Exam 1 Terms and Names To Know

Question 1

the psychological perspective primarily concerned with observable behavior that can be objectively recorded and with the relationships of observable behavior to environmental stimuli.

Answer 1

Behaviorist perspective

Question 1

improved memory for items at the end of a list.

Answer 1

Recency effect

Question 1

a self-behavior that is identified through a participant’s own observations and reports.

Answer 1

Self-report measures

Question 1

in an experimental setting, a variable that the researcher measures to assess the impact of a variation in an independent variable.

Answer 1

Dependent variable

Question 2

a psychological model in which behavior is explained in terms of past experiences and motivational forces; actions are viewed as stemming from inherited instincts, biological drives, and attempts to resolve conflicts between personal needs and social requirements.

Answer 2

Psychodynamic perspective/view

Question 2

provided evidence for the four components of working memory: a phonological loop, a visuospatial sketchpad, the central executive, and the episodic buffer (2002, 2003).

Answer 2

Alan Baddeley

Question 3

the experimenter creates cause, and effect is the participant’s response.

Answer 3

Cause and effect

Question 3

a theory that suggests that the deeper the level at which information was processed, the more likely it is to be retained in memory.

Answer 3

Levels-of-processing theory

Question 4

“recite the words in the order you heard them”

Answer 4

Serial recall

Question 5

a group in an experiment that is exposed to a treatment or experiences a manipulation of the independent variable.

Answer 5

Experimental group

Question 5

Canadian psychologist who first proposed the distinction between episodic and semantic types of declarative memories (1972).

Answer 5

Endel Tulving

Question 5

process that requires attention; it is often difficult to carry out more than one controlled process at a time.

Answer 5

Controlled process

Question 6

the perspective in psychology that strives to understand and treat issues of mental stability/mental illnesses.

Answer 6

Clinical perspective

Question 7

availability of information through memory processes without conscious effort to encode or recover information.

Answer 7

Implicit uses of memory

Question 8

the perspective that suggests that memory is best when the type of processing carried out at encoding matches the processes carried out at retrieval.

Answer 8

Transfer-appropriate processing

Question 9

the form in which memory is stored in working memory (hearing in your head).

Answer 9

Acoustic code

Question 10

extended the influence of behaviorism by expanding its analyses to the consequences of behaviors (1904-1940). Both Watson and Skinner believed that the basic processes they investigated with nonhuman animals represented general principles that would hold true for humans as well.

Answer 10

B.F. Skinner

Question 10

a procedure by which participants have an equal likelihood of being assigned to any condition within an experiment.

Answer 10

Random assignment

Question 10

German psychologist who pioneered the study of forgetting by serving as his own subject in a study involving lists of non-sense syllables—see book (1850-1909).

Answer 10

Hermann Ebbinghaus

Question 11

people’s vivid and richly detailed memory in response to personal or public events that have great emotional significance.

Answer 11

Flashbulb memories

Question 11

a characteristic of memory retrieval in which the recall of beginning and end items on a list is often better than recall of items appearing in the middle.

Answer 11

Serial position effect

Question 12

member of a category that people have encountered.

Answer 12

Exemplar

Question 13

the perspective on psychology that stresses human thought and the processes of knowing, such as attending, thinking, remembering, expecting, solving problems, fantasizing, and consciousness.

Answer 13

Cognitive perspective

Question 14

the most common disease that affects memory function. In the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s disease, people often have difficulty retaining new information. As the disease progresses, the memory loss becomes much more extensive.

Answer 14

Alzheimer’s disease

Question 15

the scientific study of the behavior of individuals and their mental processes. Critical parts of this definition: scientific, behavior, individual, and mental.

Answer 15

Psychology

Question 15

the distortion of evidence because of the personal motives and expectations of the viewer.

Answer 15

Observer bias/experimenter bias

Question 15

“recite as many words as you can”

Answer 15

Free recall

Question 15

the approach to identifying causes of behavior that focuses on the functioning of genes, the brain, the nervous system, and the endocrine system.

