Term 1 Flashcards
What is psychology?
The science of behaviour and the mind
True or False. The visual system is really good at noticing changes both gradual and sudden
False, the visual system tends to only notice sudden changes rather than gradual changes.
Why is the human visual system better at noticing sudden changes rather than gradual?
It is due to our human biology as we are programmed to make decisions based on human survival. Sudden changes are recognised as a potential risk to human survival and that is why our visual system would notice this change although gradual changes are recognised as low risk to human survival and therefore are not noticed as often.
How do we study psychology?
Using a scientific method to discover reliable knowledge about the world.
What is the scientific method?
The scientific method is a set of rules and techniques that allow researchers to avoid biases and mistakes in reaching conclusions.
What is the bystander effect?
The bystander effect, or bystander apathy, is a social psychological claim that individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim when other people are present; the greater the number of bystanders, the less likely it is that one of them will help
What is the common process of phycological research?
To first describe the situation and the behaviour in the natural environment then predict such as specifying how things may co-vary the finally explain what you may think is the cause of that behaviour. (Description, Prediction, Explanation)
What are the main types of research methods in psychology?
The descriptive method, the correlation method and the experimental method.
What is the descriptive method?
The descriptive method is used to describe characteristics and behaviours of a population or phenomenon being studied. It does not answer questions about how/when/why the characteristics or behaviours occurred.
What is the most important 1st step of research?
Using the descriptive method
What are some techniques that can be used for the descriptive method?
Observation without intervention, Observation with intervention and (sometimes) structured intervention.
What are demand characteristics in psychology?
Demand characteristics are any aspect of an experiment that may reveal the hypothesis being tested or that may cue participants as to what behaviors are expected. aka will change the participants natural answer.
What is observer bias?
Occurs when the observers know the aims of the study study or the hypotheses and allow this knowledge to influence their observations.
What is the difference between observer bias and demand characteristics?
Observer bias is quite similar to demand characteristics except that the bias is with the “observers” of the research (i.e., the research team) rather than the participants.
What is the double blind technique?
A double-blind study is one in which neither the participants nor the experimenters know who is receiving a particular treatment. This procedure is utilized to prevent bias in research results.
What is the correlational method?
The correlational method involves looking at relationships between two or more variables. While researchers can use correlations to see if a relationship exists, the variables themselves are not under the control of the researchers. … In other words, correlational studies cannot prove cause-and-effect relationships.
What is a positive correlation?
When both variables increase or decrease together
What is a negative correlation?
When one variable increases and the other decreases.
What is the correlation range?
0-1, with 0 indicating no correlation and 1 indicating a correlation
What is important to remember about correlation?
That correlation is not causation.
What are the 3 criteria for causality?
- An association or a correlation, 2. A temporal precedence, 3. Genuine relationship
What is the experimental method?
The experimental method involves manipulating one variable to determine if changes in one variable cause changes in another variable. This method relies on controlled methods, random assignment and the manipulation of variables to test a hypothesis.
What are the 4 components of a true experiment?
- Manipulation (The variables of interest: Independent and dependant variables) , 2. Participants (Having random selection and random assignment), 3. Data (Collecting results from the experiment), 4. Interpretation (making a conclusion based on the experiment).
What are independant variables?
The variables which are manipulated during an experiment for example if the variable was participants you would be manipulating how many participants you had.
What are dependant variables?
The variables which are measured for example you could be measuring a response time.
What is important to remember about Interpretation during an experiment?
Not to over-interpret such as state you have a strong conclusion on a topic but rather to say the results indicate this conclusion.
What are the characteristics of good scientific findings?
It will be falsifiable, It will be verifiable (reliable and valid), and public and cumulative.
What does falsifiable mean?
It means that your hypothesis for your experiment must be able to be proven right and wrong.
What does public and cumulative mean in terms of a scientific experiment?
It means that your experiment should be able to be done with the same results by other scientists and in other labs.
What is the behaviour repertoire?
It is the set of behaviours containing everything you do.
What are past repertoires?
All the things you once did but no longer do, for example if your mother passed away behaviours you had to do with her would then become past repertoires as they will be things you no longer do.
What are current repertoires?
All the things that you currently do, such as eating breakfast in the morning.
What are future repertoires?
All the things you may do in the future for example you may learn to fly a plane in the future but you do not to that thing now.
What is science based on and need to survive?
Variability and change (Why Questions)
True or False, Repertoires are always changing and when they do often change in dramatic ways.
True.
Where does variability come from?
