Psychology Gr 11 Mid Term Notes PDF

Psychology Mid-Term Notes Unit 0: Research Fundamentals The Barnum Effect: people believe vague, general statements about personality/behaviours that are highly accurate for them but can apply to many people. - Skepticism and critical thinking should be promoted. Ex. The Amazing Randi...

Psychology Mid-Term Notes Unit 0: Research Fundamentals The Barnum Effect: people believe vague, general statements about personality/behaviours that are highly accurate for them but can apply to many people. - Skepticism and critical thinking should be promoted. Ex. The Amazing Randi (debunk pseudoscience claims). Operational Definition: describes something so its observable and measurable. Hypothesis: testable statement/prediction about the relationship of 2+ variables. Testable prediction derived from a theory. Must be falsifiable. Educated guess based on prior knowledge. Falsifiability: ability for something to be proven false. Everything must be capable of this, no matter how much evidence you have, it can always be disproven. Null Hypothesis (H0): allows for a falsifiable statement. No effect, no difference. True until disproven. - Ex. People do not experience positive feelings after touching a dog. Alternative Hypothesis (HA): what you aim to support, there is an effect or difference. - Ex. People feel positive feelings after touching a dog. - Rephrase alternative hypothesis as null hypothesis. Research Methods: Experimental: manipulation and control of variables. Identify cause and effect. - How? Manipulate 1 + factors, use random assignment. - Manipulation: the independent variable. - Weakness: sometimes not feasible, results may not generalise to other contexts, not ethical to manipulate certain variables. Descriptive: naturalistic observation, survey, case studies, labs. - How? Case studies, naturalistic observations, surveys. - Manipulation: none. - Weakness: no control of variables; single cases misleading. Correlation: statistical analysis of relationships between variables. - How? Collect data on 2+ variables. - Manipulation: none. - Weakness: cannot specify cause and effect. Naturalistic Observation: observing behaviour in nature without manipulation. Describes behaviour, not explain it. - Wording can have massive effects on peoples expressed opinions. Casual Event: an event that causes another to occur. Moderating Variables: factors that change the strength or direction of the relationship between 2 variables. When or for whom a cause has a stronger or weaker impact. - Ex. Anxiety moderates the relationship between study time and test scores, weakening positive effect of studying. Replication: repeating a study to see if the same results can be obtained. Independent Variable: variable that in manipulated by the researcher to see its effect. - Ex. in a study on sleep the independent variable is 4 hours vs 8 hours. Dependant Variable: outcome that is measured to see if it changes due to the independent variable. - Ex. test scores after a night of sleep. Confounding Variables: other factors that might be influencing an observation. Could be causing the relationship between two other variables. Correlation: a statistical measure that shows the relationship between two variables. Correlation Coefficient: statistical measure that helps us figure how closely two things vary together and how well either one predicts the other. Regression Toward the Mean: tendency for extreme or unusual scores or events to fall back toward the average. Failure to recognise that a change did not have a lasting effect. Causation: establishing that one variable directly causes changes in another. CORRELATION DOES NOT MEAN CAUSATION! Descriptive Statistics: used to summarize data through measure like the mean, median, mode. Effect Size: a measure of the strength of the relationship between two variables. Statistical Significance: statement of how likely it is that an obtained result occurred by chance. VERY important. Does not say anything about the importance of results. Nominal Data: used to label or categorize variables without providing any quantitative value or order. Ordinal Data: represents categories with a meaningful order/ranking, the intervals between the categories are not necessarily equal or known. Interval Data: ordered, with meaningful intervals between values, allows for calculations of differences. Radio Data: highest level of measurement with all characteristics of interval data, with a true 0 point. Between – Subjects Design: different participants are assigned to each condition. Ex. one group will sleep for 4 hours, the other 8 hours. Within Subjects Design: the same participants experience all conditions. Ex. participants all sleep for 4 hours one night, 8 hours the next. Cross – Sectional Study: looks at different groups of people at one point in time to compare them. Longitudinal Study: follows the same group of people over a long period of time, observing how they change. Random Sampling: ensures every member of a population has an equal chance of being selected. Random Assignment: assigns participants to different experimental groups randomly, ensuring that each group is similar in all aspects except the independent variable. Representative Sample: a smaller group selected from a larger population that accurately reflects the characteristics of that population. Counterbalancing: participant sample is divided in half, one completing condition in one order, the other completing them in reverse order. Experiment Group: group that receives treatment. Control Group: group that does not receive treatment. Placebo Effect: when participants experience changes simply because they believe they are receiving treatment even if the treatment is in active. Positive change. Nocebo Effect: when negative expectations about a treatment cause harmful effect, even though the treatment is inactive. Placebo-controlled study is an experiment where one group receives the actual treatment, and another group receives a placebo (a fake treatment). This helps researchers compare the effects of the real treatment against the placebo to see if the treatment is truly effective. Single Blind Procedure: the