Psychology Exam 1

Front 1

What defines Psychology as a field of study?

Back 1

The scientific study of behavior and metal processes. Behavior includes all of our outward or overt actions and reactions.

Front 2

What are Psychology's four primary goals?

Back 2

1. Description: What is happening? Description involves observing a behavior and noting everything about it.

2. Explanation: Why is it happening? Finding explanations for behavior is a very important step in the process of forming theories of behavior.

3.Prediction: When will it happen again? Determining what will happen in the future.

4. Control: How can it be changed? The focus of control, or the modification of some other behavior, is to change a behavior from an undesirable one to a desirable one.

Front 3

What is the difference between structuralism and functionalism?

Back 3

Structuralism: Early perspective in psychology associated with Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchener, in which the focus of stud is the structure or basic elements of the mind.

Functionalism: Early perspective in psychology associated with William James, in which the focus of study is how the mind allows people to adapt, live, work and play.

Front 4

Who were the important people in the early fields of Structuralism and Functionalism?

Back 4

Structuralism: Wilhelm Wundt (father of psychology)
Edward Titchener (expanded the idea)
Margaret Washburn (first female to earn a Ph.D in Psychology)

Functionalism: William James (original theorist of functionalism)
Mary Calkins (denied Ph.D for being a woman)
Cecil Summer (father of African American psychology)

Front 5

What were the basic ideas and who were the important people behind psychoanalysis, behaviorism and Gestalt?

Back 5

Psychoanalysis: A process in which a trained psychological professional helps a person gain insight into and change his or her behavior. Sigmund Freud

Behaviorism: The science of behavior that focuses on observable behavior only. Ivan Pavlov, John B. Watson, Mary Cover Jones

Gestalt: Early perspective in psychology focusing on perception and sensation, particularly the perception of patterns and whole figures. Max Wertheimer

Front 6

What are the basic ideas associated with the Humanistic perspective in psychology?

Back 6

People have free will, the freedom to choose their own destiny, and strive for self-actualization, the achievement of one's full potential.

Front 7

What is the difference between a psychologist and psychiatrist?

Back 7

A psychiatrist can prescribe medicine.

Front 8

Why is psychology considered a science and what are the steps in using the scientific method?

Back 8

In psychology, researchers want to see only what is really there, not what their biases might lead them to see.

1. Perceiving the Question
2. Forming a Hypothesis
3. Testing the Hypothesis
4. Drawing Conclusions
5. Report your results

Front 9

What are some of the differences between conducting naturalistic vs. laboratory investigations?

Back 9

Naturalistic Observation: allows researchers to get a realistic picture of how behavior occurs because they are actually watching the behavior in its natural setting, subjects may act different if they know they are being observed, the observer could be biased.

Laboratory: Sometimes equipment is needed.

Laboratory Observation:

Front 10

What is the correlation technique and what is the relationship between correlation and causation?

Back 10

Correlation: The measure of the relationship between two variables.

Causation:

Front 11

How do the placebo and experimenter effects cause problems in an experiment, and how can single-blind and double-blind studies control these effects?

Back 11

Placebo Effect: The phenomenon in which the expectations of the participants in a study can influence their behavior.

The Single-Bind and Double-Blind studies can help prevent this problem.

In the single-blind study, the subjects do not know if they are in the experimental or the control group.

In the double-blind study, neither the experimenter nor the subjects know if the subjects are in the experimental or control group.

Front 12

What was the finding of the study that explored the impact of the negative stereotype "dumb jock" on academic performance?

Back 12

That the athletes who answered the question as to whether they believed they were accepted to the college because of their athletic ability before the exam did poorer on in than the ones who answered it afterwards. This caused them to have less faith in their abilities.

Front 13

What are some ethical concerns that can occur when conducting research with people?

Back 13

People come first, deception must be justified, participants may withdraw from the study at any time, participants may be protected from risks or told explicitly of risks,

Front 14

What are the basic elements of critical thinking?

