Psych Final #3

sensory memory:

brief memory; <1 second; very accurate, however fades quickly

3 different types of memory:

sensory, short term, long term

short term memory:

a memory kept in consciousness for several seconds

long term memory:

permanent memory, two types: implicit & explicit

3 key concepts of memory:

encoding (processing info), storage (retention), retrieval (accessing a memory)

You can’t use ________ _______ to use long term memory; it’s only made for short term

rehearsal strategy

chunking:

organizing items into familiar manageable units or categories, ex: 7773456 83758329 7435939

deep processing:

making something meaningful to remember it, such as mnemonic devices, ex: ‘Will Bartlett’

during encoding research people remembered the ______ word instead of the acoustic or visual one

semantic (process the word)

explicit memory (declarative):

any memory that you can put into words; further broken down to episodic memory (events experienced by person) & semantic memory (facts, general knowledge)

implicit memory (procedural):

motor skills, habits, classically conditioned reflexes, ex: driving a car, playing guitar

elaborative rehearsal (best way to encode something into long term memory):

focus on its meaning, tie information you already have in your mind to information you’re trying to learn

ways to use elaboration:

actively question new information, relate information to things you already know, generate your own examples, don’t highlight passages as you read

retrieval, context-dependent memory:

improved ability to remember if tested in the same environment as the initial learning environment, ex: rooms, smells, time of day

misinformation effect:

incorporating misleading information into one’s memory of an event, ex: the 60 minutes video we watched in class

source amnesia:

telling someone about something you heard or experienced, but forgot where you read or watched it (very popular in our world today)

trauma and memory:

traumatic events are remembered more than forgotten, some doubt about recovered memories, kids under 3 are particularly susceptible to misinformation

improving memory tequniques:

study over long periods of time, use mnemonic devices, make the material personally meaningful, think actively about the material, minimize interference

cognition:

mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating, most research on thinking in psychology involves “cognitive errors”

concepts:

mental groupings of similar objects

schemas:

a more advanced concept or framework that organizes and interprets information

representativeness heuristic:

judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match prototypes, ex: COPS tv show

hindsight bias:

tendency to believe you '“knew it all along” only after discovering the answer

confirmation bias:

only watching what you believe, or news that you believe, worse bias in society

overconfidence:

tendency to be more confident of an answer than is warranted

functional fixedness:

tendency to think of problems only in terms of their usual functions, not thinking outside the box

framing:

shows how the surrounding factors alter what we do, ex: if an article of clothing is $130 when you walk in the shop, you are more likely to buy a $30 piece of clothing. If a $20 dollar article of clothing is displayed, you are less likely to buy the $30 piece of clothing

why do we fear the wrong things?

evolution (biological fears), control (we fear what we can’t control), immediacy (we don’t fear things we should if the threat isn’t immediate, ex: teens and smoking), memory (deaths of 9/11 are more pressing on our minds than deaths from J-walking)

causes of death in the US:

1 = heart disease, 2, cancer, 5 = medical errors (usually at the root of medical mistake is a cognitive error)

premature closure/anchoring:

the tendency to decide that the patient’s current problem is related to the first thing we diagnose rather than more than one issue (we put too much faith in our first thought)

overconfidence bias:

over-reliance on the opinions of the expert that came before, ex: since the psychiatrist stated she had bulimia and referred her to a specialist, the specialist agreed she must have bulimia

hassle bias:

tendency to take a course of action that is easiest, not spending time because there are many patients you need to see

what factors predict success?

perseverance, self-awareness, emotional stability, goal setting, social support, proactive, IQ

what is the main factor of predicting success in a person?

social support

4 components of intelligence:

processing speed, working memory, verbal intelligence, performance intelligence

What IQ tests don’t measure?

practical intelligence (street smarts), creativity, theory of multiple intelligences (musical, bodily, logical)

stereotype threat:

the belief that engaging in certain behaviors would confirm a negative stereotype in the minds of others, (women and math problems, african amerians and “intelligence” tasks) Steele’s work suggests activating stereotypes can lead to poor performance

the flynn effect:

a ‘rising curve’ phenomenon where IQ increased 28 points since 1910 in the US (may be due to nutrition, advances in technology)

4 major ideas of motivation:

drive-reduction (behaviorist), psychoanalytic, Maslow, stages of change

motivation:

a need or desire that energizes and directs behavior

drive reduction theory:

the idea that a physiological need creates an aroused tension state (a drive) that motivates an organism to satisfy the need (food, water, sex, etc.)

