PSYCHOLOGY 101 EXAM 1 2026/2027 9pages

Define science of Psychology ✔✔Psychology is the scientific study of behaviour and mental process Empiricism ✔✔Belief that knowledge comes exclusively through the senses or through experience Pseudoscience ✔✔A fake or false science that makes claims based on little or no scientific evidence. Case Study ✔✔An in-depth examination of one individual, or a small number of individuals The Survey ✔✔An investigation of many cases in less depth by asking people to report opinions and behaviours Naturalistic observation ✔✔recording behaviour in its natural environments, and describing it in detail Experimentation ✔✔Purpose is to explore cause and effect by manipulating one or more factors, while holding other factors constant independent variable ✔✔The experimental factor that is manipulated; the variable whose effect is being studied (i.e if you are testing if breastfeeding kids has a difference or not in their intelligence later in life, the independent variable is breast milk and formula) Dependent Variable ✔✔The outcome factor; the variable that may change in response to manipulations of the independent variable. Difference between Descriptive and correlational research methods ✔✔Descriptive research method is to observe and record behaviour. Correlational research method is to detect naturally occurring relationships . Nothing is manipulated in these two research methods. Biological Psychology ✔✔The basic assumption that everything psychological is biological Phrenology ✔✔A popular but wronged theory in the 1800's that claimed that bumps on the skull could reveal mental abilities and character traits. Sensory Neurons ✔✔Carry messages from the body's tissues and sensory organs inward to the brain and spinal cord for processing Motor Neurons ✔✔Carry Messages from the brain and out to the bodes tissues How Neuron's Communicate ✔✔When a neural impluse reaches the terminal of a an axon, it triggers release of neurotransmitters into the synaptic gap. Acetylcholine (ACH) ✔✔A neurotransmitter that enables learning and memory and also triggers muscle contraction Dopamine ✔✔a Neurotransmitter that influences movement, learning, attention, and emotion. Serotonin ✔✔a Neurotransmitter that Affects Mood, hunger, sleep and arousal Norepinephrine ✔✔a Neurotransmitter that helps control alertness and arousal GABA ✔✔A major inhibitory neurotransmitter Glutamate ✔✔A Major excitatory neurotransmitter involved in memory The two types of Major nervous systems ✔✔Peripheral nervous system and the Central Nervous system Somatic Nervous system ✔✔enables voluntary control of skeletal muscles Automatic Nervous System ✔✔controls our glands and the muscles of our internal organs The Sympathetic System ✔✔Expands energy, accelerates heart rate, raises blood pressure... The parasympathetic system ✔✔Conserves energy, decelerates heart rate, lowers blood pressure... The peripheral nervous system ✔✔The nervous system that contains, autonomic, somatic, sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. The central nervous system ✔✔comprises the spinal cord and brain The brain on average has how many neurones ✔✔40 billion Scientific method ✔✔A series of steps followed to solve problems done in order. 1. Formulate a testable hypothesis 2. Select the research method and design the study 3. Collect the data 4. Analyze the data and draw conclusions 5. report the findings Reactivity ✔✔Effects of an observation and measurement procedure on the behavior being measured. This is most likely when measurement procedures are obtrusive, especially if the person being observed is aware of the observer's presence and purpose Replicability ✔✔The ability of research to repeatedly yield the same results when done by different researchers. Reliability ✔✔Ability of a test to yield very similar scores for the same individual over repeated testings Validity ✔✔ ly measuring exactly what you intend to measure Generalizability ✔✔Extent to which research results apply to a range of individuals not included in the study. Mode ✔✔Most common Median ✔✔The middle number in a set of numbers that are listed in order Mean ✔✔Average Variance ✔✔A statistic that measures the variability of a distribution at the average squared deviation of each case from the mean belmont study ✔✔A law brought in 1974 to protect humans in behaviour and biomedical research. Neuropsychology ✔✔Studies the connection between neuroscience and bodily systems and behaviour. (the study of the brain and nervous system) Neuroscience ✔✔How the body and brain enable emotions, memories, and sensory experiences Glia ✔✔Cells in the nervous system that support, nourish, and protect neuron'