Intro To Psychology Exam 2

8 Steps to Scientific Method

1. ask a question

2. do background research

3. form a hypothesis 

4. design study/test hypothesis 

5. analyze data

6. draw conclusion

7. communicate results 

8. refine/replicate

2 innate fears

1. loud noises 

2. falling

Instinct vs Reflex

Instinct - behaviors triggered by broader range of events (aging or change of seasons) — bigger — spider spinning web

Reflex - motor/neural reactions to a specific stimulus (knee-jerk or pupils contracting) — smaller

perception vs sensation

Perception : way that sensory information is interpreted and consciously experienced — interpreting visual information

Sensation : what happens when sensory information is detected by a sensory receptor — just visual 

Gestalts Image 

perception and sensation?

sensation - seeing the lines 

perception - seeing a railroad

absolute threshold

the minimum amount of stimulus energy that must be present for the stimulus to be detected 50% of the time

• the eye can detect a candle flame from 30 miles away half the time

difference threshold

difference in stimuli required to detect a difference between the stimuli

• seeing a phone light up in a dark room vs a lighten room — the difference in how bright the phone screen appears

sensory adaption

not receiving stimuli thats remained relatively constant over prolonged periods of time

• stop noticing a beeping sound over time

perceptual hypothesis

educated guess used to interpret sensory information

• airport security spotting weapons based off training

operant conditioning schedules

1. fixed interval 

2. variable interval 

3. fixed ratio 

4. variable ratio

fixed interval

reinforcement is delivered at predictable time periods (5,10,15,20 minutes)

variable interval

reinforcement is delivered at unpredictable time intervals (5, 7, 10 20 minutes)

fixed ratio

reinforcement is delivered after predictable number of responses (after 2, 4, 6, 8 responses)

variable ratio

reinforcements are delivered after unpredictable number of responses (after 1, 4, 5, 9 responses)

thinking vs cognition vs intelligence

• cognition is acquiring and using knowledge (learning a friend’s phone number)

• thinking is manipulating the information and forming concepts from it (problem solving, language, memory)

• intelligence is the overall capacity to learn / dependent on persons potential (adjusting to new technology quickly easy for some harder for others)

operant conditioning vs classical condition vs observational learning

• operant conditioning - organisms learn to associate behavior to its consequence (being spanked after cursing) (stimulus soon after)

• classical conditioning - learning to associate stimuli and consequently anticipate events (dogs salivating to sound of bell, rang bell and fed dog (can’t control its own salivation it is a reflex)) (stimulus before)

• observational learning - learn by watching others and the imitating or modeling what they do or say

stimulus discrimination

when an organism learns to respond differently to various stimuli that are similar

(cat running when they hear the can manually opened, but not recognizing electric can opener)

stimulus generalization

when an organism demonstrates the conditioned responded to stimuli that are similar to the conditioned stimulus

(cat running to both the electric can opener and the manual can sound because they are similar enough to one another)

spontaneous recovery

the return of a previously extinguished conditioned response following a rest period (manual food opener — electric — manual — the cat will re-learn the manual food opener sound much quicker the second time around)

Extinction

the decrease in the conditioned response when the unconditioned stimulus is no longer presented with the conditioned stimulus (when the pairing of cat food to opener is haulted the cat stops coming in for cat food when they hear the noise)

schema

mental construct consisting of a cluster or collection of related concepts

role schema

makes assumptions of how individuals in certain roles will behave

• firefighters as brave

event schema

set of behaviors that can feel like a routine

• walking into elevator, click button, wait, doors open, walk out

What impacts perception?

• 1. sensory adaption (not perceiving stimuli that remains relatively constant over time)

• 2. attention 

  • inattention blindness — failure to notice something because you’re inattentive 

• 3. motivation (having a bias)

  • signal detection theory — change in stimulus detection as a change in mental state

• 4. beliefs, values, prejudices, and expectations (social media, looking for balance)

• 5. life/cultural experiences

reflective thinking

recapping on your own thoughts/experiences

critical thinking

the active application of a set of skills to information for the understanding and evaluation of that information.

creative thinking

coming up with unique and novel ideas

divergent thinking

ability to think “outside the box” (all the options) to arrive at novel solutions to a problem

convergent thinking

providing correct or established answer to the problem, one right answer (2+3=5)

connection between language and intelligence

intelligence being the capacity one has for knowledge, we learn how intelligent other are from their communication to us with language. Had they not had the ability to use language, like reading, writing, speaking etc. we would not be able to test the capacity of their intelligence

conditioned stimuli

previously neutral stimulus that after being repeatedly paired with unconditioned stimuli has been triggered to learn a response

• sound of bell that makes dog salivate

unconditioned stimulus

stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers a response without any prior learning 

• dog food  

conditioned response

learned response to the previously neutral stimulus

• dog salivating after hearing bell

unconditioned response 

the natural, unlearned reaction that occurs in response to the unconditioned stimulus

• dog salivating seeing food

Operant conditioning

organisms learn to associate a behavior with its consequence

shaping

rewarding successive approximations toward target behavior

primary reinforcers

has innate reinforcing qualities (food, sex, water, shelter etc)

secondary reinforcers

has no inherent value, only has quality when paired with something else (money, gold stars, poker chips)

Banderas Four Steps 

1. Pay Attention

2. Retain/Remember  

3. Repeat 

4. Motivate

How is motivation influenced by punishment or reinforcement?

Social learning theory, if watching the adult be punished for their behavior, the child is less likely to repeat behavior. Though if the adult is rewarded, the child is likely to repeat behavior in hopes for reward. 

1. working memory

2. sensory memory

3. short-term memory

4. long-term memory

working memory

“real-time processing” when being given information, not all of it is stored because there is limited information processed to go to short/long term memory files

sensory memory

storage of brief sensory events (including working memories) depends on type of information received

• sights, sounds, tastes

short-term memory (STM)

temporary storage system that processes incoming sensory memory

long-term memory (LTM)

how to retrieve long-term memories

1. recall 

2. recognition 

3. relearning

recall

accessing information without cues (essay test)

recognition

identifying previously learned information after encountering it again, typically after a cue (multiple choice question, choosing the one that looks most recognizable)

relearning

learning information that was previously learned (relearning a language)

heuristics

general problem solving framework “rule of thumb” “my sister went to Saint Mary’s so I will too” choosing the familiar