Back 14

There are very few truths that do not need to be subjected to testing, all evidence is not equal in quality, just because someone is considered to be an authority or to have a lot of experience does not make everything that person claims automatically true. critical thinking requires an open mind

Front 15

What are the major divisions of the nervous system?

Back 15

Central: Brain and spinal cord
Peripheral: transmits info to and from the central

Front 16

What is the structure and functions of neurons and their various parts?

Back 16

The neuron sends and receives messages.

dendrites: branch-like structures that receive messages from other neurons

soma: the cell body of the neuron, responsible for maintaining the life of the cell

axon: long, tube-like structure that carries the neural message to other cells

Front 17

How do neurons use neurotransmitters to communicate with each other and with the body?

Back 17

Snyaptic

Front 18

What are the specific functions of the various neurotransmitters discussed in class (dopamine, acetylcholine, endorphins)?

Back 18

Dopamine: excitatory or inhibitory; involved in control of movement or sensation of pleasure

Acetylcholine: excitatory or inhibitory; involved in arousal, attention, memory, and controls muscle contractions

Endorphins: inhibitory neural regulators; involved in pain relief

Front 19

What is the reflex pathway (what parts of the NS are involved)?

Back 19

na

Front 20

What is the difference between the parasympathetic and sympathetic divisions?

Back 20

Parasympathetic: Located at the top and bottom of the spinal column, restores the body back to normal functioning after a stressful situation ends. Slows the heart and breathing, constricts the pupils and reactivates digestion and excretion.

Sympathetic: Middle of the spinal column, it's job is to get the body ready to deal with the stress. Pupils get bigger, the heart starts pumping faster to and harder, drawing blood away from nonessential organs such as the skin and sometimes the brain. Lungs work faster so you can breath faster

Front 21

What are hormones and how do they interact with the nervous system?

Back 21

Hormones: chemicals released into the bloodstream by endocrine glands.

They stimulate muscles, organs and other glands of the body.

Front 22

What are the major functions of the structures located in the lower portion of the brain?

Back 22

Medulla: located at the top of the spinal column.

Least part of the brain you want damaged. Controls life sustaining functions such as heartbeat, breathing and swallowing. Helps sensory information coming from the left and right sides of the body crossover, so that sensory information from the left side of the body goes to the right side of the brain and vice versa.

Front 23

What are the functions of the various structures of the limbic systems (thalamus, hippocampus, hypothalamus, amygdala)

Back 23

Thalamus: relays info from sensory organs to the cerebral cortex

Hippocampus: Plays a role in our learning, memory, and ability to compare sensory information to expectations

Hypothalamus: Part of the forebrain that regulates the amount of fear, thirst, sexual drive, and aggression we feel

Amygdala: Influences our motivation, emotional control, fear response, and interpretations of nonverbal emotional expressions

Front 24

What are the parts of the cortex that are involved in processing sensory information, such as auditory and visual information?

Back 24

na

Front 25

What parts of the cortex are responsible for higher forms of thought and language?

Back 25

Association area: areas within each lobe of the cortex responsible for the coordination and interpretation of information, as well as higher mental processing.

Broca's area: Condition resulting from damage to Broca's area, causing the affected person to be unable to speak fluently, to mispronounce words, and to speak haltingly.

Wernicke's area: Condition resulting from damage to Wernicke's area, causing the affected person to be unable to understand or produce meaningful language.

Front 26

What are the symptoms associated with damage to Broca's and Wernicke's cortical areas?

Back 26

speech problems

Front 27

How does the left side of the brain differ from the right side of the brain?

Back 27

Left side: controls the right hand, spoken language, written language, mathematical calculations, logical thought processes, analysis of detail, reading

Right side: controls the left hand, nonverbal, visual spatial perception, music and artistic processing, emotional thought and recognition, processes the whole, pattern recognition, facial recognition