PSY 101 Study Guide

Psychology 101 Professor McAllister

Quiz # 2 Study Guide Chapter 6-8

Test Tips:
(a.i.1) Please try to study the examples!
(a.i.2) Text in blue are topics that can be in the test.
(a.i.3) Italic words are examples.
(a.i.4) Study 3 pages a day until the Quiz on Tuesday.
(a.i.5) Get a good night sleep before test.
(a.i.6) Don’t stress! Study!

CHAPTER 6

Definition of learning:

Is defined in psychology as ‘a relatively permanent behavior change as a result of experience.

Definition of classical conditioning:

A type of learning in which we learn to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events

Ex. Drugs used to treat cancer can trigger nausea and vomiting more than an hour following treatment. Patients may then develop classically conditioned nausea (and sometimes anxiety) to the sights, sounds, and smells associated with the clinic.

Definition of operant conditioning:

A type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforce or diminished if followed by a punisher

Ex. Teach a child to say please / teach an elephant to walk on its hind legs.

Observational learning:

Learning by observing others.

Ex. A child who sees his sister burn her fingers on a hot stove learns not to touch it.

Shaping:

Gradually guiding actions closer and closer toward a desired behavior, using reinforcement.

Example of shaping dogs to seek drugs: a police dog is shaped to sniff out and approach the smell of drugs. After successfully locating the drugs, the dog receives its treat. Or…

Setting food in a form of a track so the mouse can get closer and closer to the mousetrap.

Positive reinforcement: (description: give something that’s desired)

Increases behaviors by presenting positive stimuli such as food. A positive reinforce is anything that, when presented after a response, strengthens the responses.

Ex. Praise a dog that comes when you call it / Pay a person who paints your house.

Negative reinforcement: not punishment (description: end something that’s undesired.)

Increases behaviors by stopping or reducing negative stimuli, such as shock. A negative reinforcer is anything that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response.

Ex. End pain by taking painkillers / loud beeping noise by fastening seat belt.

Positive punishment: administer an aversive stimulus

Ex. Spanking; receiving a parking ticket

Negative punishment: withdraw a desirable stimulus

Ex. Time out from privileges (such as time with friends) revoke driver’s license

Cognitive learning theory:

The acquisition of mental information, whether by observing events, by watching others, or through language.

Ex: for example, a monkey in the zoo, sometimes imitates human visitors or other monkeys. Four elements of observational learning
Attention
Memory
Imitation
Motivation

Factors that increase imitation
People who are rewarded for their good behavior
Warm, nurturing people
People who have control over you and power to influence your life
People who are similar to you in terms of age, sex and interests
When the task to be imitated is not extremely easy or difficult
If you been rewarded for imitating the same behavior in the past

Chapter 7

Definition of Memory
Is the persistence of learning over time through the encoding, storage and retrieval of information.

To remember any event we must:
1) Get information into our brain, a process called encoding
2) Retain that information, a process called storage
3) Later get the information back out, a process called retrieval.

Information processing model (We form memories in three stages.)

1) We first record to-be-remembered information as a fleeting sensory memory.
2) From there, we process information into short-term memory, where we encode it through rehearsal.
3) Finally, information moves into long-term memory for later retrieval.

Characteristics of sensory, working and long-term memory

Working memory: new name for short-term memory; the capacity of the working memory may be increased by “chunking.”

Long-Term Memory: Essentially unlimited capacity store.

Sensory Memory: Iconic (Eyes), Echoic (Ears), Haptic (Touch)

Encoding – Automatic vs. effortful processing

Automatic processing: unconscious encoding of everyday information, such as pace, time, frequency, and well-learned word meanings.

Ex. Where you ate dinner yesterday / Reading your native language

Effortful processing: encoding that requires attention and conscious effort

Ex. Remembering people’s name or Chapter’s information

Spacing Effect

The tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice.

Ex. To retain information even better if we spread rehearsal over time, the reason why teachers urge us to study regularly throughout the term rather than only cramming the night before an exam.

Serial Position Effect

The tendency to recall best, the last and first items in a list. And struggle to recall the items in the middle.

Mnemonics

Imagery is at the heart of many memory aids. Mnemonic techniques use vivid imagery and organizational devices in aiding memory.

Ex. TTYL – Chunk acronyms / Use peg words (Techniques to remember things)

Long-Term Potentiation

An increase in a synapse’s firing potential; Believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory. Helps us understand how our brain learns and remembers.

Ex. For example, if a mouse is placed in a pool of murky water, it will swim about until it finds a hidden platform to climb out on. With repetition, the mouse soon learns to locate the platform more quickly.

Implicit vs. Explicit memory
Implicit memory: retaining learned skills or conditioning, often without conscious awareness of this learning.

Ex. Is conscious! You use it all day long like remembering what time you are going to the movies with your friend or remembering the cruise you went on last summer.

