Science of Psych Final

20. Describe how a compensatory response works (e.g., the conditioned response of a drug user)

A conditioned compensatory response is an automatic response that the body and mind experience that is opposite of the effects of alcohol or drugs. Conditioned behavior is largely a part of drug addiction. This conditioned behavior with the unconditioned stimuli supports the addiction. When the body is accustomed to the pattern of taking drugs or consuming alcohol in a certain environment or at a certain time, it will start to prepare itself for an influx of alcohol and start producing a chemical response that keeps the individual from feeling drunk immediately-- conditioned compensatory response. Thus, people tend to increase their intake when they are in familiar environments in order to feel the effects (tolerance). If someone takes the same amount of drugs in a new setting where the conditioned stimulus is absent-- the compensatory response fails to occur-- then an overdose reaction may occur. 1. Conditioned tolerance US→ UR + CS → CR overall neutral 2. But I want to get high! US→ UR + CS → CR increased dosage 3. Using higher dose in new environment US → UR + Nothing (more unfamiliar stimuli) can lead to possible overdose

7. What is the function of the action potential?

Action potential function: also known as "neural firing," is the electrical signal that passes along the axon. This signal causes the terminal buttons to release chemicals that transmit signals to other neurons. Firing rate varies.

9. Be familiar with illustrations of the synapse and able to describe what happens when an action potential reaches the terminal endings at the synapse.

After an action potential travels to the terminal button, it causes the vesicles to attach to the presynaptic membrane and release their neurotransmitter into the synapse. These neurotransmitters then travel across the synapse and attract, bind, themselves to the receptors on the postsynaptic neuron. Receptors are specialized protein molecules located on the postsynaptic membrane that specifically respond to the chemical structure of the neurotransmitter available in the synapse (synaptic cleft). This binding of the NT with a receptor can cause ion channels to open or close more tightly, producing an excitatory or inhibitory signal in the postsynaptic neuron. An excitatory signal encourages the neuron to fire. An inhibitory signal discourages it from firing.

8. Know about agonists and antagonists and IPSPS and EPSPs. For example, if a drug is a GABA agonist is it more likely to have an excitatory or inhibitory effect on the postsynaptic neuron? Explain. (Hint: GABA is an inhibitory neurotransmitter!)

All neurotransmitters have excitatory and inhibitory effects on action potentials by affecting the polarization of the postsynaptic cells. Excitatory signals depolarize the cell membrane and in doing so, increase the likelihood that the neuron will fire. Inhibitory signals hyperpolarize the cell, and in doing so, decrease the likelihood that the neuron will fire. Once a neurotransmitter is released into the synapse, it continues to bind with receptors and continues to exert an inhibitory or excitatory effect. The receptor always has a specific response, either excitatory or inhibitory. The same neurotransmitter can send excitatory or inhibitory postsynaptic signals, depending on the particular receptor's properties-- any neurotransmitter can be excitatory or inhibitory. Agonists: are drugs and toxins that enhance the actions of neurotransmitters Mimic neurotransmitters and bind with their receptors as if they were the real thing (heroin). The receptors cannot differentiate between the ingested drug and the real neurotransmitter released from a presynaptic neuron. Key and lock. Antagonists: are drugs and toxins that inhibit the actions of neurotransmitters Blocks the neurotransmitter from binding with the receptor. GABA is the primary inhibitory neurotransmitter in the nervous system. Without the inhibitory effect of GABA, synaptic excitation might get out of control and spread through the brain chaotically. Drugs that are GABA agonists are more likely to have an inhibitory effect on the postsynaptic neuron, because agonists enhance the actions of neurotransmitters and GABA is the primary inhibitory neurotransmitter in the nervous system.

*40. Know how knowledge of amnesia is related to our understanding of explicit and implicit memory. (Another example of thinking about how deficits inform our understanding)

Amnesia is a condition that results from disease, brain injury, or psychological trauma and causes people to lose the ability to retrieve vast quantities of information from long-term memory (consists of two basic types of amnesia-- retrograde and anterograde). H.M., a patient with anterograde amnesia, remembered old information about his past (explicit memory) but lost the ability to form new memories. However, H.M. acquired new semantic knowledge (explicit memory) about new things.

49. Give two different types of conservation problems. Explain how children at the preoperational stage and the concrete operations stage differ in their response to these problems. Provide detail. What kind of responses/explanations would children give at each age?

At the preoperational stage, children have no understanding of the law of conservation of liquid. The conservation of liquid states that even if a substance's appearance changes, its quantity may remain unchanged. Children would believe that a tall 8 oz. glass of juice would contain more juice than a short 8 oz. glass of juice. In the concrete operations stage, children understand the concept of conservation of liquid -- a child would not be fooled by the superficial transformations in the liquid's appearance and they would know that the tall and short glass contain the same amount of juice. Another conservation problem that children have in the preoperational stage is the conservation of number. The conservation of number states that even if a quantity of objects' appearance, order, or arrangement changes, the quantity of the objects remains the same. Children in the preoperational stage would believe that if they see two rows of marbles with the upper row lengthened/spread apart, that the top/longer row has more marbles. Children in the concrete operational stage understand the concept of conservation of number, and they would not be fooled to simply believe that a row of marbles that is spread out has more marbles than a row that has the same amount of marbles just positioned closer together.

17. Attentional blindness leads people to miss things even when they believe they are paying attention. Be able to give an example of attentional blindness and explain how this could present a problem for eyewitness testimony. Be able to explain how other factors might impact eye-witness testimony (e.g., priming, confirmation bias, stereotyping)

Attentional blindness: you can only pay attention to so much stimuli. When someone is anxious and is paying attention to what a suspect is doing, or their fear, they may fail to pay attention to what a suspect looks, like, what they were wearing. They may be too overwhelmed because they are paying attention to other stimuli and thus they do not see what a suspect looks like for example. Confirmation bias: this lacuna in memory many lead an eyewitness to fill in the gaps of their memory with evidence that confirms their beliefs. For instance, an eyewitness may believe that certain types of people are more likely to commit crimes and therefore they might be more likely to identify people with those people with those types of people as the likely criminal. People are more inclined to see certain types of people as more likely to be criminals. Confirmation biases might even affect what the eyewitnesses notice in the world around them-- what they pay attention to in a scenario (they expect a certain type of person to do something bad). Stereotyping: People may be more likely to identify a black person as a suspect because they are subconsciously influenced by the stereotype that criminals are often African Americans. Priming: Priming is when someone is shown a picture of something that gives you hints of what they will see in the next picture. If eyewitnesses are shown a lineup of pictures of "suspects" (who have similar characteristics) and then they are taken to a lineup with real people, eyewitnesses may be more likely to view the people in the lineup as suspects if they have similar characteristics to those who they saw in the picture lineup, because they have already associated (through priming) those people with being a suspect.

