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PSY 102 > MIDTERM > Flashcards

MIDTERM Flashcards

(123 cards)

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1
Q

Patternicity

A

the tendency to perceive meaningful patterns in their absence

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2
Q

What is psychology?

A

the scientific study of the mind, brain, and behavior

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3
Q

Level of analysis

A

rungs on a ladder of analysis, with lower, levels tied most closely to biological influences and higher levels tied most closely to social influences

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4
Q

What makes psychology distinctive?

A

1) Human behaviour is exceedingly difficult to predict
2) Psychology influences are rarely independent of each other, making it difficult to pin down which cause of causes are operating
3) People differ from each other in thinking, emotion, personality, and behaviour
4) People often influence each other, making it difficult to pin down precisely what causes what
5) Peoples behaviour is often shaped in powerful ways by culture

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5
Q

What is naive realism?

A

Belief that we see the world precisely as it is

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6
Q

What is pseudoscience?

A

set of claims that seems scientific but isn’t

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7
Q

Wha are the 5 warning signs of pseudoscience?

A
  1. Over-reliance on anecdotes
  2. Meaningless psychobabble
  3. lack of self-correction
  4. talk of ‘proof’ instead of ‘evidence’
  5. ad hoc immunizing
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8
Q

What are individual differences?

A

variations among people in their thinking, emotion, personality, and behaviour

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9
Q

What is reciprocal determinism?

A

the fact that we mutually influence each other’s behaviour

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10
Q

What is a hypothesis?

A

testable prediction derived from a scientific theory

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11
Q

What is a scientific theory?

A

An explanation for a large number of findings in the natural world, including the psychological world

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12
Q

What is the difference between theories and hypothesis?

A

Theories are general explanations; Hypothesis are specific predictions derived from those explanations

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13
Q

What is confirmation bias?

A

Tendency to seek out evidence that supports our beliefs and deny, dismiss, or distort evidence that contradicts them

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14
Q

What is belief perseverance?

A

Tendency to stick to our initial beliefs even when evidence contradicts them

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15
Q

What is a metaphysical claim?

A

Assertion about the world that’s not testable

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16
Q

What is terror management theory?

A

theory proposing that our awareness of our death leaves us with an underlying sense of terror with which we cope by adopting reassuring cultural worldviews

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17
Q

What are logical fallacies?

A

traps in thinking that can lead to mistaken conclusions

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18
Q

Emotional Reasoning Fallacy

A

Error of using our emotions as guides for evaluating the validity of a claim

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19
Q

Bandwagon Fallacy

A

Error of assuming that a claim is correct just because many people believe it

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20
Q

Not Me Fallacy

A

Error of believing that we’re immune from errors in thinking that afflict other people

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21
Q

Name the 3 dangers of pseudoscience

A

Opportunity costs, direct harm, and inability to think scientifically as citizens

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22
Q

What is scientific skepticism?

A

approach of evaluating all claims with an open mind but insisting on persuasive evidence before accepting them

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23
Q

Name the 6 principles of scientific thinking

A
  1. ruling out rival hypotheses
  2. correlation vs causation
  3. falsifiability
  4. replicability
  5. extraordinary claims
  6. parsimony (occam’s razor)
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24
Q

What is replicability?

