Psych review

learning that occurs but is not apparent until there is an incentive to demonstrate it

Latent learning

act in our long-term interests.

Rather than just seeking pleasure and avoiding pain, consciousness helps us to:

when one tries to hold information temporarily by repeating it to oneself.

Rehearsal

convergent thinking

Seventeen-year-old Jason is an excellent test-taker and does very well on aptitude tests.

capacity for holding, but not manipulating, a small amount of information in mind in an active, readily available state for a short period of time. For example, short-term memory can be used to remember a phone number that has just been recited.

Short-term/working memory

Several months after watching a science fiction movie about space travel and alien abduction, Daniel began to remember that aliens had abducted him and had subjected him to many of the horrors portrayed in the movie. His mistaken recall BEST illustrates _____ amnesia.

Source amnesia

the inability to remember where, when or how previously learned information has been acquired, while retaining the factual knowledge.

Source amnesia

incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event.

The misinformation effect

sort of like muscle memory. When you start to do something that you have done many times, and you can complete it successfully without giving it any thought

Automatic processing

accepting ideas uncritically; this is not something a scientist should do.

Gullibility

the intensive study of a single individual or group

case study

As cognitive psychologists define it, a concept is a(n):

category

Psychoactive drugs are

chemicals capable of influencing perception, mood, cognition, or behavior

A mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, and people is called a ____

concept

Pavlov noticed that dogs began salivating at the mere sight of the person who regularly brought food to them. For the dogs, the sight of this person had become a(n) _____ stimulus.

conditioned

An obstacle to problem solving is _____, which is the tendency to accept only information that supports existing beliefs.

confirmation bias

Mona remarks that she is interested in the effects of happiness on physical health and mental well-being. Mona's interest reflects the _____ psychology approach.

positive

To reduce the self-destructive behavior of some children, a therapist might squirt water in the children's faces whenever they bite themselves. The squirt of water is a:

positive punishment.

Austin can't remember Jack Smith's name because he wasn't paying attention when Jack was formally introduced. Austin's poor memory is BEST explained in terms of:

encoding failure

Explicit memories are processes in the hippocampus and the frontal lobe.

explicit

behavior that is driven by external rewards such as money, fame, grades, and praise

extrinsic

A(n) _____ refers to an inability to view a problem from a new perspective.

fixation

John remembers very clearly the day his best friend died in a bicycle accident at the hands of a drunk driver. This BEST illustrates _____ memory.

flashbulb

Professor Wallace studies memory in people who have had strokes. Professor Hansen studies people who claim to have clear memories of events that happened over three decades ago. Such research on the extremes of memory:

helps us to understand how memory works

unconscious memory or automatic memory. Implicit memory uses past experiences to remember things without thinking about them.

implicit memory

The unconscious activation of associations in memory is called _____

priming

During a Spanish language exam, Janice easily remembers the French vocabulary she studied that morning. However, she finds it difficult to recall the Spanish vocabulary she rehearsed that afternoon. Her difficulty BEST illustrates _____.

proactive interference

Professor Yu has so many memories of former students that she has difficulty remembering the names of new students. The professor's difficulty BEST illustrates _____ interference.

proactive interference

Whenever Mark tries to recall his new cell-phone number, he keeps getting it mixed up with his old cell-phone number. Mark's failure to remember his new cell-phone number is probably caused by:

proactive interference

Matching new items to a(n) _____ provides a quick and easy method for sorting items into existing mental categories.

prototype

An optimally functioning brain requires adequate sleep. This reflects the notion that sleep serves the function of:

recuperation

Tarik has a chemistry test in two days. He has to memorize the elements on the periodic table, so he writes them on index cards. He keeps the cards with him at all times and periodically reads through them. Tarik is using _____ to encode information in short-term memory for longer-term storage.

rehearsal

A local school board is setting up a program to help prepare children to become scientists. To carry out this program, teachers should encourage which attitude?

skepticism

Giacomo uses cocaine. He finds that he needs a line or two to re-create the original effects of a "bump." Which is the MOST specific term describing Giacomo's experience?

tolerance

A recent survey showed that approximately ____ of adults were very satisfied with their personal lives if they got sufficient sleep.

two-thirds

Before the tone ever sounded, Pavlov's dogs salivated each time food was presented, exemplifying a(n) _____ response.

unconditioned

Researchers conditioned a flatworm to contract when exposed to light by repeatedly pairing the light with electric shock. The electric shock is a(n):

unconditioned stimulus.

