Random Terms Flashcards
What is classical conditioning?
Learning to associate between two stimuli, leading to a change in response to a neutral stimulus. Conditioning occurs when neutral stimulus is blue to elicit the same response as an unconditioned stimulus
What is operant conditioning?
Causes voluntary changes in behaviour to a stimulus in 2 ways: reinforcement or punishment
What role does “reinforcement” have in operant conditioning?
Encourages behaviour
What role does “punishment” have in operant conditioning?
Decreasing behaviour
What is the difference between positive and negative reinforcement?
Positive: addition of stimulus to encourage behaviour
Negative: removing something desirable to encourage behaviour
What is continuous reinforcement?
Fastest way to establish a learned response, organism is reinforced every time response produced
What is partial reinforcement?
Most sustainable way to establish a learned response, reinforcement of behavrour occurs only some of the time
What are the 4 types of partial reinforcement?
Fixed interval, variable interval, fixed ratio, variable ratio
What are the types of punishment?
Positive and negative
What is positive punishment?
A negative consequence is added to discourage on undesired behavour
What is negative punishment?
Taking away something desirable to discourage undesired behaviour
What is extinction?
When a behaviour to a stimulus is no longer reinforced, the learned behavour can gradually disappear
What is spontaneous recovery?
The re-emergence of a previously extinct response to a conditioned stimuli
What is habituation?
Decreased response to a stimulus as it keeps being presented (over time, reaction to movie jump scares decreases)
What is dishabituation?
Responding to a habituated stimuli as if it were novel, occurs when a stimulus to habituated response disappears for a while
What is sensitization?
The opposite of habituation, increased response to a stimulus as keeps being presented
What is stimulus generalization?
Stimulus that is similar to a conditioned stimulus produces a conditioned response
What is stimulus discrimination?
Learning to distinguish between two similar stimuli
What is achieved status?
One who earns their social status through their own achievements
What is ascribed status?
When one inherits their position on the social hierarchy
What is social status?
Melding of achieved and ascribed status - so, earned and born in to, influence eachother
What is master status?
Describes the status of greatest importance in particular person’s life (ex; race, religion, gender, etc)
What is observational learning?
Result of watching and mimicking the actions of others, thought to be driven by mirror neurons
What is preparedness?
Phenomenon that describes when an organism learns a behaviour similar to what it is naturally predisposed to do
What is a behavioural sequence?
Series of ordered actions that must be performed in a sequence
What is latent learning?
Learning that has already occurred without a reward system, but is immediately demonstrated when a reward is introduced
What is insight learning?
When previously learned behaviours are suddenly combined in unique ways
What is the serial position effect?
Tendency of a person to recall the first and last items in a series - but middle items the worst
What is the Von Restorff effect?
Predicts that an item that “stands out like a sore thumb” is more likely to be remembered than other items. Bias in favour of remembering the unusual
What is chunking?
When performing a memory task, grouping of responses based on items semantic relatedness or perceptual features
What is echoic memory?
Sensory memory register, specific to retaining auditory information
What is iconic memory?
Visual sensory memory register pertaining to the visual domain
What is primacy effect?
Cognitive bias that results in a subject recalling primary information better than information presented later on (remembering first words over later words)
What is explicit memory?
Conscious, intentional recollection of previous experiences and information
What is episodic memory?
Memory of autobiographical events that can be explicitly stated - past personal experiences at a specific time
What is semantic memory?
Type of explicit memory, that refers to general world knowledge
What is implicit memory?
Type of memory in which previous experience aid the performance of a task without conscious awareness of previous experience
What is priming?
Implicit memory effect when exposure to one stimulus influences response to another stimulus
What is word stem completion?
Verbal test of perceptual implicit memory
What is procedural memory?
Type of implicit memory, it is the memory for the performance of particular types of action
What is motivation?
Like an invisible force that drives us to act in a certain way and achieve certain goals. Depends on source, goal and drive
What is intrinsic motivation?
Directed by internal rewards or one’s internal desire to do something for its own sake
What is extrinsic motivation?
Directed by external rewards from the environment - only willing to do the task because it offers some kind of reward
Individual self-concept is shaped by what?
Self-esteem, self-efficacy and perceived locus of control
What is self-esteem?
Refers to the preceptor of one’s identity, self-respect, and role in society
What is self-efficacy?
Perceived capabilities and independence within society
What is the difference between internal verses external locus of control?
External - individual believes situation is out of their control and deeply influenced by other factors
Internal - think of themselves as very self sufficient and capable
What is self serving bias?
Explains how individual explain their own successes or failures. If an individual is successful more likely to attribute to internal locus of control. If failure - more likely to attribute to external locus of control
What is the fundamental attribution error?
