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Practice Test 1: Psychology

Terms in this set (100)

Categorical Bias
- tendency to judge physical distance between objects from the same category as being SMALLER compared to distance between objects from different categories
Primacy Effect
- items at the beginning (primacy) and items at the end (recency) of a list of information are more easily remembered than items in the middle
- corresponds to serial position effect
State Dependency Effect
- info better remembered when someone is in the same state as they were in the memory
- smells, touch, sound, and emotions assist in memory
- Ex: if you were angry, you'll remember angry memories better than if you were happy
Misinformation Effect
- aka "false memory"
- witness an event and get some incorrect information about the event -> incorporate misinformation into our memory of the event
- results in an altered memory of event, but we're convinced that it's the correct memory
Dual Coding Effect
- proposed by Allan Paivio
- equal weight to verbal and non-verbal processing: verbal associations and visual imagery to represent info
- two cognitive subsystems: one specializes in nonverbal objects/events (imagery)
- other specialized in language
- Ex: mnemonics
Dual Coding Effect Example
- participants saw pairs of items that differed in roundness (tomato, goblet)
- asked to indicate which member of the pair was rounder
- objects presented as words, pictures, or word-picture pairs
- response time slowest for word-word pairs; intermediate for picture-word pairs; fastest for picture-picture pairs
20 objects in a box. Participants have to recall all the objects they've seen, instead of placing them in a box. According to the spreading of activation theory, which type of memory error is most likely?
a. making source monitoring errors regarding location of the training objects
b. poorer memory for the training objects seen at later points in the experiment
c. selective forgetting of the training objects that were placed in the center of the box
d. recalling objects that were not presented but are from the same category as the training object
D:spreading activation suggests that, when a concept is activated, activation spreads to concepts that are semantically or associatively related to it
- people retrieve unpresented members of a category when tested on their memory for a series of presented oconcepts from that category
Spreading Activation
- model of short-term or working memory
- explains how mind processes related ideas, especially semantic or verbal concepts: helps explain priming effect (why people remember things at the beginning/end of lists more than things at the middle)
- each semantic concept has neural network that is activated at the same time as the nodes for related concepts
Explain spreading activation with "dog"
- concept "dog"
- nodes for concept: bark, beagle, pet
- primes person to think about these related words
Source Monitoring Error
- unconscious mental test that humans perform to determine if a memory is "real" and accurate as opposed to being from a dream or movie
- use many sources to determine source of a memory/idea
External Source Monitoring
- focuses on sources that are in individual's environment
- Ex: recalling which one of your profs gave an exam yesterday
Internal Source Monitoring
- focused on internal factors like when an individual is distinguishing between something they said aloud and something they thought to themselves
How can source monitoring errors occur?
- brain injury, aging, depression, cognitive biases
- experience is falsely attributed to be source of particular memory
- Ex: incorrectly recalling convo that occurred in a dream as reality
Selective Forgetting
- people forget unwanted memories consciously or unconsciously
- defense mechanism
Categorical Knowledge
- knowledge about different attributes and uses of an object allows it to be placed in a group of objects with similar attributes (categories)
Does spatial memory get better with age?
- no, not necessarily
- spatial memory doesn't rely solely on recall of distances: world knowledge about categories affects people's judgements of distances
Piaget's Water Conservation Task
- pour water in two short, fat beakers
- thin, tall beaker and short, fat beaker of same volume: which has more water?
- below age 6, most kids point to tall beaker
- by age 7-11 (concrete operational stage), kids accurately say they have the same amount (water is conserved)
- conservation tasks are mastered during concrete operational stage (7-11 years old; concrete, logical thinking)
- by 11, usually can judge that pouring water into taller beaker doesn't change quantity
Piage'ts Conservation of Mass Experiment
- roll two balls and show child they're equal
- roll one of the balls to form a sausage shape
- small child usually says sausage shape has "more clay in it"
Piaget's Conservation of Area
- ask child if more ground is covered by blocks that are spread out or blocks that're close together
- young children assume blocks cover more area when spread out, even though there's space between them
Conservation of Number
- 8 pennies placed in two equal rows
- spread out one of the rows so one row of coins are farther apart
- which row has more coins?
- young child that doesn't count usually says the spread-out row
Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development
Sensorimotor (0-2years): object permanence
- knowing an object exists, even if it's hidden
- ability to form mental representation (schema) of object

