Introduction to Psychology Final Flashcards

1. Sigmund Freud - psychoanalysis

2. B.F. Skinner - behaviorism

3. Carl Rogers - humanistic psychology

4. Jean Piaget - cognitive development theory

5. Albert Bandura - social learning theory

6. Ivan Pavlov - classical conditioning

7. Abraham Maslow - hierarchy of needs and humanistic psychology

8. Erik Erikson - psychosocial development theory

9. William James - functionalism

10. John Watson - behaviorism

Structuralism was one of the earliest schools of psychology, and it focused on breaking down mental processes into their most basic components. Proponents of structuralism believed that by analyzing the structure of the mind, they could better understand how it worked.

Functionalism was another early school of psychology, and it focused on studying the purpose or function of behavior and mental processes. Functionalists believed that behavior and mental processes served a specific purpose, and that understanding this purpose was key to understanding psychology.

Behaviorism emerged in the early 20th century, and it focused on the idea that behavior is shaped by the environment through a process of conditioning. Behaviorists believed that psychology should focus on observable behavior, rather than mental processes.

Gestalt psychology emerged in the early 20th century as a response to behaviorism, and it focused on studying perception and how people organize sensory information into meaningful patterns. Gestalt psychologists believed that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Psychoanalysis emerged in the late 19th and early 20th century, and it focused on the unconscious mind and how it influences behavior. Psychoanalysts believed that behavior was driven by unconscious desires and conflicts.

Humanistic psychology emerged in the mid-20th century, and it focused on the idea that people have innate goodness and the potential for personal growth. Humanistic psychologists emphasized the importance of personal choice, responsibility, and self-actualization.

Cognitive psychology emerged in the mid-20th century, and it focused on the study of mental processes such as attention, perception, memory, and reasoning. Cognitive psychologists believed that understanding these processes was key to understanding behavior.

Evolutionary psychology emerged in the late 20th century, and it focused on the idea that behavior and mental processes are shaped by natural selection. Evolutionary psychologists believed that many psychological traits have evolved because they helped our ancestors survive and reproduce.

It is important that psychology is a science because it allows for the use of empirical methods to study and understand human behavior and mental processes. This scientific approach ensures that findings are based on evidence and can be replicated, leading to a more accurate understanding of the human mind and behavior. Additionally, a scientific approach allows for the development of effective treatments for mental health disorders.

A systematic approach to investigate phenomena, based on empirical evidence and logical reasoning. It involves formulating a hypothesis, designing experiments to test the hypothesis, collecting and analyzing data, and drawing conclusions based on the results. It is a rigorous process that helps scientists to understand the natural world and make predictions about future events.

Quantitative research involves collecting numerical data and analyzing it using statistical methods.

Qualitative research, on the other hand, involves collecting non-numerical data and analyzing it using interpretive methods.

Mixed methods research combines both quantitative and qualitative methods to gain a more comprehensive understanding of a phenomenon.

Action research involves collaboration between researchers and participants to address real-world problems.

Experimental research involves manipulating variables to determine cause-and-effect relationships.

Observational research involves observing and recording behavior without intervention.

The aspects of the experimental design include identifying the research question, selecting the sample, assigning participants to groups, manipulating the independent variable, controlling extraneous variables, and measuring the dependent variable.

Neuroplasticity refers to the brain's ability to change and adapt throughout an individual's life in response to new experiences, learning, and injury. It involves the creation of new neural connections and the strengthening or weakening of existing ones.

These are specialized cells in the nervous system that transmit information throughout the body. They are responsible for processing and communicating information through electrical and chemical signals.

The different parts of the body are responsible for transmitting messages between cells and organs. This includes the brain, spinal cord, and nerves.

Separated from the parietal lobe by a space called the central sulcus, and from the temporal lobe by the lateral sulcus. This is generally where higher executive functions including emotional regulation, planning, reasoning, and problem-solving occur.

Is behind the frontal lobe, separated by the central sulcus. Areas in the parietal lobe are responsible for integrating sensory information, including touch, temperature, pressure and pain.

