Psychology Ch. 1-3 – Flashcards

1800's-1920: • Psychologists emphasized the study of introspection • "Science of Mental Life" 1920-1960: • American Psychologists emphasized the study of observable behavior • "Science of Observable Behavior" • Behaviorists dismissed the value of introspection

The scientific study of behavior and mental processes

Darwin argued that natural selection shapes behaviors as well as bodies. From among chance variations, nature selects traits that best enable an organism to survive and reproduce in a particular environment •How is natural selection associated with our genes? Takes the perspective that our genes naturally select other genes

Neuroscience

Evolutionary

behavior genetics

Psychodynamic

Behavioral

Cognitive

Social-cultural

•Organizes observed facts •It implies Hypothesis that offer testable predictions • Often stimulates further research •Helps test something •Provides accurate results by repetition

A theory explains behaviors or events by offering ideas that organize what we have observed. Post a question based on a previous question Helps build up a hypothesis

Hindsight Bias - the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it. (Also known as the I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon.) - A person's tendency to exaggerate his ability to have foreseen the outcome of past events Ex: "I just knew the lord was going to get those together"

case study

Survey

Naturalistic observation

Correlation is when there is a relationship between two variables Correlational research reveals there is a relationship between two variables, can't fully understand why

When you think something is happening but there's nothing that proves it Ex: "Don't go outside without a jacket otherwise you'll catch a cold"

A research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more factors (independent variables) to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process (the dependent variable). By random assignment of participants, the experimenter aims to control other relevant factors. Purpose: To explore cause and effect

For clarity; terms are precise, measurable and predictable

The bushy dendrite fibers receive information and conduct it toward the cell body. From there, the cell's single lengthy axon fiber passes the message through its terminal branches to other neurons or to muscles or glands. Dendrites listen. Axons speak.

Sympathetic energyzes or arouses Parasympathetic calms

A neuron's bushy, branching extensions that receive messages and conduct impulses toward the cell body. Receive information from other neurons they're short

The neuron extension that passes messages through its branches to other neurons or to muscles or glands .Send or transmit information from other neurons, muscles, and glands Long

Synapse

Central nervous system

Peripheral Nervous System

somatic nervous system

Sleep occurs in a repeating 5 stage pattern that occurs over 90mins

• increases ghrelin, a hunger-arousing hormone, and decreases its hunger-suppressing partner, leptin (Shilsky et al., 2012). • decreases metabolic rate, a gauge of energy use (Buxton et al., 2012). • increases cortisol, a stress hormone that stimulates the body to make fat. • enhances limbic brain responses to the mere sight of food and decreases cortical inhibition (Benedict et al., 2012; Greer et al., 2013; St-Onge et al., 2012). slows reactions and increases errors on visual attention Sleep deprivation can suppress immune cells that battle viral infections and cancer not only being sleepy but drained of energy and feelings of well-being It can also make you gain weight Sleep loss is also a predictor of depression "feeling tired" or "having little energy" Brain Decreased ability to focus attention and process and store memories; increased risk of depression Immune system Decreased production of immune cells; increased risk of viral infections, such as colds Fat cells Increased production; greater risk of obesity Joints Increased inflammation and arthritis Heart Increased risk of high blood pressure Stomach Increase in hunger-arousing ghrelin; decrease in hunger-suppressing leptin Muscles Reduced strength; slower reaction time and motor learning

he muscles are relaxed (except for minor twitches) but other body systems are active.

insomnia is recurring problems in falling or staying asleep. Some Natural Sleep Aids • Exercise regularly but not in the late evening. (Late afternoon is best.) • Avoid caffeine after early afternoon, and avoid food and drink near bedtime. The exception would be a glass of milk, which provides raw materials for the manufacture of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that facilitates sleep. • Relax before bedtime, using dimmer light. • Sleep on a regular schedule (rise at the same time even after a restless night) and avoid long naps. • Hide the time so you aren't tempted to check repeatedly. • Reassure yourself that temporary sleep loss causes no great harm. • Focus your mind on nonarousing, engaging thoughts, such as song lyrics, TV programs, or vacation travel (Gellis et al., 2013). • If all else fails, settle for less sleep, either going to bed later or getting up earlier.

The examination or observation of one's own mental and emotional processes.

an explanation using an integrated set of principles that orga- nizes observations and predicts behaviors or events

look for a relationship a measure of the extent to which two factors vary to- gether, and thus of how well either factor predicts the other.

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.

an attributional type of cognitive bias whereby people tend to overestimate the extent to which their opinions, beliefs, preferences, values, and habits are normal and typical of those of other

Neurons that carry incoming information from the sensory receptors to the brain and spinal cord

the ability of other parts of the brain to take over functions of damaged regions. Declines as hemispheres of the cerebral cortex lateralize.

The principle that, among the range of inherited trait variations, those contributing to reproduction and survival will most likely be passed on to succeeding generations.

The general state of being aware of and responsive to events in the environment, as well as one's own mental processes

a wide array of experiences from mild detachment from immediate surroundings to more severe detachment from physical and emotional experience. The major characteristic of all dissociative phenomena involves a detachment from reality, rather than a loss of reality as in psychosis.