Big Psych
Formal Operational Period
- adolescence through adulthood - abstract, hypothetical thinking applied to abstract concepts (they are more capable of doing algebra. Better able to imagine possibilities) - Systematic, logical reasoning
What are independent and dependent variables
- be able to identify these in examples. Independent = sugar pill v not sugar pill. Dependent = effect of sugar v not sugar
What are delusions?
- beliefs that are firmly help despite lack of objective, supporting evidence
What happens during REM sleep
Rapid Eye Movement, lots of brain activity, paralysis
What is sensation/perception
Sensation: process by which stimulation of sensory receptors leads messages to the brain. Perception: The brain's imposing meaning on ambiguous stimuli, what me make of this info.
What are the three stages of memory processing according to the Information Processing Model
Sensory memory, Short-term memory, and long-term memory.
What are sensory nerves
Sensory nerves are nerves that transfer information to the CNS.
What are sensory receptors, what do they do, what is sensory adaptation and why is it useful
Sensory receptors are specialized cells that detect certain forms of energy. Adaptation is decreasing response to unchanging stimuli, and it is useful because we couldn't possibly process every unchanging stimulus at the same time.
What is the unconscious? How does it relate to psychological disorder in Freud's theory? How did Freud try to cure his patients?
Thoughts, feelings and desires below conscious awareness. Freud thought unconscious desires were the source of physical problems. Cure was becoming aware of psychological problems through free association (dreams).
What are culture-general and cultural (culture-specific/culture-bound) disorders?
cultural general disorders: disorder found in all cultures, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression cultural disorders: differences in how cultures express/experience distress
What is schizophrenia? What are the symptoms?
split mind between the mind and reality, does not imply a split in personalities (not multiple personalities) symptoms - severely disordered and irrational thoughts and ideas - distorted perceptions - inappropriate emotions and behaviors - psychosis: loss of contact with reality - found in all cultures - extremely disabling - hallucinations - delusions
What does the term 'feral children' mean
Those without access to language
Why can't group differences in average IQ scores be assumed to be due to genetic differences (flower example on powerpoint for instance)?
Though genetics play a role in IQ differences among individuals, this does not necessarily mean that genetics explains the differences among groups in average IQ scores. (Example: height is 95% inheritable, but nutrition makes a difference too. Japanese adults today are inches taller than they were in the 1940s on average. Example: a pack of flower seeds are planted in poor soil and others in fertile soil. There is not a genetic difference in the seeds, but the flowers in fertile soil grow taller. The difference is due to environment.)
What is the DSM-V?
diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders list of criteria that one must meet in order to be diagnosed with psychological disorder - allows for precision and consistency in diagnosis research based
What factors predict outcome (prognosis)?
greater risk in babies with low birth weight, oxygen deprivation at birth, moms with diabetes, famine, or flu like virus
What are the most common types of hallucinations in schizophrenia?
hearing voices
How are psychological disorders related to poverty?
higher stress in living in poverty, some psychological disorders can cause downward mobility, children show a decrease in behavioral problems when their family moves above the poverty line
In what ways does the brain continue to develop in adolescence?
pruning:(elimination of unused synaptic connections in the brain) unused synaptic connections are eliminated during puberty to rid the system of noise and allow for more efficient neuroprocessing. Frontal lobes: don't mature until mid-20s. They have less emotional control or lack the ability to think of future consequences of their behavior.
What are the symptoms and features of major depressive disorder?
psychological symptoms - sadness, guilt, low self-esteem, pessimism, anhedonia, anxiety, poor concentration, isolation physical symptoms - change in eating and sleeping, pain, low energy, weakened immune system for a least 2 weeks
What are the general symptoms of anxiety disorders?
psychological symptoms: excessive worrying, feelings of fear, nervousness, feelings of dread, difficulty relaxing physical symptoms: sweating, increase heart rate, trembling, nauseous, stomach upset, dizziness
Panic disorder
recurrent panic attacks - sudden episode of extremely intense anxiety - think they're having a heart attack - sweat, tremble, feel like they're about to faint or die may lead to agoraphobia - fear of situations in which escape may be difficult or in which help might not be available
Confirmation bias:
seek information that confirms out beliefs, ignore information that disproves out beliefs
What factors are associated with happy marriages?
sharing thoughts/ feelings/ interests/ beliefs/ values tend to have happier marriages. Fidelity and trust is important. Sexual compatibility. Feeling that they get as much out of the marriage as they put in makes for happier marriages.
Existence of social inequalities
some people have easier paths in life
What is the Yerkes-Dodson Law?
suggests that there is a relationship between performance and arousal. Increased arousal can help improve performance, but only up to a certain point. At the point when arousal becomes excessive, performance diminishes.
The people who have a lot:
tend to have attitudes that justify their position in life and the position of people who lack what they have
What is metacognition and how does it relate to egocentrism?
the ability to think about thinking. • Egocentrism: They are able to think about what others are thinking. Now they begin to think about what other people are thinking about them. They become self-centered in assuming others are constantly thinking about them. They overestimate the amount people think about them.
What is abnormal psychology?
the branch of psychology that studies unusual patterns of behavior, emotion and thought Deals with behavior in a clinical context
What factors are (and are not) related to happiness?
(religious faith, sleep well, friendships, satisfying marriage) and factors that are not related to happiness (age, gender, parenthood, physical attractiveness)
What is the availability heuristic and what factors influence availability in memory
(see outline on Canvas and text) When we use the availability heuristic, we judge the likelihood of an event by what is more available in memory. If something is more available in memory, it is easier to think of examples, and we judge it as more common or likely. Thus, we judge the likelihood of an event by how easy it is to think of examples.
What is the role of hormones and emotion in memory
(see outline on Canvas) hormones released during excited, stressed, or emotional states tend to facilitate encoding of memories
What is vicarious reinforcement/punishment
(see pp. 290-291) Vicarious reinforcement occurs when the frequency of certain behaviors increases as a result of observing others rewarded for the same behaviors. Vicarious punishment refers to a decrease in the frequency of certain behaviors as a result of seeing others punished for the same actions.
Thalamus
(all sensory info goes to the thalamus first; sensory relation stations/ "post office") Sensory relay
Limbic system
(collection of structures heavily involved in emotion and memory)
What is context-dependent and state-dependent memory
(see text) Context-dependent memory is the ability to better remember when you are in the same environment as when something else happened. State-dependent memory is the ability to remember other things that happened when you were in the same emotional state.
What predicts academic success better than IQ?
(self-discipline predicts academic success and honors than as IQ).
Sensorimotor Period
- 0-2 years (- Understand the world through sensory and motor interactions with their environments - Lack mental representations, object permanence, (6-8 months) separation anxiety (8 months) - Out of sight, out of mind)
Concrete Operational Period
- 7 years to adolescence - understanding conservation - simple mental operations applied to concrete objects
What is attachment?
- A close, emotional bond (usually refers to bond between a child and its parent.) - Happens when child seeks closeness with parent and shows distress when separated (What causes attachment? Researchers thought it was caused by food, but studies show otherwise)
How is theory of mind related to autism?
- People with autism don't develop a good theory of mind - May not see that other people may not be as interested in what they're interested in.
What is antisocial personality disorder?
- Psychopaths, sociopaths - Pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others
What did Harlow's monkeys reveal about attachment?
- Suggested that kids don't become attatched to their mother because they provide food (Two fake mothers, one covered in a soft cloth and one made of wire --> They believed the child would form an attachment to whoever provided the food • Baby monkeys separated from their mom show less distress if they can at least touch their mother compared to noes that can hear and see and smell their mother but can't touch them. • Cloth vs wire mother • Contact comfort vs nourishment • Maternal instinct • Couldn't get the monkeys to mate, artificial insemination, tended to kill their children. No maternal instinct. Mothering behavior and nurting isn't instinctual, it depends on learning and experience.
How does the attainment of motor milestones differ for different individuals? How is it the same?
- Timing and sequence (Babies all over the world will reach their motor milestones in the same order, all babies will be able to hold their heads up before they can sit up, sit up before they can stand, stand before they can walk --> biological maturation)
How does the diathesis-stress model explain psychological disorders?
- diathesis: predisposition - degree of predisposition and amount of stress - whether you get psych disorder or not depends on how much of a predisposition you have and how much stress - little predisposition: a lot more stress to trigger disorder - explains why under stressful situations people are more likely to have psych disorders
What is posttraumatic stress disorder? Who tends to get it?
- enduring or witnessing horrific, uncontrollable events through flashbacks, nightmares, haunting memories, jumpy, cranky, insomnia, irritable - veterans, sexual assault victims
Generalized anxiety disorder
- excessive, long-lasting, free-floating anxiety - dread, distractibility, irritability, tense, worry, hyper vigilant, insomnia, exaggerated startle, nausea, dizziness
What is major depressive disorder?
- feeling sad for a long time
In what ways can applying a diagnostic label to someone be stigmatizing?
- it may not be socially acceptable - people think they can't function normally
What are obsessions and compulsions and how do they relate to each other?
- obsession: intrusive recurring thoughts, doubts, images or impulses that can't be controlled (anxiety- fuels compulsions) - compulsions: irresistible urges to engage in repetitive behaviors -- checking, counting, washing, arranging, repeating - relate: obsessions lead to anxiety, anxiety fuels compulsions
What are hallucinations?
- perception without sensory stimulation - can occur in any of the sense - auditory most common (hearing voices)
What are the different types of delusions we covered?
- persecution (paranoid delusions): believe that others are trying to harm them - grandeur: believe they are much more important than they actually are - ideas of reference: believe that unrelated, random events are personally relevant
What is obsessive-compulsive disorder?
- persistent upsetting thoughts that produce the irresistible urge to engage in competitive ritualistic behaviors
How do primary and secondary emotions differ?
--Primary emotions -Surprise, interest/excitement, joy, anger, sadness, fear, disgust -Unlearned -Age, culture --Self-conscious or Secondary emotions -Empathy, jealousy, embarrassment, pride, shame, guilt -Age -Self-awareness and the mirror and rouge test Facial expressions: Primary emotions are emotions whose facial expressions appear to be innate, appear within first 6 months of life, similar in different cultures and same expressions for people who have been blind since birth Secondary: not as universal, appear 1 ½ and 2 ½ years. Requires self-awareness or self-consciousness. You have to understand you're a person separate from other people.
Preoperational Period
-2-7 years -egocentric (lack of theory of mind, ability to take another's perspective --> theory of mind develops around age 4 and 5) - difficulty with mental operations (mental manipulation involves doing work in your head,young kids typically have limited working memory --> lack conservation -understanding that quantity stays the same even if appearance changes --> two equal glasses, one of them poured into a skinny beaker they think that one has more)
What are the effects of alcohol
-Alters many different neurotransmitters -Impairs nearly every aspect of thinking -Widespread effects on brain and behavior -Frontal lobes-->more reckless behavior/decisions, more impulsivity, slurred speech (affecting motor areas in frontal lobe), lower inhibitions, greater aggressiveness, judgment is impaired -Decreases activity in hippocampus-->memory -REM sleep is also suppressed Brain stem -Cerebellum-->balance/coordination -Reticular formation-->consciousness -Medulla-->breath, heartbeat -Unconsciousness will occur b/w .3 and .4% -Death will occur b/w .4 and .5% Withdrawal -One of the few drugs that can produce a deadly withdrawal syndrome in heavy drinkers/hardcore alcoholics -Detox needs to occur at hospital Alcohol alters many different neurotransmitters.
How does the reliability of IQ tests change with age?
-Increases with age for IQ tests -IQ tests are not very reliable before the age of 4 -They become very reliable after the age of 7 (IQ tests) (as long as there's no brain injury or disease then the IQ should remain stable)
What are the features of anorexia nervosa?
-Self-starvation -Main symptoms • significantly underweight • Fear of weight gain • Distorted body image: perceive themselves as being fat o Starts in early to mid-teens, affects females more than males o Are very hungry, obsessed with food, but do not eat o Females stopped menstruating o Perfectionists, low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, high-achievers o Parents-perfectionists, high-achieving, overprotective, over controlling
What are sleeptalking, sleepwalking, nightmares, and night terrors and in what stages do these tend to occur
-Sleep talking- common with kids, any stage, very tired, little to do with reality -Sleep walking- common with kids, genetic influence, NREM 3 (NOT DREAMING) -Night terrors- NREM 3, kids, don't remember next morning, terrified -Nightmares = scary dreams (REM)
In what order does one progress through the sleep stages during a complete sleep cycle
1 2 3 2 REM
How does information flow through the cellular layers of the retina
1. Light entering the eye triggers photochemical reaction in rods and cones at the back of the retina 2. Chemical reaction activates bipolar cells 3. Bipolar cells activate the ganglion cells, the axons of which converge to form the optic nerve. Transmits info to the visual cortex via the thalamus.
