Psych Exam 2!!

problem solving

finding a way around an obstacle to reach a goal

Learning

-relatively enduring change in behavior, resulting from experience. -occurs when an animal benefits from experience so that its behavior is better adapted to the environment.

nonassociative learning

-responding after repeated exposure to a single stimulus, or event -response to something in the environment.

representativeness heuristic

judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead us to ignore other relevant information

Learning that takes place in the absence of reinforcement is known as

latent learning

Tolman's work on learning without reinforcement resulted in the theory of

latent learning.

Thorndike's rule that actions resulting in bad outcomes are less likely to be repeated is known as the

law of effect

observational learning

learning by observing others; also called social learning

associative learning

learning that certain events occur together. The events may be two stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a response and its consequences (as in operant conditioning).

latent learning

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

amnesia

loss of memory (long-term memory)

availability heuristic

making a decision based on the answer that most easily comes to mind

mnemonics

memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices

source misattribution

memory distortion that occurs when people misremember the time, place, person, or circumstances involved with a memory

Which of the following is an example of a mnemonic?

memory palace

The Stanford-Binet IQ test assesses the difference between which two factors?

mental and chronological age

intelligence

mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations

Billy has watched many movies in which the hero smokes cigarettes. When Billy identifies with these heroes and begins to smoke, what psychological term might be used to describe his behavior?

modeling

Which of the following terms is used to describe the removal of a stimulus?

nagative

If having your license suspended for driving too fast makes you less likely to speed when you get it back, then the suspension is an example of

negative punishment.

Adjusting to a phone ringing during a lecture is an example of ________ learning, whereas feeling excited when your own phone gives a text message alert is an example of ________ learning.

nonassociative; associative

What type of learning occurs when one's behavior is modified simply through exposure to others performing a behavior?

observational

The idea that the consequences of our actions determine the likelihood they will be performed in the future underlies

operant conditioning.

fluid intelligence

our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood

crystallized intelligence

our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age

language

our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning

serial position effect

our tendency to recall best the last and first items in a list

The term ________ is used to describe intermittent reinforcements.

partial reinforcement

People who were close to the location of the World Trade Center during the 9/11 terrorist attacks are very likely to show increased physiological responses to

planes overhead.

Memory requires attention. If you want to remember something well, it is best to attend to only one thing at a time because attention

is limited

long-term memory

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

negative punishment

the removal of a stimulus to decrease the probability of a behavior's recurring

Behaviorism

the science of behavior that focuses on observable behavior only

You are conducting an informal study in which, for a month, you play a particular song for your best friend right before you serve dinner to her. Eventually, you play the song, and then wait to see how your friend responds. She begins to salivate and says she has hunger pains. In this scenario, what is the conditioned stimulus?

the song

Phonics

the sounds that letters make and the letters that are used to represent sounds

suggestibility

the tendency to incorporate misleading information from external sources into personal recollections

functional fixedness

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

Anchoring

the tendency, in making judgments, to rely on the first piece of information encountered or information that comes most quickly to mind

Generalization

the tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses

symbolic representation

the use of one object to stand for another

behavior modification

the use of operant conditioning techniques to bring about desired changes in behavior

Framing

the way an issue is posed

Taking away a child's video games for bad behavior is a form of

negative punishment.

According to classical-conditioning theory, phobias develop as the result of

generalization of a fear experience.

steps in information processing

1. Encoding 2. Storage 3. Retrieval

Fatima received an overall score of 132 on an IQ scale. This number means that her score was higher than ________ percent of the population.

95

Stereotype

A generalized belief about a group of people

prototype model

A way of thinking about concepts: Within each category, there is a best example—a prototype—for that category.

Which of the following is a potential limitation of studies that have suggested links between observing violence in the media and a later likelihood of showing aggression?

Behaviors categorized as "aggressive" might actually be playful.

Who was the first to develop a method of assessing intelligence?