Answer 15

Biological perspective

Question 15

a memory resource that is used to accomplish tasks such as reasoning and language comprehension; consists of the phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, and central executive.

Answer 15

Working memory

Question 16

when internal states provide the basis for encoding specificity (i.e. drugs).

Answer 16

State-dependent memory

Question 17

o 1. Eliminate a variable—it does not vary; it is a “constant” (e.g. age, gender, etc.). o 2. Matching—all groups have the same characteristics; variability is still there (e.g. vision, etc.) o 3. Random assignment—best way to control; all participants have an equal chance to be in each group.

Answer 17

Control (3 types)

Question 17

expanded unit size from STM capacity

Answer 17

Capacity working memory

Question 19

the subjective sensations that you do have information stored in memory.

Answer 19

Feelings-of-knowing

Question 20

the most representative example of a category.

Answer 20

Prototype

Question 20

two or more mental processes that are carried out in order, one after the other.

Answer 20

Serial processes

Question 20

a memorization technique where you repeat information in a cycle in your head. So far, conclusions have been made that rehearsal will help you keep information from fading out of STM.

Answer 20

Maintenance rehearsal

Question 21

the process by which a mental representation is formed in memory.

Answer 21

Encoding

Question 21

a change in behavior in the absence of an experimental manipulation.

Answer 21

Placebo effect

Question 22

o Variable o Stimulus-response o Cause-effect o Experimenter & participant

Answer 22

Experiment (and limitations)

Question 24

a group in an experiment that is not exposed to a treatment or does not experience a manipulation of the independent variable.

Answer 24

Control group

Question 25

a stimulus other than the variable an experimenter explicitly introduces into a research setting that affects a participant’s behavior.

Answer 25

Confounding variable/confound

Question 27

implicit or explicit knowledge about memory abilities and effective memory strategies; cognition about memory.

Answer 27

Metamemory

Question 28

in an experimental setting, a factor that varies in amount and kind.

Answer 28

Variable

Question 30

strategy or device that uses familiar information during the encoding of new information to enhance subsequent access to the information in memory.

Answer 30

Mnemonic

Question 32

the mental capacity to encode, store and retrieve information.

Answer 32

Memory

Question 32

a method of retrieval in which an individual is required to identify stimuli as having been experienced before.

Answer 32

Recognition

Question 33

a subset of a population selected as participants in an experiment.

Answer 33

Sample

Question 34

primary is acoustic “code, maybe visual code, may even be semantic

Answer 34

Form (code) working memory

Question 35

founded the first formal laboratory devoted to experimental psychology in Leipzig Germany (1879). He wished to understand basic processes of sensation and perception as well as the speed of simple mental processes.

Answer 35

Wilhelm Wundt

Question 36

the psychological perspective that focuses on cross-cultural differences in the causes and consequences of behavior.

Answer 36

Sociocultural perspective

Question 38

circumstances in which past memories make it more difficult to encode and retrieve new information.

Answer 38

Proactive interference

Question 39

intensive observation of a particular individual or small group of individuals.

Answer 39

Case study

Question 39

the recovery of stored information from memory.

Answer 39

Retrieval

Question 41

in an experimental setting, a variable that the researcher manipulates with the expectation of having an impact on values of the dependent variable.

Answer 41

Independent variable

Question 41

a technique for improving memory by enriching the encoding of information.

Answer 41

Elaborative rehearsal

Question 43

o Scientific method o Behavior has many causes o Individuals vary (but research focuses on groups) o Multiple theories explain the same behavior o Nature & nurture o Context matters (i.e. city, family, culture, religion, historical time period, etc.)

Answer 43

Themes for the course

Question 44

not readily accessible to conscious awareness.

Answer 44

Unconscious

Question 45

emphasized that individuals have a natural tendency toward psychological growth and health—a process that is aided by the positive regard of those who surround them (1902-1987).

