Gen. Psych. Unit 2 Exam

Nature vs. Nurture

Do genes (nature) or environmental factors (nurture) contribute more to a person's being?

Identify an accurate statement related to operant conditioning.

Operant conditioning is a form of associative learning.

Discrimination

in classical conditioning, the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus -respond to only the correct stimulus

_____ is a form of problem solving in which the organism develops a sudden understanding of a problem's solution.

insight learning

_____ means that the conditioned stimulus (CS) must not only precede the unconditioned stimulus (US) closely in time, but it must also serve as a reliable indicator that the unconditioned stimulus (US) is on its way.

Contiguity

_____ produces the single best solution to a problem.

Convergent thinking

Which of the following is true of short-term memory?

It is improved by chunking and rehearsal techniques.

Which of the following is true of observational learning?

It often takes less time than operant conditioning

_____ is defined as a type of learning that occurs without reinforcement. However, this learning is not demonstrated until the person or animal is reinforced to do so.

Latent learning

Which of the following is true of long-term memory?

Long-term memory has a storage capacity that is virtually unlimited.

The process in classical conditioning by which a conditioned response can recur after a time delay, without further conditioning, is called

spontaneous recovery

If one were to translate "white house" to Spanish from English, it would be "casa blanca," or "house white." This demonstrates a difference in _____ between the two languages.

syntax

test validity

the degree to which a test actually measures what it is supposed to measure

spontaneous recovery

the tendency of a learned behavior to recover from extinction after a rest period

effect of divided attention

- can be detrimental to encoding -multitasking -ineffective because of inability to filter out interference from irrelevant task (during multitasking)

IQ

-68% between 85-115 -98% between 70-130 -99% between 55-145

Capacity of short term memory

-7 +/- 2 -limited capacity memory system -usually just retained for as long as seconds unless strategies are used to retain it longer

Drug Addiction

-compensatory responses 1. drug causes compensatory response in the body. Effect of drug to maintain homeostasis 2.Environmental cues become CS for the compensatory response> craving and tolerance 3.Response> overdosing in novel situation

Thorndike's Law of Effect

-positive outcomes increase behavior by adding :) -negative outcomes decrease behavior by removing :(

Albert Experiment

-showed Albert a white lab rat (NS) -added loud sound to scare Albert (US) -loud noise made Albert cry (UR) -Albert began to cry when he saw the rat (CR) -his fear was generalized to a rabbit, a dog, and a sealskin coat. -point= we learn fears through classical conditioning

Nature vs Nurture w/ Lang and Intelligence

NATURE: Language Universals (Chomsky) Brain prewired to learn lang -In the Brain -Lang processing - left hemisphere -Broca's area speech production -Wernicke's area language comprehension NURTURE: Reinforcement (Skinner) -complex learned skill -Prob: language develops rapidly -Critical periods -Biology & environment interact

Which of the following is true of shallow processing in memory?

Physical features are analyzed in the process of shallow processing.

gifted

Possessing high intelligence (an IQ of 130 or higher) and/or superior talent in a particular area.

operant conditioning

B.F Skinner -consequences > behavior -operant =behavior

Chomsky's Theory

Children have an inborn ability to learn language through exposure to it, not being taught it.

Identify a true statement about language milestones among children

Children understand metaphor and satire usually between ages 11 and 14.

Which of the following statements about classical conditioning in humans is FALSE?

Classical conditioning is based on observing and imitating others.

repressed memories

Real memories that have been pushed out of consciousness because they are emotionally threatening

Sam manages a fast-food restaurant. He is frustrated because employees often call in sick at the last minute before the start of their shift. Given that Sam recognizes this problem, which of the following is the next immediate step that he should take to solve this problem?

Sam should define the problem and develop strategies to solve it.

Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences

Seven defined types of intelligence: linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, visual-spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal

retrieval cues

Stimuli that are used to bring a memory to consciousness or into behavior

context-dependent memory

The theory that information learned in a particular situation or place is better remembered when in that same situation or place.

