Basic Psychology Flashcards
Types of non-associative learning
Habituation
Sensitization
Pseudo-conditioning
What is pseudoconditiong/cross-sensitization?
Emergence of a response to a previously neutral stimulus due to exposure to a different but more powerful stimulus
Types of associative learning
Classic conditioning
Operant conditioning
Social learning theory
What is operant conditioning?
Learning from the consequence of ones actions
In which type of associative learning is the organism instrumental?
Operant conditioning
Social learning theory
What is social learning theory?
Combination of classic and operant conditioning, as well as cognitive processes and social interactions
What is counter conditioning?
When a previously conditioned response is replaced by a new, more desirable response.
What is Premack’s principle?
That high-frequency behaviour can be used to reinforce low-frequency behaviour.
What is aversive conditioning?
Where punishment is used to reduce the frequency of target behavior
What is covert reinforcement?
Using an imagined positive event to reinforce behaviour.
What is covert sensitization?
Using an imagined negative event to reduce the frequency of undesired behaviour.
What are the cognitive processes during social learning?
- Attention to observed behaviour
- Visual image and semantic encoding of observed behaviour memory
- Memory permanence via retention and rehearsal
- Motor copying of behaviour and imitative reproduction
- Motivation to act
What is Gagne’s hierarchy of learning?
- Classical conditioning
- Operant conditioning
- Chaining
- Verbal association
- Discrimination learning
- Concept learning
- Rule learning
- Problem learning
What does Gestalt’s law of perceptual organisation include?
Proximity Closure Continuity Similarity Common fate
What does common fate mean in Gestalt’s law of perceptual organisation
Things moving together are perceived as one
What do bottom-up theories in visual & auditory perception suggest?
That perception is purely data driven and directly starts with the optic array. Piercing together of basic elements of this data leads to more complex systems.
What does a top-down theory suggest?
perception is defined as a process of using information known already to formulate/test a hypothesis.
What is a perceptual set?
The readiness to perceive selected features as an object (related to motivation, hunger, emotion etc)
List some innate visual processes
Visual scanning
Tracking
Fixating
Figure-ground discrimination
By what age is 6/6 acuity achieved?
6 months
By what age is accommodation and colour vision achieved?
4 months
By what age is depth perception achieved?
2-4 months
What does Broadbent’s early selection filter theory suggest?
- Our ability to process information is capacity limited
- A temporary buffer system receives all information and passes it to a selective filter.
- Selection is based on physical characteristics of information - one source is selected and others are rejected.
- Processing two different pieces of information will take longer and will be less efficient.
What does Triesman’s attenuation theory suggest?
That physical characteristics and semantic relevance and used to select one message for full processing while others are given partial processing.
What does Deutsch-Norman late selection filter model/pertinence model suggest?
That filtering only occurs once all inputs are analyzed at a higher level.
What is pigeon-holding?
When filtering is done based on categorization rather than physical characteristics.
How long does iconic/visual memory last?
0.5 seconds
How long does echoic/auditory memory last?
2 seconds
What is the capacity of short-term memory?
7+/-2 items
How long does short-term memory last, unaided?
15-30 seconds
How is information lost from short-term memory?
Displacement
Decay
How do items move from short-term to long-term memory?
Elaborative encoding
Rehearsal
What is the main type of coding in short-term memory?
Visual
Acoustic
What is the main type of memory in long-term memory?
Semantic
What is Tulving’s multistore model?
Long-term memory is divided into declarative (explicit - semantic and episodic) and non-declarative memory.
Who proposed the working memory model?
Baddley & Hitch
What are the components of the working memory model?
One central executive and two arms - the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad.
One episodic buffer
What is the serial position effect?
When recalling a list of words, the first word (due to LTM) and the last word (due to STM) will be remembered better.
What is the problem in organic anterograde amnesia?
Difficulty in transferring information from STM to LTM, and retrieval from LTM
What is retrieval failure?
When we forget things due to lack of proper cues.
What is retroactive interference?
When newly learnt material interferes with old material leading to forgetting
What is the encoding specificity principle?
The more similar the retrieval situation is to the encoding situation, the better the retrieval.
Which types of memories are kept intact in Korsakoffs?
Working memory
Procedural memory
Give an example of a test for anterograde memory
Three words learning task - apple, table, penny
What is the Rey-osterrieth complex figure test?
Non-verbal memory test:
Average age of earliest retrieved memory?
3.5 years
Which areas of the brain mediate STM?
Pre-frontal lobes
Which area of the brain mediates the phonological STM?
Left hemisphere regions of Broca’s area and prefrontal cortex
Which area of the brain mediates the visuospatial STM?
Parietal and prefrontal areas of the right hemisphere
Which areas of the brain mediate the LTM?
Limbic system - hippocampus and entorhinal cortex of the medial temporal lobe
What types of problem-solving are there?
Algorithmic
Heuristic
What is the algorithmic method of problem-solving?
Step-by-step search which guarantees solutions but is time-consuming
What is the heuristic method of problem-solving?
Using rule of thumb; more likely solutions are trialled. Therefore this solution is not guaranteed but is quicker.
What is availability heuristics?
Decision based on readily available information without systematic search
What is representativeness bias?
