psych exam 2

Question 1

What are sensory receptors?

Answer 1

Specialized neurons that detect sensory stimuli.

Question 2

What is sensation?

Answer 2

Detecting external or internal stimuli through sensory receptors.

Question 3

What is perception?

Answer 3

Interpreting and making sense of sensory information.

Question 4

What is bottom-up processing?

Answer 4

Processing that starts with raw sensory input and builds up to perception.

Question 5

What is top-down processing?

Answer 5

Processing guided by prior knowledge, expectations, and experiences.

Question 6

What is inattentional blindness?

Answer 6

Not noticing something visible because attention is focused elsewhere.

Question 7

What is sensory adaptation?

Answer 7

Decreased sensitivity to a constant stimulus over time.

Question 8

What is signal detection theory?

Answer 8

Explains how we detect faint signals among background noise.

Question 9

What do rods do?

Answer 9

Detect light and help with vision in low-light conditions.

Question 10

What do cones do?

Answer 10

Detect color and fine detail in bright light.

Question 11

How does vision work?

Answer 11

Light → cornea → pupil → lens → retina → optic nerve → brain.

Question 12

How does hearing work?

Answer 12

Sound → eardrum → ossicles → cochlea → hair cells → auditory nerve → brain.

Question 13

What are the 5 Gestalt principles?

Answer 13

Figure-ground, proximity, similarity, continuity, closure.

Question 14

What is classical conditioning?

Answer 14

Learning by associating a neutral stimulus with a meaningful one.

Question 15

What is a neutral stimulus?

Answer 15

A stimulus that does not cause a response on its own.

Question 16

What is an unconditioned stimulus?

Answer 16

A stimulus that naturally triggers a response.

Question 17

What is an unconditioned response?

Answer 17

A natural reaction to an unconditioned stimulus.

Question 18

What is a conditioned stimulus?

Answer 18

A previously neutral stimulus that now triggers a response.

Question 19

What is a conditioned response?

Answer 19

A learned response to a previously neutral stimulus.

Question 20

What is higher order conditioning?

Answer 20

Using a conditioned stimulus to condition another stimulus.

Question 21

What is stimulus generalization?

Answer 21

Responding similarly to stimuli that resemble the original.

Question 22

What is stimulus discrimination?

Answer 22

Responding only to the specific conditioned stimulus.

Question 23

What is extinction?

Answer 23

The disappearance of a conditioned response.

Question 24

What is spontaneous recovery?

Answer 24

The sudden return of a conditioned response after extinction.

Question 25

What is shaping?

Answer 25

Reinforcing small steps toward a desired behavior.

Question 26

What is latent learning?

Answer 26

Learning that isn’t shown until there’s a reason to use it.

Question 27

What is a fixed interval schedule?

Answer 27

Reinforcement after a set time (e.g. every week).

Question 28

What is a variable interval schedule?

Answer 28

Reinforcement after random time intervals.

Question 29

What is a fixed ratio schedule?

Answer 29

Reinforcement after a set number of responses.

Question 30

What is a variable ratio schedule?

Answer 30

Reinforcement after an unpredictable number of responses.

Question 31

What is positive reinforcement?

Answer 31

Adding something to increase behavior.

Question 32

What is negative reinforcement?

Answer 32

Taking something away to increase behavior.

Question 33

What is positive punishment?

Answer 33

Adding something to decrease behavior.

Question 34

What is negative punishment?

Answer 34

Taking something away to decrease behavior.

Question 35

What happened in the Little Albert study?

Answer 35

A child was conditioned to fear a white rat.

Question 36

What is vicarious reinforcement?

Answer 36

Learning by seeing someone else get rewarded.

Question 37

What is vicarious punishment?

Answer 37

Learning by seeing someone else get punished.

Question 38

What was Bandura’s Bobo doll experiment?

Answer 38

Children copied aggressive behavior they observed in adults.

Question 39

What are concepts?

Answer 39

Mental groupings of similar ideas or objects.

Question 40

What is functional fixedness?

Answer 40

Only seeing objects used in their usual way.

Question 41

What is anchoring bias?

Answer 41

Relying too heavily on the first info given.

Question 42

What is confirmation bias?

Answer 42

Focusing only on info that supports your beliefs.

Question 43

What is hindsight bias?

Answer 43

Believing you "knew it all along" after something happens.

Question 44

What is representative bias?

Answer 44

Stereotyping based on how much something fits a prototype.

Question 45

What is the triarchic theory of intelligence?

Answer 45

Intelligence has 3 parts: analytical, creative, practical.

Question 46

What is crystallized intelligence?

Answer 46

Knowledge from experience and learning.

Question 47

What is fluid intelligence?

Answer 47

Ability to solve new problems quickly.

Question 48

What is standardization?

Answer 48

Giving tests under consistent conditions.

Question 49

What is norming?

Answer 49

Setting test score standards based on population averages.

Question 50

What are 3 problem-solving strategies?

Answer 50

Trial and error, algorithm, heuristic.

Question 51

What is the WAIS?

Answer 51

A test measuring adult intelligence.

Question 52

What is an event schema?

Answer 52

Expected behavior in a specific situation.

Question 53

What is a role schema?

Answer 53

Expectations for how someone in a role should act.

Question 54

What is the bell curve?

Answer 54

A graph showing most people score near average.

Question 55

What is automatic processing?

Answer 55

Unconscious encoding of info.

Question 56

What is effortful processing?

Answer 56

Encoding that needs attention and effort.

Question 57

What are the 3 types of encoding?

Answer 57

Semantic (meaning), visual (images), acoustic (sounds).

Question 58

What is sensory memory?

Answer 58

Brief storage of raw sensory input.

Question 59

What is short-term memory?

Answer 59

Temporarily holds a few items (about 7).

Question 60

What is long-term memory?

Answer 60

Unlimited and long-lasting memory storage.

Question 61

What is semantic memory?

Answer 61

Memory for facts and general knowledge.

Question 62

What is episodic memory?

Answer 62

Memory of personal experiences.

Question 63

What is procedural memory?

Answer 63

Memory for how to do things.

Question 64

What is emotional conditioning?

Answer 64

Learned emotional responses.

Question 65

What is arousal theory?

Answer 65

Strong emotions make strong memories.

Question 66

What is a flashbulb memory?

Answer 66

Vivid memory of a major emotional event.

Question 67

What is anterograde amnesia?

Answer 67

Can’t form new memories after an injury.

Question 68

What is retrograde amnesia?

Answer 68

Can’t remember old memories from before trauma.

Question 69

What is suggestibility?

Answer 69

Forming false memories from outside info.

Question 70

What is the misinformation effect?

Answer 70

False memories caused by misleading information.

Question 71

What are the 7 sins of memory?

Answer 71

Transience, absentmindedness, blocking, misattribution, suggestibility, bias, persistence.

Question 72

How can memory be improved?

Answer 72

Use rehearsal, chunking, elaboration, and mnemonics.