Theories/Effects/Laws

Question 1

Feature Detection Theory

Answer 1

Suggests that certain cells in the cortex are maximally sensitive to certain features of stimuli.

Question 2

Signal Detection Theory

Answer 2

Suggests that there are other nonsensory factors which influence what the subject says they sense (i.e. if they’re overly cautious).

Question 3

Fetchner’s Law

Answer 3

Expresses the relationship between the intensity of the sensation and the intensity of the stimulus. Generally finds that sensation increases more slowly than intensity.

Question 4

Weber’s Law

Answer 4

The change in stimulus intensity needed to produce a JND divided by the stimulus intensity of the standard stimulus is constant. Sometimes referred to as Weber’s Fraction/Weber’s Constant.

Question 5

Reinforcement Theory

Answer 5

Theory which suggests that human behavior is motivated by anticipated rewards

Question 6

Role Theory

Answer 6

Theory that people know their expected social roles, and that their behavior is attributed to taking on these roles.

Question 7

Consistency Theory

Answer 7

Theory which suggests people prefer consistency, and either change or resist changing attitudes regarding preference

Question 8

Heider’s Balance Theory

Answer 8

A consistency theory. If three elements are related, balance exists when all three are harmonious. Generally, balance happens if there is 1 or 3 positive attitudes in the trio. Now, considered overly simplistic.

Question 9

Festinger’s Cognitive Dissonance Theory Principles

Answer 9

1. If pressured to act in opposition to personal attitudes, people tend to change those attitudes
2. The greater the pressure, the less their attitude will change (attitude change occur most if behavior is induced with minimum pressure)`

Question 10

Bem’s Self-Perception Theory

Answer 10

If one’s attitudes are weak or ambiguous, they observe their own behaviors, and then assign themselves an attitude which corresponds to their behavior

Question 11

Carl Hovland’s Model of Attitude Change

Answer 11

Hovland’s model addresses attitude change as a process of communicating messages with the intent to persuade someone. The more credible a source is perceived to be, the greater impact it has on one’s attitudes.

Question 12

Festinger’s Social Comparison Theory

Answer 12

Theory which suggests we affiliate with others based on a tendency to evaluate ourselves in relationship to others. Overall, it proposes that people need to self-evaluate, and that it then becomes linked to one’s need to affiliate with groups.
Three main principles:
1. People prefer to evaluate themselves by objective (non-social) means. BUT if this is not possible, people evaluate their opinions/abilities by comparing them to others.
2. The less similar of opinions/abilities people share, the less likely someone is to make a comparison.
3. If a discrepancy exists, people tend to change their positions to reflect the group’s.

Question 13

Equity Theory

Answer 13

Assumes that we consider not only the costs/rewards we will experience, but also the costs/rewards the other person will experience. We prefer to interact with people who have an equal ratio of costs/rewards (if we feel we are getting less or more out of the relationship, it will lead to instability)

Question 14

Attribution Theory

Answer 14

Founded by Heider, it is the tendency for individuals to infer the causes of other people’s behaviors. Dispositional causes relate to the features of the person whose behavior is being considered. Situational causes are external and relate to the features surrounding an individual.

Question 15

Fundamental Attribution Theory

Answer 15

The tendency for people to be biased towards making Dispositional Attributions (rather than situational ones)

Question 16

Zajonc’s Theory

Answer 16

Suggests that the presence of others increases our arousal, and therefore enhances the emission of dominant responses. (if someone is inclined to make mistakes, they will make more mistakes if observed, and if they are inclined to perform well, they will be more likely to not make a mistake if observed)

Question 17

The Value Hypothesis

Answer 17

A possible explanation for Risky Shift occurrences, suggests that risky decisions are often seen as culturally valuable (ie business venture risks).

Question 18

Psychosocial Theory

Answer 18

Defined by Erik Erikson- suggests that personality development occurs across the lifetime in 8 stages of psychosocial crisis.

Question 19

Gender Schematic Processing Theory

Answer 19

Proposed by Martin and Halverson, it builds on Kohlberg’s theory of gender, holding that once a child labels themselves, they begin concentrating on the behaviors associated with that gender and pay less attention to those who are associated with the opposite gender.

