Psych Test Chapters 8-13
Terms
undefined, object
copy deck
- analogical representation
- non-arbitrary correspondence (picture of cat looks like real cat)
- symbolic representation
- purely arbitrary correspondence (word CAT looks nothing like a cat but still represents it)
- directed thinking
- thinking with a purpose -> thinking used to solve problems and make decisions
-
obstacles to problem solving:
mental set - the way you conceive of a problem in your head determines how easily you'll be able to solve it
-
obstacles to problem solving:
functional fixedness -
special case of mental set
-> when you see something as serving one function, it is difficult to consider that it could serve another -
obstacles to problem solving:
incubation - sometimes problems are more easily solved when you take a break -> allows you to dispose of ineffective mental sets
- inductive reasoning
-
specific -> general
(take a specific instance and generalize about all similar instances) - deductive reasoning
-
general -> specific
(take a general rule and make assumptions about something specific) - algorithm
- a problem-solving strategy in which you try every possible solution -> can be very slow, but guarantees that you will find the solution
- heuristic
- short-cut that helps you see which solutions are most likely to be plausible -> saves time, but doesn't guarantee that you'll find the solution
- availability heuristic
- make judgments based on most readily available info -> use what comes easiest to mind
- representativeness heuristic
- make judgments based on uniformity presumption, like taco bell tacos represent essence of "taconess"
- confirmation bias
- people are slanted towards confirming their own hypotheses -> people hate to be wrong!
- framing effects
- people will be risk aversive to keep what they've already gained
-
properties of language:
creative -
1) can understand language even if you've never heard that combination of words before
2) if there isn't a word for what you mean, you can make one up ("open system") -
properties of language:
arbitrary - language is a set of arbitrary symbols which do not directly correspond to the ideas they represent
-
properties of language:
structured - grammar/syntax -> words themselves are arbitrary, but the number of combinations of words that can still convey meaning are limited
-
properties of language:
multiple connotations - "duality" -> same sound can convey different meanings depending upon the context (we won the game, we're number one)
-
properties of language:
discrete - language consists of separate and distinct words, but speakers express words in a continuous stream with no space between words -> if you are fluent in a language you know how to "parse" the stream of words
-
properties of language:
interpersonal - language is confusing and ambiguous without an interpersonal context through which it can be interpreted
- are animals capable of language acquisition and use?
- YES and NO -> higher primates cannot learn to speak, but can learn sign language, HOWEVER although they have a large vocab they do not have grammar/syntax
- extrinsic motivation
- acts performed for external purposes (e.g. mowing the lawn to get money)
- intrinsic motivation
- acts performed for their own sake (e.g. playing piano because you love music)
- when do extrinsic rewards undermine performance?
- when the activity is both interesting (attractive) and complex
-
extrinsic rewards and influence on learning process:
INITIAL ENGAGEMENT - when expecting a reward, people choose easier problems that are less interesting
-
extrinsic rewards and influence on learning process:
PROCESS - when expecting a reward, people begin guessing earlier, ask redundant questions, and guess more after positive feedback than negative
-
extrinsic rewards and influence on learning process:
DISENGAGEMENT - people stop when they get the reward even if they aren't finished
-
extrinsic rewards and influence on learning process:
RE-ENGAGEMENT - people are less likely to do something again once they've been rewarded
- how do extrinsic rewards affect overal learning?
- they make learning less efficient
-
extrinsic rewards and influence on attitude:
SELF-PERCEPTION THEORY -
people like some things less the more they are rewarded
-> cannot find an external justification so must justify instrinsically - what happens when people are rewarded for an interesting task?
- reward = like it less, and may actually do it less in the future
- what happens when people are not rewarded for an interesting task?
- no reward = like it, continue to do it
- extrinsic motivation and influence on creativity
- creativity is significantly diminished when people are rewarded for doing things they already like
- extrinsic motivation and influence on reactions to failure
- extrinsically motivated people get angry and give up when they fail; intrinsically motivated people try again and try harder when they fail
-
when do extrinsic rewards enhance intrinsic motivation?
PERCEPTION OF REWARDS -
- when rewards are perceives as efforts to control our behavior, they are damaging to motivation
- when rewards are perceived as conveying info about our competence, they have no bad effect and sometimes have a positive effect on motivation -
when do extrinsic rewards enhance intrinsic motivation?