Binet

Why is B. F. Skinner's dream of solving all social problems through operant conditioning impossible?

Biology places constraints on our learning.

Four witnesses see a truck hit a small car. If they all saw the same thing, who is likely to give the highest estimate of the truck's speed when testifying in court?

Bob, who was asked, "How quickly was the truck going when it smashed into the car?"

decision making

Choosing among two or more alternatives.

What is the main difference between classical conditioning and operant conditioning?

Classical conditioning requires learning that two events are related, whereas operant conditioning demonstrates that behavior leads to a consequence.

For a research study on the origins of gender differences, participants took a short math test. The researcher told the experimental group, "Women perform as well as men on this math test." The control group was given no information about gender differences on the task. The short math test was then administered to both groups. Based on stereotype threat, what are the most likely findings?

In the experimental group, women performed as well on the task as men.

Which of the following questions best summarizes the modern version of the nature/nurture question about intelligence?

In what way do genes and the environment interact with each other to influence intelligence?

Layla wants to teach a mouse to put half its food in a small box. Its reward will be to get twice as much food later. Why will this be difficult?

Evolutionary adaptations make the mouse want to keep all its food.

positive reinforcement

Increasing behaviors by presenting positive stimuli, such as food. A positive reinforcer is any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response.

negative reinforcement

Increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing negative stimuli, such as shock. A negative reinforcer is any stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response. (Note: negative reinforcement is not punishment.)

mirror neurons

Frontal lobe neurons that fire when performing certain actions or when observing another doing so. The brain's mirroring of another's action may enable imitation, language learning, and empathy.

What is the paradox of choice?

Having some choice is better than none, but too many choices can make us unhappy.

aquisition

In classical conditioning, the initial stage, when one links a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus begins triggering the conditioned response. In operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response.

conditioned stimulus (CS)

In classical conditioning- a stimulus that elicits a response only after learning has taken place

declarative memory

It refers to memories which can be consciously recalled such as facts and events.

implicit memory

Memories we don't deliberately remember or reflect on consciously

According to the textbook, what is the current understanding of the purpose of mirror neurons?

Mirror neurons allow us to explain and predict the behavior of others.

Your friend wants to make a bet with you, and he gives you two options. If you choose Option 1, you will have an 80 percent chance of winning $100, but a 20 percent chance of losing $100. If you choose Option 2, you are guaranteed to win $5. If you are like most people when it comes to making decisions, you would probably choose ________ because of ________.

Option 2: loss aversion

What causes extinction?

The organism learns that the conditioned stimulus no longer predicts the unconditioned stimulus.

Flynn effect

The rise in average IQ scores that has occurred over the decades in many nations

Imagine that someone's mirror neurons stop working. According to some theories, what would happen if this person sees a friend receive a paper cut?

They would understand what happened but would not flinch.

Which of the following items would most likely be defined as a primary reinforcer?

a bottle of water

concept

a category, or class, of related items; it consists of mental representations of those items

What is a Skinner box?

a chamber used for testing animal learning

A startling noise will always cause the human eye to blink. If one has learned to associate a blue light with a startling noise, the resulting blue-light-elicited eye blink is known as

a conditioned response.

Blocking

a failure to retrieve information that is available in memory even though you are trying to produce it

Emotional Intelligence (EI)

a form of social intelligence that emphasizes the abilities to manage, recognize, and understand emotions and use emotions to guide appropriate thought and action

general intelligence

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

absentmindedness

a lapse in attention that results in memory failure

mental age

a measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet; the chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance

semantic memory

a network of associated facts and concepts that make up our general knowledge of the world

restructuring

a new way of thinking about a problem that aids its solution

working memory

a newer understanding of short-term memory that focuses on conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory

reconsolidation

a process in which previously stored memories, when retrieved, are potentially altered before being stored again

conditioned response (CR)

a reaction that resembles an unconditioned response but is produced by a conditioned stimulus. response that has been learned

