psych 111 exam 2-professor hoeffner

well-structured/well-defined problems

completely specified starting conditions, goal state, and methods for achieving the goal

ill-structured/ill-defined problems

some aspects for starting conditions, goal state, or methods for achieving the goal are not entirely specified

initial state

conditions at the beginning of the problem

goal state

solution to a problem

intermediate states

in between stages of problem solving, conditions that exist on the pathways between initial and goal states

problem space

all the possible pathways that can occur within problem solving, not all of which lead to an answer

operators

mental actions made toward a problem's solution.

isomorphs

equivalent problems, different representation

functional fixedness

seeing an object as having only a fixed, specific function. i.e. lighting candle tackbox problem

mental set

a tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past even if it does not help solve the current problem

algorithms

very specific, step-by-step procedures for solving certain types of problems. takes longer, usually guaranteed correct answer

heuristics

mental shortcuts or "rules of thumb" that often lead to a solution (but not always) and often take less time

hill climbing (difference reduction)

at any point, choosing the step that leads you closer towards the goal state. never choosing a step that leads further from the goal

means-end analysis

determine the difference between starting state and goal state and every step is taken to reduce that difference

working backwards

transform goal state so it's more similar to initial state. useful when too many paths from initial state.

availability

a tendency to estimate the likelihood of an event based on how many times it can be recalled (words starting with r vs words with r as the third letter)

representative heuristic

judge whether something has a characteristic based on the similarity of that thing to other things with that characteristic, ignores base rates. ex. engineer stereotype

base rates

how common something actually is

framing effects

when people give different answers to the same problem depending on how the problem is phrased ex. condoms 95% effective (safe) vs 5% failure (unsafe)

dunn and story overconfidence effect

people overconfident in their own judgements with little to no actual basis in reality

anchoring

the tendency, in making judgments, to rely on the first piece of information encountered or information that comes most quickly to mind. ex. is the distance between to cities more or less than 1500 miles yields a smaller answer than when given a reference distance of 6000 miles.

properties of language

arbitrarily symbolic (no connection between symbol and object), generative (using rules can create an unlimited store of new utterances), structured at multiple levels (noun/verb phrase/morpheme/phoneme etc)

phonemes

in language, the smallest distinctive sound unit. about 45 in english

morpheme

in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix) ex. (strangers= strange, er, s)

broca's aphasia

condition resulting from damage to broca's area, causing the affected person to be unable to speak fluently, to mispronounce words, and to speak haltingly

wernicke's aphasia

left temporal lobe damage (specifically in wernicke's area)
speech is fluent but nonsensical

conduction aphasia

damage to connections between broca's and wernicke's areas, trouble monitoring speech and keeping track of where one is in speech, repeating back sentences

linguistic determinism

whorf's hypothesis that language determines the way we think

linguistic relativity

thoughts and behavior are influenced by language

sapir-whorf hypothesis

one's native language strongly influences their worldview (linguistic determinism)

studies of color naming

tribe that only had two color words had same perception and memory of colors that english speakers with lots of color words do

codability

how easily a concept can be described in a given language

infants can ______________ all ___________ from ___________ ___________________. but they gradually __________ ______________________ from other ____________________

differentiate, phonemes, every language. lose, discriminations, languages.

motherese

adults help kids with high pitch, slow rate, exaggerated intonation, limited vocabulary

holophrastic

using a single word to express a combination of ideas, no syntax, need context, gestures to disambiguate.

telegraphic

correct use of word order, can convey a lot of information succinctly (like a telegraph)

past tense and nonsense words

children learn the correct words for things like "went" at first, but then start to over correct and use words like "goed" as they learn grammar rules. shows that children are actually learning language patterns

johnson and newport study of second language learners

critical period. all people who started learning a second language at adult ages were much worse at distinguishing grammatical correctness than those who started learning at child ages

kanzi the bonobo chimp

learned language by observing his mother who was in a language learning study. taught to communicate using symbols on a computer.

koko the gorilla

taught koko sign language, is creative and spontaneous with her "speech." (finger sign+bracelet sign=ring)

"clever" hans

a horse that was claimed to have been able to perform math and other intellectual tasks. determined that the horse wasn't actually performing these mental tasks but was acting of social cues from the human observers.

instinct

a behavior built into an animal's nervous system, triggered by a stimulus in environment, usually important to survival

drive

the notion that physiological needs arouse tension that motivates action. biological need→drive→behavior and repeat

incentive

a positive or negative environmental stimulus that motivates behavior

intrinsic incentive

activities that are an end unto themselves. eg. eating, watching cartoons.

extrinsic incentives

activities with external rewards or punishments. eg. working, doing chores.

