describes the mechanism that produces a behavior

-ex. Birds with sunlight for migration

excitation that travels along an axon at a constant strength, no matter how far it must travel

-its a yes-no on off message- which is known as the all-or-none law

an electrical polarization accross the membrane of an axon

state of unrest or irritation that energizes one behavior after another until one of them removes the irritation

                -ex- splinter in the foot, discomfort motivates you too remove the splinter

                -problems with this view- people’s search for new experiences

                                                                                -ignores the role of external stimulation

the maintenance of an optimum level of  biological conditions within the organism

                -ex- people maintain a steady body temperature, resisting either an increase or a decrease

maintaining certain levels of biological conditions that vary according to an individuals needs and circumstances.

-Like gaining weight in the winter

Incentives

external stimuli that pull us toward certain actions

                -most motivated behaviors are controlled by a combination of drives and incentives

                                -eat because you are hungry (drive)

                                -and because you see appealing food in front of you (incentive)

motivation to do an act for its own sake

                -ex reading a book for enjoyment

based on the reinforcements and punishments that the act may bring

                Ex- reading a book to pass a test

when people are given more extrinsic motivation than necessary to perform a task, their intrinsic motivation declines

Delay of Gratification

-we generally prefer a reward now to a reward later

                -reverse occurs when reward is emotionally exciting

                                -most would rather kiss a movie star in a week than in the present

                                -most would rather get a shock today than in 10 years.

the most abundant sugar in the blood, is an important source of energy for all parts of the body and almost the only source for the brain

fat cells produce a hormone that is proportional to the total amount of fat.

the excessive accumulation of body fat

condition in which someone refuses to eat enough to maintain a stable weight, intensely fears gaining weight, and misperceives his or her body as fatter than it actually is

alternate between self-starvation and frequent periods of excessive eating when they feel they have lost their ability to control themselves. To compensate for the overeating, they may force themselves to vomit or use laxatives or enemas, or they may go through long periods of dieting and overeating

1. Excitement- penis erect, vagina is lubricated, deep breathing, heart rate and blood pressure increase

                2. Plateau- excitement remains fairly constant

                3. orgasm- relase of tension felt throughout the entire body

                4. resolution- person relaxes.

sex that a person regards him or herself as being

male fetuses generally secrete higher levels of the hormone than do females

For goal to be effective

1. To take goal seriously, commit to it publicly

                2. frequent feedback about your progress

Theory X, most employees are lazy, indifferent or uncreative, employers should make the work as foolproof as possible and supervise the workers to make sure they are doing each task the right way to save time and avoid injury.

Theory Y, employees like varietys in their job, a sense of accomplishment, and a sense of responsibility.

energies from the world around us that affect us in some way.

specialized cells that convert environmental energies into signals for the nervous system

                -our receptors can respond to wavelengths of 400 to 700 nanometers

continuum of all the frequencies of radiated energy

colored structure on the surface of the eye, surrounding the pupil

central area of the human retina which is adapted for highly detailed vision

                -more of the cerebral cortex is devoted to analyzing input from the fovea than from other areas

adapted for color vision, daytime vision, and detailed vision

                -proportion of cones is highest toward the center of the retina, the fovea consists solely of cones

adapted for vision in dim light

                -rods are better for dim light because:

                                1. a rod is slightly more responsive to faint stimulation than a cone is

                                2. The rods pool their resources. Only a few cones converge their message onto the next cell, called a bipolar cell

the gradual improvement in the ability to see in dim light

                -exposure to light causes a change in the retinaldehydes, which stimulates visual receptors

                                -under moderate light the receptors regenerate as fast as the light alters them

                                -in darkness the receptors regenerate without interruption

The Visual Pathway

in the eye, the visual receptors send their eye away from the brain, toward the center of the eye, where they make synoptic contacts with other neurons called bipolar cells

neurons that receive their input from the bipolar cells. This is where the bipolar cells make contact with other neurons

color vision depends on the relative rate of response by three types of cones

                -blue = short  less numerous than other

                - green = medium

                -red = long

we perciece color not in terms of independent colors but in terms of a system of paried opposites- red versus green, yellow versus blue, and white versus black

The Retinex Theory

we do not perceive color in isolation. We perceive color by comparing the light an object reflects to the light that other objects reflect

the tendency of an object to appear nearly the same color under a variety of lighting conditions

All three theories are correct in their own partial ways

-the trichromatic theory is correct in stating that human color vision starts with three kinds of cones

                -the opponent process theory explains how later cells organize color information

                -the retinex theory notes that the cerebral cortex compares color information from various parts of the visual field.

