Class notes

"Essentials of Mind and Behavior: Comprehensive Psychology Review Notes

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Course
PS101

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Wilfrid Laurier University (WLU )

The document is a comprehensive collection of psychology review notes, spanning over multiple chapters and sections, covering a wide range of topics., great for cheat sheet inspo and usage. The chapters include "Human Development," "Perception," and "Memory," , each providing detailed definitions, ...

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Uploaded on March 8, 2024
Number of pages 20
Written in 2023/2024
Type Class notes
Professor(s) Wlu
Contains All classes

psychology
wlu
wilfrid laurier
university
intro to psych
summary notes
exam notes
midterm notes
psychology notes
human behavior
perception
child development
summary notes for psych
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Chapter 4: Human Development
March 1, 2024 12:07 PM

Important definitions bank
violation-of-expectation: an experimental approach capitalizing on infants’ and toddlers’ heightened reactions to
an unexpected event.
Habituation: the process of habituating, in which individuals pay less attention to a stimulus after it is presented to
them over and over again.
Scaffolding : developmental adjustments that adults make to give children the help that they need, but not so much
that they fail to move forward.
Zone of proximal development: the gap between what a child could accomplish alone and what the child can
accomplish with help from others.
Temperament: a biologically-based tendency to respond to certain situations in similar ways throughout a person’s
lifetime.
Primary sex characteristics : changes in body structure that occur during puberty that have to do specifically with
the reproductive system, including the growth of the testes and the ovaries.
Secondary sex characteristics: changes that occur during puberty and that differ according to gender, but aren’t
directly related to sex.
Menopause: series of changes in hormonal function occurring in women during their 50s, which lead to the end of
the menstrual cycle and reproductive capabilities.
Wear-and-tear theory: theory suggesting we age because use of our body wears it out.
Free-radical theory: theory suggesting we age because special negatively-charged oxygen molecules become more
prevalent in our body as we get older, destabilizing cellular structures and causing the effects of aging.

Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development: - Preconventional: Morality based on personal
- Expanded Piaget's ideas on moral reasoning. consequences (e.g., avoiding punishment, gaining
- Used moral dilemmas to study children's reward).
reasoning about right and wrong. - Steal: To provide care for his children.
- Proposed a stage theory where moral reasoning - Not steal: Fear of jail.
progresses from external authority to internalized - Conventional: Morality based on societal views and
principles. expectations (e.g., maintaining social order, approval of
- Stages: obedience to authority, maintaining others).
social order, and abstract ethical principles. - Steal: To avoid being seen as a bad husband.
- Moral development is seen as independent but - Not steal: To avoid being labeled a criminal and
correlated with cognitive development. because it's against the law.
Gilligan's Theory of Moral Development: - Postconventional: Morality based on abstract principles
- Critiqued Kohlberg's theory for gender bias, beyond specific laws (e.g., valuing human rights).
noting his initial focus on boys. - Steal: The universal right to life is more important than
- Suggested girls use a care-based approach to property rights.
moral dilemmas, valuing relationships over - Not steal: Importance of societal order, cannot disobey
abstract principles like justice. laws just due to personal disagreement.
- Argued that males and females can use both
- Erikson's theory: adolescence is about resolving identity vs.
justice- and care-based reasoning, depending on
role confusion, affecting future roles and beliefs.
the situation.
- Physical peak in the 20s, with gradual decline starting in the
- Promoted inclusion of more female subjects in
30s.
research, influencing social sciences to consider
- Signs of aging, like skin and hair changes, vision and hearing
individual variations in moral reasoning.
decline, appear in the 30s and 40s.
- Researchers now focus on actual decision-
- Menopause typically occurs in women's 50s.
making rather than just moral philosophies, - Late adulthood brings further physical changes and
linking morality to evolutionarily adaptive immune system decline.
functions.

New Section 1 Page 1

, Chapter 5 Perception
March 1, 2024 1:20 PM

Important definitions bank
Sensation: the act of using our sensory systems to detect environmental stimuli.
Perception: the conscious recognition and identification of a sensory stimulus.
Threshold: the point at which the magnitude or intensity of a stimulus initiates a neural impulse.
Absolute threshold: the minimal stimulus necessary for detection by an individual 50 percent of the
time.
difference threshold or just noticeable difference: the minimal difference between two stimuli
necessary for detection of a difference between the two.
signal detection theory : Theory that the response to a signal in every situation depends on an
individual’s ability to differentiate between the signal and noise, and on their response criteria.
Sensory adaptation: the process whereby repeated stimulation of a sensory cell leads to a reduced
response.