stereotype threat

a self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype

insight

a sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem

classical conditioning (Pavlovian conditioning)

a type of associative learning in which a neutral stimulus comes to elicit a response when it is associated with a stimulus that already produces that response. you learn one event predicts another

procedural memory

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

operant conditioning

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

Eyewitness testimony is very convincing because people incorrectly assume that memory is like

a video camera

exemplar model

a way of thinking about concepts: all members of a category are examples (exemplars); together they form the concept and determine category membership

phobia

abnormal fear

short-term memory

activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as the seven digits of a phone number while dialing, before the information is stored or forgotten

cognition

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

analogical representations

an idea that shares some of the actual characteristics of the object it represents

anterograde amnesia

an inability to form new memories

retrograde amnesia

an inability to retrieve information from one's past

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.

Sensitization

an increase in behavioral response after exposure to a stimulus

Shaping

an operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior

In terms of Sternberg's theory of intelligence, an architect who draws blueprints of a standard house is showing ________ intelligence; the contractor who builds the house is showing ________ intelligence.

analytical; practical

The school of behaviorism was based on the belief that

animals and humans are born with the potential to learn just about anything.

The Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) is designed to measure someone's ability to think logically. This ability is predictive of success in law school and as a practicing attorney. The LSAT is a(n) ________ test.

aptitude

According to Watson, children are born as a blank slate, or tabula rasa. Which of the following characteristics should a child then possess from birth?

basic reflexes through which he or she can have sensory experiences

Phonomes

basic sounds of language/speech

The theory that animals are genetically programmed to fear particular things that threaten their survival is known as

biological preparedness.

The tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon is an example of

blocking

Habituation and sensitization come about because of

changes in neurotransmitter release in the presynaptic neuron.

Which of the following is NOT involved in emotional intelligence?

changing other peoples' emotions

In ________, learning occurs when two types of events are paired closely in time.

classical conditioning

Pavlovian conditioning is also referred to as

classical conditioning.

Dr. Bui is conducting a series of studies examining the speed at which people can complete different cognitive tasks. She plans to examine the results to determine how information is processed in these tasks. What approach is Dr. Bui using toward the study of intelligence?

cognitive

second-order conditioning

conditioning where the US is a stimulus that acquired its ability to produce learning from an earlier procedure in which it was used as a CS

Based on his work, Pavlov believed that ________ was the critical element needed for acquisition to occur during conditioning.

contiguity

Wernicke's area

controls language reception

Curing a child's phobia of spiders by presenting the child with a spider and candy is an example of

counterconditioning

retrival cues

cues associated with the original learning that facilitate the retrieval of memories

If you were bitten by a dog as a child, leading you to fear dogs, but your family later adopted a friendly puppy, each exposure to the puppy would likely ________ the prediction error for future encounters with the dog.

decrease

Habituation

decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation.

intelligence quotient (IQ)

defined originally as the ratio of mental age (ma) to chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100 [thus, IQ = (ma/ca) x 100]. On contemporary intelligence tests, the average performance for a given age is assigned a score of 100.

A mother is tying her own shoes in front of her toddler. She is using exaggerated, slow movements to tie her shoes. She is

demonstrating

One common, although often false, response to individuals who question their own "repressed" memories is that they are suffering from

denial.

A key concern about violence in media is that it might lead to

desensitization.

flashbulb memories

detailed recollections of when and where we heard about shocking events

Ivan Pavlov

discovered classical conditioning; trained dogs to salivate at the ringing of a bell

The neurotransmitter that is most important for reinforcement learning is

dopamine

telegraphic speech

early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram—"go car"—using mostly nouns and verbs.

affective forecasting

efforts to predict one's emotional reactions to future events

People have better memories for events that involve negative emotions. According to an evolutionary perspective, this phenomenon suggests that negative emotions

emphasize information important to survival.

