Psychology Exam/Final

Kasamatsu and Hirai, 1999

Martinez and Kesner, 1991

Paul Broca

Carl Wernicke

Dabbs and Morris

Roger Sperry or Michael Gazzinaga

Rosenzweig and Bennett

Walter Cannon

Hans Sely

Friedman and Rosenman

Thomas Bouchard

Belyaev and Trut

Fessler, 2006

John Watson

Ivan Pavlov

B.F. Skinner

E.C Tolman

Wolfgang Kohler

Anderson and Pichert

Frederic Bartlett

Atkinson and Shiffrin

Herman Ebbinghaus

Harry Bahrick

Glanzer and Cunitz

Craik and Lockhart

Craik and Tulving

George Miller

Wilder Penfield

Karl Lashley

Elizabeth Loftus

Brown and Kulik, 1977

• All behavior can be explained in terms of learning
• Emphasis is on external and observable behavior only
• All behavior is determined by environmental influences; We are born as a blank slate
• It is important to base research on animal experimentation

any response that leads to a satisfying outcome is likely to be repeated; with an unpleasant outcome, response is not likely to be repeated

• Learning that occurs when an organism comes to associate stimuli
• fundamental kind of learning (Ivan Pavlov)

• John Watson's classical conditioning experiment
• US: Loud Gong
• UR: Fear
• CS: White rat
• CR: Fear of rat

Behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punishser

• Those who adapt best to the environment will have a great chance of surviving
• Charles Darwin: Theory of natural selection
• Study of the evolution of behavior and the mind using principles of natural selection

Brain's ability to rearrange the connections between its neurons

• "High levels of stimulation and numerous learning opportunities at the appropriate times lead to an increase in the density of
• neural connections"

• Sometimes we learn by observing others "monkey see, monkey do"
• Mirror neurons fire when one performs a task but also when one observes someone performing that task
• Also involved in empathy

• Human beings are info processors; therefore, mental processes guide behavior
• The mind can be studied scientifically
• Cognitive process are influenced by social and cultural factors

A term used by Tolman to describe situations in which learning is distinct from the performance of a behavior

Mental representation of learned relationships among stimuli

A sudden change in the way one organizes a problem situation, typically characterized by a change in behavior from random responding to rule-based responding

Disagreed with behaviorists as CLOA believed that the mind can be studied scientifically.

The emphasis on mediating processes is central to the cognitive approach 

What we already know will influence the outcome of information processing

• Schema= pre-stored mental representations: like file cabinets.
• -change the way we interpret events
• -distortions: info we add in, in order to make sense of something

• Schemas affect cognitive processes such as memory.
• Quite useful for understanding how people categorize information, interpret stories,and make inferences.

• It is not entirely clear how schemas are acquired in the first place and how they actually influence cognitive processes.
• Too vague

• Sensory info enters or LTM info entersinfo is directed based on auditory or visual elements
• diagram

• Much of what we learn we may quickly forget
• The course of forgetting is initially rapid, then levels off with time

this is the process of transforming sensory information into the long-term memory. 

The idea that we remember the first and last item of a collection more accurately.

Craik and Lockhart: Theory that semantic memory is deeper and more accurately remembered

• Creating a biological trace of information in your brain.
• Holding information for later reference. 

• Iconic is fleeting photographic memory, very short. 
• Echoic is momentary sensory info from auditory stimuli. 

things that bring to mind information that you have stored. 

Priming is the idea of showing subliminal messages in order to prepare the person for the upcoming question. 

• The theory that you remember information better when you attempt to recall it from the state in which you learned it.
• (EX: alcohol….learn drunk, recall the info drunk for better results)

Proactive is interference in memory that happens after the event, retroactive happens from an experience before that memory. 

• Declarative
• Can consciously retrieve factual information
• 2 categories: 
•        Semantic: memory of general knowledge
•        Episodic: memory for personal experiences & events

• Not consciously aware of
• 2 categories:
•        Procedural: skills, habits, and actions
•        Emotional:

• Hippocampus- formation of explicit memories
• Amygdala- formation of emotional memories

• Amnesia is the inability to learn new information or retrieve previously stored information.
• Anterograde is the failure to store NEW memories, while Retrograde is the inability to recall OLD memories. 

Encephalitis damages parts of the brain involved with memory; has memory of only a few seconds

• Surgery which removed parts of the temporal lobe because of epileptic seizures 
• Resulted in anterograde ammensia

Memories that are very vivid and are of highly emotional moments in ones life. 

• Individualist: persons are viewed as unique and autonmous with distinctive qualities and individual automony
• Collectivist: identity is defined more by the characteristics of the collective groups to which one belongs

• 1) there are biological coorelates of behavior 2)behavior can be innate as it is biologically based
• 3) Psychological research provides insight into human behavior.

• Composed of the brain and brain stem.
• Handles all of our information.

The building blocks of the central nervous system-send chemical messages to the brain

neurotransmitters communicate across this gap and fit into receptors.

• The sending of chemical messages in the brain.
• Can change behavior.

