Psych Exam 1 - Full chapters 1-4

Topography: The form a behavior takes

Intensity: changes in the intensity

Speed: change in the speed

Latency: time that passes before a behavior occurs

Rate: a change in the rate in which a behavior occurs; number of occurrences per unit of time

Cumulative reorder: subtle changes in behavior

Anecdotes: first or second hand reports of personal experience

Case studies: yield better grade of data; studied and conducted experiments in a real world context

• Problems: lots of time to conduct, cannot answer certain questions about behavior, not always directly from person/group being studied; can turn into an anecdote

Descriptive study: obtaining data from group using questionnaires and interviews

Experiment: study in which a researcher manipulates variable(s) and measures the effects of this manipulation on one or more other variables

• Independent variable: manipulated variable

• Dependent variable: thing being measured. Varies freely, untouched, baseline

Types of experiments

• Between subjects: two or more groups with independent variable varying from group to group. Uses random assignment and matching

  • Random assignment: Choosing people at random to go to certain groups

  • Matching: making sure one or more people match in circumstance in different groups

• Within subjects: person is their own baseline and meant to compare differences from one point to another; done over time.

Control Group: group with no manipulated variable; baseline for a study

Baseline period: initial period when behavior of participant is observed which provides a good comparison to work from

ABA reversal design: returning back to baseline condition then reinstate the experimental condition; used to eliminate possibility of previous illusion. Much like turning on and off a light to see if it controls a light

Limit to experiments:

• artificial conditions which may not always correspond to what would happen in real life

• artificial nature a result of the control

Lab experiments offer control that allows to do lab and field studies

Anecdotal case study is unreliable but good for hypothesis formation

Animal experiments make it possible to get control over the influence of heredity

With animal experiments, you can control learning environment

Adversaries: stimuli the animal would avoid given the option, but has protective animal rights guidelines

Reflexes:

• Unconditional Reflexes- occur more or less unconditionally

  • Consists of

    • Unconditional Stimulus (US): non-manipulated variable (like food in pavlov’s experiment)

    • Unconditional response (UR): response to US (drooling because of food)

• Conditional Reflexes: acquired through experience and depend on conditions

  • Consists of

    • Conditional Stimulus (CS): manipulated variable that is paired with US (a food bowl that holds meat)

    • Conditional Response (CR): response to CS (Drooling because you see the food dish)

• CR is a result of conditioning, UR is not

• CS and US are presented together no matter what the response is, all the way until there is a CR

Higher Order Conditioning: adding an additional CS to get the same end CR

• Second order conditioning: a second step removed from CR

Latency of response: how long between a CS and CR; as the more CS-US appearances increase, the less the latency

Test Trials: presenting the CS alone periodically to test effectiveness/progress

Trace conditioning: gap between 2 stimuli; CS ends before US begins

Delay conditioning: overlap between CS and US; CS begins and ends before US appears

Simultaneous conditioning: CS and US concise exactly

Backward conditioning: CS follows the US

Contingency: if-then statement; when CS was almost nearly always followed by the US

Contiguity: closeness in time or space between 2 events

Interstimulus Interval (ISI): interval between the CS and US; shorter ISI = quicker conditioning

Taste Aversion: pairing a distinctive taste with unpleasant experience to avoid said taste in the future

Overshadowing: effects of stimulus was found very commonly to overshadow the effects of others almost completely; stronger effects of stimulus that make others nearly insignificant

Latent inhibition: appearance of stimulus without US interfering with the ability of that stimulus to become a CS later

Blocking: effect due to prior experience with one part of compound stimulus; ignoring duplicate signals

Sensory preconditioning: stimulus often elicited a CR even though it has never been paired with a US

Intertrial Interval: rate of conditioning is gap between successive trials

Temperament: personality or other personal factors impacting speed of learning

Extinction: procedure of showing CS alone completely

Spontaneous Recovery: reappearance of CR after extinction

Stimulus Substitution Theory: tendency to respond in old ways to new stimuli. CS is substitute for US in the sense that it invokes the same reflex response

Preparatory Response Theory: UR is innate response designed to deal with a US, while CR is a response designed to prepare for US

Compensatory Response Theory: CR prepares the animal for US by compensating for its effects

Rescoria Wagner Model: limit to the amount of conditioning that can occur in the pairing of two stimuli, one determinate of ths limit is the nature of the US

First to study human emotions: John B. Watson

Little Albert Experiment: rat being paired with loud noise, creating fear of rats

Systematic desensitization: exposure therapy

Virtual reality Technology; Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET): simulation of environment that causes fear to do virtual exposure therapy

Human emotions largely due to conditioning

Prejudiced: judgment before relevant facts; a form of fear and result of classical conditioning

• Cognitive Error/Cognitive Distortion which can be solved with love training

Sigmund; Polymorphously Preverse: achieve sexual pleasure in many ways

• Masochist: sexual pleasure from pain

Aversion therapy: a CS that elicits inappropriate response followed by an unpleasant stimulus

Conditioned Taste aversion/conditioned food avoidance: avoiding food based on previous poor experience; example of classical conditioning