PSY 101 Straighterline Final Exam Questions and Answers

PSY 101 Straighterline Final Exam Questions and Answers psychology -Correct Answer -the scientific study o f behavior and mental processes science -Correct Answer -psychology uses systematic methods to observe human behavior and draw conclusions behavior -Correct Answer -everything we do that can be directly observed mental process -Correct Answer -The thoughts, f eelings, and motives that each of us experiences privately but that cannot be observed directly critical thinking -Correct Answer -thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions. Rather, it examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, eval uates evidence, and assesses conclusions. empirical method -Correct Answer -gaining knowledge through the observation of events, the collection of data, and logical reasoning structuralism -Correct Answer -focus on identifying the elemental parts or structur es of the human mind; William Wundt functionalism -Correct Answer -A school of psychology that focused on how our mental and behavioral processes function - how they enable us to adapt, survive, and flourish; William James natural selection -Correct Answer -A process in which individuals that have certain inherited traits tend to survive and reproduce at higher rates than other individuals because of those traits; Charles Darwin neurons -Correct Answer -a nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous sys tem glial cells -Correct Answer -cells in the nervous system that support, nourish, and protect neurons cell body -Correct Answer -Largest part of a typical neuron; contains the nucleus and much of the cytoplasm dendrites -Correct Answer -Branchlike parts of a neuron that are specialized to receive information. axon -Correct Answer -the extension of a neuron, ending in branching terminal fibers, through which messages pass to other neurons or to muscles or glands myelin sheath -Correct Answer -fatty layer that c overs the axon of some neurons and helps speed neural impulses resting potential -Correct Answer -The difference in electric charge between the inside and outside of a neuron's cell membrane; neg inside, pos outisde action potential -Correct Answer -a neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon all or nothing principle -Correct Answer -The principle that once the electrical impulse reaches a certain level of intensity (its threshold), it fires and moves all the way down the axon without losing any intensity. synapses -Correct Answer -tiny gaps between dentrites and axons of different neurons Neuraltransmitters -Correct Answer -transmit, or carry, information across the synaptic gap to the next neuron Acetylcholine (ACh) -Correct Answer -stimulates the firing of neurons and is involved in the action of muscles, learning, and memory Alzheimer's disease -Correct Answer -degenerative brain disorder that involves a decline in memory, have an acetylcholine deficiency GABA -Correct Answer -a major inhibitory neurotransmitter decreased GABA levels -Correct Answer -lead to anxiety glutamate -Correct Answer -exciting many neurons to fire and is especially involved in learning and memory norepinephrine -Correct Answer -inhibits the firing of neurons in the central nervous system, but it excites the heart muscle, intestines, and urogenital tract dopamine -Correct Answer -control voluntary movement and affects sleep, mood, attention, learning, and the ability to recognize rewards i n the environment seratonin -Correct Answer -involved in the regulation of sleep, mood, attention, and learning endorphins -Correct Answer -natural opiates that mainly stimulate the firing of neurons; block pain & increase pleasure oxytocin -Correct Answer -hormone and neurotransmitter that plays an important role in the experience of love and social bonding agonist -Correct Answer -A chemical that mimics the action of a neurotransmitter. antagonist -Correct Answer -drug that blocks a neurotransmitter's effects brain lesioning -Correct Answer -abnormal disruption in the tissue of the brain resulting from injury or disease