Cumulative Info Flashcards
McDougall and Ross
published first social psychology textbook
Verplank
1) Performed experiments showing that social approval influences behavior.
2) The course of a conversation changes dramatically based on feedback/approval from others
Who established reinforcement theory?
Verplank, Pavlov, Thorndike, Hull and Skinner
How are cognitive theory and social psychology related?
Perception, judgment, memories and decision-making are cognitive concepts that have influenced our understanding of social behavior
Consistency Theories
people prefer consistency and will change or resist changing attitudes based on this preference
Minimal/Insufficient Justification Effect
1) Found by Festinger and Carlsmith 1959 Experiment
2) When external justification is minimal, we reduce dissonance by changing our internal cognitions (i.e. $1 is insufficient justification so we actually think we enjoyed it)
Carl Hovland’s Model
Attitude change is a process of communicating a message with the intent to persuade someone
There are 3 components
1) The communicator = someone who has taken a position on an issue and is trying to persuade someone to adopt his/her position
2) The communication = presentation of argument produced by communicator, intended to persuade
3) The situation = surroundings in which the communication takes place
Hovland and Weiss (1952)
Study on source credibility
FINDINGS
1) Highly credible sources were more effective in changing attitudes
2)Sleeper effect = over time, the persuasive impact of high credibility source decreased, while persuasive impact of low credibility source increased
3) sources can increase credibility by arguing against their own self-interest (i.e. criminals arguing for greater police power)
Two-sided message
Contains arguments for and against a position
Most news reporters use this for persuasion because they seem “balanced”
Cultural truism
beliefs that are seldom questioned, that individuals dont have practice defending
From McGuire’s analogy of inoculation
Belief perseverance
Under certain conditions, people hold beliefs even after those beliefs have been proven false
If you are induced to believe a statement and then provide your own explanation for it, you will continue to believe it even after its been proven false
What did schachter find in regards to affiliation?
Greater anxiety leads to a greater desire to affiliate
Anxious people prefer the company of other anxious people (perceived similarity)
Reciprocity Hypothesis
We tend to like people who indicate that they like us
We dont merely evaluate a persons qualities, we also take into consideration their evaluation of us
Need Complementarity
People choose relationships so that they naturally satisfy each others needs
Even successful complementary relationships (i.e. opposites attract) have fundamental similarities that favor their dissimilarities
Prosocial/Helping Behavior
behaviors that benefit other individuals or groups of people
Altruism (in social psych)
Intent is to benefit someone at some cost to themselves. A subdivision of prosocial behavior
Darley and Latane Smoke Experiment
Studied pluralistic ignorance
FINDINGS - if subject was alone In the room they responded to the smoke, if they were with a calm confederate(s) they deemed it a non-emergency and did not respond.
Darley and Latane Diffusion of Responsibility experiment
METHOD:
1) Subjects are doing an intercom interview and believed that either 1, 2 or 5 other participants were listening
2) Speaker has an ostensible seizure
FINDINGS
1) If they were the only ones listening, 100% reported
2) If they believed there was 2 other people listening, 85% reported
3) If they believed there were 4 others, 62% reported
CONCLUSION - the more people present, the less likelihood any individual will offer help
Batson’s Empathy-Altruism Experiment
METHOD
1) Subjects witness a person appearing to receive painful electrical shocks
2) Easy escape condition - given a choice to leave after first two shocks
3) Difficult escape condition - asked to stay to witness 10 shocks
4) After 2nd shock, all the subjects completed a questionnaire measuring the degree to which they felt distress and empathy
5) They were told they could take the place of the person being shocked for the remaining 8 shocks
FINDINGS
1) easy escape - distress was greater than empathy, so they left
2) If empathy was greater than distress in either condition, they helped
Conformity vs Compliance
Conformity - yielding to group pressure when no explicit demand has been made to do so
Compliance - change in behavior that occurs as a result of situational or interpersonal pressure
Self-Efficacy
Self-Efficacy = individual’s belief in his ability to organize and execute a particular pattern of behavior
Defined by Albert Bandura
Primacy/Recency effects in social perception
Primacy - occasions where the first impressions are more important than subsequent impressions
Recency - the most recent information we have about an individual is most important in forming our impressions
What did Theodore Newcomb study?
Influence of Group Norms at a liberal women’s college with large republican parent base
FINDINGS
1) Each year marked an increase in the students liberalism (accepting community norms)
2) Women who left as liberals remained liberals and generally married liberal men, but those who married conservative generally returned to conservative beliefs
Stoner Experiment (1968)
Found that the nature of the dilemma might determine the direction of the shift.
Couples presented with controversial situations erred on the side of caution instead of risk
Kurt Lewis Study on leadership styles
METHOD: 3 leadership styles of a boys after school program
1) Laisses-Faire - less efficient, less organized, less satisfying than democratic
2) Autocratic - More hostile, more aggressive and more dependent on leader
3) Democratic - more satisfying and cohesive than autocratic
FINDINGS - democratic was more satisfying and cohesive. Quantity of work was greater in autocratic groups, but work motivation and interest were stronger in democratic.
