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Availability Heuristic
Estimating likelihood of events based on their availability in memory. We often fear the wrong things due to lack of available, personal information and images
Belief Perserverance
Clinging to one’s initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited to combat
Confirmation Bias
The tendency for people to favor information that confirms or supports previously held beliefs. Difficult to combat
Context-Dependent Memory
Your physical location can impact memories that can be recalled (ex. being taken to your elementary school = remembering more from it)
Components of Creativity
Expertise, imaginative thinking skills, a venturesome personality, intrinsic motivation, a creative environment
Convergent Thinking
Narrowing the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution (ex. How many uses can you think of for a brick)
Divergent Thinking
Expanding the number of possible problem solutions. Creativity tests measure divergent thinking (ex. how many uses can you think of for a brick)
Echoic Memory
Momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli lasting between 3-4 seconds (ex. “What did I just say?”)
Effortful Processing
Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort
Herman Ebbinghaus’ “Forgetting Curve”
The course of forgetting is initially rapid, then levels off with time
Hierarchical Organization
Broad concepts divided and subdivided into narrower concept and facts (grouping)
Iconic Memory
Momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli lasting no longer than a few tenths of a second (brief)
Imagination Inflation
A type of memory distortion that occurs when imagining an event that never happened increases confidence in the memory of the event
Infantile Amnesia
The inability to recall memories from the first three years of life. Hippocampus = one of the last structures to mature
Intuition
Effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought
Language Acquisition
Whatever language we experience as children, whether spoken or signed, we will readily learn it specific grammar and vocab. No matter what language we learn, we start speaking nouns > verbs + adjectives
Memory Reconsolidation
If you study the same material regularly over a long period, the pathways involved in remembering that information become stronger
Mental Set
The tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past
Misinformation Effect
The misinformation effect occurs when a person’s recall of episodic memories becomes less accurate because of post-event information
Parallel Proccessing
Processing many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain’s natural mode of information processing of many functions (ex. you see a bird flying around, and unconsciously you are taking in the color, size, and shape of the bird, and consciously identifying it as a robin)
Priming
The activation (often unconsciously) of certain associations, thus predisposing someone’s perception, memory, or response. Behaviors can be primed, but there is no evidence suggesting they can be persuaded to change
Proactive Interference
Prior learning disrupts recall of new information (ex. trying to recall new password but keep typing in old password)
Relearning
Learning something more quickly when you learned it a second or later time
Representativeness Heuristic
Estimating the likelihood of events in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes
Retroactive Interference
New learning disrupts the recall of old information. New replaces old. (ex. new lyrics to old song prevents you remembering original words)
Role of Hippocampus in Memory
Neural center in the limbic system that helps process explicit memories for storage. NOT permanently stored her (like the loading dock for memories)
Semantics
Set of rules for deriving meaning from sounds
State-Dependent Memory
What we learn in one state of mind may be more easily recalled when we are again in that state (ex. being drunk and losing your keys → getting drunk to find them)
Syntax
Set of rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences
Testing Effect
Enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than rereading information. Repeatedly testing yourself to recall information
Alfred Binet’s Mental Age
Predicts school achievement. Mental performance typically associated with children of a chronological age in order to place French children in the appropriate class (ex. are the kids above or below where ex. an 8 year old should be)
Aptitude Tests
Designed to assess what a person has learned (ex. unit exams)
Biases in Testing
Whether a test predicts future behavior only for some group of test-takers
Controversies with “Gifted Child” Programs
These students receive academic enrichment that isn’t available to their peers. Both groups may live up to (or down to) others’ perceptions and expectations
Crystallized Intelligence
Accumulated with knowledge and verbal skills, tend to increase with age
Fluid Interlligence
Our ability to reason speedily and abstractly. Tends to decrease with age
Down Syndrome
A condition of mild to severe intellectual disability cause by an extra copy of chromosome 21
Emotional Intelligence
Perceiving emotions: faces, music, stories, own emotions. Understanding emotions: how they may change and blend. Managing emotions: how to express and manage others’ emotions. Using emotions: adaptive or creative thinking
Environmental Influences
Adoption enhances the intelligence scores of mistreated or neglected children = poor environmental conditions can decrease cognitive development. Schooling can increase IQ and enhance later income
Factor Analysis
A statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items on a test to reach this concluson
Flynn Effect
Historical intelligence performance gains may be attributed to greater educational opportunities, smaller families, and rising living standards
Francis Galton and Eugenics
Pressuring hereditary genius. Measures “natural ability.” The phrase nature and nurture. Shows need for objectivity in science
Gender Differences
Girls are shown to be better at spelling, verbal fluency, locating objects, detecting emotions, and sensitivity to touch, taste, and color. Boys outperform girls in tests of spatial ability and complex math problems
General Intelligence (g)
Males and females are the same
Heritability
The proportion of variation among individuals in a group that we can attribute to genes. 50-80% is the reason that people are smarter than others
Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences
8 relatively independent intelligences
Intelligence Tests
A method for assessing an individual’s mental aptitudes and comparing them with peers using numerical scores
Original IQ Formula
Mental age x 100 divided by chronological age = X
Polygenetic
Intelligence is polygenic (involving many genes) with each gene accounting for less than 2% of intelligence variation
Reliability
Extent to which a test yield consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on 2 halves of the test (split-half), on alternative forms of the test, or on re-testing (test-retest) - higher correlation between 2 scores = higher reliability
Robert Sternberg’s Three Intelligences
A triarchic theory that proposes three intelligences,, rather than 8 or 9
Savant Syndrome
A person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill
Social Influences
What type of homelife and friends one might have can influence intelligence
Standardization
Defining uniform testing procedures and meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group
Stereotype Threat
A self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)
Similarities: reasoning the commonality of 2 objects or concepts. Vocabulary: naming pictures, objects, and defining words. Block design: visual abstract processing. Letter-number sequencing: repeating numbers and letters in order