*24. Describe Bandura's bobo doll study and how the learning it represents differs from behaviorism.

Bandura's bobo doll: (observational learning) Divided preschool children into two groups One group watched a film of an adult quietly with Bobo The other group watched a film of the adult attacking Bobo furiously Those who watched the aggressive adults were more than twice as likely to act aggressively towards the doll This study demonstrates MODELING-- imitation of observed behavior: people are reproducing the behaviors of models Behaviorism: learn predictive associations through conditioning such as classical or operant conditioning. Bandura's bobo doll experiment is meant to create a model for children to imitate the behavior of. The experimenters did not condition the children to have associated responses to the stimuli in order for them to perform certain behavior like behavioral experiments that use classical or operant conditioning.

15. Be able to consider a behavior (like driving) and identify what is controlled by bottom-up and what is controlled by top-down processing. There may be some elements you aren't sure about. That's fine - for those

Bottom-down processing-- the where stream, helps determine where an object is in space helps people relate things spatially within their environment: where other cars, lights, signs, are on the road and in relation to your car. An inability to use bottom-down processing may cause the driver to misinterpret space and act too late or early resulting in crashes. Bottom down processing also helps people perceive motion which is of course very important in driving. Helps act on time due to spatial perception. Thus also helps the driver to perceive motion in space to act accordingly. Top-down processing-- the what stream is important for detecting objects, cars, cyclists in order to avoid them. Helps to detect objects: cars, signs, lights, in order to avoid, drive around them, or follow signs, etc.

38. Explain phenomena related to working memory like chunking and the primacy and recency effects.

Chunking: Separating information that you need to know into meaningful units of information makes information easier to recall for two reasons. The first reason is that memory span is limited to as few as four items or groups of words, numbers, or letters. The second reason is that meaningful units are easier to remember than nonsense units. The process of breaking down information into meaningful units is known as chunking-- the more efficiently you chunk information, the more you can remember. The serial position effect refers to how items presented early or late in the list depended on the order of presentation (the first and last items are better remembered than the middle). This effect consists of two separate effects: Primacy: The primacy effect refers to the better memory that people have for items presented at the beginning of the list. Recency: The recency effect refers to the better memory that people have for the most recent items, the ones at the end of the list.

21. Explain/describe extinction in an example of either classical or operant conditioning

Classical conditioning extinction: The conditioned response is extinguished when the conditioned stimulus no longer predicts the unconditioned stimulus which produces the conditioned response. The conditioned response gradually disappears. If the metronome (CS) is presented many times and the food does not arrive, the CS no longer becomes a good predictor of the food, the unconditioned stimulus which creates the CR. The salivation, the CR, gradually disappears.

4. Give an example of confirmation bias from everyday life

Confirmation bias: people show a strong tendency to place great importance on evidence that supports their beliefs. They downplay evidence that does not match what they believe. If someone has a boyfriend that they believe is good and others do not approve of, they may place great importance on the good things that the boyfriend does and downplay the things that others see as negative. STEREOTYPES

5. Be able to identify confounding variables and possible expectancy effects in an example

Confounding variables: anything that affects a dependent variable and that may unintentionally vary between the study's different experimental conditions. In an experiment, a researcher must ensure that the only thing that varies is the independent variable. Ex. weather, mood of participants, etc. Expectancy effect: the experimenter/participant's expectations of the study affect their participation in the study and thus the outcome of the study

23. Identify and describe which reinforcement schedule would you use in a particular situation and why? Know the difference between positive and negative reinforcement as well as the difference between continuous, interval and ratio schedules and variable and fixed schedules.

Continuous reinforcement: for fast learning, behavior is best reinforced each time it occurs. Partial reinforcement: in the real world, behavior is seldom reinforced continuously-- people do not receive praise each time they behave acceptably-- Intermittent reinforcement. Partial reinforcement's effect on conditioning depends on the schedule. Fixed interval: occurs when reinforcement is provided after a certain amount of time has passed. Feed your cat twice a day-- learns to get fed at a certain time each day. Variable interval: occurs when reinforcement is provided after the passage of time, but the time is not regular. Getting texts from friends and pop quizzes-- don't know when to expect but know it is coming. Fixed ratio: occurs when reinforcement is provided after a certain number of responses have been made. Factory workers who are paid based on the numbers of objects made, teachers and rewards for behavior. Variable ratio: occurs when reinforcement is provided after an unpredictable number of responses. Games of chance, gambling slot machines. Positive reinforcement: reward, something being added whether it is good or badly-- reward, shock Negative reinforcement: increases behavior through the removal of an unpleasant stimulus-- removing a shock

30. Describe Walter Mischel's marshmallow task and how it is used. Know why it is useful.

Delaying gratification: how did some children manage to delay gratification? When children were given the choice between eating one marshmallow right away or two after several minutes, some children waited and engaged in strategies to help them not eat the marshmallow while they waited. One strategy was to ignore the marshmallow (covered eyes, looked away). Another strategy was self-distraction, through singing, playing games, etc. The most effective strategy involved "turning hot cognitions into cold cognitions" (Michel). This strategy involves mentally transforming the desired objects into something undesired. Children imagined the marshmallows as clouds. This study shows the benefits of delayed gratification techniques. Delayed gratification is helpful for people who learn how to manage their need to be satisfied in the moment and thrive more in careers, relationships, health. Choosing to have something now might feel good, but making the effort to have discipline and manage your impulses can result in bigger or better rewards in the future.