Answer 45

Carl Rodgers

Question 46

process that does not require attention; it can often be performed along with other tasks without interference

Answer 46

Automatic process

Question 47

an acronym for the six phases suggested for effective study: Preview, Question, Read, Reflect, Recite, and Review.

Answer 47

PQ4R

Question 47

a change in context affects the success of recall and recognition techniques in various ways—see example in book

Answer 47

Context-dependent memory

Question 49

an experimental technique in which biased expectations of experimenters are eliminated by keeping both participants and experimental assistants unaware of which participants have received which treatment.

Answer 49

Double-blind control

Question 50

believed that about 60% of our memories stay with us forever in “permastore”

Answer 50

Permastore

Question 52

not independent or dependent variable; may or may not vary (could be held constant); don’t want these to affect your result so try to control them; 0,1, or more

Answer 52

Control (extraneous) variable

Question 52

a school of psychology that maintains that psychological phenomena can be understood only when viewed as organized, structured wholes, not when broken down into primitive perceptual elements.

Answer 52

Gestalt psychology

Question 54

the process of putting information together based on general types of stored knowledge in the absence of a specific memory representation.

Answer 54

Reconstructive memory

Question 55

the retention of encoded material over time.

Answer 55

Storage

Question 56

memory for how things get done; the way perceptual, cognitive, and motor skills are acquired, retained, and used.

Answer 56

Procedural memory

Question 56

the process of taking single items of information and recoding them on the basis of similarity or some other organizing principle.

Answer 56

Chunking

Question 57

a psychological model that emphasizes an individual’s phenomenal world and inherent capacity for making rational choices and developing to a maximum potential.

Answer 57

Humanistic perspective

Question 59

suggested that seven (plus or minus two) was the “magic number” that characterized people’s memory performance on random lists of letters, words, numbers, or almost any kind of meaningful, familiar item (1956).

Answer 59

George Miller

Question 60

an inability to form explicit memories for events that occur after the time of physical damage to the brain.

Answer 60

Anterograde amnesia

Question 61

this resource holds and manipulates speech-based information. The phonological loop overlaps most with short-term memory. When you rehearse a telephone number by “listening” to it as you run it through your head, you are making use of the phonological loop.

Answer 61

Phonological loop

Question 63

in the assessment of implicit memory, the advantage conferred by prior exposure to a word or situation.

Answer 63

Priming

Question 64

memory processes associated with preservation of recent experiences and with retrieval of information from long-term memory; short-term memory is of limited capacity and stores information for only a short length of time without rehearsal.

Answer 64

Short-term memory (STM)

Question 65

the study of the structure of mind and behavior; the view that all human mental experience can be understood as a combination of simple elements or events.

Answer 65

Structuralism

Question 67

comes out of the experience of watching yourself from this privileged “insider” position—a result of being conscious of what you are doing, the fact that you are doing it, and the realization that others are observing, evaluating, and reacting to what you are doing.

Answer 67

Sense of self

Question 68

result that occurs when a researcher or observer subtly communicates to participants the kind of behavior he or she expects to find, thereby creating that expected reaction.

Answer 68

Expectancy effects/demand characteristics

Question 70

research methodology that determines to what extent two variables, traits, or attributes are related.

Answer 70

Correlation methods

Question 71

a tentative and testable explanation of the relationship between two (or more) events or variables; often stated as a prediction that a certain outcome will result from specific conditions. o Best guess, from theory or experience; expectation or prediction of what you think will happen.

Answer 71

Hypothesis/hypothesis testing

Question 72

a research technique in which unobtrusive observations are made of behaviors that occur in natural environments.

Answer 72

Naturalistic observation

Question 73

semantic code (meaning), visual, or verbal.

Answer 73

Form (code) LTM

Question 75

internally or externally generated stimulus available to help with the retrieval of a memory.

Answer 75

Retrieval cues

Question 76

two or more mental processes that are carried out simultaneously.

Answer 76

Parallel processes

Question 78

long-term memory for an autobiographical event and the context in which it occurred.

