Psychology Midterm 1

Compare the strengths and limitations of "real-world" research and laboratory research

"Real-world" research- harder to establish causality, but more ecological validity because you found reflects real life and not a lab setting. Laboratory research- easier to establish causality, but less ecological validity. What you find reflects lab settings, but sometimes not the real world.

Dizygotic twins

"fraternal" twins, develop from two zygotes and share 50% of their DNA

Monozygotic twins

"identical" twins, result from a single zygote (fertilized egg) and have the same DNA

Describe what makes nature-nurture questions so difficult to answer.

The two pieces are directly intertwined, and separating them is basically impossible in most instances. It's hard to figure out the exact degree to which each one plays a part, and usually multiple genes affect one trait. And, you can't perform a controlled experiment to make certain people have and raise children for science.

Independent variable

The variable the researcher manipulates and controls in an experiment.

Dependent variable

The variable the researcher measures but does not manipulate in an experiment.

Crystallized intelligence

ability to use language, skills, experience to address problems

Subjective

biased, opinionated

Gestalt Psychology

looking at the experience as a whole, believed you processed it simultaneously (not bit by bit) so you shouldn't break it down

Mental sets

persist in a problem solving method that has worked in the past

Corpus Collosum

connects the brain hemispheres

David Wechsler

created an IQ test that measured a wide range of intellectual abilities, assesses people's ability to remember, compute, understand language, reason well, and process information quickly

Alfred Binet

created the first IQ test

Francis Galton

created the first systematic way of assessing a person's abilities. Studied physical abilities, along with mental abilities. Believed that intelligence was heritable.

Psychodynamic

how conscious behavior influenced by unconscious mind

Structuralism

what the mind consists of (emotions, sensations, etc.), early school of thought promoted by Wundt and Titchener; used introspection to reveal the structure of the human mind

Functionalism

what the mind does (rather than what they're made of), what it enables us to do

Null hypothesis

a statement that says 2 variables are not related

Arcuate fasciculus

A white matter tract that connects Wernicke's area to Broca's area. After speech is understood in Wernicke's area, it travels to Broca's area to produce a response.

Adoption studies

A behavior genetic research method that involves comparison of adopted children to their adoptive and biological parents.

Twin studies

A behavior genetic research method that involves comparison of the similarity of identical (monozygotic; MZ) and fraternal (dizygotic; DZ) twins.

Gyrus (e.g., precentral gyrus and postcentral gyrus)

A bulge that is raised between or among fissures of the convoluted brain.

Inductive reasoning

A form of reasoning in which a general conclusion is inferred from a set of observations

Deductive reasoning

A form of reasoning in which a given premise determines the interpretation of specific observations

Wernicke's area (and Wernicke's aphasia)

A language area in the temporal lobe where linguistic information is comprehended

Introspection

A method of focusing on internal processes, looking inward

Daily diary method

A methodology where participants complete a questionnaire about their thoughts, feelings, and behavior of the day at the end of the day.

Day reconstruction method

A methodology where participants describe their experiences and behavior of a given day retrospectively upon a systematic reconstruction on the following day.

Anxiety

A mood state characterized by negative affect, muscle tension, and physical arousal in which a person apprehensively anticipates future danger or misfortune.

Explain what the heritability coefficient is and some of its pitfalls.

A number from 0 to 1 which tries to tell us how strongly a gene influences a certain trait. They also treat the environment and genes are completely separate things, and ignores the ways that they may interact.

White coat hypertension

A phenomenon in which patients exhibit elevated blood pressure in the hospital or doctor's office but not in their everyday lives.

Full-cycle psychology

A scientific approach whereby researchers start with an observational field study to identify an effect in the real world, follow up with laboratory experimentation to verify the effect and isolate the causal mechanisms, and return to field research to corroborate their experimental findings.

Shadowing

A task in which the individual is asked to repeat an auditory message as it is presented.

Cocktail party effect

Ability to focus one's attention a particular stimulus while filtering out a range of other stimuli

Explain the following sensory and perceptual principles and provide examples of each: Absolute threshold Differential threshold (or just noticeable difference) Weber's Law Bottom-up processing Top-down processing

Absolute Threshold - The smallest amount of stimulation needed for detection by a sense. Differential Threshold (noticeable difference) - The smallest difference needed in order to differentiate 2 stimuli, ex. holding a 10 pound and a 10.5 pound weight, we can't tell a difference. But 10 and 15 are different to us. Weber's Law - The noticeable difference of two stimuli gets larger as the stimuli get larger, ex. one pound vs two pounds feels different, but 100 vs 101 pounds feels the same Bottom-Up processing - Building up perception of an event based upon an experience with it. IE, trying a pickle and not liking it. Experience is dictated by senses at the time Top-Down processing - having your perception of stimuli influenced by previous experience, ex. knowing you won't like something because you didn't like something similar before. Your experience is dictated by your expectations.

Explain the types of questions that can be answered with adoption and twin studies, and list the the pros and cons for each.

Adoption studies - When a child is put up for adoption, researchers follow up to see what kind of characteristics the child has with the birth parents, and what is similar to their adoptive parents. Twin Studies - Researchers study identical and fraternal twins, to see what things are similar and different between the two types, because fraternal twins have different DNA, which identical twins have the same DNA.

Describe the three stages of the general adaptation syndrome and how our bodies respond during each stage .

