AP Psych

hindsight bias

tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it

overconfidence

we think we know more than we do. knowing the answers tends to make us overconfident (hindsight bias)

placebo effect

experimental results caused by expectations alone; any effects on behavior caused by administration of inert substance/condition which recipient assumes is an active agent

validity

extent to which experiment measures/predicts what it’s supposed to

culture

enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from generation to the next

developmental psychology

branch of psych that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the lifespan. 3 major issues: nature & nurture; continuity & stages (whether development is gradual + continues or series of relatively abrupt changes); stability & change (whether traits endure or change as we age)

teratogens

agents, i.e. chemicals or viruses, that can reach the embryo/fetus during prenatal development & cause harm

habituation

decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation (as infants gain familiarity with a visual stimulus, interest wanes & look away sooner)

maturation

biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience

stranger anxiety

the fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8mo.

attachment

an emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to the caregiver & showing distress on separation (Ainsworth - strange situation - secure v insecure attachment)

critical period

an optimal period early in the life of an organism when exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces normal development

imprinting

the process by which certain animals form strong attachments during an early-life critical period

basic trust

Erik Erikson: a sense that the world is predictable & trustworthy; said to be formed during infancy by appropriate experiences with responsive caregivers

self-concept

all our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in answer to the question ‘who am i?’ stable self-image by 8-10 yrs

authoritarian parenting style

rules & obedience

permissive parenting style

submit to kids’ desires - few demands, little punishment

authoritative parenting style

demanding & responsive. reasons for rules & open discussions. (the good one)

cognition

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

schema

a concept or framework that organizes & interprets info

assimilation

interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas

accomodation

adapting current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new info

Piaget’s 4 stages

Sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational

Sensorimotor Stage

birth-2yrs; infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions & motor activities

object permanence

awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived; gain by 8mo

preoperational stage

2-6/7yrs; child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic

conservation

Piaget - part of concrete operational reasoning - gain by 6yrs; properties (mass, vol, #) remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects

symbolic thinking

representing things with words & images; by 3 yrs

egocentrism

preoperational child’s difficulty taking another’s pov

theory of mind

people’s ideas abt their own & others’ mental states - abt their feelings, perceptions, & thoughts, & the bhvrs these might predict

Concrete Operational stage

6/7-11; children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically abt concrete events

formal operational

begins ~12yrs; people begin to think logically abt abstract concepts (systematic reasoning)

Lev Vygotsky

child’s mind grows by interacting with the social environment; scaffolding & zone of proximal development

scaffolding

parents & caretakers provide temporary scaffolds enabling kids to step to higher levels of learning

zone of proximal development

what a child can do with help (ex training wheels)

phoneme

in a language, the smallest distinctive SOUND unit

morpheme

in a language, the smallest unit of MEANING (may be a word or part of a word)

grammar

system of rules for language communication. semantics = rules for deriving meaning; syntax = rules for combining words into sentences

receptive language

ability to understand what is said to or abt you

productive language

ability to produce words

babbling stage

beginning 4mo; stage of speech development in which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language. 10mo, babbling only has sounds for household language

one-word stage

1-2yrs; child speaks in single words

two-word stage

2yrs; child speaks mostly in 2 words statements

telegraphic speech

early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram (“go car”) using mostly nouns + verbs

linguistic determinism

Whorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we think

Noam Chomsky’s universal grammar

all human languages share basic building blocks of language; humans are born with a disposition to learn language

aphasia

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

Broca’s area

controls language EXPRESSION - an area of the FRONTAL lobe on the LEFT that directs muscle mvmts involved in speech

Wernicke’s area

controls language RECEPTION; a brain area involved in language COMPREHENSION & expression; usually in LEFT TEMPORAL lobe

identity

sense of self; acc. to Erikson, the adolescent’s task is to solidify identity by testing & integrating various roles

social identity

the ‘we’ aspect of our self-concept; the part of our answer to ‘who am i?’ that comes from our group memberships

emerging adulthood

for some people in modern, mostly western, cultures, a period from late teens to mid 20s bridging gap b/w adolescent dependence & responsible adulthood

Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory

Microsystem (direct social interactions), Mesosystem (relationships b/w microsystems); Exosystem (indirect influences, no direct contact), Macrosystem (culture - society, ethnicity, socioeconomic), Chronosystem (time dimension, transitions/shifts in lifespan)

social clock

culturally preferred timing of social events

associative learning

learning that certain events occur together. the events may be 2 stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a response & consequences (as in operant conditioning)

stimulus

any event or situation that evokes a response

cognitive learning

the acquisition of mental info, whether by observing events, by watching others, or through language

Ivan Pavlov’s Behaviorism

the view that psych should be an objective science that studies behavior (agree) w/o reference to mental processes (disagree)

classical conditioning

type of learning in which one learns to link 2 or more stimuli and anticipate events

neutral stimulus (NS) in classical conditioning

a stimulus that elicits no response before conditioning

unconditioned response (UR) in class. cond.

unlearned, naturally occurring response to an unconditioned stimulus

unconditioned stimulus (US) in class cond

a stimulus that unconditionally - naturally & automatically - triggers a response

conditioned response (CR) in class cond

learned response to a previously neutral (but now conditioned) stimulus

conditioned stimulus (CS) in class cond

originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a conditioned response

acquisition in class cond

the initial stage, when one links a neutral stimulus & an unconditioned stimulus so that the NS begins triggering the CR

acquisition in operant cond

strengthening of a reinforced response

higher order conditioning

procedure in which conditioned stimulus in one conditioning experience is paired with a new NS, creating a 2nd (often weaker) CS

extinction

the diminishing of a conditioned response; occurs in class cond when a US doesn’t follow a CS; occurs in operant cond when a response is no longer reinforced

spontaneous recovery

reappearance, after a pause, of an extinguished CR

generalization

tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the CS to elicit similar responses

discrimination

in class cond, the learned ability to distinguish b/w a CR & stimuli that don’t signal a US

operant cond

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

B.F. Skinner

tested law of effect by putting rats in operant chamber

law of effect

Thorndike’s principle that bhvrs followed by favorable consequences become more likely, & that bhvrs followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely

operant chamber

“skinner box” a chamber containing a bar or key that an animal can manipulate to obtain a food/water reinforcer; attached devices record the animal’s rate of bar pressing/key pecking

reinforcement in op cond

any event that strengthens the bhvr it follows

shaping

op cond procedure in which reinforcers guide bhvr toward closer & closer approximations of the desired bhvr

discriminative stimulus

a stimulus that elicits a response after association with reinforcement (in contrast to related stimuli not associated with reinforcement)

positive reinforcement

increasing behaviors by presenting positive reinforcers - any stimulus that when PRESENTED, strengthens a response

negative reinforcement

increasing bhvrs by stopping/reducing negative stimuli. negative reinforcer - any stimulus that, when REMOVED after reponse, strengthens response

primary reinforcer

an innately reinforcing stimulus such as one that satisfies a biological need

conditioned reinforcer

a stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through its association with a primary reinforcer; also known as a secondary reinforcer

reinforcement schedule

a pattern that defines how often a desired response will be reinforced

continuous reinforcement

reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs

partial (intermittent) reinforcement

reinforcing a response only part of the time; results in slower acquisition of response but much greater resistance to extinction than does continuous reinforcement

fixed-ratio schedule

reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses

variable-ratio schedule

reinforces response after unpredictable number of responses

fixed-interval schedule

reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed

variable-interval schedule

reinforces response after unpredictable times have passed

punishment

event that tends to decrease the bhvr it follows

positive punishment

administer undesirable stimulus

negative punishment

withdraw rewarding stimulus

social psychology

scientific study of how we think about, influence, & relate to each other

attribution theory

we explain someone’s bhvr by crediting either the situation or the person’s disposition

fundamental attribution error

tendency for observers, when analyzing others’ bhvr, to underestimate the impact of the situation & overestimate impact of personal disposition (but for ourselves, more readily attribute to situation)

attitude

feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, & events

peripheral route persuasion

incidental cues, i.e. speaker’s attractiveness

central route persuasion

focus on arguments & respon with favorable thoughts

foot in the door phenomenon

first agree to small request, comply later with larger request

role

a set of expectations (norms) abt a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave (playing role —> becoming role)