States that individuals are more likely to attribute the failures of others to inferent personality faults
What is drive reduction theory?
Says that all motivation arises from the goal of fulfilling these biological needs, or drives (hunger, thirst, temperature, other biological needs)
What is instinct theory?
Says we are all fan with instincts, or innate tendencies for certain behaviour - instincts must be 1) unlearned and innate and 2) occur in a similar fashion across species
What is arousal theory?
States that each person has an optimal level of arousal, and that we are motivated to pursue behaviours that will help us maintain this optimal level
What is incentive theory?
States that behaviour is motivated by the individuals environment through rewards, heavily based on behaviourism - people behave in ways that lead to rewards
What is social cognitive theory?
States that behaviour is deeply influenced by cognitive processes and the social content in which behavours are made
What are attitudes?
Particular thoughts, feelings, and evaluations toward other components in the environment
What are the three components of attitudes?
Affective (emotional response or feelings), behavioural (external behaviours displayed) and cognitive (logical reasoning, beliefs and knowledge based evaluations)
What is the foot in the door phenomenon?
Small tasks are asked to increase the likelihood of performing a larger task
What is the door in the face effect?
When an overwhelmingly large task is asked of an individual to increase the likelihood of performing a relatively small test
What is cognitive dissonance?
Occurs as two or more beliefs in the cognitive component of an attitude begin to directly contradict one another
What is the theory of the looking-glass self?
States that society’s perception of an individual will ultimately affect the way the individual perceived themselves
What is “me”?
Represents the perception of how society perceives the individual
What is “I”?
Describes the individual as a response to “me”
Who created idea of me and I?
Mead
What is role-taking?
When an individual assumes an unfamiliar role - then gradually adapts to the responsibilities of the role
What is impression management?
In certain situations, it may be desirable to augment positive components of oneself while downplaying negative components
What is Freuds theory of psychosexual development?
Under this theory, each stage of life is oriented around resolving libido
What are Freuds 5 psychosexual stages?
1 - Oral
2 - Anal
3 - Phallic
4 - Latency
5 - Genital
What it stage #1 of Freud’s theory of psychosexual development?
Oral stage, infancy (birth to 1 year)
Libido is focused on the baby’s mouth and pleasure is derived from oral stimulation - oriented around biting, suckling and breastfeeding
What is stage #2 of Freud’s theory of psychosexual development?
Anal stage, early childhood (1-3 years)
Libido is focused on the anus, and pleasure is derived from excreting fecal matter
What is stage #3 of Freud’s theory of psychosexual development?
Phallic stage, preschool (3 to 6 years)
When a child starts to differentiate into male or female identity and becomes aware of their own sexuality
What is stage #4 of Freud’s theory of psychosexual development?
Latency, school age (16 to 12 years)
When sexual interests start to decline and libido is focused on developing friendships, social skills and hobbies
What is stage #5 of Freuds theory of psychosexual development?
Genital, adolescence (12 to 18 years)
Sexual interests begin to rise again, libido is focused on fulfilling the needs of others
What can fixation lead to in each of Freud’s stages of psychosexual development?
Stage #1: Oral - can head to individual becoming over dependent and aggressive in adulthood and engaging in orally stimulating behaviours (excessive eating, drinking, smoking or nail biting)
Stage #2: Anal - “anal retentive behaviour where individual becomes excessively detail- oriented and seeks out excessive order and cleanliness
Stage #3: Phallic - can lead to relationship issues, typically resulting from adult personalities that are overly narcissistic, vain, sexually aggressive or incapable of close love
Stage #4: Latency - N/A
Stage #5: Genital - can lead to fetishes, homosexuality and a sexuality
What is Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development?
Development occurs over 8 stages, and each stage presented a dilemma, orpsychosocial crisis that needed to be resolved in order to develop a healthy personality
What is virtue?
Trait that is acquired upon successful development at each stage?
What are the stages of Ericsson’s theory of psychosocial development?
Stage 1: trust and mistrust
Stage 2: autonomy vs shame and doubt
Stage 3: initiative and guilt
Stage 4: industry vs inferiority
Stage 5: identity vs role confusion
Stage 6: intimacy vs isolation
Stage 7: generativity be stagnation
Stage 8: integrity vs despair
What characterizes stage #1 (trust vs. mistrust) of Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development?
Infant looks to caregiver for consistent and stable care - if needs are met = TRUST. If needs are unmet = mistrust, anxiety, suspicion in the future
What characterizes stage #2 (autonomy vs. shame and doubt) of Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development?
