PSYC C1000 Exam #2

All vocabulary

Associative learning

learning that certain events occur together

Habituation

a form of non-associative learning in which an organism decreases or stops its response to a repeated stimulus over time

Stimulus

any event, object, or environmental change that causes a reaction, activity, or response

Classical conditioning

an organism pairs a neutral signal with a natural, automatic reflex to create a learned response

Russian physiologist, Ivan Pavlov

Unconditioned stimulus (US), Unconditioned response (UR), Neutral stimulus (NS), Conditioned stimulus (CS), Conditioned response (CR), Acquisition, Extinction, Spontaneous recovery

Unconditioned stimulus (US)

stimulus that normally triggers a response

EX: dog food

Unconditioned response (UR)

natural, unlearned response to the unconditioned stimulus (US)

EX: dog salivates

Neutral stimulus (NS)

stimulus that elicts no response before conditioning

Conditioned stimulus (CS)

an originally neutral stimulus (NS) that after pairing with unconditioned stimulus (US), it triggers a conditioned response (CR)

EX: dog food bowl

Conditioned response (CR)

learned response to a previously neutral conditioned stimulus (CS)

EX: dog salivates when bowl is present

Acquisition

learning association between unconditioned stimulus (US) and conditioned stimulus (CS)

Extinction

conditioned stimulus (CS) and unconditioned stimulus (US) are no longer paired, organism becomes less likely to perform conditioned response (CR)

• does not eliminate CS-US association, only suppresses it

Spontaneous recovery

reappearance of conditioned response (CR) after a time delay post-extinction

Operant conditioning

voluntary behavior is modified by its consequences, such as rewards or punishments

American psychologist Edward Thorndike and B.F. Skinner

Law of Effect, Reinforcement, Punishment, Positive reinforcement, Negative reinforcement, Positive punishment, Negative punishment

Edward Thorndike

introduced Operant conditioning, tested animal learning with puzzle boxes

Law of Effect

explained by Edward Thorndike, behaviors that have positive/negative outcomes are strengthened/weakened (more/less likely to be repeated)

B.F. Skinner

formalized Operant conditioning, studied how behaviors are learned, Skinner box

Reinforcement

any event that increases how often a specific behavior is performed

Punishment

any event that decreases how often a specific behavior is performed

• if you do not do what I want, I will give you a negative stimulus (positive punishment) or take away a good thing (negative punishment)

Positive reinforcement

present a desired stimulus after a response

EX: work hard at your job, earn a promotion

Negative reinforcement

remove an unpleasant stimulus after a response

EX: hit snooze on an alarm clock to stop annoying noise

• organism likes it

• if you do what I want, I will eliminate a negative stimulus

Positive punishment

present an unpleasant stimulus after a response

EX: after you tease your brother, mom makes you do his chores as well

• organism dislikes it

Negative punishment

remove a desired stimulus after a response

EX: if you are caught drunk driving, your driver’s license will be suspended

Primary reinforcers

positive on own merits

EX: watching a movie, headache going away

Secondary reinforcers

positive because they become associated with a primary reinforcer

EX: movie ticket, aspirin

Continuous reinforcement

get the reward everytime you do the behavior

Partial reinforcement

get the reward some of the time you do the behavior

Ratio schedules, Fixed ratio, Variable ratio, Interval schedules, Fixed interval, Variable interval

Ratio schedules

rewards are based on how often you do the behavior

Fixed ratio

get a reward after a specific number of behaviors are performed

EX: store loyalty cards, buy 5 and get the 6th one free

Variable ratio

get a reward after a varying amount of behaviors are performed

EX: playing slots (can play as much as you want, but will not know when you will win)

Interval schedules

rewards are based on doing a behavior after some time has passed

Fixed interval

get a reward when you perform the behavior after a specific amount of time has passed

EX: waiting for a restaurant to open so you can order

Variable interval

get a reward when you perform the behavior after a varying amount of time has passed

