Psychology is: predominantly the study of normal functioning, relationship between mind and behavior
Benefits: control and modification of behavior, critical thinking about own and others behavior, discovering differences

Definition of Psychology: the scientific study of behavior and mind
sub-topics: emphasis on science, controlled observation is important, mind refers to the subjective experience, behavior to the actions

What fields are in Psychology:
clinical Psychologists, psychobiology, cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, personality psychology, forensic psychology

Psychological research: Scientific method
observe environment, define the problem, generate an operational definition, generate hypothesis, run study and observe - to ensure prediction correct, formulate a theory to explain findings - formal statements that explain how and why events are related

Different types of studies: Naturalistic Observation, Case Study, Survey - tests or questionnaires - experiments

Cross Sectional VS Longitudinal Design

Experimental Research:
Variable - independent variable & dependent variable * control, groups - random assignment

Validity. Does a test measure what we want it to measure?
internal validity - the extent to which an experiment has controlled for confounding variables; internally valid experiment allow for the determination of causality

Reliability * Is the test consistent across trials * if yes then reliable * tests can be reliable without being valid.

Statistics * types of central tendency * mean - average * mode - (mode & most - mo) most frequently occurring score * median - (median & middle i) middle point of scores

Correlational Research - a statistic that indicates whether 2 variables vary together in systematic way * correlation coefficients vary from +1.00 to -1.00 * do not determine causality 3rd variable factors.

Positive correlations * zero correlation * negative correlations

Good practices in experimental research - informed consent * debriefing * confidentiality

operational definition ● social desirability bias ● unobtrusive measures ● archival measures

descriptive research ● naturalistic observation ● population ● hypothesis ● theory ● variable

representative sample ● random sampling ● correlation coefficient ● positive correlation & negative correlation ● scatterplots

experiment 1. manipulates one or more variables 2. measures whether this manipulation influences other variables 3. attempts to control extraneous factors that might influence the outcome of the experiment.

independent variable & dependent variable ● experimental group ● confounding of variables ● control group ● experimenter expectancy effects

random assignment ● counterbalancing ● placebo effect ● double-blind procedure ● external validity ● replication ● descriptive statistics ●

mode ● median ● mean ● range ● standard deviation ● inferential statistics ● statistical significance ● meta-analysis

Acetylcholine – An excitatory neurotransmitter that operates at synapses with muscles and is also the transmitter in some neural networks involved in memory.

Action Potential – A nerve impulse resulting from the depolarization of an axon’s cell membrane

Amygdala – A limbic system structure that helps organize emotional response patterns.

Autonomic Nervous System – The branch of the peripheral nervous system that activates the body’s involuntary muscles (e.g., heart) and internal organs.

Case study research – An in-depth analysis of an individual, group, or event.

Cerebellum – A convoluted hindbrain structure involved in motor coordination and some aspects of learning and memory.

Control group – In an experiment, the group that either is not exposed to the treatment or receives a zero level of the independent variable.

Dendrites – Small branching fibers that extend from the soma (a living cell proper exclusive of its processes) of a neuron and receive messages from adjacent neurons.

Dependent Variable – In an experiment, the factor measured by the researcher that presumably is influenced by the independent variable.

Dopamine - a monoamine (an amine containing only one amino group) C₈H₁₁NO₂ that is a decarboxylated (to remove carboxyl from [the univalent radical -COOH characteristic of the largest class of organic acids including formic, acetic, and benzoic acids] form of dopa and occurs especially as a neurotransmitter in the brain and as an intermediate in the biosynthesis of epinephrine

Endorphins – Natural opiate-like substances that are involved in pain reduction.

Frontal lobes - the anterior division of each cerebral hemisphere having its lower part in the anterior fossa of the skull and being bordered behind by the central sulcus (the sulcus [a shallow furrow (a marked narrow depression or groove) on the surface of the brain separating adjacent convolutions] separating the frontal lobe of the cerebral cortex from the parietal -- called also fissure of Rolando)

Hypothesis – A tentative (of the nature of an experiment or hypothesis : offered, undertaken, or arrived at as a first step) explanation or a prediction about some phenomenon.

Independent Variable – in an experiment, the factor that is manipulated by the researcher.

Interneurons - a neuron that conveys impulses from one neuron to another -- called also association neuron, associative neuron, internuncial, internuncial neuron

Limbic System – A group of subcortical structures, including the hippocampus and amygdale, that are involved in organizing many goal-directed and emotional behaviors.

Mean – A statistic that represents the arithmetic average of a set of scores.

Median – In a set of data, the point that divides the distribution in half when the individual scores are arranged in order from lowest to highest.

Mode – A statistic that represents the most frequently occurring score in a distribution of data

Medulla -  A brain stem structure that controls vital functions, including heartbeat and respiration.

Motor neurons – Specialized neurons that carry neural messages from the brain and spinal cord to the muscles and glands.

Myelin Sheath – A fatty insulating substance on the axon of some neurons that increases the speed of some neurons that increases the speed of neural transmission.

Naturalistic Observation – A method in which the researcher observes behavior in a natural setting and tries to avoid influencing the participants being observed

Negative Correlation – A relation between two variables in which higher scores on one variable are associated with lower scores on the other variable.

Neurotransmitter – Chemical substances that are released from the axons of one neuron, travel across the synaptic space, and bind to specially keyed receptors in another neuron, where they produce a chemical reaction that is either excitatory or inhibitory

Occipital lobe - the posterior (situated toward the back ) lobe of the cerebral hemisphere that is indistinctly separated from the parietal lobe in front and the temporal lobe below and has the form of a 3-sided pyramid

Parkinson’s disease - is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that often impairs the sufferer's motor skills and speech, as well as other functions

Phineas Gage - was a railroad worker now remembered for his incredible survival of a traumatic brain injury which destroyed one or both of his frontal lobes, and for the injury's reported effects on his personality and social functioning—effects said to be so profound that friends said he was "no longer Gage." His case played a role in the development of the understanding of the localization of brain function, and was among the first to suggest that damage to the frontal lobes can affect personality and behavior.

Positive Correlation – A relation between two variables in which higher scores on one variable are associated with higher scores on the other variable.

Random Sample – In survey research, a method of choosing a sample in which each member of the population has an equal probability of being included in the sample

Scientific Method - the principles and procedures used in the systematic pursuit of intersubjectively accessible knowledge and involving as necessary conditions the recognition and formulation of a problem, the collection of data through observation and if possible experiment, the formulation of hypotheses, and the testing and confirmation of the hypotheses formulated

Sensory neurons – Specialized neurons that carry messages from the sense organs to the spinal cord and brain.

Serotonin - a crystalline phenolic (a soluble crystalline acidic compound) amine derived from indole that is a powerful vasoconstrictor, that occurs especially in the blood serum and gastric mucosa of mammals, in small amounts in the brain, and in the secretions of various amphibians and that is formed in animal tissues from tryptophan -- called also 5-hydroxytryptamine

Synapse - the locus (PLACE, LOCALITY) at which the nervous impulse passes from the axon of one neuron to the dendrites of another having the form of an actual boundary between the two nerve fibers or possibly only a surface of contact and constituting the polarizing and selective element typical of most of the nervous systems of the higher animals b: the function of affording such communication between neuron processes

Terminal Buttons - Terminal buttons exist at the ends of the many branches that divide out from the axon. The terminal buttons receive the message transferred down the axon (An extension from one side of the neuron cell body that conducts nerve impulses to other neurons, muscles, or glands), store them in their synaptic vesicles (Chambers within the axon that contain the neurotransmitter substance) and are responsible for then secreting these transmitter substances.