psycho test 3
Sensation and Perception
Sensation: The process by which sensory receptors and the nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment.
Example: Touching a hot stove activates sensory receptors in your skin, sending signals that register the sensation of heat.
Perception: The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information to recognize meaningful objects and events.
Example: Viewing a painting, your brain interprets colors and shapes, allowing you to recognize it as a landscape.
Bottom-Up Processing: Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information.
Example: Listening to a new song, you first hear individual notes and sounds, which your brain combines to recognize the song.
Top-Down Processing: Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, constructing perceptions based on experience and expectations.
Example: Reading a sentence with missing letters (e.g., “I c_n’t b_lieve it’s n_t S_turday”) relies on context to fill in gaps.
Transduction: Conversion of one form of energy into another; in sensation, it refers to transforming stimulus energies into neural impulses.
Example: Light entering your eyes is converted into neural impulses by photoreceptors in the retina.
Psychophysics: The study of relationships between physical characteristics of stimuli and our psychological experience of them.
Example: A study measuring how changes in brightness of a light bulb affect people's perception of light intensity.
Perceptual Processes
Perceptual Set: A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another.
Example: Seeing a duck-rabbit image and interpreting it as either a duck or a rabbit, but not both simultaneously.
Schemas: Concepts or frameworks that organize and interpret information, influencing our perceptual set.
Example: Cultural background affecting interpretations of art.
Opponent-Process Theory: Theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green, yellow-blue, white-black) enable color vision.
Example: Some retinal cells are stimulated by green and inhibited by red, allowing perception of a full color spectrum.
Gestalt: An organized whole; emphasizes our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes.
Example: When looking at a painting, we perceive a complete image rather than just individual brushstrokes.
Figure-Ground: The organization of the visual field into objects (the figures) that stand out from their surroundings (the ground).
Example: In a picture, the main subject (like a person) is the figure, while the background (like a park) is the ground.
Grouping: The perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups.
Example: Viewing a collection of dots as rows or clusters rather than random points.
Depth Perception: The ability to see objects in three dimensions and judge distance.
Example: Reaching for a cup on a table, accurately judging its distance.
Visual Cliff: A laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals.
Example: Infants placed on a glass surface that appears to drop off, showing reluctance to crawl over.
Binocular Cues: Depth cues that depend on the use of two eyes.
Example: Using both eyes helps perceive depth more accurately.
Retinal Disparity: A binocular cue for perceiving depth by comparing images from both retinas.
Example: The greater the difference between two images, the closer the object is perceived.
Monocular Cues: Depth cues available to either eye alone.
Example: If one object overlaps another, we perceive the overlapping object as closer (interposition).
Phi Phenomenon: An illusion of movement created when adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession.
Example: A series of lights on a marquee that turn on and off may appear to create movement.
Perceptual Constancy: Perceiving objects as unchanging despite changes in illumination and retinal images.
Example: A white shirt looks white in both sunlight and under a yellow light.
Color Constancy: Perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color despite changing illumination.
Example: A red apple appears red in bright sunlight and dim light due to our brain's adjustments.
Memory
Memory: The persistence of learning over time through the storage and retrieval of information.
Types of Memory Measures:
Recall: Requires retrieval of previously learned information.
Example: Fill-in-the-blank test.
Recognition: Identifying previously learned items.
Example: Multiple choice test.
Relearning: Assessing time saved when learning material again.
Processes of Memory:
Encoding: Processing information into the memory system.
Storage: Retention of encoded information.
Retrieval: Getting information out of memory storage.
Types of Memory:
Sensory Memory: Immediate, brief recording of sensory information.
Short-term Memory: Activated memory holding a few items briefly (e.g., phone number digits).
Long-term Memory: Relatively permanent storehouse of knowledge, skills, and experiences.
Working Memory: Focuses on conscious, active processing of incoming information.
Memory Types:
Explicit Memory: Memory of facts and experiences that can be consciously known.
Example: Remembering your birthday.
Implicit Memory: Retention independent of conscious recollection.
Example: Knowing how to ride a bike.
Encoding Processes:
Effortful Processing: Requires attention and conscious effort.
Automatic Processing: Unconscious encoding of incidental information.
Chunking: Organizing items into familiar, manageable units.
Memory Aids:
Mnemonics: Memory aids using vivid imagery and organizational devices.
Spacing Effect: Better long-term retention through distributed study/practice.
Testing Effect: Enhanced memory after retrieving information.
Echoic Memory: Momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli.
Example: Remembering what a teacher said a few seconds after not paying attention.
Iconic Memory: Momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli.
Example: A brief photographic memory lasting for a few tenths of a second.
Processing Levels:
Shallow Processing: Basic encoding based on structure or appearance of words.
Deep Processing: Encoding based on the meaning of words.
Brain Structures:
Hippocampus: Neural center that helps process explicit memories for storage.
Example: Working with the frontal lobe for explicit memory.
Cerebellum + Basal Ganglia: Involved in implicit memory.
Types of Memories:
Flashbulb Memory: Clear memory of an emotionally significant moment.
Example: Memories of 9/11.
Long-term Potentiation (LTP): Increase in a cell's firing potential after rapid stimulation; basis for learning and memory.
Memory Effects:
Mood-Congruent Memory: Tendency to recall experiences consistent with one's current mood.
Serial Position Effect: Tendency to recall best the last and first items in a list.
Example: Remembering the first and last items on a grocery list.
Amnesia Types:
Anterograde Amnesia: Inability to form new memories.
Example: Forgetting recent events.
Retrograde Amnesia: Inability to retrieve information from the past.
Example: Not remembering anything after a head injury.
Motivated Forgetting: The process of intentionally or unintentionally forgetting discomforting information.
Example: A student downplaying the significance of a poor exam result.
Misinformation Effect + Repression: Incorporating misleading information into memory.
Example: Car crash study by Elizabeth Loftus, where wording influenced speed estimates and false memories of broken glass.
Proactive Interference: Disruptive effect of prior learning on recall of new information.
Example: Difficulty replacing an old password with a new one.
Retroactive Interference: Disruptive effect of new learning on recall of old information.
Example: Struggling to remember the names of students from previous years.
Source Amnesia (Source Misattribution): Attributing an event to the wrong source.
Example: Misremembering where or how you learned specific information.
Déjà Vu: The eerie sense that “I’ve experienced this before.”
Example: Feeling you’ve been in a situation before even though you haven’t.
Cognition
Cognition: All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.
Concepts: Mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people.
Example: The concept of “chair” includes various types, like armchairs and stools.
Prototype: A mental image or best example of a category.
Example: A robin may serve as a prototype of a bird, while a penguin may not.
Algorithm: A methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem.
Example: A mathematical formula to solve an equation.
Heuristic: A simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently.
Example: Using a rule of thumb to guess the price of a product.
Insight: A sudden realization of a problem’s solution.
Example: Figuring out a puzzle after a moment of confusion.
Creativity: The ability to produce novel and valuable ideas.
Example: An artist inventing a new style of painting.
Confirmation Bias: A tendency to search for, interpret, and remember information that confirms one’s preconceptions.
Example: Only reading articles that support your political beliefs.
Mental Set: A tendency to approach a problem in a particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past.
Example: Using the same strategy for a math problem that worked previously, even if it's not applicable.
Functional Fixedness: The tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions.
Example: Not realizing a spoon can be used as a lever to open a lid.
Availability Heuristic: Estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory.
Example: Overestimating the danger of airplane travel after hearing about a crash.
Overconfidence: The tendency to be more confident than correct.
Example: Being sure you’ll ace a test without studying.
Belief Perseverance: Clinging to one’s initial conceptions after the basis for them has been discredited.
Example: Continuing to believe a disproven theory because it aligns with your worldview.
Language: Our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning.
Example: Using English to convey ideas and emotions.
Phoneme: The smallest distinctive sound unit in a language.
Example: The sound "b" in "bat."
Morpheme: The smallest unit that carries meaning in a language.
Example: The word "unhappiness" has three morphemes: "un-", "happy", and "-ness."
Grammar: A system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others.
Example: Rules governing sentence structure and word order.
Semantics: The set of rules by which we derive meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences.
Example: Understanding that “cat” refers to a specific animal.
Syntax: The rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences.
Example: “The cat sat on the mat” vs. “Sat mat the cat on the.”
Babbling Stage: The stage in child development where infants utter sounds unrelated to the household language.
Example: A baby saying “babababa” or “dadada.”
One-Word Stage: The stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly in single words.
Example: A child saying “milk” to request a drink.
Two-Word Stage: The stage in speech development during which a child speaks in two-word statements.
Example: A child saying “want cookie” instead of “I want a cookie.”
Telegraphic Speech: Early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram, using mostly nouns and verbs.
Example: A child saying “go car” instead of “I want to go in the car.”
Linguistic Relativity: The hypothesis that language determines the way we think.
Example: Different cultures having different words for colors may affect their perception of those colors.
Intelligence: The ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations.
Intelligence Test: A method for assessing an individual's mental aptitudes and comparing them with others using numerical scores.
Example: The Stanford-Binet test or Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale.
General Intelligence (g): A general intelligence factor that underlies specific mental abilities.
