UWorld Psychology/Sociology
Sensory adaptation
A decreased responsiveness of a sensory neuron over time in response to a constant stimulus. In other words, when a stimulus doesn't change, the firing rate of the neuron detecting that stimulus declines. Sensory adaptation occurs in the peripheral nervous system
Interference
A memory process describing when old information prevents recollection of new information or new information prevents the recollection of old information
Motion parallax (relative motion)
A monocular cue whereby objects in the foreground are perceived as moving faster than objects in the background. Motion parallax is a perceptual process that would not require 3D depth but would still allow subjects to perceive BOTH DEPTH AND MOTION
State dependent memory
A phenomenon whereby memory retrieval is most efficient when an individuals internal state at the time of retrieval is the same as when the memory was encoded. For example, memories encoded while an individual is intoxicated are less easily recalled when sober than when intoxicated at a later time.
Social stigma
A stigma is an attribute or behavior that is considered undesirable by most in society. Social stigmatization is the disapproval of those with a deviant characteristic that does not conform to social expectations such as an intersex appearance (combination of male and female characteristics). Social stigmas can result in prejudice (negative attitudes) or discrimination (unfair treatment) by others in society
Habituation
A type of learning in which repeated exposure to a stimulus results in a decrease in the strength of a response (after a few minutes one becomes accustomed to a flickering light overhead and no longer notices it)
Sensitization
A type of learning in which repeated exposure to a stimulus results in an increase in the strength of a response (instead of growing accustomed to the flickering light one becomes extremely irritated
Attributional biases
Cognitive biases (irrational thought processes) that occur when individuals attempt to understand their own behavior or the behavior of others. Common errors are often made when individuals attribute their own behavior to some cause including: -just world phenomenon -fundamental attribution error -self serving bias
Computerized tomography (CT)
Computer combines multiple x-rays taken at different angles detailed structures of internal organs and tissues at a single point in time
Electroencephalogram
Electrodes are placed on scalp and connected to an amplifier measures voltage fluctuations in the brain over time
Avoidance learning
Escape learning becomes avoidance learning when an organism prevents coming into contact with an unpleasant stimulus (dog jumps over a partition to avoid the electric shock before it occurs)
teacher expectancy effect
occurs when a teachers belief about a studeny results in the student meeting those expectations. This is thought to occur as a result of the teachers behavior toward the student.
Episodic buffer
responsible for temporal processing (understanding the timeline of events) and integrating information from long term memory into working memory
Speech shadowing
selective attention process used in dichotic listening tasks that involves repeating information presented inone ear while tuning out the competing information in the other ear
Manifest functions
the recognized and intended consequences of any social pattern functionalism, a macro sociological theory comparing society to a biological organism contends that social institutions have manifest (intended) and latent (unintended) functions.
Fundamental attribution error
An attributional bias that occurs when one attributes anothers behavior to internal factors such as personality instead of external or situational factors.
Just world phenomenon
An attributional bias that occurs when one believes that the world is fair and good things happen to people who are hard working and good and that bad things happen to people who are bad or lazy. (karma) those who do wrong to others like rob others will end up going to jail
Self serving bias
An attributional bias that occurs when people attribute their success to themselves (i earned it because I worked hard) but blame their failure on external circumstances a student believes he succeeded because of the hours of studying for a test, however a student who failed the test feels he failed because the questions were poorly worded
phi phenomenon
An optical illusion in which a series of still photographs presented in rapid succession appear to be moving
Prefrontal cortex
Anterior portion of the frontal lobe, regulates executive functions, including working memory, reasoning, planning, impulse inhibition, attention, making decisions, and solving problems. pre frontal cortex is still developing during the teens and does not reach full maturity until the mid twenties Biological perspective: Seeks to explain human behavior through understanding physical and physiological causes. This perspective suggests that human behavior and mental illness can be explained by examining the structure and function of the brain. For example, a proponent of this perspective would suggest that the impulsive behavior of teenagers is the result of an immature prefrontal cortex.
Projection
Attributing ones unacceptable thoughts/behaviors to someone or something else (calling the sidewalk stupid after tripping)
Regression (major defense mechanism)
Behaving as if much younger to avoid unacceptable thoughtsbehaviors example: moving back in with parents to avoid adulthood stress
retinal disparity (binocular cue)
Binocular cue for DEPTH/DISTANCE Retinal disparity occurs because each eye transmits a slightly different image to the brain, which infers distance from the disparity. Convergence is the extent to which the eye turn inward (converge) to focus on an object, closer objects require more convergence which helps the brain infer distance.