32. Explain how dopamine is important for motivation.

Dopamine is a hormone and neurotransmitter that plays a major role in the motivational component of reward-motivated behavior. Dopamine appears to be especially important for the wanting aspect of reward. Thus, dopamine is responsible for motivating people to perform behaviors that will achieve rewards. Dopamine receptors in the limbic system are involved in the physical experience of pleasure.

*28. What is emotion reappraisal? Describe a situation in which it could be beneficial.

Emotion reappraisal involves cognitive reframing an event to reduce the negative emotions you feel. You come down with a cold and have to miss a socially distant birthday dinner. You tell yourself it could be worse, you could have coronavirus and you feel a little better about your situation.

36. Describe how the encoding specificity principle impacts memory including state-dependent memory and context-dependent memory

Encoding specificity principle: according to this principle, any stimulus encoded along with an experience can later trigger a memory of the experience. State-dependent memory: this effect refers to how memory can be enhanced when a person's internal states match during encoding and recall. According to the encoding specificity principle, when memories are encoded along with a specific experience, like a mood, recall of that memory is quicker/easier when you are in that same mood. When you are happy, you tend to recall good memories. When you are in a bad mood, negative memories tend to surface. Context-dependent memory: this effect refers to how memory can be enhanced when a person's recall situation is similar to the encoding situation. Context-dependent memory can be based on things such as a similar physical location, odor, background music, many of which can produce a sense of familiarity. According to the encoding specificity principle, when memories are encoded in a specific situation, maybe a specific room or background noise, recall of that memory is quicker/easier when you are in that same situation. When you are in a specific location, you tend to remember memories from being in that location.

55. Eysenck's model of personality originally focused in on two (later three) dimensions that he believed have strong biological underpinnings. What are these dimensions? Give evidence in support of the idea that there are biological underpinnings for these dimensions (Hint: think about the data from twin studies)

Esyenck originally proposed that personality traits had two major dimensions: introversion/extraversion and emotional stability and later proposed a third dimension, psychoticism. Introversion refers to how shy, reserved, and quiet a person is. Extraversion refers to how sociable, outgoing, and bold a person is. Emotional stability refers to variability in a person's moods and emotions. Stability describes consistency in moods and emotions. Psychoticism reflects a mix of aggression, poor impulse control, self-centeredness, and a lack of empathy. Eysenck proposed that traits are based on biological processes that produce behaviors, thoughts, and emotions. In twin studies he found that identical twins had a correlation of +.50 and fraternal twins had a correlation of +.21 in the trait introversion/extraversion. He also found that identical twins had a correlation of +.50 and fraternal twins had a correlation of +.23 in the trait neuroticism/emotional stability. Because identical twins, who share a very similar biological makeup, showed a more significant similarity in these traits than fraternal twins, Eysenck concluded that the traits introversion/extraversion and neuroticism/emotional stability have strong biological underpinnings.

1. Know whether a study is an experiment, correlational study or case study. For an experiment, be able to identify the independent and dependent variables.

Experiment: The researcher manipulates one variable to measure the effect on a second variable. A study is an experiment when it follows the Scientific Method: Theory, hypothesis, with independent and dependent variables, research, and a conclusion. The process necessitates revision, and is thus cyclical. Correlational study: examine how variables are naturally related in the real world, without any attempt by the researcher to alter them or assign causation between them. Used to describe and predict relationships between variables. They CANNOT be used to determine the causal relationship between the variables. Case study: is the intensive examination-- observation, recording, and description-- of an unusual person or organization. Will be chosen because of its uniqueness-- exceptional memory, heart disease, etc. Independent variable: is the variable that gets manipulated Dependent variable: is the variable that gets measured.

51. What is the difference between Harlow's theory of attachment and Freud's theory of attachment? What factors did each believe were important? How did Harlow's work shed light on this question?

Freud viewed the attachment bond as primarily motivated by the goal of drive reduction. He felt that infants attached to their mothers through having their oral needs met through breastfeeding, thus the hunger drive reduced. Thus, he viewed food as the most important factor in determining attachment. Harlow saw Freud's explanations of attachment that were based on food as inadequate for explaining what he observed in infant monkeys. Harlow believed that the factor of motherly comfort was the most important in determining attachment. Harlow found that in times of threat, monkeys clung to the cloth, soft surrogate mother (representing motherly comfort) much more than they went to the bare wire mother that could give milk through an attached bottle (representing the satisfaction of the hunger drive). Thus, Harlow found that the importance of contact comfort-- physical touch and reassurance -- was more important in aiding social development and attachment than the mother-as-food theory of mother/child attachment. He debunked the mother-as-food theory that Freud proposed.

31. Describe the difference between regulatory and nonregulatory drives. How does this relate to homeostasis? Know examples of each.

Homeostasis: the tendency for bodily functions to maintain equilibrium Drive: a psychological state that, by creating arousal, motivates an organism to satisfy a need. Regulatory drives: maintain homeostasis, evolutionarily adaptive, and physiological Hunger, thirst, essential nutrients, constant temperature Non-regulatory drives: not related to basic homeostasis, evolutionarily adaptive, physiological and psychological Safety, reproduction, social approval, success, education Thus, regulatory drives maintain homeostasis, non-regulatory drives do not.

37. Distinguish between implicit and explicit memory including examples of the various subtypes of each.

Implicit memory (unconscious memory) consists of memories that you are not able to put into words, and they do not require conscious attention. They happen automatically without deliberate effort. Includes motor skills, habits, and other behaviors. One type of implicit memory is called procedural memory, or motor memory, which involves motor skills, habits, and other behaviors used to achieve goals (riding a bicycle, skiing) that are generally unconscious. Explicit memory involves the information that individuals are aware of knowing. Explicit memory consists of a person's past experiences, words, concepts, visual images, capitals of countries. The cognitive information retrieved from explicit memory is declarative memory, which refers to knowledge we can declare-- words, concepts, visual images, etc. Explicit memory can be divided into episodic memory which consists of a person's past experiences and includes information about the time and place the experiences occurred (your 16th birthday) and semantic memory which is the knowledge of facts independent of personal experience (capitals of countries you have never visited, famous people you have never met, etc).

