PSYC 1315 1st Edition Exam 1 Study Guide Lectures 1 8 Lecture 1 January 14 What is Psychology Define Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes How are philosophers and theologians influential Philosophers and Theologians were influential because they were the people who tried to answer questions about the universe before psychology in 1875 Plato and Aristotle were the most influential and they brought up issues like nature vs nurture and temperament Psychology just applies the scientific method to these questions What did they mean by temperament Ancient Greeks referred to temperament in terms of four humors Blood meaning enthusiasm yellow bile meaning anger black bile meaning depression and phlegm meaning apathy These humors set an individual s characteristics back then What is the difference between transactional and transformational Transactional leaders are people who are not good at change while transformational leaders will change things whether you want them to or not What are the research areas of psychology The major research areas of psychology are developmental experimental social cognitive personality psychometrics and physiological Developmental psychologists study how people become who they are from conception to death Experimental psychology deals with different experiments and testing the boundaries of science Social psychology studies people s interactions with one another Cognitive psychology examines one s attention and memory Personality psychology studies the characteristics and personalities of individuals Psychometrics develops good tests usable in experiments Physiological psychology studies how people will continue to take a drug long after it stops giving them pleasure Lecture 2 January 16 Influential People in Psychology Who was Wilhelm Wundt What was structuralism Wilhelm Wundt was a German philosophy professor who established the first lab for the study of psychology in 1879 He wanted to use chemistry as a model to study the mind Structuralism was his method to look into the mind and know your thoughts Although this method failed because he couldn t verify his subject s reports Who was William James What was functionalism William James was an American philosophy professor who discovered functionalism Functionalism was the approach to mental processes emphasizing the functions and purposes of the mind and behavior in one s adaptation to the environment He believed that behavior thoughts and feelings served adaptive purposes Who was Sigmund Freud What was the psychodynamic approach Sigmund Freud was a neuropsychiatrist who was most influential for his belief that early relationships with parents shape an individuals personality and his psychodynamic approach Psychodynamic approach emphasized unconscious motivations like the influence of unconscious aggressive and sexual motives in early childhood experiences Lecture 3 January 21 Research Methods What are the steps in the scientific method 1 2 3 4 5 Formulate your hypothesis Design the study Collect the data Analyze the data to draw conclusions Report the findings What is the difference between a precise and an objective experience A precise experiment is an event related potential and an objective experiment is a doubleblind procedure What is the difference between experimental studies and observational studies In an experiment you must have a control group a control condition an experimental group an experimental condition an independent variable and a dependent variable In an experiment you can have multiple designs such as a random sample a random subject assignment an experimental group a control group and you must measure the dependent variable in both groups Observational studies consist only of observing the subject and taking notes on its behavior Lecture 4 January 23 The Brain What is the synapse The synapse is a part in the brain where neurons are released that can inhibit or excite senses When neurotransmitters are released in the synapse the synapse has to remove it by one of two ways It has to reuptake the neurotransmitters back into the brain or it can terminate it by breaking down the chemicals in it What does the autonomic system do What is the difference between the Sympathetic System and the Parasympathetic System The Autonomic System connects the central system to non voluntary muscles and glands This system then branches off into the Sympathetic system and the Parasympathetic system The sympathetic system deals with arousing it readies the body for activity and use of energy The parasympathetic system is calming it readies the body for restoration of energy What is the importance of the cortex What consists of the sensory areas The cortex provides for plasticity which allows us to change and evolve easily and it is also the largest part in our brains The sensory areas include vision touch taste and hearing The nerve cells in each sensory area are organized in columns In the sensory areas there is the frontal lobe temporal lobe occipital lobe and the parietal lobe The parietal lobe deals with a person s sense of self and their recognition of physical properties The occipital lobe deals with vision and the conscious experience of vision Someone who injures their occipital lobe will be blind but can still see unconsciously The frontal lobe deals with cognition and recent memory and the temporal lobe deals with hearing and advanced visual processing What are the language areas of the brain and the differences between them The language areas of the brain are Broca s area Wernicke s area and the Angular Gyrus Broca s area consists of the ability to talk Wernicke s area if damaged causes devastating language impairments they can t write speak or understand a language If the Angular Gyrus was hurt then one could no longer read or write What is the correlation between the left and right brain When looking at an object the left eye transmits the picture to the right side of the brain while the right eye transmits to the left side of the brain Speech is in the left half of the brain Most people use the right side of their brain more and in doing so we often look at the left side of someone s face when talking because the right side of the cortex moves the left side of the face more affectively The right side of the cortex controls understanding of others Both sides of the brain work together to form the complete picture or understanding of something