Midterm 1 Flashcards
What is Psychology?
A science based on evidence that studies the mind, brain, and behavior
Levels of analysis (3)
Lower levels: tied to biological influences (the brain)
Higher levels: tied to social and cultural influences (the mind)
ex: neurons to neighborhoods - study the bridges and roads and how they connect
Levels of Analysis (6)
Depression example
1. social
2. behavioral
3. mental
4. neurological/psychological
5. neurochemical
6. molecular
Levels of analysis - depression example
- social - loss of important personal relationships, lack of social support
- behavioral - decrease in pleasurable activities, move and talking slowly, withdrawal
- mental - depressed thoughts, sad feelings, suicidal thoughts
- neurological/psychological - differences among people in the size and functioning of brain structures related to mood
- neurochemical - differences in levels of brain chemistry
- molecular - variations in people’s genes that predispose depression
Five challenges of psychology
- human behavior are multiply determined
2.psychological influences are rarely independent - people differ from each other in thinking, emotion, personality, and behavior
- people influence each other = difficulty in pinning down root cause
- people’s behavior is shaped by culture
What’s the problem with trusting our common sense?
We never notice the contradictions until other people point them out to use
Nieve Realism
belief that we see the world precisely as it is
Scientific method in relation to relationship to empiricism
- the premise that all knowledge should initially be acquired through observation
-observation isn’t enough for psychological knowledge
theory vs hypothesis
theory: explanation for large number of findings in the natural world (ie. existing data, and putting ways we think to how things work)
hypothesis: testable prediction derived from a theory (used to accept/deny the theory)
theory vs strength of evidence
- theory is consistent with many differing
- theory doesn’t tell evidence
Role of biases in science
becoming aware of bias helps scientists compensate for them
confirmation bias
tendency to seek out evidence that supports our beliefs and deny, dismiss, or history evidence that contradicts them
belief perseverance
tendency to stick to our initial beliefs even when evidence contradicts them
metaphysical claims and their relation to scientific questions
assertion about the world that’s not testable
we can never test them about using scientific methods
pseudoscience
set of claims that seems scientific but isn’t
they are untestable and there lie outside the realm of science
warnings of pseudo science (8)
- exaggerated claims
- overuse of ad hoc hoc immunizing hypothesis
- over reliance on anecdotes
- absence of connectivity to other research
- lack of review by other scholars or lab replication
- lack of self-correction when contrary evidence is published
- “psychobabble” using terms that don’t make sense
- talk of proof instead of evidence
ad hoc immunizing hypotheses - psychic example
the psychic claimed to predict the future, this failed all controlled tests in the lab, but that’s because the experimenters inhibited his extrasensory powers
and escape hatch or loophole that defenders of a theory use to protect their theory from falsification
over reliance of anecdotes
this woman practiced daily yoga for three weeks and hasn’t had a day of depression since
lack of self-correction
although most scientists say that we use almost all of our brains, we’ve found a way to harness additional brain power previously undiscovered
emotional reasoning
error of using our emotions as guides for evaluating the validity of a claim
bandwagon
error of assuming that a claim is correct just because many people believe it
either or
error of framing a question as though we can only answer it one of two extreme ways
not me
error of believing we’re immune from errors in thinking that afflict other people
appeal to authority
error of accepting a claim merely because an authority endorses it
genetic (logical fallacy)
error of confusing the correctness of a belief with its origins
argument from adverse consequences
error of confusing the validity of an idea with its potential real-world consequences
appeal to ignorance
error of assuming that a claim must be true because no one has shown it to be false
naturalistic (logical fallacies)
error of inferring a moral judgement from a scientific fact
generalization (logical fallacies)
error of drawing a conclusion on the basis of insufficient evidence
circular reasoning
error of basing a claim on the same claim reworded in slightly different terms
scientific skepticism
approach of evaluating claims with an open mind but insisting of persuasive evidence before accepting them
a willingness to keep an open mind to all claims
cynicism
implies a dismissal of claims before we’ve had the opportunity to adequately evaluate them
framework for scientific thinking (6)
- ruling out rival hypothesis
- correlation vs causation
- falsifiability
- replicability
- generalizability
- extraordinary claims