26. Distinguish between the James-Lange theory of emotion, the Cannon-Bard theory of emotion and the Schachter and Singer theory of emotion. And use each of these theories to describe an example.

James-Lange theory of emotion: (counterintuitive to the common sense idea that our bodies respond to emotions) according to the James-Lange theory of emotion, we perceive specific patterns of bodily responses, and as a result of that perception we feel emotion. Seeing a car crash causes your heart to race and you perceive your racing heart as fear. Cannon-Bard theory of emotion: according to the Cannon-Bard theory of emotion, the information from an emotion-producing stimulus is processed in subcortical structures. The subcortical structures then send information separately to the cortex, and physical reactions, produced in the body. When you see a car crash, separate signals cause your heart to race and you to feel scared. Schachter and Singer theory of emotion: (combined both aforementioned theories into a two-factor theory of emotion) According to the Schachter and Singer theory of emotion, a person experiences physiological changes and applies a cognitive label to explain those changes. When you see a car crash, you begin to experience a pounding heart and run (sometimes). You then label those bodily actions as responses to the bear. As a result, you know that you are experiencing fear.

27. Describe evidence that supports each of these theories of emotion

James-Lange theory of emotion: James believed that physical changes occur in distinct patterns that translate directly into specific emotions. Around the same time, Lange independently proposed a similar theory. Studies using brain imaging have found that different primary emotions produce different patterns of brain activation. These results suggest that different experiences that generate emotion are associated with different physiological reactions. One implication of the James-Lange theory is that if you mold your facial muscles to mimic an emotional state, you activate the associated emotion-- facial expressions trigger the experience of emotions. Cannon-Bard theory of emotion: Cannon and Bard thought that the autonomic nervous system was too slow to account for the subjective feelings of emotions and that too many emotions produce similar bodily responses. For instance, anger, excitement, and sexual interest all produce similar changes in heart rate and blood pressure. They proposed that the mind and body experience emotions independently. Schachter and Singer theory of emotion: Schachter and Singer saw merit in both aforementioned arguments. An emotion involves physiological responses in the brain and body that are influenced by how the person thinks about the situation (Experiment). One implication of the two-factor theory is that physical states caused by the situation can be attributed to the wrong emotion. When people misidentify the source of their arousal, it is called misattribution of arousal.

33. Use Maslow's hierarchy of needs to explain which motives people are focused on.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs explains that people are driven by many needs which are arranged in a hierarchy: survival needs (hunger, thirst) are at the base (need to be satisfied first), and personal growth needs at the pinnacle (personal dreams and potential). People are first focused on physiological needs related to survival like finding food and water, then they seek security and protection, then acceptance and friendship, then good self-opinion and good reputation, and finally achieving personal dreams and aspirations. Physiological, safety, belonging and love, esteem, self-actualization

43. Why did Stanley Milgram conduct his study of obedience to authority? What are the details of that study? What different conditions did Milgram set up and which had the biggest impact on participants' behavior? Relate this to Asch's work on conformity.

Milgram wanted to understand why apparently normal German citizens willingly obeyed orders to injure or kill innocent people during World War II. He was interested in the determinants of obedience-- which factors influence people to follow orders given by an authority. In Milgram's study, each participant (teacher) was instructed to "shock" from another room, a participant (learner) and the teacher was unaware that the learner was secretly in league with the experimenter. Each time the learner made a mistake, the teacher was ordered to increase the voltage of the shock and with each increase, the learner expressed reactions of pain. When the teacher wanted to stop, the experimenter replied that the experiment requires you to continue and the teacher continues to apply stronger shocks until the learner stops shouting-- the teacher may think that they killed the learner. Before they began the study, Milgram asked the participants how high of a shock they would administer. Most of the participants said they would use a fraction of the shock that they really did in the study. Most of the participants tried to quit, but ⅔ completely obeyed the experimenter's orders. In a second condition, each teacher was instructed to touch and "shock" a learner sitting next to the teacher. Many details remained the same as the first condition such as the pain of the shock, however when teachers had to force the learner's hand on the shock plate, only 30% of the participants completely obeyed the experimenters and administered the maximum voltage. Thus, in the second condition, participants were less likely to obey authority. The first condition had more influence over the participants' behavior, for the were more likely to administer high voltage shocks despite their resistance to administer the shocks. Milgram's study of obedience relates to Asch's study on conformity. In Asch's line study, people conformed to choosing the wrong line (to match the reference line) because they did not want to look foolish by going against the group. In Milgram's study, which deals with obedience, participants conformed to administering the shocks, because they were ordered to by authority-- they did not want to seem out of line or disobedient if they did not follow the orders. Thus, both of these studies seem to deal with others' perception of the participant by the experimenter, authority, or other participants.

47. How did Piaget understand the idea of object permanence as it develops in the sensorimotor period? Why might a child make the A not B error according to Piaget? Give an alternative explanation for the A not B error involving inhibition. What is Baillargen's methodological improvement to the study of object permanence and what do we learn from it?

Object permanence refers to the understanding that an object continues to exist even when it's hidden from view. Piaget believed that around 9 months infants will look for hidden objects, such as by picking up a blanket. However, their search is still limited and humans do not achieve a full comprehension of object permanence until the end of the sensorimotor period, Piaget's developmental stage that spans from birth to 2 years old. According to Piaget's A not B error, an object is hidden in the same spot repeatedly (location A), the infant will find it each time. But if the object is hidden in a new spot (location B), the infant will continue to look for the object in the old location A. Piaget believed that children make the A not B error due to an error in mental perception-- because they have not yet developed object permanence, infants have not learned that just because an object is hidden, that does not mean that the object doesn't exist. However, the A not B error may not be due to a metal perception issue. Rather, it might be due to the difficulty for infants to inhibit their dominant response of looking at the original, more practiced location. Baillargen improved the study of object permanence to focus on looking times to get rid of Piaget's issue of inhibition. In her improved study, she discovered that infants look at novel stimuli longer and found that infants show an earlier demonstration of object permanence than Piaget proposed.

