Memory is the persistence of learning over time through the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information.
Memory is important for survival (is this person trustworthy, where are resources)
Memory is important because it gives us a sense of self
How do we measure memory
Recall: retrieving information that is not currently in your conscious awareness but that was learned at an earlier time
Recognition: identifying items previously learned
Relearning: learning something more quickly when you encounter it a second or later time
Memory stages
Human memory works like a computer's memory
There are three processes
We encode information: putting information into memory
We store information: retaining information over time
We retrieve information: get the information back out
Memory storage
Memory storage is the capacity to maintainin information over a time
Duration: how long can we store information
Capacity: how much information can we store
Multistore model of memory proposes that human memory has three levels of memory storage
Sensory → working/short term → long term
There are three forms of memory
Sensory memory: very brief impressions of sensory information
Working and short term memory: short lived, temporary memories
Long term memory storage: long term, unlimited storage
Sensory memory is brought into working memory where we rehearse it until it can be encoded into long term memory and later retrieved
Chapter 7- encoding memory
Sensory Memory
To encode a memory, you need to use information from your senses
sensory memory is a very brief recording of your sensory input
Iconic memory: picture image; lasts about ⅓ second
Haptic memory: touch; lasts 2 seconds
Echoic memory: sound; lasts 2-10 seconds
It has a large capacity, but a very short duration
Short term memory
Short term memory is the small amount of information that you can actively hold in your mind for executing cognitive tasks
Short term vs working memory
Short term memory is memory capacity that holds information for less than 30 seconds
Working memory is the manipulation of information within the short term memory
You draw upon long term memories to make sense of what you are thinking about in the short term memory
Short term memory capacity: the magic number 7 plus or minus 2
Short term memory has a limited capacity that depends on what you are trying to remember
7 numbers
6 letters
5 words
If you dont rehearse what you are trying to remember, you will forget it rapidly
Young adults and more intellegent peole have a higher capacity
Effortful processing strategies
Chunking: organization of items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically
Mnemonics: memory aid, especially techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices
Hierarchies: organization of items into a few broad categories that are divided and subdivuded into narrower concepts and facts
Spacing effects: encoding is more effective when it is spread over time
Massed practice: produces speedy short term learning and feelings of confidence
Disturbed practice: produces better long term recall
Testing effect: retrieval practice effect or test enhanced effect
Testing improves learning and memory
Testing protects our memory from the harmful effects of stress
Making information meaningful
If new information is neither meaningful nor related to our experience, we have trouble processing it
Most people excel at remembering personally
Relevant information
Members of Individualist Western cultures tend to exhibit the Self reference effect
Members of Collectivist Eastern cultures tend to remember self and family relevant information equally well
Dual track memory
We can remember something because of conscious focus or unconscious processing
Explicit memories (declarative memories) of conscious facts and experiences encoded through conscious, effortful processing
Implicit memories (nondeclarative memories) memory for skills and abilities that Bypass the conscious encoding track
Explicit memories
Conscious long term memory that you can easily recall. Often called declarative memory
Semantic memory: memory of facts, knowledge and language
Episodic memory: ememoty of events (time, place and emotions)
Implicit memory
Non conscious memory related to the impact that experiences and actions have on your behavior called nondeclarative memory
Procedural memory: how to perform tasks or skills
Priming: exposure to a stimulus that increases the quickness of a response.
classical conditioning: simple learned associations
The amygdala and emotional memories
If you have strong emotional reaction during an event or learning about an event, your amygdala is involved
Stress hormones can increase activity in the memory forming parts of your brain, making us more likely to remember emotional events.