anorexia:

disorder when a normal-weight person diets and becomes significantly underweight, yet still feels fat

bulimia:

disorder characterized by episodes of overeating, usually of high-calorie foods, followed by throwing up, laxative use, fasting, or excessive exercise

when boys hit puberty they see a _____ in body dissatisfaction, when girls hit puberty they see a ______ in body dissatisfaction

decrease, increase

how do we explain complex motivations?

we have both conscious and unconscious motivations, motivational conflict

unconscious according to Freud:

a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings and memories

explicit motivation:

consciously stated goals (predicts short term goals)

implicit motivation:

unconscious goals, 3 types, achievement, intimacy, power (predicts long term goals

thematic apperception test (TAT):

showing people a card or picture and asking them to tell a story about it

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs:

1. Physiological needs (hunger & thirst), 2. safety needs (safe, security, and stable), 3. belongingness and love needs (need to love and be loved), 4. esteem needs (self esteem, achievement, com patience, and impendence), 5. self-actualization needs (live up to one’s fullest and unique potential)

5 stages of change in psychotherapy:

pre contemplational, contemplational, preparation, action, maintenance

cultural influences on motivation showed what between asian-american & white americans?

asian americans spent more time playing when the mother chose the toy, white americans spent more time playing when it was there personal choice

reality of emotions:

emotion events are always brief and transient, their functions are always benign and never a danger, they always have constructive function

what do emotions reveal?

sadness (loss of something valuable), anxiety (anticipation of loss of something), anger (hostility towards object that has caused loss of something valuable), jealous (something you value in another person)

basic emotions (been with us forever):

anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, surprise

self-conscious emotions:

embarrassment, guilt, humiliation, pride, shame

james-lange theory:

you see an image, process it unconscious (body), then it gets sent consciously to you (brain)

cannon-bard theory:

you see an image, there’s quick subcortical brain activity (brain plays large role) that gets sent to body and consciousness at the same time, BUT consciousness DOESN’T have a say in the matter

evidence for canon-bard:

people with spinal cord injury still can experience intense emotions, cats with severed connections between brain and body still experience classic emotion responses

schachter-singer theory:

you see an image, there’s quick subcortical brain activity (brain plays large role) that gets sent to body and consciousness at the same time, BUT consciousness HAS a say in the matter

evidence of schachter-singer theory:

example where two groups of males walked over either a suspension bridge or wooden bridge and met a female who gave her number, men 8x as likely to call if they were on the suspension bridge (attribution of arousal by being on bridge associated with liking the girl)

cognitive appraisal theory:

see a picture, appraisal of threat, then a bodily response (you have to have cognition first, no emotion without thinking about it)

implications of james-lange theory:

you discover your emotions in your body, if you alter something in your body you can alter your emotions

implications for cannon-bard theory:

you discover your emotions in the environment; the bodily experience of emotion is all the same, so what is happening now in the environment is triggering the emotion

implications of cognitive appraisal theory:

your environment is triggering the emotion, but only if you consciously interpret the environment in an emotional way; much less is happening on an unconscious level emotionally

experienced emotion:

infants who naturally have occurring emotions

expressed emotion:

culturally universal expressions (ex: study compared blind and non blind Olympic athletes and how they celebrate, both had same reaction = biological factor in emotion)

what is an example of culture and emotion?

the youtube video about Marilyn Manson being the reason for the Columbine shooting

2 routes to emotion:

cognitive therapy & emotion-focused therapy

cognitive therapy:

things you tell yourself = how you feel about yourself; emotions (sadness, anger, fear) result primarily from one’s appraisals (cognitions) of the environment; this therapy teaches people new, more adaptive ways of thinking and acting

emotion-focused therapy:

the emotion system is a unique and distinct system from the cognitive system; understanding our emotions

what’s an example of a cognitive therapy thought record?