*35. Explain how different studying strategies are supported by research on memory

One studying strategy is retrieval. To make your memories more durable, you need to practice retrieving the information you are trying to learn. Retrieval is the third phase of memory. This stage consists of reaching into memory storage to find and bring to mind a previously encoded and stored memory when it is needed. The more you retrieve information, such as when you study information for tests, the memory of this information becomes stronger. Another studying strategy is using verbal mnemonic strategies. Mnemonics are learning strategies that use retrieval cues to improve recall-- they are often used for remembering items in long lists. Another studying strategy is chunking. Chunking is the process of breaking down information into meaningful units. The more efficiently you chunk information, the more you can remember.

19. Identify the US/UR/CS/CR for an example

Pavlovian conditioning: a neutral stimulus elicits a response because it has become associated with a stimulus that already produces that response. US, unconditioned stimulus: the stimulus that leads to the response without any prior conditioning-- food before conditioning UR, unconditioned response: the response without prior conditioning-- salivation Neutral stimulus: the clicking metronome before conditioning which does not cause the dog to salivate CS, conditioned stimulus: the stimulus that becomes associated with the food-- clicking metronome causes the dog to salivate after conditioning CR, conditioned response: the response conditioned by the stimulus-- salivation caused by the cs, the metronome, during/after conditioning. Unconditioned stimulus- food Unconditioned response- salivation Neutral stimulus- whistle No salvation- no conditioned response Conditioned stimulus- whistle Conditioned response-salivation

46. Imagine that you go out to the pharmacy while carefully social distancing in New York City. You fall and need help. Do you think someone who passes by would be more or less likely to help you now than they would have previously? Use concepts from social psychology to support your answer. There are several issues you might consider like factors related to helping behavior and social norms. (There is no one particular right or wrong answer here).

People are prosocial beings-- meaning they are inclined to do favors, offer assistance, pay compliments, etc. These prosocial behaviors promote positive interpersonal relationships and increase the strength of social groups. Thus, it seems as if people would feel inclined to help someone who has fallen in a store. However, I believe that in this case, the bystander intervention effect might override people's inclinations to perform prosocial behaviors such as helping someone up, because of the extremely transmittable Covid-19 virus which is ravaging our communities. The bystander intervention effect refers to an observer's failure to offer help to someone in need, and it also posits that the greater the number of bystanders around, the less likely it is that someone will offer help to someone. This effect also explains that there would be less social pressure to help someone if there are a lot of other bystanders around. I believe that Covid-19 would emphasize the bystander intervention effect in a place like a pharmacy, because people are less likely to want to physically touch someone to help them up and risk getting the virus, thus they would hope that because there are so many other bystanders in the pharmacy, someone else would help the person up. There is also less social pressure in a pharmacy, because there are other people around, thus people feel less pressured to help someone and risk getting or spreading Covid-19.

58. How could we use a classical conditioning analysis to explain Alan Alda's fear of spiders in the arachnophobia video? Identify the CS, CR, US and UR. Describe the process of VR therapy in terms of desensitization and extinction.

People with phobias, such as Alan Alda who has arachnophobia, classically condition themselves to have the phobia and blow it out of proportion. The US is the precipitating event for the phobia, the UR is the fear, the CS is the focus of the phobia (spiders), and the CR is the irrational fear. Alda trained herself to feel scared, the CR, whenever she sees a spider, the CS. The researchers/ psychologists used VR therapy to eliminate the classically conditioned phobia of spiders using extinction and desensitization. To extinguish Alda's conditioned response, her phobia of spiders, the doctors repeatedly exposed her to spiders through VR. However, they did so systematically using examples of spiders that were not frightening at first to desensitize her to spiders. As the doctors continued to desensitize Alda to spiders by showing her increasingly more realistic looking spiders through VR, they eventually extinguished her irrational response to the spiders, and thus her conditioned response became extinct (extinction).

13. Be familiar with some visual illusions (e.g., ponzo illusion, rotating mask illusion). Why are they interesting? How do observations of our perceptual errors/confusions inform our understanding of mental processing? (This question is similar to the above question about how we learn from people with processing deficits. It is interesting to see what the deficits are in themselves, but they are also very important because they help us understand normal and abnormal functioning better.)

Ponzo illusion: a size/distance illusion-- monocular depth cues make the two-dimensional figure seem three-dimensional. Seemingly parallel lines appear to converge in the distance. Ex. Two lines drawn to look like railroad tracks receding in the distance to trick your brain into thinking they are parallel (but just going back in distance). You perceive the two parallel lines in the center as if they are at different distances and thus different in size (front one looks shorter than back one) when they are actually the same length-- due to the converging lines which make it look three-dimensional with depth. Optical illusions arise when normal perceptual processes incorrectly represent the distance between the viewer and the stimuli. Depth cues can fool us into seeing depth when it is not there. Lack of depth cues can fool us into not seeing depth when it is there (deficit in binocular depth cue ability). For size illusions, we rely on depth perception to gauge size. The brain defaults to using depth cues even when depth is absent. By studying illusions, many perceptual psychologists have come to believe that the brain has built-in assumptions that influence perceptions. The vast majority of visual illusions appear to be beyond our control-- we cannot make ourselves see illusions even when we know that they are not true representations of objects, etc. The visual system is a complex interplay of constancies. These constancies enable us to see both a stable work and perceptual illusions that we cannot control. If a person cannot see that an optical illusions is indeed an illusion, we may infer that they have abnormal brain functioning.

*52. How is Mary Ainsworth's Strange Situation test used to determine attachment styles in young children? Why might early attachment styles be useful for predicting adult attachment styles? What evidence do we have that people (or monkeys) might be able to change their attachment styles under some circumstances?

Researchers observe a playroom where a child, a caregiver, and a friendly but unfamiliar adult engage in a series of eight semi-structured episodes. Over the course of eight episodes, the child experiences increasing distress and greater need for caregiver proximity. The extent to which the child copes with distress and the strategies they use to do so indicate the quality of the child's attachment to the caregiver. The researchers record the child's activity level and actions such as crying, playing, and paying attention to the mother and the stranger. Early attachment styles are often predictive of adult attachment styles. Their early attachment styles are useful for predicting and understanding how adults conduct relationships with romantic partners, their own children, and friends later in life.

