Exam 3 Study Guide Psychology 101:01

Successive approximations

responses that are increasingly similar to the desired response

Overjustification effect

The effect of promising a reward for doing what one already likes to do. The person may now see the reward, rather than intrinsic interest, as the motivation for performing the task.
too much reward -> undermines intrinsic motivation

Observational learning

Learning by observation and imitation

Modeling

imitating others' behavior

Bandura's bobo doll study

Researchers would physically and verbally abuse an inflatable doll in front of children, which would lead the children to mimic the behavior of the adults

Implications of observational learning for aggressive behavior

Children exposed to either violent TV show or non violent sporting event -> violent TV led to more aggression

Implications of observational learning for prosocial behavior

Exposure to prosocial models such as observing others providing help -> others would be more likely to help

Encoding

getting information into memory

Storage

maintaining encoded information over time

Retrieval

pulling previously encoded and stored information from memory

Sensory memory

system that holds sensory information like visually, auditory, and etc. for a very brief time after the stimulus disappears

Iconic memory

visual sensory memory

Echoic memory

auditory sensory memory

Sperling study of iconic memory

Sperling flashed 12 letters for 1/20 seconds -> then signaled Ps to recall top, middle, or bottom row

Short-term memory

for information that is available to consciousness for about 20-30 seconds -> magical #7

Long-term memory

relatively permanent memory -> unlimited capacity

Explicit memory

conscious recollection of material from long-term memory (declarative)

Semantic memory

memory of general knowledge

Episodic memory

memory of personally experienced events

Implicit memory

not brought to mind consciously, but expressed in behavior
(nondeclarative)

Procedural memory

memory for the performance of skills

Priming

prior exposure to a stimulus affects responses to a later stimulus

Classically conditioned associations

conditioned emotional reactions

Recall

producing memories using minimal retrieval cues

Recognition

knowledge of whether one has previously been exposed to info

Relearning

learning occurs more quickly the second time it is learned

Chunking

organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically

Mnemonics

strategies and tricks for improving memory -> every good boy does fine/acronyms (words made from first letter of words) like OMG

Rehearsal

repeating some information -> without it, less likely to remember

Maintenance rehearsal

rote repetition of material

Elaborative rehearsal

thinking about the meaning of the information

Craik and Tulving's levels of processing theory

Levels of processing: information can be processed at different depths, from shallow to deep -> affects likelihood of recall
CHAIR Study, elicited encoding depth by asking different types of questions -> is it in caps, does it rhyme with train, does it fit in sentence -> words presented, recognition tested

Shallow processing

superficial features, such as physical appearance

Deep processing

meaning

Encoding specificity

specific cues are encoded with the memory

Context-dependent memory

environment in which something is learned serves as cue for retrieval

State-dependent memory

physical or mental state in which something is learned serves as cue for retrieval

Encoding failure

memory fails to form due to lack of attention or processing

Storage decay

after memory has been stored, may fade

Retrieval failure

storied memories cannot be accessed -> tip of the tongue

Ebbinghaus's forgetting curve

After forming a memory, majority of forgetting occurs initially

Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon

State in which one cannot quite recall a familiar word but can recall words of similar form and meaning

Anterograde amnesia

memory loss for info encountered after head injury -> H.M experienced this

Retrograde amnesia

memory loss for info from before head injury

Eye witness testimony reliability

Eyewitness testimony is not reliable as people can distort their recall (speed estimates) or add information to their recall (broken glass) -> based on the verb used, different speeds were suggested

Testing effect

taking tests during the learning phase facilitates later retrieval from long term memory

Spacing effect

learning is more effective when study sessions are spaced out

Heuristics

simple rules for making complex decisions/judgements

Representativeness heuristic

tendency to see someone or something a belonging to a particular group or category by evaluating how similar this person or thing is to a typical person or thing in that category

Base-rate fallacy

using the representativeness heuristic means ignoring base rates

Base rates

frequency with which given events or cases occur in the population

Availability heuristic

Strategy for making judgements based on how easily specific kinds of information can be brought to mind -> being influenced more by the salience then by the actual likelihood of event

Simulation heuristic (counterfactual thinking)

Imagining alternative version of actual events shapes emotional response

Outcomes of bilingualism

Greater cognitive flexibility, protection against cognitive decline, higher academic achievement in upper grades, better executive control, and additional area of brain activation

Effects of stimulating and non-stimulating environments on intellectual abilities

Stimulating environments tend to foster a better environment for learning -> a colorful classroom filled with toys vs. a orphanage w/ little contact or stimulation

Perseverance effect (belief perseverance)

Beliefs tend to persist in the face of disconfirming information

Confirmation bias

Tendency to search for and use information that is consistent with our existing beliefs -> exposure to information that is inconsistent with our beliefs makes us question the validity of the information

Stereotype threat

Threat felt when stereotype is salient to targets of negative stereotypes, it can be combatted against through education about stereotype threat, role models, self affirmation, and growth mindset

Fixed mindset

performance is assumed to reflect ability that is unchangeable

Growth mindset

performance is assumed to reflect effort that is modifiable (results in more effort and persistence)

