Second Semester Exam Review Sheet

Explicit Memory

Consists of fact-based information that can be consciously retrieved

Semantic Memory

Memory for general knowledge

Episodic Memory

Memory for personal experiences and events

Implicit Memory

Contains memories we are not consciously aware of

Emotional Memory

May be formed via the limbic system and may persist even when brain damage has destroyed other memories

Procedural Memory

Non-conscious memory for skills, habits, and actions

Sensory Memory

Capacity: unlimited

Duration: fraction of a second

Condition: attention

Short Term Memory

Capacity: 7 +- 2 chunks of information

Duration: 20-30 seconds

Condition: rehearsal

Long Term Memory

Capacity: unlimited

Duration: unlimited

Condition: rehearsal

Atkinson and Shiffrin Model

Multi-Store Model of Memory- three parts; sensory, short term, long term

Baddeley and Hitch Model

Working Model of Memory- focuses on breakdown of the STM

Glanzer and Cunitz Study

Serial position effect, delay

Cognitive Schema

Mental representations that organize our knowledge, beliefs, and expectation

Social Schema

Mental representations about various groups of people

Scripts

Schemas about sequences of events

Self-Schemas

Mental representations about ourselves

Bottom-Up Processing

Occurs when the cognitive process is data-driven by senses

Top-Down Processing

Occurs when your prior knowledge or expectations (schemas) act as a lens or filter for the information that you recieve and process

Anderson and Pichert Study

Homebuyer or burglar perspective, switched with filler activity, social schema as participants looked for “wants” of their perspective

Bartlett Study

“The War of Ghosts”, story was changed as participants remembered, changed to fit social schemas

Bransford and Johnson Study

Passage read, then passage with picture read. Schema theory, context picture created mental representation

Thinking

The process of using knowledge and information to make plans, interpret the world, and make predictions about the world in general

Decision Making

The process of identifying and choosing alternatives based on the values and preference of the decision-maker

System One Thinking

An automatic intuitive and effortless way of thinking. Employs mental shortcuts that focuses on one aspect of complex problems and ignores others

System Two Thinking

A slower, conscious and rational mode of thinking. This mode of thinking is assumed to require more effort. Thinks carefully about the situation and eliminates possibilities based on sensory evidence.

Wasson Study

Dual-process model, participants shown cards, even #8 and red card due to system one thinking

Reconstructive Memory

The theory that views memory to be an active process of recreation of past events as opposed to a passive process of retrieval

Misleading Questions

Suggest information that is not entirely consistent with what actually happened

Post Event Information

Information about an event provided (directly or indirectly) after the event already occurred

Recall

Retrieval of required information from memory in the absence of any prompts

Recognition

Identifying an object as previously seen

Loftus and Palmer Study

Misleading post-event information, eyewitnesses saw cars collide, given key words (smashed, bumped, collided), speed estimates varied

Heuristics

Shortcuts and incomplete simplified strategies that lead to cognitive biases

Framing Effect

Depending on whether outcomes are described as gains or losses, subjects will give different judgements. People are more willing to take risks to avoid losses and have a tendency to avoid risk associated with gains

Availability Heuristic

Based on the assumption that whatever is available in the long-term memory is remembered because it has occurred frequently in the past and so is more likely to occur in the future

Tversky and Kahneman Study (Framing Effect)

Asian disease, given options to combat issue of death. Chose answer based on how question was framed

Tversky and Kahnemon Study (Availability Heuristic)

Recorded lists of famous and infamous people, participants recalled more famous names. Availability heuristic measured frequency, or fame, associated with people

Flashbulb Memory Theory

Vivid and detailed memories of highly emotional events

Mechanism of Formation

A photographic representation of events that are surprising and personally consequential

Mechanism of Maintenance

The sustaining of the memory that has been imprinted in memory

Brown and Kulik Study

Black and white participants, questionnaire with 10 political events, black participants had more vivid, elaborate memory. Flashbulb memory theory supported