6. Be able to read a bar graph or scatter plot and explain what it shows.

Scatterplots: used to show correlational relationships Positive correlation- both variables move in the same direction Negative correlation- the variables move in opposite directions Zero correlation- one variable is not predictably related to the other

53. In what way are securely attached children in the strange situation, Harlow's monkeys and Steve Souni's bold monkeys similar in their attachment behavior?

Securely attached children from Ainsworth's strange situation, Harlow's monkeys, and Steve Suoni's bold monkeys are similar in the way that they all use the caregiver as a source of security in times of distress. As a monkey would calm down when in constant contact with its cuddly cloth "mother," a securely attached human infant would be soothed immediately after a distressing separation when the caregiver picks up the infant.

*39. Identify the brain regions associated with different aspects of sensory and working memory.

Sensory memory: regions of the sensory cortex are activated when that sensory-specific information is remembered. And the actual storage occurs in the particular brain regions engaged during the perception, processing, and analysis of the material being learned. For instance, visual information is stored in the cortical areas involved in visual perception. Sound is stored in the areas involved in auditory perception. Thus, memory for sensory experiences, such as remembering something seen or heard, involves reactivating the cortical circuits involved in the initial seeing or hearing. Working memory/ storage of new memories: The middle section of the temporal lobes, called the medial temporal lobes, is responsible for the formation of new memories.

14. What is the difference between serial and parallel processing? How is this demonstrated in visual search studies?

Serial processing is when you process one letter/ number at a time. Parallel processing is information processing in which the brain simultaneously processes two (or more) different stimuli of different qualities using two different processes or "pathways." Parallel processing proposes that visual areas beyond the primary visual cortex form two parallel processing streams, or pathways. The lower, ventral stream (what stream) appears to be specialized for the perception and recognition of objects, determining colors and shapes. The upper, dorsal stream (where stream) seems to be specialized for spatial perception, determining where an object is and relating it to other objects in a scene.

25. Describe how Tolman's work on latent learning challenges Skinner's perspective of behaviorism.

Skinner developed a learning theory based on the law of effect developed by Thorndike. Skinner believed that he could dramatically change an animal's behavior by providing incentives to the animal for performing particular acts. He developed operant conditioning: the learning process in which an action's consequences determine the likelihood of that action being repeated. He used reinforcers, a stimulus that occurs after a response, to increase the likelihood that the response will be repeated. Tolman challenged Skinner's emphasis on reinforcement in learning and believed that reinforcement has more impact on performance than it does on learning. In a study with rats, Tolman believed that each of them developed a cognitive map, a visual/spatial representation of the maze, and they used this knowledge of their environment to find food quickly-- Rats had learned this cognitive map and used it when the reinforcement began. Thus, Tolman's latent learning refers to learning that takes place without reinforcement. For example, latent learning occurs when a person learns something simply by observing it. Most people know that you need to rotate the steering wheel to turn the car without being reinforced for doing so. Latent learning refers to a lot of the learning that we do without even realizing that we are learning.

18. Why is sleep important? What are some things you can do to help ensure you get enough sleep?

Sleep is adaptive for three functions: restoration, following of circadian rhythms, and facilitation of learning. Restorative theory: sleep allows the body, including the brain, to rest and repair itself (after physical activity, we sleep longer). Growth hormone, released primarily during sleep, facilitates the repair of damaged tissue. Sleep apparently enables the brain to replenish energy stores and strengthens the immune system... Circadian rhythms: brain activity and other physiological processes are regulated into patterns known as circadian rhythms-- sleep/wake cycles. The sleep drive, homeostasis Facilitation of learning: neural connections made during the day are strengthened during sleep. Recall is better when you sleep longer. Allows the mind to recharge, helps the body remain healthy, without enough sleep the brain cannot process properly. How can you get a good night's sleep: plan, know your priorities, establish routine, avoid alcohol and caffeine before going to bed, exercise regularly, avoid electronics late at night.

*45. Describe research you have learned about that provides evidence of stereotype threat. Do you think this study has external validity? Why or why not? Give at least one stereotype that might result in stereotype threat in the real world. Explain the stereotype threat model using your example to illustrate what would happen at each stage of the model.

Stereotype threat refers to the apprehension or fear that some people might experience if they believe that their performances on tests might confirm negative stereotypes about their racial group. One study that provides evidence of stereotype threat is a study that relates to the stereotype that black people are more athletic than white people, but that white people are more intelligent than black people. Sure enough, black people scored higher on sports intelligence and lower on natural ability. This was most likely due to stereotype threat that caused black participants to feel anxious and distracted due to the fear that if they did poorly, their performance would confirm negative stereotypes about black people regarding intelligence. I don't believe that this specific study has external validity, because of the experimental nature of the study. I think that because the participants had to take a test, they would be nervous simply because they were taking a test in addition to stereotype threat, thus you cannot differentiate which factor is making them anxious. However, I do believe that this stereotype threat still exists outside of the study. One stereotype that may result in stereotype threat is the notion that women aren't as good at math as men. According to the stereotype model, in the first phase, the stereotype would be the notion that women aren't as good at math as men and the ability diagnostic situation would be something like a math exam. Then in the second stage, the woman would begin to worry that if they did poorly it would confirm the stereotype that women are bad at math. In the third stage of the model, the woman would get so distracted by this fear that she would get self-conscious, develop test anxiety, and maybe lose motivation to do well. In the last stage of the model, the woman's performance on the test would be impaired by this stereotype threat and she would do less well than if she was not impacted by the stereotype threat.

41. In what way is stereotyping a helpful mental shortcut? Relate this to what you know about limitations on memory capacity.

Stereotypes are cognitive schemas that help in the organization of information about people on the basis of their membership in certain groups. They are mental shortcuts that allow for easy, fast processing of social information which enables us to make quick decisions. People construct and use such categories for two basic reasons: to streamline the formation of impressions and to deal with the limitations of mental processing. Because we have limited mental resources, we cannot scrutinize and remember every person we encounter. So we categorize people as belonging to particular groups and we can hold knowledge about these groups in our long-term memory.

