Introduction to Psychology Final Exam Study Guide

FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE Introduction to Psychology FALL 2024 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY 1.2 History of Psychology Describe the focus of each of the following perspectives in psychology (that is, how they try to explain human behavior): psychoanalytic theory, behaviorism, humanism, and the cognitive perspective. Psychoanalytic Theory: Early childhood experiences, motivation that causes conflicts, the effects of mental representations of ourselves and others in guiding our interactions, and the development of personality over time. Behaviorism: Observable behavior and try to bring that behavior under control. Watson was a major proponent of shifting the focus of psychology from the mind to behavior, and this approach of observing and controlling behavior came to be known as behaviorism. Humanism: is a perspective within psychology that emphasizes the potential for good that is innate to all humans. Behaviorism is also deterministic at its core, because it sees human behavior as entirely determined by a combination of genetics and environment. Cognitive Perspective: The early work of the humanistic psychologists redirected attention to the individual human as a whole, and as a conscious and self-aware being. 1.3 Contemporary Psychology ● Describe the focus of biopsychology. What is evolutionary psychology? Biopsychology explores how our biology influences our behavior. How the structure and function of the nervous system is related to behavior. Evolutionary psychology seeks to study the ultimate biological causes of behavior. To the extent that a behavior is impacted by genetics, a behavior, like any anatomical characteristic of a human or animal, will demonstrate adaptation to its surroundings. ● What does social psychology emphasize in explaining behavior? Psychology that is based on social interactions and explains how their starts and contents can affect behavior. ● Distinguish clinical psychology from counseling psychology. Clinical psychology is the area of psychology that focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders and other problematic patterns of behavior. Counseling psychology is a similar discipline that focuses on emotional, social, vocational, and health-related outcomes in individuals who are considered psychologically healthy. CHAPTER 2: PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2.3 Analyzing Findings ● Understand positive, negative, and zero correlations and be able to recognize them. Positive correlation is a way of saying that the two variables have a relationship where both move in the same direction. But a relationship with negative correlation implies that they move in opposite directions such as when one is more the other is less. And zero correlation means the two variables have little to no relationship and are difficult to predict. ● Be able to interpret a correlation coefficient. +1 correlation means a positive correlation -1 correlation means it is a strong negative correlation and the closer a number is to 0 represents if they have a weak relationship. ● Explain why correlation does not imply causation. Correlations do not tell us anything about causation—regardless of how strong the relationship is between variables. In fact, the only way to demonstrate causation is by conducting an experiment. ● Describe how an experiment differs from other research methods. Be able to distinguish an experimental group from a control group. Explain the difference between an independent variable and a dependent variable. Be able to recognize these in an example. Experimental research designs must manipulate a variable in order to determine its effects on a control group. Experimental Group: gets the experimental manipulation treatment or variable being tested -EX: if the hypothesis is if you think that children should not be allowed to watch violent programming on television because doing so would cause them to behave more violently, the experimental group would be the violent TV images Control Group: does NOT get the experimental manipulation -EX: if the hypothesis is if you think that children should not be allowed to watch violent programming on television because doing so would cause them to behave more violently, then the control group would be a group of kids watching non violent television programming for the same amount of time as the experimental group Independent Variable -is manipulated or controlled by the experimenter -EX: if the hypothesis is if you think that children should not be allowed to watch violent programming on television because doing so would cause them to behave more violently, the independent variable is the type of program (violent or nonviolent) Dependent Variable - what the researcher measures to see how much effect the independent variable had. -EX: if the hypothesis is if you think that children should not be allowed to watch violent programming on television because doing so would cause them to behave more violently, the dependent variable is the number of violent acts displayed by the experimental participants CHAPTER 3: BIOPSYCHOLOGY 3.2 Cells of the Nervous System ● What are neurons? Describe the course of the action potential through the neuron (using the parts of the neuron). What does the myelin sheath do? Neurons, on the other hand, serve as interconnected information processors that are essential for all of the tasks of the nervous system. The neuron is a small information processor, and dendrites serve as input sites where signals are received from other neurons. These signals are transmitted electrically across the soma and down a major extension from the soma known as the axon, which ends at multiple terminal buttons. The terminal buttons contain synaptic vesicles that house neurotransmitters, the chemical messengers of the nervous system. The myelin sheath coats the axon and acts as an insulator, increasing the speed at which the signal travels. 