General Psychology Overview And Biological Background

Front 1

Functions of the Frontal Lobes

Back 1

Higher functioning (emotions, memory, personality, thinking), Speech production, motor control (located in the back of the frontal lobes, voluntary movement)

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The beginning of psychology (a date, the only date you should remember) and the event associated with it

Back 2

1879: A lab started in Germany and was dedicated to psychological research, marking the study as a field of science

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Linguistic Determination (Whorf's Hypothesis)

Back 3

"Thinking is talking to one's self"

You can only think what you can say. As such, infants will think in pictures, and the educated adult can think with immense vocabularies

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The purpose of psychology

Back 4

to understand behavior

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Behavior

Back 5

What one says or does, as well as what one thinks, imagines, perceives, etc

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Objective Behavior

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Implies facts, one without opinion and is observable by more than one person

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Subjective behavior

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Opinionated. A dream is subjective, as are your thoughts and perception of consciousness

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Dualism

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The idea that there is a mind and a brain, where the brain is a technical machine-like object and the mind is the operator

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Law of Parsimony

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"Keep it simple, stupid!"

The simplest explanation is the first choice

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Eurocentric

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Psychology studied for the most part up to this point has been done so by white European males. We are missing a lot of data, and there is a great deal of bias.

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Empirical - Empiricism

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If we go out and touch, poke and smell things and apply human intelligence, we can think and understand it. This method will give us truth.

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Epistemology

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"How do we know anything at all?"

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Solipsism

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the philosophical idea that only one's own mind is sure to exist. The external world and other minds cannot be known, and might not exist outside the mind. As a metaphysical position, solipsism goes further to the conclusion that the world and other minds do not exist.

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W. Wundt

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dedicated the laboratory to psychology in Germany in 1879

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Structuralist View

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Looks at the conscious experience in component parts using "introspection". Our conscious experience is most important because it separates us from the animals.

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Introspection

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Someone thinks about what is happening in their head, i.e. exactly the images and sounds they hear when given a math problem, as accurately as they can

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Functionalist View

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Why do people think? They solve problems, fix things and do things.

Gymanstic example:
structuralist: a photo of a moment
functionalist: a video of all the important steps leading to that moment

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Critical Thinking

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process of objectively evaluating, comparing, analyzing and synthesizing information

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Pseudopsychologies

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"Fake psychologies" or "pop psychologies" such as psychics, mediums, psychometry, and astrology

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Differences between a psychiatrist and a psychologist

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Psychiatrists are medical doctors with M.D. degrees specializing in the field and have the license to prescribe drugs

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Psychodynamic Perspective

Back 21

(Freud) View that most psychological problems are caused by conflicts between "acceptable" and "unacceptable" behavior, and that we are all selfish, sexual and angry creatures that want to eat and bone due to our biology. In the "nature vs. nurture" debate, these guys are all about the nature

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Psychoanalysis

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Freud's form of psychotherapy administered through "talk therapy"

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Behaviorist

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Emphasizes objective, observable environmental influences on overt behavior. In the "nature vs. nurture" debate, these guys are all about the nurture. They became cognitive scholars. What we think depends on what we've learned

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Radicalist

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"Thinking is unimportant" concept touted about in the mid-1900's

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Innate

Back 25

Those instructions given at conception, including reflexes and instincts

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Reflex

Back 26

simple response that every animal in a species will do under the same circumstance. Test by seeing if it happens to a subject that has not learned it.

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Instinct

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Compex response, i.e. migration or hibernation. If animals did not have them, they would die because they are stupid. The follow instincts blindly, even if it means their death.

Behaviorists do not believe in instinct.

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Humanistic Approach

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Perception is important

Stress free will and that people are unique.

People are "good". All circumstances being equal, people would choose to be good than be bad. People strive to reach self-actualization

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Self-Actualization

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Maslow's theory that people strive to grow, develop and move toward a state of self-fulfillment in which we realize our highest potential

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Three Forces of Psychology

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Psychodynamic/Behaviorist/Humanist

You are controlled by your biology, your environment and your free will.

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Cognitive Perspective

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Study thinking, especially how we gather, encode and store information from our environment. It was a radical response to the "thinking does nothing" movement. These scientists liken the brain to a computer.

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Monism

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The belief that there is only the brain and that there is no "mind"

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Biological Perspective

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Psychology is science and is based on empiricism.

