AP Psychology Exam
Confirmation/Researcher Bias
Tendency to only remember/note examples/data that support what we believe to be true ex. Crime increases under a full moon
Ultimate Attribution Error
Tendency to use stereotyped beliefs about a group to make internal attributions about shortcomings and external attributions about successes
Peer Group
a network of same-aged friends and acquaintances who give one another emotional and social support - when children start school, peers begin to have a greater influence
Neologism
a new word, expression, or usage; the creation or use of new words or senses
Bisexual
a person who is sexually attracted to both sexes and two or more genders
Orgasmic Disorder
a sexual disorder in which the person has recurrent difficulties reaching orgasm after a normal sexual arousal
Stranger Anxiety
Appears around 6-8 months; attached to parents and will freak out around strangers - Coincides with increase in mobility - Protective Mechanism --> freaks out/distressed when away from parents
Psychosomatic Disorder
real physical illness with psychological causes such as stress of anxiety - tension headaches
Rumination Disorder
repeated regurgitation and rechewing of food of at least 1 month following a period of normal functioning
Profound Intellectual Disability
require constant aid and supervision IQ: below 20
16 Personality Factors (Cattell)
standardized, closed-ended questions; objective, factor questionnaire
Phil Zimbardo
stanford prison experiment; importance of social roles
Medulla
the base of the brainstem; controls heartbeat, blood pressure, and breathing
Psychoticism
to show extreme amounts of one of the traits (stable or unstable, introverted or extroverted)
Tactile Sensations
touch, pressure, vibration, itch, tickle
Trust vs Mistrust Stage
the period during which infants develop a sense of trust or mistrust, largely depending on how well their needs are met by their caregivers
Sound Localization
the process by which the location of sound is determined
Trepanning
the process of cutting holes into the skull of a living person to release evil spirits (bad behaviors/thoughts)
Prenatal Development
time from conception until birth
Erogenous Zone
area of the body that produces pleasurable feelings
Blind Spot/Optic Disc
area where the optic nerve (axons of ganglion) leaves the eye, no photoreceptor cells here --> creates a blindspot
Association Areas
areas of the cerebral cortex that are not involved in primary motor or sensory functions; rather, they are involved in specific higher mental functions
Imagined Stimuli
arousal when dreaming/fantasizing
External Stimuli
arousal when exposed to sexually explicit material
Parallel Play
as children get older, they play side-by-side with other children, without interacting
Clinical P
assess and treat mental, emotional, and behavior disorders; administer and interpret tests, provide counseling and therapy, and research, specialize in specific psychological disorders
Continuity
assume when we see a pattern, it will continue beyond what we see; perceiving something as a continuous pattern rather than individual pieces
H.M. Skeels orphanage study
children who grew up in orphanages were placed into an adult home, causing the children to experience more interactions with adults, raising the children's IQs
Epilepsy
chronic brain disorder characterized by recurrent seizure activity --> can be reduced by severing the corpus callosum
Right Place-Right Time Theory
circumstances are optimal for individual with particular characteristics
Situational/External Attribution
circumstances prompted individual's behavior - external circumstances are the attributed factor
Split-brain patients
corpus callosum is severed, two hemispheres of the brain don't communicate as effectively; sometimes leads to unintentional actions or responses
Primacy Effect
early information is a greater determinant of attitudes - early information about someone makes a greater impact than later information in forming impressions
Structuralism
early psychological perspective that emphasized units of consciousness and identification of elements of thought using introspection
Correlation between Creativity and Intelligence
early studies suggested that there was little relationship between the two, however, later research indicates otherwise: creative individuals tend to have higher IQs and creative individuals are perceived as being more intelligent (must have IQ >120 to be creative)
Type B Personality
easy going, mellow (less susceptible to CHD)
Social Phobia
fear of interacting with others or being in social situations that might lead to a negative evaluation - excessive fear of social situations
Neutralizing
feeling an emotion but displaying no expression
Emotion
feeling that underlies behavior - ex. fear, joy, or surprise
Estrogens
female hormones that peak during ovulation - women are more receptive to sex during ovulation
Estrogen and Progesterone
female sex hormones that regulate female reproductive cycle
Mob Behavior
how people behave irrationally and differently in a large group than they would individually - facilitated by deindividuation & snowball effect
Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)
how quickly you burn calories during rest, based on genetics; inversely proportional to age
Reliability
how reliable a research study and its results are
Predictive Validity (Criterion Validity)
how well a test score predicts an individual's performance in the future - ex: correlation from SAT scores and first-year college grades only +.5; not good
Carl Rogers
humanistic; person-centered therapy; focus on ideas & behavior being goal-directed & worthwhile
Empathy
identification with and understanding of another's situation, feelings, and motives
Working Backwards
identify the solution/goal, then figure out a plan as to how to get there
Interposition
if one part of an object is blocked, assume its behind the other; 2D image can still be perceived as one object obscuring another
Testosterone
important in both men and women in early development - men and women seem to need some to be interested in sex, but as long as it is present, its role in regulating sexual activity is minimal - female sex drive is more impacted by it
Konrad Lorenz
imprinting; hid baby ducks mother when they hatched, the ducks grew up believing he was their mother; followed him around as he swam, sat, lived, etc.
Phobic Disorders
intense fear of specific situations or objects - must impede every day-to-day function to be a phobia instead of just a fear
Active vs Passive mode
modes of consciousness Active: having thoughts you're consciously aware of (ex: planning and decision making) Passive: observing things but not absorbing them, subconscious thoughts (ex: daydreaming and sleeping)
Secondary Sex Characteristics
nonreproductive sexual characteristics, such as female breasts and hips, male voice quality and body hair
Inattentional Blindness
not aware of what you aren't selectively aware of; coined by Neisser --> when you focus on one thing, you miss out on others
Invulnerability
nothing can harm them; results inreckless behavior
Raw Score
number of questions answered correctly; doesn't tell much about performance
Stanley Milgram
obedience to authority; had participants administer what they believed were dangerous electrical shocks to other participants
Accommodation
modify the existing schema to fit the new information/experiences (i.e. see a hairless cat, learn that it is a cat, modify 'cat' schema to include hairless cats)
Naturalistic Observation
observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation; not practical or ethical (stalking)
CPAP machine
A noninvasive ventilation device used in the treatment of sleep apnea
ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder)
A pattern of negativistic, hostile, and defiant behavior lasting at least 6 months - impairs social, academic, or occupational functioning
Addiction
A physiological (neurochemistry depends on drug) or psychological dependence (feel like one needs it, routine) on a drug
Method of Loci
A powerful mnemonic technique that involves associating items on a list with a sequence of familiar physical locations; one recalls objects to be in known locations - Sherashevsky → imagined familiar street of his hometown, imagined images distributed at various locations on walk → in order to recall list, he retraced his steps & 'saw' the items placed there - Failed to recall item when put item on a difficult-to-see location on route while retracing (dimly lit spot like in shadow of tree)
Heinz Dilemma
A woman is dying and needs an expensive medication. Husband cannot afford the medication, should he steal it or should she die? --> answer depends on which Kohlberg stage one is in
Neurotransmitters
Chemicals that transmit information from one neuron to another
Surface Structure vs Deep Structure
Chomsky described: surface: arrangement of words in a syntactic order (phrase or sentence one hears) deep: what the sentence actually means
Why is punishment so difficult to use effectively?
Punishment is difficult to use effectively, as it discourages a behavior without offering an alternative, thus it might take more time for the subject to find an alternative. Furthermore, it causes upset that can impede learning, and may teach the child that violence is socially acceptable.
Crawling Reflex
Put on stomach, will act as though they're crawling by flailing their arms and legs
School P
Qualified member of staff at schools who support learning students and help teachers teach. They help with mental health, behavior, and success socially, behaviorally, and emotionally
Thirst Regulators
Internal Cues: levels of fluids inside body cells and amount of fluids outside body cells (osmoreceptors) External Cues: advertisements and weather conditions
Breland's Dancing Chickens
Chickens naturally use 'pecking' motion, didn't have to against instinct to do so --> easily learned to peck in response to a reward, this behavior was easily reinforced
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
Children of women who consume large amounts of alcohol during pregnancy - can cause facial deformities, heart defects, stunted growth, cognitive impairments (ex. small eye openings, smooth philtrum, thin upper lip)
Placebo Effect
Just taking a sugar pill will enhance your performance because you believe it is a real pill (applies to other forms of placebos as well) Experimental results caused by expectations alone
Deception
Justified use of it- you cannot lie unless it's the only way to prove hypothesis
Erikson's Identity vs. Role Confusion
Stage of Erikson's development (teens to early 20s) --> trying to integrate different roles into one concrete, unique identity under role model and peer pressure
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
Stages of death (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance)
Sleep Apnea
Temporary cessation of breathing during the night - Symptoms of irritability, fatigue, & obesity
PsyETA
Psychologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Help set standards for ethicality of experiments Fight for animals to have equal rights as humans (they currently don't)
Bandura
bobo dolls; believed that people will imitate what they see (observational learning theory and modeling)
Mania
a mood disorder marked by a hyperactive, wildly optimistic state - BP used to be called Manic-Depression --> states of excessive elation and worthlessness
Tardive Dyskinesia (TD)
a motor disorder that results from chronic use of certain antipsychotic drugs (side effect)
Personal/Internal/Dispositional Attribution
behavior caused by that individual's characteristics - personal characteristics are the attributed factor
Extrinsic Motivation
behavior is performed in order to obtain a reward or to avoid punishment - ex. a bonus program
LaPiere Study
discovered that although people had bad attitudes towards Asians, they still treated them well conclusion: attitude does not necessarily reflect behavior
Cyclothymia
disorder that consists of mood swings from moderate depression to hypomania - more mild form of bipolar disorder - lasts two years or more
Personality Disorders
disorders in which maladaptive ways of thinking and behaving learned early in life cause distress in the person and/or conflicts with others - often easy to identify but hard to treat - grouped by the DSM into three clusters - Causes: biological predisposition, adverse psychological experiences, unhealthy social environment, possible link to damaged frontal lobe
Sexual Disorders
disorders include aberrant sexual activity and sexual dysfunction
Culture
distinctive values, beliefs, language and characteristics of a society; both tangible (food, clothing) and intangible (values, beliefs)
Postconventional
emphasis on abstract principles such as justice, equality, and liberty; create OWN moral compass
Experimental P
employ human and animal participants to study all topics in a lab and research; investigate variety of basic behavioral processes in research
Masking
expressing/projecting one emotion while feeling yet concealing another in social situations
Reaction Formation
expression and exaggeration of ideas and emotions opposite of true feelings; exaggerated behavior in opposite way of Id's real urges; appears rapidly and may be permanent if id-ego conflict is unresolved
Incentives
external stimuli that prompt goal-directed behavior, can be positive or negative - ex. aroma of food may cause us to eat even when not hungry, advertisements can lead us to be a product even if we do not need/want it
Transduction
eye's ability to convert one form of energy (in this case LIGHT) into messages that our brain can interpret as a visual experience
Semantic Memory
facts and general knowledge; factual information
Delusions
false, usually grand, beliefs held by schizophrenics about the world around them
Systematic Desensitization
gradually associating relaxation with what was feared
Standardization Sample
group that determined the norms; participate to determine if test is appropriate
Representative Sample
group used to establish norms that adequately reflects demographics of those who will take test
Cephalocaudal
head to toe; head grows fastest, feet grow slowest
Sound
hear by transduction of sound waves into nerve impulses
Inner Ear
hearing and balance; convert mechanical sound waves to neural impulses that can be recognized by the brain for hearing and balance - contains oval window, cochlea, basilar membrane, and the organ of corti - transmitted from the middle ear to the inner ear by the oval window
Sensorineural
hearing loss results from damage to hair cells or auditory nerve; inner ear - can be treated with cochlear implants
Conduction Hearing Loss
hearing loss results from damage to parts of the ear itself; outer or middle ear - can be treated with a hearing aid
Auditory Cortex
hearing part of the brain located in temporal lobe; processes auditory information
Counseling P
help people to cope with challenges and crises (academic, vocational, and marital) to improve personal and social functioning; help people with adjustment to change
Maslow
hierarchy of needs; humanistic psychologist
Conscientiousness (Big 5)
high (conscientious): being a diligent worker, goal-directed, high achievement low (undirected): no/low motivation
Parentese
high-pitched style in which parents speak to their children
Agreeableness (Big 5)
high: agreeable, go with the flow, get along well with other people low: antagonistic, don't like others or get along with others
Extraversion (Big 5)
high: extrovert, outgoing low: introvert, reserved
Psychodynamic Perspective
how unconscious instincts, conflicts, motives, and defenses influence behavior, how behavior springs from unconscious drives & conflicts
Serial Position Effect
in a list of memorized items, the first and last items are most often/easily recalled - demonstrates how short & long term memory work together
unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
in classical conditioning, a stimulus that unconditionally—naturally and automatically—triggers a specific response ex. food causes a natural response, food is a UCS
Dark adaptation
increased sensitivity of rods and cones in darkness - adapting to the pitch black - after being in a dark space, squinting when adjusting to brightness
Risky Shift
increased willingness to take risks when making decisions as a group as opposed to making decisions as individuals
Relearning
indicates the time saved when learning material for the second time (studying; some learning will be remembered later on)
Individualism vs. Collectivism
individualism: value of singular person over that of the group (selfishness) collectivism: value the group over the individual (selflessness)
Self-Determinism
individuals have the ability to control their own destinies (humanistic psychology)
Sleeptalking
individuals talk while asleep and have no recollection of this in the morning, occurs during stage 2 of sleep
Paraventricular Nucleus (PVN)
influences the drive to consume specific foods (cravings)
Forgetting Curve
information initially is forgotten very quickly, but remaining information fades more slowly over time
Self Talk
inner speech; communication with the self; used in stress-inoculation therapy
Vestibular Organs
lined with hair cells that bend when fluid moves over them - also responsible for motion sickness --> discrepancies between visual information (like reading a book in a car, words don't appear to be moving) and vestibular sensation (organs sense that you are moving)
Mirror Test
little kids don't realize they are looking at themselves in the mirror --> try to play with child in mirror - by 18 months, children know they are image in mirror
Spotlight Effect
overestimating others' noticing and evaluating our appearance, performance, and blunders (as if we presume a spotlight shines on us)
Coping Mechanisms (Horney)
patterns of behavior used to neutralize, deny, or counteract anxiety/stress/insecurity
Peripheral Route to Persuasion
people focus on incidental cues, such as speaker's attractiveness, fame, position, reputation, etc.
Central Route to Persuasion
people focus on the message and the facts to form attitudes
Harold Kelley
put forth a theory that explains the kind of attributions people make based on three kinds of information: consistency, distinctiveness, and consensus
Incubation
put problem aside and engage in an unrelated task before coming back (brain break can be helpful to solving the problem)
Self-Monitoring
record all thoughts and behaviors surrounding a behavioral pattern you want to change to try to eliminate triggers -> journaling
Eidetic Imagery
relatively long-lasting & detailed images of scenes that can be scanned as if the individual were physically present - refers to visual LTMs - more frequent in children
learning
relatively permanent change in behavior that is the result of experience
Attitudes
relatively stable beliefs, feelings, and behaviors directed toward someone/something - Cognitive: beliefs and ideas held about the subject - Affective: emotions associated with subject - Behavioral: how we act based on attitudes - Cognitive & affective usually correspond with behaviors, but not always - Develop through imitation, reward, role models, peers, & mass media
Function of the Ossicles
relay and amplify the incoming sound waves
Regression
reverting to childlike behavior; retreating to behavior of earlier developmental stage with less demands & more safety
Meta Analysis
reviewing of results of therapy to determine if it was helpful or not
reinforcement
reward, encourages repetition of behavior - behavior is reinforced through reward
Stroboscoptic Motion
seeing similar images pictures switching in rapid succession creates perception of motion - flipbooks or animations
Ames Room Illusion
seems as if people are different sizes because of misleading cues (windows, corners, etc.) --> manipulation of perceptual constancy
Acoustic Coding
seems to dominate in STM - especially for verbal information
Attention
selection of certain information for further processing - normally pay attention to only a small amount of incoming information based on meaningfulness, distinctiveness, & repetition
Fictional Finalism (Adler)
setting long-term goals that may never be reached, but help you to achieve a sense of satisfaction along the way
Foreclosure
settle for identity that others wish for them (usually listen to parents)
Gene-Environment Interaction
situation in which the effects of genes depend on the environment in which they are expressed
Secondary Traits (Allport)
situational descriptives ex: punctual (there would need to be a specific event that had to occur to determine this)
Fluid Intelligence
skills such as spatial & visual imagery, rote memory, & ability to notice visual details - not based on education; tends to decrease with age
Graded Potential
small changes in membrane potential that by themselves are insufficient to trigger an action potential
Stapes (Stirrup)
small stirrup-shaped bone in the middle ear, transmitting vibrations from the incus to the inner ear by tugging on the oval window
Self-help Groups
small, local gatherings of people who share common problems and provide mutual assistance at very low cost - i.e. alcoholics anonymous - good for empathy, but may trigger temptation to relapse
Phonemes
smallest unit of sound which can bring about change in meaning in language
Pragmatics
social aspects of language (politeness, conversational rules)
Stable vs Unstable (Eysenck)
stable: predictable unstable: spontaneous
Glove Anesthesia
state in which people lose all feeling in one hand, as if they were wearing a glove that wiped out all physical symptoms
Authoritarian Parenting
style of parenting in which parent is rigid and overly strict, showing little warmth to the child, child's input is not considered
Permissive Parenting
style of parenting in which parent makes few, if any demands on a child's behavior, no consequences for broken rules
Achievement
successfully find identity
SIDS
sudden infant death syndrome
Narcolepsy
sudden sleep attacks correlated with a lack of neurotransmitter orexin (produced in hypothalamus)
Tic Disorders
sudden, rapid, repetitive, nonrhythmic motor movements or vocalization - occur many times a day usually in bouts nearly every day
Stanford-Binet Test
the widely used American revision of Binet's original intelligence test measures: 1. verbal reasoning 2. abstract/visual reasoning 3. quantitative reasoning 4. short-term memory
Castration Anxiety
the Freudian fear of a young boy that his father will punish his sexual desire for his mother by removing his genitals (during phallic stage)
Validity
the ability of a test to measure what it was designed to measure - content and predictive
Intrapersonal Intelligence
the ability to be acquainted with and understand oneself; have a developed sense of identity
Stereoscopic Vision
the ability to determine an object's depth based on that object's projections to each eye; seeing with both eyes - allows for depth perception
Cerebral Cortex
the wrinkled outer layer of the cerebrum responsible for higher level function --> the more sophisticated the cortex, the more sophisticated the animal
Noam Chomsky
theorist who believed that humans have an inborn or "native" propensity to develop language (nature)
Lawrence Kohlberg
theorist who claimed individuals went through a series of stages in the process of moral development (pre, post, and conventional), the Heinz Dilemma!
Neurogenesis
the brain's ability to generate new brain cells; can create new neurons but requires a lot of energy so it does not occur very often; suggested by stem cell (unspecialized cell) research
Chromosomes
threadlike structures made of DNA molecules that contain the genes - 23 pairs, 46 total in average human cell
Semicircular Canals
three fluid-filled canals in the inner ear responsible for our sense of balance
Controlled Processing
train ourselves to be more mindful of people who differ from us; method of reducing prejudice
Skinner Box
trained rats using operant conditioning - rats were electrocuted when it went away from the lever - rat does anything Skinner dislikes, shock as punishment - needed to press lever for food pellet - was given mini rewards for getting closer and completing tasks bringing rat closer to main goal
Gordon Allport
trait theory of personality, determined 3 types of traits: cardinal, central, and secondary
Deinstitutionalization
transferring the treatment of mental illness from inpatient institutions to community-based facilities that emphasize outpatient care
Cornea
translucent protective coating over the eye, light passes through the cornea first
Psychopharmacotherapy
treatment of mental disorders with medication (drug therapy) - effective at treating serious disorders - less expensive than psychotherapy
Robert Sternberg
triarchic theory of intelligence; no one g factor can summarize intelligence
Recategorization
trying to expand our schema for a particular group; method of reducing prejudice
Thalamus
the brain's sensory control center, located on top of the brainstem; it directs/reroutes messages to the sensory receiving areas in the sensory cortex
relatively permanent
the concept that learning can go away under certain conditions - rules out short-term changes ex: taking a test and forgetting everything after
Sleep Deprivation
the condition of chronically getting inadequate amounts of sleep; can lead to difficulty concentrating, fatigue, irritability, unhappiness, obesity, high blood pressure, poor motor performance
Rehearsal
the conscious repetition of information, either to maintain it in consciousness (STM) or to encode it for storage - if not rehearsed, information vanishes from STM & is displaced by incoming information
ESP
the controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input; includes telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition
schedules of reinforcement
the delivery of a reinforcement to a subject based on a certain factor/schedule types: continuous (consistent, rewarding unnecessarily, loses meaning, ineffective) and intermittent (spaced out, effective)
Range
the difference between the highest and lowest score in a distribution only good for small amount of people to show cluster, misses out data in between doesn't consider extremes as absurd/exceptions
Interaural Time Difference (ITD)
the difference in time between a sound arriving at one ear versus the other - nearer ear picks up sound first to provide clues about sound source / location - brain calculates ITD to determine how far different sounds are - sounds directly behind --> most difficult, no visual cues and little to no ITD
stimulus discrimination
the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and similar yet neutral stimuli - getting used to and becoming unaffected by the stimuli similar to the CS
Childhood Disorders
usually first diagnosed in infancy to adolescence
Expertise/AI
usually, computer programs are used to solves specific problems; however, sometimes this involves rigid sets that could hinder finding solutions
Central Traits (Allport)
the major traits considered in forming impressions of others (top 8-10 descriptives) ex: thoughtful (tells you a decent amount, but isn't always applicable)
Framing
the manner in which information/a problem is presented - putting something in a positive light - has profound impact on decision-making - ex: 95% success rate vs 5% failure rate
Stress
the manner in which we respond to events perceived as threatening or challenging (physical or psychological) - impacts mood, behavior, & health
Autokinetic Illusion / Apparent Movement
the perception that a stationary object is actually moving; colors/shape of an image causes perception of movement where there is none
Grouping
the perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups
Puberty
the period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing
Memory
the persistence of learning over time through storage and retrieval of information- committing something into long-term storage
Social Psychology
the scientific study of the ways in which the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of one individual are influenced by the real, imagined, or inferred behavior or characteristics of other people
Generativity vs Stagnation
middle-aged people begin to devote themselves more to fulfilling one's potential and doing public service; ability to put energy into others instead of remaining inactive & unengaged
Social Motives
motives that involve how we are driven to relate to others (Aggression/Need for Power, Achievement, Power)
Hill Climbing
move progressively closer to goal without moving backward
Chemical Process
movement & binding of neurotransmitters that send signals
Feral Children
children raised isolated from society, usually by no/very few humans
Kagan (1988)
Developed the Shy Child temperament
Intellectualization
thinking about stressful problems in an abstract way to detach oneself from them
Watson & Rayner
Little Albert (see case study) - conditioned infant to fear white rat & similar stimuli, intended to recondition but never did
Thomas and Chess (1977)
3 categories of babies based on temperament: easy, difficult, slow to warm up
Fetus
3 months post-conception to birth - organs continue to form; responds to sounds
Caffeine
Mild STIMULANT - Alertness, increased metabolism - Withdrawal= fatigue, headaches
Gender Identity
Our sense of being male or female
Somatic Nervous System (SNS)
controls voluntary movements of skeletal muscles -Ex> walking, speaking
Catastrophizing
dwelling on and overemphasizing the potential consequences of negative events; maximizing/minimizing something to a negative extreme
Correlation
A measure of the extent to which two factors vary together, and thus of how well either factor predicts the other
Linear Perspective
A monocular cue for perceiving depth; the more parallel lines converge, the greater their perceived distance --> creates sense of distance
Hyde and Linn's Meta-Analysis
intellectual differences between males and females are so small that they are not statistically significant
Biological Influences on Aggression
- Genetic -> animals bred for aggression, twins - Neural -> amygdala triggers aggression, frontal cortex inhibits, damage to frontal cortex stimulates - Biochemical -> testosterone levels and behavior, alcohol
Broca's Area
- responsible for movement of the right side of body and speech production
Freud's 3 Part Theory of Personality
- The Id, The Superego, The Ego
Assessment Interview
1 on 1 direct questioning with a psychologist, try to understand patterns of thought through conversation
Possibilities in Neurotransmitting
1) Binds onto a receiving neuron 2) Can't find receptor site --> dies 3) Reuptake: recycled to the sending neuron's synaptic vesicle
Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development
1. Sensorimotor (Birth-2yrs) 2. Preoperational (2-7) 3. Concrete Operational (7-11) 4. Formal Operational (12-adulthood)
Steps in Problem Solving
1. Understanding the problem 2. Planning a solution strategy 3. Carrying out the solution 4. Evaluating progress toward goal/results
Leaders
people who influence the attitudes and opinions of others; direct activities of others
M.D.
8 years medical school, required to prescribe medicine, necessary to be a psychiatrist
Ivan Pavlov
A behaviorist who believed that we cannot see inside the mind, so we should stick to researching habits that we can observe- behaviors He developed classic conditioning with the salivating dogs when two stimuli are paired repeatedly until they are triggered the same
"Back to Sleep" Campaign
A campaign to get parents to put their infants to bed on their backs in the fear that as children become more mobile in bed, they will suffer from SIDS. This helps to prevent that, but can delay crawling.
Ion
A charged atom
Jean Piaget
A cognitive psychologist who studied children's learning and was also a Swiss biologist
Selective Attention
Focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus; senses constantly bombarded by stimuli, brain must select a few to focus on
Types of Conflict
Approach-Approach: equal attraction to two appealing goals/options (like both outcomes) Approach-Avoidance: both attracted and repelled by the same goal (pros/cons to a single decision) Avoidance-Avoidance: equally repulsed by both possibilities (dislike both outcomes)
Person vs. Situation
Are you always the same person or does it depend on the situation/experience?