F on test leads to sadness, which leads to thoughts of never succeeding and thinking family and friends will hate you for it

cognitive therapy, distortions to look for?

dichotomous thinking: “all or nothing thinking”

mind reading: they think I am a ____
emotional reasoning: because I feel ______, I am _______

catastrophizing: If I do this, something awful will happen”

should statements: I should take care of him/her

3 questions of psychological disorders:

what are they?

what causes them?

how do we classify them?

psychological disorder:

a ‘harmful dysfunction’ in which behavior is judged to be atypical, disturbing, maladaptive

the diagnostic and statistical manual, 5th edition (DSM-V) states:

to meet criteria for a condition (ex: depression) the individual must: have several issues out of a larger list of issues, for a specified amount of time, must interfere with basic life function (family, work, health)

neurotic disorder:

distressing disorder typically involving intense emotions or risky behavior (mood and pleasure); THEIR own voice telling them they’re all these awful things

psychotic disorder:

loss of contact with reality and typically includes irrational ideas and distorted perceptions; NOT THEIR voice in their head telling them they’re all these awful things

personality disorder:

chronically maladaptive personality style leading to severe impairments in social and occupational functioning

bio-psycho-social perspective:

biological, sociocultural, and psychological factors combine to produce this disorder

in the study of the metropolitan vs. tribal differences in the experience of ADHD, what were the findings?

people in the tribe: having a biological vulnerability to ADHD did nothing to harm them

people in metropolitan: they were found to have ADHD and be affected by it

rates of recovery for illnesses in developed vs. developing countries showed what?

it’s better to live in a more developed country, unless you have schizophrenia

psychoactive drug:

a chemical substance that alters perceptions and mood

physical dependence:

physiological need for a drug, marked by unpleasant withdrawal symptoms

psychological dependence:

a psychological need to use a drug, for example, to relieve negative emotions (when people get our of rehab and relapse it’s due to this)

alcoholism:

a maladaptive pattern of substance abuse, leading to impairment over at least 12 months, marked by at least 3 factors

5 most popular models of substance problems:

disease model, learning theory model, cognitive-behavioral model, psychoanalytical model, family systems model

disease:

a condition of the body that impairs the performance of a vital function

disease model:

model assumes that the main reason people have problems with alcohol is that they have a genetic pre-disposition to get more from the experience than others (biological); alcohol appears to take on the same cravings as food, water, and sex.

evidence for disease model:

the twin/adoption studies, showed people born to biological alcoholics were 4x as likely to develop alcoholism, even though they never met their biological parents & people born to non alcoholics, but were raised with alcoholic parents were not as likely to become alcoholics.

mice studies, study with giving mice meth and seeing if they become addicted

heritability of various psychological disorders:

bipolar .86, schizophrenia .63, alcoholism .54, major depression .45, bulimia .04

In the AA: 12 steps, what step is alcohol only talked about in?

the first step

learning theory model:

disorders seen as more environmental than disease model; consists of classical conditioning (alcohol becomes “associated” certain situations, making them ‘cues’ that trigger behavior, operant conditioning (positive benefits occur more quickly than the negative consequences), and social learning (we do what we see other people do)

in treatment, learning theories are used in treatment to help what?

patients avoid or manage ‘cues’ such as driving by places they would buy alcohol

cognitive model:

states that the way people perceive or interpret situations predicts how they feel. In turn, how people feel predicts how they behave; helps us see that our perceptions of self-efficacy determine our need for alcohol as a coping mechanism (I can’t cope without alcohol; I can manage my alcohol if I drink beer)

psychoanalytic model:

alcohol is seen as a ‘self-medication’ related to conflict between the unconscious and conscious, identification with parents, past dynamics between parents playing out in current relationships (ex: people sometimes choose bad friends and partners based on past experiences with parents or as a re-enactment of their parents’ relationship) there is an underlying reason for alcohol use

family systems model:

the family is seen as the ‘unit of analysis’, this model sees all members of a family involved in the development and maintenance of problems with alcohol, families live by rules; family therapists use this as an opportunity to help the family break free from unhealthy roles and find new ways of relating to each other

roles people play in the family:

enabler: usually non-alcoholic parent, letting other parent off hook for what they’re doing

savior: tries to save their parents

scapegoat: gets in trouble to take negative attention away from the alcoholic

the lost child: has no issues, no problems, no needs

mascot: lightens the mood, comedy

alcohol problem: the person whose addicted to alcohol

the bio-psycho-social model:

this model draws from all the other models, recognizing that they are all tapping into an important aspect of alcohol problems (genes, cues, coping mechanism, underlying issues, family roles & functioning)

DSM-V example, depression:

symptoms: depressed mood, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of worthlessness, decreased ability to concentrate (have to have 5 out of the 9 possible ones)

time: at least 2 weeks

must interfere significantly with functioning