Alarm - Initial reaction to a stressor. Body stimulates release of stress hormones like Cortisol Resistance - Settling into our stress response for the long term, to continue or fight or flight, but also return to some form of normal functioning. Exhaustion - The body runs out of its reserves of energy and immunity. Blood sugar decreases, leading to lowered stress tolerance. In extreme cases leads to organ failure and death.

Broca's area (and Broca's aphasia)

An area in the frontal lobe of the left hemisphere. Implicated in language production.

Dichotic listening

An experimental task in which two messages are presented to different ears.

Intelligence

An individual's cognitive capability. This includes the ability to acquire, process, recall and apply information.

Ambulatory assessment

An overarching term to describe methodologies that assess the behavior, physiology, experience, and environments of humans in naturalistic settings.

Random assignment

Assigning participants to receive different conditions of an experiment by chance.

Temporal Lobe

Auditory processing, language, hearing, speech

Describe the challenges of balancing internal and external validity when designing research projects.

Because it's hard to control the experiment to the point where you can clearly see the causation between the 2 variables, but not to the point where it's no longer realistic and can't be applied to the real world

Describe why a participant's self-reported data sometimes differs from what researchers observe .

Because sometimes people can't or don't want to accurately report stuff about themselves, sometimes can be subconsciously

Compare and contrast biological, psychological, and specific vulnerabilities and how they increase our risk for developing an anxiety disorder.

Biological- Specific genetic and neurobiological factors that may predispose someone to anxiety. Our genetics make the other vulnerabilities worse. Psychological- Influences that our early childhood experiences have on how we view the world. Specific- How experiences lead us to focus and channel our anxieties.

Compare and contrast Broadbent's filter model of attention and Treisman's attenuation model of attention.

Broadbent's model: people select information on the basis of physical features: the sensory channel (or ear) that a message was coming in, the pitch of the voice, the color or font of a visual message. People seemed vaguely aware of the physical features of the unattended information, but had no knowledge of the meaning. As a result, Broadbent argued that selection occurs very early, with no additional processing for the unselected information. Treisman's model: we do monitor the unattended information to some degree on the basis of its meaning, selection starts at the physical or perceptual level, but that the unattended information is not blocked completely, it is just weakened or attenuated. As a result, highly meaningful or pertinent information in the unattended ear will get through the filter for further processing at the level of meaning

Explain which brain regions and white matter tracts are involved in processing language and may be affected in different forms of aphasia.

Broca's area helps produce language. Aphasia there stops fluid language production. Wernicke's area helps understand language. Aphasia there stops the recognizing of words, objects, and people.

Explain what role Santiago Ramon y Cajal and Camillo Golgi played in shaping our understanding of neurons, and specifically, how Ramon y Cajal's big idea refuted the popular ideas of his day and altered our understanding of neuroanatomy.

Camillo Golgi found a way to stain cells so that they could be studied. The stain would only work on a few cells, but it would fill them in darkly, so they could be studied. Santiago Ramon y Cajal used Golgi's dye to study neurons, and he discovered that neurons weren't one big tube connected together like was thought at the time. He instead figured out that neurons were billions of individual cells, all connected at synapses which talked to each other.

Explain the hierarchy and function of the following divisions of the nervous system: central, peripheral, somatic, cranial nerves, spinal nerves, autonomic, sympathetic, and parasympathetic.

Central - All nerves inside of the brain and spinal cord. Peripheral - Everything outside of the brain and spinal cord. Somatic - Controls volitional movement in people. Contains the cranial and spinal nerves Cranial nerves- nerves on the head and face, allowing us to eat, smile, etc. Spinal Nerves- nerves that extend from the spine to the rest of the body. Responsible for sensation and motor output to the rest of the body. Autonomic- Connects glands and smooth muscle. Controls most of our autonomic processes. Sympathetic- Faster half of the autonomic system. Involved in fight or flight responses. Energizes us, causing movement and action within us, ex. increasing heart rate in stressful situations, or increasing breathing rate, or getting adrenaline pumping Parasympathetic- Slower half, which opposes the sympathetic system. Involved in rest and digest functions, ex. slowing down our heart rate, or telling our body to start digesting food.

Explain what contributions psychological science has made.

Cognitive behavioral therapy to help with anxiety and depression, psychological interventions to make the workplace more productive, court room

Compare and contrast different relaxation methods, such as concentrative meditation, mindfulness meditation, progressive muscle relaxation, visualization, and social support.

Concentrative Meditation - Person focuses on repetitive/unchanging stimuli in order to clear the mind so the body can relax. Mindfulness Meditation - Person purposefully focuses on the present moment, without judgement or evaluation. Focuses on breathing, and bodily sensations. Progressive Muscle Relaxation - Tense different muscle groups, then relax them, (normally starting at the feet), helps you to feel the difference between tensed and relaxed muscles. Visualization - Use your mind to imagine a calm, peaceful place, or situation. (use as many senses as possible to create the illusion). Social Support - network of people around you who can support, comfort, or help you.

