Unit 4 Development and Learning IPSYCHO

Benjamin Lee Whorf

put forth the idea of linguistic determinism

Noam Chomsky

Argued that we are born with the ability to learn language (universal grammar)

Paul Broca

discovered area in the brain (named for him) in the left frontal lobe responsible for language and speech production

Carl Wernicke

discovered a brain area responsible for interpreting meaning of language and language comprehension (Wernicke's area)

Charles Spearman

put forth the idea of general intelligence

L.L Thurstone

put forth the idea of primary mental abilities

Howard Gardner

put forth the idea that there are 8 different intelligences (multiple intelligences)

Robert Sternberg

put forth the idea that there are 3 different intelligences (triarchic theory)

Francis Galton

Looked to measure "natural ability" and have intelligence people mate with one another

Alfred Binet

developed the first practice IQ test to assess children's mental age

Lewis Terman

developed stanford-binet IQ test and the formula mental age / chronological age x 100 to make IQ

David Wechsler

Developed the modern, widely-used IQ test the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, as well as other IQ tests for children

Carol Dweck

Known for her research on motivation and the "growth mindset"

Language

our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning

Phoneme

in language, the smallest distinctive sound unit

Morpheme

in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix)

Grammar

in a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others. Syntax is the language's set of rules for deriving meaning from sounds, and syntax is its set of words for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences

Babbling stage

beginning around 4 months, the stage of speech development in which an infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language

One-word stage

the stage in speech development, from about age 1 to 2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words

Two-word stage

beginning at age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly two-word statements

Telegraphic speech

early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram—"go car"—using mostly nouns and verbs.

Aphasia

impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca's area (impairing speaking) or to Wernicke's area (impairing understanding).

Broca's area

Controls language expression - an area of the frontal lobe, usually in the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle movements involved in speech.

Wernicke's area

a brain area involved in language comprehension and expression; usually in the left temporal lobe

Linguistic determinism

the strong form of Whorf's hypothesis—that language controls the way we think and interpret the world around us

Linguistic influence

the weaker form of "linguistic relativity"—the idea that language affects thought (thus our thinking and world view is "relative to" our cultural language).

Intelligence

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

General intelligence (g)

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

Factor analysis

a statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items on a test; used to identify different dimensions of performance that underlie a person's total score.

Savant syndrome

a condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in computation or drawing

GRIT

in psychology, grit is passion and perseverance in the pursuit of long-term goals

Emotional intelligence

the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions

Intelligence test

a method for assessing an individual's mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others, using numerical scores

Achievement test

a test designed to assess what a person has learned

Aptitude test

a test designed to predict a person's future performance; aptitude is the capacity to learn

Mental age

a measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet; the chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance; if a child does well as an average 8 year old, they are said to have a mental age of 8

Stanford-Binet

the widely used American revision (by Terman at Stanford University) of Binet's original intelligence test.

Intelligence quotient (IQ)

defined originally as the ratio of mental age (ma) to chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100 [thus, IQ = (ma/ca) x 100]. On contemporary intelligence tests, the average performance for a given age is assigned a score of 100.

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)

the WAIS and its companion versions for children are the most widely used intelligence tests; contain verbal and performance (nonverbal) subtests

Standardization

the test items have been piloted on a similar population of people as those who are meant to take the test

Normal curve

the bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of many physical and psychological attributes. Most scores fall near the average, and fewer and fewer scores lie near the extremes

Reliability

the extent to which a test yields consistent results

Validity

the extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to

Content validity

the extent to which a test measures what it is supposed to be testing

Predictive validity

the extent to which a test predicts future performance

Cohort

a group of people sharing a common characteristic, such as from a given time period

Crystallized intelligence

our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age

Fluid intelligence

our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood

Cross-sectional study

research that compares people of different ages at the same point in time

Longitudinal study

research that follows and retests the same people over time

Intellectual disability

a condition of limited mental ability, indicated by an intelligence score of 70 or below and difficulty in adapting to the demands of life

Down syndrome

a condition of mild to severe intellectual disability and associated physical disorders caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21

Heritabilility

measure of how much of a trait's variation within a population is explained by genetic factors

Stereotype threat

a self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype

Ivan Pavlov

discovered classical conditioning; trained dogs to salivate at the ringing of a bell "Pavlov's dog"

John B. Watson

founder of early field of psychology know as behaviorism; famous for classically conditioning "Little Albert" to fear furry animals

B.F Skinner

Behaviorist that developed the theory of operant conditioning - behavior is determined by consequences

Edward L. Thorndike

Developed the Law of Effect - theory that led to operant conditioning in behaviorism

John Garcia

Researched taste aversion.