Skinner's Learning Theory
Argued that language came to humans through operant conditioning, since they were rewarded for being able to communicate through language. - NURTURE
Memory Formation
Atkinson & Shiffrin - Sensory Memory --> Initial recording of memory, fleeting - Short-Term Memory --> processes this information, encoded through rehearsal - Long-Term Memory --> information moved into LTM for later retrieval
EEG
Awake but Alert: beta waves dominate Right before you fall asleep (awake but relaxed): alpha waves dominate Stages 1-2: theta waves Stages 3-4: delta waves REM: high brain activity; lines are small and close together, closest EEG to when you are awake
Explain why Baby Albert feared white fluffy things.
Baby Albert's fear of the rat ended up transferring to a variety of white fluffy things through generalization; because the rat was white and fluffy, Albert learned to fear stimuli similar to the fear-inducing conditioned stimulus of the white rat. Albert's fear of the rat led to overall fear of the traits, and these traits, shared by similar stimuli, led to Albert generalizing them and thus being afraid of all white fluffy things.
Should children be allowed to watch violent television? Explain Bandura's likely response, referencing social learning theory.
Bandura, given his finding that children exposed to aggression mimic this behavior exactly, both through physical and verbal violence, would likely discourage the viewing of violent television at the ages of 3 to 6 years old, which he studied. When his experiment was replicated on a TV screen, very similar results were yielded. This means that children viewing violent media are likely to reproduce the behavior they see rather precisely, which is a threat to themselves and children around them. Furthermore, Bandura's theory of Social Learning, which he proved through his experiment, suggests that children learn from what is acted in front of them, thus violence being presented in front of the children will result in them learning and replicating this behavior.
Research vs. Applied Psychology
Basic - for fundamental understanding, builds psychology's knowedlge base Applied- to solve real-world/practical problems
Nominal Scale
CATEGORIES Placing data points in different categories with no rank (counting groups)
Signal Detection Theory
CHALLENGES the notion of the absolute threshold - mathematical model that predicts how and when we will detect the presence of a faint stimulus of signal - there is NO single absolute threshold - detection of a stimulus depends on a person's experience, motivation, and fatigue
Parasympathetic Nervous System
Calms the body, can't activate unless the sympathetic is activated (essentially reverses effects of Sympathetic) - Ex. After need to be alert goes away --> lowers heart rate, lowers blood sugar, returns digestion to normal - Contracts pupils, slows heartbeat, stimulates digestion, stimulates gallbladder, contracts bladder
Johannes Mueller
Came up with Law of Specific Nerve Energies - found that each sense detected different things; no one had actually PROVEN this was the case
Fully Functioning Person
Carl Roger's term for a healthy, self-actualizing individual, who has a self-concept that is both positive and congruent with reality
Client-Centered Therapy
Carl Rogers: goal is to help clients become fully functioning - therapist reflects or mirrors clients' statements, is nondirective but actively listens
Cognitive Development theory
Cartwright; actively construct knowledge as they manipulate and explore world in dreams --> people approach situations differently in dreams, negative qualities in life are beneficial in dream
Antidepressants/Thymoleptics
Category of drugs that works to treat depression
Organ of Corti
Center part of the cochlea - sits atop the basilar membrane - contains cilia (hair receptor cells for hearing) which bend as basilar membrane vibrates; how we perceive sound - when fluid/BM start vibrating around cilia, cilia fires neural impulse
Carol Gilligan
Criticized Kohlberg for not taking into account gender - Kohlberg only studied men and boys - women tend to emphasize the importance of relationship are are therefore categorized as belonging to the conventional stage
Display Rules
Culture-specific rules that govern how, when, and why expressions of emotion are appropriate - Norms for when and where certain emotions and behavior is appropriate
Cardinal Traits (Allport)
DEFINING traits; tell you a lot about who someone is ex: extrovert/introvert
Tranquilizers
DEPRESSANT drugs that reduce anxiety and induce relaxation
Acquired Needs Theory
David McClelland (aka 3 Needs Theory or Learned Needs Theory) How life will change an individual's needs over time - Achievement (nAch)- seek moderately challenging tasks where they feel accomplished AND succesful - Affiliation (nAff)- Need harmonious relationships with others to feel accepted and valued - Power (nPow) -- Personal power- want to control others (seen as negative) -- Institutional Power- like organizing people to achieve the common goals
Sleep Stage 3
Delta waves begin (deep sleep)
Sleep Stage 4
Delta waves, sleepwalking, bedwetting (deep sleep, muscles not paralyzed)
Behavioral Perspective
Determine which external stimuli trigger responses, how we learn observable responses
attrition rate
Drop out Rate; loss of subjects before the study is completed; threat of mortality
Debriefing
Form at the end explaining experiment and reason for deception, along with information if subject needs help
Timothy Leary
Former Harvard psychologist who experimented with psychoactive drugs (including LSD) and became a well-known advocate of their use as a way to open and expand the mind
Wish Fulfillment
Freudian belief that many dreams express unconscious desires (manifest vs latent content)
Marijuana
HALLUCINOGEN - Euphoria, relaxation, hallucinations lasts for hours - Low physical addiction, moderate psychological addiction - Impairs motor skills and perception, may trigger paranoia, disrupts memory, intensifies sensory experiences
Easy Babies
Have a positive disposition; they are adaptable and always smiling/laughing, easy to deal with
Hindsight Bias
Looking back at a situation and thinking the solution was obvious... can't say this now because you know the results & are thus biased to believe they were easily predicted The tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it
fMRI (functional MRI)
Looks at changes in blood flow, shows areas of activity -Red = more active, more blood flow -Blue = less active, less blood flow - Functional Neuroimaging: More sophisticated, can show brain functioning over time
Functional Neuroimaging
Looks at the brain functioning over time, shows movement --> more sophisticated
Androgens (testosterone)
Male sex hormones
Empty Nest Myth
Myth that when children leave home, the parents become sad and depressed. In reality, they are much happier without the added stress of the child.
backward conditioning
NS may come before OR after UCS, but not before AND after - mixing the order will cause the subject to never learn
Natural vs Artificial Altered States of Consciousness
Natural: sleeping, dreaming, daydreaming Artificial: hypnosis, meditation, drug-altered consciousness (things you have to choose to do)
Coping with Stress
Perceived feelings of control Optimism Social Support Exercise Relaxation/Meditation Biofeedback Spirituality
Introspection
The analysis of one's own conscious state (self-analysis of mental processes)
Anima (Jung)
The archetype representing the female/feminine element of a man's unconscious
Animus (Jung)
The archetype representing the masculine side of the female
Sucking Reflex
The automatic response of sucking anything put in the mouth
On the Origin of Species (1859)
The book written by Charles Darwin explaining natural selection.
"Mental Housekeeping"
The brain is clearing out useless neural clutter according to the physiological functioning theory of dreaming
What are the essential components of classical condition? Punishment?
The essential components of classical conditioning are strength (the stimuli being noticeable enough to provoke a response), timing (the pairing of the UCS and NS close enough to form an association), and frequency (the UCS and NS being paired frequently enough to form a strong association). The essential components of punishment are swiftness (the punishment following the behavior quick enough to form a strong association), certainty (the punishment occurs every time the behavior occurs), sufficiency (the punishment is just strong enough as to discourage the behavior and form the association without seeming unfair), and consistency (the punishment applies to all who perform the behavior equally).
Psychology
The scientific study of behavior and mental processes, actions & thoughts
Absolute Refractory
The minimum length of time after an action potential during which another action potential cannot begin --> neuron cannot fire again
Perceptual Illusion
The misperception of the true characteristics of an object or an image.
Outer Ear
The part of the ear that collects sound waves; consists of the pinna, the ear canal, and the eardrum
Gender Typing
The process of developing the behaviors, thoughts, and emotions (characteristics or a role) associated with a particular gender (masculine or feminine)
Equilibration
The process of restoring balance between present understanding and new experiences.
Flynn Effect
The rise in average IQ scores that has occurred over the decades in many nations...causes intelligence tests to be restandardized to keep norms valid (they make them harder)
Phrenology
The study of the relationship between head shape/bumps on skull and certain traits, used to justify slavery
Principles of Psychology
The textbook that William James wrote that took him 12 years to create. It covers four major topics: Stream of consciousness Emotion Habit Will
Threshold of excitation
The value of the membrane potential that must be reached to produce an action potential --> depolarization must be high enough for neural impulse to fire
Dependent Variable
The variable that is being measured
Visual Cortex
The visual processing areas of cerebral cortex in the occipital [and temporal] lobes
Diabetes
Type 1: Can't produce insulin @ all, hereditary Type 2: doesn't produce enough insulin, can develop by diet & exercise - Glucose can't enter tissues; can't be used for fuel, builds up in bloodstream
Choice Blindness
When defending the choice we make, we fail to notice choice was changed --> unaware of a choice we just made, we will justify choices we never knew we made
Gambler's Fallacy
When one outcome occurs more frequently than normal in the short term, it will occur less frequently in the future What happens the previous time in reality has no effect on the next
Moro Reflex
When startled or dropped by sound or movement, arms will thrust out to the sides
Excitatory Neurotransmitters
When the neurotransmitters bind, they cause an action potential in the receiving neuron.
Functionalism
Why we function in certain ways --> try to figure out the [evolutionary] PURPOSE of our thoughts
Grasping Reflex
Will try to grasp onto what you put near their hands or feet
Differences Within vs. Between Groups
You want to have a large difference BETWEEN the control group and experimental group But a small difference WITHIN each group (low variation)
Free Association
a Freudian therapeutic technique of exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind without censorship - causes unconscious thoughts to come to the surface
Empty Chair Technique
a Gestalt technique in which clients engage in emotional expression by imagining that the person to whom they would like to speak is sitting in an empty chair facing them
Retinal Disparity
a binocular cue for perceiving depth by comparing images from the retinas in the two eyes, the brain computes distance—the greater the disparity (difference) between the two images, the closer the object
Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)
a biomedical treatment in which electric shock is used to produce a cortical seizure accompanied by convulsions - causes brief convulsions and temporary loss of consciousness - side effects: memory loss, difficulty learning following the procedure - 1938: Ugo Cerletti & Lucio Bini create seizures by passing an electric current through brains - 1940s-1950s: used to treat depression, schizophrenia, mania
The Bell Curve (the book)
a book written that argues that intelligence is influenced by both nature and nurture and it also argues that a gap is continuing to form between those of high intelligence and those of average and low intelligence - factors of intelligence: genetics, SES, family dynamics
Unconditional Positive Regard
a caring, accepting, nonjudgmental attitude, which Carl Rogers believed would help clients to develop self-awareness and self-acceptance
Pupil
a small opening in the iris through which light enters the eye
Clairvoyance
awareness of an unknown object or event
Aggression
behavior intended to hurt or destroy others
Proximity
brain groups items together based on closeness - i.e. seeing two groups of two lines rather than four lines
Psychosurgery
brain surgery performed to change a person's behavior or emotional state; rarely used today and removes far less brain tissue
Parallel Processing
brains process multiple features of visual experience at once and integrate these features to create our experience of vision
Developmental Psychology
branch of psychology that examines the physiological, cognitive, and emotional changes/development in an organism from conception until death
Subgoals or Means-End Analysis
break large problems into smaller, more manageable ones, each of which is easier to solve than the whole problem
Dorothea Dix (1802-1887)
brought humane ideas about mental healthcare to the US
Cooperative Play
by 3-3.5 years old, children play with one another
Henry Fielder
came up with contingency theory of leadership
Meichenbaum
came up with stress-inoculation therapy
Lashley
created lesions in the brains (hippocampi) of rats who had learned a maze - surgery basically removed where the memory should have been located - despite damaged areas, memory was only weakened, not obliterated conclusion: memory is stored in multiple parts of the brain; backup like a computer
Lewis M. Terman
created the Stanford-Binet test (revised Binet-Simon's) - wanted to measure 'inherited intelligence' (eugenics, yikes) - Interpreted results in favor of Anglo-Saxon superiority - Used to justify limits on immigrants from South & East Europe
Perception
creating meaningful patterns from raw sensory information, recognition of stimuli - eg: i see a DOG - making sense and interpreting things/features
Monaural Cues
cues to sound location that require one ear
Improving Contact Between Group
group members must have equal, need one-on-one contact with other group; relations are improved when groups come together to cooperate; social norms should encourage contact
Mnemonists
individuals with extraordinary memories
George Miller
made famous the phrase: "the magical number 7, plus or minus 2" when describing STM (only 5-9 pieces in STM at a time)
Ventrolateral Preoptic Nucleus (VPN)
makes you tired; located in the hypothalamus; causes insomnia as it dies off with age
Pleasure Principle
principle by which the id functions; the immediate satisfaction of needs without regard for the consequences
Older you get,
the less time spent in REM
Young-Helmholtz
trichromatic theory
Saturation
vividness or richness of a hue
Misinformation Effect
when given incorrect information about an event, we tend to remember it incorrectly - create false memories - ex. what color was my tie? not wearing a tie, but subjects might take a guess/think he was wearing one - suggesting something happened can make us believe it did when asked to recall later
Encoding Failure
when information is never really learned - it never makes the cut from STM to LTM
AD/HD (Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder)
6 month history of behaviors involving multiple symptoms of inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity that disrupt normative development - several symptoms must appear before age 12 - use of psychostimulants for treatment (Ritalin, Adderall)
Concrete Operational
7-11 years; logical reasoning about concrete events - Principles of Conservation: pour same amount of water into two glasses in front of child, child says one with higher water level has more --> doesn't understand they have same amount
Erikson's Integrity vs. Despair
70s - death; stage where one reviews life accomplishments, deals with loss, & prepares for death
Internal Review Board (IRB)
A committee that is charged with protecting human rights and ensuring that all research studies are conducted in a manner consistent with community, professional, and legal standards. The American Psychological Association only accredits colleges and universities if they have an IRB in place to evaluate all studies using human subjects.
Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy
expose client to fears in safe, virtual setting
Phonetics
how sounds are put together to form words (part of grammar)
Neuroscience Perspective
how the body and brain enable emotions, memories, and sensory experiences
Evolutionary Perspective
how the natural selection of traits has promoted the survival of genes
Psychiatrist
medical doctor licensed to to prescribe drugs and otherwise treat physical causes of psychological disorders --> need MD
Antipsychotics (Neuroleptics)
medications that alleviate or diminish the intensity of psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations or delusions - used for schizophrenia or psychosis - block dopamine receptors in brain - include drowsiness, dry mouth, muscular rigidity, & tardive dyskinesia - Ec. thorazine -> lobotomy in a bottle - 60-70% of users show improvement
Oval Window
membrane at the entrance to the cochlea through which the stapes (stirrups) transmit vibrations by tugging and vibrating
Prospective Memory
memory relating to planning for the future - Ex: yesterday, made a plan hour by hour for tomorrow; today, wake up & remember the plan, retrieve the prospective memory
Reconstructive Memory
memory that has been simplified, enriched, or distorted, depending on an individual's experiences and attitudes - can be caused by source amnesia - children's underdeveloped frontal lobes make them more susceptible to false memories - recovered memories of abuse aided by therapists are unreliable --> could be reconstructing memory with alterations based on information presented to subject
Perceptual Set
mental predisposition to perceive one thing over another - can be influenced by motivation, schemas, emotions, and experiences - influenced by motivation, context, values, expectations, cognitive style, experience, culture, & personality - ex: is napoleon tall or short?
secondary punishment
method of decreasing behavior that is undesirable, but not life-threatening - ex: taking away recreational privileges
Incus (Anvil)
middle bone connected to the hammer and stirrup, passes vibrations from hammer onto the stapes (stirrup)
Richard Dawkins
"The Selfish Gene" (1976) - Varied organisms in a population compete to survive - Certain biological and behavioral variations facilitate survival - Surviving organisms may reproduce and pass on their genes - Leads to overall changing characteristics in a population
Hypercomplex Cells
"angle detectors" VERY LARGE receptive fields combine complex cells' signals respond best when the end does not extend past the receptive field
Simple Cells
"line detectors" narrow, elongated excitatory and inhibitory zones that have specific access of orientation/position
Complex Cells
"motion detectors" large receptive fields without clear excitatory or inhibitory zones respond best to a moving edge
Erikson's Trust vs. Mistrust
(0-1 y/o) The first stage in Erikson's developmental stages in which the child needs to discover whether it can rely on its caregiver or not; needs maximum comfort with minimal uncertainty to trust itself & others
Oral Stage
(0-1.5) suck and chew things for security - erogenous zone: mouth - libido satisfied by breastfeeding - major conflict: weaning
Autonomy vs Shame and Doubt
(1-3) toddler learns to exercise will and to do things independently; failure to do so causes shame and doubt
Anal Stage
(1.5-3) - erogenous zone: anus - libido satisfied by pooping - major conflict: toilet training
Initiative vs Guilt
(3-6) child finds independence in planning, playing and other activities; questions purpose and role in life; failure to obtain independence leads to guilt
Phallic Stage: Girls
(4-6) - erogenous zone: clitoris - libido satisfied by genital stimulation - major conflict: electra complex
Phallic Stage: Boys
(4-6) - erogenous zone: penis - libido satisfied by genital stimulation - major conflict: oedipus complex
Phallic Stage
(4-6) relinquishing desire for opposite sex parent; failure to resolve this leads to fixation
Erikson's Generativity vs. Stagnation
(40s - 60s) Stage where one seeks satisfaction through productivity in career, family, and civic interests
Industry vs Inferiority
(6-12) older child begins making more social interactions, learns to be productive, and wonders if they belong
Latency Stage
(7-11) - erogenous zone: NONE - libido is hidden and sexual feelings are repressed (cooties) -> child goes to school - child develops academic, social, & extracurricular skills - typically plays in same-sex groups - fixation could lead to asexuality
Erikson's Psychosocial Stages
(Erikson) the stages refer to eight major challenges that humans encounter across the lifespan; series of conflicts that last throughout the entire lifespan
Erik Erikson
(Neo-Freudian) didn't believe in the psychosexual stages, so he created the psychosocial stages that involve a series of conflicts throughout a lifetime
Karen Horney
(Neo-Freudian) one of the first female psychoanalysts to study with Freud - developed coping mechanisms to deal with insecurity and neurotic trends - viewed anxiety as a powerful motivating force - environmental & social factors important in unconscious sexual conflict
classical conditioning
(Pavlov, Watson, Reiner) learning in which a response naturally caused by one stimulus comes to be elicited by a different, formerly neutral stimulus - relating two stimuli together so one is expected even when the other isn't present (ex: salivation in expectation of food with bell after conditioning even if food isn't present) - giving a response to something that normally has no relevant reaction
operant conditioning
(Skinner and Thorndike) learning in which an organism engages in a spontaneous behavior which is followed by a consequence - reward or punishment - organism learns to perform behavior in order to gain reward or avoid punisment
Gender Identity
(age 3) our sense/knowledge of being male or female
Gender Constancy
(age 4-5) realization that gender is invariant / cannot change
Garcia Effect
(deliberately conditioned taste aversion) you can cause a taste aversion in humans and animals - experiment w coyotes: sprinkled carcass of sheep with a chemical that caused illness in coyotes -> coyotes didn't attack livestock following this experience -> associated sheep with nausea
Preconventional
(levels 1-2, before age 9) good behavior is mostly to avoid punishment and seek reward
Conventional
(levels 3-4, early adolescence) behavior is about pleasing others and becoming a good citizen - following the law because it is the law, not just to avoid punishment
Carl Jung
(neo-Freudian) like Freud's son; created concept of "collective unconscious" and wrote books on dream interpretation - archetypes, anima, animus
Transference
(psychoanalysis) the process whereby emotions are passed on or displaced by the patient from one person to the therapist
Genital Stage
(puberty onwards) - erogenous zone: penis/vagina - libido satisfied through sex - normal sexual relationships occur at this stage (fixation here is normal)
Cerebellum
- "Little brain" at rear of brainstem - processes sensory input, coordinates movement output and balance, enables nonverbal learning and memory, helps to judge time, modulate emotions, and discriminate sounds and textures, coordinates voluntary movement
Genome
- "map" for an organism's complete genetic make-up - Human Genome Project --> sought to discover every gene that caused every single trait/behavior --> failure in proving all traits had a certain gene causing them, but suggested that certain genes can predispose one to certain traits but cannot confirm them
Wilhem Wundt
- 1879 --> first to experiment using a psychology laboratory - examined introspection and structuralism - first experiment studied the time lag from when a metal sound was struck and a person heard the sound and pressed a key.
Plato
- 1st person to think mind located in brain (noticed how head damage influenced thoughts & behavior)
DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid)
- A complex organic molecule containing the genetic information that makes up the chromosomes ("code of life" - double-helix figure that makes it more protective
Temporal Lobe
- A region of the cerebral cortex responsible for hearing and language (receive information from opposite ear, so T.L. in left hemisphere receives from right ear & vice versa) -Includes: Auditory cortex & Wernicke's Area - Located roughly above ears
Frontal Lobe
- A region of the cerebral cortex that has specialized areas for abstract thinking, planning, memory, speaking, muscle movements, and judgment -Includes: Association cortex, Broca's Area, & the motor cortex (allows us to move) - Located just behind forehead - Most evolved
Serotonin
- Affects mood, hunger, sleep, and arousal - Undersupply linked to depression - High levels --> better mood
Sensory Neurons
- Afferent --> body to brain - Relay sensory information, one-way communication - Extremities to the brain, tells to move - receive information from the external world and convey this information to the brain via the spinal cord
Social Learning Theory (Observational Learning)
- An extension of behaviorism (studying behaviors) that emphasizes the influence that other people have over a person's behavior - Even without specific reinforcement, every individual learns many things through observation and imitation of other people.
Alfred Adler
- Believed inferiority was key to understanding personality - inferiority complex, birth order, fictional finalism, dethronement, compensation
Antipsychotic Medications
- Block dopamine receptors - Reduces schizophrenic hallucinations - Antagonists --> prevent binding of dopamine
Stressors (Sources of Stress)
- Catastrophes and PTSD (continued anxiety after event is over) - Change- SRRS (even good change is stressful) - Pressure (need to work harder/do better) - Frustration (being prevented from reaching goal) - Conflict (simultaneous existence of incompatible demands/goals)
Glial Cells
- Cells in the nervous system that support, nourish, and protect neurons - "Custodian" of the nerve cells --> cleans up the neurons when they die - Shuttle nutrients, repairs neurons - Helps to maintain Homeostasis
Amygdala
- Controls emotions such as aggression & fear- in animals, the "attack" response
Bottom-up Processing
- Data-driven - Beginning with stimulation of senses (sensation), interpretation of sensory information with brains - drawing a conclusion based on collected clues - i.e. I see a furry, 4-legged creature with a tail, I identify this as a dog - i.e. I see a person with certain features (face, height, etc.); I know this as a human being, and can identify these individual features (sharp jawline, etc.)
