Psychology Chp. 1,2,4

Representative Sample

A group of participants that accurately represents the larger population that the researcher is interested in. Always keep in mind when taking samples that "a sample's seize is less critical than its representativeness.

Melatonin

A hormone, secreted by the pineal gland, is involved in the regulation of daily biological rhythms.

Oxytocin

A hormone, secreted by the pituitary gland, that stimulates uterine contractions during childbirth, facilitates the ejection of milk during nursing, and seems to promote, in both sexes, attachment and trust in relationships.

PET scan (positron-emisson tomography)

A method for analyzing biochemical activity in the brain, using injections of a glucoselike substance containing a radioactive element.

MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging)

A method for studying body and brain tissue, using magnetic fields and special radio receivers; functional MRI (fMRI) is a faster form often used in psychological research.

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)

A method of stimulating brain cells, using a powerful magnetic field produces by a wire coil places on a person's head; it can be used by researchers to temporarily inactivate neural circuits and is also beings used therapeutically.

Norepinephrine

Affects neurons involved in increased heart rate and the slowing of intestinal activity during stress, and neurons involved in learning, memory, dreaming, waking from sleep, and emotion.

Acetylcholine

Affects neurons involved in muscle action, cognitive functioning, memory, and emotion. A deficit can lead to Alzheimer's.

Serotonin

Affects neurons involved in sleep, appetite, sensory perception, temperate regulation, pain suppression, and mood.

Dopamine

Affects neurons involved in voluntary movement, learning, memory, emotion, pleasure, or reward, and possibly, response to novelty. Excess levels can lead to schizophrenia. A deficit of dopamine can lead to Parkinson's disease.

Criterion Validity

Having the ability to predict outcomes based on results of the test relevant to the content of the test. (ie. College grades from an aptitude test)

Applied Psychology/Applied Research

Having the motivation to do research in the attempt to apply it practically in some way.

Willingness to make "Risky Predictions"

Having the willingness to risk disconfirmation and be falsified. Being willing to negative evidence seriously and abandon mistaken hypotheses.

Positive Correlations

High levels of one variable are associated with high levels of the other. Low levels of one variable are associated with low levels of the other.

Negative Correlations

High levels of one variable are associated with low levels of the other.

Endocrine Glands

Internal organs that produce hormones and release them into the bloodstream.

Glutamate

The major excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain. Excess can lead to multiple sclerosis.

GABA (Gamma-Aminobutryic Acid)

The major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the Brain. Inhibits, limits, or prolongs the affects of other neurotransmitters. Abnormal levels are seen in sleep, eating, and convulsive disorders (epilepsy is an example of a convulsive disorder).

What makes a study a true experiment vs. a quasi-experiment?

The non-existence of random assignment used in an experiment creates a quasi-experiment.

Phrenology

The now-discredited theory that different brain areas account for specific character and personality traits, which can be "read" from bumps on the skull.

The parasympathetic nervous system

The parasympathetic nervous system slows things down, decreases heart rate, and conserves energy.

Brain Stem

The part of the brain at the top of the spinal cord, consisting of the medulla and the pons.

Cell Body

The part of the neuron that keeps it alive and determines whether or not it will fire

Principle of Falsifiability

The principle that a scientific theory must make predictions that are specific enough to expose the theory to the possibility of disconfirmation; that is, the theory must predict not only what will happen but also what will not happen.

Neurogenesis

The production of new neurons from immature stem cells.

Psychobabble

The psychological and scientific-sounding language used in pseudoscience.

Inferential Statistics

Use the application of mathematical formulas to draw inferences about how meaningful the findings are.

Uncorrelated or Nonsignifcant Correlations

Variables that are completely irrelevant of each other and have no correlations.

Descriptive Methods

Various methods that allow researchers to describe and predict behavior.

Inhibitory

Voltage shift in a negative direction. Decreases the chance that a message will be sent down.

Excitatory

Voltage shift in a positive direction. Increases the chance a message will be sent down.

Visual field

What is perceived by the eyes.

