Psych 101

Front 1

Psychology

Back 1

The scientific study of behavior and mental processes.

Front 2

Four goals of psychology

Back 2

Psychologists attempt to describe,explain, predict, and control behavior

Front 3

Seven themes of psychology, especially nature versus nurture

Back 3

Psychology is empirical- empiriscism is the premise that knowledge should be aquired through observation

Psychology is theoretically diverse- a theory is a system of interrelated issues used to explain a set of observations

Psycholgoy evolves in a sociohistorical context

Behavior is determined by multiple causes

Our behavior shaped by culture

Heredity and environment jointly influence behavior

Our experience of the world is highly subjective

Hint 3

she does not want a hint

Front 4

Basic understanding of psychoanalytic/psychodynamic, behavioral, and humanistic perspectives

Back 4

Psychoanalytic:

Psychodynamic: unconscious mind, influence over conscious behavior, less emphasis on sex and more emphasis on development of sense of self

Behavioral: Skinner's operant conditioning

Humanistic: people's ability to direct their own lives, freewill

Front 5

Cultural relativity

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the idea that behavior must be judged relative to the values of the culture in which it occurs

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Applied psychology

Back 6

the branch of psychology concerned with everyday, practical problems

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Empirical

Back 7

The premise that knowledge should be acquired through observation

Front 8

Scientific method – what are the steps, and what does each step mean?

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-Percieving the question
-Forming a Hypothesis
-Testing the hypothesis
-Drawing conclusions
-report the results
-replication

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Correlation (positive and negative)

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is the existence of a consistent, systematic relationship between two events, measures, or variables

Positive correlation indicates a statistical relationship in which increases in one measure are matched by increases in the other
Negative correlation indicates a statistical relationship in which increases in one measure are matched by decreases in the other

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Experimental design and associated terms (independent, dependent, and extraneous variables; random assignment)

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Independent variable (IV): the condition being investigated as a possible cause of some change in behavior
Dependent variable (DV): the condition that is affected by the independent variable
Extraneous variable (EV): conditions or factors excluded from influencing the outcome of an experiment

Front 11

• Know which research design allows one to infer cause and effect

Back 11

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• Common threats to research, such as placebo effect and experimenter bias

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placebo effects occur when subjects' expectations lead them to experience some change even though they receive empty, fake or ineffectual treatment

Experimenter bias occurs when a researchers expectations or preferences about the outcome of a study influence the results obtained- the experimenter may "see what he wants to see"

Front 13

• Ethical considerations for psychological research

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Front 14

• Neuron, including dendrites, axon, soma

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Neuron: individual nerve cell

Dendrites: recieve incoming messages

Axon: the fiber that carries information away form the cell body of a neuron

Soma: the main body of a neuron

Front 15

• Neurotransmitter

Back 15

Chemicals that go across the synapse and afffect the activity of the next neuron

Front 16

• Agonist

Back 16

A chemical that mimics the action of a neurotransmitter (cocaine)

Front 17

• Endorphins

Back 17

Pain relief and pleasurable emotions
Runner’s high

Front 18

• What makes up the central nervous system?

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The central nervous system (CNS) includes the brain and spinal cord
The CNS sends messages to the peripheral nervous system (PNS)

Front 19

• Sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system

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The sympathetic branch prepares the body for “fight or flight” during times of danger or high emotion
The parasympathetic branch quiets the body and returns it to a lower level of arousal

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• Fight or flight

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Front 21

• Sensory neurons and motor neurons

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Sensory neurons carry information from senses to the CNS
Motor neurons carry motor commands from the CNS to muscles and glands

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• Medulla

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connects the brain with the spinal chord, and controls vital life functions such as heart rate, breathing, and swallowing

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• Limbic system

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Made up of the hypothalamus, parts of the the thalamus, the amygdala, and the hippocampus; this system produces emotion and motivates behavior

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• Hippocampus

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Associated with storing memories

Front 25

• Know the four lobes of the brain and what functions they are responsible for

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1> Occipital - back of brain, vision
2> Parietal - above the occipital lobes, bodily sensations
3> Temporal - each side of the brain, hearing
4> Frontal - front of brain, control of movement and higher mental abilities

Front 26

• Pituitary gland

Back 26

is the master gland of the endocrine system and influences other glands in the body

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• Sensation and perception

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Sensation is the stimulation of sense organs
Perception is the method of taking information gathered by the senses and interpret it in a meaningful way

Front 28

• Just noticeable difference

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the smallest difference between two stimuli that is detectable 50 percent of the time

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• Sensory adaptation

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is the tendency of sensory receptor cells to become less responsive to a stimulus that is unchanging

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• Habituation

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Habituation is the tendency of the brain to stop attending to constant, unchanging information

Front 31

• Brightness and color

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Brightness corresponds to the height or intensity of light waves (higher waves  brighter colors)

Color, or hue, is determined by the length of the wave

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• Parts of the eye, particularly the pupil

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The pupil regulates the amount of light that passes into the rear chamber of the eye

Front 33

• Rods and cones

Back 33

Rods and cones, located in the retina, receive photons of light and turn them into neural signals to the brain
Cones work best in bright light, produce color sensations, and pick up fine details
Rods are unable to detect colors, can only perceive black and white, are more sensitive to light than cones are, and allow us to see in very dim light
The rods and cones affect visual acuity, or sharpness; tightly packed cones in the fovea produce the sharpest images
Areas outside the fovea also get light, creating peripheral vision

Front 34

• Tri-chromatic color theory

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Front 35

• Know how frequency affects pitch

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Front 36

• Four taste sensations

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Sweet
Salty
Sour
Bitter
We are most sensitive to bitter and sour (perhaps this helped avoid poisonous foods when humans foraged for food)

Front 37

• Lock and key theory of smell

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Odors are related to the shapes of chemical molecules
Chemicals produce odors when part of a molecule matches a hole on the surface of the olfactory receptors of the same shape

Front 38

e familiar with the points discussed on the Powerpoint slide on touch

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Front 39

• Depth perception, including the difference between monocular and binocular cues

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Binocular depth cues are clues about distanced based on the differing views of the two eyes
Monocular depth cues are clues about distance based on the image in either eye alone

Front 40

• Dark adaptation

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is the process in which the eyes become more sensitive to light in low illumination

Front 41

• Shape and size constancy

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Size constancy: the perceived size of an object remains constant, despite changes in its retinal image
Shape constancy: the perceived shape of an object is unaffected by changes in its retinal image

Front 42

• Gestalt principles (proximity, similarity, simplicity, etc.)

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Something whole is greater than the sum of its parts
Figure and ground: we divide visual displays into figure and ground to organize visual perceptions

Proximity: things that are near one another seem to belong together
Closure: people group elements to create a sense of completeness
Similarity: stimuli that are similar are grouped together

Simplicity: people tend to group elements that combine to form a good figure
Continuity: people tend to connect points that result in straight or gently curved lines that create a smooth path or pattern