Flash bulb memories: are highly detailed, vivid memories of an unusually important event or Hearing news of such an event. Depends on proximity
Memory consolidation
When the memory becomes stable in the brain, we say memory consolidation has occurred
Sleep enhances consolidation
Long term memories are consolidated at a cellular level
During learning, long term potentation (LTP) creates enduring synaptic connections, resulting in enhanced transmission between neurons
LTP increases protein CREB which can increase the the neurons response to stimulation
Retrieving memory
How we retrieve memories
Memories are stored in a vast network of information
Memories are linked to kideas similar or associated with the memory
Activating related information can activate the memory
Retrieval cues are pieces of information that can aid the retrieval of memories by activating related concepts
The best retrieval cues come from associations formed at the time a memory is encoded
Retrieval cue: priming
Priming: either seeing or hearing a concept which causes activation of related concepts in memory
Something in the environment may cue the memory (location, person, smell)
Retrieval cue: context
Context dependent memory: your memory improves when you retrieve memories in the same place you encoded them
Cues and contexts specific to a particular memory will be most effective in helping recall (encoding specificity principle)
Retrieval cue: physical and emotional state
State dependent memory: a condition in which memory for a past event is improved when the person is in the same biological or physiological state as when the memory was initially learned
If youre anxious when encoding memory, you will retrieve the memory when youre anxious
Serial position effects
Primary effect
Youre more likely to remember the first items in a list
These items have the most time to be encoded into long term memory
Recency effect
Youre most likely to remember the last terms in a list
These items are likely in short term or working memory
This effect will not occur if there's a delay before attempted retrieval
Memory availability vs accessibility
Memory retrieval depends on the availability of the information in memory and the accessibility of the information
Available: i studied the materials
Accessible: i can retrieve the remembered information
Moses illusion demonstrates that information can be available but not accessible
When you saw the question your available memory was retrieved by the distorted retrieval cue, but you failed to access Noah.
Forgetting
Most of what we forget is useless information
If we remembered everything it easily overwhelm us
Many adults can not retirieve episodic memories from the first few years of life- a phenomenon known as infantile amnesia
Children can remember events from before the age of 3-4 years old
Children can remember biological events from toddlerhood, but thy often misremember or distort the date of the events
Research suggests that the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex are not fully developed in infants- suggesting that early memories are stored temporarily
Memories are stored more sensely between adolescence and early adulthood- a phenomenon known as the reminiscence bump
You develop self identity and major life events , making years more memorable
Amnesia and the two types of memories
Patients with severe anterograde amnesia lose their ability to form explicit memories
These patients can fom implicit memories and develop new skills and abilities
But they do not explicitly realize that they learned new skills
People are far less likely to forget implicit memories
Encoding failure
People often fail to create long term memory of an event
This could be due to age which is associated with memory decline
This could also be due to not paying attention, a requiremembt for forming a memory of an event
Storage decay
Your brain's neural pathways that form memories (memory traces) simply degrade over time
Ebbinghaus forgetting curve: he initial loss of memories is rapid, but it levels over time
Retrieval problems
You may have a memory, but something is preventing you from fully retrieving it from long term memroy
Tip of the tongue phenomemon: a failure to retrieve information despite knowing that it is stored in memory
Your memories may interfere with each other
Proactive: older memories make it more difficult to remember new information
Retroactive: new learning disrupts memory for older information
Can we choose to forget things
We can reduce retrieval of unwanted information through practice (motivated forgetting)
The evidence doesnt support repressed memories, but it does not support that people can be induced to believe a false memory
Due to release of stress hormones, traumatic events are much more likely to be remembered than forgotten
Modifying memories
Myth: human memory works like a video recorder and accurately records the events we have experienced
Reality: most of our memories are valid, but memories can be inaccurate, manipulated or completely false
Memories can change
Your memories are not perfectly accurate, unchanging recordings of what actually happened
When you recall a memory, you mau add otr subtract details to what happened
Reconsolidation: when you recall something, you are constructing a memory that can be changed when its stored again
Memories can be changed based on the intentional influence of others
Misinformation effect: post event information can ias memory for an event
Imagination effect: repeatedly imaging fake actions and events can create false memories
Misinformation effect (Loftus and Palmer 1974)
IV: participants were asked what speed they thought two cars in an accudent where going when
They hit each other
They smashed into each other
DV: how fast did they think they were going
Results: participants thought that the cars were going significantly faster if the question said smashed
Forgetting the source
Source amnesia (source misattribution): it is easy to forget when where or how we learned information
Deja Vu: recognizing a situation but not being able to recall where when or how we experienced it
Chapter 15- Social psychology
Social in social psychology
What motivates us to be social
Social psychologists study how individuals think about, interact with, and are influenced by other people
Social cognition: thinking about and perceiving others
Social influence: how others influence our behavior
What is social psychology?
