NS3: PS

Question 1

Define the following:

• unconditioned
• conditioned
• stimulus
• response

clock / shock / fear example

• conditioned stimulus
• conditioned response

Answer 1

“Unconditioned” refers to the fact that no learning took place to connect the stimulus and response
“conditioned” means that learning took place to connect the stimulus and response

Stimulus: triggers some sort of response
Response: arises when presented w a stimulus

Thus, upon being shocked and feeling fear, The shock is an unconditioned stimulus because it triggers a naturally-occurring response, and the fear is an unconditioned response that naturally occurs when presented with a shock.
Vs. Being shown a circle and then being shocked soon after in recurring cycles leads to the circle being the conditioned stimulus and fear upon seeing it as the conditioned response.
- Conditioned stimulus: neutral stimulus shown prior to the unconditioned stimulus that then becomes “learned” to elicit the same response
- Conditioned response: response to the conditioned stimulus as a result of “learned association” of it with the unconditioned stimulus

Question 2

what part of the brain is related to fear?

Answer 2

The amygdala is the region of the brain that is responsible for regulating our perceptions of and reactions to aggression and fear. This is the region of the brain that would be activated by the danger cue and would trigger a fear response.

Question 3

looking glass self

Answer 3

The looking-glass self is a social psychological concept stating that a person’s self grows out of society’s interpersonal interactions and the perceptions of others. The term refers to people shaping their self-concepts based on their understanding of how others perceive them, such that if someone feels bias from society or another social entity about them, they would internalize that bias / stigmatization directed towards him.

Question 4

define the following:

• attributional bias

- egocentric bias

Answer 4

attributional bias is a cognitive bias that refers to the systematic errors made when people evaluate or try to find reasons for their own and others’ behaviors. People constantly make attributions regarding the cause of behaviors; however, attributions do not always accurately mirror reality

Egocentric bias is the tendency to overstress changes between the past and present in order to make oneself appear more worthy or competent than one actually is; this influences individuals to favor circumstances that are beneficial to themselves compared to those that favor the people around them.

Question 5

Define the following:

• framing

- availability heuristic

Answer 5

Framing involves social construction of a social phenomenon as a result of the inevitable process of selective influence over the individual’s perception of the meanings attributed to words or phrases.

The availability heuristic is recalling information that is most readily available.

Question 6

Define the following:

• intergenerational mobility
• intragenerational mobility
• social reproduction

Answer 6

Intergenerational mobility describes upward or downward movement in social class between two or more generations.

Vs. Intragenerational mobility describes changes in social class that occur within one lifetime.

Vs. Social reproduction describes a phenomenon in which poverty tends to beget poverty, and wealth tends to beget wealth across generations.

Question 7

Define the following:

• automation bias

- expectation bias

Answer 7

Automation bias is the tendency to excessively depend on automated systems, which can lead to erroneous automated information overriding correct decisions

Expectation bias is when expectations influence attitudes or behavior.

Question 8

myelin

Answer 8

substance that coats the axons of some neurons; composed of largely lipids, thus acts as an effective electrical insulator

increases conduction velocity by increasing resistance of the axon membrane, thus creating a largely resistance difference such that the signal can propagate down the axon without “leaking” out of the neuron

Produced by glial cells that wrap around the axon

• • In the CNS, these glial cells are called OLIGODENDROCYTES
• • Vs. in PNS, they are SCHWANN CELLS

Question 9

nodes of ranvier

Answer 9

gaps in the myelin sheath that allow ions to enter and exit the axon, thus maintaining the propagating action potential

At these nodes, Na+ and K+ ions can cross the membrane when their respective voltage-gated membrane channels are open.

Saltatory conduction: jump-like phenomenon where the signal is strong and consistent but appears to move down the axon by jumping from one node of Ranvier to the next

Question 10

define the following:

• ecological validity

- researcher bias

Answer 10

Ecological validity refers to how findings from an experimental setting can be generalized to the environmental considerations in the real world.

Vs. Researcher bias involves the researchers interjecting their own views into the experiment and biasing it.

Question 11

Define the following:

• subjective assessment
• projective personality assessment
• objective personality assessment

Answer 11

In subjective assessments, patients project their own subjective feelings, perceptions, and thoughts onto the assessment stimuli, yielding results that are open for inaccuracy.

Vs. Projective personality assessments require the participant to respond, and then their response is assessed for meaning.

Vs. An objective personality assessment measures specific personality characteristics based on a set of discrete option.

Question 12

Define the following:

• creativity

- rigidity

Answer 12

Creativity requires several characteristics, including openness to experience, new ideas, an internal locus of evaluation, an ability to toy with elements and concepts, perceiving freshly, concern with outside and inside worlds, ability to defer closure and judgment, and skilled performance of the traditional arts, among others.

Vs. Rigidity means the person is unwilling to adapt or change to accommodate new situations.