5 parts of a neuron
- Dendrites (start): receive messages from other cells - Cell Body: cell's life support center - Axon: passes messages away from the cell body to other neurons, muscles, or glands - Myelin Sheath: covers the axon of some neurons and helps speed neural impulses, composed of Schwann cells (glial cells that form the Myelin Sheath) - Terminal branches (end): forms junctions with other cells, allow for messages to be passed along to the dendrites of the next cell
Interpretation of Dreams
- Dreams allow unconscious urges to leak out - Dreams allow unconscious wishes to be fulfilled in a safe way - Dreams are symbolic and may be interpreted
Tympanic Membrane
- Eardrum - innermost structure that separates the outer ear from the middle ear and vibrates in response to sound waves
Motor Neurons
- Efferent --> brain to body -One-way communication from brain to extremities - carry outgoing information from the central nervous system to the muscles and glands - reason for delay in movement, time it takes for signal to travel
All-or-None Law
- Either a neuron fires or it doesn't, impulses always have the same intensity - Different stimuli can either cause more frequent action potentials or action potentials in more neurons --> impulse itself is always same intensity
Na+ /K+
- Resting Potential --> K+ inside, Na+ outside - Action Potential --> Na+ rushes inside, K+ goes outside - Repolarization --> K+ goes back inside, Na+ back outside
Achetylcholine (ACh)
- Enables muscle action, learning and memory - When ACh producing neurons deteriorate, memory/muscle diseases like Alzheimer's can occur
Genie
- Feral Child - Locked away for over a decade, strapped into various devices (toilet, bed) - Had physical issues as well as mental - Started going through Piaget stages of development much later --> only developed Object Permanence & moved past egocentrism at around 13 rather than 0 - 7 (Sensorimotor & Preoperational) - Excelled at right hemisphere tasks, poorly on left (language) --> Genie processed language on right hemisphere instead --> Curtiss concluded brain development determined by environment & encounters w/ language before puberty - Supports Critical Period Theory --> critical period for language is between 2 - puberty, Genie only started learning language after critical period, hence why she never developed it fully & could only use short strings of words
Victor "The Wild Child of Aveyron"
- Feral child - Acted savagely (only ate potatoes, refused all other food, tore up clothes given to wear, wouldn't sleep in a bed, squatted to urinate, etc.) - Was it caused by organic (nature) or functional (nurture) causes? - Itard --> believed it was nurture, tried to re-educate Joseph/Victor - Taught behaviors like preferring hot to cold, dressing himself, started using tools, grew disliking of dirt - Learned to vaguely communicate through motion, understood that words stood for objects, gave hugs, could write simple words legibly, developed emotional maturity, developed sense of justice vs. injustice - Overall, made progress from initial state --> supports nurture side of argument
Mary Calkins
- First female president of the APA - Taught by James at Harvard and earned her degree, but was not given the degree she had earned but a lower one. She refused the offer to study at diff school and went on to become a distinguished memory researcher
Curare
- Found in vines in South America - Can stun or kill prey quickly -Blocks ACh receptors causing paralysis (Antagonist --> prevents ACh binding)
Franz Gall
- Founder of phrenology - Believed bumps, grooves on skull, are paired with certain traits - No evidence - Used to justified slavery
Thyroid Gland
- Function: Controls metabolism and blood calcium levels - Hormone: Thyroxin - Located in neck
Adrenal Glands
- Function: React to stress - Hormones: Adrenaline/Noradrenaline - Located at top of each kidney
Pituitary Gland
- Function: Regulates other glands - Tells other glands to secrete hormones - "master gland" -Location: Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Gonadal axis (base of brain, behind nose)
Pineal Gland
- Function: Regulates sleep & waking - Hormone: Melatonin - Damage/Impairment --> insomnia & trouble waking up can result
Pancreas
- Function: regulate blood sugar secretes insulin - Hormone: Insulin - Linked to diabetes --> undersupply of insulin produced
Gonads
- Function: regulate sexual behavior - Hormones: Estrogens and Androgens - Sexual organs
PET scan (positron emission tomography)
- Glucose inserted into blood stream to show color-coded images of brain activity --> shows which neurons are active and using the glucose to function -The brain lives off glucose & uses for energy, red indicates a very active brain that is replenishing w/ glucose - Functional Neuroimaging: More sophisticated, can show brain functioning over time
Norepinephrine
- Helps control alertness and arousal - Undersupply can depress mood
Endocrine System
- Helps coordinate psychological reactions - Secrete hormones into bloodstream, through its glands - Organize Nervous System & body - Influences behavior, influenced by environment
Homunculus
- Homunculus --> diagram of body parts associated with parts of each cortex in relation to size - in the sensory cortex, the right hemisphere receives input from left side of body; in motor cortex, right hemisphere controls left side of body - bigger body parts, bigger brain space
Caffeine
- Increases release of excitatory neurotransmitters by blocking the inhibitory neurotransmitter adenosine - Activates sympathetic nervous system - Antagonist --> blocks inhibitory neurotransmitter
Dopamine
- Influences movement, learning, attention, and emotion - Excess receptor activity linked to psychotic issues like schizophrenia - Lack of dopamine causes tremors decreases mobility (Parkinson's)
Cocaine
- Leads to heightened arousal of entire nervous system - Prevents reuptake of dopamine (Agonist)
Glutamate
- Major excitatory neurotransmitter involved in memory - Oversupply can cause brain overstimulation leading to migraines or seizures - MSG (form of it) found in a lot of foods, people try to avoid it
GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid)
- Major inhibitory neurotransmitter, ONLY inhibitory!! - Undersupply linked to seizures, tremors, & insomnia
Ego
- develops around 6 months - governed by "reality principle" - seeks to gratify id urges at appropriate times - inherits inevitable anxiety produced by the id-superego conflict
David Reimer Case
- Man whose penis was burnt off during circumcision surgery while young - His parents, upon hearing of Dr John Money (who argued it was possible for an individual to change gender successfully and genetic sex does not have to correspond with gender) had him surgically sexually reassigned to a female & went through a 12 year program of social and mental readjustment - Dr. Money saw Reimer's case as a perfect opportunity --> because he was a twin, he could use his twin as a control, while proving gender was ambiguous at birth, thus proving his nurture argument of nature v nurture - Reimer was raised as Brenda - Brenda exhibited male traits & characteristics, but Money hid this from the world in his research - Brenda --> developed serious psychological issues, lived a miserable life - ended up going back to being a male named David, committed suicide after his brother's death
Four Humors of the Body
- Melancholic (black bile) -> moody, glum - Choleric (Yellow Bile) -> irritable, hot-tempered - Phlegmatic (Phlegm) -> slow, droopy - Sanguine (Red Bile) -> happy, energetic, passionate
Resting Potential
- Neuron is NOT transmitting information - Neuron is polarized & negatively charged (more sodium ions outside than potassium ions inside) - Selectively permeable membrane is closed - K+ inside, Na+ outside
Polarized
- Neuron is negatively charged - more positive sodium ions are outside than positive potassium ions inside
Parietal Lobe
- Primary sensory or somatosensory cortex, receives sensory input for touch & body position - Includes the Association cortex & the Somatosensory cortex - Located at top-rear of each hemisphere
Hippocampus
- Processes new long-term memories - H.M.: Lost memory in a surgical procedure to reduce epileptic seizures in 1953, because both hippocampi were removed, became a complete amnesiac --> couldn't make any new memories at all - Clive Wearing: a man who forgets information every 7 seconds, forgets he just saw his wife 30 seconds ago so it feels like he hasn't seen her in years
MRI (magnetic resonance imaging)
- Produces detailed pictures of soft tissue in the brain, can focus on specific regions when CT can't produce clear images - Structural (photograph) neuroimaging
Action Potential (AP)
- Rapid, powerful change in the state of a neuron - Happens as neuron reaches threshold of excitation - Na+ in, K+ out - Neuron is depolarizing
Hypothalamus
- Regulates hunger, thirst, body temperature, & sex drive- also controls the pituitary gland - Rat study: self-stimulation of "pleasure centers" --> when hypothalamus was lesioned in rats, had no drive to eat, sleep, engage in intercourse, etc. --> when hypothalamus was overstimulated, hyperdrive to do all of those things
Improving Memory
- SQ3R (survey, question, read, recite, review) - Metamemory --> being aware of how memory works - Spaced practice --> shorter sessions over an extended period of time (Spacing Effect) - Peg Word System --> image + associated word, assign new material to each peg individually - Minimize interference, maximize retrieval cues (state, location, etc.) - Sleep :)
Top-down Processing
- Schema-driven - using schemas, expectancies, and past experiences, interpretation of sensory information to construct deeper meaning - i.e. the dog is foaming at the mouth -> it has rabies -> I will not approach it - i.e. recognize certain features, that is not just a human being, but my friend
Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)
- Sensory and motor neurons that connect the central nervous system (CNS) to the rest of the body - Both sides of body
Kinsey (1948, 1953)
- Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948); interviewed 1000s of men about their sexual behavior - Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953) - Invented Kinsey Scale of 0 to 6 (hetero to homo) - used controversial methods (prison population, male prostitutes)
Michael Gazzaniga
- Split-brain research; understanding of functional lateralization in the brain; how the cerebral hemispheres communicate - did Corpus Callosum surgery to stop epileptic seizures - Visual Abilities Test: In order for you to say you saw something, the object has to have been seen by the left side of your brain. - Tactile Abilities Test: Verbal ability is in the left hemisphere of the brain. The only reason regular people (not a split-brain patient) are able to name unseen objects in our left hands is because the information from the right side of our brains is transmitted via the corpus callosum to the left side, where our center for language can identify and describe the object. - Visual/ Tactile: Patients knew what the object was, but the left side of their brain prevented saying what the object was because it believes it never saw the object (the object was shown only to the right side of the brain) - Auditory Tests: Demonstrated that right hemisphere is comprehending language; When a verbal response was required, the right hemisphere was unable to speak
William James
- Studied functionalism and supported Charles Darwin's theories - His legacy came from his Harvard teaching and writing more than a lab. He was joyous before he became ill and depressed, and in his teaching time taught Mary Calkins.
Charles Darwin
- Studied species variation and evolution. - Argues that natural selection shapes behaviors - Founded evolutionary school of thought --> why are certain psychological traits passed down?
E.B. Titchener
- Studied structuralism - Professor at Cornell - Method --> engage people in introspection - Agreed with C.S. Lewis that we must observe ourselves to learn more about the mind.
IPSP (inhibitory postsynaptic potential)
- Synaptic potential that makes a postsynaptic neuron less likely to generate an action potential - Caused by inhibitory neurotransmitters
EPSP (excitatory postsynaptic potential)
- Synaptic potential that makes a postsynaptic neuron more likely to generate an action potential - Caused by excitatory neurotransmitters
Superego
- develops around 6 years old - seeks to do what's right (conscience) - the "internalized parent" - causes us to feel guilty for desires/id impulses - governed by "judicial" or "moral principle"
Stomatopods (mantis shrimp)
- The capacity to see UV light may enable observation of otherwise hard-to-detect prey on coral reefs - visual experience of colors is not very different from humans - the eyes are a mechanism that operates at the level of individual cones and makes the brain more efficient - System allows visual information to be preprocessed by the eyes instead of the brain, which would otherwise have to be larger to deal with the stream of raw data, thus requiring more time and energy
Depolarization
- The process during the action potential when sodium is rushing into the cell causing the interior to become more positive - Charge is approaching 0 (before, more Na+ outside than K+ inside made it -)
Ivan Pavlov (behaviorist)
- Theorized dogs learn from experience to expect food following certain signals - Dog exposed to ticking of metronome (NS), then immediately presented with food (UCS) - Sounds of metronome began to stimulate salivary secretion (UCR) → became conditioned stimulus for conditioned response of salivation (CR)
Epigenetics
- To what extent do your experiences change your DNA expression? - Can genes provoke us to seek particular environments?
Intraneural Transmission
- Transmission of electrical signals WITHIN a neuron - Occurs as a result of the exchange of charged particles (ions)
Occipital Lobe
- Visual processing & receiving information from visual fields - Includes: visual cortex - Lies at the back of the head
Intelligence: Nature Arguments
- adoption studies: IQ scores of adopted child more closely matched biological mother than adoptive mother - identical twin studies: after identical twins spent their lives raised in different families, they still have the highest correlation of IQ scores
Wernike's Area/Aphasia
- area in the Temporal lobe that is crucial to our ability to interpret both written and spoken language - damage to this area makes you unable to understand language: the syntax and grammar jumbled
Visual Cliff
- babies don't have a solid sense of depth perception; depth perception partially nature, partially nurture - babies will hesitate to crawl over the visual cliff with plexiglass over it, even with mother's encouragement - 0-6 months, most infants crawl over - 6-14 months, most infants hesitant
Aggression
- behavior aimed at doing harm to others - may be innate, but learning plays a role - Frustration-Aggression Theory -> taking frustration out on others (product of nurture) - Social Learning & Modeling -> replicating violent/aggressive behaviors - Males more physically aggressive
B.F. Skinner
- believed behavior in all organisms caused, shaped, & maintained by consequences - founder of operant conditioning - theorized superstition (belief that one event will cause another despite no clear correlation) not unique to human - superstitious behaviors --> non-contingently reinforced (accidentally reinforced) - "Skinner Box" (conditioning chamber) → empty box except for dish where food is dispensed, allows animal inside to be reinforced by food - 8 pigeons → fed less than normal daily amount for several days so when tested they would be hunger & highly motivated to perform behavior for food - placed in experimental cage to just hang out, reinforcement delivered automatically every 15 seconds - birds developed odd behaviors (movement around box, pendulum head motion, etc) - seemingly believed that a certain action would be what causes the food to come down → superstition - extended interval, more energetic behaviors to encourage stimulus despite behavior not being actually correlated
Id
- born with id intact - Governed by pleasure principle - Houses libido & aggression - Selfish, irrational, seeks instant gratification
Auditory Nerve
- connection from ear to brain - provides information to both sides of brain - information processed in auditory cortex (temporal lobe)
spinal cord
- connects brain to peripheral nervous system - handles reflexes - if damaged could cause paralysis or death ---> the higher on the spinal cord the injury is, the more drastic the injury will be
Wernicke's area
- controls language reception - a brain area involved in language comprehension and expression; usually in the left temporal lobe - case where guy could talk but he couldn't comprehend what anyone was saying
Charles Spearman
- creator of "g-factor" (general intelligence --> intelligence is general, meaning people are either intelligent or not) - one of the first people to try to define intelligence - people who are bright in one area tend to be bright in others
Lesions
- damaged or destroyed brain tissue through natural or experimental causes - lesions in different parts of brain cause different effects in behavior/brain function
Seasonal Affective Disorder
- depressive episodes associated with a certain season - symptoms come with changing seasons
Gender & Emotion
- different genders feel emotions equally, but express them differently; may experience different emotions in the same situation - men tend to direct anger outward, women inward - women more skilled at understanding nonverbal components of emotion
brain
- enables all functioning - billions of neurons and their connections - neurons work together in neural networks
Phallic Fixation
- excessive masturbation, overly flirtatious - excessive modesty, excessively timid - overly proud, promiscuous - fetishes
Sternberg's Components of Creativity
- expertise: well developed base of knowledge; furnishes ideas, images, and phrases we use as mental building blocks - imaginative thinking skills: ability to see things in novel ways, to recognize patterns, and to make connections - venturesome personality: seeks new experiences, tolerates ambiguity and risk, and perseveres in overcoming obstacles - intrinsic motivation: being driven more by interest, satisfaction, and challenge than by external pressures - creative environment: sparks, supports, and refines creative ideas
Zajonc and Markus (1975)
- family size and birth order studies - intellectual climate: numerical calculation of the level intellect in an household, based on the number of family members and their ages - intellectual climate goes down most when many children are born...this is why oldest are the smartest
Birth Order Theory
- firstborn children feel inferior to younger children who receive attention; become overachievers - middle children feel superior to dethroned older children, as well as younger children; tend to be very competitive - younger children feel inferior because they don't have the freedom or responsibility of older children; may also be very competitive
Evolutionary Psychologists
- focus on our similarities, as dictated by natural selection - Selection --> a reproductive advantage either naturally or artificially based on a trait/set of traits, advantageous traits will endure over time & the population will change
Real self vs Ideal self (Rogers)
- ideal: what we truly want to be - real: who we are based on our experiences - should have some overlap, will have overlap if you get unconditional positive regard - Maladjustment results from discrepancy between real and ideal selves
Defense Mechanisms (Freud)
- inevitable conflict between id and supergo produces anxiety, anxiety inherited by ego which it manages through defense mechanisms - denial, repression, projection, identification, regression, rationalization, intellectualization, reaction formation, displacement, sublimation, undoing
Intelligence: Nurture Arguments
- isolated or deprived environments: individuals living in culturally or physically impoverished areas causes lower IQ scores -> less access to education - adoption and orphanage studies; children demonstrated elevated IQ scores after being moved from crowded orphanage to freer adult wards
Synapse
- junction between the terminal button of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving neuron - Terminal Button of sending neuron + Synaptic cleft + Dendrites/cell body of receiving neuron
Iceberg Analogy
- most aspects of a person's motivation are beneath awareness - superego and ego are closer to consciousness (ego in preconscious, superego in unconscious but closer to surface than Id) - id is hidden deep in our unconscious - vast majority of our thoughts are unconscious; conscious is just "tip of iceberg"
Neurons
- nerve-cells throughout the whole body - Communicate electrically & chemically
Neural Networks
- networks of nerve cells that integrate sensory input and motor output - Interconnected neural cells; with experience, networks can learn/change, as feedback strengthens or inhibits connections that produce certain results
Interneurons
- neurons within the Central Nervous System [brain and spinal cord] that communicate internally and intervene/convey impulses between the sensory neurons' inputs and motor neurons' outputs
punishment vs reinforcement
- punishment is not as effective as reinforcement - punishment can be necessary when there is no behavior worth reinforcing, only behavior to be discouraged - does not teach proper behavior, only suppresses undesirable behavior - punishment causes upset that can impede learning - may give impression that inflicting pain is acceptable (beating child teaches that pain infliction is not necessarily bad, may do it to others)
Autism Spectrum Disorder
- qualitative impairment in social interaction, communication - restricted repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests, and activities
Phineas Gage
- railroad worker who survived a severe brain injury (metal rod through left frontal lobe) that dramatically changed his personality and behavior - damaged frontal lobe --> frontal lobe responsible for judgement & decision making, Gage had issues with judging social cues after injury due to damage - Speech, memory, & physical capacities intact → Personality changed entirely --> unreliable, intolerant, impatient, hostile, rude, abrupt, unpredictable, vulgar, used coarse language, and changed his plans moment to moment, became a risk taker, and could not be trusted - case played a role in the development of the understanding of the localization of brain function
Broca's area/aphasia
- responsible for movement of the right side of body and speech production - Damage to Broca's area, near the motor cortex, is associated with difficulties in language production & movement in right side of body - can cause the inability to produce speech
Major Depressive Disorder
- severely lowered/diminished mood - 6 months of isolation, loss of interest, difficulty sleeping, fatigue
Roger Sperry
- showed that left/right hemispheres have different functions - Experimented by splitting connection [corpus callosum] between two halves of brain on a cat & altered optic nerves so each eye only transmitted information to its corresponding hemisphere (left to left, right to right) - Right eye covered → cat learned how to navigate maze using left eye & thus left brain - Left eye covered → cat had no idea how to navigate maze, had to relearn from beginning --> when sides of brain couldn't communicate learned patterns from visual input, cat couldn't remember how to navigate maze - Won Nobel Prize for work on specialized abilities of brains' hemispheres
Law of Specific Nerve Energies
- states that activity by a particular nerve always conveys the same type of information to the brain - one-to-one relationship between stimulation of a specific nerve and the resulting sensory experience - each sense is specialized, but they can cross-over - i.e. applying pressure to your eye results in a visual experience (touch -> vision) - i.e. punched in ear results in ringing noise (touch -> hearing)
Criticisms of IQ tests
- tests measure a narrow set of skills - tests only measure your test-taking ability - discriminates against minorities - could result in permanent labeling
X and Y chromosomes
- the human sex chromosomes (XX --> female, XY --> male) - Y triggers sex differentiation during fetal development - abnormalities include Klinefelter Syndrome (XXY) & Turner Syndrome (XO)
Humanistic Theories of Personality
- view people as innately good and able to determine their own destinies through the exercise of free will - focus on potential for human goodness & natural desire to achieve personal goals (optimistic) - emphasize immediate subjective experiences unique to each of us Strengths - Contributes to understanding happiness & fulfillment - Positive self-concept, empathy, optimism on human nature important in finding happiness Weaknesses - Subjective concepts, not scientific - Individualism's encouragement can lead to selfishness & self-indulgence - Does not explain real examples of evil in humans
Opposition to the Trichromatic Theory
- why can't we "reddish-green" or "yellow-blue" - red-green colorblind people can see yellow, which Helmholtz argues is a result of red and green cones firing --> if red/green cones are dysfunctional, how can one see yellow - no explanation for color afterimage (central dot on negatives --> negative colors leaves afterimage) - came up with the opponent-process theory
EEG (electroencephalogram)
-Records the electrical activity on the surface of the brain -Functional technique - shows the brain functioning over time - The higher amplitude & squished together waves are, more neurons firing impulses, more brain activity
Preoperational Stage
2-7 years old; during which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic - Egocentrism; intuitive over logical reasoning - Development of a theory of mind, ideas about their own and others' cognition and their resulting behaviors - Mountain Problem
Freud's Main 3 Beliefs
1. childhood experiences determine the adult personality 2. unconscious mental processes influence everyday behavior 3. conflict causes most human behavior
Formal Operational
12-adulthood, abstract reasoning (only 80% make it to this level) - hypothetical problem solving and deductive reasoning - understanding of abstract ideas
OB-1 Gene/Chromosome 15
15th chromosome may carry a gene that predisposes some people to obesity - causes body to be unable to produce leptin, feeling of never being full
Carl Rogers
1902-1987 humanistic psychologist, founded person-centered therapy
1st and 2nd year of Infancy
1: children gain about 15 pounds (double body weight) and grow 10 inches 2: growth slows; neural "pruning and trailblazing"
Embryo
2 weeks post-conception to 3 months - organs start to form - heartbeat appears
M.A.
2-3 years beyond B.A. --> study in a special subfield of psychology, stepping stone for more advanced study in doctoral program
Middle Ear
3 auditory ossicles (bones): hammer, anvil, stirrup (HAS)
B.A.
4 years (minimum needed for a career)
Psy.D
5 - 7 years beyond B.A. (psy)for experimenting, clinical work & examinations
Ph.D
5-7 years beyond B.A. (maximum career options) for research
Synaptic Cleft
A gap into which neurotransmitters are released from the terminal branches/buttons to the dendrite/cell body
Melatonin
A hormone manufactured by the pineal gland that produces sleepiness --> release activated by lack of light
Hippocampus
A neural center located in the limbic system that helps process explicit memories for storage. - memories are made through the sense of smell & taste - smell/taste processors located very close to hippocampus/limbic system
Insulin
A protein hormone produced by the pancreas or taken as a medication by many diabetics; regulates blood sugar levels by facilitating the uptake of glucose into tissues
Occipital Lobe
A region of the cerebral cortex that processes visual information
Explain the difference between a reinforcement and a punishment and give an example of each.
A reinforcement is a pleasant change in the environment meant to encourage a behavior, whether it be an additional of something pleasant or the removal of something unpleasant. A punishment is an unpleasant or undesirable change to the environment meant to discourage a behavior, whether it be an addition of something unpleasant or the removal of something desirable. For example, a reinforcement would be rewarding a child for their good grades with money, while a punishment would be taking away a child's phone for bad grades.
Conduct Disorder
A repetitive and persistent pattern of behavior in which the basic rights of others or major age-appropriate societal norms or rules are violated - lasts at least 12 months - aggression towards people/animals, destruction of property, deceitfulness or theft
Sternberg's Triangular Theory of Love
A theory that sees love as having three elements: intimacy, passion, and commitment
Corpus Callosum
A thick band of axons that connects the two cerebral hemispheres and acts as a communication link between them
Third Variable Problem
A third factor influences the two factors being investigated
Shy Child
A timid and inhibited child that is fearful of anything new or strange. They are generally nervous around people.
systematic desensitization (desensitization therapy)
A type of exposure therapy that associates a pleasant relaxed state with gradually increasing anxiety-triggering stimuli (take baby steps to confront fear) - client learns relaxation techniques, then directly experiences each fear on hierarchy - commonly used to treat phobias. - gradually unlearn fear - "fear hierarchy": gradually expose fear, becomes more threatening every visit ex. 1st show cartoon blood, 2nd actual blood, 3rd blood squirting everywhere (gradually more intense)
Regression towards the Mean
A variable that is far from the mean will tend closer towards the mean ex. you get a super low score on a test, chances are the next time you will do better
Margaret Floy Washburn
Accepted the degree that Mary Calkins denied thus becoming the first female to receive a PhD in psychology, wrote the book "The Animal Mind", and became the second female APA president
Developmental Norms/Milestones
Ages by which an average child achieves various developmental milestones, such as crawling and walking - Generally happen in a proximodistal and cephalocaudal manner.
Gestalt School of Thought
All about how you perceive things (illusion of old woman and young woman) Wertheimer, Perls
APA
American Psychological Association All members of psychology (researchers, teachers, etc) involved Dictate which experiments are ethical and which are not
Hyperspectral Vision
Any form of vision that is beyond the visible light part of the electromagnetic spectrum (visible, UV, and infrared waves) - not humans
Genes
Basic units of inheritance; segment of DNA - What determines traits from mom & dad - don't necessarily control personality, characteristics
John Locke
Believed in the blank sheet on which experience writes (nuture) --> tabula rasa (blank slate)
Rene Descartes
Believed some traits are innate (nature)
Aristotle
Believed there was nothing in the mind that isn't first encountered by the senses in the external world (nurture)
Nature vs. Nurture
Big Idea: Are animals born a certain way with their traits and personality or is it something they learn as they grow up?
Botulism
Blocks the release of ACh at the neuromuscular junction, causing paralysis. (Antagonist --> less ACh available for binding) --> used for botox
Non-Verbal Language
Body language, gestures, facial expressions, and intonation that convey meaning
Brain size and Intelligence
Brain size and intelligence correlate at +0.33. This is a slightly positive correlation, meaning, to a small degree, larger brains mean smarter people (frontal & parietal lobes)
Central Nervous System (CNS)
Brain: - Enables all functioning - Billions of neurons & neural connections - Neurons work together in neural networks Spinal Cord: - Connects brain to peripheral nervous system - Handles reflexes
Volley Principle
Cells taking turns firing will increase the maximum firing rate for a group of cells - while one is in the refractory, another will be firing until they can produce another action potential - accounts for high-pitched sounds - how we hear things above 1000 Hz
Language Acquisition Device (LAD)
Chomsky's term for a hypothesized innate mental structure that enables humans to learn language, including the basic aspects of grammar, vocabulary, and intonation - brain is preprogrammed with knowledge of 'universal grammar' that transforms into the language you learn
Transformational Grammar Theory
Chomsky; differentiates between surface structure (way words are organized) and deep structure (what it means) - when we hear a sentence we transform the surface structure into the deep structure.
What is the difference between operant conditioning and classical conditioning? How is behavior modified in each?
Classical conditioning is the eliciting of a certain natural response (naturally caused by a UCS) via associating the UCS and thus the UCR with a neutral stimulus (which then becomes a CS). Operant conditioning is the regulation of behavior via reinforcement or punishment. In Classical Conditioning, a natural behavior becomes associated with a typically neutral event or stimulus; the behavior is not encouraged or discouraged, rather it is dictated by the natural response that occurs with the presentation of a stimulus (for example, Albert actively reaching for the rat is not discouraged on its own, but his fear of the rat makes the behavior unappealing). On the other hand, operant condition modifies behavior by encouraging a behavior to become consistent or discouraging it entirely via reward or punishment. The behavior becomes associated with an external certain reward or punishment, which is the incentive to behave a certain way.