EX: calling to see if your car is ready

Problems with Punishment

• punisher serves as a model

• can cause negative emotions

• only says what not to do

• only suppresses the behavior

• can be abusive

Instinctive drift

after conditioning, would reppear and interfere with what had been learned

Motivation

a stimulus or force that directs behavior, thoughts, and persistence

Intrinsic motivation

drive to continue a behavior because of internal motivation

• EX: enjoy doing it, want to learn about it

Extrinsic motivation

drive to continue a behavior because of external motivation

• EX: do it to get paid, get a good grade

Instincts

fixed, unlearned behavior patterns throughout a species

• EX: Imprinting - where an organism learns the features of its parents

Drive-Reduction Theory

behavior is due to drives to fulfill basic biological needs; when unmet, it creates a drive

• EX: Need (food, water) → Drive (hunger, thirst) → Drive-reducing behaviors (eating, drinking)

Drives

a state of tension that motivates us to reduce the need

Homeostasis

maintaining a physiological equilibrium, keeping the body’s levels in balance

• EX: temperature, blood sugar

Set point

the level at which a physiological state tends to stabilize

• EX: body temperature at 98.6°

Incentives

positive or negative environmental stimuli that lure or repel us

• EX: smell of churros (positive) vs having to eat soup out of the dog’s food bowl (negative)

Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

humanisitic perspective where needs at the lower level of the pyramid are the highest priority and must be met first, while the higher level are last needed

• Physiological (hunger, thirst, sleep, body temperature)

• Safety (to feel safe and secure)

• Love and Belongings (to feel part of the group, to have relationships)

• Esteem (to achieve, to have self-respect and feelingso of independence)

• Self-Actualization (to strive for one’s fullest potential)

• Self-Transcedence (to extreme beyond self)

Arousal theory

performance is typically better under moderate arousal

Optimal arousal

varies with task difficulty

• high arousal is best for easy tasks

• low arousal is best for hard tasks

Hypothalamus

assesses blood glucose (sugar) levels, low blood sugar triggers hunger

Lateral hypothalamus (LH)

increases appetite, starts eating center

Ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH)

decreases appetite, stops eating center

Orexins

hormones produced in lateral hypothalamus (LH) that stimulate hunger

Ghrelin

hormone produced by an empty stomach that stimulates hunger

Insulin

hormone produced by the pancreas in response to food intake, regulates blood sugar levels

Leptin

hormone produced by fat cells that suppresses hunger

Body Mass Index (BMI)

estimates body fat and health risks using height and weight

• Overweight Adult: BMI of 25-30

• Obesity Adult: BMI of 30+

• does not account for differences in density of muscle and fat, would be better to measure waist circumference to height (healthier when waist circumference < half of height)

Causes for Obesity

• poor diets

• physical inactivity

• genetics

• family behaviors (eating out frequently, junk food)

• socioeconomic factors (lack of good diet, exercise)

• psychological factors (stress eating, depression, boredom)

Emotion

a psychological state involving a subjective or inner experience, physiological component and a behavioral expression

Physiological component

bodily arousal, EX: change in heart rate

Subjective experience

your feeling or interpretation of the emotion, EX: I feel happy

Behavioral component

characteristic overt expressions of emotions, EX: smiling

James-Lange Theory of Emotion

emotional feelings follow specific patterns of bodily arousal for each emotion and come from awareness of such arousal

• William James & Carl Lange

• physiological arousal comes before the subjective emotional experience

• each emotion has a distinct physiological fingerprint

Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion

thalamus causes physiological arousal and emotional feelings at the same time

• Walter Cannon & Philip Bard

Schacter and Singer’s Two-Factor Theory

emotions occur when a cognitive label is applied to general physical arousal

• Stanley Schacter & Jerome Singer

• based off of one’s knowledge of their current situation and their previous experiences in those situation

• general arousal + cognitive label = subjective emotional experience

Lazarus’s Theory of Emotion

emotions are based on one’s cognitive appraisal of the situation

• Richard Lazarus

• does not focus on physiological responses

Cognitive appraisal

emotions created from subliminal priming, signals go directly from thalamus and amygdala

• Zajonc, LeDoux

Sympathetic Nervous System

increases heart rate, breathing rate, production of sweat, flow of adrenaline

• prepares body for intense activity

• fight-or-flight

Parasympathetic Nervous System

decreases heart rate, breathing rate, increases digestion

• works to keep organism alive in the long term

Polygraph

assesses sympathetic nerous system arousal (blood pressure, heart rate, respiration, skin conduction

Basic emotions

fear, anger, disgust, happy, sad, surprise

• found across cultures

• emerge early in life

• should have a unique biological basis and a distinct facial expression

• babies born blind from birth display the same facial expressions

Predictors of Happiness

genetics, temperament, working toward goals, engaging hobbies, close friendships, satisfying marriage, religious faith, exercise, be nice to others, get enough sleep, optimism, count your blessings, positive experiences

Adaption-level phenomenon

tendency to make judgements relative to our previous experiences, adjust to changes over time (we become habituated to the new situation)

Relative deprivation

perception that we are doing worse than our comparison group, EX: why wealthy people can feel poor

Necessities to Recall Information

• exposure to information

• attention to information

• Encoding, Storage, Retrieval

Encoding

getting the information into the brain

Storage

retaining the information over time

Retrieval

retrieving the information from storage

Recall

requires generation of times and identification of correct items

Recognition

easier once being able to recall

Tip of the Tongue Phenomenon

forgetting due to an error in retrieval of information

Sensory memory

the briefest, initial stage of memory that stores raw, unprocessed environmental data from our senses for a fraction of a second up to a few seconds

• Iconic memory & Echoic memory

Iconic memory

visual aspect of sensory memory, lasts about ¼ to ½ a second

Echoic memory

auditory aspect of sensory memory, lasts a few seconds

Short-term memory

what is currently active in memory, lasts about 20 seconds, has a capacity of 7±2 items

• can increase the amount of content stored by chunking “items'“ into meaningful units

Long-term memory

capacity can be unlimited (?), duration can be lifetime (?)

• most forgetting is in the first six months, then levels off after three years

• Storage - items move from STM to LTM through increased processing (“consolidation”)

Serial Position Curve

a U-shaped graph showing that people remember the first and last items in a list better than the items in the middle

• Primary effect & Recency effect

Primary effect

better recall of the first few items because these are rehearsed more, moving into LTM

Recency effect

better recall of the last few items because these are still active in STM

Explicit memory

memory of which we are consciously aware

• Episodic & Semantic

Episodic memory

autobiographical memory, apart of Explicit memory

Semantic memory

abstract, general knowledge, apart of Explicit memory

Implicit memory

unconscious memory

• Procedural & Conditioned Learning

Procedural Memories

how to do a task

Encoding Specificity Principle

memories are more easily recalled when the cues and context at the time of retrieval are similar to those at the time of encoding

Context Dependent Memory

recall is enhanced when the context at retrieval matches that during encoding

State Dependent Memory

recall is enhanced when your internal state at retrieval matches that during encoding

Mood Congurent Memory

recall is enhanced for information that matches your mood at retrieval

Ways to Improve Recall

• organization into hierarchies

• Chunking

• Acronyms

• First-letter technique

• Imagery (Method of Loci)

• Peg word system

• Alex Mullen PAO system (Person, Activity, Object)

• Distributed practice

• Testing effect

• getting enough sleep

Chunking

groups individual pieces of information into larger, meaningful units

First-letter technique

a strategy where you reduce a sentence, passage, or script down to only the initial letter of each word to act as a memory trigger

Method of Loci

a cognitive psychology and mnemonic device (memory technique) that enhances memory recall by mentally associating target information with specific physical locations in a familiar environment

Peg Word system

a memory technique that helps you remember lists in order by linking new information to a pre-memorized set of "peg" anchor words