Children begin to gain a sense of self and autonomy - learning personal control over various physical skills
Parents allow child to explore/fail = healthy sense of sense and desire to try new things
Parents suffocate independence = overdependence, each of self-esteem, and self-doubt
What characterizes stage #3 (initiative vs. guilt) of Erickson’s theory of psychosocial development?
Children begin to assert themselves through play and interactions with peers
When fulfilled = learn interpersonal skills, feel secure in leadership and decision making abilities
When unfulfilled (due to criticism or excessive control) = develop sense of guilt or shies away from pursuing any future initiatives
What characterizes stage #4 (industry vs inferiority) of Erickson’s theory of psychosocial development?
Children learn to read and write understand basic math and do problems on their own - children seek out support and approval of the peers by demonstrating their skills
Fulfilled = sense of pride and competency
Unfulfilled = feeling unable to live up to expectations demonstrating certain skills, feel inferior
What characterizes stage #5 (Identity vs role confusion) of Erickson’s theory of psychosocial development?
Keens begin searching for a sense of self and personal identity by exploring personal beliefs, values and goals
Fulfilled = establish own identity, gain fidelity andaccept ideological differences
Unfulfilled = identity crisis about what function the individual fulfills in society - may experiment and assume shapeless personality
What characterizes stage #6 (intimacy vs isolation) of Erickson’s theory of psychosocial development?
Exploring intimate relationships with others
Fulfilled = find sense of commitment, intimacy, safety and love in their relationships
Unfulfilled = avoid intimacy and fearing commitment may result isolation, loneliness and depression
What characterizes stage #7 (generativity vs stagnation) of Erickson’s theory of psychosocial development?
Making a mark on the world by creating or working on projects meant to outlast them - raising children, working, community involvement
Fulfilled = sense of belonging and care towards society
Unfulfilled = failing to find a way to contribute to society results in stagnation and disconnection
What characterizes stage #8 (integrity vs despair) of Erickson’s theory of psychosocial development?
Individuals reflect on their life achievements and events
Fulfilled = looking back without regrets, sense of integrity or wisdom and accepting life’s journey and death
Unfulfilled = looking back with sense of guilt, regret, bitterness or sense of unproductively - develop depression and start to fear death
What is Kohlberg’s theory of moral development?
Explores the development of traits and virtues, believed that individuals achieve different levels of maturity and moral understanding as they progress through life
What are Kohlberg’s 3 stages of moral reasoning?
Level #1: pre-conventional
Level #2: conventional
Level #3: post-conventional
*each with 2 sub stages
What is Kohlberg’s pre-conventional stage and it’s sub stages?
Don’t yet have personal moral code - adopt whatever parents or authorities tell us what is right or wrong according to their rules and punishments
Sub stage 1 - obedience and punishment avoidance (child obeys and does good in order to avoid punishment, assumes if someone is being punished they did wrong)
Sub stage 2 - individualism and self interest (understanding that role have different viewpoints and will adopt what feels most beneficial to their viewpoint out of self interest)
What is Kohlberg’s conventional stage and its sub stages?
Internalizing of norms and morals of our group, especially those of valued adult role models - we internalize authority without questioning them
Sub stage 3 - Conformity to expectations ( individuals in this stage do good in order to be seen as a good person by others and win their approval
Sub stage 4 - need to uphold laws and social order (uphold the law and other societal rules i order to avoid guilt)
What is Kohlberg’s post conventional stage and its sub stages?
Understanding that right and wrong are not always clear and that is often contextual orsituational, individual judgement becomes based on self-chosen morals and values and based on upholding individual rights and justice
Sub stage 5 - greater good ( aware that while laws are in place to protect the greater good, some instances people are disadvantaged by the law
Sub stage 6 - universal ethics and justice-based laws (own sense of Justice and moral guidelines regardless of existing law, prepared to defend moral vent even if it means defying rest of society)
What is Vygotsky’s theory of sociocultural development?
Children learn to achieve a task if they interact with and learn from someone with a higher level of understanding and ability - child internalizes behaviour to guide their own future behavouro
What are the four elementary mental functions according to Vygotsky?
- Attention
- Sensation
- Perception
- Memory
What are elementary mental functions?
Vygotsky - allow children to carry out most basic of mental and physical tasks, in order to learn more advanced concepts and tasks they need a “more knowledgeable other” to progress to higher mental functions
What is the zone of proximal development?
Area of knowledge where the most important and sensitive instruction should be given - link between being able to do something and not being able to do something
What is personality?
Encompasses our thoughts, feelings and ways of thinking
What are the 6 personality perspectives?
Psychoanalytic
Humanistic
Social cognitive
Behaviourist
Biological
Dramaturgical
What is the psychoanalytic perspective to personality?
