psych 1f03 - final

flashcards for psych 1f03 midterm

between-participant design

must consider confounding variable; they must be as similar as possible in every way (except the dependent variable).

control group

A group in an experiment that does not receive the treatment being tested. It is used as a baseline to compare the effects of the treatment on the experimental group.

within-participants design

manipulating the independent variable within each participant to minimize the effect of participant differences

population (in a study of university students)

all undergraduate students

sample (in a study of university students)

subset of undergraduate students selected from population

- reflect population so results can be generalized

random sample (in a study of university students)

people selected at random to become more representative (random assignment is necessary)

placebo effect

 situation where individual exhibits a response to a treatment that is not due to its real therapeutic effects

participant bias

may intentionally or unintentionally change their results to be viewed favourably or react in predictable ways

blinding

 don't know which treatment they are receiving

experimenter bias

actions made by the experimenter that influence the results

double-blind

neither group knows which is which

descriptive statistics

briefly summarize a given dataset (ex: pie chart)

histogram

shows the number of times group of values appear in a data set

mean

tells us the average value in a data set (outliers can skew this)

mode

value that appears most frequently

median

center value in the data set when arranged numerically 

 central tendencies

do not sufficiently summarize the data

inferential statistics

statistics that allow us to use results from samples to make inferences about overall, underlying populations

 t-test

statistical test that considers each data point from both groups to calculate the probability that the two samples were drawn from the same population

p-value

probability (0-1) indicating the likelihood of this difference being observed even if no ‘real’ difference exists ;  p=.06 (6%), p=.11 (11%), p=.5 (50%)

statistical significance

when the difference between two groups is due to some true difference between the properties of the two groups and not simply due to random variation

type 1 error (false alarm)

believing a difference when a difference does not exist (boy who called wolf); ineffective drug believed to be effective

type 2 error (miss)

 failing to see a difference when a difference does not exist (fail to cry wolf even if one is attacking sheep); effective drug believed to be ineffective

r= +1

perfect positive correlation /

 r = -1

perfect negative correlation \

classical conditioning

the learning of a contingency between a particular signal and a later event that are paired in time and/ or space

unconditioned stimulus

any stimulus or event that triggers a response naturally

unconditioned response

the response following a CS; occurs naturally prior to learning

conditioned stimulus

paired with the unconditioned stimulus to produce a contingency

conditioned response 

the response that occurs once learning has happened

acquisition

the process by which a contingency between a CS and US is learned

extinction

the loss of the CR when the CS no longer predicts the US

spontaneous recovery

the sudden recovery of a conditional response following a rest period after extinction

stimulus generalization

the process by which stimuli similar to the CS will also elicit a CR (ex: bitten by a doberman as a child.. now scared of all dogs)

stimulus discrimination

 restricts range of stimuli that can condition a response

 implosive therapy

something envoking anxiety through imagination; someone with a  germ phobia they will envision dirt on their hands as long as possible

systematic desensitization

someone with a germ phobia will cover their hands with confetti, then clay, and finally grime to face their fear

operant conditioning (instrumental conditioning)

the learning of contingency between a behaviour and consequence

reward training

presentation of positive reinforcer

punishment training

presentation of a negative reinforcer

omission training

removal of a positive reinforcer

autoshaping

learning without direct guidance; pigeon pecking key hole to get food; he will eventually accidentally learn

chaining

 a technique used to develop a sequence of behaviours; each behaviour is reinforced with the opportunity to perform the next behaviour in a sequence

 S+

contingency is valid

S-

contingency is invalid; when response does not lead to reinforcement

CS+ is not SD, why?

