Midterm Flashcards
what two Greek words does Psychology come from and what do they mean
Psyche, meaning soul and logos, meaning thought
What was the study of Psychology Originally
The study of the body and soul and how they connect
When did Psychology acquire the meaning it has today
in the mid 18th century
development in what related field lead to development in Psychology
Philosophy
who is the founder of Psychology or the father
Wilhelm wunt
What is the content of Psychology
consciousness, demanded methods of research to be scientific
What are the major schools of discipline in Psychology
Structuralism, Functionalism, Behaviorism, Humanism, clinical Psychology, evolutionary psychology, cognition, positive psychology
Explain Structuralism
-Structuralism came from Edward Titchener, who wanted to explore fundamental components of conscious experience, such as sensations, feelings, and images.
-Structuralism was based on the notion that the task of psychology is to analyze consciousness into its basic elements and investigate how these elements are related
-Most of their work concerned sensation and perception in vision, hearing, and touch.
-Introspection required training to make the subject—the person being studied—more objective and more aware.
Explain Functionalism
-Functionalists were influenced by william james, -Functionalism was based on the belief that psychology should investigate the function or purpose of consciousness, rather than its structure.
-Functionalism took over and gave way to 2 more schools of thought, Behaviourism and applied psychology
-Consciousness, he argued, consists of a continuous flow of thoughts.
-James wanted to understand the flow itself, which he called the stream of consciousness.
-The functionalists began to investigate mental testing, patterns of development in children,the effectiveness of educational practices, and behavioural differences between the sexes.
Explain Behaviourism
-behaviourism is a theoretical orientation based on the premise that scientific psychology should study only observable behaviour. Founded by —-John b watson, science focuses, psych had to give up consciousness and focus on behaviour, argued that it is nurture rather than nature
-John B. Watson (1878–1958), Watson (1913, 1919) was proposing that psychologists abandon the study of consciousness altogether and focus exclusively on behaviors that they could observe directly.
-The power of the scientific method rested on the idea of verifiability.
-Behaviour refers to any overt (observable) response or activity by an organism.
downplayed the importance of heredity, maintaining that behaviour is governed primarily by the environment.
Explain Humanism
-Humanism is a theoretical orientation that emphasises the unique qualities of humans,especially their freedom and their potential for personal growth. (1950s) carl rogers
-Optimistic view of human nature
-Furthermore, they say, because humans are fundamentally different from other animals, research on animals has little relevance to the understanding of human behaviour.
-Carl Rogers (1902–1987) and Abraham Maslow
Explain Clinical Psychology
-Clinical psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of psychological problems and disorders.
the early days, however, the emphasis was almost exclusively on psychological testing and adjustment problems in schoolchildren, and clinicians were a small minority in a field devoted primarily to research
-found the clinical work to be challenging and rewarding, and a substantial portion continued to do clinical work after the war.
-with the demand for clinicians far greater than the supply, the government stepped in to finance many new training programs in clinical psychology
Explain Cognition
Cognition refers to the mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge. Jean Piaget (1954)
Explain evolutionary Psychology
Evolutionary psychology examines behavioral processes in terms of their adaptive value for members of a species over the course of many generations.
Explain Positive Psychology
Positive psychology uses theory and research to better understand the positive, adaptive, creative, and fulfilling aspects of human existence
What is Psychology
Psychology is the science that studies behaviour and the physiological and cognitive processes that underlie it, and it is the profession that applies the accumulated knowledge of this science to practical problems.
Whos is Freud and how did he contribute to Psychology
-Brings the unconsciousness into the picture and treats patients using psychoanalysis
-The unconscious contains thoughts, memories, and desires that are well below the surface of conscious awareness but that nonetheless exert great influence on behaviour.
-Psychoanalytic theory attempts to explain personality, motivation, and mental disorders by focusing on unconscious determinants of behaviour.
Who is B.F. Skinner and how did he contribute to Psychology
-Argued that psychology doesn’t need to be studied scientifically
-Emphasised that behaviour is largely based on circumstance.
-Organisms Tend to repeat responses that lead to positive outcomes, and they tend not to repeat responses that lead to neutral or negative outcomes.
-remarkable control over the behaviour of animals by manipulating the outcomes of their responses.
What is Psychiatry
a branch of medicine concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of psychological problems and disorders.
Why is Psychology empirical
-Ask questions that can be proved or disproved by an experiment
-Research can be studied in a set up experiment in a lab or just by observation
What are the 3 interrelated goals shared by psychologists and psychiatrists
measurement and description, understanding and prediction, and application and control.
