Midterm 2

Question 1

compensatory response

Answer 1

A response that offsets the effects of the upcoming unconditioned stimulus.

Question 2

instrumental conditioning

Answer 2

Also called operant conditioning. A form of learning in which the participant receives a reinforcer only after per- forming the desired response, and thereby learns a relationship between the response and the reinforcer.
Involves behaviors that appear to be voluntary and the relation between a response and a stimulus (the operant and a reward).

Question 3

The Law of Effect

Answer 3

Thorndike’stheory that a response followed by a reward will be strengthened, whereas a response followed by no reward (or by punishment) will be weakened.

Question 4

Thorndike Cat Experiment

Answer 4

The hungry cat could open the door—and escape from the box—only by performing some simple action such as pulling a loop of wire or pressing a lever (Figure 7.17); and once outside the box, the cat was rewarded with a small portion of food.
learning curves suggest that the cats learned to escape in small increments

Question 5

operant

Answer 5

In Skinner’s system, an instrumental response that is defined by its effect (the way it operates) on the environment.

Question 6

reinforcer

Answer 6

A stimulus delivered after a response that makes the response more likely in the future.

Question 7

B. F. Skinner

Answer 7

The most influential of the learning theorists, Skinner made a sharp distinction between classical and operant conditioning.

Question 8

discriminative stimuli

Answer 8

Signals an animal what sorts of behaviors will be rewarded in a given situation (S+ and S-)

Question 9

Shaping

Answer 9

Accomplished by a little “coaching,” using the method of successive approximations.
The process of eliciting a desired response by rewarding behaviors that are increasingly similar to that response.

Question 10

primary reinforcers

Answer 10

Stimuli with obvious importance for survival: food, water, escape from the scent of a predator

Question 11

Social reinforcers

Answer 11

smiles and praise

Question 12

Conditioned reinforcer

Answer 12

money–a reward that takes its value from its association with other more basic reinforcers

Question 13

behavioral contrast

Answer 13

A response pattern in which an organism evalu- ates a reward relative to other avail- able rewards or those that have been available recently.
4 pellets vs. 16 pellets of food
Coloring “Good Player” reward

Question 14

partial reinforcement

Answer 14

A learning condition in which only some of the organism’s responses are reinforced.

Question 15

schedule of reinforcement

Answer 15

The rules about how often and under what conditions a response will be reinforced.

Question 16

ratio schedule

Answer 16

A pattern of delivering reinforcements only after a certain number of responses.

Question 17

interval schedule

Answer 17

A pattern of delivering reinforcements only after a certain amount of time has passed.

Question 18

Fixed-ratio schedule

Answer 18

Garment workers

Question 19

Variable-ratio schedule

Answer 19

Casino players

Question 20

Fixed-interval schedule

Answer 20

Checking the mail

Question 21

Variable-interval schedule

Answer 21

Hunting

Question 22

learned helplessness

Answer 22

dog shock experiment

an acquired sense that one has lost control over one’s environment, with the sad consequence that one gives up trying

Question 23

Retrieval from long-term memory

Answer 23

activates the hippocampus.

Question 24

Retrieval from working memory

Answer 24

activates the perirhinal cortex.

Question 25

chunking

Answer 25

reorganizing(or recoding) materials in working memory by combining a number of items into a single, larger unit.

Question 26

maintenance rehearsal

Answer 26

a mechanical process of repeating the memory items over and over, giving little thought to what the items are or whether they form any pattern

Question 27

Method of loci

Answer 27

Put memory in locations

Question 28

retrograde amnesia

Answer 28

A memory deficit, often suffered after a head injury, in which the patient loses memory for events that occurred before the injury.

Question 29

context reinstatement

Answer 29

A way of improving retrieval by re-creating the state of mind that accompanied the initial learning.

Question 30

encoding specificity

Answer 30

Thehypothesis that when information is stored in mem- ory, it is not recorded in its original form but translated (“encoded”) into a form that includes the thoughts and under- standing of the learner.

Question 31

retention interval

Answer 31

the time that elapses between learning and retrieval

Question 32

DRM paradigm

Answer 32

A common procedure for studying memory, in which partici- pants read and then immediately recall a list of related words, but the word providing the “theme” for the list is not included.

Question 33

Familiarity vs. Recollection Effects

Answer 33

If the rhinal cortex was especially activated during encoding, then the stimulus was likely to seem familiar when viewed later on.
If the hippocampus was especially activated during encoding, then later on the participant was likely to recollect having seen that stimulus.

Question 34

episodic memory

Answer 34

Memory for specific events and experiences.

Question 35

Semantic memory

Answer 35

Memory for facts (including word meanings); these memories are not tied to any specific time
or place.

Question 36

Anterograde amnesia

Answer 36

an apparent inability to form new memories

Question 37

Procedural knowledge

Answer 37

Knowledge of how to do something, such as riding a bike; expressed in behaviors rather than in words.

