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Psych and Human Behavorial Processes

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Psychology is
"the scientific investigation of mental processes (thinking, remembering, feeling, etc.) and behavior."
Psychological processes reflect
the influence of biological processes of the nervous system and the context of cultural beliefs and values.
Cases documented in the 19th century indicated
some dramatic connections between the mind and body, e.g., Phineas Gage (1848), which also stimulated discussion about localization of function within the brain.
Psychology's roots trace back

Philosophers grappled with
a very long time, informally and formally.


mind and body interactions and concerns.
Dualism: The idea that
the world is composed of 2 distinct categories of substance: mental substance (the soul) and physical substance (the body). Therefore, the mind is a product of the soul.
Obstacle to a science of the mind: The Church proclaimed that
the soul -- and thus, the mind -- was not subject to scientific inquiry. To do so was punishable by death.
What famous philosopher modified Dualism?

His argument:

1.

2.

3.
Rene' Descartes'

1. Since animals have no soul, much behavior does not require a soul.

2. The body can control much behavior, and this can be studied without worrying about being put to death by the Church.

3. *Descartes argued that the soul's *main function* was *thought* - a uniquely human attribute.
Descartes' lived from?
1596-1650
Who suggested that the soul controlled the body through an interface with the pineal gland, a centrally-located brain structure.
Descartes'
Dualism can be contrasted with
Monism, or the belief that the world might be explained by only one category of substance.
According to dualism, the mind is a product

For monism, the mind is a product
of the soul.

of the brain.
Materialism is one kind of ______?
Monism
Thomas Hobbes lived from?
1588-1679
The view that nothing exists except for matter and energy.
Materialism
According to a _______ view of the mind, all human thought and behavior can be explained in terms of physical processes in the body -- in the _____ in particular.
materialist

brain
A quality related to giftedness is ______.
creativity
Creativity is moderately correlated with ______.
intelligence
True or False -

Not all people who are high in intelligence are high in creativity.
True, they are not.
One way that researchers have attempted to measure creativity is with ______ thinking, the ability to...
*divergent*

the ability to generate multiple possibilities in a given situation.
Creativity is...
the ability to produce valued outcomes in a novel way.
Research has linked creativity to such personality traits as...
high energy, intuitiveness, independence, self-acceptance, a willingness to take risks, and an intensely passionate way of engaging in certain tasks for the sheer pleasure of it.
The field of ______ advanced the perspective that the size of people's heads correlated with their intelligence.
phrenology
Einstein's brain was found to be of merely average size with the only detectable difference compared to other "average" brains being a slight increase in the size of the ________.
temporal lobe
True or False -

When it comes to the brain, what is critical to intelligence is the quality of the connections between the nerves, rather than the existence of more neurons.
True
True or False -

During early development, the brain makes many more neurons than we will have as adults.
True
The right side of the brain is the so-called _______ side.
non-logical
Who is the famous mathematician with only half a brain? (the right side)
Paul Erdos
What group of people provide additional support for the idea that a bigger brain is not necessarily better?
Idiot (autistic) savants
What group of people have low overall intelligence but have an extraordinary talent in one particular realm of ability?
Autistic savants
Music and art are often thought of as ____-brain strengths.
right
Who coined the term idiot savant, and what year did they do it?
Dr. J. Langdon Down


1887
Does the idiot savant phenomenon occur more often in men or women, or about the same?

The fact it is more common in ____ than ____ suggests that the disorder is linked to the ____ chromosome.
It occurs more often in men.