Explain Measurement and description
Science’s commitment to observation requires that an investigator figure out a way to measure the phenomenon under study. For example, if you were interested in the effects of different situations on emotion, you would first have to develop some means of measuring emotions. Thus, the first goal of psychology is to develop measurement techniques that make it possible to describe behavior clearly and precisely.
explain understanding and prediction
A higher-level goal of science is understanding. Scientists believe that they understand events when they can explain the reasons for the occurrence of the events. To evaluate their understanding, scientists make and test predictions called hypotheses.
what is a Hypothesis
a tentative statement about the relationship between two or more variables. Variables are any measurable conditions, events, characteristics, or behaviors that are controlled or observed in a study.
Explain Application and control
Ultimately, many scientists hope that the information they gather will be of some practical value in helping to solve everyday problems. Once people understand a phenomenon, they often can exert more control over it. Today, the profession of psychology attempts to apply research findings to practical problems in schools, businesses, factories, and mental hospitals. For example, a clinical psychologist might use what we know about typical, everyday emotions to assist individuals suffering from emotional disorders.
what is a theory
a system of interrelated ideas used to explain a set of observations.
How are theories used
-Thus, by integrating apparently unrelated facts and principles into a coherent whole, theories permit psychologists to make the leap from the description of behavior to the understanding of behavior.
-Must be testable through empirical research
How many steps are there in scientific research and what are they
There are 5 steps that are
1. Formulate testable Hypotheses
2. Select the research method and design the study
3. collect data
4. Analyze data and draw conclusions
5. Report findings
In the process of scientific research, Which step is Formulate a testable hypothesis and how does it work
step 1
To be testable - formulated precisely, and the variables under study must be clearly defined.
An operational definition describes the actions or operations that will be used to measure or control a variable.
Establish what is meant by each variable in the context of the study
In the process of scientific research, Which step is Select research method and design study and how does it work
step 2
Participants are the persons or animals whose behavior is systematically observed in a study.
In the process of scientific research, Which step is Collect data and how does it work
Step 3
-Data collection techniques are procedures for making empirical observations and measurements.
-Example - questionnaires, interviews, psychological tests, physiological recordings, and examination of archival records
-The data collection techniques used in a study depend largely on what is being investigated.
In the process of scientific research, Which step is Analyse data and draw conclusions and how does it work
Researchers use statistics to analyze their data and to decide whether their hypotheses have been supported.
In the process of scientific research, Which step is Report findings and how does it work
A journal is a periodical that publishes technical and scholarly material, usually in a narrowly defined area of inquiry.
What is experimental research
The experiment is a research method in which the investigator manipulates a variable under carefully controlled conditions and observes whether any changes occur in a second variable as a result.
What is an independent variable
a condition or event that an experimenter varies in order to see its impact on another variable.
The thing being manipulated by the researcher
What is the dependent variable
the variable that is thought to be affected by manipulation of the independant variable
In psychology studies, the dependent variable is usually a measurement of some aspect of the participants’ behaviour.
What is an experimental Group
a group consists of the participants who receive some special treatment in regard to the independent variable
What is a control Group
The control group consists of similar participants who do not receive the special treatment given to the experimental group.
What are extraneous variables
any variables other than the independent variable that seem likely to influence the dependent variable in a specific study.
what is a confounding of variables
variables occurs when two variables are linked in a way that makes it difficult to sort out their specific effects.
What is an example of a safegaurd to reduce the effects of outside variables
Random assignment of participants occurs when all participants have an equal chance of being assigned to any group or condition in the study.
What is an advantage of experiential research
isolate the relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable,
What is an issue with experiential research
the problem is that experiments are often artificial.
When experiments are highly artificial, doubts arise about the applicability of findings to everyday behavior outside the experimental laboratory.
One way to address this limitation is to conduct a field experiment. Field experiments are research studies that use settings that are very much like real life; in fact, the research may occur in the context of everyday life and events.
What is naturalistic observation
a researcher engages in careful observation of behaviour without intervening directly with the participants.
Reactivity occurs when a participant’s behaviour is altered by the presence of the observer.
What is a case study
an in-depth investigation of an individual participant or group of participants.
Case studies are particularly well suited for investigating certain phenomena, such as psychological disorders and neuropsychological issues.
What is a survey
researchers use questionnaires or interviews to gather information about specific aspects of participants’ behaviour.
What are the 3 types of descriptive/correlational research
Naturalistic observation, case study, survey
What is an advantage of descriptive/correlational research
the foremost advantage of correlational methods is that they give researchers a way to explore questions they could not examine with experimental procedures.