Jean Piaget
Cognitive Developmental Psychologist - studied intellectual development in children - stage-based theory of cognitive development - studied when children learn how to do things/adapt - kids grow in stages - intellectual growth comes from adaptation to the world
Autonomic Nervous System (ANS)
Controls self-regulated (involuntary) actions of internal organs & glands; Automatic -Ex> Breathing, heart beating - Sympathetic division arouses; Parasympathetic division calms
CT scan (computed tomography)
Computer-assisted x-ray of the brain, used to create an overall image of the brain, not very detailed - Structural (photograph) neuroimaging
Conditional vs Unconditional Positive Regard (Rogers)
Conditional: you are only loved when you conform to others' wishes Unconditional: you are loved no matter what choices you make
Placenta
Connects fetus to mother (umbilical cord attaches to mother via placenta) - bring fetus oxygen and nutrients, take away waste
Biopsychosocial approach
Considers the influences of biological, psychological, and social-cultural factors Bio --> genetic predispositions, natural selection of adaptive traits, brain/hormone mechanisms Psycho --> thought processes & patterns, learned responses, emotional responses Social --> societal/cultural standards, presence of others
Correlation vs. Causation
Correlation does not prove causation, an experiment is needed to prove causation
Narcotics (opiates)
Depressant that relieve pain and induce sleep ex: morphine, heroin, laudanum (all derive from opium) - Highly addictive - Super-stimulate endorphin receptors - Withdrawal: chills, sweating, anxiety, loss of bowel control, spasms
Psychoanalysis
Designed to bring repressed feelings and thoughts to conscious awareness, created by Freud - therapist must maintain a neutral relationship with client so that client may project unresolved conflicts onto them - Dream analysis, hypnosis, free association
Binet and Simon
Developed the Binet-Simon intelligence test; idea of mental age
Diana Baumrind
Developed the Four Parenting Styles: Authoritarian, Permissive, Neglectful, Authoritative --> all have pros/cons
Kelley's Attribution Theory
Distinctiveness: How do the person's responses vary from situation to situation? (how distinct are they based on the situation) Consistency: Has this person response in the same way in this situation? Consensus: The degree to which the person's behavior is similar to other's behavior Low Consensus, Low D, High Consistency = Internal attribution High Consensus, High D, Low C = External attribution
Cohort Differences
Differences that occur between the sample being studied due to factors outside of age (i.e. a teen and an adult may differ in a test not due to age, but due to how they were raised), a confounding variable
Lev Vygotsky
Disagreed with Piaget, children do not grow in steps, but more gradually - there may not be distinct stages of cognitive development - importance of influence of social interaction in cognitive development --> lots of development in social interaction rather than benchmarks - Piaget --> steps; Vygotsky --> ramp - infants may understand the world better than Piaget claims
Informed Consent
Document the experimenter hands subject when they walk in explaining the experiment (you can withhold information, but you cannot lie) No physical or mental discomfort allowed, subject can leave at any time
Interval Scale
EQUAL INTERVALS Like temperature, ranks and shows how much distance in between data points No true zero
Cohort Effects
Effects due to a person's time of birth, era, or generation but not to actual age.
Imaginary Audience
Elkind --> teenage delusion that everyone else is always focused on them
Personal Fable
Elkind --> teenage delusion that they are unique and very important, & that experiences are unique to them
Information Processing Model of Memory
Encoding (Processing info, forming the memory) --> Storage (Retaining info over time) --> Retrieval (Getting info out of storage)
Extinction through Counterconditioning
Ending of old fears or reactions through repeated exposure to new stimulus pairs
Infant Reflexes
Entirely natural, include... - Rooting - Sucking - Swallowing - Grasping - Stepping - Babinski - Moro - Crawling
Intensification
Exaggerating an emotional expression; giving impression that one feels more strongly than they do - Ex. Pretending to be super excited over a minor gift
Gender Roles
Expected behaviors for males & females , vary across cultures & time - Provide sense of stability, simplification, & confinement
Experiment
Experimenter manipulates selected variables then measures the effects of these changes - Experimenter --> one who conducts experiment - Subjects --> those who participate & whose reactions or responses are observed in an experiment - Random Sample --> all potential participants have an equal chance of being selected to be in experiment - Confederates --> actors in an experiment who pretend to be participants
Social-Cultural Perspective
Explore how expressions of emotion vary across cultural contexts, how behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures
Ekman
FACIAL EXPRESSIONS OF EMOTION ARE UNIVERSAL - Showed that facial expressions and emotions have a universal relationship and although culture plays a small role, emotions are still expressed the same in various cultures - Traveled to an area of New Guinea where group of people had never been exposed to any outside cultures ever before - Asked them to identify the emotions on the facial expressions of people around the world, and they accurately paired them despite the vast culturally differences
Declarative Memory (Explicit Memory)
FACTS such as names, dates, and events, processed in the hippocampus - can be rapidly learned and forgotten - consciously accessed - includes semantic memory and episodic memory
John B. Watson
Fear of white rat on child- caused physical and mental distress
Lewin
Field Theory, Examines how individuals interact with environment
Depression
General category of mood disorders, characterized by - overwhelming feeling of sadness - lack of interest in activities - excessive guilt or feelings of worthlessness
Human Subjects Review Board/Ethics committee
Fight for rights of human subjects, determine ethicality of experiments
Lens
Focuses light onto retina - expands (far sight) and contracts (close) to adjust sight - changes shape through accommodation to help focus image on retina
Psychosexual Stages
Freud's stages of development sexually -> believed (contrary to normal beliefs at time) that sexual development starts in childhood, not in puberty - oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital
Psychosocial Causes of Aggression
Frustration-Aggression Principle: the principle that frustration- the blocking of an attempt to achieve some goal- creates anger which can generate aggression - Aversive stimuli -> hot temps, physical pain, foul odors - Reinforcement of aggressive behaviors - Ostracism -> being cast out from society/group - Exposure to violent video games
Lie Detection
Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) measures increased electrical conductivity of skin that occurs when sweat glands increase activity - measures autonomic arousal, therefore emotional reactions Polygraph assumes there is a link between lying and emotions -> Measures respiration, heart rate, blood pressure, and GSR - Detects nervousness, not lies - Only accurate 2/3 of time
Nodes of Renvier
Gaps in the myelin sheath between Schwann cells, allow for the speeding up of neural impulses (action potentials)
Theory of Multiple Intelligences (Gardner)
Gardner's intelligence theory that proposes that there are eight distinct spheres of intelligence (logical-mathematic, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, intrapersonal, linguistic, musical, interpersonal, naturalistic) - used to broaden the view of intelligence
William Stern
German who invented the concept of an intelligence quotient (IQ)
Placebo
Given to the control group A substitute for the actual independent variable being tested that has no effects Necessary to have as a benchmark to compare scores
Normal Curve
Graph where all measures of central tendency are equal (mean = median = mode) --> most scores fall near the mean and fewer and fewer near the extremes
Plato
Greek philosopher who assumed that character and intelligence are something you are born with. (nature)
LSD
HALLUCINOGEN - Derived from specific fungus - Leary advocated use - Euphoria, hallucinations, sensory and mental distortion _ Lasts for hours
PCP
HALLUCINOGEN - Loss of contact with reality, aggression, insensitivity to pain - Binds to potassium channels in brain and muscle activation neutrons - High psychological dependence
"Tan"
Had damage in Broca's Area after stroke and as a result could only speak the word "tan" and nothing else, but could understand full conversations --> Broca's Aphasia
Difficult Babies
Have negative mood, always fussy or crying, awaken during the night
Amplitude
Height of a wave - determines loudness (low amplitude, quieter) - measured in decibels (dB)
Place Theory
Herman von Helmholtz - pitch is determined by the location of vibration along the basilar membrane
Self-Monitoring
High self-monitors: look for social cues about how they are expected to behave in a given situation, overriding their attitudes, making it difficult to predict behavior based on attitude Low self-monitors: express & act on attitudes consistently despite situational factors, making prediction easier
Stepping Reflex
Hold a baby over the ground, they will pedal their legs even though they can't walk
Biopsychosocial Theory
Holds that pain involves not just physical stimulus, but psychological and social factors as well
Basic Insecurity (Horney)
Horney's term for general feelings of discomfort, leads to individuals pushing themselves to progress past these feelings
Behavior Genetics Perspective
How much our genes and our environment influence our individual differences
Attachment
Humans form a bond with those who care for them in infancy - Based upon interaction with caregiver (attachment through contact)
Hyper vs Hypothyroidism
Hyper: too much thyroxin; high metabolism Hypo: too little thyroxin; low metabolism
Limbic System and Sex Drive
Hypothalamus controls the release of luteinizing hormone (LH) from the pituitary gland, which in turn controls the release of androgens and estrogens
Empathy
Identification with and understanding of another's situation, feelings, and motives
Angle of Convergence
If object is close, eyes must have a sharper angle to see object, if far away, angle is lesser; calculated & used to judge distance - cross-eyed appearance --> pupils rotate down and in, vision & depth perception become impaired - finger DEMO --> see an extra finger
Mountain Problem
If sitting on one side of mountain, preoperational child will describe what he sees when told to describe what someone on the other side of the mountain would see
Partial Report Technique
Illustrates the limitation of sensory memory When subjects were told to report all 9 letters they couldn't but when they were told to report only 3 they could. - Proved that sensory memory could hold the information but only very briefly and there is a limit to how much it can hold
68%
In a normal curve, 68% fall within one standard deviation 95% fall within two 99% fall within three
Hindbrain
In charge of the autonomic nervous system - made up of the brainstem, Thalamus, and Cerebellum - major issue if damaged - responsible for vital life functions - Connection between spinal cord and brainstem
Basilar Membrane
begins vibrating due to the rippling fluid in the cochlea and relays message to the organ of corti
Insight and Working Through
In psychoanalytic therapy, a client must then realize their problems (insight) and get over them (working through) throughout the sessions
Eclecticism
In psychotherapy, drawing ideas from two or more systems of therapy instead of committing to just one system
REM rebound
Increased amounts of REM sleep after being deprived of REM sleep on earlier nights
Correlation Coefficient
Indicates strength of a relationship between -1 and +1 Closer to -1 or +1 stronger the relationship Positive means they both go in the same direction, negative means they are opposites .7 < R < 1, -.7 > R > -1 --> strong relationship .4 < R < .6, -.4 > R > -.6 --> medium relationship .4 > R > -.4 --> weak relationship, cannot draw conclusions
Torrance Test
Individuals create and explain a picture, its origins, and consequences from incomplete images/pieces
Confidentiality
Information during experiment and about subjects are kept between the experimenters and them
Dissociative Fugue
Involves flight from home and adoption of a new identity and amnesia for past events
Sleep Stage 1
Irregular and larger brain waves (theta waves)
Rational vs. Irrational
Jung stated that one of these pairs is dominant in your psyche
Extroverts vs. Introverts
Jung's idea that either you are dominantly extroverted (socially oriented, gaining energy from social events) or introverted (gaining energy/recharging from alone-time)
Collective Unconscious (Jung)
Jung's theory that we all share an inherited memory that contains our culture's most basic elements; we can all tap into the same unconscious --> comprised of archetypes
Sleep Stage 2
Larger theta waves, sleep spindles, sleeptalking
cognitive learning
Learning that depends on mental activity that is not directly observable. Involves such processes as attention, expectation, thinking, and memory. - cognitive psychologists --> explain learning in terms of additional mental processes - trying to understand things -> more advanced learning
Antagonist
Makes it so you have less of a neurotransmitter available -Example: Curare --> blocks ACh receptors(which allows for muscle action), causing paralysis
Agonist
Makes it so you have more of a neurotransmitter available - Example: Cocaine --> prevents reuptake of dopamine, leads to more dopamine present in the synaptic cleft for binding & subsequent heightened arousal of entire nervous system
Manifest vs Latent content
Manifest: what is in your dream/surface level Latent: how it's interpreted, what it really means
Skewed Distribution
Mean, median, and mode are of different values Mean is pulled in direction of tail negative skew- few very low scores (tail pulls left); median > mean positive skew- few very high scores (tail pulls right); median < mean
Measures of Central Tendency
Mean: the arithmetic average of a distribution --> obtained by adding all of the scores & then dividing the number of scores, can be biased by a few extremes Median: the middle score in a distribution; half are above, half are below Mode: the most frequently occurring score(s) in a distribution
Statistically Significant Difference
Means there is a low likelihood results are due to chance. This is more true if: - difference between the experimental group and control group results is large -lower standard deviation value -lower p value
primary punishment
Method of decreasing behavior is directly threatening to organism's survival. - ex: beating a prisoner for trying to escape (physical pain to extent of survival threat, withholding food)
Slow to Warm Up Babies
Not necessarily easy or difficult; don't seem to be affected by stimuli, live in their own world, ignore all else, irregular in eat/sleep
Big 5 Traits
OCEAN -> currently thought to be central to describing personality Openness Conscientiousness Extraversion Agreeableness Neuroticism
Electrical Process
Occurs due to exchange of charged particles (ions)
Adaptation
Occurs through: - formation of schemas - assimilation (adding to schema) - accommodation (modifying schema) - equilibration and disequilibration
Name and describe two practical uses of classical conditioning in the real world.
One practical use of classical conditioning is to help individuals fight certain addictions, such as alcoholism. The Garcia Effect, the intentional conditioning of taste aversion, can be used to make certain addictive substances like alcohol unappealing. Intentionally adding something to make the body reject the alcohol via throwing up, for example, will result in the individual associating the now conditioned stimulus of alcohol with the conditioned response of throwing up, making them unlikely to drink alcohol. Another use of classical conditioning is treating phobias; systematic desensitization is the reconditioning of a patient to associate a stimulus formerly associated with a fearful response with calmness instead. Having the client directly experience the fear gradually reconditions the client into associating the fear with calmness instead, and at the most intense stage, the response will no longer be one of fear but one of calm instead.
Consciousness
Our awareness of ourselves and our environment (can be active or passive)
Sigmund Freud
PSYCHODYNAMIC: Believed there were many subconscious thoughts going on in our minds we could not see- bottom of iceberg. He used psychoanalysis to see into the mind of his patients and question their dreams and thoughts. Was a pessimist because he had a bad childhood and focused on negative childhood events of his patients.
Thalamus
Pair of egg-shaped structures on top of the brainstem, routes all incoming sensory information except smell (means all sensory input that reaches cerebral cortex pass thru thalamus except smell); directs messages to the sensory receiving areas in the cortex and transmits replies to the cerebellum and medulla
Illusory Correlation
Perception of a relationship when one does not exist, caused by confirmation bias
Relative Refractory
Period following absolute refractory period when a neuron is recovering, but can fire again if needed (prefers to rest)
Structural Neuroimaging
Photographs of brain, shows certain point in time what was going on --> not longterm at all
Disequilibration
Piaget --> "out of balance" state that occurs when a person realizes that current schema doesn't allow understanding of a situation --> new knowledge has be to integrated with the old knowledge to restore balance (i.e. see a hairless cat, now going through disequilibration, ask & learn cats can be hairless, add new knowledge of hairless cats to schema to restore equilibration)
Egocentrism
Piaget --> the preoperational child's difficulty taking another's point of view, causes them to be selfish; only sees things from one perspective, can't imagine what others feel or see
Random Assignment
Placing the subjects randomly into either the experiment group or the control group Minimizes pre-existing differences between those assigned to different groups
Limbic System (Midbrain)
Primarily processes drives, smells and various responses. - Located in between the primitive parts of the brain & the cerebral hemispheres - Contains hippocampus, amygdala, hypothalamus
Prevention
Primary Prevention: improve social environment so new cases of mental disorders do not develop Secondary Prevention: interventions with high risk groups Tertiary Prevention: help people adjust after they are released from the hospital in order to help prevent a relapse
P Value
Probability that results were due to chance If the value is .05 or less, results are generally accepted (less than 5% chance that it was due to chance)
response acquisition
Process by which the conditioned response is acquired or learned; the "building" phrase of the desired response in either operant or classical conditioning
Homunculus Man
Proportional representation of skin receptor concentration - larger the part in diagram, the more receptors/the more sensitive (fingers v. upper arm)
Eleanor Rosch
Proposed that categories do not necessarily come from language, but rather arise on their own, did research on Dani people of Papua New Guinea to prove this.
Plutchik (1980)
Proposed that there are 8 basic emotions - Acceptance, Anger, Anticipation, Disgust, Fear, Joy, Sadness, Surprise, - Secondary emotions are the composites of primary emotions (Surprise+Sadness= Disappointment) - criticized for only applying to English-speakers - modern model removed acceptance and anticipation
Darley and Latane
Proposed that there were two factors that could lead to non-helping: social influence and diffusion of responsibility - smoke entering room (social influence) & student having seizure (diffusion)
Odorant Binding Protein (OBP)
Protein released from the olfactory epithelium that binds to particles of molecules (odors)
Scientific Method
Question: Why does something happen? Theory: Formulate theory speculating what event could be correlated to; an explanation using a set of principles that organizes observations and predicts behaviors or events Hypothesis: Clarify speculated relationship between two variables, a testable prediction Test Hypothesis: Provide operational definition (statement of procedures used to define research variables) & perform research study Observation: Observing results of research study Replication: Repeat essence of a research study, typically with different participants & situations to see whether basic findings extend to other participants and circumstances
Ordinal Scale
RANK Indicates relative position Doesn't show distance between data points
Breland's Raccoons
Raccoons --> largely contraprepared in most behaviors, Breland's attempts to operantly condition them didn't work, ignored rewards & punishments
Measures of Variation
Range and standard deviation
Tolman and Honzik
Rats were put in maze with food placed in goal boxes at the end; latent learning (1 trial per day) - choice points: turning one way leads to dead end, other way leads to entrance of next component - each time rat reached a dead end, that was an error - as learning occurs, # of errors decreases - group 1 received food when they reached goal box; averaged significantly fewer errors as time went on - group 2 didn't receive anything; averaged hardly any fewer errors as time went on (removal from maze was a small reward in and of itself) - group 3 didn't originally receive food at goal box, but later did; averaged astonishingly fewer errors past first 10 foodless trials (learned route on first 10 trials, no motivation to show it; when rewarded/motivated by smell of food, showed they learned it and improved massively) group 3 showed the most improvement (least errors at the end) -> demonstrates latent learning because they had motivation to show what they learned; outperformed group 1 because shift from no reward to reward made reward seem larger (positive contrast)
Ganglion Cells
Receive input from bipolar cells - Axons of these cells form optic nerve - Very long axons connect eyes & brain - Route information to brain
Temperament
Refers to characteristic patterns of emotional reactions and emotional self-regulation (how you behave yourself/express emotions) - may predict later comportment (personality/attitude later in life)
learning sets
Refers to increasing effectiveness at problem solving through experience. Organisms "learn how to learn." - ability to learn is based on previous experiences, expectations, motives, etc. - 1st time, don't know how to approach a problem, but after several attempts of a similar problem, one has a better approach to problems in the future
ratio schedules
Reinforcement depends on the number of responses made
Is it better to use reinforcement or punishment? Why?
Reinforcement is more effective than punishment, as it is rewarding a very specific behavior that is meant to be repeated, whereas punishment is intentionally discouraging a very specific behavior without offering an alternative to it. Reinforcement of a certain behavior more effective, as the subject knows exactly what behavior to repeat, whereas with punishment, the subject must avoid and change a behavior, and must find an alternative, which is not as easy to do.
Cognitive Neuroscience
Relationship between brain (physical structure) and cognitive (thought processes, leaning, memory) processes
Genetic vs Environmental relatives
Relatives who are related to you by genetics versus adopted relatives. Allows tests to see who has a larger impact on the shape of a human. - used in studies with an adopted child...is the child more like the biological parents or the adoptive parents?
Why do we have consciousness?
Reproductive advantage (choosing mates), long-term planning, reading the behavior of others
Naturalistic Observation
Research method where subjects observed in natural habitat without researcher's intervention/manipulation Observer Bias- intentionally miss/skew details to prove/support theory & hypothesis Inter-observer reliability- no video proof, different records No control Pros: Most realistic to real life Cons: Only one group at a time, no explanation given for behavior, other factors (environmental) can interfere
Swallowing Reflex
Response of swallowing anything in mouth
Cerebrum
Responsible for higher level functions in the brain, 85% of brain, part that makes us human, most highly evolved part of the brain
Hippocampus
Responsible for transferring STM to explicit long term memory and emotional responses - damage can disrupt movement of information to cortex (LTM) - prolonged exposure to hormones can shrink hippocampus & inhibit memory - helps in formation of semantic & episodic memories (explicit memories)
Generalizability
Results can be applied to more situations outside of just research study if the sample was representative, the variation is minimal, and the more examples the better
Hermann Rorschach
Rorschach projective test developed in 1921
Sherashevsky
Russian journalist who was capable of conducting 2 hour interviews and remembering every little detail of it (had Synesthesia, associating items to images created more retrieval cues, helped him remember better)
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Self-actualization needs: Challenging yourself and going outside of comfort zone Esteem needs: Having respect for self and others Belongingess needs: Meaningful relationships, being a part of group of friends or a family Safety needs: Shelter, security Physiological needs: Bodily needs (food, water, sexual reproduction)
General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)
Selye's concept of the body's predictable adaptive response to stress in three phases - Alarm: preparing to cope; prepares the body to cope with the stress (sympathetic NS active) - Resistance: actual coping; coping with the stressor in stressed state, trying to adapt to the situation and return to homeostasis (SNS at peak) - Exhaustion: resources depleted (parasympathetic NS active)
Sleep Spindles
Short bursts of brain waves detected in stage 2 sleep
Scatterplots
Show correlation -if dots are closer together, correlation is stronger -positive slope means positive correlation (negative vice versa) - if dots appear to form a line, they are more correlated; if they appear more so in a blob, they are less correlated
Single/Double Blind
Single- subject doesn't know who is in the control group and who is in the experimental group Double- subject and experimenter don't know who is in which group
William Dement
Sleep researcher who discovered and coined the phrase "rapid eye movement" (REM) sleep.
Bandura (1973)
Social Learning Theory -> watching adults express violence, replicate this behavior - Violent games/shows... increases aggression, or outlet for anger
Binaural Cue
Sound localization cue that involves both ears. Interaural time difference and interaural level difference are the primary binaural cues.
Communication Model
Source: is the speaker credible? Message: presenting both sides Medium: written for complexity, video for simplicity, but face-to-face is best Audience: how committed is the audience to their point of view (more intelligent, more resistant to change; low self-esteem more vulnerable to change)
Receptor Cell
Specialized cells that respond to a particular type of energy - exist in your sense organs (5 specialized senses) - found in ears, eyes, skin, mouth, nose - detect outside stimuli - receive and process stimuli (lightwaves, soundwaves)
Critical Periods
Specific times during which an organism has to experience stimuli in order to progress through developmental stage properly - if period passes without proper stimulation/development, development is permanently hindered
Triarchic Theory of Intelligence
Sternberg's triarchic theory that there are three kinds of intelligence: analytical, creative, and practical - thought Gardner was trying too hard to include everyone; cut his 8 down to 3 - compromise between previous theories
Methamphetamine
Stimulant - Dopamine euphoria - Withdrawal can cause psychosis - SUPER addictive - most intense STIMULANT
Nicotine
Stimulant - Epinephrine euphoria - Hunger and alertness - Stimulates release of dopamine (dopamine agonist) - Withdrawal can cause weight gain
Cocaine
Stimulant - Euphoria = crash - Dopamine agonist - Super addictive
MDMA (ecstasy, molly)
Stimulant and Mild Hallucinogen - Triggers release of dopamine and serotonin; blocks reuptake of serotonin - Dehydrating effect - Can damage serotonin producing neurons -> permanent depression - Suppresses immune system
Cannon-Bard Theory
Stimulus → Physiological Changes + Emotion - Environmental stimuli elicit emotions and bodily responses simultaneously - Ex. hearing footsteps, heart beating fast WHILE AT THE SAME TIME you realize you're scared
Izard's Facial Feedback Theory
Stimulus → Physiological Changes → Change in appearance → Brain automatically triggers emotion - Cognitive Feedback is NOT necessary in emotion that is provoked by the faces/body posture resulting from environmental stimuli - Based on 5 different universal facial expressions: Happiness, anger, disgust, sadness, and fear-surprise - Ex. hearing footsteps, heart beats faster, make a shocked face, brain perceives as fear - Ex. Smiling when upset will trick the brain into thinking you are happier
James-Lange Theory
Stimulus → Physiological Changes → Emotion - Environmental Stimuli bring on physiological changes that we interpret as emotions - Ex. hearing footsteps, faster heart rate, realize you are scared
Schacter Singer/2-Factor/Cognitive Theory
Stimulus → Physiological Changes → Environmental Cues → Emotion - Environment gives us clues that help us interpret physiological reaction - Ex. hearing footsteps, heart beating faster, realizing you're in a dangerous situation because you're in a dark alley, realize you are scared & that is why your heart rate is up
Inhibitory Neurotransmitters
Stops/Prevents action potential in the receiving neuron when they bind
Mary Ainsworth
Strange Situation, almost every child gets upset when their mother leaves; 3 types of attachment - secure attachment, anxious-ambivalent, anxious-avoidant / insecure attachment
Psychodynamic Theories of Personality
Strengths: - early experiences shape personality, studied from developmental perspective - human emotion/motivation key to understanding personality - originated concept of unconscious - utilizes therapeutic techniques Criticism: - not testable or scientifically provable - data comes from case studies reliant on memory - pessimistic outlook on human nature - biased against women
Babinski Reflex
Stroke the bottom of a baby's foot, toes will fan and curl
Harry Harlow
Studied attachment in monkeys; NOURISHMENT VS COMFORT - monkey grows attachment to the cloth mother (comforting) but returns to the wire mother every so often to get food - contact comfort is a top human need - when scared by giant, terror robot --> runs to cloth mother
Kamin's work
Studied blocking; shows that rats that learned to fear a tone which had been followed by a shock, when the tone was simultaneously paired with a light and followed by the shock, the rates failed to fear the light alone - too many neutral stimuli, rat doesn't associate light with shock
Harlow (1958, 1959)
Studied contact comfort - Wanted to find out why infant monkeys bonded with their mother- need for food, or comfort? - Illustrated Contact Motive - Contact was necessary to develop properly and for the monkey to learn to interact with other monkeys
Carney Landis
Studied various emotions to facial expressions- physical and mental distress
Distractor Studies
Studies in which subjects are bombarded with other information while trying to rehearse/memorize certain information in order to disrupt memorization --> proves the interference theory
Sport P
Study biomechanics, physiology, kinesiology, and psychology to enhance performance of athletes; study psychological factors that influence/are influenced by participation in sports
Cognitive Perspective
Study how our interpretation of a situation affects our emotions and how that affects our thinking, how we encode, process, store, and retrieve information
Social P
Study of how the presence of people can affect on individual's behaviors, thoughts, and feelings; study human interactions with one another & how beliefs, feelings, and behaviors are affected by/influence others
Mark Rosenzweig
Study on rats in the 1950s-60s that wanted to study the long-lasting effects when raised in an enriched environment and how the brain developed consequently - Enriched rats had ____ as opposed to the impoverished rats. -- significantly heavier and thicker cerebral cortices -- Greater activity of Acetylcholinesterase in nervous tissue -- More Glial cells in nervous tissue -- 50% larger synapses Difference in the size of the cerebral cortex as a result of different living conditions suggests that the experiences one animal has in life can impact not only the physical structure of the brain, but the subsequent related functions; for example, because the cerebral cortex is responsible for muscle movement, learning and memory, and sensory input, living in enriched conditions can make one more capable.