Preoperational (2-7 years)
- think about things symbolically
- word or object stands for something other than itself

Concrete Operational (7-11 years)
- beginning of logical/operational thought
- conserve number, mass, and weight

Formal Operational (11-adult)
- develop ability to think about abstract concepts
Critiques of Piaget's Theory
- development is a continuous processes, not necessarily stages
- no consideration of social setting and culture
Behaviorist Approach
- associated with classical and operant conditioning
- focuses on role of reinforcement and punishment in shaping behavior
Operant Conditioning
- when an animal does something good, it's followed by a good outcome and good behavior will more likely change in the future
- generally begin with "random", observable behavior
- behavior is the result of stimulus-response association
Example of Operant Conditioning
Cat put in puzzle box
- performs wide range of behavior because they don't like being in cages
- eventually, cat flails limbs and pulls lever that opens the door
- happens many times and lever gets pulled quicker than before
- good behavior is rewarded by letting cat out
Classical Conditioning
- learning new behavior via process of association
- two stimuli are linked together to produce new learned response
Stage 1 of Classical Conditioning
- unconditioned stimulus (UCS) produced unconditioned response (UCR)
- stimulus in environment produced a behavior/response that's unlearned/unconditioned
- neutral stimulus (NS) has no effect: won't produce response until it's paired with unconditioned stimulus
- Ex: stomach virus (UCS) produces nausea response (UCR)
- Ex: food is presented (UCS_ and dog salivates (UCR)
Stage 2 of Classical Conditioning
- neutral stimulus is associated with unconditioned stimulus, which becomes the conditioned stimulus (CS)
- Ex: stomach virus (UCS) associated with eating certain food (CS)
- UCS must be associated with CS for several trials
- Ex: food (UCS) associated with bell ringing (CS)
Stage 3 of Classical Conditioning
- conditioned stimulus (CS) associated with UCS so many times that new conditioned response created (CR)
- Ex: chocolate (CS) which was eaten before a person with virus (UCS) now produces response of nausea (CR)
- Ex: bell ringing (CS) now associated with food (UCS) and causes response of salivating (CR)
PSYCHODYNAMIC APPROACH
- focuses on getting inside head ofindividual to make sense of their relationships, experiences, etc.
- our behaviors are affected by unconscious motives
- all behavior has an unconscious cause, so all behavior is determined
- include all theories in psychology that see human functioning based on interaction of drives and forces within the person
- contrast to behavioral psychology
- associated with Freud
Trait Theory
- aka dispositional theory
- studies human personality, which are composed of broad characteristics
- focuses on differences between individuals
- combination/interaction of various traits form a personality that's unique to each individual
- focused on identifying and measuring individual personality characteristics
Humanistic Psychology
- aka humanism; reaction to psychoanalysis (understanding unconscious motivations that drive behavior) and behaviorism (conditioning processes that produce behavior)
- focused on individuals' potential and stressed importance of growth and self-actualization
- people are innately good and mental/social problems result from deviations from natural tendency
- person as a whole
Maintenance Factor 1 refers to associating mild changes in bodily sensations (increased heart rate) with the panic felt during panic attacks. This leads to conditioned fear in response to changes in bodily sensations. What can this be categorized at?
a. unconditioned stimuli
b. conditioned stimuli
c. unconditioned response
d. conditioned response
B: conditioned stimuli
- mild changes in bodily sensations become cues that are associated with excessive panic
- mild changes in sensation become CS, which elicit conditioned fear response
Patient 2: I'm terrified of having a panic attack at a meeting. I'm worried others will think I'm weird. I don't go to meetings any more. Panic attacks act as...
a. discriminatory stimuli
b. signaling stimuli
c. positive punishers
d. negative punishers
C: positive punishers
- patient describes panic attacks as very unpleasant and doesn't go to meetings because of them
- frequency of patient's attendance at meeting has decreased due to panic attacks (positive punishment)
Positive Punishment
- present negative consequences after undesired behavior is exhibited
- makes behavior less likely to happen in the future
- Ex: child picks nose during class and teacher calls him out
- phone rings in class, and you're lectured on why it's not okay to have phone on
Negative Punishment
- occurs when certain desired stimulus is removed after particular undesired behavior is exhibited
- results in behavior happening less often
- Ex: child doesn't follow directions or acts inappropriately so loses token for good behavior
Discriminatory Stimuli
- stimulus present when behavior is reinforced
- type of stimulus used to gain specific response and increases likelihood of response occurring
- used in classical conditioning
