Psychology Exam 1

Front 1

What person is generally recognized as launching the "first psychological laboratory"?

Back 1

Wilhelm Wundt

Front 2

With what perspective was John B. Watson associated? Summarize the main assumption of this approaches to psychology.

Back 2

Behaviorism.

Front 3

What is introspection and with what early school of psychology was it associated with? What problems were ultimately found with this method of studying behavior?

Back 3

The examination or observation of ones own mental and emotional processes. Structuralism. It's results are unreliable, they vary from person to person and experience to experience.

Front 4

Define Psychology

Back 4

the science of behavior and mental processes

Front 5

Name and briefly describe psychology's "biggest historic issue"

Back 5

nature-nurture issue. controversy over the relative contributions of biology and experience.

Front 6

What are three types of influences that make up the biopsychosocial approach of psychology?

Back 6

biological, psychological, and social cultural

Front 7

Describe the 8 psychology perspectives

Back 7

1. Neuroscience - how the body and brain enable emotions, memories, and sensory experiences

2. Evolutionary - how natural selection of traits promoted the survival of genes

3. Behavior genetics - how much our genes and our environment influence our individual differences

4. psychodynamic - how behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts

5. Behavioral - how we learn observable responses

6. Cognitive - how we encode, process, store, and retrieve information

7. Social-cultural - how behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures

8. Humanistic - emphasizes choice and freewill

Front 8

What are the 4 basic goals of psychology?

Back 8

1. to observe

2. to understand

3. to predict

4. to control/influence

Front 9

what is the difference between basic and applied research?

Back 9

basic research builds knowledge and applied research uses information to tackle problems.

Front 10

differentiate the treatment goals of counseling psychologists, clinical psychologists, and psychiatrists. which has the strongest link to modern medicine?

Back 10

counseling - help people to cope with challenges and crises and to improve their personal and social functioning

clinical - assess and treat mental, emotional and behavioral disorders

both of above- administer and interpret tests, provide counseling/therapy, and may conduct basic/applied research

psychologist - medical doctors licensed to prescribe drugs and otherwise treat physical causes of psychological disorders )linked to modern medicine)

Front 11

What is hindsight understanding and how is related to hindsight bias?

Back 11

Looking at the past and finding reasoning as to why it happened. Take knowledge of an outcome and believing it even it is false.

Front 12

2 factors that make it difficult for people to reach accurate conclusions about reality when relying on common sense and intuition.

Back 12

Overconfidence and

Front 13

Define Critical Thinking

Back 13

Examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, and assess conclusions.

Front 14

4 common scientific attitudes

Back 14

curiosity, skepticism, humility, and open mindedness

Front 15

What is theory?

Back 15

an explanation using and integrated set of principles that organizes and predicts observations

Front 16

what is hypothesis?

Back 16

A testable prediction, often implied by a theory

Front 17

What is an operational definition and why are they important for good science?

Back 17

A statement of procedures used to define research variables (ex: human intelligence may be defined by what and intelligence test measures). Allows others to replicate the original observation.

Front 18

To what does the term "replicate" refer and how does it relate to the confidence we have in a result?

Back 18

Repeat. If people conduct the same test and get the same results then we have more confidence about those results.

Front 19

What are three different description methods used by psychologists to study behavior? Describe each.

Back 19

1. case study - examines one individual in depth in hopes of revealing things true of us all

2. survey - looks at many cases in less depth

3. naturalistic observation - records behavior in natural environments

Front 20

What is random sampling?

Back 20

a sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion.

Front 21

what is correlation coefficient? how can you tell the strength and direction?

Back 21

a statistical index of the relation between two things (-1-+1).

Front 22

Is it appropriate to make cause and effect conclusions from correctional studies? Explain why giving two problems.

Back 22

No. No proof and Other variables.

Front 23

what is the placebo effect?

Back 23

experimental results caused by expectation alone

Front 24

what is an experimenter expectancy effect?

Back 24

unintended effect of experimenters hypotheses or expectations on the results of their research

Front 25

what is double blind procedure? what two effects does this allow researchers to control?

Back 25

an experimental procedure in which both the research participants and the research staff are ignorant about whether the research participants have received the treatment or a placebo. Researchers can check a treatments actual effects apart from the participants belief in its healing powers and the researchers enthusiasm for its potential

Front 26

In experiments researchers typically use _____ to minimize preexisting differences between different groups of participants.