What is the average IQ?
100
Who was Sigmund Freud? What major contribution did he make to personality psychology? What were the main focuses of Freud's theory? What was his theory called?
1856-1939 Austrian, Victorian neurologist. First major personality theory. Mostly wrong, but influential. Emphasized childhood, social and aggressive urges and unconscious. Created psychoanalytic theory. Discovered how important unconscious was.
What did Wilhelm Wundt do
1879, first psychology lab.
What happened in the Zimbardo prison study (aka Stanford prison experiment)? What is the main lesson of this study? 1971
1971 o They got the healthiest college students and placed some as prison guards and some as the prisoners- they ended up becoming their characters- only 6 days in they had to cancel the experiment even though it was supposed to last 2 weeks o 1/3 of the guards became abusive o Pretend became real o Situations can change how someone acts: changes their personality o Situations can exert powerful influences o Social pressures can keep people in bad situations
What are the dimensions of personality in Eysenck's trait theory?
2 fundamental dimensions of personality: Introverted/exraverted and emotionally stable/instable
How addictive is nicotine compared to other drugs
It is as addictive as cocaine, meth, or heroin.
How do collectivist and individualist cultures differ?
African and Asian cultures are more likely to include social skills in their definition of intelligence. In collectivist cultures, the needs of the group take precedence over the needs of the individual. In individualist cultures, people seek personal fulfillment.
Are adopted kids more likely to get schizophrenia if their adoptive parent has it?
no
What is the Strange Situation Test?
A child is placed in a room with toys with parents. Researchers observe how parent and child interact. Parent leaves the room, see the separation. React for the child when the return to the room. Different patterns of attachment emerges
Are females better at all verbal tasks?
no
Who was Ivan Pavlov
A Russian physiologist who did the dogs and salivation experiment.
What is the spinal cord
A column of neurons
What is attention
A concentration or focusing of mental activity.
What is a circadian rhythm
A cycle of behavior and physiology, regulated by the Suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of hypothalamus.
What are circadian low-points (when are people at their sleepiest)
A drop-in performance, 1am-4am and 1pm-4pm usually
What are microsleeps
A microsleep is a brief sleep episode that lasts up to 30 seconds, during which a person temporarily loses consciousness and external stimuli aren't perceived.
What is motivation?
A need or desire that energizes and directs a behavior to a goal. The study of "why." What prompts an organism to behave the way they do?
What is the optic nerve
A paired nerve that transfers info from the retina to the occipital lobe.
Who was H. M.
A patient that had part of their brain removed due to seizures and could only remember up to 20 seconds
What are surveys
A questionnaire or interview to gather data.
What is adolescence?
Between childhood and adulthood Physical changes o Begins with puberty (body changes, reproductive capability) until they are self-supporting or independence. Many think that there should be another category o Brain maturation
What is learning
A relatively permanent change in behavior due to experience.
What is a representative sample and why is it important, what kinds of samples are more likely to be representative, what is volunteer bias
A representative sample is choosing the right people for your study, hopefully random. Larger samples are more representative. Volunteer bias is when people who volunteer are more inclined to participate, which creates bias.
What is a Skinner box/operant chamber
A skinner box/operant chamber is a box in which a rat is placed. This rat learns that when it pushes a button, it gets food, and when it pushes a lever, it gets shocked.
What is the CS
A stimulus that acquires the ability to produce a response as a result of being associated with the UCS (the bell, the rat)
What is the UCS
A stimulus that naturally produces a response (food, hitting a steel pipe)
What is hypnosis
A technique to increase succeptibility to suggestion that focuses on monotonous stimuli.
Systematic desensitization
A type of exposure therapy that associates a pleasant relaxed state with gradually increasing anxiety-inducing stimuli Commonly used to treat phobias
Are males better at all non-verbal tasks?
no
What is believed to be the capacity and duration of long-term memory
Long term memory has an unlimited capacity and relatively permanent duration.
What is believed to be the duration of short-term memory
About 18-30 seconds.
How does dividing attention affect accuracy
Accuracy decreases the more one divides their attention
What neurotransmitters play a large role in memory
Acetylcholine and Glutamate
What is positive reinforcement
Adding a desirable stimulus after a behavior(getting a hug)
How does this relate to the tendency for people to misjudge the effect of major events on their long-term happiness?
Adjust to new circumstances until they just become normal to us. This is probably why major events do not have as much of an impact on our long term happiness as we think they will. People think that if they just win the lottery, they will be happier for the rest of their lives. However, once the initial thrill wears off, being rich just becomes normal. What they consider as good recalibrates their general level of happiness.
What is positive punishment
Administering an adverse stimulus (spanking)
How does thinking change in adolescence?
Adolescents are capable of abstract, hypothetical thinking
What is the biopsychosocial approach
Looking at biology, psychology, and sociology to address psychological issues.
What are agonists and antagonists
Agonists have the same effect as neurotransmitters, and open receptor sites. Antagonists block neurotransmitters, and close receptor sites.
Obedience?
Agreeing to explicit demand made by authority figure
What are the goals of humanistic psychotherapy? What are the characteristics and methods of Rogers's client-centered therapy?
Aims -Enhance self-awareness and self-acceptance -Facilitate growth Client-centered therapy- a humanistic therapy in which the therapist uses techniques such as active listening within a genuine, accepting, empathetic environment to facilitate clients' growth -unconditional positive regard
Which drugs produce the most dangerous withdrawal syndromes
Alcohol, benzodiazepines, and Opiates.
What is the main premise of the humanistic approach?
All people are driven by innate drive to fulfill potential/self actualize.
Who was B.F. Skinner
An American behavioral psychologist who coined the term operant conditioning.
What is the eclectic approach to therapy?
An approach to psychotherapy that uses techniques from various forms of therapy
What characterizes action potentials
An electric signal that travels through the axon and myelin sheath to the terminal buttons, then triggers neurotransmitters to travel through the synapse and into the receptors in the dendrites of a new neuron.
What is operant conditioning
An organism learning about behavior and its consequences
Do females and males differ in average IQ scores?
no
What is the relationship between perceived control and stress (see text)?
Losing control evokes an outpouring of stress hormones.
What are mood stabilizers (such as lithium) and what do they treat?
Anticonvulsant drugs used in conjunction with antidepressants Used to treat bipolar disorder and lowers risks of suicide
What are the general classes of antidepressants and which are most commonly prescribed today? What are SSRI's (such as Prozac, Zoloft) and how do they work?
Antidepressant Drugs- drugs used to treat depression, anxiety, OCD, and PTSD by increasing seratonin, dopamine, and/or norepinephrine General Types -monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAO-I's) (Older) --earliest --serotonin, norepinephrine, dopamine --Serious side effects, interactions with food and drugs -tricyclic antidepressants (TCA's) (Older) --serotonin, norepinephrine --Deadly interaction with alcohol -Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI's) (Newer) --Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil --Most common --Block reabsorption and removal of seratonin form synapses
What are anxiolytics used to treat? What are benzodiazepines (Valium, Xanax)? How do they work (neurotransmitter)?
Anxiolytics are used to treat anxiety in the form of antidepressants and tranquilizers benzodiazepines- addictive GABA agonists that act as tranquilizers and can cause drowsiness and relaxation
What are the characteristics of Broca's and Wernicke's aphasias
Aphasia = damage to parts of brain. Broca's = know what you want to say but cant say it. Wernicke's = body language/ tone is correcti but makes no sense. Broca's = frontal Wernicke's = temporal
What is arm-chair psychology and why is it unscientific
Arm-chair psychology is when ideas that confirm one's beliefs are used in research, (you don't have to get out of your arm-chair).
What is transferred excitation/the spillover effect?
Arousal produced from one situation persists and intensifies a subsequent situation (carries over into another) Exercise increases physiological responses, if someone then comes along and does something that annoys you you might get more upset than you would if you weren't Boys walked across high-swaying bridge and low-sturdy bridge then girl flirted with them. High-swaying bridge boys more attracted to her and more likely to call
What are the psychological, behavioral, and biological features of antisocial personality disorder?
Biological factors - Genetic influence - More likely to get it if biological parent has it - Minimal physiological arousal under stress - Physical response to distress - Prefrontal cortex, serotonin Psychosocial factors - Poverty - Instability - Abuse
What is ethnocentrism
Assuming that your culture's way of doing things is the right way.
What is audition, what is sound
Audition is hearing. Sound is vibrations in air pressure.
What characterizes the different parenting styles we covered?
Authoritative o Parents are firm, demanding, consistent, however they are also very affectionate, understanding, and warm. They reason with the children, explain the reasons for why the rules exist. o Kids are responsible, have high self-esteem, competent, tend to be more successful in school. Authoritarian o Parents are harsh, punitive, unsympathetic, very strict, offer kids very little praise or warmth, typically demand unquestioning obedience, don't explain the rules, "because I said so" o Kids have low self-esteem, withdrawn, unfriendly, distrustful Permissive o Parents offer kids complete freedom and rarely discipline their kids o Kids are immature, unhappy, aggressive, dependent Neglectful o Parents meet basic needs but are uninvolved emotionally o Kids have low self-esteem and low achievement levels, more prone to delinquency Correlations o Cause or effect?: these correlations are not very strong. The way a parent treats a kid isn't the only thing that has an effect on the child's outcome. The parenting style could be a response to the kid's behavior, not necessarily the other way around. o Other factors
What part of the nervous system is responsible for the physiological changes associated with emotion?
Autonomic nervous system - physiological changes
Hypothalamus (below thalamus)
Autonomic, pituitary, and endocrine control. Motivated behaviors and maintenance functions ( appetite, thirst, sexual behavior, temp regulation etc)
What is the behavioral approach system and behavioral inhibition system?
BAS is sensitivity to reward. More vulnerable to positive emotions, impulsive. BIS- more sensitive to punishment. Motivated to avoid punishment. Vulnerable to negative emotions, anxiety. These are independent traits, not a sliding scale.
Know how language develops over the first couple of years of life (babbling and how it changes, one-word stage, receptive vs. productive language, two-word stage, telegraphic speech, etc.).
Babbling happens from month 0-4, where it resembles speech sounds, and 4-10, where it resembles household language. Then, months 10-24 are the "one word stage". Then, months 24+ are the "two-word stage". Receptive language is being able to understand, productive language is being able to speak and write. Telegraphic speech, derived from the "telegram", is laconic and slow, two word speech in infants.
What did the Kpelle people illustrate regarding culture and intelligence?
Because cultures are so different, it is inappropriate to apply one culture's measure of intelligence to another culture. A psychologist asked the Kpelle people to group items such as food and tools. They placed the food with the tool used to harvest it, which was the "wrong" answer according to western culture.
What is deindividuation?
Behave in uncharacteristic ways when we feel anonymous, less accountable o Not singled out o Less individualized o Like in crowds, groups, over the internet o Do and write things that one normally would not do in person
What area/sub discipline of psychology is associated with learning/conditioning
Behavioral Psychology
What is exposure with response prevention (flooding)?
Behavioral technique where one is exposed to stimuli that cause anxiety in order to teach that said situation is harmless -Form of counter-conditioning
What are stereotypes?
Beliefs about entire groups of people, all members of that group share same characteristics
What is the blind spot
Blind spot is the spot in vision that corresponds to the optic disk.
Id
Born with it. Instincts, unconscious. Operates with pleasure principle, immediate gratification.
What is classical conditioning
Classical conditioning is the process of a neutral stimulus producing a response (through association) with a stimulus that produces a similar response.
What constitutes the central nervous system
Brain/Spinal cord
How is an operantly conditioned behavior extinguished
By removing reinforcement.
What is the bystander effect? How does the case of Kitty Genovese relate to the bystander effect? What is diffusion of responsibility?
Bystander effect: less likely to help when other people are around, presence of other inhibits helping o More onlookers, less likely for one person to help o Kitty Genovese: stabbed and rapped, 38 people heard her and no one called the police for 30 minutes even though she was screaming and people saw it happening, when the police arrived she was already dead o Diffusion of responsibility: the idea that someone else will help, split responsibility o Some people may be scared to get involved or think someone else will be able to help better and more
What traits make up the Big Five Model of personality?
CANOE: Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Neuroticism, Openness, and Extraversion. Provides more complete picture of personality.
How do stimulants compare with each other
Caffeine is an anedosine antagonist, promotes wakefulness. Nicotine is very addictive, affects the mood and memory. Cocaine is an agonist that promotes confidence and wakefulness and is very addictive. Amphetamines compare a lot to cocaine in that they are agonists for dopamine and serotonin. MDMA is also an agonist for dopamine and serotonin.