- Ex: rat being taught to navigate maze: easiest to train rat with highly desirable treat rather than less desirable treat
- Ex: I'm more likely to do something for ice cream rather than brussel sprouts
Signal Detection Theory
- detection of stimulus depends on intensity of stimulus and physical/psychological state of individual
- ability to detect some stimulus is affected by the intensity of the stimulus and your state of mind
- Ex: finding car in empty parking lot at night; more aware of noises because situation is threatened (you're primed)
Interoceptive awareness involves sensitivity to increases in the activity of the...
a. reticular activation system
b. autonomic nervous system
c. limbic system
d. somatic nervous system
B: interoceptive awareness is increased sensitvity to internal body sensations (heart beat, BP)
- regulated by autonomic NS
Reticular Activation System
- connected nuclei in brain responsible for regulating wakefulness, attention, and sleep-wake transitions: important for survival
- midbrain reticular formation, hypothalamus
Limbic System
- combines higher mental functions (learning, memories) and primitive emotion
- beneath cerebrum
Structures of Limbic System
- amygdala, hippocampus, thalamus, hypothalamus, basal ganglia, and cingulate gyrus
Cognitive Processes
- interpretation of bodily sensations
Top Down Processing
- form our perceptions starting with larger object/concept/idea before working our way towards more detailed information
- work from general to specific: big picture to tiny details
- Ex: see sign that has missing letters, but still able to read it
Factors that influence top-down processing
- context in which object is perceived
- motivation makes you more likely to interpret something in a particular way
- Ex: reading about food and nutrition: interpret ambiguous word as something related to food
- Ex: shown ambiguous images and more motivated to perceive them as food-related when hungry
Stroop Effect and Top-Down Processing
- color words are printed in other colors (word "red" printed in blue)
- asked to say the color of the word, but not the actual word itself
- slower at saying correct color when color and word don't match
- people automatically recognize the word before they think about the color: easier to read word rather than say color of word
Maintenance Factor 1 refers to conditioned fear in response to bodily sensations. Data on this is LEAST likely to come from...
a. correlational studies
b. case studies
c. longitudinal studies
d. experimental studies
D: using experimental methods is hard because it's hard to systematically manipulate physiological states and sensitivity to those states
Structure of eye: cornea, lens, retina, iris, macula, optic nerve
Cornea
- clear front window of eye that transmits focused light into eye
- dome-shaped
Iris
- colored part of the eye
- regulates how much light enters
Pupil
- dark aperature in the iris that determines how much light is let into the eye
Lens
- transparent structure inside eye that focuses light rays onto retina
Retina
- nerve layer that lines back of eye, senses light, and creates electrical impulses that travel through optic nerve to brain
Macula
- small central area in retina that contains special light-sensitive cells; allows us to see details nearly
Optic Nerve
- connects eye to brain and carries electrical impulses formed by retina to visual cortex of brain
Vitreous
- clear, jelly-like substance of middle of the eye
Sound-induced vibrations depolarize hair cells of cochlea by opening ion channels that are gated in what way?
a. chemically
b. mechanically
c. electrically
d. synaptically
B: hair cells of cochlea are specialized mechanoreceptors
Actor-Observer Bias
- actors attribute own behavior to situational factors (not feeling well) whereas observers attribute actors' behavior to dispositional factors (social awkwardness)
Habituation
- reduced responding to repeating stimulus
What causes dishabituation?
- when the stimulus is changed
Stimulus Generalization
- organism responds to new stimulus in the same way as previously encountered stimulus (based on similarity of stimuli and organism's history of reinforcement with previous stimulus)
- Ex: boy sees black lab and responds with, "dog" and responds the same way when seeing a Shih Tzu
- learned to call all dog breeds "dog", even though they have different sizes, fur, etc. (generalization)
Optimal Arousal Theory
- optimal performance requires optimal arousal
- arousal levels that're too high or too low will impede performance
What happens when a negative stereotype increases arousal?
- if arousal is increased beyond optimal level, it leads to poor performance
What measure would be most useful if researchers were interested in degree of sympathetic arousal when testing how people perform on math tests?
a. measure of electrical conductivity of skin
b. CT scan of hindbrain
c. PET scan of parietal cortex
d. measure of melatonin levels
A: measure of electrical conductivity of skin
- increased electrical conductivity is physiological indication of increased sympathetic arousal, associated with anxiety
Difference between PET and CT scans
PET: uses radioactive tracer and provides picture of how organs/tissues are functioning
- look at cross-sectional images of body organ
- measures blood flow, oxygen use, glucose metabolism

