Psychology Terms For Exam

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law of parsimony

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accepting the simplest explanation that requires the least amount of assumptions.

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statistically significant

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a statistical statement of how likely an obtained result occured by chance.

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correlation

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surveys or observations that show how well a trait or behavior accompanies another.

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placebo

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experimental results caused by expectations - fake drug.

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introspection

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studying by "looking inside".

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william james

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philosopher/psychologist - who studied functionalism

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wilhelm wundt

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established 1st psychology lab trying to measure the time lag between one hearing a ball hit the ground and them pressing a button.

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max wertheimer

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gestalt psychologist - colleagues kofkan and kohler - all three worked on animals, specifically apes, to study insight - an intuitive and clear perception of something or situation.

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john watson

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"little albert" experiment - behaviorist.

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mary whiton culkins

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student of william james at harvard in the 1800's - james didn't give her her phd because she was a woman - later became distinguished memory researcher and first female president at the american psychological department.

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sigmund freud

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german physician who developed a personality theory - how our emotional responses to our childhood experiences and our unconscious thought processes affect our behavior.

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gestalt

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school of psychology - studied insight - how the mind organizes feelings into perception.

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structuralism

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school of psychology - edward titchener - studied introspection to explore elemental structure of the human mind.

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behaviorism

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school of psychology - john watson, b.f. skinner - studied behavior by observation.

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functionalism

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school of psychology - william james - studied how mental and behavioral processes function.

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psychoanalysis

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school of psychology - sigmund freud - studied the unconscious of innate issues, dreams, childhood experiences, and internal forces.

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psychiatrist

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physicians who provide medical treatment as well as psychological therapy.

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clinical psychologist

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studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders.

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counseling psychologist

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assisting people with problems in school, work, marriage, etc. and to achieve a greater well-being.

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forensic psychologist

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psychologist who deals with legal issues.

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case study

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study one individual in depth in hope that it will reveal things about all of us.

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correlational study

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to collect two factors, which may not be related at all, and see if they are.

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naturalistic oberservation

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watching and recording one's behavior in thier natural enviornment without trying to control or manipulate the situation.

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experiment

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a research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more factors to observe the effect on some other factor.

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independent variable

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the experimental factor that is manipulated - the effect of the variable being studied. ex) breast milk or formula.

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dependent variable

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the outcome factor - the variable that may change in response to manipulations of independent variable. ex) child's intelligence score.

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experimental variable

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when a double-blind procedure is done - the participants are exposed to the treatment.

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control group

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the opposite of experimental - participants are not exposed to the treatment - as a way to evaluate the effect of treatment.

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representative sample

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unbiased samples to represent a population.

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operational definition

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a statement of the procedures used to define research variables. ex) human intelligence is defined as what an intelligence test measures.

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extraneous variable

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extra variables that can influence results in an experiment.

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hypothesis

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a testable prediction, often implied by theory.

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learning

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a change in behavior due to experience.

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maturation

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biological processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, not influenced by experiences.

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ivan pavlov

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explored classical conditioning - dog salivating experiment.

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john watson 2

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"little albert" experiment - believed that human emotions and behavior, although biologically influenced, are mainly a bunch of conditioned responses.

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rosalie rayner

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worked with watson on "little albert" experiment later having an affair with watson - losing his professorship at john hopkins university - later they married.

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b.f. skinner

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designed operant chamber - "skinner box" - rat presses bad to get food - used shaping - reinforcers to guide animals.

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edward tolman

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behaviorist - worked with rats in wagon - mapping and implicit learning.

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albert bandura

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pioneer researcher in oberservational learning - "bobo doll" experiment.

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classical conditioning

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someone or something learns to associate stimuli with a natural response.

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operant conditioning

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behavior is strengthened when reinforced or weakened when punished.

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respondant conditioning

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goes with classical - have no choice but to respond.

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instrumental conditioning

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goes with operant - you have to do something in order get "x".

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extinction

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learned stimulus no longer triggers natural response.

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spontaneous recovery

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conditioned response all of a sudden comes back.

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generalization

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responding to similar stimuli.

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discrimination

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only respond to learned stimulus not one that is similar.

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phobia

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a learned issue.

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intermittent reinforcement

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reinforcing a response only part of the time.