Capron and Duyme's adoption study
Study that showed people adopted into lower socioeconomic status (SES) families had lower IQs, and people adopted into higher SES families had higher IQs - effect of postnatal environment on the IQ of children born to low-SES backgrounds and adopted by high-SES parents SES = socioeconomic status
Craik and Tulving (1975)
Subjects forced to encode words in three different ways (visual, acoustic, semantic) - Visual: is the word capitalized? - Acoustically: what does the word rhyme with? - Semantically: would it fit into this sentence? Semantic encoding --> yields best recall; make meaning out of what you wish to recall
Ratio Scale
TRUE ZERO scale with equal distance between points ex. rainfall- when it is 0, there is no rain at all
Rehabilitation P
Takes all studies and applications of psychology and focuses it on people who have disabilities and chronic health conditions; work with people who have lost optimal functioning after an accident, illness, or other event
Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS)
Tells you how stressed you are and what it means through a series of questions about CHANGES in your life
Hypothetical Thinking
Thinking that is based on what is possible, and not just what is real; sometimes referred to as "if-then" thinking (asking a FO child to describe a world without arms --> can explain much better than pre-FO child)
Visual Cortex
The visual processing areas of cortex in the occipital and temporal lobes --> correspond to the opposite eye
David Elkind
Theory of Adolescent Egocentrism — adolescents go through a stage of self-absorption that leads to only being able to see the world through one's own perspective (imaginary audience and personal fable)
Howard Gardner
Theory of Multiple Intelligences - thought intelligence cannot be encompassed in one factor; comes in several different forms
Wish Fulfillment Theory
Theory that conflicts, events and desires of the past are represented in symbolic form in dreams - dreams allow unconscious urges to come out
Natural Selection
Through chance variations, nature selects the traits that best enable an organism to survive and reproduce in a given environment
Synaptic Vesicles
Tiny pouches or sacs in the axon terminals [terminal buttons] that contain neurotransmitters
Diversity
To what degree are humans different, and to what are we the same?
Body vs. Mind
To what extent does the body's power have over the mind and vice versa ex. People are more likely to do something on a hot day due to biological responses
Monochromats/Dichromats/Trichromats
Tri: combinations of three colors (ex: humans) Di: combinations of two colors (cones) (ex: dogs, type of colorblind) Mono: one color (cone) only -> black and white, shades of grey (ex: rodents, total colorblindness)
Rooting Reflex
Turning head in the way of stimulation (specifically the cheek/corner of mouth, helps infant find feeding location), lasts around 4 months
Dual Processing
Two neural pathways- conscious and unconscious; - always have both conscious and unconscious thoughts, constantly 2 paths working simultaneously
Norms
Unwritten rules and expectations that represent the typical behaviors of a particular group (ex. personal space --> the expected distance we like to keep between ourselves and others as a claim of privacy)
Correlation Methods
Used to determine the relationship between two things CANNOT BE USED TO PROVE CAUSATION!!!!!!!!!! pitfall: could be a coincidence
generative learning
Using what you know to figure out something you don't - ex: realizing a new song is by a certain artist (know who is singing it, don't know song; using prior knowledge to understand/recognize something new)
Biological Treatments
View abnormal behavior as a symptom of an underlying physical disorder - typically favor biological therapy (drugs, psychosurgery, ECT, etc.)
Nonverbal Communication of Emotion
Voice quality Body Language -> posture, unintentional communication through the way one moves Facial expressions Personal space Explicit acts (slamming doors, destroying objects) Emblems (gestures with assigned meaning such as a thumbs up)
Fight or Flight
Walter Cannon's theory- response to stress - Epinephrine & norepinephrine released from adrenal glands (After signaled to by the hypothalamus and pituitary gland to release cortisols) - Sympathetic NS kicks in
Oedipus Complex
a boy's sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the "rival" father -> wants to eliminate father - resolved through castration anxiety, boy fears father will find out about desires & cut off peepee - boy then relinquishes desire for mother and befriends father out of fear/starts to identify with father
Vomeronasal Organ (VNO)
a collection of specialized receptor cells, near to but separate from the olfactory epithelium, that detect pheromones and send electrical signals to the accessory olfactory bulb in the brain
Twin studies
a common method of investigating whether nature or nurture affects behavior by separating identical twins at birth to see how they grow up in different environments
Schema
a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information
Dysthymia (Persistent Depressive Disorder)
a form of depression that is not severe enough to be diagnosed as major depression (mild chronic depression)
Couple Therapy
a form of group therapy intended to help troubled partners improve their problems of communication and interaction - empathy training: partners taught to share feelings & listen to and understand partner's POV/feelings
Savant Syndrome
a condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in computation or drawing
Equity
a condition in which people receive from a relationship in proportion to what they give to it
Gender Dysphoria
a condition listed in the DSM-5 in which people whose gender at birth is contrary to the one they identify with. - replaces "gender identity disorder"
Down Syndrome
a condition of intellectual disability and associated physical disorders caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21
Mental R*tardation
a condition of limited mental ability, indicated by an intelligence score of 70 or below and difficulty in adapting to the demands of life; varies from mild to profound
Intellectual Disability
a condition of limited mental ability, indicated by an intelligence score of <70, and difficulty in adapting to the demands of life; varies from mild to profound - caused by drug abuse during pregnancy, genetic disorders, lack of fetal nutrition - onset before age 18 - demonstrate savant syndrome
Operational Definitions
a description of the specific procedure used to determine the presence of a variable (ex: a smile for happiness)
Diathesis-Stress Model
a diagnostic model that proposes that a disorder may develop when an underlying vulnerability is coupled with a precipitating event - confluence of nature/nurture -> some individuals are born more resilient than others, can better resist environmental experiences
Korsakoff's syndrome
a disease that afflicts long-term alcoholics, leaving some abilities intact but including hallucinations and a tendency to repeat the same story
Sexual Arousal Disorder
a disorder characterized by problems occurring during the excitement phase of the sexual response cycle and relating to difficulties with feelings of sexual pleasure or with the physiological changes associated with sexual excitement
Specific Phobia
a disorder that involves an irrational fear of a particular object or situation that markedly interferes with an individual's ability to function
Comorbid
a disorder that occurs commonly along another
Midlife Crisis/Transition
a dramatic period of self-doubt caused by the passing of youth/young adulthood and the move into later adulthood
Erectile Disorder
a dysfunction in which a man repeatedly fails to attain or maintain an erection during sexual activity
Zygote
a fertilized egg (contains full set of genes) - 23 chromosomes from each parent - first 2 weeks after conception - where the zygote would split and create identical twins
Family Therapy
a form of group therapy that sees the family as at least partly responsible for the individual's problems - seeks to change all family members' behaviors to the benefit of the family unit as well as the troubled individual
conditioned stimulus
a formerly irrelevant/neutral stimulus (NS) that, after association/pairing with an unconditioned stimulus (UCS), comes to trigger a conditioned response
Disruptive Behavior Disorders
a general term used to describe repetitive and persistent abnormal behaviors that disrupt daily function or tend to be antisocial
Developmental Disorders
a group of mental disorders characterized by disruption of normal development during childhood
Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs)
a group of second-generation antidepressant drugs that increase serotonin activity specifically, without affecting other neurotransmitters - work by blocking reuptake of serotonin - ex. prozac, paxil, zoloft, effexor - side effects -> sleepiness, reduced sex drive - 60-70% of users show improvement after two weeks
Clique
a group with similar interests and a strong mutual attachment (usually forms in adolescents)
Leptin
a hormone released by fat cells that signal satiety
Ghrelin
a hormone released by the stomach that signals hunger
Secondary Drive
a learned drive that is not directly related to a physiological state or biological needs - ex. ambition
conditioned response
a learned response to the conditioned stimulus (previously neutral)
Insanity
a legal term describing one's inability to be responsible for one's action due to the condition of the mind
Split-Half Reliability
a measure of reliability in which a test is split into two parts and an individual's scores on both halves are compared (difficulty of questions should be distributed)
Remote Associates Test (RAT)
a measurement of creativity - requires divergent thinking - modest correlation between creativity and intelligence - Highly creative people tend to have an above average intelligence, but a high IQ doesn't guarantee creativity
Prototype
a mental image or best example of a category, used as reference to evaluate if new items are member of a category - ex: robins are a good prototype for the 'bird' category
cognitive mapping
a mental representation of the layout of one's environment - mental image of a certain environment - ex: getting to class with a blindfold on; navigating school blindfolded isn't difficult because of established mental map
Test-Retest Reliability
a method for determining the reliability of a test by comparing a test taker's scores on the same test taken on separate occasions (similarity in score indicates good test-retest reliability)
Free Association (Psychoanalysis)
a method of exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind
Elaborative Rehearsal
a method of transferring information from STM into LTM by making that information meaningful in some way - connecting new information with existing longterm memories, giving meaning to information - Ex: Learning terms by associating them with a past memory
Humanistic Model
a model of abnormal behavior that emphasizes personal growth, free will, and responsibility
relative size
a monocular cue; which of two objects is larger relative to the other
Relative Height
a monocular cue; which of two objects is taller relative to the other
Neglectful Parenting
a parenting style characterized by a lack of parental involvement in the child's life, too much freedom
Confederates
a person who is working with the experimenter and posing as a part of the experiment, but the subjects are not aware of this affiliation
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
a person's expectations about another elicit behavior from the other person that confirms the expectations
Cocktail Party Phenomenon
a phenomenon in which people tune in one message (your name) even while they filter out others nearby (focusing on one conversation at a party while filtering out the rest of the noise)
Transorbital Lobotomy
a prefrontal lobotomy performed with a cutting instrument inserted through the eye socket
Alzheimer's Disease
a progressive and irreversible brain disorder characterized by gradual deterioration of memory, reasoning, language, and, finally, physical functioning - Caused by deterioration of ACh-producing neurons
Rorschach Test
a projective test that uses inkblots as the ambiguous stimulus - 10 inkblots (half color, half BW) described by subject - examiner asks for clarification & detail - lacks reliability & validity - provides subject with considerable freedom to respond
Schizophrenia
a psychological disorder characterized by delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, and/or diminished, inappropriate emotional expression - symptoms minimum of 6 months
Lobotomy
a psychosurgical procedure once used to calm uncontrollably emotional or violent patients - cut the nerves connecting the frontal lobes to the emotion-controlling centers of the inner brain
Mutations
a random error in gene replication right after conception that can lead to an expressed & relevant change --> if it is advantageous to survival, the organism is then more fit, and will pass on the mutation to offspring
Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)
a rare dissociative disorder in which a person exhibits two or more distinct and alternating personalities
fixed-interval schedule
a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed - a set amount of time passing brings you closer to next reward - ex: paycheck every two weeks
Personality
a relatively enduring set of behavioral, emotional, and mental characteristics - remains relatively stable over time
Unconscious
a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories (according to Freud), otherwise just the thoughts we aren't aware we're having
positive reinforcer
a reward that adds something that makes the subject want to continue behavior/behavior more likely to occur again - something pleasant given to/introduced to encourage a behavior - ex: Suzie gets $5 for getting an A on her test - ex: dog gets a treat for fetching the ball
Clang
a rhyme used by some persons with schizophrenia as a guide to forming thoughts and statements (sound vs. meaning)
Cochlea
a sea shell shaped, bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear through which sound waves trigger nerve impulses - fluid in the cochlea vibrates and triggers the basilar membrane
Stereotypes
a set of characteristics believed to be shared by all members of a social category - can become the basis for self-fulfilling prophecies
associative learning
a simple form of learning in which we comprehend that certain events occur together (associating two things together to learn it; events are associated with one another) - Habituation, Sensitization, Classical & Operant Conditioning
Holophrase
a single word that is used to express a complete, meaningful thought - Ex: babies saying "go" means "I want to leave now"
Malleus (Hammer)
a small bone in the middle ear that transmits vibrations of the eardrum to the incus (anvil) - eardrum's vibration causes hammer to vibrate
Drive
a state of tension or arousal caused by bodily needs - ex. the state of hunger, thirst, etc.
Correlation Coefficient
a statistical index of the relationship between two things (from -1 to +1)
Algorithm
a step-by-step procedure for solving a problem that guarantees a solution - can be tedious & time consuming
reinforcer
a stimulus or event following a behavior that makes the behavior more likely to occur again
punisher
a stimulus or event that follows a behavior and makes that behavior less likely to occur again
neutral stimulus (NS)
a stimulus that elicits no relevant response before conditioning ex. a bell
Gender Identity Disorder
a strong cross-gender identification characterized by the desire to be the other sex, combined with persistent discomfort about one's biological sex or culturally prescribed gender role
Health Psychology
a subfield of psychology that provides psychology's contribution to behavioral medicine - Behavioral Medicine: integrates knowledge of human behavior & medicine to better understand health & disease
Insight
a sudden realization of a problem's solution - "aha" moment
Language
a system of signs and symbols based on specific rules (grammar) used to communicate - complex human ability (exclusive); animals can communicate, but do not have grammar
Survey
a technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of a particular group, usually by questioning a representative, random sample of the group Pros: Covers a large range of people, quick, cheap Cons: Less detailed, people can lie/be confused by wording/not respond
Mental Sets
a tendency to approach a problem in the same way that has worked in the past, which may make it either easier or harder to solve a problem - Ex: 9-dot problem --> need to think outside of the box
Homeostasis
a tendency to maintain a balanced or constant internal state
Confirmation Bias
a tendency to only consider information that supports preconceived ideas (negate anything that doesn't support hypothesis) - ignore contradictory evidence - Ex: "Women are bad drivers" --> ignore when men cause accidents, focus too heavily on women who drive poorly
Confirmation Bias
a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence
Cognitive Misers
a term that conveys the human tendency to avoid expending effort and cognitive resources when thinking and to prefer seizing on quick and easy answers to questions
Arousal Theory
a theory of motivation suggesting that people are motivated to seek an optimal level of arousal/alertness for a given moment/task
Talking Cure
a therapy in the form of discussion of psychological distress with a trained professional, leading to the elimination of distressing symptoms - popularized by Freud in the early 20th century
Olfactory Epithelium
a thin layer of tissue lining nasal passage that contains the receptors for smell (cilia) - receptors within activated by OBPs
Functional Fixedness
a type of mental set where you cannot perceive an object being used for something other than what it was designed for - seeing a copier as only capable of being used to copy paper; why not copy the computer screen instead of printing?
Confounding Variable
a variable whose presence influences the relationship between the IV and DV (the third variable problem)
Insight Therapy
a variety of therapies that aim to improve psychological functioning by increasing the client's awareness of underlying motives and defenses
Afterimage Effect
a visual experience that occurs after the original source of stimulation is no longer present; occurs due to overstimulation of receptors
Flashbulb Memories
a vivid clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event - seemingly permanent - amygdala is active...high recall of event (active due to emotional arousal at moment that event was registered to the memory)
Sound Waves
a wave of compression and rarefaction, by which sound is propagated in an elastic medium such as air.
Brainstorming
a way to get over sets where you use divergent thinking to come up with multiple ideas to solve a problem -> discussion about the best way to solve a problem
Crystallized Intelligence
abilities such as reasoning and verbal skills; based off of accumulated knowledge & education; tends to increase with age (based on semantic memories)
Reliability
ability of a test to provide consistent and stable scores...people should get relatively the same score every time they take it - test-retest reliability - split-half reliability - alternate-form reliability
Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence
ability of fine, precise motor movement
Perceptual Adaptation
ability to adjust to an distorted perceptual circumstances - ex: distortion goggles; get used to distorted world, can adapt & learn to navigate well with time
Creative Intelligence
ability to adjust to new tasks, generate novel ideas, use new concepts, and respond well in new situations - creative, unique ideas
Spatial Intelligence
ability to mentally visualize the relationships of objects or movements; being able to find way around an environment, form & transform mental images easily
Musical Intelligence
ability to perceive pitch & rhythm and create pitch/rhythmic patterns
Naturalistic Intelligence
ability to recognize, identify, and understand animals, plants, and other living things (the natural world)
Interpersonal Intelligence
ability to understand (how others feel, what motivates them, how they interact) and interact effectively with others
Psychoanalytic Model
abnormal behavior represents unconscious motives & conflicts - psychoanalysis is used as treatment
Learning Model
abnormal behaviors are learned and are not considered symptoms of some underlying disease -> the behavior themselves are the the problem - treatments consist of retraining & reconditioning
Naturalistic View
abnormalities are attributed to medical problems
Information Retrieval
accessing information from LTM to be used or examined in STM
Short-Term/Working Memory
activated memory that holds a few items briefly - what your mind is focusing on RIGHT NOW - only lasts about 20-30 seconds - limited capacity (5-9 items at a time) - encodes information through rehearsal - very sensitive to interruption - can hold new information or information retrieved from LTM to be used
primary reinforcer
adds something intrinsically (not of learned value, naturally valuable) valuable to the organism - reinforcer that is valuable to survival - ex: giving a dog food for shaking hands (don't need to train/tell dog that food is likeable and valuable for survival, dog knows this naturally)
positive punishment
adds something undesirable to decrease behavior - also includes physical actions - ex: spanking (addition of physical pain), yelling, pop quiz, public humiliation
secondary reinforcer
adds something with assigned value to the organism - ex: giving a person $100 for each "A" on their report card -> money has no actual value, it must be exchanged for things with value - not innately valuable, given value by society, can be exchanged for things with intrinsic value (i.e. $100 for hamburgers)
Competency
adequate control over one's mind and circumstances
Roleplaying
adoption of a new role resulting in conformity to social expectations of playing that role -> eventually become that role
extinction
after a period of time passes when the CS is not paired with the US, the CS returns to a NS - learning goes away - if CS is repeated constantly with no UCS, subject will slowly stop reacting to CS until it becomes a NS - if CS is not presented for a long time, will become NS ex. baby Albert eventually would cease to fear white fluffy things
insight
after thinking about a problem for a bit, you suddenly figure it out - consider problem for while, can't figure out solution, then suddenly can - brain considers solution subconsciously and even when unconscious - lightbulb effect - Kohler's chimp study (chimp has no idea how to get peanut out of tube, suddenly figures out to spit water into tube to raise water level & peanut) - Epstein's pigeon study (wanders around, then suddenly realizes that pushing box beneath dangling food & standing on it allows them to reach it)
Undoing
after-the-fact defense mechanism involving "making up" for guilt-producing actions
Mental Age
age at which you perform intellectually; may not correspond with chronological age (coined by Binet)
Cognitive Therapy
aimed at identifying and changing inappropriately negative and self-critical patterns of thought - therapist points out automatic thoughts and forces clients to substantiate them - good treatment for depression
Rosenhan (1973)
aimed to determine the validity of the process of diagnosis for mental illnesses. Method: 8 participants including Rosenhan accepted to 12 psychiatric US hospitals under same guise that they heard a voice saying "thump" - when accepted, showed normal behavior Results: 7 diagnosed with schizophrenia, 1 with manic depression (all diagnosed as insane) Conclusion: diagnosing processes must be seriously revised and re-though
Cognition
all mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering and communicating
Permeable Membrane
allows cells to pass from one tissue to another tissue via protein channels - closed during resting potential - open during action potential/neural impulse
Selective Attention
allows only a small percentage of sensory messages that bombard us to enter conscious awareness (placing your focus on one specific thing) - controlled by focus of attention & expectancies prior to exposure
Person-Centered Therapy (Rogers)
allows the patient to take the lead in the discussion so, in the process, they will realize what is going on
Projective Tests
ambiguous stimuli that people supposedly project their own inner feelings; no "correct answer" - everything has a deeper meaning; answers are interpreted by therapists for underlying meaning - preferred by psychodynamic theorists to unleash the unconscious
Neuropeptides
amino acids that serve as neurotransmitters such as endorphins
Eyewitness Testimony
an account given by people of an event they have witnessed - presuppositions in questions or mention of unrelated events presented to witnesses make these accounts unreliable; memory is reconstructed with alterations
Discrimination
an act or series of acts that denies opportunities and social esteem to an entire group of people or individual members of that group
Sensory Adaptation
an adjustment of the senses to the level of stimulation they are receiving - senses become less sensitive to unchanging or constant stimuli - ex: toothpaste and orange juice --> taste sense becomes used to constant mintiness, more sensitive to acidity of orange juice
Reticular Formation (RF)
an area of neurons running through the middle of the medulla and the pons and slightly beyond (part of brainstem); responsible for general attention, alertness, and arousal
Fight-or-Flight response
an emotional and physiological reaction to an emergency that increases readiness for action
Psychotherapy
an emotionally charged, confiding interaction between a trained therapist and someone who suffers from psychological difficulties
punishment
an event that is meant to decrease the behavior - makes behavior less likely to occur again to avoid unpleasant event
Oral Fixation
an excessive need for oral pleasures (sucking/chewing) that results from extreme denial or excessive indulgence of them (failure to resolve weaning conflict) during the oral stage - ex. smoking, nail biting, drinking, overeating, sarcasm, aggressiveness
Social Responsibility Norm
an expectation that people will help those dependent upon them
Phi Phenomenon
an illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession - green and purple circles DEMO
Fixation
an inability to move past a stage of psychosexual development; stuck there
Body Dysmorphia
an inaccurate perception of one's own body
Long-Term Potentiation (LTP)
an increase in a synapse's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation - release of serotonin from learning makes neurons in the network more likely to fire (sending neurons more likely to fire & release neurotransmitters, receiving neurons increase their receptor sites) - how the brain changes in response to experience (neuroplasticity) - believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory
sensitization
an increase in behavioral response in anticipation of an important stimulus (deemed to be important by former exposure); not used to something, are very sensitive/reactant to it - prepares one for dangerous situations ex. child learns fire alarm = danger, becomes more alert when it goes off
Anorexia Nervosa
an intense fear of weight gain - distorted body image (dysmorphia) - refusal to maintain minimal body weight - absence of at least three consecutive menstrual cycles (for women) - 1% of adolescents afflicted, 90% of those being white upper/middle class women
Prejudice
an intolerant, unfavorable, and rigid attitude toward a group of people; negative stereotypes
Case Study
an observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles Pros: In-depth study of one person, gives a lot of detail Cons: If studied individual atypical --> misleading info, leads to conjectures
Freudian Slip (Slip of the Tongue)
an unintentional error regarded as revealing subconscious feelings; unconscious thoughts leaking out & saying something one didn't mean to
Anxious-Ambivalent Attachment
anxious of exploration and strangers, even when mother is present; upset when mother leaves; RESENTFUL WHEN MOTHER RETURNS; takes a while to stop crying and is worried their mom is going to leave again - reluctant to become close to others later in life, worry that partner is unfaithful, distraught when relationship ends
Cluster C
anxious or inhibited behavior - Avoidant PD: fearful of social interactions, feels inferior - Dependent PD: uncomfortable being alone & making decisions - Obsessive-Compulsive PD: obsessed with order, lists, organization; need for control over all aspects of life
Clinical NeuroP
applies principles of assessment and intervention based upon abnormal functioning of the nervous system
Retina
aqueous back inner lining of the eyeball, contains receptor cells of the eye that absorb light, receives refracted light
Somatosensory Cortex
area at the front of the parietal lobes that registers and processes body touch and movement sensations; left hemisphere receives input from right side of body (size of body part determines how large part of associated cortex area is)
Motor Cortex
area at the rear of the frontal lobes that controls voluntary movements; left hemisphere controls the right side of body (size of body part determines how large part of associated cortex area is)
Just-World Hypothesis
assumption bad things happen to bad people and good things happen to good people
Neuropsychological Assessment
attempts to link brain functioning with objective measures of behavior known to depend on an intact central nervous system
Compensation
attempts/efforts to win back parental love after dethronement
Mere Exposure Effect
attitude toward someone/something will become more positive with continued exposure
Proximity/Propinquity
attracted to people who are in the same space as we are
Source Amnesia
attributing memory of an event (real or imagined) to an incorrect source - cannot remember the medium in which it took place - don't always remember the source of a memory - ex: confusing dreams with real life - ex: confusing something you experienced with what you saw on TV
Echoic Sensory Memories (Echoes)
auditory representations that may last for a few seconds (need a longer period to process language) - ex: if you are very disengaged/ out of focus in a conversation, you will forget about it in a few seconds
Intuition
automatic "gut reaction" not involving explicit reasoning; just feels like the right thing - can lead us to sound decisions, but also careless ones - Ex: waking up one day & deciding to quit your job to become a fish breeder
Maturation
automatic biological unfolding of development in an organism as a function of the passage of time - relatively uninfluenced by experience/knowledge/outside input (unlike writing)
Anxious-Avoidant / Insecure Attachment
avoids/ignores mother; little exploration with or without mother; strangers and mother treated similarly; ignore mom, treat stranger like mom; shows little to no attachment, POOR RELATIONSHIP - problems with intimacy later in life, invest little emotion into social/romantic relationships, unable/unwilling to share thoughts/feelings w/ others, often unfaithful later in life
Watson
baby albert; as you grow up, you begin to associate certain thoughts and behaviors; personality is learned through pairing stimuli together
Reverse Spoke Illusion
background colors changing in a clockwise direction make it look like the foreground spokes are rotating when they are not
Rescorla's Work
backwards conditioning: tone could either mean be fearful or relax, depending when it occurred with shock; meaning of the tone is unclear when played both before and after shock --> is something coming or has it already passed? (if after, means shock is over, relax; if before, means shock will begin, fear)
Habituation
basic type of learning involving decreased response to stimulus judged to be of no importance or novelty (ex. 1st time a baby hears a dog bark, might cry; 50th time, little/no response)
Authentic
being genuine and real rather than formal
In-Group Bias
belief that those with whom you identify are not only different, but BETTER than those outside the group
Gender Stereotypes
beliefs about presumed characteristics of each gender
Cultural Truisms
beliefs that most members of a society accept as self-evidently true, not questioned by members of a culture - backbones of norms
Socio-Cognitive Theories
