gene:

• the major unit of hereditary transmission

Chromosomes:

• strands of DNA wound around each other in a double-helix configuration

Epigenetics:

• the study of environmental influences that determine whether or not genes are expressed

  • or the degree to which they are expressed without altering the basic DNA sequences that constitute the genes themselves

Epigenetic Marks:

• chemical modifications to DNA that can turn genes on or off

DNA Methylation:

• involves adding a methyl group to DNA

Histone Modification:

• involves adding chemical modifications to proteins called histones that are involved in packaging DNA

Heritability:

• a measure of the variability of behavioural traits among individuals that can be accounted for by genetic factors

Electroencephalograph (EEG):

• a device used to record electrical activity in the brain

Lecture Notes:

Hawthorne Effect:

• when our performance changes if we are being watched

Demand Characteristics:

• participants guess the hypothesis and behave as they think they should

Mean:

• Sum/N

Median:

• middle value (50%)

Mode:

• most frequent observation(s)

Outliers:

• odd/uncharacteristic observation(s)

Range:

• the difference between max and min values

Standard Deviation:

• when a frequency distribution is normal (a) the mean, median, and mode are all the same

Three R’s of Animal Research:

1. Reduction

2. Refinement

3. Replacement

Confirmation Bias:

• the tendency to absorb info that supports a preconceived perception of something, ignoring evidence that may counter it

“All or Nothing” Principle OR Refractory Period:

• Depolarization → Repolarization → Hyperpolarization → Return to Resting Potential

Signal Propagation:

• the electrical signal travels down the axon via saltatory conduction

• Schwann cells

  • myelin in the periphery

• oligodendrocytes

  • myelin in the brain

Multiple Sclerosis:

• progressive damage to the myelin

  • symptoms: motor fatigue, numbness (typically)

Post-Synaptic Effects:

• neurotransmitter binds to an appropriate receptor on the dendrite

  • results in the change of membrane potential

EPSPs*

• excitatory post-synaptic potential

IPSPs*

• inhibitory post-synaptic potential

Key Neurotransmitters:

• Glutamate

  • primary excitatory NT

  • learning and memory

• Acetylcholine

  • memory

  • attention

• GABA

  • primary inhibitor NT

• Serotonin

  • mood > raphe nucleus

  • depression and SSRIs

• Endorphins

  • pain relief

  • euphoria

    • (opioid drugs like heroin, and fentanyl)

• Dopamine

  • reward, movement > midbrain

  • (implicated in Parkinson’s disease, addiction, and schizophrenia)

• Norepinephrine (Noradrenaline)

  • arousal > locus coeruleus

Stimulants:

• drugs that excite (overall) neural activity

• speed up bodily functions

  • caffine

  • nicotine

  • amphetamines

Sedatives:

• aka. depressants

• drugs that reduce (overall) neural activity

• slows bodily functions

  • alcohol

  • barbituates

  • opiates

• Basal Ganglia

  • set of subcortical structures

  • directs intentional movement

• Thalamus

  • receives and transmits info from the senses to the cerebral cortex

  • receives and transmits info from the senses to the cerebral cortex

• Hippocampus

  • critical for creating and integrating new memories

• Amygdala

  • plays a role in emotional processes

• Hypothalamus

  • regulates body temperature, hunger, thirst, sexual behaviour

• Pituitary Gland

  • releases hormones that direct other glands