CS elicits involuntary response while SD sets the occasion for a voluntary response

ratio

responses; FR-10 is every 10th time

interval

time; FI - 1min is every minute

fixed

constant; 10 times or 10 minutes exactly

variable

random; VR - 10 must be an average of 10.. so 6, 14, 10, 12, 8, etc

definition of intelligence

perform cognitive tasks & learn from experience and adapt

deductive reasoning

ideas and general information → specific conclusion

inductive reasoning

specific facts and observations → general idea

reliability

repeated testing produces consistent results (test w random question from test bank)

validity

if the test actually measure what it is supposed to (is SAT valid in measuring intelligence rather than memorization)

 wechsler adult intelligence scale &  wechsler adult intelligence scale (for children)

IQ scores are standardized relative to population scores; verbal, mathematical, musical, spatial, kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic

the flynn effect

mean score of raw iq scores have been on the rise since 1932; around the world, they are on the raise by 9-15 points every year

schema

 mental framework for interpreting the world around us

assimilation

incorporating new information into existing schemas

accommodation

modifying existing schemas to fit information

piaget 0-2yr

object permanence

 piaget 2-7yr

egocentrism, difficulty with seriation (random stick order), difficulty with conservation

7-12yr

no abstract thinking and reasoning

confirmation bias

tendency to seek out information that supports our hypothesis

heuristic

mental shortcut to solve problems

availability heuristic

tendency to make decisions based on information that is quickly available to us 

representativeness heuristic

tendency to assume that what we are seeing is representative of the larger category we have in mind

the sapir-whorf hypothesis

 language can help form thoughts; language influences our thoughts and the way we perceive the world; french uses the same word for stepmother and mother in law

morpheme

smallest unit of sound that contains information; often a word but some sounds can create words; table and cloth can stand alone but tablecloth is something else

phonemes

 smallest unit of sound in speech (ex: dog (d)(o)(g))

syntax

the rules that govern how words in a sentence are put together (grammar);  sentences can be syntactically correct without any semantic meaning

babbling

characterized by drawn out sounds made up of a variety of consonants

language explodes in complexity

 between 1.5-6 yrs of age

universal phoneme sensitivity

ability of infants to discriminate between any sounds they are tested on

lack of social interaction leads to….

inability to develop language skills (EX: genie locked in a room her whole adolescent life and was not able to learn later in life)

overextension

 characterize objects too broadly (ex: using doggie for all animals when learning what a dog is)

overregularization

a type of overextension (ex: i played → i runned)

underextension

too specific (ex: using the word duck for only a stuffed animal and not a real duck)

language acquisition device

an innate mechanism, present only in humans, that helps language develop rapidly according to universal rules

categorization

the process by which objects or ideas are recognized, understood, and differentiated by grouping based on some underlying criteria

classification

allows you to treat objects that appear differently as belonging together (ex: green, red, and yellow apples appear differently on color dimension, but they’re all categorized by apples)

exemplar theory

the theory that suggests we categorize new objects by comparing them to objects we have encountered in past experience

communication

the ability to describe complex ideas or objects using a single label (ex: the label ‘furniture’ easily describes a wide range of things

illusion of the expert

the perception that something is simple because we are good at it (ex: a math professor may assume that math is easy for everyone because it is easy for him)

prototype theory

categorize objects by comparing them to an internal “best” representation of a given category (ex: when viewing a new dog, you may compare it to a typical representation of a dog you’ve seen before)

understanding

ability to describe complex ideas or objects using a single label

development of categorization

children as young as 3 can generalize facts, if she knows her dog likes treats, it can be assumed other dogs do too 

william james: concept of selection

act of attending to an object to select it apart from unattended objects (ex: when you put on your clothes you feel the texture, throughout the day, you dont anymore)

What underlying mechanisms drive attention?

automatic processes: involuntary “capture” (ex: when we hear sirens and automatically turn towards them)

controlled processes

conscious attention, slow and effortful (while driving and you pay more attention to traffic, turning, making a music choice, etc)

spotlight model

objects within a spotlight give faster reaction time and higher accuracy

cocktail party effect

separating conversation from those who are having convos around you

filter models are…

applied to auditory

dichotic listening paradigm

hear a message in both ears and repeat back what they heard in attended ear and unattended ear

breakthrough

participants remember unattended information (ex: if someones name is said in a crowd, even while not paying attention, it'll be captured)

 stroop task

over 1k studies; state the colour of the font 

stroop task: congruent

red being the colour red

stroop task: incongruent

blue being the colour green

proportion congruent manipulation

 change the ratio of congruent or incongruent trials