Introductory Psychology: Midterm Assignment 1

Introductory Psychology: Midterm Assignment 1

Introductory Psychology: Midterm Assignment 1

Study Guide for Midterm 1

1) Describe the historical schools of thought in Psychology (including structuralism, Gestalt psychology, functionalism, psycho-dynamic approach, and behaviorism).

2) Describe the 6 major current approaches to Psychology discussed in class (biological, psychodynamic, evolutionary, cognitive, humanistic and behaviorism). How do these approaches differ?

3) How are the Science of Psychology and Pseudo-Psychology different (refer to your textbook for assistance with this answer)? Discuss phrenology, palmistry, and astrology. Are they pseudo-psychology?

4) Define Empiricism. Define the science of Psychology.

5) What is the scientific method? Define each component of the scientific method. Why are operational definitions essential to this method?

6) Name the steps you would use to evaluate a piece of scientific research (questions we discussed in class to help you evaluate – we used these to evaluate eye movement desensitization and reprocessing).

7) What are the different methods used to conduct scientific research in Psychology? What are their features, strengths and weaknesses? In what method(s) can you determine the cause of a behavior? Can you determine direction of cause when you have a correlation?

8) Explain the difference between a positive correlation, negative correlation, and no relationship between 2 variables. What would correlation coefficients of +0.9, 0, or -0.9 mean about the relationship between two variables?

9) Imagine you are a neural signal moving from one cortical neuron to another. Describe your journey and all of the processes that occur along the way. Start at the point where the neuron you are in reaches its action potential, and a signal starts down the axon, through the synapse to the next cell (how does the message bridge the synapse?). In the next cell, describe what contributes to the probability the next cell will reach it’s threshold for an action potential.

10) What are the exact charges (in milli-volts) of a neuron during the different stages of an action potential (include the resting state).

11) Define neurotransmitter and hormones.

12) What is myelin?

13) What are the central and peripheral nervous systems? What are the autonomic and somatic systems of the peripheral nervous system?

14) What are the ways the brain can be studied? Explain both invasive and non-invasive techniques.

15) What is the cerebral cortex? Do all animal species have a cerebral cortex? How are humans unique with regard to this brain structure? Describe the major areas of the cerebral cortex. What are the general functions of these areas?

16) What is the corpus callosum? What is its function?

17) What are Wernike’s and Broca’s areas of the cerebral cortex? Describe the aphasias caused by damage to these areas. What is agnosia? What is the hippocampus and for what function is it specialized?

18) What is neuralplasticity? What are the ways your nervous system is plastic?

19) In the article “Rethinking the Brain: How the Songs of Canaries Upset a Fundamental Principle of Science”, what was the important discovery of F. Nottebohm? Why was it controversial? If you were a member of congress, what do you think your instructor would tell you is an important lesson to take away from this article?

20) What are the dimensions along which visible light can be described? What is the range of light we (humans) can see? What property of an object determines what color we see when looking at it?

21) As a photon travels into our eye, describe the parts of the eye it travels through and what those parts do to the light.

22) In what way is the retina built backwards (think about the direction that light travels and the organization of the layers of cells in the retina)?

23) Describe how rods and cones differ and what they are specialized to do. What is the fovea? What is the blindspot? What is peripheral vision? What area of the retina has the most rods? What area has the most cones? How will that impact vision in the center of your visual field versus the periphery?

24) Explain the trichromatic theory of color vision and the opponent-process theory of color vision. Is it likely that both are operating in our visual processing? How?

25) What properties of sound waves affect what we hear?

26) What part of the ear contains the cells that in response to sound waves, send nerve impulses to the brain. How is the nerve signal generated?

27) What are the 2 theories of pitch detection?

28) What is the difference between conduction deafness and nerve deafness? What is stimulation deafness?

29) Describe how olfaction (sense of smell) works? How do humans compare with other species in their sense of smell?

30) What is a pheromone? What do pheromones do?

31) What are the basic taste sensations? How do taste receptors work?