Kowalski Psychology Chapters 7-12
Terms
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- What is thought?
- Thought is an extension of perception and memory
- What are categories and concepts?
- Categories are natural groupings based on common properties. Concepts are our mental representations of a category.
- What is categorization?
- Categorization is the process of identifying an object as an instance of a category; recognizing its similarities to some objects and its dissimilarities to others.
- What are defining features?
- Defining features are qualities that are essential in order to classify the object as a member of the category.
- What are prototypes?
- Prototypes are a model based on abstraction of the characteristics of the category.
- Describe the hierarchy of categories
- Basic: broadest, most inclusive level. (dog) Subordinate: more specific attributes. (poodle) Superordinate: abstract levels in which members of a category share a few common features. (mammal)
- What is reasoning?
- Reasoning is the process by which people generate and evaluate arguments and beliefs.
- What are the two types of reasoning?
- The two types are INDUCTIVE (reason from specific observations to general propositions) and DEDUCTIVE (drawing conclusion from a set of assumptions)
- What is problem solving and three strategies?
- Problem solving is the process of transforming one situation into another to meet a goal. Three strategies are to use ALGORITHMS (systematic procedures that will produce a solution to the problem), MENTAL SIMULATION (mental rehearsal of the steps needed to solve a problem), HYPOTHESIS TESTING (make an educated guess about a problem, then test it)
- What are the two problems with problem solving?
- Functional fixedness (our tendency to fix on a function of an object and ignore other uses, like a matchbook not being used to keep candlewax off the floor) and confirmation bias (we seek to confirm what we already believe)
- What is language, and its four elements?
- Language is a system of symbols, meanings, sounds, and rules that allow for human communication. Its four elements are, in increasing order, phenomes, morphemes, phrases, and sentences.
- What are the multiple components of intelligence?
- Intelligence is multifaceted (expressed in different domanins), is functional (directed towards accomplishing task), and is shaped by culture.
- What are psychometric instruments?
- Tests that quantify psychological attributes to see how people compare to each other.
- What is Binet's "mental age" concept?
- Children receive a "mental age" which shows them, intellectually, what age child they compare with.
- What is factor analysis?
- Factor analysis is a statistic procedure for identifying common elements or factors that underline performance across a set of tasks.
- What is Spearman's Two-Factor Theory?
- Intelligence is divided into the G-factor (General), where testees score well globally on all scales on intelligence tests. S-factor (Specific) measures specific abilities in children.
- What is the Gf-Gc theory?
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Fluid intelligence (Gf) intellectual capacities that have no specific content but are used in processing information and approaching novel problems. Decreases as we age; it gets slower and worse.
Gc (Crystallized intelligence) is our stored knowledge. Increases over time, as we learn more. - How many types of intelligence did Gardner say there are, and what are they?
- Seven. Musical, body/kinesthetic, spatial, linguistic, logical/math, intrapersonal, interpersonal
- What is the difference between a prodigy and a sauvant?
- A prodigy is exceptional in one area and normal in all others; a sauvant is exceptional in one and awful in others.
- What is consciousness, and its two functions?
- Consciousness is our subjective awareness of mental events--how aware we are. Consciousness serves to 1) MONITOR the self and environment, and 2) CONTROL thought and behavior in order to formulate goals.
- What is the difference between dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the anterior cingulate?
- The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is involved in working memory and conscious decision making, while the anterior cingulate is involved in consciously regulating cues and inhibiting responses that are correct.
- What is attention?
- Something I don't have now, after studying for the last four hours. But, officially, it's the process by which we focus our conscious awareness.
- What is the difference between selective attention and selective inattention?
- Selective Attention is the ability to focus on one element amidst a constant flow of sensations, while Selective Inattention is the process by which important but emotionally disturbing info is ignored.
- What are the three functions of attentive processes?
- 1) Maintaining alertness, 2) orienting towards environment, and 3) controlling behavior and content of consciousness
- What is covert orienting, and its two main types?