MAGNITUDE OF REWARD - when the reward is disproportionate to the task, people focus on the reward and lose intrinsic motivation
- what is thinking?
- cognitive OPERATIONS on SCHEMAS (internal representations)
- how to people learn?
- assimilation and accomodation -> to learn, you have to be able to connect new info to what you know already
- assimilation
- putting new knowledge into existing schemas by making connections between new and old info
- accomodation
- schemas acquire more complex information by becoming qualitatively different
-
stages of development:
SENSORIMOTOR -
- no schemas
- no operations
- lack object permanence -
stages of development:
PRE-OPERATIONAL -
- object permanence
- simple representations (schemas)
- no operations - egocentrism in pre-operational stage
- kids cannot imagine a perspective other than their own
- lack of conservation in pre-operational stage
- kids can't see when things remain the same if they appear to have changed
-
stages of development:
CONCRETE OPERATIONAL -
- schemas
- operations BUT no abstract operations (algebra) -
stages of development:
FORMAL OPERATIONAL -
- schemas
- operations
- abstract concepts
- probabilities
- hypothesis testing - what was Piaget wrong about?
-
- kids know a lot more a lot earlier than he thought
- many cognitive changes are the result of maturation independent of experience -
why do infants get attached to their parents?
CUPBOARD THEORY - you don't love your mom, you love the food she gives you
-
why do infants get attached to their parents?
BEHAVIORIST EXPLANATION - positive reinforcement -> monkeys liked cloth mothers better than wire ones because they liked the "contact comfort"
- attachment theory
- all infants form attachments to reduce anxiety
- what does the specific quality of the attachment depend on?
- the character of the parent-child relationship
- does attachment influence anything else?
- YES - the quality of the original attachment influences all subsequent interpersonal relationships later in life
- Three mothering styles
-
1) responsive, consistent, flexible
2) overbearing, agitated, anxious
3) cruel and indifferent -
Three kinds of attachment:
SECURE ATTACHMENT - explore while mother is present, distress when she leaves, enthusiastic when she returns (and renewed exploration)
-
Three kinds of attachment:
INSECURE/ANXIOUS-AMBIVALENT - very little or no exploration while mother is present, substantial distress when she leaves, clingy and angry when she returns
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Three kinds of attachment:
INSECURE/AVOIDANT - very little or no exploration while mother is present, no distress when she leaves, completely ignores her when she comes back
- self-concept
- who we want to be, how we wish to be perceived, and how we perceive ourselves
- Cooley's looking-glass self
- other people largely (entirely?) influence our self-concept
- introspect
- the ability to look within oneself to gain self-knowledge
- self-perception theory
- we come to know ourselves in precisely the same way we come to understand other people (self-knowledge is not as direct as "introspection")
- behaviors shape attitudes: FOOT IN THE DOOR TECHNIQUE
- people are more likely to comply with a greater request if they had previously complied with a smaller one
- cognitive dissonance
- ⬢ when two beliefs we hold are plainly inconsistent with each other, or when there is conflict between what we believe and what we actually do
- when do attitudes predict behavior?
-
- when attitudes are strong
- situational pressures
- when attitudes are enmeshed, not isolated
- when the definition of an attitude is very specific - explicit attitudes
- attitudes we are aware of and could express if asked about them
- implicit attitudes
- attitudes revealed only indirectly, like through our behavior in certain situations
- attitude priming
- people are primed to make certain associations, which can run contrary to explicity held beliefs
- above-average effect
- a tendency people have to view themselves as above-average
- why does the above-average effect occur?
-
1) we neglect memories of occasions when we have done badly
2)by appropriately redefining success or excellence, each of us can conclude that we are the ones who are successful - self-serving bias
- people tend to take credit for successes but deny responsibility for failures; extended to groups we belong to
- impression management
- we are "acting" or putting on a front in social situations
- self-handicapping
- one arranges an obstacle to one's own performance, so that if failure occurs, it will be attributed to the obstacle and not to one's own performance
- central trait
- trait that determines perception of the whole
- first impression
- creates framework which guide our subsequent perceptions of a person
- social cognition
- we can be primed to think certain things about people based on the schemas we know
- why can social schemas be bad?