Longitudinal Studies

When participants are followed and periodically reassessed over a period of time.

Cross Sectional Studies

When participants of different ages are compared at a given time.

Ecological Validity

Whether or not it's generalizable back to a population externally. (Think: Does this represent reality, and the external or outside world?)

Synaptic Vesicles

tiny sacs in the tip of the axon terminal that open and release a few thousand molecules of a chemical substance--neurotransmitters.

Auditory Cortex

Processes sounds.

Localization of Function

Specialization of particular brain areas for particular functions.

Lateralization

Specialization of the two cerebral hemispheres for particular operations.

Positive Psychology

Focuses on the qualities that enable people to be happy, optimistic, and resilient in times of stress.

Plasticity

The brain's ability to change and adapt in response to experience--for example, by reorganizing or growing new neural connections.

Strengths of Correlational Studies

1. Allow for general predictions 2. Shows whether two or more variables are related.

Strengths of Experimental Studies

1. Allows control of situation including confounds 2. Can identify cause and effect because of increased credibility from more controlled variables.

Weaknesses of Experimental Studies

1. Low ecological Validity 2. Experimenter effects (cues, verbal influences that affect the experiment's results)

Weaknesses of Correlational Studies

1. Usually does not permit identification of cause and effect 2. Correlation does not equal Causation

Rosenthal "gifted" vs "slow" study

: In the Rosenthal experiment an authority figure came to a classroom and categorized equally scoring kids into two groups: gifted and slow. These students were split into their respective classes. As the two teachers of the classes the only ones aware of the kids' categorization, they taught accordingly. The effects of the categorization was that the teacher with the gifted students treated and taught to them differently than the teacher with the students who were categorized as slow. The teacher with the gifted students challenged her students to try harder, taught more material, and was more motivated to teach the students. The teacher with the slow students was the exact opposite and the students scored lower. The gifted students were more academically successful. The experiment was then able to conclude that the greater the expectation put upon an individual, the better that individual will perform.

Hypothalamus

A Brain Structure involved in emotions and drives vital to survival, such as fear, hunger, thirst, and reproduction; it regulates the autonomic nervous system.

Amygdala

A brain structure involved in the arousal and regulation of emotion and the initial emotional response to sensory information.

Hippocampus

A brain structure involved in the storage of new information in memory.

Cerebellum

A brain structure that regulates movement and balance and is involved in the learning of certain kinds of simple responses.

Thalamus

A brain structure that relays sensory messages to the cerebral cortex

Nerve

A bundle of neuron fibers (axons and sometimes dendrites) in the peripheral nervous system

Neuron

A cell that conducts electrochemical signals; that basic unit of nervous system; also called a nerve cell

Neurotransmitter

A chemical substance that is released by a transmitting neurons at the synapse and that alters the activity of a receive neuron.

Cerebral Cortex

A collection of several thin layers of cells covering the cerebrum; it is largely responsible for higher mental functions.

Reticular Activating System (RAS)

A dense network of neurons found in the core of the brain stem; it arouses the cortex and screen incoming information.

Case Study

A detailed description of a particular individual based on careful observation or formal psychological testing.

Evolutionary Psychology

A field of psychology emphasizing evolutionary mechanism that may help explain human commonalities in cognition, development, emotion, social practices, and other areas of behavior.

Limbic System

A group of brain areas involved in emotional reactions and motivated behavior.

Biological Perspective

Focuses on how bodily events affect behavior, feelings, and thoughts (bodily events such as bloodstream, nervous system, hormones, etc)

Dendrites

A neuron's branches that receive information from others neurons and transmit it toward the cell body.

Axon

A neuron's extending fiber that conducts impulses away from the cell body and transmits them to other neurons.

Operational Definition

A precise definition of a term in a hypothesis, which specifies the operations for observing and measuring the process or phenomenon being defined.

Meta-analysis

A procedure for combining and analyzing data from many studies; it determines how much of variance in scores across all studies can be explained by a particular variable.