Fitting a problem into a well-known category to solve it in a similar fashion
What is the base rate fallacy?
When one ignores the relative frequency of occurrence of events but sticks to stereotype
What is the sunk cost bias/entrapment?
The belief that one has no choice but to continue with a decision as withdrawl would not justify the cost incurred.
Name the three types of personality traits
Cardinal (influential, core)
Central (5-10, less general)
Secondary (least important, least consistent -only close friends notice)
What does Cattell’s approach divide personality into
Surface traits; correlated to each other but not important in understanding personality
Source traits: basic building blocks of 16 dimensions of personality
What did Eysenck’s approach to personality suggest?
Three dimensions:
Neuroticism, psychoticism and extraversion.
What type of arousal state do extraverts have?
Low
Are introverts easily conditionable?
Yes
Who believed in the dimensional view of personality?
Eyseneck
What are the four temperamental dimensions of personality according to Cloninger?
Novelty-seeking
Harm-avoidance
Reward-dependence
Persistence
What are the character dimensions of Cloninger’s theory of personality?
Self-directedness
Cooperativeness
Self-transcendence
What are the five personality traits?
Openness Conscientiousness Extraversion Agreeablness Neuroticism
Which personality traits increase with age?
Agreeableness
Conscientiousness
Who believed that personality could only be understood through ones interpersonal relationships?
Kelly’s personal construct theory
What are the three body types in Typology according to Kretschmer?
Asthenic - thin, aloof
Pyknic - plump, childish
Athletic - well-built, steady temperament
What are the three body types according to Sheldon?
Endomorphic - plump
Mesopmorphic - strong
Ectomorphic - tall, thing
Who introduced Type A/Type B personality?
Friedman & Rosenman
Name examples of projective tests re personality
Thematic Apperception test (Murray)
Draw-a-person test
Sentence completion tests
Which personality test allows the individual to sort cards with descriptive statements about themselves into ‘self’ and ‘ideal’?
Q-sort technique
What is the International Personality Disorder Examination?
77 self-reported questions
Semi-structured
what are the emotions that Ekman identified?
Surprise Fear Sadness Anger Happiness Disgust
What are the three components of an emotion?
Subjective ‘cortical’ experience
Physiological ‘visceral’ changes
Associated behavioural ‘skeletal’ changes
What does the James-Lange theory of emotions suggest?
Perception of stimulus leads fo skeletal and visceral change.
Peripheral response sends feedback to thalamus to cortex leading to perception of emotion.
Which emotions are associated with the drop in temperature?
Fear
Disgust
Which emotion produces the greatest increase in heart rate?
Sadness
What is Cannon-Bard’s theory on emotions?
Once an emotion is perceived, the thalamus coordinates signals to the cortex leading to a conscious experience and sends signals to the hypothalamus leading to physiological changes
What is Schachter-Singer labelling theory re emotion?
When an emotion is perceived, both physiological and conscious changes take place. This is then interpreted as either positive or negative and labelled according to situational cues.
What is the jukebox/two-factor theory re emotion?
Schachter-Singer labelling theory
What happens if there is no appropriate label in the jukebox theory?
By default, negative appreciation of arousal occurs
What is Lazarus cognitive appraisal theory re emotion?
An individual first appraises a situation (evaluates the situation to see how they experience it) before reacting to it with emotion.
Which theory suggests that we first appraise a situation before reacting to it emotionally?
Lazarus cognitive appraisal theory
What is attention cathexis according to Freud?
Investment of psychic energy on a particular idea/feeling to process it consciously
How did Carl Jung categorize the unconscious?
Personal unconsciousness - individual memories
Collective unconsciousness - - memories of a species passed down generations
What regulates biorhythms?
Suprachiasmatic nucles in anterior hypothalamus
What are the two factors of the two-factor theory of intelligence?
General intelligence and specific factor.
Who created the two-factor theory of intelligence?
Spearman
What is the phenomenon that IQ increases from one generation to the next?
Flynn phenomenon
Where is the largest gain in intelligence from one generation to the next?
Problem solving (fluid intelligence)
What is delayed/forward conditioning?
Conditioned stimulus prior to unconditioned stimulus; this continues until unconditioned response appears.
What is backward conditioning?
Unconditioned stimulus presented before conditioned stimulus
When is backward conditioning used?
Advertising
What is the name of conditioning that leads to increase in frequency of behaviour following learning?
Reinforcement
Which type of operant conditioning schedule is most resistant to extinction?
Variable ratios (reward occurs after random number of responses)
What does contingency mean in operant conditioning?
Learning the probability
What is shaping/successive approximation in operant conditioning?
Desirable behaviour pattern is learnt by successive reinforcement of behaviours closer to desired one.
What is fading?
Process of unlearning cue associations.
What is working memory?
Allows cognitive processes to be performed on data that is in STM
Modes of retrieval from LTM to STM?
Recognition
Recall (actively searching and reproducing)
Reintegration/reconstruction
Common test for auditory, verbal working memory?
Digit span
This type of reinforcement is the least resistant to extinction
Continuous reinforcement
This type of reinforcement leads to highest rate of responding
Fixed ratio
What was Hermann Ebbinghaus’s curve?
Memory loss is most likely in the first 9 hours, especially in the first hour
