Exam 1 Study Guide Psych 101 PDF

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Exam 1 Study Guide that include Evolution of Psychology, Schools of Psychology and the Biological Basis of Pyschology (Ch.1-3) Psych 101 with Dr. Penn...

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o EXAM #1 – PSYCHOLOGY 101 – SPRING 2018 – REVIEW SHEET GREAT QUIZLET: https://quizlet.com/_1z2zfq Hey guys I just made another quizlet to study!! 

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Chapter one – The Evolution of Psychology 1. Know the different schools of psychology (e.g. structuralism, functionalism).  Structuralism: Based on the notion that the task of psychology is to analyze consciousness into its basic elements and investigate how these elements relate o The personal observation of our own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors o Introspection: the careful systematic self-observation of one’s own conscious experience. o Edward Titchener and Wilhelm Wundt  Functionalism: our consciousness serves an adaptive purpose by helping us survive o Consciousness consists of a continuous flow of thought o Testing is done to study it o William James  Psychoanalytic: states that behavior can be explained through the unconscious o Stemmed from Freud’s observation of physical problems with no obvious explanation o Freud  Behavioral o Person is shaped by reinforcement & react to environment o Behavior shaped by learned experiences o BF Skinner, Watson  Humanistic: an approach to understanding human nature that emphasizes the potential of human beings  Cognitive: the study of how people think, learn, and remember  Positive Psychology: study of positive emotions, character, enabling institutions o Seligman o Build strengths and remediate weakness o 3 domains 1. positive emotion (pleasant life) 2. engagement (engaged life) 3. meaning (meaningful life) 2. Know the different “approaches” to psychology (e.g., behaviorism; psychodynamic). What is positive psychology? 

John B. Watson

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Founded Behaviorism Behaviorism: a theoretical orientation based on the premise that scientific psychology should study only observable behavior Proposed that psychologists abandon the study of consciousness altogether and focus on behavior that they could observe directly Rested on the idea of verifiability Behavior: any overt (observable) response or activity by an organism  Watson said that thoughts and feelings are not behavior Nature vs. nurture (sided with nurture) Behaviorism led to increased animal research

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Psychodynamic theory is most closely associated with the work of Sigmund Freud, a type of psychotherapy that attempts to explore the patient's unconscious thoughts and emotions.

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Positive psychology - the study of positive emotions, character traits, and the enabling institutions; focusing on building strengths and remediating weaknesses; find meaning and purpose 3 components: (1) positive emotion [hedonic well-being; max positives, min negatives], (2) engagement (using positive individual traits), (3) meaning [eudaimonic well-being; purpose driven]

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3. Know the different areas of psychology (e.g., developmental psychology, clinical psychology, etc).  Clinical - treatment of abnormal behavior, testing/assessments, intelligence levels, education  Developmental - how organisms grow and develop across their lifespans o Eg: Kids evaluating volume (conservation)  Social - helping behavior, compliance, stereotypes, aggression, group behavior, attitudes, schemes, and attraction o Eg: Guy’s attractiveness in different attire being rated by women in the street.  Industrial Psychology- involves focusing on performance evaluations to determine if someone is fit for a job- uses a lot of selective processes, training employees o Ie: Michael trying to decide who to fire from The Office o Organizational Psychology - focuses on motivation, teamwork, and leadership- focuses on increasing productivity. o Ie: Deangelo Vicker’s motivational juggling skit, Michael showing the same episode of Entourage six times  Personality - looks at the consistency of behavior over time and different situations.- Are there certain characteristics and personality traits that describe most of us? o Extroversion vs. introversion o Marshmallow video of the kids

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Biological/Neuroscience Psychology - what is the biological basis of behaviorthis includes the genetic impact on behavior, and disorders, and roles of hormones and neurology on behaviors and disorders. o Ie: Are different parts of the brain more/less active when people with schizophrenia look at a face vs. when a normal person looks at a face? o Ie: How does anxiety medication work? Quantitative Psychology - How do we analyze large bodies of data to make sense? This involves using averages, standard deviation, etc. o What it the basis of differentiation? Cognitive Psychology- looks at the role of information processing on behavior in experimentso ie: What are the processes that go into memory- How do we form new memories? Skew - wherever the “tail” is is the skewed side. Is this right or left? (right, positive)

What is a theory?  A system of interrelated ideas used to explain a set of observations; a general explanation of how things work based on a number of observations What are the goals of psychology

Control or change behavior = most important: nudging-alters behavior in subtle but predictable ways (fly urinal, 401k investor nudges), choice architecture (products at eye level at a store = more purchases), and fun theory (piano staircase)

