Reading...
Play button
Play button
Use LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to navigate between flashcards;
Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to flip the card;
H to show hint;
A reads text to speech;
89 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
|
What is hindsight bias?
|
The tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it. (I-knew-it-all-along-phenomenon)
|
|
|
What is critical thinking?
|
Thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions. Rather, it examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions.
|
|
|
What is a theory?
|
An explanation using an integrated set of principles that organizes and predicts observations.
|
|
|
What is a hypothesis?
|
A testable prediction, often implied by a theory.
|
|
|
What is an operational definition
|
A statement of the procedures used to define research variables. For example, human intelligence may be operationally defined as what an intelligence test measures.
|
|
|
What is a case study?
|
An observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles.
|
|
|
What is a survey?
|
A technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of people, usually by questioning a representative random sample of them.
|
|
|
What is a random sample?
|
A sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion.
|
|
|
What is correlation?
|
A measure of the extent which two factors vary together, and thus of how well either factor predicts the other. The correlation coefficient is the mathematical expression of the relationship, ranging from -1 to 1.
|
|
|
What are naturalistic observations?
|
Observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situation without trying to manipulate and control the situation
|
|
|
What is an experiment?
|
A research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more factors (independent variables) to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process (the dependent variable). By random assignment of participants, the experimenter aims to control other relevant factors.
|
|
|
What is an independent variable?
|
The experimental factor that is manipulated; the variable whose effect is being studied.
|
|
|
What is a dependent variable?
|
The outcome factor; the variable that my change in response to manipulations of the independent variable.
|
|
|
What is the mean?
|
The arithmetic average of a distribution, obtained by adding the scores and then dividing by the number of scores.
|
|
|
What is the mode?
|
The most frequently occuring score in a distribution
|
|
|
What is the median?
|
The middle score in a distribution; half the scores are above it and half are below it.
|
|
|
What is statistical significance?
|
A statistical statement of how likely it is that an obtained result occurred by chance
|
|
|
What is validity?
|
The extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to
|
|
|
What is reliability?
|
The extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on two halves of the test, on alternate forms of the test, or on retesting.
|
|
|
What is an eletroencephalogram (EEG)
|
An amplified recording of the waves of electrical activity that sweep across the brain's surface. These waves are measured by electrodes placed on the scalp.
|
|
|
What is a PET (position emssion tomography) scan?
|
A visual display of brain activity that detects where a radioactive form of glucose goes while the brain performs a given task.
|
|
|
What is a MRI (magnetic resonance imaging)?
|
A technique that uses magnetic fields and radio waves to produce computer-generated images that distinguish among different types of soft tissue; allows us to see structures within the brain.
|
|
|
What is a fMRI?
|
A technique for revealing blood flow and, therefore, brain activity by comparing successive MRI scans. MRI scans show brain anatomy; fMRI scans show brain function.
|
|
|
What is the cerebellum?
|
The"little brain" attachd to the rear of the brainstem; its functions include processing sensory input and coordinating movement output and balance.
|
|
|
What is psychology?
|
An academic and applied discipline involving the scientific study of mental processes and behavior.
|
|
|
What is the cerebellum?
|
The "little brain" attached to the rear of the brainstem; its functions include processing sensory input and coordinating movement output and balance.
|
|
|
What is the "old brain?"
|
Brain stem, cerebellum, and other structures.
|
|
|
What is the "new brain?"
|
The outer, neocortex.
|
|
|
What is the amygdala?
|
Two lima bean-sized neural clusters that are components of the limbic system and are linked to emotion.
|
|
|
What is the limbic system?
|
Limbic System is a doughnut-shaped system of neural structures at the border of the brainstem and cerebrum, associated with emotions such as fear, aggression and drives for food and sex. It includes the hippocampus, amygdala, and hypothalamus.
|
|
|
What is the hippocampus?
|
A neural center located in the limbic system that helps process explicit memories for storage.
|
|
|
What are the frontal lobes?
|
The portion of the cerebral cortex lying just behind the forehead; involved in speaking and muscle movements and in making plans and judgements
|
|
|
What are the parietal lobes?
|
The portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the top of the head and toward the rear; receives sensory input for touch and body position.
|
|
|
What are the occipital lobes?
|
The portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the back of the head; includes the visual areas, which receive visual information from the opposite visual field.
|
|
|
What are the temporal lobes?
|
The portion of the cerebral cortex lying roughly above the ears; includes the auditory areas, each of which receives auditory information primarily from the opposite ear.
|
|
|
What is the motor cortex?
|
The area at the rear of the frontal lobes, controls voluntary movements.
|
|
|
What is the sensory cortex?
|
The area at the front of the parietal lobes that registers and processes body touch and movement sensations.
|
|
|
What is split-brain?
|
A condition in which the two hemispheres of the brain are isolated by cutting the connecting fibers between them.
|
|
|
What is a trait?
|
A characteristic pattern of behavior or a disposition to feel and act, as assessed by self-report inventories and peer reports
|
|
|
What is personal control?
|
Our sense of controlling our environment rather than feeling helpless.
|
|
|
What is reciprocal determinism?
|
The interacting influences between personality and environmental factors.