Hearing

-what is known as the ear, is actually a fleshy structure known as the pinna. Is funnels sounds to the inner ear, where the receptors lie

vibrations of the air or of another medium

the frequency of a sound wave is the number of cycles (vibrations) that it goes through per second

perception closely related to frequency

                -high frequency wave is high pitched, low frequency wave is low pitched

results when the bones connected to the eardrum fail to transmit sound waves properly to the cochlea.

results from damage to the cochlea, the hair cells, or the auditory nerve.

the highest frequency sounds vibrate hair cells near the stirrup end and low frequency sounds )down to about 100-200 Hz) vibrate hair cells at points farther along the membrane.

                -tones less than 100 Hz excite all hair cells equall and we hear them through the frequency principle

                -100-4000Hz- combination of the volley principle and the place principle

                -beyond 4000 Hz we use the place principle

Localization of Sounds

-the auditory system determines the direction of a sound source by comparing the messages from the two ears. If sound from the front, then the message arrive at the ears simultaneously. If it comes from the left, it will be there first and more intense there etc

                -timing is important for localizing low frequency sounds

                -intensity helps us locate high frequency sounds

-loudness and frequency tell you only the relative distances of sound sources, not the absolute distance.        

                -the only cue for absolute distance is the amount of reverberation

reports the tilt of the head, acceleration of the head, and orientation of the head with respect to gravity

                -the vestibular sense detects each head movement and controls the movement of your eyes to compensate for it.

                -composed of three semicircular canals, oriented in three separate directions, and two otolith organs

                                -the semicircular canals are lined with hair cells and filled with a jelly like  substance, when the body accelerates in any direction, the jelly like substance in the corresponding  semicircular canal pushes against the hair cells which sends message to the brain

                -the otolith organs report the direction of gravity and therefore which way is up

- the skin senses- also knows as the somatosensory system, meaning body sensory systems.

Pain

the experience of pain is a mixture of sensation and emtion

                -the anterior cingulated cortex- also responds to the emotional pain of feeling rejected by other people.

the idea that pain messages must pass through  a gate, presumably in the spinal cord, that can block the messages.

neurotransmitters that inhibit the release of substance P and thereby weaken pain sensation

a continuining sensation of an amputated body part

condition in which a stimulus of one type, such as sound, also gives rise to another experience, such as color.

the intensity at which a given individual can detect a stimulus 50% of the time

study of people’s tendencies to make hots, correct rejections, misses and false alarms

increase or decrease in an objects apparent brightness by comparison to objects around it

our tendency to perceive objects as keeping their shape, size, color, despite certain distortions in the light pattern reaching our retinas

we may incorrectly perceive the object as moving against a stationary background when an object is stationary and an object moves

perception of distance, enables us to experience the world in three dimensions. Depends on several factors:

                1. retinal disparity- the difference in the apparent position of an object as seen by the left and right retinas

                -2. Convergence- degree to which they turn in to focus on a close object

such as retinal disparity and convergence, they depend on both eyes

the moon close to the horizon appears about 30% larger than it appears when it is higher in the sky

                -we unconsciously perceive the horizon as farther away, consequently we perceive the horizon moon as very large, then because of the perceived size of the horizon moon, we secondarily and consciously say it looks closer while continuing to unconsciously perceive it as farther

strands of hereditary material

- sections along each chromosome that control chemical reactions and direct development

single copy of the gene is sufficient to produce its effect

determine whether an individual develops as a male or a female

the tendency to be active or inactive, outgoing or reserved, and to respond vigorously or quietly to new stimuli

-To produce a repsonse as you do on essay tests or short answer tests

ex- name all of the kids in your second grade class

Cued Recall

Recieve significant hints about the material

ex- photograph of second grade class, now name all of them

offered several choices and asked the correct one

ex- multiple choice test

Savings method aka relearning method- detects weak memories by comparing the speed of original learning to  the speed of learning

-relearn names faster than a new list

an experience influences what you say or do even though you might not be awarre of the influence

memories of motor skills such as wlaking and talking

-types of implciti memories

information that enters the system in processed, coded and stored

-ex- like a computer

memory of general principles and facts

-memory of the law of gravity

memory for specific events in a person's life

-ex the time you droppde your grandmothers vase

forgetting where or how you learned something

-because of this you may dismiss a reliable source at first because you know it came from an unreliable source but laster remember it

