Flashcards in EXAM 3 (CH. 8-12) Deck (63):
The idea that the likelihood of correct retrieval is increased if a person uses the same kind of mental processes during testing that he or she used during encoding
script of adding details to a larger generic framework, making us prone to reconstruction
implicit vs. explicit memory
Implicit - Remembering that occurs in the absence of conscious awareness or willful intent.
Explicit - Conscious, willful remembering
the different theories of why we “forget"
Decay – memories decay over time, applies to STM and sensory
Retroactive/proactive interference – you learn something new that interferes with the ability to remember older and the opposite, respectively
Repression – people protect themselves by repressing the memory of traumatic experiences
retrograde and anterograde amnesia
Retrograde – inability to recall old memories
Anterograde – inability to learn new memories (more common)
The rules of language that enable the communicator to combine symbols to convey meaning.
Rules governing how sounds should be combined to make words in a language.
Rules governing how words should be combined to form sentences.
The rules used in language to communicate meaning.
phonemes and morphemes
Phonemes - The smallest significant sound units in speech.
Morphemes - The smallest units in a language that carry meaning.
surface structure and deep structure
Surface - The literal ordering of words in a sentence.
Deep - The underlying representation of meaning in a sentence.
“Stephanie kissed the crying boy”—“The crying boy was kissed by Stephanie”
Same deep structure, but different surface structure
The practical knowledge used to comprehend the intentions of a speaker and to produce an effective response.
A class of objects (people, places, or things) that most people agree belong together.
prototype and exemplar
Prototype - The best or most representative member of a category (such as robin for the category “bird”).
Exemplar - Specific examples of category members that are stored in longterm memory
The level in a category hierarchy that provides the most useful and predictive information; the basic level usually resides at an intermediate level in a category hierarchy.
Problem-solving ‘rules of thumb’ (when its not feasible to use an algorithm)
means-end analysis, working backward, and searching for analogies
Means-end – devise actions that get us closer to the desired goal (break down tasks into simpler sub-tasks)
Working backwards – start at the end and move backwards to the starting point
Searching for analogies – try to find similarities between the current problem and ones you’ve solved in the past
Tendencies to rely on particular problem solving strategies that were successful in the past
Tversky/Kahneman Asian disease problem
Losses hurt more than gains feel good
People have expectations about people and things and they tend to confirm their expectations while ignoring things against their expectations
People have reluctance to do much extra thinking
The tendency to make decisions based on an alternative’s similarity, or representativeness, in relation to an ideal. For example, people decide whether a sequence is random based on how irregular the sequence looks.
base rate neglect
The basic idea here is that people compare something to their idea of the “typical representative case” of something, and if it is a close match to the typical representative case of something
conjunction error refers to the idea that people often believe that the co-occurrence of two events is more likely than the occurrence of at least one of them
estimate the likelihood of an event by considering how easy it is to recall or generate specific examples of that thing (examples of divorce stick out more than happy couples)
anchoring and adjustment heuristic
Using a starting point to estimate how frequent or likely an event is, and then make adjustments up and down from this starting point
A branch of psychology dedicated to improving the way we measure constructs of interest (Galton)
A statistical procedure used to lump similar variables together in order to reduce the amount of data one has to deal with (Spearman)
Thurstone’s perspective on intelligence
No such thing as general intelligence; 7 mental abilities, all independent: verbal comprehension, verbal fluency, numerical ability, spatial ability, memory, perceptual speed, reasoning
hierarchical model of intelligence
Combo of Spearman and Thurstone – has both g and independent factors
Gardner’s case study approach to multiple intelligences
Multiple intelligences; Musical, bodily kinesthetic, logical-mathematical, linguistic, spatial, interpersonal, intrapersonal
reliability, validity, and standardization
Reliability – consistency of results
Valilidty – how well a test measures whit it is supposed to measure (content- test samples across domain of interest) (predictive – test predicts future outcome) (construct – tape into a theoretical construct)
Standardization – everything the same across people
Understand the components that make a test valid (content, predictive, construct)
content- test samples across domain of interest
predictive – test predicts future outcome
construct – tape into a theoretical construct
Binet and Simon first compute IQ
Mental age / chronological age *100; average IQ = 100
How much different than the average performance is your performance
Unspoken practical knowledge about how to perform well on the job.