Feminist Psychology

A psychological approach that analyzes the influence of social inequities on gender relations and on the behavior of the two sexes.

Humanist Psychology

A psychological approach that emphasized free will, personal growth, resilience, and the achievement of human potential.

Electroencephalogram (EEG)

A recording of neural activity detected by electrodes.

Volunteer Bias

A shortcoming of findings derived from a sample of volunteers instead of a representative sample; the volunteers may differ from those who did not volunteer.

Pituitary Gland

A small endocrine gland at the base of the brain, which releases many hormones and regulates other endocrine glands.

Hypothesis

A statement that attempts to predict or to account for a set of phenomena; scientific hypotheses specify relationships among events or variables and are empirically tested.

Pons

A structure in the brain stem involved in, among other things, sleeping, waking, and dreaming.

Medulla

A structure in the brain stem responsible for certain automatic function, such as breathing and heart rate.

Observational Study

A study in which the researcher carefully and systematically observed an record behavior without interfering with the behavior; it may involve either naturalistic or laboratory observation.

Reliance on Empirical Evidence

All evidence that is used to support claims must be empirical and data driven.

Arithmetic Mean

An average that is calculated by adding up a set of quantities and dividing the sum by the total number of quantities in the set.

Double-Blind Test

An experiment in which neither the people being studied nor the individuals running the study know who is in the control group and who is in the experimental group until after the results are disclosed.

Single-Blind Test

An experiment in which participant do no know whether they are in an experiment or control group.

Theory

An organized system of assumptions and principles that attempts to explain a specified set of phenomena and heir interrelationships.

Left Hemisphere

Analytical part of the brain also responsible for language, rational thinking, and cognitive skills.

Illusory Correlations

Apparent associations between two things that are not really related.

Action Potential

Both an electrical and chemical process in which a brief charge occurs between the inside and outside of an exon when a neuron is stimulated; serves to produce an electrical impulse.

fMRI

Captures brain changes many times a second as person performs a task, such as reading a sentence or solving a puzzle.

Sensory Nerves

Carry messages from special receptors in the skin, muscles, and other internal and eternal sense organs to the spinal cored, which sends them along to the brain.

Motor Nerves

Carry orders from the central nervous system to muscles, glands, and internal organs.

Glia

Cells that support, nurture, and insulate neurons, remove debris when neurons die, enhance the formation a and maintenance of neural connections, and modify neuronal functioning.

Variables

Characteristics of behavior or experience that can be measures or described by a numeric scale.

Endorphins

Chemical substances in the nervous system that are similar in structure and action to opiates; they are involved in pain reduction, pleasure, and memory and are known technically as endogenous opioid peptides.

Hormones

Chemical substances, secreted by organs called glands, that affect the functioning of other organs.

Social-cognitive learning theorists

Combine elements of behaviorism with research on thoughts, values, expectations, and intentions.

Learning Perspective

Concerned with how the environment one is associated with affects one's behavior.

Nodes

Constrictions in the covering of the myelin sheath.

Purpose of Correlational Studies

Correlational Studies are a measure of how strongly two variables are related to one another.

Split-Brain Surgery

Cutting the connection between the two halves of the brain.

When can deception be used in research?

Deception can be used when thoroughly justified by a study's potential value.

Field Research

Descriptive or experimental research conducted in a natural setting outside the laboratory.

Sociocultural Perspective

Focuses on the influence society, social interactions, and culture have on one's behavior.

Basic Psychology/Basic Research

Doing research with no intention of its practically and application, but rather just to gain knowledge.

Cognitive Perspective

Emphasizes mental processes in perception, memory, language, problem solving, and other areas of behavior. This perspective studies phenomena of speculation, emotions, motivations, and insight.

Norms

Establishing standards of performance when constructing a test.

Empirical Data

Evidence driven data that relies on observation, experimentation, and measurement.

Cultural psychologists

Examine how cultural rules and values, both explicit and unspoken, affect people's development, behavior, and feelings.

Contrived/Laboratory Observation

Experiment that is controlled, arranged, and allows use of sophisticated equipment.