Vision; Cornea Iris Pupil Lens Retina Rods Cones

Cornea - Clear part outside of our pupil Iris - Colored part that helps control pupil size Pupil - Hole that allow light through, and must contract and expand at will Lens - Behind pupil, refracts light onto retina, and focuses it. Retina - Thin layer on back of eye with photoreceptors Rods - See in black and white, sensitive to low light. More along the edges of the retina. Cones - See in color. Sensitive to bright light. More in the center of the retina. Light passes through the cornea, into the pupil, which has contracted or expanded using the iris to allow in the right amount of light. Our lens then refracts that light onto the retina, which contains rods and cones, which pick up black/white, and color respectively.

Falsified data

Data that are fabricated, or made up, by researchers intentionally trying to pass off research results that are inaccurate. This is a serious ethical breach and can even be a criminal offense.

Sensory adaptation

Decrease in sensitivity of a receptor to a stimulus after constant stimulation.

Describe divided attention, how it can be measured in a laboratory setting, and what we learn from studies of divided attention.

Divided attention is the ability to flexibly allocate attentional resources between two or more concurrent tasks two participants were trained to take dictation for spoken words while reading unrelated material for comprehension. In divided attention tasks such as these, each task is evaluated separately, in order to determine baseline performance when the individual can allocate as many cognitive resources as necessary to one task at a time. Then performance is evaluated when the two tasks are performed simultaneously These participants were able to learn to take dictation for lists of words and read for comprehension without affecting performance in either task, and the authors suggested that perhaps there are not fixed limits on our attentional capacity. However, changing the tasks somewhat, such as reading aloud rather than silently, impaired performance initially, so this multitasking ability may be specific to these well-learned tasks.

Describe what evolution is, what the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' stance is on evolution, and what role evolution may have played on the human brain.

Evolution is the idea that all organisms descended from a common ancestor, and different species exist due to changes due to inheritance over time that helped them adapt to their environment. The Church's official stance is that they don't reject real science, but they don't have a stance on evolution. Two common theories are that humans were created through evolution, or that humans were created separately from other animals, so only they were subject to evolution. Our brains are very similar to other animals brains, but much bigger, with more advanced association networks, allowing for conscious thought.

List the characteristics of experimental (i.e., true experimental and quasi-experimental) and correlational/non-experimental (i.e., surveys, interviews, focus groups, qualitative) designs, and then compare the strengths and weaknesses of each.

Experimental- researchers actively make changes in one variable and see how it affects a second variable. Allows researchers to make causal inferences, but takes more planning than observational studies. Can have multiple independent variables. Quasi-experiment- for some reason in the experiment you can't do random assignment (ex. you want to study depression in middle schoolers and high schoolers, you can't assign groups), so experimenter has less control over independent variable Correlational/Observational- researches measure variables as they naturally occur in people, and compute the degree to which the variables go together. Easier to perform, and take less planning than experiments, but do not lead to causal inferences. Cannot experiment on more than 1 variable.

Describe how experiments help us to infer causality.

Experiments help with causality, because they let you control your conditions. You can set up 2 groups such that the two groups only differ in 1 significant way, then test the responses of these groups to something, and you know that differences in responses are due to the difference between them.

Confounds

Factors that undermine the ability to draw causal inferences from an experiment.

Explain why falsifiability is so important in scientific study.

Falsifiability is so important in scientific study because if you cannot test the claim, then there is no way to prove that it's valid. It makes the scientific reasoning different from everyday reasoning.

Wilhelm Wundt

Father of psychology, first psychology lab

Margaret F. Washburn

First woman to receive a PhD in psychology

Describe the symptoms experienced and what is required to be diagnosed with one of the following anxiety disorders: Generalized anxiety disorder Panic Disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) Specific phobias (and the 4 main types) Social anxiety disorder

Generalized anxiety disorder- worrying excessively about a number of things, some minor and some catastrophic; specify that at least six months of excessive anxiety and worry of this type must be ongoing, happening more days than not for a good proportion of the day, to receive a diagnosis of GAD. Panic Disorder- People go into a state of panic when they have no reason to. A state of panic is racing heart, shortness of breath, intense fear, etc.; must have unexpected panic attacks, and experience intense anxiety and avoidance behavior for at least one month after the attack as a result for diagnosis Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)- A sense of intense fear, triggered by memories or flashbacks of a traumatic event, that another similar event will occur. May be jumpy, hypervigilant, and quick to anger. Feel like they have no future; diagnosis begins with the traumatic event. You must be able to identify a specific event which is the cause of PTSD (threats to safety/life, sexual violence, etc...). Must have experienced, witnessed, or be in close contact with the details of the event. Must have intrusive memories, dreams, and flashbacks of the event. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)- Individuals engage in certain behaviors obsessively or compulsively in hopes of reducing anxiety. Behaviors include cleaning, opening and closing doors, hoarding, obsessing over things etc... Thoughts become impossible to avoid, and cause significant anxiety if not carried out; person must experience obsessive thoughts that seem irrational to the average person. These compulsions must take up at least an hour of every day, and must cause significant anxiety and distress if not carried out. Specific phobias (and the 4 main types)- Strong fear of specific things and situations which interferes with normal life. Marked with either an increased heart rate, or a dropped heart rate (normally in case of BII type); fear must be irrational, and tied to a specific thing, and must substantially interfere with someone's ability to function. 4 types: blood-injury-injection (BII) type, situational type (planes, elevators), natural environment type, animal type Social anxiety disorder- Acute fear of social situations which leads to worry and diminished day to day functioning; fear must be so strong, that people avoid social situations entirely, or suffers through them with great distress when it cannot be avoided.