- Biological and Physiological factors (Hormonal, effects of the brain and injurys, drug use)
- Developmental processes (Emergent processes)
- EXPERIENCE
What are emergent processes?
Changes that evolve as a system’s overall structure and function is transformed into a new regime of behavior, showing new properties that could not have been predicted to arise prior to the transformation
What is Respondent behaviour?
Respondent behaviour is often called Involuntary behaviour as this behaviour usually cannot be consciously controlled. This behaviour elicited (Drawn out) by sudden stimuli and examples of this behaviour include feeling sadness when someone dies, feeling hungry when smelling food and having an increased heart rate during exercise.
What is the resultant of someone which does not have functioning respondent behaviour?
Mental disorders such as stress disorder and depression.
What is Operant behaviour?
Operant behaviour can be either voluntary or automatic behaviour that humans do to ‘do work’ or ‘operate’ on the world. Examples of this behaviour include sending text messages, listening, running, and reading.
What is likely to happen if someone has faulty Operant behaviour?
This person may form inappropriate, deviant or damaging behaviours.
True or False? Operant and Respondent behaviours cannot occur at the same time and work against each other in day to day living.
False, These behaviours are commonly used at the same time and work together in day to day living.
How does experience add new behaviours the the operant behaviour repertoire?
3 ways. 1: Observation 2: Trial & Error 3: “Shaping”
What is observation learning?
Observation is learning a behaviour through imitating another. Observation learning requires an observer and a model of that specific behaviour.
Who do we tend to imitate?
Those which show a clear demonstration of the imitated behaviour. Those who are similar to you. Those in the same social status as you, and those who express emotion.
Who imitates others?
Species such as humans and most mammals
When do we imitate others?
When we are in unusual or uncertain situations.
What are some examples of behaviours we may learn through observation learning?
Addictions, phobias, morals, problem solving, stereotypes, violent behaviour, prejudice, skills. Ect
What common form of marketing might we see observation learning used in?
Advertisements on television
What is trial and error learning?
Learning a behaviour through trial and error. For example during an experiment by E.L thorndike, cats were placed in a puzzle box and for the cats to get out they needed to complete the box. The more times they completed the box the faster they got.
What is the law of effect?
responses that produce a satisfying effect in a particular situation become more likely to occur again in that situation, and responses that produce a discomforting effect become less likely to occur again in that situation
What are the disadvantages of the trial and error learning style?
It can be slow and tedious and has a risk of frustration for those using this learning behaviour. And frustration = a loss of motivation.
What is the ‘Shaping’ learning method?
It is the art of teaching new behaviours through planning how to change a certain behaviour and rewarding those that follow that planning. Therefore you are purposely ‘shaping’ a certain behaviour.
How do we maintain a new behaviour in our BR (Behaviour repertoire)?
Practice and Reinforcement
What do we mean by practice when trying to maintain your BR (Behaviour repertoire)?
Practice makes perfect
What do we mean by reinforcement when trying to maintain your BR (Behaviour repertoire)?
the nature of consequences
What are motor skills?
Bodily movements in all or parts of our bodies.
What are the different aspects of Motor skills?
Motor skills can be 1. Physical, 2. Verbal and 3. Cognitive
What is it called when you have the capacity to preform motor skills at high performance with minimal or no errors?
Fluency
Compare Massed to spaced practice.
Spaced vs. Massed Practice. Massed Practice refers to conditions in which individuals practice a task continuously without rest. Spaced Practice refers to conditions in which individuals are given rest intervals within the practice sessions.
What is Implicit memory?
Implicit memory is sometimes referred to as unconscious memory or automatic memory. Implicit memory uses past experiences to remember things without thinking about them.
What is Explicit memory?
Explicit memory is the conscious, intentional recollection of factual information, previous experiences, and concepts
What is Reinforcement?
In behavioural psychology, reinforcement is a consequence applied that will strengthen an organism’s future behaviour whenever that behaviour is preceded by a specific antecedent stimulus
How do you know if a behaviour is strong?
The behaviour persists, the frequency of the behaviour increases, the accuracy of the behaviour improves, the behaviour resists disruption and/or distraction.
What is the law of effect?
The law of effect states that if a response in the presence of a stimulus is followed by a satisfying event, the association between the stimulus and the response is strengthened.
Compare reinforcers and Punishers.
A reinforcer is a consequence that makes a behaviour more likely in the future, whereas a punisher is a consequence that makes a behaviour less likely in the future. Therefore Reinforcers always strengthen behaviour and Punishers always weaken behaviour.