Edward Tolman

studied rats in mazes - developed theory of latent learning

Albert Bandura

developed social learning theory: bobo doll experiment displayed modeling and observational learning

Learning

the process of acquiring new and relatively enduring information or behaviors

Associative learning

learning that certain events occur together. The events may be two stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a response and its consequences (as in operant conditioning).

Stimulus

any event or situation that evokes a response

Respondent behavior

behavior that occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus

Operant behavior

behavior that operates on the environment, producing consequences

Cognitive learning

the acquisition of mental information, whether by observing events, by watching others, or through language

Classical conditioning

a type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli; as a result, to illustrate with Pavlov's classic experiment, the first stimulus (a tone) comes to elicit behavior (drooling) in anticipation of the second stimulus (food)

Behaviorism

the view that psychology should be an objective science that studies behavior without reference to mental processes. Most research psychologists today agree with the first part but not with the second

Neutral stimulus (NS)

in classical conditioning, a stimulus that elicits no response before conditioning

Unconditioned response (UR)

in classical conditioning, an unlearned, naturally occurring response (such as salivation) to an unconditioned stimulus (US) (such as food in the mouth)

Unconditioned stimulus (US)

in classical conditioning, a stimulus that unconditionally—naturally and automatically—triggers an unconditioned response.

Conditioned stimulus (CS)

in classical conditioning, an originally neutral response that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus (US), comes to trigger a conditional response (CR)

Conditioned response (CR)

in classical conditioning, the learned response to a previously neutral (but now conditioned) stimulus (CS)

Acquisition

In classical conditioning, the initial stage, when one links a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus begins triggering the conditioned response. In operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response.

Higher-order conditioning

a procedure in which the conditioned stimulus in one conditioning experience is paired with a new neutral stimulus, creating a second (often weaker) conditioned stimulus.

Extinction

the diminishing of a conditioned response; occurs in classical conditioning when an unconditioned stimulus (US) does not follow a conditioned stimulus (CS); occurs in operant conditioning when a response is no longer reinforced.

Spontaneous recovery

the reappearance, after a pause, of an extinguished conditioned response

Generalization

the tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses

Discrimination

in classical conditioning, the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus

Operant conditioning

a type of learning in which behavior is more likely to recur if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher

Law of effect

Thorndike's principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely, and that behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely

Operant chamber

in operant conditioning research, a chamber (also known as a Skinner box) containing a bar or key that an animal can manipulate to obtain a food or water reinforcer; attached devices record the animal's rate of bar pressing or key pecking.

Reinforcement

in operant conditioning, any event that strengthens the behavior it follows

Shaping

an operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior

Positive reinforcement

increasing behaviors by presenting positive reinforcers. A positive reinforcer is any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response.

Negative reinforcement

increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing aversive stimuli. A negative reinforcer is any stimuli that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response

Discriminative stimulus

in operant conditioning, a stimulus that elicits a response after association with reinforcement

Primary reinforcer

an innately reinforcing stimulus, such as one that satisfies a biological need

Conditioned (secondary) reinforcer

a stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through its association with a primary reinforcer; AKA secondary reinforcer

Reinforcement schedule

a pattern that defines how often a desired response will be reinforced

Continuous reinforcement schedule

reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs

Partial (intermittent) reinforcement schedule

reinforcing a response only part of the time; results in slower acquisition of a response but much greater resistance to extinction than does continuous reinforcement

Fixed- ratio schedule

in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses

Variable-ratio schedule

in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses

Fixed-interval schedule

in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed

Variable-interval schedule

in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals

Punishment

an event that tends to decrease the behavior that it follows

Biofeedback

a system for electronically recording, amplifying, and feeding back information regarding a subtle physiological state, such as blood pressure or muscle tension

Cognitive map

a mental representation of the layout of one's environment. For example, after exploring a maze, rats act as if they have learned a cognitive map of it.