Ch. 1 Key Terms and Concepts

Question 1

Associationism

Answer 1

proposes that contiguity, frequency, and similarity are guiding principles for forming complex ideas.

Question 2

Behaviorism

Answer 2

a school of thought that argues that psychology should restrict itself to the study of observable behaviors (such as lever presses, salivation, and other measurable actions) and not seek to infer unobservable mental processes.

Question 3

Classical Conditioning

Answer 3

a type of learning in which the organism learns to respond with a conditioned response (CR) to a previously neutral stimulus (the CS) that has been repeatedly presented along with an unconditioned stimulus (US); also called Pavlovian conditioning.

Question 4

Cognitive Map

Answer 4

an internal psychological representation of the spatial layout of the external world.

Question 5

Cognitive Psychology

Answer 5

a subfield of psychology that focuses on human abilities (such as thinking, language, and reasoning) that are not easily explained by a strictly behaviorist approach.

Question 6

Cognitive Science

Answer 6

the interdisciplinary study of thought, reasoning, and other higher mental functions.

Question 7

Contiguity

Answer 7

nearness in time (temporal contiguity) or space (spatial contiguity).

Question 8

Control Group

Answer 8

in an experiment, the group of participants that does not get the experimental treatment.

Question 9

Correlational Study

Answer 9

a study that examines the degree to which two variables tend to vary together: as one increases (or decreases), does the other increase (or decrease) too?

Question 10

Data

Answer 10

facts and figures from which conclusions can be inferred.

Question 11

Dependent Variable

Answer 11

in an experiment, the factor whose change is measured as an effect of changes in the independent variable.

Question 12

Distributed Representation

Answer 12

a representation in which information is coded as a pattern of activation distributed across many different nodes.

Question 13

Double-Blind Design

Answer 13

an experimental design in which neither the experimenters nor the subjects know group assignment.

Question 14

Dualism

Answer 14

the principle that the mind and body exist as separate entities.

Question 15

Empiricism

Answer 15

a philosophical school of thought that holds that all the ideas we have are the result of experience.

Question 16

Experiment

Answer 16

a test made to examine the validity of a hypothesis, usually by actively manipulating the variable(s) being investigated and measuring the effect on a behavior.

Question 17

Experimental Group

Answer 17

in an experiment, the group of participants that gets some treatment of manipulation designed to test the experimental hypothesis.

Question 18

Experimenter Bias

Answer 18

the degree to which an experimenter’s prior knowledge or expectations can (consciously or unconsciously) influence the outcome of an experiment.

Question 19

Extinction

Answer 19

the process of reducing a learned response to a stimulus by ceasing to pair that stimulus with a reward or punishment.

Question 20

Forgetting

Answer 20

the loss or deterioration of memory over time.

Question 21

Generalization

Answer 21

the transfer of past learning to novel events and problems.

Question 22

Hypothesis

Answer 22

a tentative explanation for an observation, phenomenon, or scientific problem that can be tested by further investigation.

Question 23

Independent Variable

Answer 23

the factor that is manipulated in an experiment, such as the factor that differentiates the control group and experimental group.

Question 24

Instrumental Conditioning

Answer 24

the process whereby organisms learn to make responses in order to obtain or avoid important consequences.

Question 25

Latent Learning

Answer 25

learning that is undetected (latent) until explicitly demonstrated at a later stage.

Question 26

Law of Effect

Answer 26

the observation, made by Thorndike, that the probability of a particular behavior response increases or decreases depending on the consequences that have followed that response in the past.

Question 27

Learning

Answer 27

the process by which changes in behavior arise as a result of experiences interacting with the world.

Question 28

Learning Curve

Answer 28

a graph showing learning performance (the dependent variable, usually plotted along the vertical axis) as a function of training time (the independent variable, usually plotted along the horizontal axis).

Question 29

Mathematical Psychology

Answer 29

a subfield of psychology that uses mathematical equations to describe the laws of learning and memory.

Question 30

Memory

Answer 30

the record of past experiences acquired through learning.

Question 31

Nativism

Answer 31

a philosophical school of thought that holds that the bulk of knowledge is inborn (or native).

Question 32

Operant Conditioning

Answer 32

the process whereby organisms learn to make responses in order to obtain or avoid important consequences.

Question 33

Placebo

Answer 33

an inactive substance, such as a sugar pill, that is administered to the control subjects in an experiment to compare against the effects of an active substance, such as a drug.

Question 34

Radical Behaviorism

Answer 34

an extreme form of behaviorism, championed by B. F. Skinner, holding that consciousness and free will are illusions and that even so-called higher cognitive functions (e.g. human language) are merely complex sets of stimulus-response associations.

Question 35

Response

Answer 35

the behavioral consequence of perception of a stimulus.

Question 36

Reflex Arc

Answer 36

an automatic pathway from a sensory stimulus to a motor response.

Question 37

Retention Curve

Answer 37

a graph showing forgetting or relearning as a function of time since initial learning.

Question 38

Stimulus

Answer 38

a sensory event that provides information about the outside world.

Question 39

Subject Bias

Answer 39

the degree to which a subject’s prior knowledge or expectations concerning an experiment can (consciously or unconsciously) influence the outcome.

Question 40

Identify tips on improving one’s memory.

Answer 40

• Pay attention
• Use imagery
• Use multiple senses
• Sleep well
• Relax
• Create associations
• Practice
• Reduce overload
• Try a rhyme
• Re-create the learning event

Question 41

Aristotle’s Three Principles of Association

Answer 41

1. Contiguity: experiences near each other in time/space are joined together.
2. Frequency: experiences often repeated are connected more strongly.
3. Similarity: experiences similar to one another are connected.