What is a disadvantage of descriptive/correlational research
Investigators cannot control events to isolate cause and effect.
Consequently, descriptive/correlational research cannot demonstrate conclusively that correlated variables are causally related.
What is Statistics
the use of mathematics to organize, summarize, and interpret numerical data.
What are descriptive statistics
used to organize and summarize data.
Key descriptive statistics include measures of central tendency, measures of variability, and the coefficient of correlation.
What are the 3 measures of central tendency
mean, median and mode
What is the median
the score that falls exactly in the center of a distribution of scores.
what is mode
The most frequent answer
What is mean
The average
What is variablitiy
refers to how much the scores in a data set vary from each other and from the mean.
what is the standard deviation
an index of the amount of variability in a set of data.
What is normal distribution
a symmetrical, bell shaped curve that represents the pattern in which many human characteristics are dispersed in the population.
When does a correlation exsist
when two variables are related to each other.
What is a correlation coefficant
a numerical index of the degree of relationship between two variables.
correlation coefficient indicates (1) the direction (positive or negative) of the relationship and (2) how strongly the two variables are related.
what indicates that two variables covary in the same direction.
a positive correlation
what indicates that two variables covary in the opposite direction.
a negative correlation
What determines the strength of correlation
Whereas the positive or negative sign indicates the direction of an association, the size of the coefficient indicates the strength of an association between two variables.
As a correlation increases in strength (gets closer to either –1.00 or +1.00), the ability to predict one variable based on knowledge of the other variable increases.
explain correlation and causation
Although a high correlation allows us to predict one variable from another, it does not tell us whether a cause-and-effect relationship exists between the two variables.
Third variable can explain the correlation between the original 2 variables
how are inferential statistics used
used to interpret data and draw conclusions
what is sampling bias
A sample is the collection of participants selected for observation in an empirical study. In contrast, the population is the much larger collection of animals or people (from which the sample is drawn) that researchers want to generalize about
Sampling bias exists when a sample is not representative of the population from which it was drawn.
what is the placebo effect
placebo effects occur when participants’ expectations lead them to experience some change even though they receive empty, fake, or ineffectual treatment.
Placebo effects are primarily attributable to people’s expectations
What are some distortions in self reported data
social desirability bias, which is a tendency to give socially approved answers to questions about oneself.
A response set is a tendency to respond to questions in a particular way that is unrelated to the content of the questions.
What is replication and why is it important
Replication is the repetition of a study to see whether the earlier results are duplicated.
Replication can sometimes lead to contradictory results than the first study
What is experimenter bias and how can it be solved
Experimenter bias occurs when a researcher’s expectations or preferences about the outcome of a study influence the results obtained.
The double-blind procedure is a research strategy in which neither participants nor experimenters know which participants are in the experimental or control groups.
Why might some studies be unethical
First, they assert that deception is only a nice word for lying, which they see as inherently immoral.
Second, they argue that by deceiving unsuspecting participants, psychologists may undermine many individuals’ trust in others.
Third, they point out that many deceptive studies produce distress for participants who were not forewarned about that possibility.
Where does Psychology stand in animal experimentation ethics
Every effort must be made to minimize the discomfort felt by animals and to ensure that they will not be used unless there is a strong expectation that the results will benefit both humans and animals.
Psychologists use animals as research subjects for several reasons. Sometimes they simply want to know more about the behavior of a specific type of animal
What does the CPA (canadian Psychology association) do
The CPA ethical principles deal with how people with whom the psychologist comes into contact should be treated.
what involves learning connections between events that occur in an organism’s environment
Conditioning
involves learning connections between events that occur in an organism’s environment
what is a type of learning in which a stimulus acquires the capacity to evoke a response that was originally evoked by another stimulus.
Ivan Pavlov
Classical Conditioning
what was Pavlov Studying
Pavlov was studying the role of saliva in the digestive processes of dogs when he stumbled onto what he called “psychic reflexes
What is the conditioning process
unconditioned stimulus (UCS) is a stimulus that evokes an unconditioned response without previous conditioning.
The unconditioned response (UCR) is an unlearned reaction to an unconditioned stimulus that occurs without previous conditioning.
The conditioned stimulus (CS) is a previously neutral stimulus that has, through conditioning, acquired the capacity to evoke a conditioned response.
The conditioned response (CR) is a learned reaction to a conditioned stimulus that occurs because of previous conditioning.
