PSYCH 100 EXAM 3

unlearned behvaior

hard-wired into organism’s biological makeup, occurs naturally without experience/training

reflex

motor/neural reaction to sensory stimulus

instinct

innate species-specific behaviors triggered by broad range of events

learned behaviors

lasting change in behavior or knowledge resulting from experience; how we acquire knowledge and skills through experience

associative learning

making automatic connections between stimuli (things) or events in our environment

classical conditioning

we learn to associate stimuli to predict events, then we respond accordingly, stimulus + stimulus

Ivan Pavlov

landmark experiments with dogs in the 1920s

unconditioned stimulus

thing that provokes a natural response

unconditioned response

natural response

neutral stimulus

something in environment that does not naturally produce response

conditioned stimulus

previously neutral stimulus that now provokes a learned response

conditioned response

learned response to conditioned stimulus

generalization

extending conditioned response to similar neutral stimuli, only if stimuli are very similar

discrimination

organism learns to respond only to the specific conditioned stimuli

operant conditioning

we learn to associate consequences with behaviors and either repeat or stop them accordingly, punishment/reinforcement

positive reinforcement

increase behavior and add something, giving a dog a treat for sitting

negative reinforcement

increase behavior and remove something, if a child does their homework, they do not need to do dishes

positive punishment

decrease behavior and add something, scolding student so they stop texting in class

negative punishment

decrease behavior and remove something, take away a child’s toy when they misbehave

postitive reinforcement

consequence most effective for changing behavior

primary reinforcers

innate reinforcing abilities

secondary reinforcer

no inherent value, only valuable when linked to primary reinforcer

shaping

rewarding approximations of a desired behavior, each step toward desired behavior is rewarded until behavior occurs

continuous reinforcement

get reward EVERY time you do the behavior

intermittent reinforcement

not every time a reward is given for a behavior

observational learning

“watch and learn,” learn by watching others and the imitating or modeling what they do or say

models

the ones performing the imitated behavior

vicarious reinforcement

if the model is rewarded for their behavior, you are more likely to copy them

vicarious punishment

if the model is punished for their behavior, you are more likely to avoid the behavior

memory process

encoding, storage, retrieval

encoding

get info into memory system

storage

get info into long-term retention

retrieval

get info back out of memory into awareness

self-reference effect

better memory for stuff that we can relate to ourselves

short-term memory

we can hold about 7 ± 2 pieces of information for only about 15-20 seconds capacity

long-term memory

memory that is theoretically unlimited

explicit and implicit memory

2 types of long term memory

episodic

memory about events and experiences

semantic

memory about concepts and facts

episodic and semantic

2 types of explicit memory

procedural

memory on how to do things

priming

memory on stimulus exposure that affects responses to a later stimulus

emotional conditioning

memory that is classically conditioned to emotional responses

procedural, priming, emotional conditioning

3 types of implicit memory

consolidation

process of transferring new learning into long-term memory, occurs during sleep

recall, recognition, relearning

3 retrieval methods

recall

accessing info without cues, open-ended or essay exam questions

recognition

you can identify info that you previously learned, multiple-choice questions

relearning

learning info more easily if you previously learned it

hippocampus

important for encoding memories

cortex

important for long-term memory storage, corresponds to sensory area

transience, absentmindedness, blocking

3 forgetting errors of Schacter’s 7 sins of memory

transience

accessibility of memory decreases with time (ex. forgetting events of childhood)

absentmindedness

lapsing attention (ex. forgetting where you put your phone)

blocking

accessibility is temporarily blocked (tip-of the-tongue phenomenon)

misattribution, suggestibility, bias

3 distortion errors of Schacter’s 7 sins of memory

misattribution

source of memory is confused (ex. confusing a dream memory with a memory from reality)

suggestibility

false memories (ex. can result from leading questions)

bias

memories altered to fit current belief system (ex. hindsight bias)

persistence

intrusion error in Schacter’s 7 sins of memory, inability to forget undesirable memories (ex. repeatedly recalling an embarrassing moment)

proactive interference

old info hinders recall of new info

retroactive interference

new info hinders recall of old info

memory reconstruction

the process of brining up old memories, memories get modified or altered

suggestibility

the effects of misinformation that leads to false memories

misinformation effect paradigm

after exposure to additional info you may misremember the original event

rehearsal

repeating information to be remembered

active rehearsal

repeating info over and over to keep it in short term memory longer, to move over to long term

chunking

organizing information you’re rehearsing into meaningful “chunks” to make it easier

elaborative rehearsal

expand on semantics/meaning of words

mneumonic

memory aid that helps us organize info

cognition

how information is processed and manipulated when remembering, thinking, and knowing

cognitive psychology

studying how people think

concepts

categories/groupings of info, images, ideas, or memories

prototype

clear example or representation of a concept (first thing that comes to mind)

schema

set of related concepts, way of organizing info to help our brain be more efficient

role schema

assumptions about how people in certain roles will behave

event schema

set of behaviors/routine, a cognitive “script”

language

system of communication that involves words and rules to organize them to transmit info between people

problem solving

using our thoughts to get stuff done

trial and error

try different solutions until a problem is solved

algorithm

use a pre-defined step-by-step formula

heuristic

“rule of thumb” or general framework

working backward

starting with the solution, what’s needed to get there?

mental set

persisting in solving a problem the same way that worked in the past, even if it clearly does not work now

functional fixedness

specific mental set related to the function of an object

creativity

overcoming functional fixedness to generate ideas that are new and useful

biases

“mental shortcuts” based on experience that can be helpful but can also lead to errors

hindsight bias

bias: “i knew it all along”

availability heuristic

bias: whatever’s most available seems most likely or the best solution

confirmation bias

bias: focus on info that confirms your beliefs

sense perception

how we experience the world to get thoughts (and memories) in the first place

sensation

info detected by sense receptors

perception

the way sensory information is organized, interpreted, and consciously experienced

top-down processing

processing occurs when previous experience and expectations are first used to recognize stimuli

bottom-up processing

processing occurs when we sense basic features of stimuli and then integrate them