Final Exam intro to Psych Rutgers

What is an operational definition?

The precise description of how a concept or variable will be measured and observed in a particular study

What is a case study?

In-depth analysis of one subject, a study of a particular phenomenon, situation, or group

Survey Method

Performing an experience based on constructed questions given to someone

Allowing them to gather information about a larger population by studying a representative sample

Observation method

A researcher observes and records the behavior of participants without actively manipulating or interfering with their actions

Observe the behavior of parents dropping off kids

Correlational method

Measures the strength and directions of relationships between variables

experimental methods?

The researcher changes one variable and measures the effect of that change on another variable

What is random sampling?

A method of selecting participants for a study where every individual from the population has an equal chance of being chosen

What are positive and negative correlations?

Variable charge in the same direction (positive correlations)

Variables charge in opposite directions (negative correlation ions)

Does correlation indicate causation?

Does not indicate causation

C could also cause A and B

What is a random assignment?

People are chosen at random to get different parts of the experiment

What are IVs and DVs?

Independent Variables: manipulated by the experimenter, Independent variables aren't affected by any other variables that the study measures.

Dependent Variables: outcome variable. The dependent variable is sometimes called the "response," the "symptoms", or the "outcome". The dependent variable is often the focus of the research study.

What is experimental control?

factors other than the Independent Variable (IV) are changing and this could affect the DV.

What is a confound (confounding variable)?

The variables that are potentially responsible for the results are not the variables of interest

a third variable, not being directly studied, that influences both the independent and dependent variables in a research study, potentially distorting the observed relationship between them and making it difficult to accurately interpret the results

What is generalizability?

the extent to which the results of a study can be applied to a broader population or different situations beyond the specific sample studied,

What is myelin sheath?

A protective cover around the axon of a neuron helps send messages faster

What is the action potential?

An electrical sign that travels along the axon to send a message it is the on switch that tells the neurons to send messages

What is a synapse?

A tiny gap between two neurons like a bridge that lets messages jump from one neuron to the next

What are neurotransmitters?

The chemical that is the message

a chemical messenger that carries signals between nerve cells

What are endorphins?

Reduce pain and promote pleasure

Pain medication or when your rung a while it doesn't hurt

Dopamine

a neurotransmitter and hormone that plays a crucial role in the brain's reward system, influencing motivation, learning, and mood. It's often called the "feel-good" neurotransmitter

Serotonin

Inhibitory signal

Involved in sleep appetite mood

Epinephrine?

Excitatory signal

Involved in stress response

Fight or flight response (your adrenaline)

What are agonists and antagonists?

Increase normal activity of a neurotransmitter: agonist

Decreased activity of a neurotransmitter: antagonists

What are the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems?

Sympathetic nervous system: Increases physiological arousal (S for stress)

Parasympathetic nervous system: decreases arousal (P for peace)

What is the endocrine system?

A network of glands that produce and release hormones into the bloodstream acting as chemical messenger to regulate various body functions

What are the pituitary and adrenal glands?

What is the pituitary gland?

Master gland

Growth

metabolism

What are the adrenal glands?

Important in mood, energy level, stress response

Stress hormones

adrenaline

Electroencephalogram (EEG)

Detect electrical activity of neurons in particular regions of brain

To detect tumors and seizures

Measures activity of the surface of the brain doesn't take pictures of the brain it records the brain activity

fMRI

Uses MRI to measure relative activity of various brain areas during task

When inside they showed different color objects and they showed the brain activity when showing different pictures and were able to make a 3d picture of the brain and how it responds to certain things

What is the brainstem?

Medulla: The bottom part of your brainstem that regulates your breathing, heartbeat, blood pressure and swallowing.

Pons: The middle portion of your brainstem that coordinates face and eye movements, facial sensations, hearing and balance.

What is the amygdala?

Emotion aggression, fear

What is the hippocampus?

Gateway to memory, helps with learning and spatial navigation

Enable formation of new conscious memories

What are the 4 lobes of the cerebral cortex (e.g., frontal lobe)?

Frontal

Partinetal

Occipital

temporal

What are mirror neurons?

Fire when observing another person doing something

What are the somatosensory and motor cortex?

What is the sensory (somatosensory) cortex?

Receives information about touch sensation

What is the motor cortex?

Voluntary movement

What is plasticity?

Flexibility of brain structures

What are in attentional blindness and change blindness?

in attention blindness: failing to detect available stimuli due to selective attention

Change blindness: failing to detect a change in stimuli due to selective attention

How does light affect the SCN, and how are the pineal gland and melatonin involved in our sleep-wake cycle?

The pineal gland: creates melatonin more sleepy

Melatonin: a hormone that makes us tired

Light determines what will be produced more melatonin or not

What is REM sleep? What happens during REM sleep (e.g., sleep paralysis)?