All about "monism". Everything is physical.

Everything we do (think, say, feel, remember, perceive) is happening inside of us, complex organic computing devices. It looks at exactly what happens to us when we think, feel, remember, etc.

Focuses on the brain, neurons and other parts of the neural system

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Aggression

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attempting to hurt

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Hostile aggression

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emotionally-driven aggression, such as hitting a kid because he's a poop-head

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Instrumental

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Motivation-driven, not personal, just business (hitting a kid with a block to get a toy or slaughtering cattle)

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Affect

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An emotion

Front 38

Experimental, Scientific Methods:
Observation

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(the why)
We observe to get an objective, complete description. We look for patterns (correlations)

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Naturalistic Observation

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Researchers systematically measure and record the observable behavior of participants as it occurs in the real world, without interfering

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Hypothesis

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educated guess about cause and effect

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Extraneous Variables

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variables that are unrelated to the experiment

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Mnemonic

Back 42

word tools that help our memory

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What does it mean to replicate an epxeriment? What are two reasons to do so?

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Any epxeriment that tests the same hypothesis as another experiment is a replication. The reasons include

1. to be sure the results are real and not the product of a fluke
2. to justify generalizations (by providing variation)

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Case Study

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An in-depth study of an individual case

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Ablation/lesions as a Tool for Biological Research

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Surgically removing parts of the brain (ablation) or destroying specific areas of the brain (lesioning) is followed by observation for changes in behavior or mental processes

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EEG (electroencephalogram) in Biological Research

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Electrodes are attached to the skin or scalp so that brain activity is detected and recorded on an EEG

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ESB (Electrical stimulation of the Brain) as a tool in research

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Using an electrode, a weak electric current stimulates specific areas or structures of the brain to see what they do

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CT (computed tomography) scans in research

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computer-created cross sectional x-rays of the brain that reveals the effects of strokes, injuries, tumors and other brain disorders

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fMRI (functional Magnetic resonance imaging) in research

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A high-frequency magnetic field is passed through the brain by means of electromagnets, producing a three-dimensional map of the brain

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Operational Definitions

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defining a thing in terms of what you do to create it or measure it in objective details so that someone can replicate it and make their own objections.

How do you measure hunger? You can't, so you make an operational definition detailing feeding times and weight.

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Survey Observation

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Useful for sensitive subjects like sex and politics, least accurate information

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Coincidence Relationship

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Two things happen spontaneously, randomly at the same time

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Correlation Relationship

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When a change in one variable is accompanied by a change in another. They happen at the same time. When one shows up, so does the other.

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Cause and Effect Relationship

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One thing causes the other to happen. The first is the cause and the second is the effect. Ex: You put turn the stove on under a pot of water, and the water boils.

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Anecdotal Evidence

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Evidence in the form of stories. While stimulating emotion and thought, they don't really prove anything. They can be suggestive, but they are not experiments.

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Anthropomophism

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Attributing human qualities to non-human organisms

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How do you test a hypothesis?

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Predict it

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Descriptive Statistics

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"describe", summarize, characterize, simplify data since most people can't keep track of numbers. It looks for the measure of central tendency and comes in the form of pie charts, bar graphs, histograms, etc. It also looks at the Measure of variability

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Measure of Central Tendency

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Where's the middle? Includes the average, median, mode and standard deviation

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Standard Deviation

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The measure of how spread out numbers are from the average

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Measure of Variability

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Dispersion

Ex: Range: highest value - lowest value

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Inferential Statistics

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inference = conclusion

What's the probability that the sample represents the population? How likely is it that the results are real?

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Population

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everyone who fits the criteria (i.e. all married couples, all children)

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Sample

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A representative group that is randomly selected

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Frequency Distribution

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""Event" vs "How frequent" (never to always)

If you can measure it with a number, it is an event

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Normal Distribution

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A frequency distribution that is shaped like a bell

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Correlation coefficient (r)

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Perfect: 1.0
No correlation: 0.0
Negative: Inversely related

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Endocrine System

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The system of your hormones, which are the messengers of the blood stream, sending feedback and messages from organ to organ

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Pituitary Gland (master gland)

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activates human growth hormone (hgh) and is able to turn itself on and control other hormones

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Myelin

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fatty shield surrounding some of the axons that speed a signal across the neuron

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micron

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millionth of a meter

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dendrite

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receives the message from the other cells (input)

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soma

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(neuron cell body) usually a bit larger in the brain, but the ones toward the bottom of the spine can be really long

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axon

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the output that sends out the message, very thin tubes

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axon terminal

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where the message leaves the terminal

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action potentials

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"nerve impulses"

starts with dissolved ions in their ionic form on each side of neurons pores. Smalls ones are inside, and big ones are outside. The pores open up, let in big pores, and the neuron tries to reach homeostasis again. Charges occur.

