Exam 1 Questions Flashcards
psychology is the study of which two things?
behavior and mental processes
what makes humans and animals different?
we can communicate and share our thoughts with others
what are the two reasons we study cognition?
to satisfy curiosity and to use knowledge to solve problems
what was the difference in what Plato and Aristotle believed about reality
plato- reality exists outside of us and our senses (and biases) corrupt that knowledge
aristotle- reality is only real BECAUSE we can sense it
what is the difference between empiricists and nativists?
empiricists- we are born with no amount of knowledge like a blank slate
nativists- we have a deal of understanding we are born with, it is just shaped through our cultures and how we are raised
who performed the first cognitive psychology experiment and what was it?
Franciscus Donders
He discovered how much time it takes to make a decision with the button/light experiment
who is considered the father of psychology?
Wilhelm wundt
what was wundt wrong about in cognitive psychology
he believed that introspection is something that only trained professionals are able to do
who was the father of american psychology and what did he believe?
william james
he believed that psychology should be used to study real-world issues, like things people do in everyday life
what is E.L. Thorndike’s law of effect?
we learn from how our actions affects us
-you won’t stick a fork in a socket twice
-if you get praised for something you’ll want to do it again
what is the “black box” according to john watson
the mind, it is tangible and we can’t see it so why should it be studied?
do behaviorists put more faith in nature or nurture
nurture, they believe biology doesn’t matter nearly as much as what we learn
what is the difference between associative agnosia and apperceptive agnosia?
associative- the person can reproduce an image but cannot name what they just drew
apperceptive- the person cannot classify degraded images, can only name an image if it full shape is there
how many areas play a role in visual perception?
30+
what is the difference between associative agnosia and apperceptive agnosia?
associative- the person can reproduce an image but cannot name what they just drew
apperceptive- the person cannot classify degraded images, and can only name an image if its full shape is there
what does object recognition rely on more, shape or colors and textures
shapes
what are the four “demons” in the pandemonium model?
-data demons
-computational demons
-cognitive demons
-decision demons
what happens when we overuse top-down processing?
we can get change blindness or inattentional blindness
give an example of change blindness
you’re speaking to a stranger and a different person replaces them and you don’t realize
give an example of inattentional blindness
asked to count how many times a basketball is passed and you don’t notice the gorilla that walks through the players
describe bottom-up processing
the brain recognizes the components of an object and then identifies what it is
describe top-down processing
your brain uses your expectations to identify an object and then recognizes the components of that object
describe gestalt psychology
based on top-down processing, we look at things as the sum of their parts rather than looking at the individual elements
do we better recognize faces as the overall shape/structure or by the individual body parts?
over shape/structure
we look at faces holistically
