Midterm Flashcards
(16 cards)
Choose three contemporary perspectives in psychology and describe the focus of each one.
The biological perspective focuses on the relationships between the brain, hormones, heredity, and evolution on one, and behavior and mental processes on the other. Psychologists with the cognitive perspective focus on mental processes such as sensation and perception, memory, intelligence, language, thought, and problem solving. The sociocultural perspective focuses on the roles of ethnicity, gender, culture, and socioeconomic status in behavior and mental processes.
Choose the major methods of observing behavior and compare and contrast each one.
There of the major methods of observation include case studies, surveys, and the naturalistic observation. Although all three are methods of observation, they each have similarities and differences. surveys involve many people at a time. The naturalistic observation can involve many people or just one. Case studies and surveys can both be inaccurate while the naturalistic observation is accurate because it is unobtrusive and avoids interference.
Discuss two neurological/psychological disorders that have been linked to neurotransmitters. For each disorder (a) describe the symptoms and (b) discuss what researchers have learned about the role of neurotransmitters in the disorder. T
Two psychological disorders that have been linked to neurotransmitter are depression and schizophrenia. Symptoms of depression include loss of interest, sadness, tiredness, and suicidal thoughts studies have linked depression to deficiencies of the neurotransmitter called GABA. Symptoms of schizophrenia include delusions, hallucinations, and disorganization of speech and behavior. Scientists have found that people with schizophrenia have more receptor sites for the neurotransmitter dopamine, causing them to over utilize that excess dopamine. Over-utilization is connected with hallucinations and disturbances of thought and emotion.
Compare and contrast three brain-imaging techniques. Be sure to include what each technique can tell us about a person’s brain.
Three brain imaging techniques are computerized axial tomography (CAT scan), positron emission tomography (PET scan), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Each method has its own way of functioning. The CAT scan passes an x-ray through the head. A 3D image is then produced. The PET scan forms an image by tracing the metabolism of glucose with a radioactive tracer. Like the others, the MRI also uses radioactivity through radio waves. The MRI relies on subtle shifts in blood flow.
List and briefly discuss the different functions of the four lobes of the cerebral cortex.
The four lobes of the cerebral cortex are the frontal lobe, parietal lobe, temporal lobe, and the occipital lobe. The frontal lobe acts as the decision-making, executive center for the brain. The parietal lobe is involved in movement and orientation. The temporal lobe is involved in hearing. The occipital lobe is associated with vision.
(a) Define sensation and perception and explain the difference between the two terms. (b) Describe signal detection theory. (c) Define sensory adaptation.
(a) Sensation is the stimulation of sensory receptors and the transmission of sensory info. Perception is the progress by which sensations are organized into and interpreted to form an inner representation of the world. (b) Signal detection theory proposes the idea that people ability to detect stimuli depends on not only the intensity of the stimuli but also on their training, motivation, and psychological states. (c) Sensory adaptation refers to the processes by which we become more sensitive to stimuli of low magnitude and less sensitive to stimuli that remain the same.
Compare and contrast these three altered states of consciousness: meditation, hypnosis, and biofeedback.
All three states of consciousness, hypnosis, meditation, biofeedback, help people to lower stress and anxiety. Hypnosis, though, is more of scientific controversy because a who wants to be hypnotized can be very cooperative and “play the role” according to what is expected of being hypnotized. Meditation is more just a person focus on things that are not worrisome. There are some immeasurable goals such as expanding consciousness but overall, meditation is more easily, scientifically assessed. Biofeedback provides info about a bodily function by being reinforced when engaging in the target action.
Choose three sleep disorders and briefly describe each one.
Insomnia is a sleep disorder which causes people affected by it to have trouble getting to sleep. It is more prevalent in older adults rather than younger adults. People with narcolepsy fall asleep suddenly. It affects as many as 100,000 people in the US and seems to be hereditary. Sleep apnea causes people to stoop breathing periodically up to 100 times per night due to their air passages being obstructed.