correlation vs causation
can we be sure that a causes b
falsifiability
can the claim be disproved
capable of being disproved in order for it to be meaningful
replicability
can the results be duplicated
when a study’s findings are able to be duplicated, ideally by independent investigators
generalizability
do these findings and conclusions reflect the diversity of the human experience
western educated industrialized rich democratic societies
extraordinary claims
is the evidence as strong as the claim
alien abduction can be true, but we should evaluate the claim
ruling out rival hypothesis
have important alternative explanations for the findings have been excluded
correlation versus causation, three ways correlation could be explained casually
- A-B, it is possible that a causes b
- B-A, it is possible that b causes a
- C causes both b and a
nature-nature debate
are our behaviors mostly to our genes or to our rearing environments
free will determinism debate
to what extent are our behaviors freely selected rather than caused by factors outside our control
most of even all of our behaviors are generated without conscious awareness
Intuitive thinking
types of snap judgements, quick and reflexive gut haunches
much of everyday life
analytical thinking
acquiring complex skills and habits
start with analytical thinking then move to intuitive like driving a car
heuristics
a mental shortcut or rule of thumb that helps us to streamline out thinking and make sense of our world
this is the connection between research design and analytical and intuitive thinking
Random selection
a procedure that ensures every person in a population has an equal chance of being chosen to participate
random selection in relation to generalizability
identifying a representative sample of the population, and administer survey drawn from that sample
what is reliability
consistency of measurement
if you do the same measurement, do you get the same result?
test-retest reliability
reliable questionnaire should yield similar scores over time
interrater reliability
extent to which different people who conduct and interview, or make behavioral observations, agree on the characteristics they’re measuring
ink-blot : two different therapists getting two different results on the same ink-blot
what is validity
extent to which a measure assess what is purports to measure
buying a package that says iPhone, but opening a watch
you measure what you think you’re measuring
connection between reliability and validity
reliability doesn’t guarantee validity
a test must be reliable to be valid, but a reliable test can be completely invalid (polygraph)
openness and transparency in science
requirement that they prove the research is replicable and reproducible
replicability
ability to duplicate the original findings consistently
reproducibility
ability to review and reanalyze the data from a study and find exactly the same results
replication crisis (4)
open science movements was inspired by failure to confirm a number of high-profile findings
lack of replicability mean building on shaky ground
replication problems don’t appear to reflect deliberate corruption or fraud
studies built off of each other too quickly without the actual truth - the halo affect can overshadow everything else in the experiment
the steps being taken to address the replication crisis (5)
- posting and sharing research material
- conducting replications of their own and other’s work
- pre-register research which induces publicity posting scientific process
- encourage editors of scientific journal to publish all sound evidence
- place less emphasis on the findings or single studies, no matter how novel or intriguing and more emphasis on systematic review
File drawer problem
Rosenthal coined this term to refer to when nonsignificant results are left unpublished
what is naturalistic observation
watching behavior in real-world setting without trying to manipulate the situation
naturalistic observation strengths and weaknesses
high in external validity - extend to which we can generalize findings to real world settings
low in internal validity - doesn’t allow us to infer causation, extent to which we draw cause and effect inferences from a study
what are case study designs
research design that examines one person of a small number of people in depth, often over an extended time
the role of case studies in studying rare phenomena
opportunity to study without recreation in a laboratory
people with atypical symptoms or rare types of brain damage
case studies role on generating hypotheses
can offer useful insights that researches can follow up on a test in systematic investigations
self-report measures and surveys
- asking person the questionnaire directly (opinions, attitudes, personality traits)
- easy and cheap to administer
- addresses blind spots, but has halo effect
Correlational Designs
range in value -1.0 to +1.0
-1.0 is a perfect negative correlation
+1.0 is a perfect positive correlation
Illusory correlations/correlation vs causation
perception of a statistical association between two variables where none exists