A

when a study’s findings are duplicated, ideally by independent investigators

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25
What is the decline effect?
fact that the size of certain psychological findings appears shrinking over time
26
What are the 2 modes of thinking?
1. Malcolm Gladwell - our first impressions, especially of other people, can sometimes be surprisingly accurate. - System 1 thinking - snap judgements 2. Daniel Kahneman - - System 2 thinking (aka analytical thinking) - Slow and reflective, takes mental effort - Allows us to override intuitive thinking and reject our gut hunches when they seem to be wrong
27
Define heuristic
mental shortcut or rule of thumb that helps us to streamline our thinking and make sense of the world
28
What is naturalistic observation?
watching behaviour in real-world settings without trying to manipulate the situation
29
What is external validity?
extent to which we can generalize findings to real-world settings
30
What is internal validity?
Extent to which we can draw cause and effect inferences from a study
31
What is a case study?
research design that examines one person or a small number of people in depth, often over an extended time period
32
What is existence proof?
demonstration that a given psychological phenomenon can occur
33
What is a self-report measure?
used to assess a variety of characteristics, such as personality traits, mental illnesses, and interests
34
What is a survey?
used to measure peoples opinions and attitudes
35
What is random selection?
procedure that ensures every person in a population has an equal chance of being chosen to participate
36
What is an advantage to self report measures?
easy and cheap to administer
37
What is a disadvantage to self report measures?
Typically assume that respondents possess enough insight into their personality characteristics to report on them accurately Typically assume participants are honest in their responses
38
What is a response set?
tendency of research participants to distort their responses to questionnaire items
39
What is correlational design?
research design that examines the extent to which two variables are associated
40
What is a scatterplot?
grouping points on a two-dimensional graph in which each dot represents a single person's data
41
What is illusory correlation?
perception of a statistical association between two variables where none exists
42
What is an experimental design?
researchers manipulate variables to see whether these manipulations produce differences in participants' behaviour
43
What is a correlational design?
the differences among participants are measured, but in experimental designs they're created
44
What makes a study an experiment?
1) Random assignment of participants to conditions | 2) Manipulation of an independent variable
45
What is random assignment?
randomly sorting participants into two groups
46
What is an experimental group?
in an experiment, the groups of participants that receives the manipulation
47
What is a control group?
in an experiment, the group of participants that does not receive the manipulation
48
What is an independent variable?
variable that an experimenter manipulates
49
What is a dependent variable?
variable that an experimenter measures to see whether the manipulation produces an effect
50
Opperational definition
a working definition of what a researcher is measuring
51
What is the placebo effect?
improvement resulting from the mere expectation of improvement
52
What is the "blind" effect?
unaware of whether one is in the experimental or control group
53
What is the nocebo effect?
is harm resulting from the mere expectation of harm
54
What is the experimenter expectancy bias?
phenomenon in which researchers' hypotheses lead them to unintentionally bias the outcome of a study
55
What is the double-blind effect?
when neither researchers nor participants are aware of who's in the experimental or control group
56
Define mean
average; total score / number of people
57
Define median
middle score in data set; line up scores in order and find the middle one
58
Define mode
most frequent score in a data set
59
What is a demand characteristic?
cues that participants pick up from a study that allow them to generate guesses regarding the researcher's hypothesis
60
How do you combat demand characteristics?
- cover story | - "distractor" tasks or "filler" items
61
What is informed consent?
informing research participants of what's involved in a study before asking them to participate
62
What is debriefing?
process whereby researchers inform participants what the study was about
63
What is descriptive statistics?
numerical characterizations that describe data
64
What is central tendency?
measure of the "central" scores in a data set, or where the group tends to cluster
65
What are the 3 measures of central tendency?
Mean, median, and mode
66
What are the 2 major types of descriptive statistics?
Central tendency and variability
67
What is variability?
measure of how loosely or tightly bunches scores are
68
What are the 2 ways to measure variability?
Range or standard deviation
69
What is the difference between range and standard deviation?
Rage measures the difference between the highest and lowest score Standard deviation measures how far each data point is from the mean
