study guide, chapter 1 and 2

Highlights of the chapters and Things to know:

Chapter 1
“father” of Psychology, Tried to put the abstract psychology ideas into a laboratory
Wilhelm Wundt setting.
William James, Darwin; how the species adapt the best survive
Functionalism
psychoanalytic, Freud: was a neurologist. Discovered that his patients did not have
internal, unconscious a physical reason for their disorders, but the repressed urges
mind, no free will and desires of the unconscious mind trying to surface is
what caused them to have physical disorders.
behaviorism: observable behavior focus. Shaped by your environment.
cognitive: focus on rational/irrational thoughts, reason, logic. Change
behavior by changing how you think about things.
A-activating event
B-belief you have
C-consequences.
humanism: focuses on innate human potential, optimistic, free will
The Various research 1. survey – questions to a cross section of a group to
methods, know the find a pattern in behavior. Random sampling.
difference Relies on honesty of the respondent.
2. naturalistic observation – observe subjects in their
natural environment.
3. clinical study – in depth study over time of just one
subject or object. Very in depth; over a period of
years.
4. correlation method- finding a relationship between
two different concepts or ideas. One thing does not
cause the other, but there is a relationship between
them.
5. experimental – identify cause & effect by conducting
experiments.
observer bias The tendency of observers to see what they expect to see.
observer effect Subjects in an experiment not acting as they normally would
because they are being watched.
anthropomorphism Erroneously assigning human thoughts or characteristics to
an animal.
independent variable The thing that is manipulated during an experiment. The
behavior does not change the independent variable.
dependent variable The response of the participants to the independent variable
give the dependant variable. Its outcome depends on the
variable chosen for the experiment.
control group The group used in the experiment that does not receive the
independent variable. This group is used to compare with
the experimental group.
Placebo Testing a drug, it would be the sugar pill. Sometimes the
participants would show improvement even though they are
not taking the real drug. This is the placebo effect.
Experimental group The group in an experiment that receives the independent
variable that is being tested.
single blind/double blind Single – the participants do not know which is being tested.
Double – the participants or the one administering the
experiment do not know which is being tested.
positive and negative Positive- when the independent variable increases, so does
correlation the dependant variable.
Negative – when the independent variable increases, the
dependant variable decreases.
It’s always between -1 and +1. the closer to one, the
stronger the correlation.
the 4 goals of psychology 1. describe – precise description of the work.
2. explanation – explain the behavior, the causes and
what is contributing to the behavior
3. prediction – forecasting behavior accurately.
4. control – what can be altered in the environment to
change the behavior.
know the 5 steps in the 1. Question – define what you are testing.
scientific method 2. hypothesis – form an educated guess on the outcome
of the test.
3. test – conduct the test.
4. conclusion – either your hypothesis was supported
by the testing or it wasn’t.
5. results – write up exactly what you did and what you
found.
chapter 2 1. dendrites – the body of the neuron that receives chemical
be able to draw: information from other neurons
1) neuron and
label (axon, dendrites, 2. Axon – the nerve “tube” that connects the neuron body to
soma, myelin, axon the Axon Terminals. Electrical impulses travel through.
terminals)
3. Axon terminals – the branching ends of the neuron that
send out chemical information.

4. Soma – the interior of the neuron.

5. Myelin – the fatty covering on the axon to facilitate

electrical movement.
 2) flow chart of 1. Nervous system
nervous system
A. central nervous system
1. Brain
2. spinal cord

B. Peripheral nervous system

1. somatic system (voluntary movements)

2. autonomic system (automatic; breathing, heartbeat.)

a. sympathetic – fight / flight. Emergency; survival.
b. parasympathetic – returns the body to rest after
the emergency has passed.
5 main parts of brain and Frontal-reasoning, motor control. Front.
their main function; Parietal-touch, temperature. On top of head.
remember: F-POCT Occipital-vision. Back of head.
Cerebellum-posture. Back bottom
Temporal-language, hearing. At the temple.
Neuraltransmitters and Chemical information that is exchanged between neurons.
what they do
dopamine: emotions, pleasure, pain
endorphins: euphoria, help reduce pain
melatonin: regulate sleep cycle
epinephrine: pumps the body up/ gets it going, also known
as adrenaline
serotonin: maintains happy feeling, lack of it is associated
with depression
left brain/right brain Male is left brain dominant.
male and female brain Female is right brain dominant, also having left brain
differences in brain activity for speech.
amygdala (fear), Amygdale-fear responses; memory of fear
hippocampus (memories), hippocampus-long term memories hypothalamus-regulates
hypothalamus (emotion) temp, thirst, hunger, sleep, wake, sexual desires & emotions.

EEG, fMRI, PET brain EEG-records electrical activity of the neurons.

scans, SPECT
fMRI-computer tracks changes in the oxygen levels of the
SPECT-shows how well blood. Shows the active areas of the brain.
blood flows in the brain.
PET-using a radioactive glucose injected into the brain.
Shows which areas of the brain are being stimulated during
activity.

CT – mapping sections of the brain with a series of

computer aided xrays.
Pituitary gland, thyroid Pituitary gland – located in the brain. Controls or influences
gland, adrenal glands and all the other endocrine glands in the body.
functions
thyroid gland – located inside the neck. Regulates
metabolism.

adrenal glands – on top of kidney. Releases epinephrine and

norepinephren which aids in sympathetic arousal.
(fear/anger)