Maslow's hierarchy of needs

List of ascending needs from basic to self actualization

Self-actualization

Need to find self-fulfillment and realize one's potential

James-Lange theory of emotion

We experience physiological arousal or behavior in response to stimuli -> due to physiological response or behavior, we experience emotion
Physiological arousal/behavior -> emotion

Cannon-Bard theory of emotion

Emotion and physiological reactions occur simultaneously
Physiological arousal/behavior — emotion

Schachter and Singer's two-factor theory of emotion

First, we experience physiological arousal, then we interpret the reason for the arousal and provide an explanation or label for it
Physiological arousal -> interpretation -> emotion

Angry/happy man study

Participants injected w/ epinephrine or placebo, told injection would cause arousal and so behaved in angry/happy way -> participants labeled emotion

Misattribution of arousal

the process whereby people make mistaken inferences about what is causing them to feel the way they do

Dutton & Aron

misattribution of arousal, similar physiological reaction to fear and attraction -> men who crossed the scary bridge were more likely to call the girl, believing their fear was actually attraction

Facial feedback hypothesis

Act of forming a facial expression elicits the corresponding emotion

Attribution

process through which we seek to identify the causes of our own or others' behavior

Internal (dispositional) attribution

inference that a person's behavior is caused by something about the person

External (situational) attribution

inference that a person's behavior is caused by something about the situation

Fundamental attribution error

Tendency to make internal attributions for others' behavior, even when situational causes are apparent

Jones and Harris's Castro study

The participants thought that the student who wrote the essay had a somewhat positive opinion of Castro even though they knew that the student had been instructed by the professor to write a pro Castro essay.

Actor-observer effect

Tendency to attribute our own mistakes mainly to situational causes, but the mistakes of others mainly to dispositional causes

Self-serving attribution

Tendency to attribute one's positive outcomes to internal causes but negative outcomes to external causes -> that was all me vs its not my fault

Social role

behavior that is expected of a person who is in a specific social position

Zimbardo's Stanford prison experiment

Participants randomly assigned to either prisoner or prison guard -> assumed the role and would start genuinely acting it out, guards became abusive and prisoners showed signs of stress and anxiety

Cognitive dissonance

Unpleasant psychological state that results from inconsistencies between one's attitudes and behavior (counter attitudinal behavior, insufficient justification, choice, and effort)

Counterattitudinal behavior

Behavior that is inconsistent with person's attitudes

Insufficient justification

When people perform a counterattitudinal behavior with inadequate reason, they may develop more positive attitudes toward that behavior

Festinger and Carlsmith's cognitive dissonance study

Subjects paid either $1 or $20 to do a boring tasking and tell next subject that it was fun -> the 20$ paid justified lying for the payment whereas the 1$ felt there was insufficient justification for lying

Social norms

guidelines for how to behave in a social context

Normative social influence

social influence based on the desire to be liked or accepted

Informational social influence

social influence based on the desire to be correct

Asch's study of conformity

Participants asked to judge which comparison line best matched the standard line in which they unanimously chose the incorrect line (about 75% chose incorrect at least once) -> presence of an ally, unanimity of social group making it important to conform

Milgram's study of obedience

Milgram sought to investigate obedience to authority, where participants served as teachers and were instructed to inflict shocks of increasing intensity onto the learner -> under orders participants would keep administering shocks, after he stopped responding, they would continue to shocking

Acquisition

Stage of conditioning in which the association between the 2 stimuli (US and CS) is being learned

Generalization (Classical)

Conditioned response to stimuli that are not the conditioned stimulus (but are similar to the CS)

Discrimination (Classical)

Conditioned response occurs only to a specific stimulus

Extinction (Classical

Failure to exhibit the CR to the CS (because CS no longer predicts US)

Spontaneous recovery (Classical)

Reappearance of the CR to the original CS after extinction -> tends to be short lived

Second-order (higher-order) conditioning

New neutral stimulus becomes associated with previously conditioned stimulus, becoming new CS -> tends to be weaker than first order conditioning

Conditioned aversion

classically conditioned association between a CS and a US that causes unpleasant response -> Wolves fed sheep meat covered in a substance that would cause sickness, made them afraid of sheep meat

Watson and Raynor's study

Learning to fear in which loud noise was paired with a rat, where Albert would generalize fear to other fuzzy objects

Counterconditioning

Replacing unwanted CR with wanted response -> the unwanted response (fear of rabbit) would be paired with stimulus that produces pleasant feelings that are incompatible with fear response (to eliminate unwanted response)

Operant conditioning

Learning behaviors due to experiences with their consequences

Thorndike's law of effect

The tendency of an organism to produce a behavior depends on the effect the behavior has on the environment -> hungry cat placed in box and is only rewarded after figuring out how to escape from the box, first chaotic then calm

Skinner box

Behavior is controlled by its consequences, an operant chamber -> hungry animal placed in box, pressing button gives food (reinforcer), increases button pressing

Reinforcer

consequence of behavior that increases the probability that the behavior will occur