Generalizability (or generalize)

Generalizing, in science, refers to the ability to arrive at broad conclusions based on a smaller sample of observations. For these conclusions to be true the sample should accurately represent the larger population from which it is drawn.

Operational definitions

How researchers specifically measure a concept.

Identify some limitations in the study of psychology, and explain why there has been skepticism about psychology as a science.

Hard to observe things like depression, intelligence, and prejudice in a direct way like ocean tides for example, makes people skeptical about psychology being a science

Frontal Lobe

Higher mental processes, decision making, planning

Medulla

In the Hindbrain, Life-sustaining (Breathing, Swallowing, Heart rate)

Reticular Formation

In the hindbrain- attention, alertness, arousal

Pons

In the hindbrain- sleep, dreaming, left-right body coordination, arousal

Describe the role inductive reasoning plays in scientific (and everyday) reasoning.

Induction- drawing general conclusions from specific observations Used in scientific reasoning when scientists make claims for the general population based on a sample that they've experimented on Used in everyday reasoning when people make a claim about general experiences based on a specific experience (ex. cramming is good bc I crammed for a test one time and did well)

Describe the five guidelines included in the code of ethics for human research and provide examples of how each could be applied.

Informed consent- tell them what will happen in the study, give them choice to participate or not Confidentiality- keeping information about participants private, not sharing to public Privacy- not observing without consent, ex. not observing participants in bedroom without permission Benefits- benefits should outweigh risks ex. shocking peoples' benefits do not outweigh the risks Deception- sometimes you can't reveal all info, but debrief after

Describe some factors that may contribute to and controversies surrounding intelligence .

It brings up a social minefield, because people of different races or genders excel in different areas. Which begs the question, are those differences inherent, or learned.

Describe the effect long-term stress can have on our health.

It damages our DNA, and causes higher rates of diabetes, cancer, heart attack, illness, depression, STDs, hypertension, obesity, and sleep problems.

Hippocampus

Long-term declarative memories

Cerebrum

Largest part of the brain

Explain possible treatments for anxiety disorders.

Medication, Cognitive behavioral therapies (long term help), Group Therapy

Internal validity

The degree to which a cause-effect relationship between two variables has been unambiguously established.

List the characteristics of the following research designs, and then compare the strengths and weaknesses of each: longitudinal, cross-sectional, cross-sequential, and case study.

Longitudinal- is following the same group of people over a long period of time, can cost a lot of money but can establish patterns. Cross-sectional studies- observing different groups of people at the same point in time, might not be able to tell us any causality but easier to do Cross sequential study- two different groups are compared over a period of time, halfway in between both for usefulness, difficulty, and cost Case study- looking at a specific case in depth, can help if it's a rare case that not a lot of ppl have, but one person can't always represent all cases

Explain how to design a study by including the concepts and ideas described in the Key Terms and Learning Outcomes above.

Make groups, measure them, then test them.

Describe how men and women tend, on average, to respond differently to stress.

Men tend to respond more negatively, and stay in their fight or flight response throughout the endeavor. Women respond more positively, through their tend-and-befriend response. Where they reach out to others to talk about their stress.

Describe some examples of how general scientific research has changed the world.

Modern medicine, technology, transportation, agriculture, vaccines, electricity etc

Explain how methods, such as momentary self-reports, electronically activated radar (EAR), day reconstruction method (DRM), daily diary method, and ambulatory assessment, are used to collect data from study participants in their normal environments, and list the distinguishing features of each method .

Momentary self-reports- People have to frequently reply to questionnaires on a set schedule throughout their daily lives. Gathers lots of information, but intrusive, and you can't be sure people filled them out on time. EAR is when participants wear a small recording device that intermittently records sounds throughout their day. DRM is when the participants describe their day retrospectively. Daily diary method is when participants answer a questionnaire about their thoughts and feelings at the end of the day.

Hypothalamus

Motivational behavior (sleep, hunger, thirst, sex, stress)

Explain some of the consequences of multimodal perception. Note: Include the terms superadditive effect of multisensory integration and principle of inverse effectiveness in your discussion.

Multimodal perception is having multiple senses interact at the same time, and seeing how it affects our perception. It qualitatively differs from unimodal perception. Superadditive effect of multisensory integration is simply that the sum is greater than the parts, ex. our experience with something due to multiple senses causes more stimulation than all of the individual parts combined. Principle of inverse effectiveness. When a stimuli is weak on one front, the effect that other senses have on it is strong. When the stimuli is strong, the other senses are less important, ex. sight is more important when talking in a quiet place so we can read lips. Sight is not important to hear at a rock concert.

Describe what is meant by "nature", what is meant by "nurture."

Nature- our inborn characteristics. It is our behaviors, and patterns which come from our genetics. Nurture- The characteristics we learn throughout our lives. It is the things that we are taught in life.

Compare and contrast neurons (sensory, motor, and interneurons) and glia (astrocytes, microglia, oligodendrocytes, and ependymal cells).