Explicit memory: memories of facts and personal events that you can consciously retrieve.

Ex. Not conscious! It’s based off of what you already know like driving your car, you don’t think about you just do it.

Measures of memory
Recognition:
Recall
Relearning

Ex. Long after you cannot recall most of your high school classmates, you could probably recognize their yearbook pictures from a photo lineup and pick them out from a list of names.

Context effects
Returning to the context where you experienced something can prime (activate) your memory of it.

Ex. While taking notes from a book, you realize you need to sharpen your pencil. You get up and walk to another room, and then cannot recall why you came. After returning to your desk, it hits you: “I wanted to sharpen this pencil!” In one context (desk, reading psychology), you realize your pencil needs sharpening. In another room, in a different context, you have few cues to lead you back to that thought. When you are once again at your desk, you are back in the context in which you encoded the thought (“This pencil is dull.”

Moods and memories

We usually recall experiences that are consistent with our current mood. Emotions, or moods, serve as retrieval cues. Our memories are mood-congruent.

Ex. An in the past may have aroused a specific emotion, such as fear, anger, or joy. Later, when we again feel that emotion, we may recall the event associated with it.

Retrograde and anterograde amnesia

Retrograde Amnesia: Amnesia in which the lack of memory relates to events that occurred before a traumatic event.

Anterograde Amnesia: The lack of memory relates to events occurred after a traumatic event.
Ex. Motorcyclist unable to recall driving his motorbike prior to his head injury (Retrograde Amnesia), nor can he recall the hospital ward where he is told he had conversations with family over the next two days (Anterograde Amnesia).

Forgetting
An inability to retrieve information due to poor encoding, storage, or retrieval.

Improving memory
1. Study repeatedly to boost long-term recall
2. Spend more time rehearsing or actively thinking about the material
3. Make material personally meaningful
4. Use mnemonic devices:
(a.i.1.a) Associate with peg words
(a.i.1.b) Make up story
(a.i.1.c) Chunk- acronym
5. Activate retrieval cues – mentally recreate the situation and mood
6. Recall events while they are fresh – before you encounter misinformation
7. Minimize interference: Test your knowledge. Rehearse and then determine what you do not know.
Chapter 8

Definition of Thinking of cognition

Refers to a process that involves knowing, understanding, remembering, and communicating.

Definition of concepts

The mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas or people.

Ex. A triangle has three sides / A robin is a prototype of a bird but a penguin is not.

Problem Solving – 3 Steps

1) Preparation: Identify given facts / Defining the ultimate goal
2) Production: Algorithms / Heuristics / Insight
3) Evaluation: Evaluate solutions to see if they meet defined goal

Algorithms, Heuristics and insight

Algorithms: Step-by-Step procedures that guarantee reaching a solution

Heuristics: Rules of thumb, simple strategies.

Insight: A sudden realization of a problem’s solution. An aha! Moment.

Barriers to Problem Solving

Confirmation Bias: A tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort evidence that contradicts them.

Ex. 2 – 4 – 6 what’s the next numbers? Think about the activity we did in class.

Definition of language

Our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combined them to communicate meaning.

General Intelligences

A general intelligence factor that, according to Spearman and others, underlies specific mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test

Ex. People with special outstanding abilities; Spearman noted that those who score high in one area, such as verbal intelligence, typically score higher than average in other areas such as spatial or reasoning ability.

Gardner’s eight intelligences
1) Linguistic: Language ability as in reading, writing, and speaking.
2) Logical: Mathematical: Mathematical problem solving and scientific analysis.
3) Spatial: Reasoning about visual spatial relationships
4) Musical: Musical skills such as the ability to compose and understand music
5) Bodily-kinesthetic: Skill in body movement and handling objects
6) Intrapersonal: Understanding oneself
7) Interpersonal: Understanding other people
8) Naturalist: Ability to discern patterns in nature

Definition of creativity

Is the ability to produce ideas that are both novel and valuable.

Emotional intelligence

Is the ability to perceive (recognize), understand (predicting), manage (knowing how to express them in varied situations) and use (enable adaptive or creative thinking) emotions

Genetic and environmental effects on intelligence

Genetic effects: the idea that there is a significant genetic contribution to intelligence.

Environmental Effects: one environment is more fertile in developing these abilities than the other.

Group differences in intelligence:
Some ethnic minority children score differently on IQ tests.
Members of every ethnic group can be found to have scores at all levels of the IQ scale.
Lack of cultural exposure to concepts required on IQ tests can result in lowered IQ scores.
Group differences may have more to do with socioeconomic differences than ethnicity.
IQ does have a substantial genetic component, & racial & ethnic differences may reflect underlying hereditary differences.
Differences in IQ scores reflect motivational & language factors.
Intelligence is not a fixed characteristic.
There are multiple intelligences & traditional IQ tests do not measure many of them.
Stereotype threats can significantly reduce test scores of people in stereotyped groups.