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93 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Heuristics |
mental shortcuts/ "rules of thumb" PROS: adaptive CONS: can lead to errors |
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Availability Heuristic |
estimating the likelihood of an occurrence based on how "available" it is to our memory PROS: sometimes frequency does lead to probability CONS: recency, distinctiveness & publicity can falsely influence availability |
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External Validity |
the extent to which the findings of a study can be generalized/applied correctly to the real world |
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Internal Validity |
the extent to which "cause & effect" inferences can be correctly drawn from the study |
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Random Selection |
selecting participants in a way that every person in the population is equally as likely to be chosen for the study PROS: "washes out" any existing bias or outside variables CONS: very difficult to do in reality |
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Reliability |
the consistency of a measurement -when a method or instrument can give the same answer again at a later time or to a different person |
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Validity |
the degree to which a method/instrument measures what it claims to measure (reliability is necessary in order to have validity) |
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Naturalistic Observation |
watching behavior in real world settings with no manipulation PROS: external validity, no interference CONS: low in internal validity, no control, difficult to find behavior, knowledge that someone is watching can influence person's behavior |
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Case Studies |
the examination of one person (or a few people) often over a very long time PROS: provide existence proofs, opportunity to study rare occurrences, "spring board" for new research CONS: too specific, can't be caused intentionally, have to wait for it to become available |
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Surveys & Self Report |
use of questionnaires to asses certain characteristics PROS: easy, direct information from people, lots of data very fast CONS: inaccurate reporting, lying, response sets (ex. people will look bad on purpose for medication) |
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Correlational Designs |
examining the extent to which two variables are associated |
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Correlation Coefficients |
the numbers used to measure correlation (range from -1 to 1) |
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Absolute Value |
the "strength" of the correlation/ how closely they are related |
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Positive Correlations |
correlations that are > 0 as the value of A increases so does the value of B (when one goes up, the other goes up & when one goes down, the other goes down) |
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Negative Correlations |
correlations that are < 0 as the value of A increases, the value of B DECREASES (as one value goes up, the other goes down) |
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Correlations of 0 |
imply that there is no relationship between the two variables the value of A has no effect on the value of B |
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Experimental Designs |
research designs that have 1. random assignment 2. manipulation of an independant variable (allows for cause & effect inferences) |
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Random Assignment |
randomly sorting participants into groups in order to cancel out preexisting differences |
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Experimental Group |
the group of participants that receives the treatment/manipulation |
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Control Group |
the group of participants that does not receive the treatment in order to serve as a baseline for comparison |
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Blind |
when the participants are unaware of which group they are in (control vs. experimental) in order to eliminate expectation or motivations |
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Double Blind |
when both the participants and the researches are unaware of which group is the control group and which is the experimental same benefits as blind but also eliminates experimenter bias |
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Experiments |
an operation for the purpose of discovering something unknown or of testing a principle |
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Independent Variable (I.V) |
manipulated by the experimenter, set values in advance, values referred to as "levels" -must be the only difference between the two groups |
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Dependent Variable (D.V) |
variable that the experimenter uses in order to measure if the manipulation has an effect -"dependent" on the level of the I.V. -the "response" variable |
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Confounds |
extraneous variables that correlates with both the I.V. and the D.V. |
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Operationalization |
the process of strictly defining variables into measurable terms |
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Central Tendency |
used in statistics, gives a general idea of where the data tends to cluster using mean, median & mode |
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Mean |
average (add them together and divide by the number of data points in the set) |
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Median |
the middle value (line the numbers up in order and find the number in the middle of the line) |
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Mode |
the number in the data set that occurs the most times |
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Variability |
how spread out or how tight the data set is |
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Standard Deviation ( & Variance) |
taking into account how far each data point is from the mean -standard deviation is the square root of the variance |
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Inferential Statistics |
attempting to draw general conclusions based on the specific data alone (giving the data false external validity) |
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Biological Psychology |
the study of the relationship between the nervous system and behavior (a.k.a "behavioral neuroscience") |
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Cell Body (Soma) |
center of the neuron, contains nucleus builds new cell components |
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Dendrites |
branchlike extensions that receive the information from other neurons |
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Axons |
the "tail" that extends from the cell body and sends information |
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Axon Terminal |
knob at the end of the axon that contains neurotransmitters the junction between one neurons axon and the next neurons dendrites |
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Myelin Sheath |
an insulating wrapper around the axons in order to help speed up communication |
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Glial Cells |
