GR #1 Review
Endorphins
"natural morphine," linked to pain control and pleasure
Autonomic
, divided into sympathetic and parasympathetic
Tuskegee study
African American men with syphilis who were studied for research purposes from 1932-1972 and denied basic treatment and ethical consideration
Minimizing harm
Balance consideration of harm against telling the full truth
Three barriers to critical thinking
Hindsight bias, overconfidence, and perceiving patterns in random events
Reflect and apply
How might this be useful? What value is there in this process? Apply to specific instances
SOAR Model
Self-assessment, objective analysis, awareness of another/alternative perspective, reflect and apply perspective taking
Perspective Taking Related to USAFA
USAFA has an outcome related to Ethics and Respect for Human Dignity. Practicing perspective taking helps cadets understand their own backgrounds and how they influence their thinking/perceptions, demonstrate consideration of fair and equitable treatment of others and their basic human rights, understand the perspectives of others, and leverage the value of diversity and inclusion for mission accomplishment.
Causation
a cause and effect relationship in which one variable controls the changes in another variable
Traits
a characteristic that an organism can pass on to its offspring through its genes
Correlation
a measure of the extent to which two factors vary together, and thus of how well either factor predicts the other
All or nothing response
a neuron's reaction of either firing or not firing
Operational definition
a statement of the procedures used to define research variables
Hypothesis
a testable prediction, often implied by a theory
Important neurotransmitters
acetylcholine, serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, glutamate, GABA, endorphins
Serotonin
affects hunger, sleep, arousal, and mood
High conscientiousness
ambitious, organized, reliable
Informed consent
an ethical principle that research participants be told enough to enable them to choose whether they wish to participate
Personality
an individual's characteristic style of behaving, thinking, and feeling
Variation
any difference between individuals of the same species
Objective analysis
apply behavioral science facts/theories to objectively broaden your perspective on a topic
Random assignment
assigning participants to experimental and control conditions by chance, thus minimizing preexisting differences between those assigned to the different groups
Dopamine
associated with movement, attention, and learning and the brain's pleasure and reward system
Psychology's Subfields
biological, cognitive, clinical, developmental, social, personality, legal/forensic, counseling, industrial-organizational, cognitive neuroscience
Psychology's Levels of Analysis
biological, psychological, social-cultural
Central nervous system
brain and spinal cord
Terminal branch
branched endings of an axon that transmit messages to other neurons
Dendrites
branchlike parts of a neuron that are specialized to receive information
Theories- related to psychological science
broad explanations and predictions concerning phenomena of interest
Neurotransmitters
chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gaps between neurons
Nature vs. Nurture
controversy over the relative contributions of genes and experience on behavior and traits
Low openness
conventional, down-to-earth
High openness
creative, artistic, curious, imaginative, nonconforming
Scientific Attitude
curiosity, skepticism, humility
Experimental design
designs involving random assignment to groups and manipulation of the independent variable
System two thinking (Kahneman)
effortful, articulates judgement, makes informed choices, thinks critically, can be wrong or right depending on how hard it works
Neural transmission
electrochemical communication within and between neurons and the final destination
Acetylcholine
enables learning and memory, triggers muscle contraction
Availability heuristic
estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind(perhaps due to vividness), we presume such events are common; like a gambler at a casino
Self-assessment
examine our biases, preconceived ideas and their sources
Critical Thinking
examines assumptions, appraises sources, discern hidden biases, evaluate evidence, and actively assess conclusions
Glutamate
excitatory neurotransmitter involved in memory
High agreeableness
good-natured, trusting, supportive
Trait theory
have certain stable and enduring characteristics, influenced by genetic predispositions
Norepinephrine
helps control alertness and arousal, under supply can depress mood; fight-or-flight response
Neurons
individual cells in the nervous system that receive, integrate, and transmit information
Ethics in research
informed consent, protection from harm and discomfort, confidentiality, debriefing
Representative heuristic
judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes
Cell body
largest part of a typical neuron, contains the nucleus and much of the cytoplasm
Myelin sheath
layer of fatty tissue segmentally encasing the fibers of many neurons, enables vastly greater transmission speed of neural impulses as the impulse hops from the one node to the next
GABA
major inhibitory neurotransmitter, under supply linked to seizures, tremors, and insomnia
Measures of central tendency
mean, median, mode
Prototype
mental image or best example of a category
Heuristic
mental shortcut; a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than algorithms
Algorithm
methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem
Psychology's Perspectives
neuroscience, evolutionary, behavior genetics, psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, social-cultural
Belief perseverance
occurs when we cling to beliefs and ignore evidence that proves these are wrong; people who believe the earth is flat
Five-factor model of personality
openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism
System one thinking (Kahneman)
operates effortlessly, jumps to conclusions regarding causality, influenced by heuristics, can be wrong but is more often right
Replication
repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different participants in different situations, to see whether the basic finding extends to other participants and circumstances
Low extroversion
reserved, comfortable with being alone
Low agreeableness
rude, uncooperative, irritable, hostile, competitive
Perceiving patterns in random events
seeking to see patterns that don't actually exist
Correlational design
studies intended to indicate how two variables are related to each other
Descriptive designs
study designs in which the researcher defines a problem and variable of interest but makes no prediction and does not control or manipulate anything
Framing
sways decisions and judgement by influencing the way an issue is posed; it can also influence beneficial decisions
High extroversion
talkative, optimistic, social, affectionate
Confirmation bias
tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence
Perspective Taking
the ability to mentally represent the complexity of another's experience (including their beliefs, desires, intentions, behaviors, emotions, etc.)
Confidentiality
the act of holding information in confidence, not to be released to unauthorized individuals
Nervous system
the body's electrochemical communication network, broken down into the peripheral and central
Plasticity
the brain's capacity for modification, as evident in brain reorganization following damage (especially in children) and in experiments on the effects of experience on brain development
Independent variable
the experimental factor that is manipulated; the variable whose effect is being studied
Axon
the extension of a neuron, ending in branching terminal fibers, through which messages pass to other neurons or to muscles or glands
Cognition
the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating
Concept
the mental groupings we make after thinking about the countless events, objects, and people in our world
Dependent variable
the outcome factor; the variable that may change in response to manipulations of the independent variable
Debriefing
the post-experimental explanation of a study, including its purpose and any deceptions, to its participants
Heritability
the proportion of variation among individuals that we can attribute to genes; the heritability of a trait may vary, depending on the range of populations and environments studied
Psychology
the scientific study of behavior and mental processes
Peripheral nervous system
the sensory and motor neurons that connect the central nervous system to the rest of the body, divided into autonomic and somatic
Epigenetics
the study of environmental influences on gene expression that occur without a DNA change
Overconfidence
the tendency to be more confident than correct- to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgement; drives stockbrokers to market their availability to outperform the stock market
Hindsight bias
the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it
Synapses
tiny gaps between dendrites and axons of different neurons
Low neuroticism
tranquil, calm
Low conscientiousness
unreliable, lazy, casual, spontaneous
Awareness of Another Perspective
willingly consider others' points of view distinct from our own
High neuroticism
worried, insecure, anxiety-prone