Expanding Population Pyramid
Broad bases (lots of younger people) and narrow tops (few older) and are characteristic of developing countries with high birth/death rates and an increasing population size.
Stationary Population Pyramid
Broad bases and broad tops and are characteristic of developed countries with low birth/death rates and a stable population size.
Types of Kinship
Consanguineal: Based on genetic relationship )biological parents) Affinal: Based on marriage Fictive: Social ties that are not consanguineal or affinal (adopted children) Degrees of kinship: Primary: First degree family memebers (mothers) Secondary: Primary kin of first degree damily members (mothers brother) Tertiary: Secondary kin of first degree family members (mothers uncle) In sociology, kindship describes how individuals in society are related to one another, including connections through burth, marriage, adoption, or other socially defined relationshops. There are three major types of kinship: consaneuineal (genetically related individuals), affinal (individuals related through marriage), and fictive which describes individuals related through something other than genetics or marriage. Also known as chosen kin or voluntary kin, fictive kin may share bonds through law, religion, close family friendships, and others.
Cerebellum
Critical for motor learning, which occurs whenever an organism repeatedly practices a motor task, such as swimming, driviing, or speaking. Motor learning is the foundation for procedural memory. The cerebellum is also responsible for integrating information from the visual, vestibular, and somatosensory systems to maintain balance and posture, coordinate complex movements requiring multiple muscles and control precision of fine motor movements. The cerebellum also receives feedback from the body regarding the position of body parts in space and relative to each other (propioception).
Long Term Potentiation (LTP)
Describes an enduring increase in synaptic transmission of neurons which is the neural foundation for learning and memory consolidation. The increase in magnitude of excitatory postsynaptic potentials in the postsynaptic neurons in the experimental condition reflects LTP. LTP can also occur when two or more neurons repeatedly fire simultaneously. For example, if a neuron repeatedly receives simultaneous input from two sources, neuron A (visual input of flower) and neuron B (smell of flower), the combined inputs may become associated. If this occurs, either input A or input B will activate the postsynaptic neuron, but others, like input C (smell of an onion) will not. This is the neural foundation for how we learn associations. LTP can occur by two mechanisms: 1.) Increase in the release of neurotransmitter by the presynaptic neuron. 2.) Increase in the number of receptors of the postsynaptic neuron.
Social identity
Describes how ones self concept (ideas and beliefs about the self) is shaped by group membership. -the major social identities are sex/gender, sexuality, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, age, family status, and occupation Social identities define individuals in relation to others and allow for social groupings.
Personal identity
Describes how ones self concept is shaped by more private or individual characteristics.
Hindsight bias
Describes the tendency to perceive an event as being likely after it has occured even if it was unlikely example: after getting into a minor car accident, an individual states that she just knew she should have stayed home. (telling the future)
Cocktail party effect
Describes when attention quickly shifts from an attended stimulus to an unattended stimulus when something significatn occurs. at a crowded party you tune out all competing noise to focus on the person you are talking to (attended stimulus) but if you hear your name in another conversation your attention quickly shifts to that unattended stimulus, this is a selective attention
Multitasking
Impacted by task similarity, difficulty, and practiec. It is easier to perform two dissimilar tasks than two similar tasks. Driving, which requires visual attention, is easier to do while engaging in a hands free call than while texting because both texting and driving require visual attention.
Sick role theory (Talcott Parsons)
In sociology, a sick role theory conceptualizes illness as a socially acceptable form of deviance. When ill, an individual enters into the sick role, a socially defined status with rights and obligations. Rights: The sick person has the right to be exempt from playing other social roles while sick (employee) and is excused from fulfilling normal responsibilities (going to work). This sick person also has the right to not be held responsible for the illness. Obligations: The sick person has the responsibility to make every reasonable effort to get well as soon as possible. The sick person has the responsibility to seek medical help and to cooperate with medical professionals.
Contracting Population Pyramid
Narrower bases than middles and are characteristic of developed countries with very low birth rates and a gradually declining population size.