Explain fear and anxiety in classical conditioning
conditioning can be cause phobias which can affect you years later
Responses to fear can be conditioning
That is not to say that traumatic experiences associated with stimuli automatically lead to conditioned fears or phobias.
What are some other conditioned responses
Classical conditioning affects not only overt behaviors but physiological processes, as well.
classical conditioning procedures can lead to immune suppression—a decrease in the production of antibodies.
Classical conditioning can also modulate reactions to specific drugs.
What is evaluated conditioning
refers to changes in the liking of a stimulus that result from pairing that stimulus with other positive or negative stimuli
What is Aquisition
Acquisition refers to the initial stage of learning something.
What is extinction in classical conditioning
extinction, the gradual weakening and disappearance of a conditioned response tendency.
what is spontaneous recovery
Spontaneous recovery is the reappearance of an extinguished response after a period of non exposure to the conditioned stimulus.
the renewal effect—if a response is extinguished in a different environment than it was acquired, the extinguished response will reappear if the animal is returned to the original environment where acquisition took place.
What is stimulus generalization in classical conditioning
occurs when an organism that has learned a response to a specific stimulus responds in the same way to new stimuli that are similar to the original stimulus.
What is stimulus discrimination in classical conditioning
Stimulus discrimination occurs when an organism that has learned a response to a specific stimulus does not respond in the same way to new stimuli that are similar to the original stimulus.
The less similar new stimuli are to the original CS, the greater the likelihood (and ease) of discrimination.
What is higher order conditioning in classical conditioning
When one stimulus takes president over another
Explain food aversions
Many people develop aversions to food that has been followed by nausea from illness, alcohol intoxication,or food poisoning
that it was almost impossible to create certain associations, whereas taste–nausea associations (and odor–nausea associations) were almost.impossible to prevent.
What is preparedness
Preparedness involves a species-specific predisposition to be conditioned in certain ways and not others.
what is a form of learning in which responses come to be controlled by their consequences.
Operant conditioning
What is thorndikes law of effect
Another name for operant conditioning is instrumental learning,
According to the law of effect, if a response in the presence of a stimulus leads to satisfying effects, the association between the stimulus and the response is strengthened.
What were skinners demonstrations
Skinner demonstrated that organisms tend to repeat those responses that are followed by favorable consequences.
Reinforcement occurs when an event following a response increases an organism’s tendency to make that response.
What is skinners box
a small enclosure in which an animal can make a specific response that is recorded while the consequences of the response are systematically controlled.
The cumulative recorder creates a graphic record of responding and reinforcement in a Skinner box as a function of time.
Primary reinforcers are events that are inherently reinforcing because they satisfy biological needs.
Secondary, or conditioned, reinforcers are events that acquire reinforcing qualities by being associated with primary reinforcers.
What is shaping
which consists of the reinforcement of closer and closer approximations of a desired response.
What is extinction in operant conditioning
Resistance to extinction occurs when an organism continues to make a response after delivery of the reinforcer has been terminated.
In other words, it appears that the result of extinction is that organisms learn not to make a specific response in a specific context, as opposed to any and all contexts
What is generalization and discrimination in Operant conditioning
Discriminative stimuli are cues that influence operant behavior by indicating the probable consequences (reinforcement or nonreinforcement) of a response.
Reactions to a discriminative stimulus are governed by the processes of stimulus generalization and stimulus discrimination,
what is key to the development of the kinds of superstitious behaviors exhibited by elite athletes
Rienforcement
superstitious behavior is extremely common, and accidental reinforcements may sometimes contribute to these superstitions,
What determines which occurrences of a specific response result in the presentation of a reinforcer.
Schedule of reinforcement
what occurs when every instance of a designated response is reinforced.
Continuous reinforcement
what occurs when not every instance of a designated response is reinforced.
Partial or or intermittent reinforcement
What happens with a fixed ratio schedule
the reinforcer is given after a fixed number of nonreinforced responses.
What happens with an fixed interval schedule
the reinforcer is given for the first response that occurs after a fixed time interval has elapsed.
What happens with a variable ratio schedule
the reinforcer is given after a variable number of nonreinforced responses.
What happens with a variable interval schedule
the reinforcer is given for the first response after a variable time interval has elapsed.
What kind of reinforcement schedules require a time period to pass between the presentation of reinforcers.
Interval
What occurs when a response is strengthened because it is followed by the presentation of a rewarding stimulus.
Positive reinforcement
what occurs when a response is strengthened because it is followed by the removal of an aversive (unpleasant) stimulus.
negative reinforcement
What is escape learning
an organism acquires a response that decreases or ends some aversive stimulation.
