Gen Psych Exam 4- Cedarville University Dr. DeWitt

Learning

the process of acquiring new and relatively enduring information or behaviors

Associative Learning

learning that certain events occur together

4 Pioneers of Learning

-Ivan Pavlov

-John B. Watson

-B.F. Skinner

-Albert Bandura

Ivan Pavlov

discovered classical conditioning; trained dogs to salivate at the ringing of a bell

Classical Conditioning

a type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events

Conditioning

the process of learning associations

Stimulus

any event or situation that evokes a response

Dog Experiment

US=Food

UR=Salivation to food

CS=Tone

CR=Salivation to tone

Conditioned

learned

Unconditioned

unlearned

John B. Watson

behaviorism; emphasis on external behaviors of people and their reactions on a given situation; famous for Little Albert study in which baby was taught to fear a white rat

Behaviorist

Behaviors are more important than thoughts, motives, and feelings

B.F. Skinner

Contributions: created techniques to manipulate the consequences of an organism's behavior in order to observe the effects of subsequent behavior; Studies: Skinner box

Operant Conditioning

a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher

Shaping

Procedure in which rewards guide one to a desired behavior

Reinforcement

any event that strengthens the behavior it follows

Positive Reinforcement

strengthens a response by presenting a typically pleasurable stimulus after a response

Negative Reinforcement

strengthens a behavior by making the avoidance of an undesirable consequence contingent on its occurrence

Punishment

an event that decreases the behavior that it follows

Classical Conditioning vs. Operant Conditioning

-Involuntary

-Respondent Conditioning

-Controlling stimulus comes BEFORE the behavior

-Voluntary

-Operant Conditioning

-Controlling stimulus comes AFTER the behavior

Albert Bandura

researcher famous for work in observational or social learning including the famous Bobo doll experiment

Observational learning

learning by observing others

Modeling

the process of observing and imitating a specific behavior

Prosocial Behavior and Effects

Positive helpful behavior-->Manners

Antisocial Behavior and Effects

Negative harmful behavior

Memory

Our ability to encode, store, and retrieve info indicating that learning has persisted over time

Measures of Retention

(Recall)

Retrieve info learned earlier

Measures of Retention

(Recognition)

Identify info learned earlier

Measures of Retention

(Relearning)

Learn something more quickly the 2nd time

Hermann Ebbinghaus

Memorized nonsense syllables in early study on human memory: the amount remembered depends on the time spent learning

Information processing model

encoding: put info into brain

storage: retaining info

retrieval: get info out of brain

Atkinson-Shiffrin Model

sensory memory, short-term memory, long-term memory

Sensory Memory

very brief recording of sensory info in the memory system

Short-Term Memory

holds a few items briefly before it is stored or forgotten

Long-Term Memory

permanent and limitless storehouse for later retrieval

Updated Atkinson-Shiffrin model

Working memory:short term memory includes visual and auditory rehearsal of new info

George Miller

Found that short term memory has the capacity of about 7 (+/- 2) items.

Encoding

the processing of info into the memory system

Visual Encoding

encoding of images

Acoustic Encoding

encoding of sound

Semantic Encoding

encoding of meaning

Automatic Processing

occurs without conscious rehearsal

Effortful Processing

encoding that requires attention and conscious repetition

Implicit Memory (automatically) (non-declarative)

retention of learned skills or classically conditioned associations

Explicit Memory (effortful) (declarative)

memory of facts or previously learned material

Spacing Effect

distributed practice yields better long term retention than massed practice

Mnemonic Devices

memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices

Chunking

organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically. enhances recall

Peg word

visually associate "peg words" with to-be-remembered items =1 is bun, 2 is shoe, 3 is tree, 4 is door

echoic memory (3-4 seconds)

a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli

Iconic memory (few 10ths second)

a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli

long term memory

essentially permanent and limitless

Explicit memories

Frontal lobes Hippocampus

Memory consolidation

neural storage of long term memory sleep supports memory consolidation

Implicit memories

cerebellum and basal ganglia

Amygdala

stress provokes this structure in the brain

Priming

activation of particular associations in memory

what causes forgetting?

encoding failure, storage decay, retrieval failure

déjà vu

that eerie sense that "I've experienced this before."

tip of the tongue phenomenon

the temporary inability to remember something you know, accompanied by a feeling that it's just out of reach

Improving memory techniques

-rehearse repeatedly

-personalized material

-use mnemonic devices

-sleep more

-activate retrieval cues

-minimize interference

-test yourself

Cognition

all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

Concepts

a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people

prototype

a best example or model of a particular category

solving problems

coping with novel situations for which we have no well established response

Strategies for solving problems

-trial/error

-algorithm

-heuristics

-insight

obstacles to problem solving

confirmation bias and fixation

Confirmation bias

eagerness to search for info that supports our preconceptions and ignores contrary evidence

Fixation

inability to see a problem from a fresh perspective

Mental set

solutions that worked int he past often work on new problems

stress/tension

difficult to find a creative solution

Functional Fixedness

a tendency to perceive the functions of objects as fixed and unchanging

Overconfidence

the tendency to be more confident than correct

Intuition

immediate, automatic, and effortless thoughts or feelings without conscious reasoning

System for making wise personal decisions

-Accept the challenge

-Seek the Lord for wisdom

-Seek Godly advice

-Search for alternatives/options

-Evaluate alternatives/options

-Make a choice

-Be committed to your decision

Language

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

Phonemes

small distinctive sound unit of language

Morpheme

Smallest unit of language that caries meaning

Grammar

System of rules that enables us to speak to and understand others

Language Development Stages

(4 months) cooing, (10 months) babbling, (12 months) one-word speech, (months) telegraphic speech, (24+ months) whole sentences

Broca's area

controls language expression

Wernicke's area

controls language reception

Aphasia

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

Intelligence

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

Sir Francis Galton

measured and ranked people's mental abilities and quantifying superiority

Alfred Binet

developed a test for school age children to measure a child's mental age and intellectual abilities

Mental Age

the chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance

Lewis Terman

revised Binet's IQ test and created the Stanford-Binet IQ test

aptitude test

predict ability to learn a new skill

achievement test

reflect what you have already learned

IQ test

measures overall general cognitive abilities and intellectual functions (WISC,WAIS)

Standardized

defining meaningful scores relative to a pretested group

Reliability

A test must yield dependably consistent scores (test+re-test)

Validity

A test measures what it is supposed to

Average IQ

100 (most people IQ of 85-115)

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; varies from mild to profound

Gifted IQ

IQ above 135, well adjusted socially and academically successful

savant syndrome

Remarkable memory skill paired with developmental or mental deficits

Convergent thinking

Narrow solutions to a problem to determine a single best solution

DIvergent thinking

Expand the number of possible solutions to a problem