males than females


to the Y chromosome
More recently, researchers have suggested that idiot savants may have experience an _____ to their brain during development.
insult
The ____ cortex of the brain matures earlier than the ____ cortex.
the right matures earlier than the left
The left cortex houses areas of the brain specialized for ______.
language
If brain growth is inhibited, the left brain may not mature fully. Males are more vulnerable than females because...
testosterone slows cortical neurogenesis (new neurons).
If there is insult to the brain and a person is male, teh combination of insult and testosterone may lead to...
the idiot savant syndrome.
Two key attributes of a psychological test are its ____ and ____.
validity and reliability
The ____ of a psychological test refers to its ability to assess the construct it was designed to measure.
validity
To assess the validity of a measure, psychologists usually correlate its results with a ...
relevant external measure or criterion.
To assess the _____ of a measure, psychologists usually correlate its results with a relevant external measure or criterion.
validity
On an IQ test, what number represents a perfect correlation, and what number shows no correlation at all?
1.0 is a perfect correlation, and 0 is no correlation at all.
____ refers to a measure's ability to produce consistent results.
Reliability
IQ testing has drawn criticism and controversy for many years, largely for two reasons:
the lack of a theoretical basis and the potential for culture bias.
In many respects, IQ tests have been tests in search of a ____.
construct
The psychometric approach tries to...
identify groups of items in a test that correlate with one another in order to discover underlying skills or abilities.
The primary tool of the psychometric approach is...
factor analysis, a statistical procedure for identifying common elements, or factors, that underlie performance across a set of tasks.
Who was the first person to apply factor analysis to intelligence tests?
English psychologist Charles Spearman (1863-1945).
Who proposed a two-factor theory of intelligence, which distinguished two types of factors--general and specific?
English psychologist Charles Spearman (1863-1945).
A statistical procedure for identifying common elements, or factors, that underlie performance across a set of tasks.
Factor Analysis
Tasks associated with general intelligence (g-factor) consistently led to activation of areas to the...
frontal lobes (particulary the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) previously shown to be involved in working memory and problem solving.
______ has proven useful in identifying common factors in the mountains of statistical data produced by intelligence tests.
Factor analysis
The number of factors and the types of mental abilities revealed through _____ can vary depending on who is doing the analysis.
factor analysis
Which psychologist used a factor-analytic technique?
English psychologist Charles Spearman.
_______ can yield many varying interpretations of the same findings, and it cannot rule out the possibility that different factors might have emerged if other tasks had been included.
Factor analysis
Who argued against the existence of an overriding g-factor, finding instead seven primary factors in intelligence: (what are the seven?)
L.L. Thurstone (1938)

seven primary factors in intelligence: word fluency, comprehension, numerial computation, spatial skills, associative memory, reasoning, and perceptual speed.
The ____ ____ examines which intellectual abilities tend to correlate statistically with one another.
psychometric approach
What is fluid intelligence?
Intellectual capacities taht have no specific content but are used in processing information.
What is crystallized intelligence?
People's store of knowledge--as well as more specific intellectual skills, such as short-term (working) memory.
The ____ ____ tries to to quantify basic abilities and to compare individuals with respect to these abilities.
psychometric approach
What approach is in contrast to the psychometric approach?
The information-processing or cognitive approach.
The information-processing approach looks at at the ____ of intelligence and not just the _____.
"how"


"how much"
The ________ approach defines intelligence as a process rather than a measurable quantity and suggests that individual differences in intelligence reflect differences in the cognitive operations people use in thinking.
information-processing
Knowledge base is...
the information stored in long-term memory.
The ______ or ______ approach tries to understand the processes that underlie intelligent behavior.
information-processing or cognitive approach
Differences in knowledge base include...
the amount of knowledge, the way it is organized, and its accessibility for retrieval.
Three variables on which people differ, and which correlate with IQ and achievement, are...
speed of processing, knowledge base, and the ability to learn and apply mental strategies.
Howard Gardner views intelligence as...
"an ability or set of abilities that is used to solve problems or fashion products that are of consequence in a particular cultural setting.
What are the seven intelligences that the theory of multiple intelligences identifies?
Musical, bodily/kinesthetic, spatial, linguistic or verbal, logical/mathematical, intrapersonal, and interpersonal.
Who's theory suggests that intelligence lies on not one but seven bell curves?
Howard Gardner
Who argues that traditional IQ tests are limited in their assessment of intelligence?
Howard Gardner
Over the sweep of human history, ____, ____, and ______ have tended to be more highly valued.
musical, spatial, and bodily intelligences
_____ are individuals with extraordinary ability in one area but low ability in others.
Savants
_____ are individuals with extraordinary and generally early-developing genius in one area but normal abilities in others.
Prodigies
The ancester of modern IQ tests was invented by _____ for the specific purpose of...
Binet


identifying retarded children
What is mental age (MA)?