What is an organism acquires a response that prevents some aversive stimulation from occurring.
Avoidance learning
what occurs when an event following a response weakens the tendency to make that response.
Punishment
what involved the presentation of an aversive stimulus
Positive Punishment
what involves the removal of a rewarding stimulus.
Negative Punishment
What is learning that is not apparent from behaviour when it first occurs
Latent learning
They suggested that learning can take place in the absence of reinforcement
what occurs when an animal’s innate response tendencies interfere with conditioning processes.
Instinctive drift
what occurs when an organism’s response is influenced by the observation of others, who are called models.
Observational Learning
What are the requirements needed to learn observationally
Attention
Retention
reproduction
Motivation
what is attention
To learn through observation, you must pay attention to another person’s behavior and its consequences.
What is Retention
You may not have occasion to use an observed response for weeks, months, or even years. Hence, you must store in your memory a mental representation of what you have witnessed.
what is reproduction
Enacting a modelled response depends on your ability to reproduce the response by converting your stored mental images into overt behaviour. This may not be easy for some responses. For example, most people cannot execute a breathtaking windmill dunk after watching Steve Nash do it in a basketball game.
what is motivation
Finally, you are unlikely to reproduce an observed response unless you are motivated to do so. Your motivation depends on whether you encounter a situation in which you believe that the response is likely to pay off for you.
What can happen in Media with operant conditioning
Research shows a connection between aggressive behavior and and watching violence on tv
what are neurons that are activated by performing an action or by seeing another monkey or person perform the same action.
Mirror neurons
what involves forming a memory code. For example, when you form a memory code for a word, you might emphasize how it looks, how it sounds, or what it means. Encoding usually requires attention.
encoding
what involves maintaining encoded information in memory over time. Psychologists have focused much of their memory research on trying to identify just what factors help or hinder memory storage.
Storage
what involves recovering information from memory stores. Research issues concerned with retrieval include the study of how people search memory and why some retrieval strategies are more effective than others.
retreival
what involves focusing awareness on a narrowed range of stimuli or events.
Attention
Attention is often likened to a filter that screens out most potential stimuli while allowing a select few to pass through into conscious awareness.
Attention involves late selection, based on the meaning of input.
what is selective attention
critical to everyday functioning. If your attention were distributed equally among all stimulus inputs, life would be utter chaos.
what is structural encoding
relatively shallow processing that emphasizes the physical structure of the stimulus.
what is phonetic encoding
which emphasizes what a word sounds like. Phonemic encoding involves naming or saying (perhaps silently) the words.
what is semantic encoding
emphasizes the meaning of verbal input; it involves thinking about the objects and actions the words represent.
what does level of processing theory say
proposes that deeper levels of processing result in longer lasting memory codes.
What are factors that can enrich coding
elaboration- Elaboration is linking a stimulus to other information at the time of encoding.
visual imagery- Imagery—the creation of visual images to represent the words to be remembered—can also be used to enrich encoding.
dual-coding theory holds that memory is enhanced by forming semantic and visual codes, since either can lead to recall.
and self-referent coding-Self-referent encoding involves deciding how or whether information is personally relevant.
what is sensory memory
preserves information in its original sensory form for a brief time, usually only a fraction of a second.
The memory trace in the visual sensory store decays in about 1/4 of a second. Memory traces in the auditory sensory store also appear to last less than a second
what is short term memory
a limited-capacity store that can maintain unrehearsed information for up to about 20 seconds.
what is the process of repetitively verbalizing or thinking about the information
rehearsal
what happens without rehearsal
Without rehearsal, information in short-term memory is lost in less than 20 seconds
what is the capacity of storage
Short-term memory is also limited in the number of items it can hold.
A chunk is a group of familiar stimuli stored as a single unit.
what is working memory
working memory is a limited capacity storage system that temporarily maintains and stores information by providing an interface between perception, memory, and action.
Working memory capacity (WMC) refers to one’s ability to hold and manipulate information in conscious attention.
what is Long term memory
Long-term memory (LTM) is an unlimited capacity store that can hold information over lengthy periods of time.
flashbulb memories, which are thought to be unusually vivid and detailed recollections of momentous events,
what are mental representations
Most theorists seem to agree that our mental representations probably take a variety of forms, depending on the nature of the material that needs to be tucked away in memory.
what is the tendency to remember similar or related items in groups.
Clustering
what is is a multilevel classification system based on common properties among items.
Conceptual heirarchy
what is a schema
A schema is an organized cluster of knowledge about a particular object or event abstracted from previous experience with the object or event.