Mendelian Genetics
Parental genes are randomly distributed to all offspring, each allele combination is equally likely.
REMEMBER: Blue eyes is literally recessive
Heredity Research Methods
1) Family studies - often compare rates of similarity in a given en characteristic among family members vs unrelated individuals
2) Twin Studies - compare MZT and DZT
3) Adoption Studies - help understand environmental vs genetics influences on behavior
4 Genetic Disorders
1) Downs Syndrome - a form of severe ID that results from an extra 21st chromosome
2) PKU - a genetic defect in which the child lacks the enzyme needed to digest phenylalanine; can be controlled with a strict diet
3) Klinefelters - found in males with extra X
4) Turners - found in females with only one X
Stages of Prenatal development
1) Zygote - the sperm cell fertilizes the egg and they form a single cell (zygote)
2) Germinal period (0-2 Weeks) - the fertilized egg travels down Fallopian tube and implants in uterine wall
3) Embryonic period - the eight weeks following the germinal period, embryo increases in size by 2 million percent
4) Fetal period - begins in the third month with measurable electrical activity in the fetus’ brain
Pragmatics
Actual efficient use of language. Able to recognize the effect of tone and inflection on meaning
Petite and Marentette Study (1991)
Found that deaf children with parents who use sign language appear to babble using their hands!
Sensitive Period
Time when environmental input has maximal effect on development of a particular ability
EX: sensitive period for language is before the onset of puberty
Temperament
Individual differences as well as an individuals pattern of responding to the environment
1) central aspect of personality that is someone heritable
2) Emerges early in life, is stable over time and pervasive across situations
Temperament Research Methods
1) Parental reports of child behavior through interviews/questionnaires (knowledgeable but biased source(
2) Naturalistic Observation (objective but time consuming)
3) Lab Observation (artificial)
Jerome Kagan Study
AIM - distinguish if early signs of inhibited or uninhibited behavior in infancy predicts future temperament profiles
METHOD - longitudinal study examining human temperament in children from infancy to adolescence
FINDINGS - temperament is a strong predictor of adult behaviors
John Bowlby Study (1940s)
METHOD - naturalistic study on children brought up in institutions where they were physically well cared for but often lacked intimate body contact and tended to be timid and asocial
FINDINGS - several phases of the attachment process
1) Pre-attachment = lasts several weeks, infant reacts identically to every adult and smiling face
2) 3 Months = infant discriminates between familiar and unfamiliar faces
3) 6 months = infant seeks out and responds specifically to mother
4) 9-12 months = bonding intensifies, stranger anxiety
5) 2 years = separation anxiety
6) 3rd year = child is able to separate from mother without prolonged distress
What term did Bowlby coin?
Separation anxiety
Diana Baumrind
Measured parental control, nurturance, clarity of communication and maturity demands
Proposed 3 parenting styles (authoritative, authoritarian, permissive)
Effect of parenting styles on child behavior
1) Authoritative - children more socially and academically competent
2) Authoritarian/permissive - children tend to have difficulty in school or peer relations
Gender differences in parental behavior
1) Fathers tend to play more vigorously with their children
2) Mothers tend to stress verbal over physical interactions
E.G. Boring
Historian of psychology that suggested the development of psychology was not due to the effects of great people, but to Zeitgeist (the changing spirit of the times)
What did Titchener found?
Introspection, which formed structuralism
Prefrontal Lobotomy
1) Used to treat schizophrenia 1930-1955
2) Frontal lobes of the brain are severed from brain tissue, destroying parts of the frontal lobe
3) Didnt cure schizophrenia, just made patients easier to handle because they were tranquil and absent of feeling!
4) Ended with advent of antipsychotic drugs in the 50s
What are Freud’s instincts?
Instinct = innate psychological representation (wish) of a bodily (biological) excitation (need)
Life/Eros instinct = serves the purpose of survival (hunger, thirst, sex)
1) Libido = form of energy by which life instincts perform their work
Death/Thanatos = unconscious wish for the ultimate, absolute state of quiescence
Who were Ego Psychologists?