Who developed this concept?
Mental age (MA) is the average age at which children can be expected to acheive a particular score.

Binet developed the concept.
What did Wechsler do?
He abandoned the concept of mental age and calculated IQ as an individual's position relative to peers of the same age by using a frequency distribution.
How was IQ initially calculated?
By dividing mental age by chronological age and multiplying by 100.
Who abandoned the concept of mental age and calculated IQ as an individual's position relative to peers of the same age by using a frequency distribution?
Wechsler
What are the Wechsler scales?

What do they include?
The Wechsler scales are WAIS-III and WISC-III (for children) include verbal and nonverbal (performance) tests.
Critics argue that intelligene tests lack...
a theoretical basis, are culturally biased, and fail to capture other kinds of intelligence.
The _____ approach derives the components and structure of intelligence empirically from statistical analysis of psychometric test findings.
psychometric approach
Thinking means...
manipulating mental representations for a purpose.
Mental Images are...
visual representations
Mental Models are...
representations that describe, explain, or predict the way things work.
A concept is...
a mental representation of a category, that is, internal portrait of a class of objects, ideas, or events that share common properties.
Categorization is...
the process of identifying an object as an instance of a category--recognizing its similarity to some objects and dissimilarity to others.
Concepts that have properties clearly setting them apart from other concepts are relatively...
well defined.
When people rapidly categorize, they probably rely heavily on...


Complex, deliberate classification tasks often require more explicit evaluation of the data, such as...
prototype matching.


