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PSYC 213 > Important definitions > Flashcards

Important definitions Flashcards

1
Q

a problem that has a specific goal state,
clearly defined solutions paths and clearly
expected solutions

A

Well-Defined Problems

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2
Q

a problem that does NOT have clear goal
states, solutions paths or expected solutions
(e.g., choosing a major, deciding whether to
break-up with your partner)

A

Ill-Defined Problems

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3
Q

AI can solve well-defined
problems well, but not ill-defined problems
because of the uncertainty

A

Moravec’s Paradox

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4
Q

a systematic algorithm that represents all possible steps
from a problem to a goal state

A

Brute Force

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5
Q

select the operation that brings you closer to the goal without
examining the whole problem space

Some problems require moving AWAY from goal to solve it

A

Hill Climbing

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6
Q

create sub-goals as you move closer to the final
goal state (more flexible)

A

Means-End Analysis

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7
Q

problems are solved using
knowledge and trial and error

A

The Behaviorist Approach

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8
Q

problems are solved by considering
them more deeply

A

The Gestalt Approach

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9
Q

uses knowledge from past experiences
and uses a trial-and-error strategy to work out solutions

A

Reproductive process

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10
Q

a response that produces a satisfying effect
will become more likely to occur again in that situation, and a
response that produce a discomforting effect will become less likely
to occur again in that situation

A

Law of Effect

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11
Q

Reproductive process and Law of Effect are part of what theory

A

Behaviorist Approach

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12
Q

solution to a problem suddenly comes
to consciousness; Max Wertheimer

A

insight phenomena

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13
Q

process
of problem solving that occurs when thinking is characterized by
the restructuring of information in such a way as to provide a
solution (produces insight)

A

a productive process

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14
Q

actively manipulating information to change its
representation in your mind

A

restructuring

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15
Q

experience of having a sudden switch in how you see
something

A

Gestalt switches

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16
Q

Problems in which the solution occurs
suddenly in your consciousness

A

Insight Problems

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17
Q

Problems in which you must
consciously work through each step of a
problem to arrive at a solution

A

Non-Insight Problems

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18
Q

Suddenness, Ease, Positive, Confidence

A

Four Features of Insight

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19
Q

Making comparisons between two situations; applying the
solution from one of the situations to another situation

A

Analogical Problem Solving

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20
Q

bias to use familiar methods to solve a problem
can result in the inability to seek and use a better method

A

Einstellung Effect

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21
Q

However, participants continued to use this more complex
mental set on subsequent tasks

A

The Water Jug Problem

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22
Q

the tendency to view objects only for
their intended purpose because of prior experience with that object

A

Functional Fixedness

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23
Q

the ability to use
existing knowledge and skills in order to deal with novelty and create
ideas that are appropriate given the current situation and that are
also valuable

A

Creative Intelligence (Sternberg)

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24
Q

the number ideas a person can generate about a particular
topic or item

A

ideational
fluency

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25
Q

Computer programs, algorithms, and artificial intelligence can
solve problems much quicker and more effectively than
people

A

Information Processing Approach

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26
Q

a mental shortcut or rule of thumb that can be used to
get a quick and mostly accurate response in some situations but may
lead to errors in others

A

Heuristic

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27
Q

deviations from rationality (errors) that are caused by
using heuristics

A

Bias

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28
Q

estimate the probability of an event based on the ease at which it can be brought to mind

A

Availability Heuristic

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29
Q

tendency to make inferences on the basis that small samples resemble the larger population they were drawn

A

Representative Heuristic

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30
Q

People start off with one value and adjust accordingly from there

A

Anchoring and Adjustment Heuristic

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31
Q

Seeing casual relationships when there are none

A

Illusory Correlation

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32
Q

Can explain deviations, extreme values will be closer to the mean when measured a second time

A

Regression Towards the Mean

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33
Q

people are limited by both
environmental constraints

People are satisficers - look
for situations that are “good enough”

A

Bounded Rationality

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34
Q

sees heuristics are the optimal
approach

Given the right environment, heuristic
can be better than optimization or
other complex strategies

A

Ecological Rationality

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35
Q

objective (externally defined)
criterion for making your choice

A

Perceptual Decision Making

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36
Q

subjective (internally
defined) criterion for making your choice

A

Value-Based Decision Making

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37
Q

taking an action despite an outcome being uncertain

A

Risk

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38
Q

when you have incomplete information about
the consequences

A

Ambiguity

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39
Q

Loss aversion is captured in the endowment effect

Once ownership is established, people are averse to give it up

A

Endowment Effect

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40
Q

difference between the expected gains of a
risky option and a certain option

A

Risk Premium

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41
Q

The way in which questions and information are organized influences decisions even
when content is identical.

