PSY3EXAM
Encoding
"deciding how to store information" Modifying information so that it can be placed in memory. To do this you use visual, auditory and semantic codes. Encoding is increasingly selective, deep and long-lasting stage, but sensory memories are not all selective. Yes, because working memory is selective, and then long-term memory is even more selective.
What was the behaviorist view on language development?
-BF Skinner, a behaviorist, argues that language develops through operant conditioning (positive reinforcements) Operant conditioning, reinforcing language, make sounds and shaping
What two strategies did Gardner use to identify multiple intelligences?
1) By observing people with high cognitive skills (extremely savant) 2) By observing people with low cognitive skills (extremely deficient) Looked at what significant deficit in and extremely good at
recall
A measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill-in-the-blank test.
How is an IQ of 100 determined now?
An IQ of 100 determined is the mental age/actual age.
Memory
An active system that receives information from the senses, puts that information into a usable form, organizes it as it stores it away and then retrieves the information from storage.
What does "problem solving" mean, in the context of cognitive psychology?
Any cognitive activity meant to guide action.
What is the difference between aptitude and achievement, and which one is more relevant for intelligence?
Aptitude is the capacity to learn and is more relevant for intelligence. Aptitude measures potential to learn while achievement measures things that have been learned already. Aptitude is related to IQ because it's our leaning potential, not how smart we are, and it's also part of one of the influences of intelligence.
Describe the following properties of language: 1) it is arbitrary, 2) it is flexible, 3) it has naming ability, 4) it allows displacement.
Arbitrary: no inherent connection between language symbols and their meanings (no definite meaning) Flexible: connection between symbols and meanings can shift Naming ability: novel thing/experience can be described Displacement: language symbols can refer to other places "here" other times "now"
Identify and describe two heuristics or biases humans frequently rely on.
Availability heuristic: people overestimate the likelihood of a phenomenon because examples are easy to think about/remember. Representativeness heuristic: people overestimate the likelihood that a phenomenon belongs in a particular category because it seems like a prototype for that category (i.e., it seems representative).
Phonemes
Basic units of sound. /k/, /a/, /t/, /s/
What are some examples of environmental influences on intelligence?
Books, basic nutrition, parent's involvement in school; Going to school increases aptitude (capable of learning)
Sensory
Briefly replays a sensation for a short period of time. Not at all selective. Lasts couple of seconds
What evidence do we have against the behaviorist view?
Children use language distinguish among sounds, create words for things, we are born ready to do as for a pigeon playing piano it's operant -Chomsky argued that we are inclined to learn languages, indicated by in-born tendency of phonetic sensitivity, semantic capacity and syntactic readiness. Children seem to learn it faster too
What are possible real-world implications of the misinformation effect?
Cops asking if you saw a gun. The next day thinking you did see it because dreams and time. criminal interrogation and forgetting
How do drives and goals allow for greater behavioral flexibility than reflexes or instincts?
Drives and goals when they are present, you can engage in pursuit in different ways. You can decide to do nothing at all. Ex: you can be hungry, but won't go eat. Goals and drives can overlap. '
Morphemes
Elementary units of meaning 'cat', 'draw', '-s', 're-'
What are the three stages of memory, from forming a memory to using it later?
Encoding, Storing, Retrieving
What is the difference between explicit and implicit memory, and what are the brain structures that are responsible for encoding each?
Explicit (episodic and semantic) Hippocampus Memory for facts and events Implicit (association) Cerebellum Memory for skills, conditioning
What are some criteria that we can use to identify psychological "needs"?
Has emotional consequences, influences thought processes and elicits behavior to satisfy it. Drive you to a number of things to satisfy it, universal among humans, impair you long term if you don't satisfy it, and is not better explained by another need. Ex: need for meaning affecting the need for relationships
What are hierarchies of concepts?
Hierarchies: Frameworks of specific concepts nested within general concepts. Example) Things that Fly -> (airplanes, wallendas, birds) (birds, mollusks, sloths) <- animals
What is IQ, and how was it originally calculated?
IQ is intelligence quotient and is calculated by (test score/age)
What does it mean to have an IQ of 100, or an IQ higher or lower than 100?
IQ of 100 means that you have an accurate mental capacity of the same age, however it is lower or higher that is the degree in which is determined by the average
What are some things that predict the value of a goal?
Individual differences are more interested in things others. Goals can be structured in a hierarchy, eating sushi is part of general goal to be cool and fit in, value of overarching goal might be stronger. Satisfied goal the value of specific goal will be weaker. Whether it's satisfying a different goal. Sheer goal salience, just being reminded of a goal through images, people mentioning it, increases the value of a goal. Whether it's freely chosen
Working Memory (short term)
Information currently in use. Things you are actively thinking about. Can hold about "7" units/things of basic information
What is the evidence that g is a uniquely important type of intelligence?
It effects and determines the happiness, money, health of a person. It's the fact that g (i.e., IQ) predicts adaptation.
Approximately how much variation in IQ is due to genes versus environmental influences?
It is mostly genes.
semantic encoding
Linking information with other concepts. (Things most meaningful to you - things that make sense to you) encoding of meaning, including the meaning of words
Storing
Maintenance of information over time. How long you store a memory depends on the stage of memory being used. Could be 20 seconds, could be permanently.
What is a prototype, and what do prototypes tell us about the structure of concepts?
Mental image or best example of a particular concept/schema. Its most likely built like a network. Ex) penguin pretty far from your bird category rather than robins or bluejays
According to these criteria, what are some examples of psychological needs?
Need to belong, self-esteem, control, and meaning
What does it mean to say that language is "productive," and how is this facilitated by each of the properties listed above?
