ap pyche

a conscious mental and usually purposive process relying on thinking, reasoning, and examining one's own thoughts feelings. Wundt believed that by using introspection he could determine the basic elements of consciousness.

Seeks to explain animal and human behavior entirely in terms of observable and measurable responses to environmental stimuli. Use classical and operant conditioning

Focuses on the uniqueness of human beings and their capacity for choice, growth, and health; Believe that people have free will and are not controlled by the environment or their past

"believes that a lot of our personality and behaviors are controlled by our unconscious; another big factor guiding behavior is sex and aggression; Believed that we Defense Mechanisms to protect our conscious mind

Emphasizes that all actions, feelings, and thoughts are associated with bodily events such as the firing of nerve cells in the brain or the release of hormones; This includes studying the brain, hormones and genes to explain behavior

Studies the differences among cultures and the influences of culture on behavior; States that we have a tendency to use our own culture as a standard for judging other cultures (a term called ethnocentrism)

theoretical approach to psychology that attempts to explain mental and psychological traits—such as memory, perception, or language—as adaptations, i.e., as the functional products of natural selection or sexual selection.

Focuses on the important role of mental processes in how people process information, develop language, solve problems and think. Interested in how people understand, diagnose, and solve problems

assess and treat mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders. These range from short-term crises, such as difficulties resulting from adolescent rebellion, to more severe, chronic conditions such as schizophrenia.

help people recognize their strengths and resources to cope with their problems within families, marriages, and adjustment to new conditions. perform therapy, teaching, and scientific research with individuals of all ages, families, and organizations.

study human perception, thinking, and memory; also study reasoning, judgment, and decision making.

study the psychological growth of the human being that takes place throughout life. Until recently, the primary focus was on childhood and adolescence, the most formative years. Recently expanded to all of life, especially older age.

concentrate on how effective teaching and learning take place. They consider a variety of factors, such as human abilities, student motivation, and the effect on the classroom of the diversity of race, ethnicity, and culture that makes up America.

conduct research on how people work best with machines. EX: how can a computer be designed to prevent fatigue and eye strain? What arrangement of an assembly line makes production most efficient? What is a reasonable workload?

study how evolutionary principles such as mutation, adaptation, and selective fitness influence human thought, feeling, and behavior. Study mating, aggression, helping behavior, and communication.

are interested in a wide range of psychological phenomena, including cognitive processes, comparative psychology (cross-species comparisons), learning and conditioning. Often engage in basic research

apply psychological principles to legal issues. Their expertise is often essential in court. EX: help a judge decide which parent should have custody of a child or evaluate a defendant's mental competence to stand trial.

specialize in how biological, psychological, and social factors affect health and illness. They study how patients handle illness; why some people don't follow medical advice; and the most effective ways to control pain or to change poor health habits.

apply psychology to the work place in the interest of improving productivity and the quality of work life. Many serve as human resources specialists, helping organizations with staffing, training, and employee development.

explore the relationships between brain systems and behavior. EX: may study the way the brain creates and stores memories, or how various diseases and injuries of the brain affect emotion, perception, and behavior.

focus on methods and techniques for designing experiments and analyzing psychological data. They develop and evaluate mathematical models for psychological tests, among many other things

work directly with public and private schools. They assess and counsel students, consult with parents and school staff, and conduct behavioral interventions when appropriate. Most school districts employ psychologists full time

study how a person's mental life and behavior are shaped by interactions with other people. They are interested in all aspects of interpersonal relationships, including both individual and group influences. EX: study effects of prejudice

help athletes refine their focus on competition goals, become more motivated, and learn to deal with the anxiety and fear of failure that often accompany competition.

They deal with issues of personal adjustment, interpersonal relations, the work world, and pain management. work with stroke and accident victims, people with mental retardation, etc.

they can prescribe drugs unlike psychologists. Begin their careers in medical school, unlike psychologists that get bachelors in psychology. After earning their MD, they go on to four years of residency training in mental health

has as its objective the advancement of knowledge. It is exploratory and often driven by the researcher's curiosity, interest, and intuition. It is conducted without any practical end in mind, though it may later have an application

research is designed to solve practical problems of the modern world, rather than to acquire knowledge for knowledge's sake. Often has a very particular end in mind. EX: Curing cancer

all of the individuals in the group to which the study applies

the tendency to be influenced by a suggested reference point, pulling our response towards that point

tendency to focus on our own situations and the other person rather than his/her situation when interpreting behavior

a tendency to falsely report, after the event, that we correctly predicted the outcome of the event.

the tendency to overestimate the accuracy of one's beliefs and judgments, which proves to be a hindrance in problem solving

a tendency to search for and use information that supports our preconceptions and ignore information that refutes our ideas; often a hindrance to problem solving.

the phenomenon of seeing the relationship one expects in a set of data even when no such relationship exists. EX: When people form false associations between membership in a statistical minority group and rare behaviors

the tendency of a person to perceive his or her own views as representative of a general consensus

intensive investigation of the behavior and mental processes associated with a specific person or situation

research method that obtains large samples of abilities, beliefs, or behaviors at a specific time and place through questionnaire or interview

choosing of members of a population so that every individual has an equal chance of being chosen

research method that records behaviors of humans or other animals in real-life situations without intervention

expresses the relationship between 2 variables; DOES NOT IMPLY CAUSATION

in correlation, the two factors are going in the same direction. EX: As the temperature goes up, more people buy snow cones

in correlation, the two factors are going in opposite directions. EX: As the temperature goes up, hot chocolate consumption goes down.

a statistical measure of the degree of relatedness or association between two sets of data that ranges from -1 to +1. Little "r" represents. "r=.9" is a very strong positive correlation, whereas "r=.2" is a very weak positive correlation.

the manipulation of an IV to understand its effect on a DV; Identifies Cause-effect

The condition of an experiment that contrasts with the experimental condition and serves as a comparison for evaluating the effect of the treatment.

