Psych Exam 3

Cogition

mental activity associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating 

Concepts

mental representations of categories of objects, situations, and ideas that belong together based on their shared features. Ex. Cat

Superordinate level

the least amount of features contains a lot of sub-categories. Ex. furniture 

Midlevel

not detailed but has some specific features, e.g., couch and bed

Subordinate level

if something doesn't contain that specific feature, then it cannot belong in that category/ very strict criteria Ex. love seat, L-shaped couch 

Formal (strict) concepts:

created through rigid and logical rules or features. Ex. What makes a circle 

Natural (flexible) concepts

results from experiences in daily life. Ex. a plate is something you eat food off of 

Prototypes

the ideal or most representative example of a natural concept. fruits → apple, orange, banana, and the least is tomato and oliv

Thinking

Mental activity associated with 

• Coming to a decision 

• Reaching a solution 

• Forming a belief 

Problem Solving

• The variety of approaches that can be used to achieve a goal 

• Procession from an initial state to a goal state 

Approaches for solving a problem 

1. trial and error

2. heuristic

3. algorithm

4. insight

trial and error

errors are quite common, you should only use it if making errors is ok  

heuristic

shortcuts, giving yourself a place to start solving a problem, like a password or calling a parent for help; not guaranteed a correct answer 

algorithm

Step by step, for a guaranteed solution, such as y = mx + b or baking, there is a formula to get the right answer. No mistakes

insight

a sudden moment of clarity from the unconscious mind 

barriers to problem solving

1. negative emotions

2. mental set

3. functional fixedness

Negative emotions

can impair the ability to think clearly and creatively 

Mental set

the tendency to use strategies one has always used, even if they no longer work well in the situation. E.g., using study strategies from high school that no longer work in college

Functional fixedness

when familiar objects can only be imagined to function in their normal way 

Convergent thinking

focus on finding a single best solution to a problem 

• Useful for everyday problems 

Divergent thinking

the ability to devise many solutions to a problem 

• Useful for problems that require creativity

decision making

The cognitive process of choosing from alternatives that might be used to reach a goal 

Poor decisions can happen when we rely too much on

• intuition

• representativeness heuristic

Intuition

an effortless and automatic feeling or thought, implicit thought, allows for quick reactions, but it does not utilize conscious systematic reasoning; therefore, mistakes are possible 

Representativeness heuristic

evaluates the degree to which the primary characteristics of a person or situation are similar to our prototype 

General intelligence

The theory that humans have a general intelligence (g-factor) that underlies all abilities

general intelligence was theorized by ___?

Charles Spearman

Primary Mental Ablilites

Gave 56 different tests → ran factor analysis → 7 clusters of primary mental abilities 

1. Word fluency 

2. Verbal comprehension 

3. Spatial ability 

4. Perceptual speed (problem-solving speed)

5. Numerical ability 

6. Inductive reasoning 

7. Memory 

Primary mental abilities theorized by ___?

Louis Thurstone

CHC

Our intelligence is based on a generability factor that can be further separated into two domains 

• fluid intelligence

• crystalized intelligence

Fluid intelligence

The capacity to reason and solve new problems independently of previously acquired knowledge.

crystalized intelligence

The ability to use learned knowledge and experience to solve problems, often relying on accumulated facts and skills over time.

CHC was theoried by ___?

Cattell Horn Carroll

Multiple Intelligences

8 relatively independent intelligences that exist (people can be intelligent in different ways) 

1. Linguistic 

2. Logical mathematical 

3. Musical 

4. Spatial 

5. Bodily-kinesthetic 

6. Intrapersonal (within)

7. Interpersonal (between) 

8. Naturalist

Multiple intelligence was theorized by ___?

Howard Gardner

Triarchic Intelligence

3 intelligence based on real-world measures of success

1. analytical

2. creative

3. practical

Analytical intelligence

school smarts, traditional academic problem solving

Creative intelligence

trailblazing smarts, the ability to adapt to new situations, and generate new ideas

Practical intelligence

street smarts, a skill for handling everyday tasks; social intelligence

Emotional Intelligence

1. perceiving emotions

2. understanding emotions

3. managing emotions

4. using emotions

Perceiving emotions

recognizing emotions in faces, music, and identifying one's own emotions

Understanding emotions

predicting emotions and how they may change and blend

Managing emotions

know how to express emotions in varied situations and how to handle others' emotions 

Using emotions

facilitate adaptive or creative thinking and decision-making by employing emotional insights effectively.

Intellectual Disability 

Developmental delays in thinking, intelligence, and social and practical skills. Associated with low scores on tests of intelligence and adaptive functioning deficits (e.g., inability to live independently) 

• down syndrome and fragile X

intelligence

the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations 

Factor analysis

a statistical technique that takes however many variables you're interested in and groups them based on how they relate to one another, so people who do good on one test tend to do well on all the other tests 

Emotion

A psychological state that includes a subjective experience, a physiological component, and a behavioral expression

Core Affect

All emotions can be placed on a map of 2 axis

• valance: how pleasant the emotions is

• arousal: how energizing the emotion is

James Lange “basic emotion” theory

• Arousal → emotion (body first)

• 6 basic emotions (inside out)

• Happiness 

• Sadness 

• Fear 

• Anger 

• Disgust 

• Surprise

Cannon- Bard Theory

• arousal + emotion SIMULTANEOUSLY INDEPENDENT

Schachter-Singer

• arousal + label → emotion

• cognitive labeling

cognitive labeling

The process of interpreting and assigning meaning to physiological arousal, which contributes to the emotional experience according to the Schachter-Singer theory.