- Covert orienting is the deployment of visual attention to a location other than the foveal gaze. The two types are EXOGENOUS (summoned from environmentand involuntary) and ENDOGENOUS (directed from brain and voluntary.
- Freud says there are three mental systems that form consciousness. What are they?
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1) Conscious: mental events we are aware of.
2) Preconscious: mental events brought into the conscious easily.
3) Unconscious: mental events that are inaccessible to awareness, and actively repressed. - What are the functions of sleep?
- Memory consolidation (info going to memory while we sleep), energy conservation (recharges us), and restores bodily functions (make muscles, restores immune system)
- What is EEG?
- EEG represents voltage differences emerging from the brain between a site on the scalp and a neutral reference.
- What are the types of EEG waves?
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From low to high:
1) Delta (<4Hz): present in normal sleep, coma
2) Theta (4-7Hz): present in immature people
3) Alpha (8-12Hz): Present in relaxed states with eyes closed.
4) Beta (>13Hz): Present during information processing - What are the characteristics of REM sleep?
- 1) rapid eye movements, 2) presence of dreaming, 3) increased autonomic nervous system activity, 4) EEG resembles awake state, with beta waves, 5) motor paralysis
- What is motivation?
- Motivation refers to the driving force that energizes behavior. It leads us to pursue some things and avoid others.
- What is the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)?
- A test that assesses unconscious motivation, by using a series a pictures that the patient makes a story about.
- What is a drive? What are primary and secondary drives?
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A drive is a state of arousal that accompanies an unfilfilled need.
A primary drive is an innate drive, like hunger, thirst, sex, etc. A secondary drive is learned through conditioning, like playing, studying, etc. - What is the drive reduction theory?
- The theory that says we behave in order to satisfy needs and reduce drives.
- What are goals, and what is the goal-setting theory?
- A goal is a positive outcome that are established through social learning, like making a good impression.
- What is the self-determination theory?
- People have three innate needs: competence, autonomy, and relatedness to others.
- What is intrinsic motivation?
- Enjoyment of and interest in an activity for its own sake.
- What is Maslow's hierarchy of needs?
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(from basic to advanced)
1) Physiological (hunger, thirst)
2) Safety (housing, money)
3) Love or belongingness (intimacy)
4) Esteem (respect from peers)
5) Self-actualization (creative art, public service) - What is the evolutionary perspective?
- Motivational systems have been selected by nature for their ability to maximize reproductive success.
- What are pheromones?
- Scents that activate sexual and other responses much as hormones do, except they are secreted by other animals instead of by the animal's own endocrine system.
- What is metabolism?
- The process by which the body transfers food into energy.
- What are the two phases of metabolism?
- 1) Absorptive Phase: food ingested, some energy extracted, and the rest is stored as fat. 2) Fasting Phase: we're not eating, so the body uses its stores.
- What is homeostasis?
- The body's tendency to maintain constancy of the internal environment.
- What role does the hypothalamus play in eating?
- It regulates. The lateral region switches on hunger, and the ventromedial switches off.
- What is obesity?
- When your weight is 15% above the ideal weight for one's body. Damn... someone's ventromedial hypothalamus isn't working.
- What are organizational effects?
- prenatal exposure to androgens (like testosterone) in the brain during development. Necessary to create men; without androgens, you get women.
- What are activational effects?
- alterations of adult levels of hormones that can alter the intensity of a behavior that is modulated by that hormone.
- What is a psychosocial motives?
- a movement away from hunger, sex, etc., moving towards psychosocial needs, which are personal and interpersonal motives for achievement, power, self-esteem, affiliation, intimacy, etc.
- What is the need for relatedness?
- Motives for connectedness with others, including attachment, intimacy, and affiliation.
- What is the need for achievement?
- Need to do well and avoid failure.
- What is an affect?
