Chapter 2
The Biology of Behavior
The Biology of Behavior
A fatty, insulating layer that wraps around the axons of nerve cells, allowing electrical impulses to travel quickly and efficiently.
Myelin Sheath
The psychologist who asserted that the mind's unconscious was it's defense against inappropriate wishes and desires.
Sigmond Freud
This is Piaget's cognitive development stage, from birth to 2 years old, and is the first stage where infants learn about the world through their senses and motor actions. A key achievement is object permanence, the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen. During this stage, infants progress through six substages, from basic reflexes to more complex, goal-directed behaviors and eventually the beginning of symbolic thought, like using a block to "pretend" to be a car.
Sensorimotor Stage
This is the tendency to overemphasize a person's character or personality traits while underestimating the influence of situational factors when judging their behavior. This bias means people are more likely to attribute an outcome to an individual's disposition (e.g., they are lazy) rather than the situation they were in (e.g., they had too much work). This is often a subconscious and automatic process, and we are more aware of situational forces when observing ourselves.
The Fundamental Attribution Error
This is a short branched extension of a nerve cell, along which electrical and chemical impulses are received from other cells at synapses and are transmitted to the cell body.
A Dendrite
The long, slender projection part of a neuron that carries electrical impulses, known as action potentials, away from the cell body to other neurons, muscles, or glands.
Axon
The more hours a student studies, the better their grades are likely to be, is an example of this kind of correlation.
Positive Correlation
According to Piaget, these are mental frameworks or conceptual structures that individuals use to organize and interpret information and experiences. They are the basic building blocks of knowledge and are shaped and developed through a child's interaction with the world via assimilation and accommodation.
Schemas
This is the mental discomfort experienced when a person holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values, or when their beliefs are inconsistent with their actions. To reduce this discomfort, people may change their beliefs or behaviors, rationalize their actions, or seek out new information that supports their original stance.
Cognitive Dissonance
These are nerve cells that detect stimuli and convert them into electrical impulses, transmitting this information from the body to the central nervous system (CNS). They are a type of afferent neuron that enables senses like touch, sight, hearing, and taste, as well as internal senses such as pain, pressure, and blood pressure. These neurons are essential for perception and for the body to react to its environment, both internal and external.
Sensory Neurons
Stage of sleep where you experience story like dreams, and it's the easiest to wake up from.
REM Sleep
Chemicals that allow neurons to communicate with each other throughout the body, and enable the brain to provide a variety of functions, through the process of chemical synaptic transmission.
Neurotransmitters
This was an experiment done to investigate the extent to which a person will conform to a majority opinion, even if that opinion is clearly wrong. Participants were asked to judge the length of lines. Confederates of the experiment disguised as participants purposely told the research the wrong answer in order to see if the unknowing participant would succumb to peer pressure and also say the wrong answer.
Solomon Asch's Conformity Study
This is where people develop a preference for things simply because they have been repeatedly exposed to them. This can occur even when the exposure is subconscious, such as through repeated advertising, product placement, or even just seeing something over and over. The effect is rooted in our brain's tendency to prefer familiar things, as familiarity often creates a sense of comfort and positive feelings.
The Mere Exposure Effect
This lobe of the brain processes auditory information, language comprehension, memory formation and retrieval, and emotion processing. It is crucial for hearing and understanding sounds, recognizing objects and faces, and accessing long-term memories. Damage to this lobe can lead to a variety of impairments, such as difficulties with memory, speech, or a change in personality.
The Temporal Lobe
Reaction where a neuron either fires or does not fire at all.
all-or-none response
When a researcher observes from afar subjects in their natural every day environment without any intervention or manipulation, like when a researcher rides the subway to observe how commuters treat each other when confined in tight confined spaces.
Naturalistic Observation
This experiment was conducted to study obedience. In the experiment, participants were asked to shock a fellow participant (who was actually a confederate of the experiment) to assess their willingness to follow orders from someone seemingly in authority (another confederate of the experiment who told the participant to shock the other participant to see the effects of the shocks).
Milgram's Obedience Study
What are the Big 5 Personality Traits?
Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Neuroticism, Openness, & Extroversion
This is a group of brain structures, located deep within the cerebrum, that governs emotions, motivation, memory, and behavior. Key parts include the hippocampus, amygdala, hypothalamus, and cingulate gyrus. It plays a crucial role in processing emotions, forming long-term memories, and linking our physical and emotional states.
The Limbic System
A hormone that regulates the sleep-wake cycle, and its supplements can help with certain sleep problems like insomnia.
Melatonin
The variable in an experiment that is changed or controlled by the researcher to test its effects on a dependent variable.
Independent Variable
This experiment was conducted to see what effect role playing would have on participants put in the role of prisoner or guard.
The Stanford Prisoner Experiment (aka The Zimbardo Prison Experiment)
This is a social-cognitive theory by Albert Bandura that states that behavior, personal factors (like thoughts and beliefs), and the environment all influence each other in a continuous, two-way cycle. This means that while our environment shapes us, we are not passive recipients; our own actions and thoughts also actively shape our environment and vice versa.
Reciprocal Dterminism
These are cells in the nervous system that provide support, protection, and nutrition to neurons. They are the most abundant cells in the central nervous system and have diverse functions, including forming the myelin sheath around axons, maintaining the chemical environment, and playing an active role in development and repair. Key types include astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, microglia, and ependymal cells.
Glial Cells