Ch 1
Contemporary Pscyhology
Contemporary Pscyhology
A specialist is asked by a court to evaluate whether a defendant is mentally competent to stand trial.
What is forensic psychology?
A therapist believes a client's fear of dogs traces back to a repressed childhood memory, and asks the client to describe recent dreams to uncover it.
What is psychoanalytic therpy (Freud)?
A teacher wants to observe how kids naturally interact on a playground without the kids changing their behavior because they know they're being watched.
What is naturalistic observation?
Before a new drug trial begins, participants are given a detailed written explanation of the risks, told their data will stay private, and reminded they can quit at any time.
What is informed consent?
A medication that mimics a neurotransmitter and activates its receptors, boosting that neurotransmitter's normal effect.
What is an agonist?
A researcher finds that people are less likely to help a stranger in trouble when more bystanders are standing around — and more likely to help when they're alone.
What is social psychology?
A dog learns to salivate at the sound of a bell after the bell was repeatedly paired with food, even when no food is present.
What is classical conditioning (Pavlov)?
A team randomly assigns half of a group to use a new meditation app for 30 days and half to not use it, then compares anxiety scores between the two groups.
What is an experiment?
The committee of administrators, scientists, and community members that reviews proposals for research involving human participants.
What is the Institutional Review Board (IRB)?
The bodily system where a patient's pancreas stops properly releasing the hormone that regulates blood sugar, leading to diabetes.
What is the endocrine system?
A specialist helps a patient with diabetes manage stress and stay motivated to stick with a difficult diet and medication routine.
What is health psychology?
A researcher argues psychology should study only what can be directly seen and measured — not the invisible workings of the mind.
What is behaviorism (Watson)?
A researcher wants to deeply understand a rare set of conjoined twins and how they experience individual versus shared identity.
What is a case study?
A researcher told participants a study was about learning, when it was really about obedience to authority, so their behavior wouldn't be influenced by knowing the real goal.
What is deception?
A new medication blocks a specific neurotransmitter's receptor, stopping that neurotransmitter's normal effect on mood.
What is an antagonist?
A professional coaches an Olympic swimmer on visualization and breathing techniques to reduce anxiety right before a race.
What is sports/exercise psychology?
A counselor believes that once a client's basic needs for food, safety, and belonging are met, the client will naturally become motivated to reach their full potential.
What is humanism (Maslow)?
When neither the participants nor the researchers handing out pills know who is receiving the real medication and who is receiving a sugar pill.
What is a double-blind study?
After a study involving deception ends, researchers meet with each participant to explain the true purpose of the study, answer questions, and address any distress it may have caused.
What is debriefing?
After a different stroke, a patient understands everything said to her but can't form clear sentences in response — her speech comes out broken and effortful.
What is Broca's area (frontal lobe)?
A trauma survivor needs both talk therapy for flashbacks AND a specialist to explain how the injury to their brain is affecting their memory (2 branches!).
What are clinical psychology and biopsychology?
A scientist studies why humans blink reflexively when something flies toward their face, focusing on how the behavior helps a person survive and adapt.
What is functionalism (James)?
Clara, who is assigned to the control group, receives a sugar-pill that she believes contains the active drug being tested in the experiment.
What is a placebo?
The committee of admistrators, scientists, veterinarians, and community members that reviews proposals for research involving non-human animals.
What is the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC)?
A person is running from a threat — heart racing, pupils dilated, digestion paused. Once safe, their body calms back down to baseline. Name the two systems responsible for the "speeding up" and the "calming down."
What are the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems?