Psych 111 Midterm #2 Exam Practice Flashcards

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering key concepts from Psych 111 Midterm #2, including intelligence, learning types, memory models, social psychology, and clinical psychology.

Stereotype Threat

When someone fears confirming a negative stereotype about their group, and that fear harms performance.

Learning

A relatively permanent change in behavior brought about by experience.

Implicit Learning

Learning that happens automatically or unintentionally without trying.

Intentional Learning

Deliberate learning where you are actively trying to remember or understand something.

Incidental Learning

Learning something as a byproduct of doing something else, rather than through deliberate study.

Metacognition

Thinking about your own thinking and learning, which involves monitoring, evaluating, and controlling your learning processes.

Mindfulness

A state of high awareness where one is attentive and present in the moment.

Transfer-Appropriate Processing

The principle that memory is best when the way you retrieve information matches the way you encoded it.

Habituation

A decreased response to repeated stimulation; getting used to a stimulus.

Sensitization

An increased response to repeated stimulation where a stimulus bothers you more over time.

Distributed Practice

A study strategy that involves spacing study sessions over time, which is more effective than massed practice.

Massed Practice

A less effective study strategy, commonly known as cramming, where all studying is done in a single block of time.

Operant

A behavior that is controlled by its consequences, which change the likelihood of the behavior recurring.

Positive Reinforcement

Increasing a behavior by adding something pleasant after the behavior occurs.

Negative Reinforcement

Increasing a behavior by removing something unpleasant after the behavior occurs.

Punishment by Application

Decreasing a behavior by adding something unpleasant.

Punishment by Removal

Decreasing a behavior by taking away something pleasant.

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

A previously neutral stimulus that comes to trigger a response after being associated with something meaningful.

Spontaneous Recovery

When an extinguished response returns after some time has passed.

Observational Learning

Learning that occurs by watching others, consisting of attention, retention, motor competence, and motivation.

Motor Competence

A component of observational learning where the learner must be physically able to perform the action.

Mnemonic Devices

Memory aids that help with encoding and retrieval, such as acronyms.

Encoding Specificity Principle

The idea that memory is better when retrieval conditions match the conditions present during encoding.

Flashbulb Memories

Vivid memories of emotionally intense, surprising, and usually unexpected events.

Episodic Memory

Memory for personal experiences and specific events.

Semantic Memory

Memory for facts and general knowledge.

Working Memory

A short-term mental workspace used to hold and manipulate information.

Long-Term Memory

Relatively durable storage of information over time.

Retrograde Amnesia

The loss of memories that were formed before an injury occurred.

Anterograde Amnesia

Difficulty forming new memories after an injury has occurred.

Proactive Interference

When old information interferes with the ability to learn or remember new information.

Retroactive Interference

When new information interferes with the ability to remember older information.

Engrams

Physical changes in the brain that represent stored memory after encoding.

Recognition

Identifying correct information from a set of options, such as in multiple-choice questions.

Recall

Producing information without options, such as in short-answer or essay questions.

Primacy Effect

The tendency to have better memory for items at the beginning of a list.

Recency Effect

The tendency to have better memory for items at the end of a list.

Misinformation Effect

When a memory is altered by misleading information presented after the event.

Schemata

Mental frameworks or expectations that shape what an individual notices and remembers.

False Memories

Confident memories for events that did not happen or happened differently than remembered.

NREM 3

A stage of deep sleep characterized by slow-wave delta waves, a relaxed body, and difficulty waking the individual.

Social Psychology

The study of how the presence of others influences thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

Fundamental Attribution Error

Overestimating internal causes and underestimating situational causes for other people's behavior.

Vicarious Conditioning

Learning attitudes or emotional reactions by observing the response of someone else.

Social Referencing

Using the reactions of other people as cues for how one should respond in a situation.

Informational Social Influence

Conforming because other people seem to know what is correct.

Normative Social Influence

Conforming to fit in, be liked, or avoid disapproval from others.

Social Loafing

Putting in less effort when working in a group because personal responsibility is shared.

Group Polarization

The process by which discussion with like-minded others makes a group's opinions more extreme.

Fixed Action Patterns

Automatic, instinct-like responses triggered by specific cues in the environment.

Trigger Feature

The specific cue that activates a fixed action pattern.

Heuristic

A mental shortcut that helps people make quick judgments.

Central Route to Persuasion

Persuasion through careful thinking, logic, and strong evidence directed at a thoughtful listener.

Peripheral Route to Persuasion

Persuasion through superficial cues such as attractiveness, status, emotion, or confidence.

Stereotype Content Model

A model suggesting people judge groups based on the two dimensions of warmth and competence.

Ambivalent Bias

Having mixed positive and negative feelings toward a group.

Blatant Bias

Open, direct, and obvious prejudice.

Aversive Racism

When someone claims not to be prejudiced but still feels discomfort and avoids interaction with certain groups.

Social Identity Theory

The tendency for people to favor their in-group over out-groups.

Implicit Association Test (IAT)

A measure of automatic, implicit associations or preferences.

Discrimination

Unequal treatment based on group membership; the behavioral component of bias.

Prejudice

A negative attitude or judgment about a group.

Empathy-Altruism Model

The idea that people help others because they genuinely care about the other person's welfare and feel empathy for them.

Kin Selection

Helping behavior directed toward relatives because they share genetic ties.

Pluralistic Ignorance

When people look to others to define an emergency; if no one else reacts, they assume help is not needed.

Reciprocal Altruism

Helping others because help is expected to be returned in the future.

Diffusion of Responsibility

Feeling less personal responsibility to act when others are present.

Negative State Relief

Helping others in order to feel better emotionally or improve one's own mood.

Formal Relationships

Relationships with clear roles, boundaries, and expectations, such as a student-professor relationship.

Family of Orientation

The family into which an individual is born.

Secure Attachment

A stable attachment style where the person is comfortable with closeness and is trusting.

Anxious-Avoidant Attachment

An attachment style characterized by discomfort with intimacy and a tendency to pull away from closeness.

Anxious-Resistant Attachment

A clingy and insecure attachment style where the person wants closeness but is fearful of abandonment.

Disorganized-Disoriented Attachment

An attachment style involving confused or inconsistent responses in close relationships.

Intrinsic Motivation

Doing something because it is enjoyable or meaningful in itself.

Extrinsic Motivation

Doing something to obtain an outside reward.

Promotion Focus

A motivational state focused on pursuing gains, growth, and positive outcomes.

Prevention Focus

A motivational state focused on avoiding losses, mistakes, or negative consequences.

Deliberative Phase

The phase of self-regulation focused on choosing which goal to pursue.

Implemental Phase

The phase of self-regulation focused on carrying out the plan and following through on a goal.

Ego Depletion

The exhaustion of self-control after use, making it harder to resist further temptation.

Cultural Display Rules

Social or cultural rules dictate when and how emotions should be expressed.

Authoritative Parenting

A parenting style with high warmth and high control, characterized by rules, responsiveness, and explanations.

Authoritarian Parenting

A parenting style with low warmth and high control, characterized by strictness and harshness.

Permissive Parenting

A parenting style with high warmth and low control, characterized by few rules and indulgence.

Uninvolved Parenting

A parenting style with low warmth and low control, characterized by detachment and minimal engagement.

Openness

A Big Five trait describing someone who is creative, imaginative, and curious.

Conscientiousness

A Big Five trait describing someone who is responsible, organized, and dependable.

Extraversion

A Big Five trait describing someone who is outgoing, social, and energetic.

Agreeableness

A Big Five trait describing someone who is kind, cooperative, and warm; it's the trait most associated with prosocial behavior.

Neuroticism

A Big Five trait describing someone who is emotionally unstable, anxious, and easily upset.

Dependent Personality Disorder

A disorder characterized by being submissive, clingy, and having a fear of separation.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

A disorder characterized by grandiosity, self-centeredness, and seeking praise.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

A disorder involving chronic worry about many different things.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

A disorder where obsessions and compulsions are used to reduce anxiety.

Antisocial Personality Disorder

A disorder characterized by impulsivity, dishonesty, recklessness, and the violation of others' rights.

Foot-in-the-Door

A persuasion technique involving a small request first, followed by a larger request.

Door-in-the-Face

A persuasion technique involving a large request first that is rejected, followed by a smaller actual request.

Scarcity

A persuasion principle where limited availability increases the desire for an item.

Sunk Cost Trap

The tendency to continue an activity because time, effort, or resources have already been invested.