full moon and murder correlation, but ignores times when murder happens when it’s not a full moon
fourfold of life
- full moon and crime happened
- full moon but no crime
- no full moon and crime happened
- no full moon but no crime
Experimental designs
doesn’t allow us to draw cause-and-effect conclusions
BUT they permit experiments
Random assignment
experimenter randomly sorts participants into one of two groups
this cancels out preexisting differences between two groups (race, gender, personality traits)
how we assign our participants after we’ve already chosen them
experimental group
the group of participants that receives the manipulation
control group
the group of participants that does not receive the manipulation
random selection
a procedure that allows every person an equal chance to participate
how we choose our participants
independent variable
manipulated
dependent
measured
depends on the independent
confounding variable
any variable that differs between the experimental and control groups other than the independent variable
correlational vs experimental study (chocolate milk study)
correlational: researchers merely examined how much chocolate milk people typically drink and examined whether that variable is associated with liver and cancer risk
experimental: participants were randomly assigned to drink lots of chocolate milk or not
placebo affect
improvement resulting from mere expectation of improvement
double blind research
neither the participant or researcher knows whether the participant is in experimental or control
ELIMINATES BIAS
demand characteristics
cues that participants pick up from a study that allow them to generate guesses regarding the researcher’s hypothesis
mean
average, measure of central tendency
median
middle score in a data set
mode
most frequent score in a data set
variability
measure of how loosely of tightly bunched score are
standard deviation
how far each data point is from the mean
inferential statistics
mathematical methods that allow us to determine how confident we are that we can generalize findings from our sample to the full population
statistical significance and the meaning of p<0.05
probability of results by chance alone is 5 in 100
meta analysis
statistical method that analyzes effects across studies to determine consistent patterns of results
practical significance
Real world importance
sharpening
tendency to exaggerate the gist/central message of a study
leveling
tendency to minimize the less central details of a study
EEG
electroencephalograph
measures electrical activity as the surface of the skull
EEG strengths and weaknesses
s - non invasive, using in human and non-human studies
w - doesn’t tells us a littler deeper or in different regions because it only measures the surface
MRI
magnetic resonance imaging
structural detail measuring release of energy from water in biological tissues following exposure to magnetic field
CT
computed tomography
3D imaging, reconstruction of multiple x-rays
PET
positron emission tomography
measures changes in brain activity in response to stimuli
fMRI
functional MRI
uses magnetic field to visualize brain activity using changes in blood oxygen level
brain increased oxygenated blood when brain activity quickens
ways people can misinterpret brain scans
images are produced by subtracting brain activity on a control test from brain activity on experimental tasks
TMS
transcranial magnetic stimulation can enhance or interrupt brain function in a specific region that allows us to infer causation
parts of the neuron (6)
cell body, dendrites, axons, axon terminals, synaptic vesicles, neurotransmitters
soma
cell body, central region
dendrites
receives signals
axons
send messages to other neurons
synaptic vesicles
small spheres travel the axon that contain neurotransmitters
axon terminals
like a pill capsule, releases axons
neurotransmitters
chemical messengers that neurons use to communicate with each other
synaptic cleft
information exchange - space between two connecting neurons
a gap into which neurotransmitters are released from axon terminal
glial cells
do everything in the brain like contribute to development
guide the brain as it is wiring itself
astrocytes
protective scaffolding for neurons held by snaps
can help regrowth
formation of myelin and blood-brain barrier
responds to injury, removes debris, facilitates communication among neurons, enhances learning and memory
blood brain barrier
protective shield of blood vessels that insults the brain from infection
oligodendrocytes
promotes new connections among nerve cells and releases chemicals in aid to heal
myelin sheath
protect spinal chord, speeds transmission of electrical signals down axon
nodes help transportation and when transportation is disrupted, messages become scrambled which results in damage to things like coordination
role of ions and NM charge
electrical responses in neurons depends on uneven distribution of charged particles across the membrane surrounding neurons
resting potential
no NT acting on neuron
more negative particles inside than outside neuron
threshold of excitation
