Psychology - 2nd Exam

what are flashbulb memories?

vivid, detailed recollections of learning about shocking or emotionally significant events

information processing model?

compares human mind to computer with stages - input, processing, and output

characteristics sensory memory?

brief, initial recordings of sensory information that last for a very short time, typically under a second.

iconic

visual

characteristics short term memory?

limited capacity and limited duration

what is chunking?

enhances memory by grouping pieces of memory into groups

three parts of working memory?

central executive, articulatory loop, visuosketchpad

serial position curve?

U shaped graph, remembering beginning and end rather than middle

primacy effect?

cognitive bias to remember things in the beginning of a list rather than the middle

recency effect?

remember the ending of list rather than middle

prospective memory?

ability to remember to perform a future action at a specific time

retrospective memory?

ability to remember past events, people, or information

implicit memory?

unconscious longterm memory that influences behavior and skills without awareness

explicit memory?

conscious recall of facts and personal experiences

episodic memory?

memory of specific personal events and experiences

semantic memory?

memory of words, concepts, numbers

recognition

identification of someone or something from previous knowledge

recall

retrieving things from the past in memory

transfer appropriate processing

memory is best when using the same mental processes used during learning as when retrieving 

false memory

recollection of an event that never happened

repressed memory

memory of traumatic event that has been unconsciously pushed out conscious awareness

inability to recall memories from before amnesia

retrograde

psycholinguistics

study of languages as used, learned, and processed by people

4 characteristics of languages

productivity, cultural transmission, displacement, arbitrariness

two brain areas for language processing

Broca (frontal) and Wernicke (temporal)

what is an aphasia

inability to understand or produce speech

two types of aphasia

production (Broca) and comprehension (Wernicke)

phonology

structure of sounds used in a language 

what is a phoneme

basic sound of speech. English used about 46

mcgurk effect

perceptual illusion where brain combines visual information from a persons lip movements with the sound they are hearing to create a third fused sound

linguistic relativity hypothesis

proposes that the language a person speaks influences their perception and cognition of the world

what is a concept

defines a grouping of a set of objects, events, or ideas

features of a concept

mental representation, meaning, referent

typicality effect

categorizing typical examples of a category faster than atypical ones

prototype

most typical example of category; most features

exemplar

all examples together form a concept

algorithm

process or set of rules to be followed in calculations, especially by a computer

heuristic

study of mental shortcuts that allow the brain to make quick decisions

2 decision making heuristics

availability and representativeness

six basic emotions

happiness, sadness, fear, anger, disgust, and surprise

facial feedback hypothesis

proposes facial expressions can influence and shape our emotional experiences 

attribution theory

explains how people interpret the causes of their own and others behavior 

cognitive dissonance

discomfort experiences when a person holds two conflicting beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors 

microaggression

subtle unintentional and hurtful comment or action that expresses prejudice or bias towards a marginalized group

group polarization

like minded people become more extreme in their views after discussing a topic 

social loafing

people use less effort when working with others than working alone

groupthink

groups desire to create conformity leads to irrational or dysfunctional decision making

human traits determined more by genetics and biology

nature

three stages of prenatal dev

germinal, embryonic, and fetal

brith - 2yrs

sensorimotor

echoic

hearing

gustatory

taste

haptic

touch

olfactory

smell

inability to form new memories after amnesia onset

anterograde

human traits determined more by environment and experiences

nurture

2-7yrs

preoperational

7-11yrs

concrete operational

12+ yrs

formal operational

encoding, storage, retrieval

basic memory processes

study of language and its structures

linguistics

instinct vs learned

nativism vs empiricism

all languages have universal characteristics

Hocketts design features

symbols have meaning

semanticity

no relation between word and meaning except onomatopoeia words

arbitrariness

past, future

displacement

produce infinite number of sentences

infinte creativity

social rules underlying language use; meaning is conveyed indirectly

pragmatics

grammatical arrangement of words into sentences

syntax

basic level of category to which people naturally go to

organization

degree to which example represents its category

typicality

judge frequency on basis of how easily examples come to mind

availability heuristic

judge likelihood on basis of how similar something is to a prototype in memory

representativeness heuristic 

withdrawal emotions (negative effect)

right frontal lobe

approach emotions (positive effect)

left frontal lobe

successes internal/failures external 

self serving bias

tendency to interpret others behavior as internal

fundamental attribution error

seek explanations for cause of behavior

attribution theory

attributional bias; people get what they deserve

belief in a just world

amygdala cut off from frontal lobe

Phineas Gage

in continuous theory of development, changes are more 

quantitative 

shared belief that is enforced through a groups use of penalties

social norms

socially defined patterns of behavior expected of persons in a given group or setting

social roles

murder of kitty Genovese

bystander intervention effect

Asch line experiment

conformity

milgram study

obedience

Jim jones cult

obedience, group think

2 weeks, fertilized egg (zygote)

germinal stage

2-8weeks, organs and limbs

embryonic stage

top of neural tube doesn’t close

anencephaly

bottom of neural tube doesnt close

sina bifida

after 8 weeks, further dev. of organs

fetal stage

harmful substances that cross placenta barrier

teratogens

object permanence

not until 9+ months

pre operational stage

egocentrism

formal operations

abstract thinking

crying, cooing, babbling

phonology

first word around 1 year

semantics