Studied by 1 person
Prototypes
Mental representations of typical examples of a concept, used to categorize and identify new instances. Ex: Football for sports
Schemas
Cognitive frameworks that help organize and interpret information, guiding the processing of new experiences.
Assimilation
The process of integrating new information into existing schemas without changing the schema itself.
Accommodation
The process of modifying existing schemas or creating new ones in response to new information.
Algorithms
Step-by-step procedures or formulas for solving problems or making decisions.
Heuristics
Mental shortcuts or rules of thumb that simplify decision-making and problem-solving.
Representativeness heuristic
A mental shortcut used to judge the probability of an event by comparing it to an existing prototype in our minds, often leading to biases.
Availability heuristic
A mental shortcut that relies on immediate examples that come to mind when evaluating a specific topic, concept, method, or decision, often influenced by recent experiences or information.
Mental set
A tendency to approach problems in a particular way, often based on past experiences, which can hinder problem-solving by limiting the consideration of new solutions.
Priming
The process by which exposure to a stimulus influences response to a subsequent stimulus, often without conscious guidance or intention.
Framing
The way information is presented or "framed" can significantly affect decision-making and judgments, often leading individuals to react differently to the same information depending on its context.
Gambler’s fallacy
The belief that past independent events can influence the probability of future outcomes, particularly in games of chance, leading individuals to expect that a losing streak will be followed by a win.
Sunk-cost fallacy
The tendency to continue an endeavor once an investment in money, effort, or time has been made, often leading to irrational decision-making.
Divergent thinking
A cognitive process used to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions. It contrasts with convergent thinking, which focuses on finding a single correct answer. /\
Convergent thinking
A cognitive process that narrows down multiple ideas into a single, best solution, emphasizing accuracy and efficiency in problem-solving. \/
Functional fixedness
The cognitive bias that limits a person to using an object only in the way it is traditionally used, hindering creative problem-solving.
Behavioral perspective (classical conditioning)
A psychological approach that emphasizes the role of environmental factors in shaping behavior through conditioning and reinforcement.
classical conditioning
A learning process that occurs through associations between an environmental stimulus and a naturally occurring stimulus, leading to a conditioned response.
Association (classical conditioning)
The process of linking a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus to elicit a conditioned response.
Acquisition (classical conditioning)
The initial stage in classical conditioning where the neutral stimulus begins to elicit the conditioned response through repeated pairings with the unconditioned stimulus.
Associative learning (classical conditioning)
A learning process where a connection is made between two stimuli, leading to a change in behavior.
Unconditioned stimulus (classical conditioning)
A stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers a response without prior learning. Ex. food in Pavlov's experiment.
Unconditioned response (classical conditioning)
The natural reaction to an unconditioned stimulus without prior conditioning. Ex. salivation in response to food.
Conditioned response (classical conditioning)
A learned reaction to a conditioned stimulus that occurs after conditioning. Ex. salivation in response to a bell.
Conditioned stimulus (classical conditioning)
A previously neutral stimulus that, after being paired with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a conditioned response. Ex. a bell that signals food.
Extinction (classical conditioning)
The process in which a conditioned response diminishes or disappears when the conditioned stimulus is presented without the unconditioned stimulus over time. Ex. ringing a bell without presenting food.
Spontaneous recovery (classical conditioning)
The reappearance of a previously extinguished conditioned response after a rest period without exposure to the conditioned stimulus. Ex. salivation returning after a break.
Stimulus discrimination (classical conditioning)
The ability to differentiate between similar stimuli and respond only to the conditioned stimulus. Ex. responding to a specific bell tone but not others.
Stimulus generalization (classical conditioning)
The tendency to respond to stimuli that are similar to the conditioned stimulus, leading to similar conditioned responses. Ex. salivating to a different bell tone.
Counterconditioning (classical conditioning)
A behavioral therapy technique used to replace an undesirable response to a stimulus with a more desirable one by associating the stimulus with a positive or neutral experience. Ex. associating a feared object with pleasant stimuli.
