Behaviorist theory of language development: Suggests that children learn language through imitation, reinforcement, and conditioning.
Nativist theory of language development and LADs: Proposes that children are biologically equipped to learn language through an innate mechanism called the Language Acquisition Device (LAD).
Linguistic relativity: The hypothesis that one's language determines the nature of one's thoughts, leading to different worldviews based on language.
Steps for problem solving:
Identify the problem
Generate possible solutions
Evaluate and choose a solution
Implement the solution
Review the results
Bilingualism: The acquisition of two languages, which can impact language processing speed and verbal fluency but enhance attentional control and cognitive flexibility.
Heuristic: A guiding principle or "rule of thumb" used to solve problems or make decisions quickly.
Trial and error and why it is not always effective: Involves trying possible solutions sequentially until one works; it can be time-consuming and inefficient for complex problems.
Relationship between functional fixedness and mental set: Both involve a limited approach to problem-solving; functional fixedness is seeing items only in their typical use, while mental set is persisting with past strategies.
Overload of choices: When faced with too many options, people can feel overwhelmed, leading to decision fatigue and less satisfaction with their choices.
Reliability: Refers to the consistency of a test; a reliable test yields similar scores across repeated administrations.
Validity: Refers to the test's ability to measure what it was designed to measure; a valid test accurately assesses the intended construct.
What Wechsler changed about intelligence testing: Introduced tests for adults, included non-verbal reasoning, and used a normal distribution for scoring.
Cultural differences in intelligence: Intelligence tests are widely used in Western cultures, but other cultures may have different concepts of intelligence and value different skills.
Heredity of intelligence: Genetic factors contribute to intelligence, supported by studies of twins and heritability estimates.
Reaction range and role of environment: Genetically determined limits on IQ, where environmental factors determine where an individual falls within this range.
Drive Theory - Suggests that internal states of tension (drives) motivate organisms to engage in activities to reduce this tension, aiming for homeostasis.
The importance of hormones in hunger regulation - Hormones like ghrelin, CCK, leptin, and insulin play critical roles in regulating hunger by signaling fullness, initiating hunger, and providing information on fat stores.
Learned preferences for food - Food preferences are shaped through classical conditioning, observational learning, and exposure to different foods.
Parental investment theory - Proposes that the sex that invests more in offspring (usually females) is more selective in mate choice, while the less investing sex (usually males) competes for access to mates.
Biological psychology evidence for sexual orientation - Research suggests a genetic predisposition to homosexuality, with prenatal hormones influencing neurological development.
Achievement - The need to master challenges, outperform others, and meet high standards of excellence. It is measured using the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT).
People who are high in need of achievement and how they approach activities - Tend to work harder, delay gratification for long-term goals, and achieve higher educational and business success.
Components of emotion:
Cognitive: Subjective conscious experience.
Physiological: Bodily arousal (e.g., autonomic responses).
Behavioral: Characteristic overt expressions (e.g., facial expressions).
Brain area associated with fear and conditioned fears - The amygdala is involved in processing fear and conditioned fear responses.
Mimicking facial expressions and how that affects our experience of an emotion - The facial-feedback hypothesis suggests that mimicking facial expressions can influence emotional experiences by sending signals to the brain.
Cultural differences in emotion - While some facial expressions are universally recognized, cultures differ in emotional expression norms (display rules) and language for specific emotions.
Cannon-Bard theory - Argues that emotion occurs when the thalamus sends simultaneous signals to the cortex and autonomic nervous system, creating conscious experience and visceral arousal.
James-Lange theory - Proposes that the conscious experience of emotion results from the perception of autonomic arousal.
Schachter’s two-factor theory - Suggests that emotion depends on autonomic arousal and the cognitive interpretation of that arousal.Attention and its role in memory: Focusing awareness on a narrowed range of stimuli to encode and store information effectively.
Multitasking: Switching attention back and forth between tasks, leading to reduced memory performance.
Elaboration: Linking new information to existing knowledge to enhance memory encoding.
Rehearsal: Repetitively verbalizing or thinking about information to maintain it in short-term memory.
Working memory and its relation to short-term memory: A modular system for temporary storage and manipulation of information, extending the concept of short-term memory.
Retrieval cues and reinstating the context: Stimuli that help access memories by recreating the context in which the information was encoded.
False memories and how to avoid creating them: Inaccurate recollections that can be avoided by verifying sources and being aware of suggestive questioning.
Forgetting curve, the timeline of forgetting: Ebbinghaus's graph showing rapid forgetting after initial learning, followed by a slower decline.
Anterograde amnesia: The inability to form new memories after a brain injury.
Consolidation: The process of converting new, unstable memories into stable, long-term memories.
Declarative memory: Memory system handling factual information like words, definitions, and concepts.
Nondeclarative memory: Memory system housing actions, skills, conditioned responses, and emotional memories.
Episodic memory: Memory system for chronological, personal experiences.
Prospective memory: Remembering to perform actions in the future.
Retrospective memory: Remembering events from the past or previously learned information.