Study guide for Chapters 1 & 2 of Psychology

What is a synaptic cleft? What happens to nerve impulses that reach a synapse?

A fluid filled gap. When a nerve impulse reaches a synapse, axon terminals release chemicals into the synaptic cleft.

Explain informed consent.

A participant's agreement to participate in research after receiving information about the purposes of the study and the nature of the treatments.

What is functionalism and what type of question would a person ask from this view about adaptation?

Focused on behavior as well as the mind or consciousness. Adaptive behavior patterns are learned and maintained. They tend to ask "How do behavior and mental processes help people adapt to the requirements of their lives?"

Identify the gestalt perspective. How is learning and problem solving accomplished by this view?

Focused on perception and how perception influences thinking and problem solving. Learning and problem solving is accomplished by insight, not by mechanical repetition.

What was Aristotle's argument about human behavior and what was it subject to?

He argued that human behavior is subject to rules and laws.

What is norepinephrine and what is it produced by?

Produced largely by neurons in the brain stem and acts both as a neurotransmitter and as a hormone.

Explain natural selection.

The process whereby organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and reproduce

Define DNA and know the form that it takes.

The substance that forms the basic material of chromosomes; it takes the form of a double helix and contains the genetic code.

What are personality psychologists concerned with?

They are concerned with issues such as anxiety, aggression, sexual orientation, and gender roles.

Neurons have an axon. What are axons and identify how do axons extend.

They are thin, long parts of a neuron that transmits impulses to other neurons from the terminal buttons. They extend like a trunk from the cell body.

What do people such as psychologists from the biological perspective assume?

They assume that thoughts, fantasies, and dreams and the inborn or instinctive behavior patterns of various species are made possible by the nervous system and especially by the brain.

What are glial cells?

They remove dead neurons and waste products from the nervous system; nourish and insulate neurons; form myelin, and play a role in neural transmission of messages.

What do experimental psychologists do?

They specialize in basic processes such as the nervous system, sensations, and perception, learning and memory, thought, motivation, and emotion.

What do organizational psychologists do?

They study the behavior of people in organizations such as businesses.

What is a health psychologist?

They study the effect of stress on health problems such as headaches, cardiovascular disease, and cancer.

Define fissures. They are located on the cerebral cortex.

Valleys in the cortex

Identify the person who created the school functionalism.

William James

What are terminal buttons and their location?

Small bulb-shaped structures and they are located at the end of an axon.

What are motor neurons (called efferent neurons) and their function?

The efferent neurons are nerve cells responsible for carrying/transmitting messages from the brain or spinal cord to muscles and glands.

What is the major case of down syndrome?

A condition cause by an extra chromosome of the 21st pair.

What is the pons? Identify its location and its function.

A bulge in the hindbrain that lies forward of the medulla. It transmits information about body movement and is involved in functions related to attention, sleep and arousal, and respiration.

Know what a MRI is and what it relies on.

A person lies in a powerful magnetic field and is exposed to radio waves that cause parts of the brain to emit signals, which are measured from multiple angles. They rely on subtle shifts in blood flow.

According to the section on the scientific method, describe two ways that a research question can be studied.

A research question may be studied as a question or reworded as a hypothesis.

Define naturalistic observation.

A scientific method in which people or organisims are observed in their natural environments.

Know what monozygotic twins are and the percentage of genes that they share.

A single zygote divides into two cells that separate, so that instead of developing into a single person, it develops into two people with the same genetic makeup, therefore having 100% of the same genes.

Define selection factor.

A source of bias that may occur in research findings when participants are allowed to choose for themselves a certain treatment in a scientific study.

Define mutation.

A sudden variation or change in genes.

Explain what is the structuralist perspective of psychology. Identify the two major elements of experience. What are the three basic items of experience that are combined?

A theory of consciousness that seeks to analyze the elements of mental experiences. The two major elements of experience are objective sensations and subjective feelings. The three basic items of experience are sensations, feelings, and images.

Identify the part of the brain that is associated with aggressive behavior in animals.

Amygdala

Explain the all-or-none principle.

Either a neuron fires or it doesn't. Every time a neuron fires, it transmits an impulse of the same strength.

What two important factors are associated with the sociocultural perspective of psychology?

Ethnicty and Gender

Identify the function of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine.

It controls muscle contractions

Explain the term instinct.

It is a stereotyped pattern of behavior that is triggered in a specific situation.

Define critical thinking.

It is a way of evaluating the claims and comments of other people that involves skepticism and examination of evidence.

Define the parasympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system.

It is most active during processes that replenish reserves of energy (such as eating). When we relax, it stimulates digestive processes.

What is myelination?

It is part of the maturation process that leads to a child's ability to crawl and walk during the first year.

What is the pituitary gland and its location.

It secretes growth hormone, prolactin, antidiuretic hormone, and other hormones. It lies below the hypothalamus.

Identify the function of oxytocin.

It stimulates labor in pregnant women and is connected with maternal behavior.

Know what are two things that the nucleus uses and its function within the cell body of the neuron.

It uses oxygen and nutrients to generate the energy needed to carry out the work of the cell.

Identify the type of handedness that was once considered a deficiency.

Left-handed

Identify the cognitive perspective of psychology and its function.

Looks at mental processes to understand human nature. They investigate the ways we perceive and mentally represent the world, how we learn, remember the past, pan for the future, solve problems, form judgments, make decisions, and use language.

What does it mean to not oversimplify problems according to the principle of critical thinking?

Most human behavior involves complex interactions of genetic and environmental influences.

What is nature? What is another name for nature?

Nature is the inborn, innate character of an organism. Another name for it is heredity.

What is phenotype? What two things act together within a person's phenotype?

One's actual development and appearance, as based on one's genotype and environmental influences.

Who shares approximately 50% of your genetic makeup based on the kinship section in your textbook?

Parents and children

Describe the brain-imaging technique known as computerized axial tomography(CAT).

Passes X-rays through the head and measures the structures that reflect the beams from various angles, generating a three-dimensional image.

What are environmental factors according to the biological perspective of psychology? What do they interact with and what do they do?

heredity in behavior and mental processes such as psychological disorders, criminal behavior, and thinking. Environmental factors interact with inherited factors to determine specific behavior and mental processes.

Gustav Theodor Fechner published a book known as Elements of Psychophysics. What did his book show?

how physical events (such as lights and sounds) are related to psychological sensation and perception.