Question 20

Humanism

Answer 20

A developed system in the mid 1900s in opposition to psychoanalysis/behaviorism. Asserts the notion of free will and the fact that people should be considered as wholes rther than in terms of stimuli and responses (behaviorism) or instincts (psychoanalysis). Key humanists include Maslow and Rogers

Question 21

Object Relations Theory

Answer 21

A part of the psycho-dynamic theory of personality, “object” is referencing the symbolic representation of an important part of a child’s personality. Object relation theorists study how children create/develop/internalize these objects.

Question 22

Behaviorism

Answer 22

The belief that personality development is based upon the behaviors people learn from their environment.

Question 23

Social Learning Theory

Answer 23

The development of personality by modeling observed behavior, and direct and vicarious reinforcement. (Bandura)

Question 24

Humanism

Answer 24

A branch of theories which emphasize internal processes, and focus on what distinguishes us from animals. Similar to existential theories, and represented well by some of Gestalt theories

Question 25

Field Theory

Answer 25

Proposed by Kurt Lewin: Heavily influenced by Gestalt Psychology, Field theory sees personality as dynamic and changing. Suggests a personality can be broken up into different systems, which in typical adults function in an integrated fashion. However, if a person is under tension/anxiety, the systems are diffused, leading to increased struggle

Question 26

Machiavellianism

Answer 26

Personality traits which are considered to be manipulative and deceitful. The higher one is in Machiavellian traits, the more successful at manipulating others they are

Question 27

Systems Psychology

Answer 27

School of psych which suggests behavior must be considered within the context of a complex system. Applications like family therapy are generally suggested.

Question 28

Functionalism

Answer 28

A system of thought concerned with studying how mental processes help individuals adapt to their environment. Functionalists disdain breaking down processes (i.e. the reflex process) into separate stimuli and responses, preferring to study the process as a whole rather than “artificial” seperations.

Question 29

James-Lange Theory

Answer 29

Proposed during the late 1800s, it suggests we become aware of our emotion after we notice our physiological reaction to an external event. Emphasizes role of peripheral nervous system and suggests that emotions are secondary to physical reactions.

Question 30

Cannon-Bard Theory

Answer 30

The awareness of emotions reflects our physiological arousal and cognitive experience of emotion. This asserts that bodily changes and emotional feelings occur simultaneously.
Theorized based on findings that the majority of emotional states result in the same physiological response (perspiration, trembling, increased HR), so that there must be a subjective component.

Question 31

Schachter-Singer Theory

Answer 31

AKA the two-factor theory of emotion. Proposes that the subjective experience of emotion is based upon the interaction between changes in physiological arousal and the cognitive interpretation of that arousal. When we don’t have a clear emotion-provoking stimulus, we interpret our arousal based upon what is happening in the environment. The individual’s appraisal of the arousal determines the interpretation and the emotions connected.

Question 32

Color Perception Ranges

Answer 32

Human eye sees wavelengths between 400-800 nanometers

Question 33

Additive vs Subtractive Color Mixtures

Answer 33

Additive - When we “mix” lights to combine colors. Primary colors are blue, green, red. Has surprising results (i.e. red and green for yellow)
Subtractive - When we mix pigments (i.e. mix blue and yellow for green).

Question 34

Opponent-Process Theory

Answer 34

Developed by Hering to criticize trichromatic theory. Suggests there were 3 opposing pairs, which signal the presence of colors which signal what the eye is seeing. The pairs were: red-green, blue-yellow, and black-white.
This theory implies you can never see a color mix of opposing pairs (ie a red-green).

Later found to be incorrect in direct vision, but applies to cells in the lateral geniculate nucleus.

Question 35

Young-Helmholtz Theory

Answer 35

AKA: the trichromatic theory. Suggests that there are three different types of color receptors (cones), which are differentially sensitive (one to red, one to blue, and one green). Proposes that all colors are produced by combining the varying stimulation of these receptors.

Found to be correct later when there were better methods to analyze this.

Question 36

Law of Pragnanz

Answer 36

Encompasses all the gestalt laws of organization- saying that perceptual organization will always be as “good” as possible- as regular, simple, and symmetric as possible.

Question 37

Emmert’s Law

Answer 37

AKA: The Size-Distance Invariance Principle. The size constancy depends on apparent distance. The father away the object appears to be, the more the scaling device in the brain will compensate for retinal size by enlarging our perception of the object.