Example: People who score well on one cognitive test tend to score well on others.
Multiple Intelligences: Howard Gardner’s theory that intelligence comes in multiple forms, including linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, and spatial.
Example: A person may excel in musical intelligence but struggle with linguistic intelligence.
Emotional Intelligence: The ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions.
Example: Recognizing when a friend is upset and responding appropriately.
Achievement Test: A test designed to assess what a person has learned.
Example: A final exam in a school subject.
Aptitude Test: A test designed to predict a person’s future performance or capacity to learn new skills.
Example: The SAT, which predicts college readiness.
Standardization: Defining meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group.
Example: Establishing norms for IQ scores based on a large sample.
Reliability: The extent to which a test yields consistent results.
Example: A test providing similar scores upon retaking it indicates high reliability.
Validity: The extent to which a test measures what it is supposed to measure.
Example: An intelligence test that accurately assesses cognitive abilities is valid.
Stereotype Threat: A self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype.
Example: Test performance declining among students who fear confirming stereotypes about their group.
Spearman
General Intelligence (g): Spearman proposed that a single general intelligence factor (g) underlies all cognitive abilities. He used factor analysis to identify this overarching intelligence.
Thurstone
Primary Mental Abilities: Thurstone challenged Spearman by suggesting that intelligence is composed of multiple distinct abilities. He identified seven clusters of primary mental abilities:
Word Fluency
Verbal Comprehension
Spatial Ability
Perceptual Speed
Numerical Ability
Inductive Reasoning
Memory
He argued that these clusters show a weak relationship to each other.
Gardner
Multiple Intelligences: Gardner expanded the idea of intelligence beyond a single factor, proposing eight intelligences:
Linguistic
Logical-Mathematical
Musical
Spatial
Bodily-Kinesthetic
Interpersonal
Intrapersonal
Naturalistic
He also speculated about a ninth intelligence: Existential Intelligence, which involves pondering deep questions about life and existence.
Sternberg
Triarchic Theory of Intelligence: Sternberg agreed with the idea of multiple intelligences but condensed them into three main types:
Analytical Intelligence: Problem-solving and analytical skills, typically measured by standard intelligence tests.
Creative Intelligence: Ability to deal with novel situations and generate innovative ideas.
Practical Intelligence: Common sense and everyday problem-solving abilities.
psycho test 3
Sensation and Perception
Sensation: The process by which sensory receptors and the nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment.
Example: Touching a hot stove activates sensory receptors in your skin, sending signals that register the sensation of heat.
Perception: The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information to recognize meaningful objects and events.
Example: Viewing a painting, your brain interprets colors and shapes, allowing you to recognize it as a landscape.
Bottom-Up Processing: Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information.
Example: Listening to a new song, you first hear individual notes and sounds, which your brain combines to recognize the song.
Top-Down Processing: Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, constructing perceptions based on experience and expectations.
Example: Reading a sentence with missing letters (e.g., “I c_n’t b_lieve it’s n_t S_turday”) relies on context to fill in gaps.
Transduction: Conversion of one form of energy into another; in sensation, it refers to transforming stimulus energies into neural impulses.
Example: Light entering your eyes is converted into neural impulses by photoreceptors in the retina.
Psychophysics: The study of relationships between physical characteristics of stimuli and our psychological experience of them.
Example: A study measuring how changes in brightness of a light bulb affect people's perception of light intensity.
Perceptual Processes
Perceptual Set: A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another.
Example: Seeing a duck-rabbit image and interpreting it as either a duck or a rabbit, but not both simultaneously.
Schemas: Concepts or frameworks that organize and interpret information, influencing our perceptual set.
Example: Cultural background affecting interpretations of art.
Opponent-Process Theory: Theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green, yellow-blue, white-black) enable color vision.
Example: Some retinal cells are stimulated by green and inhibited by red, allowing perception of a full color spectrum.
Gestalt: An organized whole; emphasizes our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes.
Example: When looking at a painting, we perceive a complete image rather than just individual brushstrokes.
Figure-Ground: The organization of the visual field into objects (the figures) that stand out from their surroundings (the ground).
Example: In a picture, the main subject (like a person) is the figure, while the background (like a park) is the ground.
Grouping: The perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups.
Example: Viewing a collection of dots as rows or clusters rather than random points.
Depth Perception: The ability to see objects in three dimensions and judge distance.
Example: Reaching for a cup on a table, accurately judging its distance.
Visual Cliff: A laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals.
Example: Infants placed on a glass surface that appears to drop off, showing reluctance to crawl over.
Binocular Cues: Depth cues that depend on the use of two eyes.
Example: Using both eyes helps perceive depth more accurately.
Retinal Disparity: A binocular cue for perceiving depth by comparing images from both retinas.
Example: The greater the difference between two images, the closer the object is perceived.
Monocular Cues: Depth cues available to either eye alone.
Example: If one object overlaps another, we perceive the overlapping object as closer (interposition).
Phi Phenomenon: An illusion of movement created when adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession.
Example: A series of lights on a marquee that turn on and off may appear to create movement.
Perceptual Constancy: Perceiving objects as unchanging despite changes in illumination and retinal images.
Example: A white shirt looks white in both sunlight and under a yellow light.
Color Constancy: Perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color despite changing illumination.
Example: A red apple appears red in bright sunlight and dim light due to our brain's adjustments.
Memory
Memory: The persistence of learning over time through the storage and retrieval of information.
Types of Memory Measures:
Recall: Requires retrieval of previously learned information.
Example: Fill-in-the-blank test.
Recognition: Identifying previously learned items.
Example: Multiple choice test.
Relearning: Assessing time saved when learning material again.
Processes of Memory:
Encoding: Processing information into the memory system.
Storage: Retention of encoded information.
Retrieval: Getting information out of memory storage.
Types of Memory:
Sensory Memory: Immediate, brief recording of sensory information.
Short-term Memory: Activated memory holding a few items briefly (e.g., phone number digits).
Long-term Memory: Relatively permanent storehouse of knowledge, skills, and experiences.
Working Memory: Focuses on conscious, active processing of incoming information.
Memory Types:
Explicit Memory: Memory of facts and experiences that can be consciously known.
Example: Remembering your birthday.
Implicit Memory: Retention independent of conscious recollection.
Example: Knowing how to ride a bike.
Encoding Processes:
Effortful Processing: Requires attention and conscious effort.
Automatic Processing: Unconscious encoding of incidental information.
Chunking: Organizing items into familiar, manageable units.
Memory Aids:
Mnemonics: Memory aids using vivid imagery and organizational devices.
Spacing Effect: Better long-term retention through distributed study/practice.
Testing Effect: Enhanced memory after retrieving information.
Echoic Memory: Momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli.
Example: Remembering what a teacher said a few seconds after not paying attention.
Iconic Memory: Momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli.
Example: A brief photographic memory lasting for a few tenths of a second.
Processing Levels:
Shallow Processing: Basic encoding based on structure or appearance of words.
Deep Processing: Encoding based on the meaning of words.
Brain Structures:
Hippocampus: Neural center that helps process explicit memories for storage.
Example: Working with the frontal lobe for explicit memory.
Cerebellum + Basal Ganglia: Involved in implicit memory.
Types of Memories:
Flashbulb Memory: Clear memory of an emotionally significant moment.
Example: Memories of 9/11.
Long-term Potentiation (LTP): Increase in a cell's firing potential after rapid stimulation; basis for learning and memory.
Memory Effects:
Mood-Congruent Memory: Tendency to recall experiences consistent with one's current mood.
Serial Position Effect: Tendency to recall best the last and first items in a list.
Example: Remembering the first and last items on a grocery list.
Amnesia Types:
Anterograde Amnesia: Inability to form new memories.
Example: Forgetting recent events.
Retrograde Amnesia: Inability to retrieve information from the past.
Example: Not remembering anything after a head injury.
Motivated Forgetting: The process of intentionally or unintentionally forgetting discomforting information.
Example: A student downplaying the significance of a poor exam result.
Misinformation Effect + Repression: Incorporating misleading information into memory.
Example: Car crash study by Elizabeth Loftus, where wording influenced speed estimates and false memories of broken glass.
Proactive Interference: Disruptive effect of prior learning on recall of new information.
Example: Difficulty replacing an old password with a new one.
Retroactive Interference: Disruptive effect of new learning on recall of old information.
Example: Struggling to remember the names of students from previous years.
Source Amnesia (Source Misattribution): Attributing an event to the wrong source.
Example: Misremembering where or how you learned specific information.
Déjà Vu: The eerie sense that “I’ve experienced this before.”
Example: Feeling you’ve been in a situation before even though you haven’t.
Cognition
Cognition: All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.
Concepts: Mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people.
Example: The concept of “chair” includes various types, like armchairs and stools.
Prototype: A mental image or best example of a category.
Example: A robin may serve as a prototype of a bird, while a penguin may not.
Algorithm: A methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem.
Example: A mathematical formula to solve an equation.
Heuristic: A simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently.
Example: Using a rule of thumb to guess the price of a product.
Insight: A sudden realization of a problem’s solution.
Example: Figuring out a puzzle after a moment of confusion.
