New Psych Terms Flashcards
Whole object constraint
New words are likely to refer to the whole object rather than its parts
The shape bias
Children are more likely to extend a novel word to a new object if the shapes of the object are the same rather than if their textures, sounds, color or tastes are the same
The mutual exclusivity constraint
An entity cannot have more than one name
The taxonomic constraint
Where objects are in the same family e.g. Cow, pig, dog or spoon, knife, fork
Social-pragmatic cues
When a child is learning a novel word they often look to the adults emotional or expressional cues to determine if they are using the word correctly
Typicality effect
The phenomenon in which experimental test subjects are more likely to respond to typical instances of a concept for example robin for the word bird rather than atypical e.g. Penguin
Newborn reflexes
Rooting Moro reflex Tonic neck reflex Palmer Grasp reflex Planter Babinski reflex Walking/stepping
Moro reflex
Getting startled baby throws head back extends out arms and legs and then pulls them back in
Tonic neck
When a baby’s head is turned to the side the same arm stretches out and the opposite arm bends at the elbow
Babinski reflex
When a baby’s sole of the foot is firmly stoked the toes fan out
Reverberating circuit
Neural circuits which are essentially always active allowing impulses to repeatedly circulate after having been triggered by an initial stimulus response from
Motion parallax
A depth cue where we view objects closer to us as going faster than objects further away
Ponzu illusion
The human mind judges an objects size based on the background. E.g. When the moon is on the horizon it looks huge because it looks like it’s farther away than it does when it s overhead
Structuralism
The study of the elements of consciousness through introspection as developed by Wundt and Titchener
Functionalism
Considers mental life and behavior as an adaption to a persons environment and conscious experience . William James is considered the founder of functionalism but would not consider himself a functionalist. Thorndike was a functionalist.
Gestalt psychology
A theory of the mind in experimental psychology that focuses on trying to find meaningful perceptions in an apparently chaotic world. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts
Piagets stages of development
Sensory motor 0-2
Preoperational 2-7
Concrete operational 7-11
Formal operational 11-16
Sensory motor stage
0-2
Develop understanding of objects
Concrete operational
7-11
Learn to conserve (objects have the same mass regardless of shape or arrangement)
Pre operational
2-7
Only think about think about things from their point of view
Animism ( everything has consciousness)
Symbolism
Formal operational
11-16
can abstract thoughts and think about all possibilities
Halo effect
A particular kind of confirmation bias wherein positive feelings in one area cause ambiguous traits to also be viewed positively
Main effect
As opposed to an interaction effect a main effect is the effect that you are trying to measure I.e. The effect the independent variable has on the dependent variable
General adaptation syndrome
3 phase graph
The first is non specific where the organism has sympathetic nervous system activity, a resistance phase during which the organism makes efforts to cope with the threat, and an exhaustion state where the organism fails to overcome the threat and depletes its physiological resources
Signal detection theory
Deals with our ability to differentiate between stimulus that needs to be attended to from background noise. The theory states that in different circumstances our thresholds will be different. I.e. War and peace times