The happier Judie feels, the more readily she recalls experiences with former teachers who were warm and generous. This BEST illustrates that emotional states can be _____ cues.

retrieval

Darlene is trying to remember the name of a woman sitting next to her on the bus. She knows she met her at a party, and she is trying to remember which one. Darlene is able to imagine where the woman was seated at the party, as well as what she was eating. Darlene is using _____ to remember the woman's name

retrieval cues

40 percent

attending to the conversation may decrease activity in the areas of Marcie's brain critical for safe driving by nearly _____ percent.

Colton wakes up in a hospital. Apparently, he cannot remember anything that happened immediately following a severe head injury. Colton's case BEST demonstrates:

anterograde amnesia.

Gina adequately studied for her short-answer psychology exam. However, while taking the final she could not remember the material she previously retained. According to the computer information-processing model of memory, Gina is having difficulty with _____.

Retrieval

when forming a new memory makes it harder to recall a previous memory.

Retroactive interference

withdrawal symptoms

craving, insomnia, anxiety, irritability, and distractibility

A person who engages in _____ thinking would ask if the evidence justifies a cause-effect conclusion and other similar questions.

critical

Macy gave her dog a treat each time she came to Macy when she called her by name. Soon the dog came every time Macy called the dog by name. This is an example of:

operant conditioning.

Manny has recently been diagnosed with schizophrenia. The therapeutic approach used in his outpatient treatment facility aims to help Manny flourish, rather than merely to alleviate his symptoms. Manny's therapy reflects a psychological perspective called the _____ approach.

positive

Arnold had difficulty recognizing that bullfighting was a sport because it failed to resemble his _____ of a sport.

prototype

Checking the computer for a change in a friend's status updates is generally reinforced on a(n) _____ schedule.

ratio

Operant behavior produces events in the environment, whereas _____ behavior occurs as an automatic response to a stimulus.

respondent

In _____ amnesia, memory is lost for events preceding an injury or accident; in _____ amnesia, memory is lost for events following an injury or accident.

retrograde; anterograde

Animals can be trained to perform many behaviors through _____; that is, by providing well-timed rewards as the animals progressively better approximate the desired behaviors.

shaping

To make a long-distance call, you have to dial an unfamiliar phone number. You are likely to have trouble retaining the number you just looked up. This BEST illustrates the limited capacity of _____ memory.

short term/working memory

Parents of newborn babies often complain about being chronically tired, because their infants' crying, feeding, and diaper changes interrupt their sleep nightly. After many nights, they develop what is known as _____.

sleep debt

People overestimate the frequency of school shootings because such events are highly publicized when they do occur. This illustrates:

the availability heuristic.

Studying for his final exams, Leon is forced to do a great deal of memorization. Unfortunately, his next-door neighbor has a dog that is prone to barking at night. Amazingly, the barking coincides almost precisely with Leon's REM sleep cycle, interrupting his ability to dream. Leon does very poorly on his exams. According to the information-processing theory of dreams, an explanation for his poor performance is:

the barking interfered with his REM sleep, which interfered with memory consolidation.

Some patients suffering from amnesia are incapable of recalling events. (storage) Yet they can be conditioned to blink their eyes in response to a specific sound. They have MOST likely suffered damage to the:

hippocampus.

dual processing

how thought can arise in two different ways, or as a result of two different processes.

focuses on the potential for growth

humanistic

Nine-year-old Jade has just discovered something very interesting. She can look at a picture in a book and, when she closes her eyes, she can still see the picture very clearly for a few tenths of a second. Jade is experiencing _____ memory.

iconic

Luke experiences some damage to his cerebellum. Based on information provided in the textbook, Luke's _____ memory may be impaired.

implicit

Some patients with anterograde amnesia have learned how to spot hard-to-find figures in the Where's Waldo? series without any conscious awareness that they can do so. This BEST illustrates their retention of _____ memory.

implicit

Arnold goes to his psychotherapist and describes his recent dreams where he flies like an eagle through the sky. His therapist listens and then offers the interpretation that this dream signifies Arnold's unconscious desires to be free of his family obligations. Arnold's therapist is displaying an interest in

the latent content of Arnold's dream.