Positive Frame: what you can gain
Negative Frame: what you can lose
fMRI studies show increased amygdala

A

The Framing Effect

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42
Q

difference between what you predicted
would happen and what actually happened

A

Prediction error

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43
Q

_______ prediction error increases positive affect (i.e., happiness), and
then leads to more risky behaviors (e.g., gambling)

A

Positive

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44
Q

subjective value assigned to an object

A

Utility

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45
Q

describes how people map money to satisfaction

A

Utility function

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46
Q

Probabilities are not treated objectively (extreme events tend to be rare)

Availability of an option (how easy it comes to mind) changes the perceived frequency of occurrence

A

Prospect Theory: Probability Weighting Function

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47
Q

System 1: fast, effortless, automatic, intuitive, emotional

System 2: slow, deliberative, effortful, explicit, logical

A

Dual Process Theory

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48
Q

When people are faced with multiple options, they will choose the one that returns the highest likely value.

A

Expected Utility Hypotheses (EUT)

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49
Q

the tendency to rate more believable conclusions as more valid

A

Belief bias

50
Q

People rate a conclusion as valid as long as the
qualifying word (e.g., ‘all,’ ‘some’) in the premise match those in the conclusion.

A

The Atmospheric Effect (Woodsworth, 1935)

51
Q

People construct mental simulations of the world in their minds based on syllogisms

A

Mental Models

52
Q

People have trouble reasoning with negative information

thinking that
“withholding is not as bad as doing”

A

Omission bias

53
Q

The tendency to look for evidence that supports one’s current belief and
to not look for/actively ignore contradictory information

A

Confirmation bias

54
Q

The tendency to hold beliefs about risk that are consistent with their
broader social and moral values

A

Cultural cognition

55
Q

our tendency to overestimate our likelihood of experiencing positive events
and underestimate our likelihood of experiencing negative events.

A

Optimism bias

56
Q

thinking that a person who experiences success will keep having success

A

Hot-hand belief

57
Q

People tend to prefer avoiding losing something as compared to gaining something of
equal value (a cognitive bias)

A

Loss Aversion

58
Q

People are willing to pay more money for products that are assembled versus not assembled

A

IKEA Effect

59
Q

emotions directly related to a decision being made

A

Integral emotions

60
Q

unrelated emotions someone is experiencing at the time of
decision making

A

Incidental emotions

61
Q

What region is partly responsible for decision-making

A

Ventromedial PFT (vPFC)

62
Q

Those with damage to
the vmPFC can identify
correct decisions, but
often do not choose to
make them

A

True

63
Q

had a racially-motivated view on intelligence tests

A

Galton (1822 to 1911)

64
Q

general intelligence factor (g) that varies across people but
stable within a person

A

Charles Spearman

65
Q
  • the capacity to learn new ways of solving
    problems and performing activities
  • driven by genetics
  • sensitive to normative aging
A

Fluid intelligence

66
Q
  • the accumulated knowledge of the world
    we have acquired throughout our lives
    (vocabulary, math)
  • affect by personality, education, culture
  • driven by motivation to learn
A

Crystallized intelligence

67
Q

someone with limited mental
ability and has an exceptional specific ability

A

Savant Syndrome

68
Q

suggests
that there various types of intelligence & that are
all equally important & can vary independently
from one another

A

Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligence

69
Q

3 types of
intelligence (analytical, creative, and practical)
which interact to produce intelligent behavior;

A

Sternberg’s theory of intelligence

70
Q

“The global capacity of a person to act purposefully, to think rationally, and to
deal effectively with his environment”
- Created separate tests for children and adults & types of intelligence

A

Weschler Tests

71
Q

non-verbal assessment of fluid intelligence

A

Raven’s progressive matrices

72
Q

the test is measuring what it is intended to measure

A

It is valid

73
Q

there is consistency of test scores over time, across different test items or across
different raters

A

It is reliable

74
Q

Rationalism
Logic & a priori knowledge
Influential for theory development

A

Plato

75
Q

Empiricism
Experience & (systemic observation)
Influential for experimental methods

A

Aristotle

76
Q

understand the structure of the mind by identifying the
basic building block and then see how they give rise to more complex
behaviours

