Psychology/Sociology Flashcards
(713 cards)
How is cortical cooling used as a method of lesion creation?
- Also known as cryogenic blockage
- Includes cooling down neurons until they stop firing
- This is temporary and reversible
- Can do this by cryoloop, which is surgically implanted between the skull and the brain and a chilled liquid is circulated through the loop

What is dependency theory?
- The theory which describes how resources flow from a “periphery” of poor and underdeveloped states to a “core” of wealthy states, enriching the latter at the expense of the former
- This is not because the periphery countries are undeveloped, but because they have been integrated into the world system as an undeveloped country; thus, these periphery countries will not evolve to become a developed nation, as they don’t have the means to develop and thus, they remain dependent on wealthier nations
Which hemisphere is usually dominant?
For a given individual, the dominant hemisphere is usually the opposite of the hand we right with
- Right handed people are usually left-brain dominant
- Since most people are right handed, the left hemisphere is is most commonly dominant
What is a morula?
- A solid ball of cells contained within the zona pellucida
- 3–4 days post fertilization
- 16-cell mass in a spherical shape
What is “heritability”?
a statistic used in genetics that estimates the degree of variation in a phenotypic trait in a population that is due to genetic variation between individuals in that population
- Necessarily dependent on the population that is studied
- Example: if you have quadruplets all raised in differnt places, but have variation in their levels of intelligence, we would say that the heritability = 0%, since we know that their genes are the same, and thus, variation in their intelligence must be due to environment
- heritability: h2
When, in Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development does Object Permanence occur? What is Object Permanence?
- In the Sensorimotor stage (0-2 years)
- They do not understand that something still exists if they can’t see it
- Example: if you give them a toy and take it away, they won’t look for it, because they don’t understand that it still exists even if they can’t see it
What type of mathematical function is Weber’s Law? What are the implications of this
- Linear relationship
- Weber’s Law: ΔI/I = k
- If we rearrange it, we get: ΔI = I x k
- If the background intensity gets bigger, the difference threshold (ΔI) must get bigger
- Example: You can whisper in a quiet room, but you need to yell in a concert
What are the major categories of stressors?
- Significant life changes: death of a loved one, going to college, having children, getting married
- Catastrophic events: unpredictable large scale events that everyone perceives as threatening; war, natural disasters, etc.
- Daily hassles: long lines at the store, forgetting my keys, dog peeing on the carpet
- Ambient stressors: large-scale things in the background of our lives that we put up with, like living in a smoggy city, noise or crowding; can negatively impact us without ebeing aware of them
What is a trait?
- A relatively stable characteristic that causes individuals to consistently behave in particular ways
According to the trait theory, the combination and interaction of traits forms a pesonality
What is the conflict perspective of mass media?
- Focuses on how the media reflects and portrays divisions in our society
- States that mass media often reflects the dominant ideology, giving time and space (privileging) certain social, economical and political interests while sometimes actively limiting other views
- Gate-keeping: a small number of people decide what is portrayed in the media; these people are predominantly white, male and wealthy
- Stories on women, LQBT, minority groups are often limited and often sterotyped
What are the steps in fertilization?
- Sperm binding: the zona pellucida binds to the sperm
- Acrosomal reaction: Arosomal enzymes are released from the acrosome and diffuse into the zona pellucida and digest away the zona pellucida
- Cortical reaction: once the sperm and egg membranes come in contact; proteins that lie under the cell surface of the oocyte membrane are released, which then degrade the zona pellucida such that no other sperm can bind (called a block to polyspermy)
- Plasma membranes fuse and genetic transfer
Describe the reward pathway.
- Dopamine is released from the Ventral Tegemental Area (VTA)
- This dopamine is released into the the amygdala, nucleus accumbens, the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus
- Amygdala is involved in emotion, so it will help us feel happy
- The hippocampus will remeber the situation, so we can become happy again
- Nucleus accumbens, which is involved in motor functions, allows us to continue being involved in the action that is making us happy (like making us take another bite of cake)
- Prefrontal cortex, is involved in attention, and allows more attention to be focused on what is giving us joy
- Note: while dopamine goes up, serotonin goes down and serotonin is involved in feelings of satiation, so this is why drug addiction can also occur
What is hypnosis? What can it be used for? What are the associated brain waves?
- A state in which a person appears to be in control of his or her nomral functions, but is in a highly suggestible state
- Starts with hypontic induction: hypnotist seeks to relax the individual
- Can be used to retrieve memories, but this is not scientifically proven, and false memories can arise
- Can be used to control pain, since hyponosis can help to redirect focus away from the painful stimuli
- Associated with alpha brain waves
What is the General Adaption Syndrome? What are the stages?
- three predictable stages the body uses to respond to stressor
1. Alarm phase: initial reaction to a stressor and activation of sympathetic nervous system
2. Resistance: continuous release of hormones allows the sympahtetic nervous system to remain engaged to fight the stressor
3. Exhausation: the body can no longer maintain an elevated response with sympathetic nervous system activity; at this point, individuals become more susceptible to illness and medical conditions