It needs one millisecond to reset, so 1000 signals/second.

Diameter: bigger = faster
myelin = faster
-> 100m/s

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Coding

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set of symbols that represent them in another form

Action potentials use frequency as a code

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Cerebrum

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bigger upper half, more important part of the brain

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cerebellum

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important for coordinated, smooth movement and possibly memory

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Gyrus

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a "hill" in the brain

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Sulcus

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A "Valley" in the brain

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Fissure

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A really big "valley" in the brain

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Cerebral cortex

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greyish layer on the immediate inside, grainy, grey because of myelin content

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How do neurons communicate?

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Vessicles filled with serotonin and such are in the cell body in "bags". Action potentials run down the branch and make them pop open. They plug themselves in and make the cells more or less leaky.

tl;dr Neurons spit on each other

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Neural excitation

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anything that makes neurons more likely to fire

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Neural inhibition

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anything that makes neurons less likely to fire

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Acetylcholine

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neurotransmitter that activates muscles

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Stychnine

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highly toxic neurotransmitter that kills inhibitory signals; can only excite the muscles when in a higher dose

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corpus callosum

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main connection between the two bran hemispheres

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Synapse

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Junction between the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving neuron. During an action potential, neurotransmitters are released and flow across the synaptic gap

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Glial cells

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Provide nutrients and support neurons in the central nervous system

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Central Nervous System

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directs mental and basic life processes

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Spinal Cord

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sends information to and from the brain and peripheral nervous system and controls reflexes

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Forebrain

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consists of the cerebral cortex, thalamus, limbic system and hypothalmus

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Hindbrain

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consists of the reticular formation, pns, medulla and cerebellum

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Peripheral Nervous System

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carries information to and from the central nervous system

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somatic nervous system

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conveys sensory information to the central nervous system and sends motor messages to the muscles

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autonomic nervous system

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controls involuntary basic life functions, such as heartbeats and response to stress

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sympathetic nervous system

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arouses body to expend energy and respond to threat, part of the autonomic nervous system

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parasympathetic nervous system

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calms body to conserve energy and restore the status quo, part of the autonomic nervous system

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Frontal Lobe

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receives and coordinates messages from all the other lobes of the cortex while also being responsible for higher functions (personality, memory, emotion), speech production and motor control

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Feedback

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changes in the direction of movement, i.e. the thermostate with a furnace

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motor dominant

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One hemisphere is motor dominant to coordinate movements involving both sides of the body (thusly both hemispheres of the brain)

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Left Hemisphere

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controls right side of the body, understands and analyzes and produces language, can talk to itself. The left understands music theory.

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Right Hemisphere

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controls left side of the body, understands language in a wholesome view i.e. understanding sarcasm and music

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Reflex arc

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simplest form of behavior, involving as simple as three neurons and doesn't need the brain

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Limbic system

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emotion

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Midbrain

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Helps coordinate movement, patterns, sleep and arousal

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Pons

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Involved with respiration, movement, waking, sleep and dreaming

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Cerebellum

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Coordinates fine muscle movement, balance and some perception and cognition

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Medulla

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responsible for brathin, heartbeat, emesis, and other vital life functions

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Hypothalmus

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Responsible for regulating drives (hunger, thirst, aggression)

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Reticular Formation

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Helps screen incoming sensory information and controls arousal

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Amygdala

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Part of the limbic system involved in aggression and fear

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Hippocampus

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involved in formin and retrieving memories in the limbic system

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Thalamus

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Integrates input from the senses

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Precentral Gyrus

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Motor cortex, more neurons are concentrated for areas that need more control

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Temporal

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Hearing

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Occipital

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vision and visual perception

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Vernikes

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damage here leads to difficulty understanding language

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Aphasia

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language difficulties resulting from brain damage