electrical charge inside neuron reaches higher level relative to outside of neuron
action potential
threshold of excitation triggers an electrical impulse that travels down the axon triggering the release of NT
All or none law
change from abrupt waves of electrical discharge triggered by a massive change in charge across the membrane – either all neurons fire of they don’t
NT and receptor sites
after neurotransmitters are released into the synapse, they bind with receptor sites along the dendrites of neighboring neurons
lock and key model
receptor sites only receive certain NT and each NT only unlocks its own receptor
reuptake
recycling NT
excitatory and inhibitory NT
different neurotransmitters send different messages – excite or inhibit/increase decrease activity
Agonists
increase or mimic the effect of a NT
codeine and morphine
fit into lock and key into receptors, and block other molecules that want to get into receptor without activating it
Antagonists
block or decrease effect of NT
ex: fooling receptors thinking they’re dopamine without exerting the effect of NT
ie MIMICS
GABA
inhibits neurons, dampening neural activity
anti-anxiety, sleep, memory
Glutamate
communication, rapidly excited neurons increase the odds that they’ll communicate with others
MSG excites and makes tasetebuds more intense
acetylcholine
arousal, attention, memory, sleep
block the action of NT
benadrul
monamines (dopamine)
one amino acid
brain areas rich in dopamine activate when they hear a funny joke, activate, or deactivate parts of the brain in reaction to stimuli
anandamide - cannabinoids
cells manufacture anandamide, eating, motivation, memory, sleep
neuropeptides - endorphines
short strings of amino acids, pain reaction
human made opioids exert effects by binding to endorphin receptors and mimicking their effects
hunger, satiety, learning, memory
endorphines
killing pain and increase liking
CREATE EUPHORIA
dopamine
helps with rewarding experiences, making things feel exciting and motivational pull, wanting
plasticity
ability of nervous system to change
most flexible during early development
brain changes and grows as we learn which created new synapses, strengthening existing synaptic connection
synaptogenesis
formation of new synapses
pruning
consisting of the death of certain neurons and the retraction of axons to remove connections that aren’t useful
schizophrenia is a lack of pruning
myelination
insulation of axons with a myelin sheath
neurogenesis
creation of new neurons in adult brain
cerebral cortex
analyzes sensory information
cerebral hemispheres
split cortex with two functions
corpus callosum
connects the two hemispheres
gray matter
outer layers of the cortex
cell bodies
white matter
lighter colored axons with myelin sheath
lateralization
cognitive fufunction that relies more on one side of the brain than the other
- Left: tuned language skills, actions
- Right: coarse langue skills, visuospatial skills
frontal lobes
forward part of cerebral cortex responsible for motor function, language, decision making and planning
somatosensory cortex
the region of neocortex specialized to represent and process touch, which includes light touch and proprioception, as well as temperature and pain
regions of the cerebral cortex that initial process information from the senses
prefrontal cortex
thinking, planning, language
things that make humans human: holding information and effortful self-control
functions of the prefrontal cortex
Broca’s area, language area in the prefrontal cortex that helps to control speech production
parietal lobes
upper middle part of the cerebral cortex lying behind the frontal love that is specialized for tough and perception
neglect of parietal lobes
opposite side of the body from where the damage happened because the path ways cross over to the other side of the body
temporal lobes
lower part of the cerebral cortex that plays roles in hearing, understanding language, and memory
auditory cortex - top of lobe, devoted to hearing
Wernicke’s area
next to auditory cortex – language area
occipital lobes
back of our brain
visual cortex
thalamus
gateway from the sense organs to the primary sensory cortex
hypothalamus
below thalamus, located on the floor or the brain
regulates and maintains internal bodily states largely by hormone levels
amygdala
memories and motivation based on how we feel and interpret emotions
hippocampus
conscious memory for facts and events, ability to compare sensory information and memories to expectation
mental maps
cerebellum
mini cortex, sense of balance
autonomic nervous system
part of the nervous system controlling the involuntary actions of our internal organs and glands which participated in emotion regulation
parasympathetic NS
division of autonomic nervous system that control rest and digestion
sympathetic NS
division of the autonomic NS engaged during a crisis or actions requiring fight or flight
endocrine system
system of glands and hormones that control secretion of blood – borne chemical messengers
pituitary gland
controls other glands in the body and controlled by hypothalamus
adrenal glands
