Psychology Notes PDF

Psych - Soul. Ology - Scientific Study of Psychology - Scientific study of the mind and behavior. Structuralism - Understanding consciousness via introspection. (Wilhelm Wundt) Functionalism - How mental activities help adaptation to respective environments. (William James) Psychoanalytic Theory -...

Psych - Soul. Ology - Scientific Study of Psychology - Scientific study of the mind and behavior. Structuralism - Understanding consciousness via introspection. (Wilhelm Wundt) Functionalism - How mental activities help adaptation to respective environments. (William James) Psychoanalytic Theory - The unconscious affects the conscious. (Sigmund Freud) Gestalt Theory - Humanity as one. (Wertheimer, Koffka, and Kohler) Behaviorism - Observing/controlling behaviors. (Pavlov, Watkins, Skinner) Humanism - Potential of good within all people. (Abraham Maslow and Carl Rodgers) Wilhelm Wundt - One of the Founders of Psychology; created the first psychology lab and wrote the first psychology book. Structuralist. Introspection - Looking into your consciousness. William James - First American psychologist; studied the function of behavior. Sigmund Freud - Founded psychoanalytic theory, focused on the person’s unconscious and early childhood experiences. Classical Conditioning - Taught reflexes or reactions via the introduction of stimuli built through the use of an unconditioned stimuli being associated with a conditioned one. John B. Watson - the father of behaviorism within psychology. He focused on observable behavior and ways to bring that behavior under control. B.F. Skinner - Behavior and consequences. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs - Physiological (Bottom), Security (Second Bottom), Soclai (Middle), Esteem (Second Top), Self-Actualization (Top) Client-Centered Therapy - No judgment of patient, genuineness, empathy Noam Chomsky - believed psychology needed to incorporate mental functioning into its focus in order to fully understand human behavior. Biopsychology - how the structure and function of the nervous system generate behavior. (ex: drug use) Developmental Psychology - studies the physical and mental attributes of aging and maturation (ex: moral reasoning, social skills, cognitive skills) Personality Psychology - conscious and unconscious thinking and identifying personality traits unique to every individual. (O.C.E.A.N) Social Psychology - How individuals interact and relate with others and how such interactions affect behavior. (ex: prejudice, attraction) Health Psychology - how individual health is directly related or affected by biological, psychological, and sociocultural influences. (ex: desk job) Clinical Psychology - Focuses on diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders and problematic patterns of behavior. Industrial-Organizational Psychology - applies psychological theories, principles and research to industrial and organizational settings. Sports & Exercise Psychology - Focus on psychological aspects regarding sports and physical performance. (ex: performance-based anxiety) Forensics Psychology - assessment of individuals' mental competency to stand in trial, sentencing and treatment suggestions, and advisement regarding eyewitness testimonies. Careers in Psychology - Teaching, Research, Clinical Psychologist, Counseling Psychologist, Social Work, Marketing Clinical/Case Studies - The focused study of an individual, often one possessing an extreme or unique psychological circumstance. (ex: Genie) Naturalistic Observation: To study the most accurate and genuine behaviors, naturalistic observation has proven most effective. Surveys - An efficient method of collecting a wide and varying sample of data. Archival Research - Uses past records or data sets to answer various research questions, or to search for interesting patterns or relationships. Cross-Sectional Research - Compares multiple segments of a population at a single time (such as different age groups). Longitudinal - Studies in which the same group of individuals is surveyed or measured repeatedly over an extended period of time. Attrition - Reduction in number of research participants. Correlation - Relationship between two or more variables. Correlation Coefficient - Indicates the strength and direction of the relationship between variables. Positive Correlation - Two variables change in the same direction. Negative Correlation - One variable decreases as the other increases. Cause-and-effect relationship - Changes in one variable = changes in the other. Confounding Variable - Unanticipated outside factor that affects both variables of interest. Experimental Group - The participants that experience the manipulated variable. Control Group - The participants that do not experience the manipulated variable. Operational Definition - Description of how the researchers will measure the variable of interest. Single-Blind Study - An experiment in which the researcher knows which participants are in the experimental group and which are in the control group but participants do not. Double-Blind Study - An experiment in which both the researchers and the participants are blind to group assignments. Placebo Effect - People’s expectations or beliefs influencing or determining their experience in a given situation. Independent Variable – Variable that is influenced/controlled by the experimenter. Dependent Variable – The variable that the researcher measures to see how much effect