PSYC 101 Unit Test #1 - The Focus Questions PDF

Functionalism - How mental activities help adaptation to respective environments. (William James) Wilhelm Wundt - One of the Founders of Psychology; created the first psychology lab and wrote the first psychology book. Structuralist. Sigmund Freud - Founded psychoanalytic theory, focused on the pe...

Functionalism - How mental activities help adaptation to respective environments. (William James) Wilhelm Wundt - One of the Founders of Psychology; created the first psychology lab and wrote the first psychology book. Structuralist. Sigmund Freud - Founded psychoanalytic theory, focused on the person’s unconscious and early childhood experiences. 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) Noam Chomsky - believed psychology needed to incorporate mental functioning into its focus in order to fully understand human behavior. Cross-Sectional Research - Compares multiple segments of a population at a single time (such as different age groups). Correlation Coefficient - Indicates the strength and direction of the relationship between variables. Cause-and-effect relationship - Changes in one variable = changes in the other. Population – overall group of individuals that the researcher is interested in Replication - Determines the reliability of the research sources. 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? Threshold of excitation – level of charge in the membrane that causes the neuron to become active. Action Potential – an electrical signal. Biological perspective - view that psychological disorders like depression and schizophrenia are associated with imbalances in one or more neurotransmitter systems. Norepinephrine – Heart, intestines, and alertness. May suppress appetite. Somatic - Sensory. Autonomic - Controls organs. Brain - Two-sided; made up of billions of neurons. Cerebral cortex - surface of the brain 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. Wernicke’s Area - Speech Comprehension. Hypothalamus – regulates homeostatic processes including body temperature, appetite and blood pressure. Medulla - controls automated processes like breathing, blood pressure, and heart rate. Cerebellum - controls our balance, coordination, movement, and motor skills, and it is thought to be important in processing some types of memory.