Psych Exam 3

Information processing model

compares the working of memory to the actions of a computer

Encoding

the processing of info so that it can be stored

Storage

the retention of encoded representations over time

Consolidation

the neural process by which encoded info becomes stored in the memory

Retrieval

the act of recalling or remembering stored information when it’s needed

Brain regions involved in memory?

Hippocampus, Prefrontal Cortex, Amygdala, temporal lobes, cerebellum, the brain structures involved in perception

How does attention affect memory?

allows us to keep information stored for a certain duration (long/short-term and working memory)

Retrieval cues

anything that helps a person (or a nonhuman animal) recall a memory

Retrieval cues and rehearsal techniques that improve memory/encoding

Chunking, Mnemonics, Maintenance Rehearsal, Elaborative rehearsal

Chunking

organizing info into meaningful units to make it easier to remember (long-term)

Mnemonics

learning aids or strategies that improve recall through the use of retrieval cues

Maintenance Rehearsal

repeating the item over and over

Elaborative rehearsal

encoding the information in more meaningful ways

How many items can we hold in our short-term memory?

“Magic Number” 7 (plus or minus 2)

Serial position effect

the idea that the ability to recall items from a list depends on the order of the presentation, with items presented early or late in the list are remembered better than those in the middle

Primacy effect

better memory for items at the beginning of the list (reflects long-term memory)

Recency effect

better memory for the items at the end of a list (reflects working memory)

Schemas (define)

cognitive structures that help us perceive, organize, and process info. (what we view as appropriate is shaped by culture, experience, and perception)

Schemas (problems)

May lead us to think and act in stereotypical ways

Thinking

the mental manipulation of knowledge about the world (allows us to take in info, consider and use it)

Cognition

the mental activity that includes thinking and the understandings that result from thinking

Mental representations

hypothetical internal cognitive symbols or images that stand for external reality

Mental maps

a person's internal, subjective representation of their surroundings, used for navigation and understanding space. (rely on both analogical and symbolic representations (symbolic can lead to error))

Concepts

a category, or class of related items; it consists of mental representations of those items

Heuristics

mental shortcuts (rules of thumb or informal guidelines) used to reduce the amount of thinking that’s needed to make decisions (can lead to biases and therefore errors)

Availability heuristic

making a decision based on the answer that most easily comes to mind

Representativeness Heuristic

placing a person or an object in a category if that person or object is similar to one’s prototype for that category

Mental Sets

problem-solving strategies that have worked in the past

Functional Fixedness

in problem solving, having fixed ideas about the typical functions of objects (MacGyver was famous for over coming this)

language

a system of communication using sounds and symbols according to grammatical rules

Morphemes

the smallest language units that have meaning, including suffixes and prefixes

Phonemes 

the basic sounds of speech, the building blocks language

Syntax

the system of rules that govern how words are combined into phrases and then are combined to make sentences (grammar)

Semantics

the study of the system of meanings that underline words, phrases, and sentences

Critical period of human development

specific, limited windows, from prenatal stages through early childhood, where the brain is highly sensitive to environmental stimuli. (from hearing differences between sounds immediately after birth, kids go on to develop the ability to specific)

Telegraphic Speech

the tendency for toddlers to speak using rudimentary sentences that are missing words and grammatical markings but follow a logical syntax and convey a wealth of meaning (“I fall”)

intelligence

the ability to use knowledge to reason, make decisions, make sense of events, solve problems, understand complex ideas, learn quickly, and adapt to environmental challenges

Measures of intelligence

performance on standardized tests. Some psychometric tests focus on achievement; other psychometric tests focus on aptitude.

Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test

Psychometric tests of general intelligence which measures intelligence using the intelligence quotient aka IQ score

How is intelligence calculated using the Stanford-Binet?

(mental age/chronological age) x 100 = IQ

Developmental psychology

the study of changes over the life span in physiology, cognition, emotion, and social behavior

Why do humans develop?

Environment determines which of the person’s genes are expressed and how they’re expressed. Nature and nature both play a role in developmental outcome.

Stages of development

Prenatal, Infancy, Childhood, Adolescence, Adulthood

Prenatal Period

begins with conception ends with birth (0-9 month pregnancy period)

Infancy

begins with birth ends between 18-24 months

Childhood

begins at the end of infancy and lasts until somewhere between the ages of 11-14

Adolescence

begins at the end of childhood and lasts until somewhere between 18-21 years

Adulthood

begins at the end of adolescence and lasts until old age and death

Attachment

a strong, intimate, emotional connection between people that persists over time and across circumstances

Ainsworth’s “Strange Situation”

Created to determine if infants displayed different attachment styles when separated from their caregivers. The child’s strategy for coping with the separation from the caregiver demonstrates the quality of the attachment bond between them

Attachment styles

Secure and Insecure

Secure

(60-65%) The child happily plays with the stranger while the caregiver is present, but distressed when the caregiver leaves. The Child is easy to console when the caregiver returns

Insecure

(35-40%) a relationship style characterized by a lack of trust, difficulty with emotional expression and intimacy, breaks down into 2 types.

Avoidant (aka dismissive)

The children didn’t show signs of distress when the caregiver leaves, and they ignore them when they return.

Ambivalent (aka anxious or resistant)

The child is distressed when the caregiver leaves, and they continue to show distress even when the caregiver returns. (unlike the securely attached, they cannot be easily comforted).

