STUDY GUIDE
GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY (PSY-200)
The following terms are to serve as a guide to your understanding of the class lectures. Keep in mind as you read that not all of these terms will necessarily be covered in class, but it is important that you understand what each term on the list means. Most terms will come directly from your text; others that are indicated by an asterisk (*) will come from lecture notes. Other terms may also be added as we progress through the semester. You will find that your studying will be more effective if you spend a little time each day to refresh your learning rather than trying to cram the night before the test. It is also helpful to have read the chapters before the class lecture. This list of terms should not be used as a substitute for reading the text chapters!
TEST I
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY
Psychology defined
Behavior and Mental Processes
Is psychology a relatively old or relatively new field of study?
Philosophy and Biology * - The historical roots of psychology.
The goals of psychology: Description, Explanation, Prediction, Influence.
Psychologist or Psychiatrist *?
Psychologists by:
Sex* - Most are women as of 2010. Three fourths of all new doctorates are earned by women.
Location* - USA has 300,000; Europe has 290,000; Brazil has 140,000.
Race* - Only 6% are members of racial minority groups.
Ergot or LSD?
Trephining (trepanning) * - Ancient operation to relieve psychological problems by chipping a hole in the skull to release “evil spirits” that caused the stress.
Renee Descartes (1596-1650)* - A seventeenth century philosopher who
believed that nerves were hollow tubes through which “animal spirits”
conducted impulses in the same way water runs through a pipe. Also, he believed that some knowledge was inborn in humans.
Franz Josef Gall (1758-1828) and Phrenology* - Believed that trained observers could discern intelligence, moral character, and other basic personality characteristics from the shape and number of bumps on a skull.
John Locke and tabula rasa (1632-1704)* - Believed that children were born as “blank slates” and that their experiences determined what kinds of adults that they would be.
Johann Weyer * - Often called the Father of Modern Psychiatry.
Wilhelm Wundt * - “Father of Psychology” and studied perception.
Edward Titchener
Introspection * - To look within; to examine one’s thoughts, feelings, or sensations. Problematic as a research method because the accuracy of a subject’s responses could not be determined.
Structuralism * - The school of thought concerned with analyzing perceptions, sensations, and personal experience into basic elements.
William James
Functionalism * - The school of psychology concerned with how behavior and mental abilities help people adapt to their environments. (Today we have educational and industrial psychology).
Schools of Thought in Psychology
Behaviorism
John B. Watson
B.F. Skinner
Psychoanalysis
Sigmund Freud
Humanistic Psychology
Abraham Maslow
Carl Rogers
Cognitive Psychology
Gestalt Psychology (how perception is organized)
Max Wertheimer (phi phenomenon)
Information-processing theory
Evolutionary psychology
Biological (physiological) Psychology
Neuroscience
Sociocultural Approach
Psychological Perspectives
Women in Psychology *
Margaret Floy Washburn (1871-1939) Was the first woman to
receive a doctorate in psychology and studied animal behavior.
Leta Stetter Hollingsworth (1886-1939) Was one of the first psychologists to focus on child development and on women’s issues. Refuted the common belief that women’s abilities periodically declined during parts of the menstrual cycle.
Mary Calkins (1863-1930) Studied memory and became the first female president of the American Psychological Association.
Karen Horney (1885-1952) Focused on the social and cultural factors behind personality.
June Etta Downey (1875-1932) Studied personality and became university.
Anna Freud (1895-1982) Was the daughter of Sigmund Freud and made significant contributions to the study of abnormal behavior.
Mamie Phipps Clark (1917-1983) Conducted pioneering research on how children of color grew to recognize racial differences.
Key Issues *
Nature-Nurture Issue
Conscious-Unconscious causes of behavior
Observable behavior-Internal mental processes
Free will-Determinism
Individual differences-universal principles
Scientific method steps
Hypothesis
Naturalistic and laboratory observation
Case studies
Survey research
Correlational Method
Experimental Method
Experimental vs. control group
Independent vs. dependent variable
Placebo
Random assignment to condition
Replication
Limitations
Research Participants
Bias
Protecting human participant’s and animal’s rights
Informed consent
Diffusion of responsibility (Bystander effect; pages 356-357)
CHAPTER 2
BIOLOGY AND BEHAVIOR
Hans Berger (1924)
Electroencephalogram (EEG)
CT Scan
MRI
PET
fMRI
Neurons
Afferent (sensory)
Efferent (motor)
Interneurons
Neuron structures
Dendrite
Soma
Axon
Terminal buttons (axon terminals)
Myelin Sheath
Nodes of Ranvier
Glial cells * - Provide nourishment, insulate, repair damage, support neural functioning.
Synapse (synaptic clefts); there are about 100 trillion in the human body.
Synaptic vesicles
Create
Recycle
Reuptake
Presynaptic (sending)
Postsynaptic (receiving)
Resting potential * - The electrical charge of a neuron at rest, about 70 millivolts.
