ap psych unit 1

Schemas

Building blocks of understanding"
How people organize and understand information.
Often relies on Schemas to understand new situations.

Dual/Parallel Processing

Allows our brain to interpret information all at the same time.
Filter what is relevant and what is not.
Runs through schemas.
Needs conscious effort between new and old information improves memory.

Multi-store model

Short term memory, Long term memory, Sensory memory.

Sensory memory

Processing everything we sense, disappears if we don't pay it any attention.

Echoic Memory

Auditory signals

Iconic Memory

Visual memory

Selective Attention

occurs when we voluntarily focus on a portion of sensory input while ignoring others.

Divided attention

happens when focus is on multiple sensory inputs.

Cocktail Party Effect

Ability to filter out nearly everything except what is most important to us.

Short term memory

Usually around 15-30 seconds, vulnerable to interference

Memory span

the number of items a person can repeat back using short term memory.

Digit span

How many numbers someone can remember.

George A Miller

Discovered that seven digits is the average number a person can store in short term memory.

Hermann Ebbbinghaus

Found the serial position effect.

serial position effect.

Primacy effect - Recalling things at the beginning of the list.

Recency effect - Recalling things at the end of the list

Chunking

Puts segments together

Maintenance rehearsal

Repeating information to keep it in your short term memory.

Long term memory

the relatively permanent storage of information
Based on relative importance to individual

Information processing model- 3 step process for entering memory

Encoding, rehearsal, and retrieval

Encoding

Taking stimuli and converting it into form or construct the brain can understand and use it
Ex: computer

Visual codes

help people remember things by forming a mental picture in the mind

Acoustic codes

Using hearing to encode information

Semantic codes

Trying to make sense out of information
Ex: associating the letters with a word of idea

Rehearsal

Info is stored and arranged for future use, uses short and long term memory

Retrieval

the process of getting information out of memory storage can be difficult

elaborative rehearsal

One good method to transfer info from STM to LTM, links new and existing memories into long term memory

Shallow vs. Deep

Shallow: trying to learn ideas only at superficial level easy to forget
Deep: uses elaborative rehearsal and a meaningful analysis of the information

episodic memories

memories of personally experienced events and the contexts in which they occurred

semantic memories

Memories of general knowledge, including facts, rules, concepts, and propositions.

Procederal memories

memories of how to do something like steps in a process

automatic vs. effortful processing

automatic- occurs without us being aware of it
effortful - using conscious effort to encode memories to help learn new information

automatic processing uses

implicit memory

implicit memory

retrieved through process called priming cues that lead to retrieval from long term memory ex- sound and smell

state-dependent memory

The theory that information learned in a particular state of mind (e.g., depressed, happy, somber) is more easily recalled when in that same state of mind.

mood-dependent memory

when learning occurs during a particular emotional state, it is most easily recalled when one is again in that emotional state

context dependent memory

The theory that information learned in a particular situation or place is better remembered when in that same situation or place.

recognition

identifying items previously learned (multiple choice)

recall

retrieving info from memory directly - FRQ

savant syndrome

a condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in computation or drawing

tip of tounge

try to remember something we know that is available but may not be accessible to our conciousness

prospective memory

remembering to do something in the future

Learning curve

Shows relationship between learning and experience.

encoding failure

Information fails to enter long term memory because it is never encoded.

Trace decay theory

If we don't strengthen a trace, it will become weaker.

Interference theory

Considers how different memories can interrupt each other.

retroactive interference

New memories interrupt retrieving old ones

proactive interference

Old memories interrupt retrieving new memories.

Forgetting curve

Shows exponential loss of information shortly after learning it.

retrograde amnesia

Forgetting events that happened before the injury (procedures stay in tact)

anterograde amnesia

Inability to form new long term memories (memories from before injury stay intact).

Pseudo-memories

False memories that a person believes to be true. (Elizabeth Loftus)

Misinformation effect

New information alters the previous information stored in our previous memories.

Framing

Word choice used when asking questions changes memory.

Source amnesia

Memory where you retain substance but you forget the source.

Flashbulb memories

(relation to memory distortion) - Vivid and detailed memories of major events. Could be personal, could be nation/worldwide. (9/11, JFK Assassination).

Phoneme

Smallest distinctive sound unit in a language.

Morpheme

Smallest unit of a language that has meaning. (prefixes, suffixes, etc.)

Syntax

Determines the rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences.

Semantics

Understanding the meaning of phrases and sentences in a literal way.

Pragmatics

Understanding the meaning of phrases and sentences in context.

Babbling

Infants start making random sounds. (Prelinguistic) Starts at around 4 months old. Starts mimicking sounds at home at around 10 months.

One-word

Between ages of 1 and 2. Single word represents the entire idea.

Two-word (telegraphic)

Child says two or three word statements. Around 2 years old. Noun + Verb.

Overgeneralization

Application of grammar rules in instances that are wrong. Toddler age.

Sensitive/critical period

Window of time in which learning most easily takes place.

Linguistic relativity

Hypothesis that language can influence thought

Concepts

Mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people.

Subordinate and superordinate goals

More broad vs. more detailed.

Prototypes

Mental image of a great example of a specific concept or category.

Exemplars

similar to prototype but is from personal experience.

Critical thinking

Goes beyond concepts and prototypes.

Creative thinking

Ability to produce original and valuable ideas within any discipline.

Convergent vs divergent thinking

This type of question only leads to one correct answer vs. required when a question or problem has many possible responses.

Metacognition

Thinking about thinking.

Fixed vs growth mindset

Problem can't be solved vs. problem is solvable.

Trial and error

Effective on problems with few solutions.

Analogies

Can also help solve problems but are difficult to spontaneously think of.

Algorithms

Methodical, logical procedures that guarantee a problem will eventually be solved.

Heuristics

Mental shortcuts.

Insight

Sudden realization of a solution

Self serving bias

Tendency to attribute positive results to internal factors and negative results to outside factors.

Confirmation bias

Tendency to search for information that you already believe, and ignoring other evidence

Belief perseverance

Flaw where we claw to initial conceptions even if proven incorrect.

Hindsight bias

Tendency to overestimate ability to have foreseen the outcome of an event after it has already happened.

Functional fixedness

When an object is viewed only for its usual function.

Mental set

Tendency to approach a problem in ways that have worked in the past.

Anchoring effect

Cognitive bias that favors the first information that you are given.

Representativeness and availability heuristic

Assessing something/someone based on how they match our prototype. Make a decision based on the first thought you have.

Illusory correlation

Incorrect belief that a correlation is causation.

Gambler's fallacy

Incorrectly believing a random event is more or less likely to occur based on previous events.

Sunk cost fallacy

Tendency to continue a behavior due to resources invested in it.

Effort justification

Tendency to think higher of actions after an lot of effort is put in.

Sunk cost fallacy

Tendency to continue a behavior due to resources invested in it.

Sir Francis Galton

Believed in the heritability of intelligence. Gave tests that were skewed to nobles. Sterilized "less desirable" people.

Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon

Focused more on environmental factors. Wanted to help French schools determine who needs extra help. First to classify mental abilities.

Mental age and chronological age

Age child was operating at (in comparison to peers) vs. actual age of the child.

(Mental age/chronological age) X 100 - Based on the formula, the average score is 100.

IQ

Lewis Terman

Wanted to bring intelligence testing to the US. Invented the Stanford-Binet test. Wanted to use it on the general population. Also believed in heritability and eugenics.

David Wechsler

Criticized the Stanford-Binet test for being too focused on verbal skills. Created his own scale that added performance scale.

Charles Spearman

Noticed people who score high on one intelligence measure usually do well on the others.