Rapid eye movement sleep

Brain waves resemble wakefulness

Eyes move back and forth

What is the meaning of "paradoxical sleep?"

Paradoxical sleep is another name for rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, a sleep stage when the brain is active but the body is sleeping

What is sleep paralysis?

a psychological phenomenon that occurs when your mind wakes up while your body is still paralyzed. It can happen when you're falling asleep or waking up

What are the 3 stages of N-REM sleep? When is growth hormone released from the pituitary gland?

What is N-REM sleep?

Non-rapid eye movement sleep is a restful phase of sleep that helps the body repair itself, build muscle, and strengthen the immune system

What is N1?

Light sleep

What is a hypnagogic jerk?

You feel like you are falling

What is a hypnagogic hallucination?

You think you hear something or see something that is not there

What is N2?

True sleep

Brain activity slows and muscle tension too

What is N3? What happens during N3?

Deep sleep

Future slowing of brain activity

Hard to awaken

What was Piaget's approach to cognitive development?

Children make constant mental adaptations to new observations and experiences.

Assimilation

fitting new information into the present system of knowledge

For example, a child may learn a new type of dog but still think of it as a "dog," applying their schema for dogs to this new example.

Accommodation

as a result of new information, change existing schema

If the child sees an animal that doesn't fit the dog schema, they might modify their concept of animals to include other categories, like "cats."

What are Piaget's 4 stages of cognitive development (e.g., sensorimotor)?

Sensorimotor

Birth to 2 year

Understanding that something continues to exist even when it cannot be seen

Preoperational

Ages 2-7

What is egocentrism?

Viewing the world only from one's own perspective

What is animistic thinking?

Attribute lifelike qualities to inanimate objects

What is conservation?

Understanding that physical properties do not change when appearance changes.

Concrete operational

Ages 7-11

What is reversibility?

The idea that stimulus that has been changed can return to its original state

What is transitivity?

Understanding how components in a series are related

Formal operational

Age 11-adulthood

What is Vygotsky's theory of cognitive development?

Cognitive development results from guidance

children learn and develop through guided interactions with more knowledgeable individuals (like parents, teachers, or peers)

What is the zone of proximal development?

The Level at which a child can almost perform a task independently but still need support

What is scaffolding?

Teacher adjusts the amount of support to children's level of development

What is the theory of mind?

Understand how other people think

What is Erik Erikson's stage theory of social development? What is the basic challenge in each of the 8 stages (e.g., trust vs. mistrust)?

Trust vs. mistrust

Birth 1 year

Trust: allows the formation of intimate relationships

Mistrust: difficulties forming secure relationships

Autonomy vs. shame and doubt

Ages 1-3

Autonomy: independence, self-control

Toddlers begin to assert their independence and develop a sense of self-control, such as learning to walk, make choices, and potty train.

Shame and doubt: lack of confidence in their independence

If caregivers are overly controlling or critical, children may develop feelings of shame or doubt in their abilities

Initiative vs. guilt

Ages 3-5

Initiative: Encouragement leads to a sense of confidence in their abilities.

Preschoolers begin to take initiative, exploring their environment and making decisions

Guilt: hesitate to try new things

If children's initiatives are frequently dismissed or punished, they may develop feelings of guilt

Industry vs. inferiority

Ages 6-11

Industry: children develop a sense of competence and achievement as they succeed in school, social interactions, and extracurricular activities.

Inferiority: children fail to develop a sense of competence (due to failure or lack of support), they may feel inferior or incapable.

Identity vs. confusion (5th stage)

12-18 years old

Adolescent explore their sense of self and personal identity

A stable sense of who one is and what one's values or identity

Intimacy vs. isolation

Ages 18- 20s

Establish enduring, committed relationships

Generativity vs. stagnation

30s-50s

Goal making the world a better place: generative

People feel stuck / life is meaningless: stagnation

Integrity vs. despair

60s+

Ego integrity: feeling that one's life has coherence and purpose

Despair: disappointment, regret

What were the results of Harlow's studies of infant attachment?

Emotional bond between infant and another person

Contact comfort (the need for physical closeness and comfort)

Rhesus monkeys- bot clothed with no food vs not clothed with food

How did Mary Ainsworth study attachment?

Mary Ainsworth studied attachment by observing infants' reactions to a series of separations and reunions with their caregiver in a lab setting called the Strange Situation. Based on the infants' behaviors, she identified different attachment styles—secure, insecure-avoidant, and insecure-resistant—reflecting the quality of their bond with the caregiver.

What are secure

caregiver or environment that provides emotional support and stability, allowing a child to feel safe to explore, knowing they can return to the caregiver for comfort when needed.

Insecure-avoidant

These children tend to avoid their caregiver after separation, as they may have learned that their emotional needs won't be met.