Anna Freud, Erik Erikson
Believed psychoanalytic theory and psychotherapy could profit from a more direct investigation of the conscious ego and its relation to the world, the unconscious and the superego
Rational-Emotive Therapy
Founded by Albert Ellis
Basic Assumption = people develop irrational ways of thinking
RET challenges an irrational belief, helping the client recognize the belief and change it into a more rational one
Behavior Therapy
1) Behaviorists view maladjustment and abnormal behavior as learned through interactions between people and environment
2) Faulty coping patterns are maintained by reinforcement
3) Symptoms are the disorder, not the manifestation of some disorder (psychoanalysis)
4) Quite successful with certain problems, like phobias, impulse control, and personal care maintenance for ID and psychotics
Symptom Substitution
Belief of psychoanalysts that symptom relief isn’t enough, because new symptoms will develop to replace old ones since the underlying cause is still there (reaction to behavior therapy)
What is another name for humanism
Phenomenological
Prognosis
The course of the disease/treatment
Types of neurodevelopment disorders
1) Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
2) Autism spectrum
3) Tourette’s disorder
Types of schizophrenia symptoms
1) Positive - behaviors, thoughts or affects added to normal behavior (i.e. delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, catatonic behavior)
2) Negative - involve absence of normal or desired behavior (i.e. flat affect, blunted emotional expression)
Types of positive symptoms
1) Psychotic dimension (i.e. delusions)
2) Disorganized dimension (i.e. disorg speech and behavior
Delusions of reference
involve individual’s belief that others are talking about them, or a common element of the environment is directed at them
Broadcasting delusion
their thoughts are being broadcasted directly from their head to the external world
Insertion delusion
thoughts are being inserted into their head
Disorganized though
loosening of associations, “world salad”
Blunting
Severe reduction in intensity of affect expression
Catatonic motor behavior
Spontaneous movement may be greatly reduced, totally rigid, or they may have bizarre movements unrelated to external stimuli
Phases of schizophrenia
1) Podromal phase - characterized by poor adjustment, clear evidence of deterioration (i.e. social withdrawal, peculiar behavior, inappropriate affect)
2) Active phase - symptomatic behavior
Double-Blind hypothesis of schizophrenia
As a child, they received contradictory and mutually incompatible messages from their primary caregiver (usually the mother)
Child feels anxious and disorganized, the messages become internalized, and the child begins to see his/her perceptions of reality as unreliable
Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
Persists in childhood, characterized by negative mood accompanied by poor control of temper, even at minor provocations
Social Anxiety Disorder
anxiety due to social situations, persistent fear when exposed to social/performance situations that may result in embarrassment
Pierre Flourens
The first person to study functions of major sections of the brain, via extirpation/ablation
Inspired by phrenology (Franz Gall)
Law of Specific nerve energies
Created by Johannes Miller
Each sensory nerve is excited by one kind of energy, and the brain interprets any stimulation of that nerve as being that kind of energy
Antagonistic
The sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems are described as antagonistic because they act in opposition to each other
Hindbrain and its parts
Located where the brain meets spinal cord, manages functions necessary for survival (i.e. balance, breathing, digestion, etc.)
SUBDIVISIONS
1) Medulla oblangata
2) Pons
3) Cerebellum
4) Reticular formation
Midbrain and its parts
AKA the mesencephalon, it is located just above the hindbrain and manages sensorimotor reflexes that promote survival. It receives sensory and motor info
SUBDIVISIONS
1) Superior colliculus
2) Inferior colliculus
Forebrain and its parts
above the midbrain, associated with complex perceptual, cognitive e and behavioral processes (i.e. emotion, memory)
Has the greatest influence on human behavior!
Not necessary for survival (unlike hind and mid) but necessary to be human
SUBDIVISIONS
1) Thalamus
2) Hypothalamus
3) Basal Ganglia
4) Ventricles
5) Limbic System
6) Cerebral cortex
Homeostasis
Managed by the hypothalamus, it is self-regulatory processes that maintain a stable equilibrium within the body
i.e. regulates metabolism, temperature, water balance
What does the reticular formation regulate?
Arousal, Alertness, Attention
What are the 3 subdivisions of the Hypothalamus, and the disorders associated with damage to them?
1) Lateral Hypothalamus - hunger center
Disorder = aphagia = refusal to eat or drink
Lateral Hypo = Lacking Hunger
2)Ventromedial Hypothalamus = satiety center
Disorder = hyperphagia = excessive eater
Ventro Hypo = Very Hungry
3) Anterior Hypothalamus = sexual activity
Damage = permanent inhibition of sexual activity
Anterior = asexual
Four Functions of the Hypothalamus
Fighting, Fleeing, Feeding, Fucking
Extrapyramidal Motor System
Gathers information about body (from basal ganglia) and carries information to brain and spinal cord
Makes movements smooth and posture steady
Diseases associated with Basal ganglia
Parkisons, Schizophrenia
Disorder associated with ventricles
Abnormally large ventricles = schizophrenia
Septal nuclei
Part of the limbic system
One of the primary pleasure center of the brain
Inhibits aggression
Studied by Olds and Milner
Olds and Milner Study
When rats were given the ability to stimulate their septal nuclei at will, they found it so pleasurable they preferred it to eating
Also found that septal nuclei inhibit aggression, so it is damaged, it results in vicious behavior (septal rage)
Convolutions
bumps and folds in the brain to increase cellular mass
Projection area
Receives incoming sensory information and sends out motor-impulse command
i.e. visual cortex, or motor cortex
Somatosensory cortex
protection area for all incoming sensory signals for touch, pressure, temperature and pain
AKA sensorimotor cortex
What is it called when cerebral hemispheres communicate with the SAME side of the body?
Ipsilaterally
EX: Smell
Difference in cortical areas for projection vs association areas?
