psych test 4- in class notes

cognitive psychology

- the mind

- emerged from behaviorism

Cognition

mental process of thinking, learning, and understanding

(mind part of mind-body problem)

- cognitive processes mediate the relationship between behavior and environment

knowledge

is stored representations

thinking

is a manipulation of these representations

thinking slow

deliberative, logical, rational

- (we thought we all thought rationally, rational actors)

thinking fast

instinctive, emotional

heuristics

shortcuts used to reduce the amount of thinking that is needed to make decisions

- cant always narrrow down options

availability heuristic

decisions are influenced by how readily examples are recalled

- politics: the more you mention an issue, the more people think how important it is

- advertising: the more recognizable a product is, the more likely you are to buy it

- medicine(sympotoms r more likely to be associated with a common ailment than a rare one)

representative heuristic

making a judgement by comparing a person/object to a prototype

conjunction fallacy

likelihood of multiple events happening together is more likely than any of those events happening individually

simulation heuristic

people express more regret over outcomes that are easier to imagine or "stimulate"

(outcome is the same but you just missed it, plane example)

confirmation bias

a tendency to search for information that confirms your expectation (and ignore information that refutes it)

rosenhan study

conf. bias example

- group of ppl reported hearing voices to a mental health institution, no other symptoms

- all were admitted, acted normally after admission\

- all of their theraposts found instances from past that would explain voices

anchoring

setting a reference point (usually first piece of info) to simplify a situation

- put alot of weight on the first thing we see

sunk-cost fallacy

a person is reluctant to abandon a strategy if they are heavily invested in it ( loss aversion)

emotions and decision making

emotions, either felt or anticipated, can affect how ppl make decisions

affective forecasting

predicting how we will feel with any given outcome

- we are bad at this!

( parapalegic and lottery winner ---1 year later---> same level of happiness)

- we chase things that wont make us happy in the long run

first IQ test

Binet-Simon Scale (1905)

- used to classify ppl

- french wanted measure to figure out if kids were ready for school

mental age

how many questions you get right, intelligence for classification, idiot, low grade imbecile.... moron

intelligence and eugenics

- og behind binet test was positive but then....

- shift in US against intellectual disability

- used binet test to idenitfy intellectual disability

- tried to control disability thru eugenics, forced sterilization

army alpha/beta tests

assessed cognitive abilities of recruits, ability to serve, and appropriate roles (WWI)

- alpha tests for literate individuals

- beta tests for illiterate recruits

eventually published, used widely in business and education

- became the basis for famous wechsler(most widely used) intelligence tests (WISC, WAIS)

three theories of intelligence

one- overall (or general) intelligence: g, spearman

two- fluid and crystalized intelligence

multifactor: many

fluid intelligence (two factor theory)

natural abilites: reasoning problem solving, in unfamiliar situations

crystallized intelligence

knowledge- gained from experince used to solve problems

gardners 8 intelligences

word smart - linguistic

number smart - logical - mathematical

picture smart - visual-spatial

body smart - bodily-kinesthetic

music smart - musical

people smart - interpersonal

self smart - intrapersonal

nature smart - naturalist

more advertisement than research

intelligence test structure

will produce intelligence quotient (IQ) which is a standard score ( we determine standard avg = 100)

- most intelligeence tests include subtests that can be grouped into subscales

- broad subscale ex: verbal vs. nonverbal

- specific subscales: verbal comprehension, working

- memory, perceptual reasoning ( among others)

intelligence quotient

assesment

- 70% used as cut diff for intellecutal

- mean = 100

- SD = 15

IQ: verbal comprehension

vocabulary subtest: what is garrulous?

similarties subtest: how are capitalism and socialism alike?

comprehension subtest: what should you do if you find someone's wallet in the store

information subtest: who wrote faust

IQ subscale: Perceptual reasoning

accuracy and speed

- boxes and shi

IQ subscale: perceptual reasoning

this one is not timed..

colorful shapes

IQ subscale: working memory

Digits forward subtest: 3-2-7-6-9-4-1

digits backward subtest: 7-9-4-5-8-2-6

letter-number sequencing subtest: 6

-m-8-a-5-r-1

assessing intelligence in infants/toddlers

track block

- hold in hand

- change from hand to hand

- search for it when covered

- search in different places

- say "block"

- request block

- reqyuest block nively

- make sure mom sees how awesome block is

- tell a story about how awesome block is

importance of profiles

even if you believe in "g", the most helpful information as a clinician is strengths and weaknesses, evryone has them, some are more pronounced than others

critiscisms of intelligence tests

cultural and socioeconomic states bias (SES)

language and content bias (SES)

tests reflect the culture of the people who wrote, administer, and take it

sterotype threat

steele and aronson, 1995

- do worse on same material when you tell them its intellidence and they r in a group that sterotypcially has lower intelligence

intellectual potential changes over the life span

can ones IQ increase or decrease -> yes!