What drugs are stimulants
Caffeine, Nicotine, Cocaine, Amphetamines, and MDMA.
Who is associated with the idea of a collective unconscious? P. 577
Carl Jung. Shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species' inherited memory.
What is conformity?
Change belief or behavior to match group due to unspoken group pressure -More likely to conform if: o There is a unanimous majority o There is a large majority o The situation is ambiguous o The task is difficult o We feel insecure o We admire the other group members o Our behavior is being observed
What is personality?
Characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling and behaving
What are hormones
Chemical messengers that are manufactured by the endocrine glands, travel through the bloodstream, and affect other tissuses.
What evidence suggests that we are biologically predisposed to learn language
Children learn at a much faster rate and very differently than adults do.
What factors generally optimize acquisition (timing, sequence)
Close timing, and CS should be presented before the UCS
What structures make up the inner ear and what are their functions
Cochlea contains the basilar membrane with hair cells that connect to auditory nerve, and semicircular canals that promote balance
What do cognitive psychologists study
Cognitive psychology is the scientific study of mind and mental function
What is association cortex
Combines information from different areas; integration, more complex processing; *language
What factors promote or inhibit growth according to Humanistic perspective?
Conditional positive regard, unsupportiveness prevents growth.
What is conditioned taste aversion and how is it unique compared to other forms of classical conditioning
Conditioned taste aversion happens when an animal associates the taste of something with averse symptoms. It is unique because it can happen after one trial. Timing is very important.
What are the two basic types of deafness/hearing loss and how do they differ in cause and treatment
Conductive hearing loss occurs when there is a problem conducting sound waves anywhere along the route through the outer ear, tympanic membrane (eardrum), or middle ear (ossicles). You can use hearing aids to fix it. Nerve/Sensorineural hearing loss is when the inner ear has problems, solved by a cochlear implant.
What are photoreceptors and where are they located
Cones and rods, located in the back of the eye, called the fovea.
What are rods and cones and what do they do
Cones measure wavelength, visual acuity. Rods are light sensitive, and are on the periphery of the retina.
What is homeostasis?
Constant, ideal internal state. We engage in behaviors that put us into a balanced state.
What are the general functions of our sensory systems
Detect environmental energy (sensory receptors), encode environmental energy (transduction), relay info to brain (sensory nerves, thalamus, cortex).
What is a control group and why is it necessary, what is an experimental group
Control group is one in which the independent variable is unchanged from normal. Experimental = change in independent variable.
Negative reinforcement
Removing a negative stimulus after behavior (putting on a seatbelt to stop beeping)
How do gender roles relate to status in different cultures?
Culture, status, role differences: In cultures where there is little difference in gender roles: genders tend to be more equal in status.
What evidence supports the idea of retrieval failure
Cues, and ease of relearning
What does the study of different cultures indicate about human sexuality?
Cultures have widely varying sexual "rules"
What evidence suggests a genetic role in intelligence?
Correlation higher in closer relatives (the more closely related people are, the more similar their IQ scores are.) Identical vs. fraternal twins (Identical twins have the same DNA, so they have very similar IQs. Fraternal twins only share about 50% of their DNA)
What does "correlation does not imply causation" mean
Correlational studies are just proving prediction, not that one causes another.
Can one's set-point change?
Crash diets will not reset a set-point, but slow, gradual, sustained changes will change the set-point.
What is the death deferral phenomenon? P. 203
Death rate increases after people reach milestones like their birthday, Christmas, or the first day of the new millennium.
How does fertility tend to change in middle adulthood for females and males?
Decline in fertility
How does depression relate to the self-serving bias and realism?
Depressed people have less self serving bias, and see things more accurately. We can't handle the truth!
What do clinical psychologists do
Diagnosis and treatment of psychological issues.
Is every emotion associated with a unique pattern of physiological changes?
Different emotions produce somewhat different patterns of activation in the autonomic nervous system. But two emotions can produce the same patterns of physiological changes. This means you can't necessarily tell what emotion a person is feeling based on physiological changes,
What is meant by diminishing returns?
Diminishing returns: Once you have enough to feel secure, acquiring money adds less and less to happiness. Acquiring more money provides diminishing returns. You win the lottery and you get extremely happy. You acquire more money and you are still happy but not as happy as the first $50. You win the lottery again and you don't care that much. That is an example of diminishing returns.
How does self-esteem change in adolescence?
Drop in self-esteem. o They become more self aware and there is added pressure. They are embarrassed by changing bodies. The strongest reason: changes in schooling, they go from being the biggest and smartest to the dumbest and smallest in the school. Self-esteem drops more in girls than boys because they are primed to be more focused on their appearance. Girls start attracting more attention on their bodies and realize that looks matter more than their minds or personalities. Boys typically begin to gain muscle now too. Self-esteem rebounds in adolescence later.
What does it indicate about forgetting
Drops steeply after an hour, then continues to slowly drop over time.
What might be some functions of dreaming/REM
During dreaming we often reflect on waking thoughts and experiences. REM helps with learning and memory and emotional processing.
When do people tend to reach their physical peak?
Early Adulthood
When is early, middle, and late adulthood?
Early Adulthood: Ages 20-39 o Peak: mid-20s. Senses are most acute, reaction times are lowest, heart is functioning at its best. Middle adulthood: ages 40-65 o Depends on health and exercise o Decline in fertility • menopause: around the age of 50. Physical changes that stops mental capacity. Complete decline in fertility. • stereotypes: most women do not actually become depressed, agitated, or go crazy. • Male climacteric: gradual decline in fertility. A male can still father children until they die, they just become less likely to do so. Late Adulthood: 65+ o Sensory acuity, strength decreased, reaction times longer o immune system weakened o Brain shrinks primarily in memory areas and frontal lobe o Diet and exercise: physical changes less pronounced when people exercise and maintain a healthy diet.
What are the temperament classifications for babies?
Easy babies (cheerful, don't fuss much, establish routines readily, predictable in reactions, easy-going, deal well with new situations) Difficult babies (Show a lot of negative emotion, irritable, don't establish routines readily, unpredictable, irregular, don't like new situations (new situations are overwhelming)) Slow-to-warm-up babies (In between easy and difficult babies. May not react well to new situations at first, but slowly come to enjoy them)
What is epigenetics? P. 612
the study of environmental influences on gene expression that occur without a DNA change
How effective is subliminal persuasion
Effects are small and short-lived
What's effortful processing
Effortful processing is actively remembering something.
What is the best way to form lasting memories
Elaborative rehearsal
What is electroconvulsive shock therapy? For what is it used today? Is it effective? What is the main side effect?
Electroconvulsive Shock Therapy- a biomedical therapy for a severely depressed patient in which a brief electric current is sent through the brain of an anesthetized patient -often effective for patients that do not respond to drug therapy -main side effect is some memory loss surround the shock therapy but in general there is no discernible brain damage
Amygdala
Emotional significance of stimuli (integrates memory with emotion)
Why are some possible reasons for why we forget
Encoding failure, storage decay, displacement.
What basic processes are involved in memory
Encoding is getting info into memory. Storage is holding info in memory. Retrieval is finding info in memory.
Cannon-Bard Theory
Event → nonspecific arousal and emotion (neither one causes the other) Example: You are walking down a dark alley late at night. You hear footsteps behind you and you begin to tremble, your heart beats faster, and your breathing deepens. At the same time as these physiological changes occur you also experience the emotion of fear. When an emotionally arousal occurs causes a nonspecific pattern of physiological changes, at the same time emotion is experienced. Two are independent of each other
Schachter and Singer's Two Factor Theory
Event → nonspecific arousal → cognitive interpretation of situation & arousal → emotion Example: You are walking down a dark alley late at night. You hear footsteps behind you and you begin to tremble, your heart beats faster, and your breathing deepens. Upon noticing this arousal you realize that it comes from the fact that you are walking down a dark alley by yourself and the person behind you may harm you. Therefore you feel the emotion of fear. Emotionally arousing event occurs causes a nonspecific psyiolgical changes, brains notice and try to figure out cause, an emotion is experienced based on brains interpretation of arousal. Arousal can turn into different emotions based on what your brain decides caused the arousal Support Transferred excitation (spillover effect) - arousal from one situation intensifies emotion associated with subsequent situation
James-Lange Theory
Event → specific physiological arousal pattern → emotion Example: You are walking down a dark alley late at night. You hear footsteps behind you and you begin to tremble, your heart beats faster, and your breathing deepens. Your brain interprets these physiological changes as your body's preparation for a fearful situation. You then experience fear. When an emotionally arousing event occurs a specific physiological pattern occurs which cause us to feel an emotion based on physiological changes. Supporting evidence Facial/behavioral feedback phenomenon -Pen in teeth vs lips rated how funny comics were. With pen in teeth makes you smile and rated the comic funnier. With lips you frowned and rated less funny -Gazing and attraction: People in love tend to stare into each others eyes. Subjects asked to spend two minutes gazing at each others eyes and other half at each others hand then asked how attractive their partner is. Eye couples found each other more attractive Applications: -training of FBI and Green berets. Taught tactical breathing to de-escalate fear. Breath for four counts, holding for four, out of four, pause for four, repeat. Lie detection
What characterizes personality disorders and what are the three clusters?
Exhibit disruptive, inflexible, dysfunctional, long standing patterns of behavior that impair the social functioning Three clusters - Odd-eccentric (A) -- Paranoid, schizoid, schizotypal - Dramatic-erratic (B) -- Histrionic, narcissistic, borderline, antisocial - Anxious-fearful ( C) -- Dependent, obsessive-compulsive, avoidant
What evidence suggests that it exists
Experiment with little Koreans shows that those who learned English as their second language knew grammar and structure better.
What method allows one to assess cause-and-effect relationships between variables
Experimental method.
Know the different types/categories of long-term memory and the characteristics of each
Explicit long-term memory is the memory for facts and experiences that we know and can state, while implicit long-term memory is the memory that involves the unconscious influence of past experiences.
What does research indicate regarding the influence of exposure to media violence
Exposure to media violence increases the prevalence of aggressive behaviors.
What is the behavioral/facial feedback phenomenon?
Facial feedback phenomenon: changes in facial expression produces corresponding changes in emotion. If you smile you will tend to feel happier. Making facial expression causes changes on physiological Behavioral: changes in behavior cause corresponding changes in emotion. Acting can produce feeling. Walking with head and shoulder down you feel more sad
What is the mere-exposure effect?
Familiarity breeds liking, the more we are familiar with someone the more we will like him/her, like what is familiar
What happens when someone goes without sleep
Fatigue, irritability, inattention, learning, hallucinations, disrupts immune system, hunger and body fat hormones, Microsleeps.
Sulci/Gyri
Folds/grooves in the cerebral cortex, cognitive complexity.
What are the three divisions of the brain based on embryological development
Forebain, Midbrain, Hindbrain
What is defensive self-esteem?
Fragile, insecure self esteem
Who was Alfred Binet and what did he do?
French psychologist. French school system asked Binet to come up with a scale to find kids who were significantly behind their peers in school. He came up with the Benet-Simon Scale: reasoning, thinking, problem solving skills
What is the false consensus effect? p. 581
Freud's projection- tendency to overestimate how much others share our beliefs and behaviors.
What couples are more satisfied with being parents and why?
Gay/lesbian couples tend to be more satisfied with their parenting experience than heterosexual couples because gender roles aren't as much of a factor. It is not automatically assumed that one will care for the child more than the other. Having a child is much more intentional decision than for straight couples.
What characterizes retrograde amnesia
General trauma, cant remember the past, gradual recovery
What is the chameleon effect? p. 525
Nonconscious mimicry of the postures, mannerisms, facial expressions, and other behaviors of one's interaction partners, such that one's behavior passively and unintentionally changes to match that of others in one's current social environment
What are some biological factors associated with schizophrenia as covered in class?
Genetic predisposition - More likely to get it if biological parent had it - Not likely to get it if adopted parent had it - Biological not environmental Dopamine - Over activity of dopamine in brain - Drugs block dopamine receptors, antagonist - Treat positive symptoms not negative symptoms Glutamate - Negative symptoms due to glutamate under activity Brain - Widespread abnormalities - Tend to show abnormalities in structure and function - Enlargement in cerebral ventricles - Abnormal activity
What are some of the causes of obesity?