Jillian was in a car accident and sustained a serious head trauma. Since the surgery, she has forgotten her name, career, and other vital information about herself. Yet, she is still able to talk, know what words mean, and have general knowledge about the world, such as what day it is or who currently is the president of the U.S. This behavior suggests that Jillian's _____ is impaired, but her _____ is still functioning

episodic memory/semantic memory

test standardization

establishing standards for administering a test and interpreting scores

Developing a criterion for determining the effectiveness of the solution occurs during which step of the problem-solving process?

evaluation of solutions

Tolman said that when classical conditioning and operant conditioning occur, an organism acquires certain

expectations

memory encoding

first step in creating a memory - the process by which information gets into memory storage -begins with attention

Jose's employer pays him every other Friday. This is an example of which of the following schedules of reinforcement?

fixed-interval

motivated forgetting

forgetting that occurs when something is so painful or anxiety-laden that remembering it is intolerable

difficulties with problem solving

functional fixedness and fixation

In operant conditioning, _____ means performing a reinforced behavior in a different situation

generalization

Which of the following describes the trait of a critical thinker?

grasping the deeper meaning of ideas

memory storage

how information is stored over time and how it is represented in the memory

Reinforcement

in operant conditioning, any event that strengthens the behavior it follows

Which of the following would NOT be a case of mental retardation?

an adult who, after 30 years of normal intellectual functioning, is involved in an automobile accident and has suffered brain damage that has severely limited mental functioning

punishment

an event that decreases the behavior that it follows

long-term potentiation

an increase in a synapse's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation. Believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory.

According to Bandura's model of observational learning, what are the four primary processes involved in observational learning?

attention, retention, motor reproduction, and reinforcement

Metacognition

awareness and understanding of one's own thought processes.

The tendency to ignore information about general principles in favor of very specific but vivid information is known as

base rate neglect

culturally biased tests

contain language, examples, or other assumptions that favor one group over another

Carol gives her dog, Spike, a chew stick each time Spike gets the ball back at her command. Carol is using a _____ schedule to train her dog to get the ball back on command.

continuous reinforcement

Sophia is in the fifth grade and lives in one of the most impoverished areas in the state. She has a history of academic failure, although she is very sensitive to teacher expectations. Her teachers have noticed that she responds best when candy is offered as an incentive instead of verbal praise. Sophia's IQ is 65. She is most likely a victim of

cultural-familial retardation.

According to Gardner's multiple intelligences, which of the following types of vocations would most likely require bodily kinesthetic intelligence?

dancer

positive punishment

decreases behavior by adding :(

negative punishment

decreases behavior by removing :)

schedules of reinforcement

different patterns of frequency and timing of reinforcement following desired behavior

Lilly, a young girl, was isolated and severely abused during her childhood days. Because her parents never communicated with her in words, Lilly lacked exposure to language during her early childhood years. Although she was able to make some language advances while in extensive rehabilitation, Lilly, as an adult, still speaks in short, mangled two- or three-word sentences. This scenario suggests that language development

is influenced by the environment.

Which of the following describes the reinforcement element in observational learning?

judging whether to repeat a behavior depending on the consequences of the behavior

Shirley repeatedly ends up receiving bad grades in algebra no matter how hard she studies. Eventually, Shirley stops studying for algebra tests and accepts that nothing she does will enable her to get good grades. In the context of operant conditioning, Shirley's behavior exemplifies

learned helplessness.

latent learning

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

associative learning

making a connection, or an association, between two events

semantic memory

memory for knowledge about the world -general knowledge learned in school, common things, famous people, etc.

Concepts

mental categories that are used to group objects, events, and characteristics

positive reinforcement

most powerful - add something pleasant

If an outcome measure is normally distributed, this means that

most scores are around the average score.

Which of the following is more effective in explaining voluntary behaviors?

operant conditioning

Chunking

organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically

Sternberg's Triarchic Theory

our intelligence is best classified into three areas that predict real-world success: analytical, creative, and practical

serial position effect

our tendency to recall best the last and first items in a list -primacy effect = better recall the items at the beginning -recency effect = better recall items at the end of a list

Jennifer accidentally plays a radio channel that she has never heard before. She loves the music it plays and as a result, she plays only that channel whenever she wants to listen to music. In the context of operant conditioning, Jennifer's behavior has most likely been learned through

positive reinforcement

The useful character of language and the ability of language to communicate even more meaning than is said are known as

pragmatics

Belinda and John were best friends through their school years. Belinda now works in a café and has become good friends with her colleague, Jim. However, Belinda often finds herself referring to Jim as John, even though she has not spoken to John for at least four years. Belinda's confusion with these names may be attributed to the occurrence of

proactive interfenence

Behavior that is

reinforced will be repeated

The process by which a stimulus or event following a particular behavior increases the probability that the behavior will happen again is called

reinforcement

negative reinforcement

remove something unpleasant -avoidance learning and learned helplessness

episodic memory

retention of information about where, when, and what of life's happenings

The last step in the problem-solving process is _____.

