quiz

• Psychology


  It is from the Greek word psyche which means sour or mind and logos which means study. It is the scientific study of human behavior and mental processes.
• Important terms regarding the definition of Psychology

  • Scientific study
  • Behavior
  • Mental process
• Scientific study


  Emphasizes that psychology is a science. It is neither simple common sense nor mystical. It relies on objective measures and data before making inferences about thoughts, emotion, and may more.
• Behavior


  Any form of action or anything we do that can be observed.
• Mental process


  Any series of actions or procedures that occurs in the mind such as thoughts, feelings, and motivations. Unlike behavior, mental process cannot be directly observed.
• Goals of psychology

  • Describe
  • Explain
  • Predict
  • Control
• Aristotle


  • Made assumptions out of observation regarding human behavior. Believed that all beings, humans included, have souls, which animate them. Humans, however, compared to other animal, have rational souls. Theorized about learning, memory, motivation, emotion, perception and personality.
• Rene Descartes


  • Supported the view that humans enter the world with an inborn store of knowledge. Argued that some ideas (such as God, the self, perfection and infinity) are innate. Notable for his conception of the body as a machine that can be studied.
• John Locke


  • Believed that at birth the human mind is a "tabula rasa" or a blank slate, on which experience "writes" knowledge.
• Charles Darwin


  • Author of the Law of Natural Selection or Theory of Evolution. Inspired the Psychological school of thought, Functionalism.
• Francis Galton


  • Concerned with the study of individual differences. Considered as the "Father of Mental tests".
• Wilhelm Wundt


  • Considered as the "Father of Modern Psychology." Established the first experimental laboratory for the study of Psychology, in Leipzig, Germany, 1879. Created a machine that measured the time lag between people's hearing a ball hit the platform and their pressing a telegraph key. Seeking to measure the "atoms of the mind" – the fastest and simplest mental processes.
• Wilhelm Wundt


  • Established his laboratory in Leipzig, Germany
• Hermann Ebbinghaus


  • A German who reported on the first experiments on memory, 1885.
• Structuralism


  Introduced by Edward Bradford Titchener. Believed that in order to understand the mind, one should study its components and structures. Employed introspection as a method of research.
• Functionalism


  Started by William James. Focused on the study on the functions of the mind as it adapts to its environment. Its main interest is to understand what the mind does, how it acquired that process, and what are its uses in human experiences.
• Psychoanalysis


  Founded by Sigmund Freud. Shifted of conscious study to unconscious ones. Believed that unconscious forces determine and control our behavior. Psychoanalysis is originally a theory for understanding mental disorders which developed into a theory of personality development.
• Behaviorism


  Emphasized the need to study what is observable. Its objective was to predict and control behavior. Its main proponent was John B. Watson.
• Gestalt Psychology


  Believed that the human mind imposes meaning to related experiences. It advocates that the study of human behavior should be wholistic. "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts." Key proponents were Kurt Koffka and Wolfgang Kohler.
• Humanistic Psychology


  Contends that people can control their behavior and that they naturally try to reach their full potential. It is a perspective that emphasizes looking at the whole individual and stresses concepts such as free will, self-efficacy, and self-actualization. Rather than concentrating on dysfunction, humanistic psychology strives to help people fulfill their potential and maximize their well-being.
• Cognitive Psychology


  Examines how people understand and think about the world. The cognitive perspective in psychology focuses on how the interactions of thinking, emotion, creativity, and problem-solving abilities affect how and why you think the way you do.
• Fields in Psychology

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Social Psychology
  • Personality Psychology
  • Clinical Psychology
  • Counseling Psychology
  • School and Educational Psychology
  • Industrial/Organizational Psychology
  • Environmental Psychology
  • Behavioral Neuroscience
  • Experimental Psychology
  • Forensic Psychology
  • Sports Psychology
  • Health Psychology
  • Cross-Cultural Psychology
  • Behavioral Genetics
  • Cognitive psychology
  • Evolutionary psychology
• Neurons


  Separate cells in the brain that experience the "self" and sense, think, and remember
• Neurons


  • Their shape varies depending on whether they receive information from a few sources or many and whether they send impulses over a short or a long distance
  • Dendrites are widely branching structures that receive input from other neurons
  • Axon is a single, long, thin, straight fiber with branches near its tip
  • Some vertebrate axons are covered with myelin sheath, an insulating sheath that speeds up the transmission of impulses along an axon
• Action potential


  An excitation that travels along an axon at a constant strength, no matter how far it travels
• All-or-none law


  The fact that an axon cannot vary the strength or velocity of its action potentials
• Resting potential


  An electrical polarization across the membrane (or covering) of an axon when it is not stimulated
• Action potential


  1. Threshold reached

  2. Sodium and potassium ions flow through gates

  3. Sodium ions rush in, creating the action potential

  4. Sodium gates close, potassium gates remain open longer

  5. Potassium ions flow out, driving the axon back to resting potential

  6. Sodium-potassium pump removes extra sodium and recaptures potassium
• Synapse


  The specialized junction between one neuron and another, where a neuron releases a chemical that either excites or inhibits the next neuron
• Synapse


  • Axon has branches, each ending with a presynaptic ending or terminal bouton
  • When an action potential reaches the terminal bouton, it releases a neurotransmitter
  • Neurotransmitter diffuses across a narrow gap to receptors on the postsynaptic neuron
  • Neurotransmitter either excites or inhibits the postsynaptic neuron
• Monism


  The idea that mental activity and brain activity are inseparable
• Parts of the nervous system

  • Central nervous system (brain and spinal cord)
  • Peripheral nervous system (nerves connecting spinal cord to body)
  • Somatic nervous system (connects to skin and muscles)
  • Autonomic nervous system (connects to heart, stomach, and other organs)
  • Sensory nerves (bring information to spinal cord)
  • Motor nerves (take information from spinal cord to muscles)
• Vertebrate brain


  • Has three major divisions: hindbrain, midbrain, and forebrain
  • In mammals including humans, the forebrain is by far the largest area
  • Forebrain consists of hemispheres, the left and right halves that control sensation and movement on the opposite side of the body
  • Outer covering of the forebrain is the cerebral cortex
• Occipital lobe


  Specialized for vision
• Cortical blindness


  Differs from blindness from eye damage, as people have no visual imagery even in dreams
• Blindsight


  The ability to point to or indicate the direction of a visual stimulus without conscious perception
• Temporal lobe


  Main area for hearing and certain aspects of vision
• Temporal lobe


  • Damage impairs recognition of sound sequences and language comprehension
  • Fusiform gyrus responds mainly to sight of faces, damage causes face recognition impairment
  • Amygdala responds strongly to emotional situations, damage slows emotional information processing
• Parietal lobe


  Specialized for body senses, including touch, pain, temperature, and awareness of body part location
• Parietal lobe


  • Primary somatosensory cortex has cells sensitive to touch in various body areas, with largest areas for most sensitive parts
  • Damage interferes with spatial attention, causing difficulty reaching, walking around, or shifting attention between objects