consulting lists of defining features.
In categorizing objects, people naturally tend to use ______, the broadest, most inclusive level at which objects share common attributes that are distinctive of the concept.
the basic level
The way people categorize is partically dependent on...
culture, expertise, and their goals.
Reasoning refers to...
the process by which people generate and evaluate arguments and beliefs.
Inductive reasoning means...
reasoning from specific observations to more general propositions that seem likely to be true.
Deductive reasoning is...
logical reasoning that draws conclusions from premises adn leads to certainty if the premises are correct.
Problem solving is...
the process of transforming one situation into another to meet a goal, by identifying discrepancies between the initial state and the goal state and using various operators to try to eliminate the discrepancies.
Problem-solving strategies are...
techniques that serve as guides for solving a problem.
One of the most important problem-solving strategies is...
mental simulation.
Mental simulation is...
imagining the steps involved in solving a problem mentally before actually undertaking them.
Decision making is...
the process by which people weigh the pros and cons of different alternatives in order to make a choice.
According to one information-processing model, a rational decision involves...
a combined assessment of the value and probability of different options, which provides a estimate of its expected utility.
Explicit Cognition
Explicit cognition is cognition that involves conscious manipulation of representations.
Heuristics are...
cognitive shortcuts used on a daily basis that allow people to make rapid judgments.
Implicit Cognition
Cognition outside of awareness.
Connectionist, or parallel distributed processing (PDP), models propose that...
many cognitive processes occur simultaneously (in parallel) and are spread (distributed) throughout a network of interacting neural processing units.
Connectionist models differ from traditional information-processing models by...
limiting the importance of serial processing and shifting from the methaphor of mind to mind as brain.
Constrait Satisfaction
A process in which the brain settles on a solution that satisfies as many constraints as possible in order to achieve the best fit to the data.
Which lobes play a particulary important role in thinking?
Frontal
Two regions of the frontal lobes involved in thinking are...
the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex.
The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is involved in...
associating complex ideas, allocating attention, making plans, and forming and executing intentions.
The ventromedial prefrontal cortex is involved in...
emotional control over decision making, inhibiting actions that lead to negative consequences, and many aspects of social functioning.
Phonemes are...
the smallest units of sound that constitute speech.
Language is...
teh system of symbols, sounds, meanings, and rules for their combination that constitutes the primary mode of communication among humans.
Morphemes are...
the smallest units of meaning.
Morphemes are combined into ____, ...
phrases, groups of words that act as a unit and convey a meaning.
Words and phrases are combined into _____, ...
sentences, organized sequences of words that express a thought or intention.
The rules of syntax ...
govern the placement of words and phrases within a language.
Psycologists interested in the pragmatics of language are interested in ...
the way language is used and understood in everyday life.
Discourse --
the way people ordinarily speak, hear, read, and write in interconnected sentences--occurs at multiple levels, such as the exact wording of sentences and the gist of the sentence.
Nonverble communication relies on ...
tone of voice, body language, gestures, physical distance, facial expressions, and so forth.
Mental images are ...
visual representations such as the image of a street or a circle.
⬢ Recent PET studies show that perceiving, remembering, and mentally manipulating visual scenes all involve activation of the ___________.
visual cortex
Mental models are ...
representations that describe, explain, or predict the way things work.
A concept is a ...
mental representation of a category, that is, an internal portrait of a class of objects, ideas, or events that share common properties.
A prototype is
an abstraction across many instances of a category.
Reasoning refers to ...
the process by which people generate and evaluate arguments and beliefs.
One of the most powerful mechanisms people use to make inferences, particularly about novel situations:
reasoning by analogy
Inductive reasoning is ...
reasoning from specific observations to more general propositions.
An inductive conclusion is not necessarily true because ...
its underlying premises are only proable, not certain.
Inductive reasoning relies on _______.
probabilities
Inductive reasoning is clearly _____.
fallible
Whereas induction starts with specifics and draws general conclusions, deduction starts with general principles and makes inferences about specific instances. This kind of deductive argument is referred to as a _______.
syllogism.
In contrsst to inductive reasoning, deductive reasoning starts with ...
an idea rather than an observation.
A syllogism consists of ...
two premises that lead to a logical conclusion.
Deductive reasoning is ...
logical reasoning that draws a conclusion from a set of assumptions, or premises.
Unlike inductive reasoning, deductive reasoning can lead to ______ rather than _______ conclusions, as long as the premises are correct and the reasoning is logical.
certain


simply probable
Reasoning is the process by which ...
people generate and evaluate arguments and beliefs.
Which part of the part is associated with complex ideas, allocating attention, making plans, and forming and executing intentions?
Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex
What are the smallest units of sound that constitute speech?
Phonemes
Phonemes are combined into _____.
Morphemes
Which part of the brain is involved in emotional control over decision making, inhibiting actions that lead to negative consequences, and many aspects of social functioning.
Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex
When morphemes are combined, what do they create?
Phrases - groups of words that act as a unit and convey a meaning.
The rules of syntax govern ...
the placement of words and phrases within a language.
Psychologists interested in the ______ of language are interested in the way language is used and understood in everyday discourse.
pragmatics
The smallest units of linguistic meaning.
Morphemes
The _____ is the most important functional unit of the nervous system.
synapse
_____ are the basic units of the nervous system.
Neurons
What connects neurons with one another?
Interneurons
Neurons connect at ______.
synapses
Most neurons communicate at ______.
the synapse
What will happen when the cell membrane is depolarized by enough graded potentials?

What is this process called?
The neuron will fire.


