exam 1 RETAKE Flashcards
in your own words, summerize the basis, goals and requriments of using the emperical approach for scientific questions
the emperical approach is the cornerstone of psychology; it relies on evidence obtained through observation and experimentation; attemps to explore and understand without being misled
describe the traits of curiosity, skepticism, and humility, as they realted to adopting a scientific attitude, provide examples to illistrate these descriptions as neccesary
curiosity; does it work?
skepticism; how do you know?
humility; that was unexpected, lets explore futher
briefly describe the differences between the 3 main levels of analysis discussed in class, and how does it relate to one another. provide an example of a research topic that would benefit from the incoorporation of all 3 levels of analysis
biological; genetic dispositons, genetic mutations, psychological; learned fears, emotional responses, social-cultural; presence of others, family, friends, peer expectatons
biopsychosocial model
despite the varitey of professonal and research subfields in psychology, what do they tend to have in common?
psychologists; psychiatrists
* they all have a goal to observe and evaluate behavior and the mind that underlies those behaviors
compare and contrast the categories of basic and applied research.
basic (pure) research is conduced for the purpose of aquiring knowlage; applied research is intended to bring some benefit to humankind. many research projects have elements of both approaches
compare and contrast the 3 roadblocks to critical thinking
hindsight bias; I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon; for exmaple “opposites attract”, overconfidence; Tendency to think we know more than we do, Perceiving patterns in random events; Random sequence is unsettling; making sense creates calm
what are the purpose of using emperical approach and psychologial science
the purpose of using emperical aprroach and psychologial science is to:
* Sift reality from over estimated intuition and illusion
* Avoid systematic errors or biases in thinking and judgments
compare and contrast anedocial vs emperical evidence
anedocial evidence is impressions or opinions and often biased; emperical evidence is infomation based on experience, observation, or experiment and gaurds against bias
decribe the primary purposes of each non-experimental (descriptive) approaches discussed
- case studies: focuses on a single case
- naturalistic observation: studies groups of subjects exposed to conditions in the real world
- surverys and interveiws: self-report behavior or opinions of particular group
- correlational studies: A measure of the extent to which two factors vary together (how well the factors predict each other)
correlation DOES NOT = causation
compare and contrast a random sample to a representative sample. what is the goal of sampling, and which method of sampling is preferred
a random sample is a group randomly selected from a population; a representive sample is handpicked, or intentanlly selected
Best basis for generalizing is from a representative sample
what does correlation suggest, and what does it not suggest?
Correlation suggests a possible cause-effect relationship but does not prove it.
what are the primary features of experimental designs that distinguish them from non-experimental designs?
experimental designs have control over their variables, it’s a random assingment, while non-experimental designs don’t
compare and contrast the advantages and disadvantages of studying humans vs. animals as participants in psychological studies.
humans can follow directions, animals have simpler brains and less eithical concerns
define biological rhythms, and provide one example
regular fluctuations in living processes
examples: hormone levels, body temperature, etc.
describe what a circadian rhythms is, provide an example of circadian rhythms, and indicate the primary environmental cue responsible for entraining circadian rhythms. what is the evolutionary advantage of maintaining circadian rhythms?
circadian rhythms: “about a day”; daily cortisol & melationin rythms. an example would be the sleep-wake cycle. the primary envriomental cue responsible is the light-dark cycle. evolutionary advantage: allows us to anticipate an event (sunrise)
compare and contrast the three standard psychophysiological measures of sleep discussed in class
- Electroencephalogram (EEG) = brain waves
- Electrooculogram (EOG) = eye movements
- Electromyogram (EMG) = muscle tension
briefly distinguish between the three non-REM sleep stages. how do the non-REM stages compare and contrast with REM sleep?
NREM-1 (N1) sleep: Slow breathing and irregular brain waves; hallucinations; hypnagogic (hypnic) sensations; brief
NREM-2 (N2) sleep: Relaxed more deeply; 20 minutes; sleep spindles that aid memory processing
NREM-3 (N3) sleep: Deep sleep; 30 minutes; slow delta waves
how do sleep stages evolve over the course of a nights’ sleep?
they occur every 90 minutes, and peopple cycle through distinct stages.
what are the primary ways in which sleep stages differ throughout the lifespan?
infants and babies tend to get more time in rem and n-rem sleep than adults
summarize the major influences affecting our sleep patterns and the primary functions of sleep
genetic influences; cultural influences, effects of presence or absence of light on the 24-hour biological clock
how do sleep debts occur, and how long do they take to recover from fully? describe some of the major effects observed with consistent sleep loss.
sleep debts occur when someone does not get enough sleep for a consecutive amount of days. it can tale up to 2 weeks to recover and major effects are difficulty doing basic tasks
summarize the major sleep disorders discussed in class.