Separated from the frontal lobe by the lateral fissure, the temporal lobe also contains regions dedicated to processing sensory information, particularly important for hearing, recognising language, and forming memories.

The occipital lobe is the major visual processing centre in the brain.

Is your individual awareness of your unique thoughts, memories, feelings, sensations, and environments. .

Alertness is the ability to remain vigilant and respond to stimuli.

Orienting is the ability to shift attention to a specific location.

Executive control is the ability to sustain attention and resist distraction.

NREM1: Light sleep, easily awakened.

NREM2: Deeper sleep, body temp drops.

NREM3: Deep sleep, hard to wake up.

REM: Active sleep, dreaming occurs.

1. Physical pain

2. Stress

3. Mental health issues

4. Snoring

5. Sleep disorders

6. Light

7. Jet lag

8. Medications

9. Sleep environment

10. Sleep schedule

11. Caffeine & alcohol

12. Certain foods

Creates feelings of euphoria and lowers inhibitions, but it also severely impairs judgment, perception, and reaction times. It causes the most severe long-term damage to the liver.

Work by acting on receptors in the brain, sometimes by mimicking the effects of neurotransmitters.

are a class of drugs that function by interacting with the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid-A (GABA-A). Are prescribed to treat a wide variety of psychiatric and sleep conditions, but they are very commonly abused.

A type of chemical in marijuana that causes drug-like effects all through the body, including the central nervous system and the immune system.

Factors that shape human development, include genetic predispositions and environmental factors such as upbringing, culture, and socialization.

The study of genes and heredity. Heredity is the passing of genetic information and traits (such as eye color and an increased chance of getting a certain disease) from parents to offspring.

the passing on of physical or mental characteristics genetically from one generation to another

the study of changes in organisms caused by modification of gene expression rather than alteration of the genetic code itself.

The study of changes in gene expression without alterations to the underlying DNA sequence. Examples include DNA methylation, histone modification, and non-coding RNA regulation.

Identical twins are more alike than fraternal twins:

Personality traits such as extraversion and neuroticism

Behaviors/outcomes such as the rate of divorce

Abilities such as overall intelligence test scores

Maintain the same genes while testing the effects of different home environments

Personality, interests, tastes, fears

Abilities/intelligence scores

Brain waves, heart rates

same home environment while studying the effects of genetic differences

Adopted children more similar to genetic relatives than their environmental/nurture relatives

“normal” range of environment does not make much of a difference but is important if negative vs positive

the study of behaviour, thought, and feeling as viewed through the lens of evolutionary biology.

Biologically influenced characteristics by which people define male (XY) or female (XX) at birth

Physical, social, and behavioral characteristics that are culturally associated with male and female roles and identity

Product of the interplay among a person’s biological disposition, developmental experiences, and current situation

Factors that can impact the development of a fetus include maternal health, nutrition, alcohol and drug use, infections, genetics, and environmental toxins.

Infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.

Freud, Piaget, Bandura, Erikson, and Bowlby

Telomere tips shorten, leading to aging.

Visual sharpness, distance perception, and stamina diminish; pupils shrink and become less transparent.

Immune system weakens; susceptibility to life-threatening disease increases.

Neural processing lag occurs; brain regions related to memory begin to atrophy; speech slows.

Sensation occurs when sensory receptors detect sensory stimuli. Perception involves the organization, interpretation, and conscious experience of those sensations.

1. Receive sensory information (stimulus), using specialized sensory neurons (receptors)

2. Transform the stimulation into a neural impulse

3. Deliver the neural information to our brain

Flashcard: Gestalt perceptual organization properties refer to the principles of visual perception that help us organize sensory information into meaningful wholes. These properties include proximity, similarity, closure, continuity, and figure-ground. Proximity is the tendency to group elements that are close together, the similarity is the tendency to group elements that share similar features, closure is the tendency to complete incomplete figures, continuity is the tendency to perceive smooth and continuous lines, and figure-ground is the tendency to differentiate objects from their background.

type of learning where we link two or more stimuli and anticipate events

type of learning in which a behavior becomes more likely if followed by a reinforcer or less likely if followed by a punisher

any event that strengthens a preceding response

adds an undesirable consequence or withdraws something desirable in an attempt to decrease the frequency of a behavior

Neutral stimulus, unconditioned stimulus, conditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, and conditioned response.