whole language

emphasizes comprehension and context, and inferring what words are from context

Yesterday you taught your dog to crawl across the floor while barking. If your dog is to perform this fabulous trick tomorrow, then he will need to ________ the trick, then ________ the trick, then ________ the trick.

encode; store; retrieve

One of the best ways to remember factual information is to relate it to something personal that happened to you. In this way, you are taking advantage of your ________ memory to aid retrieval from your ________ memory.

episodic; semantic

The psychologist Shepard Siegel recommends that treatment for drug addiction involves exposing addicts to certain drug cues, such that subsequent exposures no longer produce drug cravings. What behavioral process is implicated in this recommendation?

extinction

Absentmindedness is often driven by

failing to pay attention.

"Once you classically condition an animal it is impossible to completely terminate the association." This statement is

false

source amnesia

faulty memory for how, when, or where information was learned or imagined

Yu-Ting vividly remembers the day that her husband took her completely by surprise when he proposed to her. She believes that she remembers every detail of the proposal. The research suggests that this ________ memory is ________ ordinary memories.

flashbulb; as accurate as

Yolanda has a brain tumor. After the tumor grew to a certain size, she could no longer ________. Yolanda most likely has ________ amnesia.

form new memories; anterograde

John B. Watson

founder of behaviorism

The idea that one intelligence factor is involved in all intellectual tasks is known as ________ intelligence.

general

The fact that Little Albert learned fear toward not only a white rat but also a ball of wool and a rabbit represents

generalization

Allie is afraid of her neighbor's large dog. She then becomes afraid of any dog she sees on the street, and eventually she fears even pictures of dogs or toy dogs. This change in her fear of dogs represents

generalization.

Short-term memory

has a limited capacity.

Even though he has already memorized his notes, Hao reviews them every night for the two weeks before the exam. This strategy is likely to ________ his performance due to ________.

help; spreading out his practice

surface structure

how a sentence is worded

Many movies use product placement. For example, the main character in a movie may drink only Dr. Pepper. Companies pay for product placement because they assume that it increases the likelihood that audience members will later buy the product. If a person's shopping is unconsciously influenced by the appearance of a product in a movie, this effect is likely due to existence of the item in ________ memory.

implicit

Morpheme

in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix)

unconditioned stimulus (US)

in classical conditioning, a stimulus that unconditionally—naturally and automatically—triggers a response.

unconditioned response (UR)

in classical conditioning, an unlearned, naturally occurring response (such as salivation) to an unconditioned stimulus (US) (such as food in the mouth)

Discrimination

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

Reinforcement

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

aphasia

inability to speak

Hummingbirds feed on a ________ schedule because they revisit each flower at specific times of the day to get the sweetest nectar.

interval

Negative reinforcement and negative punishment are similar in that both

involve the removal of a stimulus.

If getting $1 for every correct answer on this test makes you study harder, being given $1 would be a form of

positive reinforcement.

mental sets

problem solving strategies that have worked in the past

Lauren is baking a cake for her boyfriend's birthday. She starts to panic because she does not have all the ingredients, but she calms down when she realizes that the important thing is to bake a cake, not to have specific ingredients. She first tries to find substitutes for the missing ingredients. She then looks for cake recipes that will work with the ingredients she has. Lauren is engaging in

problem solving.

The information processing model of memory is based on computer functioning, though it does not directly model which stage?

processing

Suzanne goes into therapy because she is continually anxious and has trouble sleeping due to disturbing nightmares. Her therapist diagnoses Suzanne with posttraumatic stress disorder and encourages her to talk about distressing childhood memories. Eventually, Suzanne recalls having been abused by her uncle as a child. The problem that this ________ memory poses is that ________.