Area devoted to association areas is substantially larger
Dominant Hemisphere
generally located opposite the hand used for writing
Left is dominant in 97% of people
Primarily analytic in function, manages details (i.e. language, logic, math)
Contains Broca’s and Wernicke’s area
Nondominant Hemisphere
Emotional tone of language, creativity, intuition, music and spatial processing
Processes pieces of stimuli and assembles them into a holistic image
Dendrites vs Axons
1) Most axons are myelinated, but dendrites are not
2) Branching patterns of dendrites can change significantly throughout a person’s life, but axons remain stable with age
3) When damaged, dendrites can regenerate new branches and replace neural connections, while axons cannot (which is why they remain stable)
4) Dendrites are receptors for info, axons are communication avenue
Sodium-Potassium Pump
special mechanism between 2 positively charged ions
K+ is inside the cell, Na+ is outside the cell, and they are flowing back and forth
The cell membrane has to pump Na+ ions outside of the cell to keep its negatively polarized charge
Action Potential spike
After reaching threshold, membrane produces a rapid electrical impulse that occurs when a membrane’s charge suddenly becomes positive (depolarization) for a tiny fraction of a second.
At threshold, the membrane suddenly depolarizes by allowing a rush of Na in, creating a positive charge
It then quickly depolarizes by letting K rush out of the cell
Hyperpolarization
Restoration of a negative charge happens so quickly that the membrane briefly overshoots its original negative charge from the resting potential. It gradually returns to this original resting potential
4 Stages of the firing of a neuron
1) Resting potential
2) Depolarization
3) Action Potential Spike
4) Hyperpolarization
What stages of neuron firing do the 2 different refractory periods correspond with
Absolute refractory period corresponds with the achievement of the action potential
Relative refractory period corresponds with hyper polarization since stronger stimulation is needed to reach threshold
Graded potential
Voltage can vary in intensity, and depends directly on how much receptor sites are stimulated by neurotransmitters (more binding=stronger potential)
EX: postsynaptic potentials in dendrites
These are not subject to the all-or-nothing law
They spread out from the original site of stimulation and gradually weaken as they travel along the dendrites (unlike action potentials, which retain their strength and are not graded)
Eric Kandel Study
Studied simple neuron networks in sea snails
AIM = understand link between neurotransmitters and behavior METHOD = studied neural activity associated with reflexes. When lightly touched, seas snails withdraw gills automatically FINDING = habituation as they learned that the stimulation was harmless, they stopped withdrawing the gills. Began to release a smaller amount of the neurotransmitter that governs the gill-withdrawal reflex
IMPLICATION - changes in synaptic transmission underlie changes in behavior
Drawback of long-term amphetamine use
Amphetamine psychosis
Amphetamines enhance the activity of dopamine at the synapse, so long term use creates too much/an oversensitivity
Phenothiazine
antipsychotic that reduces the sensitivity of dopamine receptions
Tardive Dyskinesia
Side effect of antipsychotics
Since they interfere with dopamine transmission, they cause motor disturbances in schizophrenic patients, similar to Parkinsons Disease
Psychopharmacology
The study of how drugs affect behavior
Synergistic
Drugs that are additive in effect
When taken with other drugs, the combined effect is greater than either drug alone
EX: alcohol and barbiturates
Psychedelics
Mixed class of drugs that alter sensory perception and cognitive processes - illegal!
What are the main endocrine glands?
Pituitary
Thyroid - affects metabolism rate, growth, development
Adrenal Medulla - produces adrenaline, inc HR, sugar output
Ovaries - estrogen stimulates female sex characteristics, progesterone prepares uterus for implantation
Testes - testosterone produces male sex characteristics, sexual arousal
Hypothalamus
How to remember progesterone
Progesterone Promotes Pregnancy
Most important androgen
Testosterone
Androgen-insensitivity syndrome
fetus does not produce or cannot use androgens, development follows female pattern regardless of chromosomal genetic sex
Development of a female doesnt need female hormones, just the absence of androgen!!
Gonadotropic hormones (gonadotropins)
- Produced/released by pituitary during puberty
- chemical messengers that activate a dramatic increase in production of hormones in testes or ovaries
Single-Cell recording
Individual neurons are recorded by inserting ultrasensative micro electrodes into single brain cells, whose electrical activity is then reported
Hubel and Wiesel used these in the visual cortex of cats
Regional cerebral blood flow (rBCF)
noninvasive procedure that detects broad patterns of neural activity based on increased blood flow to different parts of the brain
A.R. Luria
wrote about many neuropsychological disorders, and was a neuropsychologist that studied these disorders
Circadian rhythms
Daily cycle of waking and sleeping
-Only slightly affected by external cues (i.e. night and day)
Circadian Rhythm study
Kept roughly same 24-hour cycle when there was no alternation between day and light
Order of brain waves for sleep
Beta, Alpha, Theta, Delta
“BAT-D” = a bat sleeps during the day
Insomnia
Sleep disorder characterized by the inability to fall asleep/stay asleep
Narcolepsy
Sleep disorder characterized by lack of voluntary control over onset of sleep
Sudden brief periods of sleep
Sleep Apnea
Sleep disorder characterized by inability to breath during sleep
Awaken during night often to sleep
Schachter-Singer experiment
METHOD - injected subjects with adrenaline
- Half were told the drug they received increased arousal
- Half were told it was a vitamin (no justification/label)
- Each subject was then walked into another room with a confederate who acted silly and joyful
FINDINGS
- Those who were not informed about the effects reported feelings of euphoria (labeled feelings as due to confederate)
- Those who were informed did not feel euphoria (labeled emotion as because of drug)
Psychophysics
Concerned with measuring the relationship between physical stimuli and psychological responses to the stimuli
What is another word for threshold?