Neurons Sensory - Converts sensory stimuli into electrical signals. "Transduces them". Goes from the sensory organs to the brain. Motor - Allow us to initiate movement and behavior, allowing us to interact with the world around us. Goes from the brain to the muscles and glands. Interneurons - Processes the sensory input into meaningful representations, plans behavioral responses, etc... The step in-between sensory and motor. Glia Astrocytes - Sits between neurons and blood vessels, protecting them from danger, and carries nutrition from the blood vessels to the neurons. Regulates ions around a cell. Microglia - Immune cells of the brain, coordinating its personal immune response. Removes waste, debris, and dead neurons. Oligodendrocytes - They wrap their dendritic processes around the axons of neurons to form myelin sheaths. A big cell with legs. Ependymal cells - Sits around the outside of the brain, and forms cerebrospinal fluid.

Identify the following structures on an image of a neuron: Nucleus Soma Axon Dendrites Myelin Sheath Nodes of Ranvier Synapse Axon terminal (or terminal button or terminal bouton)

Nucleus- Collection of nerve cells found in the brain which typically serve a specific function. Soma- Cell body of a neuron that contains the nucleus and genetic information, and directs protein synthesis. Axon- Part of the neuron that extends off the soma, splitting several times to connect with other neurons; main output of the neuron. Dendrites- Part of a neuron that extends away from the cell body and is the main input to the neuron. Myelin Sheath- Substance around the axon of a neuron that serves as insulation to allow the action potential to conduct rapidly toward the terminal buttons. Nodes of Ranvier- periodic gap in the insulating sheath (myelin) on the axon of certain neurons that serves to facilitate the rapid conduction of nerve impulses Synapse- Junction between the presynaptic terminal button of one neuron and the dendrite, axon, or soma of another postsynaptic neuron. Axon terminal (or terminal button or terminal bouton)-The part of the end of the axon that forms synapses with postsynaptic dendrite, axon, or soma.

Describe the basic functions of the four cerebral lobes: occipital, temporal, parietal, and frontal.

Occipital- responsible for vision Temporal- auditory, multisensory integration, memory Parietal- bodily sensations frontal- motor cortex, motor planning, judgement

Cohort effect

One group that's being observed is affected differently because of something that happened to their group ex. groups that were in college in covid will be different than other groups, groups that experienced 9/11 will be different than other groups

Describe what scientists found when they tried to replicate previous psychological studies (e.g., Open Science Collaboration, priming studies) and how many studies actually replicate the original findings.

Only 36% of studies have been found to actually replicate original findings When scientists tried to replicate previous psychological studies, they found that the results were not the same

Daily hassle

Our everyday interactions with the environment that are essentially negative

Explain some basic characteristics of the human brain and what makes it unique compared to other organisms, in terms of both size and structure.

Our neurons have more branches than other species do. And our brains make up significantly more of our body weight than any other animal's brain. Specifically, our cerebral cortex has grown significantly, so we have more conscious thought than any other animal.

Describe how PET, EEG, and fMRI work, and the pros and cons of each, in terms of spatial and temporal resolution.

PET- records blood flow to the brain, detects the radioactive substance that is injected into the bloodstream of the participant just before or while he or she is performing some task, poor temporal resolution EEG- measures electrical activity of the brain, electrodes are placed on the head, poor spatial resolution but greater precision fMRI- relies on blood flow to the brain, measures changes in oxygen levels of blood, poor temporal resolution

John Locke

Philosopher who promoted empiricism, the belief that knowledge comes from experience

Audition (Hearing): Pinna Auditory (ear) canal Tympanic membrane (ear drum) Ossicles Cochlea Auditory hair cells

Pinna - External part of ear we see. Funnels sound into the ear canal. Auditory canal (ear canal) - Tube running from the outer ear into the middle ear. Tympanic membrane (ear drum) - Thin stretched membrane in the middle ear. Vibrates in response to sound. Ossicles - Tiny bones in the ear. 3 of them (malleus, incus, and stapes), connects ear drum to the cochlea. Helps to amplify the sound. Cochlea - Spiral bone structure in the inner ear, containing the hairs, vibrates. Auditory Hair cells - Hair in the cochlea. Get pressed by vibrations, transducing the vibrations to electrical signals for the brain to interpret. Sound gets funneled from the pinna into the auditory canal, Which then hits the tympanic membrane, causing it to vibrate. This causes the ossicles to move, transferring the sound to the cochlea (and amplifying it). Cochlea vibrates, stimulating the auditory hair cells, which then transduce the signal and send it to the brain.

Understand how to interpret correlations.

Positive correlation is if they both go up or down together, absolute value will be a bigger number the stronger it is Negative correlation is when they go opposite direction

List and explain possible factors that contributed to the replication crisis

Possible factors include the original results may have been falsified, if they used small sample sizes then the results may have been because of chance, or the findings just may not be universal, but only true for some people in some circumstances

List and explain possible solutions to the replication crisis.

Possible solutions include the dissemination of the replication attempts, whether they be positive or negative, change the way replication is viewed because it is often discouraged (people want the new shiny thing/ finding), textbooks and journals not publishing replications

Describe the basic functions of the following systems or areas in the brain: primary motor cortex, primary somatosensory cortex, thalamus, limbic system, hippocampus, and amygdala.