Harlow’s Monkeys

Harlow found that infant monkeys, when give the choice between a wire “mother” with milk and a cloth “mother” without milk the monkey preferred the cloth mother. (debunking Freud’s theory that attachment primarily serves the purpose of satisfying the infant’s oral need thru breast feeding)

Emotions

An immediate, specific negative or positive response to environmental events or internal thoughts.

Affect

(aka emotion) has 3 components physiological response, behavioral response, and feeling based on cognitive appraisal of the situation

Mood

-low-level background affect

- diffuse, long-lasting emotional states that don’t have an identifiable object or trigger.

-the don’t interrupt what’s happening, but rather they influence thought and behavior

Circumplex Model

Another system for classifying emotions

Valence

how negative or positive emotions are

Arousal

how arousing emotions are; describes physiological activation (ex: brain activity) or increase autonomic response (ex: increased heart rate, sweating, or muscle tension)

Primary emotions

-emotions that are innate, evolutionary, adaptive, and universal (shared across cultures)

-Including anger, fear, sadness, disgust, happiness, surprise, contempt

Secondary emotions

-blends of primary emotions

-Including remorse, guilt, submission, shame, love, bitterness, jealousy

Hippocampus

important mostly for memory

Hypothalamus

important mostly for motivation

Amygdala

- processes the emotional significance of stimuli, and it generates immediate emotional and behavioral reactions.

-involved in the perception of social stimuli, such as when we decipher the emotional meanings of other people’s facial expressions, e.g., their trustworthiness

Theories of Emotion

James-Lange Theory, Cannon-Bard Theory, Schachter-Singer Two-Factor Theory

James-Lange Theory

people perceive specific patterns of bodily responses, and as a result of that perception they feel emotion

Cannon-Bard Theory

proposed that the mind and body experience emotions independently. Info about emotional stimuli is sent simultaneously to the cortex and the body and results in emotional experience and bodily reactions respectively. As a result, we experience two separate things at roughly the same time: an emotion and a physical reaction.

Schachter-Singer (two-factor theory)

a label applied to psychological arousal results in the experience of an emotion

Emotion regulation

-Gross outlined various strategies people use to regulate their emotions.

- Successful strategies: Situational selection (Control the location), Change the meaning (reappraisal- reinterpret a situation to change its emotional meaning), Attentional Deployment (Distracting yourself), Find humor

- Unsuccessful strategies: Thought suppression and rumination

Thought suppression

Pushing down emotions, people attempt to not feel or respond to the emotion at all. DOESN’T WORK!!

Rumination

involves thinking about, elaborating on, and focusing on undesired thoughts or feelings. DOESN’T WORK!!

Motivation

a process that energizes, guides, and maintains behavior toward a goal 

Need

a state of biological or social deficient (lead to goal-directed behaviors)

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Arrangement of needs, in which basic survival needs must be met before people can satisfy higher needs

Drive

a psychological state that, by creating arousal, motivates an organism to satisfy a need

Yerkes-Dodson Law

- the psychological principle that performance on challenging tasks increase with arousal up to a moderate level; after that, additional arousal impairs performance (ex: athletics, drama performance, music). 

- students perform best on exams when feeling moderate anxiety, too much can interfere with performance or motivation

Stress

a type of response that typically involves an unpleasant state such as anxiety or tension

Major Life Stressors

changes or disruptions that strain central areas of people’s lives (such as having your first child, death of a loved one, divorces, etc)

Daily hassles

small, day-to-day irritations and annoyances (such as driving in heavy traffic, dealing with difficult people, waiting in line, etc)

Eustress

the stress of positive events (weddings, birthdays, etc)

Distress

the stress of negative events

Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) Axis

a body system involved in stress responses, helps the body prepare to respond to the stressor (e.g., fighting an attacker).

Type A personality

a pattern of behavior characterized by competitiveness, achievement orientation, aggressiveness, hostility, restlessness, impatience with others, and inability to relax

Type A personality health impact

Strong predictor of heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or smoking

Type B personality

a pattern of behavior characterized by noncompetitive, relaxed, easygoing, and accommodating behavior

Type B personality health impact

Attitude may translate to not caring as much about their health despite having less stress related conditions 

Long-term effects of stress on health

- stress hormones negatively affect health

- chronic stress, especially psychological stress, is associated with the initiations and progression of a wide variety of disease from cancer to AIDs to cardiac disease

- weakens immune system

Short-term effects of stress on health

boosts the immune system

effects of stress on immune system

- (the body’s mechanism for dealing with invading microorganisms, like bacteria, allergens, and viruses)

- Stress alters the function of the immune system 

- Long-term weakens it, short-term boosts it

Coping

any attempt made to avoid, escape from, or minimize a stressor

Coping Responses

Emotion-focused and Problem-focused coping

Emotion-focused coping

a type of coping in which people try to prevent having an emotional response to a stressor

Problem-focused coping

a type of coping in which people take direct steps to confront or minimize a stressor

Stress relief strategies

Positive Reappraisal, Downward Comparisons, Creation of Positive Events

Positive Reappraisal

focusing on possible good things in one’s current situation (the silver lining)

Downward Comparisons

Comparing oneself to those who are worse off

Creation of Positive Events

A strategy of giving positive meaning to ordinary events