Limen
-SubLIMENal perception = perception of stimuli below the threshold of conscious awareness
Webers Law Formula
(ΔI/I) = K
Delta I = amount of change needed to see a difference
K = Webers constant or Webers fraction
Basic tenant of Webers Law
It is not about the difference between standard and average comparison stimuli, but about the RATIO
EX: Difference threshold in a room with 10 candles = 1 candle (so 11 candles looks brighter)
EX: Difference threshold in a room with 10,000 candles is NOT 1 candle. It is 1/10 of 10,000 = 1,000 candles
K = (11-10)/10
=1/10
Fechner’s Law
Expresses the relationship between the intensity of sensation and intensity of stimulus
- Derived from Webers law
- Determined that sensation increases more slowly as intensity increases
Steven’s Power Law
Suggested that Fechner’s equation was incorrect, and made a new equation relating the intensity of the stimulus to intensity of situation
Signal Detection Theory Experiment
Measures how well the subject can sense stimuli (sensitivity) and response bias
METHOD
-2 types of trial = signal or noise
- Signal = stimulus is presented
- Noise = stimulus is not presented, but sensory systems are still excited by background noise
FINDINGS = hits, misses, false alarms, correct negatives
-Hits = signal is presented and subject perceives stimulus
-Misses = signal is presented and subject does not perceive
-False alarms = no signal is presented, but subject perceives a stimulus
-Correct Negatives = no signal is presented and subject does not perceive
Response Bias
Tendency of subjects to respond in a particular way due to non sensory factors
Measures how risky the subject is in sensory decision making
John A Swets
refined the use of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves employed to graphically summarize a subjects responses by measuring the operating (sensitivity) characteristics of a subject receiving signals
Duplexity theory of vision
AKA duplicity theory of vision
Retina contains 2 types of photoreceptors (rods and cones)
Illumination vs Brightness
Illumination = physical, objective measurement that is simply the amount of light falling on a surface
Brightness = subjective impression of the intensity of light stimulus
Dark Adaptation Definition and process
Eyes becoming adjusted to dark
- Light reaching the photoreceptors in the retina bleached the photopigment (rhodopsin, made of vit A, retinal and opsin protein) in the rods before you entered the dark room
- When rhodopsin absorbs light, the pigment decomposes into retinene and opsin (bleaching)
- Once the pigment regenerates, dark adaptation occurs
FUN FACT = since vitamin A makes up rhodopsin, people who have a vitamin A deficiency have trouble seeing in the dark!
Simultaneous Bright Contrast
Target area of a particular luminance appears brighter when surrounded by a darker stimulus than then surrounded by a lighter stimulus
Explained by lateral inhibition = adjacent retinal cells inhibit one another
- If one cell is excited neighboring cells are inhibited so the corresponding area doesn’t seem as bright
Importance of lateral inhibition
Sharpens and highlights the borders between dark and light areas
Subtractive vs additive color mixture
Subtractive = occurs when we mix pigments
- PRIMARY COLORS = red, blue, yellow
Additive = has to do with mixing lights
- PRIMARY COLORS = red, blue, green
- Mixing red and green lights gives yellow
Ewald Hering
Came up with the opponent-processing theory of vision criticizing Young-Helmholtz trichromatic theory
Believed yellow must be one of the primary colors
3 opposing pairs = red-green, blue-yellow, black-white
George Berkeley
Listed various cues for depth
The 2D image on the retina has characteristics that signal the 3-dimensionality of the actual object
- Interposition (aka overlap)
- Relative size
- Linear perspective
J.J. Gibson
Expanded on Berkeley’s depth cues, added 3 more
1) texture gradients
2) Motion parallax
3) Binocular disparity (aka stereopsis)
Kinetic depth effect
Special kind of motion parallax where cues ab relative depth come from motion of an object while perceiver is still
Figure vs Ground
Figure = integrated visual experience that stands out at center of attention
Ground = background against which figure appears
Sometimes figure and ground can oscillate i.e. face-vase
Phenomena of subjective contours
Perceive contours (i.e. shapes) that are not present in stimulus
Theory of isomorphism
Developed by Wolfgang Kohler
there is a one-to-one correspondence between the object in the perceptual field and the pattern of stimulation in the brain (not supported empirically)
Bottom-up vs Top-down processing
Bottom-up (data driven) = object perception responds directly to components of incoming stimulus on the basis of fixed rules, summing up components to arrive at a whole pattern (i.e. feature detection)
Top-down (concept driven) = guided by conceptual processes (i.e. memories, expectations) that allow brain to recognize the whole object, and then its components
What would happen if we only had bottom-up or top-down processing
Bottom-up = really bad at object recognition Top-down = only see what we expect to see
Both of these are important for ALL senses
Apparent Motion
Illusion that occurs when two or more stationary lights flicker in succession, they are perceived as a single moving light
Proximal vs Distal Stimuli
Proximal = information our sensory receptors receive about the object
Distal = actual object or event
Emmert’s Law
Relationship between size constancy and apparent distance
- Size constancy depends on apparent distance
- The farther away the object appears to be, the more the scaling device in the brain will compensate for its retinal size by enlarging the perception of the object
Ames Room
Back left corner is almost two times as far back as the right, and the floor to ceiling height is distorted, but when viewed through the peephole, the room looks normal.