They often act independently and seem uninterested in seeking comfort.

insecure-anxious/ambivalent attachment styles?

These children become very distressed when separated from their caregiver and may show clinginess or difficulty exploring.

They often feel uncertain if their caregiver will respond to their needs consistently.

What are Baumrind's 4 parenting styles (e.g., authoritarian)?

Authoritative

Authoritative

High warmth, high control

Child-centered what the kid needs not what the parent needs

Authoritarian:

Low warmth, high control

High standard, emphasis on obedience, say no because I said so

Permissive:

High warmth, low control

Show a lot of affection to their kids and minimal standard, easy-going

Uninvolved

Low warmth, low control

Not present physically or emotionally, sometimes are presents who struggle with addiction

What are Kohlberg's 3 stages of moral development

preconventional morality:

Based on external consequences like punishment or reward

Children focus on avoiding punishment or gaining rewards

Conventional morality:

Based on conforming to social norms or rules.

Individuals seek to gain approval by following laws

Postconventional morality:

Based on abstract principles like justice and equality

What is the delay of gratification? What was Mischel's (1961) "marshmallow test?"

Delay of gratification: The ability to forego smaller, immediate rewards for greater rewards later

The marshmallow test: choice of 1 marshmallow now or 2 in a few minutes It tested self-control and was linked to future success in various areas, such as academic achievement and emotional regulation.

What is the difference between bottom-up and top-down processing?

Bottom-up: build learning with sensory data

Top-down: you can look down on everything you know

Both of these are two different ways of making sense of a stimulus (a thing or event that provokes an action)

What are absolute thresholds?

Minimal amount of stimulation that can be detected half of the time (the lowest amount you can hear)

What are the different thresholds (the jnd)?

The smallest difference in intensity between 2 stimuli that a person can detect

You can notice the difference in the brightness of two lights or the weight of two objects

What is Weber's law (fraction)?

2 stimuli to be perceived as different in intensity the second must differ from the first by a constant proportion

What is signal detection theory?

How humans make a decision based on a stimulus and their physical and mental state

If a car brakes, the brake lights are a stimulus. However, if a person was driving on a foggy road at night, that same stimulus would cause a more dramatic reaction

perception results from both sensory information and making a judgment

Things can distract you from detecting thing

What is sensory adaptation?

Our sensory receptors become less sensitive to constant or unchanging stimuli over time

Example: You enter a room with a strong smell, you may notice it at first, but after a few minutes, you no longer perceive the odor as strongly

What is the Gestalt approach (overall - not specific principles such as figure-ground)?

We perceive objects as whole rather than a sum of individual parts

What is figure-ground perception?

we inherently distinguish between objects and background

What is perceptual constancy?

To perceive the color of an object as consistent even when lighting conditions change

What is classical conditioning?

Learning to respond to a new stimulus that has been associated with another stimulus that normally produces the response

How did Pavlov study classical conditioning?

Pavlov studied classical conditioning with dogs. He observed that dogs salivated in response to food (unconditioned stimulus), and after pairing a neutral stimulus (like a bell) with the food repeatedly, the dogs began to salivate at the sound of the bell alone. This demonstrated that a neutral stimulus can trigger a conditioned response when associated with an unconditioned stimulus.

Unconditioned response:

The automatic or natural reaction to an unconditioned stimulus

Example: salivation when food is presented.

unconditioned stimulus

A stimulus that naturally triggers an unconditioned response

Example: Food

conditioned response

The learned response to a previously neutral stimulus after it has been paired with an unconditioned stimulus

Example: salivation in response to the bell

conditioned stimulus

A neutral stimulus that, after being paired with an unconditioned stimulus, triggers a conditioned response

Example: the bell, which after conditioning, causes salivation

What is generalization?

Conditioned response to stimuli that are not the conditioned stimuli but are similar to CS

One dog bites you so you get scared of all dogs

What is discrimination?

Conditioned response occurs only to a specific stimulus

One dog bites you so you are afraid of that dog but don't have a fear of dogs so you pet the next dog

What is extinction?

Failure to exhibit the CR of the CS because the CS no longer predicts the US

If the bell is repeatedly sounded without the food being presented, the dog will gradually stop salivating. The conditioned response (salivation) diminishes and eventually disappears. This is extinction.

What was Watson and Raynor's study with Little Albert?

The baby was not scared of the rat but when they showed the rat again and scared the baby with a loud noise and did it over and over again the baby learned that rat = scared and loud noise causing the baby to be scared of the rat. The baby generalized because now it is afraid of anything fuzzy like a rat

What is counterconditioning?

Replacing unwanted CR with wanted response

The kid learns fear of rabbits is a form of extinction. To making the kid get over its fear they show a nice rabbit to make him not scared this would not work because if the rabbit scares him again the kid fear would come back

Conditioning

What is operant conditioning?