Primary Motor Cortex - Area in the frontal lobe, just before the precentral sulcus. Involved in motor control. Each part of the body is mapped to a strip on the cortex, allowing each strip to execute motor output. Primary Somatosensory Cortex - Area in the parietal lobe, just behind the precentral sulcus. Responsible for sensory reception of bodily sensations (touch), mapped like the primary motor cortex. Thalamus - Part of the brain stem which acts as a gateway for incoming and outgoing information. Takes incoming information, and sends it to the correct part of the brain, and sends outgoing information to the correct part of the body. Limbic System - A loosely defined network of nuclei in the brain involved with learning and emotion. It processes memory, attention, and emotion. Hippocampus - A nuclei in the temporal lobe that is implicated in learning and memory. It plays the central role in forming new memories (like memories of an event). Seahorse shaped. Amygdala - Part of the limbic system, almond shaped structure at the bottom of the brain responsible for processing emotions (especially negative ones).

Compare and contrast problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping, and provide examples from your own life when you have used one or the other.

Problem Focused Coping - Coping with stress by working to eliminate the source of stress, or trying to reduce its impact through your own actions, ex. getting less stressed during a scary encounter with a snake by getting away from the snake. Emotion Focused Coping - Coping with stress by changing the way that you feel or emotionally react to a stressor. Ignoring it, minimizing it, laughing about it, praying about it, seeing it as a challenge, etc...

Amygdala

Processing fear and threatening stimuli

Ethics

Professional guidelines that offer researchers a template for making decisions that protect research participants from potential harm and that help steer scientists away from conflicts of interest or other situations that might compromise the integrity of their research.

Describe how culture and religion can help us cope with stress.

Provides social networks, gives you better perspective about stressors (trials), opportunities to serve, gives more meaning to life, guidelines for healthy behavior, etc...

Describe different types of stressors, how everyday stressful events could be measured quantitatively, and how that measure may relate to health outcomes .

Ranges from Catastrophes, Major Life, changes, to daily hassles. You measure it using the social readjustment scale, which assigns different values to different stressful events, and you tally up the values, and if you are above a threshold, you are at risk.

Cognitive appraisal

Refers to a person's interpretation of a situation as stressful or not. We see something, and decide whether or not to treat it as a stressor.

Describe what is meant by "replication", what is meant by "replication crisis", and why replication is an important step in the scientific process.

Replication is the repetition of a study in an attempt to see if the findings are the same; replication is important because it ensures that data has not been falsified and that the outcomes are correct. Replication crisis is the problem with not being able to replicate experiments

Spearman's 'g'

Short for "general factor" and is often used to be synonymous with intelligence itself.

Explain Karl Popper's great contribution to science.

Science can be distinguished from everyday science because it can be falsifiable

Describe the difference between sensation and perception.

Sensation - The physical processing of outside stimuli, ex. sight. Perception - The psychological processing of stimuli, ex. what does a sight mean to us.

Thalamus

Sensory center (for hearing, sight, touch and taste)

Describe sleep, diet, and exercise habits that enhance stress management. Identify which type of exercise is particularly beneficial for stress reduction.

Sleep - Getting at least 7-8 hours of sleep a night has been shown to reduce stress. Prepare for sleep earlier by turning off electronic devices, and dim the lights to get more restful sleep. Diet - Eating well reduces stress. Fruits, Vegetables, and Fish high in Omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to have the most positive impact. Fatty, or sugary foods cause higher levels of stress. Smoking, Alcohol, Drugs and Caffeine all raise stress levels. Exercise - Any exercise helps with stress. Even just going on a short walk around the block or office will help lower stress. Taking the stairs, and other simple changes can help as well. Other good exercises include yoga, running, dancing, aerobics, cycling, sports, swimming, etc... They especially like to mention rhythmic activities like dancing.

Ecological validity

The degree to which a study finding has been obtained under conditions that are typical for what happens in everyday life.

Parietal Lobe

Somatosensory (touch, temperature, body position) / touch & attention

External cue

Stimuli in the outside world that serve as triggers for anxiety or as reminders of past traumatic events.

Understand how the above movements within psychology relate to each other. For example, how does Gestalt psychology oppose the ideas of Structuralism? Or, how can Cognitive Psychology be seen as a critique of Behaviorism?

Structuralism was breaking down the mind and studying it piece by piece, while Gestalt was looking at the whole. Cognitive said that Behaviorism couldn't fully explain human behaviors because it neglected mental processes.

Flashback

Sudden, intense re-experiencing of a previous event, usually trauma-related.

Explain what the key elements or characteristics of the scientific approach are and how they are applied in research studies.

Systematic observation, observations leads to hypotheses we can test, science is democratic, science is cumulative

Explain different ways intelligence can be measured .

Tests

Flynn effect

The Flynn effect is the substantial and long-sustained increase in both fluid and crystallized intelligence test scores that were measured in many parts of the world over the 20th century

Explain how the HPA axis and sympathetic nervous system respond in the presence of stress and include the brain regions, glands, and hormones.

The HPA axis is the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and adrenal gland. The hypothalamus gets the message first, telling the pituitary gland to activate, it activates and releases a chemical ACTH which travels to the adrenal gland and stimulates it to activate the sympathetic nervous system (and lower the parasympathetic) to react to stress. The adrenal gland then releases epinephrine, norepinephrine, and cortisol.

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)

The WAIS assesses people's ability to remember, compute, understand language, reason well, and process information quickly

Describe selective attention, how it can be measured in a laboratory setting, and what we learn from studies of selective attention.