Freud focuses on the role of early childhood experiences and the unconscious nerd in shaping personality, believed dreams are mirror of soul and things hidden in the unconscious, driven by libido and death instinct
Per Freud, what is the death instinct?
What motivates destructive and dangerous behavours
According to freed, the psyches is made up of what 3 components?
ID, ego and superego
What is “ID”?
Seeks reward (fueled by libido) and avoids pain - pleasure centre
What is the “superego “?
Serves the opposite role as the ID, center of moral judgement and perfection
What is the “ego”?
Mediator between the superego and the ID, works to find a compromise between the 2 centres
What is the humanistic perspective of personality?
People shape their own mind and their personality through free-will and self-awareness - carl rogers believed humans are inherently good and that this motivation to seek growth is what shapes peoples personality
What is the social cognitive perspective of personality?
Learning through observation and social interaction plays a vital role in the development of the future self aka mirroring behaviours
What is the behavourist perspective of personality?
Human nature to work towards rewards and avoid punishments, personality can be shaped by by the environment and controlled by society through reinforcement
What is the biological perspective of personality?
Also known as trait perspective, personality shaped largely by innate biological traits, or characteristics that stay with us through life, understanding different traits helps us better understand how they give rise Ta different personalities
What is the Big 5 model?
aka OCEAN - aims to measure 5 traits in order to determine what kind of personality an individual has
Traits - openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, neuroticism
How does the openness trait manifest?
High = curious, creative
Low = resisting change
How does the conscientiousness trait manifest?
High = competent, orderly
Low = irresponsible
How does the extraversion trait manifest?
High = outgoing, gregarious
Low = shy, introverted
How does the agreeableness trait manifest?
High = goes with the flow
Low = high maintenance, opinionated
How does the neuroticism trait manifest?
High = anxiety, anger, impulsive
Low = copes well with stress
What is the dramaturgical perspective of personality?
Metaphor - actors behave different backstage vs on stage
Front stage = actions seen by others
Backstage = relaxing and letting one’s “true self” come out
What is self-actualization?
The last need that humans can achieve in their lifetime (Maslow)
What is meritocracy?
An ideal system based on the belief that social stratification is the result of personal effort or merit that determines social standing
What is INTERgenerational mobility?
Phenomena where a child attains higher or lower status than their parents
What is INTRAgenerational mobility?
Change in social status over a single lifetime
What is vertical mobility?
Movement of individuals or groups up or down from one socioeconomic level to another, after by changing jobs or through marriage
What is horizontal mobility?
Movement from one position to another within the same social level
What is anomie?
When there is a lack of opportunity/social norms, individual feels disconnected from society - lack of usual social or ethical standards in an individual or group
What is class consciousness?
Awareness of your class and the interests of your class as a whole
What is false consciousness?
Awareness of yourself and your interest only
What is cultural, social, and economic capital?
Cultural: knowledge, skills, education
Social: connections
Economic: money and property
What is social reproduction?
Transmission of social inequalities from one generation to the next
What is power, privilege and prestige
Power: control over other people
Privilege: perks
Prestige: reputation, how much respect people have of you
What is relative poverty?
Being poor compared to most people around you
What is absolute poverty?
Being poor such that your basic needs are unmet
What is ethnocentrism?
The belief that one’s group is of central importance and includes the tendency to judge the practices of other groups by one’s cultural standards
What is cultural relativism?
Practice of trying to understand a culture on its terms and to judge it by its own standards, awareness of differences in norms, values and practices between cultures
What are the 2 types of discrimination?
Individual and institutional
What is institutional discrimination?
Targets specific, easily stereotyped, and generalizable attributes of endevcuals and can exist within government and social institutions - religion, education, police
What is conflict theory?
Social science perspective that holds that stratification is dysfunctional and harmful in society, with inequality perpetuated because it benefits the rich and powerful at the expense of the poor
What is functionalism?
Framework for building theory that sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability
What is IQ?
Calculated through a comparison of the “mental age” of an individual compared to chronological age
What is Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligence?
Idea that humans can be intelligent in different ways, 7 types of intelligence: linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, visual-spatial, bodily-kinaesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal
What is Spearman’s idea of general intelligence?
Also known as g-factor, high performance of some across all types of intelligence suggests another factor
What is fluid intelligence?
Refers to problem solving and critical thinking - peaks in early adulthood and remains stableuntil old age
What is crystallized intelligence?
Refers to concrete facts, skills and knowledge, peaks in the elderly years, then declines
What is chunking?
Breaking and organizing information into smaller units, or chunks, to aid in memory
What is the central executive?