Back 26

random assignment

Front 27

what is an independent variable?

Back 27

experimental factor that is manipulated; the variable whose effect is being studied.

Front 28

what is a dependent variable?

Back 28

varies depending on what takes place during the experiment

Front 29

what does statistically significant mean?

Back 29

it is unlikely to be caused by chance

Front 30

list and describe the 5 major parts of the neuron

Back 30

1. dendrites - receive messages

2. cell body - cells life support

3. axon - passes messages away from the cell body to other neurons

4. myelin sheath - covers the axon and helps speed neural impulses

5. terminal branches of axon - form junctions with other cells

Front 31

multiple sclerosis degenerates what?

Back 31

myelin sheath

Front 32

resting potential vs action potential

Back 32

resting potential - positive outside, negative inside.

action - a brief electrical charge that travels down its axon

Front 33

an action potential is triggered within the neuron when the neurons ____ is exceeded.

Back 33

threshold

Front 34

the gap between neurons is called the ___ and the communication between the two is made possible by the chemical messengers called the _____.

Back 34

synaptic gap.

neurotransmitters.

Front 35

list 5 different neurotransmitters with functions and malfunctions

Back 35

1. acetylcholine - enables muscles action, learning and memory. with alzheimers these can deteriorate.

2. dopamine - influences movement, learning, attention, and emotion. excess = schizophrenia, deprivation = parkinsons

3. serotonin - affects mood, hunger, sleep, and arousal. deprivation = depression

4. norepinephrine - helps control alertness and arousal. undersupply = depress mood

5. gaba - major inhibitory transmitter. undersupply = seizures

6. glutamate - major excitatory transmitter, involved in memory. excess = overstimulate brain, migraines, seizures

Front 36

process of reuptake

Back 36

a neurotransmitters reabsorption by the sending neuron

Front 37

what is agonist?

Back 37

any drug that enhances or helps the effect of a neurotransmitter

Front 38

what is an antagonist?

Back 38

any drug that counter acts or hinders the effect of a neurotransmitter

Front 39

2 elements in central nervous system

Back 39

brain and spinal chord

Front 40

the _____ system consists of several glands that are located through out the body. This system communicates information by secreting ____ into the blood stream

Back 40

endocrine.

hormones.

Front 41

what are the respective general functions of sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems?

Back 41

symp. - arouses and expends energy

para. - calms you down by decreasing heart rate and conserves energy

Front 42

major structures of hindbrain and midbrain with major functions

Back 42

hind - pons; , cerebellum; coordinates voluntary movement and balance, medulla oblongada:controls heartbeat

mid - reticular formation; helps control arousal

Front 43

5 neuroimaging techniques and kind of image generated

Back 43

PET Scan - brain activity by showing brain consumption of chemical fuel

MRI - brains soft tissue

fMRI- brains functioning and as well its structures and blood flow

CAT scan - detailed imaging of muscle and bone

EEG - amplified read-out of brain electrical activity

Front 44

hypothalamus

Back 44

control pituitary gland which secretes many different hormones

Front 45

thalamus

Back 45

involved in sensory and motor signal relay and the regulation of conciousnes and sleep

Front 46

hippocampus

Back 46

associated with memory, long term, and spatial navigation

Front 47

amygdala

Back 47

controls fear responses, the secretion of hormones, arousal and the formation of emotional memories

Front 48

4 lobes of cerebral cortex and functions

Back 48

1. frontal - reasoning, motor skills, higher level cognition, and expressive language

2.parietal - processing tactical sensory info such as pressure, touch, and pain

3. temporal - interprets sounds and language and also forms memories

4. occipital - receives and interprets things seen

Front 49

motor cortex

Back 49

controls voluntary movement (frontal lobe)

Front 50

sensory cortex

Back 50

registers and processes body touch and movement sensations (parietal lobe)

Front 51

association areas

Back 51

not involved in primary motor and sensory skills but in higher mental functions such as learning

Front 52

aphasia

Back 52

impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage

Front 53

_____ area is known to play a crucial role in speech production while ____ area is involved in speech comprehension

Back 53

brocas.

wernickes.

Front 54

"split brain" patients are individuals who have had their _____ cut in order to reduce the occurrence of seizures.

Back 54

corpus callosum

Front 55

what is laterlization? how is it involved with split brain?

Back 55

tendency for a function to be more controlled by one side of the brain than the other.

we want the split brain patient to not have things bounce between hemispheres.