Psych/Soc MCAT Anki Deck

Positive Reinforcement

Increasing behaviors by presenting positive stimuli, such as food.

Negative Reinforcement

Increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing negative stimuli, such as shock.

Positive Punishment

adding an undesirable stimulus to stop or decrease a behavior

Negative Punishment

taking away a pleasant stimulus to decrease or stop a behavior

Watson's "Little Albert" study

fear generalization: a boy trained to be frightened by white rats was later frightened by other furry white things

Robber's Cave Study

22 boys split into two groups. One team vs the other in competitions to receive prize. Being in a competition with each other, both teams became more aggressive against the opposing team.

Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Study

the effects of role playing on attitudes/behavior--become your roles

Milgram's Shock Experiment

as a direct result of authority in extraordinary situations, people often do things that make them very uncomfortable.

ecological validity

a measure of how test performance predicts behaviors in real-world settings

Extinction

the diminishing of a conditioned response; occurs in operant conditioning when a response is no longer reinforced.

Generalization

responding similarly to a range of similar stimuli

Acoustic encoding

the encoding of sound, especially the sound of words

Semantic encoding

the encoding of meaning, including the meaning of words

visual encoding

the encoding of picture images

Discrimination

Describes the process by which two similar but distinct conditioned stimuli produce different responses

neutral stimulus

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

conditioned stimulus

a stimulus that elicits a response only after learning has taken place

unconditioned stimulus

A stimulus that evokes an unconditioned response without previous conditioning

Spontaneous recovery

the reappearance of a learned response after extinction has occurred

Episodic memory

memory for one's personal past experiences; does not mean acting on them

False memory construction

creation of memories that didnt actually occur or occured differently

Recency bias

when the newest, or most recent, information carries the most weight

Priming

the activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory

Reaction formation

People may express feelings that are the opposite of their anxiety-arousing unconscious feelings.

Dishabituation

recovery of a habituated response after a change in stimulation

Habituation

an organism's decreasing response to a stimulus with repeated exposure to it

Sensitization

an increase in behavioral response after exposure to a stimulus

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.

Source amnesia

Forgetting when, where, or how information was learned

elaborative rehearsal

the linking of new information to material that is already known

Confabulation

process of creating vivid but fabricated memories

Misinformation effect

incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event

Recall Bias

Error introduced into study results due to failure of participants to remember event accurately

Retroactive interference

new information interferes with old information

Semantic memory

memory for knowledge about the world

7 +/- 2 rule

the number of items that can be stored in short-term memory

Context effect

Being in the same physical location a first memory was made

Context dependence

memory is aided by being in the same physical location where encoding took place

State dependence

A person's mental state can affect recall

Serial positioning effect

our tendency to recall best the last and first items in a list

Spacing effect

Memories are easier to remember is you go back and study them after you learn them once

Differentiation

process in which cells become specialized in structure and function

Neural Crest

group of cells that develops from the embryo's ectoderm and contributes to the development of many vertebrate structures

Cortisol

Stress hormone made in the adrenal cortex

Endorphin

Natural pain killer produced in the brain; a peptide

Norepinephrine

helps control alertness and arousal (fight or flight)

Vasopressin/ADH

raises blood pressure and makes kidneys conserve water

Serotonin

Affects mood, hunger, sleep and arousal. Undersupply linked to depression.

Babinski reflex

Infant reflex where if its foot is stroked, the baby's toes fan out; abnormal after an individual turns one

Basal ganglia

structures in the forebrain that help to control movement

Hypothalamus

brain region controlling the pituitary gland; and endocrine function; regulates response to stimuli, food intake, metabolism, and thirst

Cerebrospinal fluid

the fluid in and around the brain and spinal cord; contained in the protective layers of the skull

Centrality of parental figure

At birth, the parental figure becomes the center of the infant's world.

Separation anxiety

the distress displayed by infants when a customary care provider departs

Stranger anxiety

the fear of strangers that infants commonly display

PET scan

a visual display of brain activity that detects where a radioactive form of glucose goes while the brain performs a given task

MRI

magnetic resonance imaging, frequently used to test for Alzheimer's disease

rCBF

detect blood flow to parts of the brain

EEG

record the electrical activity of neurons through action potentials; seizure disorders

Libido

sexual desire

medulla oblongata

Part of the brainstem that controls vital life-sustaining functions such as heartbeat, breathing, blood pressure, and digestion.

Adaptive value

any trait that helps an organism survive and reproduce under a given set of environmental conditions

Fertility

The quality of being able to produce offspring

Plieotropy

One gene influences multiple phenotypic traits

Concordance rates

likelihood that both twins exhibit the same trait

Testosterone

Male sex hormone; can lead to aggressive behavior

Alar plate

differentiates into sensory neurons

Endoderm

membranelike tissue lining the digestive tract

Neural tube

an embryonic structure that gives rise to the central nervous system; defect could lead to anencephaly

Moro reflex

Reflex in which a newborn strectches out the arms and legs and cries in response to a loud noise or an abrupt change in the environment

Midbrain

Region between the hindbrain and the forebrain; it is important for hearing and sight.

Hindbrain

The posterior portion of the brain including cerebellum and brainstem.

Forebrain

a part of the brain that covers the brain's central core

Escape learning

a behavior intended to reduce an unpleasant stimulus that already exists

Type 1 error (false positive)

Rejecting null hypothesis when it is true

Type 2 error (false negative)

failing to reject a false null hypothesis

Sensory memory

A type of storage that holds sensory information for a few seconds or less; visual or auditory stimuli

Working memory

active maintenance of information in short-term storage

Procedural memory

the gradual acquisition of skills as a result of practice, or "knowing how" to do things

Long-term memory

the relatively permanent storage of information

Groupthink

The desire for unanimity within the group overcoming the desires and opinions of the individuals

Assimilation

A person becomes more like a dominant group in behaviors, culture, or style; classifying new information into existing schemata

group polarization

tendency of group members to move to an extreme position after discussing an issue as a group

Bystander Effect

the probability of a person's helping in an emergency is greater when there are no other bystanders than when there are other bystanders

hierarchy of salience

we let the situation dictate which identity holds the most importance for us at any given moment

Sensorimotor stage

in Piaget's theory, the stage during which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities

primary circular reactions

The infant senses motion, sucking, noise, and other stimuli and tries to understand them.

secondary circular reactions

the repetition of actions that produce an effect on the environment

Social Networks

social relationships among people with common interests

threshold of conciousness

the point where someone can consciously perceive a stimulus

Hippocampus

important for learning and fear

Amygdala

Important for processing emotion/fear

social facilitation

stronger responses on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others

social loafing

phenomenon whereby individuals become less productive in groups

Deindividuation

when an individual seems to lose himself or herself in the group's identity

Cognitive bias

A feature of human psychology that skews belief formation.

Beleif perseverance

clinging to one's initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited

Heuristic

a rule-of-thumb problem-solving strategy

Decision making

attempting to select the best alternative among several options

Latency

6-puberty, dormant sexual feelings