Genetic predisposition: body weight is influenced by genes • Adopted more like biological parents: there is no correlation between unrelated children adopted into the same home. • Thousands of genes influence body weight. Genes influence sending fullness signals to the brain, metabolism (how efficiently we burn calories), conversion to fat (how readily we convert calories to fat), activity level, brain reward system (genes influence activity in brain reward system. Some people overeat because they have pleasure deficiency), and on the number of fat cells we have. • Fat cells: you can acquire more fat cells, but you cannot get rid of them. If you lose weight, the fat cells shrink, but they don't go away. Social influences: fast food markets eating more, friends diets influence ours, healthy foods are more expensive, portion size has increased
What are some factors influencing whether a person tends to be more alert in the morning or evening
Genetics and age
What is the spotlight effect? p. 598-599
Gilovich- overestimating others' noticing and evaluating our appearance
What is groupthink? Under what conditions is groupthink most likely to occur? How can it be avoided?
Groupthink: when a group is unable to make wise decisions because they are unable to realistically consider options due to group dynamics o Hard to think about negative consequences Conditions: o Group is cohesive and isolated from the outside views o Group has illusion of invulnerability or superiority o Group believes they are in unanimous agreement o Dissenting views are suppressed o Leader favors particular position Avoided: o Discuss with outsiders o Designate a devil's advocate o Allow anonymous expression of opinions
What happened in Albert Bandura's Bobo doll study
Half of kids watched a video of adults beating up bobo, and half watched the adults not beat up bobo. Every kid had a frustrating experience. Then, when put in a room of toys, those who saw adults beat up bobo did the same
What are heuristics
Heuristics are mental rules of thumb, shortcuts, biases of sort
What is the relationship between self-esteem and aggressive behavior?
High and defensive self esteem people will react aggressively when perceived inferior challenges them
What are some biological, psychological, and social factors involved in drug use/abuse and addiction
High-jacked brain, Drug-seeking machine, the need for the drug takes over Biological predisposition for addiction. Ppl w/ fewer dopamine receptors in their brain tend to be more prone to addiction. Self-medication.
What is the role of the hippocampus in memory
Hippocampus transfers explicit memories from short term to long term memory
For what reasons is forgetting believed to occur as regards information stored in STM
In LTM? In stm, it is believed to occur as a result of decay or displacement. In LTM, it is believed to occur as a result of retrieval failure.
What is social psychology?
How we think about, influence, and relate to one another
What are the problems with Instinct Theory?
Human behavior: This theory does not account for flexibility, learning. This theory is not held in high regard today.
What criteria must one typically meet to be diagnosed with mental retardation/intellectual disability?
IQ and adaptive functioning
Is there more to intelligence and success than what is measured by IQ tests?
IQ can measure academic success to SOME extent, but people who are the most successful do not necessarily have the highest IQs. This is because it takes more than IQ to be successful: leadership skills, motivation, work ethic, conscientious, well-connected, energetic, and self-discipline
What are the components of personality according to the psychoanalytic view? How do these relate to the iceberg analogy used by Freud?
Id, Superego and Ego. Most of mind is unconscious, or below the surface, and most of an iceberg is below the surface.
Who postulated the existence of an identity crisis? When does it occur? What is it?
Identity crisis--Erikson o Came up with a list of phases of development and the challenges associated with them. During adolescence, they have to find their identity vs. role. They see they behave differently in different situations, so they explore different identities to figure out who they are. They may dress/groom differently, listen to different music.
How can stimulus discrimination and generalization be used to find out what animals know and perceive
If animals respond to operant conditioning or not can be used to show the intelligence of those animals (pidgeon Picasso vs monet).
The Dunning-Kruger effect
Ignorance and confidence
What do measures of implicit attitudes reveal about stereotypes and prejudice?
Implicit association test (IAT): reveals how closely connected particular concepts are in our minds by how quickly we can associate words and/or pictures o Test of the unconscious
How does operant conditioning differ from classical conditioning
In operant conditioning, an organism learns to associate its behavior with a stimulus, while in classical conditioning, an organism learns to associate two stimuli. CC is reflexive, OC is voluntary.
In operant conditioning, what is stimulus discrimination, what are discriminative stimuli, what is stimulus generalization
In operant conditioning, stimulus discrimination is learning that a behavior will lead to some consequence in the presence of some stimuli but not others. (Drunk friends/sober friends) Discriminative stimuli are are those that signal that a behavior will lead to some consequence. Stimulus generalization is engaging in behavior in the presence of stimuli similar to the discriminative stimulus that signals reinforcement. (High friends)
What is meant by a critical/sensitive period in language development
It's the period in which kids learn best. Best before 7, then over by 12-13.
Are all forms of electromagnetic radiation visible to humans
Nope, we can only see the tiny bit between ultraviolet and infrared.
What is cataplexy
Loss of muscle tone, caused by any type of arousal.
What is automatic processing
Information that is automatically processed into memory is not really remembered, it is just the most recent events that have happened.
Ingroup favoritism:
Ingroup favoritism: even when groups are randomly formed, we tend to think our group is the best group
What are the theories of motivation we covered and how do they explain motivation?
Instinct Theory • All motivations are instinctual in nature. • The dog sliding down the water slide cannot be explained by this theory. That was a voluntary action and not all dogs would slide down the slide. Drive Reduction Theory • Physiological Imbalance/need, leads to an aroused state/drive, behavior to reduce need and correct the physiological imbalance. • This theory doesn't work well for the dog sliding into the pool video either. Arousal Theory • Arousal: general activation level of the body and brain • Optimal arousal level: individuals differ, seems to be influenced by genes. • We are motivated to maintain or achieve a personal optimal level of arousal. This is essentially saying that if we are under aroused (bored), we seek out stimulation. If we are over aroused, we will seek out a less stimulated environment. • This would explain the dog's behavior. Incentive Theory • Gaining positive incentives, avoiding negative consequences • Operant conditioning essentially
When do cognitive declines tend to appear in adulthood?
Late Adulthood o lower in thinking o loss of memory o Speed of processing not as quick as it used to be o not as mentally flexible o less likely to change in people who stay physically and mentally active o Alzheimer's disease: progressive brain disorder that causes a loss of memory until a person becomes mentally vacant. Can take anywhere from 5-20 years. Neurons that release acetocholine are particularly affected. Alzheimer's is less common among people who stay mentally and physically active.
What is meant by internal and external locus of control?
Internal locus of control means you think you control your situation, which is good. External means you don't.
What are projective personality tests? What are the problems with them?
Interpreting ambiguous stimuli. Inspired by F and NeoFreudians. Rorschach Inklot test, thematic apperception test. Interpretation is too subjective, so not reliable or valid.
According to the Eysencks, upon what biological factors were these trait dimensions based?
Introvertedness reflects baseline of activity of nervous system. Introverted are more baseline active and thus more susceptible to overstimulation.
How do introverts and extraverts tend to differ?
Introverts salivate more. Wear different clothes.
What are the benefits of bilingualism
Knowing different languages helps to expand the thought process, and control attention.
What are examples of psychedelic hallucinogens and what are their effects
LSD, psychocilbin, and peyote are psychedelic hallucinogens. They are serotonin agonists. They produce hallucinations and mystical experiences.
What is doublespeak
Language used to manipulate (pre-emptive strike is just an unwarranted attack)
What happened in Loftus' classic traffic accident experiment
Loftus asked the eyewitness different leading questions, IE what happened when the car ___ (smashed into, hit, contacted) and they eyewitness answered different speeds.
How does prejudice maintain inequality?
Legitimizing ideologies: justify and maintain inequalities by thinking that certain people are less capable
What does linking involve
Linking involves encoding information by linking it to information that you already know.
What is slow-wave sleep
Lower frequency higher amplitude brain waves
How does maintenance rehearsal differ from elaborative rehearsal
Maintenance rehearsal is repeating information over and over again without thinking of its meaning. Elaborative rehearsal is memorization by thinking about the meaning of information.
What characterizes anterograde amnesia
Major damage to hippocampus, difficulty transferring from STM to LTM and creating new LTM
What is one of the major problems with the James-Lange Theory?
Major problem: this would require that each emotion is associated with a specific pattern of physiological changes. Otherwise how would we know what emotion to experience. Because two emotions can have same pattern of changes
What is the better-than-average or above-average effect?
Majority of people think they are above average. Found cross culturally, though less pronounced in Asia.
What messages do boys and girls get regarding the gender roles of males and females in American culture?
Males • typically seen solving problems, giving orders, or rescuing others • Encouraged to achieve, compete, behave independently Females • submissive, unhappy without a boyfriend • Encouraged to be expressive, nurturing, dependent, unselfish Toys and play • Boys: Toys usually encourage violence, competition, activity, and construction. action figures usually have huge muscles, hard bodied and have weapons. • Girls: Toys centered around beauty, nurturing, and domesticity. Dolls are soft and encourage cuddling.
What is the experimental method
Manipulate all variables, hold all constant but the independent variable, change it and gather data on its effect on the dependent variable.
What is cognition
Manipulating and transforming information, thinking, knowing, remembering, communicating
Why is it desirable for research to be published in peer-reviewed journals
Many other psychologists have reviewed the experiment and deemed it acceptable.
What are the effects of marijuana
Marijuana alters perception, promotes relaxation, and euphoria. Can cause memory loss, loss of attention span/concentration.
What do biological psychologists do
Measure the influence of biology on psychological processes.
What is a polygraph? What does it measure? What are the problems associated with it? How accurate is it? How is it most likely to err?
Measures several changes in autonomic activity at once: typically heart rate, breathing rate, blood pressure, and skin conductance (sweat level) Assumptions: only a person who is lying/guilty will experience physiological responses. Problems -Validity -Non-specific physiological arousal. Could indicate other emotions. Individual variations: People can learn to control physiological response to some extent. Psychopathic criminals more likely to pass lie detector test. Some show exaggerated physiological response under stress so may appear guilty when really just nervous Error rate: 30% error rate. When its wrong more likely to judge innocent people guilty. Excluded/restricted in court
How does the body's attempt to maintain homeostasis relate to tolerance and withdrawal
Mechanism behind withdrawal and tolerance: -Body/brain initiates processes to counteract effects of drug to maintain homeostasis -Homeostasis-stable, internal state--> body is constantly trying to maintain homeostasis -You get symptoms behave the opposite way of the drug until your body adjusts
What is the brainstem
Medulla: heart rate and breathing Reticular formation: consciousness Cerebellum: balance, movement, learning, memory
Hippocampus
Memory (without the hippocampus you wouldn't be able to retain info for longer than 30 sec)
How is memory constructive
Memory is continuously revised by beliefs and expectations.
What is the misinformation effect
Memory is easily distorted by questions and suggestions.
What is memory
Memory is the retention of information over time.
How is learning disability different from mental retardation/intellectual disability?
Mental Retardation shows global deficits and do poorly on most cognitive tasks. Learning disabilities shows significant problems with one or two cognitive tasks; with other cognitive tasks, they are usually normal or above normal
What is consciousness
Mental processing without awareness
What is The MMPI?
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory: measures personality and psychological disorders. Also uses Big 5 Model.
What are some ways that the brains of more cognitively complex species such as humans tend to differ from the brains of less complex species
More bumps, bigger cerebral cortex.
What is REM rebound
More quickly into REM and spend longer amounts of time in REM when you can sleep normally again. "very anxious" to make up for lost rem.
When comparing groups based on ethnicity or gender, are there more similarities or differences as regards IQ?
More similarities than differences so you cannot predict how well people will do.
What is repression?
Most common defense mechanism. Repel one's own desires and impulses toward pleasurable instincts by excluding the desire from one's consciousness and holding or subduing it in the unconscious.
Basal Ganglia
Motor functions, reward, parkinsons, ocd, tourrettes
How are hormone levels and the brain's response to hormones impacted by psychological factors?
Much more impactful than the biological factors in human sexual behavior. One's experience of sexual pleasure is dependent on cognitive interpretation of the situation as well as their general attitudes on sex. Both of those are heavily influenced by culture.
What are mirror-image perceptions? P. 563
Mutual views often help by conflicting people, as when each side sees itself as ethical and peaceful and views the other side as evil and aggressive
What are norms? What is norm distribution?
NORMS: descriptions of frequency of scores: how many people get each possible score NORM DISTRIBUTION: Bell-shaped curve: Whatever the average is for the age group is established as a 100. Most people score within 85-115. Those in the top 2% is often called "gifted."
What are the stages of sleep
NREM1- lightest stage, common to have hallucinations/hypnic jerk NREM2- Most time spent in this stage, little deeper than 1 NREM3- deepest stage, most likely to wet bed, sleep walk, sleep talk, SLOW WAVE (lower freq higher amp), first half of night in NREM3 REM- similar to NREM1, DREAMING, most sleeping takes place in this stage
What is the nature or nurture debate, what's wrong with it, and what do genes do
Nature v nurture is the debate between genetics v development, but you can't separate the two because we are born with genes that can or cannot be expressed, depending on environmental conditions. Genes code for the making of proteins.