A test of memory that involves picking the correct answer from a displayed list of options is an example of a retention measure called:

recognition

Although it is unknown if one must buy 1, 10, or 100 scratch-off lottery tickets to get a winning ticket, it is probable that if one keeps buying, eventually one will get a winner. In fact, maybe the very next ticket will be a winner. Therefore, buying scratch-off lottery tickets is reinforced according to a _____ schedule.

variable-ratio

the average of the numbers. It is easy to calculate: add up all the numbers, then divide by how many numbers there are.

mean

the number that occurs most frequently in the set.

mode

convergent thinking

narrows the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution

Thomas regularly buckles his seat belt simply because it turns off the car's irritating warning buzzer. This BEST illustrates the value of _____ reinforcement.

negative

Which answer pairs a question that a psychologist might ask with the scientific attitude it BEST illustrates?

Could I be wrong? - humility

cognition

all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

intuition

an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought

biopsychosocial approach

an integrated approach that incorporates biological, psychological, and social-cultural levels of analysis

emphasizes observable actions, rather than unconscious processes.

behaviorist

focuses on information processing, rather than motives and conflicts

cognitive

tendency to seek evidence that supports one's preexisting views

confirmation bias

divergent thinking

expands the number of possible problem solutions

When you encode a piece of target information, other bits of information become associated with it. The bits of information connected with the target information are known as:

retrieval cues.

Bruce watches a new television program with enthusiasm. He then watches a second, similar program. Bruce later finds it difficult to remember the details of the first program; he finds that details about the second program keep intruding. What has probably occurred?

retroactive interference

A political rally erupts in violence, seriously injuring a number of attendees. An editorial columnist writes that city officials should have realized the violence would occur. "All the signs were there," the columnist notes. This belief MOST clearly illustrates hindsight bias, otherwise known as:

the I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon

selective attention

the ability to focus on only one stimulus from among all sensory input (ignoring the scrolling newsfeed and the changing advertisements on the right-hand side of the screen)

If Lola begins to list all the classes she's ever taken in college, she will most likely recall her last few classes particularly well. What is this phenomenon called?

the recency effect

Sometimes one is prone to judge an individual based on one's notion of the category of people he or she most closely resembles. When this happens, one falls prey to:

the representativeness heuristic

A fixation refers to an inability to:

view a problem from a fresh perspective

An example of a strong inverse correlation is:

-0.75.

Gabe's roommate fell asleep about 25 minutes ago. Now, Gabe needs to awaken his roommate so that they can both get to a party on time. His roommate is sleeptalking about his girlfriend's cat. When Gabe begins laughing, his roommate wakes up. He was in NREM-_____ sleep

2

cocktail party effect

Ability to concentrate on one voice amongst a crowd

Dr. Jacobiac prescribes exercise for his patients with depression because it has been shown that people who exercise have lower than average incidences of depression. Dr. Jacobiac is relying on findings from correlational studies and is on shaky ground because he does not know if there is:

a cause-and-effect relationship between exercise and depression.

iconic memory

a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photographic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second

confirmation bias

a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence

While working on a problem, people often will think about it for a long time until suddenly the solution comes to them. This is an example of _____.

insight

At a loud party, Maggie met so many new people that when she ran into one of her new acquaintances on campus the next day, she was unable to remember the person's name. The MOST likely explanation for her forgetting the name of her new acquaintance is:

interference

behavior that is driven by internal rewards

intrinsic motivation

Pauline is learning how to play badminton. For her first lesson, her instructor models serving the birdie while Pauline patiently watches. Pauline then tries to imitate the sequence of swings and motions made by her instructor. This is an example of _____ learning.

observational

Jane had leukemia as a child and had to undergo numerous bouts of chemotherapy. She had grown to associate the waiting room with nausea. Now 35 years old, she had to take her mother to the same hospital for breast cancer treatment. She became nauseous while in the waiting room with her mother. Her nausea BEST illustrates:

spontaneous recovery.

When people learn something while in one state (for example, when they are feeling joyful or sad), they are better able to recall that thing while in the same state. This is known as _____ memory.

state-dependent

Dr. Rowan attempts to help his patients uncover unconscious motives and conflicts. Dr. Rowan appears to reflect the _____ approach in psychology.