Chapter two – The Research Enterprise in Psychology 1. Know these terms: hypothesis, independent variable, dependent variable, experimental and control group or condition, third variables, operational definition, quasi-experimental design, representative sample, random assignment, differential response rate, reactivity, and how to apply them.  Developing a research question - identifying the purpose for which the experiment is taking place: o Ie: Does being a Duke fan impact the number of friends you have at UNC?  Hypothesis - a potential explanation to the research question o Ie: If you are a Duke fan at UNC, then you will have no friends  Independent Variable - the cause. Controlled by the experimenter o Ie: Number of Duke Fans placed on UNC’s campus  Dependent Variable - the effect. What happens to the subject in the experiment o How many friends those Duke fans make while on campus  Experimental group- group that is being subjected to the experiment to see if there is a relationship between the indep. and dep. variables. o Duke Fans placed on UNC’s campus  Control group- group that is normal, and has no independent variable o Normal people placed on UNC’s campus to see how many friends a normal person makes  Third variable - a potential issue that may make two variables seem to have a relationship when in reality they are not related. o Ie: All of the Duke fans were mean so they didn’t make any friends. However, this had nothing to do with the fact that they were Duke Fans, and the fact that they were Duke fans had nothing to do with the number of friends they made.  Operational definition - Parameters used to help researchers quantify information and observations in their subjects. o Ie: A researcher using a survey to measure someone’s happiness. The researcher’s operational definition of happiness is the score the person gets on the survey.  Quasi-experimental design - When the independent variable cannot be manipulatedo Ie: you can’t assign someone’s gender or ethnicity in order to determine if there is a relationship between gender/ethnicity and some dependent var.  Representative sample - a small group of people whose characteristics represent those of a larger population  Random assignment - Random samples are too expensive (you can't fly 1,000 people to your lab), so you randomly assign your local, representative sample to either control or experimental status  Differential response rate - people intentionally not participating in surveys b/c of their answer (ie. drug users)  Reactivity - occurs in natural observation studies; when a subject changes their behavior because they are aware of being observed

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Population - The ultimate group you want to apply your findings towards Sample - The group you’re studying in a given study: ie: smaller group within the population Generalization - taking your findings from the sample population and applying them to the broader population.

2. Know the different research methods (e.g., case study; survey, experimental, etc) and the strengths and weaknesses of each. 

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Naturalistic Observation - observing without intervening o Pros:useful for generating future hypotheses o Cons: may be expensive/time consuming, reactivity, lack of statistical control Survey Method - use of surveys to help understand behavior o Pros: inexpensive, effective o Cons: differential response rate, not being truthful in responses, attitudebehavior consistency Case Study - individual study of one particular case o Pros: in depth research, cheaper, feasible o Cons: not broad enough to apply to all cases, spending a lot of time and money into just one case Correlation design (two variables involved and +/- correlations and strengths) how two or more variables relate to one another o Pros: can help predict behavior, can help in devising a more controlled experiment o Cons: correlation does not mean causation, doesn’t account for a third variable Experimental design (and control groups) - most controlled form of experiment o Pros: Highly controlled variables, most helpful for understanding causation o Cons: Artificial, ecological validity (conditions not reality) Moderators - occurs before treatment; describes “when” treatment works and changes direction of treatment effects o Treatment works when you are a male, but not when you are a female Mediators - occurs during treatment; describes “how” treatment works and acts as therapeutic alliance o Treatment works if you like your therapist, or if you comply with taking meds

3. Know the various problems that can occur with research studies (e.g. experimenter bias) and the methods that can be used to address them. Problems:

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Experimental bias - researcher’s expectation or preferences influence the results of a study Social desirability bias - tendency to give socially approved answers to questions about oneself Experimenter Bias - asking questions to influence the answers given Expectations Bias- researcher’s expect a certain outcome and will influence the study to get that outcome Sampling Bias - sample you are studying is not representative of the general public Bias in self-report - people may not be accurate about their feelings Halo effect - someone’s overall evaluation of a person, object, or institution spills over to influence more specific evaluations Placebo effects - occurs when subjects report feelings of change or differences in behavior without actually receiving the appropriate treatment

Remedies:  Single blind - researchers know who is receiving treatment, not the subject group  Double blind - both experimenters and subjects don’t know WHO is in the control or experimental group  Experimental Blinding - experimenter is not aware of WHAT treatment people are receiving  Replication - replicability reduces situational errors (possibly placebos)  Multiple Methods of Assessment - ??????

4. Know the difference between the mean, median and mode. What are descriptive and inferential statistics? Be familiar with any terms corresponding with how scores/performance is distributed in a sample. 

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Descriptive statistics - find meaningful patterns and summaries in large data sets (central tendency, uniform dist. etc.) -Mean(average): a numeric average of a data set (can be skewed by extreme values) -Median: the middle-most value of an ordered, numerical, data set -Mode: the most frequently occuring value Inferential statistics - uses statistical rules to determine whether the difference between groups reflects the general population or due to chance. o Based on our class sample, one might conclude that men play more videogames than women” Clinical vs Statistical significance o Statistical = not due to chance o Clinical = the practical significance of findings What are the challenges to conducting competent research?

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Conducting competent research o novelty vs. replication - people tend to want to produce, not replicate; journals don't publish replications o the challenge of negative findings - boring study results don't get published, so research is skewed towards studies that are “interesting” o selective outcome analyses - 20 things happened but the 1 juiciest finding gets reported

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Steps to avoid incompetent research: o Share all data o Pick one variable/ outcome of interest ahead of time

Chapter three – Biological Bases of Behavior 1. Know the different parts of the neuron (e.g., axon) and their role in action potentials. What is the difference between afferent and efferent neurons?