yerkes-dodson law

if people are too underaroused or too excited they don't do as well

maslow's hierarchy of needs

physiological, safety, love/belonging, esteem, self-actualization, self-transcendence

hunger

hypothalamus: controls hunger, lateral hypothalamus=hunger center,

glucose

when glucose is low, people are hungry. when glucose is high, people don't eat.

leptin

a hormone produced by adipose (fat) cells that acts as a satiety factor in regulating appetite.

fallon and rozin study

studied university students on body type and weight. women's ideal weight was less than their actual weight. men's ideal and actual weight matched up more closely. women thought that men preferred women to be thinner than the men actually did.

social motives

belongingness and love needs "people need people": need for affiliation, need for recognition, self disclosure,

freud's topographical model

conscious, preconscious, unconscious

freud's structural model

id, ego, superego

psychoanalysis

attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious conflicts

pleasure principle

tendency of the id to strive for immediate gratification

reality principle

tendency of the ego to postpone gratification until it can find an appropriate outlet

freudian slips

slips of the tongue that expose the unconscious

manifest content

the remembered story line of a dream

latent content

the underlying meaning of a dream

oral stage

freud's first stage of psychosexual development during which pleasure is centered in the mouth

anal stage

freud's pychosexual period during which a child learns to control his bodily excretions

phallic stage

freud's third stage of development, when the genitals becomes the focus of concern and pleasure

latency period

psychosexual stage in which sexual feelings are dormant

genital stage

freud's last stage of personality development, from the onset of puberty through adulthood, during which the sexual conflicts of childhood resurface (at puberty) and are often resolved during adolescence).

fixation

according to freud, a lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, in which conflicts were unresolved

oedipus complex

according to freud, a boy's sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father

repression

stuff everything into the preconscious

denial

refusing to believe or even perceive painful realities

projection

attributing undesirable feelings onto another person so they become the problem instead of you

reaction formation

expressing the opposite of how one feels, may be overexaggerated (opposite to emotion action)

rationalization

come up with intellectually reasonable but untrue explanation for what you're doing

regression

reverting to comforting behaviors from an earlier stage of development

monozygotic twins

identical twins formed when one zygote splits into two separate masses of cells, each of which develops into a separate embryo

dizygotic twins

fraternal twins who are produced when two separate ova are fertilized by two separate sperm at roughly the same time

twin studies and adoption studies

Identical twins have similarities in personality, behavior, and abilities being both raised inside and outside the same home

imprinting

the process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life

infant visual preferences

patterns over solids, prefer drawings of faces the most, proper faces over blank shapes and scrambled faces

mark johnson studies-- face recognition ability development studies

subcortical system has sketchy knowledge of what a face should look like, cortical system can learn about faces. innate knowledge causes infants to focus on faces, giving time to learn about them

abilities of infants shown in looking time studies

-infants look longer at objects that seem to violate physics laws than those that don't, know what's physically plausible
-surprise when shown a changed array (one object subtracted or added), expectations violated

piaget

theorist that developed a series of stages in which an individual passes during cognitive development.

assimilation

interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing cognitive structures (schemas)

accommodation

adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information

sensoriomotor stage

understand the world through sensory motor experiences and actions, develop object permanencee

preoperational stage

able to think in verbal symbols or words but lacks adult reasoning. egocentric thinking

egocentric

the inability to take the perspective of another person; assumes other see, hear, feel, and think exactly as they do

conservation tasks

piagetian tasks that involve changing the shape of a substance to see whether children can go beyond the way that substance visually appears to understand that the amount is still the same

concrete operations

can do logical operations, understand reversibility, do conservation and classification tasks

formal operations

can do abstract and hypothetical reasoning, can reason contrary to experience (what if q's)

attachment

an emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to the caregiver and showing distress on separation.

harlow's studies of attachment in monkeys

cloth mother vs wire mother, monkey runs to cloth mother when scared even if fed by the wire mother. shows that animals want contact comfort and disproves primary drive theory

strange situation test

a parent-infant "separation and reunion" procedure that is staged in a laboratory to test the security of a child's attachment.

separation anxiety

fear reaction when primary caregiver is absent, corresponds with development of object permanence

stranger anxiety

fear of stranger who walks in room, begins at around 6 months, younger kids are not afraid, peaks at one year of age and then declines

secure attachment

baby is secure when parent is present, distressed by separation and delighted by reunion

insecure attachment

attachments marked by anxiety or ambivalence

insecure attachment (avoidant)

doesn't care when mom leaves, doesn't care when mom comes back

insecure attachment (resistant)

baby clings to parent, cries at separation, but is extremely difficult to console upon reunion

delay of gratification (marshmallow test)

children able to delay gratification by not eating marshmallow in front of them had more positive outcomes and traits later in life (e.g., better sat scores, educational attainment, etc).