psych midterm studying

concept

symbolic representations of a mental category that groups related items

simplify and summarize information about the world so that is manageable and so that we can make decisions quickly

prototype

an especially representative best example of a concept

words used to express concepts may…

influence or shape how we think about them

cognitive schema

an integrated mental network of knowledge, beliefs, and expectations containing a particular aspect of the world

mental images

a representation in the mind that mirrors or resembles the thing it represents

subconscious processes

mental processes occurring outside of conscious awareness but accessible to consciousness but necessary

nonconscious processes

mental processes occurring outside of and not available to conscious awareness

implicit learning

learning that occurs when you acquire knowledge without being aware of how you did so and without being able to state exactly what you have learned

algorithm

a problem-solving strategy guaranteed to produce a soluion even if the user does not know how it works 

heuristic

a rule of thumb that suggests a course of action or guides problem solving but does not guarantee an optimal solution (a shortcut)

system 1 thinking (fast thinking)

applies to rapid, intuitive, emotional, automatic decisionssys

system 2 thinking (slow thinking)

requires intellectual effort 

reasoning

the drawing of conclusions of inferences from observations, facts, or assumptions (purposeful mental activity that involves operating on information)

formal reasoning

a method of analyzing and evaluating arguments based on their logical structure and validity, rather than their content. It uses a symbolic language and a set of strict rules to represent propositions and ensure that if the premises are true, the conclusion must necessarily be true.

informal reasoning

a form of practical, everyday problem-solving that relies on concrete context and real-world knowledge rather than strict, abstract rules of logic

dialectical reasoning

a process in which opposing facts or ideas are weighed and comared, with a view to determining the best solution or resolving differences

because we tend to exaggerate the probability of rare events, we often overestimate ex. a snake biting us

danger

affect heuristic

the tendency to consult one’s emotions instead of estimating probabilities objectively

availability heuristic

the tendency to judge the probability of a type of event by how easy it is to think of examples or instances 

ex. overestimating frequency of deaths from tornadoes, underestimate the frequency of deaths from asthma

framing effect

tendency for people’s choices to be affected by how a choice is presented, or framed, such as whether it is worded in terms of potential losses or gains

fairness bias 

people are motivated to see fairness prevail even when unfairness comes at their own personal expense

hindsight bias

the tendency to overestimate one’s ability to have predicted an event after the outcome is known

confirmation bias

the tendency to look or pay attention only to information that confirm’s one’s own belief 

• ignore, trivialize, or forget disconfirming informaiton

mental set 

a tendency to solve problems using procedures that have worked before on similar problems 

intelligence

an inferred characteristic, usually defined as the ability to profit from experience, acquire knowledge, think abstractly, act purposefully, or adapt to changes in the environment

general intelligence (g factor)

a general intellectual ability assumed by many theorists to underlie specific mental abilities and talents

crystallized intelligence

cognitive skills and specific knowledge acquired over a lifetime

fluid intelligence

capacity to reason and use information to solve new problems 

parieto-frontal integration theory (P-FIT) suggests that

general intelligence derives from the efficient transfer of information between regions

mental age

a measure of development expressed in terms of the average mental ability at a given age

stereotype threat

a burden of doubt a person feels about their performance due to awareness of negative stereotypes about their group’s abilities 

metacognition

the knowledge or awareness of one’s own cognitive processes and the ability to monitor and control them

triarchic theory of intelligence

a theory of intelligence that emphasizes the following kinds of abilities

1. analytical 

2. creative 

3. practical 

analytical intelligence 

recognizing and defining a problem, comparing and contrasting, selecting a strategy for solving the problem, mastering and carrying out the strategy, and evaluating the result

creative intelligence

using insight to solve normal problems — to think in new and interesting ways, ability to transfer new skills to old situations

practical intelligence

application of intelligence that requires you to take into account the different contexts in which you find yourself 

tacit knowledge

strategies for success that are not explicitly taught but that instead must be inferred

multiple intelligences theory 

a theory of intelligence that emphasizes many different ways of processing information

emotional intelligence

social intelligence and ability to use emotions to guide appropriate thought and action

cognitive ethology

the study of cognitive processes in nonhuman animals

theory of mind 

a system of beliefs about the way the minds of others work and how individuals are affected by their beliefs and feelings

mental representations, both the kind of representation as well as how they are stored in the mind, directly impact _______

behavior

scripts

organize information about actions and events 

• basic features for how people behave or how to act in certain locations (ex. library vs. gym) 

• step-by-step list of actions for events 

help us make predictions, can lead to errors and acting in biased ways 

representativeness bias

• placing a person / object in a category if it is similar to a prototype 

• basing a decision on the extent to which each option reflects what we already believe about a situation 

anchoring effect

the tendency to rely on the first piece of information encountered

affective forecasting

people are poor at affective forecasting, predicting how they will feel about things in the future

people misjudge the relative importance of how all parts of an event will impact their life

standard approach to assessing intelligence

psychometric assessment, a standardized test that assesses both verbal and non-verbal abilities

memory

the capacity to encode, retain, and retrieve information

encoding

brain changes information into neural code

levels of processing model

the more deeply an item is encoded, the better it is remembered

shallow processing: physical and perceptual featured are analyzed

intermediate processing: stimulus is recognized and labeled

deep processing: semantic, meaningful, symbolic characteristics are used

memory storage

brain stores information through consolidation

memory consolidation

• process by which a long-term memory becomes durable and relatively stable 

• involves structural changes in the brain: strengthening, stabilizing, and enhancing of recently learned memory traces 