New sentences and other combinations can be created, help describe narration 1) a symbol that has no definite meaning 2) you have multiple ways of saying one thing representing a symbol 3) you can describe using language 4) the combination can help describe the meanings
What are some things that predict one's expectancy about a goal?
Other goals can overlap and prevent a certain stimuli influenced by: individual differences in generalized expectancy, mood, and the salience of steps to attaining a goal
What are the three types of "forgetting" discussed in class?
Proactive interference: existing memories interfering with retrieval Retroactive Interference: the disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information Three stages of memory: encoding, storage, retrieval. You didn't forget, you never received. It could be in the storage and long-term trace can weaken and decay. Encoding path linking with a sound it could decay too. Retrieval forgetting is where interference makes it hard to retrieve the memory. Ex: The name Jessica and Jennifer
Define the following terms: reflex, instinct, drive, goal.
Reflex: automatic physical reaction to a stimulus (blinking when air is blown, touch something hot) Instinct: unmodifiable, unlearned complex behavior that is universal within species Drive: feeling of aroused tension relieved by action (hunger, flexible) Goal: mental representation of desired end states/outcomes
Long-Term Memory
Relatively permanent information storage. Very selective than sensory and working. Unlimited so far.
Compare and contrast heuristics and algorithms.
Schemas are any cognitive representation that organizes information. The concept of a bird, your understanding of how to behave in public, your understanding of how to solve algebra problems, and your understanding of how to tell if someone is male or female...these are all schemas. So some schemas are just representations of information, some schemas are algorithms (e.g., how to solve algebra problems), and some schemas are heuristics (e.g., how to tell someone's gender). As you say, algorithms are methodical rules that guarantee problem solving, whereas heuristics are rules of thumb (or approximate rules) that can help solve problems but are not foolproof. The rules we carry around in our heads that tell us whether someone's male or female, for example, probably work >99% of the time for most of us, but we can probably all think of times when we've been wrong! That's how you know a problem-solving rule is a heuristic and not an algorithm. Heuristics sometimes work. It's from habits and such. Algorithms are guaranteed methodical tactics.
Retrieving
Some retrieval can be automatic and easy. What is your name? Information that is not fully understood or is in greater amounts is harder to remember. Proper cues, like file names in the computer are needed
What tests are currently most often used to measure a person's intelligence?
Stanord - binet Test Wechsler adult intelligence scale (child =WISC) yields score called intelligence quotient (IQ)
How do psychologists define the term "intelligence"?
The ability to use knowledge to adapt to new situations
What is the evidence for and against the idea that g represents a single kind of intelligence?
The specific thing that contains verbal, spatial, mathematical, go together more so than others. IQ correlates basic measures, processing speeds. Evidence against it, they're not in one part of the brain, other kinds of intelligence, concept is too narrow. They are not perfectly correlated, one can be higher than the other
What is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, and what is the evidence for it?
Thoughts can become language unlike smells and sights so the language you know will affect how you will perceive a situation. Linguistic determinism: Language determines the way we think; the way we think depending on the language that we learned Ex: French will focus on the movement
What is Maslow's hierarchy of needs?
Unfulfilled basic needs have higher value than unfulfilled higher needs
What evidence indicates that good IQ tests consistently measure g?
Validity: how valid are the tests you are taking Accurate: how accurate Accuracy if you take a test and if you take the same test - must be consistent and correlated Predictive Validity: predicts things it should in theory Ex: if you smile, I predict you're happy Convergent Validity: multiple measures agree (different strength tests that coorelates)
What are value and expectancy, and how do they interact to motivate goal pursuit?
Value: importance of a goal (how much you want it) Expectancy: perceived likelihood that goal pursuit will be successful - goal you chose has a higher value
Recognition
a measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test
Syntactic readiness
acquiring grammar but understanding Ex: milk me please (you still understand)
What is long-term potentiation?
an increase in a synapses firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation. Believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory. Increased likelihood that when one neuron fires, an adjacent one will be affected.
Source amnesia:
attributing to the wrong source an event we have experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined Forgetting episodic information about semantic memory acquisition
Communication
behaviors influence other organisms through reference to concepts
flashbulb memory
clear memory of a critical/emotionally significant event or moment (automatically- almost no effort)
repetition
conscious repetition of information, either to maintain it in consciousness or to encode it for storage
What factors facilitate recall?
elaborative (creative) not maintenance (repeating over and over). Relearning.
What is the misinformation effect, and how is it facilitated by source amnesia?
incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event. Building on incorrect information to create false memories
semantic memory (facts, concepts)
memories for facts and general knowledge about the world; emotions not connected
Episodic(experiences)
memory for specific autobiographical events; includes spatial & temporal context (when & where); what we remember; emotionally connected
Concepts/Schemas
mental grouping of similar objects, events, or ideas. Things that come into your brain filtered by what you already know by patterns. You recognize a bird because you have a schema -idea of what birds look like.
Words
one or more morphemes, representing more complex meanings
chunking
organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically
Cognition:
processing, understanding, and communicating information. (thinking)
Semantic capacity
readiness to link sounds to meanings Ex: OUCH it hurts
Syntax
rules to combine and order
Symbols
sensory experiences that are linked to concepts
Language
shared system of symbols used for com
Grammar
system of rules in language
Phonetic Sensitivity
the ability differ speeches Ex: human baby vs animal at the sound ahhh
What abilities are included in the concept of general intelligence (g)?
verbal ability, logical/mathematical ability, spatial ability
What evidence indicates that at least some thought occurs without language?
•People can mentally rotate objects •Some experiences can't be described with words •Rats in maze (Animals, who do not have language, are able to use cognitive processes)