Action potential
Threshold * - The point at which a nerve impulse is triggered.
All-or-none law
Negative after potential * - A drop in electrical charge below the resting potential.
Neurotransmitters
Receptors
Agonists (excitatory) * - Excite by mimicking the effects of a drug or blocking its reuptake. Some opiate drugs produce a temporary high by amplifying sensations of arousal or pleasure.
Antagonists (inhibitory) * - Inhibit a neurotransmitter’s release decreasing likelihood that a neuron will fire .
Acetylcholine (Ach) * - The neurotransmitter released by neurons to activate muscles.
Curare * - A drug that competes with acetylcholine, causing paralysis. (antagonist)
Types of neurotransmitters
Glutamate
Gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA)
Epinephrine
Dopamine (DA)
Serotonin
Endorphins
Neuron vs. Nerve * - Neurons are tiny individual cells; nerves are large bundles of axons and dendrites.
Neurilemma * - A layer of cells that forms a tunnel that damaged nerve fibers can follow as they repair themselves.
Central nervous system
Spinal chord
Sensory (afferent) neurons
Motor (efferent) neurons
Interneurons
Reflex Arc * - The simplest behavior, in which a stimulus provokes an automatic response.
Peripheral nervous system
Somatic division
Autonomic division
Sympathetic division
Parasympathetic division
Corpus callosum
Central core (old brain)
Hindbrain
Brainstem
Medulla
Pons
Cerebellum
Reticular formation (also called Reticular Activating System or RAS)
Midbrain
Substantia nigra
Forebrain
Thalamus
Hypothalamus
Limbic system
Amygdala
Hippocampus
Cerebrum
Cerebral cortex (new brain)
Corticalization * - Why humans are the most intelligent; an increase in the size and wrinkling of the cortex.
Association areas * - Generally considered to be the site of higher mental processes such as thinking, language, memory, and speech. The association areas make up a large percentage of the cerebral cortex and consist of the sections not directly involved in either sensory processing or directing movements.
Lateralization
Left Hemisphere
Right Hemisphere
Split brain
Cerebral lobes
Frontal
Broca’s area
Motor cortex
Parietal
Somatasensory cortex
Occipital
Primary Visual Cortex
Temporal
Wernicke’s area
Primary auditory cortex
Aphasia (Broca’s and Wernicke’s)
Apraxia * - A disorder that is most evident when people are asked to carry out a sequence of behaviors that require planning and foresight. A major problem is the individual’s inability to integrate activities in a rational or logical manner.
Broca’s
Wernicke’s
Agnosia * - (Mindblindness) Inability to identify seen objects.
Facial Agnosia * - Inability to perceive familiar faces.
Pruning
Plasticity
Stroke
Endocrine system
Hormone
Pituitary gland
Pineal gland
Thyroid gland
Parathyroid glands
Thymus gland
Pancreas
Adrenal glands
Gonads
CHAPTER 4
CONSCIOUSNESS
Consciousness (definition)
Altered states of consciousness
Behaviorism * - Systematically avoided studying consciousness during the early part of the last century.
Larks and Owls
Circadian rhythm
Suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN)
Subjective night
Modafinil
Eugene Aserinsky (1952) * - Using his son Arnold, was the first to study REM sleep.
Electroencephalograph
Polysomnograms
Yawning * - Stretches your neck muscles and increases your heart rate, which increases your alertness.
Adenosine * - During the time we are awake, our active brain produces this chemical, which inhibits certain neurons, making us sleepy. (Caffeine blocks adenosine’s activity.) During sleep, adenosine concentration declines.
Theories of sleep
Restorative sleep
Circadian theory of sleep (evolutionary or adaptive theory)
Sleep
Microsleep * - A brief shift in brain wave patterns to those of sleep.
Sleep Deprivation Psychosis * - A major disruption of mental and emotional functioning brought about by sleep loss.
Stages of sleep
Awake (Beta waves)
Relaxed (Alpha waves)
Stage 1 (Small irregular waves)
Stage 2 (Sleep spindles)
Stage 3 (Some Delta waves)
Stage 4 (Mostly Delta waves)
Hypnic jerks (myoclonus) * - A reflex muscle twitch throughout the body that often occurs as one is asleep.
Hypnogogic sensastions * - Sensations of falling or floating.
REM vs. NREM
Genital arousal during REM *
REM Rebound
Variations in sleep
Sleep Disorders
Parasomnias
Somnambulation
Sleep terrors
Nightmares
Somniloquy
Dyssomnias
Insomnia
Tryptophan * - A sleep-promoting amino acid found in starchy foods, especially baked potatoes, that increases serotonin which helps to promote relaxation, a positive mood, and sleepiness. Tryptophan is also found in milk, eggs, tuna, turkey, cashews, cookies, bread, pasta, oatmeal, pretzels, bagels, and dry cereal.