Retrieving information that is not currently in your conscious awareness but that was learned at an earlier time.

Identifying items previously learned

Learning something more quickly when you encounter it a second or later time

Encoding: initial learning of information

Storage: maintaining information over time

Retrieval: getting information

1.We record to-be-remembered information as fleeting sensory memory

2.We process information into short-term memory where we encode through rehearsal

3.Information moves into long-term memory for later retrieval

›Best come from associations we form when we encode a memory- smells, tastes, and sights that evoke our memory of the associated person or event.

activation, often unconsciously, of particular related associations in memory

Recall of specific information is improved when the contexts present at encoding and at retrieval are the same.

Tendency to recall events consistent with one’s current state

a complex brain structure embedded deep into temporal lobe

a complex brain structure embedded deep into temporal lobe

a complex brain structure embedded deep into temporal lobe

try options ruling out until success

methodical, logical rule, or procedure that guarantees a solution to a problem

simpler strategy that is usually speedier than algorithm but more error prone “rule of thumb”.

not a strategy based solution but rather sudden flash of inspiration that solves a problem

tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and ignore or distort contradictory evidence

inability to see a problem from a new perspective

Phoneme : smallest distinctive sound uni

Morpheme : smallest language unit that carries meaning

Grammar : system of rules that enables communication

Broca’s area: controls language expression, directs muscle movements for speech production

controls language reception, involved in language comprehension

One general intelligence that is at the heart of everything a person does

•Children not born with all of the intelligence they will ever have

•Still influences the idea that “individuals learn better they receive information in their preferred learning style”

•No real evidence for this

›Agreed that more to success than academic intelligence and that we have multiple intelligences

1.Analytical intelligence (school smarts)

Traditional academic problem solving

2.Creative intelligence (trailblazing smarts)

Ability to generate novel ideas

3.Practical intelligence (street smarts)

Skill at handling everyday tasks

›Intelligence test: Method for assessing an individual’s mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others using numerical scores

More general capacity to perform in all areas

›Designed to predict a person’s future performance; aptitude is the capacity to learn (SAT)

Narrower range of abilities than intelligenc

›Designed to assess or reflect  what a person has learned (Final Exam)

Developed test to predict school achievement

measure of level of performance typically associated with children of a certain chronological age

Revised Binet’s test for wider use in the USA

Stanford-Binet test

Coined intelligence quotient (IQ)

Created the most widely used intelligence test today

Yields overall intelligence score and separate scores verbal comprehension, perceptual organization, working memory, and processing speed

Adult, school-age, and preschool versions

Crystallized intelligence: accumulated knowledge as reflected in vocabulary and word-power tests

Increases as we age, into middle ages

ability to reason speedily and abstractly, when solving unfamiliar logic problems

Decreases with age; declines gradually until age 75 and then more rapidly after age 85

Need or desire that energizes and directs behavior

(evolutionary perspective)

Genetically predisposed behaviors

How we respond to inner pushes and external pulls

How we respond to inner pushes and external pulls

How we respond to inner pushes and external pulls

.ghrelin, orexin↑ leptin, PYY ↓

“weight thermostat”

Most important male sex hormone

Stimulates the growth of the male sex organs during the fetal period and the development of the male sex characteristics during puberty

Estradiol contributes to female sex characteristics

In nonhuman female mammals, estrogen levels peak during ovulation, promoting sexual receptivity

heart pounding

Trembling

panic, fear

Experience of emotion involves awareness of our physiological responses to emotion-arousing stimuli

Stimulus simultaneously triggers physiological responses and the subjective experience of emotion