Psychology Midterm 2 (Gade, UC Berkeley)

Can we study memory scientifically?

-Worries about being able to control for individual experience linked differences.

-Questions about how to explore the processes involved

-Questions about the accuracy of memories reported.

Hermann Ebbinghaus

- Sought to prove we could examine memory from a purely scientific viewpoint.

-He was the primary research subject.

-Used nonsense syllables to study how we acquire and forget information.

Ebbinghaus memory capacity (STM capacity)

7 ± 2

Free Recall Test

The type of testing that Ebbinghaus used with nonsense syllables. Looking for traces of memory by asking to completely recreate what was presented.

Cued Recall Test

Cues or hints to a path to get to the answer. Ex. Naming all 50 states is hard but is easier if you have a map. No new information but giving path to info already in your head.

Recognition Tests

Ex. Multiple choice. Easier to recall when given a list of potential things.

Savings Test

Seeing if you can learn something more rapidly with previous exposure.

Implicit Memory Tests

-Links to testing anterograde amnesia (they improve on task even though they cannot remember it).

Stimulus/response pairs (classical conditioning)

3 Steps of Displaying Memory

-Encoding

-Storage

-Retrieval

Encoding

Converting information into a form that will allow us to retrieve that information later.

Storage

Retaining critical information for later use.

Retrieval

Accessing the stored information that we have encoded in order to use it in a situation.

Temporal Memory Stages

- External events

(with sensory input)

-Sensory memory

(ENCODING) + attention to new info

-Short-term memory

(ENCODING FOREWARD) (RETRIEVING BACKWARD)

-Long Term memory

Sensory Memory

-Was hypothetical stage for a long time.

-Involves all of our senses.

-Information lasts only for a fraction of a second.

-Infinite Capacity (or at least really large)

-Only remember after fraction of a second the important information.

George Sperling

Sensory Memory Experiment:

-List of symbols for fraction of a second.

-Tone immediately after tells which row to speak.

-Participant says correct row.

Short Term Memory

-Capacity of 7 ± 2 items.

-Contains information that we deemed relevant

-Information stored at this stage for 10 seconds to a few days.

-After, memories stored are either forgotten or placed in long term memory store.

Long Term Memory

-Information from Short Term Memory that we identified as important and had the ability and time to store.

-Information is complex and susceptible to distortions and complete fabrications.

Procedural Memories

(Implicit)

-Mental

-Behavioral

Declarative Memories

(Explicit)

-Episodic

-Semantic

Serial Order Effect

Retention of information depends on when it is presented with respect to the other information.

Primacy Effect

The ability to remember information at the beginning more easily.

Recency Effect

The ability to remember information at the end more easily.

Interference Effects

Information can be lost or less accurate due to an overlap of similar information.

Proactive Interference

New material is lost (not easily stored) due to old material

Retroactive Interference

Old material is lost (forgotten) due to new material.

Reconstruction Effect

We tend to include inaccurate information into our memories in an attempt to fill the gaps.

Levels of Processing

Successful conversion of information from STM to LTM is highly impacted by your approach to make sense of the information.

Deep Level of Processing

Broad connections, more assessment, attempt to explain.

Shallow Level of Processing

Narrow or no connections, rote learning, no assessments or attempts to explain.

Encoding Specificity

Our ability to recall something can be increased if we're asked to recall something related first (and vice versa)

Memory Dependence Areas

More likely to recall information when in a condition that resembles the condition that we were in when we learned that information.

Memory Tricks

-Increase number of learning sessions

-Mnemonic devices

=> acronyms

=> chunking

=> method of loci (grocery list example with childhood home).

Mnemonic Devices

Encoding/storage techniques that aid in the process of information retrieval

Intelligence

The ability to solve problems and adapt and learn from the environment.

