AP Psych Unit 2 Cognition Study Guide

cognition

all mental activities associated w/ thinking, knowing, remembering, & communicating

metacognition

“beyond cognition”

• cognition about our cognition/thinking about our thinking

• keeping track of & evaluating our mental processes

concept

mental grouping(s) of similar objects, events, ideas, or people

ex. cataloging

prototype

mental image or best example of a category

ex. feathers to birds

Jean Piaget

• studied the development of cognition in children

• argued that our intellectual progression reflects an unceasing struggle to make sense of our experiences

schema

understandings

• concept or framework that organizes & interprets info

ex. role schema: learned gender roles

assimilation

interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas

accommodation

• S&P = process by which the eye’s lens changes shape to focus images of near or far objects on the retina

• cognitive psychology = adapting our current schemas to incorporate new info

creativity

ability to produce new & valuable ideas

• pros: produces new insights & products

• cons: may distract from structured, routine work

convergent thinking

ability to provide a single correct answer

divergent thinking

ability to consider many different options & to think in novel (new) ways

Robert Sternberg

believed creativity has 5 components:

1. expertise — well-developed knowledge

2. imaginative thinking skills — ability to see things in novel (new) ways, recognize patterns, make connections

3. venturesome personality — seek new experiences, tolerates ambiguity, perseveres in overcoming obstacles

4. intrinsic motivation — quality of being driven more by interest, satisfaction, & challenge than by external pressures

5. creative environment

executive functions

cognitive skills that work together, enabling us to generate, organize, plan, & implement goal-directed behavior

algorithm

step-by-step procedures that guarantee a solution/methodical rule or procedure

• pros: guarantees solution

• cons: requires time & effort

heuristic

simple thinking strategies, mental shortcuts

• pros: allows quick & efficient action

• cons: error-prone

insight

sudden realization of a problem’s solution/sudden “aha!” reaction

• pros: provides instant realization of solution

• cons: may not happen

Wolfgang Kohler

• showed that humans are not the only creatures to display insight

• experimented w/ a chimpanzee named Sultan

• placed a piece of fruit & a long stick outside Sultan’s cage

• placed a short stick inside Sultan’s cage, of which Sultan used to try and reach the fruit

• Sultan gave up for a moment then began to think and then had an “aha!” moment

• Sultan used the short stick to pull in the longer stick, then used the longer stick to obtain the fruit

confirmation bias

tendency to search for info that supports our preconceptions & to ignore or distort contradictory experience

• pros: allows for quick recognition of supporting evidence

• cons: hinders recognition of contradictory evidence

fixation

(in cognition) inability to see a problem from a new perspective

• obstacle to problem solving

ex. mental set

• pros: focuses thinking

• cons: hinders creative problem solving

mental set

tendency to approach a problem w/ the mindset of what has worked for us previously will work again

intuition

fast, automatic, unreasoned feelings & thoughts

• pros: based on our experience — huge & adaptive

• cons: can lead us to overfeel & underthink

Amos Tversky & Daniel Kahneman

showed that R&A heuristics can lead even the smartest people to make dumb decisions

representative heuristic

judging likelihood of events in terms of how well they seem to represent/match particular prototypes

• may lead us to ignore other relevant info

availability heuristic

judging likelihood of events based on their availability in memory

overconfidence

tendency to be more confident than correct/overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs & judgments

• pros: allows us to live happier & make decisions easily

• cons: error-prone

belief perseverance

tendency to cling to our beliefs in the fact of contrary evidence

• pros: supports our enduring beliefs

• cons: closes our minds to new ideas

framing

the way an issue is presented

• pros: can influence others’ decisions

• cons: can produce misleading results

nudge

framing choices in a way that encourages people to make beneficial decisions

ex. healthier eating, saving for retirement, making moral decisions, becoming an organ donor

memory

persistence of learning over time through encoding, storage, & retrieval of info

recall

retrieving info that is not currently in your conscious awareness but that was learned at an earlier time

ex. fill in the blank questions

recognition

identifying items previously learned

ex. multiple choice questions

relearning

learning something more quickly when you learn it a second time or later time

ex. speak a language used in early childhood

Herman Ebbinghaus

showed our response speed when recalling or recognizing info indicates memory strength & relearning speed using nonsense syllables

ex. JIH XYG HIW JHW

encoding

getting info into the memory system

storage

keeping info in the memory system

retrieval

getting info out of memory storage

parallel processing

processing multiple aspects of a stimulus or problem simultaneously

Richard Atkinson & Richard Shiffrin

proposed modal model of memory/multi-store model

sensory memory

immediate, brief recording of sensory info in the memory system

short-term memory

briefly activated memory of a few items that is later stored or forgotten

long-term memory

relatively permanent & limitless archive of the memory system including knowledge, skills, & experiences

working memory

conscious, active processing of both incoming sensory info & info retrieved from long-term memory

• newer understanding of short-term memory

central executive

memory component that coordinates activities of phonological loop & visuospatial sketchpad

phonological loop

memory component that briefly holds auditory info

visuospatial sketchpad

memory component that briefly holds info about objects’ appearance & location in space

neurogenesis

formation of new neurons

Eric Kandel

• in order to understand the physical basis of memory/how info becomes embedded in brain matter, recruited the California sea slug

• discovered that when learning occurs, slug releases more of the neurotransmitter serotonin into certain neurons

conclusion

• experience & learning can increase the number of synapses

long-term potentiation (LTP)

increase in nerve cell’s firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation

• neural basis for learning & memory

explicit memory

continued possession of facts & experiences that we can consciously know & “declare”