Social Class
Sociologists conceptualize society as being stratified or comprised of hierarchical categories known as social classes. The three major social classes are the upper class, middle class, and lower class. Several factors contribute to a eprsons social clas, including the social class of ones parents, educational attainment, and income/occupation. Social class imapcts life outcomes: upper classes have the most privilege (access to the best schools, health care, jobs) and power (avility to influence or control others).
Neuroplasticity
Neuroplasticity refers to lasting changes in the brain that occur when interactions with the environment alter neurons and or pathways. Neuroplasticity refers to both increases in neuronal connections known as potentiation, and decreases in neuronal responses, known as depression. Neuroplasticity is highest during early development but continues throughout our lifetime. Neuroplasticity can occur on the synaptic and structural level. Synaptic plasticity results from changes in the firing rate of the presynaptic neuron, which alters the amount of neurotransmitter released into the synaptic cleft and the number of receptors on the postsynaptic target. Synaptic changes are associated with both immediate and more delayed potentiation or depression. At the structural level, sprouting (increased connections between neurons), rerouting (new connections between neurons), and pruning (decreased connections between neurons) contribute to structural plasticity.
Escape Learning
Occurs when an organism learns how to terminate an ongoing unpleasant stimulus (dog jumps over a partition to flee from or stop a continuous electric shock)
Token Economy
Positively reinforces certain behaviors through the use of tokens, which are secondary reinforcers that can be echanged for a desirable reward. For example, a teacher gives each child a gold star for completing homework, and 5 gold stars can be exchanged for candy.
Occipital lobe
Primarily responsible for processing visual information.
Parietal lobe
Processes spatial information (proprioception) and is responsible for cognitive mapping our ability to represent mentally the spatial relationships concerning things in our environment.
Source monitoring error
Source monitoring errors occur when a memory is attributed to the wrong source (a cousins funny story is mistakenly attributed to an aunt)
Negative priming
Refers to the impaired processing (slower response or reduced accuracy) that occurs when a stimulus is initially ifnored and then later attended to.
Material culture
Refers to the physical items a group of people create, use, and/or interact with
Frontal Lobe
Responsible for many functions, including the active manipulation of information involved in reasoning and problem solving (woring memory) and the inititation of voluntary motor movements.
Positron emission tomography (PET)
Scanner detects radioactive tracer attached to a glucose analog measures changes in glucose metabolism in the brain over time
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
Scanner detects the differential properties of oxyhemoglobin and deoxyhemoglobin measures the change in blood oxygenation in the brain over time
Self fulfilling prophecy
Self fulfilling prophecy occurs when a belief about oneself causes a behavior that makes the belief come true. In other words, the belief itself regardless of if the belief is true or justified, directly or indirectly initiates a chain of events that prove the belief
Kinsey Scale of Sexual Behavior
Sex, gender, and sexual orientation are separate but related concepts. Sociologists define sexual orientation as a comparison between ones own sex category and the sex ctegory to which one is attracted and with which one is physically intimate. A major limitation in the kinsey scale is that it requires individuals to identify with a binary sex category. For example, for individuals who identify as intersex, it may not be possible to define sexual orientation as same sex or opposite sex. Although there are a variety of additional labels for sexuality that do not fit along a heterosexual homosexual continuum the
Spatial inequality
Spatial inequality results from the uneven distribution of wealth and resources across a geographic area. Some of the best examples of spatial inequality are low income subsidized housing projects because these typically concentrate large numbers of lower income individuals into one area that is geographically separated or isolated from middle and upper income areas. The physical separation of groups by social characteristics such as race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status is known as residential segregation. Segregated neighborhoods experience different degrees of environmental benefits (access to safe parks and good schools) and environmental burdens (crime, pollution); this is known as environmental injustice. Spatial inequality results in the worst health outcomes for residents in the poorest neighborhoods because of increased exposure to violence and environmental risks.
Stimulus generalization
Stimulus generalization occurs when a conditioned response is elicited by stimuli similar to the original conditioned stimulis.
Displacement (major defense mechanism)
Taking out unacceptable thoughts/behaviors on a safe target (punching a pillow when angry about being fired)
Fundamental attribution error
Tendency to blame others behavior on their internal instead of external factors
Tonic Stimulus Response
Tonic receptors are sensory receptors that continue to produce action potentials throughout the duration of a stimulus.
sublimation (defense mechanism)
Transforming unacceptable thoughts/behaviors to acceptable thoughts/behaviors (taking up boxing as a hobby to vent anger)