People are more likely to remember things that are consistent with their schemas than things that are not.
People sometimes exhibit better recall of things that violate their schema-based expectations
what are semantic networks
A semantic network consists of nodes representing concepts, joined together by pathways that link related concepts.
Semantic networks have proven useful in explaining why thinking about one word (such as butter) can make a closely related word (such as bread) easier to remember
how can cues help
The cue-dependent nature of memory is a key assumption of most of the major models of memory retrieval;
what is the tip of the toungue phenonomen
the temporary inability to remember something you know, accompanied by a feeling that it’s just out of Reach
memories can often be jogged with retrieval cues—stimuli
what do context clues do
often facilitate the retrieval of information
what is the misinformation effect
occurs when participants’ recall of an event they witnessed is altered by introducing misleading post-event information.
Memories can be distorted based on the way people are asked to recall them
explain forgetting
Forgetting can reduce competition among memories that can cause confusion.
Forgetting can contribute to regulating our emotions.
forgetting is a necessary component of our memory processes because it helps us, among other things, to generalize from our experiences.
forgetting can be caused by defects in encoding, storage, retrieval, or some combination of these processes.
how quickly do we forget
The first person to conduct scientific studies of forgetting was Hermann Ebbinghaus.
Forgetting curve, graph retention and forgetting over time.
what are the measures of forgetting
Retention refers to the proportion of material retained (remembered).
A recall measure of retention requires participants to reproduce information on their own without any cues.
A recognition measure of retention requires participants to select previously learned information from an array of options.
A relearning measure of retention requires a participant to memorize information a second time to determine how much time or how many practice trials are saved by having learned it before.
What is ineffective encoding
Since you can’t really forget something you never learned, this phenomenon is sometimes called pseudoforgetting.
Pseudoforgetting is usually due to lack of attention.
what is the decay theory
Decay theory proposes that forgetting occurs because memory traces fade with time.
decay does appear to contribute to the loss of information from the sensory and short-term memory stores.
Researchers have not been successful in providing clear demonstrations that decay causes long-term memory forgetting
what is interference
Interference theory proposes that people forget information because of competition from other material.
Retroactive interference occurs when new information impairs the retention of previously learned information.
proactive interference occurs when previously learned information interferes with the retention of new information.
what is retrieval failure
The encoding specificity principle states that the value of a retrieval cue depends on how well it corresponds to the memory code
what is motivated forgetting
repression refers to keeping distressing thoughts and feelings buried in the unconscious
what is an example of repressed memories
Children accusing parents and teachers of abuse when the accused are genuinely baffled by the accusations.
what is some support for recovered memories
Some psychologists and psychiatrists further assert that there is ample evidence that it is common for people to bury traumatic incidents in their unconscious
what is some skeptics regarding recovered memories
Many memory researchers are also skeptical about retrospective self-reports of amnesia
The skeptics do not say that people are lying about their previously repressed memories. Rather, they maintain that some suggestible people wrestling with emotional problems have been convinced by persuasive therapists that their emotional problems must be the result of abuse that occurred years before.
what are some conclusions regarding recovered memories
therapists can unknowingly create false memories in their patients and that a significant portion of recovered memories of abuse are the product of suggestion
what are the first 3 sins of memory
The first three memory sins, transience, absent mindedness, and blocking, according to Schacter, are sins of omission in which we cannot bring the memory to mind.
Transience is the simple weakening of a memory over time. This is what we tend to think of most often when we think about memory failure.
Absentmindedness refers to a memory failure that is often due to a failure to pay attention because we are perhaps preoccupied with other things.
Blocking is an often temporary problem that occurs when we fail to retrieve an item of information such as someone’s name when we meet them.
what are the last 4 sins of memory
The next four sins, misattribution, suggestibility, bias, and persistence, are sins of commission.
misattribution, we assign a memory to the wrong source, as in the earlier example about whether the psychology professor or the sociology professor delayed the exam
suggestibility our memory is distorted because of, for example, misleading questions
bias refers to inaccuracy due to the effect of our current knowledge on our reconstruction of the past
persistence, involves unwanted memories or recollections that you cannot forget—memories that haunt you.
What is the neural circuitry of memory
One line of research suggests that memory formation results in alterations in synaptic transmission at specific sites.
Long-term potentiation (LTP) is a long-lasting increase in neural excitability at synapses along a specific neural pathway.
Research suggests that the process of neurogenesis—the formation of new neurons—may contribute to the sculpting of neural circuits that underlie memory
what is the anatomy of memory
Retrograde amnesia involves the loss of memories for events that occurred prior to the onset of amnesia.