Neisser and Harsch Study

Questionnaire given day of event and 3 years later, didn’t remember much, goes against Flashbulb Memory Theory

Minimal Group Paradigm

The experimental procedure where trivial group differences are created artificially to investigate the effects of social categorization on intergroup discrimination

In-Group Favoritism

Behavior that is biased towards the benefits of the in-group

Out-Group Discrimination

Behavior that creates disadvantages for the out-group

Social Categorization

The cognitive process of categorizing people into in-groups and out-groups

Social Comparison

The process of comparing the in-group and out-group

Tajfel Study

Slides with clusters of dots, over and under estimation, in-group favoritism and out-group discrimination, painting

Human Agency

The belief that people are agents of their own behavior

Observational Learning

Learning that occurs as a result of observing other people perform actions

Reciprocal Determinism

Humans thoughts, beliefs, and actions that affect and are affected by the environment

Self-Efficacy

The extent to which individuals believe they can master a particular behavior

Factors Affecting SCT

Attention, retention, motor reproduction, motivation

Bandura Study

Adults model behavior to Bodo doll, aggressive and non-aggressive, children were more aggressive with aggressive role model. Observational learning and motor reproduction shown

Stereotypes

Preconceived notion about a group of people

Illusory Correlation

A cognitive mechanism that leads a person to perceive a relationship between two events when in reality they are not related

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

A change in an individual’s behavior as a result of others expectations about this individual

Stereotype Threat

The anticipation of a situation that can potentially confirm a negative stereotype about one’s group

Hamilton and Gifford Study

Desirable and undesirable behaviors, participants overestimated minority group performing negative behaviors, illusory correlation

Steele and Aronson Study

Test performance of black and white participants, black performed worse due to stereotype threat, manifested negative stereotype that white people are smarter

Compliance

The result of direct pressure to respond to a request

Factors Affecting Compliance

Authority, commitment, liking, reciprocity, scarcity, social proof

Door in the Face Technique

A request is made which will surely be turned down. Then, a second request is made which asks less of someone. People are more likely to accept the second request because they feel that the person has lowered the request to accommodate them. Ridiculous

Foot in the Door Technique

Getting people to make a commitment to something small, with the hope of persuading them to agree to something larger. Specific

Low Balling Technique

Getting someone to agree to a vague request and then adding stipulations on to the agreement after. Once people have agreed, they will find it hard to say no. Easy

Cialdini Study (Door in Face)

Asked participants to chaperone juvenile delinquents on a day zoo trip or work 2 hours per week as counselors, no one agreed to second offer, 83% refused to volunteer for zoo

Dickerson Study (Foot in Door)

Participants took survey and signed a poster about their showering, once signed poster they were forced to think about water usage and average shower time went down

Cialdini (Low Balling)

First year psyc students asked to do a study, some told 7 am, some told no time. 56% agreed when no time and 24% committed to 7 am, but almost all committed to 7 am time showed up.

Cultural Dimensions

General factors underlying cross-cultural differences in values and beliefs

Emic

Examining a specific culture from within

Etic

Studying cultures from an outside perspective

Individualism

In these societies, ties between individuals are loose. Everyone is expected to look after him/herself and immediate family.

Collectivism

In these societies, from birth onwards, people are integrated into strong, cohesive in-groups, often in extended families.

Berry and Katz Study

Participants shown lines, had to match length of lines to target line, told choices of other participants to see how individualism and collectivism affect conformity

Enculturation

The process by which people learn the necessary and appropriate norms in the context of their culture

Cultural Norms

The unique set of attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors specific to a particular culture

Oden and Rochet Study

Children and parents in Samoa observed, children learned things such as chores and fishing by watching parents. Enculturation as they learned their norms from observational learning.

Acculturation

Internalizing the norms of the dominant culture to where you have migrated

4 Acculturation Strategies

Integration, assimilation, separation, marginalization

Shah Study

South Asian participants living in UAE, BMI observed compared to control group. Obesity is present as the migrants took part in the culture of indulgence.