What are neuroleptics/antipsychotics used to treat? How do they affect dopamine? What is tardive dyskinesia?
Neuroleptics (antipsychotics)- drugs used to treat schizophrenia and other forms of severe thought disorder -Dopamine antagonist tardive dyskinesia- syndrome of uncontrollable, repetitive movements -Side effect more common in the older drugs (Thorazine and Haldol) and less common in newer drugs (Risperal
What two general types of cells make up the nervous system/ What are the general functions of these cells
Neurons: receive, process, transmit, and store information using electric and chemical processes. Glia: surround neurons, can perform neuron functions if necessary
What is the NEO-PI-R?
Neuroticism, extraversion, openness Personality inventory revised. Uses Big 5. Can predict social status, success, and crimes.
How do synapses change when memory is formed
New synapses are formed, and existing synapses are strengthened. Long-term potentiation (LTP) - strengthening or sensitization of existing synapses
Can we adapt and function normally with less sleep than we need
No
Is it difficult to create false memories
No its just as easy as real ones
Can we reliably distinguish between false memories and real memories
No, vividness does not mean accuracy
If people reduce (or increase) their caloric intake, do they lose (or gain) the amount of weight that would be predicted based on their reduction (or increase) in calories?
No, you don't lose/gain the same amount of calories that you reduce/intake
Does everyone need the same amount of sleep
No, young people need more sleep than old people
Can hypnotists control a person's behavior against their will
No.
Does venting one's anger typically provide a catharsis?
No. o Influence of expressing anger on feelings of anger o Often when one throws a fit or gets angry, it tends to make you more angry or aggressive. o This is behavioral feedback: if you act angry, you begin to feel angry. o Wait until you calm down and instead assess anger in a calm manner.
For what is hypnosis effective and not effective
Not effective for memory retrieval or drug addiction, but affective for obesity and pain relief.
Are all people who eat healthily and exercise thin?
Not everyone who eats a lot will be heavy. Not everyone who eats healthy and exercises regularly will be thin.
What is naturalistic observation
Observing a person without any manipulation.
How does the amount of time spent in the stages generally change as a night's sleep progresses
One full sleep cycle is 90 minutes. As the number of sleep cycles completed increases the time spent in REM sleep increases and the time spent in deep sleep decreases. (First part of night more in NREM 3 and less in REM)
What are the Oedipus and Electra complexes?
Oedipus means boys want mom, fear father will cut off their penis, so they try to identify with father to avoid having their penis cut off and be attractive to mom Electra complex: Desire father. Thinks mom cut off her penis, so she tries to identify with mother and replace penis with a baby.
What is the cocktail party effect
One's ability to focus their attention on a single conversation out of many (selective attention)
What is divided attention
One's ability to pay attention to 2 things at once
What do opiates do and how do they work
Opiates are endorphin agonists. They promote sleep and euphoria. They are addictive.
What is opponent-process theory, and what are afterimages
Opponent-process theory explains that there are three pairings of color-sensitive visual elements. Red/Green, Blue/Yellow, and Black/White. You can only use one of these at a time, which is why afterimages occur, because the non-used color appears once the used color stimulus disappears.
What are the supposed characteristics of oral and anal fixation?
Oral: talkative, chewing on stuff, sucking on stuff, eating. Passive, manipulative. Anal: orderliness, controlling, etc.
How do psychological factors influence our perception of pain
Our mood influences our perception of pain. If you have stress, depression, or anxiety, pain is perceived as worse. If you're happy, relaxed, and optimistic, perception of pain is decreased.
How do our perceptual mechanisms deal with vague information
Our perceptual mechanisms impose meaning on ambiguous stimuli.
What do the bones of the outer ear do
Outer ear: Pinna (funnels sound into middle ear), Ear canal
Why is pain important
Pain is important because it's a warning sign for things that are dangerous, and prevents further tissue damage.
What is the partial-reinforcement extinction effect
Partially reinforced behaviors are more resistant to extinction because they teach persistence.
How did Pavlov discover/investigate classical conditioning
Pavlov rang a bell every time he presented food to dogs, and they would salivate. Later, he rang the bell, and they would start salivating.
Are people more likely to repress or over-remember traumatic events
People usually over-remember trauma
What is Reward-deficiency syndrome
People with less dopamine receptors can't feel as much reward/pleasure as other people do, so they try to find it in other things.
What is the feel-good-do-good phenomenon (see text)?
People's tendency to be helpful when they are already in a good mood.
What are the symptoms of narcolepsy
Periodic overwhelming sleepiness.
What is Bandura's concept of reciprocal determinism?
Personality and environment influence each other.
What is the social-cognitive approach?
Personality is affected by and affects thinking, behavior and situation.
What is the trait approach?
Personality is based on specific, stable internal characteristics.
What is Gray's Biopsychological Theory?
Personality is defined by behavioral approach system (BAS) and Behavioral inhibition system (BIS).
Are there particular personality traits associated with obesity?
Personality not related to obesity: maladapted personality characteristics are not associated with obesity. People assume obesity goes along with negative personality traits
What factors influence how much impact exposure to media violence has on the behavior of individuals
Personality, and the behavior of their peers.
How did Piaget view cognitive development?
Piaget was Swiss psychologist -Active learners (Children are not just passive sponges soaking up information, they are trying to understand how the world works) -Qualitative differences (thinking in each stage is different)
How do place theory and frequency-matching theory explain how we perceive pitch
Place theory says that different frequencies promote vibration in different parts of the basilar membrane, and frequency-matching theory says that auditory nerve fires action potentials with same frequency as the sound. We perceive pitch as the speed of these action potentials.
What is the placebo effect, what is a double-blind design
Placebo = control group. Double blind = only the experimenter knows which is the control and which is the experimental.
What are erogenous zones?
Pleasure center
What is the relationship between the size of a species' cortex and genetic control of behavior
Positively correlated, more capacity for learning/thinking
What is intelligence?
Possession of knowledge and ability to use it adaptively in different environments
What is insomnia
Problems falling or staying asleep. Could be temporary or induced by stress.
What was the first psychotherapy and who developed it?
Psychoanalysis- Sigmund Freud's technique, which follows belief that the patients free associations, resistances, dreams, and transference (and the therapists interpretations) can release previously repressed feelings, allowing the patient to gain insight
What is the psychodynamic approach?
Psychodynamic approach replaced psychoanalytic approach. More emphasis on conscious mind and social influences. From Neofreudians (Jung, Adler, Horney, Erikson)
What are the four main approaches to the study of personality?
Psychodynamic/psychoanalytic (Freud), Humanistic (Rogers), Trait, Social Cognitive Approach (Rotter),
What is the difference between clinical psychologists and psychiatrists
Psychologists get their PHD, can't prescribe medication, and are focused primarily on therapy. Psychiatrists get their MD, can prescribe medication, and are focus on physiology.
What are Freud's psychosexual stages of development and what happens during each?
Psychosexual stage: each stage focuses on particular erogenous zone. Conflict between urges and society. Oral: 0-18 months. Mouth, conflict is weaning. Anal: 18-36 months. Anus, conflict is toilet training. Phallic: 3-6 years. Genitals. Oedipal and Electra complexes occur here. Conflict is wanting parent. Latency Period: 6-adolescence. Just developing social skills. Genital Stage: adolescence through adulthood. Penis and vagina. Clitoris is immature. Someone replaces parents.
What is psychosurgery? What is prefrontal and transorbital lobotomy? What were the general effects of lobotomy? Are lobotomies used to treat psychological disorders today?
Psychosurgery- surgery that removes or destroys brain tissue in an effort to change behavior Lobotomy- procedure used to calm uncontrollably emotional or violent patients, involving the severing of nerve ending of a lobe -Prefrontal- cut connections between frontal lobes and limbic areas --Could lead to Lethargy, Immaturity, impulsivity, and loss of personality --Transorbital was a prefrontal lobotomy through the eye -No longer used today because of the side effects and access to drug therapy and other alternatives
What are the two main types of treatment for psychological disorders?
Psychotherapy- therapist uses psychological techniques; consists of interactions between a trained therapist and someone seeking to overcome psychological difficulties or achieve personal growth Biomedical therapy- prescribed medications or procedures that act directly on the person's physiology
What are some problems with using punishment
Punishment can lead to abuse, kids can model punisher's behavior, kids get too much attention, or the punisher could be used as a discriminative stimulus.
What is punishment
Punishment decreases the frequency of the behavior it follows.
What are the aspects of critical thinking we covered
Question yourself, look for potential biases, inspect evidence, don't assume you're right, etc.
How does a correlation coefficient (r) indicate the strength and direction of a relationship between variables
R = 1, complete positive, 0=no correlation, -1= complete negative correlation.
Why is REM sleep paradoxical
REM sleep is "paradoxical" because of its similarities to wakefulness. Although the body is paralyzed, the brain acts somewhat awake, with cerebral neurons firing with the same overall intensity as in wakefulness.
What is the relationship between age and levels of happiness and satisfaction with life?
Really every age is just as satisfied with life. Elderly are just as satisfied with their life as young adults are. They show as much if not more satisfaction than young people. Most old people are not depressed. As long as an old person has at least 3 close relationships, they are pretty happy.
What are the major functions of the nervous system
Receive input, process input, generate output.
What do laboratory experiments indicate regarding the effects of exposure to pornography? P. 548-549
Recommended sentences half as long in re-enacted rape trial after exposure -Increase in aggression directed specifically at women after exposure -Effects strongest for violent pornography and depend on viewer's personality
How is reinforcement defined
Reinforcement is defined by its effect on behavior.
What is reliability? What is validity (content and predictive validity)?
Reliability-stability of scores over time Validity-authenticity (does the test measure what it claims to measure?)
What is addiction
Repetitive and compulsive use of a drug.
Where are rods/cones located, how are their dim light sensitivity, color sensitivity, and detail sensitivity
Rods: Periphery of retina, high sensitivity to dim light, low color sensitivity, low detail sensitivity. Cones: Center of retina, low sensitivity to dim light, high color sensitivity, high detail sensitivity.
Ego
Satisfies id in more socially acceptable ways. Reality principle, delay gratification. Mediation between superego and Id
What are schemas and how do they influence our memories (schema theory)
Schemas are mental frameworks that organize information. They influence our memories by molding information that we sense to fit into our preconceived notions.
What characterizes secure attachment, insecure avoidant attachment, and insecure ambivalent/resistant attachment?
Secure Attachment -Periodically return to their parents to check in. Sensitive and Responsive to their needs. When parents return, they feel better. - explore, play, check in, distress upon separation - Responsive caregivers Avoidant -Avoid or ignore caretaker. When parents leaves/returns do not care. Parents are neglectful or abusive- rejecting of the kids needs -avoid or ignore caregiver. Don't care if the parent leaves or come back. Associated with neglectful/abusive parents. Ambivalent -Alternative between clinging and rejecting -They cling to parents and get very upset when the parent leaves the room. They are still upset when the parent returns but resist contact with the parent. These parents are usually inconsistent in responding the child's needs.
What is the mirror-and-rouge test?
Self-awareness tested with mirror and rouge test. Put a color on kids face then put in front of mirror. If self-aware they will reach up and try to wipe away. Realize its them and mirror and something is wrong.
What is shaping
Shaping is reinforcement of successive approximations toward desired behavior.
What are the characteristics of STM and LTM
Short-term memory notices and encodes a few items, and encodes info to long-term memory. Long-term memory stores memories for a long time, and retrieves them if necessary by the short-term memory.
What are some biological and social factors that may contribute to antisocial personality disorder?
Social - engage in behaviors that go against societal rules, problems with jobs and relationships, little concern for others, manipulative deceitful, irresponsible, less sensitive to punishment, less empathy for others or fear Biological - genetic predisposition, minimal physiological arousal is stressful situations, low serotonin levels, deficits in the prefrontal cortex, some environmental impact
What are subliminal stimuli
Subliminal stimulation is sensory stimulation that is below a person's threshold for perception.
What are psychoactive drugs
Substances that influence the functioning of the brain and alter psychological processes.
What are the theories we covered regarding the functions of sleep
Sleep is restorative, it helps restock, repair and reorganize the mind, conserves energy, and suppresses our hunger mechanism. There is an increased rate of protein synthesis while we sleep. Turn experiences into memory.
Are there large differences in performance between males and females on specific tasks?
