PSCH 324 Exam 2

Ethics

A set of concepts and principles that guide us in determining what behavior constitutes right and wrong conduct

Ideals

The principals or values that one actively pursues as a goal

Justice

The legal or philosophical theory by which fairness is administered

Morality

Intentions, decisions, and actions that are considered “proper” based on standards/principals

Values

• Broad preferences concerning appropriate course of action or outcome

• Reflects our sense of what “ought” to be

Accommodation

A cognitive adaptation that occurs when schemas must change when new information is presented

Analytic perception

• A pattern of perception characterized by processing information as a sum of the parts

• Promotes analytic thinking

Assimilation

• A cognitive process that occurs when we change information in order to make it fit within our schema

• With this conflict, schema is less likely to change

Attention

The process of filtering information from sensation into perception and cognition

Basic level of categories

Found at the generic level, which contains the most salient differences (e.g., dog, apple)

Bottom-up perception

Occurs when we build up to perception from the individual pieces

Categories

Formed when concepts are ranked as subordinate, basic, and superordinate levels

Concepts

Information that is later organized and categorized

Confirmation bias

• The tendency to seek out information that favors or confirms existing beliefs and expectations

• Outcome of assimilation

Crystallized intelligence

Acquired knowledge and the ability to retrieve it

Culture-Fair Test

• An approach to measure intelligence that, in theory, intends to test intelligence in an equally fair way across all cultural groups

• Fairness indicates a lack of bias in the assessment, interpretation, and use of data obtained from these measurements

Dispositional attribution

An explanation of people’s behavior as a result of internal factors that reside within

Encoding

Input of information into the memory system

Episodic memory

A type of long-term memory about events taking place at a specific time and place in a person’s life

Fluid intelligence

Encompasses the ability to see complex relationships and solve problems

Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE)

• A bias that makes individuals incorrectly label others

• Their behavior is attributed to set negative personal flaws

• This error makes individuals underestimate the role of external factors

G-Factor

The notion that intelligence is a singular underlying cognitive aptitude or intellectual ability that is representative of a person’s general intellectual potential

Holistic perception

• A pattern or perception characterized by processing information as a whole

• This pattern makes it more likely to pay attention to relationships among all elements

Intelligence quotient (IQ)

• A total score that is derived from a standardized test of intelligence

• Historically, it’s calculated by dividing a person’s mental age (MA) by the person’s chronological age (CA) and multiplying by 100 to avoid decimals

• Formula: (MA/CA) x 100

Long-term memory

• The part of the memory system in which information can be permanently stored for an extended period of time

• It has a large unlimited capacity and a duration that may last from minutes to a lifetime

Memory

A system or process that stores what we learn for future use and refers to lots of different abilities

Multiple intelligences

• The notion that there is not a singular underlying general intelligence

• According to this theory, all people vary in terms of levels of strength across a diverse group of specific domains that expand beyond cognitive domains

Perception

The process of organizing or interpreting sensory information into awareness

Perceptual illusions

A subjective misinterpretation of sensory stimuli from its objective nature

Schema

• Knowledge representations that include information about people, groups, or situations

• When activated, they are useful for making predictions and decisions

Semantic memory

The type of long-term memory about general facts, ideas, or concepts that are not associated to emotions and personal experience

Sensation

The process that allows energy from the world to be translated as neural signals through the five senses: vision, hearing, taste, smell, and touch

Sensory memory

Storage of brief sensory events, such as sights, sounds, and tastes

Short-term memory

• The part of the memory system in which information can be temporarily stored in the present state of awareness

• This type of memory is limited to 7 items of capacity and 7 to 30 seconds of duration on average

Storage

The creation of a permanent record of information

Superordinate level of categories

At the top of a taxonomy and it has a high degree of generality (e.g., animal, fruit)

Subordinate level of categories

Specific degree and has little generality (e.g., Labrador retriever, Gala)

Top-down processing

Occurs when something that we’ve experienced in our past influences how we process new experiences

Ambivalent sexism

The concept of gender stereotypical attitudes that encompasses both positive and negative qualities

Benevolent sexism

The “positive” element of ambivalent sexism, which recognizes that women are perceived as needing to be protected, supported, and adored by men

Cisgender

A term for when a person’s birth sex corresponds with his/her gender identity and gender role

Gender

The cultural, social, and psychological meanings that are associated with masculinity and femininity

Gender constancy

• The awareness that gender is constant and does not change simply by changing external attributes

• Develops between 3 and 6 years of age

Gender discrimination or sexism

Differential treatment on the basis of gender

Gender identity

A person’s psychological sense of being male or female

Gender roles

The behaviors, attitudes, and personality traits that are designated as either masculine or feminine in a given culture

Gender schema theory

A theory of how children form their own gender roles argues that children actively organize others’ behavior, activities, and attributes into gender categories or schemas

Gender stereotypes

The beliefs and expectations people hold about the typical characteristics, preferences, and behaviors of men and women

Hostile sexism

The negative element of ambivalent sexism, which includes the attitudes that women are inferior and incompetent relative to men

Sex

The biological category of male or female as defined by physical differences in genetic composition and in reproductive anatomy and function

Sexual orientation

The direction of emotional and erotic attraction toward members of the opposite sex, the same sex, or both sexes

Heterosexual

Opposite-sex attraction

Homosexual

Same-sex attraction

Intersex

A term for an individual born with either an absence or some combination of male and female reproductive organs, sex hormones, or sex chromosomes

Transgender

A term for a person whose gender identity or gender role does not correspond with his/her birth sex