believe that personality is primarily a function of thoughts and thought processes as well as how situations influence our behavior - how society shapes thoughts/personality - Strength: considers dual influence of personal & environmental factors - Weakness: too much emphasis on situation & not enough on persistent traits across situations
maturation
biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience; prepares a species to learn a skill rapidly
Rods
black and white (located in the retina, peripheral vision) - can be used in the dark - detect motion - responsible for processing orientation, shape, movement - rods: it's more important to SEE than to see color (colorblindness)
Stepping Feet Illusion
black/white bars in background makes smooth, simultaneous, continuous movement appear discontinuous, alternating, & staggered
Scapegoat Theory
blame others for when things go wrong for us - tendency is to blame a "weaker" group/group in minority
CREB and Glutamate
can trigger/enhance LTP - CREB: Protein booster that may trigger LTP - Glutamate: Neurotransmitter that enhances LTP
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
cards with ambiguous black & white drawings of people in various situations on them, and the subject needs to tell a story based on what they see in the picture - examiner presents 10 cards - results analyzed based on achievement/affiliation/aggression needs - analyzed for heroes, needs, themes, & outcomes of stories - relies too much on examiner's interpretation, little reliability/validity
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
categorizes people into one of four categories on each of four dimensions: introversion versus extroversion, sensing versus intuiting, thinking versus feeling, and judging versus perceiving
Anxiety
caused by conflict between id's instinctual urges & superego's righteous governing; id creeps into preconscious & starts to overpower ego/superego - free-floating anxiety -> feeling anxious without knowing why (reasons are unconscious)
Chronic Heart Disease (CHD)
caused by pessimism & chronic depression; thought patterns shape health
Receptor Cells in the Eye
cells in the retina that are sensitive to light - visual receptors called rods and cones
Proximodistal
centerline grows fastest, extremities (hands) grow slowest
Persuasion
change in attitude in response to information provided by another person - must pay attention to message - must comprehend message - comprehension leads to acceptance
Obedience
change in behavior in response to a command from another person, typically an authority figure
Compliance
change in behavior in response to an explicit request from another person or group
Mood Disorders (Affective Disorders)
characterized by ongoing dysfunctional emotional patterns - categorized into depressive & bipolar disorders - Biological Factors: chemical imbalances caused by genetics or environmental (twin studies suggest genetics play a role) - Psychological Factors: maladaptive responses to early negative life events lead to feelings of incompetence, reactivated when in situation that resembles OG event - Social Factors: depression linked to troubled close relationships (more depression in women)
Loose Association (Derailment)
characterized by rapid shifts from one topic of conversation to another
Interneural Transmission
chemical process/interaction between neurons
Saliva
chemicals dissolve in saliva and activate taste receptors inside the taste buds
Psychoactive Drugs
chemicals that influence the brain, alter consciousness, and produce psychological changes
Solitary Play
children first play by themselves
Behaviorist Theories
claim that personality is formed through environmental stimuli - reinforcement and punishment - Strength: account for environmental influence on how we learn to be who we are - Weakness: assume we are only a product of environment, don't account for underlying, unobservable causes of behavior
Behavior Contracting
client and therapist set behavioral goals and agree on reinforcements that the client will receive - client engages in desired behaviors to attain reinforcement
flooding
client faces worst-case scenario involving fear - if they survive this, they have no reason to be fearful every day - get over fear in one session - "flood" person with feared stimulus to desensitize WHY THIS WORKS: - sympathetic nervous system (activated for the person to freak out) cannot last that long...parasympathetic (calming) will eventually take over -> subject will associate calmness with their original fear
Token Economy
clients earn tokens for desired behaviors and exchange them for desired items or privileges - often used in schools and hospitals
Disorders
clinically significant behavioral or psychological syndrome or pattern that occurs in an individual
Texture Gradient
closer objects have more vivid detail farther objects won't show as much detail
Alcohol
depressant; increase in mood, lowered inhibitions, slowed neural processing, brain shrinks
Walter Mischel
cognitive theorist who accounted for situational personality changes; self-regulation
Julian Rotter
cognitive theorist who developed the concept of locus of control; developed I-E scale test (internal vs. external LoC)
Collectivist Cultures vs. Individualist Cultures
collectivist - the groups needs, rights, responsibilities are considered more important than those of the individual (interdependence, cooperation, lack of conflict) individualist - emphasize individual needs, rights, and responsibilities at the expense of the group (independence, self-reliance, competition) Collectivist cultures less aggressive than individualistic cultures
Cones
color vision (most are located in the fovea) - C in Cones -> Color - require a lot of light (can't see color in the dark)
Iris
colored part of the eye; controls size of pupil - muscle allows pupil to dilate/contract
Hue
colors we see, determined by wavelength - shorter wavelength: violet - longer: red
Anosmia
complete loss of sense of smell (congestion)
Joseph LeDoux
concept of the "low road" of emotion - a neural shortcut bypassing the cortex during which a fear-provoking stimulus travels directly to the amygdala via the thalamus - allows quick emotional responses before an intellectual intervention or response
Fuzzy Concepts
concepts that do not have clear-cut boundaries that distinguish them from other concepts; criteria for members are not well defined
Artificial Concepts
concepts where each member of the concept has all of its defining properties while no non-member does - ex: squares must have 4 corners & 4 right angles - either you meet all the criteria or NONE
Educational P
concerned with human learning- memory, conceptual processes, and individual learning differences; study the relationship between learning and environment
contrapreparedness
conditioned behaviors go against the organism's instinctive behaviors and are difficult or impossible to train (operant or classical) - evolutionary predisposed to fear certain things (like heights) or exhibit certain behaviors - will likely ignore rewards/punishments when operantly conditioned - can be overridden by a bad experience (like training an animal to not fear heights by associating avoiding heights with extreme pain)
preparedness
conditioned behaviors that work well with organism's instinctive behaviors and are easy to train (operant or classical) - being genetically predisposed to have certain fears/behaviors - fears/behaviors can be evolutionary
Solomon Asch
conformity; showed that social pressure can make a person say something that is obviously incorrect ; in a famous study in which participants were shown cards with lines of different lengths and were asked to say which line matched the line on the first card in length
Optic Nerve
connection between the eyeball and the brain goes from: carries neural impulses from optic nerve -> thalamus -> occipital lobe
Cochlear Implants
connects outer ear to the temporal lobe, acting as a fake cochlea - replaces damaged hair cells (cilia) - can sometimes cure sensorineural hearing loss
Dissociative Disorders
conscious awareness becomes separated from previous memories, thoughts and feelings - characterized by sudden but temporary alterations in consciousness, identity, sensory/motor behavior, or memory - Caused by unconscious processes - Biological Factors: aging, Alzheimer's - Often involves trauma - Can be caused by drugs like LSD
Vogel-Sprott Study
control group received beer with no alcohol in it, still acted drunk, shows alcohol might have some sort of placebo effect
Grammar
culmination of rules for generating language (includes phonetics and syntax)
DSM-5
current version (2013) of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - describes >300 specific mental disorders, used by most professionals
Hertz (Hz)
cycles or waves per second, a measurement of frequency
Obesity
dangerous excess of body weight/fat, most pressing health problem today (66% of Americans) - Can increase risk of hypertension, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, sleep apnea - tendency can be inherited
Availability Heuristic
decision making based in information that is most easily retrieved from memory, even if incomplete - ex: words that start with "r" vs with "r" as the third letter (might think that more words start with r because you can think of more r word, but there are actually more words with r as the third letter)
habituation
decreased response to a stimulus judged to be of little or no importance; getting used to a stimulus - allows tuning out of unimportant stimuli to focus on what matters ex. child learns that dog barking isn't important, learns to ignore it
Light Adaptation
decreased sensitivity of rods and cones in bright light - turning off the lights to go to bed, room seems super dark
Fissures
deep convolutions in the brain where the lobes are separated
Levels of Processing Theory
deeper (more meaningful) levels of processing result in longer-lasting memories (semantic memory is the best)
Semantics
deeper meaning in language (words and sentences that create/have meaning)
Fielder's Contingency Theory
depends on traits of the leader, the circumstances, and interaction of the group itself
Binocular Cues
depth cues that depend on the use of two eyes
Goals of Psychology
describe, explain, predict and control the behavior and mental processes of others
La Belle Indifference
descriptive of the lack of concern for their (imagined) medical problem sometimes shown by people with conversion disorders
Robert Cialdini
developed compliance techniques
Tourette's Disorder
developmental disorder featuring multiple dysfunctional motor and vocal tics
Erikson
developmental psychologist who studied social relations in stages
Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET)
directive confrontational therapy based on idea that psychological distress is caused by irrational and self-defeating beliefs - core problem is belief in "musts" and "shoulds" that leave no room for making mistakes ("musterbation") - uses ABCDEF (see case readings) to tackle issue - therapist's job is to challenge client's irrational fears
E.L. Thorndike
discovered operant conditioning - researched cats in a puzzle box - cats learned to escape from box to attain a reinforcement of food - reward for escaping encouraged them to get out next time (food) - 3D maze with levers, dead ends, etc. --> cats learn to navigate it - cats smell the food, more motivated to escape box to reach food
Sexual Desire Disorder (Paraphilia)
distressing and repetitive sexual fantasies, urges, or behavior - occur for a significant period of time - interfere with satisfactory sexual relations - feels as if one cannot control symptoms
Spacing Effect
distributed study time yields better long-term retention than massed practice - one day delay, fairly similar - one week delay, distributed has most information retained while massed has most information lost
Fovea
divot in the retina lined up with pupil, center of visual field - contains most color receptor cells (CONES) - why you cannot see color in your peripheral, the rest of retina doesn't have good color receptors --> fovea has best color receptors
Non-Compensatory Model
does not allow some attributes to offset others - ex: she's so nice, but so ugly, so I will not date her - will not settle; one negative thing outweighs all the positives - cons outweigh/match pros
Cluster B
dramatic or erratic behavior - Histrionic PD: hysterical, attention-hungry, "drama-queen" - Narcissistic PD: exaggerated sense of self-importance - Antisocial PD: violates social norms, enjoys harming others (may be caused by childhood emotional deprivation) - Borderline PD: unpredictable, impulsive, destructive behavior
Activation-Synthesis Theory (Hobson & McCarley)
dreams don't serve a purpose at all, are just neural firings from the brainstem during REM from Pontine brain stem; to keep us asleep, the cerebral cortex associates certain dreams with certain impulses
Information Processing Theory
dreams help us sort out the day's events and choose which memories to keep and which to discard (conversations, events, etc.)
Physiological Function (Crick & Mitchison)
dreams provide the sleeping brain with periodic stimulation to develop and preserve neural pathways; allow for pruning and preservation of neural pathways --> "mental housekeeping"
OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder)
driven to disturbing thoughts (obsessions) and/or performing senseless rituals (compulsions) - individual recognizes behavior is excessive but cannot stop without experiencing anxiety - Washers -> those who excessively/compulsively wash - Checkers -> those who compulsively check
Tolerance
drug is taken often, the body adapts to it; neuroadaptation, neuroplasticity
Hallucinogens
drugs that alter perceptions of reality and distort sensory and perceptual experiences; distort 1 or more senses
Barbiturates
drugs that depress the activity of the CNS (more than alcohol); DEPRESSANT
Jane Elliot
elementary education teacher who wanted to teach class about discrimination; designed experiment to show how easily children could be transformed into prejudiced monsters - blue eyed kids < brown eyed kids
Aversive Conditioning
eliminate undesirable behavior by associating it with pain and discomfort
Basic Anxiety (Horney)
emotion that gives a sense of uncertainty and loneliness in a hostile world and can lead to maladjustment
Temperament
emotional reactivity seemingly set early on in life (shy, difficult, outgoing, etc.) - Indicates this aspect of behavior is genetically manipulated - Environment can enhance or diminish this genetic predisposition
Archetypes (Jung)
emotionally charged images and thought forms that have universal meaning; commonly found as how things are portrayed in the unconscious (ex: portraying yourself as a ruler in a dream means you are a leader)
Active Listening
empathetic listening in which the listener echoes, restates, and clarifies, feature of Rogers' client-centered therapy
Visual (Structural) Encoding
encoding of images - in language: how the word looks
Acoustic (Phonetic) Encoding
encoding of sounds - in language: how the word sounds
Muller-Lyer illusion
end lines make the center line seem smaller
Placebo Effect
endorphins are released
Hypersomnia
excessive daytime sleepiness, insomnia usually leads to hypersomnia
Psychomotor Agitation
excessive motor and cognitive activity, usually nonproductive and in response to inner tension
Stress Hormones
excitement/stress --> produce more hormones that make more glucose energy for the brain - more activity in amygdala --> stronger emotions = stronger memories; weaker emotions = weaker memories - Flashbulb Memories
Reciprocity Norm
expectation that people will help, not hurt, those who have helped them
Neuroplasticity
experience physically changes the brain - when learning takes place, more serotonin released at certain synapses --> causes LTP
Cognitive P
experiment with/study how we perceive, think, and solve problems; study thought processes
Moratorium
explore various identities but cannot commit to one
Secure Attachment
explores while mother present; engages with strangers; upset when mother leaves; HAPPY TO SEE MOTHER RETURN; forgiving - tend to have healthier relationships later in life, good self-esteem, comfortable sharing feelings w/ friends/partners, seek out social support
Olfactory Bulb
first brain structure to pick up smell information from the nose - transmits impulses to temporal lobes of brain where they are experienced as smell - axons from receptors in OE send neural impulse directly to OB, not through thalamus
Binet-Simon Scale
first intelligence test developed by Binet and Simon for children that consists of 30 different tasks of increasing difficulty; predicts which children will have difficulty in school
Moniz
first prefrontal lobotomy/lobotomies in general
Inferiority Complex (Adler)
fixation on feelings of inadequacy/inferiority in one sphere that causes emotional and social paralysis -> being bad at one thing causes you to feel generally unworthy
Meditation
focus attention and promote relaxation, purposeful attempt to alter consciousness; ALPHA WAVES DOMINATE; purposeful activation of Parasympathetic Nervous System
social learning theory / observational learning
focuses on what we learn from observing other people - Bobo Doll Experiment (Banduras)
Neo-Freudians
followers/students of Freud who developed their own competing psychodynamic theories; rejected by Freud for disagreeing with his theories & teachings
Precognition
foreknowledge of future events
Concentrative Meditation
form of meditation in which a person focuses the mind on some repetitive or unchanging stimulus so that the mind can be cleared of disturbing thoughts and the body can experience relaxation; Zen (controlled breathing), Transcendental (mantra repetition), Sufi (frenzied dancing/chanting)
Altered States of Consciousness
forms of experience that depart from the normal subjective experience of the world and the mind
Henry Murray
founded Thematic Apperception Test in 1935
G. Stanley Hall
founded and became the first president of the APA; coined the term "Storm and Stress," which described the teenage years
Freud
founder of psychoanalysis therapy, popularized "Talking Cure"
Testing Effect
frequent quizzing of previously studied material that yields better long-term retention
Flooding
full-intensity exposure to feared object (phobia)
Creative Problem Solving
generating solutions that are both unusual and useful
Lowball Procedure
get compliance then raise price of compliance
Electra Complex
girl develops love for mother, but it disappears quickly due to penis envy, girl then seeks penis through father, then resolves this by playing with dolls (replacing desire for penis with desire for baby)
Mednick's Remote Association Test (RAT)
given three words - you come up with a fourth word that the other three can be combined with to make logical words (ex. hand, lone, win; some)
avoidance training
giving a "warning" before punishment occurs so organism may change its behavior in order to avoid an unpleasant consequence - ex: counting to 3 before punishment to provoke child to stop misbehaving - need to go through with the punishment or it is just an empty threat (ineffective)
Superordinate Goals
goals that override differences and require cooperative contact between groups
Testes and Ovaries
gonad/sex glands depending on gender
Cilia
hair cells; the receptor cells of hearing; send neural impulses through auditory nerve to the brain
Storage Decay
happens when we do not use information in memory and it fades
Teratogens
harmful substances that the mom is exposed to that could affect prenatal development examples: cocaine (babies are born addicted and go through withdrawal), alcohol, x-rays, lithium (used in bipolar medication), diazepam, tetracycline, and prescription drugs
Natural Concepts
have no set defining features but have characteristic features instead - members of the concept have some characteristics shared - ex: birds include chickens, sparrows, & ostriches - compare possible members to prototypes to evaluate if they are part of concept or not
Flat/Ambivalent Affect
having no emotion/having erratic emotional responses
Openness (Big 5)
high: open to new experiences low: doesn't like trying new things, likes things that are familiar decreases with age; neither extreme is good or bad, there are benefits & drawbacks throughout spectrum
Neuroticism (Big 5)
high: unpredictable, neurotic, impulsive, flexible low: stable, predictable, likes routines and plans
Thyroxin
hormone produced by the thyroid glands to regulate metabolism by controlling the rate of oxidation in cells
Brightness
how close a color is to white - determined by amplitude
Loudness
how many hair cells (cilia) fire, which is based on amplitude of soundwaves
Standard Deviation
how much the scores vary from the mean, average distance from mean Most people score near mean --> low SD Most people score farther --> high SD In a normal curve, SD reveals % of scores that fall within a particular range
Intimacy
how much trust and closeness is there; should be equal
Repression
in Freudian theory, a type of defense mechanism involving motivated forgetting of anxiety-evoking memories (trying to forget a traumatic memory) - pushing anxiety & guilt-arousing thoughts, feelings, & memories out of conscious awareness - Most memory researchers believe repression rarely, if ever, occurs, especially if memory is emotional
Empathy Training
in couple therapy, each member of the couple is taught to share inner feelings and to listen to and understand the partner's feelings before responding
Gender
in psychology, the biologically and socially influenced characteristics by which people define male and female
Social Facilitation
in the presence of others, performance is stronger on easier tasks yet weaker on more complex/unfamiliar tasks
Insomnia
inability to fall asleep or remain asleep - Can be treated w/ medication or dimming lights - Ventrolateral Preoptic Nucleus (VPN) inhibits feeling of wakefulness, dying off w/ age causes insomnia
Proactive Interference
inability to recall new information due to prior learning - ex. keep going back to old information, can't recall new telephone # because of old one being stuck in memory
Retroactive Interference
inability to recall older information as a result of new learning - ex. can't remember last year's parking lot remember, only remember this year's
Cognitive Distortions
inaccurate and irrational automatic thoughts or ideas that lead to false assumptions and misinterpretations
Feeding Disorders
inappropriate and unhealthy behaviors related to the types of substances eaten and attitude toward food
Instincts
inborn, goal-directed patterns of behavior - characteristic of an entire species - unlearned --> innate - cannot easily explain human behavior, as behavior is learned & often flexible (directed by both physiological needs & psychological wants)
Procedural Memory (Implicit Memory)
includes skills and habits; processed in other parts of the brain (cerebellum) - unconsciously accessed - ex. riding a bike, playing an instrument, eating with a fork, etc. - typically learned by repetition and practice - difficult to unlearn - often performed without conscious thought - skills and classical conditioning
Stimulants
increase CNS activity and speed up body functions; trigger sympathetic nervous system
Short-term Psychodynamic Therapy
insight therapy that is time limited (limited number of sessions) and focused on trying to help clients correct the immediate problems in their lives rather than long-term issues like childhood trauma
Automatic Thoughts
instantaneous, habitual, and unconscious thoughts that impact mood and action
RB Cattell
intelligence changes as you age, and identified 2 clusters of mental abilities: crystallized and fluid intelligence
Agoraphobia
intense fear of crowds & public places or other situations that require separation from source of security (like at home)
aggression
intent to harm, whether physically, verbally, or mentally --> exhibited more by males than females
intrinsic/extrinsic motivation
intrinsic motivation- your tendency to work on a task for your own satisfaction, rather than for rewards such as money or praise - don't need incentive to do something, brings you joy on its own (playing on the swings) Extrinsic motivation- motivated by external factors, to do things for tangible rewards or pressures, rather than for the joy of it - adults get paid for going to work - no work, no pay - need incentive ($) to perform action/behavior/work extrinsic reinforcement of intrinsic motivated behavior --> intrinsic becomes extrinsic, won't want to do already enjoyable behavior without reward anymore
Introverted vs Extroverted (Eysenck)
introverted: content with being by themselves, may like just being alone extroverted: likes being around other people, commonly outgoing
Sexual Dysfunction
involve an impairment of "normal" sexual functioning - medical cause must be ruled out instead of an appropriate cause, must cause distress
Recognition
involves tasks loaded with retrieval cues; material must be remembered through identification (multiple choice test) -> easier than recall
Neurotic Trends (Horney)
irrational strategies for coping with emotional problems and minimizing anxiety
Just Noticeable Difference (JND)
just noticeable difference - another name for difference threshold
Repression
keeping distressing thoughts and feelings buried (motivated forgetting); unpleasant thoughts/impulses are excluded from consciousness
Mainstreaming
keeping special needs kids in regular ed classes for whatever subject areas/activities they can handle
Telepathy
knowledge of someone else's thoughts or feelings
Gender-Role Awareness
knowledge of what behavior is appropriate for each gender; gender expectations vary across culture & time, provide sense of stability/simplification & sense of confinement
Total Colorblindness
lack of all three cone types (monochromatic/black and white vision)
Skin
largest sense organ - receptors for: pressure, temperature, and pain
Task-Oriented Leaders
leaders who are concerned more with getting the job done than with workers' feelings and relationships - best in extreme circumstances
Relationship-Oriented Leaders
leaders whose primary concern is to develop good relationships with their subordinates and to foster a productive environment - best in moderate circumstances
trial and error learning
learn by your mistakes - ex: demo - maze navigation - if something works, you continue; if if doesn't, you change your behavior
Mnemonics
learning aids, strategies, and devices that improve recall through the use of retrieval cues
change in behavior (behavior potential)
learning could create the potential for a change in behavior when the conditions are right ex. an incentive is present - behavior potential is included because learning is not always immediately obvious in behavior
latent learning
learning that takes place before the subject realizes it and is not immediately reflected in behavior - hidden learning - don't demonstrate learning until they have to - ex. taking a test on material learned over the course of few weeks (no way of knowing person learned material until testing, person might not even know they knew it) - Edward Chance Tolman --> rat maze
Binaural Cues
location cues based on the comparison of the signals received by the left and right ears; allow for determining source of sound
Receptor Sites
locations on a receptor neuron into which a specific neurotransmitter fits, binding causes an action to occur (such as opening protein channels)
Spiral Illusion
looking at the middle of a spiral then looking away, everything looks like it's spinning; brain adapts to pattern of movement, sees it everywhere for short time after
Retrograde Amnesia
loss of memory for events occurring for periods prior to brain injury (could just forget right before the accident or whole life, depends on severity)
Anterograde Amnesia
loss of memory for events that happen after brain injury (can't form new memories)
Dissociative Amnesia
loss of memory without a physical cause
Deindividuation
loss of personal sense of responsibility in a group, people more likely to engage in risky behavior when anonymous
Compensatory Model
making a decision by allowing attractive attributes to compensate for unattractive ones - ex: the car looks all banged up but gets great gas mileage - allowing the positives to compensate for the negatives - pros outweigh/match the cons
Rationalization
making up acceptable excuses/logical explantions for unacceptable/emotionally painful behaviors/events rather than dealing with the pain
Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)
may disrupt memory and learning as LTP in process is not completed (messes with neuron firing & neurotransmitter release)
Mild Intellectual Disability
may learn academic skills up to 6th grade level; may, with assistance, achieve self-supporting social and vocational skills IQ: 50-70
Severe Intellectual Disability
may learn to talk and perform simple work tasks under close supervision, but generally unable to benefit from vocational training IQ: 20-35
Moderate Intellectual Disability
may progress to second grade level academically; adults may contribute to their own support by laboring in sheltered workshops IQ: 35-50
Echolalia
meaningless repetition of another person's spoken word
Brown, Peterson, and Peterson (1959)
measured the storage capacity of STM - subject presented with a stimulus and asked to immediately count backwards (to prevent rehearsal) - by 20 seconds of backwards counting, the previously presented stimulus was forgotten - information in STM only remains there for about 20-30 seconds, & is very sensitive to interruption/interference
Memory Span
measurement of STM capacity; the largest number of items that can be recalled perfectly from STM after only one presentation - no study/rehearsal time allowed - sometimes is used as a component of IQ tests
Work and Family Orientation Scale (WOFO)
measures achievement in work orientation, mastery, & competitiveness
Additive Color Mixing
mixing lights of different wavelengths (hues) to create new hues - computers/lights/TVS --> RGB - lights add wavelengths - white: all 3 wavelengths hitting at the same time -> there is an absence of color and wavelengths are added until the color is formed
Trycyclics and MAO Inhibitors
most common antidepressants prior to late 1980s - increase amount of serotonin and norepinephrine - effective, but can cause heart complications & weight gain - ex. tofranil, elevil, nardil
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)
most widely used intelligence test for adults; contains verbal and performance (nonverbal) subtests - covers more types of intelligence - divided into 11 parts to focus on verbal/performance skills - WISC is for children
Drive-reduction Theory
motivated behavior is an attempt to reduce a drive and return the body to homeostasis - theory that replaced the instinct theory (biological or genetic programming as the cause of motivation)
Intrinsic Motivation
motivation for a behavior is the behavior itself; the behavior is rewarding in and of itself - ex. a child playing
Affiliation
motivation to be with others - Rats, monkeys, and humans in stressful situations all feel a reduction in anxiety and fear when in the presence of another member of their species - Evolutionary value -> Easier to survive as a group
Achievement
motivation to excel at a task; seeking moderately challenging tasks where one feels accomplished and successful - desire is for achievement for its own sake
Masters and Johnson
motivation; human sexual response—studied how both men and women respond to and in relation to sexual behavior; identified human sexual response cycle
Das Experiment
movie based on stanford prison experiment
Aggression (Horney)
moving against others
Withdrawal (Horney)
moving away from others
Compliance (Horney)
moving toward others
Overtones
multiples of the basic tone - primary determinant of timbre
Education
must be... - free --> school cannot charge more regardless of individual needs - public --> available to everyone - appropriate --> offer classes that accommodate all intelligences
Deintensification
muting the expression of one's emotions
Endorphins
natural, opiatelike neurotransmitters linked to pain control and to pleasure; natural painkiller produced by body to numb pain
Antimania Drugs (Lithium)
naturally occurring salt (lithium carbonate) used to treat bipolar disorder with 80% effectiveness - how it works is unknown, problem is establishing a proper dosage & people stopping medication when symptoms ease
violence in media
nature vs nurture the younger you are, the more modeling is effective and shapes who you are - witnessing violence can lead to imitation of such aggression
Compassionate/Affectionate Love
necessary for relationships to succeed in the long term
experience
need to be exposed to things to learn them - rules out changes in behavior due to maturation - how to determine maturation from experience?