Freudian

a type of mental shortcut that involves basing judgments on info and examples that quickly come to mind.

availability heuristic

Deep brain structures involved in movement/Procedural memory requires activation of the:

basal ganglia

When one is picturing a chart in a textbook and thinking about what a professor discussed about the topic in class, one is utilizing the ______ aspect of working memory.

central executive

In research examining the contribution of genes and neurons to addiction, which neurotransmitter appears to be involved?

dopamine

Jonah works in a packaging plant. For every 100 packages he completes, he is given an additional 10-percent increase in his hourly pay. This is a _____ reinforcement schedule.

fixed-ratio

a highly detailed, exceptionally vivid 'snapshot' of the moment and circumstances in which a piece of surprising and consequential (or emotionally arousing) news was heard.

flashbulb

a problem-solving strategy that is usually successful

heuristic

Dr. Clark published an article on teen parenting behaviors demonstrating that teen parents tend to develop insecure attachments with male infants but not female infants. Subsequent research by other psychologists failed to find this gender difference. Dr. Clark reasoned that her initial finding was either based on an error or not generalizable beyond her sample. She is demonstrating:

humility.

Gabe goes to bed at your regular time, and as he begins to drift slowly off to sleep, he jumps up suddenly as he feels you he is falling down the stairs. This is best explained by a _____ sensation.

hypnagogic

The suprachiasmatic nucleus is located in the brain's

hypothalamus

A large pharmaceutical company begins to write a research protocol based on their belief that a new medication called Drug R may be useful in treating anxiety. They predict that Drug R should reduce symptoms of anxiety. This prediction is a(n):

hypothesis.

When making each day's hundreds of judgments and decisions, people often refer to:

intuition

Linda had a severe toothache for many days before she went to the dentist. After treatment she was much relieved. The next time she experienced pain in her teeth she went to the dentist right away. This is an example of _____ reinforcement.

negative

A researcher develops a self-report questionnaire assessing "morningness." High scores indicate the tendency toward being a "lark," or "morning person," whereas low scores indicate the tendency toward being a "night owl." Based on the textbook's discussion, the researcher should find a _____ correlation between scores on this measure and scores on a measure of the Big Five trait of openness, and a ______ correlation between scores on this measure and scores on a measure of the Big Five trait of conscientiousness.

negative; positive

At work, there is a vending machine that dispenses extra candy bars when you select either the A or B choices. You continue to frequent this machine regularly. This BEST illustrates:

operant conditioning

If Jamal wants to train his dog to sit and lie down when he commands the behavior, which type of conditioning should he utilize to train his dog?

operant conditioning

Framing

the power of the media to influence how events and issues are interpreted (The public might think the economic situation is not as bad as it really is if the government reported employment at 88 percent, rather than saying that the unemployment rate is 12 percent. Which phenomenon is influencing the public's judgment in this situation?)

the process whereby the first few items on a list are learnt more rapidly than the middle items.

the primacy effect

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

the spacing effect.

In an experimental test of the effects of vitamin B12 on problem-solving performance, _____ is the independent variable and _____ is the dependent variable.

the vitamin; problem-solving performance

In classical conditioning, we learn _____; whereas in operant conditioning, we learn _____.

to associate two stimuli and thus to anticipate events; to associate a response and its consequence

Jack finds it extremely difficult to pull himself away from the blackjack table. He keeps thinking he will break even as the next hand will be his winning one. This is an example of the effects of a _____ schedule of reinforcement.

variable-ratio

Isaac Newton stated that he was able to solve difficult scientific problems "by thinking about them all the time." This BEST demonstrates:

intrinsic motivation.

Structuralists introduced a research method called _____ to identify basic elements of the human mind. (immediate sensations, images, and feelings)

introspection

Katrina studied the Russian language in high school. Although she was not fluent, she did accumulate a large vocabulary. Years later she decided to go to Russia, so she wanted to brush up on her vocabulary. She picked up the vocabulary much more quickly because:

it is easier to relearn; that is, to learn the material for a second time.

Women are more vulnerable to alcohol because they:

lack an enzyme in their stomachs that helps metabolize alcohol.

Matthew tries to finish the day's most important business by 1:00 P.M., before his brain "runs down." His graduate student Meghna claims that her brain "comes alive" at 10:00 P.M. Matthew may be described as a(n) _____, whereas Meghna is better called a(n) ______.

lark, owl

when you memorize a list of information (words, names, ideas, formulas, and just about anything else that can be made into a list), and when remembering a later part of the list, an earlier memorized part of the list gets in the way.

proactive interference