-known as the sleeper effect

associated information that might help you regain the memory

-doesnt help for short term memory

system for working with current information

Four Components:

1. phonological lopp- stores and rehearses speech information

2. visuospatial sketchpad- stores and manipulates visual and spaital information, providing for vision what the phonological loop provides for speech

3. central executive- governs shifts of attention

4. episodic buffer- binds together various parts of a meaningful experience

during an original experience we construct a memory. When we try to retrieve that memory, we reconstruct an account based partyl on survivng memories and partly on our expectations of what happened

the measurement of individual differences in performance

-to perform well on any test of mental ability, people need a general ability which he called "g"

-"S"  each task also required a specific abaility

-called the monarchic theory because it includes a dominant ability that rules over the lesser abilities

1. verbal processing

2. perceptual processing

3. image rotation

3 aspects of intelligence:

A. cognitive processes

B. identifying situations that need intelligence

C. using intelligence in the external world

correlation between scores on a first test and a retest

-if reliabilty is perfect the person who scores highest on the first test will score highest on the retest and so on

Oral stage

ID- all biological drives- sex and hunger

ego- rational decsion making aspect

superego-memories of rules and prohibtions we learned from our parents and the rest pof society

a return to a more immature level of functioning

-ex  moving back in with parents

attribution of one's own undesirable charchateristics to other people

ex- some who likes porn says someone else does

represents the cumulative experience of preceding generations

-"group mind"

- Adlers invented it

-mean an "indivisible psychology" of the person rather than a psychology of parts such as ego, id, superego

1. Neuroticism

2. Extraversion

3. Agreeablesness

4. consciotousness

5. Openess to experiencess

aspects of envirorments that differ from one individual to another

-causes the variation among people's personalities

abnormal behavior has three major aspects:

1. bilogical, 2. psychological and 3. sociological

cognitive therapy

when a change in stimulus increases a previously habituated response

longitudinal study

group of peoples born at a particular time or a group of people who entered an organization at a particular time

between 0-2

behavior is mostly responses to simple motor responses to sensory stimuli

kids perform mental operations on concerte objects but still have trouble with abstract or hypothetical ideas

emotionally distant from the child

-set rules without explaining the reasons behind them

a tendency to ignore the left side of the world and the left side of objects

-happens with damage in the right hemisphere

an ability to respond to visual information in certain ways without being conscious of it.

-ex if an object moves, they may turns their eyes towards it while continuin to insist that they dont see anything

sudden attacks of extreme, even irresistible sleepiness during the day

treats dreams as a kind of thinking that occurs under special conditions:

-persisting activity of much of the cortex

-great reduction of sensory stimulation, including reduced activity in the primary sensory areas of the brain

-loss of voluntary self-control of thinking

a suggestion to do or experience something after coming out of hypnosis

ex- people who are told to forget, often do forget

satisficing

-Chomsky

-system for converting a deep structure into a surface striucture

-deep structure is the underlying logic or meaning of a sentence

-surface structure is the sequence of words as the are actually apoken or written

-whenever we speak, we transform the deep structure into a surface structure

a unit of sound

-can be a letter such as f, or a combination such as sh

-a unit of meaning

-thrills has two morpheme (thrill and s)

how the persons behavior compares with other peoples  bheavior

-used for attributions

how the persons behavior varies from one time to the next

-used for attricutions

to make internal attributions for peoples behavior even when we see evidence for an external influence on behjavior

-aslso known as the correspondence bias meaning a tendency to assume a strong similarity between someones current actions and his or her dispositions

people first hear a weak argument and then a stronger argument supporting the same conclusion

they end up rejecting the second one too

very brief, involuntary expressions of fear anger or other emotions

ex- someone who is pretending to be calm may show a flash of fear

two chains of neurons clusters just to the left and right of the spinal cord and theey arouse the body for vigours action

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your interpretation of stimuls directly evokes autnomic changes and sometimes muscle actions. Your perception of those changes is the feeling aspect of the emotion

ex- you dont run away becasue you are afrain, you feel afraid because you percieve yourself running

Duchenne Smile

guilty knoweldge test

3 different kinds:

1. mistkaes- such as weaing casual clothes to a formal event

2. being the center of attention- such as having someone sing happy birthday

3. sticky situations- such as having to ask someone for a major favor