In-Group vs. Out-Group
need to belong for feelings of identity, solidarity, and safety - those outside group are threatening - reserve greatest hatred for those most like us (similar category, different group)
Complementary Traits
needs or skills that complete or balance each other
Neuromodulators
neurochemicals that modulate the functioning of neurons and neurotransmitters, can increase or decrease (regulate) levels of certain neurotransmitters
Presynaptic Neuron
neuron that sends the signal through the terminal buttons
Feature Detectors
neurons in the brain that respond to specific aspects of a stimulus: edges, lines, movements, angles - make sense of incoming sensory info - i.e. certain neurons activate while looking at the face (identifying features in environment) vs. a block
Representativeness Heuristic
new information is compared to prototypes as a mental shortcut (easier to compare to a prototype than analyze information individually/in-depth and come to a conclusion); may lead us to ignore other relevant information; if they're similar, decision is made accordingly - ex: assuming that Linda is a feminist by comparing her to prototypes of feminists
Neonate
newborn
NREM Sleep
non-rapid eye movement sleep; encompasses all sleep stages except for REM sleep
Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomenon (TOT)
occurs when confident that one knows the information but cannot retrieve it due to a lack of retrieval cues - can't recall but can often recognize
Consolidation Failure
occurs when disruptions prevent permanent memory from being formed
Interference Theory
occurs when some information may get in the way of your ability to retrieve other information
Retrieval Failure
occurs when there are not enough retrieval cues available to prompt remembering (TOT phenomenon)
Cluster A
odd or eccentric behavior - Paranoid PD: very suspicious of others - Schizoid PD: withdrawn and lacks feelings for others - Schizotypal PD: eccentric, outlandish, flaky
Hot Seat
often used in group sessions the counselor confronts the person in the "Hot Seat" while other group member just listen, the members will then get an opportunity to relate their own experiences to that of the one in the "Hot Seat"
The Four Humors
oldest theory of personality; personality can be explained by the amounts of the four body fluids you have at a given time -> balance of all 4 was "healthy"
higher order conditioning
once a neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus, if the reaction is repeated enough, it can become an unconditioned stimulus for a new experiment - building experiments on top of each other ex. bell (CS) produces salivation, can be paired with new NS (idk picture of hat) so dogs learn to salivate to hat alone
Stereotype Threat
once made aware of a stereotype about a group you belong to, you are more likely to conform to this stereotype
Convergent Thinking
one correct answer is expected; not creative, but linear thinking (ex: math problem)
Trial and Error
one solution after another is tested; time consuming
Snowball Effect
one vocal person convinces a few people who convince a few more and so on and so forth
Self Efficacy (Bandura)
one's belief that they will be successful in the things they do, correlation with happiness and success - higher -> happier and more successful - girls' self efficacy drops during puberty
Skinner
operant conditioning; skinner box; parents can shape your personality and behavior through rewards and punishments
biofeedback
operant technique that teaches people to gain voluntary control over bodily processes like heart rate and blood pressure - modern tech incentivizes changing biomarkers - ex. heart rate low, reward presented; heart rate high, removal of reward/punishment - ex. alpha waves make car speed up in video game (reward), beta waves slow car (punishment) - teaches humans to control biomarkers, soon will not need reward/punishment system
Ewald Hering
opponent-process theory of color vision
taste aversion
organism becomes ill following consumption of particular food, averted to food (does not want to consume food again)
stimulus generalization
organism may learn to respond not only to CS, but similar stimuli to CS - ex: Baby Albert was not only afraid of white rats, but other white fluffy things (rabbit, cotton ball, Santa mask, etc.)
Hippocrates
original trait and type theorist (~400 BCE)
Perceptual Constancy
our tendency to perceive objects as stable and unchanging despite changing sensory information
Cafe Wall Illusion
parallel lines don't look parallel due to staggered black and white boxes
Authoritative Parenting
parenting style characterized by emotional warmth, high standards for behavior, explanation and consistent enforcement of rules, and inclusion of children in decision making, blend of Authoritarian & Permissive --> deemed to be best for children, but not 100% sure
Pons
part of brainstem; regulates sensory information and facial expressions; helps coordinate movements
Integrity vs Despair
people in late adulthood either achieve a sense of integrity of the self by accepting the lives they have lived or yield to despair that their lives cannot be relived
Self-Regulation (Mischel)
people often change their personality depending on the situation in which they are in; change in actions and responses based on past experience & assessment of current situation high: change personality depending on situation low: consistent personality
Frustration Aggression Theory
people who are frustrated in their goals may turn their anger away from the proper target toward another, less powerful target
Social Inequalities
people who have a lot come up with reasons to justify why others are in a bad position
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
perceived inconsistency between two cognitions causes discomfort (dissonance) - can be reduced through attitude change - can be reduced by increasing thoughts that support one of the two dissonant cognitions
Lightness Constancy
perceiving an object as having a constant lightness/shade even while its illumination varies
Color Constancy
perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object (hue)
Figure-Ground
perception of a foreground object (figure) and a background object (ground) --> distinguishing an entity from its surroundings - animals use it to blend in --> prevents figure-ground distinction and thus prevents them from attack
Norms
performance benchmarks established during test development used to establish "average" performance (need to keep the average the same)
Emerging Adulthood
period between adolescence and adulthood - this phase of life is increasing in length as time goes on
Pica
persistent eating of nonnutritive substances for a period of at least one month
Modeling Therapy
person learns new behaviors by watching others perform them, sometimes used in conjunction with operant conditioning - therapist may model desirable behaviors for client themselves
Depersonalization Disorder
person suddenly feels strangely changed or different, as if watching a movie and going through the motions
Heterosexual
person who is attracted to a member of the opposite gender
Homosexual
person who is attracted to a member of the same gender
Episodic Memory
personal and autobiographical experiences
Great Person Theory
personal qualities qualify one to lead
Trait and Type Theories
personality is best explained in terms of descriptive adjectives and categories comprised of related qualities - earliest of all types of personality theories
Reciprocal Determinism (Bandura)
personality is determined by the interaction of our traits, our environment, and our behaviors
Authoritarian Personality
personality pattern characterized by rigid conventionality, exaggerated respect for authority, and hostility toward those who defy social norms
Hans Eysenck
personality theorist; asserted that personality is largely determined by genes, used 3 major dimensions - stable vs unstable (neurotic) - introverted vs extroverted - psychoticism
Zone of Proximal Development
phase of learning during which children can benefit from instruction; growing up in proximity to others & sharing information
Somatoform Disorder
physical symptoms without any physical cause - person experiences symptoms as real - Psychodynamic: symptoms related to past trauma - Cognitive-Behavioral: examines how behavior is being rewarded, either tangibly or mentally - Biological Perspective: may be real physical illnesses being misdiagnosed or overlooked
Hierarchy of Basic Needs (Maslow)
physiological, safety, love/belonging, esteem, self-actualization self-actualized people... - use their abilities to their fullest potentials - accept themselves and others - accurately perceive reality - have a good sense of humor - have frequent peak experiences (meaningful/insightful experiences)
Aaron Beck
pioneer in Cognitive Therapy; suggested negative beliefs cause depression
Albert Ellis
pioneer in Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET), focuses on altering client's patterns of irrational thinking to reduce maladaptive behavior and emotions
Frequency Theory
pitch is determined by the frequency hair cells (cilia) produce action potentials - more frequently hair cells fire -> higher pitch - Volley Principle --> accounts for high-frequency (high pitched) sounds
Optic Chiasm
point at which optic nerve fibers cross in the brain - each eye collects visual info from your left and right field of vision (why when you close your right eye your left eye can still see things to your right) - meets and splits the info, left FIELD OF VISION from BOTH EYES goes to the right hemisphere and vice versa - takes stimuli from left/right field and has it cross sides
Logical-Mathematical Intelligence
potential for deductive reasoning, problem analysis, and mathematical calculation
Linguistic Intelligence
potential to learn and use spoken and written languages easily and well
Overlearning
practicing memorization of a list beyond that required to produce two perfect recalls - 10 repetitions to memorize list, continue for an additional 10 to achieve 100% overlearning - makes information more resistant to disruption or loss
Passionate/Romantic Love
predominates in the early part of a romantic relationship
Racism
prejudice and discrimination directed at particular racial group based on the belief that certain groups are innately inferior
Body Dysmorphic Disorder
preoccupation with a minor physical anomaly to the point of dysfunction
Cultural Norms
prescriptions for how people should interact and what messages should mean in a particular setting - shared expectations about how to behave in a given culture
Groupthink
pressure to conform to group makes everyone in the group have the same beliefs/attitudes - realistic and logical decision making gives way to the desire to have consensus
blocking
previous learning prevents conditioning to a second stimulus when they are presented together ex. learn to fear a tone followed with a shock, pairing tone & light with shock will not make subject fear light (subject will just think it was the tone again, the light just happened to be there)
Reality Principle
principle by which the ego functions; the satisfaction of the demands of the id only when negative consequences will not result (when appropriate)
Anal Fixation
problems to resolve conflict of potty-training
Reuptake
process by which neurotransmitters are taken back into the synaptic vesicles of the sending neuron
Cerebellum
processes/stores implicit (procedural) memories like skills and classical conditioning (unconscious processes)
Divergent Thinking
produces many different correct answers to the same question (often creative)
Projection
projecting your feelings onto someone else; attributing one's own feelings, motives, or wishes to others; externalizes anxiety-provoking feelings
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
prolonged vague but intense fears not attached to any particular object or circumstance - results from Free-Floating Anxiety (anxiety with no specific cause) - difficult to treat
Fritz Heider
proposed attribution theory - states we first decide if the cause is personal or dispositional (internal) or situation (external)
Lorenz (1968)
proposed that evolved instincts motivate animals to act certain ways- Imprinting and geese
LL Thurstone
proposed that intelligence consisted of 7 distinct primary mental abilities (spatial ability, perceptual speed, numerical ability, verbal meaning, memory, word fluency, reasoning) - did not believe in the g-factor, but people who scored well in one of the 7 areas tended to score well on the others (underlying evidence of a g factor)
Leon Festinger
proposed theory of cognitive dissonance, conducted experiment about how lower reward for behaving in a manner causing dissonance results in more justification and alteration in attitude
Daniel Goleman
proposed theory of emotional intelligence
prosocial vs antisocial behavior
prosocial: positive, constructive, helpful behavior; helping another person antisocial: hostile, violating rules behavior, opposite of prosocial behavior; harming another person
Albert Bandura's Bobo Doll Experiment
proves social learning theory / observational learning - children watch adults play with bobo doll - when children were left with bobo doll, they mimicked the behavior of the adults - if adults started beating up blow-up doll in front of child, child did exact same as adult did (mostly same for peaceful) - most effective when child observed an adult of the same sex
Vestibular Senses
provide information about equilibrium (balance) and head and body position
Kinesthetic Senses
provide information about the position and movement of body parts - stretch receptors & golgi tendon organs
Forensic P
provide law enforcement with criminal profiles and law; apply psychological principles to legal issues
Freud
psychoanalysis - id, ego, superego - study of the unconscious - psychosexual stages
Anxiety Disorders
psychological disorders characterized by distressing, persistent anxiety or maladaptive behaviors that reduce anxiety - anxiety -> general feeling of fear and apprehension possibly related to an object/event & accompanied by increased physiological arousal - can be caused by conditioning, preparedness, feelings of uncontrol, displacement, repression
PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)
psychologically distressing experience continues to plague individual after the fact & causes anxiety, creates distress & dysfunction - can be personal experience or witnessing an event - often linked with combat or sexual assault - Biological Evidence: those with PTSD have larger ventricles (fluid-filled holes in brain)
James Marcia
psychologist who developed the four stages of identity statuses (foreclosure, moratorium, diffusion, achievement)
Intelligence
psychologists disagree on the definition of intelligence
Aptitude Tests
psychometric test to measure your potential to learn - ex: SAT (positively associated with IQ; positive correlation btwn aptitude test results & intelligence tests)
Achievement Tests
psychometric tests designed to assess what a person has learned
Timbre
quality of texture of sound
IQ (Intelligence Quotient)
quantitative measure, typically with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15, used to indicate a child's intelligence relative to that of other children of the same age; mental age/chronological age x 100
REM
rapid eye movement; rapid brain waves, dreaming, "paradoxical sleep," paralyzed; all muscles paralyzed excluding eyes, as night progresses, time in REM lengthens & stages 3/4 shorten
Inclusion
rather than taking special needs kids out of regular ed classes for support, bring support personnel into regular ed classes so kids can stay with their peers
Type A Personality
reactive, competitive, impatient, motivated, aggressive, easily angered (susceptible to CHD)
Schemata
ready made categories of information that allow us to make inferences about others - plays a major role in how we interpret and remember information
State-Dependent Memory
recall information learned in one state when it was originally learned in the same state (ex: drinking coffee or chewing gum while you study then doing the same during the test, or learning info while high on weed & then recalling it better when high on weed again)
Bipolar Cells
receive input from receptor cells, route information to retinal ganglion cells
Parietal Lobe
receives sensory input for touch and body position; responsible for processing taste
Taste Buds
receptor cells for taste are located in taste buds; taste buds are located in the papillae (bumps on the tongue)
Bulimia Nervosa
recurrent episodes of binge eating & purging to prevent weight gain - must occur at least twice a week for 3 months - body shape/weight overly influence self-image - symptoms occur independently of anorexia - about 1-2% of female adolescents afflicted
Female Sexual Arousal Disorder
recurrent inability in some women to attain or maintain adequate lubrication or orgasm
Panic Disorder
recurrent panic attacks in which the person experiences intense terrors without cause - person often left with fear of another panic attack - can be comorbid w/ agoraphobia
Sublimation
redirecting a repressed forbidden desires and motives into something socially acceptable; finding socially acceptable way to discharge energy resulting from unconscious forbidden desires
Psychostimulants
reduce impulsive behavior by increasing the level of neurotransmitters (like norepinephrine, serotonin, & dopamine)
Depressants
reduce neural activity and body functions (slows CNS)
modeling
refers to the process of observing and imitating a specific behavior (imitation, exact replication of behavior)
Denial (Negation)
refusing to accept/acknowledge a painful reality
Temporal Lobe
region of the cerebral cortex responsible for hearing and language
interval schedules
reinforcement depends on the passing of time
fixed-ratio schedule
reinforcement follows a set number of behaviors - fulfillment of certain number of behaviors brings you closer to next reward - ex: commission/piecework based payment ($20 for every one computer you sell)
variable-ratio schedule
reinforcement follows an unpredictable number of behaviors, subject doesn't know when reward is coming - unknown/everchanging number of behaviors brings you closer to next reward - ex: slot machines (no way of knowing how many rounds must be played to win reward) - highest response rate; subject must work to get reward, as they do not know when reward is coming --> must work consistently
variable-interval schedule
reinforcement follows behavior that occurs after an unpredictable amount of time has elapsed - unknown amount of time brings you closer to next reward - ex: fishing without recasting line (don't know how long line will be in water, but know that eventually enough time will pass to catch your fish/reward) - least effective
IQ and success
relationship does exist, but may be the result of a self-fulfilling prophecy 1. Results lead to set expectations/labels; self-perception is altered 2. Self-perception change leads to behavioral change 3. Other individuals now see new behavior, perception is either solidified or changes 4. Treatment changes based on perception; new expectations set
Paivio's Dual Code Theory
remember best when using both semantic and visual encoding
negative punishment (omission training)
removes something desirable to decrease a behavior - ex: taking away a child's toy, taking away phone, etc (removal of desired object)
Primary Sex Characteristics
reproductive organs and external genitalia
Socio-Cultural Influences on Eating
responses to food governed by learning & social conditioning - how much we eat, what we choose to eat - Social Facilitation -> eating when others are eating - Unit Bias --> serving size based on culture
Anal Expulsive
result of anal fixation; messy, disorganized, rebellious, overly giving, obsession with bathroom humor
Anal Retentive
result of anal fixation; tightly controlled, OCD, fear of dirt, obsessed with punctuality
Maladjustment
results from discrepancy between real and ideal self; people stress out when their real self is far from their ideal self (ex. Gloria gets a divorce, tells daughter she hasn't been dating when she has -> stressed out by this situation)
Rote Rehearsal
retaining information in memory simply by repeating it over and over - Ex: learning flashcards by repeating the definition over and over again until "learned"
Syntax
rules that determine how words are combined in a language (sentence structure; part of grammar)
Why do we sleep?
safety (nocturnal predators), restorative value (clears irrelevant info during sleep), memory (reinforces it), creativity, growth (pituitary releases more growth hormones during sleep)
Carmichael
salamander experiment experimental group: salamander eggs placed in chemical solution that prevents movement but permits normal growth (couldn't practice swimming motions, completely incapacitated) control group: eggs placed in tap water when salamanders in the control group reached the age of swimming, the experimental group were moved to the tap water to see if they could swim (same age) experimental salamanders immediately started swimming normally -> clear example of maturation BUT under close examination, the results could be seen as very quick learning because it took about 45 minutes before they swam normally (swimming movements became increasingly complex as time passed --> did they learn rapidly or did the chemical just wear off?)
Pheromones
scents secreted which can promote sexual readiness, particularly in animals
Positive Symptoms
schizophrenic symptoms that normal people do not experience (disorganized thoughts, hallucinations, and delusions)
Standard Score
score that tells you how you did compared to other test takers - a much better read of performance
adrenaline (epinephrine)
secreted by the adrenal gland; increases heart rate and blood pressure; similar effects to noradrenaline/norepinephrine
vicarious reinforcement and vicarious punishment
seeing others reinforced or punished (respectively) for certain behaviors influences how the viewer behaves - has effect on observer, causes change/maintenance of behavior - Neuroimaging: experiencer feels pain, amygdala lights up a lot; watcher's amygdala lights up a little bit, feels some of their pain - Ex. If I get a reward in school for my good grades, my mom feels the reward vicariously, and will continue the parenting techniques/behavior that helped me do so
Golgi Tendon Organs
sense movement of tendons when muscle contracts and send impulses to CNS (don't have to see your arm to know where it is relative to yourself)
Stretch Receptors
sense muscle stretch and contraction - tell the brain how elongated the muscle is so we don't hyperextend our muscles
Nose
sense organ of smell
Hallucinations
sensory experiences without external stimulation (false sensory experiences)
Leveling
separating children by ability into different classes
Bipolar Disorder
severe mood swings between major depressive episodes and manic episodes - normal mood punctuates bouts - episodes of grandiosity, talkativeness, euphoria, & excessive elation - rarely in the middle --> usually either manic or depressed - much less common than depression - stronger biological component than depression
Libido
sexual desire and drive
Light and Shadow (monocular cue)
shading produces a sense of depth consistent with our assumption that light comes from above
Group Polarization
shift toward more extreme positions following group discussion between like-minded individuals
Stanley Milgram
shock experiment- subject was not allowed to leave
Auditory Canal
short tunnel that runs from the pinna to the eardrum; waves go through canal, causing vibrations, end of canal is eardrum
Tyron's Rats Study
showed influence of nature on intelligence (but also a little nurture) - put rats through a maze - sorted them by who made it through fast and who took a while (smart and dull categories) - breeded smart ones to make genius babies and breeded dumb ones to make really stupid babies - smart babies learnt maze quickly, dull babies did not - concluded it was mostly genetics because the environments were identical
Love
similar to friendship, similarity, proximity, attractiveness, and exchange all play a role -> includes physiological arousal, all-encompassing interest in each other, fantasizing about each other, and a relatively rapid swing of emotions - includes passion, closeness, fascination, exclusiveness, sexual desire, and intense caring
Stanford Prison Study
social psychological study conducted at Stanford University by Philip Zimbardo, aimed to study the impact of roles on behavior - participants were randomly assigned to play the role of either prisoner or guard - terminated early because of the role-induced punitive behavior on the part of the "guards"
Sex-Typed Behavior
socially defined ways to behave differently for boys and girls - may be partially biological in origin
Blame-the-Victim Dynamic
some groups are "worse" b/c of (insert negative stereotypes)
negative reinforcer
something is removed from environment following a behavior that makes them want to continue this behavior/makes behavior more likely to occur again - removal of unpleasant item to encourage behavior - ex: Suzie gets an A on her test, doesn't have to do chores this week (like cleaning toilet)
Lateralization
specialization of the two cerebral hemispheres for particular operations; splitting of functions between two hemipsheres
NeuroP
specialize in understanding the relationship between the physical brain (neurological processes resulting from structure & function) and behavior
mirror neurons
specialized neurons that fire not only when a person enacts a particular behavior, but also when a person simply observes another individual carrying out the same behavior - basis of imitation, empathy, and social nature - yawning, smiling, laughing, etc. - not all animals have them
Motivation
specific need or desire that prompts goal-directed behavior - ex. hunger, thirst, or achievement
Weber's Law
states that the difference threshold is detected by a constant minimum percentage of the stimulus, not a constant amount - when something light is added to a light object it can be detected, when something light is added to a heavy object it cannot be - to detect the difference in weight, the change must be 2% OF THE ORIGINAL (2% is the absolute threshold) --> i.e. you must add >2 lbs to a 100 lb object for a difference in weight to be noticeable
Factor Analysis
statistical procedure used to identify clusters of intercorrelated traits ex: someone presents certain traits and is categorized based on their behavior
Retrieval Cues
stimuli that aid the recall or recognition of information stored in long-term memory; help to gain access to a memory - more retrieval cues attached to a memory, more likely memory will be recalled
Menopause
stop menstruation; also the biological changes a woman experiences as her ability to reproduce declines
Propositional Network Theory
store the smallest bits of meaningful information and create links to other propositions (meaningful information) - nodes = propositions = bits of meaningful information - links = arrows - i.e. proposition "dog" connected to other nodes "bark," "fur," & "four legs" - all our memories are interconnected -> thinking of one thing can make you think of something else - when you think of a memory, you are recalling the last time you recalled it...memories get fuzzier
key variables of classical conditioning
strength: stimuli must be noticeable enough to provoke a response timing: UCS and NS must be paired close together so that an association is made between the two (Best case: NS before UCS) frequency: UCS and NS must be paired together many times to create an association between them
Holmes and Rahe
stress and coping; used "social readjustment scale" to measure stress
Suprachiasmatic Nucleus
structure located in hypothalamus; when light is coming in, SCN tells pineal gland not to release melatonin
Hermann Ebbinghaus
studied memory of verbal information - memorized list of nonsense syllables, found that the more he rehearsed, the more he remembered - discovered the overlearning effect & forgetting curve
Elizabeth Loftus
studied memory reconstruction; presuppositions in a question or information presented to a subject can alter the way they reconstruct the memory & create inaccuracies - question determined the response, even though all subjects saw the same video
Sperling
studied the capacity of sensory memory using the partial-report method; found that sensory memory can hold information, but only very briefly & a limited amount
Molecular Genetics
studies how particular genes influence behavior
Biographical/Retrospective study
studies in which a participant's past is reconstructed through interviews (interview an old person about their life) Advantages: - Great detail about the life of an individual - In-depth study of one person Disadvantages: - Recall of events may be inaccurate - Can be time consuming & expensive
Strain Studies
studies of the heritability of behavioral traits using animals that have been inbred to produce strains that are genetically similar to one another
Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI)
studies relationship between nervous, endocrine, and immune systems (stress & aids/cancer -> immune system compromised by stress, more likely to contract it)
Selection Studies
studies that estimate the heritability of a trait by breeding animals with other animals that have the same trait to see if the offspring has inherited said trait (for example, aggression)
Developmental P
study how and why human beings change over the course of their life- includes the entire lifespan; research age-related behavioral changes and apply scientific knowledge to this
Community P
study how individuals relate to their community to uncover ways to improve problems within the community; deal with broad problems of mental health in communities & relationship between human behavior & mental health & environment
Health P
study how mental, emotional, and social factors affect a person's physical well being (also referred to as medical psychology) also works around illness and mental recovery; psychological perspective on promoting health & preventing disease
Cognitive Psychology
study of cognitions (all mental activities associated with thinking, like memory, knowledge, & communication) and their relationship to experiences and actions - Study... 1. Creating concepts 2. Solving problems 3. Making decisions 4. Forming judgements
Cross-Sectional Study
study of people of different ages at the same time, examine how different age groups respond/react to the same tests/stimuli Advantages: - Inexpensive - Can be completed quickly - Low attrition Disadvantages: - Different age groups are not necessarily alike (pre-existing differences) - Differences may be due to cohort differences rather than age
Psycholinguistics
study of the psychological mechanisms related to language acquisition
Longitudinal Study
study of the same group of people over time; studies how a certain person/group changes over their life Advantages: - Detailed information about subjects - Developmental changes can be studied in detail - Eliminates cohort differences (each sample group is the same age at the same time, won't have differences due to historical factors) Disadvantages: - Expensive and time consuming - Potentially high attrition rate - Differences over time may be due to assessment tools rather than age (if you give them the same test every 6 months, they may just get better at it) - Usually a small sample
Locus Dependent Learning
study or learning in a location or context similar to where we will be tested - context serves as a retrieval cue - putting oneself in the same environment in which the information was learned may help to later recall learned information - explains Deja Vu --> similar contexts trigger memories even though setting is new
Psychometric P
study technique of psychological measurement- measuring knowledge, abilities, attitudes, and personality traits. Primarily, they study differences between individuals --> study methods & techniques used to acquire psychological knowledge
Deary Study
study that established IQ tends to remain relatively stable over time (stabilizes at age 7, but age 4 scores can predict future results) - longitudinal study of 10.5-11.5 year olds from Scotland -> followed up 70 years later to see if results were the same, indicated IQ tests remained consistent
Giftedness
superior IQ combined with demonstrated or potential ability in such areas as aptitude, creativity, and leadership - top 3% of IQ scores, about 132 - often in specific areas - Global giftedness (all areas) is rare
Prefrontal Lobotomy
surgical procedure that severs fibers connecting the frontal lobes of the brain from the underlying thalamus to resolve emotional/behavioral issues
Survival Functions of Tastes
sweet -> energy source salty -> sodium is essential to physiological processes (Na deficiency) Sour -> potentially toxic (protective) Bitter -> potential poison (protective) Umami -> proteins to grow and repair tissue
Five Tastes
sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami (BUSSS like BUSSIN)
effective punishment should be:
swift: occur as soon as possible after the behavior (forms strongest association between behavior & punishment, most discouraging) certain: occur every time the behavior does (otherwise sends mixed signals & will seem unfair when it does occur for once) sufficient: strong enough to be a deterrent (match severity of action; too weak is not enough of a consequence and the subject doesn't learn; too strong is overboard and will seem unjustly associated) consistent: apply to all individuals the same way (ex: siblings; inconsistency seems unfair to those punished worse)
Negative Symptoms
symptoms of schizophrenia that occur normally, but do not in schizophrenic (behavioral & emotional deficits like depression, flattened affect, loss of interest)
Withdrawal Symptoms
symptoms that occur after chronic use of a drug is reduced or stopped ex: chills, sweating, anxiety, loss of bowel control, spasms
Sensorimotor Stage
take in the world through senses - Birth - 2 years - No Object Permanence - A not B error
Identification
taking on the characteristics of someone else to avoid feeling incompetent (pretending to fit in)
Displacement
taking out feelings on something other than the source of these feelings; shift repressed motives from an original object to a substitute object
Conservation Tasks
tasks that involve changing the shape of a substance to see whether children can go beyond the way that substance visually appears to understand that the amount is still the same --> exemplify Principles of Conservation
Behavior Therapy
teach people new ways of behaving based on belief that all behavior is learned (adaptive & maladaptive) - focuses on measurable, observable activities
Heuristics
techniques that simplify decision making but do not ensure a solution or correct answer -> mental shortcuts - Ex: A method has worked in the past (plugging in the number 2 in a math problem), so you try and use plugging it in as a shortcut to solve the problem faster.
