Lab Test (Labs 1-6)

Question 1

What are the 3 fundamental psychological needs from the self-determination theory?

Answer 1

1) Competence

2) Autonomy

3) Relatedness

Question 2

What is FLOW and the optimal experience?

Answer 2

The exhilaration felt by an individual who undertakes complex tasks using complex skills. Includes heightened concentration, altered sense of time and space.

Results from experiences that have:

• Clear goals with feedback
• Challenges suited to skills
• Autotelic Activities (worth doing for your own sake)

Question 3

What makes a good test?

Answer 3

Validity: the degree to which a test or study measures what it claims to measure

Reliability: the consistency of a measure

Generalizability: how useful the results of a study are for a broader group of people

Question 4

What is creativity?

Answer 4

The combination between uniqueness and usefulness

Question 5

What is divergent thinking?

Answer 5

taking many paths to find a solution

EX: alternative uses test

Question 6

What is convergent thinking?

Answer 6

solving straightforwardly with a single best answer

EX: riddles

Question 7

What is maximizing and satisficing?

Answer 7

Maximizing: one tries to make the best choice even if it involves a hard search

Satisficing: one chooses a reasonably good option sooner rather than later.

Question 8

What is positive psychology?

Answer 8

The study of the positive aspects of life, such as happiness, well-being, and the ability to thrive. It focuses on how to build a life that is meaningful and fulfilling.

Question 9

What are the 8 steps to happiness and life satisfaction?

Answer 9

1. Count your blessings
2. Practice acts of kindness
3. Savour Life’s Joys
4. Thank a mentor
5. Learn to forgive
6. Take care of your body
7. Invest time and energy in friends and family
8. Develop strategies for coping with stress

Question 10

What did Herbert Benson find?

Answer 10

That the relaxation response could counter our “fight or flight” mechanism through meditation.

Question 11

What is the McGurk effect?

Answer 11

when the auditory component of one sound is paired with the visual component of another sound

Question 12

What are psychophysics?

Answer 12

how physical stimuli are translated into psychological experience

Question 13

What is sensation and perception?

Answer 13

Sensation: stimulation of sense organs

Perception: selection, organization, and interpretation of sensory input

Question 14

What is transduction?

Answer 14

the process of converting an external stimulus into electrical signals within neurons

Question 15

What is the absolute threshold and just noticeable difference?

Answer 15

Absolute threshold: minimal level where the stimulus is detected 50% of the time.

Just noticeable difference (JND): smallest difference detectable

Question 16

What is Weber’s law?

Answer 16

size of JND proportional to size of initial stimulus

Question 17

What is Fechner’s Law?

Answer 17

the subjective sensation is proportional to the logarithm of the stimulus intensity

Question 18

What is the Signal-Detection Theory?

Answer 18

Explains how sensory processes + decision processes cause:
Hits, Misses, False Alarms, and Correct Rejections

Question 19

What is an illusion and a perceptual set theory?

Answer 19

illusion: distortion of the senses

Perceptual set theory: when our expectations influence our perceptions we have a
tendency to perceive or notice some aspects of the available sensory data and ignore others. Emphasizes that perception is an ACTIVE PROCESS

Question 20

What is the method of constant stimuli?

Answer 20

Presenting a series of stimuli to a subject in a random order and asking them to indicate whether the stimulus belongs to a certain category.

Some are above the threshold and some are below the threshold but that the set of stimuli are presented in a random order.

Question 21

What is a Depth Perception?

Answer 21

The ability to judge distance and 3d relations using monocular and binocular cues.

Question 22

How was the Muller-Lyer Illusion experiment controlled for random and human error?

Answer 22

• We did a practice test
• Our answers were timed so we had to answer as soon as we perceived the arrows.

Question 23

What is magazine training (classical conditioning) in terms of operant conditioning?

Answer 23

turning the food delivery sound into a Secondary Reinforcer for Sniffy.

Question 24

What did shaping bar pressing do in terms of operant conditioning?

Answer 24

used positive reinforcement to train new behaviours.

Question 25

What did the cumulative record do in terms of operant conditioning?

Answer 25

tracking Sniffy’s bar presses with a printer-like format.

Question 26

What did the extinction of bar pressing do in terms of operant conditioning?

Answer 26

showed that the behaviour no longer produces any rewards

Question 27

Why do we start with classical conditioning before operant conditioning?


Answer 27

We start with classical conditioning so we can introduce a reinforcement that we can introduce again within 0.5 seconds while operant conditioning.