Question 13

Define the following:

• differential association theory

- convergence theory

Answer 13

According to differential association theory, individuals engage in criminal choices because they are exposed to it, while individuals who don’t commit crimes have not been exposed to this type of behavior.

Vs. Convergence theory has its roots in the functionalist perspective, which assumes that societies have certain requirements that must be met if they are to survive and operate effectively.

Question 14

Correlation

Answer 14

usually expressed as r, which can range from −1 to 1.

An r value of 0 expresses no correlation whatsoever, while r values of −1 and 1 correspond to perfect negative and positive correlations, respectively.

The strength of intermediate r values must be interpreted in context; an r value of 0.5 would be considered fairly strong for social sciences research, with many potential confounding variables, but fairly weak for the physical sciences.

The related value of R2 expresses how well the regression line (the line of best fit) captures the data point, with 1 indicating a perfect correspondence between the regression line and the data and 0 indicating no correspondence.

Question 15

statistical significance

Answer 15

expressed using p-values, which express the likelihood of a certain result being due to chance given a certain null hypothesis, which usually refers to the absence of a relationship between the variables of interest

A p-value <0.05 indicates that there is a <5% chance of the observed relationship being due to chance, and this is the most commonly used threshold for deeming a result statistically significant.

The power of a study refers to the ability of a study design to detect a real statistically significant effect, and it is primarily affected by the size of the study (larger samples have more power) and the size of the effect (larger effects are easier to identify).

Question 16

what are the brain areas that manage language / comprehension

Answer 16

temporal and parietal lobe, but more specifically Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area.

Broca’s area, located in the left hemisphere of the frontal lobe, controls the physical production of speech.

Wernicke’s area is located in the back of the temporal lobe, just posterior to the Sylvian fissure (the part of the brain where the temporal and parietal lobes meet) – which controls the comprehension of speech and written language.

Question 17

aphasia

Answer 17

Aphasia can result from brain injury, such as stroke.

Broca’s aphasia: refers to damage to Broca’s area, thus weakening the ability to speak → afflicted individuals will have significant trouble producing words but their comprehension is relatively undamaged

Wernicke’s aphasia: refers to damage in Wernicke’s area, thus causing the loss of speech comprehension → afflicted individuals can still talk but their words are nonsensical and unintelligible

Question 18

Elaboration likelihood model

Answer 18

The elaboration likelihood model involves persuasion and, more specifically, how different people process persuasive information differently. The model is a continuum, with those who think deeply and critically (i.e., they elaborate extensively) about persuasive information on one extreme, and on the other extreme, those who do not elaborate extensively, focusing more on less substantial, superficial information.

A person closer to the first extreme uses central route processing when considering persuasive information
vs. The person closer to the second extreme uses peripheral route processing.

Question 19

what level of content is processed by what

vs will persuade who

Answer 19

a high-content argument will be processed logically, which is the domain of the frontal lobes, and that a high-sensory argument will be processed emotionally, which is a temporal lobe function.

a high-content argument will be persuading to high-motivation and high-knowledge individuals, while an argument with high sensory content will be appealing to low-motivation and low-knowledge individuals.

Question 20

power

6 diff types

Answer 20

an individual’s ability to compel other people to do things

coercive
reward
legitimate
reference
informational
expert

Question 21

CRL power types

Answer 21

Coercive: most direct form; exerted through the threat of force

Reward: opposite of coercive; motivate action by promising rewards

Legitimate: compel action through a sense of social or cultural authority

Question 22

RIE power types

Answer 22

Reference / referant: group membership as a motivational tool, and expert power is derived from expertise; exerts control by appealing to others’ desire to belong to a group

Informational: deploy relevant information to bring about change or influence others’ behavior

Expert: power conferred by the socially symbolic status of being a credentialed expert in a field

Informational power is deployed when someone who may not have formal training in a field cites studies in support of their opinion, while expert power is often used by physicians to counteract such claims that may be incorrect.

Question 23

define the following:

• proactive interference

- confabulation

Answer 23

Proactive interference: currently existing long-term memories can interfere with the process of forming new long-term memories

Confabulation: making up memories to fill in gaps and then believing that those memories are true

Question 24

sensory memory

• iconic
• echoic

Answer 24

initial recording of encoded sensory information, and is therefore the most fleeting form of memory storage.

iconic memory, responsible for visual information and lasting only a few tenths of a second

echoic memory, responsible for auditory information and lasting 3 to 4 seconds

Question 25

Short term memory

- working memory

Answer 25

Short-term memory: last closer to 30 seconds without repetition; can typically only handle about seven pieces of information at once (ie a phone number)

Working memory: element of short-term memory that allows us to consciously process and manipulate a few pieces of information, involving an interplay between short-term memory, attention, and the executive function of the brain

Question 26

long term memory

• implicit
• explicit (2)

