Psyc Midterm Questions Flashcards
What are the two criteria for critical thinking in psychology. In the end, which of the two criteria is more important? Why?
Two criteria for critical thinking: 1. Does it make sense? (theoretical), 2. What is the empirical evidence?
The second criteria is more important because psychology relies on the scientific method which favors empirical evidence.
The scientific method values informed opinions and evaluating quality of evidence. Evidence allows theories to be adjusted and new theories to be formed
Design an experiment to see if spending more time studying for an exam results in higher grades. Be sure to include a discussion of the following ideas in your answer: control group, experimental group, and operational definition.
Study done using 100 students split into 2 groups. The control group will study the same material for 5 hours and the experimental group will study for 10 hours. “studying” will be operationally defined as reviewing answers to the practice questions for the exam. The independant variable will be time spent studying and the dependant variable will be the exam grades. The hypothesis would be that increases in studying will be related to an increase in grades.
Define and give an example (hypothetical or otherwise) of each the 3 types of representativeness issues discussed in class. In what way are these three types all concerned with representativeness?
- Setting representativeness: examining subject in a unnatural environment (e.g. studying apes in a zoo versus in their natural setting)
- Researcher effects: refers to a researcher finding what they want to find, is usually unconscious (e.g. classes labeled “high ability” did better than “low ability” but in reality they were just a mix of random abilities- self-fulfilling prophecy)
- Demand Characteristics: participants form an idea of what the experiment is intended for and change their behavior for that purpose. (e.g. is the placebo effect. An example from the textbook is that saline (saltwater) injections are 70 as effective as morphine in reducing pain.
- These types are all concerned with representativeness because they can affect the ability to generalize the results of a study. Generalizing only works if a sample is truly representative of an overall population.
What is the “triune brain” hypothesis? How does it relate to the major divisions of the brain presented in your textbook? What major functions are carried out by each of the levels?
Triune Brain has 3 layers:
- Reptilian/ Hindbrain
- medulla, pons, cerebellum
- controls motor coordination, sleep, arousal, rapid response, emotion processing, fight or flight - Paleomammalian/ Limbic System
- amygdala, hippocampus, hypothalymus
- Emotions (love, anger, fear) - Neomammalian/ Cerebral cortex
- left and right hemisphere, corpus callosum, esp, frontal lobes)
- Thinking/ learning
The triune brain hypothesis proposed by Maclean suggests that the 3 levels don’t work together all the time, they compete. Not always purely one system is acting at a given time
What does it mean to localize function in the brain? How could you use PET scans to investigate the potential role the occipital lobe in appreciating art?
Localizing function: finding which structures of the brain are related to certain functions or actions
PET scans : Positron Emission Topography
- An imaging technique that results in a computer-generated image of brain activity based on the glucose consumption of the brain
- Produces images near the surface and below
- Shows what brain areas are using more energy
PET scans could be used to examine activity in the occipital lobe while a person is observing/ appreciating art and measure how much activity occurs versus how much activity is in other parts of the brain
What are the distal stimulus, the proximal stimulus, and the percept? What are sensation and perception? How do these 5 terms interrelate?
Distal stimulus: Actual or real stimulus (stimulus us any physical energy sensed by an organism)
Proximal stimulus : Pattern of energy falling on sense receptor
Percept: our experience of a stimulus (organizing sensations into patterns)
Sensation :
A sensory impression; also, the process of detecting physical energies with the sensory organs.
brainnuses sensation to form perception
Perception: Process by which nerve impulses sent from sense receptor to the brain is interpreted (constructed) to give to percept
What is the difference between these two theories of perception: naïve realism and constructivism? What is an illusion and how does the study of illusions help us distinguish between these two theories?
Naïve realism: the idea that what we see is the same as what is out there (perception and reality are the same thing)
Constructivism: The idea that our perceptual experience is constructed from incoming sensory information (the percept is not the distal stimulus)
Illusion: a misleading or misconstrued perception (length, position, motion, curvature or direction is constantly misjudged)
Our perceptions are assembled in both bottom-up and top-down fashion. Explain, using the Müller-Lyer illusion as an example.
Bottom up: constructing at bottom (small sensory/ basic units) and work upward for complete perception
Top-down: applying higher knowledge/ past experiences to organize sensory information into a meaningful perception
The Muller-Lyer illusion is a line with arrowheads facing in or out.
Evidence suggests it is based on a lifetime of experience with the edges and corners of rooms and buildings. Richard Gregory (2000) believes you see the horizontal line with the V’s as if it were the corner of a room viewed from inside (• Figure 4.47). The line with arrowheads, on the other hand, suggests the corner of a room or building seen from outside. In other words, cues that suggest a three-dimensional space alter our perception of a two-dimensional design.