Anterograde amnesia involves the loss of memories for events that occur after the onset of amnesia.
Consolidation is a hypothetical process involving the gradual conversion of new, unstable memories into stable, durable memory codes stored in long-term memory.
Hence, an effort to retrieve a particular memory leads to hippocampal activity that reactivates a link to a specific cortical area, which reinstates the memory.
what is implicit memory
is apparent when retention is exhibited on a task that does not require intentional remembering.
what is explicit memory
involves intentional recollection of previous experiences.
explain declarative and non declarative memory
The declarative memory system handles factual information.
The non-declarative or procedural memory system houses memory for actions, skills, operations, and conditioned responses.
explain Semantic versus Episodic Memory
The episodic memory system is made up of chronological, or temporally dated, recollections of personal experiences.
The semantic memory system contains general knowledge that is not tied to the time when the information was learned
explain Prospective versus Retrospective Memory
Prospective memory involves remembering to perform actions in the future.
retrospective memory involves remembering events from the past or previously learned information.
who is Willhelm Wundt
in 1879 founder of psychology as a discipline, established research in a formal way, first experiments were rudimentary, focus was examining perception
ex: examining perception in the form of measuring reaction times, different between when the pendulum actually reached its highest point vs when the subjects marked that it did, interpreted as the speed of human thought, incorrect conclusion, more a way to show reaction time/lag, message from the brain to the hand
formal study of psychology, employed scientific methods
Who is edward titchner
-in the 1890s, established a lab for physics at Cornell, founded structuralism, interested in how we think and respond, how things work and what circumstances, designed studies to answer, study of introspection, how humans perceive
-introspections must be able to when the test stimulus has been introduced when the process has started ex: participants have to be able to hear the stimulus if it is auditory
-participant must be in a state of strained attention, wanted to establish control, tried to remove as much outside influence as possible, remove some of the variability imposed by surroundings, participants also needs to repeat information several times preserve liability, stimuli must be manipulable, cannot influence the natural world, under the control of the researcher
-sound cage experiments, created a cage around the participants, researcher moves stimulus around cage, then ask where the sound came from, establish how we can perceive sounds and direction
Structuralism, to establish descriptions of how we perceive the world
who is william James
-functionalism, different school of thought, (1890), wrote the first textbook. examined why and when of consciousness, tying it all together
-studied observations in the real world, first to output surveys, mental testing, measurement of disordered behavior, output development cycle research in children, behavioral differences between groups, specifically gender differences, a lot of research into dizziness
-different schools of thought because researchers were answering only their own hypotheses, functionalism lasted longer than structuralism
who is Sigmund Freud
Not a psychologist, interest in therapeutics and mental disorders, how can we explain human behavior, psychoanalysis, based on case studies rather than research, described consciousness as an iceberg, unconscious mind is developed as we grow, things influence us in ways were not awareness
later expanded by Carl Jung and Alfred Adler
who is John B Watson
founded behaviorism, not consciousness, behavior that can be observed and measured by the researcher, input stimulus and examine response, combine neutral stimulus and the negative, after repetition and remove the negative, associated the neutral with the negative even if the negative isn’t present
later expanded by Ivan Pavlov, and B.F Skinner
How did Maslow contribute to Psychology
If physiological needs aren’t met we will not be able to function (food, water)
Then safety, circumstances where environment is unsafe (warzone or unsafe household)
Social needs, interaction with peers in a positive way,
Selfesteem needs
Self actualization (the goal)
How did world war 2 effect Psychology
People coming back from the war needed treatment, field shifted to clinical psych
Field was dominated by psychiatrists
Clinical psych deals with diagnosis and treatment of psychological issues.
what are the theories of personality development
Children had to develop self worth and unconditional positive regard
Conditional causes problems
Congruence as Adults
Need to connect self concept with ideal self
explain the stages of the DSM
The diagnostic and statistical manual for mental disorders (DSM)
DSM 1 (1952) as a way to standardize diagnosing mental disorders
Only diagnosted if it caused a maladaption
Problems: bias aganst certain people, homosexuality was mental disorder, idea that it was maladapeted
Evelyn hooker tested homosexuality, research said not maladapted and that was removed
DSM 2 1974
DSM 3 in 1980
Removed neurosis
Removed controversial disorders
DSM 4 in 1994
Finally had criteria that rates severity of symptoms
Committee included psychologist
DSM 5
Subtypes of schizophrenia and autism
explain counter ethnocentrism
Same psychological disorders will present differently depending on where they are from.