Answer 26

currently theorized to have a potentially infinite capacity

Implicit / nondeclarative memory: encoded by the cerebellum; for acquired skills and conditioned responses to circumstances and stimuli
Procedural memory: accounts for motor skills and specific physical actions

Explicit / declarative memory: encoded by the hippocampus; accounts for memories that we must consciously recall with effort and focus

• • Episodic memory: accounts for our experiences
• • Semantic memory: accounts for facts and concepts that we know

Question 27

memory disorders

Answer 27

characterized by memory loss

Korsakoff syndrome is a chronic memory disorder caused by severe deficiency of vitamin B1 (thiamine), causing the reduction in the activity of certain enzymes, which causes a reduction in mitochondrial activity, decreased energy production, and eventually selective neuronal death → common in alcohol abuse cases

Alzheimer’s: characterized by cognitive difficulties, loss of memory, disorientation, and often language problems

• • Neuronal death arises in two ways
    (1) Amyloid plaques: sticky clumps or patches of protein surrounded by the debris of dying nerve cells in the brain
    (2) Neurofibrillary tangles: twisted remains of damaged tau proteins, which are required for normal brain function

Huntington’s: fatal condition characterized by involuntary movements and dementia, caused by an expanded CAG repeat in the gene that encodes the huntingtin protein on chromosome 4 that triggers progressive atrophy of brain structures
– has autosomal dominant inheritance

Question 28

motor dysfunction disorders

Answer 28

can originate from anywhere along the motor pathways (cortex to spinal cord to target muscles), thus diagnosis rely on looking for physical evidence that may suggest where the blockage or loss of signal is occurring

Parkinson’s: characterized by stiff, rigid movements of the limbs, along with tremors, slowed movements, and impaired balance; caused by a loss of dopamine-producing cells in the brain
– Recall that dopamineis a neurotransmitter that transmits signals within the brain, so the coordination among nerve and muscle cells is disrupted in Parkinson’s

Multiple sclerosis (MS): affects the CNS by acting as an autoimmune disease caused by the immune system attacking and damaging the myelin sheath in the nervous system, thus resulting in poorer nervous signal conduction
-- The exact symptoms of MS depend on which nerve fibers are damaged.

Question 29

Action potentials

four values to know

Answer 29

act as how neurons send signals to other neurons or to the neuromuscular junction → mechs involve the voltage potential difference across the neuronal cell membrane

• 70 mV: resting potential of the nerve cell → maintained by the constant action of the Na/K ATPase, which established an electrochemical gradient across a selectively permeable membrane
• 55 mV: threshold of polarization → once an excitatory stimulus has brought the resting potential up to this point, the cell will undergo an action potential
• • the sodium voltage-gated channels open and Na+ ions rush into the cell

+40 mV: peak of depolarization

• • the sodium channels close and potassium voltage-gated channels open, causing Ka+ ions to rush out
• • This causes repolarization, which will continue until the cell overshoots the −70 mV level

< -70 mV: temporary hyperpolarization after peak, aka refractory period
– Na/K ATPase works to re-establish the resting state of the cell

Question 30

define the following in relation to each other

• estrogen
• progesterone
• FSH
• hCG

Answer 30

Estrogen produced from the developing follicles stimulate endometrial growth

Vs. progesterone is responsible for converting the estrogen-primed endometrium into a receptive state.

Vs. follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH): promotes the growth of ovarian follicles in females and spermatogenesis in males

Vs. Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG): maintains the corpus luteum and induces it to secrete progesterone during the first trimester

Question 31

define the following:

• explicit attitude vs implicit
• covert behavior vs overt
• attitude polarization

Answer 31

Explicit attitudes are conscious attitudes
Vs. Implicit is unconscious.

Vs. Covert behavior is unobservable behavior.
Vs. Overt is observable.

Attitude polarization describes changes in attitudes among people in groups – tendency to go to the extreme.

Question 32

define the following:

• learned helplessness

- identity moratorium

Answer 32

Learned helplessness describes a situation in which a person makes many attempts to solve a problem and they are not effective; often associated with depression

Vs. An identity moratorium describes a person who is in the midst of an identity crisis, considering changing their identity, and is actively seeking alternative identities.

Question 33

define the following:

• social constructionism

- exchange-rational theory

Answer 33

Social constructionism: examines the development of jointly constructed understandings of the world; assumes that understanding, significance, and meaning are developed not separately within the individual, but in coordination with other human beings

Vs. Exchange-rational theory: posits that patterns of behavior in societies reflect the choices made by individuals as they try to maximize their benefits and minimize their costs

Question 34

define the following:

• recency effect

- feminist theory

Answer 34

Recency effect: order of presentation effect that occurs when more recent information is better remembered and receives greater weight in forming a judgment than does earlier-presented information

Vs. Feminist theory: branch of feminism that seeks to explain the nature of gender inequality