Tuesday Exam Psych Flashcards
Learning
A process that produces a relatively enduring change in behavior or knowledge as a result of past experience.
Conditioning
The process of learning associations between environmental events and behavioral responses
Behaviorism
- Classical Conditioning
- Operant Conditioning
- Observational Learning
Classical Conditioning
Basic learning involves repeatedly pairing a neutral stimulus with a response-producing stimulus until the neutral stimulus elicits the same response.
Unconditional Stimulus [UCS]
The natural stimulus reflexively elicits a response without the need for prior learning. Meat
Unconditional Response [UCR]
unlearned, reflexive response, that is elicited by an unconditioned stimulus. Salivating to meat
Conditional Stimulus [CS]
A formerly neutral stimulus that acquires the capacity to elicit a reflexive response. Bell presented before meat.
Conditioned Response [CR]
Learned, reflexive response to a conditioned stimulus. Salivating to bell alone.
Classical Conditioning
- Timing
- Stimulus generalization
- Stimulu discrimination
Classical Conditioning
- Extinction
2. Spontaneous Recovery
John Garcia
Taste Aversions
Biological Preparedness
In learning theory, the idea
that an organism is innately predisposed to form associations between certain stimuli and responses.
*i.e., common fears
Operant Conditioning
[B.F Skinner]
Reinforcement – Positive or Negative
- Primary reinforcers
- Secondary reinforcers
- see schedules of reinforcement
Punishment– Positive or Negative
Schedules of reinforcement
- Continuous vs. Partial Reinforcement
- Ratio - Fixed or Variable
- Interval- Fixed or Variable
Problems with Punishment [SOR]
- Must be applied immediately
- Does not teach or promote alternatively acceptable behavior
- May produce undesirable results such as hostility, passivity, fear
- Results likely to be temporary
- May Model Aggression
Cognitive Factors - Tolman
Demonstrated the animals learn a cognitive map of a maze instead of a series of fo responses.
Cognitive Map
Term for a mental representation of the layout of a familiar environment.
Latent Learning
Learning that occurs in the absence of reinforcement, but is not demonstrated until a reinforcer is available.
Observation Learning
- Albert Bandura - Bobo Doll Study
- Mirror
- Reali-life applications
Memory
A group of related mental processes that are involved in acquiring, spring, and retrieving information.
Three major processes of memory
- Encoding: Transforming information into a form that can be entered and retained by the memory system.
- Storage: Retaining information in memory so that it can be used at a later time.
- Retrieval: Recovering stored information for conscious awareness.
Sensory memory
- Environmental information is registered.
- Large capacity for information.
- Duration: 1/4 second to 3 seconds
Short-Term [working] Memory
- New information is transferred from sensory memory.
- Old information is retrieved from long-term memory.
- Limited capacity for information.
- Duration approx. 20 seconds
Long-Term Memory
- Information that has been encoded in short-term memory is stored.
- Unlimited capacity for information.
- Duration: potentially permanent.
Short-Term [working] Memory
- Provides temporary storage for information transferred from sensory and long-term memory [about 20 seconds].
- George Miller – “The Magical Number Seven, Plus, or Minus Two”
- Can be retained longer through maintenance rehearsal, chunking, and memonic devices/
- Information is usually forgotten or lost due to new or compete information.
Long-Term Memory
Elaborative rehearsal > Maintenance rehearsal for LTM.
- Self Reference effect.
- Visual Imagery
- Relate to previous material.
Long Term Memory
Explicit Memory
[Declaration Memory] Memory with conscious recall:
- Episodic Memory: Events you have experienced
- Semantic Memory: General Knowledge, facts
Long Term Memory
Implicit Memory [Nondeclaratove Memory] Memory without conscious recall:
- Procedural Memory: Motor Skills, actions.
Culture and Memory
- Cross-Cultural research has shown how culture helps shape one’s sense of self.
- Earliest autobiographical memories are for events that occurred between the ages of two and four [infantile amnesia].
- Individualisitic cultures vs. Collectivistic cultures .
Organizing of LTM
- Clustering:
Related items are grouped together form categories.
- Can remember list items better if presented in categories.
- Natural to put into a logical pattern.
[Retrieval Cues]
Forgetting:
The inability to retrieve previously available information.
Retrieval cue:
A clue, prompt, or hint that can help trigger the recall of stored memory.
- Testing Retrieval:
- Recall [ex: essay test]
- Cued recall [ex: matching or fill-in-the-blank]
- Recognition [ex: multiple choice]
Serial Position Effect
- The tendency to remember items at the beginning and end of the list better than items in the middle
- Primary Effect
- Recency Effect
[Encoding Specificity]
Context Effects:
The tendency to remember information more easily when the retrieval occurs in the same setting in which you originally learned the information
- Mood Congruence Effect
Motivated forgetting:
An undesired memory is held back from awareness.
Suppression:
Repression:
- Conscious Forgetting
- Unconscious forgetting [Freudian]
Retrograde amnesia
Inability to remember past episodic informstion.
Anterograde Amnesia:
Inability to form new memories.
Cognition
Mental activities involved in acquiring, retaining and using knowledge developed over the human lifespan
Thinking
Manipulation of mental representation to draw inferences and conclusions.
Concepts:
Mental, category of objects or ideas based on shared properties
- Using concepts makes it easier to:
- Communicate with others
- Remember information
- Learn new information
Formal Concept
Mental category formed by learning rules.