Myelin sheath

Fatty insulation that may surround the axon of neuron.

Neuroethics

Fields that addresses the implication of "cosmetic neurology," especially questions raised by the development of drugs that are "neuroenhancers."

Naturalistic Observation

Finding out how people or animals act in their normal social environment.

Social psychologists

Focus on social rules and roles, how groups affect attitudes and behavior, why people obey authority, and how each of us is affected by other people--spouses, lovers, friends, bosses, parents, and strangers.

Behaviorists

Focus on the environmental rewards and punishers that maintain or discourage specific behaviors.

Psychodynamic Perspective

Focuses on unconscious dynamic within an individual, such as inner forces, conflicts, or instinctual energy that would influence one's behavior. (ie. Latent homosexuality causing a man to have a disposition to hang around men. His unconscious awareness of this would be explored psychodynamically)

Psychology

Generally defined as the discipline concerned with behavior and mental processes and how they are affected by an organism's physical state, mental state, and external environment.

Alternate-forms reliability

Giving different version of the same test to the same group of people on two separate occasions, and observe how similar the results are.

Test-retest reliability

Giving participants the same test twice in order to observe how consistent the test results are.

Broca's area

Handles speech production.

Peripheral Nervous System

Handles the CNS's input and output. It contains all portions of the nervous system outside the brain and spinal cord, right down to the nerves in the tips of the fingers and toes.

Openness

Having a lack of secrecy in one's findings and procedures allowing for full disclosure.

Right Hemisphere

Holistic view on life, facial-spatial-visual recognition, responsible for creation and appreciation of art/music

Sex Hormones

Hormones that regulate the development and functioning of reproductive organs and that stimulate the development of male and female sexual characteristics; they include: Androgens: Masculinizing hormones produces mainly in the testes but also in the ovaries and the adrenal glands Estrogens: Feminizing hormones that bring on physical changes in females at puberty. Progesterone: Contributes to the growth and maintenance of the uterine lining in preparation for a fertilized egg.

Statistical Significance

How likely a result was to have occurred.

Inter-Item Reliability

How well all items on a test are the same, related, and relevant of each other. Regardless of their relevance of what is being tested.

Stem cells

Immature cells that renew themselves and have the potential` to develop into mature cells; given encouraging environments, stem cells from early embryos can develop into any cell type.

Hemisphere Dominance

In any given task one hemisphere exerts control over the other.

What happens in studies of split-brain patients when objects are shown to only the right or left visual field?

In split-brain studies there is a nonexistence of communication between the two hemispheres and therefore there is no sharing of information when the right side of the brain receives information from the left side of an object and when the left side of the brain receives information from the right side of an object.

Standardization

In test construction, to develop uniform procedures for giving and scoring a test.

What would happen if the sympathetic nervous system were chronically activated?

In the event chronic activation of the SNS occurred, heart rate, pupil dilation, and high blood pressure would persist.

Reliability

In the process of creating a test, the consistency of scored derived from a test, from one time and place to another.

Humanist Movement

In this movement the concepts of psychoanalysis and behaviorism were not accepted. The movement proposed that human behavior is not completely determined by either unconscious conflict or the environment. People are capable of free will and therefore have the ability to make more of themselves than psychoanalysists and behaviorists predicted. Positive psychology came out of this movement, which focuses on the qualities that enable people to be happy, optimistic, and resilient in times of stress.

Descriptive Statistics

Information that sums up data collected in numbers, graphs, and charts.

Why is informed consent important?

Informed consent is important because involuntary experimentation is unethical according to the ethical code of the APA

Ethical principles of the APA

Informed consent, post-experiment debriefs, and complete transparency about experiment details are some of the APA's ethical principles.

Wernicke's area

Involved in language comprehension.

Lesion method

Involves damaging or removing sections of brain and observing the effects.

Motor Cortex

Issues orders to the 600 muscles of the body that produce voluntary movement.