Operant conditioning is a learning process in which behavior is shaped by the consequences that follow it. In other words, behaviors that are followed by positive outcomes tend to be repeated, while behaviors followed by negative outcomes are less likely to be repeated. This theory was developed by B.F. Skinner, and it emphasizes the role of reinforcement and punishment in shaping behavior.

What is a Skinner box?

A Skinner box (or operant conditioning chamber) is a device developed by B.F. Skinner to study the behavior of animals (typically pigeons or rats) under controlled conditions. Inside the box, animals could perform actions like pressing a lever or pecking a key, and they would receive a reward (like food) or punishment (like a mild electric shock) as a consequence. Skinner used this setup to study how reinforcement and punishment affected the likelihood of specific behaviors being repeated.

What is shaping?

Reinforcing closer and closer approximations of the desired response

Successive approximations

Responses that are increasingly similar to the desired response

A child does something they get a reward they keep doing action until no reward is needed for them to behave that way

Reinforcements:

Consequence of behavior that increases the probability that the behavior will occur

Example: a child getting candy every time they do well on an exam

Punishment:

Consequence of behavior that decreases the probability that the behavior that decreases the probability that the behavior will occur

A child loses phone after doing poorly on an exam

Positive reinforcement

The presentation of a pleasant stimulus after a behavior increases the probability of the behavior.

A teacher gives a student a sticker every time they complete their homework on time. The student is likely to continue completing homework on time to earn more stickers.

Negative reinforcement

The removal of an unpleasant stimulus after a behavior increases the probability of the behavior.

A student turns off their alarm clock after waking up. The removal of the annoying sound (the unpleasant stimulus) encourages the student to continue turning off the alarm when it goes off.

Positive punishment

Unpleasant stimulus follows behavior decreases the probability of behavior

A child is given extra chores for yelling at their sibling. The addition of the unpleasant consequence (extra chores) decreases the likelihood that the child will yell again.

Negative punishment

The removal of pleasant stimuli after a behavior decreases the probability of the behavior.

A parent takes away a child's video game privileges for not doing their homework. Removing the pleasurable activity (video games) decreases the likelihood of the child not completing homework.

Continuous reinforcement

Reinforcement consequences are the same each time the behavior occurs

Children receive praise every time they do their homework, leading them to complete their homework on time.

Intermittent partial reinforcement

The behavior might get rewarded at unpredictable or set intervals. Because the reinforcement is unpredictable, it can make the behavior more persistent and resistant to extinction (i.e., it's harder to stop the behavior once it's learned).

Fixed-ratio

Reinforcement for a fixed proportion of responses emitted

A worker gets a bonus after producing 10 units of work. The reinforcement (bonus) occurs after a set number of actions (10 units).

Variable-ratio

The reward for some percentage of responses, but the unpredictable number of responses required before reinforcement

A person plays a slot machine, and they receive a payout after an unpredictable number of pulls. The reinforcement is given after an unpredictable number of responses

Fixed-interval

Reinforcement for responses after a fixed amount of time

A teacher gives a quiz every Friday, and students are reinforced with praise if they do well. The reinforcement (praise) is given after a fixed period (one week).

Variable-interval

Reinforcement for responses after an amount of time that is not constant

Check your email for new messages. Sometimes you get a new message right away, sometimes it takes longer. The reinforcement (new message) occurs after varying time intervals.

Intrinsic motivation

Pursuit of activity for its own sake

A person plays the piano simply because they enjoy making music and feel fulfilled doing so.

Extrinsic motivation

Pursuit of goal for external reward

A student studies hard to earn a scholarship or a high grade to avoid disappointing their parents.

Overjustification effect

Too much reward undermines intrinsic motivation

A child who initially enjoys drawing may lose interest if they are rewarded with money every time they draw. The external reward may diminish their intrinsic enjoyment of the activity.

What is observational learning?

Learning by observing the behavior of others

A child learns how to tie their shoes by watching their parents do it. The child doesn't need direct teaching, they learn by observing the parent's actions.

How did Bandura study observational learning?

children watched adults behave aggressively towards a Bobo doll, punching and kicking it. Later, when the children were left in the same room with the doll, they imitated the aggressive behavior they had observed.

Encoding

Getting information into the memory

Imagine you're studying for a history exam. You're reading a textbook chapter on ancient civilizations. The information from the textbook (e.g., facts about Egypt, Greece, and Rome) is coming into your sensory system (sight, in this case). Now, you need to encode it so it can be stored in memory.

Storage

Maintaining encoded information over time

Think of storage like saving a file on a computer. Once the file (information) is saved, it remains in the computer's hard drive (memory) until you need to open it again.

The physical changes that happen during storage are primarily in the synaptic connections between neurons. Neurons are the cells in the brain responsible for transmitting information.