The ability to select certain stimuli in the environment to process, while ignoring distracting information. Dichotic listening studies, where a different message was presented to each ear and the person has to repeat back one of the messages. Found that we can't attend to very much info easily, and we have a limited capacity for processing info for meaning (ex. the person could only tell if the other message was a man or a woman's voice, or other physical characteristics of speech)

Describe the necessary steps for electrochemical communication to occur within and then between neurons. No discussion of specific ions (e.g., K+, Na2+) is needed, but know how the cations (positively-charged ions) and anions (negatively-charged ions) move in and out of the cell and include the following terms in your description: action potential, EPSPs, IPSPs, all-or-nothing response, ion channels, neurotransmitters, receptors, resting membrane potential, threshold of excitation, equilibrium potential, electrostatic pressure, and then the neuroanatomical terms listed above in the learning outcome about the structure of a neuron.

The cell is at rest. Multiple ions want to flow into the cell, to reach equilibrium potential, but a lack of ion channels keep them out, causing electrostatic pressure pushing on the neuron. This causes the cell to reach resting membrane potential. A signal reaches a terminal button of the sending neuron, causing the release of either EPSP or IPSP. The EPSP and IPSP are neurotransmitters released into the synaptic gap, which bond with the receptors on the outside of the dendrites of the new cell, either causing that cell to raise its internal potential (EPSP), or lower it (IPSP). this causes the internal resting membrane potential to rise. Once the cell's potential reaches the threshold of excitation, then an all-or-nothing response starts, which we call the action potential. Ion channels open, allowing lots of cations to flow into the cell, causing a huge wave of positive to begin flowing down the cell. This causes the cation channel to close, but allows a different cation channel to open, letting things flow out, causing an instantaneous pulse (action potential. It flows down the axon, through the myelin sheath, which lets it go faster, but it has to be recharged at the nodes of ranvier. it reaches its own axon terminals, inducing the release of EPSP and IPSP, thus continuing the process.

Transduction

The conversion of one form of energy into another.

Sulcus (e.g., central sulcus)

The crevices or fissures formed by convolutions in the brain.

Cerebellum

The distinctive structure at the back of the brain. It is critical in coordinated movement, and posture. It also helps with some cognitive processes, like language development.

Inattentional blindness

The failure to notice a fully visible object when attention is devoted to something else.

White matter

The inner whiteish regions of the cerebral cortex composed of the axons of your neurons. Axons conduct electrical signals to other locations.

Limited capacity

The notion that humans have limited mental resources that can be used at a given time.

Sample size

The number of participants in a study. Sample size is important because it can influence the confidence scientists have in the accuracy and generalizability of their results.

Gray matter

The outer grayish regions of the cerebral cortex composed of cell bodies. They contain the genes of the cell, and are responsible for keeping the entire cell alive.

Phantom limbs and phantom limb pain

The perception that a missing limb still exists; Pain in a limb that no longer exists.

Stereotype threat

The phenomenon in which people are concerned that they will conform to a stereotype or that their performance does conform to that stereotype, especially in instances in which the stereotype is brought to their conscious awareness.

Explain some of the real-world implications of divided attention, for example, in the context of driving.

These findings demonstrate that cognitive distractions such as cell phone conversations can produce inattentional blindness, or a lack of awareness of what is right before your eyes Sadly, although we all like to think that we can multitask while driving, in fact the percentage of people who can truly perform cognitive tasks without impairing their driving performance is estimated to be about 2%

Describe what happens to split-brain patients and what we learn about the brain from them.

These split-brain patients have helped us understand the functioning of the two hemispheres: Contralateral representation of sensory information, if an object is placed in only the left or only the right visual hemifield, then only the right or left hemisphere, respectively, of the split-brain patient will see it. In essence, it is as though the person has two brains in his or her head, each seeing half the world. Interestingly, because language is very often localized in the left hemisphere, if we show the right hemisphere a picture and ask the patient what she saw, she will say she didn't see anything (because only the left hemisphere can speak and it didn't see anything). However, we know that the right hemisphere sees the picture because if the patient is asked to press a button whenever she sees the image, the left hand (which is controlled by the right hemisphere) will respond despite the left hemisphere's denial that anything was there.

Describe how gustation (taste) and olfaction (smell) are different from the other senses.

They are the chemical senses., tey don't respond to light, sound, or pressure. They respond to chemicals that bind with receptors causing specific sensations.

Intelligence quotient (IQ)

This is a score, typically obtained from a widely used measure of intelligence that is meant to rank a person's intellectual ability against that of others.

Explain the process for testing the scientific validity of a claim. Include the following terms in your description: correlation, null-hypothesis significance testing, null hypothesis, alternative hypothesis, p-value, and type I and type II errors.

To study a claim, we must look at the correlation between the variables in the claim. You use null-hypothesis significance testing. First, get a null hypothesis, and its connected alternative hypothesis. Then, gather all data, and get a p-value, and make a claim based upon the size of your p-value. If you have a false positive, you have made a type 1 error. If you have a false negative, you have made a type 2 error.

Describe the goal of behavioral genetics and some examples of how both nature and nurture contribute to traits.

To study of genes and environment combine to generate behavior, ex. violin playing, having good fingers to play with is nature, but practice is nurture, and perfect pitch is both.

Summarize some of the studies about daily experience (virtual and in-person), behavior (virtual and in-person), and physiology that are described in the reading assignment.