CT: X-rays taken at differing angles to create cross-sectional images of bones, vessels, soft tissues
- good for internal injuries, parts of body
What happens when negative stereotype is primed?
- interferes with performance
- Ex: asking questions about gender identity to females will cause them to perform worse on a math test because they're being negatively primed
In-group and out-group dynamics
- people more likely to trust in-group members than out-group member
Which statement provides the LEAST likely explanation for why researchers dropped highly anxious participants from their sample?
a. ethical committees don't allow research with participants who may have psychological disorders
b. if all anxious participants get assigned to stress condition, this may pose confounding variable
c. highly anxious participants are not representive of population and may reduce generalizibility of findings
d. if all anxious participants get assigned to control condition, this may lead to false rejection of experimental hypothesis
A: it's ethically allowed to conduct research on people who score high on anxiety
- BUT outliers accumulate in experimental or control condition can lead to confounding errors
- limits generalizability of results
Confounding Variables
- variables researcher failed to control or eliminate, which damages internal
- introduce bias and increase variance
Ex: poor study design, inconsistent sample size, not using random samples
Seley's General Adaptation Syndrome
- people's response to various stressors is similar or not specific to the type of stressor
- no claims about avoidance-avoidance or approach-approach conflict
1. alarm reaction stage: occurs shortly after stressful event (sympathetic system activated)
2. resistance stage: body's autonomic nervous system resists impact of stressful stimulus (parasympathetic branch tries to restore homeostasis)
3. exhaustion stage: body fails to cope with distressing stimulus
Avoidance-avoidance conflict
- conflict in which one must choose between two equally undesirable or unattractive goals
- Ex: situation where you have to decide between doing unwanted homework (avoidance) or doing unwanted house chorse (avoidance)
- unpleasant, stressful, but must choose "lesser of two evils
Approach-Approach Conflict
- person tries to make choice between two desirable options
- Ex: studentgets accepted to Harvard and Yale
Approach-Avoidance Conflict
- one goal has both positive and negative effects that make goal appealing and unappealing simultaneously
- Ex: marriage has positive and negative aspects: positive means companionship; negative means finances, arguments
Damage to which nervous system structure is most likely to cause problems in participants' ability to perform synchronous behaviors?
a. hippocampus
b. hypothalamus
c. cochlea
d. cerebellum
D: cerebellum
- coordination of motor tasks
Participants in weight loss program measured BMI to track progress. Among 72 participants, mean BMI is 30 and median BMI is 25. Which statement is accurate?
a. more participants had BMI over 25 than BMI under 25
b. majority of participants had BMI between 30
c. Half of participants had BMI over 25 and half had BMI under 25
d. More outliers among participants had BMI under 25 than BMI over 30
C
- median splits sample distribution in half: median of 25 can be described as half sample having BMI over 25 and half having BMI under 25
Group Polarization
- people's attitudes toward attitude object become more extreme after interaction with like-minded individuals
- group of risk-averse individuals would become more risk-averse after interacting with each other
Erikson's Theory of Psychosocial Development
1. Trust vs. Mistrust: (birth-2) develop sense of trust in caregivers
- children who receive responsive care develop sense of hope

2. Autonomy vs. Shame/Doubt (2-3): gain independence and personal control
- success allows people to develop will and determination

3. Initiative vs. Guilt (3-6): children explore environment and exert more control over choices
- develop sense of purpose

4. Industry vs. Inferiority: (5-11) develop sense of personal pride and accomplishment
- success leads to sense of compettence