The set of factors that initiate and direct behavior, usually toward some goal
instincts and drives and homoeostasis
Instinct – unlearned characteristic patterns of responding
Drive – internal state that arises in response to a need
Homeostasis – body’s need to maintain balance (drive restores balance)
Entirely self-motivated; engage in the action for its own sake (reading twilight vs. math textbook)
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
Physiological needs – addressed first; most basic needs to stay alive
Safety needs – protect yourself from danger
Belonging and love needs – social aspects
Esteem needs – feel good about yourself
Self-actualization needs – ability to feel like you are the best you
the study of changes in organisms caused by modification of gene expression rather than alteration of the genetic code itself.
affective shift hypothesis
These short-term preferences only show up in men who have had many short-term sexual experiences
common sense theory of emotion
Event causes feeling, feeling produces physiological reaction (I see bug, I feel afraid, so I tremble)
James-Lange theory of emotion
Event causes physiological arousal, physiological reaction causes mind to interpret the response as the emotion (I see bug, I tremble, so I must be afraid)
Step 1 : bodily process (yes, every emotion has distinct responses) and Step 2 : feel emotion
The proposal that muscles in the face deliver signals to the brain that are then interpreted, depending on the pattern, as a subjective emotional state
Cannon-Bard theory of emotion
One doesn’t cause the other; physiological response and emotion occur at same time
Schachter-Singer theory of emotion
Physiological response + reason to feel that emotion = emotional response
Step 1 : bodily process comes first (not every emotion has a distinctly different response) and Step 2 : emotion depends on information presented (immediate situation and past experience)
More empirical support than James-Lange (tested with adrenaline/placebo)
the positive-negative asymmetry of emotions
Bad things affect us more than good events (hedonic treadmill – you return to normal functioning quicker after good than bad)
personality, a “trait”, and a “trait theory"
Personality - The distinguishing pattern of psychological characteristics—thinking, feeling, and behaving—that differentiates us from others and leads us to act consistently across situations.
Trait - A stable predisposition to act or behave in a certain way.
Trait theory - Formal systems for assessing how people differ, particularly in their predispositions to respond in certain ways across situations
factor analytic approach
a mathematical procedure that’s used to analyze correlations among test responses. The goal is to identify a set of factors that collectively predict test performance
The five dimensions of personality—extroversion (social, talkative), agreeableness (warm, rusting), conscientiousness (ethical, dependable), neuroticism (anxious, insecure), and openness (daring, imaginative)—that have been isolated through the application of factor analysis.
self-report inventory vs projective personality test
Self-report - Personality tests in which people answer groups of questions about how they typically think, act, and feel; their responses, or self-reports, are then compared to average responses compiled from large groups of prior test takers.
Projective - A type of personality test in which individuals are asked to interpret unstructured or ambiguous stimuli (Rorschach)
An approach to personality development, based largely on the ideas of Sigmund Freud, that holds that much of behavior is governed by unconscious forces.
The contents of awareness—those things that occupy the focus of one’s current attention.
The part of the mind that contains all of the inactive but potentially accessible thoughts and memories
The part of the mind that Freud believed housed all the memories, urges, and conflicts that are truly beyond awareness
According to Freud, unconscious processes used by the ego to ward off the anxiety that comes from confrontation, usually with the demands of the id
Adler, Jung, and Horney - Collective unconscious
The notion proposed by Carl Jung that certain kinds of universal symbols and ideas are present in the unconscious of all people
humanistic approach to how personality develops
A movement in psychology and approach to personality that focuses on people’s unique capacity for choice, responsibility and growth.
Carl Roger’s idea of self concept, positive regard, conditions of worth, and incongruence
Self concept - An organized set of perceptions that we hold about our abilities and characteristics.
Positive regard - The idea that we value what others think of us and that we constantly seek others’ approval, love, and companionship.
Conditions of worth - The expectations or standards that we believe others place on us.
Incongruence - A discrepancy between the image we hold of ourselves—our self-concept—and the sum of all our experiences
social-cognitive approach to personality
An approach to personality that suggests it is human experiences, and interpretations of those experiences, that determine personality growth and development.
A controversial debate centering on whether people really do behave consistently across situations