Person on the left appears much smaller because we are fooled into believing the difference in visual angle is not due to distance
Light Constancy
Despite change in amount of light falling on an object (illumination), the apparent lightness of the object remains unchanged
Types of Illusions
Illusion = erroneous perception
Muller-Lyer - two lines are same length
Ponzo - 2 lines are same length
Hering - 2 lines are straight and parallel
Wundt - 2 lines are straight and parallel
Poggendorff - diagonal line on bottom is a continuation of diagonal line on top
Reversible figure - stimulus patter oscillates between 2 alternative, equally compelling perceptual organizations (Necker cube)
What are the 2 major research methods for studying visual perception in infants?
Preferential Looking - 2 different stimuli are presented side by side and the amount of time spent looking at each one is recorded
- If there is a difference in time spend looking, the infant can tell the difference between the two
Habituation - rests on idea that when a new stimulus is presented to an infant, they will orient towards it
METHOD - one stimulus is initially presented until the infant stops attending to it. Then, a new stimulus is introduced.
FINDINGS - if the infant cannot tell the difference between the old and new stimulus, they remain disinterested, if they can tell difference, they orient towards it
Intensity
Measured in bels (after Alexander Graham Bell)
=Amplitude or height of air-pressure wave
Related to loudness
What are the 3 most important dimensions of sound
Loudness = subjective experience of magnitude or intensity of sound
Pitch = subjective experience or perception of frequency of sound (distinguish between a low and high tone)
Timbre = quality of a particular sound (i.e. piano vs clarinet)
Auditory pathway
Auditory nerve projects to superior olivary complex, the inferior colliculus, the medial geniculate nucleus of the thalamus, and then finally to the temporal cortex
Volley Principle
Modified the frequency theory
high rates of neural firing can be maintained if nerve fibers work together
Developed by Wever and Bray
Traveling Wave Theory
Developed by Bekesy
movement of basilar membrane is maximal at a different place along the membrane for each different frequency
EX: higher frequency vibrates membrane close to oval window, low frequency closer to tip of cochlea
Proprioception
General term for our sense of bodily perception
Includes aspects of vestibular and kinesthetic senses
Semicircular canals
Receptors for balance in the inner ear
Play a role in vestibular sense
Donald Broadbent
Selective attention acts as a filter between sensory stimuli and our processing systems
- If stimuli is attended to it passes through filter and is analyzed further
- if not, it is lost
Believed attention was an all-or-nothing process - if we attend to something, we dont attend to everything else (disproven with cocktail party phenomenon)
Dichotic listening
Technique used to study selective attention in the lab
METHOD
- 2 ears are presented with 2 different messages simultaneously
- Listeners are asked to shadow/repeat one of the messages
FINDINGS
- Observers can attend to one message and dampen out the other (i.e. dont notice when it changes from English to German)
- However, they subconsciously pay attention to certain aspects of the other message (i.e. can remember if voice was male or female)
Brain structures that are important in sensation and perception
Latereal geniculate nucleus in thalamus = vision
Superior colliculus = vision
Visual cortex in occipital lobe = vision
Inferior colliculus = audition
Meidal geniculate nucleus in thalamus = audition
Auditory cortex in temporal lobe = audition
Somatosensory cortex = touch
Forward vs backward conditioning
Forward = CS is presented before UCS (bell before food)
Backward = CS after UCS (generally unsuccessful)
Sensory preconditioning
2 neutral stimuli are paired together and then one is paired with the UCS
STAGE 1 - pair 2 neutrals (i.e. light flash and bell ring)
STAGE 2 - pair neutral with UCS (i.e. bell with food)
Once bell elicits CR without food, we test for sensory preconditioning by flashing light without ringing the bell or presenting food
FINDINGS = even though light and food were never directly paired, light still elicits salivating!
Evolution of theories for why classical conditioning works
1) Contiguity - CS and UCS are contiguous (near) in time
2) Contingency - conditioning depends on extent to which the CS is a good signal for UCS, and a good predictor
3) Blocking - CS is a good signal for UCS AND provides non redundant information about the occurrence of the UCS
Blocking experiment example
METHOD - 2 stages
1) Rats heard a hissing noise (CS) and were given a shock (UCS)
- Rats began to show fear of hissing noise
2) Hissing noise (CS) and light (CS) were presented at the same time, followed by the shock (UCS)
FINDINGS
- If contingency was the only basis of classical conditioning, then rat should have fear response to light since light is as good of a predictor as hissing
- When light was presented alone -NO FEAR RESPONSE
WHY?
