ap unit 5 Flashcards
Cognitive Psychology
the study of internal mental process (perception, thinking, memory, attention, language, problem solving, and learning)
Metacognition
when we think about our thinking, active control and awareness of our own thinking (planning, monitoring one’s own thoughts, making decisions, evaluating)
Concepts
Organization, mental groupings of similar objects, events, ideas or people (form category hierarchies from concept, help us to identify objects)
Prototype
First Think Of, mental image or the best example of a specific concept or category (the more closely something matches our prototype of a concept, the more readily we recognize it)
Convergent Thinking
Logic, type of thinking that focuses on coming up with the single, well established answer to a problem (limits creativity)
Divergent Thinking
Imagination, thought process or method used to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions (spontaneous, non linear manner of thinking)
Problem Solving
the mental process that people go through to discover, analyze, and solve problems
Algorithms
set of step by step procedures that provide the correct answer to a particular problem (useful in situations when accuracy is needed or where similar problems need to be solved frequently)
Heuristics
Rules of Thumb, an educated guess based on prior experiences that helps narrow down the possible solutions to a problem (mental shortcut, effort reduction)
Representative Heuristics
comparing the present situation to the most representative mental prototype (allows us to make decisions quickly, helps us to ignore factors in shaping events)
Availability Heuristics
basing decisions on examples and information that immediately spring to mind (anything that enables information to pop in the mind with no effort, connected to events in common)
Mental Set
tendency people have to only use solutions that have worked in the past rather than looking for an alternative idea (rigid thinking)
Functional Fixedness
tendency to view problems only in their customary manner (prevents people from seeing all of the different options to see a solution)
Confirmation Bias
a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence (hears what they want to hear)
Belief Perseverance
Denial, tendency to hold on to beliefs even when evidence proves those beliefs to be wrong
Overconfidence
tendency to overestimate our own knowledge, skill, or judgment (people might not know how uninformed they are on a subject)
Hindsight Bias
I Knew It All Along, the tendency people have to view events as more predictable than they really are (after an event, people say they believed to have known the outcome before it actually happened)
Framing
Cognitive Bias, the process of presenting or posing an issue or question, how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments people make
Anchoring Effect
Cognitive Bias, favoring the first information offered (people have a tendency to rely too heavily on the first piece of information given, givens impact on choices)
Language
language our spoken written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning
Phonemes
smallest meaningful unit of sound in a language (meaningful sound is one that will change one word into another word, shortly after birth)
Morphemes
the smallest pairing of meaning to any given set of sounds (a single word can have a bunch of meaning wrapped in it)
Babbling Stage
beginning at four months of age (infant spontaneously vocalizes various sounds at first unrelated to the language spoken at home, nonsense words)
One Word Stage
Ages one and two, child speaks mostly in single words (whole idea can be expressed, child learns that sounds carry meanings)
Two Word Stage
age two, a child speaks mostly two or three word statements
Telegraphic Speech
child will use mostly nouns and verbs (overgeneralization, not using grammar rules correctly)
Skinner’s Theory of Language Acquistion
Skinner believed children learn language through operant conditioning, they receive rewards for using language in a functional manner
Chomsky’s Inborn Universal Grammar
all human languages contain nouns, verbs, and adjectives, and humans are born with innate ability to acquire language and even a genetic predisposition to learn grammatical rules
Wernicke’s Aphasia
region of the brain that is important for language development (responsible for comprehension of speech, disorder if damaged to speak with no meaning)
Broca’s Aphasia
production of speech function to help put words together to make complete sentences (disorder of lack of fluency of speech, with preserved language comprehension)
Intelligence
the ability to learn from one’s experience, acquire knowledge, and use resources effectively in adapting to new situations and problem solving (no standard to what intelligence is)
Binet-Simon Intelligence Scale
1905, alfred binet and theodore simon developed a series of tests designed to assess mental abilities (basis for modern intelligence tests)
Mental Age
assessor identifies if children are ahead or behind their peers
Standford-Binet Intelligence Test
lewis terman modified the test for the US, audience varied in age and broader range of subjects
Formula for Intelligence Quotient
mental age divided by chronological age times 100
General Intelligence (g factor)
Charles Spearman, intelligence is a general cognitive ability that can be measured and numerically expressed (split into two different factors of intelligence by john horn and raymond cattell)
Fluid intelligence
refers to the ability to reason and think flexibility, tends to diminish with adult aging
Crystallized Intelligence
refers to the accumulation of knowledge, facts, and skills acquired throughout life, tends to increase with age
Emotional Intelligence
the ability to perceive, control, and evaluate emotions (some believe it could be strengthened meanwhile others believe it is an inborn characteristic)
Heritability
portion of variation among individuals in a population that results from genetic causes (intelligence ranges from 50 to 75 percent, genetic makeup determines the upper limit for an individual IQ in an ideal environment, and lower limit for impoverished environment)
Flynn Effect
James Flynn, IQ scores have been rising worldwide (better early brain development, better health care, advances in technology, smaller families, better parenting, increased access to educational opportunities)
Psychometricians
Measurement Psychologist, focus on methods for acquiring and analyzing psychological data (includes tests of abilities, interests, creativity, personality and intelligence, disovers individual differences)
Standardization
two part test development procedure (establishes tet norms from the test results of larger representative sample, ensures that all tests are administer and scored uniformly)
Norms
each test taker completes the test under the same conditions as all other participants in the same group
Norm referenced test
to compare sample group of test takers to entire population taking the test
Achievement Tests
designed to measure a person’s level of skill, accomplishment, or knowledge in a specific area
Aptitude Tests
designed to assess what a person is capable of doing or to predict what a person is able to learn or do, often used to assess academic potential or career suitability (taken in school to see which type of career would be good)
Group Tests
standardized tests can be administered in groups, widely used and efficient
Individual Tests
tests administered to one person by a trained professional (require social interaction with examiner and test taker, provide information in behavior)
Reliability
Consistency, the tendency of a test to produce the same scores again and again each time it is given to the same people
Test-Retest Reliability
best for intelligence, administering a test twice at two different points in time
Split-Half Reliability
measures the extent to which all parts of the test contribute equally to what is being (compare results on half with results of other half)
Validity
the degree in which a test actually measures what it’s supposed to measure
Content Validity
test measures all aspects of what it is designed to measure
Predictive Validity
test accurately forecasts performance on a future measure
Normal Distribution
bell shaped curve in which the majority of scores lie near or around the average score (further towards the extreme ends of the distribution, scores tend to become less common)
