Important Psychologists Flashcards

Question

Thorndike

Answer 1

law of effect; precursor to operant conditioning

Answer 2

operant conditioning

Answer 3

colleague of Freud; eventually broke to create own individual psychology; motivated by inferiority; choleric (dominant)/phlegmatic (dependent)/melancholic (withdrawn)/sanguine (healthy)

Answer 4

Freud’s most beloved student; believed too much emphasis on libido; collective unconscious; archetypes

Answer 5

mechanistic behavioral ideas; performance = drive x habit; we do what we need to do and we do what has worked best in the past

Answer 6

ethology/imprinting

Answer 7

client-centered therapy; humanistic; unconditional positive regard

Answer 8

hierarchy of needs; humanistic

Answer 9

existential psychology; logotherapy – focuses on a person’s will to meaning

Answer 10

cognitive therapeutic techniques; problems arise from maladaptive ways of thinking about the world

Answer 11

studied texture gradients; variations in perceived surface text as a function of the distance from the observer; as the distance increases, so does the perceived density

Answer 12

Perception: overlap (interposition); relative size; linear perspective

Answer 13

found a neural basis for feature detection theory; suggest that certain cells in the cortex are maximally sensitive to certain features of stimuli; won Nobel Prize in 1981 - used single-cell recording to detect microelectrode - so mall can't be seen with an ordinary microscope; can measure responses of a single cell

Answer 14

method of savings; forgetting curve

Answer 15

partial report procedure; iconic memory

Answer 16

proposed spreading activation model - shorter distance between words, closer they are in memory (looks like a web)

Answer 17

semantic feature-common model (loop up)

Answer 18

Depth of processing or levels of processing theory; physical, acoustal; semantic

Answer 19

Dual-code hypothesis; visual or verbal (abstract)

Answer 20

memory = reconstructive

Answer 21

eye witness memory

Answer 22

STM = 7 +/- 2

Answer 23

coined term icon for brief visual memory; icon lasts for one second; backward masking

Answer 24

memories stored diffusely in the brain

Answer 25

memory involves changes of synapses and neural pathways, making a memory tree. ER Kandel confirmed with sea slugs

Answer 26

mapped memory tree in sea slug; won Nobel Prize

Answer 27

divergent thinking

Answer 28

assert that people make decisions about the relationships between things by searching their cognitive semantic hierarchies

Answer 29

Language aquisition device; structure surface vs. deep/abstract structure

Answer 30

zone of proximal development

Answer 31

fMRI; bilingual adults who learned second language as adults use left frontal lobe (involved in working memory); extra effort; those who were bilingual as children do not (automatic)

Answer 32

researched areas of social, developmental, and linguistic psychology. Found that children's understanding of grammatical rules develops as they make hypotheses about how syntax works and then self-correct with experience

Answer 33

language really begins to develop with the onset of active speech rather than during the first year of only listening

Answer 34

semantics; created semantic differential charts; works with similar connotations for cultures or subcultures

Answer 35

tested wharfian hypothesis; studied Dani (remote tribe in Papua New Guinea); only use two words for color but perceive a lot of variation

Answer 36

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale: most widely used; verbal comprehension; perceptual reasoning; working memory; processing speed; children's = WISC-R

Answer 37

developed idea of IQ; used to be mental age/chronological age; not compare a person to average of other people their same age

Answer 38

Intelligence consists of 7 primary mental capacities; fundamental abilities that are the components of intelligence and are distinct from other capacities

Answer 39

fluid and crystalized intelligence

Answer 40

Three stratum of cognitive ability; synthesis of earlier ideas; most widely accepted theory; 3 striate hierarchy: G; 8 cognitive abilities; narrower/related abilities

Answer 41

Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale

Answer 42

initiated study of genetics

Answer 43

maze-bright and maze-dull rats

Answer 44

babbling begins at the same age for hearing children and deaf children with any kind of parents

Answer 45

deaf children with parents using sign language babble with their hands

Answer 46

Studied tempermant: individual’s pattern of responding to environment – somewhat inheritable; emerges in infancy, stable over time, pervasive across situations Proposed three categories of infant emotional and behavioral style - 1. Easy: positive; easily adapts - 2. Slow to warm up: withdraws; then adapts - 3. Difficult: negative; withdraws

Answer 47

3 types of crying: 1. Hunger cry 2. Anger cry 3. Pain cry – even non-parents react with heart rate acceleration to pain cry Social smiling: at first, any face; 5 mos, only familiar faces Fear response: at first undifferentiated to increasingly specific (notable changes after one year)