Narcolepsy * - 1 in 2000 sufferers. Associated with a relative absence of a hypothalamic neural center that produces a neurotransmitter called hypocretin. Can also result in cataplexy, a sudden temporary paralysis.
Sleep Apnea * - Breathing stops for twenty seconds to two minutes (Afflicts approximately 1 in 20 people, mostly overweight men.)
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS or crib death) * - The sudden, unexplained death of an apparently healthy infant (1 out of every 500 babies), believed to be caused by apnea. Babies are three times more likely to die from SIDS if they live in the same house with smokers!
Dreams
REM
NREM
Lucid dreams
Dream interpretation
Manifest content
Latent content
“Wish fulfillment” (Freud)
Hall’s cognitive theory of dreams
Activation synthesis theory
Evolutionary theory
Meditation
Zen and TM
Hypnosis * - About 5 to 20 percent of the population cannot be hypnotized at all and about 15 percent are very easily hypnotized.
Sociocognitive theory
Neodissociation
Dissociated control
Psychoactive drugs
Dopamine
Nucleus accumbes
Substance abuse
Physical dependence (addiction)
Drug tolerance
Withdrawal symptoms
Psychological drug dependence
Psychoactive drug types
Stimulants
Caffeine * - Increases epinephrine in the blood and increases Dopamine in the synapses.
Nicotine
Amphetamines
Cocaine
Depressants
Alcohol
Barbiturates
Minor tranquilizers
Narcotics
Rohypnol * - “date rape drug”
Hallucinogens
Marijuana
LSD
MDMA (Ecstasy)
TEST II
CHAPTER 5
LEARNING
Learning (definition)
Habituation * - The decrease in response to a stimulus that occurs after repeated presentations of the same stimulus.
Conditioning
Associative learning * - Learning that certain events occur together. The events may be two stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a response and its consequences (as in operant conditioning).
Reinforcement * - Any event that increases the probability that a particular response will occur.
Respondent Reinforcement * - Reinforcement that occurs when an unconditioned stimulus (US) closely follows a conditioned stimulus (CS).
Antecedents * - Events that precede a response.
Consequences * - Effects that follow a response.
Classical (Respondent) Conditioning
Ivan Pavlov
Neutral stimulus (NS)
Unconditioned stimulus (US)
Conditioned stimulus (CS)
Unconditioned response (UR)
Conditioned response (CR)
Acquisition (Training) * - The period in conditioning during which a response is reinforced.
Extinction * - Occurs in classical conditioning when a CS in no longer paired with a US.
Spontaneous recovery
Stimulus generalization
Stimulus discrimination
Vicarious classical conditioning * - Conditioning brought about by watching another person react to a particular stimulus.
Expectancy * - An anticipation concerning future events or relationships.
John B. Watson
Little Albert
Conditioned emotional response (CER) * - A learned emotional reaction to a previously neutral stimulus.
Robert Rescorla
Prediction
Biological predisposition
Taste aversion
Ecological relevance
Comparison of Classical and Operant Conditioning *
Classical / OperantNature of response / Involuntary, reflex / Spontaneous, voluntary
Reinforcement / Occurs before response / Occurs after response
Role of learner / Passive / Active
Nature of learning / NS becomes CS through association with a US / Probability of making a response is altered by consequences
Learned expectancy / Us will follow CS / Response will have a specific effect
Operant (instrumental) conditioning
E.L. Thorndike
Law of Effect
Operant reinforcement (definition)
Reward vs. Reinforcer
B.F. Skinner
Response contingent reinforcement * - Reinforcement given only when a particular response is made.
Shaping
Successive approximations * - A series of steps or ever-closer matches to a desired response pattern.
Extinction
Spontaneous recovery
Generalization
Discriminative stimulus
Positive reinforcement (added)
Negative reinforcement (removed)
Reinforcers
Primary
Secondary
Tokens * - Can be exchanged for primary reinforcers.
Premack Principle (Prepotent Responses) * - Any high-frequency response can be used to reinforce a low-frequency response; (“Grandma’s law”).
Effects of immediate and delayed reinforcement
Superstitious behavior * - A behavior repeated because it seems to produce reinforcement, even though it is actually unnecessary.
Schedules of reinforcement
Continuous vs. partial (intermittent) reinforcement
Variable ratio
Fixed interval
Variable interval
Stimulus control training
Punishment * - Psychologists generally think that it is less effective than
positive reinforcers in promoting desirable behavior.
Positive
Negative
Response cost * - Removal of a positive reinforcer after a response is made. Having to give up privileges as a punishment. (grounded!)
Disadvantages of punishment
Alternatives to punishment
How to punish (if you must) *
-Don’t use punishment if you can discourage misbehavior in other ways.
-Apply punishment during, or immediately after, misbehavior.
-Use the minimum punishment necessary to suppress misbehavior.
-Be consistent.
-Expect anger from a punished person.
-Punish with kindness and respect.