Fundamental human needs to motivate how we interact with others, and influence the way we understand social context
Need to belong (relatedness)
Need to feel in control (autonomy)
Need to perceive ourselves positively (competence)
Thinking socially
What is an attribution
An attribution is an explanation for the cause of a behavior or outcome (either for us or other people)
Two basic types of attribution
Internal is something inside the person that caused the event (disposition/personality)
External is something outside the person that caused the event (situation)
Fundamental attribution error (FAE)
The tendency to underestimate the effects of a situation on a person's behavior and overestimate the effect of the persons dispositions
The belief that behavior always reflects a person's personality
Western, individualistic people are biased toward making internal attributions when explaining others behavior.
We arent taking into consideration the power of the situation to influence people's behavior
It's easy to fall into the trap of blaming the victim for their problems, when that is not always the case.
By ignorning the situation, you are ignoring the possibility to improve people's lives by changing that situation
What if you are making attributions about your own behavior
Self serving attribution: we perceive our own actions and outcomes in the ways that benefit ourselves
Good events are due to internal factors, while bad events are due to external factors.
Actor- observer bias: we make attributions about ourselves that protect our self esteem
Attitudes and behavior
Attitudes are feelings influenced by beliefs, which predispose us to have specific reactions to objects, people and events.
I dont like drinking
I value environmentalism
When other influences are minimal attitudes that are stable, specific and easily recalled can effect our actions
I'm not going to drink
I am joining an environmental group
Cognitive dissonance: discomofrot that people feel when they behave in ways tht are inconsistent with their attitudes of conception of themselves.
People are motivged to reduce these unpleasant feelings of dissonance
Attitudes can be changed
People can be persuaded by others to change their attributes
Elaboration likelihood model (ELM) states that there are two ways people can change their attitudes
Central route
Peripheral route
How can you reduce dissonance
Changing your attitude or behavior, making them consistent again
Acquiring new information that helps reduce dissonance
Reducing the importance of the beliefs or attitudes, eliminating the conflict.
Changing attitudes by changing behavior
When the behavior deviates from the attitudes, people pay react with
Post decision dissonance: people focus on the positive aspects of the chosen option and on the vegetative aspects of the alternative option they have given up
Effort justification: people form very positive attitudes toward objectively bad decisions they have made that involve a lot of effort.
Application of cognitive dissonance
Because of cognitive dissonance, people who commit to a position are more willing to comply with requests that are consistent with that position
Foot in the door techniques: make a small request, and then later ask for something larger.
Hey, can you take me to the airport?
Thanks, my flight leaves at 4am
Door in the face technique: make an unreasonably large restest that will turn people down but feel guilty about, and then ask for a smaller request. People are more likely to comply if you do this
Conformity
What is conformity: changes in perceptions, opinions, or behaviors in ways that are consistent with group norms
Norms: explicit or implicit rules of conduct in given context
Why conform?
Informational influence: you dont know what to do
Normative influence: you want a group to like you
The motive behind normative social influence
The need to be accepted by our peers or other social groups- even unimportant ones
Making the wrong choice could lead to painful social rejection
Motive: seeking acceptance
Aschs (1955) study on normative social influence
Is normative social influence so powerful that people will say something is obviously wrong just to fit in with a group
Asch created a situation with strong normative influence for participants
6 to 8 participants completed a line nuding task in front of each other
Only one of the participants was an actual participant
Procedure
The line judging task was completed 18 times
Participants working for the experimenter uniformly gave the incorrect answer 12 times
The real participant heard everyones answer before he gave his
Results
About 75% of the participants gave at least one incorrect answer during the study after hearing other people give incorrect answers
Normative influence is powerful! People will lie in order to fit in with a group.
