Intro to Psychology-Definitions
Terms
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- Psychology
- The study of behavior and mental processes.
- Behavior
- The way one acts on thoughts, beliefs, etc.
- Introspection
- Study of one's self. Tool used to study thought.
- Observation
- Learning about behavior/mental processes by watching.
- Description
- To describe a behavior or mental process.
- Explanation
- To unveil a cause for behavior
- Prediction
- To forecast an outcome.
- Control
- To inspire a subject to change or modify a behavior.
- Naturalistic Observation
- Observing the behavior of others w/o their knowledge.
- Hypothesis
- An educated guess about a subject matter or about the relationship between two variables.
- Independent Variables
- The variable the psychologist changes or manipulates.
- Dependent Variables
- The variable the psychologist measures.
- Extraneous Variables
- Variable that can effect dependent variable but is not of interest to the experiment.
- Population
- Everyone who is of interest to a study.
- Sample
- The subset; smaller group from the bigger population.
- Generalization
- To apply results from the sample population tp the overall population
- Representatives
- Does the sample resemble the population
- Neuron
- The building block of the nervous system -aka- nerve cells.
- Dendrites
- Wirey endigs that p/u msgs
- Cell Body
- Turns msg into an electrical impulse.
- Myelin Sheath
- Fatty covering (insulation) that surrounds the axon.
- Axon
- Tube that carries electrical impulses.
- Terminal Nodes
- Turns electrical msg into chemical msg.
- Neurotransmitter
- The actual chemical msg
- Frontal Lobes
- Part of brain that is developed last, controls speech, reasoning and logic.
- Brain Stem
- Connects the brain to the spinal cord. Part of brain that is developed first. Controls breathing and consciousness.
- Phrenology
- Measuring the bumps on a persons head to draw conclusions about spec. subjects.
- Retrograde Memory Loss
- Loose memories that occur b4 an accident.
-
*Anteriograde Memory Loss
*most common - Loose memories that occur after an accident.
- Psychosurgery
- Cutting up the brain
- Lobotomy
- Cutting out a small portion of the frontal lobes.
- Split Brain Surgery
- Brain hemispheres are split down the corpus collosum.
- Corpus Collosum
- Thick band of neuronsthat connect the two hemispheres of the brain.
- Central Nervous System (CNS)
- Controls brain and spinal cord neurons.
- Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)
- Controls neurons other that the brain and spinal cord.
- Epilepsy
- All neurons in the brain "fire up" at the same time.
- Electroencephalogram (EEG)
- Studies brain activity electrically.
- Computerized Tomography (Cat Scan)
- 3-D measurement of the brain.
- Pet Scan (Positronic Emissions Tomography)
- Radio-active sugar injected to stimulate neurons. Places where there is brain activity light up.
- Somatic Nervous System
- Neurons that control voluntary nerve behavior.
-
*Autonomic Nervous System
*controls allot of human behavior - Neurons that control involutary nerve behavior.
- Sympathetic Nervous System
- Arousal; when arousal occurs how do you respond? Flight or Fight Response
- Para-Sympathetic Nervous System
- Calming; slows down body function.
- Sensory Adaptation
- Gradually adapting to a sensation; allows you to pay attn to new things.
- Sensation
- Msgs sent to the brain.
- Sensory Neurons
-
Pick up msgs from outside world and start process of neurons firing.
Ex:taste->taste bud->chemical - Hypnosis
- Heightened state of suggestability; vulnerable state.
- Circadian Rythms
-
Regular fluxuation in certain body functions; from a high point to a low point.
Ex: body temp - Circadian Theory
-
Sleep has evolved to keep us inactive when we do not need to be.
-humans evolve behaviorly - Cycle
-
Something that occurs repeatedly and predictably.
Ex: menstruation - REM
- Rapid eye movement; extremely restful sleep.
- Conditioning
- Learning
- Conditioned
- Learned
- Unconditioned
- Un-learned (a natural behavior/response)
- Stimulus
- Anything that elicits or evokes action in a person or creates a physiological response.
- Response
- Behavior
- Nature
- Biologically predisposed (genetics).
- Nurture
- Learning from an environment.
- Tabula Rasa
- Clean Slate
- Extinction
-
The gradual unpairing of an unconditioned and conditioned stimulus.
the boy that cried wolf synd. - Spontaneous Recovery
- Repairing of an unconditioned and conditioned stimulus only after one instance.
- Classical Conditioning
- Learn through pairing or association.
- Operant Conditioning
-
Learn through experiencing consequences.
response->stimulus - Law of Effect
- If you engage in a behavior and the stimulus you get back is positive, you will probably repea behavior and vice-versa.
- Positive
- Give something.
- Negative
- Take something away.
- Reinforcement
- Increases behavior.
- Punishment
- Decreases behavior.
- Positive Reinforcement
- Reward for good behavior.
- Negative Punishment
- To take something away in order to lower the probability of a negative response.
- Positive Punishment
- To give something in order to increase the probability of a positive response.
- Garcia Effect
- Use of vomitting and nausea to effectively evoke punishment.
- Cognitive Learning
-
Observational/Social Learning
Learning by watching and then immitating /adopting the principles of people we respect or admire.