• happens during sleep better than during wake: active replay of new memory traces during sleep 

long-term potentiation (LTP)

• strengthening of connections between neurons 

• caused by repeated stimulation over time 

• long-lasting increase in signal transmission between neurons 

• dendrites can grow, synapses increases, synapses strengthen 

• increases synaptic responsiveness

where is memory stored?

not stored in one specific part of the brain, they are distributed throughout the cortex

how is memory stored

• memory is distributed 

• sights, sounds, and smells are stored in different brain regions 

• memories organized as assemblies (groups) in the brain

association networks

• organize information in memory 

• similar concepts are connected through their associations

memory retrieval

reactivation of sensory information present at encoding

many types of forgetting are…

failures of retrieval

ex. tip-of-the-tongue

retrieval cues

can help access to access information in long-term memory

context-dependent memory hypothesis

when the recall situation is similar to the encoding situation, memory is enhanced

three memory systems

1. sensory memory: fraction of a second to several seconds, unattended information is lost

2. short-term/working memory: up to 30 seconds, unrehearsed information is lost

3. long-term memory: up to a lifetime, some information may be lost over time

chunking

organizing information into meaningful groups

long-term memory retention: language

retention of a foreign language remains constant for spans of almost 50 years after initial drop seri

serial-position effect

primacy effect and recency effect:

the tendency for people to recall the first and last items on a list better than the items in the middle of the list

primacy effect

people have a good memory for items at the beginning of a list 

recency effect

people also have a good memory for items at the end of a list

explicit memory

conscious, intentional recollection of an event or of an item of information, can often be verbally described

recall 

the ability to retrieve and reproduce from memory previously encountered material 

recognition

the ability to identify previously encountered material

implicit memory

unconscious retention in memory, as evidenced by the effect of a pervious experience or previously encountered information on current thoughts and actions 

• classical conditioning (associating two stimuli elicits a response)

• procedural memory (motor skills and habits)

classical conditioning

a new stimulus becomes associated with an involuntary response 

ex. dog learns to associate food dish with food and starts salivating 

operant conditioning

a type of learning where a behavior is strengthened or weakened by its consequences (rewards or punishments)

priming

a method for measuring implicit measuring in which a person reads or listens to information and is later tested to see whether it affects performance on another type of task 

parallel distributed processing model (PDP)

a model of memory in which knowledge is represented as connections among thousands of interacting processing units, distributed in a vast network, and operating at the same time (also called a connectionist model)

sensory register

a memory system that momentarily preserves sensory information

working memory

a form of short-term memory that actively retains information for brief periods and keeps it available for current use

chunk

a meaningful unit of information ex. a word, a phrase, a sentence, an image 

working memory consists of a few chunks

long-term memory

the memory system involved in the storage of information over longer durations

semantic categories

collections of items, concepts, or data that are organized by their shared meaning rather than superficial characteristics

semantic memories

memories of general knowledge, including facts, rules, concepts, and propositions, not necessarily tagged with a context

episodic memories

• memory for specific events or episodes, personal experiences

• specific in time and place 

brain changes during working memory

neurons temporarily alter their ability to release neurotransmitters

brain changes for long-term memory

lasting structural changes, increase in synaptic responsiveness

amygdala memory function

formation, consolidation, and retrieval of emotional memories

frontal and parietal lobe memory function

working-memory tasks

frontal and temporal lobe memory function

efficient encoding of words and pictures

hippocampus

formation of long-term explicit memories; aids in the retrieval of specific memories; may bind together diverse elements of a memory to be retrieved later as a coherent entity

cerebellum

formation and retention of simple classically conditioned responses

cerebral cortex

storage of long-term memories, possibly in areas involved in the original perception of the information

maintenance rehearsal

rote repetition 

elaborative rehearsal

association of new information with already stored knowledge and deeper analysis to make it more memorable

deep processing

in the encoding of information, learning meaning rather than just features of a stimulus

Why do we forget? 

• encoding failure 

  • inattentive / shallow encoding

• poor retrieval cues

• interference

  • other memories get in the way

proactive interference

old information disrupts ability to learn new information 

ex. memory of old locker combination interferes with recall of new locker combination

retroactive interference

new information disrupts ability to remember old information

ex. once you learn spanish it’s harder to remember french

memory illusions

false memoriesre

reconstructive memory 

• memory is not a literal reproduction of the past

  • we actively reconstruct memories, not passively reproduce them (memory isn’t a camera where we press play)

what’s a leading cause of wrongful conviction?

eyewitness memory! memory is reconstructive but we still rely on eyewitness identifications