3.3 Parts of the Nervous System ● Describe the nervous system’s two major divisions, and explain their respective functions. The two major subdivisions of the nervous system are the CNS and PNS, the CNS comprises the brain and spinal cord; the PNS connects the CNS to the rest of the body. 3.4 The Brain and Spinal Cord ● What is the cerebral cortex, and what is its major function? The cerebral cortex is the outer layer of the brain, responsible for complex thinking, decision-making, and processing sensory information. It’s where most higher-level mental functions occur. ● Describe functions of the 4 lobes of each hemisphere. What do the motor, sensory, visual, and auditory cortexes do, and where are they located? ● ● Describe functions of the 4 lobes of each hemisphere: ○ Frontal lobe: Controls reasoning, planning, movement, and problem-solving. ○ Parietal lobe: Processes sensory information, like touch and body position. ○ Temporal lobe: Handles hearing, memory, and language. ○ Occipital lobe: Primarily responsible for vision. What do the motor, sensory, visual, and auditory cortexes do, and where are they located? ○ Motor cortex: Controls voluntary movements; located in the back of the frontal lobe. ○ Sensory cortex: Processes touch and other sensory information; located in the front part of the parietal lobe. ○ Visual cortex: Processes visual information; located in the occipital lobe. ○ Auditory cortex: Processes sound information; located in the temporal lobe. CHAPTER 5: SENSATION AND PERCEPTION 5.1 Sensation versus Perception ● Define sensation and perception and understand the difference. Sensation is when our senses (like sight, hearing, or touch) detect physical energy (like light or sound) from the environment. Perception is how our brain organizes and interprets that sensory information to make sense of what we’re experiencing. ● What is an absolute threshold? Compare it to a difference threshold. ● The absolute threshold is the minimum level of a stimulus that we can detect 50% of the time (like the faintest sound you can hear). The difference threshold (or just noticeable difference) is the smallest change in a stimulus that we can detect (like noticing a slight change in volume). ● Define sensory adaptation and explain why it is helpful. ● Sensory adaptation is when our senses adjust to constant stimuli, like tuning out background noise. It helps us focus on new or changing stimuli that might be important for us to notice. ● Describe bottom-up processing and top-down processing. How do they work together to provide us with perceptual experiences? Bottom-up processing is when perception starts with details, building up to the full picture (e.g., seeing a bunch of lines and then recognizing them as a face). Top-down processing uses prior knowledge or expectations to interpret information (like recognizing a face even if some details are missing). Together, they help us understand and interpret the world by combining sensory data with what we already know. ● What are selective attention [from Lecture,] and inattentional blindness, and how do they affect our perceptions? Selective attention is our ability to focus on one thing while ignoring others (like focusing on a conversation in a noisy room). Inattentional blindness happens when we miss something visible because we’re focused on something else. Both affect perception by making us more aware of certain stimuli and unaware of others. 5.3 Vision ● What are rods and cones? What are their distinct purposes? Where are each generally located on the retina? Rods help us see in low light and are located mostly around the edges of the retina. Cones allow us to see colors and details and are concentrated in the fovea at the center of the retina. They are generally located on the outer edges of the retina (rods) and concentrated in the central fovea (cones), respectively What are feature detectors? What is their role in our “visual experience”? [from Lecture.] Feature detectors are neurons in the brain that respond to specific visual elements like shapes, edges, or movement, helping us recognize objects and scenes. 5.6 Gestalt Principles of Perception What are perceptual constancies, and why are they important? Describe how size constancy and shape constancy help us make sense out of our visual world. [from Lecture.] ● ● Perceptual constancies help us recognize objects as unchanging (like their size or shape) even when they look different from various distances or angles. Size constancy means we know an object isn’t growing as it comes closer, and shape constancy helps us recognize shapes from different angles. Size constancy means that we perceive objects as staying the same size, even when they're far away or close up. Shape constancy means that we perceive objects as staying the same shape, even when they're rotated or viewed from different angles. CHAPTER 6: LEARNING 6.2 Classical Conditioning ● What is classical conditioning? Learning of involuntary behavior or reflexes or automatic responses; specifically emotional responses. Be able to identify the UCS, CS, UCR, and CR in examples. USC: unconditioned stimulus - a stimulus that elicits a reflexive response in an organism UCR: unconditioned response - a natural (unlearned) reaction to a given stimulus CS: conditioned stimulus - neutral stimulus that elicits a response after repeatedly being paired with an unconditioned stimulus (USC) CR: conditioned response - response caused by the continued stimulus NS: natural stimulus - a stimulus that does not naturally elicit a response Example: Dog salivating The meat powder in this situation was an unconditioned stimulus (UCS): a stimulus that elicits a reflexive response in an organism. The dogs’ salivation was an unconditioned response (UCR): a natural (unlearned) reaction to a given stimulus.Pavlov would ring a bell and then give the dogs the meat powder. The bell was the neutral stimulus (NS), which is a stimulus that does not naturally elicit a response. When Pavlov paired the tone with the meat powder over and over again, the previously neutral stimulus (the tone) also began to elicit salivation from the dogs. Thus, the neutral stimulus became the conditioned stimulus (CS), which is a stimulus that elicits a response after repeatedly being paired with an unconditioned stimulus. 