- sleepwalking (1-15%): occurs during N3 sleep
- Sleeptalking (1-15%): occurs during any sleep stage
- Insomnia (10%): difficulty falling asleep and/or staying asleep
- Sleep apnea (5%): characterized by breathing cessation
- Night terrors (1%): characterized by high arousal and terrified experience; occur during N3 sleep
- Narcolepsy (0.05%): characterized by uncontrollable sleep attacks
what qualities characterize dreaming when awoken from REM sleep? summarize some of the main theories suggesting why we dream
awakenings from REM yield reports of story-like dreams with visual imagery, and we dream because of
* Freud’s wish fulfillment theory: to satisfy own wishes symbolically
* Information processing theory: to file away memories
* Physiological function theory: to develop and preserve neural pathways (via continued periodic stimulation incurred by dreaming)
* Activation-synthesis theory: to make sense of neural static
* Cognitive theory: to reflect cognitive development
define memory and summarize how we can be certain of our ability to retain memories.
memory is the persistence of learning over time through the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information. we can be certian of our ability to retain memories by recalling information, recognizing it, relearning it more easily on a later attempt
compare and contrast recall vs. recognition, and provide an example of each.
Recall: A measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier
* Example: fill-in-the-blank questions
Recognition: A measure of memory in which the person identifies items previously learned; occurs very fast
* Example:multiple-choice questions
what does the metric of “relearning” measure?
a measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material again
what is the purpose of using memory models, and what is the major memory model still followed
today?
- information-processing model compares human memory to computer operations ;involves three processes: encoding, storage, and retrieval
- Connectionism (information-processing model) focuses on multitrack, parallel processing—the processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously; views memories as products of interconnected neural networks
describe the three stages associated with the famous Atkinson-Shiffrin model of memory developed in 1968. what process is required to actively move memory between each stage?
sensory memory, the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information; short-term memory(activated memory that holds a few items briefly); and long-term memory, the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system of knowledge, skills, and experiences, for later retrieval. working memory is required for each stage
compare and contrast explicit and implicit memories. how is each type of memory encoded? provide an example of each kind.
- explicit memory (declarative memory): memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and “declare.”; implicit memory(nondeclarative memory): retention of learned skills or classically conditioned associations independent of conscious recollection
implict memory is like riding a bike, once you learn you can do it unconciously. explicit memory is like recalling details from a family vacation
how is sensory memory related to the process of forming explicit memories?
Sensory memory feeds our active working memory, recording momentary images of scenes or echoes of sounds
compare and contrast iconic and echoic memory
Iconic memory: Picture-image memory of visual stimuli lasting no more than a few tenths of a second
Echoic memory: Sound memory of auditory stimuli; can be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds
describe the known capacity associated with short-term memory. what types of factors affect the capacity of working memory?
We can store 7 ± 2 bits of information. things that affect the capcity of working memory varies by age, distractions at the time of memory tasks, and the type of task
describe and provide examples of the types of effortful processing strategies discussed in class.
Chunking: Organization of items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically ;Mnemonics: Memory aids, especially techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices; Hierarchies: Organization of items into a few broad categories that are divided and subdivided into narrower concepts and facts
describe was is meant by the spacing effect, the testing effect, and the self-reference effect. how can these observations help us to study more effectively?
Distributed practice produces better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice. we study more effectvely by smart practice—occasional rehearsal with self-testing—makes for lasting memories
compare and contrast anterograde and retrograde amnesia.
Anterograde amnesia: Inability to form new memories; Retrograde amnesia: Inability to retrieve information from one’s past
at what point in the process of acquiring new information can it be forgotten?
we forget at any age, when we process information, we filter, alter, or lose most of it
name and describe some factors contributing to encoding failures.
factors contributing to encoding failures are age and attention
how does the course of forgetting change? describe the observation of storage decay
forgetting changes rapidly, then levels off.
name and describe two factors contributing to retrieval failure.
describe the process of reconsolidation and how it contributes to memory construction errors.
Reconsolidation is a process in which previously stored memories, when retrieved, are potentially altered before being stored again. this contributes to memory construction errors because of the misinfomation effect
what is the misinformation effect?
orruption of a memory by introducing misleading information
describe and provide an example of source amnesia (also referred to as source misattribution).
attributing to the wrong source an event we have experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined
example: deja vu
describe a plan you could implement to improve learning strategies using empirical evidence, including the combination of a few realistic strategies.
reheasring, making meaningful material, sleep more, mneomics
describe and provide an example of a prototype. What is the purpose of developing cognitive prototypes?
mental image or best example of a category; when something closely matches our prototype of a concept, we more readily recognize it as an example of the concept.
describe some common problem solving strategies. how does insight compare to strategy-based solutions?
Trial and error; Algorithm: Methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem; Heuristic: Simple thinking strategy that often allows efficient judgments and problem solving
insight compares its a sudden realization of a problem’s solution
describe and provide an example of the confirmation bias. how can confirmation bias lead to a state of fixation?
confirmation bias: Tendency to search for information that supports our existing beliefs and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence; this can lead to fixation because we’ll have a hard time adopting different beleifs
example: leads us to seek evidence for our ideas more eagerly than again
provide some reasoning for why the representativeness heuristic and the availability heuristic may be beneficial and why they may be detrimental.
they are simular because they can estimate the likleiness of an event, but they can also lead us to ignore other relavent infomation and we can assume events are common
in what ways can overconfidence be challenging vs. adaptive?
overconfidence can be challanging by overestimating accuracy of personal knowledge and judgments, overestimation, and closed-mindedness; can be adaptive by boosting self-confidence, make difficult decisions more easily, and seem competent
describe how belief perseverance and framing can influence how we make decisions and judgments. how can intuition overcome these influences?
they can both alter what we belieive; intuttion can overcome this because smart people can make not-so-smart decisions