70
What is a scientific theory?
used to generate predictions (hypotheses) about how some aspect of the world works
71
What is a neuron?
cells in the nervous system that receive and transmit information
72
What is a dendrite?
branch-like fibres in a neuron that receive information from other neurons
73
What is an axon?
tail-like part of a neuron that sends information to other neurons
74
What is axon potential?
where an electrical signal quickly travels down the axon (300km/h)
75
What is the myelin sheath?
around the axon of some neurons is a fatty substance that acts as insulation, speeding up transmission along the axon
76
Where are terminal buttons located?
are located at the end of the axon
77
What is the synapse?
where the terminal buttons meet the dendrites of another neuron
78
What are neurotransmitters?
chemicals that transmit information from one neuron to another
79
What is the difference between antagonist and agonist drugs?
Antagonist is a drug that blocks neurotransmitter activity Agonist drugs mimic neurotransmitter activity
80
What is plasticity?
nervous system's ability to change
81
What are the 2 types of plasticity?
Structural - forming new connections and getting rid of ones you are not using Synaptic - strengthening of existing synaptic connections (potentiation)
82
What are nerves?
bundles of axons (tracts or bundles)
83
What is the peripheral nervous system?
nerves that lie outside the brain and spinal cord
84
What are the 2 systems within the peripheral nervous system?
Somatic and autonomic nervous systems
85
What is the Somatic Nervous System?
nerves that connect to and from voluntary muscles and sensory receptors
86
What is the autonomic nervous system?
nerves that connect to the heart, blood vessels, [involuntary] muscles, and glands
87
What are Efferent Nerves?
OUTGOING; carry motor commands from the central nervous system to the muscles
88
What are Afferent Nerves?
INCOMING; carry information from sensory receptors in the skin, muscles, and joints to the central nervous system
89
What does the sympathetic division do?
mobilizes the body for emergencies
90
What does the parasympathetic division do?
conserves the body's resources
91
What is the central nervous system?
brain and spinal cord
92
What is the function of the central nervous system?
carries motor commands from the brain to body; sensations from body to brain
93
What are the 3 divisions of the brain?
Hindbrain, midbrain, and forebrain
94
What is the brain stem?
is the junction where spinal cord meets the brain Includes hindbrain AND midbrain
95
What is the purpose of the midbrain?
Receives auditory and visual input Helps coordinate reflective movements
96
What is the basal ganglia?
involved in control of voluntary movements
97
What is the limbic system?
Brains emotional centre
98
What are the 4 parts of the limbic system?
Thalamus, hypothalamus, amygdala and hippocampus
99
What is the thalamus?
acts as a "switchboard" for sensory input (sights, sounds, etc.)
100
What is the hypothalamus?
Regulates and maintains constant internal body states, e.g., temperature Sits underneath the thalamus ("hypo" = under
101
What is the amygdala?
involved in fear response
102
What is the hippocampus?
plays a central role in forming memories
103
What are the 4 lobes?
Frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital
104
What is the frontal lobe responsible for?
Planning and coordinating movements, decision making, speech production
105
What are the key structures of the frontal lobe?
Motor cortex, prefrontal cortex, Broca's area
106
What is the parietal lobe responsible for?
Sensory information, spatial awareness, and number processing
107
What are the key structures in the parietal lobe?
Somatosensory cortex
108
What is the temporal lobe responsible for?
processing auditory information and speech comprehension
109
What are the key structures of the temporal lobe?
Auditory cortex and Wernicke's area
110
What is the occipital lobe responsible for?
Visual information
111
What is the key structure of the occipital lobe?
visual cortex
112
What is phrenology?
Popular in the 19th century - early pseudoscience attempt at understanding the brain
113
What is a lesion?
damage to a part of the brain
114
What is an electroencephalograph (EEG)?
device that monitors the electrical activity of the brain over time by means of recording electrodes attached to the surface of the scalp
115
What is transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)?
temporary excitement or deactivation of activity in a specific part of the brain
116
What is adrenaline?
boosts energy production in muscles
117
What is cortisol?
regulates blood pressure and cardiovascular function
118
What are genes?
segments of DNA
119
How many chromosomes are contained in each cell in our bodies?
46 chromosomes except sex cells (sperm and egg contain 23)
120
What is a chromosome?
strands of DNA
121
What is a genotype?
genetic information inherited from the parents
122
What is a phenotype?
a person's observable characteristics
123
Define concordance
probability that a pair of individuals will both have a certain trait, given that one of the pair has the trait

PSY 102 (1 decks)

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