22. Describe the difference between generalization and discrimination in a specific example

Stimulus generalization: occurs when stimuli similar but not identical to the CS produce the CR. People learn to determine which stimuli can be treated the same way. Stimulus discrimination: people learn to differentiate between two different stimuli if one is consistently associated with the unconditioned stimulus and the other is not. People determine which stimuli can not be treated the same way. A dog begins to understand that two different but similar bell sounds predict food and begins to treat both sounds the same way. This is called stimulus generalization. But the dog learns that a trumpet sound does not predict food, and learns to not treat this stimulus in the same way it does the bell. This is called stimulus discrimination.

34. Be able to describe examples that involve remembering (e.g., taking a test) in terms of the Atkinson and Shiffrin model

The Atkinson and Shiffrin model proposes a three-part model or memory: sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory. Sensory memory is a temporary memory system closely tied with the sensory systems-- only lasts a fraction of a second. When we pay attention to something, the information passes from sensory stores to short-term memory. Rehearsal is a way to get some information into long-term storage, but rehearsal is not good enough on its own. Information about an environment that helps us adapt to that environment is likely to be transformed into long-term memory). Say you are taking a test: you remember what you read in your psychology textbook. When you were reading, the words on the page entered your sensory memory, but as you paid attention to the words that were there (because you were reading) that information then passed into your short-term/working memory. When you were studying, you repeatedly rehearsed the information you learned as you completed practice quizzes, vocab sheets. Because of this repeated rehearsal, the information that you learned in your short-term memory, became long-term memory. When you were taking the test and attempted to retrieve the memory, it was easy, because you had rehearsed the information so many times in your long-term memory. The more you rehearse, the easier recall is.

54. What is the Big Five model of personality? In what ways is it useful? What are some critiques of the model?

The Big Five model of personality identifies five basic personality traits: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. For each factor, there is a continuum from low to high and each factor is a higher-order trait that is made up of interrelated lower-order traits. A person is assessed on these factors to describe their personality. People's scores on Big Five traits have been shown to predict a wide variety of different behaviors as well as people's satisfaction with their jobs, marriages, and life generally. Some critiques the Big Five model question whether the five-factor theory really clarifies personality. The factor terms reduce human personality to five dimensions and ignore individual subtleties. Also, although big-five factors emerge across cultures, some cross-cultural differences emerge. For example, interpersonal relatedness, harmony, is not an important trait in Western cultures but personality studies conducted in China show that interpersonal relatedness is an important trait in China. The Big Five personality model also ignores the influence of situational factors on personality completely which we now know are factors that play a major role in influencing personality.

42. How does the concept of implicit and explicit memory relate to the concept of implicit bias as exemplified by the implicit association task (IAT)? What would it mean for someone to have an implicit bias vs an explicit bias? How do you think you might eliminate each?

The Implicit Association Test is a reaction time test that assesses implicit attitudes. Implicit attitudes influence their feelings and behaviors at an unconscious level. People access implicit attitudes from memory quickly with little conscious effort, thus in this way they function like implicit memories, which are memories that do not require conscious effort to access. Some evidence suggests that implicit attitudes involve brain regions associated with implicit rather than explicit memory. The IAT measures how quickly a person associated concepts or objects with negative or positive words. Responding more quickly when a button is used to indicate an African-American person or good then when the same button is used to indicate African-American person or bad indicates a person's implicit attitude about females. The difference in reaction time between the two options is proposed to indicate the degree of implicit bias. Explicit bias is when someone understands that they have prejudiced views or behaviors. They outwardly express racist and sexist sentiments, etc. Prejudice which creates implicit and explicit bias can be reduced through explicit efforts to train people about stereotypical associations. One effective strategy that people can use to inhibit prejudice includes perspective taking which involves people actively contemplating the psychological experiences of other people-- This process can reduce racial bias and help to smooth potentially awkward interracial interactions. Also, presenting positive examples of the prejudiced group repeatedly to a person who holds prejudiced beliefs can help produce more-favorable responses towards the group.

59. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using a system like the DSM for diagnosing mental disorders?

The advantages of using a system like the DSM for diagnosing mental disorders are that the patient may learn to understand that there are others like them, they may be comforted by the explanatory power of a diagnosis and they also may reduce their own self-blame because of a diagnosis. From the therapist perspective, diagnoses inform treatment and best practices. From the research context, with more diagnoses over time, diagnoses become more reliable and valid and can help understand the etiology of certain disorders and from these diagnoses we can develop and identify effective treatments. The disadvantages of using a system like the DSM for diagnosing mental disorders are that they tend to place people in categories rather than dimensions which are more accurate and fluid. Diagnoses tend to lead to stigmatization by the patient and others when there is a diagnosis "on your permanent record." There are also some DSM specific criticisms such as that it is practical more than theoretical, it's not systematic, and that it is also politically driven.

16. What is the global workspace model and how does it account for consciousness? In your opinion, what does this mean for consciousness in people with different deficits (e.g., split brain, hemispheric neglect, blindness or deafness)?

The global workspace model posits that consciousness arises as a function of which brain circuits are active. You experience your brain regions' output as conscious awareness. Consciousness occurs anytime when neural activity is non-localized, it is not strictly confined to just one brain region. A stimulus that is processed and distributed to multiple areas of the brain would be perceived as conscious. Each region processes a stimulus differently. Prefrontal: I understand plans Frontal motor cortex: I'm all about movement Parietal lobe: I'm aware of space Temporal lobe: I hear things Occipital lobe: I see things All contribute to conscious awareness Brain injuries and unaware of deficits: a person who has vision problems caused by eye injury will know, but if the same person suffers damage to the brain's cortical visual areas so that they stop delivering output, the person may have no visual information to consider and thus will not be aware of vision problems. This tendency appears with hemineglect, for example. A hemineglect patient is not aware that she is missing part of the visual world. The hemineglect patients' unawareness of their visual deficits supports the idea that consciousness arises through the brain processes active at any point in time.

56. What is an interactionist model of personality and why is it important? What does it tell us that goes beyond the information we get from the Big Five model?