Small differences in specific tasks • females: verbal skills, math calculations, verbal fluency, spatial positions of objects, etc. (better at these) • males: nonverbal tasks, math reasoning, verbal analogies, geometric layouts, etc. (better at these)
What are social scripts and how might the scripts provided by the media influence sexual and/or aggressive behavior? P. 548
Social scripts: culturally provided mental files for how to act, how one should behave in particular situations, what is expected and acceptable o Culturally modeled guide for how to act in various situations o May rely on scripts provided by media in new or uncertain situations o Media depictions of sexual aggression and coercion: exposure to rape myths • Increases acceptability of coercion • Increases self-reported likelihood of committing sexual assault
Peripheral nervous system
Somatic/Autonomic systems. Autonomic: Sympathetic and Parasympathetic. Somatic: Sensory input, motor output
How do biological predispositions affect operant conditioning
Some behaviors are harder to condition than others, biological predispositions are hard to overcome.
What has happened to split-brain patients, what are the effects of the operation, what are they able to do and not do during the special testing procedures we covered in class
Split brain: corpus callosum (major connection between right and left hemisphere) has been cut can be effective at controlling extreme epilepsy. Patients can still function normally but the two sides of the brain cannot communicate. Special testing procedures/ alien hand patients can see a picture with their right brain and then have to draw it with their left and not know what/why they are drawing.
How do EEG recordings (brain waves) change during the stages of sleep in terms of amplitude and frequency
Stage 1 (low amplitude/high frequency) Stage 2 (lower amplitude/higher frequency) Stage 3 (lower amplitude/low frequency)
What information does a test of statistical significance provide, what does the typical cut-off point at which results are deemed statistically significant in psychology
Statistical significance is the percentage likelihood that the observed did results could have happened by chance. Less or equal to .05 is statistically significant.
Deep Brain Stimulation
Stimulation to the "neural sadness center" in order to help people with depression who have not been helped by other technqiues
What are retrieval cues
Stimuli that aid retrieval.
In classical conditioning, what is stimulus generalization, stimulus discrimination, and what is extinction and how does it occur
Stimulus generalization is the tendency to produce the conditioned response to stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus. Stimulus discrimination is learning not to produce the conditioned response to stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus. Extinction is the process of getting rid of the conditioned response by repeatedly presenting the conditioned stimulus without the unconditioned stimulus.
What do developmental psychologists do
Study how people change over their lifespan.
What do personality psychologists do
Study individual differences.
What do social psychologists do
Study interpersonal differences.
What do cognitive psychologists do
Study mental processes.
What do abnormal psychologists do
Study psychological disorders.
What are examples of effortful processing
Studying for tests, muscle memory, semantic encoding.
How do researchers study what infants know, remember, and sense?
Studying infants is difficult (You have to really just judge by what they look at or move their heads toward. By measuring how long babies look at things and what they look at, you can get a good idea of what babies understand, perceive, and remember --> Novel Stimuli - response to change in environment)
What are the basic characteristics of language
Symbols and Grammar
How do the actions of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems differ?
Sympathetic division --Arousal, activates body, fight or flight Parasympathetic division --Calming, decreases activity in nervous system, rest and digest When you experience emotion subtle physiological changes take place. Controlled by the autonomic nervous system. More likely to notice if you are experiencing a strong emotion.
Who was Louis Terman and what did he do?
Terman altered the test to create the Stanford-Binet test for adults.
What is the linguistic relativity hypothesis
That language influences thinking, perception, and memory
What is meant by contralateral control/input
That the opposite hemispheres of the brain control the opposite sides of the body.
What is sampling
The act of choosing people from a given population.
What is random assignment
The act of sampling from a population in the most way random way possible.
What is stereotype threat?
The anxiety that one's performance on a task or test will confirm a negative stereotype about the group to which one belongs. This anxiety in and of itself can lead to poor performance
Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation
The application of repeated pulses of magnetic energy to the brain Used to stimulate or suppress brain activity
What is meant by plasticity
The brain's ability to alter synaptic connections through experience.
What structures are involved in implicit memory
The cerebellum and basal ganglia
How is timing important when it comes to reinforcement or punishment
The closer to the behavior it occurs, the more effective it will be.
How does depth of processing influence encoding
The deeper the processing, the stronger the encoding.
What is group polarization? P. 534-535
The enhancement of a group's prevailing inclinations through discussion within the group
What evidence indicates an environmental role in intelligence?
The environment can limit the development of the intellectual potential. This happens to children in poverty. They are born with intellect, but aren't able to use it. Identical twins raised together have more similar IQs than identical twins raised apart. Fraternal twins were the same age at the same time so they experienced similar environments than not twin siblings so they have more similar IQ scores
How long does it generally take for antidepressants to become effective? Are people on antidepressants happy all of the time?
The full effects often require 4 weeks and may involve a side effect of decreased sex drive This does not cause people to be happy all the time, but merely makes it easier for stimulation to lead to happiness
Where are explicit memories generally stored
The hippocampus and frontal lobe
What is the immediate memory span, and what is the "magic" number associated with it
The immediate memory span is the amount of items you can recall after one presentation, and the "magic number" is about 7.
What is change blindness
The inability to notice large changes in one's environment (guy behind desk)
What is infantile amnesia
The lack of explicit memories from the first few years of life
What is the CR
The learned response elicited by the conditioned stimulus (Salivating to the bell, crying at the rat)
What is the relationship between genetic/biological control of behavior and the capacity for learning among species
The more an organism is controlled by learning, the less it is controlled by biology.
What is sleep
The natural periodic suspension of consciousness.
What is the UCR
The natural response to the UCS(salivating, crying)
What is social loafing? P. 533
The tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable
What does the prefrontal cortex do, who was Phineas Gage
The part of the brain located at the front of the frontal lobe. It is implicated in a variety of complex behaviors, including planning, and greatly contributes to personality development. Phineas Gage took a rod through the prefrontal cortex, effect on behavior.
Which effect persists longer
The primacy effect
What is the frustration-aggression principle? P. 547
The principle that frustration, the blocking of an attempt to achieve some goal, creates anger, which can generate aggression.
What is acquisition
The process of pairing the Conditioned Stimulus with the Unconditioned Stimulus until the Conditioned Reponse is established.
What is the forgetting curve
The rate at which we forget material.
What is withdrawal syndrome
The undesirable effects of quitting a drug.
What is the self-reference effect
The self-reference effect is the tendency to best remember information if we apply it to ourselves in some way.
What is the serial position effect, including the primacy and recency effects
The serial position effect is the brain's increased ability to remember words at the beginning and end of lists.
What's the spacing effect
The spacing effect dictates that studying for many short periods is better for encoding than studying all at once.
What is meant by lateralization
The splitting of functions of the hemispheres.
What is psychology
The study of cognitive and behavioral processes.
What are case studies, in what circumstances are they performed, and what is a major shortcoming of case study research
The study of one person/animal, perfomed to study abnormal behavior. A shortcoming is that case studies don't prove anything, only address one person's issues.
What is biological psychology
The study of patients through the use of biological methods.
What do developmental psychologists study?
The study of physical, cognitive, emotional, and social changes that take places over the lifespan.
What does an electroencephalogram measure
The synchronous activity of neurons (Brain Waves)
What are operational definitions and why are they important
The way in which results are measured, important for homogeneity in studies.
Psychodynamic therapy
Therapy deriving from the psychoanalytic traditions; views individuals as responding to unconscious forces childhood experiences, and seeks to enhance self-insight Focuses on social relationships, self-understanding
What is the general focus and goal of behavior therapy?
Therapy that applies learning principles to the elimination of unwanted behaviors
Cognitive therapy
Therapy that teaches people new, more adaptive ways of thinking -Based on assumption that thoughts intervene between events and our emotional reactions Based on revealing, testing, and changing beliefs by questioning interpretations, examining consequences, and taking responsibility, respectively
Does caregiver orientation have much influence on a child's later sexual orientation?
There is little to no influence of caregiver orientation on the child's orientation. Kids who are raised by LGBT couples show no greater likelihood of being LGBT themselves.
What are confounding variables, and why is no single study perfect
There's no way to manipulate every variable, confounding variables are those that affect both independent and dependent.
What are benzodiazepines and how do they work
They add more GABA to the brain, which inhibits brain activity.
How do psychoactive drugs generally produce their effects
They affect neurotransmitters.
What do neurotransmitters do
They are chemical messengers, stored in the vesicles, transmit info from one neuron to another.
Why should you be cautious when it comes to scientific reports in the media
They are not always statistically significant, correlation doesn't equal causation, author credibility, etc.
What are postsynaptic potentials, how do they relate to action potentials
They are what happens after the neurotransmitter moves to another neuron. Either Excitatory or Inhibitory, they can either cause or suppress action potential.
How did Freud attempt to access the unconscious mind?
Through dreams (royal road to unconscious mind, highly symbolic) and projected personality test (Rorschach test)
According to Alfred Adler, why do we struggle for superiority and power? P. 576
To conquer childhood feelings of inferiority
What is the purpose of factor analysis in the trait approach?
To find fundamental traits. From questionnaires, we find statistically correlated clusters of items.
What is the function of sensory memory
To mentally register sensory detail.
What does Rogers' Person-Centered Perspective indicate?
To self actualize (as all people strive to) people need relationships with genuineness, empathy and acceptance aka unconditional positive regard.
What are the somatic senses provided by receptors in the skin
Touch, Temperature, Pressure, and Pain are the somatic senses provided by receptors in the skin.
What is transduction, where does it take place
Transduction is converting info about sensory stimuli into patterns of action potentials. In the cochlea, taste buds, and inner ear.
What is discrimination?
Treating people differently based on prejudice/their group
What is trichromatic theory
Trichromatic theory explains that all colors can be seen with a "ratio of activity" of red blue and green cones.
What do the bones of the middle ear do
Tympanic membrane (eardrum) behind tympanic membrane are 3 tiny bones hat knock into each other (amplify sounds). Hammer, anvil, stirrup. Oval window (on the other side of the oval window, the inner ear begins)
What are defense mechanisms (in general)?
Unconscious behavioral tactics that protect people from negative feelings.
What is prejudice?
Unjustified positive/negative evaluation based only on group membership, attitudes o Sexism, racism
What are the major problems with Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory?
Unscientific b/c few testable predictions. The more testable predictions are not supported by research.
How has psychology shifted between the study of cognition and the study of behavior (i.e., behaviorism backlash, etc.)
Until the 1920's, cognitive studies were used. Went to behavioral in the 1960's, and as technology developed, we went back to using both due to the advent of imaging technology.
What are intervening/third variables
Variables that manipulate both x and y, that are not included in the study.
What are ventricles, what is cerebrospinal fluid
Ventricles: fluid filled spaces in the brain, filled with cerebrospinal fluid
What is observational learning
Watching and imitating others.
What are wavelength, frequency, and amplitude, how do they affect our perception of light and sound (color, brightness, pitch, loudness)
Wavelength - distance between peaks. Frequency - waves per unit of time. Amplitude - size of wave. Wavelength affects color perception (RGB). Amplitude affects brightness. Frequency affects pitch. Amplitude affects loudness
What is biopreparedness (how do biological predispositions affect classical conditioning)
We are biologically predisposed to fear things that have been problems in history, threat or not.
What is Rotter's expectancy theory (of personal control)?
We behave according to expectations of results.
How do photoreceptors encode color
We have 3 cones, that measure red-blue-green, and the mix of these is what we see.
What is confirmation bias
We seek out information that confirms our beliefs.
What is the self-serving bias?
We think well of ourselves. Explain successes as because of us, failures because of external factors.
What IQ tests are most commonly used today?
Wechsler scales • Most widely used today • WAIS (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale) • WISC (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Chidlren) Ages 6-16 • WPPSI (Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence) below age 6 • Overall score plus sub-scores: Verbal comprehension, perceptual organization, working memory, processing speed, etc
What kind of information does correlational analysis provide
What are positive correlations and negative correlations? - be able to identify these in examples. Correlational analysis proves how much variation in one variable predicts variation in another. Positive correlation: positive change in x = positive change in Y. Negative = same.
In terms of the scientific method, what is a theory
What is a hypothesis? Theory: idea tested through experimental methods. Hypothesis: claim about the effect of one variable on another.
What's a partial reinforcement schedule
When a behavior is only reinforced some of the time it occurs (gambling).
What is a continuous reinforcement schedule
When a behavior is reinforced every time it occurs (rat pushing button for food)
How do retrieval cues relate to spreading activation
When a concept is activated, it goes to a network of associations, which alerts similar concepts.
What is REM behavior disorder and who is most likely to have it
When one isn't paralyzed so they act out their dreams. Men over 50 are most likely to have it.
What's tolerance
When one needs more of a substance to get the same effects.
What is priming
When prior exposure to a stimulus influences our behavior unconsciously
Overconfidence
When we overestimate our accuracy.
What is belief perseverance
When we tend to cling to beliefs and have a biased view on evidence.