6.3 Operant Conditioning ● What is operant conditioning? How does it differ from classical conditioning? In operant conditioning, organisms learn, again, to associate events—a behavior and its consequence (reinforcement or punishment). A pleasant consequence encourages more of that behavior in the future, whereas a punishment deters the behavior. ● Define reinforcement and punishment. What is the major difference between these? Reinforcement means you are increasing a behavior, and punishment means you are decreasing a behavior. ● Define and give examples of positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement. Something is added to increase the likelihood of behavior. Example: 1. Child gets praise from the parents for good school grades. 2. Paycheck every two weeks. Something is removed to increase the likelihood of behavior. Example: 1. Car beeping until you put on your seatbelt 2. Medication to alleviate pain or symptoms. ● Define and give examples of positive punishment and negative punishment. Something is added to decrease the likelihood of behavior. Example 1. Parents scolding a child for fighting with their sibling. 2. Assigning chores when a child does not follow the rules. Something is removed to decrease the likelihood of behavior. Example 1: Taking away a child's favorite toy for misbehaving 2. Not paying attention to bad or weird behavior. What is shaping, and when is it used? In shaping, we reward successive approximations of a target behavior. Shaping is often used in teaching a complex behavior or chain of behaviors. CHAPTER 8: MEMORY 8.1 How Memory Functions ● Define memory and describe the elements of the Encoding, Storage, Retrieval (ESR) Model. Memory is an information processing system; therefore, memory is the set of processes used to encode, store, and retrieve information over different periods of time. 1. We get information into our brains through a process called encoding, 2. Once the information has been encoded, we have to somehow retain it. Our brains take the encoded information and place it in storage. Storage is the creation of a permanent record of information. 3. The act of getting information out of memory storage and back into conscious awareness is known as retrieval. ● What are the stages in the Three-Stage Memory Mode, and what are their characteristics? 1. Sensory Memory, 2. Short-Term Memory, and 3. Long-Term Memory. Describe short-term memory (STM), and explain why it’s also called working memory. Short-term memory (STM) is a temporary storage system that processes incoming sensory memory. The terms short-term and working memory are sometimes used interchangeably, but they are not exactly the same. Short-term memory is more accurately described as a component of working memory. ● Describe long-term memory (LTM), and the different types of long-term memories. Long-term memory (LTM) is the continuous storage of information. Unlike short-term memory, long-term memory storage capacity is believed to be unlimited. It encompasses all the things you can remember that happened more than just a few minutes ago. There are two types of long-term memory: explicit and implicit. Explicit memories are those we consciously try to remember, recall, and report. Implicit memories are long-term memories that are not part of our consciousness. ● Explain the difference between explicit/declarative memory and implicit/nondeclarative memory. ● Describe the types of memories stored in the subdivisions of each. ● ● ● Sensory Memory: ○ Iconic memory: Visual sensory information, like a fleeting image you see briefly. ○ Echoic memory: Auditory sensory information, like a sound you just heard. ○ Haptic memory: Tactile sensory information, like the feeling of something in your hand. Short-Term Memory: ○ Holds a small amount of information actively being used for a short period, like remembering a phone number while dialing. Long-Term Memory: ○ Explicit (Declarative) Memory: ■ Episodic Memory: Memories of specific personal events, like your last birthday party. ■ Semantic Memory: General knowledge and facts, like the capital of France. ○ Implicit (Non-Declarative) Memory: ■ Procedural Memory: Motor skills and learned abilities, like riding a bike. ■ Priming: Enhanced ability to recall information due to prior exposure, like recognizing a word more easily after seeing a related word. 8.3 Problems with Memory ● What does it mean to say that memory involves reconstruction, and why is this critical to understanding how memory works? What is the misinformation effect, and how does it relate to memory as a reconstructive process? When we recall a memory, we are not simply playing back a perfect recording of a past event, but rather actively piecing together information from stored fragments, using our current knowledge, expectations, and beliefs to create a coherent narrative. This is crucial to understanding memory because it highlights that our memories are not static recordings but are actively constructed and can be influenced by various factors beyond the original experience itself. The exposure to misleading information after an event can distort a person's memory of that event., Highlighting the reconstructive nature of memory where we actively piece together past experiences based on available information, including potentially inaccurate details introduced later on; essentially, our memories are not static recordings but can be modified by new information we encounter. 