rethinking and redefining problems and solutions over time

In operant conditioning, _____ refers to rewarding successive approximations of a desired behavior.

shaping

What is intelligence?

the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations

infinite generativity

the ability to produce an endless number of meaningful sentences using a finite set of words and rules

Priming

the activation of information that people already have in storage to help them remember new information better and faster

Dan, who often travels in airplanes, experiences sudden fear of flying after he hears the news about an airplane crash. In this case, Dan's experience demonstrates

the availability heuristic.

Pavlov's dog salivated to the sound of a bell because

the bell had become associated with food.

explicit (declarative) memory

the conscious recollection of information, such as specific facts or events and, at least in humans, information that can be verbally communicated -include semantic and episodic memory

rehearsal

the conscious repetition of information, either to maintain it in consciousness or to encode it for storage

Extinction

the diminishing of a conditioned response; occurs in classical conditioning when an unconditioned stimulus (US) does not follow a conditioned stimulus (CS); occurs in operant conditioning when a response is no longer reinforced.

retroactive interference

the disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information - calling an old friend by the name of a new friend

proactive interference

the disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information -calling a new friend by the name of an old friend

test reliability

the extent to which a test yields a consistent, reproducible measure of performance

growth mindset

the idea that our abilities are malleable qualities that we can cultivate and grow

sensory memory

the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system - holds information from the world in its original sensory form

fixation

the inability to see a problem from a new perspective, by employing a different mental set

implicit (nondeclarative) memory

the memory in which behavior is affected by prior experience -ex: skills of playing tennis and snowboarding -includes

memory retrieval

the process of accessing and bringing into consciousness information stored in memory -includes semantic and episodic memory

long term memory

the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences.

memory

the retention of information or experience over time

Cognitive Psychology

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

generalization (classical conditioning)

the tendency of a new stimulus that is similar to the original conditioned stimulus to elicit a response that is similar to the conditioned response

functional fixedness

the tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions; an impediment to problem solving

interference theory

the theory that people forget not because memories are lost from storage but because other information gets in the way of what they want to remember

observational learning theory

theory that suggests that an individual can acquire new behaviors by watching other people perform them

Before the bell was ever presented, Pavlov's dog salivated each time food was presented. In this situation, salivation is the

unconditioned response

intelligence quotient (IQ)

a child's mental age divided by chronological age, multiplied by 100

How classical conditioning works

1. Neutral stimulus___Unconditioned Stimulus> Unconditioned Response 2. Neutral Stimulus + Unconditioned Stimulus> Unconditioned Response 3. Conditioned Stimulus > Conditioned Response.

People who are gifted have an IQ of

130 or up

Identify the age group during which children typically understand adult literary work.

15 to 20

A child with a mental age of 9 and a chronological age of 12 has an IQ

75

compensatory response

A biological reaction to a conditioned stimulus that is the opposite of the effects of the stimulus and therefore partially counteracts its effects.

recall

A measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill-in-the-blank test.

Algorithm

A methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem.

prototype model

A model emphasizing that when people evaluate whether a given item reflects a certain concept, they compare the item with the most typical item(s) in that category and look for a "family resemblance" with that item's properties.

____ refers to the tendency for two vivid stimuli, when they occur together, to become linked erroneously in memory.

Illusory correlation

explanations for forgetting

Interference and retrieval failure -retroactive interference -proactive interference

intellectual disability

a condition of limited mental ability, indicated by an intelligence score of 70 or below and difficulty in adapting to the demands of life; varies from mild to profound

Insight Learning (Kohler)

a form of problem solving in which the organism develops a sudden insight into or understanding of a problem's solution

recognition

a measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test

Learning

a relatively permanent change in an organism's behavior due to experience

Heuristic

a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than algorithms -rule of thumb

procedural memory

a type of implicit memory that involves motor skills and behavioral habits

classical conditioning

a type of learning in which an organism comes to associate stimuli. A neutral stimulus that signals an unconditioned stimulus (US) begins to produce a response that anticipates and prepares for the unconditioned stimulus. Also called Pavlovian or respondent conditioning.

operant conditioning

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