Psychology Final Part 2 (#23) Flashcards
Basing the estimated
probability of an event on the ease with which relevant
instances come to mind. Ex. People overestimate the
frequency of dramatic deaths and underestimate the
frequency of undramatic deaths (airplane deaths vs.
tobacco related deaths).
Availability heuristic
Basing the
estimated probability of an event on how similar it
is to the typical prototype of that event. Ex.
Parents have 4 girls and yearn for a baby boy. They
believe the probability of having 5 girls in a row is
pretty low, so they go for it. In reality the
probability of having another girl is exactly the
same as the probability of having a boy.
Representativeness heuristic
The process that involves evaluating
alternatives and making choices among them
is known as
Decision Making
Tendency to think of an object functioning only in its usual or
customary way.
Functional Fixedness
The capacity to gain an accurate and deep intuitive
understanding of a person or thing.
Insight
reaching a sudden realization of a solution to a problem.
Insightful thinking
Thinking that produces many alternatives from a single
starting point; a major element of creativity.
Divergent Thinking
Evidence to suggests that Intellectual development is influenced more by
genetics than by environmental factors is due to the correlation in IQ scores between identical twins reared apart being higher than the IQ scores between fraternal twins reared together.
examined the IQ test scores of 130 black or interracial children adopted by advantaged white families. The aim of the study was to determine the contribution of environmental and genetic factors to the poor performance of black children on IQ tests as compared to white children.
Minnesota Transracial Adoption Study
The study found that
“(a) putative genetic racial differences do not account for a major portion of the IQ performance difference between racial groups, and (b) black and interracial children reared in the culture of the tests and the schools perform as well as other adopted children in similar families.“
provide support for the influence of both environmental and genetic factors on intelligence.
Adoptions studies
A set of factors that activate,
direct, and maintain behavior,
usually toward some goal.
Motivation
are biological and
social.
Motives
include
hunger, thirst, and sex.
Biological motives
include needs
for affiliation, arousal,
autonomy, achievement,
dominance, and order.
Social motives
Subjective feeling that
includes:
* arousal (heart pounding),
* cognitions (thoughts,
values, and
expectations)
* expressive behaviors
(smiles, frowns, crying,
and running).
Emotion
Deviations from homeostasis or equilibrium create internal physiological needs that result in psychological drives (an internal state of bodily tension that arises from an unmet need) that direct behavior to meet the need and ultimately bring the system back to homeostasis or physiological equilibrium.
Drive Reduction Theory of Motivation
maintains that external stimuli pull people toward desirable goals or away from undesirable ones. Most of us initially eat because our hunger “pushes” us (drive-reduction theory). But the sight of apple pie or ice cream too often “pulls” us toward continued eating
This explains why we continue to eat even when we are completely satisfied and why someone works overtime when his or her salary is sufficient to meet their needs. They are incentivized toward desirable goals: pie tastes so good, and upward mobility is a desire in this job.
incentive theory
This is mostly determined by environmental factors, such as parental upbringing.
Activation Motivation
People high in nAch (need for achievement) avoid tasks that are too easy because they offer little challenge or satisfaction. They also avoid extremely difficult tasks because the probability of success is too low.
Preference for moderately difficult tasks
High achievement–oriented people are more attracted to careers and tasks that involve competition and an opportunity to excel.
Competitiveness
High achievement–oriented people tend to prefer tasks with a clear outcome and situations in which they can receive feedback on their performance. They also prefer criticism from a harsh but competent evaluator to criticism from one who is friendlier but less competent.
Preference for clear goals with competent feedback
People with high nAch prefer being personally responsible for a project so that they can feel satisfied when the task is well done.
Responsibility
. High achievement–oriented people are more likely to persist at a task when it becomes difficult. In one study, 47 % of high nAch individuals persisted on an “unsolvable task” until time was called, compared with only 2 % of people w/ low nAch.
Persistence