Answer 48

Wire monkey vs. cloth monkey

Answer 49

Studied children brought up in institutions where needs met but not a lot of contact – more timid Identified phases of attachment process: 1. First weeks: infant reacts identically to every smiling face 2. 3 mos: able to discern familiar and unfamiliar faces 3. 6 mos: seeks out and responds to mom 4. 9-12 mos: stranger anxiety 5. 2nd year: separation anxiety 6. 3rd year: okay

Answer 50

“strange situation” to study attachment style - A. insecure-avoidant - B. resistant - C. secure

Answer 51

imprinting: rapid formation of an attachment bond between and organism and an object in the environment - critical periods conducive to this - others critique

Answer 52

Critiqued Kholberg's Theory of Moral Developemt: children raised to develop gendered perceptions of morality; girls adopt an interpersonal orientation that is neither more nor less mature than rule-bound men

Answer 53

- authoritarian: high standards/cold - authoritative: high standards/warm - permissive - authoritative = most well-adjusted

Answer 54

showed that Piaget might have underestimated the cognitive ability of preschoolers

Answer 55

a. 4-7 years; imitates rule-following behavior; doesn’t question that rules exist b. 7-11 years: understands rules and follows them c. 12+ years: applies abstract thinking to rules; can change rules if all parties agree

Answer 56

behavioralist approach to development asserted that children were passively molded by the environment and that their behavior emerges through imitation of their parents

Answer 57

believed nature only provided blue-print for development through maturation; environment or nurture filled in details

Answer 58

cofounder of Gestalt; sometimes learn from trial and error, but sometimes insight

Answer 59

cognitive maps; if familiar path is blocked, rates able to use cognitive maps to come up with an alternative route Preparedness: inborn tendency to associate certain stimuli with certain consequences (illness with something we ate) Biological constraints: animals inborn predispositions to learn different things in different ways Instinctual drift: can’t teach animals to do anything; eventually instincts override

Answer 60

introduced experimental methods - enabling construction of controlled conditions

Answer 61

honeybees able to communicate direction and distance to food source through a complex dance

Answer 62

sociobiology – behavior due to a complex and dynamic interplay between genetics and environment

Answer 63

proposed the approach-avoidance conflict. This conflict refers to the state one feels when a certain goal has both pros and cons. Typically, the further one is from the goal, the more one focuses on the pros.

Answer 64

set aside traditional ideas re: motivation, drive, unconscious, emotions, and reinforcement Instead: individual as scientist – devise and test predictions about the behavior of significant people in our lives Anxious person: has trouble doing this Psychotherapy helps to develop this capacity In their attempt to understand the world, people develop their own personal constructs; use these constructs to evaluate the world; pairs of opposites: fair/unfair; smart/dumb/exciting/dull People’s behavior determines how they interpret the world

Answer 65

client-centered therapy/person-centered therapy/nondirective therapy Unconditional positive regard People not slaves to unconscious (psychoanalysts) nor subject to faulty learning

Answer 66

survivor of Nazi concentration camps | - Mental illness stems from meaningless life

Answer 67

- identified 16 different traits to account for the underlying factors that determine personality

Answer 68

tried to use scientific methodology to test Jung’s division of introversion/extroversion “Confirmed” 1. introversion vs. extroversion 2. emotional stability vs. neuroticism 3. psychoticism

Answer 69

big 5 1. Openness to experience 2. Conscientiousness 3. Emotional stability (or neuroticism) 4. Agreeableness 5. iNtroversion/extroversion

Answer 70

1. cardinal – organize life around (only some) 2. central – major characteristics (everyone) 3. secondary – limited (everyone) functional autonomy: a given activity or form of behavior may become an end/goal itself; allows for many types of motives distinguished between idiographic approach to personality and nomothetic 1. idiographic (morphogenic): case studies 2. nomothetic (dimensional): commonalities among groups Allport thought we should pursue idiographic and avoid nomothetic

Answer 71

identified a personality trait referred to as the need for achievement (nAch) Avoid high risk (fear of failure) and low risks (no achievement) Stop striving toward goals if outcome seems unlikely

Answer 72

Field independence: capacity to make specific responses to perceived specific stimuli Field dependence: more diffuse response to a perceived mass of somewhat undifferentiated stimuli Classified people according to their degree of field dependence Ex: people who are field dependent will be more influenced by opinions of others

Answer 73

Internal locus of control: believe that they can control their own destiny External locus of control: situational influence – luck or task ease used to explain success