An action potential or nerve impluse.
Which well known case stimulated discussion about localization of function within the brain?
Phineas Gage (1848)
What did philosophers grapple with (in relation to the roots to psychology)?
Mind and body interactions and concerns.
In the early years of pychology, what was an obstacle to the science of the mind?
The Church's proclaimation that the soul - and thus the mind - was not subject to scientific inquiry.
To do so was punishable by death.
What is modern psychological science based on?
A materialist view of the mind.
Phrenology attempted to ...
localize cognitive functions in the brain by the "reading" of bumps on the skull.
Who was the founder of Phrenology?
Francis Josef Gall (1758-1828)
Broca's Area is located in ...
the left interior frontal gyrus
A person who spontaneously speaks probably has damage to what part of their brain?
Broca's Area
What manifestation might suggest that a specific part of the brain is responisble for speech?
Spontaneously speaking: "Son ... university ... smart ... boy ... good ... ... good ..."

and Repeating:

"Chrysanthemum"

"Chrysa...
...mum...
mum..."
People with damage to Broca's area have difficulty with ...
speech production, but have relatively spared comprehension of language.
When was the University of Virginia's Psychology Department founded?
1954
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) wrote ______
Principles of Physiological Psychology (1873/74).
Who developed Introspectionism?

Define it.
Wilhelm Wundt


The study of conscious mental events by "introspecting" or "looking within."
Who established the first laboratory of Psychology and where was it located?
Wilhelm Wundt established the first laboratory of Psychology in Leipzig, Germany, 1879.
Intropection involves
the observation and recording of one's own thoughts and experiences.
What are the 4 Perspectives of Psychology outlined in lecture?
Psychodynamic, Behaviorist, Cognitive, Evolutionary
Research Methods & Statistics in Psychology


Framework and schools of thought

a.
b.
c.
a. Experimental

b. Correlational

c. Descriptive research
Concerns, regardless of your school of thought:
a. Reliability

b. Validity

c. Control over confounds
Experimental research is concerned with ...
*controlling* and *manipulating* independent variables in an attempt to explain cause and effect in behavior.
Common areas of research using Experimental Psychology Methods (five listed).
*Social
*Cognitive
*Biological
*Developmental
*Clinical
What was the Dependent Variable (DV) in the Harlow Monkey Study?
DV = time spent with each mother
Some common statistical tests used in experimental research include:
*T-tests (t)

*Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) (F)
The focus in experimental research is ...
less on individual differences, and more on group differences.
What do these two statistical test examine?

*T-tests (t)

*Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) (F)
The probability of the ratio of the difference between means, relative to the amount we expect the means to differ.
What was the Independent Variable (IV) in the Harlow Monkey Study?
IV = source of the bottle
In experimental research, *strengths* potentially include...
rigorous control and manipulation and greater confidence about cauasality (internal validity).
Correlation coefficient
= r
Common areas of research using Correlational methodology. (Three listed)
*Developmental
*Quantitative
*Educational
Correlational research seeks to ...
understand behavior by expressing hypothesized relationships by gathering data on several variables or measurements and computing relationships among these variables.
In experimental research, *weaknesses* include...
limited external validity and limited testability of certain phenomena.
Case studies -
Involves extensive close examination of an individual or small group (not necessarily natural)
Examines behavior in real-world environments.
Naturalistic observation
Involves assessing a large group of persons about behaviors, attitudes, activities.
Survey research
The psychodynamic perspective emphasizes the _______ of motivation.
biological basis
Perhaps the most distinctive aspect of the psychodynamic theory of motivation is the view ...
that motives can be unconscious.
To study unconscious motives, researchers often use ...
the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), which consists of a series of ambiguous pictures about which subjects make up a story.
Which test consisted of coded stories for motivational themes?
The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) consists of ...
a series of ambiguous pictures about which subjects make up a story.
Self-reported achievement motivation measures and TAT-expressed motivation measures both predict ...
achievement behavior
What does the TAT assess?
Achievement motivation
The correlation between conscious, self-reported motives and the inferred motives expressed in TAT stories is typically ____.
zero
True or False

