Research Methods
This is the variable that a researcher manipulates and decides how they would like to change or vary
What is an independent variable?
Types of these chemical messengers include Serotonin, GABA, and Glutamate
What are neurotransmitters
This is the process of interpreting sensory information and assigning meaning to it
What is perception?
This is the generic term for the "branch" of psychology that includes research training but does NOT include therapy/counseling training.
What is experimental psychology?
This means that a good theory or model should start with the simplest possible explanation
What is parsimony? (parsimonious)
This type of drug mimics the effects of a neurotransmitter
What is an agonist?
The two categories of these are rods and cones
What are photoreceptors?
This perspective emphasizes unconscious conflicts
What is psychodymanic?
This refers to whether the research has been replicated and found to have consistent results
What is reliability?
If someone has sensed danger and has an elevated heart rate, then this type of nervous system is likely activated
What is the sympathetic nervous system?
This happens when our brain starts to ignore a consistent and unchanging thing in the environment
What is sensory adaptation?
If someone is struggling to feel social support, this perspective says we might start to see problematic behaviors
What is humanistic?
This indicates whether two correlated variables tend to move in the same directions or opposite directions as eachother.
What is the direction of the correlation?
This lobe of the brain helps process touch sensation
What is the parietal lobe?
This model of attention says that we can only attend to one thing at a time
What is Broadbent's Model?
This perspective emphasizes the need to have diverse samples in research.
What is socio-cultural?
This is the abstract and generic description of what someone is interested in researching
What is a conceptual variable
During the first steps of an action potential, this type of channel opens
What are sodium gates?
According to Broadbent's model, if someone is focusing on listening to a new song, this is what they would remember about other auditory info that was also in the environment at that time.
What are surface features (or basic sensory characteristics)?
At its extreme, this perspective says we have no free will because everything we do is determined by our environment
What is behaviorism