Major Field Test in Psychology

cerebellum

"little brain" coordinating movement output and balance

Biopsychosocial approach

Considers the influences of biological, psychological, and social-cultural factors.

Experiment

Enable to the researcher to focus on the possible effects of one or more factors by 1) manipulating the factors of interest and 2) holding constant other factors

Somatic nervous system

Enables voluntary control of our skeletal muscles

Case study

Examines one individual in depth in hope of revealing things true of us all

Introspection

Focusing on inner sensations, images and feelings. Wundt used this approach as did James with the stream of consciousness.

Overconfidence

Humans tend to think they know more than they do.

Continuity vs stages

Is development in a gradual continuous process or does it proceed through a sequence of separate stages

Behaviorists

John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner dismissed introspection and redefined psychology as the scientific study of observable behavior.

Psychology

Science of behavior and mental processes.

bottom-up processing

sensory analysis that starts at the entry level

nociceptors

sensory receptors that detect harmful temperatures, pressures, or chemicals.

Action potential

short electrical charge that travels down its axon

permissive parents

submit to their children's desires

narcolepsy

sufferers experience periodic overwhelming sleepiness

stimulants

temporarily excite neural activity and arouse body functions

intensity

the amount of energy in a light wave: influences our perception of its brightness

medulla

the base of the brainstem controls your heartbeat and breathing

circadian rhythm

the biological clock: regular bodily rhythms that occur on a 24 hour cycle

plasticity

the brains ability to modify itself after some types of damage

hue

the color that we experience

wavelength

the distance from one wave peak to the next

Correlation

the extent to which two factors vary together. Positive/negative ranges from -1 to 1. Correlation does not imply causation.

Synapse

the meeting point between neurons

Dendrite

the neurons busy branching extensions that receive messages and conduct impulses toward the cell body

brainstem

the oldest part and central core of the brain: is responsible for autonomic survival

conservation

the principle that the quantity remains the same despite changes in shape

imprinting

the process by which certain animals form attachments

Sensation

the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from the environment

perception

the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information

fovea

the retina's area of central focus

Hering's opponent-process theory

the theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green, blue-yellow, white-black) enable color vision.

Young-Helmholtz trichromatic (three-color) theory

the theory that the retina contains three different color receptors- one most sensitive to red, one to green, and one to blue which in combination can produce the perception of any color.

corpus callosum

the wide band of axon fibers connecting the two hemispheres and carries messages between them

rooting reflex

when something touches their cheek babies turn toward that touch open then mouth and root for a nipple.

blind spot

where the optic nerve leaves the eye

cocktail party effect

your ability to attend to only one voice among many

selective attention

your conscious awareness focuses like a flashlight on a very limited aspect of your experience

kinesthesis

your sense of position and movement of your body parts

Hypothesis

Testable prediction

Nature-nurture issue

The controversy over the relative contributions of biology and experience to the development of our traits and behaviors.

Axon

The neurons extension that passes messages through its branching terminal fibers that form junctions with other neurons

Hindsight bias

The tendency to believe after learning an outcome, that we would have foreseen it. The I knew it all along phenomenon)

sleep apnea

a sleep disorder characterized by temporary cessations of breathing during sleep and repeated awakenings

cerebral cortex

a thin surface layer of interconnected neural cells

manifest content

according to freud the remembered story line of a dream

latent content

according to freud the underlying meaning of a dream

accommodate

adjust our schemas to incorporate information provided by new experiences

difference threshold

also called the just noticeable difference is the minimum difference a person can detect between any two stimuli half the time

critical period

an optimal period when certain events must take place to facilitate proper development

gestalt

an organized whole. Psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes.

Sympathetic nervous system

arouses and expends energy. will accelerate your heartbeat, etc.

social learning theory

assumes that children learn gender-linked behaviors by observing and imitating and by being rewarded or punished.

thalamus

brains sensory switchboard: it receives information from all of the senses except for smell and routes it to higher brain regions

optic nerve

carries information to your brain (where the thalamus will receive and distribute the information)

neurotransmitters

chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gap between neurons. will travel across the synapse and bind to the receiving neuron

Schemas

concepts or molds into which we pour our experiences

Autonomic nervous system

controls our glands and the muscles of our internal organs

Broca's area

damage to this area disrupts speaking

Wernicke's area

damage to this area disrupts understanding

Stability vs change

do our early personality traits persist through life or do we become different persons as we age?

depressants

drugs such as alcohol and opiates that calm neural activity and slow body functions

change blindness

failing to notice changes in the environment

inattentional blindness

failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere (gorilla experiment)

reticular formation

filters incoming stimuli and relays important information to other areas of the brain

Webers law

for their difference to be perceptible, two stimuli must differ by a constant proportion

pons

helps coordinate movements

aphasia

impaired use of language

hypothalamus

important link in the chain of command governing bodily maintenance: hunger, thirst, body temperature, sexual behavior. linked to emotion and reward

authoritarian parenting style

impose rules and expect obedience

cornea

light enters the eye here (bends the light and protects the eye)

Pituitary gland

located in the center of the brain and is controlled by the hypothalamus: master gland.

absolute threshold

minimum stimulation necessary to detect a particular stimulus. the point at which we detect a stimulus half the time

double-blind procedure

neither the participants nor the research assistants collecting the data will know which group is receiving the treatment

limbic system

neural system located below the cerebral hemispheres associated with emotions and drives

Adrenal glands

on top of the kidneys and release epinephrine and norepinephrine.

fluid intelligence

our ability to reason speedlily and abstractly

crystallized intelligence

our accumulated knowledge as reflected in vocab and tests

sensory adaptation

our diminishing sensitivity to an unchanging stimulus

object permanence

out of sight/out of mind. The awareness that objects continue to exist when not perceived.

authoritative

parents that are both demanding and responsive.

theory of mind

peoples ideas about their own and others mental states

assimilate

piaget stated that we interpret new things in terms of our current understanding (schemas)

cones

retinal receptors that are concentrated near the center of the retina and that function in daylight. they detect fine detail

rods

retinal receptors that detect black white and gray and are necessary for peripheral and twilight vision

Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development

1. Sensorimotor- experiencing world through senses 2. Preoperational- representing things with words 3. concrete operational- thinking logically 4. formal operational- abstract reasoning

kohlbergs stages of morality

1. preconventional morality- self interest 2. conventional morality- caring for others 3. actions are judged "right" because they flow from peoples rights

Erikson's stages of psychosocial development

1. trust vs. mistrust 2. autonomy vs shame 3. initiative vs guilt 4. industry vs inferiority 5. identity vs role confusion 6. intimacy vs isolation 7. generativity vs stagnation 8. integrity vs despair

Theory

An explanation using an integrated set of principles that organizes observations and predicts behaviors or events

Naturalistic observation

Observing and recording behavior in a naturally occurring situation without trying to manipulate or control the situation

Humanistic Psychology

Rebelled against both Behaviorism and Freudian psychology. Pioneers Carl Rogers and Maslow emphasized the importance of current environmental influences on our growth potential.

amygdala

influence aggression and fear

top-down processing

information processing guided by higher-level mental processes as we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations

Applied research

practical research- industrial organizational psychologists

egocentric

preschool childrens difficultly perceiving things from another's point of view

Parasympathetic nervous system

produces opposite effects it conserves the energy as it calms you by decreasing your heart beat and lowering your heart beat.

REM sleep

rapid eye movement: where vivid dreams often occur

Control group

receives a pseudotreatment

Experimental group

receives a treatment

insomnia

recurring problems in falling or staying asleep