Coordinates attention and task switching between other processing tasks
What is the visiospatial sketchpord?
Processing of visuals and manipulation into mental maps (visuals projected into space)
What is the phonological loop?
Processing of verbal information like words/numbers, can come from both iconic or echoic stimuli (reading/hearing)
What is the James-Lange theory of emotion?
States that physiological arousal creates the experience of emotion
Stimulus -> Physiological arousal -> Emotion
What is the Schachter-Singer (two factor) theory of emotion?
2 factors needed to express emotion - environmental stimuli and physiological response
Environmental event (stimulus) -> physiological response -> cognitive appraisal -> emotion
What is the Cannon-Bard theory of emotion?
Physiological response and emotion are produced simultaneously and independently
Thalamus is coordinating for these signals
What is the world systems theory?
Conflict theorist view for understanding the relationships between nations
What is a care nation?
Industrialized and produce manufactured goods, strong central government, large tax base
What is a semi periphery nation?
Mix of care and periphery nation
What is a periphery nation?
Least economically diverse, least industrialized and export raw materials, strongly influenced by core nations
What are the four stages of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development?
Mnemonic - some people can fly
Sensorimotor, pre operational, concrete operational, formal operational
What is a stereotype?
A judgement placed on a group of people
What is a stereotype threat?
When knowledge of a stereotype impedes actions/behaviours
Always bad
What is second order conditioning?
Form of learning in which stimulus is first made meaningful or consequential for an organism as the first step, then used as basis for learning about second stimulus
What is social reproduction?
Describes the perpetuation of a social class o states over multiple generations
What is role?
Result of status, ex: student
What is role strain?
Difficulty in meeting the high demands of a particular role that one fills
What is role conflict?
Competing demands of multiple roles one fills
What is role exit?
Transition from exiting one role and entering another role
What are stereotypes?
Simplified generalizations about groups of people
What is discrimination?
Actions against a specific group of people
What is an in group?
Group of people that one considers to be a part of
What is an out group?
Group one does not identify with - rival sports fan
What is social control theory?
Relationships with in-groups and reference groups head to social control - relationships collectively encourage individuals to conform to societal norms + values
What is a reference group?
Group of people that one less to compare oneself with
What are primary, secondary and tertiary reference groups?
Primary - one’s primary contacts, people that one meets + interacts with each day
Secondary - more distant contacts
Tertiary - not necessary any interpersonal connections, interactions are often transient and transactional
What is obedience?
Compliance with commands and instructions given by authority figures
What is groupthink?
Group of people convene and form the some collective opinions - pressure to conform and achieve harmonious results
What is group polarization?
Group shifts toward a more extreme stance after a collective discussion compared to individuals initial stance
What is the halo effect?
When one observes a positive characteristic about a new person, a positive impression of that person is formed
What is the mere exposure effect?
People develop a preference or liking for things due to a gained familiarity with them
What are the four types of support?
Emotional, instrumental, informational, companionship
What is emotional support?
Empathy, trust, love, acceptance - lets the person know they are valued
What is instrumental support?
Food, shelter, emotional - allows individual to meet logistical needs through direct and concrete needs
What is informational support?
Advice, guidance, suggestions - allows person to problem solve for themselves
What is companionship support?
Providing a sense of belonging and esteem - enables person to take part in activities and socialize
What are formal organizations?
Social systems that work towards a shared goal through the means of organized rules, structure and action that ensure the success of the goal
What is bureaucracy?
Hierarchical system in which each person has defined set of responsibilities or duties
What are norms?
Rules which are either implicit or explicit that define acceptable behavour, enforced by community
What are mores?
Types of norms that govern moral behaviour
Ex: premarital sex
What are folkways?
Less important norms governing daily behavours that are enforced by social approval
What are taboos?
Actions or behaviours that are strictly prohibited in a society due to their morally reprehensible nature
Ex: beastiality
What is deviance?
Describes the isolation of social norms
Formal - legal consequences
Informal - stigmatization
What is differential association - theory?
The more exposure one has to deviance, the more deviant one becomes
What is labelling theory?
If society labels You as a deviant, You are more likely to act like one
What is structural strain?
If one cannot reach their goals with the means available, one resorts to deviance to gain resources needed
What is anomie?
General and society-wide reductions of norms and moral order
What is conformity?
Tendency to act, think or believe similarly to others in a group
What is identification?
Desire to be like all other members of a group
What is interference theory?
Other memories interfere with the ability to recall memories
What are the two types of interference?
Retroactive interference - when newly learned information impedes recall of previous memories
Proactive interference - when past memories interfere with potential to learn new memories