Tracking positive and negative experiences before a respiratory infection, and they found that negative experiences peaked 4 days before the cold showed symptoms. Tracking using smartphones showed that people are happier when they are focused on a task. Using EAR, they studied how talkative people are. And found that although Americans rate themselves on average more talkative then Mexicans rate themselves, Mexicans on average talk more than Americans every day. Using EAR, they found that men and women are not significantly more talkative than each other. Using Ambulatory assessment to show that people respond more intensely to real life stress than to laboratory created stress. Using Ambulatory assessment to show that emotions can negatively impact the hearts of those with heart conditions. Looking at blog posts, and figuring out that people changed how they talked in the 2 weeks after 9/11, but that after 2 weeks went by, people began talking the same as they did before it occurred. Looking at blog posts, and seeing that people were very engaged in the conversation surrounding 9/11 for the 2 weeks after it occurred, but by 6 weeks after, they were not engaged. Showing that people who have an "I voted" sticker on Facebook actually influenced their friends to vote.

Describe how tradition, anecdote, intuition, authority, empiricism, and reasoning are or are NOT consistent with science and scientific thinking.

Tradition- inconsistent, you don't know the validity of the tradition bc you didn't test it Anecdote- inconsistent, you are generalizing one specific time to account for all other instances Intuition- inconsistent, not 100% accurate Authority- inconsistent, just because someone is an authority figure doesn't make them automatically correct Empiricism- consistent, observation and you verify your claim Reasoning- consistent, thinking about something in a logical and sensible way that leads to a conclusion

Occipital Lobe

Visual processing

Functional fixedness

We are blocked from solving problem because we keep thinking of only typical functions of objects

Alternative hypothesis

a statement saying the two variables are related

Emotional regulation

ability to successfully control our emotions

Emotional intelligence

accurately label and identify emotions in ourselves and others

Edward Titchener

brought structuralism (type of XP psych) to America, focused on the general adult mind

Describe the basic functions of the following areas in the brain: brain stem, cerebellum, cerebral cortex, and corpus callosum.

brain stem- "trunk" of the brain, responsible for neural functions that keep us alive, like regulating respiration, heart rate, and digestion cerebellum- structure at the back of the brain, critical for coordinated movement and posture cerebral cortex- largest and most visible part of the brain, 2 hemispheres corpus callosum- white matter tracts that connect the two cerebral hemispheres

Biopsychological model

combination of biological, psychological, and social forces

Sociocultural psychology

cultural/social norms, values, expectations

Synesthesia

disorder where stimuli are processed in the wrong brain areas so you think more than 1 area lights up

Debriefing

educating participants about the true nature of the study

Stressors

events causing a stress reaction

Compare and contrast the term "theory" when used in scientific and everyday contexts.

everyday contexts- theory is an "educated guess" scientific contexts- theory is an explanation of observed phenomena that is empirically well-supported

Compare and contrast exact and conceptual replications.

exact replication is repetition of the study with the same types and number of participants and have them do the same things conceptual replication may use different types of participants and have them do different things

Type II error

false negative

Type I error

false positive

Francis Cecil Sumner

first African American to receive a Ph.D in psychology

G. Stanley Hall

first, functionalist, studied adaptation and human development, (research heavily involved children), first psych lab and journal in America, founded APA

Explain the different types of intelligence , as described by Carroll, Gardner, and others .

fluid, think on your feet and solve problems; crystallized, use experience and knowledge to solve problems; emotional intelligence, correctly label and identify emotions in ourselves and other people

William James

functionalist, believed consciousness can't be broken down because it's continuous, consciousness helps us adapt to our environment

Empirical (also empiricism)

knowledge comes from observation & ability to verify that claim

Sigmund Freud

neurologist turned psychologist, developed psychoanalysis/psychodynamic psychology

Attrition

people dropping out of the study

Probability value (p-value)

probability that results occurred by chance and are not correlated

Heuristics

problem solving method not guaranteed to be perfect, trial and error (ex educated guess, rule of thumb)

Sustained attention

process that enables the maintenance of response persistence and continuous effort over extended periods of time

Charles Spearman

proposed that intelligence was one thing, a general factor, based on the observation that people who perform well in one intellectual area such as verbal ability also tend to perform well in other areas such as logic and reasoning

Random sampling

randomly select people from the population

Confirmation bias

search for evidence to support what you already believe

Helen Thompson Woolley & Leta S. Hollingworth

some of first to go into psychology of sex differences, findings helped dispel stigmas against women

Behaviorism

study of behavior; focus on what you can see, not what you can't, includes conditional and operant conditioning

Evolutionary psychology

study of biologically same characteristics among humans, reasons behind lying and mate selection

Cognitive Psychology

study of mental processes; how people think, learn, remember, memorize

Falsifiability (also falsifiable or falsify)

testable

Fluid intelligence

the ability to think on your feet, problem solve

Stress

the physical, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral responses to events that are APPRAISED as threatening or challenging

Eustress

the stress effects from positive events

Distress

the stress effects from unpleasant and undesirable events

Brainstem

the structure that connects the cerebrum of the brain to the spinal cord and cerebellum

Objective

unbiased, fact

Humanism (or humanistic)

why people do what they do, why people try to improve themselves

Habituation

your brain stops attending to the same stimuli after a while