aptitude test

measures cogntiive ability

- fluid

- SAT

- purported to be a measure of general cognitive abilities

achievement test

measures of learned cognitive abilities

- ACT

- Crystalized

benefits of testing and admissions

-metric by which universities can compare across schools

drawbacks of testing and admissions

cultural bias, test prep and SES bias, writing?

motivation

activates (energizes), directs (guides) and sustains (help persist) behavior. it involves:

needs and drives

needs

internal physiological or psychological driving force that motivates ppl to act

drives

internal tension that arises from an unmet need

- want to fulfill them

physioloigcal need

ex. warmth

drive: you feel cold (unmet need), are compelled to find heat or block cold

action: pull your hood over ur head

psychological need

ex. love

drive: you feel lonely (unmet need), are compelled to seek affection from others

action: swipe right

maslows hierarchy of needs

if you dont have the basic needs, you cant meet the ones above it

- psychological needs

- self-fullfillment needs, best self

extrinsic psychological motivations

you are motivated to act by the presence of reward/punishment

- rewards and punishment canbe used to shape, or control behavior

intrinsic motivation

you are motivated to act because the action itself is rewarding, enjoyment of action itself

self determination theory

theory of intrinsic motivation, posits that the introduction of extrinsic motivation undermines intrinsic motivation

- ofc behaviorists disagree

deci 1971

3 sessions, 2 groups, working on the same puzzle

- 2nd session- one group offered monetary reward for completing puzzle(reward group), other group given nothing, unaware of any rewards (control group)

-3rd session: no rewards offered, both baseline

what happened in the 2nd session, 3rd?

- reward group worked harder in second session, but not as hard as non-rewarded group in 3rd session (with noreward)

deci 1971 follow up

field study of volunteer workers at college newspaper, same design, same findings

- other studies have shown that ppl given money find puzzles less interesting

- ppl given money work on puzzles less in free time after task

self-dtermination theory

ppl have innate tendencies for growth and development, rather than being a pdt of their environment (rather than how we are reinforced)

self- determination

decisions based on choice and free will, without external influence

intrinsic motivation (self determination theory)

doing an activity because it is interesting, not because of an external influence

self determination theory needs

according to SDT, these needs are essential to growth and well being

- autonomy

- relatedness

- competence

autonomy

need to actively determine one's own

- we make our own decisions about what to do next

relatedness

need to care for and relate to others

competence

need to control outcomes, predict environment- we can control our outcomes, accomplishment is possible

need for autonomy

feeling that you are acting on your own volition(free will)

facilitated by: abiliity to make choices, involvement in task

undermined by: external pressure, punishment, deadlines, surveillance

need for relatedness

feeling cared for, feeling connected to, sense of belonging with others (care even on worse day)

faciliatted by:

- unconditional empathy, warmth (realtionship is not dependent on how you act on a certain day)

- secure attachments to others

undermined by:

- cold interactions

- controlling relationships, dependent on expectations, enough talking, attention

need for competence

you feel like you can accomplish the task in front of you

- sense of effectiveness and competence in ones context

faciliatted by: optimal challenge(just hard enough so that if they work the can achieve)

-**informational rewards** (not all external is bad, can help with intrinsic)

-**positive feedback?**

undermined by:

- non-optimal challenge

- *negative feedback?**

informational feedback ( rewards and intrisic motivation)

if you are genuinely intersted in learning, getting information is rewarding (positive motivates you )

positive feedback( rewards and intrisic motivation)

promotes competence, if you do something, sometimes you dont know if you r successful without some feedback

rewards that undermine intrinsic motivation

controlling or contingent rewards ( bad, takes away intrinsic interst, good is like "yay u got it" curveball example)

- if you do X, then you will get y

punishments, negative feedback

- punishments undermine all aspects intrinsic motivation

applications to others fields - education

montessori scools,

intrinsic motivation and hig-stakes testing (ultimate extrinsic?)

application to other fields -sports

players enjoy sport more if coaches promote learning actiivty, self and team improvemnt over winning

does intrinsic motovation exist? (no)

behaviorists: say there is no such thing as intrinsic motivation, ail better explained through sternal motivators, "all intrinsic canbe explained extrinsically"

does intrinsic motovation exist? (yes)

theories of intrinsic motivation acknowledge that extrinsic motivation exists

- but intrinsic motivation is better and is undermined by extrinsic rewards

communication is beautiful

babies are native speakers in twp yuears (.. and babies r dumb)

communication

the use of language, gestures, faical expressiooons to exchnage information

language

a system for exhcnaging information

speech

the ACT of vocal communication

tracing a communication interchange

sound travels in the ear, the ear translates it into signals(eletrical)

- brain filters human speech from noise

- bottum-up orocessing and top down processing (both happen at the same time)

bottom-up processing

takes sound bits and turns them into words, and then phrases

top-down processing

takes previous knowledge of concepts and applies them to sound combinations

tracing a communication interchange

the brain thinks about the information and formulates a response

- massive coordination of face, hands, body posture, lungs, lips, tongue , jaw ,throat, to give response

