Chapter 1: Psychology: The Evolution of a Science
...
What is psychology? What is the mind? What is behavior?
Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behavior
Mind is our private inner experience of perceptions, thoughts, memories, and feelings
Behavior is the observable actions of human beings and nonhuman animals
What are the three key questions in psychology?
1. What are the bases of perceptions, thoughts, memories, and feelings, or our subjective senses of self?
2. How does the mind usually allow us to function effectively in the world?
3. Why does the mind occasionally function so ineffectively?
What is the nativism? What is philosophical empiricism? Which reflects "nature" and which reflects "nurture" in the nature- nurture debate?
Nativism is the philosophical view that certain kinds of knowledge are innate or inborn
Philosophical empiricism is the philosophical view that all knowledge is acquired through experience.
Although few modern psychologists believe that nativism or empiri
What is phrenology? How did work with brain damaged patients help establish a mind- body connection?
Phrenology is a now defunct theory that specific mental abilities and characteristics, ranging from memory to the capacity for happiness, are localized in specific regions of the brain.
When Paul Broca worked with a patient who had suffered damage to a sm
Psychology has its roots in philosophy- from which it drew the questions it tries to answer- and physiology. What is physiology?
Physiology is the study of biological processes, especially in the human body
Who is credited as being the founder of psychology including teaching its first course in 1867 and opening its first lab?
Wilhelm Wundt
What is consciousness? How did Wundt study consciousness using stimuli and reaction time? What is structuralism? What is introspection? What is the problem with using introspection as a research method?
Consciousness is a person's subjective experience of the world and the mind.To study consciousness Wundt and his students adopted an approach called structuralism, which is the analysis of the basic elements that constitute the mind. Some of Wundt's studi
What is functionalism? How did William James differ from Wundt in how he believed consciousness should be studied? Which man thought consciousness was a stream? Which man thought it could be broken up?
Functionalism is the study of the purpose of mental processes serve in enabling people to adapt to their environment.
James agreed with Wundt of some points, but disagreed with his claim that consciousness could be broken down into separate elements. Jame
What is natural selection?
Natural selection is Charles Darwin's theory that the features of an organism that help it survive and reproduce are more likely to be passed on to subsequent generations
What is hysteria? What is the unconscious? What is the emphasis in Freud's psychoanalytic theory? What is psychoanalysis? What were some criticisms of Freud's approach (page 14)?
Hysteria is a temporary loss of cognitive or motor functions, usually as a result of emotionally upsetting experiences.
Unconscious is the part of the mind that operates outside of conscious awareness but influences conscious thoughts, feelings, and actio
What is humanistic psychology? Who were its founders? How did it differ from psychoanalytic theory?
Humanistic psychology is an approach to understanding human nature that emphasizes the positive potential of human beings.
The founders of humanistic psychology are Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers.
Humanistic psychologists focused on the highest aspiration
What is behaviorism? Why is it called S-R psychology? What psychologist is associated with behaviorism? What are some of the criticisms of (page 17)?
Behaviorism is an approach that advocates that psychologists restrict themselves to the scientific study of objectively observable behavior.
This approach is called to S-R psychology, because it is made up of a stimulus and a response, in which Watson and
What is Gestalt psychology?
Gestalt psychology is a psychological approach that emphasizes that we often perceive the whole rather than the sum of the parts
Behaviorism dominated psychology from the 1930s to the 1950s. With the advent of the computer, cognitive psychology emerged. What is cognitive psychology?
Cognitive psychology is the scientific study of mental processes, including perception, thought, memory, and reasoning.
What is behavioral neuroscience?
Behavioral neuroscience is an approach to psychology that links psychological processes to activities in the nervous system and other bodily processes.
What is evolutionary psychology? What is social psychology? What is cultural psychology?
Evolutionary psychology is a psychological approach that explains mind and behavior in term of the adaptive value of abilities that are preserved over time by natural selection.
Social psychology is a subfield of psychology that studies the causes and con
Chapter 2: The Methods of Psychology
...
What is empiricism? What is the scientific method? What is a theory? A hypothesis? What is an operational definition?
Empiricism is the belief that accurate knowledge can be acquired through observation.
Scientific method is a set of principles about the appropriate relationships between ideas and evidence.
Theory is a hypothetical explanation of a natural phenomenon.
Hy
Measurements need to have validity, reliability and power. What are reliability and validity? Which refers to whether a measure is consistent? Which refers to whether a measure is measuring what it is supposed to measure?
Reliability is the tendency for a measure to produce the same measurement whenever it is used to measure the same thing.
Validity is the extent to which a measurement and property are conceptually related.
Reliability refers to whether a measure is consis
What are demand characteristics and how can they be a problem when observing people? What is naturalistic observation? What is a double blind observation and why might it be needed?