the independent variable had. Participants – Subjects of psychological research. Sample - A group that is selected for psychological research. Population – overall group of individuals that the researcher is interested in Random Sample - A randomly selected group for research. Manipulated Variables - Once randomly assigned, each group is then manipulated in some way Ethics - Some questions cannot be answered using an experimental design because they would be unethical. (ex: cannot subject participants to abuse) Statistical analysis - determines how likely any difference between experimental groups is due to chance. Peer-reviewed journal article – article read by several other scientists (usually anonymously) with expertise in the subject matter, who provide feedback regarding the quality of the manuscript before it is accepted for publication. Replication - Determines the reliability of the research sources. Reliability - consistency and reproducibility of a given result. Validity - accuracy of a given result in measuring what it is designed to measure. Institutional Review Board (IRB) – Committee of administrators, scientists, and community members that reviews proposals for research involving human participants. Informed consent - The process of informing a research participant about what to expect during an experiment in order to receive their approval to participate. Deception – Purposely misleading experiment participants in order to maintain the integrity of the experiment. Debriefing - When an experiment involves deception, participants are told complete and truthful information about the experiment at its conclusion. Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) - Committee of administrators, scientists, veterinarians, and community members that reviews proposals for research involving non-human animals. Biopsychology - Pertains to biological mechanisms in relation to behavior. Genetics - Genes affect both the physiological and psychological traits of a person. Important factors in Biopsychology - The structure and function of the nervous system and how it interacts with endocrines. Human Genetics - How would two people with the same disease end up with different outcomes? Does genetics play into mental disorders? Are disorders hereditary? Theory of Evolution - The organisms that are better suited for their environment will survive and reproduce, while those that are poorly suited for their environment will die off. Genetic Variation - The genetic difference between individuals, contributes to a species’ adaptation to its environment. Chromosome - long strand of genetic information known as DNA. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) - helix-shaped molecule made of nucleotide base pairs. Dominant Vs Recessive Alleles - Possession of a dominant allele = present, possession of a recessive allele = only present if both parents possess the allele Threshold of excitation – level of charge in the membrane that causes the neuron to become active. Action Potential – an electrical signal. Neurotransmitter – chemical messenger of the nervous system. Different neurons release different types of neurotransmitters that have many different functions. Biological perspective - view that psychological disorders like depression and schizophrenia are associated with imbalances in one or more neurotransmitter systems. Acetylcholine – muscle action and memory. Beta-endorphin – pain and pleasure. Dopamine – mood, sleep, and learning. May suppress appetite. Norepinephrine – Heart, intestines, and alertness. May suppress appetite. Serotonin – mood and sleep. Psychotropic medication - drugs that treat psychiatric symptoms by restoring neurotransmitter balance. Agonist - drug that mimics or strengthens the effects of a neurotransmitter. Antagonist - drug that blocks or impedes the normal activity of a given neurotransmitter. Somatic - Sensory. Autonomic - Controls organs. Brain - Two-sided; made up of billions of neurons. Spinal Cord - Delivers messages to the brain. Lateralization - concept that each hemisphere of the brain is associated with specialized functions Left = right, right = left. Corpus Callosum - Connects the brain. Cerebral cortex - surface of the brain The Motor cortex - strip of cortex involved in planning and coordinating movement. The Prefrontal cortex - responsible for higher-level cognitive functioning. Broca’s area - region in the left hemisphere that is essential for language production. Somatosensory cortex - Processes sensory information like heat. Temporal Lobe - Associated with hearing, memory, emotion and some aspects of language. The Auditory cortex - strip of cortex in the temporal lobe that is responsible for processing auditory information Wernicke’s Area - Speech Comprehension. Occipital Lobe - For visual processing. Amygdala - involved in our experience of emotion and tying emotional meaning to our memories. Involved in processing fear. Hippocampus - structure associated with learning and memory (in particular spatial memory). Hypothalamus – regulates homeostatic processes including body temperature, appetite and blood pressure. Medulla - controls automated processes like breathing, blood pressure, and heart rate. Pons - connects the brain and the spinal cord; involved in regulating brain activity during sleep. Cerebellum - controls our balance, coordination, movement, and motor skills, and it is thought to be important in processing some types of memory.