Limitations of Intelligence Definition

Doesn't account for:

-Interpersonal Skills

-Memory Capacity

-Vocabulary Usage

Novelty in Ideas

Spearman

Psychometric approach to find the g-factor.

g-factor

-One specific overall level of intelligence

-Could be the result of outside factors (ie. health)

Sternberg

Triarchic Theory of Intelligence

Triarchic Theory of Intelligence

Three main levels of intelligence:

-Componential (math)

-Experiential (info)

-Contextual (tie ideas together)

Gardner

Theory of Multiple Intelligences (many different specialties we can call intelligence)

Emotional Intelligence

The ability to understand own and others emotions by looking at the situation.

Fluid Intelligence

Intelligence based on the ability to learn across all areas of interest.

(ability to solve problems, adapt, how flexible the mind is and how capable of engaging the mind)

Crystallized Intelligence

Intelligence that is obtained through experience over the lifespan.

(how much you know)

Intelligence Tests

Established techniques that allow researchers to compare an individual to their age and culture equivalent peers in order to determine how much more or less intelligent he or she is.

Alfred Binet

-Developed the first intelligence test.

-Asked by French Ministry of Education to find a way to help children that could not benefit from traditional education.

Binet-Simon Test

This test examined basic mental skills:

-Sentence generation

-Naming body parts

-Remembering number strings

-Compared mental age (the age the child's responses were most indicative of) and their chronological age (the actual age of the child).

Stanford-Binet IQ test

A test designed to measure multiple facets of intelligence across a large range of ages. (Alfred Binet and Lewis Terman at Stanford).

Measured more topics (fluid reasoning, knowledge, quantitative reasoning, visual-spatial reasoning, and working memory).

Originally said to measure a person's inborn ability to learn (one goal was to use the tests to promote push for eugenics).

Intelligence Quotient (IQ)

(MA/CA)*100

Wechsler Scales

Update to the Intelligence Test.

-Average of 100 and S.D. of 15.

-Two different forms: WAIS (Adult...16+) and WISC (children).

-Contained a series of questions and tasks that broke down intelligence into different dimensions (verbal skills, non-verbal/performance based skills, etc.).

-Attempted to minimize cultural and language biasing in some dimensions.

WAIS

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (16 and up)

WISC

Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children

Progressive Matrices and other current tests

Counteracts the inherent cultural biases that the previous tests possessed (focus on verbal skills and fluency in the language of the test and required knowledge of western culture).

Heritability

The proportion of a characteristic that can be attributed to the genetic makeup of parents. (Nature vs Nurture debate)

Nature

The amount of a characteristic that can be attributed to our biology (high heritability)

Nurture

The amount of a characteristic that can be attributed to your environment (low heritability)

-Recent studies have led us to conclude that environments, especially ones that are significantly different, can play a role in intelligence (impoverished/enriched learning environments, school lapses and decline of intelligence, etc.)

Sibling Studies

These studies revealed a very high level of genetic heritability in the area of intelligence.

Concern with Intelligence Tests

-Intelligence levels of infants are constantly fluctuating

-Intelligence becomes more stable once reaching childhood

-IQ at young is predictive of IQ later in life.

The Flynn Effect

Worldwide increase in intelligence over the past few decades.

Jean Piaget

Began his research by observing the development of his children. Characterized stages of development and Schemas.

-Children develop in a consistent manner that causes them to start noticing different cognitive schema conflicts in a similar pattern. When a child reaches a certain stage, they start to recognize numerous conflicts with their current schema and alter their schemas until the conflict subsides.

Schema

A concept or mental framework that organizes and interprets information in the world.

Equilibrium

A cognitive state of mind that comes from harmony between a child's environment and present schema.

Disequilibrium

A cognitive state of mind caused when new information contradicts current schemas. Have two choices: assimilation and accommodation.

Assimilation

Interpreting one's new experience in terms of one's existing schema.

Accommodation

Adapting one's current schemas to incorporate new information.

Equilibration

Shifting from one frame of mind to the next.

Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development

-Sensorimotor Stage

-Preoperational Stage

-Concrete Operational Stage

-Formal Operational Stage

(Children go through different, set stages of development as they progress toward adulthood. These stages are distinct, age specific, and cannot be sped up through adult help).

Sensorimotor Stage

- 0-2 Years Old

-Stage primarily focused on learning different outcomes through the sense and then learning the ways to increase the frequency of desirable outcomes.

