unit 2 psych

Signal Detection Theory - predicts how and when we detect the presence of a stimuli in the midst of noise

• Depends on a person’s experience, expectations, level of tiredness, and motivation 

• Says that it is a sensory and decision process 

Subliminal message is a hidden taste/message/words that we can’t detect but will influence our behaviour

• Ex. coke making an ad getting mad at pepsi for copying them, even though they are the same product 

• Info is presented below the absolute threshold (line to detect info )

Priming - when you are manipulated into doing something a certain way because of a previous stimuli 

Perceptual set - a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another 

• Can allow us to draw conclusions based on previous experience, but can also stop us from thinking outside the box because of prior inhibitions 

• Ex. when u break up w someone and start seeing them everywhere→ world didnt change, just our perception of it 

Gestalt Psychology- The processes which group smaller units of the perceptual world into larger units

• Proximity, Simplicity (law of good form), Connectedness, Closure, Continuity, Similarity, Phi Phenom, figure ground

Binocular cues: clues about distance based on differing views of two eyes 

Retinal disparity: right and left eyes see slightly different views of the object

Convergence: degree to which two eyes must converge to focus on the object

Monocular cues: clues about distance based on the image in either eye 

Linear Perspective: parallel lines converge in the distance

Relative Size: if two objects are the same, the larger one is seen as closer

Interposition: the nearer object overlaps the object farther in the distance

Texture Gradient: textures are coarser the closer they are

Perceptual constancies: ability to experience a constant perception even when what we are seeing changes 

• Colour: object appears same colour even if it is put in shade

• Size: object appears to be the same size even if it appears to get bigger 

  • Ex. dog running towards us from far away we dont think its suddenly getting bigger, we recognize that it is just getting closer and size is the same

• Shape: object stays the same shape even though shape may change briefly 

  • Ex. door opening towards me changes from rectangular bc of the angle, but i still know it is a door 

Stroop effect: reaction time of a task and shows automatic processing vs conscious visual control ex. Reading colour of the word vs what the word spells out 

Mcgurk effect: what we are seeing can change what we hear 

Law of pragnanz - humans prefer experience and stimuli that is simple and orderly (brains try to naturally simplify what we perceive) 

The ames room - people and objects are distorted by manipulation of the room they are seen in 

Stroboscopic motion: illusion of motion by showing a series of slightly different images (ex. Used in film a lot)

Autokinetic effect: stationary, small point of light in a dark or featureless environment appears to move

Cognition: mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering and communicating

Metacognition: thinking about your thinking 

Executive function: a set of cognitive skills that help people manage their behaviour and get things done (prefrontal cortex)

Bias: shortcuts in thinking that creates errors but is done by our brains to simplify the world around us 

• Actor observer bias: our actions are not our fault, but the actions of others are their fault 

• Confirmation bias: only looking for information on a topic that supports your viewpoint 

• False memory: recollection of events that never happened or are distorted from reality 

• Halo effect: judging someone’s entire character based on a single positive trait or impression 

• Hindsight bias: “i knew it all along” bias

• Illusion of control: belief that we can influence or control outcomes that are beyond our control 

• In-group bias: preference for ppl in our own group vs other groups 

• Magical thinking: believing that thoughts/words/actions can influence unrelated events 

• Misattribution: incorrectly assigning the cause of a memory, feeling, or idea 

• Optimism bias - thinking that everything will always turn out the way you want it to

• Overgeneralization - applying something learned from one situation to ALL situations like it 

• Self-serving bias : success is because of my characteristics but failures are not my fault 

Cognitive schema: framework that organizes info about the world around us into groups/categories 

Gambler’s fallacy: outcome of a random event is more or less likely to occur based on previous unrelated events, but this actually doesn’t change the probability of things happening in the future

Sunk cost fallacy: tendency to continue something just because we have already invested a lot into it (ex. Time, money, energy)

Assimilation: improving existing knowledge thanks to new information

Accommodation: amending previous knowledge of something after finding out something that contradicts what they thought before 

Heuristic: simple thinking strategy that allows us to make judgements sand solve problems fast

• Faster than algorithms, but more error prone 

Functional fixedness: rigidity in problem solving, not able to think outside the box 

Representative heuristic: judging the likelihood of things in how well they represent stereotypes 

Availability heuristic: estimating the likelihood of events based on how easily we can picture them 

Overconfidence: tendency to be more confident than right 

Framing: the way an issue is posed and how it can affect decisions/judgements 

Belief bias: how one’s preexisting beliefs can distort logical reasoning 

Belief perseverance: clinging to initial beliefs even after they have been proven wrong 

Divergent thinking- various solutions, creative & possibilities, outside the box

Convergent thinking- single solution oriented, familiar solutions

Intuition: quick/automatic judgement based on experience 

Flashbulb memory (LTM): clear memory of an emotionally significant event, does not have to be accurate but tied to amygdala 

Long term memory: events, facts, limitless 

Prospective memory: to-dos, actions/intentions for the future, needed to live independently 

Autobiographical memory: ability to remember/organize past events in one’s life that shape their sense of self/identity

Encoding: processing of information into the memory system 

Sensory memory: immediate, initial recording of sensory info in memory system 

Short term memory: 7 is the magic number +-2 by george miller

• activated memory that holds a few items briefly 

Working memory: focuses on the processing of briefly stored recalled thoughts/experience, combine with long term memory 

Spacing effect: distributed practice yields better long term retention than practice all at once

Hermann ebbinghaus: used nonsense syllables to show encoding 

Serial Position Effect-tendency to recall best the last items in a list

• Primacy: remembers first part of the list 

• Recency: remembers last part of the list

• Tends to forget the middle part of the list 

Mnemonics: memory aids to help us remember info 

Structural encoding: shallow processing that emphasizes physical structure of a stimulus

Phonemic encoding: what a word sounds like, involves saying or naming the words

Semantic encoding: emphasizes meaning of verbal input 

Dual process theory: memory is enhanced by forming semantic and visual codes 

Chunking: organizes items into familiar, manageable units to remember, can increase short term memory