Creativity: The ability to produce novel and valuable ideas.
Example: An artist inventing a new style of painting.
Confirmation Bias: A tendency to search for, interpret, and remember information that confirms one’s preconceptions.
Example: Only reading articles that support your political beliefs.
Mental Set: A tendency to approach a problem in a particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past.
Example: Using the same strategy for a math problem that worked previously, even if it's not applicable.
Functional Fixedness: The tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions.
Example: Not realizing a spoon can be used as a lever to open a lid.
Availability Heuristic: Estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory.
Example: Overestimating the danger of airplane travel after hearing about a crash.
Overconfidence: The tendency to be more confident than correct.
Example: Being sure you’ll ace a test without studying.
Belief Perseverance: Clinging to one’s initial conceptions after the basis for them has been discredited.
Example: Continuing to believe a disproven theory because it aligns with your worldview.
Language: Our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning.
Example: Using English to convey ideas and emotions.
Phoneme: The smallest distinctive sound unit in a language.
Example: The sound "b" in "bat."
Morpheme: The smallest unit that carries meaning in a language.
Example: The word "unhappiness" has three morphemes: "un-", "happy", and "-ness."
Grammar: A system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others.
Example: Rules governing sentence structure and word order.
Semantics: The set of rules by which we derive meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences.
Example: Understanding that “cat” refers to a specific animal.
Syntax: The rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences.
Example: “The cat sat on the mat” vs. “Sat mat the cat on the.”
Babbling Stage: The stage in child development where infants utter sounds unrelated to the household language.
Example: A baby saying “babababa” or “dadada.”
One-Word Stage: The stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly in single words.
Example: A child saying “milk” to request a drink.
Two-Word Stage: The stage in speech development during which a child speaks in two-word statements.
Example: A child saying “want cookie” instead of “I want a cookie.”
Telegraphic Speech: Early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram, using mostly nouns and verbs.
Example: A child saying “go car” instead of “I want to go in the car.”
Linguistic Relativity: The hypothesis that language determines the way we think.
Example: Different cultures having different words for colors may affect their perception of those colors.
Intelligence: The ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations.
Intelligence Test: A method for assessing an individual's mental aptitudes and comparing them with others using numerical scores.
Example: The Stanford-Binet test or Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale.
General Intelligence (g): A general intelligence factor that underlies specific mental abilities.
Example: People who score well on one cognitive test tend to score well on others.
Multiple Intelligences: Howard Gardner’s theory that intelligence comes in multiple forms, including linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, and spatial.
Example: A person may excel in musical intelligence but struggle with linguistic intelligence.
Emotional Intelligence: The ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions.
Example: Recognizing when a friend is upset and responding appropriately.
Achievement Test: A test designed to assess what a person has learned.
Example: A final exam in a school subject.
Aptitude Test: A test designed to predict a person’s future performance or capacity to learn new skills.
Example: The SAT, which predicts college readiness.
Standardization: Defining meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group.
Example: Establishing norms for IQ scores based on a large sample.
Reliability: The extent to which a test yields consistent results.
Example: A test providing similar scores upon retaking it indicates high reliability.
Validity: The extent to which a test measures what it is supposed to measure.
Example: An intelligence test that accurately assesses cognitive abilities is valid.
Stereotype Threat: A self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype.
Example: Test performance declining among students who fear confirming stereotypes about their group.
Spearman
General Intelligence (g): Spearman proposed that a single general intelligence factor (g) underlies all cognitive abilities. He used factor analysis to identify this overarching intelligence.
Thurstone
Primary Mental Abilities: Thurstone challenged Spearman by suggesting that intelligence is composed of multiple distinct abilities. He identified seven clusters of primary mental abilities:
Word Fluency
Verbal Comprehension
Spatial Ability
Perceptual Speed
Numerical Ability
Inductive Reasoning
Memory
He argued that these clusters show a weak relationship to each other.
Gardner
Multiple Intelligences: Gardner expanded the idea of intelligence beyond a single factor, proposing eight intelligences:
Linguistic
Logical-Mathematical
Musical
Spatial
Bodily-Kinesthetic
Interpersonal
Intrapersonal
Naturalistic
He also speculated about a ninth intelligence: Existential Intelligence, which involves pondering deep questions about life and existence.
Sternberg
Triarchic Theory of Intelligence: Sternberg agreed with the idea of multiple intelligences but condensed them into three main types:
Analytical Intelligence: Problem-solving and analytical skills, typically measured by standard intelligence tests.
Creative Intelligence: Ability to deal with novel situations and generate innovative ideas.
Practical Intelligence: Common sense and everyday problem-solving abilities.