What is selective attention
When you only pay attention to certain things you sense.
Can we conclude that structural variations in the brain cause sexual orientation? Why or why not?
cause or effect? Are the brain differences causing a person's orientation or the effect? Brain differences may be the result of the behavior due to plasticity.
What is negative punishment
Withdrawing a positive stimulus (taking candy from a baby)
What are some factors that influence how people respond to survey questions
Wording, volunteer bias, and (other confounding variables).
What is working memory
Working memory serves as our "mental chalkboard", allows us to do calculations.
Can we be influenced by stimuli of which we are unaware
Yes
Does evidence suggest that other animals dream during REM
Yes
Does sleepiness impair driving ability
Yes, a full day without sleep is the same as being drunk
What is learned helplessness and how does it relate to the concept of personal control?
You cannot control situation. Results from repeated traumatic events over which you have no control (sexual assualt victims, soldiers, victims of abuse).
What is a hemispherectomy and in what circumstances would it be performed
You'd do it when someone has intense seizures. People are usually fine after the surgery.
How is IQ score determined for current IQ tests?
a person's performance is directly compared to the performance of other people of the same age, often referred to as a normative sample.
What is psychopathology?
abnormal psychology
What are the symptoms of mania?
agitated, emotional state emotion: euphoria, irritability cognition: optimism, poor judgement, grandiosity (think they're greater than they are), wild ideas, poor insight into condition behavior: hyperactivity, insomnia, talkativeness, recklessness, pressured speech, silly behavior
What is basal metabolic rate?
amount of energy body burns at rest
Damage to language association areas
aphasia
How is attachment style in childhood related to adult attachment patterns?
attachment style one had in early childhood is reflected in adult relationships Attachment style • Secure: comfortable with emotional intimacy in adulthood. Good and lasting relationships. • Ambivalent: have more difficulty becoming emotionally intimate in adulthood. As adults, they are preoccupied with relationships, they are distrustful, more likely to be jealous and insecure. Tend to get very upset when a relationship ends (feels like the end of the world) • Avoidant: as adults they avoid emotional intimacy, more likely to engage in casual sex, typically aren't all that upset when a relationship ends.
What are instincts?
automatic, unlearned, involuntary, consistent within a species
What are some of the biological, psychological, and social factors involved in depression?
biological - genetic predispositions - neurotransmitter imbalances (serotonin, norepinephrine, dopamine) - stress response: greater physiological reactions, release more stress hormones psychological and social factors - neuroticism: higher up, more at risk - reaction to negative and positive events - learned helplessness and external locus of control - perfectionism: constant disappointment - negative explanatory style - stress, rejection
How does the biopsychosocial model explain psychological disorder?
biological factors: serotonin receptors, physical illness, disability, drug abuse, nutrition, exercise psychological factors: how you think about what happens to you, how you think about yourself, how you interpret the events in your life sociocultural/environmental factors: stress, poverty, culture
What are some biological and psychological factors involved in anxiety disorders?
biological: - genetic predisposition - neurotransmitter imbalances - brain and autonomic nervous system (sensitivity and reactivity) psychological and social factors: - neuroticism - attentional bias: pay attention to things in environment that may be possibly threatening - interpretation of situation - low self-efficacy - stressful events - learning
Scapegoating:
blaming others when things go wrong as an outlet, "they took our jobs"
What is puberty?
body changes, reproductive capability
What is habituation?
decreased response to unchanged or repeated stimuli. (Babies will spend less time looking at things that they have seen before)
What can happen when someone is given extrinsic motivators for activities that are already instrically motivated (this is known as the overjustification effect)? (see outline and text p. 289)
external motivators result in decline of intrinsic motivation 1. motivation shifts 2. more likely with concrete rewards, bribes, attempts to control, creative tasks, anticipated rather than unanticipated rewards
What is the activation-synthesis hypothesis
during rem sleep, there are bursts of activity in the brainstem that spread up through the brain and activate random memories, concepts, feelings. "higher parts" of brain try to make sense of this activation, weaving a story around things that were activated.
How common are psychological disorders in the United States? When do they typically appear?
early to mid twenties, around half
Temporal lobe
ears (temples)
What is fixation?
enduring focus on erogenous zone.
What is intrinsic motivation?
enjoyment
Phobia
excessive, irrational fear of particular object or situation that is not likely to be dangerous - avoid situations
Occipital lobe
eyes (back of head)
Social Anxiety disorder
fear of other peoples judgements - fear that you're going to embarrass yourself in some way, in a social situation
What is the purpose of emotions?
focus attention on import and stimuli and guide our behaviors. Source of motivation. Emotion involves mixture of thoughts, feelings, behavior and physiological arousal
What is arousal?
general activation level of the body and brain
What are the anxiety disorders we covered?
generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, phobia, social anxiety disorder
What are reflexes?
involuntary, unlearned, automatic, reactions (Stepping reflex, hold a newborn baby upright on a surface they will engage in stepping motions --> Over time these reflexes disappear once the baby becomes more capable of voluntary control of their movements)
How does culture influence psychological disorders?
it influences how people experience and express distress
What is flat affect?
lack of emotional expression - speak in monotone voice and show very little change in facial expression regardless of what they're talking about
When does schizophrenia typically develop?
late teens, early 20s
How can physical and cognitive decline be lessened in old age?
less likely to change in people who stay physically and mentally active
What does mental age refer to on the Binet-Simon scale?
level of performance associated with a particular chronological age (They figured out which questions different aged kids could answer and calculated the mental age.) If a child's mental age equaled their chronological age, they are on track and not ahead or behind their peers.
What is bipolar disorder?
manic depression show extremes of mood unrelated to external circumstances
What is meant by multiple intelligences?
many dimensions of intelligence that are relatively unrelated -Gardner- believes theres eight or nine types of intelligence oSternberg • Analytical: ability to do well in school • Creative: coming up with novel and useful ideas • Practical: street smarts and common sense
How does marital satisfaction relate to parenting?
marital satisfaction does seem to decline a bit with a new baby due to the stress of adjustments. Couples are particularly unhappy if one parent does not do their fair share of caring for the child.
Is there a reliable means of assessing infant intelligence?
maybe
What happens during menopause?
menopause: around the age of 50. Physical changes that stops mental capacity. Complete decline in fertility. stereotypes: most women do not actually become depressed, agitated, or go crazy.
Frontal lobe
motor functions, voluntary movement
What is cognitive dissonance? What is cognitive dissonance theory? What happened in the Festinger & Carlsmith study?
o Actions and attitudes don't match, changing attitudes to match actions, to change our motivation, to justify o Working hard will make the goal more rewarding, "if I worked hard enough the goal is very valuable:" why else would we put ourselves through this • Hazing, getting an A in a hard class o Festinger and Carlsmith: 1959: people had to do a boring task and lie to the next subject about how it was "fun," some were paid 1 dollar and some were paid 20 dollars to lie • The ones who were paid 1 dollar ended up thinking that it was more fun than it was; had to convince themselves that it was actually fun because what other reason was there to lie
What are attitudes? How do attitudes relate to actions?
o Attitudes influence actions, but actions also influence attitudes o Proportional relationship o Feelings, influenced by beliefs, that predispose our reactions o Seek consistency between what we do, say, and think o When actions don't follow our attitudes: hard to grasp, it is uncomfortable, we try to match our mind to our actions, convince ourselves
What are attributions? Dispositional/internal attributions? Situational/external attributions?
o Attributions: inferences about the causes of behavior o Dispositional/internal attributions: inferring behavior is caused by personality: who they are o Situational/external attributions: based on experience
What are the features of bulimia nervosa?
o Binge (eating an abnormally large amount of food), feel guilty, and purge (inducing vomiting, abusing laxatives, exercise excessively for hours on end, or starve themselves as a result of the binge) o Begin on an extremely restrictive diet, then get very hungry and binge, then purge cycle
How valid are IQ tests in terms of content and predictive validity?
o Content validity-does test measure all aspects? (IQ tests don't measure all of intelligence because there is ambiguity of what intelligence actually is) o Predictive validity-does test predict what it claims to predict?
What was the main conclusion of Milgram's studies?
o Everyone's evil can be brought out in certain situations o Obedience: we have to trust others to some extent, we were taught as children to obey authority and disobeying will cause punishment, conditioned, we assume that authority figures know what is best and will take blame o Foot-in-the-door: started with small shocks and added small increments each time, hard to know when to stop o Obedience: power of the authority o Ordinary people will obey orders o History: Nazis were ordinary people killing o Ordinary people can be destructive
How does love tend to change over the course of time (in terms of passionate and companionate love)?
o Physical attractiveness is important in the earlier stages o Passionate love: intense, sexual, emotional, temporary o Companionate love: deep, intimate, steady o Changes over time: companionate lasts longer
What is the fundamental attribution error? What is the actor-observer bias?
o Fundamental attribution error: typically associate people's behavior to their personality, tendency to overestimate dispositional factors and underestimate situational factors when judging the behavior of others • Very common, in all cultures but more pronounced in the west o Actor-observer bias: attribute our own behavior to the situation, typically for bad situations, tendency to make dispositional attributions for others' behaviors and situational attributions for our own (bad) behaviors
What are some misconceptions regarding homosexuality?
o Gay/lesbian couples similar to heterosexual couples in love and satisfaction o Non-heterosexual people are no more likely to sexually abuse children than are heterosexual people o Homosexuality is not a mental disorder o Most gay men are not effeminate, most lesbian women are not masculine
Compliance?
o Going along with someone who is not in an authority position
What does the GRIT strategy entail? P. 567
o Graduated and Reciprocated Initiatives in Tension-Reduction o A strategy designed to decrease international tensions o Power of small, conciliatory acts
What is meant by a set-point in terms of body weight?
o Homeostatic body weight within a certain range called the set-point that is influenced by heredity. o This is essentially a body weight thermostat. However, it is not set in stone, you can reset your set-point. Crash diets will not reset a set-point, but slow, gradual, sustained changes will change the set-point.
What are some other factors involved in helping?
o If need for help is clear: like screaming for help o If people know each other o If person judged to be deserving of help o If person needing help seems similar to us o If we are not in a hurry o If we are in a good mood: feel-good, do-good phenomenon o Population density: the more people, the less likely someone is to help o Costs and benefits: harmful?
What mechanisms does the brain use to keep one's body weight within the set-point range?
o If your body falls below the set-point, your body will slow down your BMR and activity level to lower your calorie loss and also you would begin to feel more hungry. o If your rate falls above your set-point, it will decrease your hunger level and increase your activity level.
What is the foot-in-the-door phenomenon?
o Indirect method o If someone agrees to a small request, he/she is more likely to agree to a larger request o If someone says yes to something, they will most likely to continue in the future o Gradual escalation: hard to know when to stop o Doing can result in believing o China communistic workers: started with small tasks and then did everything
What is the current view of Piaget's theory?
o Kids develop abilities sooner than Piaget's abilities first indicated. o He got the sequence correct, though. o Some theorists say that stages should be added to Piaget's Theory
The door-in-the-face phenomenon?
o Large request which is likely to be denied, followed through with a smaller related request- person would be more likely to agree to the second request o Seems more reasonable o Doesn't seem like as much compared to the first task o Volunteer for 2 hours a week for 2 years or for one day
What are social norms?
o Learned rules of what to do or not to do in society o Unspoken, followed automatically o Like what clothes to wear, the space to stand between people when talking
What were the results of Milgram's study?
o Many people followed the instructions to continue to harm the person in the other room even though they were good people o Many went all the way through with the experiment o Many were very anxious, some were shaking, some had seizures because it messed with them so much
Do those who enjoy privilege in a society tend to be aware of their privilege?
o No, they don't realize how much they have compared to others o They take it for granted o Seems normal
What are overt attitudes? Implicit attitudes?
o Overt: consciously aware of having prejudice o Implicit: influences a person unconsciously o They don't always match up o Most Americans will deny being prejudice, but then when tested they actually have some prejudice
What is meant by general intelligence?
one mental ability that underlies all specific abilities
How and why are those who are overweight or obese face discrimination in our culture?
o Seen as less sincere, less friendly, meaner, more obnoxious, less worthy of hiring
How do these disorders differ? How are they similar?
o Similarities with anorexia: more prevalent in females, preoccupation with food, fear of weight gain, depression, anxiety, moms preoccupied with own weight and weight of daughters. o Differences: onset tends to start later (late teens, early twenties), of normal weight or maybe slightly overweight while anorexics are very underweight. This condition likely goes unnoticed because weight is so normal.