- sound then travels to the other persons ear

- this happens automatically

language/ communication in the brain

- major debate: whether language is modular in the brain, o r is it distributed throughout

- chomsky, pinker, and others argued for distinct laguange areas in the brain

modern research: systems/networks rather than areas

phonemes (component of language)

smallest component of a language

- in essence, a sound (b.k.t.o, th)

- rarely carry meaning in isolation (I,s(plural), a

- you lose the ability to percieve some phonemes (when we are babies if theyre not used in our native language)

phoneme development

vocal exploration

- baby can barely use her lips, so she squeals the phonemes she can make

- eventually , you start to approximate the sounds in your native language

phoneme development - Babbling

ex. 2- "Dada:

language - morphemes

smallest meaningful unit of language

- sassafrass is a morpheme

- confusing- the -s in cats is a morpheme, but not in sassafrass

typically root word and its affixes. Example:

- denationalization ( 5 morphemes)

- de, nation, al, ize, ation

- nation, national, nationalize, nationalizatioj

prefixes and suffixes S to make something plural

- only a morpheme if it changes meaning ed to make past tense

morphemes - overgeneralization

-kids learn rules and exceptions to the rule in steps

(learn exceptions first, but over time, they learn the rule ans start saying things wrong)

1. kids pair a word with a meaning before learning the rule (broke means break in the past)

2. then kids learn a rule (-ed means past tense, breaked, and overgeneralize rule to every circumstance) ("broked")

3. then kids learn the exception to the rule, and there are a lot in english (broke is an excpetion to the -ed rule)

language lexicon

- this is a fancy word for vocabulary (word that relates to some sort of concept, could be one to multiple morphemes)

- this is directly related to concepts

- the total lexicon of a language is always changing

- new: looks maxing, glow-up, vibe-coding

- dead: sternforemost, snollygoster, (scrupulous politician - just dont use anymore)

- words with added meaning: sigma

language - syntax and semantics

closely realted

syntax

is the structure of language- how we order words to great meaning (like grammar)

- sentnece can mean something different depending on arrangement of words

- chomsky argued for a universal syntax, or rules that are present in all languages

- syntactic rule example: recursion(how to add emphasis)

semantics

is how words, phrases, and sentences communicate meaning

- progress (n) vs. progress(v)

- differnet parts of speech

- semantics operates at multiple levels

- lexical sarcasm(say one thing, mean the opposite)

- syntactic

- irony

- synatx without semantics (means nothing)

- colorless green ideas sleep furiously

communication - prosody

patterns of stress and intonation in a language

- can change the meaning of words (progress)

- can add addiotnal information to a word

- bears calm(chicago) vs. scream (threat)

- can structure a conversation ( just by rising the end of your statement, you can turn it into a question)

communication - gestures

- beats (bounce hands along with what youre syaing)

- iconic gestures : gesture resembles object (ex. heart)

- emblems- gesture represents a word (ex. thumbs up)

- metaphoric gestures- abstract ideas/concepts (ex. weighing options ( move hands up and down))

what is the purpose of gestures

ppl gesture even when on the phone

- for us or others?

language acquisition theories - behaviorists

skinner et al.

- language is completely learned, taught

language acquisition theories - nativists

chomsky, pinker

- the ability to understand and communicate through language is innate

- language "module" or "organ" in the brain

language acquisition theories -interactions

bruner et al.

- nature and nurture (interplay)

language/communication explosion

9-12 months, first words

1-1.5 years

- several words, hard to understand

- babbles with prosody

1.5-2 years

- puts words into simple phrases

- articulation improving

2-3 years

- 3 years... full conversations

social cognition

- how we, as individuals, process social information

- thinking fast and thinking slow(about ourselves, others)

- origin of our social behaviors...but how our own social behaviors influence our social thinking is also intersting ( see cognitive dissonance)

fundamnetal attribution error

tendency to make situational attributions about yourself,,, but dispositional attributions about others

actor vs. observor perspectives

- you view your own behavior in multiple contexts

- but you tend to view others only in a specific context

- therefore, you are more likely to view what you see as an attribute of their who they are ("they r just a bad driver")

- example - zoom meeting

og study - jones and harris (1967)

- participants listened to confederates make pro-castro or anti-castro arguments

- one group was told the speakers chose their stance

- the other group was told that it was a coin flip, or sometimes a class assignment

- partcipants then rated how much they belived that the speakers were pro- or anti-castro

attitudes

feelings that predispose our reactions to a situation

- attitudes are good predictors of behavior (most of time)

- biases and stereotypes are examples of attitudes

stereotypes

-characterstics attributed to people because they are members of a group

- attitude that is often overgeneralized, inaccurate, and inflexible

- save cognitive "energy" by simplifying a situation (sound familiar)

* leads to prejudice and discrimination