History & Perspectives
The four core goals of psychology can be summed up as “What’s happening? Why? Will it happen again? Can we influence it?”
explanation, prediction, and control
Watching students in a cafeteria without manipulating anything is this method.
naturalistic observation
Before the study, participants must be told what to expect and agree to take part.
informed consent
These branchlike structures receive signals; this long fiber sends them.
dendrites and the axon
The “master gland” that talks to other glands.
pituitary gland
Turning light or sound into neural code is this process.
transduction
He asked what the mind is made of; his student asked what it is for.
Wundt/structuralism and James/functionalism?
A study finds r = –.80 between stress and sleep. The sign tells you direction; the number tells you this.
strength/magnitude
After deception, researchers must do this to explain the true purpose.
debriefing
The all-or-none event traveling down the axon.
action potential
Seeing the back of your head light up? That’s because vision maps here.
occipital lobe
The tiniest change you can reliably detect half the time.
difference threshold / JND (just noticeable difference)
This perspective says behavior is shaped by consequences like rewards and punishments.
behaviorism
“Memory improvement” must be defined as “words recalled from a 20-item list after 10 minutes.”
operational definition
Using animals is permitted when benefits justify costs and standards of housing/care are met under this oversight.
the institutional animal care and use committee
This neurotransmitter is tied to movement and reward; imbalances link to Parkinson’s and schizophrenia.
dopamine
This scan measures blood-oxygen changes to infer active brain areas.
fMRI
These retinal receptors give you color and crisp detail.
cones
This view focuses on mental processes—memory, thinking, problem solving—rather than just observable behavior.
cognitive perspective
Participants randomly assigned to caffeine or decaf helps control these sneaky influences.
What are confounding variables
“It happened to my cousin, so it must be true” fails this scientific habit of mind.
critical thinking / avoiding anecdotal reasoning
Rest and digest” belongs to this autonomic branch.
parasympathetic nervous system
Speech production troubles often follow damage here in the left frontal lobe.
Broca’s area
Grouping, proximity, and continuity belong to this tradition in perception.
Gestalt psychology
This modern lens emphasizes biology, hormones, genes, and the nervous system in behavior.
the biopsychological (neuroscience) perspective
Neither participants nor data collectors know who got the real pill.
double-blind study
A flashy claim that isn’t testable, relies on confirmation, and avoids peer review is likely this.
pseudopsychology
Memory formation depends heavily on this seahorse-shaped structure.
hippocampus
Split-brain research revealed this highway of axons connecting the hemispheres.
corpus callosum
Missing a gorilla during a counting task shows limits of attention called this.
inattentional blindness