Zajonc-LeDoux

• Some emotions can be experienced without conscious appraisal 

• Direct pathway (low road) → immediate reaction 

• Indirect pathway (high road) → cognitive appraisal

Cognitive Appraisal

• The mental process of evaluating and interpreting a situation or stimulus, which influences emotional responses.

• Thought → emotion + arousal

what is the purpose of emotions

• Predicting behaviors 

• Information for approach/avoidance and action 

• to guide decision-making and social interactions

Display rules

• frame work or guidelines for when, how, and where an emotion is expressed 

• Taught from an early age through operant conditioning 

• Not always explicit 

social psychology

the study of how we think about, influence, and relate to other people

social cognition

• The way people think about others, attend to social information, and use this information in their lives 

• 2 types

• attirbutions

• attitudes

attributions

• beliefs one develops to explain human behaviors, characteristics, and situations. 

• Types:

1. Controllable vs uncontrolable 

2. Stable (likely to occur again in the future) vs unstable 

3. Internal vs external (cause of behavior/circumstances) 

Fundamental Attribution Error

the observer tends to attribute the actor’s behavior to internal characteristics, ignoring the role of the situation. 

Self-serving bias

A tendency to attribute positive events to one's own character but attribute negative events to external factors. we tend to attribute our successes to internal characteristics and our failures to external circumstances 

Just-world hypothesis

observer tends to think people get what they deserve 

False consensus effect

observer tends to assume the actor is behaving similarly to how she would act in that situation 

attitudes

•  the relatively stable thoughts, feelings, and responses towards people, situations, ideas, and things 

• cognitive dissonance

• social influence

Cognitive dissonance

a state of tension resulting from behaviors that are inconsistent with attitudes. Alleviated by changing either the attitude or the behavior  

Social Influence

1. how a person is affected by others as evidenced in behaviors, emotions, and cognition 

1. Persuasion 

2. Conformity 

3. Obedience  

how do we learn to develop attitudes

• genetics

• Environment: 

1. Observational learning 

2. Exposure to media 

Persuasion

Intentionally trying to make people change their attitudes, which may lead to changes in their behavior 

Hovland’s three factors of persuasive power

1. Source → who is the person trying to persuade (credibility, trustworthiness, attractiveness) 

2. Message → the thing that is persuaded to do(factual and to the point/ emotion, but not too much)

Audience → the person or people you are trying to persuade (age matters)

Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion

• persuasion hinges upon how people think about an argument 

1. Central route: focus on the content of the message (nutritional facts of drinking milk)

2. Peripheral route: focus on the issue- irrelevant factors (this celebrity likes milk, you should too)

Compliance

• Voluntary changes in behavior at the request or direction of another person or group who, in general, does not have any true authority 

• foot in the door technique

• door in the face technique

Foot in the door technique

 start with a small request to convince someone's behavior, and then you can ramp up the requests

door in the face technique

 purposely start with something outrageous that the person would definitely say no to, but then you follow it up with something that, in comparison, is much more realistic → reciprocal recession

Conformity

• The tendency to modify behaviors and attitudes to match those of others 

• Generally unspoken 

• Sometimes unconscious, e.g., social contagion → posture, emotions, stances in the group

why do we conform

1. Normative social influence

2. Informational social influence

3. Reference group

4. Situational factors

normative social influence

1. approval of others 

• Standards of the social environment 

informational social influence

correct behavior 

reference group

desirable group (mean girls) 

Situational factors

there must be at least 3 people (majority) who say the idea first for there to be pressure to conform 

obedience

• Changing behavior because we have been ordered to do so by an authority figure 

• Milgram’s shock experiments

minority influence

• the power of one or two individuals to sway a majority 

• Only works if you stand firm and unwavering 

group dynamics

• social facilitation

• social loafing

social facilitation

the tendency for the presence of others to improve personal performance. E.g., home team advantage

Social loafing

• the tendency for group members to put forth less than their best effort 

• Diffusion of responsibility: the sharing of responsibilities among all group members

group cognition

• deindividuation

• the bystander effect

• the risky shift

• group polarization

• group think

deindividuation

the diminished sense of personal responsibility, inhibition, or adherence to social norms that occurs when group members are not treated as individuals. E.g., hazing in Greek life 

The bystander effect

the tendency for people to avoid getting involved in an emergency they witness because they assume someone else will help. The more people who are there to witness, the less likely people are to go to help.

The risky shift

the tendency for groups to recommend uncertain and risky options. The group has less personal responsibility compared to an individual. 

Group polarization

the tendency for a group to take a more extreme stance than originally held after group discussion. When people with similar attitudes come together, they tend to reinforce each other’s attitudes 

Groupthink

the tendency for group members to maintain cohesiveness and agreement in their decision-making, failing to consider possible alternatives and related viewpoints

antisocial behaviors

• group membership

• stereotypes

• prejudice

• aggressive behavior

• power of social roles

Group membership

1. In group: the group to which we belong 

2. Outgroup: people outside the group to which we belong 

US VS THEM MENTALITY

Scapegoat

the target of negative emotions, beliefs, and behaviors

Discrimination

showing favoritism or hostility to others because of their perceived group membership 

stereotypes

Conclusions or inferences we make about people who are different from us based on their perceived group membership 

stereotype threat

If you are aware of a stereotype that applies to you, it can actively negatively impact your performance on a certain task. E.g., women are worse at math than men.

• SELF-Fulfilling Prophecy 

prejudice

Hostile or negative attitudes towards individuals or groups 

implicit bias

unconscious bias that reveals itself through our behavior toward members of particular groups. Product of how you were brought up and which stereotypes you were exposed to. (comes out in terms of microaggression) a

aggression

any physical or verbal behavior intended to harm someone physically or emotionally