How is psychological disorder defined?
ongoing patterns of thought, emotion, and behavior that impair functioning, deviate from the norm, cause distress, and disrupt lives no clear boundaries between mental health and mental illness
Why can't you predict an individual's cognitive performance based on their race, ethnicity, or gender?
o Small average differences. IQ cannot be predicted on ethnicity. There is much more similarity than differences. There is a lot of overlap. Race is more of a social construct than a biological reality, so the genes are not very different. There is no one trait, characteristic, or gene that distinguish one race from another. People with different skin tones can be genetically more similar than people with same skin tones. o Ethnic Comparisons: can't assume differences innate. People with similar skin color not necessarily more genetically similar than people with different skin color. No relationship between degree of European genes and IQ. Differences in the USA between ethnicity IQ tend to be due to socioeconomic factors
What are some phenomena that contribute to prejudice as discussed in class (for instance - illusory correlations, confirmation bias, in-group favoritism, learning, scapegoating, social inequalities, just-world phenomenon, hindsight bias, blaming the victim, lack of awareness)? How do these phenomena contribute to prejudice?
o Tendency to categorize o Illusory (imaginary) correlations: behavior of one person associated with whole group o Confirmation bias: seek information that confirms out beliefs, ignore information that disproves out beliefs o Ingroup favoritism: even when groups are randomly formed, we tend to think our group is the best group o Learning: we learn stereotypes starting from when we are children o Scapegoating: blaming others when things go wrong as an outlet, "they took our jobs" o Existence of social inequalities: some people have easier paths in life • The people who have a lot: tend to have attitudes that justify their position in life and the position of people who lack what they have o Just-world phenomenon: belief that people get what they deserve, that their own position is justly deserved • Its more comfortable to justify like this • Bad things happen to bad people, good things happen to good people • Blame the victim: its their fault, they must have done something to deserve this • Shock experiment: women were being shocked and men were supposed to write about their personality afterwards: most said the women must have done something to deserve this treatment o Hindsight bias: outcomes seem obvious after they happen • It makes us think that we would have been able to see the outcome before it happened, what was going to happen • Blame victims: they think the victim should have known it would happen and done something different, the idea that we would have behaved differently • Most common for sexual assault victims: date experiment o Those with privilege often fail to recognize their privilege
What happened in the Asch conformity studies?
o Tested if people will confirm to wrong answers: everyone else gives the obvious wrong answer o Which line is the same length? o Uncomfortable to go against group
What happened in Milgram's standard obedience study?
o The subject is placed as the teacher each time, they are supposed to read out questions to the person in the other room who is supposed to be another subject but is really a member of the people running this experiment o If the subject in the second room gets the answer wrong, the teacher is supposed to shock them and increase the voltage each time o The person in the second room begins to cry and beg them to stop, the teacher is ordered to continue: this shows that people will obey even if it causes harm to others
What is the relationship between money and happiness?
o people with lots of money tend to be happier than people who have trouble meeting their basic needs. Acquiring more money tends to add happiness if you have very little. o spending: people who spend money on experiences rather than objects tend to be happier. People who spend money on others rather then ourselves tend to be happy.
What are the positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia and why is this distinction important?
positive - presence of inappropriate behaviors - additions of abnormality - hallucinations, delusions, bizarre behavior, inappropriate behavior - better prognosis (more likely to respond to medication and get better) negative - absence of appropriate behaviors - subtractions from normality (deficits) - flat affect, absence of appropriate emotional expression, social withdraw, lack of motor activity - worse prognosis (less likely to respond to medication and get better)
What is the adaptation-level phenomenon?
refers to our tendency to judge new stimuli or events to what we have recently experienced or what we are used to. because we consider as neutral depends upon what we are used to. how much affect an event has on happiness depends on our experience. If you are used to getting As and you get a B, you will be disappointed. In another class, you get Cs and you make a B. You will be sad with the first B and happy with the second B.
What is extrinsic motivation?
reward, approval, avoid punishment
Cerebral cortex
the outer layer of the cerebrum (the cerebral cortex ), composed of folded gray matter and playing an important role in consciousness.
What are loose associations?
thoughts, speech jump around from topic to topic makes little to no sense
Parietal lobe
touch, pain, temperature, pressure
Is there a genetic influence on sexual orientation?
twins: identical twins are more likely to share the same orientation than fraternal twins. If orientation were completely concordant, then twins would always share orientation. If there is a gene that influences orientation, it will simply influence the probability of having a particular orientation.
How does viewing images or videos of sexually attractive individuals affect one's feelings for their own partner? (see p. 423)
viewing such stimuli often leads one to devalue their own partners and relationships. This diminishes people's satisfaction with their own sexual partner.
Learning: The people who have a lot: tend to have attitudes that justify their position in life and the position of people who lack what they have
we learn stereotypes starting from when we are children
How was IQ originally calculated for the Stanford-Binet test? How were intelligence tests misused /misinterpreted?
• (MA/CA) x 100 = mental age/chronological age x 100 • Misuse: results of these tests were used to make major decisions about people's lives. This test was given to all WWI army recruits to determine rank in the army. The tests were also given to immigrants coming into the US and people were turned away. This test was very culturally biased though (asking Africans about tennis).
What are gender roles?
• A cultures expectations regarding what is appropriate behavior in activities for males and females. • Different treatment and expectations: the whole culture participates in these roles (families, peers, media). These messages can be very obvious or subtle.
Do hormone levels differ between those with a homosexual orientation and those with a heterosexual orientation?
• Adult hormone levels: there is no difference in circulating hormones that separates gay/lesbian people from straight people. • Effects of prenatal hormonal abnormalities unclear in humans. Some studies have found a link to abnormal levels of sex hormones in utero and later non-hetero sexuality.
Are thin women considered attractive in all cultures?
• Cultures where thin is not considered attractive or ideal have little or no anorexia or bulimia. Rates of eating disorders increase as culture becomes more westernized
What is sexual orientation?
• Defining and categorizing orientation • Nature of a person's enduring sexual and emotional attraction. Direction of emotional, romantic, and sexual attraction.
What characterizes the cultures in which they are found?
• Eating disorders arise from cultural practices amongst others.
Are they found in every culture?
• Thin ideal not universal • Rates of anorexia and bulimia increase as a culture becomes more westernized
How/why is a child's IQ associated with their family's income?
• Higher income families tend to have children with higher IQs. • The disadvantages start before birth because people in poverty have poor prenatal care. • Schools in impoverished areas have poorer school resources. • People in poverty show prefrontal cortex dysfunction (this area controls inhibiting inappropriate behavior, attention, controlling emotions, making judgments)
How strong of a role do hormones generally play in human sexual behavior?
• Human sexual behavior less tied to hormones than people actually believe • Sometimes there is an effect on sexual drive from menstrual cycle, but there isn't much influence. Some studies find no difference. • Sexual motivation of males does not seem to be found to be affected by testosterone levels • Behavior can influence hormone levels, not the other way around. If a sports team wins, a fan may have higher testosterone. • Psychology affects biology: In rats, sex acts on the hypothalamus. In humans, higher-level brain regions such as the cortex controls how responsive the brain is to hormones.
What do studies indicate regarding the effects of social rejection?
• Humans are a social species and have a strong desire to have close relationships with other people. • Self-esteem is dependent on how accepted and valued we feel by others. This can lead people to stay in abusive relationships • Rejection/ostracism o Aggression and depression o Performance falls on cognitive tasks after rejection or exclusion by others o Pain tolerance increases after rejection most likely because they are distracted by the rejection.
What are some major debates regarding intelligence?
• Traditionally, intelligence is measured through IQ tests that measure academic success. There is more to intelligence than what is displayed in school. Psychology does not agree upon exactly what intelligence is. • Ability to master info and skills needed to succeed in particular culture. Different skills are important in different countries. If a person is intelligent in one society, could they succeed in a vastly different society? This is unclear. • Problem-solving skills, ability to adapt to new situations and learn from everyday experiences
How do cultures vary in terms of acceptable sexual behaviors (Inis Beag, Mangaia, Sambia, Samoa) and sources of arousal?
• Inis Beag: Strongly Catholic island. Sex was a necessary evil, and was to be done but not enjoyed. Nudity was evil and sex was done with all clothes on. • Mangaia: An island in the south pacific. Sex was a major recreational activity. Kids encouraged to masturbate, early teenaged years came with sexual instruction, boys would be assigned to have sex with experienced female, adolescent girls were encouraged to have several partners, and there is a high rate of female orgasm in this culture. o Sambia of New Guinea: homosexual behavior is expected of boys before marriage. It is believed that boys cannot become men unless they ingest semen. o Fa'afafine of Samoa: essentially seen as a third gender in Samoa. They are neither male nor female. They are biologically male and adopt female gender roles. They have sex with men or women. Men who have sex with fa'afafine are not considered to be gay. Fa'afafine are not seen to be gay, but a third gender. They are well accepted.
What is the sexual response cycle and what researchers described it?
• Masters and Johnson: In the 1960s, these men got 100s of people to come into the lab to have sex while Masters and Johnson watched. So they described the Sexual Response cycle • Excitement: the body becomes aroused • Plateau: body is fully excited • Orgasm: series of muscular contractions • Resolution: body gradually returns to normal. • Refractory period: period of time found in males where they cannot go through the sexual cycle again. This could be a few minutes or a few hours.
What is Maslow's Hierarchy?
• Needs lower on the hierarchy tend to take precedence over higher needs • Examples of going against the pyramid: going without sleep for homework/achievement
What are some environmental factors that might account for the differences observed?
• Parents and society: boys are encouraged in sports and video games (spatial skills). People talk to girl babies more than boy babies. People play more actively with boy babies. Parents are more encouraging of their sons in math and science and encourage their daughters more in English. • Activities and toys: boys are more likely to receive toys that have more parts and are made for building (Visual spatial skills) Girls are more encouraged in sedentary activities that promote nurturing and verbal skills (dolls) • Differences decreasing: differences are much smaller than they used to be. This suggests that these differences aren't biological in nature.
What evidence suggests that the small differences in average IQ among ethnic groups in the United States is not due to innate, inborn factors such as genetics?
• People with similar skin color does not mean they are more genetically similar than people with different skin color • No relationship between degree of European genes and IQ • Two random Korean people can be as different genetically as a Korean person and an Italian person. • Example of mixed family with a light baby • Race is more of a social concept than anything else • Black Africans tend to be more genetically similar to White Europeans than black aboriginal Australians
How are the six categories of needs hierarchically arranged?
• Physiological needs: need to satisfy hunger and thirst • Safety needs: need to feel that the world is organized and predictable, need to feel safe • Belongingness and love needs: belong to social groups, need close and affectionate relationships with others • Esteem needs: needs for achievement, competence, and independence • Self-actualization needs: fulfilling your own unique potential • Self-transcendence needs: need to find meaning and identity beyond the self
What is temperament? On what is it based? How does it relate to personality?
• Temperament refers to ones behavior and emotional response style. (This is a reflection of their sensitivity and intensity) • Largely genetic (Temperament is stable through time and apparent soon after birth. Based on how reactive an individuals nervous system is.) • Forms the foundation of personality, but does not necessarily determine personality
What is the older brother or fraternal birth order effect?
• The more older brothers a male has, the more likely he is to be gay. Sisters don't matter and it doesn't matter if the boy is raised with his brothers or not. The only thing that matters is the number of boys that were in the mother's womb before him. Adopted brothers do not matter. This is one of the most consistent findings in orientation research. The probably increases slightly for each older brother. The probability reaches 10% for 6 older brothers. This only applies to right handed males.
What are some psychosocial problems faced by obese people in our culture?
• We will eat when we aren't even feeling hungry just because someone walks in with a pizza. We will often feel hungry and eat even when we don't need fuel. We still experience hunger and desire to eat when we aren't in danger of starvation • We eat more when there is a variety of food available. We eat more when there are different types of candy instead of the same candy. We eat more at a buffet. • We typically eat 70% more when they are eating with a group of people. We eat more if we eat off of larger plates or are given larger portion sizes. • We eat when we are bored or stressed. Even rats eat more when they are stressed. Animals use food for psychological comfort.
What factors are involved in the development of voluntarily controlled movement?
• biological maturation and experience (Babies control of voluntary motor control occurs because of this) • synaptic growth (Part of biological maturation involves the growth of synaptic connections of neurons)
Have environmental influences been discovered that play a role in sexual orientation?
• little or no influence of shared environment or caregiver orientation • Non-related adopted kids in the same home: one kid is LGBT and the others have no increase likelihood to be LGBT.
How do stereotypes influence performance?
• stereotypes has influence on attitude, performance, and self-confidence. • Self-fulfilling prophecy: people interact in such a way that leads us to confirm their stereotypes about us. • Anxiety about confirming stereotype leads to poorer performance