What is positive reinforcement?
Positive reinforcement is adding or doing something to increase a response for example a child does chores to receive a star on their star chart.
What is negative reinforcement?
Taking or reducing a negative behaviour to decrease a response, for example wearing your seat belt to avoid injury in your car.
What is the difference between primary and secondary positive reinforcement?
Primary is when you have a strengthening property already and secondary is when you acquire a strengthening property.
What is an example of a primary positive reinforcement?
Examples of primary reinforcers include things that satisfy basic survival needs such as water, food, sleep, air, and sex.
What is an example of a secondary positive reinforcement?
Money is one example of secondary reinforcement. Money can be used to reinforce behaviours because it can be used to acquire primary reinforcers such as food, clothing, and shelter (among other things)
What is token economy?
A token economy is a system of contingency management based on the systematic reinforcement of target behaviour. The reinforcers are symbols or tokens that can be exchanged for other reinforcers. Such as a child’s star chart.
What is the difference between Immediacy and delay in terms of reinforcement?
That delay impairs reinforcement and Immediacy improves reinforcement.
What is intermittent reinforcement in psychology?
Intermittent Reinforcement is a conditioning schedule in which a reward or punishment (reinforcement) is not administered every time the desired response is performed.
Does Intermittent reinforcement in psychology strengthen or weaken behaviour?
It is likely going to strengthen the behaviour unless the conditioning schedule is unrealistic.
What are some day to day examples of negative reinforcement?
Wearing a seatbelt a helmet and deodorant, using contraception, getting vaccinations, using cautious social behaviour, and using an umbrella.
What are some examples of negative reinforcement that is inappropriate (harmful)?
Anxiety & eating disorders, social aggression and emotional repression.
How do we learn to behave in context? (in certain situations)
- Innate stimulus control
- Observational learning
- Direct experience of discrimination training
What is discrimination training?
Discrimination learning is defined in psychology as the ability to respond differently to different stimuli. An example of this would be Go/No training and traffic lights.
What is generalization?
Generalization, in psychology, the tendency to respond in the same way to different but similar stimuli. For example, a dog conditioned to salivate to a tone of a particular pitch and loudness will also salivate with considerable regularity in response to tones of higher and lower pitch.
How do you remove a behaviour from the behaviour repertoire?
Through either 1. Extinction or 2. Punishment.
What influences someones resistance to the extinction of a behaviour?
Quantity & Quality. For example A large quantity of the behaviour (Doing it often) and Better Quality (Doing the behaviour well), this will increase someones resistance to the change of that behaviour.
What is a side effect of the extinction of a behaviour?
Post Extinction response burst
What are some emotional side effects of the extinction of behaviour?
Frustration & aggression & Depression.
True of false? Behaviour extinction is a natural process.
True as the loss of a behaviour will happen naturally and commonly in life for example growing up, experiencing the loss of a loved one, loosing a job, learning a new sport.
What is the definition of punishment?
Punishment is defined as a consequence that follows an operant response which therefore decreases (or attempts to decrease) the likelihood of that response occurring in the future.
True of False? Punishment often does not weaken behaviour
False, punishment always weakens behaviour.
What is positive punishment?
In an attempt to decrease the likelihood of a behavior occurring in the future, an operant response is followed by the presentation of an aversive stimulus. For an example humiliation.
What is negative punishment?
In an attempt to decrease the likelihood of a behavior occurring in the future, an operant response is followed by the removal of an appetitive stimulus. For an example taking away a child Ipad.
What is the difference between positive and negative punishment?
Positive punishment is adding a stimulus to remove or reduce a behaviour and negative punishment is removing a stimulus to remove or reduce a behaviour.
Is it possible to remove all punishers (for example if it wall illegal to punish someone)?
No because 1: there are many natural punishers in life such as stubbing your toe is a punishment. 2: Punishers need to be in place for the act of changing very dangerous behaviour for example sending a murderer to prison.
What is the ethical objective of punishment?
To have maximum behaviour change with minimum punishment possible.
What can go wrong when applying positive punishment to remove a behaviour from the behaviour repertorie?
People can adapt and the punishment can escalate with the intensity growing out of control. An example could be child abuse, it may start of as a light smack for a child doing something wrong and as this punishment is repeated the child may get used to this light smack and continue to behave wrongly therefore causing the intensity of the punishment to increase.
What are important rules for the effective use of positive punishment?
- Have consistency & 2. Give Immediate punishment