multifunctional non-neuronal cells that produce myelin -hold neurons in place -supply nutrients to neurons -insulate -remove dead neurons |
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Action Potentials |
activity from other neurons changes the internal charge of the neuron the inside of a neuron is more negative than positive at rest, then the neuron "fires" |
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Absolute Refractory Period |
period of time where a neuron cannot fire following an action potential |
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Presynaptic |
being on the transmitting (sending) side of the discharge across a synapse |
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Postsynaptic |
being on the receiving side of the discharge across a synapse |
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Synapse |
tiny space between connecting neurons through which chemical messages are sent |
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Synaptic Vesicles |
tiny sac containing neurotransmitters |
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Neurotransmitter |
chemical messenger that communicates between neurons |
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Receptor Site |
location on the receiving side that uniquely recognizes a neurotransmitter |
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Neural Plasticity |
the ability of the nervous system to change (growth, synaptogenesis, pruning, myelination) |
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Central Nervous System |
the part of the nervous system containing the brain and spinal chord, controls the mind and behavior |
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Peripheral Nervous System |
nerves in the body that extend outside the central nervous system |
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Spinal Chord |
thick bundle of nerves that conveys signals between the brain and the rest of the body |
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Sensory Nerves |
carry information from the BODY --> BRAIN (afferent) |
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Motor Nerves |
carry information from the BRAIN --> BODY (efferent) |
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Interneurons |
neurons that send messages to other neurons nearby (sensory stimulus, reflexes) |
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Forebrain |
cerebrum, split into two hempispheres |
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Corpus Callosum |
large band of nerve fibers that connect the two hemispheres of the forebrain |
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Cerebral Cortex |
outermost part of the cerebrum, bark contains: frontal, parietal, temporal and occipital lobes |
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Frontal Lobe |
home to executive function- assists in motor function (motor cortex), memory, & language prefrontal cortex: very front of brain- thinking, planning, mood, personality (Phineas Gage) |
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Parietal Lobe |
home to somatosensory cortex- specializes in touch, perception, pain, etc. communicates information to the motor cortex |
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Occipital Lobe |
home to primary visual cortex- primarily dedicated to vision |
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Temporal Lobe |
home to the primary auditory cortex- hearing, understanding, language |
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The Limbic System |
the emotional center of the brain also plays a role in smell, motivation, and memory |
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Thalamus |
sensory relay station regulates sleep |
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Hypothalamus |
organizes behaviors related to survival the 4 F's- food, fight, flight & sex |
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Amygdala |
deals with excitement, arousal and fear |
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Hippocampus |
spacial memory and new memory formation |
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Brain Stem |
midbrain, medulla & pons |
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Hindbrain |
cerebellum, medulla & pons |
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Midbrain |
movement, tracking visual stimuli |
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Medulla |
basic functions such as breathing & heartbeat |
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Pons |
coordinates between cerebellum and cortex triggers dreams as well |
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Cerebellum |
"little brain" integral for sense of balance |
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Somatic (branch of PNS) |
carries messages from CNS to the limbs and organs, controls voluntary movements |
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Autonomic (branch of PNS) |
controls involuntary actions (sympathetic & parasympathetic) |
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Sympathetic NS |
active during emotional arousal/ crisis fight or flight |
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Parasympathetic NS |
active when not threatened rest and digest |
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Electroencephalograph (EEG) |
records brain activity at surface of skull using electrodes |
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Positron Emission Tomography (PET) |
measures brains consumptions of glucose-like molecules |
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Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) |
shows which areas show increased blood flow and thus activity |
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Developmental Psychology |
the study of how behavior changes over the life span |
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Cross Sectional Design |
research that examines people of different ages at one point in time a "snapshot" |
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Cohort Effects |
effects observed in a group of participants that are as a result of the group growing up together |
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Longitudinal Design |
research method that examines the development of the same group of people at multiple different time points |
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Cognitive Development |
the study of how children acquire the ability to think, communicate and reason |
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Assimilation |
absorbing new experiences into current ideas about the world |
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Accommodation |
adjusting current ideas to make them more compatible with new experiences |
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Sensorimotor |
0-2 years old, no object permanence, learning from observing results of actions |
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Pre-operational |
2-7 years old, can think using symbols, focused entirely on the appearance of things egocentrism |
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Concrete Operational |
7-11 years old, conservation and logic but no ability to think hypothetically |
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Formal Operational |
11 years old, can reason about abstract, hypotheticals & possibilities |
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Temperament |
basic emotional style appears early and is mostly genetic |
