PSYC 305L Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Type I And Type Ii Errors, Null Hypothesis, Pineal Gland
1. What is The Mind/Body Problem?
Mind Body Debate. The mind is about mental processes, thought and consciousness. The body is about
the physical aspects of the brain-neurons and how the brain is structured. The mind-body problem is
about how these two interact.
Dualism separate entities body and brain are one thing mind is beyond physical. Human beings are
material objects. We have weight, solidity and consist of a variety of solids, liquids and gases. However,
unlike other material objects (e.g. rocks) humans also have the ability to form judgments and reason their
existence. In short we have 'minds'. Typically humans are characterized as having both a mind
(nonphysical) and body/brain (physical). This is known as dualism. Dualism is the view that the mind
and body both exist as separate entities. Descartes / Cartesian dualism argues that there is a two-way
interaction between mental and physical substances. Descartes argued that the mind interacts with the
body at the pineal gland. This form of dualism or duality proposes that the mind controls the body, but
that the body can also influence the otherwise rational mind, such as when people act out of passion. Most
of the previous accounts of the relationship between mind and body had been uni-directional.
Materialism or reductionism brain and mind are the same thing all a physical entity. Materialism is the
belief that nothing exists apart from the material world (i.e. physical matter like the brain); materialist
psychologists generally agree that consciousness (the mind) is the function of the brain. Mental processes
can be identified with purely physical processes in the central nervous system, and that human beings are
just complicated physiological organisms, no more than that.
2. What are Bottom Up and Top Down processing?
Bottom up processing begins with a stimulus that influences our perception- data driven. Bottom-up
processing: begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain where the stimuli is integrated
and processed. (So something new to you)
Top Down is background knowledge. Top-down processing: Brain applies experience and expectations to
interpret sensory information. (So something that you are familiar with).
According to Theoretical Synthesis, "when a stimulus is presented short and clarity is uncertain that gives
a vague stimulus, perception becomes a top-down approach." Conversely, psychology defines bottom-up
processing as an approach wherein there is a progression from the individual elements to the whole.
3. Describe Theory and Hypothesis; what’s the difference?
A hypothesis is either a suggested explanation for an observable phenomenon, or a reasoned prediction of
a possible causal correlation among multiple phenomena. In science, a theory is a tested, well-
substantiated, unifying explanation for a set of verified, proven factors. Hypothesis are intellligent guesses
made by scientist, while scientific theories are hypothesis that have been observed, tested and proven to
be true or generally proven. ... A theory will often start out as a hypothesis -- an educated guess to explain
observable phenomenon.
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