participants don’t know whether they are receiving the treatment of a placebo, but the researchers do. Double Blind Procedure: both the researcher and the research staff are unaware about whether the research participants have received the treatment or a placebo. No room for bias. Hawthorne Effect: when participants alter their behaviour because they know they are being observed. Descriptive Statistics: numerical data used to measure and describe characteristics of groups. - Central Tendency: summarizes data, a single score that represents a whole set of scores. - Skewed Distribution: representation of scored that lack symmetry around their average value. - Must understand variables to assess how reliable a data measure is. - Standard Deviation: measure of how much scores vary around the mean score. - Normal Curve: symmetrical, bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of many types of data, fall near mean. Inferential Statistics: numerical data that allows one to infer from sample data the probability of something being true of a population. - Representative samples are better than biased samples. - Less variable observations are more reliable than those that are more variable. - More cases are better than fewer. The Asch Conformity Test:  - Conformity: the act of changing your behaviour, beliefs or opinions to match those of a group or to fit social norms. To fit in, avoid conflict, be accepted. - The influence that the presence or actions of others can have on an individual’s choices, even if they know the behaviour’s wrong. - Purpose of the experiment: investigate how social pressures form a majority group influences individuals’ decisions. - Method: participants were asked to match line lengths in the presence of confederates (people who intentionally gave wrong answers). - Findings: 75% of participants conformed at least once, giving incorrect answers even though they knew they were wrong. On avg. participants conformed 1/3 of the time. - Significance: highlights the power of social influence, peer pressure and the struggle to maintain independence in group settings. - Impact of Dissenters: if one confederate disagreed with the majority, conformity rates dropped significantly. Even if the dissenter was wrong, it also dropped rates. Unit 1: Biological Bases of Behaviour Neuron: (Parts (e.g., Axon, dendrites, soma, myelin sheath, synaptic gap)) Diagram - A nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system. - Specialized to generate and propagate electrical signals over long distances. These signals are the basis of sensations, behaviour, and physiological processes in all animals and cognitive abilities in humans. - Information between neurons is transmitted by action potential. - Action Potential: a neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon. Allows neurons to transmit signals over long distances and communicate with other cells. Part Function Cell Body Dendrites Axon Myelin Sheath Glial Cells: (Types and functions (e.g., astrocytes, oligodendrocytes)) Neurotransmitters and Synapses: (Agonists and antagonists, Role of the synaptic gap in chemical signaling) Autonomic Nervous System: (Parasympathetic vs. sympathetic responses) Brain Imaging Techniques: (e.g., PET, fMRI, DTI, NIRS, and their applications) Name How It Works Example Electroencephalogram Electrodes placed on the Symptoms of depression (EEG) scalp measure electrical correlate with increased activity in neurons. activity in the right frontal lobe, a brain area associated with behavioral withdrawal and negative emotion. - Track seizures and sleep. Magnetoencephalography A head coil records Soldiers with PTSD, (MEG) magnetic fields from the compared to those who brain’s natural electrical don’t have it show stronger currents. magnetic fields in the visual cortex when they view trauma-related images.  Computed Tomography (CT) X-rays of the head generate Children’s brain injuries, images that may locate shown in CT scans, predict brain damage. impairments in their intelligence and memory processing. Positron Emission Tracks where a temporarily Monkeys with an anxious Tomography (PET) radioactive form of glucose temperament have brains goes while the brain of the that use more glucose in person given it performs a regions in regions related to given task. fear, memory, and expectations of reward and punishment. Magnetic Resonance People sit or lie down in a People with a history of Imaging (MRI) chamber that uses violence tend to have magnetic fields and radio smaller frontal lobes, waves to provide a map of especially in regions that brain structure. aid moral judgement and self-control. Functional Magnetic Measures blood flow to Years after surviving a near Resonance Imaging (fMRI) brain regions by comparing plane crash, passengers continuous MRI scans. who viewed material related to their trauma showed greater activation in the brain’s fear, memory, and visual centers than when they watched footage related to the 9/11 attacks. Brain Structures and Functions: (Hippocampus and explicit memory, Plasticity and its role in recovery) Psychological Experiments and Phenomena: (Rubber hand illusion (body ownership), Ego depletion theory and its challenges, Phantom limb pain and mirror therapy, The Big Five Personality Traits) Key Brain Functions: (Brain Plasticity: Recovery mechanisms and neural adaptation, Memory Structures: Hippocampus (explicit memory) vs. other regions) Psychological Phenomena: (Ego Depletion: Critiques and alternative theories, Phantom Limb Therapy: How visual feedback alleviates pain, Rubber Hand Illusion: Multisensory integration and body ownership) ***** picture of central and periphral diagram in textbook on exam**** *****worksheet labeling the neuron on exam***** - Know what the action potential is - Know the axon hillock is where the action potential either happens or dosent - Know the chemical side of it ****antoagonaist agonist first question on the test** *** too much Chemical wondering if you should prescribe an agonist or antagonist*** - Part a and part b of the exam Gives us info we have never seen before and we have to use our judgement to come up w an answer ********Question on schoology