- sometimes our preconceptions turn out to be wrong and we use the wrong schema to interpret the situationsometimes our preconceptions turn out to be wrong and we use the wrong schema to interpret the situation
- stereotypes
- when schemas are simplified and applied to whole groups, so that we talk about all members of that group as if they were alike
- illusory correlations
- we see correlations where they do not exist because we note and remember certain co-occurrences more than others and then apply them to new situations
- out-group homogeneity effect
- members of a group tend to see members of other groups as more alike than members of their own
- fundamental attribution error
- a tendency to ascribe people's behavior to their nature and not to their situation
- actor-observer difference in attribution
- when we are the observers, we tend to emphasize dispositional factors, but when we are the actors, we conclude that the responsibility lies with the external situations
- social comparison
- process of validating our own reactions by looking at the way others react
- why do people conform?
-
1) information is ambiguous, so we turn to others to find out the missing information
2) people disguise what they really believe and conform to prevent embarrassment - what makes good people do terrible things?
- the situation they are in or role they are made to play; also, dehumanization of the victim
- social impact theory
- the more targets the social influence reaches, the less impact each target will experience (stage fright is less with more co-performers)
- social loafing
- when people work together on the same task, they each generate less effort
- social facilitation
- we do better in front of other people
- what makes a leader?
- personal qualities as well as situational factors
- group polarization
- groups make more extreme decisions than individuals do
-
crowd behavior/pandemonium:
DEINDIVIDUALIZATION - an single person in a group loses awarenss of himself as an individual
- collectivist societies
- people are considered to be fundamentally interdependent, and the emphasis is on obligations within one's family and immediate community
- individualist societies
- people are viewed as independent, separable entities; the emphasis is on the ways a person can stand out through achieving private goals
- in-group
- a group to which someone is tied by traditional bonds
- out-group
- a group to which someone shares no bonds
- courtship rituals
- behaviors that convey one's reproductive intentions
- halo effect
- tendency to assume that people with one trait possess others -> applies to both good and bad traits
- matching hypothesis in relationships
- there will be a strong correlation between the physical attractiveness of two partners
- what's attractive cross-culturally?
- symmetry, averageness or exaggeration of averageness, no visible deformities, waist-to-hip ratio
- proximity and relationships
- people are more likely to get together if they are near each other
- homogamy
- a powerful tendency for like to choose like
- polygamy
- several members of one sex mating with one member of the other
- monogamy
- one member of each sex mating
- sexual dimorphism
- a pronounced difference in the size or bodily structure of the two sexes
- polygyny
-
one man with lots of women
-> this is what humans tend toward - Romeo-and-Juliet effect
- parental opposition tends to intensify a couple's romantic passion rather than to diminish it
- romantic love
- passionate and short-lived
- companionate love
- emphasizes companionship and mutual trust and care, not as much passion
- aggression
- drives humans apart or drives them to fight with each other
- territory
- area that an animal defends as its exclusive preserve
- personal space
- the physical zone surrounding us whose intrusion we guard against
- dominance hierarchy
- each member of the group has an assigned status
- kin-selection hypothesis
- unselfish behavior should be more common among relatives than among unrelated individuals
- reciprocal altruism
- if one individual helps another and that other later reciprocates, the ultimate result is a benefit to both
- reciprocity principle
- we feel that we somehow must repay whatever we have been given
- reciprocity and self-disclosure
- revealing something personal about oneself causes other people to feel like they should reveal something about themselves
- bystander effect
- people don't act in a situation of emergency
- why does the bystander effect occur?
- ambiguity about situation, feel weird about acting if no one is acting
- attribution-of-arousal theory
- bodily arousal provides only the raw materials for an emotional experience, and raw experience turns into emotion with appraisal and interpretation
- excitation transfer
- arousal produced in one setting is attributed to, and thus influences, an entirely different setting
- cultural display rules
- learned but deeply ingrained conventions, often obeyed without awareness, that govern what facial expressions may or may not be shown in what contexts
- basic emotions
- emotions that are hardwired, adaptive, automatic, and the result of natural selection
- when do we feel guilty?
- when we could have controlled the circumstances that produced a bad outcome
- regret
- comparing what one did with what one could have done