- Light provided no additional useful (non-redundant) information for predicting when shock would occur, so the rats ignored it
Discriminative Stimulus
A stimulus condition that indicates that the organisms behavior will have consequences
EX: pigeon pecks at a key to get food (Positive reinforcement), but only if the light above the key is lit up
So pigeon is only reinforced when light in lit
Discriminative stimulus (SD) = light
Partial Reinforcement Effect
resistance to extinction is greater following acquisition where some, but not all, responses are reinforced, compared to acquisition when all responses are reinforced
EX: gambling is hard to stop once you start, even though behavior is reinforced only by occasional win
4 Types of partial reinforcement = FR, FI, VR, VI
Which schedule of reinforcement is most resistant to extinction, and has the most rapid response rate?
VR = very resistant VR = very rapid
Flooding vs Implosion
Flooding = Classical-conditioning based therapy where the client is forced to directly experience the feared object (CS)
Implosion = Classical-conditioning based therapy where the client is forced to imagine the feared object (CS)
Who came up with systematic desensitization
Wolpe
Counterconditioning
Used in systematic desensitization
Changing fear reaction into relaxation responses (relaxation behavior is incompatible with habitual undesired response of anxiety so they cannot be experienced simultaneously)
What is another term for operant-conditioning based therapies
Contingency Management
Types of contingency management therapies
1) Behavioral contract = negotiated agreement that states behavior change that is desired, and the consequences of certain acts
2) Time-out procedure = based on idea that undesirable behavior occurs in situations that reinforce behavior, so the client is removed from the potentially reinforcing situation before he can receive reinforcement
3) Token economy
4) Premack principle
Biological Constraints
- Different species have different inborn predispositions to learn things in different ways
- Challenges behaviorists because biological constraints affect both classical and operant conditioning
John Garcia Experiment
- Classical conditioning experiment with thirsty rats
- 2 CS = sweet water and bright-noisy water
- 2 UCS = shock and nauseating drug
HYPOTHESIS - classical conditioning will occur in all 4 groups, rats will have aversion to whichever water given
METHOD
- Group 1 rats drink sweet water and get shock
- Group 2 drink sweet water and get nauseating drug
- Group 3 drink bright-noisy water and get shock
- Group 4 drink bright-noisy water and get nauseating drug
FINDINGS
- Classical conditioning was only successful for groups 2 and 3
- Shock caused aversion in bright-noisy water only
- Nausea caused aversion in sweet water only
WHY?
- preparedness = in-born tendency to associate certain stimuli with certain consequences (i.e. illness with something they ingested, like flavored water, and sights and sounds with pain)
- Garcia effect = avoidance of food because of its association with unpleasant or painful stimulus
Adaptive benefit of the Garcia effect
Protects animals from foods that could sicken or kill them
Brelands Study
AIM - show animals could be trained to do anything with shaping
METHOD - tried to get raccoon to pick up and deposit 2 coins in piggy bank. Raccoon would only place coin in piggy bank after much hesitation. He would not deposit 2 coins, only pick them up, rub them together, insert them into slot and then remove them
FINDINGS
-instinctual drift = instinctual ways of behaving override learned behaviors (raccoons catch crawfish, rub them together and dip them into water to remove shells)
Innate Releasing Mechanism (IRM)
a mechanism in animals nervous system that connects the sign stimulus with the correct FAP
Reproductive isolating mechanism
behaviors that prevent animals of one species from. attempting to mate with animals of closely related species
- Way to ID members of its own species (i.e. mating call)
**Only found in locations where closely related species share a common environment!
Who did Chomsky critique?
BF Skinner - opposed the behaviorist view that speech is best explained by operational conditioning, and that language is acquired by reinforcement
Clustering
When asked to memorize and recall a list of words, subjects break the list down into groups that go together, and tend to recall words belonging to the same group (i.e. animals fruits, colors)
Whole-report procedure vs Partial report procedure
Whole-report = Used to find out how much information can be retained in sensory memory, has subjects look at visual display of 9 items for a fraction of a second and then recall as many as possible.
-Found that capacity of sensory memory was 4/9
Partial-report = Same procedure, but asked subjects to only recall one row of 3, depending on the tone they heard after the presentation (that way they couldn’t just focus on one row)
- Found recall was nearly perfect, suggesting capacity was 9 items
REASONING
- in whole-report, while they’re reporting as many as possible, their memory is decaying, so by the time they reach 4 the rest are gone
Who came up with the partial-report procedure
George Sperling
2 Types of LTM
1) Procedural = remembering how to do things
2) Declarative = remembering explicit info
a) Semantic = facts
b) Episodic = events
Semantic Verification Task
Used to study how semantic memory is organized
METHOD
- Subjects are asked to indicated whether or not a simple statement is true or false, and their response latency is measured
- Pattern of response latency gives information on how semantic information is stored
Smith, Stoben and Rips
Proposed semantic feature-comparison model
- Concepts are represented by sets of features, some which are required for that concept, some of which are typical of that concept
- Semantic memory contains feature lists of concepts, the key is the amount of overlap in the feature lists of the concepts
EX with semantic verification task
1) Robin is a bird = TRUE (quick because much overlap)
2) Horse is a fish = FALSE (quick because no overlap)
3) Turkey is a bird = slower response because some overlap but not a lot since a turkey is atypical
What are the 3 levels in the level-processing theory/depth of processing theory?