Obedience
Obedience is when behavior is influenced due to the direct commands of an authority figure
People obey authority figures:
Learning: we are trained to follow authority figures
Heuristic: authority figures know what they are doing
Normative: you want to fit in
Milgram study on obedience (1963)
Learning experiment on punishment and memory
Experimenter supervises
Study was correct only 25% of the time
student kept expressing pain
If the participant wanted to stop- they couldnt. They had to finish
They obeyed because
The person giving orders was nearby and was perceived as a legitimate authority figure
The research was supported by a prestigious institution
The victim was depersonalized or at a distance
There were no role models for defiance
Why do conformity and obedience matter
People are vulnerable to social influence especially if there's strong normative pressure ot thre presence of an authority figure
This kind of social influence can cause normal, ordinary people to conform to falsehoods or obey orders to commit cruel acts
Social influence is an important part of the human experience but it can cause serious problems
Helping and hurting others
Aggression is any behavior carried out to impose harm on another individual who is motivated to avoid harm
Yelling at someone (verbal aggression)
Hitting someone (physical aggression)
Stabbing someone (severe aggression- violence)
What predicts aggression
General aggression model (GAM) argues that aggression is a combined produce of personality and situation factors
according to GAM, people can become hangry because
Experiencing adverse stimulus
Negative thoughts and emotions
Negative interpretation of a triggering event
Anger
GAM’s view on angry video gamer stereotype
Some people are born with angry and hostile personality (person level factors)
Sensitivity in amygdala, stress hormones
Some people learn to react aggressively from playing violent video games (situation level factors)
Stages of helping
Recognze someone in need (bystander effect: less likely to gelp if there are others around)
Recognize its an emergency (pluralistic ignorance: assume that it is not an emergency because nobody else is taking action)
Take personal responsibility to help (diffusion of responsibility: tendency to think that other people can help, or other people are more qualified to help)
Identify wgar help is needed and take action (diffusion of responsibility: tendency to think that other people can help, or other people are more qualified to help)
Stereotypes and prejudice
Stereotype is a mental representation about a group of people
Stereotypes are nearned cognitive associations that could be positive, negative or neutral.
When do we stereotype?
If stereotypes are accurate, we can rely on them to make accurate judgments
Stereotypes are quick and efficient way to think when we want to use low cognitive effort
Stereotypes are logical explanation and justification for status quo
Is stereotyping bad
Stereotypes are mental shortcuts to facilitate our thinking process but they could lead to biases.
Research shows that female professors are generally rated as worse than male even though they are equally as qualified
Students are more likely to challenge and disapprove of a female professor's grading than males.
What is prejudice
Prejudice is the negative attitude toward a group or members of a group
Prejudice can lead to discrimination
Prejudice attitude
Discrimination behavior
How do we reduce prejudice
Gordal Allport (1954) contact hypothesis suggests that positive, cooperative interactrions between groups can reduce prejudice.
Working together for a common goal as equals
Jigsaw classroom is an example of contact hypothesis
Interpersonal relationships
What predicts interpersonal relationships
Proximity: you are more likely to become friends with someone you meet frequently
Familiarity: we prefer someone we are familiar with
Mere exposure effect: repeated exposure increases familiarity which increases liking
Chameleon effects: we consciously and unconsciously imitate behavioral tendencies, accents, and speech of people we like
Mutual sharing of intimate, inner feelings distinguish an aqcuatance and a friend
Defining personality
What is personality
An individual's characteristic patterns of thought, emotion and behavior, together with the psychological mechanism behind those patterns
What makes something characteristic
Social psychology vs personality
Social psychologists
Emphasize the power of situation, that people are strongly influenced by the social setting.