emergency centers of the body
located on top of kidneys that releases adrenaline and cortisol during states of emotional arousal
adrenaline
boosts energy production in muscle cell
circadian rhythms
cyclical changed that occur on a roughly 24-hour basis in many biological processes
(hormone release, brain waves, body temp, drowsiness)
stages of sleep
- non rem - 5-10 minutes with 50% brain activity with theta waves 4-7/sec
- non rem with sudden bursts of electrical activity, spindles 12-14 cycles a second (k-complexes, 65% of sleep
3/4. non rem delta waves, slower frequency - REM sleep, high gear, high frequency, low amplitude like wakefulness
alcohol on sleep
Puts us to bed sooner, but makes us more tired the next day because it suppresses delta wave sleep
stage of sleep and dreaming
More in REM sleep, emotional, illogical, prone to sudden shifts in plot
Non REM dreams are shorter, thought like, and repetitive, everyday tasks
REM behavior disorder
Brain is active but body is inactive, wed enact our brains if our body wasn’t paralyzed
people act our their dreams because REM doesn’t paralyze them, because brain stem structures don’t function properly
sleep paralysis
State of being unable to move just after falling asleep or right before waking up
paranormal and hypnosis and paralysis
Many students who were interviewed had history of sleep paralysis
Hypnosis – therapists used hypnosis to assist them in recovering memories (not trustworthy and can create false memories)
incubus phenomenon
10% of adults report to have experienced, sleeping person feels awake but hallucinates and animal or human that lies of thorax and carries out aggressive/sexual acts
Different in other cultures: ghosts, elderly witch, dead spirits,
lucid dreaming
Experiencing of becoming aware that one is dreaming
Parts of cerebral cortex associtated with self-perceptions and evaluating thoughts and feelings rev up with activity
insomnia
Trouble falling asleep (30 minutes), waking too early in the morning, waking up during the night and having trouble returning to sleep
causes of insomnia
Correlation – depression, continual pain
Brief bouts – result of stress and relationship problems, medications and illness, working late or variable shifts, jet lag, caffeine, napping during the day
ways to address insomnia
Sleep in cold room, hide clocks, avoid naps and caffeine during day, going on internet before bed
affects of ambien
Preparing and eating raw food, walking, making phone calls, driving while asleep, creating dependency
narcolepsy
bouts of sudden sleep lasting from a few seconds to several minutes, causing sleep at any moment throughout the day
Suffering from serious depression or social anxiety
cataplexy
complete loss of muscle tone after narcolepsy, muscles become limp
night terrors
Sudden waking episodes characterized by screaming, perspiration, and confusion, followed by return to deep sleep
NON REM and almost exclusively in children, occasionally in adults under intense stress
sleepwalking
Acts like a fully awake person, but clumsier, typically starting in childhood
Not acting out dreams because it almost always occurs during non REM sleep
Freuds dream protection theory
Like a steam engine – if we push our illnesses down, they will have to come out in some way, he thought they would come out in a dream
Way of subconscious of letting out aggressive tendencies without using live senses
Manifest vs latent
o Manifest content – the dream itself
o Latent content – hidden meaning
o Dream about getting a flat tire (manifest), might signify anxiety about lost off the status at our job (latent)
activation synthesis theory
Dreams reflect from brain activity – activity that gets relayed to forebrain and it tries its best to make something of it
like Alice and wonderland, activating random things- emotional
PONs
o Balance of NT shifts throughout the day, REM sleep turned on by acetylcholine as serotonin and norepinephrine shut down
o AC activates nerve cells in pons at base of brain, serotonin and NE decrease reflective through, reasoning, attention, memory
o The pons send incomplete signals to thalamus (relay station for sensory info) to the language and visual areas of forebrain
o Amygdala is fired up, bringing in emotion
forebrain in dreams
damage can lead to complete loss of dreaming
Seems to refute the claim of activation synthesis, that it plays an exlusive role in dreaming
Domhoff’s dream theory
TRUE
dreams are often rather ordinary, relating to waking concerns, stable over time, reflect lived experiences, and realistic
about brain trying to practice problems about everyday life to come up with a solution
visual hallucination
Visual cortex is activated, hearing and touch
Visual hallucianations can be brought by oxygen and sensory deprivation, epilepsy, fever, dementia and migraines
verbal hallucination
Auditory can occur when patients mistakenly attribute their thougts/inner speech to an external source
auditory verbal hallucinations
Psychotic experience negative and non-controllable voices (schizophrenia)
