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Psych
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Professor Wundt | Created the first pyschology labratory |
Structuralism | Early school of thought - Used introspection to reveal the structure of the human mind |
Functionalism | Early school of thought - Explored how mental and behavioral processes function |
Introspection | Looking inward |
William Jones | Author, functionalist |
Mary Whinton Calkins | President of the American Psychological Association |
Margaret Floy Washburn | First woman to receive a psychology degree, Second APA President |
Behaviorism | A view that psychology should be an objective science that studies behavior without referance to mental process |
Freudian Psychology | Emphasized the ways our unconscious thought processes and our emotional responses to childhood experiences affect our behavior |
Humanistic Psychology | Draw attention to current environmental influences, that could nurture or limit our growth potential |
Cognitive Psychology | Scientifically explores how we percieve, process, and remember information |
Behavior | Anything an organism does |
Mental Process | Internal, subjective experiences we infer from behavior |
Psychology | The science of behavioral and mental processes |
Nature - Nurture Issue | Longstanding controversy over the relative contributions that genes and experience make to the development of psychological traits and behaviors |
Natural Selection | Nature selects traits that best enable an organism to survive and reproduce in a particular enviroment |
Levels of Analysis | Different complementary views from biological to psychological to social - cultural for analyzing any given phenomenon |
Biopsychosocial Approach | An integrated approach that incorporates biological, psychological, and social - cultural levels of analysis |
Neuroscience | How the body and brain enable emotions |
Evolutionary | Natural selection of traits |
Behavior Genetics | Our genes and environment influences differences |
Psychodynamic | Behavior springs from unconscious |
Behavioral | How we learn observable responses |
Cognitaive | How we encode, process, store and revive information |
Social - Cultural | How behavior and thinking differs across cultures |
Basic Research | Pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base |
Applied Research | Scientific study that aims to solve practical problems |
Counseling Psychologists | Help people cope with challenges and crises, and achieving greater well being |
Clinical Psychology | A branch of psychology that studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders |
Psychiatry | A branch of medicare dealing with psychological disorders |
Positive Pyschology | The scientific study of human functioning, with goals of discovering and promoting strenghs |
Testing Effect | Enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply reading, information |
Hindsight Bais | The tenancy to believe, after learning an outcome, that no one would have foreseen it (I-knew-it-all-along Phenomenon) |
Critical Thinking | Smart thinking by not blindly following arguments or conclusions |
Theory | Explanation using principles that organizes and predicts behaviors and events |
Hypothesis | Testable Prediction |
Operational Definition | Statement of procedures to see whether the basic findings exceeds the other participants and circumstances |
Case Study | Observation technique where one person is studied in depth in hope of reveling universal principles |
Naturalistic Observation | Observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate or control the situation |
Survey | A technique by questioning a group, a random sample of a group or a representative |
Population | All those in a group being studied |
Random Sample | A sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion |
Correlaton | A measure of the extent to which two factors vary together and how well either factor predicts the other |
Correlation Coefficant | A statistical index of the relationship between two things |
Experiment | A research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more factors to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process |
Experimental Group | The group exposed to the experiment |
Control Group | The group not exposed to the experiment |
Random Assignment | Assigning participants to experimental and control groups by chance |
Double Blind Procedures | Experimental procedure in which participants and research staff are blind to who has been exposed in the experiment |
Placebo Effect | Experimental results caused by expectations alone |
Independent Variable | The experimental factor that is manipulated |
Confounding Variable | A factor other than independent variable that might produce an effect in the experiment |
Dependent Variable | The outcome factor |
Culture | Enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next |
Informed Concent | Giving potential participants enough information about a study to enable them to decide if they want us to participate |
Debriefing | The post experimental explanation of a study |
Biological Psychology | The scientific study of the links between biological and psychological processes |
Neuron | A nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system |
Dendrites | A neuron's bushy, branching extensions that receive messages and conduct impulses toward the cell body |
Axon | The neuron extension that passes messages through its branches to other neurons or to muscles or glands |
Myelin Sheath | A fatty tissue layer segmentally encasing the axons of some neurons; enables vastly greater transmission speed as neural impulses hop from one node to the next |
Glial Cells | Cells in the nervous system that support, nourish, and protect neurons; they may also play a role in learning and thinking |
Action Potential | A neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon |
Threshold | The level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse |
Synapse | The junction between the axon tip of sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving neuron |
Neurotransmitters | Chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gaps between neurons |
Endorphins | A natural, opiate-like neurotransmitters linked to pain control and to pleasure |
Nervous System | The body's speedy, electrochemical communication network, consisting of all the nerve cells of the peripheral and central nervous systems |
Central Nervous System (CNS) | The brain and the spinal cord |
Peripheral Nervous System (PNS) | The sensory and motor neurons that connect the center nervous system (CNS) to the rest of the body |
Nerves | Bundled axons that form neural "cables" connect to the central nervous system with muscles, glands, and sense organs |
Sensory (Afferent) Neurons | Neurons that carry incoming information from the sensory receptors to the brain and spinal cord |
Motor (Efferent) Neurons | Neurons that carry outgoing information from the brain and spinal cord to the muscles and glands |
Interneurons | Neurons within the brain and spinal cord that communicate internally and intervene between the sensory inputs and motor outputs |