Frontal Lobes

Lobes at the front of the brain's cerebral cortex; they contain areas involved in short-term memory, high-order thinking, initiative, social judgement, and (in the left lobe, typically) speech production.

Occipital Lobe

Lobes at the lower back part of the brain's cerebral cortex; they contain areas that receive visual information.

Parietal Lobe

Lobes at the top of the brain's cerebral cortex; they contain areas that receive information on pressure, pain, touch, and temperature.

Temporal Lobes

Lobs at the sides of the brain's cerebral cortex; they contain areas involved in hearing, memory, perception, emotion, and (in the left lobe typically) language comprehension.

Gestalt Psychology

Max Wertheimer is the leader of Gestalt psychology. Gestaltism is the concept of how one observes and perceives patterns and thoughts in the world. "The whole is more than the sum of its parts" is a famous quote for this concept. Viewing the whole is more important than viewing individual parts of the whole. (ie. The pattern of a flock of birds, rather than the individual birds are seen)

Four special challenges of cross-cultural research

Methods and sampling, stereotyping, construct validity, and reification.

Skepticism

Not accepting ideas simply based on faith or authority but having the mentality to be shown the evidence.

Precision

One's research must be precise and organized. In order to do so, here is a system that helps to organize ones claims: Create a theory, formulate a hypothesis, make predictions with operational definitions, and then support this with evidence.

Cortisol

Outer part of each adrenal gland which increases blood-sugar levels and boosts energy.

Electrodes

Probing devises used on the brain.

• What are the major differences between science and pseudoscience? Be able to apply the eight critical thinking guidelines to vignettes describing both scientific and pseudoscientific findings.

Pseudoscience "promises easy fixes to life's problems and challenges" where science does not. A main difference between the two is the lack of empirical data used to back up the claims in Pseudoscience. Science uses research evidence (empirical data) to strongly support claims and theories that are proposed whereas pseudoscience uses unsupported popular opinion thus taking the validity away from it. In addition to popular opinion as support to claims that take away pseudoscience's validity, so does its vulnerability to critical thinking concepts. Psychological critical thinking concepts 1-8 highlight further the flaws of pseudoscience and aren't highlighted in science. (For Example: Examining the Evidence, Critical Thinking #3

Surveys

Questionnaires and interviews that gather information by asking people directly about their experiences, attitudes, or opinions.

Control Group

Receive different levels of the independent variable than the experimental groups.

Somatosensory Cortex

Receives information about pressure, pain, touch, and temperature from all over the body.

Central Nervous System

Receives, processes, interprets, and stores incoming sensory information. It also sends out messages destined for muscles, gland, and internal organs.

Reification

Regarding something as tangible like feelings. Ex. I have a lot of anger buried inside me. Thus reifying anger.

Male-female differences in brain research.

Research shows that there are obvious differences between male and female brains. Some examples are brain activation, and what sides of the brain are more often used. For females, for instance, in language tasks use both sides of their brain whereas males tend to use one side. There are also different biochemical makeups between the two genders' brains. Researchers propose that some of the brain differences can help explain the dispositions males have to love sports and females love to talk about feelings. Other dispositions such as these are inferred about with more research of the two brains.

Psychoanalysis

Sigmund Freud is made famous for psychoanalytical thinking. Freud proposed that distress of individuals is due to conflicts and emotional traumas that had occurred in early childhood and that were too threatening to be remembered consciously, such as forbidden sexual feelings for a parent caused these mental problems. Psychoanalysis is based on understanding the unconscious factors that are catalysts for manifested behaviors.

Multicultural Movement

Similar to the Feminist Movement, this movement challenged traditional psychology and proposed topics of multiculturalism to be included and researched as important topics in the field of psychology.

Receptor Sites

Special molecules in the membrane of the receiving neuron's dendrites.

Inferential Statistics

Statistical procedures that allow researcher to draw inference about how statically meaningful a study's results are.

Significance Tests

Statistical tests that show how likely it is that a study's results occurred merely by chance.

