PSY 101 FINAL EXAM REVIEW

• Psychology


  The study of behavior and the mental process
• Subdisciplines of Psychology


  • Behaviorism
  • Psychoanalysis
  • Humanism
  • Biopsychology
  • Evolutionary
  • Cognitive
  • Developmental
  • Personality
  • Social
  • Clinical
  • Counseling
• Behaviorism


  Study of behavior and its relation to mental processes
• Psychoanalysis


  How the unconscious mind plays into an individual's psychology and behaviors and choices
• Humanism


  Everyone has the potential to become the best version of themselves
• Biopsychology


  Study of the brain and its relation to the mental process
• Evolutionary


  Study of evolution and how the brain has changed through time
• Cognitive


  Study of thought
• Developmental


  How a person's psychology changes as they grow and age
• Personality


  How a person's personality is related to their behavior and mental process
• Social


  How psychology plays in social interactions, how people socially interact with each other
• Clinical


  Clinical psych, diagnosing, treatment
• Counseling


  Counseling people, aiding in emotional and psychological emotions and events
• Hypothesis


  A prediction about the world based on evidence and research
• A good hypothesis is one that is testable and makes a clear prediction
• Construct


  Factors in a study and how they are defined for a particular study (e.g. happiness, depression)
• Operational Definition


  The specific way a construct is measured in a research study
• The population is the whole group the study applies to in the real world, the sample is the people actually being studied
• Generalizability


  Being able to apply the findings of a study to the broader population
• Nervous System


  The spinal cord and brain, carries information throughout the body via an electrochemical communication network
• Divisions of the Nervous System


  • Central Nervous System (brain and spine)
  • Peripheral Nervous System (network of nerves that sends information through the body)
• Afferent and Efferent Nerves


  Nerves that carry information to and from the central nervous system
• Neuron


  The basic unit of the nervous system that processes and transmits information
• What happens when a neuron fires


  All or nothing principle, crosses the synapse from the terminal bounds to a dendrite
• Neurotransmitter


  Chemical messages in the brain that send messages throughout the body
• Major Divisions of the Brain


  • Forebrain
  • Midbrain
  • Hindbrain
• Forebrain


  Houses the limbic system, including the amygdala (controls fight or flight) and hippocampus (controls memory)
• Midbrain


  Relays information between the brain, eyes and ears, includes the substantia nigra (dopamine-related activities) and reticular formation (controls walking, sleeping, attention)
• Hindbrain


  Includes the pons (bridge between hind and midbrain, controls sleep and arousal), medulla (controls heart rate and breathing), and cerebellum (controls motor control)
• Lateralization


  The idea that some parts of the brain control specific functions
• Lobes of the Brain


  • Occipital Lobe (sight)
  • Temporal Lobe (hearing)
  • Parietal Lobe (spatial awareness, motor control, attention)
  • Frontal Lobe (personality, intelligence, voluntary muscle movements)
• Gene-Environment Interactions


  Genes and environment both play a role in a child's upbringing and personality
• Sensation


  The actual feeling of something itself (taste, sight, touch, smell, hearing, etc.)
• Perception


  The interpretation of a sensation
• Sensation without perception is when a person cannot 'feel' a sensation, even as it is occurring
• Perception without sensation is when a person can 'feel' something even though no sensation is occurring
• Top-Down Processing


  When someone already knows an activity well enough to perform it with little brain activity
• Bottom-Up Processing


  When an activity is new to an individual and uses a lot of brain activity while trying to intake new information
• Selective Attention


  The ability to focus one's attention on something despite other senses being triggered
• Inattentional Blindness


  When our attention is focused on something else, we may miss other senses