Define and give an example of any five monocular depth cues.
- Linear perspective: the convergence of parallel lines- example two railroad tracks meet in the horizon
2 Relative size: if two objects have the same size but different distances, the more distant object is drawn smaller
- Height in the picture plane: Objects that are placed higher (closer to the horizon line) in a drawing tend to be perceived as more distant. (black columns look like they are receding into the distance partly because they become smaller, but also because they move higher in the drawing)
- Aerial perspective: distant objects appear to be hazy, washed out, and lacking in detail. Example: seeing a distant mountain range on a clear day and it seems close when in reality it is far away
- texture Gradients: Changes in texture (If you stand in the middle of a cobblestone street, the street will look coarse near your feet.its texture will get smaller and finer if you look into the distance)
Define and give an example of any five Gestalt organizing principles
Nearness: groups pf objects can be organized in ways that are perceptually different based on the spaces in between them (3 people are standing together and the fourth is standing far away, or all could be equally spaced to change perception)
Similarity: stimulus that are similar in size, shape, color, or form tend to be put together Ex. Two teams standing together with different uniforms will be seen as two separate groups, not one large
Closure: tendency to complete a figure so that it has a consistent form (e.g. seeing a circle even though there is a gap in it
Common region: stimuli found in the same area will be grouped together
Continuation: perceptions tend towards simplicity and continuity it is easier to visualize a wavy line on a squared- off line than it is to see a complex row of shapes
Describe the dual process hypothesis of sleep, using an example.
The dual process hypothesis of sleep: Proposes that NREM and REM sleep work together to help “refresh” the brain and store memories.
How- NREM sleep reduces the overall level of brain activation, allowing unimportant memories to be forgotten while REM sleep sharpens memory for important events from the previous day
REM: high brain activity levels
NREM: lowers activity levels
Distinguish between cognitive learning and associative learning. Also distinguish between the two forms of associative learning discussed in lecture. Give an example of each of the three types of learning and relate your examples to hot/cool theory.
Cognitive learning: higher-level learning involving thinking , knowing, understanding, and anticipation
Associative learning: the formation of simple associations between various stimuli and responses. The two forms of associative learning are classical conditioning and operant conditioning
Classical conditioning: a form of learning in which reflex responses are associated with new stimuli. Teaching or modifying behavior through the pairing of a stimulus that doesn’t produce a response with a stimulus that does produce a response. (Pavlov’s dog learned to salivate when a bell was rung by stimulus pairing
Operant conditioning: learning is based on the consequences of responding (wear a hat and you get compliments- wear it more, get insults- wear it less)
- Cognitive thinking uses the cool system
- Associative thinking uses the hot system
Hot system: “go” reflexive, fast, develops early, accentuated by stress
Cool system: “know”, complex, reflective, slow, develops late, self-control, developed by practise
Stress can move away from cool system toward hot (better to quit smoking during low stress)
There are two forms of reinforcement and two forms of punishment. Describe and give an example of each of them.
Positive reinforcement: response is followed by reward. This increases to probability of the response occurring again. Example: giving a child chocolate as a reward for good behavior (if the child likes chocolate)
Negative reinforcement: response is followed by the removal of an unpleasant event, increases probability of response occurring. (take aspirin for a headache and the headache goes away)
Positive punishment (response cost): presenting an undesirable outcome following and undesirable behavior (i.e. squirting a cat with water after it eats off your plate)
Negative punishment: taking something desirable away after the occurrence of a particular bad behavior (taking away xbox)
All are ways used to modify behaviour
Describe how you could use operant conditioning to test if pigeons can tell the difference between the colors green and blue.
Operant conditioning: is centered on associating responses with their consequences.
How to test on pigeons: Have 2 identical objects of different colors.
- Use positive reinforcement when the pigeon chooses green but not when it chooses blue
- The reinforcement is stronger is the reward is given every time and is given immediately after the response occurs,
Including continuous reinforcement, 5 schedules of reinforcement are discussed in your textbook. Define each one and give an example.
- Continuous reinforcement: reinforces follows every correct response (useful for learning new responses) example- teach dog to come to you, reinforce every time it is called
- Fixed Ratio: a set number of correct responses must be made to get a reward. (getting paid for every 5 dishes you clean)
- Variable ratio: a varied number of correct responses must be made to get a reward (on average). Example: making a sale after anywhere from 1 to 20 times (average every 10 times)
- Fixed interval: the first correct response made after time period has passed is reinforced, example a rat gets reinforced every 30 seconds
- Variable interval: reinforcement is given for the first correct response made in a varied amount of time. Example making a sale anywhere from 1-7 days but on average 3