-Object permanence challenge

-Sense of self challenge

Preoperational Stage

- 2-7 years old

-Overcoming egocentrism

-Learning pretend play

-Overcoming animism

-Learning symbolism (vocabulary by asking "why" and scale models)

-Learning conservation.

Conservation

The ability to better understand the properties of shapes and objects.

Concrete Operational Stage

- 7-11 years old

-Metacognition

-Ability to do operations, or mentally reverse actions that were first done physically.

-Analogies

Metacognition

The ability to think about your thinking.

Formal Operational Stage

- 11-15 years old

-Abstract reasoning (focus on the ideal and hypothetical, easy recognition of logic problems, and move toward hypothetical-deductive reasoning).

-Side effect: adolescent egocentrism.

Adolescent Egocentrism

Term introduced by David Elkind.

=a heightened sense of self-consciousness.

ex. are imaginary audience and personal fable.

Imaginary audience

Perception of being the constant center of attention.

Personal fable

perception of being unique and invincible.

Criticism of Piaget

-Inaccurate age of stage related issues (early = conservation and object permanence; late = abstract thinking)

-Culture impacts stages.

Lev Vygotsky

-Agreed with Piaget's notion that a developmental process in cognitive skills does take place.

-BUT argued against Piaget's idea that this cognitive development is set, and cannot be accelerated.

Vygotsky's theories of development

-Cognitive development occurs through gradual and continual growth, not quick shifts.

-Instead of being in different developmental stages, we progress in a way that creates varied levels of capability to learning new concepts (ZPD and Scaffolding).

Zone of proximal development (ZPD)

Areas where a learner can accomplish a cognitive task with guidance.

Scaffolding

The process of teaching slightly above the current level of cognitive development in order to help the learner better understand a cognitive concept.

Primacy Effect (social perception)

An effect that suggests that the first information learned about someone is remembered most, and it influences us more than later learned information.

Self-fulfiling profecies

An effect that occurs when someone's expectations changes his/her behavior as to increase the probability of the predicted event.

Stereotypes

A generalized belief or expectation about a group of people that we form (can be neg. and pos.)

Prejudice

An attitude formed toward a member of a group, solely because he or she is a member of that group.

Discrimination

Unfair treatment of a member of a group, solely because he or she is a member of that group.

Attributions

The processes that we use in order to assign causes to behavior.

Internal Attributions

Explaining behaviors based of the internal characteristics of the person in question.

External Attributions

Explaining behavior based on the situation and surrounding environment.

Fundamental Attribution Error

Our tendency to attribute behaviors to internal attributions when explaining the behavior of others.

Actor-Observer Effect

The tendency to make internal attributions for the actions of others, while making external attributions for our own actions.

Self-serving attribution bias

The tendency to attribute personal failures to the situation, while attributing personal successes to ourselves.

Conformity

Maintaining or changing one's behavior due to the real or imagined influence of others.

Norms

Social standards of behavior and thought that are set by a group.

Conformity due to ambiguity

Some social psychologists think that most our conformity is a result of the fact that there is no true appropriate behavior or responses in most social situations, so we look to the group or leaders in order to act.....BUT ASCH LINE TEST...we even conform when we know the right answer too.

Public Compliance

Conforming to other people's behavior publicly without necessarily believing in what the other people are doing or saying.

Normative Social Influence

The impact that other people can have on us because of our desire to be liked and accepted by them.

Private Acceptance

Conforming to other people's behaviors out of a genuine belief that what they are doing or saying is right

Factors that impact conformity

-Presence of an ally

-The number of people in the majority

-The social situation's requirement to conform (quick response = inc. conformity, unanimous answer = inc. conformity, incentive for being correct = dec. conformity)

-The importance of the group

Bystander Effect

(ex. Kitty Genovese case)

Our decrease in likelihood of helping when with others.

Pluralistic Ignorance

A situation where the group members don't want to do something, yet the group still does it because they assume it's what everyone wants to do. (Ex. smoke in room)