Very harmful
How we can improve- insist that the medical provider has training or experience in the culture that the patient is from.
Individual is less likely to open up in clinical setting if therapist isn’t same background as them
how did jean pigeat contribute to Psychology
Study by observation, looking into human development, when are children capable of what
Understand things about human development that improves childcare, education and parenting
explain roger sperry’s experiments
Nobel Prize 1981
Split brain experiments
Split brain patients have undergone surgery to cut the corpus callosum, for people with epilepsy, seizures wouldn’t spread to whole brain
Left brain
Responsible for logics, language reading and math
right brain
Responsible for creativity
Showed the different capabilties of different sides of the brain
Experient: focus on the right eye in order to learn about left side, if you show a word to left brain they will read
Cannot read if it is shown to right brain, only can describe it, draw
what are the 3 principals for ethical research
-Respect for person
Individual should be treated with autonomous
People with diminished autonomy make sure proper protections are in place, No deception, Participants receive informed consent
Informed consent, information , need to have all relevant info
Comprehension, easily understood, nothing complicated , Voluntary, choose if you want to participate and also the ability to withdraw
-Beneficence , Do no harm, Maximize benefits and minimize risks for participants
-Justice, To each their equal share , To each person according to their individual needs , According to effort and social contribution
What are some flaws in our thinking about research
Preconceived ideas: when we don’t use the scientific method our opinions, experiments, and biases drive our perceptions
Anecdote
Bias
Heuristics
Overstating results of research: when we don’t understand limitations of research, we overstate its application or generalizability for the real world
explain qualitative data
Qualitative data
Cannot measure with number
Participant may have red hair,
Words
Naturalistic observation study collects qualitative data
Case study
explain quantitative data
Quantitative data
Is inherently numeric
Encompasses all data that is already numeric
Can code qualitative data as quantitative data
Easier to interpret data when its number
Surveys, multiple choice question
explain higher order stimulus in classical conditioning
2 stimuli that have to be different from each other
1 has to be conditioned before introducing the second.
what are the requirements for an effective stimulus in classical conditioning
Good Signal—> good job at evoking response every time
Pavlov had to try many types of stimuli to make it work, bell didn’t work
Allows accurate prediction of conditioned response
Salient
Memorable or unique
Participants needs to recognize
Contiguous
Have to present both stimulus at the same time 30 secs maxim
Explain inhibitory conditioning
Stimuli that will incite response and stimuli that will incite absence of response
Absence of stimuli has its own effect
Easier to do with opposing signals
EX; dog getting fed, light means food, light turns down when dog is fed, low light signals food is over
Explain addiction through classical conditioning
An acception of hard rules of classical conditioning
Strength of stimulus can be so strong it is difficult to retrain and intervene
Environmental cues can trigger desire for drug, addictions can get in the way of other conditioned responses
How did albert Bandera contribute to Psychology
Bobo doll experiment (1961-1963)
3 groups of children
1 is control
2nd presented with model, watched as an adult showed non agressive behavior
3rd presented with model, watched adult beat the doll
Children who watched aggressive behavior were more aggressive
Female children were more aggressive if the model was male, more verbally aggressive if the model was female.
Was replicated
in encoding, how can serial position help
Serial position - more likely to remember to recall information that came first or last in a series
Explain retreival of memories
We know that we know information, is it inaccessible or unavailable
Cues, replication of setting can help remember
Try to think of something similar
Mnemonics are good to remember and sort information
Some people remember things better in terms of context
Benefits of multiple choice test - recognition instead of recall, Disadvantages- answers that are similar, use elaboration to solve this issue while studying
Repression/motivated forgetting controversy
What is declaritive memory
Declaritve
Explicit memory, hippocampus, conscious
Types :
episodic memory - things that are relevant to you personally, remember something that happened to you
Semantic - not from personal experience but we have obtained
Is vulnerable to forgetting and amnesia as well as declines with age and substance use, can also be manipulated.
what is procedural memory
Procedural
Implicit, cerebellum and unconscious
what are the types of amnesia
Amnesia
Retrograde - is memory loss of past memories
Antograde - is memory loss after onset of amnesia, remember past events but are not able to make new memories
People can learn procedurally
what makes witness interveiws successful
No distractions
No leading questions
Get into a neutral space, have witness imagine themselves at time and place of event, reinstate context clues and remember more details
Elicate elaboration and monitoring, as the story multiple times, ask for a different order and look for inconsistencies, report from a range of different perspectives.