11.1 What Is Personality? ● Define personality. CHAPTER 11: PERSONALITY Personality refers to the long-standing traits and patterns that propel individuals to consistently think, feel, and behave in specific ways. Our personality is what makes us unique individuals. 11.4 Learning Approaches ● What is the focus of the social-cognitive perspective on personality? Emphasizes both learning and cognition as sources of individual differences in personality. In socialcognitive theory, the concepts of reciprocal determinism, observational learning, and self-efficacy all play a part in personality development. ● Describe reciprocal determinism, and explain how it results in our “personality”. What three elements interact to form our personality? Cognitive processes, behavior, and context all interact, each factor influencing and being influenced by the others simultaneously. Cognitive processes refer to all characteristics previously learned, including beliefs, expectations, and personality characteristics. Behavior refers to anything that we do that may be rewarded or punished. Finally, the context in which the behavior occurs refers to the environment or situation, which includes rewarding/punishing stimuli. 11.7 Trait Theorists ● What is a personality trait? A relatively stable pattern of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that are unique to an individual ● Identify and describe the five traits in the Five-Factor Model of personality. In the Five Factor Model, Openness to experience is characterized by imagination, feelings, actions, and ideas. People who score high on this factor tend to be curious and have a wide range of interests. Conscientiousness is characterized by (goal-directed behavior). People who score high on this factor are hardworking and dependable. Extroversion is characterized by sociability, assertiveness, excitementseeking, and emotional expression. People who score high on this factor are usually described as outgoing and warm. The fourth factor is agreeableness, which is the tendency to be pleasant, cooperative, trustworthy, and good-natured. People who score low on agreeableness tend to be described as rude and uncooperative. The last of the Big Five factors is neuroticism, which is the tendency to experience negative emotions. People high on neuroticism tend to experience emotional instability and are characterized as angry, impulsive, and hostile. 11.9 Personality Assessment ● Distinguish objective tests from projective tests of personality. The objective test requires the respondent to make a particular response to a structured set of instructions (e.g., true/false, yes/no, or the correct answer). The projective test is given in an ambiguous context in order to afford the respondent an opportunity to impose his or her own interpretation in answering. ● Which type of test would provide the more valid measure of personality? Why? Objective personality tests, or inventories, are the most widely used method of assessing personality, for two reasons: they can be administered to a large number of people relatively quickly, and they can be evaluated in a standardized fashion ● Explain the concepts of reliability and validity. [from Lecture.] The difference between reliability and validity is the use of each term, reliability is used to explain the ability to consistently produce given results meanwhile validity refers to a tool's ability to measure whatever variable it is responsible for. CHAPTER 12: SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 12.1 What Is Social Psychology? ● What is social psychology? Social psychology examines how people affect one another, and it looks at the power of the situation. ● Describe two basic types of attributions: situational (external), and dispositional (internal). Be able to provide some examples of these. What is the fundamental attribution error? Situationism is the view that our behavior and actions are determined by our immediate environment and surroundings. In contrast, dispositionism holds that our behavior is determined by internal factors (Heider, 1958). Situationism: "I missed the deadline because my computer crashed and I lost all my work." Dispositional: A student getting a good grade on a test: "They got a good grade because they are really smart." The fundamental attribution error describes those who over emphasize that idea that behavior change must be due to something internal, such as their personality, habits, or temperament while overlooking external factors. ● What is the self-serving bias? What makes it different from the fundamental attribution error? Self-serving bias is attributions that enable us to see ourselves in a favorable light. It differs from fundamental attribution error because it classifies how those explain their own action as well as others. Self-serving bias is the tendency to explain our successes as due to dispositional (internal) characteristics, but to explain our failures as due to situational (external) factors. 12.3 Attitudes and Persuasion ● What is cognitive dissonance? Under what conditions are we likely to experience feelings of discomfort or “dissonance”? What are the basic ways that we can reduce dissonance? Cognitive dissonance is a mental conflict where we as humans have two or more attitudes that do not go in line with one another. We can reduce dissonance by changing our actions to be in line. Or with the use of persuasion we can change our attitude as psychological discomfort arising from holding two or more inconsistent attitudes, behaviors, or cognitions (thoughts, beliefs, or opinions). 