Somatic Nervous System | The division of the peripheral nervous system that controls the body's skeletal muscles |
Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) | The part of the peripheral nervous system that controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organs |
Sympathetic Nervous System | The division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy in stressful situations |
Parasympathetic Nervous System | The division of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body, conserving its energy |
Reflex | A simple, automatic response to a sensory stimulus |
Endocrine System | The body's "slow" chemical communication system; a set of glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream |
Hormones | Chemical messengers that are manufactured by the endocrine glands, travel through the bloodstream, and affect other tissues |
Adrenal Glands | A pair of endocrine glands that sit just above the kidneys and secrete hormones that help arouse the body in times of stress |
Pituitary Glands | The endocrine system's most influential gland |
Lesion | Tissue destruction |
Brainstem | The oldest part and central core of the brain, beginning where the spinal cord swells as it enters the skull; the brainstem is responsible for automatic survival functions |
Medulla | The base of the brainstem; controls heartbeat and breathing |
Thalamus | The brain's sensory router, located on top of the brainstem; it directs messages to the sensory receiving ares in the cortex and transmits replies to the cerebellum and medulla |
Reticular Formation | A nerve network that travels through the brainstem and plays an important role in controlling arousal |
Electroencephalogram (EEG) | An amplified recording of the waves of electrical activity sweeping across the brain's surface |
Positron Emission Tomography Scan (PET) | A visual display of brain activity that detects where a radioactive form of glucose goes while the brain performs a given task |
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) | A technique that uses magnetic fields and radio waves to produce computer-generated images of soft tissue |
Functional MRI (fMRI) | A technique for revealing blood flow and, therefore, brain activity by comparing successive MRI scans |
Cerebeullum | The "little brain" at the rear of the brainstem; functions include processing sensory input, coordinating movement output and balance, and enabling nonverbal learning and memory |
Limbic System | Neural system located below the cerebral hemispheres; associated with emotions and drives |
Amygdala | Two lima-bean-sized neural clusters in the limbic system; linked to emotions |
Hypothalamus | A neural structure lying below the thalamus; it directs several maintenance activities; linked to emotion and reward |
Cerebral Cortex | The intricate fabric of interconnected neural cells covering the cerebral hemispheres; the body's ultimate control and information-processing center |
Frontal Lobes | Portion of the cerebral cortex lying just behind the forehead; involved in speaking and muscle movements and in making plans and judgments |
Parietal Lobes | Portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the top of the head and toward the rear; receives sensory input for touch and body position |
Occipital Lobes | Portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the back of the head; includes areas that receive information from the visual fields |
Temporal Lobes | Portion of the cerebral cortex lying roughly above the ears; includes the auditory areas, each receiving information primarily from the opposite ear |
Motor Cortex | An area at the rear of the frontal lobes that controls voluntary movements |
Sensory Cortex | Area at the front of the parietal lobes registers and processes body touch and movement sensations |
Association Areas | Areas of the cerebral cortex that are not involved in primary motor or sensory functions; rather, they are involved in higher mental functions such as learning, remembering, thinking and speaking |
Plasticity | The brain's ability to change, especially during childhood, by reorganizing after damage or by building new pathways based on experience |
Neurogenesis | The formation of new neurons |
Corpus Callosum | The large band of neural fibers connecting the two brain hemispheres and carrying messages between them |
Split Brain | A condition resulting from surgery that isolates the brain's two hemispheres by cutting the fibers connecting them |
Gender | The socially constructed roles and characteristics by which a culture defines male and female |
Agession | Any physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt or destroy |
X Chromosome | The sex chromosome found in both men and women |
Y Chromosome | The sex chromosome found only in men |
Testosterone | The most important of the male sex hormones. Both males and females have it, but the additional testosterone in males stimulates the growth of of male sex organs in the fetus and the development of the male sex characteristics during puberty |
Puberty | The period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing |
Primary Sex Characteristics | The body structures that make sexual reproduction possible |
Secondary Sex Characteristics | Non reproductive sexual traits (blond hair, hips, body hair) |
Menarche | The first menstrual period |
Gender Role | A set of expected behaviors for males or females |
Role | A set of expectations about a social position, defining how those in position ought to behave |
Gender Identity | Our sense of being male or female |
Social Learning Theory | The theory that we learn social behavior by observing and imitating and by being rewarded or punished |
Gender Typing | The acquisition of a traditional masculine or feminine role |
Transgender | An umbrella term describing people whose gender identity or expression differs from that associated with their birth sex |
Mode | The most frequently occurring scores in a distribution |
Mean | The arithmetic average of a distribution, obtained by adding the scores and then dividing by the number of scores |
Median | The middle score in a distribution; half the scores are above it and half are below it |
Range | The difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution |
Standard Deviation | A computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean score |
Normal Curve | A symmetrical, bell-shaped curve that describe the distribution of many types of data; most scores fall near the mean and fewer and fewer near the extremes |
Correlation Coefficant | A statistical index of the relationship between two things |
Scatterplot | A graphed cluster of dots, each of which represents the values of two variables. The slope of the points suggests the direction of the relationship between two variable. The amount of scatter suggests the strength of the correlation |
Regression Toward the Mean | The tendency for extreme or unusual scores or events to fall back toward the average |
Cross-sectional Study | Research in which people of different ages are compared with one another |
Longitudinal Study | Research in which the same people are restudied and retest over a long period of time |
Statistical Significance | A statistical statement of how likely it is that an obtained result occurred by chance |