Question 38

Helmholtz’s Place Resonance Theory

Answer 38

Theory that each different pitch causes different parts of the basilar membrane to vibrate, in turn causing different hair cells to bend and us to perceive sounds of different pitches. Operative for tones higher than 4,000Hz in addition to normal range.

Question 39

Frequency Theory

Answer 39

Alternate to Place-Resonance Theory. Suggests that the basilar membrane vibrates as a whole, and that the rate of vibration translates to the frequency of the stimulus. This is then translated to the number of neural impulses, which then determines our perception of the pitch. However, this cannot be applied to tones about 1000 Hz (which led to the volley principle, which suggests that high rates of neural firing can be maintained if the fibers work together). Operative for tones up to 500Hz in addition to normal range.

Question 40

Bekesy’s Traveling Wave Theory

Answer 40

1960s, Bekesy found that movement of the basilar membrane is maximal at different places for different frequencies (even though the whole membrane vibrates for every stimulus).High frequencies vibrate cloest to the oval window, and low frequencies vibrate closest to the apex (tip of the cochlea). Also found that very low frequencies are maximally vibrating in a very large area.

Question 41

Gate Theory of Pain

Answer 41

Associated with Melzack and Wall. Proposes there is a gating mechanism that turns signals on or off, thus affecting if we perceive pain. The “gate” is in the spinal cord and can block sensory input before the brain receives the pain signals

Question 42

Two Point Thresholds

Answer 42

AKA Two Point Theory. refers to the minimum distance necessary between two points of stimulation on the skin for us to feel them as distinct stimuli. The size of the threshold depends on the density of nerves in that body area.

Question 43

Yerkes-Dodson Law

Answer 43

Maintaining attention depends partially on arousal. Law states that performance is worst at extremely low or high levels of arousal, and that optimal performance occurs at an intermediate level of arousal.

Question 44

Law of Effect

Answer 44

Proposed by Thorndike. If a response is followed by an annoying consequence, the animal will be less likely to emit the same response in the future.

Question 45

The Garcia Effect

Answer 45

Discovered by John Garcia. In certain situations conditioning will not occur due to preparedness.

Question 46

Generation-Recognition Model

Answer 46

Recall task taps the same basic process of retrieval as a recognition task uses.

HOWEVER- recall required the additional step of generating the information rather than just recognizing it.

Question 47

Forgetting Curve

Answer 47

Designed by Ebbinghaus. Essentially the curve suggests that we rapidly forget things over the first five days, and then we plateau and forget at a much lesser rate after that.

Question 48

Stage Theory of Memory

Answer 48

Asserts that there are several different memory systems and that each system has a different function. Supposes that memory enters each system in a specific order: sensory memory, short term memory (i.e. working memory), and long term memory.

Question 49

Semantic Feature Comparison Model

Answer 49

Proposed by Smith, Shoben and Rips in early 1970s. This model suggests that concepts are represented by sets of features which are required for that concept, and some which are typical of that concept. Theoretically then on the Semantic verification task, subjects would respond more quickly when item pairs have many/few similarities, and would take longer if there were some overlap, but not total overlap of features.

Question 50

Spreading Activation Model

Answer 50

Proposed by Collins and Loftus in 1975. Utilized the semantic verification task to make a chart of where they thought different words were placed in a model, with connectors between words being shorter or longer depending on how closely connected they were.

Question 51

Levels of Processing Theory

Answer 51

AKA the depth of processing theory. Proposed by Craik and Lockhart, it opposes the stage theory of memory. Suggests that what determines how long you remember material is based on the way you process the material (not what memory system it enters). Suggests there are 3 levels of information processing: physical, acoustical, and semantic.

Each level takes more mental effort then the one before it, and the more effort put in, the more likely you are to remember it.

Question 52

Paivio’s Dual Code Hypothesis

Answer 52

Different theory of memory, which asserts that information is encoded visually and verbally. Abstract information is processed verbally, and generally concrete information is encoded visually.

Question 53

Zeigarnik Effect

Answer 53

Refers to the tendency to remember incomplete tasks better than completed tasks.

Question 54

Hawthorne Effect

Answer 54

The tendency of people to behave differently if they know they are being observed.

Question 55

Barnum Effect

Answer 55

The tendency of people to accept and approve of the interpretation of their personality that you give them. This is a form of psuedo-validation.