recovered; it is difficult to know whether her memory is accurate

partial reinforcement

reinforcing a response only part of the time; results in slower acquisition of a response but much greater resistance to extinction than does continuous reinforcement

continous reinforcement

reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs

prospective memory

remembering to do things in the future

When Mandy and Joe meet, Joe tells her that he loves math and computers and his favorite hobbies have always involved building things. Mandy concludes that Joe must be an engineering student rather than a liberal arts student, even though there are many more liberal arts than engineering students at their school. Mandy is using the ________ heuristic and ignoring ________.

representativeness; base rates

If you are shopping for a bathrobe and buy the first soft robe you see, you are likely a(n) ________. If you go on to look for robes in every store in town before purchasing one, you are likely a(n) ________.

satisficer; maximizer

When conditioning occurs due to the pairing of a neutral stimulus with a conditioned stimulus (CS), resulting in a CS-CS learned association, this process is known as

second-order conditioning

Types of memory

sensory, short term, long term

In what technique are successive approximations used?

shaping

Mikhail is a high achiever in the fields of math and science. According to Spearman's theory of general intelligence (g), Mikhail's performance in literature and history

should also be very good.

Sharda and Onyedikachi are participating in a psychology study. Sharda's task is to press a button as rapidly as possible whenever she sees a circle on the computer screen. Onyedikachi's task is to press a red button if he sees a circle and a green button if he sees a square, also as rapidly as possible. Sharda's study is measuring ________ reaction time, and Onyedikachi's study is measuring ________ reaction time.

simple; choice

A cognitive map is a(n)

spatial representation of the environment.

somatic markers

states of the body used in decision making

The ability to respond with an appropriate conditioned response to a conditioned stimulus and with no response to a very similar yet substantially different stimulus is known as

stimulus discrimination.

Alex sees a girl stealing a candy bar in a convenience store. When the police question him, Alex says the thief was wearing a red shirt. Later in the interrogation, the officer asks what candy the girl in the blue shirt stole. Months later, when Alex testifies in court, he describes the girl as having worn a blue shirt. Alex's testimony at the trial shows the influence of

suggestibility.

explicit memory

the act of consciously or intentionally retrieving past experiences

positive punishment

the administration of a stimulus to decrease the probability of a behavior's recurring

memory bias

the changing of memories over time so that they become consistent with current beliefs or attitudes

linguistic relativity theory

the claim that language determines thought

episodic memory

the collection of past personal experiences that occurred at a particular time and place

persistence

the continual recurrence of unwanted memories

Extinction

the diminishing of a conditioned response

retroactive interference

the disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information

proactive interference

the disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information

encoding specificity principle

the idea that cues and contexts specific to a particular memory will be most effective in helping us recall it

sensory memory

the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system

deep structure

the meaning of a sentence

Thinking

the mental manipulation of representations of knowledge about the world

memory

the nervous system's capacity to retain and retrieve skills and knowledge

Consolidation

the process by which memories become stable in the brain

fear conditioning

the process of classically conditioning animals to fear neutral objects

Retrieval

the process of getting information out of memory storage

Modeling

the process of observing and imitating a specific behavior

storage

the process of retaining encoded information over time

Encoding

the processing of information into the memory system—for example, by extracting meaning.

spontaneous recovery

the reappearance, after a pause, of an extinguished conditioned response

Two longtime friends, Joyce and Laurie, want to get back in touch with their childhood friend Rhonda, but they do not know whether she still lives in the area. Joyce randomly selects phone numbers from the local phonebook and asks people if they know Rhonda. Laurie calls numbers listed in the local phonebook for people who have the same last name as Rhonda. Joyce has approached the problem with a(n) ________ approach, whereas Laurie has approached the problem with a(n) ________.

trial-and-error; heuristic

cryptoamnesia

unconscious plagiarism of the work of others

In the context of memory, persistence is

unwanted remembering.

Josh was trying to decide which of two people to hire for a job. A colleague told him a story about her parents deciding to get two cats when they could not decide which one to buy. Josh recognized that hiring both people would solve his problem as well. Josh has

used an appropriate analogy

Gambling on a slot machine involves rewards on a ________ schedule.

variable ratio