Untitled Quiz

Research on Obedience to Authority

• Aim: To study obedience in the absence of threat
• Number of participants: 20, 30, 40 or 50 (depending on the specific study)

Milgram's Study

• Switches labeled: With numbers, symbols, or descriptions of shock intensity, not colors
• Voltage level 150v: A key juncture where participants might refuse to continue, but it had no impact on the overall behavior of the participants
• Minimum voltage: Not the maximum voltage level in the experiment
• Physiological reactions (Virtual Reality Experiment): Participant reactions indicated they did not view virtual learner as real; participants were unaffected by the virtual environment; participants were not emotionally engaged

Sherif's Social Influence(1935)

• Focus: Influence processes in social psychology, including conformity to norms and group norm emergence, individual behavior, cognitive processes in decision-making, and social hierarchies
• Study purpose: (Asch's line judgment task): Measuring conformity to group opinion/visual perception abilities
• Study purpose: (Deutsch and Gerrard 1955): Testing influence using cognitive biases and normative/informative theories, rather than just relying on emotions/responses

Groups and Self-Definition (Turner 1991)

• Importance of groups: For self-definition, challenging group norms, asserting individuality, and building confidence within the group.

Memory Processes

• Encoding: The process of getting information into the system; translating this into a neural code
• Memory: The processes that allow us to record, store and retrieve experiences and information
• Types of memory: Explicit/declarative; reconstructive memory; implicit memory(skills and actions), episodic memory (personal experiences), procedural memory (specific skills).
• Three types of memory: Encoding, storage, retrieval
• Sensory and Perceptual systems: Produce physical energy; deconstruct stimuli; select relevant information; activate the brain
• Brain role in perception: Interpreting stimuli and processing different senses.
• Visual Acuity: Fovea/fovea centralis, has the highest visual acuity.
• Theory of Mind: The ability to attribute mental states to oneself and others; understanding behaviors

Cognitive Processes & Development

• Embodied cognition: Cognition is stored in sensory regions, primarily motor experience, cognition is grounded in sensory and motor systems, separate mental representation, traditional cognition approach
• The role of the brain in perception: For complex though, to keep us alive, experiences grounded in sensory/motor systems
• Sensory systems: Activation of the sense organs
• Sensory & perceptual systems: Construct interpretation of stimuli

Executive Functions

• Executive functions: According to Carlson (2005). Cognitive processes aid in monitoring and controlling thoughts. These consist of inhibition, working memory, and shifting/systematic/rigorous operations in children

Mirror Neurons and ASD

• Significance of mirror neurons: In understanding actions and imitation in ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder)
• Brain cells: Active during observing/performing actions (mirror neurons); dysfunction potentially explaining impairments

Separation Anxiety/Stranger Anxiety in Infants

• Typical characteristics: Distress over separation from a primary caregiver, and distress over contact with unfamiliar people at specific ages.

Language & Communication

• Faces in human communication: Processing holistic/configural information and feature processing; expressions indicate emotions (facial expressions are critical)

Emotional Response to Stimuli

• The Thatcher Effect: Local processing of features; detection of inversion of eyes and mouth

Developmental Psychology

• Exploring the impact of technology on child development; understanding how & why physical, cognitive, and emotional abilities develop throughout childhood
• Not about analyzing historical trends, or studying adult behavior patterns.
• Main Focus: Understanding how physical, cognitive, and emotional abilities develop throughout childhood.

Stages of Development (Based on Piaget/Piaget's theory of development

• Sensorimotor Stage: Infants sense/move/lack complex thinking (no object permanence)
• Zone of Proximal Development (ZOPED): Difference between what a child can independently do and what they can do with supervision/peer assistance
• Theory of mind: Ability to attribute mental states to oneself & others (in social-cognitive development)

Biological Evolution

• Mechanisms: Genotype, phenotype, DNA, alleles, genes, competition, variation, heritability, reproductive success.
• Basic mechanism: Natural selection
• Key figures: Darwin, Wallace, Mendel, Gregor, Lucy
• Powerful tool: Mutation

Human Ancestors

• Oldest Human ancestor (two legs): Lucy
• Homo Genus: Homo Habilis (arisen 2 Million years ago)
• Taming Fire: Homo erectus

Origins of Homo Sapiens

• Origin: Africa

Energy Consumption in the Brain

• Brain's energy consumption at rest: 20%

Neurotransmitters

• Serotonin: Associated with inhibition and certain diseases
• Acetylcholine, Dopamine and GABA: Various functions.

Drugs

• Psychoactive drugs, produces sensory or perceptual delusions; the group is hallucinogens

Nervous system

• Neurotransmitters
• The terminology of the brain (corpus callosum, hippocampus):
• The term for the long fiber of a neuron: Axon
• Scientific study of the nervous system: Neuroscience.