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Psych midterm 1

Terms in this set (102)

structuralism
aimed to identify basic elements of psychological experience
functionalism
aimed to understand adaptive purposes of psychological characteristics
behaviorism
focuses on uncovering general principles of learning underlying human behavior
cognitive psychology
proposes thinking is central to understanding behavior
cognitive neuroscience
examines relations between brain functioning and thinking
Sigmund Freud
...
operational definition
a working definition of what a researcher is measuring
hypothesis
a supposition or proposed explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation.
theory
a supposition or a system of ideas intended to explain something, especially one based on general principles independent of the thing to be explained.
confirmation bias
you accept things that support your hypothesis
belief perserverance
you keep believing what you do
ruling out rival hypothesis
ruling out a rival hypothesis
occoms razor
there could be s simpler explanation
replicability
can be replicated
falsifiability
can be proven wrong
correlation vs. causation
correlation doesn't equal causation
extraordinary claims
there is something crazy like aliens
illusory correlation
perception of a statistical association when none exists
independant variables
the variable that is manipulated
dependent variables
the measure of effectiveness of the manipulation
generalizability
the findings from a study of a population
experimenter expectancy effect
researchers hypotheses leads them to unintentionally bias the outcome of a study
double-blind research
when both people don't know which variable is given to the victim
central tendancy
where the group tends to cluster
descriptive statistics
numerical characterizations that describe data
inferential statistics
mathematical method that allows us to determine whether we can generalize findings to the whole population
statistical significance
when a finding would have occurred by chance less than 5 in 100 times
reliability
cosistency of measurment
validity
extent to which a measure assesses what it purports to measure
ethical principles used to guide psychological research
informed consent and debreifing
terminal fields
location that uniquely recognizes a neurotransmitter
dendrites
branches of the neuron that receive signals
axons
nerve fibers that send signals
myelin sheath
fatty coat that insulates neurons, speeds transmission of impulses
resting potential
more negative particles inside than outside the neuron, no neurotransmitters acting on it
action potentials (neural impulse)
a charge inside the neuron triggers the release of neurotransmitters
excitatory signal
increases activity in the nervous system
inhibitory signal
decreases activity of the nervous system
plasticity
the nervous systems ability to change
central nervous system
composed of the brain and spinal cord, sensory info is delivered here and decisions to act come out of it.
peripheral nervous system
composed of all the nerves that extend outside the CNS
sympathetic branches
division of the autonomic nervous system engaged during a crisis or after actions requiring fight or flight
parasympathetic branch
...
somatic branch
conveys info between CNS and body. coorinating voluntary movement
interneurons
neuron that sends messages to other neurons
parietal lobe
touch, pressure, pain, temperature and perception
temporal lobe
hearing, language/understanding and storing memories
frontal lobe
responsible for motor function, memory, language and planning
occipital lobe
vision
prefrontal cortex
associated with parts of behavior and personality
limbic system
emotional center for smell, motivation and memory
thalmus
relays nerve signals to cerebral cortex
hypothalmus
controls bodies endocrine
amagdyla
responsible for excitement, arousal, especially fear
Borca's area
vital for speech formation
Wernickes area
interprets language (written and spoken)
basil ganglia
linked to thalamus, coordination and movement
motor cortex
part of frontal lobe responsible for body movement
adrenal glands
tissue that releases adrenaline and cortisol
somatosensory cortex
where we feel touch, temperature and pain
brain stem
performs basic bodily functions (consists of midbrain, pons and medulla)
medulla
regulates vital functions (breathing and heartbeat)
hindbrain
the lower part of the brainstem, comprising the cerebellum, pons, and medulla oblongata.
pons
triggers dreams and connects cortex to cerebellum
cerebellum
controls balance and coordination
midbrain
contributes to movement, visual stimuli, and reflexes triggered by sound
endocrine system
releases hormones into the blood stream
pituitary gland
controls all other glands, controlled by hypothalamus. regulates blood pressure and physical growth
adrenal gland
emergency center of the body, makes adrenaline and cortisol and pumps blood and muscles while conserving energy
cortisol
responds to level of anxiety, high = anxious
agonist vs antagonist
stimulates vs unstimulates
split-brain effect
each eye connects to the opposite side of the brain
hippocampus
memory and physical layout of our envirnment
sensation
detection of physical energy by our sense organs
perception
the brains interpretation of sensory inputs (filling in)
transduction
when the nervous system converts external stimulus (light/sound) into electrical signals in neurons
bi-stable figures
one thing that we can perceive in two different ways
necker cube
a box that can be seen as having two different faces (bi-stable imagery)
psychophysics
the study of how we perceive sensory stimuli based on our physical charachteristics
absolute threshold
the lowest level of stimulus we can detect in 50% of trials
JND
the smallest change of intensity that we can detect
Webers law
there is a constant proportional relationship between JND and the original intensity
pupil
reponds to light, rods
fovea
central part of the retina responsible for sharpness
cornea
transparent layer covering the iris and pupil, bends incoming light to focus on a new image
retina
the membrane on the back of the eye
optic nerve
ganglion cells, contains bundles of axons connecting it to brain
blind spot
where the optic nerve connects to the retina, there are no rods or receptors
rods
basic shapes/forms, dim light, movement
photopigments
chemicals that change after being exposed to light
rhodospin
a photopigment in rods, made by vitamin a
hubel and wiesel
studied how we perceive shape and form
inattentional blindness
failure to recognize something in plain sight
selective attention
reacting only to certain stimuli when several occur at a time
bottom-up
starts with raw stimuli then synthesizes into a meaningful concept
top-down
starts with our beliefs and expectations
parallel a
ability to attend to see modalities simultaneously
perceptual constancy
how we perceive stimuli consistently across varied conditions
monocular depth
how we can see 3 dimensions with only one eye and pictorial cues
binocular cues
views from both sides are sent to visual cortex
gestalt principles
rules governing how we see objects as wholes within their overall context. Explains why we see everything as unified, not jumbled. Our brains provide us with missing info
subliminal perception
processing of sensory information that occurs below the limen. (burger flashes across the screen)
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