PSYC 102

threat reactivity

heart beats with more force, blood vessels constrict, impaired performance

nativism

born with innate predispositions

philosophical empiricism

our psychological being is shaped by the environment

research psychology vs clinical

research focuses on normal behaviours, clinical abnormal

structuralism

where are things physiologically located?

functionalism

how our mental and behavioral processes enable us to adapt, survive, and flourish.

behaviourism

reinforcement learning is behaviour

dualism

seeing mind and body as two different things that interact

operationalization

defining variables in practical terms

3 causation criteria

covariance, temporal precedence, internal validity

random sampling vs random assignment

sampling: fair representation of a population
assignment: assigning participants to experiment vs control randomly

construct validity

the extent to which variables measure what they are supposed to measure

external validity

findings are applicable to the real world

internal validity

extent to which we can draw cause-and-effect inferences from a study

confound

unintentionally manipulated variable that could impact results

correlational coefficient

a number between -1 and +1 expressing the degree of relationship between two variables

D coefficient

tells how far apart 2 groups are in SD units

p value

The probability of results of the experiment being attributed to chance.

3 ethical principles

autonomy, beneficence, justice

anchoring heuristic

the process of making decisions based on certain preconceived notions

schemas

mental representations of people and the world

transference

applying schema of people you know onto new people with similar features

4 core motivations

form trusting relationships, to belong, to perceive ourselves positively, to feel a sense of control

false consensus

a belief that others share the same opinion as yourself

internal attribution vs external

internal: behaviour is a result of the person
external: behaviour is a result of situation

fundamental attribution error

tendency to attribute others' behavior to their dispositions (internal) and our own behaviors to our situations (external)

affective forecasting errors

tendency to mispredict the intensity and duration of emotional reactions to future events

implicit vs explicit attitudes

implicit - automatic and non-conscious
explicit - controlled/conscious evaluative responses

elaboration likelihood model

theory identifying two ways to persuade: a central route and a peripheral route

central route of persuasion

occurs when interested people focus on the arguments and respond with favorable thoughts

peripheral route of persuasion

occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues, such as a speaker's attractiveness

coping with cognitive dissonance

change behaviour, change attitude, reframe behaviour, add consonant cognitions, reduce perceived control

consonant cognitions

texting and driving is bad BUT I'm multitasking therefore Im good and cool

informational social influence

other people know better

normative social influence

I want to blend in

moderators of normative influence

strength, immediacy, number, consensus, self-esteem

asch paradigm

to what extent a person would conform to an incorrect answer when the other members of the group were unanimous; the one with the lines

social facilitation

stronger responses on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others

social loafing

the tendency for people to put less effort into a simple task when working with others on that task

groupthink

A situation in which group members seek unanimous agreement despite their individual doubts

group polarization

tendency of group members to move to an extreme position after discussing an issue as a group

general aggression model

factors predicting likelihood of aggression: Frustrating event, Personal insult
Aversive cue, When progress towards a goal is blocked (more frustrating the closer to achieving the goal), aversive stimulus

kin selection

the idea that behaviors that help a genetic relative are favored by natural selection

empathy gap

The tendency to underestimate the influence or strength of feelings, in either oneself or others.

pluralistic ignorance

the case in which people think that everyone else is interpreting a situation in a certain way, when in fact they are not

realistic group conflict theory

the theory that prejudice arises from competition between groups for scarce resources

minimal group paradigm

even when people are arbitrarily assigned to a group they tend to favor those in the same group

latent

hidden, present but not realized

parental investment theory

evolutionary basis of many aspects of parental behavior (by sex), including the extensive investment parents make in their offspring

4 attachment styles

secure, fearful avoidant, anxious-ambivalent, dismissive avoidant

psychodynamic approach to personality

personality is characterized by unconscious processes. childhood experiences are of great importance to adult personality (Freud)

humanistic approach to personality

Focus on inner capacities for growth and self-fulfillment

trait approach to personality

people have consistent characteristics in their behavior

social-cognitive approach to personality

Personality is influenced between the interaction of a person's traits (including their thinking) and their social context

id

desires

ego

goody two-shoes

superego

mediator between id and ego

Freudian defense mechanisms

repression, regression, displacement, denial, reaction formation, rationalization, projection, sublimation

3 types of traits

cardinal, central, secondary

lexical hypothesis

the idea that the most important differences between people will be encoded in the language that we use to describe people. if we want to know which personality traits are most important, we can look to the language that people use to describe themselves and others.

big 5!

openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism

concurrent validity

the extent to which two measures of the same trait or ability agree

predictive validity

The success with which a test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict

genetic essentialism

the assumption that because something is genetically influenced, it is not malleable or sensitive to external influences

BIS (behavioral inhibition system)

the brain system that is sensitive to punishment and therefore inhibits behavior that might lead to danger or pain

BAS (behavioral activation system)

-the "go!" system
-activates reward seeking behavior

reciprocal determinism

the interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, and environment

internal locus of control

the perception that you control your own fate

external locus of control

the tendency to locate responsibility for one's fate in outside forces and to believe one's own behavior has little impact on outcomes

self-determination theory

wellbeing requires support for autonomy, competence, and relatedness

sociometer theory

a theory linking level of self-esteem with level of belongingness

terror management theory

self-esteem derived from living up to cultural worldview that protects people from a fundamental fear of death

independent self-construal

sense of self based on independence, individuation, and separation from others

interdependent self-construal

sense of self based on connection to others

biopsychosocial model

health depends on biology, psychology, social context

stress appraisal theory

the theory stating that what counts as a stressor is up to our own interpretation of an event (i.e., anything at all can hypothetically be a source of stress if an individual person judges it as such).

primary appraisal

the interpretation of a stimulus as stressful or not

secondary appraisal

perceptions regarding our ability to cope with an event that follows primary appraisal

General Adaptation Syndrome

alarm, resistance, exhaustion

SAM axis

the body's initial, rapid-acting response to stress, involving the release of epinephrine and norepinephrine (fight or flight)

HPA axis

governs prolonged response to stress

cortisol

stress hormone

diathesis-stress model

genes and environment interact to predict outcomes to stress

Methods of Persuasion

door in the face (big request, then small request), foot in the door (small request, then big request), scarcity principle (people want things more as they become less available), social proof (influence of others doing something)

basic-level concepts

The middle level in concept classification, tends to be the most frequently used.

superordinate concept

the most general form of a type of concept, such as "animal" or "fruit"

subordinate concept

the most specific category of a concept, such as one's pet dog or a pear in one's hand

functional fixedness

the tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions; an impediment to problem solving

problem solving!

algorithm, estimation, trial and error, insight

mental set

a tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past

dual processing theory

A theory stating that the mind is composed of both conscious (controlled) and unconscious (automatic) activity that helps us make decisions

representativeness heuristic

a mental shortcut whereby people classify something according to how similar it is to a typical case

availability heuristic

making a decision based on the answer that most easily comes to mind

affect heuristic

The tendency to consult one's emotions instead of estimating probabilities objectively.

phoneme

smallest distinctive sound unit

morpheme

in language, the smallest unit that carries meaning

pragmatics

the appropriate use of language in different contexts

linguistic determination

hypothesis that language determines the way we think

overegularization errors

a language error made by children that involves extending rules of word formation

language acquisition device

Chomsky's concept of an innate, prewired mechanism in the brain that allows children to acquire language naturally