Answer 78

Episodic memory

Question 80

primary capacity = 7 +/- 2 units of information

Answer 80

Capacity STM

Question 81

a method of retrieval in which an individual is required to reproduce the information previously presented.

Answer 81

Recall

Question 83

memory processes associated with the preservation of information for retrieval at any later time.

Answer 83

Long-term memory (LTM)

Question 84

theoretically unlimited capacity

Answer 84

Capacity LTM

Question 86

improved memory for items at the start of a list.

Answer 86

Primacy effect

Question 87

pioneered the behaviorist perspective, he argued that psychological research should seek the laws that govern observable behavior across species (1878-1958).

Answer 87

John Watson

Question 88

the perspective on mind and behavior that focuses on the examination of their functions in an organism’s interactions with the environment.

Answer 88

Functionalism

Question 89

memory for information such as facts and events.

Answer 89

Declarative memory

Question 90

a state of awareness of internal events and the external environment. The term consciousness is used to refer to a general state of mind or to its specific contents: “conscious” in contrast to “unconscious”.

Answer 90

Consciousness/conscious

Question 92

circumstances in which the formation of new memories makes it more difficult to recover older memories.

Answer 92

Retroactive interference

Question 94

Viennese physician who most fully developed the psychodynamic principles of motivation in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Freud’s ideas grew out of his work with mentally disturbed patients, but he believed that the principles he observed applied to both normal and abnormal behavior. Freud’s psychodynamic theory views a person as pulled and pushed by a complex network of inner and outer forces. Freud’s model was the first to recognize that human nature is not always rational and that actions may be driven by motives that are not in conscious awareness.

Answer 94

Sigmund Freud

Question 95

conscious effort to encode or recover information through memory processes.

Answer 95

Explicit use of memory

Question 96

the principle that subsequent retrieval of information is enhanced if cues received at the time of recall are consistent with those present at the time of encoding.

Answer 96

Encoding specificity

Question 97

o 1. Public (most people can see & observe, or quantifiable) o 2. Specified o 3. Repeatable (can be replicated) o 4. Controlled—want control over any variables that could affect the result.

Answer 97

Observations (4 requirements)

Question 99

memories competing with each other.

Answer 99

Interference

Question 101

the approach to psychology that stresses the importance of behavioral and mental adaptiveness based on the assumption that mental capabilities evolved over millions of years to serve particular adaptive purposes.

Answer 101

Evolutionary perspective

Question 102

general conceptual framework, or cluster of knowledge, regarding objects, people, and situations; knowledge package that encodes generalizations about the structure of the environment.

Answer 102

Schema

Question 103

the set of procedures used for gathering and interpreting objective information in a way that minimizes error and yields dependable generalizations.

Answer 103

Scientific method

Question 104

wrote a two-volume work, The Principles of Psychology (1890/1950), which many experts consider to be the most important psychology text ever written.

Answer 104

William James

Question 105

carried out influential studies on eyewitness memory. The general conclusion from her and her colleagues’ research was that eyewitnesses’ memories for what they had seen were quite vulnerable to distortion from post-event information (1979).

Answer 105

Elizabeth Loftus

Question 106

individuals’ systematic examination of their own thoughts and feelings.

Answer 106

Introspection

Question 107

generic, categorical memories, such as the meanings of words and concepts.

Answer 107

Semantic memories

Question 108

this resource performs the same types of functions as the phonological loop for visual and spatial information. If, for example, someone asked you how many desks there are in your psychology classroom, you might use the resources of the visuospatial sketchpad to form a mental picture of the classroom and then estimate the number of desks.

Answer 108

Visuospatial sketchpad

Question 109

how information gets into storage in working/short term memory.

Answer 109

Attention

Question 110

an inability to retrieve memories form the time before physical damage to the brain.

Answer 110

Retrograde amnesia

Question 111

an organized set of concepts that explains a phenomenon or set of phenomena. o Ties together related data o Explains/predicts behavior o Directs future research o Theories are NOT truth

Answer 111

Theory