psych 2 final
Terms
undefined, object
copy deck
- What is an operational definition?
- a definition that describes the actions or operations that will be made to measure or control a variable
- What is a case study?
- an in-depth investigation of an individual subject
- What is naturalistic observation?
- a descriptive research method in which the researcher engages in careful, usually prolonged, observation of behavior without intervening directly with the subjects
- What is an experiment?
- a research method in which the investigator manipulates a variable under carefully controlled conditions and observes whether any changes occur in a second variable as a result
- What is an independent variable? What is a dependent variable?
- in an experiment: a condition or event that an experimenter varies in order to see its impact on another variable; the variable that is thought to be affected by the manipulation of the independent variable
- What is experimenter bias? How can it be prevented?
- a phenomenon that occurs when a researcher's expectations or preferences about the outcome of a study influence the results obtained; by a double-blind procedure (a research strategy in which neither subjects nor experimenters know which subjects are in the experimental or control group)
- What is a confounding of variables?
- a condition that exists whenever two variables are linked together in a way that makes it difficult to sort out their independent effects
- What are neurons? What are glial cells?
- major 2 parts of the nervous system: individual cells in the nervous system that receive, integrate, and transmit information; cells found throughout the nervous system that provide structural support, nourishment, and insulation for neurons
- What is an axon? A dendrite? A synapse?
- a long, thin fiber that transmits signals away from the neuron cell body to other neurons, or to muscles or glands; branchlike part of of a neuron that is specialized to receive information; a junction where information is transmitted from one neuron to the next
- What are the 4 lobes of the brain, and where are they located?
- parietal (top), occipital (back), temporal (ear), frontal (front)
- What is social desirablility bias?
- a tendency to give socially approved answers to questions about oneself
- What are neurotransmitters?
- chemicals that transmit information from one neuron to another
- What is a hypothesis? A theory?
- a tentative statement about the relationship between two or more variables; a system of interrelated ideas that is used to explain a set of observations
- When you have a 50-100-150 watt lightbulb, the perceived difference from 50 to 100 watts is _______ than the perceived difference from 100 to 150 watts.
- greater
- Where would there be damage if you couldn't see the right half of your visual world?
- the left visual cortex
- What is opponent-process theory? Trichromatic theory?
- the theory that color perception depends on receptors that make antagonistic responses to three pairs of colors; the theory of color vision holding that the human eye has three types of receptors with differing sensitivities to different wavelengths
- What is auditory localization? What are the 2 things it depends on?
- locating the source of a sound in space; the difference in loudness between the two ears and the timing difference between the two ears
- What is absolute threshold?
- the minimum amount of stimulation that an organism can detect for a specific type of sensory input
- What is classical conditioning? Operant conditioning?
- a type of learning in which a neutral stimulus acquires the ability to evoke a response that was originally evoked by another stimulus; a form of learning in which voluntary responses come to be controlled by their consequences
- What is top-down processing? Bottom-up processing?
- in form perception: a progression from the whole to the elements; progression from individual elements to the whole
- What is spontaneous recovery?
- the reappearance of an extinguished response after a period of nonexposure to the conditioned stimulus
- What is an unconditioned response? A conditioned response? An unconditioned stimulus? A conditioned stimulus? A neutral stimulus?
- an unlearned reaction to an unconditioned stimulus that occurs without previous conditioning; a learned reaction to a conditioned stimulus that occurs because of previous conditioning; a stimulus that evokes an unconditioned response without previous conditioning; a previously neutral stimulus that has, through conditioning, acquired the capacity to evoke a conditioned response; doesn't originally evoke the response
- What is shaping?
- the reinforcement of closer and closer approximations of a desired response
- What is positive reinforcement? Negative reinforcement? Punishment?
- reinforcement that occurs when a response is strengthened because it is followed by the presentation of a rewarding stimulus; the strengthening of a response because it is followed by the removal of an aversive (unpleasant) stimulus; an event that follows a response that weakens or suppresses the tendency to make that response
- What is a flashbulb memory?
- unusually vivid and detailed recollections of momentous events
- What is functional fixedness?
- the tendency to perceive an item only in terms of its most common use
- What is retrieval?
- recovering information from memory stores
- What is prospective memory?
- the ability to remember to perform actions in the future
- What is mental set?
- persisting in using problem-solving strategies that have worked in the past
- What is a phoneme? A morpheme?
- the smallest unit of sound in a spoken language; the smallest unit of meaning in a language
- What does it mean that language is generative?
- there are a limited number of symbols that can be combined in an infinite number of ways
- What is episodic memory? Semantic memory?
- chronological, or temporally dated, recollections of personal experiences; general knowledge that is not tied to the time when the information was learned
- When does most forgetting occur?
- very rapidly after learning something
- How is memory best viewed?
- as a reconstruction of events or materials
- What is a representativeness heuristic?
- basing the estimated probability of an event on how similar it is to the typical prototype of that event
- What is encoding?
- forming a memory code
- What is the serial-position effect?
- the fact that subjects show better recall for items at the beginning (primacy effect) and end (recency effect) of a list than for items in the middle
- What is the capacity of short-term memory?
- 5-9 units of information
- What is an availability heuristic?
- basing the estimated probability of an event on the ease with which relevant instances come to mind
- How do adults divide sounds?
- they divide a continuously changing sequence of sounds into categories
- Can infants distinguish among all sounds despite the language spoken at home?
- yes
- Can children mis-add endings to words even after getting it correct before?
- yes
- What is the way we categorically perceive speech based on?
- the language we speak
- What are schemas? Weapon focus? Memory reconstruction? Leading questions?
- an organized cluster of knowledge about a particular object or sequence of events; not knowing what the person looked like because of focusing on the weapon; memories change over time; questions used on an eyewitness that can change their memories of what happened
- What is set-point? Settling-point?
- the idea that the body monitors fat-cell levels to keep them (and weight) fairly stable; the idea that weight tends to drift around a level at which the constellation of factors that determine food consumption and energy expenditure achieve an equilibrium
- What is the Coolidge effect?
- Coolidge wanted more hens, Mrs. Coolidge wanted more times
- What is an EEG?
- a device that monitors the electrical activity of the brain over time by means of recording electrodes attached to the surface of the scalp
- What is a circadian rhythm?
- the 24-hour biological cycles found in humans and many other species
- What is REM sleep?
- a deep stage of sleep marked by rapid eye movements, high-frequency brain waves, and dreaming
- What is insomnia?
- chronic problems in getting adequate sleep
- What is narcolepsy?
- a disease marked by sudden and irresistable onsets of sleep during normal waking periods
- What is sleep apnea?
- a sleep disorder characterized by frequent reflexive gasping for air that awakens a person and disrupts sleep
- What are night terrors? Nightmares?
- abrupt awakenings from NREM sleep accompanied by intense autonomic arousal and feelings of panic; anxiety-arousing dreams that lead to awakening, usually from REM sleep
- What is a representative sample?
- a sample of the population that is representative of the entire population, instead of just one part of the population
- What is a biased sample?
- a sample that is not representative of the population
- What type of tests use cause-effect relationships?
- experiments
- What are the divisions of the nervous system?
- the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system
- What are the divisions of the CNS?
- brain and spinal cord
- What are the divisions of the PNS?
- the somatic nervous system and the autonomic nervous system
- What part of color and light is wavelength closest to?
- hue
- What is proximity? Similarity?
- things that are near one another seem to belong together; people tend to group stimuli that are similar