Question 38

Declarative knowledge

Answer 38

Knowledge of information that can be expressed in words.

Question 39

Analogical representation

Answer 39

”Drawing of cat” Anidea that shares some of the actual charac- teristics of the object it represents

Question 40

Daniel Kahneman

Answer 40

Thinking Fast, Slow

Question 41

availability heuristic

Answer 41

A strategy for judging how frequently something happens—or how common it is—based on how easily examples of it come to mind.

Question 42

representative- ness heuristic

Answer 42

A strategy for judging whether an individual, object, or event belongs in a certain cat- egory based on how typical of the cate- gory it seems to be.

Question 43

Dual-process theory

Answer 43

The proposal that judgment involves two types of thinking: a fast, efficient, but sometimes faulty set of strategies, and a slower, more laborious, but less risky set of strategies.

Question 44

System 1

Answer 44

In dual-process models of judgment, the fast, efficient, but sometimes faulty type of thinking.

Question 45

System 2

Answer 45

In dual-process models of judgment, the slower, more effortful, and more accurate type of reasoning.

Question 46

out-group homogeneity effect

Answer 46

The tendency for a member of a group (the in-group) to view members of another group (the out-group) as “all alike” or less varied than members of his or her own group.

Question 47

assessing less overt stereotypes with __

Answer 47

implicit measures:
brain responses
response times

Question 48

Implicit Association Test

Answer 48

1. On each trial, non-black participants were briefly shown a picture of one of two kinds of faces (white or black) followed by a picture of one of two kinds of objects (tools or weapons).
2. Participants were instructed to ignore the face stimuli and to press one button if the stimulus was a weapon, and a different button if the stimulus was a tool.

Question 49

central route to persuasion

Answer 49

The process involved in attitude change when someone carefully evaluates the evidence and the arguments.

Question 50

cognitive dissonance

Answer 50

An uncomfortable inconsistency among one’s actions, beliefs, attitudes, or feelings. People attempt to reduce it by making their actions, beliefs, attitudes or feel- ings more consistent with one another.

Question 51

peripheral route to persuasion

Answer 51

The process involved in attitude change when someone relies on superficial factors, such as the appearance or charisma of the person presenting the argument.

Question 52

informational influence

Answer 52

A reason for conformity based on people’s desire to be correct.

Question 53

Asch’s social pressure experiment

Answer 53

In the first few trials, the confederates each called out the correct response and the real participant did the same. After the initial trials, however, the confederates began to unanimously render false judgments

Question 54

normative influence

Answer 54

A reason for conformity based on people’s desire to be liked (or not appear foolish).

Question 55

pluralistic ignorance.

Answer 55

A type of misunderstanding that occurs when members of a group don’t realize that the other members share their perception (often, their uncertainty about how to react to a situation). As a result, each member wrongly interprets the others’ inaction as reflecting their bet- ter understanding of the situation.

Question 56

glucorecptors

Answer 56

Receptors in the brain (in the area of the hypothalamus) that detect the amount of glucose in the bloodstream.

Question 57

leptin

Answer 57

A chemical produced by the adipose cells that seems to signal that plenty of fat is stored and that no more fat is needed. This signal may diminish eating.

Question 58

neuropeptide Y (NPY)

Answer 58

A chemical found widely in the brain and periphery. In the brain, it acts as a neurotransmitter; when administered at sites in and near the hypothalamus, it is a potent elicitor of eating.

Question 59

dual center theory

Answer 59

The hypothesis that one area in the lateral hypothalamus is the “on” center, the initiator of eating, while another area in the ventromedial hypothalamus is the “off” center, the terminator of eating. Current evidence indicates that although these brain regions are crucial for eating, the regulation of eating also involves other circuits.

Question 60

mastery orientation

Answer 60

A learning orientation characterized by a focus on gaining new knowledge or abilities and improving.

Question 61

performance orientation

Answer 61

A learning orientation characterized by a focus on presenting oneself well and appearing intelligent to others.

Question 62

pain matrix

Answer 62

A distributed network of brain regions, including the thalamus and anterior cingulate cortex, thought to respond to many types of pain.

Question 63

dimensions of emotional experience

Answer 63

The two major dimensions of emotional experience are pleasantness and activation.

Question 64

James-Lange theory of emotion

Answer 64

The theory that the subjective experience of emotion is the awareness of one’s own bodily reactions in the presence of certain arousing stimuli.

Question 65

Cannon-Bard theory of emotion

Answer 65

The theory that a stimulus elicits an emotion by triggering a particular response in the brain (in the thalamus) which then causes both the physiological changes associated with the emotion and the emotional experience itself.

Question 66

Walter Cannon

Answer 66

pioneer in the study of the “fight or flight”

Question 67

Schlachter-Singer theory of emotion

Answer 67

The theory that emotional experience results from the interpretation of bodily responses in the context of situational cues.