Demand characteristics are those aspects of an observational setting that cause people to behave as they think they should. This can be a problem when observing people because the people aren't behaving as they normally would causing inaccurate data.
To a
What is a variable? What is a correlation? With a correlation, why can we not say that one variable causes the other? See Figure 2.2. What is the third-variable problem? Also review the section on Measuring Correlation on page A-4 and A-5 in the Appendix.
Variable is a property whose value can vary across individuals or over time.
Correlation is when two variables are said to "be correlated" when variations in the value of one variable are synchronized with variations in the value of the other.
Third-varia
While a correlation only measures variables, an experiment manipulates one variable. What is an experiment? What is manipulation? What is an independent variable? What is a dependent variable? What is an experimental group? What is a control group? Given
Experiment is a technique for establishing the causal relationship between variables.
Manipulation is the creation of an artificial pattern of variation in a variable in order to determine its causal powers.
Independent variable is the variable that is ma
What is self-selection and why is it a problem in experiments? What is random assignment and how does it help with the self-selection problem?
Self-selection is a problem that occurs when anything about a person determines whether he or she will be included in the experimental or control group. This is a problem because in an experiment when separating into groups you only want them to differ in
What does it mean to say that the difference between the control group and experimental group are statistically significant? Top p. 46
Random assignments ensures that participants in the experimental and the control groups are one average equal terms of all possible third variables. In essence, it ensures that there is no correlation between a third variable and the dependent variable.
What is internal validity? What is external validity? Which type of validity refers to our ability to draw inferences about cause and effect? Which allows us to generalize to the "real" world?
Internal validity is the characteristic of an experiment that establishes the causal relationship between variables. This validity refers to our ability to draw inferences about cause and effect.
External validity is a property of an experiment in which t
What is the case method? What is a population? What is a sample? What is random sampling (page 47)?
Case method is a method of gathering scientific knowledge by studying a single individual
Population is the complete collection of participants who might possibly be measured
Random sampling is a technique for choosing participants that ensures that every
You should be familiar with the ethical guidelines for research with human participants including informed consent, debriefing, and the risk-benefit analysis.
Informed consent: Participants may not take part in a psychological study unless they have given informed consent, which is a written agreement to participate in a study made by an adult who has been informed of all the risks that participation may entail
Chapter 3: Neuroscience and Behavior
...
What are neurons? What is the cell body? Dendrites? Axons? The path of transmission in a neuron is dendrite, cell body, then axon. What are glial cells? What is the myelin sheath? What is a synapse?
Neurons are cells in the nervous system that communicate with one another to perform information processing tasks
Cell body is the part of a neuron that coordinates information-processing tasks and keeps the cell alive
Dendrites are the part of a neuron t
What are three types of neurons (sensory neurons, motor neurons, and interneurons)?
Sensory neurons are neurons that receive information from the external world and convey this information to the brain via the spinal cord
Motor neurons are neurons that carry signals from the spinal cord to the muscles to produce movement
Interneurons are
Be familiar with how electrical signals are conducted within a neuron. What is the resting potential? Is it + or -? When a threshold hold is reached, what happens? What is an action potential - does the charge become + or -? What are nodes of Ranvier? Why
Resting potential is the difference in electrical charge between the inside and outside of a neuron's cell membrane.
Neurons have a resting potential that is created by the balance of electrical forces on charged molecules, or ions. There are more potassi
Be familiar with how chemicals transmit messages between neurons. What is a synapse? Is communication between neurons electrical or chemical? What are terminal buttons? What are neurotransmitters? What are the three ways the synapse is cleared (p. 63)? Be
When an action potential reaches the end of the sending, or presynaptic, neuron's axon, the signal turns from electrical to chemical, as a neurotransmitter is released from vesicles into the synaptic gap. Neurotransmitters and their corresponding receptor
What comprises the central nervous system? The peripheral nervous system? Be able to explain the difference between the somatic and autonomic nervous system and the difference between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. See Figure 3.6
The nervous system is divided in the central nervous system, which is composed of the brain and the spinal cord, and the peripheral nervous system, which is composed of the somatic and autonomic nervous systems. The somatic nervous system receives sensory
Be able to explain the path of a reflex. Figure3.8
Spinal reflexes: simple pathways in the nervous system that rapidly generate muscle contractions.
Painful sensations travel directly to the spinal cord via sensory neurons, which then issue an immediate command to motor neurons to carry out the movement.
