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Psychology chap1-3
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Psychology | the science of behavior and mental processes |
| biological perspective | a research perspective that focuses on the influence of biology on behavior and mental processes |
| cognitive perspective | a research perspective that focuses on how people think, understand, and know about the world |
| behavioral perspective | a research perspective that focuses on observable behavior and the environmental factors that influence it |
| sociocultural perspective | a research perspective that focuses on how social cultural factors influence behavior and mental processes |
| hindsight bias | the psychological phenomenon of believing that one accurately predicted an event before it occurred |
| independent variable | hypothesized cause; manipulated by the experimenter |
| dependent variable | hypothesized variable; measured by the experimenter |
| placebo effect | believes they are receiving treatment but are not; a beneficial effect produced by a placebo drug or treatment |
| mean | numerical average for a distribution of scores |
| median | score that is positioned in the middle of the distribution of the scores when scores are listed from lowest to highest |
| mode | most frequently occurring in a distribution of scores |
| neuroscience | scientific study of the brain and nervous system |
| neuron | responsible for information transmission throughout the nervous system |
| axon | transmits messages through the neuron |
| dendrites | includes fibers that project out of the cell body; receive information from other neurons |
| myelin sheath | insulating layer of fatty white substance that encases the axon; allows electrical messages to be transmitted faster within the neuron; responsible for distinction between brain and white and grey matter; slows electrical pulses when damaged |
| neurotransmitters | contained in axon terminals; naturally occurring chemicals in the nervous system; specializes in transmitting information between neurons |
| agonist | drugs and poisons that increase the activity of one or more neurotransmitters |
| antagonist | drugs and poisons that decrease the activity of one or more neurotransmitters |
| central nervous system | spinal cord- conduits for incoming sensory data and outgoing movement commands; provides for spinal reflexes. Brain- control center for entire nervous system |
| peripheral nervous system | gathers information about the external environment and the body’s internal environment for the brain through sensory neurons; serves as the conduit for the brain’s commands to the rest of the body through motor neurons |
| autonomic nervous sytem | sympathetic nervous system and parasympathetic nervous system |
| sympathetic nervous system | dilates pupils, contracts blood vessels, speeds heart rate, speeds breathing, inhibits salivation, inhibits digestion, and activates sweat glands |
| parasympathetic nervous system | contracts pupils, dilates blood vessels, slows heart rate, slows breathing, activates salivation, stimulates digestion, and inhibits sweat glands |
| endocrine glandular system | works with the autonomic nervous system in response to stress; secretes hormones; plays a role in basic behaviors and bodily functions such as sex, eating, metabolism, reproduction, and growth |
| hormones | chemical that coordinate functions in your body by carrying messages through your blood to your organs, skin, and muscles and other tissues |
| pituitary glands | releases hormones essential for human growth; directs other glands to release their hormones |
| emotion | is a complex psychological state that involves autonomic nervous system which is triggered physiological arousal; outward behavioral expression of the emotion; cognitive appraisal of the situation to determine the specific emotion and its intensity |
| James Lange theory | autonomic nervous system physiological arousal is a response to a stimulus; such a physiological response is subsequently interpreted as the emotion |
| Cannon Bard theory | an emotion-provoking stimulus sends messages to both the peripheral nervous system and the brain; the brain produces the emotional feeling; the autonomic nervous system produces the physiological response; motor neurons produce the behavioral response |
| Schacther-SInger Two Factor Theory | two important determinants of emotion: physiological arousal tells us how intense the emotion is; cognitive appraisal of the entire situation allows us to identify the emotion, leading to the emotional feeling. |
| stages of sleep | stage 1 lasts about 5 minutes; 2 last about 20 minutes, sleep spindles; 3 transitional sleep, delta waves; 4 lasts about 30 minutes, active parasympathetic nervous system; 5 REM sleep, paradoxical sleep |
| medulla | involved in essential body functions, such as heartbeat, breathing, blood pressure, and swallowing |
| pons | serves as bridge between cerebellum and rest of brain and involved in sleep and dreaming. |
| cerebellum | involved in coordination of our movements, sense of balance, and motor learning |
| thalamus | serves as relay station for incoming sensory stimuli (except for olfactory sensory information). |
| basal ganglia | involved in initiation and execution of movements. |
| limbic system | plays a role in survival, memory, and emotions. Hypothalamus, hippocampus, and amygdala. |
| amygdala | mass of gray matter inside each cerebral hemisphere, involved with the experiencing of emotions |
| cerebral cortex | most important brain structure; information processing center for nervous system; center for all higher-level cognitive processing; site of hemispheric communication |
| corpus callosum | bridge of neurons that connects the two cerebral hemispheres |
| frontal lobe | area located in the front of each hemisphere and in front of central fissure and above lateral fissure. Includes motor cortex, which allows us to move the different parts of out body |
| parietal lobe | area located behind central fissure and above lateral fissure. Includes somatosensory cortex, where our body sensations of touch, temperature, limb position, and pain are processed |
| temporal lobe | located beneath the lateral fissure. Includes primary auditory cortex, where auditory sensory information is initially processed. |
| occipital lobe | located in the lower back of each hemisphere. Includes primary visual cortex, where visual sensory information is initially processed |
| Brocas area | located in left frontal lobe; responsible for fluent speech production; when damaged, fluent speech generation damaged but comprehension left intact; houses singing and musical abilities. |
| Wernicke's area | located in the temporal lobe; responsible for the comprehension of speech and reading. |
| Phineas Gage | Railroad worker who survived when a metal tamping iron flew through his left cheek and head, exiting through his frontal lobes. Gage became irresponsible, impulsive, disorderly, indecisive, and vulgar; eventually suffered seizures. Led neuroscientists to |
| absolute threshold | minimum amount of energy in a sensory stimulus that is detected 50% of the time |
| signal detection theory | assumes that the detection of faint sensory stimuli depends on a person’s physiological sensitivity to a stimulus and on decision criterion for detections, which is based on non-sensory factors |
| difference threshold | minimum difference between two stimuli that is detected 50% of the time |
| Weber's Law | For each type of sensory judgement, the difference threshold is a constant fraction of the standard stimulus value used to measure it |
| Steven's power law | perceived magnitude of a stimulus is equal to its actual physical intensity raised to a constant power for each type of judgement. |
| Sensory adaptation | refers to disappearance of repetitive or unchanging stimuli; has survival value, as it is more important to detect new stimuli than constant stimuli |
| nearsightedness | light rays from distant objects are focused in front of the retina; increasing rates in high school students and young adults; genetic and environmental factors. |
| farsightedness | lights rays from close objects are focused behind the retina |
| rods | receptor cells in the retina that are principally responsible for dim light and achromatic vision |
| cones | receptor cells in the retina that are principally responsible for bright light and color vision. |
| sensation | initial information gathering and recoding by the sensory structures |
| perception | interpretation by the brain of sensory information |
| bottom-up processing | processing of incoming sensory information as it travels up from the sensory structures to the brain |
| top-down processing | brain’s use of knowledge, beliefs, and expectations to interpret sensory information; more top-down connections |
| figure and ground principle | people instinctively perceive objects as either being in the foreground or the background |
| closure | an individual’s desire for a clear, firm answer or peaceful resolution to a question or problem to avert ambiguity |
Created by:
sdonald6305
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