Structuralism

Structuralism was given the name it has today by a student, E.B. Titchener, of the psychologist named Wundt. Wundt proposed this idea of structuralism where structuralists hoped to analyze sensations, images, and feelings into basic elements. (ie. Describing a metronome as click CLICK click click CLICK)

Standard Deviation

Tells the observer how clustered or spread out the individual scores are around the mean on a graph.

The sympathetic nervous system

The SNS mobilizes and accelerates the bodily functions. For example in a fight or flight situation, the heart rate will increase and blushing will occur.

Critical Thinking

The ability and willingness to asses claims and make objective judgements on the basis of well-suppored reasons and evidence rather than emotion or anecdote.

Validity

The ability of a test to measure what it was designed to measure.

Effect Size

The amount of variance among scores in a study accounted for by the independent variable.

Independent Variable

The aspect of the experiment that is manipulated by the experimenter.

Corpus Callosum

The bundles of nerve fibers connecting the two cerebral hemispheres and thereby enabling communication between the two hemispheres.

Be able to critically discuss the concept of the self.

The concept of the self refers to be conscious of one's mind, self-awareness, and exploring subjective experiences of one's self.

Association cortex

The cortex that is involved in higher mental processes.

Informed consent

The doctrine that anyone who participates in human research must do so voluntarily and must know enough about he study to make an intelligent decision about whether to take part.

Dualism

The doctrine, perpetuated by religions, that says immortal self or soul exists entirely apart from the mortal brain.

Construct Validity

The extent at which a hypothetical construct relates to other measures. Ex. Different forms of a depression test will yield results relating to depression.

Occam's Razor

The idea that in the presence of many interpretations, the one with the fewest unverified assumptions is usually the better one.

Inter-Rater Reliability

The idea that two experimenters can measure the same thing and receive the same results.

Content Validity

The items presented on the test are relevant to what is being tested.

Cerebrum

The largest brain structure, consisting of the upper part of the brain; divided into two hemispheres, it is in charge of most sensory, motor, and cognitive processes.

Synapse

The site where transmission of a nerve impulse from one nerve cell to another occurs; it includes the axon terminal, the synaptic cleft, an receptor sites in the membrane of the receiving cell.

Somatic Nervous System

The subdivision of the peripheral nervous system that connect to sensory receptors and to skeletal muscles; sometimes called the skeletal nervous system.

Autonomic Nervous System

The subdivision of the peripheral nervous systems that regulates the internal organs and glands.

Confirmation Bias

The tendency to look for or pay attention only to information that confirms one's own belief.

Cerebral Hemispheres

The two halves of the cerebrum.

Experimenter Effects

The unintended influences the experimenter has on the participant, and therefore affecting the data. Through single (experimenter is aware of who is being tested) and double (neither the experimenter nor the participants are aware of who is being tested) blind studies, the experimenter effects can be controlled.

Adrenal Hormones

These hormones are involved in emotion and stress. Examples are epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine. Hormones respond to conditions such as heat, cold, pain, burns, physical exercise, injury, caffeine, and nicotine.

How do the two hemispheres of the brain communicate?

These two hemispheres communicate through the corpus callosum.

Dependent Variable

This is the reaction of participants and the behavior the researcher tries to predict.

Feminist Movement

This movement gave consciousness and awareness to the importance of studying female associated topics: menstruation, motherhood, dynamics of power and sexuality in relationship, definitions of masculinity and femininity, gender roles, and sexist attitudes.

Random Assignment Importance

To balance out variables that can affect the experiment negatively participants can be randomly assigned into the groups.

Arguments for non-human experimentation:

To conduct basic research on a particular species, to discover practical applications, to study issues that cannot be studies experimentally with human beings because of practical or ethical considerations, to clarify theoretical questions.

Functionalism

William James was an American philosopher and psychologist who is the leader of the concept of functionalism. Functionalists want to know how specific behaviors and mental processes help a person or animal adapt to the environment through looking at underlying causes and consequences of these behaviors.

Placebo

an inactive substance or fake treatment used as a control in experiment or given by a medical practitioner to a patient.