Foundations of Psychology
This is the scientific study of the mind and behavior.
What is psychology?
This is a testable prediction derived from a theory.
What is a hypothesis?
The CNS consists of these two structures.
What is the brain and the spinal cord?
This lobe contains the primary visual cortex.
What is the occipital lobe?
This 24 hour rhythm regulates the sleep-wake cycle.
What is a Circadian rhythm?
According to Freud, the hidden meaning of a dream is called this.
What is the latent content?
This psychologist argued that psychology should focus only on observable behaviors.
Who is John B. Watson?
A comprehensive explanation supported by evidence.
What is a theory?
Neurotransmitters are stored in this part of the neuron.
What are synaptic vesicles in the axon terminals (AKA: terminal buttons)?
This lobe contains the somatosensory cortex.
What is the parietal lobe?
The body's master biological clock is located in this structure.
What is the hypothalamus?
This dream theory proposes that dreams help process emotions and cope with waking-life experiences.
What is Rosalind Cartwright's Emotional Processing Theory?
This school of thought focused on breaking mental experiences into their basic components.
What is structuralism?
This research method can identify relationships but cannot determine cause and effect.
What is correlational research?
This neurotransmitter is deficient in Parkinson's disease?
What is dopamine?
Damage here causes difficulty planning, reasoning, and controlling impulses.
What is the frontal lobe?
The hormone released in response to darkness that promotes sleep is controlled by this part of the endocrine system.
What is the pineal gland?
This theory proposes dreams result from the brain making sense of random neural activity during REM sleep.
What is Activation-Synthesis Theory?
This school of thought examined how mental processes help people adapt to their environment.
What is functionalism?
Participants improve because they expect a treatment to work.
What is the placebo effect?
A drug that mimics a neurotransmitter and activates receptors is called this.
What is an agonist?
Damage to this area results in fluent but nonsensical speech and poor comprehension.
What is Wernicke's Area?
A student studies vocabulary before sleeping and remembers it better the next day. This supports this theory about sleep.
What is memory consolidation?
This sleep disorder involves repeated interruptions in breathing while asleep.
What is sleep apnea?
Carl Rogers believed therapists should provide these three conditions.
What are empathy, genuineness, and unconditional positive regard?
In a study examining violent TV and aggression, researchers measure the impact of different types of media (violent or non-violent) on the level of aggression in a child's behavior. In this scenario, the type of media is called...? (hint: the variable manipulated by the researcher)
What is the independent variable?
The relationship between neurotransmitters and receptors is often compared to this.
What is a 'lock & key' relationship?
Damage to this area results in difficulty producing speech despite understanding language.
What is Broca's Area?
During hypnosis, individuals typically experience this.
What is increased focus and responsiveness to suggestion?
Sleepwalking, night terrors, and restless leg syndrome belong to this group of disorders.
What are parasomnias?
A hiker's pupils dilate, heart rate increases, and glucose is released into the bloodstream after encountering a mountain lion. Why?
The sympathetic nervous system activated the fight-or-flight response.
A split-brain patient sees a spoon in the left visual field and cannot verbally identify it but can draw it with the left hand. Why?
The right hemisphere processed the image but cannot produce language responses.