The brain- you will not have to label parts on a picture but you will need to know the functions of each part
The brain can be divided intro three main sections: the hindbrain, the midbrain, and the forebrain. In the hindbrain several structures are responsible for life-sustaining functions. For example, the medulla coordinates breathing and heart rate, the retic
Hindbrain/brainstem: medulla, cerebellum, reticular formation
Medulla:
Cerebellum:
Reticular formation:
Forebrain: Subcortical structures: thalamus, hypothalamus, hippocampus, amygdala, basal ganglia
Thalamus:
Hypothalamus:
Hippocampus:
Amygdala:
Basal ganglia:
Forebrain: Cerebral cortex: What is the corpus callosum? When you move the left side of you body it was controlled by what side of your brain? Lobes (temporal, occipital, parietal, and frontal): Know their functions. Which lobes contain the auditory corte
Corpus Callosum:
When you move the left side of the body it is controlled by the ...
Temporal Lobe:
Occipital Lobe:
Parietal Lobe:
Frontal Lobe:
The body parts that get more space on the somatosensory and motor cortex are
The
What are association areas? What is meant by plasticity (p. 76)?
Association areas:
Plasticity:
What is the degree of relatedness? How are identical twins different from fraternal twins? P. 80 and p. 296 in chapter 9. You should understand the logic behind twin studies (E.g., if an effect is all genetics- who should have a higher correlation- identi
Degree of relatedness:
The unit of hereditary transmission, or genes is built from strands of DNA and organized into chromosomes. Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes, with half coming from each partner. Monozygotic twins share 100% of their genes, whereas
What is the split brain procedure? What hemisphere processes language? Review experiment on p. 83 (shown to right visual field, can name it; shown to left visual field- can only point to it with right hand but not name it).
The split brain procedure:
The
What is an EEG? What are neuroimaging techniques? CT scans and MRIs show the structure of the brain. What procedures show the function of the brain?
...
Chapter 5: Consciousness
...
What is consciousness? What is phenomenology? What is the problem of other minds?
Consciousness:
Phenomenology:
Problem of other minds:
Be able to explain the four basic properties of consciousness. What is the cocktail party phenomenon?
intentionality:
unity:
selectivity:
transiences:
Cocktail party phenomenon:
What is minimal consciousness? Full consciousness? What is self-consciousness? How do researchers test for self-consciousness? At what age do humans seem to experience self-recognition? What others animals are capable of self-recognition? (page 136)
Minimal consciousness:
Full consciousness:
Self-consciousness:
What kind of thoughts tend to dominate consciousness (page 137)? What is mental control? What is thought suppression? What is the rebound effect of thought suppression? See Figure 5.5. What are ironic processes of mental control?
mental control:
thought suppression:
rebound effect:
ironic processes of mental control:
What is Freud's dynamic unconscious? What is repression? How is this view different from the more modern cognitive unconscious? What is subliminal perception? What does research say about its effects on behavior?
psychoanalytical theory:
repression:
subliminal perception:
What is a circadian rhythm?
circadian rhythm:
Be familiar with the different stages of sleep- what brain waves are present in stage 1? In stages 3 and 4 (slow-wave sleep)? What stages are deep sleep? What is REM sleep? During which stage of sleep do dreams tend to occur? Does the brain look awake or
In the first stage of sleep, we can detect from the EEG as it moves to frequency patterns that are lower than alpha waves. In the second stage, these patterns become interrupted by "short bursts of activity" which are called the "sleep spindles" and "K co
How long does a sleep cycle last? How many do people have per night? How does the sleep cycle change over the course of the night?
...
What are the consequences of having sleep deprivation (page 144)? How does evolutionary theory explain the variations in sleep patterns across species?
...
Sleep disorders: What is insomnia? Sleeping pills can be problematic because they interfere with what stage of sleep? What is sleep apnea? What is somnambulism and what stages of sleep does it usually occur in? What is narcolepsy? What are night terrors?
Sleep can be disrupted through disorders, which include insomnia, sleep apnea, somnambulism, narcolepsy, sleep paralysis, and night terrors.
What do we tend to dream about (p. 146-147)?
The contents of dreams are related to waking life and can be understood by examining the areas of the brain that are activated when we dream.
There are two main theories of why we dream. According to Freud, why do we dream? In contrast, why does the activation synthesis model say we dream?
The activation-synthesis model, which "proposes that dreams are produced when the brain attempts to make sense of actions that occur randomly during sleep". From this, we know that when awake, the mind is constantly interpreting different information from
During REM sleep are these parts of the brain more or less active: amygdala (associated with emotion), visual association areas in the occipital lobe, prefrontal cortex (involved in planning)? The motor cortex is active during REM sleep. Why do we then no
...
What is hypnosis? Are the following well-established effects of hypnosis: performing great feats of physical strength? Performing extreme actions? Recovering lost memories? Reducing pain? What is hypnotic analgesia?
Although many claims for hypnosis overstate its effects, this altered state of consciousness characterized by suggestibility does have a range of real effects on individuals who are susceptible, making them feel that their actions are occurring involuntar