What is experimental ablation?
- Describes the method of deliberately destroying brain tissue or creating brain lesions in order to observe the changes that this might have on an animals behavior
- The functions that can no longer be performed after inducing damage, were the ones controlled by that damaged regions
What is sensitization?
- In response to the same stimulus being repeated, the responses increase in intensity
- Opposite of habituation
- Example: everytime we hear a thunder clap, we get more and more scared and jump higher every time

What is Eros?
What is Thanatos?
- Eros: Life Drive
Freud’s method of describing our life drives, which include sexual instincts, the drive to live, and basic instinctual impulses such as thirst and hunger; also can include love, cooperation, collaboration, etc.
Freud’s method of describing our death drives, which includes self-destructive and hamful behaviors; also can include fear, anger, hate which can be directed inward as well as outward
Note: these are innate; they are drives, which are something that develops innately in people
What is spousal abuse?
- Also known as domestic violence
- Seen across all social classes and can include physical violence, sexual abuse, emotional abuse and financial abuse
- Usually economic issues are at the root of the abuse
- Focuses on controlling the partner and limiting their support network, which makes it difficult for the partner to get out of the abusive situation
- Difficult for people to get help: women’s shelter’s don’t always accept kids; male’s are subjected to the social stigma stating that men don’t get abused
How does your sensory adaptation apply to hearing?
When we hear loud noises, there is a muscle in the inner ear that contracts and this ensures that the inner ear does not get damaged
- Muscle takes a few seconds to contract, so this doesn’t work with loud, immediate sounds; thus, if you hear a gunshot, you can cause hearing damage
What are manifest functions?
What are latent functions?
Manifest function: the recognized and intended consequences of any social pattern
Latent function: the unrecognized and unintended consequences of any social pattern
- Example: Physicians attending medical meetings every year
Manifest function: educating a group of physicians, sharing research findings and setting goals for the next year
Latent function: create stronger interpersonal bonds between physicians and provide a sense of identity for the group
What is the sexual response cycle?
4 phases of the sexual cycle
Phase 1: Excitement
- increased muscle tension, increased heart rate, and blood pressure
Phase 2: Plateau
Phase 3: Orgasm
Phase 4: Resolution/ Refractory period

What is Rational-Choice Theory?
- Main assumption: everything people do is fundamentally rational, i.e. that people weigh the cost and benefits of actions in order to maximize potential gain
- To determine the value of something, we look at the time, information, prestige, etc. that will be exchanged to determine the value of a possible action
Assumptions:
- Completeness: that each option has a particular value that can be ranked; if I have three choices, each one has a particular value and those values are different (A is preferable to B and B is preferable to C, but C is not preferable to A)
- Transitivity: If A is preferable to B, which is preferable to C, then A is also preferable to C
- Independence of irrelevant alternatives: If I suddently have a fourth option, D, it won’t change how I ranked the first three options
We can apply rational choice theory to social interactions in exchange theory
What is the band of tissue which connects the right and left hemisphere?
- Corpus callosum
- Made of axons (thus, white matter structure)
- Allows information to travel from one cerebral hemisphere to another

What are learned behaviors?
- Behaviors which are not based on heredity, but insread on experience and environment
Characteristics:
- Non-inherited: acquired only through observation or experience
- Extrinsic: absent in animals that are raised in isolation
- Permutable: Can change over time
- Adaptable: trait is capable of being modified; suited to changing conditions
- Progressive: subject through improvement or refinement through practice












































