Thus, people may act differently in different situations
Personality psychologists
Emphasize the power of traits that people are strongly influenced by their internal personality traits
Thus, people may behave the same way in different situations
Both personality and social psychology work together in influencing behavior
Powerful situations can overwhelm personality
Personality takes over in weak situations
What are personality theories
Personality theories define and describe personality including:
Classifying and comparing the traits that people possess
Explaong how personality develiops and effects behavior
Explaining how and if personality changes over time
Psychoanalysis
Freuds psychodynamic theory
There are differing levels of how aware you are of things going on inside your mind
Conscious: ideas we are aware of and think about
Preconscous: ideas on the verge of awareness
Unconscious: odeas not available for recall that are typically threatening to you
Psyche: the parts of your personality
Id: your basic urges (violence)
Unconscious
Superego: moral values
Develops around stage 4
Ego: the part of you that deals with real world constraints
OK with ID’s urges
Ego, superego, ID. most to least conscious
What are the defense mechanisms
According to Freud, your unconscous is filled with anxiety provoking or unacceptable thoughts and feelings
Sexual urges
Violent impulses
Issues from childhood
Define mechanisms help unconsciously protect you from this anxiety
Repression:
Purposefully pushing ideas or emotions into the unconscious
These thoughts and feelings can emerge in other ways
Dream images: symbols that reflect unconscious thoughts
Freudian slips: a verbal error that reveals unconscious thoughts
Repression, the freudian slip:
Instead of saying what you intend, you say something you are unconsciously thinkingabout or dwelling on.
Freudians view on personality development
If you dont resolve the conflict of a stage, part of your psyche gets stuck
If you are stuck in a stage (fixation), this influences the kind of personality you have as an adult
Hence people who are overly tidy, obsessove and stubborn probably had harsh toilet training
Why is psychoanalytic theory important in understanding personality
First to popularize the importance of unconsciousness
Emphasized the importance of early development and childhood experience in shaping personality
BUT lacks the empirical evidence as freuds ideas are not tested by scientific method
Most relied on by anecdotal evidence, such as case studies of his own patients
Trait theories
How does trait theory view personality
See patterns as a stable and enduring pattern of behavior
Describe differences rather than trying to explain them
Use factor analysis to identify clusters of behavior tendencies that occur together
Suggest that genetic predispositions influence many traits
Assume traits influence overall behavior but not always in specific situations
What is factor analysis
There are over 18,000 english words to describe personality
Factor analysis: statistical procedure used to identify similar clusters of test itens to tap basic components of personality
Using personality inventories to assess traits
Questionnaire on which people respond to itens designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors
Used to assess selected personality traits
Test itens empirically derived and verified
Tests are objectively scored.
What are the more important traits
Psychologists spent years analyzing personality traits trying to determine the number of most important traits
The big 5 or the 5 factor model: 5 main traits
Extraversion
An extraversion factor appears in every trait model of personality. It is clearly one of the most important individual differences in psychology
Extraverted people may be more likely to experience positive emotions and more sensitive to rewards.
Extraverts tend to
Live happier and healthier lives
More satisfied with their jobs
Rated as more popular
Experience more social success
Drink more
May need to be in control too much and tend to be argumentative
Neuroticism
A neuroticism factor appears in every trait model. Also making it one of the most important individual differences in psychology
Overreact and dont deal well with stress
Sensitive to rejection
Neurotic people may be more likely to experience negative emotions and be more sensitive to punishment
Neurotics tend to
Complain more
Be at higher risk of developing psychopathology
Be stressed and dissatisfied with their job
Not handle criticism well
What is agreeableness
The tendency to be cooperative and get along well with others
Reflects an important aspect of the survival of our species
Agreeable people tend to
Say nice things
Be more involved in community and religious activity
Sense of good humor
Be healthy and well adjusted
Be accepted by peers
What is conscientoiusness
The tendency to be organized, disciplined and hardworking
Conscientious people tend to
Do better in college.
Do better at work. Predicts job performance and less absenteeism
Live longer.