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Afferent neuron - sensory neurons, towards the brain (periphery → central) Efferent neuron - motor neurons, away from the brain (central → periphery) Interneurons - connects Afferent / Efferent, allows for complex tasks (learning)

Dendrites: receives information(large amount of surface area) Nucleus and soma: functional unit of the neuron Myelin sheath: speeds up transport of information, insulator Axon: transmits information Axon terminal: release neurotransmitters of the presynaptic cell

2. What are the characteristics of action potentials? What is the sodium-potassium pump? What is polarization and depolarization?

Action potential (nerve impulse) - it’s the change in electric potential that’s associated with the passage of an impulse along a nerve cell…. A wave of depolarization and repolarization of cells  Sodium-potassium pump- pumps sodium ions out and potassium ions in  Polarization - resting potential (stable at -70 millivolts)  Depolarization - action potential (ions leave and repolarize at -50 millivolts) sodium ions enter in the nerve (cell is +) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnksofQN8_s 

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*** Inside of cell is more negatively charged*** All-or-Nothing principle - the action potential either occurs, or it doesn’t, ie: you can’t “half-fire” a gun

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3. Know the function of the different various neurotransmitters and their association with the disorders that we discussed in class. Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers. o Two types:  Excitatory - chemical messengers that help promote the action potential  Inhibitory - chemical messengers that suppress the action potential Specific types and disorders: 

Acetylcholine- (associated w alzheimers) memory, ability to learn Norepinephrine- depressive disorders Dopamine- (parkinson's, schizophrenia) constant movement,delusions Gaba- anxiety Serotonin- mood disorders, depression, eating disorders endorphins-

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Agonists- “mimic” Neurotransmitters o Eg: morphine Antagonists- chemical or drug that binds to receptors in the brain and prevents an agonist from having a reaction. Reuptake- The reabsorption of a secreted substance by the cell that originally produced and secreted it.Eg: antidepressants

4. Know the different brain areas that we discussed in class and their function (and any neurological disorders associated with them). Hindbrain (Brain Stem)]  Medulla: primarily involved in basic functions like breathing and heart rate, blood pressure, etc.  Cerebellum- fine motor control, coordination, balance, etc. o Ie: when you drink too much alcohol you aren’t able to walk properly because the cerebellum isn’t able to function properly. o Cerebellar Hypoplasia: this is a condition where the cerebellum isn’t fully developed at birth, and this results in difficulty moving, and potentially less-developed motor and verbal skills  NeuroPlasticity- the concept that the brain can adapt and compensate for damage to certain parts of it. Plasticity is more prominent in younger patients than older.  Reticular Activating System- involved with the overall level of brain activity in a person. Responsible for arousal and overall brain activity o Ie: having a role in underlying different levels of consciousness- being highly alert v/s. being in a comatose state. Mid Brain (Limbic System)  The part of the brain that has to do with things such as flight and fight  Thalamus- relays sensory information (vision, hearing, taste, etc) to other parts of the brain. It sorts out different information and sends it to the part of the brain that is designed to handle that type of information.  Hypothalamus- involved in stress response, appetitive behaviors such as hunger, thirst, sex, sleep, etc. “Pleasure Center of the Brain” o If you put electrodes in a rat’s brain that stimulates the hypothalamus when they do something, they would do the behavior over and over again to help stimulate the brain. o Prader-Willi Syndrome- this is where someone’s hypothalamus is not working properly, and they never feel full. This disorder can affect multiple things such as intelligence, height, weight, etc.  Amygdala: this is the part of the brain that is associated with threat detection Trying to decide if there are harmful things in one’s environment. It’s also involved in emotional expression/experience. o Kluver-Bucy syndrome is a syndrome where the amygdala is damaged, which results in docility and passivity in a person, as well as hyper-orality (putting a lot of things in their mouth), as well as hyper-sexuality. o Stimulating the Amygdala can cause aggressiveness and potential paranoia.  Hippocampus: the part of the brain involved in creating new memories.

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Lobes: Newest part of the brain from an evolutionary standpoint- this is what separates us from animals- this is where we reason, and problem solve, etc. o Frontal Lobe: Involves judgement, reasoning, problem solving, planning, etc.  Damage to this part of the brain can result in being rigid and unreasonable- they show perseveration (repeating actions over and over/trying to fix something in the same way every time). They don’t have a filter. Interpersonal Stickiness (when someone doesn’t pick up social cues that a conversation is over) is also observed.  Logorrhea is when someone can’t stop talking, and is observed when there is damage with the frontal lobe. o Parietal Lobe: towards the top of the head- involves mainly the integration and making sense of sensory and motor information.  Ie: if you’re thinking about tying your shoes, the parietal lobe is able to connect the intention of tying your shoes to actually tying your shoes.  If a person has damage to the parietal lobe, they will have difficulty making intentional movements, ie: typing, or writing. This is called Apraxia (a mind-body disconnection)  This Apraxia can be associated with very specific things, such as getting dressed....