Teach patients skills to help them notice, accept and view disturbing hallucinations as nothing more than massing mental events
OBE
o Sense of our consciousness leaving our body
o Research has found no evidence that consciousness exists outside the body
o People who have OBEs frequently have vivid fantasies and lucid dreams
neurological underpinnings of OBE
Senses of touch and vision are scrambled
the result is a disruption of our experience of our physical body with similiarites to an OBE
NDE
¼ of patients with NDE experience their consciousness outside their bodies
Changes in chemistry associated with cardiac arrest, anesthesia, other physical traumas: massive release of serotonin
hypnosis
interpersonal situation in which imaginative suggestions are administered to produce changes in consciousness
hypnosis induction
ritual that marks the proceedings as hypnosis and creates positive expectations that follow
hypnosis myth 2
hypnotic phenomena are unique
have not yet identified any unique physiological sates or behavior markers of hypnosis
hypnosis myth 4
hypnosis is a sleeplike state
people who are hypnotized don’t show brain waves similar to those of sleep
hypnosis myth 5
forget what happened during hypnosis
spontaneous smnesia is rare and limited to people who epect to be amnesic following hypnosis
hypnosis myth 6
enhances memory - it doesn’t but it does increase the amount of information we recall but its mostly innacurate
doesn’t tell us whether hypnosis was responsible for what the driver remembered, he maybe recalled the event because people remember additional detailes after multiple tries
sociocognative theory
Approach to explaining hypnosis based on people’s attitudes, beliefs, expectations, and responsiveness to waking suggestions
habituation
proves of responding less strongly over time to repeated stimuli
New York – people getting used to city noise after living there
sensitization
responding more strongly over time to repeated stimuli
Abuse, for me zipper during SAT
classical conditioning
a process of repeated association
dog with meat powder and drooling - came to respond to a previously neutral stimulus that elicits an automatic response
neutral stimulus - dog
used a metronome (doesn’t elicit a particular response)
unconditioned stimulus
elicits an automatic/reflexive response (meat powder)
unconditioned response
automatic/reflexive response (salivation)
Animal doesn’t need to learn to respond to the unconditioned stimulus in response to food
Generated unconditioned response w/o any training, product of nature
conditioned response
response previously associated with a nonneutral stimulus that is elicited by a neutral stimulus through conditioning
(metronome now caused salivation)
conditioned stimulus
previously neutral stimulus that comes to elicit a conditioned response as a result of its association with an unconditioned stimulus
(dog now salivates after hearing metronome)
extinction in classical conditioning
CR decreases in magnitude when CS is repeatedly presented alone
(without the UCS) (metronome w/o meat powder, dog stopped salivating)
spontaneous recovery in classical conditioning
seemingly extinct CR reappears if we present the CS again, hours or days later
Sudden reemergence of an extinct conditioned response after a delay in exposure to the conditioned stimulus
renewal effect
occurs when we extinguish a response in a setting different from one in which the animal acquired it (animal to original setting)
Treating phobias in setting they appear in
stimulus generalization
Process by which CSs that are similar to the original CS elicit a CR
generalization gradient
The more similar to the original CS the new CS is, the stronger the Cr is
stimulus discrimination
Why we can enjoy scary movies, respond much more strongly if it was in real life
Process by which organisms display a less pronounced conditioned response to CS that differ from original CS
higher order conditioning
Process by which organisms develop classically conditioned responses to previously neutral stimuli that later become associated with the original CS
Allow us to extend classical conditioning to a host of new stimuli
advertising and pleasurable stimuli
pair products with pleasurable stimuli
disgust reactions
Tied to stimuli that are biologically important to us, like animals or object that are dirty or potentially poisonous (fudge example)
operant conditioning
OC response is emitted, generated by the organism in a seemingly voluntary fashion
OC – animals reward is dependent of what it does
OC – depend on skeletal muscles
Stimulus-Response
If a response in the presence of a stimulus, is followed by a satisfying state of affairs the bond between stimulus and response will be strengthened
If were rewarded, were more likely to do it again
Thorndike’s Puzzle Box
First placement in box, cat made frantic effort to escape and got to their food
Over 60 trials – cat didn’t have an aha moment, but learned through trial and error through SR associations
Solution came gradually over time
Skinner’s Box
The box contained a lever on the side, and as the rat moved about the box, it would accidentally knock the lever.