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continuous reinforcement

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reinforcing the desired response everytime it occurs.

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fixed-ratio reinforcement

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reinforces reward only after a specific # of responses.

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variable-ratio reinforcement

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reinforces reward after a random # of responses.

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fixed-interval reinforcement

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reinforces a reward only after a specific time has elapsed.

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variable-interval reinforcement

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reinforces a reward at unpredictable time intervals.

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primary reinforcer

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innately reinforcing stimulus.

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secondary reinforcer

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conditioned reinforcers

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positive reinforcer

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increases behavior by presenting positive stimuli - food.

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negative reinforcer

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increases behavior by stopping negative stimuli - shock.

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punishment

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an event that decreases behavior it follows.

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latent learning

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learning that occurs but is not apparent until there is incentive to do it.

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observational learning

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learning by observing others.

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modeling

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the process of observing and imitating specific behavior.

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insight

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sudden realization of a solution to a problem.

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shaping

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using reinforcers to gradually guide an organism toward the desired behavior.

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serial enumeration

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making a list in order of sequence.

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hermann ebbinghaus

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german philosopher and pioneering researcher of verbal memory. formed a list of all nonsense syllables and put a vowel between each set - to study a different type of learning.

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elizabeth loftus

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showed how eyewitnesses reconstruct their memories when questioned - misinformation effect.

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george miller

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"magic number seven, plus or minus two" - short-term memory recall capacity - stores just sevens and other bits of information.

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recognition

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need only identify items previously learned - multiple choice test.

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free recall

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retrieve information learned earlier - fill-in-the-blank test.

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paired associative learning

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learning that certain events occur together.

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serial learning

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remembering the last and first items better than they do the those in the middle.

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storage

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the retention of programmed information over time.

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encoding

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the processing of information into the memory system

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retrieval

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the process of getting information out of memory storage.

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rehearsal

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the conscious repitition of information - either to maintain it in the consciousness or to encode it for storage.

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primary memory

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ability to store and retreive information.

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sensory memory

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immediate recording of sensory information in the memory storage.

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long-term

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relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of memory system - knowledge, skills, experiences.

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short-term

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memory that holds a few items briefly - phone number while dialing.

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chunking

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organizing items into familiar, manageable units - often occurs automatically.

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elaborative rehearsal

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learning by connecting it to other stuff and making sense of it.

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forgetting - absent mindness

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inattention to details produces poor encoding.

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forgetting - transcience

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storage decay over time - unused information fades.

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forgetting - blocking

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inaccessibility of storage information.

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kind of forgetting

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fading, disuse, interference.

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poor encoding

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never really put it in your memory - never made it meanigful - poorly put it - hard to get out or remember.

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distortion - misattribution

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confusing source of information - putting words in someone's mouth.

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distortion - suggestability

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misinformation - asking misleading questions.

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distortion - bias

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colored recollections - using a color to describe feelings about a person.

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proactive interference

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disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information.

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retroactive interference

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disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information.

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positive transfer

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old information can help our learning of new information.

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negative transfer

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old information can make it difficult and interfere with learning new information.

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richard atkinson and richard shiffrin

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theory of "three-stage processing" model of sensory, short-term, long term memory.

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implicit memory

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retention independent of conscious recollection - procedural memory.

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explicit memory

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memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and declare - declarative memory.

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semantic encoding

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the encoding of meaning, including the meaning of words - verbal.

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episodic memory

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memory of an event as opposed to words or ideas.

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flashbulb memory

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a clear memory of an emotional significant moment or event.

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tot

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tip of the tongue.

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false memories - state dependent memories

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what we learned in an emotional state is sometimes more easily revealed when we are again in that state.

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false memories - relearning

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we relearn things more quickly than when we learn them the first time. we often remember more than we recall.

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false memories - priming

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the process of activating, often unconscioulsy association.

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false memories - mood congruent

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moods bias our memories

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memory aids - mnemonic devices

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memory device that use vivid imagery and organizational devices.

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memory aids - loci effect

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using mnemonic device of images to remember list of things - associating them with what's in the house.

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memory aids - halo effect

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in essay question put response in logical order - look like a good student - angel.

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memory aids - peg-word system

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"ten is hen" "nine is line" - associating things by rhyming.