PSY 101 1st Edition Exam 1 Study Guide Lectures 1 4 Lecture 1 ESP and precognition when you know something is going to happen before it happens History of psychology 1 Intuition thinking logic 2 Observation 3 Psychological research testing hypothesis Process of psychology 1 Theory 2 Descriptive research 3 Correlational studies experiments Limits of intuition how does intuition fail Hindsight bias tendency to believe after learning an outcome that one would have foreseen it I knew it all along Overconfidence we tend to think we know more than we actually do Detecting patterns in random data Confirmation bias we need to look for disproving evidence not just approving evidence Scientific attitude intuition can often be wrong we need to move beyond intuition to observation Types of descriptive research Case study one person is studied in depth in the hopes of revealing universal principles Survey ascertaining the self reported attitudes or behavior of people Naturalistic observation observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation Using intuition and observation as a starting point Theory organize what we know about a phenomenon Hypothesis a testable prediction after implied by a theory agreed upon by almost all Conducting research Operational definition a statement of procedures or operations used to define research variables Lecture 2 The research process circle of theories hypothesis and research and observations Observations two problems 1 We can draw flawed conclusions from observations 2 We are naturally bad statisticians Correlation coefficient a statistical measure of the extent to which two factors vary together and thus how well either factor predicts the other Indicates direction of relationship Indicates strength of relationship 0 1 0 Closer to zero less strong Closter to one more strong Major theme number one correlation does not mean causation Solution experiments the investigation manipulates one or more factors independent variable to observe their effect on some behavior or mental process dependent variable while controlling other relevant factors by random assignment of subjects By random assignment of participants the experiment controls other random factors Lecture 3 Inputs and outputs to the brain Input lines arteries and afferent arrive nerves Output lines veins and efferent exit nerves Overview of nervous system Central nervous system CNS made up of brain and spinal cord Peripheral nervous system PNS Somatic nervous system control voluntary movement of skeletal muscles Autonomic nervous system controls self regulated actions of internal organs or Glands Sympathetic arousing stop salivating increase heart rate fight or flight response Parasympathetic calming salivate slow heart Major theme number two antagonist systems push against each other to reach a shifting balance point Example heat vs air conditioning Neurons and synapses Axon transmits message Cell body integrate message Dendrites receive messages from other cells Lecture 4 Synapse area between axon of one neuron and dendrite of other Major structures of the CNS Spinal cord Brain lower level structures and cerebral cortex Lower level structures old brain features we share with primitive creatures Thalamus Reticular formation Medulla breathing heart rate salivation autonomic nervous system The limbic system Hypothalamus critical for motivations ie four f s feeding fighting fleeing f ing Hippocampus processes memory Pituitary gland master gland Amygdala aggression fear Cerebral cortex new brain neurocortex Frontal lobe abstract thinking planning social skills and personality traits Parietal lobe touch special orientation nonverbal thinking Occipital lobe vision Temporal lobe language hearing visual pattern recognition Plasticity brain reorders some people can live with half of a brain some parts adapt to new functions Major theme the divided self you may feel like a unified person but you contain several intelligences that sometimes conflict Example you want to eat a chocolate cake but at the same time you don t because you want to lose weight Handedness 90 are right handed left brain is more skilled 99 of righties have language located in the left hemisphere of their brain 70 of lefties do too Corpus colluseum largest bundle f nerve fibers connects two brain hemispheres carries messages between hemispheres Split brain not much happens to the person some epilepsy patients get this done Review How do genes work Every cell that contains a nucleus contains the genetic blueprint for our whole body Nucleus inner area of a cell that houses chromosomes and genes chromosome threadlike structure made largely of DNA molecules gene segment of DNA containing the code for a particular protein determines our individual biological development Behavioral genetics Behavior genetics study of the power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behavior Environment every non genetic influence from prenatal nutrition to the people and things around us Question How to separate these effects Is it what you were born with or how your environment shaped you We share 50 of our genes with each of our parents We share 25 of our genes with each of our grandparents We share 50 on average of our genes with each of our siblings you don t know whether you are getting the same half from each of your parents Tend to use twin studies to answer question Identical twins develop from a single zygote fertilized egg that splits in two creating two genetic replicas Fraternal twins develop from separate zygotes genetically no closer than brothers and sisters but they share the fetal environment Twin studies based on a simple premise if identical twins are more similar than fraternal twins then it must be due to genes Problems identical twins may try to act differently on purpose How to make twin studies better Separated twin studies how can we explain similarities between separated twins Luck or genes If separated identical twins are more similar that separated fraternal twins can it be due to luck We can also do adoption studies if children are similar to their biological parents it must be due to genes If children are similar to their adoptive parents it must be due to shared environment What is heritable Just about everything Personality divorce criminality alcoholism smoking political views watching TV happiness Where should we see effects of genes