Unit 1 - Careers in Psychology
Francis Bacon = one of founders of modern science; ideas later added by Locke to form modern empiricism (knowledge is from experience, science rely on observation and experimentation) |
John Locke (cognitive) = mind is a blank state (Aristotle's tabula rasa); empiricism (knowledge acquired by careful observation) |
Edward Titchner = structuralism (study human mind via introspections); introspection (looking inward) |
Margaret Washburn = first woman to receive psych Ph.D.; synthesized animal behavior research in "The Animal Mind"; couldn't join experimental psychologists (study of behavior and thinking using experiment) |
Sigmund Freud = Freudian psychology (emphasized ways our unconscious thought processes and our emotional responses to childhood experiences affect our behavior); psychodynamic approach |
Unit 4 - Parts of Eye and Ear
Parts of Eye: |
Parts of Ear: |
pupil = adjustable opening in center of eye through which light enters |
outer ear = eardrum (a tight membrane that vibrates) |
iris = ring of muscle tissue that forms colored part of eye around pupil and controls size of pupil opening |
middle ear = chamber btwn eardrum and cochlea containing3 tiny bones (hammer, anvil, stirrup) that concentrate vibrations of eardrum on cochlea's oval window |
lens = transparent structure behind pupil that changes shape to help focus images on retina |
cochlea = coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube in inner ear; sound waves traveling through cochlear fluid trigger nerve impulses |
retina = light-sensitive inner surface of eye, containing receptor rods & cones plus layers of neurons that begin the processing of visual info |
inner ear = contains cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs |
accommodation = eye's lens changes shape to focus near/far objects on the retina |
pitch = a tone's experienced highness/lowness; depends on frequency |
the retina: |
frequency = number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time |
rods = retinal receptors that detect black, white and gray (shade) |
place theory = links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea's membrane is stimulated |
cones = retinal receptor cells that function in daylight, detecting fine detail and color |
frequency theory = the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches frequency of a tone, allowing us to sense its pitch |
optic nerve = the nerve that carries neural impulses from eye to brain |
blind spot = point the optic nerve leaves the eye where no receptor cells are located there |
fovea = central focal point in retina around where cones cluster |
Unit 5 - States of Consciousness
consciousness = our awareness of ourselves and our environment |
circadian rhythm = biological clock; regular bodily rhythms |
REM = rapid eye movement; recurring sleep stage which vivid dreams occur; muscle relax but other body systems are active (paradoxical sleep) |
alpha wave = relatively slow brain waves; relaxed, but awake state |
delta wave = large, slow brain waves associated with deep sleep |
NREM sleep = (non-rapid eye movement); encompasses all sleep stages except REM; deep sleep |
Sleep Stages = every 90 mins, 8 full cycles; leaving alpha waves to irregular brain waves of non-REM stage 1-> NREM 1; NREM2 spend most time here (20mins), sleep spindles; NREM3 |
Unit 7 - Memories
memory |
the persistence of learning over time through the encoding, storage, and retrieval of info |
encoding |
the processing of info to the memory system |
mnemonics |
memory aids; techniques that use vivid imagery/organizational devices |
the spacing effect |
the tendency for distributed study/practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study/practice |
belief perseverance |
to continue believing in something even though there was evidence that supports its contradiction |
morphemes |
in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning (may be a word or a part of a word) |
syntax |
the ordering of words when making a sentence |
Unit 9 - Developmental Psychology
3 issues of developmental psychologists |
nature and nurture, continuity and stages, stability and change |
Kohlberg |
moral reasoning; preconventional (self interest), conventional (uphold laws and social), postconventional (ethics) |
Erik Erikson |
psychosocial; basic trust, autonomy, initiative, competence, identity, intimacy, generativity, integrity |
Piaget |
cognitive; sensorimotor (0-2 yrs, object), preoperational (2-7), concrete operational (7-11), formal operational (12-) |
prenatal development |
zygote (fertilized egg) -> embryo (developing human organism) -> fetus |
Harlow |
known for his maternal-separation, dependency needs, and social isolation experiments on rhesus monkeys, which manifested the importance of caregiving and companionship to social and cognitive development |
critical period |
an optimal period early in the life of an organism when exposure to certain stimuli/experiences produces normal development |
transgender |
an umbrella term describing ppl whose gender identity/expression differs from that associated with their birth sex |
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Unit 2 - Research Methods
hindsight bias |
i-knew-it-all-along phenomenon |
mean |
the arithmetic avg of a distribution by adding the scores and then dividing by the number of scores |
mode |
the most frequently occurring score(s) in a distribution |
median |
the middle score in a distribution; half the scores are above it and half are below it |
range |
the difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution |
standard deviation |
computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean score |
phrenology (Franz Gall) |
studying bumps on skull could reveal a person's mental abilities and character traits |
Unit 4 - Sensation & Perception
top-down processing |
info processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience & expectations |
bottom-up processing |
analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and work up to the brain's integration of sensory information |