Answer 74

Androgyny Masculine and feminine must be distinct if someone can have both

Answer 75

Criticized explaining personality via type/trait Believed human behavior largely determined by the power of the situation (Stanford Prison Experiment)

Answer 76

found that women’s successes at stereotypical “male” tasks are attributed to luck, while men’s successes are attributed to skill

Answer 77

studied androgeny; created that Bem Sex Role Inventory

Answer 78

suggested that females shunned masculine-type successes not because of fear of failure or lack of interested, but because they feared success and its negative repercussions, such as resentment and rejection

Answer 79

found an interaction between gender and social status with regard to how easily an individual might be influence or swayed

Answer 80

scrutinized studies of sex differences and found that relatively few existed that could not be explained away by simple social learning Most consistent difference: women – verbal; men – spatial/visual

Answer 81

studied Type A personality

Answer 82

linked Type A to heart disease

Answer 83

developed the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT); consists of ambiguous story cards; tell story; project their own “needs”

Answer 84

Birth order; mere exposure hypothesis

Answer 85

balance theory: imbalance occurs when someone agrees with someone he/she dislikes or disagrees with someone he/she likes; will shift to find balance

Answer 86

attitude change as a process of communicating a message with the intent to persuade someone Communication of persuasion has three component parts: • Communicator • Communication • Situation

Answer 87

Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion: Two routes to persuasion: (1) central route; (2) peripheral route Central route: care deeply about the issue; will follow the argument closely and mentally evaluate them by coming up with counterarguments of your own Strong arguments will change our minds more often than weak ones Peripheral route: don’t care; can’t follow; distracted Strength of argument doesn’t matter; situation does matter

Answer 88

uses analogy of inoculation to explain how people are able to resist persuasion Presenting someone with refuted counterarguments enables them to practice defending their beliefs (like a measles shot) McGuire proved this was effective with cultural truisms (those not inoculated were susceptible to attack)

Answer 89

found that greater anxiety leads to a greater desire to affiliate. A situation that provokes little anxiety typically does not lead to a desire to affiliate. Both anxiety and a need to compare oneself with other people may play roles in determining both when and with whom we affiliate.

Answer 90

bystander effect

Answer 91

empathy-altruism model: Seeing another in distress can provoke distress or empathy; if empathy, more likely to help

Answer 92

attribution theory; believes we are all amateur psychologists who attempt to discover causes and effects in events Heider divided causes into two main groups: (1) situational; (2) dispositional Dispositional: Relate to the person – attitudes/beliefs/personality/etc. Situational: External; relate to surrounding – threats/money/social norms/peer pressure, etc.

Answer 93

Influence of group norms – Republican students at Bennington College became more liberal each year because of overall liberal environment

Answer 94

Proxemics: the student of how individuals space themselves in relation to others

Answer 95

studied stress and coping. Differentiated between problem-focused coping (which is changing the stressor) and emotion-focused coping (which is changing the response to the stressor

Answer 96

choice/agency; show that nursing home residents who have plants to care for have better health and lower mortality rates

Answer 97

studied environmental influences on behavior. Architecture matters. Student in long-corridor dorms feel more stressed and withdrawn than students in suite-style dorms.

Answer 98

studied racial bias and similarity of beliefs. People prefer to be with like-minded people more than like-skinned people. Also, racial bias decreases as attitude similarity increases

Answer 99

are known for their theory of reasoned action. States that people’s behavior in a given situation is determined by their attitude about the situation and social norms

Answer 100

known for cross-cultural research; compares behavioral norms in cultures that value independence versus cultures that value interdependence

Answer 101

studies different types of love Passionate love: intense longing for the union with another and a state of profound physical arousal

Answer 102

emotions 6 basic emotions: mad, sad, scared, happy, surprise, disgust Based on cross-cultural research; participants from different cultures able to name these emotions based on facial expressions FACS coding: Facial Action Coding System

Answer 103

hot/cold description of a person (reproduced Asch’s findings); attributions we make ourselves and others tend to be correct

Answer 104

illusion of control: belief that you can control things that you actually have no influence on. This is the driving force behind lottery/gambling/superstition

Answer 105

first official social psychology experiment

Answer 106

founder of social psych; applied Gestalt ideas to social behavior; conceived of field theory, which is the total of influences upon individual behavior A person’s life-space is the collection of forces on an individual Valence, vector, and barrier are forces in the life-space

Answer 107

showed that we lack awareness for why we do what we do

Answer 108

prisoner’s dilemma

Answer 109

coined the term the Hawthorne effect – people’s performance changes when they’re observed