The motives researchers code from people's TAT stories are in fact highly predictive of their behavior over time.
True
What two drives did Freud argue humans are motivated by?
Sex and Aggression
Who argued that humans are motivated by "drives," how is it defined?
Freud said that drives are internal tension states that build up until they are satisfied.
Which type of psychologist usually prefers to avoid terms such as motivation.
Behaviorist
Implicit in the theory of operant conditioning is that humans and other animals are ...
motivated to repeat behaviors that lead to reinforcement and to avoid behaviors associated with punishment.
Which drives are learned through their association with others?
Secondary
Some behavioral theorists have proposed drive-reduction theories, which assert that ...
deprivation of basic needs creates an unplesant state of tension; if the animal produces a behavior that reduces that tension, the behavior is reinforced.
Which drives are inate?
Primary
Which theories view motivation as a joint function of the value people place on an outcome and the extent to which they believe they can attain it.
expectancy-value theory

That is, we are driven to attain goals that matter a lot to us but that we also believe we can accomplish.
Cognitive approaches to motivation often focus on _____ - ...
goals--desired outcomes established through social learning.
The two internal tension states identified by Freud that build up until they are satisfied are ...
sex and aggression
Which Freudian psychological stage of development would be associated with a tendency to be withholding and stingy?
Anal Stage
According to drive reduction theory, behaviors are intended to ...
satisfy needs and reduce drives
According to evoluntionary theories of motivation, organisms behaviors are dictated by ...
the desire to preserve ones genetic material
Emotions are thought to have several components. Which of the following is not a component discussed in class?

a. Physiological arousal
b. Cognitive reflection
c. Subjective experience
d. Behavioral expression
e. All of the
b. Cognitive reflecion
Which theory of emotion states that perception of a stimulus causes bodily arousal which leads to emotion?

a. Common Sense Theory
b. James-Lange Theory
c. Cannon-Bard Theory
d. Schachter-Singer Theory
e. Facial Feedback T
b. James-Lange Theory
What neurologiical condition dramatically illustrates the difference between LTM and STM?
Anterograde Amnesia
What is one of the "Seven Sins of Memory?"
1. Memories are transient (fade with time)
2. We do not remember what we do not pay attention to.
3. Our memories can be temporarily blocked.
4. We can misattribute the source of memory.
5. We are suggestible in our memories.
6. We can show memory distortion (bias).
7. We often fail to forget the things we would like not to recall (persistence of memory).
Define stereotype threat.
When a person's performance is unconsciously impaired due to stereotypes about the person's group.
"The Bell" is the answer to what question?
What was the CS in the Pavlov Study.
When a certain behavior increases in frequency because it has been reinforced, under what paradigm is this occurring?
Operant Conditioning Paradigm
The "three mountain task" of Piaget was an example of that stage of thinking in children?
pre-operational
Formal operational thought encompasses about what age range in development?
12+
The standard deviation (SD) of the data measures the ______ of the data, and ______ use it as a major focus in their research.
variability; correlational psychologists
The four basic parts of a neuron are ...
dendrites, soma, axon, axon terminal
The central nervous system is composed of ...
the brain and spinal cord
Which area of the brain is most closely associated with language comprehension?
Wernicke's area
The right hemisphere of the human brain governs which ability?
visualization and relational tasks
The trigger point at which a neuron will fire is called the ____.
threshold
In lecture, we learned that the biological definition of learning is ...
stabilizing, through repeated use, certain synapses in the brain.
Aplysia is defined as ...
a marine snail that can be observed learning at the neuronal level.
Which of the following decreases the likelihood that a response will recur?

a. Negative reinforcement
b. Positive reinforcement
c. Punishment
d. Variable reinforcement schedule
e. both a and c
e.
c. Punishment
Psychopathology literally means ...

It is defined as ...
sickness, or pathology, of the mind.

problematic patterns of thought, feeling, or behavior that disrupt an individual's sense of well-being or social or occupational functioning.
The ____ is the most important functional unit of the nervous system.
synapse

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