5. Identity vs. Confusion (teens) personal exploration
- success leads to healthy identity and fidelity
- unsuccessful completition leaves teens feeling confused about role and place in life

6. Intimacy vs. Isolation (early adulthood) forging healthy relationships with others
- success leads to forming committed, lasting relationships

7. Generativity vs. Stagnation (middle age)
- people concerned with contributing something to society and leaving mark on world (family, career)

8. Integrity vs. Despair (late adulthood): look back and feel satisfaction
- develop integrity and wisdom
Generativity vs. Stagnation
- Generativity: make your mark
- Stagnation: failure to find a way to contribute
- experienced by middle-aged adults
- aka "mid-life crisis"
Linguistic Relativity (Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis)
- benefits of bilingualism are related to the idea that structure of languag
Weber's Law
- just noticeable difference (difference threshold)
- for people to really perceive a difference, stimuli must differ by a constant "proportion", not a constant "amount"
- Ex: buy a new computer costs $1000 and add more memory costs $200: might be too much additional money BUT
- if buying a $300,000 house, a $200 feature might seem like nothing (proportional change makes the perceptual difference)
Just Noticeable Difference
- minimum difference in stimulation that person
Nativist Hypothesis
- humans are pre-programmed with innate ability to develop language
Language Acquisition Device
- born with set of learning tools
- innate sense of learning native
Schacter-Singer Theory (aka Two-Factor Theory)
- human emotions contain two factors or parts: physical arousal and cognitive label
- both must be present to experience emotion
- Ex: play basketball: you're hot, heart is racing (state of arousal)
- someone then gives you bad news and you get angry (label emotion as anger)
- would you have gotten less angry about the news if you weren't already aroused from playing basketball
- Schacter: will be more be more angry when in aroused state
Sociolgist describe health benefits of social support as resulting from all the following EXCEPT:
a. friends and family members that help patients adhere to medical treatment
b. friends and family members that help patients to reduce harmful behaviors
c. social relationships that help individuals to cope with stressful events
d. social activities that help individuals avoid loneliness and boredom
D: social support refers to social network ties (friends, family) that provide individual with assistance that's associated with improving help or reducing
- D identifies activities rather than relationships (read options CAREFULLY!)
Magic Number for Working Memory
- between 5 and 9 items
- 7 plus or minus 2
Subjective Measure of Emotion
- providing personal opinions
- indirect measure of motivation
Chunking
- encoding processes that organizes individual pieces of info (chunks) and grouping them into larger units
- easier to remember
Sensory Memory
- usually formed before working memory
- shortest-term element of memory
- can be deliberately ignored (and will disappear) or deliberatly perceived
- doesn't require any conscious control
Iconic Memory
- also known as sensory memory
- visual stimuli
Episodic Memory
- memory of autobiographical events that can be explicitly stated
- experiences in particular time and place
Reference Group
- group to which an individual or another group is compared
- important for self-evaluation and identity formation
Researchers hypothesize experienceing a certain scent while viesing paintings of flowers will influence the viewers' ratings of attractiveness of the paintings. Researchers dispensed a floral scent in one room with painting and no scent in another room with paintings. What's the independent variable?
- presence or absence of scent in rooms
- independent variable: variable being manipulated
Group Dynamics: what types of groups are more stable?
- larger group more stable but less intimate
- smaller groups less stable but more intimate
- Dyads: two-person groups are unstable because either party can break single social tie
- Triad: three person groups more stable because of additional social ties
Conflict Theory Perspective
- competition between groups over allocation of societal resources
- power and authority are unequally distributed across society
- groups attempt to maintain advantages: status hierarchies facilitate this
Symbolic Interactionism
- Mead
- subjective meanings are imposed by people on objects, events, and behaviors
- society is socially constructed
- Ex: teens think smoking is cool, even though they are informed about risks of tobacco they still do it
Functionalism
- how each part of society contributes to the stability of scoeity as a whole
- every institution exists because it services a specific purpose or function
Dependent Variable
- variable being measured or variable being affected by independent variable
Caste System
- closed stratification systems that don't allow for social mobility
Test theory that vitamin could extend person's life-expectancy. Independent and dependent variable?
- Independent: amount of vitamin given to subjects
- Dependent Variable: life span/life expectancy
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