The condition of an experiment that exposes participants to the treatment, that is, to one version of the independent variable.

the factor in an experiment that is manipulated by the experimenter and is given to the experimental group. It's the one thing that is different between the experimental group and the control group.

The outcome factor; the variable may change in response to manipulations of the independent variable.

any possible variable- other than the IV - that may cause the observed effect; thus making it impossible to determine the actual cause of the change in the DV.

random placement of subjects into experimental or control groups;

A _____ study is an experiment where all subjects test (and respond to) all treatment combinations. _____ design is the opposite of a between-subjects design.

each participant participates in one and only one group. The results from each group are then compared to each other to examine differences, and thus, effect of the IV.

Term used to described a study in which either the investigator or the participant, but not both of them, is unaware of the nature of the treatment the participant is receiving. Also called single-masked

a study in which both the investigator or the participant are blind to (unaware of) the nature of the treatment the participant is receiving. Prevents expectations of researcher or participant from influencing results

the phenomenon in experimental science by which the outcome of an experiment tends to be biased towards a result expected by the human experimenter.

A substance containing no medication and prescribed or given to reinforce a patient's expectation to get well; An inactive substance or preparation used as a control in an experiment or test to determine the effectiveness of a medicinal drug.

The beneficial effect in a patient following a particular treatment that arises from the patient's expectations concerning the treatment rather than from the treatment itself.

The process or technique of synthesizing research results by using various statistical methods to retrieve, select, and combine results from previous separate but related studies

The square of the standard deviation. Whereas the mean is a way to describe the location of a distribution, this is a way to capture its scale or degree of being spread out.

a measure of variation (or variability) that indicates the typical distance between the scores of a distribution and the mean.

A statistical statement of how likely it is that an obtained result occurred by chance. Numerically, 5% or (.05) is generally considered the cutoff.

mean, mode, and the median. These measures tend to tell us something about the "center" of a set of statistics. On a curve of normal distribution, they all fall on the same point.

most frequently occurring event

average

midpoint

A statement of the procedures (operations) used to define research variables.

a hypothesis set up to be refuted in order to support an alternative hypothesis. When used, it is presumed true until statistical evidence indicates otherwise

list 4 ethical guidelines

a branch of psychology concerned with the links between biology and behavior. (Some biological psychologists call themselves neuroscientists, neuropsychologists, behavior geneticists, physiological psychologists, or biopsychologists.)

a nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system.

the part of the neuron that contains cytoplasm and the nucleus, which directs synthesis of such substances as NTs

branch-like structures on neurons that receive messages from the axons of other neurons and transmit them towards the cell body. Each neuron may have thousands of these structures.

the extension of a neuron, ending in branching terminal fibers, through which messages pass to other neurons or to muscles or glands.

a layer of fatty tissue segmentally encasing the fibers of many neurons; enables vastly greater transmission speed of neural impulses as the impulse hops from one node to the next.

a neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon. The action potential is generated by the movement of positively charged atoms in and out of channels in the axon's membrane.

the level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse.

the junction between the axon top of the sending neuron and the dendrite of cell body of the receiving neuron. The tiny gap at this junction is called the synaptic gap or cleft.

chemical messengers that traverse the synaptic gaps between neurons. When released by the sending neuron, they travel across the synapse and bind to receptor sites on the receiving neuron, thereby influencing whether that neuron will generate a neural impulse.

a neurotransmitter that enables learning and memory and also triggers muscle contraction.

"morphine within" natural, opiate-like neurotransmitters linked to pain control and to pleasure.

Involved in making us feel alert (increases heartbeat and arousal); Also involved in learning and memory retrieval; EX: NE activates your bodies emergency response (heart rate up, sweat, blood pressure up)

Natural tranquilizer (deep dreamless sleep, reduces hunger, makes you calm, reduces pain); Also associated with moods and emotional states: Depression; We naturally get _____ from L-Tryptophan in our diet (ex: turkey)

Controls anxiety; Also involved in the area of our brain that controls daily sleep and wake cycles; EX: Most sedatives or tranquilizers (Valium and Xanax) increase _____, alcohol also increases; Overdose of this shuts down breathing

Important for movement control, attention, learning and pleasure/rewarding sensations; a deficiency is associated with Parkinson's disease, an excess may be associated with schizophrenia

neural "cables" containing many axons. These bundled axons, which are part of the peripheral nervous system, connect the central nervous system with muscles, glands, and sense organs.

neurons that carry incoming information from the sense receptors to the central nervous system.

neurons that carry outgoing information from the central nervous system to the muscles and glands.

central nervous system neurons that internally communicate and intervene between the sensory inputs and motor outputs.

interconnected neural cells. With experience, they can learn, as feedback strengthens or inhibits connections that produce certain results.

the gaps between the myelin sheaths

Where neurotransmitters are started and released

A time when the neuron is recharging and cannot fire

Charged and ready, positive outside, negative inside

Parts of the nervous system that contain myelinated axons

a disease of the central nervous system in which the myelin sheath that insulates axons is damaged or destroyed

How many people in America have MS?

electrically charged chemical particles

The electrical potential across the cell membrane of a neuron in its resting state.

Resting potential of a neuron