Guide to Psychology. Phenylketonuria, PKU, refers to the lack of anenzyme to metabolize phenylanine, which causes retardation..

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Psychology. Phenylketonuria, PKU, refers to the lack of anenzyme to metabolize phenylanine, which causes retardation..

This page is about Psychology, especially "Phenylketonuria, PKU, refers to the lack of anenzyme to metabolize phenylanine, which causes retardation.".

Dick's Guide to Psychology. Phenylketonuria, PKU, refers to the lack of anenzyme to metabolize phenylanine, which causes retardation..

Material in quotation marks, unless otherwise attributed, is from Exploring Psychology by David G. Meyers

If you want a 2002 edition of this book, well marked with information and question answers, send $25 to Dick Amann, 1348 Eisenhower Drive, Box 16811, Savannah, GA 31416-16811

Also see these other psychology sites.

Origins of psychiatry

Guide to Psychology and its originating fields of science.

William Wundt, the worlds first psychological experimenter with his own university laboratory.

Guide to Psychology. Introspection and psychology and William Wundt

John Watson redefines psychology as the science of behavior

Psychology as defined today

What is behavior and its role in psychology?

What is the mental process

Comparison of psychology and psychiatry

The four goals of psychology

Careers in psychology

Clinical and counseling psychologists

Community psychologists

Psychology uses the scientific method

Guide to Psychology. In psychological research the aim is to get reliability, replicable results, representative results and validity.

In psychological research the population of an experiment is "all the cases in a group from which samples may be drawn to study"

In psychological research a random sampling is "a sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion"

In psychological experiments, the independent variable is manipulated to see how it affect the dependent variable, i.e. behavior or mental process

Psychological research can involve experiments that explore cause and effect relationships, correlational studies that determine naturally occurring relationships and descriptive studies that record and observe behavior

Franz Gall (early 1800's) invented phrenology to determine peoples' mental abilities and character traits by studying the bumps on people's heads.

Phineas Gage was a railroad employee in 1848 whose frontal lobe was impaled by a metal rod. His mental abilities and memories were intact, but his personality changed. From a soft spoken, friendly guy he became an irritable, profane and dishonest.

A neuron is a "nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system", where "bushy dendrites receive information while axons pass it along to other neurons, muscles or glands"

The myelin sheath "insulates the axons of some neurons and helps speed their impulses". In multiple sclerosis the myelin sheath decays.

A synapse is the junction at which the axon of one neuron sends chemical messengers (neurotransmitters) to the dendrites of another nerve cell.

Guide to Psychology. Neurotransmitters include dopamine which "influences movement, learning, attention and emotion. Too much has been linked to schizophrenia. Serotonin affect mood, hunger, sleep and arousal. Norepinephrine helps control alertness and arousal. Cocaine aids arousal, too. Endorphins are natural opiates and pain killers.

Agonists increase the likelihood of a neuron firing while antagonists inhibit firing by blocking dendrite synapses, aiding reuptake or increasing the enzymatic kill rate of neurotransmitters

The blood-brain barrier fences out unwanted chemicals circulating in the blood. It also blocks out dopamine which explains why people can not be injected with dopamine.

The two primary divisions of the nervous system are the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system, The peripheral nervous system is divided into the autonomic and somatic systems.

The somatic nervous system is involved in voluntary movements. Afferent nerves fibers are involved in sensory signals while efferent nerve fibers are involved in creating motion.

The autonomic nervous system is involved in keeping your body on auto pilot, especially with respect to your glands and internal organ muscles. Its sympathetic nervous system arouses the body during stressful situations by mobilizing needed energy. The autonomic system's parasympathetic nervous system calms the body to conserve energy.

The human brain weighs two to three pounds. In the development of the brain an evolutionary path is followed, starting with the brainstem beginning where the spinal cord enters the skull. From its rear extends the cerebellum (little brain). It coordinates voluntary movement.

The limbic system, between the cerebellum and the cerebral hemispheres includes the hippocampus (memory system processing, the amygdala (aggression and fear) and the hypothalamus (hunger, thirst, body temperature, pleasure, sexual behavior).

The pons relays the cerebellum to the cerebral cortex, a "fabric of interconnected neural cells that cover the cerebral hemisphere's frontal lobe" (voluntary muscle control, thought, plans, judgments); parietal lobe (sensory cortex, spatial reasoning, mental manipulations); occipital lobe (visual areas); temporal lobe (auditory information) and association areas.

Broca's area and Wernicke's area are both in the left area of the brain which controls language. Broca's, in the frontal lobe is needed for speech muscle movements; Wernicke's in the parietal, occipital region is needed for language comprehension. Damage here can lead to the word salad effect.

The left side of the brain is superior in logical thinking, language ability, writing, science and math skills. The right side of the brain is superior in musical and artistic ability, perception of space, imagination, fantasizing, body control and awareness. The corpus callosum connects these two sides.

The endocrine system is the body's "slow chemical communication system; a set of glands that secrete chemical messengers" (hormones) into the blood stream. Glands include the adrenal (for the flight or fight response), pituitary (growth), thyroid (metabolic balance), pineal (sleep or awake), pancreas (regulates blood sugar) and gonads (sex).

Each human cell has 46 chromosomes, 23 from each parent. Genetically humans and chimps share 98.4% of the same chromosomes. Every human has 99.9% of other human's chromosomes.

Evolutionary psychology looks at why behaviors are what they are over a period of time. Natural selection favors helpful genetic mutations and combinations, especially those that aid reproduction and survival. The easy availability of sperm, compared to the lesser availability of eggs, helps to explain genetic difference towards intercourse.

Behavior genetics seeks to define human differences in terms of genetics and environment, where the environment refers to all non genetic influences.

Phenylketonuria, PKU, refers to the lack of anenzyme to metabolize phenylanine, which causes retardation.

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