(a) Describe how nicotine affects the brain and the body of the smoker. (b) List and briefly describe three health problems associated with smoking.
Nicotine stimulates discharge of the hormone adrenaline and the release of dopamine, GABA, acetylcholine, and endorphins. Nicotine appears to enhance memory/attention, improve performance on simple, repetitive tasks, enhance mood, and controls weight. Nicotine also creates a physiological dependence. Symptoms of withdrawal include nervousness, headaches, drowsiness, loss of energy, irregular bowel movements, lightheadedness, insomnia, dizziness, cramps, palpitations, tremors, and sweating. Nicotine negatively affects the hear and lungs. Three health problems associated with smoking are shortness of breath, lung cancer, and stiffened arteries.
Discuss how classical conditioning works. Be sure to explain the components of this type of conditioning.
Classical conditioning is when an organism begins to associate certain thing with each other because they have learned to do so. The components of classical conditioning are unconditioned stimulus, conditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, and conditioned response, and neural stimulus. An unconditioned stimulus is a stimulus eliciting a response before conditioning takes place. A conditioned stimulus elicits a conditioned response because it was paired with a stimulus that already elicited to that response. An unconditioned response is an unlearned response from an unconditioned stimulus. A conditioned response is a learned response to a conditioned stimulus. A neural stimulus elicits no response before conditioning.
Describe and compare positive reinforcers, negative reinforcers, rewards, and punishments as they relate to operant conditioning.
A positive reinforcer is something that increases good behavior when presented. A negative reinforcer is something that increases good behavior when removed. Reinforcers are known for their effects while rewards and punishments are known for how they feel. In operant conditioning, operant behaviors result in desirable outcomes. Those desirable outcomes are reinforcers. Reinforcers are a key part of operant conditioning while rewards and punishments are not.
List and describe the four schedules of reinforcement and provide examples for each one.
In a fixed-interval schedule, a fixed amount of time must elapse before the correct response will result in a reinforcer. Fore example, you learn to check you email only at a certain time of day if your correspondent writes at that time each day. Variable-interval schedule is similar but the time is a variable and therefore unpredictable. For example, you’ll study regularly when you don’t know when the quiz is going to be rather than cramming for a scheduled quiz. In fixed-ratios schedules, reinforcement is provided after a fixed number of correct responses have been made. An example of this is workers who are being paid on a per-shirt basis. In a variable-ratio schedule, reinforcement provided after a variable number of correct responses. Gamblers winning on slot machines is an example of a variable-ratio schedule.
Describe Atkinson and Shriffin’s three-stage model of memory. Be sure to describe the capacity (length and/or accuracy) of each stage.
The model proposes that there are three stages of memory: sensory memory, short-term, and long term. This means that some info is lost immediately, some is held briefly, and other info is held for a lifetime, respectively.
Discuss the interference theory of why we forget information. Include the two types of interference.
The interference theory focuses on the project that we may forget stored material because other learning is interfering with it. Newly learned material makes us forget short and long term material. The two types of interference are retroactive and proactive. Retroactive interference is when new learning interferes with the retrieval of old learning. Proactive interference is older learning interfering with the capacity to retrieve more recently learned material.
Briefly describe the characteristics of experts who can successfully understand or solve a problem.
The characteristics shared by experts who can successfully understand or solve a problem are:
- They know the particular area well.
- They have a good memory for the elements in the problems.
- They form mental images or representations that facilitate problem solving.
- They relate the problem to similar problems.
- They are more goal-directed and have efficient methods fro problem solving.
Name and briefly describe the three properties of “true language.”
The three properties of true language are semanticity, infinite creativity, and displacement. Semanticity refers to the use of sounds, signs, or symbols of a language that have meaning. Infinite creativity means the capacity to create sentences. Displacement is the capacity to communicate information about events and objects in another time or place.