12.4 Conformity, Compliance, and Obedience What is conformity? Distinguish normative social influence from informational social influence. Conformity is the change in behavior people undergo to follow the group. Normative social influence occurs when someone changes behavior to fit in with the group when informational social influence occurs when someone believes that the group has some form of information they can gain. Yes they both can contribute to conformity at the same time depending on the situation. Define obedience and describe Milgram’s classic obedience study. Obedience is the change in behavior one undergoes to conform to a figure of authority, Milgram's study was an experiment to test the willingness of an individual to shock participants just because of authoritarian demands. Explain how (a) legitimacy and closeness of the authority figure, (b) remoteness of the victim, (c) assignment of responsibility and (d) modeling each affected subjects' willingness to obey. The legitimacy of the authority figure was challenged when the study changed to an off campus office building making the percentage change to 48% and with the administration of orders coming over the phone it caused the percentage to drop down to even 23%, with the change in remoteness of the victim it caused more of a battle for the subjects to stay obedient whenever the person receiving punishment was right in front of them changing the maximum voltage percent down to 40% and with their hands touching it dropped to 30% CHAPTER 15: PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS 15.4 Anxiety Disorders What are anxiety disorders? Anxiety disorders are characterized by excessive and persistent fear and anxiety, and by related disturbances in behavior. Through a combination of factors including exposure to stressful life experiences, observing anxious behavior in others (particularly during childhood), and conditioning where certain situations become associated with anxiety due to past negative experiences Describe the symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder. 15.5 Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders What is obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)? What are obsessions? What are compulsions? Explain the role that anxiety plays in OCD. Obsessive-compulsive and related disorders are a group of overlapping disorders that generally involve intrusive, unpleasant thoughts and repetitive behaviors. obsessions are characterized as persistent, unintentional, and unwanted thoughts that are highly intrusive, unpleasant, and distressing. Compulsions are repetitive and ritualistic acts that are typically carried out primarily as a means to minimize the distress that obsessions trigger or to reduce the likelihood of a feared event. 15.7 Mood Disorders What are depressive disorders? Depressive disorders are a group of disorders in which depression is the main feature. Describe characteristics of major depressive disorder. What factors trigger this disorder? Describe characteristics of bipolar disorder. “Depressed mood most of the day, nearly every day” (feeling sad, empty, hopeless, or appearing tearful to others), and loss of interest and pleasure in usual activities. In addition to feeling overwhelmingly sad most of each day, people with depression will no longer show interest or enjoyment in activities that previously were gratifying, such as hobbies, sports, sex, social events, time spent with family, and so on. often experiences mood states that vacillate between depression and mania; that is, the person’s mood is said to alternate from one emotional extreme to the other (in contrast to unipolar, which indicates a persistently sad mood). 15.8 Schizophrenia What is schizophrenia? Schizophrenia is a psychological disorder that is characterized by major disturbances in thought, perception, emotion, and behavior. Describe the positive symptoms of schizophrenia, including hallucinations, delusions, disorganized thinking, and abnormal emotional behavior. A hallucination is a perceptual experience that occurs in the absence of external stimulation. Delusions are beliefs that are contrary to reality and are firmly held even in the face of contradictory evidence. Disorganized thinking refers to disjointed and incoherent thought processes—usually detected by what a person says. Disorganized or abnormal motor behavior refers to unusual behaviors and movements: becoming unusually active, exhibiting silly child-like behaviors (giggling and self-absorbed smiling), engaging in repeated and purposeless movements, or displaying odd facial expressions and gestures. What are negative symptoms of schizophrenia? Which responds better to treatment? Negative symptoms are those that reflect noticeable decreases and absences in certain behaviors, emotions, or drives (Green, 2001). A person who exhibits diminished emotional expression shows no emotion in their facial expressions, speech, or movements, even when such expressions are normal or expected. Another negative symptom is asociality, or social withdrawal and lack of interest in engaging in social interactions with others. A final negative symptom, anhedonia, refers to an inability to experience pleasure. How does the diathesis-stress model explain schizophrenia, and other disorders? Both genetic vulnerability and environmental stress are necessary for schizophrenia to develop, genes alone do not show the complete picture. 15.10 Personality Disorders ● What is a personality disorder? People with personality disorders exhibit a personality style that differs markedly from the expectations of their culture, is pervasive and inflexible, begins in adolescence or early adulthood, and causes distress or impairment. ● Describe the characteristics of someone with antisocial personality disorder. The individual with antisocial personality disorder shows no regard at all for other people’s rights or feelings. People with this disorder have no remorse over their misdeeds; these people will hurt, manipulate, exploit, and abuse others and not feel any guilt.