sensation |
process which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment |
perception |
process of organizing and interpreting sensory info, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects/events |
Unit 5- Sleep Disorders
insomnia |
recurring problems in falling/staying asleep |
narcolepsy |
uncontrollable sleep attacks, lapse directly to REM |
sleep apnea |
temporary stop breathing during sleep and waking up |
night terrors |
high arousal & appearance of being terrified; occur during NREM3 within 2-3 hrs of sleep |
somnambulism |
sleepwalking, sleep talking/eating/driving |
Unit 6 - Learning
learning |
process of acquiring new and relatively enduring info or behaviors |
classic conditioning |
associating two stimuli and anticipate events |
operant conditioning |
associating a response with a consequence |
reinforcement schedule |
a pattern that defines how often a desired response will be reinforced |
law of effect |
(Thorndike) the idea that responses that led to positive effects are repeated and vice versa |
Skinner box |
in operant conditioning research containing a bar/key that an animal can manipulate to obtain a food/water reinforcer; attached devices record animal's rate of bar pressing/key pecking |
learned helplessness |
the hopelessness and passive resignation one learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events |
external locus of control |
the perception that chance/outside forces beyond our personal control determines our fate |
Unit 10 - Personality
personality |
an individual's characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting |
repression |
in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories |
Big Five |
Costa & McCrae; CANOE: Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Neuroticism (emotional stability vs instability), Openness, Extraversion |
Maslow's self-actualization |
one of ultimate psychological needs that arises after basic physical & psychological needs are met and self-esteem is achieved; the motivation to fulfill one's potential ->self transendence |
social-cognitive perspective |
Bandura; views behavior as influenced by interaction btwn people's traits (and their thinking) and their social context; Bobo Doll experiment |
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Unit 3 - Biological Psychology
cerebral cortex |
fabric of interconnected neural cells covering the cerebral hemispheres; the body's ultimate control and information-processing center; contain the lobes |
frontal lobes |
involved in speaking and muscle movements and in making plans and judgments |
parietal lobes |
receives sensory input for touch and body position |
occipital lobes |
receive information from visual fields |
temporal lobes |
auditory areas, each receiving info primarily from opposite ear |
right brain hemisphere |
perceptual task; groups in categories like pen pencil book is school, make speech mean clear, help orchestrate our sense of self |
left brain hemisphere |
when the person speaks or calculates; make quick, literal interpretations of language |
hippocampus |
processes conscious memories |
cerebellum |
processes sensory input, coordinating mvmnt and balance, & enabling nonverbal learning/memory |
hypothalamus |
desires (urges, impulses), food, thirst, sex |
*Unit 4 - Theories and Others
Eye Vision: |
Young-Helmholtz Trichomatic (three-color) Theory = retina contains three diff color receptors: red, green, blue; which, when stimulated can produce perception of any color |
opponent-process theory = opposing retinal processes (r-g, y-b, w-b) enable color vision. I.e. some cells stimulated by green, inhibited by red |
gestalt = an organized whole; emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of info to meaningful wholes |
parallel processing = doing many things at once |
Other Senses: |
gate-control theory = accepting or denying pain to the brain |
McGurk Effect = sensory integration = senses not lined up & seems off (ex. some hear may, some hear bay) |
Unit 5 - Addiction
depressants |
alcohol, barbiturates (tranquilizers), opiates; calm neural activity and slow body functions |
stimulants |
caffeine, nic, amohetamines, cocaine, ectasy, methamphetamine; excite neural activity and speed up body functions |
hallucinogens |
psychedelic (mind-manifesting) drugs like LSD; distort perceptions and evoke sensory images in absence of sensory input |
Unit 8 - Motivation, Emotion, Stress
motivation |
a need or desire that energizes and directs behavior |
James-Lange |
physical 1st, emotion 2nd; we observe our heart racing after a threat and then feel afraid |
two-factor |
Schachter-Singer theory that to experience emotion, one must be physically aroused and cognitively label the arousal (heart began pounding as i experience fear) |
set-point |
the point at which an individual's weight thermostat is set |
orexin |
hunger-triggering hormone secreted by hypothalamus |
ostracism |
an extreme form of rejection in which one is excluded and ignored in the presence of others |
emotion |
a response of the whole organism involving physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience |
polygraph |
machine commonly used in attempts to detect lies, that measures several physiological responses accompanying emotion |
Abraham Maslow |
hierarchy of needs; bottom to top: physiological, safety, belonginess/love, esteem, self-actualization, self-transendence |
Unit 11 - Intelligence
intelligence |
mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations |
Spearman |
general intelligence (g) factor that underlies specific mental abilities & therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test; factor analysis used to identify diff dimensions of performance that underlie a person's total score |
Gardner |
8 mult intelligences: naturalist, linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily-kinesthic, intrapersonal, interpersonal |
Sternberg |
3 intelligences: analytical, creative, practical |
Binet |
mental age: chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance |
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