What is openness to experience
Difficult to define
The least accepted of the big 5
Open to experience people tend to
Be liberal
Use drugs
Play an instrument
Believe in the paranormal
**5 factors: OCEAN
Changes in personality
Personality traits are stable
With age, personality traits become more stable.
There is evidence of mean change over time
People become less neurotic, more agreeable, and more conscientious
May be based on changing social roles and life events that encourage these traits.
Boyce and others (2015) found that long term unemployment was associated with changes in personality
Studied germans who have been unemployed for up to 4 years
Found decreases in agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness.
Are personality traits inheritable
Most heritabiloty estimates of trait suggests that about 50% of the personality trait variability is due to genetic factors
Gene x environment interaction assumes that while the genetic factors are important, the environment can influence which genes get expressed, and how genes are expressed
Study on islanders and new immigrants
Lived for 20 generations in isolation, they were less open to new people and experiences. However had similar personality traits as mainlanders
Social cognitive approach
Views behavior as influenced by interaction between people's traits and their social context
Emphasezes interaction of our traits with our situations
Applies principles of learning, cognition and social behavior to personality
Reciprocal determinism
Describes the interaction and mutual influence of behavior, internal personal factors and environmental factors.
The environment influences how you think, but your behavior can also influence your environment
Person factors: Percieved personal control
Locus of control. A person's perceived control over their outcomes, influences the behaviors
Internal locus of control. Believe that they are in control, and they are responsible for the outcomes
If i study hard I will get a good grade
External locus of control: believe that outcomes are determined by outside forces beyond control.
Humanistic approach
Where did it come from: in the 1950s some psychologists began to rejects freuds view that people are motivated by sex and psychological dysfunction. They rejected behaviorists' views that we only respond to rewards and punishments.
Humanistic psychology wanted to take a more positive approach to people
Humanistic psychology: focuses on the healthy development of human potential (self actualization)
People have a need to grow and be better people
People need to be genuine and true to themselves.
Associated with abraham maslow and carl rogers
What does humanistic psychology focus on
There are higher level needs, more than just survival. People strive to grow when their basic needs have been met
People are active. People dont just respond to the environment like a rat in a cage. They do things
People are good. We are sensible and understand ourselves. We want to improve and grow
Focus on self actualization
Self actualization
The need to maintain and enhance life, and according to humanists, this is the goal of existence.
Self actualization involves:
Realizing one's potential
Improving one's experience
Deeply appreciating life
Abraham Maslow and self actualization
Maslow focused on the potential for healthy personal growth and peoples striving for self determination and self realization
People are motivated by a hierarchy of needs and strive for self actualization and self transcendence
Carl Rogers and self actualization
To self actualize, you need the following
Listen to the inner guide
Unconditional positive regard, loving yourself without expectations or demands
Living in ways that are consistent with your innermost beliefs
If a person doesnt have this, a therapist can provide an environment where these qualities can be developed
The benefits and criticisms of the humanistic approach
Benefits
Influenced counselig, education, child raising and management
Laid the foundation for positive psychology
Renewed interest in the concept of the self
Criticisms
Use vague, subjective, difficult to measure concepts
Advance individualism and self centered values
Offer naively optimistic assumptions about human nature
What does humanistic psychology have to do with personality
Personality is not only determined by biological basis, early childhood experiences or social learning
There is the concept of self in an individual's personality
The self
Self knowledge
Self esteem
Self control
Self efficacy
Self esteem
Self esteem is our evaluation of our self worth- part of the me aspect of the self
Psychologists have extensively studied motives related to self esteem
In the US, there has been a focus on rhe benefits of having a high self esteem
Sociomater of self esteem
Self esteem is likely related to evolution, and it is a warning sign that you have relationship problems
Low self esteem is a symptom of social rejection that causes people to reestablish relationships
Self esteem is a consequence and not a cause
What does a positive self do
Positive selves generate motivation to moce the present self toward a future self
Provides strong incentive either to approach (hoped for possible self) or avoid (fear possible self)