1) Physical (visual) = focusing on appearance, size and shape of info (requires little effort)
2) Acoustical = focus on sound combinations words have
3) Semantic = focusing on meaning of the word (more effort)
The more effort, the deeper the processing and the better your memory of the material is
Inhibition theory
Forgetting is due to the activities that have taken place between original learning and later attempted recall
2 types = proactive and retroactive
State-dependent learning
Special case of encoding specificity that suggests recall will be better if psychological or physical state at time of recall is the same as your state when you memorized the material
Method of Loci
Mnemonic device
System of associating information with some sequence of places you’re familiar with (i.e. if you have to remember 10 words, mentally place each word alongside something you see on your walk to class)
What is the water-jar problem and who came up with it
Luchins developed
Way to test mental sets and problem solving
3 Jars with fixed capacities are presented, and they are asked to obtain a particular amount of water in one of the jars
First couple problems are hard, so when they get to an easier problem they go about it in a much harder way than needed
Shows mental set = tendency to keep repeating solutions that worked in other situations
Who came up with the test of divergent thinking?
Guilford
Who studied heuristics?
Kahneman and Tversky
Who found that girls have better verbal ability?
Eleanor Maccoby and Carol Jacklin
List the 7 main people and their contributions to intelligence
1) Spearman - came up with g and s
2) Thurstone - 7 primary mental abilities
3) Sternberg - triarchic theory, with 3 aspects to intelligence (componential, experiential and contextual)
4) Gardner - theory of multiple intelligences
5) Raymond Cattell - fluid vs crystallized
6) Jensen - intelligence measured by IQ is genetic, you cant teach someone to score higher
7) Stern - developed the intelligence quotient
8) James McKeen Cattell - introduced mental testing into US
What would happen if you converted every score in a distribution to a z-score?
If you have a distribution of z-scores and calculate the mean and SD, the mean is ALWAYS 0, and the SD is ALWAYS 1, regardless of whether the distribution is normal and regardless of the means and SD of the original distribution
Criterion of significance
probability representing statistical significance (usually less than or equal to 5% or .05)
AKA alpha level
F-Ratio
estimates how much group means differ from each other by comparing the between-group variance to the within-group variance
(between group variance)/(within group variance)
If the IV makes no difference, F-ratio = 1
Interaction
When the effects of 1 IV are not consistent for all levels of other IVs
i.e. Females do better on spelling with a high-protein breakfast, but Males do better with low protein
IV = gender, breakfast
Interaction between gender and type of breakfast
Factorial design
Each level of a given IV occurs with each level of the other IVs
so the aversion rat experiment had a 2x2 factorial design (shock w/ sweet water, shock w/ bright-noisy water, nauseating drug w/sweet water, nauseating drug w/ bright-noisy water)
Standard error of measurement (SEM)
index of how much, on average, we expect a persons observed score to vary from the score they are capable of achieving based on actual ability
The smaller the SEM the better
Types of reliability
1) Test-retest = same test is given to same group of people twice
2) Alternate-form method = examinees are given 2 different forms of a test that are taken at 2 different times
3) Split-half reliability = test takers take only one test, but test is divided into two equal halves
What are the types of validity?
Content = test coverage of the particular skill or knowledge are that it is supposed to measure
Face = whether or not test appears to measure what it is supposed to
Criterion = how well test can predict an individuals performance on an established test of the same skill or knowledge area
Construct = how well performance on the test fits into the theoretical framework related to what it is you want the test to measure
What are the different types of criterion validity?
Predictive = test is used to predict future performance
Concurrent = test is given at the same time as criterion measure (written and road driving test)
Cross = testing the criterion validity of a test on a second sample, after you demonstrated validity using an initial sample
What are the types of construct validity?
Convergent = degree to which 2 measures of constructs that should be theoretically related, are in fact related
EX: if social adeptness is related to intelligence, test for adeptness has convergent validity if high scores for adeptness correlate with high scores of intelligence
Divergent = performance on the test is NOT correlated with other variables that the theory predicts the test should NOT be related to
EX: history test performance is not correlated to test-taking experience because they are not theoretically related
Adaptive Test
computerized achievement test that adapts to the test takers ability by assessing the accuracy of previously answered questions
Deviation IQ
How far away a persons score is from the average score for the particular age group the subject is a member of
1960 revision of the Stanford-Binet test began the use of this
Solved the problem with ratio IQ, where after a certain age mental age remains constant while chronological age increases, so IQ decreases
Weschler Tests
Major group of intelligence tests that have all items of a given type grouped into subtests, arranged by increasing difficulty (unlike stanford-binet, which is organized by age level)
2 broad scales = verbal and performance
3 Major types
1) Weschler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI)
2) Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC)
3) Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)
Hathaway and McKinley
developed MMPI using empirical criterion-keying approach
Barnum Effect
Tendency of people to accept and approve of the interpretation of their personality you give them
- It is simple to generate a “report” from stereotyped statements
- These reports are readily accepted as accurate
- Form of pseudo-validation
Who came up with contingency theory?
Rescorla