Introspection

A

Structuralism

77
Q

focus on understanding the functions of the mind

A

Functionalism (William James)

78
Q

Psychology can be objectively studied through observations; focus on stimulus-response

A

Behaviourism (Watson)

79
Q

Associate an involuntary response and a stimulus

A

Classical conditioning

80
Q

Associate a voluntary behaviour and a
consequence (reward or punishment)

A

Operant conditioning

81
Q

mathematic equation to show that the more information
contained in a signal, the longer it takes to make a (correct) response to
this signal

Response time increased as the number of stimulus alternatives (number
of lights) increased

More information = slower reaction times

A

Hick’s law

82
Q

Suggests processing capacity is limited; what gets processed is determined by familiarity and certainty

A

Webster & Thomas (Airplane control)

83
Q

The deteriorating quality of
decisions made by an individual after a long session of decision making

A

Decision fatigue

84
Q

The ability to generalize lab findings to real-world settings

A

Ecological validity

85
Q

certain cognitive function reside in specific
regions of the brain

A

functional specialization

86
Q

the mind and brain are separate

A

Dualism

87
Q

the mind and brain are the same

A

Monism

88
Q

mind and brain are separate substances that interact with
and influence each other

A

Interactionism (form of Dualism)

89
Q

mind is a superfluous by-product of bodily functioning

A

Epiphenomenalism (form of Dualism)

90
Q

all realities the
result of physical processes

A

Physicalism/materialism

91
Q

all reality is a mental construct

A

Idealism

92
Q

neither physical nor
mental; mind & brain composed of the same
neutral element

A

Neutral monism

93
Q

investigate brain mechanisms in animals to learn about
the human brain

A

Animal models

94
Q

study brain function by comparing
behaviour/response of brain injured patient to that of a healthy control

A

Neuropsychological case studies

95
Q

info about WHERE activity is located

A

Spatial resolution

96
Q

info about WHEN activity occurred

A

Temporal resolution

97
Q

Records the electrical activity of the brain via electrodes affixed to the
scalp
Good temporal resolution but poor spatial resolution

A

Electroencephalography (EEG)

98
Q

A non-invasive imaging technique that uses a magnetic field and
computer-generated radio waves to create detailed images of the organs
and tissues in your body

A

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

99
Q

image metabolic activity
*good spatial but poor temporal resolution

A

fMRI

100
Q

a noninvasive form of brain stimulation in which
a changing magnetic field is used to induce
an electric current in the brain

A

Brain stimulation
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

101
Q

sense of where our limbs are in space

A

Proprioception

102
Q

sense of pain
due to body damage

A

Nociception

103
Q

sense of balance

A

Equilibrioception

104
Q

low resolution, good for seeing in low light conditions, no colour

A

Rods

105
Q

high resolution, good for
seeing sharp details, colour

A

Cones

106
Q

difficulty recognizing or perceiving one kind of visual stimulus while maintaining the ability to process other kinds of stimuli

A

Visual agnosia

107
Q

difficulty in recognizing individual faces
Related to the inferior temporal cortex (or fusiform face area (FFA))

A

Prosopagnosia

108
Q

difficulty recognizing everyday objects such
as tools, eating implements, etc.
Related to the lateral occipital cortex (LOC)

A

Semantic agnosia (optic ataxia)

109
Q

difficulty with understanding the meaning of what
you are seeing

A

Associative visual agnosia

110
Q

processing the “where” aspects

A

Dorsal Stream

111
Q

processing the “what” aspects

A

Ventral stream

112
Q

the influence from the external environment on perception

A

Bottom-up processing:

113
Q

the influence of knowledge
(expectations, context, goals) on perception

A

Top-down processing

114
Q

perceptual processing is your brain’s attempt to construct a mental model of the external world
based on sensory input

A

Constructive perception

115
Q

perception is based on the relationship between
sensory stimuli and a person’s actions

A

Direct perception

115
Q

perception is based on the relationship between
sensory stimuli and a person’s actions

A

Direct perception

116
Q

Principle of proximity
Principle of closed forms
Principle of good contour
Principle of similarity

A

Gestalt Organization Principles

117
Q

Good, but cannot explain how we identify objects from different perspectives and how we identify new objects to a known category

A

Template matching theory

118
Q

Average representation
Flexible object identification

A

Prototype theory

119
Q

Visual input is broken down into individual parts and each feature is
processed separately

A

Feature detection

PSYC 213 (1 decks)

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