[Ex: A Substance can be categorized as a solid, liquid, or gas.]
Natural concept
Mental category formed by everyday experience.
- Natural concepts have “fuzzy” boundaries and are not always sharply defined.
Prototype
The best, or most typical, an example of a particle concept.
[Problem-Solving Startegies]
Trial and Error:
Trying a variety of solutions and eliminating those that don’t work.
Algorithm
Using a specific rule, procedure, or method [such as a mathematical formula] inevitably produces the correct solution.
- Ex: Degrees Celsius to Fahrenheit [F=C x 9/5 + 32]
Heuristics
Following a general rule of thumb to reduce the number of possible solutions.
- Ex: Trying someone’s birthday as the password to their account rather than trying random combinations of numbers.
- Useful heuristics:
- Breaking a problem into a series of subgoals
- Working backward
Functional Fixedness:
Tendency to view objects as functioning only in their usual or customary way.
Mental set:
Tendency to persist in solving problems with solutions that have worked in the past
Fixation:
Inability to see a problem from a new perspective
[Decision Making Strategies]
Elimination by Aspects model:
Rate choices based on features; eliminate those that do not meet the desired criteria, despite other desirable characteristics
Single-Feature Model:
Make a decision by focusing on only one feature.
Additive model:
Systematically evaluate the important features of each alternative.
The Availability Heuristic
Judge probability of an event by how easily you can recall previous occurrences of that event.
- Most people will overestimate deaths from natural disasters because disasters are frequently shown on TV.
- Most people will underestimate deaths from asthma because those deaths don’t make local news.
The Representativeness Heuristic
The likelihood of an event is estimated by comparing how similar it is to the prototype of the event.
Language
A system of combining arbitrary symbols to produce an infinite number of meaningful statements.
- The purpose of language is to communicate – to express meaningful information in a way that can be understood by others.
Whorfian Hypothesis/Linguistic Relatively Hypothesis:
Langauge determines the very structure of thoughts and perceptions.
Comparative Cognition [animal cognition]
The study of animal learning, memory, thinking and language.
Intelligence
- Global capacity to think rationally, act purposefully, and deal effectively with the environment
- Reflected in effective, rational, and goal-directed behavior.
- How we use our cognition abilities and acquired knowledge ti analyze situations, solve, problems, make decisions, and use language are all key dimensions of intelligence.
Alfred Binet {1857-1911]
- Devised a series of of tests to measure different mental abilities for the french government.
- Focused on elementary mental abilities, such as memory, attention, and the ability to understand similarities and differences.
- Goal was to help identify “Slow” children who could benefit from special help
- Invented concept of mental age based on the average age at which questions were answered correctly.
Lewis Terman- Stanford Bint IQ Test
Developed the concept of IQ: A measure of general intelligence derived by comparing an individual’s score with the scores of others in the same age group.
- IQ formula= MA/CA x 100
Ex: A bright child of a chronological age [CA] of 8 scores at the mental age [MA] fo 12 for an IQ of 150
- 12/8 x 100 =150
Dissatisfaction of Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales led to the development of the ______. Its several components included.
Wechslers Adult Intelligence Scale [WAIS]
Verbal Scores:
Scores on subsets of vocabulary, comprehension, and knowledge of general information.
Performance Score:
Largely nonverbal subtestsL identifying missing parts in incomplete pictures, arranging pictures to tell a story, arranging blocks to match a given patter.
Charles Spearman- General Intelligence
- factor that is responsible for a person’s overall performance on tests of mental ability.
Robert Sternberg - Triarchic Theory of Intelligence
- Proposed a different conception of successful intelligence.
- Successful intelligence involves three distinct types:
- Analytic Intelligence- mental processes used in learning how to solve problems
- Creative Intelligence_ The ability to deal with novel situations by drawing on existing skills and knowledge.
- Practical Intelligence_ The ability to adapt to the environment [street smarts]
Howard Gardner
Theory of Multiple Intelligences
[Extremes of Intelligence] Intellectual disability:
Neurodevelopment disorder in which deficits in mental abilities impair functioning such that standards of personal independence are not met.
[Extremes of Intelligence] Intellectual Giftedness:
A condition in which individuals have and IQ of 10 or higher and exceptional abilities in areas related to intelligence.
Motivation
The biological, emotional, cognitive, or social forces that activate and direct behavior
- Three basic components
- Activation
- Intensity
- Persistence
Instinct Theory
The view that certain human behaviors are innate and due to evolutionary programming
Drive Theory
The view that behavior is motivated by the desire to reduce internal tension caused by unmet biological needs.
Unmet biological need > Drive > Homeostasis
Incentive Theory [Theories of Motivation]
The view that behavior is motivated by the pull of external goals, such as rewards
Arousal Theory:
The view that people are motivated to maintain a level of arousal that is optimal - neither too high nor to low
Humanistic theory:
The view that emphasizes the importance of psychological and cognitive factors in motivation, especially the notion that people are motivated to realize their personal potential.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs:
Maslow’s Hierarchical division of motivation into levels that progress from basic physical needs to psychological needs to self-fulfillment needs.
Theories of Motivation Chart
- Basic needs [Physiological Needs; Safety needs] food, water, warmth, rest; security, safety.
- Psychological needs [Belongingness and love needs; Esteem needs] Intimated relationships, friends; prestige and feelings of accomplishment.
- Self-fulfillment needs [Self-Actualization] achieving ones’ full potential, including, creative activities.