- Another word for emotion; a positive or negative feeling that typically includes a combination physiological arousal, subjective experience, and behavioral expression.
- What is the James-Lange Theory of Emotion?
- it says that emotions originate in the peripheral nervous system responses that the central nervous system then interprets. We don't run because we're afraid; we're afraid because we run and we interpret running as fear.
- What is the Cannon Bard Theory of Emotion?
- Emotion-inducing stimuli simulateneously elicit both an emotional experience (like fear) and bodily responses (like sweaty palms)
- What is alexithymia?
- A person's inability to recognize his own feelings.
- What is the taxonomy of emotions?
- There are basic emotional states common to the human species with characteristic physiological, subjective, and expressive components.
- What is the Schachter-Singer Theory of Emotion?
- Emotion involves physiological arousal and cognitive interpretation.
- What is the Health Belief Model?
- Health behaviors are predicted by four factor: perceived seriousness of health threat, benefits and barriers of undertaking particular health behaviors, cues to action.
- What is the Theory of Reasoned Action?
- The theory states that behavior stems from behavioral intentions, which are a function of attitudes (beliefs one has that a particular behavior will produce a particular outcome and one’s evaluation of those outcomes) and subjective norms: (someone’s perception of how significant other individuals will view the behavior and the motivation to comply with the desires of the others)
- What are the two major coping mechanisms?
- 1) Problem-focused (we attempt to change the situation, by removing the stressor, making a plan, etc) and 2) emotion-focused
- What is personality?
- Personality is enduring patterns of thought, feeling, motivation, and behavior that are expressed in different circumstances.
- What is a psychodynamic topographical model?
- a model with three levels of consciousness: 1) conscious (rational, goal-directed), and 2) preconscious (could become conscious at any point), and 3) unconscious (irrational)
- Freud's Development Model says our behavior is motivated by two drives. What are they?
- Agressive and sexual (libido)
- What are Freud's Pscyhosexual Stages?
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1) Oral (1-18mos): Dependency
2) Anal (2-3yrs): Orderliness, compliance, cleanliness
3) Phallic (4-6yrs): Parent identification, Oedipus complex
4) Latency (7-11yrs): repression of sexual urges
5) Genital (12+yrs): mature sexuality and relationships - What is Freud's Structural Model of Personality?
- Superego (which tells us to behave morally) interacts with the id (which tells us to hurt someone) so that forms the ego, (which tells us to hurt but justify it on moral grounds)
- What are defense mechanisms?
- Unconscious mental processes that protect the conscious person from anxiety?
- What are some examples of defense mechanisms?
- Repression, Denial, Projection, Sublimination, Rationalization, Passive Agression
- What is the Cognitive-Social Personality Theory?
- Emphasizes learned aspects of personality, as well as expectations and beliefs of the person.
- Compare behavior-outcome expectancy with self-efficacy expectancy.
- Behavior-outcome expectancy is the belief that a certain behavior will lead to a particular outcome. Self-efficacy means that we believe we can perform the actions necessary to produce a desired outcome.
- What is self-regulation?
- Setting goals, evaluating one's performance, and then adjusting one's behavior to achieve these goals in the context of ongoing feedback.
- What is a trait?
- Emotional, cognitive, and behavioral tendency that constitutes an underlying personality dimesnion. There are 16 distinct traits.
- What are the Big Five Factors of Personality?
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OCEAN
O: Openness to experience
C: Conscientiousness
E: Extroversion
A: Agreeableness
N: Neuroticism - What is person-by-situation interaction?
- The ways in which people express personality dispositions only under specific circumstances.
- What is the principle of aggregation?
- a trait does not refer to a specific behavior in a specific situation but rather to a class of behaviors over a range of situations.
- What is an actualizing tendency?
- a desire to fulfill the full range of needs that humans experience.
- What is an existential personality approach?
- a theory that suggests people are alone and we must create themselves.
- What is existential dread?
- the recognition that life has no absolute value or meaning, and we all face death.