|
|
|
What is learned helplessness?
|
The hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or human learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events.
|
|
|
What is the spotlight effect?
|
Overestimating others' noticing and evaluating our appearance, performance, and blunders.
|
|
|
What is self-esteem?
|
One's feelings of high or low self-worth.
|
|
|
What is self-serving bias?
|
A readiness to perceive oneself favorably
|
|
|
What is attribution theory?
|
Suggests how we explain someone's behavior - by crediting either the situation of the person's disposition.
|
|
|
What is the fundamental attribution error?
|
The tendency for observers, when analyzing another's behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition.
|
|
|
What is cognitive dissonance theory?
|
The theory that we act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent. For example, when our awareness of our attitudes and of our actions clash, we can reduce the resulting dissonance by changing our attitudes.
|
|
|
What is conformity?
|
Adjusting one's behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard.
|
|
|
What is normative social influence?
|
Influence resulting from a person's desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval.
|
|
|
What is informational social influence?
|
Influence resulting from one's willingness to accept others' opinions about reality.
|
|
|
What is social facilitation?
|
Stronger responses on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others.
|
|
|
What is deindividuation?
|
The loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity.
|
|
|
What is group polarization?
|
The enhancement of a group's prevailing inclinations through discussion within a group.
|
|
|
What is groupthink?
|
The mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives.
|
|
|
What is two factor-theory?
|
Schachter-Singer's theory that to experience emotion one must (1) be physically aroused and (2) cognitively label the arousal.
|
|
|
What is catharsis?
|
Emotional release. In psychology, the catharsis hypothesis maintains that "releasing" aggressive energy (through action or fantasy) relieves aggressive urges.
|
|
|
What is the adaption-level phenomenon
|
Our tendancy to form judgements (of sounds, of lights, of income) relative to a neutral level defined by our prior experience.
|
|
|
What is relative deprivation?
|
The perception that one is worse off relative to those with whom one compares oneself.
|
|
|
What is concept?
|
A mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people.
|
|
|
What is a prototype?
|
A mental image or best example of a category. Matching new items to the prototype provides a quick and easy method for including items in a category (as when comparing feathered creatures to a proto-typical bird, such as a robin).
|
|
|
What is an algorithm
|
A methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. Contrasts with the usually speedier - but also more error-prone - use of heuristics.
|
|
|
What is a heuristic?
|
A simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than algorithms.
|
|
|
What is confirmation bias?
|
A tendency to search for information that confirms one's preconceptions.
|
|
|
What is a representative heuristic?
|
Judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead one to ignore other relevant information.
|
|
|
What is an availability heuristic?
|
Estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness), we presume such events are common.
|
|
|
What is theory of mind?
|
People's ideas about their own and others' mental states - about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts and the behavior these might predict.
|
|
|
What is associative learning?
|
Learning that certain events (two stimuli, in classical conditioning) occur together.
|
|
|
What is classical conditioning?
|
A type of learning in which an organism comes to associate stimuli. A neutral stimulus that signals an unconditioned stimulus begins to produce a response that anticipates and prepares for the unconditioned stimulus. Also called Pavlovian or respondent conditioning.
|
|
|
What is behaviorism?
|
The view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes.
|
|
|
What is unconditioned response?
|
In classical conditioning, the unlearned, naturally occurring response to the unconditioned stimulus, such as salivation when food is in the mouth.
|
|
|
What is unconditioned stimulus?
|
In classical conditioning, a stimulus that unconditionally - naturally and automatically - triggers a response.
|
|
|
What is a conditioned response?
|
In classical conditioning, the learned response to a previously neutral (but now conditioned) stimulus.
|
|
|
What is conditioned stimulus?
|
In classical conditioning, an originally irrevelant stimulus that, after association with an unconditional stiumlus, comes to trigger a conditioned response.
|
|
|
What is extinction?
|
The diminishing of a conditional response; occurs in classical conditioning when an unconditioned stimulus does not follow a conditioned stimulus
|
|
|
What is spontaneous recovery?
|
The reappearance, after a pause, of an extinguished conditioned response.
|
|
|
What is generalization?
|
The tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar response
|
|
|
What is discrimination?
|
In classical conditioning, the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus
|
|
|
What is a flashbulb memory?
|
A clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event.
|
|
|
What is encoding?
|
The processing of information into the memory system - for example, by extracting meaning
|
|
|
What is storage?
|
The retention of encoded information over time.
|
|
|
What is retrieval?
|
The process of getting information out of memory storage.
|
|
|
What is working (short-term) memory?
|
Activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as the seven digits of a phone number while, dialing before the information is stored or forgotten.
|
|
|
What is long-term memory?
|
The relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the momory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences.
|
|
|
What is rehearsal?
|
The conscious repetition of information, either to maintain it in consciousness or to encode it for storage
|
|
|
What is the serial position effect?
|
Our tendency to recall best the last and first items in a list.
|
|
|
What is repression?
|
In psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness.
|
|
|
What is the misinformation effect?
|
Incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event.
|
|
|
What is source amnesia?
|
Attributing to the wrong source an event we have experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined.
|