Immediately it did so a food pellet would drop into a container next to the lever.
TASK REWARD
positive reinforcement
administer a stimulus to strengthen probability of behavior
giving child something they enjoy for picking up toys
presenting a stimulus
negative reinforcement
remove a stimulus that strengthens the probability of behavior
ending a child’s dislikes after they’ve stopped whining
removing a stimulus
positive punishment
administering a stimulus that the organism wants to avoid – a physical shock or taking cell phone away
presenting astimulus
negative punishment
removal of stimulus that the organism wished to experience
removing a stimulus
discriminative stimulus OR
stimulus that signals the presence of reinforcement
Acquisition
learning phase during which a response is established
Extinction OR
gradual reduction and eventual elimination of a response after a stimulus is presented repeatedly (when we top delivering reinforcers following a previously reinforced behavior, it gradually declines)
Spontaneous recovery OR
sudden reemergence of an extinguish response after a delay
stimulus generalization OR
displaying a response to stimuli similar to but not identical to the original stimulus
Stimulus discrimination OR
displaying a less pronounced response to stimuli that differ from the original stimulus
continuous reinforcement
reinforcing a behavior every time it occurs, resulting in a faster learning but faster extinction that only occasional reinforcement
partial reinforcement
occasional reinforcement of behavior, resulting in slower extinction that if the behavior had been reinforced continually
ratio schedule
animal is reinforced on the basis of number of responses its emitted (higher rates of responding than interval)
How often you do the behavior – for every certain number of lever pulls, you get rewarded
interval schedule
reinforced on the basis of amount of time elapsed since last reinforcement
If you pull the lever after a certain amount of time, then youll be rewarded
fixed reinforcement
reinforcement occurs on a regular basis, every third video was good – rewarded a set number of times
Getting good grade after exam, studying
variable reinforcement
irregular (highest), not getting rewarded every time creates behavior every time through faith of eventually being rewarded
About every third video but sometimes three videos in a role
shaping - animal training
conditioning a target behavior by progressively reinforcing behaviors that come closer and closer to the target
chaining
trainers link a number of interrelated behaviors to form a longer series, where each behavior is a cue for the next
Pigeon ping pong
1. Reinforced them to turning toward paddles, approaching paddles, holding paddles in beaks…
token economies
systems often set up in psychiatric hospitals, reinforcing appropriate behaviors and extinguishing inappropriate ones
Applied behavior analysis
helps kids with autism
makes extensive use of shaping techniques in which they offer food and other reinforcers as they reach progressively closer approximations to certain words and complete sentences
Tolman’s research
o He thought reinforcement wasn’t everything of learning
o Latent learning – learning that’s not directly observable
o Randomly assigned 3 groups of rats to go thorugh a maze over 3 week period
One group got cheese at the end
Other group got none
Third got cheese after 10 days
Bobo Doll
o Learning by watching others: parents, teachers, friends
o Asked preschool children to watch adult interact with a doll – model acted aggressively to doll with one group and nice with the other
Then group went to another room with toys and got interrupted, brought to another room with the dolls to see their behavior
Psychomythology - retrieved memories
Biggest myth is that psychomythology can help people retrieve memories as far back as birth
Psychomythology - age regression
Age regressed adults don’t show the expected patterns on many indices of development
they act the way they think children should act
Psychomythology - past lives
therapeutic approach that uses hypnosis to supposedly age-regress patients to a previous life to identify the source of a present day problem