Taste aversion (classical conditioning)
A learned avoidance of a particular food or taste after a single negative experience, often involving nausea or illness, leading to the rejection of that food in the future.
One-trial learning (classical conditioning)
A form of learning where a single exposure to a stimulus leads to a long-lasting change in behavior, often seen in cases like taste aversion.
Operant conditioning
A learning process where behavior is modified by its consequences, such as rewards or punishments, leading to an increase or decrease in the likelihood of that behavior being repeated.
Reinforcement (Operant conditioning)
anything that increases the likelihood that a particular behavior will be repeated
Punishment (Operant conditioning)
any consequence that decreased the likelihood that a particular behavior will be repeated
Law of Effect (Operant conditioning)
when a stimulus receives a positive response the behavior is more likely to be repeated, and when a stimulus receives a negative response the behavior is more likely to happen less frequently. (Edward Thorndike)
Positive reinforcement (Operant conditioning)
increases a particular behavior by presenting something desirable after the behavior has occurred.
Negative reinforcement (Operant conditioning)
removing something to increase the likelihood of a target behavior. Ex. Applying sunscreen to avoid sunburn
Primary reinforcers (Operant conditioning)
motivate behavior because they satiate an individual's basic survival needs.
secondary reinforcers (Operant conditioning)
a stimulus that becomes reinforcing after being paired with a primary reinforcer.
Reinforcement discrimination (Operant conditioning)
an organism's ability to differentiate between a specific stimulus and similar ones but not identical stimuli.
Reinforcement generalization (Operant conditioning)
when the learner applies a previously reinforced behavior to new, similar situations
Shaping (Operant conditioning)
gradually teaching new behaviors through reinforcement until the target behavior is achieved.
Reinforcement Schedules (Operant conditioning)
rules that control the delivery of reinforcement. They can be based on time intervals or ratios of responses.
Continuous reinforcement (Operant conditioning)
a type of reinforcement schedule where a behavior is reinforced every single time it occurs.
Partial reinforcement (Operant conditioning)
The phenomenon where behaviors that are reinforced intermittently are more resistant to extinction than those reinforced continuously.
Fixed interval (Operant conditioning)
A type of interval schedule where reinforcements are presented at fixed time periods, provided that the correct response is made.
Variable interval (Operant conditioning)
a schedule of reinforcement where a response is rewarded after an unpredictable amount of time has passed.
Fixed ratio (Operant conditioning)
a system of reinforcement in operant conditioning where a response is reinforced only after a specified number of responses.
Variable ratio (Operant conditioning)
a type of operant conditioning schedule where a behavior is reinforced after an unpredictable number of responses.
Social learning theory
proposed by Albert Bandura, suggests that people learn through observation, imitation, and modeling.
Modeling
type of learning where individuals ascertain how to act or perform by observing another individual.
Insight learning
a form of cognitive learning where animals or humans solve a problem using a sudden understanding or realization, rather than trial and error
Latent learning
a type of learning that occurs without any obvious reinforcement and isn't demonstrated until there's an incentive to do so
Cognitive maps
suggests that individuals create mental representations or maps of their physical environment.
Describe how behavior genetics explain our individual differences
through the interactions of genes and enviroments
Eplain how twin and adoption studies help us understand the effects and interactions of nature and nurture.
studies on twins separated at birth and raised in different environments often reveal remarkable similarities in intelligence and personality, suggesting a powerful genetic influence.
Explain the difference between dizygotic twins and monozygotic twins. Why are both kinds of twins important in studies?
Monozygotic (identical) twins share all of their genes, while dizygotic (fraternal) twins share only about 50 percent of them
Explain the impact of environment vs genetics on personality
Enviroment influences the expression of genes
Explain how heredity and environment work together
Heredity provides the blueprint for an individual's traits through genes, while the environment shapes how these traits develop and manifest.
Epigenetics
how your behaviors and environment can cause changes that affect the way your genes work. Unlike genetic changes (mutations), epigenetic changes are reversible and do not change the sequence of DNA bases, but they can change how your body reads a DNA sequence.