• Sensory Thresholds: Activation of sensory
• Grapheme-Colour Synesthesia: Common type
receptors requires stimuli to reach a certain
intensity level, known as a threshold, to be where specific letters or numbers consistently evoke
detected. particular colors (e.g., "9" as turquoise, "J" as orange).
• Absolute Threshold: The minimal intensity • Consciousness Variability: Recent findings indicate
needed for a stimulus to be detected 50% of synesthetic perceptions aren't always conscious.
the time, varying among individuals but • Diverse Synesthetic Experiences: Includes smelling
generally low (e.g., detecting a candle flame odors from touch, hearing noises from smells, tactile
from 50 km away in darkness). responses to visuals, and emotional reactions to
• Difference Threshold (Just Noticeable sounds.
Difference, JND): The smallest detectable • Multisensory Synesthesia: Rare instances where
difference between two stimuli, influenced synesthesia involves three or more senses.
by initial stimulus intensity, environmental • Neuroimaging Insights: Studies reveal activation in
factors, and attention level.
sensory areas not typically responsive to certain
• Signal Detection Criteria: Sensitivity to
stimuli is not fixed and can fluctuate based stimuli in synesthetes (e.g., auditory cortex activates
on experience, expectations, and the for visual stimuli).
consequences of incorrect detection. This • Beyond Sensory to Semantic: Some synesthetic
involves response criteria where individuals experiences may involve semantic perception, altering
decide on the certainty needed to based on the conceptual understanding of the stimulus
acknowledge a stimulus, especially in (number vs. letter).
"noisy" environments with extraneous • Universal Sensory Processing: All individuals
information. convert environmental physical energy into neural
codes for perception, regardless of synesthesia.
• Situational Influence on Detection: The • Sensory Limitations: Our sensory systems can only
context and potential consequences (e.g., detect certain forms of energy, leaving much of the
risk of consuming spoiled food) influence how world's energy unperceived.
cautious one needs to be in detecting stimuli. • Sensation and Perception: Critical processes
• Sensory Adaptation: Sensory systems are involving the detection of environmental stimuli,
designed to detect changes, leading to conversion to neural signals (transduction), and
decreased responsiveness to constant or interpretation based on past and present experiences
repetitive stimuli, allowing the brain to focus for interaction with the environment.
on more salient changes and avoid • Survival Implications: Efficient functioning of sensory
information overload. systems is essential for survival, aiding in recognizing
• Olfactory Adaptation: Specific to the sense and responding to dangers like fires.
of smell, where prolonged exposure to an
odor decreases the ability to detect that odor,
which can be reset by introducing a stronger
stimulus.

New Section 1 Page 1

, Chapter 5
March 1, 2024 1:31 PM

Important definitions bank
bottom-up processing: perception that proceeds by transducing environmental stimuli into neural impulses that
move into successively more complex brain regions.
top-down processing :perception processes led by cognitive processes, such as memory or expectations.
perceptual set: readiness to interpret a certain stimulus in a certain way.
Olfactory: sense our sense of smell.
Gustatory: sense our sense of taste.
Odorants: airborne chemicals that are detected as odours.
Olfactory receptor neurons: sensory receptor cells that convert chemical signals from odorants into neural impulses
that travel to the brain.
Papillae: bumps on the tongue that contain clumps of taste buds.
taste buds: clusters of sensory receptor cells that convert chemical signals from food into neural impulses that travel
to the brain.
-Chemical Senses: Smell (olfactory sense) and
- Integration of Sensation and Perception: These processes taste (gustatory sense) respond to chemicals and
usually occur simultaneously, with studies often examining them are essential for survival and enjoyment in life,
separately to understand their collaboration. like detecting hazards or enjoying meals.
- Bottom-up Processing: Begins with physical stimuli, involves - Olfactory System: Initiated by odorants binding
transduction into neural impulses, and progresses through to receptors in the nasal mucosa, triggering
increasingly complex brain regions to recognize stimuli (e.g., action potentials in olfactory receptor neurons,
recognizing a friend's face through visual input). which send signals to the brain.
- Top-down Processing: Utilizes pre-existing knowledge and - Olfactory Fatigue: Continuous exposure to the
experiences to interpret and recognize stimuli, significantly same odorants can cause olfactory receptor
influencing perception (e.g., perceptions influenced by neurons to stop responding unless given a
expectations or perceptual sets). chance to recover, highlighting the adaptability
- Perceptual Sets: Preconceived notions or expectations that of the olfactory system.
shape the interpretation of ambiguous stimuli, demonstrating - Gustatory System: Independent of smell,
the impact of top-down processing (e.g., seeing a young or old involves taste receptors on the tongue's papillae
woman in an ambiguous drawing depending on the initial responding to five basic tastes: sweet, sour,
suggestion). bitter, salty, and umami (a savory taste identified
- Combination of Processes: Perception typically involves both by Kikunae Ikeda and associated with glutamate)
bottom-up and top-down processing, allowing for rapid - Taste Distribution: Taste buds, containing taste
recognition of familiar faces and stimuli across all sensory receptor cells, are unevenly distributed across
modalities. the tongue but most parts can detect the basic
- Sensory Systems: Comprise sensory receptors, neural tastes to varying degrees.
pathways, and brain areas responsible for processing sensory - Texture and Pain in Taste: Food's texture,
information. These systems include the traditional five senses assessed by touch receptors on the tongue, and
(smell, taste, touch, sound, sight) and additional senses like the pain from spicy foods, triggered by capsaicin
kinesthetic and vestibular senses, contributing to proprioception activating pain receptors, contribute significantly
and spatial orientation. to the overall eating experience.
- Proprioceptive Feedback: Considered the body's sixth - Regeneration of Taste Receptors: Unique
sense, it involves the unconscious awareness of self and among sensory receptors, taste receptors can
spatial orientation, relying on internal body signals and is regenerate, allowing recovery from damage such
essential in daily experiences and interactions with the as burns.
environment.
- Combination of Sensory Modalities: In real-world
experiences, multiple sensory systems work together to
provide a comprehensive perception of the environment,
underscoring the complexity and integration of the
sensory and perceptual processes.

New Section 1 Page 1

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