• also known as declarative memory

effortful processing

encoding that requires attention & conscious effort

automatic processing

unconscious encoding of incidental info such as space, time, & frequency, of familiar or well-learned info such as sounds, smells, & word meanings

implicit memory

continued possession of learned skills or classically conditioned associations independent of conscious recollection

• also known as nondeclarative memory

iconic memory

fleeting sensory memory of visual stimuli

• lasts up to few 1/10’s of a second

echoic memory

fleeting sensory memory of auditory stimuli

• lasts 3-4 seconds

George A. Miller

proposed that we can store about 7 pieces of info in short-term memory

chunking

organizing into familiar, manageable units

• often occurs automatically

mnemonics

memory aids/helpers

spacing effect

tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention/continued possession than is achieved thru mass study/mass practice

ex. opposite of cramming, studying over a long period of time

testing effect

enhanced memory after retrieving info

• also referred to as retrieval practice or test-enhanced learning

shallow processing

encoding on a basic level based on the structure or appearance of words

deep processing

encoding semantically (in language or topic) based in the meaning of words

• tends to yield the best retention

semantic memory

facts & general knowledge

• 1 of our 2 conscious memory systems

episodic memory

experienced events

• 1 of our 2 conscious memory systems

hippocampus

neural center located in the limbic system

• helps memory storage

memory consolidation

neural storage of a long-term memory

flashbulb memory

clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event

priming

“wakening of associations”/activation of certain associations, leading one’s perception, memory, or response

ex. seeing rabbit then spelling hair as hare

encoding specificity principle

idea that cues & contexts specific to a particular memory will be most effective in helping recalling

mood-congruent memory

tendency to recall experiences that are consistent w/ one’s current good or bad mood

serial position effect

tendency to recall best the last items in a list initially (recency effect) & the first items in a list after a delay (primacy effect)

interleaving

retrieval practice study that involves mixing the study of different topics

• reminder: sounds like interweaving

anterograde amnesia

inability to form new memories

retrograde amnesia

inability to remember info from one’s past

ex. stories featuring comas & memory loss

proactive interference

forward-acting disruptive effect of older learning on the recall of new info

ex. misinformation

retroactive interference

backward-acting disruptive effect of newer learning on the recall of old info

ex. it’s like second guessing on a test, mixing up answers

repression

(psychoanalytic theory) basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories

ex. trauma response, inabilty to recall traumatic events

reconsolidation

process in which previously stored memories, when retrieved, are potentially altered before being stored again

ex. your memory might not be the real memory

Elizabeth Loftus

“to some degree, all memory is false”

• experimented, showed participants pairs of faces — 1 face they had seen earlier & one they had not, then asked them to identify the one they had seen

• but in one pair she slipped in included 2 new faces similar to the face they had seen earlier

• as a result, participants picked the wrong face when asked to pick the face seen earlier

conclusion

• participants had replaced the OG memory w/ a false memory

misinformation effect

occurs when a memory has been corrupted by misleading info

source amnesia

faulty memory for how, when, or where info was learned or imagined

• @ the heart of many false memories

deja vu

“i’ve experienced this before”

• cues from current situation may unconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience

intelligence

ability to learn from experience, solve problems, & use knowledge to adapt to new situations

Charles Spearman

believed we have 1 general intelligence that lies @ the heart of all of our intelligent behavior

general intelligence

according to Spearman, underlies all mental abilities & is measured by every task on an intelligence test

factor analysis

statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items (factors) on a test

• used to identify different dimensions of performance that underlie a person’s total score

L. L. Thurstone

• one of Spearman’s early critics

gave 56 different tests to people & mathematically identified 7 clusters of primary mental abilities:

1. word fluency

2. verbal comprehension

3. spatial ability

4. perceptual speed

5. numerical ability

6. inductive reasoning

7. memory

• did not rank people on a single scale of general aptitude

conclusion

• some evidence of a g factor

fluid intelligence/Gf

ability to reason speedily & abstractly

crystallized intelligence/Gc

accumulated knowledge & verbal skills

Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) Theory

theory that intelligence is based on g (factor) & specific abilities, bridged by Gf (fluid intelligence) & Gc (crystallized intelligence)

Howard Gardner

• identified 8 relatively independent intelligences

1. visual-spatial

2. verbal-linguistic

3. musical-rhythmic

4. logical-mathematical

5. interpersonal

6. intrapersonal

7. naturalistic

8. bodily-kinesthetic

• proposed a 9th possible intelligence: existential intelligence, “ponder large questions about life, death, existence”

• influenced learning styles

savant syndrome

condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill

ex. skilled in computation, skilled in drawing

grit

in psychology, passion & perseverance in the pursuit of long-term goals

emotional intelligence

ability to perceive, understand, manage, & use emotions

intelligence test

method for assessing individual’s mental aptitudes & comparing them with those of others, using numerical scores

achievement test

test designed to assess what a person has learned

ex. AP psych exam

aptitude test

test designed to predict individual’s future performance

aptitude — capacity to learn

Francis Galton

• wondered if it might be possible to measure “natural ability” (is cousin of Charles Darwin), founded eugenics 19th-20th century C.E.

• eugenics — discriminatory movement that proposed measuring human traits & encouraging only those deemed “fit” to reproduce

• 1884 London Health Exhibit, 10k visitors received his assessment of their “intellectual strengths” (eugenics)

Alfred Binet

• tasked w/ developing fair testing for children in schooling

• evaluated mental age of children

mental age

measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet

ex. 8-year-old who does as well as an average 8-year-old is mentally an 8-year-old

Lewis Terman

measured innate intelligence

• revised Binet’s mental age evaluation intelligence tests, ranging ages from 12 to “superior adults”