• -Acetylcholine: Aids in memory…look at Martinez+kessner 1991
• -Dopamine: is responsible for “rewarding” ourselves, as it produces pleasure
• -Norepinephrine: hormone and neurotransmitter, increases heart rate
• -Serotonin: aids in memory and learning, but is primarily in charge of monitoring sleep

Breaking down complex human behavior into its simplest parts, for example, focusing on behavior as a result of neurotransmission is “reductionist”.

Stimulants(caffeine, cocaine, etc.): Dopamine

Depressants(Alcohol, Barbiturates, etc.): GABA, Glutamate

Anti-Anxiety drugs(Valium, etc.):

Anti-depressants( Prozac, etc.):

Hallucinogens(LSD, MDMA, etc.): Serotonin

• Is the emotional control center.
• Deals with…impulse control, reasoning, etc.

 Perception of stimuli like touches and pressure

 concerned with perception, hearing and memory. 

deals with vision.

 handles movement and coordination(balance)

• sends messages to everywhere in the body.
• 3 parts
•       Midbrain
•       Medulla
•       Pons. 

• outer layer of brain.
• Has an impact on speech and perception.

Is the assumption that specific functions are associated with specific areas of the brain

R.R. worker injured by explosion, in which a long rod shot through his head, and destroyed his frontal lobe. Was physically ok after, but his personality vastly changed. 

• Is a series of subcortical structures that are involved in many simple functions. 
• Hypothalamus: emotions and circadian rhythm, and also hunger, thirst and sex drives.
• Thalamus: Brains sensory switchboard. Controls our senses (hearing, smell…).
• Hippocampus: memory function and formation
• Amygdala: basic emotions like fear and rage. 

Is the body’s “slow” chemical messaging system. Secretes hormones into the bloodstream. Constituted of glands like ovaries, testes, thyroids, and pituitary. 

• Chemical messages involved with metabolism and long-term functioning of the body.
• They take longer to act as they are in the bloodstream.

Adrenaline- fight or flight, arousal

Cortisol- Arousal, Stress hormone, memory

Melatonin- Regulation of sleep

Oxytocin- mother to child attachment

Testosterone Estrogen- development and emotion

The idea that each side of our brain houses different functions. 

• -Left: logic, reason, math, language, reading, writing, linear thinking, analysis.
• -Right: recogniction, faces, patterns, rhythm, visual, images, depth, creativity, art

The band of nerves that connect the hemispheres of the brain. In split-brain patients, the corpus collosum is severed. 

• Cortisol is a steroid released due to stress, but is also present in the mother-child relationship.
• Epinephrine is adrenaline
• Norepinephrine...
•  Stress is our reaction to change. 

Stress affects the immune system, as more coritcosteroids leads to a decrease in lymphocytes. Lymphocytes are white blood cells like T-cells and B-cells who fight virus and bacteria.

DNA is the building block of chromosomes, while genes are essentially the “purpose” of the chromosome. As humans we have 46 chromosomes.

Adoptees are more like their biological parents in terms of temperament, but the adoptive parents have a bigger impact in terms of beliefs and other more complex things.

these are our basic emotional characteristics and basic emotions like anger, jealousy etc. The BLOA claims we are generally born with a set temperament.

In general, if a female is exposed to more testosterone in the womb, she will be more “tomboyish”, and vice versa for guys with estrogen. Amount of the respective sex hormone can change behavior. 

After a botched circumcision, he was raised to be a girl. His parents did their best to raise him as a normal girl, but eventually it became clear he was actually a dude. This case is huge in the argument of nature vs nurture. He eventually killed himself in 2004

when we reflect on events, we tend to view them as more favorable then they actually were. Also makes things out to be obvious, when at the time they may not have been. 

Replicating a memory or event from the past in your head

The study of an individual who has a very peculiar situation, but these cannot be applied to the population as case studies are very individual.

The people that the experiment is evaluating

randomly picking someone from the population. 

The observation of phenomena in its natural environment, the best example is watching monkeys in the jungle in Africa, instead of a zoo.

• When one trait affects the other.
• Correlation does not prove causation however

Control is the group that you will reference too when evaluating the data, and experimental is the group who are tested in the hypothesis.

• The idea that by thinking something is actually working, it will suddenly appear to get better
•  best example is a sugar pill vs. a real medicine. If given the sugar pill, people may BELIEVE they are getting help, thus prompting them actually improving. 

independent will stay the same regardless, but dependent relies on the independent variable. 

the Scientific study of behavior and mental processes

The philosophy that science should rely on experimentation and observation.

first psychological laboratory in Germany, 1879. Because of him, new schools of thought evolve.

The argument between whether or not we are born with a predetermined personality, or if we are a product of our environment.

The man who created the theory of evolution, also the idea of Natural Selection.

Research that is intended to build a base of knowledge

research intended to solve practical problems

Psychiatry is a M.D., so you have to go to med school, and you can prescribe medicine. While Psychology is more research based, Psychiatry is more applied.