Identity vs Role Confusion
teenagers and young adults search for and become their true selves; ability to form a stable identity
Sensory Registers
temporary storage devices for holding sensory memories
Withdrawal
tendency for men to withdraw from contact with others in times of stress (may also turn to drugs/alcohol)
Defensive Attribution
tendency to attribute our successes to our own efforts and our failures to external factors
Belief Perseverance
tendency to cling to our initial beliefs even after they have been discredited (in the face of evidence) - ex: your favorite singer is arrested, but you still convince yourself they're a good person - the more we justify our initial belief, the more difficult it is to let it fo when proven wrong - to reduce BP, imagine the opposite perspective
Social Loafing
tendency to expend less effort when part of a large group, decrease in individual accountability
Imprinting
tendency to follow the first moving thing seen as the basis for attachment (occurs in many species of animals in a critical period like birds)
Barnum Effect
tendency to give high accuracy ratings to personality descriptions that, although supposedly unique, can apply to anyone (amplified if description is very positive)
Exchange
tendency to like people who appreciate us
Fundamental Attribution Error
tendency to overemphasize personal causes for others' behavior & underestimate situational factors - She cut me off because she sucks at driving
Overconfidence
tendency to overestimate the accuracy of knowledge and judgements - ex: belief that one can finish a paper/study for a test faster than they actually can - tend to make faster decisions and be less stressed about decisions; often make bad decisions though
Mood-Congruent Memory
tendency to recall experiences consistent with current mood (i.e. when sad, more likely to recall sad experiences/memories) - ex. recall how amazing childhood was when feeling happy, recall how horrible it was when depressed
Primacy Effect
tendency to recall first items on a list especially well (rehearsed most; reflects long-term memory)
Recency Effect
tendency to recall last items on a list especially well (most recent in short-term memory)
Actor-Observer Effect
tendency to underemphasize personal causes for our own behavior - I cut them off because I'm late
Psychoticism (Eysenck)
tendency toward psychopathology, involving impulsivity and cruelty, tough-mindedness, and shrewdness
Content Validity (Face Validity)
test ability to cover the complete range of content/material it is supposed to measure
Emotional Intelligence (EQ)
the ability to express, recognize, and use emotions well within social interactions 5 components: 1. knowing one's own emotions 2. managing one's own emotions 3. using emotions to motivate oneself 4. recognizing the emotions of other people 5. managing relationships
Analytical Intelligence
the ability to learn how to do things, solve problems, and acquire new knowledge...thinking logically and having good memory (stereotypical intelligence)
Creativity
the ability to produce novel and socially valuable ideas
Visual Acuity
the ability to see fine detail, sharpness of visual discrimination
Practical Intelligence
the ability to use information to select contexts in which one can excel & solve practical problems; not traditional schooling, more in-life survival
Neuroplasticity
the ability within the brain to constantly change/reorganize both the structure and function of many cells in response to experience
Self-Disclosure
the act of revealing intimate aspects of oneself to others
Priming
the activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations in memory - can shape/predispose interpretation of an event
Hawthorne Effect
the alteration of behavior by the subjects of a study due to their awareness of being observed - behavior improves when one is being studied by others
Auditory Cortex
the area of the temporal lobe responsible for processing sound information
Scale Error
the attempt by a young child to perform an action on a miniature object that is impossible due to the large discrepancy in the relative sizes of the child and the object (little girl tries to get inside the small toy car) - cannot understand size of objects relative to themselves fully
Object Permanence
the awareness that things continue to exist even when not seen --> cannot see object, object thus has disappeared and no longer exists
Ethnocentrism
the belief that one's own culture is superior
Circadian Rhythm
the biological clock; regular bodily rhythms that occur on a 24-hour cycle (sleep-wake cycle related to dark-light)
Sympathetic Nervous System
the division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy in stressful situations - Ex. In state of alertness/preparing to be alert --> raises heart rate, raises blood sugar, slows digestion - Dilates pupils, accelerates heartbeat, inhibits digestion, stimulates glucose release by liver, stimulates secretion of epinephrine (adrenaline) & norepinephrine (noradrenaline) from adrenal gland in kidney, relaxes bladder
Connectedness
the effect of perceiving spots, lines, or areas as a single unit; grouping things together that are physically connected
Countertransference/Resistance
the emotional connection & transference of the therapist's emotions unto the client
Semantic Encoding
the encoding of meaning - in language: the meaning of words
Culture
the enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next - greatly influences attitudes & behaviors
Sensation
the experience of sensory stimulation, physical registration of stimuli - eg: i see something - collecting clues about that thing (features)
Cultural Assimilators
the explanations for why members of a culture have a particular behavior
Masking
the expression of one emotion while feeling another internally
Heritability
the extent to which differences among organisms are caused by genes - Does not refer to which percentage of a trait is determined by genetics in a given individual - The more similar & controlled the environment, more can be attributed to genetics & thus higher heritability
Meaningfulness, Distinctiveness, Repetition
the factors by which we pay attention to certain pieces of incoming information 1. meaningfulness - how important the information seems 2. distinctiveness - how much this information stands out compared to other sensory info 3. repetition - how frequently information is presented
Spermarche
the first ejaculation of sperm by males entering puberty
Menarche
the first menstrual period in women
Problem Representation
the first step in solving a problem; involves interpreting or defining the problem - can help or hinder - defining the problem - can approach the problem visually, verbally, mathematically, and/or concretely - varies depending on perspective (Kid gets yelled at by teacher for breaking rules; can approach problem as if kid is the problem, but can also approach it as a problem with the teacher's rules, the kid's parents --> understanding of who is at fault differs, problem is defined differently by many)
Convolutions
the folds in the cerebral cortex that increase the surface area of the brain, creates more neural connections (wrinkled outer layer of cerebrum)
Glucose
the form of sugar that circulates in the blood and provides the major source of energy for body tissues - when blood glucose level is low -> fats, carbohydrates, and insulin signal for food (hunger)
Judicial (Moral) Principle
the governing principle of the superego, which sets moral standards and enforces adherence to them
Experimental Group
the group being exposed to the treatment, or one version of the independent variable
Control Group
the group not being exposed to the treatment, contrasts with the experimental group & serves as a comparison for evaluating the effect of the treatment
Population
the group of people being examined/studied Random Sample: a random group of people that fairly represents a population as each member has an equal chance of inclusion that is selected to be studied & represents a population
learned helplessness (Seligman)
the hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or human learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events - failures happen often enough, may generalize perception of lack of control to all situations (even ones where control is possible) - Seligman's dog experiment --> no-escape dogs rarely learned how escape an escapable situation after having no control over former situation
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
the idea that different languages create different ways of thinking - AKA linguistic determinism; language determines thought
Foot-in-the-door Effect
the idea that if people agree to a small request, they become more likely to comply with a large and undesirable request
Sensory Memory
the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system - exact copy of sensory stimulus - holds for only a few fractions of a second - more information enters than goes to STM for processing - holds information just long enough to recognize and transfer it to STM
Infantile Amnesia
the inability to remember events from early childhood (age 3) because LTM in babies is only 1-4 days and babies cannot consolidate information due to underdeveloped brain
Infantile Amnesia
the inability to retrieve memories from much before age 3, result of hippocampus not being fully developed by then
Absolute Threshold
the minimum amount of energy that can be detected 50% of the time (1/2 of people can detect it) - at what point can you hear the presence of a sound? - i.e. absolute threshold of hearing a certain frequency would be when 1/2 of participants can hear it
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2)
the most widely researched and clinically used of all personality tests, measures extent of certain traits
Postsynaptic Neuron
the neuron on the receiving end of the synapse through the dendrites
Frequency
the number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time - determines pitch (higher frequency, higher pitch) - measured in Hz - inverse of wavelength
Priming
the often unconscious activation of certain associations for the purpose of altering perception, memory, or response - i.e. unscrambling words demo...APE or PEA, different groups responded differently based on the previous words - i.e. being flashed a pleasant/unpleasant image before viewing a photo influenced one to judge the person positively/negatively - i.e. brand logo flashing for a split second before a photo is shown, subliminal advertising
Brainstem
the oldest part and central core of the brain, beginning where the spinal cord swells as it enters the skull; the brainstem is responsible for automatic survival functions - Medulla, Pons, Reticular Formation (RF)
Ventromedial Hypothalamus (VMH)
the part of the hypothalamus that produces feelings of fullness/satiety and stops eating behavior - the "satiety center"
Lateral Hypothalamus (LH)
the part of the hypothalamus that produces hunger signals, triggers the onset of eating - the "hunger center"
Ego Ideal
the part of the superego that consists of standards of what one would like to be
conditioning
the process of learning associations between environmental events and behavioral responses
Chunking
the process of organizing or grouping separate bits of information into larger units or chunks, can increase STM storage capacity - ex: phone numbers (memorize in 3 chunks of 3-4 numbers)
Encoding
the processing of information through the memory system to LTM - can encode information in various ways; affects how well information is remembered
Parallel Processing
the processing of several aspects of a situation simultaneously - the brain automatically gathers information about many things without us knowing
Catharsis Theory
the proposition that expressing negative emotions produces a healthy release of those emotions and is therefore good for the psyche
spontaneous recovery
the random reappearance of an extinct conditioned response (not uncommon); reappearance is not as strong as before - just bc extinction occurs, doesn't mean that learning is completely gone - proves learning isn't unlearned, it was just obscured by new learning; interference ex. baby Albert still had aversion to white fluffy things after the month, but was not as strong as before
Electromagnetic Spectrum
the range of wavelengths or frequencies over which electromagnetic radiation extends - humans can only see/transduce VISIBLE light - shorter wavelength/higher frequency (400nm) - VIOLET - longer wavelength/lower frequency (700nm) - RED
Subliminal Perception
the registration of sensory input without conscious awareness; below the level of detection/awareness - Wen Li Case Reading --> undetectable scents changed perceptions of faces
Long-Term Memory
the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system - includes all accumulated knowledge, skills, and memories of experiences - the more meaningful the information, the more easily it is stored - unlimited storage capacity - organized in terms of related meanings and concepts (like schemas) - new information learned by fitting them into network of pre-existing knowledge (schema)
Difference Threshold
the smallest change (difference) in stimulation/a stimulus that can be detected 50% of the time - paper being added to book -> not a big change in weight, therefore is difficult to detect -> might need to add around 10 pages before a change in weight is detected by 1/2 of participants - i.e. at what point can you tell the TV volume has been raised?
Morphemes
the smallest meaningful units of language (syllables, suffixes, prefixes, etc.)
Human Sexual Response Cycle
the stages of physiological arousal during sexual activity - Excitement, Plateau, Orgasm, Resolution
Demonology
the study of demons or of beliefs about them; used to understand psychology and why people might behave in antisocial or violent ways
Human Factors Psychology
the study of how people and machines interact and the design of safe and easily used machines and environments
Parapsychology
the study of paranormal phenomena, including ESP and psychokinesis
Neuroanatomy
the study of the parts and function of neurons & nervous system
Psychophysics
the study of the relationship between physical stimuli and our experience of them (making sense of stimuli)
Behavior Genetics
the study of the relative genetic and environmental influences on behavior (nature v. nurture)
Door-in-the-face Effect
the tendency for a person who has refused a major request to subsequently be more likely to comply with a minor request
Bystander Effect
the tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present
Self-Serving Bias
the tendency for people to take personal credit for success but blame failure on external factors
Hindsight Bias
the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it - viewing the impact of decisions as inevitable and predictable after outcome is known - "I knew it all along," "I knew the other team would win"
Closure
the tendency to complete figures that are incomplete; brain creates physical boundaries despite physical non-existance
Barnum Effect
the tendency to consider a personal description accurate if it is stated in very general, positive terms
Size Constancy
the tendency to interpret an object as always being the same actual size, regardless of its distance and subsequent change in retinal image size - Turnbull's research: perceptual constancy is learned &s shaped by experience (Kenge)
Shape Constancy
the tendency to interpret the shape of an object as being constant, even when its shape changes on the retina
Self-Serving Bias
the tendency to perceive oneself favorably (only notice the positive things about oneself); high self-esteem
Similarity
the tendency to perceive things that look similar to each other as being part of the same group; grouping things together based on physical similarity - i.e. seeing a column of triangles, circles, & squares individually
Self-Reference Effect
the tendency to process efficiently and remember well information related to oneself; relate information to oneself to better recall it (attaching meaning --> semantic encoding)
A-not-B error
the tendency to reach for a hidden object where it was last found rather than in the new location where it was last hidden --> even after understanding object permanence, still looks in wrong location based on former situation (i.e. always choosing right when object clearly went left this time)
Social Exchange Theory
the theory that our social behavior is an exchange process, the aim of which is to maximize benefits and minimize costs
Dopamine Hypothesis
the theory that schizophrenia results from excessive activity & overabundance of the neurotransmitter dopamine and hyperactive dopamine receptors - excessive binding of dopamine causes symptoms
Opponent-Process Theory
the theory that there are 3 PAIRS of color receptors (red-green, yellow-blue, white-black) that enable color vision (Hering) - each cone handles two opposite colors - members of each pair work in opposition - advantage: can explain color afterimages - both this and the trichromatic theory are correct in ways
Reward Theory of Attraction
the theory that we like those whose behavior is rewarding to us or whom we associate with rewarding events
unconditioned response (UCR)
the unlearned, naturally occurring response to the unconditioned stimulus --> automatic and unlearned ex. sight/taste/thought of food causes salivation, salivation is a UCR
Independent Variable
the variable being manipulated in the experiment independently of other variables
Pinna
the visible part of the ear, soundwaves hit pinna first, causes microvibrations
Gestalt Psychology
the whole is greater than the sum of its parts - emphasizes PERCEPTION - principles such as continuity & proximity
Trichromatic Theory
theory of color vision that proposes three types of cones: red, blue, and green (each cone responsible for one color) - experience of color is result of mixing of signals from these receptors - we can only really see 3 main colors, every other color is a combination of these - accounts for some types of color blindness
Gate Control
theory that explains how the nervous system blocks or allows pain signals to pass to the brain; there is a certain point where discomfort becomes pain - tissue is injured, small fibers in the spinal cord activate and open a neurological gate that results in the sensation of pain; large fibers close the gate and block pain signals from reaching the brain, preventing the overall sensation of pain
Yerkes-Dodson Law
theory that states there exists an optimal level of arousal for best performance on any task - the more complex the task, the lower the level of arousal that can be tolerated without interfering with performance
Set-Point Theory
theory that the body has a "set" weight it wants to be - body has a set number of fat cells that shrink with weight loss and enlarge with weight gain --> # does NOT change for the most part - efforts to go below "set" weight seen as a threat by body & it compensates by slowing metabolic rate
Virtual Therapy
therapy delivered online via phone or video conference - client given techniques to use on their own after session ends
Gestalt Therapy
therapy that aims to integrate different and sometimes opposing aspects of personality into a unified sense of self; emphasized the wholeness of personality - attempts to focus on emotions/sensations in the here and now - draws attention to what exists rather than what is absent, client's voice, posture, & movements - encourages confronting issues - therapist is active and directive
Group Therapies
therapy that treats more than one person at a time with a shared problem
External Locus of Control
things that happen in your life are a result of forces beyond your control ex: I got a 100% on my test because it was easy.
Internal Locus of Control
things that happen in your life are a result of your own actions (self-determinism) ex: I got a 100% on that test because I studied hard.
Counterfactual Thinking
thinking about alternative realities and things that never happened - "if I made this decision instead, _______ could have happened"
Monocular Cues
those that only require one eye - relative height, relative size, interposition, linear perspective, relative motion, light and shadow, texture gradient
Haves vs. Have Nots
those who have justified and often use negative stereotypes of "have nots" to justify inequalities - people see inequality, justify it through negative stereotypes
Linguistic Relativity
thoughts and experiences determine language (how one communicates in their language)
Cocktail Party Phenomenon (Broadbent)
tuning out of other sounds to focus on what is important - name being heard, automatically draws attention to speaker --> can be explained by meaningfulness, distinctiveness, and repetition...your name is all 3
Identical Twins
twins who develop from a single fertilized egg that splits in two, creating two genetically identical organisms
Fraternal twins
twins who develop from separate fertilized eggs. They are genetically no closer than brothers and sisters, but they share a fetal environment.
Alternate-Form Reliability
two different but similar forms of the test are given on separate occasions and scores are compared for similarity -> each version should be of equal difficulty, scores should be fairly similar
Cerebral Hemispheres
two halves of the cerebral cortex, each of which serve distinct yet highly integrated functions (NOT IDENTICAL) Left: Language, logic, analytic thought, science and math, controls right side of body Right: Perception, sense of self, inferences, holistic thought, intuition, creativity, arts and music, controls left side of body
Vestibular Sacs
two sacks in the inner ear by the semicircular canals that sense gravitation forward, backward, and vertical movement; fluid moves in them to keep balance
Stress-Inoculation Therapy
type of cognitive therapy that trains people to cope with stressful situations by learning more useful patterns of self-talk - taught to suppress negative & anxiety-provoking thoughts in times of stress - particularly effective for treating anxiety disorders
Stimulus Motives
type of secondary drive; push us to investigate or change our environment - Exploration/Curiosity: motivation explore the unknown environment (Where does that path lead? How does the internet work?) - Manipulation/Contact: motivation to play with or alter environment/nearby objects; need to touch, handle, or play with objects to feel satisfied
Somatization Disorder
type of somatoform disorder marked by vague, recurrent physical symptoms; plentiful, unrelated, & unresponsive to medical treatment
Conversion Disorder
type of somatoform disorder with sudden but temporary loss of physical functions triggered by psychological factors - goes back to normal following period of disorder
Diffusion
unable to "find themselves" - refusal to deal with the task; escapist techniques (leaving reality)
Automatic Processing
unconscious encoding of incidental information; automatic gathering of information - Space --> automatically recalling where a piece of information was spatially (brain records where in space a term on a slide was found) - Time --> automatically recalling sequence of events - Frequency --> automatically keeping track of how many times an action/event has occurred - Well-learned Information --> automatic processing of very familiar information like known words
Sleep
unconscious, but out brain is still active; keep processing information while we sleep; natural mode of consciousness
Night Terrors
uncontrollable arousal and screaming without the ability to be awakened; occurs during stages 3-4 (NREM, muscles aren't paralyzed); most common in children and adults on drugs
"Tend and Befriend" (Shelley Taylor)
under stress, people (especially women) often provide support to others (tend) and bond with and seek support from others (befriend)
Biological Model
underlying cause (etiology) of mental disorders is biological - emphasizes medication or medical therapies as treatment
Self Concept
understanding and evaluation of who we are
Standardization
uniform rules for administering, taking and scoring tests based on comparing performance to that of a pretested group (under similar conditions for everybody to ensure accurate results) - norms - representative sample - standardization sample
Primary Drive
unlearned drive based on a physiological state, necessary for survival - ex. hunger
Altruism
unselfish regard for the welfare of others
Stem Cells
unspecialized cells that are able to form into any type of cell
Assimilation
use an existing schema to understand new information; place the new sight into an existing schema (i.e. a brown dog is spotted & recognized as a dog, brown dog added to existing 'dog' schema)
Top-Down Processing (language)
use of background knowledge to interpret the meaning of sounds [understand context of conversation, create expectations --> hear sound]
Industrial/Organization (I/O) P
use psychology's concepts and methods in the workplace to help organizations and companies select and train employees; study relationship between people & working environments
Pheromones
used by animals as a form of communication - provides information about identity and sexual receptivity - can't be detected by humans, but are released by them - stimulate/processed in the VNO (vomeronasal organ) - information from VNO sent to special part of olfactory bulb used for pheromonal communication
Bottom-Up Processing (language)
used by humans to identify and recognize the specific-and changing-features of the sounds (phonemes) created when someone speaks an almost familiar language (deriving meaning/thought from hearing sounds) [hear sound --> create meaning]
shaping
used for some behaviors that are too complex to occur spontaneously --> must be trained in small steps - similar to playing "hot and cold" - small rewards as they get closer to doing the behavior - ex: clapping demo and Skinner Box (rat gets closer to pressing lever, give small reward for each step it makes to get closer)
Philippe Pinel (1745-1826)
used humane approaches to treating patients in France
Hypnosis and Post-Hypnotic Suggestions
used in psychoanalytic therapy as a way of getting someone to let out their unconscious by having them enter an altered state of conscious.
Antianxiety/Anxiolytics
used to treat anxiety disorders, often referred to as tranquilizers - most widely prescribed of all legal drugs - produce a feeling of calm & mild euphoria - side effects include physical dependence & withdrawal symptoms if abruptly discontinued
Supernatural View
view of psychological disorders which holds that mysterious behavior is attributed to supernatural powers - more common in early societies and the Medieval Times.
Iconic Sensory Memory (Icons)
visual sensory memories that last only a second in sensory memory (something you see but aren't paying attention to)
Conformity
voluntarily yielding to social norms, even at the expense of one's own preferences - strengthened by unfamiliar situations, larger groups, unanimity of group, attractiveness/status of group, & collectivist culture
Sleepwalking
walking and talking during sleep and having no recollection in the morning, occurs during stage 4, more common in children (spend more time in 'deep sleep')
Gladys Burr
was committed to a mental asylum for scoring low on an IQ test and was kept there for decades - said she only did poorly because she wasn't trying
Freeman
went around lobotomizing individuals
Attribution
what do you attribute your behavior to - theory that addresses the question of how people make judgements about the causes of behavior
Percentile Score
what percentage of test takers you scored better than - ex: 85th percentile means you scored better than 85% of the people who took the test
High Pressure
when decisions are required quickly, experience plays a key role - increased pressure in an emergency deteriorates decision making, can end in panic - not thinking the answer through logically or thoroughly
Recall
when material must be remembered with few or no retrieval cues (free response test)
Displacement
when new information enters the STM and old information is pushed out - can only hold 5-9 pieces of info in STM
Face Blindness
when people have trouble with the supercell clusters working together, cannot put together clues/details that help them recognize a face - PONS: facial recognition
Paradoxical Heat
when something extremely cold or hot feels the opposite at first --> so cold, it's hot - as it hits your skin, sensory neurons detect it too quickly or extremely and interpret the information incorrectly
Dethronement (Adler)
when the next child is born, the older one is forced to share parental attention
Neisser
when we focus on one thing, we miss out on others; coined inattentional blindness
Relative Motion (Motion Parallax)
while moving, objects that move past field of vision fastest are perceived as closest & vice versa
Critical Period
window of time where you must be exposed to language or else you'll never learn - ex: Genie & Feral Children
Hypochondriasis
without physical evidence, individual believes they have a serious illness
Kitty Genovese
woman whose murder in front of witnesses led to research on bystander effect
Women vs. Men Intelligence
women are more likely to be of average intelligence - slightly better at verbal & mathematical computation men are more likely to fall in the extremes - slightly better at spatial ability
Supercell clusters
work in teams to determine familiar patterns - such as faces (processed in the right-side of temporal lobe) - evaluate shapes of face simultaneously to recognize friend (combination of bottom-up & top-down processing)
Subtractive Color Mixing
works by removing some wavelengths of light, leaving less light than was originally there - pigments absorb or subtract wavelengths (paint) - black: all colors combined -> wavelengths are removed from black until one color remains
Intimacy vs Isolation
young adulthood (20s to early 40s); young adults choose to form intimate relationships and get married OR isolate themselves; individuals form deeply personal relationships, marry, begin families