The interactionist model of personality proposes that behavior is determined jointly by situations and underlying predispositions. The interactionist model of personality takes people's situational factors and environment into account, and thus goes beyond the information that we get from the Big Five model, which does not take these factors into account.

48. How does the Sally-Anne problem test a child's understanding of theory of mind? Why is theory of mind such an important developmental milestone? What can you do if you have a theory of mind that you couldn't do without one?

The term theory of mind refers to how people have the ability to form, with some degree of accuracy, theories about others' desires, intentions, beliefs, and mental states are. The Sally-Anne problem tests a child's understanding of theory of mind, because it assesses whether the child is able to separate the information that they know from the information Sally knows, and thus infer where she thinks that the marble would be. It tests the child's ability to separate their perspective from Sally's perspective. Theory of mind is an important milestone because it allows people to understand, predict, and attempt to influence others' behaviors. With a theory of mind, you can read others' intentions and understand complex mental states of others. This insight into others minds enables us to predict how other people will feel in a given situation-- Children learn to predict when their caregivers, teachers, siblings, and friends will be angry, sad, embarrassed, etc. The ability to feel empathy, to understand another's emotional state, also relies on theory of mind. Thus, people with theory of mind will feel inclined to comfort someone who is upset, and people without one will be less inclined to do so.

10. Be able to discuss the functions of different brain regions and how they might be involved in a particular behavior like reading out loud.

The visual area, the occipital lobe, is involved in sight and image recognition of the letters and words on the page. The temporal lobe, or the association area, is involved in short-term memory and thus understanding the associations of the letters and words on the page. Broca's Area in the cerebral cortex is responsible for the muscles of speech and therefore is involved in the muscles that allow people to read out loud. The auditory area in the cerebral cortex is involved in hearing and the perception of sound and is important for hearing what you are reading out loud. Wernicke's Area also in the cerebral cortex is important for written and spoken language comprehension, and is thus necessary for understanding the words that you are reading on the page as well as understanding the spoken format of what you are reading out loud.

2. Be able to explain why correlation is not causality. Understand the difference between the third variable problem and the directionality problem.

There may be a correlation between two variables. However, correlation is not causality, because there could be many other uncontrollable variables at play that could contribute to the correlation because you are observing the natural world, not a crafted experiment. It does not tell us how/why there is a relationship, it just shows that a relationship exists. There may be other variables that contribute to the relationship-- they do not cause each other. Third variable problem: Instead of variable A causing variable B, maybe variable C is responsible for both A and B. Take texting while driving and dangerous driving. Risk takers (third variable) are more likely to both text while driving and to drive dangerously. Directionality problem: in correlational studies you often do not know the direction of the relationship between variables-- which causes the other.

44. How do the factors that impact people's compliance with social norms apply where you are living with respect to the coronavirus?

Two factors that influence people's compliance with social norms are normative influence and informational influence, and they are both factors that I see influence people's compliance with norms regarding the coronavirus in Los Angeles. Normative influence occurs when people go along with the crowd to fit in with the group and avoid looking foolish. I think that a lot of people in Los Angeles may not independently want to wear masks (especially outside), but they do so because they do not want to stick out or seem foolish or stupid if they do not, when everyone else is wearing them. Informational influence occurs when people assume that the behavior of the crowd represents the correct way to respond. In Los Angeles, I believe that a lot of people stay six feet apart from each other in lines, in grocery stores, and outside, because they see others doing so and assume that the behavior of the crowd, the majority of people, represents the correct way to respond, and therefore they follow the crowd.

12. Understand the basic path of information flow in the visual system from retinal image through object identification (including photoreceptors, ganglion cells, simple cells [edge detectors], what and where pathways, fusiform face area). Be able to hypothesize about what type of visual deficit a patient might experience if there was damage at one of these levels. I would expect you to be able to make a logical argument, not necessarily to know what the deficit would actually be!

Visual process: The visual process begins with the generation of electrical signals by the sensory receptors in the retina. These receptors contain photopigments, protein molecules that become unstable and split apart when exposed to light. Rods and cones do not fire action potentials like neurons. Instead, the decomposition of the photopigments alters the membrane potential of the photoreceptors and triggers action potentials in downstream neurons. Immediately after light is transduced by the rods and cones, other cells in the middle layer of the reinal perform a series of sophisticated computations. The outputs from these cells converge on the retinal ganglion cells. Ganglion cells are the first neurons in the visual pathway with axons. During the process of seeing, they are the first neurons to generate action potentials. Ventral stream is specialized for the perception and recognition of objects-- colors and shapes. Dorsal stream is specialized for spatial perception-- determining where an object is in space. At the intersection of the temporal and occipital lobes is the fusiform face area-- it is much more active when people are looking at faces than objects. Damage to: What pathway: unable to recognize faces, common objects, or drawings of circles and squares. Object agnosia Where pathway: difficulty with spatial perception. Can't catch balls, process space, etc. Fusiform face area: difficulty recognizing faces

3. What is the difference between a within subjects design and a between subjects design? Be able to tell which one was used in an example

Within subjects design: participants serve as their own control group-- (repeated measures design) the people receive both treatments Between subjects design: different people are in the control and experimental groups-- people receive different treatments.

*29. Explain how the Yerkes-Dodson law and social facilitation/social inhibition can help explain performance in particular examples.

Yerkes-Dodson law: dictates that performance on challenging tasks increases with arousal up to a moderate point. After that, performance is impaired by additional arousal. A dancer may do the best when they feel moderate anxiety from a crowd. Too little anxiety can make them inattentive or unmotivated, while too much anxiety can interfere with their thinking ability and attentiveness. They can get pumped up for performances with some anxiety, but can fall apart under too much stress. Social facilitation: when the presence of others enhances performance. If the required response is easy or well learned (cyclist riding a bike), so that the dominant response is good performance, the presence of others will enhance performance. Social inhibition: when the presence of others impairs performance. If the required response is new or less learned (riding a unicycle for the first time), so that the dominant response is poor performance, the presence of others will further impair performance. Ex. Crowds of spectators distract professional golfers less than they distract novice golfers. The professionals practice so often that hitting a good shot is their dominant response. Therefore the professionals may be even more likely to hit well in the presence of spectators.